Hello, Ni hao (Mandarin), Konnichiwa (Japanese), G’Day (Australian), Kia Ora (Maori), Sawa dee-ka (Thai), Selamat (Malay), xin chào (Vietnamese), Suor sdei (Khmer), szia (Hungarian), Salut (Romanian), zdrasti (Buglarian), merhaba (Turkish), gia sou (Greek), Hola (Spanish), Salam lekum (Moroccan Arabic), olá (Portuguese), buenas (Costa Rica)!  I’m Olivia and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Skydiving in Hawaii - North Shore

I’m a twenty-something almost 30 Portlander (Oregon, not Maine) with an overwhelming amount of interests.  I originally created this blog as an outlet for all things food, apartment dwelling, Portland roaming, and MBA pursuing.  It then morphed into a way to keep track of my 101 Things in 1,001 Days Project list.  So when I decided to quit my job to spend a year traveling around the world, I thought it would be fun to just continue the adventure here. Here are a few things that make me happy.

My RTW etc etc etc:
I started my round the world trip in Beijing, China in late February of 2008.  From there I traveled to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, back to Thailand and back through China to come home to Portland.  I spent two months in Portland (we have amazing summers), before heading to Eastern Europe.  From Budapest, Hungary, I travelled to Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Morocco, and then back to Spain before taking the slow boat (a transatlantic) back to the States (via Portugal & Bahamas).  After spending the holidays in Portland, I finished up my travels in Costa Rica and came back to Oregon to officially start my job search.

I’m a strong believer in living consciously (purposefully, deliberately, or whatever it is the kids are calling it these days), which is what got me interested in the 101 Things in 1,001 Days Project.  I love the idea that you’re working on specific, verbalized goals, and while after 2 1/2 years you may not care about 1/2 the things on the list, you’ll still have a lot of really cool things accomplished.

So what does Powered by Tofu mean? Well I’ve been a vegetarian all my life, so it’s always been a running joke that I’m “powered by tofu.”  We even made t-shirts in high school that said “powered by tofu” with a tofu block on them. Alas, I swear that PETA stole my line for their Powered by Tofu shirt.  Great minds think alike.  :) Anyway, while I still cook vegetarian, I consider myself a “pescatarian” now, since I eat fish – but only when I’m taking time out from eating tarantulas.

Stay tuned for more travel adventures, job hunting tales, and a look at my rehabilitation back into daily life. And check out my new Frugal blog project.

Thanks, Xie Xie, Domo Arigato, Thanks mate, Ta, Khop khun kha, Terima kasih, Kam ouen, Sourm orkun, Köszi, Multumesc, Merci, tesekkürler, efharistó, Gracias, Shukran, and Obrigado for dropping by!

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