Messsican Christmas 2

I'm home for the holidays. I have been here for a little bit less than a week. Super D went back to visit his family yesterday evening but he spent a few good days here at home. We had a good time but it was a little bit stressful. I guess it always is stressful to visit family during the holidays with your living-in American boyfriend when you are supposed to be a good Catholic Messsican girl. Yes, my family is not very happy that we are living together and we successfully managed to avoid the topic during the holidays. There were no comments or conversations about the house, about our life in the US, etc. We did talk a little bit about the cruise and other stuff like that, but we were all very good in being in denial about our situation. And that made the whole deal a little bit stressful. HOwever, I do have to say that we were all very good to each other, my parents to David, David to my family, my family to me, etc. It was a very nice holiday, and David got to spend his first Christmas outside the US. That was good. And he drove all around! Yes, he did. And he was amazing - he survived in this crazy traffic! And he practiced his almost non-existent Spanish, and learned a little bit more, and we all ate like there was no tomorrow. Good Lord - my stomach is just asking for some time out...

But the best, best part of all was that we had a chance to spend some time with my beautiful baby nephew... At his tender age of 10 months, he knows how to be the center of attention. We are all crazy about him. He is my first nephew and I don't get to see him that often for obvious reasons so I did go crazy with him... He is so funny! I'll post some pictures when I get back to A. Just a few of the hundred and ten pictures that I took. Again, I went crazy!! Thank God Super D took the camera back with him. I could have gone on and on with that camera and that beautiful baby...

signing off for now.

celebrity sighting ... in Austin!!

So there we go to have a little personal Christmas celebration to Starlite on Monday night. Cute little fancy place with a few tables. SD and I sat across from each other. I was the lucky one who could see the whole restaurant while Super Dave had to face a brick wall and me. Poor guy.

Most of the few tables were taken. A young crowd celebrating a birthday -- the girl must have been turning 18 or something like that (they all look so young). Another table with a group of lady friends. And there was this guy sitting at table in the corner drinking a Pacifico. Suddenly this other guy comes out from the bathroom and heads to that corner table. I see that guy and he seems very familiar.... Did he and I ...mmm... something at one point in my single years? Is he a friend of someone? Does he work at UT? (Yeah, right!) and then it hit me... It's Luke Wilson!!! Oh my God!! Luke Wilson has just sat down to drink a Pacifico less than 10 ft away from me.... Cool!

"David, David -- one of the Wilson brothers is here!"

"Who?"

"One of the Wilson brothers -- Luke Wilson is here!"

"Who?" [oh Lord, I'm about to kill him]

"We just see him in Idiocracy."

"Ahhhh" [finally!]

Of course I can be totally mistaken but I am pretty good with faces. Last summer I ran into Quentin Tarantino during lunch in Guero's here in Austin. This time it was a close and personal encounter... to the point that when he walked towards me in that crowded place I just said "Hiiiiiii" and then 2 seconds later...."I know you!"

Quentin very calmly and a little bit embarassed said, "I'm Quentin". "I'm Alejandra" I replied and I finally got it!!!!! "My God!!!! I just shook Quentin Tarantino's hand!!!!!!!"

The funniest thing was that later on on that same day we went to Hula Hut and guess who is having margaritas and fajitas at Hula Hut? Quentin Tarantino... Yes, twice in one day...

I wonder what Luke W was doing in Austin, TX...

Messsican Christmas 1

My friend M left last night. It was great having her here for a few days. We went out with friends, drank vodka, had some yummy food, and even baked some cookies. It was a lot of fun, and it was having my country here with me for a few days. It was so needed.

And talking about my country, we bought the tickets to go home today. SD will be there for about 5 days, including Christmas and I will be there for about 8 days. Yes, Messsican food, Messssican friends, and lots of Messssican drivers. I have become so "unused" (that word might not exist but I will use it anyway) to driving in my home town. It is just crazy! People barely stop in the stop signs, and the lines that divide the different lanes seem to be just "suggestions" or, like my Dad would say, "obstacles." And this time I am really not exagerating... But I still love it -- it surely is a nice adrenaline trip driving down there. Last time we were there, David drove all the time. He did well! I think he was nervous, and I was as well, but, hey! he has to learn...

Saturday morning 7:57 am.

I couldn't sleep any longer. I think we went to bed kind of early last night. I say think because I think I had like 9 vodka sodas for happy hour with R, M, and M who came for the weekend. Sooooo, I know we came home early because we started early but I also know that I didn't eat my dinner and now I am starving.

M is staying home with us. I fixed the upstairs bedroom for her. Super D and I are basically living in the first floor because we are planning on remodeling the whole upstairs area to make it a super master bedroom suite (we're currently sleeping in what will be the guest room) with lots, and lots, and lots of closet space because we all know that closets are the most important room in a house! The ladies will agree with me on this one. And David is an organization freak so having lots of closet space will make organization ten times easier, right? Yeah, right.

Bedroom project will begin after Christmas. We really had to take a break after the kitchen and living area remodelation. It was a tough one -- I am sure like many other remodelations it was just painful. So, we took a break and I am ready to begin with the next part soon, well, if I am still here (that's another story).

ANYWAY, therefore, the upstairs is empty and now has become the best guest room ever!!... I was going to put M in the TV room or in the study but then I thought.. WE HAVE A WHOLE UPSTAIRS EMPTY! A little bit of vaccumming, a couple of chairs, a lamp, a chest, and a great eddie bauer inflatable mattress - and there you have it. It has been the best idea I've had in a while, really. I know, it's sad.

So, now Super D is asleep, my friend as well, and I am hungry... I want some yummy huevos a la mexicana con tortillas de harina... mmmmm


Yes, something like this... que rico!

So, let me start with the breakfast cooking and the whole weekend... I'm terrible for writing endings. Bye.

Is anyone here a little bit, um, gassy?

So there I was enjoying a slice of the new (flourless!) bread that I got yesterday and listening to NPR where I just heard that a woman was lighting up matches in an airplane because she had GAS and wanted to cover the smell!!!!! What?!

The plane did an emergency landing somewhere in Tenessee or a place that sounded like Tenessee. I would have been so pissed if my flight was not completed because someone is trying to make her GAS not that smelly... Come on! We are all humans, we have had our own share of gas, I mean, how bad can it be? I know, don't answer that question.

Anyway, I thought that was funny as I was enjoying my super fiber bread that will make me, well, a little bit gassy... I'll better take some matches to work.

Still cold in Austin but loving it. It was so needed... Super Dave worked ALL weekend - he even had two all-nighters -- he didn't sleep at all on Thursday night and Saturday night, and worked almost all Saturday, and all Sunday. I kindda felt lonely -- I am so used to spend the weekends playing around with him. But not this one. It was one of those weekends when I really missed my country, my family, my people. It really amazes me that even after more than six years here and after making friends, and after making my life here, there is always this feeling of lacking something, of a little piece missing in my life. I guess that you have to be an ex-pat to understand this feeling. Don't get me wrong - I love my life in Austin, and I enjoy most of my "American" life but there is always your country, your ways in the back of my mind. I will be home on Dec 20, and I am really looking forward to it.

Nevertheless, I wasn't that lonely, really (I tend to exagerate). Went with my friend R to a Neiman Marcus outlet store to do some Christmas shopping. We had fun even though outlet shopping can be quite frustrating. Sorting out bad clothing out of worse clothing, trying to figure out what the heck is that triangular leather thing (is it a skirt or a cape?), realizing that size 38 in Europe is like a -4 in the US (who fits in those things for the love of God!), experiencing the joy of seeing yourself "up close and personal" in those brightly-lighted tiny dressing rooms, and ultimately, seeing how time passes by and you are not getting any younger -- yes, priceless. Anyway, on the bright side, we had some good laughs and I am almost done with Xmas shopping for these year (including a few goodies for myself ;-)).

freezing (cont.)

Told you people!-- my mother and the weather. She just called from home to ask how cold was it here in Austin... That was the whole purpose of the call... and guess what we talked about?! the weather, of course.

She is so funny...

freezing

It is FREEEEEEZING in Austin, Texas... It was 74 F when I went to bed last night around midnight and this morning-- good Lord! -- 33 degrees! Fortunately, we knew about it. Weather people were unusually accurate this time, and how they cannot be right when Colorado, Iowa, and every other state northwest of Texas is covered is under two or three feet of snow... I want that job. If you are right -- good, and when you are wrong, oh well, the weather is weird and that's it... you keep your job, and you keep looking north in the winter (for cold fronts) and east in the summer and fall (for hurricanes), and making a big deal of every little thing to keep people like my mother and other older folks hooked on the Weather Channel. I already promised myself that I will never be like that, although I am just so like my mom...


ANYWAY, there is a little, sweet, quite intelligent movie called The Weather Man.



I am not the greatest fan of Nicolas Cage but the movie is well done, and deals with life's greatest challenge: what do we do when we realize that life is really a bitch, that we are really not going to change, that life is tough and spectacular at the same time, and kind of predictable but not really, and that this is it... there is no more, some great moments, and some bad moments, and that's it.

Kind of in a dark mood today -- I am blaming the weather, but we all know that there is more to it than today's gray sky.

OK - It wasn't that bad

The "handout" is done! It wasn't that bad -- really exagerated on the terrible, horrible, terrible again handout that I had to write. I worked until 1:30 in the morning but I sent it before 8:00 am. If I had had the time, I would have sent it to be copyedited but oh, well, participants will have to survive my non-native English, non-edited, hurried writing.. Oh well, they will be fine!

talking about procrastination...

My friend Emily was blogging about procrastination earlier today. She thinks it's bad now that she is in grad school -- wait until is for a real job! It's ten times worse... I said yes to this 45 min presentation in a conference next week. I can talk for 45 minutes about children learning to read.. yeah, that's OK. HOWEVER, the little talk came with a request for a paper no longer than 20 pages (I want to call it a handout because the word paper freaks me out -- sorry, grad school did this to me) that I had to turn in on Monday November 13th! Yes, almost a month ago! (And yes, I knew about the paper but hadn't read the instructions completely and didn't notice the date -- in reality, there are no excuses).

Needless to say, I received a friendly reminder that I still have to turn this in. And of course, here I am right now typing who knows what because I have until tomorrow at 10:00 am to send this in!!! OH LORD WHY???!! Why did I say YES? What's wrong with saying NO? I have said NO before -- why didn't I do it again this time?!

Help, please somebody help me...

what happened to me?

Well, I just downloaded the pictures from the camera and was rightfully disapointed on the pictures that I took in the DISNEY cruise! What was I thinking? There is not one single pictiure of the ship! Not one of that enormous ship and its 10 floors with 2500 passengers and 1000 crew members. Not one single one! There is a picture of the "lobby" -- the third deck through which you embark and disembark



There is one of Super Dave, me and Mickey Mouse... ( I know how silly this looks but it was the last night and we were totally inmersed in the "magic" and yes, we are wearing matching t-shirts but that's another story - quite sweet but another story)



And there are many pictures of my beautiful Caribbean sea... It was just breathtaking. I am such a beach person... this was just paradise...


Bahamas



Cozumel


There are many more but won't post them all. Have to go to bed now.

DISNEY cruise, DISNEY cruise, DISNEY cruise!!!!

I'm back from the cruise. We got back this afternoon. And yes, it was a DISNEY cruise and although it might be difficult to believe I had a great time. I know that spending a few days in the caribean can be always fun but that was not the main reason this was quite a special trip... I know some people might not agree with me but there is something about families, and I mean something that can be bad (jealousy, weirdness, etc.) and something very good... Don't know how to describe it now (I'm tired and I haven't spoken Spanish with anyone else for a whole week which makes me more tired) but it was very nice to spend time with David and his family, it was very special... And they like me very much!!

But, of course, it was crazy, and cheesy, and too much, and we ate like pigs, etc. etc. etc. It was a DISNEY cruise! What else can you expect?! It was a lot of fun, though. Quite the trip...

School children in West Texas

As part of my job, I visit A LOT of schools across the beautiful state of Texas. I have been in the border, in “the Valley”, in East Texas, and, of course, in West Texas. In fact, right now I am writing this from the smallest airport I have ever seen: Abilene Regional Airport, in Abilene, Texas, “the friendly frontier.” And yes, they have FREE wireless internet unlike those snobby big airports (Yes, I’m talking about Austin’s, Houston’s Dallas’ airport) which don’t let you do anything for free. You big airports should learn from the small, friendly airports.

So, here I am, done with my school visits for this trip, and here is the highlight of the visit.

First grade teacher was asking a group of 3 blond kids for words that had “ig”. She made a list, big, fig, wig, pig, twig, etc. Then she kept probing. “What else has “ig” in it?” The little blond boy comes up with dig. Good job, little blond boy! Another student comes with chiggers (and I am like What!? What’s that?” As a Messsican I am always learning new words). “Nice word!” the teacher exclaims, “chiggers has “ig” in it.”



And, then, this adorable first grade girl blurts it out, “Oh, yes, like ni---r.” (Add a double g and an e if you have to.) Yes, yes, yes. Yes, the word that I naively thought was pretty much eradicated from the English vocabulary (yes, I know, who am I kidding?) was just said in front of me this morning. The permanent smile that I always have when I am in classrooms regardless of what’s going on remained the same – always non judgmental is my MO and I surely didn’t want the teacher to feel more uncomfortable than she was already. But OH GOD – the word is still used. I had never heard the word used outside a movie. I guess in West Texas the word is still very present. Adorable little girl number 3 must have heard that word a couple of times – but how many times do you have to hear a word as a child for it to become part of your vocabulary?! I still give the girl the benefit of the doubt – perhaps, like me, she heard it in a movie.

If the teacher freaked out with me right there observing everything that was going on, I didn’t notice because she handled quite well. “Let’s not use that word,” she said. And she moved to the next child who didn’t have a word with “ig”. Bummer. Or "Great, let's put the “ig” word list away and check out the words with "ill”. A safer choice, she must have thought. I really hope first grade teacher here had a moment to talk to adorable little girl number 3 about certain words that are way better left unsaid.

my first ever maternity blouse

No, I am not pregnant and yes, I would like to get pregnant. Soon. However, that's another story that involves trying to get pregnant what we are not doing now. Super Dave is a little bit afraid of a smiling cutesy baby in his hands...



and what they can become in the future



ANYWAY, last Monday, went to Old Navy to buy cheapy clothes for the forthcoming cruise and decided to go right to everything that was on sale. That turned out to be a pretty good deal... little denim skirt for 10 bucks, little spaghetti straps (sp?) for 4, another skirt for 10, little things like that, and this cute, cotton, tunic-like blouse that looked all airy and flowy and ethereal, etc. etc. etc.

Next morning, David in shower and I am trying my super new clothes , and I try one of the miniskirts with the airy blouse and AAAAHHHHHH!.... the all comfy look of the airy blouse was meant to be for an EXPECTING MOTHER! I ran to the bathroom to told David the amazing news because this was nothing else but a sign from a greater being (or at least the retail industry) that I should become pregnant! Or that I will become pregnant soon... Or that maybe I am pregnant already.... Something. It has to be the sign for something. He reacted better than I --for a tenth of a second--thought. He didn't collapse right there in the shower or cut himself shaving and played along with me... He also concurred that it was a sign of my destiny...

Anyway, I am not pregnant. I know that. But we'll try to get there one day. And, therefore, I am not returning my blouse. It is so cute, and it's my first ever maternity blouse...

Learning about HTML goodies

I added Emilia Beltran's blog on my links...

brownies "de cajita"

The brownies got burned - badly. And this talks about the importance of building a strong relationship with your oven. Things like knowing that you DO NOT use convection mode when you bake, that in this new oven you bake for less time than the recipe tells you, and that sometimes when you smell kind of burnt IT IS BECAUSE SOMETHING IS REALLY BURNING! Sadly, I had to drive to Randalls to get Duncan HInes brownies (brownies "de cajita" -- box brownies), and worked a la "Semi-homemade" show on the food network to make them taste a little bit less "de cajita" (add melted butter instead of oil, evaporated milk instead of water). I was going to take them to a little dinner party and since I am kind of a show off, I wanted them to be perfect. I'm not sure if I succeeded because I just couldn't eat any -- after making them and eating 1/4 of the batter (or is it dough?), I didn't want to eat anything chocolaty. Super Dave said they were good. And everyone else ate them so-- they must have been good. I did make another batch for home (before the Duncan Hines) and they were also a little bit burnt but not as bad as the first ones. Today, we had them as dessert after cooking (and this one totally from scratch -- no cajita) PAD THAI! Yes, pad thai.... Well, super dave, and letty, and david helped... and it was GOOD! But I still can't believe that I am actually cooking and baking. I have always liked it but now it feels like a big thing... Like a grown up thing, like a mature thing to do... After years of seldom having enough time to cook (my ph. d. student days), now I am really craving cooking, and baking, and learning how to do other stuff that have nothing to do with academics, and books, and research, and statistics, and high theory, etc., etc., etc. Oh how much I don't miss it... oooohhh, come on-- I know, I know... they were good times in their own special way...


Have to go to bed. Tomorrow is Monday. San Lunes... and I have to get ready for a cruise. I will be in high sea (en altamar) in a week. Traveling with Super Dave's family. And I am obviously nervous and anxious.

the mixer is here

David bought me the mixer... They didn't have "gloss cinnamon" so we got "Empire Red" and it matches the red teapot we have on top of the range and that I have used like three times -- at the most (and David still uses a pot to boil water -- ???? - I caught him the other day.) ANYWAY -- the mixer is grand and now I have to bake brownies but after a late and hearty lunch, I just want to lay down and sleep....

OK -- I'm getting up and mixing things in the brand new mixer...

Me and half of "Super Dave"

the day I got excited about a mixer

It's a beautiful day in Austin, TX. Finally a little bit of fall after a tremendously long summer. It's chilly, and dry, and we have a beautiful blue sky... And the best part of all is that i'm getting a Kitchen Aid mixer in "Gloss Cinammon" today. Sometime today. Once we decide to 1. stop playing with our "His" and "Hers" laptops, 2. get our butts off this sweet couch, and 3. shower.

I LOVE the weekends....

a baby blog...

OK -- this is harder than I thought. I tried to upload a picture to my profile but I just can't do it. I need to ask "Super Dave" for help. Perhaps he can help me tomorrow because right now he is passed out in the bedroom. We went to have dinner with my dear friend Letty and her fiance David and something happen that my David got a little bit too drunk. I shouldn't be writing this because he got quite scared when I told him that I had created my own blog. He's worried that I am going to write stuff about him and he is already thinking about creating an anti-Messsican blog to tell his side of the story.... Oh my David... but he did get drunk...
Let me set the record straight... "Super Dave" or David is my sweet baby boy (a.k.a. boyfriend). We have been dating for 19 months (just like doctors talk about babies) and we have been living together for six months... He's the sweetest man on earth but sometimes he seems to get tired after drinking.... and that's a nice way to put it. And if you really want to hear the whole story... here it is. He was my upstairs neibghbor...yes, my upstairs neighbor when I was living at Caprock Canyon apartments.... and it took me like nine months into our relationship to stop thinking about him as my upstairs neighbor and as my boyfriend. Yes, I know, dating your upstairs neighbor... I know all the bad things that can go with that... Melrose Place and stuff but it turned out that he was the nicest thing that had happened to me in a long while and I kindda said "OK, well, it seems like a good idea, and you are so freaking sexy, and you are sooooo nice, so well, let's give it a try....." and now I am living with him and I still think he is so sexy and he is so nice.... ANYWAY---he is now in the bedroom, sleeping, having sweet dreams, and kind of dreading the fact that I now have a blog.... He's worried about it and with good reason.... Ja ja ja ... I like it.....
And talking about "ja ja ja" let me just tell you that that is the way that we messsicans say it... A couple of weeks ago I wrote an email to my Anglo friend Doxey and, without even thinking, I wrote "je je je" to indicate laughter, chuckling, strong smiling, whatever,.... It turns out that you Americans write "he he he" and we Messsicans use the letter that we have for that sound "J"....She made fun of me and my "je je je" (she explained to her sister that was reading her email over her shoulder that "je je je" was Spanish for "he he he") but I really had no idea what she was talking about when she told me... "What's wrong with "je je je"?" (I really didn't get it!) "Well," she said, "we don't laugh or chuckle like that. It would sound like, well, weird." (Now, you try it. Say "jet" without the "t"). Aaaahh, it does sound weird... it doesn't sound like "he he he"... Oh well, how I am supposed to know those things.... Believe me, nobody in my English as a second language class told me anything about it...

I created a blog

I'm not sure if this is working... This is too funny