Perspective.

This video was shown yesterday at church (click through to the link, because embedding is disabled). It moved me so much that I wanted to share.

The pastor's message today was about getting rid of those worldly things which give us a temporary feeling of happiness and instead focusing on the greatness of God.  This has been an area of weakness for me lately. I've been letting things get in the way of my relationship with Him, and, I have to admit, I've caught myself relying on worldly things rather than on Christ to make me happy.

The video made me realize how perspective can change everything. I mean, here I am, healthy and happy as a clam, and I take God's goodness for granted so often. But for this man, who is facing the reality of death, all he wants to do is praise God. Amazing.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope your holiday was full of fun, food and family! We really had a great time today (and yesterday as well). Yesterday was, of course, Noche Buena, which is really a Hispanic's pre-Christmas celebration spectacular. We had the family over for dinner and I was in charge of decorating the table! I totally ran with it, and I just love how everything turned out. I had to give myself a pat on the back. ;)

It was great to have all of my mom's side of the family together for Noche Buena. Gabby's family stopped by as well for some yummy dessert! After dinner, I went with my love to his church's Midnight Mass. Beautiful service, and most importantly, a beautiful message of Love! Overall- great night. Noche Buena indeed.

After an extra long night(by the time mass finished and I got home and finished cleaning up, it was 3 a.m!), I woke up bright and early at 8 a.m. to head on over to Gabby's for the opening of the presents. His sister wakes up at 6 a.m. every Christmas morning (mind you, she's 20) and I usually go over and bring gifts and open their gifts with them there.  I was pleasantly surprised! Gabby bought me a beautiful Coach wallet that I'd been eyeing for some time! I totally wasn't expecting it, but then again,  he wasn't expecting getting an awesome GPS system, yet he did! Santa was kind this year. ;)

After opening presents at the Medinas', I headed on home to wake up my mom and brother for our own Christmas morning! I was, again, pleasantly surprised! Mom got me an awesome camera, which I was in dire need of. I will definitely be wearing it down! ;) Also, my brother got me seasons 1 and 2 of the greatest show ever, which totally made my morning.

After gift time, we went to my cousin's house in Pinecrest for our traditional family brunch. Each year we have Pan con Lechon, yummy cinnamon rolls from Knaus Berry Farm, and my grandmother's traditional manzanitas. All that food, plus a huge family and a ton of kids, makes for a great day!

I was reminded today just how blessed I am. I can truly say that, even if I didn't recieve one thing that I wanted, I would still be so grateful for just having everything that I already own. I have a great family, a wonderful boyfriend, health, food, shelter, and a means of transportation! Seriously, what more can someone ask for this Christmas?

YES!

I'm soooo excited for this movie! <3

Im Ba-aaack!

It's been way too long since I've updated this thing... my sincerest apologies to anyone who still has interest in this little blog! The semester got pretty crazy, and with all my deadlines and assignments, plus my crazy work & school schedule, I barely had time to do anything at all.

Big News to announce!!! My awesome, amazing boyfriend Gabby graduated from FIU this week!!!



I was so proud to see him walk across the stage. He has worked SO hard the past three and a half years, and I'm so happy that all his hard work has paid off. Now, off to grad school! We're still praying on that one, keep Gabby in your prayers as he makes this big decision!

Last night I hosted a surprise get-together for him to celebrate with his friends. We all had a great time, and his surprised face was priceless! ;)

I also did extremely well this semester and I must say I have to give myself a pat on the back! I had this Spanish professor from hell who would assign a truckload of work from one day to the next. It was terrible!! I honestly thought I would fail that class, but luckily, I ended up with a "C". I've never been so happy to achieve mediocrity!! Hah. I'm just really happy it's over with.


Anyway, I've been meaning to revamp this blog for quite some time. Hopefully I can maintain it for a while! I've been getting a lot of inspiration from a bunch of different little blogs lately, so now that I have some time on my hands I will try my best to blog more.

All the Single Babies

I can't get enough of this kid!

Support Systems

It's been a rough couple of days.

My dad had a seemingly routine surgery last week to repair a herniated muscle in his stomach. On Wednesday he was re-admitted to the hospital because apparently something went wrong with the original surgery and he wasn't able to use the bathroom. He underwent a second surgery on Thursday, and is currently recovering. But my dad's an old man (no really, he's 73). Having two surgeries in one week in the exact same place is not a walk in the park, and I would imagine the older you are, the harder it is to deal with these complications.

Yesterday my dad was transferred to the ICU for shortness of breath. Since he's not able to use the bathroom, all the gasses in his stomach were pushing up and against his lungs, causing him to have trouble breathing. I was scared. I was scared this whole week. But God has a way of showing us that He's always there, and He always provides.

I don't talk much about my half-brother, but the truth is he's almost a carbon copy of my dad, which is probably why we get along so well. At the beginning of the week it was just me and my dad; now it's me, my dad, my half-brother, and my brother, which lifts such a huge weight off my shoulders. I know I don't have to go it alone, and I can ask and consult my half-brother (since he's much older and has more life experience) on what to do or how to best handle a situation. We can go months without speaking, but talking to him is so easy, when we reconnect it's as if we never stopped. We can openly discuss differences we experienced growing up with our dad as, well, our dad (he is my dad's second child from his first marriage, while I'm the second child of his last marriage), and we understand and truly know our father as the person he is, not as the mean old guy who wouldn't let me out past 10 p.m. on weeknights.

Then there's my small group. God has truly blessed me with these people! It's so refreshing to be able to connect with people who have an active passion and love for God and to be able to talk about everyday issues from a Christian perspective and even discuss questions that we may have about these issues. They are an excellent support group, simply because it's so laid back and unpretentious; I never feel ashamed or embarrassed to say something, even if it's something mean (because we are all haters, haha). ;) To have people who pray for you, even when it's about everyday needs, it's powerful. To be able to give and take Godly advice is powerful. My small group is exactly what I needed after this week.

Throughout this whole ordeal, God has never been far from me. While I waited by myself in the waiting room during my dad's second surgery, I knew I wasn't really alone. I prayed and read psalms and lifted my dad's life up to God, and I didn't feel scared. I was liberated. All my worry was cast upon Him, and it was exactly what everyone talks about at church all the time. I felt a wave of comfort over me, and I gave glory to God as I sat next to my father when he came out of surgery. I just watched him sleep, and thought, Thank you, God, for this man's life. Thank you for choosing him to be my father.

It's not over yet, but I'm praying for God to guide me and my brother and my dad through the next phase, which is his recovery. Please pray as well.

It's so humbling to see God in action.

I lift up my eyes to the hills-
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
--Psalm 121:1-2

The Home Stretch

So this is my last two weeks as an intern at CBS4. Time seems to have gone by way too quickly, but I wanted to give whoever reads this an update as to what's been going on lately.

Next week (Saturday, to be exact) is our Intern Newscast. Basically this is a full thirty-minute newscast produced and performed completely by the interns at WFOR. Obviously, this includes anchors and weather/sports talent. The interns who wanted to be anchors had to submit an audition tape to the intern supervisor, Stephanie. The day I taped my audition, I woke up late, was stuck in traffic and was having an overall bad morning. I wanted to blow dry my hair the night before, but I simply didn't have the time, since I didn't get home from the station the night before until midnight. So that morning I blowdried just the front of my hair (hey, it's all you folks see anyway!) and went over the script about a million times before going in to tape it (we were only allowed to tape it once).

I was "OK" with the outcome. I tried incorporating all the things that Stephanie told me to work on. Let me tell you, anchoring is really not all that simple. You have to constantly be aware of what you're saying, how you're saying it, how your face looks, how your inflection is, and how you're interacting with the viewer. It's exhausting trying to remember all of it! Anyway, I was looking over my tape and I was able to catch one of the photographers, who has been so helpful to me over the course of this internship. He's no-nonsense, in-your face, tell-it-like-it is. I love him. Anyway, I knew he would tell me if something wasn't right..... well, he loved it! I took his word for it, left it up to God and pushed my tape into Stephanie's mailbox.

The following Friday, Stephanie commented on how much she loved my tape. She said she was so impressed with my audition and she thought I did a good job. I'm actually very quiet around the newsroom, so I think this made her even more surprised. The next day I got an e-mail... I made anchor! :)

I was so excited. My hard work had finally paid off! The newscast is on Saturday, and to be honest, I'm a little eager to get it out of the way. I'm pressured to do a good job, because a couple of days after the newscast, there's a watch party which everyone in the newsroom is invited to (this includes, reporters, anchors, and managament...eek!). They'll be able to critique our work and give us pointers on what to improve on. It's so exciting! I still have a lot of work to do on my resume tape, and I'm polishing my resume so that I can give it to the Executive Producer tomorrow. I'm nervous. I really, really need this job. Please continue to pray for me to finish strong and be able to show everyone what I'm capable of. Most of all, pray for this job opportunity. I can't tell you how awesome it would be.

Inspiration

"Along the way someone will tell you that you can't do something or be who you want to be. When that happens, remember to think, 'Oh yeah, watch me.' I did and I showed 'em. I bet you will, too."
-- Ann Curry

Not Enough Hours In The Day...

My weeks have been pretty crazy lately. Last week at CBS, the intern supervisor asked me to help them out at the assignment desk and with producing on Sunday nights (it's been tough for them lately with budget cuts, and I figured it would be a great way for me to get some experience in other parts of the newsroom, not just reporting). I had my first day yesterday, and I enjoyed the experience, as I always do when I'm at the station. I never let myself forget about the fact that I'm extremely blessed to be interning at such a great station with great people who have a tangible passion for what they do.

But it seems like my weekends have been getting shorter lately... I'd love a day off, but it comes down to deciding between taking paid hours off of work, or taking away valuable experience.

Please pray for me and for God to help me stay focused on the larger goal, which is, of course, a possible job at the station, and in the future, a successful career as a reporter. I'm remembering this passage to help me get through:

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
-- Romans 5:3-5

iNews

Friday was an interesting day at the WFOR newsroom. The new iPhone 3GS came out, and a few producers and reporters were excited about getting their new gadget in the mail. The I-Team producer, Gio, had gone to the Apple store in the Falls to pick up his iPhone.

In the morning editorial meeting, a bunch of producers were discussing the new video capability on the iPhone. The News Director, Adrienne Roark, suggested that Gio get some interviews and sound bytes for the story using the phone.

This is the result. (Keep in mind that this was completely shot using the iPhone. Sound was captured using the Voice Memo capability).

The story's been getting a lot of buzz in the industry lately. The Poynter Institute, a school and resource for journalism, brought it up in a recent blog regarding the impact of technology on citizen journalism. Check it out.

PLUS, for all you iPhone junkies out there, Gio posted a new iPhone challenge on his twitter page. Shoot a video response to his story using YOUR iPhone, and email it to him at gbenitez@cbs.com. Who knows-- it might just be broadcast on the air!

Best Day Ever

Yesterday was probably one of the best days I've ever experienced.

I had the opportunity of heading out on the field with Michael Williams, CBS4's political reporter, a veteran of the news biz (today is his 29th anniversary), and one of my personal heroes in the field. The man is an amazing journalist. But more on that later.

Besides being able to shadow one of my heroes, we headed out to Hialeah Park, where Governor Charlie Crist was taking a tour of the abandoned park. Earlier in the day he signed a gambling bill which hammered out a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Indians for casinos (one of the stipulations in the agreement is that Hialeah Park be revitalized to bring horse racing, and eventually slots and poker, to the historic park.

(Watch Michael's story here)

It was my first real political/photo-op experience, and it was amazing. The energy that this business brings is unreal. Here are some pictures from my BlackBerry:





I didn't really interact too much with the Governor; it was a quick visit. But just watching everything going on around me was such a great experience. And yes, his tan is really that great ;)

I learned so. much... about writing, interviewing, researching, and just journalism and the industry in general. I was so happy to find that Michael Williams is so nice and genuinely helpful; it never felt as if I was bothering him or anything, he was always available to answer any questions I had. As I taped my sign-off for my resume tape, he told me I had a good camera presence, and gave me some tips on writing news stories. Later in the day, he offered to help me get my foot in the door in some smaller markets around Florida, and mentioned that I have a "natural talent". I was floored. This is Michael Williams! I know a lot of you might not know him, but to me, he's huge. I grew up watching him on NBC6!

God has really blessed me in tremendous ways. Just getting this internship was something that I never really expected. But I'm there, and I'm constantly around some of the best talent in South Florida. I'm constantly amazed by the caliber of people that work in this business, and I've gained a newfound respect and passion for the craft of storytelling. If you watched the piece above, note Michael's vivid imagery and use of words. I know, this is the nerd in me. Don't judge.

One of the questions I posed to Michael yesterday was whether or not he suggested starting off at a small market to gain experience, or if I should find a job in a larger market such as Miami. He suggested that I start off small, so that I can make my mistakes and become a better reporter. This is something every reporter has advised me to do during my time so far, and I'm seriously considering it. Pray for me as I make these decisions in the future... I'm excited to see what God has in store.

new look

What do you think?? :)

the juices are flowing

if you follow me on twitter, you know that i've been in a creative mood today. I came across my friend's blog, which directed me to this awesome site, which inspired me to create cute stuff again. Thanks, Kristel!

I've secretly been wanting to open a clothing boutique for a while now. Random, I know. But I figured, I love clothes and I'm organized. Why not share it with others? It would be a great business plan, if it weren't for this terrible economy. {Wah Wahhh} Anyway, I think I have it all mapped out. My mom used to be a buyer for Neiman Marcus back in her single days, so she knows a thing or two about merchandising and retail buying. She can be my partner. Gabby's dad is an accountant, so he can be our financial advisor. There's my administrative help.

When I was a girl, I used to love coming up with "fashion lines"... I'd draw little models and create away. Well, I found some inspiration, and I spent a good hour in macroeconomics creating a modified version of my little models. These would be the logo for our store.

The only thing missing (besides a good loan, haha) is a name. I want something cute, fresh, and girly. Any ideas?

Besides that crazy idea, I have some friends' birthdays coming up (including my hunny!) and I've been short on cash flow recently, so in my burst of creativity, I'm thinking up some cute and inexpensive gift ideas. I'll blog a post with pics once they're done. :)

Hooray for creativity!!

While you're here, check out A Beautiful Mess:

jon & kate (plus paparazzi plus cameras following your every move plus possible infidelity) plus 8

This whole "Jon & Kate Plus 8" drama is depressing.

I usually love watching the show to see the adorable kids and dynamics between a young couple with twins and sextuplets, but lately the only thing the show is known for is the rumors of infidelity on both ends- Jon & Kate have both been accused of cheating on each other with other people.



The rumors of the past three months haven't helped at all. I watched the Season 5 premiere, and it was so incredibly heartbreaking. When Jon and Kate were together, they barely even acknowledged each other. The paparazzi was hiding in the bushes by the park where their children celebrated their fifth birthday. The family has to come up with aversions to distract the paparazzi.

I think the thing that makes it the saddest is the fact that, as a viewer, you watch the deterioration of a marriage and the destruction of a family. As a viewer you feel as if you are part of the family, and you feel invested in the relationship. Watching it all fall apart is just heartbreaking. To add to that, this is no ordinary infidelity situation. Let's not forget that there are EIGHT- count 'em- eight children involved here, all of whom are below the age of 10.

More than anything, I think this whole hoopla is a great lesson. It shows how important communication is in any relationship. Somewhere along the lines, this couple stopped talking, and somewhere further along that line, something happened that has led to this situation they are currently in. Granted, having camera crews and eight screaming children around 24/7 doesn't exactly facilitate this. But setting boundaries beforehand, and understanding your limits, are both great ways to come to a consensus on the issue at hand.

This family is in a serious predicament. On the upside, this show has given them so many financial blessings in the form of vacations, a new home, etc. In a weird way, this show about their life has become their career. But on the downside, it has taken away their chance for a "normal" life.

So where do you draw the line?

Mission

Over the past 6 weeks, my church has been doing a series called "Boot Camp", which is aimed at helping Christians focus on the basics of our faith. Today's message was about Missions, and the importance of making God's mission to reach others our mission.

Listen to the CF message here.

We cited Luke 15:1-7, and he mentioned that in the passage, Jesus does three things:

- Pursue Us (Luke 15:4)
-Serve Us (Luke 15:5-6)
- Celebrates our redemption (Luke 15:6)

In the same way God pursues us, we are called to do the same to others in our lives. The pastor cited a video blog by Penn Jillette, who is an atheist. Watch this video blog where Jillette mentions the action of a Christian after one of his shows, and his thoughts on the man.
I thought the video spoke for itself, and is a great example of how we as Christians should treat others. What are your thoughts on this issue?

Summer has begun!

I can finally breathe a sigh of relief! I'm finally DONE with this semester!

That means summer is here!

I'm writing this post from a swanky hotel room overlooking Thomas Circle in the amazing Washington, DC! It's only been one day, but I am completely in love with this city! I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I do. Today's been an excruciatingly long day, but it was all well worth it. We got up at 3am, hopped on a flight at 7am, and made it to DC by 9:45.

First on the list of sightseeing excursions was the National Zoo. And obviously, the number one thing I was there to see was the Giant Panda! This was one thing on my list of things to do before I die, and it was so worth the wait! The pandas were adorable.

Afterwards, we headed to the Washington National Cathedral. This church was. AH. MA. ZING.

Amazing architecture, amazing history, all around amazing. the cathedral takes up about 57 acres, which all includes a girls' and boys' boarding school (very Gossip Girl). President Woodrow Wilson is buried there, and the fact that so many heads of state have sat in this church's pews was just awesome! I definitely recommend it. You MUST see it when you go to Washington.

We've been walking all day, and tomorrow we're heading to The White House and the National Mall. I can't wait.

I promise I shall blog pictures when I get home! :)

The Stigma Stops With Me

Today I attended a lecture hosted by the FIU School of Journalism & Mass Communications about HIV/AIDS prevention. The school participated in an initiative to bring attention to the local resurgence of the disease (especially among minorities) and a group of students recently traveled to South Africa to observe the disease first hand. Recently, the school joined with the Miami Herald to provide students with the opportunity to publish their work in a major news publication.

A group of students followed the life of Damaries Cruz, an HIV patient who speaks out about her condition and encourages people to get tested. THe students published a web series entitled "The Stigma Stops With Me". The entire 4-part piece is only about 10 minutes long, but it's worth watching. Damaries was an inspiration to all the students in attendance, and her work is a testament to how much HIV/AIDS prevention and research is still needed.

Please watch, and get tested!


Part 1: "This is Your Mission"
Part 2: "This is My Personal Choice"
Part 3: "Stop the Stigma"
Part 4: "Get Tested and Re-tested"

The Halfway Mark

Spring Break is here! Joy!

Unfortunately for me, I will spend my spring break working on two huge projects for my State Government class & Population class respectively. For the former, I have to get a good chunk of a 15-page term paper on gentrification done. For the latter, I have to start a Census project studying the city of Homestead. You can imagine my enthusiasm.

Gabby went on vacation with his buddies to Orlando, Tampa & St. Augustine, leaving me all by my lonesome here in Miami. ;) I think it all worked out though... I need to work on these projects!

A lot of stuff has been going on lately. My application for UF went through, and now I'm just anxiously waiting to know whether or not I can call myself a true Gator! I also submitted an application for a summer internship at NBC6. I'm hoping FIU will give me credits for the internship, because it would be a great way for me to get field experience. Speaking of FIU, I'm proud to say I made the Dean's List for the School of Journalism & Mass Communication for Fall 2008! Yay! However, I found it amusing that I haven't even been admitted to the SJMC, and yet I made the Dean's List anyway. Maybe I can use that little loophole to get my internship credits, seeing as technically, I'm an SJMC student if I made Dean's List. ;)
FIU never ceases to amaze me.

So anyway, I'm so happy that Spring Break is here! It means I'm almost done with this terrible semester. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the future!

Version 2.0

As you can see, I totally re-vamped my blog!

Since I had so much fun creating a completely new blog for my Visual Design class, I decided to give my old blog some much-needed TLC. I finally changed that long-winded name (I'm sorry, I couldn't think of anything witty), and took off some stuff that was cluttering the page.

Looks nice, don't ya think? ;)

Anyway, stay tuned. I'll try to blog a little more often from now on.

High Heels & Movie Reels

I finally decided on a blog idea!

I created a movie review blog. I'm actually loving it! I might just stick around with it after the project is due. ;)

Check it out! Leave comments! Bookmark it! :)

Help!

For my Visual Design for Media class, we need to create a blog. (I know, big stretch). It has to be on a professional topic, i.e. journalism, photography, artwork, poetry, recipes, etc. It can't be a personal blog like this one.

I was gonna go with a journalism blog, but will anyone really read it? I'm not a photographer, and I'm not a cook. I even thought of creating some sort of LOST analysis blog. A little too obsessed? What do I do?? Help!

Give me an idea for some kind of blog that has journalistic qualities, which I can incorporate a lot of images and visuals, and that people like you would like to read. Your help is greatly appreciated! :)

Valentine's/Anniversary Weekend!

This past weekend was Gabby's and my anniversary (as previously mentioned in my last post). We had an adventurous, fun-filled day together; literally, though. The entire day.

First off, we went to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. It's so peaceful there, and it was the perfect day for a walk in the park. And it also helped that we were able to burn off the hundreds of calories we consumed at Merari's birthday party the night before! ;) We actually went at the perfect time, because they are displaying sculptures by different artists, such as Botero and Chihuly, in different areas of the park. It was great.






After Fairchild, we went back to my house. I made Gabby and my mom a yummy Mediterranean pizza recipe that I found online. Deelish!


(Sorry the picture is terrible. My camera was acting up!)

The rest of the afternoon was spent being bums and watching movies. Later on, we got ready for our big dinner date. We had reservations at Tuscan Steak on South Beach at 9:45, so we had plenty of time to kill. We went to the Lincoln Road movie theaters to watch Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I know, sooo romantic. But it was that or Taken, and while I would love to see that movie, I preferred comedy over dark action thrillers.

Dinner was awesome. The place seemed pretty packed, but it was to be expected on a busy day like Valentine's Day. Our hostess was hilariously ditzy and seemed lost. It was awesome. Other than that, the place was so cute! It's very chic and modern, and the food is amazing, but comes in humongous portions. Plan to share. Gabby ordered a filet mignon; I went for the snapper. I named him Joe.





All in all, we had the perfect day. It was a great way to spend time with my hunny and celebrate five years of happiness. :)

Five Years!

Today (well, technically tomorrow) is me & Gabby's fifth anniversary!

Half a decade! Wow.

I can't believe it's been so long! Time flies I guess. God has truly blessed us with an amazing love (and lots and lots of patience). We have been through so much these past years... from high school band to college, fun times and some awful times as well. We have learned to be patient with one another, and I think we've got the art of communication down pat.

Gabby is my best friend. He is the one person I can talk to about anything and everything, and I am so proud of the person he has become in these past 5 years. I have seen him grow in his relationship with Christ, and I could not be more proud to call him my boyfriend. :)

I love you hunny!

Leap of Faith

This week has been an interesting week for me. Spring semester began, and I've been focused on getting some paperwork in order for a GPA waiver to go through. The FIU School of Journalism requires its students to have a 3.0 GPA and have passed the CLAST exam, as well as take certain classes that they require. I've passed all the required classes, but even after my awesome fall semester, my GPA is just under the required GPA, at 2.96. In December, I took the CLAST and missed the passing score by one point (I know-- I wanted to cry). Anyway, on Tuesday I went to Miami Dade College to register for the next date, which I was told would be January 16 or 23 (the waiver application is due February 1). Unfortunately, when I got there, both dates were filled up, leaving only January 30 for me to take the test.

I was so frustrated, to say the least. This meant that I would have to wait until fall semester to be admitted to the school of journalism! I felt terrible. After some much needed prayer, I woke up the next day feeling content. Yes, bad things happen, but sometimes the worst situations turn into the best.

I've been wanting to go to UF for a long time now- at first I wanted to go straight out of high school, but my grades just weren't good enough at the time. Then I thought of going for grad school, but let's be honest, journalism isn't something you get a practical Masters' degree with. The other day, I decided to give it another shot. The deadline for fall admission to UF is March 1, which would give me plenty of time to submit my application, send my transcripts and finally pass the CLAST. Plus, I would have to wait until fall semester to be admitted to FIU, so why not apply to the school I prefer?


So today I started working on my application for UF. I'm excited. I don't know what the outcome will be, but I know that if it's meant to be, it'll happen. Your prayer and support is greatly appreciated! I need it.

But I have a good feeling about this. :)

Happy 2009!

It's been a while since I last wrote, and what a crazy month it has been! I was so happy to finish fall semester (finally). And I am very proud to say that I surprised even myself and earned straight A's! I wasn't expecting that result at all; I knew I was going to at least get two A's, and two B's. What a pleasant surprise! This is the first time I've received such good grades, and all the glory goes to God for helping me to focus and prioritize my studies. He showed me my potential in a time when I doubted my abilities and proved to me that I can really do anything through Christ who gives me strength.

I was, and am, so humbled by this, and I am so grateful for His faithfulness. :)

After school ended, I started looking for a part time job so that I could make some extra money over the holiday break. I ended up getting a job at Michael's through a friend of mine, Grace. And as much as I may moan and complain about my terrible hours, I realize that I'm lucky to even have a job, especially in these tough economic times. Besides, one of the bonuses at working at an arts & crafts store is that it's really inspired me to be more creative. Every night as I walk through the aisles I get another cute idea. I love it. :)

The holidays this year were especially enjoyable. For Christmas, I participated in MBC's annual Christmas Eve service, singing in the choir with Paula. After two months of rehearsals, I was happy to finally perform for my family and loved ones, and celebrate the birth of Christ. After the service, I made my way home, where we had some family over for Noche Buena. Later on, I went with Gabby to his church's Christmas Eve service.

Christmas morning was exhilarating! I felt like a little kid again. This year, I went to Gabby's house first, because my mom and brother wanted to sleep in a little, since we had gone to bed late the night before. I wanted to get to Gabby's house early, because all of us (his siblings, sister in law, and myself) had a surprise for his mom, and I wanted to be there for the big reveal. Early in December, we took some group pictures with Janet's cousin, Monica, who owns her own photography company. We took some pictures of all of us, put them in a collage frame, and presented it to Gabby's mom, who was caught totally off guard. She started crying, and was so happy that she finally had a professional picture of all her kids. I was glad to be a part of it. :)
Here's one of the pictures from that session:



After Christmas at the Medinas', I returned home and eagerly woke my mom and brother so we could open presents. I was pleased with my gifts this year, not that any of it is really that important or anything. My favorite gift of all though, is my new iPod Touch! My mom bought it because of my good grades. I was so surprised; if you know my mom, you know why. She is notorious for giving typical "mom" gifts, like socks, clothes, and other practical items. Never gadgets. She placed the iPod box in a Nine West shoebox, so I was already excited when I unwrapped it. New shoes! Yay! I opened the box, and I see this bag with an apple on it, and I was so stunned I didn't even know what to say! I thanked my mom a million times over. I was really grateful for all of my gifts, and I was grateful for spending time with family later on that day at my cousin's annual Christmas Day brunch. Her sister in law's son, Rocco, stole my heart. He has these huge grey eyes that are just going to break so many hearts someday. He was teething, so he put almost anything in his mouth. I think I'm in love with him. :)






The holiday break brought a new, albeit temporary, addition to my family: my uncle's
dog, Pisa, came to visit while he was out of town for 10 days. She's a trip. It was great to dogsit, and my uncle just came back and took her home. I told him he could leave her with us whenever he wants.




Finally, for New Years, we went to a party hosted by a family friend of Gabby's family. They have a humongous home, and went all out with the party. The theme was black and white, and I have to admit, I really wasn't looking forward to the party until the day of the event. I bought a white blouse and googled some cute hairstyles and makeup ideas. We had a wonderful time. I was so happy to be rid of 2008! It was a pretty bad year for me and my family overall. Hopefully, 2009 brings much more laughs and fun times than tears and grief. Also, I'm returning to Quick Weight Loss Centers tomorrow! I'm looking forward to what this year has to offer. I can't wait to see what God has in store! :)






Also, I must make this shameless plug for my new favorite show, LOST. Season 5 starts on January 21st! If you haven't watched it, watch it! It's amazing.