"Off" Day

Here is how my current 24 hours is kinda "off":

• Went to bed the night before a little agitated
• Dreamt I was a super model, then BAM! Woke up and realized reality (that means I DON'T have a super model body, but I think I was WISHING I did hehe)
• Woke up to horrible weather (rainy, cloudy, gray morning)
• I'm gaining weight b/c the skirt I put on in the morning was dumb tight
• Danish tasted like chicken adobo (gross!) b/c of the container they were kept in (but I ate the whole thing anyway!)
• The highlight of my day: Tripped and fell on my hands on way up from the PATH train, everyone & their mother's saw what happened to me, I couldn't get up/recover quickly b/c I was struggling to get off my hands (calmly walked out of there with my head held high but w/ a VERY bruised ego)
• Cheated on non-existant diet and ate a bag of Cheetos (320 calories!!)… ate EVERY SINGLE tiny bite (while there was an uneaten, healthy orange next to me)
• Went to get coffee and it started raining again (this time, I didn't bring my umbrella)
• Spilled hot coffee on my hand trying to run in my high heels towards the office building (surprised I didn't fall there, too!)
• Stomach is making noises (wtf!) .. Oh man, now it hurts!
• Shoes make stupid squeaky sound throughout the office whenever I walk b/c of the lotion + humidity + skin. Ugh!

Oh god, and the day isn't over! I need to go home already to save myself from further damage!

BUT!! I had a fantastic memorial day long weekend! :) BBQ, drive-in movies (watched movies under the stars, literally), saw a shooting star for a brief moment, lots of shopping and walking around @ woodbury common outlets, lots of eating, lots of driving, short road trip w/ sisters and mom, great weather.

What If .. Not.

[edited]

Sometimes you cannot go wondering "what if" anymore. If you made a decision, then you were somehow, someway guided to that decision for a reason. God took care of you. His plan for you is in motion. So you can't fight it (or you can fight it, but what if you fighting made you circle back into the same spot?). So, you just say "Ok, God, you put me here in this situation for a reason (which I'm sure even if I don't understand it now, but I trust you), now what's next? Where to?". "Can I win the lotto?" ;)

Trust that He won't abandon you. It's hard to trust, but trust is never easy in the first place -- just look at the human relationships around you.

[edited - a couple hours later]
Look what song I came across, that I never heard of before until today:

What if there was no line?
Nothing wrong, nothing right.
What if there was no time?
And no reason or rhyme.
What if you should decide, that you don't want me there by your side.
That you don't want me there in your life.

What if I got it wrong, and no poem or song
Could put right what I got wrong
Or make you feel I belong
What if you should decide that you don't want me there by your side
That you don't want me there in your life.

Every step that you take could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
But that's the risk that you take
What if you should decide
That you don't want me there in your life
That you don't want me there by your side.

Oooh, that's right
Let's take a breath jump over the side
Oooh, that's right
How can you know it when you don't even try
Oooh, that's right

Let's take a breath jump over the side
Oooh, that's right
You know that darkness always turns into light
Oooh, that's right

-"What if" by Coldplay (album: X & Y)

Thought this was appropriate for this post. Bye.

Mommies are special

So this mother's day was great! There were 8 mothers total and then on top of that, the game was "How Down Are You with Your Kids' Lingo?". My brother asked the kids the latest slang and mom's had to guess what it all meant (i.e. "That's mad money" means "That's a lot of money"; "Do me a solid" means "Do me a favor" - which my mother got, thank you very much, someone get that woman a bandana and throw up her gang signs! lol). The "trophies" were barbies (all with different halter print dresses w/ a champagne glass stand), and the prize was a very cute, "limited edition" tote bag.

Anyway, so the weather was right and the weekend was more than I expected it to be. Oh boy did my American Express take a hit!

Joaquin became the Drill Sergeant this time around with cleaning the downstairs den. After he was done, that placed looked like a new room altogether and my dad cannot stop talking about the cleanliness of it til this day. I think Joaquin scored 3890753 brownie points w/ my dad without knowing it - my dad is a clean freak. After that, Joaquin came over and it was like "Where's Joaquin?! Tell him to eat now", "Where's Joaquin!? Ask him if he wants coffee". Teacher's pet!! Lol - j/k!

The special topic of my dad this weekend was kid laziness. We noticed some of my younger nephews are getting LAAAAZY around the house (or at least super picky with the things they do)!!! Some kids need a good whipping! Now I know what my dad was talking about all these years - "that's not child abuse, that's discipline!". Amen. Then I'm reading something about one of my nieces being a slob at that age!!!?? Nooooo waaay!!! That shit does not fly in my book!! When I have kids.... I will feel sorry for their asses if they ever get lazy on me. I have no problem spoiling my kids - only if it is earned. I don't even want you in my house if you are that lazy! Laziness just shows you have no respect or gratitude for the things and privileges you have today! (roar!)

Anyway...

Mommies are special -- Happy Mother's Day!

Newspaper Man, Keep on Smiling

Every morning there is an old asian man in the subway passing free Metro newspapers to passer-byers (is that even a word?). But what strikes me is that he says "Good Morning!" with a smile to everyone (whether you are taking the paper from his extended hand or not)! If this guy ever got up on the wrong side of the bed, you wouldn't know b/c he is pleasant every single morning, Mon-Fri. Rarely do I take a newspaper from him, but I always like to return the smile and greeting by saying "Good Morning" back to him.

I wonder, does he get tired of doing this every morning? Does anything in life get him down where it will change his daily demeanor? Well, wherever he is getting those positive vibes from, I hope they never go away! I there are people out there who probably have no soul and can treat that man in the meanest and/or rudest way for no reason at all. Thinking about that gets me sad. I don't want this friendly old man being exposed to that. It's like how a parent would never want their kid to know what sadness or death is, but in reality they know it's a part of life. Well that's how I feel about this newspaper man: protective. He is a friendly, elder, little man who really starts your morning "good". A world like this needs people like him... not those stuck-up/rude/ignorant people we come across more often than we should.

2 Different Shoes

Yesterday I saw a woman on the train with two different shoes on. She probably confused them b/c they both looked similar, except one was a patent leather material (shiney) and the other was normal leather (dull). At first I thought she was trying to make a fashion trend of her own (you know, how some people are using two different colored shoe laces for their sneakers for further (or over) color-coordination). But she didn't look like the type to start her own fashion trend. The different pairs she had on had a similar style, so I could see how she could have mixed them up if she was picking them out in a dark closet/room.

It was kind of cool b/c this woman is sitting on the train and I'm wondering, and maybe she's also wondering, if anyone else sees/saw the mismatch. Then I felt special in a way that I spotted that in a crowded, rush-hour train. It was like being the ONLY person in a crowded train/room to spot, oh, let's say, a celebrity who was trying to be incognito... Kinda like I found Waldo in "Where's Waldo". Yeah, like that!

Then again, I was thinking, what if she were to be one of those people who did something just to see how people would react, or if they would notice. Could be.

She looked pretty content; not self-concious at all. But anyway, good for her! The woman who walked out of her house for a full day of work with 2 different shoes on.

Family + Sweat = Good Times.

These past 2 weekends have been great: More family-filled than I had expected, more exercising than I expected, more spending than I wanted.


Let's see if I can recap:

Friday =
After work it was P90X "Yoga X" w/ Faisal. Talk about extreme yoga! Geez! Who knew you could sweat so much stretching and balancing! Wallkill crew came to sleep over. Slumber party!!
"This is not zen-like!!!!" (--Chris and I on the same page about a yoga environment since I was trying to balance my entire lower body suspended in the air WHILE there is pillow fight + YouTube videos going on in the same living room).

Saturday =
Practiced piano. Aqueduct Flea Market shopping w/ mom and Ate Alena. Pio Pio lunch break w/ the girls. Best Buy, Daffy's, DSW. Ate Chon treated all the adults in the family to indian food. Joaquin, Faisal, and I doing P90X's Legs & Back workout. Joaquin was so tired he spent the night w/ my nephews. Those late night conversations in my living room w/ Mom, Dad, Ate Alena, and myself.

Sunday =
Practiced piano. Just hanging out w/ the boys. Kurt taught me how to play the intro to Red Hot Chili Pepper's "Under the Bridge" on the guitar. Then I played him the intro to a song Jay taught me on the electric guitar. The guitar is great to play, but I feel handicapped with my wrists contorting to different chords; the placement of my fingers/wrist/hand doesn't come natural to me. I'm sticking to the piano.

4pm rolls around and it's off to Mastic Beach, L.I. for Mimi & Charles' informal housewarming (aka, get-together). What a beautiful house and delicious food! I’m so happy for the both of them. *Sniffles* Shell, weren't we still teenagers just yesterday??? Time flies, and BAM! You're an adult w/ a mortgage and a baby on the way! (She's having a girl!! Imagine we ALL have girls?? Crazy, right!?)

Came home around 10:15pm and it was off w/ Jay and Faisal for "Kenpo X" ("Intense cardiovascular workout with punching and kicking for endurance, balance, and coordination"). I cannot believe my body could produce so much sweat! Ok, so for 85 more days, you're going to have to hear me rambling about P90X b/c it is a 90-day program guaranteeing results and kicking ass at the same time. We'll see... We'll see...

You are what you eat

It's true what they say: "You are what you eat".

Faisal and I did some grueling Polymetrics ("Explosive jumping cardio routine proven to dramatically improve athletic performance") last night on the P90X. This was numerous combos of jumps, squats, & lunges. But 1 hour before we chowed down on greasy, fried chinese food. Ate ourselves to fullness (bad idea), then started working out 1 hour later. BIIIG mistake. We even got 2 warnings: "make sure you don't eat right before this workout" (Faisal and I gave each other the uh-oh look), and "this is the "X" in P90X. It's Extreme". (both of us were like "Grrrrreeeaat" as we clutched our swollen stomachs - damn chinese food!).

Needless to say, with all that sodium in junk food, I didn't perform my best, I found myself always thirsty, and stuck with this bloated/full feeling. I "brought it", but I sure as hell didn't "conquer" it. No worries, my ass, thighs, ankles are sore as hell today. Yessss! Next DVD: 1 hour of Shoulders and Arms. Jay - you are missing out, my friend. ;)

No junk food like that for awhile! Makes you feel like crap! Even your body protests! For real, for real.

Backtracking real quick: last weekend for Mom and Kuya El-cid's belated bday celebration upstate was AWESOME! Very activity-filled (Bball, Volleyball, Bball again, quick treadmill run, naps, ALL the kids, Shopping!, ER, ride around Kuya El-cid's motorcycle, enjoying the breeze/trees/quietness). Lot's of BBQ. Too much laughing during my brother's gift opening. What was 1 night stay felt more like a 3 day stay! I love that.