Goodbye Starz Ohana

I don't even know how to start this post, the tears that held fast yesterday are welling up in my in my eyes as I think about our Starz Ohana. I'm sure there were quite a few people who were thinking, jeez, go already!  I'm thankful for the long (3 month) exit strategy, its given us time to gently extract ourselves. Last night's happy hour made "parting celebration number 3". To some it seems like overkill, but, it's difficult for us. I have been there for 15 years and Dan 13. Contrary to popular belief, Dan and I met at Copper Mountain, 14 years ago with the aid of Bill Leirer. Both Bill and Dan have an affinity for talking to strangers, thank God, or we'd have never met! Over the years, we have shared a lot together in edit sessions: Successes, failures, joy and sorrow. A lot of us have grown up together. We've seen romances blossom. Some now have families and children. Babies have become teenagers, teenagers have graduated college. Some of us have weathered layoffs, some have survived serious illnesses. We've gotten married and divorced. New folks have come, some have gone, and some have come back again. We've gone from 6 linear edit bays, to 8 avids, 5 DS's, and 3 audio rooms, from SD to HD and began the process of going completely file based. I'm glad we brought the camera and took the time (against much chiding from Smally) to go to every edit bay, audio room and graphic room to say goodbye and take pictures.


Thank you everyone for enriching our lives, you will be missed!

P.S. Still learning iMovie and how to post video to my blog, at some point I'm going to figure out why I keep getting huge black edges!

Too Close for Comfort

We hit the road in 8 days. We still have a lot of packing to do, donations need to be picked up, friends need to come over and get their stuff. Yesterday, we went and looked at the U-Haul options. Besides the little bit of stuff we are taking, we need room for our luggage (3 suitcases containing everything we will immediately need), a cooler full of food and drink for the drive to L.A., 2 dog crates and 2 dogs. We decided we'd get the 14' truck with the trailer. Everything will go in back except the dogs and we can put the jeep on the trailer. Here's your chance to laugh! Dan, me, Baxter (our 50 lb. English Springer Spaniel) and Lucy (our 20 lb. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) will all be in the cab during our 2 day drive to L.A., Baxter even gets his own seat! Should be fun, at least that are rest goes up!

My friend Mitzi stopped by for a last visit and left with a bunch of stuff. We are giving it all away now, having tired of Craig's List. This morning we are making phone calls: health insurance, rental car in Kauai (the jeep will get there in 2 weeks, our stuff in 3), donation pick up, and, book pick up.

Today is our last official day at Starz so we are going in at around 10:30 to send out the goodbye email, fill out our time sheets, do an exit interview, say goodbye to everyone and have a happy hour at Hacienda Colorado. Before we go in we need to drop off Dan's glasses for new lenses (while we still have good insurance) and deposit some checks.

With this cold, Colorado is trying to make it so we won't be missing it too much!

Everyday I Write The Book

Things are getting so much better every day.  Life is becoming rich, and has a slower pace. We did our final day of editing at Starz on Thursday. Friday morning, the spontaneous changes started to manifest. I woke up and did yoga, ate healthfully all day, smoked less and relaxed. We celebrated New Years with Brian and Tiffany, so some overindulgence there. We ate a fantastic Italian dinner, had some great read wine and went back to their place. I drank a whole bottle of champagne and totally regretted it on Saturday. We played Win, Lose or Draw and they made a fantastic desert. It was an easy, fun night and I'm glad we got to ring in the new year with them. Yesterday, I met Gail for lunch at Hapa Sushi and then we saw Nine. We had a good time and reflected on the fact that, now,  she is on the day shift and we are leaving, and she is on the day shift because we are leaving. We never were able to get together because of our schedules.

It has only been 3 days and I am responding to the yoga in immeasurable ways. My body is letting go of the aches and pains, it feels stronger, going up stairs and bending down to get pots is a lot easier. My joints feel juicier, more fluid and loose. My balance is better, I can get undressed, standing on one foot sometimes, without stumbling. I feel more solid, strong. Mentally, I am happier, calmer and more open. I feel more connected to Kauai and our decision everyday. I still wake up thinking about what has to be done and work, but, after Thursday, work will be a memory. I get up, go do some yoga and meditation and my mind clears out, gets lighter and more positive. There are great things ahead, I'm excited that we are on our right path!

The Beginning

I woke up early today, about 5am, bursting with energy. I'm so excited that our new lives are finally on their way! I let the trepidation (ok you asked for it, now its here) wash over me and laid in bed thinking about working for someone who owns a boat and takes tourists out. There I was on deck, sun shining, clear, blue, blue water, wind whipping through my hair, hanging out with the happy tourists of the day, knowing they wished they were me. I decided I needed to balance my energy out so I got up and went downstairs to do yoga. It felt so good, my body instinctively knowing the poses, my eyes closed, it felt good to stretch and build up a sweat, my heart pumping, my muscles flexing, my mind relaxing. When I finished, I did my normal prayer "May I be free from fear and harm, may I be happy as I am, may I be at peace with whatever comes". Extending that out to someone I love I repeated it to Dan. "Dan, may you be free from fear and harm, may you be happy as you are, may you be at peace with whatever comes." And finally, extending the love out to someone I have a difficult time with, today it was my mom. "Mom may you be free from fear and harm (fighting the inner critic that says yeah right), MOM may you be happy as you are (let it go), mom, may you be at peace with whatever comes". I have all this great energy flowing through me so I ask for all the things I want Kauai to bring us. Health, joy, beauty, financial security doing something we love, doing something outside every day, bringing us closer, making us stronger, the dogs happy and safe from fleas, ticks and all manner of inconvenience, friends, connection, love for our new home, whales, sea turtles, dolphins, monk seals, birds, trees, flowers, waterfalls. I'm just so happy that we are on our way!

Today our plan is to chill. Read, take naps. We're going to celebrate New Years with Brian and Tiffany, head over to their house around 5. I think I'll have shakes fro breakfast and lunch in preparation for the big dinner and lots of drinking!!

I wish everyone a happy and safe New Year's eve and a fantastic New Year!! 2010 here we come!!

Last Day

Today was our last day at work. Not much to say about it. I felt fantastic all day, a long awaited day had finally come. Dan felt weird, had butterflies in his tummy as we walked out. It's been a long time, now for the next chapter!

Starz Ohana

What a fantastic day today turned out to be. Vince, the director of our department, had a going away party for us. Being that it is New Years week not a lot of people are at work but, about 30 people were there, cookies and coffee laid out and Suzanne started the party with a speech she made:

To the priests, experts in a field - kahunas
and beloved friends - hoalohas

Congratulations - Ho'omaika'i 'Ana
Congratulations on your new house - Ho'omaika'i 'Ana Ma Kou Hale Hou

A gift for you - He makana an

Farewell to you - Aloha 'ow

Good Luck - Pomaika'i

Thank you - Mahalo

15 - 'Umi kumalima

years - konohi

Happy New Year - Hau'oli Makahiki Hou

With love -  Me Ke Aloha

Your family at Starz - ko ohana Starz

She read it really funny, which was great because I got to laugh really hard and release a lot of the anxiety I was feeling, being the center of attention and all. The gift was a $330.00 gift certificate to Outfitters Kauai, for our choice of adventure. So for $356.00, we are going to do the full day adventure Kipu Zipline Safari consisting of kayaking 2 miles on the Hule 'ia River, hiking private foot paths in a lush rainforest valley and through hand carved 100 year old tunnels, a ride on a one of a kind farm wagon with spectacular views of Kipu Ranch made famous in films like Jurassic Park, enjoy a picnic lunch, an 800' zip line though a forest canopy, go on a tandem 1800' zipline, cool off at the beautiful, secluded wet and wild Blue Pool, try the t- bar water zipline and splash into the water, and finally hike back thought the rainforest, kick back and relax as a Hawaiian style canoe motors us back. Wow, what a gift! Our hearts are filled with joy from the love, support and encouragement our friends - ohana - are leaving us with. Suzanne and Elizabeth put a lot of time and effort to pull it off. Elizabeth is out of town so I went to thank Suzanne, her kindness overflowing as we talked of our plans. Later, I went into thank Vince. He may have a job lead for us, he knows some guys who work with National Geographic, they're out of Boulder but do a lot of work in Hawaii. As he was walking away he says "you guys are gonna be fine, you're gonna be better than fine". I think he's right!

Thank you for the gift:
Suzanne Heintz
Elizabeth Daly
Vince Hostack
Lisa Charchenko
Chris Paul
Jessica Creasey
Scott Waknin
Ted Intorcio
Brian Sternkopf
Vern Hunt
Debbie Taylor
Sean Richardson
Jen Houlihan
Dale Peak
Rich Tramazzo
Shannon Hall
Cynthia Wickencamp
Linda Holloway
Wes Bane
John Freeman
Mark Sweeney
Eric Benner
Jonathan Hall
Kris Brothers
Che Che Mata
Kandy Berry
Mark Dissette
Tiffany Habberkorn
Brian Kintz
Shane Aranda
Lisa Jascott
Tamara Smith Roldan
Stacy Libbrecht
Dave Cary
Penny Theobold
and 3 signatures I couldn't read

Going...

The house is almost empty. Today Susan came with the kids and got the china cabinet. We also gave them some coats, make up, and exercise stuff. Deb and Travis were here too. They ended up taking a lot of stuff with them which is funny cuz I don't know where they are going to put it all! Trav helped Dan take a lot of stuff to Goodwill while Deb helped me pack the china. Great friend to have when packing, she LOVES to pack! She was singing and dancing and traipsing all over the house to find little things to put into the nooks and crannies of the boxes, can't have any waisted space. At one point she got scolded by Dan, he saw her slip something in the box and Dan goes "What is that"? Trav: "Reisling" Dan: "We don't need to be taking that" Deb: "I thought it would be nice when you unpacked" Dan: "No, take it home".  We are plum tuckered out! Now that the chores are done and everyone went home, it's pizza and wine for us tonight!