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!