Island Paradise

About 20 miles off the coast of Southern California lies an island that almost belies description. It is an area almost as pristine as the day it was developed. Chain businesses are forbidden so Vons and Coldstone are the only names you would recognize. Mom and Pop places abound and many have been there for decades. Families come back year after year, often with children and grandchildren in tow.

Welcome to Catalina Island and the tiny town of Avalon. This is the place my friends and I come back to year after year for fun in the sun relaxation. Everything is scaled down here. Smart cars are the only vehicles on the island outside of golf carts. Even FedEx has to scale down. Check out this tiny truck:



Catalina is a quaint village that can be exactly what you make of it. You can have a margarita at the bar:



Or on a beach:



It isn't all drinking and shopping. One of the coolest things to do is to rent a golf cart and tour the outskirts of Avalon. On one such journey, we encountered some locals! They were very calm and photogenic:



We love Catalina! My roommate took me there for the first time 8 years ago and I fell in love with the place. It is romantic, tropical and a wonderful place to get away. I look forward to this trip all year! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

A Magic Dress

There is a series of books/movies about these girls that share one pair of jeans because the pants possess a magic quality. I haven't read the books or seen the films so I just assume the pants are magic because they make your butt look great! Now I realized there might be something to magic clothes



Yesterday I discovered this power for myself. I found a dress in a glorious shade of red. It fits perfectly and hugs the curves in all the right places. Most importantly, it's cut to accentuate my two best features and no, I'm not talking about my eyes!



What is magical about this dress is how it makes me feel! I feel sexy, empowered! The me in this dress flirts with the barista at Coffee Bean and tells the bully at work to back off and sit down! It was like the dress tapped into my inner Angelina!

I love the strong, intelligent, frisky and fun woman I am in this dress!



The magic of this dress isn't in how it made me look but what it helped me to discover. This sexy, strong, smart, flirty, funny woman is me regardless of what I have on! The feelings I felt in the dress yesterday have carried over to today. I realized this while flirting with the cashier at Panera in my shorts and Bon Jovi t-shirt! The dress just brought out what I had in me all along.



With all that said, I'm guessing the true magic occurred at the register. The Angelina-channelling dress was purchased on sale for $9.99, Brad Pitt not included. At that price, I can afford more! I am going back to the store and try to find pants that make me tap into my inner Italian model. George Clooney, look out!

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I'm Back In The Writing Groove

Ok, confession time! I have a tendency to get totally immersed in my latest activity to the detrement of all other aspects of my life. Case in point: My three+ years at The Church At Rocky Peak. Most people can go to service, maybe join a bible study or a ministry and be fine. Me? I had to join choir, give a testomony in front of 3k people over 3 services in a weekend, participate in skits, join a life group in Santa Clarita, teach 2nd and 3rd grade sunday school, participate in 12 performances of the Easter production while being a member of the Tech Team! Over commit much? Oh yeah, I do.

So now you get the picture. Which is why when I went back to school, I kinda disappeared. I started out slow, one class, but when that was interrupted by emergency abdominal surgery, I felt I had to make it up in the spring. So I took that class over, added another one and there I was at school every Tues-Thurs at 7A, after working until midnight the night before! Weekends and mornings were study time.

I was successful in that I was able to pull down a 3.428 average doing things but at what cost? We can start with the 15 pound weight gain that I am firmly convinced was the result of only getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night! Then there were the friends that went unseen (Hi Selena! Remember me...your friend you haven't seen since Thanksgiving) and the little joys in my life that went by the wayside, like writing for my blog.

It was a lesson learned. I learned I need balance. I had it in my head that I wanted to finish school as quickly as possible however, I don't want to weight 500 pds and be friendless at the end of it. So I am taking one class this coming semester and it starts at 1:30pm. That gives me time to sleep and time to write.

A balanced life is a healthy life.

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Best Use Of Texting-Do It For Haiti

I'm reposting this because it dovetails into my previous post...and because it's important!
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I love texting. I love that it is immediate and I love that I can use it to communicate with the world at large. You know, the one that works a regular schedule while I work 3p-12A. Texting gives me a way to communicate on the sly, outside regular channels that require speaking and letting a boss know I am on the phone other than the one that customers are calling on.

Texting has many wonderful and practical uses. Today I found the best use of all. Like many of us, I have been horrified at the stories and pictures coming out of Haiti the last few days. The impoverished nation has been all but leveled by a 7.0 earthquake! Collapsed buildings are just the beginning of the horror. There is no food, little clean water and even less medical supplies and personnel to attend to the wounded. The number of casualties grows exponentially by the minute. They have no infrastructure in place to help with such a massive disaster and they are overwhelmed!

While watching these images on CNN, my heart was breaking! I felt compelled to help! I was surprised to see that by texting “Haiti” to 90999, a $10 donation will be sent to the Red Cross and then charged to my cell phone bill! Amazing! I could donate, charge it and it is so easy!

Last I heard, over 7 million dollars was raised in text donations over the last couple of days! That’s a lot of tiny typing being done in the name of humanity! I know there will be a lot of efforts to get help and money sent to Haiti and I am sure it will all be welcome. Texting utilizes technology to get people to donate in a way that is quick and easy!

All of my California friends, both Northern and Southern have been in an earthquake! Those of us here who remember Northridge and my No Cal friends remember Loma Prieto! We know what it feels like to be rocked and we were lucky to survive. Many in Haiti did not! Imagine what life would be like now if we faced the kind of leveling in our cities as they experienced in Haiti! It is sad! No malls, theatres, restaurants, not to mention hospitals!

If you are reading this and remember, and even if you don’t, would you just take a couple of seconds and text the Red Cross! You won’t even notice the $10 on the bill and it will be the best text you will ever send! I am sure the Haitians will be grateful. Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

A Wake Up Call

Humans have a tendency to ignore the uncomfortable. If it isn't happening to us directly, we don't worry about it. Every now and then, a situation happens that is impossible to ignore. The situation is dire, the media jumps in, George Clooney organizes a telethon and we get involved. We get a collective wake up call!

In fairness, I must say I used to be one of those that had the "NIMBY" mentality. Poverty, homelessness...well, that didn't happen in my middle-class neighborhood. I am working, I have a comfortable home in a nice area in L.A. and a car. I don't have much to worry about. Then my brother got out of jail, was put in a half-way house with mental illness diagnosis and is currently living with no income. I was forced to deal with the fact that he needed help. I had to get rid of the notion that all homeless people are addicts and see that some of them really would like to become self efficent and just need the help to do so. I am not wealthy by any strech, but do what I can to help him. I discovered it feels good to help others.

Much like my brother's situation woke me up, high profile situations like the one in Haiti wake up others. With non stop news coverage and celebrities stepping in, the media is making it difficult if not nearly impossible to ignore the fact that we are being called on to help. It is human nature to want to get involved if everyone else is. It doesn't take much. You can donate by cel phone, credit card or even drop change in the jar at the market.

Helping others feels good! It takes us out of our immediate situation and makes us aware of the world around us. We just need to sometimes receive the call that points us in the right direction. Hopefully, the feeling won't just stop once Haiti fades from our TVs and magazines and we can help those around us. We need to think and act both globally and locally. Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

The Best Thing About The Truth

Selena and I both love to write. The thing is I need to be motivated because I just put off writing. I don't know why but I do. So Selena and I challenge each other to write a blog every day. I was able to do it for a month or so. Lately, not so much.

This weekend I was able to come to a hard truth about this endeavor. My road to this truth actually started with a lie. "Don't tell anyone and i'll just backdate it", I said to Shannon at 12:04 AM this morning. What we were keeping secret is that once again I put off writing my blog so long that something eventually came up and I forgot.

The frustrating truth is that I knew this would happen. It could have been avoided. I was the passenger in a car on an hour-long car ride. Shannon and I were coming back from Santa Barbara and I had nothing to do but write the blog on my Blackberry and send it. I told myself I should write it, that I would forget. This was at 9:30 PM. Did I do it? No because I told myself I would have time when I got home. Then Shannon and I ended up at Oh Grady's and the blog was forgotten. Until 12:04. Until it was too late.

This error led me to several truths about the blog a day challenge:

1) I am not disciplined enough to write every day
2) I write better when I write when inspired, not when I have to
3) I am more likely to stick with writing 2-3 times a week
4) Selena is an awesome blogger

So there it is. I am just not cut out to write a blog a day. I am not sure I even want to. I will commit to keeping my blog current by writing no less than twice a week, more if time permits. I like writing, I have been told I am good at it. The one thing I haven't been good at is discipline.

The best thing about the truth is that it sets you free. Freedom from pressure to write is what came with looking at myself and discovering that I like to write and write well when not pressured. Whew! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.

The Best Thing About The Truth

Selena and I both love to write. The thing is I need to be motivated because I just put off writing. I don't know why but I do. So Selena and I challenge each other to write a blog every day. I was able to do it for a month or so. Lately, not so much.

This weekend I was able to come to a hard truth about this endeavor. My road to this truth actually started with a lie. "Don't tell anyone and i'll just backdate it", I said to Shannon at 12:04 AM this morning. What we were keeping secret is that once again I put off writing my blog so long that something eventually came up and I forgot.

The frustrating truth is that I knew this would happen. It could have been avoided. I was the passenger in a car on an hour-long car ride. Shannon and I were coming back from Santa Barbara and I had nothing to do but write the blog on my Blackberry and send it. I told myself I should write it, that I would forget. This was at 9:30 PM. Did I do it? No because I told myself I would have time when I got home. Then Shannon and I ended up at Oh Grady's and the blog was forgotten. Until 12:04. Until it was too late.

This error led me to several truths about the blog a day challenge:

1) I am not disciplined enough to write every day
2) I write better when I write when inspired, not when I have to
3) I am more likely to stick with writing 2-3 times a week
4) Selena is an awesome blogger

So there it is. I am just not cut out to write a blog a day. I am not sure I even want to. I will commit to keeping my blog current by writing no less than twice a week, more if time permits. I like writing, I have been told I am good at it. The one thing I haven't been good at is discipline.

The best thing about the truth is that it sets you free. Freedom from pressure to write is what came with looking at myself and discovering that I like to write and write well when not pressured. Whew! Like this post? Please share it, bookmark it or leave a comment.