E2C_Travel
Not all travel is into the great unknown... some takes you 'home', to your people. I found my roots again after the pandemic with an aluminum love child named Bella and the 50 aunts and uncles who just can't seem to get enough of her. The Airstream community took me completely by surprise, but it's not the campers that create the connection -- it's the love of outdoors and nature, working hard to prepare an obscenely over-the-top family meal "just because", and genuine affinity for the stories that brought each of us here.
Any experience where you have an opportunity to learn the stories of others, try new foods, see how people live differently - each of those moments changes your life just a little. If you're lucky, your worldview becomes a patchwork of all those experiences. Mine has.
#mycuprunnethover
ABOUT ME
Part journal, part treasure map, part petri dish of thoughts about the future – this website is the synthesis of years of informal (and informed) study of the human condition… coupled with an unyielding need to explore every old tree trunk, breathe in as many back alley spice markets as I can find, admire the monarchs in every protected estuary along the coast, and climb the hillsides on gas-powered mules those few precious days the poppies raise their gorgeous orange faces to the sun. I'll do it all - every single mile - while my hands can still manage the camera.
The more time passes, the more I understand Thoreau's beloved Walden and his need to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life." With Bella and an increasingly more amazing collection of people in my life... my physical footprint has been smaller these past few pandemic-impacted years, but my "heart-print" has never experienced more reach. To those who are with me, you are everything to me. To those who will join our treasure hunt, I promise we're going to see the world... and see it differently, #together.
E2C_Connection
So many amazing people come into my life and teach me unexpected things. They make my life fuller and more interesting in more ways than I imagined. These connections are what drive me - they’re my secret sauce, my signature strength. Every success in my life is, quite simply, based on my love of people and bringing people together to do wonderful things.
This summer I joined the Board of a publishing company that enables people to publish their personal stories online (here’s mine if you’re curious: Tonya's Cues & Views). Working with this commitment, I’m even more convinced of the importance of sharing our journey to connect with others. I see firsthand the difference connections make when people recognize how much we are alike… not different. With that as my goal, I look forward to sharing my journey and story - sharing my connections and creating new ones on the way. Exploring2Connect. Join me.#onwardandupward
Saturday – July 10, 3pm After getting waterlogged at Mutianyu, I welcomed some ‘inside activity’… Jason was perfectly willing to deviate from the tour and so we skipped the Cloisonné Factory and Tea Ceremony (which I had done before) and…
Saturday – July 10, Noon Well, I still want a mulligan. In golf, that’s a ‘do-over’ when you totally totally blow a shot (and you’re playing with buddies who don’t mind this breaking of the rules). I had really looked…
Saturday, July 10 – 9am [Whine Warning.] I shouldn’t complain. After all, I got my beloved Starbucks before boarding the plane… It was my last piece of happiness for the day. Crazy re-routes. Then 11 hours from Los Angeles to…
Thursday, July 8 – 10:30pm in Dallas It was a perfectly normal day … Just like any day I’m flying to Beijing… (read that with sarcasm) I should have known when an unidentified 800# came across my cell while I…
Wednesday – June 23, 9pm I mentioned that I have been sick… and it has drawn a lot of attention. I had no less than five different medications brought to my office yesterday as suggested remedies. Of these, at least…
Sunday – June 20, 6pmSome of my Indian colleagues at work joke that I am ‘turning into an Indian’ (with all the jewelry, shoes, clothes, etc.) – and I admit that every visit I’m a little more bold in going…
Sunday – June 20, 2pm While eating breakfast this morning, Balu stopped by to visit and told me about an art and handicraft exhibition just a five-minute walk from the hotel. Oh, what fun! I just returned from a two-hour…
Saturday – 19-June, 11pm Today was a lovely day. After recovering from a bout of tummy problems last night, I spent some time relaxing around this morning before friends Michelle and Deepak picked me up. (Go figure, I eat crazy…
