When we moved into our home twelve years ago, it was the Eyesore of the Neighborhood. Many of our new neighbors told us so. They didn't even blush when they said it.
"Oh, you're the new family that moved into the Eyesore of the Neighborhood." (Okay, so maybe that wasn't a direct quote, but you get the idea.)
The house had been a rental and for a quick sell they slapped a coat of paint on it and put in some turf. There was not a thing to be seen growing in the front yard except that slab of green sod.
In spite of the size of the house ("freakishly small"), it had four bedrooms that we desperately needed and the price was right. We would have to work with the Slab O'Sod front yard.
When spring comes to our freakishly small home the roses practically sing with color and fragrance. I walk up and down the fence line, deadheading, trimming, smelling, and admiring. And I photograph them. Every. Single. Day. No, seriously. Because every day they seem to get much more beautiful than the day before.
Look at the red climber that shoots up 15 feet and is so thick you can't even see our roofline. It's called Stairway to Heaven and has its own story. (<--If you look back at this old post, you can actually compare how much its grown since then, but that' s not important right now.)
The Disneyland roses start off a beautiful orange color. Orange roses? I know! Slowly, they open up to reveal a fantastic blend of orange and pink. I can't get over them.
I have classic red roses, too. Classic-drop-dead-gorgeous-Cuban-woman-lipstick-and-nail-polish RED.
I kind of wander around my garden like a loon. At this time of the year, even the corners around the yard that I've practically ignored are springing back to life with so much color and beauty that it takes my breath away.
When I say, "practically ignored," I mean "put down in this spot and forgot about it." I picked up this purple, climbing geranium a few years ago to train up on the fence but never got around to the actual planting. (Shut up.) And yet, it continues to reward me. As if to remind me that just showing up is sometimes enough.
So I stroll around the front yard of my freakishly small cottage-like home and I sigh contentedly.
It feels to me like I'm cooperating with God as I look around and feel His presence as I remember the words in Genesis:
"The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." ~Genesis 1:12
As my land continues to produce, I look around and with a sigh of contentment, think to myself, "This is good."
When Lucy was a freshman in high school, her drama class did a showcase of Broadway tune vignettes. In one of them (maybe it was Grease?) she was paired up with one of the boys to do a dance together in the finale.
The mother of the boy and I didn't know each other before then, but we sat together and pointed in a look-at-our-kids-aw-aren't-they-cute-dancing-together way.
Lucy and Josh looking appropriately awkward before the dancing. Also, she's probably going to kill me for posting this photo, but that's not important right now.
This boy's mom and I started nodding hello more often and talking after rehearsals. When summer came, the kids wanted to do a beach day, which is exactly what we did.
We all went down to Crystal Cove and while they frisbeed and body-surfed and sun bathed, us moms talked. And talked. And talked. And found that as different as we both were, we had so, so much in common. And never seemed to run out of things to say.
"Let's do this again next week."
So, we did. That was in the summer of 2008 and Jana (my blog-friend from The Summer House) and I have been meeting at least once a week since then. For Coffee and Therapy. Every week. For the past 5 years.
Josh has been away at college for a few years now. Lucy is working and going to school and is gone and busy most of the time.
But Jana and I are still meeting every week and having coffee. Or breakfast. Or sometimes lunch. But always therapy. The kind that comes from friends who are up to date on each other's lives from talking every week.
I like that. I love that with all the changes in my life there's a constant: coffee with my friend.
Of course, you know it's not about the coffee.
And it's not about where we go to have coffee (or breakfast or lunch). Although, can I just tell you that Crystal Cove is a fantastic place to have breakfast on a perfect California day. Seriously.
It's the point of connection. I just felt so appreciative of my friend's input this week. I appreciate her understanding and how easy it is for us to be together. I wanted to write about that today because some weeks our Coffee and Therapy is what keeps me moving forward and ready to tackle the next thing in my life.
To be clear, I have lots of really great friends. Many of them live too many area codes away for me to connect with them in person regularly. Thank goodness for the Internet and email and smart phones and Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. I'm so grateful to be living in this technical era where I can follow their lives and we can send each other thinking-of-you messages with such ease.
But, Jana is my every-week-face-to-face-coffee-friend and truly, she has saved me thousands in therapy. And I'm so thankful.
My prayer for you, my friends, is that you would find a Coffee and Therapy friend of your own.
I probably shouldn't make such a big deal about it, but I do. Family Dinners are super important to me.
It has nothing to do with surveys or statistics. Although statistics are on the side of regular family dinners for keeping families connected and eating well.
Family Dinners are kind of sacred around here.
Confession: I don't always cook Cuban. But I do cook a lot. And there are always vegetables and salads and lots of variety in the main dishes, although we're mostly unapologetic carnivores.
My rules are that 1) dinner must be delicious and 2) phones must be off. The exception to the turning-off-phone rule is that you may take photos of your food, and you may even Instagram it, which everyone knows is why God gave us smart phones.
I know the Family Dinner thing is hopelessly old-fashioned. But as everyone has gotten busier, it seems to be the only place where we consistently connect and share as a family. I miss not having my older kids here as much, as they've gotten on with their busy lives. But when they are here we make it a point to have a feast.
In the interest of full disclosure, we also order pizza and take out Chinese food. But even then, we sit at our places and slow down enough to spend time together. Did I tell you that everyone has their own place at the table? (I know. Shut up.)
Ironically, yesterday, as I was working on this post, I had a terrible fibro episode. I did not even make dinner and every man was on his own. Those times make me glad that we have so many everybody-sit-down-together type meals. The free-for-all is much more the exception, rather than the rule.
I think the need to feed people and have them around the table comes from my happiest memories of my Cuban childhood. The Family Table was sacred. There was always lively conversation and delicious food. I wish we had more moments like this in our lives. This is why I've become so intentional in making Dinner Time so important.
In the Movie of My Life, most of the scenes and family exchanges will take place around the dinner table. In that silver-screen-fantasy there will also be someone else who cleans up after the meal, but that's not important right now.
When I see the faces of the ones I love best as they laugh and share and we listen to the stories about who said what and how their days went, there's no question that this is a good and solid tradition.
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.
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?)
Go and grab yourself a nice, hot cafecito and make yourself comfortable. This post is going to be long and newsy. I'm about to seriously dish about the new TV sitcom, Wassup En LA? with lots of details and tons of photos about the project. (This is why you love me, right?)
I promised you a few weeks ago that I would write about the making of Wassup En LA? in great detail. I have so much to share with you about why I think this show is going to be fantastic and why I believe it's going to be must-see TV, but let me back up a bit.
Here I am with Wassup En LA? creators, Rudolpho Zalez and Carlos de la Vega. At Porto's, of course.
The co-creators of Wassup, Rudolpho Zalez and Carlos de la Vega envisioned a good, old-fashioned TV sitcom. In their vision, they wanted to follow in the footsteps of old-school, family-themed TV classics, such as "I Love Lucy," "The Cosby Show, "Chico and the Man," and "¿Que Pasa, U.S.A.?"
Family friendly TV? Yes, please.
The premise is already hilarious:
Manolito Diaz has dreams of making it big as a Hollywood actor. His Cuban family is extremely supportive. In typical Cuban style, his mom and dad show their support by moving the family from Miami to Los Angeles to help their son reach his dream. They bring along his reluctant-to-leave-Miami sister and, of course the very deliciously Cuban abuelos.
Meet the fictional Diaz family:
From left to right: Oscar Torre as Pepe Diaz, Jean Paul San Pedro as
Manolito Diaz, Nicole Garcia as Teresita Diaz, Nelida Ponce as Eufemia
Olga Diaz, Gerardo Riverón as Alfredo Figueroa Diaz, and Jezabel Montero
as Rosa Maria Diaz.
As I understand it, the entire first season has already been written. The taping we attended on March 23rd involved the shooting of the pilot episode and also a few scenes from various key moments from the rest of the season.
So, for those of you asking where you can see it, there's no good answer for that....yet. The show is still in the works. The scenes that were filmed on the 23rd are still in the post-production phase. It's quite an exciting (and nerve-wracking) time for all involved.
Preparation
You'll recall that the producers called and asked if I had any Cuban-looking props for the set. Of course, I was happy to oblige. My kids and I willingly drove up to L.A. to deliver the goods. (I'm willing to drive to any area code where a Porto's can be found. I know. Shut up.)
Much to our everlasting delight, we got to visit the studio where the live taping was going to happen.
Jonathan, Lucy, and I dropping off our Cuban props (Hey! That works on two levels!) at CML Studios.
We got to watch the beautiful set being built.
And we got to sit in on one of the rehearsals.
Director Rudolpho Zalez getting the perfect reaction from Jezabel Montero (Rosa Maria Diaz).
Let me stop right here and tell you about the cast.
The Cast
The first members of the cast that we met were Gerardo Riverón and Nelida Ponce, who play the abuelos, Alfredo and Eufemia. For me, it was love at first sight. Both accomplished actors, in their own right, they brought the "Cubaneo" from Miami to the Diaz dinner table. I love that even as they delivered lines in Spanish and Spanglish and broken English, they were always translated beautifully as part of the family dialogue, which is not easy to do.
Kudos to the writers for making them completely Cuban and perfectly accessible to the American audience. Or as we Cubans say, "Se la comieron." Which translates literally to "They ate it." It's a Cuban idiom that means they fantastically exceeded all expectations. (See what I mean? Not easy.)
Here's Nelida (Abuela) showing the next generation how it's done:
Jezabel Montero (daughter of the iconic telenovela beauty, Zully Montero) plays Rosa Maria, the mom. She's an absolute joy to watch as she effortlessly portrays everyone's Cuban American mami. I'd like to interject here that she is a lovely, blond haired, blue-eyed beauty, which is so very typically Cuban (believe it). Smart, funny and oh, so approachable. She's exactly who you would want for a next door neighbor, co-worker, or best friend.
MBFCF, meet the lovely and talented, Jezabel Montero and the fabulously versatile, Oscar Torre. That's me in the center of this look-at-all-this-Cuban-talent sandwich.
Oscar Torre plays Pepe Diaz. He is the quintessential Cuban dad. All Cuban perfection in his tone and delivery. The ideal blend of seriousness and tenderness. There's a particularly beautiful scene in which Pepe reminds his son, Manolito (Jean Paul San Pedro) what a family is truly all about. I may or may not have cried a little during that scene. (Also, please notice my Cuban souvenir mini-conga set on Manolito's dresser, but that's not important right now.)
"No family is perfect. But be thankful you
have one that loves and supports you."
Nicole Garcia plays the smart-alecky sister, Teresita, who hates that they left their lives in Miami to help Manolito chase his dream. She plays the role with a perfect balance of snark and sweetness that's almost breathtaking. I know Teresita. She's all the Cuban friends I grew up with.
And, of course, the one who brings them all to L.A. as he chases his dreams of stardom, Manolito, expertly brought to you by Jean Paul San Pedro. Watch the following video and fall in love with Manolito.
You're totally pulling for him already, aren't you? I know.
The Taping
The taping went on for the entire day. We arrived around 1:00 PM for the 3:30 PM taping, which was sort of happening on "Cuban time" which was more like 4-ish.
I expected to enjoy the show. Hello? A Cuban family. On TV. What's not to like? I often felt growing up, that our everyday family interactions were worthy of a sitcom. I think most of us who grew up Cuban felt that way. I think that's why many of you relate to me here on MBFCF, and why we Cubans all so passionately love ¿Que Pasa, USA? These are our people. Our stories. Our lives.
Seriously, I have to say it again: Se la comieron. (Just to review: "They ate it." In other words, they fantastically exceeded all expectations.)
Both Eric and I were floored by what great chemistry the cast had with each other. Did I already mention that the entire cast consists of real Cuban Americans? (As God intended.) They were truly believable as a family. As a Cuban family.
My favorite moment of Cubanity (<--that should sooo be a word) happened as the family was gathered at the dinner table.
The director's cue was: "El Cubaneo. Go!"
The family starts talking all at once and over each other. Genius. That's dinner every night at our house, people. I know you know what I'm talking about.
Pepe, the dad prays before the meal. Mostly for patience on the 405. LOVE.
The script was beautifully written. The comedic timing of the actors dead on. The actors were there from 6:00 AM to almost 10:00 PM. And for every take they were both fresh and funny. Every. Time. Seriously.
I'd like to interject here that obviously the appeal to me, personally, was that the hilarity all takes place in a Cuban family. And while that was both familiar and priceless, let me reassure you, the family interactions are of the every day variety. Bickering was balanced by caring. Misunderstanding complemented by tenderness. The only difference being that they were a little bit louder. And they rolled their R's.
I want to know these people in my real life. Yeah. That, right there? Makes this sitcom a total winner in my book.
The shooting of the pilot took about 7 hours. We were entertained in between the hurry-up-and-waiting by live Cuban music, the awesome comedy of Fernando Duran and "snacks" from Porto's Bakery.
Pastelitos de carne. Pastelitos de guayaba. From Porto's Bakery. Amen.
The shooting of the pilot wrapped up around 9:00 PM and we stuck around to watch them film a few scenes from other episodes.
From the episode: "One quality plate is better than a buffet," Pepe gives Manolito and his friends dating guidelines. I must reiterate that Oscar Torre gives the perfect Cuban papi performance. He is the Cuban "Everyman."
The best friends, Allen, played by Pritesh Shah, and Judd, played by Aaron Kuban.
The supporting cast of friends, Pritesh Shah, Aaron Kuban, and Keila Hamilton (as Teresita's friend, Tawana) were all superb as complementary characters to the Diaz family. (I think I'm running out of superlatives here.) Oh, how I wish this show were on the air already!
I encourage all of you, my friends, to support the effort to get this brilliant sitcom on TV. You can help in the following ways:
Go love them on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. Subscribe to their YouTube Channel (be prepared to get hooked on these characters). Share with your friends. Get the word out. We need their kind of magic on TV.
The show is not only family-friendly, but beautifully written and the performances were all fantastic. So entertaining. So fun to watch. So positive and frankly, uplifting. Just like the shows I grew up watching and loving as a kid. I promise to keep you informed as soon as I know anything about where and when it can be seen.
The fabulously talented Oscar Torre and Jean Paul San Pedro with a very star-struck and satisfied Cuban blogger.
Thank you, again, Rudolpho and Carlos and the beautiful cast and hard working crew for your tireless energy, perseverance, and faith to see this thing through. I'm waiting, rather impatiently, to see what happens next with Wassup En LA?
Those of you who subscribe to my blog feed and use Google Reader may have already heard that Google Reader is going away. The beauty of using a "reader" is that it delivers the content from your favorite blogs straight into one place where you can then read up on the comings and goings of your favorite blogger-people.
I tend to use my iPad for everything and I take it everywhere so I can catch up on my reading whenever I have downtime because I....Must. Have. Input. Not long ago, the back of my kids' cereal boxes were even fair game, but that's not important right now.
So, back to Google Reader going away....
Enter Bloglovin. My good friend, Jana of The Summer House turned me on to this newest-most-improved-welcome-to-the-21st-century blog reader and I fell in love.
Now my favorite blogs are delivered straight to my inbox in a beautiful package with great, big, fabulous pictures. And stories, and food, and art. In my inbox. Everyday. Which lets me know exactly when my favorite blogs are updated. And I can "like" whatever they do and comment from the Bloglovin platform.
And seeing as I don't post every single day, this keeps me much more accountable to you, my readers, to write something fabulous and funny as often as possible. See? What's not to like?
How fabulous would it be if we could get 99 RED Balloons for the party? (Inspired by the 80's song of the same name, but that's not important right now.)
I took it up just a notch and asked everyone to please wear RED. And to bring her a RED gift. (Did I mention that my mom loves themes?)
So we had the party and I was struck with just how delighted Luza was with her 99 RED Balloons. Actually, everyone was struck with how fantastic they were.
When I originally went to order them, the guy at the party store asked if I didn't want 100. "No, thank you. There must be exactly 99." I know that my mom is a little OCD and that she would count. (She did.)
Here's Luza in all her 99 RED Balloon Glory:
What a fun and fitting way to celebrate her 99 years of life and the joy she's given all of us.
I'll never, ever forget the look on her face when she was surrounded by so much RED and so much love.
There are thousands of fantastic restaurants in Southern California. And I'm sure the fair city of Glendale has a bizzillion wonderful eateries. But, if we're going to be in Glendale for any reason, we must always stop at Porto's Bakery and load up on Cuban Provisions.
There's no better Cuban bakery in So Cal.
Lucy, Jonathan and I were in Glendale a few weeks back. So we (of course!) stopped at Porto's. (I'm almost certain it's a state mandate, but that's not important right now.)
And guess what we stocked up on?
Guava Cheese "Strudel?" They can call it
whatever they like as long as I can have one with my cafecito.
Spring weather here in Southern California is like no other. The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is open all the windows and doors and let the fresh air in.
This is how the trouble started...
I left the slider in our bedroom open the other morning, and a bee got in the house.
I didn't know that that's what had happened. I just heard Lucy's screams coming from the upstairs bathroom. Jonathan quickly reacted by bolting up there to defend her from whatever impending doom was about to befall her. I lazily called up the stairs, "Are you okay?" (That was so lame. I know. Shut up. If it had been a serious emergency I would have moved much more quickly, but that's not important right now.)
Jonathan came back down in a few minutes with a smug look on his face. "Catastrophe averted," he declared.
And then I forgot about the yelling and the averted catastrophe and I got distracted by whatever it was that I was doing and just got on with my day.
It was much later when I went upstairs to take a shower that I came across this:
Apparently, he had just trapped the Bee Invader between the screen and the bathroom window. He left this post-it up there to let us know not to open the bathroom window until the Flying Trespasser had given up the ghost.
We didn't move the post-it or open the window for a couple of days. Look how obeedient we were!
Last summer, I came across a Kickstarter Campaign for a not-yet-produced TV show called "Wassup en LA?" The theme was that a young Cuban American actor from Miami goes to Los Angeles to find fame and fortune. And his Cuban family, abuelos and all, follow and support him.
I clicked on the link, read the synopsis and and fell in love. You will recall that I wrote about it here.
If you know how Kickstarter works, you know that the project has to meet your fundraising goal by a pre-determined date to get the funds. Sadly, they did not meet their goal.
But something else magical and serendipitous happened. A faithful reader and follower of MBFCF in Sugarland, Texas (of all places!) stepped up and became the Executive Producer. Her production company is called Sugar Cube Productions. (Get it? Cuban? From Sugarland? Sugar Cube. Genius.)
After four years of sweat and toil and script writing and casting decisions, the day came when the pilot of Wassup En LA? got a green light for filming on March 23rd.
A few weeks before The Filming Day, I had a fabulous lunch (at Porto's Bakery, of course!) with the co-creators of the show, Rudolpho Zalez and Carlos de la Vega.
They gifted me some cool Wassup gear. I gave them autographed copies of my cookbook. Win-Win.
During lunch they asked me: Did I have any Cuban-looking props they could use on the set?
Hello? My (freakishly small) house is one Big Cuban Prop. "Help yourselves."
Which is how a few of our household items ended up on the set of the TV home of the Diaz Family. How cool is that?
I have so much more to tell you about the show and how fabulous it was to watch the live taping and being part of a mostly Cuban studio audience. I promise I WILL BLOG ABOUT IT IN NAUSEATING DETAIL, but today's not that day.
For now, I just want you to just appreciate how accidentally awesome it is that a blogging Cuban mom in Mission Viejo wrote about a project that was seen by the movers and shakers in Texas (hello, Sugarland!) who actually brought the thing to fruition. Mind. Blown.
Makes me think that God's hand was in it somehow. And that makes me feel completely humbled, and sooo accidentally cool.
