GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLFRIEND GATHERINGS

Learning from YOU to empower ME !

NaBloPoMo #1 – How I Would Spend $1 Million in 1 Day

By

NaBloPoMo November 2013Women Having Coffee

If I found one million dollars in the morning and was mandated to spend it by nightfall, I would spend the first 10 minutes shedding a few tears for the fact that I cannot runaway to an oceanfront island writing retreat but then I would get busy donating it for causes that are near and dear to my heart.

My first donee would be the National Museum of African American History and Culture which is the newest addition to the Smithsonian Institute slated to open in 2015.    As an American, who chooses to honor her unknown African descendant by being called an African-American, this museum will present to our country and the world the contributions of a people who endured much but never wavered from their pursuit of equality and the impact that pursuit had on American history and culture.   Since I am a charter member, my first inclination is to donate the entire one million dollars but after consideration I will only donate $500,000.

My second donee would be the Houston Food Bank.    This is my primary charity and I donate to it because it really bothers me to know there are people who are hungry in our country and in my city.   The Houston Food Bank has partnerships in the food industry that allow them to purchase $6 of food for every $1 donated and they have been recently designated as the largest food bank in the United States that distribute to their agencies.   Now that the SNAP cuts will start on November 1st, the food banks will need even more donations to assist the hungry.    I will donate $250,000 to the Houston Food Bank which will allow them to purchase $1,500,000 of food.

My third donee would be UNICEF K.I.N.D (Kids in Need of Desks).   This is another charity that is dear to my heart because it impacts the lives of children.  I learned about it from watching “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” on MSNBC.   The thought of African children sitting on the floor in their schools trying to read/write was very uncomfortable to me and to know that only $65 would buy a desk for 2 students made it easy to pull out my checkbook.   Also, the purchase of the desks would also help their parents by enhancing the economy of the villages since they make the desks locally.   I will donate $125,000 to K.I.N.D which will purchase approximately 2,000 desks and provide seats for 4,000 students.

The remaining $125,000 I will use to help poor students here in my home city of Houston that need computers in their schools.    Last week, I learned of a situation from a friend who is a bilingual first grade teacher.   Most of her students are the children of illegal immigrants but the children are Americans and in their school they are not provided the same computer equipment as students in the other classes.   My friend was polling her friends/acquaintances asking for any old computers that we could donate to her class because of her concerns for her students.   As a child of the 1960s, I find this appalling and I am sure there are similar situations in other schools.

So, this is how I would spend the one million dollars and it probably would not take me more than 2-3 hours to do so because these are organizations that I already donate to now (but only a miniscule fraction of one million dollars!).

Book Review – “Comfort of Fences” by Stacy Overman Morrison

By

Women Having CoffeeA couple of years ago I met Stacy Overman Morrison at the Writers’ League of Texas Agents & Editors Conference in Austin, Texas.  We kept in touch periodically discussing our journey on the writer’s path.    Last week, Stacy contacted me to tell me that her book was released.    I just finished it and it was a great book.    I thought I would send out a quick blog post about it especially since I just posted a few weeks ago about the special friendship between women (Saluting Sister-Girlfriends) which is the thread in this book.    Please consider adding Stacy’s book to your library.

Here is a link to Stacy’s author page on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Stacy-Overman-Morrison/e/B00FYW7OUS

Here is the review I posted on Amazon and Smashwords about Stacy’s book.

I started reading “Comfort of Fences” and was immediately pulled into the relationships of three remarkable women, Ruth, Denise and Georgia and their journeys to acceptance.   This story was so intriguing that it was difficult to find a stopping point at the end of my nightly reading sessions.    I love character-driven stories and the author presented her characters in such a manner that they became living beings in my thoughts.   As a blogger who blogs about the unique bond of friendship between women, I found this story to be an astounding testament to that bond.   It is a “must” read for those women who value the relationships with their mother, daughter, sister, and girlfriend.

Remembering Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By

3 Women HealthOctober is Breast Cancer Awareness month.   In reflecting on this, I realized that in my circle of female family and friends, I know 7 families that have been impacted by this disease.    The age range of the women that were inflicted is from 20+ to 70+ and some survived while others succumbed to the disease.   Just thinking of these facts impressed upon me the prevalence of this disease in our society and the importance of embracing a lifestyle of prevention.

In studying the subject, I decided to share some of the information with you, my blog audience, in an effort to help you and yours.

Risk Factors

  1. Simply being a female.   You don’t have to have any of the other risk factors but if you are a woman that is sufficient for developing breast cancer.
  2. You had a prior infliction of breast cancer in one breast.
  3. You have other family members that have been inflicted with breast cancer.
  4. You have inherited a gene mutation (BRCA1 / BRCA2).
  5. You are obese (BMI greater than 30).
  6. You drink alcohol
  7. You have been exposed to radiation.
  8. You started your menstrual cycle at a young age.
  9. You started menopause at an old age.
  10. You had your first child at 35 or older.
  11. You have never been pregnant.
  12. You are post-menopausal and using hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
  13. Growing older.   As we age, the chance of developing breast cancer increases.  How do we escape this one?

 

Prevention Tips

  1. If you are child-bearing, breast feed your babies.
  2. If you are menopausal, limit the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
  3. Be consistent with weight management.
  4. Exercise consistently and frequently – a 30 minute brisk walk 5 times/week is sufficient.
  5. Do not drink alcohol.
  6. Do not smoke.
  7. Beware of radiation exposure.
  8. Eating a healthy – while eating fruits/vegetables hasn’t shown to impact the breast cancer risk and eating low fat only slightly impacts the risk, it is still advantageous to eat healthy as this will help to control your weight and to reduce the risk for other diseases such as diabetes.

Monitoring Tips

  1. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, the yearly mammogram is a necessary discomfort we must all bear to be aware.    After one of my friends lost her 20+ sister to breast cancer and reading these risk factors, it is now my belief that women should start having mammogram as early as possible…….maybe at 18 years of age.
  2. The monthly self breast exam is probably the most important monitoring tip.   We know our bodies better than anyone and will quickly notice any change.    My cousin, who is a breast cancer survivor, told me that she had just had a mammogram with normal results when she discovered a lump in her breast at her monthly self breast exam.     It was malignant but due to her early detection she won the battle.

 

In the U.S, it is estimated that approximately 233,000 women will have a breast cancer diagnosis.   There are many support organizations such as the Susan G. Komen (http://ww5.komen.org) and the Sisters Network (http://www.sistersnetworkinc.org) that are helping survivors and strive to help eradicate this disease.   I have not been overtly active in this cause beyond donating to it but, as woman, I think that I should consider other ways to show my support.     I hope after reading this blog post that some of you will have the same motivation.

Creative Coolness

By

Women Having CoffeeWe are all creative beings.   We are each endowed with creative gifts.   Normally, we explore our creativity as children because we are unburdened but as we enter adulthood we put our creative spirit aside and embrace the reality standard of the status quo.   However, some resist and dare to continue on the creative path to become great artists like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Ron Howard,  and Elizabeth Taylor –  just to quickly name a few.   The rest of us admire them because we can relate to their creativity.  So, we flock to their concerts and their movies to witness that which they dare to do.

Now, there are some of us who eventually return to exploring our creative gifts.  In my own personal experience, I have a good life but there was a huge dissatisfaction in it until I rediscovered the one thing I truly love – writing.   It was the one thing I did well when I was young and it always energize me.   So, now I am pursuing it as another career.

Due to my own personal experience, I have developed radar for those “everyday” persons like me that are exploring their creativity and putting it out there in the world.  I call it searching for “creative coolness”.  Recently, I was out-and-about doing errands and grabbing a coffee at Starbucks when I had a truly rare WOW moment.    Right there in front of Starbucks was parked a Batmobile ………..and it was drivable!

I literally stopped in my tracks and was thankful for my Smartphone.   I whipped it out and started taking pictures of this amazing car.    As I headed into Starbucks, a very relaxed and smiling guy sitting at one of the tables in front of Starbucks beckoned to me.  I approached him and my instinct told me the car belonged to him.   I asked him and he confirmed it.   He told me that he created it from an early model corvette actually doing all of the work himself.   All I could say was “Wow”.   This amazed him because he said he thought my reply would be “Really?’’ in disbelief which was the usual reaction from people.   I told him that I believed him because I knew there were “everyday” persons with these type of creative/artistic gifts.   I snapped a picture of him with his car and told him I was going to blog about his beautiful work of art.     So, here is a big round of applause and a shout out to John Salazar, his “ZBatCar”, and the creative coolness of his soul.

Creative Coolness-6 Creative Coolness-5 Creative Coolness-4 Creative Coolness-3 Creative Coolness-2 Creative Coolness-1

Questions:

What are your creative gifts?

If you don’t think you have any, try to remember that thing you loved to do as a child.  Tell us about it.

If you know your creative gifts, tell us about them.   Are you using them?   If so, how?   If not, why not?

Saluting SisterGirlfriends

By

Women on the BeachThere is a myth that women cannot truly be friends because they are always competing with one another for male attention.   I disagree.   I believe that women can have non-competitive friendships that are separate and apart from their relationships with their spouses or lovers.   One such friendship that I admire is the friendship between Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King.

In my opinion, your relational life is not complete unless you have a SisterGirlfriend.   This woman can be your relative or a friend you would have chosen to be your sister, if given the choice.

What is her role in your life?

She is your sounding board, your cheerleader, your “voice of wisdom” and your helper in “keeping it real” during those times when you get a little delusional.

She was probably there with you through all of the Mr. Right Nows until you found Mr. Right and stood by you when he either walked out the door or was carried out of the door.

She listened to your frustrations through those “hard-headed” kid days and shared your pride when they finally grew up.

She celebrated with you when you got that degree, certification, opened that business or pursued your dream.

She cried with you when you had to say those final goodbyes to loved ones.

She’s your walking- off-the-pounds partner, let’s-go-to-brunch buddy, share-my-laughter sister, getting-our-groove-back girlfriend.

She is the first person you want to share a funny story with and the last friend you want to see disappointed.

You are the same for her.

 

QUESTION(S):

Do you believe that women can have non-competitive friendships?    If not, please explain.

Do you have a sister-girlfriend friendship?   If so, can you please share some history about your friendship?