50 Shades

Had no time for summer reading thus far and September is approaching...conversations last night turned to Christian Grey so due to a special request for a repost...

Mini Mall Parking Lot

Studio City 

7:32am on a Tuesday

26 June 2012 

I have run out of milk and I race to the closest grocery store to find it opens at 8am. I am back in my car after a peek through the closed doors revealed a guy cleaning the floors and beyond him racks of Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker & Fifty Shades Freed…It’s EVERYWHERE…It haunts me…He haunts me…I can’t get away from it…even at the grocery store…It is a phenomenon…

I too have fallen prey to Christian Grey…and I continue to ponder WHY?

It took a minute to get into the first book…I think I picked it up at least 8 times and just could not get past the first few pages. 

But at my friends persistence and women everywhere talking about CG, I picked it up for the 9^th time and for whatever reason it kicked in…It took me over… I could not put the book down…For 3 days, 3 books it was me alone with Christian Grey…I felt like I was cheating on my husband.

This is no literary piece de resistance…In fact, I admit I skipped over parts and the redundancy became exhausting.

But the fact remains, I cannot stop thinking about CG…he consumes my thoughts. I am obviously in need of a distraction at this particular moment in time, for why else could I possibly be so taken by this man…the red room…I even have found myself checking my lingerie in the mirror…do I care if he rips this pair?

I hear a helicopter in the distance…Is it Charlie Tango?

I see a jogger pass by…The sun is beating down and creates crystals on his glistening, ripped body… Is that CG out for a morning jog?

How can I not think about him…everyone is talking about him.

I hear Bob Marley, “Everything is going to be all Right” blaring as a car pulls up next to me in the space beside me. It is an Audi…I mean really.

I find myself looking for the jogger…will he pass back my way on his return home?

It is now 7:52…The shop opens in 8 minutes…

8 more minutes to daydream about CG…Snap out of it…You are a 45 year old, happily married mother of three, working, busy and YOU ARE OBSESSED.

A great escape is how recently summed it up to a friend in Chicago having her own CG moment.  Who isn’t in need of a complete lobotomy now and again? That is what these 3 books have achieved…Call it a beach read…call it what you may…the bottom line is...It’s like a good movie, a great 2 day spa escape…a Calgon moment…It took me away for a moment…

Or two…

I see the store is now open…I have groceries to buy and 3 hungry kids and husband (who I now refer to as my 100 shades of black) waiting for me at home…

Chicks

           

                              

                                             

Chicks…
June 13, 2013

There are 13 of them in front of me at this current moment… It is 6pm on a glorious Los Angeles evening… The air is cool like an East Coast Fall day. School is out for the summer and I am sitting at my desk (aka the dining room table) observing the estrogen dancing on the deck through the glass doors.

Let me break it down for you:

THERE ARE 7 LITTLE GIRLS: 2 nine year olds, 2 five year olds, 1 six year old, 2 two year olds, 5 three week old baby chickens…and 1 feline pacing waiting for a chance to attack...(not me…our cat Roxy)...

Regardless of their species, they are all animals. I am a girl and I still do not understand them.

They have decided to have a dance party celebrating the end of school… the little girls are mimicking the moves of the baby chicks.

Their laughter is contagious…they are pure joy… and then someone screams and jolts me back to another reality… it is like the matrix…different realities all going at the same time. Today I am moving gracefully between them all… the tears don’t phase me… the screams don’t phase me. I remind myself that this is life, the pain… the joy…

Something silences them and they call for me…

“Mommy, Mommmy… come quick….the chicks are all ganging up on “Butterscotch” (our littlest chick).

I laugh to myself at the irony of these little girls, beside themselves at the pecking order and family dynamics going on between the chicks.

I have questioned myself many times since the chicks arrival… WHAT WAS I THINKING???

Sanity check… like I needed any more poop to clean up!

However, here in this moment, as I watch my girls learning so much from our five newest additions learning to get along… I am in love with these cute chicks! I listen to the girls talk amongst themselves and to the chicks, “you must not hurt your sister… you will feel better if you take care of her…” as she pushes another kid out of the way to get a better vantage point.

At what point do they learn that if your gonna do the talk you gotta do the walk?

The chicks are learning to fly and I see them flutterring away from the grasps of sticky hands and kids all up in their business.

“Be gentle with them…” someone yells.

“Listen to her...she is telling you she wants to get down… listen and you will here what she wants!” as the chicks are tweeting away frantically.

These five little chicks arrived in our home three weeks ago at a day old (I wanted to make sure no Roosters were included…)

A day old and already away from their Mom's…two were from one home, two from another and one from another. We have watched them navigate their first three weeks on their own and create a family unit.

My girls have assumed the role of Mother hen and I find it quite amusing as I watch them explaining the game of life and how to play it to these tiny little chicks (who are probably thinking, “HELP I’VE BEEN TAKEN BY AN ALIEN!”)

“Lets all take a walk and clear our heads…” I hear these words and shift realities… Who said that?

I look out on the deck and see the human girls all in a line. They are attempting to wrangle the chicks to follow their lead…

“It’s important to let each go their own way…” The nine year olds are attempting to share their years of experience with the little one’s…

“Watch… some will lead and some will follow…”

The humans stop the line dance and sit… the chicks all scurry about as the humans simply sit and observe…

Just as I am doing…

Observing, listening and learning so much…

Earth Day

Earth Day...

This was posted 1 year ago @HUFFINGTON POST, due to popular demand it is getting a Repost... ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kimberly-muller/last-night-swam-with-mermaid_b_1438979.html )  

Everyday should be Earth Day...

I can stop whatever I am doing at any given time, close my eyes and hear the ocean, feel the sand between my toes and smell that beach smell... can you? We all have that place or moment in time that reminds us to just breathe and take it all in. For me it is the ocean. John F. Kennedy said, "we are tied to the ocean." And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.

The love of the ocean runs in our family and it is the first place my kids suggest when asked, "what do you want to do today?" Well, sometimes it's the toy store, but my husband and I are trying to show them that the feeling they get from getting a new toy is the same feeling they can get when helping one another, the planet and the ocean... and it lasts longer. They play for hours, happy, laughing, content with its simplicity, but mindful and respectful of its majestic power. The ocean and its shores are the best play date in town.

Our children, like so many others, relate to the sea and because it is something they love so much, they are sensitive to hearing about its problems: the reefs drying up, the seals having nowhere further to swim south because of water temperatures. In our house, however, there are no problems, only solutions. So as a family we decided to do what we could do to make a difference.

Last Night I Swam With a Mermaid [$24.99] is a book that is a catalyst to ignite imagination and inspire kids to do what they can do. Who doesn't want to go on an ocean adventure with a mermaid? Who doesn't love a treasure hunt? After all, there are many treasures behind all the trash. It's all about how you present things to a child. The first time my family and I cleaned up a beach we did it as a game and had a system with biggest finds receiving more points. Over time it just became a habit and now we never leave beaches without bags of trash.

We are all connected and everything we do and every choice we make is making a difference, so when kids are aware of their choices they are able to see the big picture. It starts at home and we all need to do our part. This is why teaching kids to respect, protect and not expect from themselves, the planet and one another is invaluable. It goes across the board from peace building to bullying to cleaning up beaches.

It takes a village and starts with your community, which is why we joined forces with Phillippe Cousteau and EARTHECHO, "engaging and inspiring youth everywhere to shape the future of our planet.

When we all come together, the power of our dreams is greater. Last Night I Swam With a Mermaid reminds us all to "DREAM BIG and that it's up to me and it's up to you that we believe in ourselves and all we can do."

JOIN US THIS YEAR AS WE CELEBRATE OUR AMAZING EARTH @ THE AMERICANA... BUY TIX NOW, they are going fast at www.lastnightiswamwithamermaid.com

Lunartics

Lunartics

Sunday, February 3, 2013

11:10 pm

February 3? Really? Already?

How did that happen?

I take a deep breath…

The thought of time fleeting tightens my innards.

Stay in the moment Kimberly… don’t future fuck yourself (excuse my French, I shall use FF from here on out).

I seek refuge in the quiet of my house. 

All are sleeping, but me… I am restless… consumed with to do list’s: nary a sugarplum dancing in my head. 

I walk outside with my computer under my arm and find comfort on a sofa with a view.  My right brain says “work”, but my left-brain is too distracted.

The San Fernando Valley sparkles in the distance with what looks like a half moon sitting high in the sky amidst the stars.

What a difference a week makes.

Last Sunday’s full moon and it’s residual effects reeked havoc all around me. The ‘lunartics’ were out in full force.

It seemed as though everyone I encountered was possessed. Not to mention: our home alarm kept going off, the toilet malfunctioned, my washer exploded, the phones didn’t work, the baby sitter was sick, my husband was away, sick kid, had to cancel meetings… I had to do it all…

And that’s not even getting into how the moons cycle directly affected me. Takes a ‘lunartic’ to know one!

I have to admit finding grace in the middle of the chaos was challenging (to say the least).

The moon holds a mystical place in our history and it effects each of us. Werewolves and lunacy and our minds heightened activity… oh my!

I found myself at a Krispy Kreme drive thru… The moon made me do it!

My 5 year olds words went from “I want a new mommy” to “You are the best mommy in the whole galaxy” in less than 5 minutes… moon speak!

It’s the heightened ‘moontivity’ in my mind that gives necessity to repeating the words  “STOP FF’ing yourself”. My mind combined with the situations that kept presenting themselves, reinforced the need to stay in the moment. It’s how our glorious universe works.

I found myself sitting on a weeks worth of laundry with a sick little girl burrowing beside me; we were laughing and laughing. Not a care in the world, simply because I was in the moment. Me and my girl and nothing else mattered… no cancelled meetings… no broken appliances… no shortage of time. 

Just the two of us, in the moment is all we needed. It’s usually all we do require to get back on track and allow life to become simpler… easier. 

My girlfriend who was visiting said she would have been crying to the laundry pile. And after the ‘lunartic’ plumber declared, “he had never seen a toilet do that…” She exclaimed she needed a drink. I had to laugh… I can’t control the lunartics, but I can control how I react to them. 

FYI… the Next full moon is on February 25^th.

My quiet is interrupted by a pack of noisy coyotes… Bottom line is, full moon or no moon, we are all ‘lunartics’! 

Looking For Mr. C. Grey

Had no time for summer reading thus far and September is approaching...conversations last night turned to Christian Grey so due to a special request for a repost...

Mini Mall Parking Lot

Studio City 

7:32am on a Tuesday

26 June 2012 

I have run out of milk and I race to the closest grocery store to find it opens at 8. I am back in my car after a peek through the closed doors revealed a guy cleaning the floors and beyond him racks of Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker & Fifty Shades Freed…It’s EVERYWHERE…It haunts me…He haunts me…I can’t get away from it…even at the grocery store…It is a phenomenon…

I too have fallen prey to Christian Grey… and I continue to ponder WHY?

It took a minute to get into the first book… I think I picked it up at least 8 times and just could not get past the first few pages. 

But at my friends persistence and women everywhere talking about CG. I picked it up for the 9^th time and for whatever reason it kicked in…It took me over… I could not put the book down…For 3 days, 3 books it was me alone with Christian Grey…I felt like I was cheating on my husband.

This is no literary piece de resistance…In fact, I admit I skipped over parts and the redundancy became exhausting.

But the fact remains, I cannot stop thinking about CG…he consumes my thoughts. I am obviously in need of a distraction at this particular moment in time, for why else could I possibly be so taken by this man…the red room…I even have found myself checking my lingerie in the mirror…do I care if he rips this pair?

I hear a helicopter in the distance…Is it Charlie Tango?

I see a jogger pass by…The sun is beating down and creates crystals on his glistening, ripped body… Is that CG out for a morning jog?

How can I not think about him…everyone is talking about him.

I hear Bob Marley,  “Everything is going to be all Right” blaring as a car pulls up next to me in the space beside me. It is an Audi…I mean really.

I find myself looking for the jogger will he pass back my way on his return home?

It is now 7:52…The shop opens in 8 minutes…

8 more minutes to daydream about CG…Snap out of it…You are a 45 year old, happily married mother of three, working, busy and YOU ARE OBSESSED.

A great escape is how recently summed it up to a friend in Chicago having her own CG moment.  Who isn’t in need of a complete lobotomy now and again? That is what these 3 books have achieved… Call it a beach read…call it what you may…the bottom line is...It’s like a good movie, a great 2 day spa escape…a Calgon moment…It took me away for a moment…

Or two…

I see the store is now open…I have groceries to buy and 3 hungry kids and husband (who I now refer to as my 100 shades of black) waiting for me at home…