Just Ask For Milk

Yesterday I found myself sitting in front of a pot of melted gooey wonderful chocolate.  It was marvelous.  Colin and I dipped everything you could imagine in it; cheesecake, cookies, brownies, rice crispy treats, marshmallows, strawberries, even pineapple.

It was so good.

When we got to the end of all our treats, we still had chocolate left.  I asked Colin what we should do with it when he flagged down the waitress.  "Could we have a little milk?"  She looked a little confused.  With a smile he continued, "We have some extra chococlate and we were thinking about making some hot chocolate."  She looked a little unsure of us.  Colin asks, "Has anyone ever done that?"  

"No."

She looked at Colin, Colin just kept looking at her.

She then said, "I dont' think it will work, I think it will just get clumpy."

She looked at Colin, Colin just kept looking at her.

Then realizing it couldn't hurt to play along, she returned with a small amount of milk.  She watched in amazement as Colin slowly poured the milk in.  Then she was on board.  I don't know if was just interested to see what would happen or suddenly realized this was a brilliant idea, but she came over and turned the burner up under the pot to make it hotter.

Colin slowly added milk, taste testing as he went along.  Finally, he says, "It's ready."

He poured a small amount in a tiny little bowl and I sipped it slowly.  It was the second best hot chocolate I have ever had in my life.  (Napa Rose at Disneyland holds the top spot.)

"Oh my gosh, this is so good."  The waitress standing there waiting to see the outcome smiles widely and heads back to work.  I look at Colin "They could make a fortune if they added this to menu."

This is why I try new things.  This is why Colin and I believe in not always walking the same way everyone else walks.  Because sometimes you find something you never expected.  People will look at you strange.  People will try to tell you it won't work.  But once you do it - whatever it is - people who were scared will be standing by excited and glad for your success.

Be the one who asks for milk at a fancy chocolate restaurant.  You will be glad you did.

Hire Me (to do awesome stuff)

I want to be hired by someone to do awesome stuff for people. Like, I could be that sweepstakes person who shows up at houses with huge checks. Or Ellen could hire me to give away cars. Or a morning news show could hire me to give people advice on how to live a freakin amazing life, The Happy Corner - Mondays on KTLA.

But no one has offered me that job yet, so I have to figure it out on my own. A couple years ago I did the How Can I Help You campaign. Where I just offered my free services to people. I chopped wood and made costumes. I drove in cars and did airport pick ups.

Then last year - as you probably know - I couldn't help.  I was stuck in bed; hurt, frustrated and annoyed. I wanted to be helping people and there was no possible way to do it. It hurt my soul.

So now, I'm finding my way back to regular Liz.  And regular Liz can't chop wood anymore, so I have to figure out how to help the world.  How can I do that?

I can write.

So, I will be starting a regular feature on here called "Just a Couple Pennies".  It will be the best piece of advice (or two cents, wink, wink) that people have been given.  If you have some great advice that you have been given that you would like to share with the world let me know.  Email me at AmbassaLiz@gmail.com.  Let's do this!

Get on the Road!

When I was 16 my dad had a Datsun 280Z. It was silver like a bullet and it moved like a bullet. I learned how to drive stick in this car and I knew this car was a privilege to drive.

The day I got my license, I was looking for any reason to drive alone and there it was sitting on the kitchen counter. A rented VHS tape that needed to be returned.  (Yep, I'm 136 years old.) I picked up the tape, shook it at my dad, he tossed me the keys to the Z.  Yes!

I got in the car, pulled out of the driveway and started down the empty farm roads. I was about 100 yards from my house when I looked over at the empty passenger seat. I felt so much freedom and I pushed down on that gas pedal.

Soon after, the speedometer was easily sitting at 110, radio blaring. Man, it was so fun.  So free. I sped down those empty streets, not one car in sight.

I was about to see what this car could really do, when I flew through a stop sign. My foot immediately came off the gas pedal.  My heart raced.  I looked in the rear view mirror.  Was there anyone back there?  What if I had run into someone?

My freedom suddenly became very scary. I pulled over. Chills raced up the back of my neck. This freedom could literally kill me.  I breathed in. After a couple minutes pulling my newly 16 year old self back together. I turned on my turn signal. I checked my blind spot a few times before slowly and carefully pulling back onto the totally empty farm roads.

This is when I learned that you have to treat freedom with respect. It is a privilege. It is important. That is where I am sitting right now.  In a huge amount of freedom.  Because of my back injury, work slowed.  Because of the drugs I was taking, I stopped writing and didn't have my normal ambition. I'm no longer the dancer I was.

So, here I am.  With the freedom to be whoever I wanted to be.  The freedom to take whatever job I want.  The freedom to live where ever I want to live.  And the scariest part of freedom, the freedom to do absolutely nothing.  I have to respect this freedom.  I have to pull over and take a breath.  What do I want to do with this freedom?  Just sit around and do nothing?  Or check my blind spot and pull back into traffic and work on my dreams.

Here we go.  I'm figuring out how to get back on the road.