10 Things You NOW Know About Me – I’d share more, but I gotta save some things for the book!

1. Green is my favorite color and Oprah’s too, in addition to my second grade teacher. I remember thinking, in the second grade, that green was too many places (duh, grass is green and everywhere, except the desert), and I preferred the color purple like my first grade teacher. But, I fell in love with green late in life and so began my love affair (plus it looks good with pink and brown).

2. My sisters are my best friends. They are amazing! Without them I’d be lost. I’m thankful to my parents for giving me two loving ladies in my life who will eternally put up with all my crazy shenanigans and crazy ways because they are my sisters.

3. I’m an Eternal Optimist.

4. I love to travel.

5. I don’t leave the house without my: iPhone, inhaler, lip gloss and key fob.

6. My first job was in a newsroom, and I went on to study journalism and work as a journalist.

7. I didn’t speak a word for the first two years of my life. When I did start talking, I never shut up.

8. I played tennis my senior year of high school.

9. I started college as an undergrad at a state school and graduated from a private school.

10. I get my news online every morning via NPR, the Today Show and Twitter before I get out of bed.

I love books!

I have quite the library at home. I add books to it monthly and take recommendations on the regular. I tend to read two to three books at a time. I just finished reading Priceless, a novel by Nicole Richie. It was an awesome read, entertaining. Read it! She does a nice job of developing her characters and describing various scenes. I easily visualized the series of events that happened in the lead character's life.

I am not giving you a synopsis. Read it and enjoy!

Happy Thyroid Awareness Month

January is Thyroid Awareness Month. I encourage you to go the iamthefaceofthyroiddisease.org website and view some of the videos being shared by those who have thyroid disease. The stories are interesting, inspiring and encouraging.

It was the summer of 2004 when I was diagnosed with a non-toxic multi-nodular goiter. Translation – my thyroid had benign tumors or growths on it. It wasn’t much longer before I had my thyroid gland removed. How I found out about this thyroid issue that I’d developed is a story I will tell in the days to come, but it started out with me having a series of choking spells, sleepless nights and bouts with irritability. I was not me, or shall I say I was not the me I’d come to love and know.

Happy Thyroid Awareness Month, and smiles from me to you. LIve your life; I'm living mine!

This is a picture of me on a Carnival Cruise this past September. I spent the time relaxing, writing and reading Eat, Pray, Love, and hanging with one of my sisters and two of my cousins. It was perfect.

I used to be: A. Musician B. Journalist C. Professor…

Today I feel like sharing a fun fact since I can, it’s my blog and I’m new to blogging and probably new to most of you. I used to be a journalist. I was a news reporter and an obituary reporter.  I have always enjoyed writing which lead to my studies in journalism and my career as a journalist. Journalists are unique people. I have an attachment to them. They give us our news, daily. Most do so tactfully, and then there are those who don’t, of course.

Anywho, the first newspaper I wrote for is the Quad-City Times. I never worked with food as a kid growing up. My first job was at the newspaper. The first time I set foot in the newspaper, I spent the day job shadowing some reporters, wrote my first news brief, an editorial and fell in love with the newsroom. I was in high school and loving life.

I got a job working in production. I did what was called “paste-up”, literally putting the newspaper together, by articles, advertisements, border tape, and wax on grids. I sent my developments to a camera guy who took pictures of them, and so the news pages went. When I came home from my freshman year of college, I wrote for the newspaper, in addition to having been a reporter for my college newspaper. However, I started working with a copy-desk editor and learned how to paginate news pages using QuarkXPress. You see, the production efforts I had been putting forth had been long replaced by desktop publishing. I’m not old, so I wonder if my newspaper was behind in the times or if I just got to experience some really cool changes in history in the realm of desktop publishing.

Let's Share Sources ~

Several years ago I had my thyroid removed due to the findings of benign tumors which lead to my diagnosis of hypothyroidism. Over the years I’ve read books, blogs, tweets and now letters about how others are surviving their thyroid issues and sharing their concerns. I’m working on a collection of essays, which are my personal narratives of what I’ve learned and experienced and what I’m still learning and experiencing living with hypothyroidism.

This past fall I connected with @dearthyroid on Twitter. You have to checkout the organization’s website. I’m still exploring it and enjoying it. The group is amazing; they offer a lot of support and information to those who are living with thyroid conditions. They epitomize sharing. And at Shared Dialogue Communications and Let’s Share Dialogue, we welcome those who want to share. I will continue to share my favorite blogs, authors of thyroid books and so on within my blog. Enjoy and please share with us who your favorite sources are!

Shared Dialogue Communications

I love to write. I love to edit. I have been having a love affair with words since I picked up a crayon, then moved on to pencils and graduated to pens. My penmanship is horrible, so when I became a journalist I was happy to pick up shorthand. The fewer letters the better. Easier on the eyes, at times. Computers are amazing, I type everything, except story ideas, and short stories; I have to write those. There’s something about writing – utensil to paper – that completes me.

Earlier this year, in August, I started freelancing. I created Shared Dialogue Communications and began helping others market their businesses, writing ad copy, website copy and even giving lessons on how to tweet on Twitter. I really enjoy social media, and its spot in the world, but even more than that, I love showing others how to utilize such tools for marketing and for sharing dialogue with others they come in contact with daily or those they can come in contact with daily unknowingly. I look forward to further developing my Shared Dialogue Communications in the upcoming year and seeing how my clients progress in their business dealings.

One of my clients is Bello Games New York. This company is home to a vast collection of home games. Check them out! I’ll have more information to share soon on what’s new at Bello Games New York.

S;)

Baby, It's Cold Outside ~

When it's cold outside, I get creative inside. I look at my list of things I've been saying I'm going to do, and then I walk away from the list. I go out for java, visit my parents, do a little reading, purchase paintings and then I come back to my desk, check my email and decide to finally cross off that one lingering item off of my list: Create a blog (using Blogger!!)! So, that's what I'm attempting. I'm rather excited about it. I hope that the thoughts, ideas, words, and dialogue that I share, create and you share with me is inspiring, funny, thought provoking or simply entertaining. It's winter here in the Midwest, I've a few days off from work and have decided it's time to put the procrastination to the side. It's time to BLOG! I currently partake in micro blogging on Twitter (Love it! Follow me!), but I have a lot to say, thus I need more characters to work with. Before I sign off, I have to give props to one of my favorite artist, my sister's best friend and dear friend of mine, Jeremy Bonsol. It is because of Jeremy that I get more accomplished on my creative list than not. Jeremy, thank you and keep doing you. You are an inspiration.



Warm thoughts,

S;)