Posts from — August 2011

I absolutely love the sound of a shaking spray can ready to burst into a splash of beautiful color on a wall or canvas. It reminds me of the incessant begging I did when came out in theaters ten thousand years ago. “Mom, please take me. PLEASE.” She wasn’t into any of my hip-hop, graf obsessed interests, but she took me. Poor Ramo. Do you remember when he sprayed up that abandoned building apartment for him and his family to live in? That was a stretch. But, I got it, it was about the passion for what he did. My mom, on the other hand, was not convinced and worried quite a bit about my taste in art. Oh, the 80s. But street art has come such a long way since then. Two weeks ago, Crewest Gallery partnered up with Estria for a full day of art battling and it was an amazing time.

The Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle is an urban art competition that takes place annually. It was created to honor hip-hop arts and communicate social justice issues and empower communities. I’m continuously fascinated by the way street art has evolved. Thoughts?

It’s been hot these days. Not anything like Texas, but hot enough. I don’t live by the beach so naturally my default plan is to turn on the AC and just stay home. I think I’ve made it very clear that I’m fond of fall. However, by 3pm or so, I can no longer bare to be in the house anymore. I need Mother Nature and a good dose of sun filled vitamin D. Plus, I’m always looking for an excuse to throw on a summer dress to break the monotony of my daily work-from-home attire. It was quite a weekend. I hope you all have an extraordinary week. See you all back here tomorrow. xo

(dress: anthro. top: mossimo. bangle: )

My son is so shy, I have no idea what to do about it – Said the other mom about her son. That’s not my story. This little guy right here keeps me super busy with sports, friends, schoolwork and lots of questions and observations that take the credit for my now permanent furled brow. He keeps me going. In a few days, he starts middle school. Naturally, he has mixed feelings (nervous and excited). I’m just mostly nervous. I could write a whole thing about it. But, as the daughter of a therapist, I will spare you from my super analytical take on, well, everything. In short, it’s a whole new chapter for both of us. To support his passion for comics and sports, we spent an entire afternoon at Sears picking out clothes, coordinating and saying “no way, you’re not getting that” to each other. We had a fun time. But ever so often, he had to put up with that look on my face. The one that places him back in his crib. Echoes the sound of his toddler laugh. Walks with him hand-in-hand on the first day of kindergarten. Yes, that one, parents. At the same time, he’s at such a great age. We love hanging out, talking about life, the future … This is such a wonderful time. Parenting is an amazing and brilliantly colored journey, isn’t it? They grow up. We become wiser.

But they never stop being our babies.

Thanks to my  for the fun pics.

A couple of Sundays ago, I was asked to co-host a brunch for Sears at the Roosevelt Hotel - What a fun place filled with stories of haunted rooms and paranormal sightings. I find them hilarious and actually quite terrifying all at the same time. Not something I’d like to encounter in the middle of night, but I will save my posts about the other side for another day. Back to the brunch. Yvonne and I gathered a group of fantastic bloggers for an early afternoon of mimosas, food and laughs. Along the way, we learned a lot about Sears and their amazing programs and opportunities to save. Their Back-to-School fall collection is so much fun, especially for the college set. It runs the gamut of the traditional preppy Sears style to a more Hollywood look with the Kardashians. It’s not the Sears we up grew up with for sure. Remember the Sears catalog? I would ear mark the pages then ask my mom to take me to the Fordham Road location. I wanted it all. To my dismay, I would only walk out with a jacket, shoes and backpack. Year after year. What did I wear to school, you ask? A uniform. A green plaid uniform. Head-to-toe polyester. Boo. I think that may be why I headed over to Sears this weekend and bought every glittery, pink item I could find. Not for me. I have a sister in Ecuador, who is nine years old. One of my greatest joys is sending her packages with essentials and tons of cute things to wear. In my case, I have to mail the packages, but Sears has an amazing national program for parents who have kids in college or in schools outside of their state. You buy online. Your son/daughter picks up the items at his/her Sears location. And done. I thought that was a great idea.

So, are you all done shopping?

Thank you so much Sears, Clever Girls collective, Blogaliscious

Something is in the air. Mercury retrograde? It must be that. I’m not an avid astrology follower. I’m pretty on and off with it but it’s something I grew up with, for sure. Hello? Walter Mercado anyone? This month, I read that at some point, in the middle of my ‘things are phenomenal’ high, I would go through a shift so it’s best to hold off before making any major decisions. That’s life. Things happen. But I’m a Leo. I need answers. I’m a typical Leo right down to the cave napping and roaring. Not only am I Leo but I was born in the year of the Ox. I mean, OK, I get it “Universe”, I’m a strong-willed person. I didn’t need the confirmation from across the globe. There is not always an answer. There are things in life that are beyond my control … But wait, hold on just one sec. That is not entirely true. I can control my thoughts. My perception. I can control how they make me feel. I can control the emotional component that comes along with my thoughts. Ah, now that sounds good. That satisfies my inner Ox and Leo. So, Mercury, you can be pesky all you want. Bring it. It’s all good.

(blouse: gap, bangles: h&m, necklace: urban outfitters)

“If your house was burning, what would you take with you?” A question posed by designer and photographer Foster Huntington of the The Burning House, and currently featured on The Anthropologist. This is a very heavy question for me. It brought back a flood of memories and experiences I’ve had with fire and loss. I was about 9 years old or so, sound asleep, when a fireman ran into my room to tell me that we must evacuate. There was a fire in my building. My mother and I scrambled to get out of the house but before leaving, I will never forget, she grabbed a stack of photo albums. She balanced as many as she could on one arm, grabbed my hand and ran down the stairs of our building. She actually had them in a closet by the door in case there was ever such an emergency. In that moment, I really internalized just how much my mother cherished her memories with us, her family. Nothing else mattered. It all happened so fast but that moment stood still. As we stood outside, watching our building, I remember feeling safe. I wasn’t afraid. It didn’t matter what was gone. Everyone who lived in the building got out safely. That’s all that mattered to me. Loss was a very familiar feeling to me already at this young age. A few years prior, my best friend had passed away in a fire in the middle of the night. The image of my teacher crying and the front page of the newspaper never left me.

I can’t say for sure what I would grab if my house were burning down other than my son and our pets. Come to think of it, every time I’ve entered a new chapter in my life, I box up the old and send to my mother for her store. I don’t keep it. Perhaps because I feel those memories will be safe with her.

The images above are not my belongings, but part of a spectacular series of photographs capturing sentimental objects that answer the question “If your house was burning, what would you take with you?”

If you could take three things, what would they be?

(Images: Foster Huntington via The Anthropologist)

Here’s a snippet of our trip to the San Diego Zoo last weekend. Beautiful, huh? How can one say there isn’t a God. When we got there, we were so excited we didn’t think to get a map. We wandered around for a while. Don’t do that. After catching up with the flamingos about three times, wondering how we got there again, we finally decided to map our way around the zoo.

I love the zoo’s exhibits and the pathways set up for visitors. You can really get close (safely) to the animals. I don’t recall ever being that close to a Polar bear’s paw. Absolutely beautiful. The Gorilla’s hand just blew me away. Just take a look at the texture. And of course, San Diego being the haven for perfect weather that it is, made walking around a pleasurable experience. My childhood recollection of east coast zoo trips included 100% humidity followed by sweat and sticky skin. The only respite I found was the mild cool breeze of the bat exhibit. I can actually remember the summer the bat exhibit was closed for renovation. It was a hot day. A long hot day. But back to last week. The options for food at SDZ were pretty impressive as well. We made a pit-stop at Albert’s during our journey through the park. The food was really delicious. You must try their strawberry shortcake. Don’t worry. You can walk it off. And that we did, until we reached the other side of the park and rode the Sky Tram back to the parking lot. And, just so you guys know, I may have been cured from my fear of flying, but the Sky Tram is not my thing yet. As a child, I could not get enough of it. After I had my son, I developed this mortality awareness that turned Sky Trams into “I’m hanging by a hook. In the middle of the sky. Help me.” experience. I did it though. I had my closed the whole time but baby steps. I’m so looking forward to our next trip to San Diego. Have you been?