Boxing is the one sport where you don’t get penalized for creaming your opponent. In fact, you get rewarded.  It’s kind of like, she who punches the hardest and takes the most swings… wins.  So, in 2019, I have decided to become a boxing babe and box my way through 2019, making it my best year yet.

Don’t worry, I am not going to try and make an appearance on SMACKDOWN live. I don’t plan to have a career as a boxer. I haven’t completely lost my mind (not yet anyway). But I have decided that boxing my way through my life this year will be far more effective than making useless New Year’s resolutions that I normally break by 3 pm on January 1st.  Instead, I am putting up my dukes, eyeing my opponents, and going in for the kill.

Kill, God, I just said KILL. Don’t worry, I am not planning to kill any living thing. I never want to say ‘Orange is the New Black’. Rather, I am planning to kill the obstacles that keep me from living my life to its full potential with my new boxing babe mentality.  The obstacles are often the same resolutions that you make every year AND you break every year.  You know what I am referring to, right? The things in life that keep you stuck: in bad relationships, bad jobs, bad habits, oh god…. bad fashion choices… well, you get the idea.

So here are my suggestions as to how you can become a Boxing Babe in 2019 and clean up your shit!

Only allow people around you who support your efforts.  Anyone who puts you down, or doesn’t agree with your decisions about what you want to do with your life; well frankly, they have to go. In order for you to have success, you need to surround yourself with people who believe in you and applaud your efforts in life.  It’s kind of like cleaning out your refrigerator and throwing out the expired food.  Anyone who is not on TEAM YOU can no longer be around you.  The minute you let go of people who are suppressing you, you are allowing space for better energies to enter.  And they will. Because you are saying YES to you, you are allowing yourself to grow.  Positive energy is attractive, so only surround yourself with positive, loving, supportive people who truly LOVE you.

So, you want to lose weight, or get more fit, or give up smoking, or stop drinking, or maybe start drinking. Whatever it is, resolving to do something doesn’t always work. But, guess what? DOING it does! So how do we make difficult changes that we know we should make, but most likely, really don’t want to make? Well, I think the key to life is moderation, and anytime you make even baby steps towards bettering your health, your mind, and your body, you are telling YOU that YOU count.  So, this Boxing Babe is planning to ‘moderate’ the things I want to change.  I am going to make

So, I have a question for you. Have you ever turned down an invitation only to question your decision years later? Or, perhaps the latter has happened, you turned down an invitation, only to be ultimately grateful later on that you never accepted the invitation.

Are you wondering what this has to do with meeting Donald Trump? Well, let me tell you a tale from the crypt which is… my life.

My girlfriend, who had just come off of starring in not one, but two, major TV series, had been invited to attend the Miami Boat Show as a celebrity guest. For those of who don’t know, the Miami Boat Show is a luxurious event where prospective buyers come and check out all the hottest boats of the year. I am not talking about fishing boats; rather these boats are small, medium, large and massive sized private yachts. It’s a ‘boat’ show for those who live the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

My friend’s husband decided to stay home and take care of their young son, and I was the lucky ‘chosen one’ to attend as her plus one. After we flew to Miami, first class I will add, and checked into our luxurious hotel, we hit the spa and crashed. We spent the entire next day at the boat show. It was an exhausting day with every ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ lining up to meet and shake hands with my gorgeous and famous friend.

That evening, my ex-boyfriend, who lives in Florida, had arranged to take my friend and I out to dinner at a swanky hotspot since his teenage son was dying to meet my famous friend. As we were getting ready to head out, the front desk of the hotel called our room and informed us that Ocean Drive Magazine was hosting a private cocktail party in the hotel, and when they found out my girlfriend was staying in the hotel, an invitation had been extended to us to attend.

You know me, I will never turn down a party invite. I love everything about private events: passed hors- d’oeuvres, champagne, gift bags, and most importantly, meeting interesting people that are trapped in the same room as you for two hours, giving you the chance to actually tap on their shoulders and make their acquaintance. Events make the playing field of life even, so when you are invited to a ‘private event’, your chances of meeting people are greatly magnified as people are definitely more open to being approached.

My friend and I sauntered around the room, sipping our champagne, giggling and enjoying each other’s company when suddenly, my friend was the one who had someone tapping on her shoulder. We stopped our discourse, and we both turned around to discover that the shoulder tapper was none other than Donald Trump.

At this time Donald Trump was just that, Donald Trump… or ‘The Donald’; a middle-aged rich dude, with a bad

Tomorrow, there is an election, how many of you are planning to get out and vote? I live in Los Angeles, so I will be casting my vote in the California General Election. This election chooses critical positions for those running our state’s government, as well as several proposed propositions that change the laws or taxes for our state.

First of all, voting is not only a right, but it is also a privilege. Why is it a privilege Janell? I mean, after all, it’s every American’s God-given right to vote, and a privilege is more like, umm, a kid getting dessert because he ate all of his dinner. How is voting a privilege?

Well, simply because it hasn’t always been everyone’s right.

The United States was founded on July 4th, 1776. At that time, only white male citizens who owned property were allowed to vote. Well, let me clarify, only white males who were not Catholics, Jews or Quakers. The state laws changed over time, and eventually, religious affiliation was no longer an issue.

African American males were not allowed to vote until 1870, over a hundred years later, when the constitution was ratified with the 15th amendment giving black males the vote. And, African American women won their right to vote alongside their white sisters in 1920, with the 19th amendment. In 1940 congress finally recognized all Native Americans as citizens, but it took until 1947 for all the states in the union to grant them the right to vote. The Chinese exclusion act of 1882 was finally repealed in 1943 giving our Chinese citizens the right to vote.

Basically, our voting history has been a racial and sexist nightmare, but now that WE CAN ALL VOTE, remember this is not just a right, it is also a privilege for every American Citizen. Many of our ancestors had to fight so that we all have the same right to vote, so now it is every citizen’s privilege. SO, DON’T BLOW IT, GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!

Huh, what the hell are you talking about now Janell?

You see, if you are one of those people who complain about every politician, or every law that you deem is unfair, but you couldn’t take the time to haul your lazy butt over to the polling office and cast your vote, then, sorry, but… you have NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN. If you didn’t try to read the literature so that you could make informed choices, thus voting with your best intentions of doing the right thing for our state, then, in my opinion, YOU have lost the right to COMPLAIN! It’s kind of like watching everyone make a cake, and then complaining that you don’t like how it tastes. Perhaps if you had weighed in while the cake was being made, it might taste a bit better once you sink your teeth into it. ENOUGH ALREADY, VOTE!

Have you ever experienced what I call “dating PTSD”? Are you wondering what my whacky brain has come up with now, or do you totally get the direction I am heading in?

PTSD is an acronym for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Individuals who suffer from major traumatic incidences often develop PTSD, and sometimes, the traumatic memories can be triggered when situations occur where the individual is reminded of the past traumatic event. In reality, the mere fact of living in a city like Los Angeles likely has multiple instances of PTSD flashbacks on a daily basis, as life can be difficult in this city. But, for this story’s sake, I am only going to reference dating PTSD, because I believe that single people everywhere are ALL suffering from a form of dating PTSD on some level.

Let’s face it: If you are still single, and you are actively looking for a partner to spend your life with, you likely have had to kiss your share of frogs. Kissing frogs has become an accepted rite of passage in modern life, making dating numerous potential partners in an effort to find true love, socially acceptable.   It is kind of like the universe is giving you permission to kiss as many frogs as you need to in order to find your handsome prince. Because let’s face it—everyone, at the end of the day, still wants to end up living in their own version of a fairytale-destined-to-be-together romance of a relationship, where chivalry and passion will keep you in love when the going gets tough.

The only problem with this scenario is sometimes, some of the frogs we end up kissing, leave us with massive scars and wounds and traumatic emotional injuries that I believe result in dating PTSD. Sometimes when these distressing wounds from past relationships reappear or are even gently triggered, we run from a person and a potential relationship before we even give the person a fair shake.

I am betting you are all thinking now, hmm, maybe she does have a point here. I can only use my personal examples of my very own dating PTSD and point them out to you, which will hopefully make you ponder your own life and reconsider the way you are looking at a potential contender.

Okay, at first you are excited that a younger, hot guy is besotted with you. Just when you decide that you might kiss this young tadpole and let him hang out with you on your lily pad, you suddenly have a flashback to when you dabbled your little-webbed toes into this pond before. Suddenly, you remember your past ‘younger cute guy’, who wondered what the small dimple in your thigh was, so you explained that regardless of how much you exercise, you have a f

If Cairo, Egypt is known as the Jewel of the Nile, then The Colony Palms hotel in Palm Springs, California deserves to bear the title of the Jewel of the southern Cali desert.

I was one of the lucky ‘chosen ones’ invited to attend what is called a FAM trip, hosted by the Colony Palms Hotel. This three-day weekend happened to fall at a perfect time for me, as not only was I in need of some pampering and quality “me” time, I had not had an actual vacation in over three years. Yep, you heard me right… three years. I was so excited and honored to be selected to attend this luxurious event and represent—along with 8 other lucky recipients—the amazing organization known as Association for Celebrity Personal Assistants (ACPA).

The Colony Palms has a rich history as varied and eccentric as its litany of its owners. It was originally built in 1936 by Al Wertheimer—a notorious mobster, head of the Purple Gang—as a hotel called The Colony House. Then, after World War II, Robert Manor purchased the hotel and renamed it Howard Manor. Robert was the son of an Academy Award-nominated actress, and his father, Howard, was the owner of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit. As such, Robert brought a rich cache of Hollywood royalty to the hotel, and within a short time, the property became a trusted escape when the Hollywood elite needed a desert retreat. Annie and Dave Margolis, Hollywood socialites, ended up purchasing the hotel from Robert in a handshake deal over cocktails one night, continuing the glamorous legacy of this enchanting property. Frank Sinatra was also a part-time residence at the hotel for several years, and his two-story suite has been renamed the Palme D’or, and has been modernly redesigned as an elegant space for special events or meetings.

After the two-hour drive to the desert Friday morning, I was not only anxious to pee upon my arrival at the Colony Palms, but I was parched as well. Karen Smith, the Director of Sales for the hotel, greeted me personally upon my arrival. As I was desperate to pee, she let me use the loo in the front managers’ office while the valet took my bag directly to my room. Karen then escorted me to their top suite where they were hosting a welcome reception for my group.

I was delighted to discover that the Colony Palms Hotel had charming Spanish-style architecture, and I immediately felt the easy and comfy vibe, which is truthfully the essence of this special property.

Have you ever sat down and made up a list of the reasons why you are with someone? I think it’s safe to bet that a high percentage of the population—both male and female—have, at some point during their romantic escapades, came to a point in the relationship where they had to sit down and make up a list outlining the numerous reasons why they loved someone while simultaneously creating an adjacent list delineating all the reasons why they hated the very same person whom they claimed to love. This process of creating a ‘love and hate list’ often becomes a barometer as to whether the person continues in the relationship; as either the good outweighs the bad, or it substantiates the person’s concerns, giving them enough negative reasons to flee the relationship.

I would argue that if you need to sit down and write out a list of reasons why you are with someone, then most likely this relationship is already doomed. I mean, shouldn’t you know in your heart why this person is the one for you? If you have to put a list in writing, outlining all of someone’s strengths, while at the same time defining all of their inadequacies or irritating qualities, doesn’t it perhaps indicate to you that maybe you shouldn’t be in this relationship?

If it takes making a list to convince you that it is time to make a change, well, then, the list making process is not a useless exercise. However, the mere fact that you are making out a list to help you to make a decision to, as The Clash sang in their song, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’, tells me that, umm, most likely, you should go.

The ‘love and hate list’ doesn’t start and end with romantic relationships. You can make a ‘love and hate list’ about any topic that is troubling you at the moment: friends, relatives, chocolate, wine, buying or selling your home. I mean life is full of challenging moments where we often need clarification as to which direction we want to point our compass in, giving us a path to follow. What do I mean?

Let’s take your job for example. If you are making up a list as to why you like your job, while at the same time you create a list outlining all of the reasons why you are waking up in the middle of the night suffering from severe anxiety caused by job-related stress, does your loss of sleep and heightened anxiety not give you enough reason to start to look at the want ads?

If you love to drink red wine, and your red wine love list has points like it relaxes me, I am funny when I drink, all food tastes better with wine, I can’t socialize without it, I can’t flirt without it, I don’t think I could DO HIM without it, actually… it’s my best friend. Then, on the red wine hate list side you note only one negative remark: doctor said it caused my recent episode of pancreatitis and that it could lead to other more serious health complications if I don’t stop drinking so much wine. Hmm, did you really need to make out the list?

Regardless if you make out an actual list, I guess at some point we all need to sit down with our ‘quiet self’ and sort through difficult decisions. Putting blinders on a horse will keep him moving in only one direction—forward—by keeping his