A Girl Named Eve

On Sunday, March 6, my sister and I attended the 14th Anniversary Mujeres De Maiz Live Art Show: Soldadera de Amor. Mujeres de Maiz is a grassroots women's networking support circle of emerging Xicana and Women of Color artist and activists in Los Angeles who create work concerning women's issues. Throughout the month of March, Mujeres de Maiz puts on various community events honoring International Women's Day and Women's Herstory Month. It was our first time attending one of their events.  We paid a $10 cover and made our way through the artisans' booths at the Paramount hall. There were plenty of booths selling Frida, Cesar Chavez, and Dia De Los Muertos/Day of the Dead handcrafted decorative memorabilia. Other vendors sold natural medicinal herbs, Chicano books, local art, decorative handbags or jewelery. It was the first time I had ever seen washable feminine pads. The material was soft like receiving blanket material and in various colorful patterns like Hell...

On Sunday, March 13, my husband and I ran the Inaugural Safari Park Half Marathon. Even though we left with plenty of time to park the car and pick up our race packets, event traffic and road closures  caused us to miss the official race start of this sold out event. We had to park a mile away and walk back to the start line. On our way, I took pictures of the runners as they made their way out of the Safari Park parking lot along mile 1. We continued and started the race uneventfully with a handful of runners who were also delayed by traffic. As my husband pointed out, its an inaugural event so they have to iron out the kinks with each successive event. It was a beautiful race. The course was scenic, hilly and challenging. And the weather was perfect for a run, cool but with clear skies.We passed green farms and saw cows feeding off moist dewy grass. We ran inside the park and saw wild animals. I don't have pictures of any of that. Once on t...

Got Quads? That's my unofficial theme for the Tour De Palm Springs. I'm used to running events where elite runners tend to be slender with worn knees. At the Tour De Palm Springs bikers were showcasing their over-sized quads in tight biker shorts. I went with the advice of a seasoned Tour De Palm Springs cyclist and did the more scenic 55 Mile Course instead of the Century Ride. No regrets. It was an awesome ride and I loved it. It was a perfect day to ride. The weather was warm with a clear blue sky. A month later, I still need to even out the tan.                                    You plan and prepare for an event, before you know it, it’s over. I have only my tan, pictures, and memories as reminders of my adventures along the way.

It feels like lately I'm back in school struggling with long division, essays, projects, and breaking down trinomial equations into binomials with my kid's homework. Consequently, I found I finally put my engineering degree to good use by finding application for the advanced math I once took. It’s hard to believe a few weeks ago, I was making minestrone soup from scratch on a school night with my boys. The new busyness makes me appreciate the evenings we spent playing outside till it got dark. Because of the new soccer season and school project deadlines, I was working with my kids’ homework calling it a day at 7:30-9:30 pm on days when we are out of the house 7 am headed for school. As assignments get turned in and March charges further into the New Year, I can start to see the light at the end of tunnel, and its seas on is spring.

I volunteered to read at my kids' elementary school for Dr. Seuss's Read across America day. I was still running around in the morning when I asked my youngest son to pick out some books for me to take to read. Turns out they all weren't the books I would have chosen. (My favorites tend to be cutesy and sentimental.)  Oh, well, I gathered my kids into the car and we were off. At school, I learned I wouldn't be reading to my sons' classes, another oh well, I couldn't change minutes before the readings. I was hoping my youngest wouldn't be too disappointed.  The first book I read was Julius, the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes. Normally, when I read picture books to my boys at night, they listen quietly while we're huddled together in bed. To my surprise and delight, the third graders in class hung on every word. By a show of hands only two of them had read the book before. They gasped and commented about how mean Lilly was to her baby brother Julius...