I'm Back!

I did it!! The PTA fundraiser I've been planning for 4 months was a huge success Friday night! There isn't one thing I would change -- the venue, the food, the music, the auction items -- all were perfect and worth the hard work and effort. I only have ONE picture from that night -- I was so busy, I forgot to take pictures -- and it really doesn't reflect how awesome the Grand Hall of The Clinton Presidential Center looked -- but it's all I've got.

So -- now that that is done -- it's back to reading! I have a huge stack of books to attack -- but it will have to wait until the Oscars are over!

In honor of the Oscars -- I'm re-posting my VERY FIRST blog post that I wrote over at Mormon Mommy Wars. I posted this a year ago on Oscar night. Who new that being snarky about a high profile celebrity would cause such a ruckus, but it did. It was a very abrupt awakening to the world of blogging. And just in case you are wondering, my views about Gwynnie and her GOOP have changed very little!

(Originally posted at Mormon Mommy Wars on February 22nd 2009)

Gwyneth Paltrow has gone domestic diva on us and started a new website called GOOP (subtitled: Nourish the Inner Aspect). I thought goop was found at the bottom of your garbage can or in your kid’s ears, but I guess Gwyn (now that I’ve been to her website, I feel like I can call her Gwyn) thinks GOOP is an appealing word that will make women across the globe hit her website. A Toronto newpaper wrote of Gwyn’s new website name, “Perhaps, ‘Any Old Load of Rubbish’ and ‘Learn from me, Ungrateful Peasant’ were both taken.”

The site is loaded with recipes (does this woman actually eat?) travel tips (if you need a really expensive hotel in London or NYC, she’s got your back), and de-cleansing and stress-free living tips (not sure if I could spell any of the herbs needed to de-stress or de-cleanse).

She also shares her book club’s favorite selections – Tolstoy, Faulkner, Hemingway. Twilight, Bridget Jones and Shopoholic are noticeably absent. But when your book club members include Madonna and Christie Turlington, what do you expect.

In one of her on-line newsletters, a guest contributor writes about being “spent.” Dr Lipman writes: “‘Spent’ is the word I use to describe people who are overwhelmed, fatigued and feel older than their years.” Welcome to my world! He then proceeds, “Our ancestors lived in harmony with day and night and the seasons. As a result, the cycles and rhythms of nature became imprinted in their genes. We still share this DNA with our ancient ancestors, but we are living at a radically different pace and rhythm.”

I’m not sure about your ancestors Gwyn, but mine were either hauling their belongings in hand carts across the Rockies or forced in a death march from N. Carolina to Indian Territory in the Trail of Tears. Doesn’t sound like the most “harmonious” or “rhythmic” lifestyle, but I guess I would have to blame Pres. Andrew Jackson for that and not their genes, thank you very much.

Finally, Gwyn and Dr. Lipman give us the tools to “rejuvenate” including: eating in your body’s rhythms (I have a chocolate and donut rhythm), have an electronic sundown (any relation to electric shock therapy?), slow down with relaxing music (probably doesn’t include the Jonas Bros or Hannah Montana – but possibly COLDPLAY) ease with restorative yoga (does wrestling your screaming kid out of Target count?), release tension with tennis balls (where are you supposed to put those tennis balls, Dr.?) add an adaptogen (Gwyn’s favorite adaptogens are Panax ginseng, ashwagandha and rhodiola! Whaaa!!!!) and finally, practice ubuntu. “ ‘Ubuntu’ is an African term that means what makes us human is the humanity we show each other. It’s a worldview that sees humanity as a web of family rather than a mass of individuals. When you relate in this way, you feel connected, energized and have a sense of abundance.” (They could have stayed domestic and investigated the American term – “Relief Society,” instead).

At the end her website, Gwyn boldly announces, GOOP goes to Paris! Honestly, this is the only reasonable de-stress technique, herb, remedy, recipe, tonic, offered on her entire GOOPY website!