Since I have a blog about trying NEW things, Sony wanted me to blog about their NEW video camera!!!! In return I got VIP tickets to see Jack Johnson, and I got to keep this really cool new video camera called The BLOGGIE TOUCH!!
In this video I Unbox it for the first time, and show you some of the great features it has, then I show you what the video looks like taken with the new BLOGGIE!
So if you are wondering what NEW thing to get someone for Christmas…..this is an inexpensive video camera that wont disappoint!
They let me keep the camera, but unfortunately I had to give Jack Johnson back at the end of the night. Bummer.
Well, leave it to Los Angeles to hold a farmers market at night!! The main reason I end up missing out on farmers markets is that I just can’t get myself out of bed early enough on the weekends to make it on time!! What a GREAT new thing to offer! A Farmers Market for night owls!!
This unique Farmers Market is on Thursday nights from 5-9pm, next to YAMASHIRO —looking over the city lights!!
You can drink wine, taste the food from every single booth, and shop for your fruits and vegetables while you listen to music!!
Watch the video and see up close what it has to offer…..I think I ATEthe entire market.
Well, for my new thing this week, I drove by a doggy adoption and asked what I could do to help. The woman told me that if I could foster a dog that would be great. Wait, like foster parent? Keep them but no real commitment? Now you are speaking my language…So I asked what dog, and she pointed to a little tiny chubby dog that she said was found in a hoarders house with 38 other dogs. They were all sick and not taken care of and the police busted in and all the dogs went to the vet, and then the kennel. This one especially was very scared and very traumatized, and she did not think she would ever get adopted because she was, well, a little overweight…..and I guess people in L.A. don’t want to have to pay for the liposuction. Well, Since I finished reading the amazing book TRANSFORMATION by Bill Phillips I had an 18 week process I knew she could go through that would help her regain her health and happiness and get back to a normal weight. (With what she went through I am sure there was emotional eating involved as well)
So I took her in, named her Oprah, and….well, let’s just say I failed as a foster parent. Watch the video and you will see why.
Well as I type this, it is raining in Los Angeles. I welcome the rain, usually because we don’t get it often…and there is something romantic and melancholy about a rainy Monday. That started me thinking about sunshine, and why it has such a positive effect on most people. I don’t just think it is the warm rays that feel so good, I think it is a state of mind. Michael Franti is one of my favorite musicians of all time, and he states it well in one of his songs “The Sound of Sunshine”. So for my new thing, I thought that I would show you what I feel the Sound of Sunshine might look like.
Warning….this is a very happy song and might make you want to smile and jump up and down at some point. If it is raining and you prefer to stay in a melancholy mood, then by all means do NOT watch this video.
When I was asked to do this I thought it was a joke. But alas, NO JOKE. Dogs can surf. All of them better than me, so how was I to judge? Well, this is one of my all time favorite new things to see, and you HAVE to see it for yourself to believe!
Oh and when you watch this video, you might be VERY surprised at who actually WINS!!!
I realized the other day that doing new things does not always have to mean going somewhere or trying something crazy. Sometimes it can be as simple as noticing the things that are already there, right in front of your face. (Or NOSE) So today I decided to be extra aware of my sense of SMELL. What things do I smell each day but might take for granted? Today- for YOUR new thing, notice what things might want you to take a good long whiff….. there are so many, and at the end of the day, you just might find that SO MANY THINGS just make scents.:) Click play to see the smells that became NEW again for me…..
Well I was not sure that going to a field and picking cherries could be entertaining, however, I was so wrong. There is an ART to it, and there are rules……to be broken (and tree branches) as you will see……I also joined a “meet up group” which is what people do in towns when they want to meet new people with common interests, (and of course make fun of the whole experience)…. So CLICK PLAY and see if a day of picking cherries would be a NEW THING you might want to try some day…
I brought my lovely friend Camden Singer, and we picked like pros and we had a cherry good time to my surprise…..
I do realize I am taking a commercial break from “new things” to bring you moments from a show I spent a year hosting…… a look back on entertaining moments on DESIGNED TO SELL to celebrate the time I spent on the show, and behind the scene footage…… and since my videos are about entertaining, I do believe they must be posted…….
How does a producer get his point across?? Well, in my days on the show I HAND picked moments that I found were the best ways my producer Avelino got his point across. Watch and learn…..and see how much communication has nothing to do with talking…..
For something new today I needed to answer a question that many Design to Sell fans have been asking me lately.
“Why are you no longer on the new episodes of Design to Sell?”
Well, I thought I would put together a video I made behind the scenes to show you exactly why it might have been time to move on….. as much as I fell in love with everyone on the show, it did not take me long to realize that ALL (or any) of my few skills were not really being used as much as I would have liked. Having come off Ms. Adventure, where I got to use personality and host an hour long show, to just wait around to maybe introduce a scene was starting to feel a little empty. As much as I wanted to believe this design show was “about the host”, it was not at all, and for good reason. There were things to build and reconstruct, and well, I just had no talent and NO business doing any of that. I wanted to be on camera and make people laugh….but….as you will see, trying to do that was in vain. So here is the good and the bad, the why I left (in a dramatized version) and at the end you will see how hard it was to leave the friends and co-workers who became my family. Which I now realize is what that experience was REALLY about.
As you know I have decided in 2010 that I am willing and open to new things. That is the reason for this blog. I had hoped to do one new thing a day,but as much as most do not have the dedication to watch my videos every day, I found out it was not realistic to do one everyday. I have realized that just the intention of being willing to do NEW things , has made my life more interesting, and I am very excited to continue this journey of doing new things. I do not know where it will end up, but I DO know that so far this has been the most interesting year of my life. Sharing new things with you on this blog has been the inspiration so thank you for continuing to stay with me here. Since it has been over 6 months of trying new things, I now seem to attract new, fun experiences without even putting an effort. It’s like I am a “NEW THING” Magnet. Sometimes this magnet draws in things I have always wanted to do, (Like singing with Paul McCartney and watching magic with Jerry Seinfeld) but sometimes, well…..let’s just say I would not have chosen some of these NEW things…..yet, I have never regretted any of them.
As far as this new thing for today…….I found myself in the mountains of North Carolina celebrating my friends birthday, and the next thing you know, I am swinging my partner round/and/round……. A BARN DANCE found it’s way to me. It’s like the crazy new things are now seeking ME out, and all I can do is laugh my way through it. I went into this one a “barn dance skeptic”, but in the end, there is just absolutely no way one can not find their inner fiddle and dosey doe their way to happiness with a BARN DANCE. So click on the video when you are ready, You will see I was not a chicken to try the dance….. But even if I was chicken, what a perfect place to be……a BARN.
Looking back at my trip to Aruba, I really did try to be consistent in doing new things while I was there……it was not hard. For me, almost EVERYTHING I did in Aruba was new! At the end of the trip, we convinced our new friend and island native Randolf, to bring us to the all natural pools. This was located on the other side of the island, and the picture of what it was like worth a thousand……bumps.
You will see what I mean when you watch this video……..
Well, just yesterday when I had the chance to see Howard scratch and completly be frustrated—-I thought as a dog owner and “head of the pack” I needed to take action. He needed a bath because maybe he had fleas? Do I bathe first, then put the chemicals on to destroy whatever is itching him??? I did what any good pet owner would do—consult with facebook and see what my “friends” had to say. They all told me….BATHE first. Although one fan of “designed to sell” told me I better wait a day to be sure I did not douse him with chemicals the same day of a bath, then asked me if yellow was too bright in the kitchen….I have no clue about Yellow, (YES it works if you’re GAY) but I DID wait a day to give Howard any chemicals. I decided as a new thing— since I am the dog owner, why should I drop him off at a doggie place? I needed to kill the fleas myself, bathe him myself, yet…I could not bare to bathe him in my own bathtub or shower, so….where was a woman to go????? Where could I WASH MY OWN DOGGIE?????? Then I saw it…..a place ….literally called …..
U-WASH-DOGGIE…..commanding me to take action…..THAT is a place I can respect. I wish they had more places like that.
U-Take GIRL To NICE Place to EAT
U-stop talking and ask about HER-
U-Pay for check
I could continue, but I wont. This is my new thing.
Well, I have to first apologize —I have been MIA for the past month for a few reasons…..one being that I booked a part in a movie that was fimed in Sedona…..and Called SEDONA…..and the new thing for me was first of all FINALLY booking a part in a movie, and also a movie about the spirit of one of the most beautiful places in the world! My parents retire to Sedona in the winter, and for good reason…….it is stunning, the red rocks catching the sunlight at any time of day is incredible….. I got to be here (for 2 weeks!) AND work with Francis Fisher, who is an amazing actress.
I play her best friend/assistant and try to calm her down as so many unpredictable things happen as she gets “stuck” in Sedona on her way to Phoenix.
Here we are taking a 5 minute break to catch the view inbetween scenes……
Alas, life has been throwing me MANY new things to do, so much so most the time I do not even need to seek them out…..however…..this is not the end of my blog, don’t you dare think that……….. I actually feel “Sedonafied” and ready to add even more new things. Hopefully some new things that might inspire you and some that will be a personal journey for me because many adventures are of the spirit, and one needs only to look inside to do some new things I will be adding to this blog. WOw, I really DO sound all new -agey all Sedona-y…..in fact I KNEW if was time to leave Sedona when I started BUYING rocks. I actually paid for a bunch of “energized” rocks and crystals. I’ll let you know if they work….
As for now…..Here is a snippet from my “trailer” on the set. My good friend Elaine took this for HER blog and website http://www.thewholecosmos.com/ she caught me in my trailer ( I like saying that) here ya go…….
Well, I really did try one new thing a day on my trip in Aruba, and sometimes when you try new things, they lead you on a completely different adventure…….
This was a day we wanted to horseback ride at sunset, such a lovely idea, we even had our own private tourguide. However, when we arrived at the ranch, the horseman was nowhere to be found……..our lovely half -deaf driver, did the best he could, and after you watch this video you will see, where God closes one door, he leaves another one OPEN……. click play to understand how……
