Music Monday: Faith by George Michael

If everything went wrong in the beginning of August, the last week of August was when things started to turn around for me. I've been re-reading Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich
on the beach, reminding myself to think positive thoughts and let go of any negativity...to have faith in myself, faith in the Infinite.

As a result, we turned around the situation with Tio of last week's "Hate on Me" post and I feel like we have positive momentum going into September for a fresh start in the new school year.

Napoleon Hill shares a story of Edwin C. Barnes, who "succeeded because he chose a definite goal, placed all his energy, all his will power, all his effort, everything, back of that goal." I want each one of our clients to believe that we are that committed to their transaction.

Now, I'm not sure George Michael had the same kind of faith in mind, but he sure is fun to watch...




Well I guess it would be nice
If I could touch your body
I know not everybody
Has got a body like you

But I've got to think twice
Before I give my heart away
And I know all the games you play
Because I play them too

Oh but I
Need some time off from that emotion
Time to pick my heart up off the floor
And when that love comes down
Without devotion
Well it takes a strong man baby
But I'm showing you the door

'Cause I gotta have faith...

Baby
I know you're asking me to stay
Say please, please, please, don't go away
You say I'm giving you the blues
Maybe
You mean every word you say
Can't help but think of yesterday
And another who tied me down to loverboy rules

Before this river
Becomes an ocean
Before you throw my heart back on the floor
Oh baby I reconsider
My foolish notion
Well I need someone to hold me
But I'll wait for something more
Yes I've gotta have faith...

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.




PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Music Monday: Hate On Me by Jill Scott

It's an exciting milestone this week for Lady Java: the 100th round of her Music Monday meme, so I'll be submitting my best selections here and over on Roxy's Bay Head Blog.

This week's Music Monday post at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives was prompted by a couple of things... seeing and hearing the Glee cast version of "Hate on Me" as London and Maddie and I watched the entire first season together, and an unpleasant incident last week with a client of Rex's (we'll call him Tio) who can't get past his hatred to happiness. No matter how the episode with Tio turns out, it is a lesson to me in the importance of letting go of my anger, hatred, all negative emotions. Here is Tio, on the verge of a $70 million score for the sale of his company, and he can't let go of his negativity long enough to accept and enjoy it. And although I've never hated anyone the way Tio does, I do have a tendency not to accept people (even children) for who they are, letting my negative emotions (annoyance, fear, grudges) get in the way of happiness.

Just last weekend, we invited all of the neighbors to a huge 40th birthday party for Rex's son Trader at our beach house in Bay Head, NJ, featuring the awesome Springsteen cover band Tramps Like Us. The very next night, I found myself holding a grudge against the family across the street, who attended our party but the very next night (for the second year in a row) invited all of the other kids in the neighborhood EXCEPT London and Maddie to their twins' 11th birthday party. I should just put it behind me and be the better person, ask myself, "What would Jesus do?" But I'm more likely ask, "What would Glee's Sue Sylvester do?" (and that's how Sue sees it!)




If I could give you the world
On a silver platter
Would it even matter?
You’d still be mad at me

If I could find in all this
A dozen roses
Which I would give to you
You’d still be miserable

In reality, I’m gonna be who I be
And I don’t feel no faults
For all the lies that you bought
You can try as you may
Break me down but I say
That it ain’t up to you
Gone and do what you do

CHORUS
Hate on me, hater
Now or later
‘Coz I’m gonna do me
You’ll be mad, baby
Go ‘head and hate
Go ‘head and hate on me, hate on
‘Coz I’m not afraid of it
What I got I paid for
You can hate on me

Ooh, if I gave you peaches
Out of my own garden
And I made you a peach pie
Would you slap me high

What if I gave you diamonds
Out of my own womb
Would you feel the love in that,
Or ask “why not the moon”?

If I gave you sanity
For the whole of humanity,
Had all the solutions
For the pain and pollution

No matter where I live,
Despite the things I give,
You’ll always be this way
So go ‘head and….

You cannot hate on me
‘Cuz my mind is free
Feel my destiny
So shall it be

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Career Change for Roxy?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Woodrow Wilson. All opinions are 100% mine.

All kidding and stress of the past week or two aside, I'm really hoping not to have to make a career change at this point in my life. However, for those of you who are career changers or recent college graduates in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, or math), you could qualify for a $30,000 stipend from the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship to complete an intensive master’s degree program at one of fourteen participating universities. Competitive candidates for this unique opportunity will:

• Have completed your undergraduate degree in a STEM field by June 2011
• Have graduated with a 3.0 GPA or higher; and
• Demonstrate a commitment to the program and its goals.

The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships seek to recruit, prepare and retain effective teachers for the schools and students who need them the most. Woodrow Wilson Fellows will complete a field-based master’s degree in teacher education, commit to teach for at least three years in a high-need school, and receive intensive support and mentoring in the classroom.

For more information or to fill out an application, please check out the video below or visit: http://socialspark.com/metrics/click/post?slot_id=429212&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwteachingfellowship.org%2F%3Futm_source%3Dizea%26utm_medium%3Dizea%26utm_campaign%3Dizeablogs.



If you're a new college graduate or considering a career change in the STEM fields, why not become a Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellow? Who knows? You could change the world by changing theirs. Apply now for the September 1 deadline.

Music Monday: Rex and Roxy's Wedding Song, Prove It All Night by Bruce Springsteen

On Saturday night we had a great party in our back yard in Bay Head, NJ, in honor of Rex's son Trader's 40th birthday. The Springsteen cover band Tramps Like Us rocked the neighborhood for four hours with all of our favorites, including our wedding song, Prove It All Night. For those of you who couldn't make it to the party, I tracked down a YouTube video of the Boss live in 1978 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ as this week's Music Monday post. Enjoy!



I've been working real hard, trying to get my hands clean,
Tonight we'll drive that dusty road from Monroe to Angeline,
To buy you a gold ring and pretty dress of blue,
Baby just one kiss will get these things for you,
A kiss to seal our fate tonight,
A kiss to prove it all night.

Prove it all night,
Girl there's nothing else that we can do,
So prove it all night, prove it all night,
And girl I'll prove it all night for you.

Everybody's got a hunger, a hunger they can't resist,
There's so much that you want, you deserve much more than this,
But if dreams came true, oh, wouldn't that be nice,
But this ain't no dream we're living through tonight,
Girl, you want it, you take it, you pay the price.

Prove it all night,
Girl there's nothing else that we can do,
So prove it all night, prove it all night,
And girl I'll prove it all night for you.
Prove it all night, prove it all night girl and call the bluff,
Prove it all night, prove it all night and girl,
I prove it all night for your love.

Baby, tie your hair back in a long white bow,
Meet me in the fields out behind the dynamo,
You hear the voices telling you not to go,
They made their choices and they'll never know,
What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie,
What it's like to live and die.

Prove it all night,
Girl there's nothing else that we can do,
So prove it all night, prove it all night,
And girl I'll prove it all night for you.
To prove it all night...

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.


PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Roxiticus Memoir: Weekend at the Beach

Sunday, August 8, 2010
Around 11:30am

At the beach early, and feeling good. Maybe it's because I got my beach office set up this morning, or the way the ocean air smells so sweet, but I'm much less tense than I was yesterday.

I was more than a bit sick to my stomach yesterday afternoon at the beach, typical of how my gut seizes up during tax time.

Today I'm feeling as if I could spend the rest of the summer right here in my beach chair. As much as our girls enjoy their early summer weeks at Annie's Playhouse camp in Far Hills, NJ, I love the unscheduled play time we have at the beach and can feel our whole family settling in to that relaxed routine.

Plenty of time to get aggressively back to school and back to work in September.

Maybe 1pm

Yellow flag today (tropical storm Colin stirring things up), but it hasn't stopped the girls from enjoying the aftermath of the waves. For me, this may be the nicest beach day of the summer so far.

Coming up on two months since my mom died, I'm still struggling with not having a mother to talk to anymore. I dream about her, nothing bad or particularly deep, but I wake up forgetting that she's gone and then missing her all over again.

From Solitude: A Return to the Self by Anthony Storr:

"The burden of value with which we are at present loading interpersonal relationships is too heavy for those fragile craft to carry. Our expectation that satisfying intimate relationships should, ideally, provide happiness and that, if they do not, there must be something wrong with those relationships, seems to be exaggerated."

There's a world of difference between reading those words today, when I have a satisfying relationship with Rex, as well as the "extended" relationships created through that bond by having our children, London and Maddie vs. 1988 when it came out and I was in college and in an unsatisfying relationship with MoneyPenny vs. returning to it in 1991 when I was alone, actually experiencing solitude for four years (though not knowing when, or if, my solitude would end).

1:30ish

London just had her life saved by the lifeguard. While I was sitting in my beach chair with Maddie, London was in the ocean with Rex. She had started out only in up to her knees, but a big wave knocked her down, she got caught in a riptide and had to be pulled. So we're all a bit shaken, and thankful, but otherwise OK.

I saw the lifeguard jump down from his chair and start running, and I just had a feeling. When I stood up I saw Rex swimming out and I knew.

Thank you, God, and thank you, Bay Head lifeguard, for saving my daughter's life.

My Blackberry Could Use A Boost

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm not one of those people who can't live without my Blackberry...I won't take it out of my purse at dinner, I leave it back at the house when we go to the beach, and I continue to believe that whoever I'm with in person deserves my attention rather than some random evening emailer. However, when I'm working in the home office and need it the most, I find that my Blackberry reception here in the Roxiticus Valley could use a few more bars... so I'm considering switching to a brand with a little Re-Boost. With the flexible payment options offered by Boost Mobile, not only can I pay online, in person, or using my phone, a family member, friend, or blogosphere buddy can make a payment for me...as a little pick-me-up anytime gift!

In addition to Blackberry, Boost Mobile offers a wide range of fun phones like the Motorola i1, Sanyo Juno and Samsung Rant. These phones are social in nature, and make it easy to do things like updating Twitter and Facebook on the go. I've noticed that some of my favorite bloggers have upgraded their phones just to make mobile social networking easier.

With easy activation and replenishment options, you can get started with Boost Mobile in no time...look for the $20 credit at the bottom of the Reboost screen when you sign up for auto reboost and make your monthly payment.

Gotta run... I'll keep you posted on my whereabouts when I get my new phone!

Maddie's Major: Veterinarian, Minor: Singing

Dreams are important... when we're kids, and when we grow up. When I was 8 years old, I wanted to be a disc jockey and own radio stations. Today, as an investment banker who once put together a small-market radio group for a private equity fund, I've never regretted pursuing my childhood radio dreams.

My youngest daughter, Maddie, aspires to be a singing veterinarian. Because our twin babysitters are going off to college in a couple of weeks, eight-year-old Maddie is already talking about what she's going to study when it's her turn to go away to college (making her mom and dad officially empty nesters in ten years). Maddie would like to find a college where she can major in veterinary science (is there such a thing as pre-vet?) and minor in singing.

In the mean time, we're trying to decide whether to make the commitment to a Master's class at Annie's Playhouse in Far Hills, NJ, in the Fall. For the past four years, London and Maddie have spent their summers at Annie's Playhouse Summer Stars, but this year, for the first time, both of my girls have expressed an interest in "going pro" in the Fall, focusing on a career in musical theatre through the amazingly serious classes in acting, singing and dancing at Annie's Playhouse. It's clearly impressive to see what Annie's Playhouse has accomplished for its most serious students... a couple of 10-year-olds from the Summer Stars camp already have their own agents and could turn out to be the next Jonas Brothers.

But talk about over-programmed. There is such a wealth of opportunities for children to choose from here in the Roxiticus Valley, including the local Hexagon Players performances. As much as London and Maddie LOVED softball in the Spring, we've rejected the Mendham Little League Fall softball program, and decided to wait until next year to join a 4-H dog club. London is a very talented dancer and already takes three hours of ballet on Monday and Tuesdays, as well as an hour of modern dance for both girls at Garden State Ballet in Randolph, NJ, but we've put off the third day of dance and participation in the Nutcracker until she's old enough to be en pointe next year. London also wants to continue with intermediate gymnastics at Randolph Gymnastics.

So we'll take the next few weeks of relaxation at our beach house in Bay Head, NJ, sleeping as late as we want with no commitments, to decide whether the girls want to get serious about a career in musical theatre, or stick to the lazy fun of song and dance of summer camp.

Green Eyeshade's Bridal Shower

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of LinensNThings. All opinions are 100% mine.

When you make stuff up, it's hard to keep track, and I'm embarrassed to say that I thought I had given my niece (Candy's younger sister) a better code name than Green Eyeshade, but darned if I can find any reference to it. So until further notice, Green Eyeshade it is. In any event, Green Eyeshade is getting married in September, the day before her 30th birthday, and her mom is throwing her a bridal shower this weekend in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I won't be able to attend, since Rex and I are hosting his son, Trader's 40th birthday party at our beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey.

My Big Sister (does she have a code name? Executrix? Esquire?) and I have grown much closer since my mom passed away, and she called me for advice this morning: "Where do you get those bamboo plateholders that go under paper plates??!! I need them for Green Eyeshade's bridal shower... on Saturday!!" I immediately answered, "Linens 'N Things!" They've always been my go to source for kitchen and home décor, organization, gifts, not to mention bedding, window treatments, bath, and even outdoor items for summer entertaining.

Unfortunately, there's no Linens 'N Things retail store near my sister's house in Harrisburg, but I impressed my Big Sister with an exclusive coupon code Linens 'N Things is providing to SocialSpark bloggers: LNTFREE, which is good for FREE SHIPPING when shopping online at LNT.com, and valid through September 15th, 2010, for last minute purchases right up to Green Eyeshade's wedding. So share the code with everyone you know!

Music Monday: Stealing Cinderella by Chuck Wicks

It's been a while since Roxy posted a (sappy) country song for Music Monday, but having spent the weekend watching my little girls at the beach, "Stealing Cinderella" by Chuck Wicks was just tugging at my heart strings. As I tweeted from the beach in Bay Head, NJ, on Sunday, London was playing in the waves and got caught in a riptide. If it weren't for the Bay Head lifeguard who swam out to rescue her, the ocean would have stolen my Cinderella.



I came to see her daddy
For a sit down man to man
It wasn't any secret
I'd be asking for her hand

I guess that's why he left me waiting
In the living room by myself
With at least a dozen pictures of her
Sitting on a shelf

Playing cinderella
She was riding her first bike
Bouncing on the bed
And looking for a pillow fight

Running through the sprinkler
With a big popsicle grin
Dancing with her dad
Looking up at him

In her eyes i'm prince charming
But to him i'm just some fella
Riding in and stealing cinderella

I leaned in towards those pictures
To get a better look at one
When i heard a voice behind me say
"now ain't she something son?"

I said "yes she quite a woman"
And he just stared at me
Then i realized that in his eyes
She would always be

Playing cinderella
Riding her first bike
Bouncing on the bed
And looking for a pillow fight

Running through the sprinkler
With a big popsicle grin
Dancing with her dad
Looking up at him

In her eyes i'm prince charming
But to him i'm just some fella
Riding in and stealing cinderella

Oh he slapped me on the shoulder
Then he called her in the room
When she threw her arms around him
That's when i could see it too

She was playing cinderella
Riding her first bike
Bouncing on the bed
And looking for a pillow fight

Running through the sprinklers
With a big popsicle grin
Dancing with her dad
Looking up at him

If he gives me a hard time
I can't blame the fella
I'm the one who's stealing cinderella

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!
Cheerio…

Music Monday Celebrates Solos for London and Maddie at Annie's Playhouse: You Keep Me Hangin' On

Time flies in the summer, and I can't believe London and Maddie's big show at Annie's Playhouse Summer Stars is coming up this Friday, August 6th. This year's theme is glee, and the kids, ranging in age from about 3 to 16, will be performing lots of your favorite songs from the first season of Glee. London and Maddie were lucky enough to score solos in "You Keep Me Hangin' On." Last week I posted the Glee version on Roxy's Bay Head Blog, and this week I'd like to share the original by Diana Ross and the Supremes.



Set me free, why don't cha babe
Get out my life, why don't cha babe
'Cause you don't really love me
You just keep me hangin' on
You don't really need me
But you keep me hangin' on

Why do you keep a coming around
Playing with my heart?
Why don't you get out of my life
And let me make a new start?
Let me get over you
The way you've gotten over me

Set me free, why don't cha babe
Let me be, why don't cha babe
'Cause you don't really love me
You just keep me hangin' on
Now you don't really want me
You just keep me hangin' on

You say although we broke up
You still wanna be just friends
But how can we still be friends
When seeing you only breaks my heart again
And there ain't nothing I can do about it

Woo, set me free, why don't cha babe
Woo, get out my life, why don't cha babe
Set me free, why don't cha babe
Get out my life, why don't cha babe

You claim you still care for me
But your heart and soul needs to be free
Now that you've got your freedom
You wanna still hold on to me
You don't want me for yourself
So let me find somebody else Hey!

Why don't you be a man about it
And set me free
Now you don't care a thing about me
You're just using me
Go on, get out, get out of my life
And let me sleep at night
'Cause you don't really love me
You just keep me hangin' on...

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Kiss Me in Kissimmee

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Kissimmee Tourism. All opinions are 100% mine.

As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know, I think New Jersey is a terrific place to live...except maybe in February. Rex, London, Maddie and I like to get away to someplace warm and sunny during the worst of the snow and cold; in the past, we've taken 10 days and travelled to the West Coast. However, as the girls begin third and fourth grade, taking a week off from school is not as sensible as it used to be, so we're thinking about sticking to the East Coast and taking off only the MTES-authorized Presidents' Day long weekend this year.

As much as London and Maddie love Disneyland in Anaheim, California, our family has never been to DisneyWorld in Florida (I went with my parents when I was a kid), and from what our friends tell us, Kissimmee is theme park heaven. On top of the DisneyWorld Magic Kingdom, there's Epcot (pictured above), as well as Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

If we didn't use up our entire long weekend there, check out the image on the right of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Islands of Adventure. London and Maddie would just love it!

Later in the day, we've heard that Old Town, a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, is the place to be. After all the day's excitement, we can relax over dinner before heading back to our room at Disney's All Star Music Resort.

Click one of the Kissimmee links in this post to plan yoru dream vacation... maybe we'll see you there in February 2011!