Travel

My dream of 2012 Hill Country Discoveries

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As I lay in bed this morning, probably looking like a zombie pooped from the night before, you’d be surprised to know that in that very moment, there are myriad ideas bouncing off the walls of my mind.

I’d just had a dream that I was walking the grounds of a colorful mission estate in San Antonio.

The picture above is actually Bellas Artes with the Iglesia de las Monjas in the background in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato but hey! I’m trying to “put you there.” It seems this picture is what my subconscience drew on for imagery while I slept.

At first glance, the whole place was empty and it was just me and a few other people, including my husband who went venturing off on his own with my camera- the Nikon D5000 one! I was a bit annoyed by that, because I was left to work with a Kodak camera that I once used in 2000 on a trip to San Francisco for my 21st birthday. I wasn’t used to handling this little camera anymore.

When I think about what it feels like to hold my Nikon, it takes both hands to get the right shot and it can feel like I’ve got the whole world in the palm of my hands…or at least an image of it.

So I walked around the grounds of this rustic mission that was built who knows when and I was so impressed with the architecture and the huge bells used to call the faithful, and especially thrilled by the clear blue sky and occasional streaks of clouds that served as the backdrop.

Eventually, there were tons of people strolling alongside me, weaving in and around corners, going up and down iron wrought stairs. The food stands and little trinket shops had opened up for the day.

Soon, I awoke from the dream and began to think about all that is to be for The Convivial Woman in 2012.

With this move to Austin, I see myself discovering a whole new terrain of the state of Texas. Who are the people awaiting me on this new journey?What will I find in this new world I call home? What will I learn about myself and my own pursuit of life, love and happiness?

I’m going to discover all the little things that some might find weird, or not so weird, about Austin. I’m going to go in search of the puffed tacos in San Antonio that my Food Network Star crush challenged on his show, Throw Down with Bobby Flay.

Anyway, that’s what the next year has in store for me and you- discovering Austin, San Antonio, Fredricksburg (the cute little German-influenced town my grandma Lupe always talked about), and the hill country.

And something tells me there’s going to be a more fierce rebirth of my love and appreciation for the Tex-Mex culture (“my people”) in this part of Texas. I see more cumbias, more accordions, more queso (but not too much! This waist of mine is working that muffin top! I gots to control it.) and oh so much more. I can’t wait.

It’s a new dawn…it’s a new day…and I’m feeling (more than) okay.

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A Convivial Homecoming: A Return to Chicago and Myself

After the dip, there’s only one way to go and that is up.

Taking a trip back to my hometown of Chicago, the place where I spent the most influential years of my life, proved to be a great way to bring me back to the core of who I am after I’d experienced a dip in my own life.

During my time there, my hubby grabbed us some wheels at Bobby’s Bike Hike and we biked from Navy Pier along the lakeshore to Fullerton avenue to Clark street to Wrigley Field and all the way back down Clark to the Willis Tower! If you’re a local, you’ll know how much distance we covered! If not, I’m gonna guess we did about 15-20 miles.

I gathered with my old neighborhood pals, friends with whom I kept the Sabbath day holy (back in my parentally-imposed religious days), and with grammar school chums.

Among other typical tourist spots, we also (more…)

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Honoring soldiers in Historic Stockyards

This past Memorial weekend, I had no big plans for cookouts or chowing down on turkey legs or anything like that, but I was able to escape to funky cow town, Ft. Worth, TX to stroll their Historic Stockyards. It never fails to be a convivial way to spend the day…

He ain’t no Tonto.

Site of the next Convivial Supper Club?

Cowgirl body art

Saddles for bar stools…oh yeah, giddy up.

Handsome urban cowboys can call me Sissy anytime.

My utmost gratitude goes out to our military for the freedom I experience on a day to day basis.

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Sound Conjures the Soul

Flashbacks. A moment in time. Memories made, forever ingrained. Ahhh…the beauty of traveling back in time to experience life in the present moment.

Want to ignite a feel-good moment in your body? Instantly draw up some much needed energy? Play some music, but not just any music. Choose a song from a time in your life when you were happy, inspired, amazed, and unstoppable.

Songs play in our hearts continuously

and there are times when life is kind enough to play “the song” just when we need it, to shake us up and out of a funk, but overall, it’s for us to make the choice to put the needle on the record once again.

I have tons of songs in my memory’s repertoire and they can instantly conjure up people and places, scents and feelings, pivotal moments in my life I’d love to return to, but physical time and space won’t allow. Good thing sound does the favor of bringing me back to those cherished moments, thus causing an instant surge of energy within me and returning me to innocence and extreme possibility.

The most recent song to add to my sound list came about like this:

It’s the first day of Rich Happy & Hot LIVE, the business and lifestyle event I traveled from Dallas to attend in early November (more…)

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Inspired & Home from New York (Pics)

It’s been three days since my return from an eye-opening weekend in New York. The memories continue to replay in my mind…the chemistry I felt with the city, with the women who surrounded me, the impact of the stories and knowledge shared by each speaker, and the guards let down and tears shed by various women of the audience at Rich Happy & Hot LIVE.

My second day back home, I shed some tears of my own as I spoke to a dear friend by phone and began to express my deep gratitude for our friendship and their continued unconditional love and support in my efforts to express The Convivial Woman and grow in the comfort of my writer’s skin. When someone believes in you and just loves you for all that you are and all that you’re not (yet), what a powerful force you can be in the world!

I love telling stories by way of the eye, and you’d better believe I snapped a good number of moments while in The Big Apple. So have yourself a look-see at my photojournalism skills! There will be plenty of time to share words, but for now, let this visit to Convivial Society be a visual experience to enjoy. Let me know if anything grabs you by the heart!

Click on the album to view and experience New York with me all over again:

NewYork2010

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Rich Happy & Enough

Today I tested out a revolutionary idea…the idea that I am enough.

It all started with my desire to win a ticket to attend Marie Forleo’s Rich Happy & Hot LIVE. It’s a business and lifestyle event for women entrepreneurs being held at Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Center in New York City November 12 – 14th, 2010.

I checked out the information a couple weeks ago and thought, Uhh, heck yeah this is where I need to be! So I clicked for more details on registration and cost and was stopped in my tracks when I saw that it costs $1497 to attend! (my wallet’s hearing alarm sirens go off) It didn’t take me long to click out of that box…sadly!

I’d be willing to charge it to my credit card, but I’ve been a good girl lately by not spending frivolously, and this certainly wouldn’t be careless to spend on, because the way I see this is like education. I mean, how much did I spend in college on freaking calculus and I don’t use a damn thing of anything that I learned there. But I just can’t do it right now.

THEN, Marie sends me an email inviting me to come to New York for the weekend (more…)

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The Seed is Planted

Tomorrow, my guest post for The Shed Project will appear on Bindu Wiles site, as well as here, so I thought it would be ideal to share this photo I snapped of one of my journal inscriptions in 2004- the year I made the decision to pursue a feeling of bliss and let myself go where my heart led me.

The piece I am sharing for The Shed Project will elaborate MUCH MORE and share the full story with you, but I simply wanted you to see where the seed was planted. The story on Bindu’s site is the full-fledged blossoming of what happened when I let myself go…

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Cross of Changes

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

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Firenze Rustica.

I Will Return To You One day.

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Tour The World. Then Recreate It.

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The First Gift

On the way to San Miguel de Allende, my husband and I met a man named Bruce who lived in San Miguel with his wife, Jennifer and two-year-old son, Blaze. First of all, what a cool name for a kid! Second, the parents were even cooler.

There was an instant connection with Bruce and my hubby, so they exchanged numbers and we met up for breakfast a few days later. We were going to eat at Buena Vida Cafe across from Bellas Artes, but they were closed for construction, then headed to La Parroquia Cafe nextdoor to El Tecolote Bookstore and the same story, so we ended up at El Pegaso Restaurant and Bar located on Calle Correo.

I felt just as comfortable with Jennifer as Martin did with Bruce, so the conversation was on! Of course, Martin and I were so curious to hear about how this American couple with a nice, big American baby made the journey to this foreign colonial town to live life. The journey started with just the two of them wanting to visit San Miguel de Allende to learn Spanish and the bigger decision to make a life there was as simple as a moment when Bruce and Jennifer,(newlyweds then) were sitting on a bench at the Jardin, and Bruce turned to Jennifer to say, “Just get me here, ” and Jennifer replied, “Okay. ” It’s been three years since that fateful moment.

In between a few bites of my delicious breakfast of Chilaquiles Verdes, Bruce said something that stayed with me.
In discussing their life raising Blaze in San Miguel, he said, “This is our first gift to our son…dual citizenship in two countries, learning two languages, and being immersed in two cultures so opposite from another.” What a broader sense of the world he will start off with all thanks to a conscious choice his parents made for him.

Martin was able to see how happy they were living in his hometown and he said, “I’ll be honest with you two…I’m jealous,” and that’s when I lovingly interjected and said, “Don’t be jealous, join the club!”

I admire this couple’s courage to try something different, to step outside their comfort zone and give something so unfamiliar a shot.

There are so many choices on how we can live our lives; our kids have little say in the beginning stages of their lives, so considering the benefits they will reap from the conscious choices we make on a daily basis is undeniably courageous and admirable.

Choose wisely.

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Think Global.

No boundaries. Imagine that.

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