Cabaret Dinner

Last night my friend Linda, her daughter Daniella and me went to a place on the island call Vivendi, which is a Cabareth Style Restaurant, meaning you get to have dinner and there's a show going on at the same time.

The show we saw last night was Lady Dove, which is a Cirque du Soleil style production which primarily features circus acts intertwined with theatre. The show tells the story of a heroic pirate who liberates her fellow woman aboard the Libertad and features acts ranging from extreme balancing, aerial ballet, rope walking, strong men, an incredible skating duo, juggling and much more. To me it was all about Pirates of the Caribbean.

I have to admit I was very impressed and very pleased with the performances, I thought it was going to be mainly dancing, but noooo, it was so much more than that. Once the show is over all of the performances come down from the stage and grap people to dance with from the audience.

My friends little girl is only 2 1/2 and she was so focus the whole entire show, she loved it, it was like she was hypnotized, so funny. At the end, as she was the only little girl at the place, every single dancer wanted to dance with her, but she was a little hesitate about dancing with people she didn't know, so I took her on the stage for a while and so did her mom.

We really had a fabulous time and will probably try to go again to catch another show. Here are some of the pictures (sorry about the quality, at times I was afraid to use to flash cause I didn't want to mess up their concentration, silly me, this people are professionals, LOL!).

beginning of the show

 this guys coming were pretty amazing...

the one time Daniella looked back

 they were actually jumping rope like this...

dancing with the audience

Dani and me dancing on the stage

Have a great weekend!!!

T.G.I.T.

Today is just like another day but it's also a day closer to the weekend, yipeeee!

Besides that, I had one my best friends coming to visit me today.

Old picture of Trudy and me (circa 2006)

Trudy lives in one of the other islands (Cayman Brac), were I used to live before I moved here to Grand Cayman. She was in fact my boss at the hotel I used to work for Brac Reef Beach Resort. But besides working together we were also neighbors and did tons of stuff together, not only she was a good boss but she is also a wonderful person and a fantastic friend. She was also my maid of honor at my wedding last May!

So today, even though we just had a hour lunch together, being with her makes me so happy it uplifts my spirit to have a friend like her. At times I wish she was closer to me, also because she is a very busy person and sometimes it's hard to stay in touch over the phone (and it's definitely not as fun as talking in person).

I miss her a lot and always remember the great times we had together and with her wonderful dog Gracie, she an old dachshund but the sweetest dog I've ever met. Here's a picture of her last year...

I miss you "crazy gracie"

Wednesday Movie Post & More...

"The Soloist", it's a captivating movie with performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. The movie is based on the true story of an LA Times writer (Downey Jr.) that meet and incredibly talented but homeless Man (Foxx) and decided to learn more about this persons life (his talent and the reason why he ended up living in the streets after even having an opportunity in the past to do something with his talent but decided to dropped it all) to write a series of columns on the paper about him.

Even though this movie can be consider a sad story, it makes you think about how relative everything in life really is, as Foxx's character is homeless but also sees his situation as an opportunity to cherish the city and the outside, and on the other side there comes a point where Downey's character try to help him "get back in" (I guess back to society, and living a "normal" life) just because that is his concept of having a good life...

So I ask myself, how do we know it's worst to not have almost anything, living on the streets without attachment compared to having a s**t lots of stuff that maybe we don't even need and that makes us slaves of a society always wants to fulfill our ego??? Like the late Bob Marley said in one of his many wonderful lyrics, "Every need has an ego to feed".

I really recommend watching this movie, it's a great story that makes us appreciate life even more, what we have and opportunities that come in life and that we should not waste, it also makes us appreciate true friendship, and I specially need to mention one line at the end of the movie which is something like this "experts say that by just being somebody's friend, it can change the chemistry of your brain"... Not sure if it's true but it sounded nice.


In a different note, I had to share with you that the Caribbean Sea it's so unbelievably calm tthis morning that it's hard to tell where the sea ends and the horizon starts. I took a picture right in front of work and even thought it doesn't show as well as reality, it's pretty close.

 

Happy Hump Day!!!

R.I.P. Patrick Swayze

Last night I was sadden by the news of actor Patrick Swayze loosing a battle against pancreatic cancer.

As Dirty Dancing and Point Break are two of my all time favorite movies and also the movie Ghost (although it makes me cry every time I watch it), I can't help but feel sad by his death.

So, today's post is in honor of Mr. Swayze may he rest in peace and wherever he is I hope he had "the time of his life"...

Kitty Post

Not much to post about today, so I decided to dedicate today's post to cats... I love cats and used to have one, my parents have one, her name is Lea and she is very, very sweet little girl.

 

 Lea (a.k.a Meouw)

 Now for some silly and random cat images...

And now, for a Super Hello Kitty...

Diving in our back yard...

This morning my husband, my friend Natalia and me went for a dive just two blocks away from our house, there's a wonderful small resort call Cobalt Coast with a fantastic dive operation (Divetech) and we frequently dive there, but it's been a while since the last time (at least for me, not the same for Mark).

Conditions were excelent and for the first time in a while (since we were diving regular open circuit) I took my camera, so here are the best shots from the dive, enjoy!

 

Our dive site

 

My dive buddies

 

Coral

spotted trunkfish

 

Parrot Fish cruising by...

flamingo tongue

 

trumpet fish

fan coral

Fashion Friday

I've never really being into fashion, never the less consider myself a fashionista of any kind... Of course I have some sort of appreciation for high couture, nice clothes and I can appreciate someone with a good fashion sense...

But there's something I've always found very interesting and I'm curious to try one day which is body paint, for either clothes or the camouflage body art. But, is that consider a type of fashion? Mmmhhh... not sure! What do you think?

 

And now some camouflage body paint...

I really would like to have the time or to know an artist (and have the body!) to pull something like this off...

And even thought I'm the assistant of a painter (Guy Harvey) and I work next to him almost everyday, his main topics are the ocean and deep sea fish so I'm not sure I would be able to convince him to make a piece of art out of me unless it's maybe a mermaid, LOL! Have a great weekend!!!

Picture Perfect

The other day a friend told me about a very cool website that is a free online photo-booth (www.laphotocabine.com) and although it's a French website I decided to give it a try and it's definitely quite fun and easy to use even for all of us not French speakers. All you need to have is a web camera on your computer, otherwise it would not work!

First I tried it with my husband and then just by myself, here are the results... Picture Perfect, right?

Wednesday Movie Post

Lately I've missed reviewing a movie that I've watched and posting about it on my Wednesday Movie Post, but today I'm back on track with the movie " I LOVE YOU MAN".

 

This movie is sort of a "romantic" comedy about a couple that is getting married but the guy is kind of a loner that has pretty much always being in a relationship so because of this he doesnt have many close male friends (a.k.a buddies). So in order to find himself a Best Man for his wedding he decided to start a "friend hunting" and even go on man dates for it.

I found this movie to be quite entertaining, maybe it's not a LOL movie all the way, but it's got a different subject with some pretty funny stuff.

I guess another reason why I liked this movie is because I can sort of relate to it in a personal way. Let me explain how.

When I first moved from Cayman Brac (another of the Cayman Islands and much, much smaller- where I had tons of friends) to Grand Cayman I pretty much only knew Mark (my husband now) and for many, many months he kept insisting that I needed girlfriends and in a way he kind of wanted to "set me up" with some his co-workers and friends, but to me a friendship needs to be something that comes natural, from the interaction with one another, it takes time to get to know people and even though sometimes you feel like you "click" with people immediately it's definitely not something that you want to force, right?

So, yes this movie reminded me of that time and honestly I still don't have that many close friends here in Grand Cayman but I do have plenty back in CR and other parts of the world and this past two weeks I made up for lost time with them, and I can say that it was like time never passed, FRIENDS RULE!!!

HAPPY 09-09-09!!!

All Dogs go to Heaven...

and now there's a Dog Heaven on earth!!!

Artist Stephen Huneck is convinced that dogs have spiritual as well as real identities and that they go on, outside the course of nature, beyond what we can see.

Then after a near death experience he had a vision that guided him to build a Dog Heaven, with a Chapel. This place honors those amazing friends and companions that we so very much love and share our lives with, our dogs. The chapel is located in Vermont and it opened in 2000.

When I saw this article it made me smile, because it's a beautiful place but mostly because of the idea behind it, honoring dogs, giving them a place (besides in our hearts) to rest and always be remembered.






Well, and I guess cats are welcome too!!!!

Have a great day!

EVERYTHING 1/2 off...

While I was in Costa Rica I saw at a local store one of the funniest and off the wall window display I've ever seen. As you can imagine I had to take pictures and share it with the world, cause things like this just don't show up every day...

Sorry that the quality of the picture is not very good, because it is a window display there is a lot of reflection on it...

I got to give them credit and say that this is definitely a very creative way to advertise that EVERYTHING is half off... even the clothes on the mannequins, LOL!!!

First Day back home....

(From Left to Right: my stepmom Carmen, my birthdad Al, Me, my aunt Cynthia, my mom Lorena and my stepdad Manrique...
I LOVE YOU ALL!)

This is the last picture I took while I was in Costa Rica, like I said on my last post I had a fantastic time and was able to spend time with a lot of people that I love and I miss every day... But now I'm back in Grand Cayman spending my time with the person I love and I missed the most these past weeks... My husband Mark!

This past few days in Costa Rica made me very happy but also kind of sad because I can't spend that much time with so many people that I really care for and that they also care about me, everyday of my life. But I know and I've always believed that 'a big part of finding happiness is not having exactly what you want when you want it." So, not having my family and friends close to me everyday is hard but having opportunities like this past trip to see them and cherish what they give me is a wonderful thing.

So, to everybody back home (even though they are not reading this) and specially to God that always gives me the opportunity to have the best of both worlds, THANK YOU!!!

Adios Costa Rica!

Well, here I am sitting at the airport in San Jose waiting to board the plane to Miami and then to back home to my lovely husband in Grand Cayman.

Looking back at this past two weeks I have to say that I am very happy and grateful because I had a wonderful time and I was able to share many good times with a lot of family and friends, some that I have not seen for more than 10 yrs!!!

The party was plenty and the tiredness of it all finally got to me a couple of days ago... Good thing I'm flying back on a Sat. so I can spend all day long on Sunday next to my wonderful man, decompressing and gathering strength to go back to work and back to reality on Monday!

Besides this trip made me realized once again, how proud I am to be from a country like Costa Rica, everywhere you look there are gorgeous scenes, nature is anything but scares and the people are in general very friendly, pleasant and fun.

Last night my aunt took us to a wonderful Japanese Restaurant call Sakura, we had one of those Teppanyaki (which is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food, it was delicious, I had the Imperial choice (shrimp, beef and chicken), yummy!!!

Well... looks like my flight is starting to board... See ya all!!!

Some of Nature's many jewels

Tuesday we visited the beautiful Else Kientzler Botanical Garden located in a small town of Sarchi here in Costa Rica. After the botanical garden we also visited a small but very nice butterfly farm.

I took tons of pictures but I have not had the time to sort them out never the less the internet connection to even try to upload them, so here are a few of them and I will definitely post more in the future, enjoy!

Another paradise

There are so many beautiful things to see in my country, I am very grateful and happy to be here after all this time, and even though most people I have seeing keep commenting of how I live in paradise, to me CR is another very beautiful paradise.

All of these pictures I took around my parents yard. Tomorrow we are going to a botanical garden that has lots of beautiful plants and flowers but it also has a labyrinth... Can't wait to take lots of pictures!!!!

Blog neglect

It's been a while since the last time I was able to post something on my blog and there are a few reasons why:

1. I've been in Costa Rica since Aug, 20th.
2. I am really full of activities, seeing friends, driving places, and not that much time to spend in front of a computer.
3. It's pretty hard to find a nice, fast and reliable internet connection that will give the chance to actually get something done.
4. Party hardy!
5. I am on vacation!!!

So, here I am tonight, it is almost midnight and I can't sleep, mostly because I am very tired, I've had a weekend full of activities (since Thursday when I had the appointment to renew my American Visa and it got approved so I had to celebrate!).

Also I've been sleeping on a different bed every night since Thursday and besides the point that it's already hard to sleep well without my husband by my side, every night on a different bed, different pillows, different smells, sounds, etc... Not that much fun!

The best bed so far is been the one at my aunt Sonia's house, that bed is even better than mine at home and I felt like i5 was my own private suite just for me...



Besides the sleeping deal and the fact that I really miss my husband and my doggies, I am having a fab time and I finally got the chance to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long, long time...

Still I can't wait to go back to my life in Grand Cayman and to see my husband and dogs again.