Category: Uncategorized

March 2024   Last month Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow and forecasted that we can expect an early spring. New York City’s Staten Island Chuck, Massachusetts’ Ms. G, and Wisconsin’s Jimmy the Groundhog concurred. That must have brought a sigh of relief to my rain-soaked friends along the west coast, my goosebumped northeastern companions […]

February 2024   In January, Parlay House events around the country were all about burning the trauma we wanted to get rid of from 2023 and writing love letters to ourselves for 2024. Like everyone else, I had plenty of things to burn and set nearly all ablaze. I lit on fire the memories of […]

January 2024   For the last 18 months, I’ve been raising chickens. Keeping in theme with our dog, Mick Jagger, and our two feral barn cats, Jackson Browne and James Taylor, our chickens are named after musicians. We have Lizzo and Miley. Stevie, Taylor, and Aretha. Britney and Dolly. Cher and Tina are Tolbunt Polish […]

December 2023   I love being bi-coastal. The intensity of New York City is the perfect place to live a fast-paced, culture-rich life, and the earthiness of Northern California gives me space to slow down, step back, observe and think. In both of those places, I’ve built meaningful friendships that include people surprising me by […]

November 2023   A lot of what you know about my life comes from these monthly letters, social media posts, our circle of connection, or what you might remember from past times. So you may not know that over the years, my spine has been in slow and painful decline: vertebrae condensing, discs rupturing, and […]

October 2023   If you read my message last month, you may remember that I was celebrating three women who had crossed my path. Each had achieved celebrated success but spoke with rare vulnerability and candor about their mistakes, failures, regrets, and the emotional impact life’s hard lessons had on them. I was inspired by […]

September 2023   I’m not sure whether you’ve heard, but we’ve got a great podcast called Bring a Friend, which will soon release its seventh season. We created it to take the intimate and personal conversations we have as women in the Parlay House community and broaden our reach to include listeners beyond our female, […]

August 2023   When you were a kid, did you ever play the telephone game? Everyone would sit in a circle, and the “caller” would whisper a word or phrase into the ear of the child sitting to the right of them. No repeats allowed… each listener would turn to the next kid and whisper […]

July 2023   Eight years ago, a young woman from Cambodia came into my life through a program that brings female high school graduates from post-genocide countries to the US for their college education. The objective is not only to help them learn, grow, and thrive in the United States during their education but also […]

June 2023   My mom recently told me that when I was five years old and constantly on the move, she and my dad took me to the doctor to make sure nothing was wrong with me. So much energy. So many words. The pediatrician tested me and reassured my parents that I was fine: […]