An Interview With Richellephant

It only seemed appropriate to interview the girl who's behind all the interviews this week!

Oh you know, it's just an interview with Richelle, one of my closest friends, who's constantly name dropped on this blog, has her own etsy, dances... read on to her interview and learn even more about her!

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1. Hey Richelle! – tell us about yourself and your favorite things!
Hello hello! Even though I was born and raised in California, my heart absolutely longs to be in a place where fruit trees and super cool animals that won't eat me are everywhere I turn. I love anything that has to do with God, the outdoors, adventures, thrift stores, family, random outbursts of dance, feasting, nature, culture, helping people, loving people and so much more. I'm a believer of the impossible and aspire to be a dancer, even with only 1 year of formal training on my back. I really don't know what God is doing with my life and where He is leading me, but I'm learning to just go with it and have fun.

2. One of the things I love about your blog is your love for adventure and spontaneity. What are some of the most adventurous and spontaneous things you’ve done?
Oh boy, just to name a few: I've climbed to the top of Mt. Baldy without any ropes with my adventure partner! I feel like that one is pretty crazy, because we could have died or something is we weren't such super ninjas. I spontaneously drove out to the beach all by myself and spent hours praying and singing from one of the towers and beach cruising up and down the sidewalks, just because I wanted to. Lastly, I've discovered mounds of endless lady bugs while hiking, I make myself crepes at 2AM and I like to climb trees whenever I get the chance.

3. What are some aspirations, dreams, and goals you have for the future? What do you want to accomplish?
I aspire to one day be able to help people who start dance late like me, and commit to it. My goal isn't to be super famous or something, but my goal is to use dance to help people. I know that I have a voice that I want to share when it comes to dance, and I don't exactly know how to voice it out yet, but I know that I will in God's time. I haven't found my place, but I aspire to find it and to use it to be a light to the dance community. Aside from dance, I would like to travel the world and be a nomad as well. I'd like to experience other cultures. I also dream about opening my own cafe sometimes so that I could make crepes and smoothies for the entire town!

4. What do you love about blogging? What are some great things that you’ve gotten from blogging?
I love blogging because it gives me such a great outlet to let all of my stories, photos, ideas, struggles and creations go. It's just really relaxing and fun to me and I really enjoy it. I not only enjoy it because it serves as an outlet, but I also love how you can come across some of the most amazingly inspiring people! It's an incredible way to be inspired and to inspire.

5. Everyone in your family is so creative! Tell us what it was like growing up, was this creativity instilled when you were younger? What creative things did you guys do in the household?
Growing up with my crazy siblings and being raised by my awesome parents? Coolest thing ever. My parents home schooled all of us at one point in our lives, which I think definitely contributed to our closeness and different routes of creativity that each of us individually have. When we were little, it was more fun and games and you don't really know what's going on... but now, I can really appreciate it. Being able to have a big sister who can sew anything I need or even give me cool ideas when I have none. Being able to have another big sister who can experiment with my hair whenever I'm feeling impulsive. Being able to have a big brother who can quickly teach me any song on the guitar or piano because he's like a musical wizard. These things definitely weren't automatically instilled as children. They all had to work hard at it, like I'm working at dance. And these days, we all kind of just experiment at home with our own little things going on, then we come together and talk about it during dinner.

6. How do you pick your special vintage pieces for your etsy? Where are some of your favorite thrift shops for these finds?
My big sister, Ruby, trained me I think. The more I was with her, the more I started to notice the treasures amongst the piles and racks of never ending clothing. I really just dig and keep a good eye out, that's what you gotta do. When it comes to my favorite thrift shops, honestly, I have favorite thrift shops everywhere! And what's funny is, most of them are called, "THRIFT STOP".

7. I know you love food (just like me!), what are you favorite dishes? And what are some dishes you want to try?
I love Mexican food, crepes, soul food, ego waffles with Aunt Jemima syrup, dumplings, scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, Filipino-style spaghetti, hamburgers, steak, chicken wings, hot dogs, ribs, all you can eat Korean BBQ and just lots of meat. I don't think I could ever convert from being a carnivore to a vegetarian. As for dishes I would like to try? I would like to try an alligator hot dog, which is a hot dog, but alligator. My adventure partner tried it and ever since he told me about it, I've been so curious.

8. I love your honesty in your blog about your journey into becoming a dancer. What are some things you love about the dance community? What are some things you struggle with? Who is your backbone throughout all this?
The dance community is not only full of so many crazy talented people, but everyone is also so incredibly supportive and fun. I love the fact that everyone shares the same love for dance that you have when you are taking a dance class. However, I really do struggle like crazy. Doubt, anxiety, nervousness, fear of man... I struggle with the whole enchilada. I sometimes even cry when I'm by myself because of the situation that I'm in when it comes to starting late and not seeing myself as "good", but then I get through this by prayer and by reminding myself that everyone has their own unique story, and this one is MINE.

9. If you could travel to three places and live at each place for a year – where would you go and why?
The first place would be Alaska, because I love everything I see and read about that place- the animals, the weather, the aurora borealis, the people, the Eskimos. The second place would be Taiwan, because I want to learn the language so I can communicate with my adventure partner's grandma, who doesn't speak English. The third place would be Africa, because I want to play and dance with the children there.