I had a better post in my head planned out for today but I didn't get around to scanning some old school photos of my childhood. Sorry. I hope to still get around to it, but this week is going to be a short & hectic week for us since we will be gearing up to make the almost 400 mile trip back down to LA. I know I should count myself lucky having both my husband's family and mine be in the same region and that it isn't too far from us so we don't have to fly, though it would be much quicker to.

As a kid, I grew up doing (ok so I was a passive participant..but you know, it still counts) lots of road trips and camping trips, so being in the car was second nature, well that and I grew up in LA - land of many freeways, where you often need to take at least 2 freeways to get where you are going. Anyway, I hope to instill the same love of the road on my kids so they can put up with our frequent visits down to Southern California as well as future annual trips to the Pacific Northwest and especially camping. I love camping!

So here it is, Monday again..I am working today since I need to be in LA by Friday morning, so I switched my furlough day..I hope you all have a great start of your week. Here is my Monday playlist, hope you enjoy it, as I wish I could while I am at work :( (btw, Raima's favorite track is #10, it really gets her moving/dancing- even when she's nursing!).

Have you guys started your holiday shopping? Did you partake on any of the crazy sales?

This year, like previous years, I hope to make most, if not all, of our gifts but I will probably succumb to a few gift cards here and there. We try to emphasize the importance of the meaning of the holiday season, rather than the material aspect that this season is also known for. That often, giving is sometimes much more rewarding than receiving and that family is what matters.

What about you guys? Do you have any family traditions? Are any of you doing the advent calendar with your kids? How about that weird and sort of creepy elf on the shelf thing-y? And oh my goodness its DECEMBER people!

And don't forget to head on over to the GFC Collective blog hop, it is Monday, after all!

Hi Everyone. Thank you all, once again, for your thoughts, prayers and wonderful support. For some, I know during times like these, there are no words to express the comfort one wants to give. Some people find comfort in being with company and others would rather have some solitude. For me, I like to wallow in music, (how emo of me).

This Monday's playlist could have gone on..it was really hard to only choose, at most 10 songs. Music is such a great thing - always there when you need it most. In fun and happy times as well as sad and lonely times.

In Loving Memory, Pompeyo Licas, Jr.

For more information regarding the memorial services and or to learn more about my grandfather, visit the memorial page.

*To those of you who are just coming to my little blog for the first time - Welcome, I know my recent posts have been a bit sad - and while this is not usually the state this blog is in, this is my world right now. Feel free to take a look around and or stop on by these other lovely blogs and maybe add your little slice of the blogosphere here:

Well hello Monday, nice of you to come around again. Who am I kidding? I hate my Mondays..I would have had today off though but switched with my co-worker for Friday last week off because he needed today for some important appointment. Or so he said. He's probably in Vegas for all I know. 

Anyway, I'm typing this in the dark, and only using the glow of the TV and the laptop's screen to light up the keyboard and am possibly going blind because of it. Raima has finally fallen asleep on the couch to the right of me without holding me hostage. An update on Raima - She's finally choosing to walk all the time rather than resort to crawling because it was faster. If she falls down, she quickly gets back up and keeps on going. She was really funny today. Her personality is definitely coming through. Also, she clearly says Jax, whenever she hears his voice from a distance. Mostly when he's about to go down for bed or a nap and he's yelling in protest or yelling for one more hug and one more kiss (which we don't deny him of, but man can he come up with some hard to refuse excuses to not go to sleep just yet!) she will point in his direction and say - Jax? Jax? She doesn't even say mama.

So, it looks like grooveshark is still working on their stuff and I'm not able to share the playlist except for a link, so if you want to listen you can do so by going here. You will probably have to sign up though - but it's free. (I just figured out how to re-code to show my playlist to circumvent the widget problem, yipee!)


I'm glad this week is a short week and I can't wait to see my family and spend some time with them. But it looks like this will be our first year EVER having Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant! We have always spent it at a family member's house and also worked hard in the kitchen for hours or even days before to prepare but since my grandfather's health and stay at the hospital (his breathing tube was removed and he is now breathing on his own!) no one has had time to prepare for the huge feast we usually have. I don't exactly know how I feel about that yet, since well, if we are spending Thanksgiving in a restaurant, then that means the restaurant staff is spending Thanksgiving at the restaurant so that we and other's can have their Thanksgiving? I don't really like that part.

Happy Monday everyone, and since this is Motherhood & Music Mondays - feel free to share your snippets of motherhood (advice, humor, support, struggles) and or a music playlist, or new (or new to us) music you think we should check out! Thanks!

Also - remember there's the GFC Collective blog hop over here, every Monday:

No amount of books (even though I read a whole lot!), advice - solicited or not - is going to completely prepare someone on becoming a parent until it actually happens. Until it's just all there- in your face- the crying, the demands, the poop, the puke, the cute, the joy, and the chaos. Until baby is there, until it's all very real. And very real is most often very different than in the books. It's not that the books play up the sugar and spice and everything nice bit (boys are these things too by the way), ok they do a bit but it's really not easily put into words. There is no single recipe that magically answers it all for every parent and that works for every child. But some of these books, the advice, and the blogs do offer a sense of comradery (or is it camaraderie). It really helps to know that you are not alone and that other people are going through (or have gone through & survived) the mixed emotions and the chaos as well as all the good stuff. It's amazing how a little human being can set your heart instantly at ease as well as send you off into crazy panic and all sorts of discomfort often within a few hours of each other. Although I think there can be a little bit of information overload and one can start to doubt themselves and their own instincts. I know I do at times, especially when I start comparing myself and my children. It's much easier said than done, to not compare at all. But sometimes through those comparisons, I find myself readjusting things to suit my needs and family - so sometimes, its good. It adds to my parenting arsenal the experiences of other parents.

Anyway, I don't remember where I was getting at with this post but motherhood, or parenting, as they say, is not for the faint of heart. I don't admit to knowing any of the answers. I definitely don't know what I'm doing sometimes, but my kids seem to be good and doing ok. They survive each day with me and tell me they love me. They know who I am despite me going to work 8 hours out of their day. And at the end of the day - it's them who matters most. But I know how hard it is to tune others out. You just have to give yourself a break sometimes and throw your hands up in the air, take a breath and jump into the support from family, friends and the parenting community that is available - because in the end we are all just trying to be the best parents we can be.

Photo credit: Beto Lopez

My dear friend Rosalyn, gave birth to her first baby, a boy, this past week. So Happy Birthday Alileo Roger Acosta and Happy Birth giving day to you Roz!

The playlist on grooveshark is having a little hiccup (redesigning? for a pay service, perhaps? I'm not sure. Could just be me though.) but if you wanted to have a listen to what I did line up, you can go to this link. Then there is this other music site. I originally found out about it from Inspired to Share. If you've never been to Colleen's site, you should head on over there. I had bookmarked it specifically for her dream job series. I'm glad I found it again. Man, I really need to get thru all 67+ blogs on my reader!

(*Update: I got it to work :) it just took a little finagling)


Anyway, 8tracks is free and they say it's like a curated pandora, but I haven't had time to fully check the site out. There is also Rdio (our friend's husband works there) but in order to be able to listen to the playlist I create, you will have to be an Rdio subscriber, which you can get a free trial to. Most tech folks say that it's a bit better than spotify on some areas, if you haven't checked them out yet, you should. Maybe it's the music streaming service you were looking for? Me - I still listen to records and pandora (sorry Brett) because it's free. Right now, money is tight or rather nonexistent (damn it I just remembered I need to pay for my DMV registration).

I also wanted to share some sites I have on my reader. Maybe check the links out this week, if you haven't been already:

• Modern Parents, Messy Kids - A good & varied site of parenting/life topics. I found them awhile back before their re-design, when I was looking at how to organize the chaos and found this. (And Randalin, I think you should write them to include your montessori posts for their series.)
• Closet Visit - think the Selby but in people's closets!
• House of Habit - which is where I originally found the above site from.
• The Glow - again, like the Selby except having to do with mothers but very different from my reality of motherhood.
• The Longest Shortest Time - A blog about the truth of early motherhood by Hillary Frank. Her radio work has aired on This American Life, Morning Edition, and All Things Considered, just to name a few. (I was actually interviewed by her! My 15 mins of fame was a long while ago tho. But if you want to share your story about parenting, please contact her!)

Have a wonderful week! Happy Monday!

Grrr...Usually, I would have a playlist for you, but no, not today. Why not, you ask? Because the hour or so I spent creating the playlist last night (really this morning, it was past midnight already) I had on grooveshark (which I originally found out about thru this blog) all of a sudden kept playing (or rather not playing) with errors and so I refreshed and then tried again and nothing, so I hit back and when I did, there was no playlist. Apparently it didn't save any of the songs I just curated and "saved" onto my music Mondays playlist.



Oh Monday, how I loathe you..and now I have no music to get thru the day with. Not that it would have really mattered anyway because my work frowns upon music. They think its evil and is disruptive (bahumbug). We don't even have music on our hold line (I have resorted to ask to be placed on hold just to listen to some kind of music). I don't know about you but, for me - music helps me be more productive. It gets the juices flowing, the brain thinking and the body moving - ok, maybe that's why they don't allow music at my workplace.
In other news...we finally got a new camera. The photo above is courtesy of me playing with it (and using picmonkey - have you used that free site yet?!) a whole 4 days after I got it (for my birthday, I've never waited that long to open anything!). We got to play with it some more at Jax's daycare's halloween party. Where I made this cake.

I'll post photos up tomorrow & Wednesday for sure!

Hope your Monday is filled with some fun and music, especially music (I'm so jealous!).

Head on over to this lovely blog hop, to check out new blogs and gain new friends:

Again, and I've said this before - I need to listen to more music around the house. Anyways, Happy Monday everyone! I'm hopeful that this week will bring great things, although I think it's supposed to rain (yes, I know we need it but still). I used to like the rain, until I had kids. You try getting two kiddos in the car without getting frustrated and wet.

Anyway, here is a little playlist I just threw together for the third installment of Music Mondays.

Oh and Happy Birthday to our downstairs neighbor - PK (who dj'd at my surprise party).

The creative juices that is...I just made a big purchase online on some fabric (!!) and I'm feeling really good about it (and guilty since it was like $75 - that could have been for a bill or groceries instead - but hey, my birthday is coming up this month and well - I'm turning the big 3-5 (8-X..i just learned of this emoticon - see I'm not that old! It's supposed to be a skull & crossbones, you see it?) so I deserve it, right?).

I got some prints and some faux leather and suede. I'm thinking of making some clutches or tote bags with them and if it's successful, maybe I could give them as gifts for Christmas or birthdays, or that little special pay it forward gift (that sadly, only one person commented on - which was me..for a friend..sigh..).

Here is a sneak peek at some of the fabrics I ordered:


CRAP! I just realized I didn't get one of the fabrics I wanted (a soft, with an almost golden toned leather!) :(. bummed...but I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I still have to create the patterns and then actually sew them! I'll keep you guys posted (and if you still want to get in on the pay it forward action - you can comment on the finished clutch - if it's a success.)


Happy Monday! And sticking with my theme - here's some music to start your week - but I took it from  here, I'm not genius enough to compile half as good of a "mix tape" these days, nor do I have the hours that go into making a good one.  Anyway, check that site out. It's a great music blog. Click the arrow --> above to listen, or go to that site and download some other ones too. There is this music blog too.  Enjoy!


And Congratulations to our friends, who welcomed their new baby boy. Happy Birthday Jack, born on the 7th at 7:07! hmmm...

Ugh, it's Monday again people. I hate Mondays. Bleh. I was hoping to start a regular post for Mondays on this blog, so music it is..and yes because it starts with M..lame? oh whatever (I'm channeling my 80's).

So when I was watching one of my recorded shows last night - Fringe - I'm a big fan - the episode ended with this Yaz/Yazoo song (signed on as Yaz in the US. Yazoo in the UK). I'm sure most people will understand the longing that is voiced in this song. not sure if the music is for everyone but - I'm a big fan of Erasure and Depeche Mode - so, there you go. In fact, when I heard the first few notes and synths - i was like, hmm - that sounds a lot like Erasure but i know my Erasure songs..and well, at least i got part of it right  (Vince Clark, part of Yazoo/Yaz band - synths guy & former song writer from Depeche Mode, later moved on to form Erasure). I don't know why I haven't yet heard this song - well, maybe in passing - supposedly it was in "Cant Hardly Wait"(remember that movie?).  Anyway, after the episode, I went and searched for the song and found this youtube clip. I just had to hear it again. The words just resonated with me and I thought of my mom. I've been thinking about her a lot more than usual these days. Maybe because her birthday is coming up in October (mine is too). Oh wait, it's OCTOBER already! Whoa..that means, a friend of ours is "due" in a week :) with their first baby.

Anyway, music is a good way to start of the work week, at least for me. I feel as though I've started to listen less to music since having kids though, and I'm not liking that too much. I have a record collection that needs to be listened to and that my kids need to be aware of. Music was such a part of my childhood and I can't believe I haven't started a tradition yet with them.

First thing up on my home agenda = dancing with my kids listening to an Erasure album, turned all the way up ;)

*then I thought, hmm, I wonder if the blogosphere already came up with music mondays - of course they did, of course...you can link up here if you like.