Instructions for life

Dalai Lama-----2005

Instructions for Life:

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

Once a year, go somewhere you’ve never been.

Be gentle with the earth.

Share your knowledge. It is always a way to achieve immortality.

In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

Take in account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

Follow the 3 R’s: Respect for self. Respect for others. Responsibility for all your actions.

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

When you realize that you made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

Spend sometime alone everyday.

Open arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Feliz Navidad

Mi Familia,

Although, I will not be with you this christmas, I just wanted to let you know that my heart will be and that I love you very much. Despite the fact that I have no money to buy you gifts because I am unemployed, I hope you enjoy a trip through memory lane.

Love always,

Claire xoxoxo

La Isla Negra

After visiting Pablo Neruda's third house yesterday in La Isla Negra, which is not an island, I think that I would have loved to know him. Although, he was married three times and had quite the reputation with women, his life, collections, poems, travels, and adventures are all too intoxicating, as I am sure every other women has seen, sees and will see him. He is not the most attractive man, but there is something magnetic about his houses and all the stories that are still untold.....I guess it is just my luck that the only Chilean man that has called my attention is in fact a dead poet! Oh well, that is the great irony of life I guess. If you ever visit Chile, make sure to visit one of his houses, there is one in Santiago, Valparaiso, and La Isla Negra. "Love is so short, forgetting so long." -Pablo Neruda

El Accion de Gracias en Mexico

In the Northern Hemisphere we associate thanksgiving with hot comfort food, the leaves turning, chance for snowfall, and snuggling up close to the fire...... therefore, it is incredible that the entire southern hemisphere is entering their summer in this time of year and although in central america they are technically in "winter" it is nothing close to what most people would consider "winter." I have to say it felt somewhat odd to celebrate thanksgiving outside under a palapa, with a tan, and cold red wine. But, I just wanted to thanks to my family for being sooo wonderful and for everyone making a effort to meet, literally in the middle of the world, as I came from Chile, my family from california and met where my sister lives in Mexico.... it is an odd group, and yes there are a few nuts, and we fight and then make-up, and I am sure that there will be more emotional times to come as well as great fun.... but I just wanted to take the time to say, that although no one is perfect and we all definitely make mistakes and are often times more fragile than we realize, I am lucky to be a part of this family and would not have it any other way. So thank you for being there for me, for making fun of me, supporting me no matter what, and most importantly for your loyalty! It is not always easy to love and be loved and it is much easier to give up, so the loyalty that you have shown me shall never be forgotten or under- appreciated. I love you all very much, thank you for a wonderfully dramatic thanksgiving!