Bark at the Park

A year ago I was watching the news (channel 10 of course) and saw that the Marlins had a day where you could actually bring your dog to the game. I thought to myself what a cool and cute idea. I continued to watch as the news cameras scrolled over all the fans and there Marlin loving pets in the stands at the Bark at the Park at Sun Life Stadium (it will always be Joe Robby Stadium to me though...lol). Well that was last year, and that cool and cute idea stayed there...you know in the past. Now lets move forward to current day, my husband calls me and tells that the bark at the park is going on once again this year; that cool and cute idea to go to the game came back after being trapped in the back of my mind for an entire year. I got giddy at the thought of taking my little pooch to the game. Silly I know, but if I get all excited about my dog I can not even begin to imagine how excited we will be to do these things once we have children. Anyhow here are some pics of Puchie's little outing, because this post is all about her!!! ;)

Our Little Family

Puchie & Stewie

A Valentines Day Nostalgia!!!

As part of our Valentines Day Fernan decided to buy tickets to the symphony. I have never been to the symphony nor had he, so we were really looking forward to this. Last night we went to the symphony for the first time. Now I was not too sure what to expect, but I have a great deal of love for music and figured it would be something I would really enjoy. Can I just say that I... LOVE IT!! This is so different from listening to classical music, I love how you can feel the emotion in the music and how you can imagine what you want from it. How you can feel the sadness, the excitement, the love etc. in it. I loved watching the musician with there instruments, the conductor, and the mezzo soprano as she sang periodically. I have also wanted to watch an opera and after going to the symphony, it has only made me long to go to an opera even more. The great thing about last nights show was that all the proceeds will be donated to the Walenstein Musical Organization in an effort to rebuild the New Victorian School and music conservatory in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The school was destroyed when the earthquake shook Haiti. http://www.thenewvictorianschool.org/.

During Intermission

Photo taken by my Blackberry Smart Phone
Sun., February 21, 2010 at 8:00 pm at the Lincoln Theatre

Program

A Valentine's Day Nostalgia

Friday, February 21, 2010

Licoln Theatre, Miami Beach

I

SERGEI PROKOFIEV

ROMEO & JULIET (Selections from the Ballet)
Introduction / The Duke's Decree / The Young Girl Juliet

Masks / Dance of the Knights / Public Merrymaking

The Duel / Romeo resolves to avenge Mercutio's Death

Tybalt's Funeral Cortege / Juliet's Room

Juliet's Funeral / Juliets Death

II

MANUEL DE FALLA

EL AMOR BRUJO (Ballet 1925)

Introduction and Scene / In Cave -Night-time

Song of a Broken Heart/ The Apparition -Dance of Terror

The Magic Circle / The Spells / Ritual Fire Dance (to drive away the evil spirits)

Scene / Song og the Will-o-the-Wisp / Panto,ime

Dance of the Game of Love / Final: The Bells of Dawn

GEORGES BIZET

CARMEN (Selections from the Opera)

Prelude / Aragonaise / Habanera / Les Toreadors /Chanson Boheme

Mabel Ledo - Mezzo-Soprano

Eduardo Marturet - Conductor

My Valentines Day Cookies

For the past several holidays I have attempted to make/bake sugar cookies from scratch. I have attempted several recipe's and finally found one that I liked best, but I have never gone full circle with these cookies. They have been baked and eaten, but never decorated. My first attempt at baking cookies was for the Thanksgiving/Fall holiday. I decided to bake some fall leaf cookies, but had no idea where to begin when it came to decorating.

Fall/Thanksgiving Cookies

Then I baked some Christmas holiday cookies and attempted to decorate a Christmas tree cookie cutout. I made the royal icing from scratch and well it tasted good, but ended up being quite a big mess. Sorry I have no pictures of the disaster (lol).

My sister-in-law (Taty) suggested that I buy the easy, already made icing, from Wilton...so I did. Can I just say that my Valentines Day cookies were the first successful cookies I decorated, because I cheated!!! They weren't the most nicely decorated cookies, but nonetheless they were decorated!!! I definitely felt accomplished, but still couldn't help the feeling that I had cheated. Why did I feel this way? Well because I did not literally make the icing myself or from scratch. All I have to say is my battle with royal icing is not over yet, so stay tuned because this is a battle I plan to win. Happy Baking!!!

My Valentines Day Cookies

Happy Valentines Day!

Chicago...Part 2

So Fernan and I decided to take a little getaway as an anniversary gift to ourselves. I love get-a-ways no matter how long or short they are. We had so many places to choose from and believe me it was hard to choose, especially after weighing the pros and cons as to where we should go. We finally decided and Chicago it was. I had never been to Chicago, but Fernan always rants and raves about what a great city Chicago is. I loved it, and would would like to visit again in the future when the temperature is a bit warmer to see what some of the attractions look like without all the snow. I know now why the call it the "Windy City" burrr!!! Anyhow we had a great time and we were reluctant enough to spend some time with my cousin (Jackie) who is living over there for the time being. She was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and save us some cab fare. Thanks Jackie!! My only disappointment was that we were not able to do the sky deck tour, due to lack of visibility all weekend long! Even if we did have visibility I am sure I would have been a little freaked out to step out on to the sky deck ledge, I guess I will never know until we visit again. Other than that small little weather snafu we had a great time and love our get-a-ways together!!! Happy Anniversary Honey I love ju!

Chicago's Sky Deck...the one thing we did not get to do, because of lack of visibility!

Perhaps now you can see why I would have been freaked out if we had actually gotten to do it.

Some Pictures from our Trip

Chicago's Famous Deep Dish Pizza!!!

brr...

The Adler Planetarium

Cloud Gate / The Bean

Ice Skating @ McCormick Tribune Plaza

View our entire album from our trip to Chicago:

Click here to view these pictures larger

Chicago...Part I

I remember sitting in my social psychology class in college and learning about how people always remember the negative events more than they do the positive ones. The reason being is that impressions are influenced more by negative traits than by positive traits. This is called negative effect and the best way to explain it; is that negative traits are more unusual and therefore are more distinctive, and because there distinctive we tend to remember them (Taylor et al.). With that said I will now begin to explain why I have even brought up this whole topic and what it has to do with Chicago. After spending four wonderful days in the Windy City, reality hit and all good things must come to an end. I really was not looking forward to our flight home, considering how turbulent and frightful our flight going there was. After 2 hours of being up in the air I thought to myself "thank God this is a good flight home", surely I thought/spoke to soon to say the least. I could swear I was in movie. I had never experienced anything like that on a plane! I remember a distinct silence, a peace you could say, one that was interrupted by a screaming woman. A woman shouting for her mother to wake up!!! "Mother wake up...wake up mother...wake up!!!!" She kept repeating and shaking the woman sitting beside her, finally one of the stewardess came to her side to see what was the matter. A few moments later the captain asked for any nurse or doctor on board to come forward and help out with the situation. The whole plane sat in silence as they watched a stewardess and a nurse try to resuscitate her in mid air. I began to pray for this woman that they referred to as Joan, and noticed once I was done that many other people were also praying for her as well. I began to cry because I could hear the pain, panic, and desperation in the daughters voice as she stood over her mother who was now laying on the aisle floor. I could not even begin to imagine what this woman was feeling as I sat and witnessed this entire ordeal. After about 30 minutes we finally landed and paramedics came on board and took the woman to the corridor exiting the plane where they continued to work on her. We were not allowed to leave the plane in order to not disrupt the work of the paramedics. An hour or so later we were allowed to exit the plane with no news as to the woman's condition. Prior to our exit we were constantly being updated on how Joan was doing, now I don't know for sure whether or not the elderly lady survived, but I did hear some airport employee talking amongst themselves about how they worked on her for over an hour and could do no more. I believe this woman passed away. My hope is that she knew the Lord and that her family may find peace in this difficult time. Emotions can have a powerful impact on memories and this is definitely something I will never forget. It is not the only thing I will remember about Chicago, but it is a story that I have told everyone since I have returned.


Maybe my next post will actually be about Chicago, but until then I use this post as a way to pay respect to Joan and my way offering condolences to her family.

Coral Castle

Yesterday was President's Day, and Fernando and I had a much needed day off. Things have been so busy lately, that it is nice to just have a day off where neither one of us has anything to do. So my honey being the great guy that he is, made plans for us to visit the Coral Castle in Homestead. We love museums, art festivals, anything cultural or anything that deals with learning. I guess we are just nerds at heart. This historic place was created by a man named Edward Leedskalnin he created this monument in honor of his lost love Agnes Scuffs. Ms. Scuffs was ten years younger than Mr. Leedsklnin and they were engaged to be married, but Ms. Scuffs broke off the engagement the day before the actual wedding. He built the castle by himself without outside help or machines. He carved and sculpted 1,100 tons of coral rock alone and it took him about 28 year to complete.

I feel bad for Mr. Leedskalnin, because it seems as though he never moved on with his life after Ms. Scuffs. I mean the man dedicated his entire life to create a monument for her and it makes me wonder if he any had hopes that she would return to him after seeing what he had accomplished.

The Entire Castle

The Reading Area

The Florida Table

http://coralcastle.com/

Our First Anniversary!!!

I can't believe a year has quickly come and gone. Today a year ago I was walking down an aisle, exchanging vows, and partying my socks off. I wonder does this now mean that just because I am a year in, I am no longer a newlywed? Some may say yes and others may so no, but I say you are a newlywed as long as you like, I guess it really just depends on your attitude and the way you look at it. I am thankful for a wonderful year of marriage and for the all positive and not so positive things that my husband and I may have encountered. I am thankful for him, for who he is, and for all he does. So what do you do on a first year anniversary? Well I like to consider myself a traditional girl, and being so we participated in the tradition of celebrating the first year of marriage by eating our top layer of our year old wedding cake. Now this may sound gross, but quite the contrary its all about how you wrap and store it. My wonderful sister-in-law Taty did a great job with this little project, she must of wrapped in saran wrap 100 times followed by aluminum foil and another 100 layers of saran wrap. Whoever said year old cake is horrible obviously did not store it right. Why so many layers of wrappings you may ask, well the reason is to prevent freezer burn and lock in the freshness. Anyhow the cake tasted great to me and everyone else who had it! I am just glad there was enough for everyone!! We chose to celebrate our actual anniversary date with our family and next week we will celebrate by going on a little trip to Chicago.

Our Year Old Wrapped Up Wedding Cake!

Let the Unwrapping Begin

Not only year old cake, but champagne as well. My Tia Flor saved us a bottle from our actually wedding! Thank You!!!

Cheers to a Great Year & Many Many More!!!

Lets Eat Cake!

Our Family

Non-Pro Pic

Good Morning!!!

Its 7:27 on a Saturday morning!! I usually wake up early! For some reason my body is built that way, but today is different. The weather has been pretty cold over here in Miami and it is something we are not really used to, but I love it!!! I am looking out the porch and can see how cold, dreary, and ugly it is outside. You might wonder why on earth am I up so darn early on a Saturday? Well for the past few nights my husband and I have shut off the air and have been sleeping with the windows open and taking advantage of the cool air. If you know my Husband you would understand why we do this. I swear he is a polar bear because my apartments a/c is always set to arctic temperatures. Anyhow as you can imagine that sleeping with the windows open you hear outside noises that you would not usually even notice if your windows were closed. So this morning the sanitation collection decided to it usually thing, and pick up our buildings waste. Oh of course they had no consideration for the fact that I am sleeping with my windows open and they must be quite to try not to wake me up ::sarcasm::. So due to the lovely noise I am up, and once I am up, I am up!!!! Watch out though you may find me past out in front of the T.V. by 9:00pm. I am an early riser and because of that I am also early to bed. Happy Saturday Everyone!!!

Goodbye Christmas!!!

I realize Christmas ended 12 days ago, but my tree has still been up until today. Fernan and I finally decided to take it all down! Can I just say it is really fun putting it all up, but not so fun taking it all down!!! I think we are going to invest in a fake tree next year because the mess our Fraser Fir left behind was ridiculous!!! Fernando is still trying to take off all the tree sap from his hands!!! I am sad to see it all go, but thankful for the free space our apartment has to offer now!!

01.03.10

I am excited for today!! Today is the first Sunday of the new year! It is the beginning of a new start for many and a new start for my church in particular!!! I am excited because it is new start for my husband as well, especially since today my husband preached a sermon at our church for the first time. The first Sunday of the year, first Sunday he preaches!!! I am so proud of him and so thankful to God for giving him the opportunity to be used!!! I know God has great an amazing things in store for him and for our church! I can already see God moving at Relevant!!! Bring on 2010...All Things New!!!

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas as we celebrate our first as Mr. & Mrs.

This mornings disaster!!! Don't you just love Christmas?

Puchie in her Christmas Dress!!!

(I got her dress for $2.50 @ the Target Dollar Section...gotta love the dollar section!!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

WOW What a year...granted I know it is not over yet, but there is so much I am thankful for! I began the year marring an amazing man, and having an absolutely beautiful wedding my parents gave us. I live in a great community, go to an awesome church, and am surrounded by the best friends and family any girl could ask for. I have a job, in a time where some do not, and I do not want to sound as though I am boasting, but I feel God has truly blessed us. I believe Thanksgiving is not only about giving thanks but about giving as well. I hope and I pray that just as much as God blesses us that I may have opportunities to bless others as well.

I am Thankful for him...because he is an amazing man!

I am Thankful for Family...

I am thankful for them ...for being the best parents in the world and always supporting and loving me unconditionally! I could never thank them enough for all they have done and will do for me... I love you!

Thankful for her...there is no one I love more than my grandmother, I hope that I always have the energy she has...

For them...for being the brothers and sisters I never had...and now do!

For my uncle who I absolutely adore and would tell anything to without hesitation!

For all of them...where would I be without family?

For her...because God has blessed our family with new life!

For Friends...

...because they have seen me at my worst and at my best...and we have watched each other grow up into women!

For them...my extended family...I am thankful for them because I get to do life with an amazing group of people! A group of people who make me better and want to make this world a much better place.

For my co-workers...they are more my friends than they are co-workers...they make my days so interesting and we always have so much to laugh about, and learn about together! Thank you!!

I am also thankful for my family in Georgia, New Jersey, Boston, and Costa Rica and for the family and friends who may not be pictured above, but are very dear to me as well! I love you guys, God Bless, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Our engagement pictures and a year later...

A year ago today Fernando and I took our engagement pictures. I can not believe a year has flown by so quickly, and that this time last year I was busy with so many things that I never blogged about anything wedding related. How can I not blog about how much we loved our engagement pictures and our photographer. In a little more than a month from now I will make one year of being a married woman, my first year of marriage has gone by so quickly! Anyhow, we took our pictures with Carmen from Studio by Carmen...can I just say what a great couple her and her husband make. I have to say they were by far my favorite vendor to work with throughout the whole wedding planning process. I love her work and highly recommend her to everyone!

Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Note: Photo Credits to Studio by Carmen /http://www.studiobycarmen.com/