What I read today...

I've discovered the secret to reading more...having wonderful friends and family who mail you books. It is a lot more fun than picking out your own reading list, and there is something about a book being a gift that makes me feel more obligated to actually read it, instead of letting it sit on my bedside table for six months. I think I am also more compelled to open the book, because there is also a strong element of curiosity about why that particular person selected that particular book out of all of the books in the world for me to read.

Today, Milan Kundera's Identity arrived in the mail as a surprise from a friend from college. Adam and I took writing workshops together in college. He lives in Buffalo, NY now. We don't talk often, but he is one of those people I still feel very connected to.

He clearly still knows me. I sat down this afternoon around 4:45, opened the package, opened the book and read the whole dang thing in one sitting! I can't remember the last time I did that. Thanks, ADT!

One of my favorite photos...

I took this in 2008, at my friend Shloka's wedding on Pine Mountain in Tucson, Arizona. Shloka wore these amazing vintage gold slippers from India. Her friends threw flower petals on the pine needles where she stood during the ceremony. She wore a gorgeous dress (that she made), and married her lovely man. This photo makes me happy. I have no idea where they are now. Probably in India somewhere. Amazing how people pass in and out of our lives. I lost track of them over the years, but I have this photo from their special day in a beautiful vintage frame in my house. Kind of odd, I know, but the beauty overwhelms me....the pine cones, the colorful petals, the bells around her right ankle, the lacework on her dress, the patch of sunlight. All of the details stun me at the same time, and make me feel inspired and happy to be a part of the world.

Feng Shui-ing the house again...

I work with feng shui in frantic bursts. I got home from work, and just felt like everything was a mess and too stagnant in the house, so I decided to shift furniture and room uses around a bit. I have made a GIANT mess in the process of rearranging and moving furniture, but it is starting to come together. Is it sad that this is how I want to spend a Friday night? Maybe, but I'm enjoying it.

This is the bagua map. I enter my house into the career and lifepath section. A while ago, I turned that from my living room into my office-ish/living room area.

Tonight I'm working mostly in the wealth and opportunity corner and the creativity area. Basically, I've been moving all of my bookcases of poetry books to the creativity room and that will be my writing area, and I've been turning my wealth and opportunity area into a yoga/meditation room/guest room.

Pirate Quote of the Day

Today Mister J (dressed in his best pirate costume) looked at me with all seriousness and said, "Miss Jennifer, you're a babysitter (and pointed to his sisters, while rolling his eyes) and a mansitter (and pointed to himself)."

I laughed and thought, "A mansitter? Well, hell, isn't that the story of my life!" (I'm approximately half-joking.)

Three things cannot be long hidden:

the sun, the moon, and the truth.

-Buddha

(view of the other very informal chair right before my very formal meeting today at Cafe Coco)

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

-Albert Einstein

Laundry Room Envy

Holy moly. I just found a new favorite blog. www.roomenvy.wordpress.com. I would LOVE doing laundry if this could be my laundry room. Feeling inspired by some of the ideas I saw on there for things I could possibly pull off at my house.