June, 2009
Principal Survivor 
Beebe was a contestant on the eighteenth season of the reality show, “Survivor,” traveling to the desert highlands of Brazil hoping to win $1 million dollars and avoid snakes — both reptilian and human — survive insects, endure hunger, suffer bone-chattering cold and enervating heat, and participate in a series of challenges that brought either a reward or protection against being voted out of the game by teammates.
What's in your bag?
The women of the Human Resources Department at the Walmart Distribution Center reveal the secrets of their satchels.
The taste of summer
Summer is Snoopy doing his happy dance. I’m ready for vacations and beach bumming, fresh tomatoes picked right from the garden, and watermelon. Even the thought of pesky flies and buzzing mosquitoes doesn’t deter my longing for those hot sultry days. I’m excited about the homegrown produce this summer.
Blooming spectacular!
Last year I added blooming perennials to the front planting bed. To say they bloomed all summer — which they did — is impressive. These aren’t annuals after all, expected to bloom like crazy throughout their short life. But to say they thrived in a planting bed on the baking west side, with about the worst soil of any of my beds, during a drought — now that’s something.
Wait! Wait! I’m not ready!
As a girl I lived next door to my grandmother. Nearly every day my brothers and I skipped across our grassy lawn, through her back door, and into the kitchen that smelled of bread dough and stale cigarettes. Not exactly a Yankee Candle-inspired scent, but it was Grandma, so it was great.
RUN, BABY, RUN!
So there you were, just minding your own business, when, suddenly, splash! You’re swimming for your life. At first you panic. You can’t touch the bottom! You try to scramble up a wall but you can’t get a toehold. You’re out of breath from trying. The sides of this pool are absolutely smooth, and straight up. Try the other side, you think. Can you make it? You start swimming. It seems so far. But, hey, wait a second! What was that? Did your foot just touch something?
No Big Losers
You put on your baggiest T-shirt and slink to the back corner of the low-impact aerobics class. It’s a good place to start. A lot of my successful clients began in that corner, gently urging their reluctant bodies to go just a little bit further today than yesterday.
Big = Beautiful
When the fashion industry suddenly says, “Bigger is better,” take heed. Sorry, this doesn’t mean the end of X-ray models, but we’ll take what we can get. Oversized jewelry is where it’s at this summer, jewelry that makes a statement. No, jewelry that shouts declarations. Try a few of my suggestions on for size.
TRADITION
Parents, talk to your children. It you don’t, the music of our language will fade. I don’t mean the “so, what did you do in school today?” conversation. This is much more fun. While you chop vegetables for dinner, or chauffeur the kids to soccer practice, or noodle around on your car, spin some stories, the tales of your childhood. Pass along the lore your parents, and grandparents told you. Let the idiom be with you.
