How amazing is this bucket list?!

Courtesy of Matador Notebook 

Indian Train courtesy of Discover Asia

 

1. Set foot on each of the seven continents. Antarctica might seem like a tough one, but here’s how. Once you’ve reached all seven you can truly call yourself a world traveler.

 

2. Cross a country on a bicycle. A bicycle tour takes some planning, but it beats being separated from a country though a passenger-side window. 

 

3. Ride something bigger than a horse. Trekking through the jungle on the back of a two story tall elephant will surely be something you remember forever. 

 

4. Live like a local for a month. The experience of visiting native peoples will give you way more insight into another way of life than two years hopping from one backpacker ghetto to the next.

5. Visit a “real” blues bar in Chicago. What better way to leave music’s commercialism behind and find the soul of the blues?

6. Learn another language. This is definitely a weighty and time-consuming proposition, but there are plenty of resources out there to ease the process.

7. Go heli-skiing. The access to snow and terrain via heli is different (read: better) that anything else you’ll ever experience.

8. Travel India by train. With its extensive rail network, this mode of transport is the best way to see one of the world’s most colorful and diverse countries.
9. Climb one of the world’s Seven Summits. Climbing mountains is not for the faint-hearted, but everyone has had a dream of standing atop one.

10. Dive with a whale shark. Swimming with these gentle giants is among the most powerful wilderness experiences in the world.

Now and Then

Ipod Nano

Nano Baby

 

 

 

The question remains- what exactly is a nano???

Apparently, it's Greek for "dwarf." Makes sense!

My skin's love affair with Clarisonic

Clarisonic Mia

It started out casually. People kept praising the effects after only a week of use. She never was one to believe in love at first sight let alone love at first touch but this, this was something different. The speed was just right and it was never too rough.

Now if only I'd gotten my named engraved on it! ;) just in case...

Are any of you familiar with Clarisonic? Love it, hate it or neutral? I feel like I'm so late on this.

Looking for _________

Click here for online profile tips

I'm working on a story about quirky dating sites and once I started my research I was shocked at some of the sites I found:


Exhibit A- Daily Diaper
Apparently people have a fetish for wearing diapers (as in, they are turned on by this)

Exhibit B- Sugar Daddie
The name speaks for itself

I'm always a little taken aback when I find people in their twenties engaging in online dating mainly because I feel that it's not geared toward millenials necessarily. I was wrong. I believe the very fact that these niche interest sites exist is indicative of the popularity of online dating. The prevalence of technology as a way of socializing still baffles me (I was one of those reticent to get a Facebook for a few years!) and I can't help but wonder if the old-fashion ways are slowly but surely becoming obsolete. Imagine-how convenient it is to just eliminate undesirable mates like we unfriend people? or in 2030 will everyone have virtual dates with virtual flowers? I'm torn because I have heard success stories but I personally could never see myself joining the online dating scene.

How do you feel about online dating? Know any success stories? any truly dreadful stories?

We Will Never Forget

It isn't enough to talk about peace, one must believe in it; 

it isn't enough to believe in it, one must work at it. 

Eleanor Roosevelt 

Gary Hershorn / Reuters

 

 

Just as beautiful as a rose...

Dahlia courtesy of Flowers Gallery

Peonies courtesy of Blooms by the Box

When we had to tear down our trees in the front yard after they dried out (thanks to the water limits in LA), we were researching trees to plant in their place. We ended up deciding on magnolia trees but I'd delved into the researching about flowers because well, I wanted to add more pretty flowers to the yard! I've already planted peonies which have yet to bloom and I would LOVE to have some dahlias in the back yard.Now that summer is coming to an end I'll probably have to wait till next year but till then I can stalk up on seeds  ;)

Any gardening tips are greatly appreciated!

UPDATE: On the very same day I published this I noticed the lovely Joanna Goddard's post on house plants ;)

on a personal note...

 In the last two years I've lost more loved ones than I have my entire life. Each loss makes me want to change my ways and spend more time with family and friends but I guess old habits die hard and I seem to find myself "busy" more often than not. It's true what they say- you never know what you had till it's gone. I never realized how much I didn't say and didn't do till it was too late. But all I can do now and all I can ever do is hope that they knew how much I loved them. I realize that when I die, all I can take with me are my memories and the knowledge that in my life I was loved. I'd like to think they knew I loved them (it's a cheap and selfish consolation but it gives me solace). Coping with death is never easy no matter how many times you've experienced it. I choose to remember and make the effort every day never to forget because the memories begin to fade. I'm starting to realize just how powerful scents are (as weird as that may sound!). Each time I smell Japanese cherry blossom lotion from B & B works, I'm reminded of the last time I visited my grandma in Argentina. Every. Single.Time. I remember the taste of the ravioli my aunt made me because no one could cook like her and I remember her love for music and her making me promise to always sing. If I can keep these moments with me always, I'm content.

What are your coping mechanisms? Do you struggle with the same kind of guilt?

ps. sorry if this is a somber post...

Three things I miss from Argentina...

...besides my family and friends, of course!

1. Santa Maria Pizza in Rosario (notice the Coca Cola sign and then the Quilmes- a perfect mix of both cultures) 

Thick crust, lots of cheese, what more can you ask for? it melts in your mouth (too bad I don't have a picture! I didn't have patience to pull my camera out but check out their FB) 

2. The Night Life

LA may have a crazy night life but practically everthing closes by 2 a.m. In Rosario, at that time the night is still young. I loved the brisk evening walks.

3. The Architecture

Do I really need to explain?

photo 1 courtesy of Flickr
photo 2 courtesy of  The World in Photos
photo 3 courtesy of Travel Pod

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

One of my favorite poems ever. I posted the entire poem because snippets don't do it justice. I've attached this painting because I believe it complements Donne's lovely words.

The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis

AS virtuous men pass mildly away, 
    And whisper to their souls to go, 
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
    "Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."                     

So let us melt, and make no noise,                                       5
    No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation of our joys 
    To tell the laity our love. 

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
    Men reckon what it did, and meant ;                              10
But trepidation of the spheres, 
    Though greater far, is innocent. 

Dull sublunary lovers' love 
    —Whose soul is sense—cannot admit 
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove                                     15
    The thing which elemented it. 

But we by a love so much refined,
    That ourselves know not what it is, 
Inter-assurèd of the mind, 
    Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.                           20

Our two souls therefore, which are one, 
    Though I must go, endure not yet 
A breach, but an expansion, 
    Like gold to aery thinness beat. 

If they be two, they are two so                                          25
    As stiff twin compasses are two ; 
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show 
    To move, but doth, if th' other do. 

And though it in the centre sit, 
    Yet, when the other far doth roam,                                30
It leans, and hearkens after it, 
    And grows erect, as that comes home. 

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
    Like th' other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,                                    35
    And makes me end where I begun.