I went to a girls camp with 300 girls. A couple of ladies and myself were in charge of a service project that the girls would do. Here is what we came up with and what we did. We decided to have the girls write letters to the soldiers. We decorated the room very patriotic. This picture is one of the walls. The other walls were covered with patriotic scrapbook pages and flags hung on clotheslines. It looked amazingly good. When each group of girls came in I had patriotic music playing. I gave them an inspirational message about how blessed we are to live in America and what sacrifices the soldiers make to keep us free.

We showed them how to make this homemade card. They picked 3 quote cards to put in their letter and then wrote the letter. The quote cards were really up beat inspiring quotes that a soldier would like.
I read many of the letters the girls wrote. Each one of the cards I read made me tear up. The girls really got it. One of the girls said that this was the best thing she had ever done in camp in 6 years. WOW, that is amazing!



These are the songs that I had playing. I think this made a huge difference in the feeling that was in the room.
1- America the Beautiful – Mormon Tabernacle Choir
2 – God Bless the USA – Lee Greenwood
3 – God Bless America – Celine Dion
4 – American Soldier – Toby Keith
5 – Letters From Home – John Michael Montgomery
6 – You Raise Me Up – Josh Groban
7 – Battle Hymn of the Republic – Mormon Tabernacle Choir
8- Hero- Mariah Carey
9 – There’s A Hero – Billy Gilman
10 – Arlington – Trace Adkins
11 – Homeward Bound- Allyse Smith

I just bought this song off of Itunes. I liked it so much I found a youtube video for you to enjoy too:) Have a SPECTACULAR day!!!

Are you familiar with her? I had never heard of her until last week. Is there any other songs you recommend?

Utah has the most gorgeous flowers and weather in the summer.


We went to Park City and stayed at the Marriott Park City Summit Watch resort timeshare with another couple. Our kids were in sports camp while we hung out at the resort. Here we are eating outside on a balcony of one of the restaurants. Below you can see some of the balconies down Main Street.


This is me outside one of the shops on Main. The town has a fun feel, lots of great restaurants and fun shops.
Here are the other pictures I took of Park City. http://lastminuteluxuryresorts.blogspot.com/2008/07/marriotts-summit-watch-at-park-city.html

How many times have you pulled up at an intersection and seen a homeless person with a sign and didn’t know what to do? My daughter and her in-laws had a family gathering. Each brought items that a homeless person might enjoy. They created bags to put in their car to pass out when they saw people in need. The bags had a water bottle, 2 granola bars, a pkg of crackers, Cambells Soup to Go or a pkg of tuna and crackers, small cup of applesauce, and a Ramen cup of noodles. She said they calculated it up and it came to about $3.00 a bag.
I thought it was a GREAT idea. Thanks Jade:)

What do you think about the new blog design? I think Daphne at Parasol Designs did a great job. It is me to a T. I hope the women who aren’t girly girls can still read my posts through all the pinky frou-frou (definition-Fussy, Ostentatious ornamentation) I am writing this blog as a way for others to get to know me and at the same time get to know myself.
I am in the business of coaching women to be their best. I feel that the more we get to know our true selves and live into it, the happier we can become.
Years ago I read a book, Daring to Be Yourself by Alexandra Stoddard. My eyes were opened to the choices we make everyday. What kind of pen do I write with? If someone were to see it, would they say, “Oh that must be Carla’s pen it looks just like her?” When someone comes into my home does it show my personality or is it just what is in style right now? If you are someone like me that loves certain colors do you have them splashed here and there throughout your home or are you letting trends dictate the colors? After reading her book I decided that I would look inside myself and ask what is my style? What colors do I like? What kind of furniture, cars, food, designs, flowers etc. do I like? When I have to buy something like a pen, which one is the perfect “me” pen, not just any pen. When we start appreciating our unique likes and dislikes and start having things around us that reflect our uniqueness, we start feeling happier. When we can love ourselves for who we are, life becomes more full.
Too many women are chameleons. They wear what others wear, do their hair the same, decorate the same. No wonder so many women loose themselves and start wondering who they are. They are loosing themselves to the groups likes and dislikes. It is riskier to do your own thing, but by doing it, it helps you find and appreciate yourself more.
I know my blog is not very business like. If I were to go to other coaches blogs they would look VERY different than mine. My motto for myself is I’ve gotta be me. I have found joy in finding myself. I could look like other coaches with a business looking blog but then I wouldn’t be practicing what I preach. I believe there is only one me and only one you. If I am not going to be me, then who will?

John Gray, the author of Men are from Mars Women are from Venus, is such a relationship genius. I love to watch his free classes on the internet. I have seen him speak in person and have watched many of his classes. My very favorite one is called “A Woman’s Work is Never Done” you can learn soo much from this one hour. You can put it on and listen to it while you are doing something else so it won’t take any extra time. I highly recommend listening to this class!!
It gave me new perspective into why women work and work and have an endless to do list and men can relax in the middle of chaos. If you get frustrated with your husband because you work 24/7 and he only works from 9-5 you need to watch it. It will change your life. It completely changed my attitude. It seems like an issue that plagues relationships and he answers it with ease.
On the right side of the page are his video’s on demand. Scroll half way down to

“A Woman’s Work Is Never Done, or Is It? 05/30/06″

Copy and paste this in your address bar.
http://www.modavox.com/modaview/10265/player.html

Sometimes I wake up grumpy……………Other times I just let him sleep:)

I saw this in a gift shop and thought it was worth a blog post.

Click on this picture to enlarge it. These are laminated pieces of scrapbook paper hooked together with rings hung on a rod. This is soo cute. It might be a cute idea hung behind a bed. Hmm

My husband is not one of those naturally organized people. I have helped him organize things and helped him create systems for his papers. We start businesses and sell them. That means we are buying properties, fixing them up, hiring, and running one business while we are, selling and finishing up another business. Long story short HE had piles and piles of papers. I say he because a few years ago I started working on my own career instead of being a partner with him. His papers had become soo overwhelming he wasn’t able to touch them. I offered for months to do them together but he wouldn’t do it. Finally because we needed to get things to the accountant, I began.
As I was putting like items together, and labeling file folders, I started handing him little stacks of papers that only he knew about. I worked on the rest for 12 hours straight. The problem was he had active papers and inactive papers together. This actually made him think all the stacks were things he needed to do, when in reality some of the items were old and just needed to be stored away. I put all the items that he rarely needs in a filing cabinet, (travel, keepsakes, cycling, laptop phone, properties, church, titles). And boxed all the items dated before 2006 and put them in the basement. We whittled the stacks down to one plastic container with files in it. I cannot tell you the difference in his demeanor from morning till the evening. The quantity of papers he was shuffling through was really weighing him down. I feel guilty that I didn’t help him sooner. I felt like if he wanted to do it with me I would, BUT if he wanted me to sit there and do 12 hours of paperwork while he went on a bike ride NO way! Looking back I can see it was just too big of a job for a person that hates paperwork and organization. What a difference in his stress level!!!!
What is great about men and women is that they compliment each other. What I am good at he isn’t and what I’m not good at he is.
He did leave me a little note this morning it said, “Thanks for all the paperwork you did today! You did great! LOVE YOU!”

The tomatoes in our garden got a little out of control last week,

We put them in boiling water for a minute to loosen the skin.

Here are all the tomatoes with the skin ready to peel off.

This is what they look like up close.



Here are the peeled tomatoes. I just stuffed them in jars and poured there own juice over them and put them in the freezer.

Whenever I make a dish that calls for canned tomatoes I will get out a jar. They will be a little mushy so I will probably blend them before I put them in things.