There is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything.
Negative people find their walls. So never apologize for your enthusiasm.
Never. Ever. Never.
(Ryan Adams)

Hello & happy weekend!

This week has been filled with interesting shifts and wonderful surprises. The Twitter & blog circles I swim within are bubbling over with #reverb11 energy. I am so impressed with how the community as a whole has adapted to the change in circumstances. We happen to be quite the sparkly, resilient and supportive bunch — if I do say so myself.

Are you wondering, what the heck is a reverb? To find out, dive on in to Twitter with the #reverb11 hashtag … or read take on it here.

Are you thinking about joining #reverb11, but wondering if you are too late? The water’s a perfect temperature, and there are cups of hot chocolate in the cabin for those of you who prefer not to splash around in the winter.

Holiday vacation imagery aside, this weekend is a perfect time to get started with #reverb11. I hope to spend a few hours reading other people’s posts and connecting with new reverbers.

Do you have anything exciting planned for the weekend ahead? The following list of ideas, links, and creative weekend to-do’s are intended to inspire. Consider this a friendly reminder to seek out little delights and exceptional joys in the days ahead. I invite you to share your plans and creative to-do’s in the comments below!

mail a few sweet postcards
shop for craft supplies for DIY holiday gifts
discover a new place to find inspiration
laugh, think & have your emotions moved to tears
rise early on Sunday morning to enjoy moments of silence
clean house, do laundry & cook something colorfully delicious
celebrate a friend’s 28th birthday with drinks
recap this week’s #reverb11 mini muses
meet up with a friend for coffee
practice yoga with at lululemon

Image Credit: Untitled via SharkThe

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it.
The non-existent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.
(Nikos Kazantzakis)

I love to search the internet for creative resources. It’s one of the activities that drew me to blogging in the first place. On its best days, the internet is like an enchanted forest filled with magic, fairy dust and tons of inspiration.

Recently, I started following a fresh set of blogs. What began as an afternoon of clicking through blog rolls and subscribing in Google Reader has turned into a fascination with some incredibly talented women. The list below is comprised of business mavens, creative foodies and artfully inspirational types — many of whom fit into all three categories.

If these bloggers are new to you, peruse their sites to see if their brands of sparkle inspire you. If you’ve known about them all along, shame on you for not telling me of their brillance… just kidding! Either way, give them a lil’ love on Twitter by clicking their @names.

Creative
Oh So Beautiful Paper ~ @beautifulpaper
Journal Girl ~ @samanthakira
Oh Joy! ~ @ohjoystudio
This & That ~ @sara_

Inspired
Your Wishcake ~ @yourwishcake
enJOY it ~ @eliseblaha
Kyla Roma ~ @kylaroma
Penelope Trunk ~ @penelopetrunk

Delish
With Style & Grace ~ @WithStyleGrace
A Cozy Kitchen ~ @acozykitchen
Eat, Live, Run ~ @EatLiveRun
Simply Breakfast ~ @simplybreakfast

Image Credit: via we♥it

Monitor, engage, and be transparent;
these have always been the keys to success in the digital space.
(Dallas Lawrence)

July was a hot, summery month full of humidity, interesting opportunities and weekends away. A major highlight was when my mentor @gwenbell approached me with a simple request—while she unplugged for a month-long digital sabbatical, I was invited to send her updates (or daily digests) on the net’s happenings.

I jumped at the chance to be her eyes on the inside, and welcomed a reason to reconnect with this place I love. Since starting my new job in February, I’ve spent significantly less time online—evidence that when some of my burners are running hot, the others cool down. As a result, I have been unsatisfied with my lack of connection.

Today is Gwen’s reentry to our web society. In celebration of her homecoming, I’m sharing snippets of July’s Daily Digests:

7/2/10: Slate had a contest to see who could represent the essence of the Declaration of Independence in a single tweet.

7/3/10: Fast Company featured an interesting article about the 20% of Twitterers who are categorized as “informers”. This small group of people tweet useful information, while the rest are narcissists.

7/6/10: A smart “Happiness Flow Chart” floated around today, it’s simple and smart.

7/7/10: 8 Ways to Become More Confident + this quote:
With realization of one’s own potential & self confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world. (Dalai Lama)

7/8/10: A friendly office request, misinterpreted.

7/9/10: Fun can change behavior for the better, happy messages in chalk, and innovations in marketing.

7/12/10: Paper Tweets are the next best thing for social media gurus on sabbatical.

7/14/10: Old Spice took the social web by storm in a start-up-weekend-esque stunt.

7/15/10: What are your 7 links?

7/21/10: Daily thank-you notes… a lovely exercise in gratitude.

7/22/10: ’500 Days of Summer’ inspiration turned into romantic reality.

7/23/10: 10 Rules for Brilliant Women.

7/24/10: 10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life.

7/26/10: The State of the Internet, 5 months ago.

7/29/10: Most of the time, it’s not enough to be better. You need to be different.

These bits and bytes are a sort of time capsule of my social web safari from July. I’m thankful for the experience and am happy to have participated in a slice of Gwen’s sabbatical. After spending July logged offline and checked into real life, she’s got some serious wisdom to share.

image credit: via weheartit

Stuff happens. We dance with it.
The better & happier you dance, the better you do.
(Seth Godin)

Hello February, another turn of the calendar and a fresh new month. I disappeared last month as January flew by—you might have noticed that I rarely blogged, tweeted or connected with you lovely souls. I missed our community and am looking forward to getting back into the flow.

Some of you already know about my news from yesterday—I am excited to announce that after 2.5 years with the same company, I am moving onto bigger and better things!

Quitting my job was difficult, especially since I’m not one to retreat or give up. I knew that leaving would be a challenge, but I didn’t expect to learn so much through the process. The experience taught me about the fine line between loyalty and self-preservation. I am thrilled with my decision and will happily share more details as things progress.

With the rest of the week to myself, I am planning on cleaning my apartment, getting my haircut and enjoying some quiet time for reflection. Everyone is on their own time-line and for whatever reason, last month was at warp speed. This month, I am setting a few attainable intentions that will help me build the stage for a fantastic 2010!

Intentions for February

• revamp my wardrobe by adding a a few fantastic basics and classy accessories
• reconnect with my routine by sticking to a bedtime and working out 3 times a week
• reengage my creative juices by blogging more and indulging in artist dates

It seems as though there’s a theme around revamping, reconnecting and reengaging. Perhaps my overarching goal for February is to nurture myself with love, positive energy and productivity.

What are a few of your intentions for February? I would be so grateful if you shared how you plan on nurturing your soul during this love-filled month.

photo credit: sister72

these soul sisters live all across the map
inspiring, writing, reading
reaching out to one another

creative
yoga-doing
sparkle-loving types

i knew you were there all along

inside we’re all so similar
tiny little girls wearing tutus & soccer cleats

grown-ups now
still playing in the mud &
coloring outside the lines

(written with ♥ by me)

I have spent the last few days soaking up an overwhelming amount of inspiration from so many of you. Your comments, emails, tweets and soul hugs travel from far away—and I welcome them with open arms.

I started this blog with the hopes of connecting with kindred spirits, but I did not realize the kind of impact you would have on me. In just a few short weeks, I feel transformed. There is a new light inside me. Thank you for letting yours shine.

The poem above came to me today in a quiet moment. Immediately, I wanted to share it with you. I feel lucky to be a part of your universe. Thanks for sharing bits of your world with me.

photo credit: playwithbrushes via flickr

Take that first step.
Bravely overcoming one small fear
gives you the courage to take on the next.
(Daisaku Ikeda)

It is hard to believe that we’re well into the middle of Martha Beck’s book, The Joy Diet. It seems to me that every week I fall behind—and then I remember this is not a race.

I am beginning to accept that I won’t be implementing this diet “by the book” but rather slowly folding it into my preexisting routines. Thinking about The Joy Diet as a practice instead of a requirement has softened me in a way that is hard to describe.

Thank you for showing me that we are all on this journey together. Reading so many blogs on the same topic has helped me realize there is no right or wrong way to practice Joy.

I am living between the sentences in Beck’s narrative and discovering simple moments that were always there, even though I never noticed them before.

Yesterday was rough, but by the end of the day, I was content and happy. With your help, I found my smile. I took myself to Starbucks after work, where I enjoyed the comfort of a purple armchair and the sweet warmth of a pink Raspberry Chai Soy Latte.

The past two weeks of Creativity and Risk have blended together, and all I can say is that I am learning…

to try something different when the patterns of my actions hold me back.
to embrace mental yoga poses that make me feel uncomfortable.
to examine why some goals scare me.
to be ok with being afraid.
to know I am ok.

I am excited to enjoy treats while I continue my practice of nothing, truth, desire, creativity and risk. Thank you again for sharing your journeys, you are all the best teachers in the world.

photo credit: me

The willingness to listen and act on your inspiration
is imperative if you’re going to live the life you desire.
(Wayne Dyer)

Before I finished reading this chapter, I assumed I knew the meaning of nothing.

On the first few pages I found Martha Beck’s words, “…doing just about anything is preferable to doing nothing,” and convinced myself that I was destined for defeat – doomed to a week of 15-minute sections of required silence.

This is the problem with assumptions.

Assuming I knew something about nothing, I forced myself into stillness for a 15-minute meditation in lotus pose. I thought a personal-development book would only prescribe this version of nothing.

After completing the chapter, I realized I have been craving the nothing Beck describes. My crazy day-to-day schedule often leaves me frazzled and yearning for a lot of nothing.

My 12 years as a competitive swimmer taught me wonderful lessons on time management, perseverance, tenacity and humility. It never occurred to me that the hours I spent in the pool provided me with the quiet and stillness of nothing.

A two-hour swim practice provides a lot of time to stare at the black line at the bottom of the pool. Mostly, you are left alone in your head. When Beck recommends we calm our bodies with mindless physical activity – something clicked. I once mastered my nothing. I had a lot of it.

I am no longer fortunate to have hours of nothing built into my daily routine. However, I do have an amazing community of friends in this blog and twitter universe. I have time, resources and books like The Joy Diet. I can set aside 15 minutes a day and make a little space for nothing.

I must confess that I did not complete the task for the entire week, but this realization is a step in the right direction – forward movement towards the life I desire and the woman I wish to be.

As I move into the next chapter of our journey, I will bring my nothing along and look forward to exploring truth with you next Friday.

Serenity is not freedom from the storm but peace within the storm. -Anon

Life is full of twists and turns. You can be cruising along and before you realize it, there is a fork in the road. As a control freak, these surprise curves and bumps along the way can really throw me off course.

I have discovered that when all else fails, there are two easy ways to get me back on track – settling into my routine and remembering to be grateful.

This summer has brought with it so many reasons for gratitude:

• I discovered twitter, my unquenchable thirst for blogs, social media, and all things pretty – hence, the start of this blog
• Yoga found its way back into my life and I covered some ground on my journey to a smaller and more fit Kaileen Elise
• My mister and I took a few wonderful trips including a drive to Charlotte and IKEA, a quick pilgrimage to NYC to celebrate 1 year of love and a trip out west to Vegas/AZ
• We enjoyed a few memorable visits by out of town guests, including college buddies from Ohio and my best friend from Vegas

Life is good. It can be easy to lose sight of this fact, especially when you are plagued with a terrible head cold and your car refuses to start when you’re trying to get home from work.

When I feel like the world is swirling around me, I try to ground myself in routine and gratitude. That being said, I am committing to these small changes in the next week:

• Unpacking from Vegas and doing laundry
• Cleaning the apartment… really cleaning it
• Going to bed before 11:00 pm and waking up at 6:00 am
• Writing in my journal daily, even if it’s only a sentence
• Attending yoga class at least twice

photo credit: faramarz