ABOUT US

We provide highly motivating and inspiring leadership training and personal development programmes, tailored to your business and individual needs. We have a passion to assist others in their personal development and to help individuals and organisations grow and sustain change, allowing them to connect with their staff and customers in a real and effective way.

We combine a diverse range of learning styles and mediums with experience of over 20 years working for one of the largest international retailers within the UK. Our aim is to provide affordable coaching, development, and leadership programmes to organisations, groups and individuals that empower people to take full ownership of their learning, enabling them to better look after themselves and/or their customers.

Whether you are looking for a one-off lunchtime session or a programme to deliver cultural change, we can help. We have a wide range of programmes and workshops to help you manage change, build an effective team, improve communication, build morale and improve customer service and more!

Thursday 30 May 2013

Calling all 50+ in Barking and Dagenham!!!!

17th June 2013 - NEXT STAGES EVENT

Event around supporting older people over the age of 50. This event is aimed at anyone who wants to set up a business or community group. There will be opportunities to meet the business support organisations in the borough as well as talk to students at the college and share ideas. There will also be a chance to chat to other entrepreneurs and share experiences.

Barking & Dagemham College, Rush Green Campus, Dagenham Road, Romford Essex, RM7 OXU on June 17th between 2-4pm and meet people who can help! For more information contact Zoe Garbett (zoe.garbett@lbbd.gov.uk 0208 227 2311), you don’t need to book a place just drop in when you fancy!

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Today on PCC Cribs . . .

. . . we are going inside Lucy's fridge!!

As you can see I own a fairly modest fridge decorated with my eight year old sons healthy eating chart he made at school. This week in half term his home work is to eat healthily. It would of been more useful if he had revealed this before I went shopping! 
So let's see what food lives behind a door like this!!


After taking all these photos it occurred to me maybe I should have been a bit more like MTV and staged my fridge but I guess the whole idea of what is in your fridge right now is to have a glimpse into reality.

Sooooo what have we got in here then?? 



All of our favorite drinks!! Milk for tea and one of George's favorite drinks, chocolate milk for George, a lil bottle of Fizz for mummy and daddy, exotic juice and cranberry juice and oh look more  milk :)


I am slowly realising how boring the contents of a fridge is and my mind is wandering to what my dream fridge would be! Not what it would be full of but if I could have my dream kitchen what dream fridge would I have??

Here are a few fridges I have pinned in my dream home board on Pinterest!  Far more interesting than my ready meals and condiment and cheese obsession!!

First up we have the gloriously vintage looking Smegg! I have a lot of these pinned but I am particularly drawn to baby pink and Tiffany blue colors! Stylish and kitch but not very practical as there isn't much freezer room.


This fridge is actually amazing but I don't think I will ever have a kitchen big enough to fit it in!!


My lovely son has chosen this dream fridge for me . . . 


For this time being I think I might try this with my existing fridge . . . a chalk board fridge!!


One day when I redo the kitchen I think this is more likely to be the type of fridge I can afford and fit in the kitchen!! Better start the fridge fund!!


How to accept a compliment . .

I must admit when I saw this subject I thought how terrible i used to be at accepting compliments! I used to mumble and turn a bit red and think the person paying me a compliment was lying or after something! Compliments made me very suspicious.  Through working at Positive Change and learning some simple confidence building techniques and having two amazing coaches in my life (Chris and Ros), who have helped me to look at the world differently, I have slowly mastered the art of accepting a compliment graciously.

Someone once told me that 'feedback is a gift, you can either choose to use it or throw it away'.  I strongly feel that a compliment is also a gift!  A gift of words especially for you and this gift is to be used and never thrown away.  Accepting a compliment is a sign of someone who is confident and self assured and is often a good way to build rapport with others by acknowledging their compliment of you.  Equally if someone gives you a heartfelt compliment shutting them down immediately can have negative effects and may make them feel like their opinion is wrong or not appreciated and can create barriers to communication.  Learning how to accept a compliment graciously will not only make you feel happier but will in turn leave a lasting impression on the person paying you a compliment through your positive reaction and genuine gratitude.

Why are we so bad at accepting compliments?

There are a number of theories as to why people find it hard accepting compliments. Reasons range from wanting to appear modest or not feeling as if the compliment is deserved to doubting the sincerity of the person giving the compliment.

A lot of it comes down to how we view ourselves, therefore when somebody’s kind words don’t reflect the image we see of ourselves, we have a tendency to immediately discount them.  For example, if someone compliments your appearance on a day you’re feeling unattractive, chances are your initial reaction will be to brush off what they’re saying. Not because you don’t appreciate their view, but because it doesn't fit with your own view of yourself in that moment.
Sometimes we also have a tendency to paint ourselves with a more modest brush because we worry about coming across as being overly confident or arrogant.
Choosing to say “thank you” (and truly meaning it) is one of the most important lessons in becoming more self-confident.  We’re often our harshest critics, which is why we can’t always see what other people do, making us less aware of our own beauty, intelligence, talents and kindness.
So how can we accept these beautiful gifts of words?
1.  Make eye contact.  Acknowledging a compliment is a perfect time to connect with someone. Look the person in the eye when you respond. Doing so communicates sincerity and self-confidence.
2. Say 'Thank you'.  So simple but I feel very important.  A sincere, unhurried 'thank you' teamed up with a smile and eye contact is sometimes all that is needed.  Not only is this a gracious way to acknowledge their words, but also what you’ll notice is an exchange of positive energy and a connection between you and the other person.
3. Less is more! Don't feel the need to explain yourself.  For example if someone says your new dress is nice or you look like you've lost weight, you don't then need to say 'oh no I haven't its because my new dress is black so it makes me look thiner'.  
4.  Dont feel you HAVE to reciprocate a compliment.  Only reciprocate when it comes naturally if you have to scratch around for a compliment it can come across as not being genuine.  It’s great to turn the love around, but just make sure you’re not doing it at your own expense or being over the top. It potentially diminishes their compliment and makes you look uncomfortable and ungrateful.
5. Fight the urge to downplay a compliment, which may be read as a personal rejection.  Downplaying a compliment can sound like 'oh it was nothing', 'its no big deal', and my favourite 'don't worry about it'.  Often it was a big deal and took you hours and by accepting the compliment you can also do something that often doesn't come naturally to most of us, which is acknowledging our own hard work and efforts.  Take the opportunity to pat yourself on the back for something you worked hard on and turned out to be a success!
6. Spread the love.   If someone says that she loves your belt, spread the love by telling her about the great bargain you got and where you picked it up from.  If someone compliments how you incorporated humour in the presentation you just gave, let him know how you were inspired by a particularly great speaker you saw last year. This kind of response helps establish a nice connection.
7. Acknowledge others.  If other people were involved in what you are getting praised for, share that! First, thank the person, and then tell them who helped you. For example, “I really appreciate you saying that! I worked hard, and I also couldn’t have done it without my team.”
8. Practice makes perfect.  Practice with people close to you.  Sometimes it’s easier to challenge yourself to accept compliments from those close to you, before moving on to unsuspecting public!  Let your family and close friends know that you’re working on accepting compliments so that they can call you out when you slip (or, hopefully, praise you further when you succeed!).
9. Bring your feelings to the table.  Sharing feelings is a very personal thing and can sometimes make us feel vulnerable and it becomes easier to do once you have practised accepting compliments and feel more confident doing so.   Don't be afraid to say “That makes me feel _______.” Possible emotions could be appreciated, understood, happy, honoured, touched,  and so on. Letting someone know how their words made you feel will make them feel more valued. And who doesn’t love that kind of feel-good loop!
Like any habit, it can take time to change your behavior, particularly if you’re having trouble believing what the other person is saying is true. However, by observing how you react each time and being mindful of your actions, it is a habit you can learn to change.
Learning how to accept a compliment graciously and with humility is an important part of strengthening the most important relationship you have – the one with yourself. It is also a way of connecting with those around us who wish to give us the gift of a compliment.
I hope you have found this helpful,
Lucy x

Monday 27 May 2013

13 year old you!

What would you tell a 13 year old you?

There are so many things I could say, so much I have learned since the age of 13!  But would a 13 year old me of listened to a 30 something mum? Erm NO! At 13 I wanted people to listen to me!

Also I have learned so much since 13 is the most important statement in this blog!  I only learnt from the life I have lived.  I learnt most of my lessons in life through the experiences I have had, mistakes I have made and through people listening to me first and helping me make the best choices. Most of us know the answers to most problems deep down and it takes someone listening to us to find it and it can help you make the best decisions.  When you find your own solutions it is usually the most effective way to change.

My best advice to a 13 year old me is be yourself! And I would offer to listen.

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Dream job

I think you could safely say I'm happy with my patchwork career at the moment.  What I mean by patchwork is my job at the moment is made up of a few different job's which i enjoy doing.  they feed my intellect and creativity. My role at Positive Change is only part time at the moment, I also work for a local charity part-time, I ebay a lot! and I buy and revamp vintage/antiques to resell.  My passion lies with Positive Change, which we would like to develop further to allow me to be full-time.  

We have a dream of a opening coaching cafe!  A place where people can meet for coffee and lunch, but also offer coaching and development services. We can run workshops from the cafe and even better if we had rooms to hold coaching retreats.  A place where people can take time out for theirselves, be it 20 minutes for a coffee or a whole self development weekend.  We could also offer alternative therapies such as Reki. 

We have lots of fantastic ideas to mix all of our interests and passions NLP, Reiki, Gestalt Therapy, Coaching, vintage, and craft!  Like visualising workshops where you can focus on where you want to be and build a physical vision of this in the form of a scrapbook page or a canvas.

My other dream jobs include chocolate taster or alcho pop inventor!! Lol


News-not-so-flash . . .

I didn't have time to read a newspaper or watch tv yesterday I was to busy!! You can tell Chris is on holiday! So this #bedm subject is my first failure :( 

NEWSFLASH - Chris should never be allowed to frolic in the sea in Turkey!!

I have had a quick look at today's headlines to keep up with current affairs (I must admit I don't really keep up-to-date with current affairs my head is much happier in the clouds) but nothing has inspired me  to write a blog post.  Think I will wait until something happens this week that inspires me.  The only thing that made me laugh was that Alan Sugar tweeted a false score during the football that resulted in Tottenham fans to cheer on reading said tweet to only find out he lied! Ah the power of social media is shocking at times.  Do you think we are becoming a nation that believes everything we read on social media sites?

Another subject in the media this week was our tremendous score of 21 in the Eurovision Song Contest! I mean really why do we bother? My son asked me why 'Sharon' from Eastenders was singing on TV when Bonnie Tyler was on which was the highlight of my Eurovision experience!  Don't even have Sir Terry commentating any more to make the whole experience more bareable!!

Rant over!! On to next subject of dream job!! Far more exciting :) see you in the next post!

Sunday 19 May 2013

Holidays are coming . . . Holidays are coming!!

The biggest tradition in my family is Christmas!! We have so many little things we have to do during the Christmas period and Christmas is on our minds all year long!  I always buy christmas decorations and wrapping in the january sales and continue squirrelling gifts all year round!  I have a christmas present cupboard already.

Christmas preparations officially start in December when I am allowed to start wrapping up!  It is a tradition to crack open the 1st (notice I say 1st!) bottle of Baileys when the 1st present is wrapped.  Wrapping can only take place in the presence of alcohol! Harvey's Bristol Cream, Port, Snow Balls and Baileys are all suggestible!!

2 weeks before Christmas it is time to deck the halls!! All the decs get dragged down from the loft and the Christmas tree go's up.  My tree is a memory tree! All of my baubles have come from around the world.  Everywhere I go I get one from New York to Mexico! I have decorations that were my Nan's I have baby 1st Christmas ones! You name an event or a place and I have a bauble for it!! It is our tradition to put the Christmas CD's on start another bottle of Baileys and decorate the tree as a family.

Since I can remember it has also been a tradition to take a trip to London to see the light's, Hamleys window displays and the tree in Trafalgar Square.  When I was a kid we always used to get a Wendy's burger on the way home.  In recent years we have introduced taking my son to Winter Wonderland and Wendy's has been replaced by hog in a roll with apple sauce! Yum yum!

Finally Christmas Eve arrives!! It's open house at my mum's so the present dropping off can commence! Chips and dips, home made sausage rolls, mince pies, festive cupcakes and lashing of Baileys!! People come and go brining and taking presents!  And then the moment I have been waiting for the 1st present is opened!! New pj's for seeing Santa in :)

Ok so whole family decked out in brand new pj's it's time to put out Santa's mince pie and beer (our Santa doesn't like milk and cookies!!) out by the fireplace along with my son's letter to the big man. When my son was small I started a few traditions of my own.  I mixed porridge oats with silver glitter and put it in a little velvet bag and told him it was magic reindeer food that helps them fly home.  We sprinkle this in the garden before bed. It sparkles in the moonlight and you can tell the little ones it helps the reindeers find your garden to land in!!  When the munchkin finally go's to sleep its time for another cheeky Baileys and wrap the turkey in bacon and tin foil and pop it in the oven low to cook through the night! Makes the house smell lush!! Officially at midnight it is Christmas and the adults are allowed to pick one present from under the tree to open!!  Then its off to bed with nothing left to do but wake up about 2am to put stockings at the bottom of everyone's bed! And I mean everyone's! Christmas isn't just for kids!!

At last the big day is here and it's time to open our stockings!! Each stocking must contain a Terry's chocolate orange or it is not Christmas!! I would like to say my son is so excited he wakes up at 4am, but I don't have a normal child I have one that likes his bed, so we have to go and wake him up with sleigh bells around 9am! I swear he is 8 going on 18!!  Then it's down stairs for homemade ham and eggs (traditional Christmas breakfast) accompanied by Buck's Fizz (unfortunately Baileys is not considered acceptable before 11am boooo!)  More presents this time from around the tree.  Then there is lots of frantic kitchen business before the dinner is ferried out on plates, in bowls and whatever else is to hand and we can all tuck in! Our traditional Christmas dinner is turkey with all the trimmings and brussel sprouts are compulsory! Then it's time for pud then after eights, followed by coffee and liqueur's (another Baileys don't mind if I do hic!).

We all waddle into the front room to watch the queens speech (this is code for time for a nap) and some of us slip off for a little lie down and put on a pair of elastic aged waisted trousers!!  After a little power nap it's traditional to make and eat a selection of sandwiches consisting of turkey and cranberry, ham and mustard, pork and apple sauce and anything else u can put in a sandwhich!(Baileys is optional at this point). And then you have to play cards, either brag or Newmarket, until the wee hours of the morning!!  Time for bed looking forward to my next favourite tradition Boxing Day bubble and squeak!



Boxing Day is almost as big a tradition in my house as Christmas! There are a few rules though!  
No. 1 You must not get dressed, 
No. 2 You have to only eat left over Christmas food,
No. 3 You cannot leave the house,
No. 4 You must play with all your new toys!!

Boxing Day is a relaxed event in our house to get over all the excitement of Christmas Day.  We have a full English with bubble and squeak. Slob around in our pj's all day looking at each others presents and putting batteries in all of my sons new toys.  We eat cold cuts with mash, pickles, pickled onions, beet root and red cabbage, all washed down with (no not more Baileys!!) cram soda! Mmmmmmm! I am mainly tea total on Boxing Day to give my liver a rest!

What are your family traditions?



  

Saturday 18 May 2013

Quote of the week . . .

I used to do this a lot and I thought for #bedm I would use todays subject of best friends to start our quote's again . . . very simple interpretation of the brief but it is the weekend and I have besties to catch up with!!


Journey to work

I have decided to put a twist on the journey to work suggested topic for today and tell you Positive Changes journey to work.  How we started, where we came from, what we stand for and where we are going!

Chris, Ros and myself all started out having one thing in common, we all worked for Tesco Ltd.  Later we would discover many more things we had in common.  Although we all worked for Tesco for a long period of time it was not until later on in our careers we would meet!

Chris had varying roles in store over many years and with her extensive experience was drafted in to deliver a new initiative called living service. Living service was a cultural change programme to help improve customer service amongst other things within the company.  As the programme developed it was decided that a select few would be trained as coaches to work regionally with management teams.  Meanwhile Ros was based at head office and had also been selected for the training.

During the training Chris and Ros meet, bonded and became firm friends.  They shared many of the same life values, interests and had a passion for helping others to improve and reach their full potential.  Chris and Ros returned to their change agent roles, but kept in touch and would occasionally cross paths.

Ros decided to leave Tesco to pursue other dreams and a simpler way of living.  She contacted Chris to tell her she was moving on and hoped they would keep in touch.

A year or so later Living Service was coming to an end and the economy had taken a nose dive and Tesco announced a number of redundancies.  After 20 years service it was time for Chris to start a new adventure.  Chris called Ros to tell her the news and that she had done a distanced learning course and was a qualified life coach.  Chris had the learning bug and was going to go back to school to study NLP.  Ros had also been busy gaining new knowledge and skills, in the form of Myres Briggs and Reiki.

When the girls would get together they would talk about dreams of starting a business doing what they loved, which was coaching and helping others to recognise their potential.  Chris had been volunteering with young adults and said how her coaching and leadership development knowledge had helped them change their perspective on unhealthy behaviour.  One night over a few glasses of wine Positive Change was born.  A little seed was planted!!  A dream of providing affordable coahing and development to individuals, companies and comunities that might not necessrily have acces or be able to afford specialised training.  All they needed was a website, a business plan and most importantly some work!!  This my friends is where (drum role) I enter!!

Now not many people know this but Chris is actually my mum! (Shocking revelation GASP). I was invited (told to attend lol) a brain storming session to help grow the little positive change seed.  At the time I was a stay at home mum, but my background was customer service, HR, project management,finance and according to Chris and Ros I am a whizz on all things techie (geek).  

So over a few months we planned the website, got together marketing material, opened a bank account, registered a partnership, contacted everyone we knew and got ourselves a logo.  Now the logo I feel is very important because it helps you to understand what we stand for.  Our logo is the tree of life.  Collectively we are all earthy, spiritual, creative and intuitive powerful women and the tree of life suited us.  We have strong foundations and we never stop growing.  We are always reaching for the sun.  We adapt and change as a tree does through the seasons and even through the coldest winter we remain strong and know spring will bring fresh hope and new life.

In our sapling stages of Positive Change we did batering, swapping our services, skills and knowledge for other peoples services, like coaching for beauty treatments.  we also conducted sample sessions and mini workshops to schools and charities.  Both of these ideas paid off as we could demonstrate and show people our products and use their feedback to improve our products.  During this time we recognised that many business leadership tools could be adapted to help young people and parents to better manage behaviour.  With this concept in mind Chris and Ros did an NVQ in working with parents and became parenting practitioners.  We developed a concept called Parental Leadership which I wrote about on the blog and you can read more here.  It has become very successful and a really good training tool.

We started Positive Change 3 years ago and it's been a roller coaster!!  Mainly ups and a few downs thank god!  We have laughed and cried and enjoyed every minute!!  We have worked with and met  some amazing people and companies (Saint Francis Hospice, The Queens Theatre, Team London & The Vibe just to mention a few) and look forward to all the new challenges and opportunities coming our way.

Our dream for the future is to work with large organisations and schools to create several programmes to help future leaders within our communities.  We recognise that in the current economic climate some young people will not be able to go onto further education and will have to call on their entrapanureal skills to start businesses etc.  There will be a lost generation that will need help to contribute to society.  We have a few ideas for this and I like the sound of The Leadership Legacy, a chance for established entrapenures and large corporations to pass on their knowledge and expertise to a younger a generation.  There are so many companies that started out small and grew and grew through a single mans/woman's determination and vision, ironically one of these such stories is Mr Cohen who founded Tesco.   FromWell Street Market, Hackney selling broken biscuits to multi million pound retailer No 1!!  So here I end my blog post where I started at Tesco!

I hope you enjoyed our journey to work :)

Lucy x

P.s. little mini celebration for my 100th blog post!!

Thursday 16 May 2013

Pampering . . .

We all like a bit of pampering now and again, but when do you fit it in?  

It's very hard when your a working mum etc.  Here at positive change we would all like a bit more me time to go to the spa, get a massage or even just do something for ourselves instead of others for a change.  i think this is true for almost everyone.  

When was the last time you put you first for a change?  

Does putting your own needs before others make you selfish?

Do you feel guilty when you put your own needs first?  

The truth is sometimes you have to give yourself a break and take time for you to move forward in your life.  When we do things out of obligation, 'I have to or something terrible will happen . . ', we do it begrudgingly and not in a willing state of mind which makes it a chore.  When we do things because we choose to, in willingness, tasks seem to be easier.  Sometimes just taking 5 minutes me time can put you in a willing state of mind and choose to complete tasks for others rather than feeling beholden to others.  Sometimes is it is ok to say NO I am busy right now, but I can help you when I'm finished!

I decided yesterday to not take part in the challenge today and use my spare time to do something I wanted to do because blogging was becoming a chore.  Ironically enough I used my free me time to resurrect my old personal blog and also give my lonely tea cup's the make over I promised them!  And guess what the world didn't end!  I even looked at todays #bedm challenge through fresh eyes and completed it out of choice instead of through obligation.  Gooooo me!

If you would like to take a gander at my personal blog post today 'homes wanted for lonely tea cups' feel free :)

Life's lessons . . .


A juicy subject on #bedm I was looking forward to writing about, but unfortunately life got in the way!

I had planned out a fantastic post it was written in my head and it was perfect! And then disaster! My whole household has been struck down by a killer bug and a Red Cross has been painted on the door and my day was to short to fit everything in and blah!! Bit dramatic?

Anyway I did want to say that we should never stop learning or yearning for knowledge! I don't think I can pinpoint the most important lessons I have learnt in life as there have been to many.  Everyday brings you new challenges and each one teaches you something.  Today I learned you have to adapt when killer bugs strike u down, there are sometimes not enough hours in the day to fit everything in,  hamsters squeal like micro pigs when u transport them in the car (long story), you can't please everyone and husbands cannot put duvet covers on!

Maybe tomorrow will be better and I can write the post I wanted to write:)

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Food for thought . . .

I love so many different foods for all different reasons!! I link food to happy memories and different foods remind me of different people and places.  The smell of certain foods can take me back in time.  Here are just a few  . . .

Roast Dinner - awww the Sunday roast is a great tradition in my family and roast dinners remind me of my Nan (Betty Rose). She made the best roast potatoes and nobody can match them.  I have tried a million times to recreate her roasties but I just can't manage it!  The roast sparks memories of lazy Sundays with nothing better to do but wait for dinner to be cooked.  The aroma of the roast filling the whole house and a day when everyone would sit down dinner together.

Lasagne - this dish is another all time favourite and my mum makes the best lasagne in the world!! Now when I am going to my mums house for dinner she asks what I want and she already knows the answer!! Lasagne is my ultimate comfort food! If I've been sick I want lasagne because it warms me up inside and makes me feel better. Mmmmm this subject is just making me hungry now!

Meat pies - my Grandad Ted's speciality!  Good old fashioned east end grub! Home made with mash potatoes and licker accompanied with lashings of pepper and vinegar!  Better than any pie and mash shop I have been to and trust me I've been to a few. My nan and grandad used to take me to Cooks in Hackney as a treat before pie and mash shops became trendy and could be found in every high street.

Ginger cake - reminds me of weekends at my dads.  My mum and dad got divorced and my dad joined ginger breads and he did a cooking course.  He learnt how to make spaghetti bolognase and sticky ginger cake.  We used to have our little set routine for the weekend Chinese take away Friday night,  spag bol sat night and I would beg him to make Gingerbreads Ginger Cake on Sunday's before he took me home.  I used to like the raw mix better than the actual cake and I used to like the fact we made it together.

Chicken noodle soup - reminds me of my 1st trip to New York.  Day's packed with sight seeing and shopping of course. Stopping off at the deli and picking up steaming hot chicken noodle soup and fresh crisp salad to eat in our hotel room while planning the next days adventures and watching old movies in bed.

I could go on forever!! What are your favourite foods and what memories do they spark?

It's not easy being green . . .

To quote the great Kermit! I must admit I do the bare minimum when it comes to being echo friendly. Like most people I sort my rubbish into the three designated bins supplied by Thurrock council and shower more than bathe. I use left over bits from mineral water bottles to water my house plants (not sure if that saves the environment!) which is sort of recycling I guess.

We pretty much have a paperless office and we try to keep handouts for training to a minimum and email out the hints and tips packs etc after the training rather than printing them, but that is green as I get!

The effect #bedm has had on me reminds me of a workshop we run called the wheel of life which makes you look at different aspects of your life, such as creativity, health, family etc. You score each spoke of the wheel from 1 to 10 and it helps to identify aspects of your life you would like to work on. The suggested subject matter for the posts during #bedm have identified areas of myself I would like to work on and improve, such as doing more to improve my carbon footprint and trying to live a fitter healthier life style.

Some subjects I have really struggled to write post's about because I found I was embarrassed I didn't have a lot to write about. Take the book love post for example, I went into the panic zone thinking 'oh my god I don't read books' and 'I won't look like a very intelligent and well rounded person if I say I don't think a particular book has shaped my life' - in our world (positive change land) this is called negative mind talk! Let me tell you the little voices in my head where screaming 'your not good enough' that day. Mind talk is a very powerful thing and it can sometimes form limiting beliefs about our ability which stop us from reaching our full potential. We have a simple technique to get deal with negative mind talk and break it down to stop the little voices in our heads getting the better of us. It's really simple and it helped me to write my post about book love. I won't go into detail now but if anyone is interested you can drop me an e-mail (lucy@positivechangeconsultancy.com) to find out more.

I will leave you with something cute and green!


Sunday 12 May 2013

Things of wonder, mystery and intrigue. . .

Today's #BEDM is all about collecting and I would say I am a collector of curious objects. I can't put my collections into any specific category they are just things that I am drawn to at boot sales, jumble sales and charity shops! Many of the items I buy I either use, revamp or recycle.

Here are some of this weekends boot sale finds!!


I am collecting lonely vintage tea cups at the moment to turn into flower arrangements, with vintage buttons and ribbon to re-sell at a vintage fair later on in the year. When I have finished one I will post it for all to see.

I also bought a whole heap of vintage scarves but this doggy one is my favourite and I might even keep it :)



The other thing I collect is crafting materials for card making, scrapbooking and revamping! I have a craft room (With a bed in it, so I guess it's just the spare room but a girl can dream!), which my family fondly call 'the Dorothy room', where all my projects are stored and it is slowly creeping into other rooms of the house also. Take a look:



Many of my things in the Dorothy room are thrifty finds like my wizard of oz picture that I picked up for £15 at Richard House Charity shop at Faircross in Barking!! My vintage phone was salvaged from my Dads electrical shop that he recently closed down. My little china rocking horse was bought at a jumble sale for 10p!! I do love a bargin.

Reading this post I am starting to think maybe I am a hoarder as apposed to a collector!! Potato, patata, tomata, tomato!

Well back to my lazy Sunday! And time to catch up with Glee and Once Upon a Time!

Book love . . . Or hate?.

Most defiantly a HATE from me!  My least favourite thing is reading so today's challenge is super hard for me! As its the weekend I am also on my own with this post!

The only books I have successfully read are mainly by Stephen King.  The only books I pick up are cook books, art books and scrap books!

I love cooking in general and attempt my hand at cup cake making.



I love art in all forms from Pop art to fine art and everywhere in between, so I have a vast collection of books on art.



When I say scrap books I mean I do American Style scrapbooking.



Sorry this post is short n sweet but I am soooooooo not a book worm!

Saturday 11 May 2013

Viva Las Vegas! . . . And then some!

Vegas is mine and Chris' all time favourite holiday destination!! Between us we have bee at least 6 times if not more!  I never thought I would like Vegas but there is so much more to it than gambling! There are shows, roller coasters, zoo's, aquariums, ranch's, art galleries, SHOPPING and much much more!  There really is something for everyone, young and old.  Also when your a huge Elvis fan like me you have to go Vegas at least once in your life time.


Talking Elvis brings me on to my dream of a pilgrimage to Graceland!  About 10 years ago I saw a holiday withVirgin which was totally extravagantly expensive but it is my dream to go on this adventure by hook or by crook!  It is 
Graceland, Nashville, Dollywood and then finish off in New Orleans for Madi Gras.  I just need to talk someone into going with me (and paying for me!!).




Ros said her dream destination would be Japan because she would like to experience a totally different culture.  When I went through my pintrest I found I had pinned a lot of pictures of Japan in m pretty in pink folder and places I would rather be right now!! It looks absolutely amazing.  And the best thing of all is they have their very own Disney Land! I may have add Japan to my own travel wish list, but think I might starve as sushi is most defiantly not on my favourite food list lol


I was told not to go on about my obsession with Disney Land! But I just have to say that it is my guilty pleasure and I'd just keep going back (if I could afford it).  I have done Halloween and Christmas at various Disney resorts! Have to say Florida is my favourite, but I'd be happy in my mini ears at any of the Disney resorts around the world.  I am a big kid at heart :)


Thursday 9 May 2013

Social butterfly . . .

so today's subject is Social Media . . .

Chris and Ros are socialmediaphobic so this post is purely me!!

I must admit I'm social media butterfly I flit in and out of love with twitter, facebook, pintrest and more. For PCC I think twitter is my favourite, but lucky for me I have set things up so when i Twitter on it updates our Facebook and Linked in.

On a personal note my guilty pleasure is most defiantly Pintrest at the moment!!  I haven't been pinning for long but my boards are growing.  You can find the most useful and un-useful things from how to make a light from a mason jar (they seem to be all the rage on pintrest its all mason jar this mason jar that) to how to make a PDF of your pintrest boards (new that would come in handy one day!!).  I spend my time drooling over things I want in my home - this is most defiantly my biggest board!!  For some reason I seem to be attracted to pink things so this is another board I have made!! My 8 year old son is also getting on 'board' by browsing with me and we now have a cute thing's board full of baby animals, he is even encroaching on the the dream house board with Tardis wall art and superhero nursery's.

Come and take a look at my boards :)




Wednesday 8 May 2013

First job . . .

Most of us revealed our first job to be a supermarket girl or shop assistant and Chris up-staged us all by throwing around names like Joan Collins!! With that in mind I'll leave her 1st job till last . . .

My 1st job was as a an assistant in the coffee shop in Tesco after school.  Little did I know at the time I would end up back with Tesco's much later on in my carreer path as a Customer Service Manager.  I really enjoyed my time as a coffee shop 'dolly' and had a fantastic social life while I was there and gained the nickname 'Lucky'.  I had to wear a red spotty dress which was not at all flattering! Chris and I told each other funny stories about our 1st jobs. Apart from how hideous my uniform was most of my funny stories involved alcohol after work and are unprintable for the general public! Was I really that young once?

The most memorable thing about my 1st job was some of our customers won the lottery through a syndicate and I had got the ticket for them, which they repaid me for with a bottle of wine (I was hoping for more but hey wines good when your 18). It was a group of older ladies (we nicknamed them the golden girls) that used to come in once a week and take over about 3 tables and have tea, cake and a gossip. I remember the lottery had not been going very long and they asked me to help them fill in the ticket thingy's (the ones you squabble a little mark in). To 'save' their legs they sent me off to the kiosk with the slips and the money to get the tickets. About 3 weeks later one of them came back and was holding a bottle of wine. I said 'hello stranger you and the golden girls haven't been in for a while' and she beamed from ear to ear and said they'd won the lotto!! I don't remember exactly how much they had won but it was something like £20,000 each! I didn't see much of them after that they probably upgraded to tea at the Ritz!!

Ros said 'My first full time job was as a sales assistant for J Lewis, working in the coats and co-ordinates department  (it sounds so old fashioned now!) I was pretty hopeless especially on the till, which was not sophisticated like they are now!'

Chris said her first job was at Phillip Kingsley's hair clinic. She used to massage follicles! Lol this apparently promotes better hair growth.  The clientele were the rich and famous and she has had her hands on Joan Collins and  Simon Sainsbury's follicles!!!  She told me a funny story of how she woke up one morning and her alarm hadn't gone off so she rushed around and got ready for work in10 minutes. She ran down the road to the tube station past a building site and when she got to the station it was closed.  She asked someone why the station was closed and they told her it was Sunday (it must have been a long time ago for a station to be closed on a Sunday). She walked back home past the building site, which she noticed on the way back home was deserted.  When she got home and told her family they couldn't stop laughing and her mum pointed out it was lucky she hadn't gone to work because in her rush she had put odd shoes on!!

Owners revealed . . .


Yesterday for #BEDM I set u the challenge of identifying each pets owner from the team . . . Lets see how you did!!

My dog is Paddy . . . . I thought we were pulling the same pose in this picture


Gorgeous George belongs to Ros



And Bella belongs to the lovely Chris 



I think I have proved that pets do mirror their owners!!

Tuesday 7 May 2013

Guess the Pet . . .

Todays BEDM subject is pets so I thought it would be fun to post pictures of our pets and see if you can match them to their owners.

Here are our pets . . .

Meet George - He has naturally wavy hair, loves going for long walks in the country side, laying by the fire in the local pub.  He is playful and has a mischievous glint in his eye . . . .Whose pet could he be???



Meet Bella - She has dark hair and light eyes.  She is warm, friendly, calm and collected, a homely kitty cat who can often be found snoozing on the sofa . . . who does she sound like??


Last but not least this is Paddy - He is blonde, friendly, loyal, excitable and thinks he's the boss . . . can't think who he could belong to!!

 

And here we are!! . . . Chris, Lucy & Ros



Oh I do like to be beside the seaside . . .

Oh I do like to be beside the sea!!!  Day 6 of BEDM and it's all about the Bank Holiday!!  I have had a lovely relaxing long weekend with family, friends, bbq's, board games, camp fires and toasted marsh mellows!!!  I have made a montage of all the things I did on the bank holiday and pictures from past bank holidays (ranging from age 4 to present day).  Bank Holiday's always make me think of day's out, being by the sea, digging for cockles and finding winkles with my Grandad.  As a child I spent nearly every Bank Holiday at St Osyth's, Clacton with my Nan and Grandad.  I would go on donkey rides at Jaywick, play prize bingo with my Nan, play on the 2p machines, drink bright blue slush puppies, get a 99 from the ice cream van and enter the talent contest.  I hope you enjoy my bank holiday memories . . . .


Sunday 5 May 2013

Fit and healthy!

Day 5 of blog everyday in May is a very scary subject!  What do I do to stay fit and healthy? This is a very good question, one of which I honestly don't have an answer for.  I'm not very good at taking care of myself I'm far better and taking care of everyone else!

The subject of today's challenge has made me think about focusing on doing something for me soooooo I shall write a resolution list of how I can take care of myself better. This is going to take sometime so I will post it at a later date.  I do know the 1st thing on my list though . . . . . .

1. Take a day off - which I will do for the rest of today and tomorrow as part of the long weekend.  I will be spending the next 2 days with my lovely family.  I will take lots of photo's and share with you for day 6's topic! Bank Holiday :)

Good night bloggers xx


Day 4 of #BEDM

Sorry this is a real quick post but I have had a busy day and I'm falling asleep writing this at my IPad but I really didn't ant to be late with another post for challenge!

Quickly share the love of 5 blogs I enjoy and read on a regular basis, in no particular order!
  1. Tcake
  2. Lesleywriter
  3. Sarah Arrow
  4. Rosalilium
  5. Essex Gourmet




Saturday 4 May 2013

A day in the life of . . .

Day 3 of Blog Every Day in May . . . welcome to a day in my life which ended about 11.30 only to find the internet was down and I was unable to post my blog entry on time!!

My day started @ 7am where I woke up to blue skies and the sun shining, which put me in a sunny mood. i rummaged around in the back of the wardrobe and dug out a pair of white slip on shoes and unearthed a maxi dress to celebrate the sun!! . . . then it was the mad school run rush . . . then I came back home and walked the dog and watered the garden . . . and that was all before 10am!!

Took a drive through the county lanes to Age Concern Havering and checked in with Chris on the phone. Today Chris was drawing up the plans for our next set of workshops we will be running with Saint Francis Hospice and putting together a proposal for a presentation skill and public speaking workshop through a recommendation from Barking Council.

Checked my email, Twitter, Facebook, Ebay, Pintrest, finished off a document for Community Catalyst and before I knew it, it was 2.30pm! Quick spot of lunch and then off to the shops to pick up shopping for my Aunt who is unwell.

Spent the evening with my Aunt and made us a lasagne with Greek salad and new potatoes. My Aunt has just moved into her new home and is disabled and unwell, poor thing! I was rearranging her front room in my head and she said 'what are you thinking about?', I explained I was thinking this would be better there and that would be better hear and she agreed and then it was like changing rooms and I had the whole room upside down and inside out, but it does look better!!!

10pm and I still had to go and see my mum as she had a 24 hour heart monitor device strapped to her today and my step-father had picked my son up from his first kick boxing lesson and taken him to her house. I bet running around after an 8 year old did her and the heart monitor the world of good!! but she said the Dr told her to do what she normally does.

A bit of TV and a catch up with mum and I decided to borrow a pair of PJ's and stay over I love coming 'HOME'. I settled down to do my blog entry at 11.30pm (thinking I had plenty of time to make it before midnight) and found out my mum's internet was down!! Disaster I huffed to bed!!!



Thursday 2 May 2013

Things to be proud of

At last our picture for day 1 of blog every day in May!,

Our young enterprise group . . . Who might I add won 2 awards tonight!! More about this later . . .



Blog every day in May . . . Day 1 and Day 2

Hello everyone!

I know what your thinking! Great start to blog everyday in May and i missed day 1! I had day 1 already to go but have been waiting for a picture to be proud of to arrive :( it still isn't here but here is our day 1 challenge (write 5 lines about yourself) and hopefully I will be able to add the photo later

'Things you might not know about us:

Between us we have 5 husbands, 3 children (2 girls 1 boy), 2 dogs, 4 cats, chickens and a koi carp! We have a mix of personalities and skills such as an NLP practitioner, Myers Briggs Type Indicator, 2 parenting practitioners and a Reiki practitioner. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, friends, artists, shopaholics, chocoholics and one of us is a Morris Dancer!! Our logo is the tree of life because we believe you never stop growing as people and you can never have to much knowledge!! '

I think I just about did it in 5 lines! Honest! Well not on our blog layout but on A4 lol

Out photo to be proud of would/will be our Young Enterprise group! Chris is a volunteer business mentor for young enterprise in East London and we are so proud of them because they have made the semi final of the competition!! Fingers crossed for them tonight and we hope with all our heart they will make it though to the final!! WATCH THIS SPACE!!

DAY 2 . . . Of blog everyday in May is . . . What do you like about Spring?

Lighter mornings and lighter evenings, daffodils, blue bells, poppy's, the promise of summer, the smell of freshly cut grass. With it spring brings new life, new hope and fresh starts. A chance for us all to spring clean our home and our mind with an out with the old and in with the new attitude. spring is our idea of heaven!!!

Looking forward to day 3 of the challenge tomorrow 'A Day In The Life Of'!! It will mainly be a day in the life of me, but will check in with the other girls throughout out the day and add in the highlights from their days also :)


Wednesday 1 May 2013

Blog every day in May

I saw Blog Every Day In May on a friends blog and have decided to sign up to blog everyday in May for Positive Change to kick start our blogging and news as we have been slacking to say the least of late! Although i guess it proves it proves we have been busy working :) the 1st blog is to write 5 lines about ourselves and include a photo we are proud of . . . . Hmmmmmm thinking cap on! I have till the end of today :)

Wish me luck!! And look out for day one of the challenge! I hope some of you will join in and you can learn new things about all of us at positive change!