Happy Birthday Tammy!!

My Best Friend Tammy's Birthday is today and since I know she checks my blog..Happy Birthday Tammy! Hope it's a great day for you!

And in honor of her birthday..how about some pictures from our recent trip together to the Lake of the Ozarks where we all had an amazing time together! Looking forward to our next adventure!!!

Tammy with Scott and Mark...


Tammy and her man Mark on our night out..


Scott and I that night too..


and the two of us doing what I do very well..laying out at the pool!!


It was insanely hot...but so much fun hanging with these guys! This is I think our third trip together and each time it's more and more fun! Especially since we get to go out without the kids!HA

Happy Birthday Tammy...unreal..best friends for what..11 years!!??

Julia

Celebrity Lookalike?!!

I've not given a whole lot of thought to what celebrity I look like. Normally no one would even come to mind for me. But..I saw on a friends' site where you could upload a photo and it would show what celebs you most looked like..now that I see some of them..I can see little bits..what do you think??

http://www.myheritage.com

Julia

PS...if you try this..let me know who it says for you too! Don't be shy!!

Let's Go to The Ex

I love ritual and celebration. I find quite naturally that the flow of time in my life is very much associated with moving through the seasons and with moving from one special event to the next. When the end of August rolls round, it is time for the CNE, the Canadian National Exhibition. I have fond memories of this event from my childhood, through my teenage years and now as an adult.

As a little girl it was all about going on rides, cotton candy and usually getting to pick one treat to take home. In the early days it was always a stuffed animal. I strongly favoured dogs because I yearned for one and we couldn't get one because so many of us in our family have allergies. I still remember the year I got Dofi Pico Michaelangelo, a blue bear. Where did I come up with these names? And I remember the year I chose jewellery instead. I still have the silver and turquoise ring that said I was growing up.

In my teenage years I went to the Ex with friends instead of family, mostly with my best friend Carol. We had such great times. We'd stay till the wee hours and mostly spend our time flirting with boys in between going on rides. I remember getting free rides on the Polar Express because our friend Tony worked there (he later became a long-term boyfriend of mine). That ride was the coolest because they played the best music and all the teenagers would hang around, listening to the tunes and checking each other out.

And now my Ex memories are of going with Shannon, always on the weekend of the Cat Show. We have such a good time grabbing a coffee and seeing all the beautiful cats and kittens. We have our favourite judge, the one who shares the most detail about the cats. This year we learned that almost all orange cats are male! (Which proves that Jinx is even more of an oddball than we thought, hehe) There were so many fantastic cats this year. This little Scottish Fold kitten was an absolute showstopper. As cute as can be and so sweet natured. She purred the entire time.

This lovely lad won the household pet division. He was a real beauty and so, so relaxed, as you can see.

The other must-have at the Ex is the perogie with butter and dill. Outrageously delicious. I've included a pic of the spot because our mom went this year and said, "I don't get what you're saying about the perogie. They're nothing special." But she went to the wrong spot! So be sure to go to Naleway if you're in the mood for perogie.

And a lot of the fun is not knowing what you're going to see. One year we saw the police department tug-of-war competitions. This year I think the oddest thing we saw was the hosta leaf competition.

This year kept the jewellery tradition alive with both Shannon and I buying rings. I think these were both from Malaysia. I'll let you guess who picked what, hehe.

With the auction over, the next big event is my husband's birthday and then justBe... Connected and then the auction and then Halloween and then... I love having so much to look forward to! What are your year-markers?

The Success Principles ~ Principle 25

The 25th success principle is drop out of the "ain't it awful club" and surround yourself with successful people. At the core of this principle is the belief that you become like the people you spend the most time with. That belief leads to a 2-prong strategy: eliminate the negative and expand the positive.

First, the negative. Okay, I've been here, and I bet you've been here. You're in a tough situation, maybe work sucks, and you spend a lot of time with your friends, colleagues, family going over every bad decision your boss has made, every inhuman strategy the company has developed, the curt attitude of a client, the thoughtless comment of a colleague, the callous behaviour of a friend. Now, I think we all need to let off some steam sometimes. But when it becomes a regular behaviour, it can become a little self-justification party, reinforcing all the reasons why it sucks, why you're not responsible for the fact that it sucks, and btw, it's never going to change. How depressing!

Jack Canfield recommends that we create a list of all the people that we hang out with the most and ask ourselves are they a positive or negative influence in our lives? If the latter, it's time to stop hanging out with them. Create some boundaries and simply don't spend time with people who bring you down. And you know, as you start to change, grow and find your joy, there will be lots of opportunity to practice this principle. Perhaps you've experienced this already. You start to make changes and your regular cohorts start undermining your success, criticizing your choices, sympathetically urging you not to get hurt by going out on a limb, inviting you to have just one more donut, beer, cigarette. People who don't want to change will encourage you to stay the same. When you change your life, you let them know it's possible. And some people don't want to know. Don't let that stop you.

Instead, spend more time with the people you find uplifting, inspiring and fun. Look for people that you admire and who are successful in the way you want to be and ask them how they've done it. Learn from them. Canfield even recommends trying on some of their behaviours - read what they're reading, try doing what they're doing. If it doesn't work for you, let it go and try something new. It is possible to change. Yes, it takes energy, strength and often a whole whack of courage but becoming who you are meant to be is worth it and you can do it. I know you can.

Note: Both pictures are of the same cat. This sphynx was a competitor in the CNE cat show yesterday. When in the cage, she complained like crazy, bit the bars, stuck her head out between them. When the judge allowed the owner to hold her in his arms instead, she immediately turned into this gentle and content creature. Amazing.

Happy 8th Birthday Noah

Today is my grandson Noah's 8th birthday. Him and his brothers Avery and Gavyn spent the night Tuesday night and we celebrated yesterday. Now we have a tradition that they get whatever kind of cake they want (always chocolate) and we have that for lunch with chips and such. Last year I did it for breakfast and they were climbing the swing set. They also don't have to wash their faces. Well this year Gavyn got in on the party and after seeing a beard of chocolate on him I decided this time the faces get washed. We had a great time and another thing we do is go to the dollar store and they get to buy themselves several things.

What I'm Loving Right Now...

I've been full of gratitude lately and just wanted to share some of the things that have been bringing me a lot of joy lately.

• Supportive friends whose belief in me makes me think I can do anything!
• Synchronicities - especially those where money shows up!
• French toast
• The flow of creative ideas
• The final Harry Potter book (please, no spoilers)
• My mom
• Clear skies and windy days
• Finding kindred spirits
• Wearing an outfit that feels like me
• My new Diva ring
• Brilliant, sensitive, magnificent clients
• A growing sense of community
• Yummy conversations
• People who share their wisdom with generosity
• A tomato sandwich with tomatoes from my own garden
• A summer listening to Sara Tavares
• The way my cat Jinx just likes to be with me

The Success Principles ~ Principle #24

Jack Canfield's 24th success principle is exceed expectations. He provides examples of how going the extra mile can pay great dividends in lives and careers . His question for us is, "What could you accomplish if you were willing to go the extra mile, put in just a little extra effort, provide just a little more service? Are there circumstances in your life right now where you could do more, provide better value, overdeliver or improve on what is asked of you?"

Right now this principle is showing up for me as a reminder to practice extreme self-care. I know that may sound like the opposite, but it really isn't. In order to go above and beyond, be generous with my time and my self and to do so in a joyful way, it helps to be drawing on a well-nutured me rather than digging into energy reserves. For me this means being well-rested, healthy, full of vitality, creativity and confidence. When I'm nutured like that, I am excited to share, to go above and beyond.

What would support you in exceeding expectations?

Sharing Nia

This weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a Nia demo at the Taste of the Danforth, a cultural street festival in Toronto. It takes place in an awesome neighbourhood within the city, rich with restaurants, particularly Greek ones, and interesting shops. During the festival everywhere you look there's interesting food to try.

And if you were there on Sunday you would have also seen some interesting activities, including Nia. We had a great time sharing a routine and showing people what Nia is all about. People seemed really engaged and enthusiastic. It was wonderful to look out and see smiling faces beaming back! What a blast! That's me on the far right. And that's my Nia buddy Jenn on the far left.

By the way, if you're in Toronto and would like to come share the Nia experience, I've posted my fall classes here.

The Success Principles ~ Principle 23

This week's success principle is Practice the Rule of Five. Before I get into the details of that, I just wanted to sincerely thank everyone who, after reading this series of posts, has encouraged me to write a book. Your support and vision has really touched and inspired me. Thank you. Before starting this blog, I really hadn't considered writing as a part of my path. But I have so enjoyed sharing and have felt so connected that perhaps that will change. Thank you all for opening my heart to new possibilities!

Jack Canfield's Practice the Rule of Five is incredibly simple. Every day, do 5 things to move towards your dream. He gives lots of examples of the creative actions that the 5 things can comprise of, particularly the actions he and his partner took when promoting the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

One system that I have that is related but a little bit different funnily enough also includes the number 5. The priorities in my life are generally in these particular areas: Business, Creative, Relationships, Self, Home. There's the number 5 again. On Sundays, I look at these 5 areas and determine the actions I want to take that week to move forward in each of them. I know that if I've made progress in each of these areas, I'll feel great. And by actively choosing to take action I've affirmed to the universe that these areas are each important priorities in my life.

I developed this out of work that many coaches do with a Wheel of Life, or what I often call a Priority Pie. You draw a circle that represents your life and divide it into the various slices that represent your priorities. You can rate your level of satisfaction in each area and determine action steps to make improvements. This work is great to do with someone else. If you're going to be at justBe...Connected (and I hope you will be) I'll be available at the creative bazaar, booking short coaching sessions for a small fee. This is definitely the kind of exercise that we could do together to get you focused and ready for action!

One lesson I've been learning lately is to vary the kinds of actions that you do. So, for example, if your goal is to get a new job and every day you take 5 actions and every day they are research, how far forward are you moving? So each day when you're determing the 5 steps you're going to take towards your destination take a moment to ask - is this really moving me forward?

I see it over and over again with clients; small steps lead the way. If you take 5 steps each day towards your goal, in a week you'll have taken 35, in a year you'll have taken 1825. Imagine where you could be!

Making stitch markers from differant mediums

As a knitter and a crocheter stitch markers are a must. But I didn't want to settle for just any kind so decided to make my own. I used 3 differant things for making stitch markers,

Polymer clay, shrink plastic and wood. All are light weight and look really fun hanging from your needles.

http://stores.ebay.com/A-NEEDLE-IN-THE-HAYSTACK_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

Wednesday Wish Day

Come on over to Wishcasting and make a wish.

Who knows what could happen?

Inspiration from Clarissa Pinkola Estes

One of the things I've decied to do on this blog is share inspirational things that come across my path. I feel so blessed by all the yumminess that shows up that I want to share. Here's some inspiration for today.

"Anything you do from the soulful self will help lighten the burdens of the world. Anything. You have no idea what the smallest word, the tiniest generosity can cause to be set in motion."

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

The Success Principles ~ Principle 22

Jack Canfield's Success Principle 22 is Practice Persistence. This one is going to be an essential tool along the way to your dreams. There will be discouraging days, rejections and losses. Persistence is about not letting those things stop you. Every step is a step closer.

I often think about how people discourage others from pursuing creative careers. But here's my perspective. Sure, there are many people who want to be actors/artists/(fill in the blank with your dream). And a lot of those people listen to the aforementioned advice and don't pursue this particular career. So by merely giving it a shot, you're ahead of all of those who gave up. The numbers just got better. And then if you learn your craft, you are ahead of many others. And then if you show up, you are again outpacing those who don't. Show up prepared and you have lept ahead once more. Throw in decent social skills and a good atitude and you're on fire! And we haven't even talked about talent!

Now, if you read this blog regularly, you'll know that I am not here to tell you to "tough it out." In fact quite the opposite. I'm going to encourage you to look for how to make the process of persistance as positive as possible. What will support you when the days get dark and the road seems full of obstacles? Sometimes you just need to take a break and have some fun, remembering that life is a joy and you are a gift no matter what that editor said. It's great to keep an Encouragement Journal, a place where you collect all the positive feedback you have received. When you're feeling discouraged, pull it out and remember there are people who see your brilliance, who love your smile. And most of all be gentle and loving with you. Let yourself get some rest. Take yourself for a walk. Eat something that nurtures your soul and your body. Journal your tears out. Have a cup of tea. Learn the rituals that make you feel loved. These are your tools on the journey. They willl support you in persisting towards your dreams.

PS: One of the things I love about this success principle is it provides such a positive frame for a quality that runs deeply in my family. Yes, that would be stubbornness.

Happy Birthday Parker!

Have to post that my little guy is 7 years old today! It's unreal how quickly time goes by. He's going into 1st Grade this year, has some loose teeth...starting to read and he's just getting big. But he's still my sweetie, my snuggle guy who always wants to be with Mom. Wants to sleep in Mom's bed with Mom, gets up and say hi to me first and wants me to read him a story. He's simply in my eyes..the best!












Happy Birthday to my always Happy 7th Year Old Parker!

Love much,

Mommy

Moving the Boo

Well, the big excitement of the past couple of days was getting Shannon moved into her new home. Her old place was fab but she had a great opportunity for a new one and she took it. Of course, the move happened to fall on the hottest day we've had so far - yowzers! Still Shannon and Gobo were happy to make the change.

It looks like Gobo's going to like his new home - check out the sunlight!

And though it was clearly an exhausting day, at the end we had the pleasure of knowing Shannon's in a great new space and yes, there is a cool place to go for beers nearby.