Thursday, April 23, 2009

Training

Tomorrow morning I leave for Madrid. I'll be staying in a hotel for a few nights and on Sunday morning at 9am (3am NYC time) I'll be starting the 2nd international marathon of my life.

I've been training 5-6 days a week for 6 months. 

I used this preparation as a tool to get over heart break. I used it to work out all my problems, I used it to find strength in myself when I thought I had none left. I used it to make my mother proud. I used it to be healthy. I used it to gain newfound confidence. I used it to prove to myself that I can accomplish something HUGE on my own. 

Most importantly, I used this training to heal my soul, develop my health, and focus my mind.

It all comes to fruition this weekend.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

the beginning of relationships...

...are always so beautiful.

The feelings, the experiences, learning about each other. The first time you laugh together, the first time you kiss. Introducing him to friends and hearing their thoughts and smiling when they admit that he is a great guy...

Butterflies with every touch or thought, and random thoughts of him when you're alone.

I'm in the beginning of a relationship, and it is the most beautiful feeling.

(don't worry, I'm counting down the days until the honeymoon period is over, I know it's coming sooner or later, hahahahaa)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Semana Santa-- my thoughts

Semana Santa, Holy Week, was amazing for me. I spent so much time with my friends and boyfriend. We traveled around, ate, and just chilled. My favorite place was Ronda (a separate blog to come).

THE MOST EXCITING NEWS FIRST! My roomies and I found an outdoor-hole in the wall- MEXICAN JOINT with AMAZING CHEAP FOOD in MALAGA! It's been TOO long since I had a quesadilla, a margarita, and guacamole! TOO TOO LONG! It's like writing in your journal everyday, you need it to stay sane, then one day it's gone and you miss it for months and months, and then, there it is! Okay, maybe that's not a good example, but you understand I'm sure, lol.


I was a happy girl! So happy, the next night I went back with my handsome love!!! He loved it just as much as I did-- unlike the vegetarian restaurant, lol! YAY! (I think he had one too many Margaritas, the Spanish aren't used to tequila!)
OK OK enough about the Mexican joint--- On too my favorite place in Spain, MARBELLA (again), ha. I went back, a THIRD time, this time to Puerto Banus-- the super posh area. It was gorgeous, I felt like I was in heaven the whole time. Between the huge boats, shops, ice cream shops, bars and beaches, I never wanted to go home. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! Also, I was wearing my $25 shades from Urban Outfitters which appeared to be like $300 so I fit right in (in my mind, ha)! I had SUPER company as well, Cristina & Joost, my loves.

(dancing at the light house, it's called the happy dance, lol)
I was waiting for the owner to come back to his car so I could start up a conversation, lol. Well, let's see what else... oh yeah, the traditional processions in Malaga. I have to first say that I appreciate the cultural aspect to Semana Santas processions, BUT I wanted to shoot myself after two parades. Let me explain-- During the whole week, Jesus and The Virgin statutes are taken out of every church and carried through out the streets (by men, never women). A band walks behind them playing music. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE THROUGH OUT THE STREET FOR 7 DAYS STRAIGHT! People follow the saints making promises, for example, "if you help my mother get better, I won't eat meat for a whole year". People cry in the streets and sing religious songs; they wait all year to experience this. Oh yeah, there is also incense burning all day. This goes on from 11am until 5am. ME, living in the middle of the city could not escape Jesus Christ! Everywhere I turned I saw him and his followers (also, I couldn't sleep at night with all the noise). After spending a full day with my friend watching all this, I was happy to get home, THEN my roommates made me head out at 1am to see more! I said, oh no no no no no, I'm not going. They bribed me with chocolate and sunflower seeds (I needed something to keep me calm, I am not a passive viewer, I need interaction). The sunflower seeds helped relax me while they enjoyed Jesus and made promises. Next year, I KNOW I will go away the whole week, not just a few nights, I won't be able to handle it again! ha. OH YEAH-- they wear KKK looking outfits, here it's a positive signal, in the US, terrible. It made me feel uncomfortable.





It was a unique religious experience. I am happy I experienced it, don't get me wrong, it's just not for me. After that, I needed to dance with my girls, so I did.
GREAT WEEK.

fun people.

explorations.

cultural experiences.

road trips.

PERFECT LIFE.

More blogs to come about my travels.

¡VIVA CUBA!

**This week, Barack Obama, lifted travel restrictions and money transfers to Cuba for Cuban-Americans.**

This, for me, is HUGE! I was sitting in a cafeteria having coffee and watching the morning news and there it was, the MAGNIFICENT noticias! I can now travel (legally) to Cuba, I started tearing and had a huge lump in my throat!

I visited my family in Havana one time in my life. They don't have a phone and they don't have email (like most Cubans). I was there for 3 weeks and finally, 3 days before I was scheduled to leave, I got in contact with them and met them. My cousins, my aunts, my grandfathers' brothers. I visited the house that my father was born, I met his neighbors, it was surreal. One of the best experiences of my life. They always told me to come back soon, I never went back, it was risky enough for me to get there that time.

NOW-- I can go freely. I can meet my family, I can get to know them. I can ask questions about my grandmother who died before I was born. I can explore my culture more. I can dance in the beautiful island where Salsa was born! I can embrace all of this.

There's a reason I cried when I saw that news broadcast, I knew I would get my family and my culture back, I knew it.

I'll make it there this summer. That's a promise.

¡Viva Cuba!

Here's a short video (this is all I have) of when I visited my fam. My cousin is in the middle and my grandmothers sister on the right. We were ready for a picture, but the video came on instead. I was 21 years old here and livin on cloud 9.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Costa del Sol beach tour Semana Santa 09

So I'm in the middle of my beach tour around the South of Spain. I've been blessed with perfect weather everyday. Not a cloud in the sky, hot in the day and cool at night. Perfect.

Yesterday we came to Marbella which is a HUGE European beach resort town. I thought it would be too touristy for me, but when I got here I LOVED it so much that we stayed over night and took in the Marbella night life as well. I'm still here using my wifi, on the beach right now. The sun is beaming, there is a slight breeze and everyone is relaxed and happy. It's a great atmosphere to chill, relax, with no worries in the world. It's a strange feeling to know that I am living one of the best times of my life. It's usually hard for people to see it while they are living it, but I see it and appreciate it SO MUCH!

Yesterday we lounged on the beach the whole day then spent the evening eating drinking and chatting on the boardwalk. We watched the moon rise high into the sky then took a walk into the mountains before heading out. Perfect. I wish all my friends and family back home could be here to experience this with me... it's okay though, I've had many unique experiences with my loves back home.



Onward we go!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Brothers & Birthdays.

Yesterday, April 6th was my brothers 30th birthday! He is the best brother I can ever ask for. He is my best friend, my protector, my running partner, shopping buddy, and is always there for me for EVERYTHING and ANYTHING (plus his best friends are like my brothers from another mother!)! How blessed I am to have him in my life!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREG!




AND next up my younger brother will turn 22 on June 22nd! I'll be in NYC for that!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The start of Semana Santa Vacation

Thursday, April 2nd started my 12 day Semana Santa vacation. I have 8 more days left before I have to go back to work. So far I've had a whirlwind of a time!

On Thursday I started out celebrating two of my girls 22nd birthdays, Nagori & Blanca. In Spain, when its someones birthday, it's tradition for the birthday person to pay for everything (in the US it's the other way around). My girls didn't pay for anything though, I didn't let them, I can't let them pay for everything on THEIR birthday. We had tapas in a famous Spanish chefs restaurant, we danced all night, we met up with friends later on, then we went out for breakfast at 6am.
(Nagori & Blanca-- the birthday girls gettin old, 22! ha):

(live band singing happy birthday to the girls):

On Friday, I slept late, then went running, then slept some more (I had a crazy hangover) then woke up to go to the opening of my friend Edgar's new bar in the center of Malaga! It was by special invitation only! They had free food and free drinks all night! This was quite an experience for me, I've been visiting the bar as they were constructing it, and helping with the decor, so it was nice to see it all come together and actually enjoy it, rather than trying to fix it up.
(the bar, Big Band):

(YAY Edgar, congratulations!):

On Saturday I went running again and then met my new guy for lunch. He took me to an outdoor vegetarian restaurant in the historic area of Malaga. I LOVE when guys eat vegetarian with me it shows that they are making an effort-- I knew he liked me anyway, he didn't have to do this (but I was like, YES! A keeper! ha). I was VERY impressed, too bad he didn't like the meal too much (at least by the looks of it, ha)
Later we spent the evening on the beach relaxing. It was a great day. I went out for a midnight walk with the roomies after. It was such a warm night, we wanted to enjoy it.

Today, Sunday, me and my (gorgeous) roomies had breakfast together and went to the beach. Today started a Costa Del Sol beach tour for me. Every day (until Wednesday or Thursday) I will visit a different beach on the Costa del Sol and blog about it. Today we went to our beach, the Malagueta. There's not much to say about it really, I go there all the time, it's 10 min from where I live. the waters still a bit cold, but we went swimming nonetheless.


Semana Santa, aka Holy Week in Malaga is famous throughout the world. I'll post another blog about this soon (after I experience it). So that was my super fun and interesting weekend. I plan to spend a lot of the time at the beach during the day and at night at the Malaga festivities. I'm also looking to go to Paris on Thursday, only if I find cheap tickets, hopefully I will. More blogs to come as my vacation experiment plays out. :)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Pilates, Spa's, and Snobs-- oh my!

So me and four of my girlfriends joined a SPA together. It's right on the sea and it has 5 floors including a roof top deck with tennis and paddle ball courts. There's a pool, sauna, steam room, massage pool for your muscles, jacuzzi, fitness classes, it has a cafe, beauty center, and a parking lot.

Okay, typing this makes me sound so snobby, and just blogging about Pilates in general is snobby! WTH? I'm from Brooklyn, I shouldn't be joining Spa's and taking Pilates classes! lol. The reality is that I am not a snob at all, nor do I like to do snobby things (The spa was only 25 euros to join for the whole month, a one day offer, and I get to relax and exercise while learning Spanish at the same time!), BUT what I do like is to experience life, try new things, meet new people, enjoy Europe for what it is and stay healthy.

Okay, I got off track for a sec there again. The purpose of this blog is to say this:

I love PILATES!

I found my new strenght training exercises. They made us do some crazy shit. Twisty-turny things and balancing, lifting body-parts. I know tomorrow I am going to be sore-- in my ass more than anything. And the last 10 minutes we meditated with a buddist gong playing, the lights off with candles lit and soft music in the background, it's a serene place which takes away all your anxiety!

Vaya-- next week we are going to kick back and enjoy the pools, massages, and everything, It'll be great for my muscles after a long run and perfect for my last month of marathon training! ahhhh... this is a good life. I'm blessed.