Amor

LOVE.... what is it that makes this word so profoundly exceptional?  Love can mean different things for every person but the optimal result is that its' dynamism strikes you when you least expect it!

We all have our own reservations and cliches of how a love story should go and I believe that we all are hesitant to divulge incriminating evidence about how we met the love of our life.  However, a Love story that is not your own is just that, another love story.  In short be proud of the way you met, however grandiose or un-refined it may be, it is yours and yours alone.

La Verdad, if we do not think that our story is unique and electrifying then why would anyone else?  Love is a precious commodity and therefore can be quite tricky to manage..... they say that "Love is like quicksilver; leave the fingers open and it stays, try to clutch and it darts away."

Amor....for me is ........

Meeting the love of your life on an airplane
Breaking down your bathroom door on NYE
Traveling through Chile playing soccer on the beach one day and wine tasting the next
Chilean Cabbies with Tempers and lots of saliva...YUCK!
Coal Burning Wine Barrel Hot Tubs
San Francisco Nights
Champagne Breakfasts the next morning
Scoring lefty on my favorite keeper
Live music and "window" shopping in the mission district
MOTO 101
ESPANOL 101
Camping, whiskey, Handi-Cap Parking and Mt. Knocoti
North Beach Extravaganza
Golfing in Bishop...how do I get to your house exactly?
BEACH VOLLEYBALL on 4th of July
Rafael Nadal Butt picking Tennis Matches
Playing no-peaking cards and twister competitively
Jazz and Ethiopian food together
Cochina
El Futuro.....

En fin, create your own story, and one must believe it, breath it, nourish it, and live it as best we see fit!

Gracias por ensenarme mi amor, mi vida, mi corazon, mi mejor amigo y razon para vivir.

Besitos,
Claire
xxx

Be Good to Yourself

My mother once told me that "You deserve everything good that ever happens to you! Please remember what a treasure you are." Those words have lifted my spirits time and again and although she is my mother, there is no mistake that she truly believes that all of her children and of course her new Nieta are the most wonderful beings on this earth and she is without a doubt our number one fan! Life takes its' toll on all of us in different ways and we all need our own dedicated personal cheerleader. I can't explain why we live this way, but Love is a tender and precious commodity and a life without it is not worth living. But let it be known that there are many kinds of love and each kind of love, whether it be the smell of coffee on a sunday morning, the warm sun on a summer afternoon, a good siesta, a hug, mi sobrinita Guinevere, or your neighbor's british bulldog, all these loves are worth every moment and they are what we call life. As my mother once told me "You deserve everything good that ever happens to you! Please remember what a treasure you are."

I only hope that one day I have the ability to make mi sobrinita feel as treasured as I do!

Luck, Risk, and Life: Suerte, Riesgo, y la Vida

Life sometimes deals us a different hand than we are expecting

A veces hay lo bueno y de repiente el malo, nadie sabe si la proxima lleva mas suerte o mas riesgo

The Mystery can be intriguing

El misterio podria ser una tortura tambien

We must play the game

Tengamos que jugar el juego

Win or Lose

Gana o Pierda

Guilt Free

After reading an article about how humans are driven by guilt and those that do not forgive themselves are often more stressed and usually take more time to get back on track after one little hiccup. Therefore, I have made a list of seemingly harmless ideas that I refuse to feel guilty about!

Thinking that Fro Yo doesn't really count as Calories

Not really being a big Giants fan until they won the World Series

Changing for a Run but choosing to walk with Girlfriends instead

Passing on the Two Buck Chuck because it is beneath me, yet too Frugal for the $20 range vino

Singing the chorus to every song, but hum the melody and never bother to learn the entirety

Counting silly romantic novels as real literature

Feeling competitive at pretty much everything that I do

Thinking that I am really someone in the world

Liking Football for the chance to drink beer

Sleeping in past 11:00 am

Making international calls to my Chilean Friends at work and pretending it's business since I am speaking Spanish

To have vino on "school" nights and stay out past my bedtime

Make a grocery list, but never follow it

To claim that I hate reality TV, but watch it anyway

Loss sleep about losing sleep

Wanting a pet but settling for a stuffed pig animal

Sampling the unwashed grapes out of the bag from Safeway to check the flavor

Pretending that I am listening while dreaming of my next adventure

Doing the dishes in the morning

Believing that Pablo Neruda would have loved me had we met in another life time

Smiling or Crying for no reason at all

Laughing so hard that I become hysterical

Pretending that I am asleep in the car on family vacations

There a lot of things that we do that we need not beat ourselves up over and we are all human that make errors and mistakes in life. It is statistically proven that those that can quickly get over these slip ups and return back to a happy state of mind are the people that typically live a more stress free lifestyle and a better balance in everyday life. So be good to yourself!

Fulfilling my Civic Duty

San Francisco Court House
400 McAllister Street,
San Francisco, CA 94102

Jury Duty, the dreaded summons that every individual seems to try and weasel out of with one excuse or another. Yet, just as many things are often more entertaining in San Francisco, Jury Duty in San Francisco is one of a kind!

After moving around for the last five years, I was finally summoned to attend Jury Duty for a criminal case this past Thursday, and surprisingly I am disappointed that I was not "elected" to be a juror on this case.

Why?

1.) First and for most because all the vocabulary and assumed etiquette of the courtroom is quite intriguing and really does have that "law and order" feel!

2.) Although the "perspective jurors" are summoned to evaluate somebody else's case, they all seem to want to make their case the priority. Which is not a new phenomenon in San Francisco as anyone and everyone seems to have their own "version" of the story.

3.) To see if I, myself am able to distinguish the law versus my own personal opinion or moral influences and truly access the case from an objective standpoint.

The end verdict, was that I was not chosen to stay on this case but have gotten a taste of what it might have been like and definitely hope that I get an opportunity in the future to fulfill my civic duty, especially in colorful city like San Francisco.

No Te Preocupes

"No Te Preocupes" or Don't worry..... Quite possibly my favorite phrase. Every morning that I come into the office I hear this phrase from our Chilean Suppliers.......

No te preocupes, it was only a frost and we lost 30% of the crop, but don't worry

No te preocupes, we gave your order to somebody else, but don't worry

No te preocupes, someone will be back in the office after lunch in four hours, but don't worry

No te preocupes, para nada!

Oh how I miss the care free attitude of Los Chilenos that we "Norteamericanos" cannot pull off no matter how hard we try! (and yes we are all Americans just some are Northern and some are Southern :)........counting down the months until I get to go back in Feb to see mi media naranja and sip some vinito!! Extrano mi chilito!

Logic

Who knows why we think the way that we do, other than the logical influences in our lives. But what about the un-explained? What about the thoughts that are unexplained and unresolved? Do we ignore these presumptions only to rationalize them as pre-meditated thoughts and nothing more? I remember writing a letter to my mother when I was little explaining to her that I was crazy and although I was very young I cannot help but think that this element of my life may always stick with me....for there have been moments far and few between where I have actually felt "normal." I feel connections with lots of different walks of life, but after analysis I feel that my so-called category in life does not exist, or better said, cannot be defined. Walking though life without a clue of what I want, I somehow know what I need and yet there always seems to be some obstacle preventing me from what I truly seek out of life. Wondering now when I will feel those butterflies in my stomach that I long for but cannot create. Such a sensation cannot be created, however the longer we go without feeling them the more we doubt that they exist. Mind over matter, is what they say.... but how long must we wait? Must be a story without an ending for now.........