stickgirl

check out the bitter love life of stickgirl, it's great!! http://stickgal.blogspot.com/

Re: your blog

Below is Eleni's emailed response to my posting on Angelo & Maxie's. She asked me to post it because...hmm, hmm she does not have a blog. It would be a wonderful, funny, deep, charismatic & tell-it-how-it-is-awe-some blog. I hope to see it soon ca-le!

Subject: my blog

I was going to add this comment to your blog but anonymous bloggers can't. So if you can, add it for me!! :-))

Thanks for the kind words; I'm embarrassed and touched!!! You're an interesting person, funny, witty, beautiful, sexy, smart and caring! I wish only the best for you in your life. You've come a long way and you should be very proud of your accomplishments. I will be here to support you and steer you along in the right direction so you don't lose sight of your goals and dreams!!

One day we'll be partners in a business together and we're going to be independent...work for ourselves and live richly!!

AND, when you meet your knight...just make sure he has a brother! :-)
Now I have to print this out and frame it!! lol

Eleni

Angelo & Maxie's

Angelo & Maxie's has some good eats! The other night Eleni and I went there for dinner. I had the Roumanian steak, which I believe is a skirt steak...it was so good! Eleni had filet mignon and we shared fried calamari, so yummy. We drank shiraz, they didn't have chianti but shiraz is just as great.

Us gals shared our funny stories....and I'm still laughing! Too bad those stories cannot be shared here, just girl talk about boys & life in general. We also shared stories that are not so funny, we have a lot in common. Eleni, who is my favorite cousin has become more like a sister to me. She has steered me in the right direction, has been a positive influence in my life and a real true friend.

I'm so glad her friend saw my job posting on Monster that day, like 2 years ago when we chatted on the phone. We never knew that we worked across the street from one another, on Madison & 42nd...we never even knew of each other. We ended up going to a Greek dance & our families met and we have been best pals since! I am happy she is in my world. Filakia Eleni!!

Sexual Intelligence

Kim Catrall's documentary premieres tonight,
HBO: Kim Cattrall Sexual Intelligence
(click on link above)

Synopsis ~
Accompanied by seven men and women and four sexology experts, presenter/host Kim Cattrall takes viewers around the world and back home in an exploration of the boundaries and aspirations of our own sexual identities.

Human sexual behavior has been chronicled since the dawn of history, starting with the "first lady of lust and libido," Aphrodite: Goddess of Love,who symbolically rose out of the water as a symbol of sexuality and fertility. Her image is in many ways the blueprint for desire, though we're each "hardwired" with a "love map" that arouses us when the right person arrives.

While many of our desires stem from childhood experience and are more complex and hidden than we realize, there are certain quantifiable determinants that both stimulate our sex drive and, ultimately, make it fizzle out. The chemical component to attraction is Oxytocin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the hormone of love, and it's why most men experience the so-called "seven-year itch" (though more likely it's about five years). While infidelity is often the result, sexuality at its human zenith involves ethics: the ability not to exploit, but to allow freedom, both in the act of sex and in the choice of sex partners. Ethics also allow us to act out our fantasies without allowing them to become addictions, where they may cause harm to others or interfere with the rules of society. As Cattrall says, fantasy is the opposite of reality for most of us, because "we want to be safe."

The mystical possibilities of sex flow from the act of surrender. The writer DH Lawrence was fascinated with how sexuality entwined with religion, how sex connects us all to something much bigger. In a way, the body is the doorway to the divine, both in physical imagery and spiritual ecstasy. The story of Aphrodite's son Cupid, who is the object of love for the human Psyche even though she is not allowed to look at him, illustrates how humans lust after the divine as if it were a sexual object.

Ultimately, sex opens us up to our emotions, both physical and aesthetic. It is also the driving force in a human's most passionate search: for love and issues of the soul. As Cattrall concludes, "Sexual intelligence helps us explore the roots of our desires. It encourages us to embrace and celebrate the sensual dynamics in life, nature, culture and, most importantly, in ourselves."

Fascinating...........I can't wait to watch this!

Feta Cheese Commercial

http://www.greekboston.com/greekhumor/video/GreekBoston.com%20-%20Feta.mpg

Turn Break-Ups Into Break-Overs

At lunchtime today, I walked over to a bookstore nearby to look for some new reads. I found the sequel to 'He's Just Not That Into You', It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken, The Smart Girl's Break ... smiled and just had to to get it! I went back to the office to share this with a couple of gals & now more copies are being sold, while my copy that I haven't finished reading yet is already on a 'lent-out' list!

The site is funny and the book seems to be filled with wit, humor and enlightenment. The authors, Greg Behrendt & Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt, who are married & I think that is adorable, offer advice to readers in such a creative way, it's comprehensive and places breakup's into perspective while repairing the ego. Which right there is a fix for the psyche, the emotional & physical being.

Why weren't these reads around earier when I was going through heartbreak's, aches & he-tox's?!?

Mohonk Mountain

mohonk house
Originally uploaded by kalz.

Me, my dad and my brother Jimmy went to one of my favorite places the other day...Mohonk Mountain! We were planning on horseback riding so started to head for the barn on the reservation. We walked through Hugenot, Fox Path, Bruin & the Garden Path Trails and discovered the Barn Museum. This place had some ol' treasures from the Mohonk House, like furniture, tools, signs, an elevator with mirrors & a couch seat, books, school desks, paintings, carriages...it was amazing! My dad recognized some things he grew up with on the the island, in Greece, like the ice box, kitchen supplies, tools and a knitting wheel. We must of been in this place for at least an hour, it was so cool...oh, and dad took a horseshoe to nail above the door at home.

We decided to ride next time and headed for the house, went to the gift shop and got batteries for my camera. Then dad & Jimmy fed the coy in the lake. In the summertime you can take the row boats out on the lake, we did that last year...this place is beau-ti-ful!!

Then we proceeded to The Labyrinth, where I remembered it being no more than half an hour, it was well over an hour...scary, dangerous, but fun, a rush for sure. We followed the red arrows, went under rocks, over rocks, climbed rocks, wooden ladders and crossed small wooden bridges. About half way, we came upon a stairwell that led to one of the gazeebos and dad waited there for me & Jimmy to finish the labyrinth and conquer through the crevice, aka 'the lemon squeeze'. The crevice has these narrow ladders you must climb and literally squeeze through, at some parts, to get to the top of the mountain. It seems impossible but this tested our balance, flexibility, endurance, strength and we bonded through this, which was really nice. We had to think of how we would get through the next obstacle and help each other get there. We made it a top Mohonk Mountain, and it was awe-some!!

It started to get dark out so we headed back, met up with dad who waited about half an hour & was worried about us. We went back on the trails through the garden...the garden in the springtime, with it's flowers is a canvas of these vibrant colors you just want to jump into, of purples, yellows, pinks, blues, whites, greens...like the colors of the trees this time of the year. I found myself mesmirized at the colors of reds, yellows, golds, and greens on the trees up there...even when I drive past the trees on an open highway or parkway, so pretty.

Well, we ended up at the maze of trees, then it was getting darker and darker...we couldn't take the trails any longer because the leaves were disguising the rocks and we were tripping over them. Without a flashlight, or map we got off the Fox Path trail and onto a road where we could see and walk a little better to the parking lot, out of Mohonk to the Guilded Otter for dinner & brews that are brewed at the restaurant, the Rail Trail brew is good..it's citrus-ie, then home. Will be back to Mohonk Mountain soon, love this place...it's in New Paltz, NY.

Click on the picture above to see more pictures!

Link about Mohonk, www.mohonk.com

Tips on landing a new job...

Finding work is one of the hardest job's you'll have, especially with the competitive market out there! I believe that you really have to search as if it's you're full time job. Below are some of my tips I've counseled people on as a career consultant, and it does work.

Everyone has my resume, including contacts, clients, and leads. I landed my new job with a direct competitor of the last staffing firm I worked for, within 2 weeks. I had 4 offers out of 12 initial interviews, 4 secondary interviews and about 6 phone interviews in Westchester, Downtown & Midtown, it was tough!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1. Work at least 40 hours per week at getting a new job. You can divide your time between contacting potential employers and generating new leads. Don't stop until you have a written job offer in hand and you have accepted it in writing with an agreed-upon start date.

2. Research the companies you contact. In this tight market & job race the candidate who is knowledgeable about the employer has a distinct advantage. Use the internet, search engines, hoovers.com, mailing lists, even the yellow pages.

3. Contact & recontact your job leads. Follow up on the resumes you send out. Resubmit your resume after 2-6 weeks. Change the format of your resume (chronological or functional, it's always good to have 2-3 different formatted versions).

4. Maintain the records of your contacts. It will benefit not only this job search, but maybe those in the future, too.

5. Work on your self-image. Try to get physically fit, you'll feel better.

6. Give yourself a break. Don't feel guilty about taking time off from your job-hunting job. Just do it conscientiously, like if you spent Saturday researching, take Sunday off.

7. Leave the right impression. On interviewes, review the job's requirements with the interviewer, find out whether this is the only interview, ask for the next, keep yourself in contention, depart in the same polite and assured manner you entered, and don't press for an early decision. Do not discuss salary, benefits or vacation.

8. Learn from rejection. If you were passed over for a position, thank your interviewer then politely ask why you weren't chosen. Listen to the reply and don't interrupt. Develop different ways to overcome or compensate for every negative perception.

9. Always, always ask for a business card. You should email or directly mail a thank you note that very same day. Thank them for the possible opportunity, let them know that this is what you are looking for and that you are confident you can be a successful contributor to the company. Then end the thank you with, you are looking forward to the next steps. You always want to maintain that professional connection, you never know if you may cross paths in the future with them, an affiliate or associate.

10. It's really all up to you & how you sell yourself. There are no real reasons and no jobs out there for those who won't look. There are countless opportunities for those who assiduously turn over those stones.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My fave question when called or emailed from a candidate is , "Did you find a job for me yet?" My fave reply w/a question is, "What did you do to find a job for yourself today?"

Recruiters, Staffing Consultants, or Head Hunters are not magicians...

I would like to post a Shout Out to all my friends, family, contacts, leads, clients & my own Career Consultant Angel from Maximum Management, "THANK YOU SO MUCH!!" for helping, supporting, and putting up with me :)

Special thanks to Rell ~ I owe you many, many Watermelon Martini's when we hit the streeeets!!

She Comes First

Another good book written by Ian Kerner.

Guys....this is required reading material!
Some great formal critiques from great peeps ~ click on the link below.

http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060538252

How To Stay Young

My good friend Rell sent this to me. Thanks Rell, this brightened my day!!

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This also includes age, weight and height.
Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends.
The grouches pull you down.
(keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches;)

3. Keep learning:
Learn more about computers, crafts, gardening,
whatever...never let the brain get idle.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop."

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath!
And if you have a friend who makes you laugh,
spend lots and lots of time with them.

6. The tears happen:
Endure, grieve, and move on.
The only person who is with us our entire life, is our self.
Live while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love:
Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.
Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:
If it is good, preserve it.
If it is unstable, improve it.
If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country,
but not to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

And if you don't send this to at least four people - who cares?
But do share this with someone.

"Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none." - William Shakespeare