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prompts from "the little things we do"

1. People always tell me I look like I'm younger than 21 by asking me for my ID everytime I want to buy an alcoholic beverage. Two weeks ago at a bar my friend got slightly upset because she did not get carded and I did, and told the bartender "But I'm three years younger than she is." He responded "But she [pointing at me] looks like a sixteen-year-old with that babyface." I'm actually 30 so I'm happy to get carded, and I choose to take such remarks as a compliment.

2. Friends don't let friends make fools out of themselves. In public at least, being foolish in private can be funny!

3. A sunny day is perfect for a walk down the Embarcadero in San Francisco and visiting the sea lions at Pier 39. They are such fascinating animals, I can watch them for hours, they never get boring.

4. My favorite accessory is my monkey necklace. It was a birthday gift from my mom, she had it made for me after one of my eleventh monkey designs. I LOVE it!

5. If I could afford it I would a car! Most definitely a car. I love driving and life would be easier with a car too, like when I'm doing a heavy load of laundry at the laundromat or when I want to go grocery shopping at a good and far-away store and buy lots of heavy things.

6. The cure for boredom is my iPhone. I don't usuallly get bored, there are a million projects on my list, but sometimes I need to kill time while I'm waiting for a bus or train [because I don't have a car ;)] and then my iPhone and its many Apps do the trick.

7. I am currently "in like" with Glee. I just recently discovered this show after my brother mentioned seeing his first episode and really liking it. We usually like the same kind of tv shows and he was right. I really like Glee! I want to be in their club, but I can't sing...

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prompts from "the little things we do"

1. What I love most about my home is the kitchen.

Our kitchen here in the States is huge, and cooking in it is easy and fun, so I do it a lot. It's also equipped with a huge oven, a stove with four burners and an enormous fridge and freezer.

My previous kitchens in Japan on the other hand... I'm not even comfortable calling those kitchens.

My first kitchen had only one burner, no oven and no counter space, it did have a rice cooker and a reasonably sized fridge. My second kitchen was better with two burners (but they were so close together that you could only use one at the time), a microwave, a small toaster oven, and a tiny sliver of counter space. But neither of these were comfortable for cooking, so I ate out basically everyday.

So yeah, I really love our current kitchen!!

2. I'm excited because, I'm planning a road trip for next month. My mother and her husband are coming to visit us and we're going to explore Northern California by car. Just imagining all the fun things we're going to do and being able to show them around in San Francisco gives me butterflies of excitement.

3. My preferred method for blowing off steam when I'm frustrated is screaming and crying.

4. Currently I am craving things I can't get here. Mostly Dutch or Japanese things, but as it's lunch time right now I'd like a glass of cold Dutch milk, with some super dark brown Dutch bread and some young non-smoked Dutch Gouda cheese. Yum.

5. The thing I love most about my mom is how much she supports me and my decisions and how much she believes in me.

6. If I was going to write a book about my life, the title would be "Always Traveling". Ever since I read "Happiness is not a station of arrival, it's a way of traveling" on a bubblegum wrapper as a kid, I've remembered this quote and believed in it.

Besides that I'm not big on settling down, I like the way we live now, in different countries in different places and never permanently. We moved here less than a year ago and we're already seriously thinking about which country we're moving to next. I know someday we're going to have to settle down, especially when we have kids, but for now we're still 'traveling'.

7. If I were to eat one thing for the rest of eternity it would be fruit. But I can't just choose one type of fruit, I want all of them!

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1. I am looking forward to the end of next month. My mother and her husband are visiting us in San Francisco and we're going to show them around and we're going on a roadtrip through Northern California and probably more! I love road trips, especially in the States, and I also love seeing my mother again after almost a year. It's going to be so great to show them how we've been living our American lives.

2. Something kind of embarassing that I still love anyway is any movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He's my all time favorite actor and I think I used to have a crush on him. Everytime a new DiCaprio movie comes out my husband knows we (I drag him with me) have to go see it, because I love Leonardo DiCaprio so much. No worries, my hubbie isn't jealous, he knows I love him way more.

3. My favorite car is made by Volkswagen. I love the Beetle, the Golf, the Lupo (so cute), the Fox, the Touareg, but if I were allowed to pick one to use right now I'd probably choose the Tiguan. But if they start producing Golfs in the Bon Jovi version again, I might change have to my mind.

4. If I could pick one type of weather to live with for the rest of my life it would be the weather here in San Francisco. Never too hot and humid, most of the time it's pretty and sunny, it makes me want to go outside a lot.

5. My favorite thing to do after a bad/stressful day is get cuddles and kisses from my sweet hubbie, he has this magical power to always make me feel better.

6. This weekend we are celebrating our 7 year anniversary. Not our wedding anniversary but our first kiss anniversary. Which happened in the international student dorm at Emory University and lasted for 6 hours... Yeah, not quite sure how we did that, I guess we really liked it! And on Sunday we're celebrating a friend's birthday with a beach barbecue.

7. If I were a color, I'd be orange because I'm a Dutchie and that's the color of the Netherlands, but I'd also be a fuchsia because that's my favorite color, and that combo would probably make me look like Dunkin' Donuts logo. But I wouldn't mind :).

Fill in the blanks... Continued.

1. Fridays are Fries Days in the Netherlands. Friday is the day many Dutchies go to the local snack bar or turn on their own deep fryer to have Dutch fries with mayonnaise (!), frikandellen and kroketten for dinner. Oh how I wish I could just be back in the Netherlands for dinner on Fridays.

2. The things my husband says to me and does for me make me terribly happy.

3. Something that inspires me is my drawer of supplies. It's so full of good felt and buttons I can already visualize all the softies that will be created from them.

4. If I had the day off today I would rent a car and go on a mini road trip around California.

5. If I had to put a label on my home decor style, I would say my style is utilitarian. When we arrived in the States we had nothing so I went to Ikea and bought the necessary furniture to be comfortable in our studio apartment.

6. Concerning politics I would say I'm indifferent.

7. I'd like to go to Vancouver so I could check out if that would be a nice place to live next.

This is really fun! If you want to read more answers from other blank fillers, check here.

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Every week on the Curious Pug Alicia fills in the blanks to prompts she gets from Lauren at the Little Things We Do. I've been enjoying those a lot and I've decided to join in on the fun. And because this is the first time, I'm going to two week's worth of prompts, one now and one later today.

1. My favorite daily responsibility is making my husband feel special, loved and appreciated.

2. My least favorite daily responsibility is cleaning. I love organizing and general tidying but I hate cleaning, mopping, vacuuming, dusting, wiping, all of it.

3. My favorite cuisine to eat when going out is Japanese. I miss Japanese food, especially the side dishes, like miso soup, properly cooked white rice, Japanese pickles and cabbage salad. And fish baked in soy sauce... I love to eat in Japantown, which is not the same as in Japan, but it's close enough.

4. My favorite cuisine to prepare at home is anything from the oven. I didn't have an oven in Japan nor as a student in the Netherlands, but now in the States I do, and it's like a magic machine! I love that thing and almost anything that is prepared in it.

5. Andy Warhol said that everyone is famous for 15 minutes. My claim to fame is that time a famous Dutch TV show kidnapped me in a private jet and flew me to Russia to reunite me with my Japanese boyfriend for the Christmas holidays. After that show aired, strangers on the street and in the shop where I worked kept recognizing me and asking me if I was the girl from the TV show.

6. If I could have 3 wishes I would wish for the ability to teleport with a snap of my fingers, to never have to worry about money, and for a healthy and happy life for me and my loved ones.

7. My biggest pet peeve is people playing loud music on their cell phones in public. Just because you like that kind of noise doesn't mean I want to listen to it.