My Big Fat Cuban Family: A Cuban-American Blog

Jesus and My Hair

I've been letting my hair go back to its natural curl.

That sounds like a really simple thing, right? It's not.

I've been going to a specialty hair salon in Laguna Beach. The hair gal, Vickie (who happens to be Puerto Rican, which makes us practically related) runs a cute little shop called Curls on Top. She specializes in curly hair. Sounds crazy, right?

So, I started going to this curly-girl-specialty-salon back in August. And let me tell you, it isn't as simple as "just let your hair go curly again."

I must interject here that I love going to the salon. Everyone there gets me. We're all curly girls who are embracing our natural curls. It's kind of like an elite club. (Or a recovery group, but that's not important right now.)

I've been straightening my über-curls for the past 9 years. I've Brazillianed them, Japanese systemed them, Keratined them to get my curls stick straight and manageable. That's some serious curl-taming.

Here's a story and video of me getting my blowout. (Get popcorn.)

The straightener people always tell you that the process will eventually just disappear with enough washing. Lies. I haven't straightened anything since last summer and there are still pieces of straight hair that must be coaxed into keeping at least a bit of a bend until the straightened bit grows out and can be trimmed off.

This requires tons of special conditioner and gel and special clips that keep the bend in place, and at least 30 minutes under a hooded dryer. So not the "just let it go curly again" easy-peasy thing. But I'm determined. Also, I have two really great friends who have been my Curly-girl Advocates, Jana from the Summer House and Carrie from Tiki Tiki Blog.

So I follow the Curly Girl Method. (<--Google it.) And eventually I will tell you the story with a video. But today's not that day.

Today I want to tell you that it's kind of hit or miss when it comes to how my hair will look. There are days when it cooperates beautifully and I get compliments.

"Why yes, it is naturally curly. Thank you." (I'm practicing being demure about it.)

But there are other days when all the straight pieces just really want to do their own thing screaming, "We'll never go curly again! Not ever! Never!" Those days I end up looking a little crazed. (Don't judge.)

Exhibit A:

I have been taking self-portraits every time I attempt to do my hair (I've been documenting since September) because I know that one day I'll want to document this for my posterity.

Anyway, I took the photo above with the I-can't-even-believe-I'm-still-trying-to-grow-out-my-curls face. And I was reminded of something from back in the seventies....

Remember Godspell? The musical from the 70's? And Jesus (played by Victor Garber. Seriously.) had a big mop of untamed curly hair? Yeah. That would be me last week.

Just to prove my point, I made this collage:

See what I mean? Me and Jesus have hair in common. I posted that pic on my Instagram feed (which you should totally be following, if you don't already. I'm Smrtqbn).

I'm thinking this transition back to my curly roots (Hey! That works on two levels!) is even making me more creative. Every day I am feeling more and more confident in my new-found Curly Girl Awesomeness. Almost like being myself again.

I guess I just have to take this one day at a time. Or Day by Day. (<--see what I did there?)

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is obviously a very uniquely American holiday. Which is the perfect time for us to celebrate because we're a uniquely American family. Cuban-American, that is.

I have the privilege of hosting my big, fat, Cuban family here in my home this year. It's going to be a smaller group than usual. Only about 20 of us, because not everyone will be here.

So, we're busy moving furniture (did I mention that our home is freakishly small?) and setting up tables. My sisters and I are texting, emailing, and calling each other to coordinate the menu and the details of the thing.

It's a wonderful excuse to get together and say thank you to God collectively for the many blessings we enjoy.

I'm grateful to all of you who regularly read my blog and let me (over)share the day-to-day happenings in my little world. I thank God for each and every one of you faithful readers. I'm grateful also for all of you who follow me over on my Facebook page. If you don't already, please click here and join the relajo over there.

I'll be taking the rest of this week off from blogging to feed my people and to enjoy some down-time with my family. If you're new here, feel free to look around and if you've been here for a while, check out some of the Linked Within posts at the bottom of each entry. You might just see something new.

I'll be back very soon with some fun giveaways and I'll regale you with stories of my oh-so-interesting-real-life adventures.

I sent out these invitations to my family who have already told me they were coming before they received them, but that's not important right now.

Wish you could make it! You're always welcome here. My blog-casa is your blog-casa.

Also, Japi Sanguibin! ;-)

Everyone Should Have a Giant Chalkboard

Back at the beginning of the summer I had the opportunity to host a big birthday bash. It was a joint birthday party for my sister, Helen who would be turning 70 and my daughter, Amy Kikita who was going to be 29.

Because we entertain so often, we have tons of dishes and silverware and vases and cups and tablecloths and all the sorts of things to be found when entertaining is a high priority. When we decide to host a party, I assess my inventory, pull out my sketchbook and let the ideas flow.

I start by making the folowing lists:

• Guests
• Colors
• Menu
• Invitations
• Decorations

And then I start gathering ideas. By the way, this is why God invented Pinterest. I'm on there and you are welcome to follow me, but that's not important right now.

So there I was scouring Pinterest and getting inspiration and I noticed certain things that happen to be trending right now: 1) flags and 2) chalkboards. I got to the point where pretty much all I could think of was how I might incorporate flags and a chalkboard into the decorating. (You're mocking me, aren't you?) My daughter, Amy Kikita suggested that she might like black and white for a color scheme. I deferred to her because, well, it was her party, after all. Plus she suggested black. And you know what's black?

I made the decision not to sew. Mostly from a lazy standpoint because I didn't feel like hauling out my sewing machine (don't judge me). So I designed some patterned flags in Photoshop and printed them out on a color printer and attached them to twine and when I say "I," I mean Eric.

My husband is a pretty smart guy and he did the math and figured out how many flags we would need to cover all the surfaces I pointed out. He did the tedious work of measuring and attaching hundreds of flags to the twine and also hung them all through the house. And because my home is pretty colorful, I decided to use red as the accent color.

Which then gave me the theme: Black and White and Red All Over. (I thought it was kind of genius, but that's not important right now, either.)

Now that I had a theme to work with, the decorating was pretty simple. Black and white tablecloths, flags hung everywhere, and red roses on the tables. Simple, fun, and a little elegant, too. Win!

What's also black, you may ask? A Giant Chalkboard, that's what.

Lucy is taking theater production classes in college and knows how to build stuff.

Me: "Can you create a giant chalkboard?"

Lucy: "Yes, ma'am."  *Mom does happy dance*

(No, I was not exploiting her. I just figured she could use the practice. Shut up.)

Here's Lucy building walls with her power tools and giving Jon commands while my mom presides over the entire business.

So Lucy (with Jonathan's help) built a giant wall which she then primed and painted with chalkboard paint.

Ta-da! GIANT CHALKBOARD!

It was a pretty impressive set up, if I do say so myself. And now we had a GIANT CHALKBOARD! It made me crazy-happy.

When the guests arrived we had them go out to the GIANT CHALKBOARD for photos, which looked something like this...

And this...

And this...

How much fun is this, people??

We were sad that Adam couldn't be here because he lives so far away, but we included him anyway. ;-)

We fed our guests Cuban style Fricasé de Pollo. You can find that recipe here. And yes, that's a giant tray of maduros. (For the win.)

There was a ton of food, festive decorations, everyone was happy, and a good time was had by all.

Did I mention that we now owned a GIANT CHALKBOARD? 8 feet by 8 feet of Awesome.

What else could we possibly use it for? For me, the question was really, "What can't we use it for?"

*the mind reels*

Yay! Improv night!

And engagement party!

I am seriously in love with my GIANT CHALKBOARD.

And the flags? The beautiful black-and-white-and-red-all-over flags? Well, I left them up, too, for a few weeks because, well, I could. And they just made our everyday life pretty festive.

I love that my husband has just learned to roll with it. After 20 years he knows better than to argue about these things.

Because GIANT CHALKBOARD + decorative flags = a happy wife. Happy wife = Happy life.

I told you he was smart.

That's Entertainment!

I feel like I owe some kind of explanation about my lack of usual blogging over-sharing here in this space.

So here goes: I'm tired.

Just plain tired. Deep-to-my-very-bones tired. Or, to borrow a great Cuban phrase from my mom. Estoy agotada. (Which is awesomely descriptive. It means completely wrung out. Like a sponge. Not a drop left. Thanks, Spanish Language, for perfect descriptive words when I need them.)

There. I said it. In English and in Spanish.

Don't get me wrong. We've been having a blast for the past six weeks. We've been non-stop entertaining pretty much every week since school got out.

And I'm all funned out.

I think the crazy started back in May when we had the entire fam over for Mother's Day.

Then, once school was out, the kids started having their friends over for Outdoor Movie Nights.

Which really can't begin until after dark, which means that with these long summer days, they don't commence until 9-ish, which further means that Outdoor Movie Nights pretty much turn into Very Late Movie Nights.

Of course, there's always food. And on movie nights, we have our own "concession" stand. With the girls' favorite: Popcorn and M & M's. (It's kind of magical, really. The juxtaposition of the sweet and salty is pretty amazing. You're welcome.)

Did I mention we've hosted multiple birthday parties, too?

With most of the extended family present.

With lots of Cuban food, of course. (Of course!)

Oh! Did I mention that rehearsals for the last Improv show were held here? Of course they were.

And the first Outdoor Movie Nights were so much fun that they led to more Outdoor Movie Nights, which have now become Every-Sunday-Outdoor-Movie-Nights-at-the-Darbys (but that's not important right now).

Which means I've been feeding teenagers pretty much every week. Every. Week.

And sometimes on Monday nights, too.

All that to say this: I'm tired. Agotada. And I have been too tired to even write about my life because that whole living-my-real-life thing has been keeping me hopping. (Which, I admit, is a really good problem to have, but that's not important right now, either.)

I haven't had much energy to do much more than clean up from the last group that was here and prepare for the next party, which may or may not have included karaoke. (That's Miss Lucy in the orange dress.)

And celebrating my son's engagement to the lovely Stephanie. Which meant we also had house guests for about a week.

So, you see, I've been entertaining. With a capital E and an exclamation, like this: Entertaining! A lot.

And I'm just a little tired. Or, muy agotada. Demasiado agotada. Agotadisima! (<--Is that a word? Never mind....)

Hello, my name is Marta and I Entertain. ("Hi, Marta.")

I promise to write about all these wonderful things we've been doing and sharing how elaborately we decorated (There were flags! And colored lanterns!) and the food we served and all of that in great, gossipy detail. Very soon.

But right now, I need to go make a menu for next week's dinner party. I know. Shut up.

Writer's Block

I guess it happens to the best and most seasoned writers. You wake up and sit staring at the blank page on your computer screen and.....nothing.

I think it would be much more dramatic for this moment to happen in front of a typewriter with a blank piece of paper (maybe in sepia tones). But I know it happens either way. It's the equivalent of getting tongue-tied. I have lots of photos. I have lots of stories. I am in the process of editing some videos. I have sponsors who are anxious for me to post some of their content and bring you some fun giveaways.

But I don't seem to have any words.

So I look around my home for inspiration and this is what it has to offer:

My mom is at the table, reading her Bible. Poseidon and Nefret have commandeered the red armchair. And hey, at least the towels are clean and folded, right? ;-)

My guayabas are flourishing. I fantasize for a moment that they'll one day grow up to be fruit bearing trees and I'll be up to my eyeballs in ripe guavas, but sadly, today is not that day. Eric is working on a small wood project and there is less mess if he does the sanding by the back wall.

I'm still wandering around outside, hoping for inspiration to hit. Look! My coffee plants are beautiful and thriving. We got them as a gift from friends when they were about 4 inches tall. The now 4 foot plants feel like quite an accomplishment, but that's pretty much all I have to say about that. (Oh no! I'm starting to sound like Forrest Gump now.)

Jonathan has completed his school work for the week and is playing with his X-box.

My purple geraniums are blooming and they make me totally happy.

But none of this activity in and around my home has given me any words.

So I head over to Pinterest to see if I can find inspiration. I find this inspiring quote from Steve Martin:

Source: takemeforatwirl.blogspot.com via Marta on Pinterest

 

And I have to fight the urge to spend the next hour surfing for inspiration on Pinterest and now I have to fold some more laundry, but I remember that I should tell you to follow me on Pinterest, but that's not important right now.

So I remain uninspired and wordless, but the promise of guayabas someday makes me think of guava pastries, which makes me remember that I have some guava paste in the cupboard and pastry dough in the freezer.

So I think I'm going to just embrace the writer's block and drown my sorrows in a little café and some homemade guava pastries.

Tomorrow is another day. ;-)

Modern Day Thank You Notes

I have a love/hate relationship with the digital age we live in.

I kind of hate that unless your phone is turned completely off anyone can find you at any time. For the record, I never, ever turn my phone off. Not while I have kids out in the world, which is most all the time, but that's not important right now.

But I love when friends send me photos and we can share exactly what we're doing at any given time. It's the modern-day "thinking of you" greeting card.

In December, Lucy and I made vats and vats of Cuban eggnog, or Creme de Vie. I packaged it in the best, most beautiful bottles I could find and made custom tags to attach to them.

We delivered the local ones and I sent them out to friends that don't live in our immediate area code, too.

In this modern age, the "thank you" usually comes electronically (and I'm absolutely fine with that) and many times the gratitude comes with a photo.

Like this one, with the note that read:

"Thank you for the yummy treat and the beautiful bottle too! xoxo"

That's my dear friend, Desi Arnaz Jr. (be still my foolish heart!) sipping some of my famous Creme de Vie. *sigh*

He can keep the bottle. I'll keep the "xoxo."  ;-)

This is a fine mess I've gotten myself into...

We're still living in a bit of chaos.

Our kitchen cabinets are now in the process of being painted and it's taking a few days. So now that I've got my shiny and beautiful new appliances installed, I am still unable to cook and the mess is starting to get to me. I have lost my mojo and am feeling out of sorts creatively.

I haven't even had the energy to bust out my real camera, so the following photos are ones I've taken to with just my iPhone to document our lives this past week.

So here's our life according to my iPhone photos...

(I'm kind of enjoying the toaster, butter dish, and honey vignette, but that's not important right now.)

My dining area is full of everything that was in these cabinets. This is what I was greeted with as I came down the stairs this morning:

We managed to get a meal on the table in our cramped little kitchen the other night and that made me happy.

And we even managed a date night in our front yard.

The very big and bright one is the moon, the other object seen below it is Venus. We also located Jupiter and used the high power lens to see 4 of the moons. (I know. Nerdy McGoober.)

And because I'm Cuban and I feel guilty if I'm not giving you something...

My friend Pam turned me on to the coolest free camera app for the iPhone. It's called Orange Camera and has a bizzillion fun effects.

Get it. Use it. Love it.

I'll be taking a break for a few days to try and find my mojo again.

I mean my creative-flow-type "moe-joe." My other, Cuban "mo-ho" is somewhere in one of those boxes.

It's Nochebuena! And everyone's invited. Again.

My big, fat, Cuban family consists of pretty much the same people year after year. Except for the occasional birth, marriage, or divorce, I'm still related to the same people.

It's still just "us." (Sometimes "us" can get to upwards of 40 people, but that's not important right now.)

We Cubans have our BIG Christmas celebration on December the 24th. Nochebuena. (Which translates to "Good Night.")

For as long as I can remember and many generations before me, my family, like most other Cuban families, look forward to roast pork and black beans and white rice and yuca con mojo and fried plantains on December 24th.

Every year, on December 24th, we celebrate our Nochebuena with that grand-there's-nothing-like-it Cuban feast.

Every year, on December 24th, we get together as one big family and exchange gifts.

Every year, on December 24th, we stay up late and drink Crema de Vie and enjoy the Christmas festivities.

Every year. On December 24th. For as long as I can remember. The date has always been the same. The menu has never varied. Neither has the guest list.

And yet......

I always make invitations. Which I send to the same people I've been related to all my life. Who have been celebrating Nochebuena on December the 24th for their entire lives, too. And who all know we'll be getting together for our annual Nochebuena Celebration on December 24th.

Chances are, we've even already discussed where the party is going to be held, too. (This year we're going to my sister, Alina's house.)

And yet.....

I send out invitations. Every year.

Nochebuena, 2006:

Nochebuena, 2007:

Nochebuena, 2009:

Nochebuena, 2010:

And now.....(drum roll, please)......

Nochebuena, 2011:

I'm quite proud of this year's invitations. Aren't they just beautiful? I'm so into the whole "subway art" thing right now. I created them in Photoshop CS5 and uploaded the file to my local Kinko's (excuse me, FedEx Kinkos) so they could print it on coated cardstock.

I'm seriously so very pleased. =D

I just mailed these out to all of my big, fat, Cuban family. Who live just a few miles from me. With whom I've been celebrating Nochebuena for all of my life. On December 24th.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." ~Albert Einstein

Honestly, I know it's a little insane. But it's Cuban Christmas Insanity.

And to me, that's the very best kind. ;-)

Classic.

My dad and most of the Verdés side of the family grew up playing multiple instruments. He loved, loved, loved any kind of music, but was an afficionado of classical and played both the piano and the cello.

As much as I love my salsa music, oldies, and classic rock, I love listening to classical when I'm working on an art project. I think it soothes the nerves and helps me relax enough to tap into my right-brain creative self.

So you can imagine my delight when I received an invitation to visit the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to hear the LA Philharmonic (that's the LA Phil to us cool people) perform Mendelssohn's Mystical Landscapes. This concert is part of their Toyota Symphonies for Youth series at the hall.

The LA Phil advertises this family-friendly series as one that makes symphonic music come alive for kids.

From the LA Phil website:

When the young Felix Mendelssohn sets out on his first adventure to Scotland, his beloved sister Fanny is heartbroken that she has to stay home. Fanny breathlessly awaits Felix's letters, which sometimes include lines of new music. And through his music -- inspired by crumbling castles, lively bagpipes, violent ocean waves, and the enchanted Fingal's Cave -- Fanny is transported to her brother's side. If we really listen, we get to go to these mystical lands, too.

The ultimate family event, combining fun and fantasy, makes the LA Phil part of your child’s wonderful world. Led by the LA Phil’s Dudamel Conducting Fellows and directed by theater artists, this series of captivating orchestral concerts will give your children (ages 5-11) the opportunity to create memories they’ll never forget.

My "youths" are 15 and 18, but they were completely delighted (as I was) with the entire program.

Before the concert there were art, dance, craft, and storytelling workshops.

But our hands-down (hands-on?) favorite was the Instrument Petting Zoo where the kids were encouraged to touch and play (Hey! That works on two levels!) with the musical instruments.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is that crazy, space-age, jaw-droppingly-beautiful building in Downtown Los Angeles.

It would be worth a trip to LA just to experience the magic and majesty of the place.

But the music. Ah, the music...

My kids were definitely the two oldest at this event, but they're both musicians so they were able to appreciate the beauty of it all. They were captivated by the program, by the hall, and of course, by the Instrument Petting Zoo. ;-)

Could this boy look any happier?

Mendelssohn's Mystical Landscapes will be performed again this coming Saturday, November 12th, 2011. Click here for details and tickets.

We are already making plans to return for other events at the hall - Hello, Handel's Messiah Sing-along (!) Extra coolness points - the concerts are awesomely affordable for families.

And the exposure to such beautiful music in such an amazing setting definitely impacted us personally.

Jonathan: "Mom, I might need to get a violin."

See what I mean?

{A special thank you to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil, the Toyota Symphonies for Youth, and alPunto Advertising for the wonderful musical memories.}

No "El Tri-co-tri" for you!

My mom calls.

"Van a ir al tri-co-tri?" She's asking if the kids are going out and Trick or Treating.

El Tri-co-tri. You have to say it phonetically, TREE-COH-TREE. It's what Trick or Treat sounds like with a Cuban accent. The "El" is just to make it grammatically correct. 

El Tri-co-tri. Noun. (Or verb?) The act of dressing up and begging for candy from your neighbors. (Must be a verb.)

No, I sigh. I think they're too old for El Tri-co-tri.

But I love the decorations and I love a good party. And one of them suggested a Nightmare Before Christmas Theme and then it kind of took on a life of its own.

I was in charge of food and decorations, because that's what I do best, but that's not important right now.

I decided to do it all in Tim-Burtony-inspired black and white.

I created the Nightmare Before Christmas silouettes as Photoshop Brushes and pasted them onto paper plates. I think they look very cool if you don't get too close.

I went to a local thrift store and grabbed some black picture frames which made me happy because I was feeling lazier than usual and didn't feel like painting them. (I know. Shut up.)

Then I made the Halloween Subway Art in Photoshop and just printed it out to fit the 8 x 10 frame.

And I messed with a photo of our black cat, Bastet. I really like the look in her eyes.

I painted some pumpkins with black acrylic paint, because again, I was too lazy to carve them. (Don't judge me.)

And voila! Insta-Halloween decorations! *takes bow* 

Here's Jonathan explaining what they decided to do instead of El Tri-co-tri.

It makes me happy to see them all dressed up and having fun.  

Sally and Jack Skellington:

Amy Kikita as a Golden Goddess. Here she is in her Divine Form:

The Mayor and the Corpse Bride:

Edward Scissorhands (pretty awesome, no?):

Lock, Shock, and Barrel:

Victoria (the live bride from the Corpse Bride):

Here they all are in all their black and white glory:

So, a good time was had by all, and even if they didn't get to go do "El Tri-co-tri..."

They did get to enjoy some fabulous Cuban food. ;-)

Japi Jalouin! Have fun with El Tri-co-tri!