A few months ago you may have heard me talk briefly here about the great writing project I was involved in...and a few people have inquired. The origin of this whole project began with 25 women bloggers selected to participate in Turning Leaf Wine's Project Breathe, a blog about and for women, who's busy lives of work, family, obligations and passions required 'breathe' moments. All of our backgrounds varied, but there is a common theme, take time for yourself, enjoy moments doing the things that you love and be you. Sign up on howdoyoubreathe.com to get an email when the site goes live and share your unique breathe moments! For a sneak peak...this is one of the things that I wrote that got me the spot for the ad, as they picked the 4 best writers and photographed us personally. I got to choose a friend (I chose my sister Michaela) to join me and fly to Santa Monica for a few days, all expenses paid and 2 days of photo shoots. Very surreal. Even more surreal was seeing the ad in full-page form in US Weekly, Redbook, Oprah and Real Simple.

Day 10 Prompt from Editor: Pretend you’re playing a writer on a hit show for and about women. Use your personal style, of course, but give us your wit and sarcasm, your most genuine woman (a la Carrie Bradshaw…?) In the most concise and witty way possible, tell your audience what your personal idea of therapy is. And shout out your breathe moments most unique to you… Your unusual ways to unwind! About those unexpected things you do just for yourself…

POST a la Sarah Jane:
friend sessions are free… The best remedy, therapy and ode to sanity - friendship. I have had some hilariously embarrassing moments in my life. I have been locked out of my apartment and had to climb through the kitchen window, I have been unemployed and couch hopped. I have been in good relationships and bad ones. I have had my heart broken. I have lost a parent. I have gained weight, had bad hair days, worn a creative trendy ensemble that would make the back pages of US Weekly’s worst dressed list. I have let the clothes in my bedroom form a tornado pattern on the floor. I have cried so much it hurt and laughed till it hurt. All this - I could not have done without my friends. The greatest witnesses to all of our unflattering splendor. We find out what we’re made of in the most unique times, don’t we? And our friends love us, unconditionally. They’ll come over after a bad date with a bottle of wine at midnight; just to make you laugh and remember who you are, and they’ll support your silence, or your need to repeat the series of events in detail for full analysis. They’ll throw you a pity party, and also make you remember that the pity party has an expiration date. Not to mention, spontaneous dance parties - that’s right up there with eating cookie dough, drinking wine on the porch, a great hike, and a long scenic drive - for greatest all time therapeutic vices. Sometimes, we don’t know what we need, but thankfully, we don’t always have to, with great girlfriends who know with a glance, that the wind has been taken from our sails and it’s time for a very large, guided deep breath, a hug and a getaway car. You know this friend, because she is you, she is me, she is all of us..