Recipes for a Gourmet Nap

When Coco Chanel declared that she stayed in most nights to avoid bad wine and bad conversation, she had good reason. A Goddess needs to withdraw from the madness of urban living to enjoy an evening or an afternoon of rest. You need time to let thoughts settle, to have strokes of genius and deep quiet reflection. You need this time to get in touch with the real and authentic you, without responsibilities, give yourself freedom to dance, dream and to chill-out to your heart’s content.

Learn To Do Nothing
We are all guilty of biting off more than we can chew, doing too much and subsequently running on empty. When we are under stress, be it stuck in a traffic jam or on a job interview, our bodies undergo physiological changes. Andrenaline races throughout our veins, raising our cortisol levels – one of the main stress hormones. Eventually, our adrenal glands can become fatigued. This causes a depletion of thyroxin (a hormone that controls our metabolism), which leaves us feeling very un-Goddesslike and even ill. Being constantly productive can be extremely unproductive. We must learn to do nothing and value time to rest, lounge and goof-off.

Goof-off, lounging and relaxing ideas:

1) Take your coffee and the newspaper back to bed with you on Sunday
2) Have a cup of tea in your yard late at night, looking at the stars
3) Sit outside and listen to the birds
4) Drive to the closest body of water and put your feet in
5) Go to a nearby playground and play on the swings
6) Go to an observation point or scenic overlook
7) Go shell-hunting on a beach
8) Pick up bubbles and pinwheels at the five-and-dime
9) Sit on your porch or in your open window and breathe in fresh air.
10) Compose a personal ad
11) Set up a hammock and lay in it

Sleeping is Essential
While you sleep, a complex physiological process is taking place. Sophisticated sequences of brain waves rejuvenate your mind and body. Surrendering to slumber does more than just avoid fatigue; sleep is essential to your health and well-being.
Insomnia
If you are a perfectionist, you might work too hard even at getting sleep. You know it’s essential to sleep, but the more you try to control sleep, the more elusive it becomes. If you are suffering from insomnia – and I know it is suffering – here are some ways that have helped me calm my mind and sleep better:
· Put lavender oil or spray on your pillow – lavender has many healing properties, including calming the mind
· Drink a cup of hot milk – contains tryptophane, a natural sleep inducer
· Take a warm bath – It may seem like a lot of work when you’re exhausted, but it sure beats tossing and turning. It truly relaxes the mind.
· Read a fat little book – but not the kind that will keep you turning pages until dawn, perhaps Dostoevsky: brilliant but with Russian character name impossible to pronounce and family trees difficult to follow.
· Avoid: eating 3-4 hours before bedtime, late-nite take-out that may contain MSG, and coffee or tea after 5pm
· Music can take you into dreamland – Try nature sounds like oceans, rainforest, waterfalls.
· Distance yourself from alarm clocks. They can cause you to fret about the lateness of the hour, and how long you have been trying to sleep. Have someone else wake you up, so you can stop worrying about over-sleeping.
· Before going to bed, make a list of everything you need to do, as well as the other things that are bothering and pressuring you. Put it away and reassure yourself that you will take care of it tomorrow; this will enable you to relax and sleep.



Siestas
In America, we are pressured by the need to be productive at all times. If you aren’t checking something off your list, you’re considered lazy. Americans do not have time to rest. In Mediterranean countries, it’s the opposite. People who don’t nap are considered odd. In Italy, Spain, Greece, India and the South of France, the siesta is a sacred, post lunch, digestive ritual observed by all, except tourists.

Naps
The only Americans that are allowed to sleep guilt-free for an hour in the middle of the day are children. The need to nap is so clear. When kids are being crabby, snippy, whiney and spacey we say they need sleep. Newsflash: grown-ups are subject to the same irritability and mood swings if they are not sleeping well. As adults, we deserve the same consideration we give children. As Goddesses, we will nap when we need one and indulge when we simply want one.


Recipe for a Gourmet Nap
· After a big meal
· On the beach, grass, sunny bedroom or in yoga class
· With a perfect companion, like a cat
· Wearing the Satin Goddesswear Sleep Mask (carry it with you at all times)
· Turn the telephone off
· Turn on relaxing music
· Surround yourself with cozy blankets, pillows (just like a baby)

Famous Diamonds

The Hope – More notorious than any other diamond, this 45.52-carat dark blue stone has a history heavily veiled by superstition. The diamond is supposed to have been the “Eye of Shiva” and to have been stolen, which is the reason for bad luck. Several of its owners died tragically, such as Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and Countess Du Barry were all beheaded, Habib Bey drowned along with his whole family and other owners, along with their descendants were beset with tragedy until they sold the diamond. Stolen during the French Revolution, it turned up in London in 1830 and was bought by Henry Philip Hope after whom it is currently named. Harry Winston donated it to the Smithsonian Institution.

The Taylor-Burton – This pear shaped 69.42-carat diamond was sold at auction in 1969 with the understanding that the buyer could name it. Cartier of New York successfully bid for it and immediately christened it Cartier. However, the next day Richard Burton bought the stone for Elizabeth Taylor for an undisclosed sum, renaming it the Taylor-Burton. It made its debut at a charity ball in Monaco hosted by Princess Grace. In 1978, Elizabeth Taylor announced that she was putting it up for sale and planned to use the proceeds to build a hospital in Botswanna. In 1979, it was sold for nearly 3 million and was last reported to be in Saudi Arabia.

The Regent – A truly historic diamond discovered in 1701 by an Indian slave, it weighed 410 carats in the rough. At one time, it was called “The Pitt” after it’s owner, William Pitt, an English Prime Minister, who had the diamond cut into 140.50 carats. It was then sold to France and renamed The Regent and set into the crown Louis XV wore at his coronation. After the French Revolution, it was owned by Napoleon Bonaparte who set it in the hilt of his sword. It is now on the display in the Louvre.

The Great Star of Africa - The Great Star of Africa was the largest diamond ever found, weighing a staggering 3106 carats in the rough! It is now the largest cut diamond at 530.20 carats. This diamond adorns the scepter of King Edward VII and is kept in the tower of London and is among the British Crown Jewels.

The Tiffany – The Tiffany diamond is one of the largest Fancy Yellow diamonds in the world. The rough diamond weighed 287.42 carats before it was cut and shaped into a “brilliant-shaped” diamond with an unprecedented 90 facets. This is 32 more facets than the traditional 58 facets, which serves to make The Tiffany appear to smolder from a flame within. This 128.51-carat diamond briefly graced the neck of Audrey Hepburn for a round of publicity photographs taken for the film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961.

Tips to Build Confidence

Face your fears:

· Tell someone, “I love you”
· Leave the house without make-up
· Enroll in a dance class
· Ask your boss for a raise
· Tell a friend an embarrassing secret about yourself
· Pet a snake
· Introduce yourself at a party
· Find out your Fico
· Try public speaking
· Apologize to someone
· Swim in the ocean
· Study a foreign Language
· Ask someone out on a date
· Become CPR certified
· Change a flat tire
· Cut up your credit cards

Surf Goddess - Come Learn To Surf!!

* click flyer to enlarge

Your Goddess Within - The Day I Was Rescued by Dolphins

Your Identity –your Goddess within

*swimming with dolphins in this unaltered photo by Todd Essick - view more at www.essickphoto.com

After fantasizing about it for years, I decided it was time to fulfill my dream: to take a year off and live on an island. Had I gone bananas? No, Thoreau’s Walden profoundly inspired me and I always wanted to do what he did: leave the distractions of the daily grind to find out the meaning of life. He wrote his philosophical book in the woods in a house that he had built himself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts. I chose the tropical beach version. I was living in New York City and was insecure, confused about my career path, and on a quest to find my identity different from my parents. I had many excuses of why I couldn’t do it, but when I was 20, I cashed in my investments and decided to invest in myself. I traded in my sequins for seashells and purchased a one-way ticket to the Caribbean. It was the single best thing I ever did for myself. What happened next was the last thing I could have expected: a miracle.

I was bold, stubborn, foolish and lucky. I had been living in a campground on Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands for 3 weeks when I set out to sea. I bought a small inflatable boat with a motor, packed all my belongings in it and went in search for a secluded beach to live out my “Walden”. I was on an island known for great sailing and I ignored all sound boating advice given to me. I didn’t check for weather or I would have noticed a squall just outside the safety of Brewer’s Bay. I also neglected to tie-down my camping equipment and when my boat hit large waves, my tent went overboard. I jumped in after it and became separated from the boat. I was tossed violently in the waves until I went unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I was being pushed and lifted to shore by a pod of 3 dolphins. The locals began calling me dolphin-girl, which eventually evolved into Dolphina over the course of the year I lived there.

As other people that have experienced a near-death incident, I was shaken to the core and forever altered. All the masks that I wore and presented to the world to protect myself were stripped away. I saw clearly my identity, who I am at the core. When I returned to New York City a year after living on the island, I officially assumed the name Dolphina to represent the new me, the true me.

You have an essence that is exclusive to you. There are things that you may want to change about yourself, because you are always changing and growing, but this essence does not change. It is pure, perfect and exquisite right now and forever. It is like a brilliant gemstone. This essence is your true identity and is not altered by external influences. I call this the Goddess within.

Women often identify themselves exclusively by their relationship to others. We think of ourselves as someone’s mother, wife, daughter, boss, sister, friend and the list goes on. Most women are nurturers and tend to other’s needs before our own. This in itself is a beautiful feminine quality that I do not recommend changing completely. However, this is not the essence I am speaking of: you are a woman first and foremost. You have a uniqueness that is whole unto yourself, apart from your relationships. Left to your own devices, you could go a very long time taking care of everyone and everything in your life, except for yourself. “I am too busy”, you say to yourself. You might even feel selfish at the thought of taking time for your Goddess within. You would be surprised at the wonders just an afternoon at the park, a museum, or wearing a tiara to a coffee shop by yourself can do to polish your gemstone so that it is shining brilliantly. Your family and friends need not worry that you will permanently take residence in your bubble bath, never to return. Everyone benefits: when you factor in well-deserved personal time to nourish this feminine spirit, you will have more to give back to your entire life.

If you completely define yourself by your relationship to others, you may feel the rug pulled out from underneath you if you move to a different city, become divorced, are betrayed by a friend or feel unmotivated by a job. Think of all that has happened as an exciting opportunity to reinvent, recreate and redefine who you are. Now this is your time! Dedicate this year to your Goddess within! Create the new you even more fabulous than the old you. Create the new you as the person you want to be. Create another persona with another name – like bellydancers do. Redecorate a room or corner to match the reinvention of yourself. It could even be a drawer that is filled with luxurious lingerie and scented pillows. See this space as a physical manifestation that would remind you of your new self – or one that you need to be sometimes.

I am giving you permission. Go on Goddess, take a break and allow time to wander, to let inspiration in and hear that voice inside you.

Summer Solstice Event with Fiona Horne

*Click image to enlarge

What type of Goddess are you?

There are many sides to you. You are like a diamond: all your facets are a part of the whole you, infact, they make you shine more brilliantly. Depending on the day, the hour you take this quiz, you could be any of these types of Goddess. There is always one cut on any diamond that is larger, more dominant than any other – and this is your type of Goddess. Circle the answer you feel best describes you the most, then read about yourself!

1) Your favorite getaway is:
A) Hawaii
B) Paris
C) Venice, Italy
D) Las Vegas
E) Martha’s Vineyard

2) The shoes you wear all the time are:
A) Fredrick’s of Hollywood marabou slippers
B) Manolo Blahniks
C) Barefoot
D) Black Boots
E) UGG Boots

3) Perfect Date:
A) Dinner, dancing, hot tub
B) Foreign Film, coffee shop discussion
C) Charity Benefit
D) Concert
E) Picnic in Park

4) Fave Binge food:
A) Ice Cream
B) Champagne
C) Chocolate
D) Spicy Food
E) French Fries

5) I love to read:
A) Magazines
B) NY Times Bestsellers
C) Self-Help
D) Biographies
E) Adventure




6) Dream Job (If money wasn’t an issue):
A) Bellydancer
B) Entrepreneur
C) Mother
D) Artist
E) Park Ranger

7) You call in sick when you:
A) Sleep in
B) Never
C) Met a new love
D) Have a hangover
E) Have a fever over 101 degrees

8) Favorite Indulgence:
A) Baths
B) Manicure
C) Creams, lotions and perfume
D) Music
E) Flowers

9) Ideal Workout:
A) Dancing
B) Yoga
C) Swimming
D) Weight-lifting
E) Hiking

10) You are having a stressed-out day at work/school, you:
A) Take a rose-petal bath
B) Go shopping
C) Write in your journal
D) You thrive on stress – it makes you work harder
E) Take a walk in the park











If you picked mostly A’s – You are a Sexy Goddess
My, it’s getting warm in here. You love being a girl and are amused watching the boys fall at your feet. Everything about you is provocative from the way you dress to the way you talk. You are passionate, witty, dangerously smart, though you may keep this on the QT to add to the mystery of your allure.

If you picked mostly B’s – You are a Modern Goddess
Casual Fridays? For you, dressing up is not a chore – it’s a raison d’etre. Luxury is your way of life. You would rather have a few designer threads than a closet full of bargain brands. You are sophisticated, chic and into the most current trends. You adore traveling, learning new things and shopping.

If you picked mostly C’s – You are a Love Goddess
All you need is love, Love is all you need. You hate conflict and clothes that aren’t soft to the touch. You always see the glass as half-full and want to make a difference in the world. Beautiful, fragrant things are important to you and you indulge in lotions for each part of your body. You care deeply for all people, especially children.

If you picked mostly D’s – You are a Rock Goddess
Take a walk on the wild side is your motto. You will try anything once. Your sense of adventure includes your risk-taking style, though you can always count on your favorite pair of jeans. It’s all about the hair, whether it’s blonde, brunette or red. You won’t take no for an answer, unless it’s coming out of your mouth. You speak the truth, which often gets you into trouble. You are highly creative and artistic, even the way you make dinner.

If you picked mostly E’s – You are a Natural Goddess
To you, an embarrassment of riches is watching a sunset over the ocean. Your style is easy going and your make-up is clean, fresh, dewy and above all, natural. You are honest, good listeners and make the most loyal of friends. You care deeply for nature and animals. You are health conscious and organic foods and exercise are a priority.