Love Letters to the Universe 05
What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more
Crank it up! Valentine’s is in the air and, to be frank, I could care less about it. Heehee. Probably because in marketing land, we’ve been celebrating it since early January! Spoiler alert: it takes the fun out of it when your creating promos and incentives for shoppers. This goes for all the holidays and not just Valentine’s. Just to be clear, I’m not being a grinch about the celebration of LOVE. I’m all about it as you probably guessed if you’ve been following this series. I’m just not going to indulge in the mass machine of cards and candy this year...unless that candy is a yummy honey calcite sphere I’ve had my eye on. But seriously, when practicing self-love for over a month and a half now, I’ve realized LOVE is to be celebrated every damn day. Not just on February 14th. By noticing little acts of kindness (I’m not talking about the Honda commercials) my heart’s love meter has increased 10x it’s previous size. Declarations of love seen IRL are now my daily hit of dopamine. Speaking of, let’s dive into the past week round up of where I found love and those moments of being in the moment walloped me:
05 Tuesday - 08 Friday
It was a rollercoaster during these 3 days with IG lives at work, 1 cubic ton of gravel delivered to the house, juggling way too many things and last but not least, an impromptu photo shoot at Melrose Place. Long story short but I needed a couple portrait shots of me for a feature coming up and thanks to the rain, I didn’t have much time to get those pics during a weekend. Luckily a good friend stepped in to help me get the photos done. Talk about being nervous. I’m usually the one behind the camera or on set directing the shot with the photographer. Very rarely am I modeling. LOL. Modeling. Sidebar: There’s a reason models exist because they make it look so easy! Ok back to the story. Picture this: me awkwardly posing at Alfred’s Coffee in the heart of Melrose’s trendy pocket of fashion + coffee shops, while feet away are people enjoying their fourth cup of “But first Coffee.” It was one of those moments where my self-esteem literally took a nose dive. To be frank: I’m not in my twenties anymore running around taking selfies and I sure as hell don’t dress like Ariana Grande. Nope. Nowadays I can see my wrinkles in those selfies, and my style consists of all black everything with pops of color with my accessories. At that moment the phrase, “it’s complicated,” kept popping into my mind. Why did I care so much what others were thinking of me? Literally, no one was paying attention because they were on their phones. Or if they did, they forgot about me and my awkwardness 2 seconds later. Most of the world is too busy worrying about themselves and their phones. My next issue was how many wrinkles I could see on my face. Ugh. We all know wrinkles aren’t fun. Especially for me, it was hard to take in since I work in the beauty industry and grew up with my mother who celebrates injectables. If that’s your thing, that’s awesome, but for me, I’m not a fan. I’ve tried botox, but after learning it’s not vegan, I decided it’s best to skip it. If you want more info on why Botox isn’t vegan check out this article here. Important to note: Botox tests on animals and has a human protein in it sourced from eggs. Yup. Not cute right?
Moving on from my Zoolander modeling crisis, I’m happy to report that my friend knocked it out of the park and was able to get a couple of shots of me looking semi-normal instead of the many photos of me as a crazy lady with bad angles. I swear I looked like Swasquash at one point in the cactus. By being in the spotlight, I definitely felt like I was in the present moment. Time came to a halt, and in doing so, I received a reality check in self-love and the work I still need to do – especially since I found my ego brain being a total dick with so many judgments it would make your head spin. Once we wrapped up the shoot, I drove back to the Eastside with a heavy dose of motivation to work on loving my body and skin in its current state as much as possible. I’ve already spent way too many years not appreciating it.
Photos taken on Google Pixel 3 (thank you Idelia!)
09 Saturday - Monday
Saturday to Sunday was an adventure. I began my day meeting my manifestation accountability partner for some life talk over Kitchen Mouse and their fabulous Snickerdoodle pancakes. During that time, I reminded her that she is beautiful and worth the moon + stars. Words I needed to hear for my own self yesterday! It’s so important to tell those you love that they are worth love that is beyond this world. Also, if we are sacred mirrors of each other, that love we share with each other is reflected back to us. After we wrapped up our brunch, I head back home and receive a ping from the Universe to stop by Silver Lake Meadow, one of my favorite chill spots in LA. It was starting to rain, but I remembered that in the Jikiden workshop I participated in 2 weeks ago, I received a message to get out into the rain. Sounds completely crazy but I honored that message and laid in the rain. It was so nourishing and lit up my soul. Just laying there in the grass (yes I had a beach blanket), honoring Mother Earth’s tears. As long as I live I will never forget it. During that time people were running by, and all of them were complaining about something in their life. It dawned on me that this is what our planet hears every day. Complaints. Bitching. Frustration. Sadness. It broke my heart but reminded me of a lesson from The Kybalion:
"Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law." — The Kybalion
Selfie shot in portrait mode while laying in the rain at Silver Lake Meadow. Photos taken on Google Pixel 3
It’s pretty intense to say but we are the creators of our reality, and from witnessing the negativity in the air while I laid there, it hit me that the Universe doesn’t get a break from our nonstop destruction, consumerism, and bullshitting. It’s up to us individually to add back into this atmosphere some hope and light. Being proactive to change the old paradigm that we’ve land into. Lots to take in on this rant but crucial to share as it was a moment of presence and love that was truly unique.
Membership cups at Chief’s Peak Photos taken on Google Pixel 3
Next up: Ojai!
Sam and I headed to Ojai for some much needed R&R and to see our friends for their annual Valentine’s Day Card Making Extravaganza. I haven’t been traveling much since Thanksgiving, so it was great to get away, especially since Ojai is so green right now. The mountains were covered with clouds which made them look like a photo of Hawaii or the Congo vs. good ole California. Our friends, Jennifer and Joel, sure know how to through a party for everyone to enjoy. Always a good time of making cute cards with kids and adults. This time there were chickens as well and one EPIC yellow car from Yo Gabba Gabba. Sam and I got to hitch a ride on the little yellow car that could. Highlight to our weekend. We laughed so hard our stomachs started to hurt! After the fun, we headed to Ojai Rancho Inn for some R&R. (If you haven’t tried HotelsTonight app, use this link with my PROMO code MABERRINI to save up to $50 on your reservation) The last time I had been to the inn was a couple years ago with an old friend for a girls weekend. This time around it was all about quality time with Mr. B. We enjoyed food at The Nest, drinks at Chief’s Peak and some shopping around town. My favorite local spot: Ojai House. Best collection of crystals, cards, musical instruments, local artwork and more. Plus in the backyard is an EPIC 400-year-old tree. Such a glorious beauty to witness in person.
Jennifer and Joel’s amazing mini car!
Once back home we got to see the progress to the backyard that our friends have been working on. We can’t wait to show you once it’s all ready to go. The finishing touches will be happening throughout the next month while Mother Nature does her thing to help the newly planted Turkey Tangle get it’s grow on.
11-13 Tuesday - Wednesday
Back to work and ready to go! Monday kicked started with new projects in the cue. Gearing up for some big initiatives for spring and new content features which I’m excited for. A change was also in the air as one of our team members is moving on. One person down usually means we’ve got our hands full but this time around we’ve got it covered. A confirmation of growth! Now it’s Wednesday and presents arrived today from #PixelBook team with a full-on chocolate PixelBook to boot! In terms of love and presence, let’s just say there were lots of moments of seeing the team step into their own and celebrating their achievements.
As a reminder, this series serves to document the search + practice of love in my daily life. This stems from the rollercoaster ride of 2018. I hope you enjoy this adventure with me and be sure to follow along and participate on Instagram with #loveletterstotheUniverse. Thank you for taking the time to share this experience!