Boomer Advice on Boomer Cafe

I’m delighted Boomer Cafe published my One Word Resolutions post.  Check it out by clicking here.

Happy New Year

This has been the most incredible week I’ve experienced in a very long time (and I’ve been around for more than 3,000 weeks).  On December 19th my step son and his wife had a baby boy, their first, and our first grandchild, Austin Vaughn.  Two days later my son and his soon-to-be bride (and two dogs) arrived on our doorstep from Chicago, beginning a week of wedding festivities.   Christmas fell in the middle of this week bringing along its myriad of hubbub.  Each day brought new guests to stay in my modest home– the wedding officiant, brother of the bride, maid of honor…and did I mention with my 2 dogs and my son’s 2 dogs, there were 4 dogs running around.  It was a crazy,  incredibly fun time.  In addition to stuffing gift bags, making the wedding cake, trips to the pediatrician, wrapping presents, manicures, hair and make-up, there was that post-rehearsal dinner beer pong party in my back yard until 3am.  There will be more posts to follow on this topic but suffice it to say, the most adorable baby boy is now a part of our family.  The sweetest ceremony gave me the most wonderful daughter-in-law I could have ever imagined.

So much to be grateful for as I enter this new year.

New Year’s Resolution #3- Try Networking in Color

Running from meeting to meeting, checking off the to-do list- that isn’t really living. Discovering the playful side of life. Spreading joy. Being colorful…clever…creative.  Now that’s living!

This is post three of Be Brave. Lose the Beige’s 12 days of New Years Resolutions. Even though Be Brave. Lose the Beige isn’t just about color, today’s post is. Be Brave.Lose the Beige argues that running from meeting to meeting, checking off the to-do lists, etc. isn’t really living…it is, however, a fact of life. We do run from Parent-teacher sessions to board meetings and on to client conferences. So, let’s accept the inevitable and try to have a little fun with it. Why not try wearing something really fun when you are making the meeting rounds…as an example, try wearing colorful tights. I have and they single handedly make the meeting more fun for everyone involved.  

Resolution #3 Try Networking in Color 

 I attended a women’s networking function at a law firm. Now even the word, networking makes me cringe. It sounds so pretentious and artificial. So, in an effort to introduce a little levity to the mix, I wore a rose colored dress and psychedelic, zig zag pattered tights (photo below). This insertion of color in the midst of a sea of black and navy blue suits caused quite a stir. Young women, middle aged women, law partners and bankers, came up to me throughout the evening saying things like, “I just wanted to meet you, you’re so bold”. People said I was the “life of the party”, all because I deemed to wear a colorful pair of stockings. I had a ball and maybe this act will inspire other women to break out of the beige box and delight themselves and others.

 So..Resolution #3- Try Networking in Color

New Year’s Resolution #2- Introduce More Color to Your Life

This is post two of my 12 days of New Years resolutions. As I’ve mentioned previously, Be Brave. Lose the Beige is not just about color (although I’m crazy about colors..all colors, the more the better). Be Brave. Lose the Beige is really a life choice. It’s about exploring the playful side of your life by escaping incessant to-do lists and experiencing more joy and fun in your life.

 Resolution Number2- Try introducing a little more color in your daily lives.  

After all, do we really need all that beige? Beige sofas, walls, and clothes? I recently exercised my creativity muscles (see post above) by creating drawer and cabinet pulls like the ones featured in the photo below. These polka dotted, flowered and heart filled clay knobs are now affixed to my cupboard doors and drawers at our beach place. You don’t even have to go to the trouble of making your own. Web stores and brick and mortar stores abound with fun, colorful knobs and drawer pulls. The color combinations alone will all but guarantee delight each time you reach inside for a cup or bowl. Somehow color and whimsey can imbue even the most mundane task, such as setting a table or pouring a glass of milk a lot more fun.

So, go ahead, be brave, lose a little of that beige and take a step toward coloring your life.

New Year’s Resolution #1 Exercise Your Creativity

Be Brave. Lose the Beige is the name of my little company as well as the name of my blog. Be Brave. Lose the Beige aspires to inspire and encourage Lady Boomers and other Empty Nesters to discover their own colorful spirits. Is running from meeting to meeting, checking off the to-do list really what life is all about? Lady Boomers! This is a clarion call to resolve this new year to imbue your lives with more creativity and fun. Infusing your life with more playfulness and creativity does not require significant or major life changes. Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting suggestions for you to consider incorporating into your lives throughout the next year. The following is the first of 12:

Resolution Number 1- Try exercising your creativity-

As adults we have come to recognize the validity of exercising our bodies. Working out at the Y, power walking, skiing or swimming contributes to our health and wellbeing. (There is even a book entitled, “Younger Next Year” which promotes daily exercise as a ticket to the Fountain of Youth) Further, exercising our minds is a value our society promotes. We take classes, read literature and news magazines, do crossword puzzles or Sudoku. But somehow once we get past the age of ten we generally start paying less attention to our creative muscles. And, just like our physical muscles that fail to be engaged, so can our creative muscles begin to atrophy. So..resolve to engage your creative muscles this year. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, some of which include (but are certainly not limited to):  

 -plant a swath of backyard dirt with a garden filled with colorful flowers or aromatic herbs

-dust off your guitar or piano keys and take lessons

-try collaging a few family photographs

-take a pottery class..clay is a wonderful teacher, it comes from the ground and grounds those who touch it. After all, it’s not the pots you are shaping but yourself.  So go ahead and flex those creative muscles. They will definitely get stronger and more defined.