Rock Walls

My Rock Wall as it was Being Built

So I know I said I was going to spend a lot of my weekend going to the movies, watching fireworks and yes shopping.  Yes I did all that, but what I didn't expect was to build a rock wall.  As cliche as it may sound being a rockstar for me to be building a "rock wall".  No I am in no way changing my career plans, as the old saying goes don't quit your day-job.  Well as for me and building rock walls, I'm no pro.  Now singing, that's a whole other thing so Mr. Bricks, you can cool your jets cuz this Greek Rock-Diva is not going anywhere, except for the Grammy's when you get me my record deal, just sayin'.

So back to the rock wall, yes I somehow got sidetracked and decided to go all out and work on sprucing up the yard a bit.  No I don't have a money tree in my backyard (yet anyways), though I did look for it this weekend because if I did, I wouldn't have been hoisting boulders up over my shoulder that were bigger than my head and carrying them clear cross ROCKLAND COUNTY, and yes that is the county I live in. Instead I would have been paying someone to move them.  Of all the places to decide to live I chose Rockland county.  Now being a rising rockstar I guess it suits me just fine but as for the landscaping thing, not such a great idea.  See, they named this county "Rockland" because everywhere you go there are rocks in the land.  Get it?  Okay, I will leave the jokes up to Mr. Bricks. Anyway, because there are so many stinking rocks all over the yard it only made sense to gather them all up and create a wall along the driveway.

Now as crazy as it must seem to picture this little Greek Blonde girl with an iPhone and an Iced-Cup-O-Happiness wearing crocks and hoisting up boulders, I was doing it.  I had one of my favorite songs "Eye of the Tiger" playing in my iPod as I thought of Rocky Balboa training to fight the Russian in Rocky, my favorite movie and all I could think about was getting those 50 pound rocks to the end of my driveway - and I did it.  In style of course.  That is, I mean my shorts did match my T-Shirt and my Crocks were the fashionable choice for trecking through the muck (of course I would never wear one of my beloved pairs of sneakers) and oh did I mention "POISON IVY"? Yep, I braved it.  I set out to build a rockwall and sure enough I did and I did it while getting my yearly dose of poison ivy/oak or sumac muck that's grows out of control in my yard.  I even sprayed gallons of chemicals to kill it, to no avail.  Great, now I can be itchy while I go in the recording studio tomorrow. Fantastic.

Okay, I know you are wondering, what does all this have to do with anything?  Great question.  Well when I was trying not to crush my little Greek body (which is like a marble statue of course from all the working out I do) with these massive rocks I was thinking of some of my greatest rocks: Rocky, the Rock, Rock Music and of course Rockstars.  It made me think of all the tough challenges are a part of the road for anyone like me who wants to chase a dream.

See most of the time we are told to tear down the walls in our lives.  But sometimes we need also to build walls.  Walls that are fortified and strong with rocks.  Rocks that would crush you.  Rocks that you put there and place in the perfect spot.  Those walls we build in our lives sometimes are walls of sacrifice, struggle and triumph. Building this wall helped remind me of those important challenges I am faced with every single day.  It reminds me of how not to give up.  My rock wall is not done and just as my dreams have not been finished yet, I will continue building this wall and the rock wall of my life.  At the end I can sit back and admire my rock wall and realize what an accomplishment it has been.  That and of course it reminded me of how hard it is sometimes to keep going till you get to the end of the driveway with a 50 pound boulder over your shoulder - you know where your neighbor won't drive over your mailbox because you built a rockwall to protect it.  Oh that was the other reason for the rock wall.  But seriously though.  Life can be hard and following your dreams is even harder.  All of us from Rocky to the Greek Rock Chick have our own rockwalls we need to build.  So get your Crocks on and pick up your rocks and start building.

Love and blessings,
Ava xo

I Wanna Kick Chuck Norris' Butt

Ava Aston: The Greek Tomb Raider

I feel just a little bad saying I wanna kick the butt of a 71-year old man, because that would be elder abuse. But since the senior citizen in question is none other than Mr. "Tough Guy" Chuck Norris, I feel more justified. After all, if I don't kick his, he won't think twice about kicking my little Greek butt to Athens and back.

So do I really want to get into an altercation with the Chuckster? No, not really. However, what I seriously want is a great role in an action flick or action TV series where I can play a strong take-no-prisoners girl who fights her own battles and kicks some serious bootie. Think of me as a Blonde Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in training.

I think Hollywood is not writing enough action adventure films where the main character is a female, in fact they are really far and few between. All of the time on both the silver screen and on television it is usually all about a tough dude, and if there is a chick around, she is just an accomplice or a skanky girl friend. Very rarely is the girl the main butt-kicker. I want to change that. So, as an actress and as the newly self-appointed Czar of Action Movies I have put into development ("green-lighted" for those of you in the industry and in the know) a series of sequels to high profile action adventure flicks, and like a good reality series, there will be some really great plot twists.

Rocky XVX: Italy vs Greece

In the latest update of this classic Rocky franchise film, Ava the Greek is the first woman invited into the ring against the Italian Stallion and let's just say that Philadelphia's famous Liberty Bell is not the only bell that is rung.

Missing in Action 5: Operation Lazy Eye

In the long awaited fifth installment of the Missing in Action film series, a blonde recording artist decides to use her martial skills to influence her manager to finally get her a record deal. The manager will be played by Chuck Norris.

Avatar 3, Ava-Star 4: Winner Takes All

James Cameron's newest installment of an epic battle for the fate of Pandora pits the local tribe of Na'vi against recording star Ava in the first funky rock and roll action adventure since The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai  (Available on Netflix).

Terminator 6: Kalifornia Dreamin'

Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to reprise his role of  The Terminator but realizes that there's a new sheriff in town and it's a Greek Blonde girl. The movie will spawn a new catch phrase from The Terminator, "Maybe I won't be back"

Men in Black, A Greek Girl in Light Blue

Move over Will Smith. Light blue is the new black. An inter-struggle of the top-secret organization truly establishes that there is not just alien activity on Earth, but that Men are from Mars and Women are from Greece.

So do I want to kick Chuck Norris' butt? Well,  I really don't want to but if the script says so, sure why not. I'm an actress and I do what the director tells me to do.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

PS. Happy Belated 71rst Birthday Chuck!

Eggnog: The Rocky Effect

Here's the Greek blonde girl before a recent show in Philadelphia

One of my all-time favorite movies is Rocky. There is just something very inspirational about this film for me. I really enjoy the message about going for your dreams and never giving up. I often have the film's theme song Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti playing on my iPod when I am working out or on one of my runs.

I started doing some serious thinking (dangerous, I know)  and I realized there must be some connection to the movie Rocky and people drinking Eggnog at Christmas time. Rocky Balboa drank raw eggs during training and before the fights so he could get the instant protein and none of the fat into his blood stream. It is like an adrenaline rush to the body for boxers and others who work out when they drink raw eggs.

Isn't it odd that people don't start drinking eggnog on Halloween?There's no eggnog served with the ham at Easter. You don't really see eggnog being served alongside turkey and Aunt Zelda's green bean casserole at Thanksgiving, now do you?

But for some reason -- as the year starts to wind down, and right at Christmas time people start drinking eggnog. All of that raw egg starts making their brain melty and effects their decision-making. I did an earlier blog, which you can read here,  where people tend to make a fool of themselves at the company Christmas party. The main culprit of making poor decisions at any company Christmas  party is usually because someone dipped a little too much into the free eggnog.

When people drink eggnog and have all of this raw egg crap get into their brain and blood stream they get all loopy. The instant protein is like a shock to their system and they start going all Rocky on everything and everybody. They start making wild New Year's resolution to lose weight and get into shape. Not because it's a New Year, but because they are all hopped up on eggnog and want to be like Rocky Balboa.

Yo' Adrian, I have an example for yoos -- a 92-year-old man who's been smoking 3 packs a cigarettes a day for 75 years. He takes a sip of eggnog and all of a sudden he's stripping down and shadow boxing everyone in the room like he has become the next Apollo Creed. He crushes his cigarettes and vows to his family that his New Year's resolution is that he is going to start running marathons and he will quit smoking. Well, the next day after the eggnog is out of his system, old grandpa can be seen walking around his living room butt naked, tearing the house apart, cussing like a sailor, looking for his lost package of cigarettes.

In the original Rocky movie the The World Heavyweight Championship bout was scheduled for New Year's Day 1976, which also happened to be the kick off day to the United States bicentennial. So I think that also influences these people into making crazy New Year's Resolutions, they want to be like Rocky and change history and change their own destiny on New Year's Day.

New Year's resolutions are great. New Year's resolutions made under the influence of eggnog- not so much. Just Sayin'

Here's a quick montage from the original Rocky movie I found on Youtube. Check out 1:20 into this remix and you can see Sly downing the raw eggs.

Ok, Gonna Fly now...Blessings,

Ava

xox