Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Set Your Super Power Free!

Recently a dear friend of mine posed the question, if you could choose a superhero power, what would it be?  This simple question got me thinking of all of the super powers I would love to have.

Think of these amazing powers:
- Everywhere I would walk, flowers would appear
- I would be able to repair our environment - patch the ozone hole with a swish of my hands
- I could grant every pet a home
- I would be able to heal people and animals just with my very presence

Then I thought... gosh, so many of us can pick a super power and act those powers out in our mortal, human way.  It would not be instantaneous, but it would be powerful, indeed.

For example, what if I chose my super power to be everywhere I walked, flowers would appear and I live out that power in my mortal way.  I could do the following things:

1. Plant a flower garden in my own yard
2. Hang flower baskets on my patios
3. Start flowers from seedlings and put in little pots
4. Bring those little pots of home-grown flowers with me to family and friends when visiting
5. Send home-grown flowers to school with the children to give to teachers and faculty
6. See if potted flowers can be taken to nursing homes, pediatric hospitals, etc.

You could live your super power in everything that you do and with every life you touch.

What would your super power be?  And how would you make it come to life in your human form?

Co-Op Web's New Site, New Tools for Your Business

Exciting News!!

Co-Op Web, Inc., an award-winning, Tucson based web design firm, was founded in 1998 by Ana Lewis, CEO, MPM, PME, a 15-year Internet veteran, certified Master Project Manager and Project Manager E-Business. Our primary focus is our business client’s needs – and how the Internet can meet those needs. Our long-time experience in the Internet industry ensures Co-Op Web remains focused on designing websites that meet our customer’s needs by analyzing current market trends, developing effective Internet strategies, and utilizing a simple skill – listening.

Listening is how we discovered that we needed to offer more information to our clients and followers, thus the inspiration for this new design for Co-Op Web.

New and Valuable information we are now offering:

1. Do-it-yourself - Yes you can! And we give you the tools in which to do so.

2. The most common question I get is, “How much will it cost?” – please check out our section to find out. This form must now be filled out by all new/potential clients.

3. Free matters - see how you can best utilize the Internet via free applications and software.

4. Community – The Internet is global and I believe the best way to be found is by participating in community. Please check out our newest community, Women on the Verge, to see how wonderful it truly is.

6. WordPress – While we have worked on WordPress for many of our clients, I decided to try it out for ourselves, too., with this site The software is offered on the servers that we host on and it’s free!

If you have any questions and topics that you would like for me to address, please feel free to email us at contact@co-opweb.com

Peace,
Ana Lewis, CEO, MPM, PME

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Committed, by Elizabeth Gilbert - a book review

As a wife, mother and previous lover of anything Elizabeth Gilbert, I am sad to  say that I am having tremendous difficulty getting through Gilbert's latest bestseller, Committed.

I too, was very scared to enter my marriage, especially after having survived two previous divorces, so I thought I might gather some inspiration from Ms. Gilbert as she "makes peace with marriage" (as the sub-title proclaims.  After all, I found tremendous inspiration in Eat, Pray, Love.

Eat, Pray, Love is listed as one of my all-time favorite non-fiction  books.  There was courage, inspiration, tears, heartbreak, laughter, humility and love in those pages.  I read the book and carried it around for days, as I didn't want to lose the flavor.

Committed has not hit me the same.  I hear Ms. Gilbert whining and complaining about a very real situation many people are facing in our country.  Loving someone who can't enter the country because of Homeland Security.  Only problem is, most of them are unable to financial accommodate themselves with a year of traveling TOGETHER.  Ms. Gilbert loses scope of that very quickly and sinks into crybaby mode... briniging to mind, she spent many of the first pages in Eat, Pray, Love in the same vein.

I must declare, that not all was annoying about Committed.  I adored Gilbert's stories from some of the families and women in the villages she visited and interviewed about marriage in her travels with Felipe (her now husband).  The wisdom and clarity they shared in the most matter-of-fact and uncomplicated of terms, typically made me feel light from the beauty in their simplicity and wisdom.

I do wish she talked about Felipe more.  He seems hilarious and when she quoted him, I could almost see his attitude and twinkle - even though I have never met or seen him.  The tiny morsels she feeds us of him, made me hunger for more.  He has a totally different zest for life than she does.  While she's the gypsy, he's the comfortable bed you miss when you're away.

Committed is a very real and raw account of Gilbert's internal trials about getting married, I do think that there are a lot of people who will get a lot out of her imparted lessons and the journey she shares.