Second Annual

My cousin Gabriel, and his wonderful wife Angie threw their second annual Halloween Party. And just like last year it was a blast!

Joey the cowboy, me the Starbuck barista and The Phi an adorable witch!

Tommy and Elaine. Tom had one of the best costumes there. The kids were attacking him left and right!

Offering Arnie a nice coffee beverage.

Father Luis giving Sister Cari Communion

Michael the Rodeo Rider and Gabriel aka DJ Pauly D!

Sticking with my costume I drank my beer from my starbucks cup.

Ivana the peacock, Mena some scary mask chain dude, Nene as Edward, Vanni as a Laker Girl, Mikey as a Lost Boy and Elaine as an Army chick.

DJ Pauly D!!!

I went around and made everyone's drink a Starbucks drink!

The Gonzalez Boys fast asleep. 

Like most house partys, this one was shut down by the cops by 10:30 pm, but did we have some fun until then!

5 Months

Lou,

You are 5 months old now. You have hit a big milestone. As of 10-29-10 you are officially a rock and roller. And by that I mean that you can roll over now!

Every morning when I go into your room to get you when you wake up I swear you have grown. You feel heavier and look bigger.

The months are starting to fly by so fast and I am doing my best to capture it all.

Project 365-2010 September

*music: The Way You Are- Bruno Mars

33

Today is my 33rd birthday. I am spending it having lunch with my family. My parents, Felix and Mercy. My sisters Carissa and Elaine. My brothers Luis and Tommy. My nieces Angelica and Lili. My nephew Felix. My husband Joey. And my daughters Sophia and Louella. With these people in my life all things are possible. They make life good, no great. I think the biggest lesson I have learned in my 33 years is NOTHING is more important than my family.

Now That's A Farmer's Market

We spent the morning at the Santa Barbara Farmer's Market. A great place filled with fruit, vegetables, honey, flowers, nuts, cheese, beef, seafood, violin and guitar players. A great way to start a Saturday morning!

From the expert

Okay we all know that homemade fresh flour tortillas are way better than the store bought kind. We also know that making flour tortillas from scratch can be messy and time consuming. A few weekends ago while having breakfast at my Mom's I noticed her tortillas were both fresh and fast. I knew they were not home-made. My Mom refuses to make homemade thanks to a remark about the shape of her homemade tortillas my Pops made. Way to ruin it for the whole family. So how did she get fresh homemade taste without the actual making at home part? This was her secret......

Now for all I know these have been around for forever but they are new to me. I was lucky enough to find them at our local grocery store. In the refrigerator section. They cost about $3.50 for 18 tortillas, so about the same price I would spend on the regular flour tortillas. And they are from Tortilla Land, so you know they have to be good.

When you take them out of the package they feel like stiff dough. Almost see-thru. After you heat up your comal, just throw on a raw flour tortilla. In a few seconds the tortillas begins to get its usual white coloring and it bubbles up with goodness! A few flips and you are good to go. These tortillas are so freakin' good that just a little butter and you have a very yummy snack.

So go out and find some. Buy a comal and cook up some of these bad boys. Trust me, I am a Mexican-American with a degree in Chicana/o Studies, which makes me the leading authority in all matters tortilla.

WTF Mom

Want to know what Lou's face looks like when her Mom is dancing to "I gotta feeling" sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks?

Kind of like this........

And this is what she looks like when Mom starts to bust out her break dancing moves.....