nuture your genius

d-posters/ElizabethGilbert_2009.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=453" />

25 random facts about my life in 2008

1. I woke up alone on New Year's day and that was awesome!
2. I got laid off my job 3 days before I was to go to Kauai for 10 days and that was a good thing.
3. I went to see Barack Obama at key areana the next day and that was an experience.
4. I laid in the sun for 10 days in Kauai and that was a good tan.
5. I traveled with my 90 year old grandmother and realized that I wasn't even half way through my life and that was a revelation.
6. I applied for unemployment benefits and that paid the rent.
7. I got a business license with the state of Washington and that really didn't need to happen.
8. I set up a website and that was easier than I thought.
9. I went to yoga 3-5 times a week through the end of May and I was sad when it just wasn't in my budget to continue.
10. I went to Maui with Heather on whim and that was so worth it.
11. I went to an astrologist who told me I was in a very special, creative, strong time of my life.
12. I went to a medium who had nothing to say when I asked about romance in my life.
13. I painted and set up an etsy site and it made me feel accomplished.
14. I went on some lame internet dates and that made me give up trying to find dates on the internet.
15. I packed up all my belonging into storage and it made me feel stressed out.
16. I hung out with my niece, Claire, and she made me so happy.
17. I moved to Walla Walla and lived with my sister and her husband and it was a good change, but I drank too much wine.
18. I worked at Long Shadows vintners for crush and I really enjoyed it.
19. I made a fool of myself at Thanksgiving and realized I was maybe a little depressed about the transient feeling of my life.
20. I talked to an ex boyfriend who reminded me that I can doing anything and that I am an amazing, beautiful woman.
21. I researched yoga instructor training programs, then thought maybe next year.
22. I realized snow on the roads annoyed me and maybe I shouldn't move to Eastern Washington.
23. I remembered I don't like Christmas and decided I want to go somewhere tropical for that Holiday.
24. I spent New Year's Eve nursing a cold, watching South Park on cable and it was the best!
25. I got through the entire year without having sex and that kinda sucked.

25 random beauty facts about me

1. i stole grandma Teddy's red lipstick when i was in grade school and tried to deny it, probably with red lips
2. i hardly ever wear lipstick now because my lips are very dark naturally, the first time I had a facial the esthetician tried to "wipe" off my lipstick but I wasn't wearing any
3. i still use vaseline even though I've read petroleum products are suposedly bad for you
4. i started using eye cream when i turned 30, and have used it twice a day since...I always come back to Origins eyecreams when i try others
5. i don't like to use sun screen and don't usually use anything over 4 spf on my body
6. i don't like it when my face is tan so i use 15spf on my face
7. i like to use after sun lotion and sun tan lotion in the winter b/c the smell reminds me of the sun
8. i have colored my hair since i was 17
9. my first beauty products that i used faithfully were dove soap, sea breeze astringent, and oil of olay lotion, I think that was pretty much it till I hit mid 20's
10. i've never had acne, spots here and there but nothing horrible
11. i use coverup to cover the dark circles under my eyes everyday
12. i used to use white powder to look pale now I use nothing
13. when I was a little kid my teen age aunts used to put makeup on me and have me pose sexy in my bikini
14. i've used a sonicare toothbrush since 1996
15. i always wash my face with St Ives apricot scrub in the morning in the shower
16. i gave myself a manicure every week while in highschool and college
17. since i graduated from college i have had maybe 6 manicures
18. i always have a pedicure, I don't like to not have polish on my toe nails
19. i have chronic athletes foot and dry feet ever since college, should have been wearing flip flops in the communal showers
20. i'm addicted to lip balm
21. i use hand lotion religiously
22. i put lotion on my body every day
23. i prefer to shave every other day
24. i don't wear perfume much anymore
25. i nair my upper lip and to get rid of my monobrow and I shape my own eyebrows

Monster.com

So I reposted my resume and all I get is emails from insurance agents, so glad I'm not that desperate yet. I think I'd want to kill myself before I was an insurance agent...or be a barista again.

25 random memories about work

1. i was a nanny for 2 years in college
2. i worked one summer at the pool on campus handing out towels, saw a lot of naked ladies
3. i started working in retail after i graduated from college
4. i sold pens
5. i sold art supplies
6. i sold furniture
7. i've only had one job where i mostly just cruised the internet, it was borning
8. while working in soho, I helped Molly Ringwald buy a pillow and I look nothing like her
9. i've managed many people and written many reviews
10. i fired a woman who was stealing money
11. i've been a barista
12. people have paid for my art work
13. i worked at Pottery Barn and was pissed because we could only wear black and white (and kahaki which I don't wear)
14.awesome people are the reason i stayed at jobs i hated
15. i used to have panic attacks on Sunday nights while working at Starbucks
16. i smoked pot with my coworkers, but not at work
17. i've had a drink with coworkers and then gone back to work
18. i've never slept with any of my coworkers while we were working together
19. a coworker showed me his new penis piercing while at work in the back room
20. i have hired people within 15 minutes of meeting them
21. i always got every job i applied to, except in the last 2 years
22. i have never been fired but i have been laid off
23. i have worked with so many awesome people who i would work with again
24. i was told by an astrologist last year that i should try not to work for anyone but myself, unfortunately i'm looking a for a job

25 random memories about my exboyfriends

1. my first kiss took place leaning against a pooltable
2. my first boyfriend in College and I locked eyes while singing songs at a sorority raid.
3. he had gotten 2 highschool girlfriends pregnant. I took the morning after pill twice while we were together
4. one I met in astronomy class by copying his homework , he lost his virginity to me during a fire drill in his dorm
5. he had a mohawk and wore combat boots
6. he broke up with me to date a girl who had a mohawk
7. i have had 3 long distance relationships
8. one boyfriend inspired me to purchase "Blond on Blond" my first CD, he made very strong cocktails, smoked pot, mountain climbed, and became a lawyer
9. i dated a cook who wore overalls
10. i dated a guy who never drank alcohol
11. i've only posed nude for one man and he used them as inspiration for paintings
12. one wrote and recorded 2 songs about me
13. one taught me how to ride a motorcycle
14. one always wanted me to be "bigger" almost as bad as your boyfriend wanting you to lose weight
15. when I was 30 I was living with a 22 year old, who said he loved me because I loved him
16. the best first kiss i ever had made me feel like the world had changed, it felt like vertigo
17. he went to Russia with his mother 3 days later and my friends and i joked that when a man doesn't call "he's gone to Russia"
18. when he returned from Russia we met up and he saw me on the street and walked towards me with open arms for big hug, he told me when he was gone he could hear my voice in his dreams.
19. he told me he loved bigger girls, and i was at the fitest and thinest I'd ever been
20. i still suspect he's a player
21. a dated a guy who didn't know how to drive a car
22. when I broke up with one, I bet a friend I wouldn't sleep with him for a year, I owed her $100 within 6 months
23. i dated a guy who had contracted herpes from his ex wife, he didn't give it to me
24. i've dated 3 men with penises over 10" long, one could never get it in
25. i dated my highschool boyfriend again when we were 25

25 random memories from my childhood

1. The song "My Sweet Lord" brings me back to being 5 years old and sitting at the Yakima Valley country club pool with my teen age aunts and eating turkey sandwichs, the smell of chlorine and baby oil.

2. Brad Green taught me to tie my shoes when we were 5 or 6.

3.The first day of school of 1st grade was my birthday and I brought cupcakes and Koolaid to share, my mom forgot to pick me up and when she remembered my friend Chrisy Salle and I were halfway home overheated from trying to carry the juice cooler in 90 degree heat.

4. I haven't had long hair since I got a Dorthy Hamil cut when I was 7.

5. As a kid I walked up the street alone to take ballet which I was ill suited for, but I liked the cute pink ballet shoes.

6. The last parade I enjoyed was the Bicentenial parade when I was 8. That year my mother bought me wide legged jeans with a red, white and blue ribbon down the sides, too cool.

7. I loved my 4th grade teacher but only wanted to read in school. I will still read anything put in front of me. I wanted to be a teacher. My favorite outfit was my gaucho pants with clogs.

8. My Aunt Mary and uncle Bill took me to see "Star Wars" which changed my life for a moment when I was almost 10. I wanted to be Princess Lea. I think I tried to grow my hair out so I could wear buns on the side of my head.

9. I began attending Catholic school in 5th grade.

10.I was Snow White in the 5th grade school play. I wanted to be an actress.

11. I was the worst speller in the class. I really never got better.

12. We wrote a report on "The American Flag" where we had to draw all the flags since 1767 and write something about them, I still have my copy somewhere thanks to my mom who saves everything.

13. By 6th grade I was over 5 ft. tall and the boys made fun of my big lips, making me self conscience. I graduated to a skirt instead of a jumper for the uniform. I wore shorts under my skirt, blue kneehighs and famolare loafers.

14. In 7th grade I realized that we kept studying the same history lesson year after year but I loved History. Our English teacher was from Denmark and wasn't even sure how many letters we had in the English alphabet, we were really confindent in her abilities. I wore pocketless flare cords in the winter with my famolares.

15. My parents put a pool in the back yard and laying in the sun by the pool reading became one of my favorite past times.

16. The summer before 8th grade my favorite movie was "Grease". We had an Australian exchage student named Sandy living with us. I wanted to be Australian.

17.Sandy convinced me to take a jazz dancing class with her and a friend. We wore leotards and I was the worst dancer, probably the youngest too, it was an adult class. I pretended that I was 18.

18. The summer I was 13 my parents sent me and our next exchage student from Brazil, Christina, to Connecticut to live with my aunt and uncle and my cousin Molly.

19. I had a crush on a boy who was 17, I think he had a crush on me but when he found out my age he wouldn't talk to me. I attended and drank at my first party thanks to Molly.

20.I attended my first Broadway shows and became addicted to lacoste shirts (collars up) and boat shoes. My favorite books were the "Preppy Handbook" and "Catcher in the Rye". This was the first time I realized I was chubby and I was probably 115 lbs.

21. When I began highschool my mother had to buy me an entire new wardrobe since I only had school uniforms to wear, the ultimate in "back to school" shopping. Esprit was my favorite brand. I wore a 7/8.

22. I was never asked to any school dance by a boy. Highschool sucked of course.

23. I was an exchange student my senior year and had to come back and do my senior year with the class lower, some freshmen girls thought I was an exchange student.

24. Senior year I only wore clothes I found in our basement my mother had worn in the 60's. I began coloring my hair red and had a bob.

25. I attended the UW and pledged AXID. One of the girl's in my pledge class thought my name was Molly because I looked like Molly Ringwald.

skin care

Over the New Years' holiday weekend I watched a lot of TV and kept seeing the informicial about Dr Murad's skin care line. It seems like such a good deal, all that product for $39 and you can just cancel and not get it every month, right. So I went to order it and the internet connection would not let me order it. I took it as a sign, I'm not suposed to be spending money.

But, then I was in Seattle and I need some eye cream, the Oil of Olay stuff just isn't cutting it. So I went to the origins counter looked and then I decided to wander around the mall. Into Bath and Body works...they have the skin care line by another dermatologist Patricia Wexler so I bought it. I'm not sure if my skin look better yet but the one product I think is helping is the one I got as a free sample and is $150 for 3.5oz. Yikes. That is a price I never said I'd pay. Figures. We will see what happens when I use up the sample and if my skin turns red or something.

I went to the Origins counter later and bought my favorite eye cream anyway.

renting

I just signed a lease on a house for $625 a month. An entire 2 bedroom house, with one crappy bathroom, a tiny kitchen, a scary storage basement and an inclosed porch. It's going to be great! I had my sister call her friend who has a friend who was looking in December for aplace to live. She was still looking. We signed the lease together. I figure since I don't yet have a job I shouldn't comit to too much.

Now I need to move. I haven't lived in such a small town in forever, I hope this works out in the long run. I don't see my self here forever. It's sort of scary. I am looking at it as a time to renew my comitment to myself and pay my credit cards down. Now I need a job that pays what I was making before I was laid off and not some $10 an hour position.

decisions

So I decided not to go to Costa Rica and do the yoga course. I was worried about my pasport coming in time, it did...today. I was worried about the expense. I was alarmed by the reaction of my parents...my mother said it was stupid...my father asked why I couldn't get a job. My grandmother and all my aunts thoguth it was a great idea.

So new years resolutions next year I will do this, if not in Costa Rica then somewhere else.

Happy New Year

I woke up this morning and it was 8 degrees out with compact snow and ice on the road.
I got up had some coffee and went to a 2 hour yoga class.
It was awesome, perfect.
My intention this year is to improve in my yoga and be ready to become a yoga instructor.
I want to do a handstand, in the middle of the room, by next year.

I then came home and watched 6 straight hours of Lost season 5 DVD's.