What Does the N.R.A. have to do with it?

Dear brother,
        You and I have had trouble communicating since you stole my toy at the age of 18 months and our first fight ensued. We simply view the world in different ways, I react emotionally, while you react a bit more logically. I believe I tend to be a bit more optimistic, dreamy and vision board centric, while you are tech-saavy, logic based and gadget-centric. Neither of these outlooks are wrong, they just make us who we are. Colors of different people like your colors and mine are what make our world so interesting, fascinating, inspiring, enlightening and many other "ings" that I can't think of right now.
       Today tragedy befell on a place that tragedy should never befall. Too poetic? Some asshole went into an elementary school and opened fire taking 27 souls from this world, 18 of them children. As is expected in this social media world, Twitter and Facebook lit up with opinions of people asking for stricter gun control, using the hashtag #NRA and #guncontrolnow. I was one of them. I posted on Facebook and Twitter, "The NRA may not have DONE this, but they sure make it a lot easier. Please, we don't NEED a gun that can fire 100 rounds in seconds. 18 children will never breathe again, but at least you have your automatic weapons." You posted, "There is no sense to be made of this, Political views or arguments are not going to help the victims and their families right now." And on Twitter you asked me, "What does the NRA have to do with this?" And our sister replied by posting a video of Kittens, because, well, she has her own colors and way of communicating and we love her for that!
        I decided to write this because your question, "What does the NRA have to do with this?" got me thinking, do I really know why I want the NRA to back off? So I went to their website. To be honest with you, I was expecting a mission statement of sorts stating what they are about, but couldn't really find it. So I went to wikipedia, and this is what they say about the NRA. 

"The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is an American non-profit 501(c)(4) lobbying group^[1][2] that advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights, and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense in the United States."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association

All of that is fine, and from their website it looks as though they have firearm safety courses and many other educational and positive aspects of their organization. The beef I have with the NRA lies in  "The Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) which is the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association of America" Who doesn't love a good lobbying group? This lobbying arm of the NRA is the exact reason that Political views play into this argument, because the NRA has made this a political argument. They repeatedly make it easier and easier for people to obtain semi-automatic weapons. I understand that there are people in this world who love to hunt and need guns to hunt, that's fine, I personally don't find any joy or pleasure in that hobby, but I don't want to begrudge anyone of their right to hunt. However, I don't think that any hunter goes out with a semi-automatic or an automatic weapon to take out Bambi.  In fact in 2004, the NRA opposed the renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban from 1994 which prohibited many features of semi- automatic weapons, they were successful in their opposition and the ban expired.

  The bottom line is that these weapons are too easy to come by. James Holmes, the shooter in the movie theater in Colorado bought most of his weapons ONLINE, according to the Wall Street Journal, "the suspect bought four guns over the past 60 days, and over the Internet bought 3,000 rounds for an assault rifle, 3,000 rounds for Glock handguns and about 300 shotgun rounds. The suspect also had a 100-round drum-style magazine for the assault rifle that would have allowed him to fire 50 to 60 rounds a minute." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044446430457754103267932...) ON THE INTERNET, with the click of a button, he bought all of that ammunition.  It's just too easy to get your hands on.

    Things need to change, something has to give. It's been over 10 years since the Columbine tragedy and we're STILL having this conversation. What can we do? How can we fix this? How do we make sure that this stops happening? We have to try something different, can't we try the one thing we haven't yet? Stricter gun control. Psych-evaluations for people who want guns. If we just made the process of obtaining weapons a little bit harder maybe we would see less violence of this sort? We won't know until we try.

    I have never liked guns and I probably never will. They freak me out. You often hear, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Well, if a gun didn't have the ability to fire bullets at a high rate of speed that tear through bone, skin, human organs, blood vessels, and teeth, sometimes exploding on the inside, or sometimes exiting a body and lodging in a wall, I would say perhaps that argument holds some weight. If a crazed person wants to kill some people chances are they are probably going to kill some people, but its a lot easier to stop a person wielding a knife, a hammer, a handgun, then it is to stop someone who is shooting an assault rifle that shoots 50-60 rounds in a MINUTE. Guns were developed when we needed to hunt for survival, to protect us from war. It's time to evolve beyond needing or allowing the use of guns. A human life has to become more precious than your right to bear arms, or history is doomed to repeat itself over and over again.

     Guns shouldn't launch such emotional arguments, people should not be so attached to their guns and their right to shoot things, animal or human, that when 18 innocent children lose their lives they are more concerned with their right to continue shooting instead of the rights that those 18 children will never have again, the right to live, breathe and go to school in a safe environment.

Love,
Your Sister

Why not just do it?

Instead of asking myself what's with the no blogging? I figured, why not just do it?

My issue is that I think long and hard about what I want to write, what I want to say and how it can affect the world. . .  which I think is getting way ahead of myself. Why not just write?

I am normally not one to watch the news, yet yesterday I couldn't seem to turn it off as I watched the powerful weather that was Hurricane Sandy make landfall in NYC. My sister lives in Willamsburg and I wanted to make sure that she was okay, but the images of cars floating in parking garages and water flooding the subway system are too unbelievable to turn off. At least all of those movie directors and screenwriters who had to hear, "That would never happen." or " That movie was so unrealistic, water flooding the subway?! No way." are now all sitting smuggly in their damp homes going, "I told you so."

I am thoroughly amazed that people are even still talking about the election. Granted its in one week and this is supposed to be closing argument time, but COME on people. You think President Obama actually has time to stop and think about his election right now? When millions of people without power, millions of people are trapped on an island and fatalities are being reported hourly that he is going to stop and say, aww man, I wish I was stumping in Ohio right now.  That is not the kind of President I want, nor the kind of President that we need. Thankfully, Obama sprung into action and is already offering Federal aid to the states affected by this weather. If Romney were President we'd spend days waiting for Private companies to make the best bid before sending anyone in with aid.

I long for the day when humanity trumps economy. . . Trump, blech, he's gross,  just check out his Twitter feed about how the hurricane is good luck for Obama and will help buy him the election.

The best news coming out of New York and the hard hit areas is that there has been no looting, no crime and no violence. Instead, reports are flowing in of kindness and generosity offered to those in need. Focus on that, focus on the love, the open hearts, the kindness from strangers and our world will grow up to be the world that everyone knows we can be.

Sending out love, light, peace, an open heart, and good thoughts to everyone in the storms path, whether you're dealing with destruction or bracing for rain.

Stay safe, stay warm, stay hugged.

What's with the absence from blogging?

What's with the absence from creating?
What's with the absence from writing?
Why is it that we go through these dry spells if you will?
Why is it that I will sit down and watch TV for a few hours and beat myself up while doing it because I'd rather be writing? (I'm very flexible)
What is it in me that loves to self sabotage?
Am I really just too hard on myself sometime, hey, I said sometime, not all of the time?
I can go through dry spells and then I can go through amazing bursts of creative inspiration.
Lately, I can get a burst of creative inspiration and not be able to write through the inspiration.
It's almost like there are so many ideas that I can't filter and focus on one, so I don't focus on any.

This is a sure-fire way to remain in this status quo of life that I have created and I have to tell you and me, me, are you listening? I won't stand for this. I won't stand for the status quo. Life is too short, life is too much fun and there's too much of everything to explore to sit inside beating myself up for not doing what my soul is craving to do. Craving to create. Craving to inspire. Craving to conquer success. Craving to make people laugh. Craving to find bliss in every, single, solitary, PRESENT moment.

I am.

Celebrating my Freedom of Movement, Health and Wellness!

Today marks the One Year Anniversary of when I suffered a trimalleolar fracture of my left ankle. I was home in Colorado for a good friends wedding and was able to celebrate the 4th of July with my family! I usually work on the 4th of July, I usually don't bother too much with plans for the 4th. . . I enjoy, the 4th, but its not usually high on my list of MUST celebrate.  As we relaxed in the backyard of my parents, hanging in our above ground pool, I was extra careful because I had a callback for a TIDE commercial the next day that I was so excited about. I was wearing a hat, had on extra sunscreen, just relaxing and enjoying the day. Breaking a bone NEVER crossed my mind.

We were messing around with a Slip n Slide that my sister had bought over Memorial Day weekend, we were being silly, doing somersaults, cartwheels, sliding on our feet . . . this was my downfall, I did a cartwheel, jumped and slid on my feet, somewhere in that process my ankle decided, eh, not gonna stand for that. I have never experienced pain like that, nor do I want to experience that every again. If I sit and recall the event I can actually feel the emotions, the pain and the panic that I felt that day. Don't worry, I only tried it once. . . like I said, I don't want to experience that again.

A year later, what did I learn?

This last weekend I was in Yosemite and as I scrambled up a creek, over rocks, headed towards an awesome waterfall, I had to take a moment to say Thank You. Thank you to the marvels of Modern Medicine, thank you to my body for its incredible healing power and thank you for forcing me to make this realization. . .

I Love, Honor and respect my freedom of Movement, Health and Wellness so much more than I did before!

I never realized before I couldn't walk, just how much I love walking. It sounds ridiculous, but its something that I know we all take for granted. I knew that I loved dancing, I knew that I loved swimming, I just didn't know that I LOVE the ability to walk around the block, loved the ability to carry a plate from the kitchen to the living room, and loved the ability to wear two shoes that match.

I learned that no matter what happens my family is going to be there for me. My parents both flew out to California and spent more than a week with me, taking care of me, making sure I was okay. My Mom was nice enough to fly with me to California so I could shoot a short film I had booked before. I was able to do the shoot on crutches, with a still broken ankle (we had to wait for the swelling to go down before we could do the surgery, so it was ACTUALLY still broken at this time). I made the decision to do the film because it felt like a very important thing that I had to do. It was statement to myself more than to anyone else that nothing was going to get in the way of my dreams and that I would be an actress no matter what. By far, this shoot was one of the hardest things that I've ever done. I tried not to take my pain pills so my head was clear enough to act, but thinking about it today and how hard it was, I'm not sure that I would or could do it again. I've also yet to see the finished product of this film, which is beyond frustrating, but happens more than you would ever think in the Indie film making world

They supported me financially, emotionally and in every way possible and I will forever be grateful for their help, love and support. Not to mention the incredible speed, knowledge, grace and love with which I was whisked from a wet slip n slide, splinted with a blow up toy and some duct tape, a borrowed dress slipped over my head, a make shift chair carried me to the car that was waiting with pillows and all, ONLY to discover later at the hospital that my cousin Liberty had the wherewithal to grab a change of clothes for me before we left. My family are THE people to be around in a crisis!

I have a greater respect and love for my body and the incredible machine that it is. I went to Cardio Barre this morning to celebrate that one year later I am able to do most all of the things I did before I broke my ankle. While I was there I decided that I would spend the next four months working out often, going on long walks, taking care of the miraculous instrument that my body is and celebrating my freedom of movement. Four months is the length of time that I was on crutches, unable to put weight on my foot and frustrated.

Happy 4th of July. I hope you take some time today to remember all of the freedoms you take for granted everyday.

Love! Elizabeth

21 Days of Financial Freedom --- Shattering how to Shift Your Thinking. . .

I've lost count on what day I'm supposed to be on . . . oops. No worries, I am just going to keep going.

One thing that has always suffered due to my financial rollercoaster is my commitment to working out and eating right. When I feel secure in my finances and have enough money, I am pretty consistently working out. I love Cardio Barre classes. They are an amped up ballet class that is a total body workout, low impact, core strengthening, great cardio workout! They never get easy, you get stronger, but because your body is the main weight you're working out with, you continue to find the workout challenging. I'm never bored and it makes me feel like a dancer again. I LOVE dancing. (Something else I don't do enough of because I don't have the money to take classes)

The other day I had an AHA moment. There is one thing I typically don't even think twice about spending money on; eating out and drinking alcohol. Which in all honesty usually isn't something that's all that good for me. I don't make great choices when I eat out. Throw a few glasses of wine down my gullet (I just used the word gullet and wine in one sentence) and my choices in food selection get even worse. The next day I feel terrible about my choices, beat myself up and want to go workout. But, I don't. I can't afford it remember?

 Here's the aha moment. . . what if I took that money I used on eating poorly and drinking wine to pay for exercise classes? I can easily spend upwards of $50 a week eating out and drinking, so why not shift that money to Cardio Barre classes? At $16 a pop that easily covers 3 classes at Cardio Barre.  3 times a week at CB would be ideal and it would be hard, but I would be able to regain the muscle I lost being injured pretty quickly.  I would feel better about myself, my skin would glow, I'd have more energy and I'd be in a great mood which would ultimately all magnetize more money, better opportunities and acting gigs into my world. . . a brilliant little circle that seemed like a vicious cycle before!

Can we talk for a moment about the cost of eating healthy? It's an argument we hear over and over that the reason some people are overweight is because they simply can't afford to buy healthy things. My number one argument to this has become Quinoa. Have you ever MADE quinoa? It's super simple, easy and delicious, not to mention has a ton of protein and great nutrients in it. . . but number one. . . a CUP of quinoa makes a ridiculous amount.  You can usually get 2-3 cups out of a package that costs $3.99.  Though once its made it provides almost double that. If I had a large family that I was struggling to feed you can guarantee that I would be making that frequently. There are a few other things I can think of that would be easy to supplement into your life that are easy to make as well as provide lots of nutrition. Lentils. Black Beans.

One of my favorite easy to make and delicious to eat meals can be made in under 10 minutes. I take a medium sized saucepan, toss in a can of Black Beans, Broccoli Florets, tomatoes, chopped asparagus, chopped onion, and any other vegetables I have and want to use. Stir it up. Put a lid on it and cook at a medium heat for 5-8 minutes. The lid provides a little bit of steam which softens the vegetables and mixes the flavors together! Done. High in protein and nutrients from veggies.

There really are no reasons to not eat healthy and work out, just excuses.

I read "Crazy, Sexy, Diet" by Kris Carr recently and in it she said, "Think of yourself at a young age, as an impressionable child. How would you treat that child if you were its parent? Of course you would want to feed that child the best food, make sure they got a lot of sunshine, slept enough at night and drank enough water." I'm paraphrasing, but when I read that it just made so much sense. I will definitely be taking better care of my inner child as well as my exterior adult self. It just makes life so much easier!

Anyone want to do a 21 day adventure cleanse with me? Starting soon! Pick up your copy of Kris Carr's "Crazy, Sexy, Diet" and get ready!! It's an ADVENTURE cleanse! Just sounds fun!

21 Days of Financial Freedom ~ Shattering Resistance to Change

Day 5, 6 annnnnnnnnnddddd 7.

So, it's been 3 days. 3 days since I was going to write everyday. . . and Its been three days since my last blog. Sure, I've been busy, picking up extra shifts, catching up on money and working on being better with my money.

I am in resistance.
I am in resistance to this process and there's a part of me that's in resistance to moving forward in my life. Why?

This is not a new thing for me, I've felt myself do this before. I can recognize this. It's manifested in me losing 40 lbs and becoming a size 8, close to hitting my goal of a size 6, and then I get off track and find myself lingering around a 12 again. I was going to say that was probably because I broke my ankle and couldn't work out, but that just feels like an excuse now. And not a good one.

So, here I am in resistance to looking at my accounts every day and jotting down how this journey is going. The string of hits continue to come and I can't imagine how much more can happen. I can't seem to stop the snowball of bad luck. Just this morning I had to replace a tire on my 1 year old car because there was a massive bolt in it just off the side of the treads, a place they can't repair the tire. . . This is the second tire I've had to replace in the last two months. . . adding itself to the list of expenses that I can't really seem to get on top of lately.

I've been focusing on my lack of abundance and money a LOT lately and as someone who believes that my thoughts create my life, I better get a hold of the runaway negativity before it gets worse. How do you change your perspective when you're feeling stressed about money? Do you have any tips, hints or ideas? Forcing yourself to focus on the good in your life?

Maybe for the remainder of this experiment I will try the "Gratitude and Grateful List" at night? You know, the one where before you go to bed you make a list of ten things you're grateful for and three things that went right in your day?

That sounds like a plan. Starting now.

10 Things I'm grateful for.
1. My supportive family.
2. My rad, sexy 2011 Black Honda Civic.
3. The cute, quaint, adorable 2 bedroom house I rent in Los Feliz, a kick ass, creative, walkable neighborhood.
4. My ability to walk.
5. A job that provides me with health insurance.
6. A new job with Wine and Canvas that is bringing joy to people's lives and meeting new friends.
7. A loving boyfriend.
8. Great friends who can provide tough love and unending support.
9. The success of my short film.
10. My creative ability to write.

3 Things that have gone well today so far:
1. I got my hair done in order to look good for the Indie Spirit Film Festival.
2. I took my little dog Audrey for a 40 minute walk.
3. I wrote this blog.

That actually does make me feel better. Finished up with an affirmation from Jack Plotnick:

I release and destroy my need to feel unworthy. I know that I am worthy of all the good in life and now lovingly allow myself to accept it. As I repeat this affirmation my outer effect of procrastination fades away and I no longer feel the need to delay my own good.

21 Days of Financial Honesty -- Shattering Integrity and Your Money

Day 3 and Day 4.

So easy to slide back into old patterns, that's why I'm doing this for 21 days, because they say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I did not look at my account yesterday. Doh. Nothing catastrophic happened, but its something I want to put into practice everyday. Not only does it give me more control over my money, but it also allows me to make sure that no one has committed fraud with my Debit card #. Apparently Visa just had a bunch of credit card numbers stolen because just a few days ago I got a new debit card in the mail just in case my # was one of the stolen cards. Looking at my account everyday enables me to make sure that there are no transactions on my account that I did not make. I was actually a victim of fraud earlier this year and luckily the Credit Union was on top of it and called me, right away, on a Sunday to double check and see if I've made three purchases at the KMart in Valencia. To which I would like to say to the people who committed the fraud and copied my debit card, Don't be an IDIOT. . . three purchases in one place, one right after the other is a RED FLAG. . .  sheesh. At least they're morons.

I have recently made the realization that I can not generate abundance in my life if its not on the up and up. That's where the integrity part of this blog comes in today. In 2007 and 2008 I went to a shady tax man. Everyone at my work had utilized him and some had been audited, but it didn't seem like a big deal. I chose to use him for those tax years because I work at a high end restaurant and we used to get paid in cash. While we reported all of the money we made, there was never enough to take out of our paychecks, which consisted only of the hourly $8.25 rate we made for the 25- 30 hours a week we worked. In order to avoid having to pay taxes I went to a shady tax man. BAD CALL. I now know that if my brain knows its not in integrity I will create problems for myself.

I was audited and am currently paying back over $4000 that I owe to the IRS and the State of California for those years. Here's the thing, it just wasn't worth it. I only got back maybe $600 one of the years and not much more the others. To be honest if I had ended up paying the taxes that i owed it probably would have been a fraction of the money I'm now paying back, but a scorned IRS does not like to play nice. I tried to argue with them for a few years and after sending endless amounts of paperwork back and forth I finally caved and said, forget it, its worth more of my peace of mind to simply straighten it out.

The tax man was not without fault because besides taking some crazy deductions, that I just didn't pay attention to . . . once again, checked out, disconnected and just HOPING that things would pan out. . . I also think he made a mistake on one of the years and somehow counted my income as $88,000 instead of $44,000. No matter how many times I asked about it he never really understood what I was saying.

Perhaps I could have gone a different route and hired a tax attorney to help me work it out, but like I said after the two year battle and then constant self-punishment for using a shady tax man I just resolved myself to owning up to it and paying it back.

A lesson learned that I won't soon forget. If its not in integrity, even if it seems lucrative in the moment and I could desperately use the money, I probably shouldn't do it, because inevitably its going to come back and bite me in the arse.

21 Days of Financial Honesty - Shattering the Overdraft Fees

Day 2. Financial Honesty.

Overdraft fees.

They make no sense to me. Overdraft fees were something I got when I first moved to Los Angeles and I was struggling to make ends meet and Wells Fargo were complete asses that charged an arm and a leg for each one. I quickly got my act together, left Wells Fargo, joined a credit union and vowed never again.

To my alarm, as I was gathering my deductions for my taxes I noticed an alarming number at the bottom of my Statement. There at the bottom was a "Year to Date- Overdraft Fee" box. I thought hmmm, I don't remember getting too many. . . shouldn't be that bad. . . $1000. I had over $1000 in Overdraft Fees last year. Do you KNOW how much I could USE $1000 right now?!

To my chagrin this year has begun much in the same way. I vowed to stop getting overdraft fees in 2012 but my year has not started off that great. I don't know what I was thinking, but in a weird, roundabout way, I thought it was better to pay my bills on time, and just accrue the fees if I didn't have quite enough in my account to cover them. WHAT THE HELL? Most of the late fees on my bills are $15. Here I was getting things paid in a responsible manner but paying a $25 Overdraft Fee at the same time instead of just getting a $5-$15 late fee on the bill. Most of the time if I call the people I owe money to, they just make a note of it, charge the late fee and they wait for the money to show up.

Also, I hate Overdraft FEES and I think they are mean and do NOTHING to help people who are perhaps struggling to get by. I get it, from a business point of view, but I think they've gotten a little out of hand. I think they are strictly a way for Credit Union's and Banks to make money off of people for NOW GOOD REASON. Most of the time they create a greater problem. This last month, I had to pay my $300 car bill three weeks late because I didn't have the money, but over the last month I was charged about $250 in Overdraft fees! That's almost enough to pay the car bill!!! AHHHHH!! In money I will NEVER GET BACK!!!

Don't even get me started on the vicious circle of debt that they can create. Watch my video blurb to hear more.

Now that we've ranted. . . What can I do in my new found Financial honesty to stop getting late fees. STOP spending money that I don't have. Wait until I have the money to pay the bill or get a money order when I have the money and that way, it gets deducted from my account without having to wait for checks to clear or the dust to settle on all pending transactions. I mentioned in my blog yesterday that a lot of this had to do with not keeping track of the money I had spent in my checking account. BIG no, no that I will never do again. I downloaded a simple app on my iPhone called, iCash Tracker to act as an electronic cash register and tell me how much money I ACTUALLY have to spend. I hope this solves my problem because I HATE giving credit unions and banks my money for NOTHING> NOTHING> NOTHING. There are so many amazing places I could go and things I could buy if I just saved that money and never got another Overdraft Fee in my life.

I'm done getting fees. What about you? Have you sworn fees out of your life? Join me won't you, though the execs at your bank might not be too happy, the money you have left over for a massage will definitely be worth it.

21 Days of Financial Honesty - Will the SECRET be my downfall?

My financial life is in shambles. It is falling apart. I am fully and completely to blame.

I am a 32 year old woman who prides herself on her ability to work a "support while I make it" job as I chase my dream of being a working actress in film and television. I fully, 100% believe that I create my own reality. . . so how did I end up here?

Here begins Day ONE of 21 Days of Financial Honesty.
First the facts . . .
I am 32 years old.
I work a pretty good job at a swanky restaurant in West Hollywood that has health insurance.
I lease a sweet 2011 Honda Civic.
I have $50 in my savings account.
I live pay check to pay check.
I rent a 2 bedroom, 1 bath Craftsman house in a really great neighborhood of Los Angeles that I rent with a roommate.
I have $8,000 in credit card debt.
I owe the IRS $3000 because I was audited a few years back.
I had to ask my parents for money.
I am 32 years old. 

I have never been in a financial situation that I was seriously worried about. I'm a little bit worried now. So, what happened? How did I get here? I have lived for 10 years in Los Angeles supporting myself and my dream. I've been blessed in the job department, though the two restaurants that I've worked at are restaurants and not acting gigs as I would like, they are pretty easy gigs, which provided me with a stable (ish) income, great friends and health insurance. The last few years I've been able to work 25-30 hours a week, taking vacation whenever I want to and leaving my days open for auditions.

Why now? Why does this all feel like the world is crashing around me now? Let's be honest, I haven't had the greatest year, struck down by a broken ankle, I was on disability for 6 months, which, while it provided a pretty good income, it did not cover all of my bills. Turns out I have a pretty high overhead.

I am going to blog about this for 21 days as I examine WHAT HAPPENED? How did I get here? What can I do? and How can I fix it?

NUMBER ONE ---- IGNORE IT and it WILL GO AWAY. . . .
This does not actually work in the financial world. As I mentioned previously I believe in the power of the mind to create your own reality, however, the risk of the SECRET is that its almost impossible to believe you have unending streams of abundance if you can't afford to go out to dinner, buy a new dress when you want to, put gas in your car, you get the idea. There is no one in the world who has such control over their thoughts so much so that you can attract abundance as you pray that your car makes it home on the remaining gas fumes you have. ESPECIALLY since they say your feelings are the number one attractor to creating your world.

I have a horrible habit on NOT looking at the reality of my finances. LITERALLY, looking at my bank account. So, for the next 21 days. I vow to ACTUALLY look at my bank account, everyday, online, so I KNOW what's in there, what I can spend and to make sure that no one else has stolen my debit card and went on a free for all at the KMARTS up in Valencia, which happened to me earlier this year. It really has been one hell of a year.

I also vow to keep track of all of the purchases I have made on my debit card. Remember the good old days when you wanted to access your bank account you had to actually write a check and then while you were standing in line at the grocery store you could fill out the Check register and write down how much money you spent? Each week you could sit down and subtract all of those transactions and know exactly how much you spent? Do you know how long it took me to remember that that thing was called a "Check Register"? Because we don't use them anymore. . . well, maybe some people do. I downloaded a free app on my iPhone called iCASH TRACKER. ALL it does is track the money in my bank account, I input a starting amount, track when I use my debit card and deposit money and it keeps a running tally for me. So I know that if my landlord hasn't cashed the rent check yet, I ONLY have $50 left to spend, not the $1000 that I THINK I have. . .

Which leads me to rack up an embarrassing amount of OVERDRAFT FEES . . . which I will blog about tomorrow.

What about you? How's your financial health these days? We spend so much time focusing on our physical health and the health of the nation, but how's your FINANCIAL health? Are you able to actually attract abundance into your world because you have control of your finances? I'm so jealous of you if you are and aspire to be just like you.

The other day I got an email from Danielle LaPorte the author of Fire Starter Sessions and someone who KNOWS how to create abundance. According to her website she used to book personal one on one coaching sessions with people for $1000 an hour. This is a woman who knows her value and has her finances worked out! Her Burning Question of the day was, What's the best piece of advice you've been given. . . it boiled down to this.

"When you 'think' it's a crisis, you've got to ask yourself: is any of this going to matter in three years?" Then you do what you got to do.

When I think about this financial crisis I'm pretty sure it won't even register in three years.  But you can be damn sure that I'm going to do what I got to do.




Check out more of her brilliance at www.daniellelaporte.com

Have you looked at your account online today? I have.

Shattering what Happened to Integrity, Virtue and the Value of Your Word?!

Yesterday on my drive home from work I was listening to the news on NPR. They were talking about the verdict that was reached in the Dharun Ravi trial, the former Rutgers student who used a webcam to watch and broadcast his roommate, Tyler Clementi's romantic night with another man. Shortly after doing this, Tyler Clementi jumped off a bridge to his death. It's becoming an all too familiar story about bullying and gay students giving up on themselves and choosing to end their lives.

The report said that Ravi had sent Tweets and text messages to fellow students when his roommate asked to be alone in the room, expressing his disgust with his roommates choice to make out with another man. In a Twitter post, Ravi wrote, "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into Molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." He then used the webcam to invite others to video chat him and check out the action themselves as he streamed live from the webcam again. All of this is horrific enough, leading to the fact that it drove Tyler to commit suicide is even more heartbreaking. The thing that struck me the most about this story is that as the reporter wrapped it up they said that Ravi's parents whisked him out of the courtroom, showing no emotion, and that they will be appealing the verdict.

APPEAL the VERDICT?! How can you possibly? What happened to Integrity? To Virtue? To the Value of your word? Ravi was found guilty by a jury, and there were great amounts of physical evidence that he did all of the things he was accused of. There are text messages, Tweets and evidence that he attempted to delete the damning evidence after Tyler committed suicide. What happened to owning up to a mistake? To saying, I'm sorry, I messed up and to actually facing the consequences of your actions? If its printed in black and white that you actually did these things, you actually wrote all of these hateful things, encouraged others to do the same and it ended in an unfortunate way, WHY WOULD YOU THEN TRY TO APPEAL the sentence? You DID all of these things.

I don't think that Ravi alone is to blame here. What happened to all of the other people in the world willing to stand up for what's right? What happened to his friend Molly that was in the room when he streamed the live webcam? What were all of those students thinking who tuned in to watch? How is it possible that no one thought that Tyler deserved defending? The breach of privacy alone should have triggered some personal alarms for these college kids shouldn't they? Is this the society that we live in now? Is this what happens when every personal moment is recorded for the entire world to see on FB and Twitter? That a breach of privacy like this seems like its a run of the mill, everyday occurrence? Like violence in video games and movies are we becoming desensitized to how people should be treated? The basic right that what happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors and not just in Vegas?

There are so many systems that failed here. As fashion, TV and movies throw back to the retro age, a simpler time, I encourage everyone to remember what Integrity is. To remember what it was to be virtuous. To value your word.  I know that its not popular to speak out against your peers but its time to make these old fashioned values hip again.

Find a way to marry that in your life and then we can worry about whether or not the gays will ruin the sanctity of marriage, because from where I'm standing right now, basic human decency is more important than the sanctity of marriage. It's time to go back to standing up for what's right and speaking up when you see something that is not.

integrity |inˈtegritē|
noun
1 the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness : he is known to be a man of integrity.

virtue |ˈvər ch oō|
noun
1 behavior showing high moral standards : paragons of virtue. See note at goodness .
• a quality considered morally good or desirable in a person : patience is a virtue.

value |ˈvalyoō|
noun
1 the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance or preciousness of something : your support is of great value.

Here's a link to a news article referencing what I'm talking about.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/dharun-ravi-guilty-invasion-privacy-counts-rutgers-spying-case-article-1.1040776

Shattering The Waiting Game

The Waiting Game. Sounds fun. Its a game, why wouldn't a game be fun? What is it about waiting that stifles all creation?

I am well versed in creation. I am well versed in manifestation. I know that if I'm waiting for something to happen that it will never happen because the simple act of waiting for something to happen places it in the future, forever in the future. An endless cycle of waiting.

Yet, here I sit. At my desk . . . waiting. What am I waiting for you ask?

Today I am waiting . . .

 . . . to hear if we got into any other film festivals with our short "Just Like the Movies".
. . . to get paid on Friday so I can pay my bills, attend a workout class, put gas in my car.
. . . for my ankle to heal so I can work out and lose weight, get to the goal I've wanted to get to for a LONG time.
 . . . for it to be 5:00, time to go to my "support while I make it" job.
. . . for my agent to call me with an audition.
. . .  for inspiration to strike.
. . . for the life I know I'm destined to live, that I continually reassure people I know is going to happen, that I so WANT to happen, to actually start happening.

Truth be told, I live a pretty good life. I live in a great little house that I rent, have an adorable little dog, a job that provides me with a pretty good living, some amazing travel experiences, great dinners, I have my creativity, my writing, acting, singing, my health, I am part of a supportive, loving family.

You know what some of it is? I get a small amount of success, my acting career begins to move forward and I halt it. Last weekend, a short I co-wrote, co-produced and acted in, "Just Like the Movies" made its debut at the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, NV. We won "Best Nevada Film", that's the section we were entered in because one of our producers lives in Nevada and we shot it in Vegas! We were called up on stage and accepted the award and I began to feel like a "real" actress. Not that awards equal being a real actress, but the entire experience of attending the festival, participating in a press conference, the Q and A afterward, all of those things are a part of the world I am forever hovering on the edge of. . . and I have a horrible pattern of putting on the brakes whenever I get close to where I want to be.

Paul Lirette and I participate in the Press Conference

Why would I do this? After some soul searching, meditation, etc, the closest thing I can come up with is that I am afraid that my success will equal people not liking me and if there is one thing that Elizabeth Mihelich doesn't like, it's NOT being liked. I can't stand it. It's just in me. I have grown over the years and have a much better grasp on this now. I can recognize that people who don't like me or resonate with me are probably not meant to be a part of my life. The little girl inside of me just feels a heart breaking loneliness at not being good enough. Where would that come from?

I have a distinct memory of an awards ceremony in elementary school, you know the one where the whole school sits on the floor and parents line the walls with cameras waiting anxiously for their kids names to be called. I remember winning an award for excellence in English, and then one in Science, and then one in something else, I won so many awards I wasn't able to get back to my seat before my name was called again. I was a very good student. I wanted to do well and I usually did. I remember being proud of what I accomplished, I remember thinking, yes, this is what I'm supposed to do. After the ceremony though kids weren't nice to me. I was teased, made fun of, and just generally made to feel bad for being so good. Success = people not liking you.
 

Having the revelation one day of this memory made me realize WHY I keep sabotaging myself. A psychic friend described it to me earlier as me standing in front of a wall built of Styrofoam blocks. It could be simply blown over, but there I stand in front of it, afraid to move, negotiating with it, talking to it, when all I have to do is . . . breathe.

I guess the question is . . . do I have the courage to exhale?