work and presents

There’s something worst than being held hostage during August at the office… Being held hostage and ALONE… J Nah, it’s just things are getting slow in here, it’s always the same with litigation teams because courts are closed during august therefore I find myself pretty unoccupied from time to time and listen this, I have to report what I do all 7 hours I’m at the office… So I should add a note on the report saying I spent time updating my blog, right, let’s see how that goes with human resources…

As we are getting closer to our first year wedding anniversary I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the present I’ll give to my man… And I found the perfect gift, which I will tell you more about it once he gets it. I don’t want to ruin the surprise in case he founds the blog. Yes, he knows I have a blog, that I use it as an escape and he understand that in order to feel free to write whatever goes thru my head he shouldn’t read it… 

Anyway, back to the present… Being the first year I wanted something special. I’m all about investing on experiences, like the trip I told you yesterday about, but for this special occasion I wanted him to have something just for him and something he will be able to use for life. I don’t know how I came up with the idea but I hope he will be as excited as I am for it myself. 

Bye guys, I’m going back to work!

Yes, why not?

I hate that feeling when you wake up tired… It’s like wasting a precious time… I remember (not long ago) when Fridays meant getting ready to party. Now, when it’s Friday I can only think about getting a nice long siesta and recover from the week. Perks of getting older I guess.. But this particular weekend we invested a great amount of time organizing a very exciting trip to Vienna in December.

If there’s something we like to invest in its traveling. You know what they say, travels is the only thing that you spend money on and makes you richer. And I couldn’t agree more. Seeing other cultures, witnessing other ways of life… It opens your eyes to new things, makes your perspective a little wider… I remember that before I spent one summer volunteering at the Firenze cathedral I was skeptical about the experience. We were a group of 12-15 persons from different ages, countries and religions, and we were going to spend all our days together… Showing the beautiful cathedral to the tourist from our own country.

What was so amazing about the experience is that it completely change me. I went there with so many preconceptions thinking my take on life was the only reasonable one… To be honest I wasn’t sure why I decided to go because a few days before the trip I was about to chicken out. Something took me there and the person coming back was totally different. I change my relation with my parents, I broke up with my toxic boyfriend and my life mantra became “yes why not?”.

Yes why not pushed me to accept any proposal that didn’t seem reckless or dangerous… And change my “no” to “yes. I opened myself to things I never thought I would and enjoyed every moment of it.

So if you can, pack your bags, go on a trip. If you can’t start saving! You’ll be compensated by far.

Bottoms up

As you al know at work as in life there are great days and awful ones.. It's part of the ride. You can't choose only the great days, you have to embrace both sides of life. I guess the key is to soak in all the amazing feelings and empowerment that come from that great day and on the lowest moments stop an remember those moments. There are great chances that if you survive the bad day you will soon reach the good days soon enough. Because what's for sure if that if you give up you'll never see the things getting better.. 

Bottoms up, to the good times that allow us to resist the bad days!! 

Perseverance

Well, see, my husband is not the best cook but he puts his soul in everything he cooks, he is a passionate man and from where he comes they show love by feeding you. When he cooks his expressing how much he loves you, in fact he proposed cooking an awful dinner, the time, work, thought he put into it made the food eatable… He knew it was terrible, I know I had to say I loved it, although we both knew the truth.

The only occasion when I can accept a white lie it’s when it’s done to motivate someone. All the I don’t say the truth because I don’t want to hurt hi/her are just void excuses… Anyway… White lies… So whenever my husband cooks I always make sure to tell him how tasty his dishes are and as a result, they are!! He makes the best fish dishes and know he is moving on to rice which by the way I’m incapable of doing it right. 

I love him because he is a fighter… He doesn’t give up. I didn’t give up on me, he hasn’t give up on the cooking thing… And let me tell you, it takes great courage. The easy thing is excusing yourself by admitting you don’t know how to do something, and it sucks and it’s extremely disappointing to fail once, twice, three times… Only the brave insist.. Only they are rewarded.

Presents and memories

I was talking to my husband about memories. Have you ever notice than whenever we talk about things in the past you never, or almost never, mention anything material? 

I have noticed that with myself... I always talk to Miguel about the kind of plans my grandparents took me to, trips we took together... Except for one story about a certain Christmas present when I was 9 all of the anecdotes were about how loved they made me feel, not how many things they bought to make me happy. 

Sometimes we think we can replace not speding time with your loved ones with presents. I understand presents are a way of showing appreciation, and don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn down a gift (I don't want to be rude ;-) ), but no amount of presents can replace quality  time. Talking, laughing together, learning together, getting to know who this person reallt is...

Invest in time, not in presents.

Grateful for

Things I’m grateful for:

1.- Falling sleep every night with my husband’s arms around me.

2.- Having the best girlfriend in the worlds about to become a mother. I’m dying to meet baby-bean as she calls him and to see the extraordinary mum she’s going to be. She makes me proud for so many reasons.

3.- Knowing my mum is only a phone call away and also a plane ride away.

4.- Being able to seat by the sea during my lunch break.

5.- Work, an exciting one, and having an everyday purpose in life.

 

Apologies

I owe you an apologie I've been so tied up in work that I neglected the blog. The blog that has been part of my self treatment, a place where I can be honest about everything and put into words tips to make things better..

I woke up every morning excited about the challenges I'll be facing at work and that is the most amazing thing that could happen to me. Guys need more time to feel comfortable around me, but they'll get to it. I also need a few adjustments so it's all good, we'll give it more time. 

I hope someday you will find something like this, a challenge, a reason to get up every morning, excited for what's to come..