My Essence

Last week I participated in a very unusual leadership workshop. Unusual because the coach did not make us do the Myers-Briggs or any other of the usual leadership skill evaluation stuff, but asked a set of very different questions, designed to drill down to our "soul's essence", or your deepest personality traits. As part of the exercises we had to call people and ask two questions: "What shows up when I do?" and "What qualities do I bring to the room?". Based on these, and other questions we asked ourselves, my essence came down to these five items: 

Confidence

Positive Energy

Trustworthiness

Attentiveness

Loyalty

 

I was a bit surprised but I think these qualities describe me quite well. 

Have you ever done anything like this? And if so, what did you think of the results? 

Blue and Green

Here's an outfit I recycled from a Thanksgiving weekend dinner at my sister-in-law's to an office outfit for a long day at the office followed with a work dinner and an evening event. I'm wearing my Black Friday purchases: a Tory Burch skirt and a Giorgio Brato shearling bag. Sorry about the terrible lighting quality of these pictures! 

Black Friday

I don't know if it was a food hangover from the Thansgiving dinner or what but I woke up feeling miserable today. Thank god for medication, because I had promised to take my daughter out for Black Friday shopping, and my sister-in-law had invited us for dinner. I put together an outfit to carry me through both activities, combining some old and new favorites, and the over-the-knee boots that officially broke my shopping strike... 

Kirna Zabete tunic top, Lulu Bravo cashmere cardigan, Costco tights, and Target boots. 

The outer layer was my new Aerie scarf and my old fur west, with Fendi bag. 

Happy Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for, and I do count my blessings every day, not just on Thanksgiving. I love the Thanksgiving holiday, and it's a big deal in our house.  Here's our menu (not including a few chef's specials!) Happy Thanksgiving! 

 

The Night Before Thanksgiving

The house is clean, groceries purchased, and the turkey is brining in the fridge. We are ready for the marathon cooking session, the long dinner and the resulting food coma tomorrow. 

My self imposed shopping strike was breached today. I had to go to the mall for some jazz dance shoes for my daughter, but then one thing led to another, and I came back with a scarf and a couple of other little things. I've seen these plaid scarves on some blogs and on Pinterest and have been salivating after one. So when I found this one at Aerie today, I had to buy it... 

It was the perfect thing to keep me warm this cold and rainy night on our movie outing. (We saw the Hunger Games: Mockingjay movie.) I paired my plaid scarf with my Barbour jacket, BR jeans, and melissa rain booties. This scarf is like a security blanket. A new favorite, most likely. 

The Right Focus

I love the Holiday season, but it can get a bit stressful. So in this holiday season I will try to slow down and remember that the right focus is everything. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. Here's my memory aid: 

Focus less on what you've acquired and more on what you've accomplished. 

Focus less on what you own, and more on those you love. 

Focus less on how to impress, and more on how to be kind. 

Focus less on what you know, and more on what you can learn. 

Focus less on what you have to do, and more on what you want to do. 

There's still a lot of wood to be chopped before year end, but I'm hoping with the right focus I'll stay sane. 

The Tween Birthday

My tween wanted to celebrate her 12th birthday by taking friends out for dinner. Choosing the restaurant was not an easy task, but she finally settled on Bar Frites, which is one of our favorite restaurants close to home. It was a good choice - the staff was very nice with the tween customers and  they enjoyed dining out on their own (even though we sat with the little girls on a table near by). As we were leaving, another group arrived, a dozen girls, around 15 or 16 year old, in their high heels and little dresses, to celebrate another birthday. So I guess that is the thing to do from here on end... It is interesting to be a mother of a tween. My daughter is literally teetering between the childhood and teenage years. Sometimes anxious about peer pressure, and curious about adult things, and sometimes happy playing tag on the playground. I hope she never loses the child in her totally...