Fell in love in Key West....

...with sea kayaking!

Spent an amazing week down in the Keys at a Seminar then stayed on two more days, swam with dolphins, roamed around and landed in Pennekamp State Park (a coral reef park) and decided to head out on a solo kayak adventure in the afternoon. I'd never kayaked before but the fella at the desk assured me I'd be able to do it no problem. The second I sat in that vessel and started paddling, I felt like this was something I'd been born to do. It was so easy and fun and the perfect mix of Zenlike peacefulness and a little bit of danger (yes, alligators do live in mangroves and I was paddling the entire time through water trails in the mangrove...what are they...groves?). It was SO MUCH FUN! Oh and I ran in to a fisherman who told me to look down as I passed him and see the 2 foot stingray resting on the bottom of the channel.

You can see the solitude I was blessed with--hardly saw a soul the entire 90 min. I was out there

"the hand"
That Mangrove was trying to reach out and grab me!


Yes those are my girlie flip flops

Yummy post boating snack. What a gorgeous day.

Charmed

I recently had a conversation with my father about how my "moneymaking" life has truly been charmed.

How I've never, not once in my entire life, interviewed for a job that I wasn't 100% sure I was going to get. That I always felt my employers were lucky to have me on board (I am typically not so cocky but this is just a true description of my emotion at the time) and I was curious what they were offering me.

Not that I've had such good fortune in every area of my life, mind you, but this area has just been easy. Thank God--I figure it's just one of those karmic "giveaways" that I have taken, but truly need to stop taking, for granted. A lucky charm is always a treasure.

In this vein, I was recently offered another part time job. Once again (as has happened to me at least two other times in my life) a prospective employer has seen a quality in me, unseen in myself, and offered to pay me for something I'd do for free.

In this case, I will be blogging regularly (3 times per week) for Phoenix New Times on "food treasures" I find around town. And they are paying me for it! And everything I purchase toward this will be a writeoff for me! Like finding a fun gadget at a food store, some lovely spices at Penzey's to write about or....drumroll...my new Samsung pink camera en route to me right now!! Yes I will need to take alot of my own photos to use in my entries. As in this blog, I will be taking photos of recipes I try out or food I enjoy in a local restaurant such as this amazing Cashmere martini I had the other day.

Once again, an angel has appeared before me, flung open a door and yanked me through it handing me a paycheck on the threshold.

If you're interested in reading me there, at least for now I will be generally blogging under the Chow Bella heading at www.phoenixnewtimes.com.

Or more directly:

Chow Bella

Aha Moment

Woke up with one of those "oh so basic" but profound realizations that you almost feel stupid for not getting sooner.

When something is right, it doesn't feel like you have to work hard to obtain/maintain/sustain it.

Or to quote my teacher "if it feels like you're working too hard, you're working too hard".

Simple as that.