Lululemon rep: What's your name? Me: Tricia! Lululemon rep: What's your favorite way to exercise, Tricia? Me: Dance....{jokingly}....of the booty drop variety! Lululemon rep: Nice. Best fitting room experience...ever?
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Never heard of Gal-entine's Day? Allow Leslie to explain.... I love this tradition! Huge thanks to my gal pal Courtney for pointing out the super significance of February 13th :) Too bad my girlfriends would disown me if I ever made mosaics of their faces using pieces of their favorite soft drink cans... ...or would they? I may have just settled on next Christmas' gifts. What a lucky girl I am to have been flooded with extra love the past few days and to have 16 sweet little Valentine's right here at work (that I can't help but spoil!) :) This year the V-Day treats include confetti cupcakes with strawberry frosting, fudge brownies with dark chocolate and almond brittle and goodie bags filled with sweets...and a toothbrush, as per the suggestion of my hygienist buddy, Dr. Dre. Let's engage in some real-talk now, shall we? Today is, indeed, quite the silly holiday. But...and here comes the hokey side of me coming out in full effect...I think if we take the pressure off ourselves to make it more "special" than it is, it can serve to be a cute reminder of all the love that surrounds us on a daily basis. Love is everywhere, my friends. It exists within the special phenomenon of old acquaintances becoming new friends. There is magic within opening your heart and speaking your truth with another soul. It exists within exercises of gratitude from new start up companies thanking you for helping them test and perfect their services. (A wine thank you? Oh you know I'll be using them again!) It exists within kisses from four legged buddies. It exists within waking up to kind and thoughtful text messages from dear friends (and even in the goofy reply you choose). It exists within homemade cards given over cups of coffee. Heart to hearts with someone you spark with in that soul-connected-friends-for-life kinda way should be a weekly occurrence for all of us. It exists within the way we interact with our coworkers, strangers on the bus, waiters or waitresses at dinner, customers on the phone, the UPS guy, the FedEx guy, the Postal Service guy (what can I say? Weebly gets a lot of things delivered).
It exists in how we treat others. It exists in how we treat ourselves. It exists in the big and the small. In family and friends. In kindness. In forgiveness. In our thoughts. It exists because love is a supremely powerful force that *is*, whether or not we choose to see it. It exists, mostly, because we are worthy of it. So, I say we embrace the silliness of Valentine's Day. I say we eat candy and call our parents and do a mini dance in front of the mirror because good lord child, your ass looks great in those jeans and go for walk outside while sending thanks to mama earth for all of her fabulousness and hug a friend or a partner or even a tree if there is no one else around to hug. To be blunt--not having big plans or a romantic date or maybe even a partner in your life is only negatively meaningful if you choose (yep, choose) to see it that way. I'm choosing to see today as a wonderful day; a wonderful opportunity to spread the love. Tonight I'm headed out to volunteer at the San Francisco Food Bank. As I told my friend this morning, I am surrounded by so much generous giving in all areas of life that it only feels appropriate to use today to pay it forward. Whatever your plans are, I hope you are feeling the love. I know I'm sending you lots :) "True love is here and now. Whatever we can remember or anticipate is only a shadow of love. We know we have fully experienced love when we turn into love...that is the spiritual goal of life." -Deepak Chopra In Gratitude, Trish A Sprinkles Cupcake fresh off the plane from San Diego, courtesy of my adorable houseguest this weekend. Best 3 bites (what? I'm a fast eater. No judging.) of sweetness I've had in 2012. "But love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence. If we reject it, we die of hunger, because we lack the courage to stretch out a hand and pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life. We have to take love where we find it, even if that means hours, days, weeks of disappointment and sadness. The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us. And to save us." — Paulo Coelho Seek love.
I did, and I found San Francisco. Saved by a city... ...and I wouldn't have it any other way. Always, Trish This is the beginning of a great pen pal relationship :)
Anyone else wanna be pen pals? I LOVE snail...yes, snail...mail. It'd be a pleasure to exchange little treats of love and light with you! Happy Friday, friends. In Gratitude, Trish Yes. Everything about this vase = yes. Shape, colors, texture...it is fitting in brilliantly in my home!
What small pops of joy inducing quirkiness can you add to your home to help make it an even greater source of smiles? We swear, we really do talk about the books... ...but we also just thoroughly enjoy each others company with a side of wine or champagne and some tasty treats! I know this is going to sound like a giant exaggeration, but when I tell you that I spent easily 50% of book club last night either giggling, stifling a giggle or full on cackle laughing (if you've never heard my most alive laugh it essentially sounds like I smoke 6 packs of ciggys a day...I don't know why it's so scratchy!) I am being totally honest. Let's do the math on that, shall we? All book club members arrived by 7:15pm and all members were headed home by 10:15. This means of the solid 3 hours we were together I was laughing for 1.5. I want to digest that for a moment. An hour. And a half. Of laughter. Holy heck that is awesome. (And holy heck what an ab work out!) It was my turn to host our meeting in my tiny studio apartment last night and I am incredibly grateful for everyone's willingness to snuggle up close to one another in the small space. I am also very grateful for the plethora of positive vibes the lovely ladies left behind; even though I was super tired, my apartment felt so alive with lingering happy energy that I couldn't fall asleep! I think this is my favorite part of our now 3 month old book club--the happy energy. I do, of course, enjoy reading the books and taking the time to have some pretty dynamic discussions with some highly intelligent gal pals. It feels good to exercise the English loving, college educated, "but what did this really mean" part of my brain. But if I'm honest, it's the energy that is most appealing to me. I've discussed this before--to me, women operate on a different frequency than men. While I love me some dude friends (and very much love the laid back dude energies in my office) there is something about a group of open, kind, supportive, silly and generous women folk that knocks my socks off. I find the positive vibes that come from our meetings to be some of the most powerful and refreshing around. I hope you have a similar group of women in your life, too. Even if a book club doesn't sound like your style, I highly recommend getting involved in a group of some other kind--supper club, knitting club, volunteering club, hiking club...seriously, there are so many options! Any reoccurring, stimulating and pleasant activity you can do with a handful of women who make you feel good is a beautiful thing to add to your life. In short, these cuties are some of my favorite west coast peeps and I am humbled to know and love them :) I whipped up a simple arugula (with pear, dried cranberries, walnuts, blue cheese, lemon juice & olive oil) salad and a pesto pizza (courtesy of Courtney's home made dough!) to snack on, which was accompanied by Court's delicious diet coke cupcakes and cookie-brownies. Yea you read that right. It was both a cookie and a brownie. And I was both a pig and a hog with them. Hint: I ate 4. Admittedly a large part of book club was spent ooohing and awwwwing and squealing with delight over Brooke's awesome newly-engaged story (along with an excellent photo slide show!). We ate up every detail of the happy news! Another large part of the club was spent celebrating her news with champagne. Please note Lindsey laughing in the background...like I've said before, she is the best laugh track around. (Linds--you should consider selling your time and company for self esteem boosts. You could make MAJOR monies). Cheers to both Brooke's engagement and awesome new friends! Good grief I need to fix my manicure....
In Gratitude, Trish It's time to start utilizing the awesomeness of our Weebly iPhone app (still in development!) more often---thus, a new segment of The Grateful Life called "Gratitude to Go", where I'll be fairly frequently mobile posting all of the day-to-day sources of gratitude that surround me (hellooooo, livin in the moment with a side of total presence). I think this will be a great way to take notice of all the joy and happiness available to us in daily life, both big and small, don't you? To start; College friends and current SF residents who embody all that I appreciate in friendships--love, kindness, honesty and playfulness. Man I love me a silly couple :) In Gratitude,
Trish Soooooo yea. This is kinda why I shy away from meat as much as possible. Not the best (or most sanitary, humane and appetizing) sight as you step off the bus on your morning commute...
Yikes, Trish 1. 2012 being a rocking year of travel. According to my horoscope (yes, I read one, so sue me) this is a most perfect year to get up and go, so I'm seizing the day like nobody's business. So far I've got Tahoe, Boulder, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and the BVI lined up! Not too shabby, eh? I'll have to do a post on how the heck I managed to manifest all those plans ;) 2. My sister and her boyfriend coming to visit and our shared emotional excitement over spending time together in SF: 3. Red lipstick. 2012 is totally a year of rocking lipstick. Wake up feeling a little sassy? Throw on some of this bad ass color and you'll instantly feel done up and ready to welcome in the day! 4. Old college acquaintances becoming new friends. It's so lovely when people pop back into your life and you wind up re-hitting it off. Miss Holland, I can't wait for your visit next weekend! Napa and San Francisco are excited, too :)
5. Friday night dinner plans. Saturdays and Sundays are great, but there is something about a Friday night dinner with people I love that just makes me so happy. It's like, phew, another work week completed! Helloooo weekend! Photos from this evening's feast at Sotto Mare to come! In Gratitude, Trish Welp, I think it's time I finally fessed up to the life changes I've been alluding to the past few months. But first... I had a lovely date last week with my sweet friend Kim at the Jewish Contemporary Museum in San Francisco. We had been discussing at our book club a few weeks earlier (I know, I'm so sophisticated I can hardly stand it) how there were still so many places to visit and explore in this wonderful city of ours and decided we would make great adventurer buddies together in checking them all out, starting with the JCM. While walking to the museum (pb&j snacks in hands--crunchy pb, strawberry jam and potato chips smushed in the middle...trust, it's awesome) Kim detoured me to first visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial. In a nutshell, it was breath taking. (I'm SO sorry for the crappy iPhone pics. I promise to go back with my fancy schmancy camera to try and really capture the incredible beauty of this structure). In perfect timing, just a few days earlier my bestie sent me a card containing some wise words from Dr. King... I was in awe of how powerfully the water falls from the overhang, creating a mist throughout and a booming yet somehow soothing sound. It truly sets the tone for the entire piece. Kim and I agreed that it helped us to hear MLK's voice in our heads as we read each quote along the path. We compared goosebumps with each passing segment, taking in the beauty of his timeless words. If you are ever in the SF area I highly recommend spending a quiet moment at this site.
My favorite part of the JCM was the video section in the exhibit called "California Dreaming". Here, Jewish folks living in the Bay Area shared their stories and experiences on their faith within California communities. One story in particular deeply struck me. To summarize, a middle aged woman of non-Jewish decent (I believe she noted being raised in a Christian Science household) decided later in life that she wished to convert to Judaism. She talked about her internal struggles with taking this leap of faith, her fears of being rejected by others and the multitude of insecurities holding her back. Eventually, with time and patience and a little self love, she realized there was no more room for hesitance. She said: "It was what my soul required of me." Instant chills. I love (LOVE) this sentiment; the realization that an internal desire to do, become, achieve something is a push from the deepest parts of our souls...that it's not simply a desire, but an actual requirement of our beings. Wow. This is exactly how I've been feeling the past few months. ....Which brings me to by big life news. Do you wanna know what's brewing in The Grateful Life?! (I'm pretending you are eagerly saying YES! and nodding your heads) I've decided to become certified as a Health and Wellness/Life Coach. Gulp! For one thing, I know in my heart this process can only serve to make me a better Joyologist here at Weebly (yep, that's my title on my business cards!). Being able to bring positive vibes to work is a huge bonus of my job and I want to help ensure all of our employees are living their most fulfilling lives, both in and out of the office. For another, Wellness Coaching is something I personally have greatly benefited from over the years. The idea of "paying it forward" feels very right. Having the ability to assist others in discovering their worth, healing their past, learning to let to go and make the most of every day is, without a shadow of a doubt, what makes my pulse race. And finally, this is the kind of career I truly see myself in long term. It will allow me to travel, explore, connect with folks around the world; to adventure, play, learn and grow. All while sharing my truth and supporting those discovering theirs, too. With a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love, I seek to serve others by encouraging them towards love, faith, gratitude and kindness. Am I nervous? Sure, a little. Do I have a few ego-centered doubts questioning if I'll be any good this? A few, yep. But as soon as I push my fears and insecurities aside I hear my tiny spirit voice inside cheering me on and shining a light on this path. I know, simply, it's what my soul requires of me. In Gratitude, Trish |
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