I have a Masters in Public Health. I think infectious diseases are the bomb. I'm a beauty-seeker, love food, and adore a good book. Currently living and working in Baltimore (and missing New Orleans and Montreal). I save money only to spend it all as soon as I have enough to travel someplace cool. twitter.com/RaphaelleH

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16th April 2012

Video with 12 notes

Just do it.

via galadarling

Tagged: traveladventurelifefunrunningNike

29th January 2012

Text reblogged from Bohemea with 1,472 notes

Life Lessons From Bo

bohemea:

1. Make Eye Contact
I cannot stress enough how important I feel it is to look someone in the eye. Everyone. From your loved ones to store clerks & bank tellers. Treat everyone like your equal. I also find eye contact immensely attractive. It shows you’re assured & open & I dig that.

2. Remember Facts About Other People
This ties into ‘be a good listener’ which I think everyone loves in a person. I also feel it’s important to remember the anecdotes & facts people tell you. I’m not talking just birthdays & phone numbers. When someone remembers that I take my coffee black or that I once had a cat named Killer, I know they’re a good person. I know sometimes it feels this way, but not everyone is talking just to hear the sound of their own voice, sometimes people are trying to connect. Find those people & connect.

3. Have Individuality & Confidence In Dress
I like when a person looks comfortable in their own skin. I don’t care if you dress conservative or eccentric, so long as it expresses who you are as a person & you look like you chose your look because it makes you happy & not because it’s what is expected.  

4. Love What You Love
SB & I went on a rant about this the other day & I kept shouting “LOVE WHAT YOU LOVE!” It is my new life motto. I loathe when people automatically reject something because they think it would be lame to like that something. I would much rather someone vehemently hate something I love for their own personal reasons than agree with me because they think they’re supposed to. No more guilty pleasures. Love what you love without shame.

5. SHOW ENTHUSIASM!
Everyone I truly love sometimes gets so overwhelmed by their excitement that they start shouting or typing in CRAZY CAPS. I adore this trait. I spent most of my early 20s acting like I was too cool to get excited about something unless I was drunk. That’s silly. Giggle, clap, jump up & down. True honest enthusiasm is endearing & infectious.  

6. Be Willing To Change
No matter what convictions you have now, accept that life is change. You will change, your circumstances will change, roll with it. Allow yourself to grow & evolve. Don’t stick stubbornly to a belief or idea just because it’s something you believe now. If it’s meant to stick, it’ll stick on it’s own. Just be willing to change. Keep this motto that Cher recites in Mermaids close to your heart: Life is change. Death is living in the past or staying in one place too long.

7. Accept That Other People Are Better Than You
Do what you love, even if you’re not the best. This is difficult for alphas to accept. I’ve given up many a project because I wasn’t instantly awesome at the task. Keep trying, improve & accept that doing what you love is just that; it’s not being the best, it’s being fulfilled. That being said, if you really truly suck at something, & sometimes you will, maybe give it up & try something else. 

8. Be Spontaneously Affectionate
Tell people you love that you love them, but also show them that you love them. Hug, hold hands, link arms. When a friend overwhelms you with their adorableness, tell them. Respect that some people don’t respond well to physical affection & find other ways to let them know they’re loved. Do all this freely, generously, often.

9. Stick Up For Yourself
Just as you should question your convictions, you should also be skilled at defending them. Don’t let anyone talk you out of something you truly believe. Respect their differing opinion, listen, absorb, but don’t sacrifice your opinions to appease another. I would also add that you should pick your debates, don’t vehemently argue every difference. Sometimes it’s fine to let someone go on about something you disagree with. You’ll learn a differing view & maybe it’s not worth the effort to dispute their opinion.

10. Love Yourself Best
This sounds selfish, but it’s not. Remember what RuPaul says: If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else? Love others, give yourself to others, trust others, but remember that you have to love yourself best so you can give well to the people in your life. Have fun with yourself, enjoy your own company, challenge & be proud of yourself. 

Tagged: lifeadvicewisdom

26th January 2012

Photo with 8 notes

yes

yes

Tagged: travelfoodlife

9th January 2012

Photo with 11 notes

Tagged: Gala Darlingtimelive in the presentlife

5th December 2011

Link with 11 notes

T Magazine: Viggo Talks and Talks →

“High up in an apartment block in Toronto, Viggo Mortensen was padding around barefoot, cleaning up the kitchen after lunch and speaking, in his soft-voiced way, about his longing for immortality.”

Tagged: Viggo MortensenactorlifeliteratureNYTimes

13th February 2011

Quote reblogged from quintessential.

There comes a point in life where you either accept whatever you’re doing and just exist, or stop talking about what you used to be and do something completely different.
— (via drywit)

Tagged: wisdomlife

12th February 2011

Quote reblogged from the cinnamon peeler's wife with 170 notes

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.
— Rainer Maria Rilke (via clavicola)

Tagged: philosophylifewisdom

14th December 2010

Link reblogged from [Illuminate]

[Illuminate]: Amor →

meira-elena:

“After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul, and you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning and company doesn’t mean security, and you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts and presents aren’t promises, and you begin to accept your defeats with…

Tagged: wisdomloveeducationlife

28th October 2010

Quote reblogged from quintessential. with 72 notes

I think everyone needs their time alone. Privacy is a good thing. I don’t really have anything to hide. I just need to spend time on my thoughts sometimes. It’s good to think about things. I want to dissect everything I have in my head and get everything straight, find solutions to my problems, and look at all my options. From now on I think I am going to go through this process quickly and stop putting things off. That way I can deal with things as they come and not let little things build up into a huge pile in the back of my head. My only problem is that I want to be more open and expressive. It’s just that I’m afraid of rejection. I’m afraid someone will think what I said was stupid and find faults with me. I want people to think that I’m a cool person.

Unknown (via -beautiful)

Don’t we all

Tagged: life