Entertainment Value

My oh my! My neighbor was discarding a book called: Sunset's Western Hostess Guide which was first published in 1938. I feel like I scored a treasure and been having a great time reading it. Now, fortunately or unfortunately for you I am going to have to share some of the more entertaining snippets!

Guests for Luncheon
It's a woman's world when it comes to luncheon parties. Lunch before bridge, lunch for a visiting guest, lunch for a club committee, for a new bride, or bride-to-be--no matter what the occasion it usually means you are playing hostess to anywhere from four to twelve women guests. Naturally you want the party to be perfect! Perhaps somewhere lives the hostess who doesn't want to impress her luncheon guests just a little bit--with the charm and distinction of her table and menu-but she's certainly not possessed of natural feminine instincts.

License Plate

I was both intrigued and repulsed by a license plate that read: TA 4 God

Inadvertent Joke!

I love to play practical jokes on people. It's genetic. Just to give you an example, a couple of years back my sister and I were waiting at the airport for our parents arrival. We were earnestly searching the escalator for our folks when all of a sudden I felt something hit the back of my knee. I whipped around to find my mom had pushed my dad's wheelchair into said knee. They were both cracking up!!!

In this case I wasn't even trying to play a joke (specially cuz it involved my recently deceased cat) but it ended up being a pretty good one. The back story is this: after I'd had Liza, my cat, on ice for a couple nights so that I could keep her next to me on my bed, I then put her in my neighbors freezer. I knew I wanted to shore myself up before taking her to the vets to be cremated, hence the freezer to prevent her body from decomposing. I realized there was some possibility that even though my neighbors had already moved out someone might open the door to the freezer for whatever reason. So, I put a note on the freezer that read: cat corpse in freezer...please do not disturb. Fast forward to this morning. My neighbors were giving their official vacate notice as of this a.m. and I figured it was likely the broker would be out sooner than later. I got Liza fairly early and put her in my car but forgot to remove the note. Sure enough, a little while later G, the broker, came knocking on my door regarding other business. Then he said: "hey, someone played a good joke on me with this note" and he showed me my note. I started laughing and told him the story. His eyes got big and he looked relieved to have NOT found a dead cat in the freezer first thing this a.m!!!!!!

A Potent Graduation Speech

Miserable & Magical: A Graduation Speech for Paradoxical Times

--by Nipun Mehta, May 27, 2013

[When the student body of an elite private school in Silicon Valley was given the chance to vote on who would give their graduation address this year, they chose a man named Nipun Mehta. An unexpected choice for these teenagers, who belong to what Time magazine called the "Me Me Me Generation". Nipun's journey is the antithesis of self-serving. More than a decade ago, he walked away from a lucrative career in high-tech, to explore the connection between inner change and external impact. ServiceSpace, the nonprofit he founded, has now drawn over 450,000 members across the globe. In this electrifying address that garnered a standing ovation, he calls out the paradoxical crisis of disconnection in our hyper-connected world -- and offers up three powerful keys that hold the antidote.]

Thank you Jennifer Gargano, Chris Nikoloff and the entire faculty at Harker.  To you, the class of 2013, congratulations!  I’m delighted to be with you on your special day, and it is a particular honor since I know you chose your speaker.

So, graduation day is here and this once-in-a-lifetime milestone moment has arrived.  In the words of Taylor Swift, I can tell how you’re feeling: “happy, free, confused, and lonely, miserable and magical at the same time.”  Who would’ve thought we’d be quoting words of wisdom from Taylor Swift at your commencement. :)

Today, I’m here with some good news and bad news.  I’ll give you the good first.

You might be surprised to hear this, but you are about to step out into a world that’s in good shape -- in fact the best shape that that it’s ever been in. The average person has never been better fed than today.  Infant mortality has never been lower; on average we’re leading longer, healthier lives. Child labor, illiteracy and unsafe water have ceased to be global norms. Democracy is in, as slavery is disappearing.  People don’t have to work as hard to just survive. A bicycle in 1895 used to cost 260 working hours, today we’ve gotten that number down to 7.2.

So, things are progressing.  But I’m afraid that’s not the full story.   You’ll want to brace yourselves, because this is the bad news part.

This week, Time Magazine’s cover story labeled you guys as the “Me, Me, Me” generation; the week before, NY Times reported that the suicide rate for Gen X went up by 30% in the last decade, and 50% for the boomer generation.  We’ve just learned that atmospheric carbon levels surpassed 400 PPM for the first time in human history.  Our honeybee colonies are collapsing, thereby threatening the future of our food supply.  And all this is just the tip of the iceberg.

What we’re handing over to you is a world full of inspiring realities coupled with incredibly daunting ones. In other words: miserable and magical isn't just a pop-song lyric -- it's the paradox that you are inheriting from us.

So, what do you do with that? I’m going to be honest -- I don’t really know. :) I do know this, though:  

At the core of all of today's most pressing challenges is one fundamental issue: we have become profoundly disconnected.

Rather ironic, considering that we live in an era where Facebook has spawned 150 billion “connections”, as we collectively shell out 4.5 billion likes on status updates, every single day. Yet, a growing body of science is showing what we already feel deep in our gut: we’re more isolated than ever before.  The average American adult reports having just one real friend that they can count on.  Just one.  And for the first time in 30 years, mental health disabilities such as ADHD outrank physical ones among American children.  

Somehow we’ve allowed our relationship to gadgets and things to overtake our real-world ties.

We’ve forgotten how to rescue each other.  

Yet, deep inside we all still have that capacity.   We know we have it because we saw it at Sandy Hook, in the brave teachers who gave up their lives to save their students. We saw it during the Boston Marathon when runners completed the race and kept running to the nearest blood bank.  We saw it just this week in Oklahoma when a waiter at a fast food chain decided to donate all his tips to the tornado relief efforts and triggered a chain of generosity.

So we know that we can tap into our inner goodness when crisis strikes. But can we do it on a run-of-the-mill Monday?

That’s the question in front of you.  Will  you, class of 2013 step up to rebuild a culture of trust, empathy and compassion?  Our crisis of disconnection needs a renaissance of authentic friendship.  We need you to upgrade us from Me-Me-Me to We-We-We.

Reflecting on my own journey, there have been three keys that helped me return to a place of connection.  I’d like to share those with you today, in the hope that perhaps it might support your journey.

The First Key Is To Give 

In the movie Wall Street -- which originally came out well before you guys were born -- there’s a character named Gordon Gekko whose credo in life reads: Greed is good.  When I was about your age, Silicon Valley was in the seductive grip of the dot-com boom. It was a time when it was easy to believe that Greed was Good. But a small group of us had a different hypothesis:

*Maybe* greed is good, but Generosity is better.

We tested that hypothesis. When I startedServiceSpace, our first project was to build websites for nonprofits at no charge. We ended up building and gifting away thousands of sites, but that wasn’t our main goal. Our real purpose was to practice generosity.

In the early days, the media was pretty sure we had a hidden agenda. "We're doing this just to practice giving with no strings attached," we said. The few who actually believed us didn’t think we could sustain it. The thing is -- we did. A decade later, when our work started attracting millions of viewers, entrepreneurs told us that we'd be crazy to not slap on ads or try to monetize our services.  The thing is -- we didn't.  We probably *were* a bit crazy. And when we started Karma Kitchen, people really thought "No way!"  It was a restaurant where your check always read zero, with this note: "Your meal is paid for by someone before you, and now it’s your chance to pay it forward."  The thing is -- 25 thousand meals later, the chain continues in several cities around the globe.  

People consistently underestimate generosity, but human beings are simply wired to give.

In one study at Harvard, scientists surprised a couple hundred volunteers with an unexpected monetary reward and gave them the choice of keeping it or giving it away. The only catch was that they had to  make the decision spontaneously.  Lo and behold, the majority chose --- to give away the money! Greed, it turns out, is a calculated after thought.  Our natural instinct is, and always has been -- to give.

When you take Econ 101 in college, you will learn that all of economics is rooted in the assumption that people aim to maximize self-interest.  I hope you don’t just take that for granted.  I hope you challenge it.  Consider the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa who have rocked the history of our planet with the exact opposite assumption, with the belief in the goodness of our human nature.

Or consider Ruby Bridges.

Six-year-old Ruby was the first African American girl to go to an all-white school on Nov 14, 1960.  All the teachers refused to teach her, except for one Mrs. Henry.  Ruby received constant death threats and on the way to class every day, people would line up to shout and throw things.  Mrs. Henry instructed Ruby to not speak to anyone, as she crossed the jeering crowds every day.  But one day, she saw Ruby saying something, so she said, “Ruby, I told you not to speak to anyone.”  “No, Mrs. Henry, I didn’t say anything to them.”  “Ruby, I saw you talking.  I saw your lips moving.”  “Oh, I was just praying.  I was praying for them,” Ruby responded.  Then she recited her  prayer, and I quote “Please, God, try to forgive these people.  Because even if they say those bad things, they don’t know what they’re doing.”

A six year old!  Wishing well for those who were wishing her harm. How generous is that? And what does it say about the power of the human heart?

Our capacity to love is a currency that never runs out.  

May each of you tap into that generous ocean and discover every day, what it means to give.

The Second Key Is To Receive

When we give, we think we are helping others.  That's true, but we are also helping ourselves.  With any act of unconditional service, no matter how small, our bio-chemistry changes, our mind quiets, and we feel a sense of gratefulness.  This inner transformation fundamentally shifts the direction of our lives.

A couple summers ago, we had two 14-year-olds, Neil and Dillan, interning at ServiceSpace.  One of their projects was a 30 day kindness challenge -- they had to come up with and do a different act of kindness every day for a month. In the beginning they had to plan "kindness activities", but slowly they learned how to spontaneously turn their daily life into a canvas for giving.  Doing the dishes for mom without her asking, stopping to help a stranger with a flat tire, standing up for a bullied kid, gifting all their winnings at the arcade to a child.

Very quickly, kindness shifted from being an activity -- to a way of life.  

It wasn't just about who they were helping, it was about who they themselves were becoming through the process. Last weekend, I happened to see Neil after a while, the day after Senior Prom and he had a story to share, "Last night I noticed that the dance floor was too small and a few of the special needs students just couldn't get on.  So I grabbed a bunch of my friends, and we started dancing in a little circle around them.  Everyone had a great time."  Then, he paused for a reflective moment, and asked me, "But I felt so good about doing that.  Do you think I was being selfish?"

What a profound question.  What Neil experienced was the fact that when we give, we receive many times over.

Or as the Dalai Lama once put it, "Be Selfish, Be Generous.”  It is in giving that we receive.

When we think of generosity, we typically think of it as a zero sum game.  If I give you a dollar, that’s one less dollar for me. The inner world, though, operates with an entirely different set of rules.  The boundaries aren’t so easy to decipher.  Your state of being inherently affects my state of being. This isn’t feel-good talk. It’s actual science. Research shows that, in close proximity, when people feel connected, their individual heart-beats actually start to synchronize -- even with zero physical contact.  In neuroscience, the discovery of mirror neurons has shown us that we literally do feel each other’s pain -- and joy.  

And joy is *definitely* not a zero-sum game.  The law of abundance says that if I give you a smile, that's not one less smile for me.  

The more I smile, the more I *do* smile.  The more I love, the more love I have to give. So, when you give externally, you receive internally.  How do the two compare?  That's a question only you can answer for yourself, and that answer will keep changing as your awareness deepens.

Yet this much is clear: if you only focus on the externals, you’ll live your life in the deadening pursuit of power and products. But if you stay in touch with your inner truth, you will come alive with joy, purpose, and gratitude. You will tap into the law of abundance.

May you discover that to be truly selfish, you must be generous.  In giving, may you fully experience what it means to receive.

The Third Key Is To Dance

Our biggest problem with giving and receiving is that we try and track it.  And when we do that, we lose the beat. 

The best dancers are never singularly focused on the mechanics of their movements.  They know how to let go, tune into the rhythm and synchronize with their partners.

It’s like that with giving too.  It's a futile exercise to track who is getting what.  We just have to dance.

Take one of my friends for example, a very successful entrepreneur. 

Along his journey, he realized that it’s not just enough, as the cliché goes, to find your gifts.  Gifts are actually meant to be *given*.

In his daily life, he started cultivating some beautiful practices of generosity.  For instance, every time he walked into a fancy restaurant, he told the waiter to find a couple that is most madly in love.  "Put their tab on my bill, and tell them a stranger paid for their meal, with the hope that they pay it forward somewhere somehow," he would say.  Being a fan of Batman, he took his anonymity seriously: "If anyone finds out it was me, the deal is off."

Many restaurants, and waiters, knew him for this.  And as a food connoisseur, some of his favorite places were also quite pricey -- upwards of a couple hundred bucks per person.

On one such day, he walks into a nice restaurant and does his usual drill.  The person serving him obliges.  However, this time, the waiter comes back with a counter request.  "Sir, I know you like to be anonymous, but when I told that couple about the tab being covered, the woman just started sobbing.  In fact, it’s been ten minutes and she's still tearing up.  I think it would make her feel better if you were to just introduce yourself, just this once."

Seeing this, he agree to break his own cardinal rule and walks over to introduce himself. "M'aam, I was only trying to make your day. If it has brought up something, I'm so sorry."  The woman excitedly says, "Oh no, not at all.  You’ve just made my year, maybe my life.  My husband and I, well, we work at a small nonprofit with physically challenged kids, and we have been saving up all year to have this meal here.  It is our one year marriage anniversary today.”  After a pause, she continues, “We always serve others in small ways, but to receive a kind act like this on our special day, well, it’s just an overwhelming testimonial that what goes around comes around.  It renews our faith in humanity.  Thank you.  Thank you *SO* much." 

All of them were in tears.  They kept in touch, he joined their board and they are friends to this day.

Now, in that scenario, who was the giver?  Who was the receiver?  And more importantly, does it even matter? Dancing, tells us to stop keeping track.  

Sometimes you're giving and sometimes you're receiving, but it doesn't really matter because the real reward of that give and take doesn’t lie in the value of what’s being exchanged.  The real reward lies in what flows between us – our connection.

Conclusion

So, my dear friends, there you have it.  The bad news is that we're in the middle of a crisis of disconnection, and the good news is that each and every one of you has the capacity to repair the web -- to give, to receive and to dance.

Sometime last year, I spontaneously treated a homeless woman to something she really wanted -- ice-cream.  We walked into a nearby 7-11, she got her ice-cream and I paid for it.  Along the way, though, we had a great 3-minute chat about generosity and as we’re leaving the store, she said something remarkable: "I'd like to buy you something.  Can I buy you something?" She empties her pockets and holds up a nickel. The cashier looks on, as we all  share a beautiful,  awkward, empathy-filled moment of silence.  Then, I heard my voice responding, “That’s so kind of you. I would be delighted to receive your offering.  What if we pay-it-forward by tipping this kind cashier who has just helped us?”  Her face breaks into a huge smile. “Good idea,” she says while dropping the nickel into the tip-jar.

No matter what you have, or don’t have, we can all give.  The good news is that generosity is not a luxury sport.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best, when he said, "Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve."  He didn't say, "You have to be smart to serve." Or "You have to be famous to serve." Or "You have to be rich to serve." No, he said, "*Everybody* can be great, because *everybody* can serve.  You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don't need to know the second law of thermodynamics to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."

Harker Class of 2013, may you ALL find greatness in service to life.  May you all give, receive -- and never, *ever* stop dancing. 

---

Pablo Neruda

Keeping Quiet
by Pablo Neruda

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth,
let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fisherman in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

New National Holiday?

As CEO, Founder and Executive Director of the Slower Life Movement, I fully support legislation for "National Horizontal Day!"

Honoring Death

My 18 year old Beloved cat companion, Liza, was euthanized on Wednesday. I kept her on ice on the bed next to my pillow for two nights. Her illness and subsequent passing all happened so quickly that I needed that time to be with her body and adjust to  her absence. Though Liza was no longer there it helped so, so much to run my hand down her fluffy black tail or hold her oh so familiar paws in my hand. The missing is piercing...AND I am extremely grateful for all the years we shared. A true blessing.

Death

Each time one of my Beloveds die and my heart breaks, I can't help but want to go "Home" with them.

Holy Foods!

I was meaning to look at crackers but someone else caught my eye! He was a little Maltese in someones shopping cart. I looked at his person and wasn't sure if I should approach her dog but then decided to just go for it. While playing with the dog I asked her if it was OK? She said it was fine but that sometimes he gets a little wound up and will start barking. I played with him for a few minutes and then struck up a conversation with his person. She told me the dog's name was Chachkey (terribly wrong spelling of a Yiddish word) and I cracked up. We chatted a bit longer and then her husband walked up...or at least I think that's who they were to each other. A very, very, odd looking couple...she an east coast jew, round and dark in her late 60's early 70's tops and he a white haired, blue eyed tall and thin 89 y.o. who looked like he just walked off the farm. When he walked up she introduced us (his name is Hamilton) but his eyes didn't appear to be looking at mine even though he was talking to me...like he was looking over my shoulder or something. We ended the conversation and all went on our way. A couple minutes later Hamilton walked up to me and said very sincerely: "When I met you I got the feeling I needed to pray for you." Tears immediately welled up in my eyes and I told him that yes, I would appreciate that and then told him about what was happening. He asked if he could take my hand to which I said yes. So, there we were smack dab between the Kettle chips and the coconut water holding hands, heads bowed and Hamilton praying a very sweet prayer. I had moments of thinking it was the most hilarious thing in the world, grinning from ear to ear and then feeling the genuine and earnest heart prayer coming from Hamilton and felt incredibly moved.
I swear, I've had some of the most amazing experiences in just about every aisle there at Holy Foods!

Heart Wide Open

Back in January of this year I spent two weeks helping put "M" to bed at night and then bathing, dressing and getting him ready for his day in the a.m. I totally fell in love with both he and his wife. I believe I wrote at least one post on my blog about them if not more. Though I've thought about them both many, many times over the months, I hadn't seen them since the end of January or so. Tonight I went over to put "M" to bed again. The millisecond I saw him, I could feel my heart light up...looked like his did, too. I asked him how he'd been and he said: "lousy" with a twinkle in his eye. Of course, that got me tickled right off the bat! Many more funny things happened in the process of getting ready for bed. But the best was when I was trying to help him get from a standing position (there's a vertical metal pole he holds himself up with next to his bed) to safely sitting on the bed. It's not very far at all but he's a big ol lugnut of a fella and weighs probably 70lbs more than me, at least. So, I grabbed his waist belt and tried to guide his butt as far onto the bed as I could. I was leaning and pulling so hard towards the bed trying to make sure he didn't fall that when his weight finally settled onto the bed (barely) I fell onto it next to him. We both cracked up.
Then my favorite part of that whole routine is tucking him in bed. He always makes eye contact as we say good night to one another with his blue eyes sparkling. I put my hand on his heart, meet his eyes and without effort sink into the depth of my love for him. It melts me every time.

Ed?

A friend gave me a leather belt that has the name ED hand tooled on the back. For some reason I find that very funny. It's like wearing a bowling shirt with the name Lester embroidered over the breast pocket. I guess it's easy for me to imagine the "Ed" that may have worn this belt...and I have fun making up a whole story about his life. Anyways, I was showing my belt to someone today and they said they couldn't read it. I thought that maybe my belt loop was obscuring the name. However, a few seconds later she realized it said: "DE" and that I had my belt on upside down which cracked me up even further...
But when I stopped to really think about it, I thought maybe I should be worried about myself if I can't remember which way my belt works!!!

Personal Moment

OMG, OMG, OMG....
ok, so i tried to act like i hadn't just seen michelle obama go into the...well...the porta potty.
but something came over me and when she stepped out i rushed her. i couldn't stop myself. and then, well, i did that thing that we NEVER want to do with a famous person...you know, tell them EVERYTHING you absolutely love about them as quickly as possible as if you were on speed! and they just look at you like maybe you ARE on drugs but do so in a polite way. do you know what i mean? anyways, i think we hit it off because she said that anytime i was in washington i should come to visit the white house. and then asked if she could have her photo taken with me. what was i gonna say?
i wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion and was kinda sweaty cuz i'd been in the sun all day but she didn't seem to mind one little iota...you can see she is just beaming that beautiful smile of hers.

Mama Love!

Warning: this story has some gory details that might gross some of you out.
Yesterday my boy cat, Simon, caught a gopher. He was ripping it up as he does in order to eat it. Liza, my older girl cat sat only a few feet away. She wasn't really "watching" him but I do think she was vibbin' him so that he might offer up some of that tasty treat! I happened to walk by and notice the situation. I spoke quietly to simon and asked him if I could give some to Liza as he's been known to growl when taking one of his gophers away. I have never done this before but I ripped about a third of the gopher off and left him the remainder. I showed it to Liza and she followed me a little ways away (so as not to instigate any fighting!) I watched her gnaw on it for awhile without successfully being able to chew it into bites. She was going to eat the entire chunk. Instead, I took my garden clippers and cut up the gopher into bite sized pieces which she happily gobbled up in a quick second!
This all occurred around their dinner time so after eating their respective gopher parts they both came in the house and assumed the "waiting for dinner" position...as if I hadn't just seen them both eat "dinner!!!"

Sweet Remi

                                                                                          

More Dog Love!

This cute fellar named Fonzie (and his beloved red ball) kept me company during a very slow day at work! There were short intermissions in his play time but no serious napping! I am whupped but happy to have spent the day together.

Dog Smooches!

I got so many today I lost count!
How can I not fall in love when a dog licks my face with tail wagging, eyes sparkling and heart wide open?

                                 Close to a first kiss!

Dear...

As I continue the process of letting go of this place that I've lived for the last 19 years, I am beginning to write thank you letters to all the individuals who had such a big impact on my heart and soul; the magnificent oak tree that lives only 15 or so feet outside my front door - a presence and guiding force unmatched by any neighbor i've ever had~~~the enormous rock that has been not only a place for grounding, stillness, watercolor painting, reading, crying, sunset watching, but also the host for birthday parties, conversations with friends and lovers and astronomy nights among other things~~~then there is the creek - I have a vivid memory of my dog friend, Daisy, standing oh so happily elbow deep in one of its cold pools looking for fish!, the burma shave hikes set up along its banks, the dappled light, the turkey tails growing on fallen, dead wood or the fawn I unexpectedly found dying while walking nearby~~~the foxes who I got to watch for months as they made their trek every evening at dusk back to their pups~~~the bobcat, who for years has made itself visible and always takes my breath away~~~the coyotes-so many coyote memories - one of the strongest is the morning i woke up to find a single, gorgeous coyote fast asleep not more than 20 feet outside my house - although I worried about my cats and thought maybe I oughta shoo it away, I just couldn't~~~oh, the bluebirds who have nested here for I don't know how many years whose babies I've watched grow up season after season and leave the nest.
So, so many amazing and wonder-full gifts as a result of these relations...I have been very lucky, indeed.

Poh-emmmmm

Where is the door to God?

In the sound of a barking dog

In the ring of a hammer

In a drop of rain

In the face of
Everyone
I see

~ Hafiz 

Deliciouso!

As many Wednesday mornings as possible I volunteer in the gardens at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. (www.oaec.org, i think) Their gardens are beyond the beyond beauty-full. That's a whole story unto itself. But, another very important part of the day is being fed lunch at the center. The chefs/cooks are in the midst of creating a recipe book so some days we get to be guinea pigs and test the recipes for them! It's not easy but somehow we manage to persevere!

This was yesterday's menu:

smashed fingerling potatoes w/coriander crust and garden herbal pesto (cleavers, dandelion greens amaranth, magenta lambs quarters and rose petals...just the color alone of the pesto was nutritious)

white bean primavera

carrot and chamomile soup (topped with fresh chamomile flowers)

salad from OAEC gardens (which can include just about anything!) with a rhubarb dressing

cardamom, licorice and peppermint lemonade

YUM!

Bliss In The Bed!

I extra love this time of year in my bed because the morning light is at the perfect angle to shine on my just waking up self and the scent of the jasmine blooming outside my bedroom window wafts in. The combination is just dreamy...