Insight of the Day

"There's no need to wait for the bad things to be over. Change now. Love now. Live now. Don't wait for people to give you permission to live, because they won't."

Kris Carr
Author

Everyone Should Support the Bully Movie

This past Monday, I was lucky enough to be able to attend an advance screening of the documentary Bully at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. I had been waiting to see this since I first heard about it and I was definitely not disappointed.

I could not be happier that director Lee Hirsch decided to make a film about bullying. It's about time that people are now truly starting to pay attention and admit that we have a serious, serious problem. After all of the headlines we've inevitably read in the last couple of years, Bully could not have come at a better time.

Now, I think the thing that shocked me the most was that in the United States the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) slapped this film with an R rating. In a discussion panel after the Canadian premiere Lee Hirsch made sure to point out the hypocrisy of it all. I hadn't thought about this, but they give PG and PG-13 ratings to many films that glorify and even "sexify" violence. Lee was absolutely right. 

Discussion panel with Lee Hirsch (iPhone photo from back row)

They of course didn't just accept this unfair R rating. Harvey Weinstein along with Alex Libby, one of the bullied boys featured in the film stood before the appeals board. In his statement, Alex told the board that they were basically saying that he couldn't see his own life! They lost by one vote. It's not a total loss though, they ended up with the film being unrated which is definitely better than R. Canada on the other hand gave Bully a PG rating in every province with the exception of Quebec who gave it a G. Go Canada!

*UPDATE: The MPAA has finally granted the film a PG-13 rating!*

If you know me, then you know the subject of bullying really hits home with me. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I am so glad that I did not grow up in the digital age. The bullying I encountered while growing up was nothing compared to what's going on these days, but I will never ever forget the hurtful words and poor treatment. It didn't follow me home from school unless you're talking the odd prank phone call, but today there is no escaping it. Today you're bullied even when you're in what's supposed to be your safe place.

Bully is such a powerful and moving film. Teachers need to see this, kids to see this, everybody needs to see this! With a generation of kids that are the least empathetic ever, now is the time. It's time to make a change. It's time to stand together against bullying. Do I think that bullying will ever go away completely? No. But I do truly believe that we can make a difference and save some young lives.

A little word of advice for when you see this film? Bring kleenex.

Check out the trailer below:

Make sure to visit their Canadian website BullyMovie.Ca to demand it in your city and while you're at it, pledge to take a stand against bullying!

You can catch Bully at the Varsity Cinemas in Toronto beginning Friday April 6th.

Insight of the Day

"I deserve somebody who gives a shit!"

-Jennifer Aniston in The Break-Up

A Perfect Day in NYC!

I love last minute road trips, especially if it's to my favorite city in the world! 

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to spend a wonderful Spring day in New York City....sure it's not technically Spring yet, but it sure felt like it. I always said there's nothing like New York at Christmas, which is true, but seeing everyone out and about on a beautiful warm day showed me an energy I hadn't seen there before. Oh how I love NYC even more now. I didn't even know that was possible! 

 

Welcome to Jamaica!

Last month my family and I went on our first all inclusive vacation together. There couldn't have been a better way to end February! 

We stayed at the Gran Bahia Principe in Runaway Bay. I had read many terrible reviews of the place which made me nervous, but at the same time there were plenty of great reviews as well. Lucky for us, we had an amazing time!!! I could definitely see some areas where they could improve, and it all had to do with management. We also quickly realized that the people who were complaining would have been complaining no matter where they went, it's what they do. If you just want a relaxing vacation at a very beautiful resort and don't take things too seriously, you will have an amazing vacation. 

Beach!

I'll definitely be back to Jamaica. It's beautiful and the people are wonderful! 

Insight of the Day - Valentine's Day Edition

"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you."

Wayne Dyer
Author and Speaker

Photo of the day!

What could be better than a nice cold refreshing Pina Colada on cold winter day? ;)

Taken with Instagram

Tough Times...

Wanna see more? Click here.

Insight of the Day

"Friendship takes time and energy if it's going to work. You can luck into something great, but it doesn't last if you don't give it proper appreciation. Friendship can be so comfortable, but nurture it - don't take it for granted."

 

Betty White

Solo in NYC!

I love New York. Anybody who knows me, know that. I had been absolutely aching to go back to NYC for quite some time so I decided that I needed to go back to experience Christmas time in NYC once again, after all it had been a full 3 years since my last visit. 

There is just something about Christmas time in New York. It's the energy of the city, the Rockefeller Christmas Tree, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and all of the fancy window displays along 5th Avenue just to name a few. It's simply magical.

This visit was a little different from my previous visits though; this time I went solo. There were times when I wished there was someone there to experience it with me, but I actually really enjoyed my time alone. I got to do what wanted, when I wanted. It was fantastic! 

After I got to my hotel around dinner time, I unpacked my stuff, and headed right to Rockefeller to go skating. The line was huge! But while I was waiting in line, something amazing happened. They cleared the ice so they could clean it, but then all of the sudden some romantic song came on (I wish I could remember what it was) and this couple had the ice all to themselves. Next thing you know, he is down on one knee proposing in front of thousands of people! She said yes! It was one of the most romantic things I have ever seen. 

On my first full day I walked around the city. I walked for miles, just exploring. I had a nice lunch by myself in a tea shop, called Radiance Tea which I had read about before going. I walked through Central Park, shopped and just really enjoyed the day. I ended the day by going to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which was nothing short of spectacular! I even got my photo taken with Santa! 

Some other things I did during my short trip were going to the American Museum of Natural History and seeing "Tornado Alley" in IMAX. That was something to see for sure. Incredible. It was fittingly narrated by Bill Paxton (from Twister). I also went to see "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Broadway starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette. It was absolutely brilliant. Really gotta give Daniel Radcliffe kudos for this one, 8 shows a week for 10 months. That's pretty amazing. He's done his run now though, but they have some other young heartthrobs lined up for this year (like Darren Criss and Nick Jonas). I spent my last day just taking it all in, shopped some more, chilled out in Central Park, and people watched. 

If anyone has ever dreamed about seeing NYC at Christmas, just do it. There's nothing else quite like it! I can't wait to go back again...except maybe I'll go when it's nice and warm out! 

xoxo 

Insight Of The Day

"I would rather make mistakes in kindness and compassion than work miracles in unkindness and hardness."

Mother Teresa
1910-1997

Things to Think About

I came across this blog the other day that I feel like I should share with you: "30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself".

I'm sure there has gotta be something on this list that hits home. I definitely have a few things I could work on ;)

Anyways, here is the link: 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

xoxo

Just Do It!

Every once in a while I find myself stuck in a rut. The same old, same old was well...getting old. I needed to do something different, but I didn't know what. Then one lazy afternoon I found myself doing a goal exercise in my SELF magazine, and as it turns out, it was all I needed to get the wheels turning and for me to figure out what I needed to do. 

One odd thing I wrote down was that I wanted to run a 5k. No big deal for all the runners out there, but I was not a runner. At all. In fact, I had always hated running. I preferred getting my heart rate pumping on the Elliptical or in an intense Bootcamp session. But here I was, writing down that I wanted to do a 5k. Weird. 

Next thing you know I am googling Toronto 5k's, and what do you know? There were several planned for the month of October. After running this by my family, I went online and signed up for one. I had exactly one month to train. Once I nailed down the whole breathing part, I was good to go. My one concern was my bad knee, which acted up on a couple of occasions, but I dealt with that just fine...(Advil + bag of frozen Peas).

October 16th, 5k day as I called it, was here. I was a little nervous to be honest. I know 5k is not that big of deal when you have people running full and half marathons on the same day, but it was a big deal to me. Accomplishing my goal was a big deal. I proved to myself that I could run. I proved that I could run a full 5k without walking on and off. Someone I know who was running the half marathon that day told me that this run would be my best ever. She was right. 

Over that one month, I learned to love running. Who knew? I didn't even see that one coming!

Another goal I had written down was to start doing Pilates. The kind in a studio with an instructor and not in my living room like I had done in the past. I always wanted to use the Reformer machines. Now, once a week my mom and I do a semi-private session with our awesome instructor, and we do LOVE the Reformer! 

I'm going to stop writing now and go for a run while I still can! Next up: 10k! 

xoxo

Photo: it-echo.com

Insight Of The Day

Steve Jobs gave this as part of his Commencement Address at Stanford University on June 12, 2005.

Love and Loss

I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started?

Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT.

I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking.

Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Steve Jobs
1955-2011

Stand Together Against Bullying

 For anyone who truly knows me, knows that I was bullied as a kid. No matter what people say, words do hurt. A lot. To this day, I can still hear some of the mean kids saying hurtful things to me and about me like it was yesterday. I'm 28. For me, the pain of it all has never fully gone away. I remember it all. I remember the names of every person who ever said or did something mean to me. I remember being at sleepovers and hearing people who were supposed to be my friends say hurtful things about me when they thought I was sleeping. Hell, I even had a teacher in 4th grade who was part of the problem. I suffered from depression (on and off) and anxiety attacks up until my mid 20s when I tried Hypnotherapy as a way of helping me let go. It actually worked.

In the last few years, I have become very passionate about Anti-Bullying. I can't stand hearing about all of the horrible stories in the news about what kids are going through today, and let me tell you, it is MUCH worse today than it was when I was a kid. I am so thankful I did not grow up in the age of cyber bullying. I think its great that people today are taking a stand and really trying to make a difference. Its just sad that its taken kids committing "bullyside" a term I heard recently for committing suicide for people to notice something is definitely wrong.

Last night I watched a 48 Hours special titled "Bullying: Words Can Kill". Let me tell you, if was eye opening. I highly recommend watching it online if you get the chance. It saddened me seeing so many kids being bullied, having to change schools multiple times, overdosing on pills, and hanging themselves just to escape the pain. THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING!!! It makes me sick that schools say there is nothing they can do, except for the odd few and that the parents of the bullies will do nothing and take NO responsibility for their child's actions. The special did also feature one school that was taking action against bullying, and I applaud them for that. Every little bit helps. 

This week I heard that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is helping a family who's child committed suicide after being bullied in school. Sirdeaner Walker is now dedicating her life to putting an end to bullying. This includes, bullying based on religion, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or anything else that makes people different. You can catch their episode later this season. 

Want to help her put an end to bullying? 

Go to this site: http://www.standtogether.tv/  

Take the pledge and follow the instructions.

Let's Stand Together against bullying. Remember, every little bit helps.