By: Mary Fran Bontempo Shauna MacKenzie wants you to start your day off right. The founder of Best Kept Self, Shauna gifts her followers with her Monday Morning Pep Talk, available through the Best Kept Self website. It's always a positive, upbeat way to start the week, and I've become an avid viewer. Finally, someone gets that at least for a little while every day, it should be about ME! And you, of [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo This column first appeared last August in Women's Voices Magazine. After recently marrying off two children, helping both move into new houses and helping another daughter move back from Florida, nothing is pretty much all I want to do right now. Read on for more.... So, I belong to this women’s networking group that is full of wonderful women whom I love. They’re smart, accomplished and ambitious. Which is [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"] Megan, me, and Laura at Megan's bridal shower It's wedding week. This weekend, my youngest daughter, Megan, will marry her fiance, Jimmy, and life will change. Yes, it's what is supposed to happen, but that doesn't mean I'm ready. In fact, I'm pretty sure [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo Well, it's that time of year again. Time for women to indulge in the annual ritual of self-loathing known as bathing suit shopping. Bathing suit shopping ranks right up with a woman's favorite things to do--along with the annual visit to the gynecologist and a mammogram. We gear up for it mentally, grit our teeth and just do it, minus the glory of a Nike commercial, choking back the [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo I wrote this piece a number of years ago, but I like to rerun it around Father's Day, because despite the fact that my dad has been gone for twenty years, I still miss him every day. This is for you, Dad, and Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there. My Father's Hands I remember my father’s hands. They were perfect “man” hands, large, rectangular, just [...]
You will not be able to watch this video without smiling, chuckling, and finally, laughing out loud. This little girl knows how to demand respect! It's RESPECT, baby, and don't you forget it! Enjoy this delightful performance and happy Friday! --Mary Fran
By: Mary Fran Bontempo [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"] David sporting some of his daughter Emma's expulsions. My latest post in Women's Voices Magazine celebrates the poop, puke and boogers of childhood. More specifically, it celebrates the fact that today's dads, my son David included, deal with the above with none (okay, maybe [...]
