true crime

My new book is By Their Father's Hand: the True Story of the Wesson Family Massacre by Monte Francis. As the title states the book revolves around the stories and accounts that took place on March 12, 2004 in Fresno County. I was glad to see this book on the shelves at the book store because I remember faintly hearing about this story as it was being overshadowed by the murder investigation for Lacy Peterson and trial of Scott Peterson. When the story first came out about the father who killed his wife and children, there were rumors that it revolved around a cult, but that was not the true story. Marcus Wesson was a selfish man who confused beliefs of religion, vampire admiration, and his pride to get what he wanted out of life and his family. Maybe its the criminologist inside me, but I can't stop reading this book- it's just so interesting.

last lecture

Last week I finally finished reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I got interested in the book after watching a short clip of his speech during briefing one morning on Team 1. I never finished watching the speech online, but I found the book to be a lot more interesting and more personal. My favorite readings from the book were lessons about brick walls, working well with others, respect, proper apologies, and deciding if I am a Tigger or Eeyore. I am such the fan of common courtesy, I smile when I see others acting as the good samaritan, its no wonder those chapters appealed to me. This is definitely a book I will be recommending to others to read and passing on my copy forward to those who might need a read of it.

memorial day 2009

Here are the updated photos from Memorial Day 2009.

Lots of photos of family, especially nieces and nephews (actually only photos of nieces and nephews). Mike got to meet more members of the Fajardo family, which I have to give props to him every time he meets family because there are just so many people to meet. He probably gets overwhelmed, but he's such a trooper- that's why he's x100. I love spending time with my loved ones, stuffing my face (I ate like 4 rice krispy treat squares), and taking in the sun by the pool. The weather wasn't too hot and neither was the swimming pool, but we managed to swim for a bit. Here is the bonus video of Paris Sky taking a swim with her floaties (adorable!)

memorial day

Memorial Day is a day to remember all those who have fought and died while in the military service. Every year for as long as I could remember the Fajardo family always celebrates Memorial day with a kickin' party. We celebrate to honor those in our family who have fought, died, and still serve for the military today.
This photo was taken a couple years ago and definitely needs to be updated. As you can see we are all wearing our "Fajardo's Fly Together" t-shirts, this is when the shirts were distributed to the families. I don't wear my shirt too often because I really don't want it to fade, but I think I will pack mine in my swim bag for the party tomorrow. BOLO for an update on Memorial Day party photos 2009.

yes, man

Watched the movie "Yes Man" last night while eating dinner from Domenico's (yum...antipasto salad and mushroom/pepperoni pizza). Mike totally knocked out at the beginning of the movie, possibly from food coma, but he missed out. Don't expect great things from this movie, as I did, and you will be surprised as to how refreshing this movie turns out. I laughed at many parts of the film, goofy parts-not super hilarious parts, but this movie was great to watch as I unwound from work. And I totally had flashbacks from when they filmed in Pasadena and we received phone calls of someone bungee jumping off the Colorado bridge, I laughed inside when I recognized the scene in the movie.

lovers 4 life

I love having lazy days where my off day can be spent just cleaning up around the house and finishing up with things that slipped my mind. A few weeks ago my sorority sister Daphne to Southern California, or shall I say to America (haha), for a visit. I love seeing people that I do not get to see everyday, and I loved it even more that I got to see these lovely folk.This is us trying to squeeze into one picture. We're just trying to enjoy our dessert at BJ's.

Love these two! Daphne is totally right, Albert can never take a serious picture.

Love my Gamma Phi girls! Kristen, Yalsi, and Daphne- it was nice seeing you girls again!

infested

We have roaches! There is brown goo along the corners of the back room to kill off the cockroaches that have infested our lounge. Due to the fear and disgust I have imposed on myself, I have not taken a nap in the back room for about a few weeks now. Rachel totally creeped me out when she suggested I need to wear a painter's mask and ear plugs to prevent roaches from crawling into my body while I sleep.

Meet our new friend in dispatch, his name is Freddie Roach. (Please leave a comment if you get the joke, because not too many people find his name as hilarious as I do). He came about today at work, and has enjoyed his afternoon spent with myself, KJ, Richard, Myriam, Robin, and Lorena. He wears a name tag because he's new to the team, but I am pretty sure it won't be too long before he has a chance to meet everyone.

training

The newest update in my life is that we are taking the dogs back to training. The four of us are all signed up and getting ready to overcome our bad habits. For 8 weeks, starting June 3rd, we will be enrolled in the Beginner class at Petsmart in order to better the relationship we have with our dogs.
In preparation for training the dogs have their veterinary check up for overall wellness and vaccination update (if needed) at the end of this month. We've been going to Dr. Gary White for the past two years now and although he is not the cheapest veterinary out there I think the pups are happy with the services rendered there. The doctors and employees are very sincere and genuine with the care of all the animals.

As much as I love this boy, Toby Luna officially has a new owner! Mike has been putting in a lot of effort into building their dog/owner relationship, but its early and there is progress between them. Toby has already completed the Puppy Training at Petsmart, but Mike is still exciting and willing to take Toby to class to make him a better dog owner.

With Maddy, it's a whole other story. Maddy is a very smart dog, but I like to say more of a "smart ass" than anything else. I have high hopes that this trainer for the Beginner class at Petsmart will continue to do great things with Maddy. While Mike & I were shopping at Petsmart the other day and the trainer successfully showed me that Maddy actually can be walked using a Gentle Leader. He walked her in the store and she stopped barking at other dogs, that totally persuaded me of his competence and we signed up for the class. The background story goes: Maddy was fitted before for a gentle leader and it was unsuccessful (she would always slip out, even if i changed the direction we were walking). I look forward to the weeks ahead, I have great hope that we can be great parents and my dogs can be obedient.

swim fan

This past weekend we had a swim day with the girls, plus Bryan. It was loads of fun as we chit chatting, swam, and giggled. It was perfect weather, not too hot not too cold, and the pool was nice and warm.
Excuse my legs, but it was so relaxing just laying out by the pool.

Love the sneaky/creepy poolside picture, it's like they were stalking me!

I totally snacked on cinnamon graham crackers while sipping my drink. Swimming gets you hungry!

Always fun times with the girls. I have to thank Maria for our Cinco De Mayo presents, a book on how to make Margaritas, Mojitos and other drinks. Of course, because it was a Tuesday and we were hanging with Mah-ree-yah we ended the night at Havana House. It was an interesting night and I don't hate the place anymore, so I would consider going back again. We plan on having another swim day, possibly with more people and a fancy poolside drink (recipe courtesy of my new book from Maria). The weather is getting warm so be on the look out for an invite!

wormy

On my morning walk today I noticed Maddy sniffing at something strange in the parking lot. Of course, at first sight I jumped, got super scared, and immediatly pulled Maddy away from the little fuzz on the ground. After realizing it was a crawly little worm it sparked my interest and I decided to take a quick picture to send to Mike and a video to post on my blog. It's not great quality because I was filming while at the same time trying to keep Maddy away from sniffing at it.

OMG! I'm such a nerd, filming a worm in the parking lot.

dad's 50th

The party took place April 18th so these pictures are long over due:
Above: My dad cutting his birthday cake. It was mango cake ordered from Porto's. Below: Some of the cool crew members hanging out at the bar. (Tim, Eugene, Nomie, Heather, & Richie)

Above: My parents posing between my dad's brothers and sisters. Yes, the Fajardo family starts multiplying after them. Below: My cousin Desi and & taking a quick photo while carrying around the kids Noah and Zoe.

Above: My dad being surround by the Fajardo cousins. Below: My dad being surrounded by the Yoro cousins.

Above: My dad stopping for a picture with his god daughter, my cousin Monica. Below: Our family photo from the event. Yes, people were so fascinated by the birthday cake they made us take a photo around the cake.

Lastly, we ended the night cleaning up a bit and giving my dad the frame with signed birthday wished from everyone at the party. Overall the party went well. Personally, I was a little upset over the photo show not working on the projector, but I can say that I am over it now (even though it took days to put it all together). I love spending time with family and it was really great having both sides of the family at one place at the same time. And my godson Noah is so adorable! He's not even 2years old and is so smart, all night I amazed myself watching him unlock my iPhone and clicking on apps. The party was only 3 hours long, but I was pooped from all the kiddies around (I'm just glad I'm not drinking the water now!).