Boricua en la Lima

After weeks of no So You Think You Can Dance and only looking forward to Last Comic Standing, premiere week is finally here! My husband recently moved us from DirectTV to Dish Network (despite the fact that I endlessly bug him about it because we lost Gabi's favorite TV channel "Sprout" with the move) and so now I can actually Tivo things to both TV's in the house which means my lazy ass doesn't actually have to go down to the basement to see a recorded show. This has been a definitely plus for Dish. However, I'm still confused as to why I can't watch one show and record another, that part kinda sucks. Although now there will be so many choices in my Tivo I won't actually have to watch live TV ever again. I've even recorded several episodes of Spongebob since it seems to be the only acceptable alternative to the Sprout channel for Gabi. Which kinda makes me feel bad as a mom since I'm going from educational shows such as Sesame Street to s...

Well the one loyal reader I have (thanks Tom!) pointed out today that I haven't blogged in over a month. Part of it is exhaustion-related, this pregnancy has not been easy-peasy so far. I'm always nauseous but not nauseous enough to throw up and feel better (with the added benefits of not gaining so much weight), but that's not the worst part. The worst part is the never ending exhaustion. I just got back from California and it's taken me 3 whole days to get rid of the jet lag. I think it even took Gabi less than that! The day after I got back I couldn't even get up to go to work, I had to sit in bed with my laptop all day trying to muster enough energy to catch up on email (unsuccessfully though a meager goal that it was for a whole work day!). The exhaustion is accompanied with a constant headache which is great fun. Unfortunately the only thing I can take is Tylenol and what's the point. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against Tylenol I think they ...

I just wanted to share the good news, we are expecting baby #2!!! I'm just 4 weeks into the pregnancy but everyone keeps telling me I already have a belly, to which I say thanks for calling me fat, this belly is from baby #1 not from baby #2....

We went to Chicago this weekend with Jose's dad and sister, and then we met up with his brother and wife there in Chicago. Overall it was a really fun weekend, although dinners were a little bit stressful because of Gabi. We took off Friday and drove up early Friday morning. We made into Chicago's entrance by around noon on Friday (we gain an hour from Chicago) but of course that's when we hit sooo much traffic. When we finally made it we had lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then took the city boat tour. We had done the architecture tour a couple of years ago and of course that one was a lot more interesting, but this one was good just because of the fact that you spent so much of it out on the lake looking back into the city scape. That night Jose and I had to hit the sack early because by the time the rest of the group was ready for dinner it was too late for us to take out Gabi. Which was OK I guess because otherwise the fact that we ate so much during the weekend wo...

Which Pixar Character Are You? You are Dory. You are naive and gullible. Wait, that's a good thing. Your ability to trust any stranger is a trait not many people have, but be more cautious next time a stranger offers to buy you lunch or you might find yourself in a fishy situation. Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com What Car Would You Be? You would be a Mini Cooper. Everywhere you go, you turn heads with your charm and charisma. You're no deep thinker, but taking life seriously can be such a drag! Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

I have 5 trips in August, which I'm not very happy about, not only because it means I have to leave Gabi for all that time, but also because when the hell is one supposed to get any work done when you spend all your time on a plane? Hopefully after August is done it dies down significantly, but you never know. It seems to be so irregular! Anyway, other updates: We started trying for baby #2 last Friday, so 2 weeks from now we'll see what happens. The "girls weekend" (Gabi, my sister and me) in Indiana was very cool. We gave Gabi her first haircut (even though I'm the only one who actually notices it - I'm attaching a picture here with her an my sister), we went to the Children's Museum there which is supposed to be the best in the US and is INCREDIBLE, every 30 seconds Gabi could be heard screaming WOW! The minute we put her back in the car she feel asleep exhausted with all the stimuli! If you ever are in Indianapolis (even if you don't have children)...

" I had proven, as a very young man, that power was my weakness and my temptation. It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well”.

Last year we stumbled upon Cincy Latino by mistake, just looking for something to do on a Saturday afternoon that would keep Gabi entertained for a few hours by being out of the house (she's a social butterfly just like her mami). We discovered they had the most wonderful arepas venezolanas and we said "for sure we gotta come back next year". This year we also happened on the festival by chance, since a GRINGO (no less!) friend of ours from work told us a mere couple of days before the event (where do I live that I never see or hear any advertisement about this?). Anyway, my sister was coming from Indy so we decide to give it a try, only being able to think about those wonderful arepas from last year. Unfortunately the arepa stand wasn't there this year, but they did have a wonderful Puerto Rican food stand, which of course we enjoyed even more! However, we later found out these guys are from Miami so there's nowhere for us to find them here (why they came from...

As a marketer who's not much of a sports fan, I still say to my husband every time this ad comes on, what a GREAT ad. This is the definition of breaking through the clutter and having music SEAMLESSLY tie to your product story. Brilliant.

Gabi has been learning from her very patient dad where her eyes, nose, mouth, etc. is. In this first video she shows us she's learned very well. In these other 3 videos she shows us that her favorite thing to do these days is to "play monkey". Her favorite spot, though, is usually behind one of her parent's backs.

Well, I knew my Gabi was musical in many ways, but I assumed she would take after her mommy's passion for dancing. We discovered, however, yesterday that her true passion lies in playing the piano. I can't say I'm not saddened by her decision, given I wanted her to be a focal point of my new kids' dance academy, but I support her nonetheless, because that's what parents do, right? Suffice it to say, a piano is a WAY cooler toy than anything we have at home, so I don't think Gabi will have any issues whatsoever visiting the Escuderos again. Especially if Jero's mom makes paella again... I'm just upset that I won't be able to help her since I have no piano abilities myself, but that's where my friends Mara and Elika will come in. :)

Gabriela had her class picnic yesterday. It was the cutest thing you'll ever see. Even though my husband tried to bribe me with an iPhone, that's how bad he didn't want to go. And now that I saw Manuel's iPhone I really want one even though I know it's totally overpriced and they'll come out with a better cheaper one six months from now. Anyway, we were supposed to bring food and then a dessert. But of course we woke up so late because on weekends we like to sleep in so we're already running like an hour late for the thing and I'm fuming and we try to go to the Hyde Park Graeter's to get the ice cream cake but there's some race going on there so we have to go to the Graeter's in Mariemont and we said screw it to getting our own food we're way too late we'll throw in a couple of snacks for Gabi to make sure she at least gets to eat and we'll have ice cream cake for lunch! When we try to cut the ice cream cake we of course only...

My nephew Jake went to sleep away camp for a week last week, he's 7 going on 8. Through the summer camp administration I was able to send him emails to say hello (although he couldn't reply) and his parents were also able to send him "care packages" (I know it sounds like an exaggeration when the kid is only going away for a week but the kids probably feel pretty homesick because often times they've never been away from home for that long). Anyway, my sister decided to send him a care package on one day which contained, among other things, a disposable camera. At the end of the week when my sister went to pick him up from the camp she said "OK Jake give me the disposable camera so that we can go get it developed" to which he replies in his most deadpan "duh" attitude (seriously): "Mom, it's a DISPOSABLE camera, you take pictures and then you throw it away. Duh!". Can you believe it? Then I started thinking to a kid who's 7....

Everyone knows I've been having my Office Space moments more and more often lately, mostly due to my job disappearing and my new job not starting until about a month from now. Among other things, I have decided that not only will I catch up on my reading, but I will also use the internet to talk with old friends and exponentially grow my number of blogs and time spent on Facebook. But most importantly I decided I was going to take advantage of my $22 a month gym membership here at work to get in shape over the next month. Especially since I'll hopefully be pregnant soon and therefore need to desperately stay away from gaining 46 lbs. like last time! So yesterday I did a crazy elliptical workout with my workout buddy and today we did yoga. I usually try to workout at the end of the day so that I can go home afterwards and not have to shower or change here at work. But after yoga today (which was during lunchtime) I decided you know what, I'm not going to change back in...

The first time I read this article I thought to myself, we have truly reached rock bottom. I never thought it could get worse than where reality TV has taken us. And granted, some of the reality TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance are my favorite shows. I even have a blog about SYTYCD . But other reality shows are just an aberration. Which is what I think this might be. Are the networks that desperate for ratings? Yes of course they are. But is that the reason why they've come to this? Or will this truly make for entertaining TV? I guess only time (and the ratings) will tell... As sometimes happens on TV, the Geico "Cavemen" ad campaign was a good idea born of a lame one. The concept, says Joe Lawson, one of the writers who conceived it, was that signing up with the insurer online was so easy "even a caveman" could do it. "It was just a dumb way of saying that our website is really easy," Lawson says. So he and his collaborators added a twist: a g...

We've moved on from wanting to be on the next installment of Jackass, now Gabi wants to be an olympic obstacle jumper. Daddy is her best playmate so whatever crazy thing he does she wants to do as well.

iPhone mania nears fever pitch By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY LOS ANGELES — Christopher Parr won't go so far as to bring his sleeping bag to his local AT&T store to be first in line for Apple's coveted iPhone when it goes on sale next week. But he will be there opening night to plunk down $599 for the combination iPod, cellphone and wireless Internet device within hours of its debut. "Cellphones have under-delivered," says Parr, 40, of Madison, Wis. "This fills a real void. Most Internet over the phone is a terrible user experience. I love the idea of having the real Internet in my pocket." June 29 is the day many gear-heads have marked on their calendars as iDay, the release of what independent analyst Richard Doherty calls "the most eagerly awaited consumer technology device of the last 20 years." Since January, when it was first announced, the iPhone has captivated consumers, Wall Street investors and the media as the right product a...