LAFOLOT

For starting out, Ho Hum, my Saturday turned out to be especially silly and Smile Provoking!

Headed out to DENNYS’ for lunch. After parking and engaging my car alarm – WOOP WOOP WOOP! a car alarm (thinking it’s mine) is SCREAMING its head off. I pull the key fob out of my purse and proceed to press every button available, the alarm won’t stop. I look to see if the car lights are flashing, then realize it’s the vehicle next to mine. Then it stops. WONDERING if someone in a nearby store was messing with me?

DENNYS’ was packed, but I got a nice table. Heard the table behind me tell the server they had a birthday. When the server left, I got up (taking two SMILE Face, yellow, positive saying bookmark business cards with me) – excused myself to the 3, gray-haired ‘young folks’ sitting there – said I overheard there was a birthday? The man and woman pointed to the man on the other side of the booth. I said: ‘If you don’t mind, IT’S FREE, I’ll sing the ‘Ha Ha Happy Birthday song to you?’ They smiled in approval. I said: ‘Pay attention, the words are tricky!’ …so I went on with the ‘ha ha ha ha ha Haaa…’ At the end, the woman asked how to pronounce my last name, as she looked at it on the card. I said: ‘VERY CAREFULLY!’ She laughed out loud, saying that was funny. [I try.]

I went back to my table, and heard [from the very closely placed table of 6 college-age men & women sitting directly to my right] ‘…yeah, he was laughing in his sleep!’ I reached in my purse and whipped out a Smile Face ‘Laugh Yourself Healthy’ bookmark – gently passing it to the ‘accused laughing/dreaming guy’. They looked at me a bit cautiously. I said: ‘It’s OK, you don’t have to keep the bookmark if you don’t want to.’ – and I smiled. They kept it.

About 5 minutes later, a woman stopped at my table as she was leaving. She said: ‘You have a beautiful voice! That was lovely, what you did for his birthday!’ I smiled and thanked her for mentioning it and being so kind. She said: ‘You have an infectious smile!’ I said: ‘I want you to know how SPECIAL it was that you stopped to tell me this and I note ‘a little kindness goes a long way’ – you’ve just made my day with your kindness.’ She smiled, and her ‘daughter?’ smiled as they went up to pay their bill.

I drove up the road and beeped/waved as I passed the two CHIC-FILET fast food COW MASCOTS standing along side the road and waving at traffic.

When I got to A.C. MOORE crafts to make use of my 50% off coupon – I got in line behind a woman at the cash register. I heard the song: ‘THE TIME WARP’ [Rocky Horror Picture Show] playing on the P.A. System

I couldn’t resist. It was just at the part: ‘IT’S JUST A JUMP TO THE LEFT’
so I – JUMPED TO THE LEFT (ha ha!)

The woman in front of me turned, smiled, laughed and DID THE SAME!

PRICELESS MOMENT! We both – standing one in line behind the other, continued the ‘time warp’ dance steps as the instructions were sung in the song.
SHE WAS GOOD! She knew it perfectly! I was a beat behind, waiting for the instructions.

When it was done we had a chuckle.

This has been an ‘ESPECIALLY SILLY SATURDAY SERIES OF EVENTS!’

Now I can go about my chores for the rest of the day with a smile on my face.
… an maybe take ‘a jump to the left and a step to the right’ if I need recharged!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Living BOLD and in ITALICS!
Live Life in a-MAZE-ment!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
www.lafolot.com
ADDENDUM: forgot to add at the end of my Especially Silly Series of Events blog – posted earlier … after leaving A.C. Moore crafts – I passed an SUV in the parking lot with the glamour plate: 2NOTY4U ;o) LOL!

As I write this, my loveable, Alpha Male cat, ‘Buddy’ is happily meowing and playing with his collection of cat toys in the kitchen. Brings a smile to my face!

My cat, Buddy, has many roles; one of them being Personal Workout Coach.

He has me TRAINED to toss toys to him, while he sits atop kitchen cabinets, or countertops so he can EXPERTLY (like YODA) bat the toy back at me to catch; or GO RUN, BEND and FETCH!

He developed this PLAY routine so that I wouldn’t realize I was exercising (CAT-ERCISING).

*he’s now doing his daily RUN and DASH across the house. I think he’s trying to get me to learn to sprint. I’m playing dumb …

Anyway – I digress …

So, this morning – I start to pick up ALL the cat toys from the floor so that I can vacuum. Oh, I guess this is another BUDDY METHOD – CAT-ERCISE routine; making me walk, bend and stretch to pick up the toys!

I gather them all, and place them on the kitchen table to clear the vacuuming area. SILLY ME! CAT-ERCISE time! Alpha Bud – Personal Cat Trainer Coach starts to pick up each piece, shake it around in his mouth and TOSS it back onto the kitchen floor.

FA-GED-A-BOUD the vacuuming! I spend the next ten minutes BENDING, RUNNING, FETCHING, LAUGHING as he tosses EVERY toy back onto the floor!

Ahhhh – WHAT A WORKOUT! or is it a PLAY OUT – BUDDY METHOD STYLE?

*MEOW! HOW he worked my muscles, today – with play!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Live Life! Laugh Often!
Live Life in a-MAZE-ment
www.lafolot.com

Well! As I wrote – yesterday’s HA HA Helen of LAFOLOT Mobile Healthy Happy Hour success … did not flow over into this evening! ha ha

gotta ROLL with the WIND GUSTS – especially when –
even after you use your car as a wind-shield – and set up your tent
- it collapses on you as you are attaching the deflated Smiley Face Balloon to a hanger with pants clips .. ahahahaha – what can I say – I’m innovative!

So – I managed to get the tent down – set up my signs –
but traffic was flowing beautifully (nice for the drivers) – no backed up traffic as an audience, today. Clear, sunny skies and THE MOST HORRENDOUS WIND GUSTS I’ve felt in awhile!

My new signs: [promoting my MOTIVATIONAL speaking and DRIVE YOURSELF HAPPY campaign]

www.lafolot.com
MOTOR-
VATION (motivation, get it? *wink wink) ahahahahaha relating to my DRIVE YOURSELF HAPPY campaign…

and

*Smile!
YOU’RE
GREAT!
were being blown down to the ground from the wind gusts.

Another motivational moment where I needed to turn it around and give myself a *pat on the back – for at least getting out there and trying.

Sometimes I just BLOW MYSELF AWAY! ahahahahahahahaha *whoooosh!

…stay tuned

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Living BOLD and in ITALICS!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
www.lafolot.com

WOW! WOW! WOW! – A VERY SUCCESSFULL HEALTHY-HAPPY HOUR!

What a WONDERFUL evening filled with magical, fun, healthy results at my LAFOLOT HEALTHY HAPPY HOUR – FREE SMILES & LAUGHS DRIVE-THRU!

After 2 days of chilly, overcast, windy-rainy weather, THE SUN CAME OUT!
The SKY CLEARED!

As I set up my signs, I noticed bright, yellow dandelions by each sign! I had to take a photo!

As I sat waiting for the traffic to build, I saw a YELLOW butterfly visit the YELLOW Dandelions. It brought a SMILE to my face, as it flittered from one flower to the next.

Two Bees visited, taking the same path as the earlier butterfly.

Then, there was a commotion with 3 crows and a smaller bird. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I looked up and saw, A HAWK! It was sitting directly above my chair on the lamp post and power line pole! WOW! How magnificent!

I got out my cell phone camera and took two photos.

I was IN A-MAZE-MENT of all the wonderful, beautiful expression of LIFE going on all around me! The Sun, the clouds, the blue sky, the dandelions, butterfy, bees, crows, hawk and then came: THE SMILES, LAUGHS, BEEPS

and best of all? Three of the DAIRY QUEEN Ice-Cream and Grille employees crossed the busy road to TAKE A PHOTO with the NEAT LADY they saw across the road – sitting and collecting Smiles and Laughs with her SMILE Spatula and occassional clown nose!

Priceless, Blessed, Beautiful, Magical moments.

Ah! The wonder of it all. In gratitude -

Highlighted, Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Live Life! Laugh Often!
Live Life in A-MAZE-MENT!
www.lafolot.com

Being a motivational speaker and laughter wellness facilitator, I found the priceless gift of a SMILE the past two years.

I had wanted a place to set up a FREE Smiles & Laughs Drive-thru – but it was a whim, or so I thought!

I got the opportunity to set one up at a local Thai Restaurant who wanted to attract more customers by allowing me to set up my ‘stuff’ in their parking lot – during rush hour traffic that backs up in front of their place.

Well! There I planted my ‘H’ signs in the grass on either side of the ENTER lane into the parking lot.

HAPPY HEALTHY HOUR and the other sign: FREE SMILES & LAUGHS DRIVE-THRU

So I sit or stand with a smile planted on my face, holding my GIFT from a friend: a Smile Spatula.

The reward? What a THRILL I get when I receive a wave, smile or double-take!

Today, a young motorcyclist driving a black/yellow painted bike and wearing black/yellow riding gear – gave me a helmet NOD as he drove by! Woo Hoo! How ‘em I doin’? ;o)

My signs are yellow background with black lettering. My business magnetic bumper display is Yellow Background with Black Letters ‘Live Life! Laugh Often!’

When I went out to get ready to sit down, I had left my Yellow Smile Spatula sitting upright.

I saw a big, MAGENTA COLORED SPLAT on it! I had to LAUGH OUT LOUD! and SMILE! too.

I had been blessed with good luck and great complimentary color – by a FOWL FLY BY! ha ha

I’m told this is a sign of good luck! Driving home, I was behind an SUV that had a magnetic display on the back that read: OGW – underneath it noted ‘One Good Woman’ HA HA!

Yes! I AM! I affirmed! and Lucky, too! [I received two contacts today for possible future gigs.]

AIN’T THAT LUCKY! BIRD POOP DOESN’T LIE! ;o)

Live Life! Laugh Often! and look straight ahead, not up – you never know when LUCK will FLY by!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Live Life in a-MAZE-ment!

I used to cringe when my mom would curse or yell if she messed up while cooking etc. It was just an automatic response, but we had a lot of challenges in my family – even with all the ‘goodness’ within.

I promised myself, I wouldn’t do that when I got older. I don’t always succeed, but I make a major effort and make the effort to apologize when I don’t succeed.

I was playing ‘toss the cat toy’ to my alpha male cat, Buddy. He is an EXPERT at catching or batting the toy in mid-air! It’s amazing! He was wide eyed, at the read, rolling and taking the stalking pose on my kitchen half-counter -

I tossed a toy and WHOA! He went rolling off the counter edge!
I gasped!
The plant pot, full of dirt went flying off the counter with him, to the floor (half carpeted/half tiled) -

I SMILED
I LAUGHED OUT LOUD
He landed on his feet – of course – he’s a cat!
The PLANT POT – LANDED RIGHT SIDE UP! (must have cat in it?)
It did spill, somewhat onto the tile floor and some on the carpet BUT-
good thing I hadn’t watered it in awhile! *eh hem

All I had to do was get a dustpan and broom – easily cleaning the area and brushing it off the carpet onto the tile floor to be swept up!

Having fun playing with my PLAYFUL, TALENTED CAT: PRICELESS!
Being able to easily clean up the dirt: PRICELESS
Not cursing or getting angry and being able to LAUGH and SMILE
at the event: PRICELESS!

Being proud of myself for my emotional, mental health growth: PRICELESS!

Nothing like Priceless moments and Gratitude to make it a blessed day!

May you have much to laugh and smile about today!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Live Life! Laugh Often!
www.lafolot.com

Ha Ha Hullo! This is HA HA Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT *big smile!

I’m here to introduce my LAFOLOT Laughter Health & Wellness course:

PHILOSOPHY HEE HEE 101

Sit back and relax while you take the first course –
allowing the healthy benefits of laughter to course through your bloodstream, all through your body, mind and heart!

Have a HEALTHY, HAPPY, HA HA PHILOSOPHY HEE HEE HEE filled day!

Yeah!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Live Life! Laugh Often!
There’s a LOT more MEAT to my MOTTO than MEETS the eye!
www.lafolot.com

I had to LAUGH at myself in a-MAZE-ment, once again!

1) I wrote a book about prejudice, bias and sterotype
2) I present a talk called ‘Seeing With New Eyes!’ about shifting one’s personal perception and awareness.
3) I choose, on a daily basis, to look at life, situations and people from different scenarios and viewpoints

So, why, when a photographer was sent to take my photo for a local newspaper article to be written about my involvement in laughter wellness – did I …

ASSUME they would be MALE?

I greeted the lovely, young, creative, energetic young woman with a smile, as I told her: WHY did I expect you to be male?

She laughed and said: young, male, scruffy clothes, beard, dude?

Exactly! So once again, I had to SMILE and LAUGH at my personal assumptions and bias. Once again, I openly ADMIT, and make a mental note of it.

Why? Because it makes my life healthier, happier and more sane to SEE that THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM from MY point of view.

May you be blessed with open, honest vision from within and without; and willing to TAKE ANOTHER LOOK.

Highlighted Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Living Life in a-MAZE-ment!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
www.lafolot.com

The SMILE PROJECT has dubbed 10-10-10 ‘SHARE A SMILE DAY!’

As HA HA Helen of LAFOLOT – I grew, in a healthy way, with my Socialization skills, by developing the: HA HA HELEN SMILE CAMPAIGN! Along with slogans such as: ‘Drive Yourself Happy and SPREAD SMILES BY THE MILES’ as well as ‘Light the World with SMILE POWER!’ and my favorite – ‘FLASH Someone … a SMILE!’

I was inspired this morning, by a song pouring into my mind which I have called: SHARE A SMILE TODAY [words and music by Helen Szollosy]. See the words at my SHARE A SMILE SONG page or hear and see it sung by clicking here.

I like the number 10 because it makes your mouth look like a SMILE when it is pronounced! Try it: 10-10-10 ;o)

I like October because it has two Os in it which can be SMILEY faces!
October 1st is also a day to celebrate smiling!

So with all the Os and the 3 Zeroes – which can be smiley faces in 10-10-10 –
it’s a GREAT month to honor the healthy effects of SMILING on the body, mind, and socialization aspects!

I have seen a person grow inches taller, their face light up, and a smile and hello automatically pop out of them just because of receiving a closed mouth smile from me. IT WARMS MY HEART!

It started out as a scientific experiment for me. But, like the scene in THE GRINCH THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS – where ‘his heart grew 10 times bigger that day …’ – such was it with me: I learned the more I smiled and saw the HEART WARMING response from others – my own heart started to soften and warm!

A-MAZ-ING THING – SMIL-ING!

May you have a smile-filled day – both in your heart and soul and activities!

Ha Ha Healthily Healing Helen – one smile at a time
Living Life in A-maze-ment!
Live Life Laugh Often!
Spread those Smiles by the Miles!
FLASH someone …. a SMILE!
Light the world with SMILE POWER!
www.lafolot.com

mmm… tasting … tasting … needs a pinch more Ha Ha, Ho Ho and Hee hee!

While stopping in to dine at Olive Garden this evening -
I had a fun talk with the 3 Hostesses who greeted me with SMILES at the door.
I told them I like the Olive Garden White Shirt and Black Pants uniform –
but
the TIE had to go! It’s soooo long and draws the eye downward -

I said if they had to wear ties, they needed to be fresh fruit or vegetable print – and just a bit shorter – to be bright, cheery and not elongate the upper torso.

They then said they would like SMILE print on their ties and that they should be designed by HA HA HELEN! I laughed and said I would make a recommendation to Olive Garden Corporate Office and create a commercial with the theme:

Stop in at OLIVE GARDEN – STAY AND SMILE AWHILE ;o)
The one hostess said: YES! and gave me a HIGH FIVE!

Once seated, there was a FUN, JAZZY version of the 1920s-30s era song: BLUE SKIES playing on the P.A. system. It made me wanna ‘DANCE IN MY SEAT!’
I joked with one of the servers about it and she was walking in a peppy step to it, agreeing with me.

Then, I see a ‘Manager in Training’ outside the window –
he is ‘eyeballing’ the bushes, and ‘with precision-like approach’ snip, snipping the ‘bad or unnecessary’ stuff off the bushes! ha ha ha

It was AMAZING to watch! First I was just amazed and interested.
Then, it got to be SO DARN CUTE! I was FASCINATED watching him –
like an artist at a Picasso painting –
Step back – eyeball – use his hand or clipping tool to measure, judge and
step forward to snip out the uneven twig, etc.

I had the servers stop and watch him, I was giggling out loud!
It was like someone had set off a SILLY BOMB in the place!

I got to SAVOR the wonderfull Parmesan Portobello Mushroom Sauce on the Penne Pasta – as well as: SAVOR THE SILLINESS!

So I guess my food was spiced with a bit of: HA HAs, HO HOs and Hee HEEs!

Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Smiling as I type this – remembering it all
LIVE LIFE! LAUGH OFTEN!
and don’t forget to add some SILLY spice to your day!