I have had the privilege of having a true friend for over 20 years. She was always “crazy Alina” always doing something. We have shared so many life events, our kids growing up, marriages, divorces, much laughter and some moments of tears. We are in actuality very much opposites though similar in many ways. We both love to give love.
Her whole focus has been on her family and her kids. I have never met anyone who has so many people around her. When her kids were growing up her home was grand central station. We have traveled together with our kids as single moms and though there were some periods of us not seeing each other, we always picked up where we left off.
I have never seen someone work as hard as this woman. Many people see her success now and say, “I want your life.” Yes, it is great, but she deserves it because she has toiled and labored for every dime she has earned. Being able to see how she operates behind the scenes has taught me a lot about the power of focused intention.
Ok, she is not perfect. She may have an obsession with doing, doing, doing. It’s better than other vices like doing drugs, over drinking or other mindless distractions . I can honestly say that I have never seen her do drugs or seen her drunk. She gets drunk on her creativity which she puts to action. That is her gift. She is able to have a vision about something and go after it without a shadow of a doubt.
So now, as I was caught in my quandry of whether I should continue with my dreams, whenever I see her in action, she motivates me to keep doing. I actually went to see a photo shoot that she was doing for her clothing line at Peace Love World on Thursday. It was with Jeanine Mason, the recent winner of So You Think You Can Dance. Jeanine happens to be a good friend of Alina’s daughter, Mia. They grew up together. I went that day just to get a dose of inspiration. It helped me to get out of my funk that I had this week.
The idea of Peace Love World came out of the friendship we had plus another friend, Beki. Beki and I were her first friends in Miami when she moved from Atlanta after high school. We always kept saying that we should do a bracelet of Peace Love and Happiness. We even labeled each other: Alina: Love, Beki: Happiness and myself : Peace. The whole concept of Peace Love World started out of the thought to make that bracelet, and of course Miss ever efficient, Alina created the bracelet. You can see the picture of us three here on her mission statement page. I am the one in the middle.
Now after less than one year, her company has mushroomed into a huge success that is getting much attention. She doesn’t need to do this. She does this from her heart. I see the hard work that goes into this and I can honestly say that no one does it better. She calls it chaos. There’s love sweat and tears in the chaos. But isn’t that life? That’s real.
The third person in this picture is Beki(on the right)..aka happiness. I will write about her shortly. PS. Liz, you are Peace Love Hope and I will interview soon;)
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