At the end of April I took a short trip to London to visit with four of my dear friends from my leadership tribe. It had been about three and a half years since we were all together, so we were thrilled to have a mini-reunion.

The four bellas - a radiantly pregnant Tina, Lisa, me and Fiona - were happy to be together. We have been connecting off and on on the phone over the past several years and it’s always like a breath of fresh air when we’re all together. Fiona, being the fabulous idea generator that she is came up with a “development day” concept where each of us got time to share what was going on in our lives and get support, coaching, insights and feedback. Pretty awesome considering we’re all trained coaches who care deeply about each other!

Beks‘ son Callum and Fiona’s son Pierre meet for the first time. Too cute!

A gorgeous view from Richmond Park where we spent a warm, sunny afternoon with the boys.

All five of us together before heading out to dinner at a delicious Turkish restaurant.

An afternoon at Petersham Nurseries.

We dined on yummy sweet potato and ginger soup in the lovely Petersham Nurseries greenhouse. Just heavenly!

A view of the Thames from the Petersham Hotel where we enjoyed high tea complete with finger sandwiches sans crusts and scones with clotted cream. A table near us had a group of gray-haired well-dressed women and we joked that that would be us forty years from now at one of our future reunions! I love to think of us continuing to make time to connect like that. These women are such an important part of my life and we have seen each other through lots of growth and transition. I am so glad I said yes to this spontaneous trip to spend time with dear friends.

I’ve been so behind with posting about my 29-day giving challenge. There’s been lots of stuff going on - mostly good and some bad/frustrating. I noticed that after getting in my car accident on lucky number Day 13 (see below), I was feeling a little stuck with the giving. I think that I’m in a better place now and I believe being committed to keep on giving even in the smallest of ways that has helped me move on.

Here’s a recap of the past week:

• Day 13: Gave emotional support to a woman I got in a fender bender with in the city. I got rear ended and she was sandwiched between me and the third car that hit her. No one was injured, so that was good. Her car was totaled, though, and she was very distraught. We’ve exchanged a few e-mails since then and she was very grateful for the concern and help I provided her. We’ve since found out the the driver who caused the accident (and the car’s owner are both not insured, so it’s been a bit frustrating dealing with the extra hassle). I’ve had to also practice not going into blame mode and instead to try to forgive and show compassion. This “crash course” in giving has definitely been one of the more powerful gives so far!
• Day 14: Gave resources/book recommendations to a wedding photographer friend of Brian’s who just moved to the area.
• Day 15: A client from the city came over for an in-person Right-Brain Business Plan session and since she doesn’t own a car, I picked her up and took her back to the BART station.
• Day 16: Brian’s neck was bothering him so I heated up my neck wrap and lent it to him.
• Day 17: Walked with Sonja, Sandy and the crew of dogs. She thanked me for the cookies from last week and said she very much enjoyed them.
• Day 18: Invited my friend Anne to join me as a guest at our Oakland Ladies Who Launch member meeting and drove her to and from.
• Day 19: Called my cousin Karen to wish her happy birthday, had a wonderful conversation with my friend Katie and brainstormed ideas for a possible business concept she has (very exciting!) and donated several bags of stuff to Goodwill.
• Day 20: Wrote thank you cards to Laura for lending her Creative Action Center space for our Ladies Who Launch meeting and to Reese for being our fantastic guest speaker on Thursday.
• Day 21: Spent half the day with the SF Coaches Board visioning what we want our organization to be this year and beyond. Was fun to dream up big ideas for the impact we want to make on the profession and in the world at large! I also brought my iPod and some speakers so we could have some lively and inspiring music on our breaks. That’s us below!

I’ve been posting about my daily gives directly on my page on the 29-Day Giving Challenge site. More of my insights are included there. If haven’t joined the challenge yet, I recommend giving it a try. It’s fun and doesn’t have to be a big to do. And yet, there’s so much power in the act of simply giving.

Anyway, here’s a quick recap of what I’ve given over the past week or so.

• Day 6: Picked up my friend Fiona from her training, drove us to the city for some shopping and then saw her off at the airport.
• Day 7: Baked some cookies and left them in my neighbor’s mailbox. She’s always giving doggie treats (she calls them cookies) to Emmett, so I thought it would be nice to give her some cookies, too.
• Day 8: Gave a client an extra copy I had of the book Money Magic.
• Day 9: Lent money on kiva.org to a Cambodian family so they could buy supplies for their art business.
• Day 10: Put a surprise gift in a package of business materials that I had to send to a friend.
• Day 11: Signed up for a widget that helps to track and offset my online carbon footprint on my site. My small way of giving back to the environment.
• Day 12: Picked cala lilies from my garden and gave them to my friend along with an inspirational book.

Visit 29-Day Giving Challenge

Cami Walker of Creative Urge recently kicked off a new and meaningful challenge - the 29-Day Giving Challenge. Cami is uber-talented and also highly spiritual and intuitive. And her own story is really inspiring. Find out what spurred her to create and share this challenge. I began the challenge on 3/31. Here’s a recap of my first five days of the giving challenge:

• Day One: Gifted one of my handmade Wish Boxes to Kate Prentiss for doing such an awesome job on my soon-to-be-ready brochure!
• Day Two: My friend Fiona from London is in town. I picked her up from the airport and she crashed at my place before going to a training session in the morning. (So excited that I get to hang out with her Saturday afternoon when she’s done! And in London in a few weeks when I go to visit her!)
• Day Three: Did a volunteer coaching call with Yessica, a client from C.E.O. Women.
• Day Four: Volunteered my voice for Aurora Medina’s Plenty of Money meditation.
• Day Five: Donated to Alison Ekizian’s AIDS Ride campaign.

In my work I feel like I naturally give a lot - a lot of support, encouragement, intense listening, resources, etc. I also love giving gifts, especially handmade ones. And I volunteer my time and money to causes that are important to me. This challenge, though, is helping me to expand what it means to give. And I hate to admit it but I’m noticing where I have resistance to giving (usually when it’s “inconvenient” for me or if I’m feeling strapped financially - see last post). What I love about the message from Cami and this challenge is that truly giving helps us get out of our own “stuff” and shifts the energy outward. Yes, there are times when it’s good to give to ourselves (I took a self-care day for myself today) AND that doesn’t mean we still can’t give to others. It’s not an either/or. I’m realizing I make it an either/or when I’ve pushed myself to the limit and I don’t have reserves left. So, my challenge to myself is to continue giving in some form even when I feel like I need to retreat. As Cami suggests, you can give anything - a material object, time, money, a kind word, a smile or even just positive energy. The key is to do it with intention. I look forward to discovering more insights during this challenge. And I’m excited to get creative about how else I can give.

Cami’s goal is to inspire at least 2,000 people to commit to the 29-Day Giving Challenge by 9/29/08. Won’t you join us? Spreading the word is one way to give!

P.S. - here’s a theme song to get you on your way… “Give a Little Bit” by the Goo Goo Dolls.

I recently completed a money circle with money coach and fellow Lady Launcher Aurora Medina (whom I describe as Suze Orman meets Shakira!). My relationship with money has had its ups and downs, so it was helpful to spend time reflecting on how I am with my finances and how I want to be.

During my years of climbing the corporate ladder, I made a good salary and never worried about price tags or balancing my checkbook. I spent way too much on clothes (well, I had to make use of my Gap, Banana and Old Navy discount, now didn’t I?!!). However, I did do some of the right things - tucked money away in a 401(k), set up monthly automatic transfers into my savings account, invested in mutual funds, etc. - without ever really paying much attention.

Now that I work for myself, I am much more aware of my cash flow and finances. However, this doesn’t mean that I like dealing with it and avoidance blocks more abundance from flowing into my life. So, participating in this money circle was a first step in being more conscious about how I am around money.

Aurora had us create money vision boards. Mine depicts the peace and relaxation I feel when I’m confident about money. The phrase “business is booming” is juxtaposed by a calm woman just chillin’ in nature. That image reminds me that I don’t need to run myself ragged to make a living. That in fact, I’m more effective when I’m grounded and centered. I also have images of material things I want. Top of the list would be re-doing our kitchen and getting a dishwasher! Regular vacations would be nice, too.

Another assignment was to create a money beliefs box. Well, given my dream boxes, you know I was all over this one! In fact, I created mine during the workshop I led last Friday. I found a quote from supermodel Linda Evangelista that says, “I don’t wake up for less than $10,00 a day.” How’s that for raising the bar?! I also have “say your worth it” which is a big one for me to step into, too.

Inside the box, I wrote my new beliefs about money on little slips of green paper. Some of them include:

• I deal with my finances easily and effortlessly.
• I’m doing what I love and am good at and I easily pay others to handle the rest.
• I indulge in self-care luxuries knowing I can totally afford them.
• I attract abundance and live abundantly.
• I make my money work for me.
• It’s easy for me to make more money in less time.
• Brian and I have a sound financial plan for now and for the future.
• I make generous contributions to worthy causes on a regular basis.

The other nugget I got from the money circle was identifying my money type. I scored high on Money Magician, but because my financial life is not yet where I want it to be, we looked at the next highest which were the Martyr and the Artist/Creator. I also have strong Warrior energy which is great to tap into. I will be paying attention to which of my types is making decisions about my money and how that might be hurting or helping me. The ultimate goal is to become the Money Magician who can easily manifest inner wealth spiritually and outer wealth in the material world. Find out what you are by taking the quiz.

I’ve also ordered two books that Aurora recommended: Money Magic by Deborah L. Price and Prince Charming Isn’t Coming by Barbara Stanny. I’m looking forward to reading them.

What is your relationship with money? What are your beliefs about money and how are they serving you? What does inner and outer wealth look like to you?

Yesterday, I was invited by a friend Cathy to lead my dream box workshop with her small networking group of East Bay entrepreneurial women. These five financial- and foodie-focused females get together regularly to help support each other in their “next steps.” It’s such a great idea to have a group of like-minded people to help keep accountability and motivate each other to keep moving forward. We had a fun few hours of collaging and gabbing. I love doing workshops like this for small gatherings of women who already are friends (like I did for my painting and collage workshop last year). It’s usually a nice change of pace for them and they get inspired by each other’s creative visions. What fun, new creative activities can you do with your group of friends?

My husband, Brian Ng, is an amazing wedding photographer. He recently re-launched his photo blog and has some really cool pics of a recent wedding at AT&T Park in the city. He also posted images from a photojournalism intensive workshop that he attended in Texas. If you’re a dog lover, take a peek! He was assigned to shoot dog agility classes and he captured several cute pups in action.

Julie, George, Jaden and Carson came to visit today during their spring break. We hung out at Fairyland, a tiny theme park nestled in Lake Merritt. I had never been, but Julie, who used to live in Oakland as a kid, had fond memories of going there.

Watching Jaden run around fascinated by all characters and activities reminded me of the joys of being a kid. When everything seemed larger than life and the simplest things could bring such delight!

And here’s wide-eyed Carson who is full of wonder and now a lot bigger than when I first met him.

How do you get in touch with your inner child? What small things delight you?

Tonight I was a guest presenter at C.E.O. Women’s four-month entrepreneurial training program. C.E.O. Women is an amazing organization based here in Oakland that helps low-income immigrant and refugee women start their own business. These brave, dedicated women hail from around the world… Nigeria, St. Lucia, Ethiopia, Peru, Vietnam and Japan to name a few.

Our focus for this evening was market research and we had a good discussion about different ideas for gathering data about customers, products and services. I love seeing how the women help each other out with suggestions and encouragement.

One of the things I admire about this organization is the creative way they’ve designed their outreach programs. Not only do they offer ESL with their business training, they also provide coaching and mentoring, and last year they developed a groundbreaking telenovella educational video to teach the entrepreneurial concepts and language in an engaging and entertaining way.

With women launching their businesses at three times the rate of men, it’s great to know that groups like this are empowering women from all ethnic and economic backgrounds.

A couple of hours ago we wrapped up night two of our March Ladies Who Launch Incubator Intensive. I am blown away by this group’s overflow of positive energy and generous spirit. There is a deep soulful connection that these women created in just one week!

One of our Incubatresses Kate Prentiss was so moved by fellow Incubatress Karon Fields and her non-profit Rooms for Change, that she set out to raise $1,000 for Karon’s cause within a week. You bet we had to whip out the tissues tonight when Kate handed more than $1,000 to a surprised and speechless Karon. Kate’s act of kindness exemplifies the power of seeing a need, setting a goal, speaking it out into the world and enlisting support from others. As Victoria and Beth say in their Ladies Who Launch book, to launch anything you first imagine it, speak it, do it and then celebrate it. We sure celebrated tonight! And it’s just the beginning for these 10 star ladies. We have two more weeks of Incubator magic together and I can’t wait to see what more blossoms. It’s amazing what happens when you bring together a group of strong, creative and giving women!

On a side note, I’m really excited to have met Kate at the end of last year. Not only is she an incredibly talented designer and artist (who’s helping me with my brochure and several upcoming creative projects) she’s a super cool and inspiring friend. I knew she and I would click when I had my first meeting with her and her Creative Urge business partner Cami Walker (another totally inspiring, creative gal and fellow launcher). We were playing with unique brochure formats and all three of us were going totally ga-ga over little bits of folded paper! I was with my creative peeps!

And look at this cool poem Kate shared with me at the end of tonight’s session…

Wow, I’m so blessed to have these fabulous women in my life!!!