eww 9:54 AM

I hate allergies and i hate being stuck inside all droopy and sleepy.

I wish i had a clothespin that I can put on my nose- ENOUGH SAID!

labor weekend love 12:54 PM

I felt like a spoiled brat today! We went over to the Saratoga Race track to bet on a few races and just have a good time. I'm a fan of the track and of thoroughbred racing but have only experienced it during close hours while I was working for Dehn's doing all the flowers and whenever we go over to the main area. For the first time, I got to go on the backstretch where only horse owners or those directly working with horses are allowed. It is rows of barns after barns that get rented out during track season filled with horses and of course horse poop. Ian's parents are horse owners and that's how we got to back back there. The fun part of it all was that our property has a gate directly connected to the race track so we just took our golf carts over-- that definitely beats having to drive through nelson ave traffic and then find a parking spot.

When the races go on, we get to be right against the track rails, 25 feet away from horses running 35mph that can easily stomp and kill you. I got some good shots of the horses even though it was overly cloudy and it rained a few times.

Now it's time to play some Rock Band and go see the Dark Knight with the whole family tonight. I hope I can keep Ian's mouth shut during the movie of excitement since we've seen it already.

finally home! 8:33 AM

Never thought I'd say this but I actually prefer taking the bus than the train home. The trip is quite more scenic and come on, they played Rush Hour 2. I'm also glad that I have my blackbery because I spent most of the time chit chatting with Bri, Nan and Lorraine.

Made it into the train station and home right as the end of the biography video on Obama. Right away we were greeted by the ever so fresh puppy. Oh my good god, she is spunky and quite a fan of jeans and toes. Obama's speech was FANTASTIC and just what many doubters needed to hear.

I'm happy to say that we had 2 banana-chocolate chip breads waiting for us from Pop Pop [yum yum!]. Everyone went to bed except Ian and I who did the usual movie browsing and caught up with what is showing on HBO- nothing like The Transformers at midnight. Layla stayed up with us the whole time until around 2am when we went to bed.

We kinda cheated and slept in until 9:30. Nan likes for us to be up by 8am so that "we don't sleep the day away". We usually manage to somehow get away with sleeping until 10ish so I'm glad we did better today. Big story of the day-- McCain chose Palin for running mate. Okay I'm not going to get into it too much because I believe that it all speaks for itself but come on, he bashes on Obama for inexperience and yet he chooses such an inexperience governor? I mean he's 77 [i believe] today and she's in her 40s. Can she take over if god forbid something happens to McCain if god forbid McCain gets elected for president. There are many qualms with his choice but hey, anything that keeps him from commander in chief works for me.

Time to go for a walk with Layla and Ian and enjoy this wonderful weekend ahead of us. Glad to be home with the family and looking forward to getting some relaxing time and plenty of home cooked meals.

For dinner tonight: Famous Brooks BBQ chicken with potatoe salad, corn on a cob and an ice cold beer!

home sweet home 8:04 AM

-google earth of home


We have just decided to buy our train tickets and go home tomorrow night 'til Sunday. Thank god we're close enough to home where we don't have to spend an arm and a leg for our excursions. Now the question is, why do we choose to go home on weekends where there's plenty to do here with our friends. It's labor day weekend and there are many BBQs going on. Perhaps it's out of necessity. Breathing in the fresh air, running through the morning wet grass and playing with the animals is what we need in order to survive the late night sirens, sweaty subways and the lack of trees that Brooklyn has. Or it could very easily be the fact that we miss the family and want to continue our Labor Day Weekend tradition alive.

My goals for the weekend

- For once, I don't want to sleep in.
- Ride our bikes through the property and perhaps even down to Saratoga Lake.
- I want to make sure that Christie and I make it to the bead store.
- Get lots of home cooking.
- Make sure pop pop makes us a banana bread with chocolate chips and NOT raisins.
- Document every moment of our trip and finally get working on a personal project.
- Make sure that both Ian and I turn off our cellphones and don't answer emails.
- Be as far away as possible from a computer.

Next trip home: Sept 18-21 with Alex, Alyssa and Kim <3

SPIFF is in town!! 4:43 PM

Ian and I bumped into my best friend/sistah from high school Tiffany and Jackie on the corner of Emerson and Myrtle. I have not seen her since freshaman year of college. We've been texting back and forth trying to get together since she moved to the city a few weeks back. Well it turns out that they're moving 2 blocks down the street from me. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH BOY!! It is a blast from the past and I cannot wait to have Spiff and Jackie that close to me... all the memories that we have together have begun to resurface and I am sooooooo thrilled to be making new ones! YAY!

11 miles 12:38 PM

Saturday was the perfect day for a much needed bike ride around Brooklyn. Our objective was the Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Park Slope. That itself was a task because the farthest I've made it has been Fort Greene Park. This was my chance to get comfortable riding what we later found out to be a not working gear and speed shifts bike. We decided to ride up to Prospect Park and go through the park for scenic purposes. It was then when Ian realized that my bike shifts was not working and that I had been over working it the whole time. It took a little while for him to fix it. We made our way around the park to the 9th street exit and arrived to a heavenly made burger and fries lunch. We walked around Park Slope for a while and then set out back to Prospect Park to finish the lap around the park. We took a break when we got to the lake and Ian taught me a few things about shifting on the bike. We headed out back to our apartment the same way we came and then half way Ian suggested we stop at Target to pick up an air pump for the bikes. Left on Atlantic Ave and that was when it was confirmed to me that Brooklyn drivers are A**HOLES. I almost got hit a few times but survived. We made it back to the apartment all sweaty and with a funky tan for the two of us. We mapped our route and we rode a total of 11 miles. That explains why I am thoroughly sore today. I'm waiting for Ian to finish his work and we're off to Atlantic Ave for shisha and hoping to make it back in time for the closing ceremony.

I enjoyed the work out I got yesterday and I cannot wait to keep it up. Why couldn't I have discovered this in the beginning of the summer?

a much needed update! 11:50 AM

OKAY! So I've been busy lately with personal project/NCSHLA/Partnership for Drug Free America and interviewing for a staff position. All of the places that I've interviewed at have really promising outcomes, except that the economy sucks and all Hispanic Advertising have been put on hold until January! I guess I can go for General Market work and see how that goes but there are a million other people who want those positions and my uniqueness is my culture and understanding of the language and Hispanic people. I might not have a choice and will have to settle for General Market work, especially with the first payment for my college loans rapidly approaching.

The RAs have been back for training. Although, I am no longer part of the staff i have missed a whole bunch of them ALOT. After many attempts to get together with them during their training schedules, I finally went over to Willoughby the other night during the Ice Cream social [yum] I didn't really realized how much I've missed some of them until I saw Kim and Chris. Chris has been around all summer yet we never managed to get together and only saw him after Seraphin's news and when Ian and I bumped into him at Columbus circle [we were headed out of seeing the dark knight and he was on his way in]. Kim gave me a stylish hair cut to help me control my curls [yeah my hair is curly now- GO FIGURE] and then I headed over to Chris's place. I finally got to see his new apartment with a balcony and breath taking view of the city. Chris, Santiago, Derek and I sat out on the balcony and talked/joked for hours. I couldn't have been happier spending my time with Chris in a non work environment. I have always enjoyed his presence and friendship but he was always my boss. Well that is no longer the case. He made a comment that pretty much said it all -- "WE CAN NOW BE ADULT FRIENDS, YOU WILL BE MY FIRST REAL FRIEND HERE!". OH YEAH it's time to have fun. My conclusion of that night is that I am glad to not be on staff this year. The year has barely started and there's plenty of drama to go around. I will miss the sense and security of family but not all the baby drama! And of course after I leave is when they decide to paint the hallway walls a caramel color and the doors a chocolate brown instead of the hideous blue!

Ian and I have continued our obsession with the Olympics with the purchase of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics for the Wii. We have watched every possible minute of the games and have come up with our own opinions on the gymnastic controversy, the Phelpnomenon and the butter finger track players. I'm very proud of the Cuban team and all their efforts that have paid off with their 13+ medals. I'm sad in knowing that closing ceremony is tonight but fortunately we have the video game. Myself as Luigi and Ian as Shadow will keep the excitement going for months to come as we break our own world and olympic records in all events.

And I'm looking forward to Monica's return to Brooklyn this Tuesday. We can finally put our plan to take over the world into action over drinks and yummy food every Sunday!