A Little Bit of Everything

As it is

Almost end of semester. I am petty much done with all my classes now I'm getting ready for finals. I am in the point where my body is so exhausted that it is even really hard for me to get up every morning for the last 3 weeks. I did not have a problem getting up at 5 or 6 AM every day but now it is ridiculously hard.

I had a good day so far. I went to bed at like 2 am and I went to work from 8 am to 1 pm with one class in between. I was so hungry when I got off work but I did not have time to eat because I had to finish up a presentation for my next class. I did that right on time, I presented and it went really well. I talked about something that means a lot to me and that I had researched carefully. Shortly after that I ran to grab something to eat really quick and went to the TA for help in one of my classes, then I went to my other class. I was dying, I started to feel so sleepy. One of my classmates asked me to go on a date tomorrow. He seems to be a really good guy, I hope to get to know him more.

Right after that I went to the math lab and I realized that I could not keep going, so I stopped and laid down for a little bit. I had a 30 min nap and then I went to the math lab for help in one of the problems I missed in the last test. Dang! I have to become more effective when studying. I am getting used to the system here and I have to improve because I don't want to be a mediocre student. It is hard and requires hard work.

So far until today I have accomplished many things in my life.  I have ended up accomplishing other things without having them in my plans but I feel satisfied until now. I have a lot of time ahead I dare to say and I want to go for more.

I have also been thinking that I should give back. I have received so much. I really want to give back. I think I will follow my bishop's counsel: "Make it a goal." If I plan to serve, I will do it no matter what and I'll stop postponing it.

I'm here back at the library to study and try to figure out my homework, I went out to get something to eat and drink. I called my mom to let her know I was cold, hungry, tired and with lots to do. It feels good to know that she is always there for me. I'll miss her so much when she departs from this earth.

This is a lil bit of how I roll... Very good days so far. I'm alive and protected. I'm loving and smiling.

One of my professors told me today: "Your smile will change lives." I don't pretend to mention this in a cocky way whatsoever but I always get compliments from people about my smile. Of course, it cost me 4 years of braces! True thing is that laughing hard and smiling is my thing baby. That's what I'm talkin' bout!

People say I am crazy in a good way. Yeah, I accept that description and I love it, I'm crazy in so many ways but once someone gets to know me it's a completely different story. I keep myself authentic, I am crazy here and there but I am also very serious. I do a little bit of everything and I am a little bit of everything.

When I die I want to be buried right next to my husband and I want to have this phrase engraved on our tombstone, "always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name..." (Murder in the city, The Avett Brothers). If tattoos were not bad for my body I would totally have that tattooed in my back.

Good break, buh!
Back to it!

To the South. Picture from last weekend.

My Craziness

Making someone laugh : ) Hah!

Going To New York City For The 3rd Time

I went to NYC for the very first time at the end of March 2012, it was an incredible adventure and I had a really amazing time. Some of the coolest things in this adventurer life happened to me and they made me very happy. 4 months after I went again with one of my best friends, and I got to see so many other things that I could not visit the first time I went. Now, 4 months after I'm going again but this time is for a different purpose. I'll be there for a leadership conference in the big apple. I'm very excited to visit NYC again, so many things to see and do. I love NYC! I wanna dream like New York.

If I get murdered in the city
Go read the letter in my desk
Don't worry with all my belongings
But pay attention to the list

Make sure my sister knows I loved her
Make sure my mother knows the same
Always remember there is nothing worth sharing
Like the love that let us share our name

And If I Say I Really Knew You Well, What Would Your Asnwer Be?

And if I say I really knew you well, what would your answer be? Well, knowing you, you'd probably laugh and say, that we were worlds apart. But as for me, I still remember how it was before and I am holding back the tears no more. What about the time we met? Well, I suppose that you could say that we were playing hard to get. What about the night we cried? Because there wasn't any reason left to keep it all inside. Never understood a word, but you were always there with a smile. 

Life Goes On

When I ponder about my life I always recall memories from previous years. There are a lot of people and things that I wish they had remained the same until this day but transitions are part of life. What was part of my life once, it is not anymore.

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." - Robert Frost. I want to take advantage of the time I have right now to laugh hard, to build strong and long lasting relationships, network, love much, do the things I love and enjoy life in a good way.

My parents will pass away someday, I will miss them more than anyone in my life. I have many good friends that I love and I know they love me but knowing that one or both of my parents are gone will really make me feel lonely. It will be very hard I know and I hope I do not have to go through it by myself. Hopefully I'm married and with children by then.

I have done a lot of things in the last three years that have made me grow and I have also met people that I have come to appreciate a lot. Time is flying and I am about to finish another period in my life. After that, I will move far away to start another part of my life. Then in 2 or 4 years I might be at the other side of the world making my dreams and life happen.

I will keep leaving things, places and people behind. They will never lose their meaning. But life goes on, and so do I.

10 Years From Now

I talked to my friend Fer this morning and we were talking about how different our lives are now compared to 5 years ago and that we will never be together again because we both are looking into taking advantage of  every opportunity that comes and experiencing other places around the world before we both have to settle down with someone. We miss each other a lot and we have shared many special moments together that have strengthen our friendship for 8 years now. He is a great guy, he deserves all the good things in this world.

I have taken a different path in my life that has taken me very far away from him. I wish we lived closer, we need each other. Our friendship is very sincere and beautiful.

10 years from now I will probably be married and with 2 children at least haha! If not, I should be working very hard, traveling, making a difference, managing my non-profit organization, experiencing different cultures, and looking for a husband. Just that simple.

My Best Words For You

I have seen so many beautiful things throughout my life that help me create the best words for you.

I have read so many beautiful things that make me think about you and in the things I want to say to you.

I have heard so many beautiful songs that remind me of you and I only want to tell you those same things.

If I ever tell you how I feel about you, I want you to hear my best words for you.

25 Facts People Don't Know About Me

1. I love airports and the smell.
2. I always shake my foot whenever I'm sitting.
3. Liking seafood has been a process since I was a little girl. Fish, salmon, tilapia, shrimp, crab, lobster and sushi is what I have eaten so far and I love it.
4. I had two surgeries at once.
5. I do not buy anything sugary when I go grocery shopping.
6. I like to spend time with myself.
7. I have nephews and nieces that are older than me.
8. I don't compare myself with others.
9. I am very romantic.
10. I talk to myself out loud (not in front of people).
11. I was a great video game player since I was little until I turned 11.
12. I am very positive.
13. I never tell people the things I do not like about myself.
14. I am a big fan of cheese.
15. I daydream a lot.
16. I love meeting and talking to random people on the street, specially when I travel.
17. I keep myself genuine.
18. I never leave my house without making my bed.
19. I drink soda every once in a while, not a big fan. I love Italian sodas though : )
20. I love trying new food.
21. I sometimes do not measure danger.
22. I love cranberry sauce in a turkey sandwich.
23. Laugh attacks come to me when they shouldn't. 
24. I have a big collection of Sanrio (Hello Kitty, Badtz Maru, Keroppi) notebook pages.  
25. I love myself.

Grateful

Grateful for this year.
Grateful for every new year.
Grateful for the unknown.
Grateful for what makes me happy.
Grateful for them.
Grateful for her.
Grateful for him.
Grateful for those.
Grateful for not being there yet.
Grateful for dreams.
Grateful for what is joyful.
Grateful for this.

Feedback

Nothing better than receiving good feedback from a boss : )

Fly

 Now I know better... I just want to fly away from here... I'm happy... Flying makes me happy...

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?

Mine is the endless summer, right before the leaves begin to fall as my dreams... I shall compare thee to a summer's day, bright as your dreams and as joyful as can be...

It Is So Simple

So many good wishes in a heart that yearns a happy life, make everyone around happy, be busy changing the world, get a lovely job, etc. How easy is to be full of good wishes...

Life is full of simple things that take people to accomplish complex things. No need to get to the complexity first without dominating simplicity.

Fall

What a great sensation of happiness and inspiration fall season brings!
It was a very beautiful afternoon, went up to Millcreek canyon. Brought a blanket, found a place to lay down. It was followed by inspired words from General Conference plus the sound of the birds, the wind and the creek. What a great feeling! I felt invincible!

Good Wife

And my dream is to be a good wife : )

It all starts little by little right?

Leaving Before Being Left

The letter I wrote, I found it today after a long time... I have let go now.

Yyyy,

I really appreciate you taking the time to write a letter for me but I would've preferred not receiving anything like that from you because it wasn't what I would've expected to read after the last time we talked. I have been thinking a lot about you too. I really miss you. Some days I felt like just going to your house and tell you how much I miss you but that was not going to fix anything so I decided not to...

I think you should know that the first days without you have been hard. The mornings have been the hardest because I still feel that emptiness inside me. I'm okay during the day since work and other things keep me distracted and busy but it is also hard when I go to bed because I think about you and I miss you. It really is being hard I must say because I was so used to have you by my side. I am very sure I'll get over it sooner than later, do not worry about me. I feel good and I think I'm happy, I just miss talking to you and knowing that I also lost a friend makes me feel sad. I understand this is natural and it will go away.

Just like you, I also enjoyed all the moments we spent together. The day we went to the canyon at midnight was also my favorite. I remember the day we said that we didn't care about anything else when we were together because we felt so happy with each other, it made me feel super happy to know you felt the same way I did.

I wish you all the best, I will be very happy to hear about you succeeding in life. 

Claudia

“A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, listens but doesn't believe, and leaves before she is left.” - Marilyn Monroe

Letting go is also a process!

I Can Do It! Right?

I have to study a lot and put a lot of effort into my classes, work and errands. I like doing what I have to do thinking that I'm doing the best I can but that I can for sure give more than that. All I have in mind most of the time is that "I have to be my best and that I have to give my best." It's hard and it's frustrating when things don't work out the way I want to, but from one thing I am very sure, there has not been an extra effort that I have done that has not been extra rewarded.

Don't let your dreams be only dreams.

This is what I'm talking about:

"You've done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination." - Ralph Martson

Things I Didn't Say To You

Xxxxxxx,

Life is great but challenging. I have been thinking a lot about you and in all the things I learned from you so that is why I decided to write to you and thank you for encouraging me to be persistent with Morganne, I didn't understand the real meaning of visiting teaching until my experience with Morganne and your focus in doing visiting teaching. I will remember that for the rest of my life. I really want to help lift someone up and I could understand what Visiting Teaching really is thanks to you.

Also, thank you for all the knowledge you shared with me, I got a lot out of it. You've been a great example of how to magnify a calling. I'm grateful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to serve with you and learn from you. I believe that callings are not given to us necessarily because we are faithful or good people, I have learned that callings are given to us because the Lord wants us to be better and help us keep ourselves in the right path.

I love you and I miss you.

-Claudia R.

I know, moving on is just part of life!

.

I Think It's Been Enough, Now I'm Ready

I'm a dreamer, lover of life&adventure. I'm a free spirit and 

I have an unafraid and adventurous soul.

I played sports&music, danced, did snowboarding, went

backpacking&rockclimbing and now I want to fall in ♥


I think it's been enough, now I want to and I guess I'm ready 

I Want To Be In Love Again

"My Dearest Claudia. I couldn't sleep last night because I know that it's over between us. I'm not bitter anymore, because I know that what we had was real. And if in some distant place in the future we see each other in our new lives, I'll smile at you with joy and remember how we spent the summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love. The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. I love you. I'll be seeing you. Noah"  

Broken like this was my heart once... 

I love this movie (the notebook)! 

Love might not happen the same way again. I have changed and life has changed...

East Coast Trip Summary

This is a summary of some of the places we visited. It was an adventure!

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." Henry Miller

This trip really made me think more about what are the things I'm doing in order to accomplish my goals and get where I want to be. Also, what sacrifices I am willing to make and what sacrifices I am already doing.

I know that I don't need to go on a trip to think about these things but really every time I step away from my routine, I find new ways of looking at things and I come to find myself alone in the real world and I feel like, "wait, this is real life. Time never stops. Success starts here." I think that is why major travelers love going far away to explore and discover because they also find themselves. I love traveling, I wanna go everywhere I can, no matter how far or how close. I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have to do so. It's a great sensation! Hopefully my life lasts enough!

Waking Up in New York City

Back in NYC. Yes! After long walks exploring cities and good stuff I am back in the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, and where the lights inspire you.

It was about time to take it a little bit easy so we took our time to get ready for the day so we started by walking a few blocks down and buy some food for the days we have left. The best thing of our morning was the Salvadorian breakfast we had. It was so yummy! We were happy!

Later in the afternoon we went to see the Juilliard school, so pretty! Only legit people go there. Afterwards we went to get some yummy fro-yo from "16 handles," sooo god! 52 cents per ounce! I highly recommend it! It also seems like people visit this place quite frequently. Right after that we went in the hunt for some serious shopping : ) and then we went to the Manhattan temple. It was a good experience to enter the temple, that's always a great choice. We felt very happy when we got out from the temple. We can tell the difference.

Then we stopped by a few shops and walked a lot towards times square. We got to talk to some cool people as well and I like that a lot. People from all around the world. My favorite was the Turkish guy, really cool! He provided me with one of his artistic products for free haha! Real funny!

I'm glad we went to the temple! I need that spirit of peace. I want to be better. I need to be better!

It's Just Business In Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia

We arrived in Washington DC! Wow I was very impressed, it is a really beautiful place. Like in the movies!

Geral came to pick us up. She is so awesome! We met back in 2004 and we've been good friends ever since and it's really nice to get together in DC, who would ever thought we would be there together! Así es la vida!

She told us that we would have to walk a lot to see the museums and the monuments. I thought it would be hard but not as hard as it went. My feet hurt badly. I was dying!

We visited the museums during the day. They are really really amazing, I learned a lot of new things. We also walked towards downtown, it is very clean, super nice, the buildings are really nice. Not as many people as in New York. I really would love to live in DC as well.

At night, Geral's fiance took us to see the monuments. Wow, they are stunning at night! We walked tons but it was worth the pain. We were in Washington DC and stayed in Virginia, I don't understand how's that. We made a stop in Maryland and that made us get to Washington really late. It's all about the fun and the places you get to know!


At the end of the night we got together with Kelvin and his brother, really cool guys. We laugh super hard at all the crazy things we say when we are together. I'm a happy person I guess haha! We had a really yummy shake and got excited to go together to church the next day and spend more time together.

I Felt Like If I Was Back In April

Great! This is vacation! Time to explore! Time for me. I wish I could stop thinking that I have to come back to Utah and study hard. I cannot stop thinking about it and in all the things I have to do to keep a good balance. Oh well..

Anyway, we woke up as early as we could after recovering a little. Hah! I felt like I was back in April. Nothing had changed. It was the same New York I loved.

Here comes the adventure highlights.

We visited central park and had lunch there (hot dogs, yum!) talked to some handsome Europeans, took pictures, walked a lot, saw a lot of things we like on fifth avenue and got a picture with one Abercrombie's model. Oh my...! So cute! We went crazy haha! We saw a couple of interesting people doing nice things on the street and parks. We felt "in."It was really cool to see really nice things all over the place. We were gonna leave at 9:00 PM for Washington DC so we got back early from the city to get our backpacks ready for the next 4 days.






We left the house early to be at least one hour and a half before "just in case." Well, thanks goodness we did. Andrea couldn't find her confirmation number in her email. We called customer service to get the confirmation number and they put us on hold for like 20 mins. At first they told Andrea that they couldn't find her name nor her email and debit card number. Oooohh nooo! That was very stressful to know because we had everything planned and all of a sudden the confirmation email disapears and then they said that they could not find her name so they couldn't resend her confirmation number!

No way, "we are gonna get to Washington no matter what!" We were gonna leave for Philadelphia from Washington DC and all of our journeys depended on that. I couldn't believe that could happen to us! I felt that there was something wrong because we remembered having compared our confirmation emails when we booked the journeys. I decided that I should call too and that I was gonna go as far as I could to not let anything ruin our fun time : ) It turned out that the lady that took Andrea's call needed some extra training because she didn't know how to help us properly and made us freaked out for a while. The lady who picked up my call was able to resend the confirmation number in less than one minute : ) Yes! I knew it! We had to go, I was pretty sure that everything would turn out okay. I could feel it. Strong feelings don't fail!

I'm back in NYC! Oh yeah! The city were dreams are made of and where is nothing you can't do.

We arrived around 10:30 PM. Changed our shoes and got ready to carry our luggage to our friend's place, which was kind of a pain since we both had 50 pounds each of luggage filled with all our necessary items plus a bunch of "just in case" stuff. Well, it was only about getting to our friends' place and we were gonna be set!

We apparently took the longest way. Ooh I was back in NYC! I couldn't believe it! It was about 1:00 AM and tons of people around. I love that! The city is always alive! That's my style!

We started looking all those handsome boys, and when we arrived to our destination we got to talk to a very handsome guy in blue shirt. Success!!!

Diego was waiting for us. It was good to see him! He married one of my best friends. He is a very awesome guy, very smart, adventurous, conqueror, caring and cool. He graduated last spring from BYU and now he works for JP Morgan in downtown New York.

Great! We are here! Tomorrow I'm gonna go explore an get to know the city more!

From Day Zero!

I can feel it! This is gonna be great!

At 33,110 feet!

I'm in the airplane right now. We'll be traveling a lot so I guess I'll be taking the time to write every time we are heading somewhere so I can keep these memorable and crazy adventure a little updated.

I had an amazing weekend after a ridiculously crazy and busy school term. It all started with a graduation party in honor of Franklin and kelvin. The next day we went for lunch to one of my favorite restaurants, Tucanos! So good! I love pao de queijo! Shortly after that, I headed back to work and decided to go to Salt Lake to party rock with my precious friends and talk more seriously with Andrea about our upcoming trip since we both were in school before and it was hard to coordinate some things and they were very time consuming haha! Trip had been planned out but we had to look at the details and other plans B in case things don't work out as planned. Also, we had to thing about what was going to be our attitude towards problems that come up, which is a really good thing to look at.

We spent our weekend doing a lot of the things we love the most like eating sushi! David Polk joined us! David is a great friend of us. We love him so much! He spoils us! He is originally from Florida and has American and Vietnamese blood. He is very smart, very cool, chill, spiritual, talented and laughs at everything we say. We laugh hard the whole time we are together. We hadn't seen him in a long time because he was doing study abroad in Argentina. He studies Architecture and is a very outstanding student. He plans on going to Harvard or UC Berkeley for grad school. I want him to design my future house! :)

Last night, David and Andrea picked me up to take me to salt lake and be ready the next day to head to the airport. We went to bed super late with Andrea, we always stay up till late talking :) It wasn't hard to wake up bright and early, it's exciting to share a good trip with someone who is similar to you and likes almost the same things.

David came to pick us up in the morning, we got some breakfast to go, we got to the airport right on time. We were about to go through security when the officer didn't let us in because of our two last names. Our flight tickets only had our first last name and our ID's had two so he wanted to see both last names in the flight ticket as well which was ridiculous! I have always traveled with only one last name in my flight ticket, plus here in the States are used to only one last name, all places I go they always do that.

So we had to run to where we got our flight ticket and see if they could do something to change it. Well, they could do something with Andrea's but not with mine. It was 11:08 AM and our flight would leave at 11:30 AM. Great! I freaked out only thinking about the wait for the next flight that I didn't know how long that was going to take. So I thought, "No, we're gonna make it on time no matter what! Our plans cannot be frustrated!" so we took our shoes off and told people in line that we were gonna miss our flight so they could let us go first. People was cool about it and the other officer didn't even say anything about my ID issue, just like it's always been!!! So we passed through security really fast and our gate was so far away but we ran fast to our gate and caught our flight just right on time! Yes we made it! Ooh baby!!! THAT WAS PART OF THIS ADVENTURE! So crazy! We ate our to go brakefast in the airplane, but it wasn't warm :(

We landed in Denver, Colorado. We had a kind of long layover so we went to explore the different shops and took some pictures. Airports always have nice settings where you can get really nice shots!

Great! We ate really fast since we had like 4 hours of flight to New York. We are very excited. Now I can really feel it, this is gonna be good! I love this sensation! I love being away from my reality and just admiring and enjoying life in a different setting! I love diversity! Can't wait to see the NY lights from above!

First stop: NEW YORK CITY. It will be my second time in that beautiful city, and it's Andrea's first time! She'll fall in love with that city as much as I did. I really would love to live there eventually :)

But Tomorrow May Rain So We'll Follow The Sun

And now the time has come and so my love we must go... One day, you'll find that we have gone...

Dream like New York, as high as the skyline. We'll be running down Broadway, catch the next train, go make our way.

To Go Beyond is as Wrong as to Fall Short

They say that some mistakes in life are too fun to only make once and that a lot of mistakes are also great memories. Yes, it can be true; I must say, but what is called a mistake usually brings a lot of regrets. The way I see it is that you can either learn from it, forgive yourself and forget it or run from it.
We call mistakes to those things that we consider as wrong or those things that ruin our dreams, lives or expectations. The concept of a mistake depends on the principles that rule each one's lives.

Yes, it was bad and we shouldn't have done it. We didn't think the way we should've thought about the situation. Everyone makes mistakes right? But I don't pretend to justify mistakes only because everyone makes them or because I have to make some mistakes in order to learn and grow.

Feelings of regret will come but we must let them pass and keep moving on. 

Live and do things differently. What we did cannot be undo but the way we decide to live our life afterwards is what can compensate the tiny part in the time of our lives that went wrong... It probably took 5 mins or only15 secs to do, say, see, etc. something... But forget about it. Don't regret too much and make the necessary adjustments by taking some action to forgive yourself and do things better for real... Leave it behind because you can't go back. 

There are limits between what is right and what is wrong, sometimes we like to get to the edge in between what is wrong and what is right, so we like being in the middle. We do things that we think they are okay because we haven't crossed the line completely but they are surely wrong because going beyond our limits is as wrong as not going far enough... It's all about character and self-control.

Make a change!