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!!!

It’s been another full week and challenging for me to keep up with all the great things going on. I did make a point on Wednesday to take advantage of the gorgeous spring-like weather by practicing yoga in my backyard. With the sun shining overhead, birds chirping in the trees and the cool breeze on my skin, I was in yogi heaven! I’m amazed at how the fresh air brought me so in touch with my breath and my body - wonderful!

With another Ladies Who Launch Incubator that started last night, I’m reminded to get creative about doing more nice things for myself. After all, pampering is part of the lady launching way! So, I can’t wait for more sunny days like this to do backyard yoga ‘cuz that sure counts as a nice thing.

Today I was at It’s Yoga for another dream box workshop with a new circle of teacher trainers. It’s hard for me to believe that it was almost a year ago that I completed my yoga teacher certification. So many wonderful things have manifested since then. One being getting to lead this workshop at the studio!!!

I had fun laughing and hanging out with the group. They were a playful and engaging bunch! And I loved hearing about their dreams and seeing the unique ways they all decorated their dream boxes.

One of the students crafted her own “guru-in-a-box” with a pop-up Sri Swami Satchidananda to offer inspiration and wisdom! How cool is that?!

Our book club pick for this round was artist Beatrice Wood’s autobiography, “I Shock Myself.” Francisca dished up a delicious bohemian spread of lentils, quinoa, beets, salad, pita bread, hummus and all sorts of other goodies. Christina picked tangerines from the tree.

As an homage to the creative process, Francisca asked us each to bring pieces we’ve been working on. Christina, Francisca and I shared some knitting, Kristen brought photos and of course Lily brought her latest creation…

… Jacob whom we all met for the first time.

We are on our seventh year of our book club. And even though we hardly talk about the books, we know it’s more about just spending time together laughing, eating, enjoying each other’s company and…

just being silly together (Francisca and I sporting our “Blue Steel” Zoolander poses).

Ahhhh, another perfect book club afternoon!