Tamalies

well this weekend was a busy one. My roommate spent the weekend with my family and me. I am sure it was quite a culture shock but i think she had fun. the highlights of the weekend were: we made tamales, watched movies including a very cute movie called Happy Feet, went to the Botanical gardens and took my roommate to her first Catholic mass. :) Yuppers. can't get a grasp of the Hispanic culture without making tamales and going to church. just messing. ;)

My family tradition

Almost every year my family on my mom's side gets together the weekend before Thanksgiving to make Tamales for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is quite a big task. It usually takes two days to make the tamales. The first day is the prep day. my grandma, dad, and uncles are busy cutting up the pork and making the chili that is used to stuff the tamales with.

The next day all the ladies, my Grandma, aunts, cousin, sister and me, get together to assemble the tamales. We do invite others to join who are not in the family so that they can join in on the fun.

This year we had Karen and Stephanie (who are my sisters friend and have become my family's friend as well) as well as my roommate Jeanette help us.

Now if you are wondering where are the guys in my family. Well the majority of them are not around due to work or other plans. but my Dad, Gandpo and one of my uncles help us carry the pressure cooker and watch it while it cooks. :)

It is such a fun time because i get to take part in a cultural tradition that was started by my Grandma. We take much pride in our tamales. It has almost become our main course at Thanksgiving. You know we have tamales with a side of turkey. They are good. We have the assemble of a tamale down to an art form. We each have a job depending on your experience with an exception of the people who are helping out. You see I am the youngest of the bunch making the tamales so my jobs started off at the lowest level and has progressed to higher levels. I started off washing the ojas, and the dishes. As i have gotten older i have learned how to spread the masa on the ojas, mix the masa with my hands, cut aluminum foil, baby sit the little kids and this year i learned how to stuff the tamales with the Chili. *grin*

but some of the other jobs are wrapping the finished tamales in foil so that they don't explode every where in the pressure cooker and making chili. but the chili making is the top job and that is up to my grandma. without a good chili then we don't have good tamales.

well that is a gimps of one of my family traditions.

My day with Jeanette

Well i usually go home for the weekend but this weekend i am busy with school stuff. well i decited to take the day off and spend time with my roommate Jeanette. WE had a fun and random day. i just loved it.


this is Jeanette at one of our fun random moments that the student center but that story comes later.






It started off with going to get breakfast at the egg and I. such a good place. i got to eat my wonderful blueberry pancakes and an egg, my fave. and Jeanette got some raspberry or cranberry pancakes. well we ate and then decited to go next door to Jo-Anne's fabric store just to look. we spent a good 1/2 just wondering around that store feeling fabric and looking at all the little nick nacks. it was fun.






then we got back to our room and i decited to teach her how to knit. She cought on very quick and i am very proud of her. She is not addicted to knitting. opps... well as we knitted we watched ELF, 10 Things i hate about you and Batman and Robin. All really good movies. wel then decited to go experiance the CSU fall drag show.













I did not know what to expect. It was my first time at a drag show. well we got to the student center where the show was at, and we were walking down the halls to get to the location. We knew when we arived at that location when we saw a few drag queens wondering in the halls as well as a guy running around in his black underware and a Bra. well we were trying to get in and the guy that was running around in his underware decited to hide behind Jeanette and I while a group of people walked by. this was an Awkward turtle moment for Jeanette and me. well as the show started i was impressed at how good the guys looked in dresses. better than me in some cases.





this was kind of strange. and yes thoes are guys... well the show was both men and women dressed in drag and they were lip singing to music and dancing around. below are some clips that i took with my camera. it was just quite an experiance... wow is all i have to say...






If you ask me if i will do that again next year... maybe is the reply that you will get from me. well have a nice day and enjoy the videos...







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6usDafi2oI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU8KhorraVc





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NPxJGHXRUY

Awkward Turtle moment

Don't you just love Awkward turtle moments. these are the moments when you are just put into awkward moments and they are just kind of random.

well i think they are funny because i get to whip out my awkward turtle hand gesture.
here is my story...
If you did not know I live in a residence hall that does not have a dining center that is open for dinner. so i have to walk my self, or do some extreme skipping (see joy's blog), over to the nearest dining center. Also there is this guy named Andre that lives in the floor beneath me that was working in the lobby one early morning and decided to talk to me while i was working so that he can stay awake. So now every time he sees me he has this need to say hello to me. this has been going on for maybe a month. but he just says hello and that is about it.

well last night as i was leaving the dining center holding and eating my Delicious vanilla ice creme cone, Andre was walking in to the dining center and saw me. He told me hello and was tyring to hug me. he realized what he was doing and then patted me on my arm instead. it was just an awkward turtle moment for me. I don't really even know the guy and there he was trying to hug me. well i told him hello and walked out the door doing my turtle hand gesture. The kicker of the night was i had a back to back awkward turtle moment.

as i chucked my way back to my room I pass Green hall which is the police station area. well i noticed two police officers standing by a patrol car. well one guy was standing behind the other and smoothly checking to see if no one was around. well he did not see me. He let a big fart rip right there. now i know i am not in elementary school any more, but it was so hard not to bust up laughing. after he let one rip, he looked around even more. well this time he realized that i was around that area and he was just watching me walk by at a good distance from him. i was really trying hard to contain my self, but i let a few giggles out here and there. i heard him mutter sorry as i walked by. but i am sure that it was an awkward turtle moment for him.

well that is my story-Manda Panda

jummpin willikers

YA about the title. i was just being strange.

nothing much is happening in my life right now. i have been busy with trying to get all my homework done, working, running and playing my cello. I have spent a lot of time practicing and playing. it has been crazy. I have a concert next week that i do not feel ready for. I am getting one of my pieces down but the other is very difficult.

i am boring. same thing every day it seems.

The above pic is of Total body sculpt with Gillade. it can be found on fit TV. this is the exercise program that i use when i don't go running. It sure kicks my butt in the morning.

I sure like exercising. i especially like to run and get into my zone were nothing can break my peace. I have been working hard since this summer to lose weight. I have been very successful and I have been happy with the transformation of my body. So far i have lost 19 lbs. that is a lot. I am almost rid of my sophomore 20. :) now to rid my self of my freshman 15 then i will have reached my goal. But little at a time and I will make it. It is so easy to gain the weight and so hard to get it off and keep it off.

well if something exciting happens or funny i will post again on my blog-Manda Panda

Happy November

Happy 1st of November. :) it is the morning after Halloween, i am at work and it is really really really cold. i am cheating. i brought down my blanket to keep me warm and comfort me while i hear strange sounds out in the lobby.

Yesterday was a very fun day. i got to spend the morning at a jr. high school. the kids were so hyper at the beginning of class and then they turned on the teacher and started to fight and express their frustration out on their teacher. but then i got to come back to my dorm and dress up for Halloween. I got to be the crazy cat lady but then it got changed to just a cat lady because i was having trouble being frumpy enough. but i thought it worked out for the better. i saw quite a few people dress up for Halloween mostly at night time. i guess that is when all the weirdos come out to play. ;)

My roommate and i went to the Organ concert last night and got turned away because the 1st show was so packed you would have thought it was against fire code to have that many people in the music building. we went to the 2nd showing and we were not disappointed. but during that time that we were waiting i got to try on Jeanette's (my roommate) purple wig that she bought. the combination between my beautiful red lipstick that Jeanette bought me, the purple wig, a red boa, and really tall high hills, i transformed into Kitty La Mea. it was so funny. but i returned to being a cat lady.

i look like a drag queen. lol

Jeanette is so funny

At the concert i noticed that a lady that was sitting behind me had on a shirt that has cats all over it, jeans, and bright pink faded lipstick on. she also had a fuzz-like head band on her head. i saw her showing off the cat shirt and decided to show her mine and told her that i was the cat lady. i also showed her my white kitty and she got all excited to see it. she then told me that she was the local cat groomer here at Fo.Co. this made my day because she truly was a cat lady and i was dressed like her. i really wanted to take a picture of this but i did not want to be rude because it seems like she dresses like that all the time and i was kind of making fun of people who dress like that. but i have to say that i hit the nail on the head with my costume last night.

the Organ concert was good. i started to get a head ache after awhile but all the vital organ pieces were played to make a wonderful Halloween concert. ride of the Valkyries and star wars melodies were the high light of the concert i thought.