I'm Off to Mexico!

I have been back from Spain for 2 weeks enjoying Santa Barbara....and just when I unpacked my bags, it's time to repack them for the next adventure: Mazatlan Mexico.

Anna Jordan, my fantastic employee of 9 months and I are off to Mazatlan for a four day planning and visioning session. It's our version of a corporate retreat. I am so grateful to have someone like Anna who is such a talented manager and wonderful person to work with.

I am a big believer in the power of being intentional. Far too many people simply let one day roll into the next, without stopping to decide who they want to be and what they want to create. As a company, I could not be a bigger believer in the importance of listening to one another, reflecting on the past as well as casting a powerful vision of the future.

So we're taking some time to relax, chat and dream. I figured there was no better place than Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay. One of my favorite resorts that is just a 2 hour flight away!
Adios!

What is it that draws two people into closeness and love?

In being married 8 years, no profound marriage insight have I found as true as Sheldon Vanauken's words. Deyl and I are reading Sheldon's book, Severe Mercy, out loud to one another and enjoying it immensely together in Spain. What do you think of his insight? Is it the secret?

Here is the excerpt that touched Deyl and I deeply:

“What is it that draws two people into closeness and love? Of course there’s the mystery of physical attraction, but beyond that it’s the things they share. Total sharing we, felt, was the ultimate secret of a love that would last forever. What we must do now is share everything. Everything! If one of us likes anything, there must be something to like in it –and the other must find it. Every single thing that either of us likes. That way we shall create a thousand strands, great and small that will link us together. Then we shall be so close that it would be impossible –unthinkable –for either of us to suppose that we would ever recreate such closeness with anyone else. And our trust in each other would not only be based on love and loyalty but on the fact of a thousand sharing’s – a thousand strands twisted into something unbreakable.”

Thanks to our awesome friends, Chris & Emily Kates who recommended the magical read to us. We're thankful for our time in Spain that we get to be creating 1000 of twisted strands.

Friends Are the Spice of Life

"My friends are my estate."
- Emily Dickinson

It’s interesting when you can work from anywhere, feel at home so many places, and feel many diverse parts of you in different cultures, where is home, really?

It’s clear to me that home is where family & friends are. The more friends we make here the more we feel at home.

Two weeks ago, we had a blast with Anna & Kiah, Shane & Anna. This last week, our home was filled again with the fabulous and jubilant, Vanessa Felts. Vanessa and I both independently decided to travel to Spain after being together almost everyday six months ago. It's funny how kindred souls always seem to find one another.

Graduating From College? Don’t Get a Job!

It’s funny that when people reach a certain age, such as after graduating college, they assume it’s time to go out and get a job. But like many things the masses do, just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. In fact, if you’re reasonably intelligent, consider creating a business before you ever get a job. At a time in your life when your expenses are low, your responsibility to others is often non-existent and you often have the fewest bills to pay and you still don’t mind eating Cheerios for dinner, there may not be a better time. Worst-case scenario, your venture fails and you have a whole life ahead of you to get a job. When you are young, people are more eager to help guide you and get involved to help you be successful. Unlike previous generations, people graduating from college today are often viewed from elders as experts at technology, being extremely savvy and seeing a new world. You graduate with built in credibility simply because you know how to download, sync and chat with four different people while still getting your school work done (well sort of done). It’s the best time to start implementing these lessons.

Consider marketing something to your age group or slightly younger. Few people understand your generation as well as you do and yet, few young people are marketing and selling to them. A niche focus will help your venture stand out and reduce competition.

Jobs are excellent as education if you need to learn a new skill, an industry or if your employer is eager to include you in the business. But in order to just support yourself and creating the best future, there are far better ways to make a living than selling yourself into indentured servitude.

Irish Merriment

= Temple Bar district, downtown Ireland =

Normally 5 jock-looking men dressed in florescent pink, with crimped hair, would cause serious whiplash. But tonight, no one takes particular note of the group of guys in neon 80's attire that just walked into the bar. Why? Because there is already a man dressed as a leprecon at the bar shaking his money-maker, four women dressed as fairies strumming their legs like guitars and a Guerrilla who looks like he has ants in his pants. Free spirit, jolliness and friendship are on open tab tonight in the heart of Dublin.

Shoulder, to shoulder, bars are sardined with people singing Beatles, Elton John, or whatever the master live musician might strum out next. The night looked like a sing-off competition for the loudest singer. Suddenly, one woman gets a good idea – she hops up on the couch where the airwaves seem to be clear. She belts out the next phrase while her hands, overhead, enunciate the beat. Another woman shakes her head at the crowd like my dog Lucy does after an ocean-swim. Bars and restaurants are so crammed that they are no longer a sea of individuals but have gelled into singular beings with wiggly tentacle parts.

So after my three day weekend in Ireland, I think it's safe to say that the rumor that Irish are bubbling personalities and know how to have fun, in an understatement.

The French have mastered elegance, the Italian’s have mastered pleasure, but the Irish…oh the Irish…have master the art of having a dang good time. And what brings them to such a heightened state of festive bliss tonight? Well… duh… Monday is a bank holiday.

Why Is Everyone Going To Dublin?

No vacancy. Booked. No availability. The words “no room” marched on like an unrelenting drummer.

Okay, okay, I know we are totally last-minute procrastinators to be looking for a room for tomorrow night, but why is everything from Hostels to The Four Seasons booked in Dublin for the next three days straight? After what seemed like an endless search, many philosophical debates (that shouldn’t have been philosophical) and enough keyboard tapping to give you arthritics, we finally did find a place in downtown Dublin, thanks to www.LateRooms.com.

So, what is it? Is the Guinness really t-h-a-t good?

Anyways, we are off to Dublin for a three-day trip, to find out what’s so hot with the Irish.

Living In The Age Of FREE!

I just bought free tickets from Spain to Ireland via Ryan Air. Free.

Last night, I talked to my mom on the phone from Spain for free using Skype. Just a couple years ago, long-distance phone calls would have been outrageous. Today my bank account doesn’t even notice.

I plan on attending a conference at TED in my PJ’s. In the past the cost of learning Seth Godin's latest marketing ideas would have meant $1,500- 5,000 (plane ticket, admission fee, hotel room, ground transportation), today it is free.

I am sitting in a five acre villa in Spain for free. Several years ago technology wouldn’t have connected me with the people who were interested in the trade.

In the current era, we can do more living for, well…free!

While prices are going down and the options we can pursue go up --- another quantity suddenly becomes the meaningful commodity: time. Twenty-four hours a day is still twenty-four hours a day.

How do you think time, not money will become the new commodity worth chasing? You might be surprise what most people have to say, look at this Yahoo News story .