New York in the Fall

It’s fall and I’m in New York with Lisa. We made plans for this trip more than a year ago and we met up late Friday night. Saturday and Sunday the weather was very fall like, with some overcast skies and even a fair amount of rain on Sunday. We tootled Times Square, popped in to see a movie (after being wet all afternoon) - Sully, which was fun to see in NY, and we shopped a little, too. On Sunday we went to the American Museum of Natural History and wow, what a place that is!! According to their website, it’s more than 1,500,000 square feet of space to learn. Lisa and I spent easily 3-4 hours there and still did not see everything. I especially enjoyed the geology exhibit and loved seeing so much from California and even Placer Country as it pertains to the gold on display. This is going on my list of places to go back to with Mason, hopefully before he graduates from high school. It is absolutely a must-see if you visit NY.




We made a list of the things we really wanted to do while we are here some of which include roof top bars & nightlife, shopping the wholesale stores open to the public, riding bikes and the carousel in Central Park, seeing a show or two, and visiting the new Brookfield Mall at the site of the World Trade Center. We are staying in a little apartment in the meat packing district which is right across the street from Chelsea Market. There is just so much to see and do that is not on the normal NYC tourist list, there is no way we will do it all. With that said, we have already covered lots and we have another 3 days to play. I’ll wrap this up with a realization I had last night before falling asleep. After a full day of fun that wrapped up at a gay country bar we hopped in a cab and headed back to our little place, we decided to stop for dinner and that was one of the best meals of my life. I learned many years ago that there are restaurants that have great food and no atmosphere, great atmosphere and mediocre food, neither of what’s important, and finally, very few that have both amazing food and incredible atmosphere - We had dinner at Tao and I have a very clear understanding of the michelin star ratings for restaurants. I don’t know if they have stars, but they should! So the food was incredible, you get that, but my realization was this, Lisa and I were captivated from the time we walked in the door. We were greeted with big smiles, got right in and the experience moved along as we laughed, chatted, and sipped our drinks. By the time we had finished our meal, it occurred to me that had not thought about our phones, friends on social media, or anyone else for that matter. The
environment we were in had us completely present and enjoying what was happening right there and then. I suppose I snapped out of it at one point when I chuckled and noted that we had darn near cleaned our plates and didn’t event think to take a photo of how beautiful they looked when we were served. Just for fun, I snapped a photo of them having been thoroughly enjoyed and we paid our bill and left. I might note, for the meal and experience we had just enjoyed, in New York, the bill was under $100! With that, I will leave you with this:

Energy of intention

Life can often leave you feeling stuck or trapped in an undesirable position. Yet no matter how confining your situation may be, there is always a positive way forward.

Even though your options may be very limited, you do still have some powerful choices. Even in a difficult, highly challenging situation, there are real and present possibilities for great improvement.

The first thing to do is to refuse to see yourself as a victim. By taking full responsibility for your situation, you give yourself the power to change it for the better.

Next, instead of fretting about the way things are, develop a clear and compelling vision of how you want your life to be. Somewhere within the realm of possibility is a realistic goal that will make things much better for you.

Find that goal, focus on it, refine it, and make it so desirable that you cannot help but move toward it. Fill your awareness with your vision of a positive outcome, working enthusiastically and relentlessly to find and follow the way.

You've spent your entire life making things happen. Take control of the energy of your intention, and get yourself where you choose to be.

Ralph Marston - The Daily Motivator

Truckee in the Fall

Happy Fall!

 

Oh yes, fall is in full swing and it feels wonderful. I had the good fortune to spend the weekend in truckee with Lisa A. and Kristy P. We caught the aspens in full color, walked along the river, enjoyed some time at The River Inn, went to Tahoe City, tootled old town, enjoyed lazy mornings drinking coffee and inspiring each other with the dreams and goals we are all working on achieving. It was the rejuvenation that I have been longing for and now I'm ready to wrap up this semester at school (just 5 more weeks) and enjoy the coming holiday season. You can see the photo I took with my iPhone while we walked along the river, pretty, huh?

 

Last evening when I got home, Mason started asking questions about the Monday Motivator. We were looking at some pictures on my computer and one of him several years ago got us reminiscing about where and when. I told him I had the whole story written down in the MM and he looked surprised. We looked it up and that story led to another, that led to another until we were laughing out loud. Mason said, "So you just write about us and our stories? That's cool mom." Yeah, much like Seinfeld, I write about nothing or what seems like nothing at the time, when in fact, the everyday goings on in our life are the very things that we treasure later. Mason, at the ripe old age of 9 is connecting the dots and realizing what a gift this silly weekly blog will be for him when his mom is old and gray with no memory left. Can you imagine if you had something like this to reference back to your childhood and even before? What would you learn about your mom if you could read her writings as a teen, young woman, newlywed, and new mother? Today's nothings are tomorrows special memories and as long as you have today, you can start journaling and documenting your journey. I started writing this column (for lack of a better word) as a weekly e-mail back in early 1999 and I sincerely wish I had all of the early entries. I don't, unless one of you computer geeks kept those e-mails from 1999-2002, but I'm grateful for the ones I do have and I'm even more grateful that they are on line, I know they are safe and in the event of a disaster, Mason will always have a way to have our stories.

 

The Mandarin Festival is coming, just two short weeks away and Mason is doing a cooking demo. If you are interested in a really fun day trip, let me know and I will get you tickets. Enjoy the fall colors, warm days and cool nights, and take a moment each day to find things to be grateful for...there really is so much good all around each of us - focus on it, it just feels so darn good! Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Our holiday season was the best ever! I say it all the time, my life is incredible and though there are rough patches, they pale in comparison to the love and friendship that surrounds me. Dave, Mason and I spent the weekend in Truckee with David and Lisa Anderson. It was a lovely mix of girl time with Lisa, skiing in fresh powder with Dave & Mason (the best weather day of the weekend), shopping in Old Town Truckee, playing in the snow and the cherry on the icing, it snowed while we were there!

Mason didn't make it to midnight on Friday so we put our hats on, got our noise makers out and did it up big on Saturday night, too. It was a double dose of new year fun and kisses!


We ate amazing food, drank the best wine, and made a new favorite cake - white with cranberry filling iced with whipped cream. Decadent and abundant in food, wine and friends. We played Wii - sports, Shaun White's Snowboarding, Dance 2, and balance games. I suggested Mason put the balance games on because they are fun. He said, "Oh yeah, those are fun and they are good for the elderly, too!" Elderly?! Well, I guess when you are seven and everyone else is 44 or older, we look pretty elderly! I'm still laughing about that one -- but then again, I'm the 44, not the "older."



One bright spot in our trip was shopping in Truckee. Lisa said she wanted to buy me a Brighton charm for my birthday. We were looking at all the charms and I picked the inspirational style, I told her she had to pick the one she thinks is most representative of me. She easily narrowed it down to two; Laughter and Live. She said, "I'm choosing Live because you really do." There just aren't words to express how this touched my heart.

We made the trip home early Sunday morning so we had the day to heat the house (it was 40 degrees inside when we got home!), get groceries, do laundry,and get ready for work/school today. Well, I did those things and some writing while Dave built a fire and then slept on the couch watching football. Yep, you read that right! I'm not complaining, he did more than his fair share of cooking and other stuff at the Truckee house -- we take turns sleeping/watching (reference: Kathy's Christmas Day ritual).

Happy New Year friends! Make small changes one day at a time and measure your success in weeks. Weeks will turn to months and before you know it, another whole year will have passed and you will see positive changes all around you. The time will pass no matter what you do or don't do - either way, it's up to you!

Saturday Thanksgiving Pictures

Our Gratitude Turkey

Regina and Mike

James and Lisa

Steve and Roberta

(Happy Birthday Ro!)

Heather, Josh and Greg

Dave's "Day of Impending Doom!"

Ray, Ro, Dave and Heather

Regina, Diana, Lisa, and me

Julie and Diana

The Partak Family

Kathy, Dave, Mason, Mary, Terese and Ric

Things Are Starting To Happen!

Happy Monday and welcome to August!

Summer is in full swing and we are busy, busy, busy! I worked a temp job with Julie on Thursday and Friday and though we were working, we had some time to visit. We went to the Lodi Thursday night farmers market and met Greg, Heather, her parents and Josh for a nice evening of music, fun food, and a great glass of wine.

On Saturday, Dave, Mason and I were getting the ball rolling for our trade show in September. We are looking for two kid mannequins, a counter top spinner rack to display our gloves, and so many other things. We scoured Denio's Farmers Market & Auction and found a pair of children's skis and then we also found a pair of kid's cross country skis at a thrift store. From there, we went to TAP Plastics and got an earful on how to make molds and castings of children's hands. We bought our resin mix and headed to Michael's craft store to get our alginate mold material. We made two castings of Mason's hands and it worked beautifully. Now that we've done it once, we now need to do it again to get exactly what we need to show buyers why our gloves really are the best!

In addition to all the ZBG work we did, Dave worked in the front yard, I cleaned our room, and did loads of laundry. Mike came up and we had a ZipperBack Glove meeting over pomegranate margaritas while we sat by the fire in the backyard. It's exciting to know that in January 2008 this glove project was just an idea. Here we are in August 2009, preparing for a pre-sale, a trade show, and to have our gloves for sale in retail stores in just a few short months. WOW! It just goes to show you, if you take small actions on a consistent basis, you will create something...something more than small talk about this great idea you have. Stop talking and start doing and you, too can be busy, busy, busy, and say, "Things are starting to happen!"

On Vacation In Windsor, CA

Happy Monday Friends!

We have been in lovely Windsor, CA since last Wednesday. We are heading home tomorrow, but plan to make the most of our last day and a half. Julie booked her timeshare and planned to be here with us, but as life does sometimes, sidelined her and she couldn't come. Thank you Jules for your generosity and allowing us to use your vacation week!

We've really had a good time. The pools on the property are all beautiful and clean, and every unit has a nice patio set-up with a barbecue. It's impossible to vacation for little money, but I've gotten pretty good at seeking out the deals and ways to pinch pennies while not putting a crimp on the vacation all together.

On Friday we went wine tasting. We participated in a Zin-dependence Festival that took us to four wineries for Zinfandel tasting with food pairings. All four wineries opened their tasting rooms so we were allowed to taste their other wines as well, for free. We have Mason with us so you may all be wondering how we went wine tasting with a child. Here's what we did. The wristband for the day was $20 per each adult and $10 for kids and designated drivers. We planned ahead and popped into a local candy store to buy a half dozen unique candies for Mason. Most of them were a candy/toy combination. Once we arrived at each winery, we gave Mason a "new" candy to taste and with it came a novel toy to play with. He was very happy and with happy usually comes well behaved. Several of the winery staff commented on what a good idea we had. It's also important to note that while tasting wine and driving yourself, we only drank the tastes we loved, and if we didn't love it, we dumped it! We also drank lots of water at each stop. This meant less consumption and a safe & happy time was had by all!

We have so many funny stories, but for today let's stop here. I'll post more pictures later today, so check back. I hope you all had a wonderful July 4th holiday and I would love to hear about it! Post a comment here or e-mail me. Let's catch up!

The Grand Poobah

Happy Monday!

We had a heat wave this weekend! Over 100 degrees both days. A far cry from the mild 80 degrees we were experiencing just a week ago.

The Grand Poobah was last weekend and I haven't shared any of the laughs with you. Last Monday, I was on a plane to Minnesota to participate in a focus group. That meant I was getting home from four days of camping only to do a load or two of laundry, repack my bags, and get back on the road. The trip to MN was incredible, but I'll share more about that later.

This year's Poobah was a hoot! The theme was Trailer Park Poobah and it may go down in the history books as "Funniest Poobah of all Time!" I personally was stumped for a costume. Mason and Dave were easy, but everything I was coming up with was just too cliche. I ended up being that woman who thinks she's better than the rest, yet in many cases, is more crass with less tact! You know, just think animal prints, high shoes, lots of make-up, and gold lame! Very Funny! I'm not going to try to explain this, just check out the pictures at the end of this post.

The S'mores contest was a big hit! Everyone who came up with a recipe brought something totally original to the table. I brought all the fixin's for dessert s'mores like the traditional recipe with fresh strawberries, or blueberries, or cherries. DELICIOUS! If you brought a recipe, please e-mail it to me (again), I'm sure I have it, but it would save me the time of looking for it. Thanks!

So now we are getting ready to hit the road again. Dave, Mason, and I will be spending the 4th of July in Windsor, CA in Sonoma. Julie offered her timeshare to us, and since it was nearly free, we decided to make it our family vacation. I'll be sure to share all of our road trip adventures with you when we return! Have a wonderful week and a safe and happy 4th of July!

Where Did The Weekend Go?

Dave asked me this as we were falling asleep last night. I think we all feel this way, but I find it comes after an especially enjoyable weekend.

Saturday we took Mason to a birthday party for one of his friends from preschool. The family lives on five acres and had three huge blow-up water slides. What fun! The kids had a ball. Dave and I left the party for a little while to walk around downtown Lincoln. It was nice to have a little couple time and know that Mason was not only in good hands, but having lots of fun, too. Later that evening, Mason was in bed so Dave and I made s'mores by the fire testing out some of our adult themed ideas for Poobah's "S'more's-Ga-Borg." After snacking, we got in the hot tub and relaxed watching the last of the fire. It was a really nice day.

Sunday was getting stuff done around the house. Mason messed and I cleaned while Dave watched the race. Before we called it a day, Dave worked in the yard, we started organizing our camping gear, I made a new pile of stuff for GoodWill, and we wrapped up the weekend with the kid s'more ideas. This time, we included our neighbors and their two girls to help pick the best recipes. We've got some good ones, so if you're coming to Poobah, get your thinking cap on, we're gonna be hard to beat!

Now it's back to schedules and work. I look forward to the structure of the new work week, do you? It's certainly tough if you don't like what you do for a living and if that's the case, start thinking about what actions you could take to find something that you really look forward to doing. With that, make this week really great and drop me a note letting me know all about your weekend!

Happy June 1st!

Can you believe it's June already? I'm excited. There is so much I have to share that there's no way you want to read that much, so let me just cover the weekend.

As all of you know, I've been decluttering. On Saturday, Dave, Mason, and I went out to Denio's Farmers Market and Auction and rented a space to sell some of our clutter. We had to be up at 4:30, to the site by 5:30, and set up ready to sell by 7:00 AM. I had loaded both vehicles the day before so that was done, but it still made for a full, busy day. Mason did really well considering it was a long time and hot outside. With Dave and I working, he had to entertain himself. We stayed until 3 PM and sold enough stuff that we only had one vehicle of clutter to bring back home.

Sunday, I was back at it. Dave helped me load the Durango of all the stuff that didn't go to the auction, and that completely filled the Durango. I took that to GoodWill. I returned home and loaded up the clutter that didn't sell and that was another complete Durango load donated. That's 3 full loads of stuff that is no longer in our house! Even still, we have a few high ticket items that I've posted on craigslist, and if they don't sell there, I'm planning to donate them to the appropriate charity.

There is lots of good that I acknowledged this weekend. We all really worked well together and we had a fun day at the auction even though it was work. I can't forget to mention that we made a few bucks, but the best part was when we arrived home. I came in through the front door and the house was so welcoming. The kitchen table was clear, the shelves under the windows were free of clutter, the bar area was clean, it all just felt so good to come home to. Home really felt like a soft place to land. What a wonderful feeling. Not only does this feel so good, but it's easier to keep up. There is less stuff so everything has a place. I never really realized how I simply moved stuff from one place to another. When everything has it's own place tidying up to clean is a snap!

This is the perfect motivator for today. Have a wonderful, clutter-free week!

What's around you?

Look around you. Do you see clutter, confusion and chaos, or do you see focus, direction and purpose? Not only does your environment say a lot about you, it has a profound effect on you. The person you are does not end at the tip of your fingers. Your essence extends deep into the world around you. You influence that world and it influences you.

So what kind of influence is it having? Does your environment support you or does it detract from what you're attempting to accomplish? Sometimes a small change in your surroundings, something as simple as cleaning off you desk or washing the windows, can have a profound effect on your attitude and effectiveness. The effort you put into making your surroundings more supportive can multiply the effectiveness of all your other efforts.

Take control of your life by taking responsibility for the things around you. Surround yourself with excellence and your efforts will more naturally and more surely lead toward excellence.

Used with permission by Ralph Marston www.thedailymotivator.com