For the last ten years my husband's tennis partner has been graciously giving us his Mammoth Cabin for a weekend so we can take the kids skiing. This annual trip was something the kids have always looked forward to. Yet secretly for me it was always been hell.  Just the thought that I had to pack 4 kids all between the ages of six and ten (when we initially started) sent me into night sweats. First my husband would have to pull all their winter clothes, keep in mind we are in San Diego where the weather is usually a nice 70 degrees. Every year each child out grew one garment or the other. My job was to go buy the additional clothes that we didn't have, while my husband took care of the equipment.

Poor guy sweated and cursed every time he had to adjust and re-adjust the skis, pair gloves and find the right goggles. I would help pack the clothes and go food shopping, just because some of the things I could not find in Mammoth. Then we would have to figure out the games and entertainment for the seven-hour drive, and lets not forget about the snacks and random pit stops. After a few years and many stressful encounters we finally got it down.  It was ironic that at the same time when we finally got our ritual pat down our kids decided to swap to snow boarding gear.  

The Mammoth cabin was spacious enough to accommodate us all, and as the kids grew up they began bringing their friends.  As we outgrew the cabin over the years, I have also exhausted my sanity.

It was no surprise that few years ago I refused to make the trip, and my hubby, G-d bless his soul, took all of them and their friends up him self. When they returned full of new energy and great spirits, each and every one of them said that I should not miss this annual ritual and it wasn't the same without me. How could this possibly be? There was no one there to scream, bitch and dictate everyone's chores, not to mention to cook and clean for them.

Last year I made the trip and happily acknowledged that this was much easier now. The kids were now grown up, and packed their own belongings. When everyone was dressed for the mountain, no one screamed that they need to go potty right now? and I didn't need to undress everyone and begin this hell process over and over until everyone was out of the door. Last year I decided that I could no longer ski. My shoulder needed surgery, my arthritis was acting up and maybe I was too old to do this.  My kids didn't need me on the slopes and I noticed that I've been slowing them down, so I have decided not to ski at all.

This year I came back with a completely different attitude. I was a year older, more fabulous than ever and ready to take on the mountain. True that my hip was in constant pain and my shoulder was recently operated on, but so what? My first trip was on a bunny slope, I'm fabulous not stupid, this was suppose to be the real test on all my body parts. My daughter and her friend guarded me as I maneuvered myself down the slope and felt liberated. My son waited for me at the bottom of the bunny slope to see if he had to take me home, but I was fearless. I went up a nice mountain with my son and nephew, I felt young and fit. With the music blasting in my ears and my children & their friends surrounding every part of the mountain that I was flying down, I knew that YEAY, I've still got it.

p.s. Here are few pics from the trip.

Thats me coming down that mountain

YeaY!!!!  I got down and didn’t fall

And who was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill?????  

Proudly displaying chest hair in the cool ski jacket

A Monster in the Bathroom

Does it seem like high-tech gadgets are taking over our lives?

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the benefits of technology as much as anyone else. But it’s a constant challenge keeping up with the latest gadgets, computer programs, Blackberries and iPhones that have become an integral part of my daily routine.  

These days, I find myself completely at loss when my computer acts up and I can’t get on the Internet. And God forbid if my cell phone stops working! I feel like I’m in a dark cave somewhere, cut off from the rest of the world.   

Technology has become so prevalent that it often affects our lives in ways we don’t even notice. For example, last week we went out to the Cheesecake Factory (a popular chain of restaurants on the west coast) for dinner. As I walked into the ladies room, I encountered a toddler, about two years old, crying hysterically. Her pants down and her arms around her mother, the precious little girl was sobbing and shaking with fear.  

I bent down to ask what was wrong, and before the mom had a chance to reply, this baby girl with golden hair and ocean-blue eyes looked up at me and said, “There’s a monster in the toilet!”

Confused, I looked at the mother, who explained that she set her daughter on the toilet to go potty. When she moved her feet just a bit, the automatic toilet began to flush and the loud noise scared the toddler.

I had a hard time containing my laughter. I didn’t want the baby or the mother to get more upset, so I quickly turned away. But, funny as it was, I also found the incident to be disturbing.

Returning to my table, I related the story to my husband and children. They thought it was funny too, but didn’t think much of it. I explained that I never had to deal with those situations because when our kids were small, public restrooms didn’t have automatic toilets. I didn’t have to say to them, “Once you sit and I move, the toilet will make noises.  So don’t be scared.”   

Back To Basics

Technology has been affecting our lives for more than a century now. But it seems like only within the past decade has it gotten out of control. We have become too advanced and too dependent on what used to be luxuries only a few short years ago. 

After realizing that I had become obsessed with “staying connected” for the last few years, I have decided to back off on the technology a bit. Therefore, I propose the following:

Disconnect your PDA’s and use them only as a calendar and address book. Your emails will still be available on your computer when you feel like reading them. Only now you won’t have to answer them every few minutes as they arrive to your inbox with that annoying beep, beep.

Use cell phones only when necessary, and shut them off when you don’t need them.  There’s no law that says people must be able to get hold of you when they want to.  Instead, have them leave you a message that you can return at your convenience.

Stop with the “instant updates.” News is available 24 hours a day. It’s not that important to know what’s going on every 15 minutes.

Stress is on the rise and diseases are out of control, most of them due to stress. My grandpa continues to remind me that, “All diseases are caused by stress, and only syphilis is from pleasure.” After decades of hearing this, I finally believe him.

Nonfat, low-fat, decaffeinated and sugar-free foods are poisons. Remember that saying, “You are what you eat?” I never did grasp that concept until I got sick and discovered that most of the foods I consumed made me sick, tired and irritated.

Time off is essential to your health and your future. You only get one body, so treasure it, nurture it, and take care of it. Become the “high maintenance” person you were meant to be by staying positive, putting yourself first (some of the time), and learning to love yourself just the way you are. It’s back-to-basics time, so turn off all of your electronic devices, grab a book and a cup of hot chocolate and remember, the best is yet to come.

Ladies,

If you logged in today and saw a yellow bar that said "Upgrade to premium membership", and wondered what that is, please see my blog with details by clicking here  .

The blog and comments that follow will give you a good idea what it is all about and whether or not you would like to upgrade.

I thank you for your patience while we iron out all of the possible issues that might arise from this upgrade, and hope that you will see value in all of the extra features that we offer within our Premium Package.

Membership Options

Basic Package  ? Free membership  

Blog Roll  ? http://fabulously40.com/blogroll
Join Groups
Post Questions
Picture Uploading  (3 Albums/10 pictures per album)
Contests

Premium Package ?$39.95 a year .

Private Groups   ? Fab40 Members that purchase the premium package can start and join any existing private group at no additional charge as long as the owner of the group approves your request. With Private groups you can build your own community of women, cross promote between groups and brand yourself among the strong following on Fabulously40.

Local Chapters     ? A Girls Nights Out, Martini Club, Book Club, etc, what ever your fancy is join a club or start your own.
Invite Members To Join the Premium Package- Receive 1 month free for every paying new member.

Blogs   - Fab40 Members have an option of setting their post to "friends only" or password protected. When the posts are marked "friends only" they will only be accessible by your list of fab40 friends.  

Featured Blog' s   ? All paid members public posts are automatically featured on the fab40 Home Page.

Unlimited picture uploading  

Signature Box   ? Enables you to have a custom signature to promote your business with every post.

Podcasts   ? Access to podcasts, and web-blogs on topics such as business, marketing, and various Expert Advice podcasts, such as divorce, organization, etc.

Hi Gals,

Sorry it took me so long,

Here is the link to the pics, see if you can find yourself.

http://fabulously40.com/page/sandiego-girls-night-out

Some more professional pics will be coming up once I get them from the photographer.

Let’s here what you got to say

Hi Ladies,
As our community grows, and virtual relationships are now becoming sacred on line and off line, we have launched local chapters, private groups, private blogs and many other private features that you have asked us to implement.

Our techies worked really hard upgrading the system, implementing new software improvements and trying to figure out a way to make our system solid proof. In order for that to happen we needed to obtain more servers, bandwidth, memory, and all that great tech stuff that I know very little about.

It has become extremely costly to sustain this website without membership. In order for us to continue to implement new features and provide you with a great platform to connect, share, support each other, and promote your businesses, we've decided to implement a premium paid membership in order to recover some of the costs.

We are aware that times are tough and this might not be the best time to start charging membership, however, we can no longer bare the cost alone.  After hosting several focus groups and talking to many members, the Premium Membership of $39.95 a year will be implemented shortly.

To make things a bit easier for you, we are offering one month free for every paying member that you refer to our community. All you need to do is send me an email or a message with the members name and one month will be added to your membership.
Here is what we offer:

Membership Options

Basic Package  - Free membership  

Blog Roll  - http://fabulously40.com/blogroll
Join Groups
Post Questions
Picture Uploading  (3 Albums/10 pictures per album)
Contests

Premium Package ?$39.95 a year.

Private Groups  ? Fab40 Members that purchase the premium package can start and join any existing private group at no additional charge as long as the owner of the group approves your request. With Private groups you can build your own community of women, cross promote between groups and brand yourself among the strong following on Fabulously40.

Local Chapters    ? A Girls Nights Out, Martini Club, Book Club, etc, what ever your fancy is join a club or start your own.
Invite Members To Join the Premium Package- Receive 1 month free for every paying new member.

Blogs  - Fab40 Members have an option of setting their post to "friends only" or password protected. When the posts are marked "friends only" they will only be accessible by your list of fab40 friends.  

Featured Blog's   ? All paid members public posts are automatically featured on the fab40 Home Page.

Unlimited picture uploading  

  

Signature Box   ? Enables you to have a custom signature to promote your business with every post.

Podcasts   ? Access to podcasts, and web-blogs on topics such as business, marketing, and various Expert Advice podcasts, such as divorce, organization, etc.

We thank you for your continued support. You will receive an option to upgrade to a premium package as soon as it becomes available.

All the best,
Yana

San Diego Girl's Night Out!

 

Fabulously40 invites you to join us for a Girls Night Out in San Diego.

This is your night to enjoy free drinks, appetizers, prizes, shopping, and more.

Don’t by shy, this is your time to shine..

Goody Bags for the first 100 women!

When & Where

 

When: Thursday February 19, 2009 7:00-9:30pm

Where: Opera Patisserie

9254 Scranton Rd. Suite 101 San Diego, CA 92121

Restaurant Phone Number: 858.458.9050

Would you like to bring a friend to join you for the San Diego Debut event? Simply Invite them to join Fabulously40 and you can have some much needed “girls time” together!

Please RSVP  by sending a private message to Stephanie  here with your name and if you are bringing friend(s) or just your Fabulous self.

Hope to finally meet in person.