I recently received the infamous “box of childhood" we all eventually get when our parents clean out and downsize and decide we have reached the age where they should no longer be storing “our stuff.” The box that is chock full of photos, ribbons, and report cards—all those odd yet very tangible reminders of what your life was really like as a kid.

Recently, this adorable fairy house appeared on my morning route , I saw it tucked away in a tree overlooking the bay. It was clearly constructed with great imagination, care, and love. I especially appreciate the popsicle stick grate thoughtfully placed on the carved out window on the up cycled kleenex box. It boasts a charming full bedroom suite complete with bedding and a leaf chair.

Janis Martin, one of the brightest lights on the planet, will be leaving soon to continue her soul’s journey. Last week she posted an invitation to "My Celebration of Life" to feel the love. Janis has been a mentor, teacher, coach, counselor, and all around loving advocate for so many throughout her lifetime. So grateful to be a part of her tribe and surround her in love and for the chance to feel her sparkle one more time.

Living in a small, funky coastal town, you never know who you might meet. We have forged some great friendships with complete strangers who have had incredible life journeys. One of our favorites is Dorothy Rooney, a high-energy, super-sparkly soul who has lived 96 years of full-on joy and unimaginable adventures.

Driving down Highway 101 along the coast to Santa Barbara has been not only a beautiful very familiar but comforting happy place for me most of my life. I remember mucho fun, water play, and camping as a kid, and chilling at Refugio and El Cap beaches at many different phases of my life.

One of my favorite people will be celebrating his 93rd birthday tomorrow, and in true style, he will be having his party in the ICU as he recovers from a "bump in the road," which is what he would probably call it.

Emil Dockter is a total bright spot and one of a kind; he radiates joy and continues to be a huge support to my parents and family.

Father’s Day is here again, and as I sit down to write this, I realize I may know my dad better right now than I have ever known him before. We have always had a strong connection, and our time together as main caregivers for mom’s final journey forever bonded us as a tight team. This is a recent photo of dad and his friend "Bear” at a celebration we just had for mom in California.

It has been a very long week since my mom left for heaven, but only one week. As I finish going through photos for her “life celebration service," I keep coming back to this one. I love this photo and believe it represents their marriage and relationship beautifully.

This photo was taken about 6 weeks into a 7 week intensive naturopathic protocol to treat her very aggressive cancer, which, unknown to us at the time, was rapidly taking over her body. As she grew weaker and needed more support than she wanted, they proved to be an even more amazing team.

I went home to visit my parents three weeks ago for a seemingly casual visit, there was nothing on the horizon to worry about. As it turned out, I was there when my mom, after not feeling great the previous weekend, went to a routine OR appointment, which would prove to be not so routine, and after swift action from an efficient team of ORs and many tests and procedures, less than two days later we were given a stage 4 cancer diagnosis with tumors in the pancreas, liver, and lymph nodes.

I recently returned from a 5 day silent meditation retreat deep in the back country of beautiful and very serene Ojai, California. Going into silence after a busy year is an annual ritual that brings me peace and clarity to wrap up the past year and jump start the new one. I always gain insight, usually in the most unexpected ways , yet one of the most challenging aspects of meditation for me is to consistently bring a beginner’s mind and childlike wonder each time I sit.

I recently left Portland and moved back to California to follow my heart and live in a small coastal town in an area I have always loved. It has been a big transition in every way, and I am now beginning to realize the magic of simplicity in a new way. I have been making a conscious effort to be outside hiking somewhere new and amazing for sunset each night and have found many beautiful and totally isolated places along the coast and mountains.

I just returned from an inspiring and pretty magical trip to Scandinavia, and a good friend asked me for the highlights of my trip. There were many, of course, and as I was sorting through photos on the long journey home, this experience really made me smile, an afternoon at Louisiana, an amazing museum of modern art in the Danish countryside outside of Copenhagen.

I arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, yesterday, a city that has been on my list for some time, I came here to be inspired in what is known as one of the healthiest and most creative and design-driven cities in the world. Within hours of my arrival, I was wandering the streets, open to inspiration and like-minded souls, and was almost instantly immersed by a group of happy and radiant Danes out on a "love walk." Their mission is to create and share a "global heart" and create community where there is diversity and room for all to stand together as fellow beings to create a more loving and peaceful world.

I recently attended an offsite for work, and when we were packing up to leave, we had lots of fresh fruit, yogurt, and "healthy leftovers.” I took most of it to give to a local homeless shelter I support, but I never made it that far. I found myself driving through Portland with a front seat full of food to give away and gained even more awareness of the intense homelessness crisis here. It was a bitterly cold day, and at almost every corner was a person in need; most were young and appeared broken and hopeless, and sadly for humanity, they were very grateful just to be acknowledged.

As I was completing a project in India recently, I had a unique opportunity to witness the Monday morning arrival and energy in a corporate office in a radically different culture. I sat in the lobby early for a meeting and watched the usual rush of somewhat hesitant people swipe their badges and dash upstairs to begin their week. There's nothing different about that.

I am in the midst of a huge life transition. I just moved from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon, and everything is new and shiny. I am going from a house with huge gardens that I lovingly grew over the last 7 years to a temporary apartment with stunning views of the rooftops in downtown. Many have amazing very unique rooftop gardens that most people don't even know of - from the street.

On New Year’s Day, I returned to a parking lot and discovered the rear corner bumper of my car had randomly been crunched—ouch. Not even a random note that said,“I hit you and, oops, I am sorry?” As a self-proclaimed "waver" and a huge believer in karma, I was more than a little irked and disappointed. I had come to "embrace my dent" each time I saw it without getting angry, and unlike myself, I decided to live with and love it until it was convenient to get it fixed. Yesterday I had a minute, so I took it to a body shop to get the dreaded repair estimate: “…not an easy repair and blah blah blah..."$1180". Bam! The anger is back.

I bet it would look like this pretty amazing one in Jodhpur: grand and substantial in scale and shape , bright and rich in hue and texture, clearly appreciated, beautifully adorned with lots of thoughtful detail, the promise of more beauty
just through the door and down the hall…

A pretty sweet message to bring into the new year, especially given the location in Kolkata, India, where superhero references are not an everyday occurrence.

I woke up to the terrifying sound of my huge oak tree whipping against my roof and house in the sudden severe windstorms we had in Los Angeles this week. I got up and kept an anxious watch (but wanted to hide under the bed) as the power lines snapped and sparked around the street and the extreme wind gusts made intense howling sounds I hope never to hear again. In the morning, the entire neighborhood and area were out early surveying our homes, yards, and cars and openly sharing our experiences of fear from the night before, even though many were total strangers that just happened to live on our street. 

I just returned from an amazing trip to India, where I was exposed to a way of life and a way of being I could previously only imagine. We wandered and discovered all kinds of people, places, and things, and the joy, harmony, and peace that we found in utter chaos at every turn continues to inspire and amaze me.

I choose to believe this was a very sweet, almost stealth "Carmageddon" Buddha blessing on a Los Angeles freeway today, because we all might secretly need it.

It's amazing how most of us (including myself) are hyper-traffic-aware Angeleno’s and are still in disbelief about how this could possibly happen, but now are busily planning our weekends around traffic.

I have this wonderful teacher, my granddaughter. She is a little over two years old. Her mom called the other day to say that little Zoe was waking up at night crying from nightmares and would not sleep in her room. It seems there were cows running all over her room? That would be frightening for any of us.

As I thought about this, I realized that Zoe didn't yet know what a dream was. She did not realize that it was all in her mind and not in her room. So when she was awake, the fear did not go away. The cows were just hiding someplace in her room, perhaps playing peek-a-boo.

My great friend Bill called me after his morning swim yesterday and shared the incredibly sweet spontaneous duck rescue effort he and a fellow swimmer performed as they were interrupted from their daily laps in a local freshwater, waveless pool. Momma duck was quacking in distress as she had brought 11 of her little darlings into the pool, and they were drifting off and getting stuck in the gutters, and mom could not get them out herself. Bill and his friend quickly got to work to reunite the duck family, vowed to go back to the pool every 4 hours to make sure they were all ok, and proceeded to reach out to various agencies to get them relocated to a more "duck-friendly" place.

This straightforward dose of wisdom seems even sweeter when you consider its location, prominently perched in the back of a pickup truck during a Sunday morning flea market.

Awww.... We are rolling into a fresh, shiny new year (1-1-11); even the numbers suggest a magical time to be alive! I am so grateful for the reminder that each day is a new beginning and so blessed for all the new like-minded souls that came into my life in Joshua Tree this weekend during a meditation retreat. I appreciate and welcome your participation in this creative collaboration inspired by gratitude! It is such a joy to really know that everything is possible!

I am delighted to find it and grateful for not only the message but also the time and energy spent to put this always inspiring message out on the streets of New York City.