So Maybe I'm Not So Good at this Blogging-From-the-Road Business...

...but I'm taking lots of video! So as soon as I have time to sit down for longer than 8 minutes at my computer, I'll have lots of good stuff for you :)

Til then, happy trails! And here's a sunset/moonrise in Texas:

Charis and Terry Cross Country: Le Route

Tonight's the night we're gonna make it happen,
Tonight we'll put all other things aside...

Ok, sorry, sorry, sorry. But I AM really excited, because this is IT - the road trip of all road trips begins tonight, at approximately 11:30pm.

And this is what we'll be doing:


View Larger Map

Tonight at 11:00pm, the alarm will go off for me (I will have been sleeping since 7 or 8, whether T is sleeping as well at this point is yet to be determined).

I will awaken, throw on clothes, grab purse, and throw hair into a topknot, then T and I will climb into the already (at that point, I hope...) car and hit the trail!

Very exciting.

Oh, and by the way...
The site is up, sort of. Here's a preview:

Voyage

Last day of work today!

Bittersweet.

Bitter because I'll miss everyone and this GORGEOUS campus and such, sweet because of all the deliciousness. Lunches, coffees, etc. in the goodbye-to-a-coworker fashion make me a happy girl with a stomachache :)

Speaking of happiness and tummyaches, we went out for a bon voyage hoorah (#1, that is) last night.

It was at The Arsenal, which is adorable. Yet another place that I wish I would have discovered, oh, two years ago, rather than two days before I pack the car...T and J (ignore the awkward stare...I promise that J TOTALLY knew I was going around, camera in hand...)
Have I mentioned lately that I love love LOVE stringed lights at night? Well, in case I haven't said it, I love them. That's all.We MAY have made a pit stop on the way home...Just fries, please. Oh, and a chocolate shake. Mmmmm. Last trip to In & Out! *tear* (and excuse me, but I just love this picture. Is that chiseled jaw delicious or WHAT) M got a little sleepy and decided to take a yoga-mat-pillowed nap. Er...., I wouldn't do that...Oh well. Germy ignorance is bliss...? What?Yes, STILL in line...Mmmm, chocolate shake...

Today's whiteboard quote (it's a long one, but it'll be the last I ever leave to my hallway peeps so I had to make it good:
"We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

This morning I wished the facebook universe a "happy fall equinox!" and promptly discovered that many people don't know what that is.

Well then, let me enlighten you on its interestingness.
yes, I have been known to put a "ness" on the end of random words and thereby make up new ones. Get over it.

So we all know that days in the summer are longer- judging by daylight - and days in the winter are shorter. I remember wondering why in the heck, when it was cold outside, Mom came home so LATE from work when I was little...yeah, it wasn't any later than normal, it was just that in Virginia winters, the sky darkened at like 5:15pm. Not cool for a 7-year-old.

Anyway.

The equinoxes, two each year of course (one for fall, one for spring) are the days on which the amount of daylight and the amount of darkness are the same. They're the balancing points. Since today is the fall equinox, starting tomorrow the nights will now last longer than the days, until the spring equinox (which falls in March, I believe).

source

In ancient times, when people's spirituality was based on things like the harvest and the sun and its warmth, today held great significance, as it stood for the end of the light's reign for the year. Lots of stuff about winter myths, withdrawing for the cold and dark season, etc. There were various stories in many diverse cultures that explained this (Demeter, the Greek goddess comes to mind), but either way you have the general idea.

Although most of us don't still hold to that sort of thinking, I still like to take time on the equinoxes to feel the turning of the year. The fact that the nights will now be longer does hold significance for me; it will certainly affect my way of life - where I go, what I do, when I get sleepy....

I also think my life is sweeter and holds more meaning when I keep myself in tune with what's happening in nature. It is a restorative practice for me to prepare myself mentally and emotionally for the winter, which is lovely as a time of quiet, and rest, and hot chocolate, and of course the holidays (yay!) - not to mention that because of the move (this weekend, whoa), I will actually have a cold winter, not to mention a white Christmas (double yay!), which makes the equinox all the more poignant for me this year.

So maybe try to jump on the equinox bandwagon - take a moment today to reflect on the year, the spring and summer, and now the upcoming Autumn. How was it? What did you like? What did you not like so much? How can you make this the best autumn and winter possible? For me, it'll include enjoying every drop of this crazy road trip and all of its accoutrements, and to make sure that I take full advantage of the freedom and the potential to reconnect that all of this time spent with loved ones will bring. Who knows the next time that I'll get to see everyone this much, maybe never... So make some goals! Remember where you are! And happy autumnal equinox! (now you know what that means)

Today's whiteboard quote:
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."
~Elbert Hubbard

Thanks Ispy!!!

Please excuse the lack of a longerish post this morning, I'm pretty beat (4.72 hours of sleep will do that to you when you're unaccustomed, I find...)

Last night my cousins Ispy and Jaaye came over. In exchange for a delicious dinner of black bean vegan tacos courtesy of T (I was supposed to help but got completely carried away, jabbering on in the dining room), and a non-vegan blueberry tart and vanilla ice cream dessert (courtesy of me, the oven, a big spoon, and Trader Joes...), Ispy took some halfway impromptu beach pics of us. They turned out GREAT. (Thanks Ispy!!!!) We took some video snippets too, of various things, which I'll put up sooner or later...

Jaaye hung out with us until a wee hour, talking in the living room (I MAY have been asleep and drooling on the couch for the last half hour...)


Today's whiteboard quote:
"I recommend you take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves."
~Earl of Chesterfield

How I Almost Got Run Over by an Insane Waste of (insert basically anything here)

So.

Because my last day here at the office is a week from tomorrow and there is still a stack of at least 100 things to do overflowing my desk, shining with the white of printouts and purple and yellow of file folders (like a sunset but not nearly as pretty...yeah...) and because this is a busy job ANYWAY, not only when I'm #1) trying to wrap all my tasks in little bows without loose ends for those after me and #2) hosting THREE conferences in the last two weeks before my departure (that's right, one today and yesterday, one tomorrow, one next week), and since I'm looking like various degrees of this:Or this, for a pretty blog's sake...

Both images courtesy of google image search for "pulling hair out", by the way

Anywhoo, because of all of those things, I had decided not to post today. No big deal, it's okay to skip it anyway, I said to myself, besides, I'm sure no one will even notice.
But.
Since this happened, and since I have five minutes during which that I should probably step away from the pile on my desk before I lose my mind ("put down the hammer"), I thought I would vent a little.

Wait, what?

Charis, of the life-is-wonderful-1001-ways-to-be-happy-blogging-style is about to vent?

Yeah, it happens sometimes.

So here we go.

Each morning, I arrive to the office bright and early at 7:30am (that is, mind you, after an hour of traffic). I park my lovely little blue saturn (which I'm dropping off at the dealer on Saturday, sniff) across the street from campus and make my way to the office, unlocking doors and turning on lights and all that sort of starting-the-day business. I work the next hour and a half away quietly, and at 9:00am, I make the reverse trip back across campus and scoot my car across the street again, to park in 9:00-4:00 street parking. Quite convenient, as I leave the office at 4:00pm.

During my walk to the car at 9 I do things like make phone calls, listen to the parrots overhead making a racket as usual, or contemplate the meaning of life. You know, the usual.

This morning, I decided to call T and check on his day so far. We're both under a lot of stress about the move and accompanying factors, so I thought I would see how he was doing.

He recounted some morning reading (perhaps we'll have a green check blog post tomorrow because of its craziness, more on that at another time), we discussed healthy eating, escape to Canada, and the food industry's corruption as I made my way across a busyish street towards my parked car. After the busyish larger street, I have to cross a small residential street where I only encounter a car actually driving about, roughly, hmmm, I'd say once every two weeks, maybe once every week and a half.

As I diagonally crossed the little avenue towards my car, head bent towards my phone, key chain out and unlocking the car via keyless entry, I was assaulted with a loud, angry blaring horn blast about five feet away from me and over my left shoulder.

Surprised, incensed, and (not gonna lie) a little scared, I turned around to first of all see what the heck was going on, and second of all to express the ridiculousness of blasting a horn at a person two steps away from their car (not to mention yours).

Directly behind me, in a beat up little gray honda or something (I couldn't really tell the color or the make right away, there wasn't much paint left and the horrificalness of the whole spectacle somewhat blinded me) was a sour-faced man, probably about my parents' age, with a badly balding head and a scowl.

As I said sharply "I'm crossing the street!", because clearly he took me as being out for a pleasant stroll, notwithstanding the keys in my hand held up to a car 1.7 feet away from me that I was directly walking to, and because clearly he was the type of person who has the emotion (and perhaps total) maturity of a toddler so that's how you must speak to them, he snapped "blahblahridiculousness your time!" and zoomed off.

I would like to note first of all, that he didn't meet my eyes for more than a split second. It's a little different when the object of your random act of hatred (which is probably one of many) turns around and looks you in the eye, huh? During the rest of his momentary rant his eyes ran around like frightened mice, although his voice sounded slightly more sure of itself. Only slightly. Either way, the lazer beams of Charis' eyes strike again, as a man at least double her age tries to take her down in a staring contest. Bad idea, Sir.

But okay. To be fair, I wasn't exactly scurrying. Considering that what I've roughly translated his gibberish to mean is something like "you're taking your time!" or "quit taking your time!" or something about gathering moments for my own personal use rather than donating them to kind individuals like himself in general, I get it. I was walking diagonally, and not all that quickly. I wasn't strolling, but I certainly would have crossed faster if I had known that there was someone waiting.

However, this brings me to my next point. OBVIOUSLY he had zoomed around the corner like a bat out of the 8th circle of hell, because I never heard a thing until his horn was shouting at me. I would have known he was there by the sound of his clanking and banging engine, surely, if he had done anything other than take the turn at no way near a safe speed and expect to be able to press harder onto the gas pedal on the straightaway of the street immediately after the turn, rather than wait for a pedestrian.

So I apologize that I don't have a psychic ability to spot a lunatic coming towards me from 200 paces. I'll work on it, Sir.

And finally, I think we should have a moment of silence for this poor soul. After my heart returned to its normal beating pace and pattern, I started for a moment to wish for the bad karma to hit him that, a second later, I realized has certainly already hit him, probably did years ago, and that those hits obviously keep coming. A happy person who leads a fulfilled life would not sling hatred like that at someone that could have, in another circumstance, been introduced to him as a friend of his offspring. But let's be honest, his gaze would never have traveled closer to my face than 6.5 inches below it anyway. He's obvious a very respectful and mature person. I'm sure his life totally rocks too. Because of course that type of behavior comes from a stand-up kind of guy who only makes good decisions...

Of course, that is unless he is one of the many Southern California residents who are perfectly nice in person but morph into fire breathing demons when put behind a wheel and on a highway...because that certainly happens.

But that's a post for another day.

Have I mentioned that I cannot wait to leave?

Today's whiteboard quote:
"Begin at once to live and count each day as a separate life."
~Seneca

Chapel Chatter: Introductions

So yes, although I am engaged, and the topic of the intricate wedding planning I now find myself entrenched in should get some air time occasionally, I do not - let me repeat - do NOT - want this to become a wedding blog.

Therefore, each post on this matrimonial topic will be marked with the clear Chapel Chatter heading.

You've been warned...

Some quick stats on the current planning stage:
Date: May 22, 2010
Location: Richmond, VA
Time: early evening, post sunset
Colors: Dark blue, light blue, with green and silver accents (sound like a high school prom? Perhaps. But don't worry, it'll be much more awesome)
Dress: Chosen.
T, do NOT click this link!
Cake: small gluten-free cutting cake and cupcakes for everyone else (very excited about this)

(for exemplar purposes only):

Cake topper: chosen.

Hmm, what else....it'll be in my mom's ginormous yard which she is, as I type, meeting with gardeners and tent people (no, not carnies, rather people who rent those big tents) and caterers and such in order to prepare for. She's training flowers for an arbor and the event will be after dark, lit with hundreds of candles and thousands of stringed lights, with soft music and deliciousness of varied sorts everywhere your eye falls.

Good times.

Oh, and for favors we're giving away seedlings in little pots. Green, and awesome (wow, 2nd time I've used that word in one post. You know it's gonna be good...)

I think that's about it!

Consider yourself updated.

Today's whiteboard quote:
"One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure." ~William Feather

Movie Review: No Impact Man

Friday night I went to see this movie:
No Impact Man is a documentary that follows blogger Colin Beavan and his family during a year of "no impact" - in other words, no pollution, no packaging, no harmful chemicals used in their home, no food that was grown more than a few hundred miles away, no transportation an anything other than foot or bike, no elevators, no meat, no, um, toilet paper, no new clothes, no disposable diapers, and the list goes on.

As a girl who has become painfully environmentally aware in recent years, and who lives on a not-quite-exclusively vegetarian and mostly organic diet, uses only organic cleaning supplies, shampoos, etc., recycles, and has lofty idealistic dreams of one day growing most of what I eat in my own garden, the principles discussed in this movie weren't at all new to me.

But this folks lived in New York City!

It wasn't easy.

The movie found an interesting balance between being educational (pollution, sustainability, where our food comes from, what happens to the food-related animals and plants before they get to us, what happens after our chemicals get sent down the sink, etc.), and humorous. Michelle, Colin's wife, loved processed food, venti coffees, and retail therapy with a passion. During one scene in the movie she goes through her credit card bill for the last month before no more shopping. My jaw dropped at the prices of some of her clothing, but having friends who are into fashion, I can understand that drive. Her take on the state of the "no impact" year was often a source of comedic relief.

The couple's toddler daughter was excited and happy about each change, if she noticed it at all (including the cloth diapers, yikes) - she was a ray of sunshine who piped up with funny high-pitched quips here and there (yes, her cuteness was probably amped up by the movie's editing, but I liked it either way).

A lot of time was given to family dynamics. I didn't expect to see static about whether another baby would be tried for during the documented year. I didn't think that we would be privy to such emotional and usually private discussion, but there it was, lending a different human aspect to the highly environmentally-focused movie.

I wasn't at all surprised, however, I watched the couple's complexions become more healthy looking over the course of the year. A light came into their eyes by the end that (I assume) had been previously dulled by caffeine and gross-processed-food addictions (not to mention the exercise they were getting now - in that one year, Colin lost 20 pounds and Michelle reversed her pre-diabetic condition). Also, there's a difference between people who spend their lives staring at lit boxes and those who spend their time beneath the lit sky - cutting out TV does a body (and a mind) good, if you ask me.

One thing that I liked about No Impact Man's approach was that it wasn't "preachy" at all. Colin said over and over that no, everyone won't (and shouldn't necessarily) do the drastic things that he did. However, if people just cut back to the extent that they can handle and appreciate, then no one is worse off but lots of people, and animals, and plants, are a lot better off.

When asked what one should do if they only change one thing, Colin suggested joining an environmentalist club or organization. Sounds good to me! (plus, more sunshine and good karma can't hurt, right?)

After the movie ended, I exited the theater and was bombarded by the electricity on Lincoln Ave - lights blinking, engines revving, tiny lanterns along the sidewalk glowing. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little ashamed at what I now saw as waste.

Anyway, to the important question: Should you see the movie?
Answer: Yes.
The truth is, of the group of 5 that I watched the movie with, everyone didn't love every part of the movie. Things about the personalites can be a little jarring, frustrating, or annoying, but it's a documentary. That's going to happen. However, all things considered, the information and shift in thinking alone is enough to make the short movie a worthwhile dalliance. I'd definitely recommend it.

Today's whiteboard quote:
"Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best."
~David O. McKay

Glimpses

Friday, 4:37pm.

Stuck in traffic, yes, of course, but would you just look at that sky!

Saturday, 12:29pm.
Tom Bergin's oh Tom Bergin's, why didn't I come to you more this year?

Love the shamrocks lining the walls and ceiling...

Even the bathrooms are awesome!

Tandem sip watching the ND game (very sad).

Sunday, 9:18am.
No pics here, sorry. Met miss badassness herself Liz for breakfast, who somehow put up with my caffeine-mad ravings as I talked her ear off... Good times! (why didn't I order decaf? I was passed out by 8:30pm from the crash...)

Today's whiteboard quote:
"First, say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do." ~Epictetus

What's all this sh**? Mucus?

-that's my favorite line from this whole bit.
...circa 6:14, Thursday September 10:
(warning: bad language. What can I say? T was nervous....)

Haircut from Charis Brown on Vimeo.

(yeeaaah never figured out how to do the bleeps, sorry)

Afterward we drove down to the beach and walked for awhile, letting our stresses melt down into the sand like wax and be carried off into the ocean, to be recycled into something new. I wondered why we haven't done that every night for the past year...

I played around with the "panorama" settings on my little Kodak camera (not the lover, but the old purse-sized standby)-
don't worry Liz m'love, I'll be bringing the love of my life Nikon along on Sunday to document our creperie awesomeness...

- and got shots of the orange-colored sky like this (50 points to anyone who gets that reference):
(not perfectly seamless on the panorama front, but I'll take it.)

Nice night.

Oh, and by the way, this morning I woke up and blow-dryed and flat ironed, and my hair looks awesome.

Today's whiteboard quote:
"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it." ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Don't forget to light your candles and say your prayers for those lost 8 years ago...

Holy Schnikers I FINALLY did it!

That's right folks, it's a vlog, a year in the making.

(don't get too excited)



Today's whiteboard quote:
"People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone." ~Audrey Hepburn

Oh, and by the way? B. Love. That's all that needs to be said.

Ok, I swear. I SWEAR I'll do it.

I've been a bad vlogger.

Bad!

I'll post one tomorrow.

Promise!

(hmm, the word "promise" weighs too heavily on my conscience...)

I really, really, really think I will!

(does that count?)

Today's whiteboard quote:
"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objectives must first be overcome."
~Samuel Johnson

Charis Cross Country: Preparations

It has begun.

After weeks of planning and plotting and making "hey, we're gonna be in town!" calls, it happened, er, started, yesterday.

The packing process.

(I can hear all of your groans, and thank you, yes, it is tedious)

Yesterday I went through my closet, and my dressers, and my shoe collection...who knew I had so many clothes? It never feels like it...in order to decide what will be coming on the move and what is being donated to charity. (now at least all my shoes fit in their little bins that T built for me last year. Quite nice. Makes me wonder why I didn't do this 10 months ago....)

I also started in on the library, labeling my shelves so T can pack them up for me while I'm at work (did I mention that I am affianced to the perfect man?)

On the docket for tonight?
I get my car detailed so that (sob) tomorrow (sob) I can (sob) put it up for sale (sob).

Very sad.

But you gotta do what you gotta do.

Onward and upward, I say!

Today's whiteboard quote:
"Real life is insecure, you do not know about tomorrow because you know that tomorrow exists not. This moment is all we've got. Squeeze the juice of life now!"
~Tishan

Labor Day Means...

...to the back of the closet you go, white shoes!
Is this just a southern thing? Does anyone other than me do it (although let's be honest, I definitely rock white shoes after Labor Day, if appropriate, don't you)?
My mom told me years ago that Labor Day actually means that you aren't supposed to wear any white clothes afterwards. Craziness, I say! What about all of those comfy snuggly Christmas-time white sweaters?
That, my friends, is why when I'd come home from FL during the holidays, I'd feel as if I were surrounded by drab shades of people, those VA folks all wrapped up in their black and gray and dark brown. Keep color in your lives! You know the trees and flowers won't!

but back to the list, Labor Day means...

...3 weeks minus one day til T and I drive away from CA for good! (is it just me, or was that statement really awkward and rhymey? Anyway.)

...the sun is down at 7pm again - good for my REM cycles and couch-movie-cuddling, bad for productivity...

...and, my favorite, no work today.
-no hour drive in the morning and afternoon on the roads where all of the CA-folk niceness gets traded in for yelling, revving, and horn honking (I knew I was a true Californian when I snarled at a guy and he turned to see me do it, just in time. Busted! "Dude, you just snarled at a human being. Snarled. What the hell's bells' the matter with you?" echoing in my brain...)
-no smoky air invading my lungs. Yay.
-a late morning breakfast with T, eating our fresh heirloom watermelon pieces, juice from said melon still on the kitchen counter, sipping my peppermint tea and talking about the future, the past, God, etc...
-sitting in the library, curtains closed, yellow light creeping through in seams and shining down the stairwell from the skylight, chilly toes (yessss) and time galore to rehydrate after this weekend and catch up on my reading for school (not so yessss, but yes, necessary).
Happy Labor Day!

Today's quote:
"The best things in life are never rationed. Friendship, loyalty, love, do not require coupons."
~G. T. Hewitt

Mountains Afire

Things remain smoky in SoCal, y'all.

I drive in to work each morning expecting to see green mountains welcoming me, and am instead welcomed by mounds of gray-brown smoke covering the horizon in front of a red sun rising.

When I open my car door in Pasadena the smell of campfires and wood stoves greets me.

One of my coworkers told me of a highway wreathed in fire as she drove East on Sunday night, and another is still out of town because his lungs won't be able to handle the smoke if he returns now..

The landscapers on campus are wearing bandannas over their faces (why they aren't at home is what I want to know...it's all fun and games til someone collapses and you get sued, campus powers-that-be...)

Since yesterday the air has been muggy and we're thanking heaven for the bit of humidity that arrived last night. Hopefully it'll help stop the fires.
Tuesday two firefighters died when their truck plunged 800 feet into a ravine. They were speeding down a mountain, trying to get away from the fire racing toward their backs.

This morning I heard that two other firefighters died because some yahoo decided to play the arsonist in the midst of all this craziness....I have no words.

People are losing lives and homes, and animals are too.What is there to do? Nothing, at this point. Pray for rain, I suppose. Just goes to show you that we may not be as in control as we think....so be thankful for the joys in your life...

Today's whiteboard quote:
"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows."
~St. Francis of Assisi

Movie Review: District 9

I mentioned earlier that I'd stopped in to see District 9 last week on my way back down from Northern California.

Let's talk about the shockingly awesome amazingness that was this movie.

Although before its release the movie's advertisements mostly consisted of teasers and scene snapshots that didn't explain much of the plot at all, I found myself curious about what it would be like.

How can you not be intrigued? The commercials were all about these "refugees" that had been around for awhile and that were treated in much the same way as people now treat refugees from other countries (rather than other planets, of course).

The first trailer I saw said nothing at first about where these folks came from, but rather had bits of interviews about how "they" were infringing upon various communities and "weren't welcome," or "needed to go back where they came from." About how "the government was spending so much money to keep them here; money that could and should be spent on better things." Of course I assumed that the discussion was about regular refugees from war or something. Then, in the last few seconds of the trailer, a giant spaceship was shown. It blew my mind. What a concept!
Of course, once I got wind of the actual plot, that the aliens are around and that only one human guy can make their weapons work because of a funny thing from his DNA, which promptly sends him on the run from those who would exploit him, it seemed more run of the mill.

But don't get me wrong, I was still curious. The movie was shot in a documentary style, and the way that this outrageous situation was made to be so normal really affected me.

After all, that's what would happen, right? If a huge space ship showed up, we'd all freak out for awhile, but if it stayed there, we'd get used to it, more or less. It's the way of things.

When the movie starts, the ship has been hovering right there, without moving an inch, for 20 years.

I'm conflicted as to what to talk about in my review at this point. I don't want to give away any bits of the plot that shouldn't be given away, but I do want to express what a BADASS movie this is. Seriously. Maybe it's cause I'm into psychology, but I just loved the way that the movie constantly kept you guessing, wondering what was going to happen next, and at the edge of your seat with changing emotions about each of the characters (not to mention what a good job they do making this out-of-this-world concept seem so ordinary and believable).One of the characters you start off despising because...well, basically because he's an idiot and a jerk. By the end of the movie, you friggin love him. Other characters, you swing the other way with, and there are at least two that may just change some prejudices you have in your real life.

(all images courtesy of google, by the way)

After the last shot of the movie, I sat still for a moment, stunned and thrilled by the excitement in general, and by the amazing way that they neatly wrapped it up into a clean (although not "perfect") ending. Then, I breathed a great sigh and started to unwind myself from the tense and tightly wound knot that I was in (I'm a curler). I walked out of the theater in a daze, blinking at the sunlight and looking around at gorgeous downtown Santa Barbara, all the while having the slums of Johannesburg sticking to the backs of my eyelids.

(did I mention that the movie shows you a grittier side of life that you may normally see, and that this is one of it's points of awesomeness because of the tasteful way it's done, rather than the way that some movies just try to depress you with it? ahem, Babel)

Anyway, if you're curious, see the movie, definitely. Or if you're not curious. Still see it. It's that good. And yes, it has an underlying politically opinionated flair, but being the liberal that I am, I was all for it :)

The End.

Happy Friday eve!

Today's whiteboard quote:
"Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions."
~Hafiz

A Luminous Life Freebie!

Happy Tuesday!

Today I'm offering up a gift -

(with strings attached, of course...)

-your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to

#1) Mention A Luminous Life and put my button up on your blog



(just copy and paste the code below into an html add-on wherever on your page you choose)

<br /><a border="0" href="http://www.aluminouslife.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3562/3798854924_f5ddf308e2_m.jpg" /></a><br />

and, the gift:
#2) a free life coaching session!

Now let's chat about this.

A Luminous Life, my life coaching biz, is a holistic form of life coaching, created specifically for women, that starts by considering all areas of your life and what you want to accomplish (according to you) and then helps you figure out how to do it. I also keep you accountable for your goals that we'll work together to set (rather than just saying "oh yeah I need to look into that," or "sure it's on the list" and never getting to it, which is what tends to happen) so you actually achieve what you set out to do. A Luminous Life doesn't use a by-the-book program or step process because I don't believe that you can force people into some preordained mold. Everyone is different, everyone has a different process and a different right way to do things. Yours is customized to you.

Don't know what you want? Sure, that's fine - most of us don't at first. What happens is that we just know that something is off. We aren't sure what it is, but we know that things just don't feel right and that we're not as happy as we'd like to be, or as happy as we think we should be. A Luminous Life is founded on the principle that, deep inside, each of us knows what we need in order to lead a happy, fulfilled life. Sometimes we just need a little help to uncover it. That's where I come in.

You don't live in SoCal? Perfect! The vast majority of my clients have always been across long distances. We can talk on the phone, through email, or (my favorite) via online video chats.

Now, back to the freebie.

On the Luminous site, it says that the first session is always free. That's still true. If you put up my button and get a free session with me that way, you'll still have another free session, if you want more coaching. It would be as if you were using your first free session, when in actuality it would be your second.

I believe that, with anyone who you're going to have a personal relationship with (as ours is bound to be as I help you achieve the life that you want), there should be a trial period. Charging someone the first time you meet is unethical, in my opinion. So I just don't do it. Plus, if you decide that life coaching just isn't your thing, then all you've lost was some time, no $ was involved.

Interested? Let me know! Put the button up, give me a shout and we'll set something up.

Don't have a blog? It's okay, you can still get one free session, just like anyone can. Go to the site and check it out, if you're curious :)

Today's whiteboard quote:
"No pressure, no diamonds."
~Mary Case