This doesn’t have anything thing to do with getting rid of clutter or organizing, I just wanted to share these two little warm and fuzzy stories with you.

When we were at Bryce Canyon last week we were getting in the car after leaving the visitors center and my daughter comes running past us saying “I just found some money where those people pulled out of the parking space and I have to catch them”. She came back disappointed as it wasn’t them who had lost it. Into the visitors center she went to report she had found money and gave them contact information in case anyone asked if any money was turned in. (It was about $20.00).

Then on to Zion’s Canyon we went and as we walked into the visitors center at the end of the day there by the bench I saw a man’s wallet. My daughter turned it in to the ranger who wanted her name and contact information. (We don’t know why as we certainly would see it again).

It feels good to do the right thing dontchathink? What have you done lately that has made you feel good about doing the right thing?

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

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I’ve written previously about my love of western Ireland specifically the Cliffs of Moher. You can read it again along with viewing an awesome video clip here: http://cmjoffice.com/blog/2008/03/03/the-clune-family-from-tierlaheen-county-clare/.

For this edition, I am writing about my desired vacation to Ireland.

Yes, I have been to Ireland several times. However, I’ve always travelled to and stayed with my cousins on the farm that my grandmother was raised on. My dream vacation is to be able one day to travel to Ireland with my husband and three children. I want to show my children Ireland especially where their ancestors once walked.

I have a couple of places in mind:

1. The Cliffs of Moher (of course)
2. Ennistymon (Tierlaheen – my Clune, Larkin, Hogan, and O’Loughlin families)
3. The Burren
4. The Knock Shrine, County Mayo (my Donahue family)
5. Longford County (my Larkin, Reilly, McWade and Degnan families)
6. Monaghan County (my Finnegan and Boyle families)
7. Rock of Cashel

Above represents the absolute ‘musts’ for my family dream trip to Ireland. Of course, along the way I plan to see the green, eat the chips, take in some hay, get some perfume in the Burren, say some prayers in Knock, visit with friends and family, do some Finnegan research, and watch my kids enjoy themselves! Someday this trip will come true. I can’t wait.

Colleen Degnan Johnson

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Individuals who are looking forward to enjoy and travel to new places, without having to worry about providing for their families or partners on the trip will especially love this site.

JustYou has a unique travel concept as its core business idea. The site specifically specializes in providing holidays for single individuals. People, who are interested in exploring the world and savor the culture, scenic beauty and landmarks of places never visited before are some of the most common patrons of this site.

The site offers single cruises which are properly managed by a tour manager. The site offers more than seventy vacation packages in more than forty countries. The best part about this travel package is that the vacation options are not segregated on the basis of their client’s gender, age or occupation. This site is a melting pot for all the travel enthusiasts who want to leave behind all their work and go for a four week plus vacation to some unexplored part of the world to rest and enjoy.

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Neiman Marcus

So, if I were to make an appearance at Wimbledon, I would be wearing this pair of Barton Perreira Breedlove Aviator Sunglasses from Neiman Marcus. Check out that pretty pink color of the lenses! You can also get a more tan color as well.

However, if I get get pink, I’m going to get pink! These are $475 and to be honest, sunglasses are an all year item. I’d wear these from January to December…every day of the year! Including the days I pretend to attend amazing tennis matches.

Ashley Shute spends eight hours a day working as a blue jean and t-shirt wearing community organizer in San Antonio. The other 16 hours are dedicated to dreaming about and shopping for the latest luxury fashions. Her style icon is Jacqueline Kennedy; classic, clean, and always professional. You will never find a fake bag in her closet and she wants a collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes before she turns 30.

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Today is so odd. I know I have a few things to take care of before I move next Thursday but I’m not sure where to start. I had a dream last night about leaving Bangkok, but Bangkok was a small regional city in a country where the capital was Jakarta. My office was similar to my real office, but had a look about it that reminded me of a luxury hotel and a much better view (I could see Jakarta). My apartment closet (that I keep my clothes in) was located in my office so when it was time to finish work and fly back to Australia (via Jakarta) I was running late and hadn’t even taken the clothes from my closet and packed them in my suitcase. Then I realised I’d forgotten to book my flight anyway.

Anxious dreams about missing flights are not uncommon for me. Usually they seem to be reflecting anxiety I have about something that could just as well be related to travel as to anything else, but this time I have a real flight to catch which makes the symbolism even more obvious. Also, someone asked me yesterday what day I was flying out and I said, “Thursday night.” Then they asked what my last day of work would be and I said, “Thursday.” Then this group of people standing around told me that was a dumb idea and I need to take a day off. I don’t need to take a day off, but their words got lodged in my mind somewhere and made me worry that I needed to take a day off. Proof positive of the power of words to affect our subconscious I suppose. I think that was another reason for my dream. Running from the office to the plane was a really bad thing in my dream. In reality there will be about four hours between my finishing work and leaving for the airport.

My anxious dreams used to be about being late for my Friday night shift at the bookshop. They even continued for a few years after I stopped working in bookshops. Sometimes I would be hours or days late to my Friday night shift at the bookshop, but I was still trying to get there. Then one night I had a dream that I was running late for the bookshop and I saw Greg who was running late for work at the library. We both sat down on the curb and decided it wasn’t that big a deal anyway, and we’d just skip work that night. That was the last bookshop anxiety dream I had, and so began the ‘missing the plane’ anxiety dreams. Once I was in an airport terminal and got stuck in the China terminal and couldn’t make my way back to the France terminal. That was really confusing.

So now it’s Saturday and I know my mind is anxious about getting organised, but I don’t really have that much to organise. I have a lot to do, I don’t know how I will fit it all in, but it’s pretty straightforward. I’m pretty sure my subconscious is overreacting – but whose doesn’t from time to time?

I came over to Wawee Coffee just now to use their internet because I’ve been waiting for a call from my landlord who has been hard to pin down and remembered that she wanted to use email, so I needed to check email too – she’s probably the greatest source of anxiety. I got here and five minutes later she sent me a text message telling me when we can meet, which makes it easier to plan the rest of my weekend now.

So now that my greatest source of anxiety is more predictable, rather than spending more of the time talking about my dreams, I’ll head back to my apartment and start packing.

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Bluefly.com

If you buy your suit during the start of the season (Spring Break anyone?) you’ll probably get some type of introductory price. Sorry all, that time has come and gone. But, keep that in mind for next season!

If you think that putting it off until the weekend of the big BBQ Memorial Day weekend is worth it, you may get a great discount. Any excuse for a sale, right? That’s when I found mine!

Now, the middle of the summer, that time in between Memorial Day and Independence Day, what the heck is that? How can you weasel your way into a sale for that? How about trying online? Bluefly.com has their swimwear on sale 40-65% off right now.  Yes! I’m there! (To the right Prada Black Pleated Trim Bikini -$348)

Bluefly.com

And then, there’s the Fourth of July sales. You can always count on the 4th of July/Independence Day sales. They’re almost like Memorial Day. Give retail any excuse to decorate in red, white and blue and they’ll offer a discount, right?

And then there’s that time after the 4th, that time that parents and students a like dread…that time where the stores get ready for back to school. But, we all know we’re still getting our tan perfected and our swim on.  Grab a backpack and fill it up with some towels and swimwear for a weekend get away! (To the left-Diane Von Furstenberg Golden Grown Leaf Knotted Deep V-Neck Swimsuit - $132)

And then there’s the Labor Day sales. That officially marks the end of swim season, doesn’t it? The end of season sales are maybe the second best time to buy swimwear. The stores want to absolutely get rid of their swimwear at this point. This is probably when you’ll find the best deals. Check out the outlets, online stores, and discount stores like Ross and TJ Maxx at this point.

But take it now too, don’t forget that Bluefly.com has their swimwear on sale now!

Ashley Shute spends eight hours a day working as a blue jean and t-shirt wearing community organizer in San Antonio. The other 16 hours are dedicated to dreaming about and shopping for the latest luxury fashions. Her style icon is Jacqueline Kennedy; classic, clean, and always professional. You will never find a fake bag in her closet and she wants a collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes before she turns 30.

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So I spent the last two weeks backpacking in Southeast Asia, and yes it was fantastic! But today when I sat down in front of the laptop I had missed so dearly for two weeks, what I wanted to write about wasn’t all the stuff I did, but something  that most people regard almost insignificant.

I wanted to write about the spare minute or two we spent in each country on our trip (5 of them, not counting our re-entry into the US yesterday morning) filling out arrival and departure cards. Of all the time we spend traveling, it’s probably the most easily forgotten two minutes of any traveler’s time abroad.

But for me, waiting in line at customs and filling out that card so many times was interesting because the third line on each card, after first and last name, would always be “Nationality.” And then the government of that country would give you one line with 10 little boxes, one per letter, within which to neatly write down the country you hail from. You know, as if our national identities could be neatly encompassed in 8-10 little boxes.

I always spend an inordinate amount of time staring at the card trying to figure out what to write down. Then eventually I give up and write down American, because that’s what the title on my passport says I am. But writing American on that card always, every year, made me feel like a little bit of an impostor. I never felt ‘American’ like my peers, despite bring born and raised in the United States. I felt more like I was supposed to be a foreigner; and that Americans were people that had been here for generations. People that weren’t separated from the rest by immigrant parents and cultural barriers and skin colors.

One night last week, my friends and I sat in a restaurant in Phuket, Thailand, discussing our backgrounds. Of the five of us, one was Caucasian, one Japanese, two were Americans whose parents immigrated to the US from India, and one had parents who immigrated from Hong Kong. We were discussing whether we more closely associated ourselves with America, or with our original country, and each of us shared about the collective pull we have all felt at times between our heritage and the country we now live in.

And then it was the one white guy’s turn– the one whose family can be traced in America for generations back, the one person at the dinner table that night who I felt was lucky enough to feel truly secure that he, really, is American.

He, I knew, will never have an identity crisis about what nation can lay claim to him, nor will he feel like an impostor when he writes down American. He will never know how frustrating it is to be challenged by people you meet in other countries who, because of the color of your skin, can’t believe you when you insist you’re American.  I thought he had it easy — but then he confessed that his lack of ethnic background meant that he felt like he was constantly on a search, constantly struggling to redefine for himself what “American” truly means.

And I realized: isn’t that the very essence of being American? The fact that every one of us, white or black or Asian or whatever else, are constantly redefining what it means to be “American”? If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few weeks, it’s that the criteria with which we used to decide what and who is perceived as American in the past is crap.

What much of the world doesn’t understand about America yet, and many Americans themselves don’t understand, is that our identity as a nation is changing. This is the only nation where you can come over from any other country in the world and assimilate into the culture here. I could move to Cambodia, but I’d never be a Cambodian — I’d forever be branded an expat, a foreigner. But a Cambodian could move to the US and eventually become one of the 300,000,000 other Americans. And the thing that ties us all together is the fact that we can be one society, where each one of us possesses our own unique story as to how we ended up in this continent and how we became American. We can forget the barriers that separate us and learn to appreciate diversity for what it is, and for what it can teach us.

And what a remarkable concept that is. Having a funny last name that no one can pronounce, or having parents from a different country doesn’t have to make you less American than anyone else — it makes you a shining example of what America can stand for. Hell, you could become president!

What does “American” mean to you?

Nisha Chittal is a writer and journalist who currently serves as Associate Editor of CitizenJanePolitics.com and is a political columnist for UniversityChic.com. Her personal blog is Politicoholic, where she offers commentary on a range of topics, including but not limited to politics, technology, and the changing role of women and Generation Y in politics today.

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Customers are getting fed up with an ever expanding list of fees. In an age where most industries have made their fee structures much more simple, the airlines have decide to drive us crazy. ” Sir, you’d like ice with your beverage? That’ll be 3 bucks.” Or “Miss, I am sorry but since your shoes have high heels, that’ll be $2.”

You know, if airlines really wanted to be fair about each individuals contribution to the amount of fuel used per flight, and then charge accordingly, they could use the supermarket method. When we go shopping, for many items, we pay per pound. Fruits, vegetables, ground beef all priced according to weight. Why don’t the airlines follow suit? Why should someone who is thin, pay the same amount as someone with a bit more girth? After all, our weight-challenged traveler causes more fuel to be used than our thin traveler.

Stop the madness. Just raise fares. It’s that simple.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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