A lesson from Barbra Corcoran

Do you watch the show Shark Tank? It’s one of my favorite tv series.

That’s one of the reasons why I’ve read ‘Invent it, Sell it, Bank it’ by Lori Greiner who is a regular shark on the show. This is a great book for anyone wanting to take their invention to the next level in America.

I’ve also read ‘Shark Tales’ by Barbra Corcoran. Barbra is another recurring shark, and I absolutely loved her book. In it she tells her life story of how she went from working in a diner in New Jersey to eventually founding and running her successful real estate agency, a journey that was not without hurdles and disappointments.

After reading the book I’m definitely a Barbra-fan. In a few of the interviews she has done I noticed she repeats that one of the things she thinks made her successful is that she is very good at NOT feeling sorry for herself. I found this to be inspiring. Sometimes it can be tempting to dig yourself into a ditch of self pity, when what you actually would be better of doing is spending that focus and time more constructively. Just a thought I wanted to share :)

The picture is from a beach by the Dead Sea taken last fall.

Seena

My favorite NYC restaurant

What restaurant in NYC is downtown-cosy, elegant, has consistently amazing food and excellent service? My favorite place L’Artusi of course :) Order anything off the menu and prepare to be wowed. I love the tagliatelle bolognese, the roasted mushrooms with egg, the brussel sprouts and last but not least the Crispy Potatoes with Salsa Bianco (definitely get this no matter what if you like sour cream and onion potato chips).

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I love to sit at the chefs counter, but they also have beautiful tables. Reserve in advance as this place gets packed for the most popular dinner times 1-2 weeks in advance.

L’Artusi 228 W 10th St, New York, NY 10014

A Book That Will Make You Bawl

This is one of my favorite books. It was recommended to me by my favorite dancer teacher here in New York before he left for Los Angeles a few years ago. When I first started reading it I thought it was a nice book, but didn’t really understand what was so amazing about it; I thought the beginning kind of read like a children’s book. That was only until I got further into it and whoa the end definitely made me cry.

The book is ‘The Art Of Racing In The Rain’ written by Garth Stein.

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If you want more after finishing the book I recommend ‘Senna’ on Netflix which is a documentary about the race car driver (Ayrton Seena) mentioned in the book.

A feel good film

If you want a cute French romantic comedy to watch this evening I recommend ‘hors de prix’ with Audrey Tautou and Gad Elmaleh. It’s called ‘Priceless’ in English. I can guarantee you will love it if you are a romantic comedy fan and you like movies like French Kiss with Meg Ryan. Priceless is not on Netflix unfortunately; I watched it via amazon prime and they also have it in the iTunes Store.

New year | New Goals

Photo by: iwillbeRB

Happy new year everyone! I hope you had a nice New Years Eve celebration, wether it was just relaxing alone at home or doing something fun with friends and family. I spent it performing with my band at Le Coucou, an elegant and welcoming restaurant downtown Manhattan.

Do you have any New Years Resolutions? I don’t, but I do have a few things I would like to make happen this year, which got me thinking about goals.

I love setting goals for myself so I have something to aim for. But after nearly a decade in New York City I realize with each year passing that appreciating the journey to the goals is equally important as - if not more important than - reaching the goals, whatever they may be.

There are a few aspects to what I mean by this. For example, I think about the goals I have had for my music career; For me, what is fun to reminisce about are all the different situations and people I’ve met and what they have showed me about the world and also about myself. The memories along the way are equally as satisfying to think about as the fact that I/we reached certain goals. If you didn’t take time to be a nice person and to have fun along the way to reach your goal, how will you feel when you reach it? I want to be present in the moment. Appreciating and respecting my environment.

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Goals that are hard - and maybe impossible- build character, and they also force you to inspect what you are willing to sacrifice to reach them; I definitely don’t plan to be that person who always had to miss family occasions because of work. I also am not the person that will lie, steal and tear others down to reach my goals. New York has enough of those people already! :)

I know I’ve had a few goals that I decided not to pursue because I felt like the journey to that goal wouldn’t make me happy. It’s very freeing to say no to situations and environments that I sense aren’t right for me; it frees up time for new goals that sometimes turn out to be better than my initial wants.

The journey to your goals is actually your life and in turn how people remember you. The goals themselves may just end up being a few sentences in your bio when it comes down to it.

So enjoy and accept your unique journey and remember:

the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.

…or maybe it is, in a way? #moments :)

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