New Year. New List.

My New Year’s Resolutions are getting stale. I feel the need to liven them up a bit. Instead of my go to’s: work out more, be more righteous/spiritual, learn something new, be a better mom/wife, save more money, etc. I’m going to mix it up in 2012. Not that those aren’t important things to do. Everyone should strive to do those things, but I should already be doing them. I want to resolve to do more than what I know I’m already supposed to be doing.

29 things to do before I turn 30

29. Get better at tennis

28. Play in a volleyball tournament

27. Perfect an authentic Italian style margherita pizza from scratch

26. Swim in a hot springs

25. Help someone move

24. Picture collage a wall in my apartment

23. Take a picture every day

22. Learn conversational Spanish

21. Make paper mache piñatas with my boys

20. Clean someone’s house in secret

19. Dance party with my boys at every opportunity

18. Make someone a picnic

17. Kidnap my nieces for a sleepover

16. Handwrite a letter to each of my siblings

15. Begin the process of getting my Masters

14. Surprise Casey

13. Invite someone I don’t know that well over to my house for dinner

12. Buy a complete stranger’s groceries

11. Give twelve days of Christmas Secret Santa gifts to someone in June

10.  Write down some of my favorite memories of my parents for my boys

9. Bike ride on the beach at sunset

8. Go out dancing with Casey

7. Send someone flowers anonymously

6. Make chicken noodle soup for someone that is sick

5. Learn more about Photoshop and photography

4. Visit my niece in Chicago

3. Read the New Testament

2. Plant an herb garden

1. Take a trip to New York City

After I have accomplished all 29 things, I’m gonna do something crazy on my 30^th birthday. Like skydiving or bungee jumping. Who wants to come?

Felicidades 2012

We started our New Year’s Eve at the movie theater as a family. We saw The Adventures of TinTin. Cute movie. It was like a younger animated Indiana Jones. When we walked out of the theater, it was a ghost town. Everything was shut down except for Chinese and Japanese restaurants. We drove around for a while and then decided to go back to East for some more teppanyaki enjoyment. Oh boy do we love tepanyaki. After dinner we headed over to Beba’s house for some partying with our PR family. Cash and Guy lasted until 11:15pm and they were both starting to melt down. Guy finally started to fall asleep, but Cash was going crazy.

We decided to head home and bring in the New Year at our house. Guy fell asleep right away and Cash caught a second wind as soon as we got home. We busted out the sparklers and sparkling cider and had ourselves a little New Year’s Eve celebration. Cash was not interested in holding the sparklers because as he kept saying, “hottee, hottee, owee, owee!” So he just sat on my lap as I forced him to enjoy the moment. At least Casey and I had fun with the sparklers. 

Everyone goes crazy here with fireworks and gun shooting for any celebration, so the New Year's countdown did not disappoint. We were lucky enough to see three different firework shows from our balcony. So we sat back, enjoyed the view, and rang in the New Year in Puerto Rico.

Happy New Year! I’m excited to see what new adventures and challenges 2012 brings us.

Feliz Cumpleanos a Mi!

I turned 29 on the 28th and we celebrated my day of birth to the fullest. We jammed packed a bunch of activities into one special day. First we took a trip to the El Yunque National rain forest for a hike to see some beautiful views and waterfalls.

Then we traveled to the public beach in Luquillo for some swimming and sunshine. The water was really calm and shallow making it ideal for swimming with the boys. I'm trying to soak up as much Puerto Rican sunshine as I can while we are here.

We had dinner at a local teppanyaki/sushi restaurant called East. I love me some teppanyaki and I always choose it for my birthday feast. Cash has been a handful of times, but it's been about a year since we have been. He was freaked out by the fire, but was really intrigued with everything the cook was doing. This was Guy's first teppanyaki dinning experience and he was mesmerized. He hardly ever looked away during the whole cooking experience. Teppanyaki is a fun dinning experience for the whole family. It keeps the kiddos entertained and provides delicious substance for the parentals. That's my little promo for you. I should get commission for my marketing. We finished dinner off with a birthday dessert for me. I love any excuse for dessert. Especially when it's a well deserved one like my birthday.

 After dinner we dropped the kids off at our house with our friends, Vivi and Crissy, and headed to the movies alone. I love date nights with Case, so it was the perfect ending to my really great birthday. It's hard for us to leave the kids behind and go on dates because Guy's still young and we love going everywhere as a family. Whenever we do get babysitters and go out though, it reminds me all over again why I first chose to spend the rest of eternity with my handsome big kid. We need to do it more often. I feel like a giddy teenager every time we get the chance to go out without the kids.

I'm feeling pretty good about 29. I'm nervous to enter my thirties, but I still have one more year to live it up and accomplish a bunch of stuff. Right now I'm just happy that my kids, my husband, and our lifestyle keeps me feeling young. I'm pretty excited to age with this group of boys that I call family. They make every wrinkle and pound feel pretty important, well earned, and beautiful.