Remabulous

interviews return with go there! coaching

i feel lucky because i not only got to interview life coach laura geduldig, but am also her former (and maybe future) client as well. her work is inspiring because of the passion, commitment, and skill she brings to it. read on to learn on about getting started as a coach, what motivates and inspires her, and how she got thousands of people to ride bicycles from san francisco to los angeles...

image: care of go there! coaching

i hate being sick!

here i am in all my glory from my portfolio last year in maine, titled "fake love," in which i staged a fake relationship. i played the part of the woman and my hasselblad, in my hands and the hands of many faux lovers, played the part of the man watching her. this was shot with my camera perched in my feet and my arm not seen firing a cable release. i think my fever was 102.9 F that day.

thankfully i am not so sick as that at the moment, but i do feel like i have an ice pick driven in my head, which is frustrating me enormously as there is a beautiful interview inside it waiting to be written as well as many tales of san francisco and my times there last weekend. but it must wait as i am stuck and not able to think so clearly as i would like. (evidence of this being the near minute it took to get that last sentence out.)

so i am back to bed... sadly. i will return as soon as i can think and when my head stops pounding.  if you click the image above it will take you to a makeshift album which includes a number of other images from the portfolio. not complete yet in its online presence, but in progress.

happy memorial day to all. i will return soon.

image: fake love, 2006. caroline donahue.
copyright 2006.

please don't miss "once"!

i am just home from seeing once at the arclight on sunset. i am totally enraptured. for anyone who feels saggy or droopy in terms of motivation, as i have this week- mostly because i am exhausted from being so inspired last weekend, please don't miss this film. it was the audience choice winner at sundance, i believe, and it certainly deserves the honor. it is everything i love in a movie: simple, clear, heartfelt and honest.  plus it is about people pursuing a creative dream, so that doesn't hurt either. please please see it and write me and let me know what you loved about it the most.... here's a link to get the soundtrack. you will want it. badly.

refueling

many apologies for my long silence. i have been to san francisco and have discovered that a few days away is generally what i need to come back with enthusiasm and  excitement. my from here is a lot more amplified this week! there is nothing like a number of days of solid amazing conversation in that most beautiful city, s.f.  as it appears that i have been carrying the talk til 2am vibe back with me, i have not gotten enough sleep this week, and posting has been low on the to-do list. but i am back, because i have stories to share and a fabulous interview to put up with the amazing laura geduldig- the one i promised last week. don't despair- remabulous is back! i will hope to have more up later today.

image: goforchris via flickr

from here

i have been spending a lot of time in the yoga studio lately. a lot. it has been a gift of my newly flexible schedule that i can spend time nearly every day trying to apply the same level of stretching to my physical self. but it hasn't just been the great exercise that keeps me going back. the little tidbits of wisdom that all the teachers offer has been of just as much value. here is what i learned today from a lot of time hanging it in warrior 2.

image: timsamoff via flickr

ah, idleness

i am indebted to ryan, one of my lovely readers who occasionally comments as well, for posting this video. i just finished how to be idle by tom hodgkinson this morning, lying in bed and feeling slightly guilty about not keeping the slave driver pace i have had myself on the few weeks since leaving my job (up at 6-7, yoga 4-6 times a week, constant projects and no downtime except in the evening) and was very much soothed by this video, which proves that those who are in an office are just goofing off also.

where is this office? if this is what i did all day, i think i'd be just fine working for someone else...

rumi: poem of the week.

today i went to a new yoga class and loved it. it was a close-knit group that had a sense of humor and also took practice very seriously at the same time; an ideal combination, i think. one of the many amazing bits that my new teacher ( i know i will be going back to study with him much more) offered was a comment that, in the west, we often prefer to think about how things are, or to read about them than to actually play in the direct experience. i myself am often guity of this: being a perfectionist, i often get trapped in researching indefinitely before i feel i am ready to try something "for real." it was a good reminder today to think that maybe one is never really ready, and that the only way to become ready is to experience something directly.

browsing through rumi later on, i found this week's poem, "unfold your own myth," and felt it was a much more elegant way of putting this than i am able to here.

idling and the oxbow: on forced slowness

this has been a week of unexpected kinks in the hose. as i was coaxed into yet another baroque twist in my yoga class this morning, i was reminded of thomas cole's painting, the oxbow, a strange little detour in the river, pictured above, represents an unexpected slowing down in the pathway of things. between a broken-down car, resulting canceled appointments, continued frustration about my health, and other little bums in the road, i have been a little jolted this week. however, in reading the lovely book how to be idle by tom hodgkinson, i have been reminded of the delight of going slower and enjoying the time that opens up when a busy schedule implodes.

image: thomas cole "the oxbow," courtesy of maulleigh via flickr

cafe of the week: susina on beverly

and the cafe of the week is: susina bakery on beverly! as i am spending a lot of time banging away on my laptop working on this book, i have decided to rotate location. (that and i have no air conditioning in most of my house and felt like i was going to suffocate in the delightful 90+ temperatures today). susina was just the ticket for hot weather cafe action: delicious salads, ( i had the gorgonzola and beet YUM), friendly service, pretty twinkly chandeliers, and lots of cookies. i could not have been happier the whole time i was there. those who need internet to work, beware, however: they don't offer it free in the cafe- you have to log onto one of those creepy ubiquitous log-on-from-everywhere types. it works just as well for me: writing the book does not require much internet and cuts down on the procrastination.

so if you need to write and want to escape the deathly heat, pop into susina for a smoothie and a sit down. an excellent place for a read as well- patrons are quiet and mostly studious types rather than gabbers.

enjoy!

image: susina bakery

monday, monday and small rituals

just today i am getting back into monday being the start of the week. while i was working at the gallery, i had sunday and monday off, so i was a little out of line with the rest of the world. it feels good to be back on track, even if it does mean that monday is a bit of a hurdle now. here's how to get through monday with rituals and treats...

image: idiotboy via flickr