President Obama Meets Parents Of Boys Lost During Sandy.

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Pete Souza/The White House

If you remember I posted about the parents who lost their boys during hurricane Sandy. How difficult it must be for them to have lost their two sons in one day. During his visit to New York City yesterday, President Obama met privately with the parents of the boys. In the video below he praised police officer lieutenant Kevin Gallagher who helped the Moore family with the search for the boys and stayed with them until their bodies were found. If you rather not see the whole video, you can forward it to 5:30.    

I hope it gives them some comfort to know a lot of people are praying for them. For God to give them strength during this difficult time...♥

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Prayers & Halloween

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I meant to post this early, but started doing other things and forgot I hadn't published it. First, my prayers to those affected by hurricane Sandy. Our area wasn't hit hard, and I thank God for that. The tree in front of some of our windows hit the fire escape a couple of times, and the lights flickered a few times, but other than that not much happened. If it wasn't for me looking out of the window I wouldn't have known that it was raining.

One of my daughter's friend lives in the city, in an area where the power is still out. She haven't heard from her since last night after her cell phone ran out of battery. Tomorrow she's going to try to go check up on them. Her father is not well, so I'm praying they are doing ok.

Stay safe, mi gente. Don't put yourself or someone else in harm's way for the sake of taking a picture or a video. I heard this last night on the radio. A crew member called a radio station to give updates when a man walks over to a live wire with his children just so he could take pictures. He had to tell him to move away because that was a live wire. Scary.

I know that because of hurricane Sandy some of you felt bad celebrating Halloween while others are going through a rough time. Still, Halloween is a day kids look forward to every year, so I hope your kiddies got to enjoy Halloween even if it was a little bit. I heard some kids trick or treating around here, but it wasn't a big crowd. I've enjoyed the photos I've seen around. It brings back good memories.

We didn't do anything especial today. Except I didn't have to cook dinner! My daughter wanted to get McDonald's because she wanted to check if her cell phone is working outside. It is, but for some reason is not working inside the apartment. It has been like that for a week now, before the storm. At this point she's going to exchange the cell phone. Four phone calls to customer service and the service still sucks.

Happy Halloween!

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Wordless Wednesday - Empire State Building

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Memories: Sept. 11 10th Anniversary.

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Reposting this post in memory of those lost on this day 11 years ago...✞

Today is the 10Th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. I wasn't sure I wanted to write a post about it because just last night I had a nightmare (reason why I posted it so late), but here I am. First, my prayers and blessings to the families and friends of those lost on this day 10 years ago. 

It's hard to believe 10 years have passed. Feels like it wasn't too long ago that I was riding the bus after dropping the kids at school. I was going through a rough time then so I was feeling depressed (that's another story). I turned on the radio on my phone to listen to some music. As I was thinking about the apartment I was going to see I heard about the first plane. I thought, wait did I hear right? I wish I could have pressed rewind at that moment. At first, I thought it was a prank or an accident. Then I heard them say a second plane just hit the second tower. I kept looking around the bus to see if everyone else heard the same thing because I still didn't believe it. Everyone looked normal.

After the bus, I took the train to get to Roosevelt Avenue and there from the platform I could see the Twin Towers filled with smoke. My mind was racing trying to think about every possible explanation. I kept trying to call my kid's school but the cell phones weren't working. When I looked up again there was only one tower standing. At this point I still wasn't sure what had happened so I kept trying to call my kid's school but couldn't get through. While I'm trying to look for change for the pay phone I glanced over and the second tower was gone. I could hear people gasping and crying. Me, I was stunned for a moment. I couldn't think. I thought, what is happening? Then I see everyone else going down the stairs when I heard the announcement that there were no trains running. I started panicking thinking how am I going to get to the kids. I kept calling the school from a pay phone but nothing. I finally got through to my ex (we were together at the time) when he tells me that we were attacked. I said to him what do you mean? He tells me again, I started crying. I could feel my heart beating really fast, feeling like someone just dropped a bucket of cold water on me. I told him I have to get the kids, I don't know how but I'll get there. He was further away so he couldn't get to them. 

Everyone was leaving the train station so I followed them. We ended up in Northern Boulevard, trying catch a bus from there but the buses that kept passing by were full. People were trying to call their families to pick them up. I didn't have anyone to call so I keep trying to catch a bus but none of them were stopping. People started talking to each other trying to keep calm, asking where they were headed to see if they could get a ride. A lady started talking to me, she told me that her son was going to pick her up that she could drop me off at the nearest bus stop. I said to her, Ay, Gracias! Que Dios se lo pague/Oh, thank you! May God bless you! Every time I think about it I wish we would've asked each others name, would've liked to stay in touch. If it wasn't for her God knows how much more I would've had to wait to get to my kids. From the time we got there to the time we left it was almost 4 hours. 

I finally got to the school, I literally ran to them to hug them. I kept asking them if they were ok. At the time they were 11 and 8 years old so they didn't really understand the magnitude of what was going on. I told them I was trying to call the school and that's when they told me someone had called in a bomb threat. On a day like that why would someone be so cruel, and call a bomb threat to a school, is beyond me. We took the bus home, and as soon as I opened the door I ran to turn to the TV. I remember vividly seeing the first images, I was sobbing. Finding out that they not only attacked New York, but also Virginia. The third attack prevented by the heroes of flight 93. God bless them for giving their lives for us. 

All that time I thought that the people inside the buildings had had enough time to get out. When it was clear most of them didn't, I felt angry and helpless at the same time. As silly as it may sound (I'm sure I wasn't the only one), I wanted to help somehow. Go down there to help with the digging, serving food, anything. Of course that didn't happened for me, but I am glad so many people did help in one way or another.  

For the next couple of days, weeks I was glued to the TV. My problems were secondary at that point. All I could think about were the people under the rubble waiting to be rescued. I wanted to know every little bit of new information. That, for some reason gave me some comfort (until this day I don't know why) even though when I went to sleep I would have nightmares. 

I remember people being nice to each other after that day. Asking how are you doing today? Saying hello and good morning. Something that not many people used to say, and still don't. I remember feeling so proud of being an American. Thinking we are now at war, our soldiers will find them. We will show them how strong United States can be. Our way of living may have changed, but we are as strong as ever. We Will Never Forget... 



Note: I uploaded some photos I received through emails years ago. I don't claim this photos as mine, I'm simply sharing them.

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More Pictures, Nueva York.

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On my previous post, I mentioned I had taken more pictures, here are the rest. I don't go to the city to hang out that much so whenever we go, I like to take pictures. Who knows if we get attacked by zombies tomorrow. You never know!

Talking about zombies. Did you hear about the naked man who was killed because he wouldn't stop eating another man's face. So horrible, they did an update and the detectives believe the victim was a homeless man and the naked man was suffering from cocaine psychosis, which explains why he took off his clothes. Want to be clear, that I'm in no way making fun of it, I just thought about it because people commented on the article and they said the zombies are here. That is all!

Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend. I know I am, I slept like a baby or close to it for the past two days. I needed it!

Bryant Park - Taken by my daughter

Some random clock we passed when we were walking towards Macy's. Taken by my daughter.

Empire State Building - Taken by me.

Thought this was cool, I watch this show! - Taken by my daughter.

Spongebob balloons! - Taken by my me.

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On Mother's Day.

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I meant to write this post two weeks ago, but I have been busy with life, and my computer started acting up so I had to re-install windows twice. I kind of gave up on it for a day, lol. Right now it seems to be working fine, but every now and then reboots. Sucks to have an old computer!

Anyway, we went to the city on Mother's day. We walked around a bit then we went to Bryant Park. This was my first time going to that park. I thought it would be bigger so I was a bit disappointed, but it was nice. As you can see there were a lot of people but not to the point where you couldn't walk. There were a few families sitting on the grass area. No loud noises, just the birds, people talking and the occasional horn honking. My kind of place. I imagine at night it gets full.

We stayed there for about 4 hours, just enjoying the breeze. We took some pictures, as you can see below. Since we are on a budget (eating in the city is very expensive), we ended up eating at Burger King. That Burger King sucked! The people working there were nasty, then some pendeja came in to cut in on the line, so she got into an argument with a man. Forget it, it was a whole lot of drama! We wanted to eat at Wendy's but there weren't any sits available. We went to eat late so they had closed the second floor. Next time, we just won't eat!

I can't remember the last time I was around that area so there is bunch of things that were new to me. Like the sitting area around Macy's. My daughter took a picture, but it came out blurry because we were walking. You can see how the area looks like though. It looks like a nice place to sit around to eat lunch or dinner. Those stores around there must make a lot of money from all those people sitting there for hours! So many temptations, lol.

We had a nice time, after all. If only we had left home earlier, we could have avoided the Burger King drama. I have more pictures, I'll post them on my next post...

Bryant Park - Taken by me

Bryant Park - Taken by me

Bryant Park in 1936! Taken by my daughter.

Walking towards Times Square. Taken by my daughter.

My daughter likes to take photos of Churches. Well, so do I, lol.

Getting closer to Time Square - Taken by my daughter.

Some random street in Manhattan - Taken by my daughter.

Another photo of the same church. Taken by my daughter.

I thought the The big cheese billboard was funny, lol. Taken by my daughter.

Times Square - Taken by me.

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Where Is It?

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Temperatures are getting warmer and I am so not ready for that. I need at least two more months! We were basically robbed of winter this year. I want my winter, damn it! We had no snow and the temperatures have been ridiculously warm. Mother nature hates me, it seems.

I hope these warm temperatures mean is not going to be hot this summer. This is when I miss not having the weather channel the most. They talk about all that stuff. What to expect for the next three months, during the year and up the year 2015. Joking! Well, sort of. At least we will save money if this summer turns out to be a cool one. Lets hope so!

I'm catching up with the February Photo Challenge. Both photos were taken in the city a few years back. First one was taken from Central Park and the second one was at the City Hall Park.

Happy Thursday, mi gente!


Day 21 - Architecture

Day 22 - Motion

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What Helps Me Sleep.

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I said in one of my previous post that I was going to share an app with nature sounds that I use to sleep. I live on the first floor towards the front of the building. So you can hear every noise you can imagine. The train station is 3 minutes away from here so there are always people passing by at all times of the day. In addition to the people who are always in the street jodiendo until late at night. The app is called Lightning Bug. It's Free and it brings a start up pack with three ambience. You can add six more packs for free. Each pack brings five to six different ambience sounds! If you want to add more packs, they cost from .99¢ to $1.99. I downloaded the free ones and I purchased the forest  pack. Worth the money!

Here is a video I made to show how it works. My cell phone can be a bit slow, sorry about that. If you decide to download it make sure you read the comments first so you know what type of problems other people have had with their cell phones. I, so far haven't had any problems, besides the force close every now and then. That is due to my phone not having a lot space since Metro PCS decided they were going to fill the cell phone's internal memory with junk that can't be removed. However, you can save this app to the SD card, thank God. Wish all the apps were like that!



Anyway, you are probably wondering what the photo below has to do with this post. That's a photo for a photo challenge I'm doing this month. Day 18 is looking down. This picture was taken at Central Park a few years back. What a beautiful day it was!

Day 18 - Looking Down

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Target Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 DVD Event!

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Target is going all out with The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 DVD release! I clicked on the ad by mistake thinking it was the weekly ad. I thought I was being invited to a real wedding, lol. They are making sure you get into the whole fantasy of the film by selling everything there is to sell. I'm not going to lie, some of the things look very cute. I can be a hopeless romantic sometimes. Who knows I might get something! I haven't read any of the books but have seen the movies. I like the story a lot, but I wouldn't put the movies (wrong actress) out there with Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings. Hope this movie will be better though, with better plot and better special effects.

If you are a die hard fan, Target is having an exclusive event at selected Target stores on Friday, February 10 at 11PM. You will get a sneak peek at the The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2, starting at 11PM. Tickets to purchase the DVD/Blu-ray will be distributed in guest services starting at 9PM. Below is a list of the stores in New York that are participating in the event. Stores will close at 1AM. If you would like to check if there is a store near you, follow the link above.

So, are you going to the event? If I wasn't a vieja, I think I would go. I used to do things like that back in the day. Running around Manhattan to see celebrities and enjoy some of the perks.

BOULEVARD MALL - 1575 NIAGARA FALLS BLVD AMHERST, NY 14228
BAY SHORE - 838 SUNRISE HWY BAY SHORE, NY 11706
RIVERDALE - 40 W 225TH ST BRONX, NY 10463
BRONX TERMINAL - 700 EXTERIOR ST BRONX, NY 10451
ATLANTIC TERMINAL - 139 FLATBUSH AVE BROOKLYN, NY 11217
GATEWAY - 519 GATEWAY DR BROOKLYN, NY 11239
NORTH BUFFALO  - 2626 DELAWARE AVE BUFFALO, NY 14216
CLIFTON PARK - 26 CROSSING BLVD CLIFTON PARK, NY 12065
COLLEGE POINT - 13505 20TH AVE COLLEGE POINT, NY 11356
QUEENS PLACE - 8801 QUEENS BLVD ELMHURST, NY 11373
FAYETTEVILLE - 340 TOWNE DR FAYETTEVILLE, NY 13066
MEDFORD - 2975 HORSEBLOCK RD MEDFORD, NY 11763
MT VERNON - 600 GARDEN AVE MOUNT VERNON, NY 10550
HARLEM - 517 E 117TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10035
ORCHARD PARK - 5622 AMANDA LN ORCHARD PARK, NY 14127
POUGHKEEPSIE - 2001 SOUTH RD POUGHKEEPSIE, NY 12601
EAST GREENBUSH - 625 3RD AVE EXT RENSSELAER, NY 12144
NISKAYUNA  - 428 BALLTOWN RD SCHENECTADY, NY 12304
STATEN ISLAND - 2900 VETERANS RD W STATEN ISLAND, NY 10309
VALLEY STREAM - 500 W SUNRISE HWY VALLEY STREAM, NY 11581
BINGHAMTON VESTAL - 3112 VESTAL PKWY E VESTAL, NY 13850
WEBSTER - 1050 RIDGE RD WEBSTER, NY 14580
CLARKSTOWN - 4120 PALISADES CENTER DR WEST NYACK, NY 10994
WESTBURY  - 999 CORPORATE DR WESTBURY, NY 11590


image credit: Target

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Fairy Tales vs. Reality

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Guest post written by my buddy Alice Mays

I can’t wait to say those two little words that every little girl dreams about from the day she is old enough to play with dolls. “I do.” I’ve dreamed about finding my prince charming and marrying him. Now those dreams have become a reality. It’s just like Cinderella. Except they don’t show Cinderella and Prince Charming trying to compromise on major decisions such as registering for dishes, choosing a house, etc. Certainly a test of your relationship before you take the plunge on the big day, but nothing we can’t handle. My point is, there are lots of details that have to be decided upon in order to set up our soon-to-be new life together. We are both New Yorkers so there was no doubt we were going to stay here. We found our house, closed on it and went to work lining up utilities. It was a little overwhelming so we split them. I chose our cable and phone providers very quickly. I wanted to do a little more research and after looking into New York Energy Suppliers, chose our energy provider as well. He had internet, security system and water providers to set up. Once that is done, the house should be ready to start moving our stuff into and meshing two lives into one!




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Feliz Nochebuena - Happy Christmas Eve!

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First, Feliz Nochebuena/Christmas Eve to everyone! I woke up early (8:30 AM, yes that's early for me) to put the pernil in the oven and enjoy some of the morning silence. It was so quiet! Yes, you would think since I live in the city I would love noise but no, I don't. It has to do with getting old and previously living next to a crazy woman for years.

Anyway, as I said 2 days ago I haven't been into celebrating the Holidays these days. I went out the same day and got some very simple/cheap Christmas decorations (see pictures below) for our table to brighten up my apartment and to force myself into feeling festive. Seems to be working a bit so far! Playing some mellow music working my way up to pop, rock and last some salsa and merengue. I wrote a post not too long with some of the music we (my familia) used to listen to for Christmas when I was growing up. Click here to read it. Add the songs to Spotify (Sign on for 30 days trial, cancel it before they charge your card!) and you'll be salseando and merengueando in no time! Weepa!

I've been cleaning up while the pernil cooks. My apartment smells (garlicky) so good right now, is making me hungry. Can't pick at the pernil yet, coño! So I will continue with the craving. Remember I was going to bake a cake, the Gooey Butter cake. I baked one on Thursday to see how it would come out. Well, it looked perfect when I took it out the oven as you can see by the pictures. But as I was taking some pictures, it started sinking on the sides, lol. Then the whole cake fell except for the edges. I left it for 45 minutes like the recipe said but it seems that it needed 5 to 10 minutes more. Still, it tasted DELISH (people weren't kidding!) but it was extra gooey in the center, lol. I'm not going to lie I had more than one piece on the same day and the day after. I'm baking another one later today, this time I'm leaving it a bit longer. 

Bueno, let me get back to what I was doing. I still have to make the arroz con gandules and the potato salad. Maybe fry some yellow plantains too. Bought an avocado, hopefully it will be good inside. I have bad luck with avocados! Same as with men, they are nice outside but when you taken them home they turn out rotten, lol. Sorry it was too good to pass up! This is me loosening up, feeling festive. And I don't even drink! 

Hope everyone is enjoying their Nochebuena/Christmas Eve wherever they are! Cuidense/Be safe. Don't drink and drive...

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Lady Gaga's Holiday Workshop At Barneys!

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By now you probably have heard that Lady Gaga opened a Holiday workshop at Barneys in New York, where you can find all kinds of Gaga stuff. I heard about it just last night when I saw part of the interview on Nightline. It looks very colorful, whimsical and very Lady Gaga! You will find from cosmetics to accessories to cookies/lollipops and toys. I love the stuffed monster set! If you would like to see the merchandise click here. The site is very fun to navigate. You can even make an avatar a la Lady Gaga. 

This stuff is not cheap of course. For instance Gaga's press on nails cost $45. Yes, you heard that right, but if you can afford it why not! I would buy a few things if I could. The most expensive items are some of her jewelry and some of her clothing (Leather jackets). Nice thing is that with every sale of any item from Lady Gaga's workshop, 25% will go to the Lady Gaga's Born this Way Foundation. 

I have never been to Barney's but I might just pass by to go inside Lady Gaga's workshop or at least look at the windows, lol. Yes, I am a FAN of Lady Gaga. No, I'm not embarrassed to say it! Viva, Lady Gaga, coño!

Below you can see videos of the event, a timelapse of the workshop and a message from Lady Gaga for her workshop.

Barneys New York - Gagas Workshop Launch Event Sizzle from Stellarhead on Vimeo.

Barneys New York - Gagas Workshop Timelapse Video from Stellarhead on Vimeo.

Barneys New York - Lady Gaga Message for Gagas Workshop from Stellarhead on Vimeo.







image credit: abc news radio

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Last Night's Mess.

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I went out late last night to the bodega because my daughter needed more medicine, she has a cold. Although I wasn't too pleased to have to go out again I did go and managed to take a picture and a video to share. My son went with me, had to force him to go but I am glad he did if not I wouldn't have been able to take these. It was cold as hell (well not like hell because hell some say is really hot!) and very slippery! You can hear the wind, my fingers were frozen by the time I got home. My apartment is very hot so I don't realize how cold it is outside until I go out or I check the temperature which I didn't do before going out last night.

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And We Got Snow Ladies & Gentlemen!

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We got the first snow ladies and gentlemen! Although I shouldn't be happy because I have to go out in that mess a little bit later to do grocery shopping. Was supposed to go yesterday but my daughter was sick and I wasn't feeling too good myself. I read a Tweet this morning about snow but for some reason it didn't register. To me it was going to rain all day. Then my son looked out of the window and that's when I found out it was snowing! 

The flakes are really big although it is not sticking to the ground it is sticking to the cars a little bit. I can hear some people cleaning up the front of their building. I'm sorry for those who hate it but I love it! I am happy we got our first snow! Did you get any?  

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Mi Primer Spanish Friday!

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Sé que es Sábado ya que son la 1:00AM pero en Los Angeles todavía es Viernes! Hacen varias semanas que he querido participar en Latinaish's Spanish Friday. Como pueden ver me decidí a partipar. Yo me crié en Puerto Rico pero me mudé para Nueva York hace 20 y pico de años. Con el tiempo dejé de hablar Español a menudo y ahora se me hace un poco difícil hablarlo y escribirlo. Éste meme es una oportunidad para utilizar mi Español. Sería una verguenza que se me olvide siendo mi primer idioma. 

He estado leyendo Latinaish hace unos meses pero nunca he dejado comentarios. Soy tímida, tiendo a pensar mucho antes de hacer cosas que me vayan a poner en una situación que requiera tener una conversación. Se que algunos de ustedes se estarán preguntando y que carajo hago blogueando, ha, ha. Blogueo por esa misma razón, estoy frente a un monitor y no frente a una persona. Me hace sentir segura. Pero poco a poco voy a superar mi timidez. Muchas gracias a Tracy Lopez, dueña de Latinaish.com por darme el empujón que necesitaba para bloguear en Español!

Si quieren participar en Spanish Friday haga clic en el enlace/link o en la imagen que está a la izquierda.

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