Backtracking....w/ more pics!

Goodness, I just realized I mentioned my mom's visit, but didn't post anything about our time together, much less talk about the great time we had. Geez, where were my brains?

So yes, here are some pics of our time together.

This was quite cool - it's a traditional dance they do to their gods, I think. I found out about it when I went to Veracruz (they have a huge statute there). These guys hang upside down and spin around, all the while playing their flutes and beating these inzy drums. They slowly but surely end up closer and closer to the ground until they eventually flip around and land on their feet. - Quite neat!

That's my mommy! We have wild hair, don't we? We're atop the pyramid of the sun, and those are all small altars/pyramids (not sure what to call them) in the background. It seems they used this place to offer sacrifices (human ones) to their gods, in exchange for good harvests, etc. Ahem! We came up with a theory (well, I think Genai gets the credit for this) but history has it that they only sacrificed good looking people to their gods. (Of course, you keep the best for them. Heh!) So we figured the better good-looking people were sacrificed on the higher altars, and the less good-looking people were on the smaller ones. HA!

Genai and I in front of the pyramid of the sun!

That was quite a nice little climb (took us 4 minutes to get up). We tried to jog down to exercize our boobies (ok, so we were feeling foolish and thought it would be good exercize to jog down, and who cared about the bouncing part) - lol.

Ain't Genai purrty? ;)

Yes, that's me! Atop the pyramid of the moon - awesome view! (The pyramid in the background is the pyramid of the sun.)

Genai, Paz and I trying to look like priestesses atop the altar in front of the pyramid of the sun. - We were quite the show for the onlookers, how embarassing.

My mom resting after the event. ;)

So there you have it! It was an awesome day, one that I'll never forget. (*Possibly because I got the worst sun burn I've ever had in my life. I put sunscrean everwhere minus on my calves - I just simply forgot - and they burnt. Oh, sooooo badly! I lost two nights of sleep, and walked like a duck for over a week. Sniff... TTL I'm all better now, but yes, quite a memorable occasion.)

We went to the Zocalo (downtown DF) as well, and of course our cute little one here too, but I have no pics of that time that I feel like posting, so I'll leave you with the above. It was so nice to see my mom again though. Yeigh!

Proud auntie!

I found the cutest pics of one of my nephews (the youngest, Justin), on Sonja's blog! - Contrary to what she thinks, he's mine!!! Of course he didn't get the curls, but who do you think he gets the blonde hair and blue eyes from?! Hello? Of course, me, me, me. (Yup, I get credit without even having to do any work. HA! :D)

Am I conceited, or what? Wait, that sounds bad, let's just say I'm a proud auntie. (Sounds so much better. Whew!)

I love my nephews!!!!

Clothes and sizes, etc.

I thought this write up from Dave Barry (see below) was hilarious - yet so true! In all honesty I'm really not into what size of clothes I fit into. I have pants that are a 5, a 7, and an 8 (maybe even a 9), as well as 36, 38, and 40 (yup, European sizes) - its how the thing looks on me that matters, and if anything I get so discouraged when my cool pants don't fit me anymore (alas with me its usually 'cause I lose weight). But what I think cracks me up every time is when people try to convince me that I'm taller than 5'10 (a.k.a. 1.78).

When in Guatemala there was this super cool guy (and I mean a top notch pal, no sarcasm in the least) who was convinced he was 5.10. Now this would be fine and all, except he was obviously a few inches shorter than me, so seeing as I told him I was 5.10 one of us had to be misinformed and WRONG.

I don't know what it is about me, but folks think I'm 6 foot or something. Maybe its my posture and the fact I don't slouch even though I do look tall, or maybe it's the curly hair et all, but yeah...everyone is convinced I'm definitely at least 5'11 if not 6 ft.

And guess what? Each and every time the measuring tape comes out, guess what it says? Yup - 5'10. There's honestly nothing I can do about it. (Well, you know, when it's a line above 5'10, so that makes me what, 5.10 and 1 line?) Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep measuring myself. - The measuring tape and I are getting quite close.

At any rate, I got a chuckle out of this article. Enjoy! :)

Shop till you drop (in size)
BY DAVE BARRY
(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on May 25, 1997.)
I believe that, in general, women are saner than men.
For example: If you see people who have paid good money to stand in an outdoor stadium on a freezing December day wearing nothing on the upper halves of their bodies except paint, those people will be male.
Without males, there would be no such sport as professional lawn-mower racing.
Also, there would be a 100 percent decline in the annual number of deaths related to efforts to shoot beer cans off heads.
There would be no such words as ''wedgie'' and ``noogie.''
Also, if women were in charge of all the world's nations there would be -- I sincerely believe this -- virtually no military conflicts, and when there was a military conflict, everybody involved would feel just awful and there would soon be a high-level exchange of thoughtful notes written on greeting cards with flowers on the front, followed by a Peace Luncheon (which would be salads, with the dressing on the side).
So I sincerely believe that women are wiser than men, with the exception of one key area, and that area is: clothing sizes. In this particular area, women are insane.
When a man shops for clothes, his primary objective -- follow me closely here -- is to purchase clothes that fit on his particular body. A man will try on a pair of pants, and if those pants are too small, he'll try on a larger pair, and when he finds a pair that fits, he buys them. Most men do not spend a lot of time fretting about the size of their pants. Many men wear jeans with the size printed right on the back label, so that if you're standing behind a man in a supermarket line, you can read his waist and inseam size. A man could have, say, a 52-inch waist and a 30-inch inseam, and his label will proudly display this information, which is basically the same thing as having a sign that says: ``Howdy! My butt is the size of a Federal Express truck!''
The situation is very different with women. When a woman shops for clothes, her primary objective is not to find clothes that fit her particular body.
She would like for that to be the case, but her primary objective is to purchase clothes that are the size she wore when she was 19 years old. This will be some arbitrary number such as ''8'' or ''10.'' Don't ask me ''8'' or ''10'' of what: That question has baffled scientists for centuries. All I know is that if a woman was a size 8 at age 19, she wants to be a size 8 now, and if a size 8 outfit does not fit her, she will not move on to a larger size: She can't! Her size is 8, dammit! So she will keep trying on size 8 items, and unless they start fitting her, she will become extremely unhappy. She may take this unhappiness out on her husband, who is waiting patiently in the mall, perhaps browsing in the Sharper Image store, trying to think of how he could justify purchasing a pair of night-vision binoculars.
''Hi!'' he'll say, when his wife finds him. ``You know how sometimes the electricity goes out at night and ...''
''Am I fat?'' she'll ask, cutting him off.
This is a very bad situation for the man, because if he answers ''yes,'' she'll be angry because he's saying that she's fat, and if he answers ''no,'' she'll be angry because he's obviously lying, because none of the size 8s fit her. There is no escape for the husband. I think a lot of unexplained disappearances occur because guys in malls see their wives unsuccessfully trying on outfits, and they realize their lives will be easier if, before their wives come out and demand to know whether they're fat, the guys just run off and join a UFO cult.
The other day, my wife was in a terrific mood, and you know why? Because she had successfully put on a size 6 outfit. She said this made her feel wonderful. She said, and this is a direct quote: 'I wouldn't care if these pants were this big (here she held her arms far apart) as long as they have a '6' on them.''
Here's how you could get rich: Start a women's clothing store called ''SIZE 2,'' in which all garments, including those that were originally intended to be restaurant awnings, had labels with the words ''SIZE 2.'' I bet you'd sell clothes like crazy. You'd probably get rich, and you could retire, maybe take up some philanthropic activity to benefit humanity. I'm thinking here of professional lawn-mower racing.

Birthdays!

So…I turned 28 yesterday (14th). – And guess what? I’m actually excited about the year ahead. It’s awesome really, the older I get the younger people think I am. Well, I mean…ok, let’s clarify. (Just in case someone was going to say that’s the first sign of old age. – Denial! HA!) I’ve always looked a lot older than I was (honestly, when I was 12 folks thought I was 17 or 18, etc.), but ever since turning 21 it seems my being an SGA just makes me look my age. I tell people I’m however old I am and it’s like “oh, yeah, I would have said you were in your 20s”. – So that’s my point, I’m finally looking my age, and even a year or two younger, though I honestly couldn’t really care if I do or don’t. ;)

Turning 30 is really no scare to me. – Sure, there are 2 years left, so you might say “just you wait”, but if you break down the big phobia of turning 30 its what? To me it’s a fear people have that they’re going to start “slowing down”, or “going downhill”, or whatever other idiom you wanna use, so they’re concerned they’ve made the best of those “young years”. I honestly have NOTHING to complain about!!! I’ve lived a FULL life, and though there are heaps more things I’d love to do (yes, much is on my “to do” list) I don’t feel I’ve wasted my life away doing things that were useless, etc. I’ve traveled and seen the world (4 continents isn’t too bad, right?), I’m pretty smart (especially considering I have a few blonde streaks, and don’t you dare contradict me on that, Andy!), I have tons and heaps of friends, sure, I'm not married nor have kids, but there are things in life some of us do and don't do, and I'm not going to stress myself if I don't accomplish everything. - Right? ;)

So yes, I'm eagerly awaiting whatever the Lord sends my way this coming year. - I just pray I'm strong enough to take it.

And to all those that sent me B-day wishes, cards, notes, IMs, etc. - I love you all! You made my day special. TX! xxx

Un pochito mas...

Pics of Guatemala!

I miss you all! Sniff... - You made my stay there so very special! Thank you!

Thank God for those blonde streaks!

Oh yes, I was soooo thankful I had those today. :)

To rewind though, yes, we have internet again! Praise be to God! It took the company way too long, after messing up the address and giving us lousy customer service (honestly - they are so not professional, it's pitiful!), but today the package finally arrived, and we're back online. - Truly a dream come true. (I was starting to think it would remain a dream. Yikes.)

As for the blonde streaks, I went to the airport today. - Yes, I know, I do that often, so what's the big deal with that, you ask? Heh! Ok, so first I get told the person is coming it at 1:15pm, so of course, I calculate to leave at a decent hour - which would have been after going into our little town to check mail at the internet cafe'. I get back, in time to leave at my nicely set time (yes, I like to think of myself as organized) only to have folks run up to me telling me they gave me the wrong info, it was 11:15am, and the person was already waiting for me at the airport. - Oh yikes!

Well, there was nothing I could do about it, other than get moving, so I took my mom with me (who is visiting - by the way - fun!) and we drove into Mexico City. I put some gas in the car (note the "some" part - I wasn't given enough - DUH!), we got to the airport, picked up the poor person who was there for way too long, and headed Home. All was going well until we hit Mexico City traffic...oh YUCK! It took us 4 hours to get Home. And yeah, it's sweltering hot (my arm is sunburnt from the sun burning it), so we put the aircon on for an hour - wrong move, our gas ran out faster than it was meant to. I saw we were already low, but when the car ground to a halt, I was ready to kick myself. :(

I'm just thankful I wasn't on the Periferico when it happened, but had followed the check to move to the Lateral (which runs along side it, but not as dangerous). I looked in the trunk of the car, found a jerrycan and told my mom and the lady we picked up that I was heading out to get gas. My mom was rather worried. - Cute! She asked me if I'd be okay, I told her I'd have to be. I must admit though, when tight situations come up, my brains seem to be sharp and together, so I don't lose my "cool" (the little I have - HA!), and again, I'm so thankful for that.

I flagged down a passing bus, told him I ran out of gas, he gave me a ride to the nearest bridge that got me across the Periferico to the gas station on the opposite side. I ran to it (yes, TG for my workouts), filled the jerrycan and got an extra one from them just in case. (Ok, so I was paranoid - but I was still in the thick of traffic and had no idea how long it would take to get out, and I was NOT going to do this again.) - And yes, I walked/ran back to the car. ;)

We didn't have a funnel though (like duh, how many people expect to run out of gas and carry one in their car? I doubt we even have one in our kitchen!) so we came up with the idea of using our water bottles. My mom steared the traffic away, while the lady and I filled our bottles and I tanked it up. What was all done, we got in, I turned the key, and yes, it worked. Praise God!!!!

So as I said, thank God for those blonde streaks. - It looked rather normal for me to be running down the street with jerrycans - and have the Mexicans call out from their car, whistling at me "la *uerra non tiene gasolina". HA! (*Not sure how to spell that - but it's the slang word for "whitey" around here.)

Oh well, all is well that ends well, though I don't think my mom's too keen on more D.F. trips while she's here. - Poor thing!

Home again - but....

Yes, I've been in Mexico since the 31st actually - but alas, the CTC's satellite service died (thanks to the company - nothing on our end) so we're offline. Yikes! It's been Internet cafe's every day, and let's just say that's NOT conducive to me doing any of this blogging thing. (In case you're wondering why I'm doing it now - yes, at an Internet cafe' - it's 'cause I'm downloading something huge and need to wait anyways, so thought I'd update you on my happenings.) Please pray the technicians come in no later than Monday morning - they said they'd come between Friday and Monday, but Mexicans being the way they are (a.k.a. "magnana, magnana"), that is not reassuring at all. (It took us about 2 months to get SKY - so we don't want a repeat of that!) So yes, please pray we get on line Monday! Thank you!

I have plenty of pics to post from my time in Guatemala - I had a SUPER fun time. The folks there are soooo nice, and I'm going to miss them so much. I love you guys! As soon as the internet connection is working at our place I'll post, but for now, I'll leave you with the news that LUCY (of Johnny) had her baby!! Oh yeah! An April Fool's Day baby! ;) And to think that I predicted that. HA! Congratulations guys! And thanks for the pic. Here - I'll post it for you all too!

Oh, and before I forget, if any of you are wondering, the rfsmail server is dead too (Dan, oh Dan, what's up with that? You don't answer your e-mails anymore either?). If you sent me an e-mail there, please don't get offended for my not replying, I haven't received anything for ages. Use my Gmail box instead, for now, please! (Yes, for those of you know my e-mail, it's the same, just with gmail.com instead.)

Okay, it looks like I finised downloading. Yeigh! I'm off! (It's lunch time and I'm so very hungry.) Catch you all around some other time...when the CTC is back on line! CIAO!