liberate.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-marianne williamson

ps - are the hearts above completely to die for or what???  find them at “bookity” on etsy.

end of winter.

jan-april my roomie and i threw mini parties in our apartment where we would sit around the kitchen with friends (or just us two!) and drink wine (or…whatever…), pump the tunes and talk into the wee hours of the night.  it was our warmth in the winter.  now we’ve switched to patio parties (see next post!) which are just as fun in a completely different sort of way.  little italy is proving the perfect haven for good friends, good food and really good vino!!! 

…

my favorite photos have lots of texture, lots of depth and pieces/parts of my most treasured people that evoke something comforting in me when i view them.  i hope these pics convey that to each of you.  the things that move me are the bare feet of my best friend…  the worn hands of a strong man…  my dog’s paws…  a full glass of water on ice…  a wisp of hair across the face… a stolen laugh or movement - unguarded…  clippings of life - a most beautiful collage.

…

salut!  xxx

ps - photos taken by moi.

papa’s house.

At every instant and from every side, resounds the call of Love - Rumi

my dear friend and yoga teacher, jesse (remember me mentioning him here?) has - again - dreamed of the “impossible” and made it happen.  many said he would not be able to get people to join him on this trip, “Yoga For Freedom”.  too far away.  too dangerous.  too… uncomfortable.  as i write this, however, 20 of my fellow yogis and yoginis from the cleveland area are in nepal in support of The Nepal Orphan’s Home with jesse, who travels there every year.   his goal is to to end child endentured servitude in nepal.  he wants to see it happen in his lifetime.  the charitable organization he’s founded to serve this goal is called “imagine”.  image what we could do if we just tried??? candy koslen is on this trip and she’s just posted a boat-load of breath-taking photos on her facebook.  i’ve decided to transfer some of them over here to post script and share them with you all.  i’m feeling incredibly blessed to know so many remarkable and selfless people.  be inspired.

ps - namaste.  xo

pps - candy, your photos have left me speechless.  jesse, you are the change you want to see in the world.

Tags: candy koslen, imagine, jesse bach, nepal, the nepal orphan's home, yoga for freedom

manes tossed.

it was raining out and the horses gathered beneath the tree by the stream in the valley.  i could see them below the balcony - tossing their manes and stomping their feet.  fog covered the window panes and the little girls at my feet were giggling and sweaty from running around…  hair damp against their cheeks and eyelashes batting fiercely.  there was a growing hunger in my belly.  almost an ache.  i dismissed it with cups of too weak coffee and tiny pastries covered in frosting, still warm from the oven.  my boots hit the wooden veranda like thunder gathering behind the clouds and my heart raced, intermittently, at the thought of you.  it’s tiring - almost to the point of weariness - to wake up and know who you are - the moments of surrender and grace all mixed in with weakness and fear.  there’s nothing more powerful than the strength of your bones and loyalty of your lips.

ps - photos of a friend’s wedding last week-end at crystal brook farms.

vino & vinyasa!

hello lovelies!  tonight lululemon cleveland is hosting a complimentary “vino & vinyasa” event at our showroom on chagrin blvd. @ eton.  it’s from 6-8pm…  1 hour of yoga followed by wine and shopping.  bring your friends and come say “hello”!  make it a girls night and go see sex & the city after!!!

…

ps - love to all! 

pps - photos found at amelia kay’s etsy shop.  stunning?!?

night on the island.

all night i have slept with you

next to the sea, on the island.

wild and sweet you were between pleasure and sleep,

between fire and water.

perhaps very late

our dreams joined

at the top or at the bottom,

up above like branches moved by a common wind,

down below like red roots that touch.

perhaps your dream

drifted from mine

and through the dark sea

was seeking me

as before,

when you did not yet exist,

when without sighting you

i sailed by your side

and your eyes sought

what now -

bread, wine, love, and anger -

i heap upon you

because you are the cup

that was waiting for the gifts of  my life…

- pablo neruda

*ps - photos found at etsy shop, jules j gallery.

ladies lunching.

the roomie and i had a day off today and after working hard all week we felt we were deserving of a lunch with cocktails in the warm sun.  our shoulders and faces are now sun-kissed and we’re thoroughly relaxed.  we’re ending the day now with a movie in our p.j.’s…

love to all and have a fabulous week!

turning loose.

“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotion know what it means to want to escape from these.”

- emily dickinson

ps - photos found at esty shop labyrinthine nature.

wanderlust.

i’m lusting lately.  serious, deep-down-and-dirty lust.  the kind of lust that creeps in and takes over to the point that no tonic can cure it.  my object of desire is not an object really.  it’s a verb.  an action.  an exploration.  i am lusting after travel.  at 18 years of age i packed up and moved to scotland for three months where i lived in a semi-castle (seriously) and took lots of pictures of fuzzy sheep grazing and spent countless hours sipping coffee in darling cafe’s and eating shortbread.  three months in scotland was followed by two months in egypt (where i got dusty hiking and hydrated with fresh mango juice amongst other seriously fabulous adventures).  i then moved home and promptly got engaged which led to my wedding and then a three week trip down the coast of california (top to bottom on highway one) and then another trip followed for about 10 days to mexico where i stayed in thatched roof huts with mud floors and showered in icy cold streams while chickens pecked at my toes.  i’ve also had guiness in northern ireland and thrift shopped on notting hill in london.

…

i was a proud and happy traveler…  prefering the arrival to the journey (fitting to me in more ways than one, i suppose…) but loving it all nonetheless.  it now seems to me as though it has been years… quite literally…  since i’ve done any significant trip and i’m beginning to get antsy.  italy and france are both on my radar.  they say “if you can dream it, you will see it” so  i’m taking that to heart and dreaming, dreaming, dreaming of waffle cones in paris and pasta in rome…

ps - photos, yet again, are from pia jane bijkerk’s ridiculously delicious blog.

pretty peony.

“The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves nor others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe.”

-Deepak Chopra

once upon a time (a very long time ago) i was married for a few years.  i think i’ve mentioned this before?  anyhow…  not all things last (and not all things should!) and these days i’m a “single” variety of girl.  i have serious doubts about any future matrimony plans in my own little lifetime, but i did so enjoy one summer solstice back-a-when… it was the wedding “of my dreams” as they say.  i wore a white dress with empire waist and tiny, little, embroidered silver vines attached to white, ribbon flowers.  i was barefoot, it was sunny, the sky was blue and cloudless and i held an enormous bouquet of white roses and peonies.  i will never forget the way they felt as i brushed my fingertips across their petals…  soft and light like they hardly existed.  every time i see a peony in full bloom i am filled with sentiment - instantly feeling the breeze on my face and the grass beneath my freshly polished toes…  hopes soaring and love beating in my chest.

ps - photographs taken by the astonishingly inspiring pia jane bijkerk and found at her “must savor” blog…  here.  xo