New Year, not new me

Every New Year's Eve day I look through my journal and think about the year before. My life has changed so much in 2009, for bragging sake they are below:

• getting my yoga teacher training certification!
• moved to Denver
• was lead publicist for film festival
• took a trip to Napa
• my sister got married!
• accepted to grad school in SF!
• got rid of my car
• married myself
• stopped making so many lists
• end of my Saturn Return
• did Millionaire Mind by Peak Potentials
• found an ideal partner
• let the ideal partner go
• made out with some attractive men
• got clear on my life goals

These are all changes in circumstances, not with me - although all of them got me closer to my true self (even making out). I rang in the New Year for 2009 with a hula hoop, Lauren, 15C, and my friend Bri (some circumstances don't change such as my love for hula hooping). 2010 will be with Stef, Brea, and Menver hopefully wearing my BCBG sparkly dress, if I can find it in my tiny closet.
When I think about resolutions the only ones that come to mind are eating less sugar (as if I haven't tried that before), taking better care of my outward apperance (said that a while ago), and being better at washing my face before bed (my facialist has been complaining for years). Cheers to the New Year, and not the new me!
Today I'm grateful for blue moon, 2010, and faith.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We (and by "we" I mean me) a Merry Christmas! May this time of light remind you of the Christ-consciousness and love inside of you!

Solace in solstice

Modern living seems to really disconnect us from the cycles of life with our planet. We have artificial lights that imitate sunlight, heat when it's cold, and most of us don't grow our own food to know when planting/harvesting occur. The more in touch I become with the cycles of Earth, the greater my connection grows to this joyous mystery called life. Solstices and equinoxes give us time to remember what the world was like millions of years ago when humans woke up to the sun and slept outside under the moon. Time and days were counted by the moon and the placement of stars in the sky. (Reading over this last paragraph really makes me think I could not only be a hippie sorority girl, but also a Pagan.)

Today is the shortest day of the year and as darkness descends we come into a time of celebration. The start of winter in the natural world symbolizes rest and rejuvenation - a time to go inward and a rebirth and literally being brought back to life.

By honoring the Earth's cycles we honor ourselves, it isn't about being a specific religion or a "tree hugger." It's about reflecting and remembering we're apart of something with every being on this planet. Here are a few ideas of ways to celebrate the coming of light:

-eating dinner by candlelight

-having an hour without turning on any lights and being in darkness
-celebrating the sunrise

-take a nightime walk and look at the world in darkness

-going to holiday light exhibits such as Zoo lights or Botanical Gardens

-do sun salutations to celebrate coming light

Perhaps another way of celebrating, would be to graduate from a yoga teacher training and bring light to the world through education and yoga. :) That's my plan for the evening.

As the middle way always seems to balance...I will live in my warm apartment with an alarm clock that imitates the sun and gives me the optional sounds of birds or the ocean to wake up to. I find solace with the rhythms of life and the more I honor them the more I want the simplicity of life as it used to be (only hopefully with heat). Namaste!

Today I'm grateful for rituals, holiday lights, and my fellow YTTs!

Cool kids

The benefits of hanging out with people far more cool than I is that I'm constantly learning new words - and somehow getting into places I otherwise wouldn't be able to. Accepting this doesn't take much on my part, it has become the norm and all of us move on accordingly especially when my lexicon improves dramatically after every weekend. My newest additions: soberwhelmed, sublings, and immaculate congestion.

Soberwhelmed - being the only sober one at a party or event
Ex: I'm feeling extremely soberwhelmed at this crazy party.

Subling - siblings children. Pure ingenius...so tired of gender-specific words for relatives.
Ex: Heading over to my sister's house to see my sublings.

Immaculate congestion - when traffic is beyond slowly moving along and then suddenly everything returns to normal speeds without any noticeable accidents or road construction.

Hope this ups your cool points as much as it did mine!

Today I'm grateful for Devotchka, Pandora, and my iPod.

Denver must do

Before leaving Denver (in T-minus four weeks) I've put together a small list of places and things I must do before departing. And they are...in no particular order:

1) dinner/meal at Lola's in the Highlands

2)Genghis Khan exhibit at Museum of Nature and Science

3)partying at The Church

4)VG Burger in Boulder

5)eat at Strings

6)Horse and carriage ride on 16th St (it's Menver, so preferably with an attractive man)

One of my major items was afternoon tea at the Brown Palace. After getting the last reservation before the holidays I was determined to go, with or without a fellow tea partyer. Thank goodness Stef is equally ladylike and came with me. We enjoyed scones, amazing macaroons, and a pianist playing holiday tunes. Shortly after I wished for us all to do a sing along several folks began singing around the piano. It was a Christmas miracle I'm sure of it!

There you have it folks, nothing too dramatic or fantastical - activities I haven't yet done in the Mile High City and would like to.

Today I'm grateful for cloudy afternoons, applesauce, and my camera.

Get out of the way...

...here come the Millers! After meeting the marvelous (and might I say adorable) Miller twins, Logan and Noah, during the Starz Denver Film Festival this year - I couldn't not buy their book. They are quite the pair and I heard the word "bro" more times in a five minute conversation with them than I have in my entire existence on Earth. Their book, Either You're In or You're in the Way, fascinated me in a way that only someone who has worked for film festivals and doesn't quite know what it takes to make a film can (I acknowledge this last sentence could be considered a run-on and now I'm attempting to make it even longer).

I'm no book critic, just a dorky blonde gal who reads enough to be considered a nerd, so I'm unable to go into the technical reasons for why you should read this book. Let's just say it's entertaining, witty, and inspiring. To be honest, I don't think there are any other reasons to read a book. Get out of your own way and buy it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders.

Today I'm grateful for afternoon tea with Stef, bike rides, and anticipation of what's to come.

Feeling foxy

Today I was called a "fox" for the second time in my 27-year history of being one - hopefully not my last. This marvelous moment occured shortly after 10:30 a.m. on my way to yoga class whilest crossing Colfax Avenue. The person in question (or adoration) was a homeless man wearing Ray Bans. It was however my first solo "fox" identification. The first one was several years ago in Georgetown with a group of gals and we were called "stone cold foxes." To this day I'm not exactly sure if that's a compliment.

Several things I've noticed about being called a fox:
1) Usually the man is over the age of 60 (from what I can tell),
2) It always (all two times) catches me off guard and doesn't seem to have any sort of warning mechanism, and
3) Doesn't seem to be accompanied with conversation or a whistle.

All these things considered I'm still feeling pretty foxy and several hours have passed!

Today I'm grateful for Colfax, fresh veggies, and my sugar detox.

Making peace with Earth

The holiday season brings peace to the earth and here are a few ideas on how to make your holiday season more peaceful for the earth:

-purchase and use LED lights if you buy new ones for house decorating

-wrap gifts in old newspaper or magazines instead of buying wrapping paper

-recycle gift cards (and other plastic cards such as library cards), they are made of nonbiodegradable materials, through EarthWorks System

-instead of buying CDs download music online (CD cases are made of nonbioldegradable PVC plastic)

-Swap unwanted gifts on freecycle.org instead of throwing them away.

Today I'm grateful for my fixed apartment leak, quiche, and snowy days inside.

Taking my heart to San Francisco

As of this week it's officially official - I'm moving to San Fran (I believe I can call it that since I will be living there soon)! My notice came in the mail from the grad school I applied with and I've been accepted...the semester starts mid-January. I certainly ossicilate between scared as hell and excited as ever. This move marks the end of an era for certain, I haven't lived anywhere except Colorado since I arrived here from Germany. In my heart I've always known I was a California girl (or at least a hippie and I would prefer to be near more of them).

Funny how our minds/heads can talk us out of (or into) things we truly want. My brain keeps telling me how crazy this is...I can go to grad school in Colorado you know. What am I really going there for? My heart quickly answers staying here just wouldn't be the same, that and I'm in desperate need to live near an H and M. With that I begin to prepare for my journey to the coast...I'm taking my heart all the way to San Francisco.

Today I'm grateful for pujas, Dr. Dean Schaner, and express bus routes.

The Return of Saturn

For the first time in a long time this phase of constant confusion I've been a part of for the past year or so feels as if it's slowly getting clarity. I have my Saturn Return to thank, which I only recently knew what it was thanks a Vedic astrology. Every 28 to 30 years a major astrological shift occurs in lives - mine happened to arrive early. It's the shifting of the phase of youth into maturity (think Britney Spears "Not Yet a Woman"). Mine began last year, during my Saturn return I left my job, lost several important relationships in my life, moved to an ashram, moved to Denver, started new jobs, and in general really began exploring who I am and where I am on this journey.

It's a time of moving forward, sometimes with a lot of turmoil. Saturn, the planet of Karma, shows us the things in our life that aren't working and ends them for us to emerge forward stronger and wiser. It's when you assume the most important responsibility of all - the responsibility for your life. Even my favorite hippie sheek Drew Barrymore talked about it on David Letterman a few years ago, which naturally gives it total street cred.

Whether or not you believe in astrology, there's no hiding major shifts happen around this time in life. Just when we start to think our early twenties were adventurous, then the real stuff starts in our late twenties. Divorces and babies peak between 28 and 30 - there's a restructuring of our desires. Some great spiritual teachers didn't become so until 27 or 30, which was the case with Siddartha, Eckhart Tolle, and even Swami Satchidananda.

My Saturn Return ends tomorrow, Dec. 8, 2009 I couldn't be more excited to become the woman I'm meant to be. Thank you Saturn, and your return!

Today I'm grateful for Saturn, snow, and gingerbread houses.