"Beside" myself...

Lately I've been coughing up a storm. And not to gross anyone out, but stuff was coming up and it was....well, gross. Hacking away at work, at home, especially whenever I lay down flat on my back (i.e., to go to sleep), just had me feeling totally beside myself.

Which brings me to this rumination: what does it mean to be "beside" oneself? Is it like, I've stepped out of my body and I am sitting next to it watching it suffer? Or is it, I am so discombobulated that I am out of my mind (which could be a good thing) and disembodied, even? Well, these stream of consciousness rantings come as the culmination of several sleep-disturbed nights, that is for sure.

Last night, however, I did something as a last resort that seemed to help right away. I took a drop of Thyme oil on a teaspoonful of honey, and then I put a drop of Ravensara oil on a square of paper towel and held it over my nose. Then I went back to bed, and counted the seconds until I coughed again. I was like a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse as I lay there, watching, waiting, tensed up to cough.

But it never came, and the next thing I know, I am awakened by the sound of the tree-cutters working next door. So I guess it worked! Yay! My husband said it was the first truly "quiet" night he had heard since I first contracted the cough, so this could be good for him too. Poor guy, has had to put up with a phlegm-spewing and lungee-coughing wife for over a week now. He ought to be canonized.

Pavia Meditation 101 Seminar, 11/10/08.

It seems like all we hear is bad news on a daily basis. The economy is in turmoil, big, trusted companies like GM are running out of cash, respected investment banks like Lehman Brothers have gone out of business completely, and the government has put together a $700 billion bailout program for the banking industry that will cost each taxpayer about $8K in debt.

(Where is the government when small businesses need them, I wonder? I would not mind a bailout *wink*. But that is neither here nor there.) Actually, I don't need a bailout, because I have unlimited abundance and I create my own reality. And, I know how to meditate and anchor my life in harmony and peace.

This is why I asked my staff soul therapist, Theresa Hatcher, to give a session called Meditation 101. We know that times are tough for our spa clients, too. But perversely, we know they especially need relaxation right now, and do not feel they can afford it. So, we put together a "Meditation 101" seminar that will introduce them to two meditation techniques....and meditation is free, once you learn how to do it, and you can access that inner peace and harmony anytime.

Here are the details:
Date: Monday, 11/10/08
Time: 6:30pm to 9pm
Place: Pavia
Your host: Theresa Hatcher
Cost: $30 (but includes Theresa's "Meditations of the Heart" CD, which is a $22 value alone)
RSVP: 408-741-1555, or email info@paviadayspa.com

The list is filling up fast, so RSVP soon!

Wow, I am so happy.

Watching Jesse Jackson's face last night in the crowd and listening to Obama's victory speech, I felt so indescribably happy. It does not matter that as a small business owner I am normally Republican, or that I would have voted for McCain had he chosen a more palatable VP candidate, I was just happy at the change that America has gone through. Electing Obama says that we as a nation are willing to change, to release old patterns of consciousness, to evolve into something better, to live up to the standards that we set for ourselves so long ago. Watching him on TV and all the jubilant faces in the crowd, I felt a surge of hope that I have not felt at any presidential election since I first voted for Clinton in 1992. Since then my voting track record has been a bit....well, no self-judgments necessary. Let's just say I voted for Bush twice.

Anyway, I am excited and positive and hopeful. We've come a long way, baby!

I got lashed!!!!

Okay, I am really excited, perhaps unjustifiably so. But I got lash extensions today from my employee, esthetician Kristine Van Tassel, and I just love them! Wow, what a difference! No wonder I've always been so jealous of those with naturally long lashes...your eyes just look so much sparklier when you have long lashes!

Here are some before and after pics (hopefully, I don't have to say which is before and which is after!!!)

Doing my part for the economy!

Okay, let's not buy into the fear! I know things seem scary, but if we also realize that we, as a collective human race, created our reality, then we also realize we have the power to change things. We can create a different, and more prosperous, future for ourselves.

So I decided yesterday...to go shopping! If we all went and spent some money, we enrich each other and we can get ourselves out of this mess. Of course, what I spent was a drop in the bucket...$513 at Anthropologie on new work clothes...but it was the energy behind it that mattered. As I put down my debit card, I thought to myself, "I am unafraid to spend...spending with others increases the energy around others spending with me."

And I feel so confident in my new clothes, and they are so fashionable. They are sooooo worth it!

The husband bought me a scale....

and I'm not sure if it's a gift or a curse. Of course, I asked for it. I told him it would motivate me to lose the twenty extra pounds I've been carrying around for 10 years. Except when I got the scale, it said that I actually weigh THIRTY more pounds than I should. And now I'm de-motivated. 20 seems like a surmountable number, but 30....might as well not even try. Haha.

And it's one of those "Biggest Loser" scales......which means it allegedly does percentage of body fat measurements, too. But every time I step on, it says "Er03," and when I look up what that means in the manual, it says that the "impedance" is too strong, and my body fat is immeasurable. Wow, great. I surmise that that means I have SO MUCH body fat it is immeasurable, and the scale doesn't even know where to begin. Lovely!

Lash Me, Baby!

I am bringing Lash Extensions into Pavia. For a long time I wrestled with this decision, given our focus on "Sanity, Not Vanity." But my short lashes drive me IN-sane, and I know it's 100% ego-driven. But I have always longed to get my fringe on, and I know many Pavia clients agree with me.

So, I am making the one exception to vanity that I can. No, I cannot articulate even a single health benefit of having lash extensions, except maybe that a set of raven's wings lashes will help me....keep more dust out of my eyes? Ahem. I know. I'm reaching.

But let me tell you, getting one's fringe on is a high-maintenance thing. The initial set is $220, and takes the esthetician 2 hours as she painstakingly bonds each and every synthetic lash onto each and every real eyelash. Apparently, it doesn't make lashes any thicker, just longer. Obviously, if there is no lash to bond to, then it can't be simply glued to the skin. The first follow-up session is free, provided it is scheduled for within 2 weeks of the initial set, but then a follow-up every 2 to 4 weeks after THAT is required. We will charge $75-100 per follow-up, because it could take 45 minutes to an hour of her time.

And then, every 3 months, another set has to be put on...sigh. I know I will be first in line, but I don't know if I can sustain the upkeep that is required. On the bright side, there's always Revitalash....