Gloomy Day

Today is a gloomy day for Florida. It's quite welcome, since everyday it's sunny. But it makes time go by ever...so...slowly...

I used my Lush shampoo bar the other day. I'm so in love. I just love soaps and stuff. Its an addiction. I have to seriously go through my crap and start giving little away. It's bad to accumulate more than you can use. Sometimes I think I should have been one of those people who test products. I would love that job. (It's probably not as fun as I think it is). Maybe I should shove it all in the other bathroom and tell people to use them as amenities like in a hotel.

Trim Spa, Baby!

I have my own version of Trim Spa: The Stomach Virus! Thanks to the old but trusty sickness, I have lost 5lbs in just a few days. Record! Thanks for making me sick, stomach virus.
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On a better note, I had a good weekend full of activity. Shopping, friends, food...but didn't touch my pile of clothes that is still on my floor. My closet is just screaming for somebody to fill it's shelves & hangers. But it can wait. I have mastered the art of procrastination.

Lost Blog

I can’t even begin to tell you how upset I am that my blog post was lost. Its something I put time in, that is now floating who knows where. I should start saving them, as a separate document before publishing. Oh well. Anyway, things here are going well. The quietness is such a welcome change to my busy hectic life in NY. We’ve been back and forth for so long, so to know that I’m not going anywhere for a while is a relief.

Like I was saying in my lost blog post, I’m not one for big goodbyes. In my eyes, it’s not really goodbye anyway, as much as it is “see you later”. I may visit, or you may visit. I hope you do get to visit, because I love visitors and this should be a cheap little getaway. In the time that we’ve had this house, I’ve already had a number of guests and hope to add more to the list: My friend Gata, my aunt Bernie, my Mom, my Grandma, my aunt Anabelle, Erica & Aaron, Anthony’s Dad, Anthony’s cousin Wilbur from Nicaragua, Karin, more of Anthony’s family members and their friends: Rafael, Ania, Bryan, Esmeralda, Anita, Juan Carlos, as well as guests in our leave: the South African family who are now in Costa Rica (Lebeau & Bodine, if you’re reading, I better hear excellent Spanish rolling off your tongues!) and lastly Ruth & her mom Mary. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone. Ha.

I am the Queen of Procrastination, as my closet is finished, and I have lots of clothes to hang or put in a pile for giveaway. I still don’t have a bedroom set (although I do have a mattress) because I’m so darn picky. I’m loving my Senseo Coffee machine. Ruth and her mom bought us a garbage can from Costco. The lid opens with the wave of your hand. It’s cool. It felt so weird driving to the drugstore this morning. Suburban life is strange. I got a new Thai spot and an Italian spot. The Italian spot is great, the Thai is ok – not Thai Pavilion, but it would have to do for now. Mmm I’m hungry now. I got this reed oil diffuser to put in my bathroom – I love it. It's October and it's still stinking hot.

Little by little, everything is coming together. I just have to force myself to do a little each day.

Pinch an Inch

I've gained a little bit of weight, noticeably to myself. You know how you have this feeling that something just ain't right when you wear your clothes, but you ignore that little voice...then when you get on a scale, it's like Ooooooh! Sudden awareness and self consciousness that will be with you until you drop the poundage. I mean, people say they can't tell, but I definitely can tell. It's annoying. I blame it all on when I was training for two weeks; I had to eat out all the time. And just in the past summer months I had lost some considerable weight, so the gain is really not cool. I don't really have that much of a sweet tooth, so hopefully just eating a little less than usual will help. I'm not ready to join a gym just yet as I am still settling. I don't really believe in diets, I believe in eating smaller portions, more often during the day so as to not binge when you are starving. They play soccer over here which is wonderful. I definitely will be going weekly to get my game on. Ha!

On The Road Again

I lost my patience with this Picasa/Blogger thing. I'm posting the pictures now, when my orginal post chooses to appear, then I will replace this post with that one (because I refuse to rewrite what I've already written).

Bratty Rantings!

I created a post in Picasa including photo's and text. I saved it as a draft, and it's taking forever to post to Blogger! I am getting more and more angry everytime I log in and it's not there. This is not the first time I had a delay, but it's the first time it's taking a couple of hours. I think there's some glitches with the new Blogger Beta release and all.

ANNOYING!

So you'll see the post when you see it.

Signed,
Angry & Frustrated Blogger

Hospital

After being in a hospital 5 whole days this entire week and sleeping there for two nights, I was overjoyed to bring my mother home today. She is recuperating just fine and I am so happy for that.

Watching the nurses at work is something remarkable. I don’t know how they do it. I mean, caring and taking care of a family member is not easy – but helping someone that you are not related to, must take some deep compassion. I do feel for the people in the hospital, and have even assisted a woman at my mother’s bedside. But I don’t know if I could do it as a job. It must be rewarding at times, but at other times, a thankless job. You are dealing with people at their lowest point. Either they are deathly sick, or helpless from surgery…etc.

My aunt is a nurse, and I’ve seen her in action with my mom. It looked so natural. Then I thought about all the strangers she has to assist on a daily basis…

More power to all the nurses out there. (The good ones).

What A Lush!

I've been keeping my distance from Lush for a while now. I always knew they had good stuff, but I didn't know how kick butt their stuff really was, since I merely tip toed among the products so not as to form a longing. Well, thanks to a lushie who recently gave me a catalog, I read about some of the products and was overcome by this strong desire to pick up a couple of things. When I went to the store, this giddy elation came over me, and I had to stop myself and put a few things back on the shelf. I mainly went there for bath bombs, the "Mask of Magnaminty" and the bath bubble slices. I came out with a whole lot more than that! I bought so much that I qualified for a free goody bag. Trying out the products was so surprising for me. I mean, I always tried their facial soaps (Fresh Pharmacy, Coal Face) and liked them, but their body creams and shampoos are out of this world.

This one shampoo called "Big Shampoo" is just a fully loaded sensory experience. It has real sea salt in it, and when you scoop some and put it in your hands, you don't really want to put it in your hair. But the sea salt melts away and scrub your scalp, and the lather is just crazy-good! It washes away to a squeaky clean, so I wouldn't use it too often, but it's hard to resist the urge. It also relaxes any waves or curls you might have. Good to use when you want to feel weightless. And Dream cream is just awesome. I have yet to try the natural deodorants they have. I am so looking forward to using my bath bombs and bubble slices and also trying my Cynthia Stout shampoo which is supposedly really really good....

That's it, I am now officially hooked!

Pulled Over

I got the windows of my car tinted – dark. Really dark. I got them done in Miami, and was told that Florida cops don’t really bother with tinted windows – at least not like in New York. So I went with it, & I was really enjoying driving around with my drug dealer windows. It helps keep the car cool in the brutal Florida sun. I was told not to roll down the windows for at least 3 days.

The very next day, (you just knew there had to be a twist) I was driving down I-95 on my way home and this State Trooper was on a tint hunt. He was finished with pulling someone over, and when I whizzed by, he took off after me. First of all, I was going too fast – but so was everyone else around me. He drove up alongside me, saw my windows and flicked on his lights. I’ve been pulled over before, but just not on a highway. So I made my way to the shoulder and turned to Anthony and asked: “Do I have to roll down my windows?” Sick. Anyway, he pulls me over, brings this tester thingy and said that legally in the state of Florida, car windows are to be no less than 28%. He put his tester to my windows and said they were 3%. Dag, were they really that dark? He gave me a citation and said I would get a discount of $20 WHOLE dollars if I would fix the tint. He let me off for speeding.

I learned my lesson; I will not leave my windows up if I see a State Trooper. I passed by some cops by my neighborhood and they didn’t really care…

Ah, the price of vanity!

5 Years Ago

I’ve been away from NY for a while, but the cool crispness of today felt very reminiscent of the September 11th of 5 years ago. I remember that morning like it was yesterday. I remember thinking to myself what a wonderful morning it was – the warm sun and the cool crispness of the air. I was so oblivious to the fact that it was the day the world scene would change. September in New York is just glorious. I had already forgotten. Spending the last couple of weeks in 80 degree weather, I had forgotten how nice the coolness was. I remember what September represented to me, at the time I was in college, and it meant a new semester – a new routine, a new start. Well, that day was a new start for everybody. Watching on TV last night, the many specials they had and seeing the footage of the towers falling, it still would make my heart stop. I remember seeing the tower fall with my very own eyes and hearing the voices and cries that filled my nightmares. As much as I always said I wish I stayed home that day, deep inside I don’t really mean it. It had so much influence on my life; it made me face new fears and shaped who I am today. Besides, I have a story to tell when someone asks me: “Where were you on September 11th?”

What A Loss....

The same day that Steve Irwin was reportedly killed by a stingray, we were oblivious, in the Cayman islands visiting Stingray Sandbar. I've done an excursion like this before and found that you can't get tired of it. It's an incredible experience, and few experiences are like it - where you get to swim and interact with wildlife.

First you take a 20 minute boat ride to this sandbar where the water is about 5" deep. The stingrays flock to the boats because they know that boats = free food (squid). Once you get down from the boat, you may feel this large rubbery yet velvety smooth thing slosh by you. They are hungry, and the brave ones hold squid in their hand for the stingray to come and with their strong suction like mouths, vacuum the food away. I attempted that, but wimped out last minute and dropped the squid. The stingrays are peaceful, and I enjoy holding them in my arms as you can see in the picture. We are told not to stomp our feet but to shuffle them. And as one may pass by, I would grab the person nearest and cringe while squealing with delight. They are large, intimidating – but harmless (so we thought).

On the boat ride back to the ship, we heard talk of Steve Irwin being killed that very day by a stingray. Nooo we all kept saying, we couldn’t believe it. Well, back on the ship all over CNN news was the sad truth that yes, Steve the Crocodile Hunter had indeed been killed by a stingray, in the waters of Australia. I just couldn’t believe it. The very same day we were laughing, holding these soft rubbery creatures, the beloved Croc Hunter was killed by one. Not killed by a Crocodile, Shark, or Tiger but a stingray. It almost seemed as if Steve were invincible. He was full of life – he had a strong love for these dangerous creatures and awakened in us a new appreciation for them.

Although the stingrays in Grand Cayman are wild, they are used to people and the boats that come and visit. The numbers that visit daily must be in the hundreds. Unfortunately, Steve was in the deep waters of Australia, where he could have easily been mistaken for a shark or predator hovering. I felt, as the world must have felt – that it was a great loss, and I felt sad for his family.

Would I ever visit Stingray City again? Maybe… But probably with a lot more caution. I do believe it was just a freak accident - that stingrays are peaceful docile creatures, and the one that killed our beloved Steve was just trying to protect itself.

Hurricane Ernesto?

Seems like the reporters have reported everything under the sun. All the possibilities...etc. Well, the so-called Category 3 Hurricane was downgraded to a Tropical Depression. I have never experienced a Hurricane, but I admit was quite curious. Now that it's a just a tropical dep. We'll probably get a lot of wind and rain. Boring!

I'm not complaining. On the otherhand, Anthony found a brand new Bluetooth headset by a bus stop the other day-and sorry to the poor fellow who lost it, but we have been fighting over it all day. We keep connecting our phones to it. I actually hated the way people looked when walking around yaking on their bluetooths as if they were the coolest, but I do admit it is liberating to walk around & talk (with no cord or anything) connected to your cellphone. Kinda looks like Star Trek, except it's on your ear and not pinned to your tight fitting space uniform. But I will make an effort not to look annoying as I'm sitting across from you and smugly chattering away.

The Disposable Era

I've noticed in the past couple of years, how popular disposable cleaning products are. They range from disposable household wipes, to glass wipes, wood wipes, toilet wipes (for both the bowl and your bootie), dusters, toilet wands, magic erasers...the list goes on and on. I actually like the anti-bacterial wipes and use them on my toilets. I will refrain, however use the disposable toilet wands and dusters because I don't want to spend my entire shopping list trying to find this refill and that. I was looking into getting a Littermaid for my kitties, and what do I see? Disposable containers that you have to buy. It's like, they trap you into buying a kit, and then it's like you have a lifetime membership to their products because you are constantly buying refills. Sigh.

America has also gone antibacterial crazy, and that I realy don't mind so much. But it does make us more susceptible to having more colds because our houses are cleaner. We can't win! I recently got that Clorox multi-surface thing, and I spray it on my counters after cooking. No E. coli for me!

What boggles me, is how did we forget about the environment? We were making great strides to being more environmentally friendly, but with the outburst of these disposable products, we are just counteracting everything good we tried to do! This world is all about money money money. A few years from now, we'll be hearing studies, like if X amount of Americans use Swiffer, then X amount more garbage is in our landfills.

I'm still old school. I use regular Windex and Pledge. And I own a feather duster. I still use brushes/sponges. The only thing I really use out of the list of disposable cleaning products, is anti-bacterial wipes for surfaces. I used to own a Clorox ready mop. Will I give in to other disposable products in the future? Probably.

All I can say is, look out for those environmental studies in the future!

Pics From The Weekend....

I did not have my camera with me this weekend - I kept leaving it in the car, what was wrong with me? I always love taking pictures. Nevertheless, there was one in the group who brought her camera and took pictures relentlessly - thank goodness! Thanks for the memories, Raguel!

The guys (from left): Scott, LeBeau, Steven

The ladies (from left): Bodine, Teresa, Ruth & Marie, and Raguel (standing)

I’ve Had The Time Of My Life….

Wow. (As Chabba used to say some years back as young kid new to America. What ever happened to that guy?) I just came back from an AWESOME weekend. It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. The thing is, I’m staying in a hotel alone…and was starting to feel lonely. So some friends decided to meet up in Orlando and go to Wet & Wild water park. Oh yeah, and this one cool girl booked a 2 bedroom suite at The Enclave for us ladies. Prices came out to $25 per person-Sweet!

I had so much fun at the water park. The day was cloudy – and that made it great because it was nice and breezy. There were less people than usual, so the wait wasn’t too bad. And my favorite ride there was “The Disco.” It was cool because, you go down this black large tube with 3 other buddies, and there are flashing lights and music playing as you go down. And like the other water park in Long Island, it was like a giant toilet bowl in the end. There was another nice ride, where you lay on a mat and go down squiggly tubes on your stomach - that was pretty sweet. At the end of the day, we showered and freshened up and ate dinner at a buffet. We went to one of the people in our group’s friend’s house and then went back to our 2 bedroom suite and crashed. I slept like a rock. They usually have a lot of families rent these suites, so I slept in the room decorated with Sponge Bob! I thought of doing that theme in one of my guest bedrooms - just kidding. The next day (today) we went to a breakfast buffet for $4 per person. Some old fog-I mean people in the group went home early. (I am just kidding, seriously!) But myself and 3 others went to the mall nearby (Valley voice: Totally awesome, the mall is like, the best thing ever!). It was really fun because it had stores we don’t usually have. I bought incense at this cool bead store called black market minerals. Oh and check this out:

Click here because blogger is giving me photo uploading problems...

We all went nuts for these magnetic necklaces/bracelets. They are made from Hematite and mixed with glass beads and silver accents. They are so beautiful I bought a few to give to my mom & aunts & grandma. They don't require any claps. You can wrap it around your wrist or make funky designs. Highlight of my day.

One of the ladies decided to get a mani/pedi – and I did it with her. It was soooo relaxing. I had the paraffin wax thing, just to try it. And it’s really nice. Wasn’t cheap (like I mentioned in my previous post) but it was pretty darn therapeutic. We ate dinner at Tony Roma’s, and went our separate ways. It was great because when you do these 1 day things where you go to a park and then go home the same day, it doesn’t feel like you were away. I feel refreshed, energized, and most importantly, I feel like I had a real weekend away. Now that I’m pretty confident about driving around in Florida, I will have to duplicate this trip for visitors. And will mix it up with all the cool new people I’m meeting here!

It's a small world, one of the sisters that came with us said she had a sister who lived in Astoria for a short period of time. She wouldn't say the name, because I wouldn't know who she was. Well that wasn't the case! Her sister is Diane Zambrano - and yes, she was in Astoria English briefly! I knew of her from a distance. Small world.

No Matter Where You Go....

It seems that nobody has manicure/pedicures cheaper than NY. Is it because there are so many nail salons in NY, that they have to be competitive? Sometimes, there is like a nail salon on every other block (on the main avenues at least). Suburbia is wack.

Exhausted...But Mind Is Wide Awake

Today I was supposed to leave at noon, but it took me six hours to get my act together. So I had a late start on a 4 hour journey. I chose not to stop, but to keep going - it was a race on time, that I ended up losing. My trip was interesting, 2 hours into my drive I felt as if I were in the back woods of Tennessee or something instead of central Florida. I saw fields, cows grazing, I passed mailboxes - and tried to crane my neck to see what houses the paths lead to. I even passed a dude ranch. A DUDE RANCH. Oh, and I saw a sign that read "Panthers Crossing." Wish I got a chance to take a shot of that.

Some friends want to go to "Wet & Wild" this Saturday. It's about 3 hours from them and about 2 hours from where I'm staying. I'm down with it. I recently went to a water park and a had a great time. But I also remember the end of the day when you are tired of walking around half naked...

So I'm in the hotel room right now...Just chillaxing. Back To The Future 2 is on TV...I've seen these movies a hundred times and have no idea why I like it so much. I think its a mixture of things, I was always enraptured by the time travel thing, and Michael J. Fox is endearing. The 3rd one stunk, but in a way it wrapped things up. I still think the Delorean is the coolest thing - even now in 2006. Great Scott!

I have to sleep, omigoodness. I have to wake up early, but my brain is so awake, especially since I am in an unfamiliar place away from home. Sometimes when alone in a hotel room, I sleep with the TV on - just for company.

...I would love to time travel back to the eighties, when I was a little girl. Get an apartment across the street from where I lived, and just watch the activity...

Move Along

I passed by our old house yesterday and THIS (see pic) is what's left of it! :**(

It made me so sad....I always said I wished the new owner knocked it down because I didn't want anyone living there, but to see it like that was hard. It represented to me, the beginning of my new life...

It's good practice - not to be too attached to houses and possessions - although obviously I wasn't attached to that house because of it's comforts-lol. It was a old piece of crap house, but we had fun in the backyard. I really liked living there....I didn't mind the basement at all. My cats loved it, they were out practically everyday, and it was good because they were pretty much contained back there, although Max jumps roofs. Barbecues were fun to have - outdoor Karaoke & movies were great - it's like we didn't have enough time to enjoy it to it's full potential of summer activities. Oh well. Move along.

Stones Taught Me To Fly, Love Taught Me To Cry, Life Taught Me To Die....

I'm really enjoying Damien Rice's album - and just found out yesterday that this album has been out for a couple of years. Where have you been all my life? Ha. It's just so sad that we get bombarded with mainstream crap when all this good stuff is hidden underneath pop madness.

As much as I can appreciate a good beat, nothing really touches me deep inside as singer/songwriter's music. You can hear the passion in their voices, the intensity of the guitar as they play... And I'm sorry, I don't see talent in any "Artist" who sings a song that someone else wrote. Basically anyone with voice lessons can hold a decent note.

I had a great time last night...we were entertained with simple things that do not cost anything. Moments like that makes me think about how happy we will be in the future...

Some Pics of LA

Flying over the Grand Canyon:


This is the place where they don't cook the food:

This is a concept they have yet to do in Astoria, a Laundrymat/Cafe/Sandwich spot! The soup and sandwich I had were superb. What a nice way to spend time waiting for your clothes to dry!

Good Brazillian food/little Brazil motel....