Resume Do's and Don'ts

   Your resume should serve as a snapshot of your professional life dotted with a glimpse of your personal life, just like your Facebook Profile. It should also be only 1 page.
   I once temped for Philip Morris's Human Resources Department. They had 5-6 round 48" tables filled with 1 foot high stacks of resumes covering each tabletop, and that was just what had come in that week. All I did all week long was open resumes and sort. So please, If the CEO of IBM can have a 1 page resume, so can you.
   Leave out a few minor details so you have something to talk about during the interview. Like Poker, you do not want to show all your cards at once.
   Keep references and the corresponding phone numbers current. Be concise and to the point. Hit spell check, but remember, spell check is not the 'do all, be all, end all.' Also, have a friend check for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
   Most importantly, be yourself. Arrive near your location an hour before your appointment. Walk around the building. Walk around the lobby. Listen to those around you and try to figure out if the company you want to work for is right for you!! Yes, they must think you are a good fit and like you, but you must like them too!

    

Bread & Butter Plate vs. Drink Glasses - On Which Side of The Plate Do They Belong?

bd

How often at a fine restaurant, crowded dinner party, or round table, has the person next to you eaten your bread? What should you do? Where does your Bread & Butter Plate go anyway? Confused? Not unusual at all! Don't fret. Here's the solution to the Bread & Butter Plate vs. the Drink Glass dilemma forever.

 Remember at camp when you played "World War I Flying Ace?" well, this exercise is similar! 

Take your fingers and place the tip of your "pointer finger" (first finger) to the tip of your thumb. Line up all your other fingers behind your first finger making a lower case "b" with your left hand and a lower case "d" with your right hand. Touch your fingers together to make a "bd" shape: "b"read on the left, "d"rink on the right. You can do this in your lap at the table. You can do this on a plane. In a restaurant or while in Spain. A piece of the key to the place setting universe is solved! 

 P.S. WWI Flying Ace is "bd" upside down with your fingers under your chin and the "bd" around your eyes like goggles!!

 P.P.S. If the person seated next to you eats your bread because they don't know, say nothing and have some bread when you get home!

Formal and Informal China - Who Wants It Anymore?

Freshman year at college, a new friend on my hall asked me what china pattern I had chosen. At first, I didn't know exactly what she was talking about, then I figured out she must be referring to the formal china my Mother used in the Dining Room for Sunday Brunch, Thanksgiving, Christmas and guests.

My friend had already decided china in general was a priority in her life and that she wanted to make an investment in fine and every day china. So, when the time arises, a few burning questions are: As a young singleton or bride, do you want formal and/or informal china?

How many of each of the different matching pieces do you need? Do you like your serving pieces to also match your pattern or should they be a different pattern altogether that compliments your pattern? Do you entertain often or not at all? Are you rough on china or do you have butter fingers? These are practical and pertinent questions each bride or singleton should ask herself or himself.

Traditionally, wedding guests once gave place settings (dinner plate, salad plate, bread & butter plate, cup and saucer) as a gift. Then, place settings became prohibitive in price. So, giving a dinner plate, or salad plate became de rigueur. Now, the unfortunate trend is to give a "unique" gift. A bride once said to me she can remember that her Aunt gave her a dinner plate as well as some other gift she may not want as well. As a Registered Bridal Representative, I can say with 12 years of experience; brides just want their china!

Back to my friend Freshman year in college; she had already and smartly picked out her formal and informal china. One can give a piece of china for any type of gift including Christmas and Birthdays. Easy gift giving 101!!

My college friend had also considered condition, shape, and how the china would "wear" in her mind and in the dishwasher. She had considered the colors and style of each of the formal and informal china patterns as she was going to match her dining room decorating with her formal fine china and her kitchen decorating with her every day kitchen dishes. Even if you never marry, you may still want a set of china once you are out of school and have your own place!

My Freshman year friend, wisely weighed her decisions, and smartly picked out her formal and informal china patterns. One can give a piece of china for any type of gift including Christmas, Hanukkah and Birthdays. Easy "Gift Giving 101"!


So, figure out your china priorities and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving To All

From my book: "Forget-Me-Not, Forget-Me-Never, Remember The Fun We Had Together."

To Dear Carie:
I wish you health,
I wish you wealth,
I wish you a golden store,
I wish you heaven after death,
... That I can wish you more.
Your schoolmate
Rosa Ashner

A belated Happy Thanksgiving. Hope everyone had some family and/or friends around to celebrate with and some time off from work. We have lots to be thankful for and life is good!

Re-gifting - Please, Just Say No !!

Who wants to receive a gift someone else does not want? Re-gifting is a relatively new talked about trend with twenty and thirty-somethings. It must have grown out of our Reality Show and Red Carpet culture of excess and greed of late. Re-gifting is dishonest, lazy, heartless and the gift never seems to be quite right, n'est-ce pas? Yet, everyone is re-gifting and talking about doing it!
Recipients are smart, sophisticated and can smell subterfuge. If ever found out, and the truth always comes out, re-gifting can ruin a friendship and familial ties, not to mention your bosses opinion of you.
Worn boxes and old tape. A calling card hidden in the old tissue paper from the last time the unwanted gift was recycled. A numbered tag left on a wedding present from the last organizational bridal gift kit. A custom made, hand needle pointed purse left on a closet door re-gifted from a different cousin with the well known dog's name and dog's likeness in the design of the purse discovered by the original gift giver during a random house tour. The horror stories go on and on, and are stories of woe from intelligent, professional people who think they can beat the system and somehow fool all of the people all of the time.
Gifts, by tradition, are NOT obligatory. They are by nature given freely from the heart in good conscience without expecting anything in return. Giving someone else a gift you do not want with a big smile on your face signifies to those in the know, or those who will find out, that you do not care enough about the recipient to put any time or thought (never mind money) into a present for them.
Gift giving should be from the heart, so have a heart! If you are short on cash money, make a hand made card and bake something yummy to signify your care and love.
Celebrate what is actually important in life: friends and family. Give your unwanted gifts to charity and the truly needy.

Re-gifting...just say NO !!

Silver Spoons, Champagne and Patina

Born with a sterling silver spoon in your mouth? Have any sterling silver spoons in your sideboard from your wedding or inherited from your grandmother? The following are tips to help you maintain your sterling silver and other uses for spoons!

• Placing a sterling silver spoon in your mouth while chopping an onion will alleviate the stinging and tears from your eyes.
• Placing any spoon (sterling or stainless) into a cold open champagne bottle will keep the bubbles from evaporating, and keeps your champagne fresh!
• Sterling silver ONLY (never silver plate) cleaned with jewelers' rouge and lighter fluid resists tarnish and finger-marks longer than any other method. Be sure to lightly rub the cloth in the same linear direction. Never rub in circles. Do not EVER clean silver plate using this method as it will remove the silver plate.
• Silver wrapped in linen, then in newspaper kept in a clean, dry, cool cabinet will keep well.
• Salt will quickly tarnish silver. For salt stains, rub sterling silver with damp salt.
• Lemon and seafood will also quickly tarnish silver.
• One may wash sterling silver in the dishwasher if a few rules are obeyed. Only use plain detergent and only use one teaspoon of detergent. Never use lemon detergent with sterling silver as the acid from the lemon will tarnish and may pit out the sterling silver. Do not place antique sterling silver knives made before about 1880 in the dishwasher as they may have plaster inside the sterling handles, thus may explode in the dishwasher. Always test one knife first before washing all other knives just in case!
• Lemon detergent is bad for china and crystal as well. It removes the clear glaze over time. Lemon detergent is great for pots and pans only!
• Do not place sterling silver in the same dish cycle with stainless. The two metals do not like each other and you risk pitting out the sterling silver.
• Use the dishwasher's "Gentle" cycle and "Air Dry" cycle only. NEVER use the "Heat" cycle. It is too hot and is bad for your sterling flat silver, fine china and crystal too.
• A little olive oil rubbed over silver before it is put away will prevent it from becoming tarnished. When ready for use, wash it warm soapy water and dry thoroughly.
• Use your sterling every day, wash it in the dishwasher and you will only have to clean it about once a year!
• Tarnished silver can be quickly cleaned with a cloth sprinkled with bicarbonate of soda.
• Purists (like myself) adore sterling with its Patina giving it a luster found only with age. Buffing off the Patina will not only remove its Patina but will remove valuable microns of silver.

Enjoy your old sterling silver...like new!

The Tintinnabulation of Telling The Truth

Can't you just hear the sound of your Mother's voice ringing in your ears to: "Tell the truth." As a child and young person, this practice is preferable as you are under your parents' care and roof.

As a young person, you may see your Mother smile and hear her say hello and continue polite small talk with a woman at the supermarket you know she dislikes. Your Mother tells you this is OK as she does not want to hurt this woman's feelings or have this woman realize she is not liked. You also notice your Uncle Chester says he feels fine when you know he has been sick lately. Your Mother tells you this is OK too as Uncle Chester does not want anyone to know he has been feeling poorly.

Then, you grow up. So, then what? OK, lets recap: Tell the truth but never make anyone else feel bad, embarrass them or let them know your true feelings if it will hurt their feelings. Wait a minute, what about the truth? What happened to telling the truth? Truly, what is the truth?

To help you decipher the truth here are some famous and not so famous quotes:

• "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." - Mark Twain
• You never find yourself until you face the truth." - Pearl Bailey
• Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." - Albert Einstein
• The truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde
• "The truth shall make you free." - Jesus, The Bible, John 8:32
• "Love truth, and pardon error." - Voltaire
• "I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain
• "To thine own self be true." - Shakespeare
• "Half of a comment spoken in jest is thought to be a truth by the speaker." - unknown
• "Telling the truth does not make it the right answer."- Katherine Barrett Baker

So, be true to yourself without making anyone else feel bad. It is the greatest balancing act ever and forever on end. If you can accomplish this feat every day, you will probably become a diplomat. What is the definition of a diplomat? One of the definitions of a diplomat is: "Doing nothing and saying nothing nicely." Ruugh Roough...here we go again!