Guest Contributor

I wrote a short piece for the website www.5minutesforbooks.com and it was published today.

Check it out here!

My Red Phase

It started with my garden. Then it was my dress.

Now it's spread to my bedroom. I am officially in my red phase.

Red seems to be the color that calls my name these days. Now it's on my bed.

In one of my favorite paintings (given to me by a friend.)

And in a photo I took of roses (that incidentally used to live in my powder room.)

What can I say? Red just makes my heart happy right now!

InterAct!

Today was the maiden performance of the children's theater school tour I've been working on for several months now. It was great!

The first show was for K-2 grades and was an interactive performance of three Aesop's fables. The second show was for 3-5 grades and was all about the events and people surrounding the Declaration of Independence. So much fun!

I've been wanting to do this for ten years now (since I did it the last time) and it was just amazing to see it come to life!

Book Diet

As anticipated, I did not finish any books in September. Every spare minute (and more!) was spent on reworking my life and making a massive direction change.

The good news is, good stuff is happening! I've already got a couple of contracts writing and teaching dance & music.

How about this month you leave a comment telling me what YOU read? I'm going to get back to my reading habit one of these days and I'll need many more books to read.

Happy Feet

I danced in Kindergarten today. I have very happy feet.

Before I could "officially" be offered the job teaching dance to preschoolers, I needed to "guest teach" while the directors of Starting Arts auditioned me. I was asked to teach a 30 minute lesson on dancing and emotions to a group of 20 Kinders.

Excuse me? Am I in heaven?

We started with our faces, then our hands, then our whole bodies showing what we move like when we are happy, sad, and angry. I had music that matched the moods and it was SO FUN!

Then I taught them a little combination to the Kermit the Frog song, "Happy Feet" and they were just adorable!

Did I mention that my jazz shoes came out of deep storage for the occasion?

Oh yes, I have happy feet!

Fall

The beautiful tree outside my window doesn't know today is the first day of fall. It was 90 degrees today for goodness sake. And as I mentioned here, the leaves don't really turn until November in California.

I'm feeling like the tree today. I'm ignoring the fact that it's fall. I'm still reveling in the sunshine (you know how bad I miss it when it's gone.)

And yet, today I can feel my own leaves turning. The green ones that have hung on so long. It's time for them to turn and fall. And I'll stand here bare for a while.

But then... new leaves will grow. They always do. It will be a new season and there will be new leaves. There always are.

Dress Up

Just got home from a conference in Santa Cruz this weekend. I'm exhausted, but it was fun. I loved the chance to "dress up" for a luau on Friday night and a red carpet event on Saturday night.

My very good friend (who I stayed with for the weekend) took pictures of me as proof (or blackmail... not sure which!)