Dream Jobs - Do what you love - be a Cubicle Refugee

This morning I swept up my office and was thoroughly captivated by the beauty that lied within my dustpan. In it were coins from bellydance hipscarves, a piece of abalone shell from Hula class, pink feathers from boas in Burlesque class, pieces of hot pink mylar from cheerleading pom poms and some tiny pearls from who knows where. When you are enamored with your own garbage you are either headed for crazyville or have found your path in life. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it's true: I am in love with my job. GoddessLife headquarters is an unconventional workplace that I created by doing what I love to do: dancing, dressing up and empowering women. As much as I like to keep it a secret, I do actually have "real work" such as shipping DVD orders to Target that I squeeze in between the 20 classes held at my studio each week. But I can make even the most tedious work glamorous by strapping on a Brazilian headdress and rhinestone g-string. I struggle to remember to tone it down when the UPS man comes, though it is a challenge since I own more corsets than khakis. I love my job, but it wasn"t always this way.

I was fired from last job of six years. My boss sat me down over his 18th espresso of his day and started his tirade by telling me I was a "wild pony". I was about to say, "thank-you" when he interrupted me with his thick Greek accent to yell at me dramatically, "You are ruining my life" and proceeded to let me go. Yes, I was bellydancing and technically doing what I loved to do. However, I had the dubious distinction of working for the grand-prize winners of the ultimate chauvinistic bosses of all time: Middle-Eastern restaurant and night club owners. If that didnÕt chip away at my self-worth, imagine making a positive contribution to society if you don't wake up before noon! Sometimes I wouldn't officially "clock-in" until 11pm and I was lucky: The best dancers in Cairo donÕt go on until 5am! I thought I had a productive day if I made it to the post office. If that didn't make it a crummy job, envision finding a splotch of babaganoush on your new $1500 jewel-encrusted-velvet bellydance costume.

By the time I was fired, I was swamped with running a business, but was afraid to leave the security of my restaurant income. Being fired was a blessing and helped me to focus on my raison d,etre. The first time I had a glimpse of my purpose in life happened in NYC when I was studying dance during the day and making a living bellydancing at a Moroccan Restaurant at night. My dancer friends talked me into teaching a bellydance class at the restaurant. During the first class I got chills witnessing all the dancers transform into women. It was empowering for me to dance exclusively for women - the origins of bellydance. I named my class The Goddess Workout because I believe all women are Goddesses. After that, doors opened up for me and I came to believe that the things that were synchronistic and fell into my lap were the things I belonged doing. One of my students was a film producer and said lets make a video of your class, which became the first Goddess Workout Video. At the time, there were no bellydance videos on the market and it was not considered as fitness. So I took my class out of the restaurant and introduced bellydance into gyms. My big break happened when one of my students who was taking my class at Crunch Gym wrote The Goddess Workout into an episode of Sex and the City. Everything changed for me. My DVDs got into Target and sold well, very well. I opened up my dream dance studio and uber-girly clubhouse, The Goddess Center. Bellydance is hotter than ever with Shakira and Beyonce bellydancing in their music videos and my classes are filled-to-capacity.

I don't live on Easy Street now that I am my own boss. I work later than I did when I was bellydancing at restaurants, I take a lot of risks and I still break out in a sweat when someone tells me, "No". But knowing that I am living my reason for being, makes me feel like the richest woman on Earth. My best advice for you if you are still struggling to find your purpose in life is to observe the signs you are given. Do you get the chills when you go to Home Depot? Do you feel passionate about animal rights? Are you really good on the internet? Stop trying so hard to figure it out and give notice when things come effortlessly - like a gift. Try new things and keep doing all the things you like. Don't ever feel trapped by the current circumstances in your life. Your path will come to you because it has been in front of you all along. If someone can make actually make a living by having a fun job such as writing OPI nailpolish names, like "I am not really a waitress", you can have the job of your dreams, too!

Dolphina to dance at Lululemon

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Knitting Workshop at The Goddess Center

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Chocolate

Chocolate


Why we Crave Chocolate
You crave it. I crave it. We all crave it. I’m talking about chocolate, a sweet that’s in a category by itself. But what is so special about chocolate? Why do lovers send a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day, instead of strawberry pastries or licorice whips? Is it simply the rich and creamy texture and delicious taste? After all, chocolate has over 500 flavor components, more than twice the amount found in strawberry and licorice combined. I took this as an opportunity to do some difficult research that included eating a lot of chocolate. While I was eating squares and truffles by the pound and finding myself happier, other researchers with degrees and funding, such as Danielle Piomelli, were publishing scientific explanations for why we love and crave this confection. Danielle found that chocolate contains phenylethylamine, a natural substance that increases the activity of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that stimulate the same reaction in the body as falling in love. And there is more! Another neurotransmitter called anandamide has been isolated in chocolate. This one stimulates feelings of euphoria and changes one’s perception of time. The good news keeps coming: there is two other brain chemicals found in chocolate that inhibit the natural breakdown of anandamide. This means that these euphoric feelings will last longer when we eat chocolate.

Benefits of Chocolate

Need more of an incentive to enjoy indulging in chocolate? How about that it may be good for your heart? Presented in February 2002 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting, scientists reported evidence that chocolate may keep high blood pressure down, it can also keep your blood flowing and your heart healthy. Here is what they found:
· A substance in cocoa helps the body process nitric oxide, a compound critical for healthy blood flow and blood pressure.

· Flavonols in cocoa prevent fat-like substances in the blood stream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries.

· Cocoa beans contain potent levels of antioxidant properties, as much as, cranberries, strawberries, red wine, apples, tea, and peanuts.


The Delicious and Decadent History of Chocolate
It’s hard to believe that chocolate, as we know it has been around for less than 200 years. The origins of chocolate, however, stretch back at least 4000 years and begin with a tiny little bean called the cacao bean. The cacoa bean is derived from the “Theobroma” tree, which is Greek for “food of the gods”. To the Mayans and Aztecs, consuming chocolate was a privilege reserved for their “gods”. Legend tells us the Aztec emperor Montezuma drank 50 cups of cachautl (chocolate) a day, making him probably the greatest chocoholic of all time. Chocolate was originally served as a beverage in ancient Mexico. The conquering Spaniards changed the name of Montezuma’s cachuatl to chocolatl – and that’s where we get our English name. The gold hungry conquistador Hernando Cortes brought the cacao bean back to Spain in 1528as currency.

100 cacao beans would buy a slave, 12 beans the services of a courtesan and 10 beans for a rabbit. This is where the saying, “money doesn’t grow on trees” derived from. Columbus had actually discovered the cacao beans first, but I suppose he was too busy looking for the ocean route to India to pay any attention to the decadent delight of chocolate. Or, perhaps he disliked the taste, for originally the beverage was thick and bitter and was flavored with cornmeal, chilies, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. When the Spanish first brought chocolate back to Europe, it was still being served as a beverage, but it soon went through an important evolution: the chili pepper was replace by sugar and they left out the mushrooms. The new, sweetened chocolate beverage became such a hit that Spanish society ladies had it served during Mass. When the French latched onto it, Marquis de Sade immediately hailed it as an aphrodisiac and able to cure all ills. The French government slapped heavy taxes on it, further enhancing its status as a drink only the Royal Courts of Europe could afford.

From Beverage to Bar
We have the Mayans and Aztecs to thank for chocolate, but in the hands of the Dutch, English, and Swiss it evolved into its current heavenly form. Two heroes are responsible for the first Chocolate Bar. In 1828, Dutch chocolatier, Conrad van Houten patented a press to extract cocoa butter from the roasted ground beans. And in 1849, English chocolate maker Joseph Fry created the first chocolate bar by using the technology of the steam engine. Today, Switzerland is the chocolate capital of the world, and rightly so with two major developments that occurred in 1879. First, Henri Nestle, a baby food manufacturer developed a way to incorporate condensed milk into the candy, creating milk chocolate. Second, Rudolphe Lindt invented a process called “conching”, which produces a smooth-textured chocolate bar. America’s love affair with chocolate was ignited when Milton Hershey substituted fresh whole milk for the condensed milk in chocolate and the Hershey Bar was born.



My Favorite Chocolate Indulgences
1) Godiva
2) Lindt
3) Hershey’s Kiss
4) Baci-Perugina
5) Toberlone
6) Ghirardelli
7) Scharffen Berger
8) Sees
9) Cadbury
10) Rocher

Top 25 Goddess Movies

Watch these Goddess movies for inspiration. Some of the protagonists are gorgeous, funny, powerful, sassy, courageous, talented, wicked, smart, and all have the Goddess attitude in spades. Rent one when you need a lift; when you need a reminder that the world is filled with possibilities. While we may not want to find ourselves leaving our husband, accused of murder or making an entrance in a nightclub on a swing, seeing other women facing these situations with such aplomb give us the confidence to face our own lives with the same joie de vivre.


Goddess Movies

1) Breakfast at Tiffany’s
2) The Muse
3) Gilda
4) Auntie Mame
5) Legally Blonde
6) Barbarella
7) Blue Crush
8) Thelma and Louise
9) Moulin Rouge
10) Fried Green Tomatoes
11) The Girl Can’t Help It
12) Cleopatra
13) Kama Sutra
14) Frida
15) Henry and June
16) The Philadelphia Story
17) La Femme Nikita
18) 9-5
19) Gypsy
20) Funny Girl
21) Private Benjamin
22) Gigi
23) Desperately Seeking Susan
24) Clueless
25) Coal Miner’s Daughter

How to Bellydance for Your Man

So you’ve found somebody worthy of your dance and you’re about to make him the luckiest guy around… This is a great gift you are giving, and no matter what you do this will be a night he’ll always remember.

Planning:
o Choose music that is sensual and inspiring to you, and something that sets a romantic or intimate tone. Aim to dance for 3-5 minutes.
o Select a costume that makes you feel sexy and beautiful, and feels good to wear and dance in. Make sure that it is soft to his touch…velvet or silk fabrics are great for dances in the boudoir. Also, you might want to make sure that the costume is easy to remove.


Create an Atmosphere:
o Create an atmosphere that makes you feel sensual and empowered. You can light candles or dim the lights and place flowers or veils around the room, creating an intimate space.
o Make sure that you will be free if interruptions like cell phones or anything else that might disturb your ultimate one-on-one atmosphere.


Performing:
o The Veil is a great way to enter for a boudoir performance. It gives the illusion that you are taking something off and there are lots of seductive tricks that you can do wit it.
o You can wrap it around his neck to show your power, or tease him a little bit with it.
o Eye contact: This is how you keep your power. If you are not comfortable with eye contact yet and you need to look down, be sure to look at your beautiful hips and body and admire yourself as a goddess.

o If nerves set in…have back up moves to do if you forget and keep in mind, what a lucky man he is! Even just one move is enough for him.

o Don’t be afraid to get down on the floor or up on to the bed… you can shimmy in virtually any position.

Make sure that you end the performance on your terms. If he can’t keep his hands off of you, you can give him the playful “no no” finger, and play hard to get… this will make it more fun for everyone.

End the performance how YOU want to end it… however that may be!

How to Select and Serve Champagne

Though rich people have been enjoying champagne for centuries, bubbly is more popular today than it has ever been in history. In fact, it was during the decades after the Champagne region in France was bombed to rubble in World War II that the popularity of the nectar exploded. In the twenty years following the War, worldwide consumption of champagne quadrupled and is still rising.

Select a Bottle of Champagne
Sure it’s an appropriate gift to give a Goddess, but don’t let someone else have all the fun. After studying this chapter, you will be equipped to buy yourself some bubbly in a store and restaurant.

Marque
The first thing you will need to determine is which brand and year you intend to order. By definition, true “champagne” comes only from that region of France that bears the same name. Specifically, the Champagne region is 90 miles northeast of Paris, close to the Belgian border. Most wines are named after vineyards, while champagnes are named for the houses that produce them. These houses produce various brands known as marques. When you select a bottle of champagne, it will be these marques from which you must choose:
Bollinger
Charles Heidsieck
Krug
Moet et Chandon
G.H. Mumm
Joseph Perrier
Ruinart
Taittinger
Vueve Cliquot-Ponsardin

Vintage
Unlike many wines, one needn’t sample decade’s worth of champagnes to identify a good year. Champagne is typically held for up to five years by the manufacturing house. When it’s eventually released for purchase, it should be consumed within two years. Choosing young champagne, therefore, is not considered gauche. Also, champagne is often blended across years. For champagne to be considered of a particular year’s vintage, at least 80% of the grapes used in producing it must have been harvested in that year. The remaining 20% of the grapes, therefore, can be from other years. Vintners will often blend their champagnes with the “greatest hits” from across the years, which leads to a more uniform quality of beverage. This is why choosing any particular vintage of champagne is not important -- all those of a given marque are quite similar.

Size of Bottle
One tricky thing about champagne is the size of the bottle. I know, you’re probably thinking: “What are you talking about!?” But trust me, champagne comes in a whole universe of sizes, and basic economics tells us that we should buy only as much as we need and no more!
Quarter-Bottle
Half-Bottle
Bottle
Magnum 2 bottles
Jeroboam 4 bottles
Rehoboam 6 bottles
Methuselah 8 bottles
Salmanazar 12 bottles
Balthazar 16 bottles
Nebuchandnezzar 20 bottles

If you have the occasion to bust out the Nebuchadnezzar, please invite me! You now know that those oversized bottles in vintners’ window aren’t advertising gimmicks. If you are dining alone, or want to order champagne to accompany dessert, it is cuter, and more affordable, to order a half-bottle. This will pour out to slightly more than two full glasses. The Magnum comes in handy if you are on a double date, or for a corporate dinner party.

Prepare, Open, and Pour the Champagne
I will tell you how to get through this process, but just like any new hobby, you are going to have to practice before you get the confidence and skill to pull this off for a big occasion.

Chill
Champagne is best enjoyed at a cool temperature. You should be looking to pour it form the bottle at 43 to 48 degrees Fahrenheit or 7 degrees Celsius. If your bottle isn’t yet cool, you can chill it by either placing it in the refrigerator for a few hours or by placing it in a bucket filled with a mixture of ice and water. If you need to chill it in a hurry, throw a handful of salt into that slush, this will reduce its temperature below zero and speed the chilling. Under no circumstance should you ever leave champagne to chill in your freezer it will disturb the balance of the alcohol and ruin all that lovely expensive liquid.

Remove Cork
There are a few layers you need to cut through before you even get to the cork. First, pull off just enough foil to reveal the cork. The cork itself is protected in a wire cage. On the side of that cage, you will see a section of wire twisted into a cute little handle. Pull that handle away from the side of the cage and untwist the wire. Be careful as you do so, and point the cork away from yourself – there’s a reason that wire is there. The cork can erupt at any time, so keep a tight hold on it. Then, firmly gripping the cork with one hand, use your other hand to twist the bottle slowly and smoothly. You want the cork to emerge from the bottle with a gentle sigh, not a raucous pop. Finally, while you are uncorking the bottle, you should keep a glass or two handy because if you do it wrong, you will need something to catch all the champagne as it comes flowing out of the bottle.

Pour
Selecting your glass deserves a little bit of consideration. There are two classic types of champagne glasses: the coupe and the flute. The coupe was designed to allow the greatest surface area for the release of bubbles, which feels vampy and fun as they burst upon your face. The flute on the other hand, captures the bubbles and ensures they are released more evenly across the duration of the glass. Whichever you choose, be sure to clean it with only water and not soap, it can interfere with bubbles and taste. Oh, and you should definitely consider using a crystal glass. The surface of crystal is rougher than ordinary glass, which stimulates more bubbles in your champagne. Once your glasses are selected and placed, hold the bottle by placing your thumb into the dimple at the bottom of the bottom, which is known as the “punt” and splay your fingers across the barrel of the bottle. Next pour a small splash into the bottom of each glass then continue to fill each glass until its 2/3rds full. This process will help to prevent the champagne from foaming over, and help keep the precious fluid from spilling on the floor.

Indulge
So we have finally gotten to the stage where you can indulge. Not so fast, first you need to know how to hold the stuff. The reason champagne glasses have long stems is so that the heat of your hand will stay well away from the champagne, keeping the beverage closer to its optimal chilled temperature. As you indulge in your new-found hobby more and more, you alone will be the best judge of your favorite champagnes.