Year In Review: 2013...

♥ Moving in with Justin

♥ Going to press screenings for Beautiful Creatures, Despicable Me 2, The House That Jack Built & 47 Ronin

♥ Vacationing in Cancun with Erin, Day & Chas

♥ Attending B&C and M&W's weddings

♥ Learning that I love Brussels sprouts

♥ Spending time with my family

♥ Attending LatinTRENDS 100th issue party

♥ Finally getting back to work after Hurricane Sandy

♥ Going on Phil's annual rafting trip

♥ Forming relationships that I wish I would have made earlier, better late than never

♥ Throwing my first party at my apartment

♥ Attending Lucky FABB & meeting Niki, Paulette, Emily, Jen, Charlotte, Sarah & Alicia

♥ Spending Labor Day weekend in Ocean City, MD with Erin, Day, Toni, Nick, etc.

♥ Celebrating 10 years dating Justin

♥ Discovering that I love wearing my hair down and curly

♥ Having the best friends that anyone could ever ask for

♥ Lazy days at the beach

♥ Making our apartment my own

♥ Daytripping in Atlantic City with my sister, Erin and their work peoples

♥ Having the opportunity to partner with amazing companies

♥ Seeing Stephen Lynch in concert

♥ Discovering how amazing it is having a waterproof camera

♥ Surviving knowing that I graduated high school ten years ago

♥ Scoring awesome thrift store finds

♥ Going on random day dates with Justin

♥ Having amazing readers

JANUARY (There aren't many posts because I cut my finger, had stitches & couldn't type)

♥ Chock Full o'Birthdays Weekend

♥ Overdue Archives: New Year's Eve In Instagram

♥ Twenty-Five Things That Make Me Happy

♥ Sweet Little Day

♥ Catching Up With Friends

FEBRUARY

♥ Birthday Dinners & Possible Broken Toes

♥ Getting My Craft On

♥ Nemo Found Us

♥ Beautiful Creatures Press Screening & Review

♥ Getting Ready To Go Out Playlist

♥ Bachelorette Parties & The Day After

♥ Birthday Wishlist

♥ Crap My Coworkers Actually Said

MARCH

♥ Hair Dye Makes You Nauseous

♥ Everlong

♥ Birthday Party Fail

♥ No Regrets 2013-2014 Edition

♥ Going Away Disaster

♥ Pantone Color Of The Year Wishlist

♥ Mini Rant: Driving Around The Airport

♥ Photoshoot With Erin's Cats

♥ Finally Open To The Public

♥ Update On Being Open To The Public

♥ Easter Dinner With Both Families

APRIL

♥ Day In NYC & Tickets To The Daily Show

♥ Party People In Instagram & Vine

♥ Flat Stanley & Amy

♥ Strawberry Banana Spinach Smoothie

♥ Help Me Pick Out A Dress

♥ Take Me Out To The Ball Game

♥ I Need To Stay Away From The Public Restroom

♥ Adventures In Apartment Hunting

♥ New Apartment Wishlist: Living Room

♥ Dancing By Myself

♥ Little Apartment Update

MAY

♥ Why I've Been M.I.A.

♥ Pretending To Be A Mom

♥ Cookin' Librarian: Apple & Cheese Sandwich

♥ Doctors Tending Bar For Boobies

♥ Review: Mo's Nose Series

♥ Summer Wishlist

♥ "Julia" Is Driving Me Crazy

♥ Product Review: Card From Cardstore.com

♥ B & C's Wedding In Instagram

JUNE

♥ Hospital Visits, Weddings, Birthdays, Sick People, Et Cetera

♥ Arrested Development & Frozen Bananas

♥ Talking About Horror Movies On The Radio

♥ Mini Rant: How Easy It Is To Break Victoria's Secret PINK Water Bottles

♥ Leaky Ceilings, Power Outages & Flooded Streets

♥ Bulk Air Fresheners For Litter Boxes

♥ Bilingual Story Time

♥ Best Friend Movie Date

♥ Just A Random Wishlist

♥ 50 Random Facts About Me

♥ Attempting To Interlibrary Loan A Book

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Atlantic City In Instagram

♥ The Conjuring

♥ Cookin' Librarian: Quinoa Salad

♥ Despicable Me 2

JULY

♥ Craft Demo: Painted Flower Pot

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Fourth Of July Fire Island Style In Instagram

♥ My Friend Guest Hosting On Tech Feed

♥ Sick Days

♥ All-Star Futures Game In Instagram

♥ Morning Full Of Stupidity

♥ Rafting Trip Weekend In Instagram

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Wall Art For The Renter, For Real™

AUGUST

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone: Food Porn Edition

♥ Breakfast Drama

♥ Photo An Hour: Stuck At Work Edition

♥ Crazy Ladies & Reading Comprehension

♥ N'SYNC Reunion? Yes Please

♥ Tech Feed News Featuring My Girl Chas

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Review: Confessions Of A Hater

♥ LatinTRENDS 100th Issue Event

SEPTEMBER

♥ Ocean City Labor Day Weekend Trip In Instagram

♥ I'm Going To Lucky FABB

♥ Taping Of Bethenny

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Did I Leave My Flat Iron On

♥ M & W's Wedding In Instagram

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone: Food Porn Edition

♥ Texts From Wrong Numbers

♥ New York Maker Faire

♥ 50 Random Facts About Me

OCTOBER

♥ Girls Trip To Cancun, Mexico

♥ 'The House That Jack Built' New York Premiere

♥ New York Comic Con 2013: Day One

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Stephen Lynch At The Space At Westbury

♥ If You See Something, Say Something

♥ Overdue: Rise Of The Jack O'Lanterns

♥ Overdue: Wandering Around The Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park

♥ I Haven't Even Been At Work An Hour

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone: Food Porn Edition

♥ Lucky FABB Conference

♥ Overdue: Sunday At Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve

♥ Kate Spade Wishlist

♥ 100% Confident To Be Awesome

♥ Halloween Beauty Look From COVERGIRL & Vidal Sassoon: Gatsby

♥ Halloween Beauty Look From COVERGIRL & Vidal Sassoon: Warrior Princess

NOVEMBER

♥ Halloween 2013 Recap

♥ Coca-Cola & HSF 'Share Possibilities' Scholarship For Hispanic Students

♥ If You Have Nothing To Say, Post Pictures Of Nella

♥ Drinkin' Librarian: Mojitos (Because I'm Cuban)

♥ Weekend Recap: Partying In NYC, Fake Thanksgiving & More

♥ Despicable Me 2 Giveaway

♥ Photo-An-Hour: Saturday, November 23rd

♥ Thanksgiving In Instagram

♥ LASIK Consultation

DECEMBER

♥ Forgotten Photos From My iPhone

♥ Dinner Date

♥ Saturday In Photos

♥ Book Review: Knock Knock My Dad's Dream For Me

♥ My Newest Coping Mechanism

♥ 47 Ronin Press Screening & An Evening In NYC

♥ 47 Ronin

♥ A Misfit For Every Season: 2013

♥ LASIK Pre-Op

• #GonnaGetCrabs • #NoDeadHookersHere • #NoHayProstitutasMuertasAquí •

• #TwerkTeamDoesCancun • #CancunLovesBadBitches • #TequilaHooker • 

• #HolaMeLlamoMcMoose • #BadBitchesLoveNYE • #TwerkTeamNYE •

• #Nella • #CubanChristmas • #ButleRiveRun •

2013 has been an interesting year to say the least. I've had all the wonderful things I've mentioned above happen, as well as some pretty shitty things. But you have to take the good with the bad and here's hoping 2014 is just as good or better than 2013.

Stay safe today and enjoy your New Year's Eve! I'll talk to you in 2014.

Update On Being Open To The Public...

As I mentioned on Wednesday the library is now open to the public after being closed for almost five months and it's actually gone better than I thought it would as of thus far (I'm a wait for the bottom to drop out kinda person).

People have been so incredibly nice and they are just so happy we're back up and running -- It's kinda like they didn't know what they had until it was gone type of thing. I hope the novelty of the library being open doesn't fade quickly and they continue to be wonderful, but we'll have to wait and see.

Finally Open To The Public...

It's been almost five months since Hurricane Sandy hit and we finally opened the library to the public today (This has been one of the big reasons I haven't written much lately, because we've been so busy trying to get the place ready to open). I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda weird to have patrons in the building seeing as we've been closed for so long and it's also very stressful, at least for me because I notice everything and I can see all of the things that still need fixing and such. But I guess it was time for us to just jump in and get the place open. I'll let you guys know how it all goes...

Chock Full o'Birthdays Weekend...

I spent this past weekend celebrating birthdays. Saturday we had a belated birthday dinner for my mother at the house (Mainly because she refused to let us take her out to dinner on her actual birthday which was last Thursday). I cooked dinner for the family and the boyfriends, it was nice aside from the fact that we all didn't sit together at the dinning room table (Our dinning room is full of stuff we managed to salvage from our den after Hurricane Sandy hit and we have nowhere else to put all the stuff, so we couldn't move everything to clear the table). Everyone enjoyed the dinner I cooked (Or pretended to at least), but not as much as the amazing cake I picked up from Dortoni Bakery in Levittown (If you live on Long Island and you need a cake, go to Dortoni's. This was the second cake we've purchased from them and both cakes were amazing). Overall it was a nice little family dinner, even though everyone but my mother wishes we just went out to a restaurant to save on the dishes & such.

Sunday afternoon was Jack's first birthday party and I must say, Nicole and Eileen did it up with a sweet pirate theme. A bunch of us dressed up like pirates (Or at least had a skull and crossbones somewhere on our person), there was pirate music, a beautiful pirate ship cake that Eileen made, an awesome activities table for the children attending the party, etc. It was really a good time for a child's birthday party.

All of these birthday celebrations just made me start thinking about what I want to do for my birthday in March (I love planning birthday parties, especially my own). I'm thinking about staying on Long Island this year and maybe gathering my friends to play paintball at this indoor place in West Babylon. I'll have to ask around and feel people out to see if it'll be possible. I hope my friends are down because I think it could be awesome.

Morning Meeting...

This morning I got to attend a meeting for work. It wasn't the most riveting of meeting (It was just the monthly county children's meeting) but it was nice to do something library related and see my Department Head, whom I haven't seen since before the hurricane hit. Yay for keeping busy with work-like things!

My Oddly Amusing Not Planned Saturday...

What I ended up doing yesterday had to do with failed plans. So it all started because I made a point of actually going back home (I hadn't slept in my own bed in over a month) Friday because I thought that I had to wake up early on Saturday to deal with my friend getting her life out of her storage unit that finally opened back up this past week after being partially destroyed during Hurricane Sandy and that I was going back to Queen with her to help with whatever. Well, at some point Friday evening (Too late in the evening to drive back to Justin's apartment) she texted me saying that she wasn't able to get the movers for the next day so the plans were scrapped. Since I was tired I just stayed at my house for the night.

On Saturday morning while I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself for the day my sister mentioned that she and our cousin Nick were going to The Nutty Irishman in Bay Shore for a Hurricane Sandy fundraiser that a bunch of her coworkers were going to and asked me if I wanted to go. Since I had no firm details from anyone else about any other going ons and my mother insisted I hang out with my sister and cousin instead of my friends (She also talked me into going food shopping with her) I decided that I'd go hang out with them.

The fundraiser was from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. We drank with her coworkers, listened to the band (Her coworker's father was in the band), bought some raffle tickets, didn't win anything, etc. We stuck around until a little after 8:00pm because by that time we'd had enough of it and Nick was supposed to meet up with people (Including some of my friends from high school) at a bar closer to us around 9:00pm. So the three of us drove from Bay Shore about an hour to another bar.

Once we got to the other bar we drank, talked, danced, there was some sulking on certain people's parts, etc. A recipe for an amusing evening, at least for me. Overall, yesterday was an odd day. I didn't end up doing anything that I had initially planed on, but I still ended up having a good day.

Product Review & Giveaway: Diamond Candles...

I have a new obsession and I wanted to share it with all of you! I recently-ish discovered Diamond Candles thanks to an Instagram photo that "Lexie" posted a few weeks ago and I am totally in love.

For those of you that don't know Diamond Candles are all natural soy candles that have a ring worth anywhere from $10 to $5,000 inside of each of them. It's seems so silly and gimmick, but it is so much fun burning these candles and waiting to be able to pull out that little gold foil wrapped ring.

Since the start of my obsession I've had two candles delivered. I ordered my first candle right before Hurricane Sandy hit and I unfortunately had to use it because the power went out, but I must say it was an excellent distraction (For myself and Justin's sisters) and made the place smell wonderful.

I cannot express how much I love the scent of these candles. You know how some candles smell awesome in their jar/container/whatever and they don't smell the same once you start burning them? Well that is not the case with these candles. They smell just as amazing while burning as they do in the jars and they have a great scent throw.

In terms of the rings, I did not receive a $5,000 ring or even $100 ring in either of my candles but I must say the $10 rings I did get are pretty sweet and they fit (Since reading around about these candles I know that people's biggest complaint is the fact that the size of the ring you're going to receive is a crap shoot and you may or may not get a ring that fits). And honestly if I got a ring I wasn't so fond of I could always the Diamond Candles Ring Swap Facebook page and try to swap with someone.

The only problem I have with these candles is that fact that they are so addictive and they cost like $30.00 shipped from the website if you don't have a coupon code or something, because I could honestly drop a bunch of money buying these (Justin told me I was a candle crackhead).

But I do have a tip for those who think spending $24.95 plus shipping on a candle is a little too rich for their blood. My suggestion to you if you wanna try them and not spend that much money is to sign up for Sneakpeeq because they frequently have the candles in their "Living" section and there is always some kind of discount on them. I got my Caramel Apple Cider candle off of Sneakpeeq for $13.99, plus free shipping (I had a free shipping badge that I applied to the order).

Now lets get to the fun stuff...

In honor of my love of these candles, December and it being holiday season I am giving away ONE (1) gift certificate worth $24.95 for a Diamond Candle to a lucky subscriber (Shipping not included, but they always seem have coupon codes floating around the interwebs for free shipping and if there is one when I give this prize away I will totally tell you what it is). Unfortunately this not open internationally because Diamond Candles does not ship outside of the United States.

So this is your standard Rafflecopter type giveaway. Being a Google Friend Connect follower to this blog and leaving a comment below about what candle you'd pick from the Diamond Candles website if you won are mandatory and gain you two entries. If you wanna do everything else specified in box below you will just get more chances to win! Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

••••••••••••••••• CONTEST ENDS DECEMBER 25TH AT MIDNIGHT •••••••••••••••••

This giveaway was not sponsored, I purchased the gift certificate with my own money.

I Haven't Worked In Exactly A Month...

I cannot believe that as of today it has been exactly a month since the last time I went to work. You'd think I'd be enjoying not going to work but I really don't. I'm all sorts of bored to the point where I'm constantly looking for something to do around Justin's place (His apartment had NEVER been this clean) as I sit around waiting to hear something about my job and when I can go back to work.

I was once told by an unemployed friend that after a week or so of sleeping in late it gets old and you really want/need something to do because it gets boring really quickly, which I didn't believe when they told me but they were completely right. Sleeping in and watching daytime television is getting boring.

I mean, I've been running around and doing various things for my family whenever they ask me to but having to do randomness has become less and less as our house has been cleanedish and is being fixed. We have electricity, running/hot water, etc. The only thing we don't have yet is heat because my parents had to order a new boiler and that is thankfully going to be installed tomorrow. Once we get that in we can all technically move back in because our bedrooms weren't damaged during the storm, but the house still have a lovely odor thanks to all flood/sewer water that molded our den.

But yeah, it's crazy to think that it's almost been a month since Hurricane Sandy hit and ruined everything. And that my library still isn't open.

More Found Things Thanks To Sandy...

Last week I posted pictures of randomness that I found while wandering the beach with Erin, well here are some more found things from the beach thanks to Hurricane Sandy that I saw while wandering around with my mom...

Visiting Friends...

Since the hurricane a lot of my friends have become displaced because of all of the damage done to their houses and apartments, so Erin and I have been going around for the past couple of days and visiting some of them.

On Monday after some shopping we stopped by Nicole's new place to see her and baby Jack. We helped her with somethings around the house and just caught up. It was nice hanging out with mama and baby for a few hours, especially since I haven't seen Jack in a while. The place they are staying in is relatively close to Justin's apartment so I'll be going to visit them often.

Yesterday we drove into Queens to see our friend (The one that moved to Raleigh and then back) and her daughter. We picked her daughter up from school with her, took them to Tortilleria Nixtamal for some amazing tacos (Which was an adventure all in itself because I had to drive from Richmond Hill to Corona and I hate driving in the boroughs) and then we went back to her new unfurnished apartment where we talked, played hide & go seek in the dark, etc.

I'm really glad we got to go visit peoples. It kinda makes things feel normal and it's nice to see people picking themselves back up and trying to start again even if it isn't where we're all from.