Zen and Finches.

"Feel great,

act great,

and be great."

--Yogi Tea, Green Chai teabag

Whirlwind. I feel like this past fun-filled, action-packed week in California happened in the blink of an eye. Last night I arrived back in Philly around midnight, and I was up this morning and riding my bike down the street to yoga. Right back into my south jers routine. Over the next few days I will blog about Cali, and post some more photos, but today I'm leaving you with this one. I just made myself some Green Chai tea, Yogi Tea brand, which I love because the little tags always have some wisdom written on them. Todays said "Feel great, act great, and be great"...and I think that just about sums up my life, and especially my trip to California. Here are my two friends, Sarah and Christina, getting ready for my yoga class in Cali. We held our sess out on the patio and let the tiny chirping Finches be our background music. It was such a beautiful morning, which led into a wonderful day. Namaste California...it was great.

Growing Up

I've been surfing for a long time. I have done competitions all over, and traveled all over - surfing amazing waves, and surfing them well. BUT - I've always been terrified of the water. Well, as of last year (some humbling waves in Dominical) I now have a respect for the ocean as oppossed to a fear...kindof. Anyways, for the first time in my WHOLE life I paddled out by myself. And I surfed solo for a half hour. For a few minutes I was a bit spooked, but then I warmed up to the peace of surfing all alone in the big, blue ocean.

I'm starting to grow up...I think.

“There is nothing wrong with being afraid---but there is nothing more wrong than allowing that to be your master.”

An Extra Cup of Coffee

Today I'm treating myself to a second cup of coffee (americano*), at 6pm. I deserve it. What a great day. Woke up this morning and hung with Michele for a bit. Had a few laughs thanks to Shawn's emails. He keeps me updated on the jersey/philly hap's with photos. Last night he stayed at our friend Tim and Liz's place in Philly -- so today's photos were of their kids Jack Peter and Steele. Very cute, and funny. I even got to talk to Jack Peter for a few minutes via Skype. He told me all about his new trucks (he's obsessed with trucks) and then told me to have a good surf. Ha. Ate a tortilla with some beans and tomato and then went for a surf with Les and Brett. Les is a funny, funny, funny, FUNNY guy. I always know I'm in for a good laugh when I hang out with him - especially when you add his son, Adam, into the equation. The banter that goes on between these two would make a grown man blush, but truly (though they would never admit it) they are two softies - gentleman to the core. Every day I get more and more comfortable with Esterillos and the Soda Mary crew, and every day I fall more and more in love with this part of Costa Rica. I really wish that Shawn didn't have to be responsible and have a job - because I would be perfectly content to stay here until summer started up in Jersey. Dominical was great last year. Last year it was just what I needed. Last year there was no where else that I wanted to be. But this year - I'm happy here, I need to be here, and there's no where else right now that I'd rather be. The draw to Dominical this year is my dad, paulie and the waves. As for the 'lifestyle' and attitude though, this is where it's at! I wrote something the other day - basically about how I always feel this way - just completely absorbing what I'm involved in at that very moment. It's called 'until tomorrow'. Not a song (well, atleast not yet...?), just a poem.

Until Tomorrow:

temporary.
everything feels so temporary.
living in the moment -
i only want to be where i am (at this moment)
i only want to feel whatever it is i am feeling (at this moment)
completely at this moment. right at this moment.
until i dont want to feel it anymore

i want to live in right now - until tomorrow
i want to love and breathe and hurt right now
until tomorrow
until tomorrow brings me something new
or perhaps something the same
regardless - it will be tomorrows' day, tomorrow
but for now, i just want today

i cannot say what i want tomorrow
i only know what i want today
everything else is just temporary
until tomorrow.

After surfing with the oh-so-much-fun--makin-me-feel-at-home-all-the-time Soda Mary crew we headed back to the house. On the way back I ran into Jeni, my fire-throwing-friend. She said that she had some 'practice' fire throwers and was headed to the beach if I wanted a lesson. On the way we stopped at Low-Tide Lounge for a burger. BAH, yes, another burger. Two days in a row. But goddamn, they are so good. Again - with bacon and avocado. MMM. Les treated me, so I owe him a lunch. Then Jeni bought a round. I've been drinking Imperial Light, poured into a salt-rimmed glass with lime. MmMmM so good. Then I headed to la playa for my lesson. I started out awful, but got the hang of it rather quickly. Though there was no fire, I heated up quickly and had to cool down with a swim in the beautiful pacific. When I got back to Soda I showed off my new skills to the boys. Brett took these photos:

We decided that life is short, and the waves were still fun and ridable, so we all paddled back out for another session. Plus CAM ARRIVED, so we definitely needed to join him for a session. We are so excited for Cam because he got the job that he was gunning for. He now will be teaching at a private school that is NOT in san jose (where he was up until today). So now he will be living in Esterillos, getting in surf sessions before AND after class - and be able to hang with the Soda crew all the time. Plus, the pay is a bit more - which doesn't hurt. Had some fun rides then got out so that Cam and I could walk down to the fish market (a house of a fisherman who sells his days catch), but we missed him. To drown our sorrows we stopped at the LowTide Lounge where Brett, Les, Adam, Maria and Suzi were for a beer. Maria is Adam's girlfriend. A tica that lives next door to us and also works at the LowTide. She's been helping me with my spanish. She just speaks spanish to me like I understand every word. hahaha. It's helping though. And she's very patient. Also hung out with my fabulous new friend Suzanne. She's lived in Argentina and all over costa rica, she is fluent in spanish and she's just fabulous. Loves animals, and is dying to surf and play guitar (shes the one I gave the lesson to the other day). She also shares a passion for yoga. Tonight she is going to pick me up and bring me to her house to hang out. We're gonna do a yoga DVD, hang - chat, and watch a movie. She lives up on the hill where Adam and Les live. Very cool. She's going to give me a real-deal spanish lesson this week. Woohooo.

This is Maria and Adam

Gotta go now- because our fish guy didnt come thru, Cam and I are heading to Azul. MMM CEVICHE!!!! It's the best. Pura Vida.

New Years Resolution

New Years Resolutions. Everyone makes em, and not many follow through with them. This year, I have three of them, that I'm going to work my hardest to keep. The first two don't really concern me, because quite frankly I don't mind these qualities - they just affect those around me. So after Shawn pointed them out, I figured that they were worthy of becoming a new years resolution - something that I really should try my best to work on.

1: Complaining.
I complain a lot, I'm told. I don't mind - I just see it as a way of venting. Complain, get it out, and move on. Maybe I need to do more of this complaining in my own head, instead of out loud. If I'm achy, then be achy - no reason to share my misery with the rest of the world. If I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes, then so be it. It is what it is and complaining isn't going to get me any further.

2: Patience.
I'm told that I'm not patient at all. I think that this is a good and bad quality - the bad part I need to start phasing out. I believe that I get what I want, do what I want, and go where I want because I'm not patient - I am a mover and a shaker and I make things happen. The bad patient comes out usually in conversations - me CONSTANTLY talking OVER people, and interrupting, because I simply cannot wait my turn.

And now for number 3....one that I am making for myself. To make MYSELF happy.

3: NO.
That's right, NO. No, I don't want to accompany you to your grandmothers picnic. NO, I don't want to go for a bikeride through town - I want to sit here and read my book. NO, I don't want to go out for lunch - it's nothing personal but I'd rather eat alone today. NO thankyou, I don't really want to buy that $20 tshirt to support your baseball team, I give to certain charities and I can sleep at night knowing that I'm a giver. No. No. No. I often say YES to whatever anyone asks me to do, whether I already have plans or if I'd really just not like to participate at all. Why is saying "no" so difficult? Do I really think that by saying NO to a lunch date that I am ruining someone's day? No...so then what is it? This year I am going to start saying NO, doing what it is that I really want to do, spending every second of my time being satisfied with how I'm spending it. It may sound selfish, but it's a way of survival, and that's what I need right now.

“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.” - Tony Blair

So on that note, NO, I'm not returning to New Jersey until my birthday. Because that's what I want to do.

This is going to be 2009's Mantra:

“I am Me. In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it -- I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know -- but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. I am me, and I am Okay.”
Virginia Satir

Happy New Year!