Confessions of a Blogaholic

First Formal Dance

2011-05-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

Back in August when Kai started talking about her 8th grade formal, I could never have imagined what a big deal it was going to be. Then January came and the talk of dresses and shoes started. I noticed that her friends were having the same conversations on FB. She would look through websites and magazines. She went back and forth on dresses, but one Sunday she found the dress of her dreams. My friend was with us, and she convinced her to try it on. She did, and she fell in love.

I had already ordered her the dress she thought was the one. So I did not let her buy it. She talked to Buddy about it, and he thought about it. Then my friend called Buddy and convinced him that she had to have the dress. Kai in the mean time had started to gather yard sale items from her room and around the house. She asked Buddy to help her with a yard sale so that she could use the money to buy this dress.

The following week, I went and bought the dress. I came home and hid it in an old suitcase. Buddy wanted her to keep planning the yard sale and learn a little about making money to buy something that you really want. The problem was when to have this yard sale? She is so busy on weekends. She did a real good job sorting through old clothes and shoes. She put them on a rolling rack by sizes and styles. She really, really wanted this dress.

Finally on Easter morning, Buddy and I hung the dress in her closet. I had bought her earrings and a bracelet to go with the dress. She was so excited!

This last week we went shoe shopping and found a very pretty pair of black shoes, and a black clutch.

On Friday afternoon, I did her make-up and hair. She also had four of her friends come over so that I could do their make-up too. Buddy set up a snack bar, and they just relaxed and waited to get ready. They all looked so pretty.

It took longer to get so many of them ready, that they missed the group pictures with a professional photographer. We had to take them straight to the restaurant. Here are some pictures that I snuck on the day of the dance. Yes, I was THAT mom that snuck into the dance for pictures. They were all very good sports about it.

Here are some pictures that I was able to take at the restaurant. They went to The Vine right down the street from the school.

They had so much fun! I was a little sad because it means that my little girl is not so little anymore, but at the same time, I love all of the fun yet to be had. So many more dances to shop for and have with.

The BIG 40

2011-04-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Buddy will be celebrating the BIG 40 this year! At first I was not going to plan a BIG celebration because it would be a month before Kai's BIG day. Well, now that things have changed, I decided that he deserves a BIG celebration for the BIG day. It was initially going to be a BIG surprise party, but I have a teenage daughter that couldn't keep her BIG mouth shut. She overheard me and a friend discussing some details, and she told Buddy. A few months ago, I was reading one of my favorite entertainment blogs. Hostess with the Mostess and she had the best vow renewal theme. It was the theme from the movie The Hangover. I immediately decided on that theme. That is our ultimate favorite movie. We can watch it every single day. Buddy and I don't ever like the same movies, and I mean ever. For some reason, this movie we both like. I made Save The Date cards that I will be sending out through e-mail and FB messages. His party is in August, but I am hoping that a lot of our friends from Douglas can make the trip. I am sending them out on the release date of The Hangover 2. The party will only focus on the first movie. It will have a Vegas feel. I'm so excited to plan this party. It should be a BIG blast, and a BIG night for Buddy. There will be nothing appropriate about this party. Just like the movie. Here is a sneak peak. I will also be sending out actual invites as the day gets closer. In the mean time, I will just be busy planning this hillarious party.

2011-04-12T15:08:00.001-07:00

I created a widget to countdown the day until Kai's Quinceañera on my sidebar. I haven't had the heart to take it down yet. Just like I haven't had the heart to cancel the church, the reception site, the 14 person live band and 8 person mariachi. I haven't even canceled the block of rooms that are saved at the hotel yet either.

Maybe I'm hoping for a miracle, but it's not looking very good for us. After all of the debating about whether to make her a Quinceañera, she finally agreed to let us plan her one. She knew how much my mom wanted her to have one.

Then there was the decision to make. Phoenix, or Douglas? Buddy wanted it in Phoenix, I wanted it in Douglas. Obviously our families wanted it in Douglas. So, we finally agreed. It would be in Douglas, at the church that we were married at, and the reception at the Douglas Country Club.

In September, I made a special trip to Douglas to sign the contract for both the church and the Country Club. My sister and I spent an hour measuring tables, dance floor, walls and figuring out the layout. I went to Mexico for an afternoon and spoke to one of the most popular florists and discussed colors and ideas. I took pictures and had my handy dandy "binder" with me.

The following weekend, we made an appointment at Suzanne's Bridal for Kai to find her dress. She looked around, found one that she fell in love with, and she didn't want to try anymore on. She decided that it was the one. Are you sure I asked? She said YES! So, we bought the dress.

Things were coming along just fine. My brain went into David Tutera mode, and ideas were bouncing out of my head like crazy.

The theme: Woodland Fairy, minus the fairies. Everyone understood. Forest looking, lots of greenery, trees, and tons of flowers. Just no fairies in sight. I was giving them the day off.

The colors: Deep plum and Orchid

I put together an information packet for the 14 friends that Kai was going to ask to be a part of her party. I had already spoken to all of the moms, and they were all willing to make the drive down to Douglas.

Buddy was going to rent a party bus to drive her and all her friends to Douglas, and they would drive back home with their parents.

The night before we handed out the packets, Kai asked to talk to us. She was very serious. She started by saying how grateful she was that we were willing to do this for her. She said the more and more she thought about it, she didn't really want it. She said that she realized how much it was going to cost, and that she would rather use that money for something else.

She had been researching Summer programs at FIT in New York, and that she would rather do that. She said that she wants to go to school there, and that if she starts taking the Summer courses her chances of being accepted are better. She also enjoyed her Summer at the dance intensive so much, she wanted to continue to do that as well.

Needless to say, we were shocked. We had already put down deposits. And then of course the dress. There really wasn't much we could say. We accepted, and in shock I called my mom and sisters.

During Christmas, everyone tried to change her mind, and I mean everyone. She just wouldn't budge. As of last week, my mom was still trying to make her budge, and nothing. We finally conceded that we can not make her do something that she doesn't want to do.

As much as it saddens me, it's time for some phone calls this week. Fortunately, they were waiting to order the dress just in case she grew a little. We can't get our deposit back, but we do get a store credit. So, I guess Homecoming and formal dresses will be free for a while. : )

This is the dress we had picked for her 14 friends to wear. It is gorgeous!! We were even going to do the plumb flowers in the hair.

And...............

This was THE dress. I absolutely loved it. It was so Kai. So simple, and yet elegant. Not to puffy, or straight. Awww, makes me so sad to see it.

So, because Kai chose to not have this big blowout, Buddy gets one heck of a 40th Birthday Bash!!! Lucky for him I just might know how to plan one.

Just how long has it been? A long, long time....

2011-04-11T14:23:00.000-07:00

Not so much of a Blogaholic. I almost feel the need to change the name of my poor little blog. It has sat here deserted with no updates and no pictures. I think about it everyday, yet I can't seem to find the time to come back to it.

My intention for my blog was to document so much of our days and lives. And yet, I have let months go by without one little entry. There is no way my mind can remember everything that has happened since my last post. So much missed. The majority of Kai's 8th grade year, and the majority of Nachito's 5th grade year. Not to mention how many holidays and important events I have missed. Trips and of course Birthday parties. Somehow I need to find the time to record these events, and even if I have to back date them, I will document them at some point.

This week is a tough school week for the kids. AIMS testing for both of them. Today they both felt very good about how they did.

Nothing much has changed in Kai's world. She still dances, still competes, and she is still very much into fashion. Probably a little more now.

Nachito had a rough Fall/Winter with his allergies and his Asthma, but now that Spring is here, he is feeling a lot better. He still loves his video games, and although we have been trying to be a little stricter about them, he still manages to earn gaming time by reading or helping Buddy outside.

Just last month Kai and I filled out her High School paperwork, and I had a knot in my throat the whole time. It was surreal for me. I honestly don't know where all this time has gone. I know that the next four years will just fly by. Right now she is in the process of getting ready for her BIG 8th grade promotion dance, her BIG 8th grade field trip, and her promotion ceremony. Like any little Fashionista, all must be perfect for these events. Yes, even her field trip to Sunsplash. Oh geez, what will High School be like? It's lucky for her that she has a dad like Buddy that consents to every single request.

Last Friday Nachito came home with his Middle School packet, and again, lump in throat. Fortunatley for me, he is not as high maintenance as his sister. God knew what he was doing when he sent me only one girl.

New York 2010

2010-09-05T23:10:00.001-07:00

Kai ready to board the Subway going to China Town to look for hair accessories.

Kai and Kolton taking a Pedi Cab on our way to explore the YMCA. She wanted to see where she would be staying a few weeks later.

Kai, Maya and Kolton in Times Square

Kai, Ariana and Tatum in front of the biggest Forever 21. I had a headache just from walking around this place. It was crazy.....four floors of clothes.

New York Day 2010

2010-09-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Kai competed her new solo in the morning, and then she was free for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

We took a walk to Central Park again, and just relaxed.

In the evening, we went to the Top of the Rock and enjoyed the view. The best was to see the Empire State Building lit up with Red, White and Blue. It was gorgeous.

On the fourth of July, the girls all had to compete. All of their group numbers were on this day. We were done early, and we went to dinner and then walked over to the Hudson River to see the fireworks.

New York Day 2010

2010-09-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

In New York, there is never any down time. When these girls are not busy dancing, they want to go shopping. This particular day was no exception. The girls wanted to go to H & M. We decided to walk there. Big mistake, HUGE. It was so hot on this day. New York was having record heat, and it was pretty miserable. After shopping for a while, we decided to head back, and to our surprise, we could not find a Taxi driver that would take us ALL back to the hotel. NYC has a maximum rider limit and we exceeded it. They can only take four people at a time, and their were six of us. Finally one of them took pity on us and took us to the hotel, but asked the girls to duck their heads if they saw a member of the NYPD. It was pretty funny, because of the holiday, they were almost at every corner.

New York Day 2010

2010-08-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

This was quite possibly the happiest day of the whole trip. It was the night of the Mini/Junior Gala. For the first time in TDA history, they earned four spots in the Galas. Money, Money in the Mini division, Steam Heat in the Junior division, Can Your Hear What I Say in the Teen division, and The Fight in the Senior division. In the past, they have earned up to three spots, but all four was amazing.

When we get to NYC, all the studios re-compete numbers that they have competed at Regionals. Each division has easily over 100 numbers. The judges pick the top five numbers in each division. On Gala nights, the five numbers go head to head and compete for the top prize. The top prize is called Critics Choice winner. When we went to Nationals in 2007, TDA had two numbers that made the Gala. Kai was in one of those numbers. Although they did not win, it was still an honor to have made the top five, and had a chance to dance in the Gala. When we went back last year, TDA had three numbers qualify. This time, Kai was in two of the numbers. Again, they did not win, but what an honor to dance in two of the three numbers that made the gala. This year, we were excited for all four numbers. I had a feeling that one would at least win. What an amazing thing when they called Steam Heat as the winner of the Juniors Critics Choice. The kids didn't know what to do with themselves. They were so excited. You can tell by the large smiles on all their faces.

Kai and her teacher Mike

Mary and Kai

All of the Steam Heat kids

Kai and Maya

Mike, Holly and Kai

Holly and Kai

New York 2010

2010-08-30T00:30:00.000-07:00

This was our last and final day in NYC. The last day is always bitter sweet for us. Both Kai and I LOVE NY and it's very hard to leave. Kai, however wasn't to sad. She knew that she would be back in a few weeks.

We started out our day early and headed to Soho for a day of school shopping. Both Tatum and Kai managed to do some damage in a few Soho stores.

On our way to go shopping!!!

Kai at her favorite store in Soho, TopShop!

This was also the day for the Teen/Senior Gala. It was such an exciting night. We had Vicki in the top three for Teen Outstanding Dancer, and Cory in the top three for Senior Outstanding Dancer. Vicki danced beautifully, it was truly breathtaking. She ended up 1st runner-up. Cory also dance amazing and he won the title of Senior Outstanding dancer. It was another great night for TDA. We went out to celebrate, and the only restaurant we could find open was La Famiglia Pizza. We filled it up pretty fast.

Danni, Mary, Maya and Kai celebrating

Mary, Shannon (Travis Wall's little brother) & Kai

Kai and Maddie Love the new Teen Outstanding Dancer

We first met Maddie when we traveled to NYCDA in Alabama. She had traveled from Utah to the convention. While we were waiting at the airport on Monday, we had a chance to really talk to her. She had just gone to the Summer Intensive, and she really encouraged Kai to go. She told her about how much fun she had and thought it would be a great idea for Kai.

After a long day and week, she fell asleep on a bench in front of the elevators. She has always been able to sleep just about anywhere.

TDA Recital 2010

2010-08-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

Every year the kids at TDA get ready for their annual dance recital. This year was no different. On top of getting numbers ready for competition, they also learn some recital pieces. This years recital was a lot of fun. All the kids did an amazing job.

Tatum, Mary and Kai on their way to Chandler Center for the Arts

they just might like the camera....

just maybe.

Kai and Miss Fabiana

Kai and Tatum getting ready for the show

Kai and friends

It's been so long

2010-08-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that is has been three months since I last blogged. It's been a busy Summer for all of us. We are a weeks into the new school year, and there are no signs of anything slowing down. I am going to try my best to update my blog with all of the Summer happenings.

Every year Kai travels to Douglas for my sister's dance recital. My sister owns a small dance studio there and has her annual recital at the beginning of June. This year, Miss Fabiana taught Kai a pointe solo, and she performed it in Douglas.

We were so grateful to Miss Fabiana for taking the time to teach her this solo. Soon after, we found out that Miss Fabiana and her husband would be moving to Kentucky at the end of the Summer. She was one of Kai's favorite ballet teachers. She really took her time with Kai and helped her so much.

Kai, Alessandra and Devon

A little bit of Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Paso Doble and some Jive

2010-05-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

It's a new vocabulary for us. And one that we are going to have to get familiar with very soon. Kassie started taking Ballroom lessons two months ago, and she absolutely LOVES it. And, I have to say that I love it too!

When I used to work at Macy's for Estee Lauder, one of my friends from the Lancome counter was an International Ballroom dancer. She would go to competitions all of the time. At the time, Kai was only five. Debra wanted Kai to start Ballroom. We lost touch when she turned Pro and needed better coaching. She moved to San Diego and started competing in the Pro circuit. She taught Ballroom at Mary Murphy's dance Studio. Yes, Mary Murphy from SYTYCD. The one that puts dancers on the hot tamale train.

Two years ago, I ran into her at Chandler Mall. We re-connected and we kept trying to get together for her to teach Kai. She was teaching at Fred Astaire in Mesa. I just never had time to take Kai with her busy schedule and mine. This year when Holly gave Kai a Ballroom inspired solo, I called Debra. I wanted her to clean the Ballroom elements of her dance and show her how to do them correctly. By now, she was teaching at Fred Astaire in Paradise Valley. We made the drive out there every Thursday for a month. After she was done cleaning the solo, she started teaching her some Ballroom.

One Thursday, we went to the studio and there was a Bulgarian Ballroom teacher there. His name is Nedko. He and Kai danced together for about half an hour. After that lesson, we were asked if they could train her for a Ballroom competition in June. I was of course not ready for that. I explained that she already had such a full schedule because of NYCDA Nationals and her Intensive. They agreed, but then advised me that she could be ready for the following competition in November. So, with that said, she is presently getting ready for that. Right now, she is only going on Thursdays, because it's her only day off from TDA. After she returns from the intensive in NYC, she may have to start going a little more. It's scary and fun at the same time.

This past Saturday, we went to a Ballroom competition to watch the professionals. We were in awe of their dancing and most of all.........THE COSTUMES!!! It was pretty awesome to see them come out. They danced their dances, and then they would eliminate some couples. Then it was the Finals. They danced their hearts out. There were two couples from Tempe, and the rest were from different states.

It was so different then a regular dance competition. You sit at tables around the dance floor. The couples dance all around and you get to see each of them at some point during the dancing. The couple that won, were our favorites. Click here to see them. They are awesome!

Here is a quick video of Kai's Ballroom lesson from Thursday. It was Rumba. She invited her best friend Kolton to take class with her, and they had a blast.

So let the Ballroom obsession begin. Kai will be competing in the International Rhythm category. According to Debra, it has a lot more flexibility than the American Rhythm. She can do more lifts and tricks. We shall see. We are very excited to see where this takes her. She will still continue to dance at TDA and she will have to decide if she wants to slow down a little at TDA and focus more on Ballroom, or both. As long as her grades don't get affected, she can do both.

NYCDA Phoenix 2010

2010-05-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe that the competition kids at TDA had their final NYCDA Regional in Phoenix the first weekend of May. They have qualified most of their numbers for Nationals, and in less than two months, they are on there way back to NYC. It was a very successful weekend for TDA. Three Critics Choice numbers, tons of high scores and Platinum awards.

After all of the cities that were attended this year, the preparation begins. Rehearsals and cleaning of numbers. This will be Kai's fourth year competing at Nationals, and I have to say that this year, I have so many favorite numbers, that I can't pick just one. From the mini numbers to the senior numbers, they are all so good.

Cover Girl

The girls hanging out waiting to compete

Kai and Joe Lanteri

Kai and Madison

Kai, Naomi, Madison and Maya

Encore 2010

2010-05-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago some of the kids competed at Encore Dance Competition. It was the first time that Kai competed her solo. All of the kids did extremely well.

Kai, Dani, Mary and Ally

And, she's off!

2010-05-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

AND......WE ARE NERVOUS!!

Back in October, I took Kai and her friends to the first NYCDA city of the year. It was in Mobile, AL. She won a Triple Threat award that automatically qualified her to attend the NYCDA Summer intensive for 16 days. When we came home, I casually mentioned it to Buddy. A few weeks later, I found all of the paperwork in his office.

When I asked him about it, he said. "I think she should go." "I think it would be good for her." Wow, are you sure? That's a long time, and it's far away. He said "Yes, I think it will help her a lot." So, this was October, and really August seemed so far away. We kept the idea in the back of our mind. Fast Forward to March, I went online to download all of the applications. The first page that printed said that the program was for 14 to 18 year old. Well, that doesn't work, she is still 13, and she will still be 13 during the intensive. I decided to send a quick e-mail to Joe Lanteri, the Executive Director for NYCDA. I explained that she was only 13 and could she still go? When he e-mailed me back, it said to go ahead and submit her application along with an audition video. That because she was younger, he would want to see it and determine whether or not she would be able to do it. I was happy that he was at least honest with me. I had one week from the time of his e-mail to work on the paperwork, and make an audition video.

I had to get letters of recommendation from two of her dance teachers, her head shot, her resume, her birth certificate, she had to write a letter stating what she planned on doing when she graduated that involved dance. Her ballet teacher Natalia wrote one letter, and Holly her jazz, technique, ballet and solo teacher wrote the other. We quickly put together a video and sent it all in.

I honestly did not think that she would get in due to her age. Over the weekend, we had competed at NYCDA Phoenix and I looked through the Summer Intensive album. So many talented kids have gone through this program. Travis Wall, Danny Tidwell, Jeanine Mason, Jacob Karr, and our very own Cory Barnett from TDA (who also happened to get into Juliard for the fall) to name a few. Last Monday, we came home and sitting in the mail box, was her acceptance into the program.

That is when the nerves started setting in. For both me and Buddy. The fact that we are sending our 13 year old to NYC for 16 days without either one of us is scary. She will be staying in dorms, and then she will be taking class at Laguardia School of the Performing Arts. The very school that the movie FAME was based on. Her classes will be with amazing teachers, and she will also be taking voice lessons. She will be going on field trips to tour the inside of Broadway theaters and watching shows and meeting the cast. They have so many fun things planned, I almost wish I was going. Fortunately, another TDA alum also got into the program and they will be traveling together on the same flights. Vicki is an amazing dancer, and she is 16 years old, so that makes us feel a lot better.

It will be a very busy but exciting Summer for Kai. First we both leave to NYC in June for Nationals. We will be there for 10 days, and then we come back. She will be here for a few weeks, then she goes back again. Buddy thinks we need to have an emergency fund ready just in case she gets home sick and one of us has to fly back and get her. I have a feeling that it won't happen. Many times I slept with the phone close by when she was at sleepovers waiting for the 2 a.m phone call. The call that most parents get that says "I want to go home, can you pick me up?" I never once got that call. I'd be pretty mad if she decided to do it now when she will be 3000 miles away.

Here is the quickie audition video that we had to put together.

I've been a stranger...

2010-05-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

It has been well over a month since I've been on my blog. I have missed it so much. I just needed a little break from my computer. Not so much from my blog, but blogging does involve using the computer. There were nights that I was staying up until 2 a.m. on my computer reading blogs, Internet window shopping, farming, (I think I have cured myself of that one. Sorry Neighbors) and then just silently eaves dropping on friends Facebook accounts. I say silently because although I love to look at pictures, I don't often comment or "Like" things because I feel guilty. Guilty if I comment or "Like" on someones picture or status but forget to on someones else etc. etc.

Unfortunately, I'm a people pleaser, just in case you hadn't noticed. I don't know how to say no, and I hate to hurt peoples feelings. Although, I'm getting a little better at it....well, just a teeny tiny bit better. So, I took a month break from the Internet, only using it for emergencies like a last minute pair of shoes, or some serious withdrawals from Entertainment news. Thank god for E online, just a quick overview of the home page and I was good.

I kept up on local news through good old fashioned newspapers and the 10 o'clock news. Of course there was no dull moment in Arizona. So much talk about the Immigration law. I naturally had so many people asking me my thoughts because I grew up on a border town, and I am an American with Mexican heritage. I have a lot of different feelings about this law. I have no problem proving my citizenship when asked. I can show my drivers license in one second, and even my Passport (because I have yet to put it away since I came back from Venice). I honestly don't like the ignorance surrounding this law. I had someone tell me, "Well you won't get pulled over because you drive a nice car." Really?? I DON'T drive a nice car. I drive a Nissan Armada it's three years old, and my kids live out of it. What does that have to do with being pulled over??? I'm more afraid of people thinking this way, than being pulled over by a police officer. It's the ignorant people out there that now feel that they have the right to say or do stupid things.

The day after the bill was signed, my niece, my American niece, who is married to a Border Patrol no less was harassed by a man at a Blockbuster. He approached her and basically asked her why she hadn't gone back to Mexico yet. Another friend of mine has an eight year old daughter that was approached by a parent during her softball game and asked her for her green card. She is eight....she asked her mom "Mommy that man asked me for my green card, do I have a green card? She didn't even know what it was.

I have a girl that works at my office. She was born in Canada. I was able to hire her, because she has her work permit. She has been in the United States for four years, three of those years, she was here illegally. She was supposed to come and visit, and she never went back. She got pregnant, and had her baby here then finally went back to make the proper arrangements. I'm glad that she did, because she is an awesome worker, but where is the difference? Nobody would have ever guessed that she to was an "illegal".

I understand the reasoning behind this bill, but I don't like the stereotyping of it. There are a lot of illegals in this country, but of all nationalities. It would be nice if people came into this country legally, but the way Arizona is trying to handle it is not the solution.

And there, what a way to come back to my blog. And being the people pleaser that I am, I hope nobody takes offense to my post, it's only my simple view on things.

I'm hoping that my comeback lasts for a while. I have tons of things to post about.

Finally, it's done.

2010-04-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

It took me over 20 hours to finish it, but I am finally done! Kai's new costume is rhinestoned, and I do mean rhinestoned. Let's see, between the costume and the bracelets that I made. This costume has about 38 gross of rhinestones. Once I started the bodice, I realized that I was going to need more. I had to order another 9 gross. I have about a gross left for any that might pop off. I think this costume just might sparkle, just maybe.

The bodice is completely covered in Jet Black Swarovski's and the colored stones are mixed in.
The skirt is also stoned on top and underneath, although those are spread out a little more than on the bodice.

I made three roses, but I'm not sure if she will use all three. Made one of each color just in case.

I made these six bracelets out of 20ss stones. It took almost five gross of stones for all six bracelets. But boy do they sparkle.

I liked these so much, that I am going to be making 20 of them in lime green for Cover Girl.

Now that her costume is done, she needs to really clean it up in the next two weeks. She will compete it at Encore in a few weeks. Like I said in the post before....MY job is done, it's now up to Kai for the rest.

Easter Weekend 2010

2010-04-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that Easter weekend was probably the most relaxing weekend that we have had in a long, long time.

We had no major plans. Buddy took Friday off and stayed home with the kids. They just hung out at home, and had a fun day together. Kai and I joined my friend Patti and her boys for a movie in the evening. Clash of the Titans....I loved it! Although I did have a very bad headache while I watched it. I am a fan of the original, but I really think that they did a good job in remaking it.

Saturday was spent at home, ALL day! I loved it! Kai, not so much. She had cabin fever and could not believe that we were not going anywhere. She was dressed with no where to go. I had no plans on going anywhere, and I didn't. I did play with a certain little gadget that the Easter Bunny brought me and I didn't even have to wait for Mothers Day. ; ) Thank you Buddy (Easter Bunny).

This morning, the kids woke early and colored eggs. We got ready and headed out to Uncle Fernie and Aunt Wendy's house. It was a lot of fun!

Sadly the weekend was over way to soon. I cherished every minute of it, because I don't think I will have another weekend like this in a long time.

Happy Easter 2010

Buddy, in case your wondering.........

2010-03-30T12:18:00.001-07:00

Exactly a year ago I posted my Mother's Day wish list 2009 Edition. It worked! Well mostly. I did receive most of what was on my list, just not exactly on Mother's Day.

So, I thought I would try again. It never hurts to try right?
I decided to make a 2010 Edition. So here it goes:

Once again Buddy, all you have to do is click on the picture for the direct link. : )

And, I don't want all of them, I'll take just one. Preferably the last one, but I won't hold my breath.

1. Black on Black Tory's.

2. Metallic Black Tory

3. Temptu personal airbrush foundation.

(I played with this at Sephora in Downtown Disney, and it is so awesome!! The coverage is flawless!

And Last, but not LEAST......................................................

iPAD

Buddy, I know you say that you saw it first. You know that it's not true. I called YOU! So I feel that it's only fair that I should have it first.

Besides, I still have to give you lessons on your iPhone.

Well, that's my 2010 wishlist. We will see how it goes. If anyone happens to get an iPad I would love to hear about it. Since they do come out on Saturday. : ( I guess I could go to the Apple store to at least play with it. : (

Another weekend has come and gone...

2010-03-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

way to fast. And even though I only had a three day work week, it didn't seem to last long.

On Wednesday and Thursday, me and the kids drove down to Douglas. We went to attend the funeral services for my beloved uncle. Sadly he did pass away on March 17th. One day after he was taken off of life support. I still can not control my tears. I am tearing up just writing about it. The show of support for him on these two days, only re-enforced my belief that he was a great person. Stories of his generosity and kindness was all that was heard. A political niece who spoke at his funeral mass gave an amazing speech about him. It read almost the same as the one my sister read a few minutes after her. And here we thought that he only spoiled us. How selfish were we? He was just a kind and gentle man to everyone he knew. He will be missed.

On Saturday, I attended the Miss Tempe/Miss Mesa Pageant. It was a walk back to the past. My old pageant days. Yes, I to was a pageant girl. Back, back, baacckk in the day. I was 16 years old, and was encouraged by a friend to compete for the title of Miss Douglas Teen. I did, why not? And..........I won. Then, the pageant bug bit me. It bit me bad. I let it consume my life for a good twelve years.

After I gave up my title for Miss Douglas Teen, I was scheduled to run for Miss Douglas. I opted not to. I waited for the next year, and decided to get married instead. A decision I do not regret I may add. (Don't start to freak Buddy)

After I got married, I was asked to produce the local Miss Douglas Pageant. I did that for a few years. Then right after Kai was born, I was asked to be the local Executive Director. That was crazy. It consumed my life, and after moving up to the Phoenix area, I continued to direct. Miss Ahwatukee and Miss Ocotillo. I loved directing, but it was very time consuming. So, in order to salvage a little bit of my sanity, I quit cold turkey. I blocked e-mails from State staff, I ignored phone calls, I just dropped off the face of the earth. I knew that if I answered, I would be sucked right back in. That was seven years ago.

Fast forward to now. Even though I quit cold turkey, I would be a liar if I said that I didn't still know what was going on in the pageant world. Thanks to the good ol Internet. Hey, I can't help myself. I went to ten Miss Arizona pageants only missing two because 1. It was a few weeks before my wedding. 2. Because I was close to having Kai, and my feet were so swollen I couldn't travel. I went out to Atlantic City to see Miss America, and I can't even count how many local pageants I went to.

At the beginning of the year, I was approached to help coach a young lady from TDA. She was going to compete for Miss Tempe. First of all, let me say that I would have never done it, if I didn't believe in the Miss America Organization. And, I would have never encouraged her if I didn't feel that she would be perfect for this organization. This young lady represents everything that is good about it. She is smart, talented, beautiful, and she is a go-getter. For the past few months, we worked on her wardrobe and just a little educating about the pageant system. Other than that, she did the rest on her own. And now, I am happy to say....she is the new Miss Tempe.

Jennifer and Kai
Jennifer with Miss Arizona and other local title holders

Jennifer with all of her TDA family that attended.

Jennifer will compete for the title of Miss Arizona on June 19th in Chandler, AZ. She will do an amazing job. As for my part......support! That is it! I will help with what I can, but Buddy, I can promise you that I will not get roped back into pageants. I will help Jennifer with anything that she needs, but after Miss Arizona it's cold turkey for me again. I make you that promise. : )

Another weekend has come and gone...

2010-03-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was spent at Dance Masters of America. Another competition that TDA participates in. It was held at Greenway High School. On Saturday the kids took class for the morning, then they participated in the Performing Arts Competition.

Kassie competed in two group numbers, and then her trio. Her solo was not ready, nor was her costume. All of the TDA kids did great. Holly decided to not take a lot of numbers, because we have NYCDA Regionals around the corner and her new numbers were not ready to compete.

On Sunday, there were some more classes, and then it was the title competition. Mckenzie from TDA was crowned Pettite Miss Dance of Arizona , Zach also from TDA was awarded Mr. Pettite Dance. For Junior Miss Dance the title went to Ally, Miss Dance of Arizona was won by Casey, both from TDA. It was a big Sunday for TDA. Four title holders won. And the competition was not easy. Congratulations to all of them!!

On Saturday in between the classes and the competition, we took the kids out to lunch. We had lunch at Cucina Tagliani. I had never been there before, but I really liked it. The kids had fun, and then they were off for competition.

Zach, Alyssa, Amber, Elan, Jillian, Tatum, Kolton, Kai, and Jennifer

Sadly, the weekend went by way to fast.

So, so sad today.

2010-03-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to block out moments from your life?

Have you ever wished that time would stop so that the inevitable won't happen?

For the past four days, I have tried to do both.

My Uncle Richard (Tio Pilingy) has been sick for some time now. He is my mom's brother, and they have always been very close.

My sisters and I grew up treating him like a second father, and he treated us like daughters. Sometimes people are not close to their aunts and uncles, but this was not the case with ours. We saw him everyday growing up. He lived with our grandmother for a while, and when he re-married, would still come to visit her everyday. His excuse was always to pick up the daily newspaper. He could have bought his own subscription, but he didn't because that gave him a reason to go see her everyday. My grandmother even paid for his Sports Illustrated, and that would also be delivered to my grandmother. He was the best son, brother, father and uncle anyone could ask for.

When I think back of all the memories I have of him, I can't pick one, because there are so many. So many memories from when I was a little girl, up until I left Douglas. There was not one time, that I went to Douglas that I did not stop by his house to visit him. Last summer, we sat with him on his porch for over an hour. He finally told us to go, because he did not want me and the kids on the road to late. He had just had his bypass surgery, and he was looking real good.

Things always can change from one second to the next. He started having complications with his left foot. Circulation problems, a burn on his foot from a heating pad, and diabetes. He was not used to being cared for, because he always did the caring. My mom had been driving him to appointments and testing. She had been buying his groceries, and running his errands. When we called to tell him that our mom had suffered a heart attack, he cried and blamed himself. He said it was because she was doing so much for him. We told him that it was not the reason.

The day before my mom was released to go back to Douglas, she received a phone call from his step daughter. They were going to have to amputate his left leg. My mom cried for hours. The next day, on our way to Douglas, we stopped to see him. He was at Tucson Medical Center. He was in such good spirits. Happy to at least be alive. Again, we sat with him, and when he looked out the window and saw that it was getting dark, he sent us on our way.

That was the last time I saw him. My sister's, fortunately had been seeing him everyday. He was transferred nursing home in Douglas for rehabilitation. My middle sister has been Social Services there for 20 years. She saw him all day long. My oldest sister, would take him food and treats every chance she could. My mom was able to go visit him everyday, just like before she got sick.

On Friday, before I left to the airport, my sister called me to tell me that his right foot was starting to give him problems. She said that he was going to Tucson for a Dr.'s visit so that they can take a look at it. Later she called to tell me that they were going to try a procedure in which they inject a high dose of blood thinner to try and get the circulation going again. Otherwise, they were going to have to amputate his right leg to. He was told that this procedure had a 5% chance of causing a brain hemorrhage. He understood, and went ahead with the procedure. He did not want to lose his right leg to.

On Saturday, while watching the Tucson Dance Academy program, I received a text from my sister. She said that I needed to call her. When I did, I was told that he fell in the 5% and he had a brain hemorrhage. They had to surgically relieve some of the pressure, and at that point, there was no brain activity. I was devastated. She told me that they were going to wait 48 hours and hope for improvement. For the past four days, I have been hoping and praying for a miracle. I have tried to block out the inevitable. Today, my sister called to tell me that they were turning off his life support.

All I know, is that I'm going to miss him so much!! Even though I know where he is going, I still wish he wasn't. I have to let go, and pray that he does not suffer anymore. That God will take him soon, and finally end his suffering. I Love You Tio!! I will Miss You!!!

Quality Time with my.......

2010-03-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

Boy!!!

Nachito and I just got back from a Suns game. It was a fun night out with my 10 year old little boy. Thanks to Ella and her husband Dr. Bowen, we had great seats and we had a blast.

We headed out to the game with just enough time to get us some snacks and find our seats to get ready to enjoy the game. It was a great game. The Suns were ahead the whole time. They won with a final score of 152-114. We left a little into the fourth quarter to beat the traffic.

Nachito could not leave without a stop at the Team Shop where he picked out a stuffed Suns Gorilla and a new Basketball. As we were driving home, he said to me "Mom, we need to do this more often". Oh (hand on heart) that was so sweet. I will definitely be going on more one on ones with Nachito, there is no doubt.

Besides, who can resist this chocolate covered face?

Not me!!!

Another weekend has come and gone...

2010-03-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

sad, so sad. Although I really shouldn't complain because I had a three day weekend. Even though I was sick for all of it, and still am. There I go...complaining again. Oh well.

My weekend started out on Thursday evening with a trip to Dave and Busters with the Krouse Family, Mary, Kai and myself. The kids played while Jana and I talked. The kids had fun. We were waiting for it to be close to midnight so that we can go to the theater to watch Remember Me. There was no madness like the evening that New Moon premiered, it wasn't even playing at the Cine Capri.

I had purposely not read any reviews on the movie prior to going. I hate to know to much about a movie before I go. Sometimes I feel let down if I already know what is going to happen. I honestly didn't even know that it had anything to do with September 11th. I personally really liked the movie. I thought Robert Pattinson did a good job in it. It was a very sad movie, and I did not see the end of the movie coming at all. It was not predictable in my opinion. Do I think it was an Oscar worthy movie? No, but it was good. I would go see it again, not 20 times, but maybe once more.

After we got home from the movie, we needed to pack our stuff to catch our flight to CA in eight hours. Mary and Kai slept while I packed and then we were off.

The flight was short, but I was miserable. I had fluid in my ears, and with the altitude changes, my ears felt like they were going to explode. It was painful. When we landed I had almost no hearing left. Holly was practically screaming in my ears so that I could hear. We took a shuttle to our hotel and then got ready to head to Disneyland. We stopped at Downtown Disney for lunch at Naples and then went into the park. As sick as I was, I did not let it stop us. We rode on as many rides as we could. Then we headed over to California Adventure so that Mary and Kai could ride Screamin while Holly, Maya and I waited for an hour for Toy Story. We were so tired that we watched the fireworks and headed back to our hotel, and dinner was served bedside. Yep, we ordered room service, we were exhausted and I could barely move. My cold was just getting worse, and by then, I had lost my voice to.

Saturday morning we had reservations for the character breakfast in Disneyland. We had a great time. The girls enjoyed taking pictures with all of them. Then if was off to another day of Disney. Maya had to perform at 12:30, but she had to be ready at 11:00. We dropped her off, and Holly and I headed to Space Mountain. Kai and Mary left with the Ares family to Indiana Jones.

We then went back to watch the show. It was adorable. The kids did amazing. We sat there for a while afterward and waited for the next show. It was Tucson Dance Academy's show. Wanda's oldest daughters studio. Maya also danced in that show. After that, more fun.

This morning, we had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. Then we went back to the park. We left the park at 4:45 and waited for our taxi back to the airport. When we got there, Holly realized that her wallet was missing. It was panic mode. We called the hotel and someone had turned her wallet in. She had to take a cab back to hotel while I got us all checked in. Wanda, Wendy and Bethany were on our same flight. Holly barely made it back in time for the flight.

Thankfully we all made it back home safe and sound. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Flashback Friday

2010-03-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

For this weeks FF, I decided to use some old pictures from Disneyland. These pictures were taken in March of 2006. It was Kai's first trip to Disneyland with Tempe Dance Academy. She was so excited to go dance in Disneyland. Kai was nine years old.

Today we leave to Disneyland for three days. Although we are going at the same time as the TDA kids, Kai will not be dancing. By the time we decided to go, Wendy had already finished all of her dances and it was to late for Kai to learn them. So, we are just going to go and have fun. We have never needed a reason to go to Disneyland anyways.

Kai before her performance in 2006

Dancing on stage with her shirt, black jazz pants and black jazz shoes

Nachito with his annual Disneyland hat.

We can't wait!!!

Product 10 nay & 11 yay!!

2010-03-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

It has been foreevveeerrr since I post about products. Since May of last year to be exact. Product #10 is a combo, shampoo and conditioner. I had been reading about these two products for months. They were developed by some MIT students and an MIT professor who decided to take care of frizz. I am queen of frizz. I didn't used to be, but somehow, from one day to the next, FRIZZ. I have tried so many products to try and put an end to the FRIZZ. Nothing really worked. Then, I came across an article that talked about these products. I thought my problem would be over. I found these on Sephora website, but at the time, they only had the 8 oz bottles. Each bottle was $24...........OUCH!! So, I decided to wait. (Aren't you proud of me Buddy?) Then last month I was at Sephora at the mall. They had travel size bottles 2 oz for $10 each. Not as horrific. So, I bought both the shampoo and conditioner. I used it for a whole week. Nothing, Nada, Zip.....it doesn't work. At least for me. I didn't notice a thing. Maybe my hair is to thick, but for that price, so not worth it. So my opinion is....MIT students should leave the hair products to someone else and they can continue to become astronauts, chemists and amazing architects. If you would like to try these products, click here.

My yay product is a new eye shadow primer from Urban Decay. It's called Eye Shadow Primer Potion - Eden. I have used their original primer potion for a few years now (I know, who hasn't?) This new one, I LOVE! I love that its a "tawny" color. Lately I have been pretty boring with my make-up. A lot of nudes and browns. I may spice it up by adding a red lip, but other than that..........BORING. I can't help it. I work at a Dr.s office, and I really can't have fun with make-up like I used to. Soooo, this primer is perfect for me and my boring colors. It blends with them real well, and I even use it as a high lighter. I say YAY to this product. And it's sister potions too! If you would like to take a look at this product, click on here. Or, you can stop by your local Sephora for both products.

Remember Me?

2010-03-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

That title holds a double meaning. First one is because I have not had time to post to my blog as often as I would like.

So many things have happened in the past few weeks that I decided to take a mental break from my blog. I currently have two blog posts that are sitting there waiting to either be deleted or to be published. Both written with frustration and anger. Two very different situations.

I have always used my blog as a journal for me. A way that I can capture our day to day moments. Sometimes important, sometimes silly and frankly, sometimes a little crazy. For instance: My crazy obsession with Twilight. Have you noticed how toned down that has been? Yes, all of a sudden it hit me. I'm a 36 year old wife and mother and what the heck was I thinking? Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE the franchise and all of the books. I'm just going to leave the drooling and craziness to my 13 year old. I will still go watch Eclipse and Breaking Dawn (most likely at midnight), I may even host a party or two. It will just be a little more toned down.

I have gone back to read my blog, and it makes me remember things that I have forgotten. Sure, there are some things that were probably pointless, but at the time, they were important to ME. I need to start blogging the way I used to again. Links, products, shopping, because that's me.

And, with that being said. Thursday evening, we will be going to go see this movie (at midnight of course).

Again, leaving the obsession to my 13 year old, but who else would take her at midnight to see a movie : ) And, it also is pretty cool, because this is the movie that we saw Robert Pattinson filming while we were in NYC.

While on the subject of movies. I was super excited for Sandra Bulluck and her Oscar win. And, in my opinion, she was the best looking actor that evening. I had a few other favorites, but total package, hair, make-up and dress, definitely Sandra. And not to mention that it was for one of my favorite movies, The Blind Side. Which is coming out on DVD on March 23 and I can't wait to watch it again.

Absolutely Perfect!!

I loved, loved her lipstick. I have to find out what color that was.

Flashback Friday

2010-03-05T09:45:00.001-08:00

lashback Friday!!!

It's been forever since I post a Flashback Friday! I really, really need to start doing this again.

This FF was when Kai was eight years old. At the time, I was working at Fashion Square and they had just opened Club Libby Lu. Club Libby Lu was a little girls dream store. Hair and make-up and lots and lots of glitter. Do it yourself body lotions, perfume, lip gloss etc. etc. It was a store that we went to very frequently. Every sleep over or play date required a visit to Club Libby Lu. Sadly Club Libby Lu closed, but Kai sure did enjoy it while it lasted.

Kai after she had her hair done.
Sassy Kassie and little Miss Kennedy shopping after getting all glammed up.

Kai and Kennedy were a perfect team. Shopaholics at birth, born to two Shopaholics. It was the perfect combination. My friend Vanessa and I met at Macy's. She was the Counter Manager for Lancome, while I was the Counter Manager for Estee Lauder. Two rival companies yet we managed to have a friendly competition and at the same time become great friends.

Costumes

2010-03-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

Sandy finished Kai's new costume! It's exactly what I wanted. She did an amazing job. The skirt is perfect, and the colors look great. I was worried about the colors a little, but now that it's finished I really do like it. The bottom ruffle has a hot pink lining, the middle ruffle has yellow, and the top one has a turquoise blue. When she leaps and turns, you can really see the colors. I ordered the rhinestones, and they have come in. I have started to rhinestone, but this one is going to take me a few days. I decided to just order 30 gross first, and if it needs more, than I can order some more. I went with 20 gross of 20 ss Jet, 3 gross of 20 ss Citrine, 3 gross of 20 ss Meridian blue and 4 gross of 20 ss Fuchsia. I will be busy rhinestoning this weekend, and hopefully I will get done and post some pictures on Monday.

I am also working on a new costume for a group number called Cover Girl. It's a Junior group number for NYCDA in Phoenix and then for Nationals. I'm desperately looking for any accessories in lime green. There are 20 girls in the number, and I would like them to all have different lime green accessories. Hats, bracelets, headbands, anything really cute. If any of my local blog readers see something, please let me know. This number is going to be super cute, so the costumes need to be too!!!

The design of this dress is inspired by the late Alexander McQueen. I was looking at some of his designs the week that he died and I found one that with a few changes and some color is going to be perfect for this costume.

They are dancing with shopping bags, hand mirrors, and sunglasses. I ordered some very cute shopping bags that are polka dot with lime green, orange and a magenta pink. All those colors will be incorporated into the costume. The actual dress will be the fushia/magenta color and it has an orange underskirt made out of tulle. It should turn out very, very cute. I will post pictures once it's all done.

I miss Venice

2010-02-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting at work. I was looking at all of the stuff that I have to try and get done by Friday. I was feeling overwhelmed and a bit overworked. As I moved papers from one side of my desk to the other, visions of Venice went through my mind. It made me want to go back. To just drop everything and head on back. Stay at the same hotel and re-live those days all over. Except this time, Buddy would be with me too.

Here a few weeks ago I posted on how slow Venice was and how I would only like it for a little bit. Now I sit here and realize that I would like it for longer. You see, we would all wake up and have a LONG breakfast, with no where to really go. We would just walk and walk and then have a LONG lunch with either a Belini, or a glass of wine. Then a LONG walk back to the hotel. I would actually take a nap. Yes, I would actually take a nap. I have never napped in my life. Then we would meet back down at the Lobby and go have a LONG dinner. The waiters were patient, they were not trying to turn their tables around for more tips. You could sit there for hours, and just chit chat and talk. All of the cafe's were the same.

The food was delicious and I am craving it so bad. And please, I am not by any means a real drinker, but it was nice to have a drink at every meal. It was relaxing. In my last post I mentioned that we went to Cafe Florian. It was probably the best time I have had. I sat with Cristina and Ray and just admired how beautiful this Cafe really was. It is located in St. Marks Square and I still can't believe that it has been opened for almost 300 years. To read a little about Cafe Florian, click here.

We had already had dinner, so we went there for drinks and dessert. Cristina and I ordered a pomegranite belini that were so yummy. Ray ordered a very dark beer. They serve everything on a silver platter. The drinks came with complimentary chips and olives.

Then it was time for dessert. Oh Boy! We ordered three different things from the menu. Of course a Tiramisu, then a hazlenut/chocolate sundae and a chocolate and vanilla mousse. They were so good. They came with the cutest little spoons shaped like little shovels. Oh to have one more bite of the Tiramisu.

It was very cold in Venice while we were there. Fortunately there were a lot of Cafes that served Hot Chocolate. And let me tell you, it wasn't Swiss Miss (not that I like Swiss Miss). This Hot Chocolate was thick and warm. You could use a spoon. And it was topped with fresh whip cream. After feeling sorry for my self yesterday, I was craving the Hot Chocolate so bad. I Googled a recipe for Italian Hot Chocolate and I found a few. The one I liked the most, used Cocoa Powder and actual chocolate. I went straight to AJ's because I figured that they would have the best chocolate. It needed to be more than 70% cocoa. Then, I went home to expirement.

Even though I went to AJ's, this was the best chocolate I could find. I know, I know even Safeway carries these. Go figure.

As I'm making the chocolate

Yummy......I even made fresh whip cream

and even better with a chocoate Macaron from Essence Bakery.

I had my chocolate fix for the day.

Conversations with my 13 year old..........

2010-02-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

Daughter.

Dear Daughter,

I was once 13 too. I used to think that the world revolved around me and that things would just magically happen. I would lay down on my bed and day dream about the future while listening to that magic song. The magic song that reminded me about something or someone. I had hopes and dreams just like you do. I to believed that my friends were the only ones I could talk to, the only ones that understood. I to used to think that my mom "hated" me and I used to think that I "hated" her.

There is nothing scarier than raising children. You want to do everything right, but there is no possible way you can. I make mistakes and I learn from them on a daily basis. I can not be perfect, and neither can you. You were my first born, therefore; I expect a lot from you. Maybe to much. I hate it when you think that my parenting you means that I don't LOVE you. It's because I LOVE YOU so much that I parent you. Because I LOVE YOU is why I can spend hours lecturing you on the rights and the wrongs. And in those hours, don't think that for one minute my heart doesn't hurt for you, or want to make things better. I would love to just let your mistakes go away, but I need you to know that you can do better. That you need to be responsible and that you need to be accountable. It's my job. It's my job to help you be the best woman you can be. Sometimes when we are having our disagreements, I hear myself say the same words that my mother used on me. I want to just cry, because when I was 13, I swore I would be different.

History has a way of repeating itself they say. In a sense, I tend to believe it. I don't believe that it has to happen that way. If that were the case, I wouldn't let you fill your heart with dreams and wishes for the future. When I was 13, I wanted to go off into a world of dreams and wishes. A world where I could do anything I wanted. I to read books and magazines and wished myself in these peoples shoes. All I could do was wish. I didn't have someone telling me that I could fulfill those dreams and wishes. I BELIEVE in you! I BELIEVE that you can do anything that you set your mind to. I am here to guide you along the way. I am here to help prepare your wings so that when you fly, you won't fall. I need to know that you won't fall. I need to know that when you leave our home you will make it to your destination. Maybe there will be some stops along the way, and even some bad weather, but when you get there, you will be safe and sound. That you will have learned from your mistakes and most importantly from mine.

Sometimes it's hard to hear the same old thing. And maybe it goes in one ear and out the other. I hope that when you are having one of those days, that you can understand that no one will LOVE you more than me. And that even on a day when I make you go to school with you hair dripping wet because you woke up late and took to long to get ready. That even though you begged and pleaded with me to just let you stay home, and I wouldn't. That even though you wouldn't get out of the car because you were embarrassed and I then proceed to walk you into the office and then stood there to make sure you went to class it was because I LOVE YOU. And when you turned around and gave me a look of "I Hate you", I forgave you. I forgave you because I LOVE YOU.

I know that right now you say that you are not going to have your own children. That you are going to live in the city and your going to adopt a little girl from China just like Charlotte did. (If I didn't listen to you, would I know all of this?) And, if you stick to that plan, which I believe you will. One day, that precious little girl from China will also turn 13. And hopefully you will remember this "horrible time" in your life as a learning experience and

LOVE HER, just like I LOVE YOU!

Because this to shall pass.

13 and counting............

09/10/11

2010-02-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

September 10, 2011 is a day that I will either learn to love, or learn to hate. It is official, and there is no going back now. Kai will be having her Quinceañera on this date. For those who are not familiar with this, it is like a Sweet Sixteen, but for us Hispanics, it is something that we celebrate at 15. All of my sisters, nieces and cousins and myself have celebrated with one.

I had honestly discarded the idea months ago. I had no intention of going through this humongous ordeal, because it is humongous!! I had sat down and talked to Buddy about this. I explained to him that with what this was going to cost us, we could send Kai to Europe for the summer, or maybe even send her to NYC for a whole summer so that she could take some dance intensives instead. He was not happy, and he wanted her to have it. I simply said, NO, I'm not doing it. And unless Buddy magically turned into Franc from Father of the Bride, it wasn't going to happen without my help.

Then, the unthinkable happened. My mom got sick. My mom has had a savings account for Kai and her "dresses" for as long as I can remember. Probably since she was born. My mom had always said that she wanted God to let her live long enough until Kai had her Quinceañera. It was probably November when I told my mom that I had scratched the whole thing, and that I just didn't feel like having one. That we were going to either send her to Europe, or NYC for the summer instead. She didn't seem disappointed, and I left it at that.

On the morning of my moms surgery, my sisters and I were in the waiting room of the ICU. They both said how much my mom wanted this for Kai, and how sad she was that I wasn't going to have it. They asked me to reconsider, and to please tell my mom before she went into surgery. Maybe they were being hopeful. They thought that she had given herself a time frame and I had taken it away from her. They wanted her to have something to look forward to. I thought about it for a second, and quickly agreed with them. I gowned up, and I walked into my moms room. She was awake, she was still connected to a million things, and was still in tubated, so she couldn't talk. I grabbed her hand and told her that she had promised to make it to see Kai's 15th and that she had to keep that promise. That I had decided to go ahead with the planning of her party. She looked at me, and she started crying. Crying like a baby, and my heart broke in a million pieces. When I walked back into the waiting room with my sisters, I was still wiping my tears. They asked "Did you tell her?" and I said "Yes!"

Today, my mom is still with us. I don't know if what I told her the morning of her surgery helped her pull through, and gave her something to look forward to, but I do know that there is no looking back. That she remembered, and has been talking about this a lot. She is excited, and I can not take this away from her.

And so now onto the planning! I feel like I am already behind. These events take a lot of planning, A LOT. I am in the process of putting together four inspiration boards. One for each theme and color palette that I have in mind. After I am done with those, I will sit down with Kai and my immediate family to discuss and decide.

I have narrowed it down to three different venues one of which is more likely. I have appointments with each one next week. The location I originally wanted, does not host Sweet Sixteens, or Quinceañera's. I was devastated, but I think that it was for the better, because these other venues are pretty awesome too.

As of right now, we are keeping our guest list at 300 and hoping that it stays at that. SO much to think about, SO much to do. Even though it's 585 days away, I'm sure it will go by very fast. And isn't the date so cool? 9-10-11......I think so.

So, Buddy, I hope you are happy now to. You don't have to be Franc, I will take care of all the details. And even though you are WEAK when it comes to Kai, I'm glad that you are.

Ciao Baby!!!

2010-01-31T01:25:00.000-08:00

Bonjourno, grazie, prego, and arrivederci are some of the words that I picked up in Venice. A few months ago, I posted about how my friend Cristina was getting married in Venice. How I was the Matron of Honor and would be going to Venice for her wedding. Well, it came so fast. On Tuesday, January 19th, I left from Phoenix to London, Heathrow. I should have had a seven hour layover in London, but our flight from Phoenix left two hours behind schedule. I had planned on paying a short visit to Henry and William, but no such luck. There was plenty to see at Heathrow though....Plenty.

From London, Heathrow, we transferred to London, Gatwick and then flew into Marco Polo airport. Once we arrived at Marco Polo airport, we were taken to Venice in a water taxi. At which point, I had been traveling for what seemed like forever. I had left Phoenix at 11:00 p.m., and had arrived in Venice at 11:00 p.m. the next day. Not really 24 hours, but pretty close.

Once checked in, I wanted to explore, I wanted to do so much. Yet, the city was asleep. Yes, unlike NYC, Venice does indeed sleep. Me however; could not sleep. I was on Arizona time, and I was more than awake. I tried to force myself to sleep, but nothing. I tried to watch t.v., but it was all in Italian except for MTV. Then by the time they played Lady Gaga for what seemed like the hundredth time, I shut it off. As much as I like her, it was to much.

The next morning, we all met downstairs for Breakfast. It was a small little dining room, and the Breakfast was included in the price of the hotel. The coffee was so good. Better than any Starbucks, or any coffee I've had for that matter. Then, we were off to explore this beautiful city. I can honestly say that being in Venice was surreal. As you look around, you want to pinch yourself. You've seen it on t.v. and in pictures, but when you are there, it is breathtaking. For five days we walked the streets and every turn turned into a new adventure.

The shopping in Venice was fabulous! Lots of beautiful Venetian masks and Murano glass jewelry. And of course lots of upscale shopping (window shopping for me). Prada, Versace, Hermes, Valentino, Feragamo etc. etc. All to expensive, especially with the Euro conversion. I did manage to do some damage, just not in any of those stores. Kai was probably the one that benefited the most. Everywhere I looked, I found her something. I bought her the cutest Wellies from the most adorable little Italian shoe shop owner. I bought her a cashmina wrap, a pink jacket that says Italia, a black and pink venetian mask to match her room, Italian fashion magazines and the list goes on and on. Nachito also got a jacket, but other than that, there was not much for him. Unless of course I bought him Transformers that were just like the ones at Target.

By the time Monday came around, I was sad to go, but ready at the same time. Venice is very slow paced, and it was good for me for about that many days. Had I stayed any longer, I would have driven myself crazy. To much time on my hands. I like the hustle and bustle of metropolitan cities. I also slept more than I have ever slept in my life. For the most part, I slept on the plane going and then again coming back. There isn't much to do on 13 hour flights except watch movies and sleep.

It is definitely a trip that I will make again. I definitely want to go back to London soon. I've added some pictures, but I took so many that I'm just going to have to create an album out of them.

My Hot Pink Passport cover to hide the ugly Blue Passport

See....Hot Pink cover much better. Found it at Nordies.

Gondola's waiting for their tourists.

My bouquet on Wedding day.

Cristina's bouquet.

Don Aldo, the Priest that married Cristina and Ray looking out his window when we arrived.

Me and Cristina at Cafe Florian, the oldest Cafe in Venice. It was opened in 1720. They had the best deserts there.

Cute little shop that reminded me of the Italian version of Anthropology.

The Rialto Bridge
On top of the Rialto Bridge.

St. Marks Square with a view of St. Marks Basilica

Not sure where this was exactly.

Another beautiful church.

Over looking another bridge.

As you know, there are absolutely no cars in Venice, just boats. Even packages are delivered in boats. It's all very interesting.

Such an amazing experience, and one that I would do over and over again.

Once Cristina has seen and approved all of her Wedding photos, I will make a new post about the wedding, because it was just beautiful. It took place in the oldest church in Venice. Just gorgeous.

I guess you could say.......

2010-01-29T09:06:00.000-08:00

that I'm in a pickle. A few weeks ago, Buddy and I were trying to clean out our storage room. It's down the street from our house, but now that Buddy moved his welding shop, we have plenty of room in our garage. We are slowly trying to empty it, and save some $$ and get rid of that bill.

I had forgotten how much stuff I had left over from the now deceased Sassy Girlz. Tables, racks, mirrors. Stuff that in a haste, I just put into storage. We brought a lot of it home and Buddy helped me bring it into Kai's room. Then I had the brilliant (not so brilliant) idea to paint her furniture. I wanted it to match her wall. I first started with her night stand. That was easy enough. Then I thought, I'll paint her desk. I did that also. Next, she had two tables that were a different shade of pink, so I painted those. My pickle? I'm not sure that I really like it. Because now her headboard is still white and if I paint that pink, then it will get lost in the wall just like her night stand did. I don't want to go black, but I obviously can't go back to white. Buddy warned my not to do it, and I should have listened, but I never listen. Go ahead now Buddy, tell me "I told you so." My creative brain is not thinking right now. Should I paint the furniture another color? A different shade of pink. And then paint the headboard to? Should I paint the wall a different shade of pink that way the headboard and night stand won't disappear into the wall? I don't know...........I'm confused.

The one thing I did find at Target that I love is this cute chandelier wall decal that has rhinestones on it. Whether I paint the wall or not, this comes off and I can re-use.

Here is the picture of the night stand blending right into the wall. Night stand pink, headboard white. Not having it. (Ignore sleeping child on bed, that kid could sleep through a rock concert)

This rack, I had in storage and I used it for all of her belts, scarves and hats. Made her closet a lot less cluttered.

This table was also from Sassy Girlz and so was the mirror. I turned it into a vanity of some sorts. Another dilemma? This pink doesn't match the other pink either. I can't really paint it yet, until I decide on the other stuff. ARGH!!!!

See her desk in this picture. Pink.....and then the table another color of pink. ARGH!!!! I'm getting more and more mad at myself. OK now Buddy......stop laughing.

The other tables that I painted pink too. I know, I know, I was just painting away while watching What A Girl Wants, Bring it On and Another Cinderella Story marathon on whatever channel Kai had left her T.V. on. I was to busy painting the furniture PINK to change the channel. I'm starting to feel like Sally Field in Steel Magnolias. Blush and Bashful......NO IT'S PINK and PINK!

Gee....I wonder if Kai's name starts with a K? Her and her monogram stuff. I have to admit that she put all these things on her Christmas Wish list. I thought they were adorable and I of course ordered them. Then I ordered some for my niece, then I ordered them for one of her friends for her birthday. I think this will be my gift of choice until all the kids at TDA have them. They can be ordered in tons of colors with the embroidery in different colors too. And, you can pick your font as well. The glass is a brush holder, it has little beads in it that help the brushes stay in place. She doesn't really have brushes yet, so I started her with a MAC blush brush and a MAC Kabuki brush for now. If you would like to check out this website, it's called Glitzy Glam. Fiddle around, these girls have some cute stuff. I just ordered a few more items for Valentines day.

Well, I'm hoping for a solution to my pickle. Hopefully I can get some good ideas. If not, then Buddy maybe we can just get this bedroom set that I have been eyeing for the past few years at Pier 1 Imports. : ) I know, I know, I'm just saying.

Nutcracker 2009

2010-01-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

On December 22nd, Kai and the students at TDA performed The Nutcracker with the Moscow ballet once again. This was Kai's fifth year performing in this show. Every year, I always say that it's going to be her last year to do it. Not because she doesn't want to, not because she thinks that she is to good to do it. It's really because it always falls on a weekday close to Christmas, or right after Christmas. That means that I have to take time off of work during our busy days at the office. It's a whole day affair. Early arrival for costume fitting, then having to wait for the ballet dancers to arrive so that they can practice on stage. Sometimes time for dinner and then the show.

This year, Kai was a Butterfly. It was a very short role, but she was on Pointe and she loved that. And, she broke the tradition and was not an Angel again. I was sad about that. You can read my post about her being an Angel for four years in a row right here.

They don't usually allow pictures to be taken back stage, but this years costume mistress was not as mean as other years. Here are a few of the pictures I managed to take.

Besides The Nutcracker, it was also Holly's birthday. After the show, we all went to Holly and Mikes house to celebrate. Mike ordered her the best cake. I had to take a picture of it. Not only was it just cute to look at, but it was oh so good. It was made by Tammie Coe cakes, yes, the same lady that makes the scrumptious cupcakes that they sell at AJ's. So long Cake Cafe, you've been great to me for the past three years, but this cake really is better, and the price isn't to much more, well maybe just a little more, but oh so worth it.

And although Holly didn't get the chocolate with whip cream frosting cake that she wanted, she was still happy with this one. Note: It had a green grosgrain ribbon wrapped around the bottom that Mike took off because it looked to much like a Christmas cake. It was precious.

New Solo

2010-01-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

Finding a song for Kai's new solo was a bit challenging this year. Holly and I had discussed it quite frequently. This would be her first solo in the Teen division. I had asked Holly for a Latin piece and she looked and looked for music and didn't find anything that she liked. Then she was thinking that Chantilly Lace had suited her well. She liked the old 50's band music on Kai.

She decided on Great Balls of Fire. We liked it. My only hiccup was that in my eyes, the costume had to be red.....again. Her Chantilly Lace costume was red. With a name like Great Balls of Fire, what other color would I use. I figured I could be creative with it.

Then, on the night before Holly was going to start her solo, she called me and said that she had downloaded every single version of Great Balls of Fire, and she didn't like any of them. The ones she liked, were to short and the ones that were longer, she didn't like. She was stuck. I thought that she would cancel her private for the next day until she found new music.

The next morning, she text me and said she hadn't found music, but to go ahead and send Kai to the private. About an half an hour into the private, Holly text me that she had found music, and that she thought I was really going to like it. She was splicing two versions of the song together. The original and the remix. She drove to my office and I jumped in her car to listen to the music. I was HAPPY.....VERY HAPPY. The only thing that she didn't like, was the name of it. It was called the The Mexican 'Dance Dance'. She thought it was to long of a name. She changed the name of it to "Baila".

I was HAPPY for many reasons.

1. It was Latin
2. It was Thalia (I grew up listening to Thalia ever since she was in Timbiriche way before she married Tommy Mottola).
3. It had a Ballroom/Jazz/Techno feel.
4. A Latin inspired costume with gross after gross of Swarovski's ran through my brain. I'm thinking at least 40 gross at the very least.

These four points made me very happy, and the next day I was on the hunt for some ballroom costume ideas. I went on to some ballroom costume sites and I ended up on the site for the designer from Dancing with the Stars. I found this costume below, and I loved it.

I decided to make a few changes to it, but mostly in the skirt and colors. Rather than spreading out the rhinestones all over the costume, I am making a design that comes down the front, and then adding the rhinestones all around. Initially Holly wanted her to use ballroom heels for the dance, but then with all the leaps in it, she decided not to. I can't say that I was to disappointed, I had started pricing those shoes and I couldn't find a pair under $140. Phew!

Holly did finish her solo, and it is now in the major cleaning phase. It is so fast and hard, that I had to go record it in sections. Below is a video of her last private and the end of the dance. This was filmed after she had already done it for over an hour. Not that I'm making excuses, but she was real tired, and Holly had just added in the last four eight counts.

I don't think she will compete this one to much until Nationals. Most likely DMA and maybe KAR. She really has a lot of work to do on it before she can get it on stage. In the mean time, I will start ordering rhinestones and do what I know how to do...her costume. The dancing is up to her, Holly and whoever else I may have to hire to help her clean it.

Where do I begin???

2010-01-27T09:47:00.000-08:00

After a long absence from my blog, I am finally sitting down to post. So much has happened in the past month that I honestly don't know where to begin.

December 23, 2009 turned my world upside down. My mom suffered a minor heart attack, and was taken by ambulance to Chandler Regional Hospital. When I arrived, she was in good shape, and she was talking. They ordered a CT Scan of her chest. When she got back to the ER from her test, every thing that could have gone wrong, did. She suffered another heart attack, this one was much worse. She was in-tubated and things were not looking very good for her. The next few days were spent waiting for tests to be run, consulting with Dr.s and praying. A lot of praying.

We were finally told that she would need to undergo a quadruple bypass. There was a problem with that, because she was in critical condition. Her kidneys were failing, her blood pressure was to high, as was her blood sugar. And, she was to weak. The surgeon said that we would have to wait, and that it was now in Gods hands.

Christmas came and went. It just wasn't the same. After having already lost one parent, I couldn't fathom the thought of losing my mom now to.

The next week, my moms surgeon advised us that he would operate on mom on January 30th. She was not doing any better, but she wasn't any worse. My sisters and I agreed to the surgery, even though it was very risky. She would not like the quality of life that she was presently in. They had kept her in an induced coma hoping that the rest would help her. At one point, she was connected to nine different IV medications that were being given to her through a central line.

The days leading up to her surgery were getting harder and harder to deal with. The one thing that helped me and my sisters get through these days, was the love and prayers from our family and friends. I can not imagine what it would have been like had I not had that support. The friends that I see often, and than thanks to FB a lot of friends from school. Most of these people I haven't seen in ages. It was comforting to read all of their messages.

Thankfully, our mom had her surgery, and she did real well. The next few days were tough on her. She had to get ex-tubated and try to regain some strength. She has been out of the hospital for two weeks now, and she is doing so much better. Just yesterday, she was cleared to return home to Douglas. As long as she follows up on all of her appointments, she can go home.

Now that she is better, and that her surgeon feels that she is well enough to go home, I feel like I am ready to come back to my blog. Until then, I just wasn't feeling it. My priority was to make sure that my mom got better.

I have missed my blog, and I can't wait to catch up on so many things that have happened and things that are still to happen.

To my dear friends, the ones that read my blog, my voyeur friends that never comment, or follow me. Thank you so much for all of your love and support and especially all of the prayers. I can't tell you how much your friendship means to me. K and W you know I'm talking about you guys.
W, thank you for coming to the hospital and sitting with me while my mom was in surgery. : )

One day as we were in the waiting room at the hospital, my sister pulled out the prayer booklet from my dad's funeral from her purse. She had this picture in there as well. I had to post it, because it was my dad's last Christmas Eve. That is Kai that he is holding. I love this picture

Oh! The Merry moments of Christmas!

2009-12-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

Here we are on Monday, December 21 and I have no shopping done for Christmas. Maybe a few presents for the kids, but other than that...Zero....Nada! I do this to myself every year, but this year I'm afraid it's a tad worse. I usually have a little done by this time.

I am also late in sending Christmas cards. I had all intentions of having professional pictures taken of the kids for my cards, but like everything else this month, it never happened. Last week I scrambled and I took pictures of them in front of our fire place. I just let them do whatever that wanted, and I snapped away. I immediately went to Shutterfly and put some cards together. I ordered, paid a little extra to have them to me on time. I mailed them out this morning. Phew!!! I'm thinking they will get to people just before Christmas.

After looking through all of the pictures, this is what I came up with. Remember, these were made in one night.

Front

Inside

Here are some out takes that I did not use. The puppies cooperated so well. Coco was a little upset at first that we dressed him like Santa, but he got used to it.

He's a total clown.

She'll strike a dance pose any chance she can get. She was pretty bummed that I didn't use this picture in the Christmas Card. So here you go Kai, I put it on the blog.

Coco and Chanel......how cute are they?

Hope everyone is done with their Christmas shopping, if not...........I'll see you there.

Have a great week!!

Just in case I don't have a chance to blog.......

Have a Very Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

22nd Annual Spirt of Christmas

2009-12-20T23:39:00.000-08:00

The curtain closed late this evening for the 22nd annual Spirit of Christmas. It was an amazing show as always.

This was Kai's fifth year performing, and I still have not gotten used to how well this show comes together. Despite the fact that it changed venues three times, it still looked good. It started in Tucson, then moved to Mesa Arts, and finished with two show at Gammage. I watched the evening show at Gammage, and it was pretty flawless. No major mishaps.

When you look at the show from the front of the stage, it's hard to imagine the craziness that goes on backstage. The running around, the quick costume changes and the nerves and emotions.

So many props and costumes. A lot of hard work goes into putting on this show.

They always have guest performers, Tony Duncan the Indian Hoop dancer from here in Arizona. I can never get tired of seeing him perform. This year, they also had a group of Flemenco performers. They were so good. I wanted to hear more. Their name is Mosaico Flamenco. Here is a link to their website if anyone is interested. I am so making plans to head over the Gainey Ranch and see them perform again.

Here are the few pictures that I have from the Christmas Show this year. Unfortunately, my phone was stolen on Saturday night, and a lot of my photos were on there. Sad, so sad.

Maya and Kai aka Reindeer
Girls backstage at Gammage getting ready for the show.

Thankfully ProPix took pictures of the show and I will be able to get at least those pictures.

Next year.......Christmas show back at Chandler Center for Arts and six shows again.

Stocking stuffer, gift exchange, or just because.

2009-12-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

Introducing..............Card Cubby
This year, my sisters and I are exchanging very small gifts with each other. I was trying to find something cute and useful. The other day, I was looking through the gift idea section in People magazine and I saw the cutest gift card/frequent buyer cards/coupon organizer. I went online to look at it, and I absolutely loved it. I ordered one for each of my sisters, and then I had to get one for me too. (Oops, I might have just spoiled the surprise for them, but I couldn't help but share.)

I always have my gift cards a mess in my purse, and I use the punch cards from stores, and then, I never seem to find it when I want to use it. Perfect place for Michael's and Joann's coupons too. The best part is the dividers. You can even use it for business cards. I like that its small and won't take up to much space in an already crowded purse. It comes in several colors. I ordered the red ones, because I think that they will be easier to spot when you look in your bag. They also have some fun accessories for it. Like a photo holder and a notepad. It's very cool.

It's a perfect gift for a teacher, or for a gift exchange. To order one of these, click here.

If I come across more cool stuff, I will add to blog. What can I say? I'm just trying to be a good little elf.

Christmas Wish

2009-12-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

When I first moved to the Phoenix area, I needed to find a new radio station to listen to in the mornings. 104.7 ended up being my station of choice. My morning commute was fast and funny because at the time Kid and Ruben did the talk radio part of the morning show. I listened to them daily. After some unfortunate circumstances, they were no longer on the radio. They were replaced by Johnjay and Rich. It was a little hard to get used to, but I listened and I eventually kept listening. Then, new spread that Kid and Ruben were on another radio station. I had to switch over because I'm faithful that way. I missed Johnjay and Rich, but I couldn't make myself switch back. I needed to be faithful to the original morning talk radio hosts that I had heard. Believe it or not, Douglas does not have talk radio.........go figure. Then, just like that, they were off the air again. What was I to do? I switched back to Johnjay and Rich of course.

Every year 104.7 has a special program called Christmas Wish that they do. Kid and Ruben did it also. I have listened to it year after year. People write in letters for someone that they know that are in need for some help during the Holiday season. The chosen letters are read on the radio by the letter writer, while the recipient is listening on the phone. Then, they grant Christmas wishes. Every year, it touches my heart. Just when I think that I'm having a bad morning, or a bad week, I listen to this radio program and put things in perspective. This year has been no different. The past two days, I have cried and shown up to work with red, swollen eyes, and no mascara left. Two single moms trying to make ends meet. One sleeping in her car, or at friends while she got a new apartment. Her son wearing her shoes to school because she couldn't buy him any. Never missing a day of work and trying her hardest to keep a roof over their head. Another one with four kids, cleaning office buildings and homes, making food to sell. She just moved into an apartment from a shelter. She couldn't even sleep at night because her rent was due and she only had $22 to her name. Praying to not be evicted and have to move again. Both of whom when called with the news that they had been chosen to receive these gifts cried and thanked them so much. Both with their broken English managed to say God Bless you and wished them a Merry Christmas. One had never had a Christmas tree, the other didn't have diapers for her baby. It's all so sad.

This morning, I made a donation to Johnjay and Rich's Christmas Wish. It was the least I could do. Today I'm going to talk to Dr. Fiel and ask if he could make a donation as well. We always adopt a family at Fiel Family & Sports medicine, this would just be a little extra. If you are interested in donating to Johnjay and Rich's Christmas Wish, please click here. They don't ask for much. They also have shopping bags for sale at all Fry's stores for $5. All of the proceeds go to Christmas Wish.

Tonight, when I put my kids to bed in their warm beds and warm pajamas, I will say a special prayer for all of the families out there that are in need. And, I will thank God for all of the blessings that I have in my life. It's circumstances like these that make you realize that some things just aren't as important. God Bless.

Happy December!!!

2009-12-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Cheers
Carriage entrance

Kick Tap

Mike Cook (this year, he will perform at Mesa Arts with his daughter Maya) You don't want to miss it!

The infamous Soldier number. It's a crowd favorite.

Another favorite "Here comes Santa Clause".

(That is Kai up in the air)

Just 23 more shopping days left until Christmas! I have not even started shopping yet. I need to make my list and check it twice. I already know what Buddy is getting me, and it has something to do with an apple, a bitten apple. : )

Kai gave me her list on Sunday, and it's not very long. This year, she had The Humane society on her list, and added St. Jude's Children's Hospital to her list as well. She never seizes to amaze me.

Nachito has not even started a list. Every once in a while, he mentions something. I really need to start paying attention. No charities in his vocabulary. Those two are like night and day. I need to change that.

The Spirit of Christmas!!!

16 more days until The Spirit of Christmas!!! I can't believe that the show is just around the corner. I'm frazzled trying to gather up Kai's costumes. I'm making a list for that too, except that I'll need to check that list off more than twice. I know that in the past I have mentioned how amazing this show is. Unfortunately, ticket sales are slow. I'm attaching a link to a video that was made especially for advertisement. Please watch it, and if you don't have anything to do on December 17th or 20th please go watch this show. A lot of hard work goes into putting this production on. Watch the video here. Tickets are still on sale through Ticketmaster. This will be Kai's fifth year performing in the show! She can't wait!

And while I'm on the subject of Christmas, here is a link to my favorite Christmas song. I love, love this song. And if this song can't get you in the Christmas spirit, then Ba, Humbug to you!!

Christmas Canon

Happy December!!!

I almost forgot......I saw the best movie this weekend! I highly, highly recommend it. On Friday night, while the kids watched New Moon. Karen, Holly, Mike and I went to go see The Blind Side. I was moved to tears. It is such a great movie. I loved it so much, that I made Buddy take me on Sunday afternoon with the kiddos. And, the best part about it, it's a true story. When we got home on Sunday after the movie, Buddy was watching Sunday night football, and Michael Oher was playing. Very touching, go see it. Sandra Bulluck does an amazing job, as does hottie, hottie Tim Mcgraw. And since I'm going link crazy today, here is a link to the official trailer.

The Blind Side

Give Thanks

2009-11-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone. This year, there were so many things to be thankful for.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was small this year. And although it was smaller than most years, it was very nice. My mom and my older sister, my brother-in-law and family, my niece and great nephew, my dear friend Karen and her daughter Tatum and Mr and Mrs. Warga. Mr. and Mrs Warga also celebrated their 50th anniversary earlier in the week, how awesome is that? We had a great time with everyone.

I did my cooking for the year 2009. I made Henry and all the works. Sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, Mexican macaroni and cheese, corn, green beans, dinner rolls, and all of the appetizers. My sister made her traditional cranberry mold and my sister-in-law Wendy brought the pies and cakes. We had some vino and champagne and the conversations were delightful. The kids had a few rounds of Karaoke and had a blast.

Thank you to my family and friends for joining us this year. We missed our other family members, hopefully next year. I am thankful to have you all in my life.

My birthday and the release of New Moon............

2009-11-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

After much anticipation, the day finally arrived. On the eve of my birthday and the release of New Moon I held a little party. It really wasn't a big gathering. I had a few friends over and some family. Most of the people there, were the ones that didn't think I was crazy for being so obsessed with this book series. Some are just as obsessed as me. Initially I was going to have a larger group of people, but then I realized that the tickets for the movie had sold out, and I wanted everyone that went to my party to be able to see the movie as well.

It was going to be a sit down dinner, and at the last minute it ended up being very informal. We realized that Harkins Cine Capri was going to sell tickets to Twilight prior to showing New Moon. We needed to get our bodies down there as soon as possible. As you can imagine, the hype for New Moon was twice as big then for Twilight. There were a lot of people at the Twilight premiere, but not like New Moon. A lot of new fans joining the party.

I took Thursday off to do some preparations. Again, didn't do too much since we were only going to be at my house for a few hours. We did manage to have a great time while we were there. We had drinks and appetizers, and I did not leave out the Mushroom Ravioli. No Berry cobbler, just cupcakes decorated with some food color to look like blood. Buddy wanted me to make some garlic necklaces and buy some fangs. Uh.....hello? Did you not read the books? Our Twilight vamps do not have fangs nor do they fear garlic......it's a myth. Just like the sleeping in coffins and going into the sun. We all know that they sparkle in the sun. Well, of course he hasn't read the books, so I really can't blame him for trying. Nice try anyways Buddy.

Appetizer table

Desert table

and again

Red hots and New Moon candy

The bloody vampire cupcakes and red vines of course.

Another picture of the red vines and hot tamales (my favorite)

Chess piece white chocolates in honor of Breaking Dawn

Another picture of the cupcakes. Cristina frosted them, I added the blood.

and again....

Tables with the candles turned on, although with my flash, it looks bright.

My friend Mike making the blood red martinis that were oh so yummy!

And after that, off to the theater we went. We entered Twilight when it was half way through. Aww, it was nice to see it again. Then, it was time. We did have very bad seats because of the fact that people were already sitting there. The movie started, and I really, really loved it. I was not disappointed at all. My Edward looked stunning, and he made every ones heart flutter when he walked from his Volvo to meet Bella. It's my favorite scene so far. Oh, who am I kidding? I love the whole thing. At this point, I have seen New Moon ? times. : ) I'm actually not disclosing it this time. All I can say is that I am saving my ticket stubs, yes, stubs. And when it leaves theaters, I just might say how many total times I saw it. I'm not out to break my Twilight record, but if it happens then so be it. I'm going to see it just because I love it. And, I must admit that I did receive a few AMC gift cards for my birthday, so that helps the cause.

And now the wait until Eclipse begins. June 30th it is!

NYCDA Los Angeles

2009-11-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

City #2 in preparation for Nationals in NYC. Tempe Dance Academy had an amazing weekend overall in Los Angeles. A lot more kids competed in L.A. then in Mobile. It is closer to Phoenix at least. If I recall correctly, 99% of the numbers scored a Platinum. They won a Critics Choice in the Junior and Teen division. A lot of overall high scores and awards. All in all, they all did amazing. One of the dances that did well, was Steam Heat. It was choreographed by Holly, and it was so good. I had not really seen it, so I was very excited about it. I think it stands a very good chance of making it into the Junior Gala at Nationals. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Next city, Chicago for the Company kids. Holly and Dana are trying to convince me to go...Buddy????

Steam Heat kids accepting The Critics Choice with Holly and Joe Lanteri
Amber and Kassie with Tony Testa. Tony is the Hip Hop teacher for NYCDA. Tony was one of the assistant choreographers for Michael Jackson's This is it tour. If you've watched the movie, you've see him. He comes out several times.

The girls at dinner waiting for awards to start.

Steam Heat video

It's not that great, because I was taping it while I was watching, and so the camera gets a little off center at times.

And although NYCDA Nationals are not until July, I know that time will go by super fast.

It's just a magical place.......

2009-11-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like Disneyland during the holidays. I absolutely LOVE it! The decorations are breathtaking. Every detail is perfect. The tree on Mainstreet the castle with the snow, the Mickey wreaths throughout the park. Even the cotton candy is white like snow with red and green sugar sprinkled on it. The caramel apples are in the shape of a snowman wearing a Mickey hat of course. The parade with Mickey and Minnie ice skating and Santa with his reindeer. Small World with all of it's lights. Ohhh if I could only live there.

This trip, while planned, did not initially include a trip to Disneyland. It was a trip for another one of Kai's competitions. She had a competition in Burbank on the 14th and 15th. After talking to my friend Cristina, she and I decided that we would go a day early and go to Disneyland. It wasn't until after that planning that we realized that it would be the first day of the Holiday season at the park. We were even more excited.

Cristina's sister-in-law works at Disneyland and she goes every chance that she can get. Her brother Robert's wedding was Disney themed. I'll never forget that our table at the wedding was Twiddle Dee and Twiddle dumb. I have never met a couple that love Disney as much as them. Kim started working at the Disneyland hotel, and she worked her way up the ladder. Now she works at the Park and helps with the parades and the events. How lucky is she? She can tell you every detail about Disneyland right down to how many bathrooms it has. She even goes to the park on her days off. And, I'm even a little jealous of her because she and Robert have dined at Club 33 on numerous occasions. I would love to dine there at least once in my lifetime. Hopefully one of these days.

So, although we did not have dinner at Club 33, we did get to do a lot considering we were only there for the day. We saw the parade, the Small World light show and most importantly, we saw it snow on Mainstreet. And here comes a confession. I cried when it starting snowing. We were standing right in the middle of Mainstreet they lit up the huge tree in all white lights, Christmas music starting coming through the speakers and the snow started falling. When I turned to look at the castle, it to was lit up in all white lights, it was amazing. I couldn't help but shed a few tears. It really was magical.

I want to go back!!!!!

Mexican or American??

2009-11-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

Nachito, Nacho, Nones, Chito, Gordito

All of the above are nicknames given to Nachito. And there again, not his name. His real name is Ignacio Fernando Lopez Romo. He was named after his two paternal grandparents. A very strong Hispanic name I would say. Had we stayed in Douglas, this name would not be an issue. It would be pronounced correctly and no one would think that he was named after the movie Nacho Libre. At a birthday party, people wouldn't question the many names that he is called, they would just know. They would understand that Nacho and Nachito are names for Ignacio just like Bob and Bobby are to Robert. They would know that Chito, Gordito and even Nones are just nick names that us Hispanics give our kids. Not just one, but many. Every family member gives each kid a different one. Buddy for instance is Pelacho on his mom's side and Chavita on his Dad's side, Sal to his friends, and well Buddy to us.

I of course picked Ignacio in honor of my dad. My Mexican born dad. The one who never became a United States citizen because he was so proud of his country and his heritage (not because he had anything against the United States, he just loved his own country too). The one that never allowed my sisters and I to speak English at home because he knew we would learn it at school. The one that made all three of his daughters be completely fluent in Spanish. Read it, write it and speak it. The one that took us to the poverty stricken streets in Mexico and made us appreciate what we had and at the same time, made us humble enough to know that we were no better than they were because we had a few more luxuries than they did. That liking nice things was not a crime, but thinking that you were better because you had them was. And that showing off and bragging about things was tasteless. He always said that there is always people out there that have more. That we are small fish in a big pond and if we had to brag about our accomplishments and our belongings then he didn't raise us right. He wanted us to be proud of our accomplishments, but humble and honest about it to.

He always discouraged friendships that would make us play fire with fire. I'll never forget one time in Middle School, I had a friend that did not believe me when I told her that I had a horse. She also rode horses, but hers was boarded in Douglas. She would ride her horse for the parades and I could never ride mine because mine was kept in Mexico. She said that if I really had one, that I could have my dad get the paperwork to let it cross over for at least the parade. I asked my dad if he could and he said yes. As the parade got closer, my dad over heard me tell a friend that now that person would finally believe me. He asked me if I was trying to prove something to someone. I said yes, she doesn't believe that I have a horse. He immediately stopped the paperwork to have my horse cross the border. He said you don't have to prove anything to anyone. You know that you have one, and that is all that matters. You need to be the bigger, better person. Don't go back and forth with someone, it's immature and not worth it. You need to get people like that out of your life. Sometimes I forget his advise and I am guilty of letting people get the best of me. I just need to keep his advise fresh in my heart, body and soul.

My dad was also the one who filled us with our Mexican culture. Growing up in Douglas, AZ is almost like growing up in Mexico. The distance between Mexico and Douglas is a few feet. If you walk down International street in Douglas, you can see the little town of Agua Prieta, Sonora. This is where my parents met. My mother was the youngest of four and she was the only one of her siblings born in the US. My grandfather was born in Clifton, AZ and met my grandmother while he was playing professional baseball in Mexico. After he retired from baseball, they settled in Douglas.

My father was the youngest of six, the only male, and was born on their ranch in Agua Prieta, Sonora. He lost his father at the young age of two. He was raised by his five sisters and his mother. The only male father figures that he ever had were the ranch hands. He had to grow up pretty fast. At eighteen, he inherited the ranch and that's pretty much all he knew. Buy, raise and sell cattle.

On the 16th of September, both Douglas and Agua Prieta turn into the biggest party ever. It's their independence day. Lots of parties and a huge parade. My dad used to bring in all of his horses into the city and just saddle them up and lend them to people so that they could ride in the parade. I guess my mom wanted a cowboy of her very own. This is how they met and fell in love. This was the start to our international upbringing. Back and forth we went. Our mom did not want to live in Mexico, and our Dad did not want to live in Douglas. So they compromised. Holidays and weekends in Mexico and our daily lives in Douglas. School and activities in Douglas and social gatherings in Mexico. A Driver's license in Mexico at 13, drivers permit in Douglas at 15 and a half. Night clubs in Mexico at 13 (without permission), 15 with permission. Night clubs in Douglas at 21. My Quinceañera in Douglas, my Debutante Ball in Agua Prieta. Friends from both sides. And just like us, there were so many other families. Most of my friends that lived in AP, had homes in Douglas. They would go to school in Douglas and on weekends, back to AP. It's all I ever knew. Deciding on where to go to dinner was no different. We would either go somewhere in Douglas, or just as easy in AP.

The population of Douglas is mostly Hispanic. Growing up, the main language in Douglas was Spanish. Most of the schools in Douglas had ESL programs. Some schools taught in both English and Spanish. In Douglas, all of the names are Hispanic so everyone can pronounce them. When we moved up here imagine the culture shock it was for people to say Nachito. It was a task teaching people how to say it. I mentioned this to my mom and she said "Well, then use his middle name and people can just call him Fernie". I was mad. No way, I love his name! My dad would have loved that he was named after him. No offence to my father in law and brother in law. But people were going to have to try and say it.

As years went by we got used to the way people pronounced his name because people at least tried. Then the question would come? What nationality are you? Are you Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban or Spanish? I would say I'm American because I was born in the United States, but my dad was Mexican if that helps. So you are Mexican? Well, yes, but I'm a U.S. citizen and I vote here, so I'm an American. But your parents are Mexican? One of my parents was born in Mexico, the other one wasn't. I have dual citizenship because of that reason, so I guess I'm a Mexican/American then. That's when I started to question....what am I really? So, I Googled it.

In the eyes of the law, I'm American. In terms of culture I'm not Mexican, because I wasn't born in Mexico and/or don't live in Mexico. I am what is now called Latino or Hispanic. In my heart though, I am both. I carry both flags in my heart. I don't need to display the Mexican flag on my car, or at my house to prove anything. I know my culture in and out. I am proud to be of Mexican heritage. So from now on when people happen to ask me what I am, I will say I'm just ME!

Phew...This was a longer post than I planned. I went in all sorts of directions. It all started on Saturday at Nachito's birthday party. A very observant mom says to me. "I'm confused, the invitation said Ignacio and Nachito in quotes. But at school they call him Nacho. Then I just heard your sister call him Gordito and the baby just called him Chito. What is his real name?" And so the story goes..................

A Dazzling evening.....

2009-11-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

to celebrate my Birthday and the release of New Moon.

Remember this post back in June? It's that time already. Time to hand out the formal invitations. I've had to reprint them a few times due to changing the date.

I'm a little behind on finishing decorations and finishing my "Dazzling" New Moon shirt. This week I will be quite busy trying to finish it all. In the end, it should be a fun night. And the best part will be seeing the movie at midnight.

Front of invitation

Closer look at "Edwards" heart.

Invitation opened up. Left side Soundtrack and right invitation.

2009-11-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

Frogs and snails and puppy-dog tails', that's what little boys are made of.

Ten years ago today, I was blessed with the addition of a little boy. It was no secret that I was nervous about having a son. I was more of the "Sugar and Spice and everything nice" kind of mom. The pink, the lace, the frill. Not so much the blue, the denim, the no frill. I was anxious for my sonogram appointment to find out just what sex my second child would be. We had not planned on a second child. After Kai was born, we had decided to just have the one. God had other plans for us.

For that appointment, I went by myself. Buddy was working in New Mexico and no one was available to go with me. It was very apparent that it was a boy. The sonogram tech told me immediately. I was silent, as many emotions ran through my head. Happiness, sadness, excitement, nervousness. Too many to process by myself. Before I called Buddy or anyone else for that matter, I sat by myself in the courtyard of the Dr.s office. I thought and I prayed. I'm not sure how long I sat there. When I finally stood up, I knew that this little guy was being sent to me for a reason. Every time that I got nervous about having this little boy, I would just take a deep breath, and know that it was going to be ok.

Because of the complications that I had when Kai was born, Nachito was a scheduled C-section. His due date was November 18th, and they scheduled his birth for November 8th. Ten days early. The surgery was fast, and easy. I was awake and alert the whole time. When they handed me this little guy, my world turned upside down. The love was instant. Kai bonded with Buddy, and I was a little jealous. Nachito was mine, all mine. From that moment on, I wanted no one to help me with him. I wanted to change all of his diapers, make all of his bottles, feed him, bath him, clothe him. He was destined to be a mommas boy.

He was a good and calm baby. He did walk at eight months, and that was terrifying. He was so little. As a toddler, he was mischievous. Our first summer in Chandler, we bought him and Kai a Winnie the Pooh sprinkler system. It had all these little hoses that would splash around and wet them. One morning, Buddy and I walked into our tv room to find Winnie sitting on the floor right smack in the middle of the tv room with the water hose attached to him. Buddy and I looked at each other and quickly Buddy lunged for the hose and bent it in half just in time. We stood there in shock. Then we look out and here comes this one and a half year old in his swim shorts. He walked in and put his hands on his hips and asked us "What happened?" So many similar stories in the past ten years. So many....

I thank God everyday for him. I think God knew what he was doing when he sent him to us. He is something else. He keeps us laughing and on our toes. He still gives me hugs and kisses before he goes to bed, and he still says I Love you to me every single day. Soon the girlfriends will start to come, but I know that I was the first one in his life. And thankfully, he's never found a Frog or a snail.

Pump It Up......

2009-11-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Nachito had an amazing time at his 10th Birthday party!! Most of his classmates joined him, along with family and friends. The kids had a blast as they moved from jumper to jumper. It was all very organized, and the party hosts were super nice. After all of the fun, the kids gathered for some pizza, cake and ice cream. He opened gifts and they wrote everything down for me. No clean up, no mess! I have to say that was a success!!! Maybe next year, he will seek Pump It Up again...

November already???? Really???

2009-11-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

When and how did November get here so fast? It's not that I'm complaining, it does happen to be my favorite month of the year. It just got here too fast. Like a whirlwind actually. I guess I'm just trying to make excuses for why I've been such a bad friend, relative and blogger.

October was a blur. So much happening and I was overwhelmed. And that makes me sad, because I really, really love to blog and to read blogs. It's very good for the soul. Lately I haven't had much inspiration to write, or to blog. I have been so busy at work that I am feeling overworked and frustrated. My desk is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I dig and move things around, but I wonder how much I really get done. At the end of the day, the stack has moved nowhere and my paper and e-mail in boxes are still full. : 0 I get home and I'm more stressed out than before and unfortunately my family pays the price. I snap at them instead of the people I really should be snapping at. Oh the woes of being a working mom. Now snap out of it, and just deal with it right?

I would love too, but sometimes it's just HARD! Sometimes I just wish I could just stay home and go to PTA meetings and lunch with my friends without time constrictions. I don't even know my own neighbors. We have lived in the neighborhood for five years and I don't know a single neighbor. That is sad. Realistically I know I can't stay home. I tried that already when Kai was born and after three years I was ready to pull my hair out. I like to work, and who am I kidding? I'm allergic to my house. I just need to calm down when things don't go my way at the office. I need to just shrug it off. I need to say NO sometimes and I need to leave the office at a decent time too. Just shut off at 5:00. And not think of it until the next morning. Just take baby steps.

And when things don't go my way at home, I need to do the same thing, just shrug it off. (somehow that was a lot harder to type) I can do it, I know I can! (deep breath) I had a little practice at it this past weekend.

First off, Nachito was home sick with asthma all week. That was a bummer. Buddy bought him his pumpkin to carve for the pumpkin walk. And can you believe that I let him do it all by himself? That's right, I didn't even as much as touch that pumpkin. Swear. He made his designs and he sent my niece on a wild goose chase for the materials and here is his final product.

Abraham Lincoln/Pirate/Vampire pumpkin

He did it all on his very own and I think he did a great job!! Then unfortunately his asthma did not get any better and this crazy controlling mom did not let him go to the pumpkin walk. What? It was freezing that night and I didn't want him to get sicker and end up in the hospital for Halloween as he has in the past. Little did I know, that we would end up in the hospital on Halloween anyways.

Saturday started out just as normal as any other day. I dropped Kai off a dance at 9:35 (she should be there at 9:30, but we always run late on Saturdays.) I always take the puppies with me because they love to go for rides. I went through the Drive through at SB as usual and went home. As I got out of the car, my phone was pretty dead so I left it in the charger. At about 10 o'clock, Buddy's phone rings. He answers and hands me the phone. It's BJ the front desk worker at TDA. She wants to let me know that Kai fell in acro and they think she broke her arm. I of course, panic. I can't figure out what to do. It's like I lost all brain power. Buddy calms me down and gives me directions. By the time we were in the car to pick Kai up, I've had about 20 missed calls on my phone and at least 15 text messages. My friend Holly (who also happens to be Kai's dance teacher) calls me because her mom has already called her. We are talking about how we can hide or cover her cast for the competition coming up in LA. Buddy just gives me this look like seriously?? I look at him like what? And keep talking to Holly. And here you thought pageant moms were bad.

When we finally get to the studio, Kai walks out with all of her friends. Her eyes are a little swollen and red, but she's not crying. I ask her what she was doing, and she says a back gaynor. Uh, ok...whatever that is. Her arm is resting comfortably in an emerald green sling made out of fabric. She has a bag of frozen peas on it and it's supported by an empty box of ballet shoes. Very, very stylish. Thank you Sandy!

We drive to Banner Desert Emergency Department. Have you ever waited in a Peds ED for five hours? That's some interesting stuff. When we take Nachito, we never have to wait. Asthma is #1 priority, or he has been transported by ambulance. Kai, unfortunately had to wait. Here she is waiting.............

She was so mad at me for taking the picture, that she wouldn't even look at me. She was upset that she wouldn't be able to compete in LA or maybe be in the Christmas show. Once we reassured her that she would, she was a little better. After five hours, we were sent home with her in a sling and pain meds. We were told that she had a plastic break where the bone bent rather than completely breaking because her bones are still limber and growing. She would need to follow up with an orthopedic physician and get a cast put on.

Sooooo, needless to say that spending five hours in the ED on Halloween day through my plans off. No time to make any of my appetizers, my popcorn wreath, decorate my food table the way I like it. The Vicodin knocked Kai out for hours, so I couldn't do her hair and the Twiggy makeup that I had planned. She barely woke up with enough time to go to a few houses. I never even dug my camera out of my purse. I have one, picture, ONE of Halloween 09. And it was taken with my phone.

Nicholas, Nachito, Kai and Alyssa

I did however find a little time to make my mummy dogs that I make every year. Had I not done that, then I would have really lost it.

Soooo, give me time and I will start to open up my box a little bit. I may even go introduce myself to my neighbors....well maybe one house. Baby steps remember?

Hope everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

November here we go!!

Nachito's Birthday

My Birthday!!!!

and, and NEW MOON BABY!!!!
oh, and Thanksgiving too!!

I actually won something....

2009-10-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

After Kai's Birthday party, I submitted a picture of The Cupcake Tower to their website. Today I got this e-mail.

Neisha,

Thank you for submitting your photo of your Cupcake Tower for our website. We loved your creativity and your picture so we posted it on our blog this afternoon! Check it out:

HERE

Whenever you are ready just let us know which ribbon pack you would like. To check out all of the options just go to the products page of our website, select any size tower and click to purchase. It will immediately bring up the page with all of the ribbon choices for you to look at. You can just close out the website to clear the cart.

Thanks again Neisha,

Jennifer
The Cupcake Tower"

Very cool! I'm not used to winning anything. I really do love The Cupcake Tower!!!!

And so the season begins...

2009-10-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Dance competition season that is. TDA has decided to go to New York again for NYCDA Nationals. Can I say I was disappointed...I really, really wanted to go to Texas for DMA Nationals.............NOT!!! I know, I know, this is dance talk and only my fellow dance moms will understand. I would 100 times rather go to NYC for Nationals because just in case you didn't know.... I HEART NEW YORK CITY!!!!

So, in order to compete at NYCDA Nationals, you have to qualify your numbers at their Regional competitions. For every city that they have, each studio can only take ten numbers total. Unless of course the city is not full, then they open it up a little more. You never know if a city is going to open up until the week before.

TDA likes to take enough dances to Nationals that everyone can participate in. So, that is why we have to travel to other states in order to qualify enough numbers for Nationals.

The first city this year was Mobile, AL. Holly put together a small group of girls to compete and qualify numbers in Mobile. Then, two weeks before, she was informed that the city had opened up and that all of the girls going to Mobile could also compete their solos. Most of the girls did not have new solos, so we all had to compete last years solos. I was pretty happy that Kai got to do Chantilly Lace one last time. She will get a new solo in a few weeks for Nationals.

I don't want to sound mean, but Mobile was not a "happening" town. It was very boring and there was not much to do. The girls did make the best of it, and had fun regardless.

All seven girls did amazing in the convention classes. Two minis, three Juniors and two Teens. This was the first city, so the combinations were unfamiliar to these girls. All seven of them made the finals and that was awesome! I was very worried for Kai. This was her first time in the Teen/Senior room. She had to be the youngest one there. She barely turned 13 in September. She was dancing with girls that were 13-18 years of age. Dancing the same combinations and holding her own. It is a huge leap from the Junior room to the Teen/Senior room. The combinations are harder, and they are much longer.

Although Kai did make the finals for Outstanding Dancer, she did not qualify for Nationals. Her goal was to make finals and that is exactly what she did. When they called her number, she looked down at the number on her shirt to double check. She was shocked. I'm not one to sugar coat things, she struggled in the classes. Her age definitely showed. I can say this, she worked her heart out. She practiced those combos on the side and really, really tried. Sometimes I don't think we give our kids enough credit. I tend to be a little on the pessimistic side. I'm very proud of her, but I am realistic too. I knew that she would struggle and I honestly didn't think she would make the finals. Especially her first time out. She did prove me wrong, and I'm glad that she did. This was definitely a self esteem booster for her. I think that when you dance at a studio that has such strong and amazing dancers your self esteem needs a little boost every once in a while. These kids work so hard and sometimes all they need is a little pat on the back.

I go back to the weeks leading up to Alabama. The weeks in which I would tell Kai "Now you know that you will be in the Teen/Senior room. It's going to be a lot harder. Don't be dissapointed if you don't even make the finals." She would just look at me and nod. There must have been some fire in her telling her to prove me wrong. And really, what mother says that to her child? There comes a point that you just have to believe in them, because if you don't then who will? How will they ever believe in them selves if their own mother can't? I learned a big lesson from her that weekend. And if I could only take some of those words back I would.

When it was time for the awards on Sunday, she sat there and was just as excited as the kids next to her. There came a point when they gave out the Convention Triple Threat Award. All of a sudden they called out her name. She paused, jumped up and turned around to look at me. She ran and got her award. Smile ear to ear. She was ecstatic!! I was too. This meant that she could go to NYC for an additional two weeks in the summer and take the NYCDA Summer Intensive. From that moment on, I knew that I needed to support her more and believe in her more. Not only in dance, but in everything that she does. She has a spark in her, and as long as Buddy and I keep it lit, there is no way it won't turn into a flame. Every child out there has that spark. They just need someone to believe in them.

Kai, I'm sorry for not believing in you, for not thinking that you could, for second guessing you, for not standing up for you, and for keeping your little spark hidden. From now on, I will do everything possible so that you know just how special you are and that anything is possible. I do BELIEVE in you.

Mobile, Alabama

Thank you Sandy, you did an amazing job on these costumes!!!

Flashback Friday

2009-10-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Nachito's 8th Birthday

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Halloween Theme

And so, even though Nachito's Birthday is in November, for his 8th Birthday, he wanted a Halloween themed party.

We planned it at home with all of his friends from school, and Kai even had some friends from dance there as well.

For invitations, I bought the packs of paper wall hangings in pumpkin shapes. The packages that teachers use for their bulletin boards. I traced the shapes onto black card stock and printed the party info on orange card stock. I tied the two pieces together with black and orange tulle and just handed them out like that.

Everyone that came over to the house was dressed up for the occasion. The kids had a blast!! It was a lot of fun to plan a Halloween party, maybe next year he'll want to do this theme again.

Flashback Friday

2009-10-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Nachito's 7th Birthday

Saturday, November 10, 2006

Power Rangers

Peter Piper Pizza

And so back to Peter Piper Pizza we went for his 7th Birthday. No special candy bags, and no fun theme. Honestly typing Nachito's Flashback Friday birthday recaps are giving me a complex. I'm having to re-assure myself that this is what he wanted. I'm feeling guilty about Kai's over the top birthday parties and Nachito's toned down ones. I know that this is what he wanted, but I can't help but feel guilty.

The one thing I can guarantee, is that he has always had such a blast at his parties. He lives it up. He runs around and just plays and enjoys his day. This party was no different. He had all of his class friends and he thoroughly enjoyed this party.

Next weeks theme: Halloween

Flashback Friday

2009-10-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

Nachito's 6th Birthday Party

Pirate Theme

Saturday, November 11, 2005

Finally....Nachito let me plan him a party at home with a fun theme. He like every other little boy was very into pirates. And the great thing about that theme was that every party store and party site had so much to pick from.

For invitations, I ordered small paper treasure chests from Oriental Trading. Using Printshop, I designed a treasure map with the final location being our home. On the map, it had all of the party information on it. I burnt the edges of the map and rolled the map up. I filled the treasure chest with gold chocolate coins and jewels and layed the map on top. To keep the pirate chest closed, I tied it with a pirate patch.

Nana Norma made Nachito and Kai Pirate outfits for the party. They looked adorable. Nachito with his parrot on his shoulder. He even let me paint a beard and mustache on his face.

My mom and I made Pirate flag shaped candy bags. We had all sorts of pirate loot all over the house. Some of the kids that came to the party also dressed up. I was very happy that he had such a good time.

And they lived happily ever after.....

2009-10-13T10:12:00.001-07:00

THE END

Flashback Friday

2009-10-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

Nachito's 5th Birthday

Saturday, November 12, 2004

Peter Piper Pizza

And just like that, Nachito moved on from Makutus Island to Peter Piper Pizza. For his 5th birthday he invited his Kindergarten class to PPP. When I booked the party, they gave me a stack of invitations that I would normally just toss and make some new ones. But noooooo, Nachito insisted on using them because they were from PPP. He also wanted the candy bags from there to.
Boys....they are no fun sometimes. He had a blast at his party. He played with his friends for hours.

Next week: Pirate Theme

Candy bags

2009-10-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

After posting about the kids birthday parties. I have some friends that have asked me about the candy bags. I took some pictures of some of the ones I've made. I couldn't find all of them. I have them put away somewhere. Here are a few though. All of them are made out of felt, and most of them are hand painted with fabric paints and then sewn together. I usually do all of the cutting and painting, and then I mail them to my mom and she sews them and adds the cord to them. If I'm cutting it close on time, I have to sew them, but my mom sews way better than me.

They are fun and cute. And, they hold a lot of candy. Besides the ones below, I have also made Spider Man, Cinderella, Bear in the Big Blue House, Princess crowns, Butterflies, Winnie the Pooh, Records, and so many more that I can't remember.

I do make these for friends and family, if I get the request with plenty of time. With a full time job, I have to work on them in the evenings. If anyone needs them for your next party, just let me know!

My flower girl.............

2009-10-06T14:06:00.001-07:00

is getting married on Saturday! It's unbelievable! Sixteen years ago, she was my flower girl at my wedding, and now as of Saturday, she too will be married.

Besides being my flower girl, she is also my youngest niece. I was twelve when she was born, and I remember it like yesterday. She was born on December 26th. Almost a Christmas baby. I was outside playing with my friends when my grandmother came out to tell me that she had been born. I was very excited. My sister named her Nicheli Rubicella. I loved the name, not just because it was similar to mine, but because I thought it was so cool.

I quickly became her baby sitter, and she became my doll. I used to dress her just like me and when I started to drive, I took her everywhere with me. When I started working, I used to buy her clothes and toys.

When I got married, she would come and spend the day with me. We would watch t.v and just hang out. She was a funny kid and her and I got along very well.

She happened to live down the street from my in-laws and one day, she knocked on their door and my mother in law answered. Very quickly she informed her that I did not know how to cook, and that the only thing I ever made Buddy was spaghetti. Then like a seven year old does,
she ran off. I still laugh at that till this day. And, my mother in law reminds me of this to this day too. And, sixteen years later, I still only know how to make spaghetti and I still don't cook.

When we moved to Phoenix, and didn't get to see her as much. She was busy with school. She was very active in school, and was a cheerleader. When she graduated, she moved in with us for a while, but she was home sick and went back home. A few months later, she met Hector.

Hector took her to NYC for New Years and proposed to her. And 10 months later, here we are. Getting ready for the wedding.

Nicheli as my flower girl and.................

as a bride. I can safely post this picture, because this is not her dress. I had the honor of being with her when she selected her dress, and I have to say that it is absolutely breathtaking. It is gorgeous!! And, she will look amazing!! Nicheli and Hector have a daughter, her name is Alessandra, and she will be HER flower girl. She is cute as a button. At every bridal fitting, she tries on her dress and she tells everyone that she is the flower girl at Nicheli and Hector's wedding. Not mom and dad, but Nicheli and Hector. She is funny.

This is her cake topper that I finished last night. It's completely covered in Swarovski crystals. It looks so much prettier in person.

I also made her an envelope holder for her gift table. This one, I finished last week.

I think it came out pretty good.

Now, just counting down the days. We leave on Friday morning and that's when the festivities start to take place. Pictures to follow.

Nordies and New Moon

2009-10-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Even Nordstrom is crazy about the Twilight series. They are launching a jewelry and clothing line inspired by New Moon. Here are a few of Kai's picks. You can pre-order now. Merchandise will be available in stores on October 15th. It will be in the juniors section of course. They are also pre-ordering the cosmetic line that I had mentioned on my blog a while back. Check it out.

Flashback Friday

2009-10-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

Nachito's 4th Birthday!!

Saturday, November 8th, 2003

This time around, Nachito had been invited to a party at Makutu's Island. And like that, he replaced Jeepers. He loved this place. I would take them every Sunday. It was nice because I would sit and read while they played.

For his 4th birthday, he loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His invitations and candy bags were Ninja Turtles. His favorite was Donatello.

He had a blast at this party. He also got a big birthday hug from Makuto too!

Trick or Treat

2009-10-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

In honor of the month of October. The month that kicks off all of my favorite holidays, I am posting Trick or Treat pictures of years gone by. I will need a few tissues as I write this post. It's just another sad reality that our kids do grow up. They grow up and as they grow, they have their own ideas.

Prior to having kids, I was very much IN LOVE WITH DISNEY. I collected snow globes, I decorated our kitchen in Disney. I had all of the Disney movies on VHS and I used to buy new ones every paycheck. No kids at home mind you. I was obsessed. Really? I'm starting to notice that I tend to do that. Buddy and I even went to Disneyworld on our honeymoon. No romantic getaway to Paris or to Hawaii. It was Mickey and friends for us. Buddy and I went there every year on our own. Poor guy, he had no choice. He did learn to love it though.

When Kai was born, I passed on the love to her. She also loved the movies and the characters. How could she resist? For Kai's first REAL Halloween, one where she was aware and walking, I dressed her as Marie the cat from The Aristocats movie. She used to watch it over and over. I remember that on this particular day, the last day of October it was HOT! Even in Douglas, and that's a rarity because Douglas tends to be 10 to 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix. It was a furry costume, and she was not very chipper to be dressed in this when it was so HOT. Once evening came around, it was a lot cooler and her mood did change a bit.

From that point on, she was a Disney character for many years. When Nachito came along, he too joined in on the fun. Then it happened, first with Nachito, he no longer wanted to be a Disney character for Halloween. I was devastated, crushed, disappointed, sad. Why? He wanted to be a Star Wars character????? Nooooooo! It's not fair, you guys won't match. Kai will be a Disney character and you someone from Star Wars?

What was I to do? Let him of course. After all, it really should be his choice. The following year, Kai did the same. She had run out of Princess's and characters, so she to abandoned the Disney theme. Oh well, it is what it is. It was fun while it lasted.

Here are all of the kids Halloween pictures, minus two years. I can't seem to find any pictures from those years. I have made a few calls and hopefully soon, my family and friends will send them to me, and I will be able to add them to this post.

1997

Marie the cat from The Aristocats

1998

Snow White

1999

Tinkerbell

(Picture coming soon)

2000

Pooh bears "Honey Pot"

2000
Cinderella

2001

Dumbo

2001

Sleeping Beauty

2002

Kai "Belle"

Nachito "Mickey Mouse"

(Picture coming soon)

2003

Kai "Jazmin"

Nachito "Stitch"

2004

Esmeralda

2004

Kai "Esmeralda"

Nachito "Buzz Lightyear"

2005

Minnie Mouse

2005

Kai "Minnie Mouse"

Nachito "Jenga Jett"

2006

Dorothy

2006

Green Power Ranger

2007

Kai "Sassy Witch"

Nachito "Ninja"

Devon "Captain Jack"

2007

2008

Iron Man

2008

Sparkly Fairy

Most of Kai's costumes were made for her by Nana Norma. Except for a few that I did buy from The Disney Store. It was fun to go through these pictures and remember the fun leading up to the holiday. I really hate that kids can no longer wear their costumes to school anymore. It's plain dumb. I can't even get started on the subject because it irks me that much. I could go on and on about this subject. Buddy on principal almost sent Kai in her costume one year. I had to stop him of course, I didn't want any problems. Oh well.

And so the fun begins. Trick or Treat is around the corner and I just can't wait. I will pull out our Halloween decorations this weekend and then it will really set in.

Happy October!!!!

It's getting closer....

2009-09-30T08:33:00.001-07:00

NEW New Moon Posters released.

I just can't wait!!!!

1. I Just pre-ordered New Moon Soundtrack on iTunes!!!

2. Working on blinged out New Moon shirts this week!

3. Party planning for my Twilight party is in full swing. Girls invitations will be ready soon!!

4. Re-reading New Moon for the ?!?! time. (I really lost track)

5. Counting down the days. I Have the official countdown widget on my home screen at work.

6. Purchased tickets to Midnight screening. Considering buying some more for Friday night and Saturday. : 0

7. Watched the trailers a zillion times. Just like last year.

8. Movie companion comes out on October 6th. Just around the corner.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

Hurry, Hurry...

Jam packed or just the NORM?

2009-09-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

It's the NORM. And that goes for everyone. Once school starts and the kids get into their routines, it just seems like we are all running around like mad people. Shuttling around from one event to another. School activities to extra curricular activities to family functions it's exhausting, but I wouldn't want it any other way. This weekend was no exception for our family.

I took a half day on Friday so we could get ready to receive a visit from Buddy's parents, sister, and nieces. They traveled here from Douglas to attend the wedding of their niece/cousin. The wedding ceremony was held at St. Timothy's and the reception was at The Regency Garden in Mesa. It was a very nice and beautiful wedding. The bride was gorgeous and the groom very handsome. I loved the bridesmaids dresses. They wore cute all black strapless dresses to add color, they wore bright yellow stilettos. So, so cute!! They each carried small bouquets of bright yellow roses, just enough color. Very, very chic! I can't wait to see the pictures!

The wedding was over early enough for me to join my friends and see............

I really liked it! I'm partial to the original, but it was good enough. Amazing talent in one movie. Gosh, I always wanted to go to a performing arts school. It would have been so cool.

Then, I designed this costume for Kai, Amber and Jillian. They are competing their TRIO in Mobile, Alabama at the end of October. I'm laughing as I type this because Buddy thinks that he is Forrest Gump and every time we talk about our trip to Mobile, Alabama, he talks like Forrest. Anyways, we have to scramble and have this costume made. Luckily I talked to Sandy on Saturday and she is nice enough to take this on with such short notice. I'm going to have to hurry and order rhinestones for it as well. Jillian will be wearing the red, Amber the blue and Kai the black.

The dance is choreographed to the great song "It's About That Walk" from the super talented Prince. Is that his name now a days? I can never keep up.

I got my inspiration for the colors
from this scene:

I loved how these colors looked for Carrie's wedding. Well, I mean her first attempt at a wedding. They just seemed to pop. The song is smart and sassy, so I thought it was fitting. Now, I need to come up with some cool headpieces. Right now I'm thinking some fun hats with feathers and of course rhinestones. We will see, I just need to hurry, hurry. Because Mobile, ALABAMA....this Sassy Trio is on it's way...minus the Jimmy Choo's and the Manolos. Ahhh shucks!

After getting the costume all taken care of, Buddy and I hosted a 4th Birthday party for our niece Gaby at our home. It was small and fun. Buddy and his mom did all the cooking, and I made my yummy salsa. Yes, I do not cook, but I can make a mean salsa. We had cake and ice cream and the kids hit the piñata. Nachito broke it after the second hit, and of course he got the piñata trophy.

Why do all boys that break a piñata make a hat out of the remains? By the end of the night it ended up turned into a mask. Kai out of jealousy because she didn't break it, broke off the cone on the right side. Then his aunt cut eyes into it and walla, a mask. He actually liked it better. Please forgive our backyard, buddy has been working like crazy and he has not had time to work on it. (sorry Buddy, I didn't have time to photoshop some grass into the picture).

On Sunday, we were fortunate enough to go see Legally Blonde at Gammage. I heart musicals, I really do. Back in July we went to Gammage to watch Wicked. I hadn't blogged about it, so I can't talk about Legally Blonde without mentioning Wicked.

I had heard such good things about Wicked, and I was afraid that I would be expecting too much when I saw it. Fortunately it wasn't the case. I LOVED IT!!!! It was amazing! Yes, I would have loved to see it while we were in NYC, but Gammage is just as impressive. Kai was in awe the whole time. I kept my composure through this show, because when I took her to see Chicago in NYC I balled like a baby. The look on her face when the show started was priceless. It's as if she was transformed. It was as if she was imaging herself on that stage. I couldn't control my emotions, and I cried so much. Thank goodness it was a very dark theater.

Anyways, if you haven't seen Wicked yet, and it happens to be in your city, or if YOU happen to be in the "city". I highly, highly recommend it. Oh yes, and if you have read the book and are afraid to see it because of the book. The show is a much cleaner version of the book, so don't fear. In this case, the show is better than the book, and that's a good thing.

Now, let's talk about Elle Woods. Fun, Fun, Fun!!! Very close to the movie, but with some singing and dancing. Her wardrobe was very fun and Bruiser, he was so, so cute! The set was amazing. From her sorority to a department store to a law school and a courtroom. AMAZING! Another must see.

Kai and Tatum waiting for the show to start. As we were walking out of the show, Patti and I emphasized to these two the fact that they too could be on a Broadway show. They are both super talented, and the sky is the limit for them!!!

And finally..........

my grandson! How cute is he? I'm having a hard time not falling completely in love with him. This little Coco has the funniest personality. His mom (Kai) is never home, so he has no choice but to bond with the rest of us. He's like a little baby. He was exhausted last night.

And so, the weekend is over, and another one is on it's way. And so the story goes. Jam packed or not, fun times and the realization that we are all busy in our crazy little worlds.

Flashback Friday

2009-09-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

Nachito's 3rd Birthday

November 2002

Jeepers

Nachito's 3rd birthday was met with sadness. Initially his birthday party was scheduled on November 9, 2002. His birthday is actually November 8th. At around one o'clock in the morning of the ninth, I received a call from my mom that my grandmother had been taken to the hospital by ambulance. They were scheduled to leave Douglas a few hours later and come to Tempe to celebrate Nachito's birthday.

That night, Nachito had not slept a wink. He was restless and he was fussy. I was up watching t.v and trying to get him to bed. When the phone rang, I answered immediately. My heart dropped. It was a phone call that I did not want. My mom was crying and in my heart, I knew that the next phone call would not be any better. And just as I feared, when the phone rang again two hours later it was what I thought. My beloved grandmother had passed away. I was devastated. I hated the fact that I had not seen her for two weeks. I hated that I lived so far away and I couldn't be there immediately.

As soon as the sun came up, we were ready and packed for Douglas. On our way there, I had to call Jeepers and cancel the party. I tried to reach as many people as possible to let them know that the party had been cancelled. We arrived in Douglas and the next few days were just as bad as when my dad had passed. We were practically raised by our grandmother. My parents built their house in back of hers. We were there every single day. One of these days, I will dedicate a post just to her because she deserves a lot more than just a little snippet on a Flashback Friday about Nachito's birthday.

As sad as we all were, my sisters and mom did manage to at least get Nachito a cake so that he could blow out his candles. He was three, he knew no different. He was happy with his little cake on the eve of my grandmothers funeral.

After a few weeks passed, I re-scheduled his party at Jeepers. His theme that year was Scooby Doo. And just like now, he sets his mind on something and no one can change it. He insisted on it being at Jeepers again.

The following pictures were taken by Buddy on this day. I guess it was important to him to document how bratty our kids were behaving on this day. It was embarrassing. I really can't explain why on this particular day, both of our children were two seconds from time outs. And I have the pictures to prove it.

He seems fine right here.....

and here to.

Then something is starting to happen about here. Kai is not a happy camper. She was grouchy.
He is smiling and his two cousins are in good spirits. Kai has her head down and is being BRATTY!!

Buddy makes her move out of the pictures. She still puts her head down. We start to sing Happy Birthday and the Birthday boy does this.............
GRRREEAATTT. Now I have two grouchy kids. Who are their parents anyways? Have you ever just wanted to hide your head like an ostrich because your parenting skills are challenged like this?

Next weeks theme: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Makutu's Island

Get your tickets!!!!

2009-09-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. The time when you walk through the halls of Tempe Dance Academy and you hear Christmas music coming from the rooms. They are busy getting ready for the 22nd Annual Spirit of Christmas Show. Costumes are being ordered and custom made and sets are being built and touched up.

The teachers are hard at work choreographing some amazing numbers for this years show. There will be the traditional dances, but some new ones as well. This year will be the return of The 12 Days of Christmas. A crowd favorite. They perform that number every two years. This year, Kai will be a Five Golden Ring. She was very excited, that's exactly what she wanted to be. Last time she was a Four Calling Bird and prior to that, a 12 Drummer Drumming. Ohhh, they are all so cute. It really is an amazing show!!

This year due to the fact that Chandler Center for the Arts is under construction, it will be held at two different venues. First, on December 17th at Mesa Arts Theater and then two shows on Sunday, December 20th at ASU Gammage. Tickets for the show at Gammage went on sale this past weekend. Gammage seats 3000, so we really need support in order to fill this venue for the kids that are working so hard to put on this show. We are trying to get some T.V time and some advertising for these shows. For all of my friends and family that always support Kai and all of the dancers, here is the link to purchase the tickets for the Gammage shows. I'm obviously pushing that show because well....it's Gammage. To order tickets for either of the two shows, click here.

And like always, thank you so much to everyone that supports Kai and the amazing dancers at TDA. Here are some of the pictures from Kai at intermission with friends and family.

Tia Stella and Patti

Tia Gloria, Nana Norma and Little Devon

Erica and Tori. Tori will be joining the ensemble for this years show.

Patti's Aunt Mary and her mom Val

Patti's boys Josh and Aaron

Kai's cousins Nicholas, Justin and Alyssa

Bella, who will also be a part of the show this year.

My co-workers Lauren, Vanessa and Little Andrew.

To read about prior posts about The Spirit of Christmas, click on the links below.

Spirit of Christmas 2006

Spirit of Christmas 2007

Red and Sparkly

Spirit of Christmas 2008

Now, what are you waiting for.............GO GET YOUR TICKETS!!!!

Music

2009-09-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

Back in April I bought tickets to see P!NK in concert. Yes, I do enjoy going to concerts and don't ask me why. They are loud, and people are craaazzyy. For some reason, I was very anxious to see P!NK in concert. I have liked her music for as long as I can remember. I bought her very first album and have purchased every one since then. I have my favorite songs, but I can listen to all of them. On Sunday night me and two friends went to see her concert at Jobing.com Arena. It was awesome! She sang all of my favorite songs, except for one. And it was well worth the wait.

As I drove home by myself after dropping everyone off, I was listening to the one song that she didn't play. I had chills going up my arms. I immediately had memories flooding my brain. And, they were not good memories. It was like flashing back to a bad moment in our lives. Yet, it was ok now, because that time has passed. Time has healed old wounds, but I couldn't help but remember.

It's amazing how music can heal a broken heart, and yet it can also remind you of when that wounded heart was broken. Sometimes I am amazed at certain songs. It's as if they were written just for me. There is a sense of ownership to them. Did someone live my life for one day and write this song about me? Did they take a sneak peek into my future and put the words into music for me? Of course not, but it's nice to think so. It's nicer to know that through music, you can relate to whole group of people. You can translate songs and make them fit into your situation.

I was raised listening to so many different kinds of music. Both of my parents loved music and their tastes were different. My sisters listened to completely different types of music as well. I'd like to say that my knowledge of music is extensive, but it's not. I still learn and try listening to different styles. In the end, I like what I like. And Buddy likes what he likes etc. etc.

Kai already has her favorites. Every week, I get my weekly iTunes receipt and it makes me smile. I allow her two to three purchases a week. She always asks me if before she goes over. She uses our main computer and so when I dock my phone, her purchases automatically download onto it. When I connect my phone, I set it to shuffle. All of a sudden, I hear songs that I have never even heard before. Nothing to crazy, but different. I listen with curiosity. What do these songs mean to her? Of course......she's as human as the rest of us. She to thinks that these songs were written for her, about her. She relates to them in her 13 year old way. I smile because it's a new generation. Her generation, her music. When she is older and driving somewhere and a familiar song comes on the radio it to will take her back to her memories. Music is what makes the world a better place.

I respect and admire songwriters and artists. The ability to put words into lyrics and combine them with music so that us listeners can enjoy is truly a talent. And that, is why I go to concerts. That is why I push my way through crowds and listen to screaming people. It's to see the performers put their heart and sole into their job. And that is what I witnessed on Sunday. P!NK helps write and helps compose her songs, and she sings live. I relate and enjoy her songs, and it was a very good time. I would go all over again. Thanks to Holly and Lisa for going with me. Especially Holly since we had General Admission tickets and we had to stand the whole time. And if you have never heard any of P!NK's music. Check it out, try something new. ; )

I love her album covers....she's one crazy chick!!!

Flashback Friday

2009-09-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

Nachito's 2nd Birthday

Saturday, November 10, 2001

Jeepers

Just thinking about this post makes me sad. Because I am remembering how much Nachito loved Winnie the Pooh. He was his favorite. He carried his little Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal and loved his Winnie the Pooh PJ's. Now, at almost ten years old, he wouldn't be caught wearing Pooh anymore.

For his 2nd birthday, there was no doubt that if would be Pooh themed. He used to love to go to Jeepers, so we had his party there. It was a lot of fun, and he had a blast.

Just looking at the pictures, I realize how big all of the kids are now. Some of them are in High School already....wow...time flys.

Where did you get it?

2009-09-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is a follow-up post to Kai's Paris Party. I've had some friends and family members ask me about where I got some of the stuff for Kai's party. I love to share and link sites to my blog. So here we go.

First, let me say that I know I have posted this link before, but I have to give credit where credit is due. A lot of my inspirations come from this blog here, Hostess with the Mostess. She is amazing and I read her blog faithfully. If I like something, I bookmark it, or I copy the picture and put it into a special "Party" folder on my computer for future inspiration.

The stationary party favors were purchased at Target in the $1 section. As were the bags that are on the table. I knew that they would be getting so much stuff, that they needed a bag to take the stuff home with them. The little black boxes with the ribbons were purchased at Beau Coup. All of the ribbon for the party was purchased at Ribbons and Lace in Chandler. I heart this store! I heart it A LOT!! I could live in this store....actually I could live there and many others, but that's a whole other blog post. : ) The Eiffel Tower charms on the boxes were purchased on Etsy. The poodle candy bags - the poodle candy bags were not purchased with $$ but they did cost me a pretty Penny. You see, for Buddy's birthday, we went to one of his favorite spots. We went to Dave and Busters! These poodle bags were prizes. Except that they were 320 points a piece. I wanted them as candy bags, and when I get something in my head, I have to figure it out. We started playing and playing enough to earn 7000 points so that I could get at least 20 poodles. It took a few hours and a few $20 bills, but we did it and we had fun while playing. : )

These Passports were made on Print Shop. Just using Google to find the image of an actual Passport and I copied and pasted. I e-mailed the moms, and they all sent me pictures of the kids coming to the party. The Menu's were also made on Print Shop.

My friend Cristina found me the Eiffel Tower wall decal at Cost Plus. The little suitcases were also purchased at Beau Coup. Frames for all of the french words were purchased at the $ store. Sign in matte was found at Michael's and with a coupon, was very reasonable.

The desert bar! For the jars and containers, I already had a lot of them. Some from IKEA and some from Micheal's. I ordered the cupcake tower from here. They have a few different sizes and you can pick the color ribbon that you want. The candy I ordered online line from Sweet Factory and from Candy Crate. You can shop by color. I made all of the labels on my Cricut machine. Ohhh I love my Cricut! I found a local vendor for the Cotton Candy. I bought a box of 40 1 oz bags for $18. They manufacture it in Tempe, AZ. I called them and asked them for a box of just strawberry and I picked it up the very next day. Rainbow Cotton Candy is the company. I also need to add that all 40 bags were gone by Sunday morning.

The lanterns were purchased from Asian Import Store. Very reasonable, they have every color that you can imagine and very fast shipping. I made the tissue flowers out of tissue paper, very fun and easy.

Cupcake toppers were again made with my Cricut. I made the cupcake holders using a pattern that I bought from Etsy.

Birthday banner was made from all different pattens and colors of scrapbook paper and again, I used my Cricut. You see why I love it so much.

And...that's pretty much it. Hope you enjoy the links. And have fun planning your parties!!

"An Evening in Paris"

2009-09-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

I may not have really gone to Paris, but somehow, I'm feeling a little jet lagged. It was "An Evening in Paris" full of fun. All of the kids seemed to have a great time. The girls looked amazing decked out in their "Little Black Dresses" and Kolton looked handsome in his shirt and slacks. It was a fun-filled night.

The evening started with the arrivals. After they "socialized" for a bit, they had an Etiquette lesson. A friend of mine was kind enough to come over and give a mini Etiquette class. It was very interesting and fun. They learned a lot.

After the etiquette lesson, they enjoyed appetizers and signed a matte for Kai. During that time, each guest received a black necklace. They were not allowed to say the word "Dance" or they would lose their necklace. As you can imagine, it was hard for these dancers to not use that word.

We followed up with dinner. Buddy made an amazing dinner for the evening. He started with a mixed green salad with a Red Wine Vinaigrette salad dressing. For the Main course, he made Chicken Cordon Blue, steamed Vegetables and small red potatoes. And of course some dinner rolls.

After dinner they were dying to dig into the candy bar, but we made them wait a little. We discovered that the large "Diamond" that was on one of the tables, had been stolen. They had to use clues to figure out who stole the "Diamond". In the end, the thief was Buddy. The winning team pulled out prizes out of the prize basket.

Then, they attacked, and I do mean attacked the desert bar. And after they were loaded with sugar, we sang to the birthday girl and she opened her gifts. Most of the kids spent the night. They changed into their PJ's and had a Acro competition, they danced, and they told scary stories. I'm not sure what time some of them went to bed. Last time I heard them was around 3' in the morning. : 0

In the morning, I provided a buffet style breakfast (Buddy was at work) and they devoured it. It was so much fun, and now it's time for me to go and take a nap.

Table A
Decor

Table C

Table B

Table settings

Favors, candy bags and gift table

Same table

Learning some Etiquette

Mayela the Etiquette coach

Such good listeners

Appetizers

Desert Bar

Banner

The whole gang

Such cool kids

Kolton and Chanel in her "Little Black Dress".

Signing the matte

Table A having dinner

Table B having dinner

Table C having dinner

Kai opening her gifts

It's breakfast time

Yummm

We're sooo tired

Just Dance!!!

To view all of the pictures, click here.

Sweet 13

2009-09-11T14:40:00.001-07:00

Today is bittersweet for me, for my little girl is officially a teenager. Even though I have been counting down for the past few months, it has happened to fast. I guess being a teenager is a right of passage, but it still makes me sad.

Can I say that Kai is my best friend? No, not right now. And no, not because she is a teenager and she is trying to challenge me (although she does try it occasionally). She is not my best friend YET. Right now, I am her mother. The person that says "No, you can't do that". The one that says "Clean your room". And a lot of other non fun things. In a few years, when she is off to college, or maybe when she herself is married. That is when she will be my best friend. And it is coming soon enough.

In the mean time, I will cherish all of the memories and how proud and happy she has made Buddy and I. I will not take her smile for granted. I will appreciate that smile, because even when she is having a horrible day, she never wipes that smile off of her face. I will ingrain in my head, how her hair smells when she randomly gives me a hug. I will ingrain in my head the messages that she leaves me on my phone. And I will ingrain in my head the little girl voice that she still has. And moving forward, I will stop being in awe of the fact that she is a teenager, and I will enjoy the coming years. For although she is officially a teenager, in my eyes and in my heart, she is still my little girl. My sassy little girl. Happy 13th Birthday Kai!! We love you so very much.

Kai Three months old

Kai six months old

Kai nine months old

Kai one year old

Kai two years old

Kai three years old, and a big sister

Kai four years old

Kai five through 12 years old

The sassy girl