Graduations, Birthdays, Parties, Walks….Life

Posted on June 8, 2014 by phjiao

Hi friends,

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind. June is a fun month because it filled with family and friends’ birthdays, plus my birthday. This year, the start of June also included three graduations and many fun events! It has been fun, but also a bit exhausting. I am also going through the process of dental surgery, which has required multiple dentist appointments (I am thankful for having a good dentist and that this has a solution).

I am happy to finally have a Sunday at home, to sip my cup of coffee and relax, write a blog post, and catch up on things around the house.

This blog, is a hobby for me, something I do on my free time, but also something I enjoy and am committed to. It is my way of sharing life experiences, things I learn, thoughts, and a positive platform. I appreciate your support greatly! It touched my heart recently when Lola told me that one of her friends, who reads my blog often, asked if I was doing ok since I hadn’t posted in a few days. It takes time to write each blog post and choose the pictures. So, sometimes I have to decide if I have time to write a blog post today….and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes, after a long day at work and an outing that evening, going to sleep wins over writing a blog post, ha! These past two weeks, I had a commitment every single day, and I had fun, it is part of enjoying my life, and time with family and friends. My busy social schedule left me without time to write blog posts. Thank you for understanding and for your support! Your words encourage me to continue writing this blog!

Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks….hope you like them!

What were you up to this past week? Did you go to any graduations, birthdays, or parties?

Best wishes for a great week – and let’s stay in touch!

Hugs,

Paola

The outings started with a night at the theatre. After seeing a great performance, my hubby wanted a hamburger, so we stopped for a late dinner. He had a hamburger, I had a few of his fries.

Thursday night, we discovered a new Indian restaurant. The art at the restaurant is beautiful!

Friday night, Lola joined me for the San Diego County Fair’s Media Party. It is held a week prior to the Fair’s opening and one of my favorite parties of the year! We didn’t stay too late this year because the next day I had to get up very early for a 5K walk.

I got up bright and early on Saturday to give a welcome & participate in the Live Well San Diego 5K Walk/Run! Lola was in town, so she joined me. It was a wonderful event, we had fun and we got some exercise!

The Little Italy Mercato (farmer’s market) is held downtown on Saturday mornings. I’d wanted to visit it for a while, but Lola is usually out of town on weekends and I usually don’t go downtown on weekends. So, since she was in town and the Walk was held close to downtown, we headed to Little Italy after the Walk. We stopped to say hi to my brother at his booth, he sells plants there – that’s his hobby. So proud of him! We bought some fruit, it was juicy and sweet, and a silver necklace. I’ll be going back!

Sunday, my sis & nephew joined me for Mauricio’s #1 Birthday Party (my friend Lizeth’s son). He’s a cutie! It was nice to spend time with Lizeth & her family – and my sis and nephew as well!

On Monday, my niece turned 15 and we got together to celebrate with a cake! She will have her Quinceañera party later this year! We are all looking forward to it!

On Tuesday, I went to an election night party downtown – and left in time to vote on my way home before the polls closed!

A family friend’s daughter graduated from high school and invited us to her graduation on Wednesday evening. We had a delicious Cuban dinner at their home after the ceremony.

Thursday, my adorable nephew Andrew graduated from kindergarten! We went to the Ceremony at his school, then my family went to lunch together and I went back to work. Later that afternoon, we had cake at his home to celebrate!

Thursday evening, my friend Elsa and I went for a walk at Lake Murray. It is beautiful and relaxing! I found a new place to exercise & maybe even go for a bike ride.

I have been wanting to go to Coronado for a while. So Friday after work, Lola and I met in Coronado and went for a walk! It was the perfect way to end a long week! We did some exercise and afterwards, went browsed through a few shops on Orange Avenue and did some shopping at the Hotel Del’s stores. I bought some coloring books for my nephews and discovered a great little jewelry store. We live in an amazing County that has so many areas to explore and Coronado is a beautiful city in the region! We saw this large and cuddly dog during our walk, just had to get his picture!

Saturday, I had fun watching my nephew! This visit deserves its own post, I’ll write about it later on.

Saturday night, we got together with my comadre to celebrate her birthday! It was nice to see her and her family! I enjoyed spending time with my goddaughter, she’s a beautiful and sweet little girl!

A Mom’s Love: Plants vs Zombies Birthday Cake

Posted on April 7, 2014 by phjiao

Hi friends,

Children’s birthday parties are always fun. It is amazing to see things through children’s eyes and how much fun they have at parties, it is continuous playing, laughs, and enjoyment. It is nice to see how much effort the parents put into organizing these celebrations for their children. For the child and his parents, there is excitement leading to the party and lots of details to take care of, items to be purchased, decorations, cakes, food, drinks, prizes, and lots more. Finally, the birthday party date arrives and on the day of the party, you see the joy in the child’s face & the fun all the children have….and the other parents and guests as well. The joy in your child’s face makes all the work you put into the party , and the stress, as well as exhaustion, worth it!

Even though my hubby and I are not parents yet, we go to lots of children’s birthday parties, aka piñatas for hispanic families. In addition to my nieces and nephews birthday parties, we go to our friends children’s parties. I also accompany my sister to a few parties each year and recently went to birthday party with a Plants vs. Zombies theme (in case you are wondering, just like I was, it is a popular video game).

When we arrived, the host was finishing the decorations on the birthday cake. She baked the cake from scratch and decorated it with the Plants vs Zombies theme. Beforehand, she bought all the necessary items, including the decorations and food coloring spray. She claims she is not a good baker or cake decorator, but I disagree. This mom rocks, she is not only an amazing mom, she’s also a great cake decorator. The cake was not only beautiful, it was delicious, rich and moist! If i had not seen her decorating the cake, I would have thought it was made at a bakery.

It was so nice, that I asked her if I could post it on my blog & luckily she agreed.

What she used:

-Cake mix (marble and chocolate), items for cake: eggs, oil, water

-Hand blender

-Unflavored whipping cream

-Food color spray (in green color)

-Chocolate frosting

-Marshmallows (large white)

-Oreo cookies

-Candy gummy flowers (multiple colors)

-Lollipop sticks (to use as stems for gummy flowers)

-Candy in the form of small rocks

-Sugar sprinkles (in green color)

-Zombies vs Plants figurines

-Cake decorating icing bag (can be replaced with icing writing tubes)

-Large rectangular cardboard wrapped to use as base for cake (wrapped with green wax paper)

-Candles (of your choice she used gray candles to go with the theme)

Theme: Plants vs Zombies

Steps:

1) Prepare the cake mix and bake the cakes – one marble sheet & one chocolate sheet, allow them to cool

2) Mix Oreo cookies in a blender to make crumbs

3) Cut the marble cake in two layers, to make two thin layers

4) On the wrapped cardboard that will be the base of the cake, build the layers, starting from the bottom with the marble cake, then a layer a chocolate cake, a layer of chocolate frosting, a layer of marshmallows, lastly add the thin layer of marble cake with the smooth surface facing up

5) Use a blender to mix the whipping cream to the right consistency, separate a small bowl of whipping cream to use to write Happy Birthday on the cake

6) Decorate the entire cake with the white whipping cream

7) Spray the entire cake with the food color spray (you should do this in a well ventilated place because the aerosol gets in the air in the room and you way want to cover the surrounding areas with paper towels or newspaper because it will get on other surfaces, but it is easy to clean off)

8) Mark the area you will decorate as the garden – make the border with the rocks and use the Oreo cookies as the dirt

9) Add the lollipop sticks to the gummy flowers, then place the flower gummy candy and a few Zombie figurines in the garden area

10) Add the remaining Zombies vs Plants figurines on the cake

11) Add a few drops of food coloring of your choice to some of the whipping cream, a few drops of black were used here to make gray whipping cream

12) Fill the cake decorating bag with the colored whipping cream, and write Happy Birthday and child’s name on the side of the cake with whipping cream

13) Place the candles on the cake

13) Add the green sugar crystals as grass on the top surface of the cake and tilt a few of the Zombies so it looks like they are crawling

Approximate time: 2 hours

She also baked some unique & delicious cupcakes, I’ll post about those later this week.

Here’s how the final masterpiece was placed on the cake table, ready for guests to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy & make for a perfect picture moment! Wonderful family memories!

Birthdays / Cumpleanos

Posted on July 2, 2013 by phjiao

We all have birthdays. If you are like me, your days are pretty full and when asked about celebrating your birthday you may say, “not planning anything really big.” But, our friends and family want to celebrate us. So, every year, I end up having a four to five day celebration of my birthday, it’s become a tradition – between dinner with my hubby, a gathering with family, a dinner party with friends (thanks Lola!), a cake with work colleagues…and we have the best time! Times that create great memories of moments with friends and family, those moments that are priceless! It is nice to know you are loved and people want to celebrate you! Next year, just accept it and let others celebrate you….you will create wonderful memories that will last a lifetime!

What did you do on your last birthday? Do you have a fond memory from a birthday celebration?

Hugs,

Paola

Español: Todos tenemos un cumpleaños. Si eres como yo, tus días quizas esten llenos – entre el trabajo y compromisos, y cuando te preguntan si vas a festejar tu cumpleaños dices, “no estoy planeando nada en grande.” Pero, nuestras amistades y familia nos quieren festejar nuestro cumpleaños. Así que cada ano termino teniendo un festejo de cuatro o cinco días, ya se ha convertido en una tradición – entre cena con mi marido, reunión con mi familia, cena con amigos (gracias Lola), y pastel con compañeros de trabajo….y siempre la pasamos super divertido! Son momentos que crean bonitos recuerdos de convivencia con familia y amigos, esos momentos que no tienen precio! Es bonito saber que te quieren y la gente te quiere festejar! El próximo ano simplemente aceptalo y deja que otros te festejen….crearas recuerdos hermosos que te duraran toda una vida!

Que hiciste en tu ultimo cumpleaños? Tienes algún bonito recuerdo de un festejo de cumpleaños?

Un abrazo,

Paola