Ellie Mirman's Startup Marketing Blog

There was a time when I loved the Passover holiday. I don't really remember this time, but I believe my parents when they say that it happened. Sometimes it's hard to believe - after all, I could probably survive on pita and hummus year-round if I needed to. But today - after two nights of 5-hour seders at my parents' house - I do remember a couple of the reasons I so enjoy Passover and many other Jewish holidays throughout the year: ritual.

Ritual gets a bad rap when it gets interpreted as a meaningless practice that people do out of habit or without thought. But there's a lot to love in ritual and we got to indulge ourselves in just that this weekend.

It's been much too long since I last blogged, and much too long since I did a speech at Toastmasters. So here's me killing two birds with one stone: my second speech in the Toastmasters book, focused on Organization, while also sharing a bit more about me and my family.

Photo (right) shows me on my 21st birthday, where we had 3 birthday cakes. They were all delicious.

Even when my parents lived in a single room in shared apartment, they were hosting big dinner parties for all their friends. They've always loved to host, and I grew up with many dinner parties and brunches and even more dinner parties. The parties were always big, fun ordeals that I never quite saw replicated at my friends' very normal homes. So when I went to college and got my own apartment, and again when I moved back here to my own place in Somerville, I picked up my mom's tradition of playing hostess. My parties are never quite the same big ordeals that my parents plan, but I think I've picked up a thing or two from them over time. And today I want to share with you the 3 steps to hosting a Mirman Family Dinner Party.

This weekend marks the start of the year 5770. Tonight we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - also my favorite holiday.

My worlds are colliding in a wonderful way - my very funny uncle, Eugene Mirman, made this video all about inbound marketing. Enjoy!

As perhaps the unofficial official blogger of my family, and also a well-intentioned member of society, I feel it is my duty to share this wonderful read. The Will to Whatevs is the ultimate self-help book for dealing with all of life's twists and turns, from school to marriage to death. Perhaps in that order, but perhaps not.

In this short video, my brother tells a story of his childhood gang - a group of 7-year-olds in Soviet Riga, Latvia - in a wonderfully entertaining way. And I say that not just because he's my brother, but because (1) a Soviet childhood is surprisingly funny, and (2) my brother has a knack for storytelling. "Look up communism. You'll find out."

I love this joke from comedian Mike Birbiglia:

My Mom: "Why aren't you reading my child's blog?"

This week I was in Austin, TX for a conference and one of the nights, I had a fabulous dinner with a client, that turned out to be a true heart-to-heart. Of course that was after two glasses of wine and a margarita. A good, Texan margarita.