Week #65: GOT PAID! (-7.21.14 -07.27.14)

On Monday I went to work and did my usual, the financial-secretary duties of recollecting this month's financial record and transcribing it onto excel and organizing it into a binder. The bright side of today is that I got paid for the first time! It was not a check though so I guess I can save that excitement for a real well-paying job. I got $100 and I'm payed weekly so that's $400 a month which is how long I'll be working if I decide to work the last full week I've got in Panama. I also cook my mom an awesome dinner, a homemade whole wheat mac and cheese from scratch! I dare say I put a little bit too much parmesan but the trick of the culinary business lies in practice. I ended my day doing some yoga, abs and reading Harry Potter; sounds like the perfect night doesn't it?

Tuesday was a pretty slow day at the office, I had to search for some numbers that were in the system and the only way to have the program is for the boss to turn on her computer but her office was locked and she arrived later in the morning so all morning I was doing nothing -i.e. Buzzfeed. I had reheated pizza for lunch and that is my absolute favorite kind of pizza! Also my abs tingled all day long because of the abs I did the day before, and I just can't get enough of that feeling.

On Wednesday I kept working on the filing of financial stuff for the month of July and finished it completely, it feels like it's my baby but no so much because I'm using older formats. I can't wait to have my own company and treat it as my real baby, that would be a blast. I had a date night with Rod too, we went as usual to Friday's and we had an awesome time. We laughed so much, I was even embarrassed of laughing so hard, that guy is so special to me :) Oh, and for lunch I had the most amazing/healthy lunch! I made zoodles (zucchini noodles) again but skipped adding any sauce to it and it was really good, I paired it with salmon and I'm so proud I had a healthy lunch!

Thursday started a little chaotic, the company's truce got pulled over because the car didn't have the insurance with it and the boss went nuts and we had to back up every single insurance paper and distribute it among the company's cars. One exciting news from today? Well, actually two: 1) I impressed my boss when I did this thing on our excel documents where I hyperlinked everything that could be hyperlinked to make it seem more like a program than boring spreadsheets. 2) I learned how to make quotations! So I also finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for a second time and it was as good as the first time :) I just like re-reading because there's always, always things you forget! Also, did I tell you my mom and dad are letting me live in an apartment next year and are a hundred percent on my side?! It's like the first time they've gotten to understand and have empathy with my feelings of having a roommate, and it's just such a new refreshing feeling to have your parents back you up a 100%, and I'm bringing this up because I went into my mom's desk and there was a list of apartments with their prices, location and all; like it even had checkmarks if they were near a bus stop or a walkable distance. And the third and final also, the girls are planning a pajama party in my house this weekend and the only ones that have confirmed that they are staying over are Shey and Zhanzhy... I'm a) pretty doubtful it will happen and b) if it happens I don't think I'm gonna fully enjoy it without my main bitches (ehem, Alex).

On Friday the things got crazy at work at the end of the day, like the calls kept coming and all of them were "urgent" and we couldn't do part of it because the boss is the only one who could do what they were calling for.  After work I had to pick up Patty at her school and I got there early so I just chilled in the car which was really nice because I had burnt a new CD and it was just nice to sit there with new good music. Since I had nothing to do I decided to accompany my mom to the practice.

On Saturday I went to lunch with my grandparents as always and then my mom dropped me off while she went to practice. It was the most boring afternoon I've had by myself in my house, I even came to just putting music really loud and singing loudly like I didn't have a care in the world. And then, Alex came by and then Vivianne and then Albany. It was supposed to be a girl's night but only 3 out of 7 came over... not even Zhanzhy which was the one who planned the whole thing, in my house, came. But I actually liked this night better than if the other girls'd have come because we had really fun night. And I actually enjoy every single time I spend the night with these three girls in particular. We played Apples to Apples, talked and ate horrible pasta but it was fun.

On Sunday I went to the mall as always to have lunch with my family, and me and my mom tagged along with my aunt and cousins because Patty needed to find a pair of white high heels. She found them, thankfully, and they were on sale lol. We did some grocery shopping and when we came back home I tried out this juice I saw on Youtube which is basically to blend watermelon and drink it... that's the recipe haha, but it was great nonetheless. Also Cristy is taking all of us out to dinner tonight because my grandma kept bugging her about how when you start working and receive your first salary you have to take your family out for dinner and take care of the bill.

DIGGING YOUTUBE TREASURES!

So I was bored and realized I had some videos I uploaded a long time ago with my old account, stacystamos, that I haven't watched in a while so I decided to go watch them; oh boy did I know the laugh I was gonna get with them. So here they are so I will never forget about them again or if I do to rematch them again :)

I have loads of more videos but I don't know why I can't find them here :( so here's the link to my old account! 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChLY7vkYDctt3gkuKIDo7Yw

I'm Kinda Into Photography #25: Mandatory-Non-Paying-Kinda-Free-Lance from DEBUTANTES

So last weekend I was called to take some pictures, my aunt called saying I had no other option so might as well go and be cheerful about it. I had a two days in a row photo assignment of this year's Debutantes' make up and skin care workshop - I myself had my own three years ago... Three! - anyways, at first I was bored because all there was to take was the same thing over and over... Girls looking at mirrors touching their faces, but then an aunt pointed out the laughter and fun the girls where having and how about I should shot those and I did and I found out the true beauty of photos in their wild nature - laughter. 

Week #64: An Official Job?! 😱 (07.14.14 - 07.20.14)

On Monday I started my first official job, my Tia Marilu got me this job as a secretary for her friend's company D'Gala Eventos which is a catering business. As always I was running late on my first day but didn't actually got there late, I didn't realize it would take me literally 5 minutes to drive there! I had some Fruity Pebbles to start my day off right and when I got there the vibe and the environment was so cheerful and friendly. I got to do some filing, paper work, answer calls, photocopy and transfer receipts onto Excel. It was a good first day and after that my dad got home from the mine and we went to have some chinese for dinner.

My second day at the job was somewhat easier, I did more Excel stuff, answer calls and that's about it. Some people at work say I catch up pretty quickly but I feel I'm a little slow or not "chispa" enough for the job. I got back and relaxed since I have nothing else to do.

Day three was all right, I kept going with my "assignments" as well as answering calls, I even helped the boss with some computer wiz stuff and I feel so good whenever she thanks me or acknowledges the benefit of my help :) I also heard Aracely, the woman in charge of everything but being the boss, talking so greatly about me and how organized I was, she even asked me why did I have to go in a pleading voice which made my day. I started a food journal and I intend to eat healthy. I went to the grocery store after work and bought a bunch of healthy stuff, among it a lot of vegetables, fruits, almond milk, corn oil, and of course: Fruity Pebbles. Then I went and picked up Patty from school since she has a Debutantes practice at 7 she's gonna stay at my house until that time. I watched some TV and then she went to practice with my mom. I cooked zoodles (zucchini + noodles) for the first time with a zucchini and garlic blend for sauce for the first time and it smelled so good! I actually like zucchini :) The only down part is that I put water in the blender for the sauce and I wasn't supposed to do that so it was a little bit liquidy and also the zoodles went cold really fast and I don't like eating cold food.

On day four I was wishing so bad for this week to end, I still work as hard as I can and give it my all and have this positive attitude but now I get why grown ups get so tired of work and have these long faces "all day err day" and that's why I'll try to never work for somebody but have them working for me. However, I feel so good when they complement my skills and keep telling other people what a blessing I am to them :)

Finally! The fifth day of the week, my last day of work for this week :) So my boss told me that they are going to pay me every Monday starting next so that's exciting! My very first pay check is coming pretty soon! After work I went on a date night with Rod to Friday's (duh!) and he drove! He picked me up and took me there, it was a bit of a struggle when it came time to park the car since the parking lot was extremely packed but he did all right :) I just love and missed how I keep smiling whenever I'm with him, there's not a blank moment in the conversation or a moment where I'm not smiling and I think that's what I love most about being with Rod. He didn't eat though because he wasn't feeling well but I had a really good meal, the three-for-all platter with potato skins, mozzarella sticks and chicken bites :)

On Saturday I got to sleep in until 9 am when my mom woke me up because I had to take some pictures at this Debutantes skin workshop, the same I had a couple of years ago. So I went to Albrook Mall and took the pictures and it was rather boring. The rest of the day I just chilled until night time when I went out with my girls, Alejandra, Zhanzhy, and Vivianne and we had some 'pepitos' and waffles. The sandwich at Pepitos was amazing! And I missed my girls so bad :) And of course I drove them all haha, I got late back home around 10:30 and went straight to bed after reading some HP3 :)

On Sunday I had to wake up again early to go take some more pictures at the now makeup workshop and drove there since my mom had to do other things, on the way back I stopped at Cozi and bought the most amazing salad, it was really really good! Then I headed to the grocery store with my mother and bought a few stuff, I bought ingredients to cook my own homemade mac and cheese and also ingredients to make chocolate covered frozen bananas. I made the chocolate covered bananas as soon as I got home, it got a bit messy and I messed up in a couple of things but ultimately they turned out good. For dinner we three went out since my dad is leaving once again for work and we ate at "La Nostra Pizza", one of my favorite pizza places. At night I just had a relaxing night reading some Harry Potter and putting on a face mask. I just love the face masks I got from Kiko, they were so cheap and do such a great job! I should've stock up on more, my face feels like a baby's butt. 

Week #63: BIGGEST MALL OF THE US! (07.07.14 - 07.13.14)

On Monday I was called in to do nanny duty since one of my great grandma's nanny quit over the weekend and my grandma left already for Dallas I think. So I was her only and last chance of a nanny she could get. Atai behaved pretty well the whole time I was there, that is from 10:30 until 2:30. She mostly slept and kept changing seating positions, she ate with no tantrum and only went to the bathroom once which Eli took care of, thank God. I read while she stared at the window and finally finished the last book of the Harry Potter series! Eli prepared fish for lunch at my request, God bless her and then I drove back home when the afternoon shift nanny got there. I watched the last movie of the Harry Potter series to compare to the book as I always do and obviously I prefer the book, how they explained things that seem simple but you kind of want to know like the story of Helena Ravenclaw or the real reason why Harry didn't die in the forbidden forest (it was because Voldemort created a second and stronger bond between them when he used Harry's blood to re-humanized himself, so he only broke the first bond when he 'killed' him) and then Harry won the battle because of the Elder Wand's allegiance. That's something that was not very clear from the movie and I'm so glad I read the book. I even want to re-read some of the books (3,4,5, and 7) :)

On Tuesday... I'll be honest with you, I have no recollection of what I did on Tuesday haha.

On Wednesday my mom and I flew to Minneapolis, Minnesota; Yoyi took us to the airport and we were almost late (we were kind of late actually) because he picked us up late and drove like a literal turtle! Our first flight was to Houston and it was all right, I played on my iPad the whole flight. In Houston I tried the famous Pappadeaux and it was no big deal for me, we ate while watching the Netherlands vs. Argentina match. We also went to the United Club with my grandma's card (thank God for my grandma and mom to have the same name, lol) and I stole some cookies and stuff :) The second flight was from Houston to Minneapolis and it was a short flight -it was delayed though. And we got to Minneapolis around 10 - 11 pm, which means we spent the WHOLE day traveling! 

On Thursday Patty and Tia Marilu came loudly to our room early in the morning because that's when their flight got here and we had breakfast at the hotel which was actually good, we stayed at Fairfield Inn Marriot and let me tell you oh how much I missed high quality hotels (compared to Europe). We went hard core shopping the first day but before that Patty and I went to the Nickelodeon theme park inside the mall and it was pretty awesome! They had some really cool rides that spines a lot and best of all no heat or sun or mosquitoes! I didn't shop that much but I did get some clothes, the cool thing about this mall is that you don't have to pay taxes for clothes and shoes (every girl's dream!)

On Friday we went again to the mall because we only did the first floor the day before, but we went all together to the aquarium first and it was really fun. I think it's cute how my grandpa comes with these ideas and proposes them all shy like "would you like to go to the aquarium?", like how could you say no to that when you know your grandpa doesn't enjoy shopping as much as the other five girls on this trip haha. Then we went shopping on the second floor of the mall and this time I did buy a little bit more :) After the mall we went to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond and had dinner at Applebee's.

On Saturday we decided to go to this theme park kind of similar to Knott's Berry Farm in California and it was really cool, it was Snoopy themed too and we rode a couple of sweet rides. Just before leaving it started pouring so I volunteered to go get the van so nobody, specially my grandparents, would get wet. We went to the mall again to shop on the third and final floor. There wasn't much there but we went to a mirror maze and it was pretty fun :)

And on Sunday we finally returned home, we had Pappadeaux for lunch at the airport and Acun paid $8 to watch the world cup final (Go Germany!) on the plane, just for the cable to drop minutes from the winning goal and the end of the game! Well, at least Germany won haha I had my shirt on the whole day and it was pretty nice seeing people with a Germany shirt too. In the Panama airport the security people "randomly" decided to check my grandparent's and aunt's baggage... My grandpa was about to burst with anger from such racism... And I'm mad too you know... Fuck racist people and their stereotyped vision of the world... We finally had dinner at Golden Unicorn with the whole family including Cristy and Yoyi who came to pick us up. Also, my iPad is dead... my water bottle spilled in my backpack and my iPad got soaked! It's ruined... and the only way I can get another one is through the out-of-guarantee Apple policy that let's me buy a refurbished one for $200 which is better than nothing, but I got so attached to my iPad this summer! It's gonna be really hard not to have it until August.