One handed typing

For those who don't know, I've injured my left hand, and now I have to force myself to abstain from using it. It is quite troublesome to type, make jewelry, drive, eat, - anything really - with only my right hand. I've decided to try out a project that I've always wanted to do, which is the 365 pictures, one a day, but I will make a reasonable goal which is 30 days. Pictures taken with my phone, my camera or anything that takes a picture. It will help me avoid typing for the time being and it will also make me take my camera out for a spin more. I'm looking forward to starting this project later on today! Check back soon...

If you have done this project please leave a link to your blog or Flickr below. I would LOVE to look at your point of view!

Lost on a weekend

Hey folks! I just didn't want to disappear again but this weekend will be hectic.

First of all, I have three new pairs of earrings and one necklace (or two!) to put up on the Etsy shop whenever I get a second.

Second of all, this weekend is my husband's cousin's wedding, let's say my cousin-in-law, so today we had dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill - always great - and I had some drinks with the family. Let me tell you, their White Peach Sangria Martini is great, don't be fooled by the name, it's sweet and snappy! :) And tomorrow is her wedding, so I will be gone almost all day because I'm in charge of the bride's makeup. Oh yes, my high school make-up skills have not been completely lost.

Also, we are starting our preparation for our religious wedding ceremony this coming January, so on Saturday is our "Engaged Encounter". Sounds great, huh?

AND, to top it off, we have an art walk and a birthday on Saturday night! I don't think on Sunday I'll be able to walk, but it will surely be paid off by all the fun we're having this weekend.

With that, I wish you all a great weekend and next week I'll post pics!

Old School

Do you remember what kind of phone you first had? I remember the one my parents owned very clearly. They were very big, chunky Ericsson phones. Top of the line. They had a flip antenna and looked like the one on the right :)

The one on the left was the next model they owned. It's unbelievable how much money people paid for this "luxury" when it was still cataloged as a luxury. Now it's a necessity. How and why did this change? I loved being nowhere to be found sometimes. Of course, I was "allowed" to own one only during Senior year and that was because my parents wanted to know where I was!

By the way, it was a Nokia 5120. Indestructible!

♪ I guess you'd say ♪♫ what can make me feel this way ♪

I think all the heat in Miami these days has triggered my love for sunshine. Lately even more because it's been rainy! I come from a city where the sun shines and afternoons are breezy and cool (Cali, Colombia). After that, I lived in a city that was 2600 meters closer to the stars (Bogota, Colombia), which was cold and dry. And after that, I moved to Sunny (aka hot and humid) South Florida, which makes me appreciate the sunshine everyday - I really can't stand too many cold days!

The lyrics to "My Girl" are the ones that inspired me to create the bracelet-earring set (sold separately at my Etsy shop).

I've got Sunshine bracelet $21

So Much Honey $9

I decided to do a promo when I make sets of items. When you buy them together, you get FREE shipping to US (or $1.99 off shipping to other countries, to make it fair to all). I will give you a refund to your PayPal account, Google Checkout account or credit card when I see sets in your orders! This offer is ONLY valid when purchasing both items at the same time! The neat thing is you can add some more items and take advantage of the free shipping. How 'bout that!

Hope you all have a great, relaxing weekend!

Quick question...

Can anyone give me advice on a sewing machine that is affordable? I went to JoAnn fabrics today but since Viking has authority on the sewing machines there, they only offer Viking and Singer. No Brother, no Kenmore, no other options... Do you own a sewing machine? Can you recommend it? I am someone that has never taken lessons or never used one before, but I have TONS of ideas that involve stitching and I don't want to do it by hand. Yeah, I'm lazy, but I also want my efforts to last longer than a couple of uses :)

If you do know something, please leave a comment. It will be greatly appreciated!!!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate day!

Did you guys even know this day even existed? It's awesome! Ahoy mateys! Here's some of the awesome stuff you can get on Etsy when you search for pirate gear:

There's no pirate gear at my shop but I might think of something for next year!

On another subject, I did something new today: played kickball while holding a beer can in my hand. It's like exercising but not because of all the inning-stretches (on every inning) and laughter, but especially because of the beer. My husband almost fainted twice and I think I had heat exhaustion at some point. Oh, the summer! Why can't it last forever?

Personal Training update

I should have started this with a post on 8/26/09 about personal training.... but I never thought I would be successful at it!

Anyway, long story short, on August 26th I started a program with a personal trainer. Little did I know at my new part-time job, the gym and their trainers are available... for FREE (who doesn't love that four letter word?). Well, since then, I've been attending at least twice a week, and trying to go on the other days to my other gym - one I had paid for.

My commitment was to follow her instructions as well as to modify my eating habits. Mainly, stop eating junk food and chocolates. The junk food part was taken care of by watching the movie Super Size Me. Believe me, you watch that and you will stay far, far away from McDonalds at least. I have been doing my best to eat salad at least once a day, having breakfast every day and consuming more fish than ever.

Today was roughly 3 weeks since I started and I was surprised when I weighed myself at the gym and noticed I had GAINED one pound! Freaked out for a second, then my personal trainer (how cool does that sound) measured my muscle and fat percentage with this nifty machine they have at the gym. To my surprise, I had converted 10 pounds of fat into muscle, making my body fat percentage lower a whooping 6%! I feel so proud of my efforts. This goes to show you that it really does help to work out and eat a bit healthier... I still sneak my chocolates here and there :)

9/11

Going back 8 years in time I realize how long ago this unfortunate event was but how much it branded itself on my memory.

It was my first year in college, I smoked *yikes*, and hated math. and then there was 7 am Calculus with that guy that tucked his shirt halfway, with a protruding beer belly and cigarette butt stench, that spoke oh so softly (mind me, it's Math but I needed to listen to be able to understand!). By 7:05 am I would always step out for a morning smoke with my brewed coffee. I went to the coffee shop, bought my coffee and all of a sudden, a bunch of people started screaming, crowding by the TV area. Plane #1 had struck. Everyone was crying of how unfortunate this was, poor people on the plane, what a terrible tragedy, what a terrible accident. And, just then, Plane #2 struck. In our face, on live TV. No longer an accident, this could not be an act of nature. Classes stopped, people flowed out of the classrooms in my tiny college and crowded the TV's. More TV's were connected by staff members wanting everyone to be informed of this terrible series of events. Later it was confirmed: a terrorist attack. My day was shot. I knew a person that worked in the WTC and we couldn't get in touch with him. Fortunately, a week later we found out he was fine and that on 9/11 he decided to cancel breakfast at his law firm to go have a bagel and coffee at a shop around the corner. Some people, like him, were really lucky, it was definitely not their day. Other people, not so much, and they will be eternally missed. As for the firefighters who lost their lives that day, those rescued will be eternally grateful for that opportunity to be alive today.

I was able to experience the Twin Towers in all their glory when I went to New York City in 1994. And I will never forget that skyline.

P.S: I went to college in South America so everything happened an hour earlier

Happy Beatles day!

Today is the big 09/09/09! When I get home I need to prep up the room to get ready to play some of The Beatles finest tunes on our RockBand equipment!!!

So, Happy Beatles day to all! Don't forget to stock up on your CD collection and get the Remastered Stereo boxed set (or mono, whatever you prefer)... my hubby can't wait to get his hands on these CD's!

Update: I have been playing since 7 pm non-stop, the Beatles RockBand game is AMAZING! Totally recommended!

Early birthday present

I want this.

Does anyone care to give it to me? :) I'll be eternally grateful.

I've been looking at it, with my husband, for some time now. It would be PERFECT to take Etsy pics, wouldn't it? Recession should not exist.

All I can say is...

Wow.

I just logged in and realized I haven't been here for more than a month! No time for the blog, Etsy or anything that looks like fun. Don't get me wrong, I love being employed because of the security it brings along, but I also miss being home being able to spend time on my own, doing stuff I like and enjoying my free time.

Next post will be pics of my latest trip: Chicago! I had a 4th of July extravaganza in the windy city with my husband. It was pretty amazing to go back and explore the city that welcomed me in 1999. I miss being able to walk around anywhere, thing you can't really do in Miami because:
a) There is no (accesible) public transportation; and
b) You will most definitely melt.

That being said, I need to go melt in the parking lot a while. Believe me those silver screens to keep cars cool are useless with the Miami sun.

Here's a sneak peek of what I experienced last weekend:

P.S.: That was on the 103rd floor!

Internet? What is that?

Well, I have officially been lost for a month from the blog, Twitter, Plurk, Etsy and everything that requires logging on my computer. But I'm still here :)

My life has been a crazy, actually kind of insane, world for the past month, as I had been submitting resumes, fixing my portfolio, looking for jobs, and that took up all of my time. I can now happily inform you that I found a part-time job that fits my needs, takes up my time - but not all of it - and I'm really happy to have found it! Hopefully, things in my life will settle down and go back to normal in a few weeks, so don't abandon me yet! Right now I'm in the process of organizing my life again, figuring out how I'm going to achieve my chores, cooking and going to work without being wiped out by the end of the week. If you have any ideas for me, feel free to share them in the comments, they will be greatly appreciated! I honestly have never had to take care of a whole house and work at the same time, I've only had to take care of my own room while going to school so you can imagine the big change. Oh, how married life changes your life without even letting you know (but I am happier than ever!). Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading!!!

Florida Aquarium pics!

To keep it rolling, I thought I'd post some of the pics taken at the Florida Aquarium the past weekend. Keep in mind John and I hate my camera because even if it has the stability feature, it never works! Posting the good ones though.... enjoy!

Colombia! - long overdue pics

For Holy week, I had the luck to take a trip to beautiful Colombia. I had promised pics and, even though there aren't as many as I thought, I still drool at the sight of mountains. Enjoy!

Delicious chocolate cake by Ananda that I couldn't eat until Lent was over!




My parent's new apartment - destruction!



But the view makes the wait totally worth it!



This is my main temptation, my mom's furniture store. Well, that and the food!


I don't remember what this was but it looks like fun!

I thought I had taken more pics, but apparently not on this trip! It was mainly doctors visits, family coming over and eating a lot. It is just nice not having to cook every night :)

Great Friday Feature!

I feel so lucky to have such awesome customers in my Etsy shop. One was from Etsy Stalker and I loved the feature she wrote today as part of her "Curator Buys:" posts... I was involved! I guess I can finally put this little beauty below, as I have been officially "stalked"! :)

Swine flu... ?

I have been away from everything the past week. First, because I had a wonderful weekend in Tampa and Clearwater - we went for my hubby's childhood friend's wedding (she was his "wife" when they were 4!). On Sunday, we went to the wonderful Florida Aquarium. I had been there before but in two years, I had forgotten about most of it. John really had a blast and jumped around like a kid (so did I), it was awesome! Here are some pics to prove it - check out the size of that grouper, 7 feet!

And after, somehow, I caught a flu - I'm still 100% sure it's not the swine flu - that has had me in bed and away from computers for the past 3 days. Continuous headaches, congestion, back aches; you name it, I have it. I'm getting better but I can't seem to be doing anything without losing my breath or sweating. Oh well. It was bound to happen, I haven't gotten sick since I moved to the US! I'm out for now, I'll be posting tomorrow's Thursday Treasures, don't miss it!

Job searching

I have abandoned the blog - and my Etsy shop - a lot lately. I finally can search for a job, I changed my name legally in every single place (social security, DMV, banks, etc) so that I don't have to be running with that once I get a job.

So, getting a job is a pain in the ass. They didn't teach us this in college (thanks teachers!). I've kept busy by typing up my resume, writing separate cover letters for each of the job applications, who would've thought you needed to do that!!!???? And the fact that I have two, yes two, degrees, doesn't make it that much easier to find a job. So, anyone in the Miami area that reads this and knows of someone who is hiring in either Interior Design or Industrial/Product Design, please contact me!

On the brighter side, I renewed four items on my Etsy shop today. Oldies but goodies! Enjoy!

It's finally over!

Lent that is :)

After sunbathing this morning, I went online to investigate more about the Lent season. To my surprise, for us Roman Catholics, Lent is over tonight!!! I have succesfully passed 40 days and 40 nights free of any kind of chocolate, sweets, desserts, etc. And, best of all, I'm still alive.

Tonight I'm enjoying one of my city's (Cali, Colombia) typical delicacies: Cholado. It is something that seems simple, as it is shaved ice with food coloring and condensed milk, but for some reason these people seem to make it wonderful. Just look at this beauty...

I could just print this picture out and eat it right now!!!

No cable = no pics until I get back

Yup, just like you just read. I forgot my camera transfer cable and cannot get my pics out of the camera. My computer is picky and will refuse to accept the xD card, it only wants to format it, weird PC personality if I may say so. And I thought that my mom had kept my extra cable safe (along with my other belongings) only to find that there is no such cable anymore and that my beloved stash of 4 years of Seventeen magazines is gone ::tears:: 

Just imagine this: Lots of food, suntanning, birds chirping at 5:00 pm while the breeze is blowing, family dinners. The only thing missing is desserts. Oh, how I long for Sunday to come and, with it, the end of Lent! I will still be in Colombia for a whole week, yay!

Being greener

As my grain of sand towards a greener world, we have changed 80% of our household light bulbs for CFL light bulbs, or compact fluorescent. Yeah, up front they can be a big expense, but saving money in bulb replacement and power bills makes it worthy.

I just received an email stating how bad CFL light bulbs are for your health, as Rep. Ted Poe stated in Congress. Sure, these light bulbs contain a drop of mercury in them, making them a hazard when broken. Also, they have to be taken to recycling centers for disposal (I really don't understand what is so wrong with this point, as this is better for the planet). Unfortunately, his speech only shows one side of the coin. My opinion is that as with any light bulb, CFL's should be handled with care, in order not to break them. Also, they should be disposed of conciously in order to not pollute any more. Even if you're not recycling, you should put a bulb in a sturdy container so that the people that handle garbage at recycling centers or dumps don't get accidentally cut - this goes for anything that is breakable. And, Mr. Poe, make sure you read snopes.com if you ever have a question on reliability of information.

On a better note, I found this funny, informative video on the consequences of incandescent (regular) light bulbs and how CFL's can counteract a lot when it comes to Global warming. If you have the funds and the chance, make the change and make your house greener!