Ten years ago, my fiancé and I had grand financial plans, and the data to back it up. Our sales reports mapped out a strategy to follow several couple friends in our industry—stock photography— to small fortunes: some cash-flowed $90,000 per month. Others sold their photo collections for 20 million dollars. Call me stupid, call me crazy, but the carefully plotted strategy was interrupted by an emergency: Women in the Congo were being raped, children were dying by the millions….Read more
The Crack: Depression, Burnout & Redemption
“For my part, I prefer my heart to be broken. It is so lovely, dawn-kaleidoscopic within the crack.” – D.H. Lawrence I was 12 when the first dark period came on, though I didn’t know what to call it. I had hit puberty at ten. By sixth grade, all dolled up from modeling school know-how, already 5’9″, I spent the year getting straight A’s, fending off come-ons from 18-20 year olds and answering questions about how many grades I’dRead more
Hark! Quicksand!
New Years is now a week behind us, and lo. We’re entering those fragile days where all the intentions for the year begin to haunt us like those leftovers that have been sitting at the back of the fridge a week too long. Hark! Stay vigilant, friends! This is the trap, the quicksand of our lives. It need not be, with this simple trick. One of the primary methods for turning your vision into reality is checking in with yourselfRead more
Painting Tape
Hey folks! On Day 8 of the new year, I finally took on a long-elusive task. It started last June, when I moved back over to my craftsman on Portland’s east side, thinking it was a temporary “East Side Retreat”, creating space and perspective on my long term relationship. Six months later, the relationship break turned to permanent split, and while I had painted many common spaces and bedrooms of tenant/roommates, but the bright blue painting tape remained on myRead more
Green Smoothies: A pound a day keeps the doctor away!
Getting in a pound of raw greens used to seem impossible- huge salads it would take an hour to chew, chew, chew. But when trainer Texas Boesch suggested I simply add greens to my morning smoothie, I found a whole new foundation to my daily routine! This change alone resulted in shedding 15 pounds. Here’s my process, a cornerstone for my Year of All Years…Read more
Confessions of a Junk Food Vegan
What started as a healthy lifestyle devolved over many years, and major health issues emerged. How do I balance my commitment to animals with my year’s intention for my best health ever? Find out here…Read more
What scares me more than Iraq & Congo?
My first steps toward a Year of All Years! And how I’m facing down one thing that terrifies me far more than places like Iraq & Congo…Read more
Day 6, 5:19 am
In pursuit of Joie de Vivre, up for my first 6am Vinyasa class. Note the before….and after! Wonderful way to start the day. May it be the start of a whole new routine.Read more
2016: Joie de Vivre Collage
I’m officially emerging from my New Years retreat (7 days of mostly solitude and quiet at home). I’ve chosen my word for 2016: Joie de Vivre! Release was a very close runner up. So close I’ve elected it my “mantra” for at least the first 6 months of the year. Why Joie de Vivre? Cause I can feel it coming on…. I’ve always been a passionate, driven person. So driven in fact, that for more than a decade, my lifeRead more
Year of All Years 