Every year, at the end of the year, most magazines and newspapers start publishing lists. These lists have included the top earners for the year, the most googled people for the year, top news stories of the year, best movies of the year, etc. One list that caught my eye this year was a list published by Google entitled, "The Top Ten Recip …
I changed my last name twice in my life. When I married my first husband, I happily gave up the last name “Just” for “Kaplan.” While Just may seem a great name for a lawyer, as a kid it lent itself to a lot of teasing. I also liked the name Kaplan as it put forth my Jewish identity more so than Just. When I divorced my first husband I had the optio …
Anyone who knows me would be shocked to find out the following about me: I do not go to any mall between Thanksgiving and New Years. Even when my children were much younger, and holiday shopping was more complex, I would finish all of my holiday shopping before Thanksgiving. My dislike of crowds is stronger than my love of shopping. Last week my …
One of Hallmark's ornaments for the holiday season has caused controversy following the replacement of the word "gay" while quoting "Deck the Halls." The ornament, in a shape of a red Christmas sweater is decorated with the lyric, "Don we now our fun apparel." As most of you know, the traditional line from the famous Christmas song is "Don we n …
Ben’s recent blog about Yiddish got me thinking about one particular Yiddish word, “beshert.” My Mom used to call my Dad her beshert because, until the day she died, they were one of the happiest married couples I have ever seen. “Beshert” essentially means “inevitable” or “preordained.” While my husband and I do not call one another beshert …
My youngest daughter was diagnosed ten years ago, at the age of eight, with ADHD. Since her diagnosis, her ADHD has always been managed with medication. As Sydney has grown, we have had to change her medication from time to time because, at some points in her development, certain medications have stopped working. When changing prescriptions we have …
Thank you to my friend Marlene Fischer for suggesting this blog topic. One of the largest law firms in the world has been in the news recently due to the content of an internal "Presentation Tips" memorandum that went viral. The memorandum was created by the Women’s Committee and distributed to only the firm’s female associates. Included in the …
While I have a self confessed fear of flying, I love travelling and have visited many cities. In doing so, I have come to realize that I am a Manhattan snob. Having gone to school in Manhattan, I love the city. I love just walking around the city, exploring and, ultimately finding new places. Wherever I travel I seem to find myself, unintentionall …
Fred, as he loves to do, wrote a comment on Erik’s blog this week that exasperated me. Fred wrote: “Single parent homes is one of our greatest problems.” I was a single parent for eight years. During that time, I was faced with many preconceptions about my children as a result of my marital status. Thus, I am very sensitive to Fred’s sentiments. …
I am writing this blog early as my husband and I will be in Europe for the two weeks before it is posted. I am so excited about this trip as I have never been in Europe before. Along with my excitement, however, is my growing sense of anxiety. As I’ve written before I have a fear of flying. And the thought if being on a plane for seven and a hal …
Last June I wrote about the two difference experiences my husband and I were having by having both a boy and a girl, Ryan and Sydney attend the prom. Now, our children are both in college. And our experience, with the two of them away, is still vastly different. Sydney, as her older sisters did, seems to call home once a day, generally on her …
I wrote this blog a few weeks ago and planned on posting it while I was away on vacation. But, after reading Don's blog yesterday, I thought it would be a perfect follow-up. Within the past few years, I lost both of my parents within a short period of time. I never knew any of my grandparents as they all died before I was born. My Mom was an onl …
The blog Don posted yesterday truly intrigued me. If you haven’t read it, go back and read it. One of the themes in his blog was how the passage of time affects whom our heroes are. Don wrote that, in response to the question, “who is the greatest living person?” Yale students in 1938 and 1945 gave names such as Albert Einstein and Wins …
I remember a time before email; when our workdays ended when we left the office and, unless we ventured to the office, we did not work on weekends. Email has completely changed that. And I am not sure how I feel about that. At about ten o’clock Thursday night I heard the sound that I have come to dread, “Droid.” That’s the sound my phone mak …
When I was younger, I had a great memory. As a student, I could read something one time and be able to regurgitate it back on an exam. At this point in my life, however, my memory is not the same. I am constantly picking up the phone to make a call and forget who I wanted to call or walking into the pantry of my house to get something and forget wh …
It's Monday, Monday. Let me know what you think about. . .
