Part Of The Color Brigitte

UPDATE.....

2011-02-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

THIS IS AWESOME!!!! Literally 30 seconds after I posted my last blog explaining what is happening, Thomas called me. We have excellent news. God is in control.

#1- Thomas has always known his job was temporary... but they notified him today that he will be working at LEAST until January of next year... and probably more! AMEN!

#2- He got a $100/month pay increase... This will help cover the expenses of what we have done to remedy our situation in our home. AMEN!!!!!

#3- He got a tremendous bonus check for the year... a check so helpful that it will most probably cover the lump sum that we will need to pay to get out of our mortgage with minimal ramification. AMENNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best news we have had in a long time concerning our home situation! We are so happy and so moved that God chose this moment that we were feeling so low to bless us. Please continue to pray for us so that we can go through our short sale smoothly, for our marriage now that we will no longer be living alone, and for wisdom throughout this entire situation.

Can I just reiterate...

God is in control!!!!

Slacking on my blogging... Let's catch up!

2011-02-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

Song: Movin' Out

Artist: Billy Joel

Hey blogsters! It's been forever. I seriously haven't blogged in like 2 years (what a shame). Crazy things have been happening in the past year... but I'll get back to that later. For now, I'd just like to touch on the present. Life has been changing for the Soucy family... changes we didn't exactly expect.

To start of, let me just clear the air and announce that I am NOT pregnant. I got a few of those texts... and started laughing. If I ever do get pregnant, be sure that I'll call you first before I tweet. Now! To get to the meat and potatoes... My husband and I are moving out of our house... not because we want to, but because of circumstances out of our control. Before you read, let me ask you to not feel bad for us, because worse things are happening in the world. All we need is prayer for patience and for mercy from the investor who owns our mortgage. Let's start from the beginning... last year: March of 2010.

Around March last year, our adjacent neighbors were super cool. It was an awesome Chinese family who were quiet, nice, and very clean. We really liked them because we never had to worry about a noise problem or a cleanliness problem. Much to our despair, they suddenly moved out after living there for about 6 months without notice. We finally found out they moved out because they thought Thomas was beating me up and it was freaking them out (It turned out to be the neighbor behind them that had an abusive relationship). After they moved out, a new set of tenants set up camp. These new tenants seemed nice. At least we thought...

The new tenants are an older set of people (around 50s-60s) who are living off disability and government checks (and food stamps). They are not the cleanest people, in fact, they do not shower often (still not sure why, our association covers our water bill). They are nice, though. We have taken one of the tenants to church with us a couple of time to try and reach out, but he says that they are all pretty much set in their ways. They all smoke... a lot (since they don't work and stay at home all day). All they do all day is sit around at home, smoke, and watch TV... which is cool... if it wasn't going to start the problem we have now. It's basically a frat house for old people with nowhere else to go. Cool. Now that I've explained their situation, let me explain ours.

Touching on the smoking thing... they literally use whatever money the have for things to smoke (cigarettes, black and mild, illegal smokables ... etc). Unfortunately, there seems to be some kind of leak in the ventilation systems, so all of their smoke (second hand) comes into our home. This means all of our clothes smell like we've been hanging at the Hard Rock Hotel. Febreeze has worked wonders for us, but you can't febreeze books (and now when I sell them on Amazon, I can't list it from a smoke free home). You wouldn't think that second had could make that much of a difference, but over time, it does! On top of that, the second hand has been affecting our health. I haven't had asthma since I was 7, but now keep an allergy inhaler in the house because the smoke is a trigger. I haven't had to use it since I take antihistamines, which is a blessing, but we are still concerned for our overall health (and you all know the damages that can be done with 2nd hand). Our neighbors try to smoke outside, but somehow, the smoke still manages to make its way into our home. Fine. We dealt with it... but wait! There's more :)

Our neighbors do not like to be clean. They will sweep, but when it comes to bugs, they do not care. They keep their sliding glass door wide open all day and night. You can imagine what kind of things come in. Roaches. All varieties... german, american, mini, big, baby, adult... RIDICULOUS! So, those roaches, like the cigarette smoke, make their way into our home via connected plumbing and through our ventilation leak. How did we narrow it down to plumbing and ventilation? We literally re-caulked all the floors in our entire home like 3 times.. changed out our carpeting to wood flooring, and foamed around literally all plumbing. Thomas even caulked all the outlets in the house. Turns out roaches CAN swim, and can also hold their breath for about 40 minutes (good to know). So, now we have roaches (as of May, 2010). Gross. We try to be very clean (and those of you who have been to our house can agree... we are clean) and keep things like this out. Roaches carry nasty diseases.... diseases we don't want. The problem got out of hand, so we called an exterminator. After a few visits, the roach appearances dwindled, but still happened. Lets flash forward to December.

In December, 2010, we bought our first Christmas tree. We found something that looked like a tick on the wall, and it was full of blood. I thought to myself, "Oh, this must be a tick that came with the tree by accident... that's okay". WRONG. Turns out, my neighbors now have BEDBUGS. Like the roaches and the smoke, the bedbugs learned how to make their way into our house. Well, guess what happened. Our neighbors finally decided to fog their house (without telling us). After they did this (on Dec. 23), they left their front door open so that all the roaches and bedbugs in their house could run outside. They decided to come into our house through tiny cracks in our weather stripping in the front door. Needless to say, Christmas eve and Christmas day were sleepless nights. We ended up using painters tape around the front door so that nothing could come in. They still made their way in through the ventilation leak. So, here's the runaround... We have 2nd hand smoke, roaches, and bed bugs. Gross. We have not had guests at our house for many months, fearing what friends could take home with them. Since then, we have had to wake up and go to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual so that we can inspect clothing and the bed for bedbugs (they like to travel). In the craziness of this all, we've lost two sets of bedsheets. The first were set on fire (by accident while checking the mattress... funny story) and the second were infested with bedbugs after not checking for 2 nights.

Now we are pretty much up to speed to present day. To date, we have spent money on the floor, recaulking, extermination for roaches, and extermination for bedbugs (850 bucks per treatment man... crazy). Our neighbors agreed to exterminate for bedbugs the same day as us so that it wouldn't be a recurring problem (and they were threatened by the association to be evicted if they didn't). Well, they didn't and we did. That means we just wasted 850 bucks. The neighbor said they wanted new estimates for prices, but they could have told us that when we gave them notice 2 weeks earlier. Our exterminator went in the neighbors house and came out doing what looked like the mexican hat dance. He said their floor was moving. Literally, moving. They still haven't exterminated. The association found out that they can't evict our neighbors because the owner of the unit has not been completely foreclosed on yet. Simply stated, the owner is being foreclosed on and is collecting money from the tenants and just pocketing it without paying her mortgage. Why would she evict them? Especially now that her unit is destroyed. We called the department of health. Turns out you cannot use the Department of Health unless you file a legal claim against the neighbors first. Crap.

So here we are. My husband has decided to short sale our house because of the health hazards that we are under. Therefore, we are now moving in to my parent's house. The pros: no more bedbugs, roaches, smoke, or neighbors. The cons: if the investor who owns our mortgage is not merciful (with our short sale price and possible lump sum to get out) with our situation, Thomas's credit will be hurt...badly. That means it will be hard for him to get a job and hard for us to buy a new home when we're ready. Other cons: we are being driven out of our home by tenants... lol. When does that happen?! This is all craziness. Everything is a work in progress, and we are living one day at a time now. We will be moving some of our clothes to my parents house this weekend to start the process.

Here's where you come in. Please pray for us. A lot. Like a lot a lot. We need prayer. Patience, wisdom, and understanding. That's all we ask. Don't feel sorry for us. Things like this happen to people all the time (or so I hear). Pray that we can get out with minimal damage and that some day (hopefully sooner than later) we can find a permanent home. We've more or less have had positive attitudes throughout this situation, which is a divine blessing. That's pretty much it. Thanks for reading. Hope to be blogging more from now on so that I don't have to bombard you with a wicked long blog!

Happy Birthday Blog!

2010-01-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

Song: Fidelity

Artist: Regina Spektor

So, in light of it being my blogs belated birthday, I decided to return to the blogging world and give writing another shot. I've been putting off writing for months now. Similar to a friend of mine, I didn't have time to write. Then things started happening that I wanted to write about, but hadn't written so long that I wanted to catch up.... so I just never did. And here I am! So, to bring you up to par... like any diet that has ever been done, I succeeded in the short term, but failed epically in the long run. Of course we all diet and re-diet and cheat and what not, so that's of no concern. However, when it comes to my mental diet, I enjoyed an Epic Win. I have grown a lot over the past few months. My marriage, friendships, and kinship has changed drastically with my adoption of a "we may never see each other again" attitude. Even in the stupid things and the people I see all the time, I kinda enjoyed them more believing that it may be the last (even though it's probably not). On another note, I did not get in to FIU Nursing school. Long story... upon complaining, I found out that they're not even sure why I didn't get in. I was super depressed for a bit, but I didn't realize that there was a different window of opportunity being opened. To shorten it, I was invited to a better program (Physician Assistant) and am currently pursuing my career! That is pretty much all that is new. Until I start my program, I'm working in 2 clinics and dissecting cadavers for my anatomy teacher (that is a whole other story in itself). I am totally enjoying my time off and getting ready for what God had planned for me all along. That's pretty much all I've got to say for now. Until next blog, here is a list of things I never wrote about but will mention briefly:

-Got a job at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza

-Threw a killer surprise party for my husband

-Went through a painstaking process of getting into nursing school (only to hear that I was never rejected in the first place...wtf? communication fail.)

-Applied for PA school... I pretty much have my seat saved. YAY!

-Enjoyed a fantastic 22nd bday eating EVERYTHING... literally ate all my favorite foods. yum!

-Quit my job @ Anthony's (May-December, not a bad run!)

-Went to Hawaii (amazing)

-Saw a lot of really cool people get engaged.

That is pretty much all... I think...

Half Way There...

2009-04-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

Song: Livin on a Prayer

Artist: Bon Jovi

So, I've been on my detox diet for 15 days now. To say the least, it has been.... interesting. It has been pretty hard to follow the rules since no one else in my family is on the same diet. So far, here is what I have encountered:

Day 1: Amanda and my Mom agree to follow the diet. Awesome!

Day 2: Tom agrees to follow my diet. Awesome! Dinner time comes. We eat healthy food. He says, "I want cereal and milk for dessert". Cool! Problem: both the cereal and milk were expired. Tom's solution: eating a dove ice cream bar. FAIL. Those are my favorite! I kinda died inside.

Day 3: Dinner at Houstons for Rey's final family get together. Hot fudge brownie sundae for dessert. =( I passed. So did Thomas, for my sake. I am so grateful.

Day 4: Lauren's Shower. Tiramisu? A big no-no. I'm not a fan, but anything looks good when you're hungry.

Day 5: Mom and Dad invite Tom and I out to lunch at FIVE GUYS BURGERS AND FRIES. We went. They ate. Mom's diet: FAIL. I ended up eating a small quiznos sub. Torture. I'm not even sure how anyone could resist the smell of those fresh cut fries and real burgers. Night time comes... Rey's going away party. Ate a grilled cheeseburger, no bun. That wasn't so bad.

Day 6: Mom and Dad invite Tom and I to Chilis. I look at my restaurant app on my ipod, see that everything has sat. fats and are super fattening.... decide not to eat. I had mozzarella and baked corn chips for dinner that evening. BLAH

Day 7: Caffeine headaches stop. THANK GOD! Life without soda/coffee is totally possible. Later, Amanda calls and finally breaks down and tells me she cheated on her diet. I wont tell you what she ate, but to say the least, I was SUPER JEALOUS. lol. Love her still though, and she is as determined as I. She's doing really well!

Days 8-15: More or less effortless. I think the first week killed all the cravings. I still wish I could eat a french fry here or there, but hey.... I'm better off without it.

Although the beginning was hard, I'm starting to see results already! I've lost 6 pounds, and my belly is near-flat. Bikini-ready body is almost here, and I couldn't be more happy. I broke my no-soda rule yesterday by drinking a can of caffeine-free ginger ale since I ate some bad shrimp, but besides that, I think I'm getting the hang of this! Anyway... That's about it for now. Finals are next week and I need to prepare. Lets hope things go smoothly.

Happy birthday today to Becca, Genevie, Joanna, and Sammie!

Project Detox Has Arrived!

2009-03-31T08:48:00.000-07:00

So, it's finally here! Project Detox.... a personalized, self-created program made to help encourage healthy habits in my spiritual, emotional, and physical life. I've really wanted to clean up my act lately but have been having trouble with my lack of accountability. As a result, I've come up with project detox, cleaning up all aspects of my life at the same time in a public manner. What helps is that it takes around 21 days to condition the body and mind in a manner that you can make something "habitual" (whatever it may be). So, for the next 30 days, here are the aspects of my life I'd like to improve:

First off... the very basic PHYSICAL aspect. I want to change my diet. Currently, I consume some form of fast food at least once a week, eat something fried with almost every meal, and drink something loaded with sugar about once every other day. To say the least, at this rate, I'm going to ruin my body in a matter of no time. The plan? Going to an extreme. While some people think, extremes don't work, they drive you insane, etc., I think that I'm just going to this extreme to develop new good habits (and doesn't mean that I will eat like this for the rest of my life). For the next thirty days, I'm going to try and follow these 10 commandments to benefit my body:

1. eliminate refined sugars (candy, ice cream, etc) and eat more natural ones (fruits/veggies)

2. stay away from fried foods (they make you bloat and also crave more fatty foods)

3. not drink soda or juice from concentrate (only fresh squeezed, no sugar added)

4. drink a ton of water

5. cook the majority of my meals at home (where I can control what is used for "flavor")

6. not eat heavy carbs after lunch, and try to replace them with complex carbs

7. stay away from caffeine (which is super addicting)

8. supplement my losses with multivitamins

9. stay away from super fatty foods or condiments

10. NO FAST FOOD.

Now, I am a reasonable person. I know that a normal person could not live without breaking these rules every once in a while.... and I'm okay with that (as long as it's after these 30 days). I'm just trying to train myself to eat better, and make the things listed in the commandments more of a rarity than a commonality. The benefits will be tremendous, I'm sure. Fried foods, refined sugars, and anything listed above, generally participates in the development of "the pouch" (you all know what I'm talking about) and excess fat that no one wants. I will also be exercising daily (hopefully) for at LEAST 15 minutes. My focus will be cardio since I want to lose fat and tone muscle. My goal? I want a flat belly and firm thighs. I think that's reasonable!

Next, my spiritual life. Well, first off, I need structure. I am going to make sure I do my quiet time with God. I tend to get off track when I don't do it every day. I think that making the challenge public, however, will help me make it a real habit. I'm also going to try and do my marriage devotional with Tom every day since our relationship with God is just as important. This is not where it ends though. I think the reason I am so annoyed with some people is because they carry some of the same traits as I do. I become especially annoyed with them when they carry the same spiritual deficiency. When someone is mean, I for some reason feel the urge to be mean to that person (irony). So, for the next month, expect some blog updates with how I'm going to rid myself of these deficiencies: attitude (positive would be nice), laziness, jealousy, greed, honesty (or lack thereof), and friendliness (it counts when you represent something bigger than you). The only way to fix these things is to confront them head on... even if it means apologizing to some people I rarely speak to. Pray for me. It's not going to be easy.

Finally, I just want to come out of this as an all around better me. I want to train myself to do these things and make them habitual. Like my brother always told me, "If you're not growing, you're dying". I want to grow, and I want to be everything I was intended to be. So, this is just a challenge, baby steps, in order to reach a what seems to be out of reach goal. I think I can do it.... but I still need all the support I can get. Day one was a great success, but I've just begun. We'll see what happens from now to April 30th.

PROJECT DETOX COMING SOON....

2009-03-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

Song: Everybody's changing

Artist: Keane

Project Detox is a thirty day challenge I invented to encourage a physical, emotional, and spiritual cleansing in order to enjoy true freedom from life's toxicities. Day one is April 1, 2009 (no, not an april fools joke). Expect to see more soon! =)

Finally! Some Free Time!!!!

2009-02-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

Song: Take Me Out

Artist: Franz Ferdinand

So, It's been 1.17 months since I've blogged. It was definitely a crazy January, to say the least. Where do I start!?! How about New Years. Seems like a good way to start this blog today. Of course all of these instances will be random, and most things that happened this month will be left out due to lack of blogging/time.

New Years Eve: What a hilarious way to end a great 2008. Good food, good friends, fun times... everything went flawlessly that evening until a little after the strike of 12. A friend of ours decided to play with the fireworks and light a whole package of bottle rockets (still in the plastic wrapper, setting the wrapper that holds the fuses together on fire). I wasn't outside at that exact moment. In fact, I was inside the house making fun of how boys love to play with fire (or just people in general for that matter... I like fire too.). Amanda and I walk towards the kitchen and suddenly see in the darkness of the back yard bright lights, people ducking and dropping to the floor, and fireworks exploding around eye level. Suddenly I heard screaming, and Tati rushed into the house, bleeding in the general area of her mouth. It looked like one popped in her face. Wonderful. I quickly took her to the kitchen and commenced the "cleaning of the wound" technique. FUNNNN! She was scared, poor thing. Thank God it just cut her lip, and nothing more serious than that. As soon as I finished there, I went to the back yard to see what happened. Apparently a couple of rockets fired at my hubby as well. His was a little more humorous though. A couple hit his chest and arm, and he thought he might be on fire, so he jumped in the pool (with what I now dub the "statue of liberty" pose, since one arm was straight in the air out of the pool trying to salvage his iPhone... it worked). He walked out of that situation, thankfully, with just some singed hair, a 1st degree burn on his arm, a ruined shirt (my favorite, actually), and wet clothes. No Big. I know this is old news... but I will enjoy reminiscing when i read this blog X weeks/years from now.

After all of this went down, things generally went back to the way they were before. I started school, Tom went back to work, so on and so forth. Ana, Lauren's mom, had a great idea to give me an internship like job at the Good News Care Center down in homestead. What a blessing! I work now every Friday, and am loving every moment of it. I get to draw blood, give shots, and take vitals! WOO! I also get to see and experience some interesting sicknesses/patients. Love that job! This, among other things, has been the source of my time consumption! School has been crazy. Today I took a really tough exam for my microbiology class. What a life ruiner! I have had my face in a book for so long, I almost forgot how to enjoy my spare time! Luckily, I've had a friend to cheer me up when I was tired of school and wanting to just drop dead.

Some more random but awesome things that have happened this month:

We found out that my Nanu (grandma) does NOT need chemotherapy, and that hormone therapy will suffice! THANK GOD!

My dad had surgery on this lump he had behind his ear, and he is looking better by the minute. A day after his surgery he was already up and running (which I did not recommend, but its how me feels better I guess). Woo!!!

The Spiegels inherited 5 glorious puppies from their dogs Honey and Louis! They are adorable, and are all healthy and adorable.

Becca, my maid-of-honor, started public high school mid-semester and is loving every minute! So very happy for her! She looks so much happier now too!

My mom and I have been able to spend a little more time together since Tom and my dad have been attending a Bible study every Monday night. I do love spending time with my mom. So glad we have an "appointment" every week.

My brother has been battling the crappiest weather ever in Kentucky. I feel terrible for him. I wish I could send him a palm tree and a loaf of cuban bread. Fortunately, the school snow days are over and classes are back in session!

Lots of random awesomeness! Now I just want to be TAKEN OUT! away from the house, the computer screen, books, notes, everything. I can't wait to get out. 1 more day till the weekend! =D

Just In Time For The New Year.....

2008-12-31T02:39:00.000-08:00

Song: Yellow (live)

Artist: Coldplay

As you all know so well, it has been an extremely eventful year for me, my family, and my friends. Just for kicks, I decided to do a quick recap of 2008! (dont be mad...i'm not mentioning birthdays... those happen every year! I might, however, mention my own... it was important!)

1. January 14, 2008: My Blog: Part of the Color Brigitte is BORN! (Photo by Glowing Light)

2. January 19, 2008: Rey leaves for Seminary in Kentucky... what a sad day

3. March 29, 2008: Thomas decides to pop the question....2 weeks after our anniversary! What a sneak!

4. April 12, 2008: Kristel's Bridal Shower... Amazing!! (Photo by Merari)

Also, May 23, 2008: her Bachelorette Party...

and finally.... May 31, 2008: her glorious wedding!

5. April 24, 2008: Mu-Dai... and Dave Uribe's incredible work of art... (He also did graduate! which is definitely a highlight of this year, but I have no pictures)

6. May 5, 2008: The day I met FRED. Need I say more? =)

7. May 25, 2008: Amanda graduates! I bought her a matching barbie... it was a good day!

8. June 3, 2008: Thomas's birthday... he (like a good steak) had finally aged to perfection!

9. June 8, 2008: What a GREAT day for an Engagement Party! =) (Photo by Paul)

10. June 21, 2008: Thomas finds out he tore his ACL, and gets it repaired days later via arthroscopic surgery! (Photo by Paul)

11. September 27, 2008: Viv's Bridal Shower!

October 24, 2008: .....Followed by her rehearsal dinner....

October 26, 2008: ......and then her wedding!

12. October 4, 2008: Lia's Bridal Shower! (photo by Merari)

October 30, 2008: ...Followed by her rehearsal dinner....

November 1, 2008: ...and her wedding!

13. October 8, 2008: Rey comes down to MIA for his surprise PROPOSAL! Yay!

14. October 11, 2008: Only one of the most fun days ever! My Favorite Things BRIDAL SHOWER!

15. November 9, 2008: Only the greatest wedding gift ever received... the COLDPLAY Concert!

16. November 26, 2008: The Night of the Rehearsal Dinner! Horray for crepes!

November 29, 2008: ....followed by the wedding!

December 1, 2008:.... and the honeymoon that got cut short by 7 days. =(

17. December 4, 2008.... My 21st bday! Shared with family and friends! It was also Loli's bday!

18. December 17, 2008: Thomas graduates with his MASTERS in accounting! WOO! (photo by Paul)

19. December 28, 2008: Pepper De Armas is introduced to the family! adorable =)

20.... This will just be my list of randomness...

Among all these things, we had the opportunity to:

-See Jeff Dunham Live... hilarious!

-Enjoy our very first Christmas together!

-Get picked up by search and rescue on a private island

-Go to Orlando for our honeymoon 2.0 to enjoy magic kingdom, animal kingdom, and MGM

-Get a new 2009 Acura TL in white! Yay Thomas! Happy graduation!

-Get Guitar Hero World Tour

-Have dinner guests at our home two nights in a row! (samurai night first, then loaded fries and fritas night!)

-Plan a new years party for the very first time with some friends of ours!

and most importantly.... at this moment I am writing this blog... I am witness to a wonderful miracle. I had the wonderful opportunity to watch my grandma NANU defeat breast cancer! I've been at the hospital all night with her and she looks great! Praise God that she is doing so well.

And thus concludes this awesome eventful year... in a nutshell.

My resolutions (please hold me to them!):

1. To be an amazing wife!

2. To do something extraordinary for God

3. To get into nursing school

4. To make enough money working until nursing school to pay my health insurance for the next 3 years

5. Maintain my BMI and tone my muscles

Let's hope I stick to my guns and do a good job this year!

<3 new family

2008-12-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

Song: Glass of Water

Artist: Coldplay

My mom decided to get her new puppy this week. I had the pleasure of naming her =) Here are a couple of pictures of the adorable Pepper De Armas. New blog coming soon!

Her body is a little smaller than my size 5 foot! She'll grow... eventually! I think Macho is beginning to like her! =)

That concludes my extremely short blog! =)

Short but sweet!

2008-12-22T12:59:00.001-08:00

Song: Life in Technicolor ii

Artist: Coldplay

Biki's Bags is now open for business! Now that I'm married and in need of health insurance, I'm going to be making CapriSun purses again to start payin' the bills! Since I have laryngitis right now and can't really do much with my time, I decided to make a new project. Today I created the very first EVER (I have never ever seen one yet to this day) CapriSun bookbag. Here are a few pictures. I'm very excited to take it out! I'm not sure I'm going to sell this one since it is a prototype, however if someone makes a good offer, I guess I can't refuse. Tell your friends! CapriSun bags are back! =)

Horray for RECYCLING! =)

It's got a seashell closure. I ran out of buttons.

Honeymoon Hiatus

2008-12-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

Song: Help Is Round The Corner/Swallowed In The Sea

Artist: Coldplay

If you want a good read, this post is definitely for you. NY Times called this post "RIVETING!" ... j/k. It is pretty good though.

The week has been incredible for me. As all of you know, I got married last Friday. I could not have asked for a more perfect wedding! Everything went flawlessly and we had such a great time. I only wish it would have lasted longer! Time flew by super fast. Thank you, by the way, to all the awesome people who participated in it! You all made it exactly what I dreamed. I really do want to go into detail about the wedding, so I'll save that for the next post. For now, I'm just going to focus on the honeymoon for blog sake. If you've read my blogs in the past (back when I had myspace), you would probably remember my "Down with the sickness" entry (that horrifying week in Prague). Well, if you thought that was bad, read on!

...We had the privilege of staying in the presidential suite that night at the Westin Colonnade...which was pretty flippin amazing! It was 2 stories high (the room, that is) with the bed and amazing bath upstairs and a living space and dining room downstairs. Bottom line, pure awesomeness. We enjoyed ourselves on Saturday by going to Houstons to eat (I totally pigged out) and watching some in room entertainment (aka whatever was on TV). We were still a little exhausted from the wedding. Sunday morning we woke up at 3:30 to be at the airport by 4. Our flight was destined to leave at 6:30 am, and we were ready to go!

Thomas and I had designed the perfect honeymoon in Peter Island that was really the whole package. Massages, snorkeling, sailing, food, everything included. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, it was so much better than that! It was by far the most gorgeous place I have ever been! We took 2 connecting flights to get into Tortola, one of which was on a propeller plane (Tom's first time on one of these). When we arrived in Tortola, we were greeted by the Peter Island personnel who immediately took our bags and offered us drinks (cool!). We enjoyed some crisp Coca-Cola and proceeded to get on a 50 ft boat that would take us straight to our secluded dream island. Everything was beautiful! The water, the people, the service, EVERYTHING! We could not wait for the fun to start!...however, we arrived a little bit late on Sunday, so we decided to relax and save the beach for the next day.

DINNER TIME! Time to enjoy some world-renowned dining. This four diamond resort housed one amazing Executive chef, Michael Clinton. The foods were really exquisite, so I decided to be a little adventurous and try something new. The special that evening was duck. I thought, "hmm... duck.... kinda like chicken, right? I'll have that!"... along with this thought was the appetizer idea "scallops... hmm... kinda like shrimp, right? Okay!". So, my meal was set. Scallops and Duck. WHAT A MISTAKE. I'm not a fan of scallops. The texture killed me. The duck was the weirdest part. I wasn't aware that duck could be cooked "to temperature" (aka rare, med rare, well, etc). My duck was red. I guess that means it was somewhere in between medium and medium rare? Who knows. Anyway, I did not enjoy this world class cuisine. I'm just a steak and potatoes simpleton, what can I say! Well, the night wound down and we finally fell asleep after playing a round of pool and whatnot.

Around 1 o'clock AM, I ran out of bed by reflex and immediately began puking (thank goodness I made it to the toilet). That was the beginning of the end. I must have puked a good 20 times before Tom decided to tell the front desk we needed serious help. Search and rescue came to save me (since we were on a secluded private island that had no medical facility) thanks to the resort manager Mr. Mason (really cool guy!). By this time I had my head hung in the toilet, completely drained of all life. The British Virgin Island search and rescue team's arrival was such a relief for me. Finally! Some help. Poor Thomas was horrified watching me puke my life away. I felt so bad for him, but couldn't control my urge to chuck every 10 seconds. I was lifeless, couldn't move unless it was a chucking reflex, was very slow and unresponsive. I remember receiving oxygen from a rescuer named AMANDA, and being carried out by two other rescuers named TOM AND PAUL (irony, no?). They were really nice and took good care of me.

They proceeded to take me to an inflatable boat with an engine and 4 other men. It was pitch black darkness. From what Thomas told me (because I was laying down semi-unconscious in the raft instead of standing like the rest), it was terribly rough seas, and very dark. Apparently their source of light in the pitch black ocean was one of the rescuers holding a household flashlight in front of the boat. YIKES! That must have been creepy. Good thing I was in O2 land. We finally made it to the shore of Tortola. They carried me into a jeep looking vehicle, and I of course immediately wanted to chuck again. I heard someone say in an adorable British accent, "Please don't chuck in the car! I just cleaned it!". I complied. I hung my head out the door and proceeded. We arrived in at the hospital in minutes, and they got me the best seat in the house. I had a room with semi-updated technology and great nurses. They started an I.V. drip to help my severe dehydration, gave me a shot to stop the nausea, and collected some blood for testing. Mr. Mason was there with us all evening to help us and make sure everything went smoothly. What a blessing! Eleven hours later, I thankfully began to feel better. They prescribed me antibiotics for my bacterial food poisoning (why I'll never eat duck or scallops again). Tom and I were scared the bill would be terrible (an I.V. at Kendall Regional once cost me $1,500...and I was only there for an hour). Thank God... the bill came to a total of $136. Amazing. Wish prices were that low here in Miami.

Later that day we were escorted back to our island on a ferry. I felt pretty decent for having been deathly ill a few hours earlier. Tom and I played some Yahtzee! and we ate some dinner (of course, all I could eat were crackers). The rest of that whole day was devoted to sleeping for Tom and I. The night before was exhausting. The terror, the physical agony, everything wore us down. We had big plans for Tuesday though! We hoped it would be a better day.

Tuesday morning was nice. I woke up feeling really good and ready to eat some pancakes (since breads were included in my diet). I ate, and it was nice! My stomach didn't think so, however. I assume that because of the trauma only a day earlier, my body completely rejected the amount of food I consumed (about 1 pancake). I fell ill, again. This time, no puking. Just the terrible nauseated like I was about to puke (just about the worst feeling in the world). I was in agonizing pain on the bathroom floor for about an hour until Tom decided to call my mom. He was panicking, and so was I. He asked me as I laid in pain if I wanted to go back to Miami. I could only mutter, "They wont refund usssssssss", knowing that like most hotels, you pay in advance and they keep your money. Like the great husband that he is, he responded, "I don't care if we don't get a penny back from these people, I just want you to get better!". It hurt me more emotionally at that moment because I knew the medical technology was better in the states, and going home would mean a better recovery. I finally decided, "Yes, please take me home asap".

Tom proceeded to call my mom to see if her travel agent would book our flights for that very evening out of Tortola. After this, Mr. Mason's partners, Marika and Chi-Chi (don't let the name fool you, he looked a lot like Michael Clark Duncan!) came to help us in our room. They told us they knew of a good americanized clinic that could care for me better than the hospital could, so we went. Chi-Chi carried me to the car, on the boat, and so on. They pulled a lot of strings to get us instant service at the walk-in clinic (again, awesome staff at Peter Island). At this clinic, I received 2 I.V.s again, got an ultrasound to make sure I didn't have gall stones or appendicitis, had blood work done, had a shot of Phenergen (miracle!), and a shot of Zantac; both shots of which were conveniently and respectively located on separate butt cheeks (that left major bruising). This time was a bit more painful. The nurses had a hard time finding a good vein for my I.V., and must have poked each arm about 5 times (10 total). They bruised my right forearm pretty bad (bad enough for people to think I'm a druggie), but the rest of them healed up pretty well. As you probably already assumed, with Americanized service comes Americanized prices. Our bill was a bit more hefty. Luckily it was all coming to an end.

Thomas paid the bills and told me we had to leave immediately. Our bags were on the way to the hospital so we could go straight to the airport. I puked..FINALLY! It actually felt good this time. I felt instant relief at that moment. We got in the car with Marika and one of their cab drivers and went on what seemed like a crazy roller-coaster car ride. The driving was scary. Mostly because I've never been in the back of a speeding car driving on the left side of the road (Britain, woo!). It was a 2 lane road (one lane for each direction) and the driver was passing people like crazy! Thank God we got there safely. They held the plane for us thanks to Marika and we made it on board right on time.

Our connecting flight was in San Juan, Puerto Rico. When we arrived, we found out that they lost our luggage. Wonderful. We could then only laugh at all the miserable situations we had been through up to that point. We were only on our honeymoon for one day until we abruptly were sent home. That's when we developed the "screw it" mentality. When a bad thing happened, "screw it" infiltrated our thoughts. We arrived in Miami and were picked up by my loving Mom. We spent the night at her house since our flight came in near midnight. The next morning, we waited for the airport to tell us when they would send us our now found luggage (apparently it was in San Juan, but someone put it in storage...wtf?). They said 8 pm. That day was pretty nice. I did have a short "episode" of puke, but nothing bad. We waited that evening for our stuff, but no one delivered. We stayed at Mom's house again (since they were delivering there). The doorbell rang at 1 AM. YAY! Screw the late hour, WE GOT OUR LUGGAGE BACK! Thank God!

My parents decided to keep our whole endeavor a secret in order to give us "honeymoon privacy" (aka no one calling or anything like that). That is why I decided to wait until now to explain this whole thing. In reality, I am supposed to be coming home from my dream honeymoon Sunday afternoon, but have already been here since Tuesday, December 2. I asked a couple of people to keep us in prayer, and ask that when you read this, to say a short one for us too. This has been such a hard week for us newly-weds. Poor Thomas has seen things I had hoped he wouldn't have and we've been through some tough crap. To add insult to injury, my car wont start. I got it checked out (after taking 10 minutes to get it started) and they said there is NOTHING wrong, however, my 10-15 min escapades to start the car tell me differently. Oh well.

With all of this stuff that has happened to us, you would think we would be beyond miserable at this point. Fortunately, we are still happy as ever. Thomas and I have already planned our honeymoon 2.0 for next week in sunny Orlando, FL where we will be kicking back with Mickey Mouse and the Blue Man Group! We just decided to stick to our guns for now and do something semi-local and eventually do a honeymoon-do-over. This has been a true test for us.

Two things that I have deducted from this experience are 1. God is great. Despite all the bad, good things did come out of it. I am feeling a lot better as of today (Saturday evening/Sunday); Also, Mr. Mason and Marika are pushing to get us a full refund! Amazing! We also have the blessings of arriving and departing and arriving again safely. God really did have his hand over us (even if we didn't feel it right away), 2. It could not have been made more clear to me what a great husband Thomas (has already been and) will be for me! He has been so supportive and loving, I could not ask for more. I love him so much, and am so thankful to God that he was given to me.

One phrase got me through this. I said it on the airplane ride there, chanted it in my head while I hung over the toilet, and repeated it on multiple occasions: "God is my sustenance and strength." I also gained a new life quote from the event, "Every day I live is because of the grace of God. He is my sustenance and His grace is sufficient. For this I am forever content."

My Last Single Blog

2008-11-27T20:59:00.000-08:00

Song: Reign of Love

Artist: Coldplay

It is midnight... November 28, 2008. This moment marks the beginning of the greatest day of my life. In about 19 hours, I will be walking down "the aisle" and heading towards a new life. Before all of this goes down, however, I must make my last ode to singleness.... for I will only be a De Armas for a few hours longer. There is something great about being single. The best part, I believe, is the journey in finding "the one". Dating was so much fun! I met some of the coolest and weirdest people ever, went to some great places, and enjoyed a lot of new things. I always enjoyed being single and ready to mingle, but meeting Thomas was a real reality check. I was almost hesitant to date him because I knew it might become serious, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that. Well, as you can tell, I let him in. While some are disappointed that the journey ended so soon (or so young I guess), I am quite relieved. I've learned from living both lifestyles that I am more satisfied knowing that I no longer have to look for that certain someone. For my single blog followers, this is not to make you feel bad at all for not having or finding your person; its just me blogging something on my mind. The hardest part of being single, I believe, is actually FINDING that someone (among other things). It takes a lot of thought and effort to choose who we want to be with. Just when I thought it was all over for me, I realized that this relationship marks the beginning of something that will grow forever. Some think that marriage means being done with the dating game and giving good impressions all the time when in reality, it is only an extension! I've concluded that I will be spending the rest of my life doing the same thing all you single people are doing right now, which would be bending over backwards to make sure my partner is happy. In theory, any kind of dating scene, whether it be being single, dating, or married, involves some kind of effort. For that I will reconcile the two and just be simple about this... putting in effort never ends! For all of these things, hard work is required. So now, my public vow is this: I will always keep my husband first and always try to make him happy no matter what I feel like doing. Tonight will be special. I guess you never really know how special it is until you get there, but I will explain my thoughts. Tonight, I will be giving up my name, giving up my rights as an "individual", and accepting that I now care for "we" instead of me. While these things seem simple and mundane, they are quite difficult. We are all raised to be selfish (to care for ourselves and such), to enjoy our inalienable rights, and to be proud of our name and heritage; making this a hard transition. Thankfully, I have accepted all these circumstances and am absolutely ready for what is going to happen in a few hours. I'm so thankful for Thomas. God used him to make a change in me that I thought would never happen. It's great to realize that this relationship is about to become everything God intended it to be, and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us.

The countdown continues!

-Brigitte De Armas

(tear)

Engagement Photos Are UP!

2008-11-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

If you'd like to take a peek, follow this link!..... E-Photos!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPERBLOG!!!!!

2008-11-17T05:32:00.000-08:00

Title: Shut Up and Let Me Go

Artist: The Ting Tings

Ok. Ready for the longest flippin blog ever? I have only been on a blogging hiatus for an entire month! Sheesh! Well... Here it goes! I guess I'll start where I left off.

I went on what was supposed to be a short blogging hiatus in order to prevent spilling the great news of my brother Rey secretly coming down to Miami to propose to his lovely girlfriend (and now fiancee) Lauren! I took video while secretly hiding during the whole process. Merari, Anne Marie, Rey, and I worked together to make the most ridiculously conspicuous surprise. The great news is that Lauren still had no clue, and she totally got the breath knocked out of her. I almost cried, but Merari and I were joking around so much that I didn't (which I am totally thankful for! I love her). Congratulations to the two of them! They are a beautiful couple and I look forward to walking in their wedding. =) Shortly after this glorious occasion....

On October 11th, I had the pleasure of enjoying my very own Bridal Shower! This had to be one of the greatest experiences I've had in a long, long time! We had a lot of my favorite foods, which includes the chocolate fountain with all the extras (strawberries, marshmallows, rice krispies, etc), mini cheeseburgers with extra bacon (compliments of my aunt Xio!... they were delish!), some awesome spinach dip derived from the Greek food spanakopita made by my aunt Maria, and so much more food, you have no idea!!! I had a great time eating, but I also had a great time playing the games! I think the best part was the toilet paper bride. People made some interesting dresses and I had a hard time making a good judgment call. The best part of the whole party, I think, was the wardrobe. Merari, the coolest photographer ever, took some great shots of what everyone wore according to my "favorite things" theme. I saw everything from biker leather (way to go, mom!) to prom dresses (again, you rock merari) to negligee (well, I think I had that covered). This party made me really happy because people looked relaxed and at least appeared to have a good time! I had some great company and received awesome gifts! Thanks, all, again!

Not long after this occasion....

On October 19th, I had the joy of being a bridesmaid in my friend Viv's wedding. This was a lot of fun. I arrived at her house early in the morning and immediately got to work. Her brother's girlfriend Joanna, who has the absolute COOLEST accent (love those brits!), had a small problem with her dress. It broke. I ended up sewing it up really quick which then earned me the nickname Cinderella. I got my hair done by a friend of their family and then proceeded to do some of Viv's friends hair. I think I did a pretty good job, being that the lady who did my hair offered me a job to work with her. That was unexpected, but cool! The last of my bridesmaid duties before the actual wedding was to do the Bride's makeup! That was an honor! We finally arrived at the Greek church (on kendall drive next to dadeland) and the excitement was flourishing! We prepped the bride and walked down the aisle...then stood on stage for way over an hour. That might have been the down side. After a long wait for the actual ceremony to be done, Thomas and I made our way to the reception hall at the Rusty Pelican. We had a great evening and enjoyed random drunken bridal party members doing hilarious renditions of Greek dancing! After this....

I got to enjoy some time off to take care of things for the wedding. During this time off, I got to spend time with my cousins Becca and Seth and my aunt Martha (aka "Mah Weinah"). We went to Tropical Park and enjoyed some time on the playground! I finally realized how unsafe these playground toys really are! Apparently there are no limits to childhood injuries. I bet insurance companies build them to keep themselves in business. jk! =D Anyway, after all of these shenanigans, I got to spend some time with my good friend Amanda, who really knows how to make spare time into awesomeness! We went out to Samurai for some delicious food, as well as other amazing places that can totally kill you (such as Rio Cristal [greatest cuban steak y papitas ever], Burger King [horray for junk food!], Dadeland Mall [for some food court food and Lix cupcakes], and of course My House [for some Totinos Pizza]). If it's one thing her and I know how to do besides have a good time, it's EAT! A few days after my short break....

On November 1, I went to to Eric and Lia's Wedding! This wedding was so special! I really had a great time here. Lia was such a gorgeous bride! Eric had the greatest facial expressions as she walked down the aisle! They looked ecstatic to be at their own wedding and make such a lovely couple! Later that evening, we enjoyed a time of dinner and dancing with some great people! Thomas had the great honor of being the best man and delivered a cute speech. During the reception, Lia's nephew made it his own personal responsibility to dance with me every chance he got. He was adorable... I couldn't say no! For once I was dancing with a guy who was half my size (and not the other way around). After all the festivities, Thomas and I snuck out and fled to Eric's house to decorate before the newlywed couple arrived. We lit lots of candles and laid out a lot of deep red rose petals! It was beautiful. To my surprise, when the couple arrived, I found out they had not eaten the entire evening! So Tom and I made a quick stop to K-mart and rounded up some goodies for them. I had such a great time that evening! This day was not only awesome because of the wedding though.... It was awesome because....

November 1st, 2008 marked the date that Thomas finally completed the masters program! He seemed very relieved and happy that it was all finally over, and I was so proud of him!!!! The next day, his mom threw a graduation party at his Aunt Maria and Uncle Greg's house! We had a great time and enjoyed some great company. It's funny because I knew from this day forward, all my time would be lost somewhere in the abyss of the "last couple weeks until the wedding"... but to my surprise.... my time hasn't completely been consumed by stress! In fact, I got to spend some time with Amanda again and produce a film for one of her class projects! It was fun, and funny because the digital camera wasn't compatible with my iMovie so I produced it all with my little iCam (which is part of my laptop). In the video (take a look!), you can actually see my reflection on some windows of me holding the laptop to take video. FUNN!!!

Later that week, I got to enjoy my WEDDING GIFT just a little bit early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas decided to take me to the COLDPLAY CONCERT! It was soooooo amazing! I can't even begin to describe! The lights, the sound, the media work, the talent! It was all incredible! I had such a great time and I think it was the perfect wedding gift for me! I took a lot of video, but there is one in particular that is my favorite because of the media work that was involved in it! I'll leave this one here and post the rest later. Besides all this madness, not much else has gone on. I finished up the wedding plans and am now counting down the days! Only 11 more 'till I'm Mrs. Thomas Soucy! Cool!

Here are some pics from the concert =D

Oh Yeah! I forgot the last piece of my update.... I had the pleasure of receiving my 21st birthday gift from Thomas early as well! Yesterday we went to Best Buy and got GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR!!! This game is so cool! The drum set, the microphone, everything! I love it. I enjoyed playing last night and am on my way now to enjoy some more of it! WOOOOOO! That is all for this super long, superblog update!

COLDPLAY TICKETS

2008-10-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

I still have 4 tickets left for sale....Section 316, row 2. If you're interested, holler.

The countdown begins! =)

I've Got Plans.

2008-10-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

Song: Pink

Artist: Aerosmith

Everyone has been asking... so here is the answer: the wedding plans are going wonderfully! Thanks to my handy-dandy planning organizer, planning has been a cinch. It has made finding things easy, and has made my life in general a lot more organized (which I definitely needed). Really, all that is left is to make sure the bridesmaids get their dresses fitted, make sure the groomsmen get their tux's fitted, and to finish counseling! Everything else is kinda just up for grabs. Besides wedding plans, all that has been going on is Bridal Shower planning. A couple of weeks ago, we (Hernandez women plus Amanda and Phyllis) had a meeting at Martha's house to plan out what we would be doing for this shower.

Thus far, things have been wonderfully fluid. It took us a good 30 minutes to come up with some kind of theme for the party, but it worked out perfectly. Everyone had such good ideas and then I kind of morphed it into a theme! Officially, it will be the "Favorite Things" party. I guess I just thought that having a theme after a color or some show or w/e would be kinda unoriginal. Anyway, the basic thing to do for this shower is to wear all of your favorite things (and I mean all). I really hope that people participate the way I think they will.

I told the family and the b-maids already that it is important, even if their stuff doesn't match, to wear their favorite things in stead of the traditional sun dress. I figured everyone has had enough of traditional showers and needs something different just this once. I will be participating in the dress code as well. So far I have a favorite watch, bra, mini trench, PJ shorts, pink heels, and earrings. Don't ask me how that is going to work... 'cause I'm not even sure yet... but who cares!

I think the party is going to be great and am predicting a good turn out of awkwardly matched outfits. I hope now that you all know what I'm wearing, you will feel a little more encouraged to wear something out of the ordinary. Anyway, more about the shower. Since it is a "favorite things" shower, a lot of my favorite foods will be present (from a chocolate fountain with dip-ables to mini bacon cheese burgers)!!! I'm looking forward to an exciting, indulgent afternoon. Merari is going to be taking care of the photography that day, so get ready for some great pictures!!!! As you can tell, I am so very excited for this occasion. But I'll save the rest for when I do the "post shower blog". I'm out of things to talk about right now, but I'll be back soon. I promise.

My Favorite Story

2008-09-18T20:41:00.001-07:00

Song: The News

Artist: Jack Johnson

My favorite story ever that exemplifies the frivolity of our prayers some times. I heard it in church and it made me chuckle. I hope you like it. Here it goes.

Child: Mom! Can I have a new bicycle?!? Mine is too old and smelly.

Mom: We just bought you that bike a year ago. It should still be good!

Child: But there are newer ones now that don't make noise like mineeeeeee! Pleeeaseee?!?

Mom: Well son, I can't afford to get you a newer bike. Why don't you pray for one!

(Child goes upstairs to bedroom)

Child prays: Dear Jesus, If you get me a new bike, I will be a good boy for the rest of the year!

(Thinks to himself... No, that is a lie). I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that.

Dear Jesus, If you get me a new bike, I won't talk back to my parents anymore... (Thinks, MAN! That's a lie too.) Okay. Let me try that again.

Dear Jesus, If you would get me a new bike, I will never tell a lie. (That is definitely a lie...) Sorry Jesus. Let me start over.

(Child runs and gets his mini statue of Mary and hides it under his bed)

Dear Jesus...

If you ever want to see your mother again....

The Results Are In!!!!!

2008-09-12T06:07:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for your suggestions for the bouquet toss song! Amazingly, the song was chosen via epiphany. Rey called me up one day and said, "I had an epiphany, I have a song for you!". Of course, I fell in love with his choice. I can't believe I didn't think of it myself. The song that has been chosen, however, will be revealed the day of the wedding! =)

Thank you all for your help and support!

Things I Don't Understand.

2008-09-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Song: Chelsea Dagger

Artist: The Fratellis

For some reason, I seem to encounter things that I just don't think should happen to a person. I'm not feeling well, so to make me feel better, this blog is going to be dedicated to things I just don't understand. You all know about the crazy things that have happened before... Well, this is just a watered down version of what's been happening lately.

1. I'm in the car, doing my 6:20 AM commute to FIU. I'm eating honey nut cheerios (good way to lower cholesterol). All of the sudden, I get the urge to sneeze. I try to hold it back and swallow the rest of my food, but it's too late. I lift my head quickly and open my eyes (which is the scariest 2 seconds ever while driving) and notice a nice coat of spit covered cheerios on my windshield. On top of this, I have done the same with water, cheetos, and BK french fries (in completely separate times, of course). Clearly, I should stop eating in the car... but my impatience and love for food keep me from doing so.

2. I'm sick today. I don't know whether it was the breakfast I cooked, or the not leaving my computer screen for a couple of hours (I've been studying for my anatomy exam)... but I feel like puking. So what do I do? I break the cardinal rule of being sick to your stomach. I go out and buy an ice cream sundae (NEVER have lactose when sick to your stomach). I don't know what it is, but I just felt like comfort food might make me better. Well, while walking out of the DQ, the wind started blowing while my hand was conveniently next to my head while getting in the car. My hair got covered in ice cream. (way to go). I do, however, feel a little bit better! *BTW, I left the ice cream on till I got home for blog's sake. Didn't have a camera with me when it happened. I've also experienced this with lipgloss (or chapstick), and someone someone else's mouth (as in the wind blows my hair in their mouth while walking).

3. I'm in Microbiology class. It's all sunny outside when I get in and beautiful as can be. When I get out, the sky is black and menacing. I got a plastic bag from the Panther Stop and covered my laptop bag, then ran for dear life across campus. Needless to say, since it was such a nice day and all, I decided earlier to wear a white t-shirt. You can imagine how that went over. After about 3 steps I was drenched from head to toe. A guy who was lighting a smoke under someone's open trunk looked at me and nodded with a ridiculous smile on his face. LAME. I have a feeling an umbrella wouldn't have done me any good anyways. When I got in my car, I watched helpless students try to turn their inside-out umbrellas back to normal. They got soaked just as bad. Ike owes me, as well as Amanda, a new pair of shoes.

4. Lately, I've been cutting back on the foods I love (everything awesome and bad for you) and have been working out. I have been faithful to the gym every day after class. My first day back was horrendous. I was super sore the next day. After about a week, though, my body adjusted. I've been happy that I feel motivated by my LGN diet to go daily. Survival without excessive junk food lies solely in my 100 calorie cheeto snacks! They're great (and small)! Anyway. I ate a really bad for you/great tasting meal (at SAMURAI, MY FAVORITE PLACE EVER!) on Friday night and felt guilty, so I wanted to work out extra hard on Monday. Well, I get to the gym after my 7 AM class and then see people going to the door then walking away. Turns out that the gym was being used as a shelter for the people of Monroe County (who had been evacuated for hurricane Ike). Great. Extra calories PLUS no gym for a week. You can see that I gave up eating healthy for today with that nice cup of ice cream.

5. A week ago, I was working out when all of the sudden I see my school mascot working the treadmill behind me. WTF? Enough said.

These are just a few of the specific things that have happened to me. On top of those, I've been pondering why...

... Doing 100 jumping jacks hurts my legs more than doing actual weight lifting. How did that happen? I'm more sore now than ever.

... My foot falls asleep while I'm driving. My right foot! Sheesh. I usually shake it to make the tingling feeling go away, but I might get in an accident if I do that while driving.

... I can never remember that person walking down the hall who's waving at me's name... That person I went to school with for years. Ugh. My brain is failing me.

...When catchy (yet crappy) music comes on the radio (i.e., Paper Planes by MIA), I don't change it. I listen to it. (until I realize what I'm doing). The same with radio advertisements!

...FIU parking sucks so bad. I mean really, I have paid metered parking 2 times this week because there's nothing available ANYWHERE (not panther, red, blue, or gold garage. Nor CP parking or field parking. ALL GONE!)

...While I was at Samurai with my parents and Thomas, I almost got impaled with the Samurai's knife (since he was sloppy with his work and ended up throwing the knife at me by accident instead of cutting the beef on the hibachi). That was scary.

And finally... Why do I even care so much to blog about these things?

HELP!

2008-08-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

So, I'm having a problem picking a song for my bouquet toss. Any creative suggestions? I'm looking for something upbeat and fun... and not so old and whatever.

P.S.... I'm not a huge fan of the 80's so please, no Cindy Lauper.

Things That Make Me Smile...

2008-08-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Song: Beautiful Day
Artist: U2

Finally! I have some time to blog! (Courtesy of Tropical Storm Fay) I thought that I would write about some things that make me smile, since the weather is so crappy looking. To start this special blog out, I would like to go over this "tropical storm". Supposedly, this storm is going to go right through Florida, make a sharp left turn for Georgia and Louisiana, and go back into the Gulf of Mexico (where it can then intensify and hit us again!) due to some trough coming from the right of Florida. This makes me smile. There's nothing like having people freak out about a tiny storm... watching it go... then watching it come back around and start everything all over again. Hopefully, however, it wont do what it's expected (as they usually don't). On top of this, I went to get some gas this morning (since I've been on empty for I don't know how long) and the gas pumps in my neighborhood were all saran wrapped shut and closed for business. This limits me to doing NOTHING. Glory.

Now, back to things that REALLY make me smile. I'f you haven't realized by now... everything pink, black, and white makes me smile. I'm not really into pink clothes... but I love love pink accessories. Black and white, however, are my favorite colors for clothes. Yeah, I'm a little boring, but whatever. Deal with it. I think the pink makes up for it. (BTW, you can make a little collage like this at this website). It's pretty great. I don't really have an artist's eye (more like an artist's ear), but this website was quite entertaining! Especially if you're as bored as I am right now. =)

Well, this topic I'm sure we all have in common. The third thing that makes me smile... Awesome food!!!! Every thing fried, sweet, or just plain delicious... you know what I'm talking about. Amanda and I take out a day or two every week and eat something as delicious as the things on the left. I mean, despite the urge to diet and get thin (fun.)... I need a break every once in a while to eat something so delicious, so fantastic, that it could give you a heart attack (i.e. covered in butter, salt, or sugar). Something that is not pictured... BISTEC EMPANIZADO CON PAPITAS... ohhh my gosh... don't even get me started on that... YUM!!!! I'm totally dreaming of these foods even if they're totally out of reach. Amanda, if you're reading this, it's time to go back to Samurai! Tell your mom ;)

Thanks to Kristel, I have a new thing to smile at. Creating my own manga avatar! FUN! Here is what I came up with. Not half bad!

The last (but not least) thing that makes me smile HAS to be people. As lame as it sounds, I can not get enough of them. My family, my fiance, my friends... LOVE THEM! Anything from a simple phone call to a lame joke... love it! And that concludes the things that make me smile.

(The Long Awaited) PART 2!

2008-08-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

Song: Lovers In Japan/Reign of Love
Artist: Coldplay

SO! It has been a great couple of weeks, again! I am OFFICIALLY on my short summer break! ...and have been totally soaking it up! But before I get into that, let me back-track a little bit. I left off telling you about my nursing experience with Thomas. Well, he is doing SOOOO much better now! He has officially moved out of my house (after living here for about a month) and he is perfectly able to go up the stairs now! Yay, Thomas! Also, on my last Anatomy lab class, the professor interrupted my session with Fred and called me into the office. Turns out, I didn't have to take the final since I got high A's on my exam! WOO! I will miss him (Fred), though. I managed to take the rest of my exams without having a nervous break down. Some grades have not been posted, but for the ones that were, so far so good!

Now, for my amazing break! I finally have the time to work on my wedding plans! I'm in the process of choosing my flowers, food, and other little details. My bouquet will be my signature color....pink of course! I do have a question for you (my readers), though. I'm taking a little poll (which you can participate in on the right of the screen, whether you have blogger or not!) and am asking for honest opinions! I happen to love shoes, and I love pink. These two things are all over the place when you see me. I have a friend who wore converse on her wedding day... very cool! Very Her! I, however, don't know if I have the guts to be as brave as her and do something extraordinary. So, I need a little pushing (if you agree).
Take the poll! This (to your right) is basically what I'd be wearing (to give you a visual)... Anyway, other than the glorious wedding plans, things have been relatively stable. I spent a couple days with Amanda... which was super fun! Her and I went on a couple of shopping expeditions and found a lot of great deals! I also had the opportunity to spend time with the some family, whom I've missed terribly. I need more time with them. Other than that, things are good! I just got a new pair of glasses, which Thomas and Amanda picked. I'll post a picture up soon. That's all for now!

Been a while! Part 1

2008-07-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

Song: New Soul

Artist: Yael Naim

So... It's been a while since my last post, so here comes a long one! Actually, I will be doing this post in parts, 1 through whatever.

FIRST! A video I saw that is just plain stupid, but I happen to enjoy the stupidity.

The past couple of weeks have been quite challenging for me. Thomas just recently had knee surgery in order to get his ACL replaced. The first few days of recovery were terrible (he was sad and sick), but now he is recovering quite nicely. He can officially bend his knee all the way (which is not expected until more than a month of recovery has taken place)!!! He is also walking around normally and can almost do stairs. WOO! Being his nurse was fun, most of the time. He has been sleeping at my house since the surgery. At first, waiting on him was pretty easy...since I care about him so much. After a couple of days, however, I began to lose sleep from waking him up every 4 hours for medication (that needs to be taken with food... agh.). I was slightly irritable (certain people can attest to that...), but got through it right away after a good nap...and good friends! =)

I've had a little bit of spare time on my hands, so I've been able to hang out with some of my favorite people again (i.e., spiegel family, amanda, alison, rey, and of course, thomas). School has been kind of slow...and now it's winding down to the end. Already I have completed a few of my courses with an A! YAY! Only a few more finals and then.... (drum roll).... A ONE WEEK BREAK! YAY! I'm so glad I will not have to be in any of these classes ever again. I am going to miss Fred, however. He has been a good teacher... or whatever you want to call him.

I went to go see THE DARK KNIGHT...twice! (the nerd is coming out).. whoaaa mama, that was a killer! Super violent, entertaining, and adventurous (as every super hero film should be). Spectacular performance by Mr. Ledger (rest his soul) and Christian Bale! Not really a fan of Miss Maggie Gyllenhaal though... She's not as pretty Katie Holmes... and, I just don't like her. I also got to see a few not-so-old films: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Batteries Not Included, The Sandlot, and Monster-in-Law. Very Fun!

Thus concludes part 1 of Been a While... Be back soon....

COLDPLAY TICKETS FOR SALE!!!

2008-06-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have 6 tickets, all in section 316, row 2. If you're interested let me know.

Life... or Something Like It.

2008-06-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Song: 42

Artist: Coldplay

So... it's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged. Let me get you up to speed (now that it's raining outside and I am bored out of my mind). First off, the new Coldplay album Viva La Vida has been released today...so check it out. I picked the song "42" from their new album for one reason... it reminds me of Fred (Fred Cadaver... remember?)...okay... maybe 2 reasons.

I just like the song. But yeah, Fred has been quite a challenge for me. Last week I had my very first practical examination for my anatomy lab. The professor took a whole bunch of body parts and placed them in different parts of the room... flagged sections of the parts and bones, then explained to us how the class room was "a crime scene". We were not allowed to touch anything... and just had to walk around and label as we went. I ended up getting a 95%! I would have gotten a 100% if it weren't for one damn spelling error (he marks the whole thing wrong if you spell it wrong). For memory's sake, I missed the Sella Turcica of the Skull (layman's terms, something no one cares about). Anyway, I also had my very first Chemistry and Anatomy (lecture) exam. Things went fairly well! Also managed to pull off a group project that week. Hmm... what else (as if there could be more). Oh! pfft. almost forgot...

My engagement party was last week! That was a blast!!! You can locate Paul's pictures HERE and Peter's photos HERE. There was a lot of good food at the party... of course a lot of my favorites. My aunt Xio made my favorite (and only one I've ever liked) honey ham! It was delectable. Also, Martha made Thomas's favorite, Lasagna! I had some. It was also quite delicious. On top of those things, there were little greek treats everywhere... all things Thomas and I love (that his aunt, cousin, and Yaya made so kindly...thank you!). It was really nice having people at the house to celebrate us! (what an occasion... huh?) Thank you, by the way, those of you who participated. I hope you had as much fun as I did. The greek dancing had to be the pinnacle. I didn't know what I was doing, but it was fun. Hmm... and.. opening the cards and gifts...that's always fun!

Besides that... not much else has really happened. I spent some time here and there with my favorite people in the world, enjoyed a fantastic father's day with my family, and have had a relatively good day today. The best part of my day today was dissecting the human heart. Very fun! I also went to Rio Cristal with my buddies Amanda and Alison. Had a blast! They rock my socks. Otherwise, that is all for now. If i forgot something, I'll be back later.

Calendarly Challenged

2008-05-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

Song: Viva La Vida

Artist: Coldplay

So, I've come to the realization that I really could use a gigantic calendar to hang in my room. I have over-booked myself a few times in my life, but never as much as the next two weeks. Time seems to be too short for me to fulfill all the things I need to accomplish. This weekend, I am supposed to be at Kristel's bachelorette party, girls day out with Thomas's mom, aunt, cousin, grandma and my own mother, go to pick a venue for my friend Viv's bridal shower, go to see Indiana Jones with Thomas, Martha, Artie, Becca, Seth, and Phyllis, finish a project which is due this coming week, visit the cake maker for the wedding, visit the DJ, and get my bridesmaids sized for their dresses. This is all in the span from Friday to Saturday. Clearly, as you can tell, no one can physically be in this many places at once (unless your God). So basically, I had to cancel a lot of stuff. This weekend is now narrowed down to the bachelorette party, girls lunch out, the movies, and my project....which seems reasonable. But now I know for sure, it's time to get a big calendar on my door with letters big enough for me to see, that way I don't do this again. For some reason, I can't get the hang of iCal...as wonderful as it is. So yeah... to make things short, I need a nice day at the spa.... not that it will happen any time soon (no time! ha.).

I really am looking forward to this weekend, though. I know that we'll have a great time at Nikki Beach for K-Lo's party. Anyway, that's all I really have to say. I think I just blogged to hear this song which I love (Viva La Vida). Enjoy it!

Good Morning Sunshine!

2008-05-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Song: Time

Artist: Hootie & the Blowfish

Today, I have to say, waking up was almost unbearable. The alarm clock went off at 5:30, 6 hours after I went to sleep, and I felt like I had only slept a few minutes. Don't you hate that? Sheesh! Anyway, I managed to drag myself around the house and do my normal routine. I officially woke up when the cold morning water hit my face... which was quite refreshing, actually. Being that Anatomy is my favorite class, I would gladly bear the burden of waking up super early and sitting through a 2 hour lecture. Today, however, felt like class would never end. I was counting the minutes down 'till I got to go to my Anatomy lab. Lab is exciting, and plus, Fred is there! When I finally arrived and sat at my lab desk, the fire alarm went off! We sat outside for a good 45 minutes (thank you FIU). People looked severely pissed off at the world.

When they finally let us back in, the fun began! I'm getting ready for the examination of the bones. There are frikin a million of them! Oh yeah, remember that hand under my lab desk? I took a little snap shot for you to see.... =) I wondered if this person was going to flick someone off before rigamortis set in, but I guess I will never know. You can only see the hand since I was stupid and took the picture from the front, but I guess you can use your imagination for the rest! lol. Well, that pretty much sums up my morning. Today has only started for me. Chemistry....here I come!

This past weekend was so much fun! Since the family went to Vegas, I decided to have a party at my house with Amanda. We ate white chocolate bread pudding for breakfast, cupcakes and pretzels for lunch, and so much other crap you can't even imagine. Over the course of 4 days, her and I managed to watch 27 Dresses, PS I Love You, Juno, and There's Something About Mary. All great movies! Except PS I Love You. Unless you want to feel miserable and cry for 2 hours, don't watch it. I guess it was cute in some ways, though, so I can't completely bash it. On Friday night we went to Dave and Busters with Thomas and his cousin, which was awesome! I never get tired of that place. And speaking of places I never get tired of, Thomas and I went on a date at Samurai on Saturday night. The food was incredible! We had a really good samurai...he was kind of old school. The food was super flavorful and juicy! Still have yet to be disappointed. Sunday morning, 6 AM to be exact, Thomas and I went to the airport to pick up my family. We had breakfast, went home, and slept! My parents and Rey looked exhausted from the jet lag. Sucks, but it happens. That's all that really happened. All I have left to say is that forest fires suck. I hate smoke, and we could sure use some rain! The end.

Drop Dead Fred

2008-05-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

Song: Call Me Irresponsible

Artist: Michael Buble

So.... where do I start? These past couple of days have been pretty decent. On Monday, I woke up at 5 something to get to my 6 something AM class... which went quite well after I rolled out of bed. I think I'm getting use to it. My 8 AM Anatomy Lab, however, went AMAZING! This week, I had the privilege of meeting my instructor (and cadaver). FIU happens to be one of the only schools in Florida that lets you practice with real human cadavers in anatomy as opposed to animal bodies. It is quite interesting...as disgusting as it sounds. When my professor opened that big blue body bag and introduced me, he covered his face with a towel and said, meet your NEW teacher. I asked, "Does he have a name?"... the professor responded... "No, just a number.". That made me sad, so I continued to announce to the teacher that I would name him Fred.... Fred Cadaver. Fred seems like a cool guy. It was quite an experience being introduced to someone's dead body, I must say. Kind of eerie, gross, and somewhat mind-blowing. Unlike the photo I've posted, He is not sliced down the middle (yet). He is, however, missing all his skin....but has managed to keep all his hair since his face is the only part with patches of skin left.

A lot of the students kept complaining to each other how terrible it is that they need to work with a real body, and I continued to respond with a "WTF are you doing in this field if you're too chicken for a dead body?". Maybe I'm not so good at making friends. But the people at my lab bench did laugh. We seem to get along. Oh! Also, while I was getting settled into my bench, I decided to put my book-bag underneath so it wouldn't get in the way. That was when I encountered an old and decrepit arm. I immediately raised my hand and said, "Sir, someone's arm is under my desk". He laughed. I guess I was jut creeped out that someone's old arm (minus a body) was right next to me, in some weird contorted kind of position. It did not look as good as the ones pictured above... mostly because this one had skin, and the skin happened to be old and falling off (and the arm was real). The nails were in tact too. Creepy! Anyway, enough of that. Class was fun, and Chemistry class was cool too since the teacher is so funny. He spits when he talks, though...So I've learned to stay away from the front row.

Besides that, nothing huge has really happened. School is school. Everything else is just nice. This week my family will be going to Las Vegas... and I will not (you know that's real dedication right there!). While they are having fun in Sin City, I will be home with my grandparents, doing homework and loafing around the house. It's gunna be great! Anyway.... That is all for now.... Until next time.

eltiT golB cixelsyD s'ettigirB

2008-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Song:Violet Hill (AWESOME NEW SONG!)
Artist: Coldplay

First of all, I must express my deep love for Coldplay and their new kick-butt song Violet Hill. Their new sound is what I think would be Coldplay-meets-Franz Ferdinand. I love it. Hear it, Love it too... you wont regret it! =) Can't wait for the rest of their new album Viva La Vida!

In other news, Obama seems to be kicking Hillary's arse in this pre-election shindig. He scares me on multiple levels, but I wont even start with that. Gas and Diesel have hit an all time high in Michigan this week... a creepy $3.73 for regular and $4.33 for diesel. Yikes! Alaska, Can I tap that? ;) Or even better, who killed the freaking electric car? (clearly, I am pissed off at the world today). I'm very close to abstaining from the morning news for the sole purpose that it is ruining my day. I think I would rather dwell on the evening news when the crap has already hit the fan rather than try and think about what could or could not happen.

Well, you didn't read this blog to hear the news, so I will stop... and to cheer you up, I brought along a small clip that is almost 100% likely to make you laugh. Enjoy.

Good Times, Eh? =) Today I reminisced with my brother on all the stupid things that have happened that I have forgotten about. I continued to tell him how it feels like my snowboarding accident never happened... but I still have the scar to prove it. Weird how time flies and the past seems so unusually distant from the memory. (I get like this when I think about how much my life has changed in such little time.) Scary, huh? On top of that, an acquaintance from Chemistry class told me today how "short life is" and all that stuff... and for the first time, I replied, "dude, What's longer than life?". She laughed...and then fell into deep thought. I love that my sarcastic remarks spark thoughtfulness.

Anyway, I'm sorry if this is an unusual blog for me. The lack of pictures, funny stories, all that Brigitte-ey stuff... I don't feel it today. I feel tired (already) physically (from not sleeping and working out as well) and mentally (from this lump sum of classes I'm taking this summer). I'm not complaining!, mind you. I'm just not adjusted and wish I was. The only thing that keeps me going is the reminder that I will be free this Fall. =) The light IS at the end of the tunnel shining bright. That is all for today. Hope you somewhat enjoyed my random thought.

It Starts.

2008-05-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

Song: Brain Stew
Artist: GreenDay
So, today a new semester began. I woke up at 5 something this morning, got ready, and left for school by 6:10. I hate waking up that early, but I do love how there is NO TRAFFIC! Definitely the highlight of my morning. I got to school really fast, even after stopping for breakfast at BK (record time:10 minutes including breakfast stop). Turns out, FIU is really screwing over the science department's funding. The professor (which is quite funny) expressed his anger this morning when we were locked out of our class room and no one was there to let us in another. We ended up switching to another building-which he was not happy about. FIU wont grant him the room he wants, even though there are no other classes at freakin 6:40 in the morning. Gotta love it. Anyway, he was so upset about not having a permanent location that he canceled class until next week....which means I get to sleep in a couple more days! Actually, now that I think about it, I really don't get to because of my 8 AM lab on Wednesday. Basically, the time schedule sucks, but I end up getting more out of my day. This semester consists of 7 classes, all of which fall on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. I get to sleep and study on Tuesdays and Thursdays! WOO! It's going to be a great one.

In other news, I did find the shoes I will be wearing on my wedding day. Imagine the shoes on the left in white, and there it is! I went shoe shopping with my soon to be mother-in-law... and she bought the shoes in honor of her father (he passed a few years back, but was an awesome man from all that I've heard). Thomas will be wearing his Papu's (grandpa in Greek) shoes on our wedding day to keep the memory alive as well (surprise! they do fit him!). Anyway, the shoes do look incredibly tall, and they are! A whopping 4 inches tall! But I have no fears, I walk in shoes this tall all of the time since my fiance is a whole foot taller than I. Luckily, they do have a hidden platform in the front for extra comfort (and I will also be GELLIN'). My Mother and I have also taken care of the invitations and invite list this weekend. They look beautiful! Thomas' uncle owns a print shop, so he will be taking care of our invitations. It took a long time to pick the perfect one, but we finally narrowed it down to where we could confidently say THIS IS THE ONE! (Sounds like dating) Thomas' other uncle happens to be a photographer (and an excellent one, might I add), and he will be taking care of our photos. Also, his other uncle is a florist, so he will be taking care of our flower arrangements! I'm glad we get to keep it all in the family. =) The plans are going by flawlessly!
Anyway, since I was released from class early, I decided to blog. Now, I would like to try and sleep since it clearly got cut short this morning. =)

Awesome Week Indeed.....

2008-05-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

Title: School of Rock
So, this past week was the hideous week that everyone tries to avoid.... FINALS WEEK! (lightning crashes in background).... I took five of my finals in one week, and the last two last week. Surprisingly, for having so many classes, I did pretty well! Over all, my GPA this semester (only this semester, not cumulative) came out to be a whopping 3.7! I'm very happy (as anyone would be) with this. On top of that, I took the NET (nursing entrance test) and passed with flying colors. That was a real relief.
Unfortunately, all of these tests and what not have tapped into my valuable summer vacation (which, mind you, only lasts 2 weeks). I officially have only 3 days left until all the goodness is over. This summer, I will be taking 7 classes (yikes!). I want to finish up a few credits this summer so I can take it easy in the Fall semester (before my wedding). I have to admit, I am a little bit scared of that many classes (even though I took 6 this semester). I'm taking two of my major sciences, which is creepy. Hopefully I will not feel too overwhelmed since 2 of the classes that I am taking are online. I'm not too sad about all of this, however, because I will have the Fall semester to relax (while everyone else is in school suffering! BUAHAHA!). =)

In other news, preparing for my upcoming wedding has been relatively easy! Everything has pretty much come together. All that is left for me to do is pick bride's maids dresses, tuxes, flowers... and that's it. Thomas and I finally booked our honeymoon, which is going to be awesome. He is a little bit scared of flying long distances, so we decided to keep it near by. We are going to a private island (peter island) that is part of the British Virgin Islands. It looks really cool because it is very quiet. No cars, crazy tourists, just people who want to relax. From what I've heard, (Thomas' co-worker has been to many islands, but he said this is his favorite) it is a small island in which you need to arrive by small water plane or by ferry. The personnel all know you by name, and are very kind. The awesome part is, all of the activities are free. Thomas and I get to go snorkeling at the Island of Tortola, get to take a day trip to St. Thomas, and get all those other things like bike riding and what not... FUN! It will be nice, and I look forward to it.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Hope you have a great day.

The Signs of Aging... or Laziness.

2008-04-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

So, I got kinda tired of looking at my blog with such a small font. For some reason, I can not read blogs with small text. Because of this, I decided to make my blog larger and more readable for those experiencing the same issue. I thought at first maybe it was a sign of age, but then I said, NAH! It's definitely cause I lay my laptop on my belly, which apparently is too far from my face. Oh well! Here is for all you lazies and oldies, a new and improved BIG FONT BLOG! woo!

A Feeble Attempt At Comedy

2008-04-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

So... Dick Cheney was on the news yesterday... telling some pretty lame jokes... but there was one that I enjoyed. (Best Hillary joke I've ever heard). If you'd like, you can check it out on this video.

The LOOOOONNNNG AWAITED BLOG!!!!!

2008-04-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

Song: Monsters
Artist: Matchbook Romance

First of all, I would like to apologize to my faithful blog readers (which were very few at first and now an even smaller number). It has been a CRAZZZYYYYY couple of months... (if that were even physically possible). Let me start from the very beginning (when my blogs stopped...) and then move towards the more current events! BTW, this is gunna be a long one. Get ready.

MIDTERMS:
Okay, How about freaking stress. Fortunately I ACED almost all my midterms, if not, got a high B. HORRAY! School has been crazy. Taking 6 classes was probably a bad idea, but I've gotten by pretty gracefully as far as focus goes (as you can tell by my lack of blogging). In the midst of my midterms, I did get to celebrate on of my favorite occasions:

ANNIVERSARY!!!
Celebrating a year of greatness, Thomas decided to take me to the restaurant we went on our second date to (Rusty Pelican!!! yum... first date was SAMURAI! even yummier). We sat down... and heard some crazy jams in the background. There was a wedding reception going on in the other room! (Coincidence? I think not.) So we started jamming a little at our table while some drunk guys watched us curiously. I think one of them had the runs, cause he kept leaving his table, and the other guys would try to comfort him every time he returned... bummer. Anyway, I got a freaking awesome steak... with french fries (as usual). It was killer. I ate everything. The waiter looked a little scared that I could eat that much. Speaking of him, he had been pretty neglectful that night. We got kinda mad. To compensate, he offered us FREE dessert. Of course, we refused due to SPIT IN FOOD syndrome. Ever heard of it?

SPRING BREAK:
Oh man, what a relief. I could compare spring break to a person holding their pee for about 5 hours at the FAIR (eww... carny toilets. I wouldn't touch that with a 10 ft. pole)... then finding a great clean toilet in the comfort of your home to let it out in. AHHHHH... exactly. True story actually, but we'll get to that later. Yeah. It was a nice break for me. I ended up catching up with all my school work and took about 8 quizzes at my leisure (this is a nice break for me, mind you). Also, I got to clean my house. My room is officially spic and span due to spring cleaning, my closet color coded, and all the junk is GONE! I had about 4 trash bags full of junk... 1 of which was completely devoted to ex-boyfriend crap. I can't believe how much trash I had in my closet!!! OH! I also took a day to spend time with Amanda! I pulled her out of class early and we went home to watch blockbuster movies. FUN! I love her. That was my spring break in it's entirety... studying and cleaning. Really, it was nice... but I don't think you'd understand. =) By the way, REY also made an appearance around this time. We decided to surprise my mom for her birthday by making her think she was getting a puppy, then Rey came through the door. It was beautiful. My mom cried and hugged him, and my dad followed up with a weight comment. Things were gloriously back to normal at that moment. I had her fooled!

MOM'S BIRTHDAY:
OKAY! Here is what I think everyone has REALLY been waiting for me to blog about. The infamous birthday. Before I tell you this story, let me tell you something that will make sense later. During spring break, Thomas and I were talking about what to get my mom for her birthday (because getting her a gift is like trying to buy a Hilton girl a gift...IMPOSSIBLE!). Thomas told me, "I am going to get your mom a starbucks gift card!!!" (because she loves it, of course). I said, "no way man, she'll lose it in that gigantic purse of hers". He continued, "I am going to get the gift card, put it in a box, put that box in a box, and put that box in a box then gift wrap it!" I said, "that's stupid..". He said, "ITS CUTE! SHE WILL LAUGH! I'M GOING TO DO IT!". ... all right. Rey ended up being, by the way, the PERFECT GIFT! Best surprise ever! Also, my mom made reservations at Barton G's (best restaurant in the world) for us, but she didn't know yet that Rey would be there.... I tried to bump up the reservations to 12, but they would not comply! They made a big deal out of it, which made me sad... but little did I know, Thomas took care of it while I wasn't around because it was a SPECIAL NIGHT! That is the prequel to this story.

BARTON G: (Photos by Paul Soucy)
This is my favorite restaurant ever. Everything there is perfect. Food, Ambiance, People... EVERYTHING! Anyway, we all arrived, and Thomas showed up with a pink box (which I knew was the Starbucks card ... or I thought I knew). We sat down at our table, and about 10 minutes into our menu looking, They brought out my mom's birthday dessert! WHAT!?!?! They NEVER MAKE MISTAKES HERE!!!! (I had no idea this was planned...but that's another story). Anyway, Since they made the "HUGE MISTAKE" of bringing out the dessert before we had even began ordering and singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my mom said, "Well, Since they already sang, I think I will open my gifts now!" HA! (also planned!!!) She began to open the gift Phyllis gave her... she gave a gift to Lauren so she could open it at the same time, and gave a gift to me for opening. NO! She gave me Thomas's gift! I hesitantly gave it back to her because I thought to myself, "If I open it, the starbucks card thing wont be funny! She must open it!". So I gave it back to her and said YOU OPEN IT! She gave it back to me and said "NO! IM BUSY! YOU OPEN IT!". Okay okay, fine. But it wont be funny (is what I was thinking). I opened the box slowly in hopes of my mom finishing her other gifts so that she could open it, but clearly that wasn't happening. Thomas kept saying, "CUT THE STRING ALREADY! YOU'RE TAKING TOO LONG!"... but I took my time opening the tightly tied bow. About five minutes later, I finally decided to cut the string because I couldn't get the last knot out. So I continued opening... (the following images are presented compliments of Uncle Artie!)...
STEP 1: Unwrapping the gift (as shown on the right...)
STEP 2: Opening the Second Box! (I am thinking to myself... pretty small box. COOL! They make Starbucks cards smaller now!)STEP 3: Opening the Box inside the Box inside the Box... I am thinking "Okay, this is a little bit too small"... but it still didn't phase me... I still believed a starbucks card would be there.
STEP 4: SURPRISE! The joke is on me! It's A RING! OH MY GOSH! I am totally freaking out at this moment.
STEP 5: The Proposal
Thomas: Brigitte, You are my princess, and I want to love you forever... Will you MARRY ME?
Brigitte: (sobs uncontrollably) YES!
STEP 6: Holy Cow! What A ring! Show it off!

Oh man, What a perfect evening. First of all, Thomas had to fight with the people in the restaurant to change the reservation for so many people... because he wanted all of my favorite people to be there! (and they were! I love my parents, brother and lauren, aunts, and uncles! They make life great! Thomas's parents and brother were there too! AWESOME) On top of that, he told my mom that if he had to wait until the end of dinner to propose, He might puke. So thats when they told the restaurant to "accidentally" bring out the dessert. A very well orchestrated evening. I have to give it to them. Everyone kept the secret well, and although there were many signs (which I was oblivious to)... It still managed to be a real surprise. On top of that, to throw me off, Thomas bought me a beautiful necklace that I had been looking at from Tiffany & Co. the day before the actual proposal. I really thought after the moment he put that necklace on me that we would not be getting engaged for a while. How cute. He is the best boyfriend...Fiance... future husband ever! The rest of the night was wonderful... A blast! We ate, laughed at my surprised face in Artie's camera, and enjoyed the rest of the night.

CATCHING UP: (photos by Paul)
The planning begins. Already. I know right? That night, my mom, future mother-in-law, and I began to set dates and chose things from bride's maids to dresses! It was really nice. Thomas started to get his head aches though. They have only begun. Since then, we have planned where the wedding and reception will be held (Westin Colonnade), the date (November 28..black friday!), my dress.. (you can't see that), the food, and everything else you can think of. I decided to get the planning done ASAP because this summer I plan on taking another set of SIX classes. (As if I didn't learn the first time). Between then and now, I have done a lot of school work, skipped class for the very first time (to go to the fair), and been puked on. Yes, puked on. It wasn't a lot, but it was still puke. We were at the FAIR... only the greatest place to go once a year (they do it once a year so you can recover from the carny food). Rey, Paul, and I went on every ride that spins. I love those rides. I'm sure he has probably told you about it. Anyway, After all of those spinny rides, we decided to get a drink of water. We all chugged a bottle of water then decided to get on this kiddie glider ride (the kite one). Rey was on my left, and Paul on my right. The ride seated three (conveniently). So, the ride began to go... I started to laugh and ask Paul if he thought anyone had ever thrown up on such a puny ride. Lo and behold, Rey began to puke. Some of it got on my hand, but thankfully, it was only water puke (which is not that bad...it's just water). In my head I thought "Irony. I ask and I receive. At least he didn't puke the pizza". I thought too soon. A second round of puke came... pizza puke (the grossest kind besides chunky). At this point I am waving the carny down to stop the ride. I see him laughing as the ride comes to an end. We all were laughing! It was pretty freaking funny. Now, I am preparing for FINAL EXAMS. I have already taken one (I got a 92! COOL!), and I have 5 more to go. Yesterday, I took out my Maid Of Honor (Becca) for her birthday to get some cool gifts. We also went to dinner at Outback that night. It was really fun! Happy B-day Bec!

Okay, Now I can say you guys are officially caught up. That is just about everything cool that has happened in the past month. Hope you enjoyed this long-as-heck blog!

The Joys of MidTerm Week

2008-02-20T06:42:00.000-08:00

So... This week kinda sucks.... a lot. It is officially midterms week for me. I have only three tests to take out of six classes, but still... it's really frustrating. I've been preparing for my Nutrition class midterm... and the teacher came out and said this, "I don't mean for the midterm to be tricky..... but it is.". I have nightmares about these words. She continued to explain that nothing would be like the quizzes we have been taking the past couple of weeks, and that all the questions would be real life application with similar answers to chose from. OH JOY. but yeah... no biggie. What I am really scared of is my Physiology midterm (and lab midterm)... that class the spawn of chemistry, anatomy, and biology. Kinda creepy... but the good news is, it is an ONLINE CLASS!!!! so it is, more or less, open book. There just isn't a lot of time to look up answers, so I have to study extra hard. Besides that....

This week has been pretty OK. I finally got news of my brother's furniture getting in (it took 3 weeks... frikin IKEA sucks). I also got to spend some time alone with Thomas... which has been kinda hard since the both of us are in school and have a lot of crap to do. So I enjoyed this weekend thoroughly. OH! i forgot... Valentines day!!! that was pretty awesome. I went out to eat with Thomas and my parents to Capital Grille... and ate like a cow there. Everything from shrimp cocktail to strawberries immersed in champagne a la mode. yummm! That was pretty great. Otherwise, not much has happened.

My cousin Roxanna (a.k.a. Bubu) has been at my house the past week. She will be in Miami for only one more day... but the time she was here was nice. She has a great son (Steven Lee..5 yrs old), who loves to play Wii bowling and what not. I thought it was cute how he played, though. He would get ready to throw the bowling ball and say out loud, "Please Lord help me get pins down!" And when the ball would roll down the lane he would say, "Please Lord Pleaseeeeee". Really cute. He beat me. He would get spares and strikes every turn! I suppose I have to conclude that Jesus loves bowling. Therefore, I love bowling. (jk) =).... So that is my update... sorry if nothing is really that interesting...but it's kind of a quiet week now that I've been studying. Hope you all have a great week!

Tripping UP the Stairs

2008-02-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

Song: Misery Business

Artist: Paramore

So, at my lovely friend K-lo's request, I am going to tell the story of how I tripped up the stairs.

Before you read this story, however, you must read a little bit of background information.

Thomas is Greek. In the Greek culture, when someone gets married, their best man and maid of honor can not be a blood relative... here is why. In a Greek wedding, you are supposed to pick your best friends (boy and girl) who are not relatives to be your maid of honor and best man for this purpose: Who ever these people are, they become kind of an extended family... not necessarily blood relatives, but just... extra family (the way cubans call close friends Tio and Tia.. lol). Anyway, Thomas's ex girlfriend (who also has a twin! might I add.. pretty cool)... she is a part of his extended family. Not like he dated his cousin or anything... more like a close friend. Her mother is the extended family of his, so they kind of grew up together and the families are close. The breakup... and Thomas's getting together with me.. have kind of been a funny thing that none of us really ever talk about... kinda that awkward thing no one wants to mention. So, now that you know that, here goes my story.

Thomas and I were at his aunt Maria's 50th birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Of course, like all family functions, his ex girlfriend was there. I have kinda adjusted to being around her, and don't really mind it. I just try to not be awkward, and try to make small talk (which I suck at...). So, the night went on perfectly. Things were great! The family was fun! Everything was cool. Later on, Thomas's uncle asked me, "So, is it awkward for you that you are around her? Like, do you have to leave the room when she walks in? Or do you talk to her? Is it weird?"... I know the rest of his family wonders the same questions for me... but they don't ever ask... so this was a first. I responded, "No wayyy!!!! I'm totally cool! It doesn't bother me at all! She's just like any other part of the family to me." He seemed shocked by my response, being that the entire family feels the non-existing tension between her and i.

So, it was time to go. I started giving my good night kisses away to the family, one by one. I started outside, worked my way to the TV room, then to the kitchen, then to the living room (which faces the stairway). DONE! All I had left was the upstairs, where all Tom's cousins were playing Wii. I started to make my way up the stairs, and in the process, Tom's ex was walking down the stairs. I could feel peoples eyes staring at us, waiting and thinking "OH MAN! THEY'RE SAYING GOODNIGHT!". I said goodnight to her, and did the kiss on the cheek thing as usual, and right after that... BAM! I tripped on who knows what... and fell up the stairs. It wasn't even a pretty fall, it was like, trip trip try to get up and trip again on the stairs. I started laughing loudly out of embarrassment. I heard people asking if I was ok, but all I could do was look at her face, watching me as I fell and tried to get up. WOW. So, I think I pretty much shot the "Things are totally cool" statement to heck after that. The family showed concern and tried not to laugh, but my embarrassed laugh is so loud and obnoxious that they had to laugh along. I turned bright red, like a tomato... and proceeded to the door and left.

When I got in the car, all I could do was laugh the whole way home. For some reason, the embarrassment followed me. Thomas felt bad for me, and so did the rest of his family... but that didn't matter. All I could do was laugh. I guess it's not as bad as it seems, but still... I was quite embarrassed.... especially because I had just finished saying how OK i am with seeing her around. Oh well!

So that is the story. I hope you enjoyed it!

Amazing!

2008-02-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

It's great how God works in every day situations.

READ THIS

Internet... how I love thee.

2008-02-05T09:49:00.000-08:00

So, today I just happened to realize that I really love the internet. You can get just about anything done on here. I'm taking three of my college courses online, my text books are online, you can read books online, look for information in an infinite database, and even blog about it. How freaking awesome. I think the thing I enjoy most about the internet is Ebay. Ebay is the freaking mac daddy of all auctioneers. I think you can buy just about anything there! and well, I have been buying things there.... things I can't find anywhere else! I was so happy to see that they have the European version of DOVE deodorant on ebay. It comes in a spray bottle, and lasts for 24 hours....literally! It is freaking awesome! I use to use it when I was studying abroad in Prague. It just happened to be the greatest deodorant ever.... So good that even in the heat wave we experienced, I smelled frikin awesome! So yeah... horray for ebay and... INTERNET!!!! WOOO!!! Thank you Tim Berners-Lee for inventing the internet, Pierre Omidyar for creating ebay, and wikipedia for giving me that little tid bit of info!

Other news: I am very happy that the NY Giants won the Super Bowl! It was quite possibly the greatest game I have ever seen. Also, Giselle Bundchen will not be keeping her promise to run through Time Square naked as a result of the Patriots losing. (So sorry guys). Her press manager said she never made such a promise. Apparently the rest of the English speaking world is wrong about it. Oh well, no biggie. I just thought it was quite funny (and arrogant) for her to make such a strong pre-bowl supposition.

Things have been pretty quiet in my household lately. Now that Rey is gone, I wake up to an empty house (well, Macho is there) and sub-sequentially decided to stop watching TV in the mornings since I have no one to watch it with. I must say, I am in much better shape now that I've replaced TV watching in the AM with a little exercise or gym time. So, horray! for being in shape... but BOOOO. I kinda miss watching Spin City and Dharma & Greg every morning with Rey. To compensate for the emotional pain, I eat now. (jk..lol)... but I do love to eat. Now that I'm in a nutrition class, I've learned how to make my terrible eating habits semi-good! I'm very happy with the classes I'm taking this semester; they're all pretty awesome!

Other than all this randomness, not much has really happened in the past 10 days that I have not blogged (sorry for that... online class gets in the way. lol)... I went to Thomas's aunt's 50th birthday party.... had a great time...and also tripped up (yes up, not down) the stairs while saying goodnight to Tom's ex-girlfriend (you must hear the story some day... pretty funny).... went to my uncle Arthur's 50th birthday party a couple of days ago, and had a great time with family and friends (and the Samurai food we ate)... and basically did alot of nothing.

I just wanted to catch up, and maybe catch up a little more later. Dave Uribe told me something that I am recognizing to be true now.... Something about being deterred from blogging because we don't have enough time to make a long one... when really, short and sweet ones are better than none! I couldn't agree more, so short and sweet it shall be. So.... yea! Thanks Dave. Good advice.

That's about all I have to say today, so... bye? or... whatever you say at the end of a blog.

Oh, the Randomness of It All.

2008-01-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

Song: Helicopter

Artist: Bloc Party
So, Today was just a normal day... I got up, gave my brother's car to Optimus Prime (to have it shipped to Kentucky), made some pancakes (yum!), got ready, and went off to school. Things went by as usual. I went to class, went to Martha's after that, went home to take a quiz, then got ready to go BACK to school for my night class. Wednesday is a pretty boring day for me.... especially because it's the day that Thomas and I can't hang out (He studies with his group @ FIU on wed.). Because he goes to school right after work, he doesn't really have a chance to eat dinner. I decided to be nice and pick him up a snack. I went to this bakery i love on 32st and 107 ave.... picked up a pastellito for Thomas, then saw an ice cream man washing his truck outside. I was really surprised (having not seeing one in a long time), so I went and bought the best thing ever: A BLUE BUNNY SNOW CONE! Perhaps, my favorite thing in an ice cream truck...even though it's just ice and no cream. Anywho, I happened to be talking on the phone with Thomas when this happened...and he asked me..."What kind are you eating?"...I replied.."I'm eating the REAL kind! The kind that stays in the freezer for a whole year... the kind that is red, blue, and yellow (and orange and green where the colors mix).... The kind that I guess you can say looks like a clown's head!".... he started laughing... As soon as those words came out of my mouth, No Joke... A car pulled up next to me at the stop light... and when I looked in, there was a CLOWN with SNOW CONE HAIR and a glittery face! He looked at me smiling pointing at his head and at my snow cone in comparison! I swear, I was thinking to myself, "WHAT THE HELL IS IN THIS SNOW CONE?!?!?".... I started laughing so hard.... because... what are the odds of that? GEEZE! If that wasn't a SCRUBS moment... I don't know what is. Anyway, I thought it was great, so I told Thomas... and we laughed together. I also told my Aunt Martha and she says I was probably hallucinating... which God knows I might have been with that year old snow cone... but WOW! I'm telling you... Things just happen... and well... in short... God has a good sense of humor. That made my day... and I wanted to share with you all the randomness of it. That is all. =)

The other side of the terminal....

2008-01-18T18:42:00.000-08:00

My mood today: BLAH!

Song to hear while reading: November Rain!

(it gives this blog a nice dramatic touch. lol)

Today was the day that Lauren and I drove Rey and my father to the airport to wish our final farewells (my dad went with Rey

to help the moving process). We woke up at our own leisure this morning, packed up Rey's bags into my car, then went on our way.

About 5 minutes after we left, my father realized that he forgot his bag, so we went back for it. I kept stressing to my father that it was important that they be at the airport EARLY in order to prevent the missing of a flight (like they've already done before...mind you.).

He said, "Relax Brigitte, let Rey take his time....we have time!". I didn't believe him, but what could I say, he's my dad. Anyway, we went on our way to the airport AGAIN, hit some ridiculous traffic, then arrived safely! (that may not seem like a big deal to most people, but man, in the traffic there was this morning, I thought we were going to get into a ton of accidents... so i was grateful.)

We arrived at the airport to find that there wasn't any short term parking available, so we parked in the long term garage. While Rey was taking the bags out of my trunk, I noticed a stray luggage cart (the kind you pay for), then screamed, "YAY! FREE CART!". So I ran to the cart like an idiot than ran back with it. For some weird reason I didn't notice what was sitting in the front of the cart, until suddenly, it was clear to me. "EWWWWWW! REY!!! DONT PUT YOUR BAG IN THE FRONT!" Yeah, turns out there was a dirty diaper rolled up in the top compartment. Frikin gross.

But that didn't stop us. I opened my trunk and found the only thing suitable to pick up such a disgusting thing: a Marlins bucket hat. I used the hat as a glove, and decided to take it out of the cart... just so we didn't have to look at it anymore. (we didn't even use that part of the cart, but the thought of it made it so much worse than it was). My dad got pretty upset with me for using a hat to take it out, but I didn't think it was a big deal.

Well, we continued on our way to the terminal. When we found American Airlines, we got in line to get their tickets. There were some people standing around the line, but they were talking to someone and not going to the ticket machine, so we walked by them. About 5 minutes later I hear the man we passed saying (loud enough for us to hear), "It's so rude of some people to cut in line!"... and other stupidities. I kinda chuckled because he wasn't really in line anyway, but that's besides the matter (isn't it).

We got the tickets and got the luggage tags, all that was left was taking the luggage to screening. I noticed that there was a gigantic line for screening, and guess who was in that line?!?! you guessed it, pissed off man from before. My dad saw an opening in the line, and the AA personnel asked him for his bags! (which was cool! NO LINE FOR US SUCKA!)... well, turns out it wasn't so cool. Pissed off guy got even more pissed off and yelled "THERE'S A LINE!", my dad was kinda oblivious, it wasn't really his fault since the AA guy just asked him for his bags anyway. My dad wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to skip a line legally, so he said OK! and gave up the luggage. The people looked even more pissed, and i laughed even harder. (HATERS!) Well, after all this hateration, we went to La Carreta for a quick fill of cuban bread! (Something Rey would not find in Kentucky). It was pretty great, and we finally realized that it was time to go! Rey picked up his carry on bag, as well as my dad, and we walked towards their terminal. Earlier we had been talking about when i left to Prague, and how my mom cried for days. I remember feeling terrible, but when i was gone, I felt better. Unfortunately, this time I found myself at the other side of the terminal...The side where you just get to sit back and watch your best pal walk away from the life he use to lead.

My brother in line for security check, about to go for good... this was not a happy moment. It hurt me to watch Rey and Lauren kiss as the tears streamed down her face... and my brother trying ever so hard to be strong. Inside, I wanted to die, and I knew that this was goodbye, for real. I tried to keep my composure, but my dad turned to me and said, "it's ok to cry...". That was it for me. The tears kept coming and coming and coming, and there it was, in a flash, goodbye, i love you, see you soon. My heart ached... For my mother, for my family, for myself, and mostly... for Lauren. As I thought of the pain of letting go of your closest companion, someone more than just family or friend, but your best friend and love, I couldn't bear the thought, let alone watch Lauren go through it.

I tried hard to make her laugh... to the extent that we even took a picture while we were crying (for my blog's sake! lol)... she chuckled a little, but it didn't take long before the both of us were crying again. I guess I can say I've hit rock bottom. I've avoided the pain so long...that it's just swelled up inside of me and now I'm paying for it. I know it's just temporary, but still... letting go is the hardest part of all.

I just have to stick to good old GnR... "Everybody needs some time...on their own". I guess I'm just waiting for that wicked guitar solo to come around my way once again. Can't wait to see you Rey! I love you! Miss you already, and boy.... don't we look awesome when we cry! ;) So there is today, the day of suck on the other side of the terminal.

I forgot to tell you! When I said in the beginning that you need to leave EARLY to the airport... I meant it. In the long run, Rey and dad missed their flight. Not because they weren't there ON TIME, but because they weren't there with ENOUGH TIME. Some jerk decided to make it hard for them to get on their flight, and ultimately won the war. They ended up taking a flight to Dallas, TX... then a flight to Kentucky. What a day.

As a door closes, another opens.....

2008-01-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

So, today is Rey's last official night in Miami. I guess since I originally thought he was leaving in August, I've been prepped for this, but as the time grows near (by the minute), I realize how not-ok I am with it....but somehow I've come to the conclusion that Rey's leaving is out of my hands. This is just another step in his life that he needs to take to become who he wants to be, and I'm ok with that. I guess it just sucks, knowing that I'm coming home to nothing (or waiting up late at night for nothing). I must say, it's been one hell of a good run he and I have had. (and here is where i start to reminisce...it helps in the coping process) Since birth, I've known Rey to be that amazing big brother... the cool guy whom I'd look up to forever. When we were young, I happened to be a very small infant, so Rey would stroll me around in my cabbage patch kids stroller (yeah i fit in there) around our pool table... and from that moment on... I always looked up to him for everything and anything. Like this ONE TIME.....

We had just moved into a new house after hurricane andrew... and my father asked us to pick up the big rocks from around the yard (I still don't know why...). In the process of doing so, my brother explained to me with alot of anxiety, "BRIGITTE....HE CANT DO THIS TO US! ITS CHILD LABOR!!!!!"... he continued to explain the point of child labor laws and how my dad happened to be violating them all... (mind you... we must have been 7 years old and 11)... and so he encouraged me to tell him what he (my dad) was doing wrong! I believed everything Rey ever said, so I obeyed. I proceeded to barge into the house, dirty hands, smelly, you know... kid stuff.... and yelled "THERE ARE CHILD LABOR LAWS AGAINST WHAT YOU'RE HAVING US DO!!!!". My father responded with the infamous Backhand. Yeah, it sucked... but Rey got a good laugh out of me getting in trouble for his dirty work ;) ...I have to admit though, that was pretty damn great.

There was also this other time, I asked Rey if planting a strawberry would produce any fruit. Rey responded by explaining how if I planted a strawberry in the back yard, a strawberry tree would grow! I was very skeptical... I asked if he was just screwing around with me... but he convinced me he was telling the truth. So, I took a few strawberries.... and planted them in the back yard. When I got back in the house, Rey just looked at me and started laughing... really hard (I guess in disbelief that I actually believed him...and followed through). At that point I was thinking... what the heck is so funny. Turns out strawberries don't grow on trees (clearly)... and that planting a strawberry in my back yard (the barren land) would yield nothing. I swear, I'd probably believe anything that guy tells me... no matter how sketchy it seems. (Oh, by the way.... don't think this story is funny? Here is the "punch line".... This wasn't when we were kids... it was just some time ago that this happened.)

There was also this one time.. I was too young to remember... but my mom told me the story and I thought it was too freakin cute to not mention it... BEST STORY EVER!

When I was born, my mom would change my diapers very often (DUH.). One day, Rey just happened to be present when she was changing me... And Rey GASPED out of disbelief. He said, "MOM!!!! THIS IS TERRIBLE!" She responded, "What's wrong Rey?"... And he continued, "BRIGITTE! SHE DOESN'T HAVE A PIPI!"... yes... pretty funny... but it gets better......"Mom, we HAVE to take her to TOYS R US and BUY HER A PIPI!" =) this is my favorite Rey story. He use to think you could buy everything and anything at toys r us... including genitalia.

So yeah, thinking of these stories, the late night chats we have, the times i stay up waiting for him to get home, the times i tell him to go to bed cause he fell asleep on the couch, waking up to watch dharma and greg and spin city, saved by the bell, etc... eating entire loaves of bread for breakfast... playing guitar hero... playing the wii... everything! I am definitely going to miss him. So much so, that I wanted to write about it. I know it's his time to leave the nest though. I am confident that he will do well where ever he goes and what ever he does... because he puts God first. So, since this is his last official night, I thought I'd write his going away prayer. I hope when you read this, you would send him your blessings as well.

Here it goes:

Dear God,

Thank you for Rey! The greatest brother in the whole world!!!! Please protect him where ever he goes, and help him succeed in all the things you have in store for him. I am confident that you will look over him, because he is your child. I pray that you'll bless him for his obedience, and help him adjust in his new environment accordingly. Please bless him as he goes, and keep him company when he feels alone. Thank you again for such a great brother, friend, and teacher. In Jesus' name...

-your child.... Brigitte

Cool, my first blog prayer. That was interesting. Anyway, that's all I guess. Thanks for your time in my reminiscence. See you again soon!

Rey, my hero, my best bud, if you're reading... I love you. Be careful! Beware of the haters! lol... freakin toaster haters.

PS... happy birthday Janell! yay!! 20!!! welcome to purgatory.

PSS... have any funny Rey stories? let me know!

Catching up with the NEW YEAR.... (Longest Blog EVER)

2008-01-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

Photos by: Peter Gregg Photography
So, since I decided to blog now, I decided that I should back track a little bit since the year just started.Let's begin with Christmas Eve....

That night was pretty awesome. I spent time with my direct family (aka every one De Armas or Hernandez). We did the traditional cuban thing and roasted the pig (funnnn!) and ate like pigs (hmm)...I also got attacked by some of my little cousins (who come in bountiful numbers)... and then... for the first time, spent the other half of my

night at my indirect family's house (aka everyone Soucy and what not). It was pretty freakin awesome! I had a good time over there! We ate the dessert I sent Tom's aunt and uncle (which would be the GIANT CARAMEL CHOCOLATE APPLE from william sonoma)...and well, pretty much every other dessert you can think of. Then we all sat down together and opened up some presents! It was really nice being with both sides of the family. Thomas read the story of Christmas, and then we concluded the evening with some awesome photos... (and a kiss of course).

Oh, I forgot to mention!!! Thomas and I did our Christmas gift exchange that evening as well! It was so cool! I guess since it was our first Christmas together, we went all out in the gift giving. I believe my favorite, most unexpected gift would have to be my nintendo Wii! How cool was that?!?! The only problem was, that since they were still high in demand, Thomas could only get a hold of a wii reserve (a paid promise of a wii in january). That was so nice though! TOTALLY unexpected. I think my gifts were kind of lame (I mean, there was no Wii involved...pssh), but he seemed to enjoy them. So the night went on as it should... and every one went to sleep waiting for the ever so near Christmas day.

So it finally came! And boy, did we wake up early in my house (not on purpose... mostly because we had house guests). We watched my cousin Michael's children open their gifts... and boy was it cute! I love watching kids scream over toys! It was hilarious! Then we visited Martha's house and exchanged gifts with my mom's side of the family. We enjoyed a nice Christmas brunch, and I enjoyed a plate of bacon. As the day went on, we visited other houses to drop off gifts... until the time finally came. We began to pack up the rental car to go to NORTH CAROLINA!!!! When Thomas arrived, he said the very infamous..."BUT WAIT!!! THERE'S MORE!" statement. He brought out another gift that he and my brother had been hiding...and when I unwrapped it, there it was. The actual Wii...in the flesh! (or...in the box I guess.) THAT was definitely something I didn't expect. Thomas explained that he originally couldn't find the wii...so he bought the reserve.... then ended up finding one a few days before Christmas... so... he basically bought two. We ended up selling the other one to Kristel...(YAY K-LO!) So yeah.... after that awesomeness... we packed up the rental ESCALADE (sounds like a dream..but boy was it hell)... and hit the road! ...which leads me to my next point... this story is freaking long... so I'm going to continue posting later... brb!

It Starts....

2008-01-14T09:59:00.000-08:00

So, I decided to start blogging. Don't ask me why...or even better....why now... cause the answer is just going to be..."Because I felt like it." =) There are so many things happening in life right now, that not writing about it would be wrong. This first blog isn't going to be long, or awesome... I guess it's just an introduction to ME! I have to thank AMANDA for the wonderful name of my blog. She wrote a poem a while ago, and it was called THE COLOR BRIGITTE. I thought it would be appropriate. Thanks woman! Anyway... my blogs will be random. I hope to write every day, but I don't know if I'll be able to do that just yet. I'm taking online courses from FIU for the first time! I guess blogging would be a major distraction from reading the material... but who cares. =) I just hope to enjoy this long semester. And well, I just want to write about it! I'll be blogging later today, but for now.... i guess this is it.