A new year, a new beginning

a-new-year-a-new-beginning-1So here we are in a new year. Do you see the new year as a new beginning? I know there’s always tons of chatter about resolutions and starting fresh, and sometimes I don’t buy into it, but usually it does feel good to see the year as a whole new beginning. Yeah, it’s pretty arbitrary, but, there’s something about seeing it as a fresh start that makes going through another year feel possible. It gives you motivation to go forward without feeling destined to repeat the year before.

So every year we do try to come up with little things to keep in mind through the year ahead, maybe goals, maybe hopes or dreams, or maybe just little mantras to keep our focus on an aspect of personal growth that has risen to the surface. This year I’m repeating these four words:securedownload-2 It’s time for me to stop rushing around, missing all that’s happening around me. Time to drive slower, to walk slower, to see the world for what it is each day and to take it in with awe. And it’s time for me to lose control, not in the go crazy and have no inhibitions sense, but in the sense of letting go of my control over every situation, letting go of perfection, giving the reigns to others (at least sometimes) and trusting in the bigger plans out there for me, for us.

So in the spirit of losing control, one of our favorite things over the holiday was a trip we took to Sky Zone with a bunch of friends. It’s a huge gym full of trampolines. There are even trampolines angled upright, so you can literally bounce off the walls. We jumped, we played jumping dodgeball, we jumped and flipped into a giant pile of foam blocks, and we jumped some more. And we couldn’t wipe those giddy, silly, gigantic smiles off our faces all night. It was that. much. fun.a-new-year-a-new-beginning Continue Reading →

Planning a foreign thanksgiving

planning-a-foreign-thanksgiving-5planning-a-foreign-thanksgiving-6We are heading down to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) soon to start production on our documentary Eating Up Easter, so we are busy planning what to bring. Most of it includes a ton of camera gear, super heavy hard drives, and lots of other fun production stuff, with just a little room on the side for us. Good thing I’m pretty skilled at packing light after my last two-week trip to Rapa Nui in which I only brought a carry on.

One of the big things about this trip is that we’ll miss Thanksgiving, probably my favorite holiday because food, to me, is so much better than gifts. It’s that experience, that transcendent place you reach when you savor a long, excellent meal with all your favorite people around you, that stays with you forever, much longer than any tangible gift given at Christmas or a birthday. That’s why I love creating experiences and cozy special moments during the holidays, because those are what are most meaningful to me. So I was pretty sad at first to be missing my favorite holiday and the chance to spend it with family in the States. But then I realized, we don’t have to give it up. Even though they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving on Rapa Nui, it doesn’t mean we can’t make a special meal to be shared with family there.   Continue Reading →