fill in the blank friday

1.   My current obsession is    my new Macbook Pro  . (I'm so in love with it...)

2.    Going on dates with my husband    makes me happy.

3.  My greatest strength is   probably common sense. I've been thinking about selling some on eBay    . 

4.    Ninja moves    are my greatest weakness.

5.  My life is   great! I am so blessed to have the best husband, a great family and a nice job (though I could really use a raise)  .

6.  In high school I was   a middle-of-the-road kind of kid. I wasn't popular or a total outcast. Just right in the middle. And I was never good at Math but I always managed to get really good grades. I can probably say I was a very good student. However, I know I should have tried harder to learn Math in school    .

7.  When I'm super tired   I can't even think straight   .

Link up at The Little Things We Do !

procrastination

“Procrastination is my sin. It brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will.

Tomorrow.”

{Gloria Pitzer} - 

I've been thinking about writing a post about one of my favorite blogs... and I never seem to get it done. I wish some of my thoughts would just materialize in the form of blog posts.. that they would simply come to life, just like Pinocchio??

Of course, you'd know if I were lying..

stress and the city

First of all, I'd like to thank you all who commented and/or sent me emails on the last post I wrote and special thanks to MarieHarmony who was kind enough to feature me on her blog.

It was so cool to see how many of us bloggers think alike. I had been feeling a little weird lately due to this urge I've got to move to a small town for a better simpler life. I thought the problem was... you know, maybe me.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my former lover: Madrid. Isn't it beautiful?

See, when I was younger, I used to think living in a big city would be THE very best thing in the world. You know.. new possibilities, interesting new people, endless entertainment, nightlife and fun. Not to mention the anonymity of big city life which definitely has its advantages.

So I moved to this big European capital, which (despite having traveled a lot) still is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. I won't say I didn't have any fun. I loved it! Until very recently when I started thinking I might be happier somewhere smaller, less expensive, less noisy, less crowded.. where life goes by slower. 

*   *   *

I've done a little googling here and I have officially decided I have no idea where this Liebster award comes from. The best explanation I got was this one.

Then I though - hey, who cares about this Liebster guy anyway?? (Sorry, man!) This is too cool to miss, so I will participate. :) 

The Rules are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog. (Oh, I'm not that good at following rules, so I chose only 4)
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogsphere - other bloggers.
5. And, best of all - have fun and spread the love.

[I should also point out there is no obligation to continue this award. If this is not your cup of tea, don’t worry! :)]

And the award goes to...

This girl is ultra talented.

She's the sweetest blogger.

Norwegian! Talk about following someone from up north :)

She's super nice - also lives in Spain.

a small village

I sometimes dream of living in a small village with cobblestone streets where everybody knows everybody.

My father-in-law used to run this famous cafe/bar in the small town where my husband grew up as a child. And by famous, I mean everybody in town knew them because of that bar.

Their neighbors had this smallish delicatessen right in front of the bar. He tells me that, by that time, these neighbors didn't have a coffee machine so they always had breakfast there. They got free coffee and my husband's family got lots and lots of the most delicious, fresh pastry. Everyday.

See... it's not that I'd like to live in a small town so that I can have free coffee or anything. But isn't it cool to be able to live a much simpler life? ...

... in which you get from other people things you lack and give them other things they might need instead? (you know, like maybe.. real conversation?) I know.. you must be thinking that the concept of trade as commercial transaction is nothing new and humanity has been doing that since the beginning of time. I know that too; I just seem to find beauty in simple life.

I actually think I'm through with the big city.

About the picture: there are plenty of places like this in Spain (I bumped into this picture here by chance, but the artist says it was taken somewhere in the south of France, which only adds a lot more charm to it)

fill in the blank friday

1.   You should always take time to    exercise. Just don't expect me to follow my own advice  .

2.    Cool people of faith     make the world a happier place to be. Oh, oh oh... and donuts. :)

3.  I can hardly wait for    the winter to come   .

4.    Saturday     is my favorite day of the week.

5.  Something totally dumb and ridiculous that I love is      'Felicity'. I bumped into those DVDs the other day I still don't understand why would anybody choose Ben over Noel   .

6.  If I could, I would     feed the hungry, fix the economy and predict the future    .

7.  I rather like      cats. I guess I'm not a dog person anymore    .

Link up at the little things we do

This blog's newest followers

PS. I'm thanking every new follower by either adding a link to their blog to my posts or placing their button on this blog's sidebar for as long as possible. :)

follower fever

How many followers should a blog have? Well, I've been thinking about that for quite a while now... See, many people say blogging is not all about followers, that only leaders need followers and all that jazz. Maybe blogging isn't all about followers, but it definitely is all about readers, isn't it? 

Let's face it: there is absolutely no reason for writing on a blog if nobody is reading you. Otherwise, you'd be just fine with a paperback diary or something. See, I'm a blogger and a blog reader. I love blogs in general and I have my favorite blogs' new posts delivered by RSS to my email account (which I check on a daily basis and makes the whole reading a lot less time consuming). And I try to comment on every nice post I bump into - that's because I want the author to know I was there. 

It is so awkward when my real life friends say: "Oh, and by the way, I always read your blog", which totally sounds like an apology for not doing it, not even once in some cases. Though I must admit I actually made them do it in the beginning (who hasn't? anyone? no? ok, then.. I'm sorry, friends!), now I understand they don't have to read my blog if they don't want to (yep, it took me some time to figure that out!). Then I realized most of my real life friends are not at all interested in my blog and that, maybe, I should simply focus on a different kind of audience: strangers. 

Making new online friends is the coolest thing! I really like to see Blogland as a huge party where communication flows and everybody has fun rather than a static place where you only go for a specific purpose and leave right away. A blog with no readers is like a party for one. It might be interesting at first if you have a hermit-like personality (not judging - I'm a lot like that sometimes), but c'mon... you'll eventually feel awkwardly isolated. 

I guess sometimes people say that the number of followers doesn't matter either because they already have a big blog or maybe they have just started one and they're too proud to admit they'd love it to grow. Maybe some are trying to encourage beginners to keep on writing no matter what, even if there's nobody to comment on your posts. The thing is: every blogger wants to know that people read what they publish. I guess it is that simple. 

So, let's go through the three basic ways of showing appreciation to a blogger here in Blogland: 

1. First and foremost, the nicest way of showing someone you like their blog is to follow it publicly. This is what we love the most! It's such a great encouragement for a blog owner to see one more follower there, to watch their own little community grow. I've read about that many times on many different blogs, so I guess I know what I'm talking about here. It has the power of lifting you up and it's the very best cure for blogger's block.

2. comments. Who doesn't like to read comments? Comments make Blogland go round and you know it! So, bloggers, let's try to leave a comment to all the posts we read, will ya?

3. e-mails. I got my very first personal email from a reader last week and I'm very, very happy about it! Sending a blogger an email is like… buying them a very nice gift. They'll love it, I'm sure they will. 

I am not teaching anybody anything and I am not a superblogger in any way. In fact, my blog is only about five months old. I just want you all to know that I care. I propose we celebrate a Blogger's Appreciation Week. How about that?

This blog's newest followers

PS. I'm thanking every new follower by either adding a link to their blog to my posts or placing their button on this blog's sidebar for as long as possible. :)

10 things I'm afraid of

1. Jumping off a plane (I know I already said that), bridge, building, wall or anything higher than a chair (which obviously includes: rock climbing, bungee jumping, roller coasters, emergency fire escapes etc.) See, as I told Meg, I guess the fear of skydiving is a perfectly healthy feeling, you know... the fear of smashing my beautiful self into the ground. :)

2. Thriller/Horror movies. Though I watch horror movies every now and then, I'm always afraid I'll have nightmares because of them. I know, I'm a wimp. Jack Torrance (The Shining) and Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs) are probably the last people in the whole world I'd like to crash my birthday party, if you know what I mean. 

3. Heavy metal. Yep, it creeps the hell out of me.

4. My neighbors' dog. I'm not at all afraid of dogs - I even like them in general. But I'm pretty sure that thing is not a dog, but the very satan himself. You wouldn't believe it! I freakin' hate that dog.

5. Empty long dimly-lit hallways. Creepy!

6. Eerie clowns. 

7. The image of myself on a huge empty, dark parking lot building. (Not scared yet? Nothing? Try picture a clown standing there, watching you from the distance. Brrrrr... scary!) 

8. Guns.

9. Cockroaches. People always say they are a lot more scared of us than we are of them. Not true. They are not scared of us - not even a little bit. See, I would never break into Hannibal Lecter's house.

10. Taxes.

This blog's newest followers

PS. I'm thanking every new follower by either adding a link to their blog to my posts or placing their button on this blog's sidebar for as long as possible. :)

fill in the blank friday

Friday's here! Link up at The Little Things We Do !

1.   One thing that is completely superfluous, but that I could never give up is     listening to my favorite podcasts every morning on my way to work  . (This American Life, Focus On The Family, Daily Audio Bible, The Dave Ramsey Show, Freakonomics Radio)

2.    People that don't get sarcasm      makes me feel awkward.

3.  I can't    imagine summer    without    air conditioning  .

4.    Cereal    is my favorite snack. (Yep, I never eat cereal in the morning...)

5.  Lately I've been     spending waaay too much time online .

6.  If at first you don't succeed    , hire me to do your job    .  :)

7.  Fall is    such a beautiful season!    .

This blog's newest followers

PS. I'm thanking every new follower by either adding a link to their blog to my posts or placing their button on this blog's sidebar for as long as possible. :)