Everything happens for a reason…

3/12/10-  I met with Camala tonight after my face peel.  We discussed many things but one of the things that I latched onto was the concept of “Kharmac Signifigance” or “SyncroDestiny”.  <<Hear Deepak Chopra on SynchroDestiny>> It is kind of hard for me to explain simply… but I have never been a huge fan of the concept of coincidence.  I don’t know if it is my spiritual beliefs, but I have always held firm to the idea that things happen for a reason.    You may not know the reason at the time, but there will always be a reason to everything.  A “master plan” if you will.  Well, Camala and I were discussing this because several things happened to me after our previous meeting.  During that meeting we had been discussing relationships and, the day after that, the older sister of an ex-boyfriend that we had been discussing walked into the salon while I was getting my nails done.  In addition, we had discussed “tapping” as a stress reducing technique and that week I had seen a news report on how tapping was used for children in behavioral modification.  So it was as if everything was aligning for me to see what we had been discussing.

The other things we talked about were stress reduction (which, I’ll admit, is not something I am good at… I’m pretty high strung) and also leadership styles.  She is going to have me take the “strengths in leadership” quiz to see if I can’t determine my leadership style.

3/14/10-  Well, I took the strengths in leadership quiz and I was not surprised to find out that my strengths lie in the domain of “relationship building”.  To back up, the book discusses that there are 4 types of leadership and no one can be good at all of them.  The goal is to develop a TEAM of people who have strenghts in different areas.  The areas are “executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking”.  Within each area there are several subcategories of relative strengths.  I found that out of my top 5, 4 of them were from relationship building.  My strengths are

Your Top Five Clifton StrengthsFinder Themes

Executing-  Consistency

Relationship Building- Empathy, Harmony, Developer, Connectedness

I suppose I wish I were a TAD bit more well rounded… but I guess it is good to know I have strengths in certain areas

3/17/10-  Today, our coach Laura was not able to come to workout this morning so the head of Corequest, Liesbett, came to train us.  I felt like I was right back at day one.  I know I have gotten stronger and I know that I have lost weight, but it sure didn’t feel like that.

3/18/10-  I literally cannot walk today.  I don’t know if workout over did it or what but I am back on advil and treading VERY carefully as to not put myself in excrutiating amounts of pain…. sigh!

3/19/10-  Tonight I get to hang out with my nephew.  That is probably my favorite thing in the world to do.  Tomorrow I am meeting up with Carolyn Rovener, personal stylist, to go shopping for clothes for my after photo.  I am a bit nervous about it because, even though I have lost close to 20 pounds, I am still in plus size… which makes shopping for clothes (especially in high end places like Broadway Plaza) a bit difficult.  But helping my mom babysit my nephew tonight does make the stress go down.

3/20/10-  Ok, today was amazing and so overwhelming at the same time.  I met up with Carolyn at Broadway Plaza at 10am.  She was so great and let my mom and sister come along for the experience.  We started out at Foot Candy shoe store where I got to pick out a pair of shoes.  Carolyn introduced me to “nude” shoes (basically, most neutral color you can get).  I never would have picked anything like that out but they were GORGEOUS!!  Only problem is they are a little too narrow and too high so we are going to “borrow” them for the after shoot.  I really love them but picked out other ones to keep. The pair I got to keep are equally as beautiful.  I really wanted gray shoes and these are very close.  They are by bettye muller and they are fabric with a black and white print. 

The Foot Candy store was not open when we arrived but Carolyn knew the people so we got a “private” shopping time.  The store is BEAUTIFUL!!!!  I would have been intimidated had I not been with a shopper but it was an amazing experience.  We then went to nordstrom (no luck on clothes… but got a new bra fitted), Coldwater creek (which has always been one of my favorite stores… where I got a CUTE yellow jacket) and Macy’s (where I found the thing I wanted for the day… a perfect “little black dress”- and the dress we will use for the after photo shoot). 

While everything we bought was amazing (my favorites are actually my more casual items- so it is too bad I can’t wear jeans to the wedding I am going to today… smile), more than that was the experience.  I went into stores I would have NEVER ventured into on my own and I learned a lot about my clothing style (or previous lack thereof) and how to make things work for the frame I have.

Lastly, as if the day wasn’t indulgent enough, I could not get the neutral kate spade shoes out of my head… so I spent a good amount of time on Zappo’s last night (where I love to shop because you can shop by shoe size and width) and found some pairs of nude pumps with lower heels than the kate spade ones and ordered them… so hopefully I will have a great set of these new shoes I learned about soon.

Tomorrow is my after shoot.  A long day filled with beauty, makeover, dental treatments, and a photo shoot… I took the day off work (a huge blessing in itself) and I am very much looking forward to it.

3/26/10-           This week has been busy and tonight capped it off with a long night at work.  The international studies class that I work with will be leaving for Spain next week and this was their final fundraising night.  The kids ran the show and did a great job at it.    While my role is to provide extra support to my students with special needs that are going,  my students have proven to be more than capable of handling themselves on the trip.  I look forward to the experiences that this will bring them.

3/31/10-           Today I had a meeting at work which was filled with contention on all sides.  On the part of my school, on the part of the school district, and on the part of the family of this student.  All sides have been involved in the legalities of the case for so long that it has become less about the child and more about winning.  This is the part of education that I abhore!!!  Those in administration often get so caught up in the legalities and policies that they forget that the true meaning about education is the child that is entrusted to them… for, without the student, there would not be a need for educators in the first place.

4/1/10-  It is very early AM as I write this (1am to be exact)… I am meeting the students at school at 2am to go to the airport and I figured that I would rather stay awake to do my best to get over jet lag than to get some sleep tonight.  I am filled with excitement and cannot wait to see what the trip will hold… but I probably wont blog until I get back.

4/13/10-  We landed on Sunday night but I have been so wrought with jetlag that it has taken a few days to get over it.  The trip was wonderful for the students involved and it was great to see my students experience things they had not before with wide eyed wonder (one student had not been to an airport before and was amazed by all the “little things” such as the automatic soap dispensers, and the people movers on the floor.

While on the trip I read the book “reinventing the body, ressurecting the soul” by Deepak Chopra that Camala asked me to read.  Haven’t gotten a chance to discuss or process the book since getting back but did enjoy it.  I also learned on the trip that buffet eating is not my friend!  Smile…luckily we spent so much time moving and walking that I didn’t do TOO much damage to my diet.

Upon coming back I have finally started to see a change in my physical body.  My work clothes are falling off but I haven’t had much time to go shopping.  In addition, I was finally able to buy my first shirt that was not plus sized (that was HUGE for me).

This past week I lost 6 pounds (I think that was rebound for the fact that I had put on two pounds in Spain)… so my loss is 24.4 pounds total.  My next goal is to hit my 30 pound mark so hopefully in the next week or two!

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