Going Off the Grid

I’m a little dry. I need to refresh. So…I’m going off the grid.

After a long few weeks preparing for the Summit and with new projects just about to take shape, I’m in desperate need of a late-summer retreat. Thankfully, M and I, along with some of our creative team, are heading to Cape Cod for a few days to breathe, connect, re-create, and celebrate our two year anniversary!

As such, I will be going off the grid until the middle of next week.

No email. Blog. Twitter.

I didn’t want to leave you stranded so I’ve complied a late summer list of books I’ve read/are reading and some music to tide you over until I return. Please add to this list what you’re reading and listening to as well!

In these closing days of summer I hope you will take time to turn off the tele, open a book, reflect, imagine, breathe, listen, and drink a final margarita (they simply don’t taste as good after Labor Day if you ask me).

I look forward to connecting soon.

BOOKS

• Bittersweet - Shauna Niequist (This is my lovely friend’s new book. You should buy it. Now.)
• The Prophetic Imagination - Walter Brueggemann (Interesting read in conjunction with the following book.)
• Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle - Chris Hedges
• Given: Poems - Wendell Berry (This has helped me fall asleep many a hot summer night.)
• Sticky Teams - Larry Osborne
• The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together - Twyla Tharp
• The Creative Habit - Twlya Tharp
• Art & Fear - David Bayles and Ted Orland (Best quote ever: “Even the failed pieces are essential.”)
• The War of Art - Steven Pressfield (My constant companion.)
• Let Your Life Speak - Parker Palmer
• Understanding the Ennegram / Personality Type: Using the Ennegram (Know your type!)
• Making Ideas Happen - Scott Belsky (Read this if you really want to make things. If you just like ideas however, don’t.)
• Rework - Jason Fried (Ditto, the above statement.)
• The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working - Tony Schwarz (Former Co-Author with Trump has some interesting insights on how we work.)
• Now and Then / Telling Secrets / Sacred Journey - Fredrick Buechner (All three will change your life.)
• How Proust Can Change Your Life - Alain de Botton (Obviously, so will this one.)

MUSIC

• Florence & the Machine (Thank The Wife for this one.)
• Just Because & 2010 Spring Mix from Leeann Marcel
• Jar of Hearts - Christian Perri (gorgeous, heartbreakingly sad song heard on SYTYCD)
• Colin Harman mix tape
• Cut The Crap Playlist: Late Summer Jams (so, so good!)
• We Are Hunted (if you’re looking for new music, THIS is the place!)
• I Love You All - Cloud Cult (Heard on NPR’s Sound Opinions. Amazing use of the vocoder.)
• 1977 - Ana Tijoux (Latin, female MC who recently blew up at this year’s SXSW.)