First there was Friday.......

Where do I begin, this weekend was a ‘roller coater’ of emotions. It was a weekend filled with gladness and tears and resulting with many accomplishments.

Friday: My Chely (aka B/O/F) & I made it to Casa Cabral again. The special occasion this time was a formal introduction to our good friend Eva’s new boyfriend. His name is Flash “You know, like when you take a picture!?!” Eva kept saying. Well, let me just begin with, that Eva is very special to me. So if there is any man out there that will proclaim love for her I want to know what this guy is all about…..after all, Eva is stuck with me for life as I am with her. Flash was polite, handsome and respectful. Ok, good start. Now, MY Eva is a high spirited woman and loves life, living it to the fullest. Could this guy be capable of dancing along with her? Can he be the one that will understand her and still let her have her freedom to enjoy the world? I usually am good in reading people, but to my dismay, our new found friend, was tired from a long day’s work & a long ‘ass’ drive. So, I did not make any judgments, yet. I am looking forward to the many pleasant times we will have; because I know Eva, and she has not chosen a boring man. Not at all, you see, Eva dances to the beat of this world’s rhythm and to be in her presence is to feel the music. This man seems confident which lets me to belief; he is capable of being tender towards my good friend. Therefore, it’s evident that he too, may dance to the rhythm of Eva’s “Happy Feet”.

Belssed weekend.....

FRIDAY
I am very much pleased to say that my angel came to visit me. I am talking about Chely, DAH!!!!! Anyway, we were finally able to spend some much needed time alone and exchange some much needed words. It’s so hard to keep up with friends & family and their life’s situations without getting side tracked from our own. Well, as I said before, Chely has been blessed with a good listening ear and has taught me to do the same. We went to see BABEL. (you know, the one with HOT Bradd Pitt.) Ladies, I must warn you, he looks a bit different in this movie so don’t come back crying “boo-hoo, I didn’t see his muscles, boo-hoo hoo”.

Guess what!!!! Some IDIOT (excuse my sincere and most accurate description) decided he had nothing else to do and went around breaking the glass windows to where the fire extinguishers are. (Que vavo…., pin…. menso, gran estu….!!!) Si todavia hablara como antes, OLVIDALO. Anyway, As the movie was just getting good (so we taught), the siren went on & we had to get out of the theater. Everybody from each and every theater had to get out and be swooshed out in the main lobby. Finally, some of us went back inside and saw the rest of the movie. The smart ones, got their money back and left. “Ahora quienes son las mensas?” For the record, the movie is a 'food for tought' type of a movie, so don't expect a main plot....

SATURDAY
Road trip!!!!!! For starters, Branden stayed with his daddy this weekend to celebrate his baby brother’s Babtizm. “Congratulations, Jose Alfredo!” Well, my friend Sylvia, her 5 kids and I took off to a birthday party in Sylmar (???????) somewhere near Magic Mountain (at least that’s what they told me). The party was ok but my favorite part was all the pictures I was able to take with my recently purchased ‘early XMAS present’ to myself. (Hee,hee) WHAT???? It’s not like anybody else was going to buy me one……

SUNDAY
The girls and I went to visit the church over there, it was my second visit. It is about a 10th of the size of the church I am currently attending; yet, I fell a lot happier. I suppose it had to do with the closeness of the people. Don’t get me wrong, I love my church and all it’s pastors. I know they do a lot for the community and my son has a blast. The people that attend my church are always smiling at us, waving or nodding a hello. There is just way too many people to have any close fellowship. Except of course, my good buddy Peter and his fiancé (my friend) Claudia. (their story will come later.)I probably would have already changed churches, the silly person that I am; if it weren't for the guidance I receive from tehm both.

Anyway, later in the evening we went to a Christian concert. My friend Cherise has a cousin named Jerry, who is a member of the church we visited. Jerry invited us to an awesome event. We all had fun and Sylvia’s oldest daughter-Melissa (17), her friend Aileen (17), Cherise (18) and her brother Ernie (19): accepted God into their life’s that night. It was AWESOME!!!!!


Yep, I had a blessed weekend :) How was yours?

Hello, is there anybody out there?

Ok, so I got the invite to my job's Xmas Party at some fancy, smanchy, swanky Country Club (guess I'll feel right at home) for Dec. 15th. Do you know what that means??????
I have approximately 35 days or less to find a date. Um, HELLO!!!!! That’s going to be very hard seeing as ‘I don’t date, I don’t want to date, I don’t talk to anybody I use to, and I don’t feel like meeting new people’. Gee, I sound old & bitter……HELP!!!!

Ok, so the first thing I did was ponder for days as to who I should invite in hopes that it wouldn’t come down to my ex-husband, again. See, in 2004 I was working for Cingular Wireless (another story for another day) and my first Xmas there was celebrated at Marina Del Rey (if I remember correctly) on a yacht with the theme of “Gamblers Paradise”. They gave out a ‘fake’ check to turn in for ‘fake’ chips and play on the different tables. The tables included 21, poker, roulette and others I’m sure. At the end we turn in the chips for tickets, put our names on it and crossed our fingers to win ‘something’. I actually won this little radio, which of course was re-gifted to a nephew (?). Basically, the best part of the night was the food and being able to spend it with my best friend Chely (who got me working there in the first place) and our good friend Eva. The point to this was, I had to invite my ex husband to be my date. Why? I don’t know…...maybe because I thought I wasn’t going to be comfortable sitting next to my ex-brother-n-law (who by the way is MY best friend’s husband) with some other man there. You should see the faces he makes….scares the heck out of me all the time.


Well, enough of the walk down memory lane. Now, I’m trying to find a date for this Xmas Party. So, the boys at work were showing me pictures of their friends on My Space. Let me just share that the boys in my department our barely 21 yrs old, now, imagine how old their friends are. So, instead on agreeing with any of them, I called my niece (Chely’s lovely daughter Crystal) who happens to have a sweet boyfriend with a ‘cute’ cousin. Of course, I can’t take him, because technically he’s already taken. Actually he is going to have a baby soon. Ok, next……..


I got home and my friend Sylvia starts throwing names at me. Mostly names from the pool hall I go too often (I like to play pool). My reaction ::::> Too old, too short, too young, too much of a dork, too much of a drunk, too horny, too stupid…..get my drift? Of course, she said “F&^%^%^k off then!!!!!”

My coworker “D”, was eager for me to take her Daddy….don’t even ask me how old HE is, she’s 40+….. I asked if I could take my 10 year old son or my 17 year old lil’bro, and was politely rejected, “Adults only, blah, blah, blah, something, something.”

Finally, after teeth biting, nerve wrecking, butterflies in my stomach, I had the courage to call some guy I use to go out with (Yes, Chely, Nathan), yeah, um that didn’t go well at all. Point being, I still don’t have a date to my ‘pinchi’ party……………….

Day of the Dead

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death. It was a ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000 years. A ritual the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to eradicate. A ritual known today as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. Sugar skulls, made with the names of the dead person on the forehead, are eaten by a relative or friend, according to Mary J. Adrade, who has written three books on the ritual.
The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth.
The skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during the month long ritual.
Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake.
However, the Spaniards considered the ritual to be sacrilegious. They perceived the indigenous people to be barbaric and pagan. In their attempts to convert them to Catholicism, the Spaniards tried to kill the ritual. But like the old Aztec spirits, the ritual refused to die. To make the ritual more Christian, the Spaniards moved it so it coincided with All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1 and 2), which is when it is celebrated today.
Previously it fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, approximately the beginning of August, and was celebrated for the entire month. Festivities were presided over by the goddess Mictecacihuatl. The goddess, known as "Lady of the Dead," was believed to have died at birth, Andrade said.

Today, Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and in certain parts of the United States and Central America. "It's celebrated different depending on where you go," Gonzalez said.
In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate gravesites with marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults. They sit on picnic blankets next to gravesites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones.


The above was taken from a story done on this event. As for myself, I do not practice this celebration but did feel the need in sharing. I do remember those I have lost often, and if I did make a sugar skull it would be in remembrance of my Grandmother Lala. (Story to be told in the near future.)