My gringo married me knowing that I was different from the gringas he had dated, but I think it's taken him years to realize just how loca I am compared to them. 

From when I was young, I've had so many things happen that make me believe that I can communicate with spirits. More precisely, that spirits use me as a medium--although a reluctant one. Honestly the paranormal terrifies me. When I was little, my mom would tell me the story of Santa Lucia and the apparitions she would presence in Fatima. I prayed to the Virgin every night asking her to please refrain from showing her presence because I would die of a heart attack!

Confienso que hace un tiempo padecía de ese mal que llaman "perfeccionismo". Le tenía pavor a los errores, detectaba los defectos y sentía que sólo sería amada y aceptada si lograba perfección en todo lo que hacía. En ese tiempo pensaba que esta actitud era un deseo de superación, un deseo de hacer las cosas bien.

Sin embargo, con el tiempo me di cuenta que ese perfeccinismo no me servía para nada. Me atrapaba en un círculo vicioso que no me dejaba disfrutar la vida, ni ser feliz ni alcanzar mis más preciadas metas. No me curé de la noche a la mañana, pero sí recuerdo que un año mi única resolución fue eliminar el perfeccionismo de mi vida.

I love the holidays so much that I enjoying getting involved in all the cheesy Christmas traditions. For example, I'll play the movies Elf and A Christmas Story to get me in the Christmas spirit—sometimes even throughout the year. Growing up I lived with a pretty big family at home so it was guaranteed that the holidays could get a bit hectic.

The one thing I loved most that separated me from my American friends was the fact that while everyone else opened their Christmas gifts on the morning of, I opened mine on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve). Traditionally it's been in our culture to open our Christmas gifts at midnight and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Siempre digo que todo es según el color del cristal con que se mira y hasta en los peores momentos de mi vida cuando alguien me pregunta cómo estoy, mi respuesta siempre es, invariablemente: "esperando un día malo, para ver cómo es eso". Ha de ser que soy una optimista empedernida y que además creo que uno se hace su propio destino. Pero además soy de las que piensa que el espejo tiene dos caras.

Por eso cuando escribí mi guía para sobrevivir a Mercurio cuando está en retrógrado, me quedé pensando en qué cosas buenas puede traer el hecho de que este planeta que rige las comunicaciones, el comercio y los medios de transporte, nos enrede la vida cuando, como ahora, retrograda.

Everyone gets self-conscious about their appearance sometimes, especially teenagers who are going through difficult years. So imagine what it was like for Lizzie Velasquez in high school, when she was named the "Ugliest Woman on YouTube" in an online video that has over 4 million hits. Velasquez is one of the 3 people in the world suffering from an undiagnosed condition that dramatically altered her appearance and was taunted for years because of it.  But now 23 years old, she's back--and she has a message for her haters.

In this incredibly inspiring video, Velasquez hides her face by holding up index cards that tell her story. Through the cards, she shares what it was like to read the hateful comments left on the video that brought her to fame. "The comments tell me to do the world a favor and put a gun to my head," she writes (seriously, WTF is wrong with people?).