EXHAUSTION

i don't know when im going to magically become a morning person. i thought it would happen as i got older but i struggle to get up and at night i hesitate to get myself to bed when i am clearly drained from the day. my body aches and i feel my eyes getting low. at the same time though, i have never felt so accomplished and useful in my life. i am getting things done with the kids working on lunas school stuff and then the regular home stuff. it is amazing where i am now in my life. niko got student of the month award and it felt so good to see him being recognized and you know im totally giving myself credit for that too.
i haven't yet wrote down any new years resolutions but who am i kidding? i don't stick to them. i do however have so many fears and insecurities i want to get over. and getting back on here and blogging regularly is one of them. almost every single day for about six months i thought about blogging and didn't. sometimes i felt too tired and other times i thought nobody cares anyway. but whether anybody reads or checks out my photos, this is my little space and i should take advantage of this little space to clear my head.
i hope you are having a great start in the new year! xo, liz

INSTA LOVE - @RELAXBABYBECOOL

one of my all time favorite cities is san francisco, its filled with art and adventure and every time i've been its hard to come back home. and since its been about three years since i last went, i am grateful i get small glimpses through the eyes of my friend marvin. i think that's what i love about instagram, people share (for the most part) the beauty & joys in their life. 
for about a year now, i have been following marvin and his girlfriend amalia on ig. they are the sweetest couple living in san francisco with their adorable cat lula. their home is super cute, they collect vintage toys and blythe dolls and one of my favorite things about them is that they take evening walks and share some amazing views with us. i felt obligated to share one of my favorite feeds on here so enjoy. below are photos from marvin's feed on instagram ;)

thank you Marvin for sharing your photos with us! for more of Marvin's colorful world follow him on instagram @relaxbabybecool and also, listen & download "Fool of a kind" by his band Marine Life.

BEER AND BEAUTY

It isn't too often that i get to hang out with friends and enjoy a few drinks. So when I got invited to this beer and beauty themed event i was stoked. Little did I know I'd get to not only be with the coolest moms on the planet (juie and jess) but have some delicious fruit flavored beer from Goose Island (my favorite was the Sophie beer), eat amazing chocolate flavors by Wild Ophelia, get my brows waxed and makeup touched up with an including gift card to purchase makeup from Benefit Cosmetics ... Come on, my mind was blown but I had to play it cool like it was no biggie, but it was. I thoroughly enjoyed my outing with Julie, chatting with her and Jess was so refreshing and uplifting. It totally makes me want to plan a girls night and serve these fruit flavored beer, some flavors included blackberries and others had a citrus twist to them. And the packaging was pretty and feminine, so glad I know about Goose Island beer now, before this beer wasn't too appealing to me! The Wild Ophelia chocolates had flavors of peanut butter-banana, bbq potato chips, beef jerky and southern hibiscus peach, they were all amazing but I gotta say the bbq potato chips were my fave. The ladies working at Benefit were really nice and helpful, they made me feel so comfortable. I once was a makeup artist, long ago when I didn't have babies and now I am a stranger to makeup it seems. I rarely wear it and when I do, I feel weird. The girl who touched up my makeup applied a purplish lipstick and it was actually nice to have something different on my face. I have worn the same lipstick since the 90's, yes the 90s!! and its a more natural color so when the weekend came I put on my new lipstick by benefit called espionage, i love it!
I really hope we can do something like this again because all of this combined made it into a perfect girls night out for us!

((Julie))

last photo from jess @ irocksowhat

FAMILY TIME

now that i live two hours away from my sisters i tend to have moments of separation anxiety. i mope around and complain to the mister how i miss my close family and friends and make him feel guilty for moving us up here. the usual day to day with the kids keeps my mind busy for the most part but i still feel the same once i really start to think about how nice it would be for the kids to grow up playing with their cousins. here we have raoul's family which is pretty small and their two cousins who live near us are teenagers. they are really sweet big cousins despite the age difference.
so when my cousin who lives about thirty miles away offered to pick us up to spend the day at her house i was stoked. our car was in the mechanic for over a week so being out of the house and with family was the best and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

VEGAS BABIES

i guess it doesn't hurt taking the kids to vegas once a year. but man, that heat is brutal! papa had a gig this thursday before the big edc weekend happened. there was plur in the air for sure. we walked just outside our hotel to a mini concert of "queen" which has become nikos favorite band as of late. they played a couple songs on the ceiling with lights. its like  a huge digital screen of lights for everyone to enjoy and be amazed. we were obviously. we walked around and spotted all our favorite cartoon characters, hello kitty, spiderman, darth vader, stormtrooper, spongebob squarepants and a few others. we walked over to the bar where papa was going to play, the beauty bar and chatted with the promoters then grabbed some food and alchoholic icees. i got the mudslide and it was just perfect for walking around in the hot hot heat. the thing about traveling with the kids nowadays is that niko usually gets irritable at night. he cries and says he wants to go home and then i regret taking them in the first place. since papa's job requires so much traveling and at times we can come along i want to take advantage of that and show the kids as much of the world as i can. i just hope niko starts to enjoy adventure more as he gets older.

 that's a person flying across on a rope. looks so fun!!

 we live close to a "niko's pizza" here in san pedro so it was cool spotting "luna's pizza" :)

 best bar name ever.

 photo by Niko

 spiderman!

lights at the hotel.

THE SIMPLE LIFE

last week was kind of a disaster, our car broke down. we share a car & we've had it since i was pregnant with my little niko bee a little over five years now. its been a great car so far but i think its our fault for not keeping up with transmission fluid. so not only did i not have a way to get out of the house but my almost five year old boy was driving me nuts. i started reading a book called 1-2-3 magic & before i could even finish the book i started noticing changes. not only in my little boy but in me. i really believe that our toddlers normal tantrum behavior can change a bit if we parents change our way of looking at it & reacting while it happens. i tend to get caught up in the moment and get frustrated with him. then its a chain reaction. since sunday, niko has been at his grandma's house so its just me and my girl. papa is working most of the time so luna and i have been bonding and oh man this girl will not shut her mouth. she can talk and talk and talk... and i love it. she has the cutest tiniest voice and such great imagination. i am overflowing with joy that my girl brings me and at the same time i really miss niko. its just not the same without him & his loud raspy voice. he is full of energy and demands attention. and i love that he secretly wants to be cuddled by his mama. today luna and i walked to the post office, then to a vintage store a couple blocks down and then came home to play with bobbi & some computer games on pbskids. we actually go back & forth between nickjr & pbskids. luna is getting pretty good with the mouse, we're a computer loving family the four of us.

 tired of walking & wandering around "times of threads" such a cool vintage shop in san pedro.

 hello-luna

 yello= limonade, green= money  that's what luna says anyway.

my girls. playing nice, for once. 

 i bought these planters because i am now a cat person. plus they were cheap & cute.

 bobbi playing peekaboo.

on repeat lately.

BOBBI THE CAT

ever since i can remember i have been allergic to cats. and other things but cats make me wanna rip my face off. i get itchy throat, my eyes burn and i sneeze all day long. i remember missing school when i was about eight because my allergies were worse than having a cold. everyone that personally knows me, knows this fact about me and usually pokes fun at it. thats why even i am amazed that i have a cat now. i have admired cats and their beauty from time to time and wished that i could have one.. until i went to my local shelter and adopted this beautiful cat we named bobbi. it didn't happen just out of nowhere. i went and got bobbi out of desperation, last resort. we had been dealing with a mouse problem since last year and my landlord wouldn't shorten my lease because they were trying to handle the situation by contacting a pest control. its all been a joke really. this pest control company charges an arm and a leg to come to my house and set up traps and cover holes these mice might be coming in through. they've been coming for a couple months and have yet to catch a damn mouse. its so frustrating to live under these conditions but from what i hear it happens a lot. the house where i live is an old historic home and although it had a new kitchen, some parts of the cabinets had holes on the ground.
so now here i am with a cat, a cat i love. it really was an instant connection from my part. she's a year old so not really a kitten but still really young and able to adapt to the kids. she's sweet and lets you hold her, she purrs and  her whole body vibrates. the first few days were confusing to me, because i am new to the cat world. i have made friends with strangers on the cat isle at target and asked so many questions. i feel comfortable now taking care of her. at first bobbi would find the craziest places to hide and stay there for long periods of time. i had to search my whole house for over half hour to find her under the couch or behind my dresser or way in the back of my closet, pull her out and take her to eat. i remember those first days she was home i would call her to come out and practically beg her to come out and she would. she felt safe with us from the beginning but still unsure of her new surroundings. in the evenings she would come around and ask for attention and food. now she's a totally different kitty. she is still sweet with hints of sour every now and then she'll bite me randomly on my leg while im washing dishes. she attacks me while i walk by her by jumping out and running after me. she's playful with the kids and mostly patient, even when they're being annoying. occasionally she will bite them if theyre being too rough. for which, i usually warn them but these kiddos never listen to me. she plays soccer with the little ping-pong sized balls we have for her and shows off her balancing tricks when she gets on top of the shelves and windows. she was spayed right before bringing her home because all animals from the shelter get fixed but i still fear she will run away since she was a stray. i see the way she gets so excited when she looks out the window and sometimes runs outside if we leave the door open. i am attached to her already and i get so worried she will go outside and get hurt. i thought cats were easier than dogs but this one is like my baby!