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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

do we ever Really grow up?


if i had my choice..that answer would be a "sort of" no! i mean, i would Never want to go back and do it all over again..i am SO happy where i am right now in life and SO happy that i had my children at a young age..so that i can still be young while they are a bit older, and enjoy the rest of my life~
but i just loved my dolls SOOOOO much when i was little, so i can hardly wait until "Fiona" arrives from Japan!!!
time be be young again and have fun with my new doll ;0)
heres to staying Young at Heart!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

and if you are in Beverly Hills August 9th.....


the "other" new baby!








this is my sons "other" baby...
and isn't it just so mind blowing.....
the things you catch in photos that you didn't see before???
there is a Hummingbird on the sign out in front!!
WOW!
things just seem to tie in somehow don't they....
:0)


Monday, July 28, 2008

can you say GARLIC????








and that was the topic of the day! The annual Gilroy Garlic festival...oy vey....no wonder I am never sick!! Don't think I ever will be again either after that day!






it was quite the experience..and did I mention HOT?? No, not Hat, HOT! As in degrees...whew~






but the most fun of all was seeing my son and my grandchildren!! They are even more beautiful than the last time we say them and so much bigger....


This is Kaili..she is 1 1/2 and a beauty.





this is Marley and he is 7 months old now...he has the most beautiful blue eyes and naturally tan skin...(drool) he is going to be a ladies man one day...that I know for sure!
and what is the most amazing thing about all of this??? My oldest son...I can't believe he is 24 years old now! I am so proud of him!

Friday, July 25, 2008

pure magic


it was a beautiful day in marin county and I was walking one of my clients dogs. Cassidy, an older female golden..and she lived in a big house on top of a hill in mill valley...we were walking along the ridge top of her street and suddenly I spotted something off to the side of the road..it was very small and looked like a tiny bird. So I held Cassidy back on her leash and walked closer...it was a bird, a hummingbird to be exact...I was awestruck, and I could tell that something was not quite right with the little beauty...but I ever so gently reached down and slowly...talking to her the whole time..picked her up and put her into the palm of my hand. I walked up the street some more with her in my hand, palm wide open..not quite believing what exactly it was I was seeing...a real live hummingbird in the palm of my hand! Cassidy walking ever so gingerly at my side..we came to a forest of trees at the end of her street and we stepped into the forest and placed the hummingbird onto a branch..she sat there for for a short time, and then suddenly...she flew away. She was gone.
But that memory will live with me forever....
a hummingbird..in the palm of my hand!
wow
india

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

it is official!


well, i have to send a shout out to Ursula, my dear friend in Germany who is making her way to India in the morning!! I will be with you in spirit, you know that~ and so look forward to hearing from you while you are there....hopefully, one day in the near future I will be making my way back as well~
but for now, we are official homeowners! We inherited a big three bedroom house in Sonoma County, in a beautiful area..and it was quite a gift i must say. It is a good feeling too. So, if anyone is interested in renting our house..contact me!! We won't be able to live in it until my husband retires in 7 years, but it will be our home half of the year and the other half will hopefully be in "you know where"!!! INDIA!!
Namaste~~~~~

Saturday, July 19, 2008

we do go on


there is one thing I know for sure...
when YOU get older, your parents get older, and things start to change, and YOU become the one who does the care-giving, so to speak. I was not prepared for life to change as it has so suddenly....to lose a parent is hard enough, no warning, one day it just IS. Things change, life is Impermanent..Things are impermanent...but life does continue to go on. We adjust and move forward, as you can't go back...even if you wanted to, you can't go back. You may cry yourself to sleep, holding your pillow with all your might as the tears run down your face..but it "Is What It Is" it makes us stronger, more resilient somehow. We do come out the other side, as hard as it might be at the time we are experiencing it...we do survive. We have to, there is no other way. We have children, they look to us and learn From us...we must stay strong, and we do.
But it doesn't make it any easier. But we do go on.........
OM Shanti

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

you really ARE what you eat~

Very interesting video..but if you don't eat fruit and vegies...you may not want to watch this!


http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=tvc423nry8

Friday, July 11, 2008

It's in my Heart


this is an excerpt from a blog that I am reading these days...

this pretty much sums up how I feel about India as well by the way. Only I am from California, born and raised....but I do notice that most people in general don't care to hear about my experiences in India. They will come out with a comment like; "Oh, I don't know how you can even go there, I couldn't, it would just be so sad" or another one like; "Why did you take shoes to India? Isn't it like a hopeless situation over there"? (that one really made me mad) my comment back to that person, whom by the way is a very wealthy business man who could do so much if he even cared..."Well, you know, it was a small gesture on my part, but I figure that even a little bit of help is better than no help at all"...or women who just shiver in their seats and say to me; "Why wouldn't you want to go to Europe instead"? EUROPE???? No, that's OK...I'll take India any day over Europe, not that I have anything against Europe, don't get me wrong...its a beautiful place I am sure. Its just that if I get the chance to leave the USA the only place I care to go is India.

All I can say is, "If its in your heart, it's in your heart, and India in in my Heart for life"!

Shanti~




I think living in New York must have prepared me for India because everyone that told me that India is such a shocking and mystifying and different place than the rest of the world did not describe my reaction to India very accurately. Why did they have such a different experience of India than I am having? Why is India not so foreign after all? Maybe it's all the expectations of it being so different--How can a place live up to such expectations? Maybe it's the fact that India is modernizing at a ridiculously rapid rate and it's not the same that it once was? Maybe I'm blind? The fact is that everything that people said about India prior to my trip is true--it's all been confirmed. This country is poor and quite dirty (and I'm not one to care so much about levels of dirty). There are cows everywhere. More importantly, there are people everywhere. There's no space for privacy. There are people asking for money and/or wanting to offer you some kind of service. There are people constantly asking "where you from? what's your good name?" There are people staring. And some laugh after they stare (I haven't quite figured out if they are laughing at me). There is no grid system as there is in New York. You have markets, not grocery stores. There's all kinds of transportation, including auto and bike rickshaws. And so on and so on. But everything that people shared with me has not been true in the sense as they described it, at least as I experience it. It hasn't been shocking or confronting. I wonder whether I am not allowing India to sink in. Everyone seemed to describe India as something that confronts the senses. While I am learning and growing, I don't feel confronted. How were all these people looking at India that had their eyes looking at something so different than what I see? Maybe they were looking at India as if it were a museum, as my sister who I was travelling with and who felt similarly, said as we discussed this topic. Maybe this is true of some people, but to be fair to them, it seemed that they had an authentic experience--that they were confronted/changed somehow by being in India. How much of how we see the world is actually the world we see and how much of it is our own lens? Generally, my answer to this question is that it's ALL lens. It's all in how we see the world. I realize now that people weren't describing how different India is to the rest of the world. They were describing their reactions to India--and how they changed by being here. Clearly, India is a hot spot to feel confronted, to seek (inward and outward), to see the spiritual in the everyday, and so much more. But ultimately, it's the seeker's journey and India is just the path. In the end, I figured something out about why I have not been shocked by the culture and the people. India is one big country filled with Zaidie Joes. For those of you who did not have the opportunity to meet my zaidie (grandfather), he was as outgoing as outgoing can be. He would walk up to random strangers in the mall, who were in mid-sentence in the middle of a conversation, and pull out his wallet and show them pictures of his grandchildren. Then he would offer them candies. And then he would ask them their names--and invariably he would know their parents or their cousin or would know them (and he would remind them where they met). He worked, as many Indians do, in the fruit business. No, he didn't have a bike attached to a table that he carted around the city, as many Indian fruit-sellers have. But he had a store and he was a proud store owner. And that's what so many Indians do. They have their small stores where they not only serve people, but create community with, as their loyal customers keep coming back over and over again. That's exactly what my zaidie did. And that's who my zaidie was. So I figured out why I don't feel shocked by this culture and the people. It's because I have come home to my zaidie. Plus, New York is my new home and boy, is it a hell of a lot more shocking than India!

Monday, July 7, 2008

I AM

I have been reading all of my fellow yogis blogs each day...and I must say between theirs and Operation Shantis, I am feeling the need to head back to beloved India!! I know it is not possible, as I just returned, so the closest thing to that is going to have to be heading over to a wonderful new friends house who in fact goes herself to India every two years as she and her husband have a flat at Ammas ashram~ We spoke in length this afternoon..and it was like being back there! We had SO much to talk about! She is going to be instructing me on Ammas Meditation technique called the "I AM" meditation. She was given permission by Amma herself to teach this and I am SO excited to go and learn and "talk India" with her as well!
She lives right near the "Annanda Center" in Nevada City, on the ridge...and it is supposed to be breathtaking up there. I will snap some photos while I am there. I still would rather be going to India...but that will have to wait!

Namaste~~

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

like butta


ahhh...tomorrow shall be a day of pampering! Massages for my sweet and I, 90 mins. each....

oh, how we need this!!
Om Shanti~