I am so proud to share with everyone that on February 27th, 2024 I received my Greek Passport from the Consul Generals Office in Los Angeles. This was a long arduous process that started roughly 18 years ago at the incessant encouragement of a very dear wise friend. There were lots of twists & turns over the years, things got put on hold, but finally in the last 2 years with numerous trips to government offices in Greece and the unwavering help of my uncle, I collected all of the necessary documents for Greek Passport Eligibility. To say that I am now an official Greek Passport holder fills my heart beyond words. This little book is not just a government document to me. It represents so much more. Ya see, the reason I was having such a hard time being “eligible” was because I am the first person in my entire family to be born in America. My mom, my dad, my sister and my brother were all born in Greece. I was the “oops” baby once they got to the USA 🤪. My whole family has proof of birth documents, baptismal certificates, last place of residence, etc. I on the other hand, didn’t exist anywhere on paper in Greece. Despite having spent nearly every single summer since I was 5 years old there, there was no documentation of my existence. Why would there be, right? After all, I’m American. I was born here and I live here. And why is this even important to begin with? (I’ll get to that in a minute) While yes, I am very American…I’m ALSO very Greek. Just ask my DNA! 😄 My story is continued in comments below: 👇
I am so proud to share with everyone that on February 27th, 2024 I received my Greek Passport from the Consul Generals Office in Los Angeles. This was a long arduous process that started roughly 18 years ago at the incessant encouragement of a very dear wise friend. There were lots of twists & turns over the years, things got put on hold, but finally in the last 2 years with numerous trips to government offices in Greece and the unwavering help of my uncle, I collected all of the necessary documents for Greek Passport Eligibility. To say that I am now an official Greek Passport holder fills my heart beyond words. This little book is not just a government document to me. It represents so much more. Ya see, the reason I was having such a hard time being “eligible” was because I am the first person in my entire family to be born in America. My mom, my dad, my sister and my brother were all born in Greece. I was the “oops” baby once they got to the USA 🤪. My whole family has proof of birth documents, baptismal certificates, last place of residence, etc. I on the other hand, didn’t exist anywhere on paper in Greece. Despite having spent nearly every single summer since I was 5 years old there, there was no documentation of my existence. Why would there be, right? After all, I’m American. I was born here and I live here. And why is this even important to begin with? (I’ll get to that in a minute) While yes, I am very American…I’m ALSO very Greek. Just ask my DNA! 😄 My story is continued in comments below: 👇
Make sure to catch me bright and early tomorrow morning on @ktla5news chatting about the beautifully magical Christmas movie, “A Paris Christmas Waltz” starring @jen_lilley and @matthewmorrison. It’s the very first Christmas movie I have ever been a part of and it was SO MUCH FUN. I had less than a week to prepare and was told I had to have a French accent. Ummm….excusé moi???😳🤪 Lol. Some place, somewhere in the world all of my former French teachers from middle school and high school are cringing. Ha!! 😂. I hope you all love watching this movie as much as we all loved making it. Merry Christmas everybody…..or shall I say Joyeux Noël. 🎄#christmas #christmasmovie #holiday #aparischristmaswaltz
Wow!!! So sad to hear about Barry Humphries AKA Dame Edna passing. He was such a funny kind witty human. This pic is from 2015. He came on my show Home and Family on Hallmark Channel at the time and he did his hysterical thing. He was shamelessly flirting with me while dressed in full drag which made it that much funnier. He invited me to see his show here in LA. Me and some people from the show went and he gave us the best seats in the house. We were crying with laughter the entire time. He then sent US a thank you note for having him on our show and said what a wonderful time he had. He was a class act. May he rest in peace! 🙏🏻 #dameedna #rip
One of my very favorite things in the world used to be making mix tapes back in the day. A pleasure that Millennials and Gen Zers will likely never experience. I was so obsessed with making mixes, that I even started burning CD’s for people when the tapes became obsolete. 🤪 I literally used to make a mix tape for every event in my life, as well as my friends lives as gifts to them. I also never threw a party without making the most amazing mix tapes for said parties first. For me, music was and still is what sets the mood for so many of life’s memorable moments. I am truly a huge fan of all music. And I do not discriminate between genres either. That is why my very first job in TV was at MTV. I wanted to work there for the M not the TV. 😀I love it all!!! So, I was really feelin it today and wanted to celebrate my fellow Generation X’ers by putting my skills to use and making a little old school New Wave mix tape that’s gonna likely bring back a whole lot of memories and have everyone feelin a certain kind of way. I had so much fun doing this something tells me this is gonna be the first of many. I hope this makes you smile. Enjoy my Gen X’ers…and all my fellow music lovers as well. #musiclover #musichead #genx #genxers #80s #80smusic #newwave 🫶😋
Nikolaos (Niko) Matenopoulos- Happy Heavenly Birthday Baba! You would’ve been 83 today. I can’t believe you’ve been gone for almost 12 years. It feels like just yesterday and it also feels like an eternity. I still get signs from you letting me know you’re here. I love it when that happens. It always makes me smile. You were in my dream a few weeks ago. It felt so real. You were so happy and bright eyed, laughing and smiling so big. So full of life. Seeing you like that made my heart feel full. I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and peace. Like everything was gonna be ok…..you always made me feel like everything was gonna be ok. Thank you for coming to visit me. Please do it more often. We all still miss you so much!!! The grief never really goes away, it just changes. Love you Baba. Until we meet again. #findacure #cureals #loveyou 🕊️
Nikolaos (Niko) Matenopoulos- Happy Heavenly Birthday Baba! You would’ve been 83 today. I can’t believe you’ve been gone for almost 12 years. It feels like just yesterday and it also feels like an eternity. I still get signs from you letting me know you’re here. I love it when that happens. It always makes me smile. You were in my dream a few weeks ago. It felt so real. You were so happy and bright eyed, laughing and smiling so big. So full of life. Seeing you like that made my heart feel full. I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and peace. Like everything was gonna be ok…..you always made me feel like everything was gonna be ok. Thank you for coming to visit me. Please do it more often. We all still miss you so much!!! The grief never really goes away, it just changes. Love you Baba. Until we meet again. #findacure #cureals #loveyou 🕊️
Nikolaos (Niko) Matenopoulos- Happy Heavenly Birthday Baba! You would’ve been 83 today. I can’t believe you’ve been gone for almost 12 years. It feels like just yesterday and it also feels like an eternity. I still get signs from you letting me know you’re here. I love it when that happens. It always makes me smile. You were in my dream a few weeks ago. It felt so real. You were so happy and bright eyed, laughing and smiling so big. So full of life. Seeing you like that made my heart feel full. I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and peace. Like everything was gonna be ok…..you always made me feel like everything was gonna be ok. Thank you for coming to visit me. Please do it more often. We all still miss you so much!!! The grief never really goes away, it just changes. Love you Baba. Until we meet again. #findacure #cureals #loveyou 🕊️
Nikolaos (Niko) Matenopoulos- Happy Heavenly Birthday Baba! You would’ve been 83 today. I can’t believe you’ve been gone for almost 12 years. It feels like just yesterday and it also feels like an eternity. I still get signs from you letting me know you’re here. I love it when that happens. It always makes me smile. You were in my dream a few weeks ago. It felt so real. You were so happy and bright eyed, laughing and smiling so big. So full of life. Seeing you like that made my heart feel full. I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and peace. Like everything was gonna be ok…..you always made me feel like everything was gonna be ok. Thank you for coming to visit me. Please do it more often. We all still miss you so much!!! The grief never really goes away, it just changes. Love you Baba. Until we meet again. #findacure #cureals #loveyou 🕊️
Who’s ready for a good laugh this Sunday morning??? That one time on Home and Family when I was 9 months pregnant with Alexandra and my executive producer thought it would be a good idea to dress me like Charo @officialcharo because we had the whole cast of “The Love Boat” on including guest star Charo that day and she would be singing a song for us. I mean… the things my boss would make us do for a laugh 🤭🤪 Charo loved it!!! I on the other hand thought my water would break at any moment. My hair/makeup and wardrobe girls clearly had a field day with this one. @francinevaldivia thank you for sending this to me this morning and starting my day with a good laugh and a great memory. Man, we had the greatest time on that show. In the famous words of Charo “Coochie Coochie Coo”. 😂😂😂
A friendly reminder from Milo that a new episode of the podcast is streaming now on Apple and Spotify with @iamdebbiem is everyone liking the pod so far?
🦃GOBBLE GOBBLE🦃 I know….I know…. People typically skip Thanksgiving decorations and dive straight into Christmas BUT I simply could not help myself. I just had to recycle my Barbie Haunted Dream House pumpkins from Halloween. Especially the massive, close to 200 pound, pumpkin. It was begging me to turn it into a Big Ol’ Turkey and that’s exactly what I did. So I headed back to the art supply store for more spray paint in festive fall harvest colors. I’m fairly certain the people that work there think I am a professional graffiti artist as I peruse their spray paint section more than the average person and I always ask them how well the paint will hold up outside in the elements 🤣. Perhaps I missed my calling. Anyway, 6 spray paint cans later from @blickwestla , a dozen colored pampas from @worldmarket , a turkey hat from @amazon , a downloadable turkey face, the left over hay and pumpkins from Halloween, as well as a few random fall decorations I pulled out of my garage and Voila. My simple and festive Thanksgiving front yard scape for my neighbors to enjoy…..until Sunday 🤪. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. May you and all of your loved ones have full hearts and full bellies this Thursday and everyday for that matter🥰. Sending you all lots of love and blessings. #thankful #thanksgiving #turkey #fall #festive #decor #diy #thanksgivingdecor #family
📼 Happy Mix Tape Monday y’all 📼. This time I put together a bunch of my favorite tracks from back in the day that include new wave, pop and ska. There were so many different sounds back then that made music so much fun and they all bring back so many vivid memories of my childhood. That’s one of the reasons I love music so much. It has the ability to evoke memories and emotions in us in mere seconds. Whereas, it takes other art forms, like movies for instance, hours to make us feel a certain kind of way. While pop and ska have been around since the 50’s New Wave is unique to Gen X as it was born in the 70’s and continued to evolve in the 80’s mostly with British artists. It made its way across the pond thanks to the help of my alma mater MTV. We here in America are responsible for some amazing New Wave artists too though, like Devo (who I have included here) as well as The Talking Heads and Blondie who I will include in the coming weeks. I hope you enjoy this weeks mix tape my fellow music lovers!!! And I hope these songs will put a hop in your step to start your week. #music #musiclover #musichead #newwave #mtv #genx #generationx #80s #80smusic 🎶
I had WAYYYY more fun than is probably normal making that last little “Mix Tape” for everyone that I wanted to keep the party going and keep making these little mixes for all of my Gen X’ers and just music lovers like myself out there. I cannot tell you how much this is bringing me back and how much joy this is bringing me. I really feel like if I didn’t work in television I would have wanted to be an A&R Exec at a record label (which don’t really exist like they used to anymore unfortunately). Here is my New Wave-ish Volume 2 Mix Tape for everyone. I am planning on going through all of the genres of our generation eventually. So if there is something you’d like to hear, I’m taking requests and I’ll eventually get to it. 😁I hope this brings a smile to your face and a little hop to your step this Monday Morning. Happy Mix Tape Monday!!! #mixtapemonday #musiclover #newwave #mtv #genx #generationx
📼Happy Mix Tape Monday 📼. Today I dedicated this little compilation to the Disco Funk Fusion sound. During the Gen X years some of the most incredible sounds and new genres were created in music. One of them being Disco and another being Funk. Both born in the late 60s and 70’s and really being based in Jazz. Thats why there were those BIG BAND sounds around that time with full horn sections that we don’t really see much of anymore, unfortunately. I can’t explain how much I LOVE the sound of horns in any music. It makes me feel a certain kind of way. 😋Up until now, I’ve mainly focused on the New Wave stuff because there is so much of it from that time and there is still so much to cover. But before doing that I needed to shine a light on the amazing dance music that was second to none and that is still played in almost every club in the world. So when I say our generation had the best music…it’s fairly easy to back up. I had so much fun with todays mix. I even had to double down on some of the artists because their music was just THAT good and really defined the era. All of these songs STILL hold up today. And the outfits that they all wore back then were EPIC. I was dying laughing making this. Also a big shout out to @dianaross in this one and just how stunningly and naturally gorgeous she looks. If you don’t move your body in some way or smile while listening to this mix…..you may want to check and see that you still have a pulse. I LOVE all of these artists so much. I even had the honor of meeting and spending time with Earth Wind and Fire years ago and to this day, it’s still one of the best days of my life. Enjoy my fellow music lovers!!! genx #generationx #music #musiclover #musichead #disco #funk #70s #80s #dancemusic
It’s MIXTAPE MONDAY again 📼!!! After a small respite, it’s back by popular demand. 😁This time I went deep 80’s New Wave with Siousxie and The Banshees and Oingo Boingo. I even included The Smiths who were very polarizing at the time. Either you loved The Smiths and Morrissey or you couldn’t stand them. I sorta bounced back and forth. The overly “emo woe is me” thing did get old TBH, but I could also appreciate their musical talents. 😁 Anyway, I hope this helps you start your week with a smile on your face. I can’t stop singing these songs!! They are just so good! Once again proving we absolutely had the best music in 80’s. #80s #newwave #genx #generationx #music #musiclover
Happy Mix Tape Monday my friends. Today I made a little compilation of Funk, Reggae, and R&B for all my Gen X’ers out there who had the pleasure of enjoying these songs the first time around. These are just a few of my very favorites from a time when you had to either press record on your boom box to capture your favorite songs or go to the record store to buy the albums. “Hey Siri, play 80’s music” didn’t exist back then. I only wish I could make these longer than 90 seconds. This music deserves more time. By the way- fun fact about music from the Generation X Era….Funk music was actually born during our generation as was disco and so many other genres. More on that in the following weeks. Meanwhile, enjoy this little love letter to all of you. The first track always makes me feel so happy and nostalgic. I hope you love these songs as much as I do and I hope they put a smile on your face. #mixtape #generationx #genx #music #musiclover #mtv #80 #80s
@iamdebbiem whips up an easy pasta dish packed with hearty protein and nutritious vegetables. 😋 For the recipe, visit greatamericancommunity.com
I am so excited about my new episode of a “Cheerful Heart and Home” featuring one of the most inspirational and simply wonderful people I have ever met, Dr. LaVerne Ford Wimberly, which drops today on greatamericancommunity.com and on the GACommunity App. You may recognize Dr. Wimberly from our days in lockdown during COVID. She would get dressed up every Sunday and attend her online church service dressed in her Sunday best and post a picture each week. She practically broke the internet and became a beacon of hope and faith for all of us when there was very little of either to go around. Dr. Wimberly was the worlds Grandma when we needed her most. There to give us a big tight hug with words of encouragement that things would get better. Her life story is truly incredible and she is now sharing it with all of us in hopes of continuing to inspire and encourage us to be the very best people we can be. She has compiled her words of wisdom and life lessons in her new book “My Sunday Best: Pearls of Wisdom, Wit Grace and Style” and it is a must read. Please make sure to watch this episode as it is really one of my favorites and just in time for Easter 🐣. Thank you Dr. Wimberly for being YOU!
You will absolutely LOVE my conversation with @kimgravel. There are not enough complimentary adjectives available in the English language to describe just how amazing this woman is. She is beyond inspirational. She is open. She is honest. She is self deprecating. She is confident. She is REAL. And she has now written a book sharing her life’s journey with us and helping us to rediscover the confidence that lives inside of each and every one of us. Kim is a beautiful force with incredible energy and her book “Collecting Confidence” is destined to be a best seller. Make sure to check out our full interview of my latest episode of “A Cheerful Heart and Home” on Greatamericancommunity.com and on the GACommunity APP.
@iamdebbiem and her daughter, Alexandra, share why you need a gratitude jar in your life and show how to make one for the New Year. ♥️ For the full video, visit greatamericancommunity.com
Meet my friend Brodi Nicholas. He is one of the most inspiring humans I have the pleasure of calling a friend. Brodi started a non profit organization 5 years ago called Campaign One At a Time to help children with life threatening, and many times terminal illnesses, by bringing joy and happiness back into their lives which can unfortunately be very heavy and bleak. What started as just helping a few kids has now grown into thousands and thousands. The world is a much better place for having you in it Brodi. Thank you for all that you do. You are truly an angel. To hear all about Brodi’s amazing organization and what he does to make these kids dreams come true check out my new episode of “A Cheerful Heart and Home” at greatamericancommunity.com and the GACommunity app
Spring has sprung and summer is right around the corner, which means we will be showing a lot more skin. And we need to make sure to take care of our skin at every stage of our lives so that we can stay glowing and healthy and gorgeous for as long as humanly possible. That’s why I called my amazing friend board certified dermatologist @reemabatramd and asked her to have a chat with me about what we can do to look great at any age and with any skin type. And most importantly, what we can do to get glowing today!!! Make sure to check out my full interview at greatamericancommunity.com. And also on the GACommunity app. Your skin will thank you. 😚
@iamdebbiem is joined by longtime medical contributor and New York Times bestselling author of 24 books, Dr. Ian K. Smith @doctoriansmith 👏 They discuss his newest book, “The Met Flex Diet: Burn Better Fuel, Burn More Fat” and Dr. Smith shares tips to burn fat more efficiently by improving metabolic flexibility. 😊 For the full interview, visit greatamericancommunity.com or the GAcommunity App!
