[ABOUT US]

 

LeAnn

Who am I?  Well, on a purely superficial level…(I’ll save delving into the deeper “Eckhart Tolle” version for later) …Here is a condensed description based on the labels and constructs of this particular earthly experience:

 

I am the mom of the writing team.  I’m 43 years old, single and residing in Los Angeles, California.  (By the way, I prefer the term “single” over “divorced” and am still pursuing an even less confining term.)

 

I married very young.  I had just turned 18 in April (1983) and we married that August.  I’m the oldest of 7 children, raised in a very small town in Idaho.  (No.  Not the Midwest, the North-west.  And, yes.  The state famous for potatoes. You are correct on that one.) 

As crazy as the notion sounds to me now, having helped a lot with my younger siblings and always quite mature for my age, I think I thought I knew enough about life to make a go of it on my own.  Stranger still, as I think back, is the fact that no one tried to talk us out of it.  Still, I have no regrets.  I think everything is meant to be.  Alex’s dad is a great person and the best father ever.  He has always been a big part of Alex’s life and he and I are still good friends.  More so than anything, I think Miss Alex was anxious to make her appearance on the scene and couldn’t wait for me to dilly-dally.  She was born October 19, 1985.  A real joy as a baby and now my best friend.

 

My interests and career paths in life have always centered around my love of travel and design. I also love reading philosophical and spiritually based books and studying life and the nature of people.  I attribute the design “gene” to my mother, Anita, and her mother, Glenna.  (Two on the list of my most favorite people in the world.  More on them later.)  I haven’t studied design formally and have never felt the need for a degree.  My passion has led me to study it far more diligently than any curriculum any institution would ever require.  What interests me most is the correlation between our environment and our well-being.  Not only as a reflection of who we are, but also in nurturing who we want to be.  I love hearing that a space I created inspired someone or gave them peace.  That is the ultimate reward in my book. 

 

My favorite place on the planet is Italy.  I have an inexplicable connection to and affinity for the country and I travel there as often as possible.  My goals and dreams all revolve around living there one day soon.

 

That’s the short version on my life, but more than enough for now, I think. 

 

 

 

Alex

I am a 22-year old female and only-child of divorced parents, currently living in Los Angeles.  Since I had the first taste of the Italian language in the fifth grade (which is just as tasty as Italian food, I promise,) I’ve had the desire to travel the world and meet people to whom words like “piacere” and “bellissima” are commonplace and ordinary.  I don’t think it dawned on me in such literal terms, but the idea was always there that if they knew a whole set of words I had never heard before, there might be a few other things they could show me as well.

 

So far, my journeys have taken me to Venezuela, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Malta, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.  Harrowing adventures and mishaps taught me that traveling isn’t always easy, but it’s always rewarding and worthwhile.  I’ve learned about the world and also about myself, and I only hope I can continue doing so the rest of my life.

 

I love learning languages and am teased for being somewhat of a linguistic geek by friends and family.  Appropriately so, I studied Spanish and Linguistics with a minor in cultural and linguistic Anthropology at UCLA.  I try to use my linguistic and anthropological background as an additional perspective for my travels and travel-writing.

 

I also love meeting new people and believe we are all connected to one another in a beautifully synchronistic way.  I would love to hear feedback, comments, stories, observations, tips, and the like on anything and everything.