Day 2 in San Diego : Beach & Baby Shower

The weather is just too good to be true here in San Diego. 80 and sunny without the humidity? We are in heaven! Ernesto and I hung out at the beach today for a couple hours to relax after climbing Cowles Mountain. I was playing around with the Hipstomatic app on my phone and I love how this photo came out...

My Mexican baby shower was that night and what a great time!! Although 5pm was the designated starting time, people rolled in from 6-8p...and the party did not end until 1am. Over 70 people (36 ladies, 11 guys, 25 kids) Wow!

Mi cuñada decorated with tissue paper pom poms and beautiful glass centerpieces with baby's breath. Mi suegra made a delicious Italian dinner with shrimp alfredo, lasagna, salad and the biggest tiramisu ever!!


More pictures coming soon!

WEEK 32

Off to San Diego!!

We are off to San Diego for 10 days! Yeah! Off to where they have really nice summer weather, they speak Spanish and eat great Mexican food everyday.

Mi suegra y cuñada are having a baby shower for me tomorrow. Should be fun. Everyone is going to go crazy over my big belly. The little Mexi-mouth will get a lot of attention!

Because mis suegras do not have Internet at their house I will be writing short posts on my iPhone via the Blogpress App
Adios Atlanta!!

A Cabin in Asheville

Hola amigos!  I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend.   Ernesto and I drove up to Asheville to visit my brother Brrrian.  He just bought a little mountain cabin 10 minutes from the center of town.  It really is the best of both worlds being in the middle of the woods yet so close to downtown. 

We had some major car trouble on our way to Asheville (** details at the end)  but that didn't stop us!  We arrived a couple hours late and ready to have a good time!
I knew that Brrrian's cabin was a fixer upper, so I'm not sure why I was surprised when I walked  inside to a construction zone.  I am excited for him.  I can see the potential in the cute little 2 bedroom place; since Brrrian is so handy (he used to build houses with my brother Bill) he has his work cut out for him.  Our good friend TJ is living with him (it was so great to see him and catch up). He has been working in home renovations for years, so that will be a big help.

Ernesto helped him with one project on his list:  tearing down the unstable deck.  It only took them a couple hours and they were sweating their asses off.  (yep. still hot in the mountains)

I hung out with Titi, who unfortunately was not warming up to the cabin, or Bruno. (Brrrian's Dutch Shepard)  He did, however love the great outdoors.  Believe it or not, Titi was happy to hang out on his leash.

Here our pets hang out in the kitchen civily, but anytime Bruno showed interest in Titi, he got hissed at.  I felt bad.  Bruno is a sweet, very well behaved dog and just wanted to be friends and play.  He may act differently when Brrrian and Bruno come to our house...Titi's territory.

 

We made it downtown a couple of nights.  I love Asheville.  There were so many people out walking around.  All of the restaurants spilled out on the sidewalks.  On Friday nights there is a drum circle in the square and tons of people dancing to the beats.  Talk about great people watching!  Unfortunately,  I was not able to partake in the awesome beer tasting that this town has to offer.  Oh well, just about 9 more weeks.  (I told Ernesto that I would like a cold IPA beer and some sushi in the hospital!)

Sunday we decided to go tubing on the French Broad River.  We started and finished at brewerys along the river.  The Wedge is upstream and we were floating a couple miles downstream to the ByWater. 

 

We each started with our own tube.  Ernesto and I bought two cheapies at Target.  Within the first 2 minutes in the water, Ernesto sat on top of a rock and his tube tore, so we shared the bigger tube and Brrian used our cheap one.

About half way down the river, it started sprinkling.  We said oh, this is nice the cool rain feels good.  In a couple minutes the sky was overcast and we saw the pouring rain coming at us.  We hopped out and waited under a loading dock to see if it would pass.

You can see how hard it was raining from the stream running off the gutters.

After tubing we sat outside Brrrian's cabin and enjoyed all the green surrounding us in the yard.  Brrrian made a beer can chicken (with Coke Zero) on the grill.  I made beans and a tomatillo salsa. 

We didn't leave until 10pm and arrived Atlanta just past 1am. Whew! Was I tired!  I was up at 530am Monday morning to work.  Needless to say this pregnant girl took a much needed nap that day:)


**What is normally a 3.5 hour drive, took us 5.5 hours.  We were giving Brrian a kitchen table so we drove Ernesto's truck.  He has been driving without 3rd gear for a couple months now, so he knew the transmission was having problems and would need to be replaced...someday.


Two hours into our ride, we were on the side of the highway.  I have to give my sweet husband credit [and thanks].  It was the most well-handled [potentially stressful] situation.  Not one foul word, not one scream from his lips. Through his persistence, he got the truck moving again and we got to Mr. Transmission in Greenville just before they had left for the day.  We rented a car and continued on our way.  This may have been the most expensive trip to Asheville ever but boy did we have a great time.
In the end it's not the money that matters, it's the memories that you create, right?

WEEK 31

WEEK 30

Under Contract!

After five months of house hunting, we are finally under contract! Yay!

This was the 5th house that we put an offer on since April, (all of which were foreclosures), and it was the only one where we did not get into a bidding war.   Meant to be? Maybe... I mean, yes, the contract is signed, but the keys are not yet in our hands....and we have been screwed by a bank before.

You would think in this bad economy it would be easy to buy a house, but the competition is stiff out there.  It seems we are not the only ones looking for a deal!    Within 10 minutes of walking through this small 2 bedroom house, we knew we would put in an offer.  (and we did, 1 hour later)

Is this our dream house?  No
Is it big enough for a growing family?  Not really
Does it have a big yard?  Hardly
Are the schools good?  Ha!

Sooooo, why are we buying it?  Let me tell you.

-  The house was built in 2004, it needs no work [besides decor changes, which I will explain later.]
-  It is located just two blocks from where we currently live in the Old 4th Ward, an area we love.
-  The kitchen is open to the living room (the one inflexible criteria for our new place)
-  There is a balcony off the master bedroom with a great view of downtown!
-  The front yard has an iron gate with the beginnings of a beautiful garden.
-  The ceilings are high, the moldings are thick and the appliances are great.
-  The attic is big and will allow for a lot of storage. 
-  The price is right!
-  We were sick of looking and just wanted more space before the little Mexi-mouth arrives.

Because of all these reasons (especially the last one) we decided we would buy this as a [very] short term home.   Also, we are buying the home for such a low price, we are confident that we can make some money on it.  When we are ready to move, we can either sell or keep it as a rental.  Either way we consider this a good investment.

Besides all of that good stuff, our mortgage is going to be less than renting a 2 bedroom apartment in this area, so why not invest in a property, right?

Just so you know  The house will be painted pronto.  This includes the red brick around the front door (not the foundation).  The front door will also be changed out and painted a bright color. Maybe yellow or turquoise.

Have you used Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer?  This program is awesome!  You just upload your picture and outline the areas where you would like to change the paint colors.  It worked perfectly on the top of the house, but the brick below did not come out right.  Still, you can see that the house takes on a whole new look with a fresh paint job. 

What do you guys think?  Care to recommend any color combos?

Anyhoo, here is hoping that nothing goes wrong before the closing...which is set for August 10! Yay!

That gives us 6 weeks before the little Mexi-mouth arrives to paint and make some changes! 

Pictures of the inside of the house coming later this week!  Stay tuned!

A Beautiful Baby Shower

Over the weekend Ernesto and I flew to Ohio to visit with my family and attend our baby shower.

Ever since I received the invitation in the mail a few weeks ago, I knew that the shower my mom, sister and sister-in-law were planning was going to be wonderful!

I had mentioned to Barbie that I really liked yellow and grey together and since we are not finding out the sex of the little Mexi-mouth, those neutral colors are perfect.  She took that info and ran with it! 

Barbie made this "Baby Espinoza" banner that hung across the fireplace, above the gift table.

As coincidence would have it, my mom's kitchen/living room is painted a bright sunny yellow and was a perfect backdrop for the party. 

Here,  the three ladies that put everything together.  I am so grateful to have such a generous and creative family!  Not only did they do the planning, cooking and decorating, they also bought us a car seat!  Thanks ladies, I love you! 

{Barbie, my mom and Jenny}

The food was amazing! There was an anti-pasta salad, chicken salad on croissants, 3 bean Mexican salad, brochetta, spinach dip, and a vegetable tray!  So delicious! My mom made several fresh flower arrangements from her garden too!  Following the bird theme we used cloth napkins with a bird sewn to them.   Notice the bird garland hanging from the light too!

I have really cut back on eating sweets during the last few weeks, but oh the dessert table!  I fully enjoyed as many sweets as my heart desired!  

{the dessert table}

Peeps, rice crispy treats on a stick, cherry and chocolate "bird nest" cupcakes, lifesaver "pacifiers", chocolate chip cookies, fruit salad, cranberry almond biscotti, bird cutout cookies...all homemade and all crazy good!  

It's all in the details?  Yes.  I about died when I saw the ice cubes with babies in them! Ha! But because there were some kids at the shower, we saved them for the adults afterward!  They were so cute, but a major choking hazard!!!

With a bottle of wine in the middle and a bird nesting on top, Barbie's diaper cake made me smile.  She even mixed in a few onzies!!

Cards were passed out to the guests with a fun "finish the sentence" wishes for baby and all were hung on the "wishing tree".  I thought this was a great idea!

After the shower, my family sat around while I read all of them out loud. 

Ernesto filled one out too. (when he got back from golfing..haha)

They were all so sweet.   Not surprisingly, some people in my family wrote funny wishes: 

I hope you learn....proper English  (from Jenny)

I hope you get....a really loud annoying toy (from Bill)
I hope you love....hot sauce  (from Brrrian)
I hope you learn....to wash your hands (from Barbie)
I hope you aren't afraid...of my awesomeness (from Scott)
I hope you ignore...my sense of humor  (from Dad)
I hope you laugh.... at your mistakes  (from mom)
I hope you grow..... a tree  (from Eleanor- 23 months old)

When the invitations went out, the hostesses asked the guests to each bring a favorite baby book in lieu of a card.  The little Mexi-mouth already has a great start to a library!  It was so fun opening presents.  I imagined my little one wearing/using all this great stuff and it made me so excited! 

One of my favorite gifts was from my sister Jenny.   How perfect is this?

There were many handmade gifts too, which are always apprieciated!  Barbie made a quilt/playmat using a great black and white graphic print on the back and different squares on the front....some had birds too! I really love it! A piece of art! 

Barbie also made my thank you cards to send out!  During the shower, she passed out blank envelopes to all the guests and asked them to write their addresses.  She then used those envelopes to draw names for prizes!  Now all the envelopes and cards ready to go. What a great idea Barbie!    

Along with baskets of cute clothing for the little one, my mom crocheted this blanket.  She started with a peach granny square that her mother [now deceased] made years ago and added on from there.  It is so special!  Thanks mom!

My cousin Treffry gave me this beautiful framed photograph of a real birds nest.  I love it, it will be perfect in the baby's future room.

Treff is a new mom and  I finally got to meet her daughter at the shower.  She is so adorable!  Treff said that little Tzova was wearing an Indian shirt [with gold elephants] in honor of me!

A few other gifts I opened and loved: 

1- Skip Hop Diaper Bag    2- Fuzzibunz Cloth Diapers   3- Chicco Keyfit Car Seat
4- Boppy Pillow    5- Leachco Safer Bather    6- Activity mat

As if all that wasn't enough, I also received baby bath towels,  bath toys, a travel changing kit, bibs, hats, rattles, swaddlers, onzies and gift cards! 


Thank you to everyone!  Your generosity is overwhelming!  The little Mexi-mouth and I are so lucky to have such great family & friends. 

Every adult pictured here beat me to motherhood.  That is a lot of experience in one room.
I appreciate all the advice and recommendations!  I had a wonderful day!

WEEK 29

Summer and Family-Two of my Favorite Things!

{black eyed susan}

Hello everyone! Ernesto and I are at my parents house in Ohio.  My dad has been working on a back porch addition for months and Ernesto was able to help him get all the floor boards in places today. It looks great and is getting closer to completion. Paybacks are a comin' dad! (Yes, that means what you think it does....good news coming soon!)  Ha! We actually owe my parents weeks and weeks of help from our days with house number one in Atlanta, so Ernesto was more than happy to help.

Meanwhile, my mom and I made our regular "tour of the estate" (ie: walked around her gorgeous garden) and I admired all her hard work.  She is the gardening queen!  Her dedication is so inspiring.  I hope to one day have a garden as beautiful as hers, I picked out some plants that I would like to have [given to me]  for my yard. (hint, hint)

On a creative note, we hit JoAnn Fabrics and bought supplies for a cute little baby project.  I will be sharing it here on Viva Cindy, along with many other projects I have up my sleeve.  It's going to be a busy next few months! So exciting!

Also getting me excited, is the fact that my baby shower is on Saturday.  I can't wait to see what Barbie, Jenny and my mom have planned.  I look forward to seeing a lot of my aunts and cousins whom I haven't seen for many years...but thanks to Facebook we are in touch.

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

Want to win and iPad2??  **I’m posting this to let you know about a contest offered by Buy More Contacts at Uppercase Woman!  Enter to win here!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!! 

Have you guys seen this video floating around the web?  It is hilarious!  Before watching it, ask your self this:  Do you know why you are celebrating the 4th of July today? Do you think Americans have lost sight of what the 4th of July is all about?

Take a look as Mark Dice  (a media analyst, social critic, political activist, and author) "talks with beach goers in San Diego, California to ask them why the 4th of July holiday was started. Many of them have no clue at all and simply agree with him when he insinuates blatantly false explanations."


I hope you knew the answer to this and I hope you enjoy celebrating for the right reasons:)