the pressure was mounting...

Men.  Is it me, or are they completely, unequivocally and totally different?  Again, the love I have for my husband is grand, huge and just plain overflowing, however, he also makes me crazy.  The kind of crazy that makes me want to wring his neck.  And wring that neck HARD!  Our level of functioning when we argue or fight is pretty fantastic, but every now and then, we hit the "get out of my face" functioning.  Do you have those?  Please tell me I am not alone in this.  We got in a "tiff" on Saturday night, and here we are Thursday, and that lug is barely unloading the issue, GOD!  I figure that to be a gift.  The kind of gift I wish would stop giving, ya know?  I've ridden this boat before, and the almost five day itch is always his breaking point.  And true to form, the right kind of what I like to call "snuggle and grab" always gets him talking.  With that said, rockn this boat I'm on, always, and I mean always calms the raging seas.  I think you get where I'm going...needless to say, MEN...they're just different, completely different.  I mean, in all my life, in all my experience as an adult, in all that typical male verbiage you hear on the radio and see on the tube, I believe it safe to say that it is just true, well sort of.  The way to a man's heart is through his tummy...no, wait, actually, the way to a man's heart is always fulfilled through sex, it is your ability to make them feel worthy of your feast, however, that keeps them around.  Who's with me?

I'm sort of behind when it comes to posting pictures of what has been happening on Ese'me Street, so forgive me, because, although my posts may be somewhat current, the pics are somewhat not :-/  Cindy is about to birth a baby boy, and we are all very excited.  We through her a baby shower, and again, turned to Pinterest for help.  And the idea that jumped out as baby shower gold was the "Little Man" theme.  I guess you could say we ran with the idea, divided up the responsibilities and slam dunked that sucker.  Many a shout out are due and will follow accordingly.

It all started with a little photo session...thanks momma Cici for obliging, and moreover, for your editing genius

Then there was the invite, thanks Etsy

Cici may be having a boy, but a petal is always on her priority list, and Jenni made sure to follow through, thanks girl...  My mom and I made the runner and bow tie adornments for the flowers, thanks mom

In keeping with the theme, we thought it suiting for everyone to have a special name tag, thus the bow tie was formed, again, thanks mom for helping me with these

The trouble with having tons of great ideas, is that you are left with actually doing them, so again, I must give another shout out to my mom for helping me with this onsie garland, she is a way faster sewer than I



Oh how our palates will never be the same...momma Campbell and Elizabeth donned the chef hats and served up a sick feast, thanks ladies

Moisten much

Desserts #1 & #2, even though those cake balls were in the background, they are still haunting the foregrounds of our belly's, thanks Jenni, you tha bomb

A little sweet nibble for your way home, thanks Picnik (see you on google very soon)

Wouldn't have been a party without any of you, thanks for coming

Basically, four color/patterns decorated the venue, and it was those four fabrics that maintained our palate throughout the baby shower.  There were two gingham's, one green and one blue, then two other fabrics, one orange and then one baby green.  Those fabrics made up the runner, the bow tie name tags, the bow tie vase adornments and also the appliques for the onsie bar garland.  That, and the many petals that Jenni arranged, with her sweet tooth guiding the dessert path, and momma Campbell and Elizabeth donning the chef hat, this baby shower was able to happen, and happen well.  It is also very important to point out that this baby shower took place at one pretty amazing place, and had it not been for two pretty amazing people, Krystal and Tommy DeAlano, this shower would have never taken place, so a very special thank you to you both.

the obvious is right in front of you...

Have you ever noticed those women who have phenomenal bodies, anything they put on looks fantastic?  The wedding dresses they dream of putting on, THE ONE, is everyone, at least to us observing?  Do you think if we were able to create a mental fitness, chisel our emotions and flatten our insecurities, we could form fit anything soul worthy to feel as amazing as we only desire it to appear?  I wish it was that easy.  I wish that the fat and cellulite that has managed to live in my mind, would burn away.  Sometimes I feel our best emotional workout is who we choose to surround ourselves with.  Those ridiculous friends you have, you know the ones, the ones that leave you thinking, "why are we friends again?"  I used to have this one friend, we aren't friends anymore, however anyone who ever met her, the inevitable question was sure to follow, "what do y'all have in common, how is it that y'all are even friends?"  I couldn't answer it then, couldn't really see it then either, but sure as hell can now.  She was my fitness friend.  She then, was my brain cardio.  I couldn't appreciate the workout then, but my method of thinking and being is lighter because of her now.  When Marcus and I got married, the normal stresses a bride has, didn't accompany me to the site, but the thought of everyone there not enjoying themselves, or what if ____ and ____ don't stay long?, was what consumed me.  I was more concerned with the fact that there was a very strong possibility that my side of the family would let me down, that my maid of honor (same girl mentioned above) had never held her end of the bargain on many levels, wondering if my mother in law would even look my way.  My emotions had taken a front seat in "feel sorry for yourself" 'ville.  I didn't know then, that my mind was in the marathon of a lifetime, and those days then, that night in particular would be a prerequisite to my life now.  That night, my father's side of the family, every last one of them, let me down.  Writing the details of the event here now, will serve no purpose, other than add a few pounds to my already overweight self esteem.  My maid of honor was an utter joke, laughable really, the amount of mental lag I gave her and my mother in law followed suite.  I have let it all go, and moved on, but feel it fitting to honor those that made our night amazing.  My immediate family were dreamy, they were really fantastic...my mom's family TO DIE FOR, love them and am appreciative of everything they did, but who really saved the night, were my husbands family, both matron and patron alike.  Below are a few of them doing what they do best, DANCING.  It was a cousins husbands 30th birthday, and it served as a wonderful time for us to gather together.  It also served as a reminder for Marcus and I as to what favor we carry with those that manage to push us on our emotional treadmill, the kind of workout we welcome and long for.  We can't get this kind of love anywhere but here.

Did I mention it was a surprise? 

Dancing yes...Drinking, yes and yes...

You can count on these two to work it till the shoes come off, and they did

It didn't take much for the furniture to go, and less for them to take its place

Look who decided to join in on the fun

Looking forward to the fact that it will never get old :-)

While we were in Houston, we made plans to see Allyson, I used to work with her at Parkland, and she is just about done with grad school, so proud of her.  On a side note, I'd be even prouder if 'ol ball sack would propose already...needless to say, Adan had a ball, seeing as how he hasn't seen her or Katie, who just so happened to be in Houston too, another grad schooler just about done, since he was months old.  These two are sweet loves of mine, and getting to hang with them both was so fun.

Katie with Adan, 'bout 4 months old

Look at 'em now

Sweet Ally...you know, just a few secs after this, sweet Adan let Ally have it with a little something I like to call VOMIT!

These two, like they never spent time apart

We also decided to spend a little time here and goof off a bit...kinda nice to not be behind the camera, for once.

See what I mean. If I could get from behind the lens, I could enjoy more of this...be still my beating heart

In addition to being an NBA Baller, NFL All-Star, The Tennis Ticket, Golfings one and only True Grip and whatever else there is...he will also be an Explorer and discover something magnificent

Stingrays, nuff said

And to do this great city justice, we also ventured into a place that would prove to give Adan a run for his money.

He's just proving that he is as strong in Mars as he is here

Who needs to fly to the moon when we got the moon right here, just a few hundred miles away

Blast off! And you can, as a matter of fact, you really can, for the bargain price of a gillion bucks...the for profit is the way apparently

So turned on...my husband, always finding a way to look at an engine, better that than ladies I guess

When you get the chance to endure and share

your life with your husband, you should gladly declare

that all which is past, and all which is present

takes love and experience, to rest in assurance.

We can't look back at those that pretend

to break of the bread but only instead,

give away the remnants and hold on to the true

garbage we never even wanted in lieu