Whiskey Slaps and the Devil — How a Story Catches Fire

“Have we told y’all the story about The Devil?” It was late night around a bonfire somewhere in the mountains of Colorado. The stars were bright and beautiful overhead in the clear spring chill. We were sharing beers and barbecue with a U-shaped knot of burly men in flannels, stained hoodies, big boots, and well-loved […]

Go Be Happy: You Don’t Owe Anyone a Vulnerability Tax!

I’ve been struggling to articulate this for a while now, so here goes: I left a lot of things behind last year, as I think most of us did. Some less-than-fab relationships. About 20 pounds of (donated) shoes and clothes. A bunch of business books I never wound up reading, and always felt twistingly guilty […]

Jealous Much? What Envy Can Teach You

We were about a month into quarantine when the trouble started. Almost overnight, our beloved tuxedo cat Ham (normally such a good-natured floof that he’s earned himself the nickname “The Big Sweet Boi”) started doing his business… outside of the litter box. More specifically: he started peeing all over my stuff. My backpack. My chair. […]

Entrepreneurs: Show Us Your Secrets

I spent last weekend at the glorious second annual Failure Ball, put on by the legendary Jess Manuszak herself. It was a fabulous evening, full of fun, flop stories, great food, and everyone’s finest eleganza (and I was honored to co-host as the Resident Extrovert. You can catch my lil’ outfit reveal here, and a […]

Staring: Is It Really Rude, Or a Secret to Success?

So basically: most birds hate me. That’s not an exaggeration. I could regale you at length with bizarre stories of every bird I’ve ever held sinking its beak into my hand at some point. Or about that time a scarlet macaw absolutely lost its ish on its perch at Petsmart as I approached, doing flips […]