Happy Holidays!

We've decorated our beautiful tree; written and posted 'most' of our Christmas cards; made ornaments; bought some presents from the farmers' market; our gingerbread will be made this weekend; we did the Santa Shuffle; and are looking forward to mini parties and a kids spin a thon; but the most magical part will be sitting down to dine with our growing family. I hand washed a new tablecloth, and am truly excited to iron it on Christmas Eve morning.

Looking forward to reconnecting with many of you in the new year, and meeting new blogger friends.

Wishing you and yours a peaceful, love drenched, sweet and joyful season.
XO
Susana

MAKE IT HAPPEN CAPTAIN!

Shawn L tagged me with two memes, of which I'm only doing the 2nd. My three writing tips are:

*DO IT ANYWHERE
So you're on a bus, no pen, no paper, it's ok, use your cell phone and call yourself with a voice mail about your idea. You're at a fancy dinner party, someone says something funny, you have a moment of clarity, an 'aha about the human condition', so laugh at the joke, then excuse yourself and find the nearest writing instrument and paper product, lipstick and cocktail napkins are ok. Just make sure you do it right away, or you will never remember, trust me, I know, I've lost plenty of 'great ideas'.

**TATTOO "PERSISTENCE" ON YOUR THIN SKIN
Your words, your ideas, your pitches will get rejected over and over and over. No one out there cares as much as you do, so care, even if you have to walk to the ends of the earth and back, over and over, eventually someone will listen. Eventually your skin will thicken.

***JUST WRITE
Write grocery lists. Write thank you letters. Write in your baby's journal. Write in your blog. Write for your local newspaper, for free. Teach your kids to write. Make room for your writing, even if you don't have a room of your own, even if you don't have a word processor. People have written in prisons, no paper, no pens. Find a way - find your way.

I tag Amy, Lauren, and Gypsy Soul, you're it!

Plated vs Grated

Last year, caring for a 2.5 yr old and his colicky baby sister, was...well, to put it in cooking terms, I felt like I got grated to the core. Sounds fun eh?!

In order to move on, and leave that in the past, and turn the page, I have been working on looking and feeling like something gorgeous, something nourishing, fun and aromatic, say a bowl of silky flaming orange butternut squash pumpkin soup or a fresh fruit salad. So for me, 2008 is the year of getting plated like a divine bowl of slurpy goodness.

I think this sounds like a contest idea, thus, I announce a contest! Tell me what you felt like last year, obviously, in 'cooking terms' and then tell me what your goal for 2008 is like in 'cooking terms'. Deadline is end of day midnight, Friday, January 11.

Winner will be drawn from a hat and posted here sometime Sunday, January 13.

Grand prize: a $25 cash donation to your charity of choice. I will ask the charity to send a thank you note directly to the winner to confirm donation was given/paid for.

Goals work

I'm sharing a tool that helped me t-r-e-m-e-n-d-o-u-s-l-y last year. Enjoy!

http://www.robinsharma.com/work_life_balance_report_ic_136.htm