Redecorating

I get to do another review for CSN, yay!  CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from stylish furniture, modern bedding, or great cookware!

We have been working on our house hardcore lately: new roof, new gutters, new windows, finishing our basement, and re-doing just about every room......sheesh... so I've definitely been browsing CSN lately.

In fact, we are re-decorating our bedroom.  I'm painting my walls a dark charcoal color, and my furniture is going to get painted a very high gloss white.    But... I can't decide what to do for bedding.  Here are few options I found on CSN:

I don't know though... this might be too much grey.

I like this one.  Maybe just accent with colorful pillows?

What do you think?   Maybe I should just go with solid white bedding and add color in the pillows?

Decisions, decisions.

I just received some fireplace tools from them that I'll be writing a review on in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Daydreaming and Reading.

I started a new book today, “The Glass Castle.”  Anyone read it before?  I’m only a few pages in, so I hope it continues to keep my attention!
In other news…
Today was a very busy, but exciting day!   I do sales for my parent’s printing company, and today I got a call from one of my customer’s, a popular hotel chain that we do printing for, and they asked for a quote on 500 vehicle wraps!!!!   I’m trying to not get too excited, but I’ve already been dreaming about what I’d do with that commission check.   I can’t help it!   If I get this job the first thing I’m going to do is hire someone to finish our basement, because after 3 years of “working” on it, it’s clear that me and my husband are NEVER going to get it finished!   So I’m holding my breath that I can just hire someone to do it for me, haha.
I’m so proud of my parent’s.   They started the business out of our family room when I was 8 years old, and now we handle national accounts.    It’s really amazing.   I witnessed from a very young age how to be an entrepreneur.  And that is why I am a horrible “employee,” haha.   I have to work on my own time and schedule.  I’m so fortunate that I get to do that, because I would get fired right away if I had to be somewhere at 8 AM every morning!
Anyway, tomorrow I start with my personal trainer.   So, I’m eating a bag of M&M’s as I write this.   Real productive huh?     I should never allow them in my home, they are addictive.   I need to tell my personal trainer that, maybe he can hang them from a string and dangle them in front of me on a treadmill.  …I bet it would work.

Oh yeah, don't forget to enter my Arbonne giveaway! 

Water for Elephants

On monday I bought the book "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, I finished the book Friday night.

It. Was. Fabulous.

 I couldn't put it down.

The story is written from the perspective of Jacob Jankowski, an old man who is reflecting back on his days as a young man in the circus during the great depression era.   It's a wonderful story that touches on the difficulties of the time, the complexities of the circus, and his impossible love for the ring master's wife.  This book has everything: action, romance, even murder.

If you haven't read it, go get it today, I promise you won't be able to put it down! 

Plus... the movie comes out soon, starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon.  

I can't wait to see it!  View the trailer below.

Oh.... and don't forget about my giveaway.

Stay Classy

My brother came up with this so that the employees at my family's company would remember the quality and environmental policy.  I think it's hilarious!

Arbonne Ginger Citrus Giveaway!

You all know by now that I love Arbonne!   

Arbonne has pure, safe, and beneficial skin care, cosmetics, nutritional products, and more....   

Each year they come out with a holiday catalog in September, and every year I wait in anticipation until I can order their "Ginger Citrus" line.  It smells soooo good and is only available Sept-Dec.   

Because I love it so much, and I love you all so much, I'm giving it away!   One very fortunate reader will win a mini Ginger Citrus Body Wash and a Ginger Citrus Body Butter.   

Here's how to enter:

1.  Be a follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me. (1 entry)

2.  Visit my website and tell me something you learned about Arbonne or a product you'd like to have. 

(2 entries) 

Return to Oz

A wonderful lesson of leadership from Oz.... 
and Michael Clouse.  

Return to Oz

We're off to see the Wizard... The wonderful Wizard of Oz... He truly is a wonderful Wiz, if ever a Wiz there was...

Seems "We're all off..." to find something. Searching for answers ... Sometimes for people ... Whatever it takes to get from where we are to where we want to go.

Dorothy just wanted to get back to Kansas. And, lest we forget, the friends she met along her way were searching, too: for brains, a heart and courage.

The Wizard of Oz is a classic metaphor for leadership. Dorothy discovered that leadership begins with knowledge in action—"Just follow the yellow brick road"—and ends with the realization, "There's no place like home."

Because from time to time we all need to be reminded, that if we just stay the course, we will reach our goals. Yet, the real wizardry of Oz is more subtly intertwined throughout the movie.

Remember, Scarecrow believed he didn't have a brain, but he masterminded Dorothy's rescue. Convinced he was without a heart, the Tin Man tried, repeatedly, to contain his emotions. And when it mattered most, the Lion, still searching for courage, was absolutely fearless. Each one possessed exactly what he had been searching for all along.

And yet concealed in Oz's last scene is perhaps the greatest leadership lesson of all:

Dorothy: Can you help me...

Good Witch of The North: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.

Dorothy: I have?

Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?

Good Witch of The North: Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.

Dorothy believed the Wizard had the power—turns out he was just the little man behind the curtain.

Dorothy had the Ruby Slippers—the real power—all along. And that's what true leadership is about. Helping people see their power, helping them bring out the greatness that was really there all along.

Because the dreams you dare to dream really do come true...but only when you decide it's time to wake up and live them!

"Oh Auntie Em, it's you..."

-Michael S. Clouse

Open Your Eyes

"What is any life without the pursuit of a dream?

My dreams are a cruel joke.  They taunt me.  Even in my dreams I’m an idiot…who knows he’s about to wake up to reality.  If I could only avoid sleep.  But I can’t.   I try to tell myself what to dream.  I try to dream that I’m flying.  Something free… it never works.

Open your eyes. 

The little things…there’s nothing bigger, is there?  

This is a revolution of the mind.

Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.

I want to live a real life…

I don’t want to dream any longer.

Forgive me, I’m blowing your mind."

-Vanilla Sky

What great lines!

Calling all bookies...

I need a new book.   It's been a while since I've read a book I could really get into.  Right now I'm reading "The Girl Who Played With Fire."   It's pretty good, but I just can't seem to get into it as much as the first one, "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which I loved!  Earlier this year I read "The Time Traveler's Wife,"  "Memory Keeper's Daughter," and my favorite.... "April and Oliver."    So, what next?   I keep picking up my Twilight books and reading them over and over because I just haven't found one lately that really captures my attention.   I like books that are character rich, where it's more about the people then the action.   Have any suggestions?  What books have you read lately that you couldn't put down?

The sun has gone to bed and so must I

Alert the media......

It's 11:00 PM, and I'm going to bed....

For the second night in a row.

Come to think of it, I've been going to bed earlier and earlier lately. 

Uh oh....

Am I growing up?   Or just getting old?   

....I think there's a difference?

Either way, it feels kind of nice!