My little niece was such a ham on Thanksgiving. She was posing and wanting me to take her pictures. Isn't she so cute!

    Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I really enjoy making gifts. I enjoy being generous, I feel bad if ever I get a present from someone and I haven't given something to them. It bugs me. I would have to do something nice in return.

    I love to put out all my decorations. Some things I got from my mother in law like the cool santa boot with the old folgers can that says it's for electric percilators. How cool is that? I love finding treasure. Or as Trev refers to it JUNK.. Ha Ha. I found the cool old Santa that sits next to my Tree at the Swap meet on the hottest day in July a few years ago for $1.00. I carried him a mile to my car with the biggest  "I scored" smile.  The paintings and mirror I found on the curb. One of the paintings is signed 1968. I think they are so beautiful. 

     Growing up poor with not a lot of extra's and only one gift under the tree made me humble and appreciate everything I have. I was always happy with whatever I got because it was mine. One year my aunt Rachel bought me pencils with my name on them.I thought that was the greatest thing. I never wanted to use them because I wanted them to last. Haha,

     My husband goes crazy making sure I am happy now. I am so blessed. I want the holidays to be special for my son. I want to spend it with family, and friends. I want to bake and appreciate all the little things. I hope you find some treasure and magical moments this holiday season and take time to appreciate all the little things.

     I went to the movies with my friends Lucy & Lily this week. It has been so long since I have gone anywhere with my buddies, so it was a sweet time for us. We had dinner together too.....wow. We went to see Cadillac Dreams. It was interesting because it is based on a the life of blues singers Muddy Waters & Etta James.  

    I took my big ol' camera with me so I could take a few pics. We had so much fun being silly. I love my friends. We rocked it out at Urban Outfitter. That store is eye candy for sure. 

     Meet my beautiful and super talented cousin Jasmine. She is on her way to being an  actress and a comedian. Comedy is in her blood. Her dad Gilbert Esquivel is a very well respected comedian in the latin community. Jasmine is studying with the Groundlngs. She has such a magnetic personality and is quite funny. We had a good time together doing this shoot. 

     I love, love, love the movie Marie Antoinette directed by Sophia Copolla.  Recently, I saw the new Dior ad. It features a girl holding pastel color balloons.  I cannot get that image out of my mind, it is so pretty. Sophia directed that ad campaign too. So, I thought it would be fun to try to re-create something similar with a Latina twist. Jasmine was up for anything. So, we shot some pictures with the balloons. Then, we raided my costume jewelry drawer and I pulled out the pearls, hair clip, rings. I really like the simple head shots we took.

    She was a good sport with so many on lookers. We had to keep a straight face when we were shooting because guys were trying to get her number as they walked by..... It was hysterical.

      Overall, I was so happy to spend time with my sweet cousin. She was fun to work with. It was a very inspiring day for the both of us!

    True's great-grandma "Nanny" was here visiting from all the way from Washington. So our family decided we had to visit Disneyland since it is decorated for Christmas. Nanny comes a few times a year, but she hadn't gone in a while into the park. It was kind of a blustery day but not too cold, we all braved the weather and had such a nice time. It's a Small World ride is finally re-opened so we had to go on it. It was worth the wait. It was restored beautifully. True really enjoyed it. I took my point & shoot camera and took a few pics but you just have to see Disneyland in person it is so spectacular. It makes you feel like a kid again. I cannot wait to go again. We stopped by the candy shop on main street and bought some candy apples on the way out of the park. Yum. Trever bought spicy peanut brittle, sounds strange but it was really good. Try it sometime!

   I recently traveled to the Santa Ynez Valley for the holiday weekend to visit my family. I had so much fun I stayed at my best friend Rita's house. True loved that, he got to play with her dog Olive.

   I try to spend a little time with all of my loved ones, but it seems like a lot of running the whole visit. Before I left to go out of town, I was asked by Teresa to take the families picture for their Christmas card.  True came along with me and we had such a fun time playing in the park between pictures.