Today was the first full day in Costa Rica.

This morning's ride into town was a bit wobbly. Good thing Sam's car has The Wobblemeter to let us know how we're doing.

We spent a delightful afternoon eating plantains, buying coconuts and mangos. Sam got a bunch of gorgeous flowers.

After a long day out and about we returned to home base and I opened up the laptop to discover...

First, thanks to @AngelaatHP I learned I'm included as one of the Forbes 14 Power Women To Follow On Twitter. The author, Samantha Ettus, nailed it in the description. From the article:

@gwenbell Tech evangelist, yogi and outspoken advocate for online/offline life balance, Gwen Bell adopted her hometown of Boulder, Col.,--based on its vibe mirroring her own. An army brat who most recently lived in Japan, this free spirit has a natural talent for her dual obsessions: technology and connecting. And nobody does it better.

It's a thrill to be named among this group of women (follow Marissa Bracke's list of the 14). And to think, eight years ago it started with a LiveJournal template. The list includes author and friend Gretchen Rubin.

I cruised over to her Twitter stream to learn The Happiness Project just hit the New York Times Bestseller list at #2! I'm so excited for you, Gretchen. This is huge. And absolutely deserved - your hard work (on yourself and in the world) is paying off. (Read my review of The Happiness Project.)

Finally, thanks to Fred, I discovered a new NYTimes article citing Costa Rica as the happiest nation on Earth. From the article:

There are several ways of measuring happiness in countries, all inexact, but this pearl of Central America does stunningly well by whatever system is used. For example, the World Database of Happiness, compiled by a Dutch sociologist on the basis of answers to surveys by Gallup and others, lists Costa Rica in the top spot out of 148 nations.

And, it is true in my experience. I'm in Costa Rica. I'm happy. (See photo, above.)

Now I'm off to go crack that coconut.