In September, at our annual Global dōTERRA Convention, we got to see and hear Leon Logothetis, creator of the TV show The Kindness Diaries. If you don’t know it, cozy up and snuggle down to watch Leon circumnavigate the globe on a vintage yellow motorbike named “Kindness One” relying totally on the kindness of strangers — for food, lodging, gas money - basically everything needed to stay alive. I was reminded how easy it is to be kind but I was inspired to be inspired.  

For most of my life, I used to wait to get inspired. Which meant I mostly was  looking forward to the next big something instead of being open to inspiration in any moment. Because when you expect it, it’s likely to show up.  Finding inspiration is a powerful force that lifts me to a state of possibility - which triggers my happiness hormones and that’s a fine way to live and work.  It  does wonders for the human condition, especially if you’re sharing your humanity with kids, a spouse, colleagues, friends, neighbors, customers and even the furry ones, too (the pets, not the customers).  

Finding this force, somehow motors me to appeal to people, and life in general, more authentically. More vulnerably. In a way, it’s like collecting what’s good or powerful or beautiful in the world and then finding my own intense joy or inspiration in it. In this place, I bring more of me to the job of life, work and play and, I have much more power and choice. Looking at the world like you’re looking at a lover will open you. To express. To channel. 

It wasn’t a surprise we named our new business The Zest Zone. The spirit of zest defines who we are and what we purport to inspire. We are in the Essential Oil business. We sell natural medicine.  We help others to elevate energy into a more positive vibration, emotionally and physically.  I once read that high-vibe living is like being your best self with a little extra light attached.  

Finding that light in others or in things turns me on.  It might be found in nature - like staring into the Grand Canyon, now the home of several hundred goosebumps I left behind. I was moved by boundless beauty to an understanding of so many things bigger than my life and my stuff. I can be inspired by a deep, deep meditation. A larger-than-life character in a movie. A blanketing snowfall.  A poem or song with suggestive power. A singer with a guttural, whispery voice.   A clarinet or horn player who puts me in a narcotic state. A woman who owns her strut.  Someone’s bold and brilliant earrings.  How someone wears their clothing — how they own it.  Sometimes, it’s a writer who opens her soul with words that pour from her heart and cut onto mine.  Whether the inspiration comes from a driving inner force, a beautiful scene,  from faith or someone being openly weird (a judgement, but you know what I mean), in all these examples, I know one thing for sure — I am always inspired when others put their genuine selves out there. Their light. When someone lets their passion pour out or their freak flag fly - it makes me high. 

Enter Cardi B, Chance the Rapper and Snoop. Wait, what?!  Stay with me. It was late one night a few weeks back but this little momma could not think about slumber time so I did what any smart-self-sufficient-midnight-owl would do — I hit up Netflix. And, then it happened. I fell into the first few episodes of Rhythm + Flow, a new music competition show where big rap stars hit the street to find the next rap superstar and then judge the contestants in front of a rap-thirsty crowd.  By 2:30 a.m., I was in deep and hooked. Rhythm + Flow is unscripted and uncensored and undeniably emotionally undressed. 

One by one, the hopeful challengers shared their lyrical prowess. Their truths. Their tragedies. Triumphs often marred with life’s realities. Drugs. Murder. Sex. Power. Money. The street. Each with their own imprisoned personal plot, sometimes a life vanished. I found it irresistible. 

And, in their moments, I found my own. Inspired, once again, by raw, real humanity. Just being their best selves — with a little extra light attached. 

In that reality show, I found a slice of my own.  I was reminded that I am the only one who has the power to decide who I want to be. What I want to look like. How I want to dress. And, what I need to change. 

I was reminded of how amazing I am in my spotlight. I was reminded that I still have time to transform into someone that no-one has seen before. 

I was reminded that my heart is still my GPS. And, my journey is just a continuation of all the inspired moments that brought me to this one. 

Zestfully yours,

Ilene

Stop by for our future adventures. We only post positive life shit.

October 1, 2019

It’s an interesting thing, time is. 

One morning you’re baking eggs for a full-house, the next you’re waking up to palm trees asking yourself the question — “What the hell just happened?”

We’re no strangers to jumping; to knowing what we want and going after it, but this - this was big. 

One year ago, in an act of inspired passion, we put our beloved Provincetown Bed & Breakfast Roux on the market. Two days later — an offer — followed by the invariable waiting game accompanying the sale of a business. 

When the first buyers backed out, we surrendered. Not the hands-in-the-air, we-give-up kind of surrender, but the kind of surrender where you simply know you’re going to go with whatever shows up because it’s always going to be better than what you thought you had in mind.  And, so, in the midst of our surrender - that very day - we had another offer; the offer that ultimately had us handing over keys.  

There’s a lot packed into the word ultimately. 

There were financial reports, questions to answer, tax records to pull, training manuals to write, inspections, and spreadsheets — a lot of spreadsheets, websites and accounts to transfer, movers to arrange, living arrangements to figure out. Topped off with a government closing that had us wondering if it was ever going to happen at all - and, at the very least, scratching our heads about when to pack?  We had a planning calendar that looked and smelled a lot like spaghetti against the wall and a to-do list that would curl your hair. 

Through it all we remained, how you say… pretty fucking calm. 

But, now, six months into life in St. Petersburg, Florida, it’s like none of the above ever happened.  

The choice to move on from something you love is not so hard when you can see the next thing and it becomes the movie in your head. We had ourselves sinking into the Gulf waters long before we put Roux on the market. 

And, now, we find ourselves here; more amazing than we ever dreamed it would be. It’s vibrant. Young. Diverse. Seven arts districts; five live stage theaters; ten plus museums; the south’s largest Farmers Market. Live music, ballet, concerts, an orchestra, and a fantastic local jazz scene. It’s diverse - even more so than Provincetown. Super welcoming and surprisingly gay. Like we didn’t miss a beat. St. Pete Pride, the sixth largest Pride in the country, blew us away with 10,000 marching. The downtown streets are lined with small businesses, galleries, really cool local coffee shops, micro breweries, craft cocktail joints, and an amazing array of fantastic food options. The city is 100 neighborhoods and 129 parks. Also, the weather and the beaches. 

There’s a high vibe energy that resides in both of us and when we see it, hear it, taste it, and feel it, we know it’s time to surrender ourselves knowing that everything else that’s similarly vibing will show up. And, so it has. 

Tune in next to answer the question:  What Do They Do With All That Time?

Zestfully yours,

Allison

Come back for more. We only post positive life shit.

Three Michelin star Chef Dominique Crenn will someday learn she was the impulse behind selling our award-winning inn in Provincetown - leaving everything we knew and smack in the middle of - to head 1500 miles away to start over. Again. And, it had nothing to do with cooking.

It was a Sunday afternoon in May 2018. My wife and I took Sunday afternoons off - as off as we could — from our 24/7 life as innkeepers. We headed back to our bedroom to snuggle into an episode or two of the beautifully shot Netflix food-doc Chef’s Table. We were completely seduced by an episode on Chef Crenn, one of the greatest chefs in the country, of Atelier Crenn in San Francisco. Known for her signature creative plating, each dish is a work of art -  and poetry, literally. Crenn’s menu is an actual poem with each course transcending words into gastronomic beauty.  The components of her recipes, even her meticulous movements of plating ingredients are elevated to a level of virtuosity. And, then it happened. We started to cry, simultaneously. I mean, we’re known for welling up over sappy commercials but this was different.  It wasn’t hormonal. We’re not on meds. Maybe it was the lunar cycle, but we were frigging weeping and we didn’t know why - and then we did. We separately kept leaping from the pillow to pause the show, each time plunging into deep convos about the richness and beauty of life and doing what we love, all inspired by Dominique’s deliberate moments of creating food as art. Where food is intentional. Where it is truth. Something about her way in the world elicited an intense personal reaction that had us tapping into something profound and sensory.

Why had we had such a visceral response to a food show?  But, it was more than a food show. We were watching a chef dazzle us with originality and a depth of creative expression that appealed to our hearts. She teased us.  And, the human imagination is a potent tool. Dominique, in her own culinary language, provided us with unmistakable context for what would shift our universe wide open. 

My wife Allison’s first inclination was to whisk me away to Atelier Crenn, meet Chef and eat her edible art, but knew we couldn’t get away until the following January, a mere eight months away. Eight months. Allison was crushed. Soon after the TV episode episode, we had to say no to a birthday party invite for a very dear friend who was turning 80. Eighty! Plus, there were a number of other family and friend special invites to which we had to sadly say no. Before we said yes to the 24/7-year-round inn keeper’s life in a resort town no less, we had reconciled ourselves to the reality that we’d be giving up a number of other life events — everyday dinner parties, weddings, house parties and summery salty walks on the beach.  But, inn life was really, really good. We had absolutely nothing to complain about. We were doing what we loved and felt genetically wired for. We got jazzed by doing a full house renovation to a historic home. Got totally intoxicated by the exquisite details that made a home sing.  Created gracious living spaces that made others feel happy, welcomed and nurtured. We built a profitable business where there once was none. Continually polished our entertaining skills.  Met people from all walks of life and shared incredible food experiences with others.  For us, life was a party, and we were hosting a never-ending one at our B&B in Provincetown - a town we were in love with. Plus, the mere nature of our jobs granted us access to a community that vibrated pretty high. I’d go as far as saying we had a strong psychological connection to Provincetown.  We embraced the town and its identity; felt like we belonged; had a level of influence; and we were personally invested.

How do you walk away from all of that? You just do when you’re following your heart.  

My wife and I wanted more downtime together — I know, 24/7 wasn’t enough. We wanted more freedom. More spontaneity. After almost 20 years, we still believe in thriving, not just surviving.

So, that afternoon, just under five years in and just when we thought we had the whole living-in-the-moment thing figured out, an unexpected life-changing episode shows up and boom. Two days later, we called a realtor…

Check in again and follow our journey.

Zestfully yours,

Ilene

Come back for more. We only post positive life shit.