birthdate week epiphany, 32.

32. here.i.go.


i woke up with the kind of hangover that should be banned to Mexico. i don't know entirely what got into me and why at 10 o'clock at night i was at my home doing handstands on my head and re-thinking my birth date epiphanies... but i was. i know why i was re-thinking, because one of my best friends, the sweetest woman challenged me to take a huge professional chance... what this looks like.. .yet to be determined but it will look vastly different from what is going down right now.





it's been a hard couple years for me, to be honest, and this is NO knock at all on anything, but last born date my mom was in M.G.H and the one before- the condition was so hard out that my birthday was just a reminder that i was alive. literally.





this born date was like I'm ALIVE so much alive and full of strength and joy that i can and will do yoga poses after taking out a few martinis and a bottle plus of wine and rethink how to kill it professionally and what goals i will nail down and put out for 32. i have stuck to this practice, since i found out about goal setting at 13.. .but the only poor bastards that had to hear about it


my parents


my best friends. . .





now you can hear about, laugh about, even maybe think about some fun for yourselves.





2011. 32. goal one. ride a giraffe in Africa.





more than anything i want to ride a giraffe into the sunset- i would even settle for the sunrise. i actually have a strong desire for this. . . i would ride an ostrich too, same idea, same notion, same dream -area. I actually like the ostrich and hate them at the same time. like i want to punch one in the face and hug it in one motion. not sure what is going on there. the giraffe, the open safari, the sun... this is something I need to figure to do before the year is up.





on a more serious note, my heart has wanted to go to Africa and safari.


i watch the shows.


i try to learn the noises.


for some strange reason i can identify most poisonous snakes (oh there is a story there)


* why i can identify snakes?*


Henry Scarano. one man. one mark. one mission. he was epic like chris carb's name of a dashboard confessional album before dashboard even became dashboard.





if you don't know, now you know. My father- had this how to teach his kids not to have any fear mantra when i was growing up.


VA beach-back country-dirtbike tracks *home of my uncle*my father's brother.


this man is a national-fighter- a marine and taught after the service, the marines, how to fight this was how he landed in norfolk, va. we won't get into the deets...





this is my beloved uncle. a man i spent a summer trying to be like at 29 and a childhood admiring... a man who could crush you with his love, and pick you up with his pinky.





my cousin won all sorts of awards on dirtbikes, big time racer as a kid. so when we would visit the cousins at VA beach we would always hit the tracks. how did we get to the homemade one you ask? ps i couldn't of been past my daddy's hip when i was riding a dirt bike and learning about snakes.


Daddy:" Christina to get to the race track you have to get thru this area."


Christina: "ok, daddy. is there something wrong with this area. the dogs won't go near it."


mind you we were staring at some wood damp area.


Daddy:" do you hear the noise?"


Christina: "yes, daddy, sort of sounds like crickets."


Daddy: " no Christina, those are cottonmouths maybe,(oh the maybe was so REASSURING) cooperheads and rattlesnakes. we aren't in the yard at home anymore, it's different here. just run really fast and be very light on your feet. I will be right next to you."


Christina "ok, daddy, tell me when to go"


so, that may of had something to do with it. you know what else- may of...



this little spring.





Alligator Point, Tallahassee, Florida.


my mother's beloved sister lived here. we would visit often.


Henry the Fish.


Wakula Springs, Florida.





a few words on that one.





this is a place, where you would swim not an arms length away from alligators and jump off what appeared to be the size of a New York City Sky scraper to someone so small.



I spent my summers knowing this place well, I even knew which board was my fav. to jump off of, for the most air.


when you approached the beach the sign said, "no small children or dogs allowed"





so, my parents would take us here, so we could take a swim and we loved it.





I think the Boat tour and the Fish named Henry was the best thing I ever saw.


having a gingerale on a small boat and looking at an alligator swim under the glass paddle boat and being taught it was no big deal- is something i think every child should experience...





why? because when HUGE scary things happen, little 5'3 adults can stand up for what is right, even if it may cost them everything.


after jumping off the high jump:





Christina: " daddy, the water is warm, but something tickles my legs on the way up"


Daddy: "oh, those are just the water snakes"


Christina:" will they bite me?"


Daddy: "no, they won't bother you unless you bother them."


Christina: "it feels like i might be bothering them, they swim up with me."


Daddy: "oh, you would know if one bites you. you would get very sick, fast and do not be afraid, i am right here, i would suck the bad out."


Christina: "like how you suck the bee poison out when i get stung?" (I am allergic to bees)


Daddy: "yes. christina. just like that."











2011. 32. goal two. speak a new language.


i am going to take a class. to learn a new language. i already know what the language is.


details to come on this one...





may you all be covered in love today and find maybe a little adventure... this year too.





xo, christina

Dream Big- Bucket List Revisited

As life goes, I manage to not blog as much as I promise, I forget the sugar in the coffee and I always have some sort of hilarious adventure along with a touch of beautiful irony and fun.

My father mentioned the Blog this weekend and if you know me all that amazing person has to do is sneeze and I am at the store buying Kleenex... so... let's look at the Bucket list for 2011.

BUCKET LIST-2011 and counting

sigh.. now I have some new adventures to work on for 2011...

1. get into the best possible shape- I want it to be so I can be beaten down in a knife fight and still survive, get into a scuffle with a shark and come out victorious... you know the type of concerns you can run into... on the day to day.




2. take ownership of a wreckless abandon to the things that move me. for example, fun, laughter, banishing fear, being kind, giving to others, dancing when no one is watching, friendships, adventuring around in the mundane and the extra-oridnary... living a life of love. at the end of all of this, that will be the one thing friends and family could say... is that "she loved".




3. drink snake blood in thailand.




4. stop getting tattoos, maybe?




5. drive a mini cooper in europe. (Why didn't I think of that when it was right there!)




6. ride a cow in mykonos (i have seen them and been up close but never thought to ride one until just now=regret)




7. go to ireland and sing pub songs in irish pubs and run thru the rolling green hills.




8. publish and finish.




9. ride train (s) across the U.S.A




10. drive a race car.




11. learn the lesson from my parents- that loving like today is the last day is the only way to live. until i saw this romance- i had no idea WHAT wreckless abandon to love looked like- they are an amazing couple, real soulmates.




12. ride in a hot air ballon




13. maybe sign up for cupcake wars



14. go to a hot spring.



15. stop wishing that vampire slayer was/is a real job.



16. de-tach from my iphone for an hour a day, everyday not including sleepy time.