All you need is love!!!

Less than 24hrs for the clocks on the right to be the same time!

"Breathed upon"

After a mellow dinner with my parents I ended up with a bruised knee by hitting myself with the corner of a chair. I woke up literally at 3:47am this morning.. bright awake... I couldn't rest my knee on the bed. So I started my research earlier than often... I found a couple of awesome ideas for projects.. but at one point I started to think: what is the difference between being inspired by someone and copying someone else's idea?.... led to more research and I found that inspiration is: " a unconscious burst of creativity in an artistic, musical or other intellectual endeavor" it literally means "breathed upon". Super excited about one of the projects because it follows Bruce Mao's statement

1. Process is more important than outcome - we will start seeing result of this project probably in a couple of months which leads me to the second one
2. Begin anywhere.. follow my new project on Picassa

http://picasaweb.google.com/castrokika/ACommonYear#slideshow

6._________ go blank.

I woke up with a blank mind..tried a couple of things that usually work: Style.com, iTunes, Coffee but nothing. By doing some research and try to find some inspiration VOILA.. Bruce Mau and his "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth".. pump my day up

The Bill of Rights and the 1o Commandments are legal and moral rights that people are entitled to follow as rights or as believes. An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth are beliefs, strategies and motivations that Bruce Mao created as a philosophy for his company.

It was the perfect motivation I needed today to switch my mind from blank to creative stage. Some of the statements that I choose for today are:

1. Allow events to change you
2. Process is more important than outcome
3. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child.)
4. Good deep
5. Begin anywhere
6._________ go blank
7. Make new words
8. Listen carefully
9. Coffee breaks, car rides, green rooms
10. Laugh
11. Remember

Cristian always tells me it is not important, grand and awesome until it is shared with loved ones so here from me to you.. .An incomplete manifesto for growth
http://www.brucemaudesign.com/incomplete_manifesto.html

Anyone else but you!

I asked Cristian the advantages and disadvantages of soccer.. he responded

Advantages:

*global sport

*good for boys and girls

*young and old

*easy to play

*most popular

*healthy

Disadvantages:
*misconception in USA---some say it is not cool, not as good as baseball, football, basketball

*"soccer players"have a bad reputation in some places....

*boring for many sports fans

*hard to implement commercials on Televised games

Excuse me ... you forgot to mention... The most common injuries associated with soccer are contusions (bumps and bruises)...this little disadvantage..mmmmm hmmm.

At least he stopped playing Rugby
1987 vs. 2009

Picture of the day

How often do you wear your game face??

Not all heroes wear capes!

I absolutely love the apple store.. I mean come on... my FAVORITE! Have you heard of the apple lifestyle? I googled and I found this..

"I think we're supposed to drive VWs, buy furniture from Ikea, wear jeans and black polo necks and be creative".

"An Apple lifestyle is all about how your Mac enhances your life. The rest of those questions are pointless."

"No formula. Get a life!"

Yesterday I had my computer on my lap, I turned it off because it seemed that the computer was overheating. I left it alone for a while and when I came back.. excuse me, but the battery blew up.. it was twice it size.. yes.. TWICE..
The computer could not be place on the table because it was completely uneven. I called the apple store and told them I had a 911 situation..I rushed to the store and they were able to fix it by replacing the battery.

Ahhhhhh soo nice to feel that your computer survived and your wallet too. I told the guy at the apple store "thank you, you are my hero" noticing that his shirt said "not all heroes were capes"
So for all apple users out there that read my blog be careful with your battery. Apparently your computer can't breath when you have it on your skin, on pillows or on beds so PLEASE just place them on flat surfaces.

Apple lifestyle??? BS.. it is just a freaking computer but I don't think all of you Dell, HP and other brand computers users can just walk and ask a hero in your same zip code to fix your computer in less than 20 minutes and go on with your life.

Social Responsibility

Reflecting on Social Responsibility, I must say, is an American concept. Give me a minute and I will explain..

These are some usual reactions we get when Cristian and I talk about being socially responsible.

1. have never heard the concept other than from American corporations

2. Community service.. what?? community what?

3. I cannot fix anything.. only Bill Gates is able to fix things because he has money

4. you think you can make a difference?

I keep thinking that being green and being socially responsible are new terms for capitalism. Probably the terms were branded by fortune 500 companies that wanted to strengthen their business and look more attractive to stakeholders and reach a goal: profit.

I joined a sewing club, where we make pillow cases, quilts and pijamas for less fortunate kids. We are a group of 4 woman; all have names that start with a K. and Eric, that is the group organizer. We meet on Saturdays and sew for two hours and eat cookies. I joined this group because I had free time and I can sew.. so I am giving back to people.. you would think.

After the meeting today I feel selfish because I took more that what I gave

1. I learned how to make pillow cases.. I will not never, ever, ever buy pillow cases again...they are soo easy to make

2. Started a quilt
3. Gave little kids super cute pillow cases that they loved

At the end it was a very productive and fun day

Update on paintings

Just an update on how the paintings are coming along- The weather in AZ is perfect to be painting. Good weather and good music puts you in the perfect mood to paint.

Pizza!

When cooking with dough Lina always says is super easy, and for her truly it is. She is able to handle the pastry, pizza and pasta dough and finish withing minutes. For my dad and I is the opposite. Everytime I mean everytime we are trying to use dough to cook we finished with a ball of dough that is impossible to handle. No difference last night with the pizza dough. On the menu:

Pizza with peperoni, mozzarella, asiago, fontina cheese, sparkle chicken basil sausage (taken out of the case and grilled) and basil.




cheers, nazdarovia and prost at the end with Passito, wine from Italy!

Back in America!

I am super happy to be home. The weather is absolutely beautiful and I love being with my family.

Plans for the upcoming weeks: Paint, Sew and cook. Last night we did some amazing empanadas.. yummy.



I am working on a dress that I am going to wear for an upcoming wedding. My mom wore this dress when she was 16- Mom's picture
The dress is in pretty good shape but the zipper is broken and it is tight so I am replacing the zipper and loosening the back.

I am also painting again. I want to make a painting for the new nursery we have for Daniel. This is the crib

I have never painted with pastels so I am having a hard translating my inspiration into the canvas. I started fixing an old painting that I left behind a couple of years ago to get familiar again with techniques and oil treatment.

My work station is in the garden
Last project a Christmas stocking.
This is how the end product will look

I also joined a volunteering group that sews for needy children. We are in early stages but we sew pillows, fabric bags and make quilts.

As I am writing in the blog we are cooking Pot roast- The same recipe that I tried to cook Christmas day but failed.. so we are trying again..I will post pictures.

Back in Amsterdam

We are back from our trip I will post some pictures later this week. Thank you to all the ones that have sent us Christmas cards.. It makes our room look so cute!
My favorite things when returning home
1. Sleeping in my bed
2. Tasty Food

3. being potato couches
We were brave enough to leave the house and discovered frozen canals


with all our love Happy New Year hope to see you all soon

Fully satisfied

One of the things that I miss the most about San Francisco is Thai food. I have tried to cook Thai food before but have not been fully satisfied until TODAY! Yes, ladies and gentleman let me introduce you to my favorite dish Lemongrass coconut curry chicken with jasmine rice. I used 3 teaspoons of green curry paste that gave the dish a good kick, also I added a whole tablespoon of ginger, which honestly I was afraid that it would ended up very strong but it was perfect.




Look at that delicious yellow sauce that made the rice so moist. Yummy!




To finish up my lunch I started looking at other recipes and I came across the ultimate peanut butter sandwich. I saw the video to surprise Cristian with a nice peanut butter and jelly. The sandwich looked so good I had to tried it. So I did.. and as a foreign I have to say yummy again..doesn't it look good?

Lunch was pretty good today!

My first job in Amsterdam

I had the idea of doing community service once a week. In the community service office, I was offered this opportunity to help with kids and the environment. Today I had my first visit, I arrived to a farm in the middle of the city. The farm is a petting zoo where they have guinea pigs, roosters, chickens, turkeys, pigs, bunnies, goats and ponies. My job is to help kids get on top of the pony and lead the pony around the circle of mud. Because kids don't ride ponies in the snow I will start my community service in January.. Here are some pictures of the petting zoo..

One of the ponies
This is a huge pig...


and a big rooster.. look at his claws

"When good Americans die they go to Paris.”

Quote by Oscar Wilde.

After spending a week an a half with grandma in Amsterdam while Cristian was in Chile..Grandma was begging me to take her to Paris. For some reason I was sure I didn't want to go.. I just felt it was not the right time for Paris.. Yes, call me crazy but I feel there is right moment for every city and right now in my life, Paris was not on the list. Grandma begged and begged for me to take her. So finally I said yes. When I was looking for tickets, hotels, etc.. I realized Cristian took my passport to Chile. Who does that?? I felt that time was agreeing with me.. It is not time for Paris. My grandma was very upset and Cristian ended up mailing my passport for us to go.

I was going to Paris... So highlights of the trip

1. Food was absolutely awesome.. I used this book "Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris" one of Lina's frequent blogs to look for unique food.

2. Nike Paris. the store was AWESOME it has one of the four Nike ID labs in the world.. Most of the collection at the store was sportswear and just a few athletic wear for futbol and other sports. The ROSA soccer shoes were on display and they were powerful. Their walls were full of Nike ID designs from other people which was so inspiring.. it was a museum of clothes.



3. Patrick Demarchelier's photography exposition, Fashion photographer.. here are some of the famous pictures.





4. and the top attractions of Paris for every tourist..
















At the end it was a wonderful trip with grandma even though we got robbed, fell on the metro, got lost, got into fights.. but at the end "in Paris you learn Wit", - Virgil Thomson