Monday, March 19, 2007

Interesting Party Idea

Yesterday, I was asked to provide Astrology mini-readings at a birthday party for a 10 year old girl.

The party was lots of fun. Afterwards, the girls crowded around my laptop wanting to see their charts again and asking me lots of questions.

The party was held at a place called Fill-A-Pillow in Haverford, PA. Fill-A-Pillow hosts parties for both adults and kids. Guests get to create and take home their own pillow. They can choose from a wide array of fabrics and add-ons to make something unique.

And the finished products looked wonderful and professionally done. Their website is www.fillapillow.com

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Thursday, February 22, 2007

A Simple Planning Trick

One of the women in my Toastmaster's group gave a talk on the way she went about planning for her wedding.

The heart of her planning resided in a plain loose leaf binder. Here is where she stored magazine articles, brochures and contracts from vendors, fabric samples and all sorts of stuff that can easily get overwhelming.

She used separators to organize the binder into sections. One for venues, one for caterers, etc.

By having everything in one location, she found it much easier to manage a process that can quickly get out of control.

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Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Christmas in January

For years I have suggested to corporate clients that they schedule their holiday parties in January.

In many industries such as retail and insurance, December is a very busy time for business. On top of that is the normal holiday whirl that employees find themselves in their personal lives. Another December event is the last thing that such people welcome.

Plus, if you plan your holiday festivities in January, you will enjoy lower rates and a greater selection and availability of services.
After all, December is a peak season for those in the special events industry and, at least in the northeastern US, January is much more relaxed.

So I was pleased to see some companies are seeing it the same way. Siemans, Comcast and Villanova University are three that come to mind.

Thus far, the month has been unseasonably warm. This has proved to be a boon to those with the luck and foresight to plan ahead.

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Saturday, November 18, 2006

Party time!

Friday, Venus entered Sagittarius, soon to be followed by the Sun, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury, in that order.

The period of the year when the Sun travels through Sagittarius, the last week of November through the 3rd week of December, coincides with the holiday party season. It begins by Thanksgiving on one end and ends with the Winter Solstice.

As planets travel out of somber Scorpio to cheery Sag, our spirits lift. And before we know it we'll be caught up in the holiday marketing madness.

For us at Faces and Fortunes, it is a time full of holiday parties. As the month progresses I look forwrd to telling you about some of my favorites.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Libra: Your Partner and the Sake Cup

Now that the Sun is traveling through Libra, this bonus article will describe how this energy works and tells you how to use it.

Warm regards,
Ellen Zucker

Libra: Your Partner and the Sake Cup

By Ellen Zucker

I’m told of a Japanese custom that sums up the spirit of Libra.

When you dine with a partner in a Japanese restaurant, you are not to fill your sake cup when it is empty. Instead, your partner fills it for you and you, in turn, fill his.

You work with the cooperation of others to accomplish your goals. And likewise, you cooperate with others to help them accomplish their goals. Libra would tell us if we did that there would be no room for aggression and strife: Utopia!

We use Virgo’s energy to polish and refine our raw creativity. But then our skills must find an application. We need other people to work with and to work for.

The Sun enters Libra at the autumn equinox, a time when daylight and darkness are perfectly balanced. Balance is the purpose of The Scales, Libra’s symbol, and balance is the goal of Libran people. We keep adding and subtracting from both sides until both sides are equally balanced.

The lengthy process of weighing two sides until equally balanced is responsible for Libra's much publicized difficulty in decision making. Libra must remember that making no decision is itself a decision.

Nonetheless, balance is critical in our healthy functioning. We do not function well when our bodies are out of balance. We suffer when our lives are out of balance.

When energy is in balance, there is an easy flow. The Tarot is a big fan of balance. There are many cards that speak to the desirability of balance. Some examples: Temperance, The Lovers, and all of the cards with the numeral two.

Harmony is the byproduct of balance. And with harmony comes beauty. A fine sense of style, taste, and design is a gift for those in whom Libra’s energy is strong. And so you find many Libran designers of all types.

Beauty is nothing more than the harmonious placement of shapes, color, and texture. When we call a person’s face beautiful we mean that the face’s shape and its features are classical. They blend together. Features are even, neither too large nor too small. Balanced. Beautiful.

Likewise a beautifully decorated room has a pleasing mix of shape and color.

While balance, or more specifically, inner harmony is important for all of us, it is critical to the proper functioning of Libra. Librans use the refinement of outer harmony as a way to generate inner harmony, their ultimate goal.

Libra is a cardinal sign. It initiates action. Like the partner in the Japanese restaurant it does so working with and through others. And so it excels in areas that require excellent people skills such as counseling, teaching, mediation and diplomacy.

Libra often sees itself as one half of the scales, needing another half to give it completion. People with a great deal of Libran energy put a particular value on one-to-one partnerships. And so Libra is associated with marriage.

Too often, Libra is so concerned about keeping the peace that it doesn’t properly take care of its own needs. The charming Japanese custom doesn’t work unless your guest pours sake into your empty cup as well.

If a Libran has too much difficulty getting his own needs met, he may resort to less than pleasing, indirect means. The term passive-aggression was created to describe frustrated Librans.

Sometimes a beautiful façade masks a rotten interior. And, too often, Librans think appearances are everything. But there is a remedy for this. It is called Scorpio.

© 2006 Ellen M. Zucker

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Face-to-face Tarot readings

Well, those Gemini planets are cooking! It seems,
at least around here, that all kinds of possibilities
have been presenting themselves.

Here is one that I am excited to tell you about.

A rare opportunity presented itself where I can
offer face-to-face Tarot readings outside of a
party environment.

On Sunday, June 4, I will be upstairs in a private
room at the lovely home of Kennerly Clay from
3 to 5pm giving face-to-face Tarot readings.

Up to now, anyone who wanted a face-to-face
Tarot reading from me had to book me to
entertain at their party. Or wangle an invitation
to someone else's party where I was scheduled
to perform.

And then, because of the constraints of the
party environment, readings are short -
no more than 5 to 10 minutes long.

But here, there will be no DJ, no distractions.

Just you and me.

The only activity going on will be downstairs
where Kennerly will introduce her cool
nutritional products. They are designed
to help you decrease the free radicals
in your system that are linked to premature
aging and so many other problems.

But there is absolutely no obligation for you
to buy - or even listen to the demonstration -
unless you want to. All you need do, is go
upstairs at the time of your appointment.

There are a limited number of 20 minute
openings.

Pre-registration is required.

Each slot is $45 each. Kennerly's home is
located at 2332 Catherine Street in Philadelphia
and lots of street parking is available.

To arrange your appointment, call Kennerly
now at 215 732 5704.

I look forward to seeing you on June 4th.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Your Astrological Update

Going to the beach to take a swim in the ocean is a lovely idea. But wouldn't you want to know what the current is like? Will you face a riptide? Or a gentle flow of water that takes you to the place you want to go?

An experienced ocean swimmer knows not to swim against a strong current. It wastes too much precious energy. Instead, she swims across it until she finds calmer waters.

This is no less true with our celestial currents.

Find out where the celestial currents are and how to navigate them. The Celestial Currents newsletter gives you a weekly heads up, so you can use your time and energy wisely, and find the current that will gently float you to your destination.

Subscribe to the RSS feed or the email newsletter at http://www.celestialcurrents.com

Monday, September 26, 2005

Catching my breath

What a whirlwind this month has been. I'm feeling like a marathon runner.

This past Thursday, I provided caricature drawings at the B.F. Molz 30th Anniversary Open House. Friday, it was La Salle University to entertain students staying in campus for the weekend.

Saturday, I read Tarot cards at Paige's Sweet 16. Her parents planned it as a surprise. Given that they had inflatables in their back yard, keeping the event quiet was quite an accomplishment.

Sunday, there were two events. The first, entertaining charter guests on the Spirit of Philadelphia and, later, Keyspan Inc's Casino Night at a real Atlantic City casino as part of a two day offsite retreat for its staff.

I have more news and tips to share in coming days.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Katrina Survivors - Information pages posted by the Federal Government

There is a great deal of information on the U.S. Government's General services Administration's Hurricane Katrina Recovery page
(http://www.firstgov.gov/Citizen/Topics/PublicSafety/Hurricane_Katrina_Recovery.shtml)

It has links to:
Disaster Assistance for Victims
State Disaster Information (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi)
Agencies Accepting Donations for Victims
and additional disaster resources

You can find additional information on Hurricane Katrina in
the Office of Citizen Service's FAQ database (http://answers.firstgov.gov/)

For practical tips on preparing for emergency situations,
refer to the Citizen Guide to Disaster Preparedness,
(http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/family/citizenguide/citizenguide.htm)
produced by the Office of Citizen Services with information
prvided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
For the immediate future, information will also be
available 24/7 in English and Spanish by calling
1 (800) FED-INFO.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

It's just party entertainment. So, why a Contract?

A client, new to the task of planning an event, called me to ask why I required a deposit and a contract to perform for his small at-home event.

The answer? Contracts and deposits not only protect your vendor, but they protect you, too.

The practice of asking for a signed contract secured by a deposit ties both of you to your date.

Vendors like the practice so they are not left holding the bag so that if you back out, he doesn't have a sudden hole in his schedule when he would be otherwise booked. After all, once you give a firm order, the vendor turns away other clients.

By the same token, with a secured contract in place, the vendor is bound to honor your date even if a more attractive opportunity comes in.

A added benefit is that a well drafted contract spells out the terms to which you've both agreed. So you have a written record for ready reference to answer questions and clear possible confusion.