Winner of The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide…and a Macaroon Teaser

2 CommentsMonday • December 21, 2009 • by michelle

After a weekend full of making cookies (14 different kind!) with my mom, I’m ready for a long winter’s nap. And yet today is the shortest day of the year. Doesn’t that just figure?

Anyway, do come back Wednesday for a recipe for one of my mom’s newest and most delicious cookie recipes ever–the Chewy Coconut Macaroon. She only started making these last year, and I wasn’t here for that, so this is my first experience with these bad boys. Whoa. LOVE.

But now, what you’ve all been waiting for. I’ve randomly chosen the winner of The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide by Debra Shigley, and the lucky commenter is:

Catherine of Passage to Italy

Congratulations Catherine! I’ll be in touch.

To the rest of you, get out there and get your copy for your favorite go-getter girl!

And come back Wednesday for those macaroons!

Book Giveaway: The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide by Debra Shigley

34 CommentsWednesday • December 16, 2009 • by michelle

Debra Shigley is a journalist, speaker, and author of the book The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide: Get What You Want in Work and Life (and Look Great While You’re at It). Debra went to Harvard undergrad and then got her law degree at Georgia State–and now she writes books and, not surprisingly, looks great doing it.

The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide is a comprehensive resource for career women who want to succeed in the workplace but not lose their own sense of self. The book covers strategies in the following areas, among others:

• Cultivating mentors
• Handling office politics
• Schmoozing
• Dressing for Success
• Maintaining a Healthy Physical and Emotional Lifestyle

Debra sent me a copy, and I flew through this book. It’s full of great advice for women in all stages of their careers, but especially for those just starting out, which makes this a fabulous graduation gift — or, of course, Christmas gift. On top of all that great advice, though, you’ll find the reading easy and enjoyable with Debra’s casual, funny writing style.

And it really does cover so much of what women should know before stepping foot into a workplace; one of my favorite parts is about tips on how to ask for a raise. Many, many of us women struggle with that, but Debra makes it look easy peasy. And it is, once you learn how it should be done.

Now, I’m going to give you a chance to win my copy of the book; all you have to do is comment on this post by 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, December 20, 2009. I am, though, limiting the contest to those with shipping addresses in the United States or Canada.

If you live abroad, why not enter and then have the book sent to an American or Canadian friend or relative as a gift — or you can even pick it up sometime on a visit? All you need is *some* address in the U.S. or Canada; it doesn’t have to be yours!

Now, here’s a guest post by Debra to give you a taste of her writing:

I’ve been thinking about some new studies that suggest women are gradually becoming unhappier than we were 40 years ago.   Of course, the research reflects a snapshot and not the complete picture of modern women’s experiences. I’m happy, and I speak to women all the time who are living happy and fulfilled lives, personally and professionally. But, I think the research prompts us to consider a few things.

First, happiness is such a relative term, and how you personally define it — e..g, ‘feeling good’; joy; fulfillment; professional success; being in love; even having a good hair day!– affects whether you feel you’re achieving it in your life.  But second, women fundamentally have more opportunities than we did 40 years ago, and I think with so many options and choices, happiness can also become a choice. Happiness—however you define it– doesn’t just happen by accident!  It’s something I became very aware of interviewing so many women who are making their dreams happen (and looking great too!)—Go-Getter Girls, as I came to think of them. These are women who are fun, sassy, savvy—and who are also generous and want to share their advice on everything from finding your perfect job to your perfect pair of jeans.

As a women, I think we almost have to ask ourselves on a daily (hourly?!) basis, am I  doing things in my life to make me feel happy? Do I even know what will make me happy? Am I taking ownership of the choices I’m making—whether it’s my relationships, career, health?  Am I traveling? Trying new things?  Working out? Treating myself to a manicure? Creating joy in my own life, and others’ lives? Finding fulfillment sometimes takes a lot of work! That’s sort of the essence of Go-Getter Girl-ness: taking charge of and responsibility for your life and career—instead of waiting for life – and happiness- to just happen to you.

Now, get after it!

———-

Thanks Debra! I’m definitely a fan of not waiting for life to happen…go ladies go!

And remember to comment for your chance to win a copy of the book!

Winner of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go

2 CommentsTuesday • December 15, 2009 • by michelle

Thanks to all 78 of you who left comments to win a copy of Susan Van Allen’s 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go.

I randomly drew a winner from all eligible comments and the winner of the book is:

Lark!

Congratulations Lark!

Please send your mailing address to michellefabio5(at)gmail(dot)com, and I’ll pass it along to Susan.

Hey, is everyone ready for the holidays or what?

Book Giveaway: 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go

85 CommentsMonday • December 7, 2009 • by michelle

Last post, I tried to explain a bit about why I might possibly want to live in Italy–and by the way, thank you all *so* much for all the wonderful, kind, and supportive comments and insights!

Now as good timing would have it, today we have a guest post from Susan Van Allen, author of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, entitled:

Thoughts on Why Women Love Italy…

Before we get to the post, though, a contest just in time for the holidays!

Comment on this post on the blog (NOT on Facebook, Twitter, etc.) before midnight EST on Sunday, December 13, 2009 to be eligible to win one copy of Susan Van Allen’s 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go.

Now, here’s Susan:

I heard a story about a Manhattan shrink that intrigues me. His prescription for female patients who are depressed or suffering from low self esteem is this:

Take one Italian Vacation and call me when you come home…if you come home!

Smart shrink! From my experience, the test results are in: Every woman I’ve ever met (me included) who takes an Italian vacation comes back rejuvenated, strengthened, and often cured of whatever had been plaguing her.

So what is the secret ingredient that Italy has to turn our lives around?

I delved into this question while writing 100 Places In Italy Every Woman Should Go, talking to over a hundred women about their Italian travel experience and remembering my own, that began in 1976. I kept asking: “Why do you love Italy?” Inevitably this answer came: “It feels like Home”.

I understand “It feels like home” coming from someone like me, an Italian-American, who grew up with grandparents, aunts, and uncles who emigrated from southern Italy. I fell in love with Italy at my grandparents’ dining room table in Newark, New Jersey: a loving, abundant, and delicious place. Ever since my first trip there, over 30 years ago, that beautiful childhood feeling from that New Jersey dining room table rushes back at me each time I touch down in Italy.

But what about all those women without a drop of Italian blood who answered, “It feels like home.”

Obviously, we’re talking “Home” in that beautiful sweeping sense—Home meaning “a place that understands us, a place that feeds our soul.”

We feel it as soon as we land in Italy: a deluge of sensual pleasures: We see masterpieces, gorgeous sunsets, fountains, gardens, we smell the ragu, taste the wine and gelato, hear church bells, the lilting Italian language. We feel the Mediterranean sun on our shoulders. It’s such an overload of sensual pleasures, we lose our minds and our hearts melt open.

And then Italy embraces us.

It’s this embrace, I believe, that leads to the answer to my question. Yes, Italy is probably one of the world’s most welcoming country to everyone, but it seems to be especially custom made to welcome women.

Why do Women Love Italy? Because Italy Loves Women.

Women are adored here, from baby principessas to nonnas. And who doesn’t adore being adored?

On the surface, the adoration comes from those handsome Italian men, who in the great tradition of Casanova, have mastered the art of flirting. But in Italy, the adoration of women goes even deeper than that. It’s rooted in this culture that’s worshipped women as divine beings ever since the earth was cooling.

Could this be the secret ingredient? Italy’s long tradition of female worship? You’re surrounded by it everywhere you turn. It comes on most strongly through two deities who reign supreme, side-by-side: Venus, that Vixen Goddess of Love and Beauty, and the Madonna, the Mother of Abundance and Compassion. We come face to face with these females in sculptures and paintings in museums, temples, and churches. Their essence floats in the Italian air, buoying us. Together, Venus and the Madonna embody the complete woman: The Venus side of us that’s the whimsical, adventurous beauty who revels in sensual pleasures and the Madonna side of us—the nurturing, compassionate soul whose generosity is boundless.

Stand back and take a look at an Italian woman striding down the via—she knows those divine Venus-Madonna sparks live inside her. For the rest of us, a trip to Italy fans those sparks. It reawakens us and takes us back to our true divine nature, to our souls. Effortlessly, it takes us home.

So you could spend years on a psychiatrist’s couch. Or, as that Manhattan shrink suggests, you could take a trip to Italy. I say, Go! Buy that ticket. Enjoy every moment. Revel in coming home.

————

LOVE this, Susan. Thanks so much!

Remember to comment for your chance to win a copy of Susan’s book by Sunday at midnight!