This gypsy is back. And her pen? It's full of ink.

Life has treated me exceptionally well this past year.  

A lot has changed.  I guess changed isn't really the proper word.  Evolved. And some things have remained constant, but life has been like a boulder rolling down a hill.  It just keeps picking up speed, in a very very good way.

Although I haven’t written publicly for a while, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing.  I’ve been writing.  The book I have been working on for the past 2 1/5 years is really making some headway.  I shot and filmed my first documentary this past winter and completed a 12 minute short film.

I’m back on Nantucket for a fabulous fourth season.  And although I am more than thrilled to be here, I find myself leaving the island more this spring, than ever, for breaths of fresh (or not so) Big City air, and outside opportunities all of which were created though living on this magical island. And every single time I return, I love it just that much more.

I had a chance to spend 2 1/2 months with my friends and family this winter in St. Louis, something I hadn’t done since I was 18 years old, and I just turned 30 in January.  A great feeling and something I plan on doing much more of.

And just today, I was asked how everything was going with work outside of the bar world and if I would like to donate one of my bar shifts so a fellow island bartender could come play on our team.  This could not have made me a happier girl.  I just about sighed with relief.  It felt like a weight had been lifted.  


I am an overachiever when it comes to taking on work outside of the bar and even though I said I would clear my schedule this season, I started to take on some pretty awesome projects.  And I always get it done, but it makes life a little more interesting.  

In this past year, I found myself, what I really wanted to do, the type of people I want to surround myself with and found a way to do exactly what I love and make a career out of it.  

  I have a web Based TV show coming out in June on Nantucket and I am producing videos for Bartlett's Farm.  I also spent 7 1/2 hours in photoshop yesterday creating the logo for Border Free Productions, removing passport stamp images and the background: no easy task.  I have a newfound respect for those in the profession!                                                                                                                                                                                                             My I DO, I DO couples column, as well as a bit of freelance writing here and there. And some soon to be amazing film opportunities I couldn't be more excited about.

  And of course, I’ll always find plenty of time for the beach.

When people ask where home is, this constantly changes for me.  It's wherever I want to be that very second, and often times, it turns out to be on the opposite side of the world I'm on.  I am a girl-on-a-whim and love not planning things too far into the future.  It feels pretty good to live this way.

Oh. Did I mention I'm on a bus to NYC writing this?  Two day vaca, this gypsy just HAD to get-away...


It's a big world.  Get to know it.

A Greener Summer on NANTUCKET

What I did this winter changed my life.  I spent three months living, working and exploring in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.  In some of my free time I began to research Bali.  I had been fascinated with the place for years and I was planning a month long visit before I returned to the US.  I knew I wanted to have an alternative vacation where I really got to know the locals.  While googling eco things in Bali, I immediately happened upon a couple from Australia, John and Cath.  They were working on their Eco Stay in the mountains set to open just before the new year and needed someone to home school their six year old son.  I replied to the ad and also mentioned my experience in Marketing an Public Relations.  The very next morning, I found a response email in my inbox.  Unfortunately they already had a tutor, but they wanted me to come stay with them to help promote and generate interest in their new business venture.  I immediately accepted and a month and a half later I was on my way.   

Bali was such an eye opener for me.  I had never been to a third world country and I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect.  When I arrived, the sun had already set and there was an unfamiliar thick smell of leaded gasoline in the air.  Traffic was jam packed as motor bikes filled with families of five weaved in and out of the non existent lanes.  As the roads got bumpier when we entered the villages outside of town, I thought this might be a good place for a LandRover commercial.  

Once I arrived at Bali Eco Stay two hours into the mountains, it was like I had entered another world.  I went to sleep and when I awoke, I got my first fresh breath and stunning view of Bali.  As John took me around the property, he showed me how their permaculture sustainability system worked.  The Eco Stay is hydropowered by the Pelaton Wheel, a water turbine, the first of its kind in Bali.  The water was clean and fresh from the mountains.  Large windows and skylights in the rooftops allowed for more natural light during the daytime. They use LED lighting, grow their own vegetable garden and use the crops for the restaurant.  The Bungalows are made of Bamboo.  Sheets, laundry detergent, shampoos and soaps are all environmentally friendly as well.  And all water is recycled using a Grey Water system running off into gardens growing different types of trees.  After working with John and Cath for just a few days, I had already dramatically changed the way I was living.  And it was pretty easy. 

I knew I wanted to do something bigger when I arrived home so I began brainstorming.  I thought the best way to get going and promote awareness would be to start an eco blog.  When I told several people my ideas about what green things are going on in Nantucket, the response I got intrigued me.  Almost every person said that there was not enough going on and I would not have enough information to write about.  I do see plenty of things business owners and organizations are doing in order to promote a greener Nantucket, but unfortunately it’s not enough and it is something we need to change. 

         I am challenging myself to an eco summer by being a little greener and friendlier to the environment and researching new green things that can fit into our island society.  So here I am.  Just one person.  Trying to provoke change within myself.  Educating myself every day on a greener, more earth friendly lifestyle.  And I hope that with my change others will be inspired to do things as well.  Beginning small and thinking big.  I want to make our world a better place for generations to come.  It started with a tree I planted with my mom and dad on Earth day in Illinois.

Please follow my blog and see what I’m up to and what inspiration I find right here on Nantucket.  Please email me if you have a topic or tip you would like to see discussed.  (kellogg.kristen@gmail.com) And also share what you are doing to be greener! 

Here’s to a Greener summer! 

A few quotes I found in a Balinese offering book...

The great danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.-Michelangelo


The future belongs to those that believe in dreams.-Eleanor Roosevelt


Remember that happiness is a way of travel-not a destination.-Roy M Goodman


Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.-Judy Garland




And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your years.-Abraham Lincoln

A Jump Start to Achieving Those New Years Resolutions!!!

After having a happy holiday filled with family, fun, and an abundance of food, it was time to make the anticipated New Years resolutions.   During the Christmas holidays, so many of us inhale that second piece of chocolate cake, bag of candy, and skip our last workout at the gym for the week knowing it's our last chance to indulge.   

In hopes of giving my readers a kick start for 2011, I have found the top New Years resolutions people around the globe strive for year after year.  Chances are, more than one of these are on your to-do list for 2011. Here's to helping you achieve your 2011 NY resolutions and goals.

Most of these practices listed below will produce a snowball effect and in-turn help you in more ways than one. Just remember; a few small changes will eventually produce big results.   

Improve health

When eating, eat your greens first to pave a path for the rest of your meal.  When cooking a meal try eating only a carbohydrate and veggie or veggie and meat.  This keeps the digestion process simple and easy on your body. 

Drink more water overall. Did you know that an average of 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated?  You need to to drink enough daily to replace what you have lost through exertion. Staying hydrated will give you more energy throughout the day, in-turn producing greater results in your work and daily activities.

Try drinking water only up to 30 min before and 30 minutes after your meal.  This allows your food to stay concentrated therefore making it easier to digest.  By drinking water during meals, you are diluting precious digestive enzymes that make digestion work properly and therefore, less nutrients are being absorbed.

Do a cleanse!  Just changing to a vegetarian diet for a few days will naturally clean out the unwanted gunk in your gut. Try your local whole foods store for a variety of other choices and see what works best for you.

One of the latest spreading technologies in Chelation therapy, which removes heavy metals from the blood stream.  If you eat a lot of fish, chances are you have some heavy metals that need to be removed.  Ask your doctor about this procedure.

Listen to your body and get regular health checks.  Preventative health care is the most important.  

Exercise

Join the gym...and quit making excuses of why you can’t.  You’re too busy, you don’t like going, bla bla bla.  

Try and find one with a variety of classes.  This is the best way to keep from being bored and constantly work different muscle groups.  You will also learn new exercises you can incorporate into your solo workouts.  Also, working out in a group setting has proven more affective as people tend to work out longer who typically wouldn’t in a group setting. 

Grab a gym buddy or workout partner and make a pact to get in gear.  If you don’t want to go, you’ll feel like your letting people down.  Pick someone who is more motivated than you, so if you try to get out of it, they’ll call you out.

Lacking funds or just don’t see the point in spending money on a gym membership?  Thats what the great outdoors are for. 

Take the stairs instead of the elevator.  You’re not only helping yourself, your helping the environment as well.

Ride your bike to work...and back. It may take a little longer, but you are incorporating your workout into your day and can feel much more freeing than sitting in rush hour traffic.

Stuck in the office all day?  While your sitting at your desk practice good posture.  While pulling your shoulders back, your forced to tighten your abs.  And when it's time for lunch pack yours, and bring your sneakers to take a walk to the nearby park. 

Eat Better

Keep healthy snacks in your desk.  If your craving sugar, have an apple which is high in fiber, not sugar filled candies which will keep you wanting more.

Avoid processed foods and things with preservatives.  If don’t know what the ingredients on the label are, then don’t buy it.  Plain and simple.

Buy foods low in sugars.  You should feeding your body what it is composed of; mostly water, meaning drink lots and have foods that contain H2O; these include most green vegetables.  

Drink Less Alcohol

If you choose to drink, have a glass of water between each drink when your having a night out.  This will not only help you reduce your alcohol intake, but keep you hydrated which will in-turn give you a better chance of avoiding a hangover.

When choosing a drink, stay away from sugar filled cocktails as they are full of empty calories.  

Substitute tonic water with soda water.  It is calorie free.  

Quit Smoking

Did you know smoking causes you to lose vitamin c which can take a toll on your health?

If you have a hand or mouth fixation, try a sugar free lolly pop, or a fake cigarette.

Make sure you’re getting all of your vitamins.  Check your local health store for a great multivitamin.

  

Get a Better Job

Try a temp or recruiting agency.  Just google it and you will find many in your area or specified field of interest. 

Networking is key!  Letting other people you meet know you are interested in certain areas of work.  This is an excellent way to find top of the line jobs.  It’s all about who you know.

Think outside the box.  Get creative and start your own business. If you are unemployed, you must have a ton of extra time on your hands.

Always wanted to travel?  Did you know if you are between the age of 18-30 you can get working holiday visas around the world depending on the country you are from?...and if you’re over 30, you may apply for visas as well, just through a different service.  

Improve Education

Finish that degree you always wanted by going back to school.  It's never too late to change your career.

  

Always wanted to learn another language?  Go to the library and check out some language cd’s.  You can even upload these onto your ipod and multitask while your running or riding your bike.   There are also language schools all over the country if you want a classroom setting.

Reduce Stress

De-clutter your life.  Clean out your house, and your car.  Donate the things you don't need or sue to a local good will or charitable organization.  Less clutter equals less stress.

Don’t sweat the small stuff you can’t control.  The only thing you can control are your actions.  So let it all go.  Take thirty minutes to an hour each day and make time for yourself.  Do whatever it is that makes you happiest whether it’s reading a book, taking a yoga class, watching your favorite tv program, or going for a run.  

Take a Trip

No matter where you live, it’s always good to have a getaway to recharge your batteries.  Whether your into sightseeing, mountain climbing, going to the spa, taking a trip the beach or visiting your family.  

And if your on a budget?

Try Kayak: www.kayak.com searches many websites for you to find the lowest ticket prices, hotels, and car rentals.

Feel like going somewhere on a whim?  Travelzoo top 20 gives you last minute getaways for cheap both nationally

If you have any questions feel free to email me for more ideas! kellogg.kristen@gmail.com  I have plenty more ideas up my sleeve!  Good luck with your goals for 2011!

The Victoria Market... A real sense of community

     As I approach, it's another afternoon traffic mayhem of engines revving, cars honking, tweets for the pedestrian crossing signs, and dings of the approaching tram.  It's 1:50 in the afternoon and the still bustling Victoria Market is just about  to wrap up for the day. As I walk through the  double doors, the smell of fish hits my nose, as the remnants are being sprayed across the floor. I am delighted I pulled on my black tall boots to avoid any of these from making their way to my toes.

     The Victoria Market opened it's doors in March 20th, 1878. Melbourne is full of others, including some exciting night markets as well.  Focusing on sustainability, many of the stands are family owned businesses selling their local fresh, and sometimes organic seasonal produce, deserts, meats, cheeses, and even wines.

     At the brim, you also find small restaurants, cafes, and even some clothing and gift shops so you can take a little piece of Melbourne home with you.

       Prior to opening, the grounds were once used as Melbourne's first cemetery from 1837 to 1854. Most of the bodies were extracted and moved elsewhere upon opening, but several still remain buried underneath the car park area today.

     If your yearning for a little taste of it all, there is even an epicureans dream tour a few days a week for a mere $35 from 10 am-12 noon. While walking around, you consume generous samples and even a regenerating coffee.

     Melbourne is a market city; full of surprises, multifaceted cultures and unique sense of community.  The Victoria Market is just another great quality to add to Melbourne's ever changing resume.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Australia being a fairly new country, shouldn't have a lot of hauntings, right?  I met up with Ash, a friend of a friend I grew up with, who lives just south of Melbourne City today near the beach.

 He asked me to meet him at work, and then casually added that it was a cemetery... and he digs graves for a living.

Yes.  You heard me. 

I would be meeting a grave digger for dinner and drinks on this Friday night.  I was thrilled due to my fascination with cemeteries and ghost stories!  When I was parading around in Paris for ten days a few years ago, I spent about 3 hours wandering around the cemetery where Jim Morrison of the doors in buried.

Not to worry, I told my roommates if I didn't return I would at least have a proper burial.  I hopped off the train station and into his shiny blue truck and cruised over to the cemetery.  When we arrived, it definately smelled like there were dead bodies in the area.  

I was greeted with an official tour on the four wheeler and shown all of the famous Ozzie grave sites.

  
The "Al Capone", of Austrlia, a few movie stars, the guy who invented rope, the first Prime Minister of Aus, and so on.  

The cemetery was designed by the same bloke that did the beautiful Gardens I visited last week 

as sort of a resume project. 

 At $30,000 a burial, this in the CHANEL of cemeteries.

Do I believe in ghosts? 


 I was sitting around at 4 pm on a Friday 
having knock-offs with the 4 boys after work: 
Stubbies of 
Jim Beam and coke (aka the Brent Jackson)
in the back yard of the bosses house, that just so happens to be in the cemetery.

"Have any of you ever seen any ghosts?," I inquisitivly ask hoping for some great stories.

"No.  There's nothing here.  We don't talk about it," James whispers, I assume so the ghosts don't hear him.

I did end up begging enough to pry a few good stories out of him.  

Nuero uno: 

The boss's ex-girlfriend who is quite spiritual and supernatural said she could see things.  One day while they're out walking around, she asks him, "Why does that boy in the hat always follow you around?"

"What boy?," James replies.

"The one standing right behind you."

James turns around and can see no one.  It turns out the boy she was describing was buried in the cemetery and the parents came to visit quite often, almost daily.  Before that point they had never spoken to him.  Two or so days later, they came up chatting with him.  When he asked the girlfriend why the change, she said she has now helped the little boy crossover. 

Eerie! Right?

And the second scary story:

The person who lived in the cemetary house before James had a since and used a Ouija board.  Instead of the board or plastic piece moving, the entire table started jolting around. 

Oh yeah, did I mention Ash also lives in a cemetery down the road?  He says it's actually more peaceful living there than on the outside of it.  

"You don't have to worry about all the crazies in the street.  No one bothers you in here." 

 Gotta love the unforeseen adventures of Auz.  

You just never who your going to meet.

The Trade-offs of a World Traveler...

My friends, family, and acquaintances ask me over and over again how I do it. Just get up and leave for a new destination without even blinking.

Here are some of my favorite questions from people who have crossed my path or heard my stories since I left for my solo life changing trip to Europe for two months in 2007…

"How do you just up and leave?"

"Aren't you scared? I could NEVER do that!"

"But where will you work? You don't even have a job!"

"Where will you live?"

"Be careful! It's so unsafe!"

"How do you afford to travel like that? I barely have enough money pay my mortgage!"

"Do you know anyone who lives there?"

"Don't you miss your friends and family?"

*******************

Dinero?

I save as much as I can in the summer bartending. Making more than most people do in a an entire year in 6 months allows me the other 6 months to use the world as my playground. Some people spend their money on monetary possessions like decorating their house or buying one, a sleek BMW, the latest look from Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel, or Alexander McQueen (I used to do this and I now still have credit card bills to thank), expensive restaurants, wine… you get the point. And while I like all of these things, and occasionally splurge on them as well, I use most of my hard earned cash on purchasing visa's, plane tickets, hostels, skydiving adventures, bus passes, and hiking equipment.

I don't have a mortgage (and I don't want one just yet either), and lack a car payment. When I am roaming the world, the bus, train, tram, subway, or walking around the city in my sandals suits me just fine.

And if I get low on funding, I have an amazing family who just might let me take out a small loan until I return.

Safety?

You see all of these terrible stories on the nightly news of terrorism, etc. While this does exist, you can not believe everything you read. As long as you are aware of your surroundings, then you'll be fine. Do not live your life in fear. Thats just not living.

Table for 1?

If you are traveling solo, you will spend a lot of time with yourself, so you have to be comfortable in your own skin. You don't have your usual clique to cling onto.

And yes, at times, it can get lonely, but that's what good music and great books are for. They keep me company on any cold and rainy traveling day.

And the positive; there's no compromising what you want do each and every day. I wake up and just go… wherever I want, whenever I want.

Job?

No prob! People are always looking for a good bartender (or what turns into a therapist if you work day shifts at a bar). Since I have saved the summer money, I have enough to live comfortably, and just find a job where I can have some fun, meet the locals, and occasionally drink creamy champagne all night long and pull in just enough dough to pay the rent (or the hostel I am crashing at).

Slumber Party!...

I get used to sleeping in bunk-beds and feeling like I'm 28 going on 12. Having 6 to 9 roommates at any given time with a revolving door of people coming and going keeps it interesting. Always meeting a new face. Not much privacy, but why should I be home anyway? I'm traveling, and I am out exploring anyway.

Friends and Family?

They will always be there, and they are my biggest supporters. I miss them heaps while I'm away.  And when I return? I realize even more than before just why I loved them so very much in the first place.

My response to people who question my travels. Quite simple really.

Traveling like this is not for everyone.  It is for a very small percent of adventurers. Trading in my Iphone for a Zach Morris one. My car for a tram pass. My blow dryer and straightener for the fresh summer air. Living out of a suitcase (or two) is not always glamorous, although I try to make it that way most of the time, but the most amazing things can happen to you while your exploring the world.

Every time I leave for yet another destination, I think to myself, here I go again! Not knowing what lies ahead, which path I will choose, what new lifelong friends I'll meet, or what lies around the corner is the most rewarding aspect of my life.

Is life really all about timing, or fate? Who knows…

But I do know the tradeoffs of traveling are more than worth hopping on that Boeing 747 each and every time I do it.

...I think Forrest Gump Put it best: "Life is Like a Box of Chocolates. You never know what your gonna get."