Embracing your weaknesses

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pisces

So this is probably the 4th post I’ve started to write tonight and I just can’t get myself to focus on something, I feel like my brain is just tossing and turning without the ability to choose one thing. I’ve also been over-thinking a lot of things, which in my life is nothing surprising.

You see, I am a Pisces. You may say what you want about astrology, I may not fully believe in it myself, but I am a Pisces in so many ways.

I can be indecisive at times, sometimes more times than what I’m proud of. I can take one little thing and over-think it to the max.

We live in a society that demands perfection, even when perfection itself is not natural. Whether it’s perfection in the form of physical appearance, intellectual or emotional strength, there is still an overarching demand to go above and beyond. Why? I don’t know. It’s like we’re in this constant competition of who is the best, and who can win? Whoever is perfect wins, because if you are perfect you must be the best there is, of course.

We live in a society where it is not socially acceptable to air and embrace your weaknesses. It even takes a little effort to write about it here. Nobody is perfect, you’ve heard it a bunch of times, but do you believe it? I sure see a lot of people sucking up their weaknesses and playing the part on a daily basis. I see as well, however, people getting exposed in ways that make you question if they are sharing their weaknesses or thriving on pity.

I want to be a strong person. I believe I am most of the time, especially when needed. I may not be a strong person at the gym and I may be lazy a lot of times, but I believe that I am strong when I need to be. I am just tired of people being afraid of exposing their human side. I want to explore what it means to be strong amidst your imperfections and shine between the cracks.

Yes, I may display a lot of the weaknesses that characterize a Pisces, but I can make the strengths shine too. My mind wanders a lot, but it goes to amazing places.

Image credit – http://society6.com/krize/signs-of-the-zodiac-pisces_print#1=45

Happy Friday

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Maybe it’s the good book I’m reading, maybe it’s the lovely fall weather or maybe is the interesting people that walk by, but coming to Washington Park after work today was the best decision I could have made.

There’s something about being in noncommercial public spaces that makes me happy. I can just sit here and chill without getting a cup of coffee or the pressure that I need to be quick because someone else needs my seat. You see, I have two hours to kill while I get to meet my friend for dinner and I decided to sit on a bench and read (well obviously I’m writing this now, but you know what I mean).

It’s pretty awesome to see this city come alive on a Friday evening. You can sense people are happy or maybe I’m just happy and can’t notice anything else or maybe sad people don’t come to this park.

I may hate this city at times, it’s fast pace insanity and all, but it’s pretty awesome and for now, this is where I want to be.

Happy Friday, y’all.

Mine is about to get even better with tapas and good company, cheers!

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Otto Strada Brunch

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It’s been a few weekends since I’ve tried a new brunch place. Ideally, I would love to try a new one every weekend, but that would leave no space for me to return to the ones I already love! Yes, I know, #firstworldproblems.

That’s why I was excited to find out that Hoboken restaurant Otto Strada was introducing a new brunch menu. A place I already visited and liked, together with a new brunch experience? Of course I was in.

I was delighted to see so many options on the menu and I was even more excited to be there with my boyfriend because that meant we could order a few things to try and eat it all together! You know I get very excited for food.

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I ordered the Frittata di Asparagi, an egg-cake made with potatoes, asparagus, onions and topped with basil pesto and parmesan.

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I forgot the name of what my boyfriend ordered and the brunch menu is not up yet, but you can see it’s quite a breakfast pizza!

I loooove breakfast pizzas and this one did not disappoint.

 

Five Easy Ways to Make the World a Less Sucky Place

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you rock

Sometimes the smallest things can bring the biggest smiles. Also, one of the options below made my day today.

  1. Write random notes for people – Sticky notes, postcards, your pick. The weirder, the better
  2. Open doors for people – Even if it means an extra 2 seconds of standing there awkwardly waiting until they arrive at the door
  3. Say thank you to everyone – Even if they don’t hear it, even if they don’t seem to even want to hear it and even if they might not deserve it
  4. Donate – From time to time, put down $10 or $20 for that friend who is selling shirts for a fundraiser or that other coworker who is doing a run for a special cause… you spend that at the bars anyways
  5. Offer food to people – You don’t have to get fancy with this one, it’s as simple as extending your bag of chips and saying “Want one?”

So there, my 2 cents.

 

Image credit – bit.ly/WUdsHR

Wordless Wednesday: The Journey Never Ends

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Never-ending itch to travel and discover. That’s what I have. I don’t understand how people can feel any other way.

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia – Photo by Cristina Nogueras (no filters/edits)

#TBT Glory Days?

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Some people say that your glory days should not be behind you, that you must live in glory every day. I leave it up to you to decide that, but in my life there’s definitely some glory that has left and will never come back. Like the tan I like to believe I had when I lived in Puerto Rico.

I miss performing and/or making a fool of myself in public. I don’t know how your schools were, but I went to some pretty cool schools in which it was actually expected for you to put up skits and parodies on a regular basis. Whether it was at Girl Scouts camp, ballroom dancing, school pep rallies, college dance showcases or talent shows, me and my friends would put up a show.

Why did I stop?

I want to believe that I still can go back to it if I really wanted to, but it’s not that easy. Time is not a renewable source and something about all the effort that it would take for me to go to a dance class and be part of a dance group again makes it feel like more of a job than a hobby. I used to happily go to talent show dance practices on the weekends, no complaints. Then again, I had practically no worries and dancing meant spending time with my friends.

I do miss dancing, but I guess I’m also feeling nostalgic for the simplicity of being able to do what you wanted to do without limitations or complications. Now every single decision has a consequence repercussion, your time is scarce, yet you still spend it lounging around playing silly games. I do still have the same 24 hours on each day, what has changed?

Oh yeah, I grew up.

Obviously, I had to make my mom dig out some embarrassing pictures of my short and questionable artistic career

(Gracias mami!)

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Although I don’t remember, I’m pretty sure the dance me and my friend are performing in the picture above was choreographed like 2 days before and was a result of a very productive dance night full of laugh attacks interruptions (or paveras).

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I’m actually not embarrassed of this picture, I’m actually pretty proud of it, not gonna lie.

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In the picture above, I was playing the queen. All I remember from this play is that my husband, the king, had issues with his molars.

Best Places to Have Lunch in SoHo

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This list should actually be called: “Best places to have a delicious and “ok” priced lunch around my old office in SoHo”. I’m no expert, but I know what I like and I know what my wallet doesn’t.  Below are my favorite places to have lunch in SoHo, this list has been in development since I started working in SoHo almost two years ago. Some places are cheaper than others, but one thing they all have in common is they can provide a delicious lunch in less than an hour. This list has been evolving since I started the post, since sadly some places closed.

La Esquina

My all-time favorite is the “Pepito” and fries with chipotle mayo. Note that the fries do not come with chipotle mayo, but I highly recommend you order it for the ultimate experience, you can thank me later. If you can’t really sit down they also have the option to order to-go on the outside, slightly different menu, still amazing.

la esquinaPhoto from La Esquina Facebook

Delicatessen + MacBar 

Every time I go to Delicatessen I fight the urge to order cheeseburger mac and cheese, because why not, right? Their special mac and cheese plates are to die for and honestly, totally worth it. If you are feeling like going against your heart’s desires, then I recommend the award winning pan roasted chicken thigh sandwich with cerignola olive pesto, sweet pepper aioli, burrata cheese & french fries.

macbarSome of the delicious mac and cheese plates offered on the menu! Photo from Delicatessen Facebook

SoHo Park

I’ve been here over 10 times and I always order the same thing, classic cheeseburger. It’s that good. The extra fun thing about SoHo Park is they have an amazing selection of dipping sauces for the fries, roasted pepper aioli is my dipping sauce selection. This place is also fun for outside seating and actually feeling like you’re in a park, so creative of them, right?

soho park nycPhoto by Cristina Nogueras

Salud

This place recently opened and although I have only been there once, I’m planning to return soon. I love their tagline, “a Latin-take on organic”. It’s really what Salud is all about. I had the quinoa veggie burger and I never expected it to be that amazing. The owner was very nice and even treated me and my friend to some homemade brownies that I believe were made with a chocolate he prepares himself. Salud also has a brunch menu, which obviously, I need to try.

saludnycPhoto from the Salud Instagram, the veggie burger I had at Salud looked so delicious, I totally forgot to take a photo!

Cafe Habana

I’m Puerto Rican, so I love everything our neighbors in Cuba have to offer in terms of food. Cuban food hits close to home and always makes my soul happy. This spot offers a variety of Cuban food, with some other Latin American touches as well, including tacos. If I could, I would always go for the skirt steak, but their Cuban sandwich is also delicious and rumored to be one of the best ones in the city. See for yourself!

habanaGrilled corn, so delicious. Photo from Cafe Habana’s Facebook

Emporio

If you don’t like pizza don’t bother coming here, or being my friend, for that matter. With a nice selection of brick oven pizzas, this place is a great place to go with a few coworkers and share some slices during your break. You can also eat the pizza all by yourself, no sharing required.

emporioMy choice of prosciutto and cheese, classic & great – Photo by Cristina Nogueras

Bread

This cute Italian restaurant is as charming during lunch as it is during dinner. I’ve been able to make my way through the menu and I must say, I can’t get enough of it. If you are having lunch there, the tomato soup is a must. Oh, and in case you were wondering, they do have bread and it is very delicious.

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Parm

If you go to Parm, you get the parm. The folks there are extremely good on making these chicken parm sandwiches, so ordering anything else seems like a crime. I have, however, ordered the garlic bread knots and they were very good… followed by a chicken parm sandwich, of course.

parmParm from parm – Photo from Parm’s website

Grey Dog

Looking for a quick, yet nice place to sit down and have lunch? I’ve only been here once, but I had a very delicious sandwich that left me feeling satisfied.

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 presetQuite frankly, I forget what this sandwich was all about, but the pesto was absolutely amazing. – Photo by Cristina Nogueras

Spring Natural

To be honest, this one is making the list because I wanted to reach to 10 and I figured I had to get in a place that was healthy overall, just to ease my guilt. It may be a little overpriced for certain simple items, but after all, it’s SoHo. Their salads are really good (yes, I said that) and the bread they start you with is really good as well.

spring street I’ve tried to kept my photos to what I have tasted, but this looks delicious, could not overlook it! Photo from Spring Natural Facebook

 

What are your favorite SoHo spots? Share them with me below!

Follow @peaceloveanddietcoke on Instagram for more.

¡Buen Provecho!

When did we grow up?

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That's me. Inside my mom's belly. When she was 25, one year younger than I am now and completely normal. (I love you mommy)

That’s me. Inside my mom’s belly. When she was 25, one year younger than I am now.          Totally normal, right? (Hi mom, I love you!)

Between the babies and the engagements… how did we get here?

In last’s week’s hunt for a nice #TBT picture that will make me happy, yet will not make any of my friends or family members die of embarrassment, I found myself going down an intense walk down memory lane.

What were we thinking in High School?

First of all, how I sat for basically 6 hours listening to new information and thinking is now beyond me. I can hardly go by 1 hour without checking my phone or reading a random news article (and by news, I mean Twitter).

I started thinking of all the awesome things I did during my school years in Puerto Rico and realized that there were a few memories that I had forgotten about.

Are we hitting that age?

I was thinking of this girl I was friends with during a summer in Girl Scouts camp, we got pretty close and now I can’t even remember her name. I actually can safely say I hadn’t thought about that summer camp in years.

We are now looking at life in years, not months or even weeks. Everything seemed to happen slower before, maybe because we had different mindsets or maybe because each year was more distinct and easier to tell apart from another, because obviously you are a totally different person going into 10th grade from 9th grade.

Now, we’re looking into friends we have not seen in years, and it’s ok because that’s apparently how life is. Everything is merging now, time is blurry and quite tricky. I’ve been working in Manhattan for two years now and although some may say two years is nothing, I struggle some times to pin point when certain things happened.

I guess it’s downhill from now, or uphill, up to you.

How did people keep track of life before Facebook?

Guess no Facebook meant more interesting High School reunions, where no one had to pretend to be impressed by your life situation because they had already stalked you extensively the week before.

So, are we… grown-ups?

I sure don’t feel like one sometimes (and by sometimes, I basically mean I never do). I guess we are always growing up, whether you think of it as becoming more mature or in all reality, aging.

Seriously though, am I an adult?

|Bucket List: Greece| Just give me wine and olives

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I hate that when I finally have the time to sit down and write, inspiration just floats away like a stupid distracted butterfly. I’m on an airplane, blessed with WiFi but have somehow been drained of any writing ability. I have so many stories to tell about my recent travels and adventures, but of course, when I actually have time to make them come to life, I just stare at a blank document.

So, instead, I decided to play a little make believe and start getting inspired for my next big adventure… whichever it may be! By big adventure I am referring to a trip that is at least 1 week in duration to an uncharted destination, little adventures happen all the time and for that I am blessed.

Before I decided to visit Croatia this past month, Greece was on the top of my list. I’ve always wanted to visit this beautiful country and eat as much feta cheese and olives as possible. I want to experience every single Greek cliché.

After virtually drooling over amazing Greek destinations, below are some of my favorite. None of these pictures are taken by me and all of them have been credited. Again, I have never been to Greece to this is all wishful thinking!

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Blue Caves, Zakynthos, Greece

I’m a sucker for the ocean, at the end of the day that is where my heart belongs. So it is no surprise that I am blown away by these Greek waters. For more information on how to visit click here – Photo credit

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Santorini, Greece

I would be happy just watching sunsets in Santorini. Sunsets with wine and all sorts of delicious food, together with great company, of course. Image credits

 

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Melissani Cave

In Greek mythology this site is known as the Cave of the Nymphs – For more information click here – Photo credit


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Mykonos, Greece

Yes, I would like that to be me, please. Yes, that may not be the best quality image in town, it might be highly edited for all I know, but it holds the essence of my happy place and it even includes wine! Image credit

My next vacation has to be a perfect balance between adventure and relaxation. Granted, Croatia was amazing, but we were a little too ambitious for only 7 days in the country. We spent a lot of time in buses and planes and although we conquered a lot, a vacation still needs to be a vacation, right?

Have you been to Greece? What was your favorite place or discovery?

Be sure to follow my Instagram @peaceloveanddietcoke