How to make yourself happy, secret REVEALED!

Looks like the middle of nowhere right? But its actually abt 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam.

How gorgeous and wild looking!

You know what else is gorgeous?

Yep, Nico was the nicest host and fed me and decorated just like I dreamed!!! (and outlined in an email)

Here at sempreprimavera we always ponder the true meaning of happiness, how to get it and where.

Well again, I must say that happiness is really something that you have to MAKE, choose, decide... see all the action words? That's the main lesson kids. Happiness requires work, well, movement in the very least.

You have to go and get it, and not to give up because you're lazy, uninspired, scared it'll never happen, but rather go, do, get. OH! and its not like once you find happiness that's IT. NO! You gotta go, do, get EVERYDAY. It's work that never ends.

The good news is: that anyone can be happy! and all the doing that you have to do to get it, is the kind of action that makes you happy even before you reach that ultimate "happiness". (Just think ice cream: while eating it you're already happy even before that satisfactory last spoon full ;)

Ever wonder why construction workers always seem jovial? Cus they're MOVING and not sitting on their asses in front of computers all day long. Ever wonder why you'd rather drive 30 minutes longer rather then save the 30 minutes but sit in traffic most of the way...?

MOVEMENT and just action in general will already make you happy. And it makes perfect sense, because there is more chance of you being happy or getting what you want when you are in movement, you simply cover more ground that way.

What does any of this nonsense have to do with Nico and Nicoland? Hmm... I guess I was just thinking that as magical as this whole thing seems and how it is magically making me so happy, its actually not very magic at all!!! It's just part of a very simple formula: MOVE YOUR ASS and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Thank you, and tomorrow we will meet to discuss world peace and ending hunger, there may be some time left so we'll get started on global warming prevention as well.

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Joyeux anniversaire grand-mère!!!

The weekend was absolutely fabulous and what better way to end it then a fancy-shmancy party!!! My Granmare really knows how to party it up, and what a number: EIGHTY!

The table was almost breaking underneath all kind of plates full of delicacies. There was crab salad, julienned mushrooms, roasted potatoes and a bunch of wild animals and fishes cooked to varying degrees in various sauces... OHHhhhhhh

Not to mention the cheese plates...

Drinks? There were so many drinks that if you poured them all together you could probably create a small-medium sized river, raise your sails and sail towards the sunset...

There was laughter, there was more laughter, and there was even some loud singing in a language I don't understand! (There is one like that... called Yiddish.)

Now I'm at work suffering the worst case of the "Mondays", the only consolation is that its already Tuesday!

au revoir mes petits amis!!

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Men... really, we honestly do have completely different

brains. It's as if men live in this world of denial and women have it right all along but second guess themselves.



























But all in all, men just don't realize that whatever the woman wants, the woman WILL get! If it involves a man, that man will have to comply.







Weather it happens sooner of later depends on how smart the woman is, but the fact that it will happen is not up for discussion!







Knowing these here above truths, I just don't understand why men STILL insist on expressing their own opinions (without specifically being asked to share). Really now, do they actually think that it will lead to any kind of change in plan?? (The woman's plan of course.)







If a man wants to be with a particular woman, he needs to understand that he just gave up any say in anything. Men in a relationship in which they think they're the boss, are with VERY smart women who skillfully arrange all their plans so that their men think they're the ones with the ideas. I shouldn't be disclosing such things, but don't worry ladies we're safe since men will never believe this anyway.







Anyway, having said that... I have to admit that my of "craftiness" needs honing. I'm not that good at all this stuff and thus... my "plans" are taking longer to blossom then personally I think necessary.







Nico is coming here end of Feb, and we'll be going to Beantown. Though, honestly speaking, my bags are packed already. (And I'm not talking about Beantown.)







******







WHOOOOOOOH!






ENOUGH angry subcontext!!!! :) This is not what we do here!!! (actually sure it is)
What we are going to do is concentrate on having so much fun that we'll be receiving call from the Vatican to keep it down!






When SemprePrimavera doesn't get her way (immediately) we constructively use our angry energy, and we turbo up our fun schedule! In the next 2 months you will see so much fun here that you'll need extra sessions at your therapist to deal with the sensory overload.






Giddiup!






lesson kids: if the mountain doesn't walk towards you, you get your hummer out zoom-zoom it to ground level!!

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The obsession with scandinavian home decor and style continues...

Picked up a dozzen of magazines from all over the world (well, from the world's airports). As much as I try to develop some elegance and sophistication in taste, I still go and bust THIS out from Nico's closet and spead it on the couch for some comfortable movie viewing...























Now, what was such a happily printed comforter doing on the top shelf of his laundry room is a whole other story... I guess we really are a pair!!!



mooooouuuoooo!
happy thursday! off to see my girls Wallst and Dulce... gossip central!!! Hm... IS it gossip if we're dishing on stuff about ourselves??

Anyway... tataaaaa!!

oh and ps: I went through half of my posts and put labels on them thanks to the new Blogger...yey!!! So now we can see all my "treasures" such as lessons on life labeled "Sempre Primavera Teachings" all in one nice section!!! So enjoy the Categories on the side bar. Uff, and I noticed I write a lot about that Nico from Nicoland... anyway, that's exciting, I've been waiting to categorize my posts, now I have 250 more to go....

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JUMP! ...if you wanna...

View from my friend's place in Bruxelles.

When I visit a new place, I always play a game of asking myself if I should like to live there. What job would I do? What would my house look like? Where would it be? Who would be my friends and where would we hang out...? Those types of questions.

The problem (for me) with these games is that 99% of the time no matter WHAT country I'm in, I can come up with a pretty satisfying scenario which makes me start to seriously consider moving to those places and making the story into reality!!! As you can imagine after putting together a pretty detailed plan of real estate development while running a hotel and surf school in Costa Rica, it was hard to return to grey, rainy, cold NYC last winter.

Same thing happened when I traveled to Brasil with my friend, where I clearly invisioned living in a sweet little appartment on the Ipanema strip working for some big time American company in Rio. Going running on the most amazing beach and drinking lots of beers to samba beats at night.

In Panama, I would have worked as some kind of planner for the Panama Canal while living in a glitzy penthouse in one of those high rise buildings in Panama City. A given since I planned to marry one of those rich boys from Club Union (the oldest country club in Panama, with the most exclusive members, formed by the original families that helped to establish Panama).

In Italy... oh ITALY, this was perhaps most hard to get over... not only did I have the good story worked out, I almost went with it. I still have my italian accountant's business card in my walet.

But everytime, something stoped me. I think because there was always that curiousity of what other stories are out there?? How did I know that THAT story was really for me?

I guess the main thing is to really think about the story you really want and then to just do it! To just GO for IT! There can be lots of stories and countries in the world to see and experience, but its impossible to look through all the scenarios and then choose one, you have to just jump at some point.

A toast: to having the desire to jump, to jumping high and far, and ALWAYS landing softly with two feet on the ground.

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I give you food! MUSIC! Don't say I don't give you anything!

The mystery of the funky european table top grilling... anraveles.... right here in front of your eyes at SEMPRE PRIMAVERA!!!

(Yes, how DID you live without me before???)

Thank you Wall Str for sending me an emergency email to inform me that we infact DO have those table top grill thingis.... We just call them differently, thanks Un Swiss Miss for pointing it out. So here are the beauties!

The one above is from Wolfgang Puck, and this one is from Cuisine Art and comes with a nifty recipe/idea book.

I guess here we call these things a "Raclette" grill.

Personally, I think if someone started a restaurant with these things, it would become so popular that they'd make a ton of money and be able to retire on the islands within a year!

Just think of how popular fondue restaurants have gotten.

And as a BONUS: I bring you another wonderful discovery from Europe...

Lilly Allen, an adorable London girl who sings (and writes) very fun songs. Yes she is young, and her songs center around experiencing a first love break-up or discovering that the world really is yucky... but I love her voice, the lyrics are clever and you can CLEARLY hear the english accent as she sings! That's just brilliant!! As usually accents are lost when people sing.

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First post of 2007!



Waw, already? Really?



I'm completely sick, what a freakin great way to start of the year... and got sick on NYE since I thought it may be ok to go outside with wet hair, sure, no problem, I'm made out of platinum!



Anyway, how shall I sum up my trip? Well first of all the first week was all about FOOD! And I'm glad because most of the next week I was sick and the nose medication completely knocked out my sense of smell so I could not taste what I was eating... so basically I didn't eat much since it would have been a waste anyway.



Well, the party season got kicked of at Nico's friends. Now I pride myself on being all knowing world traveler (etcetcetc...) but I've never seen this thing below!!!!




























Um... a table top barbecue stove??? Double deck portable grill? You can grill up various pieces of meat and make some potatoes and little omelets too... Anyway, its really popular over at Nicoland, I really wonder why we don't have it over here!?



Now for desert we had something that I am familiar with at least:





















There was plenty more food (and more and more and more and more.........) but I was too embarrassed about taking photos at family dinner... "Hey Nico... what's wrong with your girlfriend? Don't they have food back where she comes from?" So yes, I just opted for "mental" photography. Though now that I think about it, it was silly, I'm sure they would have been flatered. I really did want to appear "normal".

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