My Roommate Yolanda

As mentioned prior, here is Yolanda's own blog section. She wants to use this as her own diary of the trip- so I will comment on a few of her talents.

Yolanda happens to live in my neighbourhood. Actually, just down the alley from me. I found this out at our packing party for Guatemala. It was at her house. Pretty funny.

She happens to be Spanish (from Spain) and the language came easy to her. So did a lot of other things- such us:

• Prayer person. After we finished installing the 2 stoves for the family- there was this "blessing" Yolanda would say in Spanish. Teresa often translated in the Mayan language. They are very religious here. Let me remind you that this was NOT written by Yolanda.
• Translator. In spanish of course. She also did this at an Italian restaurant we went to when no one could read the menu. Funny how I did not get asked- and I'm Italian.
• Doralookalike. Yes, I believe this is what scared poor little Maria. Not the doll so much, but how it looked like Yolanda the person gifting it to the little girl.
• Tool manager. A job she was assigned to on our building project, yet one she totally ignored. Wasn't it Stephanie that wrecked her knee carrying the bag?
• Flight attendant. This came in handy when she had to close the airplane door. Also, when she had to move the curtain to speak to the pilot about our 3 passengers not on the plane.
• Climber expert. Yolanda loves to rock climb and overall do dangerous stuff. Her tips on staying low to the ground when climbing or coming down assisted a very scared person on her team. She also gave useful tips on the reflection of the sun on the rocks. Keep hands below eyes not above.
• Backpack assistant. Yes, she also assisted in closing packs the way they should be closed.
• Drug dealer/consulant. This came in handy with her 50% rule. Take this and you will feel 50% better. Take this and you will feel another 50% better than the other 50%. You get my drift.
• Wake up alarmist. She had a handy watch that she could set on when to get up. This failed on one occasion when she was hallucinating.
• Sandwich expert. Cheese and avocado's. Her handy utility knife almost matched the Leatherman. She often planned her day around food.
• Songwriter/singer. Yolanda got a little carried away with our skit. Having way too much fun singing "Here in Guatemala......."
• Proofessional photographer. Some great pictures were taken with her film camera. Testing had to be done to ensure film was still good.
• Fleece promoter. Even in Tikal when it was hot.
• Sleep master. She would just close her eyes and be asleep.

We had a lot of very funny moments. Two that stand out in particular and won't mean much to anyone but us:

1. Mercedes telling us how old she was. Yolanda commenting " I thought she was my ELDER not my PEER!"

2. Mauricio driving on a narrow road while a big semi truck was coming for us. Mauricio commenting " I think I must do something."

Yolanda laughed at everything and everyone. She ate, slept and climbed her way around Guatemala. A very fit and thin person who never got sick .

What a crazy but great roommate I had!

ATM's with Bodyguards

Yes, you must go to them with a buddy so you don't get robbed.

I dragged Karen with me. We had to try 3 of them as they run out of money pretty quickly in the day.

It doesn't help that the streets have all these small men that are security and/or the police carrying big shot guns to scare away the banditos.

The guns look so old, I'm not sure they would work if they really had to use them.

I don't want to test that. Let them hold their guns as they please, mostly with their fingers on the trigger!

Travel Menu

That's the place I went to last night for a few hours. Home by midnight. Via a tuk tuk. You don't walk on your own here at night. It's a really small cool place. 5 small tables. No lightbulbs used to light the place-just candles. You could probably fit about 30 people tightly in there- standing. The music was varied, but mostly Radiohead typish. You could tell that the candles were just relit on top of the previous melted candles, so the candle holder had a lot of different colors of melted wax. A Danish guy owns it. Very cool look.

I went there with Karen, the other student staying at the home I'm at. I met her at dinner at the house. She is probably early 20's, been here for 4 weeks already and will be here for another 6 weeks or so then off to Mexico to meet up with a friend. She just graduated as a teacher in Denmark, but she's not sure this is what she wants to do in her life, so she is just travelling. Her spanish is pretty good. She took 2 weeks at the school I will be starting with, and she has been volunteering full days at a school in Guatemala City. She buses in each day on one of the "chicken buses". Those colorful local buses with names like "Esmerelda", "MariaTeresa" etc., They look like so much fun........BUT......we were warned not to ride them as they are often very full and the drivers dart in and out of traffic, thus the name "chicken buses". The ride takes 1.5 hrs each way due to all the insane traffic here. It's pretty crazy what that school is like. Inner city. Loads of garbage. Lots of rats. They are trying to teach the small children manners more than anything. Washing their hands before meals. Brushing their teeth. They are all around 5 to 6 years old. They actually bathe them once a week and powder them down to prevent lice.

This school was an option for me to volunteer, but I think I will just take a "tour" and volunteer at another school closer to where I am staying. I'm going for an interview this Monday to get the details.

I'm laying low this Saturday. I've got a bit of a cold. After hanging out with over 20 people with all sorts of ailments, I now have the after effects.

I'll wonder the Saturday market madness, and then go have a nice hot tea at one of the cool coffee shops in one of the courtyards.

I love my life!

Time

I have lots of it now. I'm back in Antigua. On my own.

I moved in with my family. I got here around 8:30 am after a shuttle dropped me off. I had left my bags at the school, so just picked them up and went to the house.

There is a laundry drop, 3 doors down. I had several loads done. Almost $10.00. Not a great job- but at least they smell clean. I don't believe they use bleach for whites.

I was trying to catch up with a few stories. I still have lots more, but this will have to do. I'm off for an ice cream and then to try and find where I live. I always get lost.

I have 2 hours to find the house. Dinner is at 7 pm.

Python & Parrots

Still at Tikal............

Coming home from the morning walk/hike, we see a few of the hotel staff staring up at a tree in front of our hut. This is one of the many trees in the jungle. A tree not that far from the point I stood at 1:10 am in the morning looking at the pitch black sky with all the stars!

This tree had a boa constrictor EATING and yes, I said EATING, a big parrot. He was also trying to shove him in the snake hole on this tree.

Quite the sight.

Good thing we did not run into this snake while crazy Yolanda was up.

Coffee and Smoking on Pyramids

Picture this:
A pyramid. Quiet. Dark. The jungle just awakening. Howling monkies. We are sitting on the pyramid, on the steps. Each of us taking in the moment to ourselves waiting for the perfect sunrise.

The morning fog is starting to lift and we see the tops of the trees...............JUST before we also see one of the tour guides making instant coffee out of this thermos for his small group and passing out cookies!

We also see a few of the other tourists lighting up cigarettes.

Yes, we are ruining the environment.

Wake up call's

Yolanda was hallucinating. She says she was dreaming. I also think she has an addiction to climbing.

We all planned to see the sunrise, so we had to get up at 4 am to make the hike/walk up to pryamid 4. Bags all packed night before. Small snack, water and our headlight ready to go.

Yolanda jumps out of her bed and tells me she is going next door to wake up Giselle and Anne. She then comes back in and tells me to come outside to see the jet black sky with all the stars. I put my head gear on and cover my legs up with a towel (who knows what is out there...) and take a look.
Yolanda keeps chattering away. I go back inside and for whatever reason decide to check out the time on my recently purchased ladybug clock. The kind that looks like a keychain. I don't wear watches, but thought I should get something to tell me what time it was going to be.

Good thing I did. 1:10 am. Yolanda went back to the neighbours and told them to stop getting ready.

We all went back to sleep to get up once again at 4 am for our morning adventure.

Yolanda gets over excited when she knows she is going climbing.

Is it Tingle or Tikal?

It's Tikal- the ancient pyramid ruins. You are smack in the middle of a jungle.

We spent a few days there just before everyone left. Our flight going there was interesting on TAG airline. Small airplane. The flight attendant opened the door on the runway for 2 late passengers. I thought we were being highjacked. Coming home was even better when we only had 19 seats and the other 3 people had to come on the next flight. We found this out as the door was closed by the pilot. Yolanda our Spanish translator (another talent), had to interupt the pilot to see what was going on. Liz, Diane and Hannah were left on the tarmac in shock. We just laughed. It was that or scream in fear over the noise on this small plane that we all wondered about. We even clapped when we landed. We were so happy!

Tikal was extremely humid. We were all sticky and smelly. Luckily our rooms were huge huts. 2 double beds in each. Huge bathrooms. Only thing is there is no power from 10:30 pm until first thing in the morning. Boy it was dark in that room. Those flashlights that go on your head sure were helpful (can't remember what they are called). I bought mine at Superstore just before I left. The room had an opening around the ceiling- kind of like windows- screens only. It was so cool hearing all the jungle noises all night. I LOVED that room. It was the best in accomodations this trip so far!!

Whatever spare time we had was spent by the pool. There were tons of mosquitos everywhere. Dragonflies. Fireflies. Remember those? Everywhere.

We had several nature walks or hikes (call them what you like) around the ruins. Julio our guide was an expert. A bit too detailed if you asked me. We saw all sorts of stuff. Scary stuff. He worked on the Survivor show along with a lot of the locals. I don't know when that episode was, but I went to a small part of where they were. YUP- believe it or not!

And Steve..........you didn't get a search and rescue call out for me!

Starbucks au Natural

Coffee Plantation facts:

• Coffee originated in Ethiopia
• For every $1.00 consumed, the producing country gets $.16 and the consuming country gets $.84
• 1 crop a year (right now the beans are just growing and are green)
• Dark roast has less caffeine than light roast
• 1 tree of coffee beans= 1 lb of roasted coffee=40 cups of coffee

A coffee bean picker can pick up to 100 lbs in an 8 hour day. This is very hard work and they only make 25 Quetzales for the day (aprx $3.50 Cdn).

There were a lot of other interesting facts on our tour, but I can only retain so much stuff..........especially when I don't drink the stuff!

You may be getting a bag of coffee for Christmas from this plantation!

Here in Gautemala

Yesterday was the group's last night here. We had a skit night and our team: John, Linda, Yolanda and yours truly WON prizes for being the best out of the 5 presented. We were judged by Jan and Rebecca on creativity, presentation and how well our team worked together during the working project.

Kudo's go to Yolanda who so got into this. I will have to add "songwriter" to her list of talents. I will be blogging one whole section on my roommate in the next few days. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, picture 4 people standing up there, with our new purses and plastic gloves/toilet paper hanging out of them (this was our costume). John was keeping us on time with his little wooden drum.

Sung to the tune of Gilligan's Island (and this may not mean much to you- but trust me- Yolanda is still singing and laughing to this song):

Now sit right down and I'll tell you a tale. A tale of a fateful trip. That started out in Calgary on board a heavy airship.
We threw off 12 passengers, and took Hearts & Hands away. A mountain of luggage in Dallas, we made. What a very long day. Very long day.

Jan our fearless leader told us not to eat the food. The food might make you sick you see, I need you at your best.
Please give your food away to kids, accept all they give you. Be on time, travel in pairs, you won't get any rest. Here in Guatemala.

Our team became the castaways, we started off at 8, but soon we lost Americans, because of the frantic pace.
We brought our tools and aprons and we settled down to install. The cornfields became our friends you see, when mother nature called. When mother nature called. Here in Guatemala.

We were the smartest team of all, because of this you see. Each day before we worked, we went to University.
We almost killed a cow one day by feeding it some cheese. We tried to avoid the daily soup but felt we had to please. Felt we had to please.

We 22 Canadians built one eighty stoves that week. We made some friends along the way and memories we will keep. A million photographs and laughes will be shared amongst us all.

We will treasure these with our Hearts and Hands and pray the stoves won't fall. Pray the stoves won't fall. Here in Guatemala................

Extremes

This morning we went for a walking tour of Antigua. This town is centered around a Central Park. Cobblestone roads. Volcano on one side....can't remember if it's North or South...and for those of you that know how great I am with directions.....will have to learn this soon, so I can get around without continually asking for directions!

The blocks are similar to ours, so picture a wall around your block- all sorts of colors, windows here and there, doors, and a few plants. No taller than about 2 stories. This is what it looks like when you walk the narrow streets. WELL........what a surprise when you look inside the doors, it's unbeliveable! Courtyards with beautiful gardens, little stores, craft shops, you name it. You would never guess what is in there unless you actually go in (as there isn't alot of signage around here).

Very misleading on the outside! I love this place. So many things to explore!!

We are leaving in about 15 minutes to go to Guatemala City. We stay the night and then fly to Tikal for 2 days. It's going to be a busy. The group leaves Friday.

I will make my way back to Antigua and check into my "room". I'm staying with a Guatemalan family. $10.00 US a day. My own room, shared bathroom and they feed me 3 times a day. I will have to speak Spanish. Can't learn unless you do!

Spanish classes will be from 8 to noon (Mon to Fri), and I will be doing some other volunteer work in the afternoon. I'm checking out one place on Monday to see if the right fit.

Hasta Leugo!

Burger King and McDonald's

Yup, those 2 are here! I 'm sorry to say that I stopped in there today to buy a coke and fries. I broke down. I had to do it. I can report that McDonald's has consistency in their products offered. This was for research!

Today we had a choice of climbing a Volcano (can't remember it's name) . 1 hr drive there and a 4 hour hike up /down. I picked the second option of the coffee plantation tour. It's only 2 hours this afternoon. I will be seeing enough volcano's on my Nov trip.

I spent the morning checking out the Spanish School I registered with. Centro Linguistico De La Fuente. Good thing I did, as they had me down as "cancelled". I didn't think that the lady I spoke to just before I left Calgary in confirming my registration over the internet really understood english. No problemo, all fixed. I had a tour and was also able to visit the home that I will be staying at. The lady of the house doesn't speak any english at all, so I will have no option but to apply my learning of the day once I start. It's funny how I understand most of what they are saying in Spanish if said slowly, it's just that I can't communicate back. Must be that my dad has always spoken to me in Italian, I've just alway's spoken english. Unless of course if I'm with another Calabrese friend and we are making fun of a muncha cake we don't know!

Got to go......... I have to see where the coffee Starbucks buys is from. I've heard working conditions for some of the plantations is very hard.

Reincarnation & Firecrackers

In the Mayan religion, they believe in reincarnation. Our tour guide today spoke about how he would want to live the same life again and not change anything. It makes you think about what you would want to do differently if anything at all.

Firecrackers are set off for celebrations all the time here. We had them set off for us when we left Mercedes village. It feels kind of strange to have this kind of "attention", but they do it with so much joy.

We are in Antigua now, as we left Panajachel first thing this morning. This Colonial town is like being in a small town in Spain. It's so different . You see most people wearing Western clothing.

This is going to be my home for the next month once I finish off the touring with Hearts and Hands.

One Glass of Water From an OCEAN

The stove and water filter project is now complete. We installed 180 estufas and 36 aqua filtros.

We have a total of 30 people. 22 from Hearts and Hands Foundation and 8 from Helps International. There was no medical clinic this week.

We were put in teams of 6. 4 of us and 2 from Helps. One of the Helps staff speaks Spanish and English, the other speaks Spanish and one of the Mayan dilects. There needs to be a lot of translation!

My team originally consisted of Stephanie, a Doctor from the USA and Megan from Helps. We were responsible for the water filters. Stephanie twisted her knee on the second day, so I was left on my own as Megan had to drive her to Guatemala City. Megan is a 25 year old who has lived here for 2 years. She coordinates all the Medical Clinics. They have quite a few throughout the year, usually 10 or so Doctors and the line up to see this free clinic for the Mayan people is about 500 to 700 a DAY! The stories she told me were super wild!

John and his team, Yolanda, Linda and Mauricio welcomed me with open arms. Teresa was our Mayan translater. We actually were in a different spot than the others, who were in San Jorge la Laguna, a very poor village more city style. We were in the rural area. The super tall cornfields was our friend when we had to go to the bathroom!

Every day was an adventure! Broken drills, broken rivets, missing stove pieces....you name it, but we worked it all out. I was floating between the outside stove..Nixtalmalera....and the inside stove...Plancha, helping as needed.

This is the rainy season, so every day in the afternoon it rains. Hard sometimes. We were caught in it a few times, were walking in the fields and steep hills was a challenge! I was scared at times, but my team held my hand to safety!

The people in each of the homes were remarkable! It was the women at home, with the kids. Sometimes we would see the odd man, but most of them were working out in the fields. They were all very helpful and most offered us juice or pop with a sweet bun! Every day at lunch time, one of the families would cook us lunch, where all the families had pitched in for the food. It was the same every day. A soup with potatoes, carrots, squash and meat, PLUS tortillas! Those tortillas are awesome. This was a meal they make for special occassions. They serve us and just watch us eat, they did not join us. If there was a man at home, he ate as well, but not at our table.

We had so many special moments, that I would need a lot of time to record them all, here are just a few,

• Yolanda had brought a Dora doll that one of her friends daughter, who is 5 back home in Calgary, gave her to give to a special little girl here in Guatemala. We met up with a 5 year old, Maria, who was our guide one day in bringing us to the next house, so Yolanda got excited and thought, this is the one! Well....when she pulled out the doll, Maria started to cry and was scared of it. We are not sure if it was her hair, or if she had never seen a doll before!
• John customizing the indoor stove with less blocks so it would not be that tall for one of the ladies who was 96 years old! You had to see her walk...barefoot.... she had so much energy! The respect everyone shows for elders and parents, is amazing! Everyone greeted this lady by kissing her hand!
• The very emotional good bye Mercedes had for us. She spoke in her language but we all knew what she was saying while she was crying and we were too. They have nothing, yet they showed us such great hospitality and even gave us a gift from the communtiy, that all the ladies pitched in for. A purse each! We gave her a small gift as well, 100Q and 40Q for her son that helped. Yolanda also gave here some pictures she had developed here. There is an amazing one of Mercedes and her grandson Jose that just speaks volumes about them!

Last night was our beer and pizza night, where we all had a chance to round table some of the moments we had.

WOW! Was this ever emotional.

So many people were crying, especially when Dr Ann spoke about how there was this one lady that just came up to her out of the blue and blessed her. Several days later she saw this lady again, who came up to her and gave her this beaded necklace with a small pouch. Dr Ann knew that this was were she was to keep the locket she always carries of her husbands ashes, who just died one year ago!

Vicki spoke about the one little girl in one of her houses who had a see through mask on due to her burned face and the amazing smile she had.

Barry was a mess when he spoke about this sad little girl watching him leave their house. He said that this look will always stay with him.

I could go on and on.............but I hope these few stories give you an idea of what we are experiencing.

Rebecca from Helps International tried to sum it up by saying that we are helping her people by giving them one glass of water from an ocean full!

Aprons ROCK!

My aunt made me over 60 aprons to give to the ladies of Guatemala to use with their new stoves.

I started giving some out yesterday and I can´t describe how excited they get and the smile they give you. No matter what age they are, they all giggle and look at each other. None of them speak Spanish as they all have their own Mayan dilect, so I have no idea what they are saying.

I´ve been taking lots of pictures so far so I will be able to show my friends the experience I am having ...and of course for my photoalbum!

We have our local guide in the village asking... or should I say motioning...for me to take another picture of the same as she wants me to mail them her one. It´s hard to try and explain we can make doubles, so I just take another picture. I don´t have a digital, but others in the group do, and when they look at their pictures, they always giggle!

This lady I just mentioned is 48 years old, she is a grandmother, has 11 children ..ranging from 30 to 7 years old and 1 grandchild' which she always has strapped to her back! Her name is Mercedes...

Got to go......................

Bella does Guatemala

I'm here! This is going to take me forever. The computer program is in Spanish and I needed a lot of help from the Internet guy, and that was just on my first word.

I have a new name here. Not totally new but an abbreviated one due to another person on the trip having a similar name............AND....... another traveller with us- Dr Anne has a similar middle name. What are those odd's?

Me llamo Bella.

I have a lot of updating to do- but it will have to wait until another day, as I'm really tired right now and don't have much time tonight.

It was a FANTASTIC day. My team installed water filters and 2 stoves each for the 5 families we were assigned. Our goal is 5 families per day for the next 3 days.

Can you believe I used a drill AND a rivet today??? I am so outside of my comfort box- but it feels great!

I want and NEED a LEATHERMAN!!

Encouragement Can Create Miracles

It's time! I'm getting ready for my 2 month trip to Central America. I leave this Sunday.......eeks! Am I ready? Kind of. Our group leaves Calgary bright and early: Calgary, Dallas, Guatemala City.

We all met up last Sunday to pack up all our supplies. Each of us are bringing 2 hockey bags full of school supplies, medicine, kids' clothes, shoes, toys and hygiene stuff. Even though we are bringing 100 lbs each and there are about 25 of us- we still have a lot of donations that could not come with us. The organzier will be bringing these with her on the next trip in January.

I alone had enough to fill 5 hockey bags! A SUPER THANK YOU to all my friends that helped out. Hope I don't forget anyone! Thank you- Keri-Ann, Steve, Marina, Bill, Liz, Mike, Phyllis, Silvanna, Anna, Rosa, Heather, both MT's, Kathy, my aunt who sewed 66 aprons, my Dentist and his supplier, Calgary Stampede Casino and the city who gave me some Calgary pins and a pile of pencils.

People are very generous when asked to help!

I'll be with the Foundation until Sept 29th, then I'll be staying in Antigua, Guatemala with a Guatemalan family to take Spanish and do some other volunteer work (might be an orphanage or a school). I'll need to make my way to San Jose, Costa Rica to pick up a tour for Nov 1st. The tour brings me back up to Antigua via Monteverde Cloud Forest, Arenal Volcano, Nicaragua, Ometepe Island, Granada, Honduras, Roatan Bay Islands, and Copan. I'll be back in Calgary late Nov 18th.

www.heartshands.ca

Better go to try and figure out how I pack a carry on with my personal items for this trip!

Starbucks the Antichrist?

Did you know that if you order a tall non-fat tazo chai and pay with a $10.00 bill you get $6.66 back in change?

One of their cashiers pointed this out to me.

I'm not sure if she would be a star sales performer.

Evil

It exists every day.

What is morally bad or wrong for most people, isn't for some.

September 11, 2001. 9/11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks

I LOVE My Hair!

This is the title of a book I just bought for my hairdresser. It's a fun read- "a happy book".

Get Real. You love your hair. You are successful at life. You have really got it together. Everything you say is fascinating. There is just something special about you. Your perception of reality is right on target.

Get Moving. You look attractive in anything you wear. You make things happen. What a great dancer you are. People really like you. People want to feel your magic. You are very good looking.

Get a Mirror. You are easy to love. You are a positive individual. You express yourself. You thrive in relationships. You don't have a problem. You know what to do in a crisis.

Get a Sense of Humor. You generate your own solutions. You enjoy the holidays. You are always right. You eat well-balanced meals. You are so much more interesting than most people. You know who you are. You like your job.

Get a Dog or a Baby. You make choices. You can pack for travel. You make a lot of money. You are able to let go. You create your own destiny. You are your own hero.

Who needs self-help books, when one is PERFECT!

Gong Show

Wal-Mart on a Friday night.

I witnessed one lady walking around the store with a bird on her shoulder.

A few minutes later, I heard another lady yelling at her son and making him take the broom from one of the Wal-Mart staff so he could clean up the mess he made himself (pop all over the floor).

Wow! I LOVE Wal-Mart!!!!!

Tip: A great book to read is: The United States of Wal-Mart

Freedom of Speech

Okay- I've opened up the COMMENTS section once again. I've had friends say they would like to comment on my blog right in the blog. It's easy to do- just please identify yourself when entering the comment (first name only).

Please keep it CLEAN!!! Thanks..........

Snob no longer

I admit it. I really thought that Value Village was only for Halloween costumes or for super bargain shoppers. Second hand clothing from people I don't know? Yucky. Well....I was very wrong! Value Village ROCKS!

In preparing for my Guatemala trip, one of the other volunteers suggested I get my "working clothes" (to build the stoves/water filters and not what you are thinking) from Value Village. This way you don't pay a lot of money and you can dispose of after use. Good plan I thought. I had to look in the phone book to see where one was as I could not remember. I parked and see several Hutterites going in. Oh Oh. I then see a women in the store with a cart full of stuff carrying a REAL Louis Vuitton purse. Wow. Shoppers from all demographics!

The store in the South is large and very well laid out. You have to go up and down the aisles, and some clothing is really noticeable as second hand- BUT- MOST is NOT! I was so excited! They even carry books! I picked up so many items for my trip and only spent $40.00. Yippee!!!

I'm taking Jr there tonight.

Bag Lady

Just recently, my friend Heather gave me donations for my Guatemala trip packed in several bags. One of the bags is a nice paper bag from "lululemon athletica" with all these great tip's.........

Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins from your body and keeps your brain sharp. Observe a plant before and after being watered and relate these benefits to your body and brain.

Breathe: this lets you live in the moment. Stretch: this releases toxins from your muscles.

Do yoga so you can remain active in physical sports as you age.

Wear sunscreen. Listen, listen, listen, and then ask strategic questions. SWEAT once a day to regenerate your skin.

Compliments from the heart elevate others' spirit and will often result in an encouraging word from someone else...a domino effect.

Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.

Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle them.

Write down your short and long term GOALS four times a year. Two personal, two business and one health goal. A study at Yale University found that only 3% of the students had written goals. Twenty years later, the same 3% were wealthier than the other 97% combined.

You ALWAYS have a choice and the conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought. Visualize your eventual demise. It has an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.

LOVE. Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to. Nature wants us to be mediocre because we have a greater chance to survive and reproduce. Mediocre is as close to the bottom as it is to the top.

Be creative. Do one thing a day that scares you.

Take various vitamins. You never know what small mineral can eliminate the bottleneck to everlasting health. DANCE, SING, FLOSS and TRAVEL.

Friends are more important than money. Don't trust that an old age pension will be sufficient.

Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flows over the water. Stress is related to 99% of all illnesses. One hour of aerobic exercise will release endorphins to regenerate cless and offset stress. A daily hit of athletic induced endorphins will give you the power to make better decisions and help you be at peace with yourself.

Wake up and realize you are surrounded by amazing friends.

The world is changing at such a rapid rate that waiting to implement changes will leave you two steps behind. Do it now. DO IT NOW!!

I like getting paper bags with messages........ I now take the time to read them!!