CECILIA ANDRE, LOCAL HERO

I met Cecilia Andre through a women's organization called The Crystal Quilt. She came to my apartment on the night that I led an evening of goal-setting for a group of Crystal Quilt women, and afterward sent me a thank you note featuring animal stickers surrounded by her own sketches. I was intrigued.

Later, Cecilia showed up when I trained a group of parents at her daughter's school to be Learning Leaders - that is, to provide one-on-one assistance to public school students who needed extra help with math, reading, and writing. Cecilia agreed to be the Lead Volunteer of Learning Leaders at the school, and proceeded to help lead one of the most dynamic and well-organized group of parent and community volunteers that the school has ever seen. Going above and beyond her weekly duties as a tutor, Cecilia organized other volunteers and school staff to turn a dumpy, depressing teacher lounge into a chic, comfortable hang-out spot via donations of paint, furniture, window treatments and her very own artwork.

Which brings me to Cecilia, the artist. Cecilia has been making art since she was a young person growing up in Brazil. Currently, she has her own studio in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. There, she paints, hosts small studio classes and throws parties. She shows her work in locations around the city and is excited about the upcoming Painting is a Dinosaur. The show will run from Oct.4 to Oct.29 at Gallery Onetwentyeight. Go to 128 Rivington Street between Essex and Norfolk. Take the F Train to Delancey and you'll be on the corner of Essex, just one block away from the gallery. Hours: Wed. - Sat. 1:00 - 7:00; Sunday 1:00 - 5:00. Cecilia will be there each Sunday.

Here's what I love about Cecilia:

She so warmly invites people of all walks of life into her own life and into her family's life. As a result, Cecilia's life is rich with a diverse array of friends and her children get to grow up in an extended network of people who care about them.

As an artist, mom, and a leader, Cecilia powerfully models for her daughters and for other females that there are no limits for women. She prioritizes the well-being of her family without losing sight of her many additional interests and talents. Case in point: she has kept her identity and work as an artist front and center.

Cecilia is as busy as anyone else I know, yet leaves room in her life and her family's life for spontaneity and unstructured time. There is a sense of generosity there and a sense of playfulness in how she views and lives in time.

Thanks, Cecilia, for modeling what it means to live life fully and passionately!

To contact Cecilia about her artwork or studio classes, email: arteny@msn.com or phone: (917) 892-6705

GRATITUDE JOURNAL

I'd read and heard about keeping a gratitude journal and wrote it off as being corny. The thing is, I have a little habit of focusing on "problems" rather than giving my attention to what's going well in life. So I finally started to keep a gratitude journal, first in an actual paper journal and then in a computer file. At the end of each day, I list ten simple things that I feel grateful for. It's a great way to end the day and gets my attention on what's going well.

Here's one of my lists:

Finding greeting card with Quentin Blake illustration
(see above image)
Finding Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write for $2.oo
Nice chat with middle school principal
Hugging Carol, the security guard at PS 6
Rearranging the office
Buying palm tree/hula girl earrings for my friend's birthday
Wearing new terrycloth flip-flops
Spotting two red dachsunds the size of baby seals
Listening to Missy Elliott while working out
Watching Project Runway with my sweetie
Getting advice from fellow co-op shopper about best cheese to buy for pizza
Making pizza at home

LE PETIT CAFE = HEAVEN ON EARTH

If I could spend the night anywhere besides my apartment, it would be in the garden seating area of Le Petit Cafe. Just push a couple of tables aside, pop up an Aerobed, and I would be in Heaven. You might be, too. Co-owners Jose Segundo (left) and Tommy Perez (right) have created one of the most magical environments in Brooklyn. Prior to opening Le Petit in 1999, Tommy had spent a good deal of time at Connecticut Muffins. He noticed how much he enjoyed being outside with his neighbors and decided to create a place of his own where local residents could hang out together. A few years after opening his restaurant, Tommy brought Jose on board and eventually made him Co-Owner. You can tell by the good vibe in Le P. that these guys work well as a team.

Le Petit boasts these features: skylight; soothing sounds of two waterfalls; pleasant wait staff; stone floor; and two tree-shaped tree sculptures made of sheet metal, one which pours water the other which holds votive candles. Everywhere you look, there is something pleasing to the eye - a color, a texture, a small sculpture or plant. Still, it never feels overdone.

Whenever I need time away from the hustle and cement of the city, I head off to Le Petit. An hour of reading, writing, eating, and soaking in the beauty fills me with the quiet inspiration I need.

Le Petit is located at 502 Court Street between Luquer and Nelson. You can get there by taking the F or G train to Carroll Street. Their website is http://www.lepetitcafe.us/

MY PEANUTS BIRTHDAY BOOK

Stop feeling bad about missing peoples' birthdays and instead take charge with a birthday book, also known as a perpetual calendar. That's what I did in 1997 when I bought the fabulous Good Grief! Some Dates Are Hard to Remember Special Occasion Datebook. The illustrations are based on the PEANUTS comic strip by Charles M. Schulz.The book is spiral-bound and divided by tabs into the 12 months of the year. Each day of the year has half a dozen lines for you to record anniversaries, birthdays, and other occasions which celebrate the lives of the people you love and care about. A few days before the start of each month, I review whose birthday or anniversary is coming up. I pull together greeting cards and get to work. It's easier to just send them out in a batch.

I dedicate the single drawer of my desk to my birthday book, stamps, return address labels, stickers, and stationery. So sending notes to people on any occasion is fun and easy. It's so satisfying to hand a stack of crisp white envelopes to the mail carrier.

Most book stores and stationery stores carry perpetual calendars. Another good source is calendars.com.

Go to it! Go get a birthday book!

GIRLS ROCK THE HOUSE

Jack Black rocked hard in School of Rock, but the girls in his movie only got to be backup singers. Not the girls from last Saturday night. Front and center at a school theater, they occupied big space with big voices, big gestures and big lovin' energy from their fans in the audience. They were the girls of Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls and they took no prisoners.

In the course of a single week, 200 campers formed 19 bands with names like Barbie's Rejects, Chicks with Sticks, Ripchord, and The Corrupted Frenchfries. They learned how to play musical instruments, write songs, work a soundboard and a turntable, direct music videos and learn about salsa, hip-hop, blues, reggae, jazz, and punk rock.

The camp, which originated out in Oregon, is named after Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, a blues and rock performer/songwriter who was one of the first women to play the music that came to be known as "rock n' roll." "Big Mama" would definitely be proud of these girls.

Here are the lyrics to my favorite song of the evening:

Explosion 99
by The Corrupted French Fries

We'll dominate the world
We're a bunch of rocking girls
Get out of our way
'Cause we're here to stay
Yeah! We'll dominate the world!

Boom! Boom!
Crash! Crash!

Bow down to us
And go without a fuss
We will take control
And mastermind patrol
We're takin' over the world
And ya betta not hurl
Yeah! We'll dominate the world

Boom! Boom!
Crash! Crash!

We just want to create
A place that we could dominate
Dominate! Dominate!

We rock really hard
And we are so in charge
We'll take over the universe
Universe! Universe!

For betta or for worse
Yeah! We'll dominate the world

Boom! Boom!
Crash! Crash!

I WON! I WON!

When the postman handed me certified mail from the New York Public Library, the first thing I thought was "Holy Schneikies! Do I owe that much in overdue fines?" After signing for it, I tore open the envelope and read a letter informing me that I had won a prize in the 2006 Dream Raffle. Accompanying the letter was a gift certificate for Cascina Ristorante, a restaurant in New York's Theatre District. Well, Glory Be!

When I entered the Dream Raffle earlier this year, I cut out pictures of the two prizes I most wanted to win - the Caribbean Odyssey and a trip to the New Age Health Spa - and put those pics in my Dream Binder. I didn't win those prizes, but I'm still grateful to the NYPL for giving me this chance to take my man out for what I'm sure will be a delightful supper.

BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE TO MY DAD

In honor of my Dad, Len Traubman, on his birthday, I am documenting some of my best memories of him from the first ten years of my life, plus some interesting facts about him.

I Remember When My Dad.......

* Let me and my brother, when we were about 5 and 3, sing "bathroom language" words while he played on the guitar. I don't think I had ever laughed that hard. (And may I say what a smart parenting strategy that was?!)

* Hung out with me at a San Francisco public school playground to help me learn how to ride a two-wheeler bike.

* Took me, as a surprise, to get my ears pierced on my 7th birthday.

* Squeezed one eye shut, puffed out his cheeks, and talked like a pirate, sending my brother and me into rolling fits of laughter.

* Drove our whole family waaaaaaay out into the boondocks to visit the "redhead babies" of one of his patients. The "redhead babies" turned out to be a whole batch of redhead baby dachsunds and we got to pick one out to take home with us. We named her Suena, which means dream or vision in Spanish.

* Left $20 by bed so I would wake up and find it the morning of my 5th grade graduation trip to Six Flags Marine World.

* Showed me how to pass a baton and timed my laps to help me prepare for a elementary school track meet.

* Took me to see Yul Brynner in the live theater production of The King and I.

* Took me, starting from age 2, to Tadich Grill, the oldest restaurant in San Francisco.

* Took me to the deli of a large downtown grocery store to pick out a whole cow brain to study and bring to my 5th grade oral presentation about the brain.

* Taught me and my brother how to make fried matzoh.

Some Interesting Facts About My Dad

* He knows how to make beautiful jewelry out of different metals.

* From his many years as a children's dentist, he has an enormous collection of fun ties which feature bright colors and characters.

* He once dressed as Waldo (as in Where's Waldo?) for his office's Halloween party, and designed his own costume.

* A pro at geneology, my dad wrote a book about his side of the family. He also knows a ton about my mom's side of the family, and stood up at his mother-in-law's funeral service to share interesting stories about her family's history.

* He assembled a ham radio when he was around the age of 10 and can still do a rapid verbal fireout of the morse code (which cracks up his 8-year-old grandson).

* He likes melted chocolate chip sandwiches.

* He can play Grandma's Feather Bed, Froggy Went A-Courtin', and many other country and folk songs, on the guitar.

Thanks, Dad, for modeling kindness, curiosity, vision, patience, humor, and appreciation of the arts.

Love,
Eleanor

ROOMSERVICE

When it's super hot and humid like it was yesterday, I usually want to sit in an air-conditioned bookstore or lie in an X-shape on my futon. Yesterday, however, I was suprisingly up for a New York adventure.

I started off in The East Village, for an early lunch at ROOMSERVICE. I had walked by this place a bunch of times before, somewhat intimidated by the all-white interior. Guess what? It turned out to be friendly, fun, healthy, and a bargain. For a mere $7, I chowed down on all this stuff: thai iced tea, an appetizer of spring rolls, and a main course of chicken and veggies sauteed with fresh ginger. The main dish comes with organic brown rice, something you often have to pay extra for at other restaurants.

While eating, I had a chance to chat with Jakkrit, who, with his sister Chanissara, helps his aunt run the place. Jack found the space for his aunt while she was looking for a site to open a restaurant. Under prior management, it was called United Noodle. I complimented Jack on the menu design, and he took credit for it. The food choices are listed on a series of brightly-colored laminated pieces of paper the size of a hotel's "Do Not Disturb" sign. The papers are held together by a metal O-ring, and from each O-ring hangs a real key. Everything ties back to the room service concept, including the fact that they make free deliveries.

By the way, the hip and relaxing music in the background was so great, I wanted it in CD form. Jack said that both he and a DJ friend put together the playlists.

NEXT, I wandered into a store called HIMALAYAN VISION on 127 Second Avenue and bought a sheer aquamarine blue piece of fabric embellished with gold bead designs to hang on the wall. Later, at home when I took the fabric out of the bag, I noticed that it smelled of incense.

I stopped in a few more places and then I was thirsty again. I found a cafe I loved right away called 17 BLEECKER (formerly The Coffee Chamber), located between Bowery and Lafayette. The decor is spare but welcoming and there's a feeling of happy calm. There are sunflowers in the window and a small collection of funny figurines on the countertop, including a Buddha perched on a tiny pillow. In the back, there's some shelves of books. The policy is that if you bring a book you're done with, you can exchange it for one on the shelf.

At 17 BLEECKER, I sipped the best iced orange ginger mint iced tea of my life and browsed through the premier issue of a culture magazine called Helio.

I like this part of the menu: Square Things $3 - Round Things $4

After leaving the cafe, I wove through streets in SoHo to get to The Apple Store. I retrieved my repaired ipod and took the opportunity to blast Outkast and Barry White at one of the demo tables. How fun would it to be a DJ, turning up music as loud as you want and watching all the peoples dance in their glittery outfits?

I hopped on the subway to head back home, where I promptly turned on the air conditioning and made a X-shape on the futon.

SOUL SAUCE: FUNKIER AND GREASIER

The day before the heatwave started, I told Mike about a memory I had of a blind Osmond brother who used to play the vibraphone on the Donny and Marie show, or at least on their holiday specials. Does anyone else remember this guy or am I imagining that he existed?

The next day, when the heat wave first started, I passed by a small porch sale in Park Slope. Something brightly-colored caught my eye. I stopped to take a look; it was a child-size, 8-note rainbow xylophone. Better than a xylophone, really, because it was metal instead of wood. So the sound was richer, more like that of a vibraphone. The Park Slope mom offered it to me for a mere dollar. I snatched it up in a hearbeat.

This is a small instrument that brings a big joy to our small apartment. I play it when I get up in the morning and at night before I go to bed. There's something about the light-heartedness of the sound that brings my attention right to the present. I always tell Mike that I have to come home for xylophone practice.

After we'd had the xylophone for about a week, Mike handed it to me to play while he put on a CD called Soul Sauce (say it five times, fast). He ordered me to play the rainbow xylophone to accompany the late great Cal Tjader on the vibraphone. The best number is the rough mix of Soul Sauce (Guachi Guaro!), the song.

The text on the back of the CD reads: [...] as the years wore on and band personnel came and went, [the song Guachi Guaro!] got funkier and greasier - so that by the time it was recorded for Verve in 1964, producer Creed Taylor dubbed it Soul Sauce. The single was a bigger hit than it had ever been and the LP became an instant classic.

So I played along with Cal and danced around the livingroom. You can't help but grin when you're playing a rainbow xylophone.

BE A LOVER OF STAMPS

'Til lately, I never quite realized that I've loved stamps for my whole life. When I was little, I took used stamps off of family mail and put them in my scrapbook. Now, I get a big kick out of going to the post office and choosing stamps -- rainbow-candled menorahs, children's book characters, Jim Henson and the Muppets, whatever suits my fancy or the occasion at hand. Check out all the great stamps the US Postal Service has to offer online.

What is so great about stamps? They are small but mighty, with the power to carry an important message anywhere in the world for mere cents. Stamps are tiny pieces of art. Like children's picture books, they must capture the essence of a story or an idea in a small amount of space.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM
If you say "stamp collector," this is what I picture: a man in a rust-colored jumpsuit sitting in a dark room. He is hunched over a rickety card table under the light of a brown, scratched goose-neck lamp. With magnifying glass in hand, he peers peevishly down at stamps in a dusty, 20-pound album that he's had for 20 years. He's surrounded by lots of cats and house spiders and he never shares anything with anyone.

Halt. Wait a sec. Something is askew in the land of stamp appreciation. I love stamps and this description does not fit me! What's up with that? Could I be the only one with an outdated image of stamp-collectors and collecting? According the United Nations, the average age of stamp collectors is increasing. So my guess is, whole generations of folks aren't being exposed enough to the joys of stamps.

UNITED NATIONS = STAMP MECCA
I guess there is no quick fix for the lackofstampappreciation epidemic. Wait, yes there is. If you want to get pumped up about stamps, get thee to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. I went there during my folks' recent visit from California. I know you're supposed to be contemplating world peace when you land at the UN, but all I could think about is how badly I wanted to visit their post office.

Before I could reach the UN post office, I saw something interesting out of the corner of my eye. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the UN's version of a photo booth. Let them take a picture of you or you with your friend and they will incorporate the photo into a sheet of stamps featuring different images of the United Nations. If you use these stamps, you must send the mail right there from the UN Headquarters. The best thing to do is to keep the sheet as a souvenir. I may make a postcard out of my sheet.

Once I got my personalized stamp sheet, I proceeded onto the UN post office. Holy smokes, talk about a collection of stamps to choose from! They've been producing their own stamps since 1951, so you can imagine the selection. There’s more than 1,000. I decided to get the Vienna Souvenir Collection because it included a stamp by Peter Max. I also got a set of 12 with a flying postman whose red mail satchel is overflowing with hearts as he holds an olive branch in one hand.

Here are a few fun facts about the UN Postal Administration taken from their website:

* The idea of the UN issuing its own stamps was first proposed in Argentina in 1947.

* An agreement with the US postal authorities was reached in 1951 and stipulated that the stamps be used only at UN Headquarters.

* The first UN stamps issued in US dollar denominations on UN Day - October 24 - in 1951. The stamps, an immediate success, were sold out within days.

* Other artists whose work is featured on the UN stamps include.....

Marc Chagall, France

Friedensreich Hundertwasswer, Austria

Vincent Van Gogh, Netherlands

Paul Klee, Germany

Peter Max, North America

IN CONCLUSION
Email is great; snail mail is better, especially personal letters. What makes the intimate exchange of lofty thoughts and tender sentiments possible? Stamps do! Let's face it: stamps go around the world AND they make the world go 'round! So appreciate and enjoy the magic of stamps.

USING YOUR HANDS

Just before Valentine’s Day, my mom would cover the kitchen table with a bunch of supplies – sequins, beads, glitter, glue, doilies, markers, crayons, and colored construction paper. She never gave instructions; instead, she’d let me and my brother dive into the pile of goods. To this day, I remember the pleasure of the process, the satisfaction of handling all the different textures. I even remember the great feeling of putting little patches of Elmer’s glue on my hands so that I could peel it off after it had dried.

Looking back at my days as a young person, I realize that the most meaningful and gratifying experiences were those of the “hands-on” sort, the ones where I got to be physically connected to a task. Now, as an adult who lives in an age where speed, efficiency, and convenience rule, I find it challenging but important to stay involved in the world through activities that require use of my physical self, namely the use of my hands.

When I use my hands in a project, I slow down. I connect in a deeper way to the experience, to my other senses, and, if I am working collaboratively, to the people or person I am with. When I prepare a meal with my boyfriend, Mike, I often feel the same way I did when I was making Valentine cards at my childhood kitchen table – totally immersed in the project, relishing the experience of using my hands to implement choices, taking pride in the results of those choices.

STUFF YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR HANDS

Give a massage
Knit a scarf
Bake bread
Chop vegetables
String beads
Sew a costume
Make a pot
Finger-paint
Plant seeds
Weed a garden
Play the tambourine
Cut paper dolls
Hand-write a thank you note
Illustrate a card
Crochet a baby blanket
Fish
Paint someone’s face
Plaster a wall
Hammer nails
Saw or whittle wood
Hand-wash clothes
Scrub a floor
Arrange flowers
Place photos in an album
Build a fire
Flip pancakes
Braid someone’s hair
Pet a dog
Sandpaper a rough surface
Fry matzoh
Dye eggs
Build a fort or a sand castle
Knead bread dough

TOP 10 NAUGHTY THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A CENTRAL PARK SQUIRREL

1. Lick the ice sculptures at Tavern on the Green.
2. Ride the carousel for free.
3. Throw acorns into expensive handbags.
4. Take the Zambone for a spin on Wollman Ice Rink
when no one is looking.
5. Waterski in the Bethesda Fountain.
6. Sip leftover soda at the Loeb Boathouse.
7. Ride on the back of a turtle by Belvedere Castle.
8. Heckle the actors in Shakespeare in the Park.
9. Jump into a miniature model boat at Conservatory Lake.
10. Scuba dive in the Harlem Meer and take fish off of people's hooks.

A GEM OF A BOOK

The other day, I wanted portable, light-weight reading material for my subway commute. I tossed The Writer's Life: Insights from The Right to Write into my bag. The book is yellow, postcard-sized, and chock-full of pearly wisdom from Julia Cameron. You may know her from her time-honored classic, The Artist's Way.

Each page features a thought about writing, and as I read each thought, I think "Whoa, that's deep!" I am pulled to earmark almost every page. Here's what Julia sez on p.3:

Most of us try to write too carefully. We try to do it "right." We try to sound smart. We try, period. Writing goes much better when we don't work at it so much. When we give ourselves permission to just hang out on the page. For me, writing is like a good pair of pajamas - comfortable. In our culture, writing is more often costumed up in a military outfit. We want our sentences to march in neat little rows, like well-behaved boarding school children. Burn down the school. Save the books, perhaps, but get the teacher to tell you the real secrets: What does she write and read as a guilty pleasure? Guilty pleasure is what writing is all about. It is about attractions, words you can't resist using to describe things too interesting to pass up.

DUDE, WHERE'S YOUR CARD?

One thing I love about my life is all the interesting, smart, fun, creative people I meet on a daily basis. One thing that surprises me in these encounters is the number of folks who walk without business cards.Yes, we live in sophisticated times: we can get almost anyone's contact information from the internet. Still, there is something worthwhile in the old-fashioned exchange of cards. It's like giving someone an official reminder of the connection you've made, a little piece of you that they can take back to home or office. It's satisfying to empty out my wallet, find so-and-so's card, and think "Gee, what good fortune that our paths crossed." I then find a home for them in my Rolodex and can easily contact them down the road. So much better than copying information from a crumpled piece of paper which has floated down to the bottom of my bag.

And here's a little bit you may not know about Rolodexes: you can buy the slotted index cards with plastic covers. So all you have to do is slide the biz card right inside.

Now, about getting the cards themselves: expense is no longer a barrier. You can go to websites like Vistaprints and get a batch for free. If you need to make a stronger, more professional image, you may wish to hire a graphic designer.

A business card can be a ticket to a fabulous work-related connection, whether your work is finding romance, making friends with other parents, running a corporation or building a home-based business.

Business cards: don't leave home without them.

CANDY GRAM

Here's three facts about my late Grandma, Matilda Jane Daugherty Linn (1904-1999):

1. She was a flapper in the 1920s, which meant that she wore her hair bobbed, frequented speakeasies, and smoked cigarettes. I still have the beaded tassels which hung from the bottom of her dress.

2. David Letterman bagged her groceries when he was a teenager.

3. She adored See's Candy. At holiday time, she ordered so many boxes as gifts that See's delivered it all for free.

Here's a great story about my gram and See's Candy: For a number of years, my gramma had a tough combo of being mentally sharp but dealing with a number of physical ailments. During that stretch of time, my mom flew out to Indiana to visit Matilda. She found that my gramma was depressed and feeling that life wasn't worth living. She told my mom that she would stop eating and drinking. "Well," said my mom, "that's going to put a damper on our visit."

That night, as my mom and gramma were chatting, my mom brought out a box of See's Candy. My gramma saw it and decided to break her "no eating, no drinking" rule. She started to eat pieces of candy and then moved on to regular food. She decided that life was worth living after all.

After that visit, my mom wrote to See's Candy and thanked them for saving Matilda. See's wrote the story up in their corporate newsletter and gifted my gramma a box of treats for every month that she lived. Matilda passed away a few years later.

Between you and me, I think it was my mom's company that perked my gramma up. Still, God Bless her, I hope my gramma is up in Heaven right now, doing the Charleston and enjoying a big box of See's.

THE JOY OF GRACIAS

Gracias: Part One

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
- William A. Ward

For a lot of months now, I've been wanting to let Ethel know how special she is. Ethel works at my office. She is in her 80s and runs a program where she gets volunteers to lead book discussion groups with students in New York's public elementary schools. Ethel is sharp: she's up on art and culture, dresses to the nines, and knows children's literature like nobody's business. Simply put, Ethal is Da Bomb when it comes to living life to the fullest.

The thing is, like most folks, Ethel does not know what a prize she is. I needed to let her know.So today, I brought a dozen hot pink roses into the office and left them in a vase on her desk, along with a thank-you note. Needless to say, Ethel loved the flowers and the hand-written message.

Gracias: Part Two

I have a fantasy and it goes like this: In my home, there is a room just for writing cards and wrapping presents. Since our home office is multi-purpose, I figured I could take a step in the direction of my dream. On lunch break last Friday, I went to American Greetings. I got a great box of rainbow thank-you notes (see pic above) and a book called Thank-U-Grams: thank you postcards for all ages and all occasions. Marianne Richmond, the artist of the impossibly cheerful cards, has a way of inspiring me to want to send as many thank-yous as possible.

The way I figure, the more thank-you cards I have around the office, the more I will recognize all the reasons I have to show my gratitude. And, as Tom Peters advises, "Celebrate what you want to see more of."

PS................I like Mike Robbins' Appreciation in Action. In this monthly e-zine, Mike offers "new perspectives on how to experience greater appreciation." Sez Mike: "Each issue offers insightful tips for acknowledging yourself and others effectively, and for creating positive environments of appreciation around you."

Who would you like to appreciate this week?

LETTER TO MY HAIR

Dear Hair,

I bet you can't believe the number of different cutters you've had over the years, including Yours Truly. Remember all those times the stylist would ask me with an arched, quizical eyebrow "Who cut your hair last?" and I had to sheepishly admit to the deed? Don't be mad, Hair. I used those tiny pelican-shaped sewing scissors to keep your unruly strands in place. I can't run to the salon every time a new layer shows up that throws off the whole schema. Sometimes I have to take matters into my own hands. Just think of me as a Vigilante Stylist.

Wasn't it weird when you went from straight to wavy when I was in college? Wasn't it tortuous when I slept in pink foam 'n' plastic rollers at night to create smooth curls for school or a party? I can't imagine folding myself around foam and plastic for eight hours straight. Ouch!

I'm sorry, Hair. I do owe you an apology for that one.

The worst now will be getting highlights once a year, an occasional 30-second blow-dry, maybe a few styling products on humid days like this one. Thanks for being there for me over the years, Hair. I appreciate how steadfast you've been.

Love,
Your Owner

ANDREA'S SHOES

When I was five and six, I used to go next door to Andrea's house. She was a rebellious teenager in the early 70s. She had her own huge bedroom and the central thing I remember was a wood vanity table with a mirror. When Andrea opened up the vanity drawer, I would look in and see Heaven - tube after tube of lipstick, little plastic cases of eyeshadow, mascara, blush, bottles of perfume. As someone who played beauty parlor 24/7 in my own home, this was Nirvana, and a big step up because it was the real deal: Andrea got to wear this stuff outside the house.

Andrea would spend time putting makeup and perfume on me. All the while, we'd be listening to a Rod Stewart album. The music sounded dangerous: that raspy voice, that hard driving beat.

Then she'd slide open the door to her closet. It was stuffed with clothes and the whole bottom of it was lined with shoes. Shoes. Surveying the selection, I picked a pair to try on. They were Candie's. You may not know this, but Candie's did not originate with Jenny McCarthy's trashy ads. They came from the 70s. Andrea had a pair made of light, laminated, fake wood. They had a clear plastic strap that went across the toes. The piece de resistance was the bunch of brightly-colored plastic fruit that perched atop the clear toe strap. It was 3-D fruit, the kind a dog might mistake for the real thing.

When I tried on Fruity Candie's - again, Heaven. I felt big, glamorous, showy, and a bit shy. I walked around the room, listening to Rod Stewart. I was hot stuff; my beauty parlor pals would be jealous.

I remember feeling sad and empty when it was time to leave Andrea's room. When I put the shoes back in the closet and she slid the door shut, I felt sadder still. I could have looked at those shoes forever.

When I got home, my mom complained about the stench of the perfume I was wearing. The magic of Andrea's was wearing off. Still, the spirit of the Fruity Candie's shoes stayed in my heart.

I LOVE LISTS

I love making lists and I'll tell you who's Queen of them: Barbara Ann Kipfer. This amazing woman has advanced degrees in linguistics, archaeology, Buddhist studies, and physical education. For more than 30 years, she's been writing and editing dictionaries, thesauri and other word books. Here are some of her gems:

• 14,000 Things to be Happy About
• 5,001 Things for Kids to Do
• The Wish List
• 8,789 Words of Wisdom
• 4,000 Questions to Ask Anyone and Everyone
• 201 Little Buddhist Reminders: Gathas for Your Daily Life
• Instant Karma: 8,879 ways to give yourself and others good fortune right now

I'm also a big fan of Jeffrey Yamaguchi's 52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity.

Project #3: "Get your camera. Get on the train. Take the train to the end of the line. Take photos."

To view more projects and submit your own, go to What's Your Project?

Here's Project #100, submitted by Jeffrey himself:

"Make a list of 100 things. It can be a list about anything, but it should be personal. 100 books you'd like to read. 100 things you'd like to do before you are 40. 100 things that define who you are as a person. 100 people in your life. 100 things to do before the summer ends. 100 places you'd like to visit. 100 loose ends you'd like to wrap up. 100 questions about your family history you'd like to find the answers for. 100 ways to make your life better. When you first start out making your list, it will seem like it's going to be very easy to get to 100. About halfway through, though, you'll wonder if you are actually going to make it. As you get closer to 100, you will start to get very selective and contemplative with your choices, realizing you only have so many more spaces to fill on your list. Reaching 100 is a celebratory milestone, but of course, doing everything on your list is the time to really break out the champagne."

There's also the fun 'n' funky website 43 Things, where you can list your goals, find other folks who share those goals, and publicly chart your progress. Goals include: learn how to drive stick shift, visit China, play the piano, learn the Thriller dance, and sleep under a palm tree.

Finally, there's David Silberkleit's A New Adventure Every Day: 541 simple ways to live with Pizzazz.

Adventure #390: "Randomly give small anonymous gifts to strangers, simply to loosen up the hold that money has on youf life. Pay the highway toll of the car behind you. Leave one dollar inside a returned library book. [...] You mights even find that more money comes back to you than what you gave away."

RIZE UP TO MEET TOMMY THE CLOWN

Tommy the Clown is the Father of Krumping and Clowning and the subject of the 2005 docunentary, Rize. Krumping, which Tommy describes as "the raw, natural and expressive freedom of the body," is fast becoming an international movement with Tommy at its helm.

ET: What are three great things about being Tommy the Clown right now?

TTC: (1) Being able to make a difference in the lives of young people, especially those at risk. (2) Travelling throughout the world, spreading the freestyle dance movement and encouraging people to dance. (3) Connecting to my fans through my website Tommytheclown.com and my MYSPACE page. I enjoy speaking to the young people!

ET: What's challenging about being Tommy the Clown?

TTC: Getting corporate sponsors to understand the movement.

ET: What are a few projects and goals you are working on right now?

TTC: Tommy the Clown and the Hip Hop Clowns live stage shows is my immediate project. I am working on taking it nationally and abroad. Also, we are in the process of hosting The Battle Zone in Japan this summer.

ET: Who are three people who have inspired and supported you along the way and can you say a bit about each of these folks?

TTC: (1) THE KIDS. I wouldn't be Tommy the Clown if it wasn't for them. They inspire me to keep the movement going. They were the reason I started clowning. (2) Snoop Dogg has been an inspiration and he encourages everything that I do. He has come out to The Battle Zone to perform, not as a paid artist but as a supporter of what I am doing. He understands Tommy the Clown. (3) Anie Dizon, my manager, has been a constant support and believes in my vision of impacting the lives of young people throughout the world. She has been relentless in the pursuit to make it happen!

ET: What would you like your own life to look like 5 years from now?

TTC: I would like to move into film/television, not to focus on my own life but on the lives of others.

ET: Where do you think the Krumping Movement will be 5 years from now? What would you like it to look like in terms of scope and content?

TTC: Though I have been dubbed the Father of Krumping, I really encourage freestyle dancing. My vision is that young people will be empowered and will have discovered a new way to channel that energy, rage, or passion onto the dance floor.