Groovy!

Aloha Ohana,

         It's been awhile, forgive me for leaving you hanging! I've since moved 30 miles north, to Santa Barbara- a real gem on the central coast. It's sort of the beginning of the central coast and wine country. It's ridiculously beautiful, full of sunburned tourists from the world over, and sunnier and warmer than Ventura, which I didn't think I would ever discover by moving north. San Diego? Yes, sun, warm water, and lots of freeways and driving. Santa Barbara? Evidently, yes too! Less freeway, people and warm water, but lots of sun, foot traffic (which I love) and great shopping to make up for it. The night life is a tad livelier than in Ventura, but I haven't decided whether it's in a good way or not. Seems someone is almost always getting arrested or kicked out of a bar, or that the cover is too high ($30 per person, Savoy? really? I'll go to Vegas instead). Nonetheless, in less than 2 months I've gone out dancing and late-night meandering here more than I did the entire past year in Ventura, so that's got to say something. Anyway, I realize I'm rambling..it's late and I've to get to bed so I'm able to fulfill my duties with a smile tomorrow!
Blessings and Good night, all.

P.S. My new favorite writing music...enjoi!

Daily Reminders...

Memes are meant for sharing. Photos usually too. Below, illuminating, insightful, imaginative imagery. Cute stuff, good stuff, old stuff, new stuff. Thanks, meme-makers, photographers, friends and the like. Enjoi!

UNLESS. such a powerful word.

Earthquake Warning: This is an unreinforced masonry building. You may not be safe inside unreinforced masonry buildings during an earthquake. Location: Downtown Ventura, circa June 2010

Guess who? Leaving a positive proverbial "mark" on 20 countries/in countless lives for nearly 25 years.

so helpful.

The simplest way of expressing an all-encompassing truth we must all strive to realize. Mahalo, Albert.

I think it's safe to say many of us women need to hear this repeated to them now and then. Troof!

AMEN.

The key to my continuing growth.

Someone had fun with photoshop, and now I'm having fun because of it! Fun is contagious.

<3 Chase

Yes.

I love explaining my major to people.

More of this, for everyone!

such a beauty.

For my girls!

Yeah, man. Yeah..

Truth? Perhaps. Hilarious? Definitely.

Are you laughing yet!?

THE WORK YOU DO WHILE YOU PROCRASTINATE IS PROBABLY THE WORK YOU SHOULD BE DOING FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Have you been in the ocean lately? Wishing you a watery weekend! Photo Credit: David Pu'u

"On The Other Side"

If you guys don't know Kid Cudi by now, well, let this be your introduction.

I became familiar with the Kid with the rest of everyone with his "Day n' Night" performance circa February 2009 on MTV. Little did I know he helped write lyrics for Kanye West's 808's n Heartbreak album on one of my favorite songs at the time- "Heartless."
A dear friend recently shared Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon II with me; although I recommend the entire album--really, you can enjoyably listen straight through it, no breaks--one song in particular really got me going. Feel-good, upbeat, with the perfect balance of both expected and unexpected musical elements. Beat, lyrics, loop...it all works. Cheers to you, Kid.

Hear for yourself:

and a Happy Mother's Day, ya'll. :)

She lives!

After an 11-month hiatus from blogger I am back...for now :)

Before I go on a long spiel telling you my life story of the past year...here's a quote I re-found on my computer today- 

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." - Elizabeth Kubler Ros

Continuing to comprehend/discover/reveal the meaning of that daily. 

Back in Ventura, now. Sometimes pictures tell the story better...

Sunrise...

and set...

More soon...

Quotage

For as long as I can remember, I have collected quotes. Inspiring words. Bits of comfort. Things I could relate to. Motivation. Wisdom. On a daily basis I write down things I hear, see or think that really click. The list is endless; no better place to start than the here and now. Bon Appetit 

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. - John Ruskin

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.
It has eyes to see misery and want.
It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.
That is what love looks like.
- St. Augustine

One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar. – Helen Keller

I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. do not search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. and the point is, to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer. - Rainer Maria Rilke

 

[Art is] the ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. – Hans Hofmann, Abstract Expressionist, 1952

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. – Coco ChanelBottom of Form

What i dare to think is that our society really needs more people who specialize in the "impossible." - Cath Alexandrine Danneskiold-SamsÆe

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. - Aristotle

Luck is the time when opportunity and preparation meet. – Chapin

The two qualities which chiefly inspire regard and affection are that a thing is your own and that it is your only one. - Aristotle

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
- Goethe

To know someone with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed...that can make this life a garden. - Goethe

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character. - Horace Greeley

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed. - Jung

You will not believe how glad I am that I have met you. - Janacek

sometimes when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated. -  lamartine

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you! -christian d. larson

now is the right time. - lotus sutra

barn's burnt down, now I can see the moon. -masahide

walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. let their spirit light a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it... - Wilfred Peterson

love generously, praise loudly, live fully. - porter

live with intention. walk to the edge. listen hard. practice wellness. play with abandon. laugh. choose with no regret. continue to learn. appreciate your friends. do what you love. live as if this is all there is. -mary anne radmacher

you gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face... do the thing you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt

the world is not respectable. it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms... - George Santayana

fall in love... or fall in hate. get inspired or get depressed. ace a test or flunk a class. make babies or make art. speak the truth or lie and cheat. dance on tables or sit in the corner. life is divine chaos. embrace it. forgive yourself. breathe. enjoy the ride.... - Solbeam

happiness is a journey, not a destination. for a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. at last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. happiness is the way. so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. - Souza

life does not put things in front of you that you are unable to handle. - unknown

what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? - unknown

1. the path is not straight.
2. mistakes need not be fatal.
3. people are more important that achievements or possessions.
4. be gentle with your parents.
5. never stop doing what you care most about.
6. learn to use a semicolon.
7. you will find love.
- marion winik

Champion the right to be yourself. Dare to be different. Live your own life and follow your own star. - Wilfred Peterson

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher

Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy; but these, I reckon, will give you a good lift! – Abraham Lincoln

Avoid making irrevocable decisions while tired or hungry. – Robert Heinlein

The strong grows in solitude where the weak wither away. - Kahlil Gibran

Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious about any. - Arthur Wellesley

Your treasure-your perfection- is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desired of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart. - Liz Gilbert, from Eat, Pray, Love

Those things that hurt, instruct. - Benjamin Franklin

If it sounds stupid it probably is. - Anonymous

Let go, or be dragged. - American Proverb


Adulthood is the ability to self-reflect, to constantly rethink one's actions. - Friend of a friend


A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself. That's what real love amounts to- letting a person be what he really is. - Jim Morrison


We succeed only as we identify in life, or war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that objective. - Dwight D. Eisenhower


Begin anywhere. - John Cage


This is your world. Shape it or someone else will. - Gary Lew


If we all did the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves. - Thomas Edison


"There is no use trying," said Alice; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carroll, from Alice in Wonderland

Brilliance

Modern-day wisdom. Amen, Smith. A-men. 

Desiderata

Words worth sharing:

Desiderata  by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.