Somewhere In The Mess: family

Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

12.21.2010

October 2010 Photo Roundup

And now, a bunch of pictures from October 2010:

Christine's Birthday Party at The Rockwell VT

Our 4th Anniversary - 10/21/10

Fernando and his brothers: Ryan (left) and Meno (right)

Bryan and his adorable girlfriend, Ro

Meno helped to open a Mexican restaurant in Germany--he cooked this for us: Pineapple chicken, Mexican rice, and refried kidney beans

Fusion 2010: All the pledges on line from all the chapters

Fusion Afterparty--my family tree: Grand Big Sis Roani, Big Sis Evy, me, and my little sis, Irais

I love this pic of my CSUN baby, Xenia

Love my CSUN Little Sis, Susan

With another of my CSUN pledge-babies, Scarlett

These pictures are from the Dia de Los Muertos Celebration at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on 10/30/10

I took a ton of pictures, these are just my favorite displays

Mom and Dad in front of an "eternal wedding" display

This display was amazing, all those skulls are hand-painted!

This one got second place--$2000. We hope to enter the contest next year

Pumpkin carving on Halloween with Jenn and Barry

I was a "devil in a blue dress"

All of our pumpkins!

Halloween 2010: The Official Couple Picture

Barry and Jenn with their expertly carved pumpkin

I changed into something a little warmer to hand out candy at home

Our candy bowl--lots of choices for the kids!

Our pumpkins, lit up in front of our house

~LOVE~

11.20.2010

I realize that I haven't updated for over three months. That usually just means I'm very busy, which is the truth.

I'm working both as a nanny and a tutor. I watch the kid three days a week and tutor my 9th grader a few nights a week.

I'm taking three classes. One meets every other Monday. The second meets every Tuesday, and the third meets every Thursday. I'm keeping up with assignments and papers and expect to get all 'As' again this Fall semester.

I'm also interning at Los Angeles Pierce Community College in the Honors Program office two days a week as part of my graduate school program. I need to complete 150 hours by the end of the semester.

Even though I'm not getting paid a dime for my work at Pierce, I am absolutely in love with the work I'm doing there. I get to meet individually with students and help them develop transfer plans. Most of them want to go to UCLA or CSUN, so I help them navigate the complicated process of picking a major, completing their major prep, keeping their grades up, fulfilling their IGETC requirements, and filling out the application. My background in English has been invaluable in helping them edit their personal statements for the UCs. I've led workshops and I'm co-leading a "Pierce to UCLA Transfer Support Group." I never really thought that I would like academic counseling because it seemed so straight-forward, but at the community college level it is anything but straight-forward. The variety of students is great--they are all in different stages of life; some work full time, some have children, some are married, some are still in high school, etc. The racial and ethnic diversity at the Pierce campus is also refreshing and valuable experience for me. I can honestly say that working at a community college as an academic counselor would be a dream job for me.

The other big news around the Vasquez household is that Fernando got a new job. He left his job as a plumbing salesperson at the Valencia Pacific Sales to take a position as an Assistant Buyer of Plumbing at the Pacific Sales corporate office in Torrance. While this means a significant raise for him, he is also committing to a significant commute to Torrance 5 days a week. It's close to 2 hours of driving each way! He carpools almost every single day, which eases the strain of driving so much and the cost of gas, but he is working under the assumption that after I graduate with my Master's degree in May, we'll be moving closer to Torrance.

The notion of moving to Orange County carries with it many possibilities, but it also comes with problems. The benefits are that Fernando will be closer to his job, and if he lives closer, he'll more likely be able to "climb the corporate ladder" at Pacific Sales. If we live in Orange County, we'll also be closer to Fernando's sister, Melissa. The cons are that we'll be moving away from our parents and most of our family here in Santa Clarita. We'll also have to figure out how to sell our house and find a new home in Orange County. I'll lose all my tutoring and nannying jobs/contacts. While I do hope to find a job that will utilize my new degree, I was hoping to lean on my part-time tutoring and nannying jobs to carry me while I go through the job search process. The market for counseling jobs is really tough.

It seems like there are more cons than pros in this situation, but the truth is that Fernando makes the significant percentage of our income, so moving closer to his work makes more sense. There are many, many schools I can work at in Orange County, and finding a home somewhere in between my job and Fernando's job would be ideal. I'm already poking around job listing websites and getting my resume up to snuff for the job search process. I want to seriously start looking for a job in March--after I take the comprehensive exam required for completion of my Master's, but a few months before graduation.

Thinking about all these upcoming changes kinda gets my head spinning, though, so I'm mostly focusing on completing my internship hours and finishing out my semester strong. My last day of class is on December 16, and then I have more than a month of winter break before Spring semester starts on January 24th. My last semester should be pretty easy, since I'm only taking two classes and doing my second internship at the Multicultural Office at California Lutheran University. I plan to double up my class days with my internship days to ease the commute out to Thousand Oaks. I'm going to continue to nanny for the kid and tutor my ninth grader next semester as well.

I am very much looking forward to the holiday season, although this year will be different without Vincent. We'll all have to work a little harder this year to be merry and bright, but being together will make it bearable.

~LOVE~

6.07.2010

School's Out (and In) For Summer

There were four very special graduates in my life this Spring. A quick photo round-up:

Alma graduated from USC with her Master's in Social Work

My husband, Fernando, graduated with his Bachelor's in Management from CSUN

My "little" brother-in-law, Bryan, graduated from Bowman High School

Elena, my dad's god-daughter, graduated from 8th grade at Our Lady of the Valley Parish School

There were additional celebrations for each graduate--a BBQ for Alma, a fiesta for Fernando, a dinner with family at Marie Callander's for Bryan, and a huge dinner for Elena at Maggiano's. After all those parties, I'm ready to get my life somewhat back to normal. My summer classes start next week on June 15th. I'm preparing myself for chaos as I'm stuffing 7 units into 7 weeks. That's more than a "full-time" semester's worth of classes into half a semester's time.

Starting next week, this will be my schedule for the next seven weeks:

Monday: Nanny Chelsea 6:10am-4:10pm
Tuesday: Educational & Career Planning 4:00pm-6:50pm; Group Process & Leadership 7:00pm-9:50pm
Wednesday: Nanny Chelsea 6:10am-4:10pm
Thursday: Educational & Career Planning 4:00pm-6:50pm; Group Process & Leadership 7:00pm-9:50pm
Friday: Nanny Chelsea 6:15am-1:15pm

I'm also taking another 1-unit class, but the schedule is still TBA. Summer classes will be over on August 5th. Then I'll have another month off from classes before Fall semester starts on September 2nd. I'm kinda amazed at how quickly my Master's program is going. By May 2011, I'll be a graduate myself!

~LOVE~

5.08.2010

My Cousin

Vincent Paul Rodriguez -- July 13, 1985 -- April 8, 2010

As some of you may already know, my family suffered a huge loss recently. My cousin, Vincent, lost his battle with leukemia exactly a month ago on April 8, 2010. He had been diagnosed last summer, received a cord-blood transplant that seemed to have defeated the cancer, but he remained in the hospital for over four months after receiving the transplant because he was so immunol-compromised that he kept catching infections. He was having trouble eating because he was constantly getting nauseous, and this further weakened him. We went to visit him on Easter Sunday, and he wasn't doing too well, but we just thought he was having a bad day.

A few days later, as I was preparing to head to school for a huge presentation, I received a tearful phone call from my aunt, telling me to please come to the hospital to come say goodbye to my cousin. Over the course of those last few days, his condition has worsened and his bodily systems were shutting down. I dropped everything, in tears, and made the necessary phone calls to Fernando to come home and to my teacher to apologize for not coming in that day to give my presentation. She was very understanding and let me go. Within just a few hours of coming to the hospital, seeing my cousin, and saying goodbye to him, he was gone. He was surrounded by his family when he passed--my aunt, my mom, his two brothers--Angel and Oscar, his sister-in-law Erika, me, and Fernando. It was incredibly painful to face the loss, and my heart broke for my aunt and his brothers. He was the cousin I was the closest to, and I hate the fact that his being gone means the "baby" of the family is gone.

Vincent was an amazing person--he faced much adversity in his life, including the premature death of his father. But he was always diligent about his education and he was less than a year away from graduating from UC Santa Cruz with his bachelor's degree in Astrophysics. As a person, he was friendly, even-tempered, and well-liked. He loved video games, computers, and animals. He was very close to his family. He had such a peaceful, calming presence and he really was a bright spot in my life. I loved him and I really miss him.

I'm doing okay in recovering from this loss, but I do think of him everyday, Sometimes it's good memories that make me smile, or something might trigger some sadness. I don't think I'll ever go a day without thinking about him anymore. I'm lucky, though, because my family is incredibly tight-knit, so we can rely on each other for support. I'm also lucky that my schoolwork has given me something else to focus on to keep my mind preoccupied. As part of my own healing, I wrote him a poem that I also read out loud at his funeral mass on April 20th. I'm posting it here so everyone will know how important he was to me and how highly I regarded him.

Fire and Fight
By Jessica Vasquez

-- For Vincent

Yours was the nature of light

Gentle, glowing
Constant
Your shy smile

Illuminated, radiating
A beacon
Your focused knowledge

Warm, enveloping
Peaceful
Your easygoing way

Yours was the nature of a warrior

You battled the bad guys
For us—
Your brothers

You did it without question
Knew the ins and outs
Of good and evil

Continuous, unyielding
Beginning and ending
As a soldier

The constellation Orion
Is both light and warrior—
Fire and fight

Every night those stars rise bright
That is their nature
That is your nature

Orion is ever poised to let fly his arrow
That is his nature
That is your nature

After writing this poem, I hope to get a tattoo in memory of him. I want the tattoo to depict a telescope pointing up to the sky with the constellation Orion in the distance. Underneath that, I want a banner with his name or maybe a line from the poem. As soon as I have some money saved up, I'm going to make the tattoo happen.

~LOVE~

3.12.2010

Goings on . . .

It's been almost two months since I last updated. Sorry! My life has been super busy. As you saw in my previous post--I'm working and going to school 5 days a week, and my weekends are taken up with homework (reading), chores, and the occasional night out. The good news is, I'm halfway through my semester and only two weeks away from my week-long Spring Break. I've also been sick 4 times since Christmas, which is ridiculous. I was knocked out for two days strait this week with a nasty cold, but I'm finally feeling better.

Here are some pictures/recaps from our recent goings on:

Since I last updated, a few fun evenings have elapsed. In late January, Fernando and I drove down to the OC to attend Juan and Irais' housewarming party, and then spent the night at Fernando's sister's house. The next morning, we all went to brunch at the Cheesecake Factory with the gift card Fernando's other sister, Naomi, gave to us for Christmas. That was a fun trip.

This is the only picture I have from the housewarming. Fernando and I with our 'compadres', Gus and Alma. We call ourselves, Los Vasquez.

We attended an 80's themed birthday party for our new friend, Jen's, 25th birthday. Her boyfriend, Barry, is Fernando's boss/mentor at Pacific Sales. It was a fun night and everybody really went all out on their 80s costumes (including us).

Jen and Barry, our hosts for the night

Fernando and I dressed in our 80's costumes

My 26th birthday came and went. I had class on my actual birthday, but spent the rest of the weekend celebrating with family and friends. My parents took me out to dinner that Friday at the Lazy Dog Cafe, then I had a ton of friends meet me for drinks at The Lazy Dog Cafe afterwards. Tanya was in town from NYC that weekend, so my birthday was extra special. I was so happy to have so many friends come celebrate with me. I was running around like a madwoman all night socializing with everyone. Even though I had several drinks, I don't think I ever even got a buzz because I was running around so much! The next night, just Fernando and I went out for a fancy dinner at Craft (Tom Collichio's restaurant). The food was amazing and the service was even better. We ate veal sweetbreads for the first time and I think I can say that I'm a fan. I also managed to talk Fernando into trying a bite of diver sea scallop--and if you know Fernando, you know that is a feat since he HATES seafood. He actually liked the bite he ate and said it tasted "like bacon."

My family dinner

Fernando and I at the bar

Tanya and Emily joined me

My big sis made a surprise visit!

My girlfriends from "The Group"

Alma and Yvonne bought me this monster of a drink. I made them share with me.

After The Lazy Dog closed, we headed over to TGI Fridays to meet with the SFPS Crew. Here's me and Danny (he was my coworker and Winter Formal date in 11th grade)

Mark and me (he was my Senior Prom date). We go way back.

Fernando and I after we got home from Craft. I love my hubby!

Two weekends ago, Fernando, Gabe, and I took a random trip to San Luis Obispo just for fun. We stayed in a cheap hotel room not far from downtown (only $78 a night). We got into town around dinnertime on Saturday night, so we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant in SLO, Poncho's. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel room to get dressed for a night out. Our first stop was at The Frog & Peach for some beers and live music. A really cute rock-a-billy band called Motel Drive was playing and we really liked their music. Then we moved across the street to Downtown Brew to meet Mona and Sonya and a couple other friends who were in town. Gabe had never been to downtown SLO before, and he really enjoyed the bars we took him to. The next morning, we stopped in Pismo Beach to visit mine and Fernando's "happy place"--Mo's BBQ. We walked on the pier a little bit. That was the weekend of the earthquake in Chile and the "tsunami" had done some interesting things to the shoreline at Pismo. Finally, we stopped off in Guadalupe to visit with Mona for a couple hours before heading home. Overall, a very fun 24 hour jaunt.

Fernando and Gabe--happy at the Frog & Peach

Me, Mona, and Sonya at Downtown Brew

Hubby and me at DTB

G-Money and me at DTB

Mo's AMAZING garlic fries. Drool-worthy.

Mo's BBQ sampler. Most of this came home with us.

Pismo Pier--look how far the water had receded

Fernando and I, of course

Okay, so I think that just about catches you up. Life is busy, but humming along. Fernando ordered his cap and gown for graduation this week. Getting pumped for that. I even went out and bought dresses already for Alma and Fernando's respective graduations. We filed our taxes early this year and already got our refund. We went ahead and bought two leather armchairs for our living room and they should be delivered on April 7th. I'm excited for those to arrive. We've also settled on some bookshelves for our living room's back wall. Once we install the shelves and get the chairs, our living room won't be so bare. We'll finally have someplace to put all our books and picture frames (still in boxes since we moved in LAST December). I'll definitely post pictures once everything is moved in.

~LOVE~