I love my children and I love spending time with them. But let's face it, it is not intellectually stimulating. Doing laundry, cooking, dishes, grocery shopping, chauffeuring. These are not intellectually stimulating activities either. So outside of reading, I have been pretty brain dead these past few years. And there are parts of me that like the routine nature of the mundane, but other parts of me miss the way I used to feel in school. Yes I one of THOSE people who really liked school. School (good ones that is, which I have been fortunate enough to attend) lights me up. The intellectual stimulation makes me feel unstoppable and like I never want to sleep again. It is a kind of high. Last week I went to Portland for my second FIND workshop. This one was a brand spanking new one that focused on business and that paired up Mr. Canlas with Kristen Kalp of Brand Camp. I met Kristen when we were both participants at the FIND workshop in Park City. I had really liked her and her frank, no nonsense style in Park City and I wanted more of that. So I took a chance and splurged. I was also thrilled that Jen Downer, who lives in Portland, decided to come as well. I had 'known' Jen for years online, but was FINALLY going to meet her in person.

I was in Portland for four days and I LOVED every minute of it. I splurged again and booked myself a room a the ultra hip Ace Hotel, where I was by far the oldest and least hip person there. This hotel has a bar on one side and a coffee shop on the other, with a photo booth in the lobby. If it is raining you never have to even get wet. Did you hear that people? A bar on one side and coffee on the other. I was in HEAVEN. And I got to FINALLY go to Powell's bookstore. I used to work on an author's reading program at an independent bookstore in Palo Alto a lifetime ago and we used to talk about Powell's like it was Mecca. So it was thrilling to finally go. I had to leave after about 30 minutes because I had already chosen six books to buy and my return luggage and my credit card could not take much more punishment. But seriously, if you never have been to Portland it is worth a trip. I want to go back because I did not get to explore as much as I would have liked.

The workshop itself was amazing. My brain was on fire. It was just the right amount of business talk and touchy-feely goodness to suit this girl. And Kristen is AMAZING. I wanted to put her in my pocket and carry her around with me forever to tell me what to do. She told me I should be more buttery. So I am going to work on that one. You are going to see the softer side of Bonnie (be afraid, be very afraid). And there are many changes coming soon in my business, all for the better for me and my clients. And meeting Jen and her family was so sweet. I got the opportunity to photograph their family on my last day there, so I am looking forward to sharing those images soon.

I came home to hot Austin and a cold and the return of some of the mundane parts of my life. But then I started reading a book I had bought at Powell's called the Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch. To be honest I mostly bought it because I liked the cover design and I wanted to buy a book by a local author. And I do not know why, but this book turned me upside down. It is as if she ate up all of the English language and then spit it back out in a wholly unique way. Again, my brain was turned on. And then the third thing that happened was watching the new Aaron Sorkin show The Newsroom. I have to admit that I am a Sorkin slut. I love his intellectual brand of idealism. It suits me perfectly. Do I think our world will ever be like one of his? No. Do I secretly hope his world exists? Yep. You betcha. And a television show that uses the word 'quixotic' conversationally, has me on its side. Not to mention that Sam Waterston is in it, and I have had a crush on him for years. I know, I know. Most girls like Johnny Depp. I am odd that way. I also have a thing for Ira Glass.

So these three things in the span of one week had me buzzed. They left me ready to believe in change and that life could still have some interesting chapters in it for me after all. I turned 45 on the 23rd and it was tough for me. 45 feels old to me. I know we all have our numbers and this feels like one of mine. But I am going to try to turn it on its ear. Want to help me?

Here is Jen and I in the photo booth: