Stumble Upon

So I finally stumbled upon StumbleUpon and let me tell you, I love it!

Something interesting I stumbled upon yesterday: The 10 Best Places to Live for Escaping World Conflict aka. the top ten most peaceful places on earth.

Guess what? Canada was #7 on the list! Reasons why were things like having only one bordering country (and that's a peaceful border) and because we have few enemies in the world. How lovely!

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Other countries on the list: 
The obvious: Switzerland and Iceland (hello, in Iceland they leave their babies in carriages outside restaurants while they go in for dinner, that's how safe it is).

The secluded: Tuvalu (no idea where it is, never heard of it, but it looks gorgeous) and Seychelles.

The somewhat surprising: Costa Rica - although having traveled there, I can vouch for how peaceful I felt there, I was just surprised because it borders some pretty dangerous places.

I'm proud to live in one of the most peaceful counties on earth - Happy (almost) Birthday Canada!

xx E.

Ps. happy (almost) long weekend!

Two Random Things

I'll start by saying that neither of these two things are related. I just felt like telling you about them.

Random thing #1. 
Yesterday, I was wrapping my hair in a towel, and it seemed like there was a little towel fluff floating around. All of a sudden it landed in my mouth. Ew. so I pulled it out...only to realize that IT. WAS. A. SPIDER. Super ewww! It was a baby spider, but still, I almost died.

Random thing #2.
Over the weekend we were walking down the bike path that runs near our house. When on the bike path, you always have to keep your wits about you because bikers come out of no where (and don't ring their stupid bells until they're about to run you over).
Anywho, all of a sudden, behind us came a skateboarder. But not just any skateboarder, the coolest boarder I've ever seen because he was also playing a ukulele. It was as if his ipod was broken, so he brought the next best thing for music on his travels. The expression on his face was priceless - not a care in the world.

this cool drawing: via

One not-so-lovely and one lovely :)

xx E.

Ps. Happy hump day!

Stress

I would say I'm a pretty low-stress person. I'm good at helping other people relax, or get some perspective in a stressful situation. I'm not immune to stress though. Things are getting pretty busy at work, and I'm starting to feel the burn. 

My typical reaction to stress? Sleep. It takes everything out of me. In university, I would begin studying for an exam, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up with my textbook on my bed.

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So since I can't take naps while in the office (despite how much I love that idea), I'm going to have to come up with some other ways to de-stress. 

So far one thing that helps is music.Quiet relaxing music is nice, but loud party music or rock are kind of cathartic. I definitely try to rock out in the car when I'm travelling between offices.

Another is laughing. If you can take a quick look at the situation and see the humor in it - even if the humor is because it's just an insane amount of work for one person - it can really help. Other people are in the same boat, so laugh it off together.

That's all I've got so far - I'm not a miracle worker!

xx E.

Ps. oh ya, eating is another thing I do...wouldn't recommend that as a great solution...

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