...and I can't wait. Our entire family loves watching So You Think You Can Dance. It's where our 3-year-old learned to breakdance. I've got it blocked on our calendar...2 full hours for the season premiere. Here's a sneak peek at what's coming...
Been reading much lately? I have...every free chance I get. Not only do I love reading, but I love learning. I've been splitting my time between fiction and nonfiction and finding inspiration in both. The fascinating thing for me is that I start to see connections between everything I'm reading, or at least in the lessons I take away.
One of the primary points that keeps coming up is vision...having, keeping, and expanding your vision. I've always thought of myself as a visionary and dreamer. But since my transition from entrepreneur to corporate employee I've been at a bit of a loss as to what my future holds.
In the last ten years, I've accomplished many of the dreams I held as a child.
The Teacher
I always wanted to be a teacher and would even teach my stuffed animals when I was little. I'd line them all up, give them homework, and tell them what to do. So I became a teacher and taught junior high students for five years.
The Author
Along with pretending to be a teacher, I started writing stories as soon as I could write, which was very early. So after teaching, I pursued my writing career and began writing articles for magazines. That grew into writing Real Women Scrap and having it published. From there came more magazine articles, interviews, Real Women Scrap TV and so much more than I even dreamed as a child.
The Designer
The doors that were opened with Real Women Scrap and Cinematic Studios as a designer and Creative Project Director brought me to my current position with Apple. My job is an incredible compilation of so many of the skills I developed from my previous positions. And it challenges me daily to go beyond what I know and continuously improve my skill set.
The Future
So if I've accomplished many of the dreams and goals I set before myself, where do I go from here? I feel incredibly blessed to be in this position, but have been asking myself what's next. Or rather the books I've been reading have been asking me that question.
What vision do you have for your future? Are you dreaming big or have you let yourself settle for just getting by and good enough? Something to think about this bright Monday morning.
You may have already read this or received it by email, but in case you haven't, here's to moms everywhere...
Why God Made Moms
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.
What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.
Why did God give you Your mother and not some other mom?
So I've done it again, I've given up coffee cold turkey. Granted I was only drinking decaf, but even that has caffeine in it, especially if you add the caffeine from chocolate in a mocha. Mmmm. If you've read my blog for very long you know that I love my coffee. I even take pictures of it.
So it's not that I don't want coffee anymore, it's just that my health is more important. I really wanted to go cold turkey to see if I noticed a difference in my sleep patterns, headaches, and general mood, even weight. I've heard and read consistently that coffee can impact all of those areas. So far so good and it's been about 3 weeks.
I've noticed less headaches and my blood sugar levels seem more consistent. A bonus is that since I'm not drinking coffee, I'm drinking more water. But a girl can't live on water alone, so I was thrilled to see that a juice company finally got wise and offered us some good tasting juice without being packed full of sugar and calories. I got two samples of Cranergy from Ocean Spray and have to admit I opened the bottle up right away and gave it a try. Yum.
I wouldn't have known it was low calorie or any different than the regular stuff. I looked at the ingredients and was happy to see that I understood what they were. Only thing I would change is the use of dye. I know it's probably an insignificant amount, but I do try to limit food and drinks with dyes in them. I think most juices have them though.
So I tried one bottle of Cranergy in the morning as a quick pick-me-up. Remember I don't have my coffee anymore so I gotta have something. Worked great. I sipped on it throughout the morning without guilt since I knew it only had 50 calories for the whole bottle. My diet can handle that!
The second bottle I tried the following day in the afternoon for a quick snack. So good. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day so I'm going to have to find them and pick up a few.
Here's the bonus: this drink was designed to help restore our natural energy. Hydration is key, as recent studies have shown that even a 5% reduction in body fluids can cause as much as a 30% loss of energy. Who knew?
Cranergy starts with Ocean Spray's premium cranberry juice and blends in natural energizers to give us an extra lift as we make our way through our days. It also includes green tea extract which contains high levels of antioxidants that help the body fight free radicals and stay healthy, and green tea extract offers a natural source of caffeine. And then it's got B-vitamins that support healthy energy production and Vitamin C that helps boost your immune system.
You can learn more and get a coupon at Cranergy.com. They even have an energy meter at their site. Give it a try!
Want to try a free sample of Totally Rad actions for your pictures? Now you can... at the Get Totally Rad site.
For a limited time you can visit their site and download sample actions. Once you click the link, sign up and they'll send you 3 sample actions to try out in Photoshop. You will love them. I use them all the time, as you can see from the pics above.
Ever met a Fossil Hunter?
A very good friend of mine is a fantastic author. He's also the leader of my writing group. I just found out that his latest book release, Fossil Hunter, is tied to the new movie making waves in the media, Expelled. Once I found out about the connection, I asked John if he'd be willing to do an interview for you, my readers, to get to know more about him and this very cool project...
The Interview
A couple of weeks before I was scheduled to give my company two weeks notice, Premise Media contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in doing a novelization of a screenplay they were thinking about producing. My first thought was, “Wow, what a God thing! Of course I’ll do it!” I was just about to quit my day job, and I didn’t have any contracts at the time. I knew that God had been leading me to quit, so I figured this was the was He was going to provide for us.
But then, after reading the screenplay, I realized I couldn’t write that story. Maybe someone else could, but that someone definitely wasn’t me. So I had to call the guy back and turn him down – not an easy thing to do. Later, however, as we were talking about the movie company’s plans, he asked me what I would have done differently. I told him I would have written a completely different story. A thriller instead of a drama – perhaps something set in Iraq. Something about a fossil hunter maybe… A scientist who finds something that doesn’t square with evolutionary theory…
To make a long story short, he went back and talked to the partners at Premise, and they asked me to write the book they described and said they wanted it to release at the same time as the documentary (Expelled) they were starting to work on. We met several times to talk about both the book and the documentary, and I actually got to give my feedback on the approach they were taking. When Expelled comes out on DVD, they are planning to cross promote Fossil Hunter with the Expelled DVD and several other Intelligent Design DVDs. And if the book and the documentary both do well, there’s even talk of them producing Fossil Hunter the Movie.
The Author
How incredible is that? I love hearing stories about lives being changed and last minute miracles happening. John's book was officially released today and it's now climbing up the Amazon.com rankings. It's sure to be an amazing read. You can read the first few chapters on his site. Then pick up a copy today for yourself or someone else you know...I'll be getting one for myself and my husband to share and a few extra for some people I know who love this kind of story.
