it was time to take a leap into making things happen. so i started. on another note, the grind wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be. however i’m very much looking forward to the weekend.

99 love balloons. that’s how last nights celebration for this new year ended… followed by singing along to weezer’s first album on the way home.

last year’s main goals: job closer to home, get in better shape, and start blog. check, check, and half check (ok, so i started it but i think we can say i’ve done a lousy job at updating it)

this year’s main goals: learn web design, continue to lead a healthier and more active life, and continue this blog (thanks jeff for calling out my lack of blogging).

another thing that has been on my mind: is my career. something about having a few days off and not having to go to work has made me think. now i know we all need to work and make a living. but when you dread having to go back to work-something isn’t right. and i don’t dread it because i don’t like it. i dread it because i’m questioning if it’s what i want to be doing. one of the things brewing in my mind lately is the idea of grad school. the problem with that is, well, what do i want to go to grad school for? it’s one puzzle i haven’t been able to solve. if i take my strengths and likes and put them together it should equal to ideal job? is that wishful thinking? i’ve also come to realize that i seem to seek change quite often. things can’t be settled for too long before i get all antsy and need something new to venture into or be into. which leads me to believe that no matter what the ideal job equates to be-i might never be fully happy or satisfied with what i’m doing….yikes-i’d like to believe that this isn’t the case. there has to be something out there for me to do where i can put all my best feet forward and really accomplish something that i feel good about. much to think about.

i’m looking forward this year and to what it might have in store for me. as my brother in law put it:
“This is the year to get it done. Soo, get out there and make it happen!!!! Only good luck never bad.”

ok so today was (what i consider) the first true day that really felt like fall. i mean, we got it all-the chill breeze, overcast, leaves flying all over the place…yup, it’s that time of year. makes me look forward to thanksgiving. actually, this weather reminds me a lot of mid-november in miami when i’d go out for a sunday drive with my parents up to ft. lauderdale and just walk around. there’d alway be something happening; an art festival, boat show, this one time there was an oktoberfest thing happening & i remember wondering why it was going on in mid november as opposed to october…anyway, it’s cold-or chilly, whatever. the point is that the ac’s need to come down soon and the landlord better start turning up the heat.

as for today-i’m soo happy it’s friday! i got off to a slow start…was supposed to go exercise in the morning before work, but i vaguely remember shutting my alarm up a number of times, till i finally decided to just reset it to about fifteen min before i had to leave the house (by 8:35). worked like a charm. got to work on time, did my stuff, rearranged my space so that i have more room where i sit, then headed back home around three to finish my day’s work from home. this is where i remind myself how lucky and happy i am to be working in the city…no driving, home is less than twenty min away…’T’ delay may mean i might have to take a ten dollar cab ride home…or maybe i have to put up with a stinky ‘T’ car…or maybe i have to cram into a car with a zillion other people for ten mins…the beauty is that i don’t have to think about it! i just plug in my earphones & listen to my music, or grab a book and read, or maybe just look around and people watch (it’s interesting to see how different we all are and at the same time are not so different) and just ride…so effortless.

anyway, it’s late. tomorrow, a day full of greatness (one can only hope!). hopefully i’ll be better than i was this morning and get a little work out in before my day starts. maybe even go apple picking (or maybe sunday?)…which means…pies, pies and more pies!!! (or lots of sweets that involve apples anyway)

…so good to me, monday monday, it was all i hoped it would be. oh Monday morning… you sucked. really, you were the complete opposite of what the mama’s and the papas thought of monday. then monday evening was ok. i’m just so glad monday is over. this it was the perfect day to just stay in bed. in fact, today was meant to just stay in bed… overcast, rainy, cool breeze. i was so jealous of everyone that had the day off… you lucky bastards!!! j/k, oh well. i’ll have my turn.

for some reson though, it seemed like the perfect day for running? i only say this because i saw so many people running today. anyway, nothing too interesting to tell for today-so instead i finished updating the captions my last post.

say, does anyone have any ideas for halloween costumes? just wondering.

it’s october already? so much has gone on since i last posted… new job, new commute, fun trip to new york, cool trip to vermont, the best overnight party ever, new hair cut, started boot camp, ran 3.1 miles for the komen race for the cure, have had fabulous weekends, got a year older AND gave my blog a personalized make over (in honor of halloween)… i don’t know where to start!

so where do i start? catching up via writing might be next to impossible. so instead i’ve posted a few photos. to help back track a little…

weekend reunion in ny the weekend of august 25th camilo and i drove down to yonkers ny for the weekend for him to reconnect with two friends (dan and klaus-brothers) that he hadn’t seen in years-ten to be exact. saturday we took the train into new york, checked out the moma and the mocp, and watched the king of kong: fistful of quarters. the highlight of the trip (aside from meeting these two new cool people) was seeing camilo with long hair (and i mean pony tail long) in a home movie klaus brought with him from over then years ago for us to watch and laugh at.

weekend trip to an iron pour performance sept 1st weekend, my friend lisa and i decided to take a weekend trip to check out an iron pour performance at a steel scrap yard up in rutland, vermont. an experience we both hadn’t a clue of what to expect-but once there, it was amazing. large crowd, sounds of flame torches, fire burning, metal melting, and a display of sparks that the images i shot don’t do it justice. the highlight of the trip (aside from it being a girls only trip-always fun-shadow legs) was watching a pig race at the fair the next day…ok no i’m kidding-although that was pretty funny… really the whole weekend was a highlight; peaceful scenery, wonderful weather, definitely a trip worth taking again!

bbq party in swampscott sept 8th. this was on the saturday we all thought would be the last official ‘beach day’ of the year. so this morning started off with an impromptu trip to hull beach with lisa while camilo drove luis over to new hampshire for him to buy his fist new apply lap top. upon our return to the apt in the early afternoon, camilo, luis and i headed off to swampscott for a fun filled evening bbq at irina’s parents house (they were out of town). i managed to take a few pics you’ll find here, but brief highlights were: bbq, round the world ping pong, jagermeister and greygoose shots, dancing, more ping pong, ‘hot’ belt, endless laughter, dance some more, hula hoop & jump roping, midnight dunk at the beach, more dancing till we couldn’t dance no more and almost everyone was asleep…morning coffee with friends.

3.1 mile run i signed up for the race for the cure run for sunday sept. 23rd… a week after i started my boot camp. not it’s been years since i even try to run more than a mile-so to be quite honest-i wasn’t even sure how i was going to pull it off. lucky for me, on the first day of boot camp we had to run the mile and got timed (clocked in at 11+min-okay for the frist time in years no?) anyway, i somehow pulled off a 37:38. not a champions time, but none the less, under 45 min (avg of 12min per mile)-which was my goal.

also, i’ve created a web gallery with my mac account where you can see the pics i never got to post from both my miami trip back in july, and my colombia trip back in august. (so sorry about the lorem ipsum-just holding a spot for me to update tomorrow…)

i have a lot to tell about my last few weeks in colombia (of which i haven’t had a chance to write about yet…i promise to do so soon). but i wanted to quickly say how excited (yet sort of nervous) i am about my first day at my new job tomorrow… i feel like summer break is over and it’s time to start school again-except it’s not school (oh, the good ‘ol days). ok, gotta get some rest-good luck to me!

copy to come

so this morning i rose and shone at about 5 am. it was a hard start-but had to be done. my friend lisa was kind enough to take me to the airport in the morning before her leaving for work-so an out of the house by 6:30 was in order. totally do-able-after a quick shower and some serious coffee (thanks lisa!)

so i got to the airport with time to spare-which was good since i didn’t want to feel rushed (flight left at 8:10). the plan was, fly from boston to ft. lauderdale, then have my dad pick me up so he can drive me to the miami int’l airport to make my flight to colombia the left at 3:40pm. and everything went as planned. it was nice to see my dad today-especially since it was his birthday. when we got to the mia airport he hung out with david and i (camilo’s brother) till it was time for us to head to our gate. one we took off of miami, i saw views of miami beach i hadn’t seen in a long while. what a beautiful day it was here in miami, and to see the beach-the white sand, clear blue waters… i tried to do my best to capture this from the airplane.

so here i am, finally arrived in medellin, colombia at about 8pm or so (really it’s 7pm here, colombia seems to be running an hour behind maimi/boston time). camilo and our friend adriana were at the airport waiting for us to get us and bring us to the apt we’re staying in. we regrouped with camilo’s parents, had a round of beers and decided to step out and grab some colombian empanadas… yummy, my fav! they are tiny little potato filled corn pockets (something like that, i’ll double check the ingredients tomorrow) …and with a little lemon squeeze on top-perfect! one thing i need to make sure while i’m here is to not over eat. speaking of overeating… there are so many beautiful women here! it’s somewhat intimidating really (all of which are definitly not overeatting). even from when we were at the airport in miami, it’s like pretty girl central! yessh. so, in an attempt to counter weight the eating i might be doing, i’ll be joining david in his daily workouts( hopefully anyway-we’ll see)…

as for tomorrow-i’m not sure whats going on yet. as far asi’m concerned i’m cranky and tired… this is where i stop now. till tomorrow (i hope!)

so yesterday was my last day at work. two and a half years have come and gone-it’s crazy how fast time flies. i told myself i wouldn’t get all sappy and cry-and i did a pretty good job-except when i said bye to dierdre, lol. leaving a place where you’ve spent so much time and created great new friendships and experiences is not an easy task. i purposely packed everything up the day before so i wouldn’t have to do it on my last day. i figured that i would be tying up loose ends on my last day. so i did just that. when lunch time came around we all went out to “la carreta” (spanish for the cart-or as dave would call it “old broken down donkey cart). this was my favorite mexican lunch spot in the new england area. i drove and took dave, dierdre, julia, and dj and stopped by good ‘ol starbucks on the way back.

so when four o’clock came around-i was ready to head home. after all, i still had to get home and pack, see my friend kristina, and get some rest before my early flight the next day. lucky for me it was pouring at that time. it seemed like an evil trick form the heavens above. oh well, what can you do? my leaving early at this point didn’t serve much purpose. what would have normally taken me about hr 15 min to get home took about 2 hours (traffic-people seem to forget how to drive when it’s raining). this just reminded me of how nice it’s going to be to be working in the city, and how great it’s going to be to not have to do this drive ever again on a daily basis.

to everyone i worked with over at brookstone, thank you for everything. it has been a great pleasure to work with you. i know have made some true lifelong friends there and i will be keeping in touch, till soon! jvr

till my trip to colombia. ok, so i have yet to post about my trip to miami. so sorry! i think that i’m going to do a quick pic recap on it, and only because i think there are some pics worth sharing. as far as next week goes-a lot to be done! list includes; laundry, pack, clean. can’t wait!

two things i wanted to share-that i’ve discovered recently on the web and would like to share. one of them is a blog by a boston artist, brad, who’s currently in costa rica completing an artist residency. he updates it frequently with his paintings and or photos of costa. today my favorite was this painting of the house by the pool #2.

the other one of them is a blog by ross. i learned about him through rosie odonell’s blog-and now i’m hooked. he cracks me up! right now this is my favorite “talky blog” of his.

that’s all for now-have a great week!