Travel Tips

I'm working on a colofrul boho yet ShabbyChic Vintage style in my room.
Quite an undertaking! More pics to come....

Some things I highly regard from my world-theme collection:

collection of cds( representative of the 6 major continents featuring sounds of the world, secularly and classical)
my very weathered-teathered brown straw Indonesian handbag and colorful wallet

postcards from Lithuania, Indonesia, Colombia, Germany, Serbia, Italy etc

little leather shoe from Serbia

old letters from pen pals from mostly Europe and Asia

Note: My room is is constant transformation!

Painted by me!! I like to paint ceramics, along with my mother.

This was originally to be painted in the old Tuscan style. On the back of the house, it says "Dante". I was thinking to create a model of what the famous Italian writer Dante may have lived in in his native Firenze. (a favorite poet of mine!) However, I ended up creating something that would compliment my room really well. So, I abandoned the color scheme of tan and rustic colors and opted for the bright, boldness that you see now :-)

So in June 2008, I made the move to the city of Orange, where the beginnings of Orange county at large took place. Orange is one of the better Greater Los Angeles suburbs, some 35 miles southeast of L.A.
Check out my Orange page for more info.

my birthplace: central Florida
(near Orlando)

my sign: Leo (I relate to the creative, artistic part of Leo traits, not the mad egocentric personality at all)

personality traits:
calm, curious, open-minded (but not in the devious ways)...

voice: deep yet soft and sweet, hardly ever curse

best feature: smily mouth ;-)

my position on the sibling chain- 3rd and last - I'm the baby!

distinguished feature: birthmark between the eyes on the roof of the nose
and on (my) shoulder

figure: medium , average, somewhat curvy

skin: soft and cocoa

feet: big and flat for a girl

hands: warm with long piano fingers

mind: good memory for most important things and names but also knowing little facts good for trivia :-) and little stupid pieces of info;
tries to block out most painful memories

SUBJECTS of school I enjoy : history, foreign language (especially Romance languages), art/art history, sociology, poetry/literature

MY COLORS: olive , earthy tan/brown colors (because I'm an earthy girl) , black & white together, cranberry and sage (currently, my theme colors for my room)

I love music from all over the world, of most styles that one can imagine, but my preference is in a kind of fusion music that is soulful with rhytmic and rockin'!
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WHAT'S IN MY PLAYER THESE DAYS? : Colbie Caillat, Billy Currington, Keb Mo, Marc Broussard, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Maxwell...yeah BIG VARIETY!
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SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE

(Most of these songs I could repeat over & over in my player. Some speak of me or an experience of mine lyric by lyric. Certainly there will be more songs to add to the list) :

From My Early Years:

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun/Cyndi Lauper- this is probably my first "favorite song ever"! Oh, fun! Who could not love a girl with multi-colored haired half shaved who sounded like no other artist? Well, I did! Early on as a child in elementary school, I notice and apprciated her original, offbeat style! Cyndi was such the coolest!

Like a Virgin/Madonna- I have to include a Madonna song. She and Cyndi were my first favorites and this song and video has stayed with me over the years (My first cassette tapes were of them :-) Remember how Madonna was with the lion in the video? Delightfully creepy for me anyway!

Purple Rain/Prince- It's hard to believe that this song came out when I was about 5 years old & even back then I knew its magnitude. It will not ever date itself -just a great song with a woeful but powerful guitar in the end!

Sweet Dreams/Eurythmics- just an infectous song I love to groove to! I would actually like to "travel the world and seven seas" like Annie Lennox has done!

From the Teen Years:

Silent Lucidity/Queensryche - this song marks my music-obsessive childhood and is one that has stayed with me all these years since the early 90s. It has such a dreamy quality and is haunting.

Vivir Sin Aire/Mana - In my 11th grade Spanish III class, the teacher made everyone listen to this song over and over as a lesson in retention. Some in class got sick of la cancion de Mana surely but it became more and more beautiful to my ears and since then, I have became a big fan of the band's music, enjoying both similar "baladas" to their usual heavier uptempo and rock sounds.

The Classics, Before My Time:

In the Air Tonight/Phil Collins - like with "Sweet Dreams", I just love it, especially when anticipating the the drums after "no stranger to you and me "...

2002 Overture w/ Temples of Syrinx/Rush- the heaviest, bone-crushin' song on the list.

Fave Songs of Womanhood:

Elsewhere/Sarah Mclachlan- I fell in love with Sarah's music after Surfacing was released but I went back to her older songs I came to love them too. This one stands out for me greatly with the lyrics and the whole soul of it, which speaks of mine...."I believe there is a distance I have wandered
to touch upon the years of reaching out and reaching in holding out holding in..."

32 Flavors/Alana Davis - 32 Flavors just represents me, "I'm nobody but I am someone... I'm taking my chances as they come". I prefer the musical version by Alana but very much appreciate truly the lyrics by Ani Di Franco.

Crazy/A. Davis- Crazy is another anthem of mine ..."I'm not completely insane, maybe just a little bit crazy..."

All by Myself/Celine Dion- many artists have done this song but Celine's truly, literally screams out to me. Oh, the woe of loneliness- haven't we all felt this?

Songs of My Philosophy:

Free Your Mind/ En Vogue: "Free Your Mind and the rest will follow...be colorblind, don't be so shallow"... just a sample of the message. I could relate to this song all the way through.

Pull Me Under/Dream Theater- "Pull me Under, pull me under- I'm not afraid! This is one of my favorite, most inspirational songs, tackling the hardship of the world. It reminds one of mortality and to embrace it. One of the heaviest songs on the list, it progressively builds and goes through such masterful layers. What a musical odyssey! It's an epic, over 7 min song & stays with me longer in mind.

Roll the Bones/Rush : " Why are we here? Becuase we're here- roll the Bones! Roll the Bones!"...this song provides a kind of answer to existentialism. I love the way Rush explores its own creative, musical freedom. I mean, gotta love the mix of an overall proggressive rock with a funky bass and in-between mix of a dreamy guitar solo and a disco kind of 80s rap!

My Very " Mindtripping & Dreamy" Songs:

Anybody Listening?/Queensryche- a very introspective song on that I'm sure that I'll appreciate even more at an older age.

Comfortably Numb/Pink Floyd- who needs drugs to get on a trip when this song exists? I get such a natural high every time I listen to it.

High Hopes/Pink Floyd - similar to "Silent Ludicity" with its dreamy quality. I think of flowing images across scenic pastures while listening to this epic of a song. I never get sick of playing this song.

Insane and Saint/Texas- quite odd but very intriguing music here, very experiemental productions ! I drive myself a little insane gathering at the enigma of both songs and rather enjoy that!

Lady Jane/Queensryche- such a creepy but excellent work here. My God, a song that hints on devious child corruption on the list? Sure... The haunting piano and orchestration is a must to note.

Sappy Ballad Faves-

Every Breath You Take/The Police - just a favorite song; I appreciate how both romantic and creepy it is!

After the Love is Gone/Earth, Wind & Fire- probably my fave classic R&B ballad of all time. Even though it does not remind me so deeply of a former love story, I just feel the heartbreak and disillusionment of the song deeply and the closing melody and music of this song....music heaven!

I Was Brought to My Senses/Sting- the song which I would want that special someone to serenade for me!

Corazon Partio/Alejandro Sanz- The love affair with Alejandro Sanz started with this one! The songs sweeps through me in its beatuiful Spanish tongue. Such unabashed feeling with every note!

Woeful Love Ballad Faves

Careless Whisper/Wham!- OK, gotta have a Wham song on the list, right?
The sax and woefulness of this tune does not and will not ever leave me.

Love Bites/Def Leppard- why I feel such heartbreak songs like this so deep, (and enjoy it in a way) is beyond me but I dig it!

Suite Sister Mary/Queensryche- a musical masterpiece 10 minutes long! Strong male and female voices here. The most theatrical tune on the list.

PRO TEAMS (though a true "team" is a dying term) :

L.A. Clippers, Oakland Raiders, Anaheim Angels

PRO PLAYERS (current or former):

Peyton Manning-all-round great man!

Charles Barkley- funny, crazy man!

Serena/Venus Williams (L.A. natives with good game and fashion sense. Nice to see a feel-good story out of Compton!)

CURRENT FAVES ON TV:

The Amazing Race
(the ultimate travel adventure show--oh the wonderful places the racers get to experience!)

CSI (all versions but especially the original)

ESPN shows (Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, Sportscenter- I love most of the commentators!)

House (shockingly hilarious and profound)

Jay Leno
(See a live taping in Burbank for a fun, alternative evening outing)

The Late Late Show/Craig Ferguson
(See a taping of the show in Los Angeles at the CBS studios, near Farmer's Market)

FAVE CLASSICS:

Absolutely Fabulous! ("yes, darling"), X-Files,Who's Line is it Anyway? (sucker for live comedy), Have you Been Served? (BBC)

MISC: various US 80s sitcoms- Cosby, Golden Girls, Different Strokes kind of stuff (the best era of funny television)
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FILMS (in English):

Well-known ones:
Babe, Moulin Rouge, Forrest Gump, Naked Gun series, Sense and Sensibility

"Under the radar" faves:
Eve's Bayou, Ghost World, Memento

Not in the English language:
Amarcord-- Italian; Dona Flor and her Two Husbands- -Brazilian Portuguese
Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips)-- Italian;
L'histoire d'Adele Hugo -- France
La vita e bella (Life is Beautiful)-- Italy ; Underground-- ex-Yugoslavia

CLASSIC LITERATURE:

Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dante's Inferno/Purgatorio/Paradiso

POETRY:

works by Meritt Malloy direct iinfluence of my writing)
Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros
Haiku
Jewel (poet/singer)

AUTHORS/GENRES:

American post-modern novels, L. Hughes, Milan Kundera,
Paulo Coelho, Edgar Allan Poe.