Thank You and Things to Love on a Wednesday

It's turning to spring here and the seductive song of warm weather is swinging down the streets. I want to wear this

all summer. I found this on Dustjacket Attic. Have you been there?? Every post of hers I want to inhabit. Not just wear the clothes but be the world. And there's fun music playing every time I visit. Thanks, Melissa, for leading me to the site.

I do think, however, this would be a good suit choice for me (the cute little skirt) since, ladies and gentlemen, yours truly has some packing on to do. I am on a project of gaining 5-7 lbs. You'll hear about this periodically, as it is part of a project to get me into radiant health. I thought I was there, but actually recent developments have shown there's a system of my body that could use some help and guess what? It gets help by me accumulating some more fat cells. I am working on that tonight with the help of Beehive Cheese Company. I tasted their Barely Buzzed cheddar at Whole Foods and I hope the hunk I brought home makes it until my friend Malachi comes over to eat with me. It's a strong buttery cheddar with a rind of coffee and lavender. ! ! ! ! ! . That's right. And you can taste the coffee and taste the lavender and if you told me I would like that I don't know that I'd agree, but the Beehive folks have a winner on their hands (I'm not alone in thinking so. They keep winning awards. I can't wait to try the Seahive which has salt and honey on it). You can order it online too. Uh oh. I'll tell you all about the health stuff soon, I promise. All is good, just making things better. Meanwhile....

I have a dear friend who is an amazing musician. She got asked to play a pretty major gig this week here in LA. Rehearsals for the job have been hard. We traded messages today about it, and I so know that feeling of "I didn't do well enough", "they wish they had hired someone else", "I'm sure this is the last one I'll get--I'm a fraud and everyone is about to find out". Know what I mean? Yet in listening to her all I could think was "you are amazing enough that they asked you to participate", and "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let yourself enjoy this". And that's what I want to say: we spend so much time chasing after things and often when we get them, all we do is judge how we're doing in relation to them, or fear they're going away, or decide we should have gone for something different. I do it ALL THE TIME. And it was amazing to hear my friend--who is so talented at what she does--go through it today and be able to hear an outside version of that voice that can show up in my head.

I know and you know we can't fake feeling better. It feels worse than admitting we just feel bad. But there is an age-old cure that doesn't stop working no matter how many people take it out of the closet and put it to use. It's gratitude. Looking around in a moment and feeling (not just thinking) all the things there are to be so thankful for. In a moment of fear or doubt to look at the situation and say Thank You. Thank you for the opportunity, the challenge, the gift, the bonus, the fill-in-the-blank. It is so simple!! And yet aren't the simple things the ones we often ignore and say yeah yeah I know.....But have you tried it recently? It freaking works. The fear goes away. Or at least gets really really tiny like a dust mite you can sweep out the door. My friend agrees---she just needed someone to say it to her like I've needed her to say it to me. And when the fear goes away guess what we can do instead? EnJOY. Find joy in these things we say we want so much and then don't even experience because we're so locked in our scared heads. And didn't we go after them in the first place because we thought they'd be happy experiences? Here's my challenge to you: set a timer and write for 1 minute as many things you're grateful for as you can for that minute. Repeat til your pen runs out of ink:) Get good at being grateful just for the heck of it and watch how the next time you freak out how fast you can recover.

Then go visit this site if you want to make your list public and read lots about why this saying Thank You stuff is really really good for us.

Thank YOU for reading.

If you ever thought you didn't like pea soup.....

For a year before our wedding, Sky and I took Argentine tango lessons. After many group classes and a few private sessions to choreograph our moves we had a pretty sexy dance to do.There we are.

Tango was Thursday night. It was down the street from what was already in our top 3 but thanks to those tango lessons became our favorite restaurant in LA: the inimitable Lucques. Named after a delectable olive. I am not alone in my devotion---2 years or so ago it was named the best restaurant in LA; Suzanne Goin is the winner of pretty much every culinary accolade out there; and unlike many restaurants that are packed for a couple seasons and then peter out this one is bustling with gorgeous people whether you're there on Monday or Saturday, in January or June, at 6:00 or 11. Sky and I would leave tango, sometimes in blissful pride of how good we were getting, sometimes in a bit of a snit because he didn't think I let him lead, and I thought he wasn't holding my back right, and we would head to Lucques. Since tango got out fairly late, when we arrived they were serving their late night menu. Remember, though, that this is LA. So during the week late night means 9:00 and on the weekends it means 10. Don't laugh New Yorkers, please. We know.

Many years ago Nancy Silverton of Campanile and Mozza fame (not to mention the La Brea Bakery empire) created Grilled Cheese night at Campanile. I think it's still going on Thursday nights. I used to hostess at Campanile, and people would pack in for unheard of combinations on La Brea bakery bread with usually gruyere but sometimes not and red wine by the bucket. That was the first time I'd ever heard of grilled cheese being anything other than something I'd make in a pan at home in 5 minutes that's more kid food than anything. I have no idea if Nancy pioneered this idea, or if someone fabulous in Italy was doing it first, but it definitely changed the way I saw the potential of bread, cheese, a hot pan, and a lot of butter. So when I see grilled cheese on menus now I take a closer look. Enter the Lucques contribution to this category of gastronomy.

It's perfect. Cantal cheese, chewy buttery bread, shallots (key). Sky asks for it extra-grilled so it's dark dark dark on the outside, served with an arugula salad with the most delicious lemon dressing ever, and a glass of red wine that usually costs more than the grilled cheese. If we were feeling like getting a little saucy we'd start with one of the cocktails that make me want to build up more of a tolerance. (It's pretty much a guarantee with me that if I drink a cocktail before dinner then have even a glass and a half of wine that I'll be asleep on the car ride home.) I would be ladylike and order a salad or soup (I was a bride-to-be after all) and then proceed to eat half of Sky's sandwich. And usually finish his wine.

Suzanne Goin, the chef and co-owner (with Caroline Styne, who I just discovered has a fabulous wine blog!) is like Wonder Woman. Meaning that I want to be her but since I don't think that's happening I want to meet her and hang out in her environs as much as possible with the hopes of certain superpowers related to the kitchen maybe rubbing off on me just a little bit. She published a cookbook recently which is on display above the bar at Lucques. So like a talisman, if I were in possession of said cookbook it could up my chances of vibrationally connecting to said superpowers. Every night at the bar I would gaze longingly. Once I even opened one and dreamily looked through it. But I didn't buy it. I wasn't working a lot last summer so I could prep the wedding and Sky and I were getting to that point in wedding planning when it feels like money is leaking out of your pores. So extra purchases like cookbooks weren't happening. Fast forward to last week.

6 months after our wedding we don't go to Lucques every week. Though we are planning on going back to tango, so perhaps the ritual will be revived. But we do go 1 out of 2 times we want to go out to dinner. We went last week. And last night. Last week was to celebrate our 6-month anniversary. So we're cozied up at the bar, romance is in full bloom, and my gaze strays from my beautiful husband to the cookbook high on the shelf above the wine bottles. Like it was George Clooney suddenly walking into the room. With generosity I probably didn't deserve since I had, after all, suddenly turned away from our cooing and was staring unreservedly in another direction, Sky says he'd like to get it for me as a present. I said no! NO. I want to wait. I am holding out til I can get Suzanne to sign it. I can be so stubborn for no reason sometimes. Then, in a movie moment, I heard music and the bartender (who knows us well by this point) turned in slow motion, and said "Suzanne's cooking in the back. Want me to see if she'll come out and sign it?" The music swells, my heart leaps, and there comes Wonder Woman up to the bar. This tale has a happy ending. After telling her more than I'm sure she needed to know about our history at Lucques, I am the proud owner of a signed copy complete with a note to me and Sky of Sunday Suppers at Lucques.

So this week I started cooking my way through it. I give you

Curried English Pea Soup with Creme Fraiche

from Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Wonder Woman. I mean Suzanne Goin.

6T unsalted butter

1 1/2 c diced white onion (I used yellow and shallot since that's what I had on hand)

a heaping 1/4 teaspoon curry powder

2 c thinly sliced butter lettuce (who would have thought??? but this is why she has Lucques and I go there)

3 c shucked English peas (about 3lbs in the pod) or frozen peas (which is what I used---Whole Foods organic brand. No fresh peas to be found on a random Thurs afternoon in Santa Monica)

1 teaspoon sugar

6 whole mint leaves, plus 2 tablespoons sliced mint

5c vegetable stock or water (use homemade stock or water---I have yet to find a boxed or canned version I like)

1/2 lemon for juicing

1/4 c plus 2 tablespoons creme fraiche

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat a large saucepan over high heat for about a minute. Add 4T butter and when it foams stir in the onion, curry powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. Turn heat down to medium and cook for several minutes til the onion is translucent and just starting to turn color. (This smelled so good I had to eat about a dozen olives--of the lucques variety of course--not to mow my way through the onions in the pan.)

Add lettuce, peas, 1 1/4 t salt, sugar, and the rest of the butter. (This is just further proof that when dining and there's that mystery flavor that is so silky and rich and seems to tie everything together it's most likely the better part of a stick of butter. Just play dumb with yourself if you're trying to order something light.) Stir to coat, cook another few minutes til the lettuce wilts. Add the whole mint leaves, the stock/water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn down to a simmer and cook til peas are tender which can happen in about a minute so don't go far.

Strain the soup over a bowl. Put half the pea mixture in a blender with 1/2 c of the liquid. Blend on low til the mixture is pureed. With blender running at medium, pour in more liquid until the soup is the consistency of heavy cream. Turn blender to high and blend for at least a minute until soup is completely smooth. Set aside and repeat with the other half. Add 1/2 t lemon juice and taste for salt, pepper or more lemon.

Pour soup into bowls, spoon some creme fraiche in the center of each, and top with scattered sliced fresh mint.

Look how green it is. If that doesn't say spring I honestly don't know what does.

I really need to use something other than my iphone to take pictures.

If I have a boy someday and name him Lucques do you think he'll be mad at me?

Frumious Muchness

It's spring here! I am so happy. Not that winter was brutal mind you; it's LA. Here's what I want to wear every day this week since now it is officially pretty dress season:

I saw this movie yesterday with my sister Ashley who's visiting from Georgia where she is about to graduate from college. I have friends who have been "eh" about the movie; I loved it. Computer imaging: amazing

3D experience: so fun (the Cheshire Cat just made me want to have a roly poly adorable ball of cat on my lap immediately)

Philosophical reminders: plenty. "The vorpal sword knows what it wants; all you have to do is hold on" says Mad Hatter to Alice. Interpretation: your soul has a plan! Show up for the ride.

Mad Hatter tells Alice she's lost her muchness. Read: There's a difference between living really as you and walking around in fear or on autopilot or in people-pleasing. And the real you is what's magnetic and glorious.

The practice of believing 6 impossible things before breakfast! I'm bringing it back.

Then there's Bayard the dog. Who kind of looks like this dog

My dad's dog Lucy. A hero in her own short right. I am sucker for talking dogs I realize. In "Up"? C'mon. Hats off to the actors who nail the semi-befuddled, eager to do well, absolute earnestness of their canines. When Bayard gets reunited with his wife and puppies I was overcome. And then the puppies rolled around on their little backs.....Sigh.

Growing up my grandmother read "The Jabberwock" to me regularly. She chewed the words: frumious, bandysnatch, galumphing, snicker-snack. I can see the expression on her face--she relished reading to me---and hear the exact way the words came out of her mouth. Memories are crazy that way--they jump out at you all of a sudden like, well, white rabbits--surprising and intriguing and you never know how long you'll chase them before they disappear into an invisible perameter of the brain. "The Jabberwock" which definitely creeped me out and made me just a little bit scared but a lot bit brave is, from my present perch, another delicious myth about meeting your demons and slaying them. And to do that you step out alone, as the White Queen reminds our heroine.

My dear friend Kate is having a baby in June, and for her baby shower she and the baby's daddy Ben are throwing a Mad Hatter Tea Party baby shower! Now I am mui inspired! I could copy Johnny Depp's in the movie, with its black lace fabric and long dirty pink silk sash tied around.....or I could go for something like this

or this

or my current favorite this

but there is definitely a trip to the fabric district in my near future. If only I knew how to sew and I could make that dress up there.

How my Life Changed in 2006

EEEE!!!!!! how has it been almost a whole other week?? I have clearly not nailed the blogging schedule. And sometimes I'm literally not home all day---I know I could blog from my phone but I am just not there yet.

Back in 2006 Sky and I moved to New York for a year. It was an adventure: we hadn't been together all that long and certainly hadn't lived together. He had an opportunity with work to move there for a year. We moved across the country to a studio apartment and proceeded to have one of the wildest, most fun, action-packed years either of us had ever lived. I could do 10 posts about New York. Luckily I have a sister there and lots of family close by so I do get there fairly regularly. Living there was spectacular. And Sky and I were very much together after sharing an elf-sized closet for a year; we've been back in LA since 2007 and you know the rest, wedding bells and all.

I was going after work as an actress that year there and had high expectations. I had done a lot here in LA and really felt I was going to arrive and take Broadway by storm. It didn't exactly go that way. I did get to audition and actually get really close to doing some wonderful projects, I actually came back here and did a movie, and I had a lot of time to wander the city which I took full advantage of. I'm still paying it off actually:)

Early on in my year there Sky suggested we go to Equinox and take class with someone he'd heard a lot about. He was working for Yoga Works at the time and I suppose was interested in recruiting this person who taught yoga (that's her pictured up top) but also taught this other thing that we were going to check out. That's when I found Intensati and Patricia Moreno. She became one of the most precious and important parts of my year.

Look--here she is. She's so nice and so strong and she shares incredible stories about her own life (she's pregnant right now and has an amazing story about that). Don't you want to run over and meet her? You do.

Remember when I posted about spinning? And how it can be meditative? And that all that sweat is so healing? I only started spinning because I no longer had Intensati when I moved back to LA. It's a hard-core workout where you box and kick and do dance moves and even do some yoga stuff and the whole time Patricia is building a sequence where each move is matched to an affirmation you are saying while you punch, kick, leap, balance, etc. If you wanted to navigate off the page at the word "affirmation" please don't.

I was hooked by the first class. I have always loved spiritual psychology and the dance of getting our heads and hearts to meet. Plus I love to move, love to work hard, love to sweat. I was an easy convert. But I know cynics who have fallen in love with class, people with knee surgeries that can't jump that love class, hardcore business guys who probably don't seem the type to close their eyes and say "what I desire is on its way" but they do, and they come to class religiously. I followed Patricia around the city that year. Went to class as often as I could. We got to be friends and I even taught for her a couple of times before she started a teacher training that's now kicking ass. What grabbed me about it is that it is a practice of embodying--literally---the meditations that probably a lot of you already practice or have heard of. It's getting all those powerful positive thoughts we know we're better off if we think to drop down into our hands and toes. Makes loving life something way beyond an intellectual exercise. There's something about hearing yourself say something out loud like you really mean it; it sticks with you for the rest of the day.

Bottom line: this is one of the most uplifting, affirming, fun (like you can't stop beaming from ear to ear fun), booty-kicking things you will ever do. And for those of you in California, she is here for another week teaching around LA. Go to the website and you can get on the guest list at whichever Equinox she's landing that day. For those of you not in LA or New York there are DVDs and a newsletter a blog and other things to inspire you til someone who does a teacher training brings it to your town (maybe you!). And yes, this is one of the reasons I haven't been home. I've been leaping around a studio affirming life.

Philosophy for Friday

And now for a total switch in tone.

I'm getting serious on you. Don't fret. I love posting food and babies and Dior sunglasses (haven't posted that yet actually but was drooling over some this morning so I'm sure their day will come) AND life is sometimes full of the stuff of big emotion and disappointing news and it hurts. I had one of those on Wednesday and my week was kind of rocked from it---lots of feelings and fears coming up which alternately makes me want to solve everything as fast as possible by juice fasting and getting 5 new therapists one minute, and say screw it, drink a bottle of wine and eat a chocolate cake the next. The good news is I did neither.

I decided to write about this because I felt really lonely. I have a.ma.zing friends and an extraordinary husband, and still I felt out to sea on a raft with no land in sight by myself with potential sharks and giant squids in the water. But of course when I talked about it I found I was anything but alone. As much as it might feel it in the moment, no one of us is ever the only one to feel tremendous fear, sadness, panic, anger, whatever. I can convince myself my story is unique and maybe the circumstances are, but the underlying themes are just what it is to be human sometimes. And it's silly to think "no one's ever felt it as much as me". Oh yes they have. Which is a good thing because you can get love and support and maybe someone else's helpful experience. Talk about it so it's not a secret. Don't freak out about the freak out . Please please for your heart's sake don't treat the scary feelings as bad or shameful or inappropriate. That's never good. Fear is part of the deal. Sadness is part of the deal. They happen to us people sometimes.

This week I've been reminded that friends want to hear about this stuff and want to support. Husbands (mine anyway) really doesn't like it if I pretend it's sunny in my neighborhood when it's thunderstorming. He has like 20 umbrellas in the car he picked out just for me and I'm standing there wet and miserable saying "What rain?" (Go ahead and sing the Rhianna song. I am.)

As I've talked my feelings they've changed. Surprise! What felt like paralyzing grief and fear a couple of days ago now feels like an amazing opportunity to get more in tune with my body, to practice surrender of my fixed ideas, to trust and do the things I can do and leave the rest alone. Life can get even more mystical! I'll take it.

So there's your weekend food for thought!

And some amazing books to check out, should you enjoy reading wise words as much as I do:

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron (Yes, the name says it all)

Ask and It Is Given by Abraham-Hicks (some good exercises to shift your thinking if it's genuinely stuck in the negative)

Anything by Wayne Dyer. I love that man.

Gilligans Island

Naaah. Not really. Though I liked that show. But I think that was the first time I really thought about the word Ginger, which has since become one of my favorite words in the English language because I am such a fan of the root. The flowers are mighty pretty too
I love pretty much anything with ginger in it. Will gravitate towards it like a horse to hay. The root on its own is wonderful chopped up and boiled to make tea (mix it with licorice, dandelion and burdock roots to make my friend Carmen's longevity tea). As a spice it gives an Asian tang to greens, sauces, soups. It's rather amazing in ice cream. And jam. I made as favors for my rehearsal dinner nectarine raspberry jam with ginger and I had a hard time not eating it hot right out of the pot. And it is a star of baked goods. Cookies, cakes, frostings.....there is no end. I'm sure I will share many a recipe with you using this humble root in the time to come, but for now let me start with one of my favorites: the Ginger Scone.

I got this recipe out of the LA Times, gosh, a couple of years ago?? I love scone recipes because even seeing them on paper reminds me how my mom used to take my sister Nina and I to the Baker's Cafe in Charleston after school when we were growing up for scones and tea. She's a great mom. Sigh. Time flies. She instilled in me a deep and lasting love of all things scone.

I used to crave the ginger ones from Rockenwagner Bakery and now I don't have to crave them because I can MAKE them. It's their recipe. I keep saying I'm going to try twists on it, like add chocolate or raspberries. But I never do. When it comes down to it I want as much unadulterated gingerness as I can get my teeth into. They are reeeeeally easy--the only time consuming thing is cutting the butter into the flour, but if you have a food processor that takes all of 30 seconds. Plus cleaning the Cuisinart.

They make amazing gifts, packaged in bakery boxes with some homemade jam (I'm going to make a tangerine marmalade this weekend so I'll get you the recipe for that soon. In the meantime try peach rosemary jam from Martha. O.M.G. This was the other one I made for the rehearsal dinner and people have written me to send more.) You can also bake a batch, give one to your husband, save one for yourself, and take the rest over to your sister-in-law who gave birth two weeks ago. Clotted cream and earl grey tea optional.

Ginger Scones from Rockenwagner bakery

Makes 10

4 c flour

1/4 c sugar

3 1/2 t baking powder

1 3/4 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 c butter

1 c crystallized ginger, cut into 1/4 in dice

1/2 lb fresh ginger, peeled and pureed, about 1 cup

2 eggs

1 c heavy cream

Heat over to 325. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in large bowl. Cut in the butter with pastry cutter or fork until it’s coarse meal. *Or use the food processor!!!!* Stir in crystallized and pureed ginger til well combined

In small bowl whisk together eggs and 3/4 of the cream. Stir the cream mixture into the flour mixture until a soft dough forms—don’t overmix

Divide the dough into 10 parts and roll each into a ball. Place scones on parchment-lined baking pan and brush tops with remaining cream. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden

Cool on wire rack

*the dough will be kinda crumbly--just gently keep pressing it into balls. And don't use too much cream when brushing the tops--a light brushing is perfect. You'll have cream left over.

Give it Up

As I mentioned earlier this week, I have been really really busy lately. (You will always know when I am when a week goes by with not much more than a photo up here.) But it's been magical, and I've been so excited to tell you how it all happened.

I'm an actress and this choice of career is the most rigorous and perfect place for me to work on getting over every kind of fear and neurosis I have. It brings up things in me that nothing or no one else ever has, while it is something that I am passionate about and committed to and get crazy joy from. In other words, it's perfect. It's a place where I can have my ass kicked and then decide how I'm going to get up and come better than ever. It's a place I get to practice over and over again letting go of others' perceptions, keeping integrity no matter what, and being braver than I want to be sometimes both in doing the work and going after it. My soul was smart when it decided this was what I wanted to be when I grew up.

February was tough. I didn't go out ONCE for weeks. Not ONCE. I have busy and slow periods, but nothing that dire in a while. At first I was OK with it; used the time to do other things. By week 2 1/2 I wasn't so at peace. I was worried, restless, jealous, and frustrated. I have done this long enough to know that acting out on those things I just named doesn't serve anyone, but knowing something doesn't always mean I'm not going to do it. I was testy, irritable, a little distant, mostly because I was stuck up in my own head worrying about my little world and was the Universe/God/Fate going to give me my way or not. As much I might try to glorify it, in its crudest form it was self-obsession.

A very wise woman in my life called me on it. Me?! Self-obessed?! No! Gasp! I really really didn't want to own that one.

She was right, of course. All these hours spent obsessing on my life and was is going to turn out when there are earthquakes that have devastated Haiti and Chile, when I live in a city with so many people in need of food, when I am healthy and have a home. Yuck. I was being yuck.

She gave me the advice I was loath to hear: go out and be of service.

Shit.

I wish I could tell you I was ecstatic at the proposal. But I wasn't so noble. I wanted my life sorted out first. THEN I'll be a saint! But I knew she was right. When I'm scared I get really selfish. Even if someone looking at me from the outside wouldn't know that, in my head it's all me me me.

So I took her suggestion, begrudgingly at first. I called people I knew who were having hard times, I volunteered my time where I could, I focused on Sky and my mom and anyone close to me when I was with them: did my absolute best to do what would be nicest for them even if that just meant fully listening instead of half-thinking about my stuff. Of course I started to feel better.

Then that last week of Feb. the phone rang. And rang again. And rang again. I had 7 auditions in 2 days, I had callbacks and more auditions the next week. Some of them were for bigger things than I've ever gone out for. I booked a great job that I did last week. I have more to look forward to in the coming days. Everything turned around so fast I was kinda spinning.

So.

Moral? Do not go be of service so you will get jobs and goodies. If I start playing that game it's just another version of selfishness. Do be of service because 1) it makes you feel better and 2) I really believe it gets us out of our own way so we're not blocking whatever good is coming down the pipes. You've heard, I'm sure, that what you give is what you get. If you're angry and frustrated you get more of that. If you're light and joyful and in the world you get more of that. No one has ever proved this of course, but JEEZ there are a lot of people writing on it and a lot of evidence out there. I don't know what the connection between being of service and getting jobs was, but I know I was a happier person when I took the focus off me, let go, and got into life. And I think Happy is the thing we're all after.

When you feel bad, be of service and you'll feel better. And when you feel good, be of service so you are sharing that. Joseph Seeman, another spin teacher I really like, reminded me in class last week that if I make my body strong and healthy I can give that strength to someone that needs it even if they're on an island in an ocean far away. By being strong, happy, healthy, brave we promote that in the world. Plus you can't give away what you don't have, so actually the GIVING of the thing affirms that you yourself already have it which can suddenly make you profoundly aware of and grateful for all you do have and are. John Friend was reminding me in a class I took with him yesterday of the interconnectedness of everything. At first when you look out at a sea of people you see all the differences. At first at an audition I can see the other girls I am threatened by, the casting people I want to please, the producer who hasn't looked up at me. Then, if you're willing, you look again and you see the sameness. You see the Oneness. You see how we're all on this planet in this time together. And those scary people are your friends.

Whenever we harvest something we don't get to take sole credit for it. A lot of people and a lot of energies were involved. This

did not happen all by itself. And neither do we.

for your amusement....i can't believe i'm posting this

My friends! What a week I am having. I am so grateful, feel so blessed. Work is incredibly busy; I'm spending time with my baby nephew, and long story short I have been all over the place except at home with time to post. I actually have a great story about all this to tell you but it has to wait. It's almost midnight and I've been up since 4:45 since YAY I shot a commercial today. But in lieu of a soulful, ruminating post I thought I'd share with you a really scary moment from my past. I hope it cracks you up. I almost pee every time I see it. It's my friend Juliana and I dressing up for Halloween as Hall and Oates about 10 years ago.....

O.M.G.