Author Archives: LA Blogger Gal

How to change the world. Ten (not so) easy steps.

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I read this piece by Heather Plett and over at Sophia Leadership and it touched me.  Enough so,  I thought I’d share it with you.

In honour of the courageous people in Egypt, who are putting themselves at great personal risk to impact change, I’ve been thinking about what it takes to change the world. This list is as much a reminder for me as anything. There are so many of these things I need to work on – so much courage I need to muster before I’d be ready to join them in Tahrir Square.

1. Shut up and listen. Listen deeply. To the wisdom of God. To the wisdom of others. Just listen.

2. When it’s time to speak, get the cotton out of your mouth and SPEAK, damn it. Speak truth to power. Speak kindness to the hurting. Speak justice to the oppressors.

4. Put your work boots on. Don’t be afraid to get dirty. Get grease on your hands. Pick things up that need to be moved. Go the square. March. Get busy.

5. Put your paint clothes on. Make art. Beautiful art, challenging art, scary art. Just make it. And then share it. The world needs more art.

6. Pay it forward. Kindness is contagious. Spread it.

7. Get down on your knees. Or down on your mat. Pray. Meditate. Even if you don’t believe prayer will change the world, it will change YOU, and that’s a good start.

8. Don’t just tweet it, DO IT! Sometimes talking makes us complacent and we forget to act. Get out there and ACT. Listen to the wisdom of Jen Louden for your inspiration.

9. Don’t let the bastards win. Some people, who’ve let power and riches get to their heads, would prefer that you roll over and play dead. Don’t do it. There’s enough apathy in the world without you adding to it.

10. Give something away. Stop listening to the marketers who want you to believe you’re nothing but a consumer. Let your primary energy be your GIVING energy instead of your consuming energy. Shift the balance. Give until we’ve ALL got enough.

And a bonus one:

11. Dare to dream. Dream BIG. Dream of a world where there is justice for all, food for all, freedom for all, peace for all, water for all. Dream of a world where there is less garbage (both literally and figuratively) and more beauty. Let your dreams drive you.

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Things Change. Life Happens.

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Go for it now.  The future is promised to no one.

~ Wayne Dyer

Wow. I guess I didn’t realize just how long I’ve been gone from here. My last post was Thanksgiving Day – over 2 months ago.

Not cool.

I think I’ve been avoiding coming over here because well, like the title says…life happens and things change.  I felt more of a draw to my business blog and newsletter than to chat about life here in LA.  And of course, it doesn’t help that we haven’t really been up to much locally.  Funny how when the resources dry up, the going out also seems to dry up.

Which makes me think that I might go out and change up the focus here on the blog a bit.  While it will still be more of a personal, out and about sort of thing, I’m thinking that I’d like to try my hand at sharing some of my favorite things.  This might include…places to see, books to read, recipes to try, words and thoughts to motivate.  Who knows.

And while I won’t allow another 2 months to go by between posts, I won’t be writing daily.  But I will be here and I will continue to share tidbits and ramblings from the life and times of this LA Blogger Gal.

Thirty Days of Gratitude: Family of Friends

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The NM Gang

DAY ELEVEN – Family of Friends: It’s often been said that we may not be able to pick our family, but we can most definitely pick our friends.  I’ve always been blessed with an amazing “family” of friends…everywhere I’ve lived.  This trip back to New Mexico, I was able to sit down, like a family over a good, home-cooked meal, with my dear friends.  Richard and I are in the middle there, my best friend (and former roommate), Julia and her man Ed are on the left, and my mother-figure (for lack of a better term…this is the woman that made me cry when she came into the ready room at my wedding), Effie, and her main man, Doug (who often feels like my big brother).  It took a while – and a LOT of laughter – to finally get this picture, but I love everything about it.

So for today…I am so grateful knowing that I have an amazing family of friends that I can always count on for love, laughter, advice and a great dinner!

Thirty Days of Gratitude: Modern Medicine

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DAY EIGHT – Modern Medicine: I’ve written about it far too many times to even bother recounting, but yes, I seem to be sick…again.  I actually just finished my first week of antibiotics. But well…I fly again this week and I still feel all congested. So I opted to try for a second week as well.  My goal here is to just not make things worse than they are.  And while I’ve been on antibiotics far more than I’m comfortable with, let’s face it…modern medicine works.  Then again, up until this last flight, I was doing just fine going the herbal and homeopathic route too (which I’ll return to hardcore once I get back home).

So for today…I am grateful that I have the best doctor in the world – she doesn’t even require me to see her for my sinus infections and she’s always there when I need to heal – and for the wonders of modern medicine.

Thirty Days of Gratitude: Vampire Diaries

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DAY FOUR – Vampire Diaries: Okay, time to be completely honest, I started watching Vampire Diaries a little over a year ago (my husband was taking a phone call and there was nothing else on that I could watch without him – meaning the rest of the stuff on the DVR was “together” shows). I got hooked. Immediately. I must say, it’s not nearly as cheesy as it could be. I think they’ve done a great job with the storyline and when each episode ends it leaves me excited for the next (and no, I’ve never seen nor read any of the Twilight series). And of course, there’s Ian Somerhalder. I loved him on Lost and I love his strung out lover, bad boy character on Vampire Diaries. If you haven’t yet seen the show, check it out. Or just check out this video clip from last year – hot, hot, hot!

So for today…I am grateful that when Boone died on Lost, he didn’t really die forever – I can see an even sexier version on Vampire Diaries.

NaBloPoMo: Shall We Try it Again?

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I’ve been participating in NaBloPoMo for the past few years.

Some years I finish.  Some years I give up.

I wasn’t going to participate this year since I’ve kinda abandoned this blog (seems I spend most of my time on Facebook these days).  But I thought that maybe this might be just the motivation I need to get things going again.

Thing is, counting this personal blog, I also have two other business blogs and a newsletter.  And if I stick to writing on all three, daily….well, that’s a lot of writing!

So I might just switch things up a bit and instead of posting at one blog or on each daily, I’ll commit to writing (and posting) daily across all three blogs.  And I’ll still be writing for my weekly business newsletter.

And to give me something to focus on…I’m thinking I’ll go forward with a 30 Days of Gratitude theme.

DAY ONE – Just Breathe: I just had a meltdown carrying the groceries and wet laundry from the car to my door.  You see, I once again seem to be sick (waiting for the doc to call in my prescription to the pharmacy) and just the short walk from the car to the door left me stopping twice.  By the time I made it inside, I just lost it and started crying like a baby.  Which then led to a little bit of a panic attack…seems when you’re having trouble breathing, your nose is clogged and you start crying…you have even MORE trouble breathing.  When then leads to the holy shit panic attack when you realize that it’s even harder to catch a breath.  Luckily I was able to talk myself into slowing down and leaving the crying behind for the breathing.  So for today…I am grateful that I can breathe easily and effortlessly.


Are Your Favorite TV Shows on the Chopping Block?

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I’ve gotten to the point these days that I don’t even want to start watching any new shows on the regular channels.  I figure half the time, the shows are canceled after only a couple episodes (like Lone Star) or you get sucked into what you think is a great show only to have the cancel it out from under you.

As it stands now, at least (this data from spointertv.com might not be completely recent at the time you read this) 16 shows are in the process of possibly getting canceled.  And yes, I watch  (or more accurately…watchED…in the case of Lone Star) six out of those 16.

What about your shows…are your favorites getting or at risk for getting canceled?

What I Love About October

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Harvest Charlie

October means many things to many people. For some it’s the start of the official fall season. For others it’s the fun of Halloween. For others, fall harvest and colorful leaves.

For me, I love how October brings forth the following:

Pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins! Pumpkin spice coffees. Pumpkin muffins and breads. Pumpkin facials. You name it, pumpkin is everywhere.

Cranberries!! After pumpkin flavored everything, I love the how cranberries are everywhere…in mojitos, in salads, in muffins and white chocolate chip cookies! Love it!

Fuzzy blankets! In our home, the favorite blanket is the microfiber, faux shearling throw. When that blanket comes out, the cat and the dog are all over it. In fact, I typically have to fight them for it.

Fuzzy Footwear!! As much as I love me some flip flops, I also love me some Uggs (or in my my case, faux-uggs). There’s just something about warm fuzzy boots…they’re like slippers, only they’re shoes. I also picked up a pair of Ugg (non-faux) clogs last winter and I can’t wait to dig those babies out.

Tea!! I love tea. I love whole pots of tea! I love starting the day with a cuppa milky, sweet, black tea. And once the cooler temps hit, I’m able to drink copious cups of tea! Yay!

Scarves!! This time of year, especially here in LA, our days can still be warm, but our evenings are chilly. So now I get to pull out my collection of scarves and have fun!

Rainy Season!!! I think this has to be my favorite time of year here in LA. We don’t exactly get seasonal changes so there’s not much to look forward to. But every October, the rains come. Granted, it’s nothing like monsoon season in the SouthWest, but it’s still nice to know that there’s a bit of a rainy season.

Now if I could only get it to rain hard enough to actually clean my car instead of turning it to a muddy, misty mess.

It’s National Coffee Day!!!

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While I’m not an addict by any means, I do enjoy a good cup of coffee.  Even better when I’m able to toast to a fun national holiday like National Coffee Day.

In the spirit of this fantastic national holiday, many local and national coffee shops are giving away free and selling discounted coffee. Participating Dunkin Donuts are offering a free cup of coffee and they’re donating a portion of their sales to Special Olympics.

While I hear great things about Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, sadly, we don’t have any here in the greater LA area, so I opted to celebrate by enjoying an iced coffee at my local McDonald’s (no, it wasn’t free, but it was yummy!)

For more coffee antics, check out the Facebook event dedicated to the day.  And if you can’t make it out in this heat for a cup of joe, try brewing your own cold-brewed iced coffee – it takes a good 24 hours for great brew, but so very worth it!

What’s your favorite thing about coffee?