Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

I chose this book only because I've read The Devil Wears Prada and loved it!! I also started without knowing what a Harry Winston is. I assumed it was a main character that was. . .obviously being chased. Had I known what it was, i think I would have passed on this booking, again, assuming that it was about a single lady trying to get married. A Harry Winston is an engagement ring. A well-known, notorious for engagement rings, jewelry designer with out-of-this-world price tags. Except. I aways try not to assume as it makes an "ass" out of "u" and "me". (One of those never-forgotten lessons from my father. He had a poster.)

Again, Lauren Weisberger does not disappoint. Fans of chick-lit, like me, will love it. The story follows three women who are hitting 30, Emmy, Leigh and Adriana. Thirty is a year when women are forced to look at their lives and qualify their accomplishments versus their original goals and plans and see how they've stacked up. A time of judgement upon ourselves.

Emmy is desperate to be in love, in a beautiful perfect relationship. However, the harder she tries the further away she get from her goals. Now that she's single again after her boyfriend of 7 years dumps her, Emmy is forced to give up on her dream of being a mom. It is always when the hunt stops that anything can be found.

Leigh is desperate to make it to the top in her career that she shuts out the idea of commitment even with her more than perfect boyfriend. Everyone is pressuring her to just accept her perfect life with the perfect boyfriend. Then she meets a married man that challenges her in so many new ways that Leigh falls in love. She tries to forget the married man and to do the right thing. Life is messy and there is no right or wrong in life. There is just what is right for herself.

Adriana is the womanizer for women. . . the "manizer" if you will. Beautiful, charming, rich, perfect. Adriana has never had to work for anything in her life, not for a man, not for money, not for anything. How could that be a problem? She's perfectly happy as she is no matter what her mother thinks. However, she finds just want she wants when it finds her by accident. But isn't that how most great things are found. . . by accident.

I loved the book; its so Sex In the City. Mostly, I loved comparing myself and my friends to those three ladies. I am mostly an Emmy.

check YOUR engine

yesterday on my way to pick up some lunch, my check engine light came on. i panicked. the warranty on the saturn has just ended. plus, only the lucky can get an appointment or even find a saturn dealership any more.

so i made a frantic call to my husband telling him what has happened. he tells me that he has always known there was something wrong with my car. i do have to admit there is a certain rattle about the car, but if i turn the radio up loud enough it goes away. so i agree and together we decide that i'll call saturn and see what they say.

however, several hours later and. . . . i still have not called saturn, thankfully; a co-worker of mine called me from the parking lot at my job. she tells me that my gas cap is hanging on the outside of the car! that would explain the check engine light. i'm so embarrassed, then relieved, then i laugh out loud!

i have to call rodney immediately to tell him that i've found the problem with my car. i had to gloat a little because he did it. when he took my car the night before to put gas in it. he was on his way to hang out with the guys. he must have been in such a terrible hurry that he left the dang gas cap dangling, shut the little gas door and went about his evening.

rodney. . .he adds adventure to my life.

When the Day of Evil Comes by Melanie Wells

I am Texas born and Texas breed so a Texan writer is always a favorite. It's very interesting to me that the majority of the book takes places in Dallas. Bonus, all of the locations, street names and areas of town are accurate Dallas facts.

When the Day of Evil Comes is the first book of a three part series. Dylan is the best of both worlds. As she is both a therapist and a theologists. Dylan Foster wakes up one day haunted by a demon who is trying to ruin her well put together life. Terrible creeping thing start happening to her. However each event could be logically explained for it could be a hunting. She decides to use all her might and knowledge to fight back. She does some hard-core investigation to find out why she's being targeted. Her investigations leads her to a well-to-do Chicago family and all of their deep-hidden family secrets. It's clear, by the end of this first part, that Dylan has a lot of work to do still. There are many unanswered questions about the family.

At first, I was reluctant to start a trilogy. However, after reading this first book, I am excited to continue with the adventures of Dylan Foster. I think in order to be truly knowledgeable one should be fully educated in matters of the world and in matters of the Lord. Dylan is able to fight a war with a demon because of her secular education, and also because of her religious education. Next up, is The Soul Hunter and then My Soul to Keep. Stay tuned.

Weird things that i do/think/say. . . .

i've been looking forward to my new computer delivering for 4 weeks now. absolutely, going crazy over it! i'd checked my email every day, twice day just waiting for that SHIPPED notification.

it delivered yesterday . . . i have nothing to look forward to now and its making me sad.
so, sad in fact that i didn't even enjoy the first day with my computer last night.

on my first day of work at my new job over 2 years ago. i noticed an almond joy wrapper on the back staircase.
i said to myself " i should pick that up". but then compromised with myself and said "OK. . .if it's still there tomorrow THEN, i'll pick it up"
that dang wrapper stayed there for 2 years and 1 month. it was picked up last night when the new cleaning service swept the backed staircase. (obviously, for the first time in over two years.)

i really miss that wrapper and am thinking about buying an almond joy just for the wrapping.

HALLOWEEN '09

i am super proud of my fruit loops!!

left to right:
(front row) lalani WITCH, josilyn KI'LAN, m'kayla BEE, xavier NINJA, tobias DRAGON,
(back row) alek NINJA, jocelyn INDIAN, hayden GRIM REEPER, michael VAMPIRE, thomas FRUIT LOOPS.

dressing up the kids. . .

is always a favorite of mine!!!

thomas has never missed an opportunity to dress up at halloween. this year he gave me a little scare and had originally said he would not wear a costume. but a little peer pressure from a friend of his and he was back on the halloween train!

thomas' costumes over the years (that i can remember):

pumpkin

lion

construction worker

wizard

scarecrow

vampire

scream

zombie

scary joker

mario brothers' luigi

box of fruit loops (in the making now)

tobias' costumes so far:

pumpkin (same one i kept from thomas)

mickey mouse

dragon

more Halloween pictures 2009 to follow. . . . . . .

facebook friend finds

rodney found an old friend on facebook recently. so, we were invited to his daughter's skating birthday party. it was so much fun to put toby in those skates. he LOVED it and mostly refused to hold my hand. also, the skate rink was out in the redbird area and they were bumping (loudly) toby's favorite music. . . hardcore RAP!

fall fun

i know i have 2 sons, but i took them to a butterfly festival. they didn't care. they had a ton of fun. we saw a bunch of little girls dressed as butterflies as they released hundreds of monarchs into the sky. we decorated a pumpkin and ate funnel cake. good times.

mom and boys

this could have been a must better picture if tobias would look at the camera!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIA!!

maria loves her karaoke!

good times. . . at family karaoke. every time rodney sang, i felt like i was at a concert. yeah, he was THAT good.
unfortunately, i didn't many great pictures, but here's one of that "concert" effect.


i sang my shower song. it's the one that i have to skip if it comes on the ipod while i'm working out, 'cause i WILL sing out loud. 3 NonBlonds "What's Up?". . . and i say hey yeah yeah, i say HEY, what's going on??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!

getting older is always fun . . . . right?

well, at least it is for me when it's not my birthday!!!

: )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY sis.

Mambo Cafe

if you ask vic to "smile!"; this is what you get!

i had a night out with my new sister-in-law. it was a ton of fun and i found my new FAVORITE drink!! wait for it. . . . .malibu pineapple with cranberry!

exciting. i know.

tip: people will honk angrily if you hang out your car window trying to take pictures of each other : (

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

As I make my way through the works of Jodi Picoult, I am picking the books out randomly without any premeditation. I chose Change of Heart without knowing any of the story. I didn't even read the inside flap when I brought it home from the library. I just slapped it open to page one and dug in because I have learned Ms. Picoult's writing style and thought I had a good idea what to expect. However, I was truly surprised to learn what the story was really about!

The story is a what if story. "What if Christ comes back during our life time?"

As you may know (or not) I am not a big fan of sci-fi. And I think this boarded on the line of science fiction. Just barely; I can see where she was going and some may call it more religious than science fiction, but it could go either way. There were several supernatural occurrence in the story that were linked to religion. Jodi did her research because it follows the Catholic religion closely and all of her details seemed accurate.

I cannot say who the main character is in this story. Not because I don't want to spoil the story for future readers, but because I have NO idea. None. It was equal between the mother who lost her family, the surviving daughter, the suspected killer, the priest who comes to save the soul of the killer, the lawyer who tries to save the life of the killer and also the witness.

Playa 2009!!!

to my women friends and my sister i am truly thankful! because of them i have experienced so much and accomplished so much that i never thought i would. they inspire me and push me in positive ways all the time. i love you all!!

and to add to my experiences, we took a girls trip to playa de carmen! or. . . . as alicia named it "our stupid awesome trip"!! i do have to mention that the week leading up to the trip was the most stressful and frustrating week ever! i think that i had so much worry and stress that things would go wrong that i literally made things go wrong. but in the end everything worked out famously. once i got to mexico i was able to relax and just focus on my friends and having fun.

lastly, i have to thank my husband who REALLY stepped up to the plate while i was gone. he took care of everything so that i had nothing to worry about.

Push by Sapphire

This book was missing the giant orange label with the little skulls and cross bones across the front. It should read:

WARNING: Intensely graphic. Not for the weak hearted or the emotionally unstable!!!

I think that Sapphire was graphic just to be graphic, for the shock value of it. Or maybe she was just trying to "push" her point. Pun intended. I get it. Her and George Bush need to campaign together for the No Child Left Behind Act. Sapphire tells the story of a girl who is truly left behind. She is almost invisible until a teacher sees her and finally helps. The teacher doesn't neccessarily do anything to for Precious Jones. She does so much more. The teacher gives Precious Jones the knowledge, confidence, education, friends and resources so the Precious can finally start to help herself. Help herself out of a helpless home life, a helpless educational system and onto something better. It's a slow process and maybe something so far dug that Precious could never get out. But she can try and she can stop a cycle of abuse and neglect with her own children.

In my opinion, the morel that Sapphire intends for "Push" is that life can be devastating and there is nothing you can do about. All you can do is push forward.

Life Laughs by Jenny McCarthy

I ran across this book at the public library and checked it out just for laughs . I've see Jenny on Oprah and countless other morning shows talking about her son's autism, so I wanted to read what she had to say about "life's laughs".

I am so glad it did. It only took me one afternoon to read the entire book, but it was a great afternoon! It was like spending the day with Jenny McCarthy in my living room talking my ear off. She kept me laughing from page 1. Even all the chapter titles are hilarious on their own. My favorite chapter is called "The Mommy Hangover". That one is self explanatory. I even took away some helpful girlfriendly advise from one of those chapters.

Jenny talks about her marriage both before her divorce and after her divorce. She talks about sex, bowel movements, hygiene, and tons of other stuff we usually keep to ourselves. She was really honest (a TMI kind of honest). One thing I wanted to hear about and she didn't mention once was her new relationship with Jim Carry. That would have made for an interesting chapter or two.

It was such an easy read. I would never say that it's the best book out there, but it sure was fun!! Overall, a great read. Thanks Jenny. Love you on Two And Half Men!!

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult said that she wanted to write the anti-Romeo and Juliet story. She did, but it is still a travesty. The story revolves around two families that are not enemies they are the very best of friends. They are neighbors and friends so close they could be family. Each family has a teen aged child. The Golds have a daughter named Emily and then the Hartes family has a son named Chris. Both children grew up so close together they considered themselves like siblings for the first part of their lives.

However, somewhere during adolescence they became much more than friends. All their high school peers said that they were the perfect couple. You could not tell where one started and other ended. Many people envied their relationship. They were both successful in academics, sports and popularity. We all know that everybody has daemons in their closet and Emily and Chris were no different.

At the end of their senior high school year an event occurs that would change both families forever. Jodi Picoult does her best to go back to tell the events leading up to tragedy. she starts the story with the end and then works her way through from the "then" to the "now". The suspense is intense so make sure you have a pen to bite down on or a pillow like I did. As the families fall apart, so does the strong bond between the two families. Lines are crossed and friendships are destroyed possibly forever.

Tragedy with children involved is always hard to read, but I love this story. I know that those teenage years are sad and challenging, but they end soon enough. If I learned one thing from "The Pact", its that I want to know my son better. It's hard to tell what is going through his little 12-year-old head!

vic and dulce get married. . .

it was a long time coming. an event built up and up and up. and it was GREAT! vic and dulce did such a great job putting together their event!

(plus i fit into my dress!!)

dulce seemed to make everything a little light and fun every time it got emotional. which was nice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THOMAS!!

first, i took tommy and friends to the DMA. we took the trolly downtown and had lunch!

then, the family gathered to wish tommy a happy 12th birthday with

ice cream cake : )

weird weekend

Saturday. . . .
i had my first real-life confrontation! i am sooo happy and so proud of myself. i've had too many missed opportunities to speak my mind when i felt i got a bad deal so i decided a few weeks ago that going forward i am old enough to stick up for myself.

while at target, my kids were running around the shopping cart and had strayed a good 3 yards away from me. toby was screaming his head off because tom wanted to pick him up. this woman on her cell phone walked by and said into her phone "oh, that's just some loud unattended children at target!" in the most snotty of tones.

i was steaming MAD. so i immediately huffed off after her. but by the time i gather my purchases and my "unattended children" and started off after her, she was across the store. so i thought shoot. . . . another miss opportunity.

well, as luck would have it, she walked into my aisle several minutes later (phone still attached to her face). i looked at her right in the eye and said. . . (wait for it. . .)

"for your information, my children are perfectly tended to. and if you have a problem with the people who shop at target, then my i suggest you shop somewhere else!" (i remember, because i practiced in my head for those several minutes.)

unfortunately, she never backed now and was TOTALLY mean to me and called me a crazy lady. but, i just hope that she'll think twice before she questions other women's mothering. it's offensive and rude.

Sunday . . . .
we had a birthday party for my niece on sunday evening. swimming and pizza at vic's house. rodney and i both were not up for swimming but one of us had to do it. toby really wanted to get into the water. i won that battle so rodney packed his swim shorts. once rodney had had enough swimming; i thought i'd help him with toby. i would put toby into the 1' baby pool and sit on the pool's edge.

well, i put toby in first. then before i could sit down, toby had fallen. i didn't really panic because it was only 1' deep and i was right there so i was just going to step in and help him stand up again. only. . . i fell too. i was able to pick toby up right away (since i was already in the water) and handed him to my brother who checked him out. toby was not even fazed. but now i was soaked. dress, chonies, hat, watch, everything soaked.

horiffic! so i think that in the end i lost the war.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Forbidden love, suspense, murder and . . . the circus? Yes, all of it one book. Water for Elephants is truly amazing!

When Jacob Jakowski was orphaned as an young adult he didn't know what to do with himself. Sadness took him and led him by the hand until he met his fate. He jumped onto a passing train that happened to be a traveling circus train. The story takes places during Prohibition America when the circus was new to America. Before there were labor laws and PETA. It was a big industry. One of the greatest things about this book is that Sara Gruen included history. She also included some great pictures provided by Ringling Bro. circus. Each photo adds to much to the story. It really puts the reader right there on that speeding training with Jacob.

Jacob devotes his life to the circus and gets so much in return. He got a true lifetime of adventure!

I can only hope that my life will be filled with just a fraction of the experiences that Jacob had. What a life to aspire to.

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Certain Girls is a "part two" sort of follow up to Good In Bed. A few years ago I blogged about/reviewed Jennifer Weiner's Good In Bed. I went back to read what I had written to make sure I was not mistaken. Because I remembered absolutely LOVING Good In Bed!! I gave it a rave review and was so happy with the happy ending. In fact, I can even remember a lot of the story still!

Cannie Sharpio now has a 13-year daughter and she is lovely like all 13-year old girls are. . . sarcasm. Jennifer Weiner does a great job capturing the mother-daughter relationship. I myself, have no daughters. Thankfully. But I was a teen-aged daughter at one time and Weiner hit it on the nose. We are MEAN to our mothers. For no reason what-so-ever!

Other than that sub-story line, Certain Girls was a slight disappointment. It made me want to take back the good things I said about Good In Bed. First, the author made it a story within a story where the original story is a fiction story based on fictional fact. If that makes any sense. More over, Ms. Weiner took away my happy ending!!

I felt robbed.

Rico

not suave, he's just a puppy. but THE cutest 'ittle puppy wuppy you ever saw. my mother finally broke down and got herself a guard dog.

Meet Rico the Chihuahua

one for the baby book

:)

a 4th tradition continues 2009

i harassed rodney a bunch to find something else to do this 4th besides just going to vic's house wwwaaaaaaaay out north (45min drive). but i am so glad he ignores me, because i had a ton of fun. it's usually vic and rodney's job to supply the activities for the 4th of july. this year they bought fireworks, barbecued and planned a drive the town's firework show. so we went swimming at the community pool, hung out in vic's back yard eating and nearly catching his yard on fire with fireworks. i have some great video of victor trying to put out the tiny grass fires that ignited with his chancla while a firework is going off. it's HIL-AR-IOUS. also, neighbor high school girls sat on top of their fence and hit on my brother (a nearly 30 year old man). ewww.

family day - fun day

since our schedules and budget do not allow for a real summer family vacation we always opts for several mini daycations (thaks to steve novello fox 4 news) throughout the summer break. so, last week we both had friday off and made a family day of it. first, some shopping for our poor baby, tom, who has no summer clothes. i came home once to find him wearing his good dress slacks and a sleeveless muscle shirt. next, we hit up the Science Museum Spy exhibit. then some ice skating. which, frankly, we didn't think all the way through. thomas has been begging to go, so off we were. only, we have a 2 year old so 1) toby cannot ice skate, 2) it's actually kindda dangerous out there and 3) rod and i had to take turns pushing/pulling toby around the ice. lastly, we ended our 12 hour day with a pre-4th of july firework show out at lake grapevine. we found a decent spot, got all set up, looking dreamingly out at the lake. and then the show started. . . behind us, on the other side of some trees. . . figures.

it was a great day for thecrears!!

HAPPY FATHER' DAY RODNEY

and. . . .

morty

victor

david

and tad!

it always makes me laugh to think about my little brothers as dads. but here they. one the father of an 8-year old girl and the other a father of 3 toddlers!! my boys and i celebrated rodney with one of his favorite things. . . . desert! rodney requested a pie from the pampered chef cook book. he had also requested the cook book when i attended a pampered chef party a while back. so. . . tom and i hopped to it. we "baked" this pie just for our #1 dad. he always gets an A for effort.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORTY

so morty turned 33!! yeah he's usually in bed by 9pm nowa-days. but we had a GREAT time saturday night.

While I was Gone by Sue Miller

If ever you were in the mood to run away from yourself, While I Was Gone is the book you'd want to turn to. Sue Miller writes a great story of what we all dream of at one point or another. "What would happen, if I just left all this behind and started over". To most, it's just a fantasy; nothing we'll ever really do.

Sue Miller's main character is Joanne. Your regular middle-aged mother. The thing with mom's though is that they lived a life before they became mothers and Joanne really lived! In fact, I was sort of jealous of the bold decisions she made and actually followed through with them. Yes, I was jealous of a fictional character! One of the reason I envied her was because she was able to make a decision to change and follow though with it at 100% without second guessing herself or going back or changing her mind or wimping out half way though. That takes a lot of will power and bravery.

A main theme of While I was Gone is the very defined stopping and starting points in life. Joanne made all her life changes at an event in her life. Once something happened then she would make a life change. A real life example would be graduating from high school. However, all of Joanne's moments of change are little less. . . ordinary. And one event is down right tragic.

It took me a while to understand Jo. To get where she was coming from because at first she came off as really self-centered. So, I kept putting the book down only to start it over again a week later. Finally, by chapter three, I was hooked! I just had to know what happens to Jo, to Leshia Stead and everyone else in the book. This is Oprah recommended reading and as usual Oprah does not disappoint.

Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande

Althought not technically based on a true story. The story told here is one hundred percent true and happends everyday at the U.S. border. My heart breaks for this reality because America cannot allow an open border. Mexico is failing it's citizens, so America is a tempting solution from poverty, violance and other ailments that plaque the country.

The book follows a man who takes a giant risk. He leaves his family in Mexico to go work in America. The family holds on to the hope of a better life when hope is all that they have.

The author's style of writing was questionable while reading the book. I had to keep re-reading previous chapters to fully understand what was happening in other chapters. However, once you get to the end it ALL makes sense. The story comes together. At the end, I was really greatfully for the odd style and questionalbe arrangment. Without it, it would have been too much sadness at one time.

Unfortunaly, I have no first had education or knowledge of illegal immigration. I was raised 4th generation American. However, because I am Mexican American, I take this story to heart. Reyna Grande herself has a great story that she shares with her readers at the end of the book. I am really glad I had a chance to read her work. It was really eye-opening.

toby's birthday (continued). . .

thanks a million to everyone who came to tobias' birthday party. he's sorry he was in a bad moon. we figured out that he was just still HUNGRY. he came home and ate an entire plate of mac&cheese! then. . . . he had sooo much fun opening all his gifts.

Thanks again family and friends!!