Question of the Day: What makes you happy?

What makes you happy?

Well, here's my partial list of things that make me happy:

- Days when the sun is shining and the temperature is between 65 and 75 degrees.
- Date nights
- Cute Instagrams of doggies! (like here, here and here)
- When the plane touches down at my destination
- When the immigration officer stamps my passport and says "Welcome!"
- Watching FC Barcelona score goals
- Dancing to "my jam!" (I have several)
- Coming home to a clean house & the hubby cooking a yummy dinner
- That moment when I see the bus coming down the street
- When whatever I'm baking/cooking/making comes out delicious.
- Walking into a local coffee shop and the smell of freshly-brewed goodness that hits my nostrils!
- Snail mail
- Being in California
- ... and my mom-- it's her birthday today and I want to wish the most amazing, wonderful woman in my life a very happy birthday! Love you, momma!

 


How about you- what makes YOU happy? And if you need a little pick-me-up, here are 64 Mind-Blowing Facts that Will Make You Feel Incredibly Happy.

Liebster Award, part 3!

Back in February, I was given the Liebster award from my girl Selma over at Crazy Little World of Mine -- and I am finally responding now. Only more than 2 months later. Talk about being on the late train-- my bad!

This is my 4th Liebster Award-- so I think I can consider myself a Liebster pro! ;)

I'm going to cheat a little bit here. Since this is my 4th time doing this, I am going to skip my eleven random facts (am I the only one who thinks coming up with random things about yourself is pretty difficult??) and you can read my random facts here and here.

Here are the questions Selma asked and my answers:

1. Why did you start blogging?
     I used to really enjoy writing. And I would write a lot. When blogging became a thing, I got into it. Typing became more easy than writing on paper. I use it as a creative outlet.

2. What is your favorite quote and why?
     I have a lot of favorites. Here's one: 

{via}

3. What makes you laugh out loud?
    This.

4. What is your absolute favorite TV show you cannot miss at all?
    Mad Men, Parks & Rec, Modern Family, Game of Thrones, Girls, Walking Dead

5. What pet peeve do you have?
    When my kids (students) whine and drag out my name when they want my attention.

6. What is the LAST concert you went to?
     I can't even remember. That's kinda sad.

7. Do you get nervous before doctors' appointments? Why/Why not?
     Depends on what kind of doctor and/or what I'm there for. If I have to get any kind of shot, then yes, I get nervous. But generally, I don't.

8. What three things did you buy yesterday?
    Fish tacos, a bushwhacker, and a dirty chai.
 
9. Do you love where you live?
    The city- yes. As for our actual residence- no. Let me just say it's not the safest place in Nashville. . .
10. What is your guilty pleasure?
     Red velvet -- cakes, cookies, brownies, cheesecake- you name it!

11. What is the ONE thing you look forward to this year, and why?
      A R U B A!! Because I need it so, so bad.


Now my 11 questions for the bloggers I give this award to:
1. What is your favorite late-night snack?
2. What two animals, if combined, would make for an awesome animal?
3. What would you have named yourself at birth?
4. What is one hobby/interest you think you'll never grow out of?
5.  What's one thing you wish had never been invented?
6. What's one word that should be removed from everyone's vocabulary?
7. What trait(s) do you admire most in others?
8. If you could make one thing that's legal today, illegal, what would it be?
9.  How do you cheer yourself up when you're feeling stressed or down on your luck?
10. Which food item did you always despise but now love?
11. If all salaries were the same, what would you do for a living?


Now for the people I give this award to is: YOU! Yes, you-- reading this right now. I give you the Liebster Award. Now go tell us 11 random facts about yourself & answer my questions then make up 11 of your own.

Gotcha. ;)

Now go have some fun with this.

Thanks, Selma, for the award!

Traveling the Rainbow: Pink

The color pink is not one of my favorites. In fact, I'm not a big fan of it. But, in keeping with the whole "Spring-y" theme since it is that time of year still, I decided to pick pink for this edition of Traveling the Rainbow-- plus it is J's favorite color (seriously). For some reason, pink was the first color to come to my mind when I started writing this post. Before I even looked through my thousands and thousands of photos on my hard drive I thought, "I'm probably not going to have any pink photos..." but as luck would have it, I found quite a few!

P I N K

Pink, a delicate color that means sweet, nice, playful, cute, romantic, charming, feminine, and tenderness, is associated with bubble gum, flowers, babies, little girls, cotton candy, and sweetness.
The color pink is the color of universal love of oneself and of others. Pink represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability. -- From Color Meanings

Sunset in Boracay, Philippines

Sunset in Chicago.

Georgetown Cupcakes. Washington, D.C.

Street art in Granada, Spain.

Sunrise in Nashville, TN.

Sunset in Palau, Micronesia.

Sunset by the Mayon Volcano, Philippines.

South Korea.

Other Traveling the Rainbow colors:
Purple
Yellow

And as always, please feel free to post your own photos for Traveling the Rainbow!

Dream Travel Destinations: USA National Parks

In celebration of National Park Week, this round of my dream travel destinations is of national parks in the USA! There are so many amazing places that are here in my home country that I have yet to explore.

Here is a list of U.S National Parks that I haven't visited yet but hope to do so one day:

Great Smoky Mountains

The Smokies are actually really close to where we live now, so I'm sure we'll be visiting this one soon!

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Yellowstone

Via

Zion

Big Bend {via}

Olympic

Via

Arches

Via

Channel Islands

Where I'm from in California is actually really close to Channel Islands National Park. You can even see some of the islands from the beach in my hometown. I've only been to one of the islands (Anacapa) when I was in the 4th grade-- so I definitely need to go again!

Via

Hawai'i Volcanoes

Via

Honorable mentions:
Grand Teton
Bryce Canyon
Denali
Glacier
Haleakalā

Already visited:
The Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Sequoia

Other "Dream Travel Destinations":
Europe
North America

How about you-- what US National Parks do you want to visit? Which ones have you already been to? Any tips or suggestions?

 

Question of the Day: Memorable interaction with a stranger

What's the most memorable interaction you've had with a stranger?

I was actually going through old Facebook "notes" (remember those?) and I came across this one I wrote when I was in university about an interesting encounter I had while on my way to class:

My interesting encounter of the day...

Granted, I encounter quite a few interesting people on a daily basis, but not many that make me want to write about it. Today was one of those encounters... the type that makes me think about it all day.

Anyway, on to the story...
I was walking to the bus stop to go to school. When I got to the crosswalk, there was a guy, about my age, standing there holding a red tulip and a yellow tulip. As I approached the crosswalk, he says "Well good morning miss." "Good morning," I reply.
And the rest of our conversation goes like this:
Him: "Heading off to school?"
Me: "Yup."
Him: "Do you like flowers?"
Me: "Ummmm... sure... Yeah, I do..."
Him: "Here..." (handing his tulips towards me) "take one... please, you really should, I insist.."
Me: "Oh... ok..." (I take the red one because I'm wearing red today. I like coordinating my shirts with the flowers strange guys give me) "Thanks..."
Then as I try to cross the street, he says:
"You know, don't you?"
Me: "Wha... know what????"
Him: "Nothing..." He starts walking away, he turns around and goes "Just be careful today.." (right when he said that, I was tripping out, like what the heck is this dude talking about?!) Then he says "It's supposed to rain a lot today, so be careful.."
I don't know if he added that last part because he saw fear and confusion on my face, or he was just really trying to warn me about the rain?
Anyway, I tell him thanks. Then he tells me to have a nice day and I tell him the same. And we go our separate ways.

Now, the part that has me tripping out is when he asked me "You know, don't you?" I can't stop thinking about it. Is something supposed to happen today I should be aware about? Is something dangerous happening today? Something fun? Some party I should have been invited to? Some social, activist-type stuff going down in the streets I should know? Was I supposed to know something about the tulip?  WHAT SHOULD I KNOW?? My mind was going a million miles a minute, trying to figure it out and coming up with hypothetical reasons and situations.

...then maybe I'm just over-analyzing it (as most females do in situations). But I don't want to be totally naïve about it.. because what if something does go down today I should have known about? I guess I can't say I wasn't warned.

Or maybe he was an epiphany? What if I'm supposed to explore and question our encounter because there's something I need to know, something that would be useful or important in my life? Is the tulip supposed to tell me something? I do believe things happen for a reason. Was this encounter with this tulip-bearing guy just a coincidence or meant to happen? Am I supposed to learn from this? Or maybe he just knew that I'm a socially-aware person, and that I just KNOW.

Hmmm, who knows? At least I got a free tulip out of the deal.

the red tulip

This was definitely a memorable interaction! How about you-- what is a memorable interaction you had with a stranger?

Boy Behind the Blog #11

I'm a little on the late train with this one, but better late than never!

Here is this round's of Boy Behind the Blog. This time, it took several reminders and a lot of sighs from J to get him to do it, but he did it nonetheless! I'll take that.

1. Your significant other’s blog; a blessing or a curse?

Curse.

2. Do you read your wife's blog?

Sometimes.

3. What is one thing you can do better than anyone you know?

Rap.

4. What is your favorite TV sitcom from the 90's?

Seinfeld.

5. If you were opening a small business or shop, what would it be? What goods or services would you sell?

I would sell universal remote controls for televisions.

Linking up with Mal!

High Five For Friday: Fun & Food!

Yo! Sorry for the lackage of posts. I've been quite busy -- but in the best way possible. Our niece came to visit! We had a lot of fun-- we're so glad she chose to spend a few days of her spring break with us! 

Here are 5 of my favorite moments from the week:

1. Going to Dave & Buster's and winning big! We even won over 1,000 tickets on Wheel of Fortune the first time we played it. I think at the end of the night, we had won over 3,000 tickets! It was pretty awesome.

2. Eating at one of our fave breakfast spots- Pfunky Griddle, hiking at Radnor Lake, going to Dragon Park and Centennial Park all in one day.

3. Eating brunch at Mad Donna's and noticing who our server was:

4. Going to the Adventure Science Center and spending several hours there. It was a really cool place. I think we enjoyed exploring just as much as our niece did!

5. All the yummy food we ate!

All-You-Can-Eat pancakes you make yourself at your own table at Pfunky Griddle // Cap'n Crunch French toast at Mad Donna's // tacos & micheladas at Taco Mamacita // Grilled Cheese sandwich & burger w/sweet potato fries from Gabby's

How was your week? Any fun weekend plans? Whatever you do- I hope it's lovely and if you celebrate it- Happy Easter!

Linking up with Lauren!

Question of the Day: Celebrity Dinner Party

 Your celebrity dinner party. Who would you invite?

My celebrity list would probably be super long-- but here are a few that would be on it  for sure though (off the top of my head):

1. Erykah Badu - because she's my inspiration & favorite artist

Via

2. Natalie Portman - because she's my favorite actress

3. Justin Timberlake - because duh.

4. Gael Garcia Bernal - because he's my fave actor

via

 5. Anthony Bourdain - also an inspiration of mine

6. Jimmy Fallon - because I love his show & he just seems like a fun guy

7. Kevin Hart - one of my favorite comedians

8. Aziz Ansari - also a favorite comedian

9. Brandon Boyd - because he's amazing & I've loved him since forever

Via

10. Danica McKellar - so I could tell her all the stories about how I was constantly told "You know who you look like? Winnie Cooper!" when I was younger-- and also so we could compare in person if we still look alike.

I could go on & on. If I really had all these celebrities over for dinner, I don't know what I'd do with myself. I would probably be freaking out and they would all think I was a weirdo.

How about you? Who would you invite to your celebrity dinner party?