THE SOUND OF MUSIC AND FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS

In celebration of my mum's 82nd birthday, our family gifted my mum with a day to attend the wonderful musical theatre production of "The Sound of Music." My mum followed the television program "How do you Solve a Problem like Maria" in the search for Canada's New Maria and 48 wonderfully talented women entered this contest. My Mum watched every week and in the end, voted for Elicia Mackenzie and was thrilled when she was chosen. She was even more excited when she found out that we were going to see the show and I wanted to add another little (no, really BIG) surprise for her! With the help of the wonderful Mirvish Production staff we arranged for my mum to go backstage after the show and meet Elicia MacKenzie (Maria Rainer), Noella Hunt (the Mother Abbess) and Burke Moses (Captain Georg von Trapp). Also, thank you to John Gray and with gratitude for all of you for taking the time to spend with my mum and make this a very special and memorable experience in her life.

The show was absolutely brilliant from the outstanding talent of the cast, the music, the costumes, the sets on stage, the beautiful Princes of Wales and the wonderful staff at Mirvish productions.

Here is Elicia singing the title song "The Sound of Music" and listen to Andrew Lloyd Webber's beautiful comments.

Opening Night October 15, 2008 and Noella Hunt is also brilliant in singing the song "Climb Every Mountain" which just brought tears to my eyes. It is very inspirational and speaks to your heart and soul. The message is to take every opportunity in your life to discover your passions and what is important to you. To never stop until you find the gems in your life and live your life to your fullest potential.

This outstanding production speaks to all age groups and everyone will go away singing all of the songs, humming along each day for weeks and more!!

Go to http://www.mirvish.com/tsom/index.html and book your seat today. Take the whole family and you all will be singing the wonderful lyrics from the songs in this brilliant production.

Here we are standing in front of Elicia's backstage dressing room. Burke, my Mum, Elicia, Noella and myself. Happy 82nd Birthday Mum!

Live the Passion and Create the Life of your Dreams!!

Moira

I HAVE A DREAM

I'm sure you have all heard of the amazing charity worker Susan Boyle's appearance on the television program 'Britain's Got Talent', in London this week. This e-mail was forwarded to me and I watched the you-tube of Susan performing before I started my day in my home office. I smiled, I cried, I was thrilled for Susan, the judges and the audience. I loved watching and listening to her sing "I have a dream" from my favorite play "Les Miserables."

I knew right there and then, that I was going to write a blog about Susan and share her story about following your dream and making it a reality. This 47 year young Scottish charity volunteer became an international media sensation over night after her beautiful, talented, amazing, brilliant talent show performance. This week alone, she has been watched by 20.2 million people on the internet and the numbers are continuing to rise. She has already been written about, interviewed on shows and Susan will be interviewed on Oprah next week! She has a beautiful innocence and charm about her, along with being quite funny and cheeky, as the British would say! When she was asked what her next song would be on "Britain's Got Talent', she responded by saying "watch the show and find out!"

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009


Susan reminds each one of us to follow our passions and live our dreams.

I just watched a fantastic movie called "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey playing the main character Carl. It is a wonderful metaphor on how we can dramatically change our lives by using one simple word in our vocabulary and say "YES" to life! Carl is post-divorced, bored with life, in a dead-end job and he has lost the zest for life. He bumps into an old friend who talks to him about a special meeting that would be great for Carl to attend and it just so happens to turn Carl's life around 180 degrees! This clear and powerful message is about each one of us opening up to life's possibilities. Life is full of unlimited possibilities and opportunities and when you choose "YES" to living life to the fullest, amazing transformation can happen.

Jim Carrey even did all of his stunts in this movie and said YES to the experience. He has always had this way of being, and perceiving the world, and even at the young age of 10, he contacted the Carol Burnett Show with the "Yes" thinking of possibly being on her show. He was already quite talented and could do 150 impressions at this age and he saw the world as his oyster! Jim received a letter from the show and they wished him all the best. They told him that they booked their talent through an agency for appearances on the show. Some people might of been disappointed and felt rejected, not Jim! He was thrilled that he even received a letter back from Hollywood and knew that one day he would live his dreams.

This brings me back to Susan's "I Have a Dream." I felt that Jim Carrey in real life, his character Carl, and Susan Boyle in her real life, share the same meaning, so say YES to life and follow your passions and live your dreams.



My challenge to you is to create a "Say Yes to Life" journal and start writing down your dreams now. Start visualizing the things you want to accomplish in your life and the places you want to travel, people you want to me and so on! This list will create a touch stone for you to start challenging yourself, expand yourself and step (no go ahead and jump in with two feet!) into the world of unlimited possibilities and live your life to your full potential and greatness. You can move through your list weekly or monthly, or just go with the flow. One of my "Say yes to Life" events on my list is to walk along the Wall of China. This will happen in the future at the perfect date and time and then I will check this off. The list will continually grow as you expand and explore new areas that you want to say Yes to. Have fun and know that life is definitely a journey and not a destination.

YES TO LIVING THE PASSION