The husband and I have been eating mostly vegetarian for several weeks now. The husband has even given up dairy. I do not believe life is worth living without goat cheese, manchego and ice cold milk. We have felt good and we’ve lost a few pounds. Enter, Papi from Miami…with a gigantic box filled with […]

She asked me  not to go into her room until she said it was OK. I waited. She said: “You may enter now.” She was sitting on her pink chair, a pink-jeweled crown atop her head. Long, brown hair flowing at her shoulders. “Hulll-ooh, I am the Queen,” she said, smiling. “And, I am your […]

This weekend, my mom visited Nashville and we celebrated Maria’s 6th birthday. (More on that in another post). We also caught up with a childhood friend of mine who grew up next door to my grandparent’s house in Miami. Because the world is small and full of coincidences, he and his family have lived in […]

My husband and I sat in the small chairs at the small table. I, uncomfortable because I could not cross my legs. Maria’s teachers sat opposite us, looking perfectly comfortable, and told us lovely things about our daughter during the parent/teacher conference yesterday. I would have sat on broken glass to hear some of the […]

If I had to think about it, I would have imagined there comes a time in a parent’s life when she realizes her job is done. She’s raised the kid she hoped, she’s instilled what she was supposed to. Or goodness forbid, you’ve raised the kid and now there is nothing else you can do […]

My girl. Sleepy. Her first day of Elementary School. She’s 5 years and 9 months. And, art happens in the strangest of places. Like, under the church pew in the kitchen. I allow a few shoes to collect there, but it got a little out of control in the last days of vacation. Maybe because […]

My girl stood in front of the mirror, looked at herself, and asked:“Mama, do you think I look like a 6-year-old?”It was about the third time in about as many days. She wants to look older than her 5.5 years.I tell her she looks 5, just exactly what she’s supposed to look like.“People tell me […]

Let me tell you that I should have married a guy who works for Geek Squad.My router went fritzy on me two weeks ago and I have not had the ability or patience to work much with constantly broken links and slow connections.My Geek showed up today and fixed me right up. It didn’t even […]

One day, I am going to get really, really good at this video essay/post thing and I am going to impersonate Maria Elvira Live! “Ay, dios mio, tiene un traje de scuba!” the TV host said — or something like that — last week while showing pictures of the Bearded Dictator’s son.“That suit looks Italian!” […]

My 19-year-old nephew — just a month shy of moving from Havana to Miami — got a grand tour of the ritzy and lovely city of Coral Gables. He saw the big houses, the lovely tree-shaded streets, the Venetian Pool and the Biltmore Hotel, two beautiful examples of architecture and design and Miami history. At […]