Long weekend with Friends and Family!

Wow, what a weekend!!
Where do I begin? Well why don’t we start with yesterday and work our way backwards. Yesterday, was the same old, same old with the small exception of my friend Matt.

Last week sometime we discovered that we are both die hard NKOTB fans. Yes, he is a boy. I know what you may be thinking, is this for real? The answer: YES!  Although, I think his infatuation is bigger but when they first came around-circa 1986 as opposed to me that just can’t get enough the second time around-circa 2008. So he promised me that he was going to look for some old trading cards from back in the day that he swears he has and give them to me. Between me and you—I don’t think he wants to part ways with them-jk!


Yesterday, was the 5th of July and didn’t do much but lounge around the old apartment, watch TV with my sister, Yesenia and talk with you on SKYPE(it was real nice chatting with you!). Sunday, the 4th was a bit of a haze because I didn’t go to bed until 5:30AM or so due to Diana’s Luau party aka tiki party. So Saturday was a GREAT day but let me begin with Friday and get to Saturday.

Friday after work I went to my Aunt Maribel’s house who was entertaining some out of town guest and she was making Pambazos and enchiladas. All I can say is YUMS!! A Pambazo is similar to a torta but it is dipped in the enchilada sauce to give it its color and unique taste. This was only the second time I had had this dish and it was a great tasty surprise. The last time I had these was in Mexico and they were spicy as hell(excuse me!).  Had you had these before Jackie?  But I digress, after we ate it was time to peace out because I had to get a couple of things for the party the following Saturday.

My sister and I headed to Menards to pick up some sand, a pool, and any other item we could find that was within our budget to transform our home into the Hawaii getaway we wanted to provide our guests. It was during this trip that I almost invited a Menards employee to the festivities. Too funny! Truth be told-my sister was all about the task at hand and would not allow me to “desviar me del curso.” 

After Menards we went to the Metra stop to pick up my two cousins Melissa and Crystal (I hope you spell her name with a “C”). Crystal is the one with my sister Yesenia and Melissa is pictured with me.

 We picked them up and then headed back to my parents house to “ransack” the place for anything that we may be able to use the following day. We managed to take some chairs, coolers, tables and serving trays. The next day we were having an early start because we were going to the beach!!
I was so excited but torn because there was still much to do for the party but if I was going to enjoy the festivities I really needed to do something for myself to be able to give to others. Our morning was supposed to start at 7am but due to some unexpected chat sessions we all went to sleep late and our leave time was more like 11:30am.

When we arrived to Oak street beach it was great and reality set it. First, that we got there a bit on the late side and our time would be rushed but still we enjoyed three hours of fun in the sun. The sand was HOT. My sister complained that maybe we could have used an umbrella and will from now on call the beach by its actual name “Cancer trap.”

She felt like she could not hide from the sun and no matter how much sun block she put on that day it was not enough. Now she thinks she burned her feet on the hot sand because they still hurt three days after the fact. I had a nice time and learned so much about beach does and don’ts. This will be my next entry and hope to compile a nice list by the end of the summer because I plan on hitting the beach once a week minimum.
We finally came back to the apartment and started to get ready, decorate and eat lunch-at the same time. There were many hands on deck but unfortunately due to the beaming sun it made it nearly impossible to do anything because it was bright, hot and too early.

The party was supposed to start at 9pm. Bless you Diana for this start time! It was at exactly 7:45pm that things really started picking up and the sun had gone down somewhat. We cranked it all we had and by 9:45 no joke everything was all set and ready to go. I had such a GREAT time but more importantly Diana looked like she enjoyed herself. The party in a nutshell: great decorations/great food (biased because my aunt catered it)/great DJ-la musica ni se diga! /limbo contest/great drinks/great chips/cute hamburger cake-great Oreo cake and most of all GREAT friends that came. I think they were planning the next party already. Our last guest left at 5:00am and Diana and I cleaned while we had some energy.  If there is one thing about summer parties that I have learned from all the fiestas we have had at Fillmore and on Chicago is that it is in your best interest to pick up at night/madrugada and take everything in because that SUN will be killer in the morning even without a hangover.

I’m going to compile a list of dos and don’ts for throwing a party.  Well, that was my weekend and let me just apologize right now for not having pictures of the actual party but you can look on facebook for pics.  If I can get my hands on any exclusive pics, I will post them and will make a better effort to make sure I take more pics of everything.
Bye!