Daily Dose(s)

Announcements at the end...

My girlfriend gave me a calendar titled, "For Women Who Do Too Much."  I'm pretty sure she authored the calendar based on her own high-achieving, never-stops-moving, I-am-woman-hear-me-roar life.  I love the 365 days - each page filled with fun facts, quotes, and other inspirations.  I like to read the daily thought and then try to figure out why I might be crossing paths with that particular message on that particular day.

This morning's is a cinch. 

SPA DAY: For your spa hour this month -  get a loofah, one of those wonderful Japanese scrubbing cloths, or even a good vegetable brush.  Then give yourself a complete dry scrub, removing all dead, dry skin and increasing circulation.  Don't neglect any part of your body.  Then take a long shower or bath.

The past 7-10 days has worn me out!  Red carpet, staging, lights, and cameras; finishing touches on the carefully crafted People's Choice Awards; shopping for just the right number to wear; and planning a menu commensurate with the occasion.  Life in the fast lane is exhausting.  Then of course there was the whole week of bearing my soul and the admitting guilt.  Throw in the creation of 44 kids valentines, two parties, and a traveling husband and - come to think of it - I know why I'm tired.  And you're tired too, I am sure.

But this is a big week and we should be ready and rested for all that is to come.  The excitement will mount each day this week, as we celebrate the one year anniversary of Highlowaha.  By now your calendars should be marked (in bright red pen) with our Red Carpet event, taking place this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. CST.  Then, immediately following on Thursday morning a big announcement will be made - one you won't want to miss.

That's why today's thought-of-the-day seemed so well timed.  A Spa Day on a Monday in the middle of the month.  What could be more appropriate?  I'm doin' it... loofah and all.  How about you?  Is there some tip or trick of the trade you use to make yourself feel like you've been treated to an afternoon at the spa?  Share your creative tips so we can feel like the rich and famous. 

Switching gears...

You may or may not remember my small obsession with presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin (in my next life I will have her job).  Anyway, the closest I'm going to get right now is the other calendar given to me by a friend who knows of my obsession.  Each of these pages is filled with a fun fact about former presidents and first ladies.  Normally, I might not subject you to the daily quips and quotes from this calendar, but today's Presidents' Day and I'll feel better knowing I did my part.

He had charm, insight, a way with words, and - eventually - greatness.  But Abraham Lincoln didn't have looks.  "Barnum should buy and exhibit him as a zoological curiosity," said one New York newspaper.  True to form, though, Lincoln was the first to admit his shortcomings.  During the famous debates of 1858, Stephen Douglas accused him of being two-faced.  "I leave it to my audience," replied Lincoln.  "If I had another face, do you think I would wear this one?"

Announcements:

• First to admit his shortcomings: Here I go one last time and then truly I am done for the year.  Yesterday was a supposed to be a slide show of pictures from the Olympics and Pen Pal Weekend.  Here's the deal...  I literally held onto the Olympic photos and emails for months and months.  Somewhere along the line, I must have tried to rid myself of all the guilt, by purging my files of all the pictures.  I literally cannot find them anywhere in my electronic files.  So it's done.  Final.  There was not, nor will there ever be, a slide show of Olympic pictures.  I am truly sorry.
  
• There's Still Hope: for the COOKBOOK.  Saturday many of you posted recipes you loved, along with short statements about what makes the recipe meaningful.  Keep them coming, because Tera has volunteered to compile them into a Highlowaha Cookbook.  All you Olympic and Super Bowl participants, dig out all those winning recipes and pass them along to Tera - either by snail mail or by email.
  
• One more announcement: For those of you who have been following my professional path, in addition to my Highlowaha and family path, this announcement be of some interest.  One week from today I will begin a new position at the University of North Texas.  The University received a federal grant, studying student retention.  I will serve as the grants director, coordinating all the moving pieces between Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, and Student Affairs.  I waited a long time for a position that genuinely felt like the right fit, so this is very welcomed news. 
  

I'm off to my in-house SPA... ASAP.

Signing off until tomorrow...