Boricua en la Lima

Since Mara is leaving us for Boston in a few weeks, we have decided to start a farewell countdown with what we are calling "Discovery Sundays"; every Sunday we try to do something we haven't done before in Cincinnati, go somewhere we haven't been, see something we haven't seen... This weekend brought to us several neat discoveries. On Saturday there wasn't too much for me to discover, although Mara and Gabi had their fair share. I went to my charity fashion show practice on Saturday morning while Mara was nice enough to babysit Gabi. They went to Ault Park and discovered the children's playground area which I hadn't even found yet. Mara says she met a bunch of other little kids and their parents and that she felt like she was in the book "The Nanny Diaries " (I have lovingly nicknamed Mara my nanny). Gabi's discovery was how fun it can be in Mara's convertible Beetle. Here's a video of her rocking to the beat of the car st

I got this emailed to me about 5 years ago and back then laughed at how incredibly ridiculous it seemed. I was finally lucky to have gotten it sent back to me again, this time thanks to YouTube's techology. Today I cry, because of how incredibly close it comes to what I do on a daily basis. Lotto tickets anyone? Enjoy...

It seems that everywhere I go I take the cold with me. When I went to Miami for Elika's bachelorette it was 45 degrees, and this weekend in Austin for Miguel and Veronica's wedding, it was like in the 50's and WINDY like all hell. In fact everyone kept joking that we were actually in Chicago. So I guess first off I must apologize to the bride and groom for bringing the bad weather with me. However, despite the fact that we froze our asses off all weekend long (especially in skimpy dresses on Saturday), the weekend was a blast and all the activities around the wedding were awesome. Here are the weekend highlights... Friday: It took Jose and I a WHILE to get to Austin. We missed our connection out of Dallas because the flight out of Indy arrived late. Then Jose gets placed in the 4 pm flight out of Dallas but I don't get placed until 7 pm. We had the rehearsal dinner at 7 pm plus bad weather was supposed to be coming into the area so we decided to do the 3 hr. drive. We

I just went through a serious case of "verguenza ajena" as they call it in Puerto Rico. It means I'm embarrassed for someone else, JLo in this case. I just watched her on Idol correcting Ryan Seacrest on his Spanish but Ryan had it right and SHE had it wrong! I love JLo don't get me wrong, but please don't pretend like you can speak Spanish if you really can't. It's OK if you don't know Spanish, that doesn't make you any less Hispanic, you're still Jenny from the block. But learn your Spanish chica.

We're heading to Austin on Friday for one of Jose's high school friend's weddings. It promises to be a fabulous affair, though I have to admit I'd much rather they have had their wedding in Puerto Rico (the groom is Puerto Rican ) so that I could have yet another excuse to travel to Puerto Rico. We are leaving Gabriela with my sister in Indiana tomorrow night and and then leaving out of Indiana on Friday morning. I know we'll miss Gabriela terribly, but I'm sure she'll have a blast hanging out with my sister and nephew and their 2 dogs Meche and Cooper, and I have to admit I'll be so happy to be able to sleep late all weekend (which means being able to drink the night before!). I can't bring myself to pack, but I have at least gotten a pedicure and a not-so-painful bikini wax at Hair and Body Works . Gotta love it when you don't go through as nearly as much pain as you thought you would. Just need to pack now instead of blogging...Oh wait, a

Since it's been so freaking cold in Cincinnati (Spring didn't stay for long) we can't take nice pictures outside and go to parks and stuff. Which means our Easter Weekend was somewhat anti-climactic vs. my dreams of outside Easter egg hunts and beautiful spring dresses. Poor Jose's dad Pepe was here the whole weekend and all we could do was go out shopping and go out to eat, which brings me to... Gabi confirms yet again why she's my daughter, and why it'll always be so hard for her to do Atkins. She loves carbs too much. Here she demonstrates her pasta-eating abilities. For some reason I can't help but think of the movie "Big Daddy" and smile a big smile... My favorite part is when she looks at the camera because she knows she's getting filmed. Movie star in the making... Here she is with Mara at Cheesecake Factory, we went for a late Easter Sunday lunch and I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of their menu selections are quite Atki

We went to the Lunken Airport Park again this Sunday. Gabi is just loving it so much. This time we went with Mara and we walked around the loop for a while while Gabi slept. When she woke up from her nap she was full of energy and ready to play. She has been going down the slide with someone always holding her hand, but this time she decided she was a grow-up girl and she was going to do it on her own. Mara and I were encouraging while Jose was having a nervous breakdown... Here's Gabi in the swings. She makes us take her from one swing to the next to the next, and then start all over again. She just loves swinging. The funny thing is that no matter how hard we try to tell her, she will always lean forward instead of leaning back and so she always looks like she's about to flip over on her head. And finally, here she is on top of her new discovery, the "bouncy bouncy". There's two of these "bouncy bouncies" at the park and she also makes us go back

'Twas the weekend before Easter And all through the city Not a creature was stirring Not even P Diddy The Hoyas and Ohio State Fighting in Atlanta City Hoping to make it To the Big Dance Monday evening But our friends and I Were out sitting pretty Cause there's always good food In our dear old "pig" city A Broadway show downtown Had Simba right in it He fought Scar to the end And was friends with Rafiki The picture above is from our group after eating At Trattoria Roma To celebrate Gigi