A few weeks ago, a mysterious package arrived in the mail for me. It contained a tiara... and a gift certificate of sorts. The enclosed letter introduced me to a new site called DreamBank, and invited me to visit, choose a dream to support, and donate a free $20 at my discretion. I got to be a “fairy godmother.”

What is Dreambank? You could call it a form of crowd-sourced lending... or rather, crowdsourced giving. Anyone can sign up and post a dream, and then anyone can read that dream, and decide to contribute to it. A sweet idea, really. Kind of like Kiva. Only without any expectation that you’ll repay what you’re given. And you don’t have to be a third world entrepreneur to post your dream.

So... I went to the site, and I chose to give my $20 to a woman who is trying to pay back her student loans.

A stranger’s student loan might not seem like sexiest cause to contribute to... but it seemed like the right one for me. Because as it turns out (can you feel the segue coming?) I’m about to begin graduate school myself.

Tomorrow morning, 7am, I am hopping on a flight to San Francisco. A week-long meditation retreat awaits me, kicked off by an adventure in Big Sur with my HLP. I am excited!

I'm gonna de-activate Facebook while I'm gone. An exercise in non-being? An experiment in detachment? We'll see!

Ya know, I really don't have it in me to write anything articulate right now. But I'm down in Marin County at the Bioneers Conference, which must be one of the most incredible and inspirational events on the PLANET these days, and I had to write something.

I'll attempt to do a better report-out tomorrow, but for now, I'll just say... what a day. From breakfast with the force that is Vicki Robin, to the round of plenaries that left me in tears, to the conversations I had with friends old and new, it was an amazing day. It was also about 30 degrees here (the hot 30 degrees, the centigrade kind) and gorgeous and boy so I ever love California.

I feel very lucky to be here. I wish that everyone I knew was here too - or at least able to listen to the plenary speakers in some form. Seriously, the world needs to hear these messages and feel this spirit. And that's all I got.