My Morning Coffee - my personal 15 minutes

 

 I LOVE my morning coffee! It is not all about the caffeine for me but rather it is my meditative way to start my day, everyday.  I am a morning person so usually I am the first to wake up in my house. The first thing I do is make my cup of coffee and reflect. It is quiet and usually just me and my dog, Bodhi ( our sweet 5 yr old golden retriever). Those few minutes do not last very long at all, maybe 15 to 20 minutes... but they are soooo special. When I am in a political mood, I sneak in some time to watch "MSNBC's Morning Joe". I LOVE my MiKa Brzezinski ! Before I finish my last sip of my hot coffee, my youngest daughter Layah (12) wakes up and yells about breakfast and help making lunch and signing some papers she needs for school, and ... and so my crazy busy day begins; thank god for those 15 minutes with my coffee.  I am sure this sounds very familiar to many of you.

 A couple of weeks ago I drove down to beautiful Charleston (perfect southern town) to meet with an incredible business mentor for my Uvo business. I found an amazing place to get my morning coffee. The picture above was the cappuccino they made for me. I highly recommend anyone in or going to Charleston to stop by Kudu cafe. I sat in a beautiful courtyard outside and enjoyed my 15 minutes (well actually 45 minutes) of my personal time to help start my day. I have to say, having a cup of coffee look this beautiful filled my heart with happiness. Perfect start to what became an extremely productive business meeting with my mentor!

 xo, Gigi

Dinner with My Girlfriends

Ever since I became an entrepreneur for my start-up business, going out to dinner has become a luxury. So going out to a nice restaurant is really a special nicety that I am selective about. Don't get me wrong, I love having a romantic date dinner with my husband as well as sweet family dinner with the kids, but there is something truly special about going out with just the girls (women friends). I think the conversations just flow, at times there could be 3 simultaneous conversations and at other times all five of us are captivated by just one conversation. We talk about anything from raising kids to sex, from life at work to caring for our parents, politics, travel; never boring second! It was five of us a dinner last Tuesday night at a beautiful restaurant downtown called Oro.  Two of my friends I have known since the age of six, the other two since college, so there is nothing off limit for us to discuss. I think since the beginning of time women have felt that way, there is just something really special about being with good friends and absolutely NO RESPONSIBILITY for just three hours at least. Other people must feel this way too, I found this interesting national website: WomenFunFriends .  Do the rest of you feel this way? Thirty some odd years of having dinners together still feels the same but our topics have grown with our friendship. Love to all my old and new women friends! xo, Gigi

Turning 50! - "you ain't seen nothing yet!"

Fun Conversation!

On Thursday I celebrated the completion of the fifth decade of my life by treating myself to a trip to New York. After a much anticipated arrival into Tribeca I had the privilege of enjoying lunch with successful entrepreneur and investor Barbara Corcoran. Barbara was in New York at the World of Business Ideas, WOBI, for her one day seminar on entrepreneurship. She, among nine other guest speakers at the event, were informing the audience of how to build a business from the ground up, revealing a successful path to revitalizing their company through innovation, and many other tips and tricks. Speaking with Barbara and listening to her stories was very enlightening. WOBI Although I had a wonderful time in New York, I could not think of a better way to end my birthday than coming home to flowers and homemade cards from my family. From my daughters Kamila (16) and Layah (12) I got IOU’s for a full day of bike riding, and mother daughter time together and I can’t wait! xo, Gigi