French Omelet With Spinach & Swiss Cheese (Food.com)

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon half-and-half or 1 tablespoon milk or 1 tablespoon water
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup Swiss cheese, grated
• 1/3 cup sautéed spinach, drained
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 strip lemon peel

Directions

1. 1.     Whip eggs, liquid and seasonings.
2. 2.     Melt butter in a 10″ non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over high heat.
3. 3.     Heat until bubbly.
4. 4.     Pour egg mixture into skillet.
5. 5.     Immediately begin shaking the pan while making small, quick stirring motions with the bottom of a fork.
6. 6.     Remove from heat when eggs no longer run but are still quite moist.
7. 7.     Add cheese and spinach to top half of omelet.
8. 8.     Fold in half and invert onto a plate.
9. 9.     Tuck the thin edges under the omelet if desired.
10. 10.  Let rest 1 minute.
11. 11.  Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a strip of lemon peel.
12. 12.  Makes one omelet.

Laurie is the owner and coach of New Horizon Strategies LLC.  She also works for the NASA Johnson Space Center as the Sustainability Champion.  New Horizon Strategies offers professional coaching, consulting, and facilitation to entities and individuals experiencing transition, investigating discrete improvement, and holistically addressing strategic planning.

Life should be a constant growth period.  Once we’ve stopped growing, what are we doing with our lives?  Of course, walking life on the edge of growth does mean that you’ll sometimes fall.

“I landed my dream job working on bio-regenerative life support systems for NASA at the Johnson Space Center.  We were building a human-rate test facility to experiment with how to close the loop, and ultimately ‘put the Earth in box so we could take it somewhere else’.  Projects start and stop relatively quickly in the political environment of the government, and since I started with NASA, I’ve worked with all of the US human space-flight programs (Shuttle, International Space Station, and the future Multi-Purpose Crewed Vehicle). I had the opportunity to work with international partners in Japan, Russia, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands while supporting the International Space Station.  It was an awesome, eye-opening experience.”

I don’t want a job that I have to do for ‘the rest of my life’.  I want to create an environment where the person, team, and organization are sustainable without me.  My vision is to be the champion inspiring sustainable change in the professional world to really make people come alive!

Although Laurie relished her job, she felt dissatisfaction after working 13 years at the Johnson Space Center.  Here she was working with a stellar team of people on the life support system for the new NASA human-rated space vehicle.  Yet she randomly began crying on her way to work.  A colleague of hers pointed out this may be due to a fork in the road – this is when choices are made incrementally and at some point you wonder how you arrived where you are.  This is the fork of passion verses promotion.

Laurie had been a contractor with Lockheed Martin, and was strongly considering leaving to work with the Peace Corps when she was offered a job at the Johnson Space Center.  “I still loved what I was doing, and who I was doing it with, but felt an edge of stress, frustration, and dysfunction in my work life.”

Then, I lost my only sibling to suicide.  My world crumbled.  It took me nine months following her death just to get out of ‘numb’ and into ‘healing’, though I would have told you the whole time I was healing really well.

Then Laurie’s job slowed down.  “It was like a tsunami hit me.  I did a lot of different things to try and recover, and cocooning was one of them.  I took some time off from work.  During that time I attended a growth and transition workshop based on Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ work.  She’s the world-renowned grief therapist who wrote the book (literally) on Death and Dying.”

Laurie was grieving the vision she had of NASA, while grieving the loss of her sister.  “The NASA I put up on that pedestal was a place where you can work on cutting-edge technology, be a part of first-time, amazing accomplishments, inspires the world, and really, really make a difference.  But, that wasn’t the place I felt like I’d been working at in a while.  Ultimately, I hadn’t felt like I was making a difference in a long time.  People told me I was, but something wasn’t making a difference to me.”

With courage, she made the decision to take time off from work.  Then she tried an executive coaching program.  “The coaching program really helped me to see how perfectionism had made me a difficult person to work with (with other difficult people as well as amazing people).

I needed to let go of this idea that I had to have the answers all the time, had to have it all figured out all the time, had to be on top of things all the time.  That’s exhausting, and unrealistic.

“I always knew that doing a good job at the things that mattered to me was important, but the fear of criticism if I didn’t have every step laid out in a plan, if I didn’t anticipate every possible outcome, if I didn’t have the answer to every question before I asked it, if I didn’t know exactly what everyone was talking about all the time, if I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life (but knew that I wasn’t doing it), became daunting,” says Laurie.

When I figure out what I really want to do with my life, it doesn’t have to be all planned out.  And, I can change my mind if it’s not what I thought.  I have the freedom to not be right all the time!

Laurie’s attributes her successes to passion, grace, drive and curiosity.  This involves education, support system, goal setting, networking, and a strong work ethic as key components.

“My parents were extremely supportive of me during high school, college, and my first ‘real world’ job.  They expressed genuine excitement about my opportunities and visited me often to show me their love.  They even gave me my first car when I graduated from college.”

Laurie liked school, and always saw college as the next step.  Her parents both hold master’s degrees in teaching, and were junior high teachers at the school she attended. Science was her favorite subject in school, along with math, art, and wood/metal shops being close seconds.

College is all about the entire experience for us, not just the academic learning.  I learned perseverance, dedication, and the effects of making choices related to what I just ‘felt like’ the right thing to do was.

After taking advantage of college resources to hone her interest in engineering, Laurie chose BioProcess Engineering.  This is a combination of Biological and Agricultural as well as Chemical/Process Engineering.  “I like to describe it now as Chemical Engineering of living systems…I really enjoyed engineering, but wanted something more holistically related to humans and our earth.”

I used to get really down on myself, thinking I wasn’t studying hard enough to get good grades, and ultimately be successful, says Laurie.  I see now, it was because of the social things I experienced (organizing teams, figuring out how to work with many different types of people, and learning how to have fun while doing it all) that opened up opportunities for management and integration so quickly in my career.

Goal setting has been huge.  Otherwise, we’re just taking the ‘shot-gun’ approach in our lives.  Hit as many targets as you can and hope one of them is the ‘kill shot’.

“Our goal setting is like choosing the highway we’re going to drive on in life.  Of course, you have to make the decision to actually drive your car, versus sit in a parking lot with the engine running waiting for someone to come and drive you somewhere.  So, assuming you are driving your life, and you’ve picked your highway, allowing opportunities to tickle our interest is simply paying attention to the billboards along the way,” says Laurie.

I told my mom once when I was little, “if I could meet everyone in the world, I would have it all figured out.”

“I absolutely love networking.  I find meeting new people to be exhilarating and refreshing. Everyone has such a wonderful perspective to offer.  Face-to-face networking and social media networking are quite different, and accomplish different levels of support, but they’re still both vital networking tools,” says Laurie.

Completely instrumental to her success was joining a Women’s Leadership Advisory Board. This involves working hand-in-hand with wonderful, professional ladies, receiving monthly coaching, and master mind sessions, as well as strategic planning support and educational classes.

After networking and applying for several opportunities in Houston, it was brought to Laurie’s attention that the Johnson Space Center has a sustainability/green team.  Since investigating this area, Laurie been given an opportunity in the position of Sustainability Champion to learn more and assist the center in accomplishing the mandates of the agency to reduce our energy and water usage; increase our energy sustainability; and improve our physical sustainability using Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) construction standards.

Grace is also essential to success. This is when you’re in thick traffic, and you certainly can’t see an opening, and suddenly all the vehicles ahead of you merge into different lanes so you’re free to accelerate.  You can’t plan times like that, but we’ve all experienced them. 

“We sometimes feel grace or circumstances get in the way,” says Laurie.  “I used to think the ‘ball-bearing’ recipe of success was organize-plan-control-reassess-replan-control-etc.  I can see now after the years of learning (or perhaps remembering) the beauty of grace in my life that that ball bearing has finally cracked into the ‘at least’ two halves that it’s genuinely comprised of: the organize-plan-control piece which is critical, but also the organic, natural element of grace that happens in all our lives.”

We must do good work.  We must be kind.  We must care.  If we don’t care, are mean, or fail to perform at our jobs, why would anyone give us more?  Keep that in mind.

After graduating from college, Laurie received a job offer from Lockheed Martin where she was a contractor for the first six years she worked at the Johnson Space Center.  The salary was somewhat low.  “Many people, including my department head, encouraged me to ask for more money.  I was scared.  What if they said no, and since you asked we won’t give you the job anyway?  I was talking to my dad about it, and I said, ‘this is my dream job.  I would do it for free if they asked!’  To which he quickly replied, ‘Don’t tell them that!’  He went on to say, ‘Money is kind of like sex; it’s how we all got here, but nobody wants to talk about it.’  We all need money to survive, but why are we so afraid to ask for what we’re worth?”  Just ask for it but we must do good work.

Laurie integrates meditation, relaxation and affirmations in her life.  She recites a mantra every morning to help keep her grounded: “I have all that I need to do everything I’m doing right now.  I am okay.  All is as it should be.  I am at peace.  I choose to be fully engaged today.  I choose to be present.”

She also writes down her gratitudes along with affirmations each day.  “So I’m aware of the wonderful things I already have in my life, which permits more of that to come to me.  We don’t get more if we aren’t grateful for what we already have.”

One of the two people who inspire Laurie is the Dalai Lama for inspiring a world of peace, meditation, and renewal;   and the second is Jodie Foster’s character in ‘Contact’ because she was so focused, passionate, and ultimately open to profound discoveries in her own life, and for humanity.

We’re all really searching for the same things: appreciation, respect, purpose, acceptance, and joy.

“I’m enjoying building my skills as a professional coach, helping people realize their full potential, as I have been helped along my own path. I am also learning what it means to live sustainably on this earth, and recognizing that I am certainly not alone in finding intrinsic motivation to achieve net zero living,” says Laurie.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs — ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive. ~  Harold Thurman Whitman, Philosopher.

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breasts
Lemon pepper seasoning
Red or Green grapes (I prefer green)
Almond slices
Mayonnaise
Curry
 

Directions

Season 4 breasts of Chicken with lemon pepper
Grill the Chicken breasts
Cut chicken into bite size pieces
Place in bowl
Cut one medium size bunch of grapes into halves
Add grapes to the bowl
Add one package almond slivers to bowl.
Mix 1/2 cup of mayonnaise with curry to taste. I love the curry so I put a generous amount
Mix all ingredients together
Chill before serving

Serve with a French baguette

Ingredients

• 12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds (not cores) removed
• 1/4 cup good olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 16 ounces fresh salted mozzarella
• 12 fresh basil leaves, julienned

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan, cut sides up, in a single layer. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 2 hours until the tomatoes are concentrated and begin to caramelize. Allow the tomatoes to cool to room temperature.

Cut the mozzarella into slices slightly less than 1/2-inch thick. If the slices of mozzarella are larger than the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella slices in half. Layer the tomatoes alternately with the mozzarella on a platter and scatter the basil on top. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Serve at room temperature.

The Choosey Chicks are three women who have fathomed a business around the message to choose.

Know you have a choice in every moment in small and big ways from choosing to be nice to choosing to vote.

Jessie and Sara had teenage daughters they were picking up from school.  Jessie noticed the disempowering messages on tween clothing.  How about putting messages of choice on cool clothing for young girls?  She called Sara who was sitting in a car pool line to propose her business idea; clothing with empowering messages of choice, being vocal about what you support.  They called Pamela, a graphic artist friend from college days living in another state, to join the venture.

Empowerment to make a good choice can be conveyed even on a tee shirt, says Pamela.  Although the tweens were the targeted market, the product demographic turned out to be 18 to 35 year olds.  Pamela says her 72 year old aunt sports the Choosey Chick tees.

Determination and passion are essential elements to success in launching a new business, say the Choosey Chicks.  So are goals.  Write down your business and personal goals because they are intertwined.  Start out with the first five years.  Appreciate the message and try not to be discouraged; and in our case, know it may take five years for the brand to expand.

Everyone does not like what we like!  Listen to the masses – not just what we think in our bubble.

Listening to the feedback and their daughters’ opinions are important to their success, say Jessie and Sara.  Designs and messages they thought had a big impact, turned out not to be so; and in other cases where the anticipated impact was expected to be mediocre, was in fact popular.

The first step in developing their business was preparation; learning about tee shirts and screen printing and interviewing other entrepreneurs for advice.  “We flew by the seat of our pants the first year,” says Sara.  Seeking direction from a small business development center; finding a mentor; setting goals; writing a business plan; and keeping the budget tight are essential elements in embarking on a new business, say the Choosey Chicks.

Are you a risk taker?  Knowing what this means will prepare you for the reality of owning your own business.  You have nothing to fall back on but yourself.

Evaluating your business as you proceed is essential.  “We realized we were a messaging company rather than a tee shirt company,” says Jessie.  “We are about designing and message.”  Today Choosey Chicks licenses their messaging to apparel and paper product companies.  These companies have a large sales force involving established relationships with buyers; and distributions channels already in place.

The Choosey Chicks messaging is not only sported on clothing but on school supplies in 800 college bookstores now. Their messaging can now be seen on journals in 475 Barnes & Noble stores.  Their business plan has now incorporated new product ideas for dolls and books, as well as an apparel line for young boys and girls called Choosey Chickadees.

We know we are on the right track because our message is appreciated.

Choice is everywhere in all we do.  What we do not always see is that another choice is always an option.  When you hear “I did not have a choice – I know you do,” says Jessie.  Seeing choice messaging such as Choose Strength or Choose to be Free (of anything from clutter to sugar), encourages regrouping and recognizing another choice or best decision does exist.

Choose to be Different is one of their favorite tees shirts in black with all white sheep about, but one that is pink.

The buyers light up the messages when the Choosey Chicks hear stories such as a woman who suffered a difficult divorce when her husband left her with daughters still in school and scant financial resources.  She chose strength.  She lost 50 pounds and had not sported a tee shirt in years.  She chose a Choosey Chick tee shirt to wear with her new skinny white jeans.  “I looked beautiful,” the woman said.  She had no money to replenish her wardrobe after losing the weight so the Choosey Chicks sent her an array of tee shirts recognizing her choice of strength.

“I believe 100% in the message of positive choice and that each woman has the power to make positive choices that will enrich their lives.  I found the strength and inspiration to keep pushing forward from friends, family and my faith in God.  I also found inspiration from my business partners – we all bring different assets to the table which keeps it interesting,” says Jessie.

All three Choosey Chicks are working in the profession they had originally chosen, in that they are using the same skills in their business they developed in college and in previous jobs.

“I never thought I could do what I have but I moved forward despite my parents.  In my youth, I had a mentor who believed in me. I also felt that there was nothing I couldn’t learn or do in my career choice,” says Pamela.  “My complete enjoyment of what I do and that I am challenged every time I work on a project keeps me going.”

Meditation also promotes balance for Pamela.  “I meditate on a daily basis and believe that it gives me strength.  Learning to meditate was a gift from Pamela’s sister who has recently passed. Pamela has been meditating for more than six years since her sister’s introduction.

One of the two people who inspire Pamela is Eleanor Roosevelt because she was an advocate for Civil Rights; and she worked to enhance the status of the working woman.  The other is Mahatma Gandhi because he led with nonviolent resistance against the British rule. He never wavered in his beliefs and achieved what he believed, says Pamela.

The people who have inspired Sara are Condoleeza Rice, served as Secretary of State, for her intelligence and poise; and Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, for her business accomplishments.  “I was raised by two working parents who taught by example.  Good work ethic and to always do your best.  Being an eternal optimist helps me to realize that if you hit a speed bump in the road, you take a detour.”

“I wanted to show my daughter that we can make a difference.  There is more to being a mom than going to lunch, cooking dinner and doing laundry,” says Sara about being a stay at home mom.

I am proud that our business has grown and that our brand is being recognized, says Jessie.

I believe, very passionately, that our message is strong.  It is my hope that all females will wake up, gain more strength, and realize that choice does define who they are and that they always, always, have a choice.  Be choosey, says Sara.

Ingredients:
Trader Joes cornbread mix (mix according to directions, set aside)
1 bag frozen roasted corn (cook according to directions)
1- 12oz. bag shredded 3 cheese blend (cheddar, jack, etc.)
2- 16 oz. cans of chicken chili
2 -14 oz. cans of chunk white chicken, in water  (drain)
Sour cream and chopped chives for garnish.
Instructions:
Preheat oven to cornbread instructions.
In a 13×9 inch pan, empty contents of chili and chicken, mix together.
Layer with corn, then cheese, then spread cornbread mix carefully over the entire top.
Bake according to cornbread instructions.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of chives for each serving.
Enjoy!

Peace of Space Organizing lends a hand to people who wish to regain balance in their homes and work spaces.  This is accomplished by evaluating their spaces and then organizing their possessions to create functioning and simplified environments.  Diane supports her clients in performing the hands on work of lessening the excess.  She then assists them in creating methods for allowing flow and function in their space.

“I started in this business after the encouragement of a friend who asked me to help her organize her child’s room.  It seemed simple enough.  But it proved to be one of those things where you sometimes discount your own abilities only to find they are hugely valuable for someone else.  I was impressed at what a difference my support, ideas, and hands on help gave to her, and seeing the transformation of space and her literally joyous enthusiasm and appreciation, gave me the incentive to dive deeper into what has become a rewarding career.”

The reward of doing good work can hardly be measured; helping overwhelmed people create peace in their space.

After Diane had assisted her friend in organizing her child’s room, she read a book by a professional organizer named Peter Walsh of whom she was not familiar.  His philosophy and ideology resonated with her.

“I discovered there was actually an organization for Professional Organizers.  Who knew?  And they were having their national conference in Reno to which I planned to attend.  It was amazing to be surrounded by literally hundreds of people, doing this work.  And as I watched the keynote speaker take the stage, I was speechless; it was none other than Peter Walsh.  I couldn’t believe it, and I found the synchronicity to be fabulous.  He was inspiring, insightful, irreverent and incredible.  And thus began my valuable work.”

Believe in yourself; be willing to change directions if what you’re doing isn’t working; and to ask how you can best serve your clients.  And most importantly, love what you do.

Diane attended college after graduating from high school.  She majored in Theatre Arts and Psychology.  During her second year in college, Diane’s father was diagnosed with cancer; he passed away in four weeks.  “I quit working and stopped attending classes to spend what little time together we had left.  I’m so deeply glad that I did.”

Diane’s mother married before she finished college.  “I know she always regretted that.  So her push was always for me to finish my studies.  But after my father’s death, I found it difficult to follow that path.  I attended several different colleges over the years, and have had the good fortune to meet many amazing people and learn so much, but my real diploma will most likely show up in the lives of my children.”

Surround yourself with a loving group of supportive people that will boost your spirits and help you to soar.

Once started, the business was sadly put on hold, says Diane, when her family relocated to a remote location that was prohibitive to travel and childcare.  Then an unexpected event in her career timeline occurred, divorce.

“I had not prepared for anything like that and when it happened it threw everything out of balance.  Recovering from that has been my greatest challenge.  Divorce is one of the most challenging and often times crippling experiences one can go through.  But the love and care I have for my children has proven to be a greater force than I ever imagined.  It is for them that I seek to continue to climb my own ladder, and also my deep desire to show them the value and the contribution we can all make in the world.  This moves me forward every day.”

I have a great desire to engage others in the conversation that begins when we look in our homes and around ourselves; then we see this space doesn’t match our vision.  To simplify, and to organize, and to help people create peace in their space, brings real joy to my work.

Setting goals has not been a priority in forming the business, although Diane recognizes the importance.  However, networking was the key element in bringing the business to being.  “I’ve just dug in and done the work. I did not write up a formal business plan. Networking is how I got my business off the ground; I have found that utilizing the many networking opportunities in my town has been fantastic.  Reaching out in the community has been invaluable, not to mention fun!”

Diane belongs to a mastermind group that assists her in supporting her goals to meet the direction of her business; plus this group provides the forum to hear ideas from other people about her work.  “I meet quarterly with other professional organizers in my community and this is a wonderful opportunity to stay connected and support one another.  We don’t see ourselves as competition, but realize there is plenty of work for everyone and each client requires a unique fit with whomever they work with.”

Where your feet are, be there, says Diane’s yoga teacher.

This means slow down and be present whether success or failure; come from present space, not watching for the future, not holding on to the past – just really centering and working from this moment.  Diane says this is the mantra she works and lives by.

“Going out into nature is grounding.  I get out of the tight idea in my own head by seeing how insignificant I am in the grand scheme.  This seems to lighten my responsibility when I get bogged down or boxed in a space – I get out and look around – check my ego – ask what I can do to give back.”

Balancing work and family is done in part with a joy for plein air painting.  “Though I don’t get outside to paint as often as I would like, it holds a great place in my heart.  I am also in training to achieve my black belt in Hapkido, a form of martial arts, alongside my two boys. The community at my dojo has been an incredible extended family of support and encouragement for all of us.  And most recently I have begun taking yoga again after many years, and love the centered connection and focus it requires.”

I look forward to continuing to build my business in this wonderful community, through the one on one work I do with individual clients, and also by reaching a broader scope of people through speaking, and my book.  

Diane says this quote by Marianne Williamson explains it all:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Today, women have surpassed men in college attendance in all academic levels.  As a result, women are now supplanting men as the majority primary breadwinners in the United States.

As of the 2010 census, women outnumber men in the country: 157 million women to 151.8 million men.  Women over 85 years old more than outnumber men by half.

Revenue generated from the 7.8 million women owned businesses totaled $1.2 trillion, according to the 2007 survey.  And, 7.5 million people are employed by these women owned businesses.

Of the employed women 16 and older 40.6% worked in management and professional occupations compared to 34.2 % of employed men, according to the 2010 census.

More women were registered to vote than men in the 2010 election.

Garlic can help the heart and reduce inflammation. Ginger can help with a range of problems from heartburn to cancer. Chicken breast is healthier than dark meat.”

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

3 cloves crushed garlic

3 tablespoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 limes, juiced

Directions

1. Pound the chicken to 1/2 inch thickness. In a large re-sealable plastic bag combine the garlic, ginger, oil and lime juice. Seal bag and shake until blended. Open bag and add chicken. Seal bag and marinate in refrigerator for no more than 20 minutes.
2. Remove chicken from bag and grill or broil, basting with marinade, until cooked through and juices run clear. Dispose of any remaining marinade.