HGTV Anonymous

Silence is Golden… I was shocked at first, I couldn’t believe that for the first time the entire award show season that there was going to be an award show without any nasty jokes made about Trump. That was until about three and a-half minutes into it when they started, and sadly it never ended.

To be honest, I did not watch the entire show. I did however flip back and fourth several times to see what was going on. Hey, I'm an actor and being that the Oscars used to be the equivalent of what the Superbowl is to football… it is only natural to want to see what films and performances take the top honors. (BTW Hacksaw Ridge was robbed!)

I say, “used to be” because over the past several years Hollywood or shall I say Hollyweird seems to have forgotten that they are supposed to be in the business of entertainment and not politics. 

It's just not as fun as it used to be to keep up with it all. Honestly the only things we watch in our house are HGTV, Animal Planet, and sometimes Fox News. Most of the time I have Classical or CCM Music on the Music Choice channel going on the TV in the background. Why? Because Classical Music makes you smart, and in my opinion it is just more fun to watch than a bunch of junk set to program my noggin with boatloads of gobbledygook.

This my friends is how it all started… My decision to tune out the junk, and tune into other things. I’m seriously starting to wonder if I need to check myself into “HGTV Anonymous”. You see I wanted a new bedroom suit. I had fallen in love with a set at Restoration Hardware called the St. James collection in antique white. The catch, I didn’t particularly care for the almost six thousand dollar price tag it came with. Ov vey!

So I did what any thrifty person in this situation would do. You guessed it, I hit Craigslist. After a few weeks I found a set just a few miles away from our house. It was perfect! Solid wood, unlike most of the furniture on the market today, which is, manufactured wood and pressed board. I made an appointment to see it, got the Mr. and boom we were off. It was just as perfect in person as in the ad. So we made arrangements to pick it up the following day.

Then, it was off to the Home Depot for Chalk Paint. What is chalk paint you might wonder? It is a fantastic way to make furniture look antique. It can be used to do so many crafts and it looks amazing! There are lots of colors to choose from as well. The best part you don’t have to strip the previous finish. Just paint right over it, then do the topcoat.

It took about three weeks to get two coats on everything, and then let it dry and do the top coat matte clear. I found amazing knobs on lowes.com and viola’ our new bedroom set was complete.

However, after getting it into the bedroom and set up was when I started to notice every little knick and scratch on every bit of paint it seems in the entire house. Could it have something to do with watching too much, Flip or Flop, Love it or List it, or House Hunters? Probably…

I then told the Mr. we needed to finally finish painting the ceiling that we never finished a few years ago. Then it was the hallway, it was too dark and too tan, that we needed to brighten it up. Then it was the entryway by the front door. Now it has moved onto the woodwork. Yes all the white woodwork in the entire main level of the house “needs” to be painted.

So after several trips to Home Depot, Lowes (and to Dunkins for fuel to do the job) we have the house upside down and covered under plastic. Blue tape everywhere and I’m thinking that I might think twice before I tune into HGTV again… because after all this is how it all starts (no wonder I’m behind on getting my new music out).

Add to the chaos the fact that not only are my own four dogs and one cat in the house while this is going on, we are currently pet sitting my moms two dogs as well. This makes for a whole barrel of monkeys or shall I say fur babies who want to see what their fur and paws look like with paint on them.

Here are some signs you might be watching too much HGTV:

- The employees at Home Depot know you by name.

- The employees at Lowes know you by name.

- The employees at both stores know what projects you are working on.

- The employees at both stores ask to see photos of the finished projects. 

If this sounds familiar, it may be a good idea to reduce ones HGTV viewing. Oh who am I kidding? I’ll never stop watching and why should I? There’s nothing wrong with Spring-cleaning any time of the year. Hey it’s a surefire way to keep oneself from ending up like another TV show that no one in the world ever wants to find themselves on… hoarders. ;o) Happy HGTV-ing!

Blessings, Love & Music!
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

Here We Go Again

Thank God for the inside voice...

It’s awards season again, the first of the bunch kicked off last night. I’m happy to say I didn’t watch. Instead the Mr. and I chose to watch the new version of Ben Hur. Which despite reviews from the critics, we loved. I’m not surprised though, since the producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett are out as Christians (a group critics seem to love to marginalize and criticize).

I made a decision long ago to simply “unplug” from the things in entertainment that go against my morals, values and beliefs. All too often instead of celebrating good art (which unfortunately these days is so few and far between), it winds up turning into a half-baked political pontification session.

Well apparently last night was no exception. The Hollywood mucktey mucks did not disappoint this year, and their brave leader was none other than Meryl Streep. After the movie was over, I picked up my phone and there it was, all over social media and the news. So of course I had to go find a clip and see for myself what all of the hullabaloo was about. My inside voice was going “watchu talkin bout willis” while I almost spilled what was left of my dunkins decaf all over my lap.

Now I’m not going to pick it apart because I do believe we are all entitled to our own opinions. To think for ourselves, to be what we want and to not let others do our thinking for us. I will say this though… her entire argument and character assassination of Donald Trump was based on a total lie.

I wonder though... where pray tell were all of the Hollywood "defenders of the disabled" last week when a disabled boy was held hostage and tortured for up to forty eight hours on Facebook live by four african american teenagers while they screamed obscenities? What was that? Crickets... that's what I thought.

Lies, misrepresentations, things taken totally and utterly out of context, are exactly what almost the entire news media or her precious “profession of journalism” did throughout the entire election season. All in a planned correlated effort not to get to the truth (that she said in her speech she is worried about protecting), but to hide the truth from the American public. In order to elect or shall I say coronate their hero none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton.

To their shock and horror it did not work. The American people chose instead to unplug just as I have from the media propaganda. Donald Trump brilliantly decided to go around the media and take his message straight to the American people. Thank God it worked because I honestly do not believe America could have survived a Hillary presidency. It would have been the nail in the coffin for our country after eight years of the Obama nightmare.

Am I being hypocritical for lambasting Meryl for having an opinion when I clearly have my own? Noway hosay. Meryl is entitled to have all the opinions she wants. The problem is when she goes on national television and broadcasts that opinion on a show that is not about politics; that further perpetuates a story that is based on a total lie. Sorry, but that is just plain ignorant in my opinion.

Hollywood is so mortified by the thought of a Donald Trump presidency that they have taken to making these pathetic PSA videos being shared all over social media. The funniest thing about them is these actors are all going on and on about the Constitution and our founding fathers, when 99.9% of them would not know the constitution if it bit them in the butts. Really can you imagine some of them passing a simple quiz about our nations actual founding history?

When uninformed people with a worldwide platform insist on pontificating publicly and perpetuating lies it is dangerous. Have an opinion, yes be involved, disagree even, but for the love of God please, please, please get your information from somewhere other than the mainstream media (and if I have to explain what the mainstream media is then I rest my case).

These Hollywood celebrities whine that the “majority” of the American people voted for Hillary, blah blah blah… they are having temper tantrums because they say the American people did not get who they voted for.

Newsflash to all the Hollyweird crybabies: the American people got exactly who we voted for. We the American people (you know the people in flyover country, the Christians, the silent majority) got exactly what our founders so brilliantly and uniquely created. They set up a system to prevent mob rule and tyranny. Since the Electoral College didn’t go their way now they want to abolish it. Had Hillary won though, they would all be praising the brilliance of it all, hypocrites.  

So please stop whining, stop making PSA’s. Trump is President. Get over it, just like we all had to for the last eight years. Go back to making movies, art and hopefully one day you will wake up to your stupidity. If not, you’ll most assuredly find yourself four years from now, and God willing eight years from now in an America that is greater and stronger than ever before (no thanks to you).

Blessings, Love & Music,
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

The Prize

Through the darkest of times we still have a hope...

It's that time again, the time of year when I find myself day dreaming about flip-flops and wishing the white stuff would disappear for good. It's also awards season... the time of year when eyeballs around the world tune into see who takes home the golden statue.

Personally I was surprised at the Golden Globes snubs this year. There were some pretty fantastic films that didn't even get a mention. Funny to see what was celebrated while the one film that has the possibility to perhaps make the biggest impact on people was sadly missing... Unbroken. Not just because I was first in line to see it on Christmas Eve with my family and a bucket of popcorn in my little hands and a cup of Dunkin's hidden in my bag either.

Not to knock any of the other films but Unbroken was not only superbly produced, but it has the potential to change lives. If you're thinking; yeah, yeah a big budget Hollywood film made by a big Hollywood star how could it be anything beyond all the narcissistic tabloid hullabaloo?... hear me out. Unbroken is a true story unlike anything anyone in my lifetime can even comprehend living through, but it's also just the beginning of the story. The film leaves off when the hero returns home. That is where his journey really begins.

Unbroken tells the story of Louis Zamperini, a World War II prisoner of war survivor. It details his gripping experience including 47 days floating on a raft in shark-infested waters in the Pacific Ocean. While the film details much of Zamperini’s life, including his Olympic career as a distance runner, it only shines a light on part of his story. Perhaps the best part is told not by a big Hollywood studio or star, but by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Filmed before Hollywood came calling "Louis Zamperini: Captured By Grace" tells the story of his life after returning home a hero. Through the power of the Gospel and his experience at the 1949 Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles, Louis overcame alcoholism, night terrors and a failing marriage to live a joyous and full Christ-centered life until his passing at age 97. Along the way he inspired millions. (To learn more about seeing it - click here)

We can get upset or complain about the things we see as problems. The economy, the weather (guilty as charged), global unrest, pop culture run amuck, and on and on. I however don't think anything we face today compares to what he lived through. Not only Louis Zamperini, but also all of the other men and women of The Greatest Generation. Many have no idea what price was paid for the lives we have. The world might look a lot different today had it not been for their courage, strength and determination.

What I love most about his story is that as dark as it got he was never really alone. A man who didn't really know a lot about faith, or grace: while he was out there floating on a raft in shark infested waters he made a promise to God that if he survived he would serve him the rest of his life. A promise that was long forgotten after being rescued from that raft, captured, thrown into one of the worst Japanese prison camps ever, living through years of brutal torture and starvation, and then actual rescue when the war was over. It wasn’t until he was home and his life was falling apart due in part from suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder while attending that Billy Graham rally that he remembered that promise. While telling his story he says when he remembered he stood up without hesitation and gave his life to Christ. Once he did for the first time the nightmares were gone. The anger and desire for revenge were also gone.

He spent the rest of his life as a Christian Inspirational speaker focusing on forgiveness. His story was hard, it was brutal, and none of it made any sense at the time he was going through it. As a boy he overcame going from a troubled youth to an Olympic Athlete. It was his strength and determination that got him through that part of his life and it were those same qualities that helped him to survive his ordeal and go onto become a hero. He also had help from above. When looking back on his life it's hard not to see the fingerprints of God all around.

So am I surprised that a film that has the power to impact people in such a way was snubbed by a liberal leaning secular organization? Not really. I hope it won't be the same case with the Oscars. Because I suspect that after watching the film viewers will get curious to what happened after the movie ends and discover for themselves the rest of the story. Where he not only lived out the miracle of grace but went onto to share it with countless others along the way. That in my opinion is the best prize. So I do hope it will be included in order to be exposed to people across the globe.

Something I also hope to do with my music. Though I've spent a large part of my life chasing after a "prize" success in the music industry... I've come to understand the real prizes of life are not what we necessarily think they are. That's why I'm working on my first faith based Contemporary Christian Music Album. My hope is to inspire people to be strong, courageous, to never quit, but most importantly to share the love of Jesus. To let people know they really are something beautiful, and to believe that no matter how far they've gone, there is someone who cares, who loves them and thinks they really are something worth dying for.

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippines 4:13 (NIV) 

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

What Goes Around Comes Around

Look out Phil or you might get what's coming to ya!

Okay, it's that time again and this Greek Girl is itching to get her flip-flops out of storage.  So, if that Punxstawney Phil doesn't do his job right this year, I might just have to slip my sneakers on and march my little butt down to pay him a visit and show him what a good kick boxer I am by plummeting his little head into a snowbank.

Now, I know that may sound harsh and normally I am all miss animal lover activist.  But before you go calling the ASPCA or PETA on me, think about it for just a minute.  Wouldn't you much rather be having some fun in the sun wearing flip flops vs. having your fingers turning blue (like mine)?

Insert Greek Philosophy:


"It is much better to live in a warm climate and travel to the cold and snow when you want to, rather than live with the cold and have no choice. "- Ava Aston Winter - 2012 

Now granted old man winter gave us a break on the white crap this year, but DANG it's been frigging freezing here lately.  Seriously, I'm sleeping dressed up in a an outfit like nanook of the north over here.  Sweatshirt zipped up with a hood, sweats, t-shirt, socks,  fur slippers... and I am not ashamed to admit I even sat on the couch watching a movie with my blanket coat on over all that stuff under a blanket a few times. Can anyone say, ridiculous?

 What can't I do that I want to in this stinking weather? 

1. Go get a hot cup of magic a la Dunkin Donuts anytime I want

2. Go on a date with my sneakers running outside with my iPod 

3. Wear Flip Flops

4. Lay in the sun (of course I wear sunscreen, keep your pantaloons on)

5. Even eating ice cream is not fun in the winter

What CAN I do in this freezing weather? 

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

All I have to say is that Punxsuatwney Phil better not see his shadow on Thursday February 2nd, because if he does... to quote the title from the film that robbed Viggo Mortensen of an Oscar for his role in the film "Eastern Promises" back in 2008 -
"There Will Be Blood." 

So let's hear it for, no Shadow!

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xox
www.avaaston.com

Kick in the pants

Look Out! Or I will Kick You In The Pants!

It seems like everything is so PC these days, you have to be careful what you say. I just hope I don't get kicked off this blogsite for titling my blog "kick in the pants"... Just like Eddie Murphy's producer Brett Ratner got kicked in the pants for saying an "anti-gay" slur.

Speaking of kicking, have you kicked the Greek Girl yet?

What is the Greek girl rambling about today?  I'm talking about my kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is a really cool website for people looking to fund their own independent projects.  There are all kinds of projects, music, film, watches, just about anything you can imagine.  It empowers artists to kickstart their projects through selling their art in a creative way.  It's quite unique ~ check it out!

Here's my kickstarter link ~  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/avaaston/ava-aston-new-album

So what are you waiting for?  Lace up your sneakers and give me a good kick!  And... score some exclusive cool Ava Aston swag while you're at it!

Have a beautiful day!

Blessings, Love & Music ~
Ava :D xox
www.avaaston.com

Click here to learn about my KickStarter.com Campaign and how you can get involved.