The little things.

Well needless to say that last week was a little overwhelming. For reasons other than election day, because life moves forward even during the election. While Nevada counted votes so much happens in our everyday life. 

I had a friend loose her mother last week. I had a friend loose her father last week. My kiddo had a birthday last week. I also was worried because I knew a friend of mine was in a very difficult financial situation. While another friend was taking a leap of faith. 

An ebb and flow of joy and grief. Happiness and heartache. We sprinkle a little bit of Covid and this is 2020. Our stress levels rise and fall with every day and every situation. This week my friend that was grieving her mother last week (and I know still continues to) also celebrates life, her fourth grand baby being born over the weekend. My friend that was in a financial bind has found great relief today. 

Y’all it’s okay to be stressed and overwhelmed and it's okay to enjoy the little things too - even if the little things come in this mist of the big heavy stressful things. What do you do to help relive your stressful days? 

This year I’ve read a lot more than I have in recent years. I’ve started to garden too and I read a book about gardening!  I know next to pretty much nothing about gardening but it’s been fun to worry about peppers and tomatoes instead of politics. I love working on DIY projects and of course going for a walk works out all kinds of stress. My most favorite way to distress will always be surrounding myself with my loved ones. Taking time to celebrate my big kid will always make my heart the happiest.

Whatever it is for you I hope you find something to ease your day. 

Weekend Rewind | Making More Memories

This weekend was nice, we kicked it off with a movie screening and we ended it with a photo shoot for little bear. Everything in between consisted of the regular fair of ordering Chinese food and catching up on our current Netflix favorite.  I am working on Quantico, my oldest is binge watching Friends  and little bear just discovered a new one Trollhunters. All I can say is that thankfully I can chill and watch any of them and I am good to go! 

One of my favorite perks in the blogging world has been movie screenings! So after a very hectic first two days back to school, we had a movie screening Saturday morning at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. My family will take any excuse in the book to make a trip into Houston, so this one on a Saturday morning was the perfect excuse to make it a family affair. We woke up early and made a trip to one of our favorite breakfast spots “TheBreakfast Klub” and filled our bellies. If you have never been to “TheBreakfast Klub” I suggest you do and I suggest you go early before the line wraps it’s self around the building – because yes, it’s that good. Don’t know what to order? Give those waffles and wings a try! Yum!

Running into good friends at MFAH
Do you follow Independent Mami? 

Leap! Was the movie we had the opportunity to screen and it was super cute! Yes my 20yr old joined us and even he liked it. A good movie about following your dreams against all odds and knowing that through it all it takes hard work. There might be failure but there can always be your vision 1.0 and then 2.0 and maybe even 3.0 but if you keep trying and follow your heart you might just learn to fly.

At the end of our weekend I recruited my oldest to take little bears pictures, because Facebook reminded me of the pictures he took of her in Kindergarten and the ones he took of her last year for First Grade and I just couldn’t let Second Grade go by without capturing her just as she is right now. My 7 year old (not going on 17) but very ready for year 8 to roll around. Her sass, her own eye for fashion and her love for cartwheels and anything out door.

My babies doing what they love

How do you not make more of those cheesy Facebook memories? Ultimately they are my memories of my beautiful crazy very imperfect family that is whining one second because it’s too hot outside and the cracking up laughing the next because hey that’s life! 

Sneak Peak of Little Bears Back to School Photo Shoot 

Book your session with LEX Images here. 

CARS 3 | Race Lane Passes

Mondays always seem to come at me way too fast! Our weekends are busy, I always find my self wondering how a mom of three or four juggles her weekends! How does she keep her kiddos busy during the weekend and how quickly does her Monday come around **Gasp** Well I'm going to give you something to help plan out your next weekend! This Saturday April 15th from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at Memorial City Mall will be having a very unique CAR show, gearing up for the upcoming release of Disney Pixar's Cars 3: Road to the Races. 

You and your family can come out for free family friendly activities and the opportunity to take a picture with the stars of Cars 3 and get an exclusive sneak peek of the movie. How do you sweeten a free family friendly event? I am giving away a family bundle (5) Race Lane Passes, these passes will allow you and your family quick entry and skipping any existing lines at the event! 

Not only do you get a free event for your kiddos, you get to be Super Mom with Race Lane Passes! How awesome is that? Maybe you even get to wear your kiddos out for a relaxing evening binge watch the Cars Movies leading up to the new CARS : ROAD TO THE RACES!

Can you believe CARS first movie came out when my kiddo was 10 years old? He will be 21 this year!! Cars 2 came around when Little Bear was only 2 years old! She is now 7yrs old! WOW the amazing thing is that both will be ready to experience CARS 3: Road to the Races in a heart beat!! Don't forget to enter below for your chances to win your Race Day Passes!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas Under the Big Top

As the season gets into to full swing, we all get carried away by the decorating and the shopping and the craziness. Every year we try to plan a Christmas outing to take our minds off the craziness and spend a little time with one another, this year we were invited to join Second Baptist Church in their beautiful Christmas show, this years show is "Christmas Under the Big Top".

During the week we were able to get a sneak peak at their preparations, the setting up of the stage, the 24 piece orchestra, the choir and lights and sound check. We were amazed at everything that happens "behind the scenes" for a production this size. My daughter was in awe of the giant floating balloons, of which they would have some 20 or so blown up and ready for the show.  They told us about the ins and outs for getting ready, I could truly see their passion for providing an amazing, entertaining and Christ centered show.

From the acrobats flying from above, the live orchestra and choir, jugglers and the singers (including Luke Benward from the Disney Channel) this is a great family show. If you have family visiting for the holidays or if you and your family want to try something new for the holidays this is going to be a big hit. The show runs till tomorrow evening and tickets start at $10.00 per person. Click here to get more information on show times.

Christmas Under the Big Top!

Second Baptist is also beautifully decorated for Christmas, along with a really large display of trains.

Crazy girls checking out the trains!

This year they went all out at Second Baptist, I can't wait to see what's in store for us next year!
(Disclaimer: My family was given tickets to this amazing for in exchange for my honest opinion!) 

Galveston Island – Quick Getaway

How has your summer going? So far our summer has been very crazy and busy – busy with work and busy being a parent. For my friends with young kids and you feel like life is busy and stressful, let me tell you what I didn’t believe when my son was just a kid. It does not get easier. I know you think it might get easier because your children seem to be more self-sufficient and they can take care of themselves, but at some point as they become a “young adult” you realize that when it comes to college and growing up it can be very stressful as a parent too.

This summer we did not plan a summer vacation mostly because in the last nine months as a family of four we have been to – Key West, FL – Freeport, Bahamas – Nassau, Bahamas, thanks to a cruise we took in November 2015. Then for Spring Break we took and little adventure and flew to Seattle, WA from there we decided to lose our minds and take a road trip from there to – Portland, OR – Sacramento, CA – San Francisco, CA and we even made a short stop in Lake Tahoe, CA. All of these were little stops along the way but they were major trips for my little family. 

So with the combination of trips taken and tuition we did not plan to go anywhere this summer, but the best got to us and we needed a time out. I needed a moment to breath, I needed a moment where it was just the four of us – minus the drama of life. I can’t lie I love wood working and I’ve found quite some peace in the solitude of drowning out everything with the sounds of a sander or a miter saw running but I miss my little family at the same time. That’s what we need don’t you think? Balance.

We decided to take a little trip to Galveston Island, not far and believe it or no other than taking a day trip to the beach or the strand in all my life I’ve never stayed on the island. So we booked two nights at the Hilton Galveston Island Resort and we planned to just let go and have fun for a few days.

We spent day one at the pool and just relaxed. Nothing special just a few drinks and swimming around like goofy people. Dinner was just pizza and movie watch in our hotel room just hanging out.

Travel Tip – the next day we headed over to Schlitterbahn for some serious fun. Did you know that you can check with your hotel and see what kind of deals they offer for nearby attractions? We scored our tickets to Schlitterbahn for 50% off the normal price!

Our day at Schlitterbahn was well spent, thankfully it was a cloudy raining day, there wasn’t a ton of people and it wasn’t super 100 degrees hot either. We did get rained on a little but it’s a good thing we were already wet and not made of sugar!

On out last day there we took the ferry over to Bolivar and we hit the beach. The rain caught up to us but not before we had a chance to make some sand castles and sand crab! The storms off of the shore looked crazy cool and again we didn’t mind more water too much.

Before we made it back home we stopped at the strand of course, there is no trip to Galveston Island without a stop at the Chocolate Factory and boutique shopping!

In the end out trip was well worth it, but then again isn’t any trip well worth the time? We got to breath as a family and enjoy our own company. We had fun together and laughed a lot, my kiddos are growing up, thankfully when we pull away from life and it’s just the four of us we fall back into place – almost like nothing ever happened. 

Girls Night Out with Chi

Sometimes a girls needs a break, sometimes that break consist of a glass of wine and an uninterrupted shower (mommas you know what I mean!!) Sometimes you need to go out and get pampered – whatever pampered might mean to you. Last week I had the chance for the ultimate pampering!! The Houston Latina Bloggers were invited to Chi Academy to get a little pampering and a makeover!!

They asked us to show up with no makeup and no product in our hair – Eeek! You mean all of us gorgeous ladies showing up in our true colors? I don’t wear too much makeup and lately I am lucky if I get a chance to style my hair, so this was not a stretch for me :) Before I knew it all the ladies were there and we were all swept away for our before pictures. We giggled at the idea of taking a picture of ourselves in our natural look.  

My All Natural "Before" picture! 

Truth be told ladies we are so beautiful without all that makeup and product but it didn’t hurt that we were treated like a star, after our before picture we meet our personal hair stylist and later we were asked to meet our makeup artist!

Each one of us getting our very own stylist and some needed double duty!!

Group before Picture

By the end of the night we were ready to take our after shots! We played around and ended up taking picture after picture – all of us feeling pretty glamorous!

All of my beautiful Latinas come in all shapes and sizes, some of us get dolled up daily and others not so much, but at the end of that evening the girlie girl in us came out giggling and excited to play hair and makeup!

A super Special Thanks to the ladies that worked their magic!!  Thank you Melissa & Brianna!!

For me personally, I felt super fancy, the last time I could remember getting so much attention was the day of my wedding, 7 years ago this month!  That’s a looooonnng time! Thank you CHI for making me feel so special! 

Weekend Snapshots 6 | Busy Bee

Houston Latina Bloggers ready for Action! 

This crazy Weekend Snapshots is due to family and friends and randomness! I had a great weekend including an awesome opportunity to attend the Business Advancement Conference, crazy time in my kitchen and some much needed time with my family celebrating my brother’s birthday. Lately though I feel as though I could use a clone or three day weekends might be a better idea because a clone would probably be a bad idea, she might be too bossy and she might get more stuff done than I would because she wouldn’t have to do everything I am already doing for her. The whole situation would go south very quickly :)

Saturday first thing Saturday morning I headed off to the Business Advancement Conference as part of the Houston Latina Blogger group! This was exciting for me on a couple of different levels, first of all because I get to represent an amazing and talented group of Latina Bloggers!  We get to network and learn as a group and as a Blogger, I have to admit I’m a bit outside of my comfort zone but with these ladies I really have fun and I feel comfortable knowing my support crew is with me!

Secondly, I have been entertaining the idea of venturing off into the world of being an entrepreneur at the moment more a want-trepreneur. The conference touched on Branding, Networking, Public Relations, marketing and tons more. All topics very relevant to one thing (blogging) or another (opening a small business). Check out a list of our speakers here! 

When I made it home that evening with no major plans in the works for the rest of the day, the bear and I decided to play bakery shop and we made “conchas” (Mexican Sweet Bread) from scratch. I love the kitchen and I can cook like there is no tomorrow, baking is another beast all together. In the end I was thankful that they looked pretty and that my bread was eatable!! Not spot on the texture and taste for a traditional concha but at least I tried!! Round two is coming soon to the kitchen near me.

Sunday was my brother’s birthday! I can’t even sit here now and figure out the way to express how much my brother means to me. The funny thing is the older we get the more I realize how much influence he has had over my life. I realize how thankful I am for him and how through this crazy life and at the end of my crazy day I need him, still.

The end to my weekend and I found myself back in the kitchen, meal prepping for me and my little bear and per usual I was exhausted by the end of the night and I fell asleep trying to watch Snoopy the Movie! Do you think the clone would have been the one in the kitchen or the one on the couch watching a movie with the hubs and little bear…? 

Link into Weekend Snapshots by visiting 3twentysix and Momma of Dos! 

Beautiful Group of Ladies!!

Pretty sure my house smelled like heaven this evening!

Little bit crazy, little bit funny and lotta love to go with him! 

My little helper making her pizza rolls for lunch! 

Pizza rolls ready, now on to egg muffins for my breakfast! 

Bake for 20 min and done! 

Weekend Snapshots 5 | Easter Love

This weekend Snapshots is pretty much brought to you by Easter! Of course! Thanks to the Easter Holiday we had a long weekend and for me a two day work week being that we just made it back from our Spring Break trip! Don’t forget to join the other ladies at 3twentysix,, The Reinvention Of Jessica, Onixj and Independent Mami as they recap their weekends too! As always you never know what you’ll find on a Weekend Snapshot, maybe you’ll find a great idea for something you can do next weekend!

I’ll be honest with you, momma was not ready for a Easter weekend. We had mountains of clothes to wash from our trip, our fridge was on empty and I was in no way ready for Easter Baskets, plastic eggs and candy! SO of course come Friday I was decide to set off on yet another adventure! HA! We couldn’t help it, we have been meaning to take little bear to the Museum ofNatural Science for a very long time, so why not Friday?

If you haven’t been to the Museum in a while you definitely need to go they have made some pretty awesome changes throughout the Museum. Recently they upgraded the Planetarium to something called Digistar 5 System, although I’ve been explained what all that means in the technical sense, it means it looks even better than ever. Hailey was amazed, she swore we were moving the whole time, so if you try it out let me know if you think you are moving too. The whole experience is very trippy!!

We also saw the National Parks Adventure in 3D on the Wortham Giant Screen!! It was epic! What made it even more amazing was the fact that we just came back from hiking through the Red Woods and I swear there is a scene taken from the very spot we visited! Little Bear was like, “OMG we were just there!!” and yes she says OMG not Oh My God. What can I say, six year olds. drama. going on sixteen half the time.

Lastly we spent quite some time in the Cockrell ButterflyCenter, because girls :) Seriously if you are a girl or have a little girl or maybe you are just fascinated by butterflies you should go and you should go soon! It must be butterfly season because they are everywhere! They fly right up to you and land on you! Way cool! The girls would not leave until one would actually land on them. For some reason Little Bear was not having any luck, I thought we would never leave, then suddenly one landed on her hand and one landed on my hand at the same time! Then I was geeking out like a 6 year old!! I was like, “OMG!!! Babe come take a picture of us!!!!!

Of course we spent all of Saturday washing, grocery shopping and getting Little Bears stuff ready for Easter. This Easter Hailey was all about candy, toys and bunnies, can I have some, when can I have it and can I have more? We have raised Little Bear in Church all along and she herself will read her bible and uses her bible story app on her tablet all the time. She has a very good understanding when it comes to Jesus being the reason for the season but this weekend she was over taken by the Bunny hype. Before Sunday Service she was asking if they were going to have an Easter egg hunt for them and she was grumpy when we explained to her that was not going to happen. After church I had her tell me what she learned in her class and she gave me a full recap of the Resurrection of Jesus (full blow recap in little bear style too!) , later that day when we forgot pack something for our little Easter Party she shrugged, “Oh well, at least Jesus came back to life right?” LOL yes and we are very glad He did too! 

You talkin' to me? 

Cousins are the Best!! 

Hoppy Easter!! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!! I know we did :) 

Weekend Snapshots 4.5 | Segway

This Weekend Snapshots is brought to you by Segway Tours ofHouston and I’m Linked Up with 3twentysix and onixj. Really this is a mashup of this weekend and the weekend before! I’ll make it worth your while with an awesome giveaway at the end brought to us by Segway Tours of Houston!!

Weekend before started off mellow and chill – Sometimes you just have to take a break. It feels like we go go go all the time and suddenly you just come home and you want to stay home. I worked in my garage all day long Saturday before last finishing up a chalk paint project for my niece. I’ll write up a post on the whole chalk paint – tips and tricks. Chris and I were able to get away Sunday to meet up with the peeps from Segway Tours of Houston for an awesome Segway Tour! It was epic and awesome.

A few years back I was able to work with the founders of Segway Tour of Houston and I had access to jump on Segways all the time, lucky right? Over the years I’ve kept in touch and I am so proud of what an awesome company it’s become!! They have tours going out from the Wrotham Center every weekend and they have a “Certificate of Excellence” from TripAdvisor. Most recent they teamed up with Ben’s Beans in Downtown Houston offering even more tours daily. Segway Tours of Houston is revamping all of their social media and websites and Chris and I were happy to take some pictures of a tour in action of them. This was our first time on an actual tour and we were impressed, the tour guide was awesome, funny and informative with things about the Bayou City you never knew you never knew!!

This weekend was a busy one as we are prepping to go on a big trip that’ll take us from Seattle down to Sacramento- we fly out today!!

Saturday – We ran around shopping and getting our plans straight for our trip and I managed to take a break from all that to join the Houston Latina Bloggers at a Wellness and Beauty Networking event.  Events like this push me out of my comfort zone, but I will say we all need that don’t we? If we plan big and dream big we should surround ourselves with like-minded people and when we plan big and dream big we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing we have to be ready to step out and do different to be different. I consider myself lucky to be a part of an awesome group of Latina Women who encourage and uplift one another. Teaching each other the strength and beauty comes in many different shapes and forms but ultimately the beauty I can give to someone comes first from finding that beauty from within myself.

Sunday we went to New Hope and afterward my one request for lunch was that we could sit outside and soak up the stellar Houston weather. We found ourselves at Café Adobe, the grub was good but the view was better! Lots of outtakes with ducks, turtles and even an alligator! Back at the home front we did more packing and some semi-napping before heading to my dad’s for more grub. Oh and a small tequila tasting he set up for us!! What can I say? That’s my family and they know how to bring it together real nice! 

Enter here for your chance to win a free Segway Tour for Two!! 

HLB Girls lookin' fly