LBJ, 2013

The fifth annual LBJ bike ride was this past Saturday and I missed it. LBJ is one of my favorite rides. There is BBQ, a tour of the Texas white house, bluebonnets, and good ol' Texas hospitality along every mile.

 

I registered, picked up my packet, and was all ready to ride. But- I had to work. I hate it when work gets in the way of my bike time.

 

When I broke the news to the mister, I thought he would be too disappointment and heartbroken, and he would skip the ride. I was terribly wrong. Instead I found myself planning the ride, as if I were going, and let him ride with my friends from the Employee Cycling Team. (Do you like that? "Let him ride")

 

The worst part, get this, is that no one took a picture. Out of the five riders from our group, not one picture. Take my word, they enjoyed the cool Spring morning ride, while I worked.

The Builder

This is the post where I would be talking in a high pitch voice and telling you how awesome I think the mister is.  He impresses me and I thinking he is amazing.

 

To hear him talk about the work he did after his father passed away, is jaw dropping.  We both come from working class families and we both had to work to put ourselves through college.   My life was pretty charmed and I sat behind an air conditioned desk while he was doing manual labor.

 

When he said he was building a building, I was like oaky, do what you gotta do. Then he started coming home late and calling after the sun went down.  Even on his birthday, he was happy to be working late, at his "second job".  So, I did what any inquiring girl would do and I went to check it out for myself. 

 

He is literally building a building. NOT having a building built, but building a building. Each day there is progress to the structure and the best part is I can tell the mister is enjoying himself- he has a smile to prove it.   

Spring Break, 2013

Spring went forward and we traveled through two time zones.  For five days, we did not know what time it was, nor did we care.  We traveled our Texas booties over to Puerto Rico and drank fruit smoothies with every meal. This picutre is proof that I acted like a college girl.  I wore a bikini and had boyz hugging me all week- in true Spring Break style.

Our days were filled with a water park, the beach, hanging out at the pool and kayaking.  The best part was eating at The Iguana Café where iguanas stood around the tables waiting for food to drop.  The waiter spotted me standing on a chair and reminded me that iguanas are vegetarians and would not eat my finger.  We spotted an iguana running really fast, but his fast was not really that fast.  It was more cute than fast.

 

We are back home and back to a quiet house, where I am nursing my sunburned skin. April is a month a way but it can not come fast enough.

 

 

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

The lady behind the counter asked me how I know Mr. Alaniz, to which I turned giddy and blushed. In a school girl tone, I responded, “He is my fiancé”. As I walked away I thought, can I be any more cheesy? It was like she was singing,“Barbie and Ricky sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G”. She was not singing anything. It was only in my head.

 

There are times when I am head-over-heals and it is times like this that I am reminded that I always want to be in the newlywed stage forever. Right now, we still enjoy spending all our time together. And when I say, “all our time”, it is like every minute of every day. Yes, I know that will wear out eventually. But, I am so enjoying this feeling right now.

 

I took a week of vaca before our vaca to get our things ready for our trip. Some how I ended up doing chores and cooking all week. Less chores and more bike riding, yoga, and naps- please. Totally, I am not complaining. There is something gratifying to keeping a home and preparing our meals; which of course the mister talks to me as I cook and then we eat together.

 

This blushing bride will wait another month before our wedding.  We had to postpone our wedding, for the second time due to a more pressing matter. It is all okay and I keep singing,“Barbie and Ricky sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G”.

The Leaf

 

It was over the Christmas holiday day break and we were riding our bikes to the neighborhood park.  Our Little Man found a leaf.  Not just a leaf, but a really big leaf.  He wanted to keep it and made us carry it home.

When we were home, Little Man protected his leaf and placed it on a paper towel. Everyday he would check on the leaf, make sure it was not moved, and that no one touched it.

For his birthday, I decided to get the leaf framed.  I was not sure how it would be received and thought it would be discarded. But, he actually liked it and did the happy clap while jumping up and down.

 

The day of Little Man's birthday, he was crying. Never thinking I could say or do anything do soothe his tears, I hugged him and talked to him and he actually stopped crying.

 

That weekend, I felt like I scored a home run. My gift was a hit and I was able to say the right thing to make a difference. Some days it is all smiles and other days we have elephant tears.  Ups and downs and downs and ups.  Just like cycling, I am enjoying the fast descents and powering up the climbs.