10 Day Vacation!

I decided the best way to blog about my vacation to Kansas City is by breaking it down day by day and through visual aides, aka, pictures! :)

It was a very busy 10 days, the breakdown:

Friday – I arrived in KC around 10:30pm where my brother-in-law George picked me up from the airport and took me over to my sister Kim’s house so I could stay the night with her and Baby Carson. Michael was out of town so it was a perfect opportunity for me to spend time with my sister and nephew, although I didn’t really help much until Saturday morning considering I didn’t wake up at all during the night time feedings. I still am unsure how mothers do it. I NEED my sleep and can sleep through just about anything. I didn’t even wake up when Carson cried because he was hungry. This makes me a little nervous to be a mom as I’m not so sure I’m cut out for the job. I guess I have plenty of time to worry about that though.

Get in line girls, Carson is a stud

Saturday – I spent Saturday morning spending time with Kim and Carson and then we met up with my mom and sister Andrea and headed to a baby shower for my cousin’s wife. It went well and I’m excited to meet the newest Zarate addition when he/she (they didn’t find out the sex) arrives. Have I ever mentioned how big my family is? Between my mom’s side and dad’s side, I have a huge family, and it continues to grow with more and more babies being born every year. It definitely has its pros and cons, but for the most part I absolutely love it. I’m not going to lie, it can get exhausting (when I lived in Kansas) trying to attend every family function because there are SO many, but at the same time, I love that there is always something to do, something to celebrate, people to see, etc. I tell people all the time that I love my family, we are the best in the world, and I’m obviously not biased at all. ;) Saturday night my parents, grandma, the Elmer clan and me went to my Madrina Monica’s pool to barbeque and swim. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this night. It was simple yes, but the combination of family, food, margaritas, and swimming made for a nice Saturday night in Kansas!

Audrina and Mina (Godmother in Spanish)

Jaxson and Aunt Wesa

Sunday – Sunday morning I didn’t feel too hot considering the margs and tequila shots from the night before, but I managed to wake up to go shopping with my mom and sister Kim. I am not going to lie, I felt like crap, but it was still fun spending time with lovely Zarate women minus the fact that my sister Kim encourages me to spend my money. I went to KC with a half empty suitcase and I came back with a 50 pounder…can you say, Shopping Spree? I spent Sunday night hanging out at my parent’s house with by BFF Val. It goes without saying that I very much enjoyed the QT (for you out of daters, that means quality time). Lastly, Jaxson had a sleepover with me on Sunday night. After Val left, Jaxson and I watched a movie and went to sleep. He always asks to have sleepovers with Aunt Wesa when she’s in town, but little does he know, I enjoy it way more than he does. I absolutely love spending time with my nephews and niece.

Jax and me at the Movie Theater

Monday – I spent Monday at home with my mom, Jaxson and Audrina and then we went to visit Kim and Baby Carson. I know I say this ALL the time, but I really do love spending time with the kiddos. They are so much fun to be around. It’s amazing to watch them grow and learn. I am envious of my mother’s job of being a stay at home Nana. Monday night I met my 2 Bonner BFFs for dinner at Jose Peppers. Jen, Megs and Me are unbelievably close (we have matching tattoos to prove it) and always have so much fun together, even if it’s just chatting over dinner and margs. It’s always so nice to catch up in each other’s lives. I can’t wait until they come visit me in NYC in Sept! After dinner I drove to Basehor to have a few drinks with my long time friend Nick. Once again, it was so nice to catch up with friends. I made a conscious effort to spend time with as many family members and friends that I could during my 10 day vacay.

Jen and I at Jose Peppers

Tuesday – Tuesday day I spent over Kim’s house with her and Carson. I tried to soak up the little man as much as possible as I know he is going to grow so fast and I’m going to miss so much. Tuesday night I went on a Sushi date with Kim and Michael. We are the only ones who like, let me rephrase, LOVE sushi so we went to an awesome Sushi Bar called Sakura. Kim and I have been planning this dinner for months. She wasn’t able to eat sushi while pregnant so we promised each other that after Carson was born, we’d go out for sushi and boy did we. We ate lots of delicious sushi and had a nice time chatting. Afterwards, I headed to my friend Blake’s house to hang out with him, Val and other high school buddies. We sipped wine, chatted, and I helped Val look for some jobs in NY. She is moving to the city with me at the beginning of September and I can’t hardly wait! More details to come on the big move! ;)

Baby Carson is so sweet!

Wednesday – Wednesday day I spent more time with the fam and Wednesday night I headed to downtown KC to spend time with friends at a bar to benefit a good cause. A friend of ours had a bad golf cart accident and was in the hospital for about 2 months. The Shark Bar at KC Power & Light held a benefit night for him in order to raise money to help pay the medical bills. It was a fun night with friends and it was nice to know my money was going to a good place. After P&L we headed to Westport to have a few drinks and do a little dancing. Well actually, we hadn’t planned on the dancing part, but when you get us girls together, dancing is inevitable. Needless to say, it was a fun night with my girls.

BFFs!

BFF from high school, Jen & BFF from college, Val

Thursday – Thursday was one of the only days my entire vacation that I didn’t do too much, which was nice and relaxing. I spent time at home with my fam and then a few of us headed to dinner for Taco Thursdays. My mom and I then pampered ourselves with manicures and pedicures. It was definitely nice mother/daughter time that was much needed.

My beautiful momma and me

Friday – Friday was Audrina’s first birthday so my mom and me packed up the kiddos and headed to Andrea’s job to have lunch with her. It was nice to visit my sis at work and her co-workers very much enjoyed meeting Jax and Drina. Friday night we ate dinner (Red Fortune Chinese – one of my favs that I wish we had in New York!) and then sang Happy Birthday to Princess A! She got her first cup cake, which she loved (the proof is in the pictures). Afterward I headed to a local bar for a night out with friends. Again, it was nice to catch up with people while I was in town and knowing I wouldn’t visit again for a while, I really tried to see everyone.

The birthday girl loved her first cupcake!

Mi otro mitad and soon to be roomie! :)

Saturday – Saturday afternoon I went to my cousin’s Baby shower (Again, the fam just keeps growing) and from there I headed to a wedding. My sister’s Brother-in-Law got married and considering our families are really close, it was nice to be in attendance for the big day.

Abuelo and Miss A

That face makes my heart melt!

So handsome in his tux! ;)

Sisterly love!

Being an aunt is the best job in the world, I'm so blessed!

Sunday – Sunday was Audrina’s birthday celebration so we headed to Lion’s Park for the party. It was so much fun to see all the kiddos playing and having a good time and so nice to see all babies of family and friends. The best part of it all was obviously seeing Princess Audrina enjoy her big day. The pictures say it all, and what they don’t say, Andrea does: The Elmers. Happy Birthday Sweat Pea, Mina Lisa loves you so much!

Audrina loved to be the center of attention, of course, she's a diva! ;)

She enjoyed her cake and presents too!

Carson sporting his I <3 NY onesie!

After the party I headed home to pack my bag and then it was off to the airport. It was definitely hard to say goodbye, especially after being home for so long, but at the same time I was ready to get back to the city. On the plane I reflected on my vacation and couldn’t do anything but smile. I thoroughly enjoyed every single day, spending time with every single person. I am one lucky girl to have such a great life with amazing people in it. To every one of you, thanks!

July came and went

Once again, I apologize for my lack of updates lately, I know it’s not a good excuse, but I have been very busy.

Considering I completely neglected my blog during the month of July, I thought I would give you all a super duper brief summary of the past month.

First of all, summer was in full bloom in New York and it was hotter than hell, pardon my language, but I am not exaggerating, it was in the hundreds for much of July. I tried to enjoy the nice weather, but to be honest it was miserably hot so I spent a lot of time indoors. With that being said, I should probably mention that much of this “indoor” time was spent at the office. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, I’m a workaholic, but I didn’t really have a choice as I had to prepare for my week vacation and then following my vacation I had to play catch up. The good news is, Patch hired an Office Assistant to help me out so slowly but surely, I have become less stressed out. Since Megan has been on-board, my hours have become more normal so my goal for August is to not stay at the office past 6:30-7:00pm. I will keep you updated on how that goes.

July in the City consisted of Gay Pride week, a few friends’ birthday celebrations, Friday night Happy Hours, and a lot of watching World Cup games. As I am sure you can imagine, I was super exited that Spain won the Championship! I of course would have loved to see the USA or Mexico win it all considering those are my “home” teams, but ever since studying abroad in Santiago, I consider Spain a third home so I was thrilled when they won.

Drag Queen at the Gay Pride Garden Party

Meaw's Birthday

¡Viva España!

Another July notable is the fact that I spent time with some familiar faces, and by familiar I mean Kansas girls, Jacey and Katy. Well, technically Katy is from Virginia, but we met at KU so I consider her a Kansan. Katy attended the NYU Summer Publishing Institute and is currently looking for full time employment in the city. She came to Happy Hour with my friends and me one Friday night, which was fun. It was so nice for me to actually bring someone I know rather than be introduced to new people that others know. Jacey is in the city for the summer. She has been a friend of mine since the 6th grade. She went to college in LA and I haven’t lived in the same state as her since high school so you can imagine how excited I was/am that we’ve been hanging out in NYC.

Jace and Me in NYC!

It is really nice to know a lot of people now, which is precisely why I have been so busy lately. When I am not working, I am hanging out with…someone. I have so many friends I have met through my Tio and others I have met/know on my own. It’s been nice to call up a friend at lunch time to see if they want to go grab a bite or go out to lunch with some of my co-workers who are now friends. It’s like I actually have a life here. Before I still felt like my life was in Kansas, but I’m in NYC for now. And now, I feel like my life is in New York, but I always have Kansas to return to.

I must admit that part of this “belonging” feeling I am experiencing is partly because of a new man in my life, Alex. I won’t go into details as I don’t want to jinx anything, but I will say that I have had a crush on this guy since March and we finally went on a date at the beginning of July. Needless to say, a first date led to a second, third, fourth, so on and so forth. Of course it’s New York City so our dates are amazing…Walking along the water at South Street Seaport, Watching fireworks in Central Park, Dancing in the middle of the street, I will stop right there before you gag. ;) All you need to know is, I absolutely enjoy spending time with him and I’m happy!

Alex & Me out on a Saturday night in the city

The biggest July notable was my vacation to Kansas City, pictures and details in my blog to follow!

Icing on the Cake: Carson Alan Robbins

*Editor's Note: This blog post was actually written on Friday, July 16, 2010*

First off, let me apologize for my absence this past few weeks, I have been super busy. Me, busy? Imagine that, right!? Busy is the story of my life, especially lately, but I must say, for the most part I enjoy being busy. When it comes to my personal life anyways, I’m not too thrilled about being super busy with work all the time, but that has only been part of my business lately. I’ll back up to the end of June since that is where I left off.

June turned out exactly the way I predicted, fabulous! Like I mentioned in my first June post, I was determined to make June a good month and most of you reading this know that when I really want something, I usually do anything to make it happen. I can honestly say that the month of June was the beginning of something really good, not sure how else to explain it other than saying that I became a little more positive than I usually am. I think because I had a pretty rough April/May, June seemed like the first time in a while that I was genuinely happy. I mean don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t depressed or anything, I was just sad/worried about my abuelo and felt guilty for not being in Kansas City. But I slowly put a smile back on my face and had a great first month of summer.

Now let me tell you the best part of June, it was the very last day of the month, June 30. My nephew Carson Alan Robbins was born at 11:39am! He weighed in at 6 lbs, 8 oz. And measured 19 inches long. My sister Kim called me on Tuesday night, June 29 to tell me that Carson was going to make his debut a little bit early and to my surprise, Kim informed me that she was going to the hospital that very night and would have him the following day. I couldn’t believe it. Her due date wasn’t supposed to be until July 9 and I had already planned a trip home for the following week to spend time with her and my new nephew. I was a little sad because I was hoping that if anything, she would have him late so I could be there for it, but at the same time I was ecstatic. Just the thought of her having her first child and me becoming an aunt for the third time made me smile from ear to ear. Yes I wish I could have been there, but I realized that this wasn’t about me so I quickly got over being sad. The guilt I felt, however, that I couldn’t get over. I know that Kim wasn’t mad at me for not being there as she is and always has been super understanding, but I know she was disappointed and for me disappointing someone is worse than upsetting them. It was this feeling of guilt combined with my utter excitement to see Kim & Michael and meet my new baby nephew that led me to book another trip home. Waiting almost 3 weeks to visit KC just wasn’t an option so I booked a short weekend trip home to spend time with Baby Carson and spend the 4th of July with my family.

My flight didn’t get into Kansas City until 10:30pm on a Friday night, but I just couldn’t wait to meet Carson and see Kim so I went straight to their house. When I arrived Carson was up eating and I didn’t waste a second before I held him. Holding his tiny little self in my arms was such an amazing feeling. He is absolute perfection. I sat there and stared at him for what seemed like forever and at that moment I knew my life had changed forever. Isn’t that insane? I mean I have felt that way 3 times now and it’s SO true that my life really has changed with each new niece and nephew that has arrived. I can’t even imagine how I will feel when I have my own kids considering I feel so impacted at the birth of my sisters’ kids. Needless to say, I absolutely love being an Aunt. It’s the best job in the world and I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful sisters who married such wonderful men who helped make such beautiful babies! I spent the rest of the weekend spending time with Kim and Baby Carson as well as Andrea, George, Jaxson and Audrina. I did of course spend time with my parents too, but I was mostly occupied with my niece and nephews (love the “s” that makes it plural). Those 3 kiddos put a smile on my face like no one else can!

A little tribute to my sister Kim:

Kim and Michael are both amazing people who deserve nothing but the best in life and I couldn’t be happier for them at this point in their lives. They have wanted to have a child for some time now and after a little bit of difficulty, they were able to bring an amazing little boy into this world. My sister Andrea said it better than I (The Elmers), but one thing is for sure, Carson will never ever doubt the love his parents have for him.

Kim, you are an unbelievable woman. I still can’t believe you had a baby naturally without any drugs! I am so lucky to have such a great role model, sister, and friend in my life. I am sorry I wasn’t there the minute baby Carson arrived, but know that I don’t physically have to be present to be an important part of your or his life. Aunt Wesa is ALWAYS here no matter what! I love you!

Carson Alan Robbins was definitely the icing on the cake to a wonderful month!