Archive | June, 2012

Networking…not my fav, but it works!

28 Jun

From networking event I attended last night

Networking…ugh, just saying the word brings up images of car sales men running around a fancy lounge with a drink in their hand, going from person to person trying to get them to buy a lemon.  I still hold this crazy image in my head about networking, even though I’ve learned the importance of getting yourself out there.  Crazy I know, but the idea of trying to sell yourself/your services/your business at a “networking” event in 30 seconds or less is not what I enjoy doing, but I have learned the benefits of doing it.  Heck, I got my last two jobs that way and with the way this economy is going now a days, it’s now more than ever true that it’s about who you know and not all about what you know.

To get myself over the initial general aversion to the word, I continue to work on being able to enjoy networking events for what they are – a great place to get to meet new people, outside your regular network of friends/acquaintances/business contacts.

I have also began networking via other avenues.  Outside of making sure you add current and past co-workers and supervisors to your list of networking contacts (try not to burn these bridges – you never know when you may need them), I have taken continuing education classes and added my classmates and instructors to my networking pool. Choosing these networking options has proven to be a great success for me because I don’t feel “car salesman like” when I’m making connections and fostering relationships this way.  So if you shy away from networking events, consider exploring one of these options.

Below are a few other suggestions:

  • Find yourself a mentor.  Mentors are amazing – not only when you’re starting out, but when you’re contemplating a career change.
  • Become part of and attend professional association meetings/events, which match what you’re currently doing and/or what you want to be doing in the future.
  • Volunteer for jobs that match what you’re currently doing and/or match what you want to be doing in the future.

Getting to know others in these ways allows them to not only have more things in common with you, but they also get to see different sides of you and your personality – which is way more impactful than the most well produced resume can be.

Regardless of which way you decide to network, make sure you have a plan regarding what you want to communicate about yourself. Before you head out to a networking event, make sure you:

  • Practice your “soft skills”, which include listening, body language, and conversation skills. (To further help those of us who are shy and don’t love networking, but know it’s essential, I’ve included the following Networking Checklist that I found from the ABS News Center.  It not only has a checklist to follow, but also has conversational items you can use at each step.)
  • This does not mean that you should go in talking yourself up, which happens to turn me and a lot of people off, but do genuinely approach everyone with the sincerity of wanting to get to know more about them and their skills/abilities/business.
  • Once you’ve played the listening role, if they in turn are genuine about their networking, they will then ask you to share information about yourself, your skills/abilities/business and you need to be prepared to share your “highlight” real (accomplishments, strongest skills set(s), etc. – know thyself and be able share it in a couple of minutes) along with your intentions (new job, career change, mentor, etc.)

Knowing what you have to offer is essential to a successful networking connection.

Here’s to our continued networking success!

What are some of your networking “go to’s”? How has the value of networking impacted your professional/personal life?

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When Being Single Becomes Palpable

25 Jun

What can I say, sometimes being single, ain’t all it’s cracked up to be – much like any stage of our lives.  This past month, my inability to share events with a significant other has left me palpably feeling my singledom and it’s not been a fun ride.  It’s been an emotional roll a coaster.  Not to say that I’ve been crying all day and night, but I have found myself becoming more emotional about things that normally touch me, but don’t always make me cry.  My co-workers have also noticed a lost/concerned look on my face that has prompted them on more than one occasion to ask if everything was ok.  I’m generally ok with my singledom, but this month I noticed something internally off and obviously others witnessed something externally off about me too.

By my own account and those around me, my life is pretty close to fabulous.  I have a great job, my own home and am surrounded by great friends.  What I am missing however, is someone to share my life with and have beautiful babies with.  It’s this loss that gets more palpable as the years pass me by and guide me closer to 40.  Not to say that life ends once you turn 40, but what does begin to end is the dream of holding a child I never had in my arms.  I know being a single mother is not a foreign concept and can be a possibility for me, but I’ve thought about that option long and hard and have decided that for ME,  I really want to be married to someone I love and want to grow old with, before I bring a child into this world.  A personal decision, which I continuously have to defend to myself and others around me because although I would love to have a child, I don’t want to do it without having the love of my life by my side.

So as I continue to go through these roll a coaster of emotions, as I continue to move toward 40, I do what I can to keep myself sane.  A lot of it revolves around turning to older single friends to hear words of encouragement on how they’ve been able to keep it together and going online to see that I’m not alone in my emotional challenges.

For now, I am content in being a Mommie to these two  amazing doggies and an Aunt to four fabulous nephews and two amazing nieces, while trying to tame the yearning for the family and children I dreamt of having one day.  Trust me, I am optimistic about this still being a reality for me, but the realist in me has to prepare myself in case I don’t meet the man of my dreams until after my child bearing years.  Yes, there is always adoption and a myriad of other choices, but there is nothing I’ve wanted more that to see a mini me running around in the world.  Hopes and dreams are what I have and will continue to have until one of them comes true.

Do you or have you had similar struggles during your singledom?  What did you do or are you doing to over come them?

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Lessons Learned about “Clean” Eating and Getting “Skinny”

21 Jun

If you’ve read my previous posts “My Skinny Mantra” and “It’s not Perfect, but I’m Remaining Realistic” my quest for dropping 20 lbs this year continues.  I not only want to lose the weight, but I want to do it in such a way that I will not have to diet ever again in my life.  Lofty I know, but dang, dieting as you get older gets harder and harder with every passing year.

To make this dream a reality, I realize that I need to make a lifestyle change, not only in my eating habits, but in what I eat.  To that end, I have begun pursuing “clean” eating, which to me means eating more organically grown foods and cutting down on processed foods.  I can’t seem to commit to completely eliminating processed foods, but hope to get close one day. ;)

My problem in trying to make the switch to eating “organic” is that not all labels are created equal.  It’s so frustrating…natural, hormone-free, grass-fed – do they all mean organic?  After spending double to sometimes triple the cost of “regular” chicken breasts, I found out they don’t after reading “Decoding Food Labels:  Is there a difference between “organic” and “100 percent organic”? And what about grass-fed and grass-finished meats? We’ll help you brush up on your food-label smarts.” By Marie Suszynski, Bonnie Taub-Dix, RD, (national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and author of Read It Before You Eat It) & medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I am a visual person, especially when it comes to making food choices.  While the article above was great in and of itself, I found it hard to keep the information straight when I went to the grocery store.  As a result, my anal retentive self took Marie Suszynski’s and Bonnie Taub-Dix’s information from the article and put it in a table format I can carry with me and easily read as I’m making my food choices at my local grocery store.  (Trust me, I realize the anal retentiveness of it, but it works for me :P )

If that’s way more information than you wanted to know about “organic” food labels and just want to start off with making the best decision when it comes to purchasing organic produce, below is yet another chart created by the Environmental Working Group called EWG’s 2012 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. The chart lists the organic produce you should splurge on vs. the regular produce that has the lowest pesticides and you don’t need to splurge on.  (What can I say, charts and guides are my thing.)

Lots to learn about “clean” eating, but thanks to the information I learned, I don’t feel the need to buy everything organic, which will definitely save me some cash-o-la. :)

The other thing I have finally let enter my brain when it comes to losing weight, exercising and diet/portion control is that inches count.  I have always been told this, but when you’re goal is to lose weight, inches are ok, but what really motivates is the dwindling number on that scale.  I know it’s not a popular view, but the scale has been my arch nemesis for years.  I also realize that all the fitness folks hate that I keep saying ”getting skinny,” but that’s really what’s at the core of my and almost every other person who’s trying to lose weight.  Trust me the PR around eating healthy and exercising to get healthier has worked and we know that it takes work to lose the weight, but what we want to see once we’ve done the work is that we’re “getting skinny.”  As I have mentioned before, to me ”getting skinny” is not about getting to a size 0 or size 6.  It’s about getting to a healthy, ideal weight/size that I’ve been able to maintain in the past; not about getting to a weight/size I’ve never been in my life.

With that said, although I have been on the weight loss track for a month now, the scale has not budged, but I have noticed that my clothes are fitting better/loser.  That, coupled with the fact that one of my Gold’s Gym fitness instructors just shared that while she stopped losing weight about two months ago, varying her work outs has lead to her dropping two more dress sizes, I just yesterday began measuring my body to track inches lost.

What can I say – Knowledge is Power!  I am definitely beginning to see the light on many of the decisions I make and hope to continue to share my successes and learning moments with you.

Have you made the switch to “clean” eating?  How have you been able to kick processed foods out of your diet?

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Reunion 2012 Complete :)

18 Jun

The Sanchez 2012 Reunion is now a thing of the past.  We made it another year and were able to get together without much drama :)

We laughed, ate…

…played games…

…caught up and started planning next year’s reunion.

We heard about new illnesses, new accomplishments, great stories about the family and new adventures, which my niece, Aissa, who is about to be 17 years old topped by saying that she had decided to audition for American Idol.  Although she’s been singing since she was a little girl, she was very shy about her talent, despite the fact that she comes form a long line of performers from both sides of her family.  It wasn’t until last year, when she performed a song for a class project, that she began to get the courage and confidence to start singing at various family and public events.  Like her Daddy (my brother), she picked up the guitar her Daddy gave her for one of her birthdays and turned to YouTube to learn how to play it.  Amazing how when music is in your blood, nothing can stop you from playing it :)

My niece and my brother (her Dad) singing at her 16th birthday party :)

The American Idol audition took place last week in San Antonio…she didn’t make it, but was singled out by one of the judges and was asked to audition again next year.  Although our trip to Hollywood will have to wait, I am extremely proud of my shy, fearful of everything niece for taking a big leap and putting herself out there.  She has taken the postponement in stride and happy to have had the experience.  She feels lucky to have learned about the auditioning process, got to see Ryan Seacrest and spent lots of bonding time with her Daddy.  Don’t know that I would have reacted the same at her age, but so proud none the less!

Niece’s American Idol audition ticket and wrist band.

What amazing things has your family sprung on you at your get togethers?  What amazing things have you sprung on your family at your get togethers?

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Family…no choice but to love ‘em

7 Jun

This weekend we will again be hosting our annual family reunion at my parents’ house, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas – which means it will be HOT, but we do it for the love of family (wink, wink). This is our smaller reunion, which involves only local extended family.

Last year we had both, our local annual reunion and our big reunion where we had folks from California, Mexico and all across Texas. The big reunion takes place every 5 to 10 years, depending on how soon everyone wants to get together again. ;) Last year’s was a blast, despite some family drama during the planning process; but what family event ever goes down without drama? It was an all day event, in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas – which means it was HOT (It’s Texas, what more can I say?). We had breakfast, followed by lunch and games and ended with dinner and my family getting up on stage and taking turns showcasing their singing talents. A good time was had by all.

My Grandmother and Grandfather on my Mom’s side

Our local annual reunions however are held to honor the passing of my grandparents. We attend a mass in their honor in the morning, then return to my parents’ house for breakfast, games and end with my family hanging out on the patio taking turns showcasing their singing talents….hmm, not so different, is it? But it is smaller and generally breaks up around 3ish ;)

 

 

 

 

Although it is a celebration among family, we all know family is not shy at all about letting you know when things don’t look right or aren’t handled the way they would handle it, which is what stresses out my Mom (Mom’s always want things to be perfect). This leaves my father, sister, her kids and I trying to keep her as calm as possible and/or just staying out of her way, which ever happens to be the best option at the moment. ;) We try to remind her and any family member with an opinion on how we should do this year’s gathering, that it’s about being together, not about having things be perfect – but that doesn’t always work. What can I say, that’s family for ya – just gotta love ‘em. So as I head home this weekend for a 4 day weekend to prepare for our extended familia, I know that there will be a lot of cooking, cleaning, general preparation and family drama diffusion in my future, but I’m still looking forward to it! Family drama is a never ending battle, even in the best of families, so why not get together more often to see if we can squash/control some of the drama to try to keep it out of the normal run of the mill drama generally reserved for the Holidays? ;)

Do you have family reunions?  What fun things do you do at your reunions?

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Struck by a light…bulb moment

4 Jun

Lightbulb moments, why is it that they take their sweet time to hit you?  Lately, I have found myself saying “If I only knew then, what I know now….” about big areas of my life.  Not that things turned out horribly wrong for me, I just wish I could have reached my current life a few years earlier :D   Below are a few of my lightbulb moments.

Self Discovery

“If I only knew then, what I know now…” I would have had more confidence in all aspects of my life from my teen years to college years.  I would have walked away from bad situations/relationships faster.  I would have been more adventurous.

 

Romantic relationships

“If I only knew then, what I know now…” I may not be single today.  I may not have participated in throw away relationships; I may not have focused on education and career above all else; I may have found a way to stay connected with the ”good” men that came into my life, instead of letting them walk out without a second thought.

Weight

“If I only knew then, what I know now….” I would not have let myself get to my current weight.  I would have told my high school self that what I thought was fat, was actually my ideal weight.

Thanks to life’s trials and tribulations and Oprah’s Life Class, I now feel that I finally know myself, what I want, what I will tolerate/what I won’t….basically I now know what I want out of life.  It’s an amazing feeling…one that I wish I could have experienced years earlier.  Again, not because I’m not happy with the way my life turned out, but because now that I know myself and want to take time to “stop and smell the roses,” it seems time is rushing by and I find myself wishing I had more time to enjoy every aspect of my life.

 

Although I don’t have any kids, I now realize why parents are always handing out advice to us none receptive teens/young adults….they are also going through the same realizations I’m just now getting to and want their kids to know now, what they didn’t know then.  I guess that’s the vicious cycle knowledge goes through.  It’s a right of passage that is earned through struggle, heartache and age. It explains why history always repeats itself.

If you’re tired of of not getting struck by lightbulb moments, there’s nothing like the present.  Use  Oprah’s Life Class Lesson #25 as your starting point - “The only courage you ever need is the courage to fulfill the dreams of your own life.”

What lightbulb moments have you had recently?  Have they changed the way you live and/or view your life?

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