Hey y'all!

So I know I haven't written in a while, but for the three people that still read my blog, please go check out Richie's link and donate to Hapa Kitchen's Kickstarter!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haparamen/building-our-dream-kitchen-together-at-hapa-on-fil

Just Fine.

I forget sometimes that there are some of you out there still listening.

Still loving.

Thanks, you rock.
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I'm not the most perfect person. I make mistakes and often times they're not pretty. I place a pretty high standard on myself for deadlines and projects and updates and schedules. I try not to have those for other people, but can get irritated when people slow my roll.

Sometimes so much that I forget that they're people.

I messed up the other day pretty badly. And apologized profusely. But the person decided that they'd had enough and ended up leaving the show. I'm not proud of this, in the slightest. I hurt them, not intentionally, but with the wrong comment at the wrong moment.

My friends and associates are telling me it's not my fault. That she left because she'd been looking to leave for a while. That she was unreliable, flaky and she should have just gotten over it and accepted my apology. And on some level, I know they're wrong. But here's what I want to know...

Why is it so easy for people to forgive others and not forgive me?

How do I not get crucified every time all I do is just SAY THE WRONG THING? For god's sake, I'm only human. Or are you just upset that I finally spoke up for myself?
I just feel like people refuse, REFUSE to apologize or forgive me. Like, if I'm not perfect, that for some reason I'm not worth being their friend. For crying out loud, I'm only human. If I touched a nerve, and then I apologize, doesn't it mean that you have to get over it.

Well you know what? Doesn't matter to me anymore. See Mary above (hey, it's the 15 year old Penny doing a song lyrics post!):
Let it go……
Can’t let this thing called love get away from you
Feel free right now, going do what you want to do
Can’t let nobody take it away, from you, from me, from we
No time for moping around, are you kidding?
And no time for negative vibes, cause I’m winning
It’s been a long week, I put in my hardest
Gonna live my life, feels so good to get it right

So I like what I see when I’m looking at me
When I’m walking past the mirror
No stress through the night, at a time in my life
Ain’t worried about if you feel it
Got my head on straight, I got my mind right
I aint gonna let you kill it
You see I wouldn’t change my life, my life’s just…..

Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
Just fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
You see I wouldn’t change my life, my life’s just fine

Feels so good, when you’re doing all the things that you want to do
Get the best out of life, treat yourself to something new
Keep your head up high
In yourself, believe in you, believe in me
Having a really good time, I’m not complaining
And I’m a still wear a smile if it raining
I got to enjoy myself regardless
I appreciate life, I’m so glad I got mine
So I like what I see when I’m looking at me

I aint gon’ let nothing get in my way
(I ain't gone let nobody bring me down, no, no, no)
No matter what nobody has to say
(No way, no way, no way)
I ain’t gon’ let nothing get in my way
No matter what nobody has to say

Feels so good, when you’re doing all the things that you want to do
Get the best out of life, treat yourself to something new
It’s a really good thing to say
That I won’t change my life, my life’s just fine

Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
Just fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, ooooh
You see I won’t change my life, my life’s just fine

With or Without You

So a lot of you know that I've spent the last 6-8 years doing theater, a BUNCH of theater. And I've had a good time, but the winds have changed lately. The things I used to think were fun are now starting to get tedious. It's weird to look around at a group of people, laughing, making jokes and having a good time and think to yourself.
"These people are not my friends."
It's equally weird to live with someone for over a year and realize that this person is absolutely self-centered and think:
"This person is not my friend."

And it's weird to spend time with and associate with and care for people that are not my friends. These are not people who are going to visit me in the hospital, bring me chicken soup when I'm sick or help me pick up my car should it get towed. These are not people I trust, nor are they people who I think I have the same values as.
I'm hanging out with them, because I feel like I'm personally building something better. Because the people that ARE my friends weren't there today. And because people often present themselves as something they're not.

Let's be sure of something, these are people I WANTED to be friends with. But at the end of the day,  I still don't get that snarky, middle school, cooler than thou attitude. I'm such that person who takes things at face value; it's pretty naive, but I just don't get that making fun of others is that cool. I don't get that being fake to people that are trying or being two-faced to others is all that great. But it's what I'm dealing with. So I end up spending a lot of time alone. Alone because to have to deal with that fakeness is so ultimately unappealing.

Here are generally the reasons people contact me:
-They have a problem and they want someone to listen to them
-They have a problem and want me to solve it. Apparently I am now the holder of: phone numbers, bank accounts, directions and recipes
-They want to know if I can help them get something
-They want to know if I'll help them clean something, move something, organize something or produce something

They generally do NOT call me if:
-They want to hang out
-They want to go/do something cool
-They're having a party and they want me to attend

People generally treat me:
-Like I'm their servant
-Like I'm their secretary
-Like I'm dispensable
-Like I am their therapist

People do not generally treat me:
-Like I am good at what I do
-With respect
-Like I am likeable or good (unless they want something) 

It's late, I'm rambling, I just wanted someone to listen. But turns out, people are too busy talking to listen. Too busy thinking about themselves to think about others. Thanks to DC and ML who listened to me today. I wish they were still awake to talk to. I always get stuck in deep thoughts way too late at night for anyone to be out there for me to chat to. Maybe I should become friends with a insomniac...

I'll take Potpourri for $500 Alex...

The coolest Upcycle I've seen in a while! Tie Statement Necklace!

*************************************

Via Cassidy Brown - Bay Area Actor/Artist

Why is theatre important? What do you think your role is keeping it a vital part of civilization? How does Theatre Bay Area help?

I heard a phrase last night, which I think can be attributed to Bill English, the artistic director at SF Playhouse: theatre is like an "empathy gym." If we were all Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., we might not need the help in exercising our empathy muscles. But we aren't, and we do. Theatre serves to bring people together to share an experience that is living and breathing, in such a way that we cannot help but feel some connection to those around us, and by proxy, to the world at large. Regardless of the content, the simple act of sitting near fellow humans while other humans enact the human experience deepens our ability to empathize, which hopefully leads to greater understanding of our fellow humans' struggles. As an actor, I hope to provide a channel towards that goal. Theatre Bay Area, quite simply, helps theatre in general to thrive. We need that help. We really need that help

WORD: The 10 Traits of Outstanding Leadership

************************************

What are some of the benefits that a person can get from journaling?

Journaling helps you slow down and become more grounded. Journaling allows you the space to slow down and get in touch with your inner voice. We always have the answers – it’s just that we get so busy that the answers get buried underneath all of our multi-tasking.

It’s a form of meditation. You have to be present when you are journaling. You can’t be doing anything else – in that exact moment, you are writing. You are going within – you are getting in touch with that part of you who is so wise. You are allowing yourself to let go of everything else and just be right here. Your breathing slows down. Your shoulders loosen. Your head begins to clear. And you remember how wonderful a feeling this is – you remember how much you love being with yourself.

Writing prompt journals help guide you gently in a positive direction. For instance, they can help you remember what you’re grateful for; get clear about what you want, or set and keep your goals. They are also great tools when you’re going through a major life transition and need some guidance

Veggietales

Great article by Kenji of Serious Eats on Vegetarianism/Veganism

Lately, I've been trying to be my own sneaky mom. I've been throwing handfuls of broccoli slaw into pasta dishes, making sure that beans and rice make a feature, freezing grapes and opting for fruit over candy for snacks. Basically upping my fiber and veggie content whenever possible. And buying fresh veggies to fill up my crisper and fruit bowls - leaving things in plain sight. So that the first thing I see when I open my fridge is salsa and carrot sticks. Not salami. But that leaves a small issue.

Snacks.

Veggies are great snacks but require some work. First of all, you have to either purchase them precut or spend a lot of time cutting them yourself. Then then is the slightly flavorless aspect - unless said veggie contains sugar (carrots, red peppers, sugar snap peas) - so then there comes the dilemma of dip. Lastly, I'm a nightime snacker. 3-5 hrs. after dinner (and yes, if dinner is at 6, then at 11 I will be hungry) I start to get tummy grumblies.

Another issue with eating that late at night? Acid Reflux my friend. Which I guess you can argue would originate with any foods. Acid Reflux is esp. bad with fruits and other items with excessive sugar which can start the fermentation process leading to reflux. And then there is THIS video from NYC food critic Jeffrey Steingarten.

Other than that - vegetarianism and veganism have been shown to increase metabolism, resolve health issues and natch reduce body weight. There are no longer term physical effects as long as you supplement enough. I've been thinking about doing a 40-60 split - with 60% of my intake being mostly vegan/vegetarian and the other 40% including meat/dairy products. This means (with an average of 21 meals a week) that about 8 of them include meat, and that 13 of them don't. Vegetarian breakfasts are the easiest. Friday and Saturday night dinners and brunch the hardest. This also means that I can eat at least one meal a day that has meat so I don't feel deprived.

I've been using lePinterest to pin vegetarian meals - so here's to hoping!

Tip the scales.

So I went to Thailand...and gave up blogging for 10 Days. More updates soon. Until then:

Stop Engaging and Start Getting More Emotional: Generation more conversations, clicks and conversions

You can't have one without the other.

Engagement gives you the widest range of possibilities

Emotion gives you the deepest range of possibility

Time gives you the longest range of possibility

Strive to be the best in all three. This is where marketing has to work with engineering who has to work with operations. You need a good "script", but you also need to understand the needs of your client. Any marketing program that doesn't include a requisite psychology class is pure bunk in my book. You are selling to people. People, in their infinite multitudes can't be understood in simple terms and it takes a complex reader of people to understand that.

On the other hand, emotional focus can often lead to oversentimentality. The emotional quality of your marketing needs to be tempered and balanced with reach. This means selecting several different ways to reach customers. Whether it be by viral blogging, traditional advertising, social media and/or fantastic events that hone in on your key clients - you have to be absolutely ruthless and brutal when determining your strategic placement of advertising.

Empathic yet ruthless. Sounds like a weird concept right?

Well, not in the theater world. As actors and artists, we're often asked to pour our passion into the works we create and then expected to be completely objective with the resulting criticism. Um, duality much here people? But it's an important aspect to be able to detach from ones work in order to see the outstanding issues and or qualities about that work in a realistic light. In other words; we cannot fall in love with the resulting work we create, only with the work that we do. We can be in love with the process, and throw ourselves, whole-heartedly into the making of something, but once it has been created, we have to let it go.

Sounds mindless doesn't it?

Missing you.

Ever since visiting the doctor's office a couple of weeks ago - I became appalled at how much I had allowed my weight to slip over the winter. We often forget that the cupcake leads to the chocolate leads to the pot roast leads to the stuffing...and it all adds up. But we're still the same person inside. Which is why, I love this. So much...

What I miss from 35 Lbs Ago - Pt. 3

Maybe because I was painfully aware of my size, I cultivated an awareness of all of my life. A deep knowing. A way of sensing and trusting and believing that others won’t, or can’t, know as well. Maybe I feel deeper. More purely and intensely.

Maybe when I learned to, finally, love just being alone with myself, I fell harder in love than others ever will.

Maybe my present is more precious.

Maybe because my heart has ripped, and lost pieces, and still has visible stretch marks and sewn seams, my character will be ultimately more resilient.

The thing is, it’s easy to find the bad. I’m cynical. Pessimistic and realistic, too weathered to seem breezy. I can, and do, look at situations in pros and cons. But what I’ve come to know as true, in the last twenty-six years is that I am everything I’ve ever been.

Detail Oriented does not equal Anal Retentive

Today has started as a clusterfuck, and it's only 5 to 11am.

Which is why, you guys should start reading Unclutterer!

Especially, THIS ARTICLE.

I'll need it soon...

Pin it to me.

Holy crap...this many uses for dryer sheets? I'm getting some more STAT! Esp. cleaning the soap scum off of shower doors? Does this just mean that the Mr. Clean miracle sponges are compressed dryer sheets?

Thanks ApartmentTherapy!

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I've spent a lot of 2012 clicking on things in Pinterest. And I've definitely noticed that the women on these boards

a) spend a ton of time fantasizing and they all fall into about 6-7 categories

about what you ask?

1) Gloriously fatty foods. Cheese heavy casseroles, bacon laden dishes, bread, cookies, pies, cakes - all so temptingly delicious with about a million calories each

2) Conversely: model thin clothing and outfits

3) Confusingly: work out photos and healthy recipes for weight loss, some bordering on anorexic

4) WEDDINGS - unrealistic, expensive dresses, overdecorated table settings, just picture poofy, white and antique looking (like everything got passed through an Instagram app)

5) BABIES - chubby, adorable, gap mouthed, wide eyed babies. Nobody is posting pictures of colicky ones, ones throwing up or ones crying til 4am. Somehow those aren't getting in there.

6) HOUSES - huge ones, with oversized light fixtures, incomprehensible color schemes (white couches!), exposed beam ceilings...mortgage payments til 3012!

7) Vacations: mostly with water involved. Women really love beaches and water for some reason. There just aren't many vacation photos involving deserts or mountains.

The things that Pinterest is great for:

1) Cleaning/Household tips - I love the one about the 20 uses for dryer sheets or showing you how to fill a bucket from an indoor sink using a dustpan. Good stuff!

2) Crafty ideas - just like IkeaHackers - I love how Pinterest shows how people can be such clever and creative entities all the time.

A couple of months ago, The Dude's brother was on the phone and sarcastically asked why women were so into Pinterest. At the time, I hadn't even gotten an invite and applied twice. I was bitter, and at the same time, completely jealous. But I gave him this response:

Women are traditionally, genetically geared towards being gatherers. Pinterest creates a forum for us to have access to a lot of different graphics all at once; and for us to create collections. It's in our nature to want to gather.

It was like I had cured cancer.

So the next time you use Pinterest, remember, it's all about your genetics.

It's a helluva town!

I am, quite honestly, one of the luckiest girls on the face of the planet.

And I love my town

Bourdain on SF

Be ok with being wrong

10 New Year's Resolutions for Designers

or creative people

or everyone.

Take your pick. My favorite is the one that people have been posting up all over Tumblr

Blow a deadline? Miss a requirement? It happens. Raise your hand. Let everyone know it’s your fault. The sooner you take responsibility for something the sooner you can start fixing it. Excuses help no one. Everyone respects the person who can admit their mistakes. No one respects the weasel trying to pin the blame on their teammates.

This year, everything will be your fault. It’ll feel good.

Back of the line, front of the mind.

So yesterday, we talked about how to reach your employees/ie manage your team of volunteers that is honest and secure. Using REAL TALK or being as honest and upfront with people as possible in a way that creates constructive results is often times the best management style.

Today, we talk about WHY it's important to manage your audience in a way that is totally different than your staff.

Audiences are mainly using shows as forms of pleasurable entertainment. And the more pleasurable the experience, the more likely they are to return. In order to maintain that sensation of effortless entertainment, your team needs to flow correctly. Think of it this way, your House Manager can't provide a sustainable response to someone needing an extra ticket or directions to the nearest bathroom, if they're worried about something else.

Real talk is just a tool in order to get to FLOW. Real Talk bridges the gap between the House Manager telling the Box Office Manager that printing out lists or taking up additional space can hinder mob management. Audience members can feel when there is tension among staff, or if they are moving as a cohesive, communicative unit that most importantly, likes one another.

In other words, your employees need to be given the right amount of space, time, objectives and incentives to serve your real customer; the AUDIENCE MEMBER.

Your Frontline Employees ARE Your Brand

“You can worry about the reach and frequency of your ad dollars, but they will never rival your employees as the most pervasive and valuable asset for your brand. Or the single greatest liability.”

By the way, keep on reading FastCoDesign, for amazing new products and information available on the web. It's a great site.

Real Talk

Christina Tosi:
In our kitchen, REAL TALK, means we break it down for you. Good bye niceties; just cold, hard truths is what real talk is all about. When one of us is not doing the right thing, copping a bad attitude, feeling sorry for him- or herself, being lazy or underperforming (we're all human), we all know what's needed to get each other back on track. Real talk.

I recently described my favorite flow moment when I'm running a show. It's when I can look over at one of my fellow producers or managers and nod to a customer, and not only do they know exactly what the issue is (the customer is drunk, about to sit on an expensive glass table, can't find their ass end from their top, is hitting on another cast member, needs the bathroom) but they also handle the issue with ease and competence. Yeah, it's a little Jedi Master, but that's what a team is and should be. We should be in each other's shit so much that we can read eye and hand signals like they're our own.

We should be able to tell when someone walks in the room that they're having a bad day. Or had a great night. When someone asks a question, we should know who the best person is to answer it. We should be able to tell someone they're full of shit - for them to receive in the best way possible.

This is a lot of "shoulds"

In the past I have not been a big fan of the word "should" - but I also recently read somewhere that the least effective managers do not raise nor outline expectations. Because to do so, would be taking a hard stance on the results that one anticipates. But a good manager, gets to know their people and therefore knows what he or she can expect. And a good manager needs to lead by example. So if you work hard, others around you know what attitude they're going to be adopting. When you treat customers with respect, humility and graciousness - they're going to remember it. When you are efficient at your job and still take the time out to appreciate the small things; people will notice.

Real Talk also applies to your actions. If your piss and wind don't match your actions, check yourself at the door and see if you're not living up to some unrealistic ideal, or if you're just being lazy. Do you want people to fear you or respect you? Real talk means you lead by example.

Children will listen. Adults will follow.

Tomorrow: The importance of empowerment or If Your Customers are Unhappy, Take a Look at Your Staff.

A little bivalve inspiration...

Recently received this as a gift, and I am so pleased with a ton of the material - and not just the delicious looking pictures or intricate recipes. There are hundreds of books out there that try to make the restaurant experience repeatable for the home kitchen. And to be frank, it's not and it won't ever be.

You can try to sous vide all you want in your homemade vacumn sealed ziploc bag in a warm water bath. But unless you have a cool machine, you'll either spend hours of time or kill yourself trying. It's the same reason you probably shouldn't have surgery done by your next door neighbor - even if they're REALLY REALLY good at sutures, and they've studied ALL the books. The last thing you need to be is Frankeneighbor. (just made that up, copyrighted 2012)

So I respect the fact that right at the front of the book, Christina Tosi has about 20 pages of honest, candid and a frank mix of hilarious/inspirational advice for using the Momfuku Milk Bar book. She also tells you how to really closely recreate the recipes using pretty commonly found items and unabashedly tells you to use amazon.com. How many hoity toity chefs are gonna tell you THAT secret up front? That some dude doesn't come to the Milk Bar back door with a box packed with rice and white truffles, but that you walk your ass down to the corner bodega and get you some butter when you are OUT of butter.

Tosi lays it out her book writing philosophy the best in her interview:

But writing in terms of the home cook is — when you work in the industry for a while — you sort of lose touch with what the home cook does or does not have, or what the right way to direct them is. We use a lot of weird, funny terms in our kitchen so I'd be writing recipes and think, "Nobody's going to know what that means." I think the recipe writing part of it was real challenging for me, which I really didn't think about how much work goes into the directional part of it. Not the recipe part of it, like this many grams of butter. But the directional part was the hardest part because, you know, it's meant to be a cookbook that you have at home that you bake from, so really making sure that it translates as that takes a lot of time.

SEGUE!

I've been thinking a lot about how to manage a team. Specifically, my team for this year in producing two musicals. About what I want and need to do better. How desperate (yes, I'm using the word desperate to describe myself, keep your panties on) I am to prove that I'm not a fluke. That I AM a leader. But by no means, should I ever think that I know what I'm doing. I keep thinking of all the people who came before me and how different as leaders they are. Tosi is a leader, but she didn't start that way. She's a savant, a maverick and a rebel - who was admired and championed by another rebel who knew that she would do her own thing build her own team and keep out of HIS way (David Chang).

Tosi says about building the kitchen at Milk Bar:

I certainly didn't plan on having my own kitchen. It sort of just happened. I do think that in working in a bunch of different kitchens, outside of the city and in the city, I always just tried to do enough reflection — not like "Dear Diary" reflection — but enough reflection on "What I really loved about working here was this" or "What I really love about working for this person was that." Or "The one thing I really didn't like was this."

I think when happenstance put me in a place where I had my own kitchen, it was like oh, PS, you get to hire people. You don't have to do it all yourself. You need help, it's time to hire people. I think I naturally tried to take my time in each kitchen and working for each chef and go, well, how did I grow the most there? How can I put that into my own terms and my own environment? Then it becomes, you know, I've never had a kitchen where this happened, or a kitchen where that happened.

It's incredible the people that you build around you when you're doing what you love. I think that's the real reason coaches and gurus tell you to do what you love. Because when you do what you love, you're the best version of yourself that you know how to be. And you naturally attract the people that are drawn to who you are. So why not attract the people who love you and connect to you at your best? Makes sense right?

Reading Tosi's book is one of those revelations you have. Where you realize, that it doesn't matter what ANYONE is talking about. If you can interpret people's experiences and apply them to yours - the world is yours. For the next week, I'll be featuring famous words from others and how to apply them to your oyster. (bivalves = oysters, get it?)

Refrigerate after opening.

So yesterday was lists. And how awesome lists are. Budgets on the other hand? Are inherently depressing.

Because they fineline exactly how badly you're doing. And in very definite terms, not only succinctly outline the mountain you need to climb, but also lay out for you the piddly daily or incremental break-even terms you need to meet in order to get up the damn mountain.

And it makes you super annoyed/depressed when you don't meet those nightly numbers.

It can be horrible for people whose livelihoods, the future of their children, hell the very roofs over their heads depends on nightly break even amounts. SCARY. Because essentially, YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO PREDICT THE FUTURE.

Tonight I had to run numbers for the two shows I'm producing for the Summer. And these are pretty important in the sophomore slump aspect of things. I can only ask for miracles so many times before they....well, before they don't show up anymore.

Where are the statistics on weathermen? How they're only right like 17.5% of the time? Probably should be the same for financial analysts. Sorry to be depressing; but I've also started to light a fire under my ass/issued an ultimatum that any time I feel like writing, I SHOULD WRITE.

But that means, I'm fighting the urge to get to sleep at 12:30am, instead, I'm rambling - coherently I think - but rambling nevertheless.

Moratoriums and budgets suck. I think that's what I'm trying to say.

Tomorrow: I shoot the shit out of my fellow producers.

Human evolution = old German dude building Parisian streets

Let's talk about lists.

Lists are phenomenal, but they are also such human creations. And what I mean by that is, have you noticed that Nature does not create lists? Nope, Nature creates whatever the heck it wants. Organically. Nature is a city like Rome or Old Paris - where streets go where people wanted to go and develop AROUND natural features, like the Seine, things that with early technology we could not control. But lists...lists help us make that entrophy manageable. It turns Old Paris into New Paris ala Baron von Haussman.

Lists create order. Lists are useful things, but lists like anything can become instruments of terror or rigidity if you're not willing to derivate from them. Maybe it's best to take a page out of good old Captain Barbossa's book:

First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner .

Regardless, here are some good guides for 2012 from your pal, the Dalai Lama

http://www.spiritualnow.com/articles/25/1/20-Ways-to-Get-Good-Karma/Page1.html

The Dude asked me over udon on Saturday night, what my goals were for the year. When my face started to contort into shapes only seen in wind tunnels, he laughed and changed it to, "Ok, top 3."

Top THREE? Please, I have like Top FORTY. And you're asking me to have a Top Chef Chopped Session? Over tempura udon? Ok....

Sometimes, we have a hard time setting our goals for our year going forward and the sections of our life. If we have a simple mantra that keeps us focused on what our intentions are, it can assist us through the times when we are confused, scared or just plain don't know what to do. This is what Franklin Covey spit out for me.

Via Gala Darling: try your 2012 Personal Mission Statement Generator!

I am at my best when I am thinking and creating.
I will try to prevent times when I am interrupted or insulted.
I will enjoy my work by finding employment where I can solve puzzles, create solutions.
I will find enjoyment in my personal life through singing, learning, spending time with loved ones.
I will find opportunities to use my natural talents and gifts such as empathy, reading people, humor, keeping friends, finding clarity.
I can do anything I set my mind to. I will create something lasting and life changing that inspires people to be better.
My life's journey is always interesting and a challenge to face my fears .
I will be a person who can do anything and is loved. And is loving .
My most important future contribution to others will be their security, wisdom and insight to care about others than themselves.
I will stop procrastinating and start working on:

• I should have a better relationship with mom.
• I should reach out to others in a way that is less selfish.
• I should learn more skills that are useful or money making

I will strive to incorporate the following attributes into my life:

• Optimism
• Ambition
• Insight

I will constantly renew myself by focusing on the four dimensions of my life:

• Maintain, don't ignore
• Create time for spirituality, for it is equally important.
• Don't procrastinate or avoid.
• Forgive, give the benefit of the doubt.

It's a LEEETLE long, so here are the key words I pulled out of this to create a personal manifesto/haiku:

Optimism. Ambition. Insight
Forgive, give the benefit of the doubt
Create time for spirituality, for it is equally important.
I can do anything I set my mind to.
I will create something lasting and life changing that inspires people to be better.
My life's journey is always interesting and a challenge to face my fears.
I will be a person who can do anything and is loved. And is loving.

Ok, 2012...here we go...

Ready. Steady. Go!

hey team.

new resolution for 2012. blog every day, for 364 days.

do-able? we'll see.

part of the reason I stopped blogging a while ago, because I generally ran out of things to say. And the more I started to explore the internet, the more I found that the things I wanted to say were being much better said by other people around me.

and I found other places like: Polyvore, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter that would satisfy my need to express daily ponders.

and I found it slightly disturbing that friends I hadn't seen in a while were actually using my blog to keep up with my life. and would reference it during dinner or a party.

so I stopped, because life caught up. I think I'm ready to do this again.
So let's go blog. LET'S GO!