After COVID-19 forced our in-person bourbon tasting event to be rescheduled, my BFF – Bourbon Friend Forever – Justin and I decided to hold a virtual version. Same goal: Raise money for a great local non-profit, My Possibilities. Same fun idea: Introduce people to bourbon. Here’s what we changed – once people showed us they’d […]
Friendship
Operation Poppy Seed Bread
No one can resist my Grandma Osborne’s poppy seed bread. I can’t – I even figured out how to make it while living in Kenya, where I didn’t have access to any American convenience products. Our coworkers a nearly decade ago couldn’t resist it. That’s why I decided this year was the year to once […]
A Different Sort of Hayley Party
We didn’t throw a party at our house – instead we hosted at one of our favorite local restaurants. So many friends joined us for the afternoon, from church, running and a host of jobs over the years. We are blessed indeed.
The Island of Misfit But Perfectly Suited Toys – Or Redeeming Christmas Dinner
You can’t really blame life for ruining Christmas. But nevertheless, life events certainly risked ruining Christmas – travel for family funerals meant missing other previously scheduled family events. It is, as they say, what it is. Our solution? Invite good friends over for a Christmas meal. We split the cooking and had a veritable feast […]
Social Self-Censorship
If I was a “normal” person, I’d write more on this blog about things that really matter. That “normal” person existed a year ago. Before I started working for the City. Before “It’s a Little Plano” madness swept the interwebs. Before I people whom I don’t know follow and engage with me on Twitter and […]
Traveling Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail (Part 2)
We were determined people – no snow storm would keep us from finishing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail this year. Because we were in the area in the spring (again – this time for the Nashville full/half marathon), we headed back to Kentucky to pick up what we’d missed in January. Stop One: Corsair Distillery We […]
Mentoring
For what felt like forever, I was afraid of being a mentor. I didn’t know enough. My career didn’t have enough awards marking the journey. The world didn’t know my name. At some point, I realized that a mentor is simpy someone who has been on the journey longer. Every experience leads to wisdom (be […]
Just Say It
The last couple of weeks have been difficult. I lost a friend/former coworker/protege, along with her husband, in a tragic accident. And honestly, I didn’t know what to say about how I felt, so I said nothing. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that silence is an acceptable response when words are inadequate. As a […]
Good to Remember
One thing my team is working on learning is that failure can be a good thing. We learn by failing, just as we learn to walk by taking tentative steps and falling. Only through the process of taking a chance – as bubble wrapped as we can make it – can we learn what does […]