View from a Broad

Oh this downtime twixt the holidays bewitches me! There is always much to do no matter what week we are in, but is there a will to do it? While I am at work, applying myself to the organization of tasks at hand, I feel like I can barely concentrate. Do most people kind of just blow this week off as a loss whether you are at the office or not? I cleaned off my desk, I filed, I am boxing up old files for storage...so I guess this is a good time to prepare for the new year activities; clear the decks, so to speak and rev up the engines for take off next week. I plan to be ready for it. Cheers to 2007!

That, my dears, is what I have to offer. The holiday time has me a frayed bundle of nerve endings, wanting to be sure that I get all the small machinations done for a sweet and happy time; while ensuring the demands of this work I so enjoy are met with the same enthusiasm as any normal week. There was a sense I had not met expectations in my off hour activities; my commitments to the Business and Professional Women . I had what my family charmingly call a brain-*art , or a BPW sister referred to an CRS disease (Can't Remember *hit) --and I completely and utterly forgot an obligation I had made to someone. Fortunately, other people caught my wild ball and made good on that commitment for me. Thank goodness for that, because it was a worthy cause I really believe in. Thank you BPW sisters, for stepping up when I had lost my way. This past week I had the honor of welcoming staff and friends to a Volunteers of America Celebration of the Season . This is the annual service where...

Indeed you may ask, Beth, what were you thinking with "View from a Broad?" Well, it's a play on words. Those fortunate few I know who have actually been overseas to visit foreign lands, those who have been "abroad"; have a wider, more considered view on life and it's odd aspects. I expect this blog will carry views from more people than myself, I am just one broad of many you may read in this space. In that respect, I hope you may come to appreciate this tongue in cheek term, see the challenges and humor that inevitably shows up in daily life, and adore the women I share this blog with as much as I do. Now let's get things done, shall we?

When I get up in the morning I hope for a day in which I get something done. Today was one such day. I have been working on a contribution to a bimonthly publication, and since it is a collaborative effort, I need feedback from three other people. Now, since it took me a few weeks to get this first draft, I expect a few weeks to get the feedback; but maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and I will find some messages in my email inbox tomorrow. That would be great. Finding myself in the midst of seasoned professionals in BPW has taught me how to persuade and relate to a host of different types of personalities in the most kind ways. When I really need some help with something, it helps to directly ask. I always hope that my directness will result in reciprocal treatment. There is nothing more frustrating to me than hearing through the grapevine that someone didn't like something I did. I have to ask for people to just tell me if they don't like a direction I am going in; ...

As with any new endeavor, it is usually a good thing to test the waters with a quick witted entry, wispfully extolling the virtue of steady indulgences into the logic and writercisms soon to be loosed on the unsuspecting public.