Sailing in the British Virgin Islands – Day 7

This is day 7 (my last day!) of my trip journal of sailing for a week in the British Virgin Islands.  For an introduction and day 1, please click here.

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands – Day 6

This is day 6 of my trip journal of sailing for a week in the British Virgin Islands.  For an introduction and day 1, please click here.

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands – Days 4 and 5

This is days 4 and 5 of my trip journal of sailing for a week in the British Virgin Islands.  For an introduction and day 1, please click here.

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands – Day 3

This is day 3 of my trip journal of sailing for a week in the British Virgin Islands.  For an introduction and day 1, please click here.

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands – Day 2

This is day 2 of my trip journal of sailing for a week in the British Virgin Islands.  For an introduction and day 1, please click here.

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands – Introduction and Day 1

I am a not a sailor, but occasionally I like to try and fake it.  I have a decent grasp of the basics, from a childhood of being around boats, followed up by a brief stint of racing with my Dad, back when we were both living in the same city.*  However, about a year ago, my parents decided that sailing vacations were their new “thing”, and chartered a boat to sail around the British Virgin Islands (or BVI for short).

This year, when my parents were planning to make a return trip to BVI, they asked me and my boyfriend if we wanted to tag along.  In the back of my mind, I was worried it might end up a bit like Survivor, with members of my family one-by-one being thrown overboard.  Fortunately, everyone survived.  Except my Mom’s hat.

5 Reasons to Smile

My facial expression when I’m relaxed is apparently not all that happy looking.  But really, smiling takes effort.  Why would it be the default?  Just because I’m not smiling, it doesn’t mean that I’m not happy (holy triple negatives, batman!).

And really, is smiling always a good idea?

Googling “smiling” results in a plethora of self-help articles, and may in fact be the reason you’ve stumbled upon my blog, come to think of it.  If that’s what you came for, don’t worry, smiling will solve ALL of your problems.  Is your immune system or blood pressure acting up?  Can’t afford a facelift?  Smiling’s the answer!  (Never mind the fact that About.com doesn’t reference any actual research to back any of these claims.  We’re talking about smiles here.  Smiles are supposed to be good.)

So, partly out of boredom, partially to see if there really was anything to back-up the claims of “smile therapy”, I did some research, and I’ve come up with my own list of reasons to smile.