I live here.

This is the Upper East Side in New York.
A neighbor put up a note in my building last year that her neice wanted to do an internship in New York and was looking for an extra room to throw her stuff. I offered my place. It's a one-room studio. I didn't want any money for it. I figured I'd do a good deed. I put myself through college (I dropped out 3 times! -- no money, no funny!) and I remember how hard it was to get a break.

So, I took all my clothes out and moved in with David (my boyfriend at the time) who had a lot of space and was happy enough to have me.

Two girls actually moved in to this little space. One from Providence, Rhode Island and one from Lake Forest, IL where I used to work. I never met them, but we were able to hand off the keys and make this work for the summer.



Here's the room they stayed in. It really is a studio, so they had to get super creative. At the time, I had a little twin bed hiding behind the couch. Very dormy, but functional. Not sure who got the bed, but I'm sure they figured it out.


When they moved out, I moved back in and brought in a grown-up bed and put the couch in storage. So, it doesn't look like this anymore, but I kept the blue! It's fun to experiment in such a tiny place.

I share all this to say that something really cool happened this past Sunday morning. I was re-reading Creative Visualization (S. Gawain) and put a new request in the world that someone THAT DAY would send me an email or find me on YouTube or come across my blog and decide to make a donation to Raising Malawi for AT LEAST $500.

One of the important tips in creative visualization is that you want to add the following phrase:

This, or something better,
now manifests for me
in totally satisfying and harmonious ways
for the highest good of all concerned

Sounds quite cheesy, yes? Well, it is, but three hours later I got an email from the RI family saying they wanted to send a token of thanks to my charity.

I got the check in the mail today. $750 to Raising Malawi.

Thank you, Creative Visualization guru, Shakti Gawain. And Thank you Rhode Island family.