Blogger Spotlight: Chrissie DiAngelus

Here is our next featured blogger, Chrissie DiAngelus! Chrissie kindly and honestly answered some questions I threw her way. I'd also like to say she has a pretty stinkin' cool job (managing the tours of dance and theatre artists). Read on to learn more about Chrissie...

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Name

Chrissie DiAngelus

Location

Swarthmore, PA

Kids

1 little guy, Mitch, 3.5 years

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor

Cookies and Cream

Favorite BAD band (boy bands, one hit wonder, etc)
The Spice Girls, hands down. LOVE THEM!

Best place you've ever vacationed

Syros, Greece. I left the day I graduated college in 2000 and went for 3 glorious weeks. It was a study abroad program through our Art department: Pit Firing in Ancient Greece. I still have some of the pottery I created there. Whenever I’m in a mood, all I do is think of that trip – the raw beauty, the culture, the sense of wonder and peace I felt, the sense of adventure, the sense of inspiration and creation.

How long have you been blogging?

Since 2005. A good friend had suggested I try it because I was always sending mass emails to friends, bringing them up to speed on my life. There were always tons of crazy stories and my writing style is very literary. So – lots of adjectives.

Why did you choose your blog's name/theme?

I started my personal blog in Blogger in 05 and I still prefer it because it always flowed like a journal which is essentially what my blog is, even now. I’ve modernized the brand image in the last year but it’s still very “journal” feeling. What’s the Story? Reflects my personal stories but also my innate ability to tell them in words. One of my favorite bands is Oasis and when I was thinking of a blog name, something that tied in with “story,” I immediately thought of their 1996 album What’s the Story, Morning Glory? It seemed fitting. This whole Brit Pop or British inspired theme even inspired my company’s name and its corresponding blog (Piccadilly Arts).

Why did you start blogging?

Two fold. The tons of crazy stories needed documentation but I had also just lost my future mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer that summer and I had been an emotional wreck. Her illness plagued our entire engagement and it took a toll on me at work and just on my life in general. I had done so much for my fiancé and his family during that time that I didn’t give myself an opportunity to deal with my own issues in a productive way. Even the excitement of our pending wedding was lost on all the grief. So after she passed, I started blogging really as a way to get out all that needed to get out – some serious stuff, some silly and mundane stuff. Even now, the bulk of the posts are more reflections. That was the platform on which it was founded and it continues to be my place for that. As an Artist Manager to family performers, my business and its blog – Piccadilly Arts – is more focused on certain values and issues that are important to me and also shape the business’ brand and mission - like education reform, art education, and family programming in the performing arts.

What are you 3 favorite blog posts?

OMG, How do I choose? So many poignant ones and so many funny ones. These are all from What’s the Story?