Latest news with #TheGoodLife
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The CEO of David's Bridal buys clothes from Goodwill and eBay—but swears by private chefs on vacation
Being in the C-suite is a high-pressure job with long hours, responsibilities to the board, and intense scrutiny. But what is it like to be a top executive when you're off the clock? Fortune's series, The Good Life, shows how up-and-coming leaders spend their time and money outside of work. Today we meet Kelly Cook, the CEO of wedding chain business David's Bridal. Chances are if you've been in the market for an affordable wedding dress sometime over the past seven decades, David's Bridal was a contender to find your dream outfit. Whether it be a fitted mermaid cut or flowing ball gown, the bridal chain has dressed more than 70 million customers over the past 75 years in operation. Two years after declaring bankruptcy, the business has made headway in its turnaround, including bringing veteran retail executive Cook on as CEO in April this year. Cook took the helm of David's Bridal after working her way up through marketing and technology roles for more than five years. But long before rising to be CEO of the business, Cook was amassing an impressive rolodex of brand expertise. In the 1990's, she started off as a logistics analyst for Continental Airlines—ascending to director of customer relationship management role after four years. People are her calling, so she took on employee and customer management at Waste Management for three years. And by 2009, Cook had stepped into the world of retail, acting as the chief marketing officer for several companies including DSW, Kmart, and Pier 1 Imports. 'I've always, always been attracted to turning ordinary brands into extraordinary ones,' Cook tells Fortune. 'I've gone from planes, to trash, to shoes, to big box, to specialty [companies]. When I was one of the very few female execs at Waste Management we said, 'We're women of trash but don't call us trashy women!'' Now, the 58-year-old serial executive is a key ingredient in the revamp at the largest bridal retailer in America. Cook says the business is already on track to hit profitability this year, with revenues 'in the hundreds of millions.' David's Bridal now has an AI-enabled wedding planner called Pearl Planner, and its 'Aisle to Algorithm' vision is aimed at making the company the largest retail, media, and planning business in the wedding industry. I adore men's jackets/blazers—I only get them at Goodwill. When Cook isn't spearheading the AI-led future of the wedding business, the Houston-based mom of five loves a good deal. She makes her own lunch everyday and buys men's jackets at Goodwill. But she also craves the finer things in life, splurging on at least one big purchase yearly and 'fab' custom-made suits from designers. She vacations three times a year and swears by hiring a private chef for her getaways, also cherishing her $199 wedding ring she's held onto for decades. 'Being CEO of David's is like being a wedding therapist, crisis negotiator, and fairy godmother all rolled into one,' Cook says. 'We calm down brides who are one broken nail [away] from DEFCON 1, and explain to moms why ivory and champagne are different colors.' If you have children, what do your childcare arrangements look like? I have five children (including triplets), three of whom are married, and we have our first grandbaby. We had four children under two, and a six-year-old. It was crazy. We couldn't afford childcare, we lived paycheck to paycheck. My husband, Damon, moved to night shifts and I worked day shifts managing a call center. I only saw him long enough to get pregnant with baby number five (wink wink). Because he moved to nights and I was days, we had a four-hour layover of childcare, and we were blessed to have an awesome nanny who had them for three hours a day until my mother-in-law got off work, then she had them for the last hour. When all five children hit their teens, my husband resigned from his position so we had one parent at home. Less than one month after he resigned, I was furloughed from my job. Prayers, prayers, prayers. I was blessed to find a job within 90 days which bridged severance. What are your living arrangements like: Swanky apartment in the city or suburban sprawling? We have a home in Houston, a ranch outside of Lufkin, and an apartment in King of Prussia. It's the best of all worlds. Do you carry a wallet? We only have one credit card, and no debt. My Scooby Snack of a husband is very good with money. I always have $2 bills on me. I've been giving them away for 20 years—to recognize great talent. Again, investing in people is everything. What personal finance advice would you give your 20-year-old self? Three pieces of advice: 1) Put something in savings with every paycheck…even if it's $5. 2) At least once a year, splurge on something super nice for yourself. 3) Never saying 'that's not my job' is the best way to earn more money. What's the one subscription you can't live without? I don't have any, but I can answer my favorite apps: TaskRabbit, Shipt, Akira, X, and Poshmark. Where's your go-to wristwatch from? Rolex (a gift from my husband). From now on, I will always hire a cook or chef on vacations. Last year, it was awesome not to be in the kitchen most of the day cooking for 12 people. How do you get your daily coffee fix? Two must-haves every single day: STOK Cold Brew, and Gaggia Milano, our coffee machine. I drink a large bottle of STOK every 2 days. Gaggia cappuccinos and jasmine hot teas are afternoon pleasures. What about eating on the go? Always eat lunch at my desk. I usually skip breakfast during the week, but brunch-baby-brunch on the weekends. I make my own lunches—ginger salads are a fave. DoorDash saves my life at least five times a week. Usually, cafe lattes in the mornings and dinners at the end of busy weeks. My favorite things to eat out: all Asian and Vietnamese food. I love it so much—and I'm so bad at cooking food Where do you buy groceries? Walmart app and the H-E-B app. Where do you shop for your work wardrobe? I adore men's jackets/blazers—I only get them at Goodwill. For crazy fun pieces to add flair and drama to a work outfit—AKIRA. The best. And every winter, I buy every fur coat they offer. They are the best at fur coats. My custom-made suits?! Only INDOCHINO. Such a fab, quality suit. Shoes—anywhere and everywhere. For tulle and sequins—David's Bridal. I've bought at least 12 gowns and cut them off for crop tops, flare skirts, silk overlays, etc. It's so fun and creative. Faded, old Levi's (which I wear at least once a week)—only eBay. There's an eBay seller who has the best selection for the price. And for men's leather bomber jackets, which I love, Buffalo Exchange. Being CEO of David's is like being a wedding therapist, crisis negotiator, and fairy godmother all rolled into one. Are you the proud owner of any futuristic gadgets? My bluetooth Ray Bans. I love music—and it's awesome when I'm buzzing around the ranch in our Kubota. How do you unwind from the top job? Answer: What's one amazing thing I did today? What did I learn today from my mistakes? What's something I'm grateful for that happened today? A nice meal with Damon. Go for a walk. Read. What's the best bonus treat you've bought yourself? Extra dark tint for my truck windows. That Texas heat! How do you treat yourself when you get a promotion? When I became CEO, Scooby Snack bought me a new wedding ring. The one he bought me 32 years ago when he proposed cost $199—and that was like a million dollars to us. The CEO ring was more, but I cherish them both the same. I bought a custom red leather jacket with small silver spikes on it, all handmade from this incredible Etsy seller. I can't wait to wear it with a delicate, frilly cotton dress or ripped Levi's and [Louboutins]. Take us on holiday with you, what's next on your vacation list? I take three a year: two with our whole family, and one with just Damon. Our family tradition is to rent a huge AirBnb at the beach. Such amazing fond memories. It's a splurge but definitely worth it. Last year, it was in Cozumel [Mexico], and the owners/host company were outstanding. From now on, I will always hire a cook or chef on vacations. Last year, it was awesome not to be in the kitchen most of the day cooking for 12 people. Fortune wants to hear from business leaders on what their 'Good Life' looks like. Get in touch: This story was originally featured on
Scottish Sun
07-07-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
I'm a super-saver who pockets £600 a MONTH with easy cost-cutting hacks… it's amazing what people will give you for free
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A SUPER scrimper manages to save herself £600 a month with her savvy lifestyle. To maintain her tight budget, she grows 85% of the food she eats, and even furnished her entire home for free. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Sharon Shaw, 58, sells the eggs from her chickens to put towards other essentials Credit: SWNS 4 She grows food in her allotment to cut down on outgoing costs Credit: SWNS 4 Sharon uses an old-fashioned floor cleaner to cut down on electricity bills Credit: SWNS 4 Her bills come to just over £300 a month Credit: SWNS Sharon Shaw, 58 is proud to have cut her expenses to just over £300 a month. It's part of a lifestyle that means not spending money on anything that isn't essential. This included furnishing her home in Chorley, Lancashire, for free using Facebook Marketplace. She even bagged herself a TV, sofa and king-sized bed worth £400. She bought her four-bedroom home for just £21,500 in 1987, and paid off the mortgage in 2015. The currently-unemployed mum-of-four has managed to cut her expenses to just £300 a month. This includes £118 for gas, electric and water bills, while she spends just £40 on food she hasn't grown or got for free on the Olio app, as she otherwise shops in the reduced section. She said: "I don't buy anything - everything is mostly free in my home. "I use sites like Facebook Marketplace and food apps like Olio, which have changed my life. It's amazing, and you'd be surprised what you can get for free. To cut down on food costs, she grows most of her own produce in an allotment, doesn't buy takeaways, and gets any remaining essentials from the reduced section. Free data roaming abroad and HUGE council tax bill reductions The allotment includes potatoes, plums, pears and apples, leaving her with "plenty of food". She also has 10 hens which she collects eggs from, some of which she sells to put towards sugar and tea. She said: "I make money from selling my eggs, and use the change to get small essentials like sugar and tea or my partner will drop sugar and tea bags round mine. She added: "All the furniture in my home is free from Facebook Marketplace - including my bed, bedside table, and mirror." Her savvy habits developed after she grew up in a family without much money. Sharon adopted her mum Jean's mantra: "if you don't have it, make it", passing the Brownies group leader's message to her own children. However, she said Philip, 37, Daniel, 33, Alex, 27, and Anna, 23, aren't a fan of her frugal lifestyle. Sharon said: "They can't really understand it and they think I'm silly. "I've tried to get them into my lifestyle, but they aren't. "For Christmas and birthdays, I make all the cards and some of their presents. "They do roll their eyes when they see that something has been made. I don't feel guilty at all, it is still a present." Her inspiration also comes from The Good Life, a 1980s comedy in which the couple Tom and Barbara Good are self-sufficient. She said that her partner Terry, 73, also struggles to adapt to the lifestyle. "He thinks I'm mad. He can still see the logic in why I have to do what I do, but most of the time, he thinks it's a load of rubbish," she said. Terry does help out with decorating the house, saving her even more money. However, she's still looking for someone to re-tile her bathroom, which she's hoping to do for as cheap as possible. She said: "If I need anything, I'll look online to see if anyone will give it to me for free. "My house is furnished entirely from being resourceful - all the furniture in my rooms is either from free sites, given to me, or handmade." Household bills are a somewhat unavoidable expense, although Sharon has found ways to cut down on these. To save money on electricity she has swapped out her hoover for an old-fashioned Ewbank carpet sweeper; while she cuts down on heating costs by using blankets. After Sharon's dad Frank, 85, passed away in April of this year she inherited three of his classic cars - a Citroen C1, Citroen ZX and Citroen CV2 - all worth £21,000 which she has kept for their sentimental value. She also has a bike for shorter journeys. Overall, she said her motto is "if you don't ask, you don't get", saying she has "no shame about asking for freebies". Ultimately, "It's all about being resourceful. People waste so much money that it amazes me." In addition to second-hand furniture, she gets most of her clothes from her daughter or for free on Facebook Marketplace. She just wants to educate others on saving money as she is "proud" of her ways.
Spectator
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The Good Life simply wasn't very good
A new documentary is to be screened later this year celebrating 50 years of everybody's favourite 1970s sitcom The Good Life. I will not be joining in with the festivities. During the two-hour show, 85-year-old Penelope Keith, who played the irascible Margo Leadbetter, will revisit some of the original locations, including Kewferry Road in Northwood, which stood in for fictional Acacia Avenue in Surbiton – I can feel your excitement growing. The producers have also promised to recreate some of the creaky old sets – OK, calm down at the back. While I'm all for a bit of nostalgia, do we really need to keep reminding ourselves how innocent TV sitcoms were before alternative comedy took a rubber sledgehammer to anything produced before 1979? 'I'm not watching the bloody Good Life,' screamed an incensed Vivian in an episode of The Young Ones. 'It's so bloody nice… confirming the myth that everyone in Britain is a loveable middle-class eccentric.' I'm afraid I'm with Viv on this one. For me, it wasn't just The Good Life's cardboard sets that wobbled but the entire flimsy concept. Margo and Jerry Leadbetter and their new age neighbours, Tom and Barbara Good (surely one of the weakest title puns ever), were certainly loveable, but they felt more like upper-middle-class Hampstead types than drab suburbanites stuck in dead-end jobs. Margo was supposed to be a middle-class snob with delusions of grandeur, but she looked and sounded like a proper aristocrat with her brusque demeanour and cut-glass accent. Unlike Alison Steadman's brilliant turn as Bev in Abigail's Party, Mike Leigh's tragic take on sweaty middle-class angst, Margo never had the contorted vowels and carefully concealed coarseness that made Bev so excruciatingly authentic. Margo just felt like a dotty dowager who'd accidentally wandered into a house full of naff Dralon furniture. No wonder she looked so fed up. And was anyone surprised when Ms Keith went on to play Lady Fforbes-Hamilton in To the Manor Born, a part far more in keeping with her style? Felicity Kendal's Barbara also felt hopelessly out of place with her scrummy head-girl cutesiness and Sloaney-haired confidence – again, hardly your typical Surbiton type. We all fancied Babs, but did anyone believe she had sacrificed everything for the sake of the planet? As for the urbane Jerry, I didn't buy for one moment that he worked for a two-bit company designing plastic toys for cereal packets – it wasn't even an amusing conceit. The late Paul Eddington, a fine actor, imbued Jerry with the easy wit and debonair charm of a country squire or possibly a gentleman sleuth; he'd have made an interesting Bond for sure – but a humble draughtsman from the arse end of south-west London? Gimme a break. And if Felicity Kendal's treacly Barbara and Richard Briers's winsome Tom had been so keen on self-sufficiency, why didn't they just sell up and move to a smallholding in Suffolk? Neither couple appeared to have any children, so what were they even doing festering in the drab 'burbs? Looking back, nothing about the series rang true. The idea that installing a mangy goat and a couple of pigs in a suburban garden meant you never had to go shopping again was for the birds. Speaking of which, Margo would surely have had the Goods evicted on discovering they had named their recently acquired cockerel Lenin. The noise! The politics! No wonder Margo and Jerry became so concerned about their potty neighbours. Imprisoning farmyard animals in unsanitary conditions was surely a matter for the RSPCA. And if I'd been Barbara, I'd have told my penny-pinching hubby where to shove his second-hand loom. In 1975, you could pick up an old jumper from Oxfam for 20p, so why put your wife through the hell of having to weave a new one, which would have cost a lot more anyway? Unless, of course, they were virtue signalling their green credentials to those horribly rapacious neighbours: 'Jerry, I've scoured Bond Street,' as Margo famously lamented. A well-executed stereotype can distil the essence of a character, making them a perfect comedy foil 1970s sitcoms lived or died on the quality of their stereotypes. Warren Mitchell's Alf Garnett was completely believable as a cartoon bigot, as was Leonard Rossiter's absurdly over-the-top landlord Rigsby. John Cleese's portrayal of a middle-class hotelier on the verge of a nervous breakdown wasn't exactly subtle, but we instantly recognised the type. Back then, Brits tended to remain in their silos, only glimpsing how the other half lived via TV sitcoms. I doubt many BBC producers had ever met an actual Albert Steptoe, but Wilfrid Brambell's grotesque interpretation of a rag-and-bone man was real enough to carry a brilliant script. The reason The Good Life characters didn't work was because we couldn't place them properly. Nowadays, of course, we flinch at the idea of stereotypes, assuming they will always be crudely drawn depictions of reality. In fact, a well-executed stereotype can distil the essence of a character, making them a perfect comedy foil. With society becoming increasingly atomised, writers have lost the art of creating believable stereotypes; today, we demand complexity and back stories even from two-dimensional superheroes. The genius of 1970s sitcoms was their ability to hold up a madly distorted but instantly recognisable mirror to the tragicomedy we call life. Unfortunately, The Good Life's situational setting failed to match the comedic stereotypes and therefore failed to tell us much about the human condition. That said, I still giggle whenever I think of Margo going head to head with her nemesis Miss Mountshaft, dictatorial leading light of the local music society. With a name like Mountshaft, perhaps 1970s sitcoms weren't quite as innocent as we like to think.
Newsroom
18-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Newsroom
Book of the Week: Women and chickens first
There's an interesting cultural trend in this country where city dwellers yearn for country life. A place where your neighbour is acres away, you can have animals of all shapes and sizes, you can return to the rural life of your ancestors and you can cuddle up and be cosy. So too is there a trend for books about it. I wrote my first book about living like my grandmother in 2010 and then moved to 2 hectares in the Hokianga and wrote three more. These types of books are not quite cookbooks, but they do have recipes and they are not quite memoirs but they lean heavily on life stories and they are not quite coffee table books but they have gorgeous pictures of their authors picking wild blackberries, hugging cows, or walking along the beach looking satisfied and free. I am guilty of all three of those images. We struggle to name the genre but Whitcoulls, to my relief, have arranged them under self -help and green lifestyle. What I know about the many people who read these books is that they are usually women who are yearning for something different in their life, have a desire to be more sustainable and just want to get their hands dirty for once. Some of them struggle to move to the country due to a partner who won't budge, the need to keep a job or the terrifying prospect of selling up in the city and never being able to afford to go back should the chickens get out of hand. But many are also just gazing with wonder and adoration at these books as a nice thing to do on a Sunday afternoon when women tend to find a patch of sunlight and disappear under a Mohair rug to read and dream. The Good Life by Gillian Swinton is the latest book in a well-trodden path of aspirational living or modern homesteading, as she calls it. I had to look up the definition of homesteading because it sounded a bit Amish to me. Apparently it is a lifestyle centred on self-sufficiency, typically involving subsistence agriculture, home food preservation, and sometimes small-scale production of textiles, clothing, and crafts for household use or sale. Gillian is gorgeous and very serious. Not for Gillian, the lying beatifically in a hammock in the orchard or beach walks in cosy boots and poncho. (Guilty again). Gillian wears shorts and pink Crocs, or overalls and pink Crocs, and her only nod to accessories are her dog whistle around her neck and sunnies on a fine day. She also writes a mean chapter about processing a lamb. This is when some of the Sunday cosy dreamers might find themselves averting their eyes and hastily flicking over the offending pages while they hum softly to themselves. Gillian knows her stuff and doesn't shy away from the very gruesome business of killing a lamb and butchering it. Hats off to her. 'Disembowelling or eviscerating is a straightforward process,' she writes 'but don't be afraid to take your time.' What follows is a lot of cutting, pulling and separating before we get to the squeezing of lamb poop out of intestines. When it comes to actually chopping up the animal, Gillian is enthusiastic. 'I love this part,' she says. For the faint-hearted there are also soothing recipes for honey marshmallow, stovies (she's Scottish) and a zucchini caramel crumble. There are equally well-informed pages on beekeeping, preserving, keeping chickens, producing great compost, raising lambs and calves, growing potatoes and garlic and trapping possums. Gillian has written a book about garlic which is just $10 on her website. All of this takes place at her home, Lauderburn House, which is in Central Otago on the cycle trail. Publishers love lifestyle content from the picturesque Central Otago. Notable lifestyle authors and television stars are Annabel Langbein in Wanaka, Nadia Lim on Royalburn Station between Arrowtown and Wanaka, Matt Chisolm in Chatto Creek and now Gillian who is just up the road from him. It must be bedlam at the farmers' market. There is something so pleasantly basic and reliable about the way Gillian writes. She worked in Western Australia as a station cook. 'I butchered my first bird on this farm,' she says. 'You might think an upside-down traffic cone is an interesting choice of killing cone, but it restrains the birds just the same as the fancy stainless steel ones.' More readers gently humming to themselves. The best thing about this book is that it is written by a young woman who I'm guessing is in her mid thirties. This means that her generation, the ones we old hippy girls have been writing for and raising, have got it. My own daughters, who are Gillian's age, seem to have got the memo too. Just last week one came looking for my yoghurt instructions and the other asked for my beef broth recipe. (Gillian has a great one for chicken broth and we both agree that it's the apple cider vinegar which makes the difference). She and her partner Hamish, who was raised on a farm in the Hokonui Hills in Central Southland, work while they homestead, which is a lot. The problem with many of these self help/green lifestyle books is that they look perfect but are quite frankly not achievable for anyone who has a mortgage or a family to raise. Original homesteading would have been carried out by women who were not breadwinners or went out to work. They toiled at home melting animal fat into tallow, feeding hungry men on the farm, raising children, washing and cleaning as well as hand feeding a few calves or lambs and butchering chickens for dinner. Gillian is a digital marketer who works from home, while she runs the property's bed and breakfast. She also has a stunning website where she sells this book and an Instagram account to die for. The fact that she has 7589 followers will be a big reason she was approached by Allen and Unwin to write this book. Even if she sells a book to a third of her followers, that's a nice sale in our market. She writes in her introduction that readers should take what is useful for them from her book but not try to do it all, a mantra which should be preached more often by women to women who already have enough on their plates: 'For us homesteading is late summer nights in the garden after a day of work. With a Mitre 10 bucket in hand, fixing some irrigation our dogs decided to play with.' My one complaint about this book is that I can tell from her Instagram posts that Gillian is hilarious yet someone seems to have told her to put her serious hat on for the writing. Or edited it out. I am sure that the classic trope of good jokes when things go wrong are many and varied in Gillian's life and I would have loved the opportunity to laugh with her. I look forward to her next book and having some laughs as well as learning even more things that even this former self help/green living writer had never heard of such as home testing your soil, banana peel tea for houseplants and making your own garlic powder. The Good Life by Gillian Swinton (Allen and Unwin, $45) is available in bookstores nationwide.
Daily Mirror
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Little UK town named most 'boring' place to live but not everyone agrees
One South West London town has been named one of the UK's most boring places to live - but its great transport and activity offerings have some begging to differ London, known for its vibrant life offers endless activities day and night. Yet, surprisingly, a South West London town has been dubbed one of the UK's " most boring" places to live. Surbiton received the title from The Telegraph, alongside five other UK towns. The criteria used by the publication is not entirely clear, but it appears to have selected locations that people "collectively consider boring", despite each having its own unique charm. Surbiton indeed has much to offer those seeking a tranquil experience on the outskirts of London, reports MyLondon. Nestled on the edge of London and Surrey, the leafy and peaceful Surbiton was once described by The Telegraph as "neither London nor Surrey, neither ultra-middle class nor confusedly 'gritty.' It also notes that the area is close to Home Park and Hampton Court, as well as Surrey Hills and Kingston. The paper notes that the area's top tourist attraction is its station which is perhaps why it made it to the list in the first place. However, what some might not know is that the hit sitcom series The Good Life was set in Surbiton, although it was actually filmed in the Middlesex borough of Northwood. So while it might have just won the title of being one of the UK's most boring towns, Surbiton has actually got plenty to offer for those looking for a more relaxed outskirts of London experience. Transport and housing The town is well-connected to the city, despite falling within Travelcard Zone 6. Journeys between Surbiton station and London Waterloo takes on average 27 minutes - making it a great option for commuters. Its train station has a beautiful art-deco front which has featured in its fair share of TV shows and films including Harry Potter and Poirot. The area has also been home to celebrities like Spiderman star Tom Holland, and authors Enid Blyton and Jacqueline Wilson. Things to do Surbiton may have been branded one of the UK's "most boring" places, but it surprisingly offers a fair bit more activity-wise. It's nestled near several verdant areas, including Claremont Gardens and Berrylands Nature Reserve. One TripAdvisor review that is a self-proclaimed "regular" at Claremont Gardens confirmed the area is beautiful year-round. "The colours of the trees and landscape are beautiful in different ways through the year. It's definitely worth a visit for a little exploration and calm wander around the grounds." The reviewer also suggested heading out onto the water for some added fun. "I've enjoyed hiring a boat to head out on the pond too, with the quizzical looks of interest from the ducks and birds floating around. The obligatory visit to a National Trust cafe for a scone also helps!" Come the weekend, the locals revel in the "great atmosphere and true sense of community" found at the bustling Surbiton Farmers Market. Another TripAdvisor reviewer emphasises the friendliness of locals: "This farmers' market is great to visit with such a variety of food and drinks plus plants and flowers. All the stall holders are so friendly and cheerful, whatever the weather." Connoisseurs of fine architecture can also admire the historic clock tower, a John Johnson creation commemorating the coronation of HRH King Edward VII in 1902.
