Out With The Old.. In With The New

This year has been crazy.

We had a love/hate relationship.

There were many things about this year that were cool, and then a majority of things that were absolutely horrible.

I know that it could absolutely be worse, and I am glad that it was most definitely not. I am hoping for 2010 to bring me something good.

I wanted to recap my year because I usually have forgotten most of things by now so I wanted to attempt to write some down before the year ends so I can start fresh.

2009 was the year of...

t and i breaking up

t and i moving out

traveling to costa rica, peru & california

losing 25 pounds

moving into an apartment with cherry

being single

most depressing summer of my life

losing some friends with the break up

making new friends as a result of being single

reapplying for my same job

watching many of my friends leave, quit and get laid off

starting my blog and successfully sticking with it

beginning to learn who i really am again

paying off a credit card

taking two graduate classes

spending new years of 08-09 without T since he just left and went to Africa

spending a whole month alone because T wanted to go away by himself

seeing that people actually do like me... and want to be with me

finding that there are other things in life besides unhappiness due to men!

meeting a lot of cool new people

After writing that, it doesn't look so bad. I guess because I was crazy depressed for a good amount of the year, that made it feel worse than it was. Everything seems to be more decent now. I know I went on all of those trips and I am so excited that I got to do that and I don't regret anything, I just wish that I didn't have to go through all of that shit with T. So my goal of 2010 is to make sure I am happy and keep going from there.

I definitely did not foresee this year playing out like it did! I should have based off of how 2009 started.

High hopes here I come!

Day 2 Blog 09 Challenge

December 2 Restaurant moment. Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

My best restaurant experiences were in other countries.

The restaurants in Spain, Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Portugal.

They were always the best ones and usually the smallest restaurants. I love small authentic restaurants, especially when no one speaks English. It makes the experience so much more interesting.

Can you tell I loveeeee ceviche? Lol....

What about you?

ps: coffee cup giveaway click here to sign up now!

Round 2 Pictures -Peru

Here are the last pictures! Apparently, I didn't realize that you could put up more than 60 pictures on facebook now, which is amazing, because I could have had like a million albums! 

Click below

Cusco, Peru pictures

Nazca Lines, Paracas, Ballartas Islands

I hope you enjoy them! :) Let me know if you had any problem viewing them!

Round 1 of Pictures - Peru

This picture process is taking me such a long time.. I was able to get 3 albums up on facebook but it kept telling me pictures had errors and whatever so it was a ridiculous amount of work. I am going to post some on here.. but I am also posting the links to the 3 facebook albums that i have. I really hope they work and that you can view them!

I have 1400 pictures.. and that is about 150... soo.... in time, they will appear!

Album 1: Macchu Picchu Pictures
Album 2: Lima Peru Pictures
Album 3: Cusco, Peru Pictures

I have so much going on right now, it is ridiculous. All I want to do is write about my trip in here and it will take me forever, I know! There was so much information and so many things that I need to share and think it will definitely help the next traveler to Peru, so that, in time, will also appear on here! Plus I will be adding pictures with that as well.

So here are a few!

Miraflores, Lima, Peru on the water

Me in Miraflores

The ocean

Macchu Picchu

Cusco, Plaza de Armas

Cebiche!!!!

Us in Plaza de Armas

The Strike in Cusco

Me on the steps at the church

Hola From Peru!

Hi!!!

So we made it here.. we are now in Cusco, Peru which is very close to Macchu Picchu.
Lima was OK. Pretty cold, foggy, damp and coldy.... but it was nice to see another South American city --def not a fan though!

We purchased our PLANE tickets from a GROCERY STORE btw... that is amazing. You can pay all your bills and purchase plane tickets at a grocery store LOL--- pay my cable, get some shampoo and some bread.

So we flew to Cusco, I left my bag in the taxi from the airport, FREAKED out, took another taxi back to the airport and FOUND my bag in the taxi!!! SERIOUS luck if you could call it that!!! I almost died I think...all of my makeup and cell phone and sunglasses and all this shit. NO BUENO AMIGOS!!!

The BF got sick from some fish, had to go to the clinic and they gave him altitude medicine and headache stuff.... hmm.. well it worked for the most part!

Been eating ceviche every day --good stuff! They play insanely loud music outside our hostal until all hours of the morning every night.. lol and its all really horrible American music! wtf! haha

My hair dryer (bc this is VERY important!) didnt work since we forgot the converter thing.. so we went on a search to find one that works. Had no such luck,,, so we went and actually bought another hair dryer. For all the ladies out there, that is NOT a "being spoiled" issue right?! No.. Its cold and I dont want to get sick damnit! Needless to say, I got a damn hair dryer.

Friday is Macchu Picchu... that should be cool. Then we fly back to Lima on Monday and attempt to go to the Nazca lines, stay down there for a couple days, come back to Lima, meet up with my friend from college, and go home!

Very interesting trip ive got going on here... i will fill in more details when i get back with many pictures I am sure. I love third world countries but just flying back into JFK is the reason i love New York.

Ciao!

And I'm Gone.

So here I am.
Today is my last day here for two weeks, so don't miss me too much! j/k ;)
I'll try to post something while in Peru.... but I don't know how accessible I will be to the internet.


I just wanted to comment on my interactive thursday i had yesterday... How IRONIC that when the bf, his friend, and I are driving to the restaurant for birthday and we get pulled over for speeding (40 in a 35 ... big deal) So the cop notices the bf has an expired inspection sticker, so he goes to run his license and he was taking a REALLY long time,,,, so we knew something was wrong. There was probably about 12 people waiting for us at the restaurant too.

Then the cop comes back, asks him to step out of the car, brings him to the back of the car, cuffs him --the cop coped an attitude as well, slamming the door and slamming the BF's phone/keys/money etc against the car --makes me believe that if there WERE'NT myself and another person in the car, I'm SURE he would have been hassled more.
The second cop comes over to my side of the car and asks if we can drive. I was so furious at this point I told him "Thank you very much for ruining my night" -- he was like it's not my fault your BF has a suspended license.

So i follow him to the police station and we wait there for about an hour for them to let him go, no bail, just a ticket because his license was actually NOT suspended. I mean, really?! And now he has to do all this bullshit to find out WHY the computer is saying SOMETIMES its suspended?! Until you get to the actual police station? Wow.

So... I just thought it was ironic that yesterday I decided to write about crooked cops and POWER ABUSIVE cops and there we go, we met one! Ugh --then we went drinking. hah

Soooo that's all for now... Peace out everyone :)
Enojy the Memorial Day weekend!

Hola Peru, I am Coming to Visit!

(Machu Picchu, Cusco, Peru)

We're booked!!!!!

I'm so excited!!! We finally booked the tickets yesterday and they were cheaper than they were last week, which is ALWAYS better :) So we are going for 16 days, so I wont be around at the end of the May.. boo for my blog and i will actually miss writing! But I will have plenty of updates for you when I get back! I am sooooo excited! I love third world countries, I always feel happier going there. I don't know what it is, I mean I LOVE Europe. I do. I've been to Spain, France and England, and it's a great experience, but when I go to places like Costa Rica and Venezuela, they just make me feel at home. 2 weeks and counting!

So I went to the pole dancing class on Saturday and it was CRAZY! It was actually like being a
We went to S Factor in the city and it was awesome. Definitely an experience I would recommend that you try it at least once in your life. And let me tell you, THAT SHIT IS HARD! They make it look so easy at strip clubs! I definitely felt like I was in a moderate porno. Except with no men. Let me describe the room. 

It was really dark and there were mats on the floor with about 6 poles around the room. The room was lit with very dim light and candles around the walls. --Such a weird thing to walk into esp. if you had no idea what to expect! 

So the instructor is in the middle and you can barely see her, so you have to pay attention to what she is doing because it was like pilates but much slower and scandalous --I feel raunchy even telling about the class LOL.  I think it was a great idea that they made it really dark in there because honestly, I wouldn't want anyone else to see how I was doing those moves either! There were no mirrors either so you had to just go with your instinct. We did a lot of moves on the floor, stretches that weren't exactly stretches they were more like dances but in stretch form because it was so slow. 

You get to go on the pole a bit, learn how to swing on it properly (apparently there is a way to do it and its not easy!) and that was really fun! I am not that good haha. Then the two instructors did a freestyle dance for us using the poles and the floors, and that, I felt like we were watching a porno ahhah which was very funny, but they were really good and I totally wish I could do that! That picture is of the owner of S Factor, they have them hanging on the walls in the studio. 

It was an awesome experience though. I would definitely  recommend it! I wanted to take another class but you have to sign up for 8 classes in a row which is $500 and 1. I dont have $500 because i am going away and 2. I would be gone for 3 out of the 8 classes.  So... maybe next time.

SO! GO POLE DANCE LADIES! :) 

Another good thing from this weekend, I was one of the only volunteers at the shelter on Sunday and it was pouring rain so I only worked with this one day Kiley

who is so great... She got adopted and brought back. No one told me why so I am not sure but she was a great dog. That was cool to hang out with her for two hours. Then they asked me to stay and help unload all the puppies that just came up from the south. Get this --people rent vans and bring dogs up in crates to our shelter out of their own free will. That is amazing and wonderful. I am so glad that people actually do that because otherwise they would have been euthanized.

That was the first time they ever asked me to help and I am happy that I did get to help and experience that. I love my shelter... I always feel bad when I don't go, so it will suck not going for 2 weeks when I go away. But i'll make it up to them. Bring some good chicken or something!

Funny Link of the Day: Dissing your dog

Best Day of the Week!

It is gorgeous out and I am stuck inside. What sense does that make?! AH the weekend. What a great thing to have included in my life. When I used to work full time at the coffee shop my weekend was Monday and Tuesday. Soooo not as good as Saturday & Sunday!
SPCA Walkathon tomorrow is where I'll be, although it would be better being there if I actually had a dog, but that's okay --it's still a fun event. Then maybe the dog park on Sunday after I go to the shelter Sun. morning. A dog filled weekend!
Still on the saving money kick.... although it is actually hard for me to bring my own lunch since I am too lazy to make it at night. But I haven't bought anything else besides gas and lunch. So. That is a start! Especially when its really nice out AND i just got paid and I want to go have drinks and buy clothes! Ah the urges....
Tonight the boyfriend and I have a date to plan our Peru trip! Woo hoo :)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND IN CASE I DON'T WRITE UNTIL MONDAY!