This is a place for me to express my thoughts on racing, the environment, science, politics, and whatever else might cross my wandering mind.
It will be an overflow of random ideas, reflections, notes and quotes to be enjoyed by those of you who take the time to read it.
Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you down the road...
Peace,
PLEASE NOTE: This is my racing site so if my activities are related to the environment I will be
writing about them on my eco site Carbon Free Girl
where I will blog about the latest eco news and document the changes -- small and large -- that I am making to my life to reduce my carbon footprint.
I have also added some educational pages where you can find out more about sustainable living.
5.19.09 where the hell is matt?
After all the places I have been traveling in the past few months - Norway, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hawaii - I wish I had started
making my own "Where the hell is Leilani?" video. But a self-described deadbeat from Connecticut named Matt has already made this great video that says to me - we come in many shapes and sizes, we live in very different places, and we speak many different languages... but we are all the same! For more information on Matt, visit wherethehellismatt.com
4.14.09 tales from malaysia, new zealand, hawaii and more
Greetings! Wow, have I had a whirlwind these last few weeks! I have been traveling all over the place! In the past six weeks I have been to Malaysia, New Zealand, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. It's good to be home and I have some great stories to share
before I take off this weekend to speak at some Earth Day Festivals in Charleston and Phoenix.
March is Women's History Month, so I started out by heading over to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to give a speech at the Women of Independence Conference. There were some incredible ladies speaking with me and I want to share some of their stories with you. Hannah McKeand is a solo polar explorer who currently holds the world record (for both men and women) for the fastest trek to the South Pole. Jessica Cox was born without arms but this does not stop her from flying airplanes, driving cars, and living an otherwise normal life using her feet the way most of us use our hands. Rega Rauf is an international voice for women's rights for freedom and equality. After standing up against so called honour killings in Iraq, Rega was forced to go into hiding in Iraq and finally escaped to Sweden in 2001. Dr. Sunitha Krishnan is an international activist recognized for her never ending work to protect girls from trafficking as the founder and director of PRAJWALA in India. And I will never forget Alison Spencer, EOWA’s Diversity Leader of the Year in 2003, who told the most beautiful story about a small bird and brought the whole room, including myself, to tears.
My Malaysia gallery will be added to the travel section soon.
After Malaysia I headed to New Zealand to get married in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - Cathedral Cove on the Coromandal Peninsula of the north island of New Zealand. It was a small wedding with only a few close friends and family, and it couldn't have been more perfect. We had beautiful weather. I had my three older sisters and my new sister-in-law as my bridesmaids and my three gorgeous nieces were my flower girls. Both of my brother-in-laws were there and Bobby (who some of you know from his band the Grateful Dead) performed part of the ceremony and sang us a song at our reception. My mother performed the hula and it
always amazes me how she looks 16 again whenever she does the hula.
After the wedding was over, my husband (aka Kiwi) and I decided to jump out of a perfectly good airplane again. I had done this before in North Carolina a few years ago, but this time the scenery was just spectacular. We did this at Ballistic Blondes and if you ever find yourself in the Whangharei area of New Zealand, book yourself for an experience you will never forget. Our wedding gallery will be added to the travel section soon.
From New Zealand, I headed to San Francisco where I celebrated Earth Hour with my sisters, nieces, and Kiwi. They turned off the lights on the Golden Gate bridge. Earth Hour is gaining momentum every year! This year hundreds of millions of people in over 4,000 cities in 88 countries voted for Earth. Nearly 1000 global landmarks went dark including the egyptian pyramids, New York's Empire State Building, Paris' Eiffel Tower, the dome of St. Peters in the Vatican, Seattle's Space Needle, the Santa Monica Pier and even the Las Vegas strip shut down for the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change in history.
From San Francisco I went to Hawaii to give two more speeches for Women's History month. This time I was speaking to men and women from the US Army and the focus was not only on women, but women who are working to save our planet. I was very busy but I managed to get a couple of scuba dives in with Deep Ecology. This time I did my deepest dive yet - 100 ft down to the YO-257 shipwreck and it was amazing, as always! I swam with green turtles and a white tip reef shark was only a few feet away from me at the wreck. I have been on wreck dives before but this time we actually swam through the wreck which was super cool. Special thanks to everyone at Deep Ecology for another amazing day of diving! My Hawaii gallery will be added to the travel section soon.
Then I was off to Las Vegas where I introduced a new hybrid vehicle for 2010. Kudos to Vegas for participating in Earth Hour this year!
On Sunday, my brother in law Bob Weir kicked of his summer tour with The Dead in Greenboro, NC. It was an amazing show (as if we would have expected anything less!) and their first of 22 shows on their North American tour, check out tour dates here and see if they are coming to a city near you. "If I knew the way, I would take you home..."
This weekend I head to Charleston to speak at Charleston County's 2009 Earth Day Festival and then I am off to Arizona to give two more speeches for Earth Day. Then I will be jumping out of an airplane (my third time!) with the Golden Knights Elite Skydiving Team in Goldsboro, NC before heading to New York to see The Dead play Madison Square Garden.
Life is busy, but I am healthy and happy. I hope you are too.
March is Women's History Month, so I started out by heading over to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to give a speech at the Women of Independence Conference. There were some incredible ladies speaking with me and I want to share some of their stories with you. Hannah McKeand is a solo polar explorer who currently holds the world record (for both men and women) for the fastest trek to the South Pole. Jessica Cox was born without arms but this does not stop her from flying airplanes, driving cars, and living an otherwise normal life using her feet the way most of us use our hands. Rega Rauf is an international voice for women's rights for freedom and equality. After standing up against so called honour killings in Iraq, Rega was forced to go into hiding in Iraq and finally escaped to Sweden in 2001. Dr. Sunitha Krishnan is an international activist recognized for her never ending work to protect girls from trafficking as the founder and director of PRAJWALA in India. And I will never forget Alison Spencer, EOWA’s Diversity Leader of the Year in 2003, who told the most beautiful story about a small bird and brought the whole room, including myself, to tears. My Malaysia gallery will be added to the travel section soon.
After Malaysia I headed to New Zealand to get married in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - Cathedral Cove on the Coromandal Peninsula of the north island of New Zealand. It was a small wedding with only a few close friends and family, and it couldn't have been more perfect. We had beautiful weather. I had my three older sisters and my new sister-in-law as my bridesmaids and my three gorgeous nieces were my flower girls. Both of my brother-in-laws were there and Bobby (who some of you know from his band the Grateful Dead) performed part of the ceremony and sang us a song at our reception. My mother performed the hula and it always amazes me how she looks 16 again whenever she does the hula.
From New Zealand, I headed to San Francisco where I celebrated Earth Hour with my sisters, nieces, and Kiwi. They turned off the lights on the Golden Gate bridge. Earth Hour is gaining momentum every year! This year hundreds of millions of people in over 4,000 cities in 88 countries voted for Earth. Nearly 1000 global landmarks went dark including the egyptian pyramids, New York's Empire State Building, Paris' Eiffel Tower, the dome of St. Peters in the Vatican, Seattle's Space Needle, the Santa Monica Pier and even the Las Vegas strip shut down for the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change in history.
On Sunday, my brother in law Bob Weir kicked of his summer tour with The Dead in Greenboro, NC. It was an amazing show (as if we would have expected anything less!) and their first of 22 shows on their North American tour, check out tour dates here and see if they are coming to a city near you. "If I knew the way, I would take you home..."
