Monthly Archives: September 2012

Rainy day musings, plus nine reasons why Cake Boss is my new life coach

28 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by in being present, creativity, gratitude, savoring

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Connecting and announcing.  Announcing and connecting.  Seems like I’ve been doing a whole lot of that lately.  That’s been because there’s been a whole lot to connect about and a whole lot to announce!  There’s Wild and White Blazing, WIGS and WIGS, a wordless walk tomorrow and I just returned from hosting a beautiful retreat.  There are loose ends to wrap up and new projects beginning.

But somewhere in there I need to keep living my wild and precious life.  And I am, interspersed with a lot of emailing!  Today I sat on the porch with the cats in the rain.  Here’s a little wordless rain once it was raining a bit harder and we’d come in.

At one point when the rain had let up and the sun was peeking through, I looked out the window at just the right moment and saw a hummingbird visiting the purple Mexican petunias.  And I felt that little catch in my heart – that little infusion of pure joy- knowing that being present and being alive is enough.

I have a new indulgence. Cake Boss. I try to limit it to one episode (22 minutes) per day, but sometimes I need one more dose.  We don’t have cable so until we got Netflix streaming a few weeks ago, I could only watch shows like Cake Boss if I happened to be staying at a hotel.  I actually discovered Buddy Valastro and his wacky but lovable family all working together at Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, NJ while I was hiking the AT.  When I’d stop in town to resupply, I would purchase large quantities of food to eat on my day off, climb into bed, pop open a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and watch TV shows about cake.  Perfect.

The shows are all so similar – why do I love them so much? I think a lot of it has to do with the charisma of Buddy, the main character.

I love his outlook on life, and while I know I’m watching a heavily edited television show, not unadulterated real life, I think if we all lived a little more like Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss, the world would be a better place.  Here’s why.

1. He works hard. He doesn’t expect that cakes are just going to appear.  Every episode there’s tons of mixing, icing, sculpting – actual doing.  And he does it every day.  He doesn’t create something one day and then take two days off.
2. He loves what he does.  You can see it in his eyes whether he’s consulting with a new customer or presenting a cake to an adoring audience.
3. He has a positive outlook on life, but when he’s upset, he expresses his feelings.  Almost every episode there’s at least one point where Buddy gets frustrated about something and yells a little.  But then it passes and all goes back to normal.  He doesn’t stuff his emotions down  – he lets them fly – and within reason, that’s pretty healthy!
4. He doesn’t think he has to do everything himself.  He’s assembled a talented team around him to make his creative visions manifest themselves.
5. He’s willing to try something new and go out on a limb creatively, while also hanging on to what’s worked in the past.  It seems that almost every episode includes Buddy and his team trying to construct a cake in a way they’ve never done before. But there’s also a heavy dose of tradition, from recipes that date back generations like those incredible cannoli!  Gosh, I love cannoli.
6. He’s not afraid to look silly.  I love the episode where he and his buddies go out and play golf for the first time – it doesn’t matter to him that he doesn’t know what he’s doing – he just laughs a lot and tries it.
7. He embraces fun.  While everyone at that bakery works hard all day, there are always a couple of pranks where someone gets a cake in the face or flour dumped on their head or contests where the loser has to dress up in a bunny suit or a grass skirt  and hand out cupcakes.
8. He values relationships. I love the scenes with Buddy and his giant Italian family – they work together and they celebrate together. There’s plenty of food, laughter, hugs, and toasts.  Salud!
9. He dreams big.  People don’t end up with their bakeries on successful TV shows just like that – someone has to picture the possibilities.  And I have a hunch that Buddy doesn’t let negative thinking get in his way when he dreams.  He has a vision, then he makes it happen, and that’s pretty cool.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Cake Boss?  Are there any of Buddy’s personality traits you’d like to emulate more?

 

 

 

 

 

It’s up! Wild and White Blazing!

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in hiking

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I am so so excited about this!  Please, click here and go see!  And if you’re planning an Appalachian Trail Thru Hike you’re going to want to check it out!

And you can also read a recent guest blog I wrote for Melissa Foster Cook about the ten things I learned about life from hiking the Appalachian Trail.  While you’re there you can sign up there to hear an interview I did for Melissa’s Virtual Girls’ night out – fun!  Check it out by clicking here.

It’s September, and hiking’s on my mind.

10 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in hiking

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My thru hiker friends are posting their summit photos from their ascents of Mt. Katahdin three years ago. Every day, there’s another one on Facebook as people remember their summit day and the tremendous accomplishment of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.

And this morning I was interviewed by Melissa Foster Cook for her Virtual Girls’ Night Out – all about my Appalachian Trail Thru Hike!  I’ll tell you at the end how you can hear the call.  I’m enjoyed it tremendously- I love sharing stories and insights from my trip!

Best of all,  I’m about to launch a program for women who want to hike the Appalachian Trail that I’m so excited about I keep putting it off because I want it to be just right, but I’m going to have to go ahead and put it out there soon!! Keep your eyes peeled for a new page here (tomorrow, I hope!) called “Wild and White Blazing” – a virtual campfire for women to learn about hiking the AT.  Yay!

In honor of hiking being on my mind, here’s a game I love to play that I haven’t played in a while:  Where was I three years ago today?  Let’s peek at my AT journal and see:

I woke up on the shores of East Carry Pond in Maine.  I’d pitched my tent on a tiny beach all alone so I could watch the sun rise.  There was no one else around, except one other hiker camping in the woods a couple of tenths of a mile away. That morning  I wrote, “A beautiful night and morning at the pond.  Such a clear night with stars and the moon rising later.  Magical to see the beach lit by moonlight.  Loons and coyotes calling – echoing across the pond.  Then a golden sky in the morning and mist across the pond, and ducks swimming by doing their morning routine.”

That day I also crossed the Kennebec River.  There’s a ferry guy in a canoe to take you across because the river is too dangerous to ford. There’s even a white blaze (the marking for the Appalachian Trail) inside the canoe! Goodness, I was happy, even when the trail was really hard and full of rocks and roots.

Misty Sunrise at East Carry Pond

My cozy tent on the beach.

The mist clears away and it’s another beautiful day in Maine!

Hillbilly Dave, the fantastic ferry operator on the Kennebec River.

The white blaze in the canoe!

What an incredible journey it was.  And September 10 was one beautiful day in Maine.

So if you’re interested in hearing Melissa’s interview with me, you can sign up here – click the box and it will take you to the sign up page!  The call will be available September 19.

Melissa interviews someone cool every month – I’m so honored to be her guest!  And check back tomorrow and I’ll have more news about Wild and White Blazing! Yay!

 

A break in the routine

03 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in managing time

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Hurricane Isaac completely spoiled my routine – every bit of it.  Sure, there were all kinds of productive things I could have done for four days without power.  Like write about a half-zillion thank you notes.  Or my memoirs.  Or a plan for the half-dozen cool tele-courses that are still in my head instead of out in the world where people might actually be able to sign up for them and enjoy them!

Nope.  I didn’t do any of that.  I didn’t draw.  I didn’t sit in the grass.  I didn’t journal. I didn’t read the books I usually read as part of my morning routine.

Instead I took long naps during the day since I kept waking up at 4 a.m.

I played Backgammon and Pictionary and Boggle and Trivial Pursuit by candlelight with my sweetheart. We laughed a lot!

I made pancakes and bacon and a blueberry pie.

I did a lot of cleaning up in the yard once the wind died down.  And before the wind died down I listened to the AM radio station for news about the storm.

I read people’s posts on my phone.  I posted my own updates and texted and called family.  I sat in the car and charged the phone.

I worked with my sweetheart to take down and store all the hurricane boards for the windows and doors.

I went on missions to find ice.  I cooked all the rest of the fish before it defrosted.

I went with my sweetheart to an impromptu blue moon pool party at the neighbors’.

I sat on the porch with the cats, trying to catch a breeze.

I walked up the street with my sweetheart to get ice cream at the local place – they were selling it before it all melted – yum!

I finally read and enjoyed Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  More about that later.

I purged and reorganized several closets, cabinets and drawers.

I chatted with the neighbors while we watched crews chop down the hundred year old crape myrtle tree at the end of the block.

When the power came on, I felt a weird mixture of elation and wistfulness.  No more excuses to drop the routine – no more reasons to play board games by candlelight, or hang out in the street with the neighbors.  Everyone quickly shut their windows, cranked their air conditioning and went back into their own worlds.

I think we all love a “snow day” or a hurricane or some other external factor to give us permission to clear our calendars and do something completely different.  I wonder why we’re often less able to clear our calendars ourselves — to block out a few days or even one day and see what transpires.  Oh, I know what you’re saying – that’s called “vacation” and sure, we do it!  But vacations are different – they often require a lot of planning and foresight, and sometimes they can be as exhausting as regular life because of all of the cramming in of fantastic activities (that’s another blog post, methinks.) Clear days are different.  They’re days where you just wake up and see what you feel like doing. Follow your whims.  Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

My general plan is to make Fridays clear days, but I just peeked at my calendar and realized I’ve been a bit remiss.  I’ve been doing a lot of catch up work on Fridays.  I’ve been scheduling meetings, calls, all kinds of stuff.  In fact, I had to go all the way back to February before I found a true “clear day” on my calendar on a Friday – one that wasn’t wrapped up in a vacation or trip.  Hmmm. Maybe that’s why I so willingly dumped my routines when confronted with four electricity-free hurricane days!

I think it’s time to reinstate some clear days on my calendar.  How about you?  Where do you need to make some unstructured space for yourself?  Where can you sneak some completely blank time into your days?  Even if you have tons of obligations and appointments and people counting on you for this and that and the other, where might you find one small sacred chunk of time that you don’t decide what you do with it until just before it happens?

Try it.  There’s just one rule – pay attention right in that moment and do the thing that feels best then, whatever it is.  I’d love to hear what happens, and how you spend the time. I’m starting up my clear Fridays again on September 14, maybe even September 7, if I can get caught up a little from my four “clear days” off from the hurricane!  I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.