I love Seth Godin and I couldn't agree more:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/12/lady-gaga-and-me.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29&utm_content=FaceBook
**Message From Seth Godin - Thanks for the reminder man!!**
Lady Gaga and me
Do you think it bothers her that I don't listen to her music and wouldn't recognize her if she stopped by and said hi?
It shouldn't.
Even if you're a pop star, you don't need everyone to be a fan or a customer. And especially if you're not a pop star, worrying about whether everyone laughs at your jokes, buys your product or even likes you is counterproductive.
Unless you're running for something that requires a unanimous vote, it's a mistake to focus on the frowning guy in the back of the room or the dolt who doesn't get your subtle references or the miser who isn't going to buy from you regardless...
You're on the hunt for sneezers, for fans, for people willing to cross the street to work with you. Everyone else can pound sand, that's okay. Being remarkable also means being ignored or actively disliked.
BTW, I'm virtually certain that Lady (do her friends call her that?) doesn't read my stuff, so we're even.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Groupon is taking over the world...
It's official - Groupon is taking over the world (I think that was clear when they turned down Google's recent offer to buy them... who turns GOOGLE down???).
I went in tonight to use a Groupon at Nordstrom Rack. The Groupon was $25 off $50 - which I purchased for $25 initially.
The purchase was $75 and I was stoked because I only had to pay $25. I didn’t think about the fact that I already paid $25 (so I actually paid $50, but in two payments) which I am sure a lot of customers forget about and think they are getting a SLAMMIN deal. Scott says “wow, where did you get that awesome coupon! Don’t they compete with your work??” I said, "kinda, but not really."
I asked the checkout guy how often people are using them – he said 1 in 5 customers have used a Groupon since they sold on Groupon a couple weeks ago and that when the Nordstrom Rack Groupon was launched on the site, they crashed the site.
Then I came home and this was on Facebook… they are taking over the world!
By the way, I will be taking Scott to Spa Lounge to use our Groupon's for a massage tomorrow : )
I love Groupon!
I went in tonight to use a Groupon at Nordstrom Rack. The Groupon was $25 off $50 - which I purchased for $25 initially.
The purchase was $75 and I was stoked because I only had to pay $25. I didn’t think about the fact that I already paid $25 (so I actually paid $50, but in two payments) which I am sure a lot of customers forget about and think they are getting a SLAMMIN deal. Scott says “wow, where did you get that awesome coupon! Don’t they compete with your work??” I said, "kinda, but not really."
I asked the checkout guy how often people are using them – he said 1 in 5 customers have used a Groupon since they sold on Groupon a couple weeks ago and that when the Nordstrom Rack Groupon was launched on the site, they crashed the site.
Then I came home and this was on Facebook… they are taking over the world!
By the way, I will be taking Scott to Spa Lounge to use our Groupon's for a massage tomorrow : )
I love Groupon!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Kindness in leadership.
I love this guys blog and I loved this post - I agree that kind leaders have a more loyal following. I think workers are definitely more motivated by positivity than negativity.
http://www.teamworkandleadership.com/2010/09/do-you-believe-leaders-ought-to-be-kind-does-kindness-matter.html?goback=.gde_2232816_member_28981550
Do you believe leaders ought to be kind? Does kindness matter? 09/07/2010 by Mike Rogers
There is no training program that teaches it that I am aware of. The skills of strategic planning, organization, sharp decision making and delegation don't require it. But yet the best leaders I have known possess it. What is it? Kindness. Is it a natural or learned skill that can be developed later in life? I don't know. But one thing I do know is that kindness is necessary if a leader wants to be as effective as they can be.
Kindness can create trust, respect and can even help a leader become loved, maybe adored and possibly revered. In my lifetime I have had the pleasure of working with leaders who were sensitive, empathetic, caring and gracious - all important attributes of kindness. On the other hand I have worked with "leaders" who were selfish, thoughtless, rude and self-centered - each being an opposite attribute of kindness. Were leaders such as the latter effective? Yes, some of them got good results. However, and this is important, they were never able to engender the type genuine loyalty, trustworthiness and steadfastness that results in the higher retention rates, innovative employee ideas and dedicated followers of kind leaders. In fact I would argue it was never even close!
Of course kindness is not the magic pill of leadership; other important skills in management and leadership must be practiced as well. But great leaders are aware of it and practice it as part of their positive arsenal of leadership luster. So, what do you think? Is kindness necessary in leadership?
http://www.teamworkandleadership.com/2010/09/do-you-believe-leaders-ought-to-be-kind-does-kindness-matter.html?goback=.gde_2232816_member_28981550
Do you believe leaders ought to be kind? Does kindness matter? 09/07/2010 by Mike Rogers
There is no training program that teaches it that I am aware of. The skills of strategic planning, organization, sharp decision making and delegation don't require it. But yet the best leaders I have known possess it. What is it? Kindness. Is it a natural or learned skill that can be developed later in life? I don't know. But one thing I do know is that kindness is necessary if a leader wants to be as effective as they can be.
Kindness can create trust, respect and can even help a leader become loved, maybe adored and possibly revered. In my lifetime I have had the pleasure of working with leaders who were sensitive, empathetic, caring and gracious - all important attributes of kindness. On the other hand I have worked with "leaders" who were selfish, thoughtless, rude and self-centered - each being an opposite attribute of kindness. Were leaders such as the latter effective? Yes, some of them got good results. However, and this is important, they were never able to engender the type genuine loyalty, trustworthiness and steadfastness that results in the higher retention rates, innovative employee ideas and dedicated followers of kind leaders. In fact I would argue it was never even close!
Of course kindness is not the magic pill of leadership; other important skills in management and leadership must be practiced as well. But great leaders are aware of it and practice it as part of their positive arsenal of leadership luster. So, what do you think? Is kindness necessary in leadership?
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Amsterdam Part 2 - Dankavelle! Je Quee.
So, I’ll just start this out by saying that this is one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. Very eventful, very full of adventure, very fun… I’d like to thank Rob for everything. I know the five of us will be friends for life.
We are on our way home (in the middle of a 14 hour flight) and quite exhausted. We are trying to stay awake so we can get a good nights rest tonight and get back on the time schedule for the U.S. As much as we’ve loved traveling for nine days, we have to get back into the groove of the U.S. lifestyle. Work!
The last couple of days in Amsterdam, Holland were brilliant. We went on the bike tour that we had originally scheduled for the first day. We were very happy we did this because the rain went away [I think it’s because of our sun dance ; )] and we were able to enjoy the trip much more than we would have if it were raining the whole time.
Our tour guide’s name was A.J. He was a very down-to-earth guy who obviously enjoyed living in Amsterdam and taking people on bike tours for a living. Even though the bike tour was four hours, it seemed like it went by in five minutes (actually, the whole trip felt like that!). He showed us around the entire city (which was much larger than Prague) and we all wondered why we didn’t get bikes the first day. Our legs were killing us from trying to walk the entire city. He showed us the “I Amsterdam” sign, the various beer breweries, the famous fry shops (people like french fries in Amsterdam… that was new to me), the “coffeeshops”, the art museums, and yes – even the red light district.
It was fun to experience the biking in Amsterdam since everyone does it, but it was a little scary because cars + bikes + walkers + big city intersections required master maneuvering skills. It was an adventure, that is for sure! The majority of people in the city bike, so they carry their kids in bike seats and park there bikes everywhere. I wish people were more like that in the U.S.
We were hoping to go to one of the beer breweries to see how they brewed local beer, but we couldn’t fit that in to our schedule. We will definitely hit that first thing when we go back.
After the tour, we went to a pizza shop and had AMAZING pizza… the best pizza of the trip right near Dam Square. Did I also mention that the coffee is great in Europe as well? We shopped for souvenirs in the hundreds of shops on our walk home to the hotel then decided to go out for dinner with just Scotty and I and do some people watching. We ate dinner at a restaurant where we could look right out into a main square and watch the people walk by/watch the musicians. By this time, we had three layers on with gloves, so eating outside wasn’t half bad.
While we were eating we met a 71 year old man named Roman. We talked with him for about an hour. He told us to be happy, eat lots of garlic and take good care of each other. He was married to his wife for 25 years and missed her very much (he was a leo and she was a libra). I think we were definitely meant to meet him. : )
The next day, we woke up – had amazing croissants for breakfast, then walked to the Van Gogh museum. I have a passion for art history and art was my minor so seeing Van Gogh was a must – especially since they have the largest collection in the world in Amsterdam (because Van Gogh was from there). We didn’t get to see the Starry Night painting because that is housed in New York, but we did get to see the still life of the Sunflowers, some of his Japanese print-like stuff, and his famous “Wheatfield With Crows” picture that was said to be the last piece he painted before his death (though there are a lot of opinions about which piece was his last).
I didn’t realize what a miserable man Van Gogh was… he was very troubled. He cut his ear off because he got in a fight with his friend Gauguin (who loved him dearly I might add). He admitted himself into a mental institution and did a lot of his best pieces there. He used to take art pieces from artists he loved and copy them/bring out the thicker brush strokes/ bring out the complementary colors. He had no scholarly art training, and mocked those that did – he said those who had that training didn’t see art and colors the way people wanted to see them. He was very critical of himself because he didn’t sell any of the paintings he created. He ended up killing himself after struggling with anxiety and mental illness. His artwork wasn’t famous until after his death.
He loved painting pictures of landscapes, working people, nature, anything natural/realistic. He was very close with his brother and painted this picture for his nephew which I thought was beautiful –
After the museum, Scotty and I went to a beautiful bakery and got some sandwiches. I can’t wait to post pictures of this place because it was right out of a storybook.
We then decided to go to Dam Square and ride “the swings” in this carnival like square that looked like a mini Disneyland in the middle of the city. There was a huge Ferris Wheel, a haunted house, swings that went higher than any of the buildings in the city, rides, etc. Scott is afraid of heights, but I got him to go on the swings with me and he was really happy he did it. We got some great pictures of the city at the top : ) It was cold though!
We decided to walk through the Red Light District because everyone says you must do it. Right when we got in the area, we saw thirty beautiful swans in the canal. I had never seen so many swans in one area! The red lights were cool and it was very surreal to think that people were actually window shopping for people there.
We had our final dinner with “the crew” at a cute little spot called the Palladium. The food in Amsterdam was definitely better than Prague. I had a delicious vegetarian lasagna and Scotty had the authentic fries with a hamburger.
It was an amazing trip and we feel truly blessed to have experienced it. Thank you universe!
Best quotes from the trip:
“De Quee, Yo Queue, Ye Quey…” – Rob/all of us trying to say “Thank You” in Prague.
“Let’s Keep It Poppin’.” – Eddie
“My body is shutting down. I need bed.” – Jeff
“Dankavelle.” – Jess trying to say “Thank You” in Amsterdam and perfecting it ; )
“Watch out for the bikes!” - Scott
We are on our way home (in the middle of a 14 hour flight) and quite exhausted. We are trying to stay awake so we can get a good nights rest tonight and get back on the time schedule for the U.S. As much as we’ve loved traveling for nine days, we have to get back into the groove of the U.S. lifestyle. Work!
The last couple of days in Amsterdam, Holland were brilliant. We went on the bike tour that we had originally scheduled for the first day. We were very happy we did this because the rain went away [I think it’s because of our sun dance ; )] and we were able to enjoy the trip much more than we would have if it were raining the whole time.
Our tour guide’s name was A.J. He was a very down-to-earth guy who obviously enjoyed living in Amsterdam and taking people on bike tours for a living. Even though the bike tour was four hours, it seemed like it went by in five minutes (actually, the whole trip felt like that!). He showed us around the entire city (which was much larger than Prague) and we all wondered why we didn’t get bikes the first day. Our legs were killing us from trying to walk the entire city. He showed us the “I Amsterdam” sign, the various beer breweries, the famous fry shops (people like french fries in Amsterdam… that was new to me), the “coffeeshops”, the art museums, and yes – even the red light district.
It was fun to experience the biking in Amsterdam since everyone does it, but it was a little scary because cars + bikes + walkers + big city intersections required master maneuvering skills. It was an adventure, that is for sure! The majority of people in the city bike, so they carry their kids in bike seats and park there bikes everywhere. I wish people were more like that in the U.S.
We were hoping to go to one of the beer breweries to see how they brewed local beer, but we couldn’t fit that in to our schedule. We will definitely hit that first thing when we go back.
After the tour, we went to a pizza shop and had AMAZING pizza… the best pizza of the trip right near Dam Square. Did I also mention that the coffee is great in Europe as well? We shopped for souvenirs in the hundreds of shops on our walk home to the hotel then decided to go out for dinner with just Scotty and I and do some people watching. We ate dinner at a restaurant where we could look right out into a main square and watch the people walk by/watch the musicians. By this time, we had three layers on with gloves, so eating outside wasn’t half bad.
While we were eating we met a 71 year old man named Roman. We talked with him for about an hour. He told us to be happy, eat lots of garlic and take good care of each other. He was married to his wife for 25 years and missed her very much (he was a leo and she was a libra). I think we were definitely meant to meet him. : )
The next day, we woke up – had amazing croissants for breakfast, then walked to the Van Gogh museum. I have a passion for art history and art was my minor so seeing Van Gogh was a must – especially since they have the largest collection in the world in Amsterdam (because Van Gogh was from there). We didn’t get to see the Starry Night painting because that is housed in New York, but we did get to see the still life of the Sunflowers, some of his Japanese print-like stuff, and his famous “Wheatfield With Crows” picture that was said to be the last piece he painted before his death (though there are a lot of opinions about which piece was his last).
I didn’t realize what a miserable man Van Gogh was… he was very troubled. He cut his ear off because he got in a fight with his friend Gauguin (who loved him dearly I might add). He admitted himself into a mental institution and did a lot of his best pieces there. He used to take art pieces from artists he loved and copy them/bring out the thicker brush strokes/ bring out the complementary colors. He had no scholarly art training, and mocked those that did – he said those who had that training didn’t see art and colors the way people wanted to see them. He was very critical of himself because he didn’t sell any of the paintings he created. He ended up killing himself after struggling with anxiety and mental illness. His artwork wasn’t famous until after his death.
He loved painting pictures of landscapes, working people, nature, anything natural/realistic. He was very close with his brother and painted this picture for his nephew which I thought was beautiful –
After the museum, Scotty and I went to a beautiful bakery and got some sandwiches. I can’t wait to post pictures of this place because it was right out of a storybook.
We then decided to go to Dam Square and ride “the swings” in this carnival like square that looked like a mini Disneyland in the middle of the city. There was a huge Ferris Wheel, a haunted house, swings that went higher than any of the buildings in the city, rides, etc. Scott is afraid of heights, but I got him to go on the swings with me and he was really happy he did it. We got some great pictures of the city at the top : ) It was cold though!
We decided to walk through the Red Light District because everyone says you must do it. Right when we got in the area, we saw thirty beautiful swans in the canal. I had never seen so many swans in one area! The red lights were cool and it was very surreal to think that people were actually window shopping for people there.
We had our final dinner with “the crew” at a cute little spot called the Palladium. The food in Amsterdam was definitely better than Prague. I had a delicious vegetarian lasagna and Scotty had the authentic fries with a hamburger.
It was an amazing trip and we feel truly blessed to have experienced it. Thank you universe!
Best quotes from the trip:
“De Quee, Yo Queue, Ye Quey…” – Rob/all of us trying to say “Thank You” in Prague.
“Let’s Keep It Poppin’.” – Eddie
“My body is shutting down. I need bed.” – Jeff
“Dankavelle.” – Jess trying to say “Thank You” in Amsterdam and perfecting it ; )
“Watch out for the bikes!” - Scott
Amsterdam Part 1
We were supposed to go on a bike tour around the city on the first day in Amsterdam, but it was raining pretty hard so we asked if we could postpone the ride to the next day. It was a great decision, because it literally rained cold miserable rain all day. We had coffee/drinks at a nice little Irish Pub ( I know, again… not sure what our obsession with the Irish is) and watched soccer for an hour or so.
Our friend Eddie introduced us to a native named Jesse, and he invited us to go up to his loft to checkout his art. His loft was very nice and I really loved the concept of his art. He took recyclable boxes and painted Rembrandt-like pieces on them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a loft in Amsterdam that you dedicated solely to art making?? Jesse then proceeded to tell us that he is an actor and showed us some of the commercials he’s been in world-wide. He was in a McDonalds commercial, BMW commercial, banking commercial, etc. and had won an award from Warner Brothers for a project he helped them with. We were hanging out with a true celebrity here and he was extremely down to earth and hospitable.
After leaving the loft, we decided to go to the Anne Frank house. Most of you have probably read “The Diary of Anne Frank” when you were in grade school/middle school, but this house/exhibit was exquisite and I highly recommend you visit if you come to Amsterdam. Scott’s mom had recommended we go (thanks Becky!), and I am happy we did because it was one of my favorite adventures in the city.
Besides the fact that Anne Frank and I share the same birthday and that we are both writers, I felt a weird connection with her. I ended up being the same height as her as well (her measurements were on the wall). I can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in an attic for years while being hunted by Germans and not being able to breathe the fresh air/run around/be free. How claustrophobic! I also can’t believe that after all that, they were actually caught by the Germans and only her father survived. It was nice to have the story brought back to us to remember a) how recent WWII is to us in our history and b) to remember that we never want something that hellacious to happen again. We must love one another.
The one part of the museum that I thought was truly sobering was watching a video of her Father’s thoughts after the whole ordeal was over and after he read Anne’s journals about the incident. He said that after he read Anne’s journals he was surprised and how little he actually knew his daughter and what was going on in her mind. He had no idea that she was so critical of herself and wished he could have known that so he could have been there for her more. It’s amazing how little we actually know about our closest friends and family members.
That’s something only our journals know…
That night, we went to dinner at a very “posh” place for a five course meal and entrance into an exclusive night club. The food was delicious… goat cheese salad, miso soup, vegetarian ravioli, chocolate strawberry ice cream dessert. The dinner that night was one of my favorite dinners of the trip. The night club was okay… it had a great D.J. (ACE) and Eddie kept saying “Let’s keep it poppin!” so that is what we did : )
Our friend Eddie introduced us to a native named Jesse, and he invited us to go up to his loft to checkout his art. His loft was very nice and I really loved the concept of his art. He took recyclable boxes and painted Rembrandt-like pieces on them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a loft in Amsterdam that you dedicated solely to art making?? Jesse then proceeded to tell us that he is an actor and showed us some of the commercials he’s been in world-wide. He was in a McDonalds commercial, BMW commercial, banking commercial, etc. and had won an award from Warner Brothers for a project he helped them with. We were hanging out with a true celebrity here and he was extremely down to earth and hospitable.
After leaving the loft, we decided to go to the Anne Frank house. Most of you have probably read “The Diary of Anne Frank” when you were in grade school/middle school, but this house/exhibit was exquisite and I highly recommend you visit if you come to Amsterdam. Scott’s mom had recommended we go (thanks Becky!), and I am happy we did because it was one of my favorite adventures in the city.
Besides the fact that Anne Frank and I share the same birthday and that we are both writers, I felt a weird connection with her. I ended up being the same height as her as well (her measurements were on the wall). I can’t imagine what it would be like to be stuck in an attic for years while being hunted by Germans and not being able to breathe the fresh air/run around/be free. How claustrophobic! I also can’t believe that after all that, they were actually caught by the Germans and only her father survived. It was nice to have the story brought back to us to remember a) how recent WWII is to us in our history and b) to remember that we never want something that hellacious to happen again. We must love one another.
The one part of the museum that I thought was truly sobering was watching a video of her Father’s thoughts after the whole ordeal was over and after he read Anne’s journals about the incident. He said that after he read Anne’s journals he was surprised and how little he actually knew his daughter and what was going on in her mind. He had no idea that she was so critical of herself and wished he could have known that so he could have been there for her more. It’s amazing how little we actually know about our closest friends and family members.
That’s something only our journals know…
That night, we went to dinner at a very “posh” place for a five course meal and entrance into an exclusive night club. The food was delicious… goat cheese salad, miso soup, vegetarian ravioli, chocolate strawberry ice cream dessert. The dinner that night was one of my favorite dinners of the trip. The night club was okay… it had a great D.J. (ACE) and Eddie kept saying “Let’s keep it poppin!” so that is what we did : )
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Prague Day 3/4, Holland Day 1– “I Don’t Speak Freaky Deeky Dutch.”
We started out the evening going to a really nice restaurant in downtown Prague. I had the vegetarian risotto and Scott had the lamb. We had great conversation and laughs with the people we were traveling with then went out to hit the town for a couple hours.
The next day, we decided to take the advice of my friend Teri and go see the Lennon Wall. While on our way we passed over the Charles Bridge and looked at all of the souvenirs on the bridge. The first day when we saw the Charles Bridge, it was raining so not very many vendors were out. When we saw it for the second time – the bands, musicians, vendors were out and it was a truly beautiful experience. There was a musician who was playing us Mozart on crystal glasses. It was pretty brilliant.
We then made our way to try to find the Lennon Wall and found a beautiful, quiet little area by a river. The fall leaves were falling over the river with perfection. We found a wall of “locks” near the river and found out later that if you have found true love, you are supposed to add a lock to the fence (to bad we didn’t have a lock with us!). You are also supposed to carve your names near the locks and throw a key in the river/canal behind it. Apparently there is something similar to this in Paris.
Right after we saw the locks, we made our way to see the Lennon Wall. It was a truly great experience and one of my favorites in Prague (got some great pictures! – thanks Teri!). It is a tribute to love after John died. It has lyrics from The Beatles all over it and represents peace and love in Prague. When Prague was run by a communist dictatorship, the leaders did not like the wall because they saw it was their citizens being hypnotized by western capitalism/mental derangement. Isn’t that ironic? All these people wanted was the word of love to be spread. Does that make you mentally deranged? If so, I am proud to be mentally deranged! : ) I loved that no matter who you met at the wall, you were instant friends because you could sing Beatles songs with them and you instantly had that in common. Even if you spoke different languages, you could still connect through the lyrics.
After the wall, we decided to climb a bell tower near the castle (with about a thousand steep steps). Apparently Prague was one of the main places where bells were made before WWI and WWII. They melted down all of the bells to use for the wars, but before that time – they had 256 bells that sounded off all over the town to alert citizens of what was going on around the city. All of the bells around the city sound different and mean different things.
We got pizza in a realllly weird little place that had “Neverending Story” like fantasy paintings. The place was supposed to be a cave… it was weird, but had great service which is rare in the restaurants in Prague. By the time we got out of the restaurant, it was sunset and a beautiful time to cross the Charles Bridge again to take pictures.
We tried to find the Communist Museum for a couple hours while shopping, but couldn’t find it and couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to tell us how to get there. We decided to climb the clock tower that has the Astrological Clock in it and when we go to the top, both of us found that we were afraid of heights with how high it was off the ground! The view was beautiful at night though and we are happy we did it. We then decided to go get a massage near our hotel. The massage was just what we needed to rejuvenate ourselves for a couple more days in Europe (especially since you walk everywhere – our legs were killing us!). We decided to go out for a night on the town (it was our last night in Prague), so we met up with the people we were traveling with and went to a couple night clubs.
We met an Irish couple there who we totally clicked with – Joe (Josephine) and Liam. Liam and Scott had an instant “bromance”, and Scott said that if Liam lived in the states that they’d be best friends. We found out that they are both Leos (of course I asked) and then it all made sense as to why they were getting along so great ; ) We danced, walked the streets, and had generally just had a great time with them. We were very sad we hadn’t met them earlier. Anyway, Liam and Joe said we can come visit them in Ireland anytime (and vice versa) so we may just take them up on that offer!
We traveled about four hours on flights through Warsaw, Polland yesterday and arrived in Amsterdam, Holland late last night. We went out to a place called WagaMama for some Japanese noodles (weird pick eh?) and checked out the city late last night, but for the most part – we were exhausted and decided to get our first eight hours of non-jet-lag sleep. We are now plotting what we will do today, but we are for sure going to go on a “bike tour” which I am VERY excited about. Everyone rides bikes here and I absolutely love it.
I keep watching out for Gold Member (you all know what a big Austin Powers fan I am) and “the very toit” Austin Powers “Fasha”. I think I may run into Dr. Evil at any moment and here him say “I don’t speak freaky deaky dutch.”
“I vant everyone to have an Amsterdam good time.” - Goldmember
The next day, we decided to take the advice of my friend Teri and go see the Lennon Wall. While on our way we passed over the Charles Bridge and looked at all of the souvenirs on the bridge. The first day when we saw the Charles Bridge, it was raining so not very many vendors were out. When we saw it for the second time – the bands, musicians, vendors were out and it was a truly beautiful experience. There was a musician who was playing us Mozart on crystal glasses. It was pretty brilliant.
We then made our way to try to find the Lennon Wall and found a beautiful, quiet little area by a river. The fall leaves were falling over the river with perfection. We found a wall of “locks” near the river and found out later that if you have found true love, you are supposed to add a lock to the fence (to bad we didn’t have a lock with us!). You are also supposed to carve your names near the locks and throw a key in the river/canal behind it. Apparently there is something similar to this in Paris.
Right after we saw the locks, we made our way to see the Lennon Wall. It was a truly great experience and one of my favorites in Prague (got some great pictures! – thanks Teri!). It is a tribute to love after John died. It has lyrics from The Beatles all over it and represents peace and love in Prague. When Prague was run by a communist dictatorship, the leaders did not like the wall because they saw it was their citizens being hypnotized by western capitalism/mental derangement. Isn’t that ironic? All these people wanted was the word of love to be spread. Does that make you mentally deranged? If so, I am proud to be mentally deranged! : ) I loved that no matter who you met at the wall, you were instant friends because you could sing Beatles songs with them and you instantly had that in common. Even if you spoke different languages, you could still connect through the lyrics.
After the wall, we decided to climb a bell tower near the castle (with about a thousand steep steps). Apparently Prague was one of the main places where bells were made before WWI and WWII. They melted down all of the bells to use for the wars, but before that time – they had 256 bells that sounded off all over the town to alert citizens of what was going on around the city. All of the bells around the city sound different and mean different things.
We got pizza in a realllly weird little place that had “Neverending Story” like fantasy paintings. The place was supposed to be a cave… it was weird, but had great service which is rare in the restaurants in Prague. By the time we got out of the restaurant, it was sunset and a beautiful time to cross the Charles Bridge again to take pictures.
We tried to find the Communist Museum for a couple hours while shopping, but couldn’t find it and couldn’t find anyone who spoke English to tell us how to get there. We decided to climb the clock tower that has the Astrological Clock in it and when we go to the top, both of us found that we were afraid of heights with how high it was off the ground! The view was beautiful at night though and we are happy we did it. We then decided to go get a massage near our hotel. The massage was just what we needed to rejuvenate ourselves for a couple more days in Europe (especially since you walk everywhere – our legs were killing us!). We decided to go out for a night on the town (it was our last night in Prague), so we met up with the people we were traveling with and went to a couple night clubs.
We met an Irish couple there who we totally clicked with – Joe (Josephine) and Liam. Liam and Scott had an instant “bromance”, and Scott said that if Liam lived in the states that they’d be best friends. We found out that they are both Leos (of course I asked) and then it all made sense as to why they were getting along so great ; ) We danced, walked the streets, and had generally just had a great time with them. We were very sad we hadn’t met them earlier. Anyway, Liam and Joe said we can come visit them in Ireland anytime (and vice versa) so we may just take them up on that offer!
We traveled about four hours on flights through Warsaw, Polland yesterday and arrived in Amsterdam, Holland late last night. We went out to a place called WagaMama for some Japanese noodles (weird pick eh?) and checked out the city late last night, but for the most part – we were exhausted and decided to get our first eight hours of non-jet-lag sleep. We are now plotting what we will do today, but we are for sure going to go on a “bike tour” which I am VERY excited about. Everyone rides bikes here and I absolutely love it.
I keep watching out for Gold Member (you all know what a big Austin Powers fan I am) and “the very toit” Austin Powers “Fasha”. I think I may run into Dr. Evil at any moment and here him say “I don’t speak freaky deaky dutch.”
“I vant everyone to have an Amsterdam good time.” - Goldmember
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Prague, Day 1 and 2 - Manifesting Happiness
I cannot even tell you what an amazing year it's been so far. I am a true believer in manifesting your own happiness through the power of positive thought and sending positive energy to the universe.
It's been one of the luckiest years of my life, and let me tell you how that started.... My mom and step-father brought me up going to all different types of churches (which I am very grateful for because I feel blessed to have a background in all different types of religious faith and truly have a respect for all). One year, they took me and my little brother to the Unitarian church on New Years Eve to a ceremony called "The Burning Bowl". I know that may sound a little "shady" to you all, but it was something that has changed my life for the better.
What you do (and what I've continued to try to repeat with either friends or family each year on New Years)- You write down all of the things you want to get rid of about yourself and your life from the past year on a piece of tissue paper. You then burn it in a bowl of fire with all of your friends, releasing that energy and putting that energy behind you. Then, you write a letter to God (or whoever you believe in - heck, it could even be one of your mentors if you don't believe in a higher power), it's all about getting out what you want to manifest for yourself in the next year... To be clear - you write a letter with what you want to accomplish in the next year and try to be as descriptive as possible.
I invited some friends over to my house for this ritual last New Year's and let me tell you the things that have come true for me...
1. I have a new job with great co-workers and leaders that mentor me, believe in me, and want me to grow professionally and personally.
2. I got a new car (I've been avoiding this for years... what a cluster experience!).
3. I am happy, genuinely and fully. I feel full of life, love, energy and health.
4. I've been doing more service for our community. Be it volunteering for races raising money for different charities, donating for causes, helping friends and loved one's move, and have a plan to make blankets for Primary Children's in Nov.
5. I'm traveling to a country I've never been to with Scotty (something I thought wouldn't come true, but I've recently been blessed to have this come into my life).
So...this brings me to where I am at now - Prague.
I won a free trip to Europe through work. I know, how does that happen right?! Well, it has been a true blessing and one of the funnest experiences of my life so far.
Day one was filled with a lot of travel. 13 hours on a plane and about an hour car ride to our hotel. We are staying in a hotel near Old Town Square right by the Astrological Clock. If you haven't researched the clock, you must. It's one of the coolest things in this world (in my opinion). It's nice that we are in they city, because last time I went to Prague (which was also an amazing experience), we were out of the town about 20 minutes and had to take a train in.
I REALLY tried to sleep well on the plane so I wouldn't be jet-lagged, but that didn't work very well and I made the mistake of taking a nap in my hotel room when I got to the hotel so I didn't sleep at all last night. Oh well, hopefully I will sleep better tonight? ; )
Even thought I didn't sleep well last night, the first night before I tried to sleep was a success. We are here with a great group of people (five of us).
We all made a bad tourist mistake right when we got in (because we were all delirious from the time change and long flights). We dropped a lot of money on bottled waters at an Irish, yes, I said IRISH pub (why we decided to go to such a place in Prague for breakfast versus an authentic Prague pub or restaurant, I do not know). Oh well, we learned from it and the food wasn't that bad.
We took a tour of the city today and saw the beautiful Gothic castle/cathedral. Our tour guide was a doll. She said that people on average only make $18,000 a year here. Us American's are blessed whether we'd like to believe it or not. As mentioned, the astrological clock is one of my favorite landmarks that I've ever seen (you know what a geek I am about astrology) ; ] Our tour guide was a Libra by the way and she got a kick out of the fact that I knew all about the clock. She kept saying "you are so smart with this stuff and looking at me funny". Well, that's what most people do when I talk to them about astrology, so I am used to it : )
It is a bit cold, but we are making the best of it. The fall colors are beautiful and I feel very blessed that I've been able to see Prague in the spring AND in the fall.
I am also very lucky to have Scotty here. I came to Prague without him last time (when I went for school), and it was very hard to be in one of the most romantic places on earth without him.
We are off to Amsterdam soon, I've never been there, but I am looking forward to see where Ann Frank lived (she's one of the only historical figures I know of that has the same birthday as me and her story is truly inspirational). I am also looking forward to seeing Van Gogh's art gallery and more Gothic/Baroque architecture. Pictures soon.
Much love - J*
It's been one of the luckiest years of my life, and let me tell you how that started.... My mom and step-father brought me up going to all different types of churches (which I am very grateful for because I feel blessed to have a background in all different types of religious faith and truly have a respect for all). One year, they took me and my little brother to the Unitarian church on New Years Eve to a ceremony called "The Burning Bowl". I know that may sound a little "shady" to you all, but it was something that has changed my life for the better.
What you do (and what I've continued to try to repeat with either friends or family each year on New Years)- You write down all of the things you want to get rid of about yourself and your life from the past year on a piece of tissue paper. You then burn it in a bowl of fire with all of your friends, releasing that energy and putting that energy behind you. Then, you write a letter to God (or whoever you believe in - heck, it could even be one of your mentors if you don't believe in a higher power), it's all about getting out what you want to manifest for yourself in the next year... To be clear - you write a letter with what you want to accomplish in the next year and try to be as descriptive as possible.
I invited some friends over to my house for this ritual last New Year's and let me tell you the things that have come true for me...
1. I have a new job with great co-workers and leaders that mentor me, believe in me, and want me to grow professionally and personally.
2. I got a new car (I've been avoiding this for years... what a cluster experience!).
3. I am happy, genuinely and fully. I feel full of life, love, energy and health.
4. I've been doing more service for our community. Be it volunteering for races raising money for different charities, donating for causes, helping friends and loved one's move, and have a plan to make blankets for Primary Children's in Nov.
5. I'm traveling to a country I've never been to with Scotty (something I thought wouldn't come true, but I've recently been blessed to have this come into my life).
So...this brings me to where I am at now - Prague.
I won a free trip to Europe through work. I know, how does that happen right?! Well, it has been a true blessing and one of the funnest experiences of my life so far.
Day one was filled with a lot of travel. 13 hours on a plane and about an hour car ride to our hotel. We are staying in a hotel near Old Town Square right by the Astrological Clock. If you haven't researched the clock, you must. It's one of the coolest things in this world (in my opinion). It's nice that we are in they city, because last time I went to Prague (which was also an amazing experience), we were out of the town about 20 minutes and had to take a train in.
I REALLY tried to sleep well on the plane so I wouldn't be jet-lagged, but that didn't work very well and I made the mistake of taking a nap in my hotel room when I got to the hotel so I didn't sleep at all last night. Oh well, hopefully I will sleep better tonight? ; )
Even thought I didn't sleep well last night, the first night before I tried to sleep was a success. We are here with a great group of people (five of us).
We all made a bad tourist mistake right when we got in (because we were all delirious from the time change and long flights). We dropped a lot of money on bottled waters at an Irish, yes, I said IRISH pub (why we decided to go to such a place in Prague for breakfast versus an authentic Prague pub or restaurant, I do not know). Oh well, we learned from it and the food wasn't that bad.
We took a tour of the city today and saw the beautiful Gothic castle/cathedral. Our tour guide was a doll. She said that people on average only make $18,000 a year here. Us American's are blessed whether we'd like to believe it or not. As mentioned, the astrological clock is one of my favorite landmarks that I've ever seen (you know what a geek I am about astrology) ; ] Our tour guide was a Libra by the way and she got a kick out of the fact that I knew all about the clock. She kept saying "you are so smart with this stuff and looking at me funny". Well, that's what most people do when I talk to them about astrology, so I am used to it : )
It is a bit cold, but we are making the best of it. The fall colors are beautiful and I feel very blessed that I've been able to see Prague in the spring AND in the fall.
I am also very lucky to have Scotty here. I came to Prague without him last time (when I went for school), and it was very hard to be in one of the most romantic places on earth without him.
We are off to Amsterdam soon, I've never been there, but I am looking forward to see where Ann Frank lived (she's one of the only historical figures I know of that has the same birthday as me and her story is truly inspirational). I am also looking forward to seeing Van Gogh's art gallery and more Gothic/Baroque architecture. Pictures soon.
Much love - J*
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Dilbert.
Surprise, surprise...
Dilbert wrote a comic about my life:
http://www.dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/00000/0000/100/100155/100155.strip.gif
and p.s. - the Progressive lady scares me...
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001176825/progressive_girl1_answer_3_xlarge.jpeg
Dilbert wrote a comic about my life:
http://www.dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/100000/00000/0000/100/100155/100155.strip.gif
and p.s. - the Progressive lady scares me...
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001176825/progressive_girl1_answer_3_xlarge.jpeg
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Looking Glass Wars
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank BeddorMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
After reading "The Looking Glass Wars - Book 1" - I was really disappointed that Tim Burton didn't use this story for the new "Alice and Wonderland" movie. I was really hoping Tim Burton would have been a little bit more creative with the "Alice and Wonderland" story and that is EXACTLY what "The Looking Glass Wars" does. This book/series is a mix between Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, all of the musicals (Oliver and Annie), etc. It starts out with Alice being mad that her friend wrote her version of the story completely different... Alice didn't like the new version of the story... but I did.
This book is extremely creative and fun to read. It teaches you to never stop using your imagination and to never stop believing in the unbelievable. I highly recommend this book.
Favorite quotes:
"He was the least sullen, the least prone to depression... the one who, with his lively, confident attitude kept everyone's spirits up when there weren't enough crusts to go around, when it was cold and wet and they'd been chased out of too many sheltered doorways to count. In other words, Quigly Gaffer gave them hope when life seemed particularly hopeless. And he had suffered as much as anybody."
"The more time Alyss spent in this wet dreary city, the less she believed in her imagination. ---{it's not as strong as Mother thought, Probably never was...}---"
"He offered to take her in the carriage, but Alice said that she'd prefer to walk. 'You see so much more of the town when you walk - a little curiosity shop or a snatch of garden where you wouldn't think it possible to have a garden, choked as it is by city things. In a carriage, you hurry past these treasures without noticing them.' She didn't take the slightest quirk of mankind for granted, but viewed it as a small miracle and cause for celebration."
"Black Imagination feeds on anger, Alyss. Give in to your anger and you merely become a pawn of Black Imagination, which may triumph for a time but never for eternity."
Can't wait to read the second book in the series.
View all my reviews
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: And Other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis StevensonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Short and sweet... as a Gemini I can obviously relate to man and man's duplicity. Although everyone assumes that only Gemini's have duplicity - I think Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde helps us understand that all men have duplicity within them. The moral of the story is... try as much as possible to embrace the good parts of yourself (even though we all know there is a dark side too). If you embrace the dark parts of yourself too much - you make get lost in the darkness.
"Hence it came about that I concealed my pleasures; and that when I reached years of reflection, and began to look round me and take stock of my progress and position in the world, I stood already committed to a profound duplicity of me. Many a man would have even blazoned such irregularities as I was guilty of; but from the high views that I had set before me, I regarded and hid them an almost morbid sense of shame. It was thus rather the exacting nature of my aspirations that any particular degradation in my faults, that made me what I was, and, with even a deeper trench than in the majority of men, severed in me those provinces of good and ill which divide and compounds man's dual nature."
"That man is not truly one, but truly two... It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man. I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both...."
View all my reviews
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Eat. Pray. Love.
Best book of all time, best movie of all time. I loved the movie, (and as you are all aware) that's rare when you read the book first. For all of you who see this movie and love it, I highly recommend you read the book because the book delves through a much deeper journey.
The movie and book are about finding yourself - being okay with change and finding balance (in love, life, spirituality, etc.). Liz meets many friends in her path to enlightment - all of which become part of her life "family". I've been through a lot of the same journeys and have been touched by "family" much the same way... so it was easy to relate to Liz.
I think we are all on a beautiful, yet tough, path and it's nice when you meet people who remind you that "Ruin is a gift... that ruin is a road to transformation... that if you can't master your own thoughts, your in trouble... that you DO have the capicity in you to love everyone/the whole world... that you will meet many friends/many connections/enjoy many learnings outside of a scope that you thought you would... that waiting for people to forgive you is a damn waste of time, that you must FORGIVE YOURSELF... that we must take care of our families wherever we find them (and we find them everywhere)... that sometimes to lose balance in love is to live a balanced live... that we should ACCEPT EVERYONE we meet as a teacher."
And last but not least... my favorite quote from the book (and favorite quote of all time) -
"On happiness: ...people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descent upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, you strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight in its good attainments." - Eat. Pray. Love.
The movie and book are about finding yourself - being okay with change and finding balance (in love, life, spirituality, etc.). Liz meets many friends in her path to enlightment - all of which become part of her life "family". I've been through a lot of the same journeys and have been touched by "family" much the same way... so it was easy to relate to Liz.
I think we are all on a beautiful, yet tough, path and it's nice when you meet people who remind you that "Ruin is a gift... that ruin is a road to transformation... that if you can't master your own thoughts, your in trouble... that you DO have the capicity in you to love everyone/the whole world... that you will meet many friends/many connections/enjoy many learnings outside of a scope that you thought you would... that waiting for people to forgive you is a damn waste of time, that you must FORGIVE YOURSELF... that we must take care of our families wherever we find them (and we find them everywhere)... that sometimes to lose balance in love is to live a balanced live... that we should ACCEPT EVERYONE we meet as a teacher."
And last but not least... my favorite quote from the book (and favorite quote of all time) -
"On happiness: ...people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descent upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, you strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight in its good attainments." - Eat. Pray. Love.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
The Road
The Road
Attention: Beware of the Ephraim-Manti La Sal Forest Mountains…
I’m mainly kidding, but seriously – have I got the story for you…
So last weekend I decided to go on a camping trip with my two best friends - Scotty and Jordan Beckstead. We decided to go camping with a group of our friends for my dear friend Lindsey’s birthday. The directions we received were to head to Manti and turn at 500 South when we hit the “Manti La Sal Forest” sign. So, we headed to Manti with the GPS’ help and when we were in Ephraim, on 500 South we saw the sign that said “Manti La Sal Forest” – so we thought – “hey we better turn here.” Not only did we think that, the GPS was telling us to turn.
So, like the electronically addicted people that we are – we listened to the GPS. We started up the canyon and still had cell phone service. After 20 minutes, we decided to call the people we were meeting up with and make sure that we were supposed to be on a dirt road. They said, “yes” so we figured we were on the right path. Good thing, because cell phone service went out about 10 minutes later on all of our phones. When we were on the phone with our friends they told us to turn right at the reservoir and they were in campsite 1 so we figured we would be there in about 10 minutes.
About 30 minutes later…no cell phone service… we are literally on THE TOP of the mountain. We haven’t seen human life/camp sites in about 40 minutes. We finally come upon a sign at the top of the mountain that was very small… it said “to Manti and ‘Snow Lake.’” We were elated… celebrating that we hadn’t headed an hour in the wrong direction. So, even though we were on the top of a mountain with no one in site – we thought – “hey! Our friends are outdoorsy… they MUST be up here.” Man were we wrong…
While in celebration, we continue on the dirt road and after about 20 minutes we see a very, very small lake called “Snow Lake” with a glacier (nooo freaking joke) – a glacier next to it. This is when our instincts came in and we really started to think we were in trouble (the top of a mountain…glaciers…snow on July 31??)… BUT, instead of listening to our instincts, we decided to continue on the dirt road *why waste an hour and a half driving to the top of a mountain? There had to be SOME way out – riiight?* ; ) So… we continue on the dirt road and pass about three more lakes and five more glaciers.
At this point, I started to get nervous… and what better thing to do then joke around when you are nervous right? So I start to tease Jordan about horror movies (we both love them)… I started saying “Jordan… I think I just saw the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy over there and I think he had skin on his face.” And… “wow… this is turning out to be a Hills Have Eyes” night. It was really scaring him : )
We actually found out that the thing that I thought looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy was a tree… haha… so … after that we keep going for another 45 minutes on this dirt road. The road kept getting skinnier and skinnier. We had turned the GPS off an hour ago because we figured that the roads wouldn’t be updated, but we started to get scared so we turned it back on. Luckily it did have a path highlighted so we decided to follow the highlighted path. (We were pretty desperate at this point). The GPS took us to the sign we were hoping for – it said… “Manti Canyon – 17 miles this way…” – we celebrated again!!! We started heading back down the road and followed the GPS track – we had to trust it because it basically just saved our lives right??... so we follow the path, but we start getting to skinnier and skinnier roads… we were pretty sure we were on ATV trails, but the GPS hadn’t failed us up to this point, so we kept following it.
Pretty soon – the road started getting REALLY bumpy and skinny and the GPS was taking us off cliffs *literally* so we had to keep following this shady skinny path. We ended up going down a pretty big hill and at the bottom of the hill there as a huge lake-like puddle. We had hit a dead end… AGAIN… Again, our faith was torn down. So after Scott said “should we take it!!” and I said… “noooooo” (sometimes you have to bring men back to reality right??) we turned around and started going back up the hill.
The hill wasn’t as easy as we thought it was. Scott’s right tire got stuck in the mud/ditch on the way up and we thought the axle was going to break… we kept backing up and the ditch kept getting deeper. (Keep in mind that it had been two and a half hours before we have seen people at this point and it was pitch black outside [10:30 p.m.] – we were freaking out…) So finally Jordan pushed him out and Scott decided to try the hill one more time. We were scared because we didn’t want to have to get towed out of the mountains (plus – who would we contact? We didn’t have service). So he tried it again and we got up the hill.
Jordan just so happened to be flashing his flash light out of the car and we saw a glowing stick in the distance. We followed the glow-stick and ran into some hill-billy’s who finally lead us to the path out of the crazy mountains. We ended up at our friend’s campsite five minutes after being on the right road and had a great time on the rest of the camping trip,
But really….
Thank the lord we got out of there. It was scary.
Beware the Ephraim/Manti La Sal Mountains.
The funny thing is – I gave Jordan “The Road” movie for his birthday that day before we started driving up. Little did we know we would be ON “The Road” for the next five hours lost as can be….
This story is dedicated to my dearest Scotty and Jordan… We are lucky to be alive boys, but I am happy to have shared that adventure with you : ) <3
Attention: Beware of the Ephraim-Manti La Sal Forest Mountains…
I’m mainly kidding, but seriously – have I got the story for you…
So last weekend I decided to go on a camping trip with my two best friends - Scotty and Jordan Beckstead. We decided to go camping with a group of our friends for my dear friend Lindsey’s birthday. The directions we received were to head to Manti and turn at 500 South when we hit the “Manti La Sal Forest” sign. So, we headed to Manti with the GPS’ help and when we were in Ephraim, on 500 South we saw the sign that said “Manti La Sal Forest” – so we thought – “hey we better turn here.” Not only did we think that, the GPS was telling us to turn.
So, like the electronically addicted people that we are – we listened to the GPS. We started up the canyon and still had cell phone service. After 20 minutes, we decided to call the people we were meeting up with and make sure that we were supposed to be on a dirt road. They said, “yes” so we figured we were on the right path. Good thing, because cell phone service went out about 10 minutes later on all of our phones. When we were on the phone with our friends they told us to turn right at the reservoir and they were in campsite 1 so we figured we would be there in about 10 minutes.
About 30 minutes later…no cell phone service… we are literally on THE TOP of the mountain. We haven’t seen human life/camp sites in about 40 minutes. We finally come upon a sign at the top of the mountain that was very small… it said “to Manti and ‘Snow Lake.’” We were elated… celebrating that we hadn’t headed an hour in the wrong direction. So, even though we were on the top of a mountain with no one in site – we thought – “hey! Our friends are outdoorsy… they MUST be up here.” Man were we wrong…
While in celebration, we continue on the dirt road and after about 20 minutes we see a very, very small lake called “Snow Lake” with a glacier (nooo freaking joke) – a glacier next to it. This is when our instincts came in and we really started to think we were in trouble (the top of a mountain…glaciers…snow on July 31??)… BUT, instead of listening to our instincts, we decided to continue on the dirt road *why waste an hour and a half driving to the top of a mountain? There had to be SOME way out – riiight?* ; ) So… we continue on the dirt road and pass about three more lakes and five more glaciers.
At this point, I started to get nervous… and what better thing to do then joke around when you are nervous right? So I start to tease Jordan about horror movies (we both love them)… I started saying “Jordan… I think I just saw the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy over there and I think he had skin on his face.” And… “wow… this is turning out to be a Hills Have Eyes” night. It was really scaring him : )
We actually found out that the thing that I thought looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy was a tree… haha… so … after that we keep going for another 45 minutes on this dirt road. The road kept getting skinnier and skinnier. We had turned the GPS off an hour ago because we figured that the roads wouldn’t be updated, but we started to get scared so we turned it back on. Luckily it did have a path highlighted so we decided to follow the highlighted path. (We were pretty desperate at this point). The GPS took us to the sign we were hoping for – it said… “Manti Canyon – 17 miles this way…” – we celebrated again!!! We started heading back down the road and followed the GPS track – we had to trust it because it basically just saved our lives right??... so we follow the path, but we start getting to skinnier and skinnier roads… we were pretty sure we were on ATV trails, but the GPS hadn’t failed us up to this point, so we kept following it.
Pretty soon – the road started getting REALLY bumpy and skinny and the GPS was taking us off cliffs *literally* so we had to keep following this shady skinny path. We ended up going down a pretty big hill and at the bottom of the hill there as a huge lake-like puddle. We had hit a dead end… AGAIN… Again, our faith was torn down. So after Scott said “should we take it!!” and I said… “noooooo” (sometimes you have to bring men back to reality right??) we turned around and started going back up the hill.
The hill wasn’t as easy as we thought it was. Scott’s right tire got stuck in the mud/ditch on the way up and we thought the axle was going to break… we kept backing up and the ditch kept getting deeper. (Keep in mind that it had been two and a half hours before we have seen people at this point and it was pitch black outside [10:30 p.m.] – we were freaking out…) So finally Jordan pushed him out and Scott decided to try the hill one more time. We were scared because we didn’t want to have to get towed out of the mountains (plus – who would we contact? We didn’t have service). So he tried it again and we got up the hill.
Jordan just so happened to be flashing his flash light out of the car and we saw a glowing stick in the distance. We followed the glow-stick and ran into some hill-billy’s who finally lead us to the path out of the crazy mountains. We ended up at our friend’s campsite five minutes after being on the right road and had a great time on the rest of the camping trip,
But really….
Thank the lord we got out of there. It was scary.
Beware the Ephraim/Manti La Sal Mountains.
The funny thing is – I gave Jordan “The Road” movie for his birthday that day before we started driving up. Little did we know we would be ON “The Road” for the next five hours lost as can be….
This story is dedicated to my dearest Scotty and Jordan… We are lucky to be alive boys, but I am happy to have shared that adventure with you : ) <3
Sunday, July 04, 2010
"The Help" Book Review
The Help by Kathryn StockettMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. It made me realize that it's often really easy to get caught up in what every one else thinks, what everyone else believes to be true... and that's it's often hard to get people to think in another way when they've already decided how things should be. It made me realize that you should NEVER give up on standing up for what's right - regardless of if that's going to make you a social outcast. The people who help mankind progress forward are those who are constantly questioning what's right...letting love guide them versus conformity. Skeeter, one of the girls in the book - was one of those people that I admire... always pushing the envelope of what is socially acceptable. She didn't care what others thought of her, she still knew that it wasn't right to treat others differently because of their skin color or sex... she still knew that even though she was a woman - she could be somebody... she could be whatever she wanted to be!
Favorite quotes from the book:
1) "Cause that's the way prayer do. It's like electricity, it keeps things going."
2) "See, I think if God had intended for white people and colored people to be this close together for so much of the day, he would've made us color-blind."
3) - When the women are telling their stories... "Angry stories come out, of white men who've tried to touch them. Winnie said she was forced over and over. Cleontine said she fought until his face bled and he never tried again. But the dichotomy of love and disdain living side-by-side is what surprises me. Most [of the maids:] are invited to attend the white children's weddings, but only if they're in their uniforms. These things I know already, yet hearing them from colored mouths, it is as if I am hearing them for the first time."
View all my reviews >>
Eclipse Book Review
Eclipse by Stephenie MeyerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am so excited that I finally finished this book so that I can go see the movie. I have to admit, the beginning of this book was hard to get through with all the dialogue, but the last 300 pages of the book were amazing. I actually liked this book better than the second book. Some of my favorite quotes from this book 1) "It's so hard to describe. It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like... gravity moves. When you see her, suddenly it's not the earth holding you here anymore. She does. and nothing matters more than her. And you would do anything for her, be anything for her... You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend, or a brother." 3) "He started to hum my lullaby
View all my reviews >>
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Good leadership is important: Ducks Quack - Eagles Soar
I truly am blessed to have great leadership. The COO sent this out to our entire company the other day, and I couldn't agree more. Jim - you rock!
Ducks Quack - Eagles Soar
No one can make you serve customers well....that's because great service is a choice.
Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .
He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'
Taken aback, Harvey read the card.. It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment....
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice..' Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'
Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today..'
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'
And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts...
'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.
He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself.. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'
'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers.. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'
'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.
'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
How about us? Smile, and the whole world smiles with you.... The ball is in our hands!
A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up... Let us do good to all people.
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.
Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.
Ducks Quack - Eagles Soar
No one can make you serve customers well....that's because great service is a choice.
Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey .
He handed my friend a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'
Taken aback, Harvey read the card.. It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment....
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' My friend said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice..' Almost stuttering, Harvey said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.'
Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today..'
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'
And as if that weren't enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts...
'Tell me, Wally,' my amazed friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?'
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.
He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself.. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'
'That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers.. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'
'I take it that has paid off for you,' Harvey said.
'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I've probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn't do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
How about us? Smile, and the whole world smiles with you.... The ball is in our hands!
A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up... Let us do good to all people.
Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar.
Have a nice day, unless you already have other plans.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Destiny's Child, Happy Face
Woke up and realized this world's not so bad after all...Looked at it through a child's eyes, and I saw these beautiful things that you never think about like the ocean, moonlight, stars and clouds... It's amazing how we don't appreciate our blessings. There's plenty of people who don't like me, but there are ten times more who love me and I love myself. Sometimes, it gets tough, it gets tough...But I can't give up, can't give up. Just take a deep breath, close my eyes...feel the love and give a smile.
- Destiny's Child, Happy Face
- Destiny's Child, Happy Face
Friday, May 21, 2010
Google Earth view of Gulf of Mexico oil spill...
Google Earth view of Gulf of Mexico oil spill... makes me a little nauseous... feel bad for my ocean animal friends : ( http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/keeping-up-to-date-on-gulf-of-mexico.html
Reminds me of the Ben Harper song - Excuse Me Mr.
"Excuse Me Mr."
Excuse me Mr.
do you have the time
or are you so important
that it stands still for you
excuse me Mr.
won't you lend me your ear
or are you not only blind
but do you not hear
excuse me Mr.
but isn't that your oil in the sea
and the pollution in the air Mr.
whose could that be
so excuse me Mr.
but I'm a mister too
and you're givin' Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
so I'm taking the Mr.
from out in front of your name
cause it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
and I've seen enough to know
that I've seen too much
excuse me Mr.
can't you see the children dying
you say that you can't help them
Mr. you're not even trying
excuse me Mr.
won't you take a look around
Mr. just look up
and you will see it's comin' down
excuse me Mr.
but I'm a mister too
and you're givin' Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
so I'm taking the Mr.
from out in front of your name
cause it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
and I've seen enough to know
that I've seen too much
so Mr. when you're rattling
on heaven's gate
let me tell you Mr.
by then it is too late
cause Mr. when you get there
they don't ask how much you saved
all they'll want to know, Mr.
Is what you gave
excuse me Mr.
but I'm a mister too
and you're givin' Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
so I'm taking the Mr.
from out in front of your name
cause it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
Reminds me of the Ben Harper song - Excuse Me Mr.
"Excuse Me Mr."
Excuse me Mr.
do you have the time
or are you so important
that it stands still for you
excuse me Mr.
won't you lend me your ear
or are you not only blind
but do you not hear
excuse me Mr.
but isn't that your oil in the sea
and the pollution in the air Mr.
whose could that be
so excuse me Mr.
but I'm a mister too
and you're givin' Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
so I'm taking the Mr.
from out in front of your name
cause it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
and I've seen enough to know
that I've seen too much
excuse me Mr.
can't you see the children dying
you say that you can't help them
Mr. you're not even trying
excuse me Mr.
won't you take a look around
Mr. just look up
and you will see it's comin' down
excuse me Mr.
but I'm a mister too
and you're givin' Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
so I'm taking the Mr.
from out in front of your name
cause it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
and I've seen enough to know
that I've seen too much
so Mr. when you're rattling
on heaven's gate
let me tell you Mr.
by then it is too late
cause Mr. when you get there
they don't ask how much you saved
all they'll want to know, Mr.
Is what you gave
excuse me Mr.
but I'm a mister too
and you're givin' Mr. a bad name
Mr. like you
so I'm taking the Mr.
from out in front of your name
cause it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
it's a Mr. like you
that puts the rest of us to shame
Friday, May 14, 2010
I guess it's time...
So I guess it's time to write a real blog entry for once since all I've posted recently is a bunch of movie/book reviews : ). Although those are great - I have a lot to talk about (as usual) so I guess I will use this as a venue to talk about the awesome things that have been happening in my life in the past couple of months.
As many of you know - I changed jobs two months ago which was quite a dramatic event. I was working for 1-800 CONTACTS for about 6.5 years which is A LOT of time for a 25 year old. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to work for such a great company that mentored me and helped me to become the woman I am today. I miss all of my friends and co-workers, but it was time to make a change and I know that the friendships that were supposed to last, will last.
Sometimes - although it is EXTREMELY hard to admit it - change is what is best and needed in this world. I was given an amazing opportunity to move to a new company with tons of opportunity for growth (personally and professionally). I now work for Access Development in partnership marketing. I know - can you imagine me working in "partnership" marketing with "people"? That doesn't sound like me at all ; ) No, but seriously - this job is perfect for me. I was doing a lot of the same things at 1-800 CONTACTS, but now I work on the affiliate side and am learning new metrics for success in a company that is growing faster than they can keep up with. Here's a cool article that talks about how Access is one of Utah's fastest growing companies: http://www.accessdevelopment.com/AccessNamedUtah100.HTML
Along with making the change to a new company, comes the challenge (or as we optimists like to say "opportunity") of meeting new co-workers and friends and seriously... I have met some of the greatest people in the world at Access. I can already tell that a lot of these people will be friends for life and, as a people lover - I can tell you that good people are EXTREMELY hard to find... and there are a lot of fantastic people at Access.
That's the thing about change... it's scary, and most of the time we all tend to run from it when we shouldn't. If we embrace change, we can come across amazing opportunities we never would have thought possible.
All in all, life lately has been peachy keen and I have absolutely no complaints. I am grateful for all my many blessings.
Peace. Love. and Namaste.
As many of you know - I changed jobs two months ago which was quite a dramatic event. I was working for 1-800 CONTACTS for about 6.5 years which is A LOT of time for a 25 year old. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to work for such a great company that mentored me and helped me to become the woman I am today. I miss all of my friends and co-workers, but it was time to make a change and I know that the friendships that were supposed to last, will last.
Sometimes - although it is EXTREMELY hard to admit it - change is what is best and needed in this world. I was given an amazing opportunity to move to a new company with tons of opportunity for growth (personally and professionally). I now work for Access Development in partnership marketing. I know - can you imagine me working in "partnership" marketing with "people"? That doesn't sound like me at all ; ) No, but seriously - this job is perfect for me. I was doing a lot of the same things at 1-800 CONTACTS, but now I work on the affiliate side and am learning new metrics for success in a company that is growing faster than they can keep up with. Here's a cool article that talks about how Access is one of Utah's fastest growing companies: http://www.accessdevelopment.com/AccessNamedUtah100.HTML
Along with making the change to a new company, comes the challenge (or as we optimists like to say "opportunity") of meeting new co-workers and friends and seriously... I have met some of the greatest people in the world at Access. I can already tell that a lot of these people will be friends for life and, as a people lover - I can tell you that good people are EXTREMELY hard to find... and there are a lot of fantastic people at Access.
That's the thing about change... it's scary, and most of the time we all tend to run from it when we shouldn't. If we embrace change, we can come across amazing opportunities we never would have thought possible.
All in all, life lately has been peachy keen and I have absolutely no complaints. I am grateful for all my many blessings.
Peace. Love. and Namaste.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Movie Review: The Men Who Stare at Goats - 3 1/2 stars
"Mother Earth... you are my life support system. As a soldier I must drink your blue waters...live inside your red clay and eat your green skin. Help me to balance myself as you hold and balance the earth, the sea and the space environments. Help me to open my heart, knowing that the universe will feed me. I pray my boots will always kiss your face, and my footsteps will match your heartbeat. Carry my body through space and time. You are my connection to the universe and all that comes after. I am yours and you are mine. I salute you."
This movie seriously surprised me. Although it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, I thought the concept of the movie was original and inspiring. I've never thought about joining the army, but I wouldn't mind being part of the army division of psychic intervention a.k.a the New Earth Army. A job where being competent in energy work, karma/aura work, and yoga practice are the main requirements sounds great to me!!
Loved this quote: "We are Jedi's man! We don't fight with guns. We fight with our minds." - George Clooney
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Review of Rachel Getting Married Movie - 4 out of 5 Stars
Even though this movie was different (original topic/original storyline) ... I really liked it. What it meant to me: what matters in life is your family. No matter how crazy and dysfunctional life is or family members are or family situations are - you are there for each other through thick and thin. If a tough situation comes up - you get through it and your honest with each other the whole way. I liked that it brought out the fact that no family is perfect and no relationship between siblings or parents/children is perfect - but you get through the hard times because you love each other, and well, in order to survive (and there's nothing that makes your relationships stronger than getting through the hard times).
Also - you have to forgive people (especially family), and you have to forgive yourself... no matter how hard it is.
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Lovely Bones Book Review
The Lovely Bones by Alice SeboldMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
You know, for someone as open as I am to a lot of things, you are all probably going to be surprised when I say I thought the ending of the book was a little odd and over the top. I mean.... I just didn't think it fit with the rest of the book for some reason. I really liked the book until a bunch of body/soul swamping occurred and I still think that overall, the book was good, but .... I just couldn't stomach the ending.
I really liked the main girl and I felt that I could relate to her a lot. I specifically loved this quote: "I loved the way the burned-out flashcubes of the Kodak Instamatic marked a moment that had passed, one that would now be gone forever except for a picture. When they were spent, I took the cubed four-corner flashbulbs and passed them from hand to hand until they cooled. The broken filaments of the flash would turn a molten marble blue or sometimes smoke the thing glass black. I had rescued the moment by using my camera and in that way had found a way to stop time and hold it. No one could take that image away from me because I owned it." This to me, explained every reason I love photography.... the experimentation, the trapping of time.... loved that quote and I found that there were a lot of hidden jewels like this within the book.
I wish I would have read this book with my book club because there were some really interesting discussion questions in the back of the book. One of the questions asked if the family went through a harder time dealing with her death than she did - I do think they had a harder time with it than she did and it made me think about the times in my life that I've had to deal with death... maybe sometimes it's just better to let go and move on. I know that sometimes this is impossible, but if we hold on to the past - how can we live in the future?
View all my reviews >>
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A Golden Age
A Golden Age by Tahmima AnamMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
It was very interesting to learn about the Bangladesh Liberation War and to learn about living in Pakistan in general. I liked the discussion about the ethical dilemmas mother's run into when protecting their children or finally letting them go off to follow their dreams. It has some great points about love and the different kinds of love everyone runs into during life. I'm not sure about the fact that she didn't forgive her brother in law in the end, because I'm a strong believer in forgiveness... Favorite quote: "No there had never been another time; their lives were populated by Lenin and Castro and Mujib and Anwar Sadaat; there wass only this time, this life, this fraught and crowded era, which they were bound without choice, without knowledge, only their passions, their loves, to lead and sustain them."
View all my reviews >>
On The Road By Jack K
On the Road by Jack KerouacMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is like a constant poem to me. It made me want to travel and be with friends – love when books do that ☺ “Because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and the middle you see the blue center light pop and everyone goes “awww!” Also, I don't care how many people hate Dean. I liked him and thought he was a good example of how people definitely aren't perfect in this world, but that no matter what, maybe there is something about them.... you love them for their imperfections regardless of the mistakes they make.
View all my reviews >>
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Thanks Mom. You always know best.
My mom sent this to me and I love it...
HANDBOOK 2010
Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.
Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...
Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come...
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.
Love you mom.
HANDBOOK 2010
Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.
Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...
Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come...
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.
Love you mom.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)