I don’t know about you, but when I get up in the morning, I need a cup of java. I’m usually running late and I make myself a cup of instant coffee. I prefer Maxwell House. Then when I get to HJMT’s Westbury office, I have another cup from my Flavia machine. This time, I get to choose my flavor — French vanilla, hazelnut, Irish creme, breakfast blend and more!

So when I saw an article in Laptop Magazine looking for bloggers to beta test Joffrey’s Coffee, I immediately jumped at the opportunity! After I was accepted as a certified blogger, I received notice from Joffrey’s that I would be receiving a sample in the mail shortly.

A few weeks went by and there it was, a package from Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company. The sample they sent me was called, “Jamaican Me Crazy.”

I opened it up and smelled the aroma. It smelt so good. I immediately put it into my Cuisinart coffee maker and within minutes, I had a fresh brewed cup of Joffrey’s Java! Mmmmmm….. delicious! Every time I took a sip, mmmmm…. good! (I almost felt as though I was on that Campbell’s Soup commercial — mmmmmm good!) Because it was good. Very good.

I read the note that came with the coffee. It said that Joffrey’s can be found anywhere, however, I’m not sure where I can get more of this stuff because if I knew, I would certainly buy a pound or two to keep on hand.

Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company, I can certainly “taste the passion!” Thanks for the sample!

I’ve been on a few different Boards throughout the years. I was on the Long Island Center for Business and Professional Women Board, NAWBO-LI Board and Long Island Women’s Agenda Board. After a while, I lost interest and moved on. Now I’m on the Long Island Forum for Technology Board and my local synagogue’s board. (I was also asked to be on some other boards but I’m currently deciding….)

Tonight we had a Temple Board Meeting. It was actually a more respectful meeting than the ones in the past. One of the Board members, actually said that what upset her most about these meetings, is that people talk and no one listens! Such truth here!

At the last meeting, which I was not at, the board decided that they didn’t want to give our current Rabbi a three year contract, or a two year contract. They decided that they wanted to give him a contract. The contract committee heard what they thought they heard and negotiated with the rabbi.

At this meeting, they told the board that the negotiating committee decided to offer a three year contract. WHAT? The board told the committee to do one thing and the committee turned around and did what they wanted to do?

I started to think about my office. I feel that when I say something to someone, it doesn’t sink in. I’ll say to someone, I want to see something done like this and when it comes back it looks like that! Is there something wrong with this picture?

Is it that we miscommunicate with each other?  How can we learn to communicate better so that we can understand each other? And, how can we listen enough to get the job done right the first time around?

How honest should you be when you evaluate someone? I always thought that honesty was the best policy. Get things on the table and if they are fixable, fix them!

Today, there were four people in my firm who had been there for six months. According to our employee manual, six months marks their six month evaluation. Instead of doing them once a week, I decided to do it all in one shot. For some, I included my supervisors, and others I did it alone.

It’s hard to give constructive criticism. Everyone really has room for improvement, including me. Sometimes I think: What do I know about running a business or supervising folks? Yes I’ve been in business for 16 years and probably have at least 25 years experience supervising people, but my real forte in in publicity and promoting clients.

What’s really hard is when people hear you but don’t respond to the constructive criticism. The only way a person will grow is if they open their minds to change.

One of my associates asked what it meant to go above and beyond. “Does it mean staying late,” the employee said, “because if that’s right, I will.” And I just couldn’t define it until just now…. I think going above and beyond is when you work and you don’t care about the time, you don’t care about what’s around you, you just want to make sure that the job is done right, accurate and thorough, no matter what time of day!

About five years into my business, I got pregnant. Although, I had a home based business at the time, my business was doing well. I had two full time employees and quite a few part time workers. I had one job that only wanted to deal with me and none of my staff. She made me promise her that I wouldn’t have the baby on a Friday because that was when her ads were due. Although she said she was only kidding, I knew she meant it.

I had my son on a Thursday and had serious complications. I ended up in the hospital for a week. However, that Friday, when I was all doped up on medication for pain, I called my client and I took her ads and made sure they were placed in the newspaper. So from now on,  when someone says what does it mean to go above and beyond, I tell them this story (and I have a ton more like it!).

On Mother’s Day, my husband, two kids and I went to see Passing Strange at the Belasco Theatre in New York City. We were lucky enough to get twofers from TKTS.

The words, Passing Strange, was taken from Orthello, when Orthello says to Desdemona “She gave me for my pains a world of sighs; she swore, in faith ’twas strange, ’twas passing strange.” The author and star of the show, Stew, explains in the playbill that the word passing can also mean to pass for someone who you aren’t, to be someone who you are not. The show was an autobiographical account of Stew’s life.

Passing Strange was far from being strange! It is a new musical on Broadway that takes place in Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Berlin. It’s the story of an African American male, who tries to find himself. He loves music, plays guitar and travels around to Amsterdam and Berlin to try to find himself. It’s a real coming of age story and was very moving, especially at the end when his mother dies before he has time to say he’s sorry for leaving.

Although the show is definitely not for kids, it had the usual sex, drugs and rock and roll, it was certainly worth seeing! A real A+ in my book. As a matter of fact, I loved the music so much, I’m buying the albums on Itunes!

We had a 50th surprise birthday party for my sister. One of her friends at work, arranged for a hummer limo to pick a group of 10 women up on Saturday in Levittown and we drove to the North Fork of Long Island to go wine tasting. The tour was arranged by Long Island Wine Tours and they drove us to three vineyards.

At the first, we tasted about four different wines both white and red. We went down to the cellar where they keep the wine in barrels for a certain amount of time to get that “woody” taste. Juan from Chile taught us how to actually taste the difference between a wine being sweet, salty, woody or bitter. There was one he had us taste that had all these tastes in one depending on where it sat on your tongue.

At the last vineyard, I noticed that there was a guitar player. He looked awfully familiar. I went over and got his card and noticed his name was Mike Munzer. Mike Munzer, that sounds familiar I thought. I went up to him. “I know you don’t I?”

“Hilary Topper, it’s me, Mike,” he said.

It was Mike Munzer from Sandler Institute! We represented them last year for a bit to help them increase their exposure and visibility via the press. It was so funny to see him out of context. It made me wonder what other people have double business lives. (BTW, he was amazing! What a fantastic voice!)

I remember when my sister-in-law worked for the Brooklyn DA during the day and was in a punk rock band at night. I’ve also heard from other clients who have told me they are too in a band. But, seeing this guy at the vineyard in the East End really made me think about people’s day jobs versus what they really have a passion for….