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Sweet, cute, fluffy, playful, and mischievous. That's Bou, my pet bunny. She came into my life a year and a half ago when she was only a month old and I can't picture my life without her now. Living alone is great and one of the reasons it is so, is because you can have pets! If your landlord is cool with it of course. Bou makes living on my own way more fun but also way more complicated. It's a lot of fun times but there are also a lot of hard times when you are responsible for a bunny. This is coming from someone who has owned three massive dogs! If you're thinking of getting a bunny as a pet or if you're just curious about what having a pet bun is like, let me break it down for you. 1. Bunnies are VERY independent They pretty much take care of themselves, kind of like cats. There is no need to bathe them because they do that themselves about 6 times a day. They have fun on their own but you can join in sometimes. They don't like to be picked up or chased so don't do that! 2. YOU live with a Bunny, not the other way around Bou chose where her toilet was going to be. From the first day she came home she has pooped and peed in the same spot whether her toilet is there or not. I've tried changing her bathroom to a more convenient place (for me) but she doesn't care. I've LITERALLY picked her up while she's doing her business and taken her to my preferred place and she has run right back to her corner. So yeah, you're not the boss. 3. They eat ALL the time Mostly hay. Bou's favorite place to hang out is her box of hay. She jumps in there and spends like an hour straight just chewing on her hay. When she's done, she hops out and flops on the cold ground. In the morning I like to feed her some leafy greens which are also important for bunny diets. Nothing fancy though, just a fist full of the same spring mix I use for my human salads. 4. Bunnies BITE! Can you believe it? I've been nibbed a couple of times by Bou and let me tell you that IT HURTS. She's like a pitbull! She clamps down and LITERALLY hangs on. It doesn't happen often, mostly when my hand startles her. Rabbits can't see well up close might confuse your hand with something threatening. 5. She goes EVERYWHERE with me Even to work. I'm lucky that I have my own office and my bosses are cool with a bunny hanging out all day while I work. When I visit my parents she also comes along and gets to hang out all day in the Florida room. She almost never wants to leave. She was banned for a couple of weeks due to chewing on some A/C insulation, but grandfather has taken care of that and she has since been allowed back. 6. Bunnies Love the Head Pats Bou loves to jump on me and nudge my hand to get pets from me. My favorite thing is to see her turn into a loaf and chatter her bunny teeth as a sign of pure bliss. She decides when the petting session is over by leaping away and proceeding to lick herself clean of the human scent. 7. Trouble is a synonym of bunny I've lost many iphone chargers to Bou's sharp incisors. It's not so much that she LIKES to chew on cables, more that they were in her way when she was trying to hop through. There was also that A/C incident at the grandparents' house. There have been poops in places there shouldn't be. She chews books. She jumps in hampers. She digs. She's a lot. 8. Don't scare bunnies Because they can literally die of fright. 9. Spay/Neuter If you don't want sprays of pee lining your walls, furniture and self. 10. Adopt a bunny Instead of buying a new one. Bunnies are getting turned into to local shelters all the time because once people see how much work they require, they're not up for it. Check your local shelter right after Easter. By then the bunny novelty fades and the reality of the maintenance sets in. Also, bunnies are not pets for children! Kids are not prepared to care for rabbits. Is there anything else you would like to know about Bou or what life is like with a pet bun? Tell me in the comments! I'll answer all the questions :-)

It's been about two months since I started to work on the watercolor pieces that will make up the summer collection I plan to release in two months. Spending so much time painting has led me to come up with a process to keep myself sane and organized because I get very easily overwhelmed. I know that artists get the rep that they're messy but I don't label myself as an artist mostly because I feel I have such a long way to go to get to where I want my art to be. And because I haven't earned that "artist" badge yet, I have to keep myself tidy lol This is a breakdown of how I do that: 1. Set Up and Sketch In my tiny studio apartment there isn't a ton of space to be messy or to keep a lot of stuff so I confine my creative space to my desk. When I get ready to start a new project I take out my sketchbook and a pencil and I pencil out some ideas. For inspiration I prop my phone up and display something similar to what's on my mind to paint. 2. Choose Colors After I have a solid idea of what my piece is going to look like I move on to choosing my color palette. I have trouble distinguishing between reds so I try to stay clear of those if I can lol I like bright, contrasting colors. To aid in this part of the process I use a color wheel I printed out a while back. Then I swatch colors on a piece of watercolor paper to see how they look together. This is probably the longest part of the process, mostly because of my color issue. 3. Existential Crisis This is an important part of the process. I allow myself to nap and play solitaire on my phone because I am afraid that when I start to paint it will be lame and no one will like it. Friends, I'm not even kidding when I tell you that I go through a whole existential crisis before I sit down to paint. Sometimes, I don't even paint for weeks after step 2. 4. Snap Out Of It After all that, I sit down at my desk once again and get back to it. I look back over my sketches and the color palette and I think "okay, I can work with that." 5. PAINT Painting involves me outlining very lightly with pencil what my piece will look like. I choose my brushes, set up a cup with water and lay out some paper towels for cleaning and drying the brushes. Then I paint the first layer in very light watercolor, then I add another layer and another until it looks like what I had in mind. 6. Reward Myself With Dance Party I then dance. My go to is "I Want to Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston. A classic. 7. Scan, Edit, Export When the paint is dry as bone, I scan it at 300 dpi and open it up on Ps. I tweak the colors, remove the paper background and play around with it until it's to my liking. Sometimes i make it into a pattern and sometimes I leave it as a stand alone piece. Once it's done I export it as a PNG. 8. Try It On Different Objects The product design process is my favorite! Seeing something I painted, on a mug or a comforter or a journal gives me all the HAPS! Usually, when I start painting I have an idea of what kind of object I want the piece to go on and sometimes through the product design step, I discover what else it would look good on. 9. Add Product to Shop Adding the products to my shop is the most nerve racking part of the process. Once it's live in the shop, everyone can see it. I leave it there without telling anyone for a week. It is a secret. 10. Then I tell you Guys and Y'all Buy It! This last step is sooooooo AMAZING! You all never disappoint in showing up and supporting little old me and my watercolor designs. Getting that email notification about an order going through makes my days! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Welcome to Wednesday and to another blog post! Has your week been a good thus far? Isn't this "winter" weather such a nice change from the usual HEAT FROM THE CENTER OF THE EARTH weather? I think it is. Recently I had the opportunity to do a quick photoshoot at the gorgeous Matheson Hammock Park here in South Florida. It was incredible beautiful out that day and my 9-year-old model Maiza was so great. She's super sweet and possible the kindest and smartest 9-year-old I've met. The main reason I always recommend this park to clients is the gorgeous lighting created by the tree canopy. The filtered light is perfect for shooting without the extra equipment, plus the hanging moss gives photos a touch of magic. These are some of my favorite photos from that day. Enjoy!

Let me start by telling you what pachinko is: pachinko is a Japanese game similar to pinball and people bet on it like they do on slot machines here in the U.S. If you have ever played pinball then you know that there is a lot hitting a little ball with two flippers and trying to get the highest score you can before it you lose it to the black hole between the two flippers. Synopsis : That's pretty much what happens to this Korean-Japanese family through this book. The story of the Baek family is told over three generations starting out in Korea before the second world war and ending in Japan sometime in the 70s. Likes : My favorite part about Pachinko was learning about the history between Korea and Japan. Prior to reading this book I didn't know that there was such enmity between the two cultures. At least during that time. Mostly it is due to Japan taking over Korea during the war and many Koreans moving to Japan to escape poverty then being looked down upon by the Japanese. Through the family's story some of them try to pretend they aren't Korean, others want very badly to be Japanese and in the end what defines them is not so much where they were born but who they are and what they do. Those who realize that "win" and those who don't, well, it doesn't go to well for them. Dislikes : I didn't like how awkward the romantic scenes were or how the women kept saying "a woman's lot is to suffer." Rating : 🍵🍵🍵 out 5 If you're looking for a historical read and greater insight to Korean-Japanese relationships, then Pachinko is the book for you.

Welcome to my first book review on the blog! Today, I come to you from my parent's dining room table because I got bored by myself at my place so I came here to bother them. Last week I finished reading my Kindle copy of Plastic by Frank Strausser. Since then I have been ruminating on what I read to be able to bring you a book review that is as fair as possible and also as short as possible so you can get back to what you were doing. Synopsis : We follow main character Dr. Harry Previn, a plastic surgeon, through some sticky business he gets dragged into involving Hollywood celebrities, agents, producers and that whole world. Likes : I really enjoyed seeing the behind the scenes of the plastic surgery scene. Strausser did a good job of making me feel like I was the eyes on the wall at a surgeon/patient consultation and I was very much interested and invested in the surgical procedures. Dislikes : No character development!!! I read this whole book and did not care for any of the characters, not even a little bit. I didn't even dislike them. Plain and simple just didn't care. The plot was boring and lacked action, suspense, adventure. Just a lot of dialogue and us listening to Dr. Previn's thoughts which were as entertaining as zoom meeting on how to conduct a zoom meeting. Rating : I will use a tea cup scale to rate books on this blog. Just because I like tea and I drink tea when I read. One tea cup being BAD and five tea cups being GEWD! Strausser's Plastic gets 🍵🍵 two tea cups from me. Have you read it? Did you like it? Will you read it or pass after this review? Tell me in the comments!

One of my favorite things on Instagram is tagging. Location tagging, account tagging, but most of all product tagging. Why? Because there are some really cute things people are using that I want to use too! How else am I going to know where they got it if they don't tag it? So thank you to all those of you I follow that tag where you got your things :-) And in the spirit of sharing where we get our favorite things (some of which I am wearing in this post's photo), I will share with you a list of my favorite 20 things and where I got them. If you click on the links and buy the things I might make some money. A girl has to hustle :-P Misfit Vapor Smartwatc h I'm a big fan of tracking my habits so this smartwatch is a great add to my accessories drawer. It keeps tabs on my steps, heart rate and I can record a ton of different exercises (but mostly I record cycling, meditation and walking). Fujifilm X-T10 Mirrorless Camera The vintage looks of this DSLR are what drew me in. It's lightweight so it's easy to just drop it in a backpack, purse of hang it on my shoulder. My favorite feature is the wireless transfer of photos from the camera to my phone. Fixie Bike I like things simple and nothing in life gets as simple as a fixie bike. One gear. Go. Livho Blue Light Blocking Glasses Protect your eyes friends! Block those blue light rays from your phone, computer and tv. Since I started wearing these my migraines have gotten better and I fall asleep much quicker. CLAVUZ Soak Off Gel Nail Polish Set When COVID-19 hit and nail salons closed this was my answer to keeping a fresh gel mani. Now that salons are open again this is my answer to saving some dough. HOTOR Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner with LED Light Bou Bunny is a big fan of pushing hay out of her carrier whenever she's in the car so this little portable vacuum with a A/C power plug helps me keep things clean. CONFETTI WATERCOLOR Palette My favorite watercolor palette to use when I'm looking for bright and easy to mix payments. Venus Vera Bradley Razor and Shaving Cream Can we talk about how incredibly sweet smelling this shaving cream is? I was not a believer in shaving cream, I honestly thought that soap does the job and does it cheaper. But friends, this shaving cream creates a rich lather letting the razor glide through leaving ZERO nicks and cuts. LOVE! ME! Bath Pure Hemp Lotion Moisturize your skin and indulge the senses with this body lotion. She's my nightly go to after I shower and before bed. Sephora's Matte Red Lipstick Is it really me if I'm not wearing matte lipstick? It's not. Monat's Be Gentle Face Wash My combination skin has made it a challenge for me to find a face-wash that wont over-dry my skin or break me out. This one is the only one that I have been able to use for a prolonged period of time with no issues. Monat's Air Dry Cream Wash your hair and apply this cream after towel drying and your good to go! I'm kind of lazy when it comes to styling my hair so this air dry cream is a life saver for me. It leaves my hair frizz-free and shiny. What's not to love? Aveeno's Mineral Facial Sunscreen There is a sunscreen revolution happening and I am here for it. Protect your faces friends! Sun damage is the leading cause of looking old. Aveeno's mineral sunscreen keeps you from looking oily and it protects your face. Watercolor Art Print of my Bunny I painted it for you. Colorful Bubble Stickers by Me! For you. Watercolor Boho Girls Planner Stickers These are not by me but I love them and use them to decorate my planner and they are so cute! Ponte Las Pilas T-Shirt by Martha of Miami Because we have to! Blue Sky Planners Here's to hoping that 2021 will give us more to plan. Solar Powered String Lights My favorite way to light up my yard. Get you some. Tailwind This is what I use to schedule my Instagram posts. Say what?? You don't actually post everyday at the exact same time? Nah lol

If you grew up in a Cuban household like I did, you likely remember been woken up to your mom or dad's favorite singer blasting from an old radio somewhere in the house. As you got out of bed and sleepily walked to the kitchen for breakfast you might have found your mom mopping or dusting while singing along or your dad dancing it out while doing some work in the yard. Now that I'm older and have my own place, I keep this tradition alive by blasting my own tunes on Saturday mornings while I clean and tidy up. Below, I present you my Saturday Morning Cleaning Playlist and why I chose each song. Ahora Quien- Marc Anthony . We're going to start it slow. Get warmed up while I drink some cafecito and tidy surfaces to make dusting easier. Tu No Metes Cabra- Bad Bunny . Call my mom on FaceTime while this is playing because she hates this kind of music. Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels- Todrick Hall . I pretend I'm on a runway strutting as I spray and wipe, spray and wipe, spray and wipe wooo! Truth Hurts-Lizzo. Do some lip synching to this using the broom as a mic. Not much brooming happens. The Greatest-Sia. I play this one while vacuuming because I can hear Sia's screams over the vacuum and keeps me pumped. Hostage-Sia . Now I'm ready to mop the floor so I'm sliding around with intermittent lip synching when I pass the mirror. Sunset Lover-Petit Biscui t . Start winding down with this one while I clean the bathroom. Seven Seconds- The Band Perry . First time I heard this song I couldn't believe it was The Band Perry. I remember them being way more country. This one is for when I'm done and rewarding myself with a seltzer while hanging out in my hammock. What do you listen to when you're cleaning? Tell me in the comments! :-D

Location: Miami Springs Size: Honestly, I don't know Years lived in: 3 years, renting Finding this little cottage in Miami Springs was one of the best things that happened to me in 2018. After living with a roommate in a 2/2 in West Hialeah, having my own space was liberating. In the time that I've lived here I've tried to make the space my own by painting the walls (thank you parents and brother!), hanging art, creating cozy spaces and adding plants. My space is all about easy access, organized areas and light. It helps to have large windows in every wall, including a French window on the door. Two style aspects that I didn't change when I moved in was the blue/green color on some of the walls and the really cute doorknob on the bathroom door. This is a little survey I grabbed from Apartment Therapy to tell you more about my living space. My Style: Minimalist Farmhouse (there is such a thing) Inspiration: I am inspired by cleanliness and organization. Everything from my medicine cabinet to my car compartments are organized and with minimal decorative pieces visible. So if it's displayed, it's important to me. But I also like to create little nooks of comfort and warmth to curl up with a good book and some tea. Favorite Element: The yard! How many places in Miami do you get a studio apartment with it's own, separate yard??? Biggest Challenge: There isn't a lot of storage space for things like Christmas trees and photography props so I really have to curb my shopaholic tendencies. What Friends Say: About me: You're so organized bro” not because I'm a bro but because in Miami everyone is a bro. About this apartment: "It's so chill." Biggest Embarrassment: The broken water faucet in my shower. It broke when shortly after I moved in and I've been so lazy to replace it. Biggest Indulgence: Fairy lights! I love fairy lights and I have bought so many since I moved in. I keep finding new places to light up with the little bulbs and my favorite place is in the yard. Best Advice: An organized space soothes you as soon as you walk through the door. For those of us who live in Miami, anxiety is our daily bread. Rona cases are peaking again, traffic is awful, and things are just A LOT. Home should be the one place where you feel calm and a tidy space will help with that.

Last Friday I released to the world my Society 6 Shop and I couldn't have been more excited, thrilled, emotional and anxious. It was an awesome experience to put before the world my creative work and I can't wait to see what is coming next. Like starting this blog, making art and putting it in front of people was something I had been wanting to do for a while but lacked the time. Now that I have nothing but time it seemed like perfect timing to drop all these things for you guys. If I'm going to be totally honest, another reason I hadn't done these things before was because of that little fear in the back of my head that people wouldn't like it and more than that, will tell me in a really mean way. Because yes, I'm super sensitive you guys and I am way out of my comfort zone here. What I discovered is that people are way nicer than I thought and being out of comfort zone has made me happier in all areas. Immidiatly after posting on my Insta story about my shop, I got messages from friends and followers about how cute things on my shop were and some asking to place orders right away. You guys are amazing! I was not expecting so much love so quickly and it came pouring in. So many of you have snagged my designs on comforters, notebooks, phone cases, coffee tumblrs, mugs to name just a few items. The overwhelming response has overwhelmed my little heart and I thank you all for that! I thought it was so cliche when people said that growth happens outside of your comfort zone, but now I know it to be true and I hope that I can always continue to strive to stay outside of it. When we all work to be the very best versions of ourselves, everyone wins. Growth inspires growth and this is something I have seen with my own eyes. My motivation to do all this Society 6 shop and blog stuff came from seeing other girls going after their dreams and aspirations. Shout out to Camila ! Seeing you do your thing is so inspiring girl! And we haven't even met in person but that's how that goes. So friends, I end with this post with a quote that I have always found inspiring and gives me fuel when I'm about to stall out and it's super appropriate because you all know how obsessed I am with bikes: " Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving. – Albert Einstein

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another blog post. It's been 36 days since I have gone anywhere but my parent's house and to the Everglades. At first it was definitely an adjustment. I no longer had my little routine of going to the office, exercising and seeing friends. And while it took me a couple of weeks to fall into a new normal, I finally have. Here's a peek into what it's mostly looked like so far. 7:00 am: Wake up. Grab phone and check news, Instagram, Facebook and bank app. Still no stimulus money. 7:30- 8:00 am: Drink coffee. Get ready for the day with actual clothes instead of pajamas. 8:30-9:00 am: Drive to mom's house aka the office. 9:10 am-11:55 am: Check agenda, read emails, reply to the ones that need it, schedule social media, make calls, team meetings, story editing, interact with followers on Twitter, IG and Facebook. Check in with the best friend. 12:00-12:30 pm: Quick lunch made by my sweet, gorgeous, intelligent, hustling momma. 12:30-12:40 pm: Playtime with Bou who, by the way, is a girl! She's a little skittish after I cut her nails. She didn't like that. 1:00-5:30 pm: More calls, zoom meetings, writing, writing, writing, editing, editing editing, hunting people down for photos to go along with stories, research into new app development. Working from home is nice but I also miss the office with the new floors and the paint and my big monitor. 5:30-6:00 pm: Make some Cuban coffee, chat with dad about the day (he is still going into work), convince brother to come home with me. Drive home. 6:45-7:00 pm: Eat dinner made by mom because she wouldn't let me go without taking food. Watch Cable Girls while eating on the couch. Maybe brother comes and we watch something else. 7:15- 7:45 pm: Get some form of exercise in, these days it has been yoga and walking. I haven't lifted a weight since December. Maybe even further back. Shower. 8:00-9:00pm: Paint with watercolors, scan and edit on Photoshop. Upload to online shop. Yes, online shop! Stay tuned ya'll! I have big news coming soon! 10:30 pm: Order Night Owl cookies. 11:30 pm: Sleep!

I want to look in the mirror every morning when I wake up and every night before I go to bed and see the best version of me reflected right back. Don't you? That's where all this self-care we are encouraged to practice comes in. One big form of self-care that I try really hard to practice is to keep up with my routine. If I don't follow a routine, my mind starts to feel scattered and I start to slip on my responsibilities. It's not a good place for me to be. This routine includes going to work, engaging in some creative activity like drawing or writing, going for walks, reading, cooking, tidying up, exploring, praying, learning something new or honing an old skill. The COVID-19 crisis has made it really challenging for me to stick to my routine and I'm trying to figure out a new one for these quarantine times. It's encouraging to see I'm not the only one feeling this way as I scroll through my Instagram feed and find my friends as out of their minds as I am feeling. Still friends, lets not stop caring for our minds and encouraging others (virtually) to do the same. Self-care comes in many forms and some that are not so easy to convey in photographs. It's not just a skin care routine, or juice press, or yoga session. It's those other harder to convey forms of self-care that I tried convey with this series. Let me know in the comments what are some of the things you do to take care of yourself! Meditation Spending time with people you love (who also love you) But do it via FaceTime for now. Gratitude Rest Eating well Self-reflection

These are challenging days as we all take steps to keep each other safe during this COVID-19 crisis. We probably haven't spent as much time at home as we will and have been. I, for one, have realized that my regular lifestyle is what now we consider to be "quarantined" LOL. I'm encouraged by the videos on social media of people putting on balcony concerts, rooftop exercise classes, and even DJ sets. I hope that we see less people hoarding supplies and more people coming alongside (virtually) each other as we all get through this. In the meantime, here is a series of photos of my favorite places that I can still enjoy and that inspire me during this social distancing. Stay safe everyone! My tiny studio apartment My roommate Bou and I really get along and I wouldn't trade him for anyone. Riding out the social quarantine here with him has been pretty chill. We have all the things and are far enough away from people to avoid getting sick. Arches National Park in Utah These rocks have been here for thousands of years and they're going to be here for thousands more. Shaped by the winds and rain, they are a perfect example of resilience. Even in the most difficult circumstances, they stand. My Office Where the magic happens! I'm super thankful for my job and the people I work with. They are always inspiring me and pushing me to be my best. Can't say that I'd change a thing. I miss going there everyday and having lunch with my officemates but we're still working away and staying in touch through text. The Everglades The River of Grass. Love hanging out here and getting away from the noise and busyness of the city. And if you need some fresh air, it's a great place to check out. The only beings you might be coming into contact with out there are gators and birds. My Yard Because I can still get my vitamin D without leaving home! The Beach Can't wait to get out here. But seriously, spring breakers, get your butts home and stop being so irresponsible.