Hawaii memories and the high five of love

Matt and I must have been on the same wavelength lately. I've been thinking about our dreamy trip to Hawaii a year ago, and apparently so has he. Remember our high five of love? He wrote about it on his blog, it may be a little more thoughtful, lovely and inspired than when I wrote about it, or it may not. See for yourself here.

Celebrating the Olympics one last time

In case you want to relive a little Olympic gymnastics (1988 that is, and okay, maybe not strictly the Olympics, but some important competition no doubt).



He is honestly really good, it's amazing! Thanks to Luell for sending this one out.

Sarah Palin

Admittedly, I don't know much about Sarah Palin (like most people), but what I do know sounds pretty good.

1. She was born in Idaho
2. She has 5 kids, the last one born in April (even 2 boys, 3 girls)
3. She played sports in high school
4. Her mother taught elementary school.
5. She has a studly husband


Just those things make her sound pretty sweet. (Maybe she sounds like someone else you know, hint, hint.) Don't you think?

Back to School

We had back to school night last night. I visited all three classrooms and was excited about all of them. In Dawn's classroom I looked at the volunteer sheet and marked a few things (help at parties, help from home), then I walked out the door.

Then I walked back in and looked at the empty room mom box. Then I walked out again. Then I walked back in and signed myself up. What have I gotten myself into? I really don't know.

The Bearded Roman

The Artist's Sister by Adolf von Menzel

I wanted to share a different and interesting blog that I occasionally visit for a bit of culture and art education.


It describes itself thus:

Bearded Roman is a blog about fine art in the classical tradition, with a special emphasis on nineteenth-century painting. It is maintained by art historian Micah Christensen, who currently lives in London.

Howies Rootbeer Reigns as Champ

This summer our very discerning family did a blind root beer study. We compared 5 brands of root beer and ranked them.

The contestants were:

Barqs
Howeies, a locally made and distributed root beer.
IBC (from a bottle)
A&W
Shasta

We were going to include homemade, but we ran out of pep and time amidst all the fun.

And the big winner was. . .


Howies!

Howies had a great smooth vanilla flavor. A&W was a close second, followed by Shasta, IBC and Barqs in last place. No one really liked the Barqs; it was the most bitter. We were also surprised by the low placement of IBC which some favored before the test.

Of course any root beer is improved with a big scoop of ice cream in it, so have one for me today.

How to Win Friends and Influence People - 2

Chapter 2: The Big Secret of Dealing with People

People want to feel important. Making people feel important through honest and sincere compliments is the way to influence people.

Dale Carnagie says "The only way I can get you to do anything is by giving you what you want." p. 37

This doesn't mean you should flatter people. Flattery is insincere praise. But truly see what others accomplish, what they do well, and tell them.

When we are not engaged in thinking about some definite problem, we usually spend about 95 per cent of our time thinking about ourselves. Now, if we stop thinking about ourselves for awhile and begin to think of the other man's good points, we won't have to resort to flattery so cheap and false that it can be spotted almost before it is out of the mouth.

As Charles Schwab said, be "hearty in [your] approbation and lavish in [your] praise."