I ventured into the world of book (and blog) writing to fulfill a promise to my beloved mother-in-law. Sue's bright light was extinguished on December 2, 2010, after a valiant 13-year battle with breast cancer... just five month's after her first grandchild (my daughter) was born. Now as a mother, entrepreneur, friend, sister, daughter, wife, and torch-bearer of a legacy, I paddle my boat, one wave at a time, toward that promise to her—and now to myself. In death as in life, Sue continues to motivate and inspire me. Follow me, and I'll do my best to pass the inspiration along. To life!
That’s right, you heard me. Put your toddler to work. They’re always so bored with their buckets full of fancy toys, right? And they love chores. Why? Because they see you doing them, and they idolize you. (We don’t have to tell them we don’t like chores. They’ll figure that out on their own … … More Put Your Toddler to Work
Five years ago, I booked a round-trip, red-eye ticket to Oklahoma City to pick up someone I met online. Her. Okay, technically we didn’t “meet” online, but I saw her description and photo on Petfinder and knew I had to.
Is there such a thing as a healthy St. Patrick’s Day? Turns out this green-tinged holiday could be better for you than you think. That’s assuming, of course, you don’t skip out of work early to spend half a day sloshing plastic cupfuls of overpriced crappy beer made magically more palatable by the fact that it’s … More Healthy St. Patrick’s Day?
I recently wrote this to a friend, a new mom having a tough day. If any of you moms (or dads) find yourself in this situation, I’m writing to you now. Letter to a New Mom You’re going through an overwhelmingly incredible moment in your life right now. I don’t need to tell you about all the … More Letter to a New Mom
What do you think of when you hear “Comicon”? I’m guessing your top 3 would likely include comic books, nerd herds, and costumes. Excuse me, epic costumes. That’s what I thought three years ago. Then I attended one for the first time. Now my top 3 would be inspiration, imagination, and motivation. Why? Because of the … More Top 3: Inspiring Tales from the Con
In Part 1, we discussed the mindset. In Part 2, we explored the ground work, and in Part 3 we talked money. Now let’s get down to specifics. Here are some questions I received from others taking the plunge. Both new and experienced freelancers (and their clients) should find good info in here. So let’s dig … More So You Think You Can Freelance? Part 4: Q&A
Dinner parties don’t have to be fancy pull-your-hair-out affairs. They can be a convenient way to fit in time with family and friends between work trips, holidays, and extracurricular chauffeuring. The trick is to make them easy and fun. Here are my favorite 5 dinner party ideas. I’d love to hear yours, too!
Before you read this, did you read Part 1: Mindset and Part 2: Ground Work? Both are critical before you even think about the money. If you have… What do you charge? Be honest. It’s what you want to know, right? If you’re going to take this dive, you need some assurance there will be a little money … More So You Think You Can Freelance? Part 3: Money
What do you do with all those postcards and travel brochures amassed on trips? Store them, only to ditch them on a future organizational rampage? Add them to that scrapbooking basket gathering dust on the shelf? Hope they’ll magically transform into something amazing? Well, it’s time to save them. Here are 10 easy ways to … More 10 Uses for Postcards and Travel Brochures
Stop! Don’t go any further unless you’ve read So You Think You Can Freelance? Part I: Mindset. If you have (and still want to know more), please proceed … Welcome to the land of freelancing! I have a feeling you’ll be very happy here. The bad news: First you’ll have to do all the tax … More So You Think You Can Freelance? Part 2: Ground Work
My Castle Heart Publications 