Strong! - California Film Institute

Strong! - California Film Institute
This is a beautifully crafted documentary about a big beautiful weightlifter. Cheryl Haworth is the strongest woman in the US. The film follows her as she prepares to compete in the 2008 Bejing Olympics. She is funny, charming, charismatic and totally motivational. Julie Wyman should get an Oscar for best documentary for this.

Sustainable Goal Setting for the New Year

What I Want to Be, Do and Have

Here we are, many of us, back in front of that blank piece of paper, wondering what to resolve for the new year. Some of us will set our goals out in the stratosphere, so high that we court failure. The pessimists among us will not even bother with goal setting, “bah humbug.” The realists among us will choose goals which are a stretch but within reach. And year after year our successes will build upon themselves. Subtle differences often set these 3 groups apart, and with some simple coaching dramatic shifts of perception may occur.

What do coaching, purging, clutter control and space planning have in common? These are just a few of the functions shared by professional organizers. Not every organizer performs each of these services, but most do. The universal benefit of working with a professional organizer is stress reduction.

There are many roads to Rome.

A road I’ve taken for each of the past 33 years goes like this. On or before December 31st I write down “What I want to BE in 2012,” “What I want to DO in 2012” and “What I want to HAVE in 2012.” Then I list some goals under each heading. I challenge myself, but reasonably. After all, if I meet my own challenges, next year I will want to up the ante another notch and bit by bit I will get to Rome! I keep these yearly lists in a journal and each Dec. 31st I revisit the list from the current year, noting my progress. This reinforces the process and serves as a guide for the following year.

What do New Year’s Resolutions have to do with Organizing? Everything. An organizer is so much more than a person who sorts items into piles by categories. While the sorting process is indeed important, organizers are teachers, coaches, counselors, motivators, and encouragers. Teaching of prioritization and time management are hallmarks of a professional organizer. The organizer-client relationship is one of collaborative support. The basic concept of goal setting for a New Year encapsulates the very soul of organizing.

May your dreams and reality be one and the same. Happy New Year, and I’ll see you in Rome! 2012.

Three Little Life Enhancing (?) Gizmos

What a lyrical (for an organizer) shopping day it was today. I had a little malfunctioning gizmo from The Container Store which had annoyed me for like 100 years, so while at that mall today I went in to exchange it for a new one. They were out of my gizmo, so I ended up getting these 3 little magnifying gizmos with colorful rim decor in their stead. It has taken me years to realize this might be the "it" thing to read the small print on things. For when you just don't want to have to put your close-up glasses on. Just right there in the flap of your purse. So I got one for each purse. Stay tuned to whether they were worth getting. Small print is SO annoying! Okay, so here's the verdict: they're great. The trick is to have it where you can instantly find it. Great for reading labels of products to find out the ingredients...the ones in such small type size you have to wonder!

And the other set of 3 little gizmos I got in there, for a whole .99 was a 3-pack of teensy funnels for creating travel sized bottles of lotions. I think it'll have been worth it....a better way to get the insides out. Stay tuned on this too. The jury is still out. The one thing I tried to pour was so gloppy it took too long and then I realized it's easier to pour directly from the original container with the larger opening.

We must scrutinize "useful objects" as to whether they will be personally useful, as if they are not they can end up taking up valuable "real estate" in our lives.

Fashion Outside the Box

My newest fashion tip is for any woman with a small waist/torso in proportion to a full figured hip/stomach area. The trick is, you go to a thrift store and when you spot a cute blouse that is maternity, grab it. It works like a charm. Like someone tapered the sides, giving you ample room down below. Pefect for a pear! I got a really nice v-neck one today, light blue with grey stripes and a hood. $3.75. Even if I wear it just once it will have been worth it. But this one is special. Really soft light cotton jersey with just the right weight of ribbing. Ah, the surprise element of thrift store shopping makes it one of my favorite sports.

Kickboxing in the Water

Today I was in the deep end doing my water exercise when I became enamored with the movements of kickboxing underwater. It probably looked something like this. The freedom and grace provided by moving in the water is astounding. I consider it a big ticket adjunct to living life. What if neighborhood groups chipped in and bought empty lots to build community pools. I think there should be one every few blocks. The world might be a more peaceful place.

"The Tree of Life" Film

So four of us saw this tonight. We had looked very forward to it and it didn't quite do the trick. I loved a lot of the cinematography—not the dawn of creation part—but the 50's images so real you practically feel the air as you hear the birds singing. That part was exceptional—but not enough to carry the film as a whole. Or perhaps it was simply hard to behold the dismal beauty and ugliness juxtaposed in slow motion. Maybe that was their point. There was a brilliance in how that aspect was carried. Overall I felt the film was way too long and fragmented to leave me with anything close to a post epic filmgasm. All 4 of us are artsy out of the box types, and in the car on the way home we were screeching with outrage and laughter over our respective criticisms of the film.

I did, however, absolutely love the trailer. The trailer would have been a magnificent short. Click on the title of this post to see the trailer.

I am wondering what other people think.

Water Dancing

Serendipity has led me to become an avid water dancer. It is joyful and free flowing. I listen to minimalist electronic music on my ipod shuffle which is clipped to my sun visor and usually ride a styrofoam noodle for a little bit of extra support. It is the most fun sporty thing I can think of. It works out every single muscle in your body, and if you do it right you can keep increasing the force of the workout. When you build up heat you don't sweat. Floating aerobics are just that. You know you're really doing it, but the feeling of support from the water is like a warm flowy hug. You can make up any dance steps you want, run like a runner, do jumping jacks, walk on the pool floor for balance. You can work out your arms by themselves with straight legs, or do a leg workout with your hands either up in the air or at your sides. There is no limit to the stretches you can get while just simply noodling around the pool. My life now revolves around finding the perfect pool and water dancing an hour or more a day. Pools have so many different personalities. From 5 star hotels to fitness clubs, it is fun trying a lot of them out and weighing the pros and cons. Outside vs. inside, chlorine vs. salt water, very deep end or only 5', close to home or further away. It is a balancing act that I am happy to be engaged in. Oh joy!!!