Watching the legendary movie by the glow of the computer (um, how I watch everything?) can’t really compare to seeing it at the Paramount, where I saw it for the first time in epic glory—gotta love Austin. But a livestream via facebook is a pretty cool thing for a 70-year-old film. “Casablanca” was voted the screen’s greatest love story and the #3 film of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI).

“Casablanca”: easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you’re wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one—especially Victor’s wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo’s transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more—personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance.

Note: Movie fans must begin watching “Casablanca” prior to 9 pm PT through the film’s Facebook Page.  Only one screening per Facebook account is permitted.

• Two Ute hikes (one at sunset!) in four days … one of my Aspen faves. View from the top:
  
• Biking with Nali every morning is an awesome new routine to start the day
• New friends for laughter and fast-talking, and old friends I can always count on
• Insane busy-ness … it reminds me to appreciate when insane business slows down (ever so slightly)
• Colored bumper plates at the Aspen Club. It’s good to be back.

See last week’s Feel Goods here.

Happy early Mother’s Day, Mom! Here’s a story we know and love that tells everyone out there what an awesome Mom you are!

When I (Lyssa) was around three years old, my mom would teach Sunday school, and drop me off in the nursery. She would skip breakfast most of the time. She says that all the ladies in the nursery loved me, They all loved Lyssa in the nursery. In the nursery they would give all the kids those goldfish crackers, and I just loved those.  When Mom came to pick me up for church, all the ladies would coo over me (who wouldn’t?!) and then send me to church with a to-go cup of goldfish.

Mom would be so hungry from skipping breakfast that she would beg goldfish off of me: “Lyssie, can I have just one goldfish, pleeeease?”  I would dutifully dole me out ONE of those itty bitty crackers.  It was kind of a game though, kinda funny.

At church, I was a good kid, just sitting in the pew and playing with the pipe cleaners and eating my goldfish.

When it came time for the children’s sermon, I would skip down the aisle to the front to sit with the pastor.  I was easily the youngest kid, but tall, so you couldn’t really tell.  One time we were in the way back of the church, like two or three rows from the back, because we were so late. I skipped off down the whole length of the aisle to Dr. Fancher and sat with about ten other kids in children’s sermon.

In the middle of the sermon, as my mom tells it, a thought moved across my face, and you could just see me thinking, right before I stood up, looked towards the back of the church, right toward where my mom was sitting, right at her …

“MAMA, DON’T EAT MY CRACKERS!!!!!!”

The whole church turns to look where I’m looking, laughing, as I sit down, happy I’ve saved my crackers. Dr. Fancher pauses while the congregation laughs, then continues.

After the sermon, I bounced back down the aisle to my mom and to my crackers, settled in next to her, and went back to playing with my pipe cleaners as she pulled me to her and said, “you goose,” affectionately.

My mom is confident.  My mom didn’t get embarrassed when her daughter effectively called her a hungry, cracker-stealing thug.  My mom, when I asked her about this story, talked about how amazing it was that I was so comfortable with myself and with our church.  How neat it was that I believed that people loved me so much that no one would mind me yelling in the middle of church for my mom not to eat my crackers.  She talked about how much the nursery ladies just loved on me, how I am lovable.

My mom is the epitome of love and affection.

Mom, hide your eyes, I’m going to mail you one of these:

This is mine, styled with some old wooden prayer beads. It’s like the new-school, benefiting others version of a BFF charm! It’s from Macy’s Heart of Haiti, a “Trade, Not Aid” initiative launched by artist and social entrepreneur, Willa Shalit, The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and Macy’s. Already, Heart of Haiti has led to employment of 750 artists in Haiti, providing financial benefits for an estimated 8,500 people in the country.

Each item is a one-of-a-kind design and handmade by a Haitian master artisan from raw materials such as recycled oil drums, wrought iron, papier-mâché and stone. The collection features more than 40 home decor items including quilts, metalwork, ceramics, jewelry and paintings and is made almost entirely from recycled and sustainable items such as old cement bags, cardboard, oil drums and local gommier wood.

Thank you to Macy’s Heart of Haiti for sponsoring my participation in this “Share Your Heart” promotion. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Heart of Haiti products are available online at Macy’s.com.

• A surprise, lucrative contract working with one of my besties … plus hello gym membership again!
• ’80s pub crawl, just another excuse to wear the most awesome one-piece ever. It’s an off-the-shoulder top, skirt, and leggings all in one! And it’s designer (no literally, it’s Betsey Johnson).
• Great Denver trip catching up with my college roomie! Great conversation, great workout at Golden CrossFit, great Costco stop.
• Pinterest. Makes it SO easy to remember everything you want to remember!
• Funny dentist visit … Dr. Ross and his staff in Basalt are awesome.
• Look, I know what month it is now! Unlike all of April …

See last week’s Feel Goods here.

It’s super easy, and you get to painlessly donate money to a charity of your choice just by doing something you’re already doing!

You register on GoodDining.com, which has a list of 10,000+ restaurants across the country that will donate 3.5% or 6% (depending on how often you dine out) of the diner’s bill, including tax and tip, back to the charity or school of the diner’s choice.  Yes, that’s any charity or school the diner chooses from GoodDining’s list of over 105,000 – whether that be a large national organization like The American Red Cross or a local cause like a neighborhood dog rescue or homeless shelter.

Bonus: users that sign up in May and spend $30 at a participating restaurant within 60 days of signing up, will earn a $5 bonus donation for their favorite cause. This is in addition to earning a donation of up to 6% of their bill year-round.

There are tons of participating restaurants in Austin, but none in Aspen, though there are in Denver!

Don’t forget that you can also use GoodShop (goodshop.com), enter your favorite charity or school shop at more than 2,500 participating stores (like Amazon, Macys and Toys R Us) and a percentage of what you spend will go back to your cause + GoodSearch (goodsearch.com) which we’ve talked about before where you also enter your favorite charity then search the web in the Yahoo-powered search box as you usually would – each time you search, a donation is made to your cause!

• A perfect Sunday spent lounging by the pool and beheading (or is is de-tailing?) crawfish. [#bastian]
• The horses. Equine therapy is real.
• Sand volleyball. Summer of domination commences.
• Discipline for Nali! She’s even learning to catch treats in her mouth!
• Kelp noodles. The more I eat them, in my colossal lunch salad, the more I love them.
  

See last week’s Feel Goods here.

Austin-based Adventures in Wisdom is a life coaching program for mentoring kids that uses short stories and activities to teach children ages 6-12 how to develop a mindset for powerful self-esteem and self-confidence; achieve their goals; handle challenges such as fear, failure, and peer pressure; and create happy fulfilling lives.

Renaye Thornborrow, founder of the Empower 1 Million Kids movement, says, “The good news is that mindset skills can be developed and we want to help start the conversation by encouraging parents and mentors to take just 10 minutes a week, over the next three weeks, to share a fun short story with the kids in their lives. The stories are free but the skills are priceless.”

During the first week, kids (and adults!) learn about “self-talk” and how to use this skill to create powerful self-confidence and self esteem.  During the second week, they learn about “power shifting” and how to use it to create happiness in their lives and to feel empowered when things don’t go their way. And during the third week they learn about the power of “visualization” and how to use it to “train their brain” to achieve their goals.

Get the free curriculum and stories at Empower1MillionKids.com. Every little step towards happier, healthier people is a giant step for society as a whole!

Chief, the horse I’m currently riding.

• Um, hello? Guys? I have been writing this ENTIRE MONTH as 039912 … it’s actually 04. Apparently I am stuck in March. That doesn’t actually make me Feel Good but I thought I needed to say something about it
• Highlands Closing Day Party. Probably my favorite day this entire year—I wore not one but TWO awesome onesies, had all my favorite people in one place, everyone was dancing their faces off in costumes for HOURS … what more could a girl want?! Oh, gluten-free basil pesto pizza in a hot tub followed by snagging a pair of PUCCI ski pants and playing a hilarious pictionary/telephone hybrid game? Yes. Seriously, best day ever.
  This is the party on the mountain, it only gets crazier as we ski down! Unfortunately, no full-body pics of my flowered one-piece suit with attached skirt and off-the shoulder styling exist … but don’t worry, it’s an investment piece, it WILL be making more appearances in my life.
• Accidentally riding switch for at least half my last run down Ajax of the season … and I still love snowboarding. Goodbye winter season of skiing and riding, you were amazing!
• Hot “old lady” date with a friend, where we sat at the kids’ bar and drank so much water that the entire waitstaff took bets on who would get up to pee first (it was me, and the cute bartender won).
• Summer tires. Back to ridin’ on 22s.

See last week’s Feel Goods here.

One of the most important things for leading a healthy, and thus happy, life is willpower. Willpower keeps us from subsisting on a diet of doughnuts and reality tv when we logically know we should be eating kale and reading Proust*. But some research suggests that you have a finite “bank” of willpower each day, so the more you use it, the more you lose it. This would suggest that you need to build systems and habits to prevent those willpower-sucking scenarios and save your reserves for the really tough situations.

The folks at Whole 9 Life discuss changing your habits here. They’ve got great tips and insight on the research. Personally, I don’t keep any junk food in my house, because I KNOW I’ll eat it if it’s there. That’s easy enough. But what about the other things that require willpower? As first a freelance writer and now self-funding my startup, I have no one to answer to, except my clients or you guys. I can wake up, post something, and go back to bed for hours. I can work out, ski, run, hike, do laundry—whatever distracts me from working without consequence. It sounds awesome, and IT IS. But I spend freely from my willpower bank to DO WORK, which people who have to be at an office from 9-5 do not (then again, I don’t have office birthday cake to fend off, so there’s that).

What I need to do with my willpower is make DOING WORK non-negotiable. Take the possibility out of working 9-5 like I took the junk food out of my cabinets. Then I have more willpower in my bank for food, distractions, workouts, and so on. I will always keep a flexible schedule, but you’ve got to have a schedule at all for it to be flexible.

What systems do you guys need to put into place to give yourself a willpower cushion?

*or at least reading at all. Chick-lit counts.