I'm back home and I need...

My daughter's first home visit from college was accompany by a small list of needs and wants.
The area where her college is located is a bit cooler than here during the Fall/Winter season, it can get down to the lower 50's to the lower 30's and the she didn't had a good winter jacket.
This is the part were my blogger friends from very cold areas are probably saying: "what?  you need a winter jacket for below 50 degrees? Are you serious?"
Yes! Please remember that we are use to 80-90 degrees so 50-30 is freezing for us!

This is us making our way into one of the largest mall in South Florida, The Sawgrass Mall.
I lived in this mall from the time my girls were in the 5th grade until now with my youngest one still in high school.
This was and still is the place that I took them and their friends to eat, to see movies, to shop and to play in the Game Works (an giant arcade place).

This is a make believe walking or maybe a super-hero take off!

At Berlington Coat Factory looking for the cheapest and craziest accessories to go with the coats.
We got a lion and a zebra critter-hats for the girls to keep their heads, ears and unique brains warm.

This a candy store by the Forever 21 store in the middle of the mall.
The girls love Forever 21 and I love candy so it work out great; they got clothes and I got sweets.

There were a lot more of this magnets but this collection was my favorite.
Loving the Mel one and the Weight Watches one.

Everywhere you look there were all kinds of colors, shapes and form of candies and sweets.

You get some candy and get to do some reading at the same time.

This is by the store entrance. 

Somehow this dress looks like a shorter version of something I wore back in 1984.

This one of the 3 food courts around the mall.
It has many choices of food and fast foods from all around the world.
We decided to go for Chinese-Cajun and my oldest daughter paid the bill.

The food was very good but I do hate these foam thingy that we were eating out of.
There was a third food plate that got out of the photo's range.

For this family outing I wore:
Old yellow cardigan from Target.
One of my two faithful and versatile white tanks.
Yellow Gap skirt, thrifted two months ago.
My also very old, Penny Loves Kenny sandals.

Necklaces from various art fairs. 

Bracelets from youngest daughter and from my local Indian store. 

Rings: one from Peru (the larger one) and the other from a Dollar Store.

This lovely bag was in the  $1.99 container at the Ft Lauderdale Salvation Army. 

It has a tag around the back of the string that says: The Wayuu Taya Foundation 1973.

And after doing some research I find out that its made by South American Indians and that this foundation assists with the improvement of the South American Indigenous people's lives while respecting their cultural belief and that it was created by the model and actress Patricia Velazquez whom I remember seeing in the cover of magazines and in movies like The Mommy.

Finding pieces of clothing or accessories like this is one of the reasons I enjoy my thrifting adventures so much and the fact that was less than $2.00 is also enjoyable.

Have a fantastic week, 

The Yellow and Green Farmers Market again...

I visited the Yellow and Green Market back in February for the first time and I just felt in love with the market and the people. 

I needed to buy lots of greens, oranges, some incense for my house altars and some small bamboo plants. 

Of course its always way cheaper to buy at a market than at any mall or grocery store

and most this market products are organic.  Besides is better to know the person than is growing your food than the one who is transporting in a freezer truck (even though, they are important too).

The market entrance as photographed by my youngest daughter with my instructions:  "Not that angle", "Get the other side" and the always annoyed "Are you sure you got the picture?"

Our first purchased was eucalyptus honey for morning tea, I like it on my oranges and I also use it on my neck and face. Thanks Bees!

This shop specialized in local honey and you can taste  any of them in a small spoon before buying your honey.

This is Mystik Sisters, our friend Nitza's shop. We took some photos with Nitza's but because we didn't use the flash they came out...well bad, pretty bad so its better to display all the merchandise that we love.

A wall of herbs!

Flowers galore.
I love sunflowers and flowers in general as most of my skirts and shirts shows.

The roof and the market banners gives a rustic and red barn-like feeling.

We Latinos all use some kind of peppers in our meal and in our seasonings.
These ones are hot but not fiery hot,  just hot enough.

An array of earthy goods and some extra large carrots.

These are my favorite peppers to eat and to cook with; I use them in my salads, pasta and when seasoning beans and meat.

A bag full of greens and some other goodies as well as an empty pocket and an even emptier stomach.

Another photo opportunity while choosing our next meal path!

And here we are at Antojitos; with all the goodness of empanadas and all of the goodness of Latin food stuff in yuca, bread or potatoes and fried and fried!

And the two lovely ladies that run the booth  (#122) and that also cooked all the deliciousness on display.

On our way to the parking lot stood this magnificent representation of the real animal and so user friendly that it was calling for a photo op.

As we drove out into I-95 we pass by Boomers, an amusement park. This wooden roller coaster is called The Hurricane. In the past 7 years I spend many summer days in this park with my girls, we used to ride the coaster and go into the park arcade and played killing zombies, monsters and aliens games. The most we ever rode the coaster was 42 times with 2 breaks to drink water and to go to the bathroom. It was an accelerating experience and every time we drive by this area we feel sad that it got closed and its just standing there like a wooden soldier refusing to give in into defeat.

For my market outing I wore:
Made in Indonesia Ann Taylor Loft jeans, thrifted few months ago.
Made in The USA old white tank.
The cardigan with no tag is from Marshall or Steinmart and its also quite old.
Painted belt, thrifted last month.
Necklaces from Steinmart. Bracelets from DOTS and Steinmart.
Liz Claiborne purse about 5 years old.. Sandals from Marshalls.

I'm having a week off from work and I'm planning on spending it with family and friends.
I'm also celebrating my birthday, my oldest and youngest daughter birthdays too (yes, we were all born in November) and Thanksgiving with my mom and niece.

Have a healthy and happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your time with your love ones,

Shopping in Miami Beach....

For the last 3 years I've not bought many things retail because I do most of my shopping at thrift stores or consignment shops.
I do buy retail when my friends give me gift certificates or my mom surprises me with new shoes/sandals from Macys because she thinks that I'm always wearing cheap and not so good for my feet shoes.
However when it comes to underwear, socks and sleeping clothes, I always do buy retail.
I needed some undies and instead of going to my local mall again; I decided to go visit my mom and go to a mini mall within walking distance from her place.

The view of the mall entrance as we were walking and my mom was asking if "I'm insane because in Miami Beach you can't walk and take picture without having the chance of being run over by a tourist in a rental or a drunk local".
Well, I guess this is my definition of living dangerously.

This are the two palm trees in the Romero Britto's sculpture that is right at the mall entrance.
I'm completely obsessed with his use of colors and shapes.

Here is little me at the bottom of the sculpture trying to catch some shades while instructing my daughter in which angle to take this photo.

I traveled many miles in Miami Beach and so far, this is the larger ball by the largest palm trees I've seeing.

In the words of Bon Scott:
"But we've got the biggest balls of them all"- here in sunny South Florida!

A closer look at the palm trees.
Britto's work has a bit of cubism, graffiti and pop art influences.
He has a gallery here in Miami Beach and lives in Coconut Grove.

Somehow my clothes are matching the big ball!!

The inside of the mall is just 4 giant stores. You need to take elevators and the moving escalator in order to go from one level to another.
Besides this Ross there is a TJMaxx on the top floor; we shopped for our undies in both stores.

Love the art deco touches in this mural and the turquoise color.

This is the mall's side area and it gives you a great look at this part of the city.
When my mom and my brother moved to Miami Beach around 10 years ago, most of these buildings were just small retirees condos and now it's a giant concrete metropolis.
Sometimes, I miss the old buildings but I understand that progress is here and things must change.
But, I also believe that the architecture of this area is still visually pleasing.

The exit stairs have this fantastic shinning paint that remind me of the ocean.

Me at the ocean stairs getting ready to face the afternoon heat.

I was wearing: my very old A.N.A. sandals, Old Navy (and about 7 years old) long-style shorts, Target polo (6 years old), stripes purse (no name). A collection of brown necklaces and bracelets, some thrifted some were purchased locally.

This is one of the outside cafes. No-one was outside because of the horrific heat.

Another cafe area deserted as well.
I was in love with the chairs modern and sleek look as well as their color.

Another terrifying moment for my mom; here I go again walking and photographing the concrete beauties around me, a bus advertising Chile and those heavenly palm trees (real one not Romero Britto's like).

Here we are on our way home.
My youngest daughter and I love the phrase: "Object in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear".
For me it has a reminiscence of Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken".

Have a lovely week,

Off to another university...

The first month of my hiatus from blogging I moved my daughter to a large university and here is how it went...

So here is some of the luggage bags and many other things that my oldest daughter took with her to her new home, 180 miles away. Well, it's still in sunny Florida and just 4 hours away.

We stayed up until late packing and got up early in the morning, very early in the morning.
We took many photos in the early morning but we all looked like cyclops so I decided to avoid the horror of Odysseus coming after us by concealing these photos to the secret not for blogging cave.

There were a lot of more boxes and clothes already in the car.
Of course all college students need sodas, Coca Cola to stay awake and Sprite to burp up all the bad food they eat (Hey, I still remember my college years).

It was a beautiful day, sunny, warm but not too hot and with amazing clear blue skies.

These are just some of the few reasons why so many of us live here in Florida.
Just look at the gorgeous mama nature!

Here we are! Yes, she is going to be spending her days and nights in this fabulous complex. The entire complex is only for college students and the people that work there.

I was so proud of my girl; she leased her place on her own and besides her grants she is taking loans to pay for her place for the entire year and I only going to be paying for the next year summer months. Well besides spending money, food money, clothing, medication, health insurance.....

This is our lunch; after spending hours fixing her place we needed some fast, cheap and filing lunch so Wendy's was the perfect choice.

We took a mini tour of the campus. The first time that my daughter came to the campus she came with her boyfriend's family because I was working and going to Saturday classes and couldn't take the day off.

The Knight, the college mascot is so freaking regal, and physically and intellectually ready for a fight.
This university is the 3rd largest campus in the nation and its was my oldest daughter dream to attend it. She worked very hard and finished her Associate in Science with honors and was part of the her college Dean List.

When I did my bachelors my first two years my grades were amazing but by the last two they were terrible because I was partying, working, going to concerts and having the time of my life (wait, that's what I still do). I knew that I was going to continue into my master's studies and I was already working so I really didn't care much for my grades as soon as they were good enough to get into a graduate program they were good enough for me.

It took me a long time to start and complete my masters, I  started in 2007 and finished it in 2009 the same year that my oldest daughter graduated from high school.

My girl and her tall, smart and loveliest boyfriend; he's British-American and a ginger (that's always a plus for us).
He and both of his parents were there with us setting him up as well; he is also finishing his studies here just like his brother did two years ago. 
I'm very happy that he is in my girl's life because I see a lot of the qualities that I like about myself in him. Specially the one about being there for the ones you love during the good and the bad times and saying what you mean and meaning what you say. In order words: a person that is reliable and present for you when and where you need them.

By the way: I take all my best life lessons from Dr. Seuss.

One of the faculties building; it was a crazily emotional week so its just fitting that I feel some attraction to the Psychology Faculty building.
I was sad, happy, tired excited, proud, loud and mentally unprepared for all the feelings that were pouring into my being all through out the two day that we spend moving and setting my daughter into her new life. 

This walkway is between the faculties and it was my favorite part of the entire campus!!

These are the trees that are surrounding the walk way (bridge?).

I could swear I saw an alligator looking back at me but it also could be my imagination and the lack of sleep????

This is the center of the campus and the fountain was a lot more impressive in real life but we couldn't wait until it started to shoot higher water before we needed to move on to another area of the campus.

This is the inside of Student Government Building, and this mobile structure and the way the light comes in through the glass is quite impressive when you are in it.
This building has the school bank, library, coffee shops, cafeterias and restaurants in it. It was like a mini city and so many preppy kids roaming around with big eyed parents like me thinking "my god my kid did good and now I'll be even more broke for the next couple of years"!!!!!!

Daughter's room; I was so proud of her color choices and to the fact that she purchased everything for her room with her scholarship's leftover money.

It took us between 4 to 6 hours to get her room, bathroom, computer area and closet ready. Her boyfriend's mom got her a dark curtain for the window for those days that she doesn't want to see the sun early in the morning and some extra stuff for her room.

Another proud moment: my love for The Beatles stays engraved into her music conscious.
I think I did my job for the good of everlasting music.

Here I'm super-dupper-tired trying to helped her pick up groceries that will last her for at least 2 weeks.
I wore my old jeans and t-shirts from Target with a pile of accessories.

I left a bit after this photo and I cried a lot when I was leaving but then I had to concentrate because it was pouring down raining on our way home so the eyes needed to be in top clear shape.

I'm so sorry for the length of this post; I guess I've been quiet for too long and have too much to say.

Love,