a snowy Rockaway boardwalk at 5:00 am

To be on a wintry Rockaway beach, to be alive to possibilities, and not to be fabulous – now that is a challenge.  This is the daily challenge I face – swinging my legs out of bed and shellcrushing  my way through the early morning chill to run 5 miles of hard packed sand at 5 am.  I run for my head.  And my inner winner.  All of the other great benefits I gain from this I am sure contribute to my well being, but I am deep down rewarded by knowing I have just overcome the biggest challenge of my day.  So whatever the day holds for me, bring it on.

Getting to Wow!

I am on my way to Wow!

Wow! is a great place to be.  And a great feeling to inspire around you.  How often do you see people that seem larger than life, possessed of a persona, a magnetism, a power that is unmistakeable as it is distinct?

Do you wonder sometimes, how you can make that happen for yourself?    I like to think that getting to Wow! is a journey that makes demands that remind me of falling in love.  A handing over of your palm to be stamped with Desire, followed up by Vulnerability and a round trip propelled by Courage.

And what is it exactly that takes their breath away and draw closer to you?  Do you want to create that space  for yourself,  where people stop in admiration clutching their visual visas and whisper, “Wow!” as they enter your realm?

I do.

Not only do I want to be all that and cause all that, I want to tell you everything I have learned about being Wow!.  Over the last few months I have been researching fascinating people that I admire and why I admire them.  Today’s reading list includes the eternally elegant Geoffrey Beene and his passion for drape, James Wood, the sublimely ferocious literary critic,  the fashion illustrator and style blogger Garance D’ore,  Michael del Vecchio, author of “Knitting With Balls”,  Franz Liszt, composer, concert pianist and classical music’s nonpareil rock star, Paul Klee, artist with a unique visual language…

Today I have a tip to share with you:  Thanking people creatively gets you to Wow!

Living in a big old beach house has its charms but squirrels, and I mean several, at least a million, scurrying inside the walls do not make for a charmed existence.  Chris, the squirrel guy, closed up the holes in the wood, cut down some branches and promised to come back if there were still squirrels in the house.  To make sure of that, he set up a squirrel trap.  A squirrel trap?  To me, that means that someone, and I can’t imagine that would be moi, will have to pick up the trap, drive it far away and somehow release it so it never comes back.  Sure enough, not only was there a squirrel in the trap this morning, it was a dazed and crazed squirrel that probably got caught in it last night and spent the night freaking out.  Hello Chris?

I told my neighbor, Mrs. Murray, all about our squirrel problem and what a great job Chris was doing in repairing the holes, setting the traps, offering to drive the squirrel away, and checking in with us.  When Chris came to take away the squirrel, I thanked him for coming over so early, Mrs. Murray was on her porch waiting to talk to him about a job and as I handed him a bag of freshly made chocolate chip cookies for his kids, he looked up at me in surprise and said, “Wow! Thanks.  OK, now you just call me if you get another squirrel in the trap and I’ll take care of it for you.”

I basked in my Wowness.  By simply following my simple advice, you, too,  can achieve fabulousness, not that I am saying that should be your only reason to do this, however, you can be sure straight out appreciation and a chaser of admiration can go a long  way in building a relationship with your squirrel  guy who, as Seth pointed out to me later, is a guy – and guys who make their living trapping squirrels appreciate beer more way than chocolate chip cookies.

Say thank you in a way that is meaningful to the person

What was I thinking?

As Chris drove away, I made a mental note to have a mean six pack of beer around for the next time we catch a squirrel.

More for you

To be in the crosshairs of Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day and Chinese New Years is the perfect time to launch this journey to feeling good, doing good and looking good.  I will post the best of the best style notes that I discover as your artspy, momspy, nonprofit knitter.  How many of you are working on the Desire, the Vulnerability, and the Courage to fall in love with being the best you can be?  Let me be the first to crack the champagne bottle and offer a toast to you getting to Wow!

If you’d like to read more about getting to Wow!  and especially looking Wow!, here are some of my Style Notes.

Some of the most unexpected and inventive ways to say thank you I have learned from you.   Please let me know how awesomely appreciative you are and leave me a comment!