Wagaliciousness Begins Here!

As I sit here eating yet another Samoa, I remember my single-digit days when I’d don my green uniform, carefully arrange my badge-encrusted sash, and head out to knock on neighbors’ doors, Girl Scout cookie order sheet in hand. There was an iceberg in my stomach and my knees knocked as I pressed the first doorbell, though the fear eventually subsided. The more front doors that were opened by smiling people the smaller the iceberg became, the more stable my knees became, and the more fun I started having, whether those people bought any cookies or not.

I wonder how many successful women started that way. Did you?

This is Girl Scout Week. Not to take anything away from the more testosterone-laden half of society, this week is designed to shine a spotlight on the more than 50 million women who’ve been part of Girl Scouts, plus the girls currently in the program.

Were you part of a scouting program? If so, it’s likely that you grew up learning more leadership skills, better communicatio...

There are people celebrating across America and around the world today. It’s both Global and National Drink Wine Day, and it’s a great reason to look at whatever it is you love from a different vantage point.

We’ll start with wine: people who love wine so much that they’ve made a hobby or a business of it are called oenophiles. It’s a fun word to say – E no file – and it’s fun to see what these people have in common. They love wine so much that they’ve studied and collected it, they travel to the wine regions of the world to learn about its origins, and they learn about food so they can create inspired pairings. Since wine relaxes most people, oenophiles are often pretty laid-back, and since moderate consumption has been touted to create healthier cholesterol levels, maybe they’re even less prone to heart attacks.

What do you love?  

I love dog sports. I’ve owned dogs and shown dogs in conformation, obedience, rally obedience, agility, and so many more sports, and I love the fun of ...

Have you ever heard the phrase “delicious anticipation?” This is one of those times when two words make magic when they get together, because they so perfectly describe something wonderful.

Delicious anticipation – what is it, why do you want it, and how do you get it?

Delicious anticipation was the excitement you had imagining what was in those holiday gifts with ribbons and bright paper and your name on them. Delicious anticipation is the butterflies you feel as you dress for a date with someone you love. Delicious anticipation is the fun you have planning a big vacation. Delicious anticipation is seeing your ideal home in your imagination and knowing that it will be yours one day. Delicious anticipation is you tuning in to your dreams and enjoying the movie of them as it plays inside your head.

Delicious anticipation is when your imagination meets your unfolding life. It’s second nature to some people, and for others it needs to be cultivated and practiced. There’s no right or wr...

Today, let’s talk about hugs. Are you a hugger? I am. Whenever I feel a connection to someone my default is to want to hug them. Not everyone’s a hugger, though, so occasionally the hug impulse has to be squelched.

Why do humans hug? Have you ever wondered about that? Turns out, hugging is addictive behavior. Hugging is also crucial to infants, helping them survive, and hugging is one of the best ways to lower stress in your body.

Hugs feel good. Hugs are good. But how do they constitute “addictive behavior” in humans? Because the act of being in a hug, whether initiating or accepting it, releases dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, which are the natural feel-good chemicals in our bodies. Physical touch, hugs included, triggers the release of endorphins, our bodies’ natural painkillers.

Turns out, we love hugging and being hugged because we love the way it makes us feel. We have an addiction to our own “happy drugs” and hugs satisfy the need to feel accepted, included, and loved. If ...

‘Tis the season that those of us in the northern hemisphere bundle up. And those of us with dogs, especially the small and relatively hairless ones, bundle their dogs up, too. If that’s you today, you have unwittingly celebrated today’s fun holiday – it’s Dress Up Your Pet Day.

I’m not ashamed to admit it – for most of my life I would have scoffed at this holiday, so if you’re rolling your eyes, it’s ok. I have had Siberian Huskies all my adult life, and they’re a breed that needs no bundling up in cold weather. Mother Nature literally designed them to be comfy in arctic conditions. I’ve never bought a coat or sweater for my dogs, and the only time any of them have worn booties is when they were loaned to a friend to run on his sled dog team for the winter. So no, I’m not someone who dresses up her dogs, except maybe at Halloween for a quick photo op.

That is, until I got my current Siberian, Kacey. It was during the pandemic lockdown that she moved from my friend Lisa’s house to min...

Last week a dear friend asked me a question, and I’m going to ask you the same one: do you make New Year’s resolutions?

My answer is no. I’ve been on this planet long enough to have experienced my pattern of good intentions and so-so results when trying to make life changes in the middle of winter, my least-favorite season. What’s your answer?

No matter which side you’re on, Team Resolution or Team Go With the Flow, you’re in good company. About half of Americans make resolutions at the changing of the year, and the rest of us don’t. For those who do, only about 10% will succeed at their stated goal, and the other 90% will tap out this week or next.

Yes, most people who make resolutions give themselves two weeks or less before throwing in the towel. Turns out, the idea of change is much more fun than the reality of instituting that change. When you understand how habits form and are reinforced inside your brain’s architecture, this wave of mass January failure makes perfect sense.

Oh, we human beings cherish endings and beginnings. From baby showers to funerals, housewarmings to homecomings, and of course to the hoopla around the changing of the year, the celebrations for the milestones in our lives show us just how important these events are.

But why?

Many of the traditions around endings and beginnings have been in place for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands of years, and in some cases far more than thousands of years. Around 100,000 years ago humans started intentionally burying their dead. In the century or so BCE, the Romans started celebrating birthdays, though usually only men’s birthdays and then only the big milestones, like 50 and 60 years. In the Renaissance period, families with wealth and nobility began celebrating birthdays amongst themselves. The concept of children’s birthday parties developed in Germany in the 1800’s and the brave new world of consumer products had a fresh itch to scratch. The origins of tonight’s changing-of-the-year fe...

Are you stuffed full of holidays like I am? In the span of six days, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and now Giving Tuesday. It’s been an expensive, exhausting six days for a lot of people!

As the calendar rolls around to the end of another year, this time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve is filled with to-do’s – those you need to do, plus those that others need or want you to do. Especially when it comes to family gatherings, we put a lot of heavy expectations on ourselves. And the music doesn’t help, with holiday songs proclaiming that it’s the most wonderful time of the year, describing idyllic snow scenes, fireplaces, and true love, and of course we can’t forget the poignant longing in songs talking about missing loved ones at the holidays.

I’m not here to remind you of the extra stress you carry this time of year. Nope, as with every issue, this newsletter contains helpful information that’ll make it easier for you to shed the stress and have mor...

Do you have a friend who’s persnickety about the “ethnic correctness” of food? One of mine refuses to go to a very popular Italian restaurant owned by a Middle Eastern man, not because of the man’s ethnicity but because his dishes are fragranced with more than just garlic and basil. She believes that if it’s being called “Italian” then the food needs to be authentically Italian.

Maybe she has a point. Yet she’s missing out on some of the most delicious Italian dishes I’ve ever had, and I lived in Italy for three years of my life.

Maybe you have a friend who hates TexMex food because it’s not authentically Mexican. OK, maybe they have a point, too, like my friend might. Yet if they want to be true to their demand for “ethnic correctness” they need to keep their paws out of the nacho plate, keep their hands off the fajitas, and are not allowed to even think of scooping up any of the cowboy beans. Those are all foods that come from west Texas traditions, inspired by the flavors and cook...

When you were 7 or 8, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a nurse. Nurses were glamorous – they wore white uniforms with matching white shoes and hats, and I was convinced that’s what I’d be. It wasn’t long before I was on to the next thing I wanted to be – a veterinarian, then a pilot, then a performer – and the idea of being a nurse was as over and done with as an outgrown pair of shoes.

Thankfully for us all, real nurses weren’t as mercurial as I was in their pursuit of a career. Thankfully for us all, once they decided on nursing as a profession, they schooled and trained and worked their way into a career that’s probably more like a calling for them than a job. The work is hard, the hours are long, the patients are often surly, and yet they maintain their professional demeanor and take care of their patients, whether those patients are human or companion animal. 

This week is a trifecta of nursing holidays – it’s Pediatric Nurses Week, Emergency Nurses Week,...