end of summer-- I NEED A BREAK!

OH MY GOD!! I need a break! I have been non stop, WORKING like crazy, going out like CRAZY, running LIKE crazy, I can't even see straight right now-- PLUS I have low blood pressure, so I faint a lot, this summer I have fainted way more than usual-- I know, it's bad!!!!

Work this summer kicked my booty. It's always rewarding to work with young people and work towards a goal, BUT after 6-12 hours a day with 20 teenagers, all summer long, I LOVE them to death, but maybe I just wasn't sleeping enough, OR focusing on things that I shouldn't have been<-- won't say more bout this-- but I need a break. Badly. 

So I am going to Florida this weekend, for an EXTENDED weekend.

Hopefully I will unwind, relax, swim in warm water, spend calm time with my cuzo! I don't know how people work so much without vacations, it's necessary for peoples well-being! At least a vacation at home, with a good book, nice music, cooking- food that feeds the soul, having good company. 

We NEED to take care of ourselves!

During my lunch break yesterday I NEEDED to get my blood flowing, so me and my co-peeps went across the street to shoot some hoops, and do you think I even cared if I was all dressed up in work clothes!?? HAHA-- NO!! I NEEDED IT-- fuck it.

OK-- tomorrow is my last day of work, then I have off for 5 weeks. Two more weeks in NYC... crazy.

HS pre mixer

So I have to admit, High School wasn't the most memorable time of my life... actually, I hated every second of it, that awkward stage where image was so important, where going to school was not about learning, but about socializing, I hated it all, and maybe that's why it took me a little longer to finish than is expected, PLUS I went to more than one high school in NYC, transfered around a bit until I was comfortable in my learning environment.

Despite all this, I decided to attend my first High School's PRE-mixer-reunion party at a rooftop club in times square! Some of my closest friends are from my time at this school, so I made a few calls and together we went to see all the people that were in our lives everyday for years and years. It was interesting how I remembered a lot of faces, but hardly any names, and if it weren't for facebook, I probably wouldn't have recognized people either! (I have a horrible memory-- this is one of the reasons I blog and write about everything, so I wont forget).

I reunited with my ex-best-friend Jess for the first time in 7 years, that was an amazing moment for me. She hasen't changed a bit, still gorgeous and LOCA!
It's so crazy, these reunions, to see people that were such a huge part of your life, then all these years later, see them again, and its like nothing ever changed... crazy.
<3 you guys!

C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N-E

Making art is feeding the soul, having friends make art with you is feeding all the senses with love. Even if it's a simple project.

damn.

The personal life deeply lived...
always expands into truths
beyond itself.

lessons

So it's 4am on an early Wednesday morning. My bedroom is pretty warm, mainly because I don't want artificial cold something blowing on me, so I decided, quite naturally, to opt out of the luxury of AC this summer. Tonight I'm giving that decision a second thought, along with many others.

My mind is racing. So many things have been happening. I often wonder why people make certain decisions in their life and why they decide to include me in those decisions/actions along the way-- or the reverse, why my personal decisions are tied into someone else's. Everything happens for a reason, I believe this, but sometimes I just don't have all the answers, nor should I, to everything.

Because I don't understand a lot of things going on right now, I am spending an early morning with thoughts popping/running/speeding through my mind. Tossing and turning in bed, trying to find the perfect position to find that ultimate peaceful space.

Not happening.

My pillows are not cooperating with the state that I am attempting to place myself in, the left side of my brain is not allowing me to focus on what it is I need to focus on (sleep-- that wonderful thing that people need in order to function properly in everyday society), and my soul-- my soul, that thing that many people don't quite understand, that "being" in ourselves that most people question, is hurt right now. It's injured, it needs to heal, that's why my eyes are in an erect state and I am trying to focus my pupil on this man-made screen in front of me.

That's why I am up, in this warm-- sticky room, unable to be at peace with my own mind, my soul wont allow it. Hopefully this is a one night lesson. A lesson, I so desperately need.

I'm off to make peace with myself now.

xo

3 weeks later and 1 month to go

So today is the third week after my accident and when the doctors told me I would be fully healed. I still can't bend my leg all the way back, but I started running again and am at work like normal. I can go shooting around the city with my students now and wear dresses without feeling self conscious about my bruises, ha, this for me is important! ;-)

Today also marks 4 more weeks that I have in NYC before heading back to Spain. Crazy how time is flying. I'll miss it so much, I've been emotionally connected with a lot of people here and I KNOW I will definitely miss my students, like always, I'm such a sap!

ahhhh... vida es asi.

BRONX

As soon as I got off the train, I was like "oh shit" I remember this!!! Fordham Road! Where I spent most of my teenage years with my best friend Elaine and my god kids. I used to spend every weekend at her house and we used to walk around Fordham all day, buying cheap clothes, eating pizza, pushing my god kids around /showing them off proudly, and just BS-in. It was great to have that experience come back to me.

I think I might stay here all week! Nice to have a friend that lives here now!

FLASHBACK WEEKEND! WOOT WOOT!

ahhemmmm...

why do I love my girls so much?

Bronxin it UP!!

I'm feeling a lil crazy, good that's it's SAT! Spendin the weekend in the Bronx.

;-)

Good times are about to begin! Let em roll.

BRONX STAND UP!

2 weeks since my accident.

I'm almost completely healed. I still have visible bruises, they're a lot lighter than before, but they are under my skin, not on the surface, it means that I have inner damage. I can walk normally, but can't bend down completely on my left knee without pain. I tried to go running on Saturday and had to return after a mile because of knee pains, I'll try again tomorrow. Tonight I'm taking an Afro/Brazilian dance class, I know, I know, not a good idea, but I need to move my ass! I'll just take it easy on my left knee!

spelunking.

BROOKLYN STAND UP-- or go down ;)
Just when I thought I'd seen it all, it was there, in the neighborhood I grew up in, right under my nose my whole life, literally!

Yesterday I visited the oldest subway tunnel in the world, in BROOKLYN! It was discovered again in 1981 since then it's recently been open to the public! It seems a bit shady the way its done, you have to pay to enter, they don't give receipts... anyway, on a rainy Sunday morning we went down, we made reservations months ago and the day was finally here!

The crew used a crow bar to pry open a manhole in the middle of Atlantic Ave! A metal ladder was there, and there we started, one-by-one we climed down the ladder into the tunnel!

We had to climb under a huge pipe and walk through a narrow, short, dirt tunnel to get to the main tunnel that was built in the 1800's!
At this point we were thinking, this is CRAZY! I felt so LUCKY to be right under Brooklyn streets, in this secret tunnel, hopping over mud puddles and dipping through little entrance ways, NOT TO MENTION CLIMBING THROUGH A MANHOLE!!! CRAZY!!! We got to the main tunnel and it was huge and amazing! I was mesmerized. It was completely black, we had to bring our own flashlights, we went exploring on our own before we went on a guided tour, I was flipping out! It was kind of creepy!

We were on a mission to undercover the truth about "unexplored NY"-- NYC is defined by our tourist attractions, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc, but I don't think most people know the history of this tunnel. It was built by Irish Immigrants in the 19th century, they took 7 months to complete it which was speedy for that time, they didn't use any machines, just hand tools and man power. It has to be closed down a short while later because the city wanted to tax it, so the owner, instead of destroying it, like he was ordered to do, he just closed up the exits. Years later in 1916, NYers discovered it and put in the first underground light. It was forgotten after that until the 80's when one man got a permit to look under Brooklyn to find it, and that he did!

He let us in without a problem, it could have gotten pretty dangerous, there was no ventilation, no escape route-- nothing; It was a thrill for me to be there and see this with my own eyes, I feel like I am part of my own boroughs history now!

CRAZY!

The DIVA granny

My Grandma is a DIVA!

She usually stays home and does typical grandma things, eats, takes naps, looks out the window, etc, BUT OCCASIONALLY she hits the town running (or in her case wheeling)!!!

The other day she wanted to go out, she never in her life went out without a nice outfit, makeup, and jewelry, so she wasn't going to do it this time either! She refused to go out without makeup on cause she "didn't want to bump into any of her boyfriends on the street looking pale". ADORABLE!

She was ready to live it up, so off we went! Bra shopping, SEXY bra shopping might I add-- we went to a Chinese bakery and ate some sticky buns, YUMMY! haha, we went food shopping... it was so nice to hang with granny!