an ever evolving relationship

4 Comments » // June 25th, 2009

As some of you may know, Stan (my man) and I have been going through some rough times recently.  Fortunately, it looks like we have made it through fairly unscathed.  That’s not to say that everything is perfect and that we don’t have some work to do, but who doesn’t, right?

The situation is this:  We have been together for almost 5 years and have been living together for 4 years.  In March, Stan got an AWESOME job in Florida that we thought would only last a few weeks, so he went there thinking he could fanagle it into something he could maybe do from here after a bit.  Well a few weeks has turned into a few months and as of right now, it looks like he will be there until January or so.  But it is so worth it as he is getting paid an excellent salary and it is opening the doors for so many more opportunities for him.  I am so proud of him and would never want him to sacrifice something so incredible just for me.  But the distance is hard.  We had some underlying issues and him being away sort of put them under a magnifying glass, which led to some major turmoil for a while there.  But through honestly and communication with each other, we have really worked through some of these issues and made the commitment to stay together and keep on working!  We just have so much love and respect for each other and still enjoy each other’s company so immensely…and at the end of the day, we are happier together than we are apart.

This whole thing has really developed into some major personal growth for both of us as well and I am so grateful to be partnered with someone so willing to look at his own sh*t and wanting to be a better person.  I am also seeing relationships in a whole new light and it has been interesting observing so many of my friends going through relationship turmoil and seeing how different they all are and the process each of them is going through.  It is making me realize more and more that I really do belong in the Counseling Psychology realm and that getting my MFT will be perfect for me.  I actually think I would be interested in doing couple’s counseling as well, something I had never really considered.

Anyway, I got to see Stan last weekend and it was wonderful, but hard when he left.  We are going to really try to see each other as often as we can during this time.  But we also appreciate the fact that this is a time for us to really work on ourselves more on an individual basis and to get some of our many projects done.  We both have so many incredible opportunities in front of us right now and are so busy with tons of amazing things, so I know that our time apart will go by quickly.

I would just like to thank the Universe for allowing us to have a second chance and letting us see the light before it was too late!  I truly think a lot of people either bail on relationships too soon or wait too long before truly dealing with the issues.  Relationships are mirrors to our own soul and really reflect who we are and the issues we have…maybe if we saw them more that way, and used them more to grow personally, I think people might be a lot happier in the long run.

I also have to give my wonderful Clarity Breathworker, Maggie,  some credit.  She has really been helping me through this time and clarifying so much for me.  She is the best therapist I have ever had, and I hope to be able to help people as much as she has been helping me!

linkety links 6/18/09

Comment now » // June 18th, 2009

1. I wish I didn’t have to have 200 jumps under my belt before I could go wingsuit flying.  Considering I have never jumped, I have a lot of catching up to do!
2. My friend Dez is just so damn talented.  I have a pair of her earrings, a super cute green hat, a cool entrelac cowl, an amazing crocheted necklace and another rad cowl.  Yeah I think I might actually    be  putting her through UCLA.
3. I absolutely love everything about terracycle.  I also just found out I can recycle my bottle caps with Aveda.
4. Some crazy stuff from the Michael Jackson auction collection here and here.
5. Aren’t these flower mandalas just beautiful?

for the love of dance

3 Comments » // June 10th, 2009

I just got back from Ecstatic Dance and am feeling so utterly fabulous right now…which is particularly incredible since I was sooooo not feeling that way at all today.  I was really having an emotional day so I decided to go and dance it off.  I got a monthly pass for ED recently and it was a smart move on my part, because it is making me go when I don’t think I normally would.  Every time I go, there is at least one song that just gets me going crazy….tonight there were about five!  The DJ was right up my alley, mixing a ton of hip-hop with East Indian tracks and many more inspired mixes.

I’ve also really been enjoying exploring movement again in such a free-form environment.  While I love hooping and taking specific dance classes, I just also love moving my body with however feels right at the moment and to music that is unexpected and new to me.  I find that I start playing around with different ways to move different parts of my body or how fast/slow I move to the music.  It helps if I am getting “bored” with one of the songs to all of a sudden focus on a certain body part and lead my whole dance with that.  Or to change up my whole style of dancing to that music in general.  Maybe move faster than I normally would, or slower.  Tonight I found myself moving through some really jumping songs like I was in water and keeping it really flowy and then running around and leaping and changing levels through the slower tunes.  It is so good for the nervous system to be changing it up like that and I could feel it expanding my body, mind and spirit.  I also noticed tonight that I have a tendency to turn to my left a lot.  I didn’t used to turn when I free-form danced very much until I started hooping…now hooping has changed my dancing to where I love to spin and spin even when dancing without the hoop.  But I hoop to the left mostly so I realized that I pretty much was only turning to the left when free form dancing.  So I mixed it up tonight and spun a ton to the right throughout the evening and I could feel my spine unwinding and my brain being activated on how to curve my body differently.  I could feel my hips and low back opening up too.  It was a freeing feeling not being stuck in my ruts of movement.

I am grateful to have found such a wonderful space to go to twice a week…it has brought back my love of dance and taken it to a whole new level!

yet another book I am in, but this time by choice!

Comment now » // May 29th, 2009

So I have been on a lot of book covers in my life and in a few books as well, but never by choice.  This time, I am in a book by choice and it’s something I can be proud of!

This past Fall, I had the awesome opportunity to be in the new Hooping book by Christabel Zamor and Ariane Conrad.  I was chosen to demonstrate some of the many moves pictured in the book and to also be in the DVD included with it!  It was a whole lot of fun and I was honored to be a part of it all.  The book is beautifully done with all kinds of information on the history of hooping, how it can change your life, bios of different hoopers and of course a ton of moves you can learn.  The DVD is a good workout with some basic moves.

You can buy the book here, come to the launch party in SF here, find more out about the book here and see if Christabel is coming to your city on her book tour here.

the everywhere girl diaries

1 Comment » // May 14th, 2009

I am *uber* excited to announce the upcoming Everywhere Girl Diaries!  I know that some of you probably have no idea about this whole Everywhere Girl thing, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t feel like explaining it right now.  So either check out a few posts here, here, and here, google “the everywhere girl”, check out the urban dictionary definition (Jennifer Chandra was my stage name when I was an actor in L.A.), or just ask me about it the next time you see me!  It’s a funny story.

Anyway, so I started The Everywhere Girl Blog a few years ago in response to all the hubbub that was going on, but really haven’t kept it up too much.  It always felt a little odd making it my personal blog, so I finally started this one and now have really let that one go.

But in swoops my mom, to save the day!  My mom is a writer, and an excellent one at that, so she decided that she wanted to start writing little short stories about all the adventures of EWG.  So that is what is going to start happening…you can check it more out about it here.  Be sure to subscribe to the feed or check back every week for the new posts…cuz let me tell you, you wil not want to miss these…my mom is amazing!  I am soooo excited about reading them myself since I have no idea what she is going to do!