Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category
SARK’s Big Purple Dream Crayon *Free* Teleclass
Lately I’ve been delving further into the concepts of inspiration and simplicity. Reading posts at places like Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits, Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Non-Conformity (as well as his fabulous new book by the same name), and my dear friend Diana’s a certain simplicity*, I’ve come to realize that I’ve been moving in this direction for a long time — at least seven years, in fact, since when I left behind a budding legal career and moved to rural Italy.
Living Juicy on Amazon
But really it dates back even farther than that to when I saw a book by SARK laying around the dorm room of one of my college friends. I’m fairly certain my path to a non-traditional lifestyle (for lack of a better term) started the moment I picked up Living Juicy: Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul. I still refer to it and other SARK books frequently.
Have you heard of SARK? To me, her books and writings are like candy — they are sweet, give me a jolt to get moving, and always leave me wanting more. And in fact, I see a lot of SARK in the recent surge of websites about simple, non-conformist living; SARK was a true pioneer of this movement IMHO.
But if you don’t know SARK, how can I explain the wonder that is Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy? From her Facebook page, she “has been a transformative teacher and leader for over twenty years. She has written and created 16 best-selling books, and hundreds of products. She is the founder and Creative Fountain of Planet SARK, her company that creates products and services to support empowered living.”
Why am I telling you about this now? Well because tomorrow SARK is offering a *free* dream activating teleclass called SARK’s Big Purple Dream Crayon intended to help everyone with a dream reset their dream vibration. This class will provide joyful and practical tools for naming and claiming your dream. It’s free to everyone with a dream, especially if you’re not sure what your dream is:
I’ve already signed up to receive a free recording of the teleclass as it will take place in the middle of the night my time — so if you don’t happen to be available at the time of the teleclass, this is a great option for you as well.
Aside from the teleclass, I also wanted to let you know that I’m looking forward to writing more about my journey toward simplicity and happiness, exploring where I’ve come from, where I am, and where I’m going; I hope you’ll come along with me and even be inspired to make positive changes and chase your dreams along the way as well.
I haven’t decided yet, though, whether Bleeding Espresso is the best forum for this, mixed in with other usual posts about simple life in southern Italy including recipes and finding joy in small things, or whether it would be better served in a new home, on a (*gulp*) new site . . . what do you think?
And what is inspiring you these days?
Introducing Italy’s Own 2 Kids and a Dog
A little advice? Grab a cuppa, as you’re in for a real treat today.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from Alexia, an American living in Rome with her Sicilian husband, two children, and dog Amleto (Hamlet). Alexia directed me to their website, 2 Kids and a Dog, which features family videos.
But wait! Not *those* kind of family videos! These are hilarious and real, but tightly edited so that you’re getting all the good stuff. No, great stuff.
Bottom line: I fell in love with this family immediately.
The videos are absolutely entertaining, but two other important things come across as well: passion and love. This family has a shared passion for the theatrical and man do they *go* for it. I love that!
And speaking of love, the love they share as a family simply saturates the entire experience, so you can’t help but come away with warm fuzzies.
I told you I fell in love.
So today I’m featuring Alexia and her family here on Bleeding Espresso to let the rest of you in on what is sure to become one of the most popular corners of the Interwebs very shortly.
I asked Alexia some questions so you can get to know the family better; after reading, do head over and check out 2 Kids and a Dog; there are introductory videos of family members as well as current and past episodes. *All* worth a look, I promise.
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1. First, can you please introduce your family and tell us a bit more about yourselves?
We are a family of five if you count our dog, Hamlet, or Amleto as they call him in Italy. I’m American born, to a Dad from Memphis and Mom from Rome, Italy. My husband, Nick, is Italian, but he likes to underline that he is actually Sicilian (which according to him is different).
Nick and I are both actors (Nick is also a musician and I am also a writer), and we met in Rome at an acting workshop what seems like decades ago. We were friends for quite a few years, and cried on each other’s shoulders about our respective romantic failures, before Nick convinced me he was my one and only.
2. What inspired you to make that very first video…and then to keep going?
This year marks the fourth edition of our wacky family calendar. In fact, it all started four years ago when Nick and I decided to create a Christmas gift for our close friends and family. We came up with the idea of dressing up as a different family for each photo, and taking self portraits (I mean, we are actors after all).
People found the calendar so funny and intriguing that friends of friends began asking us for copies. The calendar sparked everyone’s imagination, people often asked us things like “How do you get the dog to stay still?” or “How do you get the kids to wear their wigs?” The project snowballed over the years and we’ve had to print more and more copies each year.
This year, to satisfy our fans’ curiosity, we’ve decided to add a new dimension to our calendar. Using video to document our photo sessions, we’ve created a “back stage” of how we make our calendar. Each month has about 12 short videos (about two minutes each) that tell the story of what happened when we shot that particular photo. We air the “webisodes” on our website throughout the month…that comes out to 3 webisodes a week, about 150 a year. (Yikes!)
3. How did you end up in Italy?
I was living in New York, working in a repertory theatre…and I was contemplating making “the move” to the west coast. I went to LA for a recon mission and was hit hard by the fact that every one and their brother, sister, mother and friend was an actor. My move to LA was scheduled to take place in September. That summer I came to Rome (as I often did to visit my mother’s family) and I met an agent by chance. She convinced me to come to Rome…and the rest is history.
4. What are your top three favorite videos you’ve created and why?
As it is a work in progress, we’ve only edited three month’s worth of material, but so far, my favourite videos are January ep 10 “Anger Management“, February ep 4 “There is Something in my Stomach” and “We do it ‘Cause it’s Fun” (our first trailer). I think Anger Management is really funny. Seeing a really cranky, grumpy clown just cracks me up…especially since that clown happens to be my husband.
I particularly love “There is Something in my Stomach” because it shows Nick at his worst…he comes across as a REALLY disgusting pig. I mean, he is a pig (he’s a man) but he’s not sooo bad. The editing has exaggerated his bad habits and made them more extreme. I think most women can identify with me in this video.
I also really enjoy watching our first trailer, “We do it ‘Cause it’s Fun” because it takes all the most dramatic incidents of our calendar making experience and condenses them into 2 minutes. The most painful, the most uncomfortable, the most difficult moments are edited back to back and in hindsight they crack me up (the alternative is to have a good cry). I also find it very entertaining to watch the family in such varied costumes and situations, and have all those different moments concentrated together.
I’ll bet that most people watching the trailer think that we’re a very weird family. However weird, we’ve had a few grown people asking us to adopt them. So I guess we’re weird but fun.
[Ed: I concur with these three, and note this interview was conducted before March episodes were up. From this month so far, I particularly enjoy “Nick’s Late Night.”]
5. How do you come up with ideas/themes for videos? Or put another way, what is your creative process?
We usually start off with a couple of ideas, like “Hey, let’s do a photo as a clown family, and also a rapper family.” Then we look around the house for costumes, if we don’t have what we need we call our friends.
For instance, for the “hospital” photo (April) we put out a message on FB searching for any casts, braces, or crutches. Some of our friends freaked out and phoned us immediately wanting to know what had happened. They wanted to know if we were OK and if we needed any help. When we explained it was for our calendar, the were relieved.
But anyway, we were able to get all our “hospital” props that, unfortunately we scared our friends along the way. If we really have trouble finding costumes/props, we go to used clothes stores and scrounge around in the “sale” bins. Once we take a few photos, the creative juices start flowing and we start coming up with other ideas…one photo leads to another.
On the particular day of shooting Nick and I go about our business of dressing the kids in their costumes, putting on make-up, building the set, and whatever happens, we go with it. Then, after the shoot (usually a couple of weeks later so that I can be a bit detached from the material) I look at the footage and “write” the story to each video, based on what happened that day. Then we edit it up and we got ourselves a webisode!
6. Anything else you’d like to add or want readers to know?
This is a real grass roots experiment for us, it’s all home-made and self-produced. Initially, I thought the Herculean task was the photo sessions and the video creation, but now I’m beginning to realize that we’ve entered an intricate world that I have no real knowledge about…Internet! I’m an average Internet user, not a die-hard web-savvy gal. So, I’m learning the lingo, and trying to feel my way around. Hopefully we won’t get lost along the way!
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Well from where I’m sitting, everything looks great, Alexia! Thanks so much for getting in touch and answering some questions.
To the rest of you, I do hope you’ll head over to 2 Kids and a Dog, watch some videos, and get to know the family. Other ways to keep up with the family:
- Follow @2 Kidsand1Dog on Twitter
- Join their Facebook group
- Subscribe to their YouTube channel
Enjoy, and be sure to tell Alexia and the gang that I sent you!
Love Thursday: Love with Frost
Friend and faithful reader Lucy of On My Way 2 Work and Other Stuff sent in a this adorable photo:
with the note:
Here is the frosty heart inside my car window one Saturday morning. My windows frost over inside and outside if I don’t park it in the garage! But this was nice to see and reminded me of you!
So sweet! And, in turn, this photo reminded me of one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Somehow this poem always manages to give me a warm fuzzy despite the cold overtones. Frost was truly an amazing wordsmith.
What are your favorite poems?
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
The Meaning of (Calabrian) Life
In my recent call for questions, Jen of A2eatwrite asked:
Okay… from a Calabrian viewpoint – what is the meaning of life? And yes, I’m being serious. I’m not looking for the “ultimate” answer, just what you think the local answer would be.
This is a fabulous question, and first let me preface my answer by saying I certainly don’t presume to speak for all Calabrians, who are a rather varied group despite the basic, deep Calabrese pride that runs throughout the toe of the boot.
Calabrians work in all industries from agriculture to technology from Cosenza to Milano and beyond (even in the CIA!), so let me begin by painting the picture of the small group of old-fashioned Calabrians I’ll be drawing from in formulating my answer:
I live in a hilltop village of about 350 people, most of whom are probably over the age of 65. The houses are built on top of one another, more or less, as space used to be limited; the village used to hold as many as 12,000 people.
On the sides of the hill leading up the village, there are many plots of land, most of which are still used as garden spaces or places to keep animals.
So for many of these traditional Calabrians, those who still get up at sunrise to feed the hens, pick olives, or till the soil for a new planting of tomatoes, I’d say the meaning of life is rather simple—to wake up relatively healthy each day, strong enough to have the opportunity to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of, whether it be the land, the house, or the family.
And when they have a little left over, well it’s time to go off to the neighbor’s house and share.
I think that’s what the Calabrians I know are best at doing and what they strive to do each and every day—they do what needs to be done for themselves and their loved ones, and then go one step further and help out friends and neighbors when bounty allows.
It seems to me, for many here, immense satisfaction comes from simply knowing they do what they have to do and if they are able to share beyond that, all the better. This allows them to sleep well at night even if their beds creak with every slight movement and are held up by frames tied together by old rags.
You’ll perhaps notice I didn’t mention elaborate several course family dinners, which are certainly a big part of southern Italian life. I can’t possibly overstate the importance of fresh, homemade food and wine to the average Calabrian, and of course that’s what a lot of that hard work accomplishes.
But I also didn’t talk about sitting back and relaxing with a nice glass of homemade wine while gazing at the sea. Yes, some of that goes on down here, but more by the younger generations; the older generations hardly have time for such frivolous things with all the work they’re always busy doing.
Jen, thank you for pushing me to verbalize exactly why I love living here so much.
I am so very blessed to live among such wonderful, hard-working, kind people who provide, along with a never-ending supply of figs, lemons, and oranges, constant inspiration to be a better person in ways that truly matter.
Discovering the Secret of Happiness
While flipping through the latest issue of Psychologies, I came across a little blurb entitled “La felicità è contagiosa.”
Happiness is contagious.
The piece quotes a study published in the British Medical Journal, which found that the secret to happiness is to be around calm people who are satisfied with their lives.
I think we all kind of knew this, right?
I know I don’t like to be around negative nellies too much, because I find that unhappiness is also quite contagious.
But the article goes on to say that while “happy” areas in our brain are stimulated by being around happiness, this connection only happens in person and not via telefone or the Internet.
Accordingly, the author concludes, all you need to do to be happy is to shut off your computer, get out of the house, and talk to people (apparently preferably happy ones).
I’ll agree that there certainly is something extra-special about in-person contact, but I’m not sure that I don’t get at least similar happy feelings talking on the phone or via Internet with loved ones who also happen to be happy. Or maybe my brain is just different than those in the study?
What do you think?
Do online and telephone friendships
with positive people help make you happy?
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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