I’m a paradox. I am part small town girl– raised in a California mountain community of about 10 people where my dad was the volunteer firefighter and I was the resident ballerina/motorcycle rider– and part uptown girl having spent my adult life (thus far) moving across the country to live in cities such as: Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, and San Francisco. Apparently I can sit still only if I do it while moving around.

So, I mentioned that I’m a paradox (see aforementioned ballerina/motorcycle rider), and it seems that I have been all my life. As a child, I have one distinct memory of my mom and I winning some big beauty pageant (I’m pretending I’m blase about this and that I don’t remember our titles… mine was California State Miss La Petite and my mom’s was California State Mrs… Oh yes…) and then the day after we received our sparkley crowns and trophies taller than me, we headed out to my dad’s off-road race where he won the Mint 400 (big weekend for our family I guess). We went from glitter and gloss to grease and grime. And it was fantastic. I’ve always been that person– I enjoy the paradox (though my personality tests come out with rather interesting results).

I have worked (in no particular order) in the modeling industry, the film industry, in antiques (mom’s store), in global media business development (CNN), in digital media publishing/marketing, in commercial real estate (very briefly), at major hollywood talent agencies (as crazy as it’s reputed to be), as a writer, an editor, a dancer, a reader (providing “coverage” for film scripts), and of course, as the Gatorade girl at my father’s races.

I sound as if I’m either sound a ninety-year old woman or supremely flighty… neither of which I am. Curious is what I am, I suppose. I remember when I was little and grown-ups would lean down and get that fixed adult-talking-to-child grin and ask what I wanted to be when I got older. I would answer differently every time — pizza maker, dentist (I actually said these two things while on stage in front of hundreds of people)– until I finally figured out that what I really wanted was to experience what it feels like to be all of these different people. But how does a child explain to adults the desire to:

A. climb into my imagination and express what I see/feel/hear/smell/taste/experience,

B. have the excuse of investigating what it’s like to wear different hats, and

C. get paid to do both A and B.

(Interestingly, my career at the moment is not A or B but rather an iteration of C– I help writers to get paid)

My degree is in Studies in Consciousness, Metaphysical Philosophy, I meditate (er…try to) every day, I do yoga and I really, really dislike eating meat or fish (my parents eat meat. I don’t. I’m weird.) and I love Sanskrit (words with feelings and vibrations?!). And on the flip side, I love beer, scotch, riding on my dad’s Harley, pubs, and naughty humor. I have been made fun of for wearing pearls while washing dishes or watching rugby, I enjoy traveling as much as I enjoy coming home, I read Ralph Waldo Emerson with just as much fascination as Nora Roberts, and I’ve been known to get a ridiculous smile on my face when driving in the car with the windows down and the heater up.

I’m a paradox.

So, I guess I say all of this to say that I hope you enjoy this blog– it will be about how I experience the world as an uptown girl with a small town spirit and my attempt to be a spiritual being on a city sidewalk, so to speak. And if my paradoxical nature confuses you, feel free to say (as they do so lyrically in Scotland), “Whu-ut?!” (this is me saying exactly that)

Whu-ut?!

Enjoy and may The Force be with you!

Namaste (Sanskrit!)