Navidad 2007

Here are pictures of our Navidad in Monclova, Mexico, with a little visit to Monterrey and Cuatro Cienegas. Click on the picture to see it in a larger size!




My nephew, Angelito, is an adorable toddler who has a great personality and talks up a storm. He was enthralled by all the "new" family members and enjoyed visiting with everyone!




My newest nephew, Armandito, was born recently and we got to see him, although he had a cold and did not leave his warm room much. His poor parents were enjoying being able to sleep and get some rest when they could because he is not quite on a schedule yet and being sick they had to get up often to take care of him.



<-- 4 generations of Armando

<- Angelito's trampoline that we all helped put together
Centro Salud Animal, Monterrey, MX
This clinic belongs to our friends Carlos and Abril and we were really happy to be able to go see it!










This is the reception from above

<- Toys and clothes

<- The exam room

<- Tortas La Purissima

1 avocado per sandwich (heaven!!)

Check out how popular the place is!

<- Calle Morelos, pedestrian shopping center in Monterrey

<- Macroplaza with the Cerro de

la Silla in the background

Statue of the steel worker

<-Traffic and public transportation

<- Poseidon's Fountain in the Macro

Faby & Cerro de la Silla

<- Museo del Palacio de Gobierno

<- Giant basket tree in front of the Museo de Historia Mexicana, a very nice museum.

Faby and Rocio

<- El Paseo Santa Lucía that was built last year and stretches from the Museo de Historia Mexicana to Parque Fundidora. It is 2.5 km long and has 22 water fountains and lots of walkways and canals. Your can either take a boat or walk along it. We took the boat ride.

<- Dinner at Rey del Cabrito, a popular restaurant in Monterrey. Where we had cabrito, traditional dish of northern Mexico. Cabrito means baby goat and they have all sorts of cuts. We both had head tacos.

Bowling in Monclova

Cuatro Cienegas

These are some natural hot springs about 2 hrs west of Monclova. They are not very big, but they are nice and warm and have super clear water. The day was cold, but that didn't stop DJ from going into the water!!

<- The rest of us played petanque (aka. bocche ball)

On our way back home, we went through San Antonio and visited for a little with JPL and Donna. Here are the boys with their rival scarves.

Merry Christmas!

DJ, Faby, Angelik & Figaro

Reaching goals

The end of the year has come and I am starting to really think about the goals I set for myself this year and if they have been accomplished... truth is, it is so difficult to truly reach certain goals because life seldom goes according to plan!

So goals that I have actually reached:

• Moving into my very own home! This was a big one that almost did not happen. In fact, we were starting to look around and thinking about selling the house and buying in another area. What a big mistake that would have been! I mean, I loved my job and we were making friends, but the town we were living in just seemed to be going to shit! Did I really want to establish myself and my family and... my life there? Let's face it, violence is up, crime is up, gangs are up, why on earth would someone choose to live in an area with high incidences of such things when it was just as easy to pack up and move (again) to a nicer, smaller town. Not that Chico doesn't have it's issues, it does, but we have moved to a nice area with good neighbors, that is not so close to the seedy part of town. True we could have moved to a dingier town and gotten a newer and cheaper house. But bigger and newer isn't always better. Things like peace-of-mind just seem like a better idea, and remodeling a home is always an option!
• Losing weight! Joined weight watchers and lost 10 pounds! I loved it! Still can basically eat what I want, just have to watch quantities and try to do more exercise (which I suck at) and not eat fast-food so much. Really, it was a good experience. Now, I only weighed 135 lbs. and most people would have said that I did not need to lose weight. But I'm only 5'1" and not very big-boned and I LOVE food (did I already mention I don't do exercise well?), so losing weight was really a hard thing to do, but I needed to get rid of my little spare tire! So now at 125 lbs. and feeling really good about it. I could firm up some, again the exercise thing... but I am feeling really good about myself and I think that is HUGE! Trying to stick with WW and do maintenance, feeling good about it. My biggest issue is not knowing how to categorize certain foods and meals and feeling like maybe I "over-point" or "under-point" some foods that I can't find true point values on. Still working on that...
• Getting back into the theater!! This is a big one! FINALLY got my butt out there and auditioned for a show and got a part! Albeit not a big part, but I am cool with that. Better to start off slow and see if I can handle the time commitment and stress of being in a show. Maybe stress is a bad word to express it, but with a show something usually gets put on the back-burner... It feels good to be out there and doing something with my "extra" time, it is a good way to meet people with similar interests and a good way to get involved with a community. I spend too much time, as it is, in front of the TV or the computer and this forces me to be out there actually interacting with people and working on my memory (which has gotten so bad!) with the lines and songs.

I don't want to dwell on goals I haven't reached this year, I find they are more because of beaurocracy and time constraints than any other reason, so I will re-assess those goals and work on them this coming year...