Simple Kind of Life

I recently saw the interview that Oprah did with Tom Shadyac, the director of big time comedies like The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Tom Shadyac is an interesting guy with some pretty awesome ideas around the nature of human beings and how to reach true happiness. Tom previously lived in a mansion in California that consisted of 17 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, huge kitchen, you get the idea. He talked about how in everyone's eyes he had reached much success but Tom was still unhappy. He was overwhelmed with all the people he to employ just to manage his large estate -- pool manager, kitchen manager, tennis court manager, etc. He said, " I needed a manager to manage all my managers." So what did Tom do? He left that life behind and bought only what he needed. The idea behind his philosophy is humans should only take what they need, just like animals. What did Tom need? He needed a double-wide mobile home, a nice mobile home, but just a mobile home. After watching the video tour of his home, I saw how nice it was, and how few belongings he had. Stepping into his closet he said, "I haven't gone clothes shopping in like 10 years." I was amazed but inspired by his lack of needing things. Tom basically said what defines happiness for each person is different, just don't take more than you need. For Tom, happiness was riding his bike, making more time for play, spending less time managing a lifestyle that was more than he needed. Tom also bought another mobile home which serves as his office. His team meets there and it had a nice eco-friendly feel. After reading up on Tom and his recently released file, I AM, I have to say, I'm taking a bigger look at what I need and not taking more than I need. I think the US is especially bad about doing this, as if owning more stuff proves to everyone else how much happier we are. I also watched an old episode of Oliver's Twist, Jamie Oliver's cooking show before he got famous and started a Food Revolution. I thought about this ideas around food as well. As Jamie is shopping, he is buying fresh ingredients, better quality food, then driving off to his simple home on his Vespa. Europeans seem to value quality vs. quantity so much more than Americans. We seem to speed through everything we do, including buying conveinance foods, and not make time for relaxation and play. When I am on my computer I am likely listening to a song, talking to Josh, yelling at the girls, and working. Not only am I less productive when I am like this, I hardly enjoy any of these things on their own. I like listening to music but it's not as nice if I don't get to pay attention to the lyrics. I like talking with Josh, but it's hard to carry on a valuable conversation when I'm so distracted. Being purposeful about what I'm doing and working towards more simplicity, seems to make a lot of sense for me. I've been thinking about changes I want to make in my life that will allow me to achieve this purposeful life. Eating good quality foods, enjoying the process of making something not rushing towards the end, slowing down to do something right, spending time doing the things that make me happy. As we have started building towards our next steps -- buying a home -- I'm keeping this in mind. Just because we can afford something, doesn't mean we need it.

Travels

I've been traveling quite a bit the last couple of months. In February I traveled to Philadelphia for work to begin working on my SAP certification. Following my training I met a friend that recently moved to Pennsyvlania for a weekend in New York City. It was my first time to NYC and I loved it. I didn't love the walking but everything else was great. I always thought NYC would be overwhelming and scary but it really wasn't. We stayed in Times Square and learned to use the subway. We traveled all over the city and had a great time exploring; we also saw Phantom on Broadway (very good). While there, I learned that Magnolia Bakery cupcakes really are as good as they are described, the John Lennon Imagine Memorial at Strawberry Fields in Central Park isn't very big, the FAO Swartz, shown in the movie BIG, is kinda lame, people in NYC are skinny because they have to walk so much, the Algonquin Hotel is really small and I don't know how Dorothy Parker and the Roundtable fit in such a small space, NYC in general is full of small spaces (another reason people are skinny in NYC), people are actually pretty nice and helpful, and I hope to return soon. Philadelphia on the other hand was a nightmare traffic and I really didn't care for it all that much. Last week I went to Las Vegas for a conference and Josh managed to join me the first part of the trip. We saw Eric Clapton in concert, got front row seats to see David Copperfield, and also caught Zumanity, the sensual Cirque de Soleil show. I think I enjoyed Zumanity the most. Eric Clapton was my pick but I really didn't care for the crowd and he was a bit boring in his performance. By day 4 I was ready to leave Vegas but Josh was just leaving and I had a whole week to go left alone. I have to say, Vegas is not my kind of place. It's full of superficial people, businesses, etc. The smoking, the drunk people, the fakeness in the way people behaved, it just wasn't for me. I think I could probably enjoy it in small stretches but never 8 days again!

New Year

2011 arrived with me tucked safely and warmly under the covers. We were invited to a party but I just wasn't in the party mood. I didn't (and still don't) want to say goodbye to 2010. I don't want to say, my dad died last year.

Instead we watched Going the Distance with Drew Barrymore and real life boyfriend, Justin Long. It was a cute movie with several laugh out loud moments. We also drank a little wine and attempted to relax. The relax thing hasn't been going so well for me lately.

Today was a little bit better of a day -- Mom and I finally got to spend some time together, just the two of us. We did a little shopping. I got several new sweaters and some bath stuff. I used some of my giftcards and ordered some cds that I want from Barnes & Noble. I've really gotten into the Bluegrass/Folk stuff lately. I ordered Justin Townes Earle's newest album, Harlem River Blues and The Garden by Ruth Moody. I also bought a book on mushrooms called Mushroom Miscellany. It has some really whimsical mushroom photos which I think are great.

The girls are at their mom's tonight so Josh and I are just going to hang out and maybe watch some Glee. Everyone keeps saying how good it is, we thought we'd check it out ourselves.