Taya Starling

HOMIELOVERFRIENDS.  I wouldn’t be lying if I called this post the BEST MONTH EVER.  Seriously.  From Bali to the premier of my latest movie, “LOVE SUCKS“, to going to Kenya on safari to a quick trip to Singapore… life has been exciting & exhilarating & revealing & just… magical lately.  I feel like I’ve been in the water for weeks riding up and down on the waves & I’ve finally paddled back in to shore.

Excuse me while I catch my breath. (And don’t worry, blog entries of all my adventures are coming soon xx)

So while I’ve been out surfing life, the USA finally ruled in favor of equal marriage rights in EVERY DAMN STATE.  FINALLY.   Took us long enough.  Hopefully this sparks a wave of equal love for all, across the globe.

ESPN’s 2015 Body Issue is out also inspiring equal love for all body types with various pro athletes in the buff.  I honestly don’t know if I’m more in love the photo of Odell Beckham Jr or of Chantae McMillan or of Ali Krieger but I love that this issue has more quotes about how they handle body issues/ self- image and their health.  Power to the pros who know how to get it done.

On that health note, I found this awesome guided meditation video thanks to Jason Headley.  If you don’t already meditate, I highly recommend it.  You can look up all the scientific proof about how it lessens grey matter in your brain and how it helps with everything from concentration to sleep to making major life decisions, but at the end of the day here’s what matters most for me when it comes to meditation- it makes me feel GOOD & it keeps me SANE.  I don’t meditate every day, I wish I did but honestly life gets in the way and I haven’t found the will power to carve out 20 mins for my meditation daily, but when I need it, it’s there and when i’ve got some time whether on a flight or on set or anywhere safe, I take some time to zone out and recenter myself.  But I get that whether it’s 10 minutes or an hour, meditation is damn hard so here’s a little video that may help.

On a more serious note, I just returned from 9 days in Kenya where I learned so much more about the world than I could have hoped.  I am so thankful to all the amazing souls I encountered while exploring a tiny piece of Africa (blog entries to follow soon).  One of the people I learned about is Memory Banda.  I found a recommended TED talk she did and I hope you all take a minute now to watch it and share her knowledge, experience, and brave choice to help make a change.

[ted id=2295]

I finished a few more books for my 2015 Reading Challenge including The Princess Bride, The Brief & Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, & The Opposite of Loneliness.  I just picked up Marianne Williamson’s A Year of Miracles & I still need some book recommendations for the following categories if you’ve got any!: A book more than 100 years old, a book based on or turned into a TV show,  & a book with antonyms in the title.  Hit me with some recommendations below (:

Quentin Tarantino announced that he’s going to do another Western film which is amazing news if you loved “Django” (which I did)… basically I think at this point if people are going to get killed in movies, Tarantino may as well be in charge of the blood loss and Michael Bay can be in charge of the explosives… what would that even look like??? In the meantime I’ll be waiting to watch Tarantino’s second western, “Hateful Eight” which he debuted at Comic Con this past week.

With movies on my mind so much lately, here’s a little compilation thanks to TIME

If for some reason you need a reason to stay home more often, Netflix has given us a slew of great ones by adding oh so many 90’s movies to their line up recently including “Romeo & Juliet,” “Ghost,” “Clueless,” “Beautiful Girls,” “Clerks,” & “Jerry Mcguire.”  Excuse me while I go make the nachos.  You grab the drinks & come on over xx