Random Thoughts from July 2023

There's just SOMETHIN' fabulous about summer isn't there?  I love leaving the doors open with the smell of the lake wafting in, along with the sound of our neighbour kids laughing and playing in their pool while they BLAST country music on their huge speakers.  


(picture credit goes to some random person on FB with the coolest dogs ever)

it's always bitter sweet when August rolls around cause its getting colder and I'm reminded that my feet get cold in flip flops and snow ... but ... FOOTBALL SEASON IS COMING.  Its the yin and the yang of it all I suppose.  ;) 

While we are still in mosquito season though, I read about this cool hack with ... you guessed it ... coffee!!!  

Put a mound of ground coffee in a heat safe bowl and light it like you would a candle until you get a steady stream of smoke.  Apparently mosquitos hate it!




I mean, as if we needed another reason to love coffee more ... ;)

COFFEE TALK 

I am surrounded by some of the coolest clients and often past, present (or future) clients send me quotes or posts or live videos that they know I would like.  This month I was shared a post on Instagram about living in the GAP vs living in the GAIN.  

This concept was developed by entrepreneurial coach Dan Sullivan.  

He said that most highly ambitious people, tend to be unhappy because of how they measure progress.  

We all have a goal or an ideal that we would like to attain.  Unhappy people who feel they are unsuccessful, live in the GAP.  They only consider where they are NOW against how far away they are from their ideal.  Happy people live in the GAIN.  They look at where they WERE to where they ARE.



What's most interesting to me is that I can consider, appreciate and be massively grateful for the GAIN ... for like a millisecond ... and then my brain moves to the GAP with ease.  Is it the Type A in me?  The entrepreneur in me?  The goal-oriented part of me?  The athlete in me?  

I mean, my football player of a son is trained, is coached, to be living in the gap, isn't he?   He needs to lift heavier, run faster, tackle harder, win more, lead better .... the focus is always on where he is going and the better he gets, the more the line moves.  It always does and I guess in elite sports it always must.

But what if ... we just made a conscious effort to spend time in the gain for a bit of time every single day?  I think living there a little more often, whether you are an elite athlete or on a personal journey of some type, will make a big difference.

FENG SHUI TIP OF THE MONTH 

At the beginning of this month we started a massive renovation project.

(OK well WE didn't ... but our contractor did)

It should come as NO shock to anyone that I am not a fan of clutter ... so when my husband quickly emptied two bedrooms and an office into our dining room (closets included) I kinda came unglued for a minute.  



Okay ... maybe a lotta minutes.

I was able to calm my tits and just settle in ... turn my head away from my dining room and pretend it wasn't there.  I was shocked actually at how I was able to manage within the disarray and I was pretty sure that I deserved a medal.

UNTIL ... we started to empty out other rooms and distribute the rest of the rooms to the remainder of the house.  I joked that most of the days I just stand in the middle of the room and spin.  NO SHIT.  It's hard to move when you can't.  lol



Some days I chose to work outside.



Some days Marley and I chose to have a nap outdoors.  (She likes to snuggle with large caterpillars while I appreciate pillows and blankets and a meditation... )



What's coolest is that moving my office outside for a bit, allowed me to see things from a different perspective.  Sometimes change (or change of scenery) brings a freshness and a renewed inspiration, ya know?

WHAT (or who) INSPIRES ME

Ok I can't remember if I told you this before, but I am a recovering worrier.

Like ... if there were awards for the person who worried the most often, about the most things, in the worst way ... it used to be me.

So when I saw this simple canvas years ago in a store, it drew me in.  I looked at it for at least two years until I purchased it recently.



GIVE IT TO GOD and go to sleep.

How often do we ruminate over things, in an effort to control something we simply have NO control over?  When we hand our worries, our fears, our lives over to a higher power ... take your pick, there's lotsa options ;) ... we can relax a little, live a little and enjoy the journey a whole lot more.

In Episode 33 of WTF Did She Just Say? I tell you a bit about my journey as a worrier.  It's a GREAT episode - I hope you like it.  

Also ... check out the show notes too cause I write them ... and I would hate to think that no one reads those suckers.



FUN STUFF from the INTERWEBS

This month it's a combo of fun AND inspiring ... 
 


I need to get some more curtains in my kitchen ..... 



This was sent to me by my daughter for motivation of the day .... I wonder where she gets her sarcasm and humour from .... 



Ahhhhh yes yes YES!

Hahaha.  My Psychology of Learning prof would have laughed though ... 

COOL SHIT

Usually it's my daughter who comes up with the coolest, newest (and often most expensive) stuff.  She knows I write this email, she thinks of things for me to share and usually it's her and I who have trialed the recipes for the Tasty Shit section.

My son on the other hand, buys things that are really neat and never tells me until three years later.

THIS Californian company is one of those things.  

DR. SQUATCH

Weird name.  Funny branding.  AMAZING product.  INCREDIBLE story.



Dr. Squatch started in 2013 and after a bit of a rebrand, hiring a comedian for their ads, they created THIS ad in 2020.  It hit 90 million viewers in 3 months ... and grossed 100 million in revenue!!!  In 2021 they had a Super Bowl Commercial!
 


My son uses the shampoo, conditioner, soap AND the deodorant.  It's all natural, smells great and doesn't use any of the estrogenics that are proven to negatively affect mens health (and they ADD natural ingredients that are beneficial).  These products are made specifically made for men, the soap even taking into account their thicker tougher skin.  I mean ... how brilliant is this!?  

You can get lost in the website ... it's rich with WHY the products are extraordinary (and how awful some of the other products are) or you can get lost on youtube with any of the ridiculous video ads that they have.

Here's the link if you'd like to check it out!  (I seriously need to be an affiliate for this company ...).

TAKE ME TO THE WEBSITE!

Tell them Sandra sent you!!  (Just kidding ... they don't know me). 

WHAT'S COMIN UP?

What's new??  I've noticed a number of women who want to know more about the offers I have, the coaching I do and how I could help them.   When women reach out and would like to speak with me, I offer them a free 15 minute call.  No strings attached.

I have never advertised this call and never offered them before ... mostly because I detest SUPER salesy high pressured tactics that most people use and I felt like "sales calls" were fucking gross.

But what I'm embracing lately is that I get to reinvent the wheel.  SO ... for now ... I am going to offer up my calendar for 15 minute calls to anyone who would like to chat with me about any of my offers that you are interested in and how I could help!

DISCOVERY CALL LINK HERE



INTENTIONAL:  Intimate Relationships/Marriage

Ooops!  I forgot that I took July off ... so it's RELATIONSHIPS month in August!!!!!  

When you are standing in your architectural front door looking in, Intimate Relationships/Marriage is the area of your home located at the back right hand corner.  If you are looking for a soul mate, to improve your existing relationship  with a partner (business or intimate) it's THIS area you wanna work in. 

Pro tip:  you want to have PAIRS of things in this gua!!!  You know ... to encourage a partnership.  See how that works???

YES I WANNA DESIGN MY HOME WITH SANDRA!



This started as a monthly journaling group ... $40 CAD a month ... with the intention to access your personal power but journaling, with a supportive group led by ME who is awesome.

It has turned into SO MUCH MORE.  

In this group I share not only my journaling processes, but also the things I'm learning along the way.  I've shared some mediumship stuff too!  Each and every day the goal is journaling in a way to access our subconscious mind, to release the stuff that limits us or bring forward our dreams.

It has become so much more than I dreamed it would be!!  You can join us using the link here:

I WANNA CHANGE MY OWN DAMN LIFE




There's a moment ... when you realize that every day is a gift.  We spend too much time in our heads, overthinking and worrying about perfect.  We don't try for fear of failure.  We wait for everything to be ideal before we begin ... but ideal doesn't happen.  We waste time worrying about shit that doesn't matter.

One day we wake up and realize that we've lived our lives for someone else ... and when we look back, it doesn't even look like US anymore.

And that's why I have created this coaching suite.

I promise ... life is not meant to feel like an assembly line of tasks.  It GETS to be good and when we can lean into that "thing" that we are great at ... it gets to be great.  I'm determined to help you get there.

CLICK TO WORK WITH SANDRA

TASTY SHIT!

My daughter made these tasty little suckers for dessert tonight.  I think I've shared the recipe on my social media before but they are so good and you likely forgot anyway, right???

INSIDE OUT STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE



Ingredients:

fresh strawberries, washed and hulled and slightly scooped out
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
graham cracker crumbs for the topping

Instructions

Mix cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla.  Place into a piping bag (or a ziplock with the end cut off) and pipe into the hollowed out strawberry.  Sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs and serve.

Our Tips and Tweaks:

- We have a little tomato corer tool from Pampered Chef that works like a DAMN on these strawberries.   When I googled it, Etsy referred to this tool as "Vintage 1996 Pampered Chef".  WTF.  If 1996 is VINTAGE ... what does born in 1971 suggest????  



Back to the tweaks .... 

- we usually use a hand mixer, only because we don't think ahead to bring the cream cheese to room temperature and we are impatient and lack time management skills ... but if you are better at planning ... a spatula or spoon will work just as well.

- we free pour the vanilla and we went a little heavy on it this time.  lol.  It's a little darker than usual.  Normally the filling is a nice creamy white colour. but hey ... we are all about embracing the imperfect around here lately and currently we only have one working light in our kitchen so we couldn't tell anyway.  ;)

If you try it, or tweak it I'd love to hear what you do!  Post a pic on your social media and tag me!

***

Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you SO much to all of you who regularly email me, recommend my group, my courses, my coaching or this newsletter to your friends and colleagues, your biz besties and your family.  I appreciate every one of you and every message that I receive.  

OH AND ONE MORE THING!!!

If you're loving this email but you're wanting all the blasts from the past, you can now access ALL MY PRIOR NEWSLETTERS on my blog!!

www.thefengshuichick.ca/blog 

"Life is not meant to be an assembly line of tasks ... it's meant to be a masterpiece.  Only you can hold the brush".  

Sandra Priestley 
XO





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