A welcome back

After a four hour flight out of Los Angeles I arrived at about 6.30 am in Guatemala City. I then shared a cab with a woman from Australia who was on her way out to the lake to do a yoga retreat. She informed me after we got into the cab that she was sick and that she thinks she might have MALARIA as she was just in Mozambique and was bitten by mosquitos and has been sick ever since. Lucky me! What can you do, you know? You just roll with it...

I got into Antigua by 8.00 and as my room was not ready I dropped my luggage and hauled booty to Rainbow Cafe where I just had a big fat traditional Guatemalan breakfast and am digging on the free wi-fi. There's a cold spell here so I basked in the sun every time I hit an area bathed in sunlight as I made my way down the so very familiar streets of Antigua. I'm like a big cat luxuriating in the heat wherever I can find it. One learns to savor the simple pleasures...

When we drove into town I felt like I was arriving home. I was greeted by Rosario, the owner of my hotel Casa Cristina, with a warm hug and a giant smile. Welcome back, she said. I feel welcomed back indeed.

Next I'm off to the bank to get my Quetzales and then back to the hotel to crash for a while. I have places to go and people to see...

Back to Guatemala she goes!

Yes, this little tutu is on a plane come Sunday night making her way back to the land of the Mayans for some time by the lake and more time in that special little city where the volcanoes rise up above you and root you so beautifully to the earth - Antigua.

I told my students a couple of Sundays ago that I realized I was feeling rather off center and a tad cranky and I knew when I got that way there was really only one remedy: TRAVEL

OK, travel and yoga. Both feed my soul...

So, I got online and booked myself a ticket back to the land of Jade and for eight glorious days I will be free, open and filled with a sense of adventure and desire. Happy little me.

This is both a pleasure and business trip as I am going to check out yoga retreat spaces on Lake Atitlan as my hope is to create retreats with friends and fellow teachers in the future. I'm a chick with a vision, don't you know?

I am the mistress of my own destiny.

I'll be blogging it out on the road as my new MacBook is coming with me so stay tuned and fasten your seat belts:

There will be tales to tell...

Critic's Choice

I worked the Critic's Choice Awards on Monday and it was so very clear there is a strike going on. Very few name actors attended and I'd have to say most simply sent their reps. The president of Screen Actor's Guild ( and I'm a member) had asked SAG members not to attend the show in support of the Writer's even though Critic's Choice was not a picketed show. I believe his request was in large part honored. Sure I saw Angie and Brad who cruised in last minute and the same goes for George Clooney (presented an award to his comrade Don Cheadle) looking finer and leaner than I have ever seen him and God knows I've seen him plenty over the years of doing these events. Oh, and I had a few words with Javier Bardem *swoon* who was in desperate need of a loo. He is one fine specimen of man. Seriously.




I ran the cocktail reception for the caterer (and he always does an amazing job) as well as the post show after party. This was the first year we had an after party and it was a swank affair. It was tented, a study in white and there were fabulous Flamenco/Salsa dancers and hot little bite sized snack bartenders everywhere. I'm always happy when I see it all come together. I've got this award show thing down.

And I got a kick out of saying hi to my man Snoop Dogg who was a true gentleman and may I add was pimped out true Dogg style. Fer Shizzle.


After a long day on my feet and screaming into a walkie talkie I needed some down time so I spent a good part of yesterday in bed. I've been sick for over two weeks now so I knew a time out was in order. I took advantage of the day off and dropped my car off to get some long overdue and much needed work done. Almost a grand later and my Volvo runs like a dream. It's all about multi-tasking, no?

Now to book my ticket out of the Country later this month.

I feel some traveling coming on...

Time with a friend

Because we honor our teachers and not only is she the woman who inspired me to teach Restorative yoga, which I now do, she has also become a friend and confidant.

When we allow ourselves to let the light in the light can often bring us wonderful and inspiring people.

And if we're lucky they're wonderfully wicked and fun as well.

Catch Sharon's Restorative Yoga class at City Yoga in West Hollywood on Wednesday night at 7.30. You might just find me there on occasion hanging out to learn something new. Well, and to have some damn good fun too...

The film I am utterly in love with

I saw Broken English on DVD a couple of months ago and I loved it so much I actually watched it twice. I cannot explain why this film moved me so much except to say that I could relate to Parker Posey's character on some deep primal level. Besides, I've always known I'd want her to play me in the film I've yet to write about my life, hands down.

I highly recommend checking it out. I know my female friends will love it or at least see a little of themselves in her character. I love that the film is so gritty and raw and that it takes place in NYC and Paris.

And I wouldn't mind a handsome, passionate, intelligent and so wonderfully present French man to rock my world. Oh yes...

To a new year of peace, light and adventure

Ah, the year is coming to a close and the birth of a new one is just round the corner. Can't you just taste the juiciness of all that this new year can offer you? When you close your eyes can't you see the light coming through, the adventures laid out before you, feel your heart wanting to break wide open?

I can....



Namaste,
Kathy

And may I just suggest that you all donate to the organizations and charities that you believe in and support. I have donated to Doctor's Without borders (for my soul), ASPCA (for my heart) and KCRW here in Los Angeles (for my mind).

Pay it forward...

A little present for ME

I've been home sick for the past week so I spent Christmas alone save for dinner out with my dear friend Jorge. Some people love you no matter how crappy you look or how much goo runs out of your head. Those are the ones you keep around. They're the ones you call when the world goes wonky and you're rattling a little too loud.

So today I hauled my butt out to the Apple store in the Grove and treated myself to a brand spankin' new MacBook. My Toshiba's burial is just around the corner and after almost six years with her, it's time. RIP...

I will be traveling a lot in the next year and doing a lot of writing. I have books in my head and it's high time they come out on the page. My goal is to write and teach yoga (well, and continue to be a fabulous lover, damn good person and great friend). Solo girl on the road livin' la dolce vita. Why the hell not?

And no matter what anyone says size most definitely matters. And on occasion smaller is actually better. Just ask the chick on the road with her new wee white MacBook.
She'll tell you...

Benazir Bhutto I shall miss you...

Benazir Bhutto, the only woman to have ever been Prime Minister of a Muslim country, was brutally assassinated this morning as she was trying to bring democracy back to Pakistan.

Pakistan was her country.

I am in tears that heartless and faithless cowards could take away such a bright shining light and such an outspoken supporter of the people at a time when the people of Pakistan so desperately need her.

May your message continue to be heard through the voices of the people who stood beside you and may your lightness of being continue to be felt by those you left behind. The world has lost yet another brave spirit and as a woman I have lost one of my heroes and I have so few of them.

I hope that in my lifetime I can live with even one ounce of the courage that this determined and remarkable woman has shown.

LONG LIVE DEMOCRACY

Joyeux Noel

From my home to yours, I wish you only the most wondrous of things that Christmas can bring. For me it is having these two little beasties beside me. The simple things are often the most magnificent.

Be Peace...



Kathy

A cold, a change and rumination

Yes, I have succumbed to the cold going around. After a week of back to back events I got sick last night. Methinks my body is telling me to chill out already. I'm home chillin'...

I'm not working on Christmas day as I had planned. I was on the fence about it as I don't like the woman I was going to work for and she is beyond demanding. I got a call last night as I was leaving for a client's house that the Christmas day Hollywood housewife had "requested" that I do a walk through at her house on bloody Christmas Eve. I said I was already giving up my Christmas day so the biddy wasn't about to get my Christmas Eve. as well. Then I asked WHY this woman needed a walk through for a family dinner party for all of 26 guests. Well, you see she's having the thing in a tent on her property and there is a serious heating system involved. When I booked this I was told there would be a heating guy there to take care of all of that jazz as Kathy don't do rental/heating stuff. It seems little rich and spoiled Hollywood studio head wifey decided she didn't want to pay the heating guy the $900 he was to get to be on site to handle said heating so she decided I, that's ME, was to do it instead. Excusez-moi??

Needless to say Kathy will not be working for said rich spoiled Hollywood wifey on Christmas day. I said they could find someone else. Yep. I don't do two jobs for the price of one. F*ck that.

I'm also leaving a work relationship with a woman I've been working with who, when you look in the dictionary and find the term passive-aggressive, her name is there next to it all in CAPS. She has a knack for asking you to do things above and beyond what you're hired to do and then always tries to find a way to manipulate you into doing them. Tricky chick. She's a master at the game. Now I know why she can't hang on to her assistants, oh yes. My path no longer finds its way to that door, but I am grateful for the experience. Be peace, I say. Oh, and may you find yourself a good therapist. *big hug*

So, now that I'm free for a while I'm going to get over this cold, spend time with friends, and make some travel plans. I've people to see and places to go. My New Year is going to be a bloody fabulous NEW YEAR. I see bright and shiny things in my future. This chick has plans...

Oh, and my clients from last night asked if they could fly me up to their new house in Berkeley to do an event for them. They'll put me up in their guest house and I can pop around San Fran for a day. I likey!

Did I mention I'm damn good at what I do? I am.

So my thought for the day is this: I have found that in life we must learn to listen to our instincts, trust that wee voice inside and have the courage to say no when no is what needs to be said, or perhaps say yes when an opportunity comes along that lights us up from within and makes our wheels spin. I say be the you that you have always wanted to be. It's really easier than you think...

I say shake things up!