"Oh. Oh no."  It was my annual walk around for the Azalea Garden Tour. The publicity chair for the tour would drive me around and, in about three hours, we'd see all 11 gardens on the upcoming tour. I'd write a preview, hitting all the high points and telling attendees ... continue reading...

"Would you consider a $30,000 gift to support rehanging the historic gates at the end of the garden allee?" I asked the question and then I stopped talking. You could hear a pin drop over the phone. I couldn't ask in person because the donor was in Japan or Quebec or maybe Spain. I'd ... continue reading...

"The decision to stay or to go was a private agony that will be publicly judged."  This is a dispatch from Indianapolis, Indiana. I fled Hurricane Florence ahead of the storm, expecting my house to be a total loss. It's a mile from the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as the crow flies. ... continue reading...

It's 4 p.m. on a Thursday and the client won't make a decision.  We're two weeks out from an event and the deadline to order awards is about to pass. I've been trying to get an answer for weeks. "I need your decision by noon tomorrow so I can place the order," I say. "Oh, I can't get ... continue reading...

Last week I wrote about fancy purses.  There has got to a psychological reason why I will pay 10 times what someone else will pay for a handbag. I would say maybe it is a status thing but it kind of isn't because while everyone else is hauling around the Louis Vuitton Neverfull ... continue reading...