Ike

We survived Ike but we were lucky some were not so fortunate. We have been at Manuel's parents for the past week with no electricity but it wasn't that bad. His parents were very handy with the grill, yum! And we had flashlights but the heat and the soon to be no water part were hard at times.


We needed to escape the insanity of Houston/Humble especially with the temperatures going back up so on Thursday I booked us a room at The Valencia and here we are! Having a great time with electricity. The funny thing about everything was that as we were leaving Houston we stopped by our place to pick up a charger and found out we had lights! So that makes this trip that much better :) and I have my two loves by my side. I'll post some pics when we get back.

Fizzle

Stupid "Gustav" ( aka the monster storm)

Our mini vacation to San Antonio got ruined. We were going to stay at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and go to Seaworld but because of "Gustav" and all the rain it was going to bring to that area. We decided it was best to cancel and not risk having a soggy vacation but of course theirs always a silver lining :) We planned another trip! And yes it's one of the places on my list well actually two! We can't wait!

This weekend Manuel and I got a date night thanks to his parents and Manuel's job. We went to an Astros game. The Astros won and we had a good time.

The rest of our Labor Day holiday aside from taking Isabella to the park, we were completely lazy.

The List...

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Jasper, Alberta, Canada
Niagara-On-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Mont Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Estes Park, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
Atlanta, Georgia
Keystone, South Dakota
West Yellowstone, Montana
Charleston, South Carolina
New York City, New York
Sedona, Arizona
Bar Harbor, Maine
Smokey Mountains, Tennessee
*New Orleans, Louisiana
Chicago, Illinois
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix, Arizona
*Dallas. Texas
*San Antonio, Texas
*Austin, Texas
Orlando, Florida
Miami, Florida
Washington D.C.
Jackson, Wyoming
Las Vegas, Nevada
Napa, California
Lake Tahoe, California
*La Jolla, California
*San Diego, California
Monterey, California
Big Sur, California
Carmel, California
San Francisco, California
*Los Angeles, California
Poipu, Hawaii
Lahaina, Hawaii
Wailea, Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii
Hana, Hawaii
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Guadalajara, Mexico
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Puebla, Mexico
Tulum, Mexico
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Zihuatanejo, Mexico
Antigua, Guatemala
Philipsburg, St. Maarten
Hamilton, Bermuda
Bridgetown, Barbados
Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Havana, Cuba
San Jose, Costa Rica
Soufriere, St. Lucia
Freeport, Bahamas
Ocho Rios, Jamaica
St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
Seven Mile Beach, Cayman Islands
Oranjestad, Aruba
Willemstad, Curacao
Buenos Aires, Argentina
San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
El Calafete, Argentina
Salvador, Argentina
Ushuaia, Argentina
Florianopolis, Brazil
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Natal, Brazil
Paraty, Brazil
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Foz de Iguacu, Brazil
Buzios, Brazil
Vina del Mar, Chile
Pucon, Chile
Santiago, Chile
San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
Valaparaiso, Chile
Quito, Ecuador
Banos, Ecuador
Punta del Este, Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
Cusco, Peru
Machu Picchu, Peru
Dingle, Ireland
Killarney, Ireland
Galway, Ireland
Edinburgh, Scotland
Bath, England
London, England
Stratford-upon-Avon, England
York, England
St. Petersburg, Russia
Salzburg, Austria
Innsbruck, Austria
Prague, Czech Republic
Copenhagen, Denmark
Bruges, Belgium
Heidelberg, Germany
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
Munich, Germany
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Interlaken, Switzerland
Aix-en-Provence, France
Paris, France
Mont-St-Michel, France
Versailles, France
Assisi, Italy
Vatican City
San Gimignano, Italy
Florence, Italy
Amalfi, Italy
Siena, Italy
Rome, Italy
Venice, Italy
Positano, Italy
Pompeii, Italy
Barcelona, Spain
Toledo, Spain
Madrid, Spain
Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Rhodes, Greece
Ephesus, Turkey
Marrakech, Morocco
Fes, Morocco
Tangier, Morocco
Essaouira, Morocco
Port Louis, Mauritius
Grand Baie, Mauritius
Belle Mare, Mauritius
Le Morne, Mauritius
Port El Kantaoui, Tunisia
Victoria, Seychelles
Jerusalem, Israel
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Victoria Falls, Zambia
Stone Town, Tanzania
Cape Town, South Africa
Franschhoek, South Africa
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Knysna, South Africa
Abu Simbel, Egypt
Luxor, Egypt
Giza, Egypt
Alexandria, Egypt
Aswan, Egypt
Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
Hurghda, Egypt
Goa, India
Jaipur, India
Varanasi, India
Jaisalmer, India
Agra, India
Udaipur, India
Male, Maldives
Hong Kong, China
Shanghai, China
Guil in, China
Beijing, China
Xi’an, China
Krabi, Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand
Ko Phangan, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand
Ko Tao, Thailand
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Tokyo, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Singapore, Singapore
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ubud, Indonesia
Nusa Dua, Indonesia
Byron Bay, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Cairns, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Cape Tribulation, Australia
Fremantle, Australia
Alice Springs, Australia
Margaret River, Australia
Perth, Australia
Hobart, Australia
Noosa, Australia
Port Douglas, Australia
Auckland, New Zealand
Wanaka, New Zealand
Christchurch, New Zealand
Kaikoura, New Zealand
Dunedin, New Zealand
Rotorua, New Zealand
Milford Sound, New Zealand
Queenstown, New Zealand
Nada, Fiji
Papeete, French Polynesia

*I'm still not finished adding on.

As you can see I haven't been to many places, to be more accurate before last May I had never even gone out of the state of Texas. It never seemed possible for somebody like me coming from the situation that I came from that I would ever be able to go to places like these. But now the way my life is going I'm in a place where I feel like it's possible. I may not be able to go to all of these places but at least I know it's possible now and just knowing that makes me smile.

The Twins

They were born on July 19. They weighted 5 lbs. and 5 lbs. 6oz. They are absolutely gorgeous. My family and I are very blessed to welcome these little one's into our family. They were born almost a month early and they are as healthy as can be :)

Here they are Anthony and Adrian. My two cutie nephews....awwww! I love them!

I haven't updated much because I am so busy with school (mostly art). Hopefully things will slow down a bit but I doubt that since I'm taking a full load of classes in the summer and in the fall so we'll see.

busy, busy, busy

I'm sorta exhausted from this weekend but I had so much fun. It got all started on Thursday with a crazy night at Shadow Bar with a bunch of crazy girls. It was bitter sweet though because it was like our last hooray for Corina since she's leaving us to go to Huntsville. She says she'll be home on weekends. That should be enough time to party....tehehehe.

Friday was all work and no play. Seriously taking summer classes is harder than it seems. On top of that I ran around looking for the perfect baby shower cake for the next day.

Saturday I picked up the cake and rushed over to the baby shower which was good. I had fun with my family.

Sunday was Father's Day, of course. Had to buy Manuel's gift (which was awesome if I do say so myself), buy flower's for my dad, go to eat with Manuel's parents and it was just craziness!

All day Thursday

Last Thursday I got together with my sister's, Yolanda and Kristina, to make pins for the baby shower. We came up with the idea to make half bracelets and half pins. I think they came out really good and can't wait for the shower this Saturday. By the way their going to be twin boys! Scary!

Yolanda and Kristina hard at work while I chase around Isabella.....lol.

The final product they came out sooo cute and way different than I've ever seen at any baby shower.

My little nephew Ivan trying to crawl around all the women.

New Orleans II

This is another place we had to go to in New Orleans. I love aquariums and we had a good time at this one. Here are some picures:







Here are also some random shots:









Yummy!

New Orleans

We went to New Orleans for our mini-moon and it was great. We had a 2 hour delay in Beaumont but after that everything was perfect. We walked around the French Quarter and it was like nothing I've ever been to before. The music, the food, the people and just everything was so much fun.

Of course we had to go eat beignets at Cafe Du Monde (yummy)

St. Louis Cathedral (we couldn't go in because their was a wedding going on inside)

Jackson Square was fun we got our palms read by Patricia. I'm not really a believer in this kind of stuff but it was interesting to hear some of the things she had to say.

We absolutely loved our hotel. It was beautiful and the people were so nice.

to be continued....

I'm married

Short and sweet that's how we kept it. Just us. I loved it and am so happy we decided to do it this way. We've been waiting to do this forever and finally the time was just right and I wouldn't have changed a thing. We got married on Friday in lil ol Humble where we both were born and raised. Afterwards we took off on our mini-moon. I'll post about that later.

I'm finally MARRIED to the love of my life and I couldn't be happier!

My New Gadgets

So for Mother's Day I got an Ipod Shuffle from Manuel and Isabella. I absolutely love it! It's perfect for everything I need. I mean I'm not a big time mp3 person but I wanted something for when I start up my old running routine again and I've been thinking of going to the gym. When I saw this little clippy thing it was so cute but I was really worried about it being so small and now that I have one it's great. Just clip and go!

Now my new "baby" that I just got today I'm absolutely in love with. We've been looking around for a few months and finally we found the perfect camera. We couldn't find it anywhere at the stores so we went ahead and ordered it from Amazon.com at a great price. All I can say is 12.1 mega pixels our old one was 5.0. Here are some examples:

This is the old camera shot with the NEW Nikon P5100. (no flash)

Now here's the NEW Nikon shot with the old camera. (no flash)




With flash. I know it sucks.