small significance

March 4, 2016 - Daily Notes

There is a big windstorm on Orcas Island tonight. It arrived with me at midday, a fitting metaphor. I watched a crow fly sideways past the iconic red-paint "ORCAS" letters on ferry terminal building and I wondered, "what does it mean?"

I don't know. It is a small thing, a lone black bird facing a strong wind. It is also significant. Everything here is.

Rain pelts my window and the candle I carried from home flickers softly. A flashlight the innkeepers brought stands ready, "In case the power goes out," they said. I forgot my coat at home, but remembered tea lights and the glass candleholder. Small, significant.

I came here to move slowly for a few days and to listen. It's harder to do than we think, you know? Slowing down, tuning inward, I mean. When was the last time you heard your own heartbeat? Soft, powerful. Small, significant.

Darvill's Bookstore here on Orcas Island has the most beautiful view of any bookstore I've ever seen. Better than Shakespeare & Company with its view of Notre Dame. That gorgeous cathedral cannot compare to the majesty of nature here. These islands with their cedars rise up from the waters of the sea like tiny emerald jewels in a pave globe of the world. Small, significant.

I ducked into Darvill's to escape the windstorm and buy coffee at their espresso bar. They serve Batdorf & Bronson, which I'm sure if you're a hipster means something cool, but to the synapses in my brain all that matters is the last time I was here the coffee was so good I've dreamed about it ever since. Small, significant.

I met the owner of the bookstore and showed her Lucia. She was warm. She said, "I heard you were coming." You did? "Yes, a friend told me, I can't remember who...anyway, someone told me you were coming this weekend." She opened Lucia and read a page in the middle. She picked up her phone and called her distributor while I stood there. She placed a standing order for Lucia. Three copies to begin. Just like that. Small, significant.

Tomorrow, I get to attend the TEDx Orcas Island conference. The theme is "Best of Both Worlds : The Potential in Polarity." I look forward to hearing new ideas, meeting people, and gifting my brain with the opportunity to grow a little more for my forty-first birthday.

Like a crow flying sideways in a windstorm, I am not sure exactly why I am here or where I am going. But my wings are spread wide and I'm flying. Small, significant.

xo
laura

lucia and orcas island. fast and slow.

“There is an ancient conversation going on between mosses and rocks, poetry to be sure, light and shadow and the drift of continents.”

— Robin Wall Kimmerer

March 3, 2016 - Daily Notes, From the Editor

My 41st birthday is Monday. I'm taking myself to Orcas Island for the long weekend because I want to go slow. 

There is also a TEDx event there on Saturday, "The Potential in Polarity," which feels important, especially now. Opposites are so much alike you know. Slow, fast. Fast, slow. It's time, it's all time.  

On Sunday I will take Lucia to Darvill's Bookstore and see if they'd like to carry it. I'll get a cup of the most divine espresso I have ever tasted with a view of Eastsound waters, distant cedars, huge rocks and maybe sky, depending on the Pacific Northwest weather. I'll drive past Mount Constitution and meet with the proprietors of a breathtaking private property...beautiful little cottages where we are considering hosting a Lucia girlfriends' retreat in the fall.

But mostly, I will try to move slow. The last year flew by. I'm 40? What? Wait...no, now I will be 41. There is an urgency that arrived with this decade. If you've already reached it, you know. We are still young, so young that septuagenarians call us "babies." We may be youthful but there is also a burgeoning awareness of the quickening pace of time. The preciousness of this one wild life we get to live becomes heart-achingly clear. Twenties and thirties allowed for meandering. Now, purpose is calling and we can no longer ignore the ringing phone. We have to pick it up. We have to listen.

Issue Two of Lucia came out this week and with this second issue comes a deep, personal questioning for me. Where do we go from here? What will come next? How will we make this business sustainable? How will we grow? What is most important? What needs to be let go? Where can we afford to explore? Where must we be focused? How do I do this?

Part of what I'm challenged with is revenue. I go back to the purpose, the real heart of why I started Lucia in the first place, and it is about inspiring and enlightening one another by giving voice to the heart...connecting. This happens in small ways, I think. Circles of friends, artists, writers, explorers. It happens when we allow ourselves the luxury of moving slow. Even for a weekend.

I am exploring the possibility of hosting weekend workshops and retreats, as part of Lucia's mission and expansion. I'll share more as things unfold. This weekend, I hope you will join me in moving slowly. Time gets slippery when we move fast. Slow down, be turtle-like. 

More soon from magical Orcas Island. 

xo
laura

issue two : perfection {who's telling you you're not?}

March 1, 2016 - Daily Notes, From the Editor

We set out last year to create a new kind of magazine for women. One with no advertising that inspires and enlightens, gives voice to the heart, and celebrates true beauty.

Today we release Issue Two : Perfection and my ribcage can barely contain the thrumming of the big organ beneath it. I am proud.

I think perfectionism is the whole reason we need Lucia.

Women's magazines for decades have been made possible by advertising. You know the kind I'm talking about. It's slick and suggestive of a very dangerous idea: That you, beautiful you, are not perfect but you can be if you buy what they're selling. 

See that model? She's perfect. See that family running on the beach? They are too. See that girl whose body is five times tinier than her muscle-bound boyfriend? Her life is totally in order. What's wrong with you? Buy our stuff. It will solve your problems.

"As long as we are under the illusion that we're supposed to be perfect, our capacity for love is diminished," my friend Dani said during what has become our ritual Sunday night phone call. She was talking about love relationships, but it applies to every aspect of life. "Compassion comes from having made painful mistakes. I think we hold ourselves to too-high standards."

These standards...how many of them come from what we see in women's magazines today? I made the decision Perfection would be the theme for Issue Two, before Issue One : Inspiration was even finished.

Lucia is still fledgling. I don't know yet if we will survive this early-stage and grow the kind of wings that can fly onto newsstands all over the world. The path doesn't have perfect stair steps, one after the other. It winds around, there are dark spots, and big hurdles. My best friends encourage me, our readers say "please, keep going." This work feels meaningful and important. Each day I do more.

I am thrilled to share Issue Two with you. A limited number are available to order from our website today. You might catch a glimpse of Lucia in selected Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble stores. We even make an appearance in the Crate & Barrel 2016 Spring Catalog! {Don't mind the perfect bedroom scene...nobody's looks like that in real life and it is okay...messy is better anyway.}

xo
laura