Jean Beliveau: A True World Traveller

Today I came across an article about Jean Beliveau, a Canadian man who has spent the last 11 years walking uninterrupted around the world on a mission to “promote peace and non-violence for young children”.

The walk began in 2000 after Jean’s business was lost to bankruptcy and he left Montreal to escape looming depression. Not long after though, he decided to combine his travels with a mission to promote peace, which gave him a sense of purpose that he had been missing.

His story is absolutely incredible and the idea of walking 47,000 miles over the course of 11 years is inconceivable to me!

But it certainly proves that everything starts with that first step. And like any challenge or goal in your own life, you can’t focus and dwell on the big picture all the time because it’s easy to become overwhelmed. The idea is to focus on what you can accomplish each day and that every step counts – literally in this case!

His is an impressive story of what you can accomplish if you just take that first step and persevere. While he came close to giving up a few times when things got tough, he had the support necessary to continue on and stay motivated.

And while my story is completely different, I know exactly how that feels. I’ve felt overwhelmed lately with all that I want to achieve…and therefore with how much needs to get done…but I have Miguel, my rock, to bring me back down to earth and help me focus on what I can do NOW.

And for now, I can write this post which hopefully will inspire you to take that first step of many…or to continue walking down your path!

You Never Forget Your First...Sale!

Can you imagine my surprise when I checked my Etsy account yesterday and discovered that someone had purchased one of my Letterpress Prints?!

I was in shock…I couldn’t stop smiling for five whole minutes!!

Upon investigation, I discovered that Sacha from Through the Orange Door had purchased the print AND posted a very sweet write-up on her blog!

The fact that someone had connected with my message and liked the design enough to purchase the print made my DAY. And that vote of confidence and validation gave me a boost of adrenalin last night that kept me up to 2am…which did not seem like such a good idea this morning when my alarm went off, ha!

At this very moment I am putting the final touches on the package and will be shipping it “across the pond” (as my mother would say) tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to hear that it got there safe and sound!!

The Etsy Shop is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

Yup, it’s official.

My Etsy shop is finally open!!

I am so unbelievably excited and proud at this moment (and just a wee bit nervous). I’ve dreamed about taking this next step for sometime now and I can’t believe it’s actually here!

And it’s great timing because I want to leave my job…like yesterday…and this Etsy shop is the first place where I can start showcasing and testing my business ideas.

And it means I am just that much closer to finally start giving back because 10% of each and every sale on Etsy will be donated to Rikki’s Refuge – an amazing animal shelter who rescued my precious Wylie and Sami and a lot of other deserving animals.

For years I’ve wanted to make a difference (especially in the lives of animals in need) and I am beyond excited for the chance to finally start doing that! And it’s only the beginning because philanthropy is one of the cornerstones of Live Love Life Now™ and I have lots of ideas for how to keep giving and giving…and getting others involved too!

I’m starting out slow with just a few products but I plan to get back into production mode soon and I can’t wait to start designing again!

Also, many thanks go out to you, my most faithful supporters and encouragers! Your amazing and motivating comments have meant so much to me and I hope to do you proud!

So without rambling on any further, please go check out the shop and let me know what you think! And I would be ever so appreciative if you helped me spread the word around the blog-osphere!

Pretty please…with a cherry on top?! xo

An Unexpected Day

Today the nation’s capital experienced something pretty unexpected and rare in these parts…an earthquake!

At about 2pm this afternoon, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake originated in Mineral, Virginia about 90 miles from DC and where I work outside the city.

Originally hailing from California, I remember running earthquake drills in school but none of the quakes I ever experienced back then were that powerful and I was never truly scared – being either too young or naïve to understand what was going on in the first place.

But as an adult, I can readily admit that I was a bit shaken by the one today. Fortunately, we are blessed by the reports of minimal damage and no injuries.

But it makes me wonder if DC is really the weather bubble that I thought it was?! In the past 18 months, we’ve experienced a blizzard that dropped 40 inches of snow, a snowstorm that shut down the city, the hottest summer on record and now the second strongest earthquake in recorded history (for our area). Oh and Hurricane Irene is headed to the east coast this weekend!

So I don’t know about you, but it really makes me want to live life to the fullest…and kiss my kitties even more!

I hope everyone in blog-land is happy and safe tonight!

New Addition(s) to the Blog Community

My dear friend Katie – who you may recall from this post – just launched her own blog last week called bks-rule!

And then she went and had a baby boy yesterday!

Sooo I’m not sure when she’ll be updating her blog next, but I have offered my assistance to help keep the ball rolling while she has her hands full with the new little one.

But from the looks of her inaugural post, it’s going to be a fun and witty blog and I hope you will show her the same love that you’ve so kindly bestowed on me!

Congratulations Katie on your newest addition(s)!!!

Photo Album: Short Film Day Two

Here are the photos from day number two!

One of the highlights for the cast and crew was getting to play with Rex, our film mascot and the friendliest butterfly on the planet. It seriously kept flying from one person to the next…though I noticed it spent way more time with Miguel and the other boys as opposed to the girls!

Photo Album: Short Film Day One

Following is a photo collage of our first day shooting the short film! The highlights of the day included:

• Playing with Mamie, the sweet and heat-resistant Collie
• Designing the ‘sale’ tables in record time & loving the way it turned out!
• Spending some quality time in the country
• And enjoying the tree swing during some downtime!

Filmmaking Is Not For Wimps!

Even though I’ve helped out with Miguel’s documentary for the past three years, I'm still plenty naïve when it comes to filming actual movies.

Case in point: the first day of filming for the short film lasted fourteen hours. It was all exterior shots and did I mention the humidity made it feel like 115 degrees?

Yup, it was certainly one of the longer Saturdays of my life…to be sure!

The second day lasted nearly as long and was almost as hot but after you’ve been outside for a few hours you start to lose your sensitivity to the heat…though not that gross, sticky feeling that comes from the combination of bug spray, sweat and sunscreen.

Wow, I’m not painting a very pretty picture am I? Well let’s just say that I won’t be posting a lot of pictures of myself from that weekend – ha!

But all in all, it was an absolutely amazing experience with so many creative and wonderful people…and I’m truly grateful for the opportunity. I really proved to myself that I was up to the design challenge and everybody had such wonderful things to say about what I put together – it made me feel so great!

So while the weather didn’t cooperate exactly as we would have liked, it made the weekend that much more memorable! And while I joked that I may not help my friend out again with his future student films…now that I knew what was involved…I didn’t really mean it.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next challenge!

The movie slate…cool huh? And no, those aren’t their real names!

Art Director? Who Me?!

So I had every hope of getting back on track with my blog last week…and then I got a call Friday asking if I would take on the role of Art Director for a friend’s short film.

After initial hesitation, I said yes and jumped in full tilt! But did I mention the film was being shot just one week later?

Yup, not a lot of time for me to learn exactly what it means to be an Art Director and then do it...but so far it has been amazing!

You know how sometimes things come together so nicely that it just has to be destined? Well that’s how I’ve felt about this ride so far. I spent most of the weekend sourcing for props and calling friends to borrow their old school items …and everyone has been so accommodating and willing to loan everything I’ve needed (special thanks go to Nicole and her parents)!

Fortunately the script doesn’t call for a ton of props, but everything has come together really well and I’m so proud of myself for what I’ve managed to pull together in five short days!

If I hadn’t been on this journey to Live Love Life Now, I never would have accepted the responsibility because I would have been too intimidated and fearful. But I am so happy that I volunteered for the job because it has given me so much pride and confidence…and I can’t wait to start putting the set together!

We’ll be filming through the long (and very, very hot) weekend so I may be a little MIA yet again. But I will be checking in every so often and as soon as the film wraps early next week, I’m jumping full force back into the swing of things!


What's the last thing you did outside of your comfort zone?

Breaking Point EQUALS Starting Point

Is it a red flag to spend the first ten minutes of your day looking up anxiety attack symptoms to see if they match what you’re going through?

Yeah? I thought so too, but unfortunately that’s how my day started.

For awhile now I’ve felt like I’m just barely keeping up with all of my responsibilities at work and with Live Love Life Now® and it’s made me feel a bit frenetic and on edge. And ironically, my frustrations at the office make me feel even more stressed about moving too slow with LLLN because that’s my ticket out.

So after a rough 24-hour period (highlighted by the fact that I started crying last night while brushing my teeth for no good reason…yikes!), I was very much anticipating my yoga class tonight because I needed a major dose of relaxation and calm.

But my “breaking point” came when the class was cancelled yet again without apology or notice (I will not bore you with all the details, but these persistent problems go back almost a year!) and I finally decided that I was going to stop the cycle and take control over my sanity by getting myself out of these high stress situations (i.e. my office and the gym).

So "THE PLAN" is to cancel my gym membership and work really hard on my Etsy store so I can accomplish my goal to leave my job by the end of the year.

Those are scary words to write but it’s also thrilling to finally make some decisions and put a deadline out there finally! It’s time that I again take back control over my life, my stress level, my happiness and turn my “breaking point” into the starting point of my life!

Have you ever experienced a breaking point that turned into the beautiful start of something else?


P.S. I apologize for being so absent on your blogs. It is yet another thing that has been weighing on my mind and stressing me out…but you all are always in my thoughts and I will be back soon!

Words to Live By

The following values were engraved onto a plate that my stepmother gifted my father for their wedding anniversary last year:

Achieve happiness • Believe in humanity • Celebrate life • Discover the moment Embrace diversity • Find love • Give unconditionally • Have patience
Inspire others • Judge no one • Keep goals • Laugh often • Manage anger
Notice modesty • Offer understanding • Play for fun • Question everything
Realize dreams • Speak truth • Trust yourself • Understand differences
Visualize peace • Wake curiosity • XXXOOO • Yearn for progress
Zealously live life

She felt that the plate exemplified the way that my father chooses to live his life everyday and I couldn’t agree more! But I also think that they are values for everyone to aspire to embody.

For me, I aim to work on the “have patience” value…I seem to be lacking it more and more these days. Perhaps I’ll post this list somewhere visible so everyday I can be reminded of what to work on.

Which value would you put at the top of your priority list?

Saving the Planet One Grungy Sock at a Time!

I am a HUGE proponent of recycling, repurposing and donating in order to keep as much “stuff” as possible out of the landfills.

So when Miguel and I cleaned our closets recently and filled an entire garbage bag with clothes that were too worn for donation, I was adamant that they not go into the trash.

After much online sourcing, Miguel discovered that Goodwill runs a textile salvage operation where they bale and sell clothing that won’t sell in stores to salvage companies. This keeps the clothes out of landfills while also earning the organization revenue to support their training and placement programs for people with disabilities and disadvantages.

I was so excited by this discovery that I had to share it with all of you! You can find your local Goodwill location here and if you don’t have Goodwill in your area, check out Earth911.com for other organizations that can recycle your old clothes and belongings!

And please encourage others to do the same! We all need to work together to keep our “stuff” out of landfills and preserve our beautiful planet!

Boxed up and ready to go!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Following is a photo collage tribute to my time at the beach! The highlights of the trip included:

• Seeing a random corn field during a stop for gas
• Getting room #1111 at the hotel (my luckiest number!!!)
• Buying the “Love Bug” from our friend and artist, John Hung Ha
• Eating corn dogs everyday for lunch
• And stopping at the Cracker Barrel for dinner on the way home!

Living Life All the Way to Portland, Oregon!

After months of begging (semi-joking), my sister has finally agreed to guest blog about some of her recent adventures (sans moi)…and give me the night off from writing. Thanks Melissa and enjoy!


First off, hello! Jenn’s alluded to this mystery twin sister of hers before and here I am – I do exist!

Though many twins don’t necessarily have similar journeys in life, Jenn and I have often found this to be the case for us. On one hand it’s great because we can commiserate about life, but less great in that we can’t necessarily provide “been there, done that” advice! Jenn’s beautiful blog though, has been a source of inspiration and motivation for me as we both continue down our respective paths and I’m happy to share a little of my journey here as well.

Taking time to travel has been on my “important – must do” list for many years…as one of those items that gets routinely postponed for lack of money and planning! Fortunately, my job provides a small loophole in my procrastinating ways because it provides many opportunities for travel throughout the spring and fall. And if I’m particularly on my game, I’ll jump at the chance to tack on some personal time at the end of a conference…which is exactly how I came to FINALLY visit Portland, OR last month when work took me nearby to Palo Alto, CA.

Ah ha, victory! I’ve been pining to see this city for years and was fortunate that a friend of mine offered her services as my tour guides during my 3+ days there. Her company also happily included the company of her younger sister and their pup!

From the photos below you can see I had the loveliest weather while there! My friend calls it “move to Portland” weather as it tricks folks into thinking it is like that year round. And while the weather may not always be ‘this’ perfect, I can see why people fall in love with this city…I can’t wait for my next visit!

~Melissa

The largest independent used and new bookstore in the world, Powell’s Books, is located in Portland and I scored a used copy of our last book club selection while shopping.

Portland has over 200 food carts available at any time and most are grouped together around a city block. YUM!

Oregon has more than 300 wineries – who knew? Not me! We stopped at Sokol Blosser Vineyard to enjoy a tasting and their view!

I love to climb and was thrilled to discover that Portland has not one but TWO gyms devoted to bouldering. Check out a Circuit Bouldering Gym – they are phenomenal!

Folks, that peak is where we were headed (note the top of our car at the bottom). Luckily the view motivated us to keep going the whole 1300 feet UP to Mitchell Point!

Our reward, the beautiful Columbia River Gorge.

Room & Board Shopping Spree

While waiting to meet up with a friend last Friday night, Miguel and I decided to kill some time in the gorgeous Room & Board home design store.

While we primarily went in because we noticed they had a rooftop patio area, I quickly found a handful of things that I wanted to take home with me!

Alas, the store’s prices didn’t agree with my wallet so I only left with these pictures…but I plan to do a little research on eBay to see if I can snag some of the vintage finds myself!

I loved their window graphics…and the reflection!

I dig rooftop shopping!

And the view of a nearby rooftop garden – awesome!!

I am a huge fan of botanical art and this vintage Dr. Auzoux Botanical Chalk Plate is a must have…for somebody with an extra $999 in their pocket!

I found this adorable mustache pillow in the kids area but I wanted it!

I thought this a beautiful and refined way to show off Alexander Girard's illustrations!

I found this a gorgeous alternative to the usual juvenile children’s art! Each Vintage Toy Block assemblage is one-of-a-kind

I’ve recently fallen in love with vintage maps and these one-of-a-kind French School maps are gorgeous!

MY Happiness Project: Month 2 Wrap-up Report

I can’t believe that another month has come and gone…but here I am writing my wrap-up to month two of MY Happiness Project.

All in all I think I was pretty successful in achieving my goals! Unlike month one, there were no tangible ways to really measure my success (which sometimes made me feel a little less motivated) but at the end of the day I think I made great strides in trying to be a better partner to Miguel!

And vice versa actually! Seeing my efforts made Miguel feel like he needed to step up similarly and I think it sort of shook us out of our comfort zone.

So how did I really measure up with my month two goals? See for yourself below!

1. Quit nagging – I did find myself prodding Miguel at times to work on certain projects, but more often than not I bit my tongue and he actually started to do more on his own because I wasn’t bugging him. It actually made me remember how as a child I would become less motivated to do something when my mom would nag me…hmm, can you say epiphany!?
   


2. Be nicer – Miguel actually acknowledged that I had been doing better with this one, which made me feel really good because it’s been an issue that has come up a few times over the years. Of course, I may have gotten a bit more sarcastic at work to compensate (oops!) but I have definitely become more aware of my actions when we're out with friends.
   


3. Offer small gestures – I was better about this one in the beginning of the month, but I think I’m a lot more aware of how necessary the small gestures are and I’m going to continue to work on making this more of a habit.
   


4. Cook more often – this is another one that I was better about earlier in the month but my schedule is really to blame! Getting home so late at night doesn’t bode well for making dinner and we don’t often eat in on the weekends, but I’m going to try and do better about offering to cook when the opportunity arises so Miguel doesn’t feel like it’s his sole responsibility.
   


5. Don’t sweat the small stuff – I think I’ve done pretty great with this one! While I haven’t been able to fully adopt Miguel’s laidback personality, I have been careful not to burden him with my venting as soon as I walk in the door. It allows us to have more positive time together and leaves room for having conversations about things that really matter, rather than focusing all of our energy on the negatives on the day.

Is Cheap Gas Worth Embarrassment?

Apparently, it is…because tonight my GasBuddy app did me wrong, big time!

You see, in my quest for the cheapest possible gas I have started to use the GasBuddy app on my iPhone, which reports on gas prices in your local area so you can shop around for the best deal. While I won’t go way out of my way to save a few bucks, I have started to frequent the stations that don’t gouge the prices as bad as others (i.e. Exxon).

So, you know I was super excited tonight to find out that the cheapest gas in my area was not too far off from my normal commute! I quickly clicked “get directions” and became so engrossed with finding my way that it didn’t click that I was being prompted to take exits to Fort Myer until it was too late.

Yup, I didn’t realize until I was on the exit ramp that I had taken a Fort Myer ONLY exit…that dropped me right at the army base’s guard post.

Fortunately for me, it all happened so quickly that I had no time for my face to register my extreme embarrassment and turn bright red. Instead, I calmly mentioned that I had taken the wrong exit (hoping this happened all the time) and politely asked if I could do a quick u-turn.

The guard was very nice and directed me on how to exit, but on my way out I was forced to drive through an inspection tent…where I had to explain to another guard what had happened.

Oh, the humiliation! Why oh why would somebody have tagged a gas station located on an army base? Seriously people!

The Moral? Saving money is important, but be wary of no-name gas stations…you never know where you’ll end up!

G40 Art Summit Takes Over DC

A little over a week ago, our favorite local gallery Art Whino opened their second annual G40 Art Summit gallery show in DC…and it was incredible!

The gallery and its artists took over an entire 25,000 square foot building downtown to showcase art on all four floors. There was so much to see, we spent a lot of time doubling back through rooms just to make sure we didn’t miss anything!

Fortunately, vitaminwater® was one of the sponsors…which meant free drinks to keep us hydrated and energized!

If you’re in the neighborhood and want to check out the exhibit before it closes on June 17th, here are all the details:

Location:
2213-2217 14th Street NW (the corner of 14th and W NW)
Washington, DC

Exhibit Schedule:
Show exhibit runs May 19th - June 17th, 2011
Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday: 7pm – 12am
Saturday: 12pm – 2am
Sunday: 12pm – 6pm
Monday: Closed

Art imitating life…guppy style

I love cats and skate deck art…so it’s only natural that I would LOVE this ‘Lazer Cats’ skate deck by Alex Chiu

Detail of my favorite ‘Lazer Cat’

I ran into my friend Kim at the show, who showed off her new TOMS…bought after reading this post, I was so excited!!

A wall featuring art by LECKOmio, a German artist whose pieces we have started to collect over the past few years!

Incredible custom wood skate decks – I wanted them sooo bad!

An amazing hand-cut paper art installation by Tennessee artist Charles Clary

The up-close detail was unbelievable!

My one and only purchase of the night was a captivating silkscreen by one of Art Whino’s resident artists, Brent Houzenga!

This composition made me laugh

Greatest lounge idea ever…thanks to livingsocial!

The show was incredible – it had everything from custom gas tanks…

to custom sneakers…

to customized DIY Dunny’s – a little something for everybody!