Sleep a feminist issue?

Interesting article on sleep in The Times this weekend. 70% of us have trouble sleeping – I know I do! Looking at the famous I was amazed that the amount of sleep varied from 1 hour: Salvador Dali and 4 hours: Madonna (something to do with her new lover?) to 15 hours: Mariah Carey – apparently necessary to sing the way she wants to.


Penelope Cruz clocks up 12 hours a night in the belief that this helps her to keep her weight down. How wonderful it would be if that was true. Does it work because she has less time to eat?


Apparently sleep is going to become the next big gender issue because women need more sleep than men. This is because they work their brains harder – not sure if that’s a compliment or not?! But what is keeping us awake? A male partner that snores is the most likely reason for a disturbed night.

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Does lateness irrate you?

I read this article in Psychologies Magazine this month and thought you might be interested ...

It was poignant to me as I went to a wedding recently and the bride kept us waiting in Church for over an hour. Better not publish how I felt about that!
Anyway in the mag they say: 'We assume that other people frame choices in the way we do. But for the other person what is at stake is often very different from what we think is at stake. Apparenetly this is down to cultural differences. Also some people have such a deep seated fear of having to wait that they make sure they're late!

Mmm. Interesting. Let me know what you think.

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New Year, new website!

I'm really chuffed with the new hens dancing website! Especially the members area which has so much great content with the free legal helpline provided by Helen and Estelle at asb law (planning to phone them myself later!) and 'Life Matters' with some really measured and useful advice from Katie Day - good for people like me that need to apply a little patience to problems sometimes!

We have some brilliant events coming up - perfect for the new is: Re-discover your Sparkle! which is next Wednesday 13 Jan.

Gosh I'm so excited!

Pink hens

Tunbridge Wells hens (and a few Sevenoaks) enjoyed festive food at the 'aspirational' boutique hotel, The Brew House last night. Seventeen of us (the table was endlessly long) were were bathed in pink lighting as we sipped Champange. The staff tried to deliver the food we had pre-ordered five days ago but for some unfathamoble reason lists and desires didn't quite match. However, the food when it did arrive was good. Two wore the same dress (Phase 8 25% off dresses) and I was grateful I'd left mine in the wardrobe. We caught up, came up with some great ideas as to how the world would work better and discussed festive plans - travel winning over traditional pursuits. Next meeting 13 January we Rediscover our Sparkle!

 

Guildford Wine Tasting

What fun! Stéphane epitomises French charm and while talking us through seven different wines from different regions of France he shared stories with us and there was much laughter. His wife provided delightful and tasty canapés from Ma Cuisine Pour Vous which made a wonderful accompaniment to the wine and a lovely evening for the Guildford hens.


One of the wines we tasted was from Alsace and Stéphane was telling us about how beautiful this region of France is in December when it is snowy and April when it is warm. That’s next year’s holiday sorted!

Unleash Your Personal Power - The Assertive You!

Katie Day gave a talk to the Sevenoaks Group in November and left us all inspired to use assertiveness in a very positive way to create win/win situations! She certainly sparked off lots of discussion around the subject and it turned out that a few of the group had had Catholic upbringings which - how can I put this - hadn't exactly helped them to be assertive.
Katie talked about the path from unconscious incompetence (me, most of the time!) to unconscious competence, for example when you drive to work but can't remember the journey. She also gave me some tips on how to deal with incompetent customer service staff!
All in all a very enjoyable evening and we look forward to seeing Katie again in the new year. In the meantime, to find out more go to Katie Day Consulting

Words not emotion

Went to my Sevenoaks networking lunch today. Good turn out, maybe 20 women and one man.

'One man?' I hear you say. Occasionally we have a speaker and they happen to be a man. He was talking about the power of networking and mentioned that women are much better at it than men.

This lead to a discussion about the different ways men and women communicate. Apparently when men get home from work they change 'states' and go from work mode to home mode, so when their wife says 'good day at the office?' they simply say 'fine' without the need to expand.

Then when you tell them about your day: full of ups and downs, excitement and disappointment, tragedy at the hairdressers, the naked man running down the high street, you know just a normal day... the man in your life only hears the words and not the emotion.
I wonder if that's why they respond with 'Why don't you go to a different hairdresser?' rather than,
'Sounds like you need a glass of wine, let me pour you one.'

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