Last weekend, my husband and I drove upstate to Cold Spring, New York. It is a place I have heard about and always wanted to visit.   Cold Spring was, as expected, a cute picturesque town. We walked on Main Street which led us down to the Hudson River. While we had a nice day one impression stayed with me, the number of closed stores and restaurants lining Main Street. As with many small towns, Covid has left a devastating economic impact on Cold Spring.   I purposely bought...

As I have blogged previously, planning special events during a pandemic requires a certain amount of creativity. I also learned that it requires a bit of investigative skills. If you are planning a party for someone else, you have to figure out what they would like.   I have a big birthday coming up in July. I think my family is already in the investigation phase of what they may be planning (we are early planners). Lately, I have been receiving a lot of hypothetical questio...

On Saturday, my husband and I celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversary. I cannot believe how quickly the years have flown.   The occasion caused me to reflect on how we have been able to stay happily married for such a long period. As someone whose first marriage ended in divorce after seven years, sixteen years is quite the accomplishment.   We do have certain ground rules we live by. If something is bothering one of us, we discuss it until that spouse feels that there’...

Last week, my husband, friends, and I were supposed to be in Hawaii. For obvious reasons, we cancelled the Hawaii trip. We decided instead, because we needed to get away but wanted to stay safe, to plan a one week trip around upstate New York. Happy to be going away, but certain the trip would not be as spectacular as the planned Hawaii trip, we left on a Saturday for our one week “lap” around upstate New York.   From the moment we were north of the Bronx, New York State str...

Last week I wrote about the bed I sleep on. This week I just want to follow up on the sleep theme and ask the following, what routines do you recommend to help you get to sleep?   In these Covid times, I find, sometimes, going to sleep to be difficult. The anxiety that we are all experiencing seems, for me, to be worse, sometimes, at night as I’m trying to fall asleep.   I have tried some natural remedies such as Melatonin and HHTP. Some sleep experts have told me that the ...

  Within the past two years three of our children have “left the nest.” The fourth one left five years ago. And each time a child leaves they ask the same question, "what type of bed should I buy?"   Our answer is always the same. We bought our Sleep by Numbers bed sixteen years ago and we love it. We haven’t had to replace it or repair it in the past sixteen years and both think it's great for sleeping.   Our children always seem to make up their own minds. One bought a mat...

This weekend was a special birthday for my husband. He turned 60 on Saturday. Exactly a year ago, I conceived a plan for the perfect surprise party for this weekend. Covid changed all of that and, instead, I planned small surprises throughout the weekend for him.   I was excited to give my husband a surprise party. I have had one surprise party during my life, my bridal shower when I married my first husband (Nancy was there). I genuinely enjoyed the surprise and wanted to ...

I was rushing to get out of the house last week and I noticed I had not made my bed. I was already late and thought about leaving the bed unmade. But I quickly thought how I would feel later that evening getting into an unmade bed. So, I quickly made the bed.     I make my bed every morning. Two of my children also make their beds but two of them do not. They are past the age where I can force them to make their beds so I do not try. I enjoy getting into a freshly made bed...

I wanted to add my own thoughts and feelings to Corey’s blog about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As he wrote, there are many others who eloquently wrote beautiful obituaries which I will not repeat. I just wanted to share my perspective.   As a female, Jewish, lawyer, who started her career in the late 1980’s,  I walked behind RBG. While she could not get a job in a New York City law firm-despite being first in her class at Columbia-I started at a large law firm with one female partn...

During this pandemic we have celebrated a lot of milestone birthdays, 25, 30, 85(my mother-in-law) and soon 60 (my husband). In planning these celebrations and working to make them special during the pandemic a material issue has come up each time, what sort of the birthday cake, cake or ice cream?   For my birthday, although it was not a milestone, it was not even a decision, I love cake. More specifically, I love frosting. I look at cake as a vehicle for delivering the fro...