Living Proof

If I can give any advice at all, it would be to learn from my mistakes, as I certainly have. In any form of relationship, be it platonic or romantic, arguments can get out of control. I can only take so much, until I pop my cork. I’m known to say it like it is - to the point where it’s so blunt, that it’s hurtful sometimes. Self-defense is no excuse when giving in to an intense argument where it comes to low blows and personal insults. I’ve learned a lot though. I learned that when someone blows up at you for whatever reason, or hurts you verbally, it’s best to just walk away and say nothing at all. Silence is the best communicator. The person who is trying to fight with you has nobody to fight with. When you ‘give it back to them’ -- that’s exactly what they want. For instance, if someone is hurting you with the most personal insults of your character, or perhaps bringing up things you’ve done in the past to torture you in some twisted way -- they want you to do the same to them. The...

As you probably know, I have many passions in life. Being Italian, one of them is food. I love to cook, prepare, barbecue, and of course, consume. I especially love entertaining when friends and family come over. Over the recent years, I have discovered new recipes, most of them are my own, and some are bits and pieces taken from either Mom & Dad, or simply learned from a cooking show. I always add my own spin to it, which to me, makes it my own. So, I decided to make another blog called, “ Deb’s Cucina ”, where you can get all my recipes and stories of where it originated from. All the photos and stories are all my own and now, shared with you. Most of my passions or hobbies in life usually involved something artistic, like either song writing, playing guitar, photography & filmography, but I figured the one hobby that may benefit more people besides myself would be sharing my recipes. Depending on your taste buds, you may enjoy this blog. My mother and I have one thing in com...

WARNING: This video is very hard to watch... If you cannot view this video from any mirrored websites, please click here . Like many other people, while watching Jonah Mowry’s video, I found myself in tears, sobbing for him. I also found my mother in tears as she watched the video. I kept remembering all the times as a young child being bullied in school and coming home not saying one word about it. I remember the kids taunting me, mocking everything from what I wore to whatever haircut I decided to get. It was obvious I was a tomboy. I dressed like a boy, I looked like a boy, and many times, was mistaken as a boy. I was always happy when someone would refer to me as a “he”. My mission was accomplished. But when I walked down the hallway of my school, I was called something much differently: “Lesbo!” “Dyke!” “Lezzie!” The descriptions worsened into sexual smut, but for the most part, I kept it to myself. Nobody knew how tortured I was. I hardly ever hung around with girls because they...

About four years ago when my wife and I moved into our condo which was located in a very populated area, we thought one thing: convenience. We loved the fact that we could grab something down the street, or in case of an emergency like a snowstorm, we were easily accessible. That really made me sleep better at night, but then again, Madelene and I both found that we had a lot of problems sleeping. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Our condo was really cozy and we had everything we needed. We weren’t in a bad section and we felt very safe. So why weren’t we both sleeping well? I went on the internet and Googled topics about insomnia. We all know stress is a contributor - who doesn’t have stress? This was different though. I could be at my most relaxed state of mind, yet my eyes wouldn’t seem to close. Then I came across a news article that explained how cell phones contribute to sleep disturbance, if left on your nightstand. So, I began to turn my cell phone off at night. It seemed to hel...

A while ago I had written a post about a girl who bumped into an old friend in a cafe where I was having coffee. I overheard them trying to catch up while waiting on the long line for their lattes. The one girl looks down at the other woman’s belly and says, “So when are you due?” There was an immediate silence, and then, “I’m not.” Innocent mistake perhaps, but it makes you wonder how many times we have all made that little ‘oops’ before. Obviously, she wasn’t expecting. She had put on weight and embarrassed her friend pointing this out in a not so subtle manner, yet an innocent one. Women are sensitive, vain, insecure, emotional. When do we reel it in when it comes to noticing something on a physical basis? Even if you see your friend has lost a lot of weight, the worst thing in the world in my opinion is to yell out, “Wow, you lost so much weight!” In other words, “Wow, you were so damn fat before!” A similar thing happened over at the same cafe the other morning. Two friends were o...

Life is so strange, isn’t it? Life is so short and sometimes way too long. We’re told to live our lives as though it were our last, as if we’d all go out and start bungee jumping off a random cliff somewhere. Fact is, most of us would be home eating our favorite meal, drinking our favorite cocktails along with our favorite people. Nothing more, nothing less. Some would definitely be a bit more adventurous, so I guess I can only talk about myself and those I know who would do the same. I know for myself, if I were to ever win the lotto, it would be to buy “time” - buy more time with my wife, buy more time with my family and loved ones. But how much time do we really have? I see a lot of my Christian friends writing on Facebook about the “time” is near - that Jesus is coming back. Some say they know when, but in the Bible, it clearly states that no one knows the day nor hour. They base theirs solely on Revelations. Yes, it gives clues but why ignore the other scripture? Why are we so con...

For the life of me I cannot remember the title of the movie I was watching last night, but it was about this young girl who was an aspiring writer during the great depression. She lived with her family in an urban part of Canada, until she started coming down with a terrible cough, which led the family to believe it was tuberculosis. They sent her off to live with her aunt up in a rural part of the area to get some fresh air. Her aunt lived alone, lived off the land and relied on nobody. She was strong, strict, hardworking and brave. The girl eventually got better due to her aunt’s care, but while she was there, she revealed that she has always wanted to be a writer. The aunt encouraged her and said, “Tell your story. Every story has a beginning, a middle and an ending.” So when the girl got better, she wrote a story about “The bravest man I’ve ever known was a woman” (her aunt) and wrote about how fearless her aunt was to live alone, get her own food and to live out her dream. She won...