El blog de mel

Updated Travel map

2014-12-15T14:26:00.000-05:00

Updated map! At 39 countries, pretty cool.
visited 39 states (17.3%)
Create your own visited map of The World

4 years!

2014-12-14T09:30:00.000-05:00

My real life has just begun

Cause there's nothing like your smile made of sun

In the world full of strangers

You're the one I know

Shakira, The one

Books read on 2014 - Tableau version

2014-12-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

I was working on my list of books read and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to make them into a tableau dashboard..because that is what normal people do.... Here are the highlights

Finished 43 books. And I have 3 in progress which I will probably finish during my holiday travel.. but they are not included here
The setting of the book was not very diverse. On the top 24 in USA, 6 in England.

My literary credibility goes to ashes when noticing that close to 50% of those books were written for teenagers...

Most of the books were cataloged as "Romance " . However Romance also has the lowest rating... So apparently I Love to hate teenager romantic books. Nothing new here...

Looking for a crappy teenager book to read? Find my Complete list and reviews here

50 book challenge - tableau version

2014-12-09T12:21:00.000-05:00

Updated my list and made a tableau dashboard..

Learn About Tableau

Life according to my iphone pics

2014-11-09T12:05:00.000-05:00

I recieved the best news I have ever recieved after a dentist visit: I only need to fix two cavities... And they also gave me a new tongue scatcher ..Best day ever

I would never want to be judged based on the contents of my recycling bin...

I would much rather prefer to be judged based on my winter accessories...

I found wannabe-tunas in the market and was tempted to buy them but the creepy kid on the box seemed to be up to something so I ran away.

The usually photogenic Kati shows his wild side .

I learned how to make bags and totes in my sewing class... the world could use some more totes I reckon..

I tried my luck at making pan de muerto this year. It was a total flop... Turns out that you are supposed to knead the thing for more than 20 seconds.. who would have known?

I took a class on how to make french macarons. It was easier than I thought.. they ended up a little ugly but yummy!

50 States book challenge

2014-10-30T13:22:00.000-04:00

I am trying to complete the 50 states book challenge in which you read a book set up in a different state.
I've read some books with repeated states but I am only listing the first one that comes to mind...
I think this is fun and maybe I can do it with countries later? The possibilities are endless

The list is a work in progress..

Alabama -to kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California - Replay -Ken Grimwood
Colorado
Connecticut
DC -The lost symbol - Dan Brown
Delaware
Florida
Georgia- Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
Hawaii - Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Idaho
Illinois - Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Indiana - The fault in our stars, John green
Iowa
Kansas - Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
Kentucky - Paper Valentine, Yovanoff, Brena
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts - We were liars, E Lockhart.
Michigan
Minnesota - Freedom - Johnathan Franzen
Mississippi - As I lay Dying - William Faulkner
Missouri - Gone Girl, Gillian FLin
Montana
Nebraska - Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell
Nevada - The goldfinch , Donna Tartt
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York - The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio - The 5th wave , Rick Yancey
Oklahoma - The Spectacular now, Tim Tharp
Oregon - If I stay - Gayle Forman
Pennsylvania - The Lovely Bones, Alice Seabold
Rhode Island
South Carolina - The invention of wings - Sue Monk Kidd
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia- The Raven Boys series - Maggie Stiefvater
Washington - Where'd you go Bernardette, Maria Semple
West Virginia - The Hunger games series - Suzanne Collins (Technically district 12th but its clear is the appalachia)
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Melero Currently - October 2014

2014-10-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

Progress from last month's goal

My goal for August was to get my blog up to date... After two months I can declare this a failure... The Summer is too short to spend it blogging. Although there are some amazing moments that I should blog about ,
Like that day when I saw Benedict Cumberbatch in a bar and annoyed him by taking not-so-subtle paparazzi pictures...He wasn't very happy but at least I got him to talk to me ...when he came to tell me to stop being an annoying stalker... .Still a win

Current book

Out of my pile of Young Adult dystopias two books stand out

1984- George Orwell- Such a good book. No wonder why its a classic. It is enthralling and linguistically superior

El Ruido de las cosas al caer - Juan Gabriel Vasquez - I just started it and I haven't read anything in Spanish in a while. I am blown away by the beauty of well-written Spanish..

Current favorite app

I have been using Camoji a lot, it allows you to make animated Gifs on the fly. Even Kati loves animated Gifs.

Current shows

I just finished watching the British series " Happy valley".
Its only 6 episodes so go binge watch now, its available on Netflix. British accents are the best

Current triumph

Home made crockpot pozole. Surprisingly delicious and easier that expected...

Current happiness

This year I am extremely impressed by the fall colors. It's ridiculously pretty and happy making

Current favorite product

I just got the new Iphone 6 and I love it. Kati loves the slo-mo videos. Slo-mo kati shake:

Current excitement

I signed up for sewing classes and got myself a sewing machine.. I am one step closer from winning project runway. My fall fashion line is on the works.

Current food

Lots of apples and peaches from the Orchard "pick your own" adventure.

Current banes of my existence

I had my in-body assessment at the Gym and apparently the classification of "slightly chubby latinas with a big booty" does not exist and they placed me on the Obese category.

I am glad I am not 15 or I would be having terrible body image issues......

Current playlist

Quite appropriate song of the moment:
All that Bass by Meghan Trainor

Current outfit

UGGs and yoga Pants... to go with pumpkin spice latte to complete the cliche

Current wishlist item

I have survived for 30 years without owning or operating a clothes iron but now that I started sewing it looks like I cannot escape it any longer..Time to buy an Iron...#OfficiallyDomesticated

Goals for the month

With the winter approaching I need to bring my winter coats to the dry cleaners... They have been hanging by the door waiting for this since April...
Sounds like a small goal but this would actually be my first time going to the dry cleaners and for some reason the idea is slightly overwhelming...

The Alaska diaries: The Kenai peninsula

2014-09-18T15:32:00.000-04:00

We arrived to the Kenai peninsula with big plans and were welcomed by a storm and a forecast of miserable weather. This was the visibility of the wonderful dreamy bay.

Our bay cruise to see the wild life and devour on crab legs was cancelled because of the bad weather and the dangers of capsizing.. and we had to fill up the time with the closest thing to crab legs that we could find ... beer. #dontjudgeme

So we had to get our best purchase of the trip, the 1 dollar plastic ponchos to go see exit glacier

Does this plastic bag make me look fat?

We took the ranger guided glacier tour in which the accelerated disappearance of the glacier was made evident. Our ranger guide however scoffed at the idea of global warming and remarked that the disappearance of glaciers is a good thing because life will make a comeback. If we had a glacier here where would these moose live? uuuuh?? #RangerLogic

Glacier ice tastes just like snow.. in case you were wondering...

We tried the hike up the Harding Icefield but were were deterred by rain and fog. We made it to Marmot meadows where I tried to channel my inner "person who found interior peace" for a picture.. It was not very convincing.

When the bad part of the storm passed we were left with only the fog, perfect weather for kayaking Resurrection Bay. Teddy was terrified that my selfie taking ways would cause the kayak to flip .

Kayaking through the fog was cool and it eventually cleared so were were able to see more than 3 meters beyond our nose. We even saw some whales jump feeding in our proximity..

According to our Kayak guide we were extremely lucky because he had never seen something like that before....In the two weeks that he had been on the job #Sweet

The Alaska diaries: Denali National Park

2014-09-07T09:53:00.000-04:00

We spent two days in Denali national park. The highlights

- We stayed in "The crows nest" which are beautiful cabins in a muddy hillside.. It doesn't get more picturesque than this

- Denali national park has limited hiking trials and they encourage people to get off the paved road and explore the park on their own. A system of buses drop and pick up people in different locations. The bus drivers also provide some narration and stop for wildlife and scenic sights.

- Grizzly bears roam around in the park and apparently they particuarily like walking on the main road which is where we saw this hottie.

- We also saw plenty of moose hanging around

- The statistics say that Mount Mackinley is only visible 33% of the time but we were able to see it peeking behind the clouds throughout the day.

- We made it all the way to Wonder Lake which is 6 hours into the park. This is the spot where the sightings of wild enourmous mosquitos is best. We were however well prepared against them.

- We got off the bus to hike on our own for a few hours. We climbed the Alpine trail which was very joyous until we got vertigo from the heights and decided to keep our hiking away from the steepy hills.

- There is still some snow from the winter around. which I thought was extremely exciting

- On day two I was obsessed with hiking "geode mountain" which the internet has told me that I would see amazing geodes and all my dreams would come true. We got off the bus and started hiking to the mountain which seemed to be reachable by foot..

- But required some river crossings which ended on wet feet but it was all good becuase we had good boots

- Then the rain started which was cold and quite annoying but it was all good because we had rain ponchos

- And then the seemengly walkable terrain turned out to be tundra which was a knee deep marsh through which we had to wade through. But it was all good because we love mud.

-We hiked for two hours in the horrible tundra and we did not even make the base of the mountain... at this point we did not have enough time to get to the mountain, climb it up and down and make it back to the road for the last bus out of the park... so we decided to abort the geode mountain quest and get back to the camp #brokendreams .

But at least I can do this:

- We had dinner both nighs in the same place "The Bake" which is delicious and has an excellent menu featuring Yakadilla (Yak quesadilla,..and yak tastes just like reindeer which tastes just like beef)

The Alaska diaries: Talkeetna's wildlife

2014-09-03T15:22:00.000-04:00

On day 2 we headed to Denali National park. The weather was rainy for most of the day.

With a lunch stop in Talkeetna which is a five block town with really cool buildings with a Cat for a mayor.

"The mayor" was our third wildlife sightning of the trip. He is a celebrity but remains humble and accepts pets from the crowds.

Talkeetna also has Mexican moose...arguably the best species of moose..

Fourth wildlife sightning of the trip

The Alaska diaries : Anchorage

2014-09-02T12:54:00.000-04:00

Getting to Alaska had some of the most amazing airplane views I have ever seen. Mountains galore

We got to Anchorage on 4th of July just in time for dinner and the Independence day fireworks at 11pm which hapened to also happen to be in full daylight. I knew that Alaska had 21 hours of daylight this time of year but actually living it was a little unsetteling.. White nights are cray

Our first day in Anchorage we rented bikes and rode along the Coastal trail all the way to the chugach park. The road is pretty flat and scenic. We didnt spend much time in the park and we did not see any of the "many caribou" that supposedly live in the park.

We walked around the city and visited the important spots like the local macaron place

We had Reindeer gyros from lunch from a street cart.

Either Reindeer Gyro tastes exactly like beef gyro or we were scammed. It was still delicious..

The visitor center was showcasing a rescue Bald eagle and there was an info session going on where people could ask all their questions about Bald Eagles..Most of the questions were around why the bird didnt respond to his name and why he couldn't be cuddled with...

Not exaclty wildlife but still counts

Our second wildlife encounter was with a handsome sled dog

We took the city walking tour which highlighted the history of Alaska and Capitan Cook's travels before he was killed and dismembered by the hawaiians.

We also learned how the evil Russians killed baby otters and exploited the locals until the territory was bought by America who saved the otters, fished some whales to extinction and gave some shares of a company to the locals in exchange for their lands. #bestDealEver

We went all the way across town to have dinner in the number one restaurant in Anchorage (according to Yelp) "The Moose's tooth" which is a pizza place that does not take reservations and makes you wait 1.5-2 hours for a table.

Service was good and the pizza was delicious but not 2-hour-wait delicious...

The most remarkable thing in the menu is the beer. Alaska brewery has an Apple Ale and a white beer to die for...

Melero and the totem Pole

family reunion extravaganza

2014-08-31T22:06:00.000-04:00

Pictures from the family reunion extravaganza.

Including that morning when I made burned panckaes that tasted like arsenic and tried to kill everyone..

The trip to RockPort

Visiting the photobooth 8 times

Dinner on top of the rock

Mom's Graduation

Walking around harvard Square.

Commencement Chronicles

2014-08-29T16:00:00.000-04:00

The family came for my commencement.

The big event started waking up at 5 am so that we could make it to campus by 6:30am. Mom and Ther had to stay in line for an hour to get seats for the ceremony. However, Sleeping 4 hours the night before and waiting in the freezing cold did not wither their spirits.. it only gave them puffy eyes and a cold...

But it was all worth it because they had a five second glimpse of me walking by on the parade towards the yard.

The first ceremony (degree awarding ) was pretty fun. They gave an honorary degree to Isabel Allende and George Bush Sr . There was a lot of shouting and celebrating. Spotting celebrities makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Then we made our way to the second ceremony after gorging on packaged sandwiches. I dont remember the ceremony because I was falling asleep the whole time. It also lasted about a million hours.... I only woke up to walk the isle, get my diploma and shake hands...

By the time that the third ceremony rolled in, we were too fed up of the crowd and decided to skip it entirely and gave the tickets away to a family of Asian tourists that seemed quite excited to see Bloomberg.

And that meant we had some extra time for Picture taking time!

Ther took home her own professional degree on "Celebratory Cap throwing "

Celebratory family dinner. !

Melero Currently August 2014

2014-07-31T12:37:00.000-04:00

Current outfit

A lot of things have changed in my life but my fashion sense remains the same since high school. Pika pika!!! #30YearOldPokemon

Current mood

Confused.
this year is going by so fast! Its almost the end of July and I haven't crossed a single item from my extensive "Things to do this summer" list...

Where did my year go!?

Current wishlist item

I recently sampled some products from "something gud" and now I want to buy them all. Its a farmers market delivery service with prices 2-3 times higher than the store... but let me tell you: $10 granola doesn't get any better than this

Current shows

Recently watch the HBO series "Silicon Valley". Its too funny and everyone should be watching it STAT

Current Triumph

We are battling a demonic fruit fly infestation but our homemade traps are working. So far we are winning the war. Gross picture of dead fruit flies for your viewing pleasure:

Cue to appropriate reaction gif

Current banes of my existence

I bought a beautiful sunflower to go with my happy sunny summer... and it died in less than a week.
I watered it enough! I swear I tried!!
Such a happy-making plant

Current playlist

Instead of a song that I like, I chose the worst song ever written, courtesy of spotify radio. This song makes me want to invent a time machine so that I can go back to make sure that whoever wrote those lyrics is not ever born.

Disclosure: Song is in Spanish..

Current favorite Quote

Current food

I finally caught up with the "zoodles" trend and I have made zucchini pasta twice this week.

Recipe

Current favorite app

I have been obsessing over Brian Wars which has many brain games that you play against other people.

I struggle A LOT with the calculation mini games.. which is very obvious in my lopsided brain map.

Play with me on the BrainWars app : Invitation code: BY0552

Current favorite product

My impulse-purchase of the month was a pink fitbit flex and I love it like a love song.

It's only been three days but it is actually making me more active. I keep going on little walks to make my fittbit happy.

Current happiness

Feeling my fitbit vibrate and glow to tell me that I achieved my 10,000th step of the day is priceless.

Current books

I read three books since the last update. My opinions:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is just adorable.
I savored every single word and could not put it down.
Its about Eleanor and Park and their high school romance. It sounds just like the other 5000 teenager books that exist (and I've read) but it stands out as unique and it made me swoon.
The characters are relatable and real, and very different from the typical YA protagonist.
100% recommended and I will probably read it again someday.
Can't wait to read other books by the same author.

Replay by Ken Grimwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this one, it has a good amount of everything,,, politics, romance, philosophy, etc.
Written and set in the the late 1980's it follows the story of Jeff, a regular person who suddenly dies and wakes up in his own body 25 years back with all his memories intact and gets to replay his life again in a new way and with a different perspective.
Many questions about life, love, and purpose are explored. The characters are believable and relatable
Definitely would recommend it.

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It was ok but I felt like Leila was too fake. She was raised in the middle east in a somehow conservative way and yet she was grinding like a pro on her first night out in America. Without drinking any alcohol... I just don't feel you can lose your shyness so fast and easily.

The only parts that I loved were the last two appendixes from the author and commentator..

Goals for next month

I need to update my blog with many relevant stories from the past 4 months... My goal for August is to get it up to date.

Melero Currently - flying to Alaska version

2014-07-02T16:13:00.000-04:00

current playlist

I found this song in a random spotify mix and really liked it...

Not sure why...I have no idea what the lyrics mean

current triumphs

We got upgraded to first class!!!

Current food

First class airplane food!

current favorite show(s)

been watching a lot of world cup.

current banes of my existence

I am afraid that after traveling in first class I might not be able to go back to economy class without having my soul die a little bit...

current outfit

Writing this on the plane towards alaska. Wearing my hiking Jacket which still has the theft protection thingy attached to it... And Yoga pants becase traveling in stretchy pants beats traveling in style.

current excitement

Did I mention I am on my way to ALASKA??? In first class.?? .. and every time the flight attendant comes out with a new surprise I jump up and down and take pictures..

So far I got overly excited about the wet towels, the blue moon beer, the red wine and the gelato.. i just saw some trays with snacks and fruits coming my way .. Squeeeee

current mood

Pretty chill,,, it could be becuase of the red wine and gelato mentioned above..

current wish list item(s)

I realized (too late) that I forgot to pack a hoodie.. and I also want to get the most ridiculuously big hiking hat that my budget can afford...

current favorite product(s)

Mint and jasmine tea by Numi,,,

They had them in the airport lounge and they are amazing... Somehow a few of them made it to my purse..

current book(s)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

This one was on the bestseller list for a while, and me being a trend follower decided to check it out.

The book is about the life of Theo , whose mom dies in a terrorist attack to a NY museum. Theo leaves the scene traumatized and orphan but takes The famous painting of the goldfinch out ot the museum with him. The book then follows theo´s life adventures with an stolen piece of art.

I really liked this one. Reminded me a lot of Great Expectations in style and in how Theo is as annoying as Pip.

My favorite part of the book was Boris, Theo´s childhood friend who is a horrible person overall but who I felt had a good soul... he didn´t choose the thug life, the thug life chose him.

Its a fat one but I recommend it ...

The 5th wave - Rick Yancey

This one has been hyped a lot on the Teenager literature blogs .. (ahem... not that I follow those or anything) as the new Hunger Games/ Divergent saga... so I jumped at it at the first opportunity I had (a.k.a. after waiting weeks to get it from the hold list in the library)

The story is about an alien invasion to earth on present day. The mothership just shows up and releases four deadhly waves of attacks against humanity. Our main charachter, "Cassie for Casiopea" survived the four waves and is determined to save her brother before the 5th wave hits...

I liked the premise a lot. I think the setup is well done and it is definitely a page turner.

There is a good dose of teenager on Alien romance and it is action packed...The problem I have with it is that it seems too cheesy and repetitive.. the fact that Evan's hands are soft as clouds is mentioned around 20 times... I KNOW HE HAS PERFECT CUTICLES... STOP THIS NON SENSE AND START MAKING OUT DAMN IT!!

I will definitely wait for the next one in the series but it didnt impress me that much..

Panama

2014-06-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

(Four months late but here are my panama pics and thoughts for the record)

Highlights from Panama

The trip started out stressful because Teddy bought his ticket as "Teddy" and the people at Copa decided that it was nowhere close to his real name and therefore might not be able to board the flight. After several hours on the phone and a trip to the airport he was able to change his name on the ticket and take his flight without having to pay an extra $1000.
After landing we rented a car to drive to the resort area which, according to Google maps, was less than one hour away from the airport. After getting lost in the scary parts of town, going against traffic, missing our exit on the highway and multiple stops along the way to ask for directions, we made it to the resort in only 2.5 hours. Panama Teddy loved the adventure and he only complained about driving in third world countries about 50 times....Such a trooper.

The resort was practically empty which was weird considering that it was high season. The view from our room was A-MA-ZING (below) . We stayed at the Sheraton Bijao. The food was not THAT amazing but it was good for an all inclusive. The facilities and amenities were great overall..

My favorite feature: Beach recliners inside of the pool. Brilliant idea...

Beach chillin' in the shade becuase the sun scares me. Fun Fact about Panama; The sun is scrochng hot... I dont remember feeling such a burning sun in my life. I could hear my skin zizzle like a juicy steak after staying in the sun for 3 minutes...Such a fun fact.

After the beach we spent some time in Panama City and visited some cool places like The Amador Causeway which features delicious seafood

And of course, the Canama Panal.. modern marvel with an equally modern and marvelous IMAX 3D movie..Then we drove by this extremely cool building that locals nickname "el tornillo" *The screw" which I had never seen or heard of and I thought was extremely cool.

Panama selfie wearing a Panama hat (made in China)

bigger accomplishment

2014-06-23T22:05:00.001-04:00

Photo session walking around campus the weekend before commencement (Two months ago)

Feeling like a flying squirrel with the gown wings.

Melero and the famous John Harvard statue..

Jumping in front of the library wearing sort of high heels feels like a bigger accomplishment than graduating...

The proud mother and photographer

Hiking Blue Hills MA

2014-06-23T13:54:00.002-04:00

Two weeks before the vacation, we needed to break-in our new hiking boots so we went o Blue Hills for a 2 hour 2 mile hike.

We are apparently very slow hikers.. maybe because we took time to stage scenes from the Lion King

Although my rock climbing skills were not that great

A problem that apparently Ted "The Billy Goat" does not share...

We even ventured off the road to get to a stinky pond which required a thorough tick check ( and tick freak out)

City Views from the top

Extremely irrelevant selfies

2014-06-18T21:54:00.004-04:00

I found a collection of extremely irrelevant selfies to post. Fair warning: these are as old as they are irrelevant...

Thinking about replacing my regular ear muffs with these amazing Dinosaur accessory. Winters have never been so fun and fashionable

And to match with a similar discreet style: A new summer Hat

The grand opening of Wegmans was the event of the season

Some random night out. You know you had a fun night when you end up in the bar's bathroom snapping selfies.

Practicing our synchronized intense stare into the camera.

Kato visited the groomer for his Spring Lion haircut. He attacked the person holding him down and made him bleed profusely. He had to get a bath to clean up the groomer's blood from his fur. He is very pleased with himself.

Apparently I find Fridays extremely exciting.

Books April / May

2014-05-16T23:47:00.002-04:00

I usually try to balance my Teenager books with more adult titles but this month all 4 reads are YA...
Here they are ordered from Amazing to Horrid

Dreams of Gods & Monsters(Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)

Taylor, Laini

This is the third and last book of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. I LOVED the series . It has strong and kick ass female characters, suck it Katniss put Karou is my new imaginary best friend from a teenager novel. (Sorry Bella, you never stood a chance)

I admit that it might not be for everyone: It is about Angels and Chimeras so the fantasy element is there. but .. But the narrative is beautiful and the story is totally engaging. The first book is still my favorite but I love the series as a whole. There is romance but the book does not revolve around it, there are way more important things happening in Eretz to worry about love affairs...

Paper Valentine

Yovanoff, Brenna *

This one could win the prize of guilty pleasure of the month. It has it all

Girl who talks to ghosts: Check,
A murder mystery that only teenagers can solve (with the help of said ghosts of course) : Check.
Problematic and trouble teenager with a heard of gold: Check

It is cheesy and a little predictable but I really enjoyed it and could not put it down.

Allegiant (Divergent, #3)

Roth, Veronica *

Another third in a trilogy and what a horrible way to close a trilogy.
The first book was interesting and entertaining, the premise is of a post apocalyptic Chicago in which people are separated in "Factions" based on their personalities. Our heroine Tris turns out to be a divergent which means that she has affinity with more than one faction. this means that her life is in danger because someone is killing the divergent so she must hide... The second book is kind of boring but the plot thickens and you really really want to know what is behind the city walls...
The third book (Allegiant) is horrid. It took me 5 months to finish it because it was just soooo boring.
The mystery that we have been wondering about for so long is anticlimactic and lame. It turns into a psychological drama ridden with fights and guilt and a lot of rancor.
LAAAAME

Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1)

Clare, Cassandra *

This one started out with a good premise and the first 50 pages were promising but it became unberable very quickly. The main female character is totally odious, insufferable, rude and despicable. (Are all those synonyms?) and it is supposed to be set in Victorian England but it just tries too hard and fails too miserably.
Such a waste of my time... I quit when I was abut 75% done and opted for reading the ending on Wikipedia.
Even reading the wikipedia synopsis felt like a waste of my life. THAT BAD/

Life on Everyday selfies - Vol 1

2014-04-29T23:06:00.000-04:00

My life lately as told by my iphone selfies

The Cherry blossoms come to Boston one month late...better late than never..

Tried to go for a run and I was reminded (the hard way) that running sucks and I hate it.

Finally got my paws on "Dreams of Gods and Monsters".. My inner teenager rejoices. I can see sleepless and obsessive reading nights in my near future.

Wegmans finally opened on my side of town and as expected, it is made of awesome.

Some strange force made me get grapefruit juice even though I hate grapefruit. It was probably the worst decision I made in the last month

The weather is extremely Bipolar which has a severe impact on my moods ranging from Happy spring

to miserable winter

To unruly bad hair... (Which is totally a weather-induced mood)

March in iphone pictures

2014-04-13T21:44:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to put together a "March highlights" post by following the trail of pictures on my iphone.

Another snow storm to finish off the snow season.

At least I have fashionable accessories to deal with the bad weather

VERY cold and VERY Fashionable

DC travel during Choki's birthday weekend. Meeting at Rira.

But then I started seeing some Traces of Spring

Which made me realize that if the winter was ending, so was the season of cold Snap.

And I decided to drink as much cold snap as I could...

And I kept true to my commitment

Then I went to Panama to escape the winter... and my Copa flight attendant looked like Price Royce...

Taking off. Planes are fast, in case you didnt know...

when in Panama...Better try Panama Lager...

But the weather wasn't getting any better when I came back..

So I had to keep up the pursuit of cold snap. Kato proved to be an awesome drinking partner.

Two more Birthday Parties in one Month!.. Thats a total of three in case we were counting.

Perfect time to enjoy cold snap

But then they decided that it was time for Summer Ale.. :( and this is how the season of the fancy cocktails begins...

Spring is springing.

TLDR: Melero hates the winter and is happy to see it end but she loves Cold Snap and is kind of sad that she won't get to drink it again until next year..
And maybe Melero should stop taking pictures of all her drinks... her iphone is starting to think that she is a raging alcoholic..

March Books..

2014-04-01T16:12:00.000-04:00

Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish

Every single review raves about it and talks about the many wonders of Rakoff. I count not read this book for the life of me and I gave up. It is all written in verse and I found myself reading each phrase five times to make sense of them... The writing is beautiful without a doubt but its so hard to follow.

The Spectacular Now

My monthly dose of teenager romance. Sutter is the teenager protagonist who can be only defined as an alcoholic train wreck. Sutter meets Aimee, your stereotypical good introverted and a total wallflower. Contrary to the YA expectations, Sutter pretty much turns Aimee into a total alcoholic mess. It was kind of unpredictable and it felt very realistic and down to earth... It would have been much better if one of the main characters was a Vampire...

The Guest Cat

This is a little Japanese tale of a workaholic Japanese couple that start getting visits from their neighbor's cat: Chibi. The Cat is cat and attacks them and would not allow them to pet her and regardless they totally fall for her and start getting life lessons from the wise Chibi... Its much better than it sounds and I can relate. I love Japanese books and enjoy picturing tatamis and Japanese gardens in my head.

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

This one about Nathaniel P, a pretentious Ivy league Graduate who is about to publish his first novel. His life is awesome and all the women want to be with him 'cause he is such a desirable bachelor. However, as every pretentious eligible bachelor would, he is a total asshole. The book is pretty much a narration of his past 5 relationships describing in painful (and sort of funny) detail, how much of an asshole he was to each of them. I hated Nathaniel P immensely but the book is overall good. Would recommend with reservations

Currently- March 2014 Edition

2014-03-07T14:42:00.001-05:00

current favorite product(s)

Nothing says "I love you" better than bloody Gums so Teddy got me a water flosser for Valentine's day. I love it. It hurts so good. Oral hygiene cannot get any better than this

current playlist

The soundtrack for HBO's Girls. is the perfect soundtrack writing school papers, which have been abundant lately

(For the record, that's exactly how I look when I write papers )

current excitement

Spring break is in less than 15 days! All inclusive Caribbean beach resort, here I come

current outfit

I am starting to wear the clothes from the back of my closet so that when the time for Spring cleaning comes I don't feel compelled to donate them. Hey! I wore this one at least once last year!

Today: Chinese silk shirt

tomorrow: Japanese Kimono...

current banes of my existence

We are already in March and I still feel like this cat.

current favorite quote or verse

current triumphs

I have been working towards my goal of learning to write with the left hand.
I am making amazing progress

current food

Recently noticed that I have been drinking expired coffee for the last five months and I am not dead.. (yet)

current indulgence

some genius decided to put a crepe truck on my way to class on the day that I go to class at the time that I go to class...Sounds like the destiny wants me to bring a Nutella banana strawberry crepe to my life

current favorite app

I have been snap-chatting A LOT lately... and I only have like 5 contacts... I predict that they will get tired of seeing 5 pics of Kato per day very soon

current wish list item(s)

I developed a weird fascination with the fancy tea served in the Wynn
I want to buy all the tea from the website but I cannot bring myself to morally justify the inflated price tag.

current book(s)

The Dinner, Koch, Herman:

Great psychological Dutch novel with a lot of twists and dark surprises. The protagonist and narrator is a really complex person and getting into his mind and unveiling his secrets is quite the experience. The setting is simple: A couple meets for dinner to discuss recent happenings affecting their sons.

Beautiful Ruins Walter, Jess

Light beach read, traces the interlocking life of many different and compelling characters across many centuries. It has its funny and touching moments.

An Actress filming a movie in Italy crosses paths with an Italian in-keeper, the book mixes present times and flash backs to reveal the story.

Although some of the characters seemed to be caricatures, it all works for the book. Now I am adding cinque terre to my travel list.

February Trivial Happenings

2014-02-27T22:09:00.000-05:00

Pictures detailing the happenings of the past two weeks.

More snow and back to school for one more semester. I couldn't be any more thrilled.

I went to a masquerade ball and the whole time I felt like I was in a Gossip Girl episode.

Although I don't think Blair Waldorf would approve of the way I gorged on the chocolate fountains.

Kato has been doing a lot of sleeping lately. But I guess that's not news.

New Trader joes favorite product: 100% carrot juice. Not as good as making it fresh but saves me A LOT of time buying, washing , cutting, squeezing and cleaning... totally worth my $2

Valentine's day brought back my obsession with Caramel apples . apparently they are a very romantic thing.

The Odious winter wonderland continues. And, since driving in the snow is not dangerous enough I take pictures of my commute.

Valentine's days also brought Teddy who had to fly straight from work without luggage or winter clothes. He had to wear my winter hat which made him look like a very refined hipster lesbian .

He was very excited about it

Being snowed in meant playing chess for hours. I still cannot get over how cool my Inca vs Conquistador Chess set is.