A Story

I heard Kenny Moore, author of The CEO and the Monk: One Company's Journey to Profit and Purpose, speak at JetBlue this morning. Though much of what he said stuck with me, I wanted to share one of his personal examples.

He talked about how you can do whatever you choose, as long as you're willing to live with the consequences. Simple enough, right? Then he told a story about what happened when he said that to his six-year old son. It went something like this...

Son: (Jumping on the bed)
Dad: Stop jumping on the bed!
Son: (Continues to jump on the bed)
Dad: If you don't stop jumping on the bed, you're going to break the bed. Stop jumping on the bed!
Son: (Continues to jump on the bed)
Dad: Okay, forget the bed. If you don't stop jumping, you're going to break your leg! Stop it!
Son: (Continues to jump on the bed)
Dad: Okay, you know what. You can keep jumping on the bed all you like. You'll just have to live with the consequences. (Walks out of room)
Son: (Stops jumping on the bed, runs after Dad, almost in tears) But I don't want to live with the consequences. I want to live here.

I'm still smiling even as I type it. So cute. :-)

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a fantastic birthday. I have the greatest family, the sweetest friends, and I am touched every year by all those who call/email/facebook/text message me good wishes. I am terrible at remembering birthdays, so it really does mean a lot.

My birthday for the past few years has typically consisted of going to work and then going out to dinner with Ash, Priya and Vinny. This year, Ash was on vacation on my birthday, so I figured I'd take the day off too. Since Priya and Vinny both had to work into the evening today, they took us out to dinner on Sunday night for an early celebration. That left my actual birthday to do, well, whatever I wanted!

So what did my day consist of? I had to double check with Ash that you can't cause diabetes by eating too much sugar all at once. (Luckily, as far as he knows, you can't.) Here's the rundown:

7:00 am- Woke up and picked up a few phone calls from family and from India.
8:30 am- Ash sang happy birthday with a candle in a slice of PF Chang's "Great Wall of Chocolate" cake. (Cake before breakfast...does it really get better than that?)
11:00 am- Bloomingdale's for 40 carrots frozen yogurt. (I got a coffee smoothie, Ash got the pina colada one. His might have been better.)
12:00 pm- Museum of Natural History
4:00 pm- Levain Bakery for a variety of cookies. I can never decide which one to get--today, I just got all of them! Hands down, best cookies in Manhattan. (I can't remember if this was due to Swati or Sameer--but whoever said it, totally right!)
5:30 pm- Nanoosh for hummus and pita to soak up some of the sugar
6:30 pm- Magnolia Bakery to pick up banana pudding and apple crisp
7:30 pm- Went to Priya's to eat the Magnolia desserts (Vin- the banana pudding is surprisingly good. I'd get it again!)

So yes, I had frozen yogurt, delicious cookies that weigh half a pound, and banana pudding all in one day. And I'd do it again. (Ash was kind enough to indulge me all day--he actually ate everything with me. Such a good sport.) It was delicious. Good thing my birthday is only once a year, or I'd weigh 600 pounds. Happy birthday to me! :-)