My Secret Life

When I was young, I wanted to be an artist.

I drew this of myself when I was 17.  I held a mirror up to my face.

This is my husband before he was my husband.  He loves to fish.  It helps me to paint when I am angry at him.

This is Rosa, my younger son's girlfriend.  Painted when she had just graduated from high school.  

We all have something about us that most do not know about.

He also loves to watch baseball.  That is where he is right now, in fact.  Spring training in Arizona.

I love to hike and this is of a photo of me taken by my best friend.

I didn't have the kind of parents that understood the value of being an artist so they encouraged me to make art my hobby and to focus on my typing skills or how to keep my knees together while sitting.

The hills around my home are like my friends.

Don't get me wrong, now, I had great parenting, just no artists in the family and therefor no positive reinforcement for my passion.

Rocky and Boomer.  

In my secret life, I am an artist.  Mostly I paint with acrylics and I almost always paint people; especially ones I know.

A fantasy phase I went through when I was 18.

I just started this painting of Kirby.  I have painted her before.  She and my oldest son had a three and a half year relationship.  It helps me to paint when I am feeling sad about something.

What is your secret life?  What is it you love to do, but aren't recognized for it?

I am curious...

Your Choice

Today is a new day and it is your choice on how it is experienced by you.

This is Tickle's my cat.  From the very beginning, she has lived on her terms.   Her reality is what she decides it is.

Yes, the world is what it is.  Most of what happens is beyond your control, but the way you see it is within your control.  You get to choose your experience.

Just for a moment suspend all doubt that you don't have control over your experience; your productivity, your weight or fitness level,  your personal power!  Guess what:  you have one hundred percent choice as to how you view yourself within in the world.

She's won the hearts of those who seemed resistant to her charms!  (Here with Jordan and Rocky)  Well, she is the most adorable little cat ever to be born!  No offense, that is just how she sees it.

Do you see yourself as the victim of circumstance?  Stop!  Look closely at what is really true and then transcend your negative thoughts and be present with what is and what is possible!

When you live life on your terms, true to yourself and your highest standards, it will not matter what is going on around you because you will be free to choose your experience and what you do with it.

"I am fantastic. aren't I."

You can choose to see opportunities and possibility.  You can imagine your ideal life and see what is needed in order to achieve it or you can moan and complain that you are a victim of circumstance.  All it takes is a nudge, a reminder, a shift in your attitude as to the way you see yourself within this world!

The choice is yours.

The Rough Landing

Walking the path in my 'secret garden' just before Spring livens it with warmth and color.

Last week I didn't have a clue as to why I felt so....weird!   And, even though I was homesick on the road, I re-entered my life at home with a droopy melancholy.   I love the energy of doing the art shows, but, I miss my life after a few days.   So, I entered last week with random, out-of-the-blue crying jags and about as much ambition as an old dog sleeping on a warm bed.  The weather was windy-nipped, cold and gray and I am sure it made me feel just a bit more blah.

I tried to post on Friday but my brain was frozen; devoid of all creativity, so I bumped along to check out my blog buddies  With automated mindlessness I passed down my blog roll, clicking at what ever the little arrow landed upon.  Adrienne de Pitera's was the second blog I hit and her post was a simple one: she was highlighting a video of an old gal dancing.  In all honesty, I didn't really have the oomph to watch one of those  feel good YouTube videos but I went ahead and clicked play anyway.

The longer I watched the lower my jaw dropped as Sarah "Paddy" Jones, seventy-five year old Salsa dancer, shimmied, glided, twirled, leaped and back-bended her way across the stage.  My first reaction was, "wow how freaking cool is this fit, spunky, beautiful, naturally aged woman!"

A gradual smile began to sprout slowly across my attitudinal-sagged face and as it grew, so did a joyous feeling inside my solar-plexus.  Aha!  No matter what our age, our lives will always include challenges, like mud to wade through.  I'll bet Sarah "Paddy" Jones has had few rough landings herself.  Of course she has!  Everyone does!  Hello!!

I would like to think I am as mentally, emotionally and physically flexible as I was when I was twenty, thirty, or even forty-something.  Maybe I am.  Maybe I am more flexible.  I have had rough landings before, often after I have challenged myself to do something new and different.  But, I know if I didn't take on those challenges, I would always regret it.  I've had those regrets, and while they may not be as intense at the moment, they stick around and become like an old wart that won't go away.

It's a new week and for the most part, my routine is effortless.  I leave again on Thursday.  Back to the long flights and connections, restaurant food, hotel rooms and travel sized toiletries, meeting and greeting lines of people and smiling and talking from morning till night.  It's all part of my new routine.  It's just like learning a new dance.  And, I am doing it, dam it!

The All-In-One Exercise

I call it the 'plank-dog', but in the yoga world it is called chataranga.  If you can tolerate the weight bearing on your wrists, it is by far the most comprehensive single exercise out there!

A.  Start in downward dog.  (You can do this on your elbows.)

B.  Move smoothly into plank.  Keep all of your muscles 'active'.

C.  Lower your body slowly, keeping elbows in and shoulders stable.

D.  Come up into cobra maintaining stability and form.

The 'plank-dog' is difficult!  Try B. and C. from your knees!

 What is your single favorite exercise?  If you only had five minutes to do something fitness related, what would you do?


Janet of The Gardner's Cottage asked us what is our perfect accessory.  I must say it is my Sergio Gutierez cuff.  But I also love my Cartier timepiece and my wedding ring!  If you get a chance, post your perfect accessory or, if you don't have a blog,  email it to Janet, janetkorff@gmail.com.

Life Happens

"Life is what happens when you're busy making plans", are words from the lyrics to "Beautiful Boy (Darlin Boy)" by John Lennon.

It's true.

Life's difficulties and challenges are a part of the journey.  Attitude is a choice.  This image I captured of a painting by Grace Slick, gave me food for thought as I prepared to leave Orlando, exhausted.

Give to yourself as you would a loved one.  It helps my attitude when I take care of me.  I took today off to rest.  Had to cancel quite a few clients and usually that makes me feel badly.

"Choice"   by Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship lead singer.)

I feel great even though I haven't slept more than three hours in 30 hours.  I feel great because I am allowing myself to take some time to gently re-enter my regular routine.

How do you give give to yourself?

When in Rome

I did the unexpected yesterday.  I upgraded to first class on Virgin America, which is like the royalty of first class.  I wish I had taken photos of this seat I lounged on throughout my flight!  Virgin is like a classy New York nightclub inside the cabin.  Cool lighting, great TV screens, good food and  ordering made easy.  And the coach seats can fit the average sized person without folding their legs under themselves.

I am staying at a Best Western.  My "boss" usually goes for a bit more upper class, but this Best Western boasts the "oldest lounge act".  I have yet to check it out, but this was the draw.  

The days of the lounge act.  What is Sophia looking at?

I know I am supposed to write my "Feasting Friday" post, but I am not feasting.  Well, I did last night.  Starved to death, I followed the gang to a Trattoria near the show headquarters.  I ate two slices of lightly crisped Italian bread, two slices of pizza Margarita, a delicious dinner salad with goat cheese and balsamic vinegarette and we shared the filet mignon with a wine, mushroom sauce that demanded sopping your Italian bread in.  I can't remember the name of the desert we stabbed our spoons into like it was a wild beast, it was kind of a cannoli/ eclair thingie.  

I was stuffed and dragging by the time I checked into my room.  I collapsed into crisp, soft cotton (is that possible?) sheets.  I think reading a trashy novel in a hotel room is a must, but all I had was my book, Poser, by Claire Dederer.  It's a memoir as it relates to her yoga practice.  Funny, dark, unpretentious and truthful, this book isn't a gripping page turner as much as it is a book I can relate to.

I am off to the lounge for the breakfast that lasts from 7 AM to 2 PM.  Lot's of retirees live around here;  all day breakfasts are a must.

Then it will be time for my "lounge act";  Selling the art of John Lennon.  Wish me luck!  

Blue Suede Traveling Shoes

When traveling, stretch your spine!!  How often?  Every chance you get, darlin!

I'm here.  At the USC campus for a quick visit with GianPaolo before heading to Florida for another John Lennon art show.  I am writing this post just outside the buildings of the School of Cinematic Arts and all around me are tones teeming with creativity.  I just love it!

Lucky kid!  I will reap some of his education by asking a whole lot of questions.

Background:  musical scales on a trumpet and a soprano voice sings an obscure tune just around the corner.  Bicycles whiz past me, their spoked wheels beating time to the melodies filling the spit shined, blueness atop the buildings.  I pretend to be one of the students; just a regular gal in a world of genius.  No biggie.  Yeah, I can pull this off.

Just a regular old building here.

On the predawn flight down here, I snap a shot of me performing a perfunctory stretch.  Lady across the aisle looks at me like I'm twisted.

I call this my "number 4" stretch.  I do it constantly during flights.  (Sorry neighbor!)

As I wait in "ground transportation" at LAX for Eugene, our favorite cab driver, (retired engineer with two USC grads to his credit) to pick up my Starbucked body and deliver it to the campus, I release my tight hamstrings by putting one foot up on the bench and leaning into my outstretched leg.  Oh my, I am tight today.

All you need is a bench.  Maybe a few dips?  Nahhh..

My neck has been kind of crunchy, pinchy so I resort to my old faithful; open my chest, lean back without arching my low back and take a deep breath.  The exhaust almost chokes me, but my thoracic spine feels looser.  (See photo above, taken last summer.)



I elevate my legs for a few moments, people watching.  We are all so different.  I love it!

Ahhh, I am alone and nobody knows me!  Yes, use your luggage for an ottoman! 

I will walk a lot.  I will stretch whenever and wherever I can.  I will be someone else for a few days, but I will be myself.

Do you travel for business?  Do you have a fitness related routine that helps you feel your best?  Give me the scoop!  I need to hear from you well seasoned travelers.