MARDI GRAS COSTUME BALL AND VALENTINE'S DAY CELEBRATIONS

Dreams in the making…

What does Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras have in common you ask? Read on to find out!

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine.

Gradually, February 14 became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. The date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers. There was often a social gathering or a ball.

Mardi Gras, also known as "fat Tuesday," this pre-Lenten festival is celebrated in Roman Catholic countries and communities. In a strict sense, Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday, is celebrated by the French as the last of the three days of Shrovetide and is a time of preparation immediately before Ash Wednesday and the start of the fast of Lent. Mardi Gras is thus the last opportunity for merrymaking and indulgence in food and drink. In practice, the festival is generally celebrated for one full week before Lent. Mardi Gras is marked by spectacular parades featuring floats, pageants, elaborate costumes, masked balls, and people dancing in the streets.

There’s a lot of rich tradition, history, and religious significance surrounding the customs of Mardi Gras. There’s also a lot of fun. While there’s really no way to experience the parades, the festivities, and the cooler weather during this part of the year, we at least have one small way to experience Mardi Gras and that’s king cake.

This year, in Northern California a new tradition is formed and history will be made as Sierra Mountain Productions presents “Mardi Gras Costume Ball Valentine’s Day Celebration”. Held in an exclusive estate nestled among ancient oaks and green rolling hills in a romantic private setting history will be made and you can be a part of it! This night promises to be a night that will be a marker for all future Mardi Gras or Valentine’s Day events. Imagine the ambiance of a private estate, exquisite decorations, tables set with linens and flowers, candles glowing, corks popping against original New Orlean’s Jazz sounds wafting through the rafters.

Captivate your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day and join us in celebration for this exclusive and unforgettable event!


© Cynthia Stewart

REBECCA, BUMBLEBEES, AND BELIEF

What can a bumblebee teach you about the relationship between your inner potential and your beliefs? Everything!

Yesterday was Father’s Day and I spent the day with four of my five children and friends on a beautiful river outside of Nevada City, California. It was a gorgeous place deep in a gorge, trees reaching up toward the heavens and the calming sound of the river as it dipped and curved around the granite rock outcroppings. The river was clean and cool and filled with wonderful swimming holes much to the delight of my children (and me!)

I watched my youngest daughter as she attempted to swim, unaided, for the first time in her life. Rebecca tried over and over again to keep her little body above the water as she kicked her little legs and moved her arms as fast as she could. But time and time again she would stop as she became afraid that she might sink. After explaining to her that as she was swimming in water that came up to her chest and that she could put her feet down and stand up anytime she needed to, therefore she need not be afraid. Suddenly her confidence level rose as she began to believe that she was safe and she began to experience more and more success until we had to literally pluck her, blue lips and all, from the water!

While watching my daughter in the river I was reminded once again how we limit our potential by our expectations and beliefs. We get out of life what we expect to get, what we believe is possible, what we think we deserve… and often those expectations and beliefs are the very things that are limiting our success, or our ability to really enjoy life.

When Rebecca thought of the possibility of sinking under the water, she allowed her fears and expectations to keep her from even trying to swim. After all, she wasn’t a fish! She had legs that were meant to walk on the firm surface of the earth, not fins that were meant to move around in the water… or so she believed. Until she changed her belief, she was unable to swim.

This reminds me of a story I once read about the bumblebee. Some time ago, aeronautical engineers studied the bumblebee. They measured its wingspan, computed its body weight, scrutinized its oversize fuselage, and concluded that there was no rational reason why a bumblebee can take off or land safely.

See, the bumblebee doesn't know this. It doesn't know that its wingspan is too short, or that its fuselage is too heavy to sustain flight. So the bumblebee flies anyway.

I've got hundreds of true stories about people who have done amazing things because they didn't know they weren't supposed to be able to do them. And I know hundreds of stories about people who didn't do wonderful things because they had it in their heads that they couldn't.

You see belief puts a lid on your potential. Your beliefs are what determine what you can do in this life. It's not your gender or your intelligence or your personal wealth or your parents or your age or your race or your looks or anything else.

So, if you change your beliefs about what is possible for you, you automatically change your performance to match. And when you change your beliefs and your performance, all sorts of wonderful surprises are in store for you. So spread your wings and fly! Anything is possible!

© Cynthia Stewart