LA Christmas Story

A person's true wealth is the good he or she does in the world.
- Mohammed

I had a funny LA moment. Yesterday morning I went to church. I brag that on my way out, I decided to buy a tape of the sermon for my cousin who used to attend that church before she moved back to NYC. As I was waiting in line, the woman in front of me turned to ask how much the tapes were. I said "They're a $9 donation." As I said that, I realized the woman I was speaking to was none other than a very famous academy award winning actress. In LA it's against the law to say anything to actors (not really, but de facto rule), so I just waited patiently for the tapes. Ms. Famous Actress got up to the front of the line and said she wanted to get three tapes. She looked in her wallet and exclaimed in dismay "I've only got $10 here and I've forgotten my checkbook." I siddled up beside her and looked in my wallet. I already had $10 in hand for my tape. I pulled out a $20 from my wallet. "Here's $10 for my tape and here's money for two of her tapes." I turned to her and said "Merry Christmas." She gave me a really surprized look. "I put all my cash in the donation basket inside." "That's o.k. Merry Christmas." She then gave me a big hug and wished me a merry Christmas. "You too!" I said and went on my merry way. As I was driving home, my brother called me from San Francisco to wish me a merry Christmas. I told him the story. He said "you're so rich, you can afford to treat the rich." "You're right. I am that rich. " Haha!

Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa to all!

Some more acknowledgements

51. hosting a fabulous Christmas party
52. having the brilliance to hire Los Pinguos to play the party
53. gifting 5 lovely friends with tickets to the Lila Downs concert at the Disney center last night
54. reviewing millions of documents over the past year
55. signing up for Courtesan class
56. finishing the art wall
57. creating 2 manifestation books
58. celebrating the moon on a regular basis with full and new moon ceremonies
59. bought my first couture dress -- beautiful peach Calvin Klein dress valued at $3800 (though I only spent $180 on it). :)
60. put rose petals under my desk at work.
61. treated myself to many massages and facials this year
62. dated over 15 men.
63. awarded a Pro Bono Award at work
64. sanded, repainted the built-ins and changed out the fixtures
65. visited 34 countries in my life:

More Acknowledgments

"When you understand someone... truly understand someone... you can't help but love them. Therefore... anyone in your life... ANYONE... who you feel less than love for... you have misunderstood."
Mike Dooley

36. Going to Quebec
37. Going to Argentina
38. Getting a $20K raise
39. Receiving two offers of marriage (not accompanied by rings yet)
40. serving on the steering committee for the legal aid foundation board
41. getting elected as a co-chair of the board
42. doing this list
42. buying and listening to Infinite Possibilities.
43. buying and reading Ask and it is Given
44. reading the Game of Life
45. decorating my office
46. painting the Goddess Dancing painting that hangs on my wall
47. hosting a successful fundraising happy hour last night
48. serving as recruiting co-chair on the diversity committee
49. making the difficult phone call I'm about to make
50. being half-way done with this list (I know I'm kinda cheating, but this is a challenge)

Quote of the Day

There are so many gifts still
unopened from your birthday,
there are so many hand-crafted presents
that have been sent to your door by God.
The Beloved does not mind repeating,
'Everything I have is also yours.'

From 'The Gift' - Poems by Hafiz
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

100 2005 Acknowledgments

Yesterday at Agape a guest speaker, Rhonda Britten, gave us two assignments to do as we head into the New Year. The first is to write 100 Acknowledgments -- basically 100 things we can pat ourselves on the back for having done over the past year. The other assignment is to write a list of 100 things we're grateful for. I feel more comfortable with the gratitude list and that's why I'm starting the acknowledgments. I'm sure I'll have to go in bits and pieces. Here's to hoping I get through 35.
I am acknowledging myself for:
1. Helping Roberto get political asylum
2. Buying a house
3. Getting a dog
4. Living in New York for four months
5. Traveling to Spain and making it to my family reunion
6. remodeling the kitchen in my back house
7. remodeling my basement
8. starting the process on the back bathroom remodel (we contracted the contractor yesterday).
9. throwing a great house warming party
10. throwing a great garden party
11. throwing a great birthday bowling party
12. throwing a great birthday party for Sean
13. throwing a great goodbye party in New York (I feel like I'm cheating a little bit here, but I DO have to do 100 of these)
14. honing my karaoke hits
15. agreeing to do the UCLA NPI remodel
16. starting Hip Girlz (I can't believe this is number 16 after all the parties!)
17. starting this blog
18. writing two chapters in my Hip Girl's Guide to Buenos Aires
19. taking Mama 101
20. taking Using the Power of Pleasure to Have your Way with the World of Business
21. taking AMT at the School of Womanly Arts
22. taking advanced painting with Rassouli
23. taking creative writing class at SMC
24. hiring my creative writing teacher to help me birth my Hip Girl's Guide
25. hiring a personal trainer to get me into great shape.
26. playing the Game
27. becoming a member of Agape
28. signing up for auto tithing at Agape
29. being a Peer Mediation Coach
30. doing french translation for haitian asylee seekers
31. getting my credit into top shape
32. getting an amazing and inspiring team of women together to work on the hospital remodel project
33. doing lots of spiritual work on myself
34. improving my relationship with my parents
35. learning jewelry making.

Hurray, just 65 to go!

Christmas List

Christmas is coming up and I think I've been a very good girl this year. Since my b-day list was a success, I'm again posting what I desire:
- more accessories for my Ipod Mini. I especially want the one that you put on your arm to run with.
- comfy yet stylish pajamas
- comfy yet stylish slippers
- gift certificate(s) to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com
- a black cardigan
- a space heater (I know it's not the sexiest gift, but I need one)
- a karaoke machine & karaoke cds
- gift certificate(s) to Agent Provocateur
- a red Chinese lacquer cabinet to hold my TV
- gift certificate(s) for spa services ( Burke Williams is always a good choice)
- flowers
- plexiglass desk
- new dining room table that seats at least 8 people
- plane tickets to fabulously fun places
- all-expenses paid holiday trip to South America, Hawaii, Caribbean, Europe, Napa Valley, and/or Mexico.
- a night out on the town in a limo
- a makeover &/or shopping spree
- a Tiffany's gift certificate or anything from Tiffany's.
- an opal ring or earrings. Opal is my birth stone and I have always desired opal jewelry. 31 years and I'm still desiring. Now's the time people. ;)
- an art class (painting, writing, collage, etc)

Pat on the Back

I hate to pat myself on the back... Yeah, I know. Who am I kidding? I actually do like to pat myself on the back a little bit. This one is really pat-worthy though. I don't know if y'all, my faithful readers, remember but back in August I had a political asylum hearing that got pushed back to December. Well, I had that yesterday. My client was a young gay man from Guatemala that had endured vicious insults (almost since he could walk), frequent beatings (one so bad that he ended up in the hospital), attempted rape, death threats, and otherwise general and constant harassment because of his sexuality. At the tender age of 22 and after one beating and death threat too many at the hands of an anti-gay gang in Guatemala, he fled to the U.S. For three years he waded through the U.S. justice system until yesterday when I was able to help him gain political asylum. Finally, he's able to legally and freely live and work in this country and he's free to express his sexuality. Yeah! Sometimes being a lawyer feels REALLY good. :)

Charitable Week

"The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service" - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


On Wednesday my friend Rick and his boyfriend Jeff invited me to a dinner for Project Angelfood . It was one of those Hollywood charity things, bunch of B-list stars were there -- Will from Will & Grace, Ryan Seacrest, Tisha Campbell Williams, Harry Hamlin and others. We had dinner, a program, and then we got to shop designer clothes for charity. It was fun to hobnob with the stars and to feel really good about shopping. :)

Last night I had my associates advisory board meeting with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. I'm now a co-chair of the board. That's pretty cool and fun. My last charitable event of the week... today I went to UCLA with Nicole and Katie and met with the residents of the neuropsychiatric hospital. Meeting with them made me feel so good about the project. They were all so excited about the remodel and so appreciative of our efforts. I can't wait to see their faces when it's all done. It's going to be amazing! Hurray! As we were leaving, one of the residents jokingly asked us if we had a direct link to heaven or if we had angels as mediators. "Direct link," we replied. It's sort of true. I do feel like I'm doing God's work here. It's pretty amazing.