Ten Things About Me You Don't Know
I have a fun little blog for you today. I thought I would share ten things you may not know about me. I had a lot of fun writing this, I hope you have just as much fun reading.
Let me know below which number shocked you the most.
Til Next Week!
TEN
I'm 100% "Greek American". As a child I was a little embarrassed to be Greek because there weren't any other kids who were greek in my school except for my cousins. My grandparents and extended family on both sides are all Greek. My grandfather came over for a better life when he was just 13. He left his family, everything he knew and did not speak English. He worked for grocery stores in St. Louis and ended up owning one of his own. I am very proud of my family and my heritage.
NINE
I don't have children but always wanted three boys! My career and ambitions kept me so busy that I put it off too long. Now, I realize how valuable good parents are. Now more than ever I believe it's a very big job and must be taken extremely seriously.
EIGHT
Going off of number seven, when people ask me what I value the most, I would say good parenting. Stay at home moms and dads who choose to be the executive of their household and family inspire me. I value a women's ability to nurture and teach our little humans to grow into responsible caring, loving and happy adults. Most Important job in the world.
SEVEN
My favorite color is yellow- a good golden yellow. No matter which house we moved into, I always had some room painted yellow. Still to this day it's my favorite color – the color of the sun!
SIX
I LOVE Cats! Since I am quite practical we had two cats that are brothers, so they could took care of each other during the day, Star and Bucks. Bucks just recently passed away and now Star is all by himself so I'm trying to figure out how to get another companion for him now that he's 13-years old and quite a bit older and set in his ways!
FIVE
What I'm passionate about? Helping those on this planet who cannot help themselves. Especially those who are hurt by humans directly or indirectly. So, I'm a big fan of helping :
A) Abused and abandoned children
B) Abused and abandoned animals. Especially overhunting of species. Humans have not only driven many species to extinction, but continue causing near extinction of many more.
C) Protecting our environment from humans over polluting our waters, oceans, lands and air.
FOUR
My favorite fruit – mangos!
THREE
My biggest dream is to live in and own a historic grand estate. Either a genuine historic French château or Spanish hacienda or historic Native American Santa Fe adobe.
I'm in love with the history of beautiful architecture and places I can cultivate and collect art. I have compiled books and real estate documents on hundreds of French chateaus all over France.
My husband and I actually spent three weeks visiting different regions to learn about history preservation and the cost and maintenance which is also quite grand!
With my parents being seniors and the bond I have to my family, I'm finding the dream bringing me here to the United States instead. Therefore the Santa Fe Adobe or the California Spanish Hacienda might be a little more realistic.
TWO
Most people think I've been a jewelry designer all my career but I actually never intended to design jewelry. I started designing in 2010 on a trip to central Mexico.
Growing up, I always had an interest in fashion, but my passion and true desire was to be an Interior Designer. I graduated with a degree in Interior Architecture, and started my own firm two years out of college in Dallas, Texas.
Believe it or not, I specialized in designing juvenile furnishings! My claim to fame back in the 1990s, was my crib designs. This was way before Pottery Barn Kids or Restoration Hardware Kids.
I have five design patents for special cribs and was the first one in the United States patent office to take casters and wheels off the bottoms of cribs.
These little things that I copyrighted and started, make me very proud. My career as the queen of baby design lasted almost 18 years.
ONE
What I am most proud of? When my husband and I moved to central Mexico. We lived in another culture without knowing anyone or even the language. My interior design, retail and furnishings business had grown so big that at one point just before summer of 2010, I told my husband I wanted to sell the house, move everything into storage, and spend the summer taking art classes, learning Spanish, and take Mexican cooking classes.
He could work from home and I could manage my retail stores from a distance. So we sold our house and moved to a Spanish colonial town in central Mexico. That summer break turned into 2 1/2 years of living, breathing and working in another culture. It was one of the best experiences of our lives.
Immersing yourself in a different culture is an amazing experience I recommend for everyone. You really find out what you're made of, and who you are.
I wanted to get back to my artisan-roots, freed up from contracts and paperwork and managing people. I got to work with my hands in sculpture classes and found that it turned into jewelry classes. This quickly turned into yet another business when I got into Neiman Marcus within six months of designing jewelry, then Saks Fifth Ave, and then Bloomingdales.
Now it's an honor that I find women are not just surrounding themselves with my designed furnishings but they are putting my creations on their bodies and adorning themselves with Stephanie Kantis – this is truly an honor.
