cookieangel, originally uploaded by dancingteacup.
I love good packaging. The lovely and unusual especially. This lovely angel once held miniature chocolate tea cookies. I bought her two Christmases ago. Are you attracted to packaging? So much money goes into research on what types of colors and designs on packages are most likely to make us buy the product. As the saying fes,’The Eye Buys’!
Went to a friend’s house yesterday. She lives and hour away in one direction. Whew! It was a meet and greet, possibly going to be called Rural Neighbors, and let me tell you my friends, it is rural! lol
We had a yummy pot roast with veggies. I met some lovely people. I brought a cake that was devoured which is always nice. I hate bringing stuff that isn’t touched. A few points of interest. One of the fellow there, would dish himself up, then his wife, than set the serving dish down without offering it to anyone else or passing it around. Now, we all should know, that when you dish yourself up, you then pass the serving plate around so that everyone else may serve themselves food, right?
Second point of interest. When setting a table; knife and spoon on the right, fork and napkin on the left. Water glass on the right, salad bowl/plate either on the dinner plate or on the left with the bread and butter plate.
If however, you sit down to a table that is backwards, or you encounter a dinner companion who forgets to pass the food around, do NOT draw attention to either. Worse still, than their error, would be your error in pointing out their folly.
Be a good guest. Always.
Please give a warm welcome, to my friend, Laura Benjamin, today’s guest blogger. Laura, is a;
Interpersonal communication consulting, website and career coach, facilitator and professional public speaker. A veteran-owned, woman-owned Colorado small business, and, she hunts, although not while sporting a stylin’ beehive hairdo, that’s my Aunt Billie, may she rest in peace.
First Impressions and Familiarity – Seeing Space from the Stories of a Shuttle Commander
We humans! We so easily judge and form first impressions about people and things. While it’s a positive attribute because it often keeps us safe – as in avoiding dangerous situations – it’s amazing how many times we barely skim the surface before jumping to a conclusion. Other times, we get so used to the sights and sounds around us that we think we’ve seen it all and wrongly assume there’s nothing left to learn!
Last night I attended the Annual Tourism Awards Banquet hosted by the Colorado Springs Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (www.experiencecoloradosprings.com ) A number of small to large companies were in attendance, there was the silent auction, the decorations, a great space related theme and a former astronaut as speaker - Brian Duffy (Colonel, USAF, Retired)
His presentation about the 100th Space Shuttle Mission, which he commanded, was spellbinding! Now, we’ve all watched the images on TV, read the newspaper articles and heard the reports about these Space Shuttle missions. In fact, I believe we’ve grown so accustomed to hearing about them that it’s no longer “news”.
But oh contraire! From this humble, friendly, down-to-earth gentleman (pun intended), we were treated last night to a whole new perspective to the relationship between earth, space and one another. His stories, often humorous, gave us insights that rarely show up on the news.
For example, Colonel Duffy was able to see Fenway Park in Boston MA from the Space Shuttle and then estimated the location of his son’s college fraternity house. At the same time, his son and college buddies were out on the roof looking up at the sky watching the slowly moving light that contained his Dad and crew. You could see the emotion peek through as he related this story, flashed the photos on the screen and remembered the moment he looked down on his son from such a distance.
One of the crew members was a woman from my hometown in Rochester, N.Y. I don’t even know the lady, but the fact she came from Rochester made me beam with pride. To think that someone from where I grew up could achieve this accomplishment at such a young age!
A photo of the entire crew “sitting down” to a meal together (i.e. floating in close proximity to fit within the photo frame) gave us a glimpse of the camaraderie they’d established during the two years of pre-launch preparation and the weeks they spent in space. More humorous comments followed about the unmentionable items that occasionally float on by which no one wants to claim!
Ironically, the novelty of it all wore off for them after weeks of traveling 5 miles per second (you’re reading that correctly). He said that after 500 or so times flying around the earth, you get pretty used to seeing spectacular sights whiz on by. With a grin he panned, “Oh yeah, there goes Antarctica again.”
Yes, we humans are not only good at forming first impressions, but we also allow familiarity to blunt our sense of curiosity. I’m looking at the sky a little differently today. I hope you’ll take the opportunity to revisit the wonders around us, both above and here on planet earth!
Laura Benjamin
Here are some photos, a story and links to interactive tours of the Space Shuttle and the Space Station that you can insert along with this blog post: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/09/29/shuttle.preview/
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery we’re told. I have spent my entire life trying to ‘fly under the radar’, to be invisible. That’s REALLY hard to do when you’re a six foot tall woman. Yeah, no kidding. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that I’m not as invisible as I’d thought/hoped. How do I know? God is sending people to tell me to my face just how visible I really am. This can actually be kind of good for someone who has, in the past, exhibited a lack of ability when it comes to telly people the truth in love. Oh, I can be truthful alright, ‘I think that if Paul told some of the disciples that they shouldn’t eat meat lest a new Christian stumble and fall then maybe she ought not to be wearing THAT to church showing off what her momma gave her!’ That is an example of how NOT to tell the truth. No love, y’all. So what to do instead if the younger women are watching and learning? Have that hair and make up done in a contemporary, fashionable way and dress nice but age appropriate.
Show love to my husband even when things maybe tense between us because the tense part will pass so two things: 1. The faster I forgive and come at him with love and kindness the faster the ‘tense’ goes away, and 2. Anything I said during the ‘tense’ part that wasn’t nice I now have to apologize for and who wants to apologize more than they have too? Do you REALLY want to stand there and say a laundry list of apologies for everything that came out of your mouth in anger? I don’t.
So during those ‘tense’ moments, try to get out with as minimal damage to you and your husband as possible so that when you’re sitting in church, you can genuinely look at him with love in your eyes.
Greet strangers. Wear a smile. That’s how we act like light and salt, people.