Home for the Holidays: The Latest News About Today's Boomer Grandparents; and 'Rightsizing Your Life' With the Right Surroundings

Hearth and home. It’s what alot of us are thinking about these days, in the midst of holiday celebrations. But how comforting is home? How does it suit us? Does our living space accommodate the way we live today? Those are some of the questions we pose on Boomer Radio in the Nation's Capital this Wednesday, December 26th at noon. According to Emmy Award-winning television producer, radio journalist, author and Boomer and senior coach Ciji Ware, in midlife, we make important discoveries about ourselves. Frequently, a typical discovery is that accumulating more "stuff" doesn't necessarily make our lives better. With the goal of "creat[ing] new surroundings that will profoundly impact the way [we] feel and behave", Ware suggests that we ask ourselves a few questions: "Where do I want to live now?...How can I build a meaningful, happy life...without a lot of stuff weighing me down?" Ciji Ware, author of Rightsizing Your Life: Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most joins me to talk about how to "rightsize" our lives. She outlines the seven critically important steps that can help us to get started to create the kind of environment we want and need. (rebroadcast of November 26th interview)

Just as we Boomers have transformed American life on nearly every front, from music to religion, the same has occurred as we enter grandparenthood. What can Boomer grandparents expect in this new stage? And what impact might our experiences have on the rest of society? These are a few of the questions that will be posed to my guest, Jackie Bartolotta, Director of Market Intelligence for Focalyst, a leading Boomer and Mature consumer research company based in New York City. Focalyst and the online resource website, Grandparents.com have just released the results of their new joint study, which highlights the "mindset...spending, media and behavioral habits," of today's grandparents.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007
TAKING THE GUESSWORK OUT OF GIFT-GIVING: FOR OTHERS, AS WELL AS OURSELVES

Every year alot of us are uncertain about what to do about gift giving. On today's edition of The Heather Taylor Show, Boomer Radio in the Nation's Capital, we’ll hear from two Boomers who've taken the guesswork out of giving. Involved in completely different careers--law and philanthropy, their stories tell us alot about what it's like to be a Boomer in the 21st century.

Belinda Reed was a veteran prosecuting attorney on the verge of burnout when she found answers in coursework at a very special kind of school. Those answers ended up having an impact on her professional and personal life. She joins me to talk about how studying applied healing arts at the Tai Sophia Institute changed her life. She's now "transitioning from prosecution to mediation and restorative justice, using [her] skills as a lawyer and [her] tools from AHA (Applied Healing Arts) to doing victim-offender mediation." (http://www.tai.edu/) (aboutresolution@yahoo.com)

In our first segment, the focus is on the kind of gift that keeps on giving. Like the ones at Heifer International, a nonprofit organization that helps end poverty and hunger. The organization, in existence since 1944, accomplishes its mission through charitable giving of livestock and basic materials in 800 projects spread over 50 countries. Ray White, Public Information Director for Heifer International, joins me to talk about how Heifer International strives to "change the world this holiday season," and year-round. He'll offer tips on finding unique holiday gifts for those on our holiday shopping list. (http://www.heifer.org/)

Holiday Gift-Giving: A Cooking School Transforms Lives; Games that Yield Brain Fitness: Child's Play?; Holiday Decorating: Easy and Budget-Friendly

Boomer Radio in the Nation's Capital welcomes you into the holiday season with three interviews designed to help get you into the spirit.

-- At 12:05 p.m., meet Liesel Flashenberg, a social entrepreneur who's president of Through the Kitchen Door International, a DC area nonprofit "dedicated to empowering recent immigrants and low income adults and at-risk youth" as she talks about the mission of this nonprofit, and her surprising and satisfying career change in midlife.

-- At 12:25 p.m., Kunal Sarkar and Michael Scanlon, co-founders of Lumos Labs, a San Francisco-based company formed as the result of the founders' "desire to promote better brain health". Their brain training program focuses on "engaging brain games and exercises."

-- At 12:45 p.m., Tynesia Hand-Smith, co-owner of Metro Design Interiors in Washington, DC offers suggestions on how to spruce up your living space for the holiday season--without alot of effort, or budget-busting investment.

A Personal Shopper Can Make Holiday Shopping Easy; and Staying Fit and Healthy in the Holiday Season and Beyond

Edutainer is what Dr. Pamela Peeke calls herself--part teacher, part entertainer--helping those of us with a lot less wherewithal to find ways to make healthy eating (ie. portion control, sigh...) and regular, physical exercise a routine part of our everyday life. And she does it remarkably well. Fight Fat After Forty, and Body for Life for Women had spectacular runs--both made it onto the best-seller list. Her most recent title, Fit to Live The 5-Point Plan to Become Lean, Strong & Fearless for Life picks up where these two books left off. The physician, Pew Scholar in nutrition and metabolism and clinical assistant professor of medicine joins me in the second part of the show to talk about her new book.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING MADE EASY: FREE HELP FROM A PERSONAL SHOPPER

In the first segment, tune into hear the fascinating story of DC-area Boomer,
Patrice Vales-Macarie, whose journeys first took her to Paris and New York for a modeling career. After marriage, children and ten years of homeschooling her children, she returned to fashion--her first love. Today, as the in-store Personal Shopper for Lord & Taylor's, Vales-Macarie competes with the best of them. In fact, this past April, she was selected as the winner in a Washington Post personal shopper competition.