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I'm a Jersey Girl from way back - from the days when "Jersey Shore" meant slathering
on the baby oil and hitting the beach, listening to endless Bruce Springsteen and Beach Boys. ("Little Surfer"
later became my go-to lullaby when my kids needed extra incentive to fall asleep.) Escaped to New York City as soon as possible
to live in a roach-infested sublet on East 24th Street and pursue dreams of stardom. It didn't quite manifest
the way I imagined although it was 8 fun years of trying - 8 years of dance and theater classes, auditions, out-of-town
jobs (Hurricane, West Virginia in a production of "Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath" was quite memorable), occasional
voice-over work, a short-lived stint on "One Life to Live" - mostly 8 years of perfecting my waitressing
skills, which are formidable! Switched gears and took a job as the Project Manager for the Madeira Bach Festival on
the island of Madeira, Portugal for 2 seasons. Drank lots of Madeira wine and learned that classical musicians think
very highly of themselves and are very demanding when it comes to their accommodations. Switched gears again and headed,
on a whim, to Japan to teach English. Ended up teaching aerobics instead - it was the time of the Jane Fonda aerobics
obsession which had taken Japan by storm and it was quite lucrative to be an American aerobics instructor. The fact
that I had never actually taught aerobics didn't matter - I fashioned myself as a Jane Fonda disciple, bought striped leotards
and pink leg warmers and made thousands of yen encouraging wealthy Japanese women to get their hearts pumping at the Royal
Hotel in Osaka. It was a fun time although Japanese women do not really like to sweat. But they smiled alot and thought
I was amazing so it didn't really matter. Got my picture on some Japanese bus advertisements which was cool and a little
weird! After 3 years, returned to the U.S. and Massachusetts to settle down and raise up a family (a song lyric perhaps?).
Spent some years hanging out with my 3 young daughters (the "Little Surfer" years) learning to cook and be domestic,
painting, wall-papering, planting things, buying ottomans, building in-door fortresses, having sleep-over Luau birthday
parties, vacuuming up hundreds of lost Barbie doll shoes and then... guess what...? One day they were all grown up
and here I am - living on the North Shore and happily bringing Good Time Favorites to your mid-days! Stay tuned for
further adventures!
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