Cultural Heritage Recognition Pt. 2

While every February I acknowledge my African American side, and every Cinco de Mayo (which I consider chr pt. 1) I tip my hat to the Mexican part of my heritage, I don't usually get to do so for the other 2/4ths of me, so here, I will allow my friend Barbie do it for me lol. What Dolls of the World make up your cultural heritage?  Please do share below!
Spain
1983
1992
Andalucia
2007
this year
Cafe Barcelona from ITunes Essentials
and the Philippines

Decorah Eagle Nest Cam

Last year one of the local nightly news stations did a small piece on a web sensations: a webcam positioned on a bald eagle nest in Decorah, Iowa. I found the site, Raptor Resource Project, and followed along. It was absolutely fascinating and amazing watching the little eaglets hatch, get bigger, grow feathers and finally fly. Well, it's that time of year again, and the mamma eagle has laid three eggs! Rest assured I shall be eagerly following along again! For those who also want to follow along, you can here. They also have a cam on another nest in Colorado which you can see here. The mamma there laid her first egg the day before the Decorah one. Enjoy!
Update 3/29: two of the three fuzzlets have hatched and they are super cute! Also, here's some cams from near me, two on Catalina Island, and one a bit further up north on Santa Cruz Island: Institute for Wildlife Studies

The Turn of the Year

Yesterday was my birthday...in other words, I turned 30 and survived (lol)! So now that I've gone over the hill relatively unscathed (only just...j/k) and lived to tell the tale, what have I gained over the course of the past 12 months? Hmmm...well, other than that whole spilled milk thing I discussed earlier, I guess the biggest thing I feel I've taken away from this year is that I have way more questions than answers. For example: why is my life nothing like I thought it would be like 5 or 10 years ago? Why is it I sometimes feel I can't seem to have a "normal" relationship? Why is it sometimes I don't feel I want one at all? Is road A (the a fore mentioned "normal" relationship, a house, kids) the right road for me to take, or should I go route B (remain single and keep my prized freedom, travel). At times I feel I want A, but then I somehow hesitate and think about B. An example: I've been in a complicated (understatement) relationship for about 6 years long distance. This person and I last saw each other physically in Dec. '08. Some weeks ago, he put forth the idea to come over for about a month in Dec. again. The problem? Not being too keen on the idea of spending pretty much 24/7 with someone for that long and believe it or not, being "physically intimate" with them. The other problem (other than not exactly being able to tell him this)? It got me wondering if it's him specifically that is bringing this on, or just the idea in general. I'm still sorting this one out. Thank the gods the issue has been dealt with (at least for now), but to bring it back to the matter at hand, if there has been a theme to my 29th year (other than the usual waiting for the bus lol), it's been question everything. It hasn't exactly been easy or pleasant, but for now, the theme is hope: hoping things fall into place, hoping they are for the best, but also not too stressful, hoping I can finally move forward somehow and break the feeling of suspension I've had for ages, etc. On the plus side, I've learned I can get lucky and find a magic quill and that Kindles are freakin' awesome! Here's to being the big 3-0 and to hoping it's way better than being 29!:)

My Top Five List About the Beach

Was at the beach yesterday w/a friend, so I decided to post my top 5 list about being down by the seaside:
5: A ginormus amount of sand will, in fact, do a damn fine job of holding your beach umbrella in place when it's windy.
4: There's still nothing finer for a straight girl to see than attractive, young, and shirtless males running in a scenic setting.
3: Big waves and cold water=lots of shrieks from Ms. M
2: It's not quite as good without A LOT of fire and s'mores, and
1: Sand in food never tastes good
Bonus: Having  a friend (or more) with you is usually always way better than going alone!:)

Who's Crying Now?

One of those seemingly pointless new year's resolutions I made way back in January (insert slight sarcasm here) was to act upon my belief of not crying over spilled milk more strongly. As time goes on, I've felt more and more that it really is a waste of time and energy continuing to worry about things that have happened to you, time and energy better put to use towards other things you'd much rather be thinking about or doing. Think about it: it's done, over, gone and no amount of analyzing, or worrying or feeling miserable about it is going to change what went on. Yes, in some cases there needs to be a grieving stage (in the ending of a relationship for instance), but for the most part, once you think back on it, I'll bet half the time you wonder "why the hell did I do that for?" To me, it seems the best thing to do is do whatever grieving may be necessary, then pick yourself back up, think of how you can make things better for yourself from here on out and carry on from where you left off. Remember, time goes forward and so must we. No matter how bad it seems at the time, things will eventually get better and sort itself out. Things sometimes happen for a reason and I don't know about you, but I'd rather bend than break. Life's a bitch and then you die, so don't let yourself be too held back to live!:)

Enjoying the Inner Geek

I've realized I'm at the stage of my life now where I've decided to finally embrace my geekiness. I know I'm a geek, always have been, always will be. I love cheesy pop songs from the '80's & '90's, enjoy the weekly dose of funk & disco, and am a self proclaimed book hoarder. I squee over crap sometimes, and am still the epitome of the world girly girl in some ways, like I've been since I was a kid. Sometimes indulge in teen historical fiction and love Harry Potter. But hey, you know what? It's ok. I am a geek and I'm finally not ashamed to admit it. Because it doesn't really matter if I say so or not, people will know it if they hang out with me for a long enough period of time anyway. I also firmly believe we all have an inner geek side. So don't be ashamed: embrace that inner geek and let it fly...you'll be happier in the end!:)