Learning Spanish

A page of notes to myself:

I have a basic understanding of Spanish but am always trying to improve my grasp of the language.  It occurred to me to keep a list of interesting words and phrases I come a cross for later review.  This page is designed for personal use in my efforts to improve my Spanish.

• A las pruebas me remito:   The proof of the pudding is in the eating (remitir: to send, to refer, to postpone)
  
• Gracias, no te hubieras molestado:  Thanks, you shouldn’t have gone to the trouble.
• Pues, ni modo (Mexcio):  Oh well, there’s nothing you can do about it, so you might as well just grin and bear it.  (a philosophical acceptance of the inevitability of something, spoken with resignation/shrugging-of-the-shoulders as in “Pues ni modo, todo está dicho y hecho”).  Stuck in traffic, ni modo.   Need to get online but the Internet connection is down, ni modo.  Said the wrong thing and can’t take it back, ni modo.
• Quien mucho abarca poco aprieta → don’t bite off more than you can chew (abarcar: to include, embrace, take in, get one’s arms around)
• Un lazo de terciopelo le ceñía la cintura  →she had a velvet ribbon around her waist; a velvet ribbon encircled her waist;  ceñí su cuerpo con mis brazos → I wrapped my arms around his/her body.