Help others

Here are two that I like:

The American Heart Association is already taking donations toward [...]]]> A couple more gift ideas.  This small gift-selection focuses on low price options, given the state of the economy and our pocketbooks.  I particularly like when companies offer more than a token donation to a charity.

Help others

Here are two that I like:

The American Heart Association is already taking donations toward their Go Red for Women February fundraising campaign.  Here are a couple of companies supporting the cause with  donations.

IsabelleGraceJewelry.com is donating 20% of proceeds from their fill in names of necklaces to the American Heart Association.

The Ruby Squared Necklace ($85) is a funky little piece  — an outline square accented with a ruby in the corner, and is available in either Sterling Silver or Vermeil. The Ruby Heart Necklace ($42) has a tiny heart center and ruby stone accents. Also available in Sterling Silver or Vermeil. The Puffy Gold Heart w/ Ruby ($80) is completely handmade out of .999 fine silver and 22kt gold. It is finished with a hammered effect and topped with a ruby stone — all great ways to Go Red!

Edible Gifts Plus has pledged to donate 15% of proceeds from their Go Red Collection to the American Heart Association.  I love these.

The Gourmet Getaway Tote ($19.99) comes in Cranberry Red and is made out of neoprene with a sturdy zip closure to keep food hot or cold for up to four hours.  Check out the adorable Big Hug Mug ($14.95)! The mug sports a huge heart; a great way to show you support the American Heart Association.

You can also donate directly to the American Heart Association’s Go Red campaign.

Help your wallet

Here are a few great coupon deals from CouponSherpa.com. The following list details just a few of the top coupons for December.  I’d not heard of this online coupon site before.

1. Macy’s
Receive free shipping plus 20% off on orders of $99 or more with coupon code PERFECT.

2. Coldwater Creek
Use Coldwater Creek coupon code AFLC439 to save $25 and receive free shipping on orders over $100.

3. Gamestop
$15 off in-stock orders of $100 or more using coupon code MERRY.

4. Footlocker
Use the Footlocker promo code LKS1VR37 to receive free shipping on orders over $75.

5. eBags
Free shipping plus a 20% discount using the coupon code LINKSPEC20.

6. Vans
Get free shipping on any order by using coupon code OKBYME.

7. Neiman Marcus
Use code DECFS to receive free shipping on orders of any amount.

8. Finish Line
Save $20 on an order of $100 or more using the Finish Line coupon code BFCM.

9. Bath & Body Works
Spend $50 or more and receive free shipping with the promo code FREEGIFT50.

10. Crocs
Save $15 on your order of $75 or more with promo code HOLIDAY15.

Help yourself

AND if you want to give yourself a real gift under $20, go see Hugo and definitely in 3D.  This brilliant film by the more human than human Martin Scorcese, takes us into the world of Hugo, an orphaned boy living in a Paris train station in the 1930′s.  The book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick, is magic and is created almost in storyboard form.  A vist to the website, an absolute must.  There are a million plot summaries out there, so I won’t do the reveal, but I will tell you why this is a must-see movie.  This is a movie in the old school style of character discovery combined with the sheer magic of superlative direction, camerawork and 3D technology.  The reason the 3-D effects are so wonderful is because the set staging is so deeply layered.  From looking through layers and layers of clock gears, to staircases that seem to descend to the bowels of the earth and up to the heavens, smoke, steam, and all the “Dickens”-ian texture that an imagination can evoke, makes the 2-D version rich.  The 3-D takes you right into this 1930′s world.

Scorsese brings us into the intimate world of Hugo (Asa Butterfield), along with the sub-plots of all the rich characters that spend their lives in and around the train station — all stuck in time.  Through Hugo’s clock-eyes, they gradually all move from their stiff time-bound existences into lives that can be lived.  There is magic within magic as, again, through Hugo, we meet George Melies, (sigh…the great Ben Kingsley) – historically considered one of the great filmmakers from the 1890′s to the 1920′s, particularly regarding his amazing use of film and special effects, and experience Scorsese’s craftmanship as he brilliantly recreates Melies film life from Hugo’s still innocent, yet street-hardened eyes.

The movie runs long, but you need that time to absorb the incredible detail, the unweaving of the plot by a top-tier cast and when the movie ends, you don’t want to leave the party.

It is a kind of a coming-of-age story – when [...]]]> I love a good read.  And I love the feeling  I get from a book that I just don’t want to put down. That is the case with The Map of True Places (HarperCollins;), by Brunonia Barry, the New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader .  

It is a kind of a coming-of-age story – when your age is in your thirties and you should have gone through this soul search at a much younger age.  The heroine, Zee, is a Boston psychotherapist, who had to grow up too fast to come of age as a gir.  Her life gets turned inside out and upside down when a patient’s crisis and her ill father’s need for her care throws her into a place that she doesn’t want to, but must revisit.

There are quite a few turns and twists in the plotline, so I don’t want to give away anything, other than to tell you that Zee’s story starts out with a bizarre and wild past that morphs into a rigidly controlled present.  The rigidity is paralleled by her father’s illness, her return to Salem (some delicious witchiness that Salem tourism conjures up) and her desire for freedom expresses in Yeats, Hawthorne, and star (and love) searching.  As far as the plot went, unfortunately I kind of saw everything coming, as the author didn’t (purposefully or not) adequately hide important clues and information to the deep and dark past along the way.  I would have preferred to be more surprised.  But while the plotline itself may not be perfect, Barry’s understanding of her characters and how she unfolds their emotional lives to the reader is what makes this book move.  

At middle age, we are all coming to terms with the fact that our parents are also aging and that they will need our help to transition from old age to old, old age, and from old, old age to death.  In this book, Zee is much younger than middle age.  Her father’s demise is very young (and a bit too close in age to our middle age for comfort), resulting in quite a few moments that had me recoiling from my fears of my old, old age.

Barry takes the reader deep into the mind of Zee, her father, and all the players that make this book a compelling read.  I could not put it down – which for me, with no extra time on my hands, tells you that it held me from beginning to end.  

The Map of True Places is almost about real places, but more,  it is about Zee heading out on an emotional and physical journey to find her place without hiding from an emotionally crippled past.  Worth the read. 

Feel free to share your own thoughts about finding your own place in life and Harper Collins may have some additional copies I can send your way.

I had the pleasure of previewing the premiere episode and I have to say I got a [...]]]> By now, you’ve probably seen commercials WE tv’s new reality show,  “Sunset Daze”,  which follows an active & eclectic group of retirees as they live out their golden years skydiving, dating, partying, and checking off their bucket lists.  

I had the pleasure of previewing the premiere episode and I have to say I got a few chuckles and had to dry my eyes a couple of times, too.  The demographic is a bit older than many of my readers, but we’re not that far behind and the issues (especially dating) will resonate with you.  A “lite”, fun, don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously, way to enjoy a 1/2 hour of your time — I actually watched the full episode, which means it held my interest.

As always, with any reality show, the draw is the characters you meet – the first show follows the women and they were worth the peek (love the ex-nun).  I’m sure the episodes with the men will be just as entertaining. 

By [...]]]> There are two aspects to the LA Auto Show that have captured my attention this year.  The first is the innovation that is emerging in sustainable energy (and I’ll have a post just on the green cars I enjoyed test driving.)  The second is the continual shakeup in the auto industy — this time at GM. 

By now, everyone knows that GM Pres, Fritz Henderson, was ousted by the board on Tuesday.  I was at a Chevrolet media event at the time, lagging behind after all the other media had left, talking to a PR woman I know at GM about innovations in social media, when all the executives were ushered away for an emergency confab.  And you knew by the urgency, that it was bad.  By the time they’d emerged, all white-faced,  I was already getting feeds regarding a GM press conference in a few minutes.  In a matter of minutes, the world knew that there had been another shake up at GM. 

From my position, next day, on the floor, listening to Bob Lutz’s (replacing Fritz Henderson as keynote — all the signboards papered over with Lutz’s name…ayay) excellent keynote address, to going from GM vehicle launch to vehicle launch, the execs did what they do best — smoothly and passionately presented their lines to the media.  But everyone could see the wind had been knocked out of their sails.  Hard to launch products when your leader has been sacked, which always means your own future becomes uncertain again.    To top things off, by the end of the day, there was a huge gaffuffle over the now infamous 58- word, expletive-filled posted comment allegedly by Henderson’s daughter (identity not confirmed) on the GM Facebook page, followed by a GM media spin.  Here is a good summary.  And if you really want to read the full comment: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/01/did-gm-ceo-fritz-henderso_n_376229.html

I’ll stop myself from going on a rant, but I do have a few more things to say.  I’ve experienced corporate drama, but not at this scale…and certainly not while sitting and watching it all unfold in front of me, an industry outsider.  Regardless of whether or not this was the right move, a good move, or a bad move, Henderson’s removal right at the start of the Auto show (and the car season) definitely knocked everyone off-balance. 

I wonder how it is possible that Mr. Henderson was sacked without the White House knowing about it, given our share in the company….makes me wonder if the good ole boys are retrenching themselves in the board?  When a company is so big, it is so easy to forget that the employees are the ones who are the real face of the company and not really quite as disposable as pawns on a chessboard.   Now the American people are a bit too invested to stand by and watch political manoueverings silently.

Personally, I root for success for GM.  Aside from the fact that I, along with all of you, am now heavily financially invested in its success, the products they are producing are really good (to my consumer eye).  Of course,  I’ll talk about some of the cars in following posts.  The thrill of coming as media to the show, is the opportunity to talk directly to the designers and product managers, who aim for transparency, who definitely have passion for their products, and who answer any question without hesitation (at least to me, they did.)    Overall, what I experienced was that it didn’t matter whether it was GM, Ford, Mercedes, BMW or any other company…the people who work for the car companies believe in their products and they all recognize that a huge mindset shift is not only taking  place, but has to take place.  Is there a far way to go?  Yes.  Decades.  But is the auto industry moving in the right direction?  Yes.

It isn’t possible to imagine the American car industry turning around the whole ship in a year or two.  Imagine the ship.  When you are a small, nimble company, yes, sure, you can spin on a dime.  See a big iceberg ahead?  You can easily steer around it because you don’t have big bulk to move.  But when you are as big as GM, or Ford, or Chrysler…to turn the ship,  you have to lay in the course and turn it one little tiny degree at a time…miles ahead of the iceberg.  Forget that thousands of people have been laid off at the carmakers.   What that has done is put the same massive amount of work on the shoulders of less people.  That doesn’t make a company more nimble…it just makes it leaner.  Focusing GM on fewer lines makes is leaner, and a bit more nimble…but still, to expect a company of this size to make seismic shifts in a nanosecond…won’t happen…fired President or no.  It will take years to redirect the ship and recognizing that, and making choices that will shape decades, is the direction that needs to be taken. 

Renewable energy, alternative fuel systems…that is the direction to go, and talking to the designers and engineers and product managers…it isn’t just the car companies that have to make the shift.  So the right direction is around the iceberg.  And not just the car companies.  Our entire culture, infrastructure and economy needs to move around the iceberg, a degree at a time.