Welcome back! Are you ready for another Let’s BEE Friends link-up?  If yes, grab the button code from my side bar, add it to your favourite post from the week and link-it up down below. Once you’ve done that, grab a cup of Jo, sit back and relax. You are about to meet and get to know another fabulous Mom blogger today.

Are you ready to be bedazzled?

Today’s guest is special to me because … she’s a gal I met only a few months ago via Twitter.  Her name is Nadia.  Not only did I begin to chat with her on Twitter, I started talking to her because I absolutely *loved* the design of her blog, Mama and the City, and had to tell her so. Through Twitter, I learned that Nadia was a local gal who lives within an hours drive of me. Over the holidays, I invited her to join me in a tweet-up (#MotherOfAllTweetUps) I organized with Amanda from Lilahbility.  Not knowing anyone in the group except for talking with them briefly on The Twitter, Nadia obliged and joined us for dinner.  I’m pretty sure I can speak for everyone at the tweet-up and say that we all fell in love with Nadia’s genuine, spunky and caring personality.  The girl brought us all chocolates for goodness sakes!  How could we not like her?

Wanna read more about Mama and the City?
Here’s 10 things she’s sharing with us today!
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First,  let me say that I am immensely happy that Bruna is having me here at her sacred space. Second, it was about freaking time! Hee hee.

And to honor my desire for making lists, here is a list of random facts you may not know about this mama:

I go by Afrodita. The story behind my alias is when I was in University my favorite teacher used to write for the University paper. His preference was poetry and I couldn’t give a crap about it, until he came with a piece he wrote in my “honor”. He called it Afrodita, the Greek version of my name Venus. This piece of poetry about me made me think about myself differently. I have, ever since, signed under that name in some places of the internet world.

 I am a career mom. Working as an Inventory Manager at a biotech company has been exciting and it brings something new to learn every day, I love it. I like that my job is in the downtown area and allows me to keep me around the happening zone. Plus I have great access to all the foodie chains, this is very important to keep your mind focused. Trust me.

 I have a mild case of OCD. I don’t think I do, I call it being clean, organized and good time management. My husband thinks otherwise. I am a firm believer of the following, which if I could I’ll frame it all over the world. So, my husband keeps saying “case in point” over and over.

If you get it out, put it away
If you open it, close it
If you finish it, replace it
If it’s full, empty it
If you take it off, hang it up
If it’s dirty, wash it
If it’s garbage, trash it

 I strive to own good underwear. I don’t need to go in details here, but seriously, do not neglect your panties or bra’s, they are there to hold you. Do not take them for granted.

 I consider myself an economist, but some people might label me as stingy. Money wasn’t a luxury when I was growing up, and unlike others, I did not remain stupid about the ins and outs of it. Since very young I learnt to prioritize my expenses so I could pay for my school – trust me, there were times I really wanted to enjoy it, but that would have meant not finishing school. It was the hardest thing I lived as a young person.

 My mom and myself have a broken relationship. Sure, we talk to each other, but we are not entirely connected. Unfortunately my mom is somehow, limited. This forced us to not being a mom, a friend, a sister, a confident to one another since pretty much when I turned up 12 years old. It is very sad and I already stopped feeling sorrow for myself. Instead, I feel proud of all the good things I managed to accomplished without this huge part of growing up.  Seriously, I could have turned out pretty bad if I allowed it.

Sometimes I feel like a chameleon. You know, the one that changes colors so that predators do not see them. I also feel because of the rough life I had as a kid, I kind of developed a survival strategy or more like adaptability to people or environments. But this way of living is tiring and has consequences (refer to trust issues and axiety)

I had for a while trust issues. One of the primary survival methods for me was to not trust everything you see, everything you hear or everything they say to you. It is exhausting, I know. I feel like the lack of emotional support system around me made me develop some mechanisms to cope. I have slowly learning how to let that guard down when clearly is not needed.

 I’m still overcoming anxiety. Because of my childhood and lack of emotional support, I never thought that whatever screwed up feeling I had closer to fear was called anxiety. Let alone that it was possible to be cured or manageable. I was very fortunate to have found a free treatment for it, a CBT (cognitive behavioral treatment) – provided by UBC school of psychology. This opened up my eyes towards this disorder and made me know myself even more. While I’m not entirely cured, I would say that I feel close to 95% anxiety free and it’s awesome!

 I am a defender of the weak and the not so fortunate – in other words, I’m against bullying. I hate when people bullied me when I was younger – or even now- and it sucks when I don’t have anyone stepping up to the bully one. Ever since I understand that feeling, I do step up and give some moral –and physical if needed – support to that person being bullied when clearly is an abuse on them. With this in mind, I cry when I hear stories where children, women or the disabled are part of the abuse of these assholes. It makes me really wish I was Dexter and kill them all.

Funny enough, my dad was a bully, and I just realized that as a mature woman. I’m not surprised of the little deviations along my growth considering all the factors around me. Family makes you or brakes you. But in the end, we should be able to pick up the pieces and rise like the Phoenix. And that is what I’m doing now.

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Thanks for reading!
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