Daddy Dan Interviews.....Chanel Wood

On her website, Chanel Wood describes herself this way:

I’m Chanel, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, writer, photographer, life-long student, sister, daughter and lover. I’m quirky, friendly, under twenty and insatiably curious about everything and anything. I ask a lot of questions, and look for a lot of answers. I like to help people. According to a survey my closest friends and family took, my best character trait is my ability to be empathetic. I might also be crazy, and/or violent. Maybe.

Sounds interesting, right? Well, she is. She’s an excellent writer and photographer and she is definitely wise beyond her years.

Here’s my interview with Chanel Wood:

Daddy Dan (DD): Tell me a little about yourself.

Chanel Wood (CW): What can I say about myself? My name is Chanel, I hail from a lovely metropolitan city in Canada and my personality is an amalgamation of many, many things. Read on to find out more?

DD: How long have you been blogging?

CW: I got started in 2001, although I must admit that I probably wouldn’t show anyone the kind of entries I wrote back then—they were all very personal… sort of “diary style”. I left the blogging scene a couple years after that for a private livejournal. In early 2007, I started the website I have now.

DD: What got you started?

CW: Originally, I started blogging because two of my friends had blogs—I thought it was a neat idea for some reason or another and hopped on the blogwagon. (Okay, that was awful.)

DD: Why do you continue blogging? What do you get out of it? How long do you think you’ll continue?

CW: I continue blogging because it’s my creative outlet – I bring elements of my (offline) life to my blog, partially to share with others, partially to chronicle for myself. Although the tone and scope might change over the years, I can easily see myself blogging for as long as I’ll want a creative outlet—so for a long time.

DD: Tell me a little about your blog.

CW: I’d like to think that my website is an online representation of me—I like taking photos, so I post photos. I like to cook, so I post recipes. I love to discuss, so I write.

DD: Why should people read your blog?

CW: If I’ve done what I’ve intended to do … I will make you laugh and I will make you think. (Sometimes at the same time.) … And hopefully, inspire you in different ways and through different means.

DD: What types of blogs do you enjoy reading? Can you provide a list of your five favorite blogs? Why do you like these five?

CW: I read so many different types of blogs – food blogs, fashion blogs, celebrity gossip blogs (hey, not gonna lie!), photoblogs, personal blogs…

Dooce – This one is a given. As a photographer, I admire her photos. As a writer, I adore her quirky, sometimes dramatized writing style.

The Big Picture – Sort of like a news/current affairs site, but told in pictures instead of words. Some of the pictures on this blog are mind-blowing.

The Pioneer Woman – Talk about a content-rich website! She’s a photographer, a mother, a wife, a cook, and definitely a writer… which naturally makes her website very diverse and highly entertaining. Her love story, From black heels to tractor wheels is a definite must-read too.

Nonsociety – I love the idea of lifecasting, and I think each one of these girls brings something relatable (tech, fashion, dating) to the table. I’ve gotten a lot of great ideas from what they do.

Jessica Claire Photography – Jessica is one talented lady and I absolutely adore her photos. What more can I say?

DD: What are your favorite “non-blogging” activities?

CW: Ballroom dancing definitely ranks high up there. I also love reading (good old fashioned books), listening to records, cooking, baking, sewing, going out with friends, traveling, taking photos, running (or rather, training for races)… and much much more.

DD: What is the secret to happiness?

CW: Not waiting for happiness to knock on your door. I believe happiness is primarily a state of mind; you can be happy anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances if you so choose to be. Having said that, it sure can be hard sometimes—but possible, if you look for the right things in people and circumstances.

DD: What is your favorite quote?

CW: Oddly relating to the previous question… I think that my favorite quote (I collect quotes, so choosing just one is difficult!) would probably be one by Leo Rosten in which he says, “I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.”

DD: What, so far, has been the happiness moment of your life?

CW: So far, I think the happiness moment of my life was when I crossed the finish line of a 5K mock race in preparation for the 10K SunRun—it was a simple informal race, but I was running with a friend and together we fueled each other on hoping for our best time yet. When we crossed the finish line (with a brand new record), I was overcome by the most intense feeling of pure joy—which was obviously fueled by endorphins, no doubt—but I can’t truthfully say that any other moment has really quite measured up to that one.

DD: What has been your biggest regret?

CW: I can honestly say that I don’t have any regrets I hold on to—of course, like anyone, I have those “after the fact” regrets… but I do my best to make right the situation and move on. As I always try to tell myself and my friends, “you just need to let go.”

DD: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

CW: [Laughs] … This is one of the questions I hate the most, and to be totally honest I try not to think of it too much—so much can change in ten years, so I find it rather fruitless to try to picture myself in ten years when all I know is now. It’s kind of like how writers in the fifties tried to picture the future when they wrote futuristic novels—we are essentially “the future” (or close to it) of their time, but it looks nothing today like they pictured it then.

But If I have to answer this… I hope to be married, possibly with a family. Everything past that is drawing a blank for me.

DD: Do you monitor your blog stats?

CW: Definitely. I love to see where my readers are in the world and how they found my site!

DD: What are your five favorite places in the world? Why do you love them?

CW: I haven’t done enough world traveling for this to be completely accurate, but of the places I have gone, I would have to say…

Jerusalem (Israel) – Its hard to explain why this city is so lovable, but it just is. It’s rich with history wherever you go and the atmosphere is so unlike anything I’ve ever experienced anywhere else.

Caesarea (Israel) – Right on the Mediterranean sea, this place has one of the most gorgeous views I’ve ever seen.

Disneyland (California) – There is just so much I could say about Disneyland, but I’ll keep my strange loves to myself and just say this: you’re never too old!

Vancouver (British Columbia) – I might be a little (okay, a lot) biased here, but I do adore the city that I live in, even if we do get an abnormal amount of rain.

Victoria (British Columbia) – Located on Vancouver Island, just off the coast of the Mainland BC. Victoria is an incredibly cute, “artsy” city by the water.

DD: What are five things you want to do before you die?

CW: I want to go storm chasing – this has always been an interest of mine, and was only further fueled when I was in Alabama earlier this year during a tornado alert. I’d also like to see the northern lights, write a book (hopefully more than one) and have it published, visit outer space (providing “civilian” space travel is a little more time-tested and safe), and become internet famous.

DD: Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

CW: I love “old” (1940s &1950s) music; my record player gets more use than my CD player or radio.

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Also: Don’t miss the entire series of Daddy Dan Interviews

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 and is filed under Daddy Dan Interviews, Recent Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

#1 by Chanel on September 18th, 2008