The Last One For 2011

My last post for 2011, and I better make it worth the effort. Last year at this time I made a decision, and here I am a year later and I am in a much better place in my life, with very little regrets. There are things I miss, but there are things I will always miss, and I am blessed enough to not want important things in my life. And that's that. It's funny, because on all the news reports on Times Square, the balminess over there is what everyone is mentioning, and I just went to throw the garbage and felt a chill. So it looks like I have a colder New Year's Eve here. So there, for better or worse, are the facts. 2011 was a pretty good year for me, but then they are all good years nowadays, since I want to always look at the good things. You know what, too? 2012 will just be better, better than the best. I know it will be. Let's all do this together!

Ratty - Out!

I have started my (now) yearly tradition of throwing 100 things before the New Year. I realize that I am still finding things I brought from the big move that can be disposed of. There are quite a number of things I brought that are still in boxes, and between now and Saturday, I will dig a lot of them out, and chuck them. Just last night, I am finding T-Shirts that are really ratty looking. And I had planned on using them for lounging at home, but I have enough lounging tees so I am eyeing the real ratty ones to throw away. Or even the halfway ratty ones, they could go, too. I am just glad that I got rid of all the kitchen stuff from long ago, but there are times when I do miss them, like the other day when I needed to use a tong and couldn't find one. But, those instances are few and far between.

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

There's Got To Be A Morning After

And just like that, Christmas is over. All the stress, all the preparation, gone in 24 hours. But it's not over yet, that spirit of giving and kindness can be left in our hearts for the rest of the year. I am just getting read now for the New Year, and this may be the last year of our lives if, indeed, all the predictions for 2012 being the end of the world, prove to be true. Let's live this year fully and make it count. 

"Where there is much light, the shadow is deep."  - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This Christmas I Give You My Heart

Christmas is almost here, and it's quiet right now. I marvel at how stress-free this one has been. I bought my gifts way back when I was in New York, and whatever I bought recently - not really much - has just been "incidentals."  My life now is just totally more quiet, and I like that. With old age comes a desire for serenity. I love how it's not nearly now about material things for me, for I value life experiences  much much more nowadays. In an hour or two, we are all going to my brother's house where there is a little bit of a spread. I have my specialty "Pernil Puerto Rican Style" roasting in the oven and it should be ready by then. Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

A Day

Here is the photo of the Botteha Veneta.  Ever since I got my iPhone, i have been taking Daily Pictures for the photo blog I created: 

luhaday.blogspot.com

A Picture A Day takes the Luha away !

The Gift

The Holidays are really here, whether we like it or not. I got my sister's gift today. She had been harassing me in regards to what to get me, and I honestly didn't want her to get me anything. I told her that I understand times are tough ow, and she has kids, and I wanted her to make them her priority, but she was insistent, and was incessantly texting me, so I acquiesced. I told her to get me the small bottle of Bottega Veneta. I have been admiring and testing the thing for a couple of times now, but every time I try to get it, something better always comes up for me to buy. Every time I sniff it, the combination of jasmine and the buttery leather always gets to me, and it's a reasonably-priced gift, too so I am happy about getting this now, and will be wearing it tomorrow. I finished the last lot of my Christmas shopping last night, at the mall, of all places. I can't remember the last time I went mall shopping, and I thought it was going to be a madhouse, but it was surprisingly pleasant. I did the bulk of my shopping in NYC when I was there the beginning of the month, so this year I am not as stressed. It will definitely be a very different Christmas this year, my first here at the desert. I look forward to it, there's a novelty to the whole Holidays here that I am enjoying. My first Christmas somewhere else after 27 years, who would have imagined?

Hunting Hunter

Health Is Wealth

I started new blood pressure medication last week and when I was in LA noticed that I was having some nausea and vertigo, so when I got back I called my doctor and told her what was happening. She told me she was going to give me new medication but it has been so busy today that I didn't even suggest picking it up. And when I checked my blood pressure earlier, it was high. I hope I get to be better. I always go through this whenever I change medication, and it is kind of frustrating for me. Oh, health is wealth. I hate when I don't feel well.

"If Shadows could talk they would tell us there is gold to be mined, in every experience." - Debbie Ford,