I congratulated our grade 7-11 students this morning on a fine start to the school year. There’s a palpable buzz on our campus. Teachers are impressed with students’ positive engagement in the classroom, and our athletic teams have been busy practicing, playing, and preparing for an exciting fall season of competition. For those students who are uncommitted, it’s not too late. If they’re shy and haven’t tried out for a team, I urged them to be brave, ask a friend what’s involved, or find the coach, and give a team/activity a try. Young people never regret being part of a team – and pulling on a school jersey. As Nike says, they need to “just do it”!

We are having a club and activities fair and the same message about involvement applies: students should dive in with both feet and try a new activity or build a new skill. They need to accept a challenge and see where it takes them. We’re lucky at our school as there’s a lot of choice here – literally something for everyone.

Hi Girls, and Happy Hump Day to you!
We’re smack in the middle of the week, which means we’re still in WORK mode, but we’re also approaching LIFE mode with the weekend a couple of days away.

Work/life balance is something many of us strive for, but it’s often hard to know if we’ve made it there. Are we balanced? Can we juggle career and our responsibilities at home, giving them both the love and attention they require? On a side-note, although technology has allowed for a lot more flexibility in the workforce, 70% of workers also admit that it brings work into their personal lives.

We are born, so to speak, provisionally, it doesn’t matter where. It is only gradually that we compose within ourselves our true place of origin so that we may be born there retrospectively and each day more definitely.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke

You could argue that I came by my family unit for all the wrong reasons and you’d be right. I used to be good at doing things for the wrong reasons. Once upon a time my Baroque inner life turned my outer life into a complicated opera, a never-ending one.

I may have been the protagonist of my inner world, but I certainly was not welcome as the protagonist of other people’s lives. I had to figure this out the hard way.

My deep-rooted insecurities brought out a deplorable level of egocentricity and self-obsession. The good news is I have worked through my dreadful ways. I am a much healthier version of me.

So this about sums up how I feel about turning 40 this year and deciding to choose my face.

I have wanted to write a blog post on this topic for a long time, but the beautiful Catherine Deneuve so eloquently says it as it is. As we age, we either choose our face or our ass.

Why? What does this mean?

I’ll tell you what it means. It means that when we eat, like TRULY enjoy life and EAT (and I still mean healthily), our ass grows but our face glows. And when we stop eating to spare our ass, our face gets gaunt, hollow, wrinkly and dehydrated.

It’s true ladies. Sorry. I’ve seen it.

I decided this year I would choose my face. My ass has grown, but what is life without enjoying and living in moderation?

The ON THE FENCE question of the day to my gals over 40: Have you chosen your face or your ass?

Hello and good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend.

I called today’s post Mixed Monday, because that is exactly what we’ve got today.

We’ve got an anniversary, a new beginning (first day of school), another new beginning (new business), and a fun weekend to share.

16 Years Ago

Yesterday, April 23rd, marked the 16th anniversary of my first company. Yes, for $37.00, exactly 16 years ago, I registered my company on a hope, a prayer and 37 bucks. I found this on my hard drive last week. It was one of our earlier attempts at marketing and customer loyalty. One of my best friends Lori designed it for me. I was, after all, marketing my business on a shoestring budget.