5 Cool Things About Chile

I think I spend a lot of time lamenting the things I don’t have access to living here.  I thought it was high time I used some blog space talking about some of the positives about living down here.  So with no further ado…

5 Cool Things About Chile

1. They have beer on tap at the food court in the mall. ^__^  I’m sure may more woman could convince their SOs to go shopping with them stateside if malls had beer.
2. On a Friday of a holiday weekend… young people gather in these chilean “pojangmacha” type bars in the neighborhood w/cheap plastic outdoor furniture and start partying at around 3 in the afternoon. w00t~ (Pojangmacha are small street vender/cafe type places w/cheap patio furniture that sell cheap food/alcohol in Korea.)
3. The seafood and fresh veggies… oh I can sing the praises of the cheap fresh seafood and fruits and veggies. I think it’s because they have a really short farm to market time frame. If you pick the right days to go to the markets.. you can get stuff that is barely a day old. Interestingly all of the very top grade fruits and veggies aren’t sold to Chileans. I don’t think they’d pay the prices.. it all gets exported. Which explains all the really good Chilean fruit in Costco. lol
4. The ski slopes are a 1 hour drive and the beach is 1 hr 15min away.  It’s very similar in that way to Los Angeles.  It’s great.  Feel like the beach? No problem!  Want to hit the slopes? It’s just a hop skip and jump away.  Not to mention that the ski resorts don’t have any trees for you to accidently run into.
5. Empanadas… OHHH EMPANADAS~~~  MMmmmmm  My personal favorites are the razor clam/cheese ones.  Good Lordy these are good.  ‘Nuf said.

This made me laugh today~

via icanhascheezburger.com

Nearly Busted a Gut

Good lord.. you must watch this if you play WoW

Thanks to Jin and Scott for sharing. ^__^

Why I’ve been MIA

Hello everyone!  So I’ve been MIA because I took a 1 month trip to Los Angeles to be the Maid of Honor at my best friend’s wedding and visit family.  I will blog about that another day.  In the meanwhile it’s suddenly gone from late summer directly to early winter here in Santiago.  I swear this country has only 2 seasons… (1) Warm, (2) Cold and smoggy  >__<;;

Here are some photos from this weekend:

hmmm I'm looking a little flushed >_<

These were taken at Lamu Lounge.

Did you get your Green on?

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh! Éirinn go Brách!

As my friend Kent would say.

A happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you~

Photo credit: Blazingstar

Happy Pi Day!

So it’s Pi day today! Don’t know what I mean. err… you are obviously not a geek. Today is 3-14. hehehe. Of course, if you’re from somewhere where they write the date DD-MM-YY.

Still don’t know what I’m talking about?  Well then:

Pi, Greek letter (), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi = 3.1415926535… Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th

Excerpted from:  The “Official” Pi Day Website.

Anyway.. remember to get your geek on! w00t!

Quirky Java

If you know me, chances are you know I’m an avid drinker of coffee. Usually at least 1 cuppa per day. You may also know that I’m a pretty big fan of Hayao Miyazaki. Imagine my surprise when surfing the net I found something that combines both!

This is Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service.  Just in case you didn’t know.   Apparently at the cafe at the Ghilbi museam in Japan you get coffee with characters drawn in it!  If you’re not familiar w/Kiki I suggest clicking the link above to see just how awesome this coffee illustration is.  Oh, and the movie is worth watching too.  Very cute!  Wah~  XD

(Hmm..  2 Miyazai posts in a row.  It was completely coincidental.  Really. )

Totoro!!!11

Oh my goodness… this is just too cute!

I found this at Coco Cakes Cupcakes’s flicker stream.  Will someone make this for me?

Some rays of sunshine

It’s been a little strange from me to try and follow american politics from abroad.  I feel somewhat disconnected to what’s going on.  This morning I read an article from Politico about a speech that Obama gave at the Democratic Retreat.  Once Obama hit office the tone of his speeches had somewhat changed .  Don’t get me wrong he is still an awesome speaker, but I felt he’d lost some of the powerful pull his campaign speeches had.  I will have to see if I can find video of this speach.  They say that he abandoned his telepromter and spoke from his heart.  Here is a little golden nugget from the article:

Rhode Island Rep. Jim Langevin, who hasn’t been able to walk since he was 16, asked Obama if he would remove the executive ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Yes, Obama replied, but only after he and congressional leaders figure out a way to prevent opponents from overturning it.

I’m pretty excited to see that.  What a way to make my morning!  :D  You can read the whole article here.

Golf ‘n Stuff

Okay, okay… I know I have been terrible about posting.  Several factors come into play.  I’d lost some of my blogging mojo partly because I wasn’t really inspired to post about much. (Not a whole lot of interesting stuff going on. I also wasn’t too key on using the energy needed to make the mundane entertaining to read about.)  Not to mention that time spent in front of the computer these days was the equivalent of vegging in front of the TV.  I really didn’t want to have to think too much.  Spider Solitaire:  what can I say.. except I can’t get past 2 suits. O_o  (Fishing Girl is really relaxing too!)

This week I’m watching my brother-in-law’s (BIL’s) store for him.  It’s a wholesale clothing store.  Actually there are 3 stores, but the other 2 have managers.  I only need to open/close and pick up the daily sales for those locations.  Hubby’s been helping a bit when he has time.  So sweet!  It’s been quite the adventure so far and my Spanish is remedial at best.  I’m pretty much stuck here all day.  Now I have some blogging time.

If you follow me on twitter than you’ve probably heard that I started taking golf lessons with the hubby.  It’s a lot of fun and a sport I never really thought I’d get into.  I had this horrible scarring experience of going to the range w/my uncle back in HS.  Even though all beginners are.. well beginners.  I’d listened to his explaination and it too me a few swings before I managed to finally hit what seemed like an impossibly small ball.  It rolled about 5 meters.  I was pretty disheartened and figured that golf really wasn’t my thing.  I’m not really particularly sporty gal and figured that my strengths lie elsewhere.  I’m not really a quitter, but at the time I wasn’t particularly interested in golf anyway. 

About a month ago, my BIL spoke to the hubby about learning to play golf and joining the country club he was a member of.  Spaces don’t open up too often, it was a bargain, good for entertaining clients.. blah blah.  Well the BIL and his 7 year old son were taking lessons and recommended their teacher.  We haven’t decided about the CC membership, but decided that it was a good idea to learn to play.  It would be good for business purposes and a sporty activity that we could enjoy as a couple/family. 

Last month we met up with the BIL and instructor at the range to discuss the possibility of lessons.  Apparently the 1st lesson is free and after having some pizza we jumped right into learning with some loaner clubs.  (Omg the thin crust pizza there is to die for! PLUS they have 2for1 drinks and pizzas until 10pm. 10PM FOLKS!! Crazy ass long happy hour is not conducive to a good golf learning environment.  I’m hoping that after golf ice cold beers will become a tradition of sorts. hee hee) Turns out that I wasn’t completely miserable at playing golf. I just needed a better explanation of the basics. (Sorry Uncle John!)  I took a deep cleansing breath and took my 1st swing.  Wouldn’t you know it, that ball flew straight and high.  Oh man what a good feeling that was!  Everyone chuckled and joked that it was in my blood to be a golfer. (Said uncle is a fanatic & my aunt was a golf widow until she and all the kids started playing golf too.)

So far I’ve had 3 lessons and it’s been great!  Our instructor, Sony (pronounced Sunny.. not like the electronics company) had been busy last weekend at a golf tourny so we postponed one.  We’re scheduled for a total of 10 sessions which include time out on a course.  I’m pretty nervious about that.  I’ll see if I can get some video of me practicing next week and upload it for you to point and laugh at. O_o