Its all good. Today was weigh in day. To my surprise I lost another .6 of a lb.
Padre Michele gave us 4 special days of dispensation for the St. Patrick's day holiday. That means we went out Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to celebrate the wearin' of the green. In actuality that means we got to have 4 drinks in 4 days rather than our 2 in 2 days (Friday and Saturday) and we ate like crazy people (restaurant food is loaded with calories and fat!). Do you know how many calories are in pasta? Let me tell you how many veggies I have to eat this week to make up for the badness last weekend. I am gonna look like broccoli!
I will have to walk everywhere, even to work 8 miles, up hills both ways and lift mondo amounts of weights. Oh well, no pain, no gain right?
My reviews are almost done for my staff, I saved my assistants for last. That will have to happen over the weekend. My boss comes to visit tomorrow for the first time since Dec. 26th. Yep...I know the date, and I am looking forward to our chat. I called the employee hot line and told them what I thought of being open Easter Sunday, as if they care, but now I feel better about the whole thing.
And to my youngest daughter I say "A muffin shop in Florida might just be the way to go". Thanks for the idea.
Out for now!
Starbucks.........still pondering. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Fun!
I am not always so serious.
Life is meant to experience, learn, grow and dream.
I'm out!
TTYL..........Its time to walk and pump up the volume! I have batteries now for my MP3 player!
Wa-hoo
Life is meant to experience, learn, grow and dream.
I'm out!
TTYL..........Its time to walk and pump up the volume! I have batteries now for my MP3 player!
Wa-hoo
What are you worthy of?
I am worthy of my Passions.
To have the time and energy to pursue them.
Some days....like today are quiet for me. Reflecting, moving slowly then regretting the time I spend lazily doing nothing productive. But...is it not productive to take time for ones self to rejuvenate? I stayed in bed til noon. Took a shower, ate lunch, then channel surfed til 3.
My job is draining I tell myself. Well, it does take a lot out of you to constantly reinforce to other women (who, by the way have minimal to no self esteem) that they are important, look great and should embrace themselves as special. No I am not a counselor, but a sales manager and trainer for a very visible women's retailer. Some customers are truly what I call "emotional vampires" zapping your energy in order so they may feel good. Its what I do essentially, give them energy, encourage other women to feel good about themselves. Teach them how to look in a mirror and see who they are rather than the labels someone else has put on them.
"I wonder if they ever did the exercise in school where you take a shoe box and put adjectives on the inside of how you feel and on the outside of the box that describe how you think other people view you?" It is amazing when those two worlds collide and you realize you are worthy of whatever it is that makes you happy and do not benefit from the labels or your own negative thoughts. Go pursue your dreams!!! "Create your life"
The amount of energy I exude at work is amazing. To what end though? Yes, my customers feel great when they leave but they still carry around their baggage, for their time with me is only a short fix. Then they return to their life, and come back to see me or one of my associates for another fix. The money they spend on new clothes to feel good always makes me a little sad. I cannot imagine being in their shoes, yet it is what makes me successful. I provide the positive attention they need, they spend money, I make money.
I have one woman who shops with me who has told me the reason for her shopping addiction. She is quite intelligent, is a professor at a well known university and has been diagnosed as using this addiction to cover up the wounds inflicted upon her as a child, made to feel "not good enough" and used the mask of "if I look pretty on the outside and get attention form others because of it I will feel good enough and be recognised as such". When in actuality she has almost lost her husband because of the way she spent money, causing them bankruptcy twice. He now has given her money to spend and she has been using that same money over and over again, making purchases, wearing items with the tickets attached then returning them for something new so the feel good cycle continues. She has now come up with a very creative way to spend the same dollar over and over again to feed her need to feel good.
There are many more I see on a weekly basis that spend money to feel good because something in their lives is not right. Rather than being responsible for their own choices they continue to try and fix themselves with retail therapy. I am always dumbfounded.
WOMEN, I scream, for heavens sake, why do you fill up your lives with meaningless crap? Why do you not know your own self-worth? Why do you need me or others like me to make you feel special. Why can you not do it for yourselves? What have you become?
Stand up! Take back your power! Rejoice in making better decisions in your life! And become the real "(insert name here)"
WOW Maybe I should have been a real counselor. Or at least taken some psychology classes. Hmmmmm..... I might be onto something.
To have the time and energy to pursue them.
Some days....like today are quiet for me. Reflecting, moving slowly then regretting the time I spend lazily doing nothing productive. But...is it not productive to take time for ones self to rejuvenate? I stayed in bed til noon. Took a shower, ate lunch, then channel surfed til 3.
My job is draining I tell myself. Well, it does take a lot out of you to constantly reinforce to other women (who, by the way have minimal to no self esteem) that they are important, look great and should embrace themselves as special. No I am not a counselor, but a sales manager and trainer for a very visible women's retailer. Some customers are truly what I call "emotional vampires" zapping your energy in order so they may feel good. Its what I do essentially, give them energy, encourage other women to feel good about themselves. Teach them how to look in a mirror and see who they are rather than the labels someone else has put on them.
"I wonder if they ever did the exercise in school where you take a shoe box and put adjectives on the inside of how you feel and on the outside of the box that describe how you think other people view you?" It is amazing when those two worlds collide and you realize you are worthy of whatever it is that makes you happy and do not benefit from the labels or your own negative thoughts. Go pursue your dreams!!! "Create your life"
The amount of energy I exude at work is amazing. To what end though? Yes, my customers feel great when they leave but they still carry around their baggage, for their time with me is only a short fix. Then they return to their life, and come back to see me or one of my associates for another fix. The money they spend on new clothes to feel good always makes me a little sad. I cannot imagine being in their shoes, yet it is what makes me successful. I provide the positive attention they need, they spend money, I make money.
I have one woman who shops with me who has told me the reason for her shopping addiction. She is quite intelligent, is a professor at a well known university and has been diagnosed as using this addiction to cover up the wounds inflicted upon her as a child, made to feel "not good enough" and used the mask of "if I look pretty on the outside and get attention form others because of it I will feel good enough and be recognised as such". When in actuality she has almost lost her husband because of the way she spent money, causing them bankruptcy twice. He now has given her money to spend and she has been using that same money over and over again, making purchases, wearing items with the tickets attached then returning them for something new so the feel good cycle continues. She has now come up with a very creative way to spend the same dollar over and over again to feed her need to feel good.
There are many more I see on a weekly basis that spend money to feel good because something in their lives is not right. Rather than being responsible for their own choices they continue to try and fix themselves with retail therapy. I am always dumbfounded.
WOMEN, I scream, for heavens sake, why do you fill up your lives with meaningless crap? Why do you not know your own self-worth? Why do you need me or others like me to make you feel special. Why can you not do it for yourselves? What have you become?
Stand up! Take back your power! Rejoice in making better decisions in your life! And become the real "(insert name here)"
WOW Maybe I should have been a real counselor. Or at least taken some psychology classes. Hmmmmm..... I might be onto something.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Disappointment
You're either on the bus or you need to get off the bus. Are you in it to win it?
Those were the two statements I heard two weeks ago at a Sales manager meeting from my Regional sales manager of the company I work for.
I have been pondering my answers since I heard them.
5 years ago I became a member of one of the most exciting retail companies I have ever known. I was proud to be a part of it, poured my heart and soul into my job, and got such a high from it because the company's vision and direction was incredible. Now 5 years later, well lets just say I am less than enamored. Our founders of the company stepped down two years ago and that's when the subtle changes (improvements, if you will) started to occur. I won't bore you with the details, but last evening the sales managers got another piece of information on the most current change. We will be open Easter Sunday as a company. The reason we were given for the opening is "We need to take advantage of everyday to recoup some of the financial losses we have experienced." Let me just say this............How are we going to see fantastic results from being open Easter Sunday when it is literally one week til Easter and We as a company do not do mass media advertising? A planning strategy would have worked better to plan for business 6 months to a year out, do some advertising for a month before the new open date, prepare your staff.......you get my drift. One week out is going to be an incredible sell to associates, and maintain morale at the same time. Yep.........You are either on the bus on this one or you are not!!!! Change is not my concern. It is the perceived knee jerk reactions to a faltering business that makes me crazy. A business that is as big as ours does not knee jerk, yet the store level gets the information one week before the change???? When signs were printed for the announcement and sent to stores one week before the news broke. I am upset to the degree that it looks like the "values" that we were founded on, no longer exist. This thing was planned (signs do not just get printed last minute, orders need to be place, even in house orders), so why wait til the last minute to bring the information to your front line at the final hour? We hired into this company for its reputation of putting associates on the front line first, at least considering, if your associates are happy they will make your customers happy and your business will thrive. The "values" the company was so proudly built on are vanishing as we go forward.
To our founders, I applaud everything you did while you were at the helm! Since your retirement our stocks have dropped tremendously, morale in the stores is low, and corporate continues place more levels of upper-management in place. Communication has been inconsistent, from the corporate level to stores, one minute we are to execute something and the next we are instructed to do something else, or do it another way. A frustrating year was had by all and it only looks like there is more to come.
I am on the bus, for now. I do play to win.
I can make lemonade from lemons. But, this is one company that through my rose colored glasses I never thought I would feel this way about. I am reevaluating my choices daily.
Those were the two statements I heard two weeks ago at a Sales manager meeting from my Regional sales manager of the company I work for.
I have been pondering my answers since I heard them.
5 years ago I became a member of one of the most exciting retail companies I have ever known. I was proud to be a part of it, poured my heart and soul into my job, and got such a high from it because the company's vision and direction was incredible. Now 5 years later, well lets just say I am less than enamored. Our founders of the company stepped down two years ago and that's when the subtle changes (improvements, if you will) started to occur. I won't bore you with the details, but last evening the sales managers got another piece of information on the most current change. We will be open Easter Sunday as a company. The reason we were given for the opening is "We need to take advantage of everyday to recoup some of the financial losses we have experienced." Let me just say this............How are we going to see fantastic results from being open Easter Sunday when it is literally one week til Easter and We as a company do not do mass media advertising? A planning strategy would have worked better to plan for business 6 months to a year out, do some advertising for a month before the new open date, prepare your staff.......you get my drift. One week out is going to be an incredible sell to associates, and maintain morale at the same time. Yep.........You are either on the bus on this one or you are not!!!! Change is not my concern. It is the perceived knee jerk reactions to a faltering business that makes me crazy. A business that is as big as ours does not knee jerk, yet the store level gets the information one week before the change???? When signs were printed for the announcement and sent to stores one week before the news broke. I am upset to the degree that it looks like the "values" that we were founded on, no longer exist. This thing was planned (signs do not just get printed last minute, orders need to be place, even in house orders), so why wait til the last minute to bring the information to your front line at the final hour? We hired into this company for its reputation of putting associates on the front line first, at least considering, if your associates are happy they will make your customers happy and your business will thrive. The "values" the company was so proudly built on are vanishing as we go forward.
To our founders, I applaud everything you did while you were at the helm! Since your retirement our stocks have dropped tremendously, morale in the stores is low, and corporate continues place more levels of upper-management in place. Communication has been inconsistent, from the corporate level to stores, one minute we are to execute something and the next we are instructed to do something else, or do it another way. A frustrating year was had by all and it only looks like there is more to come.
I am on the bus, for now. I do play to win.
I can make lemonade from lemons. But, this is one company that through my rose colored glasses I never thought I would feel this way about. I am reevaluating my choices daily.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Faith, Choices and Me
Well...here I sit aimlessly at my computer waiting for the sun to shine, wishing I were anywhere but here. The longer I live in the northeast the more I am convinced I should be somewhere south and warm. Winter sucks!!! And, we don't even experience the snow here like other regions of the country. I just need the sun, less clothes and more daylight. Being here makes me want to pull the covers up and hibernate til spring gets here full force!
Which brings me to the issue at hand. "Choices" life is all about them. When I was younger I thought life just happened...as it turns out I was so wrong! Life is all about choice. So why do I still sit here cold and wishing........well its like this..........there is still one kid in college and my life partner to consider. I choose for the time being to stay here, research my options and choose life wisely. I am a diver by nature. For those of you who don't know what that means I will tell you. I spent the first 36 years of my life doing then thinking later. Now, I think, then...well you are right sometimes its not as much of a rush but at least I am at a much better place in my life. Responding to life allows you to think about which choice is the right one for you.
I am at a cross-road in my life. I can feel the change inside but it is not ready to become a reality just yet. Reality.........
My reality is I have a wonderful husband, incredible kids and really cute grand kids and me. Who I am has changed so much over the years. Life is no longer about figuring out who I am, life is about living. This year for new years, my resolution was to start to enjoy the things in life that make me happiest. WOW!!! Imagine for a workaholic like me that when I put me first, I found out that work didn't do it for me. I want more time to enjoy my partner, I want to experience things that are truly different than anything I have ever done before. I am lifting weights...for me....I am developing amazing definition in my arms, I am walking and have increased my stamina to include jogging, something, by the way, I couldn't even do as a teenager. I am also developing my core muscles, all this being said the best part of it is its for "me". Wow!! I have chosen for my health to be an important part of my future.
My routine has also given me the time to think about the next steps in my life with my partner. Where do I want to be? That's easy......South. What do I want to do? Not so easy. I have always played it safe and worked at retail management jobs that came easy to me. Now, I want something of my own..........what that is yet is unclear. I am good at people management, motivation, support and training. I love to watch people blossom. I also am wise enough to know that people must want to do it for themselves and no one can do it for them. That being said, people do things that they never thought they could do because they have been inspired by someone else who has accomplished something that they want to accomplish. Kind of "If she can do it.....so can I" I am looking for my mentor in the next level of success I will have in my life. I know there will be someone or something that will speak to me, even if the voice comes from within, as it does so many times.
"Faith...When we face challenges, God either puts solid ground beneath us or teaches us how to fly" I am learning how to fly.
Which brings me to the issue at hand. "Choices" life is all about them. When I was younger I thought life just happened...as it turns out I was so wrong! Life is all about choice. So why do I still sit here cold and wishing........well its like this..........there is still one kid in college and my life partner to consider. I choose for the time being to stay here, research my options and choose life wisely. I am a diver by nature. For those of you who don't know what that means I will tell you. I spent the first 36 years of my life doing then thinking later. Now, I think, then...well you are right sometimes its not as much of a rush but at least I am at a much better place in my life. Responding to life allows you to think about which choice is the right one for you.
I am at a cross-road in my life. I can feel the change inside but it is not ready to become a reality just yet. Reality.........
My reality is I have a wonderful husband, incredible kids and really cute grand kids and me. Who I am has changed so much over the years. Life is no longer about figuring out who I am, life is about living. This year for new years, my resolution was to start to enjoy the things in life that make me happiest. WOW!!! Imagine for a workaholic like me that when I put me first, I found out that work didn't do it for me. I want more time to enjoy my partner, I want to experience things that are truly different than anything I have ever done before. I am lifting weights...for me....I am developing amazing definition in my arms, I am walking and have increased my stamina to include jogging, something, by the way, I couldn't even do as a teenager. I am also developing my core muscles, all this being said the best part of it is its for "me". Wow!! I have chosen for my health to be an important part of my future.
My routine has also given me the time to think about the next steps in my life with my partner. Where do I want to be? That's easy......South. What do I want to do? Not so easy. I have always played it safe and worked at retail management jobs that came easy to me. Now, I want something of my own..........what that is yet is unclear. I am good at people management, motivation, support and training. I love to watch people blossom. I also am wise enough to know that people must want to do it for themselves and no one can do it for them. That being said, people do things that they never thought they could do because they have been inspired by someone else who has accomplished something that they want to accomplish. Kind of "If she can do it.....so can I" I am looking for my mentor in the next level of success I will have in my life. I know there will be someone or something that will speak to me, even if the voice comes from within, as it does so many times.
"Faith...When we face challenges, God either puts solid ground beneath us or teaches us how to fly" I am learning how to fly.
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