The Legend of the Pink Wii Controller

Christmas time is a happy time because it's the second day out of the year (the first being my Birthday) that Vince buys me presents because he feels obligated to. This year, he has been super busy with his new theater opening up and what not so he asked me what I wanted for Christmas on Christmas Eve, reminding me that he was way too busy to buy anyone any gifts, but that he was on his way to the mall to buy all his managers gift cards. So I told him I wanted a pink Wii controller because it was pink and that way I could play Skyward Sword. Christmas Eve at work was pretty slow and since the closing managers got to work at 3 PM, I left early to spend some time with Nimbus. Vince (who had the day off, his last day off being Thanksgiving) comes up to me and asks me if I'm ready for presents and I said yeah, so he said "Ok, you have to find them" and I was like "Okaaaaaay?" so he gives me the first clue to my Christmas scavenger hunt.

First clue lead me to the place that is the most stinky in the apartment, which is my bathroom. HEY, I share it with a cat so its BOUND to smell like cat business. Anyway, I go in there and sure enough, I found my first present! A handy dandy-ROBE

Im gonna go ahead and assume that the only reason this is purple is because they ran out of pink. :3 I was pretty excited about the robe since I've never owned one! YAY. Inside one of the pockets of the robe was my second clue.

  

This clue was kind of hard because if someone says that to me Im obviously not studying, Id be playing Skyrim super hard. But, I found the present in the end and it was SO AWESOMELY PINK (and it was in my backpack)

My next clue was easy, it lead me to the washing machine where inside was the next clue, and a super awesome Dragon Tattoo t-shit that I seem to have misplaced at the moment but its black and on the front it has variations of the word fuck. It's kind of ironic because I don't cuss, but this way, I can just point to the shirt when Im angry and I can choose a different form of that very lovely word LAWL. The next and final clue lead me to the living room RIGHT NEXT TO THE WII.

Underneath the Just Dance game was a box, my heart raced as I approached said box (a skittles box stolen from work) my hand trembled as I opened the box. What could be hidden inside?! Why was it next to the Wii? There could only be one thing inside that small and glorious box. I opened it and I found two things needed to...

Make my own pink Wii controller -_-

I gotta admit, the idea of a scavenger hunt was pretty good, one of the reasons Vince did it was because he didnt want to wrap the presents lol. I loved all my presents!! After I found all mine I gave him his. The first one was a Monet calendar, he didnt seem too thrilled. The second one was new bed sheets, he also didnt seem thrilled. The last one, which I think was a surprise to him, was a remote controlled helicopter. He was super shocked and happy! He's been asking for one for two years now and I finally decided to get him one so he can have a little fun in his work filled life.

My mom got me green pajamas with kitties on them that say ME-WOW, a new laptop case for school and a starbucks gift card im PRETTY sure she re-gifted to me cuz she doesnt drink coffee and she knows I love me some chai tea. Rosanna gave me a PINK WATCH. I got early Christmas/birthday presents from Kevin (Skyrim and Skyward Sword!!!) I also recieved (from Vince's mom and bro) new oil paints, pink pajamas and a pink robe, chocolates, hello kitty car freshener, a flashlight and Nimbus got a stocking full of kitty toys!! All in all it was a nice Christmas. AND, I watched A Christmas Story for the first time ever. YES, I had never seen it before but now I can say I have truly had... a white Christmas LAWL.

All that wonderful Christmas joy was short lived, for I had to work on Christmas day! It actually wasnt as bad as I thought we were going to be. I think our attendance for that day was six to seven thousand. I ended up work 9 AM - 10 PM Christmas day (woohoo!) I was pretty tired, but glad that I was off Monday. I told my boss that if it was super busy I would come in to work but he said "Its not gonna be THAT busy" So Monday Im just chillin, playing Skyrim, doin laundry, eatin cheeseball when I get a text from my boss "Can you come in to work right now?!" I squealed with joy, because I wanted to work, and replied "YES!!!" and he said "Hurry! Run!" So I got ready super fast and was at work in 5 minutes (since I live RIGHT THERE) and I was like IM HERE and hes like DAMN THAT WAS FAST. So I worked 3-10:30 on muh day off. And I worked FLOOR. Needless to say, my feet are on fire! But Im happy to help out and contrary to popular belief, I am NOT working super hard just because my review is next month and I want a fatty raise!

Yup. So two more weeks until I start classes again. I cant wait! I really enjoy going to school now. It kind of gives me a sense of purpose and it makes me happy to learn new things. I just wish I could take astronomy every semester. Oh wells! Time to go GAME.

Oh and by the way, I did get my Wii controller :D

Merry Christmas and Happy New YEAR!!! 2012!!!

Griffith Observatory

HEHEHE. So I had to go on a field trip for my astronomy class. One of the places I could choose from was Griffith Observatory (although I wanted to go to Mt. Wilson, where Hubble measured the distance of galaxies but it is now closed for the winter!!!) so that is where I went! Josh was kind enough to accompany me on this most wonderful adventure! I had never been to an observatory but I have always wanted to go to one and school is a pretty good excuse to go to an observatory in my opinion! We got there at around 7 PM and it was super crowded! The observatory is right next to the Hollywood sign but it wasnt illuminated so that was kind of lame. ANYWAY, inside the observatory it was SO COOL. OH MAN I could go on forever and ever about how much fun I had! But I wont... but I will talk about the awesome show we saw in the planetarium! The star projector is one of the most sophisticated in the WORLD and it shows! When that thing came on it literally looked like the dome above us had disappeared! The entire sky was visible including the milky way band. It literally took my breath away it was so beautiful. The show lasted about 30 min and it talked about the creation of the universe and all the new discoveries such as dark energy. I want to go back there again! Another thing that sucked was that the telescope wasnt open because of the threat of rain so we couldnt see any planets or anything THAT would have blown my mind SUPER HARD... lolol. WELL, here are some pics!

After that we went to Pinks and it was DELICIOUS!!!

Feliz Navidad 2011 Part 1

**WARNING EMO POST**

I've been doing a lot of things by myself lately. It's all cuz Regal has stolen Vince away from me and I am forever upset. I understand he's busy, but understanding doesn't make you feel better. And I know he would rather hang out with his work buddies than with me and that does hurt my heart a little. I always thought of myself as a loner and I actually enjoyed being by myself but now, as I have suffered through prolonged loneliness, I realize that I do not enjoy it at all. I mean, I'm not gonna go insane if I dont talk to or hang out with someone, but I dunno. It's kind of interesting. Mostly, I miss my family. I haven't seen them in about 4 months and that's a long time. I feel this big ball of emptiness in my chest when people talk about their parents or siblings or even boyfriends (now) and all I have to talk about is Nimbus MY CAT. Sure, my mom and siblings drove me insane but that's what family does. I'm hoping that I can go see them soon. I dunno, I've just been super sad lately. I think Christmas in general makes me sad because it doesnt feel like Christmas. I know I've said this rant before, about how Christmas in Mexico is a million times better than it is here (and it's true) but, yeah, it's true. I wish I could re-create that awesome atmosphere at my house but I can't, because a lady and her cat cant have a warm and loving Christmas alone. And it doesn't help that Vince keeps reminding me that Christmas is cancelled because he's too busy for it :( Anyway, the cancellation of Christmas and the lack of family or holiday cheer hasn't stopped me from trying to create some holiday fun for myself.

**END EMO POST**

I wanted a real Christmas tree, but I am not just a lonely cat lady, I am a broke ass lonely cat lady, so I "borrowed" this pre-lit tree from the promo room at work. It's tiny, but what it lacks in size it makes up for with those awesome presents! It's the pinkyest tree I have ever had! The presents are empty... for now. Vince has been so busy with work he hasn't even complained about how small and fake and pink the tree is!

Disneyland is the happiest place on earth and it's also the most Christmasy place on earth! It was so beautiful there last night when I went with some of the San Marcos gang. We didnt get to go on It's a Small World because the line was HUGE, but we did get to see the cool light show! It was nice to be out and about on a Friday night like a cool kid.

Joanne told me about this super cool house in Nellie Gail that puts on a Christmas lights show to music! So I drove on over there and checked out all the awesome super NICE and HUGE multi million dollar homes all decked out in Christmas decor. Nellie Gail is where all them rich people live, mhmm. The outside of the house was awesome! They had a scrolling message thingy on top of that Christmas tree and you could text messages to it so I texted "Merry Christmas from Maritza and Nimbus!" you can't see in in this picture cuz I'm so far away but that's what it says!!

The family that puts on the light show encouraged people to go into their house to see their awesome decorations and OH MAN it was great. It was SUPER strange at first cuz here I am, all by myself, going into the house that belongs to rich white people. The house was AWESOME. The first thing you see is this upside down Christmas tree, which seemed kind of satanic to me in a way D:

The entire house was covered in mini Christmas towns like this one. They were really elaborate and awesome and they had themes! There was a Charlie Brown one and a Disney one and a Jesus one lolol.

This was on of their many rooms, which I guess was actually like a second living room or something I dont understand rich people houses but this tree was so cool!!

This was the entry way where the stair case is, pretty shnazzy.

This was from Dr. Seuss town.

Yup, I had a good time. There was one house on the same street that was just the most beautiful house I had ever seen. It was decorated so nice! I didnt take a picture of it but hopefully one day I can have a house like that! So those were my Christmas adventures for the week. Coming up soon is our holiday party at work, GINGERBRAWL, Christmas itself and then the most depressing day of all, New Years Eve! See ya'll soon!

OH! My brain!

OH MAN! I've been studying for my finals, right? So Im doing my astronomy work cuz thats the most fun and we've reached that part of the semester where we're done with the planets and all the junk in our solar system and we're moving to the stuff that's OUT THERE; literally and figuratively. So Im just chillin, writing stuff in my research notebook and I start thinking about the universe. Usually when Im studying for astronomy I have The Universe (a show on the History Channel) playing in the background and I play an episode that pertains to what Im studying. Yesterday though, I was watching an episode about parallel universes. A long time ago, when I was but a child, fresh and young and full of wonder, I picked up Science magazine (cuz I was a nerd back then too) and I read an article about deja vu and parallel universes. It said that the reason we feel deja vu was because there are infinite parallel universes where everything is the same, looks the same, feels the same and there are duplicates of all of us, but it's slightly different. So when our other self does something different from what we do, we feel it, and lets say that the other you is slightly ahead of you in space time, and decides "HEY I want to go to the mall!" and then two seconds later you're like "HEY I want to go to the mall! Woah... deja vu!" That was the first time I had ever really thought about parallel universes. I talked to some people about it but they thought I was crazy, and that's just the problem, isnt it? I've hung out with the WRONG kind of CLOSE MINDED people my entire life! So I put those blasphamous thoughts to the back of my mind for pretty much my whole life! Bringing such things up in conversation was not lady like, and you dont want people to think you're crazy or you wont find a husband! At least that's what my mom always said.

Anyway, so here I am, watching this show yesterday and two things happen: ONE, I come to the realization that I'm NOT crazy! Because here are quantum and astrophysicists, who are SUPER SMART talking about parallel universes and HOW THEY ARE REAL! And how there are three kinds! And TWO, why do I listen to people who tell me I'm crazy and to start acting my age and quit being weird? So I'm watching this show and it's like, the best thing ever in the history of the universe (haaaaaa)! The coolest theory on parallel universes was the one about our whole universe being in a cosmic bubble, and there are TONS of other universes in these cosmic bubbles. An ENTIRE universe, in a bubble? Can you imagine how big those are?! Well, they say (those quantum and astrophysicists) that these bubbles come in and out of existence in a blink of an eye, and that sometimes they collide together to make bigger bubbles! So get this: What if our little bubble one day collided against another one and then THE BIG BANG HAPPENED. :O So I was freaking out for most of the day because of that.

BUT THEN, last night before bed, I watched another episode of The Universe and this time they were talking about how every 26,000 years a catastrophic event happens on earth along with a mass extinction. So astronomers were trying to figure out what exactly happens because these events arent random. One guy (who is considered crazy in astronomy circles) hypothesized that there is a companion star to OUR star that has a super elliptical orbit and it only comes around every 26,000 years. We are studying stars right now in my astronomy class so I knew that yeah, it is possible for our sun to have a companion star. And as I drifted off to sleep this thought crossed my mind: In the universe, MOST stars are binary, that is, they have a companion star or even multiple stars orbiting around each other. Our sun, all alone, is actually weird because, as I said, most stars SHOULD have a companion. So what if there is a creepy mini sun in space right now orbiting our star, just waiting to wreak havoc on the earth? And if my non-estimates are accurate, then we are over due for a CATASTROPHE. But, other astronomers, who have looked for this companion star (they call it Nemesis) havent actually found anything so they arent worried.

In other news, the other day I was in my room drawing a comic on some post it notes when a thought hit me: when did I become such a lame-o? Back in the day, I was known as the weirdo in the corner who never talks but loves to draw. It feels like, in my old age, Im trying to get out of that, being a weirdo and what not, and try to be normal and an "adult" but, why? For who? Definitely not for me. Why do I want to be like everyone else NOW, when my entire life I've gone against the grain because even though I was shy and quiet, I was weird (but smart!) and that's how I got noticed. I am different, but that doesnt mean it's bad. In fact, in my eyes, that's good. Sure, I can be a cute girl, who is afraid of spiders and listens to pop music and giggles at the appropriate times but that's so boring because I'll kill spiders and listen to Nujabes and laugh at fart jokes because they are funny! Anyway, the reason for this rant is becuase the other night, when I came to the realization that I was stifling myself, and one of the things that was being affected the most was my creativity. I am not meant to be normal, its not written in my DNA. So take me as I am; a killer of spiders, a girl who laughs at fart jokes, a weirdo but most importantly, an artist and a free spirit.

My wall after I attacked it with post-its

Black Weekend

How many times have I been sick this year? WELL, I know for sure Ive been sick at least 5 times in the last 4 months! This is ridiculous. I remember I used to only get sick twice a year! I had the immune system of a GOD. Nothing would make me sick! I could run around naked in a snow storm and not get sick. But now any little thing will make me sick. If I come in contact with someone who is sick I am guaranteed to get sick! I HATE IT. Maybe I need to start eating better or taking vitamins or something cuz this will not do. NOT ANY MORE.

So I've been REALLY sick these past few days, sicker than Ive been in YEARS. It started Saturday night. I felt completely fine until that night when out of no where I felt tired and weak and just overall horrible. I went home early from work and tried to relax. OH MAN, I sure didnt relax. I had a fever all night long, and cold chills and it was terrible. Ive never had a fever that severe. I woke up drenched in sweat! I had to change my clothes TWICE. Anyway, after that night I was like WTF? I didnt go to work on Sunday to try to rest and recover but it only got worse. I felt tons of pressure on my FACE then, it was as if all my pain concentrated onto my THROAT and it hurt to swallow and oh  man, I wanted to rip my throat out. Monday I had school but I didnt go because I felt so heavy with sickness. I thought I could tough it out, like I always do cuz I hate doctors, but by that night I thought I was gonna pass out or something. So I dragged my feverish self to the doctor and they took swabs of my throat juices. It was uncomfortable! I was perscribed some antibiotics and they are gonna analyze my swob to see whats going on in my head. I came home and took my meds and Ive been taking them since yesterday. I definitely feel a lot better today than I did two days ago. Im still congested but my throat isnt in pain anymore. OH MAN it was so bad lst night. I thought I was gonna DIE. I have a super high tolerance to pain but the sore throat that I had had me in tears it was so terrible. And the lame thing about that was that crying added more pressure to my sinuses!!! I havent been sleeping at all since Saturday night, maybe 5 hours total. Hopefully tonight I can finally get some rest ): And thats my sad story of my sickness. Hopefully I dont get Vince sick D: but I think Ive only seen him sick once or twice since we've been living together so I think he will be fine.

Thanksgiving was fun. I went to work and it was DEAD. Came home and I made a MEXICAN FEAST. I made enchiladas (chicken and cheese) and fajitas and pico de gallo. I dunno why I made so much food for just two people but whatever. After stuffing our faces Vince and I went to watch Arthur Christmas. It was so beautiful! It definitely put me in the holiday spirit. Then after the movie we braved the black friday crowds but we forgot one thing: Vince hates crowds. So after about an hour we were done. We didnt buy anything. We came home and went to bed and it was delicious, cuz sleep is good.

SO, thats all thats been happening in my life so far. Just being sick AS USUAL. Gonna go try to take a nap now. Good day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

WOAH, it's almost Thanksgiving! It feels like only yesterday it was NOT almost Thanksgiving! This month has gone by in the blink of an eye! Must be cuz I'm all busy with school and what not. It's been interesting having something to do other than NOTHING. And by nothing I mean EXTRA FREE TIME FOR VIDEO GAMES. Being in school has been fun. I can't believe this semester is almost over! I've already registered for my spring classes and Im going to attempt to take 5! Am I crazy? Yes, yes I am. Not only am I gonna go to school full time Im also going to be working full time! I believe that I will be successful in my endeavors, I just have to manage my time extremely well and if there's one thing Im good at is managing myself and prioritizing (EXTREME SARCASM.) Any-who, my classes for next semester will be Spanish (YEAH WHAT OF IT?!), Math (BAAAARF), History, ORAL communication aka Speech and Contemporary Art History. I FEEL like there's really only 3 classes that will be somewhat difficult, the most time consuming of which is MATH, so I FEEL like I will be able to handle the work load. I MEAN, I watch a lot of the HISTORY channel. My brain must have picked up on something. Spanish is gonna be a breeze, I've taken speech before and I can BS my way through that. I dont wanna make it seem like it's gonna be super easy cuz it's not but I like to be optimistic. If I can pull through it, I'll only do part time classes in the summer!!!

In other news, Vince has his new fancy theater which I dont think I talked about last time... or maybe I did who knows. He was super busy when he was running two theaters, but he has since left Cerritos and now he's 100% concentrated on his new theater Island Cinemas. You'd think he'd be less busy now with just one theater but BOY THAT SURE IS WRONG. He's out of the house before I wake up and he comes home late and works more at home then goes to sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat! I saw him once on... Saturday? I think? Havent seen him since. How can you not see the person you live with!? The funny part about it is that Im at work when he's home and vise versa. That's how you dont see the person you live with. It was cool to have the apartment all to myself for the first 3 weeks but now... its getting kinda lonely. I'm starting to have long conversations with Nimbus OUT LOUD. Yes, I should go out more probably.

Anyway, this Thanksgiving I will be where I am EVERY Thanksgiving; AT THE MOVIES. I have the GREAT PLEASURE (SUPER HARDCORE EXTREME SARCASM) of opening on Thursday so I will spend the evening at home, alone, in my giant cold apartment with Nimbus biting my arm as I silently sob into my turkey-less stuffing while watching entire seasons of American Dad and Drawn Together. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Dear Diary

Deary Diary,

We are officially moved in! It sure did take all weekend to move all our junk. I mean, you'd think that having 4 whole days off from work would be fun and relaxing but truth is, I spent everyday working super hard. On Friday, Vince and I came to the new place to sign the last bit of paper work and to get our keys. We brought a bunch of boxes in our cars and began unpacking them right away. We spent the night here then on Saturday I spent the entire day cleaning, organizing and painting Vince's room. That night we went back to our old place and slept there. Sunday morning we woke up to rain! I was in charge of driving the giant truck to and from the old place to Aliso Viejo! It was kind of scary but then it was OK. We loaded up the truck with all of our junk (which wasnt a lot) and we headed to our new place! Moving was easy with the help of two burly men and me and Vince too I guess. Once everything was unpacked (this was around 3 PM) I began cleaning and organizing some more. The place is almost put together, the last room to be finished is the office but we're waiting on Vince's awesome new desk and junk to arrive (which should be sometime today) and then that's it! This move was actually pretty easy but by Sunday afternoon I was so DONE with everything, I was tired and hungry and cranky and I couldnt wait to be done with it. Vince was sick all weekend and I dunno how he dealt with everything. Now, Tuesday afternoon, I'm feelin pretty sick myself but my body is just confused. It THINKS it's sick but its not.

Any-who, so that was the story of our move! I had school yesterday and it was kind of lame cuz I spent all weekend moving that I didnt have time to do any homework or study for that quiz I didnt even know we were having YAY! I feel like I did pretty well though considering that I didnt study. I can't rely on my good brain to remember stuff though. Only one more month of school left this semester then im done! Just gotta give it one more push and work through it and blah blah blah. Imma go watch Star Wars now.

Tricks and Treats

WELL, where to begin... I will start at the beginning! Halloween was a fewish days ago and, just like last year, I did absolutely nothing fun! This year was more lame though because we didnt have a Halloween party and I didnt go to any parties. I worked on my costume for about two weeks but by the time I decided to request time off a bunch of people at work had beat me to it. ACTUALLY, I had requested a weekend off to go visit my family down in San Diego which coincided with a party down thurr but when I talked to my momma I found out they all had the stomach flu and I did NOT want to catch that so I ended up working that weekend. Then the following weekend I couldnt request time off. So there I was, Halloween day with a super cool costume and no where to wear it too. Saddest story ever? Yes, yes it was. Anyway, I made a Lumpy Space Princess costume! Never heard of her? Well, that's a shame because she is THE BEST character on TV right now. She is from a little show called Adventure Time! She is purple and she comes from space and she is a princess. That's a pic of her over there. She's always angry and loves to gossip and she hates her parents. Oh yeah and she's MEXICAN, how do I know this? Cuz Finn and Jake went to her quincianera!! Anyway, I think my costume turned out pretty great and I will be wearing it next year for Halloween and maybe even Comic Con if I decide to go.

From RSM to somewhere in OC to Aliso Viejo!

In other news, Vince and I are moving AGAIN woohoo! Vince got a super sweet job managing a luxury cinema that's gonna open up in the next month or so. It's gonna have fancy seats and they will serve alcohol and they'll have fancy food that will be delivered to you in your auditorium! Anyway, we needed to be closer to his cool new theater so we're moving to ALISO VIEJO. This is a big deal because I will be living in the city where I work and whats even COOLER than that is that we'll be living in CITY LIGHTS. What is this CITY LIGHTS you ask? WELL, it's only the COOLEST place to live AND it's literally 5 minutes WALKING DISTANCE from my theater! I am SO excited you guys dont even know! Not only that, we are about 45 from SAN MARCOS so it will be easier to go visit my family and my homies down there. So since we didnt have a Halloween party this year Vince and I thought it would be cool to have a CHRISTMAS PARTY! Or maybe a holiday party I dunno. First we gotta get situated and he has to get settled into his new job THEN we'll rock out with our SOCKS out... that's how that goes right??

We officially move in to our new apartment tomorrow at 3 PM! I have the whole weekend off to move which is cool cuz I dont have to work but its also not cool cuz Im going to be moving and in between moving Im gonna be doing HOMEWORK gross. Finally, I would like to add that poor lil' Vince is SICK. This is a big deal cuz he never gets sick :( I made sure he took all his meds and now he's sleeping so hopefully he'll be better soon cuz I aint moving all our junk by myself!!! Now I leave you with some LSP loooove.

Lumpy Space Princess EPICNESS 

OH YEAH, before I take my leave, Vince and I carved pumpkins and his was pretty cool and I dont feel like it got the love it deserved!! Isnt it great?!!? :D

Mama Consuelo

My earliest memory of my grandma was that she hated being called grandma (abuela) or any variation of the word. My cousins would warn me that if I ever called her that to her face she would pinch me really hard and she was a notorious pincher. Everyone just called her Mama Consuelo. I don't remember the first time I visited my grandparents in Mexico but I remember being scared of their house. It was old and too open for me. They didn't have a toilet and I was always afraid of having to go to the bathroom because I'd have to pee out in the corral (stables) in a hole in the ground. One thing I remember about her house was that there was one room I never went in because it felt creepy and that was the room next to the kitchen that had that painting (at least I think it was a painting) of my Aunt Lucia (I'm pretty sure it was her.) To this day I have never been in that room and I think that it's haunted if I heard the stories correctly.

Mama Consuelo was the definition of a matriarch. She had a lot of kids and I'm not even sure of the number; is it 9? Most were girls and 2 boys. The Ramirez family was started long before I was born, my mom is the youngest child. I have cousins who have kids who are as old as me! I would visit San Pedro every year in December when our family would go to Mexico for Christmas. Mama Consuelo's house used to be a store back in the day so when I was really little they had leftover products of it's glory days. Later on, after my Papa Doroteo lost his leg, the family help build them a super nice bathroom and that made visiting them not so bad.The town Mama Consuelo lived in was called San Pedro. It's small, but you can still find it on Google maps. The town seemed lonely as I grew up because the younger people were moving out and going to bigger cities or moving to the US. You could walk down the main street and not see a single person. As far as I could tell, my Grandparents had always lived in the same house on the corner of the same street their entire lives and the entire town knew them.

Mama Consuelo used to smoke back in the day. Apparently she smoked a lot but I only remember seeing her do it once or twice. She eventually stopped smoking at some point but I remember thinking that she must have lungs of steel because she never got sick. She was a sassy woman with a sharp tongue and every time she saw me and gave me a hug she always said I was getting bigger than her, and not in height. She had a big laugh that everyone recognized and that all my aunts and my mom inherited. One of the things I remember most about her was that she loved to tell a good story and loved making people laugh. Whenever Mama Consuelo and my aunts would get together you could hear their roaring laughter from miles around. She passed along her sense of humor to my mom which I inherited from her because I find humor in everything. She also loved going to church. I think she used to go every day just to pray. I thought it was weird because church was just on Sunday's but it was something she loved doing and it made her feel at peace.

Mama Consuelo had blue eyes and dark leathery skin from being in the sun for so many years. She was a short woman, but what she lacked in height she made up with her big heart. She was a warm and loving person and would always welcome you into her home even if you showed up out of the blue like my sister and I did that one summer. I never went back to see her after that and regret it. I know that she knows I truly am sorry and that I love her very much. I hope I can live a long, prosperous and simple life like she did, well, maybe without so many kids. I know that she's in a better place now hanging out with God in heaven and she's probably telling him a really funny story because I can hear her laughter all the way from here.

My favorite raptor

You're annoying most of the time, but the rest of the time you're pretty awesome. Thanks for being my friend.

Remember when I used to leave secret messages?? Yeah me too. I love this drawing you look SO CUTE!  I just wanna hug you TIL YOUR HEAD EXPLODES!!!

Summer 2011

Summer as a kid was fun. You could sleep in and stay up late, watch cartoons at 11 AM, run in the sprinklers and not worry about homework for three months. As adults, summers have lost the innocence of those younger days. Summer, for me, means work will be busier, the weather will be hot and gross and I'll remember and be bitter about the fact that I don't get a break from life. Sometimes it makes me sad and I get cranky cuz I'm so hot and work sucks when it's busy. But I looked through my iPhone pics yesterday and I came to a realization. Summer, and life, is what you make of it. And so what if I don't get a break from life for three months like the kids do? I can have just as much fun and I did. Life is only as good as you make it out to be and looking at this pics, my summer was wonderful. And it was wonderful because of the people in my life who made it that way and that's all that matters at the end of the day.

I present to you for your viewing pleasure, my summer. In PICTURES!

The only thing I regret about this summer was not taking more pictures.