Organized Chaos

Halloween Bookworm

My little nephew Joziah LOVES books. I'm hoping Charlie catches the bug too but so far she seems to only want to eat them. But I digress. I always try to mail Joziah books I think he'll enjoy and while I was visiting my family in Hawaii earlier this year, I left him a copy of "Caps for Sale." It was one of my favorite books as a kid and it just so happened to end up being one of Joziah's favorite's too (I'm told he made his mom read it every night at bedtime for months). When his preschool announced the children were to dress up for Halloween as a book character, he chose to go as Pezzo the Peddler. I'm so proud of the job my sister did at putting together his costume.. he makes a pretty cute peddler, don't you agree?

Just one of the many reasons Tina Fey ROCKS

A Mother's Prayer for her Child by Tina Fey

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

-Tina Fey

 

I can't wait to get my hands on her new book, Bossypants.

Eight about Charlize at Eight Months

1. My beautiful little girl is eight and a half months old already!  J and I are completely in love with her as she is a charmer.  I'm pretty sure she knows it, too, and uses it to her advantage. We can't go anywhere without someone commenting on how cute she is.. usually because she's been smiling at them from a distance or giggling (which happens to be rather infectious), trying to get their attention. 
2. Her favorite food is pretty much anything she thinks we're eating.  She's not fond of peaches (Ironic as Jerry is from Georgia) and has a tiny allergy to pineapple.  I know, I'm from Hawai'i. Go figure, right? My dirty little secret is I was somewhat allergic to it as a kid also.  ;) 
3. She loves Yo Gabba Gabba! but also has a crush on MacGyver. She gets excited at the sound of the theme song.  I kid you not. Daddy is currently trying to get her into Star Trek.  Someone help me.
4. Her favorite toy.. is anything that wasn't meant to be a toy, really.  She seems to be obsessed with the container of baby wipes and who wouldn't be intrigued by a plain white plastic box?
5. She can crawl and sit up on her own though to be honest she doesn't seem to be interested in crawling.  She tries to climb and stand so I think she's attempting to bypass the crawling as her mode of transportation.
6. She is rather intrigued by our dog Sophie and this is one of the few things she will crawl for.  Sophie seems to be equally intrigued.
7. She has two little bottom teeth with another coming in at the moment (oy!).
8. She is just under 20lbs.  She is long but somewhat thin.  She's basically all cheeks. When she was two months old we spent some time in Hawaii with my family and my sister constantly joked that we needed to "get some rolls" on her.  She'll be happy to know we've managed to get one on each thigh!

 ♥

Best Present Ever!

Meet Charlize Leilani Rivas, born November 27, 2010. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Not dead yet.

So what is up with me?  Usually I disappear for months at a time so when I finally post again I have a whole bunch of crazy updates on moi.  This time is no different.  Instead of doing an uber-long, drawn-out post about my life as of late, allow me to simply enumerate, with the oldest news first.

1. One of the major reasons I've been on hiatus- my grandpa passed away at the end of last year.  A lot of people don't get to know their grandparents well or even if they're lucky enough to meet them in their lifetime, never really form a strong bond.  It was completely the opposite for me growing up, which is why this has been an ongoing struggle.  My papa was basically my dad.  I'll talk about him more at another time.. I have a series of pages and photos to post that I think would be cathartic for me.  But alas, I digress.

2. This is sort of an aside to numero uno, but I went home to Hawaii and got to spend some much needed, albeit short, time with my family.  I also caught swine flu.  Gotta love nephews and their germs.  Honestly though?  And I can joke about this now though it wasn't funny at the time.. my ENTIRE FAMILY got sick.  Even my pregnant sister (she and the baby are fine).  We actually had to postpone the funeral for a few days because we were all contagious.  Good times.

3. Our current household zoo total is:  2 dogs (Plato & Sophie) and 2 cats (Juno & Mushu). 

4. I'm pregnant!  Like how I just stuck that in there?  (Details to follow)

5. We are moving to NEW YORK CITY! No joke.  Jerry's job is transferring him to New York, where he will be working in the Empire State Building.  VERY excited for him because he wanted this position so much, but also a little worried until we get settled and into a routine.

And that's about the jist of it, folks.  Hope you've all been well.

xoxo

Meet my kids

Meet Plato (top) and Sophie.  A big addition to our family since I posted last (eons ago, I know). They are mischevious, crazy, insane, happy and oh so lovable. You would think having two insane dogs combined with my own insanity would make a person go completely nuts, but they actually keep me grounded. Usually.  Depends on what day you're asking.

I love how hyper they are (again, usually).  I love the way Sophie curls into a ball to go to sleep, or the way she plops herself down right against me when she wants to relax, as if she doesn't have an ounce of energy left in her. I love it when they run up to me while i'm scrapbooking as if to check up on me, then run back outside to play. I love the way Plato's tail is constantly wagging and how it sometimes hits Sophie in the face because she's at the perfect level yet she doesn't even seem to notice.  I think it's hilarious how they always fight over the same bone even if there's another one just a foot away. I love the way they are so eager to greet me when I come home, that I feel like a rockstar. I love how Sophie's high-strung yet loving personality reminds me of myself and Plato is just like Jerry- goofy, clumsy and easygoing.

Deux

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary. Hard to believe it's 2 years already and yet, it seems like we've been together a lifetime.  Funny how that works.  Last year around this time J had just come home from Iraq for 2 weeks of R&R.  He could have chosen to come home for either one of our birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's.. but he chose our anniversary; it meant that much to him.  He's always been this sweet and thoughtful so it shouldn't have surprised me when he planned something for yesterday without a word of it to me.  My only instruction at about 3pm yesterday when he called me from work, was to be dressed when he got home (ha! i was still painting my toenails & watching Oprah then). 

He drove us to San Diego, parked at the waterfront and told me that we were going on a dinner cruise around the harbor.  It was actually REALLY romantic and fun.. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary or a better guy.  The crew was friendly, the food was really yummy, the music was perfect, the view incredible.  There was this elderly couple (i think they were celebrating their 62nd anniversary) and J and I couldn't get over how fun and happy they looked.  We kept saying how we hope we're blessed enough to get to that point in our lives together.  It made me look forward to growing old with him.  :)

Here's a photo blog of our adventure!

On our way!  Traffic on the 5 sucks!

I LOVE cityscapes.  :)

 

So handsome. And he's mine.. unbelieveable.

Love this shot of the city through the ship's windows.

   

Sunset.  Views of the lovely SD and the Coronado Bridge. J joked that that ship was taking all of the pineapples back because no one wanted them.  Punk.

I have a slight fascination with bridges (though nothing compares to the GG, imo).  It was so cool to pass under the Coronado Bridge at night.  Legend has it it's good luck to kiss while under it..

I was so wiped out by the end of the cruise!

And we shall call this photo, "Casey had too much champagne."

Happy Anniversary, honey.  ♥

sunkissed

While flipping through photos for my latest RP assignment, I came across this photo that I just had to share.  It's of my mom and I about 5 months after I was born, way back in 1980.  How gorgeous is she?  hehe.. love how my stomach is bigger than her whole body.  ♥ 

quickie

3am, heading off to bed.. think that's enough creating for one night.  :)  Having loads of fun with this round's assignment and can't wait to get it completed.  Hope everyone loves it and is having just as much fun with theirs.  So excited to see what we all come up with!

For the meantime, think i'll just leave you with a lot of photo posts.  Here are my two favorite little dudes in the world (of course J would be the first, but he falls more in the big dude category).  Love these little guys.  My sister sure makes some pretty cute kids.

Z & Q.  ♥

happy happy joy joy..

I was sitting at my desk, checking email when J came through the front door toting this:

He lugged a dozen lavender (which are my favorite, btw) & pink roses from a florist near the auto shop a mile up the street.. just because.  Dude must want something HUGE because he is seriously accruing points lately. The boy never ceases to make me smile.

♥