Fall Is Here!

We have had a wonderful summer!

We took advantage of the nice summer weather by spending a lot of time outdoors. I spent sometime at North Shore Beach Club by the pool on beautiful sunny days, went on a few boat rides on Delaware, Hispanic Festival at Penn's Landing, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Lancaster-Camping-well Cabin Camping...lol, and a lot nice walks in the city enjoying festivals and outdoor events.  Also been enjoying Tuesday nights at Warmdaddy's-All you can eat Crabs and Blues! Also enjoyed a lot of music shows and plays through Fillaseat program this summer.

Jordan is doing so well! He finished 10th grade with a 3.2 gpa. He has been singing at every seasonal concert with School of Rock, and now joined the School of Rock House Band, playing real gigs for the school. I am so proud of him! He has a beautiful voice! He also switched from Jiu Jitsu to Aikido. But we are looking for a new place for him to attend now that we are moving to the east side of the city, near Northern Liberties from the West side of center city. Now he is practicing for his SATs, working on his graduation project, and we are looking into college, tech school, or music school.

We went to see Wizard of Oz Show at The Academy. We also went to Comic Con and Jordan dressed up as an Anime character. Don't ask me who, have no idea how to pronounce the name...lol.  We went to see the Marvel Show at Wells Fargo Center. Very cool stunts!

I have been painting about once a month. I really enjoy it. I think I found a new creative outlet.
Did some serious traveling too these past few months. Went to Miami, South Beach, and Key West, New Orleans, Coney Island and Brooklyn, Orlando-Disney, Las Vegas & Grand Canyon, and Baltimore.

I also got my first tattoo this summer! The OM symbol on my back shoulder. Looks pretty cool! Started salsa dancing again too...love it!

I have also met someone special........enjoying it!

At work I had to take a lower position, with less responsibility, less stress and pressure, but same pay including an annual raise. Worked out well even though it was a very stressful time for me at work. Got through it!

Now we are looking forward to starting anew at our new apartment, and enjoying the fall weather, by slowing down our pace and enjoying the pre-holiday season.

New Adventure!

Wow! It's been February since I updated my blog. So much has happened. I went on my dream trip to Fiji, Steve and I finally called it quits, Jordan sang in a Spring concert and is preparing for another one this summer. He is finishing 10th grade, taking his finals this week, and is looking forward to the summer. We have two trips planned for the summer, one to Miami, and one to Disneyworld.

We took my dream trip to Fiji in February. It was heavenly. We stayed on Treasure Island for 5 days. Check it off my bucket list. We even got to spend a day at Universal Studios in LA before returning home from our trip to Fiji. Jordan loved it. I got to see a Flamenco show live at Merriam Theater, which I loved. I discovered all you can eat crabs at Warmdaddy's on Tuesdays...lol. We celebrated my mom's 66th birthday in March. I went to The Barnes for a native indian flute music event. Joined fillaseat philadelphia and now get tickets for a lot of cool events. What a great deal! I took a singles trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and had lots of fun! Saw Charlie Murphy (Eddie's brother) at Helium Comedy club, very funny guy and not as dirty as his brother. I have spending a lot of time with friends and family now as a single gal. Looking for a new love baby...lol. Or maybe not, enjoying my freedom to the max.

Went to Latin Night at the Kimmel Center and danced the night away! Discovered Reserve Wine Bar in Chinatown, they have Jazz meetup events. Tried Acupuncture for the first time-it was ok, nothing special. Spent weekend in NY-saw Motown Musical, Awesome performance! Joined North Shore Beach club in Northern Liberties. Love it!  I can spend some time there this summer by the pool. Signed up for bartending refresher course and hopefully get job placement right after. I went to Jazz event at Hotel Monaco with my pal Jeff. Took a Haunted Harbor tour on the Delaware and saw Roller Derby live for the first time, brutal..lol. I also took a paint class and it was so much fun! I have a painting in my bedroom..lol. I definitely want to do that again.

At work I went to a housing project opening where Jon Bon Jovi was a speaker. Discovered noon church service on Tuesdays close to work. Wow! Great stuff. They call it the "Hour of Power" and  it is that indeed. Having some difficulty at work, and may have to start looking elsewhere for employment opportunities. I love what I do, but my personality is more collaborative and easy-going, while others seem to be aggressive and confrontational, almost like sales, which I don't like. They seem to get ahead and are in good favor with superiors though. Oh well...we will see.

So much has happened. Looking forward to more adventures to come and perhaps falling in love again very soon. There's someone now that may be up to par...lol.

What a winter!

It's been quite a cold and snowy winter. We have had very low temperatures and lots of snow and ice these past two months. Lots of school closings, and some office closings. I understand there's more to come too.

We had a very nice holiday; lots of good food, family, and nice presents. We spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home with the kids. We had a nice party at work and spent Christmas Eve with mom. We went to see Dave Chappelle at the Tower Theater. I enjoyed his opening acts more than I enjoyed him. I attended a very nice Christmas Eve service downtown. We went to see the Pompeii Exhibit at The Franklin Institute, learned a lot about Pompeii. We went to a Comedy Sports Show with the kids. They loved it! We also took them to a monster truck show in Trenton. We were full of dirt and dust at the end...lol.

I visited a chiropractor out of curiosity. Interesting experience. Not sure that I would go back unless I had to. I did get to go to dinner with middle school classmates and my former middle school English teacher. We celebrated his 70th birthday. It was a wonderful experience to see them again after at least 25 years.

We celebrated Jordan's 16th birthday at Arnold's Family Fun Center in Oaks, PA. We rode go carts, played laser tag and lots of  arcade games. We had tons of fun! A week later we went back to celebrate dad's birthday and tried bowling. What a great place! They even had live bands playing both times we were there.

Work has been very busy, but good. I enjoy my work very much.

Jordan completed his first semester of 10th grade with very good grades. He signed up for a spring concert and will be singing Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty songs. He stopped going to Karate. The place we go to has changed their schedules many times. We are  looking for a new place for him to start in March, or have him try out another activity.

I set some New Year's resolutions, including; working out at least 4 times a week, reading a book for leisure a month, eating healthier, travel more, start writing, and do more things I enjoy doing. So far so good. I read a book in January, "The Hot Zone." Wow! Scary book about Ebola virus. Started a second book this month, " The Places that Scare You, " about Buddhism. I have been working out at least 4 times a week. Been feeling very good and energized. I did come down with a cold this past week and trying to recuperate. Will start working out again this weekend. I have been eating much healthier, healthier snacks, lots of veggies, leaner and smaller portions of meats, with a sweet or salty (bad) snack once in a while....lol. Can't go cold turkey. I also started writing, mainly my own story. It would be nice to give to Jordan before I die, so he knows where his mother comes from, and why she is the way she is.

We are getting ready for a once in a lifetime vacation. Another one of my resolution's is to do more of what I love to do, which includes travel to new places. We are going to Fiji in about a week, one of the places I have always dreamed of visiting. Very excited! I hope the weather cooperates.