Must Give Credit Where Credit is Due

I have said it before and by golly, I'm not ashamed to say it again: I am not a BIG fan of Jennifer Lopez. When I say BIG fan, I mean I am not president of her fan club. However, I do own all of her CDs and I am a stickler for her movies. There is something addicting about that damn girl. I think I finally realized what it was.

On Thursday, February 24, MTV gave a reality show that followed the infamous JLo as she prepared to put together her very first runway show for the notorious Fashion Week. I of course tuned in...not because I am a BIG Lopez fan, but because I wanted the see the style and clothes. I'm a girl, what can I say. After watching the episode, I suddenly had a newfound respect for the BBB (Bronx born Boriqua). She is literally a work horse and she is definitely on top of her game. Throughout the show, you witness how she has her finger on every little thing that is happening in the show. I guess the most intriguing part about it is you know she is an actress, dancer, singer, and now for her to be a fashion mogul is just so amazing. She did a great job preparing for the show and was definitely in business woman mode throughout the entire episode.

Now, let's not get carried away. She had a show director who planned out the whole runway extravaganza; she just said whether she liked the ideas or not and threw in a few of her ideas. She had a fashion director and fashion designers who designed ALL of the clothing; it never once showed her pick up a pencil and sketch an outfit. Perhaps that's how the fashion world is, though. Perhaps it is never the clothing line owner who designs the fashions. Or perhaps the celebrities who have their own fashion lines are the ones who never pick up a pencil while the fashionistas themselves do, as well as their fashion designers (the Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfigers, Calvin Kleins, Oscar de la Rentas, Narcisco Rodriguezs) But you can't really blame the stars who have their own fashion lines and don't design the clothes themselves. After all, they are just using their money in an investment like any smart business person would do.


Oh yeah, click an ad at the bottom of the page =)

Unintentional Neglection and Some Incredible Satisfaction

First and foremost, I greatly apologize to the frequent visitors of my blog because I have unintentionally neglected you (ummm....I'm not sure if I have frequent visitors, per se, but I do know I have A frequent visitor. Hi, Dolphin!!!) Either way, I greatly apologize for this neglection. I've just been a teeny bit busy these past couple of weeks. Sorry =(

But, being the WONDERFUL blog host that I am, I have a great entry for you today!!! It is 11:34pm, Monday, February 21, 2005, and I have JUST completed my 2004 tax return online. YAY me!!! Thanks to www.taxactonline.com , I have been able to easily enter my information and receive a $1,300+ tax return. WHOO HOO!!!! I am so extremely ecstatic! This definitely fits in with my whole Quite the Journey theme. After all, the journey lies not only in the relocation process, but all of the hardships and "first times" that come along with living on your own for the first time (bit of redundancy there, but it is necessary). This was a really big thing for me. Being the youngest in my family, I have always been quick to rely on others to help me out, but ever since I relocated to the VA area almost 2 years ago, I have learned to fend for myself and I have also DEFINITELY realized that the world is in fact a case of survival of the fittest. But then again, that is the beauty of independence. Doing anything and everything you have to do to survive is so beautiful. With every little thing I do, I realize and come to terms with the fact that I am one bad a*s mofo! That I can take care of myself so steadily and with such a strong foundation, that I can help those living on their own for the first time with some advice and even personal "horror stories" (Lord knows I have some...oh yeah...thanks, Lord for the 35 cent sandwich rolls at Giant. They're yummy!)

So if you are a first timer living on your own, feel free to drop me a comment and let me know if I can help you with anything. Perhaps I will be so inspired to help others that I might just write a book. Hmmmm.....now that's a thought! Actually, I am working on writing one as we speak. I will keep you posted on that, so keep checking in!

Oh yeah...before I forget...thank you SO VERY MUCH to all of the clickers who read The Importance of Secondary Salaries (Click To Save Me) and went ahead and clicked the ads at the bottom of the page a couple of times to help me out. I greatly appreciate it. If you haven't read the Click to Save Me entry, here's the URL ( http://mia2va.blogspot.com/2005/02/importance-of-secondary-salaries-click.html ) Please read it and click to help a sista out! =)

The Importance of Secondary Salaries (Click to Save Me)

It is safe to say that it is human nature (well, at least I know it's guaranteed to be American nature) to always look for the get rich quick schemes. You see it all over television, online, in magazines, EVERYWHERE. They are the ads that read, "Make $3,500 a week working from your very own home!" some even say, "Be your own boss and make a 6-figure salary!" Now let's be honest, these schemes seldom work, and when they do, it is required that you have a decent amount of money in the first place in order to get started with it. But if you already have money to begin with, truthfully, why would you be looking for these get rich quick schemes? Maybe the answer would be greed. Hmmm.

Anyways! That has nothing to do with the purpose of this post!

Ever since I moved to Virginia, I have always seeked a secondary income because it helps me out better in the end. I work for a non-profit organization. Let's face it, the salaries are not glamorous! When I first got here, I worked part-time at a pharmacy. That worked out okay until they tried to work me like a slave and put in 24 hours in a 48 hour weekend. Mind you, I was going to school AND working 40 hours a week. Sheesh!

Once I quit the pharmacy gig, I went ahead and worked on Sundays at my current job making some overtime cash and I have been working there since. But me, just like all of America, is always looking for a get rich quick scheme. After reading in a recent Time magazine article of a man who had a blog with Google ads on it made $5,000 a month, I decided this was quite a journey to venture on. So I went ahead and signed up with Google Adsense and had them put some ads on my site. Every time someone clicks on them, I make some loot...well, it's not really loot. Only two people have clicked on ads and I have made a glamorous 29 cents. Therefore, thisis my plea post, where I ask ALL visitors to please scroll all the way down my blog, and click on an ad....or two! And even use the Google search engine provided on my page. For all who have seeked a secondary income at least once in their lifetime, I ask you to please Click to Save Me and help me earn a penny or two =)

Thank you in advance!

Update! Update! Whoo-hoo.....Up-freakin'-date!!!!!

When I posted the summary of how horrible my birthday went, I forgot to mention one thing. The main reason I was SO very upset about my ticket was not because of what I have to pay, but instead, because of how high my insurance was going to up. After I made that post, I went ahead and reviewed my insurance policy with Allstate online (which ends in March). I was surprised to see that my premium went up AGAIN. $872.90 is WAY too much to be paying considering it is only covering liability on the OTHER PERSON'S car...not mine! I decided to shop around online for different insurance quotes. E-surance gave me a pretty good quote, but Geico gave me the most awesome quote!!!! Even with the speeding tickets I have gotten, my 6 month quote is more than $200 less than my Allstate premium! This makes me freakin' ecstatic!!! Whoo hoo!!!! Just thought I'd let you know. My post-birthday is really going AWESOME! =D

Woop Woop! Pull over! It's your birthday!

I didn't post yesterday because it was my birthday and, although I have very limited friends and family here, I was still trying to celebrate it as best as I could. As I was driving home yesterday afternoon after having lunch with my sister and her boyfriend, I was listening to a song that made me cry because I realized how much I miss my mother, who lives in Miami. I didn't think I was speeding, all I knew was that the girl behind me was on my butt and we were the only two drivers on the road. So as I was cruising, a uniformed man walks out of what appears to be bushes and demands for me to pull over to the side of road. I'm thinking, "Maybe he's just doing a random check. I mean, he was behind some trees and bushes. There is no way he had a radar on me." Sure enough, the officer asks me for my license and registration, and after I give it to him, he says, "Why so fast?" I decided honesty was key and told him that I didn't know I was going that fast. Apparently, I was travelling at 53 mph in a 35 zone. I thought he would've seen my license and said, "Darn, it's her birthday. If I had a heart, I would simply give her a warning and let her go on her way." But of course, that is not the way Virginia Polic Officers think. You see, Virginia Police Officers have a heart about the size of an infant's pinkie nail. Because of this, they decide there is no mercy for ANY civilian. So the officer proceeded to write me a speeding ticket. Now, if the man would have even uttered the words, "Happy Birthday", I think I would've spit on him. Truthfully.

This was not the only upsetting thing that happened yesterday. When I woke up in the morning, I had a horrible rash on my face and my eys were super swollen and puffy. It so happens I had an allergic reaction to a cream I put on the night before. And to top it off, I only have about 4 people I could've spent my birthday with yesterday (my sister and her boyfriend, my friend from work, and my roommate/friend). My boyfriend does not live here and neither do my parents, nieces and nephews, sister and brother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law, and my best friends. No one. And to top it all off?!?! I figured out that Police Officers within the state of Virginia have no heart. Yep. My life is dandy right about now. Let's just say, when the clock struck midnight, I was so relieved!

Broke....broke....broke! Did I mention...broke!

**This is an ugly color I am typing in because I am in an ugly mood!** >=(

Ya know, living on your own is not all that it is cracked up to be....at all! I mean sure, you get to make your own decisions and come home as late as you would like, yada yada yada. (By living on your own, I mean, without your parents) But when it comes to paying bills and everything else that requires financial attention, you're freakin' stuck like Chuck. I thought this check would've been a little more....well, I prayed it would be a little more, but it wasn't! I had a fair warning that it wasn't going to be what I expected, but nevertheless, it still irritated me when I opened the envelope. GRRRRR!!!! I know that this is a very out of character post, but I needed to vent. Sorry!

A 'Desperate' Addiction

I am not the type of person who has any vices. I don't smoke, I don't have to drink, and I am not the type of girl that HAS to buy shoes whenever I go shopping. Hell, I don't even like to shop that much. Yes, I am an awkward breed of woman. But, nevertheless, I have found an addiction that even I cannot fight. It's a Sunday night addiction. It involves a 9pm appointment with ABC. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my addiction is in fact the soap opera that first aired in October, Desperate Housewives. How can you not like this show?!?!? In the very first episode, the tone is set by the narrator of the series, who commits suicide and proceeds to tell the story of her 4 friends from Wisteria Lane, Susan Mayer, Bree Van de Kamp, Lynette Scavo, and Gabrielle Solis. She also tells the stories of the neighborhood, including the promiscuous Edie Britt. Ahhhh.....this is the best show!!! From the surface, it appears to be a neighborhood that is quiet, calm, and all of its residents live perfect, happy lives. But underneath it all, it is a cauldron of lies and secrets that just surprise you every single episode.

But why am I so addicted to this show? Perhaps because it is the life that I know I will never live, and it feels good to wear someone else's Manolo Blahniks for an hour each Sunday. It feels good to imagine that I could be Susan, the single mom who is so desperate to find love, she will even search her own gossipy neighborhood for a beau. Or Bree, the obsessive compulsive perfectionist who poisons her husband with onions in his salad when she finds out he wants a divorce. Or maybe even Lynette, who finds an escape in her son's ADD medication. But most of all, without a doubt, I like to imagine I am Gabrielle, the beautiful former model with the perfect life who, no matter how many material things she has, still finds it necessary to have an affair with her 17 year-old gardener!!! God, I love this show!!! If you have never seen it, I suggest you tune in every Sunday. I know that this Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday, but it will be on at 10 pm. See ya on Wisteria Lane!!!



**Small side note: Season I of Desperate Housewives will be coming out on DVD after the season is over. Anybody care to buy it for me, leave me a comment ;)**

YIKES!!!

I just noticed I haven't written an entry in two days. Oops! Sorry about that! There is an entry on the way =)

¡Cuba Libre! (A dedication to a man who is, in my opinion, the epitome of Miami)

While New York relishes in its Puerto Rican population, San Francisco in its Asian population, Texas in its Mexican population, and so on and so forth, Miami literally is the spitting image of what can be seen on the streets of Havana. The only difference(s) between Miami and Cuba is the fact that people can succeed and make a means to live, say what they want, and protest peacefully (although we all know us Cubans get very passionate about certain issues, so our peaceful is the rest of the country's chaos) But why is it that many who live outside of Miami (even some Cubans!) hold such a resentment towards the city because of their Cuban population? The answer is simple: the only people who know the truth about Castro's Cuba and aren't ashamed to tell you are that same Cuban population that resides within the county limits of the infamous Miami-Dade in South Florida. The distorted image that is given off that "Castro is not that bad" and that "the real ones to blame are the Miami Cubans" is given off by those who don't have stories to share regarding oppression they suffered in the communist country or those who have never been exposed to these heart wrenching tales. My cousin was a political prisoner in Cuba. Do these so-called humans who claim "Castro is not that bad" truly know the definition of a political prisoner? Basically, all of these Bush-bashers could be political prisoners....that is, if America was a communist country and Bush was the dictator. Could you imagine that? After the 2004 election, it is evident that just about half of the country could be political prisoners. My mother worked in sugar cane fields while she was pregnant with my brother in the early 70's so that she could be granted persmission to leave Cuba. And a few weeks after she gave birth, she returned to the fields to work in the scorching sun. But my mother's story is not the only one. Other's have more gruesome stories that perhaps involve violence, starvation, or even death. As a child of one of the sufferers who lived through one of those upsetting stories, do I not owe it to my mother to share her hating and "I spit on you" attitude towards the bearded devil? Would it not be a blow to the heart for my mother to have her youngest daughter come home and say, "Mami, I don't think Castro is that bad." Would it not be turning my back on everything that my parents have provided for us in this wonderful, free country? I, like my mother, share the exact same attitude that we will not visit Cuba until the bearded devil has burned. Why visit while he is still alive? To give my hard-earned money to him so that he may continue to oppress those poor prisoners, because in Cuba, althought they do not live behind bars, everyone is a prisoner in Cuba. I don't want to go too in depth with this post because I could literally type for days, but I did want to shed some light on this topic after being inspired by this particular article that appeared on the front page of my hometown's newspaper: http://www.babalublog.com/archives/001353.html (this site will redirect you to the article when you click on story)