tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88431717371991805032024-03-17T23:03:55.560-04:00A Sufi's Journey...Reflections of a simple woman striving to realize and live her purpose in life.Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-21873091590802974442019-07-23T02:30:00.004-04:002019-07-23T02:30:56.138-04:00Planning a Trip to Spain<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I recently came back 8 glorious days in Spain with my two babies. I call them babies but they really are young men. My boys are 17 and 21 years old thus traveling with them is soooo much fun. I am writing this blog with the intention to help you plan your trip to Spain or really anywhere in Europe because the tips are applicable to most cities although I will include specific tips for the places that we visited.<div>
<br />I love summer trips with my sons especially as a single mom, these trips are a priceless way of reconnecting with my boys away from our normal world including our own friends, commitments and distractions. It really provides an opportunity to bond and reconnect with each other when it’s just the three of us. It also creates opportunities to have some honest and uncomfortable conversations and work things out because we can’t walk away from each other exactly since we are all stuck there so to speak.<br /><br />But back to trip planning. I always start any trip planning by<br /><br />a) Doing my research by talking to friends and coworkers who have travelled to a specific place I am considering.<br /><br />b) Next I continue my research by watching YouTube videos on travel to that country. This in my opinion is an excellent way of prepping and planning your dream vacation. Last summer, I planned a trip to Costa Rica and I did the exact same thing as I’m telling you now. But a trip to Europe is different and I learned to plan it by watching the YouTube videos.<br /><br />Once I decided I was going to Spain, I needed to figure out where in Spain I wanted us to visit and how I was going to get there. Europe has an excellent infrastructure thus one has many options to travel within Spain unlike the United States. Sure you can always fly from one city to another but Europe has these amazing speed / bullet trains that travel almost as fast as airplanes. They also have an excellent bus service and of course you can always choose to drive a rental car since the highways are perfectly safe. <br /><br />I was told about this website called ROME TO RIO.com by a coworker physician who is an avid traveler. I started by looking at the map and learning where the various cities were located in relation to the others so I could figure out our itinerary. Once I knew our dates, I had to decide how much time I wanted to spend in each city and also how many cities I could cover. <br /><br />Not understand that there are few different approaches to travelling. One is to go to a city/destination and spend some time exploring the main tourist attractions and having a meal or two and then on to the next city. The other approach is to go to a city/destination and really exploring the area like a local. Sure one can hit the historic/ tourist spots but also going off the beaten path by living and dining in the not so touristy parts of town but instead going out of the general area and meeting and mingling with the locals and getting a feel for the real day to day culture of the place.<br /><br />Now the trip we planned was a blend of the two. Europe with its excellent infrastructure of transportation provides reasonable and practical and easy options to travel all across Europe via the buses, flights or the bullet trains. I chose to rent a car and drive across Spain for several reasons:<br /><br />a) It was cheaper to drive with the 3 of us vs get 3 tickets for all the different places we went to.<br /><br />b) Driving gave us more flexibility to leave when we wanted to vs a pre-determined schedule<br /><br />c) Driving also gave us the flexibility and freedom to stop when we wanted to to spend more time to explore perhaps a waterfall or a scenic spot (which we or grab a meal at a local gas station cafeteria or explore a small town grocery store to grab a few snacks and in that interacting with the locals.<br /><br />But the cons of driving were:<br /><br />a) Gas is expensive in Europe. It is sold in liters vs gallons.<br /><br />b) European cities especially the central historic parts of town have very, very, very narrow cobblestone pathways because they don’t qualify to be called roads. Some of these are literally so narrow that you could not get an SUV in through it. We were renting a Kia Niro and even in this midsize car, we had at some points, maybe 6 inches on each side. <br /><br />c) Unexpected speeding tickets (if you speed which I did since I was getting honked at for going under the speed limit). I didn’t get pulled over there but received a speeding ticket via email through my rental car company and had to pay the fees which was a generous $75 if I paid within the early grace period or I would have to pay the $120 if I chose to wait. Needless to say, I paid. <br /><br />d) You have to deal with the issues of having a car such as a flat tire or worse an accident. Now we didn’t have an accident (Thank God) but we did have to change our tire. But I called the rental car company (unfortunately, they don’t have toll free numbers and thus I had to pay international calling rates since I opted out of initiating the international plan.)<br /><br />e) Renting a car and getting rental car insurance. It is advisable to get complete coverage when renting a car because you never know the road conditions you are going to encounter, possible accidents or damage. But if you rent with a credit card, many credit card companies will cover the insurance for rental cars. It is advisable to check with your credit card company before deciding.<br /><br /><b><u>Planning your detailed itinerary per city.</u></b><br /><br />I would advise watching a few or more YouTube videos and taking notes of key places or sites that you are interested in visiting. Also, I would suggest researching a city on the internet and once again taking notes on what you might be interested in attending.<br /><br />I totally nerded out when planning this trip but it absolutely paid off. So I planned out a certain number of days in each city based on how much there was to do and realistically how much we could do per day given the summer heat wave etc. Then I added in the time needed to drive from once city to another and included an hour or two extra to allow for bathroom/gas/meal stops along the way.<br /><br />Also if you are planning day trips to other cities, you are not spending any time in the city you are based in so make sure you allow yourself enough days / time to explore and enjoy the city you are based in. <br /><br />Also as much as I love day trips, I really like the idea of spending an evening/night in a certain city. Every city has a very different look and feel at night that you may not get to experience it if you are only there during the day.<br /><br />I also got my self organized by taking a blank journal and dividing it up in the different cities we were planning and then adding all my detailed notes including the key places to hit in each city, the various tours we were committed to attend and the details regarding the airbnbs etc. I even printed out our car rental agreement, our tickets to the various tours/ sites along with our flight itinerary. I used washi tape to secure it all in the book. Like I said, I totally nerded out and it was definitely worth it since I had all our travels/trip info secure in one book. When we got to a particular city, I would simply open up the secured washi tape section and I would have all I need to go on without any hiccups. You can always come up with your own system but make sure you are organized with contact phone numbers, emails, addresses etc so that you are prepared. <br /><br /><b><u>Airline tickets</u></b><br /><br />I used Cheapo Air although there are many other websites that you can use. Understand that the best deals unfortunately are not offered on the website but you have to call the toll free number and speak to a representative. <br /><br />You may also want to use points to pay for a part of or all of your ticket.<br /><br /><b><u>Hotels vs Air BNBs vs Hostels</u></b><br /><br /><b>Hostels: </b><br /><br />Let me start by prefacing that I have never used a hostel but have spoken to many who have travelled across Europe and have stayed in hostels thus the little I share is from their experience. So a hostel is basically an apartment or a house where there are multiple beds in one room and you share a common bathroom/ kitchen/ living room etc. These are preferred by students or travelers on a budget since it gives you a bed to sleep in and a shower but understand that what you save in money, you sacrifice in comfort and privacy. Also, hostels like hotels or Air bnbs vary in quality and price so I would suggest you research online and read the reviews before committing to one.<br /><br /><b>Air BNBs:</b><br /><br />I personally prefer Air BNBs when I’m travelling especially with family since I have the option of renting the entire home/apartment that usually comes with a kitchen and basic amenities. On Air BNB, one can search for specific number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking spots, elevators, airconditioning, washer/dryer etc so that you can find a place that works for you. I have also used Air Bnbs in the United States when travelling for meetings etc and I find it to be quiet affordable and preferable to staying in a hotel. Air Bnb’s also tend to be available in the historic / central part of town which makes it very easy to get around without a car. <br /><br /><b><u> My learnings from Air BNBs are</u></b><br /><br />a) Air-conditioning: Read the fine print and the list of amenities. In Europe, air conditioning is NOT a standard feature thus make sure you confirm that the apartment has it especially in the summer when temperatures can be in the 90’s – 100s in the daytime and in the 80’s at night. I like my air-conditioning and cannot deal with fans and an open window to be comfortable but it’s up to your personal comfort level. <br /><br />b) Washer/dryer - I also preferred to have a washer /dryer when in Europe since I tend to travel light and need to wash my clothes every few days. Dryers are also not a standard feature in most of Spain. And even when there were dryers in the home, they were too small and did not dry the clothes, so I would just hang /lay the clothes out all over the apartment and they would usually dry in a few hours. Take a small zip lock bag with enough detergent to do a few loads. I have realized that I use way too much detergent anyways so I have now started using about ¼ of what I use to use. Although some places will provide detergent, don’t assume they do. Just take a cup of detergent with you and you are usually good for 3-4 loads of laundry. <br /><br />c) Breakfast- Europe is not big on breakfast and thus most places are not open for what we as Americans like for breakfast. I usually will pick up a few things from the local grocery/convenient store (eggs, milk, bread, cheese, butter) and will cook a breakfast at home. We not only save money this way, but we also make sure we start the day full so that we don’t need to stop to get food first thing out the door and can usually wait till lunch. Most apartments/homes also have Keurig machines but make sure you are getting the right size/shape of the cups. I also prefer to take my own instant chai/ coffee packets with me thus saving money and having my favorite on hand when out. <br /><br />d) Cooking meals – when we travelled to Costa Rica last summer, we didn’t care too much for the food, so I ended up cooking a few things and we saved money and had a delicious meal. Some suggestions are pasta, salads, fresh fruits, granola, frozen pizza that we baked in the over etc. <br /><br />e) Also you can always reheat your leftovers if you have any. This is really helpful when travelling with teenage boys who are ALWAYS HUNGRY. <br /><br />f) Also if travelling with a baby / young child, most places accommodate by providing cribs, play pens etc. Make sure to read the list of amenities before signing up for an Airbnb. <br /><br /><b>Hotels:</b><br /><br />Hotels are great and have amenities like having your room cleaned daily with fresh towels etc. Most hotels will also have a restaurant / bar that you can eat a quick bite if you are not keen on leaving after a long workshop. <br /><br /><b><u>Ways to See a City </u></b><br /><br />a) Every city has free walking tours available. I was told about this by fellow young travelers who have used this all over the world. Apparently if you google, “free walking tours”, you’ll be able to find someone who is willing to give you a free walking tour of the city.<br /><br />b) Red Bus – these are double decker buses that are available in most cities. They go around pre-determined route that stops at the key places in the city. You can hop on and hop off or simply stay on the bus. <br /><br />c) Group Tours - in a small group setting which include a few historical sites. Usually its one tour guide to up to 25 or so visitors. Sometimes you get a little device with headphones that allows you to listen to the tour guide clearly without having to be within earshot. <br /><br />d) Private tour by a local tour guide – definitely more expensive but more convenient if you are travelling with family and want a private tour guide to show you around. We had one in Istanbul when traveling there a few years ago. This worked for our 3 generations travelling together. The tour guide was very accommodating for our family. I also used this to hire a tour guide for the Alhambra. <br /><br />TOURSBYLOCALS.COM is a great website to find someone.<br /><br />e) Biking tours – so these are good. You meet in a designated spot and are assigned a bicycle and follow the group leader from one location to another stopping to learn about the various sites.<br /><br />f) Electric bikes/ segways – this is super cool!!! Since very minimal energy is needed to ride these and they are a lot of fun. We rented electric bikes in Sevilla and absolutely had the best 3 hour tour of parts of the city that covered a good couple of miles. Walking it would have been too much. This was especially good with my boys since it broke the monotony of yet another tour in a group.<br /><br />g) On your own – so another way to do it is to just do it on your own. Walk around, hop on and off a red bus or just invest in a guide book and /or do your research before you go. Most sites also have Audio guides that you can listen to as you explore various parts of the location be it a museum or a historical site. <br /><br />h) The boys also rented a scooter that was just leaned against the wall. I thought it belonged to someone, but they were smarter than me and knew that they could rent it using whatever app was printed on the scooter. I actually got on it and then wouldn’t give it back to them since I was sooo tired of walking and the scooter was cool, fast and fun. <br /><br />i) We used google maps to get around but this was not always effective.<br /><br />MOOVITis an app that a friend recommended that I wish I had downloaded. It is very helpful since it has local train and bus routes.<br /><br />Tip: Student ID – Most museums etc will offer a discounted entrance fee for students but you MUST have your valid student id with you. That is a considerable savings.<br /><br /><b><u>Packing Light</u></b><br /><br />The best thing you can do to help make your trip successful is to pack light. I spent a lot of time watching Rick Steve’s packing videos, reading articles and printing out packing lists and it definitely paid off. I also didn’t like the idea of paying $40 - $60 for a checked bag. We each had a roll on bag along with a backpack. We did not carry the backpacks around when we were sightseeing due to the pickpockets that frequent the touristy parts of town and instead left them at the apartment. I also packed a cloth carry-on bag that folded into my backpack but opened up big enough to either check in or carry on. We used this bag to hold our dirty laundry between the cities and ended up folding it up and carrying it back home in my backpack. I also left open the option of checking in a bag if I had shopped excessively but was able to get it all in in our normal luggage thus saving money in checked bags fees.<br /><br />So here is my suggestion to packing light. Remember to take a small zip lock bag with enough detergent to do a few loads<br /><br />- Pack enough clothes for 2-3 days which includes usually 2 outfits per day and something to sleep in. Also make sure the clothes are light weight and easy to pack and you can mix and match the clothes to create multiple looks. Since I like to stay in Airbnbs I made sure I rented places with washers and then simply did a load or two of laundry between the three of us and we were good to go. But you can always hand wash clothes and hang them to dry.<br /><br />- Pack extra clean undergarments/ socks to keep you going.<br /><br />- I ordered these packing cubes (again from Amazon although I believe Walmart/Target sell them too). I really like these since it helps me stay organized.<br /><br />- Also I followed the suggestion to pack my bag a few weeks before my trip. This allowed me to go back and take away /replace things I didn’t really need. Most of us overpack and this allows us to pack right.<br /><br />- Make sure you take a hat/cap and sunglasses. Makes a big difference when spending hours out in the sun.<br /><br />- I usually take no more than 2-3 pairs of shoes including a pair of walking shoes, sandals and a semi fancy pair to wear to a nice dinner although NO ONE cares what shoes you have on.<br /><br /><b><u>Pickpocketing</u></b><br /><br />- Pickpocketing is extremely common in Europe. I saw video after video warning me about not having my valuables in a backpack. Not to mention, even our cab driver immediately warned us about this. I was prepared. I had a cloth messenger bag that I had bought from Walmart for under $15 which I used throughout. I also ordered a passport wallet/pouch with RFID protection from Amazon. You can get one for under $20. <br /><br />- RFID is an acronym for “radio-frequency identification” and refers to a technology whereby digital data encoded in RFID tags / credit cards are captured by a reader via radio waves. I had our passports, credit cards and cash all with me safety tucked in the zipper pouch and slots in the passport wallet. I carried this wallet in the messenger bag and wore in in the front of my body ensuring safety. <br /><br /><u><b>Electronics/chargers</b></u><br /><br />I don’t like to travel with my laptop or any electronics except for my phone and a battery pack.<br /><br />But my 21 year old son had his laptop which he used to unwind once we were back in the apartment.<br /><br />As far as chargers, make sure you order your European (round ) plugs from Amazon or eBay. I ordered the basic ones that had the option of a regular plug and 2 USB charge input slots. These were perfect.<br /><br />I also ordered a more expensive multi-prong/plug option plug since it gave me the option of using it either in the States or anywhere in the world. Unfortunately I was unable to use this since every apartment we stayed in only had the round insert plugs.<br /><br />We also had 2 battery pack recharges which we used between the three of us all day when out to make sure our phones were charged. Just remember to recharge at the end of the night so that you can use it again.<br /><br /><b><u>TAPAS</u></b><br /><br />- Tapas literally means small plates. Spain is famous for i TAPAS. Avoid the touristy restaurants in the plazas and find the busy ones in the small cobble stone streets.<br /><br />- Also, pork is a very popular all across Spain so make sure to ask if a dish has pork even if it shows to be a meat/chicken or fish dish. We were surprised how much pork was on everything. <br /><br />- And eating vegetarian is a bit tricky since there are a lot of carbs and fried vegetables. Also just ordering a vegetarian sandwich or salad doesn’t mean it will be all vegetables. It usually comes with a serving of shredded tuna which makes it challenging to pick all the tuna out. We just learned to ask questions and order specifically without any meat / tuna etc. <br /><br />- We went tapas hopping for dinner which was awesome. So basically we would stop in a café/bar/ restaurant and order one tapas each. We would all get a taste of it and then move on to another restaurant and order another tapas until we had covered 4-5 places including desert. I also recommend watching a few YouTube videos about tapas in each city and then go check those out. <br /><br />- Horchata milk – made of some kind of nuts was also quite delicious. Usually available in desert places. <br /><br />- Try the Salmorejo – it comes in different varieties and is quiet refreshing. <br /><br />- I also really enjoyed ox tail, calamari, and variations of patatas bravas – their version of French fries.<br /><br /><b><u>Souvenir shopping</u></b><br /><br />- I am not a big shopper so I tend to pick up magnets from the different cities I travel to. Also I like picking up postcards of the places I’ve visited since my own pictures never quiet capture the place like a professionally taken pic on a post card does. I also like picking up journals from the different cities that I then use once I’m back. Journals and magnets also make great gifts and are small and light enough to carry back. Other gift ideas are caps, coffee mugs, and placemats for kids. <br /><br />- I also like to pick up things if I like it since usually I don’t go back to the same place again unless you actually have a few hours to go in and out of the shops. <br /><br />- I also love stopping in the gift shops at the various sites and have found that they usually have the best quality and selection of souvenirs. I like picking up smaller pocket size books if I like the place. These have pictures and the history and are still easy to carry back in my carry on luggage. <br /><br /><b><u>VAT</u></b>– is the tax that we pay when travelling all across Europe.<br /><br />- For example, all restaurants charge a 10% VAT. Also you are NOT expected to tip the waiters in Europe because they actually make a decent hourly wage and the VAT covers the tip.<br /><br />- You can always leave a Euro or two or less if the service was exceptional<br /><br />- Also, VAT is refundable at the airport but it’s not as easy as I originally thought.<br /><br />- So for larger purchases (I think 150 Euros or more), certain stores will give you forms to submit at the airport to get the 10 % VAT refunded. But you have to go to the airport early enough and have all your necessary forms/receipts on hand AND have the items you have purchased ready to show them in order to have the VAT refunded. <br /><br /><b><u>Getting around in Spain – Cabs vs Uber vs Walking</u></b><br /><br />- Plan on spending money on getting around because it’s just faster and easier that way. I found that both cabs and Ubers were about the same price. If you plan on using Uber or Lyft, you’ll have to enter your passport info on the app the first time you use it.<br /><br />- Another way to get around is using trains and busses – we didn’t use these so can’t give you any tips on these.</div>
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- Most people I know never take a cab or an Uber to get around but simply prefer to walk. Now that is definitely an option but we were already walking 6-8 miles a day. Also, a 2 minute walk on the GPS usually ended up being a 10-15 minutes walk. We needed respite in the summer heat wave that was going through Spain and we were over it, thus we were grateful to have the option of someone else driving us.<br /><br /><b><u>Our itinerary was:</u></b><br />Madrid – June 29 – July 1, 2019 <br /><br />Toldedo – July 1<br /><br />Cordoba – July 1 – July 3<br /><br />Seville – July 3 – July 5<br /><br />Granada – July 5 – July 7<br /><br />Back to Madrid on July 7 to fly back home to Miami. <br /><br />We didn’t have enough days to go to Barcelona so that will be another trip. <br /><br /><b><u>Sites to see in the following cities</u></b><br /><br /><b>Madrid:</b> This is a really cool city kind of like New York or London but has its own vibe about it. There are so many museums to explore and so many art galleries, restaurants etc. Night life is quiet popular in Madrid and places are packed even at 2 in the morning. Definitely a place to go back and visit again.<br /><br />- Plaza Mejor <br /><br />- Plaza de Espana<br /><br />- Puerta del Sol<br /><br />- San Miguel Market or Mercado de San Miguel – great place for Tapas. You can go from stall to stall and order small portions of various foods. Absolutely loved this place. <br /><br />All the above are within walking distance from each other and can be covered in one afternoon. <br /><br />- Royal Palace –similar to our White House. You can get tickets and go inside. We chose to just hang out on the steps of the historic building across from it and listen to some street musician. <br /><br />- Sabatino Gardens – we didn’t make it here<br /><br />- Almedina Cathedral<br /><br />- Museums – Prado Museum, Reina Sofia Museum and Thyssen Museum.<br /><br />Each museum has its own entrance fee. We went to the Prado Museum. Also note that sometimes, they have special exhibits that need an additional ticket. Buy them at the front or else you will not be allowed to enter that part. The Prado museum had a special exhibit on a few artist including Rembrandt and unfortunately we were unable to enter and I did not have the energy to go back outside and stand in the long line to get in. <br /><br />I recommend the audio guides that you can rent once inside if you don’t have a tour guide. <br /><br />- Buen Retiro Park – is right across the street from the Prado Museum. I personally like tour guides to really understand the history behind each place but this is one park that you can just walk thorough. It has the Crystal palace in one part of the park. I would recommend you go in the early evening so that you can enjoy it all. We were there at 1 pm and it was way too hot to be outside. There is also an area where one can rent paddle boats etc. <br /><br />- Salamanca – is the area of town that has the luxury name brand shopping stores<br /><br />- Malasana – artistic area of town similar to Wynwood in Miami. We tried to go but the cab driver dropped us off at some random street and pointed us in some direction. After walking around in circles for 30 minutes, we took another cab back to the central part of town and went to dinner instead.<br /><b><u><br />Tapas in Madrid </u></b><br /><br />- One of my favorite places in Madrid was Rosi LA Loca– a cute little restaurant with fusion tapas that was literally the BEST food we had all across Spain.<br /><br />- We also enjoyed MAJADERITOS CAFE– which happens to be just down from Rosi La Loca. Good food and good service. <br /><br />- St. Ginnesis famous for its churros con chocolate and is open 24/7. We also stopped at a few other places that had excellent variations of churros con chocolate.<br /><br />- We also had plenty of good and bad gelato icecream – go to a place that is busy. Those tend to be the better quality ones. <br /><br /><b><u>TOLEDO</u></b>– The entire town of Toledo is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is an absolutely beautiful city that can easily be explored in a day. Outside cars are not allowed in the city so you must park your car and walk in. I would recommend getting a tour guide or signing up with a tour group to be able to see the different sites. We didn’t do that and chose to explore it on our own and I have to admit, we just got lost and kept walking around in circles. We found a cathedral and paid the 4 euros per person to go in and climb their tower and were able to get a beautiful view of Toledo but we completely missed all the other historic sites. So don’t do what we did but instead invest in a tour guide and make it worth your while.<br /><br />- Cathedral – there are several but this one is famous from the 13thcentury<br /><br />- Museo del Greco – Greco is a very well known artist and this museum is supposed to be amazing<br /><br />- Puerta – The Old Gate<br /><br />- Alcazar de Toledo – with its army museum<br /><br />- There are many little museums to explore including the Museum of Witchcraft (Brujeria)<br /><br />- Mercado de San Augustine<br /><br /><b><u>Cordoba</u></b><br /><br />I LOVED CORDOBA!!! <br /><br />- The MEZQUITA – also known as The Mosque Cathedral was one of my favorite places in Spain. <br /><br />- The Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos<br /><br />- The Jewish Quarters<br /><br />Definitely sign up with a tour to really learn about it all.<br /><br />We signed up for a 3 hour tour that covered the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, The Jewish Quarters and the Mezquita. This was a very good experience to learn about these places wihin just a few hours. <br /><br />- The Roman Bridge – we loved walking across it to get to the other side in the evenings. There is a children’s park and a workout park on the other side. The boys wanted to go explore there so we did. Also halfway on the bridge is a statue of Archangel Rafael – the favorite of Cordoba.<br /><br />- Calleja de los Flores – The patios of Cordoba are famous and you’ll get a taste of this when on the tour.<br /><br />- Medinat de Zahra – this is outside of town about an hour or so and has the ruins of one of the imams. I chose not to go there but it’s definitely worth it if you’re a history buff. <br /><br />- Palacio de Vianna – didn’t make it here either.<br /><b><u><br />SHOPPING IN CORDOBA </u></b><br /><br />- I loved the souvenir shopping I did in Cordoba the best. I found the prices and quality to be good and reasonable compared to the other places we went to. <br /><br />There is this store called BARAKA in the cobblestone / central part of Cordoba. This place has all kinds of really beautiful art by local artist. I was particularly drawn to the Islamic art they sold. The pieces ranged from 10 euros to 300 euros. I really wish I had picked up a few more things from there especially the ones that were framed and ready to be hung. I didn’t think I had place in our bags to bring it back but I totally could have pulled it off. Also they don’t ship. I asked. I bought 2 prints (one of the Mezquita and the other was from the Alhambra which I didn’t realize until I actually saw it with my own eyes when at the Alhambra in Granada). They were only 14 euros each but it cost me a lot more to have them framed once back home. <br /><br /><b><u>Sevilla </u></b>- We loved Sevilla. We really enjoyed this beautiful city. We rented an Airbnb in the historic part of town but got to explore the rest when we went on our Urban bike tour. <br /><br />Places to see and we actually saw it all.<br /><br />- The Real Alcazar de Seville – must get a tour guide or the audio guides – this is also the home of the famous Game of Thrones Water Gardens of Dorne in the Mujedar Palace.<br /><br />- The Cathedral and Giralda Tower which is located in the Cathedral. 35 small flights of stairs will take you all the way to the top and give you an awesome view of the city. – we used the audio guides but were also really tired at this time. Also in the Cathedral are the remains of Christopher Columbus – very cool. <br /><br />- The Jewish Quarters – Barrio Santa Cruz<br /><br />- Plaza de Espana<br /><br />- Parque de Maria Luisa<br /><br />- Espacio Metropol Parasol or Las Setas – this stunning architecture beauty that cost just a few Euros to get to the top but is definitely worth it. We ate dinner at one of the local plaza restaurants (which I don’t recommend since they are very touristy and the food is usually overpriced and not good). And we walked over the the Setas. Sunset is a good time to go and it takes less than an hour to enjoy the view. <br /><br /><b>- Flamenco Show</b> – I recommend the MUSEO DEL BAILE FLAMENCO (the Flamenco museum) to really get a taste of the 4 different styles of Flamenco. We absolutely loved the dancers!!!<br /><br />We explored Sevilla on electric bikes which we rented through <b>URBAN MOTORS </b>in Sevilla. If you google it, it will take you to Trip Advisor which is where I found this gem of a tour. We had the best experience with our tour guide. We also happened to be the only three people that had signed up for this and so had the tour guide all to ourselves. She was also sweet enough to let me stop and take pictures in front of a few pretty doors.<br /><br />El Commercial– in Sevilla is a cool little spot to grab breakfast. We sat at the bar for breakfast and ordered the famous Spanish coffee (similar to the Cuban Coffee served all across South Florida). We ordered Churros con chocolate which was fresh and hot and is one of their breakfast items. We also ordered Spanish tortillas which is basically like a quiche made of potatoes and eggs. There are many different variations of these made with different vegetables and meats. It’s a thick very filling portion so plan on sharing. <br /><br /><b><u>GRANADA</u></b> – I loved Granada and would definitely love to go back to visit again. We didn’t get to see it all since we really only had one full day there.<br /><br />- The beautiful ALHAMBRA which includes the Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife Gardens. <br /><br />You can purchase the Granada Card for about $40 which will give you an assigned time to see the Nasrid palace. But it also allows you access to the Cathedral etc. <br /><br />If you chose not to get the Granada Card, go directly to the Alhambra website and buy tickets from there BUT make sure you have an allotted time to enter the NASRID palaces. There are some tickets that allow you into Alhambra but you cannot enter the Nasrid palace. That would be very very sad. Also it took us 3 hours with a personal tour guide to see all of Alhambra. I would NOT recommend you do this on your own or with audio guides. Make sure you get a private tour guide or sign up with a tour group. Unfortunately I waited too late and was unable to sign up with a tour group which were all full. So I ended up booking a private tour guide and it was absolutely worth the $300 I spent. <br /><br />Also make sure you have your passports with you because there are multiple security check in places along with police dogs etc. You will not be allowed to enter without your passport and your id is not enough.<br /><br />- The Albayzin Quarters – the Muslim Quarters – we walked around a bit on these hilly cobblestone pathways.<br /><br />- Mirador de San Nicolas – which is the viewing point to get a beautiful view of the Alhambra especially at night so go there after sunset.<br /><br />- The Alcaiceria market – which is similar to a souk with all these shops selling stuff from Morocco and India. I was not impressed because I found the quality to be poor and the prices to be too much. There are also regular shops which I actually preferred. <br /><br />- The Granada Cathedral which was built on top of the mosque is the second largest in Spain. I wish we had gone to see this but unfortunately we didn’t and we definitely regretted it.<br /><br />- The Royal Chapel which is right next to the Granada Cathedra. where Queen Isabel I and King Ferdinand II are buried.<br /><br />- The Sierra Nevada – are the beautiful mountain ranges that are just a short hour or so drive from Granada. We didn’t go there either but it would be something to visit in winter.<br /><br />- The Granada Baths – didn’t make it there either.<br /><br />Travel is oxygen for our souls. It helps us get away from our daily routine so that we may explore a new part of the world and in doing so, we open the possibilities of meeting parts of ourselves that we didn’t know existed. One does not need to be rich to travel. You must simply have a desire to see the world and you will find a way. There are definitely ways to travel economically or to travel as luxuriously as you can afford and no matter how you chose to do it, Just do it!!! <br /><br />I hope this is helpful!!!<br /><br />Love, Light and Blessings.<br /><br />Anita <br /></div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-19666999717655183442016-08-15T00:57:00.001-04:002016-08-15T00:57:08.262-04:00A Day at the Beach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Any day in South Florida means a gorgeous beach day!<br />
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
Anita</div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-59443290630239151132016-07-31T13:24:00.000-04:002019-07-22T16:56:04.993-04:00My Most Personal Piece Ever.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Written in 2014, published in 2016 for a few weeks and then I made it private again and here it is now. I've since already spoken about the sexual abuse I've experience in the Facebook Live videos.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just the other day, I had a conversation regarding the rampant low self-esteem in the teenage girls of our generation. It reminded me of a non-fiction book I read back in 1995 about a longitudinal research study conducted with teenage girls of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. It basically found that overall most adolescent girls suffered from low self esteem as a result of their body size and shape but white girls were much more conscious of their bodies than their counterparts. A very high percentage of white girls thought they were "fat" while black girls were much more comfortable in their own skin. Latin girls tended to shift between the two extremes. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I started to reflect on my own issues with my body that I've struggled with over the years. I've never and I mean, never been a size 6 which for me was my ideal size. I am also aware that I've used food as a friend to comfort me when I felt bad about myself. I am a survivor. I was sexually abused from the age of 2 years old to about 12 years old...by six different people that I remember. I was molested but thank God, never raped. I didn't think anything of it at the time or even for years as an adult because I just assumed that everyone around me had been too. It was only as an adult that the enormity of my experience finally dawned on me.</span> </div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> It happened while I was in the middle of attending a NLP (Nuero Linguistic Programming) Workshop. I was paired with a partner to practice a change work exercise. But instead of what we were suppose to do, up came these memories and emotions that my partner knew were more than she could handle. She immediately called the Master Trainer who worked with me to process the memories and the pain. I came home from that weekend thinking everything was fine but it so wasn't. I had just had a miscarriage of my first pregnancy after being married and I had been devastated. And to top it off, here were all these memories to deal with.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now before I go any further, I think it's important that I explain that I wasn't molested on a daily basis for ten years...no nothing like it...it was occasionally and far and few between but even one incident and one perpetrator is one too many and I had six different ones that I could remember and at least a dozen or so incidents that I can recall. But I had a happy childhood overall inspite of this. Remember, I didn't realize the severity of it until I was an adult.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Anyways, I fell into a state of depression as I processed the grief and literally went through the 5 stages of grief. For about six months, I was angry, so angry at the grown men, the teenage boy who lived down the hall, a few others and even an older male cousin who violated an innocent little girl. I was a pretty baby, fair skinned and sweet looking. It was almost like I had a sign on my forehead that said, "Molest me!" Next came the sadness. The tears just wouldn't stop! I cried and cried for the little girl who went through it all, being confused and feeling guilty. Confused because she knew it was wrong but it felt good at times and guilty for actually enjoying it at times. You see, we are physically wired to enjoy sexual stimulation no matter what our age or maturity.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And finally I plea bargained with God. Now remember I had just had a miscarriage. So the bargain was, "God let me have a child and I promise you I will protect him/her so that he/she never has to experience the pain that I did." Finally, I made my peace! I was a survivor! I was who I was because of the sum of my experiences and that included being molested. This was back in 1997. My son, Aly, who is now 16 years old was born the next year. And when I finally completed my Masters of Social Work degree in 2008 and started working in a residential drug rehab program as a therapist, I had a sixth sense of knowing when a client, male or female, had been sexually abused, before they told me. I was able to work with many clients using various NLP techniques to help them release the pain and guilt from those extremely painful experiences. That is when I realized that going through the sexual abuse had a purpose and a reason. I went through it and was able to work through it so that I could help others. My life is and has always been about service to others. But I've had to experience certain things including the experience of going through a divorce and being a single mom to help me understand that first hand. Its like I attended not just university to get a Bachelors and Masters degree, but I attended the school of life!</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Wow, I so did not intend to share all this here. God knows, I've wanted to for years but I've always convinced myself that sharing this would be embarrassing for my family and I would open myself to criticism and judgement. But I'm at a point in my life where sharing these are crucial to my life's work and purpose. And if someone choses to judge me in that, that's on them. I'm absolutely okay with that. Also, for those who are wondering where my parents were in all of this, my mom was only seventeen years old when she had me and was totally unaware of what was going on. And of course I said nothing due to fear and conflicting guilt.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As much as I had processed my past, there was still a part of it that just stayed with me. I didn't know how to handle the attention of men. I was actually a cute size 12 after marriage and needless to say, men hit on me. They flirted with me and made innuendos which I found to be very uncomfortable and so I ate...and I gained weight and I went into a depression and I became invisible. Seriously, who hits on a depressed, overweight, fat woman? Nobody! So it worked for a while. But sleep walking through life is never the answer. And I wasn't created to sleep walk through my life. So I woke up. The divorce was a wake up call... and such an effective one. And now ten years later, I stand before you, single, independent, strong, grounded and let's not forget, beautiful in my own skin.</span></div>
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Update: I wrote this piece over 2 years ago and back then I had shared it with a select group of friends who responded with love and empathy. Many also shared their own personal struggles with sexual abuse that they had never spoken about. I share this piece now with the intention to create a safe and respectful space for anyone to share anything that they need to get off your chest.</div>
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Thank you in advance for keeping an open mind and heart.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Love, Light and Blessings,</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">From one sufi to another.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Anita</span></div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-28951505426360686602015-11-10T17:11:00.001-05:002015-11-10T17:11:55.287-05:00POD - Picture of the Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftZG-aDK6PwUpCNcWiwpUKpfUyCndl9u1pdZLrDLHNGErCwtzhxvizi_TWm1X1N5wARaPoDYkZS4u_91ykG8DLfa1s8ICmqwyFkM1wgMkj8HmjzC1oNdF8T80F2_aIUyml9qprDkAMBQc/s640/blogger-image-1087830266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftZG-aDK6PwUpCNcWiwpUKpfUyCndl9u1pdZLrDLHNGErCwtzhxvizi_TWm1X1N5wARaPoDYkZS4u_91ykG8DLfa1s8ICmqwyFkM1wgMkj8HmjzC1oNdF8T80F2_aIUyml9qprDkAMBQc/s640/blogger-image-1087830266.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Love, Light and Blessings</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Anita</div>Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-43548196647702207882015-11-04T23:17:00.000-05:002015-11-04T23:17:22.478-05:00Random Things I'm Enjoying These Days!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was always creative but never considered myself an artist. Even as I started to blog almost five years ago and launched my ETSY jewelry shop some three years ago, I still could not call myself an artist. </div>
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I have finally grown into my artist self. I feel blessed to have the presence of the arts in all it's many forms. I learned to play with watercolors a few years ago while at Liz Lameroux's BE PRESENT retreat. I ordered these sets of watercolors which I LOVE!!! I finally went and treated myself to a coloring book with paisleys. Ofcourse I used my 50% off coupon and so only paid around $6 for the book. I wasn't sure if the pages would hold up under the watercolor paints but it totally did. Here is a picture of the dining table from last week:</div>
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The coloring book, the Grumbacher watercolors, brushes that look beautiful in this old green coffee cup with the snowflakes on it, my empty Harvard cup that I enjoyed my Morrocan Mint Stash tea, a cup to rinse the brushes off and a sheet of paper towel to dab the excess paint off the brush before painting.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPedDONy7gWvHWeA6cf3F4_OBVLZh5bQEwfawHViMPTRZNI_VlV67RbXvNnmpjw8x7spnw7PqPVCoJ9GUJl8UG73yBN3T0vF-ErcveDERk9-KY0yMPMou6vNmharBUiJmhVCSBgIdON12/s1600/FullSizeRender-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPedDONy7gWvHWeA6cf3F4_OBVLZh5bQEwfawHViMPTRZNI_VlV67RbXvNnmpjw8x7spnw7PqPVCoJ9GUJl8UG73yBN3T0vF-ErcveDERk9-KY0yMPMou6vNmharBUiJmhVCSBgIdON12/s640/FullSizeRender-11.jpg" width="624" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A work in progress.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrHNIm8ze8lVUEOUE-n0ro7crjqRmtQoUBzkhcN4y8BF1xZeAo1eknIYMmf2hL2x50NnWxCkwncu3JZA7dD-8Om7Nr9yu5hJGSSl1x2DQKocJTU34CtzLkuoWbdEqLIlElu_nA_QvPWiU/s1600/FullSizeRender-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="504" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrHNIm8ze8lVUEOUE-n0ro7crjqRmtQoUBzkhcN4y8BF1xZeAo1eknIYMmf2hL2x50NnWxCkwncu3JZA7dD-8Om7Nr9yu5hJGSSl1x2DQKocJTU34CtzLkuoWbdEqLIlElu_nA_QvPWiU/s640/FullSizeRender-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: left;">This heavenly smelling candle that makes this crackling sound as it burns.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7nUmGizdNEx3E0Y2_IZs_KYvl1jk280dC9A6UluVJnSwBfP8P1RAhY3VxTC4K8J92s6MzcloPwzqLlFNLRFsSO2b4fNJqcQwGVd7KrlbUMv-XqH3W9p0sJ6U-Ha4pkjmuR5u6ZikpR_S/s1600/FullSizeRender-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7nUmGizdNEx3E0Y2_IZs_KYvl1jk280dC9A6UluVJnSwBfP8P1RAhY3VxTC4K8J92s6MzcloPwzqLlFNLRFsSO2b4fNJqcQwGVd7KrlbUMv-XqH3W9p0sJ6U-Ha4pkjmuR5u6ZikpR_S/s640/FullSizeRender-13.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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You see, being Indian, I grew up in a family that valued the math and the sciences but not art. Although that's not entirely true. </div>
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My dad is very creative. He enjoys music like no one I know, and he loves acting in Jamatkhana (mosque) plays. He truly revels in the process of rehearsing his lines, putting together his costume and finally performing on stage. Dad is also very creative when it comes to building things. Home Depot is one of our favorite stores to go to when working on a new DIY project. It was a few years ago when we were brainstorming on ways to hang the curtains in our home, that I realized that I get my creative gene from my dad. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzF3n1FBt7gE7tjgYV2oI7Xnks-5bMDr3PjxwvQRANdSg9y7CVukJyOHoXuQ80AJRfJMYMCQ03p5xa-QNwPZBy_NEGyxT01Sf5oNcP4ctcAFNBcdoqF0gtNGBQoSsUpiGEoFE9TrzZBwaH/s1600/photo-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzF3n1FBt7gE7tjgYV2oI7Xnks-5bMDr3PjxwvQRANdSg9y7CVukJyOHoXuQ80AJRfJMYMCQ03p5xa-QNwPZBy_NEGyxT01Sf5oNcP4ctcAFNBcdoqF0gtNGBQoSsUpiGEoFE9TrzZBwaH/s640/photo-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Mom on the other side is as left brain as they come. She is brilliant but not artistically inclined at all. But then again, she has a great eye for design when it comes to desi (Indian) clothes and jewelry.</span><br />
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So this is what I've been up to these days. Painting, a few DIY projects and creating new jewelry pieces brings me great joy. Most people partake in the annual tradition of spring cleaning but I've noticed that I tend to enjoy fall cleaning a lot more. Somehow, getting ready to start the holiday season with Thanksgiving around the corner and Christmas in the folds, I just love cleaning, purging, organizing and getting the home ready for the celebrations.<br />
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Being able to create art is a blessing to me and one which I am very grateful for.<br />
I pray you take some time to play a bit, no matter what the form.<br />
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Thank you for reading.<br />
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
Anita</div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-58971874082256686092015-10-30T04:34:00.000-04:002015-10-30T04:34:01.825-04:00The Picture of the Day Series - THE RAINBOW<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I love taking pictures and I've decided to share just one picture everyday that I have taken more than likely with my IPhone 6 plus and have edited with my favorite photo editing app called, "Snapseed." I love this app although my eldest always teases me about my sub par photo editing skills.<br />
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The goal is to share a picture a day with a one liner description. So here goes today's picture.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDDW_oIoqg1HsoinNbS3NvPcWexPH7xnOBvi1jYY87upVurqbsa0nbYwo3jUNTwxzO22-UCedQITDFKf7qRQzPW5rQHUoI9-V-kw8PPKnFh5OVEw0qQWNp5mYWSSqIz02d2rNLqP9khMmk/s1600/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDDW_oIoqg1HsoinNbS3NvPcWexPH7xnOBvi1jYY87upVurqbsa0nbYwo3jUNTwxzO22-UCedQITDFKf7qRQzPW5rQHUoI9-V-kw8PPKnFh5OVEw0qQWNp5mYWSSqIz02d2rNLqP9khMmk/s640/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> The rainbow over South Florida.</td></tr>
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
Anita</div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-83429457099918804172015-10-30T04:24:00.000-04:002015-10-31T22:57:54.833-04:00Picture of the Day Series - Day 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaUM5tWIYHJsvQVn1oonFutUWVhBkXaus4WVukgBovlW2GVyFv0MJTfR8B18d4CaWiggz6n_RFTqfUyxkWadI1pT_Fy7ICvP9z30kvvLn2BKcdCyk7ziGDNCMIxIQRHVC0NtW4mBy70L-/s1600/FullSizeRender-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcaUM5tWIYHJsvQVn1oonFutUWVhBkXaus4WVukgBovlW2GVyFv0MJTfR8B18d4CaWiggz6n_RFTqfUyxkWadI1pT_Fy7ICvP9z30kvvLn2BKcdCyk7ziGDNCMIxIQRHVC0NtW4mBy70L-/s640/FullSizeRender-1.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rays of Sunlight peeking out from behind the heavy clouds.<br><br>Love, Light and Blessings<br>Anita</td></tr>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-34213726431962185092015-10-28T02:34:00.001-04:002015-10-28T02:35:29.368-04:00Books That Have Changed My Life For The Better! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am often asked to recommend books and I've come to realize that I have a short list that I absolutely recommend to anyone and everyone. In fact, if it were up to me, these would be mandatory reading. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_91w3Rt4GsEKD8E9k07IC71bx9IJFED_P6MH9kS36ZkYTqN4INm5Cvke6JOQZ79BZWTZqhXcqZVd0OxVhAwFzRKtQALxaMCL3PovhKi-Ieeh72RFksQ2wXU2dG_9TzNgwzh6PMnxRrtF/s1600/student.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_91w3Rt4GsEKD8E9k07IC71bx9IJFED_P6MH9kS36ZkYTqN4INm5Cvke6JOQZ79BZWTZqhXcqZVd0OxVhAwFzRKtQALxaMCL3PovhKi-Ieeh72RFksQ2wXU2dG_9TzNgwzh6PMnxRrtF/s200/student.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear," is one of my favorite quotes. The teacher can be in the form of the lyrics of a song on the radio that suddenly resonate with you in that moment in time and deliver the precise message that you need. The teacher may also appear in the form of a simple conversation between friends. Other times, the teacher comes in the form of parts of a sermon that you were barely paying attention to, yet that one line just jolted you out of whatever rabbit hole your mind had wandered down to bring you back on your path. The teacher may also appear in the form of a book as they have for me, time and time again.<br />
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I believe that we all have spirit guides and angels who guide us everyday. Now I know I might lose some of you at this point with this "woo woo" talk but humor me. These angels and spirit guides which I believe are assigned to me by my Higher Power aka God use many of the mediums mentioned above to guide me on my path. We are presented with opportunities to learn these lessons daily in many different forms but alas, we tend to miss many of them. The key I have found is to pay attention to that little voice in my heart and head that whispers, "Pay Attention Anita. This one is important." So I get myself out of my head and pay attention and on most days, get the lesson but there have been many times when I completely miss the lesson and so I get presented with more and more opportunities to learn the lessons. The storyline changes, the actors change but the lesson is always the one needed.<br />
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So without further delay, here is a list of my favorite books of all times. Please note that that I am sharing them in no particular order. I do believe that you will read whichever one you need to read. Just be open!<br />
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1. Seagull - Jonathan Livingston<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaE8kPsnTqHm4oTwNaPa17Kc9g1ADxEV6jyMEFrckU2a8YDtyVY-g62HLYDPDujHNrkMsDC0IOeUCG9ggYVfapnxi-mGFEG3I2W-g5YlmFDJhc9XQfoOAV1UXjTbSyAOk-L-w2hS647n6f/s1600/seagull.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaE8kPsnTqHm4oTwNaPa17Kc9g1ADxEV6jyMEFrckU2a8YDtyVY-g62HLYDPDujHNrkMsDC0IOeUCG9ggYVfapnxi-mGFEG3I2W-g5YlmFDJhc9XQfoOAV1UXjTbSyAOk-L-w2hS647n6f/s200/seagull.jpeg" width="117" /></a></div>
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2. Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_06lHwIca0lznAPoQS5QbMlWAjQ6rT1MGtWhrQSYwViLz2TWPQbOt_L2YnFUx-yTvN28UrxIlzTaH3JOsaXSn3mt_zRXxVO_eepNdPY4S3X9jU31HZcxZFUD8fgatODU2eUx58_Y7Jwp8/s1600/celestne.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_06lHwIca0lznAPoQS5QbMlWAjQ6rT1MGtWhrQSYwViLz2TWPQbOt_L2YnFUx-yTvN28UrxIlzTaH3JOsaXSn3mt_zRXxVO_eepNdPY4S3X9jU31HZcxZFUD8fgatODU2eUx58_Y7Jwp8/s200/celestne.jpeg" width="134" /></a></div>
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3. Seven Spiritual Laws of Success - Deepak Chopra<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Imc0YZKFWCoBixBDnd0HchyIaRCUds4Yy5PWsOEg9Z6Y_hWZI0aeoi7VOy-GoTeGUpi7Y3q2aTlc0v3_QuLEI_m0j_WgQmHWBobDCAeDV_nxzyYW4uxLSNzUnr-mgOcFbOtf8zoLQyKp/s1600/seven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Imc0YZKFWCoBixBDnd0HchyIaRCUds4Yy5PWsOEg9Z6Y_hWZI0aeoi7VOy-GoTeGUpi7Y3q2aTlc0v3_QuLEI_m0j_WgQmHWBobDCAeDV_nxzyYW4uxLSNzUnr-mgOcFbOtf8zoLQyKp/s200/seven.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
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4. Conversations with God - Book 1 - Neale Donald Walsch - I read this book some 18 years ago before my children were born.<br />
There is also a book 2 and 3 in this series along with another 20 some books that Neale has written and they are all excellent books but Book 1 remains my favorite. I actually had the opportunity to spend an entire week with this author a few years ago. I went to Oregon and met a group of 30 some people from all around the USA and the world and we had a once in a life time experience listening to this brilliant teacher in person.<br />
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5. The Seat of the Soul - Gary Zukav - now this is a book that sat on my bookshelves for almost ten years. Every couple of years, I would pick it up and attempt to read it but just got lost in the heavy jargon and I would get frustrated and put it back on the shelf. Then some ten plus years later, I picked it up and started to read it and realized that I had already received the messages that were in this book except they had come to me in the form of other authors and their books. But I am still including it here.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjC8HQfixYOvjZVmkYeYV0hbwrchOGwFjB_L0jDcxjtY-NNHPE9a5lZY5I3nGBBYxpBcUMAu8OL1bDsbrWECfRmzbuHo8RWVGx6iwjvGLjrW8I2yJ3wpM9L2wlCeWw76rEXcD9QjEsXbFi/s1600/seat.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjC8HQfixYOvjZVmkYeYV0hbwrchOGwFjB_L0jDcxjtY-NNHPE9a5lZY5I3nGBBYxpBcUMAu8OL1bDsbrWECfRmzbuHo8RWVGx6iwjvGLjrW8I2yJ3wpM9L2wlCeWw76rEXcD9QjEsXbFi/s200/seat.jpeg" width="129" /></a></div>
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6. The Heart of the Soul - Gary Zukav - this book was life changing because it challenged me to really look at my behavior and forced me to face the underlying issues behind them. And as Maya Angelou said, "When you know better, you do better." Thus this book helped me "know myself better."<br />
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7. 40 Rules of Love - Elif Shafaq - an exquisitely written book in the most simple form yet the author weaves the tales of two separate families (Rumi and Shams de Tabriz and the character of this woman in her late 40's/50's). The 40 rules of love are pearls of wisdom that are scattered throughout the book and made my heart sing with joy at discovering them. I can't say anymore without giving it away so I'll stop here.<br />
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8.The Purpose Driven Life - by Rick Warren. This book kept showing up right around the time of my divorce some ten years ago until I finally realized that I was suppose to read this book. A MUST READ!!!<br />
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9. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran - a short read but one you must take your time with. I read this book also some 18 years ago when I was pregnant with Aly (who is now 17 years old). The chapter on children along with Deepak Chopra's books have outlined how I've chosen to raise my boys. Essentially by honoring them as the individual souls that they are on their own journey. I understand that I have been entrusted with them but they are not my property to impose my own dreams and desires upon. I have and continue to encourage my boys to discover their gifts and use them to serve humanity. I believe that when you follow your passion, you never work a day in your life.<br />
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10. The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo - this is a must read!!!!<br />
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11. Brene Brown's books are fantastic and everyone should read them.<br />
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12. Simple Abundance - A Daybook by Sarah Ban Breathnach.<br />
This book literally saved my life. After Aly was born, I got hit with post partum depression. I was living in Tucson, Arizona with an 8 month old and a husband who was away all day long at work. We had only one car between us which left me stuck at home. Tucson is beautiful but we were renting an apartment in the hills which made it very difficult to just walk to places. I saw this author on Oprah and immediately bought the book and started reading and writing the gratitude journal as directed in this book. Within a month, I started to feel better and more positive. Many of us women tend to lose ourselves in the process of being someone's daughter, someone's wife and then someone's mother. We forget who were were prior to all of that and this book helped me uncover the layers to discover my own dreams and desires. This is a very powerful book for women. The author also wrote a version of this for men.<br />
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13. The Laws of the Spirit World by Khorshed Bhavnagari - This book found me about a year ago and I am still working through it.<br />
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I'm sure there are many more books I could recommend and maybe in time, I'll write another post but this is it for now. Please do not rush through any of these books. Instead, take your time and read them and then re read them to really absorb the messages. These took me about 20 years to read as they found me or I found them only when I was ready for them.<br />
Therefore, pay attention to which one tugs at your heart and go read that one first. The others will find you in time.<br />
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
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Anita</div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-57333836077516374972015-10-27T01:41:00.001-04:002015-10-27T02:31:54.578-04:00Know Thy Worth!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Why am I writing this today? Well, something very interesting happened earlier today. I posted a new collection of handmade earrings on Facebook available to purchase at $18-$20 per pair and someone decided to make the following comment, "<span style="background-color: #e9eaed; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 14.6182px;">Hmmm! None of them are attractive enough to spend 18 or 20 $". "</span></div>
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Here are the earrings I made and posted.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglu6U4AjLXV9K_-UEPnU5fXaLyWimd7RDs24MWI0keqMwGwfeyYm-sG1ICTrIpNSgi6Ybs9N1ZDaOl4KYFsS0-y5OzqCYTVVcUW7HH9Wi5xyPxE7Qxi7CCgZE3wGMbcLC4TfW-uFpDTswx/s1600/earrings1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglu6U4AjLXV9K_-UEPnU5fXaLyWimd7RDs24MWI0keqMwGwfeyYm-sG1ICTrIpNSgi6Ybs9N1ZDaOl4KYFsS0-y5OzqCYTVVcUW7HH9Wi5xyPxE7Qxi7CCgZE3wGMbcLC4TfW-uFpDTswx/s400/earrings1.jpg" width="300"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I actually made this frame today just to display these earrings. I used turquoise colored chalk paint on this frame and covered the insert with brown fabric only after stapling chicken wire to the inside of the frame. The entire thing took me less than an hour to put together and yes it's very messy from the back but it does the job. </td></tr>
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So now to make a few things clear, I don't know this person, nor am I friends with her on Facebook yet she not only took the time to check out my earrings but more importantly felt compelled to comment. Facebook notified me of a new comment on my post so I went to go read it and needless to say was taken back at first but then was simply amused. Ofcourse I responded with, "You are certainly entitled to your opinion." And then the messages and comments started. I started getting text messages on my cell and messages on FB ranging from, "On my God, she has no filter, I can't believe she said that," to "What a B....! You should block her." A few of my friends expressed their sadness that there was this much "hatred" out in the world. A friend who had immediately responded to my response to this comment was surprised at my what she called a "zen response." But my response was not intended to be zen - like. I simply took it as one person's opinion of art aka my earrings. Art is subjective and as the quote goes, "Beauty (and might I add, worth) is in the eyes of the beholder." </div>
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This comment or any other comment be it positive or negative is simply an opinion of the person expressing it. It's never personal and it certainly has nothing to do with the actual person or thing or event that this person is commenting about. And it certainly doesn't make her a bad person or a b.....<br>
Abraham Hicks said it best.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">I am just like you. I want to be liked and respected. And until a few years ago, I cared very much about what other people thought of me. I was a people pleaser. But somewhere along the way, I learned a very important lesson. I learned my self worth. I am not perfect. In fact, far from it. I am flawed and have so many things that I could and should be improving upon. But I am a good human being. I know my strengths and I know my challenges and I choose what I want to work on or ignore. That is the beauty of the being alive and human. We have choices...tons of it from the minute we wake up in the morning till we get in bed. We get to choose our thoughts and our responses to our thoughts. We get to choose what we eat, wear, do or don't do. Now ofcourse, I can hear some of you now saying, "But we don't have a choice in having to work." Well, I beg to differ. We do have a choice. We simply choose not to blow off work. We choose instead to show up. We might feel that we don't have a choice but we always have a choice. Not making a choice is also a choice. </span></div>
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Another very important lesson I learned very early on was that every choice has a consequence. The word consequence tends to have a negative connotation but in my understanding of the word, a consequence is simply a result of a choice or an action. Consequences can be either positive or negative. </div>
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The most freeing realization was that I am me regardless of other people's opinion of me. Thus I don't take compliments personally nor do I take their criticism. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the compliments and welcome the criticism as a way to learn from them but they do not reflect who I am or what my worth is. It is simply the other person's perception. That's it. So back to the earrings conundrum. I obviously think they are beautiful therefore I made them and I know that they are worth more than the $18-20 that I have priced them at. The price of any art reflects the creativity, the time, the talent and the effort of the artist. I am blessed to know that I have enough people who like my work and want more of it and for that I am grateful.</div>
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But not everything I create will be liked by everyone and that's okay. People are entitled to their opinion but it has nothing to do with me or my work. Now as far as the lady who commented is concerned, I commend her on following through when she felt compelled to. I wish her well and life goes on. Thank you for reading!</div>
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Love, Light and Blessings</div>
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Anita</div>
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PS: Good news is that the earrings are going fast! :) </div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-38254641659121135922015-10-22T23:31:00.000-04:002015-10-22T23:31:40.265-04:00Playing in the streets of Mumbai!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I took these pictures while visiting Mumbai, India. The date was January 1, 2012.</div>
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These little boys found entertainment playing in the putrid, standing gutter water. Notice the boys aren't wearing any footwear.</div>
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I noticed this mother sitting on the side of the road waiting for God knows what as her kids waited with her. The daughter should have been carrying a toy doll but instead was carrying her youngest sibling. </div>
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How are they able to walk on these rough streets with no shoes? </div>
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I'm guessing the mother probably works as a cleaning lady somewhere and this happens to be her day off.</div>
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And just like that, they decided to get up and go on with their day. I was terrified yet intrigued as I watched this young girl probably no more than seven or eight years old, balance this baby on her hip.<br />
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
Anita</div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-31420538556854628172015-06-21T18:13:00.000-04:002015-06-21T18:13:04.410-04:00Mangoes in Miami!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Living in Florida is like living in paradise; at least my version of paradise. The sky is almost always blue. The ocean is just a short drive awayThe temperature is a warm and comfortable 75 degrees even in the winter months and beautiful palm trees and coconut trees line our backyard. Check out this beautiful fruit hanging off the branches.</div>
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Love, Light and Blessings<br />
Anita</div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-16739544929409109692015-02-22T09:28:00.003-05:002015-02-22T09:35:31.950-05:00Carrot Slaw & Coconut Curry Chicken.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">was reading an older issue of "How to Create Business" and came across this gorgeous recipee book by Erin Gleeson called "The Forest Feast". What intrigued me was that it had beautiful photographs and painting that had the recipes illustrated in the pages. Also the recipes are supposed to be healthy and easy to make. I simply had to have my own copy. I'm so excited to share that it is as beautiful and as practical to use as described. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The recipes are all vegetarian and look easy to prepare. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I tried and made this carrot slaw that was super easy to make and delicious and most importantly healthy! My kids actually asked for seconds.</span></div>
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My other new favorite thing to cook in a hurry is this delicious coconut curry chicken that takes me 10 minutes to prepare. </div>
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I start off with shredding up a store bought rotisserie chicken and placing in a pan. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovXz4RHj23No3Be9P_Y5wU2r6g0-6_ULYLQk-wscioDZ5cTt2kyezwkwHjMLJGcLbV_Y7BPDEYMapYKmVU3SnE4TwOMDRLnUhBIhPNzz3ya5kk_pf_coOvptfe3qAShSmQo8w9LWiNmgn/s640/blogger-image--373375532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovXz4RHj23No3Be9P_Y5wU2r6g0-6_ULYLQk-wscioDZ5cTt2kyezwkwHjMLJGcLbV_Y7BPDEYMapYKmVU3SnE4TwOMDRLnUhBIhPNzz3ya5kk_pf_coOvptfe3qAShSmQo8w9LWiNmgn/s320/blogger-image--373375532.jpg" width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"></span>I added this jar of Coconut Curry Simmering Sauce from the Stonewall Kitchen company (available in Fresh Market - $10 a jar) to the pan with the shredded chicken along with a cup or two of water to avoid the chicken sticking to the pan. Let it simmer and heat up and serve with some warmed up bread and butter. I've written about this in a different post about my favorite things but this is soo good that it's worth mentioning again.</div>
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Here are a few more pictures of the different pages from the recipe book. </div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I can't wait to try out these other recipes.</span></div>
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
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Anita</div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-44356277624635150302015-02-19T23:13:00.000-05:002015-02-23T00:40:02.759-05:00So you want to kill yourself?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Life is beautiful and shitty! Life is full of ups and downs. Happy times and sad times and then we have those gut wrenching, life changing, heart cracking, you never being the same you times, which brings pain that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Failure in any form is painful, be it getting fired, going through a divorce, being cheated on, lied to, losing your house, your business, your spouse, your kids, your life as you knew it. Yes, I get it. Trust me I do.<br />
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I am a survivor. I have survived sexual abuse. I have survived moving to a new country without any papers and getting stopped by my so called classmates, big white boys in 8th grade who were bullies and decided to stop me as I was walking into math class to ask me, "Where is your green card?" And me mumbling something about, "I don't carry it with me." Of course I didn't have any legal status until a couple decades later when I not only got my green card but actually took the oath and became an American citizen.<br />
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Then there was divorce almost ten years ago. My life turned upside down. My head was in a fog. I didn't know who I was as my identity as the wife of a handsome pilot was no more. I was still a mom, and being that I had two little boys under the age of six, I had to keep going. I had to for their sake. So I did!<br />
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Have I thought about ending it? Checking out? Killing myself? I can't even begin to tell you how many times that thought has crossed my mind since being just a little girl back in India. But things were never bad enough for me to want to check out.<br />
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Suicide is the desire to want to end one's pain. Suicide is one's desire to end one's life by any means possible because one feels stuck in a deep, dark pit with no way out. Suicide might begin to appear as this easy way out. It may even begin to sound like an enchanting idea until it almost becomes like an obsession. But let me tell you....suicide is never the answer. There is no judgement on my part. I get the pain. I do! But sadly, I've also been around to witness the aftermath that the family and friends of those checking out are left behind to deal with. It might seem like the only out, the only end to the hopelessness one might feel. But PLEASE BELIEVE ME...IT'S NOT. Suicide is not the answer. Checking out is NEVER THE SOLUTION.<br />
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I have my own spiritual understanding of how and why we choose to be born. I believe that we pick when we want to be born. We pick the loved ones, our fellow souls that we make soul agreements with, to learn and grow from each other. We choose the lessons we would like to learn in this lifetime, in this body, so that our soul can get one step closer to it's final goal of being self realized. But when we decide to check out, to end this life; we just decided to not complete our end of the agreement. I don't know why I know this, but I do know that when you end your life, the minute you end your life, you will experience guilt and regret at having ended it. I also know that at some point, you will choose to come back so that you can work on the same or different lessons. But then you must start by being born and going through childhood, the awkward teenage years and finally being an adult.<br />
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So on a day when life just gets to be too much, here are a few things you might try not in any particular order:<br />
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- Call it a night and go to bed early. I find that even the worst of situations look and feel better after a good night's rest.<br />
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- Call a friend and talk about it. But make sure you pick the right kind of friend who will be emphatic and listen instead of a friend who might end up projecting their own unresolved conflicts upon you.<br />
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- PRAY! Talk to HIM. Ask Him to help you. Surrender to Him and watch things unfold. Trust HIM!<br />
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- Go for a run or a swim. Exercise and let your natural endorphins kick in to level your mood. I realize that these won't solve whatever life problems you're dealing with, but it will, Inshallah (God willing), give you the oomph you need to keep going.<br />
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- If things get dire, please seek professional help. Go see a psychiatrist or your primary doctor and discuss the possibility of getting on some kind of anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medications. It might just be for a month or two but even if its for longer, so be it. A calm and stable you is much more important that the inconvenience of taking medications daily.<br />
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- Go talk to a therapist/ psychologist, social worker or counselor. Talking to a professional is very different than talking to your best friend. In my experience, friends and associates tend to stay away from a sad/depressed person like rats fleeing a ship. Or give you a very biased unsolicited opinion on your situation at hand and perhaps do more harm than good. But a trained therapist will help you work through your thoughts and feelings so that you have clarity and eventually peace of mind.<br />
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- Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>1-800-273-TALK (8255). </b>There is someone at the other end of the line who will listen to you and help you get through the night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Pastor and popular author, Rob Bell, has explained that the fact that you're breathing means that your life matters. To have been given the gift of breath means that one's been given the gift of life. He explains that each of our life matters because we all individually have a purpose, every last one of us has a purpose. So face life with an open and loving heart and an adventurous spirit as you live your purpose or at least work on figuring out what that is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Love, Light and Blessings,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anita</span></div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-63649807019101147412015-01-04T18:34:00.000-05:002015-01-04T18:34:11.184-05:00Upholstering Our Headboard.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My brother and sister in law have this headboard that they bought almost 5 years ago. Its this beautiful contemporary piece with a dark wood frame and white leather. But the leather has been peeling off and making a big mess for over a year now. I was asked if I could upholster it given that the headboard itself is a very well made piece of furniture.<br />
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So Zee, my sister in law and I went to our local Hobby Lobby store, which happens to be my favorite these days. We picked out 3 yards of this beautiful dark chocolate colored faux leather fabric. We needed about 2.5 yards but we bought three to be able to comfortably work with it. The fabric was $25 per yard and the total before taxes would have been $75. But we had a coupon for 40% off and therefore, ended up paying about $45 with tax.<br />
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I picked up 3 yards of a thicker batting from Joanne's Fabric store. I didn't find the thickness I wanted at Hobby Lobby. And after using my 40% coupon at Joanne's, I paid about $15 only for the batting.<br />
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Additional supplies needed include:<br />
- an electrical staple gun although just a good quality manual staple gun would do the job as well.<br />
- a hot glue gun<br />
- a basic desk stapler.<br />
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We were ready to get started. <br />
A very important thing to know when doing a project this large in size (vs a simple chair for example) is that you'll need help. This is a two person job.<br />
Fortunately, I had my eldest, Aly and my dear friend, Natasha help me.<br />
We started by draping the batting over the headboard and pulling it snug at the ends and corners. We stapled it to the wood part of the headboard. But we still had the ends sticking out since we couldn't staple through the soft leather part of the headboard. So we used our glue gun to adhere the batting to the back of the headboard.<br />
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Next we draped the faux leather fabric over it and repeated the stapling making sure it was toward the back of the board which would not be visible from the front. We played around with the corners until we finally found a nice clean corner fold. Once again, we glued the back to the bed using the hot glue gun. Also, we used the basic desk stapler to hold the fabric in place before gluing it.</div>
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Once finished, we proudly invited the family to come check it out. I'm happy to say that it actually turned out pretty nice.<br />
And cost under $60<br />
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And while they were cleaning up, putting the mattress back on and making the bed, we girls decided to take a few selfies.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzOuabcRF4bmqXZQu2c6l77J62i-TS4pXsbOGTpf8Zzqth6Pnj_ZwSxMKoxtiCuQiSgUWvgl9i6hyphenhyphensyr546x4NXevc7hibDvxqVtl9RzLdm1w5WzVZ8H_KRU67z8IKy9blBzunpTlVeezd/s640/blogger-image--1101138290.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzOuabcRF4bmqXZQu2c6l77J62i-TS4pXsbOGTpf8Zzqth6Pnj_ZwSxMKoxtiCuQiSgUWvgl9i6hyphenhyphensyr546x4NXevc7hibDvxqVtl9RzLdm1w5WzVZ8H_KRU67z8IKy9blBzunpTlVeezd/s320/blogger-image--1101138290.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SWEET, DELICIOUS KISSES!</td></tr>
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Here are the two cousins together.<br />
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Even dadima got a kiss from Mahi.<br />
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The cool thing about a project like this is that one can use any fabric to reflect their decorating style.<br />
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Please do share photos of any projects you are working on.<br />
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
Anita<br />
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-27036258222401610092014-12-27T02:33:00.001-05:002014-12-27T16:07:59.734-05:00Handmade Christmas Tree Ornaments.I love the holiday season! I love Christmas! The house gets decked out for Christmas with my Santa Claus collection on the coffee table, Christmas wreaths on the front doors and the outside of the house decorated with bright, colorful Christmas lights. We are actually practicing Muslims, but Christmas or more like the holiday season is just such a festive time of the year that it doesn't matter what religion you practice, we can all participate in the joy and cheer and goodwill of the season. The tradition is that after Thanksgiving we put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house with the garlands, red ribbons and bows along the staircase banister. And of course let's not forget the beautiful twinkly lights that are adorn the banister, and everywhere else possible. <div><br><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvaAaTCc_kOulslqMjXKu43t7tku5jfSlwNcj0NF1ub8FlPOyxLfykImbHWJyU0z23YF11r47clDnhiH6pYX1FVldnqHmix09qv0hrqqm08y5hZXNCSklAfx8PsnlVwMURc180YhzS8JEJ/s640/blogger-image-1794279406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvaAaTCc_kOulslqMjXKu43t7tku5jfSlwNcj0NF1ub8FlPOyxLfykImbHWJyU0z23YF11r47clDnhiH6pYX1FVldnqHmix09qv0hrqqm08y5hZXNCSklAfx8PsnlVwMURc180YhzS8JEJ/s640/blogger-image-1794279406.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>But this year, because I knew I was going to be away the day after Thanksgiving on a cruise with the family, I decided to go ahead and put the Christmas tree up a week before Thanksgiving. </div><div><br></div><div>We use to get real trees when growing up in Chicago. The ritual of going with my dad to go pick out the tree, then bringing it home and placing it in the tree stand filled with water. And because the trees had been sitting outside in the frigid parking lot somewhere, we couldn't start decorating the tree the same day or even the day after we brought it home. We had to wait a couple of days at the least to let the tree thaw out and open up. Since living in Florida for the last 14 years I've given up on buying real trees. Due to the extreme heat we don't have to worry about thawing out the tree once we bring it home. Our problem instead is ensuring that we keep the tree hydrated to avoid fires. Also living in Florida, I haven't had carpets in any of the homes I've lived in. Instead I've had marble or wood floors. And the idea of sweeping up the pins every day was enough to drive me straight to the store to pick up a nice artificial tree. I've had this tree for the past eight years now. Although the original lights don't work, I simply wrap a couple of strings of the bright twinkly lights and we're good to go. </div><div>The <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">advantage of having a real tree is that the whole house smells christmasy like the pine. But I've compensated by picking up these pine sticks which make the home smell Christmasy. </span></div><div><div><br></div><div>My favorite part about putting up the tree is unpacking all the many handmade ornaments from when the boys were in pre-K and-kindergarten. Our tree is a very simple tree but it is absolutely beautiful to me because every ornament has some kind of memory or significance to it. I've picked up ornaments over the years every time I've traveled around the world. I've also picked up ornaments from the different Broadway shows that we've seen. And have made a few over the years. But I realized this year that I haven't updated or added any new personalized ornaments in a year or two so I vowed to make up for that this year. I simply change the ribbon on the tree and it has a new look every year. </div><div><br></div><div>I had a few choices of customizable ornaments available to me at my local arts and crafts supply store. They have these clear glass balls which open up from the top. One can use those to fill up with different things or even squeeze a picture if you'd like. I knew for sure that I didn't want to use glass but instead was delighted to find these circular acrylic ornaments which open up in half, making it extremely easy to work with. The first batch that I worked on our gifts for my sister-in-law and brother and their new baby who are celebrating their first Christmas in their new home. They have a beautiful tree with a few store-bought ornaments and I promised them that Iwould make them a small collection of personalized ornaments to add to their tree. Unfortunately due to the busy time of the year and studying for my LCSW exams , which, thank God I passed on December 6 of this year, I wasn't able to get them done until the day after Christmas which happens to be today. </div><div>So here are a few pictures with basic instructions of how I made them. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA16aTAisYw62zPBLiP_1-uDim6XdUnvtjMvpm6oaKm9Qhjb4kIJv7lEZN67JmHqdMaJhSLImaqwRHB2HfqgYWcFx1TbYJyoEphzTD8kkfkwaMv7D2DttJOSskteb0IhGAjDISNG3adpxl/s640/blogger-image--158947129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA16aTAisYw62zPBLiP_1-uDim6XdUnvtjMvpm6oaKm9Qhjb4kIJv7lEZN67JmHqdMaJhSLImaqwRHB2HfqgYWcFx1TbYJyoEphzTD8kkfkwaMv7D2DttJOSskteb0IhGAjDISNG3adpxl/s640/blogger-image--158947129.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I opened up the ornament and removed the center circular paper and placed it aside. Next I painted on a thin layer of Modge Podge on the inside part of one half. I next sprinkled glitter, carefully ensuring it covered the entire surface. I chose Christmasy colors of red, green and gold. But you may choose any color glitter to coordinate your tree theme. I let them all sit out for couple of hours to dry. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZMXN7Ey65gAF8B4IzuOvougyIzD29-j10H_4NZZ7b-rCuAUUmtzSh896uLXF-00t53y_WW0Rx1peP98fefhha4Cu98rc7KAXYq10neUb79sJtzjEWSZCiFC8ZbCvvDOGCNMngtWwQJcH/s640/blogger-image-1620436216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZMXN7Ey65gAF8B4IzuOvougyIzD29-j10H_4NZZ7b-rCuAUUmtzSh896uLXF-00t53y_WW0Rx1peP98fefhha4Cu98rc7KAXYq10neUb79sJtzjEWSZCiFC8ZbCvvDOGCNMngtWwQJcH/s640/blogger-image-1620436216.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQgrVHxyF3Jw8DfZXsXPDqDjx6qIosGdZ6MDmV2bskCImtqxY-8h-EhmdAuCmYbKy3slXB0GVh9iTan7WAyoqh-y9BPEkJJ2VGcAJiRCGxk6_btZZBDmAMtmRDASK8wWcJO-hWVUFaDqz/s640/blogger-image--2125615713.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQgrVHxyF3Jw8DfZXsXPDqDjx6qIosGdZ6MDmV2bskCImtqxY-8h-EhmdAuCmYbKy3slXB0GVh9iTan7WAyoqh-y9BPEkJJ2VGcAJiRCGxk6_btZZBDmAMtmRDASK8wWcJO-hWVUFaDqz/s640/blogger-image--2125615713.jpg"></a></div></div><br></div><div>This is what it look like when the Modge Podge was still wet. A few hours later after the Modge podge had dried, this is what they looked like. </div></div></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBtNpJmUG8CAFNajAR7Dvm1JINTfcQMZ9w9drcZWIlgPjOL7dkP319iBoy2uBxTxR1X6LjI_x_-T6aqGxHLAghaWrdtTp0I8RFFrTpG2upyJnwrIphyphenhyphenP0wcMpE0-6H2cNfgDQzL1e1780/s640/blogger-image-2073590370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBtNpJmUG8CAFNajAR7Dvm1JINTfcQMZ9w9drcZWIlgPjOL7dkP319iBoy2uBxTxR1X6LjI_x_-T6aqGxHLAghaWrdtTp0I8RFFrTpG2upyJnwrIphyphenhyphenP0wcMpE0-6H2cNfgDQzL1e1780/s640/blogger-image-2073590370.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Well these were drying, I used my Creative Memories cutting system from 16 years ago to trace out the circular shape. I just happen to have one of the stencils that fit the size perfectly but you can also simply use the inserts that comes in the ornament to trace on the picture and then simply cut with a pair of scissors. After I had cut all the photographs, I use the double-sided scrapbooking tape applicator, and taped the circular pictures to the circular inserts.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsK_uh9nBbbhgEl3C2Hah1w8avsU6MRvi_GtyZhMYPEiBDpPB_b9RoHwKh7bu8T7_zycV3xocDyZF-4NyY3uapKlF4SNeUgUdQLI_0uLJhlK0tR8RxIV9bqFJJU1jfwMIPvlAQKJrt3p9/s640/blogger-image--1039204056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsK_uh9nBbbhgEl3C2Hah1w8avsU6MRvi_GtyZhMYPEiBDpPB_b9RoHwKh7bu8T7_zycV3xocDyZF-4NyY3uapKlF4SNeUgUdQLI_0uLJhlK0tR8RxIV9bqFJJU1jfwMIPvlAQKJrt3p9/s640/blogger-image--1039204056.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Next I carefully wiped away any glitter on the inside of the other side. Then I closed the ornament and used a little bit of hot glue gun to seal the ornament. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I used ribbons that had kind of a Christmas feel to it, to decorate the outside of the ornament. I simply used a piece of ribbon and glued it to the top part of the ornament. This served two purposes which included covering the top part where it joins together and adding a decorative touch. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofVy5kxdaEX7Sl6psvWGDAERrUODdze7EelbO4gevAYfoHB2OcpGtisugpBZvm6Hlapg-Op8LRI_PK2MrJEX_0mfrBGuy52QNu1mt5nE_TCsS_yiUKPZm3h17lSsgaN4sTCwXOUxTwzCs/s640/blogger-image-1540201450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgofVy5kxdaEX7Sl6psvWGDAERrUODdze7EelbO4gevAYfoHB2OcpGtisugpBZvm6Hlapg-Op8LRI_PK2MrJEX_0mfrBGuy52QNu1mt5nE_TCsS_yiUKPZm3h17lSsgaN4sTCwXOUxTwzCs/s640/blogger-image-1540201450.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I hand wrote "2014" on each picture using a simple black pen. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILp4JdgemWnIHgN6pDQuB_2UXr2aKF3v3QB6VyoEYceczdtcn3iJlSPTQsOsn18aDq9zKMq53lfqf4E4zLs3hcDI-ZgkT0iS_G5fkW843-S5iVUFAAUOu3drKc9zXE1vOZI8Qhyphenhyphen4TpEsU/s640/blogger-image--1701491778.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILp4JdgemWnIHgN6pDQuB_2UXr2aKF3v3QB6VyoEYceczdtcn3iJlSPTQsOsn18aDq9zKMq53lfqf4E4zLs3hcDI-ZgkT0iS_G5fkW843-S5iVUFAAUOu3drKc9zXE1vOZI8Qhyphenhyphen4TpEsU/s640/blogger-image--1701491778.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Here are the first batch of Christmas ornaments for my sweetheart's tree. <br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And this is what one of the ornaments look like hanging on my Christmas tree. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5X6ZwbXLx6QTSw5SQe8ZBo25L_sU1hhO407fdNLFMtYtobpwhHgWFp0r9RMxc-364_o8k8eAg-NbuVsgHjXCL4goKqe_lVRJXArLU0gGy1DmvVWP78UIZ21YzFG76jgSRls0YovqEE3_/s640/blogger-image-47166200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5X6ZwbXLx6QTSw5SQe8ZBo25L_sU1hhO407fdNLFMtYtobpwhHgWFp0r9RMxc-364_o8k8eAg-NbuVsgHjXCL4goKqe_lVRJXArLU0gGy1DmvVWP78UIZ21YzFG76jgSRls0YovqEE3_/s640/blogger-image-47166200.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The other ornaments you see hanging toward the bottom of the picture are little notes that the teachers had sent home or the kids had written when they were in pre-K or kindergarten. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I intend on making another batch of the circular ones along with a few others sometime this weekend for our tree. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Here's another picture of our Christmas tree at home. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlIJOXg7mIrPY7sjXovPhYLTRStyKW99HkkO0JEK3LOfJpyEyYD_NbOiWgX5tWuz4eEWOOsQIPHHgl-PaU06w0MMRcNdce2NC9xu6ge1sQG72IF8tNYJt8rQvFzG_GD-xZRNbTOkci44f/s640/blogger-image--101587085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlIJOXg7mIrPY7sjXovPhYLTRStyKW99HkkO0JEK3LOfJpyEyYD_NbOiWgX5tWuz4eEWOOsQIPHHgl-PaU06w0MMRcNdce2NC9xu6ge1sQG72IF8tNYJt8rQvFzG_GD-xZRNbTOkci44f/s640/blogger-image--101587085.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Supply list:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Acrylic ornaments that open up in half</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Mod Podge</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Disposable paint brush</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Glitter</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Circular cutter or scissors</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Tape runner or double sided tape or glue stick </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Festive ribbon of your choice</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Glue gun/ glue sticks</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Your photographs</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Merry Christmas and wishing you all a very happy new year. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Love, light, and blessings.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Anita</div></div></div><br></div><br></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div></div></div><br></div>Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-86073140230369988552014-12-21T11:00:00.000-05:002014-12-23T23:28:57.570-05:00Guilty pleasures!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I love fresh baked bread or for that matter, any bread! 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I am is on the lookout for fresh delicious bread and the best tasting butter I can get my hands on in North America. And I am happy to share that I have found it! Thanks to sweet friend Marcia! <br>
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This is available in your our local Fresh Market store. If you don't have a Fresh Market in your state, I'm sure you can find it at whatever natural health food store you have. Cost $5.50. But worth every penny. </div>
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And as we were walking through our local Fresh Market store, we try the sample coconut curry with chicken and it was love at first taste.<br>
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Cost about $10 per jar. </div>
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I picked up some rotisserie chicken, brought it home and deboned it, put it in a pan along with half the jar and let it simmer. I added another quarter of the jar to give it the strong flavor. It's got a little bit of a kick to it and it's perfect! </div>
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This is the perfect meal for a cold evening like today. </div>
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My new favorite bread is sourdough!</div>
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And the kids loved it too!! Win! Win!</div>
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Love, Light and Blessings,</div>
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Anita</div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-23806624882912926972014-12-20T15:58:00.000-05:002014-12-20T15:58:25.644-05:00Why Relationships Fail!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
I'm reposting this on here ...its a piece I wrote for another blog...<br />
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Whether it's a friendship, a romantic relationship, a working relationship or marriage, in my humble opinion, the underlying reason for any relationship's failure can be attributed to <i><b>disrespect.</b></i><br />
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I've been happily divorced and single for almost ten years now and I've done my fair share of datingit took me too long to recognize disrespect. But after all these years, I think I can easily claim to be someone of an expert in the matter.<i> </i>Be it as simple and obvious as being spoken to rudely or as subtle as someone not considering your feelings or your time. According to the dictionary, disrespect is a lack of respect or courtesy. In my definition, disrespect is when I am overlooked; when my needs are not considered or when my feelings are not considered.<br />
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Here are a few other forms of disrespect:<br />
- Verbal abuse: Being cursed at. Someone calling you names or belittling you, even if, to them it's "just a joke".<br />
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- Physical Abuse or emotional abuse.<br />
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- Checking out another person while with your partner.<br />
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- I believe in complete transparency and welcome the opportunity to discuss anything and everything with my mate. But there are those who don't enjoy talking. It's either never a good time or they simply don't like to talk. Either way, an unwillingness to communicate is just disrespectful to the sanctity of the relationship because open and honest communication is one of the key ingredients to a successful relationship.<br />
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- Asking your partner for money. Gosh do I have stories to share. which I won't of course. I am always taken back by this one. How do men and for that matter, even women, ask their partner for money or for them to buy them things. Now I understand when a couple is committed to each other and have agreed to share their financial resources and responsibilities, but I am referring to a new couple that is perhaps still only dating. And yet, I wish I could forget how many times, a man has in a direct or a not so direct way, asked me to buy him a cell phone, pay his phone bill, loan him money for God alone knows what etc... Pathetic!!! And being the sucker that I was, until recently, I would give the money (no more than $50) but then walk away from this person forever!!! In my head, I paid the price for failing to recognize the slime ball that the person was. I guess my Catholic school upbringing continues to hover over me in my need to feel punished for my "bad" choices. :)<br />
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This is just the beginning of a what I'm sure, is a very long list. Since the intention of this blog is to initiate a conversation among friends, I am hoping, you'll share your thoughts on the subject. Of course, you have the option of posting a comment as "anonymous", but it's always more gratifying for me as a blogger to know who I'm interacting with. But I leave that to your discretion. Either way, please do share any other examples of disrespect that come to mind.<br />
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Everyone deserves love!!! And it starts with self-love!<br />
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Anita</div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-38109308437421517952014-12-19T01:11:00.001-05:002014-12-19T01:11:45.058-05:00Saying Goodbye To 2014 and Preparing For 2015!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello fellow travelers on this journey of life. As we come to the end of 2014, and get ready to bring in 2015, I am getting ready to do what I have done for many years now. Thought I'd share it with you here.<br />
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I find a place to sit and reflect about how my year went, revisit the goals and intentions I had set at the end of the year before and take stock. Next I write down my intentions/ goals for the next year. Some are the same, others change and new ones are added. <br />
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This year I intend to use this workbook put together by Susanna Conway. She is awesome! and here is a link to download a free copy.<br />
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<a href="http://www.susannahconway.com/2014/12/lets-make-some-magic-in-2015/">http://www.susannahconway.com/2014/12/lets-make-some-magic-in-2015/</a><br />
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I don't like setting New Year's Resolutions because I never seem to stick to them past the second week in January. Thus I stopped making them years ago. Instead, I like the idea of setting intentions. I found an awesome and very creative way of documenting my intentions for 2015. It was in the Somerset magazine.<br />
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It was in this issue which you can buy at your local craft store, in Barnes and Nobles or on Amazon.<br />
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<a href="http://stampington.com/somerset-life">http://stampington.com/somerset-life</a><br />
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It involves using chalkboard paint to transform a flip book that you can then write an intention or two with a chalk marker. If you haven't tried a chalk marker, you must!!! They are erasable but don't smudge as easily as regular chalk.<br />
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Here is a link to some fun and easy projects using chalkboard paint...which is my latest little guilty pleasure. I bought a pint of it from Hobby Lobby but haven't had the time to start with it. I have a feeling that once I start painting with it, I'll be out of control. Well...I'll let you know.<br />
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Here is the link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.thinkingcloset.com/2013/07/06/20-diy-chalkboard-projects/">http://www.thinkingcloset.com/2013/07/06/20-diy-chalkboard-projects/</a><br />
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So some of my intentions/goals for 2015 are: <br />
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- Eat cleaner.<br />
- Walk more.<br />
- Keep up with Project Life<br />
- Plan and facilitate a women's retreat this year.<br />
- Organize and maintain my studio space<br />
- Be open to love in all of its forms<br />
- Enjoy my boys. Aly is gone next year to college...Zayn is only home for 5 more years.<br />
- Keep creating and growing "Anita Ladhani Designs"<br />
- Sleep more regularly<br />
- Meditate<br />
- Start and work on creating a book for Aly for when he leaves for college.<br />
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I'll post pics of the finished project when I get it done...hopefully before the new year.<br />
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
Anita<br />
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-8344743785104140192014-11-13T13:54:00.000-05:002014-11-13T13:54:10.177-05:00"Can I take a picture of you for my blog?"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Hi, my name is Anita and I am a writer and I'm working on a piece on beauty and women for my blog. I am taking pictures of beautiful women to post on my blog. Can I take a picture of you?" And with this little introduction, I approached about a dozen women of various ages (16 - 75 years) at Boca's famous Town Center Mall. I was there at the Apple store to drop off my son's laptop...water damage..or more like...lemonade damage. Poor kid was actually trying to complete his homework during lunch at my behooving when some kid pushed some other kid and somehow, someone's lemonade ended up all over my son's laptop. Needless to say, it shut down and has not turned on since. So I was at the Apple store to figure out our options. Turns out, it costs approximately $750 to repair water damage or one could just buy a new Mac starting at $1000. <br />
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Well, I digress. So back to my little experiment. As I waited in the Apple store, I saw this beautiful woman walk by. She was beautiful, but not in the traditional sense of the word, but there was just something about her that was so exquisite that I couldn't help but ask her the question....And to be honest, up till the moment that the words came out of my mouth, I had no idea that I was going to be doing this. But once the sentence was out, it was like I had committed to it and had to see it through.<br />
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Now let me assure you that I was intimidated to approach random women in Boca. For if you know Boca, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Rich, white folks, dressed to kill even when dressed casually, in the latest fashion, carrying the most expensive purses, with the designer shoes and sunglasses to complete the look. Well they're not all white but rich and uppity folks none the less. And I admit that this is my perception of Boca. I've always felt out of place there. Its as though they look down on people like me who not only are not rich but are as down to earth and non-caring of fashion trends as they come. None the less, I mustered up the courage and looked around me at all the many women in the different shapes, sizes, colors and ages. And I saw the most perfectly imperfect women everywhere! Every face I saw, radiated beauty. Just the realization that we are all one...we are all just spiritual beings having a human experience in this time and place together, filled my heart with joy and sadness. Sadness only because I could sense with many of the women that they had forgotten who they really were and were filled with doubt and shame. Its not something they said but its their energy that I was sensing. Call it my sixth sense to be able to pick up on people's inner demons.<br />
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Sadly, I had more girls and women say no to having their pictures taken then I had women who said yes. But I gave out my business cards like candy to any of them who would actually accept it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGGEE7Q_Sx8r7MkEA7iW8NPENM8AxH8hq2fSXSUpr3qXdZQ6Z5QohAJ7ZdizO8HKzGeL8kI9Kjl_ktrB2dOJGTBHSAnwvwihxFzzp4Ni6qDDiO-xyYNmjB0I4qJvQ1Xvpc-3iyisb4wzMz/s1600/IMG_1867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGGEE7Q_Sx8r7MkEA7iW8NPENM8AxH8hq2fSXSUpr3qXdZQ6Z5QohAJ7ZdizO8HKzGeL8kI9Kjl_ktrB2dOJGTBHSAnwvwihxFzzp4Ni6qDDiO-xyYNmjB0I4qJvQ1Xvpc-3iyisb4wzMz/s640/IMG_1867.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guess how old she is?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvhrbsm5WAZC8CfmWpDDpQ6R6khu5CT6UZ3uAFwY35XzsrBlq65-VOPowN7eillNNgoK8ZrGjlX_u_hQHnwVHlbc0FLpgqI4uY-GH9iqyOX_WVIwcehe3ToHI0YjpR6iej-cX7OjTzCG4/s1600/IMG_1868.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGvhrbsm5WAZC8CfmWpDDpQ6R6khu5CT6UZ3uAFwY35XzsrBlq65-VOPowN7eillNNgoK8ZrGjlX_u_hQHnwVHlbc0FLpgqI4uY-GH9iqyOX_WVIwcehe3ToHI0YjpR6iej-cX7OjTzCG4/s640/IMG_1868.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't she stunning...bandaid and all...and she is Rola, 28 years old with her MBA from FIU.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just loved her energy!!! God Bless her!</td></tr>
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I asked this beautiful white woman who was a bit on the skinny side and was at the Gymboree store with her mom. She just said, "No sorry!" and her eyes immediately looked down to the floor. I thanked her and handed her my card which she did accept, and let them be.<br />
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I saw these two women walking toward me and I mustered up the courage and said, "Excuse me...my name is Anita......" One of them, who was actually dressed to kill, immediately tried to get away from me in case I were to snap a picture of her, with my simple little IPhone. She smiled awkwardly and said "No way!" but her friend, this brave, beautiful woman happily posed for me. Isn't she stunning? Can you see her beautiful spirit radiate in her eyes and her smile! And she is in her early 20's.<br />
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Next I walked by one of the kiosks and saw this gorgeous woman who asked me if I spoke Spanish, which I don't really...Well, I did study it for 3 years in high school but not enough to carry on a conversation. I can understand it if the person speaks very slowly. Anyways, she did understand why I was taking the picture and asked to see them when I took a few. But she didn't like them and decided to take her glasses off for the next one.<br />
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I walked in to the Limited and asked the salesperson behind the counter but she excused herself to go in the back and ask her supervisor and came back and explained that she couldn't while at work. I respected that.<br />
As I was walking out I saw this gorgeous 30 some year old latin woman who again, was happy to have her picture taken.<br />
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I stopped at this other kiosk to buy some essential oils (lavender and patchouli) and asked the sales woman in the peach jacket and she said that I should take a picture of her co-worker (in yellow). So I did once she agreed and then I managed to convince the one in peach that she too was beautiful. She smiled embarrassingly and let me take a picture of her. She is in her early 40's.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDeOjttWJNA4x3pXIEgKGC8VRp0_Mw0e5BWpfQB9Rbhc4xmO_5c1bW6butNHOGq68rzOLSMnOq9ghsZGMhIV4g7CZKgDr7-DhBxU8r5JYnegXPe3axP1sYyNfRS9e4YrMKmbrgZEmxeYoR/s1600/IMG_1881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDeOjttWJNA4x3pXIEgKGC8VRp0_Mw0e5BWpfQB9Rbhc4xmO_5c1bW6butNHOGq68rzOLSMnOq9ghsZGMhIV4g7CZKgDr7-DhBxU8r5JYnegXPe3axP1sYyNfRS9e4YrMKmbrgZEmxeYoR/s640/IMG_1881.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />I asked a couple of women who looked like they were in their late 70's ...these perfectly done up older, white women and they literally just looked down their nose to me and shrugged me off as though I was some annoying fly. :) I thanked them and walked away with my card still in my hand since they refused to even accept my card.<br />
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That was a bit discouraging and I hesitated to ask others although that only lasted a few minutes. And I was back to asking again.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The department stores with their counter after counter full of creams, perfumes and makeup.</td></tr>
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I just didn't have the courage to ask these two as they walked by me.<br />
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And I just had to take a pic of this guy. He worked in the shoe dept and is in his early 20's. Wow!!! Now that takes courage! I walked by him when I entered the store and I heard this elderly woman go up to him and say, "You are absolutely beautiful!" To which I responded, "I second that." He had the most beautiful smile. So when I was walking out of the store, I saw that he was still in the same area, I asked him if I could take a picture of him and he shrugged and said, "Sure." He actually looks even better in person when he smiles!!!</div>
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So this little experiment just confirmed what I'd suspected all along.<br />
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More to come on the "You are Beautiful" project.<br />
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br />
Anita </div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-67550384339699937582014-10-18T22:54:00.000-04:002014-10-18T22:54:29.606-04:00It is about to go down!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello fellow travelers on this journey of life!!! I haven't written in a while because I'm always censoring myself in my head and then end up not writing at all because the things I want to say, to share are personal, sometimes not so pleasant and sometimes plain out controversial... so I behave like the good girl that I'm expected to be and not write a damn word...oh and not curse at all too...but enough with that bs...i am done...u know at 41 years old...i don't need to be worrying about offending people...if they don't like what I write or do, then don't read it. Feel free to just ignore me and my work. I won't take it personally, I promise! :) but before going any further, I have to give credit where credit is due. I absolutely adore my fellow blogger, writer and dear friend, Gabe Berman. Now Gabe and I have never met in person, but communicated enough be in on the phone or via Facebook or text. Gabe is a kindred. He is also the author of 2 awesome books!!! (Live Like a Fruit Fly & Where is God when your loved ones get sick? - both available on Amazon).<br />
So as I read Gabe blog about his daily life in Long Island, I smile, my heart smiles because he is HONEST!!!! He writes as he thinks and feels and I respect that. I used to believe that one should not curse in their writings but I realize now that if that is how one communicates/ thinks...then that is what should be included....hell we all curse don't we...even the most holy of us occasionally slip up in our heads if not out loud. So as I read Gabe's most recent posts, I was inspired to just be honest...be vulnerable...be myself...perhaps others will recognize a bit of themselves in my experience of life....after all I can't be the only weirdo who thinks, acts and feels like I do.<br />
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Alright so here goes...<br />
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I am not known for being diplomatic...in fact...i lack it! and to be quite honest, I find it exhausting. So let me share a recent episode of yet another time, when I put my foot in my mouth and walked away immediately regretting it.<br />
I recently attended a funeral of a dear aunt who lost her battle to cancer at the young age of 52. I adored her and respected her and still can't believe she is gone. In fact, I found myself talking to her just the other evening as I was sitting at my jewelry table working on a piece. And in my head, I could see her smile and respond. Now please be clear that I am not a psychic or a clarevoyant and most definitely am not a Ghost Whisperer. But this was a just me missing a loved one who left way too soon!<br />
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Alright, back to being with family members before her funeral. Isn't it funny how we all come together for weddings and funerals and although funerals are by nature, supposed to be sad and they are sad but they are also a time of laughter and connection. We tend to come together as a family unit as we together mourn the loss of our loved ones. While we wait for the funeral or get together after the funeral, we break bread together and cousins hang out together and aunts usually are helping out in the kitchen while the uncles sit back and watch the scene unfold. So it was at one such dinner the night before the funeral that I walked in to the home and immediately was surrounded by family members whom I hadn't seen since my divorce 10 years ago...oh did I fail to mention this was my ex husband's aunt. :) Well she was and although I've always been invited at weddings and other occasions, I have never gone. But there was no way I was missing her funeral. I had been in regular touch with her over the years and had a lot of respect for the strong, educated woman that she was.<br />
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So here I was standing with an uncle and aunt whom I had not seen in about 12 years. Now they have a son who is a senior in high school and is about to graduate. So naturally the conversation flowed towards his plans for college. They informed me almost proudly that they had decided that they didn't want him going away to an expensive university because he would get the same education attending a local community college for two years and then would look into transferring to a university to finish his Bachelors degree. They started to tell me how the son was going to basically follow in his father's footsteps and become a US customs inspector of some sort. They continued to explain how that would be wonderful for him and in 5 years, he had the potential of becoming a plant supervisor or something like that. Now I stood there just blown away. Why would you want your son to do what you do? Not that there is anything wrong with what he does but they live in America, the land of the free and opportunity. America, one of the few countries in the world where one can access the BEST education available. And yet their aspirations for him were to have the life and successes that the father had experienced. Not being college graduates themselves, the mother had been a stay at home mom for the most part and I respect that. No judgement there. In fact, I applaud and encourage all mothers who can make it work, to stay home and raise their kids for as long as they possibly can. And the father, I believe had completed enough college courses etc to be promoted to the supervisor position. At first the conversation was quite polite. But I think I lost in when the father said to me that in about 5 years, their son will make to a position of a supervisor and make about a $100,000 a year. HUH??? WHAT?!!! Are you kidding me? $100,000??? what is that...how much is that...what kind of lifestyle can one really afford with $100,000 a year. Now obviously I see the judgement exuding from my words because I know many families who make a lot less than that a year and are happy and healthy. But my immigrant roots scream in opposition as I remember the sacrifices our parents made when they came to America while in their 30'a to start over a new life for their kids. We were raised with the "You have to go to college. You have to get your Bachelors, You have to get a Masters! You have to make something of yourself. You have to preferably be in a career where you're working with your head and not with your hands." You see, our parents no matter what their education backgrounds from the mother lands of India and Pakistan, had to start from the bottom up with jobs such as working at What a Burger, the local dry cleaners, delivering pizza and even driving a cab in Chicago. They struggled and eventually were able to make a life for us. They worked two jobs, sacrificed the fancy lifestyle even when they could afford it to put us through college all in the hopes that we would have a better life than they ever could imagine for themselves. Because that alone would justify the sacrifices they made.<br />
So back to the uncle and aunt, long story short, I basically said something similar to "Don't you want your son to have a better life than you?" and "Why aren't you encouraging him to aim higher". Of course I immediately bit my tongue and regretted those words ever leaving my lips...but it was done. I politely ended that conversation as I wished them the best and "I'm sure he will do great" etc etc etc bullshit.... and walked away from them, avoiding them for the rest of the weekend. I felt like an idiot and indeed I was a jerk for imposing my views, my expectations for my children on their family. But oh well...another lesson learned...keep your mouth shut Anita!!!<br />
Later as the boys and I flew back home, I told them about this conversation and they just smiled and shrugged their head. "Mom!!! Only you!!!" they both said. Aly told me that he had a similar conversation about college with them and instead of blurting out like the idiot that I am, he was very mature and diplomatic and he bit his tongue and politely stood there saying nothing. He said, "Mom, I realized that that was their way of thinking and it was not my place to tell them any different." Damn!!!! Smart kid!!!! Now why didn't I think of that!! Oh well...yet another lesson learned....when in doubt keep my mouth shut. :)<br />
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Over and out!<br />
Sending you love, light and blessings.<br />
Anita</div>
Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-38642776848327076432014-08-19T18:48:00.002-04:002014-08-19T18:48:50.016-04:00A Few Things You Might Not Necessarily Know About Me.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I love mangoes, longons, lychees and custard apples. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjef3Snkc3Q-k875I_6DYEfEZkUr-M4FubA9TA92I5n2srg6g_xnLJux7G0Kw_AgV0o093wqlfU7GyJA3G94Pcc263AkFitE5qdPCz02CX2XFLbhN6m0YVnUk_Lrdf_skx2apBUrRJTTN55/s1600/mangoes.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjef3Snkc3Q-k875I_6DYEfEZkUr-M4FubA9TA92I5n2srg6g_xnLJux7G0Kw_AgV0o093wqlfU7GyJA3G94Pcc263AkFitE5qdPCz02CX2XFLbhN6m0YVnUk_Lrdf_skx2apBUrRJTTN55/s1600/mangoes.jpeg" height="127" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpPepnZkHe3l-zP2z9z7AWOJDWXFiBFjfNiRN82_4vVLo0IZuMmQaKp39H_b1bOm2q9cbfULfpHZNnt-IGwq_f968IzPkwsAPS2_vtzi1z7nFbjsxBql_kMw4iLSW3yiECSVcde6ulI3W/s1600/longons.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpPepnZkHe3l-zP2z9z7AWOJDWXFiBFjfNiRN82_4vVLo0IZuMmQaKp39H_b1bOm2q9cbfULfpHZNnt-IGwq_f968IzPkwsAPS2_vtzi1z7nFbjsxBql_kMw4iLSW3yiECSVcde6ulI3W/s1600/longons.jpeg" height="157" width="200" /></a></div>
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I love writing which is equivalent to playing with play dough for me. I could take a piece of writing and go back and edit and re-edit it until I have written the whole thing over again. </div>
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I adore vintage luggage and white-washed older furniture pieces with character. I also love lamps, bookshelves and wicker baskets! </div>
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I have always loved singing but unlike other girls from India who have melodious voices, I have always had a deep, manly voice. As a little girl, I use to sing into my hairbrush and practice my acceptance speech as I went up to receive my Grammy. Alas, I will not be winning any awards for singing. In fact, they might consider giving me an award for not singing. :)</div>
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I love spending time near the ocean. The vastness of the ocean, the rhythm of the waves, the warmth of the sun on my bare skin, the smooth sand beneath my toes, laying down and staring up at the clear blue skies thru the luscious palm trees. It recharges me. I feel rejuvenated. </div>
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I feel privileged to have worked with youth for over 10 years in various capacities. And have made an impact on their lives in some small way.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">I love getting lost in a new book </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">which enriches my mind, fills my </span></div>
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soul with hope and joy </div>
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and encourages me to dream. </div>
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These days I find myself delving </div>
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into the various magazines published </div>
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by Sommerset which include: </div>
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Where Women Create, </div>
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Where Women Create Business, </div>
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Artful Blogging etc. </div>
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As an artist with a budding business </div>
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in its infancy stage, I find enormous </div>
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encouragement and ideas for where </div>
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I see my baby growing into. </div>
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I invite and relish the challenge of creating a custom piece for a client. To be able to actualize their vision into reality is awesome! And it pushes me as an artist to try something new and different. These end up being some of my best sellers when I offer them in my shop.<br />
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I love traveling to other countries and learning the local culture, discovering the little hole in the wall joints and discovering places off the beaten path. </div>
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I have had the good fortune to travel to France, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, India, Nepal, St Thomas, Cayman Island, Greece. </div>
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My favorite places in the world these days are the west coast of USA with the beautiful Pacific Ocean and Santorini, Greece. I hope to spend a summer there renting a cottage over looking the cliff/water and writing one of my many best sellers. Ameen!</div>
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That's all for now! Until next time. Please feel free to share something about yourself.</div>
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Love, Light, and Blessings,</div>
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Anita</div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-88343402222303247662014-07-25T00:01:00.001-04:002014-07-25T00:38:36.878-04:00Home Studio Space Revamped!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As many of you know, I am very new to this artist thing...now mind you, I am not new to the artsy craftsy thing...i've been crafting ever since I can remember...whether I was painting dressers, tables and bookshelves bought from garage sales and then stamping them or sewing pillows and table cloths while I was pregnant with my first born Aly and was totally in the nesting mode. (moms will know exactly what I mean) ....but I never dared call myself an artist! Hello I'm Indian (born in India, not American Indian) until the age of 12 which is when my family decided to migrate to the USA. But at the age of 40, after attending Liz Lameroux's Be Present Retreat (http://www.bepresentretreats.com), I came back re-evaluating everything about my life...this retreat was a game changer for me....and I slowly but surely started to shed my years of identities taken on by life to uncovering my true self which was....(clearing my throat)...an artist! </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Even today after 9 months of launching my ETSY shop and selling a few of my art journals and plenty of my custom made jewelry pieces, I hesitate to call myself an artist. You see, in my head, an artist is someone who can draw, paint etc etc...and yes although I can art journal,...i can't really draw or paint like say a painting. .:)<div>
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<div>None the less, I have taken over the front room of our home, which is designed to be the formal living room of the house as my studio space. It started about 2 years ago with just a large, oval, antique Ethan Allen off white dining table which I use as my desk and art table to then adding a long table by the window to work on my beads/ jewelry...but found that my Project Life / scrapbooking never got touched because I simply never had the table space for it...I'd have to clean up the paints or the sewing machine or whatever it was I was working on before I could work on something new....and it just wasn't happening. </div>
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But then a few weeks ago, one of my neighbors put out their used office furniture out on the curb for bulk pick up. The furniture was used but in excellent condition. What caught my eye was the handsome cherry with black inset desk top!!! It was just sitting there. The kids and I pulled over our suv on our way home one night and got out of the car to examine it. I realized that although most of the pieces were good pieces, I only really would find use for the tabletop but having no certain plans or space for using the table top, I walked or rather drove away from it.</div>
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Well, my sons being my sons, decided to go carry it home the next day so that my youngest could use it to skate on. When I saw it sitting in the garage, I was a little confused as to why it was there. Zayn told me that it was not the right size or height to skate on and this is when I decided to go ahead and see if I could incorporate it into my work area. So I did! I moved around these cubes and drawers that I had bought a few years ago from Michael's to organize my craft supplies. These became the perfect base for the table. And I lined up the tables perpendicular to each other at the corners so that it created a nice U shaped work area. But then I wanted to tie the place together and decided to sew simple table skirts made of off white duct / canvas fabric (only $6 a yard). </div>
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So off to Joanne's fabrics I went but once there I found myself drawn to the beautiful Waverly patterned fabrics which I have always loved!!!! So I had an idea. I bought a yard each of 8 different patterns (stripes, florals etc). I also bought 9 yards of off white belt trim which I used to finish off the skirt. I cut up 1/2 yard of each of the patterns including the off white duck/canvas material and sewed it all together. I made sure to iron the fabrics before and after sewing them and used hot glue to put the belt trim at the bottom of the skirts. I made two separate skirts (one for each table) and also used plain canvas panels to cover the area underneath the jewelry table. </div>
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Here area few pics!!!</div>
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Before...</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3K9UW-8Tngg7843HeXxer5E0FnMO4L4Emw1j3QfQVItUKeyw8oPYLtl9BpJ7qFYLwcqJWxlAAD5cnXxxkCV7qhfFXg8D__Czu05vz2bcRdg-V_ImpXu5hu-SrtDMfU_rEIAmldM0_49U3/s640/blogger-image-1501125765.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3K9UW-8Tngg7843HeXxer5E0FnMO4L4Emw1j3QfQVItUKeyw8oPYLtl9BpJ7qFYLwcqJWxlAAD5cnXxxkCV7qhfFXg8D__Czu05vz2bcRdg-V_ImpXu5hu-SrtDMfU_rEIAmldM0_49U3/s640/blogger-image-1501125765.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>After...</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghsdPyRlAn7fMroa4nZkNdomXL-jNRglp_ZlZa7FbUS89q7i6VZ6joBA2hvEscneQKRZTd2Dmb-t_G-VN04492bFW10aiMO8Jap92q-SrFC7RdrZu_UZa7cJPNbn7AyN-jH806nDsFm6Xx/s640/blogger-image-277955990.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghsdPyRlAn7fMroa4nZkNdomXL-jNRglp_ZlZa7FbUS89q7i6VZ6joBA2hvEscneQKRZTd2Dmb-t_G-VN04492bFW10aiMO8Jap92q-SrFC7RdrZu_UZa7cJPNbn7AyN-jH806nDsFm6Xx/s640/blogger-image-277955990.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4o4zb6OEhSJm36BRm35iGKn7VXUpDQYaG7M5zuoElnlIrG7yGuVwspNePG2palwd7P-iAMFbPOP_KtOyk3Wb0QtogWG_I8h4sobxaLeGminJx9rmdln5af1CTb9urhhZx64fw5-en45Wy/s640/blogger-image--867670827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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In a perfect world, I would have another work surface/area for my painting and art journaling and another for my writing / blogging etc. but this will have to do for now!!!</div>
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And I love how it all came together. Now anyone who is fortunate to have any kinda space for their crafting will tell you that organizing it is a constant process of moving things around, assigning items you don't normally use to the garage and incorporating new baskets, boxes and cups etc to store things in an asthetically pleasing manner. After all, an artist i<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">room</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">s inspired and nurtured by their environment. </span></div><div><br></div><div>I am proud to say that I have started working on my Project Life albums but alas find myself being way too busy with creating prayer beads, Nade Ali prayer jewelry and other pieces to spend any real time on my album. I </div>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-26182638083181165332014-07-24T23:36:00.000-04:002019-07-22T17:00:16.653-04:00Mahi gappudi!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsze3FKQ7toFRO9n2BAPClI0FNk7ZczlYYnCVP-ZHMZJtAgRfdjtWPj9GfO3M7dL_bObM8Vv1ny5iFsZL6nz0yjwughE2xAZkqa-CCo8OAzjjgUvpfa2uauW3B-Oeci0X2tVFr5xJrGbPl/s640/blogger-image-1963489276.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsze3FKQ7toFRO9n2BAPClI0FNk7ZczlYYnCVP-ZHMZJtAgRfdjtWPj9GfO3M7dL_bObM8Vv1ny5iFsZL6nz0yjwughE2xAZkqa-CCo8OAzjjgUvpfa2uauW3B-Oeci0X2tVFr5xJrGbPl/s640/blogger-image-1963489276.jpg" /></a></div>
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About 4.5 mos old</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwMIBzVfQsfxW04MaHbnuQZphOMXM2xIFSswCpRA8trJ4d-Sc6FJvWh1jEB8aUOvKzuUSkzoRasaji-EKiRzgtq8RFXKaG_Fp29uGRUtrn-ferLjmWprcgJmSQQnQUNtZn2STqYkr7g55X/s640/blogger-image--285883493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwMIBzVfQsfxW04MaHbnuQZphOMXM2xIFSswCpRA8trJ4d-Sc6FJvWh1jEB8aUOvKzuUSkzoRasaji-EKiRzgtq8RFXKaG_Fp29uGRUtrn-ferLjmWprcgJmSQQnQUNtZn2STqYkr7g55X/s640/blogger-image--285883493.jpg" /></a></div>
5mos old<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZr1BCAotsEVbStdXYPNuxhJ9zfP5Jlum3W1U9FX7gzoxV-HH6GdO84soHH_jO4TDHErIWJveFXlgitmEgGx2ntFoOm954z5IgX287BpiOCQeYU4f2fowJt4rMuAP2l5LqATTeGXtfbhs9/s640/blogger-image-1520776734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZr1BCAotsEVbStdXYPNuxhJ9zfP5Jlum3W1U9FX7gzoxV-HH6GdO84soHH_jO4TDHErIWJveFXlgitmEgGx2ntFoOm954z5IgX287BpiOCQeYU4f2fowJt4rMuAP2l5LqATTeGXtfbhs9/s640/blogger-image-1520776734.jpg" /></a></div>
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5 1/2 mos old<br />
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-69420624422102320482014-07-24T21:31:00.001-04:002014-12-21T00:47:54.343-05:002 days to explore San Francisco and Santa Cruz.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This past summer, Aly was to attend a three week camp at the University of Santa Cruz through the John Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth Summer program. So we decided to make it a quick family trip. We flew out of Miami, Florida and landed in San Francisco, California. After renting a car, we decided to wait to check into our hotel and instead made our way down to Fisherman's Wharf.</div>
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We did the typical tourist thing with all the other tourists there. We took selfies and ate yummy seafood at one of their many restaurants.</div>
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There are a line of restaurants and street side food eateries with such tempting seafood etc. Fried shrimp, curly fries, calamari <br>
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I couldn't resist taking pictures of all the amazing food that I wished I could eat but my stomach and my wallet were not in agreement.<br>
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Lobsters, crabs, oysters, mussels, shrimp etc etc.....YUMMY!!!!!<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5bdWoD-Z089OjQFgYi62QMxXjMO4XBUwh_suuQr3XKMzR0v8HD1ljT7-iLkOQW9-BHsdcQCyfNSd9__aFbA8iI7ok-Chkqy9yc0QqoPtI36ohBDO0gqU8GMmvcXJ7DJn5P5uZIk6cWhG/s640/blogger-image-1046904840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5bdWoD-Z089OjQFgYi62QMxXjMO4XBUwh_suuQr3XKMzR0v8HD1ljT7-iLkOQW9-BHsdcQCyfNSd9__aFbA8iI7ok-Chkqy9yc0QqoPtI36ohBDO0gqU8GMmvcXJ7DJn5P5uZIk6cWhG/s320/blogger-image-1046904840.jpg" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We get to pick it and they steam it...unfortunately we were<br>
told that they were not fresh so we didn't try it.</td></tr>
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We ordered a sampler with fried shrimp, fish, calamari, scallops and fries. It was delicious!!!<br>
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Then we started walking toward Ghiradelli Square. They have so many of these little street side shops with awesome jewelry!!! Now considering I make pieces very similar to these, I was super excited. What I wanted to do was to buy them all. But what I did instead was to buy a sweet pair of earrings and a matching bracelet and took a few pictures.<br>
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I loved San Francisco and the cable carts but I hated, I mean absolutely was terrified of driving on the steep hill like streets of the city.<br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydPVbCLn7ewJPO0vpSMaw3plSo7zuDIXZtI6c-k3iwyUiS0ZPHcqbIQ_9fdKRgfts0sA13zSbNJYg_35G9bnCGIvkC4opohX4gAvgjgRXGIAny844JTUalXrPuLtCYRar5AQcd4TxufbV/s640/blogger-image--1873573452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydPVbCLn7ewJPO0vpSMaw3plSo7zuDIXZtI6c-k3iwyUiS0ZPHcqbIQ_9fdKRgfts0sA13zSbNJYg_35G9bnCGIvkC4opohX4gAvgjgRXGIAny844JTUalXrPuLtCYRar5AQcd4TxufbV/s640/blogger-image--1873573452.jpg"></a></div>
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We started driving toward China Town. Zayn wanted to go skate at this famous skating place which in actually is this famous park for the local Chinese families.</div>
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So Zayn and Aly went to the park where Zayn skated while I went in and out of the many little shops in China Town. We ate at this little Chinese restaurants with probably the worst Chinese food I've ever eaten. </div>
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After walking around in China Town and buying souvenirs and being veryyyy tired, we made it to our hotel and had a good night sleep. We woke up the next morning and started driving to the University of Santa Cruz. We stopped at one of the local beaches!!! I live in Florida but I LOVE the West Coast and the beaches surrounded by the hills. Its so cool to see the crabs and sand dollar remains scattered on the beach. Again, so different from our Florida beaches. We enjoy the Atlantic ocean in Florida but my heart remains with the gorgeous Pacific coast line.<br>
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I did take a few pictures of us at the beach but I didn't save them here. But I LOVE THE WEST COAST!!!!<br>
Can't wait to go back there again. We dropped Aly off at USC and<br>
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Love, Light and Blessings,<br>
Anita<br>
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Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8843171737199180503.post-4995862344136847522014-06-04T08:25:00.001-04:002014-06-04T08:25:25.597-04:00A Sufi's Journey...: The 7 - Day Unplugged Challenge!<a href="http://asufisjourney.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-more-we-have-less-we-have.html?m=1">A Sufi's Journey...: The 7 - Day Unplugged Challenge!</a>Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09981773590327617113noreply@blogger.com0