My 26th Birthday!

Some may consider having a birthday 5 days from christmas a mis-fortune...and I'm not going to lie, at times I did (when I thought I was getting gipped by family with the 1-4-all gift)... but a perk of my birth DATE is that our christmas travels have always been on or around MY BIRTHDAY! I have always been blessed to celebrate my special day of the year in some pretty interesting ways and places =), this year was no different!

This year we set off on our Christmas vacation Trip the 19th of December at 10:30pm....taking the red-eye from LA to MIA...which meant that I turned 26 in MID AIR! I have flown a lot on my birthday* but I don't think I've every woken up on my birthday on a Flight =).

*I will never forget my 10th Birthday when the whole plane sang me Happy Birthday on the Flight as we headed to Connecticut to see SNOW for the first time---which by the way Nico has me beat for sure! He saw the real thing falling from the sky when he was 3 weeks old in Austin and then got to see it all around at Yosemite National Park when he was about a year and a half.

Hello Miami!!!! Happy Birthday to ME!!!

When arrived in Miami we went STRAIGHT TO BREAKFAST at LA CARRETA with my parents, sister, and Peter's dad! I had DELICIOUS steak and eggs with freshly squeezed orange juice....if you could only image how tasty it was. To top it off I had freshly butter drenched cuban toast (as they only know how to make at Cuban Restaurants) and then headed straight to the hair salon where I received the royal treatment (after some not so nice comments about my appearance) from hair coloring to PANI/PEDI with foot rub and all--thanks to MY SISTER =).

After my mini makeover Manuela dropped me off at the FLORES B&B... I got to hangout with my pumpkin head for a while and explore the Flores' abuelos new remodelings around their home... Mama and Papa went out for a run (humid/hot) and then got ready for dinner, which I thought would be just Peter, my sister, Juan, and I....but turned out to be a SURPRISE DINNER FOR ME at Crazy about you!

Thanks Peter and Manu for setting up this surprise for me =) and thank you all:

Juan, Maru, Nico, Anthony, Yesi, Jeanette, Danielle, Danny, Chris G., Patrick, Vicky, Angela, Andrew, Barbie, Vanessa, Michi, and Arturo for joining in on the CELEBRATION!!! I had a blast!!! And THANKS to all of you who celebrated with me in Spirit...all the calls, FB messages, emails, and notes MADE ME FEEL SO SPECIAL---MUAHHH!

25 years....reflection

Yesterday was my birthday...25!

I celebrated with some friends at Lolita in Brickell (Annie,Ricky, Juan, Kenn, and Alan weren't in the picture-But were there too). I felt very special...with all the calls, emails, Facebook messages, and gifts...Thank you all!!!

A whole quarter century!

Some things I've learned:

• God has a sense of humor---he's actually HYSTERICAL!
• You have to believe that you can do things, be better, and handle whatever life throws your way! Montalvo always used to say: If you believe 1/10th of 1% of what I believe in you, you'd be amazed at what you can do.....and it's true--a little self confidence can go a LONG way.
• Adaptation is one of the most important skills to have when trying to lead a HAPPY life.
• Friendships need tune ups and attention .
• Your parents seem a lot more reasonable, smart, and self-less as you get older--and ACTUALLY start realizing some of the sacrifices that they have made over the years for US.
• The fairy tales that we heard, saw, and read about growing up--DO EXIST...except we have slightly different plots, and characters in ours.
• You don't always get what you want...If you're lucky you get what you didn't even know you wanted and SOOOO MANY MORE AWESOME THINGS!
• The joy that comes from loving my beautiful pumpkin head and my amazing husband doesn't compare to any other feeling in the world!

I love my family, friends, and LIFE!! Thank you all for being a part of my life.

I hope the next 25 years are as amazing as these first 25!

December-Let the Craziness begin!!

Today is the FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER,

my favorite month of the year!

When I woke up this morning Peter said---I'm going to the gym....that wasn't the romatic part, haha. He then said- Happy 42 months, which for those of you who can't count, or don't want to divide...it's 3 years and 6 months!!

We met 7 years ago at a Party at UF when I was still in High School. Throughout my first couple years at UF I saw Peter and other friends out and about, I'd visit them at their house, and once we even went out on a sushi date...but we were just friends. About 4 years ago we started hanging out more consistently (on purpose)--I guess you can call it dating, during Spring semester of my Junior (his senior) year. When the summer came around, he told me- "I'm not ready for -US- to be over"...and I was super surprised that he felt that way, but really excited. We both had EURO trips planned for that summer and so we talked about how nice it would be to meet up in Europe...but nothing concrete came out of it. We both went along our marry ways. I would get the occasional phone call or random email from Peter when he was abroad....THEN IT HAPPENED!!! I was in Budapest visiting my friend/roomate Boglarka and Peter was hanging out in Vienna with Dre, Jeanette, and D-daddy. I had told B that I wanted to surprise Peter in Vienna...and she went along with it...took me to the train station--LITTLE DID I KNOW that Peter and B had been plotting to SURPRISE ME!!!

From Hungary

When I saw Peter on that Train Platform I threw my book bag (which in retrospect was not a very good idea since it had my passport and money but whatever) and ran right past Jeanette (since I didn't know her yet) and d-daddy screaming right into Peter's arms. Everyone has their fairy tale moment....I'm lucky cause this was just the FIRST of many FAIRY tale moments that I have been able to share with Peter!!! That same day (a couple hours later) he suggested we make it official---and the rest is history, lol.

Here is a slideshow of my trip to Budapest...=)

As if walking down memory lane wasn't enough...

Let me tell you some other reasons why this is going to be the most action-packed EXCITING month of 2010:

5 days til our Good-Bye Party with our friends here!

11 days left in Austin
12 days til we leave to Colombia
15 days til Nico get's baptized
20 days til my 25th Birthday!!!!!

22 days till Nico and Mommy Fly to our NEW HOME CITY!!
23 days til find/move into our new Apartment in LOS ANGELES!! (And get to see Gretchen and Myles, Peace Corps Friends--who will be in LA for a couple days before heading back to Panama)

24 days til BABY JESUS is BORN---Noche Buena!
25 days til Nico's First Christmas

31 days til WE WAIT FOR 2011!!!