A New Chapter

A few months ago Juju and I decided it was time to cut up the ol' plastic cards and rely solely on our debit cards or cash

Those of you who know me, know that i may or may not like to shop. I like shoes. I like purses. I like tops. I like bottoms. I like shinny things, i like big things, i like little things, i like things with price tags.

I shop when I'm happy, i shop when I'm sad, i shop when there's sales, i shop full retail, i shop for myself, i shop for juju, i shop for others, i shop alone, or i shop with the crowd.

Oh but you, you were always there by my side, my plastic little card. All 3.5 x 2 inches of your thousands of dollars worth of purchasing power. You never failed me, you never said no, you never cared how expensive anything was. You simply took each swipe with pride, knowing you were making me happy.

For the last few months you've been tucked away in that little compartment on the side of my purse. I know you're yearning to be brought out and get swiped, but instead, i reach beyond you all and grab the debit card. I know you all hate it- sitting there, with a smug look, knowing its getting all the action.

And today, after months and months of being in my purse, unused, I bring you out once again. Sadly, its to say goodbye. There is no point in keeping you all, It's not healthy, i don't want to lead you on to believing you will be used again.

But before i do the necessary-

                   

To you, my Express A-lister Credit Card:

You and I first met back in December of 2003. I had just turned 18 and for my birthday you got me a beautiful ($200 dollar) jacket. God, I will never forget that day. After that day, you and i were inseparable. You were my first credit card.You always kept me well dressed and never let me down. I will miss you the most.

xoxo,

Mrs.Juju

Halfway cutting though the express card, i felt it was appropriate to leave that one for last. So i started with library card, you know- just to ease in to it. I proceeded with Bank of America, then Chase, then....the rest. And this is what i was left with.

I could almost hear cash registers crying with each cut. Its quite sad, they had no idea it would end like this.

Sock-it-to-me (or cookie)

 We had to improvise, the knit stocking was way too lose. We needed something that would fit snugly around her face and neck to hold the gauze in place. This picture was taken last week Thursday i believe. You can still see how swollen her face looks. Her eye was doing better at this point as well, the swelling and tearing was going away. Its sad to look at her huh? She's got gauze, a sock and a cone on. My FIL said it looked like she had a toothache. =-/

My cooks is such a little soldier. After the attack Juju joked that cookie said " What? Oh this? Oh this is nothing! You should see the other guy"

Scaring Momma

Last week Tuesday my dearest cookie scared me yet once again. We woke up as usual, we took her out of her little makeshift confined bed to get her ready for her medicine. As you might recall here, I have reason to believe cookie might be a little escape artist in training. Juju picks her up to find that she has made her way out of her little net shirt. She's completely naked, her drain is hanging by her side and the fentanyl patch is complete exposed. I thought, ok, just put her shirt back on, no harm, no foul.... right?

We notice that cookie's face, neck and her shoulder blade is wet. We immediately thought she had pulled on her drain and it basically emptied out on her since we noticed there wasn't much fluid in the actual pump. So i grab a washcloth and clean her up as juju gets her back into her little net shirt. Im getting ready to give her her medications when i touch her neck and notice that its still wet. So i clean her up again, really just thinking i missed a spot and go back to her medicine. I pick her up and at this point i felt a watery substance roll onto my hand. I take a closer look at her face and i notice that under her jaw line, she is draining from the side of her face. You couldn't quite see a hole or a puncture, all you could see was a blood like fluid coming out. I put a towel over the area and it was soaked within minutes.

I started to panic, cookie had a hole on the side of her neck! Coincidentally enough, cookie was scheduled to have her drain pump removed that day, so i was taking the afternoon off to get that done. Since the draining wasn't stopping we decided it was best for me to take her in to see the Dr. in the morning instead of waiting until the afternoon.

The Dr. examined her and found that it was a bite wound that hadn't penetrated the skin. She said it most likely happened while cookie shook her head no, while trying to give her her medicine or simply shaking in her cone. So they had to drug her up once again, and partially sedate her because the Dr. was going to have to make a large incision where the bite mark was to clear out any bacteria and administer meds.

2.5 hours later cookie came out of her procedure. She was totally zoned out. At one point instead of resting her chin on the table, like she usually does, she had her nose directly on the table. I mean directly on it... making a "T" (as if she was smelling the table) with nothing but her head and the table. She looked quite pitiful because she was wear this knit sock like stocking on her head. She had an exposed incision of a little more than an inch in length, so we had to keep gauze on it to absorb the natural drainage.

That's the knit stocking on her head. The doctor cut out holes for her ears. As the time progressed the knit was becoming looser and looser ( It was all cotton, no lycra) But since she kept trying to shake it off i had to reinforce it, hence the drawstring bow. In the picture you can see her shaved neck, arm and 3x4 patch. Poor thing!

My Tough Cookie

*warning- picture attached below, not for the sensitive*

When cookie came home, she looked quite awful. Obviously not as bad as the day of the attack, but she was still in a lot of pain, she was very nervous and all stitched, bandaged, covered, and wrapped up.

The night of her surgery that Dr discovered that the pitbull has bitten and broken a piece of her eye socket bone off. She talked to me about placing the bone back and doing a type of reconstructive surgery that typically runs 4/5 thousand or she could try reinforcing the area with a ligament. The Dr. explained to us that if cookie were to get into another fight ( she made it sound as if my cooks was running around picking fights =-]) or while rough-housing with other dogs the chances of her eye physically coming out were high. She would also be more prone to bone infections because of the missing bone. We opted to reinforce the area with the ligament and we would cross any other bridges (complications) when we came to them in the future.

The next day we went to go visit her, in hopes that she might get discharged and would get to come home. The Dr. on shift explained what our responsibilities would be if we were to take her home. She was on 2 oral and one topical medications, plus she had a pump/drain going thru the back of her neck, under her chin and around her face to help drain any fluids and blood she was retaining, that we would have to 'pump and drain' a few times a day. She had not eaten anything since she arrived at the hospital. She was actually starting to feel lighter too. That too was a concern. Many times the patients ( dogs/cats) are so scared and nervous they wont eat, little less pee and poop. My heart was aching, i couldn't leave her there another night. So we took her home.

We had to make sure that Leche (my in-laws dog) didn't bother her or try licking her, so we let them see each other when she got home, but otherwise kept them apart. She slept, and slept, and after she was woken up to get her medicine, she fell back asleep. She was extremely drowsy, shaking, and moaning constantly. She still had no appetite.

This picture really doesnt show the extent of her injuries, really. You see the gauze around her neck? She has more stitches there. The bottom of the chin is all scrapped up, she broke a nail (she was very upset about that one) she had a cartilage injury on her left ear, her inner arms and legs were scrapped and cut up and she had multiple bite marks, these were only scrapes, they didnt break skin. You also can't see just how swollen her entire left side of the face is. That net shirt? ( not wearing it by choice) was holding her drain in place. They also shaved an area, about 4x3 on her back to place a fentanyl patch for a constant release of pain medicine for the next 3-5 days.

The next 72 hours after the attack were difficult. All she would do was sleep and softly cry because she was in so much pain. We never left her side. We had a hard time giving her the pain medication because it was so bitter. Not even hiding it in peanut butter would do. She would lick the peanut butter off of the pill and spit it back out.

At one point, while watching her sleep i asked Juju if he thought we did the right thing. Not only by bringing her home, but by putting her through surgery and now the recovery. I started crying, just thinking about what she had been through and now what was ahead of her. I started thinking that perhaps i was being selfish by keeping her here if her quality of life was going to be affected because of her injuries. Thankfully juju was there to see me through my little meltdown. Its just been so hard to see her in so much pain, then juju reminds me that its only been a few days since the attack. And then it all falls back into perspective.

My Cookie Was Crumbling

Friday has to have been one of the hardest days of my entire life. I got a call from my SIL, Sasha, who frantically told me that a dog had came into our yard, attacked my poor innocent cookie, and now cookie was no where to be found. My heart dropped to my knees immediately. I was still at work, not even done for the day, when i just got up and told my boss what was happening and told him i had to go.

I packed my belonging up and headed to my car. My mind was racing. I feared the worst. I started crying, and praying between sobs. I prayed and i prayed. My heart was beating so hard i could feel it in my head. I was shaking. I was a total mess. I managed to call sasha and told her not to give up looking for her, that i was on my way, just to not stop looking for her. 15 minutes later from the first phone call i received, I tried Sasha again. She answered and all i could hear on the other end was commotion. After a few seconds of trying to talk to sasha, She said- There she is! Come here Cookie, come here mama and the phone went dead.

A part of me was relieved to know that she had been found, but another part of me was terrified to know what the extent of her injuries would be. Sasha called and told me they were on their way to the hospital. I told her i would meet her there. Before we hung up, my MIL took the phone and told me she didn't look too bad, but her face was pretty bit up. I lost it. I couldn't get a word out. I sat in my car praying to God not to take my baby, I always thought, and hoped, that one day, when it would be Cookie's turn to go to doggie heaven- she would pass away in her sleep, in a beautiful dream. I prayed to God to not let her life be taken away because of the stupidity of others. If it was her time to meet Him, let it be because He called upon her. Not because someone was heartless enough to kill an innocent animal.

When she arrived at hospital i looked at her, i looked into her big beautiful brown eyes, and she looked so at peace. She wasn't crying, she wasn't whinnying, not even shaking. The Dr. immediately gave her pain medicine and we quickly discussed my options. I knew it was going to come with a hefty price tag. I didn't care. I counted all my nickels and dimes, and called upon every last one of my life lines and signed off on her surgery orders. I kissed her goodbye and washed all of her blood off my hands, literally not figuratively.

During all this time, Juju was at work. He had no clue what was going on. Sasha had called and left a few messages, but he hadn't yet listened to it. I, thinking he already listened to at least one of the messages, sent him a text saying "we were at the animal hospital, cookie is ok, she is going to need a very expensive surgery, but i can't put her down i cant''. Poor guy, i really freaked him out.

Once we got home we tried talking to all of the neighbors to get a better account of what happened. From everyones account this is what I've compiled:

Two boys, 10 & 12, opened our front fence, with a pitbull on a leash. Cookie and Leche were lounging outside like they usually do. The boys walked the pit up to Cookie and said "get her". Our next door neighbor saw the pit attack cookie and she started pounding on the window. The 2 boys started running out of our yard and out the back fence. The pithad Cookie in its mouth. Her boyfriend and another young man ran out of the house to chase after the boys. They were able to catch up to the boys in the alley, a few house down the road. At this point you could hear the struggle going on between Cookie, the pit and our neighbors. Ourneighbor across the street and his wife ran out, saw what was going onand started pounding on the windows outside of the kitchen asking my MIL for a bucket of hot water to throw on the pit. Meanwhile all of this is happening, Leche is barking and pushing on the door to get someones attention. At that point they tell my MIL that it was our dog, our dog was getting attacked, my MIL responded, "what?! what are you talking about? My dog is right here!" referring to Leche. He said "No, Its the other one, the chihuahua, Its Cookie" Our next door neighbor had to punch the pittbull 4/5 times in the head, while another tried choking in. Cookie was still in its mouth and they were doing everything they could to free her. Once they were able to get her out, she ran away and hid.

This is when I got a call from my SIL, Sasha, who frantically told me that a dog had came into our yard, attacked my poor innocent cookie, and now cookie was no where to be found.

Sasha eventually found her hiding across the street, in a neighbors garage. As the entire entire neighborhood was out looking for my little cooks, she had found refuge by sneaking into an open garage. When Sasha approached that particular neighbor she said that she would check her garage to see if cookie was hiding there since her cat seemed to be standing guard at the entrance. She go her garage door opener and sure enough cookie emerged from the dark corner.

And so i sit here today. With a heavy heart. Praying for her quick recovery.

The Greener The Better

I have recently been reading and researching information on mass food production, factory farms and how unhealthy they are for us. It sounds bad to say that i am easily persuaded, but truthfully, i watched a few movies/documentaries and stumbled upon research done on factory farms across America and i am beyond convinced by the evidence found. If you happen to have 50 mins to spare ( its 5 ten minute videos ) look up on google or YouTube "Factory Farming; A Report Card". Matter of fact, let me see if i can get some links for you. One sec...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKS0Z59f-Go&feature=youtube_gdata

That should work, i hope. There will be an immediate link to the next video at the end of the first one, second one, etc.

A few years ago ( i think) juju and i stopped eating meat for a few months. That was really his movement and i followed. This time around, though my suggestion wasn't to stop eating meat, I suggested we move more towards eating organic, free range, grass fed, cage free, non GMO foods. I know its a mouthful. This time its my movement and he's being more than supportive. I know we cant possibly change 100% of the things or way we eat, we are making a conscious effort towards it. We are getting rid of the unhealthy things in our pantry and we read every label on the things we buy.

I signed up to receive a weekly basket full of organic fruits and veggies from 'Growing Power', a local non profit organization that provides sustainably and justly grown food. You should check out their website, www.growingpower.org and find out more about how they are helping our communities. They actually sell fruits and veggies from 'growing power' farms at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Outpost. We recently visited Outpost and bought three bags full of groceries and spent what we would have spent on 9 bags at Pick n' Save. Yes it is more expensive than your local grocery store and someone brought up the question "What if you cant afford to eat that way?" to which juju responded "How can you afford not to? All the stuff we are putting in our mouths is making us sick" I love my husband, he is so supportive.

Ketchup Day

So I've fallen behind a lot on my blogging. I have no real good excuse, i just have. So here is what Ive seen called Ketchup Day. Its a blog entry compiled of random information to get you up to date with out going into too much detail.
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My birthday was quite spectacular this year. Mon, Cristy, Juju and I went to Chicago for the weekend. We stayed in a suite (term being used loosely) at club quarters downtown Chicago. Once we arrived in Chicago we all relaxed for a bit before getting ready to head out to Transit. I really enjoyed our time there, we danced and enjoyed a few drinks. We tried heading to rush and division street but we were left stranded in the middle of a turning down business strip. Nothing was open, it was freezing outside and Cristy and I were wearing party dresses. We had no other choice then call it a night. We did enjoy subway before hopping back in a cab. The next morning we went to west egg, off a fellow bloggers recommendation, had a delicious breakfast and did a little shopping on Michigan avenue. We stopped at Lavazza, picked up a few cups of coffee and headed back out. We saw elmo working a corner on Michigan avenue, not his proudest moment. It was a great weekend, i had a ton of fun, and the only casualty was Cristy's pink camera. RIP pink camera.
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School- Ive been back in school for about 6 months now. Im not going to lie, its been hard. I forgot how hard being a student was. Not only that, but being a student, having a full time career, being a wife, being a pet mom, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a grown up.... a blogger all at the same time, can be a bit overwhelming at times. Although my classes are once a week, they make my much hated Mondays even worse. I work from 8-5 and have class from 6-10, by the time i make it home the only thing i have energy for is to get into bed. I am glad that i went back to school though. Yes, it is more difficult at this point in my life, but I appreciate it that much more. I've always thought that those kids who were able to do nothing else but concentrate on school were the luckiest people ever. Real college kids. Oh how i longed to have had that opportunity. But today, as i look back at these past 6 months i realized how much i have accomplished, and not only have accomplished but under the given circumstance.... college kids envy me now. =-)
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I find myself once again dealing with my weight. Today i sit at 127. I know that's not a lot, but its a few pounds too many for my preference, and my clothes. Before Juju and i got married i went on a diet and work out regimen to make sure i fit into my wedding dress, and of course to be bikini ready for our honeymoon. Lately, its just been very hard to eat healthy. I mean sure, i can blame it on the winter weight and the holidays... but that was about 4 months ago. Not long ago i went shopping for a spring wardrobe refresher and i tried embracing the fact that i had a gained a few pounds. Unfortunately, the next size up was too big and my current size is too small. So my options are: either i lose i few pounds or i gain a few and buy an entire new wardrobe. So lose a few pounds it is. I just cant seem to find the motivation to head to the gym... can you help me find it?
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Juju got a new job! Im sure not his dream job, but a step closer where he wants to be. I dont think i tell him enough, but i am proud of him. Its a stark contrast from what he was doing. I know it wasnt an easy move for him, but i know he did it for us, his little family- Juj, Cookie and I. It might come with a bit of adjustments on both ends, but in the end all of the sacrafice will be worthwhile.
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We had been working on getting our house together for the last couple of months. After a few more trips to Ikea and Home Goods we are finally satisfied with our finished project. I dont have many before pictures, but i will eventually get around to taking some after. Funny enough, we talked about finally having a house warming party... almost a year after getting married. Hey better late then never huh? We have a laundry list of people we need to have over for dinner. You want to come?

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That's all i really have for now. Sorry this ketchup day was so long.

We are Thankful...

This year, like all the years past, was difficult. This was one of the biggest challenges i was not looking forward to after we got married.

THE HOLIDAYS!!

That's right, the holidays. I love spending time with my family, but this is becoming more and more difficult to accomplish. Before Juju and i got married, we did celebrate our holidays together, but we still each favored our own family for the most coveted days/hours. I would spend the majority of the day with my family and at the end of the night i would stop over by Jujus family. It worked out, and we would alternate the 75/25 split we had going on.

This thanksgiving was our first attempt at the Holidays as newlyweds. We had 3 stops to make in one night. Our schedule was supposed to go a little like this- Buelas 3-6, My sisters 6-9 and Irmas 9-12. (+/- travel time) Perfect right? 3 stops, 3 hours each, no one gets left out. Its safe to assume we didn't make it to Buelas on time, matter of fact no one really did. Buelas got off to a late and slow start. We made it to Buelas at about 5:20. When we got there, everyone was still 'mingling' and no one had yet began eating. We eat and picked our secret santa. Around 6:40 i got a call from my sister letting me know they were ready to start dinner.

We made it to my sisters around 7:15ish. I tried eating as much as I could. I was already a bit full from Buelas. The funny thing is that i knew i had to eat, or at least attempt to, at 3 other places, but i couldn't resist. My sister had some mouth watering cheese potatoes and i refilled plate a few times with those bad boys.

Here are a few pictures of Thanksgiving...

Here is Juju and I at my sisters house.

Here is Mom & Dad with the kids ( lol, us), This was at my sisters houseHere is my beautiful Mom and my Daddy-O. They rarely take pictures. I think this is a real nice one of them.

So I left my sisters house, (juju had been picked up by his parents earlier) ran back home to get the pies and headed to Irma's house. I got there 'bout 9:45ish. *Note, i will not be mentioning that Mon severely injured me with my own earring at Thanksgiving, I will also not mention that i was bleeding profusely and i need to seek the attending nurse (maria) for medical attention. =-D Again i helped myself to a big plate of food. We played UNO slam ( i think that's what it was called) and semi sorta watched a movie..... i say semi sorta because me and maria were busy cuddling with....

That's right you guessed it! Adriansito! Isn't he so cute? He kept running his little finders through my hair.

Here is a picture of the me catching everyone off guard with my camera.

We left Irma's house around midnight since Juju had to work the next day.

This thanksgiving was very surreal. We left Irma's house and went home, our home. I am very thankful for many things in my life, both big and small. I am thankful for the silliest things too, like socks and bubble baths. But this year i was thankful for the fact that i had too many places to go to. Although it was a headache and it was a lot of logistics to configure, it was worth it. I was thankful for having a wonderful husband by my side.

SuperDawg!!

On the second night in chicago we decided to take a drive out to SuperDawg. Juju saw this place on an episode of "diners drive ins and dives" on food network. Im a fan of chicago syle hotdogs and im pretty sure Chicago makes them the best. So we called for our car to be take out of the parking structure and entered the address into the GPS and set off.

It was actually fater than i expected. Im glad we had the GPS otherwise we might have gotten lost. I took us about 20/25 mins to get there on the expressway. I was worth it though.

Superdawg is super cute, i know super corny, but it was. It was very retro looking and the fact that i was a drive-in really helped out with the retro feel. We both got superdawgs, which come niftly packaged in the box below. My box felt very heavy for its size, it was just about rounded off on every side. Once i opened up my box i found this.... One really squished bun housing a real good tasting hotdog.

The box comes packed with a bed of french fries, a grilled green tomato and of course, the superdawg. They were awesome, i love the taste of uncommercialization. Like when you have a burger whose flavor you dont immediately associate with a company, like, a whopper always tastes like a whopper. Don't get me wrong, i love whoppers, but i know what im getting (or at least what to expect) everytime i order one.

I digress, we split a chocolate malt and headed back to the hotel. We had to be up the next morning to check out and head home.

Our trip to chicago was a nice change of pace and a perfect way to celebrate my husbands birthday.

DreamSeats

After doing some shopping on Michigan avenue, we decided to eat lunch. Juju wanted to eat at the ESPN zone. Neither of us had ever been there. So we walked in and it was basically the biggest sports bar i had ever seen. We got asked if we were there to eat or play. Eat- we were both starving, and i think we had a very lite breakfast at Starbucks that morning.

The hostess, who had a thick accent asked something along the lines of blah blah seat? and i said excuse me? and she repeated herself blah blah seat? I didn't want to asked her to repeat herself again, specially since the last time really didn't help much. So i nod my head and smile and say sure. She then proceeds to walk us over to the Dreamseats. That's right. Dreamseats. If you've never been let me explain. They are basically individual leather recliners with a pull out desk-like tablet that serves as your table. They have built in cup holders and of course they reclined. Oh and did i mention these bad boys were situated in front of a monster screen the size of the entire wall? Floor to ceiling sports coverage everywhere.

Here juju is enjoying a 32 oz cold one, at 1 in the afternoon. I mean hey, i guess we were sorta on a mini vacay- why not? I also enjoyed a drink with lunch. We eat our delicious burgers and juj had another beer.

The nice thing was that we a) were walking and b) had nowhere to go. So bring on the drinks right? I mean it's 5 o'clock somewhere.

The Hubby's Birthday

This was our first official trip as husband and wife, well not counting our honeymoon- That would count as your first trip as newlyweds.

When i was planning our honeymoon we thought about spending the night in Chicago, seeing that we were flying out from O'hare, on the day of we got back to-well, um reality. Juju thought it was a great idea, he actually wanted to stay at the W Chicago Lakeshore. I looked into booking us a night but that came to a screeching halt when we found out we would be spending upwards around 300 dollars to stay there a single night. So we quickly put that idea to bed and decided to have my sis and bro in law pick us up from the airport and drive us home.

Juju was pretty bummed about this. I was the voice of reason in that decision. 300 dollars for a single night?!? I was totally not interested in shelling out $300. With that said, i felt bad, believe it or not. I mean i had chosen our honeymoon location and juju pretty much went with it. And all he wanted was a single night in Chicago.

I bet you think i caved right?

Wrong!! I actually went online at wor- ehem, at home, and started searching for deals at the W for Jujus birthday- which wasn't until the end of June. Lo and behold i found a room upgrade for 2 nights with a lake view for around 360. I know what your thinking, not that good of a deal... but um yeah sorta it is. For one, its 2 nights instead of 1 and in all honesty, i would have paid that and much more for juju.

I tried keeping it a surprise for as long as i could, i literally booked this trip in April. I eventually had to tell him so he could request his days off from work. So here are a few pictures from our Chicago trip.

Our view from the hotel. To the right is Navy prier.

The weather forecast was sunny and warm and instead it rained, it wasnt cold, but i wasnt prepared for rain at all. Still downtown chicago was beautiful.

I like how little juju looks compared to the world around him.

Last Day

The last morning in puerto rico was supposed to be busy believe it or not. Since we spent a lot of time being lost during the week we didn't get around to renting jet skis , which juj really wanted to do. So we got up, packed up our suitcases and had our breakfast. Our flight home was scheduled for the early afternoon so we wanted to get a few more hours of sun before heading out.

We got ready and headed down to the beach. We walked over to the Jet Ski rental place to find out they ran island time. According to their sign they opened at 9. It was shortly after 10. The guy behind the counter told us it would be a few minutes before they would be ready to take the first people out into the water, and even then, they had to wait to fill all the seats before the first round of people could go out. I was pretty bummed, seeing that it was very unlikely that people would be jet skiing that early in the morning.

So we made the best of the situation and laid out in the sun for a few minutes before heading into the ocean. After a while we decided to go into the hotel's pool area and enjoy the hot tub.

Here is juj sitting behind/under/next/hugging the water fall.

So then he said ok, your turn... so hug it. As you can see, the water fall doesn't seem fierce, it doesn't look strong. So i went up to it, trying to get my arms around it with no avail. So then i did the old 'Yawn, Stretch and put my hand around the water fall' move.

Then Juju says, put your head in it. And so i did. Here i am getting pelted on the head with water.

It actually hurt, as you can see from my dissatisfied look. That's the last time i listen to him.

We dried up and went up to our hotel room to take one last look around, making sure we didn't forget anything. It was actually quite sad to be leaving. The whole time we were in Puerto Rico, i didn't once think about the fact that it would all be over in a week. Since we got married on a Friday and had our gift opening on Saturday and then left for out honeymoon on sunday, It felt like a whirlwind, like the party never ended.

Now that we were getting ready to go back home, i started feeling sad.I knew it would soon be time to go back to reality. Back to work, back to our everyday routine.

We caught a cab and made our way to the airport. The customs lines were ridiculously long. Once we were past customs and had actually made it to the waiting area to board the plane we heard an announcement saying that our flight was over booked and wanted a few volunteers to fly out tomorrow and they would get a travel voucher and their accommodations paid for, for the extra night. My ears instantly perked up! Juj, on the other hand was so fed up with the lines and the waiting that he just wanted to get on the plane. Although i insisted that we should do it, seeing that neither one of us had to work the next day Juju wanted to simply get home. The more and more i think about it, we should have taken the airlines offer. Next time for sure, if it ever happens again, im all over it.

My sister and brother in law picked us up from the airport. It was nice to be home but its was very cold, well it was about 50 something, but compared to 85+ degree weather on a tropical island-i was freezing! I immediately wanted to run back thru those doors on the return flight to puerto rico. Needless to say i got sick- what a way welcome home.

Last Night

Our last night in Puerto Rico was quite interesting. I had packed a special dress because we had decided to go out to at least one fancy dinner. Our concierge made reservations for us at "Las Palmas" inside the ESJ (El San Juan hotel). So we decided to enjoy another day full lounging on the beach. So we made our way down to the pool area and we headed onto to the beach to build camp. We found some chairs and proceeded to bake for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. For some reason or another we called home this particular day. Juju was talking to his mom and they had a conversation about how she still had plenty of family that lived in puerto rico. My MIL then called her brother who was the last person to be in most recent contact with "tio Angi" from Puerto Rico. After a few hours of phone tag & voice messages we finally got to speak to tio Angi. Now this is was our last day there, we had already returned our rental and we planned on having dinner then possibly hang out in the casino. Tio Angi said he felt bad knowing we were there and not meeting us, so he asked if he wanted to meet him later that evening.

Tio Angi ended up picking us up around 7 ish in front of our hotel. He and his daughter were very nice, they asked questions about how we met, how the wedding was and how everyone was doing back home. He took us to see other Old San Juan "after dark". I definitely felt a lot more comfortable being there at night with them. He gave us a lot of history on the different buildings and we walked around a bit. You could feel the vibe of the night life in Old San Juan. We stopped to get a bite to eat at a restaurant called 'Raices'. When i was initially researching places to go eat in Puerto Rico, I came across this place and definitely wanted to try it.

The restaurant Raices (meaning Roots- how ironic we went to eat a place called roots with tio Angi.... get it family tree, roots... i know, i know, im a dork ) any way i digress, as i was saying the restaurant was quite charming. All the wait staff wore typical Jibaro clothing and the food was served in small pots and pans. The food was really good, i unfortunately had to leave my left overs since we were heading back home the next day.

They dropped us off back at our hotel where Juju's friend Beto ( who also lives in milwaukee, just happened to be in puerto rico the same time we were there, what a coincidence huh?) and his girlfriend joined us for a few drinks.

We decided to go to a local bar to get some drinks. The bar we were going to go to was just a few hotels over, so we walked down and out the door. Then juju said it was closer if we just 'cut' thru the beach. So we walked along the beach, and it was quite breath taking. The moon lit the water and made it glimmer in the darkness of the night. All you could hear was the waves crashing and the coquis singing. it was actually very romantic, minus the fact we were walking with another couple.

Day 5? El Morro

So I'm a lot behind on posting... but i figured better late then never, right?


One of the places i wanted to go to while in Puerto Rico was El Morro. The full name is actually Castillo de San Felipe del Morro. But its widely known as El Morro. Just a little history lesson on it-The construction of this six-level fortress was begun in 1540 and completed in 1589. Its main purpose was to serve as a fort front to invaders. Rising 140 feet above the sea, its 18-foot-thick wall proved a formidable defense.

Here we are at beginning of the path to walk down and into the castle. It was a beautiful day, but it was tremendously hot and muggy.

As you can see, its sits on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. You can hear the waves crash against the rocks as you get closer to the edges of el Morro.The views were spectacular. The height advantage let you see clear cross the ocean.I totally forgot what this small island was called, but back in the day, it served as a quarantine for all of the people who had leprecy. There was a few telescopes you could look through where it showed the actual hospital building were these people were sent away to. Now its used as a recreational site, with picnic tables and all!The Castle was massive and pretty confusing to walk around in. El Morro was built this way. It has tons of tunnels, stair ways, secret paths and there is even some paths that lead no where. It was amazing to see that most parts of the castle were still in tact.

Here my lovely husband decided that he might get a better view from higher up. So he decided to climb up one of the walls. I know it doesn't look very high in the picture but it was pretty darn high, just look at how tiny he looks up there. All i could think to myself was, oh he is so gonna fall and break something. So there he went climbing the fort walls wearing chanclas. I think he actually took them off to get back down.


Giant Q-tip


Here we are in the entrance way of the castles corner look out post.



Down below right on the water front, there is a lovely cementery. Its the San Juan Cemetery. It is located right behind 'La Perla'. Its actually quite sad, everywhere you research information about el morro or old san juan, it talks about the perla and the cemetery adjacent to it, and it specifically states it is not "recommended" to visit- It is not safe for tourists, even though the bright colors look inviting. I stop to think about the people who are actually buried there. I wonder if there is unvisited grave site due to the danger one faces going into the outskirts of town. Many times i've read online something to the effect of- "outside the city walls", "beyond the islands' limit" and "outside the morro wall". It makes it sound so scary and dangerous. Im sure people from la perla have family and friends buried there, but i wonder if there is other people buried there, like before the perla took over that part of the island. You can see the Morro's wall in the picture below. Look to the right....you see that White mausoleum looking like thing? behind it... the brown wall- That's the Morro's most outer wall.

You can actually see the perla right behind the cemetery- top to the left.


And here we are leaving, about to go eat our savvy lunch... oh you'll see.

We knew we had a long day planned ahead of us, so we decided to make us some sandwiches and bring em with. We figured we were going out to dinner later that night so might as well save some money on lunch... And yes, that is WHITE bread. We figured what they hey! We're on our honeymoon... lets go CRAZY!!

La Lama

This is just a side story from one of the days when we got lost.

I think it was the day we went to Plaza las Americas. Like i had previously said- the gps on our Iphones weren't the most reliable thing. It took a while for satellite feed so our location on the gps was always delayed. The streets were confusing as it was, and with the drivers being so aggressive, Juju had to focus on the road while i watched the gps and tried to locate us on a map we were given at the hotel. Finally, i found our location both on the map and the gps. Turn right at the next light i told juj.

So he obliged and made the turn and on we went. The street was actually pretty clear, wasn't congested at all. The oncoming traffic was light, but oddly enough they had 2 lanes for traffic, whereas we only had one, I thought it was weird but nonetheless we continued. About 1.5 miles into the drive down this street i notice a cop pull up behind us, in the distance. At this point i realize that our gps says we are going away from the hotel rather then getting closer. So i tell juj to make a left into a parking lot so we can go the other way, so he does and as we are parked, looking at the map, the cop flashes his light and pulls up right behind us.

Oh my god, what did we do? i think to myself. I quickly go thru the sequence of events since we started traveling down this particular road. Then it comes to me. Juju sorta semi took a red light- in the puerto rican driving spirit. Im starting to panic, this is it. We are in trouble with the law. This is exactly how it happen on Locked up abroad. My mind is racing- what do we say, do we apologize and plea for a 'warning'? Do i tell him we are tourists? What if hes a crooked cop, Can we buy him off?

He approaches the car, Juju rolls down the window.

"Where are you heading" the cop asks

"Back to our hotel"

"Do you know where you were traveling in?"

"no" we both replied

"You were in the lama lane"

Blank stares...

"La lama, la lama" He urges.

Blank stares... And then i think, is there lamas in Puerto Rico?

"Are you Puerto Rican?"

"he is, I'm not" i say, clearing my name quickly. ( way to throw the new hubby under the bus huh?)

"you don't know what the lama is?" he asks

No-

"La wawa, el autobus, el camion"

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... We were in the bus lane. Not only that, but it happened to be a one way bus lane, and we were traveling towards the potential oncoming traffic.
We then explained we were tourist and lost our way trying to get back to the hotel. He said okay, he'd let us go with a warning, but to pay more attention to the traffic lane signs. He directed us to back to the hotel.

On our way back, i couldn't help but laugh... Of course it would happen to us, why wouldn't it? The thing that really got me, is that we were traveling the wrong way on this street for quite some time... and no one cared to tell us. Luckily nothing happened, we just walked away from it with another interesting story to add to our collection.

Day 4 Rockin' out Old San Juan

Here we are arriving in the quaint um- city, i think, of Old San Juan. It wasn't difficult to get there. It was hard to find parking though. As soon as we got out of the car, i wanted to snap away, but at the same time, since i knew that "La Perla" was in Old San Juan, i didnt want to seem too touristee, you know. So we walked along the small narrow streets, admiring the beautifully adorned house and buildings. There was old fashioned cobble stone streets and the city had a unique feel to it that was very charming.

The houses/ buildings were so colorful and bright, they actually reminded me of houses in Mexico. Even the width and the steepness of the street were very similar to many streets in Mexico. We explored the different buildings, from the outside only, we went into a few store that sold souvenirs. It was actually quiet busy because there was two cruises docked on the island. This made me a little nervous but at the same time since there was people everywhere i doubt anything would happen and go unnoticed.

We picked up a few magnets, mugs, bracelets, shot glasses, you know the usual. There was a few streets that were lined with luxury stores. On Calle Fortaleza there was Burberry, Coach, Ralph Lauren, and Guess to name a few.

There was plenty of places to eat authentic creole food. There was an abundance of restaurants and bars/grills. Most of the restaurants are located in SoFo. SoFo, is the trendy Old San Juan dining and nightlife area south of Calle Fortaleza which specializes in creative restaurants with traditional and nontraditional dishes using Latin, Caribbean and Asian flavors. I read about a restaurant called "Raises", which means roots. I definitely wanted to stop and have dinner there, but Juju and i were dressed very casual. We decided to have a burger at the Hard Rock Cafe. I've never been to the HRC, neither has juju. We were both starving at this point. We both order juicy burgers, juju had his Cuba Libre's and i had a fruity concoction in a tall hurricane glass.

His:

Hers:Here i am enjoying my huge mouth watering cheddar bacon cheeseburger.... mmmmmm.

Towards the end of our time at the HRC it began getting crowded. You could tell it was definitely a hang out spot by the bar area. Before we left i stopped in the HRC gift shop and purchased a hurricane glass like the one i had my drink from. I wanted to get a HRC t-shirt but juju argued that I'd never really wear it. (he's right- just don't tell him i said so though) We got back into our car, which we ended up parking in a structure because we couldn't find parking, and headed 'home'. It was a lot easier making our way back home since the streets were beginning to look somewhat familiar.
Im sure i have more pictures of this day- i'll have to look for them so i can post them.