The Jungle Book With Mi Familia #LoMasVital

Disclosure:  This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Latina Mom Bloggers and Disney Studios.  However, all opinions expressed are my own.

One of our favorite family activities is watching movies, especially when we're at home.  My chulos actually sit down and we get to enjoy quality time with them.  I happily participated in a fun photo-a-day challenge that highlights how we're enjoying life and it led to finally watching The Jungle Book Diamond Edition, which is now available for the first time on Blue Ray™ and Digital.  The Jungle Book is a new one to us, I vaguely remember watching it as a kid but the Bare Necessities song always stood out to me... not only is it catchy but relates to life!  A topic we always talk about is the importance of our familia!  We're currently plotting our next fun adventure - to visit our families in Texas this Summer and the movie set everything in motion.  

Omie loves movies he can dance to!  Duke couldn't believe Disney made movies "way back then".  I don't know anyone that can hold back when The Jungle Book is on - we were a singing and dancing party over here!  The conversation was also deep with a question like, "why is that kid living with animals?" and celebrated with the realization that animals do care for humans.  I explained that it's a two way street and we have to take care of each other.  I guarantee we'll watch this movie again and again!        

The Jungle Book inspired me to create a fun trail mix for everyone.  It will be perfect for our travels or hanging out at home when you crave something different!  All you need are apple chips, banana chips and chocolate chips!

Put all the chips in a cup or bag and you are good to go!

I Went To The GRAMMYs!!! #PricelessSurprises

I still can't believe I went to The GRAMMYs!!!  I was on a whirlwind high from it all for the past month.  I'm gonna tell you how it went down by timeline.

10:30am - left my home to be at Cerritos Mall by 11am for my appointment at MAC
10:50am - the mall is packed with people, stores aren't officially open yet.  I'm thinking what is going on???
11am - MAC raises the gate, I'm in a mad dash with 12 other women to get inside.  I check-in and get seated
11:08am - The makeup artist introduces herself and asks what I have in mind - I show her a picture I found on Instagram and tell her, "I'm not expecting a miracle but this is the look I'm going for"

These are all the products used on my face.  MAC charges $50 to get your face done (you get to take home a brand new mascara) and extra if you want lashes.  I wanted lashes.  

50 minutes later... my face!  This was the first time I had a makeover I actually liked and the first time I ever wore fake eyelashes.  That was intense.    


Wendy, my +1 picked me up and we got to LA at about 1pm.  No traffic on the freeways but around the LA Live area was crazy.  Our first party was the MasterCard Pre-Grammy Reception - everyone flocked to the extravagant dessert table to check out the gramophone.  There was live music, good drinks and food.    


3pm - We ventured out to see the action, we headed into Nokia and had to take a picture with an official GRAMMY gramophone.  While we were in line we did a lot of people watching, some of the outfits were super sparkly.

4pm - You have to be inside Staples Center by 4:30pm.  This is when they lock the doors.  Yes they really do.  What we found out later is that our tickets had special stickers on them and we could've walked on the actual red carpet.  Not the one the celebs walk on but the one behind it.  Yeah there's a few red carpets.  These little strips are what we walked on and people took pictures on.  Hey, it is a red carpet.

This scene actually surprised the hell out of me and is super popular on my Instagram - women in gowns ordering up McDonald's right before the show started.  What you can't see are tons of people eating on closed concessions stand counters.  Savages!  
4:30pm - I tried to buy a bottle of water but the stands were closing so everyone had their butts planted in their seats to get The 56th Annual Grammy Awards started.  I was told to return at 5:15pm.  Wendy nonchalantly pointed out Quentin Tarantino and I told him I loved his movies and asked if we could take a picture.  He very very sweetly said no but thanked me and shook my hand.  We found our seats and I had to get a picture in even though I technically wasn't supposed to take pictures at all inside Staples Center.  I couldn't resist!

Around 4:50pm - general announcements are made to find your seats and this is in very bad blogger form but I forgot who addressed the crowd and introduced LL Cool J.  I'm assuming the producer of the show.  Also got to meet blogger friends Chelsea & Melissa!

Pink was amazing flying above the crowd.


I didn't want to disrespect (or get sued by) The GRAMMYs by taking pictures all night so that's all you are gonna get!

9pm - The show ran late and we're newbies so we got to the Official GRAMMY Celebration After Party late and it was crazy.  The theme: Roarin' 20s.  All the tables were taken and no one was getting up so we roamed the ginormous space for about 30 minutes (with hurt feet!), grabbed some food and drinks before we approached a cute couple willing to share their small cocktail table with us.  


The drink menu - I really would've liked to the Patron or Ultimat signature drinks but I needed caffeine to keep me up.  I took a picture so you can make it at home!


The dinner menus were based on cities in the Roarin' 20s - got to rep Los Angeles!
 
Got to meet one of the lovely couples that got married during the Same Love performance - Wendy Diaz and Monique Flores!



10pm - Ciara performed with her cute little baby bump and sounded SO GOOD!


12am - home in my pajamas!

You basically got a program if you attended the GRAMMYs.  If you attended the after party, you got a bag with the official nominees cd and 5 Gum.  My passes are on the right and you see that red sticker - I could've walked the red carpet!

The best "swag".

Questions from my friends!

Melissa of melissadell.com asked:  What happens during commercials?
It's actually really quiet while the sets are being changed out.  20 seconds before the show goes live again there is a countdown.  LL Cool J doesn't entertain us and we really only saw him about 3x!  

Chris of whatiruninto.com asked:  If you could do it again, what would you do differently? Arrive earlier/later? Dressed up/down? Interviewed attendees? Tweeted celebs while they were on-stage?
I think we arrived at a good time, I would've dressed up a little more and interviewed attendees.  I intended on making Instagram videos but everything is so crazy busy that you just kinda blank out...  I would've tweeted celebs but the reception inside wasn't the best.

Erica asked: Your first reactions, absolute favorite and unforgettable moments. Did you get any goodie bags? 
I flipped out when Beyonce and Jay-Z opened the show.  It was wild.  Meeting Quentin Tarantino was cool and seeing Paris Hilton walk in to the after party when we were walking out was surreal.  She looks like an angel in person, totally flawless.  I could not contain myself when Metallica performed, it was amazing.  Katy Perry and Juicy-J performance was just so weird.  Watching the backs of celebrities dancing during performances was also surreal but also made me feel a little bit stalkerish thinking they were right there in front of me.

Danyelle of thecubiclechick.com asked:  Who really sang. Who didn't?  I'm guessing Taylor Swift didn't really sing but I don't know.  All of them sounded so good.

Ruby of growingupblackxican.com asked: After party what was poppin? Favorite moments?  The after party was intense, like a wedding gone wild.  One of my favorite moments was seeing the couples come out during the Same Love performance and then talking to a few of them at the after party.  

I cannot thank MasterCard enough - this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never ever forget.  Read how I found out I was going to the GRAMMYs here.  #PricelessSurprises 

Happy Thrift Shop Day! #talesfromthethrift

I haven't had a thrifting post in awhile because we just haven't gone thrifting.  I guess it's kinda good we haven't gone because in a week, I scored some amazing vintage goodies.  I was actually going to post this next week but when you wake up to a message from Ruby wishing you a Happy Thrift Shop Day and Marilla doing a thrift shop post shouting you out - you get inspired to get to work!

Behold a Fenton Milk Glass bowl with a cover.  I actually had this in the bottom of Omie's stroller and a few thrifters were just waiting for me to put it back on the shelf.  $10 is usually out of my price range but I had to have it.  This may have been the best rule I broke all year.  Don't you ever question the workmanship on a Fenton piece - it is truly a masterpiece.

It is a little dirty still - I don't have the heart to wash it just yet.  Especially since the sticker is still intact.

My husband has been collecting "Big Eyed Art" for me for awhile now.  Our collection only consists of Lee prints and I have never heard of Ann (is it a knockoff?) Anyways, this is in excellent condition, still wrapped and was only $2!  Now if only he can find me a Lee "bear" print.

Scored this 2 pack of brand new vintage trays for my prop closet!

I have been on the hunt for a good Unicorn piece forever.  And then I laid my eyes on this and had to have her!  My rule of thumb is usually only spending $5 for thrifted art but hey, what's one more dollar for something you really want?

I had to make this picture HDR (High Dynamic Range) to show off the details of this handmade yarn owl from Mexico.  When I saw this figure, it immediately reminded me of breathtaking Huichol bead art.  It was missing a price tag and I was dreading what the price would be (or in some cases, I would have to wait the next day for them to price it) but it was only $1.99 - he had to come home with us.  If anyone has info on this yarn piece, let me know!  

What thrift store treasures have you found lately?  

The New Children's Museum - San Diego, CA

We recently went on a last minute staycation to our favorite city, San Diego!  One of our must-see stops:  The New Children's Museum!  The reason why I wanted to visit is because they commission art pieces directly from leading contemporary artists and their themes are designed to help visitors think, play and create!  Trash is the current exhibition and the mission is to change how we see trash, and changing perspective starts by asking more questions.

How do we decide what is trash?
How does your trash impact the lives of others?
How can we imagine new possibilities, and a new future for our trash?





Duke jumped right in and started exploring.  We all wanted to venture off on our own though!  There were so many things to look at and so many things to do.

My husband and I were so excited to see Vik Muniz as one of the artists.  We watched a documentary called, "Waste Land" about his work.


This post is heavy on the pictures... there is more
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Soy Sauce Salsa #KikkomanSabor

I can only speak for my state but California is big on salsa.  We love our salsas.  You see them everywhere.  Salsa should be the official condiment of the state.  There are hundreds of variations of salsa - spicy, sweet, traditional and new.  The most common are pico de gallo (my favorite!), salsa verde and salsa rojo.  But have you ever heard of salsa made with Kikkoman Soy Sauce?  Of course there was a reason why I'm giving a little history lesson on salsa!

The first time my Mexican husband Chris tried fina'dene he called it "Islander Salsa".  My Islander side of the family makes a version of salsa with Kikkoman Soy Sauce.  My Papa calls it "the sauce" or "da sauce".  The smell of finadene will make your mouth water and eventually pucker when you taste it - it has the right touch of POW!  Just like everyone has their own version of salsa - finadene is made different too.  Most of the recipes call for calamansi juice (or lemon juice) with white onions and sometimes cherry tomatoes.  My version is super simple, fresh and HOT.  Enjoy!  


Fina'dene Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Kikkoman Soy Sauce
• 1 cup White Vinegar
• 2 Roma Tomatoes 
• 4 Green Onions 
• 4-6 Asian Chili Peppers 

Fina'dene Directions

• Mix Kikkoman Soy Sauce and white vinegar, set aside
• Chop or crush chili peppers (Crushing the chili peppers will make it really hot)
• Add chili peppers to soy sauce and vinegar mix, let it sit for 30 minutes 
• Chop tomatoes and green onions - Add to mix just before serving 

It is perfect on tacos, bbq meat, chicken, fish, rice, etc.  You can even use it as a base for ceviche.  

The "Asian chili pepper" that is supposed to be used in finadene is called donne' or Guam boonie pepper.  It has an unofficial Scoville rating of 140,000 placing it in one of the top five hottest pepper categories (more than 20x hotter than a jalapeno pepper).  A few years ago, our neighbor had a donne' tree - I would sneak over to pick a few.  The tree eventually died so I started looking everywhere from ethnic markets to farmers markets.  I now get a small bag of Asian chili peppers (aka Japones or Thai chili peppers - they are tiny and red) from 99 Ranch Market.  

Disclosure:  This is a compensated post in collaboration with Kikkoman and Latina Bloggers Connect.  All opinions are my own.