Jessica's Birthday Party

Saturday, July 21.

Yay, Jessica! Today a lot of my family came over to celebrate my baby sister's 8th birthday!

Jessica with Rapunzel's braid

I think Jessica was very happy at her party. There was good food (hamburgers, hotdogs, nachos, corn, and potato salad), lots of family, face painting, a Rapunzel pinata, a big cake, and presents!

Our cousin Cindy is the artist in the family, so she was volunteered to do the face painting! :P

My sister is getting a baseball painted on her arm

Like I said, lots of family came just for Jessica. Here are all my cousins that came!

All of the kids had tons of fun hitting the pinata. Since I was crippled I had to watch from the porch. lol Luckily though, Cindy was my body guard and kept everything away from my foot. Thanks Cindy! ;)

Cousins Mireya and Cindy

At the beginning of the summer, Jessica knew that I wasn't going to be able to make it to her birthday because of my internship. Of course she was really sad, so she prayed and prayed that I would be there for her birthday. Lucky for her and lucky (but also unlucky since my ankle was broken) for me, her prayers were answered and I got to be there on her 8th birthday! :) I love that little girl sooooo much!

"And then I went to visit my sister in the states and all of a sudden it was like, it's like... it's like the movie Wizard of Oz when all of a sudden it changes from black and white to glorious technicolor." - John Mahoney

Happy Birthday Jessica!

Wednesday, July 18.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA! :)

My baby sister turned 8 years old! She is getting so big! :(

I love her, but omg she was being such a little diva! According to her, she didn't have to listen to anyone because it was her birthday! Ayayay... We just love her! :)

We are gonna celebrate her birthday with a birthday party on Saturday. She told us that for food she wants to have nachos, hamburgers, and red chile(for the adults). She knows what she wants. And guess what... She is gonna get it. lol

Even though we are having a party for her on Saturday, we still invited some of my family over for some cake. My Aunts and Uncles, Cuco, Laura, Mari, Robert, Cruz, and Vince came, and my cousins, Bobby, Arielle, Diego, Matthew, and Andrew. It's always great when any of us get together. We were making fun of my Tio Cuco for wearing mismatched shoes to work today! lol 

While my family was there, my Tia Mari was sitting next to me and we were watching a bunch of Youtube videos!

I look so white! haha

At around 11:30pm I got to have a quick hangout with Lucy, Brenda, and Ishwarya. They all had to go to sleep at a reasonable hour because they were going to take the 6:45am shuttle! Wow. Those girls are such hard workers!

I couldn't fall asleep... I spent most of the night watching Community on Hulu (I feel Liam would be proud lol), and reading 50 Shades of Grey. I don't read very many books, but my mom and sister had been telling me to read it for a while. Then I checked my email and saw a fabulous email from Brenda that contained some food pictures! Thanks, girl! :) And because I couldn't sleep, I rambled on a pretty long response email. hehe Then after chatting a little bit with my friend Michael, I finally fell asleep around 5am.

"In time of test, family is the best." - Burmese Proverb

Sistersss

Thursday, July 19.

1:00pm.
I woke up to the sound of the ringing tone of our doorbell. It was our old babysitter, Lupe. As a get well present, she brought me a balloon and awesomely delicious bean burritos! :D They were so good! Lupe took care of me and my sisters when I was in middle school. When we weren't in school, we spent most of our time with her playing Loteria. Sooo that's what we did while she visited us. :) It was fun, and I think I even won a couple of bucks!

Loteria card

After Lupe left, I took a really long, relaxing shower. After my shower, I ended up falling asleep. I told myself that I was gonna do some work, but that didn't happen... My sister woke me up and was really nagging me to go with her to dinner. I finally caved, and my three sisters and I went out to dinner. It was the first time that I had actually gone out of the house (besides going to the doctor). It felt pretty good. We went to Texas Roadhouse, and I ate a Cactus Blossom appetizer (not sure how to describe it), a loaded baked potato, and green beans. It doesn't sound like I ate that much, but I was super full at the end!

On the way home, we rented a movie. And then went and got some movie theatre popcorn, because Katrina loves it. lol We watched the Smurfs. Such a cute movie! 

I finally got on my laptop and saw an email from one of my awesome roommates, Brenda. She was updating me on her breakfast from Stock Market that day! :P See how delicious it looks!

Later, Katrina was bored so we played Super Mario Sluggers on the Wii.  I suck at this game! haha I used to be really good, but I forgot all of the secret tricks/plays, so Katrina beat me! lol

Awesome day with my sisters. <3

"The advantage of growing up with siblings is that you become very good at fractions." - Robert Brault

Sat-ur-day

Saturday, July 14.

So I really really miss Google breakfast. Brenda sent me this picture of her breakfast from Charlie's cafe, and I think anybody would agree that it just looks perfect. Like something you would see in a commercial even. BTW in this picture you can see a salmon bagel, some zucchini bread muffins, waffles, and strawberries. MMM!

Today, my little cousin, Franky, was celebrating his birthday at Peter Piper Pizza in El Paso. I didn't feel very partyish so I stayed home while my sisters went. My mom didn't go because she had a different party to go to. 

But I was excited because my good friend Ashley was gonna come visit me. Yay! I met Ash senior year of high school, and we've been close ever since. We laugh because we are so different. I guess everyone has that one nerdy friend. I am Ash's. ;) Anyway, my fabulous friend brought me a passion tea lemonade from Starbucks! Thanks, girl! 

We chatted for a while about everything and anything. It was great getting to catch up with her. At some point, we busted out some Google glasses and started taking random pictures.

I didn't like the way the light was shining on my forehead, so she covered it for me with her hair. haha
Thats what friends are for!

Ummmm... idk! lol

Such a fierce eyebrow!

Fun times! I <3 this girl. When she left, I ate some of the food that my mom brought home from the party: brisket, enchilada, beans, and some cake. It was pretty good. I spent the rest of the night watching Revenge, which is a pretty awesome show! Overall, it was a good Saturday night.

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." - Haruki Murakami

Friday the 13th. Lucky or Not?

Friday, July 13.

Not so lucky...

I guess it wasn't that bad. Although I tend to find any day that has a visit to the doctor's office unlucky. Today was my first follow up appointment with Dr. Lindsey after my surgery. I was led back into the cast room, where they removed the splint. EW. Its the first time I see my foot, and it's not a pretty sight. Not a pretty sight at all. I even got a bit lightheaded a couple of times from looking at it. In fact, I have pictures but will keep them to myself to save you from all of the less-than-fabulousness.

I will tell you, I could now understood why I felt occasional stinging when I rested my foot in certain positions. On the outside of my left leg, I saw a long straight line of 16 staples holding my skin together above my ankle - this is where Dr. Lindsey fixed my broken fibula. On the inside of my left leg was a smaller and curved line of 8 staples fulfilling their purpose - this is where the incision was to mend my tibia. That's as much as I'll say without getting grossed out at the thought of what it really looked like...

Time for X-rays. Doctor wanted to make sure everything was still in place. I just wanted to know what he used to fix my ankle... When the X-rays were finished, Dr. Lindsey invited my mom and I to hover over his shoulder as he viewed/explained the X-rays that were sent to his monitor.

9 screws, 1 plate, 2 washers, and a piece of rope are holding my foot together. Modern medicine is incredible!

The "fun" part was over. Honestly, I wasn't even aware that there was a fun part. Dr. Lindsey wanted me back in a boot. The same boot that I wasn't a huge fan of. Crap. Luckily the guy who is in charge of putting the boots/splints/casts on people, Javier, didn't think it was a good idea, because of how recent I had had the surgery. He put a blue cast on instead. He told me I would be way more comfortable in a cast. Cool. Thanks Javier.

Later on, I got a package in the mail. I had already missed a week of work, but Carolyn made it possible  that I wouldn't miss so much. Her and my host were able to get me all of the approvals needed so that I could work from home. They are awesome! All I needed was my work laptop, and I'd be set. Guess what was in the package?

In the package I found my laptop, badge and a cute card signed by EP interns. Special thanks to Brenda for getting everything to Carolyn, Lucy and Ramya for helping Carolyn find something to pack it in, the EP interns who signed the card and made my day, and of course Carolyn for putting it all together! :)

"The happiest is the person who suffers the least pain; the most miserable who enjoys the least pleasure." - Jean Jacques Rousseau

Boom.

Thursday, July 12.

I LOVE MY BABY SISTER, JESSICA!

Jess made me her favorite breakfast: egg and chorizo. She is so adorable! :)

Then we spent the morning watching cartoons on Netflix: The Fairly Odd Parents to be precise.

For lunch, Lizzie, a good friend from high school, came by and got us lemon pepper and hot wings from Wing Stop! :) It had been a while since I had seen Lizzie, so it was really fun getting to catch up with her.

I don't remember what I ate for dinner, but I do remember that my family came over again. :D We played Aggravation, and Cruz and I lost horribly. haha

Notice that my marbles are yellow and they are all in base. :( They pretty much stayed like that the whole game! lol Oh well... Cruz and I always win, so it was time to give someone else a turn. ;) hehe

Cuco and Laura <3

Mireya <3

Another exceptional hangout with the roommies! Oh, and Ramya even joined this time! :)

<3

Well there wasn't very much detail in this post, but maybe the next one...

"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be." - Marcel Pagnol

"Lesson Learned: *Nerds* Shouldn't Longboard"

Wednesday, July 11.

I got a lovely early morning visit from Jen, Janie, and Nicole. Ok, it wasn't that early, just around 10:00am. ;) These girls never cease to amaze me. They brought me a poster with a nice little message with candy. lol They are so creative, and I loved it!

Dear Tasha,
You're such a SweetTart. Sorry your ankle went Crunch.Think of us as your Life Savers, your 3 Musketeers.
Aren't you glad we got you to the hospital Extra quickly?
Lesson learned, Nerds shouldn't longboard!
Try not to Rolover in your sleep.
Since you're here Extra long, we have time to learn the M&M song.
We won't Snickers at your condition.
Wel'll bring you Mounds of Keva Juice on Payday.
<3 Airheads (Jen), Airheads (Janie), Airheads (Nicole)

BEST POSTER EVER! :D Thanks chicas! The girls stayed for a while to visit. It turns out that Jen is crippled now too. :( She fractured her ankle at work a couple of days before they visited. I was gonna tease her about longboarding, but she I couldn't because she broke it doing something else. Luckily, she didn't need surgery... Nicole had surgery on her ankle earlier in the year, so Janie better be extra careful on those longboards!! lol 

In the evening, some of my family came over too! :) My Tia Cruz came and brought my 3 little cousins Diego, Matthew, and Andrew. They were also mesmerized by all of the candy on the poster. haha

The lovely Sandoval family also came over! Yay, for my cousins and Tia Pati! :P They are so awesome and brought me some cookies and cake pops. <3

Yummy cookies and cake pops!

I was still a bit weak from the surgery the day before, and I ended up slipping as I was crutching into the kitchen. To say that it hurt was an understatement... After it happened, I went back to bed and elevated my foot hoping to ease some of the pain. As I was resting it, and my family was standing around me, my step-brother Josh came in and surprised us and led everyone in a prayer for my foot to heal. I thought that was sweet.

Because I've been missing the Google food, I asked my wonderful roommates to send me pictures of their delicious food! Today, Brenda sent me a picture of one of her breakfasts. It looked so delicious - see for yourself!

Avocado/Cheese/Egg Sandwich with Fruit

Man, oh man, how I miss my roommates! :( I can only hope to get better soon...

I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life!

"We never cry out to God and receive a returned check stamped 'Insufficient Grace'" - Sandy Smith