Natale Con La Famiglia

I can’t believe I am recapping Christmas Eve on my blog.  I apologize for not keeping up.  The holidays along with other personal issues kept me away for a bit.  I needed a break in remembering how the year ended.  For the most part, I have yet to make any resolutions for 2018.  It’s not that I am slacking on myself.  These recent events took me by surprise, and I am slowly nursing myself back to normal.  This weekend I am planning on visiting my friend in Michigan.  We will be celebrating her birthday.  For the most part, she is bummed out about some things not working out for her and I decided on the last minute to visit her.  I know how it feels when things take you by surprise.

I want everyone to know, it’s ok to take some time off for yourself to regroup.  Life can be hard (I just never imagined how hard it can be when you lose someone).  Last year, I knew 5 people that passed away suddenly.  It is a growing reminder for me that I am getting older, but also that Life can be incredibly unfair.  I never in a million years want anyone to go through the hardships I’ve witnessed.  Seeing friends and family hurt broke my heart.

As a result, I felt incredibly guilty around Thanksgiving.  I knew I needed to get away (for myself mostly) and I did in early December.  But then the holidays were creeping up again, and I felt the sudden urge of sadness.  I can now see how the holidays can trigger strong emotions when someone passes away.  

Luckily, my friends and family knew of my struggles and were very helpful once more.  I didn’t realize that even recapping these sad moments could take me back to that time, but now that weeks have passed, I’m am getting excited for things to come.  The next few months will be filled with lots of planning, and hopefully I will share the news soon of what’s to come.

Back to recapping Christmas Eve!

I was out the night before with my friend who came into town for the holidays.  As a result of us getting a little crazy, we woke up to the sight of a blanket of snow.  This snowfall came out of nowhere.  We grabbed brunch and then we went home to rest up.  It was Christmas Eve and we knew it was going to be a full night ahead of us once more.

My brothers picked me up and we headed to my aunt’s place.  This was her first time hosting this year, and we enjoyed our night there.  My step brother also showed up which was a nice surprise. 

I got a bunch of gift cards which I can’t wait to use.  I am looking forward to this weekend in Michigan.  I am thinking this is the year I might visit my friends who have moved away from Chicago.  That could be a possible New Year’s Resolution…   

I'm In MIAMI b*tch! Part 2

My friend jumped out of bed after 10am.  I was still out of it, but she told me the 3rd guy was going to come pick us up at 12pm.  I was not aware what was going on and having a few hours of sleep was not helping.  He had a friend that was staying with him at his place and was going to drive her to South Beach.  We were going to tag along.  My girl also wanted to play some volleyball while we were out in Miami, so she got her ball ready.  Our friend was pretty tired and opted not to go to the beach with us.  Oh well.  We tired.  We threw on our bikinis and threw on our swim cover ups and off we went!
Our new friend, 3rd guy was right on time.  We met his friend that was staying at his place.  She had celebrated the new year at a private party and was showing us pictures.  It was held at a mansion and looked pretty spectacular.  Since we were getting acquainted with one another I had a good feeling about our group.  So far, Miami was treating us nicely. 
The beach was wonderful considering it was January 1st.  It hit me that we escaped from the cold in Chicago and this was pretty surreal.  The temperature hit 80 degrees but again, the sun wasn't hitting hard.  Another cloudy day but no overcast.  We drove around in circles looking for parking but after 20 minutes our new friend suggested we wait for him at Pura Vida juice bar.  By this time we were getting dizzy since we left without having breakfast and I needed coffee terribly.  This place was packed already, so waiting in line there took just as long.  By the time our new friend joined us, we got a chance to place our orders.  I ordered a PB Energy acai bowl and it was delish!  It came with raw organic Brazilian acai blended with bananas and peanut butter and topped with strawberries, granola, berries and almonds.  I felt good having something so filling yet healthy.  

We had our breakfast outside and enjoyed our time there.  By now it was getting close to 2pm and we still hadn't hit the beach.  We were drained from the night before and couldn't wait to lay out on the sand.  We walked over and found a good spot, but our new friend wanted to knock out for a bit.  My friend got the itch to find a volleyball court, so we parted ways and I followed her.  We found the courts by the infamous Ocean Drive, right by where the hotel strips are at.  We found an empty net and my friend went up to a girl sitting on the beach watching the others play.  She asked if she wanted to play with her and she jumped at the chance.  It turns out she wanted to play too, but had no one to play with.  

Now with their new team they found 2 other to play against.  I laid out and watched their stuff for about an hour when I started to get fussy.  I wanted to walk around.  The last time I was in  Miami was almost 10 years ago and I wanted to see what changed.  I told my friends I would be back and I took my time looking around.  Miami definitely has a certain look to it, but now that I'm older, I had to pass up on some of the styles.  I miss being young.

South Beach has a lot of traffic too.  There are people cruising up and down Collins Avenue.  I made my way back to my friends where they were finishing up their last game.  This time, 3rd guy had met up with them, but his friend was missing in action.  She had gotten up to walk around herself.  Now it was a matter of trying to find her. 
We got back to his car, but apparently her phone had died at some point.  Now WE were cruising up and down Washington avenue, but I loved being on the strip.  Since it was now getting close to rush hour, more people were flooding the streets and the traffic was getting heavier.  We found her by Lincoln Avenue and we hopped back on the expy to head back to East Miami.  The traffic was awful.  It took us over 30 minutes to get back, and my friend knocked out on the drive there.  She had played for 2 hours straight, but since she never fully rested, couldn't help herself but fall asleep to the bumper to bumper traffic. 
We got back to East Miami and knew we had to eat something before we headed out.  There was a party going on at the The Deck starting at 8pm and we were already running behind.  We stopped by a plaza and had some grub before we got back and showered up.  Our friend was awake and we asked him if he was going to come with us.  Earlier he mentioned wanting to sleep because he wasn't feeling well from the night before.  He was interested in The Deck and got ready quickly.  We weren't ready yet and he told us to meet him at the Blue Martini down the street.  He was in the mood to get a head start. 
We walked over to the Blue Martini and knew right away we were going to have another confrontation with our friend.  He was just getting too comfortable at the bar again.  It took us a while to have him close out his tab, but we made some new friends at the process.  Now that our group got a little bigger, we were excited about starting our evening.  We took a uber and finally got to the The Deck after 10:30pm.  Later than expected, but thankfully we made it.  The place was awesome!  Everyone was feeling the live music along with a dj on stage.  People were dancing everywhere.  We found our friends from earlier, and then our new volleyball friends made it in as well.  I loved how everyone was coming together to have a fun night.  We even ran into Tyson Beckford mingling in the crowd.  It was such a Miami moment.  lol.

Around midnight the crowd started to dwindle down.  We decided to check out the Wall at the W hotel and hopped on ubers to get there.  We got there when it was going on and ended up staying the rest of the night.  I had a blast dancing the night away.  I loved our group.  Good times for sure.

Heading back we realized we still had to purchase our flights back home.  Because of our crazy night, we woke around 12pm and for the next 2 hours were searching frantically for flights.  It was such a frustrating experience but we found one leaving at 3pm and left for the airport shortly.  I felt bad not being able to say bye to everyone but I did manage to send out a text.  I wish we could have stayed longer but then, again, what if we never leave??  lol

I'm In MIAMI b*tch!

After going back and forth with my friend, I was slowly realizing we might jump on a plane in a few hours.  I started to get anxious.  NOT GOOD.  All of the sudden, I had so much to do in such a short amount of time.  As soon as I received the confirmation text, I knew we were set to go.  She had a lot to do as well and we ended our conversation.  She will be at my place at 4:15am.  HOLY MOLY!  What do I pack?  I didn't want to check in any bags so I brought out my weekend bag.  I figured I'll pack lightly since we'll be staying with a friend of hers.  There was talk that others might be staying at his apartment, too, so I didn't want to have too much stuff with me.
I started to clean up frantically.  Over the years I would have my New Year's Eve ritual of having a clean apartment, a stocked fridge, a packed suitcase by the door, as well as having my red underwear on underneath my clothes.  I quickly grabbed my red undies so I wouldn't forget.  I threw in a wrap dress I won on ebay months ago and checked the weather.  It was barely 80 degrees, but I forgot how that felt like.  lol.  I packed in a pair of skinny black pants and a top if we went out the next day.  I threw in two bikinis and my swim coverup and had some nude flip flops that I would use as my walking sandals.  I decided to wear some blue skinny jeans on the plane, so I packed 2 casual tops in case we walked around.  I also packed my gym clothes that I was going to use as my pajamas.  Again, not sure how the living situation was going to be for the next two days, so I played it safe by sleeping in my gym clothes.  lol
I finished cleaning up my apartment and then took a quick body shower and followed up with a self mani and pedi.  I was too excited to go to sleep so I finished reading the end of my book and felt good about it.  I knew it would be impossible to read out there and wanted to end that chapter of 2016.
I probably knocked out around 2:30am only to wake up to my alarm going off an hour later.  I knew I wanted to sleep on the plane anyway so I didn't have a problem with this at all.  I texted my friend to see if she was awake and jumped in the shower again to wash my hair.  Everything was happening so fast.  By the time I was getting dressed, she texted me that she was going to be at my place in 15 minutes.  YIKES!
I had everything ready when she called me to let me know that she was downstairs.  I rushed to meet her with my bags, but she had a present for me for Christmas.  I ran back up to my place to drop the gift off and grabbed hers.  She ordered the lyft and the next thing you know, he was waiting for us.  My anxiety was getting the best of me.  I just wanted to be on the plane so I could knock out and not feel this way.  I could tell my friend was super excited but I warned her that I wasn't feeling so great.  I needed her to understand how terrified I was getting on the plane. She could tell by my expression how worried I was and seemed to understand. 

Hiding behind sunglasses.  She was pretty excited.  I wanted to sleep it off.

Everything at the airport was a blur.  I remembered feeling a bit overwhelmed while we waited to board on.  I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I just wanted us to be there already.  I did manage to knockout on the plane and woke up right before we landed.  I did it!  We're on ground and we're safe!
We waited a while before her friend arrived.  He was running behind schedule.  I was slowly feeling my normal self but my friend never slept on the flight.  She was still super excited we were in Miami for New Year's Eve.  I was out of it, but since I was nervous about keeping food down, skipped on eating and now I was starved.  Once he arrived, we agreed to go get breakfast.
We were in East Miami which was indeed, 20 minutes away from South Beach.  The last time I was in Miami was almost 10 years ago with my ex.  We had came down for the Winter Music Conference.  Those were some crazy times, but because I came at the last minute, I had no idea what was going down tonight.  It DID feel good to be away from Chicago.  A change of scenery works wonders.
We went to a sportsbar called Batch which was around the corner from his place.  I needed some coffee BAD but her friend had other things in mind!  lol.  It was way too early for me to drink but it dawned on me that our mini getaway was going to be insane!  We were in MIAMI!!

Breakfast at Batch.  I cleaned off my plate!

After a couple of hours at the bar, me and my friend realized that he was not going to move from his spot.  We wanted to walk around and find the nearby mall he mentioned earlier.  We took matters on our own hands and told him we would come back for him later.  He was enjoying his time at the bar and we didn't want to interrupt him.
The mall was semi outdoor so it was cool to walk around.  My friend desperately wanted to lay out.  She figured we could kill two birds with one stone and nap in the process.  We headed back to get our friend but he still wasn't ready to leave Batch.  We wasted some more time there before we finally dragged him back to his place to drop off our stuff.  He had a pool at his building and we wanted to lay out before the sun went away.  It was cloudy in Miami but luckily no overcast.  We changed into our bikinis and headed up.  It was relaxing laying out.  We took advantage of the time and dozed off. 

As you can tell, cloudy day but not even sun to get any color.  BOO!

We managed to get in 30 minutes of sleep, but whenever a big cloud would roll in, it covered the sun and we would get nippy.  We stayed out about an hour before realizing it was 5pm now.  He mentioned to us that he had some friends coming in around 6pm and we wanted to get a head start getting ready.  My friend wanted to get a professional mani and pedi and luckily there was a salon across the street from his apartment.  We walked back down to throw some clothes on, but our friend had never laid down to rest himself.  He was still drinking.  I was surprised he wasn't tired but he told us before we walked out that he was going to try to lay down a bit.  We knew we had a long night ahead of us.
A lot of my friends found out through social media that we were in Miami.  It was funny because my friends know how I am.  I am hardly the spontaneous type.  Not to mention, I didn't accept two invitations for other weekend getaways.  I had some explaining to do!  I texted back friends while my friend got her nails done.  The salon owner came out and gave customers a glass of champagne.  How sweet!
After about an hour at the salon we went back up to the apartment to check on our friend.  Just like we thought so, he was completely knocked out.  We took our time getting ready.  My friend noticed that his phone was buzzing off the hook.  He had his phone on silent but people were calling him like crazy.  My friend had a back up plan on meeting other Chicagoans that were in Miami if this wasn't going to pan out.  We were more worried about looking our best, so we continued getting ready. 
Of course, like clockwork, our friend woke up.  He knew his friends made it in and were waiting on him back at Batch.  They did not know where else to go.  He quickly got ready and we all walked over to find them.
Luckily his friends were in a good mood.  They had been waiting for over an hour but ate in the meantime.  We all introduced each other and didn't realize our friend had parked himself at the bar again.  Me and my girl looked at each other and realized we might have a situation in our hands.
We were waiting on a 3rd friend to come by.  We still had no clue were we were going to spend New Year's Eve at.  Once the 3rd guy arrived we started to brainstorm.  South Beach was out of the question.  Our new friends insisted it would be too hard to get in anywhere this late in the evening.  By now it was 10pm and we still had no idea where to go.
One of the guys closed out our friend's tab at the bar.  At least he was proactive!  lol.  We gathered around and by the 3rd guy's suggestion, settled on going to Sugar, a hotel rooftop nearby.  We took a walk over and got there in no time flat!
We made it inside and that's when we all started to get excited.  WE FOUND A PLACE AND WE HAD TIME TO SPARE BEFORE MIDNIGHT!  Once we got up to the rooftop, we ordered drinks right away.  I was feeling good and our new friends were fun!  Everything was perfect!  Me and my girl hugged and kissed each other at the stroke of midnight.  We made some amazing friends.  We stayed there past 2am when our crowd was dwindling down.  It was just me and my friend with the 2 guys waiting at Batch earlier.  Since they drove down here, they were going to stay with us at our friend's place.  We wanted to see what else was going on and they suggested a cigar lounge.  We took a cab over there and made our way in.  I was getting exhausted by now, but my girl was still going strong.  Around 3am I couldn't take it anymore.  My eyes were closing in on me and I had to go.  My friend stayed out longer.  I was impressed but as for me, it's lights out!   

On our way up to Sugar!  Cool elevator...

Our crazy friend!  I'm glad he woke up on time!  lol

3rd guy saved the day!  We loved this place!!

NYE was a blast with this hottie!

Won this BCBG dress off ebay and I think it worked great for this evening..

City view of East Miami...

At the cigar shop.

Do what works for YOU!

During the first Saturday of the year, my friends wanted to catch up for a bit.  The holidays were officially over, and getting together seemed like the ideal thing to do.  The past 2 weeks were all about family.  I agreed to meet up because I always felt that your friends are your second family, (and sometimes they just "get" you).  Of course it fell apart quickly, and not everyone made it out as they promised to.  We originally met up at Old Town at Benchmark, a upscale sports bar.  College football was on tv and the crowd seemed pretty excited.  It's not my thing, but sometimes you have to go with the flow if you want to get out of the house. 
Once we realized our group was going to stay small, we made the most of it and caught up with one another.  At one point we decided to break up and head our own way.  I figured since I made the trip out in the first place, I would quickly checkout Y bar.   It's a pretty known fact that the weekend after the holidays it's dead EVERYWHERE from retail shops to the nightlife industry.  I saw some friends and then we all decided to head next door to Shay.  I was beat, but did make a promise to myself not to step out again unless we're celebrating something.  Going out for the sake of drinking and spending money is not on my list of things to do for 2016.
The following day was Sunday and the friends that did not make it out before wanted to hang out now.  I made my way over to Wicker Park for some Sunday Funday action, but again, the scene was dead.  I felt we kept "looking" for some action.  This did not appeal to me at all since I was on the verge of paying off my huge debt.  I realized I had to make a decision on what I was trying to accomplish for myself.  Unfortunately, I've reached the point where I'm bored of the scene and rather be at home drinking a glass of wine and reading my Italian work book.  It's all fun and games but when you have different financial goals than everyone else, you have to figure out what works for you.  Yes we did "catch up" but it seemed that we could have saved this for another time.  I knew right away that I wanted to do things differently this year. 
At the end of the day, you need to take care of yourself FIRST.  It may not be easy.  You can catch up with friends over the phone.  It's cheaper.  Me and my co-worker friends decided to follow up a savings plan to help us reach our goals for 2016.  I'm excited I have a little team going with this.  I think it will push us to strive as a group.

Unfortunately, not too many people out and about.  Check out the background!  lol

   
 

TREAT YOURSELF!!

Last year around this time, I treated myself to see Sam Smith in concert.  I knew he was coming in town, and got SUPER excited when I looked into tickets.  I bought a ticket right away before even asking anyone if they wanted to come with me.  Before you knew it, the show was sold out.  I figured I'll just go by myself.  I've never done anything like that before, and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!  I decided at that moment that no matter what, I would treat myself once a month to do something that I wanted to do.  It was part of my New Year's Resolution for 2015.
The following month the movie 50 Shades of Grey came out, and me and my girlfriend went as each other's dates on Valentine's Day.  lol.  We were both going through a tough time.  My mom's husband was nearing the end of his terminal illness.  Despite our current situations, me and my girlfriend still wanted romance in our lives.  We had a good time and met up with some friends afterwards for drinks.  I checked off February's treat with a sexy movie.
My mom's husband passed away towards the end of February and then she went into a depression.  It was a hard time for all of us.  I completely forgot about myself and was consumed with my mom's well being.  Before you knew it, months passed by and it was nearing my birthday.  I was starting to feel hopeful again, and booked my trip to Paris and Italy without even thinking about it.  I knew I wanted to leave asap, but in the meantime, I still had to go through the summer before my big trip came up.  I took up softball at my firm's league, and then took some dance lessons afterwards to kill some time.  I spent last summer getting to know myself again. 
Coming back from my trip, I got carried away with birthday parties and mingling, but completely stopped my treats-to-myself.  Now that it's 2016, I want to continue my little tradition of taking myself out again.  I can't wait to line up some activities for the year!  I'm getting excited again just thinking about it...
After spending New Year's Eve in the suburbs, my dad wanted me and my brothers to come by again for dinner at his house.  It was Friday night again, and I couldn't agree more on spending it with family this time.  I'm worried about my dad and his finances.  He's 70 years old and still working 2 jobs.  He told us this is the year he will cut back on work but it breaks my heart he won't slow down.  He seems physically and mentally fine, but there has been troubles at home which makes me wonder if he's purposely overworking himself.  I've been so busy checking in on my mom that I forget to see how my dad is doing.  No matter how well you're doing, don't get too selfish to reach out to others.  Sometimes all they need is to have someone hear them out.  It makes a world of a difference plus you could offer them insight on their troubles. 

Happiness is seeing my family happy...

My Dad's wife made pozole!  A Mexican traditional dish used for special occasions.  It's perfect on a cold, January night!

The garnishes for pozole!

The hardest working man I know.  He just won't stop...

New Year's Eve!! New Year; New Me

I'm FINALLY recapping the end of 2015!!!  lol.  I'm glad I've reached this point so far.  The past 2 years of writing my thoughts down has led me to reveal a couple of things in my life.  It took me a while to feel comfortable discussing some issues since there's been so many changes with me within the past 5 years.  What's hard sometimes is right when you think you've weathered a storm, another one comes along and changes everything.  The hits keep coming.  I miss the days when everything seemed carefree.  Now I look back and wonder how I manage to survive all of this.  I know I haven't had it hard as others.  I know there could be far worse things in the world to deal with.  But we all know when you're going through tough times, you feel isolated and lonely because you feel you're the only one in the world going through this.
Well you're not.  I went through a bad breakup 3 years ago.  Not to mention, it didn't happen overnight.  It was a slow motion of unraveling revelations, about him, about me, about us.  Trying to discuss it with my friends seemed pointless.  Up to then, most of them haven't settled down with anyone yet.  They had no idea how much it hurt.  Of course they went through breakups in the past, but my ex boyfriend was "the one" to me.  He was the one I was going to spend the rest of my life with.  What happened?  I was blindsided that we reached that point of no return.  It hurt a lot and it took some time for me to feel ok to move forward.  Mostly because I did not know what the plan was for me anymore.  It was always me and him, and now it's me trying to figure what I want to do next.
The first 2 years without him hurt a lot, but the following year, I started to feel comfortable within myself.  I was having a good time with my friends again, and we did a lot of things together that year.  Then Spring of 2014 happened, and my mom found out that her husband had a terminal illness.  The rest of the year was watching him deteriorate to basically nothing when he finally passed away in Feb 2015.  Death is a process, too, just like a breakup, but the effects are forever haunting.  I realized how blessed I am that my ex is ok because I saw how hard it is for my mom to not see her husband again.  I want my ex to be happy.  I also am pulling for him to find his happiness since it wasn't with me. 
Now here I am, 5 years later, trying to make sure my mom doesn't feel lonely, seeing my friends settle down with weddings, children, and moving in together scenarios, and me with my blog.  I remember jotting down the crazy things going on in my life and thinking, how did I end up HERE?  I think for the most part, we've all figured out that life isn't necessarily the way we thought it would be.  But for me, the only choice I have is to keep going.  Change is inevitable.  Whether you like it or not, it happens, and we have to adapt.  I know it's hard when you want things to be "easier" on you, but let's fact it.  Life isn't easy, but it can be beautiful.  Trust me.
It's been a little over 3 weeks since New Year's Eve.  I hope everyone out there are on track with their resolutions!!  The days leading up to New Year's was a little scattered.  First up, I started to feel yucky.  My throat was feeling funny.  I was tired.  And the text messages started to come in.  What were my plans?  Where was I going?  My first thought was home to take care of this sore throat.  The last thing I wanted to do was get sick on New Year's Eve.  I knew for a fact I did not want to be out somewhere crazy because of the last couple of years' craziness.  I wanted to feel safe and sound and with the company of friends.  My girlfriend who had her baby back in July was hosting a gathering at her place in the suburbs.  I agreed to spend it over there.
I ended up dressing up although most were dressed down.  lol.  I guess I should have asked first what was going on.  We watched the countdown live on tv, played games such as Family Feud, and joked around the rest of the night.  I felt content that I made the right choice by celebrating low key, but it was there I also had an idea for a New Year's resolution.  Now it's time to work for it! 

Our friends are now having families!  It's crazy!!

Mother and son and me

Good times with the girls! 

Group shot!

Thankful it's Friday!

We did it!  We survived the first official work week of the year!  I have to saw, it's been a tough week considering how slow it gets during the holidays.  Now that it's business as usual, I've been pretty sluggish.  I think it's because I took some days off during the holidays.  It made me lazy.  I'm hoping by next week I'll be back to my usual routine.  Not to mention, I've barely made it out to the gym this week.  Not a good way to start off making those resolutions.
While we're on the subject of resolutions, one of mine is to budget more carefully with my money this year.  I would like to build up my savings, plus trip book another trip.  I'm still working on when and where, but it's exciting thinking about all the possibilities!
When it comes to November, the obvious thing that comes up on everyone's mind is Thanksgiving.  It is definitely becoming one of my favorite holidays, mostly because it gets my family together.  Unfortunately, my family is not as close as I would like it to be, but this gives everyone a chance to catch up with one another.  My mom insisted that we had Thanksgiving at her house this year.  Over the years, my mom and my aunts usually discuss hosting duties, but my mom wanted to do things differently.  She was pretty emotional around this time, and I realized it was because it was a major holiday without her husband.  She just wanted me and my brothers with her and no one else.  I think everyone understood and left her alone on this.  She is still grieving.   It's ok if she wanted something more intimate.  She also reached out to our step brother to see if he would join us, and he did.  It was nice seeing him as well.  We haven't had the chance to see him much since his dad passed away. 
Regardless, my mom cooked up a mean turkey and we all had a blast.  I think my mom wanted to feel like a mom again and take care of us for a night.  There's nothing wrong with that.

I like my new bomber jacket.  Reminds me of the singer The Weeknd! 

I wore my burnt orange rag & bone jeggings.  They kind of match my carpet.  lol

 My step brother with my older brother.  Technically I'm the oldest but he's the one in charge..

My two brothers.  I'm the only girl in this household...

Me and my mom.  This was a tough time for her.  I hope she knows we're all here for her...

My mom in the kitchen.  Everything came out perfectly!

The table is all set!

Lucky is my mom and her husband's dog.  Even though I'm terribly allergic to him, I'm glad he's there keeping my mom company.  He's over 2 years old, but still a puppy.  He keeps my mom on her toes.

Gearing up for the New Year!

I am currently reading "A Technique for Producing Ideas" by James Webb Young.  It was based off the recommendation of the last book I read, "It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to be."  I've been reading self-help/ motivational books to help me stimulate my mind.  Sometimes you get into the funk of a routine, and get lost in trying to achieve the goals you want for yourself.  I feel it jolts my mind to be more creative, thus awakening my potential to try new things.  Since it's an easy read and a very short book, I feel it will help me start off the New Year in the right direction.
I grew into a funk with my life when me and my ex broke up 3 years ago.  It took some time for me to reflect on what happened.  I never worked so hard in trying to something I treasured so much.  But despite my efforts, our relationship ended, and I've been trying to figure out where to begin building my life again.
Everything seemed to slowly move to a new direction of singleton.  I was finally beginning to feel myself again when my mom's husband got diagnosed with a terminal disease.  This time around, I felt the urge to take care of my mom, but as the months went on, I started to get depressed.  Seeing him suffer and watching my mom cry was wearing me down.  I felt I was sinking again.  Yet since I'm on my own now, I had my friends who tried their best to comfort me, and the rest I had to figure out on my own. 
Blogging has been a source of output for me whenever I feel things are bottling up inside.  It gives me the chance to vent, and get things off my chest.  I never imagine how rewarding it could be.  I will try my best to improve the content of my blog, but for now, it's sole purpose is to express my feelings on life.  My life.  I know I lack depth in my writing, and I promise I will try to improve on my skills to tell stories.  But know that my freedom of expression is my right to come here and spill my guts.  And to tell you that everything is going to be alright.  I promise.  There were times I felt so alone, but everyone at some point or another has felt the same way I did.  I'm here to tell you that it will pass, and you will see your worth in a whole new light.  Life is a blessing and it's important you learn to appreciate it's valuable existence.
Back to finishing up October events.  Since we're coming up New Year's eve, I'm going to mention Halloween!  I was super excited to dress up this year.  It's funny looking back on it because I bought my costume when I returned from my trip to Paris and Italy.  I wanted to get a head start.  This year I was a French Maid!  lol.  Last year I was a Roman Empress, so it's only suiting to continue my travel theme.  That Halloween weekend started pretty weak, since not many people were dressed up on Friday.  I assumed because it fell on a Saturday this year, there would have been more people dressed in costumes.  About 20% of the crowd were dressed up that night.  I started out at National 27 for some cocktails then made my way to the Wit to join up with some friends who were visiting from out of town.  We hung out there for a bit before we decided to go to Hub 51.  Although we were disappointed in the low turn out for costumes, we knew Saturday was the day to go all out.
We started out at a house party around 9:30pm.  We figured we could show off our costumes and take some pics.  After a while we grew restless and wanted to head out and get into the action.  There were so many people out!  Lines were forming and it was barely 11pm.  We decided to go to Mercer 113 since it seemed easier to get our group in.  I had so much fun inside!  We danced and joked around so much.  I was having a blast!  Some of our friends started to head home, so our group got smaller.  We made our way to Ybar and it was insane in there!  By this point it was already 1:30am.  We danced some more.  We walked over to Soundbar and that's where I said my goodbyes.  I stayed there for a bit, but since that day was daylight savings time, clocks went back an hour at 2am.  Once it was 3am, technically it just turned 2am.  My feet couldn't handle it.
I loved seeing the goofy costumes that night, and I had so much fun with my friends, too.  It was probably one of the most memorable nights this year.  I'm glad nothing bad happened, (since Halloween can be a crazy night).  I cannot wait to see what the new year has planned for me and my friends.  Let the good times roll!

I'm a French maid!

Having fun at The Wit

I also made my way to Cuvee on Friday night, but again, not many people were in costumes.

Saturday Night for Halloween!  Our first stop at a house party. 

Ran into the Left Shark at Mercer 113...

The incredible Hulk was at y bar...

Who doesn't like a box of wine?  lol