Time with my Girls & Olvera Street

Girl Time!

Since I have moved away from home, and away from my friends...I try to make it a point to invite my girls over for anything. It was a bright and sunny day so I thought it would be perfect to go to the pool. Brigitte and Carly have been my good friends for ages. Carly has been around for Jude, almost like a god mother...so its always fun to have her around. Crazy Carl lol.

When I was at the store I picked up some wine and fruit for a little snack pool side.

When we were younger, Carly and I would sit by the pool all summer and tan.

Tanning is love.

It is so relaxing to lay out. Make sure you use sunscreen and cover your face. My face is so sensitive, I had to keep my sun hat on. I tweeted a picture like this and someone thought I was on vacation haha. I am blessed. Carly and Jude taking a dip.
Little baby Noah is out new addition. Brigitte had him 2 months ago. He is soooo sweet. He looks so relaxed under a huge umbrella.

Mama bear, Brigitte catching some rays.

I dont know why Jude crosses his legs, but that is the way he sits in every chair. Its so cute!

For lunch I made some of my jaiva. Its so good and fresh!

After the girls left, I cleaned up and then my sister joined me that night. We all got our hair dyed. Well I did all the work hahah...those turkeys! It was my little sisters first time visiting my new place so it was a nice excuse.

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Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Ive always wanted to go downtown to Olvera Street to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. It reminds me of TJ, Mexico. Filled with traditional blankets, purses, sandals, toys, candies, food, and of course music!

To get into the spirit of things, I got Jude a little Mexican button up. So cute! I wanted to buy myself a dress...I resisted.

What I did get was candy!!

I got myself some goodies, and I picked up a sampler of Mexican sweets for my mom as well.

There were sooo many little toys up and down the little street. Here is a picture of Jude making music with an accordion.

I'm not sure what the name of the little restaurant we stopped at, but it was open....almost like a little stand, and it was really tasty and pretty cheap. Along with our meal there was a little band walking around playing for tips. The singer had a strong voice, beautiful.

I had a sope plate.

He was like "You are gonna take pictures of what we are eating?" He obviously doesn't know much about blogging ahhaha.

The last time that we were here, we came for a stroll and a hot churro before ice skating :)

The last stop of the day: Snow cones!!

The day was perfect! I love Olvera street. Everything about it. Its a nice reminder that I am Mexican, and its a beautiful thing.

*Latina...Mexican Kisses*

-Sonia

No more excuses! : New Lighting

Brighter days...

My biggest problem before Jude had a steady sleep schedule was lighting. I filmed a lot of videos mid day (around noon) and / night. At night the lighting was terrible because the lights in the kitchen were yellow. I went to Lowes hardware store to pick up fly killer stuff, and walked out with VERY affordable lighting.

(picture below with two panels on)

(one panel on)
(Just my over head light, no panels on)

As you can tell...it makes a huge difference! The lighting will be great for filming night time makeup tutorials / hauls / vlogs. Pretty excited about it.

The specs:

UtiliTech 18in./46cm Fluorescent Under Cabinet Light -$10 each

I think they look pretty good on the inner parts of my windows. I usually use this window for natural lighting, so it works out great.

I did buy different light bulb/tube because the one it came with a yellow tinted light. I replaced it with a cool white fluorescent F15 light. Make sure they are compatible in size. I asked for help. To save yourself a trip...ask for help! I had to go back.

I was so happy about this new addition I had to share it with you all!

I hope this helped anyone that needed new lighting on a budget ;)

*Latina Kisses*

-Sonia

Product of the Week! - Dark Angles by LUSH

Product of the Night:
Dark Angles Cleanser by LUSH

This soap smells soooo good. I need to get another already because I know within a few more showers it will be gone! Getting an up close look at this thing, you would think it was a pumice stone. It looks really hard and rough, but if you are too buff you might smush it to hell lol.

If you are an avid tanner...this product is for you. I used to go tanning with my girl friend Carly all the time and it is really important that you exfoliate. When you exfoliate you scrub of any and all dirt, and dead skin cells that can leave you with an uneven tan. If you spray tan, which I was really into for a minute...this is the first step of the process.

When you start to run it over your body it goes on really smooth thanks to the water from the shower and your body heat. Its grainy, but not so much you feel like you are scrubbing your skin off haha.

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A little info from the official website:

Deep dark cleansing facial scrub for young, dark and oily skin. A lovely, black, squidgy scrub made with charcoal to absorb oils and exfoliate your skin. Nutritious avocado oil softens your skin, glycerine keeps the moisture in and black sugar softly scrubs; rhassoul mud is anti-microbial and cleanses deeply, while sandalwood and rosewood essential oils are soothing, giving you a feeling of smooth, clean freshness that is difficult to beat. It's our new favourite, even if we aren't very young. Just be a bit careful that you wash it off properly and clean the wash basin after you
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This is basically what I use to get a good scrub every other day. I say every other day because I am trying to make it stretch till I get a chance to get a new one :)

*Latina Kisses*
-Sonia