10 Things You Don’t Know About Me Tag

Some of the best bonds occur when you least expect them to. When I was vacationing in Italy last summer, I connected with a blogger/instagrammer. We happened to both be in Italy on vacation at the same time, but in different cities, so we didn’t have a chance to meet – until recently when I happened to be vacationing in Paris during the weekend she moved there. Fate has a funny way of bringing people together. We had macarons and hot cocoa at Laduree in Champs Elysee and hit it off. She’s become such a dear friend of mine. If there’s anything to be grateful for in blogging, it’s the opportunities to connect with wonderful people. Recently, Stella Asteria nominated me to list 10 Things You All Don’t Know About Me, and seeing how I often provide my travel, lifestyle and styling tips, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to be more personal.

Before we jump right in, I wanted to take a moment to provide you with the details on this outfit. I actually wore this an entire month ago, but since I fell behind with New York Fashion Week, I didn’t get a chance to share a bunch of outfits with you. Unfortunately, thiis is the first of many that haven’t been posted yet, but I promise I’m catching up over the next 2 weeks with lots of great content! And, if you have anything you’d like me to write about, let me know!

Top available here. Ruffle shorts with skirt available at ZARA in-store, but I can’t find them online. Other frill options here and here. Blush shoes by Armani, but put a similar link in the options below. Fringe jeans available here. Valentino B Rockstud available on sale here. More options below:

10 Things You Don’t Know About Me

Playing Instruments
When I was in music class in grade 4 of elementary school, our teacher asked the class if anyone wanted to learn to play any of the string instruments. To be quite frank, I had never shown much interest in it before, but I volunteered and signed up for the Strings Orchestra. When I learned to play music, it’s never as natural as those who are talented enough to sight-read and play a piece masterfully immediately. I actually sound like I’m killing cats before I fully learn a piece (such a shame, isn’t it??), but when I finally get it, I end up playing pretty well – at least good enough to be in the first chair of the second violists of a school that has competed and won first place in our age brackets across the city.

When I Grow Up
When I was a child, I wanted to be a singer or pro volleyball player. Obviously, I never got the height, so the whole volleyball thing never panned out, but I was a starter on our school team, which always made it to city finals and almost always won. Later as I got older, I entered small local tournaments. I stopped playing the last 3 years due to chronic elbow pain. With singing, I never took vocal lessons, but I did win a few small contests, and tried out for the concert choir in University and got in. I never sing in public unless it’s for karaoke or class, so I never talk about it. Afterall, don’t most of us enjoy singing, even if it means we’re belting out tunes in the shower or alone at home? While I love music, I don’t keep up with it, and what I did not pursue profesionally, I still continued to do out of my love for it, and that’s something.

Siblings
I have 2 sisters and one brother, and we’re all very close. I am the a middle child – the second oldest to be exact. I never felt like I was a good sister to my siblings and as I got older, I tried much harder to be better. Years later, we’re all very close. We keep in touch very regularly. Some people think it’s a little strange that we all get along really well and like being around each other, but I think it’s because we’ve had so many differences as kids and it’s made us really appreciate each other much more as adults.

Extroverted Scale
I am extroverted and maybe a little extreme on the extroverted scale. I am very social – to the point that I will talk to strangers, whether that be the person next to me on the plane, the individual at the nearby table at Starbucks. I don’t get nervous with public speaking. Sometimes, I think people might mistaken my happy-go-lucky attitude as being fake or not being genuine, but I really just love meeting new people and and feel there’s always something interesting to learn about/from others.

Where I Met My Husband
Prior to my amazing husband, I left an emotionally toxic relationship. An unfortunate event brought me to visit an online dating site, and I had this really strange feeling deep inside that down the road I’d meet my husband-to-be online. Even though I was going to store launches, entertainment/fashion events a few times a week back in Toronto, I never once felt attracted to anyone I met because I always had this attitude that everyone I met would be a new friend.  This leads me this: timing is almost everything. You can meet the right person at the wrong time and it doesn’t work, and vise versa.  When you are ready to meet someone though, it really can just happen. By the 3rd year of enjoying my singlehood, focusing on building my career and working out, I revisted the idea of online dating. I finally felt I was ready to meet the right one and my colleagues and friends encouraged me when I resisted. This is when I met Tom. Life has never been quite the same since. It didn’t take me long to see that life without him would be dull. To me, a world without him, is a world without colour or taste.

Number of Relationships
I was never one to have casual relationships, and dating seemed really foreign to me. If there’s an IQ for early dating stages, I would fail. Prior to my wonderful husband, I had one long term relationship. When I tried online dating, I could never do more than 2 dates with someone unless I truly thought it was going anywhere (often it had to do with lifestyle and values), so no one made it past 2 dates until I met my amazing partner in crime, Tom, who at that time said I had made fun of me and said I had a 3 date hex!

Faith
No, I haven’t gone to Church or fellowship since I was a child. Honestly, I never vocalize that I am Christian. In fact, I am the last person you should ask about the bible because I have the worst memory and can’t remember most of what I learned, but obviously as a child it instilled really strong values in me. Everyone has their own opinion and I respect everyone’s choices. I believe in God and He guides me every time I feel lost. Where I am today, I attribute to hard work for Him. I personally believe everyone should have faith in something. It gives us all hope for something better or special.

Beliefs, Thought & Wishes
For a long time, I’ve believed that I have to be careful what I wish for. Thoughts have a way of coming to fruition almost all of the time. When I was a teen, I always said that I’d go have my honeymoon in Italy and Greece. When I met Tom, I never once really thought of this promise I made to myself. In fact, I actually forgot because I had been single for 3 years and wasn’t in the mindset of marriage for quite some time. About a month after Tom and I married, we booked a trip to Spain for a wedding and added on a few weeks to tour around Italy and Greece. Since it was for a wedding, we didn’t consider this our honeymoon, but it was the first trip major just weeks after our wedding. When we finished booking the flights, I immediately remembered and told Tom about that story of me from when I was a teen. This is one of many examples how long term thoughts can often lead to wishes coming into fruition. I believe positive individuals who dream and work hard often have some way of making positive happen in their lives, even when it’s completely unexpected.

Music & Dance
My preferred taste in music is often Latino. I love listening to music in Spanish – usually meringue, bacchata or meringue style because I used to go to salsa clubs once in awhile to take lessons and dance. While living in LA, most of the time I have my radio on the Spanish radio station, but I don’t understand the language. Isn’t that funny?

Jobs
I got my first job when I was 12 years old. I worked at a bakery in the market. If you’re wondering, it’s absolutely legal to work as long as you have a social insurance number (also known as Social Security Number in the US). I don’t come fome a wealthy family. Having a good work ethic and having an honest living is what was instilled in me at a young age. I worked once a week at this job for over 6 years and officially juggled other jobs after the age of 16 as an assistant administrator, receptionist (which I’m really bad at… I don’t manage multiple phone lines well), bought and sold clothing online for extra cash, and so on. I learned the value of hard earned money at a young age.

Now for the extra fun part. I would like to nominate 3 amazing bloggers for this tag to share 10 things We Don’t Know About Them: Sharon of Style Lullaby, Len of Len Parent and Julia Pepper of Your Style Mood.

If there’s something you’d like me to share or write about on this blog, let me know in the comments below! At the end of the day, I’m writing for you. I’d also love to learn more about you. I’d love to know where you’re all from, or what your favourite destination is.

For more inspiration on style and travel, follow me on Bloglovin♥, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list for special announcements and exclusive content.

Xo,

Miki

Photo credit to my one and only, Rise Again BJJ.