I really enjoy the “team approach” that is taught in school now.  When I was in college it was the “rugged individualist” theory that dominated.  As far as I can see the team approach came from the Japanese with the invasion of their automobiles.  They have proven that two heads are better than one—and three heads make the possibilities endless.  I am always the dinosaur on my team—what is PowerPoint?—but the other students are helpful and understanding and have taught me a lot of humility.

I have to say the thought of retiring—now that I will be 62 this year—has occurred to me.  Especially with health insurance costing me over $1,000 per month.  Medicare sounds like a great option.  But, what would I do.  I wasn’t allowed to work for the first 22 years of my life and I hated it.  Travel?  Write?  I can do all those things and still work.  I loved the story my good friend Suzanne Aragon told me over Christmas.  She had a couple of aunts who lived into their 100s.  The only way they knew one of them had passed away was that one day she didn’t show up for work—at 102.  That probably will be me. 

I really do love to work.  I guess it is because I do what I love.  Helping people find the flooring they like—educating them.  Recently two different sets of individuals came into Island Flooring and told me that they had been to several decorating centers and felt like they were dealing with used car salesmen.  And when the left the store they didn’t know any more than when they arrived. I tell everyone I have a responsibility to educate each client and make sure they pick the right product—I will still be here when there is a new employee at the decorating center.

I want my clients to come back again.  I have many of the products in my own home and I take people on tours of my house on a daily basis to see how those products have performed and how they look.  Sometimes I even tell them they don’t need anything new just yet!!!

2008 will be an interesting year.  But one of opportunities for those who look for them.  Thank goodness we live in this wonderful country of ours where we have options—where we have the freedom to try something new.  So celebrate the New Year—it is going to be a good one!!



BALBOA ISLAND ICONS . Doris Lee, Coldwell Banker


This past Christmas was the season to be jolly and give!  Few Icon Survivors have been more Jolly or given more of them selves despite obstacles than Joanie Cooper—especially at Christmas time.

Years of volunteer work for The Balboa Island Improvement Association, Home Decorating Committee, Tree Lighting Party and the Balboa Island Parade.  As an Official Balboa Island Photographer Joanie has filmed/narrated the parade many times. With the help of Ellie, her granddaughter, Joanie has also filmed the Christmas Home Tour—always remembering the shut ins.

Born into a typical resilient snow country (Buffalo, New York) family, Joanie’s father was one of the first New York Firemen while mom tended the home fires.  Joanie enjoyed winter sports growing up.

After high school graduation Joanie came to California seeking “fame and fortune”.  She attended Orange Coast College to be close to her first love—the ocean.  She was the 1st “P” for Pirate on the College drill team!!  “Those were the days” - living on the island with three girls for $25.00 a month!!! Going to the Jolly Roger, Winter Students, Fishermen, folks from Pasadena and San Marino vacationing here.

Joanie became a stewardess in 1959 for Eastern Airlines for the New York—Miami route and then returned to Balboa Island in 1968.  She was a Emergency Room Nurse for 10 years at Saddleback-Hoag Hospital and then a cruise ship nurse on the “Loveboat”.  Next it was real estate on Balboa Island—Joanie sold a Bayfront home the first day and said, “That was easy!” It was a year and half before she sold another house—Joanie laughed it off as usual!!!

Joanie has a love of cats and plants—she had “Cats Catnip Patch Happy Hours” at her Island Home.  She hopes generations love our Island and keep the traditions as she has been proud to do.  Joanie was thrilled to be honored by the BIIA with a recognition award this past Christmas when she was asked to light our Christmas tree.  Joanie is truly “Island Christmas”.
Would you like to be saluted as a Balboa Island ICON—please call Doris Lee @949.280.0607 or e-mail dorislee@coldwell banker.com.


AS THE SEASONS CHANGE; PART TWO . . . . Faith Bowlus

At the mountain cabin I write again:

“Our winter visits here are not without challenge. We arrive with fingers crossed that perhaps this time there won’t be a burst pipe.

We always remember our White Christmas of 1969. We arrived in the midst of a snow storm just meant for Christmas Day. Standing outdoors in a foot of fluff, enraptured at the wonder of it all, I was lost in a trance.

Just then, from the cabin, I heard a call from our fourteen year old Eric: “A pipe has burst!”. Yanked back to the world of nitty- gritty, I
joined the family indoors, where Don had just managed to patch the hole in the pipe with duct tape. This emergency measure allowed at least a trickle of water to dribble from the bathroom faucet.

We could get no water from the frozen kitchen plumbing. It was obvious that the bathroom trickle was to supply all our water needs, including the filling of the toilet tank. This would have been okay. We were used to roughing it. But a couple of hours later, Eric came down with stomach flu. He was sick throughout the night.

Well----I don’t remember much more about that trip, except that I did make a point of going out into the dark outdoors after dinner and again marveling at the beauty of that Christmas evening.”



SO THAT’s WHAT THEY TEACH AT DUKE!
Don’t want to get up to get that beer?  Now you don’t have to.  John Cornwell, a 22 year-old-Duke graduate, has invented the first beer-launching fridge.  It will toss cans 15 feet and it even rotates left and right. 
There’s one problem:  “The more beers you’ve had,” explains Cornwell, who’s already put a 12-ounce dent in his wall, “the greater the chance of you getting conked in the head.” (From Parade Magazine, Sunday December 30, 2007)