Laina Turner-Molaski

Everything is just better in California – the wine, the food, fruits and vegetables, the comforts of living. Even the instrumentalists are generous and curious. Everything is wonderful.
Beth Anderson

I for one am looking forward to experiencing it, as is Amy. I have had requests to bring back Robert Pattinson and Pink if I somehow run into them and can convince them to come back with me to humid, rainy Indiana. Might be far-fetched but you never know.

This will be a fun adventure and we will keep you updated with posts, pictures, and video (if we can figure out the camera) during our trip.

Peace-

Laina

In one week we leave for California! Whoo-hoo! LA and San Diego will never be the same after we get there. 5 book signings in 4 days and then a 3-day SHRM Conference where my academic alter-ego will be presenting for Capella University.

Our schedule is as follows:

Wed: 2-4 pm PST Cecilia Boutique
928 Fort Stockton Drive
Suite 115
San Diego, CA 92103
619.692.3802
http://ceciliaboutiquesd.com/

Thurs: 12-4pm PST Buffalo Exchange
131 N La Brea Ave
LA, CA 90036
323-938-8604
http://www.buffaloexchange.com/
$5 off coupon if you buy a book and refreshments will be served.

5-7pm PST EM & Co.
7940 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323)782-8155
http://www.emandco.com/home.html

Fri: 4-8pm PST Pure Boutique
451 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103-3115
619.294.pure (7873)
http://pureclothingboutique.com/index.htm
15% your in store purchase if you buy a book!

Sat: 4-6pm PST Buffalo Exchange
Hillcrest
3862 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 298-4411
http://www.buffaloexchange.com/
$5 off coupon for the store if you buy a book!

I apologize that I have been slacking on posting but with all the preparation time has just got away from me. The main focus for the Cali book tour is Stilettos & Scoundrels but my new book But It’s My Business will be out next week launching at the SHRM conference which is VERY exciting. Order your copy now at the SHRM conference price of $7.00!!

Store

Stilettos & Scoundrels $5.00 But It’s My Business $7.00

What an interesting week I had this week. I started the week of with losing a material thing and ended the week losing a person – I think, maybe, probably, I’m not 100% sure but it seems like it (although I hope not). Ironically enough losing the person made all the material loss so incredibly unimportant which really made me realize how little material things really mean.
A mentor, Rich Whiteside, once told me that education was important because you could lose everything but no one could ever take your education away and you could use it to start over. That’s true and I repeat that phrase on a weekly basis to people. However, people are necessary as well to enable you to rebuild whether with things or more importantly emotionally and mentally.
I’ve been working on a book this week about women being true to their authentic selves and how we can achieve anything and just need to be strong – you get the drift. But it is so much easier to talk about it than it is to actually do it when you’re in the middle of it. In any case, I do believe that all difficulty can teach us something even if we don’t want to admit it initially. Maybe it’s how we act, or react. Maybe it’s the level of importance we might put on someone’s feelings and our reaction to those feelings. Maybe it’s not giving up when that might be the easier path but not what you want. Nothing good is typically easy and if it’s worth it you can’t roll over you have to fight for it. Pride isn’t going to keep you warm at night or make you laugh.
Even if figuring out what went wrong doesn’t allow you to solve anything you can at last know what NOT to do the next time. Or as Penny says you will “rinse & repeat.”

Have a great holiday weekend!!!!

Laina

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
Aristotle

How many of us can say we really know ourselves? Honestly, and embracing all who we are? It can be hard to embrace your true self. People are messy and we all make mistakes and who the hell wants to admit making mistakes. I know if I ever made any I wouldn’t want to admit it (kidding). I know there is a saying that youth is often wasted on the young and the older I get the more I agree. By the time I really know myself I might be dead. HA!

In all seriousness it is a process to get to know oneself. I think that at many points in my life I have felt I knew myself but I then soon realized I didn’t. I’m sure that is true of most of us. Life is such a process and hard work.

Laina

The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.
William James

So much for ever being wise. I would like to say I don’t sweat the small stuff, and I don’t, unless the small stuff really pisses me off. Then I just can’t help myself. I wish I could but I can’t. Maybe I should take up yoga or something.

Sometimes when emotions get the best of us it can be hard to decide if you are being petty or if it’s justifiable to be annoyed. And to be honest sometimes I like to be annoyed. So do you – admit it.

How can one get past that little stuff. Do you think about things in a global sense or how many bigger problems you really have (you would think that one would work for me).

Laina

As the final work in the alphabet I really smiles when I saw this one. Zanyism means buffoonery which it itself is a great rod.
Laina

GO ORANGE!!!!!

Awareness is the key to finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. Today is World MS Day and yet so many folks don’t know it. We need to make a balls out effort today to make sure that everyone we know understands what MS is and promote ORANGE as THE color!

There are too many awesome people who suffer from this disease and we must get the funding to find a cure. Grass roots is where the Susan G. Komen foundation started and look where they are now.

If each of us tells one person today about MS we can grow the awareness by leaps and bounds!! So DO IT!

Laina

Raise MS awareness through Orange is teh new pink merchandise and a donation to the MS Society. Click here.

I came across this and LOVED it!!! Enjoy!

The optimist says the glass is half full.
The pessimist says the glass is half empty.
The project manager/engineer says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.
And the cynic… wonders who drank the other half.
The school teacher says it’s not about whether the glass is half empty or half full, it’s whether there is something in the glass at all.
Anyway… Attitude is not about whether the glass is half full or half empty, it’s about who is paying for the next round.
The professional trainer does not care if the glass is half full or half empty, he just knows that starting the discussion will give him ten minutes to figure out why his powerpoint presentation is not working.
The ground-down mother of a persistently demanding five-year-old says sweetheart it’s whatever you want it to be, just please let mummy have five minutes peace and quiet.
The consultant says let’s examine the question, prepare a strategy for an answer, and all for a daily rate of…
The inquisitive troublemaker wants to know what’s in the glass anyhow… and wants the rest of it.
The homebuilder sees the dirty glass, washes and dries it, then puts it away in a custom oak and etched glass cabinet that he built himself using only hand tools.
The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by next morning.
The fanatic thinks the glass is completely full, even though it isn’t.
The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential.
The computer specialist says that next year the glass capacity will double, be half the price, but cost you 50% more for me to give you the answer.
The engineer says (when the half is tainted) he’s glad he put the other half in a redundant glass. (Based on a Dilbert cartoon by Scott Adams)
The computer programmer says the glass is full-empty.
The Buddhist says don’t worry, remember the glass is already broken.
The logician says that where the glass is in process of being filled then it is half full; where it is in the process of being emptied then it is half empty; and where its status in terms of being filled or emptied is unknown then the glass is one in which a boundary between liquid and gas lies exactly midway between the inside bottom and the upper rim, assuming that the glass has parallel sides and rests on a level surface, and where it does not then the liquid/gas boundary lies exactly midway between the upper and lower equal halves of the available total volume of said glass.
The scientist says a guess based on a visual cue is inaccurate, so mark the glass at the bottom of the meniscus of the content, pour the content into a bigger glass; fill the empty glass with fresh content up to the mark; add the original content back in; if the combined content overflows the lip, the glass was more than half full; if it doesn’t reach the top, the glass was more than half empty; if it neither overflows nor fails to reach the top then it was either half-full or half-empty. Now what was the question again?
The Dutchman would suggest to both pay for the glass and share the content. Then tells you he will have the bottom half.
The personal coach knows that the glass goes from full to empty depending on the circumstances, and reminds the drinker that he can always fill the glass when he wishes.
The grammarian says that while the terms half-full and half-empty are colloquially acceptable the glass can technically be neither since both full and empty are absolute states and therefore are incapable of being halved or modified in any way.
The auditor first checks whether the empty half is material and then designs the audit procedures to obtain sufficient evidence to conclude that the glass is indeed empty.
The waiter will hurry to replace it with a full one. For him there are no doubts: the glass was empty when he took it away; it is full in the bill that he brings you.
The magician will show you the glass with the full half at the top.
The physician says that the glass is not empty at all – it is half-filled with water and half-filled with air – hence, fully filled on the whole!
The musician says he/she is unimpressed with the promoter of the concert for not providing more alcohol.
The ineffective organization would discuss the question during the board of directors meeting, convene a committee to research the problem, and assign tasks for a root cause analysis, usually without a complete explanation of the problem to those assigned the tasks. The directors would consider the problem to be above the pay grade of those assigned root cause analysis tasks.

And, it’s getting a little stranger, which is always interesting:

The dog just wonders: can he eat the glass or will you throw it so he can bring it back… The cat wonders why the glass is only half full (or empty)… is it a trick… poison perhaps…
The eternally optimistic eccentric would say, the glass is consistently overflowing (or is that the neurotic?…)
The person who is no longer trapped in The Matrix (whatever one might call him/her) says: “There is no glass…”

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Abraham Lincoln

We all know our own head trash is our worst enemy. So why do we allow it? If only I had the answer to that one. I think that playing it safe and talking yourself out of something can be easier in some ways than biting the bullet and just working toward whatever it is you want to accomplish. It most cases there is a way to figure anything out if you just spend enough time looking at all the angles. It may not be easy or readily apparent but it is usually there. Don;t give in to your doubt. You can achieve anything you set your mind to.

Laina

In certain places in the world a dowry may contain a young sow. Definition of dowry …Money or property brought by a bride to her husband at marriage. Now what I don’t understand is the guy is getting the girl. Why does he need more??
Laina