Home

Home has many meanings. It is where the heart it, it is where we were born or raised, or it is where we currently live. Last summer I wrote a post about home and I just re-read it again and have to say I still agree with what I wrote back then. I often wonder what I would be doing if I never ever left  Europe, or never left California in the first place. Today is a day I need to remind myself why I am here and why I call this place home too. Yes, there are always times where I wallow a little in self-pity or self-doubt (the worst ever) but it all goes away quickly when I listen to the following songs...sorta. 

And Home is also the theme here! ;) Enjoy.
I'm already a little sick of all these songs but once in a while I listen to them again. ;)
They simply make me smile.

If you knew me

Good morning!!! 

I saw this on Michelle's blog last week and I couldn't help to do it myself, too.

Have fun and have a fabulous Monday!

If you really knew me:

*you'd know that my favorite color of all times is purple
*you'd know that I am an only child
*you'd know that I will always order vanilla ice cream first, maybe green tea second

*you'd know that I wear contacts

*you'd know that I love watching scary movies, the non-bloody kind, but the ones that mess with your mind.

*you'd know that on my to-read list is a book that will never be available anymore
{i won't disclose its name, unless you find out and I can then maybe say "yes"}

*you'd know I have anxiety

*you'd know that I believe I have lived before

*you'd know that my closet broke down a few times because I have way too many clothes

*you'd know that I do not like chocolate. At all. Ewwww.

*you'd know that I speak a few more languages than just English

*you'd know that I'm good at spending money

*you'd know that I choose my friends very carefully

*you'd know that I have at least three places I call "home"

*you'd know that I cannot and will never talk to my father

*you'd know that I love Disneyland

*you'd know that I once accidentally called my teacher a "dirty sock!" and I had to leave the classroom so she could steam off

*you'd know that I think about my past often and regret a few of my silly choices

*you'd know that my favorite artist is Kandinsky

*you'd know that I love life more than anything at the moment. I may wallow in self-pity but I value life so much it makes me question every move, action, thought, and sound...but it makes me cherish every second of it as well.

If I really knew you...what would I know?

Countdown...

...in a few days (or hours even) it's time to finally say "Welcome to this World" to my best friend's new baby!
...in about a week it's time to say "Welcome to Switzerland".
...in about a week I can update with fun posts...about a "blate" or two I'll be having (according to Meghan! this is the word for it?!)

...to this Saturday and its annual Old Town Festival filling our ears with pretty music.
...to this Sunday when we find out who will win the European Soccer Championship.

And tonight, we find out if my team wins...because it just has to.

 Oh, it's Spain I'm rooting for...just so you all know!!! 

 In other words...

...I read an amazing post about living abroad and it is sooooo incredibly true. All of it. 

...and this Monday I went to see the following:

all images {via}

It was so good.
I've been a fan of Jeff Koons' for years. I foolishly took art history again last semester (just for fun, I didn't really need it!), and well, guess who we talked about. A lot. Yes, Jeff Koons. So you should have seen my face when I read that there's an exhibition in Switzerland with his artwork out there for us to see. I had to go. I took my fabulous mother. I had no one else. Yes, poor me. Either way, she wasn't thrilled to go to an exhibition she couldn't place the artist anywhere in her head or past...but then I showed her pictures, told her about him, she was willing and happy enough to tag along. Today she is proud to say she has seen it.

Mission accomplished.

xoxo

My 7 links

A while back I was thinking "hey, I should take a look at my old (embarrassing) posts and just see how awful I did" and then a few days after that, I was tagged by awesome Erin from Living and Loving in L.A., and I just knew I had to do this post. Granted it took me a while to do this but it was so much fun to go back and read my posts and relive what I shared with you. So, anyways, without further blahblah here's the tag-post I'm going to share with you all.
Thanks Erin!!!

These are the rules:

1) Blogger is nominated to take part
2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.
4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers

Here are my links:


Most beautiful

Philly in Pictures
and ironically another one linked to the first
I'm weird, You're weird, We're weird

Why beautiful? Philly is beautiful! By just going through these posts made me miss the East Coast a little more. I had the best time with friends and family and I just fell in love with Philadelphia. Never thought I would, but I did and I cannot wait to go back there soon!!

Most popular

Oh Pinterest...

For some reason my participation that week was greatly appreciated...haha.
I am also very much in love with this picture!


Most controversial

Happy Friday

I chose this post to be the most controversial because again, I bet you we have forgotten most of this. I could go on here and lecture you and me about how fast time goes and easily we forget and how very superficial we all can be, and even are. But I won't. I won't tell you that. It's not the place nor the time to do so, and I believe deep within we know this. Do we accept our ignorance? Maybe. We shall never know.

Most helpful

...

As much as I didn't want to share this again I simply had to. It felt good writing about it, and it still feels good today. It helped a ton and I am grateful for this blogger community, and its support and understanding.

J. is missed daily.
It's funny, one thing I missed on my birthday was that she didn't say "Happy Birthday", and now she'd be proud of me knowing I am back to a place I missed and loved so much. She certainly would be proud. J. you know you are missed. But I know you're having a good time, and that you're watching over us. I know you are. I see and feel it every day.

Post whose success surprised you

Love and other things

Can't say it's a successful post but I loved the pictures I chose, and I love the fact that I could be honest and write it all out. And I was surprised that I actually had time to focus on love...even just for a little or that week and month in general. 

Post you feel didn't get the attention it deserved

Green is the new black!

Over the past few months I learned more about recycling and reusing and I still love it. I am also trying to teach my friends how to do it better. They throw away all kinds of recyclable items it breaks my heart. Where I live we have a trash room and in that trash room we have two slots. One for rubbish (literally says rubbish) and the other one is for recycling. There's this neat sign above it explaining what goes in there, and trust me, all those items there are usually thrown into the regular trash bag at home so I always see that and yes, I always take it out and separate it. Granted, it's not the most classy move, but hey, I gotta do what I gotta do and I am teaching my roommates to do the same. Water and milk bottles, shampoo bottles, hand soap, and even the Nutella jar/bottle thing are all recyclable. Add the Ketchup bottle, too, and all kinds of other things and you awesome. :) Just look at it. If it's plastic, or carton, or even paper or glass it is going into the recycling slot, if not it may as well belong into the rubbish slot. Easy as that.

And for those that get money out of all the recyclable stuff...you know what I'm talking about. If not, you have to go back to recycling 101 and learn about the triangle and its number indicating what the plastic stands for. ;) Hehe.

Post that you are most proud of

 Fashion. Coming from me? No Way!

This post comes very close to the most popular. In fact my stats were out of control. However, I chose this to be the post I am most proud of. Not because it's fashion, and not because it hit so many clicks, but because I was writing about my friend and her passion. I am immensely proud of her and her accomplishments. Very proud!!!

So, I am done for today! Yay!!! Hope you enjoyed my little links for today.
I decided to do this fun post today instead of my regular rants or inspirations. I am not a fan of tagging people and answering questions but we gotta do this sometimes, don't we?! 

Speaking of which...I am somehow tempted to do a Q&A thing and I am not sure if I should. What do you think?!

And here are five bloggers I nominate for this fun tag post:

Sierra @ Ocean Dreams
Amy @ Crazy Random Happenstances
Sam @ A Careless Man's Careful Daughter
Ashely @ She's Come Undone
Christianna @ The Girl With The Blue Bow
Leeann @ Join the Gossip

Semi-Wordless Man Candy Monday

Clearly I had a fantastic weekend.
Wow, that's a first, right? I think I never said that before. 

So yes, I did.
*Even with sunscreen and lots of shade I got burned. Booooo!!!*

And today Monday, well...I just can't ignore the hot man candy to start this equally hot week.

I'm again joining Leeann over at her fabulous blog Join The Gossip for some fun. 

Are you, too?!

Enjoy!!

 click on picture for pinterest source

Hannah, this one's for you! ;)

And if you don't know his name google Gerard Butler. Enough said. Hehe!

Before you leave this post or look at more drool worthy men please head on over to the amazing Christianna and her fun blog called The Girl With The Blue Bow. Check out her weekly interview series "Any Friend Of Mine". I'm featured this week.

Have a terrific Monday!!

Random Tuesday!

Thank you all for the good, positive vibes sent my way. Keep them coming. Positivity is what we all need. No?!

Well, Monday was quite an interesting day...not just busy but also quite sunny. Summer finally returned, but this afternoon it's supposed to be raining like crazy again, so let's hope I make it home dry and not wet again! :) Just in case, I do have my purple umbrella in my waterproof bag (yes, I learned my lesson).

I'm also slowly catching up on blog reading and came across a great post by a wonderful person. I'm sharing this with you because I believe this not only happens to her there, it happens everywhere. Even in your small town somewhere in Idaho, or in beautiful England, or tiny Switzerland, Japan, or magnificent Australia. It happens. We may not be aware of this, we may not even notice. Though it happens. Her post reminded me of an encounter I had years ago and I can truly and fully understand the anger, the rage that's kept inside. Been there, big time. So I felt like sharing her post with you because I think it's beautifully written and tells it all. Hugs to you Sara, and I know hugs don't make it better!

In other news, I'm obsessed with the following song. Sorry.



More Istanbul pictures will be posted soon.
I have just been a bit overwhelmed with life and future plans and all.
Things will hopefully get back to normal. Somehow!

Ugly Truth. Keep It To Yourself!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Time went by rather quickly and most of you are away back home with family and friends to celebrate a nice Thanksgiving weekend...a long one. Hope you are having a great day, a great rest of the week, and an even greater time wherever you are and whatever you are doing!!! :)

 click

Anyhow...I caught up on my blog reading and even though I simply couldn't answer all of your wonderful writings I just learned (again) that some of you had some ugly encounters with ugly comments (again). You aren't alone and you aren't the first ones and unfortunately also not the last ones.
So far I've been blessed enough receiving nice comments, supportive ones too and I love you all for that. Thanks a million. I just wonder WHY do  people even bother writing ugly stuff onto other people's blogs and literally tell them they suck and hate them?! I mean, why?! Are we in kindergarten? Apparently. 6th grade?! Maybe. I just think it's stupid and very very very immature. 

To me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one here, blogs are like journals. Diaries. Maybe not so intimate diaries but you know what I mean. You want to share things with others, write down what's on your mind and just keep things on here so you can look back at pretty much everything at some time in the future. I think it's a great thing, and that is partly also why I started blogging. But that I won't discuss right now. Maybe some other time. So, blogs are here for everyone. Not everyone has the same taste, or style and therefore all of our blogs are unique and just represent ourselves. Right?! Hope so. So, whatever we have to say, or write about we just do it. Sometimes we may not, but this is totally up to the writer. Right?! Hope so. Well, last I checked my blog belongs to me, and I can and will write whatever I want to share and say. I'm not going to sugar code stuff (so far it has not come close to that...well...no), and I won't try to please you as my lovely readers. It is my blog and my thoughts, and my life so to speak. You do the same on yours. It's your blog after all. Right? Hope so.
Well, that is what I don't understand...why do other people, apparent writers as well, try to ruin the fun with ugly comments?! It's ok if you don't like what others have to say. You don't have to like everyone and everything. But do you have to point it out?! Leave the blog and find another one you like. Plus, the worst of all I think is when haters leave anonymous comments...pretty lame! So, even though your ugly comments aren't much wanted if you feel like sharing your ugliness and harsh words stand up for what you believe (or not) in. Be true to yourself and let others know who you are. Don't hide. We aren't. And if you think it's better to leave the name away...then please, just leave the blog, too and stop writing shitty stuff.

You may wonder...nothing has happened to her, so why does she bother with that topic?
Well, as I mentioned above blogs are like journals and I write whenever I feel like it. Like most of you. And I once wrote that writing helps. No matter when and how. So, I feel like writing. So much is going through my head right now I can't think straight. So, while catching up on blogs I came across some stories by my fellow blog friends and just thought it was worth writing about it. If you don't like it, it is okay. I don't blame you. It's rather silly I know (since it hasn't happened to me) but it's something that makes me think - a lot. And I feel like writing about it so let me, please. Thank you.
Now, if you take my sentence "writing helps, no matter where and how" then don't think you can harrass me with ugly comments. I meant and always mean that writing helps but on your own damn blog!!!! Not on mine, and not on anyone else's nice blog either. Stop it. Bother your own blog if you even have one and let us nice bloggers alone. It may not be worth even writing to you, talking about you, and you may not even read this but I don't care. It's what it is. My blog with my thoughts. Period!!!

So, with that said...I'm thankful for my own blog.
Its style changes a lot, depending on my mood, life issues and whereabouts...it's what it is. Crazy. Strange. Random. You name it. I'm also thankful to have found great people on here. I'm also thankful to have some sort of a shelter and don't have to sleep on the street (ok, drastic but it could be worse), I'm thankful for my friends whom I miss every day, but am also thankful for the very few friends I have where I am. In addition I'm also thankful for my laptop still running, my camera, my health (so far), my book collection (I know it's weird), my life so far with its constant downs and very few ups (but there's always a reason behind this), and I'm thankful for just being even able to be thankful. I'm even thankful for my daily coffee and the fact my favorite bakery here got rid of its fabulous donuts. They were awesome, just like DD's. Dunkin Donuts doesn't exist here so having had some other chance to get yummy sugery donuts was a blessing. They got rid of them about five months ago and shattered my world but today I'm thankful for exactly that act. Less calories for me. haha. I'm thankful for materialistic things (so lame, I know) and for all the other items, moments, things that have enhance my life so far. I never thought I'd be doing what I'm doing at my age, at this place, right now and I do want to change all that, but for right now...it's good the way it is. It could be worse. I coule be broke, incredibly sick, injured, or worse.
So I am thankful for being me, today and now; with everything that comes with it...

click

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Havea  great holiday!!!

xoxo

P.s. Oh boy this one ended up being longer than I wanted. :(

Old Times

Have I ever mentioned how much I love old pictures?! I can never get enough of pictures mirroring old times, of streets and building we know that still exist today but in these pictures look so much like a street or a building from a fairy tale or from some place else. Just knowing that it all existed way before our time (that again is a controversial topic I won't discuss at this moment) amazes me and just intrigues me. But I digress...
Am, again, catching up on so many blogs. Just now I came across this one. Even though Tina, also known as English Muse, is still absent she's got great guest bloggers contributing daily inspiration. This is just one of so many I loved. Not to mention it caught my attention due to its vintage style and Paris in its old beauty. I wanted to share this with you. Enjoy!