Who Do You Think You Are?

Ava Aston and her Greek Dad

I am hooked on the NBC reality show,"Who Do You Think You Are?"  So, who do I think I am? I am a simple sneaker wearing, dog-lovin', singing Greek blonde girl, duh...Winner.

The series is a documentary style reality series that is patterned after a similar British reality series that airs on the BBC.  Each week a celebrity goes on a journey to places to trace his or her family tree. Because I am always on different journeys and muckery myself, I have not seen every episode but my favorite episodes (of the ones I have seen) are Lionel Richie, Vanessa Williams, Rosie O'Donnell and Tim McGraw.

The great thing about the show is that it allows us to see and learn things about people we thought we already knew about from the media. Because it is an in-depth genealogical documentary there are always a great deal of surprises. Even the person being profiled learns a great deal about their heritage. I think it is just an amazing show. I now set my DVR so I don't miss it anymore.

Catching up on last season and watching a past episode the other day made me think I should look more into my heritage and find out what muckery lurks within my Greekery. I know I am Greek on my Dad's side and Scottish and Indian on my Mom's side, but that's about all I really know. So I went to Ancestors.com - which is conveniently a sponsor of the show - and when I logged on I got a leaf and that's where it all started. Ok, I didn't log onto to their website, but I was really curious about my background so I decided to kanoodle the local census worker into revealing classified information about me that they are sworn to secrecy to protect.  Alright, I didn't really do that either.

But I did have a dream the other night and in my Greek little REM sleep filled noggin I dreamt that NBC did do an episode called Ava Aston: Who Do You Think You Are?,  In my dream this is what they found:

My natural athletic ability and sneaker addiction is because I am related to Bruce Jenner. However, because of the whole Jenner/Kardashian connection I decided to deny that part of my heritage. Because sneakers aside, I thought that was probably the shady side of my family tree anyway.

I found out that I am related to Justin Bieber. Well actually, the show said I was related to Justin's manager Scooter Braun. Close enough. It turns that my neighbor's cousin's sister's best friend lives next door to a dude, who has a friend with an aunt that went to 2nd grade with Scooter Braun. Cool huh?

My Grandparents used to live next to the Great Grandparents of Howard Schultz. They use to have coffee together every Saturday morning. Howard Schultz is the Founder and CEO of Starbucks. So that explains that addiction.

Musically it turns out that my Maternal Great-Great Grandfather invented music. Sounds absurd, I know. But at least he didn't claim to invent Post-It Notes or the Internet -just sayin'

They also uncovered that Kevin Bacon is my 6th cousin. Weird.

But the real scary part about my ancestry that they found out was that I am related to my manger Mr. Bricks. They told me that I have a 2nd cousin from Greece, who married an American girl who had a brother who once dated a girl that had an uncle from Brooklyn who just happens to be the optometrist who treats Mr. Bricks' lazy eye.   It was so scary I woke up. I hate nightmares.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

Here Women Talk

There is something powerful when a bunch of women get together and talk. I am not talking about like the women from "Sex and The City", who when they got together, it was more like boasting and gossiping about their sexual escapades, rather than a bunch of women talking with each other about life in general. I actually would find it rather embarrssing talking about my sex life with my girlfriends. I guess you can tell I am not a Kardashian! So maybe you don't want to keep up with me! I feel somethings should not be open for discussion.

Women can learn a lot when they band together and learn from each other's experiences. That is the whole concept behind, HereWomenTalk (HWT) a fairly new social network for Women. According to the HWT Founder Kay Van Hoesen, it's always been her girlfriends who have kept her grounded. She has said, they are her family and her support. Knowing the importance of girlfriends, Kay created the HereWomenTalk social network as a way to connect, support and inspire each other. I am glad she did!!

HereWomenTalk.com

I actually knew nothing about this social networking site until they approached my manager Mr. Bricks to have one of my songs be the theme song for a new radio talk show they were launching. After checking out the site and finding more about the radio show, it was something that I really, really wanted to do. The more I ventured into it, the more excited I became.

I have met some really neat ladies on the site, including the founder Kay Van Hoesen. Which is pretty cool to think that the person who created it is actually accessible. It's not like Mark Zuckerberg is ever going to accept my friend request on Facebook! But Kay accepted my friend request on HWT and we have been able to share a few spirited posts back and forth. What a neat lady she is. And Kay is a dog lover, so I know she is a class act - Anyone who likes dogs is OK in my book - just sayin.'

The song the site is using is "Gone" from my "Gone" cd, you can listen to the song here. The radio show is called "Time's Up!' and is hosted by Susan Murphy-Milano.

The Time's Up! radio talk show airs Wednesdays at 4pm ET on Here Women Talk broadcast by the Zeus Radio Network or you can play archived podcasts at anytime at the HWT website.

Susan Murphy-Milano is often praised as one of the most dynamic and engaging speakers of our day in the domestic violence prevention field. Her books and strategies are taught world-wide and used by law enforcement, domestic abuse advocates, social workers, attorneys, health care workers, human resource departments and domestic violence agencies.  The comprehensive strategies and escape plans utilized by Susan have been successful and tested by time for over 20 years.

Susan uses humor, passion, and all her years of experience to motivate her radio audience to become more effective first responders, advocates and professionals in their work to stop family violence.

I feel honored that my song "Gone" is being used to help women all over the world find the strength to leave domestic violent situations and move into a safer and more stable environment. As a recording artist, that makes me very proud.

Although primarily designed as a network for women, HWT also welcomes men! Check out HereWomenTalk and listen to Susan Murphy-Milano's show Time's Up! on Wednesdays at 4pm ET  on The Zeus Radio Network.

Have a great day!!!

Blessings,

Ava

xox

You can order your own copy of "Gone" here. It makes a great Christmas present!

Don't change the channel

My Own Reality Series?

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Recording Artist Ava Aston

Sometimes I think I belong in my own reality series. Not just to get fame like those Kardashian girls, but because sometimes even I have to just sit back and laugh at myself and my own life.

This photo of me was snapped paparazzi style on a recent trip to the mall. You can see from the photo, just going to mall can be an event to alert the media. My family and friends have learned to call each little adventure in my life an episode. Sometimes I can star in an episode all by myself or sometimes I have special guest stars like my Sweetie, or my mom or one of my sisters, my Dad (when he is here from Greece), one of the four dogs, Mr. Bricks…anyone really who comes into contact with me is subject to having unexplained shenanigans happening right in front of their eyes.

These episodes are nothing that is planned or scripted and usually there isn’t a camera around for miles, which is too bad because I’ve been told my muckery would play well in prime time.  If I believed in past lives which, because of my faith, I don’t I would assume that I must have been a court jester in a previous life and this is just all bad karma coming back at me in my face.

As I have mentioned before I am technologically challenged. So many episodes involve things that get plugged in like a computer.

Now fortunately I do have a Mac Pro Book, because that helps cut down on some of the muckery that would surely ensue if I was using a PC, but even then I have been often told to step away from the keyboard!

There are also daily episodes with the cell phone and that tiny little machine I put in my ear to talk on my cell phone. They call it a blue tooth….yet, I put it in my ear. Hmmm, can’t figure why that is yet. Surely when it was being designed by rocket scientists they knew what part of the body it was going into, so why isn’t it called a blue ear?  I highly doubt that during the research and development phase someone came up with the bright idea that it would work better clipped onto the outside of the ear instead of clipping it to the tongue or inside the mouth…..I‘m just sayin’ they had to know!

I could go on for hours writing about some of the episodes I have experienced but I think I should find a TV producer and become a star of my own television series instead. What do you think?

Have a blessed day my friends!

Ava

xox