My Fridita

Can you believe it took me about two years to finish this little felt Fridita? I found it a couple of weeks ago while looking for some scissors and it took me a couple of hours to finish it.

It's a simple and easy felt doll; add a colorful dress, some braided hair a la Kahlo, flowers and a unibrow and voila a Fridita! OH, and I had to make her a little necklace of course! I added some ribbon and sequins to her dress to make it look more like Frida's. I was going to embroider the whole thing but just got lazy! :P

I initially drew her face using ultra fine point Sharpies but didn't like how it looked so I embroidered it instead. I think the eyes are not at the same level but it still looks good to me.

One more thing  for my collection of all things Frida... and I made this one which makes it extra special!

Hope you have a great one!

MJ

My 7 month old!

Julián turned 7 months yesterday! To say he's growing up too fast is an understatement. I'm afraid next time I look at him he'll be leaving for college. sigh.


He learns something new every day, and we can't believe how lucky we are to have him in our lives!
Here are some of things he's been up to:
- He barely started wearing his 6-9 months clothes, he's a small baby! At his last doctor's appoinment he weighted 13.9 pounds and hit the 24 inch mark. He's very healthy though, which is the most important thing.
- He is crawling! He still crawls with his stomach on the floor 80% of the time, but boy is he fast! He'll go from the living room to the kitchen before you blink. He follows us around the house too, which is pretty cute.
- He says both "mama" and "dada". He still doesn't associate the words with us but when he's crying that's all he says, like if he's calling us.
- He doesn't hold his bottle, lazy kid! He used to when he was 3 months old, but now he just doesn't want to. But if we put some puffs or baby rice cookies on his high chair he'll eat them by himself.
- He can already stand up while being supported on something, and takes some steps if we hold him.
- No teeth yet! But he's been drooling a lot so I'm sure we'll see some soon!

- He has separation anxiety now. If mommy or daddy leave the room he'll start crying. That kid is glued to us.
- His dad used to watch Futurama while feeding him and now he gets really happy every time we play it for him.. it's the only way he'll calm down when he's fussy too! If we play it on the computer he'll look at the TV expecting to see it there, and we have the video of the intro bookmarked already! Funny how they get used to some things.

I can probably think of another 89005349 cute things my baby does but I'll stop before you get bored! ;)
I know I say this every month, but these have been the happiest 7 months of my life! Looking forward to what's next!

Hope you have an amazing weekend!

MJ

Growing up Bilingüe: Tools to learn or improve your Spanish!

Learning a new language is not always easy! I still remember the long and boring English as a Second Language classes I had to take when we first moved to the U.S., not that fun!

Now that I’m a Spanish tutor, I try to engage my students in different activities. One of my favorite tools to use are flash cards; I’ve used them with kids as well as businessmen and old retirees.  They do wonders!

There are a lot of fun ways you can use flashcards!

Here are some of my favorite:

-       I give about 5 flashcards to each student, and they have to use those words that day or write a little paragraph with them. For kids, I like to make a little reward chart and give them a star each time they use a word.

-       Make flashcards with the names of objects around the house (like Mesa, Cama, etc) and ask them to tape them to their corresponding object.

-       With more advanced students, I make flashcards with synonyms or antonyms and play a memory/matching game. If they’re beginner students, I use a flashcard with a word and another one with a matching picture.

-       I give them a set of flashcards and a newspaper or magazine article and make them look for the words.

-     I write a conjugated verb on the flashcard and ask the students to tell me the time and person.

Sra. López at Latina-ish is sharing a set of flashcards she created for her little kids. 175 most common used words in Spanish that anyone can use!  And I’m sure you can come up with many fun ways to apply them to your Spanish learning activities!

Have a nice day,

MJ

5 Things Monday

First of all, I know half of the world knows this already but México won the 2010 Miss Universe Pageant.
I LOVED her national costume and she's really beautiful of course! And she's also from my home state, Jalisco!

[via]

Ok, changing subjects... I have like 10 posts just waiting to be copied, pasted, and scheduled but life has been busy!! Between work, 12 hours of LSAT studying a week, crafting, and chasing A CRAWLING BABY!!!! I haven't had time to post as much as I would like. However, my summer flamenco class ended today and I have about 3 weeks for my fall session to start... so I will get those posts scheduled soon! pinky promise =)

So, back to today's post: here are my 5 favorite books of all time!

1. Aura by Carlos Fuentes. Inspired by the tragic and fascinating love story of Carlotta and Maximilian, Fuente's novel tells the story of translator Felipe Montero who falls in love with Aura after he is hired by her aunt. It is an intense and intrigued story with so many twists and unexpected turns that will keep you on the edge from beginning to end. I cannot tell you how many times I've read this book. Every time I find something different that changes the whole story! If I could only take one book to a deserted island, I would pick this one no doubt!

2. Del Amor y Otros Demonios (Of Love and Other Demons) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Sierva Maria and priest Cayetano fall deeply in love after she's sent to a convent because she's bitten by a rabid dog and believed to be possessed. This novel is full of magical realism, excitement, tragedy, and the love stories only Marquez can tell.

3. Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) by Laura Esquivel. Tita and the love of her life, Pedro are not allowed to get married because of a family tradition: As the youngest daughter, she has to remain unmarried and take care of her mother. When Pedro marries Tita's oldest sister in order to be close to her, she expresses her feelings by cooking; leaving all her sadness, pain, and love in her delicious food. I first read this book at a really young age, but wasn't able to fully understand it until later. It's the book I wrote the most about in college!

4. Transportes González e Hija (González and Daughter Trucking Co.) by María Amparo Escandón. Libertad creates a Library Club at a Mexicali women's prison. But instead of reading the prison's few available books, Libertad slowly tells her prison mates about her life and the crime she committed. I read this book in less than a day!! Amparo is an awesome writer and I had the chance to meet her at an event in my university. You can only imagine how excited I was!

5. Veronika Decide Morir (Veronica Decides to Die) by Paulo Coehlo. Veronika is sent to a mental hospital after her suicidal attempt fails. There, she learns that she has deadly diseases and will die in a short time. Life takes a new meaning for Veronika, who rethinks her first decision to end it and for the first time appreciates it to the fullest.

There are tons of other books I love, but these are definitely my top 5!
What are yours?

Hope you're having a great week!

MJ

Placita Olvera

Every time we have to run errands around Downtown L.A. I always stop by Olvera St., (also known as Placita Olvera) the oldest part of the city that still resembles the old Pueblo de Los Angeles. The place is full of little Mexican shops, restaurants, and an adorable plaza where you can see aztec dancers or mariachis playing every now and then. My favorite thing to do is buy a churro and eat it while I walk around the shops, and later sit at the plaza with a big bowl of fresh fruit with lime and chili powder on top. Yum!!

The place also hosts  Mexican traditional celebrations every year such as the Día de los Muertos Festival and the Posadas and many other fiestas.

It's hard to list all the things you can find in this place; from a luchador mask, to authentic huaraches and mexican candy... They have everything!!!

I think I better let the pictures speak for themselves:

look at all those colors!!

I was about to buy Julian a pair of huaraches, but he already got three pairs from my family in Mexico!

My poorly taken pictures don't do the place justice! Trust me! The place is so alive and inspiring. A little piece of my dear México I can go to whenever I feel nostalgic or craving some good churros.

If you're around L.A. make sure to stop by this wonderful historical place. And while you're here take a walk to Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and the famous Union Station... all within a few miles! 

MJ

5 Things Monday

I'm actually writing this post on time!! yay, so proud of myself!!!
Here are 5 thing I'm loving right now:

1. My 6 1/2 month old baby. I have to say this is my favorite stage so far!! Julián is so much fun right now (cause before he would sleep like 20 hours a day, you know!). He babbles all the time, rolls over around the whole house, isthisclose to crawling, and makes the most beautiful faces!! I really enjoy it and sometimes can't believe how fast he grows right before our eyes!! By the way, he's wearing his daddy's shirt in this pic. It is now on his baby box waiting for the next boy in the family ;)

2. DF Casa. The apartment of this designer couple was featured in Ready Made this month and I immediately fell in love with their style. I mean, Mexican oilcloth wall paper?? A-WE-SOME!!! Their stuff is pretty cool and interesting too!! Wish I could afford it!!

3. The new IKEA Catalog. What can I say, it's one of my fave stores! And I'm really loving their new 2011 stuff, specially this love seat cover; It's like it was made for me!!! seriously!! I'm taking a trip there soon because I really need to buy this!!!!

4. Creating. I never told you this but I make jewelry. I started selling it when I was in high school because everybody would ask me to make them something. It was pretty cool!! I remember having like 10 orders every week or so, it was "my job". And I've been dreaming of opening my own Etsy shop but I sometimes get a bit discouraged when I see other people's stuff. I'm not experienced or anything, completely self taught and there are soo many talented people on Etsy!! But I think it's time I actually do it, if you don't take the risk you won't win right? So I've been creating lots of fun pieces and will hopefully have something presentable soon!


5. Hello Seahorse!. I first heard this band on a trip to México a few years ago and love their music. I was listening to my iPod on shuffle mode a couple of weeks ago and this song came out. Haven't stopped listening to it ever since! It's simply amazing!!!


I feel like I'm talking to myself here... so please!!! if you stop by take a few seconds to write me a comment!! I would like to hear from you!! please pretty please???

Oh, and I already have a few posts scheduled for this week so make sure you come back to visit me!!

MJ

Papel Picado Stamps

Papel Picado (Mexican Papercuting) is one of my favorite things to do. It reminds me of growing up in México and my absolutely most favorite holiday in the world, Día de los Muertos. So ever since I made this little stamp, I've been dreaming of making a Papel Picado stamp set and finally got around to do it this week!! It all started with the sketches:

 (I think it took me longer to decide what it was that I wanted to do than actually carving the stamps)

And here they are!!

I LOVE how they came out!! I can make my own stationary, cards, gift bags... the possibilities are endless!!!

Hope you're all having an amazing week!!

MJ

RODARTE/MAC "Juárez" Make-up Line

Today I’m writing a very different type of post because it’s something I really want to share with as many people as I can. Perhaps some of you have heard of this already but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write this or not. I never wanted to post anything political or controversial on this blog but I think this issue needs to be talked about.

Last month MAC paired with designers RODARTE released their makeup collection “Juárez”, inspired by the infamous town of México with the same name. The designers apparently took a road trip to Texas and the Mexican cities around the border in search of inspiration. Inspiration they found not in the colorful streets of Mexico nor their rich culture, but on the femicide and drug related massacres this town has been experiencing for the last years. The makeup with names like “Factory”, “Juárez”, "Softly Drifting", “Ghost Town”, and “Del Norte” seems to give you the colors you need to look just like the many women found tortured, raped, and killed in the city. See the picture above? The very pale ghost looking girl? And what about this blood streaked looking blush? Pretty glamorous eh?

I’m being sarcastic I know, but I cannot tell you how mad and offended I am by the insensibility of these people that pretend to profit from a tragedy. There have been more than 6,000 drug related murders in the city since 2008, and this includes little kids. And since 1993 there have been 600 women brutally tortured and murdered, and thousands are still disappeared. They have been some bodies found with their nipples bitten off (apparently while the women were still alive), and their head chopped off. I won’t link you to the pictures because they’re very graphic.

Some girls are as young as 7 years old!!! Many of the women work at U.S. owned factories, “maquiladoras”, for about $2 a day. They take the company shuttles in the middle of the night and some of them mysteriously don’t make it to work or back home. The police and government have not been able to find any answers all these years, maybe because they’re related to the murders.

My grandma’s niece who lived in a little town close to Juarez disappeared in 1996 when she never came back from school. She was only 13 at the time. Her mom joined the hundreds of mothers that cry around the city, carrying a picture of their daughters hoping to find them someday.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of designers raising awareness on the issue but this is not the way. It wasn’t until both MAC and RODANTE were confronted after showing the line at a fashion show that they released a statement apologizing and said they were going to change the names of the products and donate $100,000. BUT THIS IS NOT ENOUGH!! Imagine if they had released a line inspired by 9/11? “Terrorist” lipstick, “Twin Towers” eye shadow and all… Both companies would be done by now! The line is still scheduled to go on sale this September, and they should donate 100% of the proceeds at least.

I know I won’t be buying any more MAC makeup and don’t worry I’m not asking you to do the same. Just wanted to raise awareness on this and if you like you can do the following:

- E-mail MAC and tell them you want them to donate 100% of the proceeds of their “Juarez” line to help the Women of Juarez or simply not release the line at all or:
- Sign the petition here.

- Read more about the femicide in Juárez and how you can help here, here, and here.

- Tell all your friends!!

Thank you so much!!

Stop the killing of women in Juárez!!

¡¡NI UNA MAS!!

MJ