iTunes Tuesdays

This one is called "Abrazame" which means Hug Me and it's by Mexican pop group Camila. I love these guys! Definitely one of my favorites. I'll dedicate this one to my baby Ale. Te amo chiquito!

Rosca de Reyes

Tonight I was invited to my friends Javier and Belinda's house for "Rosca de Reyes". This is a Mexican tradition for Epiphany.

The Rosca de Reyes, "kings ring" is a crown-shaped sweet bread decorated with pieces of candied orange and lime resembling the jewels of a crown. It is often filled with nuts, figs, and cherries. Into this bread is baked 6 small plastic dolls symbolizing a secure place away from Herod´s army where the infant child could be born. As each piece is cut with a knife, symbolizing the danger in which the Baby Jesus was in, everyone carefully checks their slice, hopping they didn't get the figurine as they will need to host (I found 2 in my piece!), Candelaria or Candle mass day. This day, February 2, is exactly, 40 days after Christmas when the Virgin Mary was purified. The nativity scene is put away and the baby Jesus, in the form of a porcelain doll, is clothed in his christening gown and presented in church.

Traditionally in Mexico, Three Kings Day was the gift-giving time, rather than Christmas day. In some rural regions of Mexico it is customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5, often filling them with hay for the camels, in hopes that the Three Kings would be generous. Mexican children would awake on January 6 to find their shoes filled with toys and gifts. Today many will write a letter to the kings (or choose one king as their favorite) asking for their special gifts and will leave the letter on the eve of Three Kings Day in an old shoe, under a bed.

What are your traditions?

Happy New Year! Augurissimi!

Ale and I wish you all a Happy New Year! May all your dreams and wishes for the New Year come true.

Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad

Happy Holidays to all from Ale and I. May all your dreams and wishes come true!! Hugs and Kisses to all.

Dazed and Confused

Ale asked me to post here since I haven't in so long and I wondered what I could write about. It's not that there isn't anything to write about. There definitely is, but where to start....

I'll start by saying that I was in the hospital for 5 weeks. It all started with my speech. It was slurred and I couldn't get my thoughts across. No one could figure out why. Then I started having black-outs and they finally put me in ths hospital, but it took a few ER visits to finally get someone to admit me. My memory is still not 100%. I can remember things that happened 10 years ago but forget about something that happened yesterday. There are things in my apartment that I don't remember buying. They say it was all brought on by stress. I guess I can accept that because I have had a really stressful year. It's amazing what stress can do to the body. I hope to never experience that amount of stress again.

I am really lucky that I have such a good support system. Ale stood by me in spirit since we had virtually had no contact the whole time I was in the hospital. Ale emailed with some of my friends that live here in PDX that would visit me. We communicated through them. It was really hard for me, for us. We missed each other so much. I am such a lucky woman to have a man that cares so much about me. Even luckier to have friends that came together via email to support me.

Now my Mom is here taking good care of me. I have so much to be thankful for. Ale might come here in January and I am looking so forward to that. I still have to blog about our trips we took while he was here in August. Stay tuned for those posts.

I'm Back!

It's been a while but I am back and getting healthier ith every pasing day. I want to thank you all for your prayers and support. I'm going to be starting school in the next few weeks, so i will probably not be bloggong as much, but definitely more than I have lately.

I am feeling great and have a lot to share with everyone. First I want to let you all know how supportive Ale has ben through all of this. He is my heart and I will always love him for that.

I won't write much this time because I am a bit tired, but I will write more in the next few days.

Thanks again for all your well wishes, hugs, and prayers. They mean the world!

Liz is getting better

thanks to God she should come back home the next week, so i hope she will be able to write a post soon. Thanks to all for the support
ale