TAMALES!!

These are not the normal/ordinary mexican tamales that most americans know. These are speacial Tamales!! They are supposed to be different from country to country, and the best ones are the homemade. These are a tradition in our country for the holiday season. And a very large and awesome tradition in my family. My grandfather plans for all the whole family to be there on a certain day, and we all help out with the makings of the tamales.

My Uncle and FI mixing the tamales base

Dough was to be mix by hand to get the right consistency

My cousins cleaning and cutting the plantain leaves.

And this year it was not the exception. I had a blast, and enjoyed watching FI help around and being part of this large family tradition. At the beginning he didn't understand why so many of us had to be there, and why so early in the morning. Well, he later learned and understood why, and was happy to be part of the process of making tamales. And much more, to taste the final "product".

Preparation Table for the tamales!!

Everyone helping out!

I love my grandpa!! Here he was trying the first Tamal!!

Rushing!! I don't think so...

So we've been told to do 3 things:

• Plan a Budget
• Set a Date
• And make an estimated guest list.

Well, for us to do those three things, except for the guests list, which we are calculating is going to be around 100 people, we need to find the right venue, and then we can set a budget and date for the wedding. Ohhh!! and also the time, cause we still don't know if to do it in the morning, or in late afternoon.

So I was on a mission to find the right venue for our wedding. I bought "T.H.E Wedding Magazine" for Costa Rica, which has all the info for venues, churches, decorations, flower places, photographers, etc. I called every venue and hotel; was asked a bunch of different questions, which for all I answer, "I don't know mam' depending on the price, the cheaper it is, the sooner we'll be getting married". And so, I was emailed all these info regarding menus, budget, music, food, dates, etc.

After sitting at home on tuesday with FI, and looking at numbers, and prices, and the different options we were given, we've decided that it is time to look for a plan B.

Today's my Birthday!!

For my B-day present, FI (I love calling him Fiance :D) gave me a weekend at one of the most beautiful beaches here at CR. We drove for 4 hours on friday night, and got to this beautiful place!!

Here are some gorgeous pics of our trip, and of course of my brand new engagement ring!!

The view!! Sitting under those palm trees was heaven, it was soooo hot!!

My Ring!!

Us talking a walk by the beach

I love this pic, we were having so much fun that day!!

Our first trip after our engagement!!

White sand, clear water Playa Carrillo, Guanacaste!

And of course, you can't never go to the beach and not have a snowcone!!

Delicious!!

I’m engaged!! I’m going to be getting married!!

I still remember the first date I had with Ale. It was a long time ago, the day before my b-day. He took me to this really cool restaurant, which I remember we were both sick of our stomachs so we barely ate, we just talked and talked for hours. Later we went to the movies, and I just didn’t want the night to end. A few years later and we have been through sooooo much. We’ve had such a year, that never in my mind did I think it was going to end in such an unexpected way.
I’m so excited and thrilled to say that in a year or less I’ll be marrying my best friend. This is going to be such an interesting year; I’ll get to plan the wedding of my dreams and enjoy each and every blessing that this new adventure will bring to both of us.

Count Down ‘til Christmas/Christmas Break!!

30 days and counting ‘til Christmas….. Not only will I have some time off work for Christmas and new years, but I will also be traveling out of the country for a nice, relaxing time during those 10 days of my Christmas break!!!

I'll be very honest, this was not the christmas I was expecting nor dreaming of. It will be a rollercoaster, from now until probably next year. I will have my good days, and my “sad, just wanna cry” days. I’m glad we are taking some time off, and going away, especially on those days. I know that between shopping and going to Disneyworld and other theme parks it will help for sure to keep my mind away from falling into depression. On the other hand, I’m really looking forward to next year and what 2010 has in store for both of us.

Cold Water!!!

90% of the houses in Costa Rica do not have a water heater. Most houses, have a “thermos” in their showers, and will only heat the water on their shower. Since our house is only like a year old, we did want a water heater so we would be able to have hot or cold water on most of our piping system. Well, our contractor recommended a water heater tank. It was a timer, and has a capacity for 30 liters of water. It was supposed to be the best choice compare to a tankless water heater, because if the power for some reason went off, we would still have hot for 24 more hours.

Well, it was sooooo not the best choice!!! Not only is it a huge tank and it takes up too much space in the laundry room, but the tank only works fine for 4 months, and then it dies. Every four months I need to call the manufacture and book an appointment, so they can come and repair it. It takes them forever to book an appointment, and sometimes I’ve had to wait more than a week for them to come over. And when the repair guy comes in, which he can only come during weekdays during working hours, which means that either Ale or I have to ask for permission at work, they end up charging us more than $100, because their guarantee only covers visits. Seriously!!! We got this tank last December, and it stopped working for the first time on March 2009. The repair guy came in and said it was the timer. Well, it stopped working again on July. And now, last Friday I woke up to a cold shower, ‘cause our tank stopped working AGAIN!! I’m so tired of having to deal with this every four months. So instead of calling in, waiting for the repairman to come over and charge us a fortune (which it is, at least here in CR) we’ve decided to buy a tankless water heater.

It is much smaller, and though it will not heat water if there is no power; I rather not have a hot shower once in a while, than have to wait over a week every four months and be charged a ridiculous amount of money for something that I know it will have to fix in four more months.

Miami it is!!!

Well, after a phone call from my dad, we finally agreed, on taking a trip as we had originally planned it. We’ll be heading to Miami on December 24, and will be coming back home on January 3rd.
We’ll be also driving to Orlando. It’s been a while since my sister and I’ve been to some of the theme parks, and it will be Ale’s first time ever. We’ll probably go to two theme parks, and then drive back to Miami for every girls dream: shop, shop, and more shopping. We’ll also visit and drive around Miami downtown and do some other things while in Miami, because both dad and Ale will probably want to do something other than be at the malls all day long….

Decisions! Decisions?

Ale and I have been discussing whether we should go on this trip with my entire family. My dad seems not to understand the reasons why I don’t think it would be a good idea for the 5 of us to go on this trip, while apparently sister also thinks the same way as I do. Last night he called one more time to confirm by decision about not joining in if my mom was coming along. He just doesn’t get it!

So we came up with a plan B, C, and D.
Plan B is to go to Michigan, and visit Ale’s brother. We surf around and found some air tickets pretty cheap. We do have to drive for a couple of hours, but we’ll get to spend like 10 days with them.
Plan C is to go to the Caribbean. We can get a package where everything: tickets, hotel, transportation, and meals are included. With this option we can get away and at the same time go to a different place and enjoy ourselves.
Plan D is to stay in, but go to one of our beaches. We are bless to have both the Atlantic or pacific coast with gorgeous beaches. We can travel within any of our coast, and still have a great time.

One thing is for sure, we’ll be deciding by the end of this week where we’ll be going for our Christmas break. Ale said that he wanted to wait ‘til the end of this week because apparently we’ll be spending a lot of money on something, and so we need to organize ourselves well, so we have enough for everything else.

Trip?

For the last 15 years or so my sister and I have always spend the holidays with my mom and her family. This year my dad wanted to spend the holidays with us and invited us for a trip. We were planning to fly in Miami on December 24th and come back home on January the 3rd. My sister will be off school, and both Ale and I asked for sometime off from work. Then my dad had the brilliant idea of inviting my mom along with us…

(If I recalled the last time I travel with her for 5 days, which was last year, on the 2nd day I called Ale crying cause I could not bare to be around her any longer. For everything I did the way I dressed, or whatever I said she had a comment, argument, or disapproval.)

I decided to call my dad and ask him to uninvited her from the trip, he went on saying “your mom is a completely new person, and she has changed so much…..Laura you should give her a chance…” And even though I tried to explained myself his final comment was that if I didn’t want her on the trip, I needed to be the one who call her and uninvited her.

And so I did!!! I practice before hand exactly what I was going to say to my mom… I didn’t want her to pull her “victim card” again on me. I practice all the way back home on the car. I even practiced in the kitchen will preparing dinner… I really thought I had prepared myself for this conversation. But I was so naive….not only did she used her victim card again, but she expressed her deepest feeling towards me. Among some of her most memorable comments are: “I’m an ungrateful daughter, I’m a liar, she’s ashamed of me and my life/decisions, and of course…. I’m a sinner”. I’m guessing we will not be traveling together anytime soon, huh?

A "happy" family

I’m bless to have my dad, mom and sister alive. I mean, there are some many people out there who don’t have their parents or siblings with them now. But through the years I’ve learned that my family (dad, mom, and sister) unfortunately are not the ones I can go for help, an advice, comfort, or even have a good time. My dad was never around when my parents were married, and even though he has been a very responsible dad, and has always provided everything we need, he is not always around when we need him to be.

My little sister….well, she has a mind of her own. She has always been in her own world, with her friends, and her own plans. So we can go weeks without talking or seeing each other and she doesn’t even notice it. There is a 5 year gap between the two of us, so I’ve been use to doing thing without sharing most of them with her. But as time passed by, I always thought that we would be the closest of sisters, and have each others back.

My mom on the other hand, she raised us in her own way. Could have been different, but she thought it was the best way. And for many years we have not gotten along. We think very differently, and act totally different too. For years she tried to manipulate my decisions, my friends, and activities. She wanted me to do things I never liked or enjoyed, and she was always worried about they way we presented ourselves in front of others. She never approved any of the guys I had a crush on, and was always trying to convince me to date the ones she liked. When I came back from college she tried my like I was 15 again, and it was not up for discussion.

I decided to move by myself, and our problems got worst. Everything to her is either black or white. She became more judgmental with everything I did, and do. And for everything I do “wrong”, according to her standards, she has a comment or lecture about it. And now a day I have barely a relationship with her because of all this. A few months ago after attending a party at my dad’s, my mom got furious, and after spending a few minutes with her on the phone and calling me all sort of things, I decided that that would be it. For the last few months a have avoided visiting or calling her. But still, when we end up talking, we get into some kind of argument which always ends up badly.

I really wish that things were different between all of us. I wish I had a better relationship with my sister. That we could hang out and for her to be my “accomplice” watching each others back and doing things sisters would normally do. I wish my dad was more involved in my life. And then I wish my mom would just accept without judging my decisions and my personal life.

Sushi afternoon!!

Yesterday Ale and I host a small get together in our house. Two of his closest friends from high school and their girlfriends came over to our house for "lunch". I've only met them for a couple of times before yesterday, but they are a great group to hang out with.


We decided to make something fun and creative for lunch, so we did sushi!! The three of us girls had a blast making sushi rolls. We learned different techniques and tried different type of rolls. By the time we were eating lunch, which was around 4pm, it seemed like we all knew each other for ages...we were laughing, telling stories, and just making fun of each other.

New day, new job!

Just wanted to update on my new job, which I started on monday. Things have been kinda stressful cause I still don't have a laptop, phoneline, badge, parking space, supplies, etc. (My boss forgot to request them). But hopefully everything will be on track soon.

Our puppies are getting bigger...

A month and two weeks ago our dog Lazy had 4 puppies. I haven't post much about them cause I've been so busy trying to deal with work, and trying to find a new one. But since I'm home this week, I've been speding lots of time with all of them and taking lots of pics too.

New Phone!!

For three years now, I´ve used the same cellphone. I loved it when I got it, and I didn't see the need to changed it. I have to say that I hate new technology, because it takes me so long to find shortcuts, and the right way to use it. This is why I probably hadn't changed my cell, because I was very confortable using this. Anyways for months, and months Ale has been talking me into how I need to get a new cellphone. Not only are there new ones, he said lol, but mine doesn't even have numbers on it anymore.

So this weekend I got a little gift from him.....He got me a new cellphone. I got the MotoROKR U9!!!! Since Ale knows about how complicated I get with technology he got me this gorgeous tiny cell, and for the last 2 days that I got it, I been rocking it!!! I still need to get some stuff the way I want it, but so far.....I'm getting the hang of it pretty well...

A few days....

Its been quite a few days for us..... Since I got the job, I put my resignation on monday afternoon. As I was expecting, my boss said I was not an essencial "piece" of the department, that they all could do without me, and she seem no reason for me to stay any longer with the company. When I informed her of things only I did, she felt the need to ask me to come in on wednesday for a few hours to get someone else trained on this. I was relieve to know that I no longer had to work with that horrible woman. On monday afternoon, two of the other managers where really disappointed to know that I would be leaving, and most certainly given the fact that I was doing so, because of my boss.
Tuesday.... 15 de Setiembre.....or September 15th.....Independance day!!! I drove to my grandparents house, very early, just so I could watch the parades and bands marching through their home town. I love going to their home town, cause this is the place where I grew -up....and so I get to see many familiar faces and it brings down many memories too....
Wednesday morning I headed for my "last day" at work. I was quickly informed, by my boss, to do a quick training...she didn´t want me sticking around too much, I think she didn´t want me telling people the real reason why I was leaving.....I guess she´ll use my pregnancy loss as my reason for leaving.
On thursday I ran some errands. My license plates where kinda broken, and I needed to get new ones. I also needed to get a new agenda (not the best of times to get a 2009 agenda), and the employment costarrican code (for my new job). I also needed to find my school documentation, and other legal papers I was asked to bring to the new company for my file...
On Friday Ale had the day off. Since he worked on tuesday (holiday) he got friday off. I had an appointment at 9am at the new company, I was to sign the new contract, and also get all my paperwork to them. I´m happy to inform that I ´ll be starting my new job on September 28th, and will have next week to complete my list of errands, and hopefully rest some before going back to work. Also, as every 19ish we went to get our groceries and came back home to rest. I was also surprise to receive a phone call from the 2 other managers, wondering if I could receive a phone call from the top managers. This was because when they were informed about my resignation, and the real reason I was leaving, they were completely disappointed to know that a manager has not been professional and has been abusing her authority to the point where someone (me) had to quit because of the abuse and lack of common sense. I guess I will see what happens next week when I get their call.....

I GOT THE JOB!!!

YES!!!! I GOT THE JOB!!!! Friday afternoon's interview was not really and interview. Well I did got asked a couple of questions by another Indian, but after a few minutes with him, the HR manager came in and said that they wanted to offer me the position. I was in complete shock!!! Its a much better job, much better salary and benefits. I just couldn't believe it!!! I'm so happy!!! I got out of there with an offer in hand, and today I'm going to be turning in my resignation. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!!! And I can finally! Finally move on!!!

LOL I got a 3rd Interview!!!

Yesterday was not my day. Maybe this whole week, has not been my week. After letting me know that my department is going out for lunch to a fancy restaurant today and I'm not invited, plus from noon til 2pm I'll have to cover for the assistant, which means that I'll have lunch after 2pm (which I'll be starving by then.....). I wrote my boss a very polite email, letting her know that I also have lunch plans for today. That I can gladly cover for the assistant from noon to 1pm, but after that I have a personal engagement. It was no surprise to me that after reading my email she would march to my office and demand to get an honest and valid answer to "why I was not going to help out during the 2 hours they'll be gone". Though I explained to her my reasons for having to leave before they would arrive, still I knew she was not convince, thinking I was being too selfish. And I was right!! For the next 6 hours she question my engagement, my normal lunch time, arguing that I always take it around 1.30pm, and finally telling me she did not believe me at all about my lunch plans and that I was acting like a brat..... Knowing her, I'm actully surprise that it took her a whole day of work to finally tell me what her selfish tiny brain was really thinking all along. Of course is hard for her to understand that I have lunch plans with someone else, since she has no friends but her husband. Of course is hard for her to see that I'll be sacrificing my lunch and probably be starving by the time they get here, cause she always takes her at noon no matter what. Of course I'm not surprise, cause she just thinks about herself, and becomes totally clueless about everyone else's life....
As I think things can't get any better, as I'm leaving the parking lot, I get a call from the company I already went to 2 interviews. I thought it was to tell me that I didn't pass the last interview and they wanted to let me know. But instead it was to ask me if I could go to a 3rd and final interview. I was like WHAT!!!??? Seriously!!!??? Of Course!!! LOL I'm going today at 5.30pm, this time a little more prepare cause once again I'll be interview by an Indian, but feeling like there might be a light at the end of this tunnel.

2nd Interview

So I had the 2nd and final interview for the HR Vendor Manager's position yesterday. I have to say that I went in really confident that I would do really good on this one too. I've been working and doing this kind of job for over 4 years, I have lots of experience. I also knew I was going to be interview by an indian manager because of the reference name I got when they called to schedule the appointment. But I was definitely not ready for this interview. He spoke so fast, and though he had great communication skills, his accent was so thick that on several occations I had some problems understanding some words or phrases. For years Ale worked with technical engineers from Indian and he would come home "complaining" about the fact that it was too hard for him to understand them. Please keep in mind, before you judge us or call us racist, that we are both latinos and our first language is spanish. We are bless to have a really good english accent, and some knowledge in french. We live in a spanish speaking country but we both work for an american company. So 5 days a week, 9 hours per day both of us only speaks english. But for people like us, that english is a second language, speaking to someone who also speaks english as a second language and has a thick accent, sometimes, it becomes really hard to understand.
And it was either my nerves or my lack of "understanding well" that got me sweating for over an hour while I was talking to him. By the end of the interview I felt like a failure! I don't know why, but part of my feels like I came out of it defeated and someone else will get that position. And then all I could think of last night while trying to sleep was all the clever answers that I could have given him. I'm praying to God that this will be it. I really need a fresh start. I'm trying not to beat down myself or at least not to put all my hope on this opportunity. But I'm crossing my fingers that this will be my break.

Weekend Plans

We have two major "events" going on this weekend.

1. On saturday morning we have the second vet. appointment for our 4 puppies. They will be a month old on Sunday. They need to get their regular shots and other stuff. Why is this an event? Since we decided to own a home, we had to move 45 min away from the city, and of course getting to our vet means a 45min drive each way. Why don't we get a new vet close home? Cause when we first got Lazy we took her to a vet from the Ale's town. Well, he was not a nice vet. He didn't pay to much attention to our questions or our puppy. Ale was not too happy with this and decided to look for a new one. And so we did... We found one we love!! And for the last almost 2 years he has been our only vet. He knows Lazy's history and he knows us.

2. Our second event is on saturday night. As good Costa Ricans we love SOCCER, or "futbol" as we call it here.


We are passionate about this sport. Tomorrow's game in particular is one that has a special meaning for every "tico", since we are playing against Mexico. For years and years there has been some rivalry between us and Mexicans. And so, Ale and I are hosting a "Futbol Party". We've invited our friends to watch the game with us, and we'll have snacks and "refreshments" too.

Interview process

So I had my other interview yesterday at 5pm. It was for the position of HR Vendor Manager. I have to say that I like this position more than the Recruiter Supervisor. They said that they will call me back no later than by the end of next week and if I "qualify" for this position there is still one more interview I have to do, before they make the final decision. Hopefully I will hear something back from them, since I still have no clue about my outcome on the Recruiter Supervisor interview.

Again

So my interview got cancelled again!!! I had the interview at 1pm this afternoon, and at 12:45pm, just as I was about to leave, I get a call from them saying they had to cancel and reschedule for this wednesday at 5pm. There is this saying in spanish (that goes something like this) "Those who wait, receive better things".... something like that.... I hope this is all worth it, cause I had it here.....

I'm a professional person. No matter what is going on in my personal life none of it interferes with my job. I leave all my personal issues at home. Plus, no one needs to know what is going in my personal life, specially when things are that good. Well my boss has a different opinion about this. I guess she tends to think of us as an "extended family", so, whenever she has a bad day at home, we are usually the ones that pay for it. She is moody, rude, and judgemental with everyone who gets on her way.... No excuse for her behavior, but in reality really bad luck for us.... (not fair I know...)

Don't know....but I'm guessing....

So I'm thinking I didn't get the Recruiter Supervisor position. They said that they would call me no later than early next week, so they still have time to call. But this morning I got a call again from the same company wondering if I still wanted to interview for another position. The same position they called on tuesday, but later that day, got cancelled. So I'm thinking that because they didn't pick me for the recruiter position, though I still don't know for sure, I'm now available for the HR Vendor Manager spot. I have an interview again with them on monday afternoon, and hopefully will know something about the first application later next week.

I got another interview

So I got another call from the same company, but for a different position. Yesterday I went in for an HR Recruiter Supervisor position, today they called me, and said that there was another positon available at the HR department, HR Vendor Manager, and they wanted to meet with me for an interview. I'm so excited....the interview will be tomorrow, once again during my lunch break. I'm a little nervous too, cause I don't know if there will be a problem that I'm participating on 2 recruitment processes with the same company. I don't know about their policies, but I guess they have a database with that kind of information. I just hope that this doesn't cause some kind of misunderstanding about my reasons for applying to both jobs.

Edit: I knew it!! there was a problem, hopefully nothing bad. They just called, wanted to cancel my interview for tomorrow afternoon. They couldn't say why, just that for the moment they would not continue with this recruitment process. I hope this doesn't mean that I'm also not getting the HR recruiter supervisor Position. That would suck!!

PhotoShoot

My lil sister is in her 2nd year in college. She is going for a graphic design degree and is recently taking some courses in photography. For her final project she is supposed to create a catalog (kinda... she only needs to get good poses, backgrounds, and show her photographer skills) and select one product (rings, scarves, purses, etc..). So she asked my cousins and I to help her on this, and I thought I´ll share a few pics she took yesterday on here...

You will see us wearing the same clothes over, and over... Oh...and my cousin´s husband also helped on some pics...

40 things under 40

1. Get Married.
2. Have a star be named after me
3. Play in a band
4. Go to Europe
5. Watch a meteor shower
6. Live in a foreign country for sometime
7. Bungee jump
8. Build a snowman
9. Learn how to change a flat tire
10. Learn how to knit
11. Grow my own vegetables
12. Have my picture in the newspaper
13. Learn about pluming and carpeting
14. Meet someone famous
15. Build a snow fort
16. Go skinny dipping
17. See a total eclipse
18. Watch a sunrise or sunset
19. Go on a cruise
20. Learn a new language
21. Go rock climbing
22. Sing on a karaoke
23. Have my portrait painted
24. Go scuba diving or snorkeling
25. Kiss in the rain
26. Have a baby
27. Go to a drive-in theater
28. Scrapbooking
29. Stay home for a day to watch movies and eat take outs.
30. Start a business
31. Go sky diving
32. Go water rafting
33. Buy a house
34. Be in a movie
35. Visit the 7 wonders
36. Break a bone
37. Country dance
38. Own a dog.
39. Published a short-story
40. Read the entire Bible

New blogger Here - intro

Call me old fashion, but I never have had a blog before. Thought I had no time, nor did I knew how it worked, but now that I've been watching all these cool blogs that ppl have I thought I would try to create one. Had a great time getting my facebook up, but not so much with myspace along time ago. So I never really gave it a try. Pretty ease so far....we'll see later how it works.