Day 29

60 Day Picture Challenge - Day 29: A picture that can always make you smile.

There are so many pictures that genuinely make me smile. I literally spent a good 30 minutes looking all over my Facebook albums to find a picture that stood out, and although I had several options, I ended up choosing this one.

This picture was taken on June 4, 2007, my 21st birthday, which I celebrated IN JAPAN! As I mentioned in a previous post, going to Japan has been the most memorable experience in my life thus far, and getting to celebrate my birthday there was just the icing on the cake.

A BIG group of friends and I went to an "all-you-can-drink" restaurant and, as you can tell from the picture, ended up having a blast. Afterwards, we went to a karaoke joint to have even more fun. Anyways, I think this picture captures the essence of the entire night.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 29: A song from your childhood.

Kabah is a Mexican pop group and if I'm not mistaken, their album was one of the first ones I ever bought. Although to be completely honest, the first album I bought was one by Ace of Base. Anyways, I picked this song because of its fantastical elements. I've always been a dreamer, and when I was a child, I used to daydream all the time about being a princess and being surrounded by all sorts of fantastical creatures (I swear I'm not crazy, though. Just have an overactive imagination.) Therefore, this song with its "La calle de las sirenas" (Street of the Sirens) title is very relevant to my childhood.

Day 28

60 Day Picture Challenge - Day 28: A picture of something you 're afraid of.

You may have noticed this about me, but I'm quite honestly simply not the type of girl that is scared of many things. However, I'm sincerely terrified of growing old and getting Alzheimer's. My brain is my most valuable asset and I don't know what I would do if one day it suddenly started to deteriorate. Also, I believe that in old age, one's memories become significantly more important. But, what would happen if you lost all of your precious memories? Alzheimer's is expected to affect 1 out 85 people by 2050. Now, those are some scary figures. With Alzheimer's, not only does it lead to death, but you become irrelevant and a burden to those you love. Yea, the more I think about it, the more I'm certain that Alzheimer's/dementia is the thing that I'm most terrified of.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 28: A song that makes you feel guilty.

I honestly try to lead my life in a very careful and controlled way that will make me have as less guilt as possible. However, I'm only human. This selection is actually one that I won't go into detail about, but I'm sure that some of you smart cookies out there will figure out what situation this song is alluding to.

Two dots,

Joined by a line,

May be detached

By a crime...

Who is responsible when the line is stretched?

Who is responsible when it becomes a triangle?

How irresponsible when the line is stretched.

How irresponsible when it becomes a triangle.

Day 27

60 Day Picture Challenge - Day 27: A picture of yourself and a family member.

This is my mother's mom. Her name is Vilma and contrary to what you guys might expect, I don't call her "abuela." When I was younger, she would call me "amores," and whenever I tried to imitate her, what would come out of my mouth instead was "moyes." Soon enough, every single one of her grandchildren started calling her that too. She also calls me "moyes" in return, and I'm actually her favorite granddaughter (she's even quite vocal about it - if you ask her, she'll tell you that I'm her favorite, haha.) The first picture was taken in 1987 at my first birthday celebration. The second was taken on Christmas of last year. She is one of the strongest women I know. Actually, I didn't mention this previously, but she just won the battle against skin cancer. Both of my grandpas are already dead, but I'm blessed to say that I've still got my two grandmas alive and well - just hoping that they'll be next to me for many more years.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 27: A song that you wish you could play.

I would love to be able to play the piano in this. As much as I love pop music, I think this is the music of my dreams. I mean, I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't like Tchaikovsky. I remember when I was a little girl, I would play Tchaikovsky's "Valse des Fleurs" from the Nutcracker Suite over and over again as I pretended to be a ballerina. Truly beautiful music.

Day 26

60 Day Picture Challenge - Day 26: A picture of something that means a lot to you

Family. 家族. Famiglia.

My family is everything to me. I would be absolutely nothing without these individuals right here. However, I feel very blessed in saying that I truly feel as if I have 2 families - those who are related to me by blood, and those who I've hand-picked to be my accomplices in this journey called life. So, I present to you my second family (plus/minus a few - I don't have any one picture with all of you in it, sorry!) These are the people who have served as my support system when my actual blood family wasn't around, and who have continued to play an essential role in my life, despite the distance that separates us. <3

30 Day Picture Challenge - Day 26: A song that you can play on an instrument

I don't like telling this to very many people, because quite honestly, I'm not very good at it, but I actually taught myself how to play the piano. Those of you who have played Final Fantasy know that every game in the series has a theme song, and when I was younger, I used to spend hours at the piano (I do have a piano in my house - picture below), trying to figure out the melody by ear. Later on, in high school and college, I actually took musical notation classes and finally learned how to read music. However, despite my love for the piano (and somewhat regrettably), I never made it a priority to take lessons.

Anyways, long story short, other than the Final Fantasy theme songs, I learned how to play this piece, which is related to the holidays and that some of you may recognize as "What Child is this?"

Marry the night

Last night we had a dinner party at chez moi (that's French for my house.) Family is very important to me and I truly regret the fact that while I was studying in Miami, only a very select few got the chance to meet my parents and/or brothers. I've always said that if I had studied in Honduras, or if my family had been living with me in Miami while I went to university, my collegiate experience would've been very different. Furthermore, I really would've liked to have shared with my friends this aspect of my life - I think it would've helped them get a better sense of my lifestyle and why I am the way that I am. But alas, it was not possible. So, I decided to share some of the pictures from last night, in hopes that you can all get a better idea of what it means to have a Bandy family celebration (and also to motivate you to come visit me, hehe. ) My family is fun, and although we're Hispanic, we like to keep it classy! ;)

And the food was to die for, if I may say so myself. The menu for the night:

Appetizers: sauteed mushrooms, tomato bruschettas, Asiago cheese, and salmon carpaccio.

Entree: Premium ribeye steaks with baked potatoes and salad.

Desserst: Blueberry flan, brownies, and lemon squares.

With my mother and my cousin Janina.

My younger brother and his girlfriend. Ah, l'amour... :)

With my cousins, Kristian (far left) and Ricardo (far right), and my older brother, Michael

Always gonna be daddy's little girl. :)

Candid!

The pool area

We're a Middle Eastern family - no reunion would be complete without a hookah! Hehe

I'm gonna marry the night, I won't give up on my life. I'm a warrior queen, live passionately tonight...

XOXO

Day 25

*Yesterday was a very busy day. Sorry.*

60 Day Picture Challenge - Day 25: A picture of your day.

My days aren't that exciting. In fact, they're quite uneventful, but I'm not complaining. I spend a lot of my day reading and studying, which are things that I actually enjoy doing. In the picture you can see a GRE book, and may be wondering what the heck I'm doing studying for the GRE if I already took it. Well, turns out that I have to take it yet again. I need to improve my math score in order to get a scholarship to study in Milan, Italy. Yea, I know I'd said I was going to go to NYU, but I also recall saying that I'd go there once I had my residency. I gave myself a year to figure things out and the year is almost up and there's still no word on when exactly I'll get my residency. So, in the meantime, I decided to start applying elsewhere and seeing what happens. How cool would it be to study in Italy, though??? Which brings me to another element in the picture: the Italian stories book. There's also a representation of my ongoing battle with Japanese: "How to sound intelligent in Japanese." Finally, there's an 8-pound dumbbell because working out is something I do everyday, and I've recently started strength-training.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 25: A song that makes you laugh.

No explanation needed. Hehe.

Day 24

60 Day Picture Challenge - Day 24: A picture of something you wish you could change.

It's incredibly idealistic, ambitious, and perhaps a tad bit delusional of me to say that I wish I could change the world. The truth is, I'm not very happy with the world's current state. I think there is something obviously wrong (with humanity) when we produce enough food to feed everyone in the world, yet we don't do anything about redistributing it to those who are starving. There is something incredibly sad about the fact that so many of us want to better ourselves, want to continue our education, but cannot do so because going down that path would burden us with incredible amounts of debt. It pains my heart when I hear that people I sincerely care about are discriminated against and belittled because of their skin color, weight, sexual orientation, or even nationality, when the truth of the matter is that these are all extenuating factors that say nothing about their character or worth as individuals. So yes, I'd like to change the world. I'd like for all of us to be a bit more human - to be more compassionate, tolerant, and open-minded. How would I do so? Well, I'd start by spreading awareness followed by an increase in education. I think we should be allowed to develop our unique potential without having to sacrifice who we are. Anyways, though I'm aware that I'm only one voice in a chorus of 7 billion, at least I want to try to influence and inspire the people whose lives I directly come into contact with, which leads me directly to the second part of today's post...

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 24: A song that you want to play at your funeral.

This song is all about making a difference and living each day to the fullest, which is essentially what I'm all about. I lead my life in a way that will uphold the values that I deem to be most important, and I truly hope that those who are in constant contact with me realize that through my actions and through my words, I aspire to be a source of inspiration. Aspire to be the best version of yourself and cherish your unique existence, no matter how different, weird, or crazy other people may consider you to be. It is when we know ourselves that we will be able to change not only our lives, but the lives of those that we touch. When I die, I want people to say that my presence will be missed and that I lived my life to the best of my abilities.