Happy Hour

Just a quick check-in today for my Tone It Up Happy Hour challenge. They asked for ten things we're grateful for and I gave. :)

1. Waking up before Paul and pestering him until he decides to wake up.
2. Wearing purple all day. With a pink sports bra.
3. My dance team. Forever and always.
4. When people donate.
5. Finally coming home after a long day.
6. When people ask to take your shift so you don't have to go into work.
7. My friends.
8. The fact that I get to run tomorrow and keep thinking about it.
9. Making plans for summer and getting ready to kick butt.
10. Getting mail! I have a package that I think is my Beach Babe DVD and I'm pumped. :)

What made YOU happy today? :)

Funky

There are some days when you wake up in such a funk, you just want to sit by yourself all day. That's the kind of day I'm having. I don't have one single clue as to why I would feel this way, but that's the way I'm feeling.

I woke up and put on a green shirt and green shoes to try to work some magic: no dice. I made myself oatmeal with mashed banana and peanut butter: still not getting any. I've been writing "be happy" and other positive notes in class today: nada.

WHAT IS GOING ON!?

Blah. Workout wise, this week has been quite productive. Wednesday consisted of dancing, which is always great. Yesterday had even more dancing and some strength training. Also racquetball! I was nice and sweaty for my night class, so I'm sure everybody is a fan. I was supposed to run two miles as well, but I got home and was absolutely exhausted, so I pushed that today.

TECHNICALLY today is a rest day. But I need a pick me up. And even though it isn't nice, sunny running weather. Two miles will hopefully do the trick.

If you're like me and need some happy, I went and typed "happy" into Pinterest and so hopefully this will cheer things right up.

I do like cheese.

A POMSKY!

This looks like it would make me happy.

Pixar + Cupcakes = JOY

They look pretty enthused about life.

And lastly, I won't forget.

:)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! And GOOOOOOOOOO OWLS!

Is it lame to get the Friday blues? What makes you happy?

50 Little Things (Part I)

Okay. So the deal here is to write down a little thing that you are thankful for/that makes you happy. It started on October sixth and the goal is to get to fifty. This conveniently lands on Thanksgiving, so that by the time you get there, you'll have fifty things ready at the go to be thankful for. Today marks the halfway point, and I'd like to share it with you, because these are all things that really make me happy. I got the idea for this here, and I think it's great. :)

BULLETS, GO!

• The Penis Game: I am happy it made me shout inappropriately outside of a gelato place in Rome and giggle about it like a little two year old. I'm also glad that I was able to win. Because I'm competitive like that.

These guys revolutionized it.

• Dippy Eggs: I like that they take two seconds to make and that they taste so good. Bonus points if there's hot sauce. I also like that I call them dippy eggs.
• Nutella Mouth: Or nose. I love it when you can tell somebody just ate Nutella. Also, Nutella fingers make me smile too.

So good.

• Naps: Not an original "little thing," but honestly, they can never receive too much love.
• Water: Water is a most brilliant thing. It makes me really happy when I drink eight glasses of water a day. It makes me feel healthy and aquatic.
• Kicking Mid-Terms in the Balls: 'Nuff said.

This is still a large victory for me, even though you've seen it.

• When the questions you know appear on tests and you can officially stop worrying.
• Google: Specifically Googling adventures.
• Actually feeling cultured and appreciating art. As a type of artist myself, I always feel like I should love all art. I am not able to look at it for a long time and I certainly don't like all of it. But when I do, it's nice.

The Lovers of Teruel.

• My Family: The day I wrote this was my cousin's birthday. And even though I was in Madrid, I still thought of her and how I get to see her at the holidays. And I can't wait.
• Fruity Drinks: This is not an allusion to alcoholic drinks. I love my Pink Flamingos.

I can't let go of it.

• Laughing: I love being goofy and I love when other people laugh. Or make me laugh. It's wonderful.
• Making it through a metal detector without being stopped. Apparently that has become a very difficult thing for me to do.
• Little kids dressed in/talking about/playing with/anything related to Disney. This is technically a very large corporation. But it happens so often, I'm counting it as a little thing.

I love Disney around Halloween. :)

• Sleeping In: Sorry, kids, I love my lazy days.
• Coming Back from Vacation: Okay so this didn't technically happen because of the Rome thing. But I like the feeling when you get to come back to your house. Specifically when you get to take your shoes off and feel the carpet. I love it.

• Being A Three Year Old.

We Chubby Bunnied this one hardcore.

• When you're sick and waking up, but feel like your nose is going to explode. But then you stand up and you cough and snot, but there's no more exploding! Gross, but true. See also: I miss my Neti-Pot. 
• Sending Mail: Technically I didn't send it on this day because the ATM wasn't working. But I still loved imagining seeing everybody's faces when they get the mail.
• Cooking Something New: Especially when it succeeds. Stuffed peppers, check?
• Planning Adventures: I've got many tricks and plans up my sleeve. When they follow through? It makes it even better.
• When friends make you feel better about your life, yourself, and everything else.
• Halloween: It's not in Rome, but I'm long distancing this one hardcore. Scary movies, costumes, pumpkins...I want it all.

Most legendary Halloween ever.

• Birthdays: I love giving special treatment to people on their special days.

BIRTHDAY HUGS. 

• Taking care of somebody when they're sick. The fact that they're sick is no good. But helping them is nice! Note: I'm not yet sure if this extends to vomit.

So that's it! Nobody can say I'm forgetting about Thanksgiving, even though I'm listening to Christmas music in Rome. I'm celebrating for two months. :)

You Dropped Your Elephant, Sir. (Fall Break Part II)

If you missed part one, you've got two options. You can either scroll down a bit. OR. If you're lazy, you can click here. :)


So, you may recall that I left you with a picture of a certain tower that I've begun a love affair with. So I suppose you know now that we officially arrived in Paris. AND I LOVED IT.

One thing I did not love was that whole French pronunciation thing. Now, with my vast expertise in this area (read: none), I didn't realize how much like a baby I would sound when trying to get my point across. For example. We were strolling along to our hostel when a man holding a child dropped a stuffed elephant. Me, being the kind and loving person I am, wanted to alert them of this tragedy. So I proceed to point and make baby/orangutan noises when I realized I knew not a single word to say.

They retrieved the elephant and showered me with thanks. Which I responded to with a classy seal impersonation.

MOVING ON. We found our hostel, took our usual nap, and quickly realized that a lot of places are closed on Sunday (duh.) and finding food would be harder than we thought. So we stopped in to a chain called Hippopotamus because we I was getting really cranky. Nothing too fancy but it tasted oh so good in my empty belly. (And they spoke English.)

PINK FLAMINGO. Similar to a CocoFrost Smoothie.

Burger. And our first FRENCH fries.

Calmars? We assume calamari.

Bellies full, we realized that we had done a lot of walking and we were frustrated we didn't know any French. Now the rule for this trip was no frustrations, so we pushed on. And then stumbled upon the first second love of my life. I mean. I guess we didn't really stumble upon it. It's hard to miss.

The walk towards it was magical.

WE'RE IN PARIS!

Oh hey, didn't see you there.

Some girls from Minnesota took this. 

Now. If you know anything about the two of us, you know we have a thing for crepes. Naturally, we bought one from those touristy stands so we could celebrate right away.

Our crepe faces. Most attractive couple award. Bam.

And then we decided to sit at Champs de Mars and wait until it sparkled. And take more pictures. Just one more. 

BEST PICTURE IN THE WORLD.

That was the end of that night. Fast forward to breakfast. We ate bagels. From Morry's Bagels and Toasts. One with duck on it without knowing. (Freaking French.) The other one had guac on it. SO GOOD.

Oh Lordy, I missed bagels.

Here comes the story of how we made it to Emily's. BY THE WAY I SAW EMILY AND IT WAS GREAT. :D

Now. We had an address. So we lugged our suitcase to her place, only to realize we had no way of contacting her to let her know of our arrival. Luckily, the windows were being washed, so we snuck into the building. Then we realized we had no apartment number either. So Paul ran up one side of the stairs, to no avail. I went up the left side, only to find two Italian boys coming up the stairs and going into their apartment. I decided that it was completely rational to ask them if they knew my friend Emily. KEEP IN MIND MY FRENCH GENIUS. Let me tell you, it was an experience. It also did not produce results. Random lady walked up the stairs? PARLEZ-VOUS ANGLAIS? UH. ENGLISH? DO YOU KNOW MY FRIEND EMILY?! Wouldn't you know, this lady was on her way to the gynecologist's office and didn't even live in the building.

Who's the crazy foreigner now?

So we reluctantly left, but we couldn't give up. Seeing as our suitcase would be a HUGE hinderance. So we walked to the nearest hotel and begged them to let us use their computer. WOULDN'T YOU GUESS it wasn't working. So we frantically found another one and played the 'we're lost' card. Luckily, this nice man let us use his computer for free. I eagerly checked to see if her Facebook message contained a number. It didn't. So I sent a desperate message, praying we could find her somehow.

THEN. THE MAGICAL GREEN DOT OF ONLINE CHAT POPPED UP. I USED A FRENCH KEYBOARD AND COULDN'T FIND THE QUESTION MARK, SO EVERYTHING SOUNDED SUPER DEMANDING. But we did it.

I tell it really well in person. With the right pauses and dramatic emphasis.

This next part requires a soundtrack. Please play it. Please. DON'T LIE AND PRETEND YOU DIDN'T.

We did. And it was the most epic thing of my life since seeing the Eiffel Tower.

This was for you, Kaitlyn.

SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE. And my great boyfriend let us go inside and it was so pretty and OH MY GOSH. I don't have pictures of the inside, because that would be ten more you had to look at. Oh well. (Note: If you haven't played the soundtrack yet. You suck and have officially ruined my fun.)

AW YEAH.

QUASI, YOU THERE?

Me pulling an Esmeralda for ya.

FIGURE IT OUT? It's Notre Dame. :D

Now. It seems this is a long blog post. So I'mma fast forward and stop at pictures. LOUVRE.

I took a picture of the little one because it's not as loved.

OH HEY.

I made him kiss a lion. I'm sure he loves me.

HEY CALIGULA. Thanks for getting me an A- on my Art History exam.

OH MY GOSH. We're going up.

I watch soccer from the bad seats.

ON TOP OF THE TOWER!

In case you wanted to know, this is what the tippy-top looks like.

Sigh. Magical. Amazing.

FOOD.

Salmon pasta. MMM.

Escargot. (You pronounce it ess-car-got-ssss)

DELICIOUS SNAIL FACES. (They were soooo good.)

CREPES. Know what black pudding is? We didn't.

LAMBN'FRIES.

CHICKENN'FRIES ACTION SHOT.

We also went lots of other places and wandered a lot, but I think you've had enough for now. If you stuck it out, thank you for staying with me. AND THANK YOU ESPECIALLY TO EMILY FOR BEING THE MOST AMAZING HOST IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD.

Oh but I'm not done yet. Stay tuned.

Yes. I'm creepy. BUT HOW ADORABLE?

Love you, Kris. :)

Better Than Jersey

So we're back. Last Monday I was full of angst and I was hungry all day and just generally upset. I am happy to report that this Monday has been much more of a success! But before Monday comes Sunday, and before that comes Saturday.

Saturday was an early morning, but I was willing to actually move in the morning because I knew I had the promise of the beach waiting for me. I was a little unsure about my level of energy, but I knew I was taking Sunday off so I decided to set the alarm anyway. We set off on a public transit adventure to get us to the Mediterranean.

On the way we made a pit stop at some ancient ruins. Ostia Antica is known as the harbor city of Ancient Rome. Now, you see. I love Rome, I really do. And I love learning about the ancient ruins and seeing how things progressed and why they progressed and whatnot. But it was hot. And I had my bathing suit on. And let me tell you, I just wanted to get to the freaking beach. 

BUT I DIGRESS. Shallowness aside, it was really cool to see everything that they've uncovered so far. We even saw a team doing an excavation type deal. It's cool stuff, it really is! And it's beautiful, I'll give you that one. So clearly I wasn't stopped from going picture happy.

See? It's crazy if you think about it.

My life in ruins. HA. HA. I've been waiting for that one.

Rome hasn't made me more mature. Sorry.

THEATRE.

Clarice and Schmal sitting in the nosebleeds.

Paul on the steps of the capitolium. Big stuff.

So yeah! It was really cool and I promise I appreciated where I was and all that. 

I might have liked this a tiiiiiiny bit more.

Yeah, that's right. THAT'S THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA RIGHT THERE. HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT?!?! Guys, I cannot even tell you how beautiful this beach was. The water was amazing, the sand was amazing, the SUN was PERFECT. I swear if we stayed longer, it would have set in the absolute perfect spot. I am in love with this beach, just as I am with every other one. OH MY GOD. Except for this one was in Italy. And. I mean. Some ladies didn't have their bathing suits on. But  I mean. It's Europe, and I just ignored it. I wish I could be mature, but as I stated before, I seem to have an issue with that.

MORE PICTURES!

CAN YOU SEE THE GLITTER?!?!?! Amazing.

My feet are gone :)

Reading Cosmo because that's what we do.

I LOVE THE BEACH.

Our view. With no naked ladies in sight.

There's a really cool picture of me jumping with Nathaniel, but Leann seems to have better things on her mind. Like homework. For real?

Also.

Sam Krone, I hope you are reading this and seeing this.

So we left the beach after too short of an amount of time, but what can you do? Leann, Sarah, Paul, and I had a date with a whole bunch of food. There's this thing, I'm not sure if you've heard of it. It's called an Aperitif. So here's the deal. You pay nine euro or something like that. You get one drink of choice and then you can help yourself to as much food as you want from the buffet bar. I took HUGE advantage of this eating opportunity, as did the others. Sarah was a lovely date and taught me how to make sounds with the glass her beer came in. I felt like Sandra Bullock. :)

All of our choices. 

I got a SoCo with ginger ale. Hopefully making mah biff proud.

Sarah in a thing we found. Maybe a spaceship, I'm not sure.

So Saturday was a super busy day and I was absolutely exhausted. Went to sleep, did the whole crying thing, watched a lot of How I Met Your Mother, did homework, slept, woke up, and it was Monday!

As I said before, MUCH BETTER MONDAY. 

I switched into my English class, which was not so bad at all! Also, I ate a whole lot better today, so my belly wasn't as angry at me as it usually is. And I didn't cry once today, so thank goodness for small things. It was a really lovely day for being a Monday. The weather was beautiful and I was in a wonderful mood. I went to the supermarket and the market successfully today as well! That's probably why I was so happy to eat. Sarah and I also were super productive with our Italian learning.

SO MANY GROCERIES. 

Breakfast and Italian. :)

I am super happy. I'm getting a handle on this and everything is wonderful. It's nice to think that way. Hopefully I'll have the same result with Tuesday as I did with Monday and tomorrow is brilliant as well. We'll see! Also, my fall break plans are in the works. So keep an eye out. As soon as my debit card gets unfrozen I'll have plane tickets...:)