Cutey-Patooty

My blessed best friend was one of my 3 college roomies and 3 closest cousins who had babies this year. It's all a miracle to me!

 

Here we were at an impromptu dinner at an Irish pub last week with our husbands. As usual my husband always has a camera and shoots (this is just the Hipstomatic app on his Iphone but he still takes an amazing photo) - - I am so happy for these times!

9-11 - In Memory..

I am sure everyone remembers where they were on 9-11 of 2001.

I remember clearly I was in-between apartments at that time and was staying at my parents' house. I was up early getting ready for teaching when the phone rang. I heard my mother answer it and say in a concerned voice I rarely have heard uttered from her, "Ohhhhhh..okay, okay we will turn it on. It will be okay, Sweetheart." I knew it was family from that tone of concern and I immediately was by her side to inquire what happened and which sibling of mine had called.

It was Sara and she told us we were under attack. My parents and I ran upstairs to the television and turned it on to see the billowing smoke and the new images of the 2nd plane that had also impacted. It was a sight so extraordinary and frightening. I thought immediately of my actor friends in NYC and called up those whose numbers I had. Some answered, some didn't, although all would check-in eventually throughout the next couple days, gracias a Dios.

My heart was in my throat as I knew I had to go to work and only had minutes to watch the TV. I quickly called up my boyfriend at the time. Mark, a freelance writer and editor, tended to sleep in after staying up late writing. I knew he was unaware of the Twin Towers attack or he would have already called me. He answered drowsily at my calling him so early in the day -- "Is everything okay, Babe?" he asked with confusion. The tears fell, unchecked as I sobbed and somehow choked out, "No, Mark - New York..has been attacked by terrorists - many have been killed - turn on your TV. I will call you back." It was better for him just to watch it and hear the news reports as I was sobbing by then and didn't know much myself.

I remember the couple first images of people with no other recourse than to jump to their deaths. The first was a business woman, literally straddling a blown out window. They were able to zoom in so much on her that one could clearly see her brunette hair and color of suit. Suddenly she jumped out. The camera pulled back and panned her almost the entire way down. It is needless to say that is a very long time to pan down. I remember gasping in disbelief at what I had seen and very aware that people who knew her could have recognized her. Luckily, they stopped showing those images very shortly on the news as someone high up must have deemed them too much to bear.

I'll say....


I went to work that day with the administration huddled around the lone TV in the teacher's lounge. Many teachers didn't come in that day and it was a bit stressful and confusing. NOBODY wanted to be there. People were even scared that our military town of San Diego would get attacked. Many people just wanted to be home where it was safe with loved ones. The jr high students didn't really have a clue as to the magnitude. In fact, true -to-youth they seemed more excited to gossip excitedly at it and describe the blast, the violence, the images...

Mark later told me he stayed glued to his Black and White, bunny ear antennae TV for the next 10 hours straight.

I would have done the same, had I been able to.

In memory of this 9-year anniversary, I felt compelled to note my memory of that fateful morning. As many have said since then, "We cannot forget." We cannot forget that day and how many it affected. My prayers and thoughts go this day with anyone affected first-hand..and for our troops whom fight overseas as we speak - - almost ten years later.

God Bless America.

Family videography

Some video taken at the weekend with the Familia -

Here I am BUSTED! I was supposed to be watching the baby and she is so quick that while filming her she gets into mischief!

Bay-Area Araiza-Love

I had the good fortune to visit some extended family in the Bay Area a couple weeks ago. I stayed with my Aunt Nora and Uncle David at their garden villa in Oakland - - just l-o-v-e-l-y and so relaxing. They became grandparents (insert angel chorus “ahhhhh” here) this year when both their children became first-time parents with their spouses.

In addition to wanting to see all of them and their babies, my other cousin Maddy also had her first baby and lives nearby. I got such a kick to see my closest cousins as parents. These cousins to me were practically my best friends growing up – that’s what happens when you have strict, protective parents who don’t let you hang out with school kids or at the mall like others did or spend the night at friends' houses. Which is fine in this case – my childhood with these cousins was fun, wonderful and full of laughter and fond memories!

Very special to me this particular weekend was that I also got to spend a lot of time talking with my sweet Aunty Nora and my generous Uncle David – who not only put me up but threw a garden party for all the cousins, spouses, and babies to come. Also visiting were my sister Sylvia and her husband Tim who brought along some of his family who live nearby.

What a loving afternoon we had. I felt incredibly centered just after the 2 days – and had 2 nights of some appreciated and restful sleep. Thanks, again, to the Northern Cal Araiza-contingent - I love you all very much!
Click on slideshow below:

Bay Area Familia

The Daily Burn

I love to work out to the limit that my injuries allow. In fact, I wish I could work out harder but the body ain’t willing.

So I was reading a “Shape” magazine on a Bay Area flight home and one of the things I saw was a free application for the Iphone of the daily burn. Have you ever wondered, like me, just how many calories you really consume each day? Or what is your protein ratio to carbs? Well, this is a PERFECT way to find out!

First let me preface this by saying yes, I have an Iphone now. My husband made me take his once he got the 4G one. And, to be fair, I begrudgingly needed a better phone since I go to LA and am in the car a lot and I would actually sometimes call him a couple times a day to check my email from his lab. Those who know me KNOW I hate gadgets and STINK at learning technology - - I am ready to go back to horse-and-buggy days anytime and still prefer to write by hand my daily planner just as I’ve been doing since 1990 in my freshman year of college.

The first and only thing I DID want on this blessed phone was the Tetris app and I got that on a couple weeks ago. For me to download this as my 2nd app shows just how serious I am about this website. I love it. It is very informative! You look up exactly what you ate for meals and snacks; click on it and it maintains that info. At the end of the day you have the entire breakdown of calories, protein, carbs, and fat intake. It also has a water meter- how many of the eight 300ml glasses are you truly drinking each day? Depending on my job and/or travel I don’t always make it – yesterday I only did 6 glasses. The day before I did 10. I especially appreciate that the site works with actual brands - I had hummus at lunch and when I put in the brand name as well as ‘hummus’ it popped up the exact size and picture of the one I buy at CostCo. I put in ‘Activia Vanilla yogurt’ instead of just ‘yogurt’ to get the true nutritional info. Brilliant!
I highly recommend it to everyone. Although I hate doing it on my phone – takes way too long and I think I am already getting carpel tunnel in my fingers using the silly thing (please don’t get me started on texting from an Iphone – ugh). Well, if you are like me and hate being on your phone, do it on your computer or laptop online! Much easier – que bueno!

Lastly: be honest! I even put in the tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and the little bit of feta cheese I throw on my dinner salad, heck – even the cinnamon and 10 almonds I put on my oatmeal in the morning - - it all adds up and at the end of the day I am pretty confident that my nutritional results and chart are close - give or take 10-20 calories.

There is more to the website – track/plan your workouts – I am not even tackling that part of it. But I did put in my current weight and the 5 pound weight-goal loss I’d like to lose since having a very bad injury-ridden year. It told me that for my height, age, weight, and activity level to lose my 5 pounds I should be eating about 1860 calories. Yesterday I cleared 1455 – and 300 of that was a total splurge of desert which I normally do not do. It’s interesting that with even my discipline and low fat, low-calorie diet how quickly things can add up. But that said, I am pretty sure most every day I average 1000 calories – and NOT enough protein for sure. I average 50 grams of protein per day and I need about 130grams – YIKES! More tofu and egg whites need to be added!