The End of October

Bridgedette's Thoughts:

October 2011 has come and is about to be gone. Time sure does fly when you are having fun! This month we celebrated 2 big events:

On the 15th I was thrown my first bridal shower by the Perez Family (Teri, Joanna and Vanessa). It was a lot of fun and lots of laughter was had. My Mom, my friend Carmen and my sister in law Melissa were also able to make the shower. 2 families meeting!






Our second big event was celebrating Larry's 36th Birthday!!
We began earlier in the month with tickets to the San Antonio Ballet's performance of Dracula. The performance took place at the newly renovated Lila Cockrell Theater, http://www.sahbgcc.com/. The performance was beautiful and engaging.




Today we had the party.......and you know the party had a Batman theme to it! Check out his birthday cake! A BIG THANK YOU goes out to my parents for hosting the event. All 5 of my brothers and sisters were there with their families, my Uncle Jaime and my Aunt Grace, Teri and Louis Garcia, Daniel Perez- King, Larry Sr. and Sylvia Ynman, Sonia and Pete Lozano and many more family and friends....there had to be at least 50 of us there (yup, it was a small gathering).







Tonight I prepare for Monday's Main Event....my Bridal Portraits. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Our photographer is Dos Kiwis, http://www.doskiwis.com/, they are fun people so we should have some great photos. Lots of excitement, but lots to pack!!

I hope all is well that are reading this. 125 days till our wedding!!

Where Does the Time Go??

Bridgedette's Thoughts:

WOW! Its October!?!?! and now Im 30?!?! Where does the time go?

So many life events have taken place over the past few months. Summer was a complete blur to us with traveling, work (registration and new student orientations) and just life itself.


A little recap:

• Bridgedette is still working for the Alamo Colleges. She no longer does First Time In College Student Advising, but is now in charge of Graduation at PAC, that means I have to complete over 1,000 degree audits by hand and look over 100 course subsitutions.
  



• She Turned 30 on September 25th!...and she has survived to tell the tale!
  



• She is still torn between going to Law School and persuing a PhD., but has decided to take classes to earn an Associates in Paralegal Studies (YES, Still going to classes).




• Larry is no longer working for the Alamo Colleges and now works at Cafe College (http://www.cafecollege.org/home). Its the City of San Antonio's "One Stop Shop" for anyone wanting information on how to prepare and apply to college. His job allows him more freedom to be creative and use his Public Relation skills as he promotes Cafe College and has one on one advising sessions with all students wanting to enroll in college.
  



• He is also working very hard at his Masters classes in Organizational Leadership at Our Lady of the Lake University. (I'm SO Proud of him!!)
  



• In his spare time he tries to keep me organized and sane, as I forget that there are only 24 hours in a day and tend to over schedule...I can be a super hero too, right?

Between all of these changes, we are still planning our wedding; here it comes February 25, 2012!! Larry and his 2 best men have been fited for their attire and so have I. The big decisions are all check off, but the little details are still afoot. Here is a small website that we started and will be updating with the details: http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleId=8034282314144067

On top of all this, I was slected by my Vice President of Student Affairs to attend the NACADA Advising Conference. The NATIONAL ACADEMIC ADVISING ASSOCIATION (NACADA), promotes and supports quality academic advising in institutions of higher education to enhance the educational development of students. Check them out if you have a chance: http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/annualconf/2011/index.htm. I leave for Denver, Colorado tomorrow afternoon!!

**If I find another moment between Study Breaks, I will blog again.** Hope you are well and happy!

Master Class

Bridgedette's Thoughts:

While I do not like to schedule my life around the TV, I am very much loving Master Class on the Oprah Winfrey Network. If you havent seen it here is a brief synopsis:

They are the stories you've never heard from the people you thought you knew best. Handpicked by Oprah for their unique impact on the world, eight true modern masters sit down to share the untold stories that have shaped their lives and the greatest life lessons they've learned along the way. In an intimate setting, they open up about their successes, failures, triumphs, disappointments and heartbreaks.

Master Class offers an unprecedented first-person insight into the brilliant minds of famous people we love, respect and admire. First season masters include Diane Sawyer, Jay-Z, Dr. Maya Angelou, Simon Cowell, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Lorne Michaels and Oprah herself.

Below is not so great copy of Oprah's Master Class (part 1). She speaks of taking the time to listen for the "little whispers" and "finding your purpose." This is something I continuously work on. I hope you take the time to turn up your volume and listen.

Then and Now

Bridgedette's Thoughts:









The first photo is from my Senior Year in High School (2000) and the second was taken today during our family Father's Day Celebration. I would have to say that I am glad that I look relatively the same; this is a good thing!

For years I have struggled against my genetics of being short and dark; as well as my medical family history of breast cancer, heart attacks, high blood pressure and diabetes.

But as I get older I am leaning to chill out, work out more and do the best that I can with what I have. This is what leads me into my real topic:




In 252 days I will be lucky enough to marry my best friend. As Larry and I go through the "normal" stressors of planning our wedding, we have come to realize that the best part of the planning is that there really are no stressors. I am so proud of the communication and respect that Larry and I have together while making our plans. As each wedding topic comes up we have the ability to talk it out and think it through, sometimes people forget to do that, this is a major reason some weddings never get out of the planning phase.

While Larry and I are not perfect, we know that we can grow and learn from each other. This is how I knew that he was my person. Before I met Larry, I was so afraid to make a mistake.....any little thing that wasnt perfect or a major accomplishment wasnt something I associated myself with. Now, I have learned that being or attempting to be perfect is boring, it gets old...and so does the human body, from all the stress it endures. I had to learn the hard way, after getting shingles and struggling to be comfortable in my own body.

Today I am proud that I am vertically challenged and dark (some people pay for the tan I got for free)! I am also proud of all the potential I have to grow into a better person as I am lucky to have a great partner to share my life with.

Moving closer to February 25, 2012

Bridgedette's Thoughts:



266 days till our wedding! Very exciting!

As Larry and I will begin working our 4 day work week, the time will pass very quickly. June, July and August will become very busy for us with New Student Orientations and Registration.

I hope that all is well with those that read this. HAPPY SUMMER!!

Still I Rise

Bridgedette's Thoughts:



When I was in Elementary School I was truly the minority, I was surrounded by White people, but not just any kind...the kind that farm and ranch from generation to generation (a good o'l boy system). It was a new experience from what I was used to seeing as an inner city child from ther Westside of San Antonio. I definitely had "culture shock."

I never wanted to go back to school, but my Mom did not allow me to run. She put her foot down and told me that "I was just as good as any one else that was at that school." It was on that day that I decided that I WAS GOOD ENOUGH.

I was good enough to be in the same class as my peers.
I was good enough to run for Student Council President. (and win)
I was good enough to take the Gifted and Talented test. (and be placed in GT Classes)
I was good enough to try out for the high school softball team. (and letter 3 out of 4 years)


Sometimes we reach a fork in the road and it is the values that we have been instilled , or even new values that we have picked up along the way, that allow us to look at that fork as either an opportunity for success or an opprtunity to run....still, either way, its an opportunity.

Life is all about opportunities and sometimes we need others around us to remind us to take advantage of them. One of my favorite poems Still I Rise. There is such a powerful statment made that has always resinated with me.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

~ Maya Angelou


I hope that where ever you are, that YOU RISE.

RISE to the challenge of everyday life, RISE from being a good parent to a great parent, RISE up to those who dont believe that you belong but most of all that you see that you deserve the right to RISE.

Closing out the Month of March

Bridgedette's Thoughts:

Flowers!

Hooray, spring has sprung in Texas and the Bluebonnets are HERE!

....and with Spring the Pollens have also sprung....not so good for my nose. But anytime that I can take a walk outside I do. With the sun shining and a nice cool breeze I found these flowers on the Palo Alto College campus; to me, it looks like a star.

Also, we had a "special project" at work, making paper flowers for our on campus event called PAC FEST (http://www.alamo.edu/pac/htm/new/homepage/campusNews/2011/News_Release_2011.pdf)....yes, Fiesta is around the corner!







Batman SAVES THE DAY!

Last week I bought a new pair of black shoes for work. They were supposed to be "comfort" style shoes, except they rubbed on my heels and created blisters! Not fun for me....thank God for Batman!





San Antonio Education Partnership's Road to Success College Conference


Larry and I help out with the former organization that I was employed with, The San Antonio Education Partnership. Each year SAEP organizes a College Conference for the 25 San Antonio high schools that it services. This year it was held at The University of Texas' Main Campus. 900 High School Students showed up!!! WOW!!

These students are the future of San Antonio and America, so I hope that they learned something new or were inspired by one of these Workshop Sessions (an abreviated list):

• Career Exploration:
o Education
o Law
o Math, Science & Technology
o Culinary Arts
o Engineering
o Graphic Arts
o Architecture
o Premed
o Nursing
o Fire Science
o Allied Health
o Art and Music
o Criminal Justice
o Business

• Financial Aid 101: The Basics

• Making the Connection: High School, Community College & Universities

• Scholarship Scoop: Finding Money for College

• Choosing a College: Finding the Right Fit

• Writing the Essays: The Good, The Bad…

• Mobile GO CENTER: Completing the College Admission Application


On a side note: Thanks to the San Antonio Education Partnership, Larry and I are together! http://www.saedpartnership.org/ Here are 2 photos from the event...sorry for the lack of cool photos, I was working, but it was so much more awesome than these photos tell.






Dinner with the Perez Family

Yesterday the Perez Family got together for dinner at La Fogota. The food and Company was fun and heart warming! I love it when we get together to catch up!








Flexing my Green Thumb

Sunday's are a great time to spend with family. I went over to my parents home to visit and my Dad and I ended up on an adventure at Home Depot and Walmart. He helped me pick out the suppiles for my tomato plant and bell pepper plant. The evening ended with a great steak dinner and a ton of laughs!





Until Next Blog...Have a good week!


Tonight
Apr 3


Partly Cloudy
71°