Candy

Because life is fun :D

void valet

I go to the gym everyday. This gym is right next to a casino.

Here, the casinos are... weird. They are not cards casinos, or rulette casinos... no, they are slot machines casinos, because by law you cannot have "games of chance", they have to be ruled by a computer in order to have them truly random. Of course the machines can be jigged and what not. Still... they are bursting with people all the time. Due to this situation they have valet parking, which is quite convinient in this heat, and most of the people that visit fall in the older range of age, so a valet parking service is in order.

This particular casino is in a mini plaza, you know the type, 10 stores or so and the big one, they are the big one. The thing is that this casino reserves their parking spots with orange cones even though they are not supposed to given that there are other stores in the same place. These spots are the ones right next to the casino, they reserve like 10 or so within 10 steps of the casino doors. The funniest thing is that they are reserved for THE VALET PARKING!!!! I mean... if I want to go to the casino and don't want to use the valet parking, I cannot park in this "VIP" section, only the valet parking, making void the whole point of having them. The point of valet parking is to have them park your car so you don't have to walk or spend time looking for a spot, and they think the best solution for this is to reserve the closest 10 spaces for the valet. My question is... if they are gonna reserve this spots, why pay the valet? cuz the casino pays for it, so... me no get it

Terrasse du café le soir

I got this ravensburger puzzle that is no longer on the website, it measures 60x80cm and I think they are 1500 pieces... not sure

Anyway, I finally decided to put it together and after three weeks I finally did it!!! It’s done! I finished last Friday the 15th. this involved several late nights, given that I would start at 1130pm or midnight, to call it a night until 2 am or so...IT IS BEAUTIFUL!!!

Here is a video of the different stages

Enjoy

Tour of freedom

I'm getting married!! That was what one of my friends said. We all got excited and planned a killer bachelorette party.
 Three days before the party, wedding got called off! What to do with all the greatness planned? Well… turn it into something just as awesome: THE TOUR OF FREEDOM!! To celebrate timely made decisions.

We did a bar hopping tour. We started at my house with my traditional jelly shots. Usually we never finish them, but this time, they were gone in less than 15 minutes!!

Then we went to “El Gallo” for some beers. At this place you can find interesting things, like good Frida wall-frolicking with blue demon, star of the Mexican free style fighting. They seem to be sharing some tequila while they enjoy the view of the partygoers.

Then we went to “la Fundación – Mezcalería” where you can find good groovy rhythms to go with your 1L pitcher of a mezcal-based cocktail and maybe join Frida in the frolicking yourself. There we danced, drank, laughed, played with and ula ula ring, danced again, stalked the cute DJ a bit, danced and then… we were hungry.

We decided not to go to the next bar because the rumble from our tummies was so loud we couldn’t hear the music anymore, so we went for tacos, Arabian tacos: harbanos. They claim to be Arabian. However, there is the little suspicion that they are quite meztizos, like the dogs they most likely use as key element to put inside this deliciousness!!!

It was a great tour, it was a mission accomplished and at the end of the night, we had several satisfied customers.

A short dance

You advance and take the floor, extend me your hand and ask for a dance. I gently refuse. Dancing with you would be dangerous. I am sure I would like it. However, our rhythms won’t match, I know it. I will step on you

You take a stroll around the room and I do too. We find other partners.

We meet again. Again you ask. Again I refuse.

The songs play by and we are delighted in each other’s company while listening, I watch you dance and you watch me in turn. You are a good dancer.

You ask me again. We are friends, you say, it will be ok if you step on me. I go for it. But the song stops suddenly.

When you walk out of the room away from where I am standing on the dance floor waiting for the next song, you step on my foot instead.

Graffiti

The other day I was going to buy some stuff I needed, a Saturday morning, and all of a sudden I see a group of teenagers just spray painting this wall.

Two blocks away from my house there is this big big white wall that always has some crappy graffiti on it. Somebody hired these kids and gave them each a space of about2 or 3 meters long to make a mural, so there was this bunch of kids just freely expressing their minds with what they like best. It was so cool to see how happy they looked!! Usually painted graffiti on walls is illegal, but this time, they were HIRED for it! Just thinking about it I got in a better mood and it made my day!

Tropical Christmas

In theory winter is here. 

In theory.

In Mérida there are only two different seasons: hot or too hot. I grant you that this year we had not so hot also.

Usually winter involves bad rainy/snowy weather, lots of cold, freezing wind; but also twinkle lights that let their colors pour over the white, delicious pine smell that lingers in the cold air, tasty warm drinks with or without alcohol, wisely spiced up to heat you from within.

Here in the tropical Mexico, we have sunny days, some rain, heat and fresh ocean breeze. We do have also the twinkle lights, but no color games over the snow. We also have Christmas drinks: we have some warm (not hot) chocolate. I have never tried a better one than the one people get around here. Regarding smell, we get fresh tangerines around, since they are in season, everybody eats them between meals.

The fun part is that in my house, we all love Christmas and it comes up on November 3^rd, right after day of the dead. Even my baby (the 7year old dog, Liza) has a seasonal sweater J, you know, for those rough days when the wind goes down to… mmm… 18°C?? jijiji, my baby is not used to those winter winds. 

All in all, a tropical winter is quite nice because I get to go to the beach, and enjoy the sun, wear spaghetti straps on my new year’s eve dress!!!, beautiful sandals with skinny heels without having my toes frozen!!! True, I love the snow and how the twinkle lights play over it, and also the very hot drinks, the spiced wine and all that. 

However, tropical Christmas is quite recommended, and once you try it, you will want to repeat it

Bedroom Redecoration

I came back from München to my beautiful hot Mérida. My bedroom was as I had left it. It needed a change.

Just so you are up to date, I get bored with the state of things quite quickly.

I decided to bring some color into my daily life, so I picked one wall and took it from peaceful graceful nice white to bright green. This green is more than apple green, or lemon green, comex (paint brand) calls it “Pueblo Green”, like people here in México have in little towns (pueblos); full of color and spark, with that quaint side of life they go about their day. I thought it would be appropriate.

I chose this color so I could combine it with the other color I love so much: PURPLE!!! By the way, I love red and purple, anything in/with/on red or purple makes me very very happy and puts a silly grin on my face. 

I went to get the paint, got my brushes, my ladder, newspapers and tape and set to work. It took me two days to paint the wall because I added a little something to it: little daisies and butterflies scattered all over the wall. Needless to say, the butterflies are purple.

At first it was such a revolutionary thought for my family and friends that they all felt the compulsion to express their sincere, honest, well intentioned, yet unwanted opinions. 

Nobody was keen on the idea, but I didn’t care and went on with my project. Now they actually like it. Some people still have reservations and say things like: I wouldn’t do it; I wouldn’t put that in my room, it is not my personal taste. However, when I tell them that it is MY room, My taste, MY style, they seem to say: well… now that I think about it, it does go with your personality and vivacity.

Now I have settled into my room with its new look and it has several cool features. 

In the panoramic picture we can appreciate, from left to right, the bathroom door conveniently concealed by my chat noir poster, my “boudoir” with a fantastic mirror and beauty magic tricks, coffee station, TV, bookcases with all the necessities for entertainment, a nice hanging sun-moon-and-stars, around the world postcards board, office area, nice chill-out chair, PURPLE sofa (notice my baby, the dog, on the sofa, she is always there) reading lamp and my hamaca.

There are also some other stuff that are shown in the other pictures.

Now this is my layer, my cave, my haven. I love my room and even though I don’t get to spend much time inside it, the time I do, I truly enjoy it.

I hope everybody gets to enjoy their personal spaces as much as do. 

The turkey race

This year I have decided to do and have different/crazy/fun/new/old things and adventures.

I started to go to the gym! I know… that is pretty extreme. However, I decided to take it even further, so I entered the turkey race! In this race there are three categories: 10km, 5km and disabled. If you win the 10km track you win a gigantic turkey, hence, the turkey race. This is held on the 23^rd of December or the Sunday previous to Christmas, so you can cook your turkey for the family reunion. I entered the 5km race.

training sessions

I must mention that I joined the gym a little over a month ago. I decided to enter the race the Monday before it, because having no appropriate training whatsoever is the optimal case for running a race. I said running? Sorry, I meant power walking. So, one week before I stared the training for this “race” and spent the entire week sore and going to Christmas parties.

right at the start

On the night before the event, my brother had his housewarming party so I went. And I left very late. I had a total of 3.5 hours of sleep. Still, I woke up, sort of, got dressed and got my super trained butt to the race.

proof that i finished

I did pretty well: finished, in less time that it took me any day that precious week on the treadmill. There was this trio of women which I assume were right out from the party like me. I started thinking of them as colleagues, sisters in arms until they started looking at me and trying to go faster. Once they had passed me they would look back and snigger!!! SNIGGER!!! Then they would walk instead of power walk, and since I was keeping pace the whole time, not faster not slower, then I would pass them, one minute later, they would repeat the same exercise and SNIGGER once more. That was a bit disturbing, given that I had never seen these three women in my life. And even if I had I wouldn’t have socialized with them, I mean, one had a leopard print hoodie; the unsightly sweater I have ever laid eyes upon. It was painful every time they passed me because I was forced to visually digest such ugliness.

In the end, a little over 100m before the end line, I heard my fans (colleagues from the gym, we were sort of team, a support team I guess ) yelling my name and chanting my praises, so in order to please the masses I ran the last 100m of the race. The best part was that like 2m before the end, I saw that ugly piece of garment again, so I had the delight of running ahead of it right before it managed to get those chubby toes across the line. That was satisfactory.

All in all it was a nice and fun experience. I would recommend it and repeat for sure

my fans

The last of the 20's

This year I turned 29! Most people don’t care about that much and spend a whole year in utter fear of the inevitable 30^th birthday. However, I feel differently about this. For me, it is my last year of 20’s, my last year of young madness. This is my last year to accumulate crazy exploits so later in life I can say: in my twenties I…, or when I was twenty-something I did this and that. Afterwards I can only have womanly madnessJ

This year I want to accomplish several things, mostly “crazy” things. I will call this year the year of “I never have…”

I already had a good start, last Friday I ate for the first time fried grasshoppers!! I must admit that they don’t taste half bad. I was feeling very brave, but when I tasted them, I realized it wasn’t much of a sacrifice. Nonetheless, I have eaten grasshoppers. 

Also, last Sunday, I “ran” (more like power walked) in the turkey race in my city. They have for disabled, 10km and 5km. I did the 5km track. If you win the 10km track you win a turkey, and since it is right before Christmas, it fits perfect. I finished in less time than it took me in training and wasn’t so far behind! I enjoyed this event a lot. People laughed at me when I told them I was going to do this, mostly because I have never characterized myself by being an athletic person, normally, I am the fan, an awesome fan at that, but no active participation in the actual sport activity

I want to jump from an airplane, but given that I just started working two weeks ago, I have no money for this sort of journey. This year I will also become an aunt and hopefully be great at it. I will master a third language (maybe also a fourth, both are underway). I will do small little daytrips around my city. I will dance at least once a month and watch the sunrise in the same frequency.

Many more adventures await me this year, I don’t know yet what they will be, so if you have suggestions, realistic ones, please give me some

I am really excited about my 29^th year, my last of the twenties!