“You have all your life to sleep. Get up and jump off the cliff with me. Underwater camera!”
Underwater photos at lia! Rhiannon brings out the fun in angie. Rhiannon arrived in Mykonos two days before I am to leave and she is the goddess of glendisi(Greek for fun!)

“You have to go to Paros Island my absolute fave. So beautiful and small and the best restaurants along the wharf-any of them will do.”  ~Bonnie

My most important Moment of the day!!

Restaurant on Wharf of

Paros…Elaea(olive tree)

Written on menu-
This tree appeared on earth 3 million years ago.
By the mythology the tree was planted by the goddess Athena in the Acropolis and it became the holy tree of Athens.
In ancient Greece it was worshipped as the symbol of wisdom, peace, and euphoria.  Since then it is the pride of the Greek earth.
In our restaurant ‘Elaea’ we choose to cook only with the seed of the holy tree…..

Thanks Bonnie!!

Rachel is 17. Rachel lives in Boston. Rachel has a story that reminds us to appreciate life and keep a positive attitude. She had a serious brain tumor, survived a dangerous surgery and now lives her life giving back.

Here is her story.

Rachel was joined by hundreds on Sunday as we walked along the river in Boston!
Chris Evans even spent part of his birthday with the kids on the walk

Ellen Pompeo Walks for Children’s Hospital Boston

1 beautiful couple

9 girls

5 days

And this view:

Andrea and Kevin hosted ridiculous nights of fun from tequila shots to waking up on these cots to the car headed to NOWHERE, Club Nowhere that is…

I think the photos paint the picture for this one…

Kevin, No More Shots!!!

I prefer to call myself the artistic photographer, but this trip I was known as blurry Banicki.

Inspired Moment: Darnell Strom, “You’ve got to see a Laker’s playoff game! I’ll take you to GAME 2!”

Despite the fact that Darnell has been in LA all of 8 months, he’s already been handed LA Playoff tickets.  He’s got charisma and I’m lucky enough to reap some of the benefits of Mr Strom’s personality:)

We drank Bud Light, watched from our box suite, and wandered the stadium with our all access passes.  It doesn’t get any better than this on Sunday Funday!

This was my favorite costume by far!  Guess Who?  My favorite Laker Fan and the man who loves a great costume – David Arquette!

My Nerdtainment and quote of the day -

Che(Darnell’s coworker at CAA): “Phil Jackson is 48-0 in winning playoffs when the first game is a win!”

This quote is what helped heal the wounds of our loss.  We will win the series……PS Che was no nerd, that nerdtainment would be me writing down quotes from Che and Darnell about the NBA and the Laker’s record:)

Here’s me and JJ later on that evening – I didn’t lose my Laker pride as I went from game to JJ’s play to the MTV After Party!

Adonis Hernandez moment: “Do you need a ride home?”

We don’t always think about it but we rely on our late night cab driver for a lot: locate stop for snacks, locate the after party, locate home and get us there safely even if we are dozing off, and in the case of Friday night – help us locate important belongings.

Why is my moment from a cab driver?  Park it back to Monday.

Monday 4pm I tweet:   It’s very possible that i HAD the worst technology karma on the planet – today we reincarnated it. my computer has a new soul.

Thursday 12pm convo: Angie to Michael who lost blackberry: ”I used to lose my BlackBerry every two weeks. I never lose my BlackBerry anymore.”

Friday 11pm -approximately – crash and burn: I lost my BlackBerry

Saturday: I wake up to a broken in window and the reminder that keys and purse and atm are with BlackBerry….yet it never occurred to me to go buy a new one or set up an old phone.

Instead I tried to seek out the positive -

1: I looked down to see on my wrist a band with You Matter on it. I don’t remember putting it on but it felt like a sign that somehow all would work out.

2: I finished the book I’d been reading – And The Heart Says Whatever. Throughout the day in the minutes that I usually used to bbm, read emails and twitter, I instead held my book and read pages here and there and everywhere. I read that book at the gym, at a stoplight in the car, even while eating lunch at the bar (Ok not at the bar).

3:  At 3:30pm, I opened my laptop to find this email from Rachel Krupa (my cohort Friday night):

“Actually Angie you left your purse in a cab and I just spoke with the driver and he’s going to bring it to me around 6pm when he starts work. He has everything….keys, bag, phone and he said he tried to Facebook you. He was super sweet. No need to worry any longer and call off the search crew”.

4. Then this facebook message from an Adonis Hernandez:

“Angie this is you driver from Al’s limousine please call me at (818) 967-8270 I have something that belongs to you”.

5. 5 hours later Adonis, as promised, drives over to Ali’s bbq with my BlackBerry!  Who is this guy? That’s what everyone at the bbq says as I tell the story.  Again I am shocked at my luck as everyone in the room, even Ellen who I’d just met, offers to chip in money to give the man for his kindness.  Rachel and I went down to make the exchange and the sweet driver handed over the BlackBerry – the item that I realize I spend more time with than anyone or anything in the world. Eek – maybe work on that…

I held out the stack of bills but he shook his head. He just said “Please use my service and maybe tell your friends. That’s all I ask.” After going back and forth Rachel said, “Sir if you don’t take the money she’s going to cry.”

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My Road Signs:

Yield. The universe will show you that you’re not invincible – so watch it when you say “I won’t lose a BlackBerry”. Oh it can happen but karma isn’t always a bitch.

One Way. You can’t lose if you experience the Adonis moment and if you do lose, he’ll help you find it.

Follow me on Twitter: Twitter.com/AngieBanicki

Inspiration: Team Oakley – “Join us in Napa for our Learn to Ride Audi Sportscar Experience at the Infineon Racetrack!”

I spent an entire day with a fun group of daredevils learning to drive with the racecar pros!

Dax Shepard

Mae Whitman and Dax Shepard

The moment before this moment may be the most telling for me…..

After our classroom chat and a few pep talks I found myself sliding the face sock over my staticy hair, shoving on the helmet – a helmet that later seemed to squeeze in the heat with every burn and turn of tires – and then slowly lowering my body into the seat of the Audi V8. I couldn’t understand the nervous energy taking over. I barely spoke all morning. Makes no sense. I’m a speed driver maniac in my prius. This was supposed to be safe.

I suppose there was good reason that the memories came back post drive. Had I remembered climbing through my driver’s side window upside down after flipping a car that didn’t belong to me my sophomore year – well I wouldn’t have hit that 2.5 mile racecourse for speeding times. I would have only had one vision – my friends crying and screaming as I ran over a mile to the nearest house with blood dripping down my leg and instinct taking over the wheel. It took months to drive again after that and Dax I guess you’re right – I didn’t need the memory to help steer me on this course.

Instead, my nervous energy focused on the words of Pro Tony coming through my walkie talkie and of course Dick Trickle, one of the drivers on my inspiring driver list.
I will trickle this course like a mascot.

And I did…..or well tried my very best!
And it was geekzilerating!

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Here’s the  list of drivers my friends thought would inspire the best racecar ride.  I think I was still pretty jerky.  hint – Taryn Owens, passenger(near end of day) – “I think I’m going to throw up.”

James Bannister: Michael Schumacher

Nate Minnis: Ricky Bobby!

Tommy Meyer Klipsch: Dick Trickle! NASCAR Legend!

Anya Varda:  Mario Andretti

Heidi Kelso: Jenson Button

Eric Raine Ernst: Barney Rubble!

Jessica Paster: Dale Earnhardt…oh no he crashed and died…Dale Earnhardt JR!!!! He’s alive and gay!!!!

Ellen Pompeo and husband Chris Ivery

Shaun Sipos and Aaron Paul

Mae Whitman and Dax Shepard

Happy 30th Birthday Janae!  Before revealing the rest of your 30 moments, today seemed liked the best time to show Janae pre 30…….

Happy Birthday Janae!

Here’s what happens when 30 before 30 went from Angie to Andrea…..

Destination: Europe

Inspiration: Andrea Colognoli documents his 30 days around Europe.

And the story goes…

To understand the story, take a look at the first email I received on asmallworld last November…..

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Hi Angie,
How are you?A friend from LA talked to me about your blog Angies30before30 and how you went on your dream trip before your 30th birthday.
That was SO inspiring…seriously!
As a matter of fact I was planning to go on a Euro trip with my best friend a while ago but we never really got the chance to actually do it. Well, I read some of your posts, got inspired and now we are going to do this in April for reals. Very exciting!
My friend is actually quitting his job to do this trip.

NO fancy hotels, no chauffeured car, no private flights. I LOVE the idea!

Sorry for reaching out to you directly, I tend not to do this very often but I find myself to be so supportive of your whole experience. With that said, I was wondering if you could share with me some of your insights… places I should go visit, people I should go see, …etc. Any recommendations or contacts would be very much appreciated.

My plan is to hit the following 5 cities: Barcelona. Paris. London. Amsterdam. Berlin
Alright, sorry if this was a long read but here is my personal email address:
Thanks in advance for your advice and consideration.

Andrea Colognoli

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I’d like to think of Andrea as my first follower..and I don’t mean on twitter. I mean the Derek Sivers kind in How to start a Movement on Ted Talks.

Anyone who knows me and gets my 2am emails knows Ted.com has become my classroom for inspiration…..

If you watched the TedTalks video, Andrea saw the nut in me and went to go be a travel nut too! Andrea’s emails reminded me that there’s a reason I’m 31 and still talking about 30:)

Andrea sent this note to me 6 months ago, and I almost forgot to forward my emails – I didn’t realize that Andrea truly planned to follow in my footsteps but Andrea persisted and emailed again and again. So I forwarded the emails I had saved from my favorite people. I sent some of my favorite emails that helped make my 30 before 30 trip….

It wasn’t until Andrea sent an email from Barcelona with a photo that I realized, wait….oh Andrea is male. I have a cute boy experiencing my moments!!

Every day when I received another Italian Andrea email, I got a secret rush to read what moment he’d experienced and see Europe through his eyes.  My friends loved it because he was cute which made it even more fun!  We would send pictures of us……singing karaoke at Camille’s engagement party and he’d send pictures of him in Gaudi Park!

He went and got a tattoo from David Arquette’s friend (Hollywood Mark) in Amsterdam, just like me!

THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

He went to eat dinner at Scrubs star, Sarah Chalke‘s favorite restaurant in Cinque Terre where I was almost two years ago.

Even later, we discovered through some google search that our cute Andrea actually could afford to be taking jets and chauffeurs but instead he chose to see Europe this way.

I’ll leave you with another quote below from Derek Sivers (one I am going to work on) and some photos of Andrea around Europe. If you want to see my pictures in these spots, you’ll just have to read the book!

“Have the courage to follow and to show others how to follow and when you find the lone nut doing something great have the guts to be the first one to stand up and join in. “

Can you name each spot Andrea and his friend hit in the photos posted?

Inspiration: Keyshawn Johnson, “Hang with me for drinks. On Montana.”

Destination: R + D Restaurant

So the story goes….
Janae called me and said we are going to din with Keyshawn. It’ll be hilarious.
I knew Keyshawn was famous in the sports world but I wasn’t quite sure how…..oops.

My friend Carly texted me, “I love your life! Have fun with Keyshawn. He spoke to my class at USC once!”

This is what I found on wikipedia:

‘Joseph Keyshawn Johnson (born on July 22, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a former American football wide receiver, interior designer, business executive, author and current television broadcaster for sports channel ESPN.’

The mascot in me was doing backflips inside. I was excited to share this moment with Janae.

The thing about Miss Twisselman is that she brings out the best in everyone. When I said, “Janae we aren’t going to have to stay long, are we? (I was antsy to have some of my Sunday night for Angie time.) Janae just looked at me and laughed. “Don’t worry Ang. It wont be long. I’m with you.”

Little did I know what I was getting into.

Keyshawn was an entertaining dinner guest….to say the least . He obviously adores Janae and after they worked on a project together they have a great repoire. He made me work to get that kid like smile out though. Thank god his friend Skeet was there to ease the tension as I tried to break through Keyshawn’s Ironman layer.

With Janae though, Keyshawn pushes and teases her for being a publicist but you can tell he respects her. He doesn’t have his own publicist though. He likes to control all of that himself and although he’s quite the public persona,  he prefers to keep his personal life private.  I was surprised to hear some of the other business ventures that Keyshawn is involved in. “I don’t need other people knowing about that though. You girls already know too much.” He says with a big grin.

We laughed a lot and without even realizing it – closed down the restaurant!

Check! Check off another inspiration.

After those 4 hours, it made sense that Keyshawn inspired Janae. He’s got vision. He’s a businessman. He’s smart. And after meeting him, he’s no doubt a character.

Take this –

I found this Keyshawn quote that made me like him even more:

“This is what matters to me, Not all the big numbers, the fancy statistics. I want to make the plays that count.”

Janae makes the plays that count. She always makes the people around her enjoy and live in the moment. When life is tough, I’m going to remind myself to make the plays count like Keyshawn and Janae.