By: Chrysa Smith No secret--I love to shop. From the youngest days in elementary school to present day, I think I've always gotten my jollies when I've scored a new, stylish piece of clothing; especially at a great price. No surprise. I'd venture to say most women do. It's just nice to be in style and score something new. But when the credit card statement comes, I cringe just a bit. Even though [...]
By: Chrysa Smith I opened my eyes, turned on the television and saw the usual Sunday morning news about the upcoming NFL Eagles game (well, this was before they crapped out). But it wasn't just a report on the time, the opponent, the stats. It was an interview with several of the hundreds of men; yes grown men, who pack up their kitchens, their housing, their football gear, their heating elements, hot tub [...]
By: Chrysa Smith Oprah Winfrey has said it. Loosely translated, it is something like this: 'If you're a woman born in the United States, you are lucky.' Visually circumnavigating the globe, I would have to agree with her. But I would add that even if born in the US, depending upon the era and your culture, your luck might still run out. Judy Dench wonderfully portrays such drama in Philomena--the story of an [...]
by Chrysa Smith Every Monday afternoon at 2pm, I gather with eight ladies to play tennis. It's a somewhat friendly round of doubles (some friendlier than others), but I digress. The interesting part is that most of these ladies have at least 15 or more years on me and have been playing together for maybe as long. I'm the newbie---literally. At first, I wasn't sure about this whole venture. I'm just not sure [...]
By: Chrysa Smith Have you gone out with hack saw in hand and cut down an Evergreen tree? Have you hauled it into your home, scratching up the walls, dropping needles that you'll not find until spring? Have you untangled the strings of lights, hooked all the balls and hung them perfectly on the dry branches? Ah, Merry Christmas. It's kinda weird that we bring a tree into our homes to celebrate a [...]
By: Chrysa Smith What do you do with a life-size human raised as an elf? Not really sure. Actually nobody is. And this conundrum is exactly the jumping off point that begins the Broadway musical Elf. Buddy the Elf just doesn't fit in---literally. Not only is he large in scale, he just doesn't have the elf gene that allows for record toy production. So when the big guy in the red suit lets [...]
By: Chrysa Smith Every so often you have one of those days. Not only does everything go smoothly, but it feels right. The atmosphere. The mood. The entire karma, fung shei, aura and all that jazz. I don't know about you, but this is only a once in awhile occurrence in my life (like last year, when MaryFran and I hit the streets of NYC and scored cheapo tickets to the Radio City [...]
