Happy Halloween Friday!

Happy Halloween Friday! You all know I love Fridays and they are even better when there are parties planned. Dave and I have a party to go to this evening and then another tomorrow night. Dave picked out out costumes and will be surprising me. What do you think he has planned?

I'll post pictures on Monday and share all about our weekend. Do you have plans? I believe that planning and anticipating what's to come is what makes our lives rich and full. Heck, in many cases the anticipation is better than the event itself!

Speaking of plans, I'm planning an Intentional Winning In Life group that will meet twice a month for three months. I'm getting a group of people together to test out my ideas and see if people really can fulfill their dreams. I believe they can, we can! I'll keep you posted on our progress and hopefully this will grow into something everyone can do. In the meantime, Happy Halloween!

Quotes That Resonate

Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. ~ Howard Aiken

Listerine And Halloween!

Mason's birthday is October 20th so it's no surprise that with all the birthday festivities just days before Halloween, we are in Candy Land! Like all moms, I find every way possible to keep Mason plugged into taking care of his teeth. I love the new Listerine kids products, especially the Agent Cool Blue SmartRinse. It leaves a blue tint where he didn't get his teeth all the way clean. It's a good way for him to have fun and get him to go back and clean away the blue! I love Listerine's minty flavors and having products the kids can use too, just increases the value for me!

We are definitely taking the LISTERINE October Oral Care Challenge with Mason. The goal of the challenge is to brush, floss, and rinse with mouthwash twice a day for three weeks. We're good for twice a day most days, but for three weeks I will make sure we make it happen twice a day everyday! Join in and share your experience.

The makers of LISTERINE and REACH have teamed up with America's Toothfairy to launch "Trick or Treat for America's Toothfairy," a campaign to raise awareness of pediatric dental disease and help provide life changing care to under served children. Please visit http://www.americastoothfairy.org/ for more information and how you can help.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of LISTERINE and REACH and received products to take the Oral Care Challenge. I also received a "Global Giving gift card" to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Yep, It's True...I Have Doubts.

While talking to my friend Alice this week, I admitted to her that I have trouble telling people my dreams and aspirations. I could feel her bewilderment across the phone line. I went on to explain that in junior high and high school I tried out for cheer leading every year and never made the squad. I never told anyone about the tryouts, or really talked about it, but I went and tried out never really believing I could make the team. I never made the team. Some of my girlfriends that did make the squad did nothing but talk about try-outs. Everyone knew they were practicing, creating routines, and couldn't do this or that because they had somewhere to be. I just couldn't bring myself to tell people I wanted to be a cheerleader as I thought they would think I wasn't pretty enough or skinny enough, or who-knows-what enough!

Fast forward to today. My dream is to make my living as a Speaker teaching my Intentional Winning concepts, sharing my journey as an Entrepreneur with ZipperBack Gloves, and right now educating folks about loan modification. As I speak up (pun intended!) and share with people that I want to speak, as soon as they ask for my resume or ask for samples of my work, I cower. I find myself right back in that 15 year old girls body feeling like I'm not enough. I know I'm enough! I know I'm a dynamic speaker with wonderful, useful things to share.

My point to all of this is that no matter how self-assured one is, there is always room for doubt. The trick is to send it on it's way as soon as it pops up. When I recently had someone ask for my speaking resume, I waited to reply. I waited to let my knee-jerk reaction subside so I could send a reply that depicts the real me, the me that is qualified to speak on their radio show. I sent them an excellent reply. I didn't get the gig, but I didn't back out either, so to me that's a win!

It's okay to have doubts and feel fear as long as you can also feel sure and confident when faced with the former. You can, I know you can because I can and I'm no different than you are. We are all magnificent and more than enough!

A Letter To My Son

Dear Mason,

You are a bright, funny boy - the best mix of your daddy and I while being so completely your own, unique self.

I love your silly sense of humor and how you can laugh while all by yourself. You are so smart! You fuss about doing math, but it comes so easily to you. You also dig science. I can see already that keeping you challenged in school will be my job for the next eleven years. I won't let you down.

I marvel in how you see what is possible and all the ways it will work. You get that from me, but you still have the conviction without the doubt. You are all things masculine while still being so sweet.

Like your daddy, you are brave. You admire your dad for being a Soldier and it seems you may be a Soldier someday yourself. I wonder about that but know that you will have a million and one career aspirations before you turn 18. I hope you explore every option and find the things that light you up. If you do what you love, you will love what you do. There isn't anything you can't do, but for now, I'm happy to have you cuddle with me on the couch, decorate cookies with me, and every once in a while, indulge in a crap-food buffet! I love you Mason! Happy 7th Birthday!

Love, Mommy

The Intentional Winning Group

As we head into a new week and I have a proposition for you; how would you like to start making your dreams come true right now? Yes! I'm starting an Intentional Winning In Life group that will meet twice a month with e-mail updates the other two weeks.

My plan is to work together to get the ball rolling on making your dreams come true and see some significant results within 90 days. If we start in November, that will have you well on your way by February 1st. How cool will it be to be two-thirds of the way to living your dreams instead of making a resolution to start on January 1st? Come on, I'll show you my plan and help you find a way to make your dream come true, no matter where you are in your life, you can do it!

If you don't want to join my group, but would like my two cents, send me your dream and why you haven't pursued or achieved it and I may select your dream for my blog in 2011. You don't have to send some major essay, just what your dream is/was and why you didn't follow through. Dave's is that he has always dreamed of being a Park Ranger in a national park. He got detoured by marriage and military deployments. It's that simple!

Quotes That Resonate

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success." - Thomas Watson

Thank you to IWIL reader Michele for this quote. She shared with me about the J.K. Rowling quote and as I read this, I got chills. At the rate I'm going, I should be wildly successful very soon! Big Friday Smiles!

2011 And Beyond!

All of you know about the Intentional Winning In Life concept and anthology book series plan. I'm ready to start sending that plan into action! November first marks the three year anniversary of writing this blog, can you believe it's been that long? Here's the plan and how you can help:

• Each month starting in January, I plan to take a specific topic, the topic of your dreams placed on hold, and show you in twelve posts (give or take) how to put that dream back to work making you happy!
  
  
• I need you to share with me what it was you wanted to be when you grew up, or a dream you realized later in life that for one reason or another you stopped pursuing. I also need to know why you came to believe you couldn't see it through.
  
  
• I also need you to put this call out to everyone you know in hopes that with your blessing, they will share their dreams "not" come true with me, too.
  
  

I'm going to pick ten of the most popular topics and two of the most unusual to work with next year. This will then become the foundation of what Intentional Winning In Life books will be about. Intentional Winning In Wine Making. Intentional Winning In Writing. Intentional Winning In Nursing. You get the idea. This is going to be really fun, and if I use your topic, how cool will it be to have a real road map to making your dreams come true?

Will you help me? Send me your dreams and why you are not pursuing them and send this request out to your family and friends. I can't wait to make things happen as this year wraps up and we welcome a new year!

Inspired!

Inspiration is one of those things that I get flashes of. If only I could feel the same inspired feelings I feel after a leadership retreat, or while listening to a really amazing speaker. I had such a weekend recently and today I am asking myself how I can keep those fires burning and apply them to all areas of my life. Here's a few of the ideas I came up with:

• Make a list of words that represent my values and hang it on my bathroom mirror. This will serve as a reminder at the beginning and end of my day.

• Keep a running log of one thing I've done each day to move me closer to my goals. These could be things like making a phone call to someone who could mentor me, sending out media kits to new prospects, or going to a yoga class.

• Continually surrounding myself with inspired people. We are what we think and when we are sharing our daily space with people who are making their dreams come true, you will continue to be inspired.

What do you do to stay inspired after an event that really fired you up? Share your thoughts and ideas, I'm listening!

Lollipops!

I had a scheduled appointment for Mason and I to get our flu shots and as I expected, Mason was scared. He worked himself up with all the fear and angst that comes with anticipating a shot! I assured him it would be fine, a little pinch at most and would be over before he would even have time to cry. Moreover, I stepped up and said I would go first to show him how uneventful it would be.

The time came and I sat up on the exam table while the nurse prepared the injections, four all together...yes, four! It was then I learned that I would be getting three to Mason's one! Yikes! Flu, whooping cough, and shot #2 of an earlier immunization that I never completed. Well, I took it like a trooper and like I told Mason, the pinch was nothing, but the medication soaking into my flesh was painful! The worst part, I didn't dare flinch as I didn't want Mason to be scared. I prayed the burning medication was not the flu shot as that's the only one he had to get.

When Mason's turn came, he asked some questions, examined the needle up close, and then gave the go-ahead. He winced a little and it was over. No tears! He hopped off the table and went to get a sticker, a pencil, and a lollipop. I was fairly certain that my three injection sites were going to get sorer before feeling better and I was right. Both of my arms are really sore but I did get a lollipop! Doesn't that make it all better? I think so!

Happy Hump-Day!

Why is Wednesday Hump-Day? Because it's the middle of the week, or when you get there, you are over the "hump" and on the way to the weekend! I've talked about it before, how much I love Fridays, and Wednesdays are just the prelude to the weekend.

It's not so much about the day itself, but how you see it. In fact, isn't that the way it is with everything in life? You get to choose how you see things, the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are really bad things that happen to all of us and for me, it's important to recognize that it's not personal, it's just life. Look for the lessons in those really tough times and keep moving to the brighter side, the good times, the things memories are made of!

Quotes That Resonate

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all."

J.K. Rowling

(Harvard University Commencement, June 2008)

I want to write something about what this means to me and I just can't find the words. It resonates with me to my very core and even brought tears to my eyes. I have failed. I have failed again, and again, and again. I have made the same mistakes more than once, and half way through the second (or third) time, I think What the heck are you doing? and I stop. Is it still a failure if you stop before you finish? No matter what, failure is essential to success. I believe this is true. What do you think?

Hope Feels Good.

I don't know if the good news from Wednesday is going to turn the tides, but having the hope that it may is worth the outcome. And if nothing comes of it, it is fun thinking about "what if" it does? I have to live and feel what is appropriate this very minute and right now, EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE!! Happy Friday and never lose sight of something to hope for.