Photo Blog #1 – Home :)

Every day is different out in the world, but one thing I am always grateful for is coming home to my family. My wonderful husband Curtis and I don’t have children yet, but we have animals that are as much a part of us, as our children will some day be.  Smokey and his brother (The) Bandit, our cats, are 4 1/2 years old. Gaia, our Beagle mix, is the newest addition to our family, she’ll be 1 year old this Halloween. This is a collection of pictures that I’ve edited with a nifty app on my IPhone… Enjoy!

      

              

      

      

      

 

 

 

 

Persuing a Dream In The Heart of America

As children, most of us were encouraged by our parents and other influential figures, to follow our dreams and pursuit what truly makes us happy in life. This was exactly the case for local entrepreneur Curtis Wells, whose mother always told him he could do anything he set his mind to.
“You just have to want it bad enough,” she’d say.
When he was a young boy, he developed a deep passion and natural ability for entertaining people. His interest was piqued by professional wrestling at five years old, when he would attend live wrestling events with his grandmother. At the age of six, pillows were no match for him as he would set-up, announce, referee, and wrestle his own matches in “mama’s” living room, tape recorder and microphone in hand.
His passion for entertainment and wrestling would continue into his later years, when he pursued an opportunity to attend a training school for those willing to brave and endure the rigorous training process. he had finally found a chance to realize a life-long dream.
Ten years of hard work and dedication later, Curtis decided to take the skills he had developed in the world of pro wrestling down another path, and find new ways to entertain people. Wrestling had not only given him mental & physical strength and stamina, but had helped him develop an un-matched charisma and ability to captivate an audience.
Now, at the age of 31, Curtis owns and runs a special event & wedding DJ/MC company called Anatime Entertainment St. Louis, and hosts his own YouTube talk-show in his spare time. Filming from his residence above a nightclub on Main St. in St.Charles, Mo, “The Curtis Wylde Show”, exposes and shares the “cogs of the machine”, so to speak, of this beautifully historic, artistic, and socially happening mecca of dream chasers and hopeful risk takers. His presentation of the places and people along Main Street gives a unique and first-hand insight to it’s deeply rooted traditions of Americana and laid back mid-western charm. From bartenders and waitresses, to shop owners, musicians, performers and artists, Curtis has turned an inspired spark of an idea into an open window to the world.
You can tune in on YouTube at www.youtube.com/thecurtiswyldeshow

Destination Dreams

In preparation for our trip to the Bahamas over the Christmas holiday, we have been reading and doing our research on the many things we would like to do durring our first stay in the Islands. There’s everything from beaches and water parks, to snorkeling and zip-lining. All the excitement and anticipation has got this day-dreamer fantasizing about adventures in far-away (and some not-so-far) places. Here are my Top 10 places to see in the U.S., and my Top 10 international destinations…

U.S. Destinations:
10. Black Hills, ND
9. Miami, FL
8. Hawaii (I’d love to learn Lomi Lomi massage from the native pros)
7. Northern California
6. Santa Fe, NM
5. Sedona, AZ
4. Seattle, WA
3. New York, NY
2. Denver, CO
1. Alaska (again!!)

International Destinations:
10. Japan (Shiatsu anyone?)
9. Thailand (the best place to train in Thai massage)
8. Australia/New Zeland
7. India (home of Ayurveda)
6. Morocco (why not?)
5. Tuscany, Italy
4. France
3. The Netherlands
2. Trinidad & Tobago
1. Ireland <3
*
Some day… *sigh* ~_~
… The Bahamas is just the begining…

Can I Quote You on That…?

I’m collecting good quotes from people I admire to use in a future project. Please feel free to coment with any you may have as well…

“Don’t gain the world and lose your soul, wisdom is better than silver or gold…” ~ Bob Marley

“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” ~ Oscar Wilde

“Amor Fati – “Love Your Fate”, which is in fact your life.” ~ Friedrich Nietzche

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too” ~ Voltaire

“Say as you think and speak it from your souls.” ~ William Shakespeare

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” ~ Buddha

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ~ Gandhi

“We all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.” ~ John Lennon

“Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.” ~ Allen Ginsberg

“Where’s your will to be weird?” ~ Jim Morrison

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix

“Dreaming ties all mankind together.” ~ Jack Kerouac

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” ~ Joseph Campbell

(More to come…)

Experimenting With Beauty

I’ve always been a huge fan of brilliantly-colored tropical flowers… So I decided to capture them in Prismacolor!
~<3

Down on Main Street

People say that where you live can reflect upon who you are as a person. Your surroundings help to mold your personality and mind-set as you mature through life, just as the influences and nurturing of the people around you.
At this point in my life, I see that truth around me more than ever. Soon after our wedding, my husband Curtis and I moved into a small but chic 2 story apartment, above a nightclub, smack dab in the heart of Historic Main Street. For us, it was the perfect combination of city living and suburbia, with a spice of real American History. It’s bohemian and progressive. Artsy and professional. New mixes with old, and nature blends seamlessly with urban structure. The constant hustle and bustle of tourists mingling with the locals provides endless opportunities for people watching. There’s always something going on here, and we love every day of it.
As the first state Capitol of Missouri (1821-1826), St.Charles is also known as the starting point of the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails to the west. The town was built on the western bank of the Missouri river, founded in 1765 as Les Petites Côtes, “The Little Hills”, by Louis Blanchette, a French Canadian fur trader. It was also the last “civilized” stop for the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804.
A surprising number of the buildings along Main street, are still much like they were when they were first built in the 1800s, maintained to keep their original design while keeping up with modern demands. As with any historic American town, there are many rumors of ancient ghosts and hauntings in the area as well… But we’ll save those for another day.
In all, I couldn’t imagine living in a more conducive and encouraging environment for this stage in our life as Main street St. Charles, Mo.

Where I Am vs. Where I’d Like to Be

By title and profession, I am a licensed massage therapist. By self-description, I am a reliever of stress and pain through the power of healing touch and positive energy.
At this point of my career, I’ve been practicing professionally for a little over 5 years. I work 4 days a week in a high-volume upscale casino resort and hotel, and 2 days a week in a small massage clinic owned by my good friend and mentor.
I love what I do, but I refuse to be content and complacent with mediocrity. I see all that I do and learn now as a stepping stone towards my ultimate goal. Eventually, I will own and run a holistic health and wellness spa.
Currently, I utilize what I learned in school and in the field since graduation, to provide care to my clients to the best of my ability. However much I know now, I also recognize that I have a lot to learn and study yet in order to get to where I’d like to be, and provide the best care possible to those who seek my services and expertise. My goal is to not only provide care, but to educate others on the benefits and wide varieties of holistic/alternative health modalities.
I plan on traveling the world to train and learn massage and holistic health treatments and practices of different cultures, so that I may provide a wide variety of knowledge and options for treatment customization.
I currently have a list of approximately 20 continuing education courses that may further me along my path… Now I just need a little over $1,300 to complete them all.
The only thing I have left to do is determine my immediate options and calculate the next step on my path to self-actualization.
We may never know what the future may bring, but we can always take steps today to insure a fulfilling tomorrow.

Wedding Woes

I looked at today’s date on the computer screen and almost fell out of my chair. People complain all the time about how fast time flies by… this adventure in my life has been no different. Just like any other important event in one’s life, marriage is a big step. Most little girls dream of their wedding day from the time they are very small, planning out every detail and re-playing it over in their dreams. To be honest with you, I was that little girl too. Sure, many details and important aspects (like the groom) have changed over the years, but it’s never lost the fantastical, fairy tale – like qualities. There is one thing they don’t teach you, however, when you are young and dreaming about your future… Things don’t always go the way you plan, but the planning will always drive you crazy.
As of today, the nineteenth day of May, I have exactly 4 months to the day until I walk down the isle to join my prince charming. We have searched high and low for vendors that would help make this once-in-a-lifetime event into something spectacular, and I truely feel like we have suceeded. Now, we’re not wealthy by any means, but I think our guests will be amazed at what we could do with our modest budget (and a lot of help from mom). The process of searching, deciding, and planning is nothing short of exhausting,but, after chipping away at it all for over a year now, it’s finally coming together the way we envisioned.
To be completely honest with you, I was completely overwhelmed by all the details in the begining. Our “To-Do” list seemed 5 miles long, and no matter how many things you thought you checked off, there was always something else. At this point, we still have a lot left to do, but it doesn’t seem as overwhelming as it did before. I feel as if we’ve taken our time, and calculated every decision to make sure that it was the right one. Just don’t talk to me about money, it makes my head hurt. Let’s just say that for the next 4 months, we’re going to have to be the most frugal couple we’ve ever known.  We may even be pushing the envelope of frugalness a little bit.
One of the things that we’ve decided to tackle ourselves is the cake. Yes, it’s crazy… crazy enough that it just might work. We’ve been quoted around $450 for the cake we want. That’s $2.50 per. person… and that’s very reasonable in comparisson to other places in St. Louis. I know it doesn’t sound like a huge chunk of the over-all cost, and it’s not, but I keep thinking about what else we could use that money for. Not to mention the fact that we’re both a bit of the D.I.Y type, and making our own wedding cake actually sounds like fun! I thought he was crazy when he brought it up (yes, it was his idea, and yes, he is going to help), but then I started doing a bit of research online and watching a few videos, and I realized that if you practice and get the right materials/ supplies, it’s really quite easy. Especially if you have an artistic bone or two in your body. It may not be the best cake the world will ever see, but the looks on our guest’s faces when we tell them we made that delicious cake ourselves will be priceless.
When it comes down to it, we want to make things fun for our guests without being robotically traditional, and we want to include things that represent us as a couple, but in a classy way.
Since a large portion of our guests, especially those in the wedding party, are coming in from out of town, we’ve included a bunch of tourist information on our wedding website in case they want to do some sight-seeing while they are here. Our ceremony sight was carefully chosen for it’s beautiful gardens, rock waterfall, and the number one most important thing… location. We chose a beautiful public park in the very center of downtown St. Louis, Kiener Plaza. From their seats, our guest will not only enjoy the beauty of the park itself, but a breath-taking view of the Old Capitol Building and the Arch in the background. After the ceremony, the wedding party will join us on a 26 passenger “Hotel-Coach” horse drawn carriage for a brief ride around downtown. When we return to take pictures, our guests will be invited to take mini-tours of downtown on the carriage as well.
The reception will take place at a relatively new and very beautiful Tuscan-style winery on the Illinois side of the Mississippi river (www.thevillamariewinery.com). Our guest will be greeted upon arrival by not only a beautiful building, but a sprawling vinyard laid out beyond a large reflection pond. We’re not Italian, but we certainly couldn’t pass up such a gem of a place in the middle of the Metro East area. Before dinner will be the coctail-hour where our guests can mingle and catch-up. We’ve even considered bringing in a friend of ours to walk through the crowd and do close-up magic before the festivities begin. We got an amazing deal with our DJ (www.anatimestl.com), so not only is he going to play all the music that we love, but he will tansform our reception hall with Romantic Dream Lighting™ to set the mood of the evening. The evening’s entertainment will also consist of a few songs that have special meaning to us, to be played live by the band P.O.W.E.R.T.R.I.P (www.powertripmusic.com), whom my fiancé manages. This will put an exclaimation on what we have dubbed “One Wylde Wedding”. We want all of our guests to remember this night as something truely magical, a memory full of all that dreams are made of.
The more I think about it all, the more excited, and somewhat nervous, I get.
This is IT… I’m 4 months away from the day I’ve dreamed of my whole life. I just have to keep reminding myself what this is all about, and not to let myself get so stressed out. 
So if you find yourself in my shoes, just remember…
Stop. Take a deep breath. Let it out, and let it all go.

Everything will turn out perfectly in the end.

For more information on our wedding and details as they develope, please visit www.curtisandchrissi.com

Writing Experiment

Prompt #1 – Waking Up To An Alarm Clock

Alecia awoke to the terrible sound of her alarm clock ringing off the table beside her, and clanging to the floor. Without opening her eyes any further, she reached over the side of the bed to retrieve it and turn it off. She knew that the “snooze” button would have to be ignored as she set it back on the table, and began to stretch. Of all days, this was not a good one to wake up with a hang-over. It was her older sister Jamie’s wedding day, and she had been bestowed the Maid of Honor position. Although to her, it was more like the ‘Maid of Horor’.
Jamie wasn’t exactly the easiest person to get along with, and trying to plan a wedding with was proved to be one dramatic episode after another. Jamie did nothing but make the decisions, and expected everyone else to jump and make it happen. Everything had to be just right and exactly perfect, or Jamie would go off the deep-end.
When she finally convinced her eyes to open the rest of the way, she realized that the door to her room was already open, and Jamie was standing there with her hands on her hips.
“Well it’s about time you decided to get up. I have to get in the shower before the hair stylist and make-up artist arrives. I need you to make sure everything is ready before the photographer gets here.”
She turned around and started to walk away.
As she reached the steps in the hallway, she turned around and leaned her head back in the door, “Oh, and make some coffee while you’re at it.”

New Age Media Speaking Out

   Freedom of speech. Our first amendment, and our most controversial inalienable right.
Over history, communication has evolved and changed to meet the needs of just about everyone. In the beginning, humans relied on spoken word and cryptic messages… today, we rely on the speed of technology at our fingertips. The evolution of technology and communication is perhaps the best evidence of human advancement. It is unfortunate however, that one of our biggest freedoms is one of the biggest things dividing us socially.
In the last few years, I’ve noticed that despite strong opposition and criticism, some people are exercising their first amendment right to speak for those who have no voice, and educate people on subjects that mainstream media overlook. For example… 

   Michael Moore: Love him, hate him, you can’t get around the fact that the man is brilliant. No matter what your POV is on him or his films, talent is talent. Some people think he’s a fraud, or that he twists facts to suit his agenda. I think those people are afraid of hearing the truth. It’s scary knowing that some people really think that our government is truthful and honest with the American people. Michael Moore takes everyday issues and reveals them in a light that really gives you something to think about. He has touched on everything from gun control, school shootings, global warming, the auto industry, 9/11, and the American health care system. Out of all his films, the one that has caused some of the most controversy is “Sicko”. I really don’t think people took him as seriously as they should have until “Sicko” came out. With that one film, he open a lot of peoples eyes to a very serious problem this country has. Would you want to decide which body part to have sewn back on? Would you sit back and calmly watch as one of your loved ones was blatantly denied the care they need for a life-threatening illness?

   Zeitgeist:  A fairly unknown documentary that features 3 main topics of interest, the Federal Reserve, the “truth” about 9/11, and the origin of Christianity. There are many conspiracy theories out there about 9/11, but the one presented in this well made film is probably the most believable one I’ve heard in the past 7 1/2 years. The segment about the Fed is quite interesting as well… it points out some interesting facts that our government doesn’t want American citizens to know. As far as the segment on religion… I happened to find it quite intriguing, if not amusing. I used to consider myself a religious person, but I started asking questions and coming to my own conclusions that just didn’t fit conventional, traditional “religion”. The facts presented in the film are shocking to say the least. Many religious fanatics and conservatives have tried to “disprove” this film, but the facts are written in the history of man. Even if it’s just out of curiosity and you don’t agree with what’s presented, I suggest that everyone see this documentary. Are you willing to question what you believe in?

   Bill Mahr:  Yes…I admit, I’m a fan. I didn’t really know much about him outside of his comedy until he made “Religulous”. I saw it in a small local theater when it first came out, and I was awe-struck. I have never before seen such a brilliant and blatant exam of organized religion as a whole. No matter what you faith is, you have to admit that he asks some really good questions, and make a lot of excellent points. He examines the heart of religion, and interviews some very…interesting people. Some of the people that he talked to were the epitome of religious fanaticism. You know things have gone too far when you’re making money by convincing people that you’re the second coming of Jesus Christ while you’re sitting there in an Armani suit. His TV show “Real Time With Bill Mahr” is probably the best panel talk show I’ve ever seen. He has guests from all religious beliefs, political positions, career backgrounds, and talents… and yet, he never loses the spark that gives the show life. He’s funny, articulate, intelligent, inquisitive, and isn’t afraid of any consequences. Screw right-winged AM radio, there should be more people like Mahr telling it like it really is.

Aside from these 3 big contributors, G4 has a new show called “G4 Underground” that presents reports on topics that, to many networks, are taboo. Medical marijuana, porn, real life superheroes, professional wrestling, new “underground” drugs, ect. Well worth the watch, Morgan Webb does a fantastic job of hosting the show as well.

I’m proud to be an American. There may be a lot of things about our government and society that I don’t like or don’t agree with… but these people have made me realize that our First Amendment right is the most important one we have. The world would be one hell of a wasteland if we weren’t allowed to speak out and be heard. Advocates for censorship are trying to rewind the progress of human evolution and technology. Speak up! Let your voice be heard! Fight for what you believe in, or you’ll be just another face in the crowd.

“Rise, from the ashes and decay. Rise, from the prison of your grave. Rise, above the standard and the norm. Rise, into the eye of the storm!”  – KMFDM  

(Disclaimer: These are my own thoughts and opinions.)