30 COUNTRIES BY 30
At some point in my early twenties, I counted all the countries I had been to, and it was over 20. Turns out you can cover a lot of countries between a few cruises and a semester studying abroad. I decided to set a goal of hitting 30 countries by 30. In writing this blog post, I thought I had already been to 30 countries, but ChatGPT informed me that I have not. It turns out the Cayman Island is a British territory and Saint Martin/Sint Maartnen also does not count. I am planning on going to India next year, so that will be my last country!
- China – I have zero recollection of being born there, but I spent the first 6 months of my life there, so it would feel weird not counting it
- USA
- Canada
- Mexico
- Bahamas
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Dominica
- Belize
- Barbados
- Honduras
- Ireland (and Northern Ireland) – I don’t want any debate whether or not I have been to 30 countries based on this, so I’m counting as one for now
- Scotland
- England
- Spain
- France
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- Italy
- The Vatican
- Austria
- Germany
- Poland
- Czech Republic
- Croatia
- Montenegro
- Greece
- Hungary
- Monaco
- Switzerland
- India – 2027
MY FAVORITE TRADER JOE’S ITEMS
I used to not really enjoy grocery shopping, but now I live within two miles of 3 Trader Joe’s stores, and I love walking the aisles and seeing all the fun snacks they have! My favorite time to go is at 8am before work. Yes, I’m one of those people waiting to go at opening.
I don’t buy all of these all the time, but I would be lowkey devastated if these were discontinued:
- Chili & Lime Flavored Rolled Corn Tortilla Chips: I first tried Takis in high school and these are even better in my opinion. A little hot, a little citrus. They may look intimidating, but they’re really not that spicy and I feel like the red (naturally derived from vegetable juice, and paprika and turmeric extracts) is part of the experience. The ranch-flavored ones are new this year and are also a good time!
- Black Sesame Ice Cream Mochi: These aren’t always in stock, but they are incredible! I’m obsessed with black sesame and these are nutty and sweet and I’m proud of myself for usually limiting myself to just one, but I’ll allow myself two if I’m PMSing.
- Coconut Cream Nonfat Greek Yogurt: I eat yogurt bowls all the time, but I don’t like plain yogurt. It’s a texture thing. I can drink my yogurt like a Danimals (do kids still eat these), but I regular yogurt makes me gag. For some reason, this particular flavor doesn’t, although I never eat it alone anyway. I also love using this in smoothies and protein shakes, it instantly makes everything taste tropical. I wish they sold it in bigger containers, but they only sell it in the individual cups.
- Garlic Spread Dip: This is the one thing that can get me to finish a bag of baby carrots. I love me some garlic and this makes anything taste good! I use it on sandwiches and wraps, and dip veggies and crackers/pretzels into it.
- Hashbrowns: I always keep a pack of these in my freezer. I put them in my air fryer oven for about 14 minutes and flip them halfway through and they’re almost as good as McDonald’s.
- Maître Pierre Tarte d’ Alsace: My mom used to buy these growing up, so this is more nostalgic than anything, but I love how thin these are with the little bits of ham and the crispy twisted crust. If I had more freezer space, I’d definitely keep one of these on hand.
- Raspberry Oat Bites: These are pretty new, and I’ve found that they are the perfect snack. I usually have them at 6:30am before my morning workout when I’m not that hungry. There’s also a PB&J version that I’ll get too.
ACTUALLY GOOD DATING ADVICE
I am convinced dating is a skill. It’s learnable. There are right and wrong ways of doing it if you’re actually looking for a relationship, which I wasn’t seriously seeking until a few years ago. I was 26 and didn’t have a lot of dating experience, but I didn’t want to waste my time on toxic or mediocre men (is there anything worse??). Not many of my close friends had been in healthy long-term relationships, so I wasn’t going to look to them for advice. Dating culture is vastly different from when my parents and they refused to arrange a marriage for me (I asked), so alas I resorted to to social media like the Gen Zer that I am. Because there are indeed dating influencers in this day and age! I can’t remember how I found these accounts, but I went through a ton of their content and they give (what I believe to be) sane, practical dating advice.
@dating.intentionally: This account is run by a Seattle woman, who met her husband on Hinge and posted about her dating experience on the dating apps and how to navigate early stages of dating. Her content leans more educational and would recommend for some no-frills advice
@seeingotherpeople: This account is run by a former Hinge employee who later found her husband on the app. She is so cute and has a more young + fun vibe and participates in social media trends and posts other lifestyle content as well.
@nikoeman: This account is run by a man in NYC and it’s fun to get a male’s perspective. He goes by “daddy academy” so his content can be a little silly and bro-y, but overall he’s giving sound advice and answers modern dating questions about things like situationships, when they watch your Instagram story but aren’t texting back, etc. He has this one relationship timeline video that I recommend to all of my friends, and both of my relationships have actually ended up following this timing pretty closely.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Mixed Bag archive
