Books Make Great Gifts

'Twas the week before Christmas and the last thing you feel like doing is shopping for gifts. So here is my list of suggestions that in most cases with free shipping and expedited delivery you can order from the comfort of your home while sipping a glass of wine, baking cookies and watching your favorite holiday movie classic. (note: these gifts also work if your holiday season is Hanukkah or Kwanzaa)

You'll notice that they are all books. Yes, books make great gifts. You can give the good old fashioned kind printed on paper or gift an e-version to the person in your life who reads electronically. Note that the option for e-gifting on Amazon works for iPad readers as well that have a Kindle app. You'll also notice that this is not as self-serving as it might seem. Yes, I suggest The Secrets They Kept for the fiction lover in your life,  but I also have others to share. I really do believe books make great gifts. These are a few of my favorites, all of which I am proud to say have a spot on my bookshelf. 


Shoe Are You
for the shoe lover 
This delightful book, complete with illustration, is the first of its kind, offering  advice for your life, your wardrobe and career -- all based on your footwear. If you are a stiletto girl, ballet flat girl, cowboy boot girl or even a barefoot girl, you will find out what your shoes say about you. Written by shoe expert and TV personality Meghan Cleary.


Using the Power of Pleasure To Have Your Way in the World
for the woman who is looking for more pleasure, every day, every where
Relationship expert Regena Thomashauer teaches the "womanly arts" of identifying your desires, having fun no matter where you are, owning sensual pleasure, befriending your inner bitch, and flirting. It's no secret that this book changed my life.


No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power
for the woman who wants to know not just how to make change, but why it is needed
More on women and power, this time from feminist icon Gloria Feldt. What I love about this is not just the very useful tools she shares but the historical perspective and anecdotes that point to the elephant in the room that too many pretend doesn't exist anymore, that as far as we have come, inequality for women still exists.


Secrets of Six-Figure Women
for the woman who is looking to create a new world order around her finances
Yes, I seem a bit obsessed with secrets. I also have a bit of an obsession for the wisdom of financial expert  Barbara Stanny. This is is just one of her many books in which she helps women develop a better relationship with their money. This one gives you the skinny on what the high earning women she interviewed know that you don't.


The Secret Pleasures of Menopause
for the woman who is near or at "that age" and is looking for the rainbow
There is that secret thing again, not to mention pleasure. Mmm. Is there a theme here? I digress.  I realize that for some of you the idea that menopause might bring anything more than hot flashes seems like a very cruel joke. But joke it is not. Dr. Christiane Northrup will show you that this can indeed be the best time of your life. Also by the enlightened and brilliant Dr. Northrup, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, and The Wisdom of Menopause.


Testing for Kindergarten
for the mother of young children in your life
First, let's set the record straight. This is not just a book that will help you get your child into private school. Karen Quinn has written a primer that every parent should read on how to make learning fun for your kids. And when learning is fun, those school applications, from kindergarten to college will be a lot easier to take.


The Secrets They Kept
for the fiction lover looking to discover new writing voices
Can you blame me for inserting one more self-serving plug here before I wrap this up? This engaging story about the long kept secrets of a Greek-American family has been called "a true page turner", "an excellent debut novel", "a telling lesson in honesty, or how the lack of it can disrupt our entire lives", " a roller coaster ride of intrigue" and a  story in which "Women-strong women- take center stage....distinguishing it from your run of mill novel." 


In closing and in full disclosure I have the distinct honor and yes, pleasure of knowing each of these authors on a first name basis. Each has contributed to my personal journey over the last several years. Their wisdom has added to my wisdom. And that is the greatest gift of all. 




What's your favorite book to give as a gift?

San Diego Stories

Once upon a time in a world long, long ago I traveled for work. In the days before 9/11 it was fun, but never quite as glamorous as it looked from the outside. I attended meetings and conferences in almost every major city in the continental US. I learned how to navigate to get upgrades on seats. I amused myself by checking to see what  price Starbucks charged for my tall coffee in cities other than New York. But I never learned how to eliminate jet lag. Jet laggggggg. That thing that happens when you switch time zones and almost always is worse flying West to East.

So in my feeble attempt to rise above it I am going to blog just to catch up and tell you where I've been and what I've been up to.

The place was San Diego. The conference was BlogHer11. If you are not familiar BlogHer is a network of women bloggers founded in 2005 by Lisa Stone, Jory Des Jardins and Elisa Camahort Page. In six years the network now reaches 26 million women bloggers. Their growth is extraordinary.

The numbers seem to vary as to exactly how many flooded the San Diego Convention Center this year but it seems to be hovering around the 3000 mark. Yes, 3000. For those not convinced bloggers clout is sought after and growing one needed only to walk the Expo floor crowded with companies hawking samples and swag from Lindt chocolate to Scrubbing Bubbles to be convinced otherwise.  BlogHer's tribe is not just mommy bloggers and openly claims to want to push past that image, but the truth is what I saw was still predominately mommy bloggers. As we know, a mommy blogger I am not. Still I found my peeps and I got to mingle and listen to a number of very cool women on the agenda.

My highlights:

• Gretchen Rubin moderating a panel that included Brene Brown. If you have not seen Brene Brown check out her TED talk. She'll win you over and yes she is everything and more in person.
• The Hufffington Post women panel, led by Lori Leibovich including but not limited to Agapi Stassinopoulos (you know I love Greek wisdom!) and Janice Min, the woman who turned around the Hollywood Reporter.
• Getting to see what Emily McKhann of The Motherhood and the other members of One Mom Can Make a Difference did on their trip to Kenya at a special showing of the feature ABC News produced. 
• Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico's Keynote. Can I just say corporate America needs more women at the helm like her? Of course I can! This is my blog!  Indra was so powerful she may warrant me writing a blog devoted to just her.

In between I got to dine with new friends Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct and Rebecca Rivera of Digitas, chat with Lisen Stromberg of PrismWork and rejoice with Colette Martin of the impending publication of her first book on learning to eat allergy free. I even managed to squeeze in cocktails with my cousin, her husband and their friends who just happened to be in San Diego. My big fat Greek family is everywhere!

Best of all was being surrounded by my good friends Karen Quinn of TestingMom and Nancy Moon of MoonPR (If you are looking for THE best in PR, hire Nancy!) Together we managed to add seeing Blood, Sweat and Tears into the program and a jaunt to LaJolla.

After that the next best part was that for two and half days of the conference I got to practice saying out loud that The Secrets They Kept, my novel, will be published and available for sale in September. It's getting easier, but the nausea remains even though the jet lag is waning. And as for the price of Starbucks at the San Diego Marriott, $2.69 for a tall coffee!  Incredible but true, some things are cheaper in NYC!

Morning walks at the San Diego Pier..you just never know who you will run into!

Never Too Old For Adventure!

One of my pet peeves is when people tell me they are too old for something. Too old to learn to ski, to stay out past midnight, to fall in love, to change jobs, to lose weight, to get in shape, to wear a bikini, to have wild, crazy sex.

Back when I was selling, if a prospective client said they really liked our station but they just didn't have the money, we knew we had not uncovered the real objection. Buying is never about having the money. If you really want something, whether it is an ad schedule on the station or a new pair of Cole Han boots, you'll find the money.

I say the same thing holds true for using age as a reason not to do something. If your choice is not to do it, give me the real reason. Maybe you're too scared, maybe you're afraid you'll fail,  but don't tell me you're too old.

And if you need a little proof let me introduce you to  Shari Nedler. Shari is the mom of my friend Karen Quinn, author and founder of Testing Mom. Right now Shari is off on a cruise around the world. By herself!  In fact as of today she is somewhere in Tasmania.

How old is Shari? As a girlfriend of mine who grew up in Alabama used to tell me, a true Southern woman never tells her real age,  so we'll pretend Shari is a southern girl. Suffice it to say, if she is old enough to be Karen's Mom, she is old enough to be mine and that qualifies as not as young as we all used to be.

But I digress. Shari had planned this trip with her boyfriend Marvin, a man she met after Karen's Dad passed away. They set sail over a year ago and not too far into the trip Marvin got sick. They had to go home and not long after Marvin passed away.

Shari initially had no intentions of taking this cruise again, much less traveling by herself. But she had what  I like to call a lot of appetite. That desire won over those, including herself who might have said she was too old to be taking a cruise around the world by herself.

Although she's not really alone. Karen and her brothers are joining her at selected ports. And Shari is blogging her adventures. If you'd like to keep up with Shari you can subscribe to her blog through RSS. She'll remind you everyday that you are never too old, for anything, especially adventures!


Do you think you are too old to do something? 
Or do you defy what others say and not let age stop you? 

The Cheering Squad

I have a cheering squad. We are a  group of seven women who meet on the phone every other week for an hour. We brag about our stuff. We talk about what we want to create next. We coach each other. We acknowledge each other. Often there is laughter, sometimes tears. We hold a safe space for our desires to manifest.

This week we met in person, a rare treat since we don't all live in NYC. But one of our out of town members happened to be visiting so there was reason. We had lunch as an appetizer before we did our thing.

Sometimes I get nervous anticipating my turn. You see I am ready for my BIG brag. You know the one where I have my book deal signed, sealed and delivered. But I don't have that brag  yet. And  all my others seem to pale in comparison. At least in my mind.

I had all sorts of knots twisting and turning in my stomach as I listened to the others go before me. There were BIG brags going down. My friend Karen's new game is out. One of our other members was just named VP of a major broadcast network. My brags, the ones I had planned on sharing seemed to be getting smaller and smaller until they shriveled up and disappeared into the ether. If I could have run out of the room I might have.

But that is not how being a member of a cheering squad works. It's about showing up and pushing past. It's about acknowledging not just the others on the squad but yourself. I knew if I could just  manage to remember one tiny one, the others would follow.

So I stayed. I took my turn. I remembered the article that was just published in ForbesWoman. I remembered that a powerful woman's group like 85Broads tweets how much they love my posts and opinions and cites me as an expert in career and professional advice. I remembered the offers I have received to guest blog on other women's sites like Endless Beauty.

I got to see the smiles from my cheering squad, not just hear them. I saw me through their acknowledging eyes instead of my critical ones. I heard their offers of support. I felt their love. And I remembered what I had forgotten.

We need to take a moment and brag. We cannot overlook the little stuff on the way to the big stuff. It all matters.  Each accomplishment, each signpost, is a step closer. We need to give cheer and we need to allow ourselves to receive it. We are not here to do this alone. We need our cheering squad.


Do you have a cheering squad?
Do you acknowledge yourself for your little steps?
Or do you wait for the big ones before you give yourself credit?

Tales of Reinvention: Karen Quinn

Karen Nedler Quinn is another of the growing group of Corporate Expatriates. Karen's first novel, The Ivy Chronicles was published in January 2005. That was followed by three more, Wife in the Fast Lane, Holly Would Dream and The Sister Diaries.  This July is the debut of Karen's first work of non-fiction, Testing for Kindergarten. I had the opportunity to sit down recently and ask Karen a few questions about her latest project as well as the process of Reinvention.

Sometimes we choose to reinvent and sometimes it chooses us.  You've been reinventing for a while now. What was the defining moment that made you take this turn towards non fiction?
Testing for Kindergarten was unfinished business. When my son Sam was three we discovered that his problems in school were not due to capability but to an ear problem. He could not hear properly. He did terribly on his IQ test and we were told he would never get into private school. Fortunately for us my mother had a PhD in Early Childhood Education and knew what to do. She was able to give me exercises to work with Sam every night. A year later he took the test again and got the highest score in the class!

That experience inspired me to co found Smart City Kids, a company dedicated to improving every child's chance of acceptance to the school of their choice. I left Smart City Kids  and used my experience with Sam to write my first novel, The Ivy Chronicles. But always in the back of my mind I wanted to take what I had learned and make this information available to other parents. The resources I write about are more than just prepping for a test, they are about getting your child ready for Kindergarten.

Where did you get the idea for the board game for Testing for Kindergarten?
I had a desire to create a workbook to go with the book. However my publisher was not ready to commit to that so I came up with the idea of a board game. I wanted to make this a fun learning experience for kids. I took all the things Sam loved when I was working with him  and made it into play. It's an IQ Fun Park complete with the beach, the farm, the toy store and space babies.

Is there an on line or video version?
I get that question alot and the answer is no. Part of what makes this work is the time a parent takes with their child plus you cannot assess IQ without hearing a child talk.

How has your work experience and education prepared you for this?
It actually inspired it. I tutored children at one time, although I do not recommend tutors. I think it puts too much stress on the child.

What has been the biggest surprise concerning your reinvention?
The biggest surprise is that I am still reinventing. Smart City Kids was the first phase which took me to The Ivy Chronicles. I thought being a novelist was it, but the reinvention just never stops.

What has come the easiest for you?
The gift of leaving Corporate America is that I get to pursue projects I am truly, passionately interested in. That's the easiest. This book was easy, because I was in my pleasure the whole time.

Do you have any regrets?
Only ones that have to do with buying New York real estate!

What do you love the most?
That every morning I do not have to take a subway or drive to an office. I waste no time in commuting and I don't have to get dressed up every day.

What do you miss the most?
A regular paycheck. That everything I do depends on me. I miss having people around to talk to although I do not miss the politics.

What are you most proud of?
That I turned myself into someone I never expected or thought I could be. I never thought my novels would be considered for movies. I surprise myself with all the cool things I get to do and discover all the things I never knew I could do. It's fun to recreate.

What advice would you give to others contemplating shaking up their lives?
If you have an idea, just sit down and do it. Even if you don't know how, don't think, just do the work. If you're still working full time and only have an hour a day, use it. Create a community of like minded people. Attitude is very important. You need to surround yourself with your cheerleaders.

Testing for Kindergarten is available today. The game version would be out next month. Karen invites parents of young children to come to her website and sign up to get a free test prep Question delivered to their email boxes every day and/or sign up to follow her new blog, The Baby Ivy Chronicles.
You can follow Karen on Twitter at http://twitter.com/karenquinnnyc.

Note: In the interest of full disclosure Karen Quinn and I are members of the same community of six cheerleaders. We  check in on each other formally once every two weeks and never hesitate to reach out for an emergency 911.  Karen's path inspires my own. I am very excited for her newest project to hit the marketplace!