The Empowered Lifestyle

Oh, I feel so blessed and lucky (well, c’mon it IS me) to be able to indulge in two of my favorite pastimes during my kinda/sorta 3-day weekend. That’s right, last night I was thrilled to watch (over and over again) a brand spanking new installment of THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA and sometime during the next 48 hours I’ll go see Meryl Streep reinvent a personal hero, Julia Child.
But, first, those housewives. NeNe’s still a favorite with her honest, straight-forward wit, but it’s clear that Sheree could come back into the fold (at least mine) with her new views that resonate with the rest of us who putter around down here on earth. In fact everything else paled in comparison to the last five minutes of that smackdown between Sheree and the belligerent bully of a party planner on last night's episode. PALED IN COMPARISON. You go Sheree! School Boo! Do you!
And, if I didn’t know better I might have thought that Sheree has seen an advanced screening of the new JULIE AND JULIA movie since that iconic chef was always advising all the rest of us to fear nothing. Not even big threatening men shaking a fierce fist in our faces. Of course, Julia was more talking about not running scared from a roasted chicken running pink blood, but, hey, whatevs.
So, in honor of someone who is turning out to be a much sweeter Georgia peach than I might have previously thought, and in homage to someone who could cook them to perfection, I thought I might just talk about the power and magic in that juicy fruit today. See, peaches have always been a sacred tree to the Chinese, whose god of longevity is often depicted emerging from a peach tree. Peach pits (NOT the 90210 kind) are traditionally carved into shapes and gifted to babies to save them from illness, accidents or disease while the blossoms are placed over the top of the front door to keep the bogeyman or the mean old party planner away. Eating fresh peaches is believed to bestow immortality while also bringing health, happiness, wisdom and love. So, honestly, do we really need ANY advice from the Allman Bros? Just join in the collective energies and eat a peach this weekend. You’ll get the warm fuzzies all over and be really glad you did. If you want to find out how to make the whole rest of the weekend, or the entire month of August for that matter, sweet and tasty, log on to www.ellenwhitehurst.com and sign up for the monthly newsletter. You’ll be happy you did that too. Really. You will.

And just in case anybody still cares, FOX 29 SWEARS that they are running my segment on GOOD MORNING PHILADELPHIA on Tuesday August 4 at 7:50 am est. Minesh and AnneMarie and few others have coin cures headed their way for their sturdy support and beautiful sentiments. You can still get on that bandwagon if you email www.Myfoxphilly.com and tell them how much you love the piece. IF it evuh even runs! Then just let me know! And, well, speaking of running (now, now, don't be silly, I meant that in a proverbial sense) my son and I will be taking a much needed break for the next few days and week. I will try to post when I can, but, just in case, y'all be sure to come on back now, y'hear? Oh, see? I need to get back to my Yankee roots! We're coming Cape May!

HAPPY AUGUST kids!

Oh those Housewives!

I'm just gonna stick with that hot mess in Hotlanta because now I hear that the New Yorkers are all asking for HUGE increases in salary (word is that one certain housewife who has gone off Z really deep end is asking to be paid $80K per episode. Up from the $8K they get now. And, oh yeah, let's not forget Z constant promotion of Z business that goes on and on and on....)

Anyway, I'm so psyched to watch the first episode of the Atlanta group tonight because I think the one that had a fashion show without fashions last year, (you know the condescending elite one that I'm talking about?), well, apparently her ex-husband (you know, the one she was hoping to get her seven figures from so she could keep the army of slaves, um, I mean servants that she employs busy), well, it seems THAT husband "forgot" to pay the mortgage on the mansion and now she's downsizing. See you in court Bob.

But back to the Apple, seems like Kelly Benscamminagain, that Real Housewife (?) from New York stepped in some bird crap again. But, hey, before I share the latest, can anyone tell me why two of those Real HouseWIVES from the Big Apple aren’t actually married? Oh well. Anyway, seems Kelly was going into business with one of old cronies, an ELLE accessories buyer who thought up a line of fashion jewelry for the two of them to hawk. It’s about owls. No. Really.

Anyway, it appears, allegedly of course, that Kelly thought her little friend wouldn’t give a hoot if Kelly just went ahead and had the line designed and manufactured so that she could take it out under her own name/brand. The Devil apparently wears owl images alongside her Prada.

Well, won’t be long now ‘till Kelly’s back in court. Again. Sigh. Why can’t they just leave her alone???

Now, just in case you had a really good idea once upon a time and someone stole it, or, heck, if you have to go to court for any reason at all, why not take a page out of a book that you might not now have to lay a hand on. Write the names of every apostle except Judas Iscariot (duh) in two columns, one of five and one of six. Fold this paper and wear it in your right shoe. Write Judas’ name on his own piece of paper and wear this in your left shoe. Make you feel like you can walk on water! And will leave you legal challenge free. But shhh, don’t tell Kelly ‘kay? Don't want her to get any leg up unless it has an owl ankle bracelet on it.

One of my favorite writers on Gawker.com, the brilliant, clever and enormously funny Richard Lawson, is leaving that site today. Thank the stars we can still find him, beginning Monday, on a newly revamped tv.com, but there was just something about reading him on Gawker that felt, well, right....to me anyway. I hope I remember to tune in to the new tele site, but, either way, he's a genius and will be missed.

And speaking of brilliant and clever, I had the very good fortune yesterday to spend quality time on the phone with a new partner, journalist Samantha Rose Hunt. She and I will be teaming up to whip this blog into better shape and I couldn't be more thrilled. She's actually devised a business model and plan that I'm not at liberty to chat about right this second, but, when you hear it, you'll weep that you didn't think of it first. It's collosal in magnitude and scope and yet so simple that it makes you scratch your head that someone isn't doing it already. Sort of like how that New York Housewife (who IS NOT a housewife) Bethanny Frankel stumbled on that skinny girl stuff.

Anyway, speaking of Housewives, those trollops in Hotlanta are back on Bravo tomorrow night. Can you hear me salivating already? I really REALLY need to get a life. Although I had a smidge of one yesterday when I went and had apres water park cocktails with Tammy and her sister in law Maureen. Maureen, as it turns out, is one of the wittier and smarter women that I've met lately, so it was good to break bagel and lox with sliced red onion with them. Fun.

And, now, speaking of more fun, I did hear from local FOX 43 this morning and as long as I'm willing to get up at the witching hour (3 am...do you know that story about how if you wake up at 3 am you are tuned into the witches energies???) and show up in their studio with hair and makeup done at 6, then, we can do a series of Shui together. The anchor I spoke with, Cheryl Tan, was so sweet and so accomodating and so my first foray with them will be on August 12th, the same day my son goes to his first ortho appointment to get his braces. I wonder if they can wire my mouth shut too before I start making live appearances on camera?

So, energies are definitely headed in the right direction with Elesia pulling through with the FOX Philly save (on their FOX 29 Good Day Philadelphia tomorrow morning..don't forget to call!) and then Samantha and I bumping into one another and hooking elbows on our march to global domination and now with an emerging television schedule shaping up...I just feel so grateful but want to do a little something/something to keep it going.....hmmmm......

Oh, right, the nine dragons and the LUCKY MULTIPLYING STAR OF 2009! This favorable purple star that shoots at us from the Flying Star school of Feng Shui sits in the center of your home (or office, or dorm room or........) and indicated future prosperity and upward mobility for those who successfully tap into it's luck. Well, so far so good! It's also known as the future wealth star (said a mouthful there sista) and brings prosperity and abundance luck. Uh huh. Okay. I'm in. Now what?

Get an image of NINE DRAGONS (or nine images of one dragon) and position it/them anywhere inside the center or middle of your space. Then activate or trigger or TAP INTO THE ENERGIES by using the saying the Feng Shui secret mantra, OM MANI PAYMA HUM nine times.

This just feels right for today. Share it with your friends.

And keep the faith kids, keep the faith.

So it comes to my attention today that I've forgotten to share when that FOX Philly piece is airing (Thursday..call the station k?) Actually a lovely reader named AnnaMaria sent me the most beautiful email, telling me how she set her alarm to remind her to get up and watch me on GOOD DAY PHILADELPHIA today and how the piece never ran! EEEEKKKK!!! I forgot to update and tell that the producer of the segment I shot said that it would run in the 8:20 AM est slot on Thursday, 7/30! (call the station k?) Oh AnnaMaria, I am so pleased that you and your whole family were waiting and watching and you will be getting coin cures and signed copies of MAKE THIS YOUR LUCKY DAY for all your excellent efforts. (you're still gonna call the station anyway, right?)

Shameless.

Truly.

In fact, anyone who tunes in and then weighs in with a positive response/review can get all same if they just let me know how to find their mailboxes etc! And thanks AnnaMaria for reminding me that that clip hadn't aired yet.

Because now I can share that it'll be airing...oh, alright, I'll stop.

But, speaking of FOX, just in case you missed yesterday's post, the local FOX 43 station here has reached out to see if I can come and visit on their show now too. First FOX 29 and then FOX 42...FOX FOX BABY! I might just change my last name to FOX. If I wasn't already thinking about changing it to Winfrey. Hmmm.

Okay, now for today's Shui......well, I didn't get to watch my usual Monday night fodder last night (my friend Beth whose stepfather's was the funeral I attended yesterday stopped by last night for a shoulder and a shot..and...well...) Anyway, only because I saw it on some site this morning would I know that Jillian chose THE ONLY GUY WHO COULDN'T, UM, 'MAKE LOVE' TO HER DURING THAT WHOLE BACHERLORETTE SHOW. Seriously, the ONLY guy who left the show early and then returned and then couldn't perform..THAT'S the guy she chose to accept a proposal from???? Wha?????? Good Luck Jillian!

And I missed the one show that makes me pee my pants from laughing so hard, Kathy Griffin, last night as well. So I'm going to offer a travel tip since Patty left to go live with the white lions in South Africa this morning where she will be for the next few weeks.

I told her the whole thing about downloading an image of the mystic knot and how she should carry it with her. Then, if she faces any obstacles or challenges while traveling she can take that image out and hold it in the palm of the hand that she doesn't write with. Taking the hand she does write with (your power hand!) she should pass that hand over the top of the image three separate slow times, all the while visualizing the perfect and peaceful trip. A time spent entirely in ease and grace and experiences that will warm the heart for good and always.

That's the promise of this travel companion. Use it whether you are heading down the Jersey Shore or to Hong Kong. Plane or train or automobile, it's an equal opportunity charm!

And the true empowered meaning of BON VOYAGE!

Me? I'll be looking up my new half sister, Megan FOX to see if she wants to hang. She probably will, don't ya think? At the least she might call the station for me....

Okay, so I was sitting at a funeral mass this morning and I was worrying over something so trivial and then came a special reading for the friend's faux dad who died and there was just something about the way the priest was leaning on certain words...

It was a biblical reading dealing with giving things over to your Higher Power and then just trusting that your faith will fulfill your dreams. It simply but powerfully resonated with me and immediately I just exhaled. I let go in order to let God. Dorothy surrendered. But I kept the ruby slippers on anyway. Just in case.

But the minute I decided to let the problem go, I felt like a million gajillion bazillion pounds had been lifted and I began quietly crying. In gratitude. And faith. And hope. And belief.

Now, just in case you thought that would be the end of the story, c'mon it IS me, let's all think again. But I will tell you this, I just stopped obsessing and started breathing normally again and, then, when Grayson and I finally got home there were two VERY interesting emails waiting for me wrapped inside the other 9 billion. One was from my local FOX 43 television station telling me that they are starting up a new early morning show and am I interested in all in appearing on the show early next month???

The weird thing is that this producer had NO IDEA that I was just in Philly filming a segment for FOX television there. Rather, she said that she'd recently read a piece about me in a local newspaper and was interested in doing some live on air fodder. Little does she know..by the time I'm done, I'll be anchoring that new show!!!! HEH HEH HEH!

And, then, there was the next mail where someone with a VERY large list dropped by to ask if she could add some of my content to her weekly newsletter? Out of the blue? Just like that!

Okay, the cold hard truth is that neither of these offers is going to radically change the problems I am currently pondering. But they have potential for positive impact and possibility attached and I am all over that! And grateful, grateful, grateful indeed!

So, the moral here is that I turned on my fountain pretty forlornly this morning. I flipped the switch on the outside front porch light but that didn't brighten me one bit. And, of course, I put on my Elephant Power CD in the 'Fame' area trying to get a charge of that effort. Just wasn't music to my ears today.

What was however was the three part harmony created by a priest, the Bible and my own I AM being all telling me to lift 'it' up and give 'it' all away. And, then, believe. So I did. And I do.

And one last..is anyone watching that little Lifetime gem on Sunday nights called 'DROP DEAD DIVA?"

It's hysterical.

And so metaphorical as well.

Bottom line is that a skinny and shallow model type dies in a car crash at the same time that a heftier lawyer girl takes a fatal bullet to the body. The model, not wanting to leave earth quite yet, pushes some button on a heavenly keyboard and ends up coming back in the big girl's body. If I didn't know better I'd think it was just a look at my college/early married life years versus where I am now. And I think that's the point.

No matter, it's funny and poignant and perfectly cast. And one of the main handsome male characters is named Grayson. Enough said.

Watching that show last night got me to thinking about girls (women) and their self esteem. And their personal power. And their sense of self worth....

Center of the home or bedroom is the most critical location to adjust or "cure" in order to enhance inner and personal strength, including anything emotional that falls under that B I G umbrella. This same location is also one of the places for cures that improve self-esteem and self-worth. SIGN ME UP!

Hang a faceted crystal ball on nine (or any multiple of) inches of red ribbon here. This crystal ball doesn't tell your future, it makes it! And then it makes it better.

Feeling much better already! Thanks for that.