vacation - twice as nice with no shoes

my parents are visiting me for vacation and that of course is a happy happening, but I think the best of the best was when we spent an entire day without shoes.
I really don't like to wear shoes. We lived for two years in Japan when I was little and my parents say that that's where they picked up the tradition, but however it came about, it stuck. We always take off our shoes as soon as we walk in the door. But I also like to be barefoot outside. In fact, I prefer being barefoot outside. It just feels...right.
So when I was able to spend an entire day - no, longer - probably about 40 hours, without shoes, I would have to say that that was an incredible day. My parents and I stayed at an eco-lodge on a beach in El Salvador. It's on a spit of sand wedged between an estuary with mangroves, and a beautiful white sand beach. Our second day there we had breakfast in the open air restaurant - with no shoes on, then went walking on the beach - still no shoes on, then to the pool, then lunch, after was hammock time, then the bar for happy hour and then dinner. All without putting on a single shoe, not even a sandal, flip flop or gina. It was glorious. I highly recommend it. Even if you stay in your house all day, still try to do it without shoes on. It just feels so much more like a vacation.

everyone say it with me *ahhhhhh*

chitin'

Soooo, my dog's in heat right now and that's not so fun. The lady next door complained to the security guard who mentioned it to my housemate who told me one night - "listen, that dog of yours, she whines a lot during the day." I'm sorry if the dogs that walk by the house just smell so attractive to her and she decides to whine/opine/lust after them!!! (I promise, I will get her fixed soon 'cause I for one don't want little puppies, much less want to make my neighbors angry, but I'm just saying, dogs are dogs. Your babies whine too, but you don't hear me saying anything!) So she whines.

And I know why. But I still try to keep her quiet. So I *chit* her. It's that corrective sound like Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer, does. It's really effective. It's also a very salvadoran sound so people always look at me like, "who are you and where did you learn that?!?" Or they just laugh at me. But it's the perfect sound for a dog because its distracts them for just long enough that they stop what they're doing. So she knows that whining is bad because I've *chit*ed her doing it. So now she kind of does this deep, short grunt, kind of like a hrrmph. It's like she's saying I really want to whine at the top of my lungs, but I know you won't let me, so I'm just gonna....hrrrmph! Sometimes its kind of like a sigh, other times like a moan, but whatever it is, it makes me laugh. Because it's super quiet and she looks at me with this pleeeeeease let me be loud?!? look on her face. It just makes me want to hug her. She's my Monkey. 

She's such a good dog. She makes me happy every day.

sunshine

Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine. 
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I see out of my window is the San Salvador volcano. Most mornings, there is a little cap of clouds sitting on top. The sunrise lights up this little cap and makes me smile.

When you possess light within, you see it externally.  ~Anaïs Nin

have the courage to live your life with happiness

A few days ago as I was finishing organizing my new room, and doing the requisite purge of stuff that accumulates, I came across a paper bag with notes from fellow Peace Corps volunteers from our last get-together - our close-of-service conference. Most of the messages said something nice or mentioned some mutual memory or event we had attended together, but one post-it note stuck out.
It has a simple drawing of a sun and a simple quote. nothing more. And the quote reads "have the courage to live your life with happiness". I think of myself as someone who lives her life with direction, or purpose or focus, but I realized that too often, I forget to live my life with happiness. And so I'm trying to change that. I plan to focus this blog more on happy happenings, or just happenings. Daily snippets as it were.

I remember when we were little, our mom had the family share "happy happenings" every night at the dinner table. She would write down, uncensored, whatever we said in a notebook. I don't specifically remember any of them, but I'm sure my 4th grade self had some awesome happy happenings. Today my tomagochi pet learned how to roll over! So I'm taking a page from that old notebook, wherever you may be! and I'm beginning with my own happy happenings.

I went for a run this morning, and decided to focus my run on effort, or lack thereof. By this I mean that I tried to run as effortlessly as possible. I've been doing some research lately into different ways to run. Specifically the 100 ups, Pose method, and Chi Running. (Two caveats - 1) these methods are also used to encourage barefoot running. I am not discouraging or encouraging barefoot running. Decide what is best for you. 2) Some sport scientists say that these methods of running reduce "economy" i.e. speed. While that might be true, I for one am not looking to win any races, I'm looking to go long distances, hard, without hurting myself.) They all focus on mid-foot striking instead of heel or toe striking, which has never been a huge problem for me, but more importantly they encourage you to focus on quick leg pace, picking up your knees - marching band style, and picking up your feet - kick-butt style. Elite runners (and all runners really) often warm up with high knees and butt kicks but it's not just to stretch muscles, it's because those are the motions that your legs should go through when you run. Going faster by extending your stride is a sure-fire way to injury. Instead, focus on picking up your feet more quickly. The more time your feet spend on the ground, the slower you go.
So in short, I did all that, or tried my best to do it, and let me tell you, my run was amazing. It felt light, effortless, free, even painless, so I was able to do more distance, and able to do it faster than I normally do. So a great workout is my happy happening for today. What's yours?

Happy happening from last weekend - releasing baby sea turtles into the ocean! My job is awesome.