GaGa Sisterhood
January 2013
GaGazine Contents
2013 Calendar
Please Forward the GaGazine
February 10 Special Event
Conscious Grandmothering
GRAND Magazine Subscription
Endive Orange Roquefort Salad
Longevity and Empowered Aging
Message to Newtown, CT Families
My Book Is on Amazon
GaGa Sisterhood in the News
Programs for 2013
The GaGa Zone
Quick Links
2013 Calendar  

Date       Host                       Presenter
Mar 10   Ann Hagedorn        Barbara Graham
May 5     Sandy Deagman    Beth Miller
July 14   Sandi Dolmatch      Member Mixer
Sept 8    Helena Wood         The Grammie Guide
Nov 3     Michele Sartain      Francine Toder  
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February 10 Special Event 

Do your grandchildren sometimes frustrate and frazzle you? Would you like to stop temper tantrums, whining and arguing, and enjoy calmness instead of chaos?

On February 10, GaGa Janada Clark, MA, is offering a free seminar, Grandparenting 101: Calm the Chaos. Janada is a certified Love and Logic instructor who has taught parent education and owned a daycare for 15 years.

Janada is offering this free seminar to our GaGa Sisterhood to help us learn strategies that boost cooperation and respect from our grandchildren. To register, visit her website: www.janadaclark.com

In addition, Janada will offer a 4-week Love and Logic class series for grandparents on the following Sundays: 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, 4/28 from 1:30 - 3:30 pm. The cost is $150 and includes a workbook, weekly handouts, email updates and use of her lending library of Love and Logic DVDs and CDs. The tools taught in her class are appropriate to use with any aged child tots to teens. For more information, contact Janada: [email protected]

Conscious Grandmothering 
 
What is it like for you to be a grandmother? Would you like to connect with other grandmothers and explore what you can accomplish with their support?

Two years ago, I took Yeshi Neumann's Conscious Grandmothering workshop and found it very inspiring. On February 22 - 24, she'll be offering Conscious Grandmothering at Esalen .

In her workshop, you'll develop practical skills for effective communication among the generations; explore the challenge of aging in a society that underestimates elders' contributions; and create a ceremony to celebrate the rite of passage to conscious grandmothering. For details contact Yeshi at  www.mindfulfamilycircles.com
 
 GRAND Magazine Subscription

Grand Magazine

GRAND Magazine is giving away complimentary ($19.95 value) subscriptions to our GaGa Sisterhood readers. Here is the easy link that provides instant access to the current issue plus each new bi-monthly issue will be delivered directly to your email address.

 

Endive Orange Roquefort Salad 

     

Endive Salad

  

I could eat salad for every meal! When I spotted this easy and tasty recipe by Ina Garten, I knew it was destined to become a favorite.  

  

Ingredients

For the vinaigrette: 

� tsp. grated orange zest

� cup freshly squeezed orange juice

� cup good olive oil

1 tsp. white wine vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  

For the salad:

2 heads Belgian endive

� cup walnut halves, toasted (see recipe)

4 ounces Roquefort or Danish blue cheese, �-inch-diced  

1 sweet red apple, unpeeled, cored and medium-diced

4 ounces baby arugula

1 orange 

 

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the orange zest, orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, 1 tsp. salt and 1/3 tsp. pepper. Set aside.

2. Toast the walnuts in a dry saut� pan over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Cut the heads of endive in half lengthwise, remove the triangle of core at the base of each half so the leaves separate, and cut the leaves in half again lengthwise.
4. Place in a large bowl. Drizzle the leaves with the vinaigrette and add the walnuts, Roquefort and apple.
5. Add the arugula and toss.
6. Zest the orange into the salad. Peel the orange and remove the white pith around the orange with a small sharp knife. Cut the orange sections between the membranes and toss them on the salad.  

7. Sprinkle with salt and serve.


You can make the vinaigrette ahead, refrigerate it and assemble the salad just before serving
.
 
Donne
Greetings! 

On January 13, I had an "all GaGa day!" I started my morning with an invigorating yoga class taught by GaGa Heidi Feldman who donates her class fees to Abilities United, where she serves as their Board President.

I spent the afternoon with 33 GaGas at our meeting, listening to an excellent presentation by GaGa Irene Madrid on longevity and empowered aging.

After our meeting, I had dinner with Lynne Noel, Jan Eby, and Laurie Mobilio, three of the four authors of The Grammie Guide. I'm certain we could have gone on talking all night except that our waiter kept hovering around our table to see when we were going to pay our bill! Thanks to GaGa Carol Woodard's introduction, I'm delighted to report that the four authors will be our speakers for our September 8 meeting, which is National Grandparents Day.

When we finally cleared out of our booth, I stopped to chat with three more GaGas who were sitting at the booth next to us. Thirty minutes later that same waiter started hovering again. So we took the hint and cleared out.

By the time I got home, I was so wound up from all that phenomenal GaGa energy, I didn't fall asleep until after midnight. What a great way to begin the New Year! I feel blessed to have so many energetic and interesting grandmas in my life.

Happy New Year,

SigColor

Longevity and Empowered Aging

 

Irene Madrid
Irene Madrid
Irene Madrid is one vibrant, powerhouse GaGa! Her seven grandchildren call her Lita and pop into her house all the time - five live next door. She co-founded three La Petite Baleen swim schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and has taught over 6,000 children to swim.

In 1950, her father built a swimming pool in their backyard. She and her four siblings had to swim laps that equaled their age. He also installed a chin up bar in their kitchen so they could keep fit.

Irene got the fitness bug early and used to come home from school to watch Jack Lalanne. She's skied for 55 years, walks, and does Pilates. Equally important she eats healthy and understands that there's a strong connection between the body and the mind.

Irene's Tips for Longevity
1. Advice from Cheat The Clock: How New Science Can Help You Look and Feel Younger author Margaret Webb Pressler: Don't diet or you'll probably fall off the wagon. Think healthy lifestyle. By making the right small changes you can make a big difference in how young you look and feel over many years. When preparing meals, divide your plate into � salad, � complex carbohydrates, and � protein.
2. Exercise lowers your blood sugar. Aerobic exercise 3 times a  week is considered maintenance, while 4 to 5 times will give you better results. Exercise with a partner and cross train by varying your workouts. Swimming provides an excellent cardiovascular workout, builds the immune system and increases lung capacity.
3. Read the labels on food and stick to those with only 5 ingredients. Almond milk is an excellent substitute for dairy milk because it has the same amount of calcium but less sugar.
4. We can learn from the research by Dr. Mario Martinez on healthy centenarians: the #1 trait that they all shared was breaking bread with family and friends.
5. To download a copy of Irene's bibliography, click here.

GaGa Tips for Healthy Living
For our introductions, I asked each GaGa to share her best tip for healthy living. Here are some of my favorites:
  • Vary your exercise and try something new
  • Find an exercise buddy
  • Snack on healthy food every 3 - 4 hours
  • Eat breakfast everyday and make sure it includes protein
  • Wash your hands frequently
  • Do some core strength training
  • Dance - ballroom, Zumba, Salsa
  • Try tai chi - it's not just for old people
  • If you don't like to exercise, try gardening or cleaning your house
Message to Newtown, CT Families

A week after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, I received a card from GaGa Diana Brady asking if we could "pull something together for an offering of healing support for those closely affected by the recent horror. I'm sure we can combine all our hearts to add to the country's outpouring of kindness."

Diana is a very creative and caring woman who had a detailed vision of what she wanted to create. She imagined all those heartbroken siblings, parents, friends and grandparents, and wanted to help in the tiniest way, by easing a heart that just can't heal, for just one softer moment. She felt that our specially bonded group could try to say something to them.

She found a beautiful card with a photograph of a rose sprinkled with dew drops and cut three paper inserts for all of us to sign. At the meeting we passed around the inserts and every GaGa wrote a heartfelt message to the families. I'm grateful for Diana's thoughtful action. She gave us all an opportunity to express our prayers and sympathy to the families who are grieving.
 My Book Is Available on Amazon

Donne's Book cover My book, When Being a Grandma Isn't So Grand: 4 Keys to L.O.V.E. Your Grandchild's Parents is available on Amazon for $7.50. Buy the ebook on Barnes & Noble for $5.99.

 

Listening to grandmas talk about some of their challenges inspired me to write a practical guide on how to deal with some of the most common ones:
  • Understanding today's modern parenting methods
  • Building satisfying relationships with your grandchild's parents
  • Coping with feelings of being unappreciated or left out  

We all know that parenting and grandparenting present challenges. When Being a Grandma Isn't So Grand: 4 Keys to L.O.V.E. Your Grandchild's Parents addresses some of those challenges and can be a starting point for helping you explore solutions for handling them.

GaGa Sisterhood in the News

On Sunday, January 6, the San Jose Mercury News featured a wonderful article about the GaGa Sisterhood. The response was incredible and confirmed my belief that grandmas want to connect with each other to share their wisdom and stories.

I have a new writing gig for the Huffington Post. Here's my first post: Grandparents and Grandchildren Share a Common Ally.

 

Programs for Our 2013 Meetings

Our program committee met and we now have all of our programs set for this year so be sure to mark your calendar for these dates.
    
March 10, 2013  
Barbara Graham, author and editor of Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother, recently moved from Washington, DC to the San Francisco Bay Area to be closer to her granddaughters. "What will be uppermost in my mind is going from being a long-distance Nana to one who is up close and personal, and suddenly living amid three other grandparents."  

 

May 5, 2013 

Beth Miller, Ph.D., psychotherapist, author of The Woman's Book of Resilience: 12 Qualities to Cultivate, and grandma of 5 grandsons has been studying, teaching and living the qualities of resilience for over twenty years. She'll talk about finding strength and resilience no matter what is happening in your life and in your world.  


July 14, 2013
  Who Are You When You're Not Grandma? will be an interactive meeting where we get to know each other and talk about some of the other "hats" we wear.

September 8, 2013 To celebrate National Grandparents Day, authors Jan Eby, Laurie Mobilio, Lynne Noel, and Cindy Summers will share some of their tricks of the grammie trade from their new book, The Grammie Guide.

November 3, 2013 Francine Toder, Ph.D., author and psychotherapist, will discuss her new book, The Vintage Years: Finding Your Inner Artist (Writer, Musician, Visual Artist) After Sixty.

The GaGa Zone   
Please continue sending me pictures and stories of you with your grandchildren for the GaGa Zone.
Charlotte and Elliot
GaGa Judy H. has a new grandson, Elliot, who's receiving a birthday kiss from his big sister, Charlotte.