Most people start the new year with big plans and a "let's do this" attitude. And I do, too, mostly...
But this year started off with crazy. Here's how I documented my week via Instagram. (Photo sharing app for smart phones.)
Jonathan had his first semester performances the very first week, which meant we were at the theater pretty much every single day.
The cold, drafty, no-warmth-to-be-found-anywhere theater. It was at that point that I caught what started as a cold and is now settling nicely into an upper respiratory infection, but the show had to go on, thankyouverymuch.
Which is how I ended up with not just a little sniffle, but a full-blown, old-school, sneezing-coughing-my-head-is-about-to-burst cold.
In between rehearsals and shows I took as much downtime as possible.
And I was so grateful for my husband who made sure I started the days with protein. (And coffee, and my iPad, but that's not important right now.)
It was a wonderful cast and the kids put on a great performance (even if the theater was as cold as a meat locker).
We all went and supported Jon. He's quite entertaining, you see.
I was so grateful that Lucy was doing the lighting for the show so she was able to drive every day. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that we ate a lot of our meals in the car. Luckily we live in Southern California and there's an In N Out Burger practically on every corner. (Thank you, God.)
In between supporting Jonathan, we were supporting Adam's new Farmers Market venture: Pirate Pancakes. Lucy made the signs.
Adam made the pancakes.
So I pushed myself in spite of feeling so sick. There was one comfort in all this...
I have the long weekend to rest and get better and the Vicks VapoRub (Veeex Bah Poh Rooo) to help me recover.
You see? It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.
Everyone else celebrates their birthDAY. And some clever folks even celebrate Birthday Week, which I did, too, until I said to myself, "Self, we should try to see if we can drag out this birthday celebration stuff for the entire month of May."
No, I don't really talk to myself that way....or maybe I do, but that's not important right now. ;-)
And so I scheduled coffee with friends and mani-pedis and saw movies and went to fun places and ate fabulous meals. And I celebrated. And celebrated. And it all made me happy.
So here's a recap of the fun stuff I got to do in the month of May, which will henceforth be known as Marta's Birthday Month®.
For starters, I got to bake in the Nestlé Kitchens in Glendale. I know. Shut up. I was beside myself with excitement. (More of that story plus a generous giveaway from Nestlé coming up later this week.)
We saw it in IMAX 3D. Here we are looking appropriately nerdy in our 3D glasses. (Totally enjoyed the movie, by the way. And this is now the 2nd photo of me in 3D glasses that I've posted on my blog. Is this going to be a trend?)
And we just happened to be in L.A. on the Clearest, Most Beautiful Day Ever. (Incidentally, that's the Warner Brothers studio lot in the foreground. Do you recognize it from the beginning of WB films? Note to self: Take the WB Studio Tour one day very soon.)
All that piratey fun happened on the night of the full moon. (Which was sooo amazing and here I was trying desperately to capture the magicalness of the moment with my iPhone 4G, which I love, but which couldn't quite do the Magical Scene justice, but that's not important right now, either.)
Sometime this month I also made my famous Arroz con Pollo, which happens to be my favorite Cuban food on earth. (At least, when I make it.)
And we went out to breakfast a few times. Breakfast, by the way, is my favorite meal to eat out.
My beautiful and talented friend, Tamera took me out for coffee and let me choose a bracelet from her awesome new jewelry collection. She has finally started blogging and sharing her awesomeness with the world. (Yay!)
You can find her online at Tamera Beardsley.com. Go visit her blog and be prepared to be totally inspired by her incredible creativity.
Close up of the bracelet. It says: Live out loud. Yes, that's my plan. Thanks again, Tamera!
As if things just couldn't get more festive, my gladiolus finally bloomed.
And so did my Stairway to Heaven. Jonathan is 6'2". The bush tree is about 15 feet tall and blooming prolifically, which just makes me fall in love with it every single day.
We celebrated my (actual!) birthday with dinner with close friends.
And my BFF, Pam sent me this gorgeous necklace from Lisa Leonard Designs that I may or may not have been secretly coveting. (Love you MORE!)
And her granddaughter, CJ made me this cute video: "The birds are angry because it's your birthday and not theirs." Isn't she adorable?
We enjoyed another breakfast (did I mention it's my favorite meal to eat out?) out in the canyon close to us. Seriously excellent home cooked meals. Particularly breakfast. =D
Eric and the kids chose these beautiful climbers for the arch in my white picket fence. (Note: we have been looking for and not having any luck with finding a hardy climber to do what I want it to do, but that's not important right now, either.)
It's called Piñata. Isn't that apropos for a birthdaymonth gift?
My friend, Wanda got me these gorgeously intricate measuring spoons. I promptly announced that I would hang them in my kitchen, to which she replied that I must actually use them. Often.
I kind of have to work through that concept of actually using cool things in my real life. (Anyone else struggle with this? No? Never mind...)
Of course I got a pedicure. That goes without saying.
My big, fat, Cuban family is made up of a ton of people. As you can probably imagine, we ditched having every single family member buying Christmas gifts for every other person a long time ago. The only exemption to this rule is my mom. Everyone buys her a little something.
We tried drawing names, but after a couple of years, we ran out of ideas and if you drew the name of someone you didn't see often enough, buying them a gift became awkward and difficult.
Gift giving, I decided needed to be fun again. Simple. Not crazy-making and stressful.
So, for the past few years, I've been making photobooks. I usually use Shutterfly to make my books, just because I like them and they turn out a good product. And no, they are not sponsoring this post (I wish!), but that's not important right now.
Given that most of the family was already on Facebook, I had a brainstorm.....
I give you:
FAMBOOK
It's a 12 x 12 digital scrapbook and there is a page for each family member. Each page is organized alphabetically, by first names.
I first sent out an email questionnaire to each person. I asked them for a favorite quote and some favorite photos. We even created one for the kids.
It took a lot of coercing and convincing, but I got most of them back in plenty of time to do the book. The ones who didn't respond, I just grabbed their photos from Facebook and made up stuff. (I know. But I was on deadline. Don't judge me.)
Here's my page:
Pretty genius, right?
To be crystal clear, they sent me the info and photos and I created the entire thing myself. I also had them send me $35 via paypal, which took care of their "family gift obligation," only I did all the grunt work.
I should add here that I am quite pleased with the outcome.
As you can see, each page resembles a Facebook Wall.
And includes a favorite quote, and favorite photos, and their personal details, such as birthdays and anniversary (if applicable).
I was quite pleased with the construction (I created each page in Photoshop Elements and saved all the images as .jpgs for easy loading), and everyone was delighted with the finished product. Their personal stress was reduced and when they left the party, they each had this fabulous gift in their hands.
There's also that very satisfied feeling I get knowing that this will quickly become a keepsake that they can enjoy forever. And everyone's $35 went to something they really, really wanted. Win-win.
This year I'm making a Family Calendar, also through Shutterfly. (Oh, why aren't they banging down my door to represent them? Why? *sigh*)
I just finished that today so I could take advantage of a sale they were having: buy one calendar for regular price and get the others for half-price. They have deals like that all the time, which not only motivates me, it makes me happy to feel a little push to finish the project.
Anyway, here's a sneak peek at the photo of the calendar I finished and ordered today. The beauty is that I just have to create one! Ah, Digital Photography gods....I bow down.
I'm so excited to see them open these on Christmas. I also feel quite accidentally cool for coming up with the idea. (Get the sandpaper!)
I'll be sharing more of our personal family traditions in the next few weeks. I thought I'd share this now in case someone wants to tackle the project themselves for their own family. It took me about 20 hours (a lot of time!) because I had to hunt down the photos, but I seriously don't regret a single moment. It was indeed a labor of love.
So tell me... Do you make gifts? Do you buy? Do you order online? I do a little bit of everything....because I can. =D
My daughter, Amy Kikita, spends a lot of time online.
Today is her birthday (27) and I wanted to do something special to celebrate. "No time," she said. "I have a ton of work to catch up on."
Fair enough. I guess it's good that she has a work ethic at all....
But I also know that in between uploading and downloading and keywords and doing the online internet marketing stuff she does, she also checks her Facebook Page.
*insert lightbulb over head here*
I got excited when her other Facebook friends agreed to play along.
So, this is an example of what she found when she logged on this morning.
I think we made history today. This is the Very First Virtual Birthday Party I've ever thrown.
Thanks everyone for participating (I will keep loading photos through the day if you want to send them to me or post on Facebook).
So, Happy Birthday, Amy Kikita! Enjoy your party!
For the record, I'd like to mention that the clean-up after this party is a snap! =D
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMY!!
My Big Fat Cuban Family: A Cuban-American Blog
My Big Fat Cuban Family is all about my Cuban American life. Enjoy my ramblings on my blog about my Cuban family, Cuban heritage, Cuban culture, Cuban life. And some decent Cuban recipes with pictures, too.
