Brazilian Blowout: Formaldehyde risks Must Now Be Disclosed

By The Associated Press

The maker of a popular line of hair-straightening products has agreed to alert consumers that two of its formulations emit formaldehyde gas, a possible carcinogen, California's attorney general announced.

The labeling changes are designed to settle a lawsuit the state filed in November against the company that makes Brazilian Blowout products, which have been a boon for those who dislike their naturally curly tresses but a source of health concerns.

The products are applied during salon treatments and coupled with high heat to temporarily smooth the hair shaft.

Do Your Kids Know Their Vegetables?

Jamie Oliver visits a classroom in Huntington, West Virginia and asks the kids to identify some common fresh fruits and vegetables with startling results.

New Site: An Inspirational Quote a Day

Made a simple little site tonight.  Just for fun.  If folks want to, they can subscribe to the feed.   And each quote is labeled to be searchable in the topic cloud on the bottom, which i think is kinda cool, and handy.

To kick it off, I "pre-loaded" the site with a couple months of posts, and scheduled them to post one day at a time in the future!  I love that you can do that now here!

Also was thinking - wouldn't it be cool to use quotes from Twitter & Facebook friends too?   I think so!  Everyone loves the oldies and goodies, but we all have wisdom to share!    So why not spread the love!??!  <3    If you want to, please subscribe!  And send me quotes!!! :))  Xoxo

~annie

Win Some, Lose Some: Jillian Michaels Reflects on Her Company & What Comes Next

What does it take before we can truly believe in our success - trust that it is real?  How much do we need before we can finally relax and feel as though we're safe?  During a recent interview with Forbes, Jillian Michaels and her business partner pulled back the curtain and gave us a rare glimpse into the pressures and challenges of building their company, and the fears they've had to overcome along the way.

With refreshing candor, they admitted to making mistakes - one of which was Jillian's recent stint on the Doctors.  Although grateful for the opportunity, they said that they were rushed into the contract without being given adequate time to flesh out the details - such as what exactly Jillian would be expected to do.  And clearly, what came to pass was not what she and GC had anticipated.

She wasn't doing the segments that she wanted to do; like talking about the substandard quality of food being fed to children in schools.  I can imagine her frustration.  After-all, she repeatedly expressed in interviews that her whole reason for trading in the Biggest Loser for The Doctors in the first place was to gain a platform to speak directly to the people about things that really matter.  So when she began to realize that she wasn't being given an opportunity to have a voice after-all, it had to sting.

And what a shame. What a wasted opportunity!  Because clearly both shows could benefit from an injection of some substantive, meaningful content delivered by the Jillian that was increasingly left on the cutting room floor of the Biggest Loser, and who was never allowed to emerge on the set of the Doctors.   Instead she was relegated to either reading stiff prompts taking the show out to commercials, or reaction shots of her squirming at medical stuff and sex talk.  The very few openings for her to actually speak in any sort of real way was swiftly shut down or anesthetized via editing.  My question is - if they couldn't handle her style, why did they invite her to join them in the first place?

"When we got there, they wanted me to do segments that worked for their audience, like segments on cankles, or segments on communicable diseases for dogs....I didn't want to do those type of segments." 

Lesson learned.  Revealing that they had felt "bullied" by partners and networks in the past, they're now entering into "phase two" of their enterprise - one in which they're prepared to decline projects that don't serve their best interests; like a recent Kinect deal that wasn't quite what they were looking for. From now on, they said that they plan to take the time that they need to make the decisions, and pick the projects that are right for them.  They'll no longer be willing to "succumb".

"It used to be a matter of fear... 'If we let this go will we get another one'?"
 
Looks like Jillian and GC are ready to take the reigns, and have the confidence to ask for their fair share of creative control. I hope that the the stunning trajectory of their enterprise has finally allowed the two of them to recognize their own success and believe that it's not going to go away anytime soon.

Thanks for reading!   I welcome your feedback & would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.   The Forbes video interview can be viewed here.  

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What's My Niche?

Podcasting, blogging, social media, community building - let's do it!  I'm sold!  But what's my niche?  Originally, I saw this blog as a space to connect with people while we journeyed towards our mental and physical health.   But immediately my rebellious nature kicked in and I began to feel confined.  First it was the meta: (If I'm writing, surely its ok to write about writing, right?  If we're on social media, it's fair game to post about posting - right?)  But this loose-goosey free-for-all mentality is a slippery, albeit intriguing  slope(sediment! Cool.).   I can't stay "on topic" for beans (black beans are lowest in fat). Everything interests me. (Did u know it's impossible to lick your elbows?!)   What don't I want to talk about? (i dont know. Nothing!...Country music?)   It would be far easier to define that, then attempt to describe what I do want to talk about. (∞)

But will traversing from treadmills to teradactyls to tonka trucks turn off my 30 existing buddies (Hamasasya 'subscribers")?  I've read about it, thought about it, prayed about (ok, slight exaggeration), and then thought - I'll just tinker.  And  threw up a bunch of subject-centric blogs where I could direct all my future divergent affairs.  At first it was exciting. And then a little daunting.  And then considerably schizophrenic  And now I'm right back to where I started - stumped.   Sure I can create content, subdivide into multiple forums, and simultaneously develop segregated (but equal) relationships.  But sustaining quality content is a completely separate issue.

Oh me, oh my - this is such the reflection of my life.  Neve satisfied with just being a nerd.  Had to be a drama kid.  A hippie.  A wannabe athlete.  A jokester.  Had to be friends with the band kids. The stoners.  The budding republicans.  The anarchists.  Even a few people budding on the peripheral of cool.

wtf.

My identity crisis clearly started at birth.

So, the question is - how many topics CAN we discuss in one place before alienating everybody?  Should i redefine this space and allow folks to self-select?  Should I keep this space and add a secondary misc. catch-all forum and discuss a wide cross-section of topics and indulge my every whim?  Or, at the end of the day will this leave me alone in a room talking to myself.   How do you balance your own personal interests with the desire to create and nurture a community - one where people feel comfortable, want to contribute, and feel like they belong? 

I need thoughts! Help!

Chris Brogan on Growing Your Business in 2012

The more I learn about best-selling author Chris Brogan, the more I want to learn from him.  About a week ago he gave an interesting keynote presentation at the 2012 Entrepreneur Growth Conference.  For my own purposes, I took notes on his main points, and include them below in case anyone else finds them useful....  His full presentation is here:

• This is the year of growth. 
• It's a great time to be in business.  Investors are looking.
• Transactional or Relational?  Do you care enough to be a sustainable relational business?
• Relational: it's hard & time consuming
• Transactional: like buying a burger, the biz is unconcerned with customers personally
• Channel development:
• Regular/Standard digital channel: Like a website. 
• If it's unclear what a website wants of you, it's broken. If there's more than 1 choice, its broken.  (Rand Fishkin, Danny Sullivan, Upshot (?) are the experts here.)
• Human digital channel: Context. Use context on Google/FB/Googleplus
• Understand the context of Twitter.  Why are ppl there?
• Not to buy products/services
• For entertainment, information, to understand whats next for them, to belong, to socialize

Inspiring Book Recommendations

It's a new year and I'm on the hunt for some new inspiring, motivational, empowering, life-changing books!  So of course I asked for a little help from my friends, and this is what they recommended.....

Many thanks & happy reading!!




From: Bob Kuhn @gontodro
No Excuses: The True Story of a Congenital Amputee Who Became a Champion in Wrestling and in Life
It's just so inspirational... What this young man accomplished with his disabilities.  A model for all...  Check it out, you'll be impressed!

Born without arms or legs below his elbows and knees, Kyle Maynard excels as a champion athlete, inspirational speaker, college student, and male model. "No Excuses" is his inspirational autobiography.



From: Cory Katherine  @ResonantHealth
Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn has changed my life each of the 10 times I've read it.  :)
The narrator of this extraordinary tale is a man  in search for truth. He answers an ad in a local  newspaper from a teacher looking for serious  pupils, only to find himself alone in an abandoned  office with a full-grown gorilla who is nibbling  delicately on a slender branch. "You are the  teacher?" he asks incredulously. "I am  the teacher," the gorilla replies. Ishmael is  a creature of immense wisdom and he has a story  to tell, one that no other human being has ever  heard. It is a story that extends backward and  forward over the lifespan of the earth from the birth  of time to a future there is still time save.  Like all great teachers, Ishmael refuses to make the  lesson easy; he demands the final illumination to  come from within ourselves. Is it man's destiny  to rule the world? Or is it a higher destiny  possible for him-- one more wonderful than he has ever  imagined?

From:  chris.gatten@facebook.com

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom is an amazing book, and one I like to revisit frequently. When I'm in ANY horrible mood, it's very easy to just realize which agreement I'm breaking and get myself on track. Recommend it to EVERYONE! 

Also,  The Happiness Project, by Gretchin Rubin.  Good book following her attempts
over the course of a year to discover the ingredients to happiness...

From: Kim Marie @MountainQueen

Living with Joy: Keys to Personal Power and Spiritual Transformation
and Personal Power Through Awareness: A Guidebook for Sensitive People ,
both by Sanaya Roman.  They're about living in the moment, planting seeds, breathing and focusing on what you want instead of what you don't.

From: Pinda @PindaBully

 Read the 5 people. You'll be inspired!!!
"Part melodrama and part parable, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park. Through them Eddie understands the meaning of his own life even as his arrival brings closure to theirs."

From: andrietta @mzlunatx

Chalene Johnson's new book.  It's called PUSH: 30 Days to Turbocharged Habits, a Bangin' Body, and the Life You Deserve!  She helps you find your bangin' body and life how they are connected!  I'm going to her camp in July.

From:Andrea Holzinger @holzinger3

Just read Mindy Kaling's book. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)  Very funny!

From: Tamyr @tamyronline

Peace from Broken Pieces: How to Get Through What You're Going Through by Iyanla Vazant.
Basically, she learns to deal with the mistakes she's made and uses it for the better.  Of course God or whatever spiritual path stands central in the book.  She has had a couple of online classes aired on http://Oprah.com .. Insightful! :)





Huge thanks to Bob Kuhn, Cory Katherine, Chris Gatten, 
Kim Marie, Andrietta, Pindabully, Andrea Holzinger,  
and Tamyr for the wonderful recommendations!!!   I can not wait to read them! 

Would you like to share your favorite transformative, inspirational book too?   I would be so grateful for your comment, email, or Tweet and I'll share your book(s) here too! 

Warmest wishes,

annie