If ladies have found it a nerve wrenching affair waiting for their soul mates to pluck up the courage to ask them for their hand in marriage – nail biting is at an end!

A divorcee in USA has decided to quit waiting for her prince charming and marry herself! http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/45466/bride-marries-herself/

I am left wondering what else we girls will dream up for ourselves – self procreation – oh wait – we already do that thanks to donor banks!  Self employment – oh we do that too!  Self satisfaction (sssh). Self help – books galore on that one! Is there no end to the world of ‘self’?  I just hope in the process we aren’t drowning in a pool of self sabotage, self pity and too much self absorption – what’s wrong with holding out for a little old fashioned romance, ideals and dreams of white knights around the proverbial corner?

Having written just recently about loving other’s tales – here is one of my modern day favourites.

The lessons that resonate for me?

1  Never forget your passion.

2  Keep it close in sight.

3  Do what you have to do to survive but remember to live life as well!

I’m sure we don’t all believe in fairy tale lifestyles and prince charming waiting around the corner- yet watch out as that ‘all too simple to say’ expression could be just the kind of  limited thinking that keeps miracles at bay!  I believe that miracles DO happen – time to set about prooving it!

Today’s twitter feed #50thingsILove caught my attention – swiflty my finger tips bounced off the keyboard, sent and then I read what I’d sent!

What with all the ‘h’ words? Horses, Handbags, Holidays and a sense of Hurry Up were 4 of my 50! Bizarre or is there truth and insight to be found when we let creativity run unchecked?

Apparently H symoblises power and creativity.  (Loving those words and had they began with an H i’d have probably typed them too)!

There’s also something about H representing a connection with animals and nature.  Good news for you Hatties and Horaces’ out there you’ll make find ecologists and fishermen.  I’m already envious.

Now im keen to find out the meaning of other letters especially those that feature more than once in  my own name! Find out more at: http://dajuana.com/name-meanings/meaning-of-the-letter-h.html

Got to love the internet for helping make all things simple – profound and fun…

I just caught myself reflecting on how much I love reading about other people’s success.  Today’s chosen hero none other than Steve Jobs.

It made me wonder – is it because it fills me with hope that one day, I too can….?  Or, is it that by reading about others doing i’m excused from actually taking action myself?  Oh bit deep!

I guess there is a pleasure in reading of ‘how’ and ‘what’ others have done.  In reality I sense it is a delay tactic.  For anyone else like me (who can never have read up enough when it comes to research), might recognise the trap – there is always another hero’s story to be read; always another tip or technique to pick up.  The result?  I’m reading not DOING!  Come on girl, finish this book and be done!

Ah knowing when enough is enough is quite a skill – (must read up on that)!  Aghhhh

How we doing peeps with our resolutions for 2012?

I set out with 3 – 2 of which I’ll share here and now…firstly; to smile more and secondly; to stop biting my nails while driving, or watching movies!

I began this year consciously smiling my way through “Happy New Year” greetings, replete with 3 nails.  Now it’s February and I have 9 nails but have stopped bidding everyone “tidings of bliss”; as a result  I’ve had a tough in between period with tight chest, breathless-ness, disturbed sleep, and a big old ‘worry head’.  The things ive chosen to worry about have produced yet more reason to worry! Dah!

If resolutions are like goals: things we work towards to aspire and achieve – then how hard can it be to realise two simple resolutions which are in my complete control?

Meanwhile I’m noticing more and more the new year chantings of friends and colleagues united in a belief that “this is so going to be my year”, and I’m curious – why are we feeling this way?  What spell has 2102 worked over us? Have these friends also set controllable goals rich in their simplicity? Time will tell and I have a feeling it’s going to be a good time telling it!

My thought for the rest of this month is that “when a leaf makes the slow spiral descent from bow to the ground it has no consideration for what happens next – yet it’s journey captures our hearts”.  (Source: me on holiday in Ko Samui).

What you pay attention to – multiplies!

For a while now I have been happily waxing lyrical about the do’s and don’ts of being Hospitable to anyone who’ll listen in the Service sector.  It’s a habit that follows me around even when I’m on holiday; as I end up learning hotel’s mission, values and company practices for service training, hiring criteria and reward philosophy.  I pride myself on being able to observe the ‘right attitude’ of a ‘good spirited employee’ who can pre-empt my wishes at ten paces.

My conclusion from living a life of ‘eyes wide open’ is that Thailand has the Midas touch – whatever you expect  Thai people do it better!  Not bigger just better.  If retail is all about detail, then the secret to great hospitality is all about the small touches and CHOICE!  Discerning customers value choice – how else can we keep the rest of the world on their toes?

Take an average hotel commodity such as bedding!  How can a resort delight their customers in the bedding department? Answer – take one oblong shaped, black satin box and lay out a series of silk embossed pillow sachets of different pillow fillings – in case your chosen stuffing isn’t the default setting of the hotel’s choice! SPECIAL!

Or, if your head is easily pleased and ‘any pillow will do’ – achieve VIP status, exercise your ‘special needs’ by choosing the ‘type of finish’  on your fine white bedding sheets in which to envelop your dreamy state!  vip AND special!

When it comes to “final touches” any Swiss finishing school would be proud of – Thai Culture leads the way on Hospitality – handbag style! Does any self respecting handbag owner wish her trusty stead to be invisibly piled on top of dusty suitcases fresh off a stale luggage airport belt?  What type of self indulgent owner wishes her mate a place underneath the dining table or chair? Do we forget our handbags have feelings?  Are we willing to spend $700 on the latest monogrammed receptacle  to leave her  dangling naked and vulnerable from a ‘handbag hook’ – like a pig’s head off a butcher’s cleaver?   In Thailand handbags have dignity; a special place at the centre of society’s heart. They are afforded a level of respectability. So, on this Valentine’s day, I can think of no greater accolade to the future of handbags than to bless them with the right of exalted passage through airport terminals far and wide -with the hospitality and love that can only be mustered – Thai style of course!

Think of Christmas and you’re bouncing round the room to Slade’s Merry Xmas!  Talk of Christmas and the smell of fires blazing and the sound of wine glasses chinking fill your mind. Imagine Christmas and its Bing and a white one!  Stop! For one moment put all that romantic nonsense to one side.  Instead, grab a credit card, leave the house, drive to your nearest  House of Fraser or Westfields and grab yourself a mitt full of Christmas Cheer – Mulberry Style!

It’s Big!

In rich dark chocolate brown!

With a shiny satin Bow (of Dallas size proportions)!

Held together with 3 golden bright bells proudly announcing “You’ve Got a New Mulberry”

Now that’s what I call Christmas

xxx

What will you be carrying next fall?

Diesel seem to think we will be all going wild for that scrunched up look of a knotted hanky emblazened with studs or is it knots – either way not good for your nose!

Arab News.com caught my attention with a recent headline “The Handbag Society”.

Society is defined as a “particular community of people” and suggests living together in a “more or less ordered community” ….

The article suggested that Arab women feel connected by  handbags and fashion: what they do with accessories is a means of coming together, comparing wealth, keeping up with the Jones and dare I imagine it – speaking a private language.

There is something cosy and intimate about such a powerful mechanism so next time you casually grab your bag spare a conscious thought  for ladies elsewhere on our planet for whom the handbag is their main dose of daily spice and colour!

Taking my step son to university this evening fills me with excitement. I can feel the hope, the expectations of what lies ahead. I can taste his future on the edge of my tongue! Its a feeling of admiration coupled with a sense of ‘do I wish I was starting all over again’?

The power and promise of new beginnings is eternally strong. Generation after generation seeks out new ways to do things, faster, smaller, new food combinations, ‘lingo’ and musical tastes.

I don’t feel a yearning for fresh starts borne out of regrets, far from it. Yet still I feel it!

Stripping the feeling down to its bare bones I realise nothing stops any of us from having a fresh start – whenever we want one. Each year, each season, each day is new: full of promise and opportunity. Each moment within any single minute or hour is a chance to shift perspective, alter our mood, and change our thoughts and feelings. Yet often we don’t. Instead we wait for momentous occasions to signal “now its OK” to think about ‘new starts’. University, marriage, new jobs, recovery from illness are ones many of us identify with.

But is that right? Surely while we wait; aren’t we putting life itself on hold?

As often is the case, we all have the solutions to our own questions and issues. Intellectually, we know we can change our career, hair colour, partner, where we live, what we eat, how we dress or behave at the stroke of a decision. Add a little commitment or effort and “ta dah” – done! Yet when we do that it often doesn’t feel ‘enought’. After all where’s the good in buying a new handbag if we then fill it with the same old “stuff”?

It’s tempting to buy a new bag – yet it’s lustre quickly fades. We can stick with ‘what we have and know’ and try filling it with new distractions (the latest diet, self help book, dance class membership) all the time wondering why we never feel ‘transformed’. Better then to like what we have, and add to what’s already inside by discovering more of who we are – not adding or subtracting – just revealing!

Of course buying a new handbag is still an option – but if recognise these warning signs of restlessness – it might be time for a ‘clear out’ first; mental and emotional!