1. Friday I spent the entire day with a tiny baby human named Ezra. He is all of three months old and already tells me he loves me (with his eyes). Although he's mine, he technically belongs to one of my oldest and closest friends, Desi. I met her sixteen or seventeen years ago and since then she took a naive Cristina and exposed me to a world outside of my own- taking care of me like a little sister. Through Des I fell into a deeper love with music and dancing, with gay bars and dives (the old Bar America 4ever), with vintage shopping and knowing it's perfectly okay to dress up or not. Desi is my sister in all of the ways that matter. Y ahora, countless nights out later, road trips and vacations later, and concerts, and good cries, and a million and one inside jokes later-- she is a mom of two with a house and a family and a yard. We made it past the nights of taking tequila shots at a drive thru and dancing til our clothes were drenched to supporting each other and our new lives and fighting to stay connected.
2. Friday night I called Maria because I had no idea what to wear on Saturday and she is the only person in this world that makes me feel like it's okay to be irrational. She talks me through it, she navigates it with me, then she snaps me out of it. We settled on meeting up for pedicures at our favorite place. For some reason we are straight ridiculous during pedicure times. Our laughter and jokes are already out of control IRL, but we take it to another level there. These times of just us two (and our guy, George), and being able to relax, vent, confess-- they're my favorite. Believe me when I tell you that nobody understands me like Maria and although we don't see each other every day like before, she is still my #1 Amiga de la Vida (like my Guela used to say). After pedicures she came over and let me spill all of the feelings, let me be an insecure little mess, built me up again and reminded me of who I am. These moments, although sometimes scarce now, recharge me.
3. Saturday morning I went to my parent's house and they sent me home with a bag of limes, a bag of peaches, one pomegranate, and two barbacoa tacos. Everything but the barbacoa was grown in their yard <3.
4. Saturday night was finally Mujeres Mercado! We work on this baby for weeks and months on end and the day of we just hope and pray (and continue working!) that everything will be great. It was a humid day, but our mujeres didn't fail us. Everyone showed up on time and was ready to set up. There was a big gray cloud over the San Fernando Cathedral, and I just knew that it would go away-- and it did. I am so grateful for our growing community of women that uplift women, and to be honest- I am so proud of this thing that we're growing. My tia came to the market and came and told me I look really happy. I hear that a lot lately, and it's true. I've never known this kind of happiness but I welcome it and will do what I can to make it stay and make it grow. We're the last ones to break down, the last ones to leave Main Plaza, the last ones to load our cars-- but we make sure to connect and regroup. A long talk (and a lot of laughs) after a long day over some drinks and food. At the end of a crazy day/night we're still friends, Roger + Moni + tk + me. Without those first two, we couldn't make this happen.
5. Sunday has always been my favorite day of the week but this Sunday let me have it. My day started at Awakening Spiritual Community where Rev Erika had me in tears thinking about perfection versus excellence. I carry her lessons with me and have found that they creep back in days after . We then booked it to Brick Market at the Blue Star where I set up for VeryThat. Roger and Moni stayed behind with our stuff (and had what they called "BroTime"), and tk and I booked it to meet a group of blogeras as organized by Melanie of Que Means What. The cherry on top of this already delicious sundae is that we got to meet Kathy Cano-Murrillo AKA the Crafty Chica!! I've followed Kathy online for years and I was totally geeing out at the idea of meeting her, but spending lunch with her? Sitting next to her and asking for her advice? Seeing how truly sweet and humble she is and how she freely shares what works for her?! It was a beautifully empowering end to an already fulfilling weekend!