The Joy Of Enjoying

6 Lovely Statues

These are today's pictures, giant still-friends that inspired me while touring beautiful

Vienna (except for the last picture, which was taken in Austin).

Hello Mozart! I'm sure you're proud of your flower arrangement

It's like he's playing the flute, but water is the melody...

Viennese Parliament and an awesome mermaid-man who despite of looking tired

is still gorgeous

And howdy cowboy! 70s-style picture of Austin's Capitol

Hi pretty people, the era of my Nikon CoolPix photos is coming to an end... I have

a Canon 30D to play with now! But no... I will not betray my old camera;

there are still many pictures I have taken with it that I like.

I hope you liked today's selection.

I'll probably write one more post today, hugs to you!

Last Friday ended happily; Miss Moose surprised me with a 'One Lovely Blog' award. I was very glad when I read that because it's the first award I've been given... there is always something special about 'first' things. So the rule is to pass it on to 15 lovely bloggers! I am sure some of the bloggers I will mention have probably received this award already, but I think they deserve it... besides who says you can't receive it two times!

No particular order:

1) I'd like to say hello to Alpha Buttonpusher (I absolutely love that alias) from Simplify. Her blog is always inspiring... she will always find amazing quotes/poems and pair them with moving images. It's like a little magical corner in the blogosphere.

2) Katie from Color Me Katie is probably busy reading the hundreds of comments she gets, but once she gets to the one I'll post on her blog soon, she'll know that there is a little award for her here. Her blog is pure creativeness! She gets inspired so quickly, so randomly, so magically... and every one of her posts makes you smile from ear to ear.

3) It's always nice to check what Michelle from Oh, Mishka has to say... whether it's some Monday inspiration, thankful thoughts, ideas for the weekend, or any other of her cute posts. She's one of the first bloggers I started following, and her site has helped me get inspiration for my own post-ideas.

4) Hi Sierra! from Ocean Dreams. She is probably going to see this soon because she is one of those lovely visitors I'm lucky to have. When I found her blog, I was instantly delighted by the theme Ocean Dreams... and when I saw her side bar with words like true love, music, interiors, Disney, fairytale... I knew I had to follow her. I'm glad I did because she's also a very sweet person.

5) Nicole from My Teacups in Peony, who doesn't know her? I always enjoy reading her blog. She has this amazing section called "Love Stories" which I am sure you'll love to read. She also introduces us to other awesome bloggers all the time by having them as guest writers. I don't know her but she seems to be a cool person too!

6) I mentioned the Missed Connections blog from Sophie Blackall the other day. I can't wait for her next post... a beautiful piece of art inspired by the Missed Connections sections on Craigslist. Sophie also answered an e-mail I sent to her, with lovely words on how to improve as an artist. Thanks Sophie, this award is for you!

7) Mart & Lu from Teddy Loves Lu Loves Teddy. Just visit their main site and notice how cute they are... this is also a blog that makes me smile. One of the reasons I probably like it is because they also write about finding joy in the simple things in life. Aside of that, there are lovely pictures, fun how-to's, and cheerful messages all over.

8) Nina from Naturally Nina. There is a reason why all her readers seem to connect with her... Nina is very simple and... natural! I don't want to sound too repetitive, but her posts are always cute too! She's shares one of the most important journeys of life with us: being engaged and getting married. Along with that, I visit her site to see what she has to say about the world's simple pleasures.

9) Toni from Little Suitcase always writes posts that leave you thinking and that make you appreciate something different every day. I recommend her '30 ways to make your life more beautiful.' Everyone could use those wonderful advices.

10) Jennifer! a.k.a The Novelista Barista... she's cool because she's an aries like me :) (kidding) Jennifer has a section in her blog similar to Nicole's 'Love Stories' but hers are "The Broken Hearts Files." She's one of those ladies that always interact with her readers through comments as well as posts like Interactive Thursdays. In fact, I found her because I used to see her name everywhere! Every blog I visited had a comment by Novelista Barista.

11) The Spohrs Are Multiplying. I can't skip any of Heather's posts. This is a different type of blog from all others ones in this list. This is a mother's blog, a mother that lost one child and who is trying to find strength to raise her new baby on the way. All her posts are filled with love, and many times they make you cry. All her readers have learned to love not only her, but her angel Madeline, her husband Mike, her puppy Rigby, and the new princess on the way currently known as Binky. More than cute, her blog is touching...

12) Heidi from Word Gardening, the girl that gives sweet comments to many bloggers. I like reading about her life and waiting for the next quote she'll come up with. She also has very mature opinions on different subjects. Thanks Heidi for being the top commenter on this blog! hehe

13) I found Janice from J thanks to Heidi. I love the images she uses and what she tells us about life. She's just an ordinary person like many of us, and many times blogs like hers are the ones you enjoy more. She was having a difficult day earlier so I hope this cheers her up!

14) City of Dionne. An amazing aspect about Dionne's blog is that she draws an illustration for every post!-- at least that's what I see so far. But her blog is special for many other reasons; she constantly makes us go back in time with cute posts like "nursery rhyme giveaway' or 'mixed tapes.' I also find I have many things in common with her, especially since she's so positive about things like candy, breakfast, and dessert. :)

15) Whitney from A Cheery Disposition, who probably has this award already. I'm giving it to her again because she's just sweet... thanks for making our dashboards more entertaining with stories about you and your guitar hero, about the things that inspire you, about your fun weekends, and more. Your bubbly personality is always refreshing.

There are many other amazing bloggers out there, but today I tried to include some that are not well known yet and that deserve the award. And wow, that took more time than I thought. I guess I'll write more about my weekend and stuff tomorrow :) Hope you have a very joyful start of the week!

Fabulous Fridays: Brown Eyes

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Quote(s): Lines from a poem by Zaara Haroon:

Brown eyes…as they were…

Complimented and described as the honey which smiles

[...]She saw how pretty her eyes were…how lightly

they had been touched with the brown brush of her creator,

How sharply they were shaped with a light coffee velvet inside them,

Like a dry leaf dancing its last dance of autumn,
To perch like a butterfly in bliss…

So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you're the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

(phrase from the song Soul Meets Body)

Song: What better example than Brown Eyed Girl- Van Morrison

[...]Standing in the sunlight laughing,
Hiding behind a rainbow's wall,
Slipping and sliding
All along the water fall, with you

My brown eyed girl,

You my brown eyed girl.

Thought: This is a post dedicated to all you beautiful

brown eyed girls and boys. Blue & green eyed people, you are special

too! But since we, the brown ones, are a little more common,

we don't get praised for them as much. But we have indeed inspired poems and

songs; just wanted to remind those who wish they had a different eye color

that the important thing is not if your eyes are blue, green, hazel, or brown. The

important thing is their ability to let people look into your soul through them

and just how much kindness they irradiate. Have a super fun weekend!

Here's a flower for you. Iris Spuria. And it's brown :)

When your English is not perfect...

I love this song!

Long before I discovered the use of google lyrics search, and before coming to Texas, I was a teenager in Lima, Peru. It was there where I realized my favorite type of music came from the 80s. And one of the songs that allowed me to discover that, was Down Under from Men at Work. One thing, when you speak a language other than English, is that you tend to like songs for their rhythms and notes rather than the lyrics. You also tend to sing whatever the words sound like as opposed to what the song is really saying. Anyway, of course I now know how to sing Down Under better and what they're saying, but I actually didn't have it 100% accurate until now. After listening to it like 3 times yesterday in my car, I decided to look at the lyrics... here's a few things about the song I just learned today (not only in terms of the correct word but also the real meaning):

- I did not know Australia was known as "the land down under"

- "where women glow and men plunder" to plunder means 'to take by force or wrongfully'

- "where beer does flow and men chunder" chunder is slang for throwing up, yuc! I like that better than the v word though.

- some lyric translations*:

Fried out Kombi - a broken-down van. The lyrics are often translated as "Combie," but the correct spelling is Kombi. It came from the VW Kombivan which was very popular in the '60s and early '70s, especially with surfers and hippies. --> I actually knew what a 'combie' was because we have them all over in Lima!

Head full of Zombie - Zombie was a particularly strong batch of marijuana which was floating around Australia for a long time. People called it "Zombie Grass." --> Absolutely no idea! I just imagined a bunch of zombies on a trail...

- I did not know a Vegemite sandwich looked so... yucky:

- In the original video {not the one above}, the guy who stands up and offers the Vegemite sandwich is the band's drummer, Jerry Speiser. He wasn't really "6 foot 4 and full of muscles," he had to stand on something to get extra height. He also wore a wig.--> I actually like to imagine him somewhat like this:

- I thought land down under was referring to a happy place where everything was perfect...

- I would always sing : I said to the man, "Are you trying to touch me?" as opposed to I said to the man, "Are you trying to tempt me?"

- I would always sing "where women blow and men plunder" as opposed to "where women glow and men plunder." It sounded a bit strange indeed...

Isn't it funny when you discover you've been singing the incorrect lyrics for years? And isn't cool when you learn that a song has a deeper meaning than what it seems?

*Songfacts.com
zombie, giant, happyland

What if... Wednesdays: Choose a year

What if you had the chance of living one day in any year in history? Which one would you choose, where, and why? I actually can't be 100% sure of what I would pick (80s are very tempting!) but for this post I'm going to choose...

Late 1950s (probably USA). Yes... there is something about the 50s I love... I am not sure whether it's the way women were (or at least how they are portrayed... more feminine)...

... always using peculiar skirts, shoes, hairstyles, and of course-- let's not forget-- cute bathing suits!

Or was it the cars they had and how romantic they seem in movies?

Oh, here's a good reason: my dear Elvis

Yes, music indeed is a big factor... I grew up listening to my parents' oldies collection, so I love oldies! And I wish I could find more places where I could go and dance twist, rock & roll, or even just a nice ballad. It seems nowadays a lot of people just want to drink while listening to rap and hip hop in the background. Goodness gracious great balls of fire!

Anyway, so many things I could enjoy in that one day... and there would be no cell phones or ipods taking away people's attention, no internet either, just a day full of interaction, picture taking on my part (I would take a good 2009 camera), a little romanticism, and dancing for sure!

Psspss, a little note: please don't take this silly 'what if' as me not liking the year I live in. I love it, I just like to imagine what other times were like :) 'Til next time lovely readers!

images 1, 2 & 3,

image 4

the cute car, Elvis

Simply Black&White (Part II)

Helloooo
Whew! It's been a busy couple of days... I did not get to post weekly pictures yesterday so I will do it today!

It's another one of the B&W series. So, let's start:

Carriage in front of Stephansdom, Vienna (I love the hidden face of the man)

Building detail, Texas

House ruins- McKinney Falls State Park, Austin

Clouds in black & white... always surreal

Austin from Congress Bridge (not the most current picture though)

and finally, a tree in front of my house and the rain clouds behind :)

Thanks for stopping by! I still have one more post for today!

I'll see you guys later, chauuu

Random Thoughts

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Hello pretty people!

This post is full of random thoughts that are going through my mind right now. Feel free to jump parts if you don't feel like reading lots of randomness :)

1) First I want to tell you about my Halloween... I actually celebrated it on Friday by going to a party dressed as Princess Leia. This would be my version of a princess pose:

I saw several interesting costumes that day, some of which included: a man dressed as a Christmas tree, with lights and a present included; Adam & Eve with clever non-naked-that-looked-like-naked costumes; a girl dressed as a... uterus. But it wasn't too weird; she was just dressed in black with the drawing in the middle of the shirt. The two ovaries were two different people... she constantly looked for them; she also had glued cotton balls as eggs for people to take if they wanted to... crazy. Oh! and I didn't see this one but heard about it at the party: a love triangle (three people dressed as hearts and connected to each other with yarn strings).

2) {Photography} I can't take it anymore... I can't continue taking pictures with a point-and-shoot camera while I see how others learn, improve, and are able to get more creative with other (better) equipment. I feel I need to get started with something of higher quality soon if I really want to carry out the projects I have in mind. I've decided to buy a Canon 30D. My friend has one as well as a Canon 50D. He said I could buy the 30D from him, and I'd love to do that as opposed to buying it online or at Craigslist (I have to settle for the 30D right now since I don't have much money). He let me borrow that camera when I went to Venezuela, and I know that it is a great way to start {or should I say move on... transition}. I enjoy photography a lot... and these are my goals: I will be better at it, I will become an artist with it, I will have my own style, I will be known-- at least in the city I live in!

3) I am 23 and already have some facial lines! Yes, I'm complaining a bit... here is the positive thinking: it's because I smile a lot! :) Actually, it's a bit my fault. I don't drink the amount of water I should every day; I don't didn't until now put creams/lotions on. I always thought they weren't necessary... how many beautiful older women say "I never put anything on actually..." and so I thought I could wait until later... but I guess not. Here's what I'm doing about it: I bought daytime & nightime moisturizers with very natural ingredients, I am will drink more water, and I found these nice facial exercises that everyone should try! {and I have one more my mom taught me! Maybe I will have the nerve to take some pictures of me doing those funny faces and post them... we'll see}. I won't become an old lady yet!

4) This past Saturday was not only Halloween. It was "El Dia de la Canción Criolla"* {Day of Criolla Song} in Peru. For those of you who are new here, I'm from Peru. I wanted to use this opportunity to post a poem that my uncle wrote to honor an important man in the world of Musica Criolla who died recently. My uncle creates beautiful poems (décimas) and he could create one for any topic you give him. He just started a blog and I will promote it by showing you the poem I just mentioned. As a Peruvian [and of course as a niece], I needed to include this in today's post. Thank you for reading my random thoughts today!

Message for any Peruvian visitors: Hola! Gracias por visitar mi blog, aquí les dejo una décima escrita por mi tío. Les recomiendo que visiten su nuevo blog, ya que él tiene un don y al fin se animó a darle un rinconsito en internet. Le pueden pedir que escriba una décima de lo que deseen! Por ahora su dirección es:

http://deximas.blogspot.com/ Feliz Día de la Canción Criolla a todos los peruanos!