Birthday weekend

I had a fantabulous time last weekend for my birthday. Mom came up and spent the weekend with me. We did our usual--ate breakfast at IHOP (yum!), shopped at Nebraska Furniture Mart (finally found some furniture for my new basement--pics to come when all is finished), and just had some old-fashioned mom/daughter bonding.

Mom was also able to spend more time with Arturo. The great part of that is how much my mom actually likes Arturo. She thinks he is very handsome (thanks Mom! :)), and she loves how mannered and polite he is. He definitely earned some bonus points with the gifts he brought me for my birthday--roses and a Barnes and Noble gift card.

The three of us sat in partial rain and dryness for the Royals loss to Minneapolis. Our seats were JUST in the right spot--our heads were dry while our laps soaked up the drizzle. (Please ignore my hair--it was raining!!)

I love this picture because it looks like these two players are dancing with each other. :)

Slugger flirted with Mom, alongside the man who sat in front of her. He even offered to buy my mom a beer! Now THAT was funny!

This was Mom's first game at Kauffman Stadium, so she cheered on her new team, even if they lost after like 12 innings. Needless to say, we didn't stay for the whole game. The Royals were losing (surprise!), the rain was still falling, and Arturo was VERY tired from working 12 hours that day. Poor baby...

It just wouldn't be a Mom/grand-dog weekend with a picture of the two of them. Soze loves her Grandma!!!

Awww...Thanks babe. :)

Green thumb??

I had never really felt the "need" to work out in my yard like my dad always did, but this spring, something has come over me. I want to be outside, getting dirty (okay, not too dirty--I did scream bloody murder when a worm landed on my leg), and making sure the landscape looks nice enough to compete with my neighbors.

This is what I have done:

and this is what Arturo did while I slaved away outside. Thanks babe. :)

Omigod, omigod....snappies!

The annual "Mother/Daughter Weekend" was a big hit! Legally Blonde was better than I thought it would be. If fact, I would say Legally Blonde ranks up there with Wicked! Now that's a compliment!

(Who can go to a Legally Blonde broadway show and NOT come away with a hot pink feather boa?)

Becky Gulsvig played the part of Elle Woods. I was VERY excited to see both her and Rhiannon Hanson from MTV's "The Search for the Next Elle Woods". These girls were outstanding. I can't believe Becky didn't win. She was PERFECT as Elle!!!

The puppies were adorable as well. We all laughed and awwwwwed...when the pups "spoke" on cue. :)

Paulette had an incredible voice as well! When the UPS guy came sauntering across the stage, all the girls screamed and clapped. The music went along perfectly with him too...kind of a Chippendale or stripper song.

Elle and Emmett were too cute together. Even though we knew they would be together in the end, the audience cheered when they finally kissed and made it official. :)

**Show photos credit online. Thanks!

Chugga Chugga...

The only picture I don't have that I wish I did was a picture of Arturo and me when we first arrived to the show. Apparently our gracious Lord Almighty decided to use that exact moment to dump buckets of rain water directly over the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City. By the time we ran from the car to the theatre, Arturo and I looked like we had just stepped out of the shower. Neither one of us had a dry spot on us, especially Arturo. Poor Arturo...he had to go back outside to take our "illegal" camera to the car!

Butch Walker opened up for Train. While I had never, ever heard of him, he put on a great show! I've looked him up on Youtube since the concert and plan to download his albums. He's definitely a rocker, but he also has a tender, meloncholy sound to his voice.

The moment Pat stepped out on stage, the crowd went crazy! He's sexy and can sing. What more can a girl want????

I was ready for the show. For DAYS prior, my classes listened to Train's album "Save Me, San Francisco". The kids were tired of it, but you know every time "Soul Sister" played, most of them sang along! :) My two new favorite songs of Train's after seeing the show are "Parachute" and "If it's Love". Pat said "If it's Love" will be their next single. Just wait for it... :)

Pat came down to the floor to sing "Marry Me" and decided that the entire audience should be married. The best part, besides seeing him a little closer, was watching the older women grope him like he was Elvis.

Butch Walker came back out to finish the show and sang with Pat. I love how this picture turned out--gritty with a rocker's edge--just how the show was! :)

**I have two videos to upload, but for the life of me, I can't figure out to upload them now! How did I do it before???

Disney on Ice

Arturo and I took his little cousin, Jimmy, and his nephew, Bryan, to Disney on Ice at the Sprint Center yesterday. Of course, I just really used them as an excuse for me to go! :)

The show was cute--my favorites were The Little Mermaid and The Lion King shows. Basically each ice skating "episode" was a mini-version of the movies. They summed up each story in a 15-minute ice skating show. For me personally, the Tinkerbell show was a little long, but it was visually beautiful!

Both Jimmy and Bryan liked the Cars part of the show. They all came out as show #1, and once they performed, the rest was a little "girly". Jimmy said, "I don't like Tinkerbell!" He wanted Lightning McQueen and Tow-Mater to come back out, as evident by his cute little hat.

Arturo was too cute as well. :) He was so worried about Jimmy and Bryan the whole time. He wanted to make sure they were having a good time and being taken care of. He will definitely make a good dad someday!

First Day of Spring

Are you kidding me? I wake up to NINE inches of snow on the first day of spring! What happened to our 60+ degrees just a few days ago? Needless to say, I was hoping our speech tourney would have been cancelled, but now I'm glad that the show went on because now I am done until October or so. :) I just can't get over the snow...

More details of my new-found happiness

Well, Arturo and I have pretty much been inseparable since we met back in February. Even though it's only been just a short time, we both feel as if we've known each other for much, much longer. I don't know what it is, but I feel totally safe when I'm with him and feel like I could tell him anything (and we have told each other stories aplenty!). I've shared my stories of my childhood (including my baby scrapbook), marriage to Todd, divorce, and my relationship with Joon and the consequential breakup. Sometimes I think the whole purpose of my relationship with Joon was to show me that there could be love after divorce and to open my eyes to other cultures.

I met Arturo's family this past week. What can I say? I LOVE them!!! His sister, Esperanza or Espy, and her family welcomed me with open arms. His cousin, Nancy and her family also brought me into their home. They all seemed genuinely interested in me and my life. I can't wait to get to know them more. I know it sounds crazy, crazy, crazy, but I can honestly see myself someday being a part of Arturo's family. Even though Arturo's sister and cousin are the only ones over here in America, he comes from a large family in Peru. Of those I met, I can see they love each other so much, are so close, are loud and boisterous, and are totally giving of themselves. They love to get together and have a good time--eat, dance, take pictures, and spend time outdoors in the summer. How do I know this? Well, I looked at photo album after photo album at Nancy's house and fell in love with them (I also saw a golden opportunity to create more scrapbooks!! :)). Once Arturo and I were looking at the picture below, I noticed how familiar his sister, Espy, looked in the middle. I kept thinking that she looked so much like my sister Angie, and after putting Angie's high school graduation pic next to the computer screen, it was Uncanny. Wow...I will try to find a pic to post later to show really how much they do look alike. Maybe that's a sign... :)

Where will this relationship take me? I have my own ideas, and I'm definitely willing to find out~ I hope we will be together for the long haul. And yes, I do realize that it seems so soon to be saying something like that, but both he and I feel as if we've known each other for soooo much longer. I know Arturo really likes me, and the feeling is mutual for him as well. I'm excited to know that my best days are ahead of me.