The Best Pizza in Town

There was a great pizza place on First Street called Angelo's. Last week I found out that they closed. The best pizza I've ever had and they are gone.

It teaches you a lesson. It is not the best who necessarily survive, it is those who keep trying. And I will keep trying until I die. Even if some people say trying is a bad word. Let them think that way. They are probably the kind that give up easily.

Keep going, no matter what. Now, as I write this, I am looking to find a better pizza.

One Year Anniversary

Today, it is one year since I moved to this apartment. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of moving to Florida.

It is hard for me to believe that I have been here a year. The time flew by. My daughter was able to meet some people thanks to her school. Now, she has to study for college tests and to change schools. She has no fear.

I have one friend in this area. She has been a rock and a great help. She also happens to have a car, which right now, I don't. It is sometimes a struggle to see her because of this. I'm hoping that by my birthday (in November), we have that little issue taken care off.

Here is my wish to you. I hope you don't do what I did and wait years before trying something new. It is not whether it failed or worked that matters. The lessons in the journey are the important thing. Besides, the adventure is not over, so we have not failed yet.

The Breakthrough

Last night I was sitting in bed when I finally had a breakthrough.

All this years of reading, writing, learning and studying had left me exhilarated and exhausted at the same time. I had figured out my issues of fear and procrastination, dealt with my consistency and worked on my attitude. One thing I was not making any headway on was living as if I already achieved my goals.

And last night it hit me. It is not enough to sit at home and visualize, set goals, follow some steps and find out about those that have gone before me. The final piece in the plan of acting as if I already am what I want to be is the daily activities.

Every decision made, from the breakfast you eat, to the exercise you choose to do, whether you spend money or not, whether you eat chocolate or almonds, has to be done from the perspective of the person you want to be. If you keep doing what you've always done....

This morning I decided to put it into practice. I have a bar height table where I work, I am actually using my desk, I starting the day writing. The difference is amazing.

Last week I worked in consistency. Now it's the real challenge. Can I consistently make decisions from where I want to be, not where I am now?

Leave your comments and suggestions below.

Shaping the Future

It just dawned on me today that in four days, it will be a year since I moved to Florida and the day after will be my anniversary of living in this apartment.

Time flies when you are having fun or when you are trying to figure things out. What have I learned?

1) I've learned that having a car is not necessary to go to the movies or to the store.

2) I've learned that I am happier when I am reading a book than when I am watching TV.

3) I've learned that you really can have everything and feel like you have nothing, and that you can have very little and feel like you have the world.

4) I've learned that nothing taste better than chocolate to me, so why not look for the healthiest version of chocolate and have a tiny bit every day.

5) I've learned that if you want to change your life, you have to get your support system from people who are doing what you want to do. Surrounding yourself with people that have done nothing is the fastest way to accomplish nothing.

6) I've learned that your friends might feel threatened that you are forgetting them or leaving them behind. The best thing to do is invite them for a ride.

So what does that have to do with shaping the future? We love learning new things. We are working hard to make every year better than the one before. We are ready for the experience.

So, what have you learned in the last year? What are you getting ready for? Leave your comments below.

Rants and Raves

Today I want to talk about the best thing I tried in Florida so far. It was a little change in my nutrition called Quinoa.

I don't know what it is, I just know that you make some and eat it. Some people use it as a substitute for cereal in the morning. I make mine with crab cakes. Yes, I am a sinner. I buy frozen crab cakes, stick them in the oven and make them in a bed of spinach or a bed of quinoa.

Love this particular food item. Try it. I hear it is good for you.

Any suggestions on what I should try next? Leave your comments below.

How Do You Meet People in a New Place

This post is short and to the point. How do you meet people in a new place.

We are going to celebrate our first anniversary here on August 2nd. We know four or five people. Well, my daughter knows more because of her school, but they all live far away.

Tell me your best methods to meet new people. I don't mean the kind that you say hi and bye everyday. I mean people you can hang out with. Leave your comments below and thanks for the suggestions.

How Hot is Too Hot

The good thing about renting: we have air conditioning. The bad thing about renting: we have air conditioning. I really can't tell if the thing is working or not. And to be honest with you, I don't want to call administration until I know I'm going to be home and during the day.

I know that air conditioning is considered an emergency. I just don't like to open the door at night unless it is extremely necessary. It's not that I am afraid of robbers or anything like that. I am afraid of bugs, big ones. And I don't have a man here to kill them, so I would rather not give them the chance to get in.

The other thing is that I have to make sure we are here because I don't want the dog to run out the door. So for now, I'm a little warm. I'm not sweating bullets. I am pretty sure that the apartment is not supposed to be on 82 degrees when I've had the thermostat on 71 most of the day. Maybe it is the Florida heat. Somehow, I doubt it.

Let me read your comments below.

Dogs Are Like Family

I remember when I moved here 11 months ago and I left the dog back in Puerto Rico. I could not stand it. I wanted my baby here with me. So, I did the only thing I could do. I called my husband and told him to get on a plane and bring me my dog.

Now, maybe I should have thought it through. One thing I did not count on, vet visits and pet care in general. The reason why I'm writing about it today is because it has been extremely hot in the apartment in the last few days, and it is beginning to affect my baby. I am now in the process of putting together a few bucks so I can rent a car and take him to the vet and have his haircut done. It is the only way I feel he will survive the summer... if we cut down his hair. He is shedding in clumps anyway.

I do love my dog. He keeps us company and he is a sweetheart. He walks half to one mile every day, does all his needs outside and sleeps through the night. What else can I ask of him. That is why we give him the best treats and treatments possible...and yes, sometimes I feel he gets better medical assistance than we do. What can I do? He is the baby of the family.

Make sure to leave your comments below.

How do You Know if You Like Your New Home

I find it fascinating that we get so used to one environment that even if we don't like it, we expect the next place to be more or less the same. When you are so used to a place, how do you know if you like your new home?

For us, it has been a struggle because we don't have a car yet. Somehow, having a car makes everything easier, unless you live in New York city. We live in a town that is considered the suburbs. The train is starting construction now. For now, we use the bus system. It is a little slow, only one per hour. It does take us far away. The only issue is most of the buses stop at 8 PM and if you want to make sure to make it home, you need to head back by 5:30 PM. It takes an average of 2 hours to get anywhere, so you have to be at the bus stop at 6 AM if you want to enjoy anything. That has been a challenge to figure out. The good side - it has been great for the environment.

We live in a nice place, a little boring because we have not met many people yet. That is something we hope to change in the next coming weeks. Like everything else in life, you have to put yourself out there. That is what we are working on. Hopefully that will make the town more "user friendly to us".

In the coming weeks, we will let you know how our experience changes. We are getting close to the one year anniversary. How the time flies.

Make sure to leave any suggestions or comments below.

Hormones and Tantrums

It is true that women that hang out together tend to get their cycles synchronized. This is what I call God's sense of humor. A is 18 years old and when we are both hormonal, we butt heads a lot.

Most of the time we get along great. We are both writers which helps. We both know better than to get in each others way. Still, there are certain times of the month when the simplest request becomes an all out battle of wits.

Before we moved to Florida, there were many outlets. We had a car, friends and other activities. Now, outings are scarce. We use the bus and we have limited financial resources. Although we have come up with ways to spend time out and take time away from each other, some times it is not possible to set it up. Some weeks, we are together all day long. If this coincides with a time when our hormones are raging, it makes for a longer day than usual.

Fortunately, now we notice when we start getting on each others nerves and we are able to diffuse the situation before it gets bad.

What are your options when you get on your loved ones nerves? How do you cope? Let us know by adding your comments below.

Learning to Learn

What does that mean? It means everything that happens to you is an opportunity to learn something. You should learn to learn everything you can about everything that happens in your life.

If you decide today you are going to the store, it sounds like a great opportunity. You might think that going to the store is a safe and normal activity. Not necessarily. You might take the opportunity to find out more about the store that you go to all the time. You could learn more about the things you buy and where they come from. You might learn something new about yourself.

Every experience in life can lead to learning if you want. We have been here for 11 months now and in that time, I did not know that the constant sound from the near woods is made by beetles. Apparently, these animals spend their summers here (this is my first summer in Central Florida) and they hide on the trees and make this very peculiar sound all day long. It seems that even while we sleep they make this sound. In the beginning, I could not sleep because I could hear them even with my windows closed. I learned something new about myself last night. I am so used to the sound by now that I think something is wrong if I don't hear it. I also decided to ask around and search the internet for more information on these interesting creatures.

This particular interest has no relation to anything in my life. It does give me a chance to look at Nature around me. When was the last time you noticed Nature? If you are like me, you've been so busy with life that you have not paid attention in quite some time. My request of you is that today, you take a look. You are surrounded by it. Learn from it and enjoy it. Not everything in life has to be about you, your job and your family. It could be about Nature and life. Enjoy.

The Birth of a New Company

When my husband said "you worry about creating a company, I'll worry about the bills", I became a person with a one track mind. I was a little silly, or maybe overly optimistic. I figured I had been writing on my blog for years, I would publish my first e-book, create a sign up sheet and thousands of people would become subscribers.

Reality was profound. Twelve people signed up, mostly family and friends. And then, I got real with myself. A business is not created in one day. You have to be resilient and consistent.

I changed all the plans for the summer, structured a marketing campaign and got to work. These were the steps I took:

1) Changed my plans for the summer: I was supposed to go to Miami for a few days for my high school reunion. Even under the best circumstances, this would require an investment of time and money that at this moment is better spent on the business. I decided to stay home, organize myself better and work harder at staying in the game.

2) Structure a marketing campaign: As far as money, my investments are $10 on a website and $20 on the email provider. Everything else has to be on the cheap, or free. My strategy is to create a list of forums and groups I belong to and post once a week on them. I also decided to go back and look for blogs and other websites where I can comment on issues for women over 40 and procrastination. This will provide me with more visibility and will also help me understand my target market better.

3) Get to work: I was expecting great results that were not realistic from just mentioning things in a couple of places. I have to consistently work the internet to get my brand out there. I am going to give them what they want so that they will come to me for what they need.

I will let you know how it goes. In the meantime, feel free to let me know of any tips and tricks you would use if you were me.

Frustration is annoying

Do you know how annoying it is to feel frustrated? Well, if you multiply that by a hundred you will know how a writer feels. You see, if you are a writer, frustration leads to writer's block. And that means that you might feel the need to share something....and you have no idea how to go about it.

My frustration manifests itself in a strange way, I stop making sense. I can't write, or talk to people because my mind goes 100 miles per hour. Maybe this would be a good time to tell you that I might have ADD and so my mind usually goes over the speed limit anyway. It gets worse when I am frustrated and unless you know me very well, you might feel intimidated or scared. You might even think I am crazy. It is just how my brain works.

And my brain is always working. When I get frustrated, it usually happens because I was doing something and thinking about ten other things. I will give you an example: On Thursday I took the day off. I went to see Sex and the City 2. I had a great time while I was in the movie...for the first 30 minutes. The rest of the time I was thinking about a personality quiz I took on Facebook, what I was going to eat for dinner, how where we going to get home, what was I going to write in my blog tomorrow, did I leave water for the dog, how much money do I have left in each account, did I finish the re-write on my e-book....need I go on. The idea of a day off is to give me energy and new ideas for the next working day. My brain goes so fast and in so many directions that I end up frustrated. When frustration comes, nothing gets done. That is why I think frustration is annoying.

How does frustration appear in your life? Share with us on the comments section below. Thanks for reading.

What is the Purpose of this Journey

The purpose of this journey is to experience something new. My mission is to have a life different from anyone else. Ironic when you consider that we all have our own journeys and even without trying, none of us do the same thing.

I guess it goes a little further than that. I was always the girl that people said was doing things differently, shooting from the hip, taking no prisoners....shooting first and asking questions later. My dad used to complain that I did not stay in any job long enough to learn anything. Yet that is what everyone else is doing now. Go figure.

In all my years, I have never been able to have a "normal" life. Every time I start living a "normal" life, I get totally frustrated and I bail. I like not knowing what is coming tomorrow. I like figuring things out, learning new things and making my own path.

I think Frank Sinatra had it right when he sang "My Way". I share it here with you so that you enjoy it just as much as I do.

Listening to the Same Song Again

Listening to the same song over and over again can drive you crazy.

As I write this I am listening to Gaga and Beyonce's Telephone. Love the song. I don't know why, after all this years, I am getting a little sick of my cell phone.

I remember when I was younger and I just "needed" a cell phone. I wanted to make sure I was always available. And then I heard Dr. Phil say something: "You teach people how to treat you". That stuck in my head for a while.

I don't want to be available all the time. I walk the dog every morning for a mile and I never take the cell phone with me when I do it. I go to the gym a few times a week and I rarely walk with the phone in my hand. And for the last 11 months I actually shut it off when I go to bed so that I don't get bad news in the middle of the night.

I have a home number that only four or five people know. I plan on keeping it that way. When I heard the song "Telephone" I could relate to the lyrics. Stop calling me, I'm busy.

Now I am working from home and people feel the need to "call" whenever they feel like it because they know I am home. Well guess what? My personal assistant has the phones and she knows how to say no. And what does that have to do with the title of this post? Nothing, except for the fact that I have been listening to this particular song over and over and felt the need to vent. Thanks for being my audience and leave your comments below.

Fear is relative

I spend many weeks going from happiness to fear to anything in between. I made this choice. I choose to stay in the US. I choose to live in Florida. I decided to start a business. I also choose to have a life full of ups and downs.

I guess I would be bored with anything else. I also love the ride. I don't need drugs or alcohol. I have life, it is far more amusing. And I love reality, not the one you see on television, real reality. What happens in your life every day is more interesting than anything written or edited on TV.

What do you think? Do you agree? Add your comments below.

The First Day

I remember the first day, August 2nd, 2009. Somewhere in this house I have some notes of the first few days. Maybe some day I will publish them. What I do remember is that the taxi charged me $60 for driving me from the airport to the motel. Two months later I found out it would have cost me $15 more to come all the way to my apartment, and I could have saved the $40 for the motel.

What did I learn? That I valued a good night sleep in a real bed more than the money. Except for a weekend I spent at my girlfriend's house, I have not slept in a real bed yet. It is not a budget priority. I choose to invest all my savings in something else.

10 Months Ago

Ten months ago we started a journey into a new city, a new state and a different country. We did not know what we would find. We did not even know if we would like it. All we knew is that it was a new beginning, and we were hoping, a great new life for us.

For the last 10 months we have tried to get used to the new country without having a car and without work. My daughter took her first stab at college and discovered that she needed more preparation and information to make that leap. I made peace with public transportation. Together, we decided to start a new company, learn more about this area and share our experiences with you.

This is not just about moving to a different city. This is a journey into the unknown. It is an example of taking a different path and seeing what lays ahead. Come with us and share your own experiences of change with us. We are waiting. We hope that you can learn as much as we do about changes, life, love and life.

Hope to see your comments below.

New Year, New Opportunities

It is a great day to start a new project.

2010 is the beginning of a new decade, it is a symbol for new opportunities and new adventures. What are you planning to do this year?

We will be posting a couple of times a week, giving you the opportunity to get to know us better. Hopefully, we are the perfect fit for your needs.

In the meantime, enjoy the long weekend. We will be back next week.