(Extra) Ordinary People

Carolyn Dismuke was living a great life but felt something was missing... Her view changed when she discovered vineyards in her backyard that weren't really on the map in the wine world. She decided to study in a world-renowned wine studies program learning about the classic wine regions, the grape growing process, and more. With her passion on fire she moved out of her home base with the goal of living in different California wine regions every month to soak it all in. 

We discuss the fear she overcame and the stigma of leaving a life that tradiitonally is seen as safe and "successful". What it means to follow your passion and other life lessons.

You can find her on social media @DrinkYourWords or on her website. 

Check out her book Drink Your Words  at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Walmart. 

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(E) OPP

Dennis Torres grew up in a working class town in New Jersey, where his curiosity and diverse environment molded him into a man driven by adventure.

He has worked 64 different jobs and careers including running the merry-go-round at the Santa Monica Pier, bartending, industrial engineer, a dairy farmer, a big rig truck driver, exploring the Amazon, a commercial pilot, mediator and arbitrator of litigated cases and a graduate school professor at Pepperdine teaching courses to MBA students.

He is the grandson of a famous writer who mentored and encouraged him to write. He has authored four books including:
The Amazong of Ray Goldberg Rivera (A Life Well-Lived Book 1)
There Are No Good Giants (A Life Well-Lived Book 2)
Not Far From the Ocean (A Life Well-Lived Book 3)
The Course: Acquiring Wealth, Powers, Success Morally and Ethically (A Life Well-Lived Book 4)

Dennis shares with us his stories and what he's learned from "a life well-lived". 

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(E) OPP

This episode is a follow up to #13 Joyce McAndrews - An Artist's Life. On this one, she shares the final pieces to the story of her completion of a three year long project named Project Co-Mingle. 

This project covers the entire process of building the world's first skyscraper built by a new process called "Speed Core". The tower was erected in downtown Seattle and Joyce's recount of the project is inspiring to put it lightly. It was a project that never should have been but Joyce was able to follow her intuition, overcome her fears and lead with love making this concept manifest to reality. 

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(E) OPP

I was introduced to Alicia through my friend TK from episode #8 who told me one important fact about Alicia, she is RESILIENT.

Alicia struck me as extremely positive and kind right away and as we dug into her story about chasing her dreams and working her way into owning her own business I quickly realized how hard working and resilient she really is.

You can find out more about Alicia and her business at:
Her website Alicia Bell Design
Instagram @AliciaBellDesign

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(E) OPP

I think we've all day dreamed of leaving our work lives behind to pick up a nomadic lifestyle. Traveling from place to place, living off of the basics, meeting new people and freeing ourselves from the stress of work. Dreaming is one thing but having the courage to actually follow through with a plan is another... can you see where this is going? 

Alison and her fiancé Tyler left their jobs and traveled to 25 countries in less than two years! Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Greece, Egypt, Cairo, Kenya, Madagascar, Botswana, South Africa and the  list goes on.

On this episode we talk about her travels, where the inspiration came from, what the plan was and all of the things she learned along the way about the world, life and herself.

You can follow Alison and her adventures in a few locations on Instagram:
@AlisonRosem - Alison's personal account
@AlisonandTylertravel - Alison and her fiancé Tyler's travel page
@SeattleTastyVibes - Alison's latest page where she posts about Seattle's food scene 

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(E) OPP

Kooper has sea water running through his veins... okay, corny start to this bio but I'M NOT AN AUTHOR GET OFF ME... In all seriousness, Koop has been boating with his family since he was in diapers. After college, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in the boating world and his dream was to work on a National Geographic Boat as a Naturalist but had no idea how he'd do it. Then one day, while docking with his family on a boating trip, a Nat Geo boat was docked close by. With nothing to lose, Koop walked over and chatted with the crew and eventually found his way working as a deck hand traveling the world with Nat Geo. 

His story doesn't stop there. He's been on a unique journey sailing the world and I believe you'll enjoy hearing about it. 

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(E) OPP

Christine Torres is an amazing woman. She's my wife, but that's not what makes her special (it's just a big part of it). Christine is my rock, she's resilient, she's funny, she's gorgeous, she's the full package and she is the greatest mom the world has ever seen.

This episode she shares our infertility journey and the challenges and eventual triumph of going through the process of IVF.

You can find her on Instagram @christinectorres

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(E) OPP

Roman "Romi" Kristl is a passionate action sport junkie who comes from a line of athletes. His father was an olympic kayaker for his home country Slovakia and Romi's mother was a national collegiate swimmer and water polo player and his uncle Marek Kristl a national squash player in Slovakia who went undefeated for 6 years.   

At age 14 Romi started as a slope style rider for the slope style circuit. From there he progressed to the Mountain Dew Tour riding for the Grand Prix tournaments and eventually moved into the Free Riding world of snowboarding and was sponsored by North Face and Jones Snowboards riding internationally in North and South America and throughout Europe.

Riding professionally didn't come without a cost. By age 18 Romi suffered 15 surgeries and had to make a decision to continue chasing his dream or make a drastic change in his life.

You can learn more about Roman from the links below:
Instagram: @Romi_Kristl
His Slovakia Snowboarding movie: The Untracked Mind
Mammoth Riding Video
9-10 Season Video
Inertia Article
World Snowboard Tour

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(E) OPP

Glenn Rockowitz is an American writer, filmmaker, comedian and voice actor. His love of comedy started when he joined the infamous improve group "The Second City in Chicago". The group has a long standing history where many comics got their start, including: Steve Carrel, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert and Tina Fey just to name a few.

After initiating his career in comedy at Second City, Glenn was offered a role as a writer for SNL and shortly thereafter he founded a nonprofit AIDS and cancer charity in NYC, known as The Best Medicine Group—an organization that brought live comedy shows into the homes of terminally-ill patients throughout the metropolitan New York area and was named New Yorker of the Week by NY1 five years after he founded the group.

At 28 years old, Glenn's world was turned upside down when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only 3 months to live. In his memoir Rodeo In Joliet, he shares his story of being diagnosed just before the birth of his only child. In his second book, a companion memoir to his first, Cotton Teeth, Glenn writes about what it was like facing terminal cancer alongside his father; both of whom were diagnosed a week apart.

Today, Glenn serves as the Director of Clinical Advocacy for the Health Care Rights Initiative in Seattle. He works as a voice actor - you might have heard him in commercials for Xbox, Alaska Airlines, T-Mobile, Expedia, Quiznos or the Seattle Seahawks but most importantly, Glenn truly enjoys every minute of every day,  because he understands more than most that "none of us have any idea if we will have 'this' moment again" and he takes every opportunity to soak each moment in.

You can find Glenn's books on Amazon and watch him share his story on NPR's The Moth | Radio Hour at https://themoth.org/storytellers/glenn-rockowitz

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(E) OPP

Shannon Milner is a Michigan girl who moved to Seattle to study business at the University of Washington. Growing up her, and her family spent time enjoying outdoor activities. But that all came tumbling down when, at the age of 10, she had a terrible skiing accident that affected the way she has lived her life up to this point.

Her trauma from this incident has made life difficult for Shannon but her perseverance and positive outlook has made her stronger, more empathetic and more optimistic than ever.

You can find Shannon on IG @shannonigans0002

If you like these episodes, please share it with friends, enemies and the like. Get the word out. Subscribe and give us a 5 Star Review, if you dare.

Thanks,
(E) OPP