You’ve heard of putting your money where your mouth is, right? Well, for most people that means writing a check and forgetting about it. But, what if you could align all – or at least, most — of your dollars with your values? Sharon Schneider says you can do it, starting with baby steps, and she’s got a handbook to show you how.
Want Even More? Check Out Helen’s Blog, “Stilettos Not Required” or Helen’s podcast about the hidden heroes of Charleston’s Food and Beverage scene, “Hidden F&B”
Rob Dubin sailed the world studying happiness. Before that, though, he had to deal with a prognosis for his wife that said she’d lose both feet to frostbite. And before that, he and his wife were lost for days in a Colorado blizzard that had rescuers giving them up for dead. Rob Dubin learned a lot from all of that, and he found out that, whether you’re a billionaire sailing in America’s Cup or whether you’re a barefoot villager, there are certain things you can do to learn happiness.
Want Even More? Check Out Helen’s Blog, “Stilettos Not Required” or Helen’s podcast about the hidden heroes of Charleston’s Food and Beverage scene, “Hidden F&B”
Dietitian Dion Turner says your gut is like a garden. Probiotics are the seeds and processed foods are like the weeds.
She uses metaphors a lot because she is passionate about teaching people how to eat for their gut health and their overall health. It includes eating colorful, natural foods and being mindful, both of the food that goes into our bodies and of the microbes that live in our gut and can affect health all over your body.
Want Even More? Check Out Helen’s Blog, “Stilettos Not Required” or Helen’s podcast about the hidden heroes of Charleston’s Food and Beverage scene, “Hidden F&B”
Have you renewed your drivers license lately? Well, I just did and it threw me into a sort of existential crisis. Do I need to lower my expectations to be happy? I’m going from great to good.
Want Even More? Check Out Helen’s Blog, “Stilettos Not Required” or Helen’s podcast about the hidden heroes of Charleston’s Food and Beverage scene, “Hidden F&B”
Let’s talk social media. Not the Russian infiltration or the zombie screen-starers it has made of all of us. I want to talk torture by my friends, wonderful people who ought to know better.
First, I have a confession to make: I didn’t get you anything for your birthday. You and I don’t have that kind of relationship.
I do celebrate the day you were born – you wouldn’t be my friend if I didn’t feel that way. But we don’t have the kind of friendship where we get each other birthday gifts.
So, why, I have to ask you, did you think I would send money to your favorite charity in lieu of the gift I was never going to get you?
If you’re like me, your social media feeds are filling up with virtue. This friend and that friend are saying that, for their birthday, they are raising money for their favorite charity. Well, bully for them.
I have my own charities. They’re meaningful to me because of the things I’m passionate about. Animals. Children. The environment. And when I am feeling charitable, I give to them. But I’m not expecting my passions to be yours. You do you.
Now, I know my friends and I love them. So, I know this all comes from a good place. But I can’t help but feel cranky about all the virtue showing up on my feed. I want to know about your life and your kids and even your job, but stop asking me for money!
In fact, I thought I had invented the phrase “charity shaming” but the urban dictionary tells me someone got there before me, so I’m apparently not the only person getting tired of the more-charitable-than-thou stuff on social media.
Now, I know enough about branding to know that she wasn’t talking about a flaming piece of metal to my flank. She’s talking about the marketing kind of brand.
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as: “A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”
Companies do it all the time. The Pillsbury Doughboy is the playful provider of family baked treats, and Zappos is the online provider of shopping made easy for all the shoes you could want. Or at least, that most people could want. Maybe not me, because I have a true shoe addiction. But that’s a blog for another day.
So, I guess in that sense, branding myself is setting myself apart from everybody else out there. And that’s kind of a problem.
Talk about uncomfortable! I went to school to be a journalist. This was back in the Woodward and Bernstein days, when the reporter – well, reported – the story. You stayed in the background, didn’t let your real opinion show, and just gave out the who-what-where-when-why.
That’s not me! I’m not the story! I don’t want to be a brand!
How can I maintain a consistent brand when I’m still figuring stuff out? Even at my advanced age, I’m still making it up as I go. Heck, on any given day, you don’t know how I’m going to leave the house – dressed in Earth Mother flowy clothes, or a sharply tailored dress. It all depends on my mood.
Moodiness is fine. But, what Brenda explained to me is that I’m all over the place. I have a lifestyle blog called, “Stilettos Not Required,” that lets me get really up close and personal. And I have a podcast called, “Keep it Juicy!” that lets me act as the objective interviewer. I have followers on both.
But, unless you’re my husband – or Brenda – you probably don’t know about each other.
Happiness. You might think some people are just born happy and some are just natural downers. But that leaves out the fact that you can actually teach yourself how to be happy. Guest Lisa Avery is a positive psychologist and she talks with us about what happiness really is, and how we can achieve it even if we aren’t born optimists. Happiness, on Keep it Juicy!
“Juicy” Emily Luchetti is the chief pastry officer for Big Night Restaurant Group in San Francisco. That includes The Cavalier, Marlowe and Park Tavern. You or I might easily say that our passion is pastry or chocolate, but Emily actually followed that passion to a career that has seen her write six cookbooks and win many awards. I was lucky enough to taste one of Emily’s desserts at an event and, maybe it was a chocolate high but before I knew it, she had volunteered to be on my podcast. She talks passion, the macho kitchen culture, and how getting older can up your game as a chef.
If there’s a flood or a hurricane or a fire, you can count on finding Dave Pauli there, rescuing animals. Dave is a wildlife rescuer for The Humane Society of the United States, but he winds up rescuing lots of dogs, cats and horses too. He was in Texas during the floods and he’s been back and forth to Puerto Rico many times ever since Maria struck. I talk with Dave, and he shares stories that will warm your heart, and stories that will break your heart. If ever someone is living a juicy life, it’s this real-life hero….Dave Pauli.
I was poking around on the Internet – yes, that’s something I do – when I came across this piece on the Huffington Post about surviving widowhood. I was so moved that I thought, “I have GOT to have this woman on my podcast!” Susan Good– Honey Good to you and me – talks about becoming a widow, re-engaging with life, and what she’s learned that can help others dealing with this grief. Since becoming a widow, Honey has remarried and she’s started an online community for women over 50. Her lessons about staying relevant are important for everyone, not just for the widowed.
