Category Archives: Life Experiences

The day after

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I had a wonderful birthday.  At first, it felt like any other day until I started receiving numerous text and phone calls wishing me a happy birthday.  I was walking back home after dropping off my daughter at school when my mother called me to say that she loved me and that she wished me a very happy birthday.  She then started crying.  I said, “Ma, don’t make me cry.  I’m outside.  I will call you when I get home.  Love you.”  🙂  I definitely didn’t want to be walking home with tears coming down my face.  Once I got home, I called her back and we laughed about it.  She’s the best!

Then, in the evening my darling husband brought home dinner from one of our favorite restaurants, Bamboo Garden, along with a lovely and delicious cake.  My daughter desperately wanted to keep the cake a secret.  She told me not to look in the refrigerator.  Then she said, “Mami, sit down and close your eyes because Daddy is coming with the…”  She stopped herself before she uttered the word “cake” and placed her hand over her mouth.   Her eyes were wide and I couldn’t help but laugh, and my daughter said, “I almost told you the secret.”  So sweet and innocent.  She ran back to the kitchen to help her daddy bring in the surprise.

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Surprise…my yummy butter cream marble cake.  It was delicious!

I gave my youngest a small slice and she finished it off fast.  So fast, that she asked for more, saying, “I want more cake.  Cake, cake, cake.”  That was definitely the sugar speaking there.  We finished my special day with gifts and then like every other day, it was back to our normal routine, bath time and bedtime.  Thank you my sweet family and friends for a great birthday.

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One of my gifts from my husband.  I’ve been eyeing this piece from Lisa Leonard Designs.  If you want something bad, you have to drop some hints! I love it!  Thanks hubby!

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

GUESS WHAT?

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EVEN BETTER, WHEN THE DAY IS YOUR ACTUAL BIRTHDAY.

HELLO EVERYBODY!

I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE WELL.

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!  I’M 36 YEARS OLD AND I’M OK WITH THAT!  🙂

WHEN MY DAUGHTER AND I WERE ON OUR WAY TO SCHOOL THIS MORNING, I TOLD HER THAT IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY AND SHE LOOKED UP AT ME WITH BIG OL’ EYES AND A SMILE.  SHE PROCEEDED TO SING “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” TO ME AND THAT WAS WONDERFUL.  I’M GOING TO ENJOY MY DAY AND MY FAMILY TO THE FULLEST.

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PINS COURTESY OF PINTEREST, OF COURSE!

ENJOY YOUR DAY AND THANKS FOR FOLLOWING AND VIEWING!

STAY ALERT, STAY ALIVE.

UNTIL NEXT TIME…

Frank Sinatra

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I don’t exactly remember when or what movie or even the song that was playing that made me fall for Mr. Frank Sinatra’s voice.  What I do remember though is that it was a long time ago, about a decade, and at twenty-five years old, I was loving what I was hearing and I immediately bought a compilation set of his hits.  That was a wonderful purchase.  I played those CDs over and over until I moved on to my next obsession.

My love for Frank never died though and just the other day while cooking in the kitchen and hearing music stations via Pandora on my iPod, a thought occurred to me, “maybe I can listen to Frank Sinatra.”  I quickly stopped what I was doing and got all excited.  His name popped up even before I finished typing it and the image above appeared on the screen and my kitchen was filled with Mr. Sinatra’s voice singing, “I got you under my skin,” which is one of my favorites.

Frankie baby was back in my life, but this time around I’m being introduced to other great voices like Dean Martin, Fred Astaire, Nat King Cole, and the list goes on and on.  I told my husband that I was amazed at how much I liked this type of music since I wasn’t raised around it.  My husband simply, but brilliantly said, “great music surpasses time and absolutely no one say anything negative about it because if it’s good, it’s good.”  I agree with him wholeheartedly.  Enjoy what you’re listening to.

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

Christmas Tree

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well and getting ready for the Christmas countdown.  It has begun and yesterday we put up and decorated our little (four-foot tall) faux tree.  I’m not a big fan of cutting down real trees.  No offense to anyone.  I grew up with reusable ones.  I prefer not to hurt our environment and I like to save some money wherever I can so after I got married I went and bought my very own tree and it’s been serving us well for eleven years.  I might get a bigger one in the future, but for now this tree is perfect because I’m able to situate it high up where my darling two-year old, who loves to touch and doesn’t like to use her listening ears, can’t take any of the ornaments off.  My sweet cousin, Janice, started a tradition a long time ago of sending me an ornament each year so my tree is decorated with those cherished embellishments.  Some are handmade by her using pictures, while others were purchased signifying special moments in my life for example when we were expecting and our children’s birth facts.  I do have a love/hate relationship with decorating the tree.  I love displaying it, but kinda of hate the time it takes to decorate it, even if it’s four-foot tall,  because I can be a little stubborn with where the ornaments have to be specifically placed.  I did give in a lot this year because I didn’t put up all of my ornaments.  I just wanted to finish, fast!  And we did.  So the tree is up, now it’s time to wait for Santa to bring the presents and place them under the Christmas tree, which I take down the night before and place the presents around so my kids think that Santa came to our house.  This year my daughter became aware of placing cookies for Santa so she wants to do that for him.  🙂  It’s cute.  I love it and I hope you guys have fun decorating for the holidays.

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Mercado Christmas Tree 2012

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

Happy Birthday Lil’ Sis!

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Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.  Today is a special day, it’s my sister’s birthday!  I’m very proud of my sister and how much she has accomplished with her life.  She’s hard-working, dedicated, smart, beautiful, and a very brave woman.

May all your wishes come true sis!  Have a great birthday and thanks for loving my blog.

This one’s for you.

   

Sisters for life!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Yes, that’s my sister above.  I told you guys she was beautiful and brave!

She’s one of New York’s finest, NYPD!

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

We saw Santa…Yay!!

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  Yesterday, we did it.  We got dressed up and quickly made our way to the mall so we could take our annual family photo with Santa.  I say family because we have to sit down with the girls since they refuse to sit with Santa alone.  It’s our third time going to the same mall with the same Santa.  He’s kind and sweet, but my oldest is shy, while my youngest is not warming up to Santa yet.  Not even a tiny bit.  I don’t mind taking the picture, but sometimes I wonder if it’s cheesy.  I suppose it might be to some, but I really like going to see Santa with the girls.  I like dressing them in their Christmas dresses.  I might not get a smile from both girls, but I do get a sweet memory.  After taking the photo, I went to pick out the best shot and Santa gave the girls a choice of either a small plush kitten or unicorn as a gift.  My girls chose the unicorn and they thanked Santa.  It was cute watching them skip around the mall in their dresses while holding their little unicorns.  Before we left they hopped on a mini carousel.  With no meltdowns, I say the mission to get a picture with Santa was accomplished.  Whew!

     

Our picture with Santa will be posted on Christmas!

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

playing with grandma rose is always fun!

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I almost lost my mother to sepsis (blood infection) about a year and a half ago.  She survived and one day I hope to write about the whole ordeal and how brave and strong she was then and still is now.  Every single time my parents come over to visit, it’s wonderful because we’re lucky to have her still with us and my girls love their Grandma.  My mother’s name is Rosa, but the girls call her Grandma Rose.  Rose is the English translation of Rosa.  My oldest daughter’s middle name is Rose, after my mother, and my youngest daughter’s middle name is Luz, after my mother-in-law.  These ladies are strong women, but upon hearing that their grandchildren were going to be given their names, they turned into giggling school girls.  It was pretty funny and I was grateful to have made them both happy.  My girls have a unique relationship with each grandparent.  It’s great to see and I love photographing every single moment I can.

      

Grandma Rose and Sophia playing picnic and standing up and knocking down CARS dominos.

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

P.S.  We’re in the process of building the girls a playhouse.  We’re trying to house their play kitchen, table, books, and stuff animals into one area.  Grandma Rose is doing the curtains! 🙂

School pictures are in and first report card!

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Hello everybody!  I hope you guys are well.  I understand it now.  Parenthood is a very tricky world, to say the least, and I’ve always known about that part, in fact it almost made me not want to enter it, but the joys that come along with being a parent are many and every moment that’s new for me, as a parent, is very exciting.  I used to think, “What’s the big deal?” whenever a friend, who happened to be a parent, gushed about simple things their kids did.  But I get it now.  It’s the fact that it’s your kid going through or learning something and you get to share in their joys or sorrow.  You have a powerful connection with them and of course you want to share it with the world, but not everyone will see it through your eyes or heart.  They’ll politely say, “That’s nice,” but they can’t feel your enormous bond with your child.  It’s uniquely yours and I understand it now.

A few days ago when I went to pick up my daughter after school, I noticed all the kids were holding something in their hands.  It was a large envelope and even from afar I could see my daughter’s sweet, little face peering through the clear cellophane paper in the middle of the envelope.  It was their school pictures! My heart leapt inside of me with so much anticipation.  Oh, I couldn’t wait to see the pictures and my daughter couldn’t wait to show me.  She darted towards me, holding out her envelope with pride.  We looked at it, said “WOW,” and broke out in giggles.  Needless to say we hurried home.  Her portrait picture came in various sizes and I loved searching for her little face in the class picture.  When I found her, I thought, “there’s my daughter” and I wondered if my mom thought the same thing when she received my first class picture and searched for my face.  I understand it now.

As for her first report card, we went yesterday and it was a thrill to hear that our sweet Olivia was meeting all the standards and impressing her teacher non-stop every day.  It filled my heart with pride.  I’m really enjoying these new moments as a parent of a Kindergartener, even though I still have to let her go out into the real world.  Can you imagine what I’m going to be like once graduation rolls around?  I’m going to go insane with happiness.

My pride and joy!

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

Sing along with me: “Oh, the weather outside is baffling!”

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Hello everybody.  I hope you guys are well.  Yesterday, schools were closed in observance of Veterans Day and the weather was absolutely beautiful.  Since my husband had the day off as well, we couldn’t waste the opportunity to go to the park and bask in this rare weather.  Off we went and I made sure to have my camera in my bag.

Olivia was ecstatic to find this giant leaf.  It came home with us.

 Sophia kept picking up different sticks and swiping at all the leaves on the ground.

I suddenly realized, hey we can take a pic of ourselves as well. What a concept! 🙂

Here’s my attempt at a shot of nature.

Some days I wish I was a professional photographer with a great camera, but then I see those cameras and think 1. They’re expensive 2. They’re heavy/bulky (that won’t fit in my bag!) 3. Why are there so many buttons on that expensive, bulky camera? and 4. I really don’t want to get mugged.

I’m not too fond of my current camera, but I’m stuck with it, for now.  For me, my perfect camera, and I’m searching, is one that’s small, takes pictures fast and they don’t come out blurry.  I HATE blurry pictures, especially when you get a perfect shot, but oh wait, it’s not perfect because it’s BLURRY!  It drives me nuts!  If anyone out there has any recommendations on a great small camera, oh please let me know.  I would appreciate it.

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…