Happy New Year!

Wow, I can't believe 2009 is almost over. In less than 24 hours, we'll be ringing in the new year.

I feel like this year has flown by. I got engaged, I got a new job, I booked a trip to Italy, I graduated, and I got another new job. I'm excited and yet, nervous for the new year. A lot of new things are happening and I hope I can succeed with everything on my plate.

Getting older (I know, I'm in my low twenties but still) I'm starting to realize what's important. Family is up there. I think I didn't fully appreciate my family until the last part of this year and one of my resolutions is to spend more time with my family. They'll always be there for you.

Another resolution is to save, save, save. And save some more. My goal by the end of next year is to buy a house or at least have a nice down payment. Either way, I think that would be a huge accomplishment.

I want to excel in my work life, in my social life, and just in general. I want to spend more time with the people I love - D, my family, and my awesome friends. I want to grow and be a better person. And I want to value and appreciate all the blessings I have in my life.

And with that, I leave you with a Happy New Years! I'll see you next year...

I love this man

He's awesome. Not just because he surprises me with California Pizza Kitchen. But it's definately a plus.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I was so excited, I could't stand still.

My Christmas tree

Up until a few years ago, my sister and I would refer to our Christmas tree as being very 'cubanichi.' It had the rainbow colored lights complete with ornaments from the 80s. Very Hialeah-ish....I can say that without offending anyone because I was born in Hialeah.

Anyways, two or three years ago, we decided to update our tree. We switched to white lights and actually bought color coordinating ornaments. See...

I obviously didn't want to get rid of all our traditions and memories so we kept some old ornaments on there. Some of them are proudly displayed while others are only allowed to go on the back of the tree. You can guess which ones.

This cool reindeer spins!

When I was born, my family started collecting ornaments. This is the first and I LOVE it!Check out my art skills...what what!And Flounder. Yes, I love the Little Mermaid. And Flounder too.
We frown upon fake trees in our household. So without further ado, our Christmas tree in all it's freshness!
And a couple more cool shots...
We went to the Great Smoky Mountains this past August. It was so nice and the cabin was amazing!I ordered this ornament for our 2007 Christmas. I had to put a ribbon on the left side because that's where my sister's ex resides. (Mental note - wait until significant others are married into the family)My e-ring. I had to show off my bling.And finally, this baby. Technically this isn't my house but it took me over 4 years to sew this sucker together. I cross-stitched it for D and I grew frustrated with it so I kept stopping. After 4 years, I finally finished it.

A few things...

1 - Merry Christmas!

2 - I love my family.

3 - I love my fiancee.

4 - I love my Mac.

And that's in no particular order.

Best gifts ever!

Correction - best gifts so far!

I'm kind of really excited about Christmas. I got D an awesome gift. I got my mom an awesome gift. And I'm getting an awesome gift too. Aside from Italy which is my combined graduation/Christmas gift to myself and my mom, I'm getting something that's just as great.

And it came in the mail yesterday. My sister was home to sign for it and I asked her to wrap it up. She asked me who it was from and I told her to write..."To: Y - From: Mom, Abuela, and Y." That's right - I contributed to my really awesome gift. I don't mind, it's kind of expensive and I really didn't want my Mom to pay for it entirely. That woman has done enough for me.

So what is this really awesome gift? I'll give you a clue...Really? I know, I'm lame. If you haven't figured it out (aka if you know me, I already told you)...I'm getting a Mac!!!!I've always wanted one but those suckers are pricey! I can't wait to tear open the wrapping and gently open the box, hehe I've already told myself it has to be the last gift I open - as soon as I open that thing, they're going to have to pry me away from it.

Moving on...the next best gift I actually already opened. My friends and I had a Secret Santa exchange party this past Saturday. Everyone was placing their gifts on top of the piano.

While we were munching on appetizers, I spotted something unusual on the piano. It was a wooden box and it had a Dharma logo on it. Side note - I'm a HUGE fan of Lost, the TV show. I haven't really discussed Lost on this blog because it's currently not on. But it's returning February 2nd and I'm soooooo excited! It's the last season and I can't wait!

Ok, back to the story. So I see this box and I'm like "wow, cool!" I walk towards it and then I see my name in the middle of the Dharma logo. I nearly flipped out. All I could do was scream "OMG MY NAME IS ON THE DHARMA BOX. AHHHHHHHH." Seriously. I immediately knew who made it for me. I have a couple Lost friends but one in particular who would be crazy enough to do this. He's awesome. Really. Ibs you're awesome!

Here's the box...

And here's my reaction when I finally got to open it. Notice how happy I am. Seriously, it was that awesome.

And here I am hugging Ibs. He made me really happy. So what was in the box. Exactly what I asked for. The Wii Fit Plus and a huge memory card for my camera. I'll be taking lots of pics in Italy! I also got some really cool Dharma patches and a couple Dharma brochures from the Lost DVDs. So great!

Bought/made with love

I LOVE Christmas. And I LOVE shopping for other people. Screw shopping for me, my real joy is shopping for other people.

Moving on, my co-worker and I decided that instead of buying a gift, we would cook for each other. She is an awesome chef and I'm an OK-baker. So this past Friday, we exchanged food. She made a DELICIOUS Parmesan chicken with mashies (I LOVE mashies) a top of a salad with lemon-y dressing. It was sooooo good. Like I was holding back from licking my plate.

This is my plate halfway through. I tackled this immediately and I remembered to take a pic only halfway through. Whoops...

And this is my plate after. All clean!

My co-worker loves red wine so I wanted to incorporate dessert and red wine. After five minutes of googling, I realized that red wine and dessert just don't go together. Butttttt, after thinking for another five minutes, I googled 'red wine cupcakes.' Cue the music....hallelujah!

I found a recipe for Red Wine Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. I didn't attempt the frosting - I usually mess up frosting because I have to mix it by hand because I don't have a fancy mixer. Boo. I buy the frosting from the store.

These babies were actually really easy to make. You mix all the ingredients, pop them in the oven and voila...all done!

Excuse the cupcake pan. These are probably as old as me, but I promise they're clean. I stabbed this cupcake with a knife...I couldn't find toothpicks.And here are all the cupcakes, in all their yummy-ness. I wasn't sure about the red wine but it actually turned out well. The taste wasn't over powering at all - it left a nice little tang in your mouth.

It's been a while...

...but I have good excuses. Let's see, the past week has been a little hectic. Combined with Christmas coming very soon, I haven't had a whole lot of time. But I do have good news...

I graduated!!

That's me and my family. My brother, my very proud mom, myself, and my sister. I just want to say how wonderful my mom is. She raised 3 kids and watched them all graduate from college - woooohoooo, good job mom! And my sister - we're NOT twins. Everyone swears we are, but we are actually 8 years apart.

Not only did I graduate, D graduated too! I think it's awesome that we actually got to walk together. Here's D and his family.

And here we are walking...

I'm sooooo proud of D. And I can't believe we are finally done with college!!!

The next excuse I have is...drum roll please...

I GOT A NEW JOB! It was very random and just came up so quickly. The position is tailored more towards my degree and there's a lot of potential for growth. New year and new job! I start the first week in January and I hope to excel in it.

So that's it. Those are my excuses - I think they're fairly good. I promise to get back on track. :)

The plan for Rome

Since we've already booked our airfare for Italy, I've been trying to coordinate all the hotels and tours. Of course, before I booked the airfare, I had a list of the hotels I wanted. Now, I'm questioning my choices and searching endlessly on Trip Advisor.

Anyways, I booked the Hotel Raffaello. It's rated #19 out of 1,310 Rome hotels on Trip Advisor. I couldn't justify paying an astronomical amount for a room we'll only be using at night, so I waded down the list until I found one that wouldn't break the bank.This is the front of the hotel taken from their website. I even Google mapped the address and saw this...So I know it actually looks like that. I know, it's a little silly but you never know.

The reason I chose this hotel besides the great reviews and awesome price was the location. I really wanted something that was centrally located that we could easily walk to. The Trevi Fountain and Pantheon is about a 15-minute walk.

And to the Colosseum, we also have a 15-minute walk due south.

I also want to visit the Vatican. We'll probably take a walking tour with Eden Walks - another great Trip Advisor find. I'm planning on spending about 2 full days in Rome. One day we'll do the Vatican and the other we'll hit the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum. I'm still working on how we'll cram everything in but I know it'll happen. When in Rome, do as those Romans do!

Just a quick comment

I can never see the potential that other people see in me. But regardless of the fact, I am very thankful for those who do see it. And for those who push me. Constantly. Thank you.

It's official...

...I'm going to Italy! Next March for 7 days, my mom and I will be tackling Rome, Florence, and Venice. We booked the airfare and I'm in the process of booking hotels. I'm soooo excited - my mom has never been and I'm glad we're able to go.

Last time I went to Europe, was in 2005 for my senior class trip. I visited Greece, Italy (Venice only), Germany, and Austria. It was an incredible trip and I was so lucky to go.

Greece

Ferry from Greece to Venice (gotta love the hair)
Venice - the Grand Canal

Austria - Sound of Music anyone?

Austria - skiing with a t-shirt because we're so close to the sun

Germany - Neuschwanstein Castle

Toys for Tots

At work, two Marines dropped off a Toys for Tots box. So, yesterday morning I made pit stop at Target before work. I had a little too much fun. If you ask me who I love to shop for...it's always other people. Don't get me wrong, I like shopping for myself but I LOVE shopping for other people.This is what I left with. NINE toys. We have a board game, 2 Hot Wheels, a Sponge Bob something, a Cinderella doll, a magnetic writing thingy, a race track, a paddle with a ball attached, and a cool microphone thing. I hope some tots really enjoy these.

Shopping and trees on Black Friday

The past couple of days have been fairly uneventful. Aside from decorating 3 Christmas trees in 5 days, all I've been focused on is my joyous research paper.

Last night I was looking through my iCrack and found pics from Black Friday. So here we go.

We shopped. Well, D shopped a lot.

We ate. This was theanamachine's idea. Nothing says breakfast on Black Friday like Pizza Hut in the Best Buy parking lot.
Then I sifted through countless trees.And so did my sister. We're not twins by the way. We're 8 years apart!
And we finally found our tree. Waited in a traffic jam of Christmas trees.Until my brother offered to saw the bottom of the tree at home. So we went home and decorated. And here it is, our Christmas tree!