Go Wild! Go GREAT! The Journey from Now to WOWTM

Hearst Castle: A Blueprint in Creative Partnership

While facilitating a YPO Leadership Session at the Alisal Ranch in California last month, I decided to take a field trip to see for myself, the creative partnership between one of the world's most powerful men and one of the most acclaimed architects.   Let's salute , in an age when some are still unbelievably questioning in the United States,  if the time is right to have any woman in the White House.... That the year is 1927 and the architect partner represents female brilliance at it's finest:  Architect, Julia Morgan .  I loved watching the silent films that captured the quiet conversations held between the shy and unassuming Morgan and the larger than life Hearst , walking the property and making changes on the blueprints.  There were many.

The creative duo dug up and did the pool a few times before they got it right and I couldn't help but think as I watched the films , that  Julia must have had extreme patience with the "Chief's prerogative to change his mind" and adjust her breathtaking designs many times over.

It almost impossible to describe Hearst Castle, a 165-room Moorish design with 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways, furnished with Spanish and Italian antiques and art, flanked by three large guest houses. In its heyday, Hearst Castle had a zoo, tennis courts and two magnificent swimming pools.  It is a must see as part of American history and if you are visiting the area of  San Simeone, California, be sure to write for tour tickets months in advance.  One does just not casually walk into the castle!

Like her mentor, Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan was an eclectic architect who worked in a variety of styles. She was known for her painstaking craftsmanship and for designing interiors that incorporated the owners' collections of art and antiques.    Like any great designer, architect, or business owner, Morgan  knew it was never about her.  It was always about what her client "The Chief wanted"

Creative Partnership requires the ability to blend different points of view and maximize the strengths of each party.  It requires not just visualizing a dream but listening to the heartbeat of the Chief, otherwise known as the customer.It took them 28 years to complete the dream .

www.gowildgogreat.co

 

Xandari Coast Rica---A Gift at the Sea

The waves echo behind me.  Patience, Faith, Openness, is what the sea has to teach.  Simplicity, Solitude, Intermittency.  But there are more shells to find.  This is only the beginning"

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"Gift from the Sea"

It was perhaps the "SECRET" that led me to discover a hidden paradise in the mountains of Costa Rica several years ago, created and designed by California architect, Sherrill Broudy and his talented, artist, wife Charlene.  I had purchased Charlene's art at a Charity Auction in Costa Rica and wanted to know more about this incredible local artist who had created a tapestry that moved me in a profound and mysterious way. So I sought her out on the internet and discovered that this incredibly artistic couple had together created a luxury, boutique hotel and tropical paradise, that my husband and I almost dared not tell others-should the "secret" somehow spoil our secret jewel. Xandari became our Valentine's Getaway and number one recommendations for friends and clients who wanted that "perfect villa experience in Costa Rica"

Little did we know it was only the beginning.  We have  just returned from the recently opened Xandari by the Pacific-- already rated one of the 100 most romantic hotels in the world.

While it may be the  sea that calls your soul to Xandari, the Architecture and Art inspired by the movement of the sea, will keep you enchanted for days with colorful murals, paintings and mosaics.  With consideration for the environment, while maintaining luxury standards, Xandari by the Pacific can't help but delight couples, families and business groups!  The  incredible architecture, pools and landscaped gardens  will jaw drop even the most  discriminating travelers.  Note: Air-conditioned Villas and Wireless Internet, perfect for writing as you look out over the Pacific from your Villa, is just one reason, I will be using Xandari Pacific for Executive Coaching Sessions as well as my own writing sabbaticals.

Note:  Barry and I moved from New York City/Philadelphia.  We are World Travelers and have  lived in Costa Rica for 9 years.  Frankly, It's hard to impress us.  Take it from Locals: 

Xandari should not be missed when visiting Costa Rica.

Go Wild! Go GREAT!  Go to Costa Rica's New Gift of the Sea: Xandari.  PS:  The Broudy's care about Costa Rica, The Environment and their Community and perhaps that matters most to us.   

Pura Vida

www.gowildgogreat.com

www.retreatscostarica.com    

      

Police/Media Advisory with a Letter and a Challenge to the Thief at the Norfolk, VA Holiday Inn May 1st

Dear HT:  (Hotel Thief)     You now know me.  I feel at such a disadvantage. You have laid claim to my American passport, you have my credit cards, my drivers licenses.  (Really, couldn't you do better than a shopping spree at the Norfolk Wall mart with those cards?).  I'm a Lord and Taylor and Macy's girl myself.  You now have  my ministry identification in the event you want to officiate a marriage ceremony, death or baptism. I'm thinking you might skip that, considering your total lack of conscience in lifting my wallet while I was helping a seminar student this morning at the Norfolk Holiday Inn.   I wonder many things.  I wonder if you were you watching me when I left the hotel registration desk for 5 minutes. But perhaps more than anything,  I wonder what was the pain that motivated you to inflict such crisis  on another and your belief that somehow you were entitled to what wasn't yours, without regard to whose life you had chosen to turn upside down. 

Despite this (okay anger--we all have issues) I choose not to judge you or your circumstance.

The Cash is yours my friend---Your Prize along with those Wall mart Gift Cards and the credit cards which now have you on alert!  Woo ---Hoo! you caught me  with my guard down.  Forever security conscience and a business traveler 100 days a year, I had a  wake-up call today about the need for vigilance and hotel security.  While I will still believe the best in people and have rarely been disappointed. ( Once many years ago, I left an entire purse at a truck-stop and a truck driver tracked me down driving 100 miles to return the item, denying any reward).  You have been sent to me as a teacher.

When I discovered the loss, fortunately there were moments of compassion and response by the Holiday Inn and my office. Traveler's Advisory: This could happen anywhere and the Norfolk Holiday Inn was exceptional in their response!

So, HT:   I'm sure you  will  now sleep soundly  tonight knowing, I maneuvered enough cash from Good Samaritans to grab a potato at Wendys before moving on to my next city and having the Holiday Inn Chain and American Express come to my immediate rescue. 

I also forgive you, not knowing of the circumstances that prompted you to this desperate act.  But I will ask a small favor.  (No Hail Marys, just an act that says you're a decent human being that has fallen on hard times)  I am a resident of Costa Rica and cannot return home without a valid U.S. passport.   I teach around the country 100 days a year on leadership, customer service and yes, bringing back the spirit of compassion to both business and life.

Can we talk?  Replacing my Passport, Residency and Drivers Licenses is a Washington ordeal, that I wouldn't put Hannibal Lector through.  It could cost me days if not weeks and will prevent me from returning home to Costa Rica and numerous other consequences that I will not detail.

On Thursday May 3rd, I will be teaching at the Wingagte Inn in Fredericksburg, VA.  Send a package to my attention as Rosemary Rein, Seminar Leader. 20 Sanford Drive, Fredericksburg, VA 22406.  I'll understand if the return address is false.  These documents are of not importance to you, but mean the world to me.

What's the reward?  My friend, it's the SECRET!  Read this book.  Use my cash for heaven sake,  and you will understand that you received this message for a reason.   It's really up to you.

rosemary@gowildgogreat.com

   

   

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Prisoner at La Guardia Airport & Slam Clicking!

Enjoy the Journey.  I've always believed it.  But alas,  I'm being Tested in that belief system.  Two days and counting en route to a client in Rochester, New York and I find myself with hundreds of other travelers stranded in the biggest storm in the last 20 or so years at La Guardia Airport. 

It's true! when people get tired and things don't go according to plan, the best of their nature can be repressed by the instinct of a road warrior.  Yup, it got ugly today.  Airlines personnel stressed by the bombardments of distressed travelers, appeared less than compassionate and business travelers normally poised in the boardroom stomped around like children on a playground, forgetting that the power of negotiation is through courtesy, not aggressive demands. 

So I've been traveling for two days now, my luggage has been lost and tomorrow I know I will arrive to teach a seminar  at 8:00 a.m-- without the added confidence that a fresh change of clothes and a good night sleep can add.  However, I'm managing stress by practicing  a lesson I teach in  business and life survival:   To stop and ask yourself those critical questions during an unexpected turn of events:  1)  Is  there anything I can do to improve the situation? If not, why give it emotion and simply focus on the very NA:  next action!  2) Am I doing the very best I can at this moment with the resources I have, at this moment in time?  If the answer is yes, there is strangely, a relief from the burden that I'm to blame.

Finally those last two important questions....What have I learned from this experience and what do I have to be grateful for?

Here's my answer: I was feeling guilty when I left Costa Rica when an Airline Pilot friend of mine said Rosemary, I'm aghast.....you're a "Slam Clicker".  "What's that? " I asked. "Well,  It's what we call the crew who slams the door and clicks on the T.V verses going out with business associates to enjoy the journey."  She went on to say  "I'm shocked---You're the Go Wild Girl--always ready for an adventure".

What am I grateful for?  Slam Clicking never looked so Good!

Lessons Learned:  Focus on what you can control, not what you can't!

Enjoy the Journey and Never Feel guilty about the quiet pleasure of Slam Clicking! ...........Rosemary

      

Living Outside of the United States:

                     

Living Outside the United States:  Life as an Expat in Costa Rica in a Virtual Office

As I sit here on a pristine carribean beach in my adopted home of  Costa Rica, drinking what I consider to be the best coffee in the world, I once gain reflect on my great blessings to live amidst the wildness of mother nature.  For the past 9 years, I have joined a growing entreprenurial population who have become "Citizen of the World".  Thanks to technology and the virtual office, yes indeed you can work and live just about anywhere.

My clients have asked me why I live in Costa Rica?  How I came to the decision to live outside of the United States, while remaining a U.S. citizen?    Here is the story:

I read about living in Costa Rica over 15 years ago.    A book seemed to call my name from the bookshelves as I was taking refuge in the warmth of literature from  8 ice storms that had hit in Bucks County, Pennsylvania that year.   Heating bills were a killer.

As the song goes.....There's a place for us......  A warm country where I needed not heat or air-conditioning--"72 degrees year round in the mountain areas, a peace-loving country without an army and  warm and  friendly people "  a place where retirees and entrepreneurs were moving due to a montage of advantages from climate to tax-free earnings on a chunk of foriegn earned income when you live outside of United States,  political stability, healthcare.  There was an international community of writers, artists, executives and diplomats who by the very fact that they were there "demonstrated a creative and adventurous spirit"

I read where Costa Rica was a place where you could get a $5.00 massage.  That sealed it. " I'm so there!" Actually it was mother nature that was the best realtor.  Over 3 vacations, I fell in love with  this  magical country of incredible natural beauty,  described as the "jewel of the planet" and a "world in one country" with the biodiversity of alpine forests, pristine beaches and  deep jungle"    

For me, this means the opportunity  to live on a tropical movie set while speaking and consulting 10 days each month in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Okay, so I occassional lapse into "Gracias" and "Por Favor" in Fargo, North Dakota and when I return home to Costa Rica miss the glory of paved highway interstates and brace for our local roads----A 4 x 4 chiropractor's dream.  Still, I wouldn't have it any other way.    Yesterday as we were  cutting through thick jungle with a machete, looking for the site of our planned Carribbean retreat house,  Barry  and I broke out laughing at the contrast from our typical, tame Sundays back in the states with the New York Times.

"We're not in Kansas Anymore Dorothy" he laughed.   True enough!  However, for both of us living abroad has been a creative experience that has built our adaptability and kept us young in mind, body and spirit.   

Thank you Nature and yes, Thank you technology.  As much as I detest my tendency to be a "Crackberry", many options are now open to be a citizen of the world. Indeed, as I write this , virtual offices are up and working on beaches, ski-slopes and a world of exotic places.

I'm writing this with the help of DSL while looking at the Ocean on a secluded beach paradise

Pura Vida...Rosemary