Pa Rup Pum Pum Pum ... or however you spell it

The parking lot was crazy. It took an act of God. Really. I am not taking his name in vain. I really was praying. I was praying for peace of mind mostly and a space with an easy exit. Eventually, I made it into a parking space in the tiny lot adjacent to the 99 c store on La Brea. It seemed like a lot of work for Ziploc bags but the big ones work well to discourage moths from my cashmere sweaters and for only 99 cents? I guess it lessens the cashmere guilt.

It was madness in there. People everywhere, giant boxes of wrapping paper and shelves full of porcelain nativities made in China. I had to make two round trips around the store. One to fill my basket and the other to return items back to their shelves after realizing that I already have a number of handmade nativities and probably don't need the one made in China or that additional 6-pack of household sponges.

As I came around the automotive isle I heard Bing Crosby singing The Little Drummer Boy over the 99 cent sound system. As I hit the plastic hangers and reusable food containers, I heard women's voices singing along with Bing in beautiful "choir of angels" harmonies. Two women, unconsciously singing as they picked up candle holders and other various tchotchkes, unaware of the beautiful moment they were creating in aisle 10.

I left the store with my 2 rolls of wrapping paper, 3 little 99c poinsettias and smile on my face. Oh, and two boxes of Ziplocs. I love the holidays.

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,

and behold,

everything is softer

and more beautiful."

~Norman Vincent Peale

baubles bangles and beads ...

My sister Penny is an artist and she makes some seriously gorgeous jewelry. I wrote about it in a blog post some time ago but I figure now is the time to show off her new stuff. (Being the holidays and everything!)

These beautiful pieces made from pure silver clay, were fired in the little kiln in her studio at home in Ojai. She uses both her own drawings or as in the case of these pieces, Afghan jewelry dies. She found the dies many years ago on a trip she and I took to see our parents who were living in Pakistan at the time.

They are so beautiful and unique and it is pretty rare to find silver jewelry that has that unique ethnic quality but that is also still very refined. They are really exquisite! I am so proud of her.

Don't these look so perfect for Christmas?

Penny gives a portion of the profits from her sales to The Central Asia Institute which is Greg Mortenson's charity. He is the one who wrote "Three Cups of Tea" and builds all the girls schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. What he does is so amazing and if you haven't read the book, it would be a beautiful Christmas gift to yourself. It's incredibly inspiring what one person can do in what seems to be impossible circumstances! We may know it intellectually but it's important to remind ourselves.

Penny has a beautiful Blog and a wonderful Etsy site if you want to check them out!

Well, I am off to teach some art then study for my Italian final! OH, by the way I did the final oral exam and it was hilarious. We were broken up in to groups of 3 or 4 of our classmates and Flavio asked every group different questions. I ended up with two other single women we ended up talking about several things including what we wanted in a man - in Italian! "Intellegente!" " Divertente!" "Simpatico!" "Gentile!"

But of course, who wouldn't want a smart, funny, likable and kind man? Unless of course you want a woman. ;)

Have a beautiful weekend!!!

Blessings and light!

"Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm."

~George Lois

San Diego

Couldn't resist a few more San Diego pics. All but the last one are from my friend Erin's place. Her home always feels like a great big hug and their love is so tangible. That is her jewelry (below) which is so wonderfully organic and lovely it feels though it has been drawn from sea!

My little friend McKenna, (Erin's Daughter) with her little friend "Chili" (an African tortoise of some kind)

Where there is great love

there are always miracles.

~Willa Cather

When friends enter a home,

they sense its personality and character,

the family's style of living-

these elements make a house come alive

with a sense of identity

a sense of energy,

enthusiasm,

and warmth,

declaring,

"This is who we are;

this is how we live."

~Ralph Lauren

I always love going to San Diego and getting enveloped in

"the love blanket" of my friends' homes!

Oh! If you are interested in checking out more of Erin's jewelry,

check out her Etsy site! I have 5 of her pieces I wear constantly!

Hope you are all having a beautiful week. I am off to write a paper for Italian class on the film "Ciao Professore!" Home stretch, the final is on my birthday next week! The movie is very sweet, by the way. Rent it if you can find it!

Dreaming

Dreams are a strange thing. I realize this is hardly a revelation. My Mom and sister have these fantastical dreams. Dreams with flying machines from the pages of a Da Vinci notebook and amazing adventure stories like something out of Jules Verne novels. I have always been quite envious of these dreams. My dreams? Not so fun. As a child I would dream that I was on my way to Disneyland and as soon as we arrived in the parking lot, my alarm would wake me up. My dreams have generally had a tendency to run along these lines ever since.

This week I had two baby dreams. One I had stomach cramps and rolled over to find a cute little baby there with no umbilical cord or anything. All I needed to do was find a blanket and figure out who the father was. The second dream was about an amazingly (and nonexistent in the real world) easy adoption office where you basically just had to be employed and decide what country you wanted your baby to come from. (a la Angelina)

Last night I found myself on a beach in Italy with loads of other people. I walked away from the beach on a little path to find myself in Assisi which, of course, is nowhere near the beach. It was a glorious day and I was so happy to be there! I sat in a cafe and two of my high school friends, Tim and Todd were there! This was very exciting because these two can be quite fun to hang out with. I immediately offered to show them around. After all, I'd been there before and had read all of these books about St. Francis and so on. At this point they told me another friend from high school was there staying off the main Piazza. "Who else is here?," I asked. "Oh," Tim said, "there are about 700 others of us here on a tour!" My heart sank. Oh my God, I thought. The town will be ruined.

Anyway, at least I got to be in Assisi.

Assisi 2008 & 10 ... without a tour of 700 from my home town!

"A dream is a wish your heart makes

when your fast asleep...

Have faith in your dreams and someday

your rainbow will come smiling through

No matter how your heart is grieving

if you keep on believing

a dream that you wish will

come true."

Cinderella

Hopefully she was only partially right.

(And the other 700 don't show up.)

Sunset Cliffs

Last weekend, I spent a beautiful few days in San Diego with friends.

I lived there from nineteen until I was twenty-three. For such a short time I have so many amazing memories. My friend Kristen (who I have written about and known more than 30 years!) and I saw these amazing clouds in the distance and knew we had to drive over to Sunset Cliffs to take in the sunset.

We did our best to stay bundled up and not slip on the rain soaked mud and sand of the cliffs. There is something about sunsets that make us patient, I think. We become more in the moment ... watching the beauty unfold ... letting life unfold.

This is from the little book Journey to the Heart by Melody Beattie that I love and have quoted so often ...

Do more than trust the process

the journey you are on

Become so awestruck by it that you respect it too

Respect your feelings and the timely manner

in which they surface, heal and lead you into new discoveries

Respect your experiences, the places you've been

the scenarios you've been through

Respect the way you've gained gold and jewels

the treasures of the soul, from each one ...

Respect the darker moments,

the more difficult times when you're uncertain

and don't know what to do next

Respect the timing as your life and the journey unfolds

Don't murmur about why such and such has to be the way it is

Don't limit how your growth can happen ...

Learn to respect the path of others.

Learn to respect your own.

~Melody Beattie

from Journey to the Heart

Have a beautiful week my friends!

Swimming in Italian Verbs

Obviously, I have been pretty M.I.A. on this blog lately. My mind feels fragmented and all over the place ... except in Italian class and figure drawing. I've only made it to figure drawing 3 times since it started up in September but it is definitely wonderful to let my mind focus in a very relaxed way ... in meditation, letting things happen naturally.

Italian however ... reading, writing, listening, going to study group, making flash cards and studying them in weird places, is taking up the working part of my brain. By the end of class I feel like I can actually feel my brain trying to expand in my skull and it's not pretty. Sometimes by the end of class I think, no don't tell us anything else tonight! Nothing else will fit in there! In these moments I realize how "brain lazy" I have been! It's good to know I am opening up or connecting neural pathways (or something like that) but frankly it's overwhelming to think of how little of the Italian language I actually know. I have such a long long way to go.

Anyway, I have been unable to focus on my blog. My brain is fried, but in a good way. ;) I feel really lucky that I am able to take the time to do this in my life. My teacher, or should I say "professore" is fantastically hilarious and we have a ball in class. It's fun to occasionally look around the class and see gales of laughter from 18 to 60 year olds ... all wracking our brains together, learning Italian and laughing out loud. It's pretty amazing.

Oh, and have I mentioned when Professore Flavio asks "Quanti anni hai?" (how old are you?) No one is aloud to say anything over "ho ventinove anni." That's "I'm 29" by the way.

Funny how it just rolls off the tongue!

conte and white pencil on Fabriano paper October 2010

I want to be doing this (above) but with my p.j.s and my tivo'd Dancing with the Stars, but for now I am off to my little 2 x 3 inch flash cards and the Italian short film evening at the Egyptian Theatre.

The brain is wider than the sky.

~Emily Dickinson

Hope you are having and amazing week

and using your brain in new and wonderful ways! ;)

... off the docks, a different perspective

3 years ago my parents bought a sailboat, intending to take sailing lessons. Between moving to another town, taking care of me when I was sick, remodeling two bathrooms and landscaping their yard, the sailing lessons didn't begin until just recently. They have been practicing taking the boat in and out of the slip and taking it around the harbor but they hadn't actually sailed it out of the Ventura Harbor.

Sunday there was finally enough wind to really take it out ... into the ocean! Benjamin (my five year old nephew) and I happened to be on the boat that day. The weather wasn't exactly sunny in Southern California but it made for some interesting blue/grey paletted (is that a word?) photos and it was so fun watching the sea lions and pelicans with Ben. I might need to do some watercolors and pastels from these ...

There is something so amazing about being out there ... being cradled by the ocean and leaving the world behind. Well, sort of. We were also eating potato chips and listening to Frank Sinatra as well as the weather reports from land to make sure were weren't going to end up in a George Clooney "wave movie" , but still. We were out there.

It's a different view of the world out there, of the planet, and it's always good to get a different perspective.

Below Anacapa Island in the distance ... part of the Channel Islands

pelicans on the jetty

Back in the Ventura Harbor

The world is round

and the place which may seem like the end

may also be only the beginning.

~Ivy Baker Priest

Positano Walk

"I was the world in which I walked."

~Wallace Stevens

Tea at the Palaz of Hoon

Walk with me ...

Breathe

Appreciate what is behind you ...

All of the beauty ...

But don't forget ...

to see the beauty

that is in your midst

right where you stand ...

On the path you are on.

These photos were from my trip to Italy last May. Sometimes I wish I could teleport myself back there (for obvious reasons! How crazy gorgeous is it!?) but I try to remind myself to see all the beauty that is around me right here, right now. Of course, I am not at all perfect at this but fortunately there are things and people to remind me of it. Life reminds me of it.

I hope you are finding beauty in your world,

on your path,

right

where

you

are.

If not, I pray you find it soon!

Blessings and light my friends.

Friends in the Desert

Yesterday I got back from a crazy, fun, moving and meaningful weekend with my girlfriends in Palm Desert, California. We met there from around Southern California to celebrate our longtime friendships but most of all, to celebrate our dear friend Shannon's 40th birthday.

This photo was taken in the California desert back in the 1970s. That is me on the right standing next to Shannon who I have ( clearly ) known most of my life! We share so many memories that our lives are woven together in the same tapestry and I can't imagine my life without her in it.

"Let there be no purpose in friendship

save the deepening of the spirit."

Kahlil Gibran

We are family. Most us have known each other since grade school ... before boys ... careers, husbands or kids. We have been there to celebrate when we're the best version of ourselves and be there when things get really tough. We love each other. We're lucky.

Shannon's Saturday night "Birthday Sushi Dinner!"

"In the sweetness of friendship

let their be laughter

and sharing of pleasures."

~Kahlil Gibran

Flashback to 21 years ago in San Diego, California

Birthday Girl looking gorgeous at 40! Had fun drinking champagne and curling her hair, which doesn't happen often because she is pretty busy with her 7 year old twins!

Happy Birthday Shannon!

"Let the best be for your friend ... "

~ Kahlil Gibran

I am grateful for so many blessings in my life and along with my family, my friends have been my greatest gift. We aren't perfect but we love each other and share our lives and our humor and our talents and gifts with each other. Each one of us contributes something special ... something amazing.

Take a moment ...to call your friends, send a card ... an email ... something ... and let them know you love them.

Blessings and light to you,

my blogging friends,

for a beautiful November beginning!