You are currently browsing the Motivation category.
I was in the middle of writing a blog post about Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, when my friend sent me this (see below.) Great timing. I’ll be posting more on this book (because it’s one of my favorite books of all time!) I’m so excited to see Julia Roberts as Liz in this movie.
Cathy Erway’s new book, The Art Of Eating, depicts her two year journey of swearing off restaurant fare.
Cathy’s blog, Not Eating Out In New York, was the inspiration for her book. Not only did Cathy lose 10 pounds within a few months of eating in, but she cherished the act of making delicious dishes. She says it slowed her down and lowered her stress.
Turns out, eating in is ultra-frugal as well. Cathy says she ended up saving about $75 a week by eating in. Not only did she learn confidence in the kitchen, but she learned she had a great deal of discipline to say no to the restaurant scene for two years.
This book is such a fun, informative read. Highly recommended! Think you could swear off restaurants for two years?
Way to impress the pants right off of us, Los Angeles!
Los Angeles is going to start a new pilot program with RecycleBank that will compensate households for recycling! The hope is that the city’s recycling rate will go up from 65% to over 70%.
15,000 homes will be eligible for the program and the contents of their tagged bins will be weighed and recorded each week. Depending on the weight, residents earn points that they can redeem at businesses like CVS, Bed Bath & Beyond, and El Pollo Loco. The total tally can reach the equivalent of $400 a year per household!
Super-impressive initiative, LA! Cincinnati…take notes!
Smart Talk does it again! They always manage to bring the biggest and brightest personalities to their Connected Conversations series. Next week Cincinnati welcomes Patricia Heaton to the Aronoff on March 15, 2010. Patricia will be speaking on Motherhood and Hollywood …and I’m sure she’ll share a little background dirt on her wildly successful run as the wife/mother on Everyone Loves Raymond.
The Smart Talk Connected Conversations series is an incredible experience. The energy is alive. The conversation is brilliant. The company is phenomenal! Tickets are still available …click here for more information.
Daryl Hanna: www.DHLoveLife.com
Alicia Silverstone: www.TheKindLife.com
Adrian Grenier: www.Shft.com
Gwyneth Paltrow: www.Goop.com
Leonardo DiCaprio: http://www.leonardodicaprio.org/
Here’s a new concept for you…Extreme Self Care. Cheryl Richardson, a New York Times best-selling author of books like Take Time For Your Life, Life Makeovers, Stand Up For Your Life, etc., (perhaps you recognize her from her numerous Oprah visits), is challenging us to a new concept, and it’s Extreme Self Care.
The trappings many of us fall into, especially women, is the caring and nurturing of everyone around us while we tend to let ourselves fall apart from lack of care. Cheryl’s book, The Art of Extreme Self Care is a guide that helps you transform your life one month at a time. In essence, it pulls you out of your own body and forces you to look at yourself from 1000 feet.
A chapter that hit home with me was the Absolute No List. See if you can relate….here are a few of Cheryl’s Absolute Nos from her list:
MY ABSOLUTE NO LIST: I NO LONGER:
*Jump out of bed in the morning. I give myself the time and space I need to start the day in a serene and relaxed state.
* Keep anything in my home that I don’t love or need.
* Tolerate or participate in gossip.
* Go to work when I’m sick.
* Invest time in relationships that aren’t aligned with who I am and who I want to be.
* Keep clothes I hope to fit into “someday.”
* Throw away anything that can be recycled.
* Get caught up in other people’s drama.
* Eat when I’m not hungry.
It’s statements like these that get your mind moving in the right direction. Decide what’s on your ABSOLUTE NOlist and stick to it. Not only is it empowering, but it brings an ultra-sense of calm and relaxation to your mind.
Seriously, how much fun can you have in one night? Smart Talk Connected Conversations brought Ann Compton to town last night and she nailed it! Literally, from the opening paragraph into her speech, I was captivated…we were all captivated. Ann has so many interesting stories, you could just talk to her for hours. And you can see by the pictures, she’s completely down to earth and sincere.
Ann has covered seven presidents for ABC News in a career that has taken her to the White House and Capital Hill. She is the national correspondent for ABC News Radio, based in Washington, D.C.
It’s overtly obvious that she’s an excellent speaker. She’s dynamic and she captures the audience instantly. Below are some notes I took during her speech. Everything she said was so interesting, I could barely take notes fast enough.
* She was the only broadcast reporter allowed to remain on board Air Force One during the dramatic hours when President Bush was unable to return to Washington.
* The Dalai Lama told President Obama that we needed for female leaders! (ed. note: Team Dalai Lama!)
* President Bush emailed her yesterday. He’s working on a book.
* Thanks to Google Map, she learned Bill Ayres …yes, this Bill Ayres, lives in her childhood home in Chicago.
* On Air Force One, everything, everything, has the Presidential Seal, from the seat belts, the drinking glasses to the razors in the bathroom.
* On 09/11, Air Force One landed in Louisiana …because they were out of gas, and only for that reason.
* The infamous potatoe/potato blunder made by Dan Quayle was, in part, not his fault. It was an error made by a teacher on a flash card that he was reading.
* The biggest news source right now…it’s YouTube, believe it or not.
* Ann’s only lukewarm on the notion of social media. She thinks it’s the dumbing-down of news, and at times, grossly inaccurate.
* On August 6, 1990, president George H. W. Bush sent her an apology note (on presidential stationary) saying he was sorry for being too snippy with her in an interview. He signed it with a smiley face!
* “Social media is fraught with error and bad judgement.”
* One of her favorite websites is the DrudgeReport.com.
* Ann still sees the good in on the spot reporting, however. For instance, reporters were not allowed to view Saddam Hussein being put to death. The reason we saw those images thereafter was due to camera phones of those who witnessed it.
* Ronald Regan threw great cocktail parties for the press.
* Ronald Regan called Ann in the hospital the day her daughter was born to send warm wishes. (Wow!)
* The speech writer for Obama is (surprisingly) only 27 years old.
* Ann goes directly to the White House every day for work, not ABC offices.
* Ann was offered a job her senior year of college. She says she has never applied for a job in her life.
* Jimmy Carter once referred to Ann as “the reporter with the large diamond ring.”
* Ann is married to Dr. William Hughes, and has four kids.
* Her children are the following: A doctor, a lawyer, a software designer, and a budding media exec.
* She was with president bush at the elementary school when 09/11 went down.
* She first sat down and cried about 09/11 when she got back and checked her email. The first email was from her son, stating his fraternity brother was on the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center.
Ann is truly an inspiration to all career girls, and women in general. She’s a fearless female leader who has earned her place at the top.
There’s still time to get last minute tickets for Smart Talk Connected Conversations featuring Ann Compton in Cincinnati tonight.
The Smart Talk series is for women who are serious about growing, learning, and becoming better leaders by learning from others who have blazed the trail…and Ms. Ann Compton is surely one of those women.
It’s truly an experience to be part of and is highly recommended. For more information on the Smart Talk show in Cincinnati, click here.
