Remabulous

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

2012-01-25T14:11:34-08:00

From Caroline Donahue

Account Executive at DoctorBase

Greater Los Angeles Area

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.- Caroline

Confirm that you know Caroline

You are receiving Invitation to Connect emails. Unsubscribe

© 2012, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

We've moved for 33 for 33...

2010-09-08T11:30:20-07:00

Hello lovely readers! We've made the big leap and are now on Wordpress, over at www.carolinedonahue.com

Come and play with us there! The water's fine and we've got a whole new list for a whole new year as of August 30, 2010. We look forward to having you and please do update your subscriptions.

Have a magical day.

Mission accomplished: #29 Ladies reunion in Lake George...

2010-08-22T14:18:21-07:00

I was very happy to get even 3 of my my 5 closest friends from high school up to Lake George on my recent trip to upstate NY and then on to NYC. We all were able to make it two years ago and I really wanted to revisit the adventure during 32. Since this involved multiple flights and drives and travel and pick-up arrangements, it was amazing that we were able to get the better part of a weekend. I missed the two of us who didn't make it so much, we'll have to try again for another year...

Since we got to be there while my dad, stepmother and brother were there as well, this year's trip involved a lovely ride in the lake in the boat that I am far too terrified to even drive myself... here's a glimpse of the lake from inside the boat...

Thoughts on another birthday while single

2010-08-12T11:41:30-07:00

Ah #6, my achilles tendon this year. As we move into August, I have started to reflect on each of my 32 goals for the past year and my progress made. I have done so much more than I thought I would in certain ways. In other goals, like "learn Spanish" my lack of doing anything but a few practice phrases with my housekeeper and friends make me wonder how much importance I really put there...

I found this video this morning on Salon, and loved the simple beauty of it. It made me feel less pained about the difficulty of #6: Find love. I believe it was the most briefly stated goal, but it had so much inside of it.

Enjoy this. I loved it loved it.

Another museum under my belt for #10! Norton Simon

2010-08-02T16:24:29-07:00

Nothing like a Saturday museum and lunch date with a friend! We are rocking through the final goals for 32 for 32 this August...it's going to be tight, but we'll be posting regularly again on here on the upside...Enjoy!

32 for 32: #13 down... I have been to Big Sur!

2010-07-27T16:08:00-07:00

So... we are on high alert to get the rest of the 32 for 32 goals done before August 30th...

I went to Big Sur the weekend of July 23-26. Here's the report directly from there as well as a tour of my room at Deetjen's.

On heartbreak in the face of change.

2010-06-29T11:25:06-07:00

I have taken the risk in the past to share the things here that are hard to talk about and to say out loud. My friend Christina Morassi shot this photo a week or so ago when I was in the middle of a difficult conversation with the gentleman caller. We have challenging schedules, big goals, and different ways we are able to show up.

It has been a struggle, making love something I talk about in any kind of public forum. I wanted it in my life, so I put it on the list of goals last August, and I felt that I had found it.

And now, despite trying, despite realizing we wanted to make it work through an ellipses, there is now a period at the end of this sentence.

I have been expanding and growing what I want to accomplish in my work and my life and my ideas and my life feels much bigger for it. I had dreamed of us building these bigger lives together, that we'd help each other along the way. Apparently this desire to be around each other in this process translated as pressure and wanting more than he felt he was able to give.

It's curious to me that the grief is so different this time than it was before. I wanted this so badly to work. I wanted this life to unfold for me with him in it. And I wanted more from him.

It is painful to look over a pattern of a few years of being with people who wanted less than I did. Who didn't want to commit a few years ago, or made big promises but then went back on them, or who didn't want to see me as often as I wanted to see them.

I wonder if it's normal to feel like one is just bad at relationships. Or that it's impossible to grow in business and keep the things from your life that you loved from before. I'm scared of that idea. It makes me scared of what I would have to sacrifice in the future to reach my goals.

I think I'm going to have to let #6 go for this year. It's too heavy and has taken up too much of me for now. I suppose to have experienced it for a couple of months still counts, since I never specified how long I wanted it to last.

Make your goals specific. I think there is a way that things you really ask for always show up. I just wish I had been clearer about what I wanted this time.

I asked him not to contact me again. I didn't see the point. But the space of sitting knowing that may be the end of any contact is hard.

Perhaps hard is sometimes the only way.

Item #10: Go to museums in LA, the Natural History Museum Edition

2010-06-16T17:33:13-07:00

So... I'm a bit behind on posting this, but I did check a Museum off the list of #10. Am getting a little panicked on getting this one totally done as there are a huge number of Museums here in LA. Huge. Terrifyingly big.

So, I shall share those I plan to get to before the clock gets reset on August 30th with 33 for 33, and then I shall share the amusing photos I got while at First Fridays two weeks ago...

Yay!

The "I mean it, I'm going" Museum list.

The Skirball
Norton Simon
The Hammer
Getty Villa
The Annenberg (technically a gallery, but I love photo, so I'm going.)

I've already conquered:

LACMA
MOCA
Museum of Jurassic Technology
Getty
Natural History Museum
Artwalk in Highland Park
Huntington Gardens and Library

Feels good to have a whole list!

Here we go with the photos...

My new power animal is the guy in the middle on the left.

Amy sees something naughty...

Flying squirrel attack!

Flying squirrel always finds his mark.

Celebrating the stationery that is made out of elephant poo. Wow for eco chic alternatives!

Then we found the room of wild and crazy gems...

And they were so pretty, we could not stop staring...

If I disappear, it may be because I couldn't help but run off with the emerald in the vault. Please bail me out!

We'll be back with more museum adventures. I've got to get these bad boys crossed off...

Getting stared at by a Croatian.

2010-06-07T17:13:46-07:00

I had heard a lot about Braco, a Croatian healer from various sources that I trust regarding his visit in April this year. So... when he came back, I was more than eager to check this out.

Thankfully, the ellipses over with the gentleman caller, we decided that this was something we needed to check out.

After all, when else do you get to reply "getting stared at by a Croatian" when someone asks what you're up to that day. I loved it. I told everyone. It never got old.

OK. So he doesn't actually stare. It's more of a gaze. But still. Being gazed at implies things I didn't think were part of the picture.

So... as the gentleman caller lives over towards the westside,I picked him up on the way to the airport and convinced both him and his roommate that a documentation of the "before" state was required.

Here is us before the staring:

OK. So maybe I suggested we might want to hang towards the droopy side in order to convey the transformation. But still... We've been stressed lately with work, so it seems fair.

Off to the hotel ballroom for the gazing!

We thought that perhaps the poster would be a good place to start. It seemed like a nice picture and the people in the area were happy as we got in line to wait to go into the session.

It was a bit strange participating in this event in a hotel near LAX. As a former Bay Area resident, I am more used to the woods or some natural setting for this kind of experience. Still, I have had lots of meaningful experiences in mundane locations, so I was not dissuaded.

We entered the room and sat in a group of about 200. We were in the middle of the row about two thirds of the way back. After a period of q+a and some explanation of Braco's history, some calm instrumental music played and we stood as Braco came out for the gazing.

It was quite unusual just to stand in silence for about 5-10 minutes and connect with the gaze. It was peaceful and the room felt very positive, which was a pleasant addition. Afterward, we all sat in meditation for a few minutes and then a few participants shared experiences of seeing lights and feeling lots of love.

I went again the second day with a friend who was celebrating her birthday and was able to be in the second or third row. I saw some sparkly lights this time and felt a strong pulse of energy. Again, it was very peaceful and people were happy in the room.

Both times I ended up enjoying a tasty burger at In n Out afterward on Sepulveda, which seemed a funny aftermath. Still, I have been in a good mood and felt calm and uplifted ever since the experience. My gentleman caller was much less stressed about his backbreaking amount of work and a talk he is giving out of the country this week, so that alone was worth the price of admission. And my friend found her dream apartment and got it the very next day after months of searching.

Coincidence?

Who knows? But my skin is looking a bit better. I am going to go see Amma, the hugging saint next in the next week, so perhaps spiritual cures for this skin thing are the answer to this list item. We shall see...

And please don't tell my gentleman caller that I posted the first photo. He tried to get me to delete it.

Oops!I love it too much not to share...

Bless the ellipses.

2010-06-02T11:52:51-07:00

#6 has turned out to be quite the saga this year. Honestly, I only put something to do with relationships on the list in the first place was that I thought I needed to be more specific after the 31 for 31 list's "Have sex" item failed. 100% no action of any kind last year. So "Find Love" seemed like a better way to approach it.

And in many ways I have been delighted with the result. I am more open to what love means right now. I am so aware of how much I love my friends, my family and my city. I do love LA. It surprises me to think this, having been such a die hard Bay Area citizen for such a long time, but I do.

And during this tricky phase with the gentleman caller, I heard I love you from friends and family almost every time I spoke to them. The support was incredible. And even though we were experimenting with being apart, he and I still said we loved each other in what we wrote back and forth and when we spoke.

Ultimately it seemed silly to feel that way so clearly and not be together and figure out what that means as we go.

You don't have to swallow a challenge all at once. You can take life in little bites. I like this better.

It was a beautiful thing to trust what I believed was possible and to see that trusting in myself and my beliefs was the right thing to do.

And perhaps this painful period of time was a way to really get to the deep bottom of #6: Find Love. I know that I have more knowledge than I did before.

And it feels good. But next time, I have informed my gentleman, we're going to do this in a less traumatic way. Phew!