Winter Book Recommendations From BA50 Writer Ellen Levenson
On these long, cold, gray New England days, when I am trying (unsuccessfully) to cut back on sugar and therefore baking less, I turn to reading. Curl...
Ellen Levenson
Wordle is So 2022
Wordle is so 2022.
I quit.
After playing over 300 games, guessing the word twice on the first try, and 18 times on the second; I decided that Wordle no lo...
Books By BA50 Women For BA50 Women
A big comfy chair, a good story, and I’m a happy girl. This summer I have read several books by BA50 women, and I happy to recommend all of them.
Lessons in Ch...
How Not to Sell a Dress
Unlike bathing suit or bra shopping, who doesn’t like shopping for a new dress? You get to try on numerous pretty creations and fantasize yourself at fun parti...
We Are Not Millennials – So Pick Up the Phone & Call
Recently, I was trying to nap when my home phone rang. Much to my husband’s dismay, I’ve stopped answering the home phone. I let it ring or go to voicemail si...
Add Color to Your Wardrobe & Watch the Reaction
My friend Liz loves fashion and takes dressing to another level. While my style tends to be considered, black on black is my go-to, when Liz goes out, she is ...
Maybe I’m Worth the Money
“What if I bought some new golf clubs?” I ask my husband.
“Sure.” He answers.
And thus, the negotiations begin. Not between my husband and myself. He is qui...
Hair Wars
“You look like Medusa in the morning.” My husband lovingly remarked, early in our relationship.
I smiled.
Perhaps that was the moment I began to like my e...
The First 24 Hours of Dieting
7:30 AM
Off to a good start. Black coffee for breakfast. Of course, I have only ever drunk my coffee black, but still, you burn the five calories it is drink...
Age & Agility: A Lesson In Ups and Downs
when my family signed up to hike to the top of Skellig Michael in Ireland, over 600 crumbly steps there and then back, with sheer vertical drops and no handrails, I was understandably nervous. The literature stressed ‘you hike at your own risk, there have been fatalities’. Adding to the anxiety, the only way to reach the island was an hour ride in a small boat, crossing the open seas of the North Atlantic. This almost guaranteed you arrived slightly seasick....
Fuck Dieting
Perhaps it is the triple whammy of birthday, getting sick, and the fact that the summer is more than half over. Combined with a second wave COVID spike, re-expe...
Poster Child for the Sandwich Generation
“What do you think? Is it safe for him to drive? It’s over two and a half hours and he really hasn’t driven that much in the past year.” I ask.
“He could tak...
We All Need a BB (Bebe) to Shine
Watching BB (pronounced Bebe) glance at herself in the overly bright Ladies Room mirror of the Sheraton off the Jersey Turnpike; I thought she was the epitome o...
Baking Is Love
When I gather ingredients; sugar, butter, flour and eggs, to bake I am fairly confident that the alchemy I perform will yield yummy results. The thousands of ho...
All About the Stuffing
A forkful of dark meat enveloped in brown crackly skin topped with crispy stuffing and a smidge of cranberry sauce — my perfect Thanksgiving bite. It’s all abou...
Cleaning Up Our Kids Messes
The curse of the organized is that you are called upon to help those less fortunate. When you have a kid who is organizational challenged that means years of backpack cleaning, camp trunk excavating, and end of the year college room packing up.
Freddy had a rough first year in college.......
Best Friends No More
We moved to London for two years and Rachel and I still spoke on the phone, for at least an hour, every day. We moved back and despite the kids being at different schools we remained best friends. Then we weren’t....
Comfort in Cookies Even Before Corona
Ten AM on a Saturday and I am the only one up. Sitting at the kitchen table, looking onto the backyard, where I have planted colorful flowers and grasses and tr...
BA50 Blogging Workshop: The Surprising Silver Lining of Quarantine
The ultimate irony of this quarantine is that I reached beyond the boundaries of my house and made new friends and in doing so begun exercising a muscle I forgot I had. At the beginning of this pandemic, I joined a group of smart, like-minded women from around the country and despite Zoom being our means of introduction, their emails are the first I read and these meetings are the highlight of my week....
Ellen Levenson
Ellen Levenson is an Executive Function coach whose passions include books and baking. She has lived in MA, NY, CT & the UK. Visitors are usually treated to warm fresh out of the oven cookies.