Thinking of Randy Pausch...

I can't seem to get my mind off of Randy Pausch...his inspiring words, zest for life, his brave battle with pancreatic cancer, and his tragic death last Friday. I first watched The Last Lecture at a Principals meeting last Spring. I was so moved and touched by his advice for living and I have found myself thinking about his wisdom (at such a young age..he was only 47) and using his advice during the ups and downs of life. My husband bought the book and he finished reading it the day before Randy's death. He too was in awe of his joy for live and his bravery. Last night we watched Dianne Sawyers's tribute to him. ..so moving. We couldn't speak for awhile after the episode finished. Randy was so full of joy and celebrated life until the end. He didn't squander a day being sad or not showing his loved ones how he felt about them. I am keeping his three children, wife, and parents in my prayers. What a legacy he has left for his kids. I am always going to remember Randy. I hope to always remember his words...to have the courage to "tell the truth" and "all of the time", enjoy all of my days, and not be dragged down by negativity. I am going to take his advice and teach my children that brick walls are there only to keep people who don't want it badly enough away and to accept honest criticism as love. And if my children ever want to paint their bedrooms...I will let them. Rest in peace dear Randy. The world will never forget you...

How I am feeling today...

In college I heard Maya Angelou speak live. She taught us a song and the lyrics are strong in my heart and mind today...

I shall not
I shall not be moved
I shall not
I shall not be moved
just like the tree
planted by the water
I shall not be moved...

Great places to go in Los Angeles

Los Angeles will always be home to me. It is the place I love and for so many reasons. With my sister and nephew in town, I have definitely made it a point to enjoy some of the sites and venues of Los Angeles. They love the city as much as I do. We all think it is worth making the nearly one hour pilgrimage into the city.

Last week, we went to my ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE PLACE TO GO in Los Angeles during the summer...THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL. We took the park and ride shuttle in (which I highly recommend). I did do the stacked parking earlier in the week with my hubby for the Stevie Wonder concert and we got lucky because we were the second car in line to get out of the lot. For the most part, however, I recommend the park and ride shuttles. Anyway, my sister, nephew and I listened to New Orleans Jazz (awesome) under the stars and dined on an Italian dinner and wine (well my sister and I drank the wine). There was such a great vibe at the bowl and we swapped wine and dessert with people sitting around us. It is a must do if you are anywhere near Los Angeles during the summer.


Then today we ate lunch at Maddelena's Restaurant at the SAN ANTONIO WINERY downtown! I haven't been there in years and it was just as fun as I remember! It is in the heart of an industrial area between Boyle Heights and Downtown. When you are in the restaurant, you almost forget that you are surrounded by industry. There is a selection of pretty good inexpensive wines right in the restaurant. You can just open the fridge and select a bottle or grab one from the shelves. We selected a bottle of chilled red blended wine from Spain. It was a tiny bit sweeter than we expected, but a nice surprise on a hot day. After the winery, we went to the MERCADO in East L.A. So fun! I have not been there since childhood. I had so much fun. I thought of my parents and the many times they took us there when I was a kid. I bought my daughter a very cute pair of sandals that were Hecho in Mexico. I bought dulce Mexicana too. It is such a cool place. It definitely compares to the mercados I have been to in Tijuana, Juarez and Mazatlan. It was culture shock to my nephew and he absolutely loved it. He was very amazed at the huge Virgen De Guatalupe shrine outside of the Mercado. Awesome. I definitely recommend a visit there if you are interested in a true L. A. landmark filled with locals going about their daily business. There is definitely nothing contrived there!


We ended the day by visiting our old stomping grounds in Southeast L.A. There were many "moments" for my sister and I when we were there. We thought of our simple childhoods, how much our worlds have changed, and of course of Lalo and Elena, our parents. Now...I've been aching to visit the La Brea Tarpits. I think that will be my next L.A stop this summer. It has been years since I last visited! I love L.A!

Inside Maddelena Restaurant at San Antonio Winery I love this sign! It is at the Mercado.

This is in front of the huge shrine in the parking lot of the Mercado.
At the shrine.
Sandalias!!This is a picture of the old Newberry store in Bell from the good ole days. It is the sight of the famous candy cane story involving my sister (inside joke)!

Our childhood home in Bell. There are still a couple of rose bushes in front of the house on the right that my father planted...sniff.

Hollywood Bowl!

We had so much fun at the Bowl...

Fun wines for the summer...

I am so over only having California wines with strict wine labels that are 85% Cabernet or 80% pinot noir (although I will never be over going to Napa). I still love them for specific reasons, however, I have been having a great time experiencing some inexpensive, but delicious and drinkable blended wines from other parts of the world. I am loving some of the dry roses out there, bordeaux wines, and white riojas. I can't believe what great spanish and french wines I can get that are under $15! The best part is that I can afford to experiement with them a bit without breaking the bank. And if I don't like them, I am not crying because I spent a ton on them! This past year, I have definitely become a fan of the blended wine. I find it ridiculous to burn your mouth off with Mexican Food and Cabernet Sauvignon. Why not enjoy a nice Rose instead? The new Trader Joe's in my area, with a larger wine section than most, has a great variety to choose from. It is going to make my summer more enjoyable than ever. I have posted a couple of pictures of some of my recent purchases and I plan to add a widget on the right hand column to list some of my favorite finds. Happy wine drinking!



This is a nice bordeaux. It is light and has some nice fruit flavors in it. I am calling it my summer red. I even like to chill it for about 20 minutes before drinking it. It is great with a summer grill!

I enjoyed this bordeaux too. It think it is about $8 a bottle! Nice fruit too.

I haven't tried this Rioja Rose yet. It is a Spanish wine. I have tried the white version of this and love it. I am usually not a white wine drinker either. I guess it must be because I was trying all of those oaky california chardonnays. Haha! It is definitely a white wine of choice this summer. My sister and I enjoyed it on the patio last night with cheese and crackers. We'll see how I like the Rose. We are taking it to the Hollywood Bowl tonight!

It's Official...

...I have a middle name! It is Elena, my mother's name. I have always wanted a middle name - always. I love names! It is the first thing I ask new parents about their newborn children. I want to know the first, middle, and last name of every baby or child I see. I always ask people to tell me their full names. I like to hear stories of why people have certain names. You know, the story behind it. I had so much fun naming my girls. I like naming my pets - always have. I even like helping my daughters choose names for their dolls and stuffed toys. I even named my car! That will have to be under another post. Anyway, then it hit me about a year ago. I can have the perfect middle name for me. Why didn't I think of it before? I LOVE my mom's name...Elena. I really do. Why couldn't it be my middle name? Lisa Elena. I love it! I mean here I was all of these years, a person who loves names, with one simple first name...Lisa. I don't even have a fancy story to go along with it. My mom simply named me that because she was sure I would be a boy named Gilbert. She had no girls name picked out. Well, along I came and she had no name for me. So there I rested in my incubator for five days without a name. Then she decided on Lisa because it was a popular name for the time and she liked it better than Linda or Deborah I guess. That is it. She didn't believe in middle names so I didn't get one of those (neither did my sister Sylvia). Just Lisa. So I finally put it on my first official documents this evening. My teaching and administrative credentials. I had to renew them and I wrote in Elena in the middle name section. That is it! It is official and I am so elated about it. I can't wait until the hard copy arrives so I can stare at it and love it. I will forever write in Elena as my middle name or E as my middle initial. I am Lisa Elena. See...my mom did give me a middle name after all...

Not so fun surprise...

So I had to have an emergency root canal on Thursday afternoon. That is definitely not my idea of a fun way to spend a summer afternoon. I thought I was only going to see a specialist on a consultation and voila! Root Canal! It was for one of the teeth involved in the infamous motor scooter accident in 1987 that will remain a part of my life forever. The dentist said I definitely have a problem going on in there. This is before I explained that I was in an accident, crushed my jaw, had five teeth re-implanted the night of the accident, the original surgeon said I would only have 5-8 years with them, they've lasted 21 years, can't lose them because there is not enough bone to hold implants, dentures, bridges, etc. After I told him all that, he said, "Hmmm....I guess they are doing well". Anyway, I had the root canal because there is a severe change in one of the teeth and I may be losing it. This guy invented a special kind of root canal that can freeze that process. I have my fingers and everything else crossed because he agreed that there are still not good alternatives for me. He was shocked that I wasn't fainting from pain with the infection he could see in the x-ray. That is before I told him I had no feeling in the teeth and lower jaw because of the accident. Of course, that makes the whole thing trickier because I cannot actually feel when there is a problem. Thankfully, my awesome regular dentist monitors these five teeth carefully when I go in for cleanings. She always X-Rays them. She is the one who saw the changes in the tooth and referred me. Thank God for smart people! Anyway, I let myself have a pity party for a brief moment and then thought about Alan, who did not survive the accident at all. He has been on my mind since. The tooth feels fine now. My jaw is sore from all of the shots. Onward.

I love you dad...

My father is so alive in my heart and brain everyday that it is scary. I missed him yesterday for Father's Day and the feelings rolled over into today. Today is one of those days when I really needed his concise, but truly insightful advice. He just had a way of summing up his thoughts in one or two sentences. It seemed to always hit the mark. I miss that so much. Since he never held back his opinions, I can usually figure out what his feelings would be on most of my current situations. Even though there was a time when I felt cursed because of my parents constant need to communicate their opinions of my actions and offer unsolicited advice, I actually feel quite lucky now that they did this. I am lucky because I hear their voices in my head about most everything and can still seek and follow their guidance. In other words, I often find myself receiving their advice even in their absence. I've been thinking about all of the advice my father gave me over the years, especially the last 5 of his life. I have also been thinking about his one line advice that never changed over the years. Things like...

"You can always tell the biggest dummy in the room because they are the ones talking the most."

"Everyone can't like you."

"Tell them to go to hell."

"Do what makes you happy."

"No one respects a liar. Even if it is bad news, tell the truth."

"Don't giggle. If it is funny, laugh. People think gigglers are dumb."

"You better not bring a loser into this house."

"Don't take us back 5 generations."

"Study!"

"Know your place. Don't be tut-tut."

I lit his candle to honor him yesterday and to remind myself of his everlasting presence in my life. Thank you Lalo for being the voice in my head and for giving me a strong heart. I know that you never wanted me to be a "tonta" and I hope I am delivering on that.