Patricia Sands

Author

Power Of The Purse

Power Of The Purse ~Sept. 25 ~ join us!

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Do YOU have your ticket yet for #PowerLondon in the beautiful community of London, Ontario? We are only a day away from the 6th annual conference and it’s bigger and better than ever! Don’t miss this year’s exciting speaker line-up along with the Vendor Marketplace on Thursday, September 25th!

This year this major networking event for women will be generously supporting the new St. Joseph’s Hospice in London.

“We want women to invest in themselves. It is really about a day where we gather together to celebrate women’s empowerment,”  says founder, Cynthia O’Neill. “We want women to be inspired, we want them to be educated and motivated and celebrated.” I would like to add that we also make certain they have a very enjoyable day!

Click here for tickets and further information : www.powerofthepurse.ca/london-2014-tickets/

I’m honoured to be one of the speakers again this year and look forward to seeing you there!

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Up close and personal … sort of …

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Join me in the garden of this beautiful home … can’t we just move here … ? Or at least have a writers’ retreat here? Or just all sit around and tell stories?

France-PSandsPhotos
France-PSandsPhotos

I know I just posted this photo a little while ago but I love this place SO much I just had to do it again. Excusez-moi.

First of all, I know it’s Saturday. Here’s my story and I apologize if you feel it is TMI. I began to think about my post last evening and ended up falling asleep at my computer … seriously … I was leaning on my elbow, perusing my French photos and suddenly – THUNK! My head hit the keyboard … I thought it was time to take a hint …

I normally have tons of energy but this month has been crazier than most with three weekend drives up to cottage country – one to speak to the wonderful women of Haliburton Highlands CFUW, one to attend the CAA CanWrite!2013 conference, and one to meet with the other tour leaders for the amazing Women’s Travel Network who have organized the ten-day tour to the south of France that I will be leading in June 2014, along with my speaking partner Susan Sommers. ( p.s. There are only 6 spots left!)

This week my DH and I drove to Stratford on Wednesday to join my brother and his wife  in seeing Blithe Spirit written by the always cleverly entertaining Noël Coward. Then on Thursday Susan and I drove to London where I was invited to speak at the first Cocktails

canstockphoto12590151
canstockphoto12590151

and Conversation event organized by Cynthia O’Neill, founder of the outstanding Power of The Purse women’s conferences.  What an enjoyable evening that was with so many interesting and involved women from the London, ON area.

I owe a great deal of thanks to a lot of people for making June so full of exciting, stimulating, occasions. In between all of that I’ve been doing the usual – writing, blogging, making deadlines. SO … all this is to say that for the rest of this holiday weekend (in Canada) I’m going to move away from my computer to play golf, tennis and bridge and hang out with my DH and some wonderful friends (at least for today and tomorrow … I might be writing again on Monday … yeah …)

Bon weekend tout le monde! Have a great weekend and take time to have fun! What plans do you have?

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

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Today marks the beginning of National Breast Cancer Month and this link has an excellent supply of information. Our family and so many friends have battled against this pervasive disease and I’m sure many of you would say the same. Great strides have been made in the treatment of this and other cancers but much is left to do.

Let’s show our support in whatever way possible. Three cheers to all the people (and their pets) who were running, walking, rolling, in the CIBC Run For The Cure yesterday in so many communities!

In September, the dynamic Weekend To End Women’s Cancer walk was held in Toronto. If you’ve never participated in this inspiring challenge, perhaps next year will be your turn! Call your besties and get organized!

I was proud to host The Canadian Breast Cancer Support Fund here a few months ago. Here’s the link to that post. They have an innovative approach to raising funds that provide short-term financial assistance to breast cancer patients who are facing financial difficulties while they are undergoing treatment.  Every donation, small and large, helps us to provide financial support for breast cancer patients for food, shelter, medication, prosthetics, childcare, various treatments and restorative therapies.

Think Pink Live Green

When you think of breast cancer, we want you to think pink and live green.

Think Pink Live Green

What a great logo! Founder Donna Sheehan recently let me know their new “GREEN” online store, Holly & Ivy, is up and running. 50% of all profits go directly into the cancer support fund. Pop over and take a look. There’s nothing better than paying it forward.

 

 

I want to send an enormous shout-out to Cynthia O’Neill, the founder and organizer of the Power of The Purse. This women’s conference  (mentioned here last week) was an enormous success last Thursday. It was a privilege to be invited to speak there and the women of London, Ontario could not have been a more enthusiastic and involved audience. The energy in that conference centre was quite astounding! But then… that’s what women do so well … 

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO WAS THERE!

Here’s how the White House kicked off the month …

On to the next event …

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We’ve exchanged whines for wine in our home today! Woohooooo!  I’ve climbed out the trench that has been my workplace for the past few weeks as I worked on the developmental edit of my new novel, The Promise of Provence. My long-suffering husband is discovering I am capable of more than muted one-syllable responses and I might even finish the book I began reading weeks ago. At least for this evening anyway …

Tomorrow is another day. Oh, yeah! Susan Sommers and I will drive to London in the afternoon  (an easy 1-1/2 hour drive from Toronto) to prepare for our presentation at the Power Of The Purse one-day women’s conference on Thursday. We’re looking forward to having dinner with the other speakers tomorrow evening and enjoying a schmoozefest with these dynamic women. Thursday is going to be an exciting and energizing day! If you are coming to the conference be sure to find us and stop for a chat!

Never a dull moment!