Happy Christmas!

...as the witches and wizards from the world of Harry Potter would say. Or as my Cuban people would say "Feliz Noche Buena." Christmas is finally here and I can't help but be warmed by that fact.

Though I'm definitly in a cheery mood, I must confess I'm a little homesick today. My mom is cooking a great meal that I can almost taste. More than anything I miss my family, their warmth, their love.

If I can't be home for Christmas, though, this is the second best place to be. Seeing Mike this happy, makes a little homesickness worth it. His brother and sister are here, it smells of freshly baked cookies, we just finished watching Scrooged, and presents will be opened tonight.

As a photographer, I can't get over how difficult it is to get pictures taken of myself or with Mike. I've become an ace, however, at setting the timer and running to where Mike is standing patiently. This picture could be better, but it's cold as all get out and I wasn't going to dally. Take the picture and get back inside!

Happy Christmas! Felicidades!

May your Christmas be filled with all the things that make this life worth living: Family, faith and love.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I'm not going to lie to you--I had never eaten a chocolate covered pretzel until recently. I know, this might boggle your minds but, it's true. In my mind, salt and chocolate just didn't mix. Boy was I wrong.

I was visiting this fun blog, M. Writes, when I saw that she made chocolate covered pretzels as a gift for family and friends. All of her homemade gifts are so cute, they make me sick. Why can't I get my act together to do things like this? I didn't even pull it together to send Christmas cards this year. I'm one big Christmas FAIL! Either way, I became inspired upon seeing her blog post and decided to make some of my own.

Here are some pictures of my pretzels in action. The white chocolate ones are AMAZING! Yes, I rock.

 

What homemade gifts, if any, did you make this year? Want me to make these for you? Thoughts, comments.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's easy to get in the spirit of things when there is snow on the ground and it's cold outside. As much as my allergies hate me, I love wearing sweaters and coming in from the cold to a nice, warm house.

Yesterday, we did a little last-minute shopping and hung out with my sister-in-law, Kris, and our buddy, Aaron. We then went to see Avatar. Totally recommend it! What a fun movie. The story is predictable in that we've seen it before. Mike and Aaron were breaking down what movies we "saw" in the story (They came up with The Matrix and Dances With Wolves). What makes the movie great, though, is that is takes a story we've seen before and presents it in a whole new way. I loved it and think you should go out and watch it. Do as I say!

Anyway, here are some pictures from yesterday. I'm lugging Big Bertha (My Canon 50D) around with me to take pictures as I go.

Look who I saw as the movies. It's Alvin!

Took this one on the way to the stores. I played with a new Photoshop action and kept the heart red. I think I'm going to start taking pictures of things that look like hearts. Hmmm, potential project.

I'll never get tired of Christmas lights. The candy canes are on the neighbor's lawn and I was worried that they would poke their head through the curtains to find me loitering on their property.

 

Both my parents and my in-laws got huge Christmas trees this year. Ours is so tiny compared to these monsters. 

 

Up next, how I ventured to make chocolate covered pretzels and completely rocked it!

HOLIDAY TRAVEL HELL

This is the face of people who were sitting at an airport for close to five hours yesterday. No joke--that's what I say. Traveling in the holiday is no joke.

Our flight to NY was delayed because the stupid plane was delayed leaving JFK. We were also stuck in the most boring terminal in America. This polaroid was taken after I claimed a coveted power outlet for my laptop (whose battery dies in 10 minutes. Santa, hear that?) I established a whole command center, updated my website (check it out!) and tooled around the internet.

We finally got to my in-law's house at close to two in the morning. It was a pain in the ass, but we're blessed because a lot of people are still grounded in airports all over the Northeast. F-that.

I'm going to document our vacation everyday, so stay tuned.

Anyone have any horror travel stories? Anyone stuck at an airport? Leave your thoughts in the comments, all two of you.

Christmas, christmas time is here...

...time for joy and time for cheer.

We've been good but we can't last.

Hurry, Christmas, hurry fast.

My all time favorite Christmas song is The Chipmunk Christmas song. I don't know why I love it so much, but whenever Christmas rolls around, I can't help but sing that song on loop. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

I'm still rockin' the record, "A Chipmunk Christmas," with Santa and the three Chipmunks on the cover. I don't have a record player so we don't listen to it, but I put it up by the stockings every year without fail.

Each year, after Thanksgiving we go get our tree, turn up some Chipmunk tunes and watch Christmas Vacation as we decorate our tree. All these years watching it and we still crack up especially during this part:

Because we live in an apartment and won't be here for Christmas, we got a small tree this year. But it's super cute. It's chock-full of colorful lights and the randomest collection of ornaments. None of them match but they're all special because they're from our childhood or given to us by family and friends. Here are pictures of  us decorating Bruce the Spruce:

We couldn't decide whether to put the angel or the star, so we went with both. Mike has to include his various NY sports team ornaments:

 

I bought this pink pig last year. He's awesome. Mike's mom gave him this Santa. We laugh whenever we look at him because he looks so depressed. We call him Sad Santa.

It isn't Christmas without the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

Every year I buy an ornament for us and when we have kids, I'll get one for them too. I try and get funny ones that represent who we are. I think this one does that beautifully:

What about you? Your tree up? What's your favorite/most random ornament hanging on your tree? 

Thanksgiving in New York

Though we had to cut our vacation short because of the wedding on Saturday, we had a nice three days with Mike's family. I ate more than any one person should and was able to shed some of the bad juju from the past couple of weeks. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures. I could do a whole post on just the food. My best friend, Gisy, says that I could be a food photographer. I just want to use my camera to make the food look as good as it tastes and smells. I'll make that a future post...

I was able to convince my brother-in-law, Andrew, and his girlfriend, Ashley, to take some pictures while the sun was setting:

 

I could fill whole albums with pictures of Mike:

Thanksgiving day we went for a nice four-mile walk on the trail near Mike's parent's house. That's right: FOUR MILES. I was not prepared for that. These are some of the pictures from the trail:

 

Giving Thanks

I was all set to do this elaborate picture collage to show all the things I'm grateful for, but I thought I'd keep it simple. Today and everyday I'm grateful for the things that make me happy and for those things that don't. The first is the reason I wake up every morning, the later helps me appreciate how fleeting happiness can be. It's been a tough year in many ways, but one filled with so many blessings that it's hard not to be overwhelmed by it all.

My gratitude list could be a website all it's own. I try to show gratitude on a daily basis--sometimes by saying a simple "thank you" or by stopping for a moment to thank God for the way the sun breaks through the clouds during sunset.

I hope that this Thanksgiving finds you surrounded by family, friends and good food. Happy Thanksgiving!

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” 
~ Albert Schweitzer ~

New York State of Mind

We're heading here:

and we can't wait.

It's been so long since we've been anywhere but Miami. It's been so long since I felt the crisp air of a fall day.

I also cannot get away from school fast enough. Let me tell you, I need the break. Today I have a workshop so I won't be there all day. Yesterday I was Oscar the Grouch. I felt so frutstrated and helpless. There is nothing as humbling as teaching writing. As I love to say, geez Louise.

I'll be posting from my little corner in Mike's parents house. We'll only be there until late Friday afternoon since we need to be back for our friends Lissette and Sam's wedding. But I hope I get to take a ton of fall pictures and get to catch up on the pictures I want to edit, words I want to write and family I want to see.

What are your plans for the Turkey Day?

Halloween Roundup

So Halloween was a blast. My buddies Adiene, Joe, Andrea and Alain really outdid themselves this year. The place looked amazing and everyone wore the coolest costumes. I, of course, spent the night taking pictures. I tried to keep from using flash because it would take away from the look and feel of the place. I can't begin to describe how cool the house looked with the severed body parts, lights in the cieling, skulls, you name it. They even had a tv on to look like it does when the cable cuts out. Extra creepy.

Joe, Alain, Tony and two other guys dressed up as the dudes from Super Troopers. They looked great.

There was a penis and my buddy Scott was Kurt Rambis some basketball player. He looked so creepy. He rocked a crazy mustache. Everyone outdid themselves.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures. I took close to 300. Some came out blurry but I'm still learning how to use this lens. Because its not a full fame camera, the automatic focus doesn't work and it was dark as all get out. Either way, I think some of these came out cool.

Here is one of me and Mike in our costumes:

There are so many great pictures of that night. Here are two more that I just love. The first one is of Bobby and Mike--the two wolverines--jumping on the trampoline. I tried it and it so did not work out for me. The moment I get the picture of me attempting to jump the trampoline, I will post it. It's hilarious. The second picture is of me and my awesome costume. I loved that thing.

How was your halloween? Did you have fun? See any cool costumes?

This is Halloween, this is Halloween...

Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!

Sorry. Got caught up singing the Halloween song from A Nightmare Before Christmas--a movie I love to watch both at Halloween and Christmas. I watch it on VHS. Word.

Here is a preview of the awesomeness that is to come tonight:

I coveted this costume. COVETED. This year I relented and bought the darn thing. No sexy bee for me, my friends. I'm gonna be a big 'ol bumble bee! Mike's going to be a wolf. Full recap tomorrow.

Some other news around Lainey Land...

I found a Polariod Camera, y'all. Seriously. I was hanging around Navarro Pharmacy (only people from Miami can get a full grasp of this place), waiting for Abuela to finish her shopping when I decided to scope out the photo center. I don't know why but I got it in my head that they would still be selling Polaroid cameras. Sure enough, they had two. I don't know when was the last time that I saw one of these bad boys for sale. And for only 35 bucks! I ought to buy the other one and then sell it on ebay because you can't find them now for under $50, if that. So if anyone is interested, just let me know in the comments and i'll go get it for you. All you would have to do is pay shipping if I have to ship it to you.

In other news, I have the cutest dog in the world. My office is tiny (it's a closet we converted into an office) and my dog is an Akita, i.e. Big. For some reason she just wanted to be near me so planted herself right at the door. Check her out and my onestars:

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everybody! Don't take candy from strangers!

What are you going to be this Halloween? Seen any good costumes already?