I hear it all the time: "Life is hard!" In reality, life is easy. It is the relationships in life that are hard. Our lives are full of relationships in every category: intimate, work, family, friendship, etc. On some level you even have a relationship with the person who makes your Starbucks every morning. In fact, that is probably the easiest relationship you have (or at least the most rewarding). If you are married, dating, single or jaded, you interact with people every day who shape your life and how you lead it. If you are married, your spouse is likely the first person you see in the morning. Those first couple of minutes the two of you have together can shape the rest of your day.

People tend to shy away from blood or bone marrow donations because their automatic reaction is almost always pain. But, once you get past the thoughts of your own discomfort and realize that your actions are going to help literally save someone’s life, that 20 minutes of discomfort becomes not so important or trivial. In fact, many first time donors I have heard from say the process was not as bad as they anticipated. It’s like judging a book by its cover, but in this example you are the one who is writing its final chapter. One donation can save as many as three lives. Many people want to leave a legacy or help better their community. In my opinion, donating blood or bone marrow is a gr

 For the last week, I've been living the life of Riley. Jess' aunt and uncle took her little cousins on vacation to Hawaii.  We've been housesitting their place in Land Park. Riley lives in a three-bedroom house in the suburbs, he's got a cat and a dog.  And this week, so do I.                 I thought I'd share with you some of the people and places that I've experienced during my week as a Sacramento suburbanite. A Suburban Cowboy, if you will.  While I'm not ready to trade in my 'Vette for a minivan a la Steve Sanders, BH 90210, Episode 7, Season 10 (a part of me died that day. Also, no one's gonna mistake my 1990 Honda Accord for a Corvette with plates that read I8A-4RE), I found th

  I had meant for my second article to be an ode to my new neighborhood, Midtown.  In my brief time here, I have found a lot to love about the area around my 1 bedroom on 18th and G.  I would love to wax poetic about the virtues of having two dope, locally owned, coffee shops within a five minute walk (Butch and Nellies, Old Soul at the Weatherford).  There's nothing I'd rather do than tell you about the lovely dining experience I had my first night here at Michealangelos, a little Italian Trattoria a stones throw from my front porch (Thanks Sara Jean!).  If I could, I'd spend an entire paragraph extolling the virtues of "Streets of London", a British style pub that has "football" on the

I'm listening to "Strictly Game" by The Harlem Shakes as I drive to a Wells Fargo ATM a few blocks from my apartment to get forty bucks for more weed at 8:30pm on a Saturday that doubles as my birthday. The lyrics are appropriate (This will be a better year…) and I sing along with hope that the chorus applies to me, too. I'm still thinking about the voicemail from my father that assumed I didn't pick up the phone because I was out partying. He sounds drunk. Is it bad that I don't want to call him back because I'm embarrassed that I'm not out partying? But should I be? I'm high enough already and worried that the headlights in my rearview mirror belong to a cop, so I make a full stop, count

 Tree clean our air and water, store carbon in their trunks, create habitat for wildlife, reduce air pollution, increase property values, and provide countless other benefits. The Sacramento Tree Foundation works to leverage all of the benefits that trees provide to create healthy and sustainable communities through building the best urban forest in the Sacramento region. A major keystone in building the best urban forest is the Greenprint initiative, a multi-decade regional framework created to meet Sacramento's sustainability and livability goals by expanding urban forests and optimizing the benefits of tree canopies. Greenprint partners, comprised of 22 cities and 6 counties, have agree

  We've all seen the street cleaning signs Downtown. No Parking on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, take your pick, from 8 a.m. to noon, usually. We've struggled trying to remember which side is which when we've come home late at night, and then tried to find a spot on the correct side. Is it all really necessary? I've had occasion to be home on a number of street cleaning days for my street. The funny thing is, I haven't seen street cleaners--ever! I don't see the evidence that they've even been there. What I do see are tickets. Evidence that the meter maid has come by to ticket you for parking someplace. Someplace where they need to clean, but won't. For transparency's sake, during a recen

Out of darkness you entered and so will you leave, but until the time of withered leaves, until the time of beginnings end, you will have this life and in this life, you will sing for no show, laughter will prelude the cry or reverse, in this life, you will wish the strings of your heart would break, relieve you from the sticky web of rapture, in this life, you find that you will lose and that, that which is lost will find you too but misery's brisk winds, are not the only ones to blow upon you, there are times the weather will break or change sending you droplets of delight, drizzling upon your thristy cheeks that are peaked high, revealing the sunny smile that life has shined down upon y

I have worked the last 16 weeks as one of four unpaid interns at Sacramento Press. I started with no experience in journalism and felt completely overwhelmed with my new responsibilities, which were in addition to taking five classes at Sacramento State University. Now, nearly four months later, I leave this position with an appreciation for the writing skills I have developed and a deeper understanding of journalism. Sacramento Press is not traditional journalistic reporting. As you know this is a community-contributed news site. The reporting, with the exception of a very small group of staff and interns, is done by members of the community, which is the reason Sacramento Press stands o

Announcing the opening of  Le Soleil. Le Soleil is a life, career and spiritual training ground for progressive adults looking to enhance their personal and professional lives, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.    Le Soleil is the brain child of Rebecca Echevarria. Rebecca is an ordained minister in both the Christian and Buddhist traditions and our lead consultant (life coach). She has studied religion, philosphy and leadership extensively. This background enables her to work with Executives, Soccer Moms, and everything in between. She has written books on escaping the cult mentality, parenting and dealing with adversity. Her core beliefs are that each in

40 IS the New 40 By Michelle Gamble-Risley, co-author, Second Bloom Who started these phrases, "40 is the new 30," or "50 is the new 40?" We have a question, "Why isn't it okay to say, "40 is the new 40?" Our youth-obsessed culture drives so many women to feel anxiety around birthdays and add increased digits to their ages. In fact, dozens of famous women have outright lied about their ages just to avoid the public perception that they're getting e-gads, "older." Oh, the very idea of "older" sends many women to the bar to down a few Margaritas and forget their age sorrow. Getting "older" comes to us all. You can take as many trips to the Botox bar as you like and age will still tick for