Mike, our official farm tour guide, shows Adrian and Graham the property before the boys engage in a little target practice.
Snapshots
Country Weekend Cooking
Have received some sweet and thoughtful Christmas gifts for the farm. This one’s from the wonderful Marissa Cherson, who has worked with me over two years at our PR shop. Marissa, can’t wait to try out some of these recipes…maybe even this weekend. Thank you!
I get by with a little help from my friends.
Like the new look of this blog? I was going for a more country-comfy, less-amateurish feel, while avoiding it all appearing too Blogger-y…too template-y…or too slick. But when I hit a wall with the banner and fonts, and needed to learn how to install code and a widget, Jessica Karp came to my rescue, as usual. Not only is Jessica a super-talented Web designer, she’s one of the coolest chicks I know (and Adrian D’Avanzo thinks so, too). Pay a little visit to jessicakarp.com. Thanks, JK!
Friend & Inspirationalist
Just got back from a few days in New York where the magic of Christmas is spreading fast. Even saw the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center for the first time in my life. Also got to visit with old and new friends, including my former boss from Fleishman-Hillard, Randy Siegel. We spent a fun hour in a Chelsea coffee shop, catching up and talking about our life-and work-philosophies. Randy’s staying in NYC for a few weeks, but he makes his home in Asheville, NC, where he moved several years ago after a successful PR career in Atlanta. Today’s he’s a professional coach and what I call an “inspirationalist,” and a trainer and speaker. He’s also a painter. I’m just glad he’s my still my friend. Here’s an excerpt from Randy’s blog, http://www.buildyourleaders.com/blog/, about the beauty of diversity. ‘Til next time. -C
The Beauty of Diversity. (by Randy Siegel)
Remembering how far we have come. “Some would find this scandalous,” my Southern mother whispered. “What’s that?” I asked innocently.
“A black woman kissing a white man.” Mother, Dad, and I were at the Broadway play “No Strings”; it was the Sixties. Diahann Carroll was the star, and her romantic lead was a white man. While I don’t remember his name, I sure remember Diahann Carroll’s. “She’s so light skinned, you’d never know,” my mother said.
That was my earliest memory of racial prejudice. Years later I would see my prep school be one of Atlanta’s first to integrate, watch my father take down the “Colored” signs on the restrooms at the R.A. Siegel Company, and witness the assassinations of Martin Luther King and John and Robert Kennedy on television.
Today, I am back in New York, an easy subway ride from the Broadway stage where Diahann Carroll performed in “No Strings.” Everywhere I look, I see racial diversity and nowhere have I seen such beautiful children.
I love what I see; it reminds me that we are all one. It also reminds me how far we have come.
Out of the Fast Lane
There are days when I’m so thankful for Facebook. Like the other day when a familiar name popped up on my page–Ellen Alexander, one of my very favorite clients from the big PR agency days. Ellen was a senior executive with MasterCard International and we worked together for a number of years when I was at Fleishman-Hillard. Not only did this mean lots of fun trips to New York City to visit her, but also many adventures across the U.S., a boondoggle to Hawaii, and a 9-day jaunt to Bangkok with Ellen and Robert Kennedy, Jr. (another story for another day). Anyway, thanks to Facebook, we’re now “friends” again and I couldn’t be happier! I always admired her style and her spunk and had such fun when we were together. Just guessing here, but I imagine Ellen’s life today is a far cry from her NYC days. She now lives in upstate New York and is married. She and hubby David, a retired advertising exec who designs one-of-a-kind silver jewelry, have 21 acres, a pond, deer, bears, coyotes and a very cute dog named Sparky. Here are pictures she shared of their place. I hope we’ll have lots of farm and life stories to swap in the future, and I can’t wait to see her again.
