Hula in the Coola!

It's gloomy and cold, so why not be bold?  Don't worry about moolah.  Come Hula in the Coola!

What is Hula in the Coola, you ask?  It's a holiday at the beginning of February to make us think of warmer weather when we're getting tired of winter.  Traditionally, people living in northern states ditch their coats, put on grass skirts, and go outside to hula.  Crazy, but fun.

We're going to celebrate Hula in the Coola in the library this coming February 2 for anyone interested (and I hope that will be many of you!).  Don't worry, we'll stay nice and toasty warm indoors, but we WILL be doing the hula...with a hula hoop!  If you can hula hoop for 2 minutes straight, we'll give you a free book bag.  You read that right--a FREE book bag!  And you can even ask to see your very own perch librarian hula hoop on demand.  I'm not joking.

We're doing Hula in the Coola not only to have some fun in the library, but also to promote Family Fitness Month on the base.  And in case you didn't know, hooping (as hula hooping is more commonly known) is a legitimate exercise that can burn 7 calories a minute.  That's 420 calories an hour!  Who would have thought that doing something we loved as kids is actually good for us as adults?  Even celebrities like Kelly Osbourne, Zooey Deschanel, and Michelle Obama hoop.

So, come on over to the library on Tuesday, February 2 to Hula in the Coola for Family Fitness!  Do some hooping, get a book bag, and have fun!

Your truly hooping it up at the perch.

Let's Get Personal

Now that the holidays are over, it's time to breathe a collective sigh of relief.  Even though they're a time of happiness, they're also a time of stress.  We anticipate them, plan for them, and put so much effort into them...or do we?

Christmas cards are an inevitable part of the merrymaking experience, but I was disappointed to receive a number that had not one ink mark made by a human hand.  Not a stray dot.  What I got were mass-produced photo cards--friends and relatives wearing frozen smiles with generic, non-personal greetings.  Even the return addresses on the envelopes were printed on stickers along with the recipient's address.  Sadly, the practice of sending Christmas cards has been reduced to stuffing envelopes and slapping on stickers.

In my opinion, a non-personalized Christmas card is just a step better than sending no card at all.  The message I get is, "I don't have time to send Christmas cards and I don't really have time for you."  I understand that everyone's life is busy, but in an age when Christmas is often the only time we connect with some people, shouldn't we take a moment to make that connection count?

I had roughly 40 Christmas cards to send, and I handwrote wishes in each one of them.  I also handwrote the addresses and my return address on every envelope.  I wanted the receivers of my cards to know that I took a few minutes of my time to think about them and to give them a small piece of myself.  I may not have sent all my cards out at once (I wrote them throughout the course of a week), but I gave each person something that no printer can create.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but if you want to make next year's Christmas cards personal and magical, take out a pen and start writing them.  Plan ahead and start early.  I'll bet the people receiving them will stop to take a look and appreciate the treasure in their hands.  Never underestimate the power of the pen and a human touch.

Personally yours from the perch.