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Messages - Copleior

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156

Canada / Dance Move FAIL

« on: December 07, 2012, 03:05:35 AM »

157

Mexico / Jay Z feat Beyonce - 03 Bonnie & Clyde

« on: December 06, 2012, 06:56:26 PM »

158

Canada / A Loving Relationship

« on: December 06, 2012, 03:13:08 AM »

In this exploration of loving and living, bestselling author Leo Buscaglia addresses the intricacies and challenges of love relationships. He asks such important questions, as: How do we best interweave our lives with our loved ones? Do we change our way of relating depending on the circumstances: If we fail in one relationship, can we succeed in others? In this exhilarating book, Leo doesn't give pat answers. He presents alternatives and suggests behavior that opens the way to truly loving each other. He recalls with heartwarming detail the importance of his own family and friendships in helping him to be open to grow and to love.

Chapter 1

Tenderness emerges from the fact that the two persons, longing, as all individuals do, to overcome the separateness and isolation to which we are all heir because we are individuals, can participate in a relationship that, for the moment, is not of two isolated selves but a union.

Rollo May

"What happened," I asked her, "after having been together for so long? What happened?"

"I don't know," she answered. "I just don't know."

This dialogue seems inconceivable. We are all so much an active part of so many loving relationships, yet we have spent so little time considering the dynamics of what makes them work. Each day, for example, we interact with significant people who will affect our well-being, such as husbands, wives, parents, sons and daughters. We treat our encounters with them with carefree casualness. We seem unconcerned that they have any real influence at all. We ignore the fact that they have the power to bring us laughter or tears, joy or despair. These same relaxed attitudes are insidiously at work in our relationships with coworkers, neighbors and friends. We are certain that our relationships will naturally take care of themselves.

Most of us have never felt compelled to examine our relating and explore that what we feel, what we say, and what we do, affects it. It is imperative that this be done. Our relationships influence our mental health, our role in society and the family, our friends and lovers, and the groups to which we will belong.

Though I have valued the importance of loving relationships all my life, it has only been within the past 12 years that I have actively engaged in the study of relating. It doesn't seem like a great deal of time. Still, when I've reviewed the disappointing, almost nonexistent literature in the field or questioned others about the extent of the energies they have put to the task, even 12 years seems impressive.

My interest in loving relationships has led me to engage in both formal and informal studies. Whenever I have found someone such as myself actively seeking ways to relate with others in varying levels, I eagerly do my informal research. It makes for stimulating conversation. When I ask them if they feel happy and fulfilled in their present relationships, their answers intrigue and surprise. The most common replies given are, " I guess so." "Some of the time." "I haven't thought much about it." "I get along." "I have my highs and lows, what more can I expect?" Not very stimulating or inspiring. It is sad to find that very few answer an unequivocal, "Yes!"

I continue by asking if they have had any formal schooling in relationships, or have given any real serious thought to the subject over the years. Reactions to this have ranged from "Formal schooling in relating? Where do I get that?" "Well, I've thought about it some. I guess I'm as good at it as anyone else," to "Study relationships? You just form them and suffer the consequences."

I can't help but wonder if these individuals would ever consider voluntarily jumping in the sea without some knowledge of swimming, some water survival skills. I ponder why they are content to remain year after year in less than happy, unrewarding relationships when it could be otherwise. I speculate whether they suspect that relationships are capable of changing, growing and providing them with extraordinary dividends of love, warmth or security. I question if they are aware of the fact that a loving relationship can nourish as no other form of human interactive behavior, that positive, long-lasting, loving relationships give our lives the most fundamental meaning.

159

Canada / Gift Giving: 5 Gorgeous Design Books to Choose From

« on: December 06, 2012, 12:12:40 AM »

Gift Giving: 5 Gorgeous Design Books to Choose From

A beautiful design book is such a treat; great for inspiration in choosing styles, colours and room plans, and it's always welcome on a coffee table. I myself have quite a few of these hardcover treasures, one of my favourite things being a slow poring-over of a design book in a comfy chair with a warm tea, sans husband and baby (though I love them very much.) It's the type of thing most people wouldn't buy for themselves but would love to receive, and they're surprisingly affordable -- many are under $50 and most are under $100. Even if you can't get your hands on the following (though they're all widely available), give the design section at your local book store a good peruse and I'm sure it'll yield some gems. This is a last-minute saver!

Hot Off the Presses: Kelly Wearstler's HUE

Mrs. Wearstler is a super-successful American interior designer known for her particular brand of colour-explosive, glamour-saturated interiors. Her work includes Viceroy resorts from California to the Caribbean; BG restaurant and lounge in Manhattan's Bergdorf Goodman; and countless exclusive properties. She was a judge on Bravo's Top Design and her work has appeared in a zillion highbrow design magazines. She has two previous books -- Domicilium Decoratus and Modern Glamour -- and this, HUE, is her latest.

Style: Baroque glam meets Hollywood Regency with a dash of surrealism. AKA: Kelly Wearstler.

Your loved one will like it if: They're outgoing, love colour, love to make a statement, are a dreamer.

Damage: $35

An Education in Design: Andree Putman: The Complete Works
One of Sarah Richardson's inspirations, this interior design icon is many a designer's muse. Parisian Andree Putman has been working for nearly half a century, and is arguably contemporary design's most influential figure. She's credited with co-authoring the 'boutique hotel' with Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell (Studio 54) by designing the first of its kind; Morgans Hotel, NYC. Among innumerable achievements, her work includes the flagship stores of fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Terry Mugler and Cartier. This woman is the foundation of contemporary affluent design and this latest book entails her most important works.

Style: Western design erudition personified /boutique chic
Your loved one will like it if: They're really into interior design and want to learn something of its history, they love a restrained look, are into minimalist luxury.
Damage: $65

The People's Choice: The Private World of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg

LOVE this book. Got it for my birthday, and have since noticed it popping up all over; my friends' houses, design stores, best seller lists, back of design magazines. All this to say that it's a huge hit, and I can see why. The late fashion designer and institution, Yves Saint Laurent, is one of the most intriguing and fascinating style figures in the fashion world. In this book we get a first-time look into his exclusive world -- through countless estates all over the world. I've pored over this book a few times already, and what I find most fascinating is how so much of what we think to be new, is simply a rehashing of the old. There on the pages are the mirrored side tables mixed in with Moroccan inlay bureaus and gilt mirrors of the likes of Style at Home and House and Home, except the photos date from the 1970s. Fascinating!

Style: The original eclectic mix of old and new.
Your loved one will like it if: They're into fashion, love a trip around the world villa by villa, are secret fans of The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
Damage: $81.50

For the Magazine Lover: Elle Decor's Style and Substance

Elle Decor magazine is lauded as the foremost authority on interior style and decorating trends and this freshly minted pretty picture book is a great anthology of what they do best: style and substance. From cover to cover it's pretty, pretty, pretty! Plus, it's not simply aspirational or even inspirational, but full of great ideas you can take home. A perfect gift for someone about to renovate or do any type of overhaul, or for that magazine fiend, as this is the creme de la creme of the 20 years the magazine has been around.

Style: Sophisticated trend-setter
Your loved one will like it if: They love decor magazines, especially Elle Decor, they're about to renovate/redecorate
Damage: $35

Can't Go Wrong: Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People

Vogue, New York publisher Conde Nast's founding publication, needs no introduction. Style chroniclers and taste makers since the 1920s, you can just imagine the kind of things, places and people the magazine has seen. Well, this here book is a snippet of some of that good life over the past two decades, including not only homes and gardens but their owners and their stories. Including some never before seen images of prominent artists, business people and glitterati this book became an instant favourite when first published in 2007. If you're so inclined, a followup entitled People, Parties, Places was published earlier this year.

Style: Personal/continental
Your loved one will like it if: They enjoy celebrity culture, they love a peek in other people's homes.
Damage: $65

160

Brazil / What Is Your Time Worth?

« on: December 05, 2012, 10:31:23 PM »

What Is Your Time Worth?

I don’t like to take risks.

I also haven’t had my own business for very long, so I’ve felt like every penny I made had to be sealed away in a vault for safekeeping in case I’d wake up one morning and have no writing assignments, no consulting clients, and no speaking engagements.

Mentors told me I needed to invest in my business, but I didn’t really listen. The thought of parting with any of my hard-won cash made me feel a little sick. What if I didn’t get that money back?

So even as my business grew, I did everything myself. And I mean everything. If a book needed to be overnighted to a new contact, I ran to the post office over lunch. I learned the rules of small business accounting. I became a scheduling pro.

In the last year, I decided to develop two workbooks for my corporate seminars on recruiting and retaining members of the Millennial Generation. I designed the first one myself. It looked pretty decent – after all, I do have a modicum of talent when it comes to print design. The only trouble was, all the formatting and tweaking and formatting and tweaking some more took me 22 hours over the course of a week.

Online print firms charge about $200 to design the same type of workbook. My hourly consulting rate is $100, so I spent $2200 of my own time.

That was when I realized that doing any and all tasks myself to save a few bucks was actually harming my business. I could have been spending those 22 hours fostering new client relationships, or improving the ones I already have. These are the relationships that allow me to do what I do, and without them, I wouldn’t have the freedom to do the work that’s personally meaningful to me. Things needed to change.

So for the next workbook, I decided to get smarter. I let an online firm handle the design. They finished the project in a week, and it looked just as nice as the first one. I saved $2000. And incidentally, this $2200 figure doesn’t take into account the speaking engagements I do every other week, which command a much higher hourly rate. So if I had used the workbook design time to secure additional speaking gigs, I would have saved thousands more.

Even if for some reason I didn’t care about the clients or the money, my 21 month old son would love to spend 22 hours with me. I would take him to the park and music class. I would watch him run around the Chicago Children’s Museum squealing with excitement. I would pocket the memories of these hours, because he’s never going to be 21 months old again.

You all are just as busy as I am. And while there’s this pull to be independent, we need to realize that our time is worth something – a lot, actually. We can all be happier, wealthier, and more successful if we play to our strengths and spend our time doing things that only we have the unique combination of talent and experience to pull off.