May 2010

A Festival Full of Ideas

It’s MindFULL Monday AND Memorial Day. How fun is that? In the spirit enjoying a mindfull weekend and doing fun things, we spent yesterday in Boulder. For those of you who have never been there, I highly recommend a visit. Nestled at the foot of the Flatirons, Boulder is a cool college town with a high social conscience and a clear blue sky.

The Boulder Creek Festival is a Memorial Day tradition. Loaded with people watching, games for kids and booths filled with Healers, hand-made jewelry and organic goodies, it’s a wonderful place to go for new ideas.

One of the best ideas we saw this year was from a company called ENO. They created a light weight hanging chair that would make swinging on your porch on lazy summer eves as sweet as honey drizzled over fresh brie and pears. Another ideas was of wind chimes made with metal carvings, beads and bells. The carvings included animals and words. It was as if your saying was speaking to you each time the wind blew.

Much to my personal delight, I heard Rebecca Folsom on stage by the food tents playing one of my all time favorite songs, Lets Be Too Much! Rebecca is on my play list of Colorado Women Musicians. She often plays at the local folk music school and I just love her music. Check her out on i-Tunes.

My daughter brought a friend and their laughter wafted through the air as they bungee jumped, caught bubbles and savored handmade crepes for lunch. We even witnessed a flash mob dancing to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance! It was a day that made you revel in the moment and delight in the walking of the woman on stilts. A wonderful moment and awesome balance – great reminders that summer is on its way!

What MindFULL ways remind you that summer is coming? Let us know!

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Sunday morning, I woke up to my 12 year old daughter asking me to sit with her for a bit. She told me she is OK with the move and living in a condo, but also misses the spaciousness of our old home and the outdoor space to run around. I can understand her longing. She also gets that we are moving on to a new home, eventually, where we will have even more usable space and a nice yard again. For now, this is where we have landed. And it is different. Which was part of the adventure.

We moved last Friday and really, we are practically settled thanks to the mission and love of our friends. When I said, “No I don’t need help” they said “Pisha! Everyone needs help, silly girl.” And with that, boxes were quickly unpacked and removed, meals and mandel bread delivered and flowers left gracing the front step. We even got a Starbucks card so that we could enjoy a “transition treat” every morning for a week.

Lucky for me, some of my friends are also decorators. Colette has Core Interiors (denverdesigngirl@gmail.com). She thinks a lot about how the core of your home can align with the core of your Being. She came and cleared the energy of the condo before we moved in. Honestly, I can feel the difference and if nothing else, had a good laugh in the bedroom as we marched around with a bell. Laughter and good intentions definitely make a dwelling a home.

Another friend, Marsha Blum (www.interiordesignpartnership.com), specializes in “Greenish Thoughts – designing from the heart while thinking of the planet” (check out her website for more on what “green design” is all about). She suggested using what I have to make this house a home.

Lately whenever you read about interiors, everything is supposed to have the “Wow” factor. I’ve been adding a different dimension to the way I think about interiors by using more of an “Ahhhh” factor. The “Ahhh” factor comes from sitting back and enjoying the things you have that make you cozy and comfortable. Perhaps you have an antique piece that doesn’t feel special. Maybe you could use it and treasure the piece because of its sentimental value. Try to dress it up and find a way to bring it into your current life that fits your interior style. Until you are ready to buy some new pieces, use what you have with a different spin and enjoy them. “Ahhh”.

And creative friend, Kristi Dinner (www.companykd.com), did the re-model of a kitchen and bath for our dear friends. Her work is amazing and inspired me to ponder and dream about what could be next in our new home. She created a chandelier for their kitchen table that incorporates small meaningful pieces our friends had collected, like an earring, a heart-shaped rock found on a distant beach and a coin. How fun is that!

Before moving, we got rid of 3 trucks of junk and donated over half our clothes books and “things” to Goodwill. Half of everything left went into storage and the rest came to the condo. We are living lean and easy. Surrounded only by things we love.

We spent the day planting flowers in the patio boxes and hanging baskets by the windows. We are here til we find “next.” And with a little help from our friends, hope to bloom where we are planted.

What little ways do you find to mindfully bloom where you are planted?

Let us know!

Living In The Moment

How many times have you heard how important it is to live in the moment and how many times a day do you really stop and think about it?

If you’re like most of us, not often enough.

Over the last few weeks I have been living in limbo and I have had my share of angst. As some of you may remember in my post a few weeks back, Opportunity Knocks, we were approached about selling our home. While we went quickly under contract, the buyer’s financing process dragged on. For weeks, we had no idea if the deal would go through. Should we plant our flowers or pack a box? On Thursday we got word that it is a GO. And we are moving and closing this Friday. It’s all happening very quickly.

When my mind started (starts) to race, I tried to catch myself and lovingly say, “When are you?” The past or the future? When I got back myself back to the moment, I realized all was well and I had a choice of what to do next. Sometimes it worked and other times I lost it. So goes the human condition.

Nevertheless, I am finding that being in the moment brings relief and surprise. Many amazing synchronicities have happened in this chapter, and one really blows me away. Last week, I went through boxes of cards and pictures I had saved for over 15 years. I came across letters and cards that friends had written – friends I don’t speak with or see as often as I used to. I stopped to think of them, kissed their notes and either saved them in a new smaller box or blessed them and let them go. Three of those friends emailed me the next day! What does that say about the power of intention?

I am heading out now to the condo we have rented for a year. I am meeting my friend Colette, who is the Queen of moving forward with delight, to smudge and bless the space and to fill it with good intention. I am trying to live in this moment. I’m sure when the packers come to do the heavy lifting on Wednesday, I’ll get stuck in the past. But with any thought, I hope to remember that right here, right now, this opportunity knocked on our door for a reason. And only by being in the moment, will the reason introduce itself.

What ways do you remind yourself to be in this moment and live MindFULLy? Let us know!

The Cultural Concierge

Bored with what you’re reading, listening to or seeing at the movies? No time to research, no one to ask and plum sick of looking to Oprah for the answers? Well, look no further…Head Butler is the site for you! Think of Head Butler as your own “Cultural Concierge”!

www.headbutler.com

I discovered Head Butler awhile back, quickly subscribed and now eagerly await new recommendations every week. Why wait? Well, as many of you know, I love a good coincidence. As such, one summer, when we had just returned from Aspen where we were delighted to hear Josh Ritter, my favorite musician, perform with Grammy-award winning violinist, Hilary Hahn, I was lamenting on how no one knew of Josh. The following week, Head Butler wrote about him — they loved him as much as I did — and I have trusted HB recommendations ever since. I was so excited and found more to learn of as I dug deeper and deeper into the site.

Head Butler was created by Jesse Kornbluth. So beyond a coincidence, why trust Jesse’s recommendations? Because…he’s been tracking down and writing about quality culture for decades. He’s been a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, New York, Architectural Digest, Reader’s Digest, The Los Angeles Times Magazine and Departures, and a contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, etc. He’s written several books and co-founded Bookreporter.com, now the hub of the Internet’s most successful non-commercial book network.

And btw my friends, Josh Ritter is also amazing. In 2006, he was named one of the “100 Greatest Living Songwriters” by Paste magazine. He has been compared to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Leonard Cohen. He has a new album out this week, So Runs The World Away. You can take a listen at http://www.joshritter.com/ and link through to NPR. They’ll be streamlining the album for a few days. You can also read Jesse’s interview with Josh on Monday at www.headbutler.com.

Summer is a great time to stock up on good books, new music and culturally cool stuff. I encourage you to toss Josh’s CD in the car (my personal favorite is Animal Years), try one of Head Butler’s book/movie recommendations and kick back and enjoy the long days of summer. Believe me, there is so much to discover, you’ll wish they never ended.

Let us know which Head Butler recommendations you choose for a MindFULLY creative summer!