"I use 'broad' as a moniker of respect for a woman who knows how to throw a mean right." - James Wolcott
"Conversation is the art of never appearing a bore, of knowing how to say everything interestingly, to entertain with no matter what, to be charming with nothing at all." - Guy de Maupassant
"Etiquette is for those without manners, in the same way that fashion is for those without style." - Coco Chanel
"To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming." - Greg Clarke
“You will accomplish more in two months if you develop a sincere interest in two people, than you will ever accomplish in two years desperately trying to get two people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie
“Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.” - William A. Ward
“I think to be truly elegant, you must be comfortable, because comfort comes from confidence and confidence is the base of style.” - Charlotte Moss
Sometimes, you can tell a lot about a woman just by her reaction. For instance, I ran into one of my girlfriends at the grocery store the week between Christmas and New Years last year.
After commiserating about the fact that we were both so “over” the holidays, our conversation inevitably turned toward food.
“I feel like I’ve gained 10 lbs.” my friend confided.
“I know how you feel,” I responded. “My backside hasn’t seen the inside of the gym in over a week.”
My friend gasped and threw her hand over her mouth as if I’d just told her that I’d killed her cat. [Read more →]
My very first experience as a waitress was a disaster. To make money so I wouldn’t have to sleep in a van during spring break, I’d taken a job at a quaint, little restaurant in colonial Williamsburg my senior year in college. I’d worked in foodservice before, but never waiting tables.
The restaurant’s owner put his teenage daughter on the task of training me in the ways of being a good waitress, but unfortunately, the one thing that little girl failed to tell me was that when you take one bloody mary off the tray, you’d better be balancing the remaining bloody mary appropriately.
I know what you’re thinking…balancing a tall glass of red liquid with a celery stalk on a tray isn’t rocket science. Well, I don’t think I ever showed my pretty, little mug inside the science building while I was in school. I was a business major, and we’re not always the sharpest tools in the shed.
So, as I approached my first table, I proceeded to spill a bloody mary all over a sweet, little tourist wearing nothing but white. [Read more →]
Isn’t it amazing how a beautiful child can stop us in our tracks? Last spring, I volunteered at my son’s school and while I was surrounded by twenty-five rambunctious 3rd graders, my eyes were drawn to one gorgeous 8-year-old girl. A child who no doubt elicits a similar reaction in most adults and probably gets told how pretty she is on a fairly regular basis.
Admittedly, my eyes weren’t drawn to the awkward little girl with tangled hair and glasses. No, they were drawn to her tall, slender friend with great coloring and perfect bone structure. And honestly, I didn’t feel very good about that.
But it’s natural for us to be enamored by beauty (even in a child). We’re human and human beings are aesthetic creatures. We love all things beautiful…beautiful art, beautiful homes, and beautiful sunsets.
Even so, how many boring, self-absorbed, beautiful women have you met? Well, I’ve met lots and with most of them, it almost seems as if their personality was never fully developed. Why? Maybe because their beauty generated enough interest from others so there was never a need to be more than a pretty face (because let’s face it…being attractive can be pretty lucrative).
Now, Cool Broads can absolutely be beautiful, but they are most definitely NOT BORING. [Read more →]
“According to research out of the University of Ghent in Belgium, our brain cells light up in positive ways when we gossip, or tune into tabloids. Gossip is an instant stimulator of endorphins, so when the dirt gets dished, we’re happy campers.”*
But does that make gossiping okay?
Even though my disdain with gals who gossip is well documented (check out the following Cool Broad rules here, here, and here), I was intrigued by the premise that we’re naturally predisposed to gossip. Also, I was struck by the fact that when I looked up the word gossip in the dictionary, the definition didn’t capture the mean-spirited or potentially destructive nature that spreading a salacious story often has.
Gossip: idle talk or rumor, especially about the private affairs of others.
And then this weekend, I found myself breaking one of my most important rules: Cool Broads don’t gossip.
Sometimes, you can tell a lot about a woman just by her reaction. For instance, I ran into one of my girlfriends at the grocery store the week between Christmas and New Years last year. 
