Woman of the World, Part 1: El Viaje al Chuco

Hola!

I took my first trip back to El Paso ("El Chuco" a todos mis vatos) last week. Boy, what a trip! I did really well, though, because I'm a woman of the world and we women of the world know how to get things done . . .


. . . like eating ice cream during our layover in Chicago.







Back on the plane to El Paso, I unplugged for a while.





When we arrived in my hometown, we had to drive up to Las Cruces, where we stayed with Uncle Art. I wasn't too sleepy, so we played a little. Uncle Art got me a cell phone for Christmas--that's two cell phones I own now. I'm a woman of the world and we women of the world have a lot of networking to do.





Uncle Art also let me play his piano. I always get emotional when I sing "Feelings." Woe, woe, woe.





Then we went to Sunland Park Mall ("El Mall"), where I danced with some stranger on TV:

Then we had to see You Know Who: Santa! You can see how excited I was to see him--so excited I couldn't let go of Papi.




The nice photographer lady consoled me by giving me my own reindeer hat, just to show there were no hard feelings.





Oh, I forgot to tell you the whole reason we went to El Paso in the first place: Papi's graduation from UTEP. He earned his PhD in July, but he wasn't able to walk the stage and be hooded until now. Uncle Art and I watched on as Papi led the processional.




And here's the big moment. Papi is the first PhD from the Rhetoric and Composition program at UTEP. What a nerd.

Isn't Papi handsome in his regalia and hoodie! He kept having that tassel-caught-in-the-glasses problem all day.




And here's Dr. Papi's dissertation director, Dr. Kate.


And here we are, with Dr. Helen on the right. She's Papi's friend and mentor during his days at UTEP. She was also his second reader for his dissertation, whatever that means. I'll probably learn when I begin my own PhD. I'm leaning towards physics with a concentration in writing studies. I'm particulalrly interested in exploring notions of string theory and their applicability toward generic constraints of discursive practices. . . . Oh, never mind.


Afterward, we went to a party to celebrate, and the hostess--my godmother, Sheila--gave me a singing puppy:

Lots of people came, even Grandpa Gary and Grandma Linda, Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Kenny, our friend Jaime and Mami's former student Billy.

After all this partying, I was pooped out, so we went to Dr. Helen's house to rest. She put us up for the night and even babysat me while Mami and Papi went on a date. While I was there, I found these cool cans and plugged into some mad tunes. Righteous!

Now we're back home in Virginia, but we're leaving again Saturday for Kansas, where I'll finally meet my cousin Carter. That's my Uncle Mike and Aunt Kari's boy. He's six months older than I am. But I'm a woman of the world and we women of the world know how to handle men. I'm sure I'll have more to say about him after I meet him. Stay tuned.

Besos!

Y Feliz Navidad, Kwanzaa, y Hanukkah!

Happy Holidays!

Hi, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a good break. I sure did--I even had an early Christmas. Mi Abue Alejandrina y Tio Dax came to see me. We had Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and then last night we opened presents!

But first, take a look at my creative side. Here is some artwork I did at school last week. It's a pumpkin. If you look real close, you can see my thumbprint just next to the exclamation points.



And here are some photos I took this weekend.





We read lots of books this weekend. Here, Abue is reading one with me. See the Christmas tree in the background? It's beautiful. We still have to hang ornaments on it. I hate a naked tree.



And Tio Dax read my Moo book.



Then we opened some presents.



Abue brought me a beautiful musical nutcracker. I'm going to see the Nutcracker ballet next weekend. It'll be my first in a long tradition of Nutcracker ballets, Mami says. Maybe I'll even be in one some day!



And here are some cute pictures of me looking mature and all that.

Here's Mami singing back-up to my lead. We're practicing for the Lexie and the Adventure Femmes Holiday Special. It comes one right after the Shields and Yarnell Christmas Mime Show, followed by the Captain and Tennille Variety Hour.

And here's the video:

That's about all I have time for today. Have a great week!

Snow Day!

Last Monday, I walked out into the first snowfall of the season. The snow didn't last very long--it was all melted by the time I got out of school. : (

Anyways, here're some pictures of it (and me):

And there's nothing like taking a nice nap when it's cold and snowy outside. Night-night!

A New (Birth)Day

Hiya, everybody! Happy Birthday to all of you who had a birthday yesterday--like me!

First, I opened lots of presents. I got lots of new books, some clothes, and new shoes--oh! and I can't forget about the moolah. Cash is always great. We are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, so I better put the coinage away in a safe place--but not the stock market . . .

And I got a microphone, so I can continue to sing lead in my band, Lexie and the Adventure Femmes . . .



. . . and some new earrings. A lead singer's gotta look great, you know, standing up there in front of all her fans!

Roll the tape!:

And then we ate a red velvet cake that Mami made for me. Eating cake was a new experience, one I hope to repeat over and over and over again.

Here's some footage:

Have a great weekend!

A New Day

Papi says it's a New Day. I don't know what that means really, but he says that I will eventually. He and Mami are very happy this morning, saying that last night was very visceral. I don't know what that means either, but Papi says I will. Eventually.

Election Day

Good morning! Mami, Papi, and I went to vote at 6:30 this morning. I didn't vote, but I did smile at a lot of people standing in line. I hope I was persuasive!

Happy election day! Don't forget to vote!

Meow!

Happy Halloween!

Last night we went to the mall to go trick-or-treating. Here's a look:

While we were there, I decided to do some shopping for some new unmentionables. Mommy said they probably didn't have anything in my size: "They'd be too small for you."

Have a safe and happy weekend! Besos!

Miss Me?

I know, I know, I know. I haven't kept up with my blog--it's been so long! How are you?

This is a quick one because I have to go to bed soon.

I've been walking more and more. Here's a view:

And here's me being silly:

Sorry to cut this short, but I'm so sleepy that I'm falling asleep on the keyboardddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

See?

Night-night!

11 Months

Hiya!

For my eleventh-month birthday today, I gave Mommy and Papi a surpise. I pooped on the floor!

It's October, and so we've been thinking and thinking about my Halloween costume--but we haven't decided on anything yet. And so we're throwing a shout-out to all of you for ideas. Leave me a comment with your suggestions. I'll blow a kiss to the winner!

On Saturday, we went up the road a piece to a little village called Dayton, where the townsfolk had their annual fall festival. We bought some flowers from a nice woman, who gave me some of my own flowers. Aren't they beautiful?

I've been playing very hard this week. I even discovered a new toy. See the film:

And here's a montage of me.

I know you've been wondering about my progress in becoming a bipedal beauty. Here's a video:

Have a great week!