Pure, Unadulterated Joy

Breakthrough to Success Seminar with Chris Howard - AMAZING!

By Joy A. Kennelly

Don't have much time to write this because I'm eager to achieve some new goals, but wanted to let you all know that when Chris Howard's conference comes back in January you should definitely consider attending! It's mind blowingly (is that a word?) good!

I have read numerous books on Goal Setting and have lead numerous groups of women in achieving their goals over the years too. But this conference blew the lid off all the book reading and goal setting I've done. Hearing and seeing someone who has achieved such a high level of success, yet who is so grounded, full of integrity, has a great sense of fun, and is kind and respectful to all is very inspiring. I'm speaking of the founder and speaker, Chris Howard.

I'm not easily impressed, yet he is the most impressive person I've heard to date. I've accomplished a lot and know a lot, but have come to realize that I need different ways of communicating in a more humble way. You can never know everything and now that I'm back in my teachable mode I'm excited again!

It's easy to get complacent and not set new goals, but after attending this weekend's conference, I have so many new and exciting ones I can't contain myself. What I realized is that because my parents took us around the world when we were so young and we had so many life experiences during our imprint years that were amazing, ordinary life experiences that others accept just isn't acceptable to me. I figured out I've been to over 129 cities all over the world and that's not including all the cities I've traveled to in Europe or Africa yet!

I want to live a life that's huge and it's hard sometimes to find others who feel the same way. However, this weekend I met many people who have achieved a lot and still want more which was just what I needed. Plus, just listening to Chris and knowing he's achieved so much is inspiring! When you're at the top of your game and you meet kindred spirits it's very gratifying.

My goal is to attend Chris Howard's March 1-8, 2007 Billionaire Bootcamp in Maui. I gained so much from this Breakthrough to Success conference over this past weekend, I can only imagine what I'll gain from an entire week of this type personal development. Plus, I love Maui!

Chris uses hypnosis, NLP, goal setting teaching, story telling, games, music and other things to help you break through the issues (limiting beliefs and negative emotions) that have been holding you back in life. What might take psychologists months or years to achieve, he is able to get to the root of the issue immediately and deal with it.

It's so healing and freeing it's hard to explain. What's so cool is that you're doing it with a room filled with hundreds of people all experiencing the same breakthroughs and everyone is so open and supportive. I just loved it! I haven't been hugged that often and so frequently ever. It was wonderful on so many levels. Plus, the massages are awesome too! (You'll have to come to see what I'm talking about.)

This has opened my eyes to a whole new way to approach my personal relationships, my professional aspirations, and my personal goals. And I had fun doing it! You can't ask for more can you? Hopefully you'll see evidence of this in future blogs because I'm setting things in motion now that will help everyone I'm working with already and those I'm about to start working with too.

I can't wait! I loved it so much I signed up to be a crew member for the next one because I want my friends to come and feel comfortable that I'm there, but I want to help more people than just my friends too. Plus, you get so much more out of it when you're not worried about what your friends think, or how they're leading you through something I think. Just my opinion because this year was so much more intense since I went alone.

Had a ball and met some great people. What was really cool was bumping into the cute photographer Maria from the Age of Love show and getting to hear her thoughts on the behind-the-scenes gossip (and girls, you know there was!) She's even prettier in person and very nice and fun.

Who knows? We may even begin working together on some stuff. Stranger things have happened! Got to stay open! I do love helping people achieve goals and can't wait to learn more at some of Chris' other classes. I forgot how much I love goal setting until hearing him speak. It's time to make that dream of mine a reality.

Remember my Goal Gals Group? For those of you who haven't been reading long I used to lead groups of women to empower and teach them how to set goals. It was really fun to see how much people achieved when they set their mind to it. However, I became burnt out because the groups got too large and it wasn't fun any more. Since then I've lead smaller ones and am much happier.

One of the women in my last group just achieved her goal of becoming a Pilates Instructor and that's huge for her! Mine was to move into a nice apartment and I've done that. Now to move into my condo. :) My client's current goal is to get into a great gallery space which we're very close to see happening. I'll keep you posted. Good things brewing...

I would tell you more about Chris Howard's seminar, but you really must experience it for yourself to get the full impact on your life. I HIGHLY recommend the January conference, especially since January is a great month to set new goals anyway. You'll be happy you did!

That's all. Gotta run. Take care and happy goal setting!

Chris Howard is awesome! As usual

By Joy A. Kennelly

Extremely tired right now, but just wanted to share that Chris Howard's Breakthrough to Success conference is just as good as last year if not better. I am going to be busting through some self limiting beliefs and transforming my life over this weekend so watch out world!

Hope you're have a self-aware, evolved, inspiring day too.

Sleep well. I'm crashing - got to be back by 9am again till 11pm tomorrow! Oy vey!

I'm just sayin... Thoughts on TMZ's new show

By Joy A. Kennelly

Just caught TMZ's new show out of idle curiosity because it's so snarky online I'm curious to see how much of an appetite the general public will have for it on TV.

Anyone else find it as curious as I do that there are SO MANY Papa John commercials? Is that the only advertiser they've found to pay for time?

I'm just sayin...

Also, anyone else think the cute, long-haired blonde guy is really an aspiring actor thrown in the mix for eye candy purposes only? What's with the hair toss? I can only imagine him digging up dirt on anything - maybe he's the one who saw Jesse emptying his trash shirtless. What a scoop!

Who'd you rather ladies - Harry Levin (pushing 60) or the cute blonde guy (just turned 19)?

I'm just sayin... I thought so. I bet Harry is the one who chose the story about older men with younger women living longer too.

Also, now that TMZ has a whole 1/2 hour to fill isn't it funny that Britany's antics only go so far? The rest of the show is so much filler! Fashion?  Little boy singing? Oh, but now OJ is hot. Or let's tear down the Carter guy by tricking him into thinking we really like his music - ha ha jokes on him. We're TMZ! We hate everybody successful!

I'm just sayin...

Perez Hilton has more Hollywood gossip going on than this show.  Speaking of Hilton's, where's the gossip on Paris and all the rest of the gang? Perhaps since it's on regular TV they can't air all the juicy stuff for fear of being sued, or maybe PMK or any of the major PR firms controlling the star's careers gave an ultimatum? Or maybe they're paying Harry off privately and that's why Papa John's got all the cheap advertising?

No, I get it. Now they're competing against "real" journalists like Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollwyood, EXTRA! etc and since the other entertainment shows actually have news, this one shows its true colors for what it really is. Yellow journalism.

I'm just sayin...

EXCLUSIVE
Anyone else find it funny that Harry Levin aspires to be the next Ryan Seacrest? I remember the court show years ago (wasn't it People's Court or something like that?) when Harry used to stand outside the courtroom door when people would come out and ask for their opinion on their verdict.

I thought he was annoying then, I think he's annoying now. Probably really nice, but anyone who makes a living doing yellow journalism like he does deserves critique too.

I'm just sayin...

After watching that show I'm glad I'm not repping any actors right now. Did have a nice chat with my constantly working former client though. You go boy.

Oh, here's a funny note. I was commenting on a friend's pic he has on facebook and we got to discussing publicity. Because I have a tendency to tell it like it is he felt inclined to tell me what he thought of my publicity fees.

He thought I was more expensive than Rogers & Cowan! When I heard that I almost fell off my chair because my rates are really fair and relatively reasonable. If Rogers & Cowan was only charging what I'm charging then I'm glad I'm not in that line of work right now. They're a MAJOR PR firm with a huge overhead and huge staff. I'm not.

However, when he then told me that for me to charge $6,000 a month for my services was outrageous I had to laugh out loud. Yes, he's right, but he had me confused with some other publicist because I never quoted that rate! That is outrageous.

Glad to hear that he's mistaken. Glad to hear I'm not that out of line. What people always forget when they're looking for publicists to work with is that if you go with a large firm you may meet the most senior person on the team to represent you. However, the actual person doing the work on your account will be the most junior person on the team.

The senior person oversees the junior one, but you have still someone who's relatively green behind the ears making decisions for your career. I wouldn't want that. The people who've worked with me over the years understand that the person they met with (me) is the person who takes their calls, strategizes their campaign, contacts the media and others on their behalf, writes the press releases and makes sure everything runs smoothly. Not someone just out of college with no experience learning on your dime.

I know it's a difficult concept to comprehend, but imagine going to a gym meeting a "master" trainer and then being trained by a student. Same concept. You may not know it's happening. You may think you're getting good results, but when you work with a "master" then all of a sudden the light bulb comes on and you get results faster.

Plus, bigger agencies have so many accounts they're juggling if you're one of their smaller clients you're just not going to get the same amount of attention as a client who's paying more. Bottom line. A smaller agency realizes you're important to their bottom line and you receive more attention as a result. So there you have it.

I know interesting segue, but just felt like defending all the independent publicists out there who deal with this attitude all the time. It's the age old question - Is bigger better?

And with that, I'll close. Have a good one.

Watching the Emmy's made me think of Owen Wilson

By Joy A. Kennelly

I'm a huge fan of Owen Wilson's films and who he is as I know him via those films. I don't know him personally although I did make eyes at him at a Marc Jacobs party years back and he came to sit near me with a friend of his. I was too shy to strike up a conversation and regret it to this day!:) Hi Owen - love ya! So glad you're alive.

I'm watching the Emmy's and it hit me that if Owen's suicide attempt had gone through his name and face would be scrolling when they announced all the actors who had died; although most likely his death would have been acknowledged during the Oscars since he's a film guy.

That made me so sad. Okay, I did have a crush on him, but the sadness is that he's such a great comedic talent and the idea that he's in such despair that he would attempt to take his own life is extremely sad to me.

Hollywood just chews people up and spits them out. It's a really tough hard business to be part of and I can only imagine the pressures of his level of success. It doesn't surprise me IF he has done the drugs all the trash mags are claiming, but I can only pray that his family and friends help him get real help to conquer his demons.

You never know what's going on in people's lives really I'm learning. Not just Hollywood, but everywhere. One of the guys who's at my church used to be one of the South Bay cities biggest drug dealers years back until he was caught and went to jail. Now he is a born-again Christian, happily married and involved in the church.

That was such a cool testimony to hear - not that he had that life before, but that he found a way out of it and my little church and God was the reason. He's a real cool guy and married to a good friend of mine there. There's so many cool people who attend my church I'm just loving getting to know them better. Who knew church people could be so interesting?:)

We're growing so much as a church the leadership has decided to create a second service at the Lomita Campus located at 2043 Lomita Blvd, Lomita CA 90274 at 9:30am Sunday mornings with Pastor Ben Meyers, the man who started Bay Cities with Jim. That service will begin September 23, 2007. Check it out!

If you visit the Redondo Beach campus - try parking on Torrance Blvd or at the Wells Fargo Bank parking lot and walking over. If you arrive earlier than later you're bound to find both a seat and a parking spot. Just an insider tip because we'd hate for you to turn away simply because you can't find a spot.

We just had the nicest birthday party for the pastor's wife Sandy tonight that over 75 women in the church attended to share our love and good wishes. What was really fun and special is that Peter Rivera, former drummer and lead singer with Rare Earth (remember them? 70's rock music - a little before I was old enough to listen to rock music, but recognizable nonetheless - remember "Get Ready?") came with some of the other worship singers from church and sang a special Happy Birthday to Sandy.

He has an amazing voice! Like buttah. He's started a new band - you can check out a cool promo piece here on You Tube. That was a really nice party and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
 

Dabar, his wife, is one of my friends at church. Just love her. She's a little fireball! Very beautiful too. Just read their web site and learned two of their sons are professional baseball players. How cool! Their daughter is special college player too. Sorry, just had to share because I'm so proud of them all.

Back to the Emmy's. Listening to it more than watching. Was shocked to see good 'ole publicity hound Mayor Villaraigosa having the balls to be there (with what looked like his mistress, but I haven't been following his gossip so not sure.) Just sick of seeing his face EVERYWHERE!

Just had a thought. If he's divorcing the woman who gave him the last part of his name is he now going to be only known as Villa? Just kidding. Although I hope it happens. He needs to have something cut off - right ladies? Just kidding. LOL!!!!

He's becoming a little like Ryan Seacrest. OVER EXPOSED! Need I repeat it again? OVER EXPOSED! :) Ryan, you really need to take a chill pill and give someone else a chance of hosting on TV. I guess you're trying to take over Dick Clark's role, eh? I think the reason I can't watch tonight is because of Ryan. Too smug, too full of himself, just thinks he's God's gift to the world! OY VEY!

And just learned more news on O.J. Simpson's debacle after the show. Maybe this time he'll see some jail time. What an idiot!

Anyway, hope you're having fun whatever you're doing. I'm enjoying being home and playing around with my new Facebook profile. For my TripAdvisor map, my Dad just told me all the cities we've traveled  in South America as a family when we were very young. (Check it out Grace - pretty fun memories!)

Tomorrow Dad & I will figure out our travels in Africa. See ya.

9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life and other thoughts...

By Joy A. Kennelly

Sometimes you just need a good friend to tell it like it is and remind you that God is in control, not you. I keep saying I'm turning my life over to His will and His leading in my life, but deep down inside I keep thinking that means I'll still get to play in Hollywood with all my friends I've known for years and years.

Not so. I was reminded tonight by my good friend that when one door closes, another opens. Right now it seems like God is closing the door for me to do more personal publicity for actors and it's very sad to me. I LOVE that kind of work. I love helping people brand themselves and create business and opportunities from that identity.

I LOVE IT! It makes me very happy and I think I'm good at it. Others do too, but they can't afford my services (at least the ones I'm meeting. Maybe I need to meet more better ones. Ya think?)

For whatever reason though, it's just not happening right now and I have to accept that fact as a fact and stop living in denial. Maybe I'll go back to doing it down the road, but for now... Not happening. I'm beginning to realize I don't really know what God wants for my life anymore.

That's why my friend telling me she knows I have a gift for publicity and that maybe God wants to use my talents in representing the South Bay is a little overwhelming, but also encouraging. Maybe this is the right direction to take.

I have to admit though. When I think about living AND working down here I feel like I'm going to be bored out of my skull! What is going on at night other than bars and happy hours? Will someone please tell me? Lots of stuff to do on the weekends and during the day, but nights? WHAT IS THERE TO DO - ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE SINGLE???

Maybe I need to start planning some parties and get some events going or something. I don't know, but I do know that if I am going to stay down here I need to entertain myself. I can't deal with the thought that the highlight of my night is going to be meeting a friend of mine down at Barnes & Nobles and seeing what the latest mags are. I'll shrivel up and die! Not that there's anything wrong with it, but not all the time!

No wonder people drink so much down here. LOL. They're bored! I'm bored! Oh well. I need to stop ragging on my little home town and start doing something to make it more fun. I'm sure there's other people like me who would love to do stuff at night too.

I can only hit Java Man so often too. Love that place, but have to say, the customer service with some of the guys working there has gotten kind of bad. I don't know why. I'm not tipping any different than I have in the past. I am ordering the same stuff. I don't know. Just an fyi, mr. owner guy. Especially the Sunday closing crew. What's up their butt?

I was so bored I threw an impromptu night BBQ on Tuesday and all nine people I invited showed up. That was with two hours notice. I think they're bored too. This community needs something pulling the singles and those without children of the town together outside of bars. Just a thought.

I'm tired. Just felt like blogging. It's been awhile because I've been busy and other stuff taking up my time, but I miss sharing. Maybe it's a little too personal, but I always hope that perhaps other people will relate to what I've written and will be comforted or encouraged to know they're not alone feeling the way they do.

One of the things the former shrink from the Women of Faith conference I attended last weekend said is, "When we reveal, then we heal." (This was a very fun conference, but kind of Christian lite so you had to be there which is why I'm not covering it. Check out the link for more details. It's good, just not what I expected. Laughed a lot though!)

Back to my original thought - "When we reveal, we heal." I know, trite phrase, but it was also echoed in this book I bought that weekend by Christian clinical psychologist, Dr. Henry Cloud, entitled 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life.

I kept trying to read bits and pieces of the book over the breaks because it had such an intriguing title and he's such a great author on numerous topics. I almost didn't get it because I still have a gift card from the women's retreat I attended and was going to get it later, but then I read his counseling of an overweight patient about how to effectively lose weight - one pound at a time, one week at a time (more details in the book - read it! It's really great. This is my 2nd time reading it now.) which was a concept I hadn't really grasped because I'm the "I want it now and if I can't have it right now why bother" type person.

However, that idea really resonated with me and since reading the book I've joined a gym again. Time to hit the ground running so to speak. Maybe I'll eat more salads now too. Maybe Weight Watchers is next? Who knows? :)

Back to the book though, I digress. What Dr. Cloud explains is that there are 9 certain traits and characteristics of successful people that he was able to analyze after meeting so many "de ja vu" people.
He calls them that because he kept meeting people who reminded him of other people and he thought maybe he'd met them before because there were so many similarities, but then he realized these people all addressed life in the same successful  way. That's the genesis of the book. I highly, highly recommend it. It's easy to read, lots of examples with real people not celebrities which would make you think you can't attain that life, and very informative.

There's a little study guide that goes along with it and if you bought the two together at the conference I was attending you got a discount - I bought both.:) Now I'm starting to read the daily step by step guide to changing your life in 30 days. It's very scriptural so if that's not your thing don't bother. But if you are interested in hearing God's perspective on you and your dreams, then get it. I'm enjoying reading it too.

Speaking of goal setting... A few of my friends and I are going to start the Goal Gals back up again real soon. (It's something I created back in the mid-90's which my friend Cynthia named when she was part of it where I get groups of people together to accomplish goals in three month increments.)

I'm excited about starting again because I always get so much support in groups like this and accomplish so much more than I would by myself. It's a good time to start too because pretty soon I'm going to be very busy again. I'm very excited that my producer/writer/mentor friend, Marcia, is going to help me create my adoption doc because I'm just way too close to be objective. Should be interesting...at least I hope!

I'm also looking forward to taking Chris Howard's seminar again next weekend. He takes everything that's taught on goal setting and just kicks it up to a whole other level. I was so inspired last time I attended can't wait to attend this one. I think you can still sign up for free. Check it out. If you're a conference attender like I am!:)

I'm still loving working with my artist client, Gali Rotstein. She's creating some really cool new art pieces and is busy in the studio. I'm busy pitching her to more and more galleries. We have some pending, but until things are confirmed I can't really discuss them here. Just know as soon as we know, you will know. There's also a very cool women's magazine (one of my favorites actually) interested in her story too and if I get her that hit, it will be major! Say a prayer!:)

Otherwise, wrapped the car gig last week (although they're not done, but I was - HA HA) and have been busy catching up on things this week as a result. I don't know how people work 9am - 5pm. I really don't. It's so machine like. But the money's nice I guess. However, according to my Henry Cloud book, it's more important to do something that makes your heart sing.

So, I'm off to read more and learn what's going to make my heart sing! Have a good one all.

Don't be a stranger.

Enjoy the read.

Here's an update on my friend's Heinz 57 spot - great news!

Hi Joy,

Thanks for spreading the word.

Believe it or not, our Heinz commercial spot is the Lead Story of The
 Daily Breeze Newspaper. The online version can be found here:

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/9559417.html

Click for the full story of how we came to use the infamous "Pitcher
 House Bar" as the location for filming. (Isn't it ironic that a HB bar that caused trouble 
has done something nice for some filmmakers. Restores my faith in humanity.:) jk)

Remember to daily vote for "Heinz Sight" until September 10th at:

http://www.topthistv.com/vote.aspx

Many thanks!

Kelly

Happy Labor Day Everyone!

Isn't this the best weekend? I've been to the beach today and now have one more day too tomorrow! Lovin' it!

My friend Patti drove down to join me after church and we just laid out, went swimming, read our books (I just finished The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists - more on that later - oy vey!) and ate good Mexican at El Gringo (2nd visit there this weekend!)

I love going to the beach with Patti because she's one of my few female friends who loves the ocean as much as I do. We were swimming far out (I was farther because I try to swim to the end of the pier and back) and all of a sudden Patti says, "Joy, there's a sea lion."

I screamed when I looked over and saw it rather close and began swimming very quickly back to where she was. The guys who were swimming near by laughed out loud because it was funny how quickly I backpedaled out of there. At least it wasn't a shark, eh?

I don't know about you, but I always get the funniest sunburns. Doesn't matter how much sunscreen I put on, there's always a couple obscure spots I forget. Today my stomach has an odd round burn. Before my belly button burned. Even with 50 spf. Can't help it - I'm Irish, Finnish, German and English - I'm as white as they come!

I love going to the beach and swimming in the ocean because it bleaches out my hair naturally. However, I do have to confess I had a little help over the weekend over at Warren Tricomi.

Yes, for those of you who've been reading for awhile, that same salon I was upset with a year ago. Interesting update, the male office manager who was so rude to me is no longer there which makes such a difference. Kind of makes me wonder if I had anything to do with it, but I don't care.:)

Treat me right bucko, or buh bye. I went back because the hair salon really is one of the best places for styling. My visit this time was no exception. Nikki, my colorist, was/is amazing.

She knew exactly what to do and my hair looks so natural. I love it! I received a gift certificate from that Shade Hotel event and finally had the time to use it. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NIKKI! Go to her if you want to look natural. She's funny, smart, and very skilled.

Ok, now what you're really wanting to know. Why on earth was I reading that stupid book when it's written for men? Because I love knowing guy's psyche and knowing their "game."

Very interesting read, but definitely X-rated. Not something I recommend, but something I felt was interesting to learn. I can look back on certain men and realize they were playing me.

What I found the most interesting though is that even though all these guys ultimately learn how to seduce and sex up any woman they want, ultimately it was so empty. DUH!

Here's one of the epiphanies one of the guys had after a few years into this secret society. "I realized that I got my entire validation from women. Women became like gods to me, but false gods. So I went to find the real God." Very interesting. I think everyone has a God-shaped hole that only God can fill.

Here's some other words of advice: "There is a downside to casual sex: Sometimes it stops being casual. People develop a desire for something more. And when one person's expectations don't match the other person's, then whoever holds the highest expections suffers. There is no such thing as cheap sex. It always comes with a price." Very true.

This book makes me wonder if the party house that my reality friend had his birthday party at was the Project Hollywood house (a place where the "masters" train the recruits how to seduce women - sick I know - remember Magnolia?) because there seems to be so many similarities.

Makes me wonder if my post entitled Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave about this player guy I had been in love with which has been Googled a lot lately was being read by some of these pervs. Who knows? Who cares!? Guys, get a clue, not all women are like this book and you're only fooling yourselves.

I sure hope that house I visited wasn't that place because that would make me very sad to know this guy is going down that path. Don't do it! Turn back when you can! It was very cult-like - the "society of pick-up artists" that is. I found it fascinating to see the depravity that men will go to without the influence of God. Courtney Love lived there too though - go figure. Weird trip.

Now to do it God's way for me. We'll see what happens! For right now, I'm just enjoying life and developing good friendships. That's what it's all about for me right now.

So I better stop being rude and go back to hanging out with my friends. Just had to share because that book is, oh whatever.

Okay, that's all. Have a good one and be safe!