If you follow my social media channels @AspenRealLife you will already know that I am on a mission to prove a theory that one can gain success through the practice of meditation and the belief in oneself and it all begins by learning how to shut the front door on negative thinking.

Step 1: Surround yourself with people who believe in you and encourage you to stay close to your dreams, like Rod Stryker.

Step 2: Set your intention

Since I am a writer, somebody once told me to write down my story, of where I see myself in the future which got me thinking about my purpose and intention.

That is precisely why I am sitting here right here right now in our Vermont-like lodge in our house on Red Mountain, paying for rent that is equal to what we are renting our down valley Basalt house for – my intention that was set when we were trying to figure out whether to separate our boys and have Axel go to Basalt High School, which we actually really enjoyed the warm feel of, and the departure of the power and politics that Aspen Brings. Also, I think Axel would really do well learning Spanish there and mingling with all his Latino friends who he met when he played Football for Basalt.

It would have been all too easy staying in Basalt with tennis courts, a pool, basketball courts, tennis and a football field right up the street, as well as the schools.

It would have been all too easy to slip out of the Aspen scene and dive into the Basalt community and all my friends made from Burn Fitness.

It would have been all too easy to have Tucker be able to walk to and from school in 10 minutes on a wonderful bike path with lots of dogs – Tucker loves dogs. and it’s time for us to try again and find the right dog for our family.

I experienced his expertise and compassion first hand when we were having to face the reality that our sensitive female Portugese Water Dog, Muki, was not a good fit for our noisy boy amoeba of a family. Baring  her fangs when our boys would wrestle and thump loudly into walls and roar their thunderous and cracking deep new voices, Muki seemed to drip slowly into mental illness with each octave drop and the more her behavior changed; growling and lunging after the boys, chasing after shadows and hiding under our bed, the more I reached out to Seth at the Aspen Animal Shelter for help.

The breeder mentioned that we were getting the sensitive female of the litter and right then and there I should have put the hammer on it and just said NO to that. What kind of call was that to send a sensitive girl into a pack of alphas. call to the breeder was the second I got home from picking her up at the airport. And help he did by finding the perfect couple to take her into their lives and pamper and nurture her in the way she needed to feel safe and secure.

But we switched it up – because Wade didn’t want one of the top lacrosse players, his son Axel, to play for a different team than he was coaching. And so it was done. And moving was a complete #lifedisruptor – at the same time we were moving ARL was getting into rocket formation “IT WAS ALL FUCKING HAPPENING” for realz this time. Wade and Michele went along with it constantly joking about the fact that it was all happening. Theyv’e heard that for nine years. this time though, I promised, the wheels are about leave the tarmac. I swear to g-d. and then I’d run home and meditate on it.

So now everything is lined up.

We’re here. In Aspen. Looking out through our single paned glass views that span from Independence Pass, and pass Aspen, Highlands and in the distance Snowmass, Pyramid and Daily down to Carbondale.And it feels like we are cheating as we sit outside on our rotting, splintered, graying deck that Harry Teague, the famous architect, suggested not to have more than 30 people on at a time.

My first cocktail here was with my team of photographers and writers. Carla and her husband Marlos from Brasil. Marlos has been in the tourism industry in Brasil for quite some time and Carla has amazing clients from her beautiful photography and so they live part time here.

It’s a great house. Reminds me of our family home that we visited on the weekends in Stratton Vmt, where my dad forced me to learn how to ski, at the age of 3, in the ice and the freezing buttass cold. (sorry, if you’re feint of heart, I’m giving you an exit now).

At the moment I don’t want to open the windows, lest the bear come back that visited last night and at my 5 lb bag of sugar that Wade was making fun of me for the other day.

He also makes fun of me saying that Nanook of the Great White North is not going to break into our house and kill our entire family. Not gonna happen he says as he bikes in circles on his road bike around me as I get ready to go back to the bear eaten house.