Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Hating My Life In 6th Grade.... *Sigh*

When I was in sixth grade, I hated going to school on Fridays. It was PE day, the worst day of every week of my worst-ever year in school. I would beg my mom every Friday morning to not send me to school, but she would not budge. It was torture.

I was ten years old and I remember having to wear these tiny shorts, like the ones track athletes wear, and a t-shirt with my school logo. I went to a private school and my only friend was a girl from China who did not speak Spanish and I did not speak Chinese, so we did not understand each other. We would just walk around the school at lunch, watching the other kids, and smiling at each other. By the way, I am from the Dominican Republic, and that is where I grew up.

The culture at the time was that you needed to be a little chubby to be pretty, so I always wished I looked like most of the other girls.

Anyway, this boy named Jose Antonio (he used to go by Josian) made my life a living hell in sixth grade. He would tell me how ugly I was, with my long skinny legs, how he wished I was not in his class and what a moron I was, which I was not. I was actually a smart girl.

Every Friday was the one day I hated my life... from 8am to 3pm. The trauma that boy caused me contributed to my making bad decisions later on in life, just because I was so insecure about the way I looked.

There were days throughout my life when I hoped I would bump into Josian one day and ask him what he thought of me now. Pointless, I know. And he was not the only one diminishing me for being thin. Even as I grew older, I was bullied for years and years, even by my own now ex-husband.

I am now happy with the way I look , with who I am and I would not change anything. It saddens me that we go through so much bullying in our lives. Nonsense. All of it. We, as kids, even as adults, do not realize the damage we do to others by supposedly having fun and the desire to make our friends laugh through cruelty to others.

I was not a perfect child, but I never made fun of other kids because my parents taught me better. It is up to us to educate our kids, to teach them to appreciate and accept everyone as equal. Every day I go to work, the grocery store, the gas station, I look for good qualities in people and I see them. Everyone has something unique and beautiful about themselves. So, next time you look at yourself in the mirror, appreciate the beauty of who you are, inside and out. It starts with you... Others will see you the same way you see yourself.
My body looks exactly the same it did when I was fifteen years old and I am not ashamed. Not anymore.

In Evergreen, CO. 2006
Last year in Bailey, CO.

A few weeks ago

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Lake Granby - Colorado

Today we went to Lake Granby.
Again, it was 60 degrees in the Denver area, but about 40 up in the mountains. We stopped at Berthoud Pass to take some pictures, the elevation up there is 11,307 Ft. You should look up Berthoud Pass online, it is very interesting. It was the first ski area in Colorado, frequent avalanches would shut the down the road.
Today when we stopped by, there were people sledding and going skiing. As we were driving through the entrance, people were getting out of their cars getting ready to go have some fun. I had my camera out the car window taking pictures when I saw a young man shirtless, next to his car, and facing us. I was mortified and yelled that I was taking a picture of what was behind him, not his shirtless torso. He just smiled and said it was okay. My husband thought it was funny, I thought it was embarrassing!
After taking some pictures - it was 34 degrees and windy up there - we drove on through Winter Park to Granby Lake. There were people camping ON the actual frozen lake. They could have been ice fishing, it was hard to see from where we were, but they had picnic tables set up and all. We could not go more than a few miles down the road once the lake is visible because the road to Rocky Mountain National Park closes for commercial vehicles in the winter due to inclement weather.
If you come here to visit, spring and fall would be the best time of the year because of the amazing weather, the beauty of the mountains and most roads are open.


Berthoud Pass, Colorado


View from Berthoud Pass

Drive Around Granby

Berthoud Pass, Colorado

Lake Granby, Colorado

Lake Granby, Colorado

Me in Fraser, Colorado

Windy Fraser, Colorado

At The Tracks in Fraser, Colorado

Bebe Leggings, Via Spiga Boots, Bebe Sweater

Traintracks in Fraser, Colorado

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Jewerly - Always On

I had to share these chic bracelets from Nordstrom Rack!
They have amazing pieces for sale at the end of the season for really good prices.
Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Nordstrom brand... It is my favorite place to go to for custom jewerly. 

Love,

K

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

A Day In Vail - Colorado

We decided to go to Vail for a drive, as Mike had never been there, and I had only been there once.
We are lucky enough to only be 90 minutes away.
It is like another world up there.... I would compare it to the North Pole in the movies. Same thing with Georgetown, Colorado. People just seem happy and enjoying themselves.
Happy kids, friendly people, but especially, animal friendly. It is great to see happy, loved pets as well!

This is winter and while the temperature in Denver was a high of 57 degrees that day we went, it was 43 in Vail, and windy. I sure regretted taking a sweater instead of a coat. It got gray and cloudy pretty quick while we were there.
I enjoyed seeing older people walking around holding hands, the ladies with their pretty hair done, and wearing their beautiful jewerly. Just lovely.

I went into Luca Bruno, a boutique that has so many fabulous pieces, you would walk out of there with your hands full! The pieces are unique and beautiful.
I purchased a beautiful gray poncho for a modest price and I want to wear it every day!

We went to Pazzo's Pizza and sat by the glass patio doors. There was a gorgeous, sweet St. Bernard tied to the patio fence, and every time the front door of the restaurant opened, he would turn around to look, hoping for his/her master to come out. The pizza was good, but once you try Giordano's or Franco's in Chicago, it feels like no other pizza measures up, but I am always up for a challenge.

While we were eating our pizza, we saw this beautiful girl, probably in her 20's, stick a $50 bill in one of the patio chairs. She just happened to have found that while walking by the restaurant and put it there for whoever lost it or for someone else to have.

My favorite part of the trip was seeing that St. Bernard's reaction when an older couple in their 80s came out of the restaurant. He must have been the happiest dog I have ever seen in my life!
If and when you visit Vail, stop by Luca Bruno. Please, trust me on this one! ;-)

Love,

K


Drive up to Vail

Tunnel inside a mountain

Pedestrian bridge over a river 

Moose statue

Bear statue

Just a view

Skiers 

Statue

Inside Luca Bruno Boutique

Outside Luca Bruno Boutique

Beautiful and happy doggie lounging inside a shop

Me with a casual look but always wearing my pearls


Poncho - Luca Bruno Boutique
Zip-up poncho - Luca Bruno Boutique


Sitting on steps in Georgetown

Me again - Georgetown