The Fairy Godmother’s 2010 Holiday Gift Guide

Yes, boys and girls! She’s baaaack! The Fairy Godmother is now in her third year on Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. She’s here to bonk you with her magic wand and sprinkle you with fairy dust. As always, she’s got new gift ideas for spirited giving. I hope you find a match between some of Mom’s ideas and your gift list.

Spa-La-La- La-La – If you’ve got women on your list that love to soak in the lap of luxury, go to the health food store or your favorite boutique and buy some natural bath products. Plantlife is one of Mom’s favorite brands. These carefully chosen items should smell so good, it’s hard not to keep them for yourself! Pack them in a little basket, or in the case of the Plantlife products, soap and bath packets are square. They can be stacked, wrapped in clear vinyl wrap, tied with a bow and a tag that says Spa-La-La-La-La.

The Merry Martini Mixology Book.  Here’s one good-time gift for Sex & the City type girlfriends—or for any guy or gal who likes their holiday cheer unique and fun. Even if you aren’t an expert mixologist, no worries! The Martini Diva will guide you through all the necessary steps, making you laugh out loud while making your martinis—not to mention the laughter to follow while drinking them. Click the book cover to purchase. And don’t forget, you can mix it up a little on New Year’s Eve. Save the champagne for midnight, sandwiched in-between a few fancy ‘tinis on either side. Don’t forget to drink in moderation and schedule a designated driver or call a cab when living spirited in the distilled spirits way. This small volume will jingle the bells of your friends who like to party!

Avatar, Collector’s Edition – With its metaphysical and ecological themes, Avatar is a natural for your spirited friends. I plan to see it over and over again! It just came out in DVD in mid-November and is available on Amazon for under $20 regular and $25 in Blu-ray. And if you want another one of Joyce’s punny tags to go with this Godmom suggestion, try Feliz Na’vi-dad!

Winter Wellness Basket – Sniffles, flu, the blah’s. Anticipate winter and bringing comfort to those you love who have a tendency to get under the weather when the thermometer plummets and the rain or snow sets in. Fill it with some of these helpful, natural products: Occillococcinum to avert or reduce the symptoms of flu; and for colds and building immunity, big bottle of Vitamin C or other great C- products like Emergen-C (comes in yummy flavors) or Airborne. Echinacea tincture is another immune booster. You can include bath salts for aches and pains (Batherapy) or Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath. It knocks bugs on their bum! Any health food store or Whole Foods can utterly inspire this gift basket with natural products from lip balm to cough syrup to comforting medicinal teas. Rescue Remedy, which now comes in drops, pastilles, or spray, can fight the blahs and emotional heaviness that sometimes sets in with winter. For pure comfort, add a teddy bear, fluffy slippers, and or a lightweight fleece blanket that offers warmth without weight for sitting in front of the fire. If you want to go all-out, add a paperback book packed with humor. Laughter is always the best medicine!

Nostalgic Music and Dining – If there’s someone 60ish or older on your list, “era” music CDs are a can’t-go-wrong favorite. The soundtrack from American Graffiti is a great choice for baby boomers. There are countless collections on Amazon for music from nearly any era—30’s, 40’s, 50’s or styles such as Big Band or Do Wop. Check your local PBS affiliate, too. There are often pledge drives that feature collections from these groups that are dynamite. Amazon carries some wonderful nostalgic Christmas music. Alternatively, if you’ve got a local Mel’s or similar ‘50s-themed diner, a gift certificate can let them blast to the past in person.

Kindle – If you can afford a big gift for your closest loved ones who are also avid readers, they will never stop thanking you for an e-reader. Did you know that Amazon predicts by year’s end that e-books will outsell paperbacks? Check out the three Kindle versions now available. The two smaller ones are $139 and $189. Tim and I are foregoing other gifts to give each other Kindles for Christmas. Check out other e-readers, too. I prefer Kindle for its light weight and several other features, but each person’s needs are unique.  Here’s a link to start comparing e-book readers.

Dressing Up Gift Cards

With times tough on the financial front for many people, gift cards are often the way to go. Many of us can’t go to Starbuck’s much any more, and I’m telling you, at the price of groceries, I’d jump up and down if someone gave me a card to one of my favorite markets. Restaurants are always a winner, but the problem with gift cards is that they seem a little uncreative and blah compared to a present that was carefully chosen. Gift cards could stand to be punched up a little, so here are some ideas our Fairy Godmom shared with me:

“Jungle Bells” – The Amazon’s a jungle, and there’s surely as much “wild life” when it comes to diversity of gifts on the website of the same name. If your recipients are web savvy, an Amazon gift card is a great choice because of Amazon’s many departments. Consider adding in a small stuffed “jungle” character like a monkey. The card can be taped or propped in the animal’s arms with a tag that says “Jungle Bells.”

Travel by Restaurant – In lasts year’s Fairy Godmother post, I talked about creating a “travel” gift by packaging an Outback Restaurant gift card as a trip to Australia. This same concept can be applied to any cuisine—a trip to Italy, Mexico, Greece—you name it! You can also apply this idea to gift baskets. Pack a basket with olive oil, pasta, the canned ingredients to make sauce, and your favorite recipe. Add a $10 gift card to a grocery store for meat, sausage or other fresh ingredients needed. Tag it as a trip to Italy and don’t forget to add “Merry Christmas” in the appropriate language (Buon Natale!).

Winter Reads – There’s nothing like curling up with a good book in the cold weather by the fire. Create a warm and cozy environment for your favorite bookworm. Package the card with some nice winter tea (the Celestial Seasons holiday line is superb) or cocoa. Place in a small basket or box with a bookmark or other reading paraphernalia, such as a pair of inexpensive reading glasses (if you can sneak a peak at their prescription), or my favorite reading tool, a leather book weight. It helps keep pages with a mind of their own flat and open. If you’re computer creative, you can even make your own bookmark with something special to the recipient, like a photo of grandkids or a favorite quote.

Between this year’s and the previous year’s Fairy Godmother’s posts, linked below, I hope you have plenty of ideas to make your holiday gift giving a delight to both giver and receiver. Spin off these suggestions and make them your own … and remember that the thoughtfulness behind your gift will shine through and keep giving long after the gift opening ritual is just a memory.

Happy Shopping—and Happy Holidays!

~~~

Photo Credit:  Granny Fairy © Regissercom | Dreamstime.com

Past Godmother Gift Posts:  The Fairy Godmother (2008) and The Fairy Godmother Wands You (2009)

Crankenstein

As a person who observes herself as often as she breathes, I could not help but notice that I was a major crab during much of the holiday season, two years in a row.

Of course, I was also kind and loving. We saw a movie both Tim and I liked a lot, The Answer Man starring Jeff Daniels. It further illustrates my point. The main character, Arlen Faber, is a writer who wrote a spiritual best seller called Me & God. However, his God link isn’t happening and hasn’t been for 20 years, since the time he wrote his tome. (He ultimately confesses it was mostly BS, but a sensitive observer would get he was channeling divine answers, even if he didn’t realize it.) We’re introduced to him sitting cross-legged, meditating in front of his fireplace filled with candles. As he’s chanting Om—or whatever—the doorbell rings, an interruption that sets him off, to say the least. A stream of curse words so foul emits from his mouth, you expect his head to spin around, Exorcist-style.


That was me during Yuletide. From centered spiritual seeker to frothing Frankenstein act-alike, or Crankenstein, as I called myself. Short-tempered, short-fused, not taking anything off anyone, no holds barred. See illustration.

I was snarky to my uncle and so mean to my husband, I was actually ashamed of my behavior. So, now you know the raw truth. I am spirited in more ways than one.

Holiday Stress Reduction

What good are hot flashbacks (in this case, hotheaded flashbacks) if they don’t lead to cool insights? In December 2008, my Crankenstein behavior was a result of scheduling a major vacation three days after Christmas. What was I thinking? I am a perfectionist who tends toward overwhelm. So I planned two major events on the Stress Scale back-to-back? I was blowing my top every other minute trying to get ready, orient our house sitter, and deal with my husband’s similar disposition. There were more fireworks than the 4th of July. By the time we got to Honolulu, I wasn’t sure I even liked him—or myself. Some “honeymoon.”

Live and learn—ya’d think. The week of Christmas is always a corker for me. My annual Winter Solstice celebration takes incredible time and energy, but it’s worth it! It’s one of the highlights of my year. But most recently, it coincided with family visits, the kind where personality differences bump up against each other—in some cases, hard.

What’s a spirited person to do? I don’t want to quit having my relatives visit over the holidays, but I certainly can’t expect them to want to, if I keep acting like Scrooge on speed.

Is There A Doctor in the House?

And I don’t mean Dr. Crankenstein. I realize I need: (1) better preparation, and (2) an attitude adjustment. What I realized even more deeply is that it’s inner preparation and attitude tinkering I need. I had done a great job getting my ducks in a row for my winter event, finishing the shopping/wrapping, getting my house clean, and all things aligned—except for me.

Every year, I start sooner to create a magical ChrismaSolstiChanuzaa. Like a wedding, the prep is intense and idiotically detailed. The fun is in the planning and the anticipation. Then the event comes and goes so quickly, the letdown is like a fall from the Empire State Building. I feel flattened, squashed, and really hurt. All that work and it’s over already?

One good thing. As anyone who reads this blog probably knows, I set aside winter for inner work and slowdown. If I’m going to slow down, being flattened on the concrete sidewalk certainly is a good start! I’m unlikely to sprint away and do anything complicated in a hurry.

Here’s my new insight. The winter work has to start in tandem with the madness of holiday preparation, maybe even in October or November. In order to handle the tinsel and merry, the madness and pace, I have to be meditating regularly and creating a strong inner core and hard-shell finish.

Boomer readers: Do you remember the Colgate with Gardol commercials and Mean Old Mr. Tooth Decay? He was another monster of sorts. But Happy Tooth would brush himself with Gardol, and he was impervious to the Mean Old Mister. That’s the kind of finish I need—like Gardol or Turtle Wax (gives a hard-shell finish, Turtle Wax!).

The centered space only comes from inner work. The ability to let it roll off me comes only from knowing my Source and being plugged into it. The kind of plug-in that isn’t even fazed by a ringing doorbell or barking dog or an irritating relative.

I’m marking my autumn calendar with a warning. Get ready, both inside and out. The holidays will be here—again!—sooner than you know. I use iGoogle and a wonderful widget that’s a Christmas calendar countdown. In my mind, I subtract 4 days because I have to be ready to launch by Winter Solstice.

Only 346 days till Christmas, adjust accordingly if you celebrate another winter holiday.
Will you be prepared?

~~~

Photo Credit: MONSTER © Cthoman Dreamstime.com recreated by Dr. Crankenstein (Joyce) with the help of her clip art to resemble her dark alter ego.

The Fairy Godmother Wands You!

Gift Ideas. Last year, I wrote a post about my gift for gifts called The Fairy Godmother. I invited readers to Comment and share some of their best gift ideas, too. The results were fabulous! Many of you said the exchange sparked ideas for your holiday shopping lists. We could all use a little help this time of year. I’ve decided to invite my Fairy Godmother persona back for another visit—to make her magic dust and gift tips an annual feature. Voilà! Here are this year’s flicks from the Godmom’s Gift Wand:


(SPOILER ALERT! If you are someone who normally gets a holiday gift from me, don’t look, as I may be talking about the gift you haven’t gotten yet this year.)

• eBaybe Basket - Our niece has recently become a passionate eBay shopper. Inexpensive baskets make the base for many of my gifts. After the season last year, I got three nesting holiday baskets in green and red for next to nothing. I used the medium-sized one for this collection of goodies: a nifty, electronic kitchen timer for making sure she doesn’t miss those last-minute bids; a pound of Bad Ass Coffee, a company whose name and donkey logo send the right message about being an online shopper in stubborn pursuit of winning the latest auction; and an eBay gift card. I lined the basket with raffia style “grass” and used my computer to create a tag that reads eBaybe Basket.

• A Trip Down Under – Some of our relatives can’t travel much anymore due to limited mobility. I figured out a way to send them to Australia, and they only have to go 10 miles from home to get there—no airport security, three-ounce jar limitations for carry-on, and no baggage fees. In fact, no baggage at all except an appetite! I found a darling little stuffed kangaroo at Barnes & Noble online. His pouch is perfect for fitting a gift card to Outback Steakhouse, that yummy Aussie-themed restaurant. I made a special card modeled after an Australian postcard, touting the features of this trip Down Under, no passport needed.

• Relief for the Older Relative Who Has Everything - One of my relatives is a challenge for being of a certain age where he has most everything he wants or needs. Also, he travels from across the country to be with us for the holidays. Anything I get him needs to pack well for the return trip. At my local CVS Pharmacy, I stumbled across Sarah Peyton’s Hot & Cold Personal Spa Set. Aside from sounding like the name of my blog, it has soft wraps with therapeutic gel inserts than can be heated or cooled for the aches and pains that invariably go with the turf of an octogenarian—or a someone often much younger. (Me!)

• Peace on Earth Bracelets - I love that the peace sign is back! It’s that time of year when we talk most about Peace on Earth. I found wood bead bracelets at Mixed Bag, one of my favorite local boutiques, that have tiny, sterling silver peace sign charms on them. They are perfect for two of my friends, who are as dedicated as I am to being part of the Peace. One of the most beautiful compliments I ever received was from my late, great friend Garry. Writing about me, he said, “She’s all about peace on the planet.” I love recognizing sister peacekeepers in such a lovely way! (Aside to the astro-savvy: These two friends and I, as a trio, call ourselves The Venus Girls for having the planet Venus in a prominent in our charts. If someone you know is a Venus Girl—especially if she’s a Libra or Taurus—two of their big loves are peace and beauty, and this bracelet covers them both.)

• Coffee Lover - Last year I focused on another love of my eBaybe niece—Starbucks. We have two credit cards where we accumulate points for purchases. They can be redeemed for gift cards. We often cash in our points for holiday gifts, as in this case. I bought a lovely reindeer gift box for $3 at Michaels, square and deep with the design both inside and out. I put in a gold mug. In the mug is the Starbucks gift card. Also in the gift box was frankincense and myrrh soap by Indigo Wild. The brand is Zum Bar, and it’s made from goat’s milk. I buy the soap at our local Natural Foods Co-op or Whole Foods. It smells divine! However, to unacscentuate that part of the gift till opening and so it doesn’t mingle with the smell of coffee with possibly strange results, I wrapped it in clear cellophane wrap. It sits in a bed of white sparkly “grass” that looks like snow. Behind the mug is a half-pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend in its shiny gold package. I created a bubble in Word and cut it out, so that the deer inside is thinking/saying: There is no greater gift than Love—followed by gold, frankincense, myrrh—and Starbucks!

• For the Runner on Your List - I gave my friend Wendy the book, Women Who Run by Shanti Sosienski. In interviews with numerous women, it explores why women run, what drives them, and what continues to spark their interest in the sport. Even before she pounded pavement, Wendy had some “tootsie trouble.” To help keep her feet in good running condition, I also gave her some new-fangled toe stretchers that can help realign the lower digits if you have any podiatry problems like hammer toes or bunions. While the running book and toe stretchers were Wendy’s gift last year, think of the possibilities for the runner in your life that could accompany a book about running: good padded socks like Thorlo’s, sweat or wrist bands, or iPod download gift cards to make the run both a walk and a concert in the park.

• Literary Mama - My friend Lucy is an excellent writer, but motherhood and working have put literary efforts on the back burner for her. However, she wants to take the pot out and stir it as often as she can. I got her the book, Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined by Seal Press. Mom-writers share the growth they’ve gained through motherhood. Writer’s Digest offered me a free gift subscription if I renewed early. I asked Lucy; she wanted it. This part of the gift wasn’t a surprise, but I asked them to start it with the January issue and bought her a single copy of the December issue to go with the book. It gave me something to present besides just a gift card and served as a preview and “teaser” till her subscription kicked in.

• For Your Favorite Travelers – Another great find for my uncle who travels from afar and around the world is the Travelon Leather ID and Boarding Pass Holder. It’s a fashionable, practical, hands-free “necklace” for your travel documents while doing the airport security jig. What’s more, it passes the true test of a great gift find. I want one!

• Seasonal Delights - Last year, for my sister in Pennsylvania, I put together a seasonal package with a tag that read, Open Before Christmas. Enjoy all season! Starting with a holiday tote bag I got for $4 at Barnes & Noble in a special seasonal promotion (they have them again this year), I started filling it with the darkly playful humor of one of my favorite memoir writers in his gut-buster, Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris. Also in the package were my favorite frankincense and myrrh soap and a Santa mug filled with packets of exotic hot chocolate blends. I got a kick just thinking of introducing my sister to David and his holiday antics. I could see her sitting in her house, sipping hot chocolate. I added a personally made card (MS Publisher). On the outside, it said Merry Sismas with a vintage boomer photo of the two of us at ages 12 and 13. I added a personal note to the sentiment: Having you for a sister makes it Christmas every day of the year! 

This last idea can be modified to fit any favorite friend or relative. Even the family curmudgeon might enjoy a copy of Scrooge, book or DVD. Add one of with those hilarious cloth gift sacks marked Naughty, containing licorice or other goodies as “lumps of coal.” I just bought a relative one of those cool money jars available at every other store this season. It has a digital gismo that counts your change as you put it in. Wouldn’t your favorite Scrooge enjoy counting his cash while everyone else revels? Oh, and don’t forget a set of earplugs so he can’t hear the carols. And one of those lapel buttons that says “Bah, Humbug!”

I hope this “conversation” has brought out your inner Fairy Godmother! Please have her visit the Comments with any ideas for this annual gift idea exchange.

Don’t forget, Google and your mouse are your best friends during this time of year. No crowds, no parking problems, no snarky shoppers or crabby clerks. However, you must stock a box cutter at home and recycle all the cardboard that will overflow as delivery trucks bring the holiday right to your door.

May your joy in giving catch fire and light the world this holiday season. Peace!

~~~

Photo credit: HOLIDAY © Lenta Dreamstime.com

Laughter: Champagne for the Soul

© 2009 by Joyce Mason

Laughter is carbonated holiness. –Anne Lamott

I take spirituality seriously. That’s why I laugh a lot. As I’ve said many times, I feel we’re closest to God when we’re laughing. Laughter joins, heals, and connects us as human beings. To laugh is to take a huge gulp of Anne Lamott’s carbonated holiness and toast our divine interconnection. When we’re laughing, we realize that we are each other.

One of my favorite spiritual double entendres is “lighten Up.” Enlightenment shouldn’t come with long faces and a furrowed brow. It should come with peals of laughter that tingle all the way down to your toes and explode out the top of your head. In-between outbursts from a ticked funny bone, being highly spiritual or spirited should evoke plenty of smiles.

When did spirituality take a left turn into somber? I’m not sure I even want to research that travesty, but I do want to talk about the sometimes-limited view of it many of us developed in traditional religions, regardless of what they were. I’ll pick on my own. I grew up Catholic, and now the whole world knows about our history of hair shirts and self-flagellation, recently brought home to the entire world in the fictional Silas character in Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code. As a girl, I was taught to admire and consider as role models women who had been raped, tortured, or had their breasts cut off. I’m not kidding. Especially if they were martyred (yes, killed), they became saints, more or less on the spot. Being a Catholic kid in the 1950s, at least where I grew up, was a gruesome business. To say the least, I don’t think the focus on blood, guts, and gore sent the right message. (I’m still shuddering.)

Thank heaven, in the decades that have passed, many people—clergy and their flocks alike—have evolved away from this dim view of holiness. One of my favorite priests once told us at Mass, “The real church starts when you walk out of this building.” I believe that wholeheartedly. We talk of being a Christian, Muslim, or a Jew. To be is a verb, and spirituality is action, ergo the expression, “to walk the talk.” In the Christian tradition, it means helping others and acting to eradicate all forms of social injustice. Jews put perhaps even more emphasis on good works. Holiness means not just something sanctified, but something made whole. It has to do with seeing ourselves as part of all of creation and wanting all that lives to live to the fullest. This is stated so poignantly in this video by Peter Mayer, singing and playing his inspiring song, Holy Now.

“Holy Now” is an example of the sweet side of spirituality, the one where we are in awe of the beauty of life that’s ours to relish, if we only have the eyes to see it. Here’s my quote for this tender side of spirituality:

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair. ~G.K. Chesterton

The love affair is with everything—people, places, plants, animals, and the spark of life, wherever it shines. It reminds me of the title of one of my favorite books, Everything Belongs, by Richard Rohr. While the subtitle is The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, the content is much more—a breath of fresh air that will keep you in that place of “holy now.” In "Everything Belongs," there are chapters entitled Vision of Enchantment and Return to the Sacred. You get the picture.

For now, back to laughter and evolution. Since so many of us had early religious experiences, often among misguided souls who taught us, religious humor becomes an outlet for both healing and reconnection to the “rightness within.” My favorite priest told me in confession when I was a teenager worried about going to second base, which felt good and not wrong, “Your conscience is the ultimate authority—more important than any religious teaching.” Wow! Isn’t it cool to realize that in a sea of misinformation, I stumbled upon an oasis, one wise soul bearing truth?

I have to admit, some of my favorite jokes involve a priest, a rabbi, and a minister. When Garrison Keillor has joke day on A Prairie Home Companion, I laugh hardest at these funnies about the various religious perspectives on life. As a Catholic who grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, I relish the Jewish roots of Christianity and both religious perspectives. That said, I couldn’t resist telling my favorite joke:

In the inner city of a large metropolis, there was a great deal of urban renewal going on. The local temple was being demolished, and the congregation had no place to go until the new synagogue was finished. In an act of interfaith generosity, the neighboring monsignor contacted the rabbi and offered a solution. The temple could use the church in its off hours. They’d stagger services and meeting nights, accommodating both church members and temple goers until the new synagogue was ready. The rabbi was delighted with this offer, and both clergymen felt they were setting an example of tolerance and love.

The schedules were ready to go, the announcements ready to be made, but the rabbi scratched his beard and the monsignor scratched his head, both of them expressing the thought that something didn’t sit right. They’d have to call it something different in the meantime to help both congregations grasp this temporary ecumenical meeting ground. After a long period of drawing a blank on common denominators, they finally found it:

Our Lady of Perpetual Guilt.

Jesus was arguably one of the greatest teacher of all time, if not the greatest of all. He taught in stories and allegories. I can’t help but believe he had a sense of humor, and I get a lot of mileage wondering what kind of jokes he told. I wonder why none of the gospel writers saw fit to pass them on. I guess they wanted the Word to be taken seriously. If they knew then what we know now about the physiology of laughter, as told in one of my favorite articles ever, How Laughter Works, we might have a very different bible. We might have had more laying on of laughs than the laying on of hands. I have always loved this depiction of Jesus Laughing.

If you’re serious about spirituality, I hope you laugh a lot—and if you don’t, do some heavenly homework and begin watching how much our human foibles, depicted in humor, bring us all together—and deserve our giggles, belly laughs, and guffaws as we see ourselves “illuminated.” Seeing our absurdities lit up is just another form of enlightenment. Share in the Comments anything interesting you observe in his new holy/wholely comedy perspective.

This past weekend, I saw the play Late Nite Catechism: ‘Til Death Do Us Part in Sacramento. What a hoot. It clearly threw light on certain elements of Catholic practices and perspectives in the past were—for lack of a better term—downright insane. The laughter as “Sister” quoted the old party line with deadpan delivery was infectious. Nonie Newton-Breen, who played Sister, is an improv graduate of Second City in Chicago. (I recognized her kindred accent immediately.) The funniest questions were from those in “class” not raised Catholic about limbo, purgatory, and the rhythm method of birth control. (“It didn’t work too well,” Sister admitted. “You wanted 3 and got 13.”) The game show, Compatibility, had two couples facing off who couldn’t have been more different—a staunchly Catholic pair to this day after 39 years together, and a much more free-spirited couple, together 10 years who had yet to marry. (“What are you waiting for?” Sister was nothing if not blunt.) She even had a list of names from the ticket purchases, so if people did not volunteer, they could be called upon. Scary! No ruler whacks, though, “Because nowadays parents have lawyers.” We had a fabulous time, and as one who always took religion way too seriously as a kid, it was a relief to sit back, relax, laugh, and separate the best of my core beliefs from the BS. Our minds provide us a filtration system, just like a conscience.

Since I’m most familiar with the Judeo-Christian perspective (I’d welcome knowing how other paths regard humor), I’ll end with two quotes that suggest that laughter was always there in our religious roots, just underemphasized:

To everything, there is a season …A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3:1-4.

The one whose throne is in heaven sits laughing. Psalm 2:4.

If we are made in the divine image and all have that spark of divinity within, it’s high time take that last quote seriously.


~~~

Photo credit: CELEBRATING AROUND THE WORLD © 14ktgold |Dreamstime.com

Need more laughs? Read Ten Laugh Stops Online, especially Swami Beyondananda.

The Magnificent Seven Encore

Kreativ Blogger awards are like Oscars, because they’re recognition from a writer’s peers. As you’ll see below, KB Awards involve “magnificent sevens.” Thank you, Susannah of Joy Frequencies for letting me take home my second KB logo this year! (Read about the first one here.) I nominated Susannah for a Lemonade Award in May, and she richly deserves that Lemmy for being an oasis of joy and inspiration. She brings sparkles to my life!

If you’ve been nominated in my list later in this post and want to pay it forward (optional, of course), here are the guidelines:

• Thank the person who gave you the award

• Place the logo on your blog

• Link to the person who nominated you

• Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting

• Nominate 7 bloggers for this award and post links to their blogs

• Send a message to let them know they’ve been nominated

Another Seven Things You May Find Interesting About Me

Since I’ve done this once before, I’ve decided to share seven new things about myself, so I don’t bore you. (If my colleagues nominate me for any more awards, there won’t be anything left to reveal in my memoirs! However, I’m willing to live with the danger.)

1. In my first career as a social worker, I spent eight years working with children and adults with developmental disabilities.

2. I have been married twice, and both men have two different colored eyes. (What are the odds of that?)

3. I went to Catholic high school for three weeks, and then decided I wanted to go to our public school instead. At the time, Evanston Township High School was rated in the top 5% of high schools in the country. I really left St. Scholastica because I couldn’t stand studying Latin, which was required. (In public school, I studied both French and Spanish and loved them. Maybe there wasn’t enough “romance” for me in Latin.)

4. As a sophomore, I wrote for the annual high school variety show. My creative partner, Bonnie Fox and I, envisioned ourselves as the new Rodgers and Hammerstein. (She wrote music; I wrote lyrics.) I believe we did the first completely original tune in the long history of the show. (Most songs were existing ones with new lyrics.) It remains one of the thrills of my life, the first time I heard our song performed live on stage.

5. As a graduating senior, I won the class award as the most promising student in journalism.

6. Unlike cartoonist Sandra Boynton’s hippo who never met a carbohydrate she didn’t like, I have, and it’s mashed potatoes. (I know it’s un-American, but I think it’s a texture thing.)

7. For a writing class I took in my early thirties at our local State university, I wrote a script for “All in the Family” in my Writing for Television class. It was critiqued by producer and famous TV writer, Mort Lachman. He was kind enough to be supportive and tell me both where I hit the mark and didn’t.


Seven More Blog Nominees That Get My Vote

The joy of doing this more than once is that I can share with my readers my new blog discoveries since we last met on a Magnificent Seven list as well as some time-honored faves.

Kelly Diels ~ If you write or read blogs, do not under any circumstances miss Kelly’s article on ProBlogger linked on her site, “Why Blogging is Like the Wizard of Oz.” This is this is the best article on blogging I’ve read to date by one of the best writers I’ve ever discovered. She shares her life in gutsy, humorous, deep and delightful way. Kudos, Kelly!

Red Door Diaries, A Creative Café by Lee Russell ~ Her motto says it all, Positive thoughts creating joyful conditions. Lee and I met when we both lived in Sacramento years ago. She was the graphic artist for Chironicles, the international newsletter on my astrological specialty, Chiron. (Chironicles had a wonderful run from 1992-95. Many of its best articles have been updated and posted on The Radical Virgo.) In the Red Door Diaries, Lee shares her journeys, both inner and outer with her usual creative pizzazz.

Midlife Musings on Perrie Meno-Pudge ~ I don’t love Perrie’s new blog just because I was the first guest blogger, but because it has the usual tone, style, and help in a fun atmosphere that the Perrie Meno-Pudge team is famous for. Congrats, Barbara and Joanne, for another mid-life rockin’ winner!

My Seat on the Beach by YaYa Bowman ~ Every time I visit this blog, I’m sorry I don’t do it more often. If that isn’t the sign of a great read, nothing is! YaYa’s personality just leaps off the screen along with her joie de vivre. Whether she’s addressing serious issues, like Domestic Violence Awareness month, sharing her milestones such as the return of the monarch butterflies to Santa Cruz, CA where she lives, or sharing her loves and their celebrations—especially her parents’ recent 60th anniversary—YaYa is sitting on that beach, living life to the hilt, and sharing it from the heart.

The Brat in the Hat the Rantings of a Grumpy Old Woman by Pop Art Diva ~ All of Pop Art’s blogs are the bomb, but this is one for a day when you really need a good laugh, when your dark side needs to let loose, and when you need to ROFL till you cry. She even sells products with “snarky designs to fit your snippy moods” in her Rantorium Emporium. The Brat is a medicine bag full of he-he-he’s that heal.

Journeys Close to Home –Susannah nominated me for this current award, and I can’t resist nominating her back for this newest addition to her family of blogs. I already love her Joy Frequencies and astrology blog, The Lion and the Lightning Bolt; her newest makes it a triple-header! What a great concept, sharing adventures close to home, even though hers is not close to mine. Susannah journals about short trips with plenty of pictures, maps, and travelogue—perfect in these more cautionary economic times where people are discovering their own backyards and taking “staycations.” (This word actually won some sort of “new word of the year award” for its entry into the lexicon by the Dictionary People. I assume they are second cousins, once removed, of Miss Manners.) I am so enjoying the vicarious outings. I tip my hat to Susannah for her pulse on a big cultural need, delivered with delight!

The Jungle of Life by Lance – I just discovered this blog while searching for other bloggers who focus on insights. It’s an oasis of beauty (great photos, quotes) and balance as Lance juggles his life before our eyes with such grace, you can’t help but feel a part of it. For a great overview and feel for this blog, read Lance’s interview on Joyful Days. I think it’s an especially encouraging read to new bloggers about how to create community in the blogosphere.

I hope you're inspired to discover some new blogs and perspectives because of the Kreativ Blogger process. Do share your thoughts in the Comments.

The 100th Post: A Journey in Frosting, Surprises and Prizes

Join the party and have a virtual cupcake as we celebrate the 100th post on Hot Flashbacks, and I round the bend on nearly two years of blogging. Something you might notice about Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. We celebrate milestones.

Past festivities include our first birthday party on September 17, 2008. On June 17, 2009, we had a rebirthday celebration, marking a new blog direction. This 100th blog post is close enough to our second birthday—it’s a two-fer!

100th Post Giveaway: The first 10 people to Comment on this post will receive a free copy of "The Training Tape," Joyce’s new e-book.

Now’s a great time to put into perspective what you’ve most liked to read here, what you were looking for that led you here, and, and how our cool saging to spirited living community has grown. Statistics can be a bit of a bore, so I’ll keep it short but sweet like cupcake frosting for the bigger substance later about blogging as a journey.

Growth and Recognition

Visits have quadrupled over the past year and readers have more than tripled. People from twice as many countries read Hot Flashbacks now. Most readers wave the following flags by frequency of visits: US, UK, Brazil, Canada, Belgium, and Australia. I am grateful that Hot Flashbacks has been recognized by fellow bloggers, who double as some of the world’s most avid blog readers, with both Lemonade and Kreativ Blogger Awards. In Fall 2008, I was named one of the 101 Women Bloggers to Watch by WE Magazine for busy women on the move.

Top 10 Articles

In case you’ve missed any of the Top 10, here’s an annotated blogography of the best of Hot Flashbacks based on popularity by volume of visits.

1. The No Soliciting Sign - The popularity of this post—five times the hits of any other and the post with the most accessed via search terms—made me realize I’d hit a nerve and had the potential to fill a need. My sign requests, “No soliciting—religion and religious literature included,” and many people were searching for something like it. While the post shares how I evolved from an angry to a gentle place with my request to respect my privacy and spiritual path, I saw an opportunity to serve. In the near future, I will be selling newly arted version of “my sign” and another one recently designed with a similar, gentle sentiment about solicitations. Watch for it!

2. Venus Girls, Boomer Beauty – The perennial question of how much we “help” nature to maintain our good looks as we age hit a chord with readers of all ages.

3. Auntie Mame: A Tale for Today, Tomorrow and Always – My heroine and favorite character of all time has the one philosophy that says it all, “Live, live, live!” Mame not only tells us about how to live life with pizzazz, but her story covers how she handled the 1929 crash of the stock market and its aftermath, a timely parallel for today.

4. It Runs Downhill - How my dog got literal about a popular expression and continuously proved that dogs are among the funniest beings on earth. They outsmart us, sometimes by playing dumb, while we’re cleaning up after them or laughing at their antics.

5. Boomer Tube Babies – How early TV influenced the first generation that cut its teeth on Howdy Doody and a host of other characters revisited on this nostalgia trip. We were the first kids who were exposed to advertising early in life. How did it form us?

6. Penny Candy: Sweet Memories – A nostalgia trip down Memory Lane with a big color illustration of the stuff we often saved up, and walked miles for, to satisfy our sweet tooth. Flashbacks on Mary Janes, Bazooka Gum, Laffy Taffy, and Tootsie Rolls, just for starters. Includes links to places online where vintage treats are still available.

7. Flower Essences: Emotional First Aid, Boomer Plus Edition – Before I became a certified flower essence practitioner in 1989, I would have said you were crazy if you had told me that a few drops of liquid containing the vital energy of flowers could calm my emotions. A tool for a cool life that’s good to the last drop.

8. The Fairy Godmother – I have the gift for gifts, and in this Christmas season post, I share some of my most original gift ideas. Plan ahead to surprise your loved ones with some nifty gifties!

9. Tone Deaf – How to buy a custom ring tone without breaking the bank, deal with hearing loss and irritating rings, and navigate all kinds of cell phone and hearing things.

10. Dreams—Waking and Sleeping – A primer on decoding the messages in your night movies.


Born to Blog

According to my research, Justin Hall, is widely recognized as one of the earliest personal bloggers. He started in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College. Like anyone before his time, it took the rest of us awhile to catch up with him. When I was first advised to start a blog in 2007 as a way to begin to get readers, ultimately of my books, I had to look up the definition of blog. I had no idea that I’d take to this medium like a duck to water, mostly because I didn’t have any idea what kind of pond we were taking about. Thanks to some fabulous friends I made at Boomer Diva Nation, I got a quick how-to course and was a fast study. Lots of jumping in and swimming in the waters of trial-and-error honed my skills. With a little help from my friends, I became good enough at it to take some huge leaps of faith …

… like starting my second blog, The Radical Virgo. I made that jump blindfolded in March 2009, thanks to encouragement by an avid reader of my astrology articles, housed on other Internet sites. Soon I realized I could repost them and draw people into current contact with me, since the primary site where they were archived was no longer being updated and my contact information there was dated. My return to astrology, at least as a writer, if not a consultant, gave me the strongest feedback that I had really “become a blogger.” I knew I wasn’t just trying my hand at it anymore when the Radical Virgo’s visitor statstics began surpassing those of this more established Hot Flashbacks blog right out of the gate. The Radical Virgo hasn’t even celebrated its four-month anniversary and it has been running in the top 20 of Post Rank’s Top 100 Astrology Blogs, #14 as of this writing. To say I am honored is an understatement. I was beginning to realize that blogging for me is like eating potato chips; can’t eat or have just one, and the more you eat the more you want!

The Problem and the Gift

Therein lies both the problem and the gift. I now enjoy blogging so much, I am neglecting book writing. I keep joking that by the time I get around to doing some redirection and editing of both my memoir and mystery novel, paper books might be passé. Part of me feels I’m in the medium of the future, yet being a baby boomer, I love the feel of paper books and the medium of the past. The great news is that publishing is becoming multi-media. It took me awhile to “get” that all bloggers are not just writers; we are also publishers.

There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts. ~ Richard Bach

One wonderful aspect of blogging: It’s a test balloon. If it weren’t for my blog, I would have continued focusing my memoir toward a baby boomer audience. It took that forum for experimentation to clarify to me that the real essence of my book is sharing how I learned to play the symbols and the guidance we are presented constantly on how to make the best choices for ourselves. I can’t imagine where I’d be today without dreams, meaningful coincidences, and an assortment of cosmic nudges. Cool saging—yes!—but we can’t even do that in a customized way without those personalized hints from On High.

My adventure into my astrology blog reminded me that I’d been there and done it before in the old paper medium. From 1992-95, I co-edited—later edited and published—a high-quality astrological newsletter called Chironicles. It was dedicated to helping astrologers share information on the relatively new planetary body discovered in 1977, Chiron. (There is so much information on Chiron on The Radical Virgo, I refer you there if you’re interested in learning more about the planet associated with healing, life’s purpose, and wholeness.)

To be able to compare blogging to the publication of Chironicles a decade and a half ago makes me understand why I am so much more at home and in love with electronic media. Things I had to pay a graphic artist and Kinko’s copying service to do back then, I can do myself and enjoy thoroughly. With incredible effort, I don’t think our subscription base at Chironicles ever exceeded 150 paid subscribers. Granted, Chiron was a new astrological entity that appealed to the leading edge and was not yet everyone’s cup of tea, but our following was international. I keep thinking of the costs I save with my electronic blogs, including pricey overseas postage. I am pleasantly surprised how The Radical Virgo has taken off and exceeded in four months by five-fold the readership I worked so hard to build over a four-year period in with Chironicles. If I hadn’t stepped out on faith to create The Radical Virgo, I’m not sure I would have ever connected the dots to realize how much past experience I brought to blogging and how much better it is than the way of the past.

New Vistas

With the launch of my first short fiction e-book, The Training Tape, and an astrology e-book on the near horizon, I seem to be deepening my commitment to what I like to call the eclectic, electronic ink of Joyce Mason.

Where I go from here is a bit up in the air, determined by my good old GPS (God Positioning System), but as the transferability from one writing medium to another becomes more fluid day by day, I can only say: I’m loving this wild ride. I hope you’re “in” for the continued adventure!

~~~

Photo credit: CELEBRATION CUPCAKE - NUMBER 100 © Dehooks Dreamstime.com

Seventh Heaven! Hot Flashbacks Wins Kreativ Blogger Award!

First a Lemmy (Lemonade Award), now a Kreativ Blogger Award—both big honors as nods from my fellow bloggers. I’m grateful to my friend, Eileen Williams of The Feisty Side of Fifty for this affirming recognition. Feisty is one of my regular blog stops. Eileen celebrates not just the idea that “the best is yet to be,” but that the best already is happening among women in full bloom!

If you’ve been nominated in my list later in this post and want to pay it forward (optional, of course), here are the guidelines:


· Thank the person who gave you the award
· Place the logo on your blog
· Link to the person who nominated you
· Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting
· Nominate 7 bloggers for this award and post links to their blogs
· Send a message to let them know they’ve been nominated

Seven Things About Me You May Find Interesting About Me

1. I started taking private voice lessons at age 3. When I was 5 years old, I auditioned for the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour, the boomer version of American Idol. I sang “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window.”
   
2. As a writer, I was first a poet in the ‘70s—read at coffee houses and taught in California’s Poetry in the Schools program.
   
3. In 5th grade, I won the Excellence Medal for being the most well rounded student. (Like Gypsy Rose Lee, I pride myself on being “very versatile.”)
   
4. I spent over half my civil service career in “garbage” and recycling—environmental protection programs.
   
5. I am addicted to Agatha Christie’s Poirot and am in the process of watching all the DVDs. Can’t get the theme song out of my head, known as an earworm. (I’m terribly prone to them.)
   
6. I am a reunion junkie. I have found all my lost loves, including birth mom and first boyfriend—we’ve been married since 1998.
   
7. My husband Tim likes to say, “I didn’t know I was lost,” regarding #6, but he wanted to find his way into one of these bullets and add his two-cents worth. He thought you might want know I have these seven qualities: humorous, deep, a unique worldview, an affinity for language, childlike, generous and loyal. (No wonder I hunted him down and snapped him up again!)

As Eileen mentioned in her own Kreativ Blogger post, I share the dilemma of too many faves to limit myself to seven—but I’ll honor some of the others in another recognition cycle. Here’s my list:

Seven of My Favorite Kreativ Blogs

Gail Goodwin's Blog: Gail is the inspiration behind Inspire Me Today, starting the list with a two-fer, both described next.

Inspire Me Today: As one who thrives on written inspiration daily, if not hourly, I hit nirvana when I discovered Inspire Me Today, “Best of the Best Inspiration DailyTM.” No hype: This blog earns its catchphrase and my utter respect for its diverse, daily and inspired interviews. Gail’s creation, the Daily asks, If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others? Gail’s blog gives us a more personal lens on life from the woman who created Inspire Me Today and The Global Hug Tour.

Diva of Tiny Foods: Am I the only one who never knows what to bring to the potluck or family dinner, even if they only assign me an appetizer? It’s not that I’m inept in the kitchen, but I’m busy. I require the Rachel Ray approach to cooking or prepping food—30 minutes or less. PopArtDiva in one of her many hats—this time a chef’s hat—offers up easy-to-fix tidbits that delight with artistically yummy recipe cards. Keep “spreading the joy of small food one bite at a time!”

The Muffin: Another grand women’s cooperative blog (who bakes muffins one at time?) that boasts never being stale. From the bakers of WOW—Women on Writing—this place is breakfast for writers and three squares a day in inspiration. Since all bloggers are writers, if you blog, take break. Have a muffin.

Second Chance at Your Dream: Dorothea Hover-Kramer, Ed.D., RN hosts this site on learning about using energy psychology’s self-help resources for achieving an optimal second half of life.

Six Word Memoirs – If you think 140 characters makes for concise writing on Twitter, wait till you try telling a story in just six words. I love these two-second reads. Many are nothing short of brilliant, and as a writer, I have to hand it to the rising creativity of the masses in these micro-memoir tidbits.

Spirited Woman Blog - What an ensemble cast of creative, spirited bloggers! Diverse topics include astrology, books, children, creative arts, current affairs—and on and on. If you can’t find it here, I doubt it exists, and you won’t find it done with more style, pizzazz, and celebration of life.

I love this opportunity to share resources that truly move me. Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you for the richness your creativity adds to my life.