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Posts Tagged ‘artful living’
photo by jaquandor
Listen, it is hard work running around in a skimpy star spangled body suit saving the world.
I used to wonder, “Is it just me or do other superheroines get cranky and tired, too?” And whether or not they do, I do. My superpowers start fizzling when I don’t get enough sleep or if I skip too many days without running. Don’t even talk to me about how mad my body gets at me – revenge is always humbling. There is no way I am going to get myself in any kind of Wonder Woman outfit without paying my dues.
Stuff has a way of getting in front of me. I get distracted when something falls on my desk and must be taken care of immediately, or if my eye catches an email that pops up screaming, “Urgent!”, or if someone tells me they need my input right now or everything will come to a grinding halt. The world will explode. Deadlines will leave us dead in their wake. People will be disappointed. And it will be all my fault.
I know. I will just take care of one more thing before I start my day and one more thing at the end of my day. That way, I will have less to do during my day. Of course, all of you brilliant people know what happens. You have more to do before, during and after your day. Who thought this was a good idea?
Hmmm, maybe I could ask someone to help me out. But how could anyone do as good a job as me? No one can do what I do because I am Wonder Woman. Well, no one is doing anything, probably relaxing and reading a great beach book somewhere, and I am doing everything. Sound familiar?
OK. You get the picture. Maybe you do some of these things too. So, what is a modern Amazon warrior woman to do to keep up her powers, her physique and her pleasant demeanor? I have decided to stop trying to be the most amazing, capable, stupendously efficient super woman and allow myself to gracefully fall to earth.
Here’s how I did it
Take time for yourself
I allow myself lots of time to putter around and not feel guilty about accomplishing nothing. This is not easy for list checkers like me but it works really well if you lose the list.
Say no
“Mom?”
“No.”
“Darling, can you – “
“No.”
“Hoong Yee, you must – “
“No.”
It is amazing how much other people can do when you say no.
Call upon your fellow superheroes
This simple act can transform your life. I believe people need to be needed. And everybody wants to feel that what they do is valued. Asking for help can actually help you build a team that will work with you to do what you believe in.
Stop, look and love what you did
I spend way more time angsting about getting stuff done than appreciating what I did. In fact, I sometimes forget to look back and acknowledge my achievement. No wonder I feel like a hamster in a wheel. It is a stubborn habit to break but I do try to give myself and everyone else a moment to bask in our successes and fistbump our fabulousness.
Enjoy being a speck
My mom’s favorite saying. No matter how important we think our work is, we are just specks in the universe. So I try to do my best every day and be the best speck I can be, but I also don’t kill myself when things don’t work out. And neither should you. My mother wouldn’t like that.
Order in
You’re busy. You have a lot on your plate. Spend your time and energy on what is truly important. You.
Keep those menus handy.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
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Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
photo by kocojim
“Let’s invite the carpool ladies over for a soiree and talk about romance.”
Seth thought this was a fabulous idea and so did the carpool. On Saturday evening, we held our first Romance Soiree.
Curious why?
I am flirting with the idea of writing a romance novel. It occurred to me that truth is always always always stranger and more startling than fiction so why not bring together people who are immersed in all kinds of daily truths, feed them, give them pink champagne and then sit back and take notes?
And that is exactly what I did.
To start the conversation, I came up with some questions. They are actually ice breaker dinner questions that a friend of mine came up with. Here’s what happened with the first question:
What do you look for most in a mate –
“Personality. My mother always told me to look for someone who could be a friend you could laugh with.”
“My father said its just as easy to marry rich as it is to marry poor. So why bother marrying twice? Get it right the first time.”
“I also think that looks matter less as you get older. Maybe that’s why I always look at a man’s teeth first.”
“You do? I look at their shoes. If they look scuffed up and shabby that sends a message to me that they probably will not follow through on a commitment.”
“Wealth is not that important. I make my own money so I’m not looking for someone to support me. That would be like looking for a bra.”
“Speaking of bras, there was a woman I knew who wore a double D and she told me she had a thing for a guy in her office so one day, she took off her bra, lifted up the cover of the copier machine and photocopied her chest. After she did that, she thought it probably was not a good idea so she threw the picture in the garbage can.
What was she thinking? Of course someone found it. Everyone could tell it was her. And once that happened, a few other things happened as well. Such as her divorce, the wife of the guy in her office becoming suspicious and jealous of her and eventually the affair becoming exposed. Just like her double D’s.”
“Wow, if I was a double D, I wouldn’t leave the house!” Seth chimed in as he poured another round of champagne. ”Hey, you girls lead exciting lives.”
I am not sure what all of this adds up to, or what my story will become. All I can tell you is that the research is a lot of fun.
Hey, if you have story about an office affair, or a love story with a twist, tell me in the comments!
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
Sky, far left
“Mom?”
“Mom? I can’t find my cool white tie. Mom?”
I took a deep breath and did my very best evolved Buddhist move. It did the trick. Five minutes later I was burning rubber along the Jackie Robinson Parkway into Forest Hills. Squeaked into a parking spot, slammed the door and tore down Austin Street to Anthony’s, a mens’ shop that always has some stylish expensive looking linen jacket in their window.
“We’re all out of skinny white ties. It is June, you know, lots of weddings, graduations, proms.” I felt my world crumbling. What was I going to do now? The young salesman pulled out several light colored ties. ”Perhaps one of these – “
“Absolutely not. He is wearing black and white. Black shirt, pants, shoes, belt – black. The tie has to be white.” I practically barked at him, startling a man trying on a jacket in the back of the store.
“I do have one white tie left.” He rummaged through the display case and pulled out a wide, white satin tie, slightly wrinkled, but otherwise perfect. ”Give me a minute and I’ll iron it for you.”
I practically floated home with the precious tie. Sky met me at the door. ”I have to meet my friends for pictures. Now!”
Jumped in the truck, tore down the street and pulled up in front of the house. One of the moms helped Sky put his tie on while I fumbled with my camera. When I looked up, the smile on his face made me forget everything except that tonight, the night of his eighth grade prom, was something really special. And you know what? I was so thankful I was able to be part of the craziness with him.
Do you think they’ll play slow music? Who should I dance with? What should I use in my hair, gel or mousse? Did you ever talk about stuff like this with your mom when you were thirteen? Oh, my God, and here we are plotting prom strategy, Sky and me. I took another deep breath and did my best evolved cool Mom move. I just listened and nodded my head non judgmentally.
Every mom standing on the street snapping pictures of this well dressed group of kids had a similar story to tell. For the girls, it was the dress, of course! And the shoes, the makeup, should they wear their hair up or down?
It occurred to me that these kids grew up together from mommy and me classes til now. Many of us moms were waddling around, heavy and pregnant on the beach thirteen summers ago. How lucky they are to have friendships that stretch from sippy cups and strollers to the dawning of their high school years.
“Mom, stop taking pictures.”
“Mom, you should leave now.”
“Mom!”
Sky was right. I stood with the other moms watching the kids clambering into cars and driving off to the party of their young lives.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
This post first appeared on The World’s Strongest Librarian
photo by jag9889
I have a secret superpower.
It is my amazing ability to change my world into syllables.
The girl who makes me a cappuccino in the local Italian bakery tossed me an approving nod the other day when I told her every meeting I have deserves una bella scatola di biscotti.
“You are – ” she leaned over the counter and pushed the bakery box filled with hazelnut and chocolate biscotti towards me. ” – how you say, smart? No, not smart.” I kept smiling although I wasn’t sure where she was going with this and I was still waiting for my cappuccino.
“You know how to – fix things. Like a the guy who come to clean out that stupid pipe in the back. Madonna! What a mess.”
I slowly started to turn on my superpowers to take control of the world. Take a deep breath, clear my thoughts, focus my mind on the task before me.
Coo-kies and cof-fee…
I lowered my eyes and pulled out my unread New York Times and concentrated on changing her from an absent minded bakery employee into an efficient milk steaming barista.
For a morn-ing meet-ing of…
She turned to her machines and started making the coffee. Suddenly she slapped her forehead and said with a wide eyed look of triumph, “Ah! I know. You know what you are?”
So close, my cappuccino is so close. Must remain calm and the world will be mine. All I need is one more line and my coffee.
“Di me, bella. What?” I said in my best superhero-under-duress voice.
In a conspiratorial whisper she breathed, “You are one of - i cognoscenti, the people who know.”
I cognoscenti.
I cog-no-scen-ti
I closed my hands around the coffee cup she handed me and I opened my eyes to meet hers.
Cookies and coffee
for a morning meeting of
i cognoscenti
Perfect.
Mission accomplished, with cookies for later, coffee for now and my morning captured forever in a spillproof haiku. But what impressed me more was an article in the newspaper that caught my eye as I was syllabicating the world to my liking (is that really a word?). I realized that my superpowers pale in comparison to what the deceptively simple haiku can accomplish.
What can a haiku do?
It can transform a one of the city’s largest eyesore of a landfill into “urban oasis with wildlife habitats, horseback riding, mountain biking and meandering nature trails”. The City’s Parks Department invited people to envision what this future Staten Island park could be like in a seventeen syllable snapshot, a haiku. The results of their third annual Freshkills Haiku Contest include this gem:
Somewhere underneath
The bike paths I will ride on
My old love letters
-Stevie D’Arbanville
Imagine that! The power of i cognoscenti in seventeen syllables can change the world, one landfill at a time.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
Donna Brodie, of the Writers Room, in her ecstatic footwear
She was lovely to behold, in the way someone you think of fondly looks when you see them after a long time.
The way she tossed her hair, now shoulder length and full, swirling her ice coffee, bracelets jangling on her slender wrist. How I missed her!
She eyed my shopping bag with a slow smile, “Anything fabulous?”
Fabulous? These boots by Anita Moser are fabulous, in my opinion.
I confess, I am longing to take another shoemaking class so that I can make a pair of boots.
I pulled out the white shirtdress with the amazing pleating at the waist that reminded me of the style she always preferred – fitted waist with a flared skirt to highlight her hourglass figure. She practically leaped out from behind her desk to take a closer look at the stitching detail.
And that is when I saw them.
Her deep lilac vegan peep toe wedge sandals from Payless. She practically floated in them. “They match my golf shorts, I love the color, they were fifteen bucks – I am absolutely crazy about them and the price!”
She was radiant. She was poetry in motion.
Keep this in mind
I write a lot about shoes, why you need stilettos, how I was determined to learn how to make my own. To me, they hold a special place between you and the earth. They govern your movement and your posture. Shoes are the foundation of how you present yourself to the world each day. Here are some things about shoes to keep in mind:
Color
Be bold and put some unexpected color on your feet. Somehow, you will find something in your closet that will match. If not, oh well, you’ll have to go shopping and find something that does. The effect you will have on people will be unexpected and unforgettable.
Height
Notice I did not say stature. That is psychological height. I mean the arch and the heel of the shoe and how the shoe lengthens your leg. Not the job for a ballet flat.
Detail
A perky bow? A little toe cleavage? A shaped heel? Small details, big impact.
Elevation
I am talking about your spirits. Do you feel like a million bucks in your fifteen dollar shoes? This is a case of reverse gravity – your sense of Wow! flows upward from the tips of your shoes to the top of your head.
Isn’t it a wonderful thing when you can find a pair of shoes that can carry you joyfully through your day? Simple joys are great pleasures.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good
Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit
Style Notes from me, your artspy
Hoong Yee
– Subscribe and get a little Wow! every day
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
I write for love and money. It is my everyday passion. What's yours? 
