2008 July

Consider for a moment some homespun memories from your childhood.  Maybe a fond one is about that vacation to the Grand Canyon, your family traveling in an RV with sounds from an eight-track flowing through tinny speakers and the fights you had with your brother over who got shotgun.  Maybe another includes weeks spent on the beach shore, waking to the sounds of gulls and the briny scent of the ocean.  It all depends on your unique family and where you grew up, I suppose.  Perhaps a memory that...

Blogger's Annon. Hi, my name is Heather Rast.  I'm a blogging neophyte.  I've been blogging now for 12 days.  I'm already an addict. Anyone that knows me is aware that I enjoy creative writing.  Snappy messages in greeting cards, funny anecdotes in emails, and then there's my hobby.  Yes, I'm also writing abook (who isn't?). I'd been dying to actively participate in a blog where the conversations could be real and candid, reflect some personal element without being a recount of the day's...

Just a quick note - as of Monday, July 28, 2008, this site (insightsandingenuity.com) became active as I migrated content from the WordPress site:  http://insightsandingenuity.wordpress.com/. So please visit this site again for your daily "bunny trail" fix! Heather

Subtitled: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way. Complacency makes me want to stick a fork in my eye. To be so ambivalent or uncommitted, nay neutral on almost any topic simply defies my capacity for cogitation. I mean, what about “good” is good? Sure doesn’t smell like “great” from here. That’s where I want to be.  Always, on everything. I realize I’m not the most objective person when it comes to determining corporate comfort zones. I readily admit that I’m a risk-taker (maybe...

How surprised would you be to learn that the largest circulated weekly print publication in the fastest growing county in the state of Florida is afraid of its own shadow? Let me put it another way. My step father-in-law is the editor of a 120-year-old newspaper named The DeFuniak Herald servicing Walton county, which includes Destin and a large hunk of other well-known tourist beach destinations in the panhandle of the state. Colloquially known as “lower Alabama,” this area has experienced...

Today at work I did some quick shopping online for my favorite blush and naturally ended up browsing the MAC lipsticks, too. There’s something so enchanting, mesmerizing about reading the product description of luxurious makeup. The photo swatches are great and as I read the blurb beside the item I was coveting, noticed something about "texture." I never thought of my lipstick having texture before. But I guess there are a variety of types: matte, creamy, glossy, etc. MAC even has a texture...

Do what you say you’re going to do, when you said you’d do it. No whining. When their baby is ugly, their baby is ugly. Say it. Be not like a lemming and follow a bad (or literally, an ugly) idea because you’re not mature enough to openly question its appropriateness for the situation at hand.  This CAN be done tactfully. Always write a conference report after a meeting when anything of consequence was said.  It could save your posterior portion. Clients are not always...

I’ve remarked many times before that there isn’t enough money in the world for someone to pay me to go back to high school. Not that I’m embracing the grey hairs or the mom pants, pluck you very much. But high school was such a turbulent time. Who needs the headaches, the tears, the heartaches? Truthfully, my fondest memories of high school include a trio of girls I still hold dear today (time has a way of minimizing the few times we fought), the bar that pretended to believe I was 18-yr...

I had a stimulating conversation the other day with someone I've recently made acquaintence with, but immediately came to respect and admire.  Almost bordering on awe.  I'm entirely truthful in my sentiment because hey, his superiority does not diminish my own accomplishments or talents.  I get a tremendous amount of pleasure from telling others when they touch me (not that kind of 'touch'!).  The well-delivered presentation by the woman with an obvious talent for engaging a crowd.  The delightful...

We all know at least one of those people.  Their jeans are 5-pocket and high waisted, their shirts pale yellow with periwinkle flowers.  They're wearing too much make-up, smell of Aqua Net, and their tightly permed hair that's in need of a root job is pulled severely back into a banana clip, making that distinct dinosaur-like ridge at the back of their head.  Their purse is some patchwork-faux leather thing, with a worn patch with the Salem 100's sit in their comfy inner pocket.  Their...