Remabulous

Another museum under my belt for #10! Norton Simon

Nothing like a Saturday museum and lunch date with a friend! We are rocking through the final goals for 32 for 32 this August...it's going to be tight, but we'll be posting regularly again on here on the upside...Enjoy!

Getting stared at by a Croatian.

I had heard a lot about Braco, a Croatian healer from various sources that I trust regarding his visit in April this year. So... when he came back, I was more than eager to check this out.

Thankfully, the ellipses over with the gentleman caller, we decided that this was something we needed to check out.

After all, when else do you get to reply "getting stared at by a Croatian" when someone asks what you're up to that day. I loved it. I told everyone. It never got old.

OK. So he doesn't actually stare. It's more of a gaze. But still. Being gazed at implies things I didn't think were part of the picture.

So... as the gentleman caller lives over towards the westside,I picked him up on the way to the airport and convinced both him and his roommate that a documentation of the "before" state was required.

Here is us before the staring:

OK. So maybe I suggested we might want to hang towards the droopy side in order to convey the transformation. But still... We've been stressed lately with work, so it seems fair.

Off to the hotel ballroom for the gazing!

Trapeze!

Thanks to my friend Michelle, I was inspired to put returning to the trapeze on my 32 for 32 list. I took one lesson years ago in SF with my then-roommate, Suzanne, and had a blast. But I never went back. Hmm. Time to correct that. My trusty assistant, Jen, was game to come along with me... so here we are:

Pay it forward...

Hey all!

You know I cannot resist a challenge... so I was very excited to jump on the bandwagon with Jill Brown of the Duchess, who has started the very exciting "Pay it Forward" blogging project...

We're going to be undertaking a challenge to do something kind for someone else during challenge days and posting it on our sites.

I am so excited to get going on this. We're over the 6 month mark on 32 for 32 and I am planning all the rest of the pieces to get them done by the time the big day for 33 for 33 begins in August again, but it's fun to have a refresh with some new ideas at this point in the year. Yippee!

And the super fun thing? You can totally join in, too.

Want to do kind things for people and write about it? Check out the Pay it Forward project...we'd love to have you in the club!

How to write about #6?

So. It's been about two weeks since I posted about the 32 for 32 adventures. I know all of you are loyal and have the entire list memorized, but for those of you newcomers, #6 was a risky one to put on the list: find love.

I didn't really think this one through in terms of what it would mean to write about as it happened on here. 

Two weeks ago, I had coffee with a blind date. Since then, I have thought about writing something about how I think I might actually succeed at #6 this year, but I have wanted to be cautious.

Realistically, I am not thinking much about other items on the list. I am lucky enough that this illustrious date two weeks ago and the dates that have happened since happen to have been with someone who is very excited about making cheese (#), is a big foodie who is down with learning knife skills (#), lives on the west side so I can get to those museums at last (#), and is vry enthusiastic about a trip to Big Sur.

So progress is being made.

I feel very lucky and humbled about all of this. It's very new and yet it feels so old. It's a great thing- when someone is very new to your life and you want to hear story after story and learn as much as you can, while at the same time it's impossible not having him in the picture.

Very good feeling.

But I don't want to hang my love laundry out in the wind.

I shall discover as I go. For now, I just wanted to say that all is well...we'll just keep some blinders on for all of you so I can share a little bit.

Happy weekend...

Back at it

I don't know the last time I went without writing. It's kind of funny how easy it is to out of the habit and then to worry that "I don't have anything to say that's worth writing about." I don't really have less or more than I did before I blew my hand out, but perhaps typing at all now feels like a tricky piece of my work.

I have learned a lot from several days of a wrapped up and limited hand. I had to get help. I had to let my assistant carry packages from the mailboxes place to the car. When I suggested I carry everything and asked to to take the key to open the car for me, she cocked her head and asked if perhaps everything might work better if I didn't carry everything with my bandaged wrist. This is yet another reminder of why I hired her.

I think many of us hate asking for help. I started this business by myself and it's a weird thing when you can't do it all alone. I talked over my projections for the year with my bookkeeper this morning and she reminded me that I can call and ask questions whenever I want. How funny that these things don't occur to us otherwise.

So... I encourage all of you not to wait until you injure yourself- learn to ask for help now. Then you won't be such a hack at it when you really need it, like I did.

Out of comission. Boo!

Ok. Pride comes before a fall. This week I continued my 4x weekly gym regime while doing a training and certification program AND trying to finish a 31 for 31 goal that was left over from last year: my novel.

This past weekend I was making excellent progress seeing more plays -I saw one both Friday and Saturday nights- and in the second play I said to my friend Brian, "Wow. My hand really hurts. REALLY hurts."

So...there you have it. No matter how many pretty lists you write, we are mortal after all. So I am wrapped up like the hand here, although not with pretty pink nails or a pink bandage. And am ordered not to type- oops!- until I see my acupuncturist tomorrow to fix me up.

Hopefully I'll be back to regular posting later this week. Wish me luck!

In training for the Silverlake Reservoir Run...

This past week, I joined the YMCA here in LA. I had come to realize that despite all my creative solutions to not have to join a gym, I actually like going to the gym. I am one of those weirdos. And for anyone who hasn't tried this- books on tape are a dream to get you through cardio on the machines. It sounds crazy, but someone telling a story is way more engaging than just music for me.

 I have been three times so far this week. I'll go again tomorrow. I am a machine. I am so sore I can barely move, but it feels good. Silverlake reservoir is mine. I'll have to start jogging on a treadmill maybe next week in order to get the running back into the routine, but I am feeling good about a spring run. My assistant, Jen, has agreed to come and document with film. That's right- we are not going to put one over on your people. We're proving these goals with film.

So, for anyone who worries that they have too much work to do to go to the gym I must say that I have gotten more done this week in less time because I don't have the nervous jittery copped-up-in-the-house feeling that comes from, well, never leaving the house.

If you work at home, you have to make the time to leave. I champion the gym as a way to do that. Plus, I've been sleeping like a champion! Yay...

Whole new year, whole new decade. Do I have to be a whole new me?

Here we go again... a new year! I am excited and have been enjoying that shiny glow with the first day of a new year. It feels a little bit like a new toy or a new car or a new appliance- I have several in the kitchen today- when I want to use everything that 2010 features without getting it messy, yet.

I've got a lovely mass of ratatouille in the brand new slow cooker, slow cooking away, and I tried for the second time in the last week to make wheat-free waffles for breakfast. Although today's were tasty, I have to recommend the gluten-free waffle mix from Trader Joe's to anyone who's asking. And to them I would say that my whole wheat eating family happily gobbled those puppies up. Bob's Red Mill mix required more adjustment- 1 cup of milk rather than 3/4 cup, and 3 eggs rather than 1 and the waffle iron set lower that I would normally- just to 3 rather than at 4 or a bit below. After one failed disaster, I did have a pretty good waffle breakfast.

Because I want to be the sort of person who eats waffles for breakfast on New Years' Day and sometimes on weekends or just when i feel like it. I want to make a big vat of food for friends and have them over.

It's funny how we have these concepts of ourselves and yet, we don't give ourselves time to live out these ideas. I already am that person, I just never took the time and space to be before. And as I am jumping into yet another year, having noted with some alarm how much faster 2009 passed by than previous years I realize there is no better time to do the things that make me me than now.

So... with that in mind, I share the 2010 motto and the new list of goals and intentions...

The motto:  Keep it simple, Sassy!

Too much of last year involved making things more complicated, faster, spinnier and crazier. This year I will focus on fewer goals at a time, enjoy them, and then move on. I will not over gadget myself and think that more stuff means a better experience.

And the goals and intentions:

I only made three this year, seeing as I have a running list of 32 to chew on. I wanted to keep even the list simple.

1. I will buy no newly made clothing in 2010. My friend Amy inspired this one and I will undertake this goal with her and my friend Erin. For 2010, I am limited to vintage, second-hand, made by me and swapped or borrowed clothes. I feel good about this, especially since we all agreed to an exception for underwear/bras, socks, and gift cards that any kind soul passes along for our birthdays when we begin to get a bit loopy.
2. I want to cook at home or with friends more often than I eat prepared food or in restaurants. I am a busy entrepreneur, but I feel that my health and my values demand that I pay more attention, cut going out spending and learn how to cook yummy food that is gluten free. I am excited and off to a good start today.
3. I will rebuild my relationship to writing... in my journal, which I have neglected until the last week, to writing my dreams down, which I want to do daily, to finishing a draft of my novel this month, and to my websites that got the short end of the stick the last part of the year. I am excited to be my writer self a bigger part of the time in 2010. Feels more like me.

Who's got goals and intentions to share?

Please share them below!

Happy New Year to all and may we all be more of who we see ourselves to be this year.

Stakeout #2, family style...

This year, I went to the mall. On Black Friday. With my family. Don't worry... it was for a stakeout. I decided I wanted to try another one with the new computer now that the lovely eyeball camera was working and so we went out in spitty Boston weather to take on the joy of the mall.

So I have now gone on two stakeouts! I am killing goal #32. Excellent. We did go in the mall afterward and peek around. We were astounded at how deserted the place was. I guess this downturn thing is really hitting us. Also, we were way too lazy to get up and go to any 4am madness. Nothing is worth that much effort. Not even cool gadgets and whatnot. I restricted my sale shopping to online, thank you.  

So, if you'd like to support the project by checking out the episode, please do so at www.stakeoutgirl.com. The chatroom was quite silent this time versus the first episode. Granted, there was no cool trailer or lead time for promotion for this episode. We did get one viewer about five minutes before the end who said "Damn yerr ugly." All three of us were visible on the screen, so we decided not to try to figure out who was being referred to. I do have a bit of a zit outbreak at the moment, so it might be me. Boo. More on other items on the list below...

image: francisco osorio