Today's Post: Dating

My roommate Erin and I are co-authoring a book about dating. Since she's the only one of us actually doing any dating, I am sucking the raw research materials out of her before she goes out. I'm the Ed McMahon to her Johnny Carson.

Today's post: Predate primping. Subcategory: Hair.

Today, Everyone's Favorite - Research. Yay!

Vlog # 2: Find out some of the common mistakes and pitfalls of conducting research for your book.

A rough draft is like puke...

It's my first ever video blog! Episode #1 answers the question: What should the rough draft of your manuscript look like?

Two Months With My Dad

My dad is a good, good man who happens to have lost his short-term memory.

He came to stay with us for a couple of months while my mom was working in Northern BC.

I learned a lot about myself while he was here. And it was a pleasure to have him around. So gentle, kind and easy to please.

Here's some cool stuff about my Pops:
-He never complains.
-He carves a mean bird.
-When he's hungry, instead of asking for food, he offers to take me out for dinner.
-He never moves faster than when I say we're going to Dairy Queen.
-He still loves my mom even after all these years.
-Dad will sing along to anything. He is a true music appreciator.

-He is happy as long as I am happy.

All it really takes to make him happy is the morning paper and a constant supply of coffee, cookies, scotch and music.

And the affection. Oh, the affection has been like a salve on my craggy old heart. Hugs all day long. I will miss the morning hugs, the good night hugs and all the hugs in between. I will miss cleaning his glasses and knowing that his response will be the EXACT same every time. There is comfort in that continuity. I will miss the look of delight and surprise on his face when I bring him something he has asked me for -like a cup of tea- but has forgotten asking me for.

'How did you know, my dear?'

I will miss rubbing his back when he forgets something, or gets upset about mom 'sending him here' and explaining over and over again how happy we are to have him with us. Because it's true.

There was such intimacy in these moments. This is what love is. No hiding from the truth.

In giving to him, I have gotten more than I ever thought possible.

The roles have reversed. And that's okay.

He may not ever remember this time with us, but we will. He is creating memories for us that will last forever. I have missed him. I want him closer. I realized that if it ever comes right down to it, I could and would gladly take care of him. That is a huge relief to know, on the heels of a breakup with a man who liked to tell me always how selfish I was. Always believing myself - on some level- to be cruel, heartless and selfish, dad let me be kind, loving and giving.

And that has been the biggest gift of all.


I love you, Dad. And thank you.

Sex & The City

I just watched the Sex & the City movie last night for the second time. And remembered why I haven't watched it since May 29, 2008.

Because it's total bullshit.

*siiiiggggghhhhh*

How much bullshit do women have to put up with? You gotta go on your honeymoon by yourself and completely re-decorate your entire apartment, bring yourself back FROM THE DEAD, only to throw it all away by humping on the carpet of your walk-in closet? Hey Ladies, let's go to emotional hell and back, and then completely compromise our integrity, to prove that actually, we've learned nothing at all.

Fucking ridiculous.

My First Successful Event

I held my FIRST EVER Writer's Retreat this past weekend in Canmore. Check out this awesome video. It's only 2 minutes and I laughed out loud at least three times. And yes, that is a bag of sex toys I was opening.

I Think I'm Ready

"We don't want to eat hot fudge sundaes as much as we want our lives to BE hot fudge sundaes."

~Geneen Roth

It has been a month since I took a business course called the Entrepreneur Bootcamp. My life has completely changed since then. Completely. I have never felt more free; I had a major breakthrough with my relationship with money and how I have always used it to get my needs met around love. I attracted 6 new clients and made $17,000 in sales, allowing me to address most of my pressing, scary, edge-of-the-cliff money and debt concerns. I got clarity and insight on how to effectively run my business and I organized a six-day retreat in the mountains to help my clients get started on their dream of becoming published authors.

I wrote an e-book and started my third book, one on dating which I have realized will be therapy for me more than help for anyone else.

I spent 3 weeks with my dad, a prince among men, learning what true giving and unconditional love is all about.

It's a beautiful thing.

Best, this past month has opened up the craggy hole in my heart and let light burst through. I have been able to let go of my death grip on money, share the wealth, help others and gladly, happily, joyfully share my love.

It's a beautiful thing.

I have been doing lots of work around my beliefs surrounding money, so I can make sure to stay in gratitude and flow. "I have plenty to spare and to share" has become my mantra of late, whereas before I was taking a more Gollum approach 'It's mine, mine, mine. There is not enough to go around.' And there never was.

All this is leading me to a place I thought I had long abandoned. I feel like I am finally ready to address and release my weight. Once and for all. I have taken a long, LONG break from it, feeling it better instead to nurture and comfort myself. I thought if I ever take another run at the weight loss game that it would be from a place of love, forgiveness and acceptance. I knew that in order for me to be successful, I would need a radical, new, different approach.

And along came this book by Geneen Roth called 'Women Food and God.' Now, as most of you know, I'm not a big fan of God. The semantics, anyway. I really prefer to call it The Universe, although I realize that whatever name you give it, it's all the same power. So I substitute God for the Universe and try and put away all of my misgivings surrounding The Big Guy.

Roth's angle is basically the following: The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive.

Uh-oh.

Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even [the Universe.]

Here is an exceprt:

"Pay attention to the way you eat. You will quickly discover if you believe the world is a hostile place and that you need to be in control of the immediate universe for things to go smoothly. You will discover if you believe there is not enough to go around and that taking more than you need is necessary for survival. You will find out if you believe that being quiet is unbearable, and that being alone means being lonely. If feeling your feelings means being destroyed. If being vulnerable is for sissies or if opening to love is a big mistake. And you will discover how you use food to express each one of these core beliefs."

I'm only on page 17, so I'll let you know how it goes. So far, I can only stomach (haha!) about 2 pages at a time. But I can tell already that she's going to help me.

I can feel the shift already.