Talkin' Tuesday - Meet Melinda from MelindaMilkshake!

Click here to visit Melinda's Vintage Fashion from All Eras!

1.  At 20 I left the state with a group of people I had met two weeks before.  I travelled the country selling magazine subscriptions door to door for one year.  We went all over the country living in hotel rooms and having interesting encounters with strangers.  It was a great learning experience in my life. 

2.  I come from Amish heritage.  My great grandmother was born Amish and became Mennonite when her mother died and she was sent to live with a new family.  My grandmother was raised Mennonite and left the church when she was 18.  She cut off all her hair and promptly became an airplane pilot.  She was one of the first women stunt pilots and airplane racers, she was also the first women helicopter pilot in Michigan and one of the first women to race cars.  She rocks!  She had three sons and taught them to fly at very young ages. My father had a reputation for flying upside down more than right side up and he had me steering planes and co-piloting starting at the age of 9.  They lived on a farm with a runway between the cornfields and the Cessnas stored in the barn.  Much of my family is still Mennonite and Amish, although I was raised "English". 

3.  I was a goth cheerleader, in fact I was captain of the cheerleading squad.  We did competitive cheer and I loved it! 

4.  I once travelled around the country for several months with a boyfriend living at campgrounds and out of a Bronco.  My favorite memory of that time is sitting on the beach in Bodega Bay at full tide watching the surfers swim out and picnicking on french bread and brie.   

5.  I spent one year working on an all natural animal farm.  It's a cooperative community that was started in the 70's as an experiment in behavioral psychology.  I wanted to get in touch with where my food came from and reassess if meat eating was the right thing for me.  It turns out that I'm not as squeamish as I thought!  I participated in butchering a chicken and castrating a goat and I still eat meat!  While working there I was trained in all that goes into raising and farming dairy goats.  I hadn't thought about goats at all before that experience, but I quickly fell in love with them!  I now plan to have some goats of my own one day. 

6.  I spent ten years studying art, literature, creative writing and photography.  At one time I wanted to be a writer and even spent some time writing editorials for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Eventually I decided to be an anthropologist.  I started my Etsy shop so that I could work part time while earning my degree.  Now I'm earning a degree in both psychology and anthropology and I want nothing more than to work for myself and continue to expand my business!  I can't wait to be finished with school so that I can work full time for myself!

7.  Last spring my fiance and I took a trip together to Spain and Morocco.  We spent a month away from home and he proposed to me on the balcony of the apartment we rented in Barcelona.  It was the most beautiful time!  We will be married this August 27th on Lake Michigan and I will wear a sage green dress with a skirt I designed from fabric dating to the 1800's.  

8.  I have taken two solo trips to Europe.  Once I hitchhiked to Berlin from Dresden and took a road trip to Italy from Germany.  My German friend and I neither spoke or read Italian, so driving was quite an adventure!  We saw Florence, Pisa and some amazing medieval towns in the northern mountains.  We waded in ice cold glacial lakes of green and blue and slept without a tent on top of a small mountain over looking a farm village.  We were also yelled at by police men toting machine guns and followed by groups of young men attracted by my friend's blonde hair and blue eyes.  Another time I traveled alone to France and Spain from Germany.  I spoke no French and no Spanish.  My ATM card neglected to work when I arrived and I had to travel without money seven hours away to find my American credit union on a military base in Heidelberg.  I then befriended a military man outside of the base and convinced him of the importance of me getting to the credit union.  He took me into an office where he questioned me about terrorism before escorting me to the credit union.  I was so relieved to get my money!   

9.  The first time I travelled to Germany alone I almost missed my flight due to security at the Kalamazoo airport.  After searching, questioning, and scanning my hands for explosive residue, they finally revealed that they had detected bomb residue on my backpack.  The backpack was from WWII and still had residue (I even washed it) ! After some deliberation they put a special note on my passport and sent me on my airplane.  I still have that backpack but I won't be taking it on anymore long trips!    

10.  I have been hostess to The Black Lips, King Khan, The Fatals and Jay Reatard.  (These are musicians).  I wasn't going to include this tidbit, but a Black Lips song came on the radio just as I thought of the memory!  Synchronicity.  The Black Lips, King Khan and I played dress up and had a photo shoot.  I love playing dress up!  The guys wore my black tutus, 1970's nightgowns and sparkly eyeshadow which I applied to their lids.  Entirely too much fun for one evening.  However, I don't recommend lending out your favorite black tutu and bottle of fake blood to fledgling rock stars, they'll surely forget you. ; )  If you're reading this post the black tutu via Priority Mail asap!

*******Last week's false fact about Stephanie from LaCocoRouge was this one: #5. When I lived in Australia our school had a program called Extreme Adventures!  We traveled to Antarctica for a week to study penguins.  My favourite penguin was Louie because he liked to play fetch and a loose version of soccer which was really passing the ball back and forth.