Joy Phenix's Blog

In my office building is a woman who is about my age and is the consummate fashion plate. She’s always sporting the best shoes (a Tory Burch wedge with peep toes is my current favorite), a hip bag, and perfectly tasteful jewelry.  She has an air of self assurance that I appreciate and a fashion [...]

When I think about people who worry A LOT, one friend of mine (let’s call him “Sam”) comes immediately to mind.  He worries about anything and everything. You know the type.  If there’s anything one can imagine going wrong, Sam has thought about it and built a contingency plan for it.  He is the target [...]

A week or so ago, I had a day trip to the Northeast, and I spent my work hours schlepping through airports, riding in taxis, and making my meetings “just in time.”  When I finally dragged myself in the door at home, I felt like I had logged a pretty productive day and was largely [...]

Have you ever heard this saying? “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” This ancient Proverb is one that I find more than a little challenging. I don’t know about you, but I’m not good at overlooking offenses.  I’ve never been a terribly patient person, and I [...]

If you’ve been routed through or stopped in the LA airport in the past 3-4 years, you’ve probably noticed that the place is stuck in seemingly endless construction.  The work isn’t about a new coat of paint or replacing a tired escalator – there’s something major happening there.  The work is extensive enough to cause [...]

“You can overcome anything if you don’t bellyache.”  ~Bernard M. Baruch We started giving our kids “jobs” pretty early in their young lives so they would get used to helping make our home run efficiently. Our son works in a steel manufacturing plant, and our daughter raises cattle. Kidding. Still, each of our kids has [...]

You don’t have to know much about soccer to enjoy attending a kid’s game.  Saturday mornings in the fall seems to bring out the best in us all, with groups of kids chasing around a black and white ball with reckless abandon.  The younger they are, the greater the entertainment in the soccer pack. I [...]

“Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.”  (Samuel Johnson)   Aside from making me laugh, this video got me thinking about how ridiculous it is to live in a world of imitations.  An African bullfrog isn’t exactly an easy push-over in the amphibian world.  The males can [...]

One of my all-time favorite poems was written by a nun.  Kind of.  OK.  She’s not really a nun. However, since I was a kid watching The Sound of Music every Thanksgiving, I can’t help but think about the actress who plays the particularly stern nun from the film.  Her name is Portia Nelson (on [...]

“In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.”   – John Ruskin Early in my career I had a boss who pulled me aside after a convention to tell me that a particular dress that I had worn during the convention was a little “too short” and had generated comments from other women [...]