July 2009

July Tuneup – Loren Slocum

Think about a woman you admire.  It could be a friend or relative, a politician or celebrity.  Make a list of the qualities you admire in this woman – i.e., generosity, strength, perseverance, intelligence .  Pick one of these qualities and spend the next month trying to emulate it.   After spending a month trying to seriously emulate this quality it will become a part of you – and you yourself will be come a woman you admire.

 

Upcoming Events:

To stay up-to-date on all of our fabulous LoBella events, please visit the events calendar on our website:

http://lobella.com/events.htm

Monthly Tuneup meetings!

Attend your first tuneup for $19.95!
Tuneup your Vision

  

Message from Loren Slocum

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the monthly LoBella newsletter!

We are so glad to have you as members of LoBella and have fantastic programs, content, products and more in store for you!

This monthly newsletter will be our way of reaching out to members: building our LoBella sisterhood and sharing tips and advice from our LoBella facilitators.  We will also be updating you on upcoming events.

Each month we will have different Tuneups, tips, and articles from our LoBella facilitators, women like you, located coast-to-coast who are committed to helping grow the LoBella sisterhood and help women stay true to who they are.

I founded LoBella to help inspire women to “stay true to who they are” and realize their natural gifts.  Recognizing the importance of helping to nurture the part in women that often times gets missed during their busy lives, LoBella has become a leading organization that women can depend on.

We look forward to sharing in the LoBella experience with you, please feel free to contact us with any ideas or feedback – remember, we are here to support you!

Stay True,
Loren Slocum
     

July 21st, 2009
Beverly Hills, CA
New York City, NY
Highlands Ranch, CO
Madison, CT
Bainbridge Island, WA

July 22nd, 2009
Stamford, CT
New Jersey
Granada Hills, CA

To learn more about when the monthly Tuneup meeting will be held in you area, and how you can get involved, please contact your local LoBella facilitator:

http://lobella.com/city.htm

Lobella Reclaim Your Life Event
Lake Las Vegas, NV
Limited to 50 women
January 29-31
$995.00 (includes food, speakers and activities)

  

Self-Care Tuneup
Jane Ashley, Guilford, CT Facilitator

As women, we often become taken over by the care-giving that we do—for our children, our husbands or partners, our parents, our jobs—and we lose sight of taking care of ourselves. This may lead to burn-out, depression, anxiety or distancing ourselves from experiencing the full breadth of our lives. Let’s take this month to focus on ourselves, so that we can fill ourselves back up in order to have enough to give.

What does it mean to “fill myself up?” Well, for me, it can mean taking 30 minutes to work out, or take a walk, or read, or take a bath. It often means taking a few minutes to be alone with myself, and observe the never-ending thoughts racing through my head. When I quiet my mind for a few minutes, by sitting alone, lighting a candle and some incense, I come back to my core. I can observe each thought in that moment, and realize that I am NOT those thoughts. I am the observer of the thoughts—the WITNESS. I am more than the momentary anxiety, joy, sadness, restlessness, empowered thought—I just AM.

Thoughts and emotions are fleeting, so take a five-minute break to notice your thoughts, to let them flow through and out, and concentrate on your breath. Just come back to your breath when you notice the thought. Your breath is your life force, and it is truly the only constant. From moment to moment, you can always count on that. Breathe in and out, and go out into the world filled up and ready to give back


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Parenting Tuneup of the Month
Danielle Lansburgh, Miami, FL Facilitator  

Every Moment Matters

As parents, we do our best to teach our children the importance of respecting the feelings of others. Although they hear the word "respect" do our children fully understand what it means and how it makes a difference to other people when we truly care and interact positively?

Recently, my kids and I read a book entitled "How Full Is Your Bucket For Kids" written by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. This book vividly illustrates and explains to children (and adults!) the difference each of our interactions can make in adding or
subtracting to other peoples “invisible buckets” (emotional state).

Fact is, when our buckets are full we feel great and when our buckets are empty we feel bad. When we say or do something positive for another person we add a drop to their invisible bucket and a drop to our own invisible bucket as well. When we have a negative interaction we subtract a drop from someone else's bucket as well as our own buckets. Having a full bucket allows space for best behavior and emotional health. Empty buckets lead to misbehavior and emotional challenges.

My kids and I use "the invisible bucket" metaphor daily and it really works as a reminder for them and me as well! For example, when we compliment each other we now respond with: "Thank you for adding a drop to our buckets!" If we are having a challenging situation we now say: "Uh oh, look what we are doing, we are subtracting from our

buckets, let's quickly reverse this".  Our goal is to keep our buckets full daily and it has become a team effort! The ability to visualize "the invisible bucket" has made it fun and easy for my kids to fully understand why respect and the infinite power of kindness is so important.

 

Recipe of the Month
Carly Maxwell, Grants Pass, OR Facilitator

We all want to eat healthy and provide great meals for our families!  This time of year is fantastic for fresh produce!  If you have a garden or a local outdoor market, or even just from you local grocery store, picking up some fresh goods is easy!  

The first recipe is for Sweet Basil Bruchetta, which is a fun appetizer that goes great with salad, BBQs, and is delicious!

Ingredients:
 - 1 sourdough baguette
 - 2 cups cherry tomatoes (cut into quarters)
 - 5 leaves fresh basil (diced)
 - 4 cloves garlic (diced)
 - 1/2 diced red onion
 - Olive oil
 - Balsamic vinegar
 - Salt and pepper to taste
 - Feta cheese (as desired) 

Directions:
 1. Slice baguette loaf into 1" slices and butter lightly on one side.  Toast in broiler.

2. Mix tomatoes, chopped basil, 4 chopped garlic cloves, and olive oil together in a bowl.

3. Drizzle with desired amount of olive oil and vinegar and add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Spread tomato mixture on toasted baguette slices and top with feta cheese.  

5. ENJOY!



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Relationship Tuneup
Susan Baker, Highlands Ranch, CO

Have you ever been in a place in your relationship where you feel like your spouse or significant other just isn't "showing you the love"?   In the beginning of a relationship you are so excited about the relationship that you do many things for each other and you think about each other all the time.  You really work at making sure the other person lights up and it makes your day to see them light up.   Maybe it has been a while and the initial excitement has worn off.  Maybe it has been a long while and you are questioning your relationship.  Chances are you both have  gotten caught up in the day to day activities of life and have forgotten to put each other at the top of the list.  Maybe you are showing your spouse the love in a way that you feel loved and that just doesn't do it for them.

Many times we forget that everyone experiences love in different ways.  In Gary Chapman's book "The Five Love Languages" he talks about the different ways that people feel love, including words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, physical touch, and acts of service.  For example, I feel loved when my spouse walks in the door and envelopes me in a big hug since my primary love language is physical touch but my husband feels loved when I go for a walk or run with him because his primary love language is quality time.

This month, you and your spouse or significant other should take 10 minutes to jot down on a piece of paper all the things that make you feel loved.  Don't judge yourself or your partner - just write!  After the 10 minutes are up trade papers and for the next few weeks pick at least two things from your partner's list and do those things that make them feel loved and ask them to do the same thing.   See if this extra attention to the things that really make your partner feel loved doesn't make an incredible difference.

Happy Loving! 

  

Beauty Tuneup of the Month
Stephanie Jackson, Bainbridge Island, WA Facilitator

Wacky Beauty Tricks

Here are some helpful odd-sounding pointers from professionals as well as real girls, that will help your daily beauty routine.

- SHAVE WITH CONDITIONER- ran out of shaving cream? Do double duty by coating your legs with a THICK hair conditioner. It softens the hair so it's easier to shave off and it makes legs fell silky!

- SPIKE LOTION WITH BRONZER- If you don't have time to book a self-tanning session, mix a few pumps of  body bronzer with regular body lotion and pat it on your legs for a gradual dose of color!

- MAKE AN EGG WHITE MASK- To revive tired and dull skin without hitting the spa table, try this: Crack open an egg in a bowl, separate the yolk, and use the egg whites to make a face mask. The proteins help to heal and restore the skin's moisture. Leave it on for 5 minutes, then rinse off and enjoy your firm healthy skin!

- SOFTEN YOUR BODY WITH AVOCADO- take a ripe avocado, remove the pit and skin, and mash it up in a bowl. Slather all over your body, let it sit for 20 minutes then rinse off. As avocado is a natural moisturizer your skin will be super soft.

Enjoy these wacky tips to look GORGEOUS!


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Health and Wellness Tuneup
Louisa Wu, Los Angeles, CA

Have Empowering Thoughts for Your Health

Many of you have seen or heard on Oprah about “The Secret,” a movie where you are told that your thoughts matter.  You can direct your positive thoughts to manifest what you desire; from a parking space to your dream house.  Or, you can hold negative thoughts and manifest less than desirable situations for yourself. 

Do you know that your thoughts not only help manifest your external world but also your internal world -- your health?!  You’ve probably heard of the placebo effect in which the simple belief that a drug can help cure you, can help heal you, even if you only took a sugar pill.  Well, there is also the No-cebo effect in which negative beliefs can hurt or even kill you. 

There is a new scientific field called epigenetics which reveals that genes are actually controlled by the environment or your perception of the environment.  Your perception doesn’t change the DNA itself, but it can affect the “readout” of the genes -  that is 30,000 possible readouts!

What does this mean?  This is good news for people like me who has numerous cancer cases in my family.  Like my siblings, you might have resigned yourself to the fact that you have a significant chance of inheriting the diseases prevalent in your family. 

Dr. Bruce Lipton explains in his book, “Biology of Belief” that even though you see yourself as individual, you are really a walking skin-covered petri dish of 50 trillion cells or entities.  Each cell is like a citizen in a large population. “When the leadership (of the population, the mind), is off, it causes disturbance in the function of the population which results in the state of disease.  A cancer represents the status when cells are so upset with the leadership that are not supporting their vitality.”

You don’t need to be victims of your heredity.  You just need to make sure you create supportive leadership of your community of 50 trillion cells!

So, having empowering thoughts to manifest your desirable external and internal worlds may have even more positive results than you thought possible.  Think positive, feel great!

  

Nutrition Tip of the Month
Vanessa Houssels, Las Vegas, NV

The solution for eating better is not deprivation, bland boring food or an extremely strict diet, rather it is incorporating good eating habits into your life.

Favor fruits and vegetables.

Veggies are a power house of vital nutrients including phytonutrients, and protein! Vegetables and fruit should thus make up the majority of your meals.  Stop thinking of vegetables as a side dish. Make veggies the main attraction in every meal. Always choose a variety of colored fruits and veggies.  The brighter the colors the more antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Vegetables also contain lots of fiber, which helps promote healthy bowel function.

Try to eat at least two thirds of you veggies raw. This is easy to do when you incorporate salads with each meal.  Remember, variety assures that you get a full rainbow of nutrients.  Raw food supply enzymes that promote digestion and healthy metabolism.

Prepare other veggies by lightly steaming or baking. Microwaving should be your lat choice in cooking vegetables as it has been s proven that as much as ninety seven percent
of the nutrients are "killed" in the process.

Aim for at least six to seven servings a day and more if you like.

An apple a day(or broccoli) really does keep the doctor away!