and...b.r.e.a.t.h.e...

mmm...maybe next week:)

Essence and energy, body and breath, are indivisible; when the body does not move, essence cannot flow; when essence cannot flow, energy becomes stagnant.

Sun ssu-Mo, Tang-Dynasty physician

I went back to yoga this morning and all I have to say is aaaahhhh! I forgot what I was missing. We have an amazing teacher (Nancy Frohlick) at a new yoga studio about a block away from my home - yay! It's called Little Mountain Yoga - click on the quote above to check out their site. The best part??? Eye pillows, blankies and comforting music at the end. It's almost like nap time in kindergarten, but so much better!

ps. thank you, George's Barb, for the chocolate cake:) yum!

A busy, sunny weekend...

the loverly Kathleen

(notice the side of mashed potatoes!:)

Friday night we had a great dinner out at The Shore Club on Granville Street downtown. Good food, wine (G's favourite), service and live piano entertainment.
George's BOUILLABAISSE
Not an inexpensive restaurant but pretty great ambience. A great place to go for a drink before heading out for the evening. We tried to hit some live entertainment on Main Street after dinner but just missed the last set so headed back to our place for a nightcap and tried to think of happy stories. Too many crazy, sad stories out there - our taxi driver started it with his own sad story!
Saturday was very low key and included several movies.

Discovered a new walk with our friends on Sunday. There is a new seawall walk from Science World to Granville Island (3.3 km each way) on the south side of the water that I'd never tried before. There is still tons of construction going on (the Olympic village will be in that area) but you're still on the waterfront most of the way.

Granville Island is always my favourite destination!

Back at Boot Camp this morning feeling pretty strong. Gearing up for the run on Sunday. Thanks for your words of encouragement!
Can you believe this amazing weather!?!

I'm Running for the Cure!

In just over one week, I'll be joining thousands of others in a collective run/walk/roll/believe for the cure of breast cancer. I'd just like to say, "Enough Already!" If it's money or a collective conscience or a lot of both, maybe we can make a difference. If I didn't email you but you'd like to contribute to the cause, here's the link. If, however, you'd prefer to support me mentally/spiritually/emotionally - YAY. Please just think of me running strong at or around 9:30 next Sunday morning and crossing the finish line with style and a smile:)

Happy Love Thursday!

I don't have a lot to say other than...feel the LOVE...from me...to you!

Check out Shutter Sisters for more LOVE today.

Here's a quote...

"It's so easy, To think about Love, To Talk about Love, To wish for Love,

But it's not always easy, To recognize Love, Even when we hold it.... In our hands."--Jaka

Boot Camp 101

Ok, so, this week, our boot camp was lumped into three days in a row because our trainer had to be away Thurs/Fri. It's nice to have it out of the way but...WOW is my body ever tired!!! It's not even pain like I've had when I've really worked hard (I'm sure that's coming tomorrow) but fatigue in my legs that makes me want to just put on my jammies, have a glass of wine and watch G. play tennis on the Wii. Oh, wait a minute, I AM doing that! Yay me:) How's your rainy day going?

As big as a dinner plate!

Have you seen the dahlias growing out there? I swear some are as big as a dinner plate. They are so beautiful. I discovered these on my walk to work the other morning...
Did I ever mention that my world is full of virgos? It's true - George and Barb are actually exactly the same age (september babies) and there's several other friends and rellies whose births are honoured every year at this time. As much as some of you might think that I'm a party girl, the boring truth of it is that (as much as I do enjoy my wine), I rarely get a chance to play with my friends. Saturday night was the rare exception. (oh, I guess last weekend too;) Anyways, there was lots of laughing and dancing with the girls and a few boys as well at my friend, Bear's birthday party on Saturday night. Crazy silliness - so much fun! And I just had to walk across the street at the end of the night - perfect!
Sunday we celebrated my nephew, Trevor's 15th birthday - really??? 15 years??? I can hardly believe it. George and I were in Budapest, Hungary when he was born. I kept calling home from each stop on our trip (much to my sister-in-laws chagrin!) to see if my nephew had arrived yet. When I finally got the news, I told everyone on the streets of Budapest that I was now an aunt! They couldn't understand a word I was saying but I'm sure they could see by the big smile on my face that we were celebrating a very special event!!! Happy Birthday Trevor!

A Stranger Friend...

Every day I go and visit Jen Lemen. I only know her through her blog and she's probably never heard of me but there's something there most days that lights me up.
Her writing is eloquent, she shares deep with her thoughts and gives herself permission to stay there as long as it takes, she surrounds herself with people who nurture her and give love back, she went to Rwanda on a mission to help out her friend's daughter as well as thousands of other children in need of books full of love, she's raising children with such an awareness of the importance of this task, and she frequently challenges me to look at life with loving eyes, open arms and the patience to allow myself the time it takes. With thanks...

I'm Tired!

Not complaining - just saying. 2nd boot camp this morning which was awesome but hard. The class ended at 10:15 and our first meeting (we had the whole day booked at the F/X building buying new product for the store) was at 11:00. Not alot of time for stretching or stopping the crazy sweating to get prettied up. I think we did alright, considering:) Even arrived 5 minutes early!
Mediocre success in the buying department, tho'. Always lots of frustration trying to buy great things (mostly clothes) for the store. Actually I don't want to talk about it - sorry:) I'll save that rant for another day...
Right now it's time for hot bath, fresh jammies, couch, some yummy chocolate, maybe a foot rub if I'm lucky. OK, that's better! Happy night all...

Well Said!

By Gloria Steinem
September 4, 2008

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and thatBarack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."This is not to beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn., she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband.Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest.Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.This could be huge.

Boot Camp kicked my butt!!!

What a perfect day to start boot camp. It was actually hot out there! Very fun tho'. So good to feel those muscles that have been on a bit of a summer vacation. I'll be going 3 mornings a week for 10 weeks so should see and feel some pretty positive results.
Fantastic weekend spent with friends/family. George and Barbie's birthday was on Friday so us two couples (including Superman) went out to Grub for some delicious food, drink and other shenanigans! The apres dinner prosecco meant a bit of a headache Saturday morning but...yumm!!!
Saturday night we went to celebrate another Virgo birthday. Our hostess with the mostess friend Kathleen prepared a fabulous Italian themed dinner and the loverly Dre did some very creative decorating. Who knew you could create a seaside escape with some blue outdoor lights, a trampoline and a chandelier? I'll have to get a copy of some of the pix. I'd never tried Osso Buco before but I certainly will again. Amazing!!! Creamy risotto, tomato and bocconcini salad - all so delicious! I paced myself this time with the drinking so no hangover the next day:) Besides, I was much too busy singing my heart out to some pretty crazy oldies. There was one couple at the dinner party who were kinda newbies (K's friend from the past) and I think they were a little overwhelmed by G's performance of Delilah (complete with props!) - as well as some other really crazy loud singing and dancing. Sooo much fun - my cheeks were sore from laughing so hard! Sunday brought more hot sunshine, some mellow reading on the back deck and then a trip out to the boat to give it a good scrub and then enjoy the waterfront views/reading/chatting/napping.
I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life, a home that I enjoy, a sailboat that I never dreamed I would own and the presence of mind to appreciate it all - every day! Thanks to all of you who are on this journey with me!

Some Fun With Pix...

Check out this really fun image editor site. Here's some examples of what you can do...have fun!

Things I Love...Happy Love Thursday!

1. fresh cut flowers
2. clean, fresh sheets off the clothesline
3. lazing on a sunday afternoon...
4. watching people meet up or say good-bye at airports
5. a good, crazy night of dancing
6. the satisfied feeling after a run or a long walk in the fresh air
7. the smell of dirt in the summer
8. my mom's home-made buns and borscht
9. shoes, shoes, shoes
10. sailing with my george on a sunny afternoon (and napping on the boat when we're done)
    
11. giggle-y days
12. talking "like we have company" (I'm stealing that one from my grandma)
13. new magazines (a bit of an addiction)
14. those quiet moments when you realize how noisy your life gets
15. hearing stories about love and compassion (it renews my faith in humankind)
16. soweto gospel choir (how can you not be blown over by this powerful music?!)

What do you Love??? I'd love to know...

1000th Visitor!!!,

Yippee, yip, yip yayyy!
Happy Wednesday to you all...
I'll be more interesting tomorrow:)

Start Where You Are...

Granville Island Fruit - Lorna Ketler '08
I was searching for some inspiration this evening and came upon this article by Pema Chodron - I've been reading a couple of her books and find her words food for my soul. It sometimes requires a different way of looking at ourselves, our ego and the world. Click anywhere on the quote for the full article and others' on different topics. I love the title, "Start Where You Are".

"Love and compassion are like the weak spots in the walls of ego. If we connect with even one moment of good heart and cherish it, our ability to open will gradually expand. The Buddhist term bodhicitta means completely open heart and mind. Citta is translated as heart or mind; bodhi means awake...

...A good way for any of us to do this (melting our frozen heart) is to think of a person toward whom we feel appreciation or love or gratitude. In other words, we connect with the warmth that we already have. If we can't think of a person, we can think of a pet, or even a plant. Sometimes we have to search a bit. But as Trungpa Rinpoche used to say, Everybody loves something. Even if it's just tortillas. The point is to touch in to the good heart that we already have and nurture it. At other times we can think of a person or situation that automatically evokes compassion. Compassion is our capacity to care about others and our wish to alleviate their pain. It is based not on pity or professional warmth, but on the
acknowledgment that we are all in this together. Compassion is a relationship
between equals. So in any moment of hardness, we can connect with the compassion we already have - for laboratory animals, abused children, our friends, our relatives, for anyone anywhere - and let it open our heart and mind in what
otherwise might feel like an impossibly frozen situation. Love and compassion
are like the weak spots in the walls of ego. They are like a naturally occurring
opening. And they are the opening we take. If we connect with even one moment of good heart or compassion and cherish it, our ability to open will gradually
expand. Beginning to tune into even the minutest feelings of compassion or
appreciation or gratitude softens us. It allows us to touch in with the noble
heart of bodhicitta on the spot."

Granville Island Flowers - Lorna Ketler '08

Tag - You're It!

Oops, I forgot to tag people in my meme so here's my list (sorry, I only have 5) ...
Barbie - http://letmeaxeyousomthin.blogspot.com/
Cynthia - http://www.big_girlfeet.blogspot.com/
Denise - http://wayoutwear.blogspot.com/
Carol - http://www.carolbrowne.com/
K8 the GR8 - http://www.cackaloo.com/

And once again - Here are the rules:1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog; some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Random Facts...

I got tagged by the loverly Tamara with this meme so...here ya go...

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog; some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
HERE ARE THE SEVEN FACTS!

1. I have my belly-button pierced. Yep, when I was 33 (Wow! that was 10 years ago), I decided to reclaim my body and love and accept it with all its' lumps, bumps and wrinkles. The two things that I did to celebrate this newfound acceptance/freedom was to get my belly-button pierced and buy a two piece swimsuit. It really was a revelation for me to have these positive thoughts about my own body.
2. Every once in a while, when I'm making oatmeal for my breakfast, I eat a big spoonful (or two or three) of brown sugar right out of the jar. It's so delicious.
3. I used to pretend that I was Mexican when I was a little girl. My parents were both born in Mexico so I always had this fantasy that I was this brown-skinned, spanish speaking nina. One day I will learn to speak Spanish to at least fulfill part of this fantasy!
4. I had tea in the Sahara and threw up in the Nile. Good one!!!
5. I used to sing in a Sweet Adelines choir (and may try it again one day). Love, love, love vocal harmony.
6. I met Whoopi Goldberg.
7. I would choose Ashley Judd to play me in a movie version of my life:) Hey, why not???

In Search of Hearts and other Inspiration...Happy Love Thursday!!!

I went in search of hearts yesterday and this is what I found...

Happy Love Thursday to you all.

And...to my George...ma tanu piar cardi!!!

Is Patience a Virtue?

I googled this question and found the following quote by a fellow named Stephen Waters which makes good sense to me ...

Patience is not so much a virtue as it is a reward that comes to those in balance. Do not try to "be" patient, or to practice patience, or try to emulate those who are patient. It isn't a habit, or something to be learned for its own sake. Patience is no virtue; patience is a reward.
Patience is a state of balance that rises simply out of understanding; the unexpected gift experienced after a confluence of a sense of time, of struggle, of perspective, of judgment, of harnessing the mind.

I'm struggling this week with that balance. Or, I guess you could say, that's one of my life challenges. Over and over again I've experienced that flow that happens when you feel you're on the right track and things naturally progress as it feels they should. For some reason, right now, that flow is stalled. I know there's a reason for it and I try not to make myself crazy with trying to figure it all out. Maybe the secret is to just do nothing; to let the universe unfold as it should. (I've always said I believed in that but it's easier to put into practice when you're not stuck:)

I've recently begun seeing a life/work coach (Jan Carley) and I'm very excited about some new opportunities that I've just started looking into. I know, this is all a bit confusing when I can't talk specifics, but I will be more detailed as soon as it feels right to do so. Anyway...one of the things we were looking at together is why the stall. What might I need to learn or do to break through this next phase. Right now, my answer is, I DON'T KNOW!!! I'm taking action by doing lots of reading and learning in the meantime. I'm thinking yoga should be at the top of my priority list - to help me breathe, balance and "be".

Any thoughts???

After a Harrowing Day on the High Seas...

Ya-harr!! It was a crazy day on and off the water yesterday. No wind and rolling seas (flooded our motor several times!) to intense wind and burying the rails (sailing talk for "OMG, I'm going to pee my pants!!!")
Once back in the marina, had to de-stress with some cold drinks and craziness with the riffraff. Here's some incriminating pix and video. Pretty fun!

Note the coordinating outfits!

George and Kathleen - together again!