Oh, dear blog, I can't abandon you another day!

We made it back to Jersey safe and sound last night. I cried at the airport...and on the plane. The birth of my nephew, Nathaniel, has truly recharged my crying spells that used to accompany Texas goodbyes so long ago. I love that little chunker.

Nathaniel is wearing: a shirt I bought him @ H&M

I got him a Ramones one, too :)

Today (Friday) was supposed to be my day of blogging and doing a San Antonio highlights post and catching up on my daily reads, but I totally forgot that my good friend Marla and her boyfriend were flying into town to spend the next five days with us! (Marla and I met when we were stationed in Las Vegas together, but we've kept in touch very well since going our separate ways. Plus she's a fellow Texican [Mexican-Texan, lol] so we've always been bonded in that sense.)
Anywho, it's almost 10:30 p.m. and we're all turning in for the night that way we can wake up early and drive into New York City to spend New Years Eve watching the ball drop - something I've always wanted to do! NYC is only 20 minutes from our apartment, but we're anticipating a cluster-fudge of traffic going in; I don't even want to think of what we're going to deal with coming home at night, but I'm gonna say a prayer. :)
I can't wait to get back to my daily blogging schedule and update y'all with some of my favorite moments from our Texas trip! Like the one where I revisited my first elementary in a small Texas town. I had such a great time that day! And oh yes, there will be outfits.
Wishing you all a happy new year...be safe out there!

Bear hugs,
Roni

Christmas Eve & Christmas (outfits)

Christmas Eve @ Grandpa's outfit

Dress: H&M

Bow tie: Red Velvet 

Belt & earrings (mint): Ruche

Tights (blush): H&M

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell via ModCloth

Christmas @ Mom's outfit

Dress (Christmas present from Mikey): Dahlia via ModCloth 

Tights: Target

Velvet bow clip: American Apparel

Shoes (Christmas present fr Mikey): Jeffrey Campbell via ModCloth

I figure I'll do a highlights post, with my favorite pictured moments from my trip, when we get back to Jersey. So expect a TON of pictures on Friday. :)

~Roni

Memory Lane --> "Roni Feels Nostalgic"

Last night I had my mom pull out her small chest filled to the rim with old family photographs, keepsakes, and letters...going through these old memories is one of my favorite things in the whole world, if not the most important thing in my world...nostalgia. :)
My mom, Mona (my sister), Danny (my brother), Gilbert, Mikey and I sat around the kitchen table till about 3 am recalling the stories that belonged to each old image. I was in heaven and we all shared a ton of laughs remembering our amazing childhood with Mom.
During the treasure hunt for "what else is in here?" of my mom's little chest, I found an old letter I'd written to my family on one of my visits here in 2007. I remember I was stationed in Vegas at the time, and the tempo of the squadron I was working in plus the fact that I was in an office with only two other people kept me from taking leave to see my family for over a year! That was the longest time I was away from Texas during my enlistments in the military; and even this last year of being a civilian, a student in Jersey, I've managed to come home four times.
So, I found this letter, all excited, and read it in front of my mom and Mikey (Mona & Gilbert had left and Danny went to bed by this time):

"To my Family:

I sit here in Mona’s room crying right now, and I can’t stop. 

A year and a half went by so fast between me and this house...between me and this city...between me and my family. And that really hurts me.  Two weeks to spend with the people you love more than anyone else in this whole world is not enough. Trying to make every moment count in 14 days in almost heartbreaking to me...everything is a rush to try and get to the next moment and enjoy it.  I wanna just sit back and BREATHE! I want to let “home” and “Family” sink into my soul and for one second just feel like I’m here to stay with all of you again. I swear to God I love this house to death.  This is the house we shared. The house I grew up in.  It was once my home.  But I never come back here and stay long enough for it to feel like “home” to me anymore. And that kills me a little more with each stay. 

I love y’all so much.

I’m leaving tomorrow and for the last 13 days all I’ve done was study y’all. Examine every smile, every different sound of laughter each one of you produces, mentally photographing y’all in certain ways - I want to remember you when I’m gone. 

The thing that makes my heart ache is not knowing when I’m going to see these smiles or hear these voices and laughter again. I don’t want to wait so long the next time [to come home]. 

But in the meantime, while we are apart yet again, I can only ask God to keep a close eye on y’all and keep y’all safe for me...and to bring us together again soon.

With all my heart,

Roni <3"

Needless to say it choked me up, and I was crying by the end of it. I was just taken back to the exact way I felt when I wrote it. I'm sure y'all understand.
Here are some of the pictures my mommy is letting me take home for my walls.

Christmas 1987

me & mommy June 1984

me & Danny '89 or '90 (note: my saddle shoes - I loved those)

me & Mona '90 or '91

This pic cracks me up. We had one of those 80's Ninja Turtle cameras!

Danny (with a Prince poster, LOL), Mona and me, minus my two front teeth - HOT!

Mi familia on Christmas Eve 2011.

My mom and I ended up staying up till 7 a.m. after Mikey went to bed, talking about how fast the time goes by. During our chat, I told myself to remember every story we stayed up sharing, every detail, because these are the most important details of our lives. 

I'm sending lots of love to you all! I hope y'all are having pretty moments wherever you are. 

(I'll try to come back for a couple of missed outfit posts...if I get service! lol)

Love & bear hugs,

Roni

"Deep in the heart..." (day 1 outfit)

[[Post title = Texas anthem]]
No matter the amount of places I've called home in the last almost-decade, Big Tex will always be the place that truly owns my heart. If home really is where the heart is that is...because my heart resides with my family. And I miss them so much. It feels wonderful to be in San Antonio.
Please God, let these next 7 days go by as slow as my Mom's internet connection. Amen.

Dress: Ruche

Tights: ModCloth

Oxford pumps: Naturalizer 

Hat: my Mommy gave it to me today! 

Goodnight, dolls.

Love and big bearhugs,

Roni

Texas. The motherland...for me, anyway.

Hey darlings!
I feel like I've been away from the blogosphere forevers. It's only been ah-day.
Mikey and I arrived in Texas late last night and watched tv with my mommy till 2 a.m. (I love doing little things like that when I'm in town!) Oh, and she had my favorite Mexican dish, menudo, hot and ready for me as soon as we walked through the door!!...I had two bowls...plus a bean and cheese taco...and a few bites of a carne guisada taco. Don't judge me, I never get this stuff (real Mexican food) up north. It's like crack to me when I come home for visits.
Today we spent the day with my mom, sister and our nephew Nathaniel! This is the second time we've got to see him - he got SO big in 5 months!! The second after I walked into the room he was lying down in, I squealed so loud with excitement, moving towards him really fast with my hands out...he squealed louder...in sheer terror of me. :(

But then he had a nap and we were buds. <3 Looky - he's got the double jointed arm thingy I have that everyone thinks is so freaky! We're twins. :D

I am a big-time momma's girl

This was Nathaniel's reaction to surprising his mommy with some unexpected baby vomit :)

Me, sissy & the best baby boy ever! I love this picture. 

He's wearing a "My Auntie rocks" onesie. :)

Grandma plantin' kisses! He is completely surrounded by love. <3

I gave Nathaniel an old school Misfits hairstyle, lol. Mommy and grandma didn't like it, but he seemed to. 

Then I gave him extreme-bed head! hahaha 

Well, I didn't even realize it until I transferred all the pictures from my camera to my computer, but I took 130 pictures of this little stud today. I guess that's what happens when you don't live anywhere near your only nephew. He's definitely my everything, and all that that entails. 

Tomorrow I'll post pics of my other family members not shown above. Like my amazing brother, his girlfriend (who is prego with my soon-to-be niece, Makayla!!), my step-dad, and my sissy's boyfriend/Nathaniel's daddy, Gilbert. They were all working today. 

Coming right back to do the outfit post for today, then I'm getting some much needed rest! It took over an hour to do this post because the internet at my parents' house is ssslllllooooowwww. 

Happy holidays to you all. I truly hope that y'all are surrounded by people you love.

Love,

Roni

Today in our house...

Bowie was groomed today. He looks soooo cute!! No matter how many baths and brushes we give him (to save money) he still looks so mangey. The groomer/owner at Furrs N' Purrs did a great job on bringing Bowie's sexy back. I took an uber amount of pictures of him, and even Jaxon. I figured that they don't get as much blog time as my love Danzig does, and they were both just so good and sweet today. So, enjoy our furry babies.

Meet Bowie (shih tzu). He just turned 2 on the 6th. 

How cute is his little bandana?!

This is Jaxon (shiba inu). He's 2.5 years old.

Brothers

Lol @ Jaxon's stretch. They were waiting for more raisin cookie bites.

Big brother, Danzig (he hates pictures)

Mikey got some sneaky pictures of me taking a nap...totally hugged up with my Lotso Bear!

Here's what I wore today, before nap time. I didn't wear a tank top (obvs), this was worn underneath my oversized, white billowy top, but I didn't get a pic of it.

I got these awesome flats at Target like 3 years ago for $4-score!

Just got done watching the season finale of American Horror Story. It was great Jen, but I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it yet. I still have some questions, but whatevs. Can't wait to see how everything plays out next season.

Goodnight!

Loooove,

Roni

Rudolph ♥

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I've been doing it since I was a toddler, and I can actually remember a lot from when I was soooo young. Not a lot of people can, but I get it from my mommy who has a stellar memory.
An image that comes to mind every year when I sit down and watch this movie is a memory of me, when I was about 5, sitting on a couch that was backed up against the window in our first house in Poteet, Texas. I was singing along with Rudolph and Hermey and looking out the window to the street between glances at the tv. I remember seeing my aunt Dara's car pull up with my cousins inside, and I lit up with joy, screaming to tell my mom that "they're here!" Then I run outside to greet them and the whole family comes together in the living room, all of us kids playing and laughing, with Rudolph in the background.
A quick little flash of a happy childhood memory that is forever associated with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I LOVE this movie and how it takes me back. It'll always be so incredibly special to me. Now it's not just my tradition, but Mikey loves that we watch it every year, too. :)
Last night we grabbed Wendy's (way too late) and watched it together. Per usual, I had the biggest smile on my face from beginning to end.

"We're a couple of misfits"

found on here 

We're flying out to Texas tomorrow evening!!!! I can't wait to watch our other traditional Christmas movie: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York!! I can't believe I'm actually gonna get to watch it with my siblings and quote it (and laugh hysterically) the way we used to when we were youngsters. 

Our favorite line? "Two scoops, Sir?" "Two? Make it three, I'm not drivin'." hahaha 

Hope everyone had a lovely day!

the different Roni's...in pictures, of course.

Todays outfit: Half granny/half school girl...a whole lotta sassitude!

Playful Roni :)

Since we moved to Jersey I've been meaning to take a small stack of clothing to a tailor, this skirt being one of the pieces. I've got a couple things that need to be taken in about an inch or so, nothing drastic, but I bought them a little big because they were on sale! (Duh)
Alas, after almost an entire year with this particular cutie I decided, "screw it, I'm taking the tags off and hoping it stays above the hips." No panty shows today, woohoo!

OH! I wanted to share a lipstick I bought yesterday at CVS. It's from the CoverGirl Lip Perfection line. The color is Euphoria (burgundy/wine). It's absolutely the most suitable fall/winter hue I've ever seen! Not all these pictures truly showcase the immaculate color of the lipstick, but trust me, I have two other shades from this inexpensive line (Darling & Eternal) and I swear by their long-lasting, creamy applications. A couple girlfriends fell in love with the colors and quality, too. I'm telling you, it lasts allll day! Get you some!

wanna-bee billboard-noob Roni (but seriously, get this lipstick)

Confident, trying-to-look-serious Roni

aand the other true(r) side of me...dumb faces, always caught off-guard, shy and totally awkward in front of a camera by myself Roni

closeup of blouse& skirt. the blouse has the most adorable ruffle detail on the collar.

Coat: Metropark (so old, the store's not even open anymore)

Blouse: Dear Creatures via ModCloth

Skirt/Socks: ModCloth

Oxford heels: Seychelles Clue via Endless

Purse: Tignanello My mommy gave it to me :) 

Sorry for being such a narcissist. You wouldn't even believe how many pictures we have to take just to get a few that are dece (decent). I honestly suck at solo-subject picture taking. 

Here's Mikey and I though. :)

And one more self absorbed shot...for the road. But only because I've always wanted one like this:

Holy shet, now I'm not only uber conceited, I'm totally professional and stuff. No really, I just have always liked the way these kinds of cams look in front of mirrors. Don't ask me why. And I actually never twirl my hair. Ever. I also don't intend on picking up photography. I just needed a new regular camera, and this is the one our friend recommended to Mikey.

**I feel I must clarify that I am not a self-absorbed bimbo since some of my blog friends don't know ME in real life. Not that people that enjoy taking lots of pictures of themselves are bimbos.**

Alrighty, we're gonna go ahead and grab some late night din-din. 

Y'all have sweet dreams!

Love & bearhugs,

Roni

P.s. 2 more days till Texas! 

P.s.s. Tomorrow's my last final!! T.G.