May 18, 2012

Doing something of value for others

By Ginna Christensen
Le Chic Cocoon

Le Chic Cocoon

Feeling a lot stiff, a little beaten, and not totally amazing as a result of the car accident I was involved in on Wednesday night. This morning I felt I needed some extra self nurturing, so I reached a book that always makes me feel like it’s author is giving me a hug, Le Chic Cocoon. Two pages in, I came across this quote:

“…philosopher Mark Vernon says that if we don’t love ourselves, we can’t do anything of value for other people.”

and this got me thinking…If I really loved myself, what would I do? Here is the list that poured out of me shortly after.

If I really loved my self I would…

1. Buy that sauce pan I have been coveting for the past six months at Surfas
2. Clean my apartment, buy more flowers, and a basil plant
3. Frame and hang the artwork that is currently being stored under my bed. I am not getting any pleasure from it under there.
4. Buy a new duvet cover. I have only been wanting one for a year now and I know I can find one that I love at a great price on One Kings Lane or Joss and Main!
5. Get out of the apartment more. I feel energized and inspired when I am surrounded by people even ones I don’t know.

LA METRO

LA METRO via dragonballyee.com

6. Take the bus. It reminds me of living in New York, it’s good for the environment, and can be a fun mini adventure
7. Embrace my appearance and my body as it is instead of wishing it looked more like Heidi Klume.
8. Make time to write everyday
9. Spend the day at Olympic Spa – steam, sauna, massage and the miraculous jade floor
10. Stop worrying about what I need to do and allow my body and brain some rest. I was just in a car accident after all.

Thank you

Thank you

11. Stop dwelling on the mistakes I made in the past and start concentrating on creating a better present and future.
12. Say Thank you more
13. Allow myself to experience something new
14. Do what makes me happiest and not worry about what anyone else thinks
15. Approach every meal as a meditation and take the time to enjoy the plate of food with gratitude because we all deserve the time to enjoy a nutritious and delicious meal.

a good meal 800 Degrees

a Good Meal 800 Degrees

16. Act as if I am already in love. The vibration of love is a powerful one. I know when I am in love the sun seems brighter, flowers smell sweeter and my body feels so light I almost feel like I could fly. Right now, I am not in love, but I am just going to act as if I am.
17. Honor the intelligence in my gut rather than ignore it.
18. Practice patience and presence when engaging in a task rather than rushing through it just so I can cross it off my list.
19. Enjoy the silent moments rather than wasting them trying to think of something to say.
20. Be a better listener.
21. I would love where I live even though it does not have everything that I want in a home it has been a really good one.

What’s on your list???

2 comments   |  tags: , | posted in My Strongest Life

May 11, 2012

Good Friday

By Ginna Christensen

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by an ever growing list of things to do? Sometimes you just have to surrender and take time to smell the lilacs.

via finegardening.com

Good Friday

This morning, I am tired
my muscles tense as if they
have been pushing a boulder up
hill for three days

All I really want to do is melt
like a tear into the sand
and lounge by the side of the path
breathing in the sent of lilacs blooming

But the list of things that must be done
keeps whipping through my brain
like a Roman solider
pushing me to my own execution

• Review all open opportunities
• Got to the bank
• Follow up with Wendy
• Close the deal

Then something happens
and for just a few seconds I surrender
sitting here on a beige sofa
listening to the hum of the fridge
and the occasional exhale of breath
that I have been holding in

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May 4, 2012

Inspiration on a Sunday Afternoon

By Ginna Christensen

Sunday morning Yoga with Cristi Christensen at LuLu Lemon N. Beverly

My sister taught a free yoga class at LuLu Lemon in Beverly Hills this morning. I watched from the sidelines feeling under the weather from a late night out. Clearly my loss.

Yoga poses at LuLu Lemon with Cristi Christensen

Yoga Poses at LuLu Lemon N. Beverly

Create a life you love

I set aside 20 minutes a day to work on creating a great life. What does a great life look like to you?

A great life to me includes lots of ART

I’ve walked into three stores the last two days that had this book on display. I think now it is time to buy it.

Making art in Beverly Hills

Making art at the Beverly Hills farmers market not only gives us something beautiful to look at, but creates a feeling of community and expression.

Hummm, in five years I would like to have created a career that affords me the ability to work from any where in the world. Where will you be?

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April 27, 2012

Modernism Event to Benefit PS ARTS

By Ginna Christensen

psarts.org

So excited to be a member of the Design Committee

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April 20, 2012

Design Loves PS ARTS

By Ginna Christensen
via primebeautyblog.net

Children playing tag

For the past nine months, I have been working on a project that I am so excited about I have not been able to sleep. Every night my eyes pop open at 2:04am with a wide grin on my face and pounding heart as if I just finished playing an intense game of tag.

I am planning my first fundraiser for a charity that I wish I had started myself, PS ARTS. PS Arts believes as I do, that children’s lives are improved through arts education. So with the help of Marc Phillips Rugs and eight Los Angeles based artists, we are creating a silent auction of Artist designed rugs.

PS ARTS

PS ARTS

The event is slotted for the Fall and in an effort to promote both the event and the artists who so generously donated designs to the cause, I am launching a series of studio tours starting Friday, April 27th. I hope to see you there!

Design loves PS ARTS

Design loves PS Arts

3 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Design, My Strongest Life

April 13, 2012

Where it all began

By Ginna Christensen

I started 27 Ground two and a half years ago. It began with a trip to India, and little over six months ago the direction of the business began to change. I now offer a variety of services centered around business development in addition to my product of custom designed area rugs. With this change I found the need to update copy, change my story and about us page. But I began to feel nostalgic and did not want to lose the magic of how this all began. So here it is, a little bit of my story and a glimpse at how it all began.

View of a palace garden in Jaipur

Three hours into my first flight to India, an old man stopped breathing. I woke up to the sound of his wife wailing as she stood on her seat shaking his shoulders trying to wake him. Thankfully, the story has a happy ending – the old couple was reunited in first class, both breathing with the assistance of oxygen masks. Forever etched in my mind, the woman’s face beamed gratitude like rays of sunshine as I watched her holding her husband’s hand as tightly as she could.

Most every adventure I’ve had to this part of the world is filled with similar highs and lows; with beauty and ugliness, excitement and sorrow. Drivers participating in a never-ending game of chicken navigating a maddening network of crowded narrow streets try my nerves. Piles of unidentifiable waste baking in the hazy afternoon light have challenged my senses on more than one occasion.

With each factory visit to India and Nepal, I feel I am part of an elaborate treasure hunt in another century. I watched one woman weaving a rug in Kathmandu of such intricacy, I could not fathom how she knew which color to put where. Each course of knots were like chapters in a book I could curl up with and read.

There is something truly special about an object that is made by hand requiring so much skill, concentration and artistry; it caries with it the soul of the artisan who created it.

I now bring these treasures to you, the designer allowing you to put your design stamp on the floor of every room.

-Ginna Christensen

Scenes from India

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Design, My Strongest Life

April 6, 2012

Want to experience more success?

By Ginna Christensen

First you have to get happy!

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March 30, 2012

My New Favorite Breakfast

By Ginna Christensen
simple-nourished-living

Magical Breakfast Cream with Strawberries via simple-nourished-living.com

I used to eat Greek yogurt just about everyday. Plain, full fat yogurt because I personally believe that life is too short to eat anything that has been altered to become non-fat. But after reading Mireille Guiliano’s book – French Women for All Season – I now have a new routine. This recipe not only helps maintain a healthy weight, but keeps me surprisingly full until lunch time and also fights caner. I may even start feeding it to Winnie

French women don't get fat

I want a green bike like this

Magical Breakfast Cream (because just plain yogurt does not cut it anymore)

Serves 1

1/2 cup yogurt (I like Fage plain Greek yogurt)
1 teaspoon flaxseed oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice preferable Meyer
1 teaspoon of honey
2 tablespoons of finely ground shredded wheat cereal NO SUGAR ADDED
2 teaspoons finely ground walnuts

1. Put yogurt in a bowl and add the oil. Mix Well. Add lemon juice and mix well. Add honey and mix well. (it is important to add each ingredient one at a time and mix well to obtain a homogeneous preparation)

2. Finely grind cereal and walnuts in a small food processor, add to yogurt mixture and mix well.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Food

March 23, 2012

Trying to build your brand? Make sure you hire someone with WOO

By Ginna Christensen
Don't have the budget to advertise?

Hire a brand ambassador instead

Looking to build brand awareness and don’t have the budget to advertise or hire an expensive PR firm? Just hire someone with Woo.

Woo is the art of winning others over. A person with WOO is energized by a room of strangers, not intimidated. She easily breaks the ice, finds a connection, makes a friend.

A person with WOO makes a great brand ambassador. She is the person you want at every luncheon, industry party and networking event. It can get you press, bring in new business, and perhaps even new potential revenue streams that you had not thought of.

Now discover yoru strengths

This book can change your life. It changed mine.

To read more about Woo as well as other strength and talents, check out Now Discover Your Strengths and take the strength finder test. It changed the way I look at business and in turn, changed my life for the better.

Cheers!

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in My Strongest Life

March 16, 2012

What does the word GOAL mean to you?

By Ginna Christensen
Napolean HIll

What a beautiful way to think about goals

I love this quote by Napolean Hill. Some how it makes the whole idea of goal setting more magical. What goals are you setting? How do you feel about goals?

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