The Rosas-Standring Family

Well, before I talk about my very awesome meet up with some great people from Tulum.info I must say first that I one of the things that I hate the most about being sick is the crazy dreams that you have.  I had some really nutty ones last night. Anyway. 


We had the moderators here and that is always great as well as some others.  We had the meet up at Om Tulum once again.  Om is a big favorite of many people both on the forum and locals alike so I was more then happy to eat there again. 

And this time Angelo pulled out all the stops for an amazing meal.  In our honor a magnificent meal and tequila tasting was planned. The chef was cooking all sorts of new items that are not on the menu and even Angelo had a good time tasting new dishes.

Angelo and Om were wonderful hosts as always and we all had a really good time. The food was simply unreal- as was the tequila and mescal.  We all had such a good time.  But this one better put forth in pictures.

The food was so amazing.  I have some notes on more details. But it is easy to say one of the very best meals that I have had in a long time. 

We had 6 tequilas and 1 mescal ranging from blanco- repasado- anejo- almond- pomegranate- it was amazing!!!!

Chilis en Nogales, Mexican Pizza, Nut Chili mole sauce and Tuna pastor!   Easy to say- I got spoiled.

Well, Ruben came down with the same illness as the rest of us and I hate seeing Ruben sick.  He is such a strong man and takes care of all of us that to see him feel sick kills me.  I told him that he had to take a day or 2 of of work because he was no good the hotel sick and he needed to get better for himself and for the family. He did and slept ALL day on Saturday.  That was really good.  We just stayed in bed and slept and watched movies. 

Sunday is usually Ruben's day off and he was able to have it off this week even though he was sick the day before.  Cesar wanted to go to a Casa Cenote.  This is one of my favorite cenotes around Tulum.  Now we have all been feeling better which is great but I was not sure if going to a cenote was a good idea.  It was sort of a 2 sided deal.  On one hand we had all been cooped up in the house for several days now.  Lena and I and Akilean for almost a week.   And simply being in the house could be contributing to us being sick. 

They emptied the French drain in the street in front of our house and the fine powder dirt that they have in the street gets blown up behind every car and the light dust comes into the house.  Not very helpful when you are trying to breath fresh air.  ALso, the fresh cenote water mixed with a little salt water is really good for your sinuses.  Not to mention that the cenotes are simply magical and lend a lot of healing energy. 

On the flip side- when you are sick it makes sense to just stay in bed and try to get well.  Well I made the choice to go to the cenote.  I am glad I did because not only did it really lift the kids spirits- which can almost heal you all by itself- but the density of mangroves that surround this cenote create a very dense fresh oxygen that is so wonderful to breath.  You can feel it in your lungs.  It is a very fresh air that I can almost feel absorbing into my lungs and blood.  It was very nice.  The water was a perfect temp and the sun was out but not beating down on us. 

It has been so hot here and we are down to just 1 fan so we moved our mattress to the living room and we all slept in the living room with the front door open and the fan on.  There was not too much of a breeze but it was better then the bedroom. 

Ruben did not have to work again today because he is sick and I am so glad.  There is nothing worst then trying to speed a recovery and not really recovering.  So today we are all going to just watch movies curled up together on the mattress on the floor and eat some soup. 

I made some of my veggie soup last night and so we have some of that left over.  It should be chicken noodle soup but I did not have enough pesos for the chicken so it is just veggie and noodle soup.  But it is still really good.  I use a few drops of my favorite hot sauce- Melinda's XXX in all adult soups- It will clear up any sinus block you have that is for sure.  jaja

I have really been slacking on my projects- I have no energy to work on them.  I really need to spend sometime on m y school project.  I have all the pieces in place- I just need to get it organized and get the word out. 

You will hear more soon.  Hopefully today I will do some.  I have a classic problem... when Ruben is home I want to do nothing but be with him.  This is the same problem I have with going out.  I told him, and I know that I need to get out of my house- away from the kids and Ruben and be by myself every now and again. And Ruben is totally supportive of me going out with my friends and taking time for myself, but every time he gets home  I want to curl up and watch movies, make dinner and kiss him.  I guess that is a nice problem to have but...

Okay- well I better go- I am getting tea requests from the kids.  Thanks again all for the good wishes. 

I had the most wonderful time with my momma and poppa Neal.   I was so excited about their trip.  Even with  all of the ups and downs that Ruben and  I have been through both individually and as a couple through the years and there is never any judgement.  That is, I am coming to find, a rarer thing that I had expected to find in my adulthood. 

From the moment that they arrived I felt better.  I had not even seen them yet and I was already in a better mood just because they were in my country.  There were some really crazy storms the day they go there and for the next several days.  That was perfect because my momma's favorite weather and thunder is her  favorite sound.  Picking them up was so easy because they had only brought a few things in a carry on.  The weather was pretty crazy so we stopped at a great place in PLaya del Carmen right on there on 307.  It was fantastic.  It was a great way to have them land.  We spent the rest of the evening at my house and the kids smothered their grandparents. 

Oh these 2 weeks have been crazy!  Man I am I glad that I had to quit my job because I do not know what I would have done with my kids.  Oh yeah... surprise... your kids have the next 2 weeks off.  I must say, I knew it was coming eventually. I mean, we have the same spring break type deal in the USA.   These past 2 weeks have been great. 

i mean first of all, my mother is coming to visit me soon.  And my mother is like breathing to me.  She is my deep breath.  That one you do when you need to recenter and refocus.  All of my adult meditation has been focused on creating that feeling that my mother naturally evokes in me.  She will be here for 1 week and it is going to be amazing. 

Wow- things have been so crazy busy. It has been wonderful. We have had so many birthdays and parties and family in town and so on and so on. All of the wonderful parts of a Christmas were here. It is easier to do this with pictures...


We went to the fair with a mariposa fairy and Spider Man and uncle Cesar. It was really fun and we got my favorite carnival treat- The corn on the cob with mayo-cheese and chili. YUMMY!!!!

Then I made my wine bottle chandelier- but it has evolved into a wine bottle wind chime and sits in the middle of the new arbor that Ruben made me for my bougainvillea. I really like it. As it grows it will make a cute little shady spot.

Went to the fair again- this time with Ruben and once again... Spider man and mariposa fairy. These costumes are WAY too small but they insist on wearing them all the time.


My step dad's sisters came to visit and that was wonderful. We had such a great time. They were fantastic. We had wonderful dinners and fun talks and they were rock stars on the tour. They came to my work and did all of the activities. It was awesome. Laura asked my friend why his nickname was El Diablo.... she found out.




We had so much fun. We ate, we talked we drank wine, It was so much fun. And it was really cool to get to know a whole new side of my step dad Neal which I love. I cannot wait to see them again.

Okay... so this gets us to Christmas day. last Christmas was spent with my mom and Neal at a resort here in Tulum. It was the nice dinner followed by a santa surprise in the morning. You can read about it here.

This year was amazing. Christmas eve I made some spaghetti with chorizo meat sauce. (a fav of my step dads from last year!) and we had the kids running around the street, neighbors flowing in and out. We got a pinata and it was HUGE!!!! the kids went to town on that. I even got to take a few swings. But eventually I ended up doing what most of us do- reaching in and throwing the candy! It was great.


Christmas morning we woke up and the kids got to open their present. The only bad news... Santa did not have any tape so he thought glue would work- yeah not only was it not dry- it made all the paper stick really well so there was no big open and reveal. Oh well- lesson for santa.
Each of the kids got 1 present from Santa. Akilean got a race track for cars and Lena got a collection of Barbies of Disney Princess. And the real barbies- not the ones from Mexico that always has the legs falling off. She was really excited. My mom and Neal also sent some movies up. That was great. And Laura and Karen got them each a puzzle. Ruben went and got tacos at my favorite taco place and tamales for the kids. We spent the next few hours putting together the race track. :) Later on we met up for a quiet dinner. It was really wonderful. Christmas day was great.

Later in the afternoon we met up with Laura and Karen and went to Casa Cenote. This is one of our favorite cenotes. It is right next to the beach and is great for snorkeling. We all hopped in the cenote and swam deep into the mangroves for about 45 minutes to an hour. It was great. Afterwards we went over to Casa Cenote restaurant and had some drinks and some food. It was great!





Charlies and had dinner at one of my favorite places in Tulum. Neri di Sole. This is a great place on Tulum Ave! It was a wonderful dinner.

Then it was back to work and get ready for New Years. New Years is always special for me because it is Ruben's birthday on the 1st. So when the clock hits midnight- that is his birthday. This year was very special because it was a blue moon. That is when there are 2 full moons in 1 month. It was amazing. There was one point when there was the most striking ring around the moon. It was beautiful.




We stated out just before midnight at a bar called Moloko. It is on the 2nd floor- open and a very nice little spot. After that we headed over to the beach. It was great. Some of our friends were headed to another beach party but we headed back to town to start to wrap up the night- well my now mid morning. We got to bed early enough that the next day when the kids woke us up - we all had a wonderful breakfast in bed sort of day. It was great.

2010 is off to a great start. I am so excited about my job and I love Ruben's schedule. It is great. I am learning how to manage my time now that I am working again and a big part of that has been why I have not blogged. But I guess that is good. I have been so busy having a GREAT time that I have not even turned on my computer.

We went out one night with our friends and it was a great time. We found this
really cool buss with a very cool design on the side. When we took pictures in front of it- the reflection of the flash made a really cool effect. It was a lot of fun. I feel really good about things right now. It is a really nice feeling.



Ruben and I are doing better then ever. After 9 years together it stills feels so amazing. There have been some rough spots and trying times but that is just life. Things are going really well and I am really looking forward to this year.

I hope that everyone is having a great start to 2010. I hope that everyone had a fun and safe holiday and I wish you all the very very best in the year 2010!!! Love- peace happiness!!!



Hey Smile you will live longer!!!!!

Well, I finally got most of my tattoo. I have been planning this tattoo for several years and I have really been excited about getting it. After getting my first tattoo in Spokane when I was 18- Remember that Brian?!?! It was so funny - now looking back anyway. I was barely 18 and I wanted a tattoo. I picked the Eye of Horus from the Egyptian mythological story about family devotion and sacrifice. It is a beautiful story of Isis and her husband Osiris. Osiris is killed by his brother Set, cut into 14 pieces and thrown into the Nile. Isis, the every devoted wife, collects all the pieces and because it is mythology- Osiris body awakened and they conceived a son, Horus. Horus avenged his fathers death and killed Set. But not before Set ripped out his eye. Horus went to the body of his father, put his eye into his body and Osiris was able to asend to the heavens to the gods. On a totally separate note it is also the mathematical symbol for fractions being made up of perfectly fractionated pieces (1/2-1/4-1/8-1/16-1/32-1/64)


But anyway... I digress. That was my first tattoo and I squealed like a stock pick at slaughter. It was not a pretty sight. The artist had to stop and tell me that there were other people waiting for their tattoo and that I really needed to calm down. jajaja oh well.


Well after having the memory of this pain more then washed away I was ready for my next tattoo. I was going to originally get peacock feathers in a sunburst shape that had hidden letters within them. Over the years it has developed and changed and has ended with this...

4 roses at the 4 corners of the universe (N-S-E-W): 4 people in my family- our last name Rosas- means roses in Spanish and on the Northern hemisphere is a K and an E for Kennedy Elena and on the southern side is A and E for Akilean Emilio. So in essence it is my kids names. I love it.

I still have the white to add to bring it alive and I might add some more color. I think that it is so beautiful. My good friend Olmo did a great job. I cannot wait for my next one. I did much better on the pain this time. I mean do not get me wrong. It hurt like crazy. But after 2 very painful c-section and even worse recoveries from them- and then there were the 4 surgeries that fooled the 18 months after that- so I was really hoping that 6 surgeries in 2 years was going to lessen my pain threshold. I do not know if it did - but I handled it fine. it was not until the 4th hour that I was done.

The other day we did a little test drive and one of my all time best friends in the world- Andi came down. I have a lot of updating to do for that trip - but I will tell you that we got matching little tattoos. For anyone from Oregon- you have probably already seen this symbol. It is the outline of Oregon with a little green heart in the middle. The sticker says on it... "something about you says Oregon." I think it is funny that so does my hip. On Halloween I met a girl from Oregon and we got to talking and it turned out that a friend of hers was the original designer for the sticker. Small world.


Long story short... I LOVE IT. I cannot wait to get my next one. My next one is a little outline of an owl. This is the symbol for my grandmother Pusey that just died recently. I will report more when I get it. And I will post pics one I have the white.