Another Day in Paradise

Today is one packed day! Exercise class this morning will hold a celebration for my 'adopted' mother, Gladys. She'll be 92!!! I hear a cake hat is in order for the festivities.

I'm looking forward to a phone call from Ann McDermott of COPE - the Center for Obesity Prevention and Education at Cal Poly. We have the big Hands on Health Symposium coming up in October and a friend and I will be doing the Passport - that's the paper people will carry around the symposium to document their vital info. I did a preliminary layout a few months ago but now we're getting down to details.

Then, it's off to San Luis Obispo to get my oil changed and have the alignment checked on my car. After spending huge bucks yesterday on new tires, they say I need it checked. All of this in preparation for my big road trip to WASHINGTON!!! Call it my Bucket List or my Passion List, I have wanted to go to the Museum of Glass in Washington for quite a long time. Well, the time has come - my sister-in-law has a favorite aunt up there, so five of us are climbing into my car (yes, it'll be a tight squeeze) and heading north. I'm linking up with Scott Wilkinson's mom who's a docent at the museum. Check out the beautiful glass. http://www.museumofglass.org/ I'm taking my good camera so be on the lookout late next week for the photos.

I stopped by my local Michaels store to pick up some beads to make my sister-in-laws aunt a necklace. I stumbled across great travel items for my nephews - all kinds of games and things to do.

Meanwhile, I need to call the Freight Room aka train depot to see if it would work for our class reunion.

Upward, onward and on to who knows what...

Joan

With a click of the mouse...

I just committed to a BIG endeavour that I'm super excited about! I am heading up PR/Media for the Center for Obesity Prevention and Education (COPE) Symposium later this year. I look forward to meeting new people, spreading the word and learning all that I can learn!!!

The website will be up next week so I can share what the center is all about.

It's been a whirlwind few days...

I've been sending out tons of book proposals and with email being the way most publishing houses want their proposals, it's a quick turn around. (Read that as a quick 'no thanks!')

I've been walking and walking - the weather has been absolutely gorgeous - in the 80's!!! Valerie and I have been good about getting out to walk on the beach for an hour. Last weekend, my sister, nephew and I did a 2 hour walk on the beach followed by a healthy dinner at Taco Temple. Valerie, invited me to a stretch class, so looks like I'll be adding that to my activities a couple of times a week.

We made a quick trip over to Fresno / Lemoore for my dad's 82nd birthday. I picked up a Madonna Inn Toffee Cake - it was over-the-top! I made a quick trip to Fresno to do some paperwork and then on to lunch with my friend Frances - we could talk all day and all night, if we had the time! She is soooo insightful and such a good friend - one that I can tell EVERYTHING and ANYTHING to and she has had similar situations so we can identify with each other so much. I love to see what she and Rudy have done since the last time I was there.

Yesterday was my first COPE (Center for Obesity Prevention and Education) meeting on the Cal Poly campus. My sister went to school there so I at least knew the basic layout of the campus - I walked passed where we stood in line for what seemed like hours during her registration (ahhh, to have had computers and on-line registration back then) and I passed the building where my nephew, Chris, graduated a few years ago. Everyone was warm and inviting at the meeting. I was the only person not associated with an agency like the Y, food bank or a fitness center. It's idea time, so this afternoon I'll shoot off an email to them with some creative ideas for a huge symposium in October.

Well, I'm off for a doctor's appointment and lunch with my sister and nephew at a new restaurant and maybe a movie this afternoon.

It's a busy weekend, my high school classmate, Lisa, will be in Pismo Beach and wants to 'pick my brain' about something, so it will be good to see her again. AND, this weekend I will finalize my plans to go to London...yippeee!!!

Make it a great one!
Joan

COPE

I just got back from seeing the movie Seven Pounds - not quite the movie I had expected...but, when I got home, I had a message on my answering machine. It was from the Director of the Center for Obesity Prevention and Education (COPE) at the local university, Cal Poly. She asked me to be on the community advisory committee!!! I am soooooo very excited!!! I met her at a luncheon a couple of months ago and now look where a simple email took me. We're chatting tomorrow about details...

Later...I knew I wanted to be a BIG part of this organization, but the more I did research, the more I saw the fit. Here are the Director's goals - First, to develop comprehensive exercise-nutrition-behavior programs to improve weight, body composition, and physical and metal health across the lifespan. Second, to conduct research to determine the program’s effectiveness. Third, to work within existing institutions, such as after-school programs, community or health centers, to amplify the program’s availability to diverse populations. Fourth, to establish Cal Poly as a nationally recognized education resource and center of obesity-related expertise.