A decade already? Year 2000.

So, apparently a decade has passed already? I can't believe it! But then again... it does feel like a decade has passed. There certainly has been enough events in my life that documents a decade (and maybe then some!). Two blogs (last year's girl & With eyes wide open...)that I actively read have documented their decade in one form of another and have jogged so much in my brain... I can't help but copy! I'll be following the format of With eyes wide open... : documenting by each year, sans photos (perhaps I'll add some later when I have the chance) and adding in the music I was listening to at the time.

So here we go!

To follow into the decade, I must give a background of 1999-

This was the year that my madre and I had moved away from my childhood home and left my dad. We had moved in with my nanny, who was used to living alone. This was an interesting experience. I entered a new school, made a few new friends, and had also continued my musical outcast status. I brought in the new year with my two closest friends at the time and introduced them to Philadelphia, as I had lived much closer to the city than they did. My madre was given a treadmill for Christmas that year, but you would have never thought it was her gift as it has become my best friend.

2000:

In the year 2000 I had shed all that baby weight that I had carried with me as a young teenager. I was 14 when the year started and understood what emotional eating was, as after we had moved my nanny would make breakfast, lunch, and dinner (she's an amazing cook- both desserts and meals, but hearty meals not so much like my ethnic meals). I never ate that much in a day until I moved in with her! All my after school activities ceased, and in the new school I wasn't so interested in them. I had realised that I had more emotional issues than I had thought- all in reference to my dad. It was horrendous. I started art therapy. I wrote so much in my books (that's plural, I wrote so much each day that I went through books like no other) and listened to the Dave Matthews Band. Because of the Dave Matthews Band I wasn't an angry teenager. Honest to God. Because of his music, I totally avoided that angry teenager phase and just wrote, read lots of books and spent a lot of time downloading music. I had also spent a lot of time on that treadmill my madre got for Christmas. It was located in our finished basement in front of the t.v. So I ceased watching my t.v. shows at night, taped them and watching them the next day when I got home from school while on the treadmill. I stopped drinking soda and learned what anxiety was because it kept me from sleeping, made me scared to eat because I couldn't keep food down, and made me absolutely sick. It then turned out that I wasn't only going to therapy due to my childhood issues that weren't brought to my attention until we left my dad but also to resolve things with my madre and my nanny. I was also consumed with how media proposed being beautiful, skinny, and wearing name brands. I only wore Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle. (at this point and time, their clothing was good quality and worth buying. not so much anymore). I still wear J.Crew.

This was a BIG year of change, adaptation, and self discovery.

We moved again. I changed schools again. I made some more new friends. These are friends I'm still in touch with 10 years later and some of those I hold so closely to my heart.

I started going to church this year and realised that it all the neglect and other negative things with my dad were nothing compared to the love I had discovered was waiting for me and was much better than anything else. I became a Christian and realised my life was much more than I could have imagined (and what I was imagining wasn't pretty).

I met a girl who I became good friends with and our friendship has been on/off throughout the years. This was mainly due to associating with very different people, being involved with a whole different crowd of kids, and having drastically different demeanors. Despite these differences, we were very close. I would go to her house everyday after school and them jump the fence in her backyard and cross the street to my house. Amazingly, I never ripped a pair of pants jumping that fence!

I also met my first boyfriend. We went to youth group together and held hands. I was this preppy chick and he was a skateboarding 'punk'. Oh my goodness, we looked so different! We didn't date very long, however we are still very good friends.

I lost over 50lbs. this year and became a stick.

I listened to Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Pavement, Sunny Day Real Estate, David Gray, Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Folds, Badly Drawn Boy, and Ryan Adams.

I read a lot of Jane Austen, J.D. Salinger, and memoires of Mexican historical figures. I was homesick of Spanish culture because we were without the figures who kept these constant in my home.

This was also the year that my Great Grandmother (my grandmother's mother) had passed and a woman who lived in my childhood neighborhood.

I turned 16 and had a big party. It was a slumber party which consisted of a bunch of characters, because I had (and still do) dabble in different crowds of people. It was quite the experience as I remember the mountain built out of soda cans and held together by some dip my nanny made. I believe it had stayed on the porch for about a week until my nanny took a to hose to knock it down... that was a hilarious moment to watch! She had no idea teenagers were capable of such creativity. (small fact: she didn't raise my mother, therefore she wasn't aware of teenagers and their bahaviour/capabilities).

I brought in 2001 at a friend's house who had friends over. I remember getting sick from the food and spending midnight face in the toilet.

This was a huge year for me. I went through such a mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual change. truly. Even though there were absolutely miserable parts for me throughout this year, they were experiences that had molded me into who I am today and how I treat people.