Deanna Davis

A Discovery at the Scene of the Grime

Had I not carried this child for 9 months and been fully conscious (perhaps too conscious) when I birthed her, I could not claim her as my own. We never have to ask Malina to do her homework, clean her room or do her laundry (at age 8).  She's organized and responsible, detail-oriented and prone to saying things like "Mom, they sent a lunch account notice home A-GAIN. I don't know how many times I have to remind you about this. At some point they're just not going to let me eat."

With guests in the house (and their twin one-year-olds), Malina is sleeping on the floor in our room for the next week because she gave up her room to allow extra space for them (not only willingly but uncharacteristically pleasantly), and she actually took the initiative to put clean sheets on the bed without being asked.  Yes, weird.  Yes, nearly unheard of.  I know.  I don't understand it either, given my well-documented aversion to housekeeping of any kind (see several chapters in Laugh, Cry, Eat Some Pie for vivid and disturbing details).

In any case, I walked into my (quite messy) bedroom this morning to spy Malina's little corner of the room tidied just so, with sleeping-bag bed neatly made, clothes uniformly stacked on the makeshift bed, books stacked with precision on her pillow, and her slippers placed "just so" at the foot of the bed.  I again had to ask myself "can I really claim this child as my own?  It just doesn't make sense...my genes could not possibly produce a child this meticulously tidy and organized." 

To prove it, I'll let you in on a little secret:  I then had to take a snapshot of her mini-domicile from four different angles to make sure it ONLY  showed her bed so it wouldn't reveal the "chaotic but warm and lived in" nature of the rest of my bedroom (AKA the "scene of the grime").  Here's proof:

I'm thinking something skipped a generation.  No doubt about that. But we all have to celebrate our own strengths, right? RIGHT?

 

Join us for a Power Lunch Hour Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 21) at Noon PST

Webinar Wednesday is tomorrow at NOON, PST!  This month's topic is:

"Power Tools for Time and Task Management."

For only $7 you can savor this training and a whole array of additional resources through the Womanhood Community Membership Program.

• Not able to join us live?  No worries...The entire webinar, and its audio recording, will be posted for your viewing or listening pleasure within 48 hours for you to enjoy at your convenience.
• Only have access to a phone at that time?  No problem...just join us via teleconference instead! 

This wildly practical and fun event will be facilitated by yours truly (Deanna Davis) and my partner in living with intention, Mary Anne Radmacher. 

We have a full hour jam-packed with the most practical and meaningful ways to:

• take back your time
• attend to your priorities
• streamline your schedule, and...
• maybe even weave a little self-care into the mix.

If you said "What's that?" to the last statement about self-care, YOU REALLY NEED THIS WEBINAR!  You'll be either pleasantly surprised or entirely blown away (or both) by what's possible with some of these very simple but exceptionally powerful practices.

Give us one hour and $7 (yes, that's SEVEN DOLLARS) and you'll have a map for managing your schedule.  Give these strategies some intention and practice, and you'll have a compass for navigating your life.

To register, click here and use coupon code "SPECIAL" (without the quote marks!) discount your registration to $7*.

This webinar is part of the Womanhood Community, a monthly membership for those of the female persuasion among us (sorry guys...we'll bring you something special later on!).  So, your $7 registration fee brings you not only the webinar but a full month of a full array of opportunities and ideas to center, connect, and create your life in meaningful ways.  Benefits include:

• Nudges: small steps email "nudges" to help you make steady progress toward your goals.
• Resources: expert interviews, audios, videos, or e-programs on everything from health to happiness to money to “me-time.”
• Experiences: We’ll offer Tele-gathering Tuesday one month, Webinar Wednesday the next month, and Get It Done Thursday the next. And then we’ll start the sequence over again. These gatherings will give you every opportunity to open your mind with new ideas and get on your feet to apply them in your life.
• Five-minute Fixes: powerful strategies to change your mind, your actions, and your life in (you guessed it) just five minutes.
• STARTegies: a monthly infusion of ideas for STARTing something new or making a meaningful change in your life, brought to you exclusively from resident "inspirator" Mary Anne Radmacher.
• Free Stuff Fridays: one member wins an exquisite gift and all other members receive deep discounts from featured partners to bring you what you really want—pampering, fashion, learning, and more!

Join us for the webinar and experience the membership community for one full month for only $7 ($15 thereafter)...and we know the decision will change your life.  WITH A NO-RISK, CANCEL-ANYTIME GUARANTEE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE.  No commitments, no hassles, just the opportunity to enhance your life one small step at a time.

See you tomorrow for "Power Tools for Time and Task Management" webinar!  To register, click here and use coupon code "SPECIAL" (without the quote marks!) discount your registration to $7*. 

(*Remember, if you wish to continue your Womanhood Community membership, you will be billed the monthly membership fee of $15 each month from the date of your registration.  Cancel any time with no penalty and no hassle...and you will still have access to all membership benefits through the end of your paid month!)

 

The Chocolate Chip

Here's a quick vid to start your week off with a laugh. And quite possibly a craving for chocolate. It's an excerpt from my one-woman show called "Womanhood: The Divine Comedy."  Enjoy...

By the way, the new comedy tour will start in Spokane in September, this one with all new stories, many from my new book (Laugh, Cry, Eat Some Pie).  We'll be excited to benefit RiteCare Spokane once again, a truly amazing non-profit that provides free speech therapy services for children and families in the Spokane area.  They are miracle workers who make communication possible (yes, that includes more than just speaking...it thankfully includes laughing, too!)  We'll keep you posted on upcoming dates and locations.

Bonding in the Buff

It dawned on me this week that I've subjected some of my long-term staff members and colleagues to really unfortunate opportunities to bond with me.  I'm a fairly transparent person about much of my life (who wouldn't be when they tell their deepest, darkest secrets to tens of thousands of people each year from the stage and the page).  But what I realized after training my new executive assistant and event coordinator, Karen, is that at times my life is perhaps too transparent for comfort (mine, theirs, and sometimes both).

Karen started her first "official" day with me only two days after the recent flare-up of my back injury.  I'd been confined to bed, high on narcotic painkillers, shuffling around like a little old man (when shuffling was even an option) and in excruciating pain.  Karen's first full day on the job consisted of carting me to my physician's office and the pharmacy, along with a few personal and professional stops along the way (involving a massive order of chocolate bars and a healthy taco salad to balance them out), all while I took a critical conference call replete with routine yelps and the occasional expletive.

The pain had gotten so bad by the time we reached the medical appointment that they ended up giving me an injection of some kind in...well...a rather sensitive portion of my anatomy.  Because we were in the process of rescheduling other meetings and appointments when the nurse came in to give me the goods, Karen was unfortunate to witness the baring of more than my soul that day (if you know what I mean).  When she wheeled me out of the doctor's office she noted just how memorable her first day had been and that she'd been exposed to so much more of the business...and me as a human being...than anticipated.  Indeed.

I got to thinking that Karen's not the first one to face the, uh, naked truth about the most intimate aspects of my life.  When my Business Development Director, Katie, began working for me eight years ago as a grant-writer for a local non-profit, she started the day before a critical proposal deadline.  When proposals are due, you do what you have to to get them out the door.  So, as the nursing mom at the time of a bouncing baby girl with the capacity to chug milk like a frat boy strapped to a beer bong, I hooked on my breast pump and facilitated our entire strategy meeting together while affixed to my "mobile lactation station."  Don't worry, I asked her first. (Oh, my human resources friends out there are shaking their heads and quaking in their boots...don't worry...no lawsuits have been filed...yet).  And I knew she was the right woman for the job when she simply shrugged and said, "my sister has about a billion kids.  I won't even notice." 

And so, it seems that I do much of my long-term bonding in the buff.  And I guess that instead of leaving the "pen a bestselling exposé revealing all of the sordid details of your employer's private life" to them, I'll just do it myself to get it out of the way now.  I am a writer, after all.

*A note on my butt: Thank you to Karen for securing this fabulous picture from your anonymous friend, aptly titled "Emma's Butt" for use in this story.  I guarantee the above-rendered butt is far easier on the eyes than my own.  Enough said.

The Revolutionary Moment

Hmmmm....as I've always suspected.  A single moment really can change everything:

"Most of the time, we fail to realize the enormous potential of a moment.  Perhaps this is because we think of a moment as a very short amount of time--just a few seconds--and therefore rather negligible.  But the word 'moment' actually comes from a Latin word that means 'a particle sufficient to turn the scales.'  In other words, a moment can be revolutionary.  It can turn your life around.  A moment is, by its very nature, momentous."  (Martin Boroson, in One-Moment Meditation: Stillness for People on the Go).

Why not truly pay attention to one of your "momentous moments" today?  What did you experience that you might have missed had you not been fully present to it?  Do share...

A Note on Resiliency

 "Resilience is our ability to 'bounce back' from stress or challenges.  It isn't born from safety or security, and it isn't cultivated from complacency or self-criticism. 

Instead, it's nurtured by taking reasonable risks and by trying out new ways of thinking and acting.  It's fostered through equal parts challenge and creativity, practice and patience." 

How will you embrace resilience today?

From Chapter 4, Adaptability, in Laugh, Cry, Eat Some Pie (by yours truly).  25 days and counting till release date!

Bathed in Bacon

Here I sit, nearly incapacitated by pain.  And bathed in bacon. An unexpected flare-up of last year's back injury left me weeping uncontrollably to my chiropractor on the phone last night and nearly talking in tongues to the kids' summer nanny trying to explain that I needed her to take my shoes off for me because I couldn't reach my feet. 

This is inopportune at best.  It's one of the most exciting and busy times of my professional career with the new book coming out and scads of deadlines looming.  Painkillers have me as high as a Cirque de Soleil performer dangling above a breathless crowd (and honestly I'm looking just about as creepy as one, too, as evidenced by my visiting in-law's attempts to avoid recoiling when I limp out of my room and into the light every once in a while).

So I'm laying here in my zero-gravity position in bed at 5:00 pm struggling to finish some correspondence without making some grave error like writing "public" instead of "public" because the work still needs to be done.  I started descending into an emotional state that was part panic and part pity party, though I'm not sure which emotion won bragging rights. I touched my heart chakra to calm myself and commence a deep breathing protocol that I was sure would either help me calm down or finally pass out (or preferably both).  But something didn't feel quite right.  I investigated further and found the source.

I am bathed in bacon.

Let me explain.  My wonderful husband and in-laws had gone to lunch this afternoon, on a glorious sunny day, where they sat on the patio at one of my favorite restaurants enjoying their meal and no shortage of laughter.  They did all of this without me.  So I did what anyone else in my situation might do.  I wished them well and began silently feeling very VERY sorry for myself.  I did this as I choked down a tasteless meal replacement bar by myself in an empty house so that I would have something, anything, in my gut other than various narcotics, muscle relaxants, and steroids (a most unpleasant cocktail, to be sure).

But my pity party was short-lived because they brought me home my favorite spinach salad in the world, leafy greens perfectly dressed with tender onions, a delectable blend of cheeses, and the most exquisite warm bacon dressing gracing every morsel of it.  The salad nearly made the whole back ordeal tolerable.  I savored every bite of it and the attitude adjustment it served on the side.

I didn't realize until just a moment ago that when one consumes large servings of warm spinach salad in the zero-gravity position, one can accumulate a remarkably significant pool of bacon dressing on one's chest without noticing it until much later in the day.  Which I just did.  And it made me smile.  A big smile that, for the first time today, was not in the slightest bit precipitated by the heavy lifting of heavy medications.  I smiled because I'm lucky enough to have people in my life who gift me with salads that bathe me in bacon when I'm not feeling well.

And that made me think of all of the other gratitude-laced moments of the past 24 hours, which I had heretofore uniformly deemed as "sucky."  My friend Katie was the one who reminded me to immediately request the medication that had helped my injury last time (which I had forgotten) and the medication immediately went to work on the worst of the pain.  And my friend Debbie called at just the right time to send healing prayers and angels of project deadline stewardship my way.  And my sister-in-law brought me a sassy Asian Geisha fan to cool myself in this hot, non-air-conditioned bedroom where I am confined in my zero-gravity position.  And finally, my friends at Waves of Gratitude, Cheryl and Kim, facilitated truly inspiring strategic partnership conference call that completely energized me, even through my slurred speech and tendency to repeat myself like a skipped record every five minutes.  As the saying goes, I'm really "too blessed to be stressed."   

So I guess that my many "gratitudes of the day" far outweigh the inconvenience of a little pain and a few project management delays.  An attitude adjustment courtesy of a bacon bath.  I could stand for a few more of those!

Strawberry Shortcake and Resilience

So I'm sitting here in Ephrata, WA (yes, the Palm Desert of the Inland Northwest) with my 87, nearly 88, year old Grandma (who would be most chagrined that I shared that with the world, though she doesn't look a day over 70).  We're drinking coffee and having strawberry shortcake for breakfast (which my Aunt Karen artfully defended, explaining that it's fruit, grains, and dairy...a square meal if ever there was one). 

This happened shortly after gram scaled a ladder in the kitchen to reach an antique saki set out of a very deep cupboard so she could gift it to me (since my grandfather had brought it back from Japan when he was stationed there during the war and she wants it to stay in the family). 

Now, gram isn't the kind of woman that you really boss around much (at 87, healthier, stronger, and more "with it" than I am, would you take her on?).  BUT I think her acrobatics will greatly concern my family since I'm only staying here this weekend because she was hospitalized for vertigo only 2 days ago and my sole task is to make sure she's safe and healthy (um, thank goodness her descent was uneventful because I think I'd have a hard time explaining gram's "flying squirrel" impression to a family who had entrusted me with her well-being).

We're now lazily re-positioned in the living room (well, I am lazily re-positioned, and she is actively strategizing about how to get her hair foofed today since she missed her beauty parlor appointment during the ambulance trek to the hospital on Thursday). 

I'm thinking I can learn a thing or two from such a resilient lady.  That is, if I can bounce back from my strawberry-shortcake-induced coma as quickly as she bounced back from her emergency room tour.  My money, though, is on her.

It's Heeeeeeerrrrrrrrreeeeee!!!!

Well, you're looking at the first copy, hot off the press, of Laugh, Cry, Eat Some Pie!  It's not available until August 3rd (except in my home, where I've taken to strapping it to my body in a rather disturbing commitment to effectively bond with it).  Writing a book is kind of like birthing a child, you know...a little gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, threatening people with various forms of dismemberment, weeping uncontrollably.  And then a little while later you get this beautifully wrapped little baby and somehow it all seems worth it. 

So I figured I'd snap a pic of the little cherub with my handy Blackberry to show it off in blogland and I had to take nine different snapshots before I found a surface in my home that wasn't wickedly smarmed up with kid-gunk or littered with more trash and clutter than I care to share with the world.  (I mean it's bad enough that I have to face it every day...why should you have to, too?).  Finally, the only backdrop I could find was the single cupboard door in my kitchen that wasn't totally buckling under the pressure of alternating layers of dust and fingerprints bearing witness to every meal ever served in this house.

Function over form, baby.

This Says It All

I SO LOVE this video.  It almost (and I stop at ALMOST) makes me want my very own swagger wagon.  I'm thinking this might be my new theme song, too...