In June, I set out to re-do Mari's room into a more toddler friendly room instead of the infant nursery. We took out her changing table and replaced it with a new desk. I also, ordered a new vinyl decal and this little birdy came free with our purchase! Isn't she cute? This Mari's door:
This is us in the process of sticking it to the wall. I was disappointed with my color choice. It didn't "pop" off the wall as much as I would have liked. I should've ordered it in white or red. Oh well, this is very subtle and doesn't over power her room.

Anyway, I have a couple of other small details to finish up before I grab the final pics. Needless to say, she LOVES her room and actually enjoys playing in her room. So much so, that on Friday night she was up until 1:30 in the morning playing with her new room addition. Daddy and I had to camp out in there while she played because we both needed a power nap...we were dozing off starting at 11.

For you mother's of toddlers, what else were absolute must-haves for a toddler room?

jumping on the wagon...

Many of you are probably "over" hearing about this poor man. As with any emotional moment, I had to pause for recollection and remember why the reality of this man passing was causing me to grieve. And so I sit quietly and take a long journey, deep into my childhood, because like my virtual buddy Ed so eloquently said, his songs were a major part of my childhood soundtrack.

My sister and I shared a bedroom until she turned 12. It was at that time that she moved across the hall to the office and I patiently awaited the birth of Brother who would be my new roommate for the next 3 years. Anyway, our bedroom was an average sized room from the 70s. Immediately to the left when you walked in, were a set of bunk beds. On the wall adjacent to that was a window. Under the window held our chest of drawers. The two on top for my sister, the two on bottom for me. Next to that window was a large bookshelf filled with all sorts of books and scattered with a few dolls. The wall opposite the bunk beds had another window and underneath that was our little vanity that we shared, complete with a mirror that popped up to reveal an extra storage space. I had a drawer and my sister had a drawer. The wall next to that held the closets. We each had a closet with these french sliding doors.

Mom had splurged one year and bought a complete Bambi bedroom set, complete with curtains for each window, sheets, pillow cases, and a thin Bambi throw to go over the beds with these little tassels that hung at the bottoms. We had two posters in our room. One was The Fonz, with his signature thumbs up pose saying "Sit on it." The other, was the the above image of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album. Interesting because near it was my little angel nightlight and a few feet from it was our framed photo of the Guardian Angel watching over two small children.

So stood Michael in our room, the glowing socks, that brick wall, etching a permanent place in that memory. We lived in a predominantly black neighborhood. EVERYONE knew Michael Jackson. Everyone wanted to dance like him, dress like him, and sing like him. We all knew his songs. I remembered practicing in the office (which would later become Sister's room) with a hairbrush, singing and dancing to Rock With You, Billie Jean, and Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. Man, how I wanted that glitter outfit! I wanted to float above thigns like he seemed to do. I had no idea what he meant by his lyrics. I just knew I wanted to dance my little butt of and smile a big kook-aid smile that he always had when he performed. Oh, and I we listened to these songs on a record player. Gotta love that vinyl. We played that album over and over and over. Then came out Thriller and the Moonwalk. We'd then spend an inordinate amount of time trying to do our own Moonwalk down the hallway in our socks. Later, poking and touching one another to emit some of the electricity we'd build up. Little shocks here and there, followed by a giggle fit. Man, my sister was really good at moonwalking. She could do it on carpet, on tile, on sidewalk, in the snow, on a gym floor, she really rocked it. (Sam, do you remember it? Do you think you can still do it? I need to teach Mari!) The office became our stage and we were Michael Jackson, dancing with our Brooke Shields Barbie (because we were so excited to hear they had dated). Outside, we pretended the sidewalk would light up with each step, black penny loafers were cool, white glitter socks, bow ties, zipper jackets, parachute pants, one glove, and Weird Al. I had no idea who Weird Al was until he made his parody Eat It.

And yes, I knew the Thriller dance, I knew the dance sequence to Beat It. I don't remember us really having cable, but I remember when MTV first televised. I remember seeing Michael's videos on it. When I later moved, I realized that Michael's music wasn't just for black people or brown people, but white people, all sorts of people. Everyone who liked dancing liked his music. One of the first social gatherings I went to with our church was playing Beat It. I was SHY. Yes, hard to believe, but I was. Yet, when this song came out, I didn't hesitate to go out there and bust a move because I knew the steps. While I was the only one at first, I was soon joined by others. (By the way, I really liked the one gang member with the striped shirt who kisses his gal goodbye, was that just me? Ok, I was 6!)

I won't go into the personal after effects and his own issue. I'm just focusing solely on the music. Because like I said, that was a big part of my childhood and a little bit of that died the day he passed on.

And this post is mostly for my Sister anyway. Today is her birthday. I'm so very happy (and lucky) to have her as an older sister. We had sibling rivalry on an epic scale, but it also made our bonds so tightly woven that it was never broken. When we'd get in trouble, our parents didn't give us a conventional grounding, but rather would ground us from each other. Separating us was a horrible punishment. It's no wonder that in this day and age, I still seek her out. Looking to her for direction, guidance, and yes, even approval, at times. Still desiring to be included in her life, and ever so grateful for our morning chats about life, exercising, and anything else that comes to mind.

Happy Birthday Sam! And I hope Michael is able to finally rest in peace.

6 Miles for Gen

Have you ever had a hectic day? Are there just some days where you are at your wits end and you pray hard, asking for strength, perseverance, and patience? Then moments later, you are calmed with an immense clarity, full of energy, ready to take on the world.

The past couple of weeks, I've had a couple of moments like that. Then, I later learned that someone had been praying for me and clearly it was their positivity that energized me. At the end of my yoga classes, our instructor always asks us to dedicate the fruits of our efforts to something outside of myself. I thought, why limit this to just yoga? Why not dedicate my other physical efforts to friends and family? Not just any ol' activity, but those hard-must-press-on-and-push-through physical activities that require extra effort. I want to project that wonderful energy to whomever pops into my mind. It just so happened that the other morning, my wonderful friend and fellow Gemini popped into my head after my run.

This was the first 6-miler I'd done in a long while. I struggled so much that halfway through, I practically tossed the jogger into Don's hands, pleading with my eyes as I trotted to keep up. Pushing those extra 20+ pounds was really taxing on my already sore body. The mini hills drained every bit of my extra reserves, but somehow, deep-deep down, I found the strength to not only finish, but sprint the last 200 meters of the run.

Next time you're doing something positive, put that energy out there to someone who needs it. I'm sure they'll appreciate it all the more. Gotta love the simple happies life has to offer. :D

Lonely Little Petunia

Many of you who know me or who have been reading this for a while know that I when Mari-Jul was in utero, I referred to her as "Petunia." Few people know why I called her that, though. So, here, for the first time, I'm putting it out there. I had a bit of a tough time conceiving. For any of you who have had trouble making a baby, you understand. For someone who strives to be an over achiever, well, let me just tell you that I felt like a failure because it is the most primitive of things that I felt like I should do. Well, how happy was I the first time I got that positive test! It was one of those early tests and I was about a week late. I was on cloud 9 for about 2 days, but for some reason I didn't "feel" it. I was paranoid and opted to take that 2nd test that came in the twin pack. It was negative. I never made that phone call for the first appointment. I went into a mini depression filled with an immense intake of empty calories, cases of vino, and outrageous hyperbole. One of those expressions uttered amidst a broken bawling fit, complete with copious amounts of tears and mucus was...I'll never be able to make a baby. My womb is only for brambles and onions, but not babies!!

Then two very short months later, when I made peace with it all, after wandering around Denver, after swimming my troubles away in the Pacific ocean, after talking with Mickey & Minnie, and celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary, we were blessed! This time I "felt" it. I knew. At that moment, I heard Imogen Heap singing "Lonely Little Petunia". And yes, I had my very own little Petunia in an onion patch. I remember Flower singing it in Bambi. And I was happy. Utterly and completely happy. Every. Single. Day. Happy.

Here's my little petunia preparing to water a garden.
Sometimes she waters things with her left hand and other times with her right. Most of the times she likes to water herself.
Thank you, Jesus, for my lonely little petunia born from my onion patch.

I don't always understand God's plan, but I do know that my faith in God and my faith in love will never falter, sometimes we just need a little patience. :)

Glory Days

Once upon a time there was a girl who could run for hours, climb trees with ease, jump rope for days, and hang upside down on her swing set until the sun went down...all while wearing a skirt, no less.

That girl grew up to do more running on tracks and in gyms. Whistles shrill-tweeting to stop-go-stop-go-drop-jump-go-stop...faster, faster, faster, push harder, just a little more, keep going, find the strength, MTXE (mental toughness extra effort), push, push, push...Yes, pushing that hard in 100 degree heat just over 10 years ago had me drop 20 lbs in less than 2 weeks time. Unhealthy, um....yes. But it proved to me that I could push my body to extremes and survive.

Back then, I didn't appreciate the beauty of youth. If I mis-stepped and popped/rolled an ankle, I sprung back up because my ligaments were used to it. I might've been tight for a couple of days, but nothing that had me limping for a week. Standing flat footed, I could coil down and jump straight up in the air and touch the middle of a basketball net. Give me a step, then jump and I could graze the rim. I could whip out a mile in no time at all, all this after a volleyball tournament because I was invariably in trouble and had to make up my punishment runs. Trouble not because I sassed back or voiced an opinion, but trouble because I wasn't perfect. Each serve, every pass, and most importantly, ever set had to be P-E-R-F-E-C-T. Yes, an unhealthy complex developed and I eventually walked away from something I held very near to me because I'd made a promise that once it was a job and no longer fun, I'd part ways. That whole life lesson proved to be invaluable, even to this day. Sometimes it really, really hurts to walk away, but that's what you have to do.

Fast forward to yesterday and I willingly signed up to visit a personal trainer who would yell at me and push me to extremes that were extremely reminiscent of times past. It is a small training group, 3 of us to be exact. I'm the only female. I told the guy that I'd rather be the worst in the small group, instead of the best. Sure, I had a lot of anxiety, but I knew it would be worth it. There were no whistles, but there were lots of words of encouragement and high fives. He pushed me hard. I pushed myself, all the while thinking, "I must be out of my damn mind!" It took me back to those glory days, days that I hated, but looking back is now bittersweet. I've made my peace with all of that, and so I hit the track and the gym hard, nostalgic for those tweet, tweet, tweets echoing off the gym walls. When I walked into the small gym, the familiar dirty sweat smell enveloped my senses and to me, that's the smell of work! I'm sore, but excited. I told myself I would commit to a month and we'll see what happens. Financially, I'm not sure if I can make it work out, but I'm going to do my darnest to keep up with it. Because quite frankly, I like how positive I feel. I like that energized feeling and I LOVE working out again. It makes me feel great!

So great in fact, that the next night, tonight, we had Sias Track Night (immediately after yoga). Here I am getting a warm-up lap in. Yep, I'm pushing that jogging stroller.

Mari was ready to run. She does this thing where she lays down to prepare for her lap around the track. (Yes, that's 400M) On your mark...
Get set....
Go!!! This is the end of the lap. See how her arms are out and she's slightly leaning forward for the finish?? That's my girl!
I'm so proud of her and I hope she enjoys physical fitness as much as Don and I.
Whew, all that running calls for a water break!
Here's my nice dirty-sweaty family. Cheers to health!
And cheers to a better quality of life. See my gut in the above picture, that's all that's leftover from Mari. I've lost all of the "weight" but now that flab needs to firm up. I'll be about 2% sad to see it go since it did provide help in making my baby, but I want to be a good example of health for her. I don't want to take it for granted.

I'm extremely appreciative of having that foundation set for me early on by my own parents. While my mom may be in a wheelchair, boy you should see her fly in it! On days where she's feeling up for it, she'll zoom past you in her walker! And daddy too, he's a walking machine, especially around the expansive Tech campus. :) Well, and sister too! She has RA and is doing triathlons and half marathons. She says the movement helps to keep the RA at bay.

Now go on out there and get some fresh air and take advantage of your health! (and have a shot of tequila, as my grandfather would say...a tequila a day keeps the heart strong...ha ha! I think he just celebrated his 82nd birthday, so he knows a thing or two about longevity.).

Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Today was a lazy day. Mari was kind enough to let us sleep in until 9:30!!! Yes, she'd gotten up early for a bottle, but passed right out immediately afterwards. We went over to Whole Foods to pick up some steaks to grill. Primo, Prima, Jorge, & Hayley came over to enjoy the cookout. (sorry, I didn't get pics of the food!) We had dry aged ribeyes, fideo with green chile, homemade Mexican corn (yes, Danika, it was AMAZING!!), grilled squash, zucchini, onions, & tomatoes, fresh banana bread, and homemade cherry pie from scratch with fresh cherries. OMG...delicious!!!!

While Don & Primo were grilling it up, I took out Mari's flower sprinkler for her to play with. We hadn't used it yet, so I figured, 'eh why not. It would've been a good idea to change her into a swim diaper and maybe her swim suit too, but I was in the moment! Here is her initial reaction to the water.
But, she built up some courage to try for some more. Then, her moods went from really happy to really sour.
It was such a warm day that I'm sure the water felt really good, but the occasional breeze made her cold.
After the play, we wrapped her in our blanket-towel and headed inside.
Sometimes, parenthood can be wrapped up in randomness. For example, I can't seem to keep track of her pajama tops and bottoms. Tonight, she wore her skull and crossbone top with her pink watermelon slices bottoms, and you know what, they kinda went together!

For Father's Day, we surprised Don with a Emotibommb (shower bomb): Walk in the Woods. It was something simple, but hopefully, will remind him of the woods. We haven't gone camping in a long while and I know he's a huge fan of it. This year, he was supposed to go up to Canada for an extended primitive camping, hiking, fishing, canoeing trip. Unfortunately, it was cancelled due to lack of interest. I was sincerely sorry that he was unable to make it, so while this is a poor substitute, my intentions are good.

How did you spend your Father's Day?

My Girls

Don left for Detroit the day after my birthday. My folks came to town to help me with Mari. It was a whirlwind few days and it just kinda passed in a blur, let me tell you. I probably had about 12 hours of sleep for the three nights, but I didn't mind. I spent one late night chatting it up with my aunt, reminiscing about the NYC marathon, my wedding, and just life in general. I love talking with her! Another night, I was up late writing out letters to a very dear friend of mine. Her birthday request was not gifts, but our words. She was going to open our letters throughout the year. We could write our favorite memories, words of advice, or just whatever was on our minds. We had brunch together as a group. I hate being late, but Mari had a Sing, Say, & Play class that we couldn't miss. In my rush, I didn't notice when Mari tossed her frog wubbanub and I was really sad about that. I was a little flustered and was doing my best to project my attention on the birthday girl and the other girls around me. Mari was hungry, I was thirsty, and after we were taken care of and things were settled, all was better. (Although, I'm still going to have to buy another paci, even though we'll be weaning her from it in a couple of months.)

Here we are singing to the birthday girl. Sorry for the poor quality, Kona Grill is VERY dark.Afterwards, I spent a long time in search of her rana (frog in Spanish) and as a result, I had some retail therapy. I splurged on a couple of new tops, a pair of jeans (on sale, woohoo!!), and a couple of pairs of shoes for Mari. We also picked up some happies from Lush. Ada then told me that she was going to the Roughriders game (minor league baseball in Frisco) and would we want to go. SUUUUURE! I'm never one to pass up baseball!

She warned me that they wouldn't be there at the beginning of the game. I desperately needed a nap, so that was fine by me. We met up and it was perfect. While it was still warm out, it wasn't unbearable. Here she is with more of my favorite girls! Aren't they gorgeous?
Since I hadn't washed Mari's baseball shirt, she wore her Wonder Woman shirt with a cute jean skirt and her green Crocs. Cutie-pie! Of course, you can't go to a ballgame and not wear your ballcap, right?
We were in the grass seats and she loved being right up against the fence. She even hollered out to the guys in the centerfield! She clapped along to the music and freely explored the grass area.
I was glad to have Don back from his trip and I'm totally grateful for my girlfriends! Make sure to take some time out for your girls this week! Having that girl time is very important. They help keep you grounded and centered, too!

Rangers 5, Astros 4

Are you ready for some baseball?? For my birthday, I asked my Dad to go to the ballgame. I figured we could celebrate my birthday and Father's day. Not so long ago when they started the Lone Star Series (Texas Rangers v. Houston Astros), we'd gone every year. Once, we even made a day trip to Houston for it! Initially, the intention was a 4 ticket small party. Well, it blossomed into 18 family members, plus a couple of friends of the family. Let me tell you, not only did the nostalgia from games past set in, but this was one of my very best memories at a ballgame. The only thing that would've made it more perfect is if they would've had a full blown fireworks show. Lucky for me, we witnessed two bombs to centerfield and the explosions afterwards sufficed (for those of you who don't know, they fire off fireworks after a homerun by our Rangers).

Here's the view from our seats. Not only did we get a fabulous reusable Texas Rangers bag, but it was dollar hot dog night! Woohoo!!
It was HOT that day, but our seats were in the shade. Here's Brother, Daddy, and Mari.
She was sitting in my favorite seat (#13) cheering on the boys. She's wearing a Hamilton shirt, but I think he's on the DL right now. BTW, Mari tore up her hot dog. Actually, the ate the equivalent of 1.5 hot dogs.
And as a surprise, Daddy sprung for the birthday package. I'd always wanted to officially celebrate my special day at the ballpark. Here's my name in LED lights. Sister's birthday is 2 weeks after mine, so her name was up there too! We also got a nifty swag bag filled with all sorts of Rangers goodies, which included an awesome statue of Nolan Ryan!
And here I am wearing Mari at the Ballpark from the view where the rest of our family sat. Again, thank you Deidre for the tickets. It truly was special to me to have my family there! As I type this, I'm getting tears in my eyes thinking about it. Family is the most important thing, very precious that too often we take for granted. For my mom to have two of her siblings there with us, and my cousins too...well, let's just say it was really, really awesome!
To top of it off, the Rangers pulled it out in the 10th inning and won!

And for you football fans (or those of you just curious to see the new Cowboys stadium), here is Jerry's World:
Pretty freakin' amazing!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wow, my birthday was just as amazing as I wanted it to be.

I went to work that morning in a happy mood. I'd done my hair and it was going to be a fabulous day! Don, Mari, Sister & her kids, Primo, and Prima came over for lunch and ate with me. Instead of cake, I requested cantaloupe with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. They brought me LITE since it is weigh in week. Man, it was YUMMY!!

That evening, my friends came over and we had a BYOB party: bring your own burrito! Earlier in the afternoon, we took Mari to get caught up on her vaccines. Since we recently switched doctors, we had a bit of catching up to do according to the records. Instead of filling her little body with all of the shots, the doc recommended we just do one at a time for the next few months until we're where we need to be. She was feeling a little off, so we opted to skip her swim lessons. As it was, I was worn out! I'd only gotten about 4 hours of sleep from being so anxious about my official day. (My folks called at 6:18AM to sing to me happy birthday at my birth time.) Anyway, I yanked my hair back and put on some comfy clothes. When I got home, I cranked out another couple of hours of work before heading on over to Chipotle for dinner.

By the time we were home, several people had already gathered. Brother'd come up from Austin and had swung by my sister's place to get her kiddos. She skipped her swim class to be there for my birthday and I felt so loved that not only was I surrounded by friends, but my siblings were there too!

Like I said, this week is weigh in week at work and I was going to completely skip out on dessert. Jenna had given me a red velvet cupcake from Sprinkles, which I was determined to freeze until Friday night. We happily munched our Chipotle & Jason's Deli while watching Sweet Home Alabama. Primo brought over a DELICIOUS wine...Paul Hobbs Cab. MMMMmmm...it was incredible!!

Mari decided to drape a festive lei in honor of my birthday. I'd put on her new Superman t-shirt since it is super, super soft and she was a SUPER baby to power through her shot!
Here is everyone singing to me. I was grinning from ear to ear. At this point, I still didn't have a cupcake in front of me. They just sang to me before I opened gifts.

I was given a lot of fabulous loot! Here I am with my baby girl again.
After everyone had gone home, I took a tequila shot and decided that it was my birthday and it would be a crying shame if I didn't eat cake on my special day. Who was I kidding, right? There are people who don't even get cake and here I was willingly turning it away. The tequila reasoning took over and they sang to me again. Plus, I HAD to get my birthday wish, right? Here is Guapo singing to me too!
Mmm...tequila and Sprinkles. Happy birthday to me! It'd been a long day, but well worth it! Cheers!

Ft. Worth Zoo

Mari had such a wonderful time at the zoo! Yes, it was hot and we were tired after a really long weekend, but nothing like strolling through the park with those that you love. Plus, the occasional breeze was nice too!

We lifted Mari to see the elephants and she yelled out "Ba-Po!" Then she pointed at the elephant. While they are both animals, the elephants are not Guapo. They are actually quite a bit larger than he is, ha ha! But that reminded me of when I was a wee one and I called all animals cows, until one day, my dad pointed to a horse saying, "cow" when I shook my head and bluntly replied, "No, Daddy, that's a horse!" Right, right. Soon enough, she'll know to say elephant and not Ba-po. Ahh...she was mesmerized by the penguins and fish, too!

It was so warm, I had a scoop of Blue Bell homemade vanilla with peaches. I shared with Mari and her initial reaction was hilarious, but she came around and really enjoyed it! Oh, and speaking of food, I have to give kudos to the gal who made our supreme nachos. They were delicious and plentiful: enough to fill 3 adults and a baby! Delish! If you go to the zoo, pack a picnic. We did, but we wanted something with a little more crunch. Oh, and take plenty of water if you go in the summer!

Enjoy the pics below:




June 14:
Indulgence - Ice cream, nachos, and a yummy Tex Mex dinner
Philanthropy - happies for the nephews
Health - Walking around the zoo for 3+ hours in the Texas heat, whew!