Fall Festivities

Sorry guys! I know its been a long time since I last wrote. But here I am, trying to become active again on this lazy Sunday. Since moving to Boston I have been trying to find my niche, meet people, and just get into a routine, which has been hard since we have lived in 3 different places in 3 months. But with October 1st, came our 3rd, and last (Thank God!) apartment that we will live in until at least next year. But with the feeling of not being at home, I tried to find activities that made me feel comfortable and more familiar with the area.

Since Mehmet works most of the time and doesn't get out much, it was basically up to me to find these things and then drag him along on his days off! =) He actually enjoys it though! So since Mehmet hasn't really done some of the typical American fall festival stuff, I thought this was the perfect chance to do so! Plus we had some great weather!

We started out with apple picking! I love the smell of fall weather and the taste of crisp, freshly picked apples. So, we headed out to a local farm about 45 minutes south of the city to partake in the apple picking fun! We took a train through the orchards and ended up picking gala apples (my fav), asian pears (his fav), and some plums and peaches! We went through a maze, climbed a hay pyramid, visited a petting zoo, ate some ice cream, and enjoyed the 70 degree sunshiny weather! It was an amazing day and we were both exhausted by the end of the day but it was definetly worth it! It was something I hadn't done in a couple years and something Mehmet had never done, so we were both thrilled to have done it together this year!
Taste testing the apples! =)


On top of the hay pyramid...

To continue with the fall festivities after a long day of errands together, we poured some blush wine, lit a candle called "Turkish Peach" (which smells amazing...), and started carving pumpkins! I haven't done this since I was little, so we were both excited to get started! First we chose our patterns, then gutted the pumpkins (making sure to save the seeds to cook later), and got right to it! We had a lot of fun together and even though we had a few pumpkin mishaps (like the decapitation of the cat on my pumpkin), at the end we had unique pumpkins, and large grins on our faces! In the process of carving pumpkins...

The end results! =)

The pumpkin seeds I cooked with olive oil, salt, and pepper...Mehmet liked them, I thought they were 'okay'

Anyways, looking back at the time I've been in Boston thus far, and these past four weeks specifically, it's not that important what we are doing, but that Mehmet and I get to do these things together and just experience and walk through life together.

I think this is something we should remember when we are having a bad day or are just plain grumpy, that the people around us are what matter most and we should be thankful for them. Thankful that they are there for us, there with us, and put up with us through good and bad times. Thanks to all my friends and family, and especially...

Thank you Askim!!!

For spending our days together, putting up with me when I am grumpy, and just always being there, even when I'm a pain!

Being Friendly can Brighten your Day!

I have been in a relatively bad mood all day, but even so, I was not mean to people who I had no right to be mean to, ie: strangers. I was thinking about this and wondered why are people, especially those in the customer service industry, so mean?! Of course, not everyone in the industry is mean and I realize that everyone has a bad day now and then. However, I was in one of the worse moods I have been in in a long time, and I managed to put a smile on my face, hold doors open for people, and even say hello to people on the streets and in stores. So.....

So why are people who are suppose to be selling things or making sure your shopping or retail experience is pleasant, so awful and just so mean sometimes?! Immediately brought to my mind is our current landlord (we are moving in 1 week thank God!). We move in and the following day are being woken up at 9:00am saying that it is an emergency. Want to know what the emergency was? We left some garbage in the dumpster that apparently we were not suppose to leave there. There were no signs or management around when we put it there, so how were we suppose to know?!? Anyways on that morning, we were threatened to be kicked out by her saying "I don't want people like you living in my apartments" and not to mention a $500 fine. I had no problem paying the fine, or taking care of whatever else needed to be taken care of. But when I tried to explain that we didn't know and the situation we were in, I could not get a word in edgewise. She just continued yelling. And even when I said "I'll pay whatever fine there is" Her response?! "Oh, I know you will, I am sending you the letter and bill right now and I want it no later than this Friday". I was like "Whaaaatttt?!?!" This was a very unprofessional and RUDE way to handle any kind of business matter, especially in a company that owns apartment complexes all over boston and is a huge realtor.

My problem is that you don't treat people like they are a piece of c$#p. It is not necessary and in the long run it does not get you very far.

I know people who are mean to clients/customers. In return, they end up dealing with more grumpy, unpleasant people, and of course just complain further about this. If you are mean to someone they usually will return the tendency. I have found, in my 22 years of experience in dealing with people, that if you are nice to people, they are generally nice to you in return, EVEN IF they are in a bad mood or just plain miserable.

So here is a challenge to anyone who reads this: Make it your personal goal to be nice to people all day and observe how people act towards you in response.

And to all of you people out there who are...well...just jerks...... try a smile and some optimism, you might be surprised how much further it will take you!

Until next time my friends....ciao! =) (and thanks for listening to me rant!)

Entry #1- Explanation of Blog

I started a blog, well, I guess because it's the cool new thing to do. Many of my friends have recently created blogs and they inspired me and intrigued me so much, that I thought "Why don't I start a blog?" However, more than it being the cool thing to do (because honestly, I don't usually follow "cool new things"; example #1 Twitter; example #2 dog purses; and example #3 spandex with waist length shirts) I thought it would be fun to rake my mind for new blog entries daily, or more realistically, weekly; and hopefully spark my creativity, in addition to being able to share my thoughts and life with family and friends that I don't get to spend nearly enough time with. I have, and unfortunately believe, I will always lack creativity that so many of my peers have been blessed with, so here is an attempt to work on that! =)

Anyways, this blog thing. I am fascinated by people's ability to relay their daily activities and thoughts to the world with just a click of a button and thought it was my turn to give it a try. I have been contemplating it for a couple of weeks, and with some time on my hands, here i am!

The title of my blog: spice ofmy life
Well, I was trying to spark that creativity in me once again and came up with the name for several reasons.

1. As lame as this may sound, I did some "research" as to how to properly name your blog. The most important things in naming a blog (and this is as important a task as to what you actually write in your blog, according to an avid blogger and journalist) is uniqueness, creativity, simplicity, and a personal aspect of you.

So with those four things needing to be in one title, I thought I could come up with a proper name in, say, maybe 3 weeks. Well, it didn't take quite that long, maybe only an hour or so, but I did go through several other ideas first. One of the ideas I thought would be a big hit was to somehow use "kaleidoscope" in the name since my name is the first five letters of the word and hey! they are oh so pretty! But that, apparently is a common theme among bloggers' titles (who knew?!?) so if I wanted to be unique, this wasn't the road to go.

2. I was laying in bed, rummaging my mind through creative things I have done in the past and remembered a page in one of my scrapbooks in which I quoted "Spice is the variety of life" (or something to that effect) Ah Hah! So, I rummaged my mind for different spices, different quotes involving spices. And I thought it was perfect because I have a passion for cooking and whenever I cook I try to use new spices, extra spices, etc. It actually reminded me of a time when I made a chicken dinner for my mom and my sisters (probably about 7 years ago). It was a simple meal, chicken breast, green beans, and mashed potatoes. However on the chicken breast, I had "sprinkled" garlic, black pepper, parsley, oregano, and salt. What I thought was delicious, was apparently overspiced to my mom and sisters, emphasizing my love for spices.

3. Okay, (sorry if I ramble sometimes) Third reason I chose the name was actually pretty simple. Everyday of our lives is so different from the previous or from the one to follow. Whether it be the weather, a person who touches your life, a success you acheive, a mistake you make, you are happy, sad, angry, maybe all three. Everyday is so different, as different as any one spice is to another. And there are so many spices and they are used for so many different purposes that I thought it correlated so well to every day life!

So there you have it. Entry #1: Why I started a blog and why I named it the way I did.

Stay tuned.....there's plenty more to come! =)