A Trip to Vizcaya

We had the day off yesterday, but still I had to go to the office for a while to start a big project. The day was so beautiful it was a shame to spend it indoors. A friend of mine was going with her family to Vizcaya Museum & Gardens and even though I had been there before, I left Coco at home and run to meet them!

The gardens are a favorite site for professional photographers. There were lots of brides and sweet sixteens taking their pictures.

Today I came to the office to work a little more, and to post the pictures. Half of my time at the office is spent doing this:

Have a great weekend puggies and humans!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi! We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving day!

We celebrate at work having lunch a day before Thanksgiving. I work in a small company but one of the partners has an insurance company next door and his sister has another one downstairs. So the party turns out to be pretty big!

This year I had to prepare "sweet potato". Since this term is a little broad, I searched online for recipes and found one a little different than what I had done before. I am used to sweet potato puree with orange juice and mashmellows on top. This one has sweet potatoes and bananas and the topping has pecans. It was really good!

Red and not Wordless

I saw this cool post in Eduardo's blog and I was surprised because red is also my favourite color for my home! The idea came from PoopsieBlue's blog, which I still have not had the time to visit, so I don't know exactly the rules or anything but still, I wanted to post some pictures I took this morning. This week's colour is blue, so I am a week behind! This is my red stuff:

One cushion.

More cushions!

Coffee table runner and flower,

tablecloth,



a poster I made for an architecture class in college,

pots and pans,

cups and salad plates,

bowl, more plates and serving dishes,

salt and pepper shakers,

three little guys hanging from my closet door

and Coco's harness!

Monday Meme

Hi friends!

Eduardo posted a cute picture of his parents last week and so I would also like to introduce you with my lovely parents!

This is my mom and me: (can you notice that she is a little chubby, just like me?)

And my dad and me: (he has wrinkles, just like me!)

And then, mom and dad together in Canada. I am not in the picture, can you wonder why?

Spanish Lessons

"Que quiere Coco?"

"Arf!" (zanahoria)

"No se, no entiendo. Que pasó?"

["What does Coco want?"

"Arf!" (Carrot)

"I don't understand. What happened?"]

Wordless Wednesday

Late and Cool!

I am so overwhelmed with things to do, I am always doing them at the last minute. Or not doing them at all. I need to get more organized or life will eat me alive!


First, my phone is still broken. I had called the insurance to get a replacement and I am still waiting for an adjuster to call me back. I hate to be on top of people. I don't like to be making calls all day to resolve things. I still have not received the insurance money for my car repair. Arggg! Another call. I have not done anything with the traffic ticket I got a couple of weeks ago, but I am still ahead of the deadline. And the list goes on and on.


Back to the phone, I am still able to read blogs but it won't let me comment. Sorry to be absent! I try to sneak at work but it is a little hard sometimes. Specially when I am already taking a little time to write my posts : ].


Our friend Brudabaker gave us an award! It is Sharing the Love award, again! We like the fact that Brutus' mom is always taking care of foster dogs and cats. She is very special!






I posted about this very special award a couple of weeks ago (details here). Thanks for thinking of us!

Our friend Nevis posted a meme last week and tagged all of her readers, because we are all cool people! (or cool pugs?)

6 Random Things About Me:

1. I am a very responsible person but at the same time I hate to have responsibilities. Does that make any sense? The big question is: will ever decide to have my own kids? Mmmm... that's a great responsibility!

2. I love carbs. I can eat rice and pasta everyday. If I don't have carbs in a couple of days, I don't feel like I have eaten at all. I can skip meat for weeks, but I am not a vegetarian.

3. I can't eat food at lunch. I have to eat something very close to breakfast or I will sleep the afternoon in my desk. And I can't have a regular breakfast in the morning, unless it is in the weekend. I regularly have only a cup of hot milk with honey, or hot chocolate.

4. I am always cold. Always!

5. I don't like chairs. I prefer to sit in the floor instead of the chair, and I also like to lay down in the floor for a while everyday. I think it helps my back. Even though I am allergic, I like carpeted floor because it's more comfortable to me. And it is not as cold as tiled floor! (And if you are curious, wood floor is very rare and expensive in this area).

6. I love to cook but at the same time it is hard for me to iniciate the cooking process. Either I am too tired, not inspired or just don't feel like cooking; but when I do start cooking my mind goes to a happy stage of relaxation.

I just realized that Thanksgiving is in a week! Wow! A cousin of mine got married last year in Oregon and organized four different wedding receptions: in Oregon, Philadelfia, Lima (Perú) and Tampa (Florida), that way they were able to share with most of their relatives and friends. I went to the reception in Tampa with my mom, the saturday after thanksgiving. It was nice to spend the weekend with my family. Here is a picture of me in Clearwater Beach.

Speaking of family, my mom will arrive in a month! Let's see if she did overcome her jealousy issues with Coco. They are always fighting for the best seat in the car, or the biggest towel at the beach!

A New Family Member

This past weekend was really great. My cousin arrived from Perú with his family, a total of 10 people. They were on their way to Orlando (Disney) but spent the whole Saturday with me at my apartment. I was so happy to have them over!

My mother sent some peruvian "ricos" to me. Two complete luggages. Here is a part of what I got:

Lots of cookies and chocolates, six different flavours of exotic fruit preserves, artichokes, 3 bottles of liquor, bread, etc. She also sent two boxes with old ribbons and buttons, for the journals that I am making.

My cousin is more than 10 years older than me, but is my favourite cousin. We went to the same university - at different times, of course. His wife, father in law and brothers in law also went to my university. They are all like family to me. They have a 12 year old daughter and a cute little 1 year old boy. Meet Mikel:

Mikel is learning to walk, but managed to spend the whole day chasing Coco.

(Unable to take a better picture).

My cousin is considering getting a Pug for Mikel when they get back to Perú. Coco behaved well and has pacience with small kids. They all loved him! The funny thing is that after spending 8 hours with Coco and me at home, they asked if he really can't see. They still couldn't believe it because he acts just like a normal dog.

On Sunday I planned to take Coco to the pool again but I woke up very late and very tired. Coco was tired too, so I didn't feel too bad staying home. In the afternoon I went to my Food & Fun meetup group get together. We had taken a Thai cooking class a while ago and met this time to cook it ourselves. Now you can understand why my diets fail all the time. Everything was yummy!

It was a great weekend, with great weather. When I opened my door today, I almost froze. It was very cold! I was happy to be able to wear my winter shoes, I just love them!

Today was a great day, too, because of the arrival of a new member of the family: Meet Pocho, my new pug doll. Thank you so much Melissa!

To finalize, I will leave you all with an old picture of Coco. This is from my last year's birthday, in Key Largo. Coco is shaking, can you see the sand falling off his body?

Oh! By the way, thank you all so much for the birthday greetings!

Spanish Lessons

*Coco se sacude, camina y se sienta*

(Coco shakes, walks and sits down)

"Quién es mi Coco?"

(Who is my Coco?) => silly question and tone of voice but that's how I talk to him ;D

"Vamos, vamos, corre. A donde vamos?"

(Let's go, let's go, run. Where are we going?) => Another silly question!

Things hanging on my wall

I prepared this post like 2 weeks ago but since the pictures are so bad I thought of getting new pictures before posting it, but didn't. Anyway, I may be moving out again in January. I will take new pictures in the new house.

So here it goes:


I liked Roxy's post about the things her mom may put in the new sewing room. I took pictures of what I now have hanging on the walls of my apartment.

In the living room: (I think I need a level... they are all croocked!)

In my dining room:

The next two are hand carved in wood. This pictures are so blurry!

In the hallway (if I can call that something that is 5 ft long):



In my bedroom:

This are not in a wall because they are falling apart. I need to fix that.

What else? What I have in the kitchen, was posted a while ago.

I also read this meme from Nevis blog, and wanted to do it but... again, I forgot!

Outside my Window… It's so dark! And it is only 5:40 P.M.

I am thinking… about a problem that needs solution. It has been in my head for a while, I just hope to make the best desicion posible.

I am thankful for… my mother. She is a great friend!

From the kitchen… nothing! I haven't cooked in a while. All I buy lately is carrots and green beans for Coco. I am surviving on air!

I am creating… a new journal and a scrapbook of my latest trip to Perú.

I am going… I was supposed to go to a friend's house in South Beach after work but I couldn't take Coco out during lunch today, so I have to run home and -I guess- cancel my plans.

I am reading... not much lately. I have so many things on my head...

I am hearing… the air conditioning. It is so loud!

Around the house… everything is clean and neat because the cleaning lady was there today. I love her!

One of my favorite things… travel. If I just had more than 2 weeks of vacation per year...

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week… go out with my cousins that are visiting from Perú for the weekend, go to the waterpark with Coco, Food and Fun meetup (we will cook Thai food!), oh I am going to be sooooo busy!

Wordless Wednesday

Birthday Girl!

Yes, today it's my birthday! I am 34 now. Biologically. Mentally, who knows? Sometimes I feel like I still live in a bubble...

Anyway, I won't be doing anything special today. I had such a great time Sunday at the pool that I feel that it was my birthday celebration. I am a simple girl!


After the pool, hubby and I went shopping to the mall. He wanted to get some nice clothes for me but nothing fit. Yes, I gained weight... it has always been a problem for me. I loose and gain weight constantly. I am short and have always problems trying to find the right size. So I gave up and ended up buying a hat!

Before leaving the mall, hubby insisted in getting something else, so I got a jean. It is like 2 feet longer than it should be! I will get it fixed during the weekend.

Coco was specially sweet today. He gave me lots of hugs and kisses... He makes me really happy!

Winter Adventure Sports

Hi friends!

I want to tell you about my adventures during the weekend. On Saturday we stayed home all day and mom was able to finish her first journal. I helped a lot, trying to get in the middle between her arm and her body so she could sew more comfortable. She noticed that I am cuddling with her now, something I didn't use to do before. She loves that!

This is her journal:

On Sunday we went to Castaway Island Waterpark! I was told that this is a children's waterpark that opens for doggies only for a weekend, before closing for winter. But sincerely, I don't understand how a child can have fun here with all this predators around.

"Help! This fish wants to eat me!"

There was even a crocodile!

He tried to attack me, but I am a fierce puggy!

"Ewwww! Wash your teeth, please!"

After the crocodile event, I relaxed in the water for a while.

But not for long... I had to run help my mother! She was being attacked by a frenchie! I am sure she didn't like the hugs and kisses at all!

I had a talk with him, just a warning.

He then run away. I think I scared him!

When we got home, I thought we had left all the danger behind. I was mistaken, there was a hawk in front of our apartment door! He had captured a little bird... we scared the hawk away but could not save the bird. I was sad because if I had been home, this would not have happened!

I am such a brave pug!