Monday, February 9, 2009

Life as a Theme


See a theme?

Movies I Really Like:
Breakfast Club - high school kids from all different social strata on detention.  They find out they have more in common than they thought.  Took a little conversation to make that realization happen.
Little Big Man - Jack Crabb is 100 years old.  He tells his story: captured and raised by Indians, becomes a gunslinger, marries an Indian woman who is killed by Custer, and he becomes a scout at Little Big Horn.
Shirley Valentine - middle age woman goes on holiday to Greece, finds herself, doesn't come back. 

Music I Really Like:
Journey - Steve Perry Singing Rock
Theme Track from Slumdog Millionaire - Indian Dance Music
Greek Music - Popular
O'Jays - Wake Up Everybody, Money etc.
Josh Groban - Classical and Pop

Books I Really Like:
Dan Millman - Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Elizabeth Berg - Anything She Writes
Jennifer Louden - Women's Comfort Book
Walden - On The Duty of Civil Disobedience 

See the Theme? 
Movies: Change, Travel, Conversation 
Music: A Little of Everything  (Change) 
Books: Self Awareness, Change, Conversation 

Take a look at what you watch, listen to and read.  Write down your favorites.  Then figure out the similiarities.  Look at the rhythm of it all.  Do you see how you conduct your life?  



Sunday, February 8, 2009

Dream Board


My friend sent me a card with this quote from Carol Shields on it:
Go for long walks
indulge in hot baths
question your assumptions
be kind to yourself
live for the moment
loosen up
scream
curse the world
count your blessings
just let go
let be.

I have it on my dream board.   I also have postcards from Antiparos Greece, a pic of me on the beach in Florida, old friends in the photbooth pics, a great pic of my and two friends dancing when we were 7 or 8 years old.  There's a quote "where do you draw the line between possible and impossible".  My name with a flower.  A breakdown of who my perfect client is.  

So what's the purpose of a dream board?  You put up things that you want, things that motivate you.  It's located in a place you can look at it often.  I work so I can have a home on the Greek Islands.  I am living on the beach (I do see myself there).  I do accomplish the impossible.  No one will tell me it can't be done! 

Bottom lower left corner of dream board says:
WHO told you it couldn't be done?  And, what great achievement has he to his credit that entitles him to use the "impossible" so freely?

What's on your dream board? 

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Comfort Zones



I have a cat that sits in the bathtub.  Stutzbearcat likes the bathtub.  Can't find him?  He's in the tub.  No water - just chillin' out in the bathtub.  That's his comfort zone.  When he was a baby, he'd come into the bathroom and my husband, the bathtub guy,would rub him.  Now Stutz waits for hubby in the bathtub.  He knows he'll get rubbed.

Where are our comfort zones in our life?  Do they still make sense?  My husband is on the road more often than he is home.  It no longer makes sense for Stutz to sit in the tub waiting for a rub.  Yet, he stays in his comfort zone.  

In order to move forward, you have to step outside your comfort zone.  I'm comfortable on the computer.  I'm not so comfortable making phone calls.  Guess what I do?  Make phone calls.  Not a lot.  Not yet.  It is important to do the things that you are good at.  It's also important to do the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable.  I am scheduling calls now.  One hour a day.  I'm making it more fun too -- I partner up with my business partner.  We are having a 'balls to the wall' hour every day.  We instant message inbetween calls.  

I am looking at my work habits to see where my 'bathtub' is.  Does it still make sense?  Where am I doing the same thing I've always done - and no longer getting the results I need?  How can I change that comfort zone?  

What's your comfort zone?  Does it still make sense? 

Friday, February 6, 2009

Friday Odds and Ends


World Nutella Day was yesterday.  I first had Nutella in Athens Greece - went to a place that made crepes.  That's it - just crepes.  Nutella is a combination of chocolate and hazelnut - put in a spread.  You've got to try it.  You can find it by the peanut butter in the grocery store.  Fareway and HyVee both have it.   http://www.nutelladay.com for all kinds of info!  Let me know how you like it.  I can't eat it on my sugar free diet.  But I will so vicariously live through you!  Please..... leave details in the comments!

Finished the Grant Request for $10,000 from the Community Foundation of Franklin County.  We hope to stabilize and rehabilitate the Old Stone House.  Actually, we will do that.  The Historical Society (which I am a director of) is raising money now to accomplish that task.  Have you ever written a grant?  Let me tell you - it's very eye opening!  The good news is there are a couple of organizations locally we are going to first (Community Foundation and Center One).  We will also apply to the State Historical Society for funding.  Got any other ideas I might be missing?  

All my friends have colds.  I don't.  I take the best vitamins in the world (they came with paperwork and scientific documentation to prove that).  I workout - every day.  I think these two reasons keep me well.  

Great Social Media Quotes
New marketing is about the relationsips, not the medium.  Ben Grossman of BiGMarK
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.  Ben Franklin
It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.  Yogi Berra
Do you really listen or just wait for your turn to talk?  Anon

Figured out how to download music onto my mp3 player.  I subscribe to emusic.com  Not sure how long I'll do that.  They don't have a lot of the artists I like.  Something about keeping the prices affordable.  Does that mean those artists are refusing? Self magazine had a article with top 100 workout tunes of 2008 in January's issue.  I'm looking for those at emusic.  So far, no luck.  Music makes my workouts go so much quicker! 

Going to Kansas City next week!  Working on a project with the hubby (see the Nuval post).  Staying at Homestead Suites - hope it's as nice as the Homestead Suites in Chattanooga was.  They do have wifi and an exercise room - so I'm good to go.    Any recommendations for good barbeque places?    

I love bandanas.  They cost about a buck.  They come in lots of colors and patterns.  I have short hair.  I sweat when I work out (hear that Erin?  I'm sweating!).  Nothing worse than a woman with sweaty hair all slicked close to her head.  So I wear a bandana.  My grandma thought I was cute when I wore a babushka.  It's my mom's fault.  I had to walk down a 1/3 mile driveway to catch the bus to school.  They put a dishtowel on my head (like the pic above) and then put a hat on.  The bad hair days started early for me.    I buy my bandanas locally.  I'm not above accepting gifts in the mail though.  Comment and I'll give you my address!  Lol. 

Kellogs dropped Michael Phelps.  No surprise there.  Too bad he was just being a stupid kid.  Don't you just want to shake him and say WTF? A good slap to the back of the head too.  There is a price to celebrity.  Apparently he thought he could do whatever he wanted.  Wrong. 

The veteran who died last month because he had no electricity in his home - his bill was $1,000.  He was 93 and had dementia.  He paid his bills faithfully for 50 years.  Why was his electric shut off?  Where was the customer service?  I'm not saying, I'M SAYING!  What the hell?  Oh yeah, he left all he had to the local hospital.  $600,000.  You read it right - six hundred thousand dollars.  

Franklin County Fair is coming.............. 150 year celebration!  It's only the best county fair in the state!  Book your rooms now - I'm not kidding, we'll be busy that week! July 15 to July 19.  I'll be doing something -- writing articles, giving tours of the Historical Society, visiting booths - and eating LOCAL food!  See you there.  











Thursday, February 5, 2009

How Local Were You Today?


What a great day!  

Made a lot of business calls early in the day.  Set up appointments, left messages, moved my business forward.  Worked on the grant for the Old Stone House (Historical Society).  Wrote an article for the Hampton Today Who Knew Newspaper.

Planned a tweet up in Mason City with Daniel Cline.  Looks like there will be a couple of other people there too!  (A tweet up is where people on twitter meet up)

Went to the gym.  Ran 3 of the 10 minutes I was on the treadmill (walked the other 7).  Rode the bike.  Walked the path.  Played basketball.  Met an older fella and we worked with the director of the wellness center - going to have a over 50 basketball league!  How cool is that? 

Came home and cleaned up.  Went to eat supper at the Long Branch Supper Club in Geneva.  Our Abigails group (church group of women who cook meals throughout the year to raise funds) meet every February for a meal cooked by someone else!  I had the flat iron steak (medium), baked potato, water with lemon - and salad bar.  It cost me $10.17  Prime Rib on Saturday is only $19.95.  There is no better home cooked American food in the county.  That's the Long Branch Supper Club in Geneva Iowa.  

So let's see -- I was pretty local today.
Historical Society
Hampton Today Newspaper
Tweet Up in Mason City Plans
Franklin Wellness Center
Abigails
Long Branch Supper Club 

How local were you today?  Do you spend your money where you live?  

picture of Basketball Champions 1906 courtesy of bobster1985 at flickr.com