Happy New Year! I’d like to begin with this quote from the Dalai Lama: “Let us recognize the precious nature of each day.” We all go fast and it’s hard to remember to take a breath sometimes. However, we have a new year in front of us and, if nothing else, we can pledge to embrace this gift called life and do our best to engage in what we are called to do. So, cheers to us all living our best lives!
Read MoreWe are approaching the end of a challenging year. Health, politics, and each of our personal stories. And as bumpy as the ride seems at times, I find the engine that always keeps me going is the magic of gratitude. I am blessed by the love of my family and friends, wonderful colleagues, and incredible neighbors. And, I get to call the magnificent Pacific northwest my home. Lucky me. I sincerely wish you all a glass full of joy and gratitude! Happy Holidays!
Read MoreAs we approach Thanksgiving and the holiday season, I am reminded of a quote by the great warrior Seneca: “Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.”
To be grateful makes us all more tolerant, more kind, and ultimately more loving toward one another. This is the perfect time of year to reclaim those attributes we all have but sometimes forget. I am so grateful for my wonderful family, colleagues, and clients. Lucky me! Happy Thanksgiving!
Read MoreThe Endless Summer is coming to a close. A sense of relief as the air cools. We are so blessed in the Pacific Northwest as we hold fast to our emerald green spot on the planet. The rains will come and aren’t we lucky? I was asked in an interview what one of my favorite things was about our region and I answered, “The smell of wet dirt.” It speaks of abundance and assurance that spring will, in fact, come again with all its beautiful promise. When in doubt about life, always be grateful. It is the antidote for most concerns.
Read MoreWe are in the midst of summer’s bounty. Gorgeous fruits, vegetables, and armloads of garden blooms. It is the redemption and reward for the winter months we endure. And for this, I am very grateful. Gratitude is key to a more joyful life, and we all deserve more joy! May the summer be with you!
Read MoreSummer heat has arrived. The housing market has adjusted to new metrics but remains healthy, and the Pacific NW is at its best. These glorious months of sunshine are the reason most of us live here! I am grateful and energized by the beauty. Here’s hoping that you do whatever brings you joy in these magical months.
Read MoreOur epically rainy spring has produced a verdant jungle in the Pacific NW. A reminder of what gracious abundance feels like as our gardens bear fruit. We are so very fortunate in this region of the world. It’s always an opportunity to be our best selves and share with those that have less. Not unlike our flourishing gardens, we expand as people when we explore the boundaries of who we can be. Happy Summer!
Read MoreCool, rainy, and unexpected equals lush, green, and glorious. Not unlike life when the uncomfortable creates a beautiful breakthrough. Covid-19 has been really uncomfortable for all of us and tragic for some. My silver lining has been my neighborhood gathering every Friday night outdoors regardless of the weather for over two years and celebrating life as we now know it intimately: precious and fragile. We can find the good if we look for it.
Read MoreIn 1623 there was a rare striped tulip named Semper Augustus that captured the fancy of wealthy investors in The Netherlands. At one point a single bulb garnered the same price as a home. It was a moment of hysteria that caused an economic upheaval when it was discovered that the tulips beauty was caused by a disease as it withered and died. This story caused me to consider the concept of assigned value. Sometimes we assign value to the most sparkling thing in the room and yet the quietly beautiful item in the corner is often far more important and valuable. Let’s concentrate on what actually counts in life: kindness, the goodness in others, home and family, our health, friends, our beloved pets and the potential that each day offers us. Happy Spring!
Read MoreSpring is inches away. We made it. The perfume of blossoming trees, warm air, blue skies, and more daylight. We dream of these things at the 48th parallel north. This is the season when the heavens opened up for the early celestial navigators as they ploughed the Pacific coastline. We too can breathe the renewed air after many winter storms and think clearly once again as we continue our journeys.
Read MoreThe heart is regarded as the center of a person’s thoughts and emotions, especially love, compassion, and loyalty. With our hand over our heart we pledge allegiance to our flag, with passion in our heart we go to battle for our tribe, and with our heart in our hands we take a vow until death us do part. And most importantly, this seemingly simple holiday is a chance for all of us to express our love to those most dear to us. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Read MoreThe New Year abounds with opportunity. We make goals, we book vacations and then we jump in our respective canoes and start paddling. It’s an annual ritual that always feels like we get a “do-over”. So, when we do it again this year let’s include compassion, kindness, and lots of love for ourselves and our neighbors. It’s been a rough couple years for all of us and collective healing is in order. Spring is coming and joy awaits.
Read MoreThe magic of each uniquely formed snowflake is a reminder of how we are just perfect the way nature made us. Our foibles and eccentricities make us who we are. Let the beauty of nature be a guidepost as we assess ourselves at the end of the year. The Unification Theory in physics says we are atomically all the same just molecularly rearranged.
Read MoreThe first frost has arrived. The garden is nearly asleep. The forest is speaking quietly through its miraculous web of microbial roots as it settles for the winter. And we sentient beings, too, are looking for respite from our trials. We celebrate, we cook, we read and we quietly contemplate our futures. And we are so very grateful for our health and those we love.
Read MoreThe final bow is taking place. The earth is aflame with her finale of deciduous color. It is such a privilege to live in a region with four seasons that give us so much beauty. This juncture provides time for both completions and planning for the year ahead. And the challenge always remains to be in the present as we are pulled in two directions. As Baba Ram Dass once wrote in his seminal book, Be Here Now: “Wherever you are, be all there.”
Read MoreAnd then it rained... After a remarkably hot summer we are invited back into the warmth of our homes to reconnect with friends and family. The water reinvigorates us not unlike the botanical world. We are miraculous living beings who need nurturing, as well. A joyful time approaches with many traditions to celebrate and a show stopping deciduous finale yet to arrive. Fall in all its glory is just around the corner.
Read MoreSummer gardening is reaching a crescendo. It always reminds me of how I care for my clients: like my plants, each one is different, each one requires special care, and with the attention they deserve, all blossom beautifully. It’s a very joyful and satisfying ritual that repeats itself each season. And then, over the years, these relationships have transformed into a wonderful garden of clients and friends. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful vocation.
Read MoreSummer has arrived with an intensity we could have barely imagined. Our seemingly endless days of sunshine have afforded us the recovery from a quarantined year that we all so richly deserve. So, drink your water, water your gardens, and let’s reinvigorate ourselves and our lives. It’s an opportunity to contemplate new places and ways to live as we enter a new phase on our planet.
Read MoreThe great gift of June is the first bloom of our roses. Subtle fragrances, sublime colors, and arms full of blossoms to bring into our homes. Could there be anything more divine? And this year we can, again, share them with our friends and neighbors in celebration of all that is good about those we love.
Read MoreJust as spring is revealing herself, we too are emerging from our self-exile and basking in the sunlight to heal ourselves and renew our love of life. In the spirit of healing, I’m partnering with my wonderful women friends, neighbors, colleagues, and clients to bring hope through a giving circle. I’m looking for 100 women who can donate $100 to collectively gather and donate $10,000 to the charity of our choosing four times per year. I’d love for you to embark on this budding adventure with me.
