On {My Niche} #latism

I am a thinker. No doubt about that...ever. 

Sometimes, I over think and re-think most everything. 

It's in my nature. 

It's gotten better with age... I have become a little more... "ehh, who cares!"... and not so much... "who really cares???"

With being at home it's come to my attention that maybe I don't have a niche?

I mean I love taking picture but I am not a professional. Don't really want to be...

I love crafting and don't mind making new and exciting projects, but mass produce? Not sure...

I love to write, hence the passion for this Blog. I am in the weeks to come going to try and evolve my Blog and explore. 

Yes, ultimately I am a Momma Blogger but maybe a more Culturally inclined Momma Blogger is what I should focus on... 

I am not really a food and health expert and while I am a HUGE supporter of a well rounded education and becoming MORE than you think you can be, I know that all of these items should be focused on at home first in order to develop fully. 

I can write about, just about anything but I know that one thing that both my Hubby and I love is our culture, where we came from and where our parents grew up..we love Mexico; it's culture, colors, people and food! Right now though we have not visited in over 3 years. It's sad but I pray that the situation there improves. And, while we can't travel there with our kids we plan on teaching them Spanish and showing them how we grew up...music, food and all.

Maybe my niche is not fully developed either.... I have to think a little more, dig a little deeper and write from my culture... 

I guess this has all come about because of the upcoming Conference my nerves are starting to go crazy and trying to explain who I am and where I will go is going to stem from where I grew up...growing and learning everyday..it's my plan... and now my focus. 

Celaya, Guanajuato~2007

Guanajuato~2007

Las Huertas, Guerrero~2007

Cuernavaca, Morelos~2007

Michoacan~2007

Tepoztlan~2007

{Mother's Day Weekend} ♥

I don't think I have a single picture from Mother's Day Sunday! I do though have amazing pictures from the Friday and Saturday before Mother's Day!

Here are some of those pictures taken by my cousin....

Carlos Terrazas! 

 Congratulations Again to my Husband! 

Mr. Magna Cum Laude himself!

 

All I know is that;

 I have learned that presents don't have to be things...

they can be memories...

and this moment was an amazing one that I will never forget. 

Blessings on Mother's Day? 

I believe so! 

{Happiness at 30}

I think this list will require lots of thought but here I go.

My 30 most Happiest moments in the last 30 years!

{Happy at 30}

1. The day my Son, Santiago, was born.
2. The day my Daughter, Camila, was born.
3. The day I married my friend of 7 years. {August 19, 2006, now married for almost 5 years! Together for 12!}
4. The day I found out I was pregnant with Santiago!
5. The day I found out I was pregnant with Camila!
6. When I graduated from College. {U of H Alum, Class of 2005} 
7. When my sister graduated from College. {GO COOGS! Class of '07}
8. The day I found out my Sister was pregnant.
9. The day my nephew Olin was born.
10. When I last saw my Aunt Lola from Detroit, I was 7 months pregnant with my son.
11. The day I got engaged. {August 13,2005}
12. When I found out that I had gotten my first real job in the Medical field, at Texas Children's Hospital. 
13. The weekend I spent in Reynosa with all my cousins for our Aunt Carmen's wedding. 
14. The day my Father came back to our family, unharmed and ready to start over..... 
15. The day I realized how Big, Loving and Forgiving God is!  {September 2004}
16. My first Mother's day! 
17. My second Mother's day! 
18. The day I heard the news of my Husband getting an out of state Internship. 
19. The day my younger brother Max was born. {16 years ago}
20. The day  I made my H.S. drill team.
21. The day my Husband asked me to be his Girlfriend. {November 2, 1999}
22. Spending the day with my cousin Yoli on her last visit to Houston before becoming a DOI-TORA!
23. I didn't know it then....but the day I met my husband... August 13, 1999...it was a FRIDAY! We got engaged the same day 6 years later.... CRAZY! Andddd we got married 7 Years and 6 days later...
24. My Son's first birthday...who can forget the candy-less piñata....it's a long storyyyy....
25. When my Husband and I went to Jaral del Progresso, GTO to baptize his cousin Erick's {wife Rosy's} first Son.....nuestro Ahijado, Alan Yahir.
26. The day my Son was Baptized..Thank You to our Compadres : Gabgab and Juan.
27. The day I found out my Comadre Gabgab was preggers!
28. The day I found out my good friend Yvonne was preggers....and that we would be preggers together!
29. EVERYDAY I GET TO SPEND AND HAVE SPENT WITH MY MOST LOVING FAMILY AND FRIENDS.{BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF} 
30. The day a tumor the size of a grapefruit was removed from my uterus and the doctor's said it wasn't Cancer...

I am sure there are many and plenty more and will be. For now these are the ones I could think of!

10 years in the making... { Written a little before our Son was born in 2009}

[This Blog Post is from 2009 but all very accurate.]

Going back and watching my wedding video brings back so many memories.. already gone.

Some happy and some very sad.

Ricardo and I met in 1999, "OFFICIALLY". We actually met in 1996, when I was 15 and he was 17,we were merely introduced, that was all that my two older and very protective guy cousin's allowed. Ricardo lived in an apartment complex and was best friends with my cousin, we had gone over to swim in the pool at the complex. Ricardo came over just to say "Hi" and to talk to my cousin. So, we both went, "un-noticed".

It wasn't until 1999, when I graduated from H.S. in Mission, Texas and moved here to Houston to start college that we "OFFICIALLY" met. We were set up as a "blind date", my cousin was dating his now wife and didn't want me to be left out so he set us up for a double date. Reluctantly, both Ricardo and I accepted. From that moment, it would all begin.

We met August 13,1999 after a rocky first date we never let each other go again; on our first date Ricardo's dad's truck was totaled by a couple of guys who claimed that Ricardo hit their car as we enetered a restaurant parking lot. They stole my purse and messed up his truck, all while we were having dinner. After that date, as a scared 18-year-old new to such a big city, I wanted nothing else but to go back "home" to the valley and never come back. {HA!} That didn' t happen.

We went on to get to know each other for about 3 months, and then on November 2, 1999 we started our courtship. {We both knew, this was it. Ricardo got me a promise ring about 2 years after we started dating (courtship).}

Flash forward to August 13,2005, Ricardo and I became engaged, yes, after 6 years of dating! We had finally reached a point in our lives when we thought we were ready to move forward. Then in the same year I graduated from college, we bought our first house and started planning our wedding! All made for a very good year in both of our lives.



On August 19,2006, 7 years after everything began, we were married. 

That year, our wedding was the best thing that we could have ever done! We were so happy and excited to have such an amazing moment in our lives.



The following year in March of 2007, Ricardo lost his grandfather. Having been Blessed with his presence at our wedding it was a very difficult and trying moment in Ricardo's life and the wedding video brings him back (physically) into our lives, because he is always in our hearts...

Now, September 2009, 10 years (technically 13 years!) after Ricardo and I met, 3 years after our wedding we wait for another AMAZING moment of our lives.

To become parents!

It's amazing to look back at the pictures in our wedding video of us as children and then dating; so young, so innocent, with no real knowledge of what God would bring into our lives at 28 (me) and 30 (Ricardo).

God is amazing and his doings and our purpose is what keeps us moving!  

We know that we are Blessed to have met each other and that we could have never come this far without each other in our lives. Ricardo is the person who motivates me to be a better me, to do more than I know I can and to always smile and laugh no matter who is watching. He is an amazing person and will be an amazing father. I can only wish that other couples are as Blessed as we are ( and more!)!


 

Cuando Yo Era Niña.

{Cuando yo era niña me acuerdo de.....}

Christmas {Navidad}

We used to leave whatever city in the US we happened to be in that year {my parents were nomads, HAHA. No really. Ok, they "migrated' a LOT!} and make the drive sometimes 8 hours, sometimes 24 to that border town where I almost always grew up; Reynosa.

It's the town, que vio nacer a mi papa, we had lots of family there {still do} who waited for us every year. We would be there for 2 or more weeks and attended every Posada until Christmas Eve, then wait for El Dia de Reyes. It's a great memory now long gone.

Reynosa has recently been plagued by "bad company". I pray that one day my children will get to experience Faith, Family and Holiday's as I did when I was a child. It's only fair that they can live and breath our Mexican culture the way me and my husband did.

I loved spending my summers there as well, playing in the wide open hot dirt roads of Mexico. I loved being a kid, laughing, and being worry free.

I love my cousins small and big; I miss them now.

Back to School!

My hubby that is.... I wish him all the luck and I pray that he has the best semester ever.....

I wanted to share my "first day at college" story [GO COOGS!]. I heard some, "first day" stories on the radio this morning and thought it would be fun to share. And remember.

When I decided over 10 years ago [ YES, 10 YEARS AGO] to leave the small town of Mission and come to Houston to attend college; I didn't know what would happen or how things would play out. 11 years later, I am so Blessed. 

My story was; I went "away" to college. But, I came to Houston with my entire family. You see, we grew up between Houston and South Texas, so we had family here. Around the time when I graduated High School my family was ready for a change. We came here at the end of July and I was set to start school in August. 

Before this my cousin thought it might be a great idea for me to "meet people" (i.e. Ricardo, my now HUBBY) SO prior to starting school he decided, we would go on a double date. Get me acquainted with the city and ready to start school! Little did we know that the night we went out would be the same night I wanted to go back home, only 2 weeks after arriving in Houston. 

That day; I had gone to school, completed registration, financial aid, transportation arrangements, and so on. Well I had just gotten a new purse and stuffed it with all my paperwork, wallet with my new college I.D., and even had a camera that I had taken Senior pictures with but had a couple more left on it. I know how dumb this is, NOW. But, it would be the same purse that I took with me that night when we went out. 

Well my cousin, his then girlfriend now wife with three beautiful children, and Ricardo arrived to pick me up. We went out to dance and then dinner. Little did we know that at dinner, Ricardo's dad's white pick up truck would be broken into. [His dad JUST recently got rid of that truck, now he is sporting a new Toyota Tundra in Metallic Blue! Huge upgrade!] Completely beat up with a bat and our belongings GONE. Yes, after only 2 weeks in Houston as an "adult" my things were stolen. I was scared and devastated; the next day I wanted to pack up and go home! No joke. Certain that THIS would NEVER had happen had I been back home!? 

I started college, upset. Mad that I had lost all of my High School memories. Now thinking back. That's what college is about. Letting go of your "childhood" and entering a new life, a new season and moving forward! 

I thank God for the last 11 years and I thank Him for that night.....had it not been for that experience, I am not sure when I would have realized that I wasn't in "Kansas" anymore and that life would be VERY different from that point on. That I needed to get over it and grow up. 

I think I did, "get over it" and "grow up" and I hope that all those "kiddos" starting school; whether it's Pre-K, Kinder, Junior High, High School, or college, HAVE A GREAT EXPERIENCE and learn from everyone [mistakes and accomplishments] and everything around them [the world is MUCH bigger than you think]! 

Take it all in it doesn't last forever there is a real world out there waiting for you and Love your teachers they have been there and done that!  

No. Pos. Wow.

Growing up I am always reminded of that movie “Varsity Blues”, Dixie Chicks and Elote en Vaso.

Born in MISSION!

I know.

Totally skewed memories!

Thing is I grew up in a SMALL town. When I was about 12 my parents decided that we would move to the Valley. We owned a home there but mostly lived in Houston and Detroit, throughout my childhood. But, around this time, my Grandmother (My dads mom) , a stronghold in the "De La Rosa" family was very ill. She had Diabetes. But, not just like you watch your diet and take a pill. My Grandmother and most of her sisters have THAT kind of Diabetes, amputees and Dialysis patient’s kind.



So, in 1994 we left Houston and moved to Mission, Texas; home of the Mighty Mission Eagles.[ I actually lived in Alton, on the 5 mile; La milla Cinco.] 

For 5 years, I listen to a mix of Country and Tejano, unlike any other, a true Texan. We ate raspas, elote en vaso and "hac-docs" (as my parents would say) estilo Reynosa. (Snow cones-Mexican style, Corn in a cup, and Hot dogs like they have in Reynosa; the border town) We spoke “Spang-lish” and didn’t mind it. “I fit in”. I fell in love with trucks…BIG trucks. I fell in love with comfort. Being in a small “protected” area. I was “home”.

Except there was one problem, I was city girl! [Houston that is!]

Deep down inside; I LOVED tall buildings, craved traffic (YES…TRAFFIC), and the hustle and bustle of being a super busy "stylish" corporate junkie!


So, after 5 years, I graduated High School, some of the best years of my life. Lots of turmoil in my home/family life, but I made it out.

Alive.

Even though that was “home”. I knew I couldn’t stay there forever. I needed to leave. Be ME and leave the Valley. So, I did.


It’s been 11 years since I lived in “the Valley”, the RGV! That’s my home.

I used to be so ashamed to be a country girl. So ashamed for people to know that I was A “VALLEY” girl.

In denial if you will.

Shame on me. 

But, at 29 I realize that was HOME. My comfort zone and maybe just maybe I should have never left…but if I wouldn’t have left, I wouldn’t have had what I have now; Ricardo and Santiago. The two most amazing men in my life. My safety, my comfort, my real home.


But you know what?

......I miss it.

WHAT? Yes ME, the “city girl”, MIRALA-WOW!

Yes, I miss it.

Friends. Family. Being a teen. Food. Music. Culture. Spang-lish. The “ehi Miss”, the “No es que you know what, sabes que.”, AND THE FOOD! MAN THE FOOD! I love it.

Not sure who this man is...but he is selling ELOTE EN VASO!

But, these days; in the city, we attempt to escape it and live in a suburb, kind of…and though Houston is our "home" we plan on leaving it somewhat behind and build our dream home…yes in the COUNTRY!

It’s peace. It’s quiet. It's home.

You take the girl out of the Valley but you can’t take the Valley out of the girl.

Porque dices? (Why was this my topic today?)


Just yesterday in the Kroger by my house a lady walked past me while saying; “ehh, ira mija, las carrots estas estan bien purdy.” …yes this is where you can laugh… “Mejor you know what, dejà las otras and get some of these.” And it takes me back 11 years to a place where no one would have laughed at her and others would have said, “No pos’ wow, si, estas carrots estan major, gi’me’sum.” [Smiles]


And, on the radio the other day; I hear this [Bobby Pulido] and thought…yes…I remember los dias de ayer. Cuando escuchaba a Selena, Jaime de Anda, and Gary Hobbs! Those days were the shi’snik (as my hubby would say)!


Just takes me back.


To the RGV.


Home.


And because of technology and Internet, and oh yes Facebook, I have reconnected with SO many old High School friends and I can’t help but think….ahhhh I wish I WAS THERE!


One day I will teach my son about true Southern Hospitality, Deep South Cooking and the Love of our culture!


Tex-Mex. Because we are Texan but we are also Mexican.

Me in HS...My Junior year with a good friend, who I recently found on Facebook!