A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Salon...

Tonight, I got my first ever Turkish coffee reading. I didn't even know there was such a thing as Turkish coffee readings. But, when I scheduled my appointment at Balboa Salon I soon learned that there was a lady there that would read your fortune through coffee. Right after they blow dry your hair.

I've had my fortune read several times. Once by a 12 year old girl at River Market in Kansas City. Once by a lady in the French Quarter. And several times by friends who've read tarot cards for me. Oh, and once by a lady here in San Diego who read my aura and promptly told me that I was 'yellow' which means bright and full of energy and happiness. And all of those psychics told me I was psychic too so there you go.

But back to the coffee. Balboa Salon had their Grand Opening tonight and I got a fabulous haircut for $20. Fabulous as in, I've tried several different salons and stylists over the years and somehow they all love my hair, but don't know how to cut it. And after she cut my hair, it took two ladies to blow dry it. They were gesturing wildly while they were speaking in a language unknown to me as they were spinning me around telling me how pretty I looked. In the oddest way, they felt like family.

They had platters full of cheese and crackers, cups full of strawberries and champagne and some type of potato salad served with pita bread in the back room. And, then there was the Turkish coffee lady who was sweet, adorable and kept thanking me for being honest with her. (?)

To tell your fortune, she brews a small cup of thick-ish coffee which is pretty tasty. She spreads out some cards and speaks rapidly in a language while an interpreter tells you what she is saying. It's very fascinating. She told me a lot of things that of course left me skeptical including some tidbit about how I will be doing a dance that will be very meaningful in January or February of next year.

But she did say that I don't have to follow money, it will always follow me (let's hope!), I will travel overseas and find great happiness and success there (I've been told that by every fortune teller I've ever been to) and that sometime in the near future I will see an owl and become very much involved with learning about them (uh, doubt it). Oh, and she says I am in sync with the moon which brings me good luck which I will tell you about at another time because that actually resonated with me. And she talked about having cats in her readings, which always a bad sign. Mine was the first time it's been seen as good and she got goosebumps. Again, this makes me laugh because I am not a fan of cats but they are of me. One in particular who follows me to my door often.

Imagine being told all of this rapid fire in a language you don't understand while she stares at the bottom of your coffee cup and into the "design" it's left behind and simultaneously continues to shuffle her cards spreading them out to decipher them. She wasn't the slow, thoughtful fortune teller type. She had a lot to say and wanted to make sure I heard it. Even if you don't believe in psychics, it's nice to hear there are good things in your future. Call it good juju or positive thinking of a peek into the brilliant future that is to come.

Or, be a grouchy cynic and think your life sucks and the world is corrupt. You know, whatever.

I won't tell you the rest of what she said, but I believe her. Because I want to. Who doesn't want to hear about being rich and successful and finding love? I don't listen to psychics because I want them to see into my future. I want them to confirm the things I already know and they usually do.

So it's no coincidence my fortune cookie had a positive message for me as well. Believe what you will. Maybe you think the world is ending. Or, that psychics are phonies. Or, that there is no such thing as mind over matter.

Maybe you'd rather just have your hair cut and not speak a word or not take things to mean more than what they do. That's completely fine too. But please tell me you believe. In something. Anything. If for no other reason then that it's fun.

How 30 Feels

Well, since my last blog post, I've turned the big 3-0. And to be honest, I don't know what everyone worries about. I didn't have a breakdown about where I thought I should be which I guess to most means settled down, married with kids. Honestly, I was happy to say good-bye to my 20's as much as I loved them. I felt my 20's were full of too many questions and not enough answers. I felt like I was hanging on to things that I shouldn't have been and questioned myself when I should've just gone with my gut.

My actual birthday was an amazing day. I went paragliding for the first time! It's been on my bucket list and I got the opportunity to walk off the cliffs at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, an absolutely beautiful area. As I was floating along the coast, I saw about a dozen dolphins down below and just felt really relaxed. I was spoiled throughout the day and felt completely carefree.

The Monday following my birthday weekend I started a brand new job! And for the first time in several years, it is not with an attorney. I don't even know how I got caught up in working for attorneys in the first place but after three law firms and eight attorneys later, I hope that I am done for good.

This past year has been great in making moves in my writing career. I've been taking on more freelance opportunities and starting to understand how to turn my passion into a career and not just a side job or a hobby. My current job is as a SEO writing specialist so it incorporates writing, editing as well as web marketing and all the important SEO information that is invaluable to a lot of companies today. I also was able to score a contract gig as a part-time consultant with a beauty website and that is definitely a position that is right up my alley and I can't believe that for once I have two jobs that I actually enjoy doing! Call it the law of averages, but I hope this is the beginning of more opportunities to come.

30 feels good. It feels like the answers come more easily now. And it comes with the knowledge that some things I don't need the answer to when figuring other people out or the things that make them tick. It's been easier for me to filter out any lingering negativity in my life and it has felt like a new jumping point to the direction I want my life to go.

My 20s were awesome. I learned so much and had the best time. I pretty much did whatever I wanted. So, I feel that my 30s will be pretty much the same type of party. I just am a little bit smarter, stronger and more confident in the plans that I make. And if things don't go according to plan, I know I can handle that too.

You Wanna Be a Writer? You Must Be Crazy...

You wanna be a writer? You must be crazy. You will spend hours, days, years of time devoting your "creative spirit" to things that will a) never get read, b) never make you money or c) never be finished.

You will work day jobs that you loathe. Jobs that dull your senses and zap your brain cells. You will pay your bills and daydream about writing by the beach, in a coffee shop, somewhere pleasant and serene. In the meantime, in the real world you will listen to people berate you, disrespect you and have you do things simply because they are the boss and you are there to hold their hand/fight their battles/count down the days until you leave.

You must be crazy to think that writing can save you. That writing can spare your sanity, instill hope and determination. You must be crazy to let being a writer be a continuous goal, to call it your life and dare allow yourself to believe that your job is just your job.

Writing has tricked you into stretching to see the smallest successes of life. Small as in seeing your name in a byline. Becoming overjoyed by your first paid writing gig (which actually paid only enough for approximately three trips to Starbucks). Writing has been cruel - the time you lost all your work when the delete button came out of nowhere. The time you poured your heart into a story only to have someone tell you that they "didn't get it." And, let's not forget the time when you wrote over two hundred pages of the next great American novel only to read through it and be ashamed at the trash you penned. Snooki has written a book. Levi Johnston. Get it together.

And, yet you love it. You keep going back to it. Willingly! You send out writing sample after writing sample hoping to find a job that pays you and sustains you on truly gratifying level...although that level keeps going one step higher. Who strives for that? For every twenty writing samples you send out, you are excited for that ONE response that comes two months later, as an afterthought, politely and formally thanking you for your submission, but with no other glimmer of an invitation that a job or gig or future in writing at all may be offered to you. Ever. You will save this email and look at it from time to time happy that SOMEONE responded and that someone will respond again.

You will develop a tough skin for rejection. You will duck a compliment because good is never good enough, there is always better. But you will also begin to recognize your value. Nothing is for free. And even when you find those gigs that pay you, you will continue to write "just for fun" and for topics that you have interest in, passion for because you know no other way. As a writer, you know/have been forced to accept that money isn't everything.

You will squeeze every possible working hour out of the day to finish that one last freelance assignment because you don't want to miss an opportunity because someone else worked harder. People will judge your work. People will be blunt in their comments. People will nod with understanding although they don't fully know where your craziness for this writing life lies.

And, what to tell them? One day I started writing and never stopped? You love to hear people's stories but sometimes you like reading them more? I am inspired easily. I know what I want and I am stubborn - two of my greatest strengths, I believe. Despite the more profitable lots in life, the more practical roads to take, I can't think of any other path than this one.

You wanna be a writer? You have got to LOVE it. Fall asleep writing with paper stuck to your face love it. Down to your last dollar and winging it love it. Move to new cities simply to fill your life with stories love it. Letting one quote, one lyric, one perfectly structured sentence light your whole world love it.

You wanna be a writer? Courtney, you must be crazy...