National Marshmellow Toasting Day

August 30th takes me to a middle school memory:

While at a church sleep over I entered a marshmallow eating contest. You might think the contest was to see who could eat the most...nope! To win this game you had to stuff as many marshmallows in your mouth as possible at the Same Time. The winner well is a sticky mess and gets no other reward but maybe the title of having a big mouth. I did not win in this memory but I do have a reason to celebrate life today.

I'm thankful for all the joyous church memories I have from over the years even the ones that include marshmallows!

So today find a way to enjoy a marshmallow or two!
Campfire treat or S'mores are nice but if no campfire you can still heat some up in the microwave under some chocolate and graham crackers. However you eat them Celebrate today with a marshmallow treat!

Happy Monday

In college I had an instructor that would always say happy Monday no matter what day of the week. He would say that Monday had a bad rap but Mondays were a day that did not have to be bad. I like this way of thinking. How many co-workers and friends do we know that "have a case of the Mondays?" It can be an unpleasant day but it could also be a reason to celebrate. Monday is a new start. Second day of the week but first day of the work week and a nice time to start putting into action a desired goal or plan. Monday can be a time to spread love to others. Start fresh this Monday, celebrate a new week, a new chance to improve, learn, and Celebrate life!

Happy Monday!

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.” – Art Linkletter

An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Lombardi would later write, "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up."

Michael Jordan and Bob Cousy were each cut from their high school basketball teams. Jordan once observed, "I've failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."

Babe Ruth is famous for his past home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career (about which he said, "Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."). And didn't Mark McGwire break that strikeout record? (John Wooden once explained that winners make the most errors.)

Hank Aaron went 0 for 5 his first time at bat with the Milwakee Braves.

Stan Smith was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was "too awkward and clumsy." He went on to clumsily win Wimbledon and the U. S. Open. And eight Davis Cups.


Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson accounted for 11 of the 19 Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1993. They also share the distinction of having the worst records of first-season head coaches in NFL history - they didn't win a single game.

Johnny Unitas's first pass in the NFL was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Joe Montana's first pass was also intercepted. And while we're on quarterbacks, during his first season Troy Aikman threw twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns (9) . . . oh, and he didn't win a single game. You think there's a lesson here?

After Carl Lewis won the gold medal for the long jump in the 1996 Olympic games, he was asked to what he attributed his longevity, having competed for almost 20 years. He said, "Remembering that you have both wins and losses along the way. I don't take either one too seriously."

Try Try Again

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.

Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.

Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.

R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York City caught on.

F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said, "he didn't have enough sense."

When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, "What use could this company make of an electrical toy."

John Garcia, who eventually was honored for his fundamental psychological discoveries, was once told by a reviewer of his often-rejected manuscripts that one is no more likely to find the phenomenon he discovered than to find bird droppings in a cuckoo clock. (sort of a cute critique actually)

Rocket scientist Robert Goddard found his ideas bitterly rejected by his scientific peers on the grounds that rocket propulsion would not work in the rarefied atmosphere of outer space.

Daniel Boone was once asked by a reporter if he had ever been lost in the wilderness. Boone thought for a moment and replied, "No, but I was once bewildered for about three days."

Never Give Up

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterwards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth."

Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the age of 62. He later wrote, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up." (his capitals, mind you)

Socrates was called "an immoral corrupter of youth" and continued to corrupt even after a sentence of death was imposed on him. He drank the hemlock and died corrupting.

Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to his office and kept on writing.

Robert Sternberg received a C in his first college introductory-psychology class. His teacher commented that "there was a famous Sternberg in psychology and it was obvious there would not be another." Three years later Sternberg graduated with honors from Stanford University with exceptional distinction in psychology, summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. In 2002, he became President of the American Psychological Association.

Charles Darwin gave up a medical career and was told by his father, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching." In his autobiography, Darwin wrote, "I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect." Clearly, he evolved.
Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

Knock, Knock

August 16th is unofficially National Tell A Joke Day!

This is a wonderful reason to celebrate. How many times have you pulled up your email to a great joke and laughed out loud right at work? How often can you not wait to get your friend on the phone to share that great joke you heard at the gym? How many times have you been the reason for a blond joke to be created? Okay, you get the picture -jokes are a great way to celebrate with friends and even if we are the cause of a few new jokes its okay we all need a good laugh. So get to that phone or email and share the best or worst joke you have every heard someone may be in need of that laugh.

A few of the good and bad ones I've heard.

What time is when an elephant sits on your fence?
Time to get a new fence.

A bird in the hand is always safer than one overhead.

Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.

New jokes Welcomed! Please, share!!

Child in The Middle

Today, August 12th, is a special celebration day!! Today is National Middle Child's Day. My mother is a middle child and I'm sure we have all heard of the Middle Child Syndrome. True, not true doesn't matter. Today we Celebrate all the Middle Children of the world. So call them up, write them a note, send a card how ever you do just celebrate those born in the middle on their day of celebration!

Famous Middle Children:
Princess Diana
John F. Kennedy
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bill Gates
Julia Roberts
My Mother

"give me some more" please!

August 10th is National S'mores Day! Now who wouldn't want to help celebrate this day? I can associate this chocolate messy treat with camping. Camping is not something I have participated in much but the times I have bring joyous memories. It has been said that S'mores gets its name because kids would sit around the campfire and chant "give me some more." Although it is not an official holiday (no stamp of approval from Congress) it is a reason to Celebrate August 10, 2012.  How to make S'mores: Ingredients:

• Chocolate candy bar
• Honey Graham Crackers
• Marshmallows

Instructions:

• Break off a square of Graham cracker
• Add a piece of Chocolate.
• Toast a big marshmallow over the campfire.
• Add the hot marshmallow.
• Top it with another graham Cracker.

Enjoy, and  join the celebration by sharing any S'mores stories!

Celebrate with a Dance

I recently had the privilege of becoming a member of a new family -the DanceN2Shape family. I became a certified DanceN2Shape instructor on Saturday August 4th and I couldn't be more excited to embark on this new life changing adventure. The ladies welcomed me as if they had been waiting on me and taught me so much about the DanceN2Shape philosophy.

I have started trying to put more positive light in the world and what better way than by joining this family of talented, passionate, dancing women. I look forward to building this blog and to building my DanceN2Shape career. Dancing while learning, socializing, loosing weight AND having fun is a great positive move for any and all of us!

I hope this blog helps brings positive light into your life and please, join me in finding reasons to Celebrate life every day!!