Merry Christmas 2008

Come Into Your Own In 2009

Come Into Your Own in 2009 is the latest teleclass with author, international speaker and life coach Victoria Moran. Each Tuesday night in January, Victoria will be leading classes on topics such as Clarify Your Vision, Purify your Vehicle, Amplify Your Abundance and Intensify Your Impact. There will be bonus, follow up classes through out the year to help you stay on target.

Ages ago, I happened upon a small book that would have great meaning for me. It's title was Creating A Charmed Life, it's author, Victoria Moran.

Books that are basically a collection of essays are everywhere today but not so much so in those days. This easy-to-read compilation of 75 chapters was an invaluable source for me as I set about inventing my authentic life in my 30s. One chapter, Do The Next Indicated Thing, was so significant to me I had the quote printed on my business cards as a frequent reminder to do just that.

Victoria and I know each other now. I am excitedly awaiting the new Charming volume coming this April. I can attest to Victoria's ability to teach, enabling us to make the real changes we need to live the lives we want. I hope you will check out her teleclass this January or the new book this spring.

Visit Victoria's website, www.victoriamoran.com for more details on the classes or background. For more info or to enroll, email charmedassistant@aol.com with your address, telephones day and night, mobile phone and payment preferences. The class is $395.

Mayan Hot Chocolate

A steaming cup of hot chocolate, revved up with espresso, cinnamon and a splash of Kahlua, was exactly what I wanted after spending the morning in San Antonio's blistery weather.

6 oz milk or milk substitute
1.5 - 2 oz hot espresso
1.5 oz or 1 tablet Ibarra chocolate disc/tablet, chopped
Optional: splash of Kahlua or Cinnamon Scnapps

Place milk in saucepan. Once milk begins to heat, add chocolate. Stir with whisk until chocolate dissolves and milk is about to boil. Pour espresso and hot chocolate mixture into cup. Serve immediately.

Christmas Card Tradition

Purchasing, preparing, addressing and mailing Christmas cards can be burdensome. For some reason, I did not find the tasks so this year. I actually looked forward to getting them out this year.

Doug was an equal partner in the project. He got our list together, sealed and stamped (no small feat with over 200 sent) and I addressed and signed. We used the long drive to Houston and back to get them done in one sitting. I even sent an additional 40 to my clients and business associates.

It is not just our sending our cards this year that is different but our receiving of them as well. We open them together and have been charmed to be remembered with a card by everyone. I can't help but wondering if our simplistic approach to this year's holiday and gift giving hasn't left more room to truly enjoy the season.

A few interesting facts about Christmas cards:

• The tradition as we know it (commercially printed and posted cards) began in 1843.
  
• The first Christmas card inscription read: "Merry Christmas and a happy New Year."
  
• The word Merry in the inscription means blessed.
  
• Early Christmas cards depicted images and designs that spoke to the coming spring versus the winter, religious or secular scenes we are accustomed to.
  
• Technology has taken its toll and Christmas cards received by Americans continues to drop. E-cards are now preferred by the busy, the younger generation and greenies.
  

Our card contained the greeting, "Merry Christmas" and a collage of photos from 2008.

1. Jessica and Carolyn in Savannah, GA
2. Carolyn and Doug with the Prescuittis
3. Carolyn and Doug on their anniversary
4. Girls Trip in Charleston, SC
5. Doug manning the grill
6. Carolyn on the Lululemon Athletica photo shoot
7. Doug at the Reno Air Race
8. Pilates Mafia at the Lululemon trunk show
   
9. Carolyn in bio photo
10. Walkway in the Boboli Gardens, Florence
11. Table setting in Florence
12. Scene of the Ponte Vecchio, Florence
13. Michael, Martha and Natalie with Carolyn
    
14. Friends assembled for Doug's birthday
15. View of the Riverwalk, San Antonio
16. Angel at the San Jose Mission
17. Hats found on a motorcycle tour in the Hill Country
18. Carolyn performing SuperSlow around her 45th
19. News Cafe, South Beach
    
20. Yucca, South Beach
21. Texas Sage in the backyard

Redefine Christmas

In Jesus' short ministry, two things set him apart: love and charity. In that spirit, Doug and I have been moving away from a gift from everyone (who have storage bins and units to organize all their stuff) towards giving to charity at Christmas.

While we have already selected the charity we will give to, the Fisher House, I happened upon a site that lets you give in honor of others to their favorite charity, Redefine Christmas.

There is a page where you can make an email request for alerting family and friends to give to a charity in lieu of a gift for you.

If Christmas is only meaningful to you if you were hunting down gifts at the mall, wrapped them, packed them and shipped them, that's understandable. A dried soup mix, pound of coffee, bottle of champagne, bar of soap, jar of premium nuts or a holiday fragranced candle are top choices for remembering those you love and making sure the gift doesn't hang around to long, get regifted, sent to Goodwill or moved to the storage unit. You can always put a fiver in the red bucket whenever you come across a Salvation Army volunteer.

Christmas Tunes 2008

Saved by the salad

I confess - I ate more bread, sugar and butter than a Pilates teacher should own up to. Miraculously, I made it through the Thanksgiving holiday without adding any pounds. Still feeling a little sluggish (it was Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake I've been munching on nightly after all), I turned to a clean and simple entree salad for tonight's dinner.

White Bean And Tuna Salad
Giada De Laurentiss

Here I've assembled all the ingrediets: baby spinach/arugula mix, great nothern beans, radicchio, cherry tomatoes, capers, tuna in olive oil and reggiano cheese.

For a contrasting background, I selected white plates. Spread shredded radicchio atop the greens.

Doug's tomatoes are halved, mine are quartered.

Giada's recipe calls for a red onion. I've substituted a shallot because its milder.

Sprinkle on the capers.

Drain and rinse the beans. I substituted Great Northern for the
Cannelini because they are my favorite bean.

Frankly, I rarely eat tuna packed in water any more...the olive oil packed is so much more tasty. I halved the can between the two of us, oil and all.

Taking the tip of my knife, I chipped off irregular shaped pieces of reggianio off my hunk of cheese. The cheese is supposed to retain its flavor better this way. In this kind of salad, it makes sense to do so for appearance sake as well.

All that's left to do is add a bit more olive oil and (just so happen to have a bottle from the Newkirk's last visit to Italy) balsamic vinegar.

That's a mini panettone in the background, waiting to be made into Ina Garten's Panettone Bread Pudding. Panettone is Italy's version of fruit cake and it's been around since ancient Roman times. Like fruit cake, it makes its appearance from Christmas to New Year's. The Italians like theirs with hot chocolate or liquor such as Sambuca (also have a bottle from the Newkirks...everyone should have the Newkirks as friends). It is the holidays and I do a damnable amount of 100s.

I hope you will try Giada's salad post Thanksgiving. It is turkey free, full of healthy protein, reminds one of Italy and another portion can be packed for lunch the next day. The calories one saves can be spent on other things, such as panettone...