Getting Personal

Forever Learning

I learned to live by the rule of "Enjoy every minute as it will be your last but learn every day as if you would live forever." Maya Angelou said that and my grandmother use to tell me the same thing. One of my favorite books is 'The Present' by Spencer Johnson; it is about being in the present moment, enjoying it instead of worrying so much about the future or being hung up on the past. I see a lot of people wasting their time in the past or their future and forgetting to truly live the moment they are in. The sad thing is sometimes they waste their whole life staying in the past and never moving forward.

It doesn't hurt to look back and learn from our past experiences. This is ideal if you are using it to see what you could have done differently and how you could use the lessons to create a better future. I recently engaged in an inventory of my life and lessons learned exercise, like spring cleaning of the heart and the mind.  In the process I found out that I learned to forget and forgive, to love unconditionally and to accept that I am responsible for my own happiness. I learned and accepted that we make the choice to be happy or unhappy, to stay in a situation that makes us unhappy or to move on to a better one. I realize that sometimes we don't have a choice but we always have a choice about our attitude, which one is it going to be? To be miserable because we think we are stuck in a bad relationship or a bad job or bad finances or to accept the facts of our situation, work on resolving it and decide to be happy and positive in the meantime. I learned to communicate openly and freely and not expect someone to read my mind. I learned that being able to communicate feelings and thoughts is very important. I learned that communication, respect and passion have to go hand in hand in my romantic life for it to work. When we don't share what we are really feeling or thinking it leads to misunderstandings, regrets and dissatisfaction. I learned that liking each other as human beings is as important as loving each other, having a foundation of a friendship and really caring for the person you are with makes relationships work better. Passion and being able to express it, making your partner feel loved and wanted are all components of what makes it work. I also learned that a loving relationship requires constant tending, just like a garden requires tending for it to blossom.

My career has given me the opportunity to live and travel in many different locations. My passion for learning about different places has taken me all over the world; from rural towns in the continental USA to Caribbean Islands, Europe and Asia. All the places that I've lived at and my vacations have always been awesome. Every place has had its own charm and beauty. Each experience brought me a lesson of life or different cultures. A new taste, a new point of view, new people and new music. I've never considered any of my vacation experiences bad; even when it rained and thunder stormed every day during my one and only trip to Cancun Mexico; or when I was stuck by myself at the airport in Taiwan for thirty two (32!) hours without understanding a word of what was being spoken around me; or when we got lost walking the streets in Paris with my daughters' French High School class (we had a scary encounter with a gang in the subway) and didn't find our Hotel until 2am. In the end we saw more of Paris and enjoyed is calm beauty better than anyone else on the tour. Each one of the not ideal scenarios brought me a new experience, a new lesson or an opportunity. You have to be open and willing to adapt to be able to appreciate the new twist in your plans.

I have tried to live my life without looking back and wondering if I made the right decisions here or there, trying not to go to the 'what ifs'. Living by the rule of 'No regrets' has been my motto. Recently I talked to my children about my desire to get a tattoo with no regrets translated to Latin. They decided to help me out and came up with what they felt was a more appropriate term, they recommended 'quod desiderium' (meaning undaunted) or 'quod impavidus' (meaning no fear. I liked the 'no fear, undaunted' view they had of me. It gave me a sense of pride to realize that my children perceived that I was living my life with a no fear attitude, hopefully it's something they do to. Life is too short to live it in fear of anything.

I've been blessed in many, many, many ways. Part of the blessing is the ability to be able to turn obstacles into opportunities, to see painful situations and tragedy as lessons in this life intended to make me a better and more spiritual being. To be happy and grateful for every day I get, for every person I meet, for the relationships and love I have and for being here.

Enjoy every minute, chose your attitude, chose to be happy and give someone a reason to smile every day including yourself.

I wish you happiness, health, balance and abundance in your life, above all I wish you the ability to chose to be happy and be in the present.

Salud!

Written by Zahira J Coll, all rights reserved, the content of this article, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. She is currently the Executive Director for ROME Salon and Day Spa in Houston TX.

Acai Berry n FWM Labs rip-off

One of the super foods that everyone is talking about is Acai Berry. Because it is so popular the internet is filled with "Free Trial offers". One of the companies is FWM Labs, their offer is like many others, the difference is that their intent is to rip you off. "If it sounds too good to be true it is too good to be true". If you are interested in using Acai Berry get more information on Acai Berry itself, what does it do, what are the benefits, what are the possible side effects? I found a great site with tons of information at Acai Berry Studies. However I do not recommend for you to click on the Free Trial Offer, (unless you read all of it and you are sure you want to try it). The other option is to go to a Health Food Store and purchase it there instead of giving your credit card number to one of the many  sites that lure you with the free sample offer and then they automatically set you up for charges and automatic shipments.

I became a little obsessed trying to figure out what was the best offer. Most, if not all of them, offer a supposedly FREE trial, which is very clever because who doesn't like a free sample. They way it works is that when you request the supposedly free trial sample, you will be required to pay for shipping and handling. This will require a credit/debit card and all your billing information and then you might be stuck with fees that you don't expect, purchases that you don't expect and endless charges to your credit card. Which was the case with my friend Nancy, she ordered her FREE sample through FWM Labs at one of the many offers they have on line. When she realized the charges being posted to her credit card it took numerous phone calls to her bank and to FWM Labs before we could cancel the auto shipment and future charges to her credit card. Unfortunately we couldn't get a refund at all.

It took a few attempts to find a number for them that was not disconnected, then what we got was a  recording with a menu of options. If you are patient enough to wait until you hear the option to talk to a person (dialing 0 won't get you anywhere) they are reading from a script and won't really give you the answers to your questions. They keep repeating the same thing over and over without agreeing to having done anything wrong. I asked to speak to a supervisor, no luck. What happened to old fashion customer service? I called other companies just to see if they all worked the same way. The phone reps have been trained to get you to sign for the free sample and to get your credit card information. With FWM Lab, because we were calling to dispute a charge, we had a harder time being able to talk to a representative. In the end we had to get the credit card company to get involved. Sadly we couldn't get Nancy a refund because FWM Labs got her with their alleged refund policy (the fine print that we couldn't find in Nancy's offer or paperwork). This fine print allegedly states that if you don't return the sample within 15 days (which is not really true because they post the charge to your credit card before the 15 days have passed), they will charge your credit card for the full value (the value is not listed and it could be anything from $65 to $95 per bottle plus shipping and tax). Let's stop for a minute and analyze this; it is a Free sample but if you like the product and keep it then you pay full price, what is FREE about that? What a rip-off. Plus how do you even know if it is working in less than fifteen days? Acai Berry might be a super food but you don't really see results that quickly.

They also alleged that in this fine print it is clearly stated that you will then be placed in an automatic shipment schedule. But don't worry, they tell you, you can cancel at any time. Sounds easy, huh? Well it is not that simple, first you have to know from the beginning that you will be charged automatically and you have to know where to go to cancel or what number to call, then you have to know the timing of your cancellation so it can be effective when you want and not in the next billing cycle. You also need to know the name or names the transaction of how would show on your credit card statement. Nancy's credit card statements showed three different company names, even the amounts where not identical. If you are not vigilant with your statements you might miss the frequency and amounts, which is what happened to Nancy and she was being charged twice for every bottle of Acai Berry she received, once as Acai and the other as a Detox, but she never received the detox product. Her credit card was charged four times and she only received the 'alleged' free sample and one more bottle within 15 days of receiving the first one.

The lesson learned is that we are inundated with internet offers and it is convenient to shop on line and to take advantage of legitimate offers. Unfortunately there are a lot of companies and individuals out there trying to make a quick buck, the internet is full of scams and it is up to each one of us to weed out the legitimate offers from the junk. Before you take advantage of any offer, do an internet search under the name of the company and see if there are any complaints or Blogs talking about the shopping experience with them. If there is a telephone number listed, call and test how difficult it is (or easy) to talk to a person, ask them about what happens if you keep the free sample, etc.

What irritates me most is that a Free sample is supposed to be FREE!!!! If you want to charge then don't call it Free, just give a discount or just send 5 pills instead of 30. Don't mislead innocent people, that is just not good business practice and it is a dishonest way to get people to buy your product. If you want some Acai Berry DON'T buy it from FWM Labs in FL.........

Starting Over.....

It's been over a year since I started a new journey. Last April I made the decision that life was too short to be wasted in any way, shape or form. This thinking applied to work, career, relationships and love. It was not an impulse decision and it was not immediate. Looking back and reading all my journal entries for the previous four years I realize now that it took me that long to make all the choices that led me to here and today.

Anytime we contemplate big changes in our life we experience fear, stress, uncertainty, we question our thinking and we might not do what we think we want to but what we think will be the least dramatic. In my case I've always been careful about not wanting to rock the boat too much. I spent years analyzing the what if's; tried to figure out ways to keep everyone happy; thought about how to make the changes affecting the least amount of people, etc. In the end I was making myself physically ill and emotionally miserable. I was afraid to jump for fear of the unknown. I prayed, talked to friends and family. Everyone had a different opinion and most of them couldn't understand why I wouldn't just leave the relationship, quit the career and start all over it. I asked advice from strangers and from close ones until one day I woke up and knew exactly what I had to do. Too bad the thought was only about what do to and not how to do it. In the end I jumped and accomplished to turn my life upside down and sideways. Without wanting I also caused some pain. I learned that it does not matter if you think and know you don't love someone anymore they might still love you and they might still be hurt by your decision and you have to be ok with causing that pain.

Looking back I think I could have done some things a little different but I don't regret going for it. In the process I've gained so much that it makes this last year so worth it. I have found angels that have guided me and helped me along the way. I found understanding, love and support from my children and my family, the true meaning of unconditional love is what my family is about. I realized that if I had not opened my heart and mind to receive the changes and to welcome new people in my life I would have been shutting all the doors of opportunity and happiness. I had to start all over, relocated to a different state, and changed careers, lost a lot but gained so much more.

We tend to get so comfortable in doing things one way or hoping things will get better on their own, or just looking the other way because we are not ready to deal with our true feelings. We tend to think we have forever and that we can just wait one more day or one more week, which turns into one more month or more years. When we do this we don't realize that we could be closing the possibilities for positive change, for true love, for progress and improvement. 

I'm not proud of being twice divorced. I'm not proud of settling for less than what I truly wanted. I'm not proud for not listening to my inner voice when it knew the changes I had to make. I'm not proud for putting my children through the ups and downs of moving a lot, changing jobs, not trusting their instinct and advice. I'm not proud of not listening to my Dad's opinion and advice. I'm not proud for causing pain in the way I ended things. However, I am proud of moving forward. I am proud of finding my balance and fighting for it. I'm proud of trying to always be kind and caring. I'm proud of the relationship I have with my children, my family and my friends. I'm proud of not being afraid to love again. I'm proud for understanding my imperfections and my true self. Most importantly I'm proud of who I've become after 45+ years.

Don't be afraid, fight for what you want, jump, have faith in you. It is never too late!

Stay tuned..................... 

Written by Zahira J Coll, all rights reserved, the content of this article, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

Love

What is true love? What is the reality of Love? 

To know someone loves you so deeply and completely that you feel it in every sense.

To know you love someone so deeply and completely that if you lost that person you would feel such pain, such despair that you feel you won't be able to survive the loss.

To settle for anything less than a complete and wonderful love is to think less of you and of what you deserve. To be loved and to love until the end of time (like the song says) is rare, is a gift and sometimes we are so hung up on the day to day that we forget that there is such a thing.

To be able to love and receive love so big, you have to love yourself, you have to know that you are capable of loving more than you love yourself, you have to be able to want, to desire, to give and to love in such a way that your heart feels like it is about to explode; that you feel like there is not enough air; that you only want and desire to make that person happy. Your needs become secondary, their needs become primary. You also have to be able to keep whole, if the person you love is deserving of such love and loves you with the same intensity and passion they will desire to make you happy and because it is both of you wanting to make each other happy, it works, it is true love.

What is the reality of love? We want to love, we want to feel loved, yet most of the time we settle for just a "happy" feeling an OK relationship. Sometimes one person in the relationship is the only one that gives, gives and the other one takes, takes. Sometimes one person is always trying to make the other happy and the other person is not reciprocating. The result is that one loves more than the other and this is not how love is supposed to be. The result is that one is miserable and the other is happy. The result is that you close the door to finding real love by settling for a relationship like that. It takes bravery to not settle, it takes the ability to being happy on your own to be open to what you might find. Some people find it without looking, others need to be guided into it. Even with real powerful love a relationship takes work, understanding, caring, and you 'liking' that person at all times. Liking each other all the time is not easy, they will do things that make you question why you love them, you will do things that make them wonder why they love you. But as long as you can still love each other, even when you are not liking each other, then it is true love.

Why do we sometimes feel like our heart is crying and we need and want more than what our partner is willing, able, capable or wanting to give us?  How many chances do you get in a lifetime to find true love?  Do experiences, age, insecurities and hurt make you doubt, a non believer in the power of love, skeptical, cynical? What happens to those out there that still believe in happy endings, in true love, in looking for that feeling that rocks your world? What happens to those out there that want to find their soul mate, that do not want to give up? What happens to those out there that are willing to sacrifice the 'status quo' to go in the search of true love or forever happiness.

Yeah, I'm a romantic at heart, at 40++ I still believe in happy endings, I believe in fairy tales. I believe in LOVE.  I salute all of you that have found it and wish you eternal happiness. I encourage those of you that have not found it and wish you success in your search.

Go love and be loved!

Written on July 14, 2008, TN @ 8PM - Written by Zahira J Coll, all rights reserved, the content of this article, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

 

New Year Resolutions

It came too fast and now that it's here I am trying to figure out what to commit to. I read someplace that the best way to accomplish your New Year's resolutions is to only have ONE on your list. That the reason we don't do any is because we plan on doing too many. That is true of my list of personal goals at the beginning of each year, I write so many that then it becomes overwhelming to be able to achieve them and half way through the year I forget why I even wanted to do some of them in the first place.

My brother and I talked about it and he decided it was perfect so we dared each other to come up with just one Resolution for 2008, we had until Jan 1st to do it.  He came up with the Resolution of buying a car, since he goes to work via Public Transportation, this made sense. Unfortunately just buying the car would not cut it, since first he needs to save the money to buy the car and second he needs to get a driver's license. We decided that to get the car the other two are part of it, since they are all related to the one goal, it is still just one. He was done but I needed an extension, my list was still holding more than four resolutions in it.

I could not come up with just one, I tried and tried and between wanting to be more Eco knowledgeable and greener in my way of life; wanting to loose 10 pounds; remodeling my kitchen; going back to my weekly Yoga classes, etc, etc it was back to what I had always done. Then I remembered that at the ISPA Conference last November I heard a speaker say the following, "Live like it is your last day on earth but learn like you will live forever." and it hit me, that was it. That is how I try to live life and what I preach to others, to enjoy every moment to the fullest, to not waste our precious time on this earth and to do the absolute best we can every second we have the gift of life. I looked for my notes on what Dr Maya Angelou had said in her keynote speech and I found the following: "We are composers helping each other compose lives. It is imperative that the composer give itself the authority to say not here, it is imperative that you laugh, a cheerful spirit is good medicine"

In the end my 2008 resolution is to live by these two wise statements; I will be a composer in my life and the life of others around me and I will live like it is my last day but learn like I will live forever.

Cheers to a wonderful 2008!

Stay tuned.........

My favorite TV Shows

I don't have time to watch TV so I am super picky about what I do take time to watch. My choices don't make sense to other people. I love shows like Cane, http://alpha.cbs.com/primetime/cane/, Heroes, http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/, and CSI, http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/. I do find that if I watch them I have to follow it with something like The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives or Brothers and Sisters. I guess those balance the other images out. The key is to not go to bed until I have replaced the blood, dead people and depressing images.

I am enjoying the new season of Brothers and Sisters a lot, I am a big fan of Sally Field and the cast that they put together for this show, if you have not seen it, check it out http://www.tv.com/brothers-and-sisters/show/58012/summary.html

My other absolute favorite is Weeds, but I don't have Showtime so I patiently wait until the Season is available in DVD. I thought I was being clever doing it that way, but then I found this website http://www.sho.com/site/weeds/home.do. Now I know what is going on without watching it and when it gets released on DVD I will feel as if I didn't miss anything or had to wait too long.

If you like any of these shows and want to share your experiences with me do email me or make a comment to this post.

Stay tuned.........

Chicago-Dallas-San Francisco and Las Vegas

In the last three weeks I've had to travel from Las Vegas to Chicago, to Dallas, to San Francisco and back to Las Vegas. It would not have been that bad if I had days in between to catch my breath but it has been a whirlwind of airplanes, presenting lectures, training people, having meetings, selling our services and my manuals, going to networking events, going to bed late and getting up very early, etc. 

As I sat in airports, planes, restaurants and hotel lobbies I found myself observing, critiquing and being annoyed at the mediocre service we get in most places. For example, at the Las Vegas airport they got annoyed with me because I refused to use the self-service machine. I like to check in at the airport with an actual agent, I always have tons of luggage and/or want to get a better seat on my flight, I like personal interaction. So I don't do the self-service check-in that 'US Airways, Continental Airlines and even American Airlines' are setting up every where (don't know about any other ones cause I mostly use these three airlines). I insisted, they insisted and I felt like I was putting them off, upsetting them and then I thought "I am the customer here and yet they treat us like we bother them." In the end I did it my way but it was not easy and/or as pleasant as I wanted it to be. If anyone knows of an airline that encourages the interaction with the Agents let me know, I'll start using it.

Another example of borderline service; In one of the Restaurants we went to, a little on the expensive side, we had around 12 people at the table and a few bottles of nice wine was ordered. towards the end of the meal we still had more than 1/2 a bottle full and the server completely ignored us for 15 minutes or more. Then he came back offered coffee and dessert but ignored the wine glasses and water glasses that needed refilling. One of the dining companions asked the bus person to let the server know we would like to finish our wine and that we needed more water. No one came back, other than to present the check to the group leader. The server never brought the bottle back to the table nor did they refill the water again. I was just observing how the attitude by the staff was to dismissed the table as soon as they realized they were not up-selling and/or selling anything else, mind you the total for the dinner was over $1,500 plus tip, you would have expected them to continue to take care of the table until we walked out the door.

On the bright side I did stay at a great 'Westin Hotel' in Chicago with very pleasant staff, excellent facilities, great customer service and FREE Starbucks coffee service in the room. Dallas was a different story and even though 'The Fairmont Hotel' we chose was nice and clean, the staff was not as service driven as you would expect from a four diamond property. The Lobby Lounge was always busy but every time we sat there looking to buy a drink, coffee and/or a snack we would wait more than 20 minutes for someone to appear from the back. It looked like they only had one server/host/bartender person and no one else working that area. We ended up deciding to have all our meals and drinks outside the Hotel which results in a loss revenue for the Hotel. What are they thinking when they do the schedules?

In San Francisco we spent time training and meeting with the owners of the soon to open Acqua Di Roma Spa and I fell in love with the location and the concept, can not wait to visit when its done. We had fabulous dinners and found a brand new Vietnamese cuisine Restaurant, 'Bong Su', located on Third St. This restaurant had excellent service and excellent food, if you visit SF do try to eat there.

Then on my way back home I had another mediocre experience with the check-in process at the airport. The US Airways check-in agent was already upset with me because I insisted on not using the self-service kiosk, but then I asked for an aisle seat, he confirmed verbally that they had plenty but ended up giving me a window seat. I pointed the mistake and asked again for an Aisle seat, without saying a word he took my boarding pass and did it again = same thing. I tried a third time and he mentioned that he knew I wanted Aisle, he was seeing the Aisle seats available but that his brain was just not computing it and he was giving me window seats, I smiled and sweetly asked him if he could fix it (it was his mistake after all) he makes a face at me and says "you are going to have to seat on window seat or change it at the Gate because I am done helping you!".....

Excuse me for wanting accurate customer service! Hello, did I hear him right? I did leave, no use trying to deal with someone that stupid. I had it changed at the Gate and for a second wanted to tell that agent what had happened and decided against it, why bother!

The sad part is that these companies do not really care about their customer service levels. However the consumer in general is starting to demand value and service for what they pay. We no longer accept bad service, we just decide to go someplace else. Someplace where we are treated with respect, common courtesy and where we feel it is not all about the money we pay, were we feel they do want to do a good job and provide good service.

Do not accept anything but great customer service no matter where you are and/or what you are buying, you deserve it!

He was not ready

When death claimed him he was not ready. He was still young, had just turned 45, he had so much he still wanted to do, to accomplish.

He did not want to go, he refused, he tried to negotiate with the angel of death, he held on to life, he begged, he cried, he struggled for four days. The Doctore where trying to figure out, "How was he still holding on to life? There was no medical reason for it, he was just hanging by a thread. He was not ready, he did not want to die.

In his semi conscious mind, he thought of the good byes he would have said, to his girls, to his mother, to his wife. He had no choice, he had to go, his time was up. He cried for the life he was leaving behind, he cried for the growing up he was going to miss, he cried for the wife he was leaving alone with a mountain of debt to figure out. He cried for himself, for having wasted time thinking he had tomorrow, for not having said I love you enough, for not having hugged them enough, for not having been a better person, he cried for all the wasted time and for not believing that the end would come. He cried as he drifted away without the time or strength to say "I love you, forgive me but I have to go, my time is up."

Written by Zahira J Coll, all rights reserved, the content of this story, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

The art of conversation

The art of conversation is lost in our age of technology. Unfortunately, family members talk to each other to deal with the specifics of the day-to-day, but not necessarily about life, goals, dreams, or why the sky is blue. If you are a parent, when was the last time that you sat together for dinner as a family, without any TVs, Ipods, Gameboys, etc? Or when was the last time that you and your significant other sat together for dinner at home, and actually talked about life instead of whether he/she remembered to pick up the dry cleaners, call the plumber, or make the bank deposit?   

I enjoy conversation; I believe it is one of the things that really help relationships stay healthy. When you are able to share your inner thoughts, your fears, dreams or just some silly thing you saw or read, it helps you connect with another human being. Ideally your loved one is your conversation partner, sometimes they are not the most suitable person to have those talks with, but we all need someone to talk to; it could be a friend or your hairstylist, your sister, your daughter, someone!

The other important part of conversing is that you are required to listen. Yes you could have a monologue but then you would not be conversing with anyone but yourself, right? Listening is actually the most important part of any conversation. When you listen attentively to the other person, participating with your thoughts when appropriate, they will feel you are a great conversationalist, because being great at the Art of Conversation requires you to be an excellent listener.

Wikipedia defines conversation as “communication by two or more people, or sometimes with one’s self, often on a particular subject. Conversations are the ideal form of communication in some respects, since they allow people with different views of a topic to learn from each other.”

That is what I love about it, the learning from each other, and the being able to share different points of views or ideas with others. Sometimes you could find it difficult and annoying if someone misunderstands what you are trying to say. It happens but it is important to keep the communication line open and try to clarify or rectify what was misunderstood.

Recently I was pleasantly surprised to discover that even though adults don’t think that teenagers or young adults want to or care about conversing, this might not be the case all the time. I just had two experiences that made me wonder if we are not the ones discouraging our young generation from having real conversations. The youth group at my church just put together an event with a play about the 50s and how it compares to our world today. These young adults were pointing out the great and better ways of the 50s when it came to family union; to having dinner together as a family and talking about every one’s day; how in the “old days” friends hung out together and entertained themselves with talking; how they don’t like that in the world of today all communication is electronic and no one is listening to anyone. It was very refreshing to hear this group of young adults point out what is wrong with how we are parenting them, to understand why they crave an era that was mostly based on family unity.

The second experience came from my 16 year old niece. She has been spending the summer with me and every time we have a chance, rather than watch TV or play with the computer or some electronic game, she has requested “stories”. She has questions about family values, religious beliefs, boys, school, career, life in general; and she also wanted to know about my life when I was a teen, her mom’s life, how things were in the past. These young adults want us to talk with them (not at them) to share our past, our foundations, our beliefs, to help guide them through life today and to listen to their thoughts, ideas, what they go through every day without judging or telling them how to do it. Yeah, I know they don’t want to talk all the time, but it is up to us to seize the moment when they are in the mood for talking and having a conversation with us. I did it with my niece and I’ve learned as much or more from her as I hope she learned from spending the summer with me.

Back to the art of conversation, I encourage you to have deeper, more meaningful conversations with those around you. Instead of an email, pick up the phone or, better yet, invite them to have coffee or tea with you and talk face to face. You might be surprised at what you learn and how much you enjoy it. 

"Thanks for listening!"

I opened an online Store!

I am so proud and happy and feeling very accomplished. I just finished all the details and programming to open my very first On-line store; www.ZysBoutique.com. It has been quite a journey, and as with all life journeys, not what I had imagined. To understand why this is such a big deal to me, you need to know the details of the journey, so here it goes....the story of Zys Boutique.

My sister, who was diagnosed "legally blind" a couple of years ago, decided to become a handcrafted jewelry Artisan. When that happened she started to think about what to do with her talent and how to turn it into an income venue. (To read her story, do go to http://www.zysboutique.com/page/page/4510220.htm).  She was not ready to stop working, she wanted to continue to earn a living. She started to talk to me about helping her out and using my Boutique idea to create an On-line store with her. She knew that I had been planning and dreaming of opening a Boutique in Las Vegas. Unfortunately I was stopped in my tracks due to finances, personal issues and lack of support from whom I needed it most. The money I needed as a starting capital was being used to promote our consulting business and my partner really felt this was not the time for me to switch courses. Even though I understood his logic, in my heart I felt disappointed that I was not being encouraged to pursue my dream. I almost had given up on the Boutique idea, but I had held on to it, thinking that if I waited one more year he would change his mind.  I had a name, a website address and a logo, most importantly I still had a dream. 

When my sister started talking to me about her dream and how she thought we could do it together I started thinking, 'Ok, maybe that was the way Zys Boutique was supposed to start, maybe not being able to open it the way I wanted when I wanted and how I wanted was a way for the universe to tell me that was not the way to go and it had other plans for me.' We decided to give it a try and became partners, however the "technological" stuff was going to be up to me. The Marketing, website development and finding the funds and time to do all that was my part of the partnership, she is the Artist and her part was to create beautiful pieces and enough of them to have an inventory by the time we unveiled the site.  I had never done anything more complicated than my Blogs and/or My Space, however due to lack of extra funds, creating our own website was the only way to go.  A good friend and colleague recommended I use a company that had inexpensive enough packages that are Do it Yourself solutions; Inspirational Web Hosting. Thanks Jaya for the recommendation. What Jaya did not realize was that what she thought was easy was super hard for me to learn, navigate and use. But it is still the easiest solution out there. I was also working full-time and trying to find time in between my day and late at night to create all this.  Jazmin (my sister) insisted we had to "open" before the end of May. She had a vision, her Ascended Masters were giving her messages about what to create and she felt we really needed to get it done in May.  Easier said than done! But I believed her, and trusted her reasons, I was able to finish enough of the website to go live by May 28th but not all the components were working properly.  :( However with a little more patience and tweaking it got fixed.

Today, a little later than planned, we are done! We finally have it up and running with the components that I could figure out working properly. We have a shopping cart a catalog, pictures and it looks cute!  I love it.  I still have to take pictures and upload around 50 more one of a kind handcrafted jewelry and gift items, but we have 23 on it already!!!  I feel like a child must feel when they take their first steps. I feel like shouting to the world, "I did it by myself", and blogging about it is the next best thing.  I guess that what is making me feel so accomplished is not that Zys Boutique is open (yeah! I know it is in cyberspace and not in a Mall, but I am not complaining) but the fact that it is done and ready for Business and even if it is a different version of the original dream it is still a dream that became a reality. Thank you Jazmin, and thank you Universe!!!

Do visit us at www.ZysBoutique.com, write a comment, sign the guest book, find a gift or something for you!

YEAH!