Table Topics #3 - If you could work as an assistant to anyone for a year, who would you choose?

If I could work as an assistant to anyone for one year, and I could choose that person, it would be someone I admired.  (Obviously!)  There are a lot of people I admire, so it's pretty tough to choose only one.  The following are my top five picks....

Mary Kay Ash.  Yes, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics.  Yes, I know she passed away years ago.  However, in my humble opinion, she was one of the most inspiring women that ever lived.  She was an amazing entrepreneur who built her business by practicing the Golden Rule.  Her priorities were faith first, family second, and career third.  You might guess that I am (or was once) a Mary Kay sales consultant, and you would be correct - I was a proud consultant for about five years.  Though I no longer sell Mary Kay cosmetics, I would recommend the experience becoming a consultant to any woman who wants to grow as an individual.  At the very least you should read her biography - it's like motivation on paper.  :)

Will Smith.  I know what you're thinking - concentrating on work while being Will's assistant couldn't be easy!  If you could get over staring at him all day, however, you might find that there is a lot more to him than his good looks and his charming personality.  It's not by fluke that he is as successful as he is.  He has carefully calculated his every move since he was a rap star.  Check out this interview with Reader's Digest: http://www.readersdigest.com.au/interview-will-smith and you may be sending him your own resume!

Diana Gabaldon.  This very imaginative lady is the author of my favorite series of novels - Outlander being the first one in the series.  I tell everyone I know about these books - they carry me off into a world of fantasy and I never want to come back!  I imagine that working around someone who writes so beautifully would be eye-opening, and with any luck, some of her imagination would rub off on me!

Jack Canfield.  Perhaps best known for his Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Jack is another one of my top contenders for the "ideal employer."  I have found his coaching tips to be very helpful.  (Check out his book entitled The Success Principles.)  However, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a problem keeping an assistant for longer than a year.   I imagine that anyone who is around him for any length of time probably feels so inspired that they want to go off and fulfill their own dreams - and they probably can!



Oprah Winfrey.  As beautiful as she is intelligent, this woman is a hero to thousands, maybe even millions of people in the world.  Working as her assistant must be extremely difficult, as she seems to be busy with new projects all the time, but I think it would be one of the most rewarding things a person could do.

As I look over the top five people I would most like to be an assistant to for one year, I see people who are positive and believe that they can accomplish ANYTHING.  And what's more, they make me feel like I can do anything too! 

Did you know....

Did you know that an original Table Topics cube has 135 cards in it?  That means I still have 133 topics left to cover!  I have started the next one for you, but it won't be ready tonight - I need to catch some zzzz's.  (I spent too much time playing around with formatting and not enough time writing.)  It should be ready tomorrow night - stay tuned!

Table Topics #2 - What fashion trend did you follow that was very cool then but now looks ridiculous?

For those of you who don't know me, I was born in 1972, which definitely makes me a child of the 80's.  Although I tried desperately to mimic many of the hairstyles and clothing trends of that decade, I never did get that Heather Locklear look down, as you can see by this picture of me.  I ended up being more of a banana clip kind of girl, with a couple of really bad perms. . . 

I grew up outside a very small community, not a big city, so being really trendy was tough.  We got to go to a mall (and not a big mall) maybe three times a year.  I could blame that - and not my nerdiness - for not being as stylish as some 80's girls.  Still, I tried to be cool.  So when I did buy jeans, I proudly bought Ikeda jeans - which, more often than not, were acid wash.  And tight.  If I dressed up for school, (and I only dressed up if I verified that a friend was dressing up too) I wore a skirt and a silky blouse with a broach at the collar.  The skirt had to be made of denim (no, there were no slutty zippers on it!) and it also had to be short!  To complete the dressy outfit, I wore my LA gear shoes (with socks).  Hey, I had to walk a mile to the bus - uphill both ways - there was no way I was walking that far in heels!  I wore makeup to school every day, and yes, I did wear blue eyeshadow.  I lovingly sprayed my hair, complete with the side wings and front pouf, with Finesse hair spray. 

To sum up, I had HUGE glasses, big hair, and, like a lot of teenagers trying to find their own style, a bad attitude.  Which brings me to what I believe to be the worst fashion trend I ever followed - wearing shirts with funny sayings on them.  One of my favorite shirts was a sweatshirt with a duck (Howard?) and a caption that read, "I DON'T HAVE A DRINKING PROBLEM - I DRINK, I GET DRUNK, I FALL DOWN, NO PROBLEM."  I still can't believe my parents let me wear that thing to school! 

Do you have the guts to tell me which trend you followed that would now look ridiculous?  Come on, I dare you!

Table Topics #1 - What do you think is the ideal age?

Talk about your touchy subjects - I'll be turning 40 this year!  Would I prefer to be younger, though?  Not unless I could take my knowledge and experiences with me.  Would I rather be older?  That's a big "hell, no!"  Not yet, anyways.  I like to think that whatever age a person is at the present time can be their ideal age, as long as they are happy and healthy.

I love my parents dearly, but if I had the chance to be a kid again, would I take it?  NO way!  (I'm sure my parents are thankful for that too!)  Being a kid stinks. Okay, so you come out of childhood with a lot of great memories of wild and crazy things you did with your siblings and your friends, but other than that, you were constantly being told what to do, remember?

Had someone asked me when I was six, ten, or even sixteen if I'd want to skip ahead to be thirty, I don't think I would have jumped on that either.  Thirty is OLD.  Well, it is if you're a kid.  My twenties were fun, but would I want to go back there?  Nope.  I have been married for almost eighteen years now, and that suits me just fine.  Young and married with two little kids is no longer where I want to be, even though it was great back then.

The addition of a candle each year on my birthday cake hasn't bothered me yet.  And that's all that matters - being ok with it.  Because even if we wanted to be young again, we couldn't be.  We may as well embrace who we are today, and be thankful for our past experiences.  Today, my ideal age is 39.  In a few months, I'll adjust that number with a smile.  After all, 40 isn't old - if you're a tree.

The Table Topics Challenge - and How it Came To Be

My sister Nicole is the most thoughtful person I know.  We live about nine hours apart (by car) so we don't see each other very often.  This past January, she sent me a parcel in the mail.  In it were all sorts of little treats, like hand lotion, lip balm, face cream, a little book entitled "98 Things a Woman Should Do in Her Lifetime," and yes, chocolate!  This package came as a total surprise.  It was not a belated Christmas gift (no, that's something I would probably do to her) nor was it my birthday.  I called my sister and asked her why she sent the package, and she said "Just because." 

Pretty soon February rolled around, as it inevitably does after January ends, and there I was, enjoying my chocolate and my younger-looking skin, (ok, you got me - the chocolate was long gone!) and reading my little book, when lo and behold - another parcel in the mail!  This one contained body lotion, (how did she know I had dry skin?) nail polish, a package of napkins that look like hundred dollar bills - no, I'm not kidding - and a Table Topics cube. 

We were raised as Catholics, and I blame that for my guilty conscience.  So this time, when I phoned my sister to thank her for the package, I also said "Stop it!" 

I can't even explain how guilty I was feeling for receiving all this cool stuff from her.  Here she was, spending money on me, taking the time to choose special little gifts for me, and for what?  For no reason at all.  It was more than I could take.  So yes, I asked her to stop.  And of course, being my sister, she said no.

"Julie-Anne," my sister said, "You will be turning 40 this year, and since I'll be too far away to celebrate your birthday with you, this is my gift - one package each month of the year.  Let me do this for you."

See?  I told you she was thoughtful.  Tears come to my eyes every time I tell this story. 

But wait.  There's more!  I've often shared with my sister that I love to write.  That is the point of my starting this blog - to get some practice.  My problem is, however, what do I blog about?  Well, the solution is in her gift.  The Table Topics cube!  SO many ideas!

So, until I've exhausted the topics on those cards, they will be my main focus.  By the time I'm finished, I'm thinking I should have figured out what comes next.  I hope you enjoy my new blog and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!  And Nicole, thank you for being you.  <3



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The scariest thing about doing something for the first time is actually doing it.  Once you've done it, it shouldn't be as scary.  You've survived, theoretically speaking.  You've taken your first steps - jumped off the high diving board at the pool - asked the girl to dance - moved to a new and unfamiliar city.  You may have thought you would never have the guts to do it, but you did it.  And you're still here.  Surprised?  You have already accomplished so much!  Remember your baby steps?  It's time to take bigger ones now.