My Birthday Month

I kicked off my favorite, love month, with a girls' brunch at Plated Dreams with my SIL and niece. The food wasn't great tasting or priced, but it was cute and nice to get out. 

Every day leading up to my birthday, my mom dropped off a gift and a note. 

I had Galentines with Jessi, Tiffy, and Emily. Tiffany hosted and came up with the theme of PJs and breakfast for dinner. We had pancake tacos with vanilla Greek yogurt and berries. I took smoked chicken sausage that I shaped like hearts, roasted beet hummus, and heart-shaped radishes. Emily brought her slushie machine. Jessica brought cauliflower hash browns. This group of friends is wholesome and so funny. 

We had my mom over for the Super Bowl. The kids were trying to figure out how we were going to watch and follow the rule of no eating downstairs. We surprised them by setting up a table and eating while we watched. Dinner was steak, cheesy potato logs, spaghetti, and meatballs. The Bad Bunny halftime show was powerful. An IG friend of mine created Bad Bunny coloring pages. I had a table set up where three generations were coloring. My favorite part was seeing the kids grab blank paper and make their own illustrations. 

My friend Julie Amazoned a gift to my front door.

My SIL Susie sent me an Amazon gift card so I could buy my next read.

On Valentine's Day, Jose and I made breakfast with love for our little loves. He bought steak in the shape of a heart. The plan was to make heart-shaped pancakes and eggs, but the heart-shaped skillet was a bust. The table was decorated, and the kids' favorite were the candlesticks. Adding fire is always fun. 

My mom made dinner for my birthday. My request was goulash, cornbread, and cherry coffee cake. My dad bought ribs, and Jose smoked them. We took our signature dish, Brussels sprouts. My mom made many other desserts as well. 

My SIL Estela came over to make dinner, gifted me cute clips, and gave me quality time. 

My longtime girlfriends and I got together for brunch. While only 5 of 7 made it, we had such a lovely time. To go through a life with people who know all of each other's major events is special. Loving and cheering each other on, seeing the growth, is empowering. 

To finish off the month, we'll be heading to Las Vegas to celebrate my mom's birthday. We're taking her to The Wizard of Oz at The Sphere. That will be it's own post. 

Celebration Night

There are so many birthdays in February, including my friend Ana's. Not only did I get to see my friends once this month for our V-Day dinner, but we got to hang out again for this chica's 23rd. We had dinner at Happy Sumo, then headed over to Maxwell's. We continued the after party at someone's apartment, then spent the night at Miriam's. I'll let the pictures do the talking. I apologize for all of the the drunk snapchats you may have received. 

My favorite of the evening

It really was a fun night. It kind of made me feel depressed about turning 26. I don't want nights like these to end. Who says they have to though?

Valentine's Dinner

We had a Valentine's couples dinner at Jenny's. I had been looking forward to it all week. Jose was out in California so I went solo. 

On my forty-five minute drive home I couldn't help but feel so grateful. I can't get over how much I love our group of friends. 

Last Girls' Night with Jelem Until 2015

Our group of seven is about to become six for awhile until Jelem gets back from her mission in Virginia. We're excited for her, but we'll miss her. We just had a girls' night a week ago, but we forgot to take a picture and one friend wasn't able to make it so we had another one.

Ana made us a Peruvian dinner of aji de gallina, which is rice, potatoes, and chicken with Peruvian spices. It was my first time trying that type of food. It was really good, followed by pumpkin ice cream pie. 

Everyone's schedules are crazy this month. Miriam  is leaving to Mexico for a few months, Chelsea is going on vacation to the Dominican Republic and Jenny's niece had a drill team performance, so it was lucky that we were all able to get together last minute. 

We chatted nonsense late into the night. I didn't get home and into bed until almost 2AM. I must be getting too old to be doing that on a weekday because I felt tired and puffy eyed all day. Jose calls us grandmas because we sit around drinking tea and talking. We love our time together. 

Co-Worker Dinner

The feasting and partying continued on Saturday night with a co-worker dinner at Tiffany's house. We had pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw, salad, baked rice, macaroni & cheese, and dessert. 

It was fun to meet everyone's spouses, and even funnier joking around with them that we all know everything about the husbands, like when they have to sleep on the couch. 

We played Battle of the Sexes and of course we let the guys win. 

I was a little nervous at first because I am newest to the group and wouldn't really say I'm friends with any of them. I've always been cautioned about being "friends" with your co-workers. However, maybe it depends on the type of work you do. My best friends are people I've previously worked with. My husband is cool with all of his co-works and that's one reason he really likes his job.  Some of the more seasoned people at my work have said their funnest time was when they were young and had a tight group. Since you spend 40 hours a week with these people you're bound to form some type of bond, so I'm okay with just letting it flow. I know I won't be confiding in them 100% and putting all of my business out there, I have my girlfriends for that, but I do believe we all have something to learn from each other and I don't want to pass up the chance to connect with them. 

What are your thoughts on co-work friendships? 

 

Elsa Manuela Alonso

This is one post I needed to write, but didn't want to sit down and reflect on it. Everyone went through their own grieving process and for me being in control and expressing it through writing, video, and photos has helped me cope, better than bawling in public. That's just me, I feel more comfortable suppressing things and having a hard exterior, even if I'm crumbling inside. It doesn't mean that I care less or hurt less, it's just my way. 

Sunday morning at 7:45 AM my phone started ringing, it was my father-in-law, I don't usually answer if I'm half awake, but it was unusual for him to call me, especially that early. My brain had time to process two things, either they needed a babysitter for Anthony or something happened to David. I answered, he said, Priscilla your friend Elsa has been in a bad accident. Car accidents are one sensitive topic for me. I've been in too many and I've dedicated this portion of my career to injury prevention out on the road. I uncouthly asked if she was dead. He said yes. I wasn't processing, I just wanted to know why, when, how. I  love and appreciate him for making that difficult call. 

This is the 2nd call I've received when I'm half awake that someone has passed way. Both times I reacted the same. I take the call, hang up, and realize in a mess of tears what's actually been said. I saw my brother outside my window and immediately ran out to tell him about the call. Hearing the words come out of my mouth made me cry. I love that guy, and I'm glad he was there to hear me. I could tell I was grasping for control because I put laundry in the dryer, went to the bathroom and put toilet paper on the roll. Jose came in and asked what I was doing, I told him, but wouldn't stop to talk, just kept being busy and crying. 

You know how when you hear bad news, and keep hoping that as the day progresses you'll find out that you were given the wrong information? That's how I felt. Elsa's grandma and aunt live a block from me, so I walked over to see how true it really was. Angie was sitting outside, more clouded than I was. We cried in each other's arms as we tried to piece it all together. The day was long and heartbreaking as many of us met at the crash site to leave flowers and balloons for our fallen friend. Hearing all of the chatter of what people thought happened was unsettling. I am all about logic and facts and will only believe the police report and examiners report, not someone's exaggerations. Again, coping mechanisms for me. 

It was a long, hard week leading up to the funeral services. I just wanted to keep in mind that I was hurting, but it wasn't about me, it was about showing support to her parents, brothers, baby, and Paris. Even to this day it still doesn't feel real. I hate checking Instagram and not seeing posts from her. The last time I saw her was at the Ludacris concert August 15th. We texted a few times after that. 

One thing I found very interesting was that all of her friends had distinct experiences in Elsa's timeline. My strongest memories are of our youth days at church. Everyone's memories mean something to them and are valuable. They are all a piece of her. 

I'm left with this weird feeling of not knowing whether I should love more or love less. My one comforting thought is that Elsa's free. To me that means she's in this perfect space, stress free, and oh so happy. 

If I could get one message across it would be don't drink & drive.

Here are the Fox 13 and Standard Examiner articles about the accident. 

Here's are  several videos, one of her memorial, one of old pics I had on a hard drive, and one our mutual friend made with recent pictures from the last few months.

Camping At Our House

The Bear Lake With Friends post tells the story of how we ended up camping at our house. On the drive home we lost four friends who decided to go home. We got home around 10:00 PM so I played host and got all of the beds set up while the guys went to the store to buy meat to grill. We ate, had a bon fire, played a game, then went to sleep. 

My friends are great they washed my dishes and helped me cook. We had french toast and chorizo con juevos. After breakfast we all go ready to go to Fort Buenaventura which is literally 2 blocks from my house. We canoed, cooled off in the River, then did some more grilling. 

Here are a few videos I recorded for Instagram. The quality isn't great and the river sound is way loud. 

Our camping trip didn't turn out how we planned, but we had a lot of fun and definitely made some great memories. Hopefully we have a round two next summer. 

Bear Lake With Friends

Back in May we reserved cabins for our 1^st annual friends camping trip, then we slowly waited for the months to pass until we could all be together in the wilderness. Jenny and Sam weren’t able to make it due to a death in the family, and we really missed them.

We arrived to cloudy skies and the threat of rain. That didn’t stop us, we still went to the beach, wet our feet and grilled some food. The water was a beautiful aquamarine color, due to the limestone deposits suspended in the lake. It looked as gorgeous as the water in The Bahamas, and is actually known as the Carribbean of the Rockies.

We had such fun group bonding activities. We all played volleyball. The men played cards and did most of the cooking. The ladies built a fire and had girl talk.

Later in the afternoon the girls set off for the pool while the guys continued their card game. While we were there the creepy grounds keeper kept pacing back and forth watching us. When the guys finally arrived he was less than friendly. He was mad that we didn’t have our wrists bands on. I fully understand that yeah, we should’ve went and put our wrists bands on, but we were having too much fun at the moment. The guy came back upset and said he was sick of us not listening to him and that guests had complained about our profanity. He decided to kick us out. I’m super non-confrontational, so I was okay with it, but the more I thought about how ridiculous it was to kick us out because of our language I got upset. First, I know us, and we weren’t even drunk or as wild as we’ve been in the past. I think we were actually all very well behaved. We were camping for hell’s sake, some words are going to come out. I’m going to call it like I saw it, this guy and his guests felt threatened by such a large  group of colored people. The hypocritical thing was I was getting mad at my husband for arguing with the guy, but not even two seconds later I went off on him. Like I said I don’t like fighting, but don’t ever challenge my race or my gender or I will attack your ass. We talked about how getting kicked out was bound to happen since quiet time was after 10 PM. I guarantee that we wouldn’t have met their  “quiet” standards.

So the Bear Lake KOA turned out not to be the right setting for us. We packed up, got a refund and headed to Ogden. Everyone was invited to camp at our house. 

Lunch With An Old Friend

My friend Brook-Lee is in town from Georgia. I don't think we've seen each other since her high school graduation in 2006. Since then we've become much nicer girls than we were in jr. high. We reminisced and reflected on life back then. We are both proud to say we didn't become another statistic that dropped out of high school or got pregnant at sixteen. We both have our bachelors and are working on graduate degrees. May we continue to be positive role models for each other and other girls who are minorities like us.