It’s that time of year again! 6 years later, World Nutella Day fans are growing strong and ready to celebrate!

This year, co-host Michelle from Bleeding Espresso & I have a special treat for you: a Nutella Book! This quick guide is available on Amazon for Kindle & practically every mobile device, you can even read it on your PC! Read on for more information.

The Unofficial Guide to Nutella

We, the World Nutella Day co-hosts, decided to put together this primer for both aspiring and veteran Nutella fans to better understand their favorite hazelnut spread and help spread the word about Nutella!

Inside the guide, [Read more →]

Past editions of my year in tools, sites & statistics: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006. My 2011 Year in Review in Pictures.

2011 was a great year for me, really. It was the year that my body caught up with my mind in terms of happiness. Here are some sites, tools, and statistics from my 2011 – think of it as my personal report card but also my personal recommendation list of tools/software/stuff I’m using all in one in the areas of Social Networking & websites, Photography & tech gadgets, Ebooks & reading, Healthy living, Travel and Charitable giving! Add your own recommendations in the comments.

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I started my Year in Review in Pictures in 2009 (2010‘s review, 2009‘s review) as a complement to my text-heavy Year in Review full of tools, sites, and statistics I started in 2006 – I’ll be posting that later this week.

In January, I started to share some pictures from a great trip to Thailand I had just completed:

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First impressions can mean a lot. It’s taking your knowledge of something or someone (probably close to 0) and filling that cup entirely in one shot. But I don’t believe first impressions are the definitive insight into that person or place, and with time you can peel back all the layers.

Barcelona has a secret place in my heart because it was the first destination on my move to Europe and Italy. You can read what exciting thing happened to me the moment I landed. Years later, the things that stick in my mind aren’t the museums and sights of Barcelona but the time I spent with other people, and how I was getting to know myself in an unfamiliar place.

Here’s an excerpt from a post when I first landed in 2003 (now private, I have to keep some secrets!) on a day when I wandered in Barcelona and found Gaudi:

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These crispy, hot bites with a tender finish and that sweet aftertaste artichoke hearts leave in your mouth when you eat them alone.

These particular fried artichoke chips, or in Spanish chips de alcachofas fritas, (even more fun, in Catalan: xips de carxofes fregides) we devoured (and then savored when we ordered them a second time) when I was in Barcelona a few weeks ago at La Boqueria Market. More on that soon.

That’s what I’m craving. What about you?