Where'd she go?

I've done it again. Neglected this sad little blog. So I wasn't sick forever. It finally went away after like two weeks. Then school was all lame and almost over. Work was always work and this is actually my first full time week of the summer. I still had some fun squeezed here and there. Of course food and more delicious food was involved. Anyway here are some clues as to what has kept me away from being an actual blogger rather than just a blog reader.

Mitchell's Ice Cream with Esperanza

Finding a dress I like in the size I used to be, trying it on and being sad it fit too big but glad I'm not size 11 anymore. I'm actually holding it up with my armpits and I tied it extra tight.

Finally seeing my best friend Lorena while dining at the delicious Pauline's Pizza.

Studying for finals while eating my favorite snack: Chobani Greek Yogurt with TJ's 3 Berries granola

Mother's Day at Elephant Bar

Supporting my brother on his Confirmation Day. Yay Saint Michael!

Pigging out after the confirmation. Pupusa, carne asada, camarones, quinoa, macaroni salad and chimole (salsa) that Judit Maria and I made.

but being able to burn off all the food afterwards by playing some dancing game on the Wii. I was about to sweat; I don't sweat for real, only about to mode. haha

Memorial Day Weekend picnic in Menlo Park celebrating Judit Maria's Graduation.

Finding my first true holo OPI DS polish.. while sporting naked nails for like two weeks, gasp!!

Finally having a Krispy Kreme Doughtnut in Union City after years of not having a fresh one. They closed the nearest shops to me.

Visiting my old stomping grounds to see my brother play his trumpet at the Music concert.

Getting a haircut. Just a layered trim. Can't really tell.

Saying farewell to Myles, Molly, Amanda and Justin. Welcoming Nora and Charles and the other million people who have just moved in to the dorm.

And having pupusas in San Rafael after my car pulled a joke on me the day after I picked it up from the dealership; my Emergency Brake light, ABS, and IMA lights were all on.

Well I'm sure there were many more activities which unfortunately I did not photograph and cannot currently remember.. Oh well.

Pascua. Easter.

Easter is an exciting time. My family doesn't care about the fluffy stuff associated with Easter such as egg hunts, bunnies and sugar loaded candies. Those are all a thing of the past. Of course those were supre awesome back when I was like under ten years old. Though I must say, I bought a box of Peeps pink marshmallows as soon as they hit stores in like February, but I only managed to eat one before my brother had finished the entire box and his own blue box.

Anyway, Easter for me is what most people have forgotten about. The ressurection of Jesus Christ. So Holy Week is spent at many church activities all leading to the main event. On Saturday night before Easter Sunday, we have an Easter vigil. Every year we make the vigil all night from around 11pm or midnight until about 7am on Easter Sunday. It is a very exciting celebration.
 
My favorite part is the very beginning where the vigil starts with the lights out and the blessing of the Paschal Candle. Everyone is given a small candle and the fire is spread throughout the entire church beginning with the main Paschal Candle. It's awesome to see how the light spreads and just the glow of everyones candles is magical.
 
I also like that during the vigil there are usually an average of 5 baptisms. It's exciting to see the many babies, kids and sometimes adults be baptized, also kids make their first communion and sometimes some adults receive their confirmation. I did all those outside of an Easter Vigil but it would have been more special to have received those sacraments during an Easter vigil.

Anyway it was a long night but for me it sure didn't feel that way. I didn't even come close to falling asleep nor did I feel hungry. I was happy and attentive thoughout the night. My brother is usually the one falling asleep everywhere: in the car, in church, in the shower, on buses, etc. So I had joked earlier Saturday night that he should take one of those 5 hour energy bottles, and funny enough, at the first head nod he gave during the vigil, my mom pulled out of her pocket none other than a bottle of 5 hour energy!  My brother only drank some of it and luckily it was enough to keep him from falling asleep.
 
Once the vigil ended around 7am, everyone was filled with joy and ready to head out for an early morning 'dinner'. Mayra and I took a picture together as we have celebrated Easter Vigils together for the past eight years. This time she was lucky that her boyfriend was able to experience the vigil as well.

After church we went to a nearby restaurant with other church members. I had a plate with grilled shrimp, fries, salad and rice. I don't know if I've mentioned here before, but I have given up rice from my diet and replaced it with the ever so amazing quinoa, but that morning was an exception. Besides I was finally hungry and the restaurant probably hadn't heard of quinoa.  

Well finally after a long night of celebration and an early dinner, my family made the road trip back home and could not wait until we hit the beds for our annual post-pascual sleep. My family fell asleep in the car but I was the lucky driver listening to the choir of snores along the way. Once we got home I was able to snap a picture of my happy mama before she went to bed and self timed a picture of my self in my backyard.

That's my tradition of Pascua. How did you spend your Easter?

Almost Easter!

Well my muffins, I've done it again haven't I? Abandoned my imaginary audience ha-ha anyway I'm excited that it's almost Easter which means a lot of church, dresses and food.

Well I don't know if I've mentioned before but the only new years resolution that I've kept to this year is the absence of jeans and the attempts of dressing better. So far I've managed to wear skirts and non jeans pants apart from my work uniform (which aren't jeans anyway.) The only exception I've made is my black pair of Levis skinny which are a last resort for an outfit.

Today I wore a new Calvin Klein dress I just bought at goodwill new with tags. I felt all grown up as I shopped around San Francisco with my brother. He's lucky to have an awesome sister like me to spend money on him ha-ha. I bought him a new suit at Express, check it out.

We also finally ate at Coriander down at the westfield food court which was really good. My brother had the biggest cooked shrimp I have ever seen! I had the sweet lime fish which was of course delicious.

Anyways, every Easter is very special and calls for new dresses. unfortunately I always wait til the last minute to find one and then settle for the best cheapest one. This year is no different. I wanted to buy the Garden Isle dress from Shabby Apple's South Pacific collection but the pay check situation was worrying me especially since I had been threatened with government shut downs ha-ha so until now the hunt will go on for my Easter dress... and shoes! It's funny that my family only buys new clothes for Christmas and Easter. The rest of the year is thrifted.

Well now, more later.. must do some more dress hunting online so I can shop quicker at the stores tomorrow.

I've become about android?!

Hello invisible audience! I've been gone from the blogging world yet again... anyway.. fun news though, I got a fancy new phone yesterday. It was my brother's birthday and all he wanted was a new teléfono so we all walked out of the store with fancy cellulars. So now that I've got my cool HTC inspire thingy (which I'm using now.. duh) I'll hopefully blog some more. So here's a random picture of some eat time yesterday.

Pancho Villa Taqueria

I've had Pancho Villa since I was like 6 years old? I used to live just a block away on 16th and Valencia in San Francisco, a very popular area that is always changing nowadays. I've been to so many taquerias in my life but Pancho Villa is pretty much my favorite since I grew up with it I guess.


I love being able to order my food in español and point to the yummy food. Unlike an unfortunate event at Lucinda's in Mill Valley. I am sorry but I felt wrong ordering mexican food from a white lady. No offense but it felt unnatural and it had never happened before. Gosh how can I say this without offending? It just felt weird that the like only 'authentic mexican' in Mill Valley was full of white people.

Anyway, It's nice to actually see what's going into your meal. Anyway the food is always fresh because they're so busy all the time so they're constantly replenishing.

I love their frescos, especially the fresco de melon. Cantaloupe juice. Mmm.

For a while it kind of became a habit for my parents and I to eat at Pancho Villa every Wednesday before going to church or even home. It was like a ritual. Every Wednesday. Then if we skipped a week it felt so weird. This place has become the usual spot where we'll always be satisfied.

I am apparently hypnotised by the superliciousness of my fresco de melon. &&& my orange Revlon Siren lipstick that I've come to love.

I almost always order a baby burrito, green spinach tortilla, carne asada, mild salsa, whole black beans, cheese and rice. I'm not into guacala-mole. (Guacala = Eww.) & I love the basic red salsa, it has a ruch flavor even though it isn't spicy. Now the orange sauce is relatively newish and pretty spicy. I didn't convert to spicy foods until I met Esperanza haha. Us Salvadorians don't do spicy. Except Mayra who wants tabasco on everything.. oh and myself now.

Well.. can't wait until the next Pancho Villa trip. No other burrito can compare.

Weekend retreat and reunion

This weekend my parents and I went off to a church retreat. I've been following many fashion blogs and recently focusing on the vintage inspired ones. I love the simple but fancy style that women used to have. I like to think I'm pretty old fashioned by what I believe in and like.

Anyway I was trying to put together my outfits to bring to the retreat & decided to put my hair in rollers for the first time since I took them and experimented with them from my Grandma's room when I was like 5. Here's what happened..

I didn't blow dry it so when I got to the retreat that night I quickly took them out before walking in the hotel but me plus wet hair means a disastrous puff ball and frizz is to come.

It was curly in place for like 2 minutes then it went back to its natural state and dried. Ergh!!

The next morning I decided to quit the hair and just put it in a bun trying to hide the mess. So I went on to brekkie and enjoyed it so dearly.

I was glad to spend the weekend at the retreat with my bestie Mayra. We never see eachother anymore..

She didn't mind my hair messy or in a bun but later the bun decided to hate me too. I really liked my outfit. Skirt was my grandmother's, fave silver pumps thrifted, silver/grey metallic belt from Target, white tank from A&F, turquoise Jackie cardigan from J. Crew. I'm beginning to feel my age now so I've decided to try and look it older of being mistaked for a 15/16 year old. Srsly!?

Anyway.. later in the retreat we had mass so I had to change and I tried to style my hair in five minutes. I also put on some lipstick which I never wear!

I like that it's red but not super deep red. I haven't found a good deep red that looks good yet.

My lips are trying to match my mom's blazer.

Here's my 2nd outfit. J. Crew dress, Target belt, Joey shoes from Ross. See the hair is still volumed up and sort of curled? the back of my head is horrendous.

Anyway that night I gave the rollers another chance. I smoothed my frizzies with my straightener and while the hair was still hot I quickly rolled them. I slept in them and in the AM my hair looked like this.

I quickly began to fall out though because I didn't bring any hairspray and anti-frizz didn't hold up. So as the day progressed these pretty curls died. After the retreat we went back to San Fran to meet up with my older brother whom we hadn't seen since 2006 and was in town on a business trip. So we went out for a quick dinner at Boudin in Fisherman's Wharf.

His name is Javier and he lives in El Salvador. See I have three brothers. One you always see and two who live in El Salvador. I haven't met the oldest yet, William though I hope to see him one day very soon. Javier I hadn't met until I went the one and only time to El Salvador when I was 8. He came back to the US with me and lived with us here for a month. Then in 2005 he came to live with us again for about a year.

Here's my family with our friend Reynaldo who's a Priest.. and we always forget is a Priest haha He's pretty cool. Oh and some hotel guy took our pic and made us laugh when he said "Pizza."

Hopefully with his cool travel filled job we'll have more opportunities like this to see eachother.

Oh and this was my 3rd outfit: lace skirt from Target, pink Lace top from Charlotte Russe & my thrifted silver pumps. Note the uncurled hair! Noo! Oh well at least it wasn't frizzified.