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2016 In Posts

Hi all! We are back from the South! Chile was amazing. It truly was. Going back home rejuvenates my soul and reminds me of what is important.  I will be sharing some photos of our trip next week, but before I get into that, let’s officially welcome 2017 and leave behind 2016.

A lot has happened in this little corner of the cyber world these last 366 days. In this post, I would like to share my favorite (or most important) posts of the year and then talk about a blogging dilemma I am having, maybe you can help.

1 – One Room Challenge – My kids’ bedroom

This room was my first interior design project. I had never renovated a room before so it took a lot of concentration to be able to pull it off. It was not easy to decide which elements would look good together: colors, furniture, art, etc.

It was a full reno that required a lot of hard work during the 6 weeks it lasted. I learned how to apply wallpaper, how to take better interior pictures, and how to make the best out of my free time. Productivity full on.

2. Saying good bye to my dad 

My dad -creative inspiration and angel- died last May. I am still not able to talk about him with a straight face. I miss him every day. Him leaving was, no doubt, the event that marked 2016 the most. It was my first time dealing with the death of a close one and the meaning of grief.

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know that my father-in-law also passed away this year. It has been a time of lost and recovery, but also of love.

3 – Trip to Costa Rica

I went traveling with my girlfriends and family to Costa Rica. It was an energizing trip filled with great conversations in the middle of children craziness. I love my girlfriends. I love having women around me that I admire and respect. I love my community.

4 – A Flower Arrangement Workshop

Crafty workshops are my favorite. Add friends, food, and drinks to the mix and you have a winner combo. I have found a true passion in flowers this year. I expect to learn a lot more about arranging them in 2017.

4 – An interview about the beauty and difficulties of fostering a child

This year, a lot of my friends participated in my blog one way or another. My good friends Miguel and Chris have been fostering for two years and I wanted to do an interview with them about their experiences. One of my favorite posts yet.

I also loved the interview with Nikki about the Empty Nest Syndrome. It made me cry.

5 – One Room Challenge – A mural in the living room

I participated in the One Room Challenge again this Fall. I made some changes to my living room. I had no money so I had to be creative. The mural that we painted is my new favorite place in my home right now.

6 – Thoughts on makeup and the #nomakeup movement

My heart tickles when talking about women’s issues. I loved writing this post!  Sometimes, I start the writing process and get into this place where I think I am being so funny and creative (and full of sh*t). I love feeling like this and is one of the reasons why I keep this blog.

7 – How real people do bookshelf styling

My friends Yassi and Daniela have been one of my biggest blog supporters this year. This post about their beautiful bookshelves was fun to do. Thanks, friends!

8 – Working Women – Elise Xavier, the life of a young and successful blogger

There is a big blog community out there. This year I have had the privilege of meeting friends through the Internet that have similar interests and do a lot of fun stuff, like Elise. Her interview is such an eye opener into the life of a millennial. I have a lot of good expectations about this generation.

The Dilemma

Now that 2016 is closing up, I have a big dilemma regarding this blog: I don’t know what I am about. I am struggling on giving a direction to my content. This place is a hot mess!! Am I a design/DIY blog ? Well, obviously not just that. I love design. It is one of my favorite hobbies, but I can’t be/do just that. I need to  have a voice, share opinions, talk about women’s issues… etc etc. Am I a lifestyle blog? Well, maybe, but I have no fashion posts, even though I love fashion.

What am I? I don’t know – DARN! That is a deep question.

The key issue here is consistency. I like design/DIY and women’s issues, so I have decided to focus on those two topics more than anything else. Have weekly posts about design and design inspiration, plus a post about women & family. Women’s post are popular my friends! I always get a lot of comments and views on those, so I am not ready to give up on that.

In reality, I think I should post more often to be able to talk about everything I want to talk about. There is no end to the ideas I have for this blog, but time is a concern and I don’t have a lot of it. My kids and real job (that I love), suck a lot out of it. Hopefully I can start balancing out my time and needs better this year, but that is a topic for my new year resolution post coming up tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate the support of everybody that comes once in a while to take a look at this blog.

 

 

 

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Living In A Bubble – A Short Essay On Politics And Living In LA

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A week ago, in the morning of the election, I scanned my FB and IG feed, I read the news (WSJ included) and posted the following on FB:

“Judging by my social media, there is absolutely nobody voting for Trump today. I am so sheltered. Seriously.”

It was meant to be a joke, not a prelude of the events that unfolded in the next 12 hrs. I watched the NYT political map go from navy blue to dark red, giving Trump a victory by midnight. I was flabbergasted. Didn’t text any friends. Called nobody. I needed time to think and process.

To come clean, I was not a big Hillary supporter. I was more on the Bernie side. I raised my concerns with friends only to be dismissed. Hillary won the primaries and we should stand behind her, they said, and I did. I wore white to vote because, whatever your political views, voting for a woman was transcendent. I watched the elections, believing without a doubt that the future was blue and white, but shock ensued. I was wrong, and also everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) else I know.

I woke up on Wednesday and went to work. The day was somber. You could feel and see it. Even the freeway seemed slower and gray. There was a sadness and despair. Most of my friends shed tears, a feeling of alienation. The pain was real! But the trauma was worst- the realization of the naiveness we had in understanding this election, thanks to the inaccessibility to faithful information about what is really going on in this country.

This is when I started to feel angry, not at the results, but at the media. I foolishly bought the whole care package that was fed to me by liberal and moderate media. I had been deceived. We all had. Polls lied, journalists lied, editorials lied. Just thinking about it makes me sick.

How is this possible? How did we get it so wrong? How did the Trump voter disappeared from the mainstream media but still managed to make the difference to win? I was told that not even the Republican Party liked Trump!!! Is that true? What is going on?!? I needed to understand.

I have friends that called the NYT to cancel their subscription. I stopped listening to NPR, and I have not opened the Huff Post since then, because what is the point? They are lying to me. They are as blindsided as I am, as most of us are.

Today, this same media is telling me that racism and misogyny are to be blamed for the results. They tell me this loss has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with “them.” “Them,” the other people; the people that don’t understand the world; the uneducated voter that is voting against their own interest. Those people. The other people… but, who are they?

I woke up early morning today, peruse the Internet to buy a pair of $90 shoes I have wanted to get, had my bullet coffee readily and warm to bust my morning while my insured children prepared for a day at their wonderful schools where teachers value their opinion and want them to succeed. I got into my big fancy car, filled up the tank without looking at the gas price, and thought about which design posts I should write in the next few weeks. That is how difficult my life is. I live in a comfortable bubble surrounded by people with the same values and political views I have. I don’t get it, but I want to. I want to understand.

They say, if you believe the media, that those who made the difference in this election are from the Rust Belt. Disfranchised voters that were once Obama supporters, but, this time, decided to go the other way. Blue collar workers that have lost their manufacturing jobs and have no prospects of finding a new one in this lifetime. How does this feel? I wonder.

I don’t know really. I can’t empathize. I have a life full of possibilities ahead of me. Dreams and plans. A good income, a loving husband, healthy children with access to a future and healthcare. I am a mixed race Latina that has not suffered the discrimination that other Latinos have, mainly because I live in West LA and don’t look the part. I live in a bubble, surrounded by people that think like me and news that tell me that thinking like me is the only right way to live.

Elections turn big issues into black and white topics. They simplify complex subjects with a misleading reduction of who others are and think. It is easy to believe that a vote for Trump is an agreement with all his statements but it is not. Voting for Trump doesn’t mean you agree with everything he says. I surely don’t agree with everything Hillary says, but I voted for her.

I am not saying there is not racism and misogynists in the US. I am  saying that these are not the main reasons why Trump was elected president. The truth is much simpler, people with wary prospects and uncertain futures want (need) change, a change that Obama promised but wasn’t able to deliver.

To understand and help, we need to step out of our wonderful bubbles. Demand the government help those in need. Create new jobs, embrace new programs, but more than anything, we need to stop the misunderstanding of who we are and what moves us. At the end of the day, we all want our children to have food on their table, don’t we?

A couple of minutes after my post on FB about how sheltered I felt, a Chilean friend living in London replied the following:

“Judging by my social media, nobody voted for Brexit. Hope yours is a better predictor…”

I flipped. This is what scares me, not racism, which can be clearly identified and denounced. What scares me is that my world is not real, that I am completely out of touch, and also most of my friends.

How can we change anything if we are oblivious to reality? A logical fallacy of those that profess higher education. We are our own worst enemy.

Thanks for reading till the end. Would love to hear your respectful comments.

 

parakeetpeace

 

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