Blog

I launched my blog in 2009 when I was wrestling with a midlife crisis. Since then, the digital world has changed so much. I was new to both Facebook and Twitter when I started blogging, and I was still rocking the BlackBerry for email. Instagram hadn’t launched yet. Podcasting and short videos are what the cool kids do these days, blogging is considered old fashioned. But I still find it the best way to share my thoughts and to profile people who inspire me.

I hope you’ll find something here that inspires you, or at least sparks a conversation. Some of my favorite posts are pinned to the top, scroll down a bit more to find the most recent, or check out the categories in the sidebar.


Inspired by Zen Habits: Surround yourself with passionate people

Inspired by Zen Habits: Surround yourself with passionate people

When I recently returned from South by Southwest Interactive, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why the 20,000-person tech festival fires me up so much. Sure, there’s a lot going on — compelling speakers, rockin’ parties, huge crowds on the sidewalks. But for a woman who lives in New York, it’s not like I couldn’t access those things any…

Following through on my commitment: a song for my 40th birthday

Following through on my commitment: a song for my 40th birthday

When I started piano lessons last spring, my approaching 40th birthday was a big motivator. Something about a milestone birthday triggered my deadline response, and I thought I’d like to be able to play at least one song by my 40th. Turns out I can do a decent job at several songs, including Scarborough Fair and My Cherie Amour. Not…

Some overlooked posts on Newvine Growing

Some overlooked posts on Newvine Growing

A few days ago I offered a list of Newvine Growing’s greatest hits — the posts I’ve written in the last two years that have gotten the most traffic. Today I’ll do the opposite and serve up a list of some of the least-read posts. I’m curating these to look for posts I actually liked that never got traction, as…

Greatest hits of Newvine Growing

Greatest hits of Newvine Growing

I’ll be in Austin for the next several days at the geek spring break known as South by Southwest Interactive — all manner of people interested in the Web, mobile, social media and video games, among other things, descend on a city with the unofficial motto “Keep Austin Weird.” It’s an excellent experience because you almost can’t help but have…

The High Colleedays begin the countdown to 40

The High Colleedays begin the countdown to 40

I’m a little kid about birthdays — I enjoy making a fuss about other people’s birthdays and I love celebrating mine. Yes, even as a suit-wearing executive with an MBA, I have been known to take a box of cupcakes to work on my birthday, just like you might have in elementary school. As part of that, we don’t just…

Krista Tippett on the problem with compassion

Krista Tippett on the problem with compassion

My new friend Patti seems to be a kindred spirit on many things, especially food and societal needs, so when she urged me to check out Krista Tippett, that was enough for me. In Tippett’s 16-minute TED talk titled “Reconnecting with Compassion,” she argues that compassion has a public relations problem. She explains that tolerance is not a virtue, it’s…

Focusing on farming and the American food supply

Focusing on farming and the American food supply

  This has been a week of a deep dive into farmers, farming and the food supply — I spent Monday-Friday in Baltimore at the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association convention, then Saturday watching the live stream of TEDxManhattan, an all-day seminar called “Changing the Way We Eat.” This is all education in support of launching my new marketing…

Newvine Growing book club: Food Matters by Mark Bittman

Newvine Growing book club: Food Matters by Mark Bittman

Food writer Mark Bittman recently ended his long-running Minimalist column in the New York Times to shift into a new role as an opinion writer for the Times. This change of perspective, that food is about so much more than filling our bellies, is apparent in his book “Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating.” Bittman wrote in the announcement…

Feel the fear and do it anyway

Feel the fear and do it anyway

“Feel the fear and do it anyway” ~ Susan Jeffers I’m blessed to have some fabulous people in my life, including career coach Kim Ann Curtin. Kim met with me recently to help me strategize about where my career is headed and how to get there. As we talked about various possibilities, Kim asked what I was afraid of. My…

Musical role models in strong, soulful ladies

Musical role models in strong, soulful ladies

Now you have to know I’d love a story that starts like this one in the Brooklyn Paper recently: Mavis Staples is the queen of reinvention. The Chicago-based singer and civil rights icon has been a staple on the gospel circuit for over 50 years, making her name foremost in spirituals with her family’s group, the Staple Singers, who added…

Two months 'til 40 and counting

Two months 'til 40 and counting

After talking about it for years, I finally started beginner piano lessons last spring, in part because the approach of my 40th birthday felt like  a good deadline. I fantasized about learning a song that I’d be comfortable playing in public, maybe even hosting a big 40th birthday bash with New Orleans Bingo Show headlining and with me playing my…

Newvine Growing book club: Four-Hour Workweek

Newvine Growing book club: Four-Hour Workweek

It’s easy to see why Four-Hour Workweek is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek bestseller – working four hours a week and having a comfortable lifestyle is just short of winning the lottery in terms of fantasy freedom. After I heard author Tim Ferriss speak at MediaBistro Circus, where he shared many of the ways he’d marketed…

Christmas tree second line?

Christmas tree second line?

We took our Christmas tree down last weekend, and I think that’s got to be one of the saddest rituals of the year. When we decorate the tree in December, we’re preparing for a fun-filled season of celebrations. Taking the tree down is not only a less fun chore, it’s also the physical reminder that all that socializing and holiday…