School's Out... FOREVER!

Annie's last day of school. I'm sure I have one of her first day somewhere!

My oldest daughter just attended her last day of law school at UNC. Alice Cooper's classic song, school's out forever, rings in my head! I know I've been on the sidelines cheering her on but what a ride her academic career has been. In usual Annie fashion she has given everything and more to her time in Chapel Hill.  We are so deeply proud of her. (We would be anyway just because she is herself.)

This post is a total mother's tribute, so please indulge me! Annie has received several awards and accolades as a student starting from High School through her latest endeavor in law school. At the risk of embarrassing her, I will only name a few! At the University of Florida she was the overall chair of Dance Marathon (the largest student run philanthropy in the Southeast) helping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for The Children's Miracle Network. She was also awarded UF's outstanding female leadership award and I watched in pure awe as she gave the commencement speech to thousands of graduates.

As she leaves UNC, she was the recipient of several awards, one of which is the Davis award. Another recognition of her gift of giving back to others through leadership. Congratulations does not convey how proud we are of you Annie!

Announcing the Class of 2013 Davis Society

Andrew Brown

Annie Bryan

Meriwether Evans

Yolanda Fair

Yasir Latifi

Nick Miller

Adam Parker

Laura Sloan

Congratulations!

The James E. and Carolyn B. Davis Society is intended to recognize eight third-year students possessing both academic and personal excellence and a willingness to serve for the betterment of the School of Law and its faculty and students.  In making its selections, the Davis Society Selection Committee considers the qualities of leadership ability, integrity, dedication, and character as exemplified by extracurricular activities and academic achievement.

Optimism

I read an interesting article in Prevention magazine (Feb 2013) about a couple who were vacationing in the Himalayan foothills. They inadvertently found themselves in the home of a 90 year old healer/sage who gave them some tea for their respective ailments. As it turns out, Dr. Ho is a world renowned healer who works only for donations. He started out with a degree in Medical Engineering but fell ill and returned to his village and immersed himself in the study of herbs. The couple took the tea as prescribed and  continued on their journey. After a few weeks of consuming the tea they were rid of their health concerns but wrote the experience off as the power of placebo. When they returned to the United States they had the tea analyzed by AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, a Chinese medicine school in Austin, Texas , and it did contain properties that addressed each of their concerns.

The couple  was delighted that the tea helped them but theorized that "the tea was a tremendous placebo." The technician disagreed and informed them that herbs are medicinal and do work irrespective of your belief in their ability to heal.

In addition to consuming healing herbs, Dr. Ho's health advice to patients is to "be confident in their own cure, OPTIMISTIC in attitude, conduct rational lives and apply both Western and Chinese medicine where appropriate." The article went on to say that OPTIMISM is the secret. Above all else be OPTIMISTIC. The entire article can be found in the February 2013 issue of Prevention Magazine. Finding Dr. Ho by Jeannie Ralston.

To your Health and Optimism!


       

Dr. Ho photo by Robb Kendrick
prevention.com

Goals and Infinite Possibilities

            A goal without a plan is only a wish.



Ah... the topic of goals. We all have goals in life, either spoken or unspoken. Sometimes we think our hopes and dreams are goals when in reality unless we put some focused attention into them, they are merely wishes. What makes the concept of planning even more interesting is the idea that a plan is flexible and should move with the circumstances. Hard work and perseverance are certainly excellent criteria for achieving a goal but there are even more tools at our fingertips.

A plan is important. If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there? Plans give us a framework and structure with sign posts along the way.  Plans can also alert us when we have gone far afield from our desired outcome.  For example, I posted in January about wanting to be able to do 10 pull ups by the end of the year (starting from zero.) At that point it was just a wish stemming from my frustration that as an former competitive swimmer my upper body strength was dismal.

To transform that idea into a goal, I set a broad plan to go to the gym. From there I revised the plan to include personal training days. When the scheduling seemed  problematic I had to revise the goal to include other workout times and places. As the year progressed, I realized that my plan had to grow and expand with the circumstances. At one point the moving parts were getting crazy but I kept the overall goal in mind. Even though I didn't rigidly stick to my gym plans as I had hoped, I did stick to my commitment to my goal. The venue or the workout is flexible and I end up cross training 3 to 4 times a week. The result thus far is 8 PULL-UPS!

According to Mike Dooley, author of Infinite Possibilities, we can easily get sucked into the "cursed hows." His take on a goal is to focus on the end result while taking whatever steps you can take to get there. He advises to let the Universe do its work. That doesn't mean sit back and do nothing it just means don't get so bogged down and attached to how you are going to accomplish something. The Universe will conspire with you when you have a goal and take steps to implement you plan.

His book is an excellent motivator to achieve whatever you desire in life. INFINITE POSSIBILITIES!

     

                                             

Mother/ Daughter weekend

A fun weekend with my youngest daughter at her sorority Mother/Daughter weekend. Some of the highlights were a brunch on Saturday followed by a private showing of the movie Admission. Fortunately, since everyone had already been admitted to college, we could enjoy the movie as we remembered the angst we each shared with the college admission process.  Just a note to those who haven't experienced the ordeal of college applications- waiting, acceptance, rejection,  more waiting, decisions, more options, finances,etc. (and that's just on the parental side) - You will get through it and after all is said and done, the right thing usually falls into place.

Sunday was the sorority's Founder's day brunch. This was held at the beautiful Hilton Hotel.  After the appropriate people were honored and the group went through the buffet line we were treated to the Senior video. Each senior gave a tribute to their mother and thanked her for her support. And last, each senior shared her plans for after graduation. Most were off to graduate school, some had secured jobs, others were still interviewing and one was "just winging it!"

It is always a great weekend when I'm spending with a family member. Hope you get to enjoy your family this weekend and always!

Richard Bach

What the caterpillar calls
      the end of the world,
The master calls
       the butterfly.

Richard Bach
Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah



This goes on the list of my all- time favorite quotes. It summarizes my interest in the power of thought and how our thoughts can shape our experience.  In short, it's all about perspective. Our thoughts are often limiting at best and fearful at worst.  I, like the caterpillar am often limited in experience and understanding so my perception can be narrow.

 It is never what happens that causes me joy or pain, it is my thoughts about the event. A fruitful exercise is to monitor your thoughts for just one day. How many could be described as limiting or fearful? How many are loving and expansive? The answer may surprise you. I do know that when my thoughts are in the present moment they are often positive. As a little extra incentive to notice my thoughts,  being in the now (instead of  focusing on the past or jumping ahead) influences my future for the better. Try it, the rewards are worth the effort!

Easter Weekend

Easter seems to be the favorite holiday in our family (although I do love Thanksgiving!) We enjoy many traditions and are working to keep some of them intact as our family grows and moves into new phases of life.

We don't have anyone young enough to enjoy Easter egg hunts anymore and we are veering away from Easter Baskets but we love spending time with our family. This year was an eating adventure as we moved from one food event to the other.

Some of the eating highlights included lunch at Bella and Maxwells followed by a mind-boggling buffet at a beach club.  Burgers at Grease was the fare before a shrimp boil that included a delicious coconut cake made by our aspiring pastry chef, Hannah.  The one tradition we managed to keep this year was our Easter morning brunch at Testa's. It was crowded but worth it. My end of the table ordered Eggs Benedict (and not to be outdone by the far end) we ordered a stack of pancakes to share.
We finished of the culinary weekend by enjoying southern style shrimp and grits by a local caterer while watching the Miami Heat win an exciting game against the San Antonio Spurs. (We were still licking our wounds after watching the Gators get slammed by Michigan.)

It was a fabulous weekend and we will certainly work on new traditions as the old ones live in our memories. Hope your weekend was wonderful!

Beautiful Easter afternoon at the beach!