Category Discover

Bucket List: André Rieu in Concert

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Years ago, on a late Sunday afternoon in winter, bored and wanting to watch something on television, I flipped through the TV channels. Nothing captured my attention. Before turning the TV off, I went to the PBS channel. There was André Rieu in concert. I had never heard of him, but I was immediately drawn to his music and his beautiful orchestra. I’ve always found the violin and the flute to be very soothing.

I happily listened to his concert while I sifted through paperwork and did my filing. My Italian mother always played classical music and various Operas at home, so listening to this music was also nostalgic. If you watch a bit of the concert, you’ll see that his concerts are always sold out.

Years have gone by, and when I feel a little low and need my spirits lifted, I go to YouTube to find one of his concerts. Last year, I FINALLY decided to put “seeing his concert LIVE” on my Bucket List. I found out he has started coming to America. However, I want to see him in Europe. Vienna would be my first choice.

Thanks to YouTube for sharing videos of André Rieu’s concert. As winter approaches, and Sunday’s will seem dreary, his beautifully dressed orchestra playing music that I have not listened to for a while will lift my spirits!

Bucket List —

NOW, to make a plan. Choose a city, a date, a time and BUY the ticket!!

Sports and being a successful LEADER

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SuccessWe are in the last quarter of the year. If you are like me, you are trying to find that “last bit of motivation” that will catapult you to the next level.

We still have time to make great strides. Here’s an article from Fast Company, “Watching a baseball game taught me more about leadership presence than any self-help book.”

If you are looking for some quick motivation, take a few minutes and read this article. While I am not a baseball fan, I know enough about the sport to appreciate the author’s (Anett Grant) clever analogy between baseball and developing strong leadership skills. It’s a mind set, no question about it. Having confidence is “key.”

Here’s to finishing the year strong!

Hard work, trust and faith — we will get there!

Travel – self guided walking tours, TRY GPSmyCITY App

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GPSMYWALK AppI’m heading to Munich soon. While I have been there before, I was interested in exploring different areas of the city. As I researched places to see, I came across GPSmyCITY App, which offers self guided city walks.

I haven’t tried this yet, but I thought I would share it with you. It was a brilliant idea. Bypass normal tours and with this APP, do the walk yourself. On their website, they have different tutorials that teach you how to use the App, it seems easy. You can download different walks to use “off-line,” which was great, because my phone drains the battery very quickly and in Europe it is hard to find places to charge your phone.

They also offer articles on each city with the usual, i.e. best restaurants, cafes, museums, historical sites, products to buy, markets to visit, nightlife venues and more. They have self guided tours of 1,000+ locations all over the world.

The reviews for this App are mixed, some people love it, others don’t. Their location is out of Las Vegas. If anyone has heard of and/or used this App, let us know.

Happy touring!

Feeling hungry, look for the CUPCAKE truck in Chicago

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905F0F75-5893-4FB3-930D-252D005604A2Look what I found at lunch recently. “A.Sweets Girl,” cupcake truck. I asked the lady if I could take her picture, she was cute and smiled beautifully as you can see. Turns out the University had hired the cupcake truck to come at lunchtime and give FREE cupcakes to their post doctorate researchers as a “thank you” for hard work.

EAD00C2E-FD2D-46D3-9696-CA8CB6B8A2F4So, passerby’s got good photos, while researchers got their choice of cupcakes!  LOL

Anna Wu, founder and creator of “A.Sweets Girl,” is an experienced pastry chef who decided to bring her cupcakes to the streets of Chicago. Her truck is beautiful and easy to spot. She can be hired for events and supports a lot of community causes.

I’ll be on the lookout for her, so I can try one of her cupcakes. If you see me chasing after the truck, you’ll know it’s “Brilliant Viewpoint,” trying to get a cupcake, so I can do a follow up review!

Florence, Italy… Move over Starbucks, introducing “TSH Collab,” and “The Student Hotel”

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The Student HotelThis is a brilliant concept. Instead of going to Starbucks to get work done, you can now sign up for a membership with TSH Collab, which gives you access to different co-living, co-working spaces in different European cities (Florence, Amsterdam City, Amsterdam West, Dresden, The Hague, Maastricht, Rotterdam, and Vienna/Bologna (coming soon). Their mission is to give people a place to live, work, dine, workout and they say to swim. Sounds great, yes?

However, I think they missed the boat with name, “The Student Hotel,” because their business model welcomes more than just students. They also include travelers, expats, mobile entrepreneurs, and professionals. Unfortunately, for me, the word “student” is restrictive. Maybe by using the word student, they were referring to a clientele between 18-35 years old — not clear, but their business model is something ALL ages want.

Last year, I was in Florence for a few months, not as a tourist, but visiting relatives. I looked for a cafe where I could sit and get work done. Florence does not have coffee shops like we do in America, where you can just camp out for a few hours. Starbuck’s has not been allowed a location in Florence.

So, when I saw this TSH Collab on LinkedIn, it sparked my interest, especially since they are in Florence, where they will have two locations. They are working on the Belfiore location now.

Charlie MacGregor, is the Founder, his concept is fantastic. The funding is coming from an Amsterdam headquartered developer investor. While he says he includes travelers, expats, etc. he is really catering to a “younger student audience,” but maybe that will change, because Florence is a major tourist destination.

FOR SURE, when I am in Florence or any city where The Student Hotel is located, I want to visit, see what the hotel is about and see how it feels. If you happen to visit before me, let us know what you think.

Photography – oops, I’ve been caught…

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bird-on-rocks-1-e1568718773967.jpgThis was a funny and perfect photo. Beautifully captured; however, funny, because the Seagull was giving me a look like, “Hey, who said you could take my photo?”

And then a side angle. bird-on-rocks-2.jpgThe day was a bit gloomy, Fall is settling in. We both had the same intention and that was to enjoy the view of the Lake and the sound of the waves. It was a perfect day!

Writing inspiration from a storm…

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LightningLast night I heard thunder and saw lightening. As a child, when a storm came over Lake Michigan, we rushed outside the house to clear the leaves out of the drains, so there wouldn’t be a flood.

For a writer, a storm brings creativeness in a different way.  If you write, you know what I mean. We feel the need to hunker down, stay indoors and write whatever comes to mind. A storm allows deep emotions to come out in our characters.

I’m off to write. HOW will my character make it out of the…

You see, there are so many possibilities!

Why won’t my bus pass work?

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Yesterday, I was rushing to catch the train as usual.

I scanned my train card and tried to go through the turn style. Negative, the turn style was not moving. Once again, I scanned my train card, and tried to quickly pass through the turn style. AGAIN, it was not working. The night before I had added money to my card, so WHY wasn’t it working. I scanned the card “one more time,” and the turn style would not budge.

At this point, I had to move away from the turn style. It was embarrassing, all of the busy commuters looking irritated that I was “holding up the line.”

WHAT was the PROBLEM!

I looked at my train card…  It was NOT my train card. It was my devotional card for Saint Leopoldo of Padua. I visited his shrine in Italy a few years ago. He is known as the Saint who could heal you of your illness. At his shrine, there was a room full of photos that family members had sent of loved ones that they asked Saint Leopoldo to pray and heal them. He had a small room where he would hear people’s confessions. I bought this devotional card and always carry it with me.

So, I did have to SMILE!

This was Saint Leopoldo’s CLEVER way of telling me to slow down. Time for a trip to Padua and Abano Terme. For those of you who do not know, Abano Terme has hot springs and mud baths. People go here to rest and rejuvenate.

Sometimes in life, we need a SIGN to take care of ourselves!

Thank you, Saint Leopoldo. We have a three day holiday coming up, I will rest!

Attention Bloggers, “Are your posts being HARVESTED?”

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Taking articlesI was not surprised when I read Jo Hawk the Writer’s post “Attention Bloggers and Writers,” about a website that is harvesting Blogger’s posts. I encourage you to read her post, where fellow blogger, The Haunted Wordsmith, has been doing research to try and stop this copyright infringement.

Lately, I have had a variety of new Followers. While that seems great, I have gone to visit them only to find they are bogus sites. Many of them have 4 posts they created with photos that seem legit until you scroll down on their home page to see that they keep rotating those same 4 posts.

I did visit this site that The Haunted Wordsmith mentions, www.tygpress.com. I typed in my blog name with quotes around it. Sure enough, it appears like they created a specific section for my Blog’s articles. Of course, it is frustrating to see someone else creating a website based on other people’s written work without asking or telling us they are reblogging our posts.

Fighting this harvesting takes a lot of time and energy away from our main reason for Blogging, which is love of writing. Let’s see if they Blog this post!