I Didn't Feel It and Happy Halloween.

No, I did not feel it, but I was sitting in an arena with 11,000 people and the ones behind me were using their cell phones to call family in the bay area asking what just happened and when they said "the equipment is still swinging from the rafters," I did see the swinging. I was in Stockton, which is forty something miles from the epicenter as the crow flies. The skating was great. High School Musical is goofy.

WOO HOO and BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Little Happy Campers.

Me and my big girls spent the weekend at Girl Scout camp. I went up with just Emily last year and now that Sarah is a Brownie, her troop was invited. We left after school on Friday, me, my girls, and three extra girls in the car. We stayed in a big camp that is used by organizations and, yes in cabins. Basic and bare bones little cabins but with heat. Emily stayed in one cabin with her troop and Sarah and I stayed in another with hers. In our cabin we had twelve six year-olds and five moms. All of the girls slept in bunk beds and only three fell out of the top bunk! I am serious, and they were uninjured, they actually bounce and their sleeping bags cushion the fall.

Because we had such a big group, we had the only cabin with a bathroom (which made me squeal with joy on the inside). If I keep going to this camp with my girls, I'm sure one day I will have the pleasure of taking girls to the bathroom in the middle of the night, in freezing cold and through the forest with only our flashlights to guide us.

The forest was beautiful, piney and cold. We started the first day with a 7:30a.m. flag ceremony, not too early really. Then the day was full of activities, nature, science and even a walk to the dam of Pinecrest lake (almost two miles round trip) for the Brownies. The older girls, including Emily's troop, walked all the way around the mountain lake. It was a three hour hike for the big girls and Emily was thrilled at the thought of it but it wore her out. I did the shorter walk with the little girls. Sarah was kind of clingy with me there. The little girls that didn't have mom with them behaved so much more independently. I like to think that Sarah would have been the same if I had not been along.

There was a "cook" for the camp but the troops served all the meals, each troop was assigned a duty. The six year-olds served a meal to 120 people and even cleaned the community bathroom once. Imagine those little girls squished up noses as we entered the BOYS bathroom to clean toilets and sinks and floors! After they got over it, they fought over the rubber gloves and the toilet brush! Hilarious!

So it was a busy weekend for us...and for Tony right? He is beginning to wonder if I will ever be spending another weekend at home. In a very friendly and smiley way, he mentioned that I don't go anywhere and then all of a sudden I am gone every weekend! I just told him "it's okay honey, a few more weekends and I will be ready to stay home for a while!"

Tonight, Emily and I are off again with the troop, this time to Stockton for a Disney on Ice show of High School Musical. Emily isn't really into HSM so much but an ice show is an ice show!

A Very Friend-ly Surprise.

Wow! What did I do to deserve this? Sunday I was swept away by my girlfriend Nena for lunch, the theatre, a pedicure, and dinner! The best part was the simple pleasure of just being with my friend with no worries for the whole day. She treated me to all of this because I do have a milestone birthday approaching. The big 3-0. Don’t worry, I’m SUPER OK with it.

The details. Well, that morning my sweet family and I sat down for mass and our friends Victor, Nena and Emma showed up and sat right next to us. They don't live in the same town so it's not often that we see them at the church we attend. I thought that they must have plans for the day, just passing through town and stopped in for mass. I was just delighted to get to see them for that little length of time.

After mass, how surprised was I to find that the day had been planned for me and that they were there for me?

HOLY freaking MOLY!

Apparently the three of them had conspired and had this all planned for some time. The men made tracks with the kiddos for the day and Nena and I started with lunch at one of my favorite places for food. It was yum. Next she took me to this beautiful and very brand new theatre where she had tickets for us to see "Little Shop of Horrors", that funny and creepy little musical. It was great! I love going to a show with Nena because she really loves them, and so do I.

The pedicure was next. It was my first one ever. It was wonderful. We sat together in big comfy massage chairs and it was good, really good. The massage, the foot rub and the warm towels and the pretty paint. Oooooh, I may be going back there soon. [Yes, I am a goofball for showing you my toes, and for plenty of other reasons!]

After the pedicure, we went to dinner. It was such a great day, such a surprise, such a treat. I have not been swept away like that before and I liked it! I feel pampered, I feel special, I feel blessed. If that was your intention Nena, mission accomplished! Thank you so much, you're the best! And you better know it!

Gratitude.

My Forever Friend.

Sunday I spent the day with Sabrina, my friend of 25 years. Though she lives only about an hour and a half away, I had not seen her for almost 5 years. Dumb, I know, but when you mix busy lives with just that much distance, that's what you get sometimes. We had such a nice day together just catching up. We met early at a restaurant for "brunch" and we really did have breakfast, lots of coffee and then a few hours later, lunch, seriously. Then she took me to see the movie, which of course was pretty great. After that more chat, more coffee and lastly we took pictures and promised to get together more often.

I could say so much about my friend, we have so much shared history. Growing up, our friends, the great ones, leave us changed forever and so much of who I am today is because of her influence on me. In many ways, she saved me; helped me be better. For that I will always be grateful and have a place in my heart for her.

OK, before I go over the edge with love and affection, I'll turn and run in the other direction to share some random things that we did together...a very long time ago:

She taught me how to drive a stick shift

She took me snow skiing for the first time

She drove me to high school in her 1965 Mercury Comet, which made us the coolest craziest gutsiest girls at school

She took me to Disneyland for the first time when I was 18, we rode the teacup

She and her family once gave me a home when I was a little bit displaced

She drove me to apply for my first grown up job, and they hired me

Had countless silly great adventures in places like San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Hollywood

Had really big fights: she once kicked me out of her car (or maybe I demanded that she stop and let me out) on a desolate highway somewhere in Northern California in the middle of the night, then immediately turned around and picked me up

Inspired me to buy my first camera, a Canon Snappy

I am so happy that Sabrina and I found the time to get together, that Tony gave me a "day off" and that I am making time in my day and in my life to appreciate all the sweetness.

Let's Dress Up.

I couldn't resist! I found the wig as I was going through the Halloween box and she was such a good sport. First, I put it on myself and kind of freaked her out (oops, bad mommy). Then, she let me put it on her and I got this adorable smile. Using no words, she just smiled and looked at herself in the mirror for about 5 minutes.

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party and the kids were encouraged to dress up as fairies, or pirates. Normally I am pretty inept at costume making but I think I must have been feeling it. I pulled out this piece of this and and another piece of that and with a few snips of the scissors and some brown eyeliner, I had created a pirate-boy.

Emily made him a hook with a plastic cup and some tin foil and he was fully in character, as you can see by the pirate-ish sneer he throws at the camera for me.

Sarah jumped into a cute fairy get up that was passed down to us from Auntie Renee. The host of the party gave her wings and a crown and she was the happiest little purple fairy you have ever seen!



Hint of Halloween? No, just dressing up fun. We asked Wyatt if he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween and he gave us a great big NO! He's more of a Spiderman kind of guy it seems. He did make a fabulous pirate though. Sarah would consider a fairy for Halloween but I think she wants to be a witch. We have retained Emily's old costumes and it seems that the witch may be the one. Emily is still undecided. Stay Tuned.

This Movie. This Weekend?

I am so excited about this! Elizabeth, the first one starring Cate Blanchett, is one of my favorite movies ever. The Golden Age looks like it will be good. Cate is great, and Geoffrey Rush is amazing. My only sadness is that there is no Joseph Fiennes in this one, I loved him in the first Elizabeth!

I think the last movie that I went to see at the theater was almost a year ago. It is time don't you think?

Will I get to see it this weekend? I don't know. I hope so!

Party for Two.

Sarah and Eva had birthdays in September and Sunday we celebrated in the best way we know how, by throwing a big family backyard party of course!

It was a really great day too. My sister in law Maria, Eva's godmother, came early and tied up all my loose ends. Well she did way more than that, she blew balloons and she even cut up onions!

Then there is my friend Nena, Wyatt's godmother, who made the goodie bags for the girls to give out to their small guests. She is the kind of friend that when you tell her to get the heck out of your kitchen and NOT continue to do YOUR nasty party dishes, threatens to hurt you. Just kidding, I threatened to hurt her but then she said she would like to see me try and then I had nothing.

Renee and her family were planning to come to the party until Renee got sick. I had to disinvite her because she was still trying to find a way to come (she lives almost two hours away) while she was still (sparing you the yuck) doing being sick things! Sorry guys, we really missed you. Thankfully, Renee is all better now.

If you're wondering why there are hardly any pictures of Wyatt, well, he stayed in that bounce house all day. The cake got him out of it, but then he had a tantrum and when sent to his room he immediately fell asleep.

The kids had fun, we had fun, then we were asked to be godparents. What a GREAT day!

Breaking News!

Me and Tony.

Godparents.

Yes.

Wow.

What a humbling experience to be asked to do this for someone. You want even better? OK, people you just adore asking you to do this. I'm on cloud 999 right now! I'm so happy that I made a pan of peanut butter rice crispy treats to celebrate!

I took this photo of Tony holding her when she was just home from the hospital. Her name is Mia, and she is our niece. She is the daughter of Tony's youngest brother Rafael and his wife Miriam, they have two other children, a daughter Issabella and a son Rafi. Tony and I are both very happy and flattered and blessed and grateful.

It's kind of funny you know, when she was first born, I felt a special connection with her. Tony and I were completely caught off guard when they asked us and then I remembered how I felt about her when she was born and it's as if it was meant to be, all planned out and meant to be. It's a wonderful feeling. We have so much to look forward to, and I can't wait. We will probably baptize her with her parents and family later this year. Big responsibility, truly amazing, I love it!

Ooooh, I just noticed the date today, this is the day we baptized Emily back in '98. Her godparents are Rafael (the same as above) and my sister Renee. Sweet.

I Rocked!

Thank you mother for taking care of the kids for us! We had a really good time and kind of went back in time. Well I did anyway, (read on) because Huey Lewis and the News is practically 80's royalty. I know you were thinking that I must have graduated from high school just a few years ago but it was really the 80's, so hard to believe I know.

Tony came home from work on Friday telling my mom and I that it was going to be the Eagles. OK, cool, I thought. So when we get there of course we learned about Huey. We had greatest hits Cd's wrapped in gold foil and bow waiting for us at our table. We sat with and chatted with the contingent that traveled from Alabama, had dinner, then the music. Tony and I were walking around, closer to the stage after dinner and I happened to notice that you could just walk right up to the front and that they had a dance floor right in front of the elevated stage. It started with that amplified heartbeat that begins the song "The Heart of Rock & Roll" and my insides started to get all giggly and before I knew it I was movin', really movin'!

It was then that I thought of the Alabamans way back in the back remaining at our table and I decided to make it my mission that they have a memorable experience and a rockin' good time. We went back to the table and shared the dance floor information with them and we danced our little butts off right up front with Mr. Lewis and those News! I kind of bonded with a woman from AL that was exactly my same age and H.S. graduating year. When I told her where I was from originally, she called me a southern girl, what a sweet thing to say! Maybe I am at heart. We laughed HARD about how much fun it was and how silly we were.

Tony missed all the excitement because he stayed a good distance away where he could chat and be friendly with his "work people." We would go back to the back to say hello to the guys and remind them where we were, then Huey would call us back up to the front with something like: Iwantanewdrugthepoweroflovestuckwithyouifthisisitdoyoubelieve
inlovedoingitallformybabybackintimeworkinforalivin'. It was almost as much fun as that Metallica concert Renee took me to in '94.


Bigger than TBB's, maybe not. Different era. I think of TBB's as I don't know, classic. I think of Huey as big 80's pop star. The guy is really very talented. He sounded EXACTLY like what you hear on the radio, he is not a young guy anymore and he works super hard. You know it's got to be difficult to be known for one (really cool) set of songs and know that your meal ticket is to sing those same songs over and over and over again without looking bored out of your mind for people that want it to be just like it was.

Too darn funny: As we walked to our car afterwards, Tony leaned over to me and said, "what was the name of the band again?"

Anyway, now you can be happy for me. I rocked! Seriously!