Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough."  -Eckhart Tolle

This is one of my all time favorite quotes & it is so fitting as we celebrate Thanksgiving.

With our hectic lives & cultural pressure to acquire & be more, more, more, I think it's very easy to lose sight of the goldmine we are already sitting on.  Do you have your health?  Family, friends & pets that love you?  Food to eat & a warm place to sleep at night?  Then you are the richest person on the planet.  Don't ever forget it or take it for granted....celebrate each day & say a big thank you when you wake up & a big thank you when you go to sleep. 

Today I want to say a big THANK YOU to you my dear readers.  I am truly grateful for each & every one of you.  May your Thanksgiving be full of love, laughter, fun, coziness & delicious food!  

You can read more about the amazing power of gratitude here.  Take a few minutes, it's worth it (& the video is pretty funny since we're getting hit with our first snowstorm of the season :)

photo: me (a beautifully decorated townhouse in the West Village)

Friday, November 21, 2014

Fall Highlights

As we prepare for the upcoming holidays & cooler weather, my heart is still warm & full of fall memories...

a heavenly hiking day with one of my dear friends....

we sat on a rock way up high with the birds, took in the sunshine & magnificence (it was transcendent to say the least!), & talked about choosing to be happy no matter what.  She literally is my rock :) ...
while I was still trying to figure out how to take a panoramic shot, she nailed it!...
pumpkin picking & catapulting with my nephews & niece...
 
leaves floating down a sunny stream in the woods...
technicolor foliage that makes you feel like you're in another world (yes, that's a red barn tucked between the trees!)....
& cheering on my brother & all of the other awesome runners in the NYC marathon (my favorite day in NYC all year)...
Happy Birthday to my grandma Ellie.  She passed away two years ago this week & would have been 95 today.  I had a dream a few years before she died that we were outside on a beautiful sunny day in the fall & she was roller skating like she loved to do when she was a teenager.  She was laughing & skating fast in big circles & I was yelling, Be careful Gram, you're going to get hurt!  She didn't care, she was having a blast.  That's what I imagine her doing on the other side :)  Miss you & love you Gram.  
Have a great weekend my friends & do something fuuun!!
photos: me

Friday, November 7, 2014

Cheap Thrills

Most days I start off with a relatively empty tote bag but it's not unusual to come home & find that a dress, a bottle of nail polish & cookies have magically appeared in it....

I have a major weakness for Maje & this romper is no exception....
but for now this $25 Forever 21 version is doing the trick & keeping my wallet happy....
 
 since the season of all black everything is upon us, a pop of color on my nails keeps things in check.  Digging this $2 electric blue... 
sadly the amazing $20k vintage Art Deco ring did not come home with me....

but one of these magic cookies from Magnolia Bakery did...$3 of pure heaven...
As always, the most important things in life are non material.  Do you know that meditation is the key to inner peace & changing your life from the inside out?  & it's free!  So excited to be meditating with Oprah & my friend Deepak again on their new 21 day "Energy of Attraction" meditation.  Start your day with 20 minutes of peace & positivity, you can still register & catch-up here...  https://chopracentermeditation.com/about-us

& while you're at it, I know this can be a difficult thing to do, but we need to pray for those that are intent on spreading evil & destruction in the world.  Ironically, it is feelings of fear & powerlessness that drive their behavior.  From Marianne Williamson's blog:

"None of us can afford to pretend this isn't happening. There is and will continue to be plenty of conversation about what to do militarily, but right now let's do what we can holistically. Every day, for at least five to ten minutes, let's use the power of prayer and visualization to lift them above the pathology that drives them. We need to do this on a massive scale. Use the power of your mind, your religion, your spirituality, your meditations and your prayers to spiritually quarantine and heal these people, to call their souls back to sanity and love."

I like to blast Rudimental's "Feel the Love" & send loving & healing energy to everyone in the world too :)

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!!


photos: 1/me/me/2