Weekend Review

We had a very busy weekend. Last week sucked work-wise. It was quite busy towards the end. On Thursday I worked about 11 hours (3 of those were free) and on Friday I wasn’t able to leave as early as I wanted to leave to get ready for family visiting this weekend, but I managed. I even had time to go to my scrapbooking get together as planned. About once a month my coworker’s Creative Memories consultant hosts a scrapbooking party at her house. It’s always fun to go because I usually make some progress and get new ideas plus it’s fun to hang out with other people. While I usually work on my drunken college memories scrapbook, they are putting together their kids’ baby albums and feeling supper guilty because their kids are 2 or 3 years old by now. This time I worked on my Germany and Norway trips scrapbook. The lady sitting across the table from me disappeared for a while and when she came back she was furious. I guess her husband was doing a bad job holding the fort down at home and it’s a good thing he wasn’t around because she probably would have killed him. She said they were having an f-problem with their 13 year old boy. And I’m thinking, OMG, kids are having sex so young these days. But it turns out the kid got an F in Spanish class. There was A LOT of pregnancy talk at my table which freaked me out. The conversation certainly squished any desire I had to have a baby. The things that happen to you (or could happen) are horrible.

On Saturday morning my parents, Tia Mirella, Tio Daniel, and Tio Edmundo arrived at our place. The were in town for a family Quinceñera and they all stayed with us. For those of you who haven’t been at our place, we have a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bathroom place with about 950 sq. ft. So we slept between the stairs and the dinning room table on an air mattress that deflated in about 10 minutes. One of my uncles slept on the couch and I love him dearly but he’s a big snorer. All I got to say is THANK GOODNESS for ear plugs (and being exhausted). After they got over their initial fear of there being so many people in the house, I think the cats enjoyed all the attention and the opportunity to have so many warm bodies to snuggle with at night.

The next morning I made a lovely brunch of orange and blueberry mint fruit salad, bread with red onion and caper cream cheese and smoked salmon, peppers and chorizo egg frittata, and a walnut-cinnamon coffee cake. It all turned out great and I think everyone agreed. We used our wedding china which is always fun. My family left later that morning so they ended up being in the Bay Area for about 25 hours. They came up from Southern California which is about a 6 hour drive each way. I think they were crazy but I’m definitely glad they came.

One highlight was when my Tio Daniel, who I last saw a couple of months ago, asked me how much my wig cost and pulled on my hair. When he realized it was my real hair, he was quite embarrassed. He defended himself by saying that he had never seen me with curly hair which is even worse because my hair has always been curly and he even lived with my family for a few years when I was little.

After my family left, I hurried off to coach my spring select team. They had a practice scrimmage against a local team. Fortunately it wasn’t rainy but it was cold. And I wasn’t prepared so I had to wear a stinky goalie shirt to help keep me warm.

For dinner we hung out with the husband’s cousins John and Jae-Hyun and Neil and Natalie. We went to Café Sparrow in Aptos to celebrate Natalie’s birthday. We had a very yummy dinner with some Cinnabar red wine. And of course the company was wonderful. Natalie is a horse vet (every little girl’s dream) and her stories are always fun to hear. I usually wish I had stuck with my early desire to become a vet. It probably would have been better, or at least more satisfying, than being an engineer. But every profession has its down sides and for me being a vet might be too emotionally draining. I love animals.

Speaking of jobs, my brother-in-law has the best job in the world. Currently he’s in the movie business as a camera guy and is starting to get into stunt work (he was an awesome gymnast in college). He just shot a commercial for a movie ticket company that will be shown before a main feature at the theater. My concuño posted some pictures on his blog about my brother-in-law's commercial shoot. Oh, and he also used to be part of the half-time show for the Clippers – he was one of the guys who use trampolines to do all the crazy dunks. Does it get any better?? He’s in the Dominican Republic doing a Slam Dunk show. I’m jealous.

I had an indoor game last tonight. My husband has been trying to get me to stop playing soccer because it’s too rough (that’s what I get for showing off my bruises to him). This weekend, my family teamed up with him and EVERYONE ganged up on me. Not only do they make me feel old, but not playing soccer would be a bad thing. I love the sport and it’s a great workout. It beats the monotony of the gym and I’ve been having a great time hanging out with my teammates. When I first moved to the Bay Area, I wasn’t crazy about the teams I was playing with, so it was easy to take a break from soccer. But now I love the people I play with and I met them all through coaching AYSO. I think I just need to stop showing off my bruises and injuries when I come home from a game. When I got home after the game last night, the husband asked to see my injuries. But I didn't have any. Honestly.