The ABC's of ME - Another Get to know me Post

I am a VoiceBoks member and they had this Challenge called the ABC of ME and we are all supposed to write things with every letter of the alphabet that represents things about us. I thought I play along.

(ZYVWW657YWPR)

A: Art, I love Art, Drawing, Painting, Writing among others.

B: Books, as I love books and I spend a lot of time reading. Also I like Baking more than cooking.

C: Creative, I consider myself to be a creative individual, and I also love Cupcake Wars Show and Camera, as one of my favorite gifts that my husband has given me.

D: Dreams, I have a fascination with the dream world ever since I can remember. 

E: Elsie, my youngest daughter which I love very much!

F: Florida, is where we have thought of moving too many times, yet not decided to do it yet. I tend to be Forgetful too. Florence, I want to visit Florence one day.

G: Gaby is my first born daughter who I also love very much; she is currently 10 but is so smart she can pass by a 13 year old. Also Grace is the name of my grandmother who is currently 89 and I have a portrait of her and my grandfather on my back. Get Tech is the name of my husband’s first computer Store.

H: House, as for the house we want to buy in the next few years.

I: Ice cream Floats, and Island, for the Island of Puerto Rico where I was born and raised.

J: Jesus is the name of my husband and the father of our two daughters. He is wonderful and I wouldn’t change him for the world.

K: Karla Jill is my cousin, she and I got raised together as sisters, she is my best friend and I love her very much. She is a military wife stationed in Germany now, but moving soon to Seattle. Also K is for Kindle, as I won’t leave home without it! It’s perfect for those times when you are bored waiting in line at the bank.

L: Laura, is the name of my mother and it’s also my name. Laracuente is the last name of my grandmother and Liz is the middle name of my daughter Elsie. It also stands for the Law of Attraction which changed my life. Library, for as the one I want to have when we own our own home.

M: Manta Rays are my favorite creatures in the world, I collect things about them and I am fascinated with them. Also Marla is the name of my Aunt. Magazine’s because I love reading magazines, and Maeca, the little girl a sponsor from the Phillipines through Children’s International.

N: Nineteen was how old I was when I started dating my husband.

O: Oreos Double Stuff, as in my favorite cookie! XD

P: Pedro is the name of my adorable 90 year old grandfather. He has a huge space in my heart. Perry was the name of my first dog which I got when I was 11. Pictures as I love to take Pictures. Philippines is from where I sponsor a child

Q: Quest, as in the quest I have been on to find my True Identity since I was 8.

R: Reading, I love reading, and wouldn’t mind doing it all day, every day.

S: Swimming, another thing I love to do yet I don’t get to do it often. I dream of one day having a house with a pool. Spanish is my native language. Sánchez is my grandfather’s Last Name

T: Toro is the last name of my husband and my daughter’s and the name of my husband’s second business, and also it means Bull and the fist tattoo I got was one of a bull in my back. Tattoos, as in me and my husband have lots of tattoos.

U: University, I went to the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez

V: Vivoni is the last name of my father.

W: Wonderful as in my life is wonderful and Writer because after so many years being a wannabe, I can finally feel myself truly being a Writer.

X: Xianne, it’s a fake name I created and I have used it in several games.

Y: Yanira, as in the middle name of my oldest daughter. It’s also for my elementary school best friend’s name.   Yellow is my favorite color.

Z: Zealot is my favorite word, not exactly for what it means as much as for the fact it starts with the letter Z, my favorite letter in the alphabet.  I like it because it means basically Fan, and I tend to be obsessively fanatic about some things, so I can relate.

What are the ABC's of You?

The Calm after the Storm

As news of the impending Hurricane Irene hitting the East Coast, including NYC, I have been thinking and going back down memory lane through the not so good memories of Hurricanes Past. For many New Yorkers Hurricanes are storms that only happen in Florida or somewhere else, but not here. Yet many people on different countries see Hurricanes like the big threat they are because they live through them every year.

I was born and raised in PR where Hurricane season coincided with the beginning of School. For about 3 months out of every year we would pray that the hurricane would pass far away from us. Many times we would only see the rain and some wind, but everything was good as the hurricane would pass far enough not to hurt us; but some other times we were not so lucky.

In 1989 Hurricane Hugo passed by PR causing a lot of damage, this was a Category 5 Hurricane. At that time I lived in a Basement apartment in San Juan. We knew that there was a chance of flooding so we took all our belongings and placed them on top of the bed. I may not have the best memory and maybe my mom could say more, but I remember how the park right in front of our house lost all the trees, and how I played on the trees that had fallen. I remember eating barbequed food with my mom outside as that's the only way we could cook as out stove was electric and we had no electricity for what it seemed weeks. We also spent quite a while without water and I remember taking baths from water that we had accumulated in water bottles, shampoo bottles and such. I would get inside the bath tub at night with a candle and read. I liked inside the bathtub because I felt it was safe as I would have been able to put out the fire easily there. I read and read and read, and played in the fallen trees outside. We ate beans straight out of the can until we couldn't eat beans anymore. Yet even though this was not a good experience I have fond memories of the time I spent with my mom getting back to basics. Back then people didn't have computers or cell phones in every house like now so the only thing we missed about technology was TV. It wasn't even that bad having a black out as it was fun to make shadow puppets and read by the candle light.

Then in 1998 less than a month after I got married and moved in with my hubby Hurricane Georges 
hit the Island being the first Hurricane to cross the entire island since 1932. I remember my house was a wooden house on top of a mountain. I had the most awesome view of the town, and I could even see as far as the ocean even though it was miles away. We boarded up the windows and expected to stay home, yet a couple of our friends came by and told us to come with them to the next town into a cement house. We were hesitant but we agreed. I must say those friends saved our lives. Three days later after the flooding had subsided and we were able to drive back to our town we decided to go see our home. We drove into the night up the mountain but found that too many of the trees had fallen down and the road was blocked. We got off the car and continued by foot, going over fallen trees and branches. Once we reached the house we noticed our windows were gone, and more than half of our roof. The inside of our house was flooded. All our stuff was damaged and the supplies we had bought to sustain us had been stolen by hoodlums.

Hurricane Georges is a memory I try not to remember as it brings back all the emotions of despair and hopelessness, of being homeless. We stayed with friends, then with my mother in law for a while and next with my grandparents, whose house had suffered less severe damages, only about 1/6 of the roof had been blown away and one wall had tilted inward into a diagonal position, we slept in a mattress in the floor looking at the stars praying it wouldn't rain as we didn't have a roof. I even sometimes would see rats walk over the beams above us. Not something I want to live again.  A year after the hurricane came, me and my husband still were homeless and jobless. So we decided to move to NYC and see where things would lead. We had only 2 small suitcases of stuff.

13 years later I find myself re-living those moments in my head as I hear the news of Irene. This time around I feel much more calm, I feel safe in my house even though I am expecting some leaking in the windows and part of my ceiling as it leaked a few weeks ago when it rained. For the most part everything should be fine. I have enough water for a few days and canned food for a few days as well. Here in NY is different than living in a mountain in PR as the country gets a lot less help and the resources are not as advanced, so I don't expect to be weeks without light or water as we did in PR. We have flashlights, board games, and books to keep us entertained, and there's always the shadow puppets and story telling. It even makes me wish for no electricity for one day as it would help us re-connect as a family without the distractions of today's technology
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Are you in an area where Irene is supposed to pass by? What have you done to prepare for it? Are you concerned? Have you lived through a hurricane before? Please share your stories, I'd love to hear them.

ZYVWW657YWPR

To Work or Not to Work, that is the question

Today I saw a video on MSNBC called Does Mom's Choice to Work Impact kids? where they interview Stacy Kaiser author of How to Be a Grown Up and Darcy Meyers a stay at home mom, and they talk about a study looking at kids whose mothers go to work after their first year of birth and they find that it can actually be beneficial for the kids. What it's expressed in the video is not that going back to work is better than staying at home, but that if going back to work for a mom benefits the family by making the family stable economically or if it fulfills the mom, then the family will benefit as a whole. It also says that when children are exposed to a different care giver it also improves their social skills.  It says that many mom's feel really guilty about this decision, whether it be because they want to stay home and have to work or whether they want to work and stayed home. The key is to know that your family will benefit from whatever decision you make as long as it's the one that you feel is best for your family.
I can relate to this because I have struggled with mom guilt, when both my daughter's were born. I made the best choice for my family at each given moment. I stayed as much as I could with them when they were small and went back to work when it was the best decision for my family financially, and now I have made another change to working part time outside the home so I can focus on them and also on my passion of writing.

I know that many of you have struggled with the same questions. Should I or shouldn't I go back to work? Should I stay home with my kids instead?
How did you make the decision and what influenced it? Did you ever feel guilty about your decision? Did you do anything to alleviate the guilt?

The 10 Days to You Challenge - One Picture - Day 10

I must say this has taken me a couple of days  to figure out. More difficult than the other ones. The thing about this is that I'm the one usually with the camera so I am barely on any picture I have. I have a few pictures from last year but I am 10 lbs lighter now so I'd rather use a recent one.  I looked and looked and couldn't find a picture of myself , by myself that I truly loved, so I decided to use one that I have of my whole family instead.

Do you ever find yourself being the photographer and then realize that you are not on any pictures?

Today marks the last day of the 10 days to You challenge, I hope you enjoyed going through this journey with me. Did you make the posts in your Blog? Please share, I would like to know your answers as well.
And if this is your first time visiting feel free to click on the image of the 10 Days to You challenge that it will take you right to the beginning of it all.

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Two Songs - Day 9

So our 10 Days to You Challenge is almost coming to an end. I would like to thank all of you who participated with me. Today we talk about 2 songs, and once again it is very difficult to choose only two. But here it is:

*Freckles by Natasha Bedingfield - I love this song because it tells you to love yourself freckles and all. It encourages people to be proud, and know that we are all special.

*Fireworks by Katy Perry - I also like this song because it tells you that you have a spark in you, that you are special. To not be ashamed to show the world how wonderful you are. This song touches my heart a lot too because the day I saw the video for the first time the next morning I found out that one close friend had committed suicide and I wondered if it had helped him to hear this song.

Well here are my two songs. What songs touch your heart? Make you happy or make you dance? Please share, I want to know. :)

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Three Films - Day 8

This is going to be a hard one. I don't think I can think of only 3 movies that I like, not even only 3 movies that had touched me. But I guess I will write 3 films that have some kind of importance to me. But I know it's going to be very hard.

Once again in no particular order:

*Only You - With Robert Downey Jr and Marisa Tomei. It's in Italy is Romantic, and it talks about topics like destiny and true love. This movie was in a Tie with another Robert Downey Jr movie that I've seen over 50 times and I'm not kidding and it's Chances Are, with Cybill Shepard. It's also about true love and destiny. Totally two of my favorite movies from RDJ.

*Ever After, a Cinderella Story - Also in my second "film" I'm going to be cheating by including some other movies about the same actor with similar topics. This movie by Drew Barrymore touched me very much, it makes me cry every time, like most movies about strong women that achieve good things. I like this story because it portrays Cinderella as a humble yet very strong woman. Very powerful and a great role model for young girls, better than the defenseless portrayals of princesses in other movies. Two other movies by Drew that include strong women achieving great things is Riding in Cars with Boys about the journey of a single mom who got pregnant in her teens but was able to raise her child and become a famous writer at the end. She was able to win over the adversities that presented themselves in her life, and Whip It! also by Drew Barrymore because it shows a girl who fights for what she loves, and goes after her goals no matter how hard it is. Very strong female role-models in my opinion.

*Tuff Turf - This was the first movie I ever saw of Robert Downey Jr when I was 11 years old. I must say this impacted the way I led my life for the following 18 years. Obsessing about Robert Downey Jr until I finally met him in 2005. What I loved about this movie, even though it has gang activity, bullying and other inappropriate behavior that I would not allow my 10 year old to see, but back in the day I was impressed with Robert Downey Jr because he was a great friend in the movie, he risked his life to save his friend and he was a hero to me. It also deals with topics like fighting back against bullying and being a friend to the new kid in town. About being ok with being yourself. And a few other movies that had similar impact were Satisfaction (Girls of Summer) with Justine Bateman and the Julia Roberts before she was famous. It's about a band of 3 girls and one boy. It deals also with themes about finding yourself, being true to yourself, a little bit of love and exploring life. And Shag (the movie) this one with Phoebe Cates who was a sensation back then in the 80's. It's about teenage girls going out on vacation after high school and having fun one last time before one of them is supposed to get married. It's also about discovery and being one's self.

As you can see these are mainly 3 topics of movies that I like and there are way more that I could include on this list, but I'm supposed to put only three.

So what do you say? What are your favorite movies? what has impacted your life?

And come back for day 9 of the challenge with Two Songs. This is going to be even harder than the 3 films!

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Four Books - Day 7

The 10 Days to You Challenge is coming to an end soon after today only 3 more days. Today I get to share with you 4 of my Favorite Books.

* The Secret by Rhonda Byrne- After learning several principles about the Law of Attraction many years ago while in college, this book came to bring me up to date on it. It changed every aspect of my life in a remarkable way. Today I live my life through these principles written down in this book. A must read to anyone looking to better their lives.

*The Power by Rhonda Byrne- This second part to the Book The Secret and it gives you and even better perspective on how to lead your life in order to attract the best things in life. I must say that a combination of these 4 books have greatly improved every aspect of my life. This book focuses on Love as the Power to get what you want. It explains Love as something more than what we feel for other people. It explains love as a kind of energy, not just a feeling.

*How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It - This book is amazing, as it teaches you the differences between men and women, and by better understanding the opposite sex you can react to the things that you don't like with a new perspective and a much better understanding of your partner and of yourself and you are less inclined to react in ways that would hinder the communication between your spouse and you. This book is written by two doctors, one male and one female and the book is written for both sexes. The best part of it is that it works even if you don't even tell your spouse you bought the book.


*Blogging in Pink: A Woman's Guide - I believe this book is the reason why I have my Blog today. It gave me the guidance and inspiration to finally get the courage to start my own Blog. I will eternally be grateful. And the amazing thing about this book is that it is only $1.00 for the Kindle and you can get it for free by going to Michelle Mitchel's Blog Scribbit: A Blog about Motherhood in Alaska.


So what are your favorite books? What books have changed your life?


Remember to come back for Day 8 of the 10 Days to You Challenge - Three Films

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Five Foods - Day 6

Ah today, today, I get to share with you five of my favorite foods! I'm so excited. I love food! Too bad I don't like to cook that much LOL. Anyway here's my list, once again in no particular order.

*Chicken -  I love grilled chicken, chicken nuggets, baked chicken, chicken burgers, chicken cordon blue, chicken strips, chicken pizza, garlic chicken, chicken broccoli, sesame chicken, chicken soup, chicken flautas, buffalo chicken strips, chicken taco's...My family says that I might turn into a chicken one day if I keep eating chicken like I do.

*Tomatoes - I love tomatoes, in salad, and cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, and tomato sauce, and ketchup, and spaghetti sauce, and pizza sauce..I would eat tomatoes with everything, I like tomatoes on my chicken and I like cooking pork chops with tomato and onions, I like a bagel with cream cheese and tomato, Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato. The only thing I don't like tomato, is dried roasted tomatoes and tomato soup.

*Cheese - I like cheesy stuff, like pizza, which also has tomato and chicken at times, I like to eat bananas with cheese, any kind of cheese. I love Manchego cheese, Parmesan Cheese, Swizz Cheese but only when it's melted, cream cheese, Cheese cake, cheese turnovers, American cheese, macaroni and cheese, Cheese tortellini, Edam Cheese, String Cheese, Cheddar Cheese, Monterrey Jack Cheese, Munster cheese, Cheese Whiz...I am also willing to put cheese on anything. My favorite foods include chicken, cheese and tomato!

*Sponge Cake - When I was little my mom would make sponge cake for me. It was the most delicious thing ever. And it still is. My mom stayed with me for almost 3 years while my little one was old enough to go to school and she would make me sponge cake on special occasions. The best part is that she would not put frosting on it but powdered sugar on top. .....Sorry, I started daydreaming about a piece of that scrumptious fluffy heavenly cake and I could not help but smile. :)

* Chocolate - Once again another thing that I love in it's many forms. I love chocolate cake, and chocolate brownies, and Oreo double stuff, and chocolate bars, Hershey's with almonds and without, Three Musketeers, and Butterfingers, and Zero, Milky Way, Snickers, Reese's Pieces, Kisses, and I absolutely Love love love Tiramisu which mixes chocolate and coffee, and there's this dessert called a Cappuccino Tartufo that is a mix of coffee and chocolate, and ice cream and cake and gooey goodness...ahhhh heavenly thoughts once again.

So here it is my top five foods! What are yours?

Please come back to check out Day 7 of the Challenge with 4 Books

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Six Places - Day 5

Well, today it's the fifth day of our challenge. And I will talk about Six Places that are significant for me.

* Puerto Rico - To me Puerto Rico is the most influential place in my life, as I was born and raised there, and all my family is from there. Puerto Rico is where I grew, where I went to School, where I graduated from college, where I got Married, where I had my first home.

* New York City - Is where my mom got married to my step dad, who became a very influential part of my life, it's where I came to live with my husband after we got married, it's were I had my two beautiful girls, where I got my first Real job, where I feel that I matured, where my husband made his first two businesses, where I learned about Blogs, and decided to dedicate my life to writing.

*Italy - It's part of my heritage from my dad. I have always wanted to visit and see the sights, and the art.

*Asia - (Japan & China) - In our family we have a slight fascination with Asian culture. I have Chinese plates, my daughter is in love with all things Anime. We dream of one day going to China and walking the Great Wall.


*Greece - When I was 16 I got a Pen Pal from Greece as part of a English class assignment. We became great friends and still communicate after 20 years. Now we can talk in real time through Facebook as opposed to having to wait for a month to receive an answer from the letters that we would write to each other. I have seen pictures of Greece and the stone houses and I would love to one day visit there.

*Hawaii - For some reason I have always found Hawaii to be very fascinating. Peaceful, tropical, beautiful. I dream of one day being there on vacation with my family, laying there in the beach enjoying a wonderful and peaceful time.

How about you? What places do you like? Why?

Come back and check out Day 6 with Five Foods

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Seven Wants - Day 4

Well, today is the 4th day of the challenge and I must confess that this challenge has forced me to look deep down inside of me and figure out those well kept secrets about me. I don't think about the answer to these questions before hand. I still don't know what 7 things I want, I will know as I write.

* A beautiful house, near trees, close enough to the beach but not too close (within 30 minutes) this house must be large, with a back yard and a pool. A Gym, an office or two, a game room, a living room, a laundry room, a media room, a recording studio/ rehearsal space for my hubby. An area to entertain guests, a balcony, a basement, an attic. The kitchen must have an island in the middle of the kitchen and a walk-in cupboard. The master bedroom will have it's own private bathroom with his and hers sides. A jacuzzi, and a separate shower. A towel closet. A walk in closet in the bedroom, make that two. I also want it to have a garage that fits 2 cars at least. beautiful grass with flowers tended to by a gardener because I don't know how to keep plants alive, and a little path with those stone things and little lights that illuminate the path to the house. I also want it to have a large balcony, and a terrace where we can make parties in the roof. I want it to have a beautiful view, and be able to sit in the balcony at night with my husband and have a drink and enjoy the view while our daughters sleep.

* Travel all over the world, 12 places in 12 months. Stay one month in each place and work as a family volunteering for a charity. I want this not only because it gives us a chance to do some traveling as a family but because it gives us a chance to help out other people in the process and learn a new culture along the way.

*For my daughters to be very close friends, and to get along beautifully for ever!

*Always to be able to be close to our family, on both sides.

*To be a successful writer, well known published author, who gets a movie deal and everyone loves it!

*Learn to be organized and live clutter free.

*Learn effective time management so I have time to spend quality time with my daughters and husband, and have time to work effectively as a writer and a promoter for my husband's businesses, so we can all be very successful at our family businesses and live carefree and happy.

Well, now I'm thinking of so many other things, but I can only put 7, so here it is.
Tell me 7 things that you want. or join the challenge and if you do, please comment on my blog so I can go and check out your answers. :)

Don't forget to come back to Day # 5 - Six Places

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Eight Fears - Day 3

 
I used to be afraid of so many things, but with time I have learned to let my fears go. I do not obsess anymore of the things that could happen when I don't want them to happen, I believe that giving power to fear only makes bad things happens so I try not to fear anymore. But there are things that I don't want to happen in my life, so I make way to not allow them to happen. Again, here they are in no particular order.

* Spiders
I have some sort of arachnophobia, it is not extreme, I can continue to take a shower if I happen to see a daddy long legs inside the shower with me, but if I am sleeping in my bed and I see a spider pass by the wall that is next to my bed, I will jump out of the bed shivering and call to my husband to save me. He will look at me, smile and give me a look, like saying, a grown woman like you still afraid of spiders!. Well, yes I am, and it's not only with spiders, I'm quite afraid of some other bugs too, especially those that have a tendency to bite. :P

* Living alone.
I have never lived alone in my entire life, and even though I don't have a fear of living alone, I sure don't want to ever be in that situation.

*Being my own boss.
I believe that I have a great job, and a great boss. I have worked in my company for over 6 years. I feel valued and needed at work, but there is something I don't like about my job and it's that it is not creative in a way that I like. I see my passion in a creative field where I can use my skills to help people. At my current job, I use my creativity to help my boss, and at some times I can help other people as well, but I want more creativity and more ability to help multiple people. I do not quit my job because if I do, I would not want to work for anyone else again, so I would have to go on business by myself, and that's were the fear comes in. I guess fear of not being able to make money to help sustain my family as much as I want.

*Getting pregnant.
I love my two daughters, and there is a tiny part of me that wishes I had been able to give my husband a boy. But there's this other part of me who knows that I feel like sometimes I don't have enough time for the two girls that I have now, let alone three. And my little one is already five, all out of diapers, I don't really want to have to deal with the sleepless nights, the colic, the crying, the diapers. I rather have big kids than babies. Is that so wrong?

*Moving away from people who may need us.
I hate moving, since I have moved over 15 times in my life, and don't like having to deal with that stress. However, there are times when  I think that we are ready for an adventure, for a new life somewhere else. To own our brand new home. I want my daughters to be able to live in their own house with a patio, a place to run and play, before they grow up too much and can't enjoy it anymore. But making a decision to move to a whole new place far away scares me a bit.

*That my daughters would grow up to hate each other like my mom and my aunt.
I grew up seeing my mom and my aunt fight a lot, and at times I feel as if they almost hated each other. They are 5 years apart and I swore I would never have kids 5 years apart so that the same problem wouldn't happen, yet here I am with 2 daughters 5 years apart who fight a lot. I never had siblings growing up so it scares me a bit to wonder if this is normal sibling rivalry that kids outgrow or if it's something more. I try my best to keep the peace between each other and I feel that they do love each other, I just want them to love each other for ever and be close friends when they grow up.

*That my daughters won't be able to stand me when they turn teenagers.
Me and my mom were really close until I turned 12, then after that I think that we had more of a difficult time being around each other. Our personalities are quite different and at times I believe that we love each other more when we are apart. And get along much better when our communication is done over the phone more that in person. I really hope that the closeness that I have with my daughters now would continue into the teenage years.

*Not being able to stop eating.
I have a tendency to eat a lot, not excessively, but I snack a lot, more like grazing, if that's the word. I am at the moment in the process of loosing weight and I tend to not want to stop eating when I should. My mind tells me not to eat all the leftovers of the dinner, to save it for lunch but somehow sometimes I just end up eating it right then and there. I keep eating sometimes when I'm clearly not hungry anymore. But it seems that any time that I try to decrease the amount of food I eat, just the thought of me feeling deprived it triggers me going into a binge, and eating more than what is necessary to nourish my body. I am lucky that no matter how much I eat, I never gain weight, so it would make sense that with just a little bit of cutting down on calories and exercising more I should be able to loose the weight relatively quickly. It's just a matter of do in it without freaking out.

How about you, are there any fears that you have? Do you think they are reasonable, or crazy? Please share!
Come back tomorrow for day 4 - Seven Wants

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Nine Loves - Day 2

 Nine things that I love in no particular order.

* Blogging.
I must say it is such a wonderful feeling to be able to express oneself this way.

* Skating.
I don't do it often, but when I do it very much makes me happy!

* Celebrities
It may sound corny but I love how celebrities lead these famous lives yet they are so much like average people.

*Watching TV and Movies with my hubby in bed at night, even if I fall asleep. Just spending that time together makes it very special to me.

* I absolutely love when my hubby puts his arm around me when we sleep.

* When my daughters look at me with those amazing eyes and smile at me.

* Chicken, Tomato and Cheese
I could eat chicken every day for the rest of my life, cooked in many different ways. and I can eat almost anything with tomato sauce and cheese on top of it XD

* Swimming Pools
I may not know how to swim too much, but if I had a pool I would go in it every day that was hot outside. And if it was an indoor pool I would go in it every day!

* Helping People,
 I always like to help people out in any way I can.


What are 9 things that you love? I'm sure there are more than 9 things,  but name the first ones that come to mind. Also, please follow my other friends that are also doing the challenge: Mom-A-Logues, Spilled Milkshake, and Dayna Musto who was actually the one who told me about this. Are you up to the challenge too?
Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Eight Fears

The 10 Days to You Challenge - Yet another one! :)

Today I came across this 10 Days to You challenge, and I saw that quite a few Bloggers are doing this and I thought I should join in. I believe that Mom-A-Logues started it all recently, but maybe she even got it from somewhere else, so I don't know. As far as I know I'm giving credit to her. :)

So today's challenge is: Ten Secrets

I must say I'm a little nervous about this, it's bound to be very hard. But here we go in no particular order:

* I am capable of falling asleep anywhere and in any position, I have even been able to fall asleep in front of a Loud speaker at a Heavy Metal Band Rehearsal. I also tend to fall asleep when I read and when I watch movies, no matter what time of day it is.

* Since I was little I obsessed about the dream world. I would sleep with notebooks next to my bed, and I would write every dream I remembered and I would go back and try to find meaning to it. I even was able to write my dreams as I was dreaming them by falling asleep with a pencil and notebook in hand. I can also continue a dream if I am awaken abruptly from a dream by just closing my eyes again. I can wake up from an interesting dream, stand up, take my daughter to the bathroom, put her back in bed, get into bed, close my eyes and continue my dream as if I didn't wake up at all. Sometimes I can't wake up if my dream has not had a resolution. I will hear my alarm, snooze it and continue dreaming, over and over. I end up going to work late those days.

* I am addicted to books. I read every day on my commute to work, and am constantly buying books. It has been a huge blessing ever since my hubby bought me the Kindle for Xmas. The books take up alot less space this way ;)

* I am also addicted to magazines, I have over 7 subscriptions and can't throw them out after.

*I have a small suitcase fulled to capacity with magazine and newspaper cut outs from Robert Downey Jr and Drew Barrymore, collected since I was 11. I tend to obsess a lot about famous people. :P

* I still have my childhood stuffed dog Drupper which was my companion since I was 2. I slept with that do in my bed from when I was 2 till 1 week after I got married at age 23. The only reason I stopped sleeping with it was because the head is pretty hard and my husband complained about bumping his head against it at night. I then moved it to the night table, and now it has a special place in our daughter's room.

This is a long lost relative I found of my Drupper online.

*I love roller skating. When I was 8 I used to keep my roller skates on all day, even going up and down the stairs with them. In 2008 I bought a pair of Sketcher Skates on Ebay and I kept them at work. I would put them on and skate in the office every time I felt overwhelmed and stressed out at work. It cheered me up, and people found it amusing.

Similar to this but in Red.

*I cry on most Drew Barrymore movies, her voice alone is capable of making me cry. She is my favorite actress since I was 6 and dream of one day meeting her.

* I became obsessed with Robert Downey Jr when I saw the movie Tuff Turf when I was 11. I started collecting every thing I could find about him, I even shoplifted a picture from a magazine I saw at the supermarket. I still keep everything in my suitcase mentioned above. 18 years later I met Robert Downey Jr.

Me With RDJ!

* Last but not least, I love taking pictures of things and people, but I don't do it often because I feel embarrassed that people will be upset at me if I take pictures of them without them knowing, but I like to be able to take pictures that are not posed, I love studying people and how they move, and talk and act. I'm very observant and I would love to capture all of that in film. Wishing I had a camera inside my eyes so no one would notice if I caught them on camera.

There it is, it wasn't as hard as I though, in fact, I would've been able to add a few more.
So how about you? Are you going to do the 10 Days to You challenge? Let me know, I would love to read your answers! :) Come back tomorrow for Nine Loves!

Do you avoid conflicts in Blogs?

Recently I have written a few posts with subjects that are debatable. I have expressed my opinions on something and I am sure that there are out there a whole bunch of people who would have different opinions than I do.

I know I have been there. Through Voiceboks and other sites I have met a lot of mommy Bloggers and I go to their pages and read their posts and we are all here to create a community. But what happens when you go to a site, with the best of intentions and you read the most recent post and it talks about something that you are completely against? Or if they are bashing something you really love? Or if it's talking about a different Religion than your own? Then what? Do you comment on their posts anyway? Do you make a non specific comment like: "Following from so and so website :)." I must admit I have done it. And I have thought to myself, well, I am here to meet new people, we are both mom bloggers, I want to show support for the other moms, but the truth is that in other circumstances I would not read this blog because it goes against my beliefs. I go and do what I think its best at the time. Sometimes I will just like their facebook page, and leave a generic comment, or find something that I truly can identify with from the other blog. I read several posts and see one that might be something I can relate to, or just comment on wordless posts, you can always find nice pictures in most blogs. But most of all I am honest, whatever I say it comes from the heart. Sometimes though I read a post about something I don't like and debate to myself whether I should comment and mention my difference of opinion. The truth is that I welcome debate in my Blog, I really truly want to know what people think, whether it is agreeing  with my opinion or not. But I also don't want drama, people doing snarky comments and being all rude and nasty. I want nice and polite honest opinions. It makes me wonder whether my controversial posts don't get comments because of this issue.

What do you think? Do you also encounter yourself with these situations? What makes you leave a nice thoughtful comment in a Blog? What do you do if you read something that goes against your own views? Would you comment on it? How about if someone writes in your Blog that they have a different opinion about what you are writing, and you feel really strongly about the subject, what would you do?

Dealing with Emotional Vampires

Have you ever felt emotionally drained after being next to someone?

For the past couple of days I have been feeling emotionally drained at work. As if there is this dark energy all around the office. I had never felt this way at work before. Today was the worst day of all.

Monday was a very hectic day at work, as most first of the month are in my line of work. I work at a Real Estate Management company, and between complaints about leaks after the rain over the weekend, rent payments, new tenants moving in, and lease signings I had my hands full all day. Yesterday I encountered myself with a situation that I was not expecting. I do not feel in the liberty to go into details in order to protect another person, but lets say that someone else in the office was going through a hard time and was unable to handle the pressure and felt bad, even bashed, even though the complaints were based on facts and in no way were meant to hurt anyone.

I was not directly present when all of the events happened, but rumors made me think that someone is having a problem with me. It is not the first time I hear of someone feeling like I have something against them when the truth is that I have a lot less of a problem with them than they imagine in their heads.

Today the office felt tense, very quiet, barely any words were exchanged and I could feel the dark cloud over the entire office. It was very uncomfortable working that way. I chose to not push the issue. I wonder if things will follow its course and fade. But if it doesn't then I would have to see a different way to approach the situation.  I am not into high school drama, and this is exactly how it feels. As I left the office this afternoon I found myself falling asleep in the train, I could barely stay awake, and this feeling has lasted for a long time after work was over. My cousin says that she thinks I am being the victim of an emotional Vampire.

I searched online about emotional Vampires and found an interesting post from Psychology Today that speaks about Emotional Vampires and gives ideas on how to prevent them from draining you.

Have you ever been the victim of an Emotional Vampire? How do you deal with it?
Read the full article: Who's the Emotional Vampire in your life?
Please share your story, I want to know more. :)

What are your Favorite TV Shows?

I think that your favorite TV shows say a lot about your personality. Yet it is not only the show in itself but what in particular do you like about the show? Also the movies that you go back to over and over also give you a little insight into your true self.

What are your favorite TV shows? Why do you like them? How do you feel when you watch them? What is your favorite movie? Your favorite character?

With me I like Romantic Comedies and competitive cooking shows like Cupcake Wars, or Challenge. I like the competitive Cooking shows because of their creative nature, the cakes are usually works of art on its own and I consider myself a creative soul.

Right now I like shows like True Blood, as I am obsessed with Eric Northman. First of all he's sexy, mysterious and  the romance between him and Sookie in this season makes me swoon. I like seeing passionate couples, because it is what I want in my marriage.

I like White Collar because I like solving mysteries, although there are no actual mysteries but there is always a crook that needs to be caught and a crime solved. I like shows that make me think, and also I love the marriage between Peter and his wife on the show, and the friendship Neal has not only with Peter but with Mozzie too. I love shows with deep friendships because I value friendships a lot.

I could keep analyzing every movie and every show I love but I want to know about you. What are your favorite shows, and movies and why do you think you like them? What part of the show resonates with the true you?