Last night I was at a MayaBag party.  Over 50 women were invited and you could stop in anytime from 4pm to 9pm.  It had been raining all day in the city here and it continued to heavily pour all night long.  For some, this nasty weather would influence the attendance to a party.  Not this party.  Reason being, the women invited know of this annual event and they know the importance of their attendance. Each woman walked in the front door drenched with a smile on their face.   Those smiles were partially because MayaBags support over 90 women in the village of the Maya Mountains of Belize, giving women a job, independence and the ability to support their families while doing many other wonderful things.  Thanks to women supporting other women, sales were nonstop throughout the night.  It’s the type of positive energy that could keep you up all night because it makes you feel that good.  If interested in some of these good vibes, you can certainly purchase any of the items online.  Whether you buy it for yourself or someone else, it just gives back.  The earring handle, handwoven purse above is a favorite and has been sold at Barney’s and a resort pick by Rachel Zoe. What a great summer bag and a great reminder each time you use it of how lucky you are.

I LOVE, LOVE my bookclub. We just have a great time and I assume like most book clubs, the highlight is not on books, thats just the excuse to get together.  Instead, we drink and laugh until we must go home in order to partially function the next day.  Our last pick was The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.  It’s the story of Hemingways love affair with his first wife.  I couldn’t put the book down and that is not a usual thing for me.  If you put it on your book club list, you won’t be disappointed.

Well, Tis’ the Season and apparently I’m lacking in some time management skills because I have continued to neglect my blog.  Can you believe Thankgiving just passed us by?  And now everyone has what I like to call the “holiday hangover effect” which means you are in an exhaustion funk for the first two days back to work to get over the long Holiday weekend.  Good news is it’s already Wed. tomorrow and while you are probably starting to get back into the swing of things it’s almost the weekend again with more holiday parties and lots of shopping to do.

In between everything going on in life I have been helping a family member shop for a new couch.  Her requirements are something that is practical, dirt resistant and doesn’t have to last ten years, but just looks good until the kids get a little older and it make sense to purchase a “better couch”.  Well, I ended up finding a  great option   at Crate & Barrel at a price I couldn’t even believe:  $999.00  I love this couch because the rounded back gives it a feminine look while at the same time being modern.  Go Crate & Barrel, I am impressed.  Now back to Christmas shopping & everything else…

There are 2 types of people in life.
Yes, two.
These 2 types are:
– People that give you energy
– People that take your energy

Do yourself a favor and consciously surround yourself only with those who give you energy.
It will change your life.

You know who the givers are: they are the people that make you feel good, full of life and you walk away smiling after spending time with.  This doesn’t mean they aren’t truthful about things and pretending or glossing things over in life.  Instead, they are the people who keep it real and tell you the truth (that you may not want to hear), but no matter what the scenario they are always positive and supportive.  Simply put, you walk away happy after being around them.

On the flip side, you know those people who are the takers:  when you walk away from a taker you feel drained and possibly bad about yourself.  You might even have to go take a nap after being with them.  Often times, these are the people in your life who speak to you or perhaps at you in a very loud voice, sometimes criticizing you.  Remove these people from your life and positive things will happen.  Guaranteed.

Most importantly, what energy do you bring to others?
We all need to make sure we are taking responsibility for the energy we bring to others.  We all know what we bring to others simply by observing the other persons body language.  You can see if their body is relaxed or tense, you can see in their eyes if they feel lighter or heavier.  Fundamentally, when we take responsibility for the energy we bring to others, they just feel good after interacting with you and vice versa.  Now, go experiment being a giver of energy:)

Set your intentions today because 11:11:11 is very significant in Numerology.   That is, in Numerology the number “11” is the master number, it is the teacher.  As of yesterday 4 planets that were retrograde (which results in people feeling stuck and nothing moving) were released by the full moon.  Therefore, you should feel relief as of today from the stagnation these 4 planets were creating.  According to Chinese numerology today(11:11:11) you need to focus on living the authentic life you are meant to live.  It is a transformative date: the merging of the spiritual and material world.  So, monitor your thoughts, feelings, words and beliefs because it sets the groundwork for many years to come.

“11” stands for multiple things, some being:

•  Partnerships – not just romantic, but more so collaborating with others.  People are going to turn away from competitiveness and create opportunities together.  
• Your Intuitive- the “11” are pillars and in between those pillars is the ability for each of us to access that invisible truth(intuition).  People are going to use their intuition more which will result in more creativity.
• 11+11+11=33= 3+3=6 .  6 is the number of healing and creativity within ones self.  Meaning, from that creativity which it stands for (that people will be accessing more readily), ultimately healing will occur within people.  

Wow, it’s been busy and busy results in neglect of my blog. I’m going to try and get back on track here.  So, here we go:  4 weeks ago a good friend of mine who, to put it lightly, is an Oprah fanatic told me I HAD to start watching Oprah’s lifeclasses.  They weren’t on my priority list and I forgot about them.  One evening about 3 weeks after we spoke I felt like turning on the TV. I’m not a big TV person so when I think of turning on the TV I’ve learned 9 times out of 10 it is my intuition telling me something relevant is on for me to watch.  With that, I turned it on and in an instant I remembered our conversation about the new lifeclasses by Oprah.  I found the OWN channel and sure enough, Oprah was in the middle of a lifeclass episode.

The episode was entitled, “Your Life Speaks to You in a Whisper”.  It was exactly what I needed to be reminded of.  That is, when you are in a quiet space of clarity and/or feel something in your gut, that is life speaking to you in whispers.  It doesn’t have to be about anything life threatening, it can just be in your regular errands of life, leading you to your purpose in life or clarifying something you are unsure of.  If you ignore these whispers for long enough, that’s when the bricks come falling down and unfortunately, it often is something dramatic.  On the flip side, if you do listen to those whispers, the whispers become clearer and louder and things come easily and almost effortlessly to you because you are in sync with the universe.

Point being: I would definitely recommend looking into the lifeclasses.  I have my DVR set and that way it’s easy to just watch those lessons I feel drawn too.  I think you will end up watching most of them though, just like I have.  Happy watching.

Pastry & Cheese domes

If you are on the hunt for that hard to find gift for someone that has everything, I think Joe Cariati’s line of handblown glassware  is the solution to your problem. Simply tasteful and gorgeous.
I’m loving the pastry and cheese domes.

When I first started drinking coconut water I couldnt take more than a shot of it at a time.  The drink would last me an entire week in the refrigerator.  Now, I will crave it and drink an entire bottle of it no problem.  Coconut water is so great for you because of all the electrolytes in it, along with the fact that it has more potassium in it than a banana.  Because of these facts, it’s known to be great for hangovers or if you drank the night before.

If you are not a coconut water drinker yet, I highly recommend it.  For those of you who are, Dr. Oz did a study on coconut water and which brands actually contain the electrolytes they say.  Zico was the only brand of the three tested that passed.  O.N.E. and Vita coco did not have the electrolytes they claim to contain.

I know organizations do a good job of bringing awareness to causes, but the famine that East Africa has been experiencing is something that can’t get enough attention. Here’s the info. for any of those who weren’t aware of this issue and want to know how to help.