Sandoogans' Log

  My birthday shoutout to Bolonee. Today is Bolonee’s birthday. I’ve know this guys since we were in 4th grade. That was my last year Stanford Elementary before we moved and I had to go to a completely brand new school: San Miguel. When I say new, I mean built from the ground up. I remember being so impressed by how beautiful it was when I first set foot on it. I didn’t see Bolonee again until we were in jr high. We became best buds. I’m happy that we’re still in touch, and close friends, till this day. We’re both family folk now. Sometimes I still trip out on how we’re adults now, and have kids who are our age when we started kicking it. I remember in high school after being inspired by the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, we said if we weren’t married by the time we were 28 we’d get married. Thank god for both of us it didn’t come to those extremes. That would have been the ultimate sacrifice haha! 

Shameless old picture of myself. Just cause it's a birthday post.  I love my birthday. I think I've said it in past posts before, but me being the lazy arse that I am, didn't bother to look. Let's just pretend that I did. Ha! I tend to get the birthday blues a lot. I'm not sure why. Well, maybe it's because I build it up so much in my head as this big event. Technically for me it is, but yea. This year was no different than the past years. I got down about it. The only difference was I couldn't seem to shake the blues away, AND I really didn't feel like doing anything at all. Everything felt kind of forced on my part. I felt I was doing thing just for the sake of doing things on my birthday. I'm not sure if it's because of my hormones or because I've finally reached that alleged age where people don't care about their birthdays. I remember when I was a kid, even as an adult, I'd get so excited about my birthday. Older people ...

Sami's cowgirl attire was on point. Lots of denim and boots. Sami and the birthday girl! Today was the first official day that we let Sami venture off on her own. She was inviting to go horseback riding with one of her friends. For some reason we thought they were going to Griffith Park. Wrong. They were going horseback riding in the city of Norco. At first Mr. A and I were not going to let her go. We felt it was too far and didn't feel comfortable sending her off. Then we agreed she could go if one us of went along with her. Sami ultimately said she didn't want us to go (are we there now?) and just wanted to go with her friend and her family. After speaking with her friend's mom a few times (we had met in person before) I was convinced. The hard part was going to be convincing Mr. A. I knew I'd be getting my ear chewed off but figured I'd take one for the team. Sure enough, I got my ear chewed off but managed to convince Mr. A to let Sami go. Needle...

I had such an amazing time this year for my birthday celebration. I basically did what I wanted to do last year: karaoke, local spot and cheap booze. It was great! I also loved the fact that it was raining all day. Quite the glorious gift from mother nature. Fortunately for me the rain didn't stop my nearest and dearest from coming out to celebrate my born day. We laughed. We sang. We drank. We were merry.  I don't exactly know why, to be honest, but somehow this birthday meat a lot. Perhaps because I expected nothing and felt like I got everything. I appreciated all the rounds, all the gifts and all the memories. Most importantly, I appreciated everyone who showed up. I love you all and felt the love you have for me. Thank you. Cheers to you!

One of my favorite pictures from the night. Some of the homies from my birthday bash. I would have posted more but  I think this picture looks best on its own. So I'm a tad a bit late posting my birthday shenanigans for this year, but late is better than never. This year I wasn't sure if I was going to do anything. I'm pregnant and obviously my party options are zero. I was thinking of just having a dinner and that would be that, but I was turning 35! Truth be told even if it was a random age I'd still want to celebrate. It's my birthday! I ended up having a little shindig at my friend Allie and Manuel's place. Allie totally went out of her way making handmade decorations, setting up and even buying beautiful flowers for the tables. I am beyond grateful for all the hard work and time she put in making my birthday as special as it could be; and it was. Manuel also did a great job manning the grill. His grilling skills are the best! So thanks guys for a...

Some of the goodies from the show.  I was super stoked about this. I had been wanting this forever.  It had been about 3 or 4 years since the last time I seen Kings of Leon perform live. That was actually my first and only time I had seen them. The show was at the Hollywood Bowl and my compadre had given Mr. A and I some tickets to the show. They were sold out and he managed to score a pair. He felt it was almost a sin if we didn't go. The reason for that is because Kings of Leon is pretty much my and Mr. A's band. Some people have songs, we have a band. Although we loved and appreciated our experience very much, we knew the next time around we had to go all out, and we did. When I found out Kings of Leon came out with a new album I knew they'd be coming to town soon. As soon as I found the sale dates I was on it! I wanted to surprise Mr. A with the tickets and give it to him as a birthday gift, his birthday is next week, but since I was dropping mucho din...

Happy birthday to the greatest dad ever! Words cannot express how much this man means to me. Saying I love him doesn't even come close to how I feel. He helped me become the woman I am today. Although I didn't quite understand when I was younger and swore if I ever had kids I wouldn't do this or that, I find myself doing the same thing. It all makes sense now and I am totally grateful for the way he raised me. Gracias papi por enseñarme a decir gracias y por favor, por enseñarme a apreciar las cosas, por siempre estar a mi lado y sober todo apoyarme. Te agradesco todo y estoy muy orguyosa por tener un papa como tu. I love you papi!

I've been trying to decide what to do for my birthday well, since my last birthday. I personally love my birthday. I think of it as my own personal holiday. I think I've mentioned this before. When I was younger I was way worse when it came to my birthday. My answering machine would have birthday songs, I would leave messages reminding people my birthday was coming up and I was never shy of telling people what I wanted for my birthday. Actually I'm still not shy about that. I'm more than happy to tell you what I want when asked and sometimes even when I'm not. For my upcoming birthday (my birthday is in February) I've decided I want to go to New Orleans. I've never been and have always wanted to go. I feel there is so much history to see and I just imagine it as an awesome place to party. I'm not sure if this is going to happen but I'm hoping it will. After all it is my birthday. I just have one question, who's coming with me?

Photo: Emol.org Photo: NY Times  Photo: Apparenting  Most people who know me know that my birthday is a pretty big deal for me. I have no clue why I love it so much but I do. I won't deny that the excitment of my birthday isn't quite the same as it was when I was younger. Still, I look forward to my special day. I decided to celebrate in Vegas this year. It's hard to believe that my first time there was 10 years ago. I had a great time! Did the usual gambling and boozing. I got to hang out with some friends and of course had my wonderful beau next to me the whole time. It was really nice to get away for awhile from the everyday routines. One thing I did do different this time around was catch the Cirque du Soleil Beatles' Love show. It was AMAZING. Words can't express how extraordinary it truly is. I was crying within the first 3 minutes! The excitement and emotions I felt were too much for me to handle. One of the most beautiful parts in the sho...