Your’s truly and your’s truly…

I have to be honest….I thought this was more like what I should go to in another 15 years.  But I surprisingly had a great time.  The American Wine &Food Festival was an experience that fulfilled all my tastebuds expectations!  Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff graciously invited me to come and get a taste of some amazing wines and fantastic foods at the Universal lot.

Some of the brilliant chefs, Luciano Pellegrini and Nico Chessa, got down and dirty and still had time to say “Cheese”.

Chef Paul Prudhomme didn’t let me in on any of his secret’s in the kitchen. But I did get to taste his Louisiana cooking!!

They even had a Patron Ice Bar that served martinis!  It was all about the raspberry martini.

My sister, Danielle, had to have seconds!

And then I started having “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”…
The oh so Fabulous, Robin Leach! I was dying under that smile…I kept it together though.

Ism?… stay open minded, ya neva know what kind of  surprises will come from a simple invite!

Go! Go!….Digit perspiring. The McFam watchin.

So I hear that our close friends, Frankie and Dion, have the FIT. I just so happened to be in the area….no really, I was in the area! Well, I was in the general vacinity. Anyways, I had to try it out! Let me tell you, Digit and I had a ball! And it was alot harder than I had anticipated. Apparently, my balance and reflexes are equivalent to a 56 year old. That is very reassuring isn’t it? Thank God Seven was there to cheer us up after feeling slightly out of shape.

Look at those cheeks!…Que linda preciosa!

I was shocked  the next morning when I was sore.  All in all, it was a great time and I am on the wretched waiting list for my very own.

FITism?…go get one and get in Shape!

I know what I want, but I am not sure Rosendo understands me…

After about one month of not having a gardner, what better way to wake up on a beautiful Saturday morning than the sound of rakes and chain saws?! I would ask my family, but they aren’t speaking to me just yet. As for myself, I was very excited! Not only did we have them doing the usual trimmings, but we also indulged in the art of Tree Trimming. For those of you who have not been exposed to this extraordinary craft, let me educate you.

Basically this guy comes with a chain saw in one hand, a branch cutter in the other, and some contraption on his feet to stab into the tree so he doesn’t fall out of the tree while trimming it.
He is camera shy…

He proceeds to climb the tree and once at the top, starts chopping off branches one by one.  This is where I became an emotional wreck!  How could we?!  What harm has the tree done?  These guilty questions of my moral standing on Trees suddenly took over my conscious!  It was too late!  Within 20 minutes, I was staring at a whole new tree.

The before and after…..

And although I was slightly emotional about what happened to our trees, I am so glad we trimmed them.  Come to find out, there were a couple dead branches and one in particular had a type of beetle eating the core away.  Good thing we caught it in time or our beautiful trees would have, one day out of no where, collapsed!  Yikes!  I guess you could say in fashion terminology, that our trees went from potato saks to tre chic!

Who knew an insect could do this??

Ism?…Tree trimmers are our friends.

Everyday  I am reminded of how blessed I am to do what I do for a living. But ever so often I am taken back by just how great my work days can be.

So I booked a commercial for The Humane Society and it was shooting in San Diego.  There’s nothing better than working and supporting an organization I believe in!  I knew I was going to love this job, but had no idea the surprises that awaited me!
Here I am getting my “mask” put on.

It was  2 day shoot.  The drive down to San Diego has always been a therapeutic one for me and to top it off I can catch up with my dear friend who lives down there too!! I ended up being the arm trophy for the “real” principal in the spot, Macaroni. We had a blast together.
He was very professional!..LOL

It ended up being quite the trip!  I got to take some time off in the middle of shooting for about 6 hours and went to an amusement park, rode bikes on the boardwalk, and soaked in some rays Cali style!!  All of this was with the director, Theresa Weinberger, who was so fantastic to work with and Olivia Miles, the very talented stylist!

One of the oldest rollercoasters in the country, Giant Dipper.

The view from the top of the Giant Dipper…which was a pretty good coaster for being vintage! The view was awesome.

One of those swing rides that I thought I was going to die on!….No lie I have a fear of heights and when that puppy raised me higher than 4 stories I was done! You know it is bad when you start reflecting on your life and how to escape injury in case the ride collapses!

There is this thing called Gut Instinct?!…I should have listened!

And since I was going for it why not take it a step further and ride just one more ride! Of course this last spinner was a doosy. Olivia and I almost raised our hands to stop the ride it was so intense!

Theresa, Olivia, and I before the nausea…

Mr. and Mrs. Jean Paul Gautier were gracious to take me to the very fine sushi establishment, Harney Sushi.  All the servers wear t-shirts that read “Miso Harney”!  Hysterical!

Thank God my very good friends, Monika and J.P., could meet for Sushi after a very long but totally necessary, invigorating day!

Miss you so much girl! Thanks for a great dinner!!

Ism?…Take time to smell the roses, especially when the director is!

I remember my first experience at the dentist, do you?  I remember how excited I was.  All I wanted was the new toothbrush and toy at the end of my visit, as a reward for the confident smile establishing phrase “No Cavities”.  Well, as a mother I could care less about the toy or toothbrush, but still want to her that beautiful phrase that  confirms my I am instilling good hygiene habits for my daughter.

We have hit some bumps in the road.  I have discovered in the “Land of Mamahood” that just because my teeth were resilient to cavities, does not mean that my child will have the same experience.  Recently we had an appointment with our family dentist, Dr. Jamie Sands.  Aires had a cavity and it had to go!  It just so happened that I was watching our niece, Chloe, the same day.  Any other toddler would probably have zero interest in the dentist….not Chloe.  She wanted to watch the whole process.  Aires was a trooper and super brave. So was Chloe.  A little too brave,  she wanted to be next after Aires was finished!  Chloe wanted to feel part of the experience so we let her in on the t.l.c. that followed the extraction.

Chloe even put on the same “pobrecita me” face as her big cousin, Aires Amor.

Days later coincidentally Chloe had her first visit to the dentist and got her first toy and toothbrush. Woohoo!

Chloe makes it look easy…

TOOTHism?…healthy teeth and gums come first cuz ya always want the toothbrush and toy.