Tag: happy

creativity

Day 20: A magician in the kitchen

Christa Avampato
Me smiling with a plate of Golden Diner’s famous pancakes

I see myself as an amateur cook and baker, and a professional eater. I’m always hungry for something delicious. I also love that other than a recipe I may have on my phone (though I love cookbooks – I read them like novels!), cooking and baking are completely analog, tactile activities. No screens. No chatter. Lots of experimenting. No matter how well I know a recipe, making it never unfolds exactly the same way twice (at least not for me!)

I don’t like shopping. At all. Except for grocery shopping. Picking out and trying on clothes. Ugh. Not at all interested. Picking out produce, spice blends, cheeses. Sign me up for all of that. I get giddy as I head home with my grocery bags knowing they are full of potential to bring me joy.

There’s something magical and poetic about taking a bunch of separate ingredients and combining them to make something greater than the sum of its parts. I love the science, art, and sprinkle of luck that’s involved in cooking and baking.

Because I’m an adventurous eater, I’m also an adventurous cook and baker. I love to try making a cuisine that’s not in my wheelhouse. I love cracking into a recipe that I’ve never made before. I like to stretch my techniques, trying to make something that feels just beyond my skill set. Like all adventures, there will be some mishaps. Sometimes, I’ll mess up, make a mess, or burn something.

The other day I made something that was *truly* awful. I tossed it right into the compost, which crushed my heart a bit because it felt like a waste of time and I hate food waste. It makes me hangry to make something terrible, but that’s part of the process of an analog activity.

Sometimes I’ll completely surprise myself with how good something is. I’ll master a technique that I’ve worked hard to fully understand and execute. That makes me feel like a wizard, confident in my abilities and happy with a full belly.

When perfecting a recipe, I have to try and try again to get it just right and to get a result I’m consistently happy with. And there’s something to be said for that. Yes, the reward of something perfectly cooked or baked is a thing of beauty. But there’s also so much reward in the process itself from the planning and research, to shopping, to being in my kitchen and then at my dining table. I even like the washing up afterwards.

On my bucket list is a cooking vacation where the entire point of the trip is to take cooking classes, go to food markets, and visit farms, restaurants, and food businesses. Food is so full of everything I love – culture, history, and stories. Always stories. And to me, that sounds like an ideal way to spend my time.

creativity

Day 27: It takes a village to heal

Christa Avampato

Healing is a group sport. None of us do it alone. My team is enormous and varied, clinically and personally, earth-bound and spiritually. We’re all involved in an intricate dance where even the steps that seem backward in the moment are just part of how this journey unfolds in real-time. Healing isn’t linear. It can’t be. The world and our bodies are forever in motion on the macro and micro levels. Life is chancey and we never know exactly what’s around the bend.

I see this unfold with my foster dogs on an accelerated timeline. I think it’s one of the great tragedies that our beloved best furry friends (bffs) never live long enough no matter how many years we have them. The best we can do is make every day a great day with them.

My current foster is Blondie. She may be familiar to you. I picked up this little senior lady at Animal Care Centers of NYC last summer and fostered her for Muddy Paws. She was adopted quickly because she’s a sweetheart 🥹 and sadly returned 😭.

On top of the very difficult life she had prior to being found running alone and terrified through traffic on the BQE (!) 🤯 and taken to the ACC by a good samaritan, she’s faced a number of health challenges recently.😥

Now she’s back with me. Thanks to the INCREDIBLE care provided by our rockstar Muddy Paws vet team (YES, we have a veterinarian and vet tech on staff in our very own vet clinic!), I’m nursing her back to health and looking for the perfect adopter to help this very deserving girl have a comfortable, joyful retirement chapter. 😍👑

Second, to help Blondie and the 1,000+ dogs we find homes for EVERY YEAR, a generous donor is matching all donations made TODAY. Every $1 you donate instantly becomes $2! 💲💸

If you’d like to make a donation of any size to my fundraising page (truly, EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR HELPS!), that amount will be matched and go directly to helping our dogs find their happy forever homes.

Here is the link to my page and an enormous thank you in advance for helping me, my fosters like Blondie, and the Muddy Paws pack save the lives of more dogs every day: https://give.muddypawsrescue.org/phineas 2026.

Sending lots of love and gratitude to you always! I am so grateful to all of you who support me in my health journey and the dogs in the Muddy Paws pack. We couldn’t heal without you, and healing is the greatest gift we can ever give anyone.

creativity

A dream realized – I graduated from University of Cambridge

Christa Avampato

It happened! A dream deferred, but not denied. The hope of going to and graduating from University of Cambridge was part of what kept me alive during my cancer journey in 2020 / 2021. On Friday, that hope became a reality — I graduated with my Master’s in Sustainability Leadership with my friends, family, and faculty there.

The best part of these years has been to do this programme with such a stunning group of people who have inspired me from day one when we started down this path together in September 2022 – students, faculty, and staff. No one’s more fortunate than me to have had this experience with them and to call them dear friends.

In this uncertain world, I’m not sure what my next chapter holds. I do know I’m on my way and all the better for having these gorgeous people as fellow travelers.

A profound thank you full of love and an enormous congratulations to everyone in Cohort 13. I’m beyond proud to be one of you and I’m already looking forward to our next reunion.💚 (Happy photos below!)

creativity

Joy today: Day 1 of my new job in TV and film production

Christa Avampato

57277825_10104886286269956_3692905922977333248_oMy expectations for Day 1 of my new job were insanely high & they were exceeded in every way. See the hearts in my eyes?! All the side hustling & creative struggle for all these years were absolutely worth it. And I’m so grateful. I’ll find a way to pay forward this joy. Thank you to all of you who have been on this ride with me. Your constant support means more to me than I have words to express.

creativity

A Year of Yes: A smile really does help

Christa Avampato

Screen Shot 2018-10-29 at 8.26.13 PMMe: “How’s your day?”

Cashier: “It was so-so. But you have a really beautiful smile and I feel so much better about my day now because of you.” (He said this as he put his hand to his heart and there was something about that gesture that really meant a lot to me.)

This is an interaction I had yesterday after I had a really terrible day. To be honest, I forced myself to smile at this cashier because I was trying to make myself feel better. And the smile did help me, or at least it helped me feel better to make someone else’s day better.

Small gestures make a big impact. Sometimes something as simple as a “hi, how are you?”, meaning it, and smiling really does help. So here’s a smile today if you need one. Pass it on. Let’s work on bringing the light where and when we can to anyone who needs it.

creativity

A Year of Yes: It’s in the quiet that you find your voice

Christa Avampato

“When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is very easy to miss it.” ~Boris Pasternak

I used to wait for big moments, sign posts from the universe, that I was on the right track, doing the right thing, making the right choices. Poor Brian has listened to me prattle on endlessly in my sessions with him about my plans A, B, and C, followed swiftly by the making of plans D, E, and F.

“Because what if I get it wrong?” I would say.

To which he always replies, “You need to trust yourself enough to know that no matter what happens, you’re going to make it work. You always have, and you always will.”

And he’s right. Dammit, he’s always right.

In these many years of trying to figure it all out, I’ve learned exactly one thing—that the big moments are never dressed up as big moments. I have to get very quiet to hear them; I have to stare at them for a long time to really see them for what they are. And I often have to do things that my mind doesn’t understand because my heart knows exactly what needs to be done. And my mind catches up with my heart, eventually.

My hope for you today is that you find a single moment to get very quiet, to hear the beating of your heart so that you can see the tremendously opportunity in this day. And then I hope you make the leap to make the most of it. I’m cheering for you. I’m always cheering for you.

creativity

2018: A Year of Yes

Christa Avampato

My 2018 resolution can be summed up in one word: Yes. My friend, Ria, recently told me about an article she read in which the author explained that when you commit to saying yes, your day ends up in a completely different place than where it started. And I’m all for that. Yes to:

    • adventure
    • travel
    • learning
    • passion
    • creativity
    • exploration
    • joy
    • opportunity
    • community
    • building a better city, country, & world
    • kindness
    • helping others

I’m going to make 2018 the best year of my life so far in every way. And I’m going to lift others as I rise. We’re doing this.

creativity

In the pause: Stay close to people who feel like sunshine

Christa Avampato

“Stay close to people who feel like sunshine.” ~Anonymous

This may just be the secret to a happier, more joyful life. I love those people who lift us up just by their presence, who make us feel more alive, more hopeful, and more empowered to build a better world.

 

creativity

In the pause: I’m the happiest New Yorker

Christa Avampato

A month ago today I packed my rental car and moved back to New York City. Yesterday while I walked Phin in Central Park, a man I didn’t know stopped me and said, “You’re the happiest person I’ve ever seen in New York.” I think he’s right; I was smiling wide for no reason at all.

Being away from New York for almost three years made me even more grateful for what this city has to offer. Every day I wake up and think anything can happen. Possibility is everywhere. Part of making things happen has to do with my energy and efforts and part of it has to do with the energy of this city. Put them together and something is bound to happen. It always does.

creativity

In the pause: Where you find real happiness

Christa Avampato

“Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.” ~Roy M. Goodman

So often we’re trying to get to happy rather than realizing that happiness is right here within us. We carry it, and it carries us. It’s in the small moments and in the those small bits of time between the moments. If we can find and promote happiness there, then every day is a win.