Today, I’m covering Redondo Beach…what a great town!

I found this resource on Redondo.org – Senior Clubs – how nice. Here they are for easy reference:

• North Park Senior Citizen Club @ Anderson Park
• North Redondo Senior Citizen Club @ Perry Park
• South Redondo Beach Senior Citizen Club, Inc. @ Veterans Park

Looks like the Sixth Street Self-Help Center at 169 Sixth Street is offering more opportunities for the Sassy Seniors of SF. Since San Francisco has a high percentage of seniors (14.6%), thus is great news. More Bingo for everyone!

Here’s the scoop:

They also had these cards for sale created by participants in their art program to benefit homeless and low income folks. Win win win!

Well done SF–thanks for making silver living safer and more fun. The Sassy Assassin approves!

And here are my taco soaps…

I’ll be focusing on the Holiday Season but hope to keep this going throughout the year. Thought it would be nice to share with my 5.2 readers what I find. I’m going on some field trips to the senior centers, too — horray — pics to come.

Without further ado, here’s today’s opp around GIVE (from my Something Sweet for Senior 3 Point Plan of ACT, GIVE & HELP).

I found Be a Santa to a Senior at Spectrum Club in Redondo Beach. There are paper ornaments on the tree with the name, gender, size and an idea of what they’d like — playing cards, lap blankets, stationery, sweaters. Bring the gift back into Spectrum by 12 December and — WALAA! — they will wrap and deliver the gifts to Home Instead Senior Care in Torrance.

(Names & ID number removed for privacy)

Had a blast shopping with the hub picking out handsome shirts, cozy blankets, decadent bath towels and sweet note cards. It was simple & something we could do as a couple during the hip-hip-horray holidays.

Go on…make their day!

Blend:

Tomatoes
Spinach
Romaine
Celery
Green Olives & Juice
Cilantro
Tomato Sauce & Ranchero Sauce (added for flavor)
Worcestershire  Sauce
Dijon Mustard
Touch of Lemon Juice

UNBELIEVABLE — and only about 1.5 WW Points.

Still feeling great, still loving my Magic Bullet!

Don’t worry, the Sassy Assassin won’t get so healthy that you won’t see her at Champagne Fridays. I do have a rep to protect!

Who am I and what have I done with Kristin?

Who cares — here’s the recipe…Something Green & Sassy Kristin’s Kocktail #2 (2 WW Points):

In the magic Magic Bullet, today I blended:

Romaine Lettuce
Spinach
1 Apple
1/2 Banana
Heap of Parsely
Celery
Lemon Juice & Water

I think the secret will be to keep experimenting with different fruit & veg so no day is the same. I can’t wait until I do a Bloody Mary Green Kocktail.

Cheers, pretties!

Why? I don’t quite know but it feels good — so I’ll go with that.

I’ve been working with The Goodness Company so have been doing heaps of research on raw eating, natural detox, green foods, etc and was curious to try drinking green smoothies in the morning since it seems to be the “thing-du-jour” these days.

WOWWWWWEEEEEE — I’m hooked!

Here’s my first “kocktail” — I’m going to experiment and share just in case no one believes that I’m going from skulking &  sauntering, to a stronger, hopefully slimmer & even sweeter Sassy Assassin.

Away we go — Something Green & Sassy: Kristin’s Kocktail #1:

In the amazing Magic Bullet (all the best recipes start here!) blend:

Romaine Lettuce
1 Green Pear
1/2 Banana (not green but yummy & healthy)
Spinach
Parsely
Cilantro
Lemon Juice
A bit of Water to help blend

So easy…so delicious. And only 1.5 points on the old Weight Watchers program. YEAH!!! I’ll let you know if it keeps me full & satisfied.

Yikes…Who have I become?

Cheers, lovelies!

As you may or may not know, I’ve been on the quest for the most perfect, delicious & sassy tuna sandwich, caesar salad & fish tacos. Why? I don’t know.

I will admit I’ve had some WONDERFUL options, but nothing that I would say, “I don’t ever need to have another tuna sandwich, caesar salad, ceviche, or fish tacos again.” (not totally true because Crow’s Nest in Santa Cruz’s Caesar Salad is THE BEST…and Wildflower Cafe in Redondo Beach serves a mean Tuna Sandwich…also LOVE the ceviche at Fishbar in Manhattan Beach & fish tacos at Old Tony’s in Redondo Beach…

Okay, I digress — to my utter surprise & excitement, I made one up today with all kinds of stuff from my tiny pantry & empty fridge. Here’s what I made & I’m going to stick to it:

Before I share my secret recipe, I’ll just say…THIS IS SO GOOD!

Combine in a bowl — one that you can store in fridge so you can eat this often:

1 Can Tuna — I just discovered Sprouts Market in Redondo Beach and love their Sustainable Seas Albacore
Dijon Mustard from Whole Foods — Redondo Beach crew is AWESOME
Almonds — I ground them in my Magic Bullet — love that thing!
Relish
Scallions
Apple — chopped finely
Black Olives — chopped
Celery — chopped finely

You can serve w/ apple slices (sooooo yummy) or with a spinach / tomato garnish on rice cakes or bread.

Not total vegetarian but totally delicious…And easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Aloha for now…

I’m a long-time an advocate for women (was a Women Studies minor at university), have worked in & now support women-owned businesses (throughout my career and with SassySEO.com), write about the beautiful women in my life (Real Beauty on this blog), attend business women events (Social Media Women, Network Central, Soroptimist International, Australian Businesswomen’s Network, etc), & now helping launch a women’s book later this year.

But today I’m thinking about what I say time & time again about women…that we need to own our accomplishments and act more confident about what we are doing and what we want to achieve. And we need to support other women in their journey. I am super blessed to know SO many smart women (all over the world) & meet so many AMAZING women everyday, but these 3 issues come up repeatedly.

These are generalisations from my own observations / experiences and not applicable to every person. I am not criticising, I am taking a stand and saying publicly (to my 3 followers) that I want to support women, be a good example (in case anyone needs one), and help all women accomplish their goals in any way I can.

Here are my ideas…they are simple yet powerful…

1 – Own Your Accomplishments – women achieve so much…we run businesses, we support the running of businesses, we run households, we raise children, we help others raise children…but we don’t give ourselves enough credit. We work hard and make a difference, not just to our families, but to our jobs, our communities and to each other.

2 – Act Confident – we do all this and remain humble, tear ourselves down, feel unappreciated, hesitate to take risks, & act grateful for any praise we get. That doesn’t help any of us — it doesn’t help those who may be struggling with self-esteem (like I have for many years) when we can all be great examples for other women who may not feel so confident about all the wonderful things they are already doing, and will do in their lives.

3 – Support Women – women have a bit of  a reputation sometimes for tearing each other down, competing with each other and not helping other women get ahead. This is not good for any of us. If you don’t do this – FANTASTIC – keep being incredible. If you do, read #1 & #2.

I believe if we do more of this, we can help more people — women and men — build smarter businesses, create better opportunities & solve bigger problems. How? By not letting anything hold us back from being exactly who we want to be, and achieve more than we ever thought we could.

Is it magic? No – it takes hard work, compassion, a sense of humour and drive to keep going even when things get tough.

Am I anti-man? No way! Men & women are equally important – we need each other. Our skills can balance, strengthen, compliment & support — and multiply our potential & our influence.

I’m not writing to be confrontational, I’m writing this because I want to be part of a solution to a problem I experience almost everyday. I like to help — this is my way of doing that.

How do you support women…and men? Go on…brag a little…I love it and want to celebrate you!

I’ve been substituting apple slices for bread lately to keep my starchy cards at bay (except I LOVE Brasserie Bread and get their bread delivered locally to me so I always have a heavenly loaf on hand).

Today’s experiment was a success – simple, yummy & perfect for a lazy Sunday.

Apple Bacon Cheese Snacks:

• Apple Slices – thin slices
• Vegie Delights Bacon Rashers – fried up in olive oil so crispy
• Simply Better Foods Soy Cheese w/ Chives – thinly sliced – this flavour is my favourite & goes well w/ apples.

Once you fry the bacon, make the sandwiches with apple slices & cheese.

Enjoy and make hubby happy – that’s the most important.

Till the next desperate attempt to cook something fast & delicious…

I thought it appropriate to start reading my book “The Art of War for Women” by Ching-Ning Chu in honour of the launch of Social Media Women in Sydney (of which I’m a proud supporter of more women using social media) on 9 March.

I hope to learn some new tactics in my book which was graciously sent to me by Treeet. As you may know, I love love love to read so getting a new book is a special “treat” – ahah! The Sassy Assassin (that’s me) needs all the help she can get. Watch out, here I come!

Instead of waiting until the end to do my book report, I thought I’d share my insights along the journey – that way we can all learn to be better strategic women – haha!

This book is adapted for women based on Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”. This is brilliant because I believe men and women are different and we process and use information differently.

I’m being general here but men and women can have different strengths and different communication styles, different ways of dealing with problems and responding to situations. Neither is better – just different and both are equally important.

Now that I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for a few years, I can vouch this to be true for us. But enough about me (can you believe I really don’t like to talk about myself?!)…on to the good stuff!

From the first sentence in the preface, I was hooked. The first part is called “It’s about the art, not the war.” This is why this book is so perfect for me. I don’t like to fight. I like to strategise, research, recommend, implement, measure,report, optimise and repeat. Probably why SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a perfect job for TheSassySEO (that’s me, too).

I am not against conflict – I think it’s great – if both parties are open to learn, understand and resolve. I don’t believe anyone really wins by fighting.

So the fact this book started with “it’s about the art, not the war” is gold! I live to make progress with little conflict – HORRAY! I don’t like anyone to feel bad about themselves or feel defeated. I have felt that way many times and it’s no good.

I’m heartened that the key to this book is about “understanding myself”. I have to help myself before I can help others and seek to better myself so I can be more valuable.

The other greatest notion to come out of the preface is that integrating my ethics into my practices is necessary. I’m hot for this.

Lastly, to succeed, having the big picture in mind (long-term strategy & tactics) is critical, too. I think this book was written just for me.

So…Xie Xie, Chin-Ning – I just started the book and something has already changed inside me…for good (Thank you Wicked!)

See you soon – we may get to chapter one by 2011…