WHAT I'VE DONE AND THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO

For those of you that are wondering, I'm still alive. :) I've just been really busy with work that unfortunately, I've put this blog on the back burner. Things have been hectic lately and we've also managed to keep busy on the weekends as well. Since my last post, we've gone to a Dodger Game with our friends Alyssa and Rob and went to Disneyland in the evening to celebrate my godson's birthday. It was Adam's 1st time...I think he loved it. :)

We participated in the Relay for Life event in honor of Henry. Thankfully, he continues to do well. :) Gerric and I met up with everyone in the evening, just in time to experience the "Luminaria Walk." It was beautiful. I couldn't help but cry. It was something I'll never forget.

Two weeks ago, my husband took me to the No Doubt concert. It was awesome! Gwen Stefani's abs have never looked SO good! We had a great time!

The next day, I flew out to New York for 3 days and from there, headed to Panama for 7 days for another business trip. I just got back late Friday night/Saturday morning.

I'll be heading to Las Vegas for a friend's bachelorette party in a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to a weekend away with friends to relax and have fun. Then Gerric and I are heading back to Vegas in September. He's been wanting to see the show "Love" since it first came out so we're finally going to go see it. I'm so excited! Then...and this is the trip I'm counting the days for, at the end of October, we're heading to Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean! I CANNOT WAIT!!!!! I need a vacation so bad so this couldn't come any sooner! We're going for a week and staying at Beaches Resort. According to the Travel Channel, it's the 6th best resort in the Caribbean. EEK! So excited!

In the meantime, I have some dreaded meetings at work and some long nights in the office ahead of me. Lord help me. :( But all in all, things are good. We've made some small additions to our humble abode lately. We finally bought new doorknobs! It's the little things that excite me. :) We added a small swingseat to our front porch...we sat on it for a while yesterday and enjoyed the sun. It was perfect.

Next weekend brings more time with friends and hopefully more rest and relaxation. Until the next time...

WEEKEND REWIND: MEETING JESUS

I really did! I'm sorry for the late post on my weekend. Here's the rundown of how it went:


Friday
We spent the evening at my sister-in-law's house and watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Well, I only stayed awake for about an hour and couldn't help but fall asleep. I was tired! Mellow evening but we had a great time.

Saturday
One of my aunts on my father's side of the family sold her house recently. She lost her husband about 7 years ago. They were very happily married so it was such a tragedy when he passed on. She decided to sell the house they shared together for many years and her and her son are moving to Nevada. She officially left yesterday but we all went to say goodbye to her on Saturday morning. It was so surreal being in her house again. I remembered visiting often when I was a little girl. Nothing changed in their house...it just seemed so alone. It was very sad saying goodbye to her but I can only wish her the very best in Nevada. Once she's settled, perhaps we'll go visit her. :)

My niece Bianca is turning 15 in October. Staying true to Hispanic tradition, Henry and my sister want to have a Quinceanera for her on this day to commemorate this special age. It won't be anything too grand since they are trying to stay on a tight budget but it should be something Bianca will remember forever. After visiting my aunt, we went to go look for dresses for her in Downtown L.A. on Saturday. I only had the chance to see her try on one dress as I had a prior commitment in the afternoon. My sister told me she did end up finding her dress that day so thankfully, that part is all done. I'm excited for her big day.

After dress shopping, I met up with the hubby and our agent and went house-hunting again. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything good that day but it was still fun to get out there. That night, we went over to my sister-in-law's house again so I could finish up the rest of the movie. I liked it a lot. There are so many things I'm sure I missed and watching it again would certainly help but maybe I'll do that some other time...those movies are long!

Sunday
After church, we helped my sister-in-law and her husband (gosh, we saw my sister-in-law a lot last weekend! haha!) choose the tile for their home. They are doing some remodeling in their house and they needed to choose tile for their three bathrooms. After that, we met up with out agent again to speak about some things and then went home. That night, we had plans to see Glory of Easter, playing at the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County. Our friend's brother is playing Jesus in the Production and we got to meet him after the show. See, I really did meet Jesus! :) His performance was incredible. I was brought to tears and I was so happy we had the opportunity to see this.

Here we are again...another Wednesday. At least it's the middle of the week. It's also MRI day today for Henry. As always, please pray for good results and think good thoughts all day, but especially at 2:20 when his MRI is being done. Thanks everyone. I will post the results tomorrow.

Have a great day!

CHECKING IN

So much going on. I've been missing in action because 2 weeks ago, my department moved buildings. It's a newly constructed area with all new furniture, new desks, new everything. The downside: NO privacy. I lost an office which means that now, everyone can see what I'm doing! Hate that! But nothing new or exciting is going on right now. It's officially my birthday month. I will be turning the BIG 3-0 on the 29th and I'm learning to embrace it. I'm excited to what the 30's have in store for me. My husband and I have been house-hunting almost every weekend now. We've seen a lot of cute houses but there's always something that I'm unhappy with. We're not a rush but if we find a house that we fall in love with, we're ready to make an offer. Such an exciting (and nerve-wracking) time for us. Other than that, not much going on.

I had dinner with Kay and Alyssa on Thursday night. It was so nice catching up with them. Kay shared some exciting news with us but I'll wait to see if she finds time to update you all. I couldn't be happier for her! Saturday night, my husband and I had dinner with my longtime girlfriend, Gema, and her beau Bill. We had a fabulous time. A lot can change when you meet the man of your dreams. Gema has been single and fabulous but since she's been with Bill, she's turned into a domestic diva. She's ready to settle down with him and have kids! I couldn't be happier for her either. I love when my friends are happy.

Everything else is going well. Henry's next MRI is on the 19th of this month so I ask, as always, for your prayers and good thoughts. This April will be one year since he was diagnosed with glioblastoma. We thank God every day for Henry's continued health and healing.

That's about it. I will leave you with this sweet sleeping angel...

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

WEEKEND UPDATE

Friday

I left work at 1:30. Normally I would be very excited about this but on this day, I was leaving early to attend a funeral service. My girlfriend from high school lost her father. I have kept in touch with most of the friends I spent my four years of high school with but mainly, I see them at special events...weddings, birthdays, baby showers, etc. I love all of them dearly and knowing that this specific friend was extremely close to her "Pops," I was heartbroken to hear the news of his passing. The service was beautiful yet sad but I was so glad I was there to support my girlfriend...and I'd like to think she was happy I was there too. After the service, the family held a reception at their house so I was there until 10pm in the evening. As sad as it was, I had a good time being with my old friends and I even had a chance to spend some short time alone with my friend who lost her father so that was really nice. Her father's passing really got me thinking about the cycle of life and how each day with the people you love should be cherished. That can be a hard thing when your own father can be a stubborn man but nonetheless, it was another bittersweet day for me. Rest in peace Mr. Alo.

Since I had some short time to spare prior to leaving for the funeral, I stopped by my parents house and was able to see Adam for a bit. He's growing so fast! But still cuter every time I see him. :)

Saturday

I picked up my mom at about noontime and we went to the mall to spend some time together. We had lunch at CPK and gabbed for a few hours. I always enjoy spending time with my mom. She's the best. :) After I dropped her off, I drove back home to get ready for dinner. My husband had made reservations at La Traviata. We had a very nice time. Although there were some minor hiccups with the staff, we enjoyed dinner and the opera show.

We both had salads to start off, him the California meadows and my the Della Casa. I wished there had been more dried cranberries in my salad but the delicious dressing made up for that.

For our entrees, I had the Farfalle Andre and he had the Frutti Di Mare with risotto, which we both enjoyed.

For dessert, I chose the Creme Brulee and he had the Tiramisu...both did not disappoint!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Sunday

After church, we went home to eat leftovers for lunch. After that, we did some walking at South Coast Plaza and then went grocery shopping. I fell asleep early seeing as I did NOT have the day off today and he did. :(

Another Monday, another week...

VALENTINE'S DAY WEEK

I wasn't sure how I felt about Valentine's Day lately. I mean, I love what the day signifies but shouldn't every day be a reason to celebrate love? Don't get me wrong, my husband and I used to go all out on this day with gifts, flowers and cards. But now, I don't need anything on this day but a simple "I love you." After all, it's the little things that truly matter. I started realizing that as I get older, I'm not as excited about certain days like I used to be when I was a little girl.

Then, I got this.....

I got home from work one day and found this waiting for me. It wasn't addressed to "Mr. & Mrs." like our cards normally are - it was addressed to me, only me. I felt like a little girl again...I got my very own Valentine's Day card! Before I opened it, I recognized the writing and immediately knew it was from my girlfriend Alyssa. I loved everything about it...the fact that she remembered me on a day surrounded with love, the fact that she took the time to make this beautiful card for me and the fact that she put a huge smile on my face with this card. I loved it. After all, it's the little things, isn't it. :) Thank you Alyssa - you're the best.

My husband and I agreed to not get each other any gifts this year for Valentine's Day, especially since we're saving every last penny towards the down payment on a house. But I wasn't surprised when I received this at work today...

My husband is so sweet. When I called to thank him for my beautiful flowers, he said that when he was shopping for the perfect flowers to send to me on this day, he came across this and what sold him was 4 little words that appeared right by this..."AS SEEN ON OPRAH." He knows I'm an Oprah fanatic and that I would love these designer flowers that Oprah herself had on her show. haha...gotta love him!

Happy Valentine's Day to all. I hope you're all surrounded by love every day, but especially today.

DINNER WITH KELLY & WEEKEND UPDATE

Fell behind on my blogging again. I've been busy at work and just too tired to blog by the time I get home.

Anyhow, I did manage to have a very nice and LONG overdue dinner with one of very good girlfriends, Kelly. She and I met when we both worked in Huntington Beach together. We always tried to have monthly dinner with another one of our girlfriends, Jessica. Then, Jessica, her husband and their little girl, decided to move to Texas (we miss you Jess!) and when that happened, it became more difficult for Kelly and I see eachother. We finally made plans for Tuesday night, where we went to dinner at El Torito. It was so great catching up with her and I didn't feel so left out on her life anymore. :) I hope we do it again really soon.

After dinner, we came back to my apartment and caught up a bit more. We started reminiscing about our days at work and how silly we would act with one another. I don't know what came over us that night but we took some pictures pretending we were posing for prom pictures! Let's just say that I will do both of us a favor and NOT post any of those up. We looked ridiculous!

This past weekend went by in a whirlwind.

Saturday

My husband and I had our 6-month teeth cleaning appointment on Saturday morning. Boy did it feel good to have my pearly whites cleaned! After that, since we were near, we decided to have lunch at one of our favorite little fast-food restaurants. They have the BEST bbq there. I enjoyed every.single.bite. Later that afternoon, we had plans to go to a couples' baby shower. These are becoming more and more popular nowadays and needless to say, we both had a great time. My girlfriend from high school and her husband are expecting their very first little bundle of joy. I'm so excited for them! The food was great, the company was wonderful and Gerric and I even managed to walk away with a game prize! After we got home, we watched Good Luck Chuck on DVD. We never had any intention of watching this movie but my co-worker let us borrow her DVD and asked that I watch it. It was pretty silly...almost ridiculous but we still laughed and had a good time watching it.

Sunday

We spent most of Sunday cleaning our humble abode. It had been a while since we had given it a good clean so it felt good to give it a good scrub! Later that evening, we had dinner plans with our good friend/fabulous realtor, Elvia. She was sweet enough to invite us over for dinner, the main reason being to have me try one of delicious recipes for bread pudding. She knows I'm a lover of bread pudding and disappoint she did not! We started off with appetizers: shredded carrots in light olive oil and balsamic and a basil leaf, all wrapped in proscuitto. They were amazing!

The main course was a delicious salad she made which consisted of greens, shelled pasta, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and cheese. This was also amazing and pleased my palate perfectly.

I needed to wait a bit before we continued on to dessert, as I wanted stomach to be able to savor this to the fullest! Elvia's bread pudding, or "berry strata" as she calls it, was absolutely delicious and I gave it two thumbs up. I was lucky enough to be sent home with leftovers so I get to experience it again tonight! I can't wait! Thank you SO much Elvia...everything was perfection.

Here we are again...another Monday. Can't wait for Friday...already! Have a great week!

WEEKEND UPDATE

I had a great weekend, yet it was a bittersweet one.

Friday

My husband and I carpooled to work so after he picked me up, since I had a LONG week, we went to a Thai restaurant to have one of our favorite meals...chicken with red wine sauce. YUM! We used to have this a lot when we were dating but hadn't had it in years! It was just as delicious as I remembered it. We even had leftovers and had those for lunch the next day!

Saturday

This was a very special day. It marked one year since my nephew earned his angel wings at 36 weeks....his 1st birthday. It was a beautiful memorial and I know Diego was looking down on us smiling. It was an intimate gathering, held at his gravesite. My sister had asked my husband to play "Tears in Heaven" on his guitar. After that, my sister read a beautiful letter to her son that moved us all to tears. Then we had a balloon release for him. As we let the balloons go up into Heaven for Diego, "Someday we'll be together" was playing in the background. It was perfect. We had cupcakes in his honor and then joined my sister and her husband back at their place for an early dinner. It really was a beautiful memorial. Happy Birthday baby boy. We miss you and we love you more each day.

Sunday

This family has been close family friends with my husband's family since they were kids. They have always been a warm, loving family. The youngest of the kids, Mariclaire and her husband Paul, have a baby boy named Preston Chase. Last year, they received the devastating news that Preston has a very rare genetic disorder called Sandhoff disease. Last week, little Preston suffered his first seizure, one of the symptoms of this disorder. Luckily, he made it back home in time to celebrate his 2nd birthday surrounded by those that love him. We were honored to be invited to celebrate with Preston. I had not seen him in quite a while. When I saw Preston yesterday, he was sitting in his wheelchair, with his little eyes drooping from exhaustion and staring up into the ceiling. It broke my heart. Children with Sandhoff normally don't live past 3 years of age but I hope in my heart that Preston is the exception. His mother and father are SO strong. Please say a little prayer for Preston.

Happy Belated Birthday also to my best friend Coral! Her birthday was yesterday and we spoke but I still wanted to give her a little blog love. Love you Coral!

CATCHING UP

I realized I haven't updated my blog on the events that took place during my holiday vacation. I'll post on that in a bit.

I wanted to follow up on my last post about Boey. There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't thought about Boey and her family. I still can't believe this precious little girl is gone. I first found her website a couple years ago, shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer. I followed her journey so closely and felt in my heart that she would win her battle. I was so happy for her when they appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and thought it was the start of happy memories and new beginnings for them. I have to keep reminding myself that Boey is now living cancer-free and that her family will continue to fight to see Boey's dreams become a reality. I guess one of the reasons why I took this news very hard was a selfish one. From what I knew, Boey was doing so well. I knew her family hadn't updated her blog in a while but I attributed that to them living happily and enjoying Boey's remission. So I got the news that she had lost her battle, it made me realize that things can change in an instant. Although Henry continues to do well, I'm so scared that his tumor will come back and we'll be back at square one. I stay positive as often as possible but I can't help but let the fear overcome my emotions from time to time. I just pray that Henry continues on his journey to healing and that Boey's family can find the strength to move on. I never did get a chance to meet Boey, but she held a very special place in my heart. I miss you Boey...now and always.

On a brighter note, here are some of the things I did during my holiday vacation:

A holiday party hosted by the fabulous Alyssa and her hubby: here are the girls, along with a picture of Alyssa's domestic diva mishap.

The boys at the soiree:

A Laker game with my hubby:

A fun night with friends playing Rock Band:

Bowling with one of my besties Kay and my husband's friend Jason:

This past Saturday we attended a 1st birthday party for one of our friend's little boys. The food was amazing and we had a great time as always with them. Yesterday I had brunch with a couple of girlfriends and later went to visit my beautiful new nephew since I hadn't seen him since coming back from New York.

Whew! That pretty much catches me up. The hubby went snowboarding today and I have a workout after work that I'm dreading. But looking forward to sweating off some calories. :)

I'M HOME...WITH HEARTBREAKING NEWS

I just landed from New York about an hour ago. It felt so good to be home. My husband told me he had some sad news to break to me but never did I think I was about to receive the news he gave me. I learned about Boey a long time ago and have been honored to follow her story for months now. I kept her in my prayers every single night. When I learned tonight that she lost her battle with cancer, I couldn't help but break down in tears. I just can't believe it. Cancer has taken another beautiful soul. I hate you cancer. I'm so upset right now. I'm at a loss for words. Please keep her family in your prayers that they have the strength to get through this very difficult time. I'll write more later. Rest in peace Boey.

WEEKEND RECAP

I’m posting my weekend recap a little late since I’ve been so busy at work lately. I can’t wait for this week to be over. I have all of next week off! Two holidays and I’m taking three vacation days. I can’t wait!!!

Friday
My husband had poker night with the guys so I took advantage and did some shopping that night. I came home, wrapped some gifts and fell asleep on the couch with the heater on and a blanket over me. *sigh* My kind of night.

Saturday
Ever since I mentioned that I absolutely LOVE bread pudding, Nanette had mentioned that Urth Café in Santa Monica has a delicious version and that I had to try it. Ever since she mentioned this place, it seems that I heard about 5-7 people talking about Urth Café. People couldn’t believe I hadn’t been there yet. I wanted to ensure that we got our share of bread pudding (since I also heard it sells out fairly early). So on Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:15am, left my apartment at 7:20am and met up with my friends Nanette and Kay at 8:00am at Urth Café…all in the name of bread pudding! :) I also had a cup of Chai tea and the three of us shared their fruit plate. Nanette did not lie…the bread pudding was absolutely amazing!!! You can have it with your choice of baked bananas or baked apples. We all went with the baked apples…Y-U-M!!!!! It was SO good. If this place wasn’t so far, I’m sure I would have gone back the next morning for more! I had a great time having breakfast with them and I’m hoping we can do it again soon.




Later that evening, we had a family party to attend for my husband’s aunt. She was celebrating her birthday. We were there for a couple hours and then all the cousins decided to join us to see the Christmas lights in Naples. Gerric and I did this one year together and we had so much fun. The houses are beautiful! We had a great time doing it again this year.




Sunday
My dad’s birthday was on Sunday and we all celebrated by going to their house and having breakfast. My mom made a well-known Mexican dish called “pozole” and she also made her amazing carrot cake. I was stuffed by the time we left. Gerric and I ran errands the rest of the day and we ended the evening by finally trying out the newest frozen yogurt shop to open up near our apartment…YogurtBerry. I really enjoyed it because like Alyssa, I’m not picky when it comes to frozen yogurt since I love it in all flavors and all shapes & sizes!


Monday
I’ve been working out again with my personal trainer so other than a kick a*s workout last night, I finished up some shopping and went home.

This week cannot go by fast enough! And in case you’re all wondering, no baby nephew has arrived yet. We’re all waiting at the edge of our seats and praying for a healthy delivery. I’ll be sure to update once the little one arrives safely!