Recently, I was at TIFA Chocolate, the most delightful chocolate shop in Agoura, with my dear friend Steve, owner of Bent…on Coffee & Wine Too! in Thousand Oaks. While discussing our love of coffee and tea, we sampled various scrumptious homemade chocolates and ice creams. Dark lavender chocolate! Orange caramel chocolate! Desperately trying to decide which flavor of drinking chocolate to order – dark with a splash of cinnamon and vanilla and some delectable flavor of homemade ice cream I cant remember the name of floating in it, I wondered aloud, “When does passion become a disease?” Shaking our heads in thought, we could not answer for we were too busy with the chocolate dream in front of us.

Like so many other situations, if we would follow the advice we give our kids, our own lives would be so much better as well.  Here is a great article from the fabulous TheSavvyGal.com website. Check it out:  Top Ten Nutritional Tips for Children

First as a teen yourself.
Then as a parent of a teen.
Is there no manual?
Nothing to prepare you?
Once surrendered, surely there is something to help get through it.
Regardless of whether it is your first time – as a teen, or experiencing it from the other side, for a second time – as a parent.

Simple does not mean easy.

Simple does not mean lacking.

Simple does not mean plain.

Simple can free you.

“If Resistance couldn’t be beaten, there would be no Fifth Symphony, no Romeo and Juliet, no Golden Gate Bridge.  Defeating Resistance is like giving birth.  It seems absolutely impossilbe until you remember that women have been pulling it off successfully, with support and without, for fifty million years.”

Stephen Pressfield in The War of Art

During a major blackout – over 500 homes in my vicinity lost power at dusk and the DWP had no idea why and could only estimate that the power would (hopefully) be back on around 4 in the morning – I realized one thing:  I watch waaaaaaay too many crime dramas.  Yes, the standard season of Criminal Minds and CSI is over, but all the new “summer” shows have stared – I particularly enjoyed The Glades and Rizolli and Isles.  My goal, however, is to throw in some fun and fluff to counterbalance it all.  Do you have any idea how many people have been murdered on those shows during rolling blackouts?  Well, too many to even begin the conversation.  So, do you have any shows to recommend a la Modern Family – my favorite non-crime show on the air?