Writer, Entrepreneur, Mrs. Purvis, Goddess-In-Residence, Agent of Transformation

2. Iron Man
1. The Dark Knight

I feel pretty strongly about those two. After that, it’s all up in the air.

Saw Bolt today on a family outing (5 adults and 1 little nephew, who is known by name at the pretzel counter in the mall and was extraordinarily well-behaved the whole time) and thought it was very well-written and adorable. Have now seen The Spirit twice; the first time at Frank Miller’s now-customary pre-release screening for NYC comics pros, and then with my brother Mike yesterday. For some reason, I enjoyed it much more the 2nd time around. (The ladies completely steal the show here, hands down, no question.)

I’m not convinced that either of those should be on such a list. (Yeah, okay… The Spirit… definitely not. Sorry, Frank.)

Help me out?

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Every morning, I ask myself a question. The question is:

“What are you grateful for?”

I’ve trained myself to ask this question soon after I wake up. Different things come to mind each day - that’s part of the fun. In honor of the new year, here are 10 of the regulars…

1. A life partner who is perfect for me and makes me so happy

2. My incredible, ever-growing tribe: blood family, heart family, clients, partners, blog and newsletter readers, friends, fellow writers, editors and mentors

3. Money. Surprised? It’s time to take the shame and weirdness out of talking about this form of energy. Like all energy, it is inherently neutral; its “good”ness or “bad”ness derives from us, not it. I’m grateful for money and its presence in my life. I’m also grateful that I can create more of it in my life simply by providing more value to others in the world. (That’s true for anyone, by the way.)

4. The fact that I can get access to just about any book I could possibly want in a matter of days, or even seconds.

5. The fact that I can look up just about anything I need to know in seconds, and for the big stuff, that there are all kinds of experts who are ready and willing to share their expertise with me for a reasonable price.

6. My home in Brooklyn, which is warm, spacious, and full of love. And books. And craft supplies.

7. My father’s insistence on teaching me to read BEFORE sending me off to kindergarten.

8. The Uniball Signo 207 gel pen (waterproof - very important), fire engine red Moleskines, Levenger Annotation Ruled Pads.

9. Dark chocolate and iced coffee

10. The freedom and tools to design and live the creativity-fueled life I’ve always dreamed of

“What are you grateful for?” changed my life in 2008. Try it yourself and see.

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I’m way too wiped to think clearly, but I do like this one. If I look a little windblown, that’s because I was…

Lisa: Can I turn the fan on?
Me: …
Me: Sure, um, turn the fan on.

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… and a bunch of other stuff. Lots going on. So fast, in fact, that it’s gone before the synapses fire in that blog postin’ kind of way. Believe it or not, I often take notes about what to blog about, sometimes even writing posts out in longhand (because I’m a dork like that) and whoosh! There goes the moment.

Christmas was lovely. Really, really lovely. Just me, Leland, clementines, dark chocolate, movies all day long, and knitting. Okay, so it would have been more lovely with more family around; thanks to my brother’s zany ER schedule, that’s coming up THIS week. I’ll see my little nephew for the first time in a little while. Hooray!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook (please do!), you know I’m space clearing (read: clutter clearing)… more or less the entire apartment. The results of this have been swift and dramatic, in the form of new client inquiries and real, live dollars. (Or is that cold, hard cash? Whatever!) There have been some revelations. An essay is forming.

For the Tarotists amongst you, don’t miss this great post from James W: Design A Fine 2009. My business and writing plans are taped to my wall, as is what is sure to be this year’s lifesaver, my At-A-Glance 2009 Yearly Planner. For those of us who move with the seasons, two major milestones have passed: Yule, and the first new moon of the new year, which was on Sunday. A client of mine informed me today that Capricorn, a sign of industriousness if ever there was one, is in 5 - count ‘em, five - planets right now. Whoa. My advice: work that mojo while it’s here! Make your plans for 2009 if you haven’t already, and take action on them… right now.

Tomorrow I’ve got a photo shoot for the headshots for the new MarketingGoddess.com site, so of course you know I had to buy new lipgloss. After cruising for well over a half-hour with a “price is no object” mentality, I finally settled on… Sephora Lip Attitude in Glamour. I think I’m in love.

What else? Recent reading includes: A Whole New Mind, Don’t Know Much About Mythology (have I ever mentioned that I love this series?), Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui (cha!) and a re-read of War For The Oaks.

Leland says he misses me, so I’d better go.

I swear to Goodness (and Gracious), I will be better about blogging more in the new year.

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The things to post about have been piling up yet again! This time, I’ve been jotting them down in more or less the same place (which isn’t always the case, being A Woman Of Many Notebooks ), so I’ll get them together for you over the weekend.

In the meantime, I wanted to be sure to mention that for those who are around and want a little guidance for 2009, I’ll be reading at Kris’ studio again tonight (you might recall that back in October, we did that Tarot fundraiser for Obama that got lots of great press). From the events page @ Art And Words:

As featured on CNN.com, Yelp’s “On the Radar”, and internationally in La Libération! Get a sneak peak about what lies ahead in 2009: Kris Waldherr, Diane Saarinen, Elizabeth Genco and Christina Ambrosino will be on hand to give 15-minute readings on the question of your choice at various prices. Gift certificates for future readings make for great last minute gift-giving. Free admission and refreshments.

Yes, there will be wine and cheese! Kris’ studio is warm, pretty and cozy, so do come out and say hello! (Reminder: Kris is the author & illustrator of Doomed Queens and, well, a lot of other visually stunning stuff.)

Spent a little time in Prospect Park yesterday with the talented Seth Kushner:

No, they’re not all in the heavy coat. But boy, was it cold outside! More from the shoot soon.

(In the meantime, be sure to check out Seth’s blog, where you can see outtakes from his New York Graphic Novelists book project, including this one of Leland.)

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My friend Barry made a fascinating comment on last night’s (ok, this morning’s) post that I wanted to share:

“On the subject of Ma’at. as she is one of my favorite Goddesses; I can’t help but comment.

She is often confused with justice because the ancient Egyptians considered something to be just if it was in keeping with Ma’at.”

Thanks, Barry!

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A few months ago, I was hanging with one of my private clients, Sasha. “Hey, did you know that part of The Visconti-Sforza deck lives at The Morgan Library?”

“I did not know that,” I said.

“Apparently Morgan used to keep it on his desk. Within easy reach, don’t you know.”

“Whoa.”

Sasha wanted to host an event there for all us Tarot peeps. “Well, why don’t you just… ask?” I suggested. “Easy like Sunday morning.”

That’s exactly what she did. And two days ago, 25 of us got a private VIP tour of the library and the chance to ogle the deck up close.

It was crazy. Mr. Voelkle, our gracious host, pulled out all the stops. First things first: a papyrus scroll illustrating the judgment of Ma’at, complete with Anubis and Horus manning the scales before a big green-faced Osiris. Thoth was there too, recording the results. Of course.

“And do you know who first professed the Tarot to be The Book Of Thoth, the Egyptian Book of Secrets?” asked Mr. Voelkle. I couldn’t help but smile at that. It’s like, dude, you have no idea. (Note: This theory is utter rubbish. But it’s fun, and it’s the beginning of contemporary esoteric Tarot as we know it. So, y’know.)

“Seems like one of our founding fathers, Ben Franklin, was friends with a certain French gentleman…” he continues, whipping out a wrinkled, water-logged copy of something big and fat.

Wald raises an eyebrow. “Is that Le Monde Primitif?”

“It IS! This is an original printing. I own all 9 volumes.” And that’s when I realize that we have a kindred spirit in Mr. Voelkle.

Who let us take pictures, I might add. Of 7 - count ‘em, 7 - of the Visconti-Sforza. The Magician, The Pope, The Chariot, The Hermit, The Hanged Man, The Fool, and The Queen Of Swords.

The cards have little holes at the top, as if someone had pinned them to the wall. Except The Hanged Man - he had holes on the top AND the bottom. Probably because, for some reason that nobody really knows, The Visconti-Sforza pictures the Hanged Man, well, right-side up. (So naturally, some smarty-pants along the line had to post him according to the correct orientation.)

Below is a picture of Sasha and I in the foyer, before things got underway. You can see more pictures on my Flickr feed.

In addition to the oldest known Tarot deck in existence, The Morgan is home to the original manuscript of A Christmas Carol, written in Dickens’ own hand. My dad read it to me when I was 5 or something. Before The Hound Of The Baskervilles, even. My mom gets tickets to a production-or-other (it varies depending on where we are) every year. It’s a Genco Thing. I’m telling you, I saw this book and I wanted to cry.

But I didn’t. Instead, I twirled around in the middle of Morgan’s big red room when the security guard’s back was turned. Then skipped off to see the only existing manuscript of Paradise Lost. Then back to Brooklyn to cuddle with my man.

I love New York.

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As promised…

1. When I was about 7, I was a huge Abba fan. Kat remembers this. So when my sister emailed a few months ago to tell me that she was buying tickets to Mamma Mia and by the way, did I want one, I jumped at the chance. And I’m here to tell ya: it was fabulous! Made me wish I was 20 again, and believe me, that’s really saying something. (OK, so the feeling only lasted about 5 minutes, but still!)

Here’s a picture of me, my sisters and my Mom outside of the Winter Garden last week:

At one point I turned to Angela and said, “I’m totally tearing up over here.” And she just said, “Yeah, I saw.”

(Confidential to all you enablers out there: the 2-disc special edition DVD of the movie version is now on my wishlist.)

2. Old school New York gets me every time. No, I’m not talking about The Message or Sugarhill or (my fave) Slick Rick - though I could be. No, I’m talking about 5th Avenue. St. Patrick’s. The Ziegfeld. Guys. Dolls. Double-decker buses. The view from the Empire State Building. Musical theater, by cracky. I am probably the only person ever in the history of anything who actually cried at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. (Angie didn’t see it that time.)

What can I say? That’s just how I roll.

3. I went through a CATS phase. And the hits just keep on coming. I was a competitive figure skater in the early 80’s… just came with the territory. You know, along with “jazz class”, Flashdance and Fame.

Speaking of which…

4. Dance movies. Every man I’ve ever been with for any significant length of time has to endure them to at least some degree. (On that score, I’d put ‘em on par pilgrimages to the Tuxedo Renaissance Fair, except that at least there a frazzled boyfriend can sink his teeth into a turkey leg.)

5. I named my childhood cat after Randolph Mantooth. Well, okay, the character he played on TV. My older brother and I used to gorge ourselves on everyone’s favorte 70’s medical-ish drama back before my sister was born. Said older brother grew up to be an emergency room doctor. Coinkidink? You be the judge!

If you’re feeling nostalgic right about now, you can get your fill of full-length episodes of EMERGENCY! on the NBC website. Indeed, Leland and I were just there earlier this evening, marveling at how really freakin’ slow television moved in the old days. Back then, dog-sitting and hyperventilation passed for high drama and hour-long episodes really were almost an hour long. It’s like the 70’s were a different planet, or something. (”I think the horn player is the same as the one on Star Trek,” Leland notes. Okay, so maybe not.)

(Confidential to Mantooth fans: this one’s for you.)

6. I used to collect computer movies. Hackers (saw it at The Waverly, may she rest in peace). Electric Dreams. Antitrust (”In the real world, when you kill people, they DIE!!”). And my all-time favorite, Swordfish. 2001 was a good year for computer movies.

Say what you want about Swordfish, John Travolta was fine and this opener remains… well, not sucky. Nonetheless, alas, Scientology does not, I repeat, does NOT make my list of random things OR guilty pleasures.

(In other news, Hugh Jackman playing Houdini on Broadway? I think I might pass out.)

7. Fiona Apple Love. No, really.

Well, okay. Except maybe for this. And this? Makes me crazy. And not in a good way.

This is better.

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Time is flying by very quickly and slowly at the same time…

Been a little out of the loop, as my mother and sisters were here in el Big Apple this weekend. Mom skipped the $600 hotels and opted for a cute sublet on the Upper West, dangerously close to the old apartment of an ex-boyfriend. I took a couple of days off (well, more or less) to hang with them. More on that in an upcoming post entitled “7 Random Things About Me.” (No, really! It’s a meme, and longtime readers know how much I love memes.)

One thing that most people know about me is that I can’t see without corrective lenses. Last week, I traded my beloved, well-worn spectacles for shiny new contact lenses. This is the 2nd go round with contacts - the first being my last year at Trinity and shortly thereafter. They were great for a time, but right after I came to this crazy town, one of them bugged out in a MAJOR way and I had to bid them adieu.

Or at least I thought I had to. The woman who fitted me looked at my eyes and said, “You know, you really didn’t have to wait FIFTEEN YEARS to give it another go.” What can I say? I’ve always liked my glasses - they’re distinctive. But they are also a pain in the keister. So it’ll be nice to have another option.

What else? Planning for next year. Fun stuff in the works.

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