More Air Miles!

I am traveling again. This time to Vancouver, Canada, a city I have never been to before. It will be a week of sightseeing and venturing everywhere including Victoria that promises to be exciting. Hopefully good weather welcomes my stay (a bit of rain is in the forecast but I intent to have fun anyway).

I will also have an overnight visit with old friends from North Carolina who now live in Seattle, Washington (three hour trip from Vancouver), and then meet a 'new friend' for coffee in the same city who is a Happy Living  page fan!

The itinerary looks busy with places to go, things to see, food to taste, views to take and people to visit. I am always happy to experience new sites around the world!

Happy Living To All,

ElenaMartina.

Growing leaps!

Do I look happy? I am! - and let me tell you why. My Facebook page, Happy Living: One Day at a Time, has surpassed 1,500 members today.

I suspect a lot of people search for happiness even on the internet and happy, inspirational pages such as mine may provide uplifting comfort through words that speak to them. My creation also gives me satisfaction since I am fulfilling people's needs -at least I think I am because of some great comments I receive after my posts.

I never dreamed my page would grow by leaps and bounds ! I must be doing something right, eh?

In contrast, this blog has many readers from all over the world, but only 53 have subscribed since its inception in August 2010. Why such a discrepancy? I really don't know... Blogger friends of mine have great success in attracting subscribers, but the same does not happen on their Facebook pages. My situation is the exact opposite of that.

P.S. If you subscribe to this blog, it will notify you of a new post via e-mail, so you don't have to check the site constantly to see whether I posted something or not. ~ I hope you subscribe!

ElenaMartina.

Rest and Relaxation....

Three day weekends are always welcome by everybody, but what do you do with it is the point of the enjoyment. Sure, you can relax at home and do absolutely nothing, but going out and doing "absolutely nothing" is also a great perspective. Some ideas:

• Take a snooze on the grass during a calm sunny day at the park. (awesome).
• People watch. (always gratifying).
• Compose poetry.
• Write in your diary.
• Read your favorite book.
• Visit a local garden and admire the beauty.
• Photograph flowers, buildings, interesting signs.
• Take a picnic basket and eat whatever you like (not having to cook)- or order Pizza!
• Leisurely walk around a park, your neighborhood, a nearby lake or the ocean.
• Spend focused time with your self and pets.
• Make a call to a family member. 
• Watch TV, movies.
• Play video games.
• Take a long soothing bath. (very relaxing)
• Derive some formulas in advanced calculus. (for geeks... :p)

You get the picture!

ElenaMartina.

Art Festivals.

Ever since I moved to California I have attended quite a few weekend festivals as far away as I can endure driving. I particularly enjoy those with up and coming artists displaying their new art and inventions, and also (I must admit) where good food, wine and beer is sold on the streets for a few bucks.

I usually spend a couple of hours walking slowly, browsing up and down and "sometimes" coming home with an item or two. Even though there are a lot of similar items, new artists inspire me with their creations and they seem to show up at every festival. On my last one in Los Gatos, I met an artist by the name of Nancy Templeton who converts old outdated books into wooden boxes!

I was so impressed, that at the next festival, I carried four books in the trunk of the car just in case. I caught up with her again and gave her the old college books so she could recycle them into gifts. I should be getting them in the mail sometime this month. Two are for Christmas presents for storing little trinkets or mementos, one will go on the bedroom nightstand, and another one for the office. Tomorrow I am hoping to find some international food, local California wine, and perhaps some interesting new art to display at home!

ElenaMartina.

Flying for Free?

Window, aisle, or middle seat? First Class or Economy? Have your pick. I'm talking about Air Miles.  My family uses a credit card that earns miles for free trips. You get 3, 2, or 1 miles per dollar spent on different purchases so I charge just about everything and pay it fully each month (to avoid credit card charges). 

Result: Free trips nationwide and overseas.

My daughter recently joined the same credit card system when she traveled to Bangalore, India in June, and received 25,000 miles just for joining. She's accumulating miles on the program for her next trip to California to see us. The most expensive trip I have taken without having to pay was to Paris, France in 2009. It cost me $50!

In a competitive airline age of being charged for everything, one of the last enjoyments I have with traveling is knowing that I'm not forking hundreds of dollars over for some tickets. It somehow compensates for the constant grief we have to go through at airports (T.S.A. strip lines and pat downs).

Steward checking his phone during working hours.

Off the subject, but I need to mention a chance photo I took of a male steward checking his Blackberry while supposedly working! An elderly passenger was struggling with her luggage in the aisle and another passenger had  to help her put it in the top compartment. I wondered where the stewards were, when lo and behold, both of them were fixated on their Blackberries behind me. By the time I took the picture, only one continued.

After seeing this, I told myself that gaining miles for free trips was making that flight worth it, and happy. I didn't let the unprofessionalism cause me any grief.

ElenaMartina.