Hello friends! Long time no see!

It’s been a little over 3 three months since I began my going-back-to-work adventure after 9 years at home with kids and I have to say, I miss spending time with my Cool Broads!

I’m home with a sick 5 year-old this morning and as I attempt to do a little “work” and put out a few fires remotely, I find myself wanting to catch up on a little bloggin’ instead.

It’s so quiet in the house right now…I’m kind of missing my old SAHM days.

All in all, the job is going pretty well. We’ve fallen into a routine that so far seems workable, the fact that I’m employed in a struggling economy makes me thankful, and the longest the dog has gone without food is 48 hours (not too bad).

I am, however, working on carving out a little extra time in my workday to post my observations regarding Cool Broadism in the workplace, and believe you me, I’ve got plenty of fodder.

But one thing I’ve learned, the Cool Broad work ethic isn’t gender specific. Both men and women can exhibit qualities associated with being a Cool Broad. And both men and women can seriously lack those qualities as well.

For instance, there’s the 24 year-old who loves to bemoan the fact that she’s “getting soooo old” whenever she’s around me.

There’s the CEO who, once I’d completed a branding strategy presentation that took 4 weeks to put together, looked at my boss and said, “Is she kidding?”

And then there’s the co-worker, who decided to tell the CFO, a VP, and various other high level managers that I’d seriously screwed up a major piece of data, without considering that a quick phone call to discuss the issue with me before making a public declaration that the sky is falling, might have been a better way to go.

Oh, and by the way, the data was perfect.

So, as you can see, our work is never done.

That Cool Broad must never die.

Until next time…or until I get Dooced, whichever comes first!

~tcb

The beginning of a New Year is always exciting. For me, there’s a magical sense that anything is possible; whether it’s learning how to play that instrument you’ve always wanted to play or it’s striving for a better job or a healthier self.

At the same time, the act of bidding farewell to the old year is an effective and symbolic way to shed the old, crusty baggage we’ve accumulated over the past twelve months and make ourselves new again.

And if you’re lucky enough to have a few days off at the end of the year, it’s a great time to relax, recharge, and reorganize and then come Monday, hit the ground running with a renewed sense of optimism for the future.

This time last year, my husband had just given me a MacBook for Christmas and within a week I’d decided to launch a blog. I can still feel the excitement as the possibilities swirled in my head and I feverishly designed my new website. And even though I temporarily morphed into an obsessed techie and my personal hygiene took a hit, the ability to create something and immediately expose it to thousands of people made the temporary lapse worth it.

That Cool Broad has been a wonderfully creative outlet for me and it also allowed me to (hopefully) provide value and humor to people who somehow found their way to my blog and then decided it was worth sticking around.

My articles were regularly featured on Yahoo’s Shine website and in June, I was selected by Skirt! Magazine to be their featured Muse of the Month. One of my posts even made it to the front page of iVillage.com! Needless to say, it’s been an exciting ride and I can’t express how much I appreciate every single comment you’ve left in response to my posts and all of the kind words of support you’ve pitched my way.

I can honestly say that I’ve learned so much about myself as a person, a woman, and a writer this past year and I hope that I’ve inspired the same in you. There aren’t many things more satisfying than the feeling you get when someone tells you that one of your articles spoke to them (or at least made them laugh). There’s a real sense of connection when that happens, and that feeling can sometimes be hard to attain in the “real world”.

And though I fully intend to continue to chronicle my quest to become “that cool broad”, my posts will probably be a bit scarcer. Why? Well, this old broad has decided to go back to work.

That’s right…after 9 years at home with two Legos-obsessed, sometimes smelly, always dear little boys, I’ve decided to plunge back into the working world. The transition from a stay-at-home-mom to a mom-working-full-time will no doubt be a challenging one (for me, for my boys, and for my husband). But for now, my excitement is eclipsing any hesitations.

So, in order to focus on making this new opportunity work, I’ll have to let That Cool Broad simmer on the back burner for now.

But rest assured, I’m POSITIVE that my experiences in corporate America will provide plenty of fodder for future articles as I’ll no doubt attempt to transform myself into the Coolest Working Broad out there (any suggestions would be greatly appreciated).

Have a wonderful New Year!

~tcb

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!

I hope you’re finding (a little) time to relax and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the holidays. This time of year is so magical and I always look forward to taking time to hunker down, light a fire, read a book, and recharge.

If you’re like many people and have more than one holiday party to attend this year, take a look at this Holiday Guest Behavior Guide on RealSimple.com.

“What’s the code of behavior for an open house, a weekend at your in-laws’, or a New Year’s Eve bash? What should you bring? How should you dress? What should you do? In the case of an open house, skip flowers and give your hostess a potted plant instead. Make sure you RSVP to even the most casual affair. And dress in layers—as more people crowd into a room, it can rapidly overheat. Find more tips (when to arrive, when to leave, how to follow up, and more) for these and other holiday scenarios by clicking here.”

I found this article to be a great refresher because as Cool Broads, we really already know this stuff…right?

Enjoy!

~tcb

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Kim Sisto Robinson.

All right gals, here’s the dilemma. Half of us are wearing the wrong size bra. That’s right. We’re sauntering around town with sagging, wobbling, drooping boobies and let me tell you…it’s not a pretty sight. Women in America are swinging their ta-tas from side to side like old elephant trunks and it has officially become a crisis situation.

On a recent (repeated) Oprah episode, bra expert, Susan Nethero stated that 8 out of 10 women are wearing the wrong bra size.

What?

“Not only can the right bra eliminate sagging, it can make you appear slimmer and take years off your look,” Nethero says.

One can imagine, after this particular episode, bra stores were swamped with women desperately trying to elevate their shortcomings. Just the words “slimmer” and “years off” will do it for most women (i.e., me). [Read more →]

A few years ago I told my husband that if he ever bought me a minivan, I would personally remove his spleen. There wasn’t any way I was going to be caught dead driving one of those big, ugly, soccer-mom standard-issue, vehicles. Two years later I found myself spending all my free time trying to convince him to buy me one.

When he finally acquiesced, we plopped down the money and picked out the one with the built in sunshades for the baby, the back windows that rolled down and a killer DVD player (which the kids can be watching with headphones in the back while my husband and I jam to tunes in the front – how great is that?).

Later that day, I drove my new, shiny, silver Odyssey into the driveway for the first time (take note that we lived in a neighborhood that prided itself on being hip). As we pulled in, one of our neighbors happened to be jogging by. Upon seeing us, he let out a throaty “Boooooooooo”, and then continued to run down the street. I got a similar response from one of my friends who when told we had just purchased a minivan, responded incredulously, “You did not.” [Read more →]