Iconic British Red Phone Box as Library

I love this story. When a small village in England no longer had a mobile library they adapted a red phone box into a drop off and pick up library kiosk. Immensely popular with the residents it's now catching on throughout England. Genius!
Read the article with picture here.

Flash back Friday #31

Since so many are still enjoying turkey leftovers, here is the classic 1945 cartoon, Jerky Turkey. Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

I'm thankful for...

my boy. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Moment to Moment

This year I've had a number of memorable moments. All have been unexpected...some moments have been with people I will likely never see again and some were so memorable I've made friends for life. As I'm looking back on 2009 and planning for 2010, I've been thinking about how when you sometimes least expect it, one of those moments will happen and stop your life for just long enough for you to realize your living it.

Last Saturday I went to a friend's yearly holiday party, same place, same people as usual. But this year something was different. Maybe it was the chemistry of a few of us together. Maybe it was the quiet that happened as guests started to leave around 1 am. But by 2 am a few of us had gathered away from the bar and sat down in front of the piano. Someone cleared the photos off the cover and sat down and started to play. No song you would recognize, he was creating his own music. Then someone remembered our host had a couple of guitars and those got played too. And for a little while, it was a moment that none of us wanted to end.

In May while I was studying at Oxford I had more than a few moments during my weeks there. A classical concert so beautiful, I cried. A night at the pub so fun that afterward we stumbled home singing and laughing. And all those moments with people I didn't know before I got there, some are now friends for life while others I'll never see again. And that's ok.

I don't think you can go find a moment. Mine seem to happen with a sort of chemistry. The right people at the right place. A last minute party, a race at the rivers edge, a concert. I think that's also why I love to read romance novels. So many romance novels are unexpected moments put together. A chance meeting at a dance, a new neighbor moves in next door, an invitation to a house party. Suddenly things that didn't go together do. People that normally wouldn't be put together become friends or lovers. Places you never expected to go, become home. Moments when they happen to me are kinda like a chapter in a book. I go over it again, relive it in my mind. That little fraction in time that for a "moment" didn't have an ending.

Let's Say Thanks

During this week of Thanksgiving there is a great website for saying "Thank You".
Let's Say Thanks, allows users to submit a message of thanks to US troops overseas. Your message will be printed on a personalized postcard and mailed to servicemen and women.
I've always been a believer in the power of the written word, especially a thank you card. This website shares the message.

How Do You Manage Stress?

This morning I attended a meeting on stress management. Presented by a "Life Coach" the focus was on reducing stress levels personally and professionally. I walked away with a few good ideas. I thought I'd share a few.

1. Stress management is mind management. I liked the way he explained this. Picture a garden, you plant seeds, water them, weed them and good things grow. You nourish. Ok, now picture your mind is like a garden. You plant ideas, you build them, they grow. However if you are not nurturing yourself, nothing grows. For example, if you walk into work everyday with an attitude of "Ugh today is going to suck. I hate my job. I hate the commute. I don't like what I'm doing." Well then, you are self talking your way into nothing. You are not nurturing yourself. You will literally talk your way out of growth.

2. One of the best ways to communicate is with questions. If you question, you inquire. You think. You get answers or you ask more questions. Try it, see what happens if you ask more questions and make fewer statements.

3. Develop systems for organization. One I particularly liked was the Time File System. Take 31 file folders, number them 1-31. Or if you are pressed for space, take 12 and label them January through December. Now start filling them. Use post its, flyers, postcards for upcoming events, pieces of scrap paper. Anything that has a reminder on it, a date, an invitation, a card. Slip it into the file for the corresponding date/month and plan ahead. Then update your date book, your Outlook calendar, your task list, your goals, etc with the upcoming dates and tasks you need to do. Easy and efficient.

4. Learn to say "No" or at least, "Yes, but...". Great advice! Especially the "Yes, but..." such as "Yes I can do that, BUT what will we need to do to make that Yes happen. More staff, more time, more money?" Or, "If you want me to focus my efforts there, something else needs to change/go/decrease."

5. The how-to-eat-a-frog theory. If you have to eat a frog, get it done as soon as possible. Have a big project, present it first thing in the morning. Don't leave your don't-want-to-do's until the end of the day. You'll worry or stress or over think all day.

6. Stimulus---------->Response. What is in the middle is maturity. Longer time to response=more maturity.

7. Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we react to it.

The "Life Coach" showed us a short movie, Learning to Dance in the Rain which you can find with other inspirational short videos here. Kinda cheesy but thought provoking, find one that inspires you.

Book Covers for Imaginary Books Exhibit

On Sunday my friend Chris and I attended an open house at the Evanston Public Library for the exhibit An Imaginary Library: Children's books that do not (yet) exist. This traveling exhibition is available from the International Youth Library in Germany and features 75 paintings, sketches and drawings from illustrators representing 30 countries. The art work is displayed throughout the library and was introduced by Jeff Garrett, Northwestern University's Special Collection Librarian. After Jeff's presentation on the exhibit we toured the collection and enjoyed a reception at the Library.

The book cover art works are beautiful, from simple ink sketches to elaborate paintings and each one included a short description of the book the artist had in mind to create. One of my favorites from a illustrator in Portugal featured a cat in a tree with leaves of words, the description, "A lost and lonesome cat finds solace in the wonderful stories that the trees of large garden tell him. Each leaf of the trees is like a page in a book, and the stories let the cat forget all his loneliness and boredom." Other favorites were illustrations of pirate geckos, mermaids carrying buckets of tears and a dog who makes a photo album of pictures of his family. Charming, imaginative, moving and magical, especially because the book cover art work allows you to glimpse just a bit of a book that has yet to be written. It's like a window into imagination. Loved it.

If you live in the Chicago area or are visiting, don't miss a stop at Evanston Public Library to view this exhibit, it's only there through January. Evanston is 1 of only 3 libraries in the US to host the exhibit. For more information on the exhibit check out the Evanston Public Library page here. For more information on the International Youth Library check out their website here.

I'll end with one more wonderful book description, illustrated with a little girl, her dog, and a tree with 1 leaf, "This book project is an invitation to everyone who wants to take a walk with me to watch the last autumn leaves fall down, to see a plastic bag fly through the streets, or to listen to the faucet drip in the midnight kitchen. It's a personal book, a kind of diary, in which you can see the ordinary things that can always be seen. But you take more time than you usually do. It's about the fine difference between looking and seeing. " Isabel Pin, Germany.