I’ve been trying every night to write again here since getting out of the city (just ahead of the snow) back home to Pittsburgh, but its been good to unwind and watch the snow fall from my sister’s kitchen window with nowhere else I have to be.

We grew up a few blocks from here, so even though Mom & Dad sold the house, it’s exactly like coming “home”– her guest room even reminds me of my old room, both on the third floor under a sloping Victorian roof with a maple tree outside the arched window.

Winter solstice sledding at Mellon Park

Pittsburgh still always feels so comfortable to me when I’m here after New York, especially after my last night at Fin. I always like it when a nice enough client ruins a brilliant evening with a drunken shouting match.

Given that I’m a PR professional, shouting someone down in a nice restaurant usually means the undoing of some of my hard work.

Maybe because it’s his own restaurant, the guy who writes the checks felt like he could antagonize his signature chef in front of a full Thursday night dining room. Chef (the one I’ve been hired to help) had to one up him with the help of five tequila martinis during, and a triple shot of espresso after, dinner- it was like Kurt Cobain trashing a drum set and getting carried offstage.

Anyway I’m taking advantage of the lack of drama here to catch up not just with my sister and her family, but my reading and reflection, too. The last few weeks were the first few weeks of the Fin account, and I’m all out of sorts on my year end routine.

In fact I’m going to bed right now, so even though I’ve got a lot to share here on what’s going to be happening in 2010 and what you need to be doing with your business to get with it, I want at the least to wish you all a Happy Holiday and a positively brilliant New Year – more soon!

My sister's Christmas tree