"Wed's Wonderings & Wanderings": BIRTHDAYS!!

With my birthday drawing near I can't help but recall my past birthdays including my first birthday. So I'd thought I'd dig up a few photos and share the memories. I'm sure everyone remembers a few birthdays, but I can clearly recall all my bdays since my 4th birthday. My wonderful parents have strived to make each of our birthdays special and unique, down to whatever theme we would want that year or "destination" we'd chose to go to. Now brother's birthday is in August, so the rule was his birthday comes first, and then we could talk about and plan mine. Lucky for my sis, her bday is in January, so all she had to worry about was Christmas and New Years getting in the way of her bday, Oh and rain, it always rains on her bday.

September is an awesome month to have a birthday because when your birthday falls during the beginning of school it's the perfect time to throw a party before the homework starts piling up. Now, I truly hate the part of being the center of attention, but I love to have parties. So having a birthday is the perfect excuse to have your parents throw you a big bash! And really who doesn't like to party? Or at least gather their friends all in one place to laugh and just have a good time.

Two of my most memorable parties were: my 5th bday party, I had a huge sleepover (like 14 girls huge) were we did nails, facials, baking pizza and cookies, staying up playing board games into the night till we crashed watching a cool movie (at the time) "It Takes Two." It totally had to be an Olsen twins movie back in the day. Then for my 22nd bday I threw a big throw back 2yr old party complete with a bounce house, cake and piñata. Let me tell ya having a bunch of twenty year olds jumping in a bouncer is quite hilarious. Best part was watching everyone try to whack the piñata while blindfolded, a LOT of missed swings, in fact one of our front hedges is still growing back and it's going to be two years now since that party.

All in all at the core of every birthday party the thing I love most is knowing my friends were united in one thing . . . FUN. Basically, I use my parties to unite all my friends from my different areas of my life. It's the one day I can ensure my school friends will meet my cousins who will meet my family friends who will meet my team mates and so on. So now with everyone being all grown-up with various jobs and careers, I love using my birthday as a reprieve from humdrum life and a chance to really reconnect with my friends. So try to make your birthday special either for yourself, someone special or those you love, because birthdays are fun and a party is always something worth planning. Just remember life is life and you should take the time to celebrate making it through another year with the people you love and hold dear.

"Wed's Wonderings & Wanderings": June Gloom, Graduation, Memories and Overall Nostalgia

June is a unique time for California, residents find we really enter the summer months and starting hitting the hotter temperatures. There is of course the June gloom too, which starts off in the morning and burns away by noon. If you've never experienced the gloom, don't worry its nothing special, just a light fog, but it obscures our precious sun making us wonder: should we bundle up? And must we wear shoes instead of flip-flops? 

I jest of course, but seriously though, June is the time when the schools get out and graduations commence. This past Thursday my baby brother graduated from high school, I couldn't even cry this time like I did for my little sister, because I was just so proud of him. He was such a pain trying to get him to do his school work, but in the end he finished Cum Laude and won various department awards. The fact that he was the last to graduate from the same high school as my sister & I only made the ceremony all the more special for our family.

Then there was Father's day on Sunday, who doesn't love to celebrate their father or father figure in their life. I love my papa, he is seriously the most selfless, loving, and understanding man on the planet and I could never hope to have a better dad. Sadly Father's day for my family on my dad's side will always be a bit hard to celebrate, since my cousin passed away two years ago this past Thursday from a 5 year on and off again battle with cancer. His passing was(is) still hard for my family as it was around Father's Day, so my beloved grandpa, who was basically his father, takes my cousins passing very hard this time of year.  We all try extra hard to keep everyone happy around this week, especially my grandpa. And what better way to occupy ones mind than to enjoy America's favorite past time, baseball.

So off we went to spend a hot afternoon amidst a full crowd in the glorious old stadium in L.A. cheering on the Dodgers. My family ate delicious sandwiches from our favorite family deli, drank ice cold lemonade and soda, had some good old peanuts and witnessed a loss . . . again. I swear I never see a win but at least this time I got to watch two home runs back to back and had my family laughing at the fact I may be a jinx. I'm still holding on to the claim that I'm not a jinx, buuut thus far the record is not in my favor. 

Either way this past week has reminded me to make every moment count and enjoy my time spent with family. I miss my cousin and I know that he would have enjoyed watching the game with all of us. So us going out and having fun with him on our minds makes him live on and not forgotten, because he will always be a part of our lives in some ways, even though he is no longer with us. All that to say June may be a bit gloomy at times but then sun will still come out to shine; And when it does you'd better go out hit the beach, park, lake anywhere you can to make memories with friends and family, because that's what truly matters in life. 

"Wednesday's, Wonderings & Wanderings": So Many eBooks, So Little Time

         I ask this question a lot because, I literally have like a million ebooks in my library. That said I probably will never read all of them, which rather makes me sad. I love reading and whether the books are awful, or not, getting lost in a book is an activity I find relaxing. I can also multi-task, so reading while watching TV or listening to music isn't an issue. 

         In fact there are a couple books that I read when listening to a new album and when I re-read said books or listen to the album again, I swear I can remember that part in the book or hear the song playing in my head when reading that chapter again. Strange right? 

         Well I think that's how a lot of memories work by association with things. Generally I have a CD for every trip I've taken, don't know why it is but it just happens, but I don't usually have a specific book for my trips. I read books too fast so it's great I have my eReader now, or else I'd have to do the old school thing and lug around a bag of books.