Finding Home: August 2012

When I am really upset I usually eat guacamole for dinner. This need for guacamole is intensified when all of the food I've eaten in the past week is fruits, vegetables and hummus. I'm a girl getting married in 68 days and the pressure is on. And let me tell you, there are few things in life better than trying on a pair of jean shorts for the first time in months and having them fit way loose. Or breaking a new record on the scale. So exciting!

What can I say, I have a love hate relationship with food. Well, actually more of just a love-relationship with food. Okay, a deep passionate love affair with food. Especially food that involves cheeseburgers... I know, it's bad. Luckily I also have a love affair with running and yoga and moving my body in anyway possible.

I said a few months ago the day would come where I'd be so busy I'd wished I'd enjoyed my time of unemployment more. Well I think that day came sometime last week when I taught multiple classes every day for 7 days in a row. 7 class in the 48 hours over the weekend. I am now officially swamped, and come September more opportunities start. I don't know how but this teaching career of mine has exploded in the past two weeks. Exploded. Bam. I am so lucky.

Since moving to California I have become quite the gardener. Within the first month of moving we bought a Lemon, Lime, Strawberry, and Tomato plant plus some herbs. Then we found an amazing little succulent stand in Malibu and added 5 succulents to the mix. For my birthday I bought myself 3 pots of purple daisy-like flowers, two Jasmine plants and a basil plant which died, was replaced, and then came back to life- now I have two! Then I rescued a dying Avocado tree named Fred from our friends Lisa and Scott and a second baby Bacon Avocado tree that my grandma had grown from her giant one. And about a month ago I bought two pretty urns for the Jasmine!

In the first few weeks after moving to California I spent the majority of my day on the couch, on craigslist, applying for job after job. I counted the hours everyday until Nate came home from work. I had gone from being an active, working New York woman, to an unemployed confused, worthless person with an identity crisis. That's when the garden began. And in those first few months, my garden was my only sense of purpose and responsibility. I am not a person who does well with no responsibility. How magical it was to water something, care for it, put time into it and actually watch it grow. To see day after day the progress my plants made from the work I put into them. It was usually the highlight of my day and the only thing in my life that seemed to actually be paying off.

Now my garden is amazing. My plants are bright and green and full of fruit. It's one of my favorite places in the world to be. And contrary to what everyone told me, Avocado trees can be grown on balconies! I swear, the day one of my trees sprouts it's first avocado the world will know! I love watering and tending to my garden because it reminds me that when you care for something it will grow. It's really as simple as that.

It doesn't just stop at plants, the same idea applies to most things in life - from a yoga practice, to a career, to a relationship. When you honestly put the time in, and care deeply for something, it will grow. It's so simple and yet so inspiring. Most recently I've seen my teaching career grow. Finally all the seeds I've planted are starting the blossom. Opportunities, that seemed non-existent a few months ago, are popping up weekly. And it seems that each opportunity only leads to more opportunities. And I am filled with gratitude.