My weekend in four pictures :3

Fast and Furious 6

This is a fair warning, this will contain spoilers (of all the movies). And probably turn into a rant of sorts.

So on Thursday, FF6 came out. Hubby was super excited because for reasons unbeknown to me he likes the movies. My guess is explosions and fast cars are every mans wet dream. I can openly admit that I love the first one. 

Vin Diesel (Dom) and Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) are like....perfection. I mean, I had to put up with Paul Walker (Brian) saying, "Bro" at least ten times but Vin made that all okay. The end was somewhat of a miss for me, on the good side it made me long for more, on the opposite side I was really upset that I had no idea what happened to Letty in the end.

2Fast2Furious was ehhh, it was something I totally could have skipped over and lived. I mean who really wants to watch Paul Walker win his good graces to get back into the police force? Not I. Ludacris (as Tej) was a great addition to the story line, because he was so funny. And there were a couple of lead girls that kind of filled in what Letty and Mia (Dom's sister played by Jordon Brewster) did in the first movie, but they weren't all that great and it just wasn't as enjoyable. Tyrese also makes his debut in this movie as Roman. Roman is Brians former best friend, but instead of going on the straight an narrow like Brian decided to continue his life of crime. Brian of course, negotiates with the police to miraculously free his friend so that he can help him bring down  Carter Veron (the resident bad guy in Miami).

FF3: Tokyo was probably the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. Not only was it totally irrelevant, in my opinion, but then they also kill Han (played by Sung Kang), who was the only person worth watching that movie for!  And I honestly wished that instead of incorporating it into the movies they would just skip over the whole of it. Like it never happened. Was a dream perhaps. 

Fast and Furious 4 is when, I think most of the realism flies out the window. In FF4 we get introduced to Gisele (played by Gal Gadot), who basically sets people up to be drug runners for a guy named Braga, who after delivering his load, kill them. The opening of this story infuriated me because Letty gets killed.  Dom basically comes back, no holds barr, to exact his revenge on whoever killed the love of his life. You also see Han in the opening of the move basically alluding to the fact that he was going to go to Tokyo (UGHHHH). We also get introduced to Tego and Rico, two new members that Letty and Dom have recruited to help them steal oil. Unbeknown to Vin, Letty actually volunteered to help Brian in exchange for Doms pardon. He later finds out, beats the crap out of Brian and pretty much goes rouge. In the end, they get Braga, and the guy - Phoenix - who killed Letty, all with the help of Gisele. This of course does not pardon Dom and he heads back to jail, this brings Brian and Mia closer, they bust him out of jail and the movie ends. 

For Fast 5 all realism goes out the window, but at least we get to see the whole crew together, right?! It just happens to be pure insanity. After Brian and Mia bust Dom out of jail, they all go on the lamb. They make their way to Brazil, where they hook up with, blast from the past, their old crew member Vince (played by Matt Schultze). He convinces them to do one last job. So off they go hopping on a train to steal some cars. Yes, you read that right. They hop on a train to steal some cars. Anyway, the plan goes hopelessly awry, and now not only are Dom, Letty and Brian running from the USA law (or in this case, a team that includes Dwayne Johnson that sent by the government to retrieve them) but now they are also running from the Brazilian Cartel. When they catch their breath, not only do they find out that Mia is not only pregnant with Brians baby but they also decide to pull together their old crew and steal money from Hernan Reyes. So in fly Gisele, Han, Tej (played by Ludarcris), Tego&Rico (played by Don Omar and Tego Calderon) and Roman (played by Tyrese). This is where all the fun begins, not to mention a new blooming romance between Han and Gisele that made me hold my breath, awww!

So, anyway. They have to figure out a way to break into a police building where Hernan keeps all of his millions and millions of dollars in paper money. Why would he do that? I don't know. It seems like he could have wired money to off shore banks, or hell, if he's as corrupt as they make him out to be he could have just kept the money in a bank. And so, the team goes under cover to see what it is like inside the building. They find out that apart from being inside a police building, his money is also kept in a super secret safe that only Hernans hand can open. Along the way there is a lot of bickering between Taj and Roman, who basically act like two school girls in love with each other. Rico and Tego also add a bit of character to this movie, as their non English speaking dialog happens to be quite funny. So as the team gets closer and closer to robbing Hernan, Luke Hobbs (played by The Rock) gets closer and closer to the team. As I mentioned before Hobbs is leader of a special unit that is essentially sent to catch bad guys and bring them back to the USA to face charges. Dom and the rest of the team realize they are being followed, and are eventually caught by Hobbs. This turns out to be in direct conflict with Hernan, who now wants the team dead because, as in the beginning of the movie, they stole something from him. In this case, it was a chip that was hidden in the car Mia stole that had all bank shipments schedules so they could be "hit." So because Hobbs getting his hands on Dom and Brian is in conflict, Hernan sends in a cleaner team that is to dispose of the whole lot. All of Hobbs team died (except for a young woman he has recruited while he was in Brazil - Elena), Vince was also caught in the cross fires and dies. Dom rescues Hobbs, and the plan goes on - but this time for revenge. Every one of the team thinks that they should run, Elena (One of Hobbs teammembers) advises him to run while he has the chance. But in true Dom fashion, he simply tells them that they are free to make their own choices but he will not go down without a fight. Its surprising when Hobbs offers to ride with Dom. Of course, he makes it clear its only until they kill "that son of a bitch." So, while Doms plan is to take Hernan for all he's got, Hobbs is just looking to take down the man who killed his team. Well, as it happens, the rest of the team follow Doms lead and this is where all the real crazy begins. They storm the police building with a huge armored truck, they get the safe - which they drag through the streets of Rio behind their cars, while the whole police team is following them. Lost of property damage ensues. Final show down happens on the bridge, when Dom breaks away from Brian and tries to get Hernan to follow him while he now, alone, drags the safe behind him. Hernan ultimately dies, and Brian saves Dom from being shot by one of Hernans henchmen. Hobbs shows up, and tells Dom to leave the safe behind and that he's willing to give Dom a head start. Dom abruptly turns around gets in the car, and drives off. Leaving Hobbs and Elena the safe. We find out why right away. Dom and Brian switched out the real safe with a fake one. Doms team has actually gotten away with the money. *start playing Danza Kuduro here* We find that Dom has left quite a bit of cash for the late Vince's son, Nico and his mother. We see that Rico and Tego have gone to Monaco to gamble away their money in casions, Roman and Tej are living it up in some unknown location bragging about their cars and trying to out do each other in every way possible. Tej owns a garage, and Roman is doing god knows what. Gisele and Han are headed towards Berlin to start their lives together. At one point Gisele asks if Han wants to go to Tokyo (UGHHHHHH) and he simply replies, "We'll get there. Eventually." Of course leaving room for more movies to come without him being dead. And to quite all of the people asking "How is Han still alive, I thought he died in the first one, dur dur dur" Brian and Mia are also living in some undisclosed location on the beach, its assumed that Dom lives either close to them or with them, as he is over at their house. And who but Elena is with Dom. Through out the movie they had a blossoming romance, and it looks like the end of this movie was just the tip of the budding romance. Now for the mind fuck. After the credits, we see Hobbs sitting in an office. An agent, the same agent that Brian rescued in the second movie hands Hobbs a file that he might find interesting. Hobbs flatly tells her that unless its Toretto he is not interested. She asks if he believes in ghosts, this catches Hobbs attention and he opens the file.....and we see exactly what she means. Letty is alive. 

So, in fast 6 we start off with Dom and Brian racing to a hospital because Brian has now become a father. Mia, Brian, Dom and Elena are essentially living in a happily ever after land in the Canary Islands in Spain (is that where they were located before?). Their whole life is now behind them. 
Hobbs is now on the hunt for a new team of villains who are stealing weapons from the government. The team has a very close similarities to Doms team. But we later find out that it is a team that Letty is running with run by Owen Shaw (played by Luke Evans). They are very dangerous and Owens does not care about loss of life that may come from whatever he is trying to get.  Hobbs comes to see Dom, Elena automatically informs him Spain has no extradition laws and he cannot take Dom, but Hobbs is just there to recruit Dom. This is where Dom finds out that Letty is indeed alive. Elena does what most other women would not, she tells Dom that he has to go, because if she found out her husband was alive, she would be gone in a heartbeat. Dom tells Hobbs that he wants to go in alone to get Letty, but Hobbs has other plans. And so we see what the team has been up to. Roman is set in his millionaire ways, jetting off to places in a personal plane full of girls, Taj is in some spanish speaking country literally giving his money away, Han and Gisele are in some Asian country talking about settling down and starting something "real." (awwwww!) Brian and Mia are living out in the country side of Spain raising their baby. And so the team assembles with one simple phone call.

Dom has a sit down with Brian to talk about the possibility of Letty still being alive, Brian, being a former cop, doesn't want to buy it. He thinks that Hobbs is just messing with his head, in a attempt to get him arrested. Basically the whole conversation leads up to Dom telling Brian that now that he has a family, he can't go on this "mission." Mia steps in and tells Dom that they are better together, and its easies her mind when they are out together because they have each others backs. (so much for leaving that life behind, right?) This movie centers a lot about what family means to Dom. We see it a lot in the other FF films, family plays a crucial role in all of the movies. His whole crew is his family. They also talk about "home" and how even if they are all still together, something is missing. When the team meets Hobbs they set conditions for them helping him. The whole team getting pardons is one stipulation (which, is weird because they are all wanted internationally). Hobbs agrees. The team goes after Shaw in the very first few scenes, they all get their asses handed to them when racing. Much of the team is left in mangles after their cars flip over, or crash. Dom chases down Letty (who ends up shooting him!) and we find out that Letty has lost her memory. That Phoenix, did not shoot her as it seemed in FF4, instead he shot her car which blew up causing her to fly back, and memory loss. Owen found her and recruited her for his crew. Letty is surprised that someone knows her, and when Ownes crew dig up information on the people that almost caught them, they find that Letty used to ride with them. This leads to some tension in the group, because they are not sure the extent of Letty's memory loss. Roman, Gisele, Agent Riley (Hobbs recruit) and Han all follow a trail to a car maker that helped Shaw build their cars. Gisele and Riley offer to talk to the guy, and eventually get into a shoot out because the guy calls Shaw for back up and Letty along with two other guys show up. Lots of fighting ensues, Shaw looses a team member, and Letty is concerned when Shaw shows no remorse towards the situation. She is obviously distraught because she see how Dom treats his team and she sees the difference with Shaw. Shaw tries to warm up to Letty, I use that word loosely because this guy is clearly a sociopath, and can't really feel anything. Letty goes out to "get some air," and goes racing. This is where Dom heads to as well, knowing that Letty would be there (although not knowing that she has lost her memory). They race each other, and you can still feel that spark between them when they pull over to talk after Dom beats her in the race. 

Shaw confronts Dom and tells him that he's giving one chance to get away unharmed, Dom basically says that when Letty walks away, he walks away. Hobbs is there to back up Dom when Shaw makes an attempt on his life. All the while, after the shoot out Gisele was in we learned that Braga is involved with Shaw, so Brian heads off to the USA (risking arrest) to find out exactly what Braga knows about Shaw. He returns with information about Letty losing her memory and that Shaw plays on precision and he would not be found unless he wants to be. The team get wind of where Shaw is set to hit next, but figure out that it is actually a diversion and Shaw plans to hit the convoy with the secret cargo. The team assembles to hit Shaw when he attacks. Little do they know the cargo that is being carried is actually a tank. The team isn't really equipped for this, and end up doing what they do best - improvise. Shaw ultimately risks Letty's life by throwing her off the tank and Dom saves her be crashing his car and launching his body into air to counter Letty's fall. This is the part in the movie my husband threw up his hands and said, "C'ome on!" As if this was the most unrealistic thing in the movie to happen so far.   Han and Gisele decide to reevaluate their status, and Gisele suggests that they really settle down - in Tokyo (UGGGGGH!). Hobbs catches Shaw, and just when we think that movie is over - BAM! Shaw lets Dom know that he should have walked away, because they have got Mia and are holding her hostage. Hobbs agrees to let Shaw walk, but as soon as he's out the door the pardons go with him. Part of the next plot twist we find out Riley is actually a part of Shaws team and she and Shaw head off together, its now up to the original team to fix their mistakes. The few final scenes take place on a landing strip, Shaw is about to get away on a plane, lots of fighting follows. Mia gets rescued and is put in the drivers seat while Dom and Brian fight their way on the plane with Shaw and his henchmen. The other drivers struggle to keep the plane on the ground, by shooting the flap in the plane and making it too heavy to take off. Gisele ends up giving up her life to save Han (NOOOOOOOO!) but they get the bad guy. Tears flow when the rest of the team realizes that Gisele didn't make it. Hobbs then asks what it will take to repay Dom. He simply says: 1327.
And with that we see exactly what he means. We are back in Dom's neighborhood, at the house having a BBQ. 

They've all got their pardons, and are back to doing what they are best at doing: Being a family (how cheesy). Sadly, this is when they also revile to us that the time for Tokyo has come around. While talking Taj and Roman ask if Han is really thinking about going to Tokyo, Han replies and says that its something that he has to do. We leave off the team sitting around the table, saying grace and eating food.

After the ending credits we also get to see where Fast and Furious 7 will pick up (its out July 2014). We pick up a bit more than half way in Tokyo Drift, Han is being chased by police, another car flips him over and while he is trapped inside the car we see a man walking over to it, throwing dog tags into the wreckage and then lighting a lighter and tossing it in the car which causes it to explode. The man pulls out the cell phone and makes a call. We find out that the man is Ian Shaw (played by Jason Statham), Owen Shaws brother. We end the movie with, "Dominic Toretto, you don't know me, but you will." 

How far this franchise will go is a mystery to me, they seem to be popping them out like M&M's. I can only hold on to hope that Han is actually still alive and pulled a Letty by faking his death. The loss of Gisele was pretty bad though. All in all the movie was pretty much what I expected it to be. So I had a good time, Jeeze, I wrote a novel. 

Happy Belated Mothers day to everyone who celebrated it!

Mine turned out pretty fantastic, even though we didn't really do much of anything that I wanted. My whole plan was to go get brunch and exchange presents with my in laws. However, I wanted to go to a cafe, and they wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant (as always). We ended up going there, because we are more than accommodating, these things happen and I suppose something has to give. I, of course, cannot handle really heavy food for brunch/lunch. It was like one, and I really just wanted a sandwich. Just a good ol' fashioned sandwich and coffee. The restaurant we went to was called El Agave, it has really good reviews but has never really done anything for me. The food is okay, the service is wonderful, and their bar is very limited. That my friends, was a compliment sandwich. Well, at any rate, I got the guacamole salad, which is was less than pleasant. Only partly tolerable because there was guacamole on top of it, when they brought it out it was essentially shredded lettuce (the kind you put on tacos) with one, I repeat, ONE tomato slice, and a giant scoop of guac. I immediately regretted this decision. Should have gone for the Mexican Salad instead, at least that one was bound to have more than one tomato on it. 

Before I get into what later happens, I will say that Jose was very late in buying his sisters a mothers day gift. And so while my day should have been a bit more relaxing, I felt rushed and overall stressed about how much money was okay and what to get his sisters. He didn't even really think about getting his younger sister anything because she is currently "just pregnant" with her first. Ugggh, men! They can be so crazy sometimes. 

So following finishing our lunch, we started opening presents. For his younger sister we got a "What to expect when you're expecting" book. She put on a brave face, but I have a feeling she is a bit like me when I was pregnant and hated anything totally baby related. It was so embarrassing for me, and I'm sure that she feels the same way. Its probably very hard for her to accept it, she's still young and this was not something that she planned or hoped would happen. In hindsight, I probably should have picked out a funny book on pregnancy, something light hearted. She also got a maternity shirt and some stretch pants, which Jose totally ruined the moment by calling every thing "Pregnancy shirt!" and "Pregnancy pants! Ha ha, stretch!" I swear  Fani was going to reach across the table and slap him. We got his older sister a wallet and a scarf. I find she's the hardest to shop for.just because I'm not really sure were her tastes are. When I first started dating Jose, they were all kind of into the whole "rock" thing, and out of the three of them, I feel like Dulce has probably kept that in her the most. So I always try to find something edge and punky for her, but it can often be a challenge because I don't really know her like that. She also got some clothes, she's been working on keeping fit, so she is slowly revamping her wardrobe.  Jose picked out the gift for his mom - a coffee maker. Not sure what possessed him to buy one, but she seemed thrilled. I think she also got some clothes, and maybe some jewelry. 

When it was my turn to open gifts, I was pleasantly surprised. I think Joses family is starting to really get what my tastes are. In previous years, I had gotten stuff that I didn't really have anything to do with, and I would feel badly when those things sat unopened for long periods of time because it was nothing that I could use. But on Christmas they surprised me with an amazing pair of boots that I basically wore out during winter, I loved them so much. And that's how it was with this. I got some a dress, a peplum shirt, one of those short long shirts (it didn't have sleeves, blah, but that's okay its still awesome), an amazing hand painted wine glass, and a hair straightener. Which I guess since I asked to borrow one from Fani, she thought I would enjoy it. It was totally great. But Joses gift has got to be one of the most awkward moments of all. I open up the bag and I see a big floppy sun hat. And that's when that awkward moment hits and you realize that your husband has just bought you the same gift you bought your mom. That's right ladies and gents, I also bought my mom a sunhat. Her is slightly bigger, slightly flopper and is blue. I don't know why I felt the need to get her a hat other than I knew that she would enjoy it, and I guess hubby felt the same about me. 

After dinner, younger sister in law and mother in law decided they would join us for the Iron Man 3 movie, which hubs has been dying to see. We stopped by my mothers and gave her a gift, and she offered to take Ducia off our hand for the movie. Which was so nice of her. I'm really happy that she enjoyed her hat too. She usually gets awful summer hats, and they just do not work in her favor at all and she seemed genuinely happy about the hat and necklace I had gotten her. Which made me happy as well. I have a feeling though, that she would enjoy the hat I got more than she enjoyed the hat that I had gotten her. LOL. Ducia has been getting really attached lately so even leaving him at my moms is resulted in a mini break down. Of course when we come back to pick him up, he doesn't want to leave. 

Iron Man 3 is such a mediocre movie. I'm really not sure what all the hype is about. For me, it was pretty much exactly like the last two movies. Neither one of them that memorable. I do enjoy how this movie really focuses on the love story between Pepper and Tony, and I do like how they manage to bring in The Avengers movie through references of why Tony is having such a hard time dealing with things. Plus, I always love Starks puns. Puns in general are pretty bad ass when done by super hero's, but I feel like Robert Downey Jr just really kill 'em. I think I have to say my favorite avenger is Captain America. I'm really "eh" on all the others. Even though I really did enjoy Thor, and I think the guy who plays him is - in a sense: yummy. I really did enjoy and feel bad for Loki than anyone else. I do love watching all the independent movies that come out about the specific superheros, granted not all of them are good movies, but I was never a super fanatic of comic books so I feel like I am more flexible about what the movie does. I mean, a movie has to be really bad for me to hate, like Marie Antoinette starring Kirstin Dunst bad. So the movie pretty much brought an end to my night, I decided to dye my hair and in the middle of my shopping trip was alerted that my best friends birthday was the following day. So, now I have to scramble and pick her up a late birthday gift. Although we did end up going to a bar on Monday to hang out, and a movie and pizza at her place after that. 

On a totally unrelated note Ducia has a "graduating" ceremony on Monday from his Head start school. That should be pretty exciting. He's really starting to open up, and it sucks that he just started in February but due to budget cuts they will be closing the school. Which brings me to the awesome fact that the gym we just signed up for two months ago, is also closing. Our contract was taken over by Club Fitness, which I think is way cooler, so in  a way, this loss was a good one. :)

Lost treasures.

I feel like this week has been so busy. I had a conference call with early intervention for Ducias speech therapy, he is three and showing signs of verbal dyspraxia. While he can speak, he has trouble stringing together actual words, and cannot say quite a few sounds properly. He's been seeing a speech therapist for quite some time now and has improved since then. Well, the headstart that he is in, unfortunately suffered in the hands of the budget cuts congress voted on and will be closing at the end of the year, which means that we have to find another head start for him to go to. He's only been going to this school since February, and they only recently screened him and thus over the summer I'm suppose to keep in contact with early intervention so they could help him out when we decide what school he'll be attending next year. On top of that, we have our first home visit with one of his teachers tomorrow, which is horribly unnerving. At least for me. I am horribly socially awkward with people I don't know, and I'm not 100% sure what to expect out of the visit in the first place. Which is why I haven't really written anything lately. 

But otherwise, its been a pretty nice week. We've had great weather, it was suppose to rain all day today - but its now 72 and only cloudy. Plus today I got my mothers day gift that Ayden made in Headstart, which just so happens to be a plant.

Yesterday was pretty amazing, it was in the higher 70's and I dragged Ducias truck from our basement so he could play outside. Since we haven't really made any real effort outside of going for walks to spend any time playing outside.

He later was joined by the little girl who visits her grandmother next door.  I also got to clear out his room yesterday and give Ayden his hair cut, so all in all, I felt like it was a pretty productive day. The most exciting piece of news I can think of though is that on Tuesday while cleaning the living room I found my lost engagement ring. I had lost my engagement ring about a year ago, although I could have sworn I left it in the kitchen, and Jose claimed that I accidentally tossed it (boy, was he mad!). I spent months, literally looking everywhere around our house trying to find it. Eventually I gave, and didn't really give it more though, other than I guess Jose would have to buy me another engagement ring at some point. But I suppose it ended up being best that it was "lost," because if I hadn't lost it, I would have looked for a wedding band to match the ring instead of getting the band that I have now. Which I totally love. As I was cleaning the living room, I noticed that Ducia knocked this CD case on the floor and it happened to land a little bit under the computer table legs. And while I was picking it up, I noticed a ring laying on the ground. It took me a minute to place it, because in the back of my head I thought, "Hmmm, who's ring is that? Mine are all put away...." until it clicked and I exclaimed, "OHMYGOD! I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS!" I ran to Jose put it in front of his face and told him promptly, "See, I didn't loose it, it was just hiding from me!" 

I was so totally ecstatic about finding it! It needs a good cleaning, and the blue topez seems to have have a crack in it, but all of the diamonds are still in place and none of them look like they are loose. So I'm pretty happy about that. The topez is pretty replaceable (we actually had to replace it a couple of years ago, because it ended up having a crack in it too) so I'm not too worried, and you can barely tell that its there anyway. 

I did do my nails, for which I was going to post a tutorial, but I didn't take pictures during, and for some reason it seems like a silly thing to post about, but since I'm going over my week, I might as well. 

I have been obsessed with gold tones on coral. For some reason it reminds me of wall paper I had back in Russia, and I've just been wanting to do something with those two colours (perhaps paint my walls?). So I went with leopard print nails. I found that leopard print is extremely easy to do when it come to nails. It just requires a sewing pin for you to use (or you can use a dotting tool). So, the base coat is a coral colour which on LA Colors is called "Ballerina." Using the circle at the end of the sewing pin, I dipped it into the gold colour (called "force") and dotted my nails. Since my sewing pin was pretty big, I only ended up dotting it about four or five times on my nails. If you use smaller sewing pins you can always end up with more. After that is dry, all you do is use the pin side to half trace each circle by a black polish. This doesn't have to be perfect. It can be longer on one side than the other, some black polish may extend a little beyond the circle, anyway, it ended up looking nice. Although I never have nail polish for long because it seems just when I am doing nails, I have to do something else including my hands. Like washing dishes. And it all comes off rather quickly as its not nice nail polish. 

I also received a product for review called "Amdro" 

Its a spray, for killing weeds and pests. It came with five sample bottle: Indoor Pest Control, two Weed and Grass killers, Lawn Weed Killer, and Outdoor and Perimeter control. I started using it yesterday, and let me tell you. You have to fill that whole gallon thing up! It is ridiculously heavy to just lug around. And probably much like a lot of people, I forwent reading the instructions on how to put it together. So it took me a bit to finally assemble it correctly, lol. The nozzle was kind of hard to pop into place and for a bit I was scared I was going to break it if I unfolded it too hard. But I started using it last night, the spray takes a bit to start pumping out the spray. I started with indoor pest control, and the directions said not to spray until the point of run off, but because the spray is more like a steam it was kind of hard for it not to collect in some crevices. Our biggest problem area would have to be the kitchen. Our sun room is coming apart from the house (its getting fixed within the next two weeks) and since its right next to the kitchen, its very easy to get bugs inside. I really can't wait to try the Lawn spray, Jose is going to have to do that though. There is just no way that I am lugging that thing around in our yard. LOL. Otherwise, use was surprisingly easy and the spray had no lingering smell, like a lot of pest control products do. 

Finally last, but certainly not least, Jose got me a Galaxy S3. Just came home one day and told me it was mine. I suspect this is his way of sucking up to me. We are switching phone plans later this month, and Jose wants to get the new Galaxy phone which is around 600 dollars and totally crazy to me. I don't get the hub about touch phones, I have a very modest pink flip phone that I just love. And after using the Galaxy S3, I'd still rather have my LGlite. And just use the Galaxy as a iPod kind of thing. Otherwise, I don't have Internet on my phone and don't really see a point in having all these gadgets that require it (I'll only be able to use it when there is wifi around). And its HUGE! How do people carry these around in their pockets?! This obviously means that I will have to buy a new purse!

 
 

The business of friends and Oz the great and the powerful

I was in a pretty foul mood yesterday, which is why I decided to delay posting until today. So yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, which I have always found funny because most places in Mexico do not celebrate it at all, but in America its widely used as an excuse for people to go out and get drunk. Never the less, hubby and I usually make our way down to our local "Mexican block" to enjoy the festival that is usually happing there. A few years ago, it was excellent it was all latino bands, with a bunch of vendors selling goods, pretty authentic mexican stands, ect. It was awesome. But in the few recent years, it has changed almost drastically. I dare say majority of the people that go down there are predominantly non hispanic, which has caused the venue to change and cater to their "tastes." Now there is usually three stages, one with latin music, one with local music and the last stage has a DJ who usually plays only hip hop. The stands now sell Mexi-American food and it has genuinely just gone down hill taste and culture wise, in my honest opinion (not to mention how ridiculously crowded it gets). Obviously, it can still be a lot of fun and I am happy that the vendors and local area restaurants are making a pretty penny off of this. But it just takes some time getting used to. 

At anyrate, this year we skipped because weather was pretty bad, and because hubby didn't really want to leave the house. So instead, sister in law and long with my mother in law and my niece and nephew decided to go to see a movie. I wasn't sold on the idea of going with them without my husband, just because they love to speak spanish and while I understand, I often just feel left out of the conversation. But my son loves both his cousins and so, I couldn't possibly deny him the opportunity to see both of them. When we got to the theater, I was really worried about movies - as I can think of only a handful that are out that I find appropriate for my three year old. Thankfully, The Great Wizard of Oz was still there, unluckily it was in 3D only and I spent WAY more money than I planned on two movie tickets. I don't understand this morbid fascination people have with 3D movies, some are awesome, but a majority could totally go without. While we waited we played in the arcade and Ducia ended up getting a couple of dinosaur toys, and winning quite a few games. I, myself, was pretty excited after winning a bonus on those "lighting catch" machines. Now for the fair warning, this may contain some spoilers, so if you're really set on seeing this movie without any surprises - stop reading. The movie was actually pretty good. The 3D effects were surprisingly well done and it was done very beautifully. Especially when we first arrive in Oz. I will say I am not a big fan of James DeFranco, I cannot for the life of me, think of one film where I thought, "He is such a good actor." (Maybe in Spider Man...) But in this movie, I want to think it. He sells the part of the deceiving, con artist magician very well. I have read that Johnny Depp was to be considered after Robert Downey Jr. turned down this role, and I must say that I think he probably would have done a better job than DeFranco. Anyway, I love how the story starts out much like Wizard of Oz, in Kansas and in black and white, and moves on to being in colour as we get into Oz. Oz, himself, meets Theadora (Mila Kunis) who is a very innocent and naive witch and of course Oz takes advantage and she (very quickly) falls in love. Oz makes his way to the Emerald city to me Evanora (Rachel Weisz) who has tricked everyone into believing that she is the good witch (even her sister!). Now, Rachel Weisz plays this role to perfection. She is very on point with using a bitter sweetness with a healthy amount of maliciousness. Mila Kunis also plays the part of the naive little sister very well, she has a very innocent look about her. So, Oz and Theadora get to the Emerald city, and when Evanora sees Oz, she very quickly jumps to the conclusion that he is not at all the great wizard that was prophesied to come to Oz. She, none the less, offers him up the kingdom and all its riches in exchange for him to kill the "wicked witch."  Off Oz goes with the bellhop flying monkey he rescued earlier (who is a very good part of the film), eventually they meet up with a little girl made of China glass who is also a hilarious part of the film.When they finally get to the dark forest, Oz attempts to destroy the "wicked witch" by almost breaking her wand and that is when we find out that the "wicked witch" is non other than Glinda (Michelle Williams)- The Good. I will say, maybe its from me watching Wicked every single chance I get, but Michelle Williams character is so bland. Glinda here is nothing like the upbeat younger Glinda in Wicked, and she doesn't hold all the charm of the Glinda in the original Wizard of Oz. Glinda takes Oz back to her city where he learns that Evanora is the true wicked witch, and she is the one that killed Glinda's father. All the while, back in the Emerald city Evanora watches on with rage, and lies to her sister about Oz. This causes Theodora to become SO enraged that  she accepts her sisters offer to become wicked (green skin and all). Now this is the part in the movie where it kind of loses me. First off, it is insane that Theodora falls so deeply in love with Oz within the first few days of meeting him that she just goes off the total deep end and wants to become totally in completely evil. But I suppose that is also due to her young and innocent nature, maybe this is truly the first time Theodora experienced loved. But more importantly, I didn't feel that Mila Kunis sold that role. It just didn't fit her, or her character. And so, with one bite Theodora, in a moment of clarity realizes that her sister was truly the wicked one but alas, it is too late to turn back. She has joined the dark side. Well, and from there, its all quite predictable. Glinda and Oz organize a way of leading Glindas people to over throw Evanora, while Oz is still battling the selfish, deceiving man that he is. In the end, good wins out and Theodora is banished from the Kingdom, while Evanora is defeated. All is well that ends well, I suppose. Spoilers, over. Overall, I found myself enjoying most of the movie, Ducia slept through most of it. I did so want to love it, the great effects, some of the better characters, but I think the whole Theodora thing just blew some of it for me. It was one thorn in my side that jaded the better half of the movie. Would I see it again, sure. I don't know if I'll be rushing off to buy it when it comes out on DVD, but I wouldn't be opposed to getting as a present, or buying when I stumble across it. 

The day pretty much ended with a trip to the frozen yogurt shop and a few episodes of Doctor Who at home. I've been getting into it lately. I've watched a couple of episodes randomly, and decided that I should indeed just watch it all from the beginning. Jose is actually starting to become a fan as well.

I will now say, that I am quite literally falling in love with the "Straighten it out" product. I asked to borrow SIL's flat iron and thought my hair looked wonderful after I straightened it with the iron (even though it works just as well with just the hair dryer). 

This is what it looked like the day I straightened it:

And it has basically stayed that same way since. Its obviously not something that I think you should use every day, especially since it requires you to blow dry and hot iron your hair for it to work. But on occasion I can totally dig the straight look.

Now, on to the 4th of May! Since we had not made plans to go down to Cheeroke Street on the 5th, we thought it would be nice to invite out a couple for on the 4th. Both days ended up being gloomy, but on the 4th at least it didn't rain all day. Being the cautious people that we are, we decided against going down there on the 4th and instead made plans to go out to eat at a mexican restaurant. I had been dying to go to Las Palmas since it opened, but upon reading their reviews changed my mind. They had almost NO moderate reviews. It was either super awesome, or super bad. I can't say that I have ever had my friends review that place, but they do often go there for drinks and karaoke, which just wasn't the atmosphere we were going for. So we chose an old favorite: Mi Ranchitos. Jose and I used to go there all the time when we first started dating, many of the servers knew us by name, and we had our "regulars." But we stopped going out to eat so much after Ducia was born. So, we show up at Mi Ranchitos and it was really busy, we grab a table, and what do you know - one of Joses friends works there and we got sat in his section. We hadn't seen him for a while, so that too, was a pleasant surprise. Anyway, as soon as our friends get there we get some margaritas and order our food. Jose got a monster glass of Pina Colada, it is pretty crazy how fast he can down, what seems like a gallon of that stuff. Ha ha. I have known Meredith since elementary school, so basically since I moved here from Russia. For a while even, we hung out with the same group of best friends, just hanging out on a trampoline at someones house, and though we may not have always been on the best terms, we were never bitter enemies or rivals or anything. Although, I think both of us were somewhat of "mean girls" when we got a little bit older. She ended up transferring, I believe at the end of middle school, but in high school we ended up once again hanging out with the same group of people. Although, from her recollection her life was a bit more dramatic than mine. And while I did hang out with that group, and they did have A LOT of drama, I was never really in the middle of it. At least not to my knowledge (who knows what was happening behind my back). Meredith and I reconnected a while ago, and we started having monthly lunches/early dinners. I met her husband - Semir. He is from Bosnia and he is a very nice man. Once in a while we do things in a group setting, like double dates or going to the zoo. Its aways nice to be able to catch up with friends over whats going on in their lives and everything. Since it was Cinco De Mayo weekend we ended up doing shot specials, which was fun. We had like four rounds, and by the time we were ready to leave (which was about three hours after we came) Meredith was feeling giddy, and we had enjoyed awesome company and great conversation. Not to mention the amazing food that they have at Mi Ranchitos. I usually order the Camarones al mojo de ajo, which is shrimp in garlic sauce with rice, beans and a side of tortillas. Never ceases to leave me full. Talking with Meredith and Semir, I realized that maybe I should start having game night with some of my friends. Meredith and Semir do game nights, and its so rare to find people that still do that. I, personally, whip out Apples to Apples, Uno and Bullshit at every party that we host at the house. So it'd be nice if we could make a regular thing out of it. Just grown ups, though. Sometimes I need a break from my own little one.

Happy 

(especially if you live in Puebla)!

 And happy Orthodox Easter. 

If at first you don't succeed.....

Hello there! 
So last night I gave the TIGI Bed Head products a try. I decided to go with the "Straighten out" and "Recharge" first. "Straighten out" claims to tame your flyaways and frizz and make your hair smooth for up to 48 hours. And "recharge" says that it will turn dull lifeless hair into shiny and smooth locks. 

I will start off my saying that my hair is usually straight, it is also very thin and flat. Since I have darker blonde hair, I use blonde shampoo by John Frieda along with his purple shampoo and his voluming conditioner. And I usually use some kind of leave in conditioner because my hair can also get dry (recently I've been using Organix leave in). I do not shampoo/wash my hair every day, I can go a few days in between washing my hair because it would be just awful if I did (not to mention hell on my skin!). So yesterday before my shower I decided to take some before pictures of my hair, it was in a braid and thus you may see a "kink" or two in my hair. 

 

Once I hopped into the shower I opened up the Recharge shampoo. It smelled really nice. A little like "sweetpea" in my opinion. And it was a very translucent lavender colour.  It was really fast and easy to work into a lather and it filled the whole bathroom with that same smell. The conditioner is a solid white colour and but has about the same smell. For a while I was scared that I would have to use two packets, because I realize now that I use a lot more conditioner than shampoo. I left the conditioner on for about three minutes, which isn't at all necessary - but I do it with all of my conditioners. When it was rinsed out, I felt like my hair was smoother, however, it didn't feel like the conditioner did a really good job at detangling. Which is pretty important, at least to me. I am pretty tender headed, and I don't particularly like to brush my hair when its wet, not only does it cause damage to the hair, but it really hurts if you hit a snag. My other conditioner detangles really well, and so there is no need for me to even think about brushing it wet. So, after toweling off my hair, I applied the "straighten out" leave in, like I said it smelled terrific! The leave in itself is a while colour and its kind of sticky, you run it into your damp hair following that with a blow dryer and a flat iron. I do not own a flat iron, so I just ended up blow drying my hair (this leave in is suppose to protect it from heat damage as well, right?). I do have to mention that it is very hard to dispense this leave in, and it doesn't really specify how much you should use, but using rule of thumb I used about a nickel size. This also does not nothing to detangle, so that was a little bit of a let down. Especially if you have to apply it to damp, unbrushed hair. I used the lowest setting on my blow dryer and got to work. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the results. I thought that my hair did look straighter than it usually does. It also looked smoother and had more shine. So, the products achieved what they claimed to do. 

As you can see in the after pictures my hair does appear to have more luster and shine, and its considerably smooth. After I blew dryed it, it reminded me a bit of the hair of Gwyneth Paltrows very sleek and straight bob. I'm sure it would have looked even straighter if I had used a hot iron. 

Next time, I plan on using just the shampoo and seeing if I have the same results.  And then the "Elasticity" shampoo.

I would recommend this product to use if you like to straighten your hair. The shampoo and conditioner aren't bad, and they do work. But I just can't see myself using this product in the long run. It just doesn't provide me with enough conditioner to detangle and even dry my hair feels like it has product in it (although its not as bad as some leave in treatments). I would totally use the "Straighten out" on special occasions though, I think that very straight sleek and smooth hair can give a very sophisticated look.  But I think my hair requires a bit more work, and I also love the volume that my previous shampoo/conditioner provided me with. 

Oh! I totally forgot to add: the straighten out leave in does keep your hair straight for a while. I went to bed, and this morning my hair was still as straight as ever. Where usually it would be somewhat a miss. So, its claim of lasting up to 48 hours is totally plausible.