First impressions are lasting impressions.

Impressions are formed by a variety of factors – it’s not just what you say, but what you wear, that speaks loudly about who you are.  Do you, like 80% of the corporate workforce, dress head to toe in black? 

What does black communicate? For many people black is the colour of mourning; the grim reaper; depression; conservatism; boredom and nothing at all. 

Are these the messages you want to send out? 

Boost your visibility. Stand out from the crowd and add colour to your corporate wardrobe.  

“Godiva stood before them all, wearing a dull black dress that she only ever wore at funerals. With no jewellery and with her long, newly graying plait hanging down one shoulder, she resembled an aging maiden. The effect was worse than a funeral; she seemed to be dying on her feet before their eyes.” - Extract from Lady Godiva, Nerys Jones

 

A colourful Personal Brand can help you to:

 • Create powerful, lasting first impressions

• Increase your visibility and raise your profile

• Build a reputation that precedes you

• Be known as the expert in your field

• Gain and maintain a competitive edge

• Fare better in economic downturns

•Boost your confidence and self esteem

• Increase your income

Contact The Colour Girl now and live a life more colourful

“I had a lovely time with you yesterday evening. I was delighted with the colour consultation and it was a lot of fun. I’m very excited about starting to wear more vibrant colours! I feel more confident about broadening my range of colours now. You came across as knowledgeable, enthusiastic and authentic with the Colour Girl service, and of course you looked the part.” - Julia Napier, Communications professional

You may not be ready to toss out all your black but with help you can begin to explore other alternatives and wear a range of colours confidently. You may find, as I did, that the best colour for me was one I never, ever, dreamed I could wear. Orange and yellow have become my signature colours and people stop me in the street to tell me how fabulous I look. More importantly they tell me how wonderful seeing these colours makes them feel.

You may be wondering why you need to see an image consultant? Times are changing. More and more people are seeking a life coach for inner transformation, a career coach to help find their best-fit career. As competition steps up, for jobs (and relationships) smart people are turning to image consultants to help give them the edge.

Get the edge - schedule an appointment with me - the colour girl - now!

 

Labels: Colour, Thecolourgirl.com

I can't believe that a year has passed since I won the Wai Art Awards. I still remember receiving the call telling me that not only had I won the Supreme Prize but that I also picked up $3000 in the process. The timing couldn't have been better - I used the money to travel to Hawaii and attend a Sumi ink workshop with Max Gimblett on the island of Maui.

Labels: Cultivating Creativity, Motivation

47 Year old Susan Boyle wowed the judges with her performance in the auditions for Britain's Got Talent, singing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.

Prematurely writing her off as a joke the judges quickly admitted how wrong they had been to judge this very talented lady by her appearance.

"When you walked out everyone in the audience was cynical. We were all laughing at you - it's the biggest wake-up call ever," one of the judges admitted after they had heard her.

Even Simon Cowell (American Idol's most hard to please and scowling judge) was bowled off his feet. I don't think I've ever seen him smile so much.

View this amazing lady and hear her incredibly moving voice here

Here are the lyrics to the song

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame.

And still
I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather...

I had a dream my life would be
So different form this hell I'm living
so different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

Interestingly for Susan her dreams, unlike the lyrics, is really coming alive. The lady who said she had never been loved and never been kissed now even has her own fan club.

Susan Boyle Fansites :-
http://www.susan-boyle.com
http://www.susanboyle-bgt.co.uk/
http://susan-boyle.britains-got-talen...
Susan Boyle Bebo Fan Club :-
http://www.bebo.com/WeLoveSusanBoyle

I loved Susan the minute she stepped on the stage - she was funny, sparkly, lively and interesting - all this even before she sang and totally blew me away. I must admit I did feel my passions aroused when I saw people looking at her and rolling their eyes as she wiggled her hips and chuckled and told them about her dream - you can see the pre-singing audience reaction on the video footage. Shame on people for not being able to love a person for who they are - with or without talent.

Susan is adorable! I love her sense of humor and lack of "pomp"- here's here's one of the story items posted about her (source http://talent.itv.com/news/story/item_100074.htm)

No straight jacket required!
Britain’s Got Talent sensation Susan Boyle may not have made a living from her singing just yet – but that hasn’t stopped her making the most of her talents.

Susan is now a world-wide sensation – but her singing talents first appeared much closer to home.

She told us: “I do sing at church – and I also do a bit of amateur dramatics. I sing everywhere I can, to anybody who will really listen. They would be better off with a budgie though, do you not think?”

“I even performed at the Edinburgh Festival once, on the fringe. I was in a production of Romeo and Juliet. Was I Juliet? I don’t know what I was supposed to be. The tights were an embarrassment. But it was a laugh-a-minute magical for kids”.

If Susan makes it far enough in this competition, however, her audience won’t be school kids – it’d be Her Majesty the Queen! And that would suit Susan just fine.

She said, “Whatever comes my way, I am ready. It would be lovely to sing for the Queen. There would be less of the carry on from me, and more of the singing”.

“She is a very regal lady, very nice, so I would be nice too, and just get up there and give it a bit of wellie.”

And Susan isn’t worried that the showbiz life would send her off the rails like so many stressed-out stars before her. She laughs, “It’s a challenge. Life is a challenge sometimes but this is different. And I like to test myself”.

“If it all gets too much and they lock me up, I want a great big straight jacket with spots on it. A pink one…”

“…And a big zip on the back so I can escape!”

If your dreams could do with some encouragement click here. Who knows what talent you could unleash and where your dreams could take you. Or contact me to schedule a Passion@work coaching session - I'd love to help your dreams come alive.

Labels: happiness

A reminder of what Horowhenua is, or WAS (if my ideas are listened to), planning to do

It's time to break free of the box. Click here to see some of my inspiration as I begin to create a more organic, natural form



Here are a few of the buildings currently influencing my thoughts - the dominant theme is increasing the use of natural materials and adding more visual and textural variety whilst maintaining a simple, understated, elegant feel.


I love the sculptural affect that his been achieved with cedar curves and slates on the Meredian Building in Wellington

I really love the textural variation that has been been achieved with bamboo in this building designed by Ricciotti.




I'm also incredibly passionate and excited by bamboo constructed buildings. This giant grass is a renewable, restorative and versatile building material. Structural bamboo has been certified for international building codes – the first time bamboo has ever been code certified. Now this certified structural bamboo material is available for use by architects and engineers throughout the world. Bamboo has superior ability to create biomass and replenish the earth’s oxygen supply, while creating high quality, beautiful structural material.

The Ancient Spirit of Bamboo
Symbolism. As an evergreen, bamboo is one of the "three friends of winter." Bamboo represents a strong but resilient character.1
Bamboo is quick-growing, high, straight, very strong, and evergreen. Therefore, the Chinese have compared "fair, straightforward, sincere people of high spiritual qualities" to bamboo since the ancient times.2
Garden. Bamboo is used in every traditional Chinese garden for its beauty, the rustling sound of its leaves in the breeze, and the feathery shadows it casts on walls of the garden.3 Traditional Oriental belief holds that a bamboo grove restores calmness and stimulates creativity. Bamboo groves were a favorite dwelling place of the Buddha.

"Three friends of winter". Plum, pine and bamboo symbolize in East Asia the virtues of the ideal scholar, purity of spirit, longevity, and flexibility. The plum tree perseveres through winter, blossoming white afresh through the snow. The pine tree endures evergreen throughout the seasons, and bamboo, always green and flexible, bends in difficulty, but does not break.4

All Pervasiveness. The western world, including Australia, is not yet taking the spectacularly useful bamboo plant seriously, in spite of millions being spent on research in Asia. There, bamboos feed the people, house them, grace and shade their environment, provide musical instruments, cooking and eating utensils, furniture, hunting weapons, ceremonial artifacts, carrying and storage baskets, lampshades, ropes and strings, roof tiles, hats and hundreds of other practical and spiritual uses. Accordingly, the people show great reverence for this wonderful plant, which is the fastest growing renewable resource known.5

Chinese Character for Bamboo: The Appeal of Nothingness. Bamboo is the natural symbol of the wealth of nothingness because it grows into space, which for the masters of Zen represents the subtle centre of spiritual development. More generally it is a symbol of fertility, altruism and a happy family in the image of a mother plant feeding her family around her.

The invention of the 8 trigrams in the YI KING (a sacred work in Asia) has been attributed to the legendary Fou-Hsi in 2900 B.C. The full strokes (YANG) and the separated strokes (YIN) suggest the stem of bamboo and its nodes. The cadences reflect the essential rhythms of life in TAO philosophy.6
source and further information www.bambooliving.com

Japanese architect Shoei Yoh is one of my all time favorite bamboo inspired architects - his buildings are soulfully delicious


The simple cedar slates appeal in this update of Tawa Library

And I definitely adore anything with a green roof.



here is the world's largest "living" roof - sitting proudly above Vancouver's Convention Centre


and another more humble abode with lawn upstairs!






I believe in the power of art to create healing, restorative and inspiring soul spaces for people. Art work can play a powerful role in determining the emotional resonance of a space. A space that envelops the senses (smell, touch, sight, smell, sound) and art work that is well considered (and therefore well designed for) rather than being tacked on is an important of designing for purpose.

Here's a few "natural" sculptures that have caught my eye as I have been driving around researching this project.


This special carving greets people as they arrive at Paraparaumu Library

There is absolutely no reason at all that the building itself cannot be a work of art. Just look at what our legal profession is up to re the new and exciting design for the Supreme Court of New Zealand designed by architects Warren and Mahoney.

The external bronze screen symbolises the strength, and durability of Pohutukawa and Rata trees. The whole building will be surrounded by a stone plinth with outdoor outdoor seating for the comfort of members of the public and visitors to the court - as well as to criminals on their way to a less impressive environment- jail!













Then last, but by no means least, check out this gorgeous sculptural use of cedar.

mmmmm hmmmmmm:)


Most inspiration to be posted shortly!

Labels: architecture