Enjoying June

I’m on a roll…June is still going really well! I told you guys, didn’t I! I said June was going to be a great month and it truly has been. Here are a few notables:

This past Friday I got a new tattoo that I absolutely love! For those of you who didn’t know, I already had 2 and they are both super meaningful to me, but this third one is even more special. I got the word “Fuerza” on my left wrist which means Strength and Power in Spanish. I got it for a couple of different reasons, but the deciding factor was the recent passing of my Abuelo. If you read my May 31st “There is no place like home” post, you already know the story of my grandfather and what an amazing person he was. You know that he was a strong and courageous man who sacrificed a lot for his family. Although he will never be forgotten tattoo or not, every time I look at it, I will think of him and what a wonderful man he was and how lucky I am to be a part of such an amazing family. As far as the placing of the tattoo, that has meaning as well. Many people have asked me why I choose to put a tattoo on my wrist of all places. While I do understand that it is a very showy or obvious place for a tattoo, I don’t really care. Here is a little anecdote to explain my reasoning: I spent many days/nights in April and May crying myself to sleep. My Abuelo had been in and out of the hospital and nursing homes since March and every time I received an update regarding his health, it didn’t seem like he was getting better. I was well aware of the fact that he wouldn’t be with us for much longer and it absolutely broke my heart that I wasn’t there during the little time he had left. I felt selfish for going on with my life in New York, while he and the rest of my family were going through so much back home in Kansas. Once he actually passed, I spent hours, many of which were on a plane, with my head in my hands crying. I had to tell myself many of times to just be strong and that I would get through this. So when I decided to get this tattoo I wanted to get it in a place where when I’m sad or upset and crying about something and my head is in my hands, I would see it and remember to have strength. So really, my tattoo has a double meaning. The word “Fuerza” is a description of my grandfather, but it’s also a reminder to myself, the emotional person that I am, to be strong because no matter what happens in life, I can and will get through it.

Fuerza, aka Strength

This past weekend was fabulous. Friday night after I got my tattoo I headed to Happy Hour at XES. As always, we enjoyed the 2 for 1 drink special. After HH we headed to Pongsri for dinner. Pongsri is a Thai restaurant that many of our friends work at. It is absolutely delicious! We had a great meal and then headed to Limmerick’s, which is a bar we frequent on Friday nights after HH. After 2 rounds of Irish Car Bombs we decided to call it a night! It was a super fun night with a diverse group of people. There were 7 of us, all from different places around the world: Australia, Germany, USA (me), Scotland, Switzerland, Thailand, and Mexico (Martin). Isn’t that bizarre? Like I mentioned before, the diversity in NYC is one of the many reasons I love it here. Saturday morning was a struggle for both my Tio and me. We were regretting those car bombs the night before, that’s for sure. We managed to get up and get ready for a BBQ at a park in Brooklyn. It was a friend of ours’ birthday so we had no choice but to deal with our hangovers the best way we know how, so we got to the park and drank more, lol. By mid-afternoon we were both doing great and enjoying a beautiful Saturday at East River State Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was a nice park with awesome views of the Manhattan skyline. We were with many Asian people from Japan, China, Korea, and Thailand so this was no hotdog and hamburger barbeque. Instead we grilled fish, shrimp, chicken heart, Korean steak, and a variety of other things. Although I was skeptical of a few things, I tried everything and everything was delish! Overall, it was a great weekend in the city! :)

From left: Australia, Germany, USA, Scotland, Switzerland, Mexico, Thailand

German friend, Gernot & Me

Manhattan Skyline from East River Park in Brooklyn

Yummy BBQ

Enjoying June!

Ayako, me, and Rin

Beautiful sunset

One last thing, yesterday was my dad’s 51st birthday so Happy Birthday Dad! Also, with today being Father’s Day I would like to say Happy Father’s Day to all Dads, especially the greatest of all, mi Padre! In addition to all that today is my parents’ 29th wedding anniversary so Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. You guys are wonderful role models and the reason I believe in happily ever after. And last, but not least, tomorrow, Monday, June 21 is my best friend Val’s 22nd birthday so Happy Birthday Val! I hope you have the wonderful birthday celebration that you deserve! I am sorry to all of you that I can’t be there to help celebrate all these great occasions, but just know that I’m constantly thinking about you guys. I love you all very much!

Happy Birthday and Father's Day to the best Dad

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

Happy Birthday Val!

Sports Weekend

It turns out I was right, June has been a great month, well so far anyways. I have done a pretty good job with my pacts. This past work week, I was off work by 6:30 4 out of 5 days. The thing that sucks is the 1 day that I didn’t leave by 6:30; I didn’t end up leaving until 10:45pm. I know that sounds insane, and it is, but there is an explanation. The 10th of every month is our billing close/end of the month (even though it’s not really the end of the month) which means that all of our expenses have to be reconciled by midnight. I started working on this reconciliation on Monday, but was pulled away due to other projects that required my immediate attention. So come Thursday, it was crunch time and I had to stay late to get our expenses allocated to the correct costcenters and to the right accounts. The good news is I made the deadline and we did pretty good budget wise this month. As far as my other pact goes, I didn’t do so well, but I have a good excuse. You see, I worked out only 2 days this week instead of 4, but it was because it was rainy all this week. I would have toughed it out and walked or jogged in the rain, but this was no light sprinkle, this was heavy rain that was impossible to work out in. I am hoping this next week goes a little bit better, but I’m not too sure how that will go considering it’s supposed to storm pretty much all week long. We shall see how Mother Nature complies.

My weekend was fabulous; in fact, it was one of the best I’ve had in a while. Friday day was the Mexico v. South Africa World Cup game and although I wasn’t able to watch it at work, I did follow it online. It ended up in a tie, which is better than a loss so I can’t complain. Friday evening I got off work at 5:30 to head to Yankees Stadium in the Bronx. I was super excited about this because I have always wanted to go to a Yankees game and the time had finally come. It was only about a 30 minute train ride from our apartment to the stadium which isn’t bad at all. It was the first time I had ever been to the Bronx so I was pretty excited to take the train that far Uptown. Now I can officially say that I have been to ALL 5 boroughs in New York City (Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx)…I’m turning into a New Yorker! :) Have I ever mentioned how much I love how convenient things are in the city? Public transportation is absolutely amazing. The train literally took us right to the stadium. It was awesome. For you Kansans, just imagine walking out your front door, getting on the train, and arriving at the Royals/Chiefs stadium 30 minutes later. It’s especially nice when you’ve been drinking because your DD is the train conductor! My Tio and I met up with 3 friends at the stadium and the 5 of us ending up having a great time. The new stadium itself was pretty awesome. It was really cool to see this huge stadium smack dab in the middle of a city. The Yankees beat the Houston Astros 4 to 3 in a pretty exciting/close game. Although I will always be a Royals fan because they are my home team, I did get Yankee fever and bought a new NY hat that I love. It is one of those teams that you just can’t help but want to be a part of. It’s kind of like people that go to Lawrence, Kansas can’t help but want to be a Jayhawk! Overall, it was an awesome Friday night of beer, hotdogs, and fun!

Statue of Yankees Liberty

Sporting my new NY hat

Enjoying the game

#2 Derek Jeter up to bat

Yankee Stadium interior

Yankee Stadium exterior

Saturday was another sports day with the US playing England in its first round World Cup game. My Tio and I met up with 2 friends at a pub in Chelsea that had a buy 1 drink, get the 2nd one free special so I am sure you can imagine the fun we had. It was cool to see tons of people cheer the US on and although it ended in a tie, people celebrated like it was a win. I am excited to see how Mexico and the US do in their upcoming games. It’s pretty awesome to have 2 teams to cheer for. Like I have always said, being Mexican-American is the best of both worlds!

Sundays are always my lazy days and this one is no different, especially because it is rainy and gloomy outside. I watched some of the Germany v. Australia game and spent some time online apartment hunting. Yes, you read correctly, I am apartment hunting. I am crossing my fingers that my BFF Val finds a job and moves to the city come August/September so we can become roomies. With high hopes, I have spent a decent amount of time searching for apartments and will continue to look throughout the summer. The rest of my Sunday evening will consist of laundry and writing thank you notes. I still haven’t sent thank yous and my graduation party was last month, terrible, I know.

Overall, it was a great sports weekend in the city!
Until next time.

Back to the Daily Grind

This past week was my first full week back at…life. With graduation and the passing of my grandfather, May was a crazy, exhausting, and difficult month to say the very least. When I woke up Tuesday morning after a long and relaxing Memorial Day weekend and realized it was June 1, I told myself, “June is going to be a good month.” I said it, and I am determined to make it true.

When I returned to New York the last week in May, I felt nothing but sadness and a bit of loneliness. Here I was, still grieving in an apartment all by myself thousands of miles away from the only people that could make me feel better. And to make matters worse, when Memorial Day weekend came along, I had nothing to do and we all know that when you are sad and have nothing to keep your mind occupied, you can’t help but to continue sulking in your sadness. It was really difficult because I had 3 days to do absolutely nothing, which in most circumstances is nice and relaxing, but in mine, was a bit depressing. All of my NY friends went home for the long weekend, my Tio was still in Kansas City, and I was going out of my mind bored. I ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. After 3 days of living out of my suitcase still, I unpacked and did laundry, I cleaned the apartment, I went shopping and I laid outside in the courtyard on a blanket and read. Believe it or not, by the time Tuesday came and it was time to go back to work, I was ready. It was such a beautiful day outside and as I was walking the pugs in the morning, that’s when I told myself, “June is going to be a good month.” I think this is the point when I realized that it was time to stop being sad and as much as I hated to say it, it was time to move on. I know that sounds like a terrible thing to say after someone you love dies, but what else can you do, stay sad forever? I will obviously never forget my abuelo, period. And every day since Tuesday morning has been a little bit better and gotten a little bit easier. So like I said, with the end of May filled with sadness and a bit of loneliness I am SO ready to feel happy again in June!

This past work week was a long one, even after Monday being a Holiday. I was definitely back to the daily grind and I hate to admit it, but I think the earliest I got home from work was 8:30pm. I am very well aware of the fact that this is ridiculous. In fact, as I was speaking to my oldest sister Kim about it the other day, I decided that I am NOT going to be aware of it and NOT do anything about it. I don’t want to be that girl who gets consumed with work all the time and doesn’t make time to enjoy other things. With this being said, I made a summer pact with myself – Out of the 5 work days of the week, I will leave work by 6:30pm on at least 4 of them, if not all of them. I know this still seems late, but it’s not. It’s normal considering the typical work day in New York is 9:30-6:30. Especially with it being summer, I just CAN’T allow myself to not get off work and enjoy the nice weather no matter how much work I have left to do at the end of the day. This pact led me to make yet another pact with myself. Considering I will be leaving work by 6:30, I have plenty of time to exercise more regularly. I made a pact with myself that 4/5 days a week; I would either go for a jog or take the pugs on an extra long walk, or…something, anything! It’s a win-win situation because I love being outside in the evening when the sun is just starting to set and it’s nice outside without being too hot and I really want to start getting healthy in every sense of the word so I can spend my evenings working out, outside. I told ya, win-win! ;) I have to tell you, the main reason I am mentioning these pacts on here is because I want each and every one of my “followers” to hold me to them. I feel like saying it out loud or rather writing about it for the public to read, makes me more motivated to actually follow through.

Speaking of getting back to the daily grind, Friday night was the first time in a long time that I went to Happy Hour at XES. It was nice to get back to my normal Friday night routine! I know this may sound a little contradicting considering I just told you that I want to work on becoming healthier, but I will have you know that instead of ordering my normal beer or vodka and sugary juice, I switched my drink to rum and diet coke. Although I know drinking alcohol in general is not very healthy, at least I chose a low-cal drink, right? I mean come on; you have to give me some credit for trying! It was nice to see all the “regulars” again and catch up on the last couple of weeks of our lives. After HH we headed to Monster for dinner where we ate fabulous sushi! Have I ever mentioned how much I love sushi? Friday night was the first time that I really got adventurous and tried your non-typical rolls. The most notable thing I tried was eel, and boy am I glad I did, it was delicious!

Saturday I slept in and then spent most of the afternoon online doing various things. Saturday night I went to see Sex and the City 2! I have been dying to see it since its release last week and I just couldn’t wait another day. It of course like most sequels was not as good as the first one, but was still amazing! Considering it is about 4 women’s journeys through life, it’s one of those movies that any woman at any age can appreciate, and I am no exception. I loved it for the simple fact that it made me laugh out loud AND because it’s about 4 amazing New York women which obviously couldn’t be more appealing to me at this point in my life. Before the movie started I saw a trailer for Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts and it got me so excited to finish the book. My goal is to finish it before the movie comes out later this summer so I have a lot of reading to do as I am only about a third of the way finished. With that being said, I am going to put this lap top down and pick up my book.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! :)