A blog is like a home. It shows personality and passions, displays all the things that decorate life and is a wonderful place to greet friends. So, welcome girlfriend! Here at the Girlfriendology blog, we chat about life as a woman, a girlfriend, an entrepreneur and all the big and little things in life that make it much more fun to experience with a friend. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and make yourself at home!
Remember the anticipation of a new school year? Wondering who would be in your class, catching up with old friends, getting new clothes and school supplies? By far the best part of going back to school was spending time with my girlfriends daily – knowing they’d be right there to help me through my lessons, when I needed to talk and always great for a laugh.
We’re exploring 30 days and 30 ways to be a better friend in our Month of Friendship. Today, day 25, we’re going ‘back to school’ – kinda – with Read More »
Do you have a girlfriend group? Do you play Bunco? Have a Book Club? Invest $, Craft or Exercise – together?
Do you get together with your girlfriends on a regular basis and have a ‘purpose’ to your group? (For example: reading, knitting, Bunco or movies.) Do you have a fun name for your group and possibly rituals that only girlfriends in your group know? Are you closer with these friends because of your group and the fun times you’ve shared together?
Having a fun set of friends, with a common purpose/bond, and meeting with them on a regular basis to do something fun is a great way to turn acquaintances into friends and friends into BFFs. Kinda like we were kids and we had our own ‘club,’ there’s just something special about Read More »
Bibliophile or friend of one (a book lover), it’s aways great to find new ‘chick lit’ for a friend or for you. So, here are some of our Girlfriendology favorite girlfriend books from some amazing best-selling authors for your (or your girlfriend’s) reading pleasure or for your girlfriend book club!
ANYTHING BY KRIS RADISH
Kris Radish was our first podcast and our first video interviews (and you never forget your first!). She’s a wonderfully kind woman who agreed to chat with Girlfriendology even when we’d never done a podcast before and she’s been a girlfriend over the past year Read More »
Some ideas for girlfriend birthday gifts? Look no futher!
Don’t tell my husband and family, but I look most forward to gifts from my girlfriends every birthday. My girlfriends know me best – my style, my preferences, things I would want and don’t even have to say it. They know if I’d love the bag above or the funky wine glasses below!
Girlfriendology podcast guest and author DEBBIE MACOMBER
DEBBIE MACOMBER is a mega-author. She has over 100 million books in print! Her new book, Twenty Wishes, is a wonderful, inspiring story of women who each make a list of their wishes and then together find the way to their dreams.
As welcoming and friendly as her books, Debbie spoke with Girlfriendology on our latest podcast. There is so much to learn from someone this gifted at understanding women, friendships, passionate hobbies and life. So, here are just a few of the lessons I learned in interviewing Debbie:
LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH PASSION - Debbie is passionate about her knitting, writing, children and grandchildren (not necessarily in that order!). She loves to travel and spend time with her family and friends. She gets up at 4am each morning to start her day preparing and reading, then writing. (You have to be passionate about something to get up at that time each morning!) You can tell by talking with her that she loves life and loves sharing the lives of her characters with her millions of fans.
LOVE YOUR FANS – Debbie is currently on tour to 20 cities (for the 20 wishes!). Her fans come out in swarms, in any weather and with a desire just to see her, talk with her, share their knitting or tell her about their girlfriends. She even shared how the initial idea for this book came from one of her fans. She obviously loves these women and finds such joy in getting to know them, hearing about their lives and sharing her hobbies and writings with them.
MAKE TIME FOR YOUR GIRLFRIENDS – As she shared in the interview, Debbie has a group of girlfriends that she meets with weekly for breakfast. They help each other through life, share their joys and frustrations, and, after talking with Debbie, they must laugh a lot! Even with her busy schedule, she keeps them as a priority in her life. She’s a good girlfriend!
TAKE TIME FOR YOUR HOBBIES - It doesn’t have to be knitting, but just find an activity that you love and allow yourself time to spend doing it. And, when you can, combine your hobbies! Debbie obviously loves to write and knit. So it was natural for her to combine them with a companion bookTwenty Wishes with knitting patterns from the book’s characters. She even has designed a line of products for knitters(but versatile enough to be used for lots of other hobbies and ’stuff!).
So, what are your wishes? Dreams? Goals? Do you have them written down or perhaps represented on a vision board? Do your girlfriends know what your dreams are and do they cheer you on in reaching them?
Read Twenty Wishes then write out your own wishes. Share them with your friends. They’ll help you achieve them! Visit Set Your Wish Free for information on a special contest to reward someone with $10,000 to set their wish free!
Thanks Debbie for making time for Girlfriendology in the midst of your national book tour! It was an honor to speak with you and to be able to share Twenty Wishes with your fans through the podcast and through our Girlfriendology Contest prizes. Thanks for your inspiration and for introducing us to so many girlfriends in your novels.
P.S. And send in your story for our monthly Girlfriendology Contest! You could win a copy of Debbie’s fabulous new novel, Twenty Wishes – just send in a girlfriend story and you could get back a great girlfriend novel! Thanks Girlfriend!
I’m not a perfect girlfriend, by far. I don’t know it all and I don’t pretend to. I just know that I honestly believe life is much better with female friendship(and there are books, like The Tending Instinct, to confirm that with research findings).
So in my daily pursuit of Girlfriendology as a growing online community of women, it is always a wonderful find when a woman (without prompting or payment from me!) shows me a new perspective of passion toward ‘girlfriendship.’ I recently had that wonderful experience during one of our Girlfriendology Podcast interviews. She didn’t write a girlfriend book and I don’t believe she officially does public speaking on female friendship, but she could!
After growing up in Canada, KATE JACOBS moved to NYC, leaving her friends and family behind. She soon developed a ‘family of friends’ in her new city. In our podcast interview she talks about the women whom she met and the friendships they forged. She shares about her childhood friends and how she remains close with so many of them. She ‘gets’ friendship.
And, she also writes about friendship. Her debut novel,The Friday Night Knitting Club, was a New York Times best-selling book and celebrated friendship among knitters (and non-knitters). Her new book, Comfort Food, is about “the elegant host of a television cooking show, Augusta “Gus” Simpson, who is fending off an ambitious co-host while also dealing with personal issues with her two twenty-something daughters, Aimee and Sabrina. It’s a book about family, about friendships, about our frustrations in life and in work, and about the power of food to bring people together.” (quote from Kate’s blog)
So, there is much to learn from this young, friendly, warm, kind girlfriend, like these lessons I learned:
* NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE NEED FOR GIRLFRIENDS: Kate inspired me with her dedication to her friends. Even though she was on a national book tour, she had spoken with one of her childhood friends right before our podcast interview. She gets together with her NYC girlfriends. Even as a busy, successful author, she makes her friends a priority. (Kinda takes away the “I’m too busy” excuse, doesn’t it? A phone call or email doesn’t really take that long, does it?!)
* LEARN FROM OTHER WOMEN: Kate was an editor for several magazines (Redbook, Working Woman). Friendships grew with other women editors. They bonded together and helped each other out. No competition here, they learned from and leaned on each other. And, she continues to get together with them, even when she lives across the country.
* NOTICE WHAT WOMEN LIKE: No, this isn’t advice for men, this is for us girls. Kate’s books resonate with women because she understands female friendship and how women like to communicate, what we like to read, the hobbies that we creative women love, etc. I’m sure she picked up more than just yarn/stitch advice when knitting with a group of women. Listen to not only what your friends say, but also what they mean and what they need from your friendship. Be the kind of friend that you’d like others to be to you.
Especially when it comes to the importance of ‘girlfriendship,’ Kate is wise beyond her years. We’re fortunate to have her as a girlfriend author. Again, I’m not a perfect girlfriend, but hearing what Kate has to say about the importance of her friends, inspires me. She makes me want to be a better girlfriend!
** You can win a copy of Kate’s new book,Comfort Food, in the Girlfriendology Contest. Just send in a girlfriend story and you’re in the drawing for this great book. (Which would make a perfect prize – you can read, then pass along to a girlfriend!) Visit Girlfriendology for contest info. Thanks Girlfriends! And a BIG Thank You to Kate!
We’re off to meet Dana and Bear (aka: Barry) for dinner. Dana was introduced to knitting a few years ago when I was part of “Purple Tree” – a home party biz that offered all kinds of creative kits. I’m sure out of some obligation to me to purchase something, brought home a knitting kit. Well, the rest is history. She now is a knitting goddess. And, as a knitting goddess would do, Dana emailed confirmation of our dinner plans along with a warning that she’ll probably knit at the restaurant while we have a glass of wine. No worries. Creative girlfriends are allowed – to be creative!
That event also reminded me of a very fun evening with my girlfriend (who is a beader, designer, author, blogger)Katie Hacker when we went to a local casino on a bus trip her father organized. I don’t gamble and I don’t recall Katie being at all interested in it either, so I had brought some beads and supplies along and Katie and I happily beaded in the casino bar. I believe we made a gift for the female bartender!
Do you have girlfriends who encourage and inspire your creativity? Isn’t life much better with them around?! Call up a girlfriend. Ask what she’s knitting (or beading, painting, sewing, etc.) and let her bring it along on your next adventure. Do the same, so she gets to see your latest expression of your creativity. That’s how we learn. That’s how we inspire each other. That’s why we’re such good friends!
Back to school time – for girlfriends?
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We’re off to meet Dana and Bear (aka: Barry) for dinner. Dana was introduced to knitting a few years ago when I was part of “Purple Tree” – a home party biz that offered all kinds of creative kits. I’m sure out of some obligation to me to purchase something, brought home a knitting kit. Well, the rest is history. She now is a knitting goddess. And, as a knitting goddess would do, Dana emailed confirmation of our dinner plans along with a warning that she’ll probably knit at the restaurant while we have a glass of wine. No worries. Creative girlfriends are allowed – to be creative!![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=cf123c62-9cca-4565-b5f4-03668393caf0)
