By Boston Skirt, Tuesday, March 09, 2010, 0 comments
Who has time these days to work a 9 to 5 job, get the kids to all their activities, go to the gym AND prepare healthy and delicious meals? While we can't help you with your work schedule or fitness routine, with the aid of Personally Prepared by Susan, home cooked meals, kitchen organization and a fully stocked fridge are all taken care of. For busy moms on the go, Susan Goldstein offers her services in order to make life less stressful, by personally cooking and baking exactly what you want, customized to your family's tas
When we were engaged to be married, back in the halcyon days of early 2001, my husband and I participated in an elaborate mating ritual that has taken hold deep within American culture. We registered for gifts. Daily cutlery, heavy silver forks, All-Clad pots in several different sizes, formal china for all those state dinners we would be serving, gravy boats, nesting mixing bowls and a much-longed-for salad spinner that retailed for $25.99. Among this orgy of conspicuous consumption was a set of everyday dinnerware from Villeroy and Boch.
The palm reader giggled as he ran a finger over my hand. “You’ll be poor and you’ll be rich, but you’ll always be bad with money. Fortunately, you’ll also always have someone to take care of you.” I rolled my eyes. I just wasn’t that kind of girl.
We were waitresses, all of us, with different stash spots for tips. Mine was a tattered old envelope in my underwear drawer. I kept the amount written on the front, scratched out and rewritten over and over, to keep myself in the know and to protect from unlikely thievery.
I got my first clue things were shifting when they changed the name of the Personnel Department to Human Resources. That title brought to mind bodies wearing pressed suits and hanging from huge hooks, cycling around on a motorized rack like the one in the dry cleaners. A neat filing system, it displayed unlimited selections to replace the used-up models that had been piled into the roll-off dumpster in the alley. My second clue arrived the morning after the merger papers were signed.
What does a life cost? In 1987, I knew exactly: $150,000. One of my major responsibilities as a hospital department manager was obtaining authorization from insurance companies for bone marrow transplantations. The insurance companies had an equally fierce responsibility to try to deny them. With the help of the oncologists and hematologists I worked for, I wrangled by telephone and mail with authorization specialists for months on end.
By Skirt.com, Tuesday, February 02, 2010, 0 comments
So your BFF just had a baby, your boss is in the hospital or someone you know just dealt with the loss of a loved one—it's time for the troops to rally around the kitchen and whip up some casseroles and comfort foods. Enter TakeThemAMeal.com.
The task of coordinating a meal schedule for caring cooks who want to help can be overwhelming for the family involved. This site is an amazing tool for everyone to fill out what and when they're delivering dishes and notifies the recipient as well.
Leave it to a group of women to invent this brilliant take-care-tool.
By Skirt.com, Monday, February 01, 2010, 0 comments
Autumn Van Gunten and Cedric Smith met online and had a near-immediate connection. The only problem? Autumn lived in Savannah, Cedric, in Atlanta. Luckily, Cedric is a full-time artist; his flexible schedule made it easy for him to get to Savannah to meet Autumn, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Autumn: “Each day I feel so blessed to have him in my life. He’s incredibly honest. He says what he means and he means what he says. He’s really creative. He’s really pushed me to find my creative side. He’s incredibly giving, definitely the most giving person I’ve ever met. Period.”
Cedric: “The people’s person she is, that’s a turn-on. The thing is, I like that about her. I like the sauciness about her. It’s almost like two peas in a pod, really. In so many ways we’re so much alike.”
By Skirt.com, Monday, February 01, 2010, 0 comments
Jade and Matthew McCully met in college at an art gallery—but fate intervened, and they kept running into each other. This year, they’ll celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary, which is especially remarkable considering that they not only live together, but they work together, too. Matthew, an architect by trade, started out helping Jade, a photographer, get her business (Jade McCully Photography) off the ground, working as her second shooter for weddings and events. They worked together so well that Jade decided to make it official: now Matthew is her husband and full-time employee.
Jade: “He’s honest, and would do anything for anyone at any time. A big factor is that he cooks, so I love that about him. I can always count on him and he is always there to, like, I guess, lift me up or make me feel special.”
Matthew: “I’m a very serious person and Jade has a very light and airy personality. She makes me laugh; gives joy to my life.”
By Skirt.com, Monday, February 01, 2010, 0 comments
Mikaela Green and Peter Marra first met when Mikaela scored an unpaid internship at his workplace; they had a good time chatting over lunch. “He was the first person I saw when I walked in the door,” says Mikaela.
Mikaela: “I think most importantly I love his sense of humor and just, his confidence, and his ambition. Once we started dating and getting to know each other better, I was attracted to his honesty and his personality as a whole. He’s extremely trustworthy and caring; he’s just a great guy all around.”
Peter: “Mikaela is always willing to do anything for me or to help me out. Over time, I’ve kind of learned to realize that that’s a good thing, to be able to rely on someone. I think she helped me kind of open up in that regard.”
