And the Beat Goes On

Here I am in Las Vegas speaking for the Dance Teacher Web conference at the gorgeous Red Rock Casino and Resort. What a great looking crowd, fit, young, spirited. It certainly is a trip down nostalgia lane for me as I reflect on my early years as a professional dancer and how the lessons learned in the studio have served me in business and life. The discipline of a performer has played a role in the accountability that has driven my growth. The risk of trying one more pirouette, kicking that leg higher, leaping faster, stretching farther, all became metaphors for life skills. What lessons do you recall from your first career, your first mentor/teacher, your first attempt at something new and how do you connect the dots?

The Days of Wine and...Chocolate

I spoke at Hershey this week. I checked in and was offered a choice of milk or dark, I chose the dark. I got to my room and there were Kisses everywhere, the chocolate kind! I spoke the next day then treated myself to a chocolate facial and no, I did not try to lick my face...altho' the thought did occur to me:-) And if that wasn't enough, the client invited me to partake of a wine and chocolate tasting. My insulin must be screaming by now. Oh, I forgot to mention, I don't drink, especially wine (may indulge in the oh so chi chi girlie martini once in awhile). And there I was, drinking Llama Old Vine Malbec with Milk Chocolate Praline Truffle Tart. Followed by Chocolate Box Shiraz with Scharffen Berger Extra Dark(didn't know Hershey made that), did you? Yummy, here comes my favorite, Cullari Coco Nostra (it was a wine with a hint of chocolate) but we still had it with Dark Chocolate Decadence Torte.

By now, I am silly with wine and high on chocolate but managed to try the Rancho Zabaco Single Vineyard Zinfandel. Oh why, oh why, couldn't it be the cheap white zin' that I love so much and my son reprimands me not to order in a restaurant and embarrass him, lol. That red is accompanied by an assortment of Hershey's Bliss Favorites. Four down (and me) and one to go...Ah, one of my all time favorites, Neirano Moscato d'Asti (shows you how sophisticated my wine taste buds are). Washed that baby down with some white chocolate cheesecake. Flew there as a passenger, came home as cargo.

Hoo Hah!

I just came back from my National Speakers Convention in Orlando (ugh) and following up on the collection of business cards. Lots of great speeches, networking, schmoozing and partying. The funny thing about getting 1500 speakers in one place, you get alot of ego in the room, alot of BS, "oh I'm traveling 564 days a year, doing 300 presentations, making zillions of dollars, I'm on the best seller list and ya da ya da ya da. If you can wade through all that, there is alot of caring and sharing from authentic folk, the kind I like. One of the keynoters, Mark Gungor was hysterically funny as he talked about gender differences and every time he shared a "male thing", he had the men in the audience shout, "Hoo Hah", that was quite funny and became the buzzword of the week. He's all over YouTube and worth the watch.