Brides and Grooms and Family and Cake.

This weekend I flew to Florida to host my sister's engagement party! A quick trip there and back, that lasted only about 30 hours from take off in Birmingham to landing in Birmingham.

We enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner with our family and my sister's fiance's family. His name is Luis (Lu, for short). Since I was planning the party from a few hundred miles away, I had to keep the decorations simple and effective, with just a few centerpieces, balloons, and a cake.

I didn't eat the cake, but I was told it was amazing

I tried to get everyone's pictures as they came in: 

My mom!

The future Mr. and Mrs. Holguin

Mr. and Mrs. Steve Brown

But that only lasted for three pictures before all of Lu's family arrived at once. And I do mean all of his family. It was too difficult to get them all to pose for a photo, so I gave up and allowed them to sit.

(Starting on the outer row of chairs) Here we have Lu's best friend Mike,

Melissa (a bridesmaid) and Steve Brown, Melissa and Lu, Mirta and Luis

(Lu's parents), and Michelle and Katelyn (Lu's sisters). In the inside rows,

we have Aldo and Ivan (Lu's identical twin brothers), and Abuela Elena.

I wasn't kidding when I alluded to the fact that they were many. 

Then I decided to make Melissa and Lu pose for a few more pictures before the rest of our side of the family arrived: 

Then our family arrived, we all ate, and I took a few group photos:

From front to back: My aunt Kim, my cousin Jason, Mommal,

Uncle Timmy and guest Tina, Anthony and Mirta (Lu's married

sister and her husband), Katelyn, Michelle, and Luis and Mirta.

And on this side, my cousin Jeff and his girlfriend of 9 years, Amanda,

Mom, the twins Ivan and Aldo, Mike, Abuela Elena, and the Browns.

Token cake-cutting photo. They better get used to this, because I'm

doing it every time they're around a cake.

My cousin Jeff and his girlfriend Amanda

Steve and Melissa Brown

Melissa and Lu open a Pyrex set!

Melissa and Lu with the proud parents. 

Melissa and Lu with their grandmothers.

I snuck in for a picture too!

Melissa and Lu with their siblings!

The wedding party: Michelle, junior bridesmaid; Melissa, bridesmaid;

me, matron of honor; Katelyn, flower girl; Melissa and Lu,

bride and groom, obviously; Aldo and Ivan,

best men. (And no, I can't tell the twins apart yet.)

Our cousins, in age order. (28, 28, 25, 20)

Melissa and Lu with their best friends.

My mom and her siblings, Kim and Timmy

Melisa and her flower girl, Katelyn

After the pictures and the party were pretty much done, I told Katelyn she could have all the flowers. She was in heaven! And then my mom gave her all the balloons and I wasn't sure she could hold in all her excitement.

I don't like lactose, and I won't tolerate it.

Like the rest of the world, I made a New Years' Resolution. I don't want to lose weight- I'm small enough- I just want to feel fit, so I made a resolution to do some sort of exercise every day. I have five very different workout DVDs and I got another Groupon for Dance Trance, so the hardest part will be to actually do the workout. So far, so good. I've exercised every day this year in some way.

In addition to exercising daily, I've decided to start treating my body better when it comes to food intake. For several years, my body has been outright rejecting dairy products. Milk, cheese, creams, chocolate. But I ignored it for such a long time, and have spent years with my stomach aching and me wishing I hadn't eaten that creamy, cheesy 4-cheese ravioli. 

Well, when it came time for me to do the Nutcracker last month, I decided once and for all, that I was done with dairy. Honestly, this decision was made mostly because I was nervous about looking and feeling bloated in a leotard on stage wearing a costume that showed off my midsection. But I did it. And it has been wonderful. 

I haven't been going to bed every night with horrible stomach pains, gas, and feeling sick. I haven't been terrified to go see a movie with friends after eating dinner.

At home, eating dairy-free is easy. Since I do most of the cooking, I have 100% control over what products go into the food I eat. I never feel cheated or resentful toward my body. The problem is when I go out. When I leave the safe and dairy-free nature of my house. 

Have you ever noticed how much dairy is in everything?? 

Everything, I tell you. 

I love my in-laws, but no, I can't eat the Green Pasta dish that used to be my absolute favorite. (I loved it so much, I'd get 3 or 4 helpings) (Then I would spend the rest of the evening in the restroom hating my life, my choices, and most regretfully, my body.) No, I can't dip my vegetables in the Ranch dressing like I want to. No, I can't eat the super tasty pesto hummus, because all of those things have dairy in some way. 

And I love going out to eat on Thursdays with our church friends for trivia. And I love going to Bible Study and to different holiday parties with our church friends. And, boy, do I love The Melting Pot.

But it's when I go out to eat that I feel most restricted. Even entrees that don't have cheese on top or a cream sauce, are most likely cooked in butter. And it's when I go out to eat that I feel most ostracized. I can't eat the chips and salsa at Las Trojas, because I can't be sure that the chips don't have any dairy. (Side note: most breads have dairy of some form- whether it's milk, butter or whey. Whey is a lactose-containing product made from milk). It makes it hard to order any food at a Mexican restaurant. Or an Italian restaurant. Another difficulty- any breaded food. Pancakes. Waffles. Cookies (even those without chocolate chips!). Muffins. Gravy.

I'm not complaining about being lactose intolerant. In fact, I'm doing the opposite. I finally feel comfortable in my skin. I finally feel like I can be honest and out in the open about it. I finally feel like I can go out to eat and not be tempted to get the 4-cheese ravioli (don't get me wrong- I still want the 4-cheese ravioli, but I won't get it).

I'm proud of myself for finally admitting to it, and finally putting an end to the pain and literal physical suffering I've been enduring for years. 

I miss dairy products, but I don't miss the discomfort and agony. And I don't miss the 3 pounds I've lost from not eating it.  I certainly don't miss the bloating and the embarrassment that comes when I'm gassy (you can only blame it on the grandma or dog so many times...).

Now that I'm really living and eating a lactose-free diet, I need to figure out if any of the lactase products out in the big world help me at all so I can enjoy three nights in Venice, Italy and a 9-night Mediterranean cruise without feeling left out of the world's tasty offerings (and the 24-hour ice cream bar). Good thing I have 164 days left before we leave for our trip. But who's counting?

Warm Christmas!

This year, Christmas was warm.

For us at least.

Hubs and I drove down to south Florida to be with my family for a holiday. On our way, we stopped overnight in Orlando at my cousin's house. The next morning we got up and visited Kennedy Space Center. The weather was truly perfect. (A little warm for the Hubs, honestly, but that happens a lot when we go to Florida).

NASA meatball-ornament!

A kind man took this photo for us. The flags represent all the nations

that are partners with the International Space Station.

The shuttle Atlantis is on display in that building behind

us. I could hardly contain my excitement!

There it is! The real shuttle!

The Shuttle Atlantis was the fourth shuttle, of five, to be built. It flew to space 33 times, travelling almost 126,000,000 miles, and orbiting the Earth 4, 848 times. And it was right in front of me.

After I calmed down from that excitement, Husband and I went to the Astronaut Encounter, where we met Astronaut Jon McBride!

Can you believe this guy is like, 70?

Once we got to my mom's apartment, we were able to relax. Driving such a long distance is exhausting. We spent the majority of the week hanging out with my mom at her place, and enjoying the relaxing nature of "Cuba," as Hubs calls it. Over all we didn't do too much during the week, and it was perfect. We spent the Friday after Christmas in the parking lot of the mall, trying to find somewhere to park (ended up parking across the main road at an Arby's), then we went in and walked around, window shopping, and people watching.

Hubs and I went to the Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in, and we caught up with lots of my old church family. It was really nice to see the people who watched me grow up- and to see their proud looks when they realized that I really am well on my way to achieving my dream. They all loved getting to meet Hubs, or getting to see him again.

On Christmas we all went down to the pool (even though only Hubs and I got in!).

We enjoyed the weather and hung out with a small handful of my friends during the week.

On our way back to "God's country," as Zach calls it, we stopped at Disney's MGM (or "Hollywood Studios," except that it'll always be MGM to me) for the day.

'Star Tours' ride!

Waiting for the stunt show to begin!

Riding the trolley car back to the parking lot, exhausted.

Then we went to pick up Puppy from the Disney kennel (which was surprisingly cheap!)

I think between the on-and-off rain, my slight headache and all multitudes of ridiculously rude people, I managed to not get near enough pictures of our day at MGM.

Christmas was fun.

2013 Was a Good Year.

At work this afternoon, I took down my 2013 calendar. I always feel like I should look through it, at this time of year, and think about all the things that happened.

The year started with Husband and I picking out paint chips for what is now "the Green Room" in January; later that month, we went to Nashville with Husband's mom and sister to see Keane in concert, for our second attempt (since the first attempt literally went up in smoke).

February came and went without much excitement.

March brought us to Chattanooga to visit with a friend of mine from high school, a trip to Washington DC, the last two weeks at my previous job, and a visit from my mom, sister and grandma for Easter. I also actually painted The Green Room, where as before, we had just planned it.

In April, we went to a New York Knicks game vs. the Atlanta Hawks in Atlanta; we bought Ollie the Outback; and I started my new job! (April was a great month!)

May held our 2nd annual beach trip with our amazing church friends; a second beach trip for me with a high school friend; and both of Husband's brothers' graduations. Brian (older brother), from medical school at UAB, and Ben (younger brother) from undergrad at BSC. Brian is now in the middle of his first year of residency in Nashville, and Ben has started med school in West Virginia at Marshall University.

At the end of June, we shipped off with Husband's family to Hawaii...

Through the first week of July. July also involved me swimming a lot to prepare for my triathlon (that was rescheduled from August to October), and my birthday.

The first weekend in August was busy, with a concert night in Birmingham (Matchbox 20 and Goo Goo Dolls), then a 10.5-hour drive (each way) to Chicago for the last day of Lollapalooza (where we saw Tegan and Sara, Grizzly Bear, and The Cure). My sister got engaged to her boyfriend of 5 years. Then my mom, sister and I all went to Sandusky, Ohio for Cedar Point!

September brought Nutcracker auditions; the anniversary of us closing on our house; our second wedding anniversary; and a Hanson concert.

October started with a wedding of two of our friends, then continued with our church friends' annual Fall Fest, a return to work post-furlough, a Halloween party with neighbors, and then finally, my rescheduled triathlon.

In November, my mom flew up to do the Warrior Dash with me; then Hubs went on the church mens' retreat; I surprised him with a trip to the Birmingham zoo and a yummy dinner. Later in the month, we saw the new Hunger Games sequel with Hubs' family, and enjoyed a beautiful (though cold) wedding of two of our great friends from church. We rounded out the month of November in Gatlinburg for Thanksgiving to visit with some of my family.

December seemed to have come and gone with a bang. It started with nightly rehearsals for me for the Nutcracker; and continued with lots of church WIC events happening; holiday parties; football; movies; Mannheim Steamroller; and a 17-hour drive (each way) to south Florida to be with my family for Christmas. (Photos to come)

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2013 was a good year. I truly can't complain. My family, both close and extended, on both sides of my marriage, remained safe and healthy. My friends remained safe and healthy.

I'm looking forward to another year of excitement and health with them.

2014, welcome!

Astronauts and Nutcrackers.

This month so far has been pretty fun. I was in Alabama Youth Ballet's production of The Nutcracker: A Yuletide Ballet, I did some Christmas decorating, and I met another astronaut!

I decided to do The Nutcracker with Sarah. We auditioned in August and started rehearsals in early September. She reprised her role as the maid, and I was in Act II, in the Arabian scene. I wasn't really sure what to expect, as it is a children's play, but I was pleasantly surprised to find several adults- including 5 other people older than 23 in my scene! The show was fun and exhausting, and I'm hoping to get a few pictures from Sarah soon. Here are the two that I have.

On opening night, Husband came to our show and

brought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers!

Tom and Diana came to support Sarah and I the following night

and so graciously gave us these gorgeous flowers!

For real, I got more flowers last weekend than I think I have ever.

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Now here's a photo of the few Christmas decorations I have:

Ornaments displayed on our mantle, a paint-chip Christmas tree

taped up to the wall, and three stockings. The third is for Puppy!

Since we won't be in town for Christmas this year, we decided to not get a tree, real or fake, and I instead decided to get a little crafty. All it took was a trip to Lowe's to pick up a paint chip in every green shade they had (as well as one orange one, for the topper, and a brown one for the trunk). I put out our tree skirt (per Tom's request), and put our gifts under our tree.

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And now: my astronauts. One of the two below I met in November- before Thanksgiving. His name is Owen Garriott and my picture with him was in the Marshall Star weekly newspaper.

Astronaut Owen Garriott is 83 years old! His first space flight was in 1973 on Skylab 3, and set a world record for a duration of about 60 days in space. His second space flight was on the shuttle Columbia in 1983 for Spacelab-3.

My second recent astronaut meeting was Astronaut TJ Creamer. In December 2009, TJ Creamer launched to the International Space Station to start his 6-month duration aboard during Expeditions 22/23. After returning to Earth, he became a Payload Operations Director at the HOSC, where I work. I met him yesterday at the NASA Holiday celebration, and I'll be working real-time with him Monday and Thursday of next week!

Me with Astronaut TJ Creamer. He was busy signing a head shot for me!

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year, Husband and I visited Gatlinburg, TN to visit with my grandmother, great aunt, and several cousins (who all live in various sections of Florida).

In this photo, we're on our way to drop off the Pups at the Puppy Hotel.

Our drive up to Gatlinburg was relatively painless. We got stuck in the obligatory stopped traffic just south of Chattanooga, but otherwise the trip was easy-going. We even got to see some decent snow on the drive through Knoxville!

I swear it's there; use your imagination.

We made record time through Sevierville/Pigeon Forge, about 30 minutes from I-40 to the timeshare just before getting to Gatlinburg. Seriously, record time. Once we arrived, we unloaded the car and I got to work to finish making my cinnamon-raisin bread, and Hubs set out to make his home-made ice cream.

Thursday morning, I got up and baked the bread, and we all watched the Thanksgiving Day parade.

In an attempt to better explain how I am related to the people who were in Gatlinburg, I've made mini-family trees:

Lorraine is my Great-Grandmother (GG). Her two living children,

Jewell (my grandmother, Mommal) and Elaine were in Gatlinburg.

Mommal's children and grandchildren. I was only one, in addition to Mommal,

who was in Gatlinburg.

Aunt Elaine, her daughter Jennifer and Jennifer's daughter Courtney,

as well as another of Aunt Elaine's grandchildren (Alicia) were in Gatlinburg.

My Aunt Charlotte's two grandsons, Brandon and Nickolai,

were also in attendance.

So there were a lot of people. Most of them, I'd seen fairly recently. Mommal came up to visit Hubs and I for Easter with my mom and sister. I saw Aunt Elaine, Jennifer, Courtney (17), Brandon (19) and Nickolai (11) at Thanksgiving in Orlando last year. This was my first time seeing Alicia (13) since she was an infant.

I really enjoyed getting to see all those cousins. And we all had a great time together! The 6 of us "kids" (yes, I include myself with the kids) played card games, board games, and charades, as well as hung out and watched TV together. 

Thanksgiving afternoon, we all, the adults included, walked down to the main activities area and made paracord bracelets. I didn't make one, but I used my elementary school and summer camp knowledge of make best friends bracelets to teach them all how to do it. Here's all of us (and them all posing with their bracelets):

Alicia, Brandon, Aunt Elaine, Husband, Nickolai, Mommal, Jennifer, me, and Courtney.

After bracelet-making, we all headed back to our cabin. The Hubs, my cousins and I all played a few card games while Mommal, Aunt Elaine, and Jennifer worked on finishing up dinner. I would have helped, but the kitchen was way too small, and I think 3 cooks was already too many in the kitchen. When food was ready, the kids cleaned up the table and surrounding areas, Hubsandwich said the blessing, and we ate. After dinner, Mommal and Aunt Elaine relaxed, and us kids did the cleaning.

Early Friday morning, Jennifer, Courtney and Alicia had to leave to get back to Florida in time for Courtney's high school football team to be in the playoffs. The rest of us ate breakfast at the Apple Barn, then rummaged through the gift shop. A few pictures:

Mommal! My favorite grandmother!

The Hubs and I. We sort of match, totally unplanned.

Brandon and Nickolai. Brothers born on the same day, 8 years apart.

Hubs and Mommal

The remaining family: Aunt Elaine, Brandon, Nickolai, me and Mommal.

Hubs offered to take the picture.

Sadly, on Friday night, we needed to pack up the cabin, our clothes, our food and our vacation. Saturday morning was coming quickly, and it would be time to go.

Oh, did I mention the snow? There was plenty to go around. Thanksgiving's high temperature was near 34 degrees. Friday was much warmer, around 46.

Sisters, Mommal and Aunt Elaine

Mommal and I! I just woke up, so I'm jacket-free. Not the way to be.

Aunt Elaine wanted a picture with the snow on her car :) I've been there!

We hit almost no traffic coming back home, not even through Chattanooga, and got home in time to pick up this thing before they closed for the day: 

Puppy was so excited to see me that she literally tackled me to the

ground at the Puppy Hotel and stood on top of me to claim me.