Spanish Friday: Día de los Niños!

mi hermanita y yo de niñas

Cada 30 de abril en México todos niños teníamos el día libre en las escuelas en celebración de el Día de los Niños! La ciudad organizaba varios eventos, y mi favorito era el que tomaba lugar en la plaza de toros. Siempre tenían algún tipo de entretenimiento como payasos o artistas infantiles, juguetes para todos, y comida!! Recuerdo que una vez nos dieron la mitad de un melón con una bola de helado de vainilla justo en el centro, estaba delicioso! El Día de los Niños es una de mis celebraciones preferidas, dedicar todo un día a las personitas mas importantes del mundo, la generación que mantiene la esperanza viva en todos nosotros, y la que nos recuerda lo importante que es reír. Así que el día de mañana hay que recordar lo divertido que era ser niño y valorar a los niños de nuestra vida!

Feliz Día de los Niños!

MJ

On Eventful Weekends!

This past weekend was a busy one! Saturday I was thankful to be a vendor at the CSULB Chicana Feminisims Conference! All the mujeres there have always supported me and for that, I'm really thankful.
Here is a pic of me at my little crafty booth.

You can't really see my stuff, sorry! I forgot to take my camera and my sister was too busy helping out at the conference that she forgot to take good pictures lol I had lots of fun and sold like half of my invetory so you know what that means: time to get crafty! I also got to me other artesanos y artistas and we all connected, bought and traded art from each other, and really felt the warmth of our community!

And next weekend is also going to be full of adventures! Starting April 29th until May 1st the Spanish Book Fair Léa LA will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The entrance is free and the place will be packed with tons of Spanish books and authors... oh my! I can't wait!!! The last time I went to a book fair was back in 2008 in Madrid, and I think I bought at least 10 books. And that was because  I knew I couldn't bring a lot of stuff back to Cali, but now that the fair is taking place in my hometown I might go a little crazy :P I printed out the map and circled my favorite publishing companies and browsed their new titles online. I'm ready!

The best thing of all is that one of my favorite authors, Isabel Allende, will be presenting her new book "La Isla Bajo el Mar" which I picked up last week at Target! I'm trying to finish it before Saturday and hoping to get it signed. They also have tons of activities for kids, so you can take your entirely family and celebrate our beautiful language and heritage with them.

Hope to see all of my angelinos at the book fair this weekend!

mucho love,
MJ

Framed memories!!

I have boxes and boxes filled with tons of keepsakes I collected while studying in Spain. The plan was to make a scrapbook but I've been procrastinating it for tooo long! Well, I have some shadow boxes I bought last year during black friday, so I decided it was time I did something with my Spain memorabilia and the boxes.

It was really hard to pick only a few things since everything I have has its memories. But in the end I was able to put something together and I'm very happy with the result!

The background is a map of the Madrid metro system and the peineta, fan and castanets are from a doll clothes set I got at a little shop in Plaza del Sol. I also included a beautiful postcard of a flamenco dancer and a few cardstock stickers I got a scrapbooking store.

The sepia postcard is my favorite Madrid postcard ever! I used to walk by that very same street every week on my way to the law firm where I interned. Funny thing is that I bought that postcard a few days after arriving in Madrid, before I was offered the internship!

I also have my student I.D. and a picture of my roommates and I, my second family!

Excuse my crappy pictures and trust me when I say that it looks beautiful in person! I like the fact that I can look at it and remember some of the happiest moments of my life. And the best part is that those memories are not hiding in a box.

I have a few shadow boxes left, maybe I should do one with the baby's things next?? ;)

Hope you're having a great day!

Mucho love,

MJ

HBO's Habla Series

I came accross these clips today and had too much fun watching them! They're from like 3 years ago and I really don't know how I didn't see them before.  I love how they talk about the growing up bicultural experience from many perspectives, and I can relate to all of them in a way or another! These are my favorite:

Little things like these make me feel warm inside, proud of who I am, and confident that I can be what I want!! Que rico es ser latino!!!

mucho love, 

MJ

Working at home today!

I've been creating little things in the few free moments I had today. I know I said that I would open my Etsy shop in March, but I was invited to sell at a Latina Feminism Conference on April 23rd so I've been stocking up for that instead! I'll upload the rest to Etsy after the conference!!

I will have to turn into factory mode as the date approaches, but I'm glad I completed a few pieces today :)
And the kiddo went to sleep early, so I'll probably make some more after I do the dishes!

I bought these cute little virgencitas while I was in México and I simply LOVE them!! They're handmade and simply adorable!

They come in different sizes and styles but I started working with the small ones. Aren't they cute?

I also played around with some feathers I had planned to use in my hair, but instead made some awesome single earrings with them!

I made the earrings for myself but I might make a couple to sell ;)

By the way, visit my facebook page to see my other handmade accessories!

Mucho love,

MJ

An awesome Monday!!

That's the best word to describe today: AWESOME!! After a bad weekend I was drained and all I wanted to do was stay home today, but I'm so lucky I didn't!

Nov. 1, 2010 Julian reading "Rosita y Conchita" with grandma

My sister dressed as Rosita for Halloween!

Last year for Day of the Death I bought Julian a book called "Rosita y Conchita" at an event here in L.A. Well, today at work this guy walks in wearing a jacket with the picture of Rosita and I was like "hey I have that book" and it turns out HE WAS ONE OF THE AUTHORS!!!!!!
I was so excited to meet him because I really love the book! He was super cool and even gave me a pin of Rosita!

My super awesome Rosita pin!!!

I really recommend the book to all of you!! It's bilingual and a really fun way to teach kids about Día de los Muertos. You can find more info about the book here.

Enjoy!!

MJ

Spanish Friday: Buscando mi lugar...

Desde hace tiempo hay algo que no me deja en paz: ese sentimiento de no estar en el lugar adecuado. Es un hueco en el corazón que en días se llena de dolor y me recuerda que no he encontrado mi lugar. No se cual es ese lugar al que pertenezco, quizás nunca lo encuentre, quizás es este y no lo he podido ver… lo que se es que llevo el alma llena de recuerdos que quiero volver a vivir. Me muero por recorrer las calles que tanto echo de menos, esas calles que me vieron crecer, que viví mil y una vez, solo yo y mis pensamientos.

Quiero volver a sentir ese viento que me acompañaba, se colaba por mi ventana y me recordaba que estaba viva. Quiero compartir con mi familia esos pequeños placeres que descubrí en las cosas mas simples, tan simples como un café con leche en una tarde de verano y caminar sin rumbo fijo.  Quiero escuchar esos sonidos tan familiares y extraños al mismo tiempo, sonidos y melodías que relatan mis ayeres.

Estas ganas de hacer las maletas e irme con mis dos amores a mi lado me están matando. Pero mas me mata el miedo, el pensar en las responsabilidades, el saber que estoy atada a una rutina que poco a poco apaga esa luz que había en mis ojos.

Mi cuerpo esta cansado y mi alma no puede mas con la monotonía. Solo espero que resista un poco mas hasta que consiga volver… solo un poco mas…

Happy Birthday to my partner in crime!!!

An amazing father, great friend, awesome partner, and love of my life!
Hoping you have a fantastic birthday!
Love you!!!

winner winner chicken dinner!!!

(via)

I rarely enter blog giveaways, mostly because I never win anything and then I feel bad.. :(
But when it's something amazing, I can't resist!! Well, I won this super awesome stamp set by Danita Art!! I got them yesterday and haven't had time to play with them yet, but I have oh, so many plans!!!! I love the theme, the fox and owl are my favorite!!

Danita is super talented and creates the most amazing things! She has the most beautiful art journal I've see so far! I actually own a Frida print I bought about a year ago from her etsy shop. I left it at my mom's house until I find the perfect place for it! I also own her Frida Kahlo "Viva la Vida" stamp set, it's my favorite and have used it on presents, cards, etc.. I was planning on buying her new stamps anyway, so I feel soo lucky I won them!!!

Thanks Danita!

mucho love,

MJ

Cinco cosas en mi mente de las que me gustaría escribir pero no tengo la energía necesaria para hacerlo…

1. La necesidad de “CREAR” algo todos los días. La monotonía, rutina, y responsabilidades me dejan seca y desmotivada. Tengo unas ganas de pasarme todo un día diseñando un par de aretes o bordando.
2. Por fin hemos empezado los planes “serios” de la boda. Es increíble todas las cosas que tenemos que hacer!! Ay ay ay!
3. No puedo creer que tan bajos están mis niveles de energía!! Llego de trabajar y lo único que quiero es tirarme en el sillón el resto de la tarde. Ojala y pudiera hacerlo… sin que Julián brincara encima de mi!
4. Que onda con el calor demoníaco de California?? Hace apenas unos días estábamos con tormentas y no se que mas… si esto es ahora no quiero ni pensar en el próximo verano.
5. España. Quiero regresar ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ojala mañana este un poco menos cansada para escribir mas… lo único en lo que pienso ahora es en mi camita!! Buenas noches!

MJ