a recipe for a better day

Sometimes it's hard to stay positive, especially when people you know, neighbors, and people you don't even know are verbally attacking you. So how do you stay positive? Well, here's how I do it. (Or attempt to do it.)

• I think about my good, close friends and all the fun, ridiculous times we've spent together. (Facebook's new Activity Log is actually a pretty good way to do that!)
• I take care of myself - go running, make a good dinner, or go to bed early.
• I treat myself to a little pick me up - nice piece of chocolate, cold beer, lunch with a friend.
• If I feel like I need to vent or say something to someone, I write it in my journal first, or think about what exactly I would say. (And depending on the situation, follow through and actually talk with the person.)
• I look through photos, read a good book or watch a movie. Anything to think about something completely different.
• I listen to ridiculous music and sing along. And dance. Like a buffoon. 

Here's to hoping that your bad days are few and far between!

exploring

I love discovering cute little hole-in-the-wall type places. And what's better than finding a couple city blocks lined with them!?
I'm obviously not the first person to discover Paseo El Carmen but it is a relatively new place for hanging out, and therefore it feels like I'm "discovering" it with everyone else. The Paseo is a couple blocks of walking friendly streets, lined with small bars, restaurants, art galleries, cafes, stores etc. and it's about a 5 minute drive away from my new house. About a year ago, the mayor began encouraging development of this area, complete with wide sidewalks, nice street lamps etc. And the change has been incredible.
Last night some friends and I went out to try a new bar and the whole Paseo was packed! The streets were closed to car traffic, so food vendors had set up in the street, along with artists, used book sellers, and street performers. There was a constant flow of people walking around, exploring, and greeting one another. Families, foreigners, locals, couples, youth and older people - all enjoying the incredibly pleasant atmosphere. Most of the bars and restaurants set up some additional tables and chairs in the street, so the whole area had the feel of a street fair.  There was live music on lots of street corners. It's really nice to find a place that feels homey, comfortable, and walkable. A nice treat in any city! I'll definitely be exploring it more.

donate it if you got it

I have always wanted to donate my hair. I have so much of it, I figure someone could probably benefit from it! So when I arrived at my grandparent's house for vacation and everyone commented on my really long hair - I haven't had a hair cut since last year - I mentioned that maybe it was time to donate it. Well, my grandma took that as "go" and she immediately called her stylist. I was having second doubts, but she already made the appointment. So I went for it. I chickened out a little bit and didn't donate all 10 inches - I found a different charity that accepts 8 inches or more. But still, that was a lot of hair! So now I'm back to the bob style that I had in early college. I'll probably keep growing my hair out and donate in another year. Wish me luck!


ready to "snip". She had to kind of saw away for a couple seconds. I'm telling you, I have LOTS of hair.



all done!



lime leader

do you remember kindergarten? Do you remember walking in lines with your classmates to get places? Were you ever the line leader? Every once and awhile, I got to be line leader and it just made me day! My parents especially love to talk about how excited I would get because I would say "lime" leader instead of line. Don't know why. Maybe it was just an early manifestation of my future preference for all things lime - lime tostitos, lime-ade, mojitos.... you know!
So you can imagine my excitement when we got off the plane in Fort Lauderdale and I was the first. one. off. the. plane! We had seats in first class - it was on Spirit so it wasn't a huge deal or anything. So that's why I got to walk off the plane first. It was a big day, it was a big day!

I get easily excited. Sometimes it's almost too easy.

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.

my daily chuckle

a few days ago I saw a bus plastered front to back and top to bottom on all sides with a Coca Cola Christmas ad - you know the one with the smiling Santa, right? Well, that one. However, some genius at Coca Cola, or maybe someone at the bus company, decided that the bus needed even more flair so they strung up Christmas lights around the outside of the bus. But not just any Christmas lights - purple, flashing Christmas lights. I was coming home one night on a bus and saw this special edition Christmas bus coming down the street. (If that crazy bus had pulled up at the bus stop I was waiting at, I don't know if I would have gotten on. Maybe just to see if it was decked out on the inside as well...) But anyway, both buses stopped at an intersection and my bus driver (driving the plain, generic, boring bus) gave the other bus driver (the one driving the Christmas extravaganza) a little head nod. I think that head nod was meant to say "Dude, I'm soooo sorry that you have to drive around in that crazy bus, but the fact that it's you and not me just makes me laugh even harder." Or at least, that's what I would have said.

this morning I saw a man sitting on a park bench texting. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Except it was in a park, it was in front of a McDonald's. And the bench wasn't a normal bench, it had one of those plastic Ronald McDonald figures in the middle so people can take pictures sitting with him. Well this man was texting with his hand holding the cell phone resting on Ronald's knee. (I mean, let's be honest, texting is tiring. It's only natural to look for some support, right?!) The moment could have been romantic, if it weren't for the plastic-y yellowness of Ronald. But it was mostly just a good chuckle for me.

and the ever popular misunderstood t-shirts. Classic favorites - the granny wearing a "gansta fo life" t-shirt, a 10 year old boy with "gold digger" plastered on his shirt, or the adolescent boy sporting a long sleeve t with "preggers princess" across the chest. Those are enough to make anybodies day.

how about a nice afternoon at the beach? that sure makes my day!