Mini Christmas Dinner With Friends

This past Thursday we decided it was time we had a mini get together to celebrate our very own Christmas. We all went to our friend Marcia's place where we ended up having a delicious potluck dinner with lots of fun, talk, booze (hahah) and gifts.

Loved every minute of it.

Christmas' songs!

This song seems to be stuck in my head for the past three days.
Please don't tell anyone, but I really like it. But honestly, I prefer these versions:

Since we're on the x-mas' songs theme, well here are some of my favorites:

This video is so tacky it makes me love it even more! What's not to love about this song. I also love the fact that Travis also recorded it.

This is a special one. Not only does it make me want to cry but it also reminds me of my best friend Katy, who is totally and completely in love with Judy. It makes me feel more christmasy.

I couldn't help it!  My favorite Christmas song of all times. Wish she would include a Rebecca in the song!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

We had decided we were not having any christmas decor this year. Due to my father's passing and all, my family wanted to have dinner on Christmas eve and that was pretty much it.

However, my mom got rid of the Grinch spirit that was all around and bought us an AMAZING Christmas tree. I love decorating our Christmas tree and it is my job every single year. I've been meaning to buy a white one for a long time but I could never find the perfect one.

This was not how I had planned it exactly, but I guess it turned out real cool.

I now present you with my very own, in golden and white, Christmas tree!

I think it looks pretty neat!

Merry X-mas!

Early December

I find reading random blogs truly inspirational. Knowing about some stranger's life and seeing how much you two have in common. It's just one of the weird things I do and I can spend hours doing that. 

It was because one of these blogs that I decided that my very own personal space was no place for crying and going on about bad breakups or talking about people who no longer have a place in your life. I decided that my blog was a place for me to look back someday and read about the beautiful friends I had/have, the amazing places I visited, the great experiences I had/have in life and how they changed me somehow.

So if anyone expected sadness and anger, I'm sorry. I truly decided this is a place for moments of happiness. 

With that in mind, It is time to post some pictures from last night. 

I have mentioned before that I am the events' coordinator at work (aside from teaching English 24/7). So this past month has been hectic (really? I'd love to use this word less often) for I had to plan the end-of-year party for the entire company. Yes, that is right. The whole thing. I'm not going to take credit for it, specially because I had lots of help from all the managers and coordinators, but the party was REALLY GOOD. 

Before the pics, I would like to congratulate my best friend Katy (you'll see her in some of the pictures) on having been chosen 'employee of the year', my good friend Juliana (unfortunately she's not in the pics) on being chosen 'teacher of the year', my former student and now a teacher Victor on his 'Most Improved Teacher of the Year' award (he made me SO PROUD!) and my GREAT friend Lu for being nominated 'Best Coordinator'. It was so hard to keep those awards a secret from you, but I guess it was worth the surprise! 

Having said all that, here are the pics from last night!

Katy, David, Victor, Me & Ila - after the party going for a beer 

Me (yes, I am that white!), Ila & Katy - Ma' Girls 

That's me playing the hostess! 

Katy getting her award from our Director (& very pissed at Ila's shouting at her! 

Katy still getting her award 

Victor and his certificate! PROUD!

David, Me, Ila & Katy after the award winning ceremony 

The coolest people on Earth (Look at this picture! How cool is that? haha) 

Mari & Me (and my zit) - I love this pic - AND my red lipstick! 

Everybody put your hands up! 

dance floor (haha)

 Girls I truly love. 

And then, I'll leave you to the sound of this really amazing band I got to know today and I couldn't help but listen to it maybe a hundred times before this post. I hope you enjoy it. 

(By the way, I found this video on this amazing blog Honest to Blog - by Carynn Mae - Totally worth a visit!)

Have an amazing Sunday.

Best Day ever.

Second time this week I am told things like that. Don't feel like sharing. Don't think the people involved will read this. It's just that it feels so humiliating. I know I am not the nicest person on Earth. I know I make comments which are no thaaat nice, but c'mon. GIVE ME A BREAK. You know when your day wasn't that good? Your mother shouted the worst things at you in the morning. You tried your hard to look (and sound) as nice as possible. Your students' tests vanished from the table you were working at. And then someone comes and says such a thing?
Maybe if we're talking about a different day, it wouldn't even matter. If it were someone else, it wouldn't matter either. But this time, it hurt. And I felt like a nobody begging for a favor and incapable of doing things on my own.
Worst part? Getting in the car, in a never-ending silent drive to work, listening to the apologies and not feeling a BIT like looking at this person's face (specially when your eyes are cheating on you with tears).

Nice one. You've got yourself another strike! Well done.

Present Continuous

I saw this over Danielle's blog Sometimes Sweet and as I can't resist a good questionnaire, I decided to post it over here. This is exactly how I'm feeling right now!

Obsessing over: my blog and pinterest. I'm so excited I got to do a very nice header for my blog and now it looks really neat and a nice place to read for hours and hours. Pinterest, well... ehr.. this one I've been obsessing over for quite a while. I can't help the amount of awesomeness on that website. I so love it. I'd spend a whole day pinning beautiful images if I could.

Working on: lots of things. I don't even know where I start: at the moment I'm working two-jobs and both of them are extremely demanding. I have to juggle a gazillion of activities throughout the day and in the mean time plan my lessons as usual. Damn hardwork!

Thinking about: how early I have to get up tomorrow. There's another Cambridge training in the morning and I also have to go to my school's new branch to decide on our end-of-year party. I also forgot my students' tests at the other school, so I'll probably have to go there ... all work, no fun, I know...

Anticipating: Christmas! Oh my God... this is by far my favorite holiday ever! I'm trying to redecorate my living room so that I can put together some really neat Christmas Decor (thank you, Pinterest!). I'm also looking forward to starting my bedroom's decoration project after the holidays! It's going to look A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Listening to: the TV in the background. If I take my whole day into account, well, today was a tad nostalgic. It seems as if all of my friends decided to take me on a trip down memory lane back to 2005/6. I'm not complaining, I loved it! It reminds me of special people, of someone who's in a better place now... of my college girlfriends.. really nice memories. (Oh, and that would be Travis, Oasis, Radiohead, The Verve, Strokes,  Beatles...)

Drinking: Orange Juice. I've just had a huuuge glass of orange juice!

Wishing: that 2011 goes away as soon as possible. It was the worst year of my life. I lost so many important people, I lost my dad, above all. I'm pretty sure 2012 will rock, though. Keeping the optimism really high.

I'm so happy with this little blog. Seriously. My header looks amazing and now it looks like me...

Fearless.

So, it's 3:41am. I'm talking to a friend online and he asks me: what would you do if you were fearless?

Then I got to thinking and decided to write this online so he could see my post.

1. I guess this is top of my list: if I were fearless, I wouldn't be so afraid of dying. I think this is too much of a religious matter. I remember my dad saying, on his last days, that he would never fear death, because he had God on his side and he would finally find life, by being in heaven. This is something that bothers me a lot. I'd like to think the same way.

2. I'd do parachuting. Wow, I can be random! from death - God - to parachuting. But seriously, I freak out to the idea of it, let alone practicing it itself.

3. I'd go travelling around with no destination, no planning, just backpacking and relying on people's goodwill to survive. I've a bit of an itchy feet but no guts to leave this place.

4. I'd quit my job and start afresh somewhere new.

5. I'd go back to Calgary, take the job as a teacher and try living there for a while.

6. I'd move from my parents' house to my own place.

7. I'd tell all those people at work who hate me to fuck off and get a life.

8. I'd tell the guy I love the truth: that I genuinely believe we will end up together as in a fairy tale, that I watch these chick flicks and think of him, that I sure picture him as my future husband and that I'm a loser for that.

9. I'd work with fashion.

10. I'd leave my mom to solve her own issues and would live my life free of any guilty for leaving her to her own problems.

11. I'd buy a FRICKIN' car.

12. I'd walk from Cultura to Embassy everyday.

13. I'd feel like myself and I'd put myself out there more often. I wouldn't be afraid of being noticed by new people or meeting new ones. I'd feel myself again.

Thirteen items on my list. That is a pretty big list I'd say. Some of them are serious - I realize that now. Some are just silly stuff, but they matter to me somehow.

My question now is: How can I be more fearless?

I guess I have some pretty big issues to sort out. I'm gonna sleep on that tonight...

Have a good night...