Just For the Heli of It: My First Time in A Chopper

I got an interesting email this week from a producer at Keep in News, an international news wire service I've worked with before. Their segments air on the French network TF1 and usually consist of them interviewing you about whatever entertainment story they're working on at a normal location, but this one was way more unusual. They were doing a report about the rumor that Angelina Jolie was buying Brad Pitt a heart-shaped private island with a house designed by his favorite architect Frank Lloyd Wright for his 50th birthday, which is on Dec. 18, and wanted to interview me during on a helicopter tour over the island.

(FYI, I told them this story was never confirmed and there's been conflicting reports about its validity, but they wanted to proceed anyway so I agreed to discuss it from a rumor perspective.) The idea made me excited but also apprehensive. Anyone who's traveled with me knows that although I fly often, I'm a slightly nervous flyer. I've taken small "puddlejumper" type planes before and really dislike them. And while I was a little hesistant to do a taped interview while flying on a helicopter for the first time where I could quite possibly freak out, I felt like it was a cool opportunity so I agreed. We met at the heliport by Wall Street on a clear and very cold afternoon.

Helicopters are pretty noisy so everyone has to wear big headphones with microphones so you can hear and talk to each other, which was actually kind of fun. We did our charter through Zip Aviation and our pilot, James, was super nice and totally calmed my nerves before takeoff. I had no idea what to expect, but flying in a chopper feels way different than a plane. It's almost like you're floating when you takeoff.

We flew up the Hudson river and around Manhattan, which gave us amazing views of the famous skyline and landmarks like the Empire State building. Because helicopters fly lower than planes, you get insane views of all the skyscrapers and you also have cell service the whole time.

I was originally worried about turbulence since you feel it much more on a small aircraft, but the ride was fairly smooth and the sights were so impressive, I quickly forgot about my fears and started enjoying the experience.

After about 25 minutes, we got our first glimpse of heart-shaped Petra Island, which is in the middle of Lake Mahopac and accessible only by boat or helicopter. In the winter when the lake is frozen, a helicopter is the only way to get there. It's a completely private island with only two houses on it. The first, a small cottage, was built by Frank Lloyd Wright himself in 1950 and second was built in 2008 from his original plans.

The main house is 5,000 square feet with 2,000 square feet of outdoor decks with wraparound panoramic views. There's rock and wood elements throughout the entire house in typical Wright style.

The famed architect has factored into past birthday presents for Brangelina. For Brad's 43rd birthday, Angelina arranged a private tour of his Fallingwater estate, where they celebrated with champagne and caviar in the living room. It was so incredible to see Petra Island and the Massaro house from above. We circled it a few times before heading back down the Hudson to Manhattan, where we were treated to more amazing views of the Freedom Tower.

When we touched down on the helipad, I was almost sad to be back on the ground.

I'm so glad I didn't let my fear hold me back from missing out on such a wonderful and unique experience. It's important to challenge yourself and keep pushing your limits whenever the opportunity presents itself. You can watch the entire segment here. I'd definitely recommend a helicopter tour to anyone after the great time I had. And speaking of great times, I haven't written about Art Basel yet because this week was so busy. We had nearly perfect weather and one of the best parts was cruising around South Beach on the free bikes from the Mondrian, where we stayed.

It's hard to believe that picture was just one week ago, as it's blizzarding outside at the moment in NYC. 

Stay warm this weekend!

Follow me on Twitter @cristinagibson and Instagram @cristinablairgibson

Miami Me! Art Basel, Here We Come...Again

It's already December and tonight feels a little like Christmas Eve to me because I'm so excited to be going back to Art Basel again tomorrow! But instead of making a list and checking it twice like I did in my younger years, it's more like checking the weather forecast in Miami obsessively and making sure you're confirmed for all the fun parties.

Art Basel is an annual art festival where people from around the world come to enjoy the beautiful beaches, star-studded parties and oh yeah, the art! Last year was my first time going so I thought I'd revisit some highlights from 2012.

Basel is all about the bashes and one of my favorites was the Dom Perignon Luminous Rose party at Wall, which is the club inside the W. The party brought out a bunch of bold-faced names like Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Kourtney Kardashian, Scott Disick, Demi Moore and many more.

Photo credit: BFA

Sure, it's cool to see celebs but I loved the bubbly, which was freely flowing all night. This particular type of Dom is pink and comes in a cool glow in the dark bottle, which were on display everywhere at the party.

But I think my favorite memory is when I went on a random boat ride with a bunch of friends on my last day in Miami. It wasn't a yacht or anything fancy, but we had the best time cruising around the waves and enjoying the sun and sea. There's just something magical to me about being on the water.

We even got to see a dolphin during our boating adventure, which is way cooler than a celeb any day!

This year, I'm staying at the Mondrian South Beach and I hear the pool is amazing so I don't even mind that I'm getting up at 4 a.m. to make my 6 a.m. flight down because that means I'll be working on my tan poolside before noon! Signing off for now so I can get some sleep before the big weekend, but check back for more updates soon from South Beach.

Follow me on Twitter @cristinagibson and Instagram @cristinablairgibson

Art Basel Bound and Bicoastal Besties

Hello from the friendly skies! This is my very first time blogging from 30,000 feet high...gotta love technology. I'm currently en route to Miami for Art Basel. I've been to Miami many times but this is my first time going for Art Basel, which is a huge contemporary art fair. I'm super excited to ditch NYC's freezing temps for some fun in the sun and get some culture, of course. In addition to lots of exhibits and shows, there's also tons of parties happening this weekend in South Beach. My friend Rhiannon Ally, who anchors CBS4 Morning News in Miami, is graciously hosting me for the weekend so I'm excited to catch up with her and hit the town. Diddy, Demi Moore and Lenny Kravitz are already down there so I'm sure I'll be in good company.

Speaking of good company, I also got to catch up with another one of my best friends Whitney English this week in NYC. Whitney and I first met in LA, when we both worked at E!, and now we still get to work together at SheKnows.com. Whit, who also has her own blog, was out here to interview Jenny McCarthy. During her downtime, we hit Washington Square Park together, attend designer Monika Chiang's 1 year anniversary party, did dinner at Fig and Olive with another one of our LA-turned-NY BFFs Katie and check out Kristin Cavallari's Chinese Laundry shoe launch party at Avenue. All in a day's work!

I can't believe it's already December! Our Movember party at Southside last week was a big success and raised more than $2,000 for charity. Thank you to everyone who attended and donated! Big thank to you Roberto DePalo, who took a ton of great pics for us, too.

Credit: DePalo Photography

I'm signing off for now but I'll try to post more this weekend. Miami, here I come!

Get all the action in real time on Twitter @cristinagibson and Instagram @cristinablairgibson