Find Me...

I started writing this blog back in December of 2007. Throughout my whole life I have always written journals, diaries, stories, poems, kept scrapbooks, yearbooks, took pictures, videos, collected pictures of my ancestors that my mom and my grandmother had, made very elaborate albums for my parents, my children and kept a dairy of something interesting they did every day for the first 13 yrs. of their lives.

I know this sounds crazy and I'm sure the different reasons that motivated me to do all these things were right for me at the time. One thing I do know is that I love doing all these things when I have the time, energy and the clear mind because to this day I still do all of that, but I also have this hunch that the real reason why I've always like doing these things is yet to come forth in my life.

The blog was different than all the rest of the things I've started and stopped. Although I wasn't as consistent in writing on my blog as I intended from the start, I've managed to keep a lot of the things that come to my mind and I just find the need to write them down as they flow through me uncontrollably.

At first my motivation for starting were four different things, one to be the witness to my own adventure since I was alone for the first time in my life, it was like a bomb exploded in my MicroUniverse and I had to start from scratch and I had nobody watching my re-birth so I decided to write about it so I would go back and check my progress after a while. That still works for me, that still motivates me, because I am my most avid reader, I love to see how my trajectory of the past 10 years has brought me back to a good place in my life, only now with so much more wisdom, serenity, patience, faith and most of all Happiness.

The second motivation was to send out to the Universe all my unfulfilled dreams and desires and to celebrate each one as it happened. That too has always served me well, whatever I have asked the Universe so far I've got and then-some.

My third motivation was to talk about the way I perceive and handle my life, I talk about anything and everything so that when I'm no longer around and my children ever wonder what I think about something specific or how I handled a challenge in my life all they have to do is read my entries, it's all there, they might find something that can help them in their lives.

The fourth was to find a life partner. I opened myself to the possibility that he was out there also looking for me and I sent my vibrations through my writings, my photographs and most of all my emotions.

My first cover picture was one that I took at Del Mar Beach in Del Mar, CA. I was taking a walk at the beach with a friend and asked him to stop for a moment. I grabbed a long stick and brushed flat the powdered sand so I could have a good size surface to write something with that long stick. I wrote the words FIND ME! and then took a step back and took a picture of it with my writings in mind.

I got home and found out that Google had a place where I could create a Blog for free and keep everything that I write in one spot, the thought of keeping my writings all in one place was very attractive, so I picked a design, uploaded the photo I had taken at the beach that morning, gave it the name that described me the best "Parallel Parked in a Perpendicular World" that's how I have always felt and I wrote what came to my mind at the time. It's been 10 years since then and I haven't stopped.

Now that I have been able to accomplish so many of the dreams I started with I'm going to focus on asking the Universe to FIND ME! again, only this time I want the right circumstances to be able to fulfill the dreams I still have of helping others.

So once again but this time with different views, wisdom, desires and intentions... FIND ME!!!

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Google Maps...

When I first moved to this country back in 1979, when I was still in my 20s and starting a life from scratch, maybe even from debt, the first thing my husband and I bought was a AAA Club Membership. We felt safe having their protection, they handled everything from our trips to our Insurance to the guidance of where we are, where we want to go, what to find when we get there, how much will it cost, what rating it had.

I love Maps, always have for some odd reason, maybe because I love traveling and knowing where I am. When I have moved to many cities around the world every time I get there first I feel so lost, it is maps that help me find my way around and start to feel at home instead of in a foreign land.

Now there's the Internet, there's smart phone and GPS and my good friend and companion all day long GOOGLE MAPS!!! I don't think either my husband or I would have been able to adapt so quickly to our new surroundings first in San Diego, then all across the country to the other border, then finding our way around town, where to buy a car, where to park. We owe Google Maps our peace of mind that when we get in the car and are supposed to go wherever we have never gone before, Google Maps will illuminate our path and guide us right to the door that's going to be on your right side ;)

So I wanted to thank everyone at Google Maps and became proactive on paying back with what I know how to do, write and photograph. I post reviews, all around wherever I go I take pictures and post them on google maps to let people see what to expect when they get there. I tell them a little story of my experience there and how I feel about the place. My ratings are 99% for true excellence, I appreciate those who do their job with pride, although I have done a couple that truly disappointed us at all levels, I believe people need to remain accountable of their actions.

When I first started giving reviews and uploading pictures I had no idea they keep track and give you points and allow you to climb up the ladder, I'm up to Guide Level  #3. I thought that was a nice incentive to keep on people like me who like giving reviews and sharing photos to continue to climb up the ladder. It goes very slow but I'm not going anywhere I love finding something where I can help with what I love to do, give good reviews and take pictures of places and share them with anyone. I started 2 weeks ago and a week ago I get this e-mail direct from Google Maps congratulating me for having 1000 views on my pictures. It made me think wow, look 1000 people came to my gallery on opening night that's pretty darn wonderful. Well now this week I've passed 11,000, that's a growth of what percentage? I'm not mathematical  here but seems to me to be A LOT!! can you imagine what it will be years from now I'll become the talk of the town hahaha!!!

I love sharing what I like to do, what makes me happy and that all has to do with my inspiration to create something, whether it's writing, photography or some craft I get into all the time.

So this is a personal thank you first to the AAA Club, I'm still a loyal member since 1979 and now to Google Maps for holding our hand and not letting us get lost and just trust :)

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

It's Graduation Day...

At first you're an infant and graduate from being at home with mostly your immediate family who catered to your every single need and your exposure to another little baby here and there to a Pre-school with teachers, classrooms, structures, tasks, where learning starts as a game, at that age it feels like you've crossed over from the mostly unconscious baby world to the 'Real World', you're feeling more confident, challenged, anxious, even stressed with all these new things you're learning, more so nowadays with technology, but even in my days of play-dough, songs, musical instruments, coloring books, dolls, monkey bars, swings and sandboxes I still remember it was of enormous impact, almost like an awakening to our huge potential as human beings.

Throughout the years we keep on graduating celebrating landmarks of knowledge and independence, the more we graduate the more our responsibilities grow for the things we chose to learn so that we can become self sufficient, productive and can create our very own Micro Universe.

We have these ideas that our lives are going to turn out a certain way, I think we get these ideas from things we experience or witness others experience and we walk in that direction but we never really know what we will find on our way there.

I stopped counting my graduations a long time ago, I celebrate my growth with appreciation but this Friday my husband and I have a huge "Graduation Celebration".

We will be moving from what we called our dorm (a small studio apartment with a gorgeous unobstructed view of Mount Rainier and Lake Washington) to a two bedroom two bathroom apartment. I want to spell out bedroom because it seems like such a long time since we've had one.

Our trajectory at this late stage in our lives has been intense and amazing, going from coming back to the US after being gone for years, taking on jobs that we had never done or considered doing before even in our youth, renting a room in someone's apartment, then at a long term hotel with a microwave for a kitchen, to a larger hotel room with a kitchenette, to this gorgeous Studio apartment and now this Friday we are moving to a two bedroom that even has a little backyard with deck, grass and plants.

I understand now that what it takes to get what you want is to keep on walking in the direction of your dreams with gratitude and conviction until once again you can Celebrate Graduation Day!...

Hugs xoxo
@nit@