Christine gave up a great career in the high tech industry to move to France and bartend and work on her fabulous tan…. didn’t get the travel bug fully out of her and is headed to Australia to work, write and have more fun.
That is a life plan that I can fully get behind.
For someone that hasn’t flipped many pages over on her life calendar, she certainly has already lived a pretty full life. It is going to be a life well worth following in the future and luckily she’s got a great website where you can do just that. So go check outher website, C’est Christine, follow her on Twitter and in the meantime enjoy her wonderful answers to the Lucky 13:
1 – where do you want to retire to?
I would move back to the French Riviera in a heartbeat. I adore Nice, but my parents really like Menton. Since they’re nearing retirement age, I’m going to go ahead and say that I’ll probably prefer the pastel-colored boredom and mild sunshine of Menton (a tiny beach town right on the Italian border) in my old age as well.
2 – language you’d like to be fluent in?
Spanish! Growing up in California, I have good hold on Mexican food terms, but after a few margaritas, I’m useless. I also have a tendency to throw a French or Italian accent on my rudimentary attempts atespanol, which just tends to confuse any potential Latin lovers.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnkwrq39HXw
3 – most embarrassing thing on your iPod?
One of my good friends who is always trying to enlighten me musically once gave me a withering glance as he commented on the remarkable amount of Christina Aguilera and *NSync on my iPod.
4 – Someone gave you $10,000 on the conditions that you spend it friviously and not on travel. How do you spend it?
An unforgettable weekend in Vegas. Fly in all my best friends, splurge on new party dresses and shoes, book the poshest hotel. Spend ridiculous amounts on food and alcohol. Treat everyone at the pool to a drink. Basically, just act like a hot mess with too much money to spend—isn’t that what Vegas is there for?
5 – Is there a dessert you can never pass up? If so, what is it?
It’s rare that I ever pass on dessert. I’m the friend who can always be convinced to share something—although, in all honesty, I’m usually the one doing the convincing. However, I can never say no to my mom’s apple pie, my grandma’s cheese pie or anything with “dark chocolate” in the description.
is it the hair?
6 – Celebrity that you would most like to slap or berate in person.
I think Justin Bieber is a giant waste of time. I would like to slap some sense into all “Bieber Fever” fans.
7 – Person on Twitter you most look forward to finally meeting in person.
It’d be pretty cool to meet @backpackingmatt in person since we realized that his mom and my aunt work together! Such a small world. And @cailinoneil because she’s just so freaking friendly that I feel like we’ve been friends for ages although we’ve never technically met. It’s an awkward world, Twitter is.
8 – Most overrated country?
Spain. Some people love it, but it’s not for me. I don’t like Gaudi’s architecture and I wasn’t overly impressed with the food. I will say that large quantities of sangria and sandy beaches are Spain’s saving graces.
Ummm, do you also have a blond friend we can cast for?
9 – Who plays you in the movie about your life?
Natalie Portman! Mostly because we share the same birthday and she went to Harvard. Everyone always thinks I look like someone they know, so I really just need a generic brunette with an ability to act a little crazy—and after seeing Black Swan, I know Natalie Portman could do that swimmingly.
10 – Fill in the blank again: I am embarrassed that I have never finished any book written by _________.
Homer
. I just bought the CliffNotes straightaway, although I’m fairly sure I did that with most books I had to read in high school.
11 – What is your perfect dinner party — you and 4 others.
Bill Bryson, Jamie Oliver, Stephen Clarke/Paul West (who wrote A Year in the Merde
) and Annie Leibovitz. Bill Bryson and Stephen Clarke (his pen name was Paul West) made the list because they both wrote books, like In a Sunburned Country
, that made me laugh out loud frequently while I was reading in public places, so I think they’d be pretty darn funny in person with some great travel and expat stories. Jamie Oliver because I think he could able to give me some awesome cooking tips and because I’d love to pick his brain about childhood obesity in America, which I seriously believe is going to be our biggest failure as a nation. Annie Leibovitz because I just saw an exhibit of her work in Sydney, and I was just blown away. Her photos are incredibly powerful, and she had such a crazy life—touring with the Rolling Stones, working with Vogue, living in Paris. Mostly, they all seem like really genuine and interesting people who would enjoy a stiff drink and a good meal.
12 – Best Christmas/holiday season movie of all time.
This is tough because one of my family’s Christmas traditions is watching Christmas movies together, and we’re always adding new ones. I think it’s a tie between Love Actually
and Home Alone
. I’m a sucker for romantic comedies, but there’s a certain comfort in watching Harry and Marv slip on the race cars in the entry every year.
13 – you are at the Pearly Gates, what question do you most fear from St. Peter.
Any inquiry into my high school and college years. I wasn’t exactly the model Catholic school girl.
Love the questions (and answers). Sounds like a great dinner gathering.
I’ve met Backpacking Matt but have yet to meet Cailin O’Neil. Good choices! I have to disagree on Spain being overrated, but I can respect your reasons 😉 Hope your first few weeks in Australia have been amazing. From what I’ve read so far, it sounds like you’re having a fab time!
I know some people absolutely love Spain, but I was underwhelmed–and under pressure to choose an answer for most overrated country! There’s still plenty to explore, so I’m totally open to returning 🙂
Maybe its because I am new here but I really like the “Lucky 13”. Getting to know other bloggers is great!
My entire family watch Christmas Vacation every Christmas eve and it makes me laugh every time! Also love White Christmas.
White Christmas is one of my favorites as well, but for some reason, we don’t own it on DVD–so I always wait for the AMC 24 hours of White Christmas! I knew all the songs by heart as a kid 🙂
Ha! Great interview. “Home Alone” is definitely on my top 4 list of Christmas movies!
Great interview with Christine. I agree with her on Spain though. The food is not that great but I did like Barcelona and Gaudi. Didn’t like Madrid at all but loved Sevilla! As for Christmas movie, I like Home Alone when I was younger. However, I am embarrassed to admit my favorite holiday movie now is The Holiday.
OMG I’m defriending both of you now, Espana is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would move there JUST for the food and Gaudi.
Haha don’t defriend me yet!!! I would definitely give Spain another go, but I’m too much of a Francophile for my own good 🙁
The Holiday is totally on my family’s list! Definitely one of my favorites!
You actually do remind of someone I knew back home lookswise 🙂 It’s funny that you chose Natalie Portman as the person to play you–I’ve thought of her Black Swan co-star Mila Kunis as the person to play me because she seems fiesty and she has the dark hair, light eyes thing going on like me.
Um, and Love Actually is totally my holiday movie I must watch every year! I watched it very soon after I got here when I was homesick with another expat.
Final note: Backpacking Matt is awesome.
So funny that you watched a British romantic comedy when homesick for America! I always think of the opening scene at the airport–and almost always makes me teary eyed! I still listen to the Love Actually soundtrack when I need to fall asleep, since I fell asleep watching it so many times in college–Pavlov effect!
And go for the Mila Kunis thing–she’s awesome!
As usual, love the interview!
Love Actually and Home Alone are my top 2 holiday movies to watch, as well! I can’t remember a recent year going by without seeing them both at least once — maybe twice!
Also good choice on Natalie Portman. She kicks so much ass it’s not funny.
I got so excited when Home Alone 2 came on TV here the other day! It’s been ages since I saw that one. And Natalie Portman…seriously, love her.
Great interview Christine…. it reminds me that I need to add some NSYNC back onto my ipod 😉
Thanks for having me as someone that you want to meet! I really want to meet you too! I remember that one time on #TNI before you had launched your blog and you hadn’t told anyone yet about all of the
exciting things you had planned in your life and you shared it with me and were so excited!
Hopefully we will meet in Australia maybe in April? 🙂
Small world about Matt too!
Awesome interviews Michael keep em’ coming!
Haha yes can’t believe it’s almost been a year since then!!! And I’ll be in Melbourne in April, but totally think you should come visit 🙂 We’ll cross paths eventually!
haha I might agree about Spain…
Good answers, and good questions!
Glad that someone agrees with me!
It sounds like you lead an interesting life– I’d love to see Natalie Portman play you in a movie 🙂
I think it would have been a lot easier to convince her pre-Oscar. Oh well, I’ll keep my eyes open for an up-and-coming generic brunette!
“Wasn’t the model Catholic School girl”
HAHA you made my day, can sure relate!
Hope all is well Christine! Love reading your stuff!
Thanks for reading, Katie! So great to know that I still have some “real-life friends” that follow my online stuff 🙂
Great interview, but oh, you are so wrong about Spain 🙂 Even if you don’t like Gaudi, you won’t see any of his architecture outside Catalunya. Spain is a large and diverse country, which has far more to offer than sangria and sand, and the more time I spend there the more I appreciate it. I know your remarks were tongue in cheek, but I’m sad that you can dismiss a whole country in a couple of sentences. You don’t know what you are missing 🙂
Food, yes, if you go into an average restaurant and order the menu del dia, you are likely to be underwhelmed. But San Sebastian, for example, has more Michelin stars than any other city in the world. And anyway … when in Spain, eat tapas (or pintxos if you are in the Basque country). It took us a while to grasp this!
The question was the most overrated country: to me, that was Spain. I heard all about its awesome food, nightlife and beaches and was beyond excited to go, and was a bit disappointed. Some of my best friends absolutely adore Spain, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me. I’d totally be willing to give it another chance, but I stand by answer.
I’d be interested in where you got your statistic on San Sebastian having the most Michelin stars in the world. Just looked it up and couldn’t find anything to support that.
Fun interview Christine! And yes, while Twitter may be an awkward world, it’s kind of awesomely awkward, non? I’ve met some seriously great people through it (as I’m sure you have too) and been able to communicate with some who would probably never give me the time of day in a normal social setting (uh, ok BBC reporter-man, we can talk over the Twitter but let’s be honest – you’d ignore me if I asked you a question in real life).
Hope our paths cross in 2011! Safe travels.
Ok, ok I know you’re getting a lot of flack for your Spain comments…and as difficult as it is I’ll spare you mine 🙂 But I will encourage you to give it another chance, I think you’d love Basque Country, which is unlike any other part of Spain…in fact they don’t even consider themselves Spanish, but that’s another story for another day.
(Here’s a NY Times article mentioning San-Seb’s Michelin stars: https://travel.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/travel/16going.html)
Anyway, great interview! Christine is a travel blogger I’ve followed for a long time, being the same age (same name!) with backgrounds in PR and a life path that took us to neighboring countries for a bit, I’m always interested in her writing (and lovely photos too!). Thanks for featuring her!
Yes, I do accept that Spain isn’t for everyone — life would be very boring if we all liked the same things, and you have a perfect right to be disappointed with it. I just thought your reasons were the wrong ones 🙂 Anyway, life is all about discovery.
Oh, and yes, I should have said “per square km”. Although I don’t know how strictly accurate this claim is, for a relatively small city San Sebastian has an awful lot of good eating. And other Christine, yes, the Basque country is a place apart.
Great answers, Christine! And, Love Actually is in my top 10 all-time favorite movies, too! We watch it every year on Christmas Eve Eve and watch It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve. 🙂
My cousin did this, gave up a high powered career to bar tend in st. Kitts. She’s now considering moving on with Australia and New Zealand two countries she’s looking at. Me, I doubt I’m ever leaving Spain again, certainly wouldn’t go back to the US 🙂
Ummm Nsync is awesome. Not a model catholic school girl? someone was a badass? AWESOME!
Aww I love Christine! Nice to get a peak into her personality. Now I have some beef with the French Riveria? Everyone wants to retire there! lol. You couldn’t think of something unique like the Iranian Riveria? lol 😛