Stolen Words...

Happy Friday!

x's & o's,

Leslie

Stolen Words...

You're Lovely!

Compliment someone today. It's easy.

Friend. Family. Co-worker. Client. Stranger.

It could be the best part of their day.

It could be the best part of yours.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Is this Business or is it Personal?

We walk a thin line at the jobs we love.

We love our clients, we love our work, we love our team, we love our brand. But when we love something, we inevitably develop a sense of ownership. A sense of ownership that oftentimes resembles a double edged sword.

With this ownership comes pride. A true owner accepts responsibility and accountability for everything they touch. And when we are successful, we feel a personal sense of joy. Accomplishment. Yet, when we're not as successful, we feel a personal sense of failure. Regret.

If we were dancers, we'd be leaving it all on the floor.

But leaving it all in the deck, or in the meeting, or in the framework just doesn't sound as poetic.

So what do we do? We do our best. We make sure that we're proud of the job we do. Not only because we know people are judging us. But because we judge ourselves.

We push ourselves. To be better than before. Smarter than last week. More insightful than the past. More creative than yesterday.

And then we accept. We accept that we have pushed our boundaries. We accept that not everyone will see eye to eye with our suggestions, our recommendations, our ideas. We accept that criticism can be constructive, even if clothed in a short tone or a somewhat scathing email.

And then we work together. To build something even better than anything we could have created individually. Because that's the world we live in. And we wouldn't want it any other way.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Stolen Words...

Once in a While...

You've gotta stop. Evaluate. Re-evaluate. Live a little. Live a little more. Relax. Listen. Enjoy. Cry. Love. Detox. Say thank you. Say no thank you. Shout. Whisper. Sing. Dance. Dream. Day dream. Break down. Grow. Change. Compromise. Create. Forgive. Forget. Remember. Reminisce. Just be.

Every once in a while, you've gotta stop. And smell the flowers.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Just Ducky...

One of the best pieces of professional advice I ever received was this:

"It's all about being like a duck. Under the water, you kick like hell. Above the water, smooth sailing..."

But what happens when you find yourself completely out of the water?

x's & o's,

Leslie

Stolen Words...

Marc Jacobs...

Always a fave!

But especially Splash Collection 2010:

Pomegranate - NEED!!!

x's & o's,

Leslie

Ring Ring Ring...

I love my blackberry. Fave!

Bbm and texting make it infinitely easier for me to keep in touch with friends & family.

I even enjoy the opportunity for mind games created by lebbm.

I love half hour catch ups with my long distance bff.

I love walk home chats with my daddy and Saturday morning wake ups from my mother.

I love call display.

Because I strongly dislike talking on the phone with many many people. Not a fave.

So pretty please, bbm, text, email all you want.

But re-think the phone call - I'm not sitting by le téléphone waiting for it!

x's & o's,

Leslie

Choose Who You Want To Be...

Don't ever let anyone tell you who you should be. Who you are.

Don't ever let anyone decide how they can treat you.

Decide for yourself.

That's my wish for me. And my wish for you.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Friday...

Fave!

It's Friday (yay!) so why don't you...

Smile at a stranger.

Make someone laugh.

Have lunch with an old friend.

Have girls night with a great friend.

Get Saturday and Sunday's work done.

Game plan next week.

Give someone a compliment.

Be thankful for what you've got.

Be excited for what's to come.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Girlfriend Material...

Fave! Used to stare at these keys 7 days a week, for what felt like hours on end. Bawling my eyes out. But in the end, thank you parents! For forcing me to acquire this skill... And multiple others! Apparently this makes me "girlfriend material". The opposite option being not so parent-read-blog-friendly!

Merci Beaucoup!

x's & o's + a big congratulations to all those out there who are "girlfriend material,"

Leslie

Doing What You Love...

These days, I really love stringing together the most wonderful words and the unending search for the perfect pretty picture!

x's & o's,

Leslie

Sometimes You've Gotta Fail...

For a little motivation.

A little reality check.

For a little greatness.

Or a lot of greatness.

To learn.

To teach.

To inspire.

To do.

Just sayin'!

x's & o's,

Leslie

Story Time...

Once upon a time there was a new girl on the street who didn't conform to the current, shall we call it "feminine hygiene speak."

This lovely (if you can even use the word lovely when discussing said issues) lady sat back and took a look at how silly current conversation was and took a stab at speaking our language (how refreshing, no!?)

I don't have to say much, it's all here in their clever little commercial...

Ladies, it's time to break the cycle!

Consider me sold (even before trying the product... though I have already put in for my free sample here!)

(sorry boys, a post for you next time!)

x's & o's,

Leslie

ps. YouTube the U by Kotex Beaver Commercials. Do it! Trust Me! =)

Stolen Words...

Sometimes I pick up a book to read over and over again. Sometimes on purpose, and sometimes, I've just forgotten that I have already read the book, until partway through the first chapter!

...theory is that a man has many wonderful things in common with a handbag, like the fact that there's a wait list for the best ones. Some are two weeks (college boys and L.L. Bean totes), some are three years (funny men and alligator Hermès Birkin bags). Even if you are on the list for the whole three years, another woman with a superior claim can jump the line. Jolene says you have to hide a really sexy one or your best friend will borrow it without telling you. Her main concern is that without one, a girl looks underdressed. "...which makes it completely understandable that a girl may need to try out several styles of fiancé before she finds one that really suits her!"

via Bergdorf Blondes

x's & o's,

Leslie

Front Row Centre...

It's where I wanna be!

Is that so wrong?

x's & o's,

Leslie

Put Your Heart Aside...

Sometimes we put our heart aside.

We think it doesn't matter.

That we can put our heart on the shelf.

And come back for it later.

Actions that would break our heart, become possible.

We can't feel it when we put our heart on hold.

It keeps us safe.

Pure.

It keeps us in control.

Possibilities.

Sometimes we put our heart on the shelf.

To save us from ourselves.

We can put our hearts aside.

It's not wrong.

But it sure isn't right.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Sick + Tired...

...Of being sick + tired!

Not a fave!

...I've tried the sleeping all week. The sleeping all weekend. The vitamin D. The OTC pills. The Zinc. The doctor. The gross doctor-prescribed gargle. The more sleep. The chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side. The comfort food. The no food. The Zzz...

HELP!!

x's & o's,

Leslie

Sharing is Caring...

...because if you're not interested in reading about your industry, you're probably not interested in being in it!

Seth Godin's Blog

All Marketers Are Liars

Enjoy!

x's & o's,

Leslie

Stolen Words...

THE Perfect Guy...

He's well mannered. With kind eyes. Eyes that can pick me out in a crowded room. And he's lovely to my friends. But not that lovely. He can pick me up easily. And rubs my hand while holding it. He towers over me. And is well dressed. But not too well dressed. And he's goodlooking. But not prettier than I am. He laughs with me. Not at me. But definitely with a childlike abandon. He runs with me. Figuratively, sometimes also literally. He also has clean fingernails and clean toes. He has one blue eye and one green. Can flip the perfect pancake and ride a horse backwards. Okay, maybe those last few are borrowed from a movie.

MY perfect guy? He could be all this and more. He could be none of this at all.

Because the beauty is in the game. The search. The chase. You know what they say. It's not the end result. The happily ever after. It's the journey. The good dates. The mediocre dates. Even the terrible dates. It's all the girl talk in between. The giggles. The memories. Yup, it's definitely the memories. (and the pictures!)

And that's life. And I'm okay with that. (as long as, you know, you can promise he's out there!)

x's & o's,

Leslie

We are all thisclose...

Thisclose to making it big. Or losing it all.

Thisclose to our favourite mistake, or the biggest mistake we can never take back. Thisclose to the time of our life.

We are thisclose.

To our first love.

Our true love.

Our once in a lifetime, forever love.

Thisclose.

To our sweetest triumph. To our toughest defeat. To doing a great job. Finding our dream job. Losing our job. Losing our mind. To our perfect body. To the line.

Thisclose to an exquisite miracle.

The verge of insanity. Or genius.

Thisclose to right. To wrong. To not caring at all. To caring altogether too much.

THISCLOSE.

To falling,

to failing,

to flying.

We are all thisclose.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Two Golden Rules...

In this beautiful life we all live in, there are two (yes,two) golden rules that make the journey just a little easier. Well, maybe not easier. Just a little more meaningful? Just a little more period.

The first? Obvi! Treat others the way you want to be treated.

As delicious as the gossip seems at the time, it never feels as good as being the better person.

The second? Treat yourself the way you want others to treat you.

You heard me. Pamper yourself. Respect yourself. Because if we can't even see our own value - how do we expect anyone else (other than L'Oreal!) to see our worth?!

Live a great life.

Live your best life.

Because it's yours for the taking.

Live your life so your friends can defend you, but never have to.

x's & o's,

Leslie

Here's Hoping...

That one more sleep will give me that magic inspiration I've been searching for all vacation-week-long...

x's & o's,

Leslie

Stolen Words...

Each picture's worth 1,000, right?

Stolen Words...

J'adore this poem...

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

By: ee cummings

(via in her shoes)

Stolen Words...

Food for thought? Fave!

Rang a bell with me... May just ring a bell with you! Happy reading and happy Thursday-feels-like-Friday!

How Big is your Passion? - “Cary Mullen Caught Breaking and Entering!”

What Happens When You Just Can’t Keep Yourself Out of Something?

Winning Tips:

1. Expose yourself to as many experiences as possible. It is difficult to know what you have talent in and a passion for unless you are trying different things.

2. Know what gives you energy and what robs you of energy. When you can hone in on those activities that fill you full of energy, you are more likely to stay committed to them and eventually develop mastery. Ask yourself, “What is it that I can’t keep myself out of?”

3. Limit activities that drain your energy. These activities are not sustainable in the long-term. Ask yourself, “What do I need to be paid in order to do?”

The room vibrated with the familiar hum of the garage door opening. Turning off the television, I jumped from the couch and sprinted into the kitchen to set the stove top timer for two minutes. Mom was home! Dashing back into the front room, I slid onto the bench next to my brother, who’d just opened the piano.

Just as we settled into our positions, the door opened. Mom walked into the house and smiled at her two children, diligently working through their daily piano practice. Two minutes later, the timer went off. My brother and I closed the piano, announcing “That’s our thirty minutes of practice done” and headed outside to play.

This scheme went on for three years. You see, originally I had wanted to play the piano. At six years old, I thought it would be cool to be a famous piano player. My parents were excited to expose us to as many things as possible, especially cultural activities, so they jumped at the opportunity to set up piano lessons. They believed, as I do, that you cannot find what you are passionate about without being exposed to a variety of experiences.

It didn’t take many lessons, maybe three or four, before I decided that I didn’t really like playing the piano. My older brother felt the same way. That’s when we developed our master plan to cheat our way out of practicing.

Needless to say, our piano skills did not improve much to the dismay of my parents and our teacher. Bewildered, they wondered why we never got any better. After about three years of this charade we finally sat down with our parents and told them that we didn’t really like playing the piano. We did not, however, tell them that we’d been cheating and not really practicing.

My parents were disappointed and tried to talk us into continuing the lessons by offering us $10 a month for an allowance provided that we stuck with the piano and continued practicing. At thirteen years of age, what would you have done?

Well, you might have taken the higher ground, but we took them up on their offer! So for another year, we faked practicing the piano, endured our weekly piano lessons and each earned $120 Even with being paid, it was exhausting. It took us another year of piano lessons to decide that regardless of the money, we’d had enough. We had another conversation with our parents. Fortunately, they let us off the hook

In the meantime, I had started focusing on mastering another skill: skiing. My experience on the ski team in Junior High was about as different from playing the piano as anything could be. In fact, I loved skiing so much that I wanted to have more than the four scheduled practices a week.

One afternoon, looking very serious, my coach pulled me aside after a practice. “Listen, I know you’ve been breaking into the clubhouse,” he said.

Gulp.

You see, I not only wanted more practice, I had taken it upon myself to get it. For months now, I had been breaking into the team club house after school in order to borrow the gates. I’d take the gates up the ski lift and, by myself, set up my own courses. I would continue practicing until it was dark outside and then I would sneak the gates back into the clubhouse thinking no one was the wiser.

My coach continued, “You’ve got to stop doing that!” Just when I thought that I was done for, he paused and smiled. “Here.” He slipped a key into my hand. “Don’t tell anyone that you have this, but start using it.”

Ski racing was something that I just couldn’t keep myself out of. It was ridiculous - not only could I not get enough of it, I was even willing to commit minor felonies to feed my obsession with it. Skiing was pure play. I would have paid money to stay involved in the sport. How different was that from playing the piano, where I couldn’t be paid to continue?

When I compare my experiences of skiing and playing the piano, I understand what true passion feels like. I also understand that spending time in areas I am not passionate about is simply not sustainable, no matter how much I am getting paid.

When I am involved in an activity that I am not passionate about, the best I can hope for is compliance, not commitment. At first, I was compliant with the piano lessons, but even that faded. Ski racing, on the other hand, was true commitment.

I have since realized that trying to motivate myself to do something that I have no passion for is not sustainable, even if I am getting paid for it. Early on, I was lucky enough to be able to spend my career in ski racing. Since then, there have been other times in my career that I haven’t necessarily been passionate about what I was doing, but I was passionate about why I was doing what I was doing (like supporting my family). In the short term, that is enough. In the long-term, however, it is a guaranteed slow and painful death.

What I know is that when passion and talent intersect, magic happens! It may sound crazy, but when we tune into our bliss and explore possibility, the universe opens up to support us. I have experienced this over and over again.

Think about your life. Let’s turn to the dark side first to see if you can free up some time and energy. Think about the areas where you are procrastinating. What do you need to be paid to do? Even better – what would you not do even if you were paid to do it? Are you currently doing any of these energy draining activities? Try to find ways to limit the time you spend in these activities. Would it be possible to delegate these activities or even stop doing them altogether?

Now think about where you find joy. Where does passion exist for you? What would get you jumping out of bed in the morning? What would you do for free? What is it that you can’t keep yourself out of? Look for ways that you can invite more of these activities into your world.

(via my mother's email ... by Cary Mullen)

x's & o's,

L