Sat. @ work humor...

It's Saturday, I'm working and that plus this cartoon pretty much covers it all, LOL!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Friday Foto

Friday is here and although I have to work tomorrow Saturday, the weather is being very beautiful so we have plans to go diving on Sunday.

I'm kind of ashamed that it is already Jan. 22 and I still haven't been diving yet this year, so my plans are to dive before the first month is over, so this makes me add 1 more year resolution; to dive at least one day a month (more if possible)... that's a nice one, I think!

Every year here on the island there is an arts festival call Cayfest and they have a photography competition that anybody (either professional or amateur) can enter (as long as you are a resident of the islands for over a year).

One of the categories is underwater photography and I've been contemplating entering it, so beside going through the underwater pictures I have, I still might have a chance to go diving some more for "the shot" and enter it, all before March 15 which is the deadline.

Looking through my pictures I found a few possible candidates and I was wondering what you guys think about the first 3 (will post more later): 

flamingo tongue snail

Stingray ballet

green moray eel

I would really appreciate your input on this, you never know I might have a shot, right???

That's a first!

You know how people say there's always a first time for everything? Well, it's true but we just sometimes don't keep track of our first times.

Since we are still on the first month of the year 2010, I've been thinking about 9 first things/experiences that I lived for the first time in 09.

1. (And probably the most important) I got married to a man that I love with all my heart.

2. Because of #1, I got a new last name.
3. Started to like and eat peanut butter.
4. Got certified as a CCR (close circuit rebreather) diver.
5. Visited an American Embassy for the first time.
6. Worked the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show.
7. Ate at Roland's Garden (a very peculiar local restaurant).
8. Spent a weekend in Little Cayman with my husband, which also means it's the first time we've been on the three Cayman Islands together.
9. Started this blog!!!

And I think those are some of my first times for 2009, now I'm looking looking forward to my first times in 2010... How about you?

Have a great day!

A day in pictures

 Lately when I work @ 9:30 I have enough time have breakfast outside on the porch

Then while at work had a surprised visit from Barbara (a.k.a massgirl) that follows my blog, she came to see me and it was very nice to have met her!

We had two cruise ships in port, this is the last one that left.

The beautiful sunset

At night we went to "Prime" a Brazilian steak house to celebrate our friend Brian's Birthday!

And that's my day in pictures!!!

Chain reaction?

Well, I guess the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti has shaken more than just the lives of many people around the world, but also other possible tectonic faults in this planet of ours.

This morning while driving into work I was listening to Spin 94.9 radio station, and Ben the morning DJ (which is also my friend) was talking about the Haiti situation, then there was a song playing but the broadcast was interrupted in mid song and Ben came back to air saying that he felt something and asking the audience if they felt it too? Then he started talking about the rest of studio feeling it too and to not panic and be calm...

Well, we just had a 5.8 earthquake at 9:23 am. I did not feel it as I was in the car, but all of a sudden after listening to Ben talking about it, I started seeing people coming out of the buildings and by the time I reached worked even the girls that work with me were pretty worked out and nervous.

I am not an expert what so ever in the matter of geology and tectonic plates, but I do think this could mean some kind of chain reaction from the Haiti earthquake as there were also 2 other ones (one a 6.0 and another lower one) in Guatemala yesterday.

I am so grateful that I did not feel it, that there was no aftermath (well at least at this point while I'm writing this), but mostly that it was just a fright and no damage done.

Hope we don't get any more.... Happy Tuesday!

More dog therapy...!

A few days ago my boss sent my this video, it made me smile and then laugh so hard that happy tear were coming down my cheeks...

Not sure what I liked the best about it, the fact that she's more skilled than a lot of people I know, or that it looks like she is really happy and enjoying what she is doing.



Hoping this will light up your day and even the rest of the week!

Dog Therapy

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera

Sitting on the back porch with my dog Sheba, while she is playing like nothing else matters, makes me appreciate words like Milan Kundera's, but can't help to think of how wonderful it is that animals have the ability to live 100% in the present; they don't carry excess baggage or wonder about what comes next... they just are!

My husband says that when you have a though day, you come home and if you lay on the floor, our dogs will come right at you and will "lick" your troubles away... it's our own personal dog therapy.

Some people pay millions to visit a "shrink" and find meaning to their lives, or a doctor because they are depressed. Well, maybe a better way to find relief in life is by sharing it with man's best friend or any other animal to keep you company and make your life very enjoyable.

I know this from experience and it's true, an animal will give you love and companionship no matter what, but like any important relationship in life, it needs reciprocation, care, love and attention.

Once you give an animal the opportunity to share life with you, I'm sure you will receive more benefits than you can imagine!

Have a wonderful week!

Felicitous Friday

There are several reason for my contagious happiness today, first of all it's Friday so officially for me, the weekend starts @ 4:30pm, besides that, it's the 15th so that means it's Pay Day, woo-hoo!

And last but definitely not least, yesterday night I got the best news of the year (so far)... my brother and his wife got a job at one of the local Dive Shops (Ocean Frontiers) and are moving Grand Cayman to live about 40 min away from us!!!

I certainly can't wait to see them again, give them both a huge hug, go diving and just spend time together.

My prayers have been answered, for me having family close by is a dream come true. But don't get me wrong, even though I have a great life here with my loving husband and my two crazy dogs, I've always had a very good and strong relationship with my parents and siblings, so having Mau and Gaylene close by makes up for all the year of being away from home, family and friends.

And those are some of the reasons of my happiness today, I can't stop thanking God for this wonderful blessing and while there are people there suffering so much, I believe this is another sign that my happiness needs to be shared by helping those in need, so I'm off to give some stuff for the Haiti people as well as a little cash to help with the recovery process.

Have a happy and safe weekend!

Belated Wed. Movie Post

Last night we went to the theater to watch the film Avatar.

This movie is an epic journey into a land of fantasy. Loved the effects (even if we didn't watch it in 3D), the colors, the amazing scenery and the fact that nature was all over, even the animals being such weird creatures were pretty astonishing as well.

The story, like many other about conquests, is a very predictable one, but there is definitely a lot of very strong messages in it.

Parts of the movie were unfortunately sad for me, as I couldn't help but see the reflection of us human killing other cultures and believes, but specially destroying the natural of order of things, being nature and the planet the one that pays the higher prize for our useless needs.

This is a good choice of movie to watch and I'm sure when I can get my hands on a DVD I will watch it again, so of course I give this movie

Have a great day!!!

Burning a candle with purpose

 

Today I'm going to be burning a candle in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Haiti that are going through such a difficult time after an earthquake hit them yesterday.

Almost a year ago on Jan 8th it was the faith of my dear Costa Rica, along with my family, friends and many other fellow Costaricans that got affected by the same tragedy.

And that's when reality check comes in order;
We complain about the weather but we forget that we have a roof over our head, a comfortable bed and covers to keep us warm. People in Haiti had very little and a lot of people have even less today.

We sometimes feel can't find anything to wear as everything is old and we just want to go to the mall and buy more new stuff. So, if we have a full closet maybe is time to start sharing with others.

We are either too fat or too skinny but don't realize that at least we have the food to eat or not to eat if we choose to. Imagine not having the choice of food at all.

But mostly we take people and relationships for granted, days go by and we sweat the small stuff without realizing how it could all be gone in a second. Haiti people not only lost family, friends, coworkers in yesterdays tragedy, but maybe even their own will to live.

I know that even before this tragedy stroke this country, it was already consider by many the poorest country in the western hemisphere and probably one of the poorest in the world.

So today and for now on I will be sending intentional thoughts (like I read on one my favorite blogs) of love and strength to all our brothers and sisters in Haiti, so they manage to find a way to get over this difficult time and rise from the ashes of destruction. And I invite everybody to do a little of their own by at least burning their own candle.

Have a blessed day!

Weather Watch

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."  ~John Ruskin

One of this days I read a post by a fellow blogger that said, when you don't know how to start a post it's always a good choice to start it with a quote. 

The weather here on the island is being really cold from Saturday. Of course it is all relative when you talk about most things and specially when you talk about the weather. 

What can be consider cold to me (late 60'sF) could be consider quite warm for places like Michigan or any of the other places in the northern hemisphere where it's winter now.

But when you think of it, if you live on a place like our island when the average daily temperature is 84F, then on a day like yesterday with a temperature of 67F, that's a difference of 18 degrees, so yes, it feels cold to us!

And by saying this I don't mean to offend anybody that is going through very low temperatures and even having to deal with snow as well... 

But again as I mentioned before, it's all relative, I live here in the Caribbean, I'm used to shorts, t-shirt and flip flops weather and not having to actually use the hoody on my roxy sweatshirt or sleep with socks!

Hope that wherever you are reading this, if you experiencing winter time, that you are keeping warm and if your weather is bad, try to see the beauty in it and enjoy it as much as you can.

"The Weather is here... Wish you were beautiful"- Jimmy Buffett.

Food for thought!

TOP TEN THOUGHTS FOR 2010

#10
Life is sexually transmitted.

#9
Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

#8
Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

#7
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

#6
Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but  you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

#5
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

#4
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
#3
Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200.00 and a substantial tax cut saves you $0.30?

#2
In the '60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
AND THE #1 THOUGHT FOR 2009: 

We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located among  the millions and millions of cows in America , but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located.  

Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration.

 

And the  BONUS thought for today
"Life is like a jar of  jalapenos... 

What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow".

my 2010 look!

I did it! Got my hair done yesterday and it only took about 4 1/2 hours!!!

So here are some highlights of the adventure...

Before...

During (not sure if my whole hair got in the picture, LOL!)

After, look how long my hair really is!!!

My new look for 2010...

And this is how I look today...

not bad, uh?

Bad Hair Day

Ever since I can remember I've always have issues with my hair.

From when I was baby (not that at the time, I could even acknowledged I had hair in my head), my parents already knew something that I didn't and decided to shave my hair, not sure but I suspect that this simple act from then on, changed the future of my hair days...

I remember when I was a little girl my mom always used to fight with my hair to put it in a tail or just do anything with it at all. She will try give to my a hairdo by brushing it and it usually ended in some very loud crying and meltdown from my end...

So after a few year of battling my hair she decided it was best to cut it and then after that I pretty much had short curly hair from then on.

But then high school came along and with it also came the peer pressure that you need to have your hair a certain way. So yes, I tried it all, short and curly, long and curly, long and straight... but also when I let it grow I had my good share of very big 'fro-looking style hair.

Besides that I tried all the possible and imaginable treatments on the market to make it straight, as like most of my friends had that style and was definitely what was going to make me a cool chick!

So I guess in retrospect I can see now that during most of my teen age years as well as the early 20's I was pretty much living and functioning around my hair, for many, many of those years I was just plain not happy with it.

That's why around my 21st birthday I finally got feed up with it; having to blow dry it, dreading that if there was too much moisture in the air or just a sprinkle it'll ruin my whole effort. So I made up my mind and shaved my whole hair...

After that I had super short hair for a while (don't have many pics of that time here with me, those are all in my parents house back in CR).... Then let it grow again I once again went through all the stage of big and frizzy hair but survived!

I still cut it a few times and some were bad enough to make me hate it again until I finally got it cut by a French guy a few years back and he did such a wonderful job I never cut it again.

Finally and for a few years now, my hair is being long enough to be sort of manageable but it still takes a lot of effort and a lot of conditioning to get it to this point.

And now this whole story finally brings me to the other day, a friend mentioned that I should get the Brazilian Keratin treatment on my hair to make my curls loser, give my hair strength, shine and make it much more manageable for months.

So I've been thinking about it and while doing some research online, I finally made up my mind and decided to go for it! -I mean what's the worst that could happen? I guess I would have to shave my whole hair again (but that's worst case scenario, right?), plus I trust my friend and she has done it on her hair a few times and swears this guy that is going to do it for me it's the best on the island.

Here are some pictures of my hair, this morning when I got to work and it was already dry.

 

I hope this is a good decision I'm taking, I will make sure to take some before and after pictures for all to either celebrate the success or share the pain. Hope it's the first option!

Have a wonderful weekend, and watch out for bad hair days!!!

I want to ride an Octopus

I once read something like this; 

"Everything we are looking for is looking for us as well, and that if we stay very still it will eventually find us. So when it gets here, do not move and rest, you shall see what comes next" (from Women that run with wolves)

Well, one of Paul Allen's mega yatch (Octopus) came into the Georgetown harbor yesterday.

Now I just have to stay very still and it would come, pick me up and rescue me from work, LOL!

Here's the picture I took (sorry it's not very good quality as it was from far away and the camera I carry with me is very basic).

Here are some shots I found on the internet of this "little" boat!!!!

this is a much better picture

 

look, it's got an helicopter and a couple more boats

besides another yacht inside the yacht and a couple of cars in the 3 garages

Anybody up for a ride??? I am!!!

Wednesday Movie Post

My first Wed. Movie Post of the year is about a fantastic movie I watched on the 1st day of the year. Not only it's a good and positive film, but it also inspired me to be a better person by carelessly helping others that need it more than we do...

The movie I'm talking about is "The Blind Side". This movie is based on the life story of Michael Oher, a homeless kid that went from living on the streets to becoming an NFL player, this with the help of a wonderful family.

Of course this movie is mostly about American Football, but even if you are not into watching sports and specially football (like me) I am sure you are to find something you'll like about it.

Sandra Bullock is the lead character and I personally think she does a wonderful job, with a very different type of character (for a change!). Most of the other performances are pretty good too, specially the little boy (SJ).

So, I definitely give this movie:

2 thumbs WAY up!

If you get a change to watch this movie, do it. It's fun, charming, inspiring and makes you appreciate what you have but also reminding you about what you could give to those in need...

Happy Hump day!

From the artist desk

It's not my desk but close enough, I share my desk with my boss and he is an artist.

I'm sure deep inside we all have dreamed (and some still do) of the day when it's finally o.k. to have a mess on your desk (specially at work).

In his case because he is a painter, some might consider his desk to also be a piece of art.... In my case I can get away with my own little mess since we share desks, so it's kind of hard to tell where his mess ends and mine begins!

Jump right on it...

Monday is back with a vengeance as many people around the world are back to work after one more holiday season.

For me it's just another Monday (but the first one of the year) as I worked all last week and including New Years day (when you are in retail sales, there's no two ways about it!)....

Still, I'm going to jump right on it, just like the kids we saw jumping on the sea yesterday...

Have a wonderful Monday and I hope this would one of many good ones in 2010!

New look!

Like many other things in my life that I like to rearrange or change every now and then...I've changed the main image (as well as my template) on my blog once again. I was already kind of tired of the previous one, although I've include it in the new collage as it represents "such life in the tropics", right?

Had a good weekend and I'm sad it's almost over and the week is about to start, kind of hard to believe we are already done with the first weekend of the year, hope u had a great one!

Day 1

2010 is finally here and after a very nice night among friends (despite the fact that my throat was and is still killing me from yesterday afternoon), I'm glad and very grateful that I am here to see another year start.

So last night was a good time, with friends, full moon, music, drinks, food and even the occasional new years traditions. In my case walking out of my house for the first time with a suitcase so you are sure to travel a lot on the new year, or I have hear the one about eating 12 grapes (each one for each month of the year), or some people like eating black eye peas as those are consider good luck.

And of course who can forget the famous New Year's resolutions To me they are like the soap bubbles I sometimes try to make in the shower, I always strive for big ones, I try hard to blow them right, some burst immediately and others survive but not enough to still around all year!

I still remember some of the resolutions I had for the long gone 2009, some I actually manage to keep for most of the year:

1. Be thankful for everything in my life every day (which I still do and intend to keep it for the rest of my life).
2. Exercise at least 3 times a week (did it most of the time, better than previous years, so that one is a keeper as well).
3.Be more patient (ditto for 2010).
4. Stay away from negative people (good one too!).
5. Learn another language (didn't do it )
6. Volunteer for something (still have to work on that one).
7. Try a new recipe at least once a month (I actually did this one and really enjoyed it!).


So, I guess for this year and the next 364.5 days left I have decided on the following ones:

1. Keeping my #1 resolution of last year and be thankful for it too!
2. Continue exercising at least 3 times a week.
3. (see #3 above).
4. Surround myself with positive, good energy people!
5. I still want to volunteer for something- I already have something in mind.
6. Be more creative and get back to basics with my art.
7. Go to the beach with my husband at least one night a week.
8. Read a new book every month.
9. Take a vacation away from the island.
10. Keep at least one resolution during the whole year.

We shall see how I do about those this year and what about you out there? Any good resolutions or maybe none at all? Anyhow, have a wonderful 2010 with or without resolutions, enjoy every day and be happy!!!