The Last Sunset of 2013

Last January I decided that I wanted to be sure to watch the last sunset of 2013.  After putting that on my 100 things to do list (in my Create Your Shining Year In Life Workbook), I also decided that I wanted to find a way to celebrate the end of the year.  I decided to model this celebration after the Jewish celebration of Havdalah.  Havdalah means separation in Hebrew and is usually observed at the end of the Sabbath on Saturday night after three stars are visible in the sky.  I wanted to do something special to separate 2013 and 2014.  I decided this last January.  True to form, I wrote my service last night, December 30, 2013.  Below are my service and pictures I took along the way.
I read that during Havdalah a person is required to use all five senses, so my goal was to do that.  I would be at the beach, so I would SEE the sunset, FEEL the sand and the energy from the ocean, HEAR the ocean, SMELL the lavender, fir, and chamomile scent of the candle, but what could I TASTE?  Well, it's my party, er ceremony and I want the year to go out on a high note, so I got some Ghiradelli Dark & Truffle squares.
I headed out to Half Moon Bay State Beach with the goal of getting some ocean water for later in the ceremony, finding a perfect spot on the beach, setting up a crystal grid, and meditating while listening to and watching the waves.  Once in my perfect spot, I laid out all my stuff:

Crystals for the grid, including positive intention charms, and a chakra wand for activating the grid are on the left.  In the middle are my Completion Circle diagram (from the Amazing Life Workbook), my notes for the ceremony, the candle, and a Tibetan singing bowl that I grabbed at the last minute.  In the upper right is the bowl about a third full of ocean water.  Oh and the chocolate square. :)

Next I enabled Reiki and set up my grid:

The amethyst sphere is there mainly for amethyst's property of breaking addiction, something I want to manifest in 2014.  (Also it's pretty and purple.)
The rose quartz pieces are to manifest self-love and the clear quartz is there to amplify the properties.  The positive intention charms read Discipline, Passion, Strength, Focus, Integrity, and Imagine.

Here, too, is the water bowl and the chakra energy candle of Abundance, representing the 3rd eye chakra:

I had some time to relax since sunset was at 1701, so I turned on my meditation timer .  I've meditated 117 days in a row.  The ocean is a meditation for me, so I thought I'd get credit for it and extend the streak to 118.  At 1654 I hit the Tibetan singing bowl twice and began to read:
"Sunset is the most beautiful time of the day to me.  My favorite place on Earth is at the ocean, watching the sunset.  This sunset is not just the end of the day, it's the last of the year.
The ocean in front of me represents continuation.  The water I see and hear will travel around the world to other parts of the planet and some of it has already traveled.  Oh the stories it could tell if I could only understand its language!"

I then stopped and experienced the sunset.  Here are a few pictures of the sequence of the sunset:

My next plan was to light the candle and work with the Completion Circle.  The problem was the wind was not having any part of letting me light the candle.  (This wasn't surprising, but I was hoping I could finish at the beach.)  I packed everything up and headed home.  I set up the crystal grid next to the Completion Circle with the candle:

And read each section of the circle, letting the wax drip on the paper:

After finishing the Circle, I recited the following, "With this sunset I complete and release 2013 and invite Abundance, Happiness, Love, and Freedom into my life for 2014 and beyond."
I had tried to bring home the beach water because I wanted to extinguish the candle in it, but it spilled in the car.  There was a teeny tiny drop still in the bowl which I managed to use to extinguish the candle.  I then opened the chocolate square, took a bite and took this picture (the square is in it if you look closely):

2014 is the fifth year that Leonie Dawson has made Create Your Shining Year In Life Workbook available.  I've done varying parts each year, but with little follow through throughout the year.  This is the first year I've done anything like this and it was really cathartic for me.  2013 wasn't an awful year, as years go, but it was very trying.  I'm hoping to stick to my schedule of following up on the workbook so that I'm not scrambling next December to see how many of my 100 things to do list I have or have not done and what I haven't followed through on.  (I wrote 45 things on the 100 things list and am happy to report that 21 are done or are in progress.)
Thanks for following through my journey.  I wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

©2013 Hayley Green

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover?

Came across this book as I was wandering through an office supply store.

Foggy Blue Sky

Tried to get a picture of the fog on my way home from work this evening.

Self Portrait Sunday #1

Sorry, no pithy title for this post. :)
Some members of an online community I belong to started doing self portraits once a week.
I started and then stopped and am starting again.  No time like getting one's hair done to spur that one, right?  So I went into the yard and, with phone in hand, took a few pictures.  This is the best of the bunch and I actually like it!  (Don't like many pictures of me.)
And DH likes the picture so much that he suggested I use it as a professional portrait, so it will be going up on my professional sites.

A Peaceful Spot

Today's picture is a seat in the garden at Alana's restaurant in Redwood City. I've been coming here 16+ years and just found this. Was waiting to have brunch with good friends and thought this looked so peaceful.

Let Sleeping Puppies Lay? Lie?

The dogs were being cute, lying next to each other this morning.
I took a spill this morning (I'm fine) and didn't spend much time outside, so you get dogs. :)

Fortunate

Tonight's fortune...

"The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent Was a Summer in San Francisco"

SF Giants pitcher Matt Cain warming up before the start of today's game vs. the New York Mets. Unfortunately, for the first time in his career, he didn't make it out of the first inning, throwing 36 pitches in 2/3 of an inning.
Also sharing a shot of AT&T Park on what someone-not-named-Mark Twain would definitely not recognize as a summer day in San Francisco.  :)

Bienvenido a La Santaneca de la Mission

We had lunch at La Santaneca de la Mission on Mission at 24th Street in SF.
I kept staring at the decorations in the corner and decided I needed a picture.
Incidentally, the food is delicious, I highly recommend this place.  Do note that it is cash only.

Roses Are (not always) Red...

Was in Trader Joe's and found these beautiful lavender roses calling to me.

Good Morning and Welcome to This Year in Pictures

Am going to try to resurrect This Year in Pictures from a year and a half ago.
Here are Pip and Mona saying Good morning.

Hey! Where do I fit into this LGBT thing?

I'm writing this post because I read something earlier that has been bugging me all day.
In a discussion about all that has transpired this week for marriage equality, someone wrote that straight people are clueless and can't appreciate the range of emotions that their LGBT friends have gone through.  As both a Jew and a woman, I can sit here and write about how I've been discriminated against as a member of both classes, but I won't.  I still have plenty to say, however.

I grew up in San Francisco, four blocks from the corner of Haight & Ashbury.  We moved to the Haight in the mid-70s, when I was 10.  I would regularly see what I call 'leftover hippies' all over Haight Street.  They were, for the most part, harmless.  (I could write a whole post about being propositioned and accosted by these guys and how they went from mostly harmless when I was 10 to a bit scarier when I was 17, but I digress.)

Our neighbors were from all walks of life.  It was definitely a diverse neighborhood.
I remember mentioning to my mom that I thought one of the neighbors was cute.  She told me that she thought his roommate was not really his roommate, but his boyfriend.  She could have been describing a man and woman, not two men, the comment was said without judgment.  My reaction was one of great disappointment that he was in a relationship.  It didn't matter who the relationship was with.

I remember the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk.  I remember the White Night Riots.

I remember friends and neighbors getting sick and dying from AIDS.

When I would hang with gay friends in college, I was called a 'fag hag.'  (Complimentary or not, depending on who said it.)

When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed same-sex couples to get married in 2004, the media talked mostly about 'gay marriage.'  I hated that term then and still hate it now.  I almost always referred to 'marriage equality' then, before the phrase became a hashtag.

I know my memories are not exclusive to me.  Many of my friends have similar memories.

My point is that to me, members of the LGBT community are not labels, they're friends, humans.
And I'm very happy that these fellow human beings are able to get married in some states.  What I don't understand is why they are not allowed to get married in all states.  I don't understand the objection and probably never will.

But back to the original comment that set me off this morning.  You have a unique perspective when you've experienced something firsthand.  But that isn't to say that someone cannot be an ally if they don't have that perspective.
(Men will never experience abortion.  I get so aggravated at the men that legislate against a woman's right to choose that I forget that there are plenty of men who support that right.  I hope I would never make such a general statement that men are generally clueless when it comes to this issue.)

When the Prop H8 decision was handed down, I tweeted "So incredibly happy to see equality prevail!"
Congratulations to the couples who are now allowed to get married.  I hope there is more of this within my lifetime.