Tips for Running a runDisney Race!

This video was super fun to do and useful too. I found myself looking up several of these kinds of videos so I hope you enjoy!

Tips:

1. Register early because availability goes out fast. 
2. Train with enough time ahead. 
3. Save money!
4. Read the program prior to the race weekend to organize yourself. 
5. Stay at a Disney host resort. 
6. Stop by the official merchandise booth. 
7. Take your camera to the expo because there will be great photo ops. 
8. Your love ones can make signs for free at the expo. 
9. Take it slow the days before the race, specially if you are going to the theme parks. 
10. HYDRATE!
11. If running in a costume feels uncomfortable, try a Disney themed shirt and some accessories to run comfy yet not loosing the Disney magic. 

Week #78: MOM'S FUNERAL (10.20.14 - 10.26.14)

Monday was the second intensive cleaning day, I was awoken by some really loud thunders very early in the morning and because of the heavy rain my grandma and company came a little later. We worked all day and successfully finished the dinning room, living room and part of the kitchen completely. I also picked up Patty from school so she could help too. There was a moment I got so mad at my grandma because she asked me about a pair of old curtains that looked 20 years old and I told her to give it away and she insisted not to because "I didn't know when I would need it again..." I mean, we already have curtains glued with tape and we don't even need curtains and then she drew the conclusion that I was getting rid of all of my mom's stuff just because she died... She literally said "your mom died and now it's a clean slate"... Of course not... She exaggerates every single thing and I'm so pissed. How dare she know how I feel, and what I'll need in the future. How dare she think she knows my mom's housing style better than the living thing she created that lived here her whole life. This process is hard enough without people talking on your back saying your in a certain stage, saying you are not crying enough or saying you don't look like you care. I'm so pissed that all that attention towards me is taking attention from my mom. I'm fine on my own and if I need help I know I am to seek it. I don't need people getting in my life dictating what they think I should be feeling and acting like. After all the chaos and after the smoke cleared, my grandpa brought my mom's ashes and we walked her around the house. She's currently sitting on the front table with candles, pictures, and roses. Nobody saw this but I sneak in the jewelry set she wore on one of her pictures, a picture of her and me in my graduating gown and the little mule key chain she brought me from Santorrini, Greece into the urn. And all that is accompanied as well with a virgin plaque. I put the necklace in because right now I'm wearing my mom's favorite jade necklace, and the one I put in her urn is the only one I ever gave to her as a present and it's Swarovski. So in a sentimental way it's like we exchanged necklaces and that warms my heart.

Mom's funeral was on Tuesday, so I woke up and put on some make up and got dressed. We got to the church an hour before start time, that is around 10 am, and there were people already there. I thought I was going to be the first one there but Tia Marilu and other people where there. Today I received around 200 (?) hugs, and half of them from people I don't know. I was apprehensive about how many people would attend but there was no empty bench in that church. A lot of my high school classmates came (Gaby, Jose, Themis, Carolina, Victor, Luis Felipe, Alfonso, Zhanzhy, Shey, Raysa, Yeitzel, and more) that's more than I imagined. But also people I thought would show me support did not go. Vivianne told me she wouldn't be able to go because of something she had to do in the university but she showed up, Vivianne has been my rock these past days; same with Rod and Jose. Several of Las Tias showed up as well, and I would always tear up when they'd hug me because I consider them as mother figures too. I gave my speech, and I received a couple of compliments, I find that giving something to laugh in a moment like this helps and they certainly laughed. There was a part I said "I can say with confidence that I was my mom's favorite daughter". The day also started like a cliche funeral day, it was drizzling. I was looking for a rainbow so I could mention in my speech that my mom was watching over us through the rainbow but it never came, but maybe she doesn't need to be rainbow shaped to be with us, maybe she's with us right now showing no sign. After the funeral our close family gathered for lunch at Lai Chin. And I was a little annoyed at Xiomy because she invited somebody we didn't know, somebody my mom certainly did not know and she sat in my table. She was talking freely like nothing bad had happened and didn't even presented herself to me. She only acknowledged Luis and Patty, like WTF... She even packed the left overs to take home and paused us while eating to pray. I was so steamed I think I gave a mean look but I don't care. How dare she come to a close lunch for somebody we all but her love. Somebody she didn't even know... I'm pissed at Xiomy. She did the same thing with Patty in her Quinceanos, she invited a bunch of teenager who didn't even know Patty and took all the cake-pops and good candy... Going back on topic, for dinner we all went to the Sheraton hotel because I wanted to give my mom a fancy dinner. The food was good, they had asparagus soup and I go crazy for that. Then later that night after all the chaos vanished I skyped with Alex and it was so relaxing and something I definitely needed.

Wednesday was the continuation of the cleaning process, but before the crew arrived to my house I dreamed about mom yet again, something to do with her social security payments but I really can't remember it at all. We cleaned the kitchen this time and it turned out pretty great, Apo took a nap in the middle of the day and so did everybody but Cristy. There was a funny moment when Tia Yiya said she'd to go to the bathroom but went to hers three floors down and didn't come back until hours later, lol we all know what happened (my guess is that she took a nap just like her sister). For dinner we went to El Prado and I had a delicious Sancocho <3

You know what hurts the most from my mom's death? She'll never be a grandma, she'll never babysit my kids and pamper them as much as she pampered me... And that's the thing that hurts the most, because I'm a 100% sure she would have been the perfect Apo. Back to the week, Thursday was day 4 of intensive cleaning and today we attacked the storage closet as well as the maid's room. We then went for dinner at a Peruvian restaurant and I came back home to film a part of my next Youtube video. Also, can you believe Patty has never watched Harry Potter?! I have no little cousin anymore until she watches it, I'm serious.

Friday was a fun day, after a light cleaning day just comprising of getting rid of all of Agrupa's stuff, my true good friends came over! Jose, Vivianne and Rod came over. At first we were going to go out to eat but I didn't really wanna go out, plus if we go out the thing is over after you finish eating so they came to my house instead. We found some money in our house that belonged to somebody else who never came to claim it after two years and we had +$80 in our hands for food. We spent $79 on sushi! We obviously didn't finish but it was really nice for those people to never come and have fed us tonight :) After eating we just chilled and they stayed at my house until 1 am and I was so so so tired. I practically kept falling asleep every 5 minutes. I think I haven't recovered from all the tiredness from the hospital having to wake up early all these days to clean up my house and to do errands.


On Saturday dad woke me up like half an hour before leaving... Talk about getting used to living without mom. Specially dad's driving, omg, I thought I was going to die like three times! I remember how much I used to criticize my mom's slow driving but dad's is just insane! Anyway, only Tia Marilu and Patty came for lunch because my grandpa was not feeling very good. I always thought my grandpa was the one that was not going to see me graduate, but it was my mom... After lunch, dad and I went grocery shopping because we were going to host dinner to celebrate our new cleaned house; however, we had to change location to my grandpa's house because he was still feeling ill. We had a really good time as a family and the food was really good. We, and by we I mean my dad, Tia Marilu and Xiomy, cooked a really great meal. We had fried chicken, carimañola, patacones and sausage.

On Sunday we had a mass dedicated to my mom at Santa Marta at noon so we went, a lot of people attended as well including the Robles and Gretta. Everyone's support has been overwhelming in the greatest of ways and I could not be more thankful. After mass, La Tribu and El Clan (Enrique, Tio Poncho, Waikit, etc.) went for lunch together to El Trapiche. We had a delightful lunch with lots of laughs. After lunch my dad wanted to have dinner as a family just like the day before so we went grocery shopping to buy supplies. We bought steak and I also bought some vegetables to make some juice because Apo has a juicer. On the way to Apo's, dad and I had a fight... He wanted me to learn how to pay the utility bill but I was complaining because he's supposed to be the adult in charge and he should have a clue on where to start, all I wanted was for us to do it together and not for him to delegate it as a homework... he literally said "you have homework" and I was pissed because when I told him why wouldn't he help me at least by giving me the utility company or the account number he started saying that he would live by himself with no help from me whatsoever in the future... He's so extremist, gosh. At Apo's, Tia Marilu taught me how to make the payments online and thankfully I had my mom's user name and password in her old cellphone so my dad and I were in better terms after that but geez, I don't want to deal with him when it comes to things like these... I miss my mom's lightness on topics like these and her sense of ownership on errands. She was just so good at everything.

Super Easy DIY Your Own Bib Number and Medal Holder

Here's a video on how to make a bib number and medal holder on your own. I decided to make my own instead of buying one on Etsy because the holders on Etsy can go to a price of $50 when this holder cost me around $20 and it's tailored to my taste. 

I bought all the supplies at Michael's but you can also find them in a craft shop, and things such as the binder clips and the command hooks I got them at Target. 

It's super easy and the supplies can be found anywhere!

Week #77: DREAMING WITH MOM AND INTENSIVE CLEANING (10.13.14 - 10.19.14)

On Monday I went to USF to do a lot of stuff, among those to drop off this semester. At first I was going to drop it off, then I thought I could manage it but then after talking to the advisor I've decided to drop it off. Tia Doris has been really helpful with this decision as well as Alex, thank God for them. I returned my rented books, finished packing, did laundry, move my bike into my room and picked Patty's package. When talking to the advisor I broke down, the moment I said the words "my mom passed away last Thursday" I started crying. A mother's death is not the same as a father's death in my opinion, unless you are closer to your dad but I think everybody is closer to their mother.

Tuesday was a really down played day, we deposited some money in the university's credit union, had some IHOP for lunch and went to Target. What I love about Target is that relaxing feeling I get while walking the aisles. It's just so therapeutic, I'm such a white girl. The only thing my Target's missing is a Starbucks, lol. We had Chinese takeout for dinner and it was so good, I'll never get tired of if. I can picture it now, next year by Fall living on my own apartment with my own kitchen watching Disney Channel while having Chinese - perfection. I still get sad when thinking about my mom. I think I haven't got to that stage where I fully break down, I know I broke down last week but I have a hunch the eye of the hurricane is gonna end soon.

Wednesday was better, 'Las Tias' are on point for sure when it comes to how I'm feeling. Kudos to Vivianne as well, she's been a miracle to me this week. I truly don't know how I'd be without her entertaining me this whole week. Tomorrow marks a whole week since mom passed... And I still think I haven't realized that I've lost her forever. Today we drove to Orlando to pick up the death certificate as well as the cremation document, then drove back to Tampa to certify them at the Panamanian consulate. The highlight of my day was certainly having lunch at Fuddruckers and Alejandra now tells me there's one at Panama! Acun called twice at night and he sounds so much cheerful it brightens my heart. It appears that the girls made a group to talk about my situation, and Vivianne updates them about me and suddenly each starts texting me and I thought it was all a coincidence until I asked Alex and she told me about the group, lol. Roger's mom, Tia Esther, as also been very attentive and I can never stop thinking: "bless all the Tias".

Thursday was a rough day, Dad and I went to the airport early in the morning, around 4:30 am. We hopped on the plane and I kid you not the guy next to me was so huge he kept bumping my side with his arm and he looked like he did not care at all. He also had Beats headphones and what's the point on having sound proof headphones if I can hear what you're listening to? Maybe some classical or instrumental music would be fine but salsa and reggeaton? We landed and Apo came to pick us up. The reunion with my grandpa was really emotive, at first I made it seem like I was fine, but then my grandma hugged me... then it all went down. I went to my grandpa and he hugged me as well making all the tears flow making our own little pool in the laundry room. It was hot, humid, and uncomfortable but there we were hugging and crying together. I've never seen my grandpa cry, or hear him say those kinds of words, or even hugged me for that long of a time. While we were there we decided on a picture for the mass on Tuesday, I can honestly say I did not like the picture they chose. They chose a studio photo and I don't like it because they other options showed a more relaxed and real look in her facial expressions. But it looks like my vote was not valid... I will also be giving an eulogy on Tuesday so there's that. When I got back home I heard voices through our front door and looked through the peep hole and saw Enrique, Austin and a random guy (friend of Enrique's), they crashed just to hang out and of course we had a great time. Vivianne came by too and she brought me ice cream! She's just the sweetest and I love her so much. Waikit also came by later and the house was swarmed with uninvited people (except for Vivianne), but it felt good. 

On Friday my grandparents, Tia Yiya, Cristy, my dad and I went to the church where the funeral is going to be held and to also see the crypt where the urn is going to be put at. My mom's urn will be right below Tio Evan, Dorianne's granddad, and right next to my grandparents when their time comes. It brings me happiness to know that my mom will be next to Acun and Apo in a near future and she won't be alone. After looking at the church, El Colegio Javier's church, we went and had Chinese for lunch. After that we drove to La Prensa to post announcements about the funeral, three in total; one from my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins; one from the Kam family, and one from my dad and I. After that, it was a really busy day by the way, we drove to Arrocha to buy frames to put next to the urn on the ceremony. My dad and I have very different views on everything and it's always a struggle with him... I need mom to be on my side too so it'd be 2 to 1. Then my dad and I went to PriceSmart but he forgot his membership card so we finally came back home. For dinner Rod and I went out, I missed him so much. He's so much thinner and he always knows how to make me laugh. He took me to Lenos and Carbon and we had a lovely dinner. 

On Saturday dad and I went to deal with cellphone, internet and TV errands. We increased our internet to 4 MB! Finally I'll have faster internet <3 we also changed TV to the most basic package and cancel the telephone all together. Then we had lunch with the whole family. We then went to PriceSmart and boy was it a mistake... it was so freaking packed. We bought the randomest stuff and did the longest line for checkout. Then at home we relaxed. Oh, I also had my first dream with mom. It was the weirdest though, we were at an airport's security line and I place my bag in the conveyer belt, when it came out the security lady gave me a to go box with mash potatoes, french fries and a several layered burger from Burger King. We walked to a random room and I opened my backpack to find two trays from Burger King with crumbles on them, somehow I knew my mom had taken them and I got mad at her because it made my backpack get dirty and I yelled at her. She and my dad when to their room and after thinking about what I did I felt guilty and went to their room. I jumped on top of her and roll to her side and just hugged her, no words needed and somehow I knew everything was alright. 

Sunday was such a busy day. I woke up at 8:15 in the morning after having my second dream with mom in a row. The part where mom appeared was when I was in a car and she was in another one with a couple of friends and she started convulsing while driving and I got really scared and called my friend really worried because I could see her convulsing in the car but she told me everything was alright but I knew it wasn't and after that I don't remember a thing. Anyways, it took me less than 10 minutes to drive from my house to Punta Pacifica to pick Patty. She wasn't eve up when I got there so I had to wait for a long time, then we went to Apo's to pick up Cristy but the streets were cluttered with this new bicycle way they separate in the middle of the street for cyclist to cycle freely so we had to drive a long long way to then make a U turn and get to Apo's. We started the cleaning. We successfully clean the five closets on the hallway, the dinning table and its chairs, the kitchen dinner, and separated what we wanted from mom's closet. We had both lunch and dinner in my newly cleaned kitchen table. Tio Ricky from a floor below had asked me and my dad to come down and have dinner with them, I had already told my dad that I was not going to go and that he had to go because he was not even helping with the cleaning. He went there and then called me from down there telling me to come down making me look like a jerk to them... I got so mad at him... I don't want to see anybody unless they are close to me. I don't want them to pity me, to judge me, or to think I'm in the negation state just because I don't look unhappy. I just want to be with my family and close friends. Why can't I have a more comprehensive father?...

Tower of Terror 10 Miler 2014 RECAP

Here's a recap of the runDisney's Tower of Terror 10 Miler 2014 :)