Dante
In his first few weeks...
Breed: long haired dachshund
Color: black & caramel
Favorite Person: Margaret
Hobbies: chewing on shoes & sleeping
Latest Vacation: Van Buren household
Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
New Trends
Since I've started being a working woman this year, it's definitely been a struggle in more ways than one.
First of all, having about half the time that I used to have is difficult enough. Therefore, finding any extra time for personal enjoyment is almost impossible. When free time does come my way, I usually spend it relaxing and/or preparing for my next day at work. If this is what the rest of my life is going to be like, then damn....I might as well just throw in the towel now. No one warned us twenty-somethings about this period of our life. What do we do now that school's over and the work career is in its formulative years?
This being said, learning how to balance my work life and free time has been mentally taxing. I find that taking a couple of hours a day for personal time is not just nice, it's necessary. Personal time in this instance is just being able to sit down with a cup of coffee and stop. Stop doing what needs to be done, and start doing what one wants to get done. For me, this might include just browsing the internet, reading a book, or even writing these silly blogs. Things like this keep me sane, frankly.
On a more positive note, I've begun allocating most of my free time to personal art endeavors. I just became a new member of the website fineartamerica.com. Here, members can upload copies of their art, in any medium, for people to view. If viewers really enjoy your work, they can order prints and/or canvas prints of your work. In essence, it's a personal online marketplace for sharing and selling your work. It's fantastic.
Speaking of art endeavors, I'm beginning to consider the necessity of going to a museum once a week. Museums are definitely some of the coolest places to visit, at home and while you're traveling. The museums in Santa Barbara are pretty good too, considering how few there are. This Sunday, I will start at the SB Museum of Art downtown. It's free admission day! Who's in??
First of all, having about half the time that I used to have is difficult enough. Therefore, finding any extra time for personal enjoyment is almost impossible. When free time does come my way, I usually spend it relaxing and/or preparing for my next day at work. If this is what the rest of my life is going to be like, then damn....I might as well just throw in the towel now. No one warned us twenty-somethings about this period of our life. What do we do now that school's over and the work career is in its formulative years?
This being said, learning how to balance my work life and free time has been mentally taxing. I find that taking a couple of hours a day for personal time is not just nice, it's necessary. Personal time in this instance is just being able to sit down with a cup of coffee and stop. Stop doing what needs to be done, and start doing what one wants to get done. For me, this might include just browsing the internet, reading a book, or even writing these silly blogs. Things like this keep me sane, frankly.
On a more positive note, I've begun allocating most of my free time to personal art endeavors. I just became a new member of the website fineartamerica.com. Here, members can upload copies of their art, in any medium, for people to view. If viewers really enjoy your work, they can order prints and/or canvas prints of your work. In essence, it's a personal online marketplace for sharing and selling your work. It's fantastic.
Speaking of art endeavors, I'm beginning to consider the necessity of going to a museum once a week. Museums are definitely some of the coolest places to visit, at home and while you're traveling. The museums in Santa Barbara are pretty good too, considering how few there are. This Sunday, I will start at the SB Museum of Art downtown. It's free admission day! Who's in??
Monday, July 19, 2010
Enjoying a foreign idea
Reading the travel section of the New York Times yesterday was very enlightening. After sleeping in, I instinctively grabbed the Sunday paper and walked outside to soak up the sun. The Travel section's headline ran something about staying in Europe without hotels.. Hmmm, interesting idea, but realistic? This didn't sound all too unfamiliar as I just had been discussing a similar subject with our Kiwi guests, who are in Santa Barbara for the first time.
The article promoted the novel idea of booking a room with a local resident of the city you're traveling to, instead of staying in a hotel/hostel. Apparently, there are huge networks of people that rent out rooms in their flats/houses for tourists to enjoy. Usually, the cost to rent out a room is substantially less than a hotel room. It is akin to staying in a B&B, with a private room & bathroom, but at a less expensive rate. Sounds like a brilliant idea to me.
I got the chance to check out one of the companies that organizes these bookings, called AirBnB.com. It is commonly referred to as "Ebay for space." Essentially, it is an online marketplace that enables people to rent out private rooms domestically and abroad. The site also lists vacation rentals, entire apartments, B&Bs, boutique hotels, castles, and treehouses! Be forewarned however; you may spend hours checking out all the listings. Its awesome.
I think that this is the start to a new and exciting way to travel, especially for younger people on a budget. It's traveling with an element of surprise...
The article promoted the novel idea of booking a room with a local resident of the city you're traveling to, instead of staying in a hotel/hostel. Apparently, there are huge networks of people that rent out rooms in their flats/houses for tourists to enjoy. Usually, the cost to rent out a room is substantially less than a hotel room. It is akin to staying in a B&B, with a private room & bathroom, but at a less expensive rate. Sounds like a brilliant idea to me.
I got the chance to check out one of the companies that organizes these bookings, called AirBnB.com. It is commonly referred to as "Ebay for space." Essentially, it is an online marketplace that enables people to rent out private rooms domestically and abroad. The site also lists vacation rentals, entire apartments, B&Bs, boutique hotels, castles, and treehouses! Be forewarned however; you may spend hours checking out all the listings. Its awesome.
I think that this is the start to a new and exciting way to travel, especially for younger people on a budget. It's traveling with an element of surprise...
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Coffee and the blog= eternal happiness.
On this extremely hot and sunny morning, I decided it's time to write again.
Last week, I had a momentary change of heart about continuing to write this blog when a friend of mine mentioned how "narcissistic" blogs are. After thinking about it for a few days, I decided that he might have a point- however, I don't completely agree. I don't find enjoyment in writing about myself. I find enjoyment in writing, no matter what the subject is. I might be natural that my blog topics usually involve me, but that's obvious when they are written from my point of view. I find other people's blogs very interesting. Everyone deserves to have an audience.
Anyway, during my brief respite in writing, I also decided to give up caffeine. Yep, I'm a crazy person. No tea, chocolate....or COFFEE!! aaah. Thanks to the inspirational people surrounding me, I managed to stay caffeine-free for a week and a half. I am just at this exact moment enjoying my first cappuccino. It might just be the best thing I've ever tasted.
At this point, I would usually go into a whole nutritional lesson about how good coffee is for you, etc. However, I think I'll spare you for now. If you're interested, check out hethsfoodonearth :)
I hope everyone is having an absolutely AMAZING day~
Until manana..
Last week, I had a momentary change of heart about continuing to write this blog when a friend of mine mentioned how "narcissistic" blogs are. After thinking about it for a few days, I decided that he might have a point- however, I don't completely agree. I don't find enjoyment in writing about myself. I find enjoyment in writing, no matter what the subject is. I might be natural that my blog topics usually involve me, but that's obvious when they are written from my point of view. I find other people's blogs very interesting. Everyone deserves to have an audience.
Anyway, during my brief respite in writing, I also decided to give up caffeine. Yep, I'm a crazy person. No tea, chocolate....or COFFEE!! aaah. Thanks to the inspirational people surrounding me, I managed to stay caffeine-free for a week and a half. I am just at this exact moment enjoying my first cappuccino. It might just be the best thing I've ever tasted.
At this point, I would usually go into a whole nutritional lesson about how good coffee is for you, etc. However, I think I'll spare you for now. If you're interested, check out hethsfoodonearth :)
I hope everyone is having an absolutely AMAZING day~
Until manana..
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Un-Fun I Subject Myself To..
Just the other day, I was caught in an uncomfortable situation, yet again. Nico was leaving my house to go to work, when he suddenly decides to pull out the hackey sack in my driveway. Now, as I've mentioned before, playing hackey-sack is not a favorite pastime of mine. I'm bad at it, and more often than not it's usually just boring.
"Hey, let's play a little hackey-sack," Nico panted, as he already was concentrating on keeping the sack from hitting the ground. I guffawed. Yeah right...
The next thing I know, I'm attempting to play hackey-sack on my day off. Great...why do I always give into these things?? In the total amount of time that we (attempted) to play, about 25 minutes, I probably hit the sack 7 times. We even got a rally of 4 hits going between us! He was so happy about this accomplishment, he may have never looked so ecstatic....
Nico owes me big time for all these un-fun games I've had to participate in this week. I'd say a proper date night & funded trip to Anthro would suffice...
"Hey, let's play a little hackey-sack," Nico panted, as he already was concentrating on keeping the sack from hitting the ground. I guffawed. Yeah right...
The next thing I know, I'm attempting to play hackey-sack on my day off. Great...why do I always give into these things?? In the total amount of time that we (attempted) to play, about 25 minutes, I probably hit the sack 7 times. We even got a rally of 4 hits going between us! He was so happy about this accomplishment, he may have never looked so ecstatic....
Nico owes me big time for all these un-fun games I've had to participate in this week. I'd say a proper date night & funded trip to Anthro would suffice...
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