Bring on 2011!

Once again (thank God), the year has come to an end. This year has probably been the best year of my life. I went to Europe, I was invited to fashion week, I met Juan Carlos Obando, and design colleges have been calling me even though all I wanted was a pamphlet!

So I just want to reflect on some of the best moments of this year!

In Chronological Order-

I threw a birthday party for my dearest sister Maria Teresa. It was rock themed and just AMAZING!

Then I went to Europe, which was AMAZING.

Then Ximena's play (Guys and Dolls) and it was so funny and I just love spending time with her!

Then when Maeve, Maria Teresa, and I went to the mall, and we just stayed there all day.  It was one of the funnest days of my life.

Then we went to my lovely PE teacher's mother's ranch which was a blast.

Maeve's Halloween Party.

Paulinas 15th birthday party.

Going back to Catechism, the most wonderful place on earth.

Piano lessons with Mrs. Blanca who is just plain amazing.

New York Fashion Week!

Going to visit my Aunt in Denver.

Visiting Woodlands Academy in Denver.

Going to this rinky dinky hole in the wall to see a concert with Andrea, Maeve, Kevin, Kate, my Mom, and Maria Teresa.

Picking Maeve up from her TERRIBLE school and taking her to see Harry Potter.

Watching Hellboy with my Grandmother (yes, you read that correctly).

Getting my Givenchy Style.com 10th anniversary limited addition shirt!

Getting TWO pairs of Ray Ban sunglasses from Maeve and Caroline, I love you guys.

Getting my YSL sunglasses in the mail.  I have to do a whole post on them.

And so many more moments that I'm very grateful for.

This New Year, I'll post about all those special moments of 2010 within the first five months of 2011.

Have a great New Year everyone!

2011, I'm ready for you.

-Sophia

Goodbye October

So October came to an end and I'm surprised at how fast the year passed me by.

Here is what happened this October.

1. My little brother's Birthday. I actually missed his party because I had a terribly managed day and I had a bunch of work to do and a class to attend. I didn't feel too bad though because I spent his actual birthday with him and he didn't really miss me at all. And I had to stay with my Grandmother who didn't want to go and was terrified of staying alone.

2. My Grandmother came for a two week visit. This is my father's mother so she only speaks Arabic. Yeah... slight inconvenience there. She was planning on living with us but she got sick of us. Apparently she was lonelier here with 8 people in the house than in Los Angeles living alone. She actually gave us many reasons.

• You are all terrible cooks and the food is way better in Los Angeles.
• I see more people living alone then I do living with a family of 8.
• The weather is nicer in Los Angeles. (This is very true, but it isn't not like she ever went outside.)
• I hate staying alone in the house.
• Your cooking sucks.
• Your cooking sucks.
• Did I mention your cooking sucks?
• And the produce is better and less expensive in Los Angeles.

But to be fair she had a very different stay in mind. She had the illusion that we were all going to sit down and watch TV with her the whole day and cook complicated Egyptian cuisine. But her biggest fantasy was that her son was going to spend everyday with her.

My Mom doesn't even watch the news anymore because she's so busy. We all have school work to finish and this year has been bonkers.

My dad is a working man if there is anything that needs to be done he wants to get it done. If there are leaves outside that can be raked, you can't keep him from raking those leaves. And on top of that he owns a business. His store closes at 5pm, and my dad usually leaves at 6:30 or 7:00pm.

I think the final straw was when my dad mentioned that he would be gone her last weekend here to take my brother to a basketball tournament. And to make matters worse he was cleaning up the yard when he informed her of this, and my grandmother was livid because she wanted him to come inside and stop working. From what I understood between the hand gestures and spontaneous English word, the conversation (argument) went like this.

Grandmother- You do not spend 1 hour with me! And you leave to drive far, far away and leave me with your wife who can't cook!?!

* My mom's actually a great cook. None of us were really prepared for someone who would send dishes back after looking at them.

Dad- I have to take Juan Antonio to his tournament. I have spent time with you, but you need to understand that I work and can't spend all my time here with you.

Grandmother- Fine, fine, leave me just leave! I don't even want to look at you!

Dad- Ok, bye I'm going to go finish cleaning up the yard.

That was an hour long conversation reduced to my interpretation.

The happiest I saw her was when she was packing her bags and the day she left. But although she did not stay as long as we were hoping, we did enjoy her and at that age it is very, very hard for old people to adjust to new things. She really is a very loving grandmother and despite hating my Mom's cooking, she has always told my mom that she gave her the most beautiful grandchildren out of all her grandchildren. My mom practically dies from embarrassment every time she says this.

I mean, really, she has five other grandchildren besides us and one great-grandchild, who is, by the way, the most beautiful thing in the world. Thankfully we have the most wonderful relatives that do not mind her saying these things and if they do they never express it.

I actually meant to post this the first of November but I forgot, so I really have no recollection of what happened in October. This may have to do with the mysterious bump on my head that my mom's freaking out about.

I have been forgetting things so maybe I do have some huge cancer buildup in my brain that's making me loose my memory.... Or maybe a calcium deposit or, how my wonderful PE teacher would say, a Unicorn Horn. She had one too but she got it removed at the Mayo Clinic.

Which reminds me of the most depressing and terrible thing that happened to me in October.

Miss Karen, my wonderful, amazing, emotionally torturous (that's an inside joke that we have), beautiful, fun, encouraging, tough-as-nails, yet as loving as can be, frank, fit and all around perfect PE teacher who I blogged about having to leave to Oman came back to visit.

This time I managed not to cry. Because when she left I cried, and when she came back I cried tears of joy. I have shed a lot of tears over Miss Karen now that I think about it. I went through this stage where I was terrified of her and cried everyday before she would come to coach us. I am so glad my mom told me to suck it up because I can not imagine my life without Miss Karen. I am going to start bawling which probably has to do with the fact that I am verrrrry tired and have two tests to take that I think I may fail.

Anyways, Miss Karen came back and took us to her mom's ranch where we had so much fun. The adventures were countless. I will have to make a special post about Oma (Miss Karen's mom) and her ranch later. Then we had tons of PE classes where even though I was wheezing during our jogs I was surprisingly happy.

Then Miss Karen brought up a very taboo topic. A new PE teacher to substitute while she is in Oman, Jeff.

Although I can easily be labeled a social butterfly I really hate being around new people for extended periods of time. I do not really mind new people like at a party, but the idea of having to see someone two to three times a week and having them see me trying to finish one push up is pretty much unfathomable.

Jeff (AKA Goliath) is a basketball player who is 24 and is living here in Texas because....I actually have no idea why he is here. But it has to do with this dream of coaching the college basketball team and getting a scholarship in return. I think it went like that. And he is a very good basketball player so he could do it. I mean you should see him, you pretty much want to drop the ball and run.

I think Jeff has a LOT of free time on his hands because he is as fit as you can possibly get. And then compare that to us and you have six kids passing out while he is still on jump rope after twenty minutes. And I can take quite a bit of the jump rope if I do say so myself. But geez... Jeff never stops?! I did not know it was physically possible to have that much energy. I mean he kills Ximena in the how much energy you can have in one body game! Ximena who was the most hyperactive person I knew until Jeff came along. I didn't even know that could happen.

 I have to go to sleep if I am going to have any energy left for next week's PE class with our new coach. I really need my whole week's worth of energy to survive class with Jeff.

And yes, we do like him, if you guys are wondering. We no longer sit around and wait for Miss Karen to whip us into shape, we have Jeff now to prepare us for her coming.

So goodnight world (or morning depending on where you are),

Sophia

Thanks

First off, I would like to apologize for not posting, but it's been hectic. So now for my post.


Tomorrow is Thanksgiving when the Indians and the Pilgrims got together and ate a bunch of food. There has recently been a turn of events in my life that has made me realize that  I have so much more to be thankful for than I am. You know, sometimes you just take things for granted. 


 For 8 years, my siblings and I have been fortunate enough to have a private gym teacher, Ms. Karen, who comes to our house to give us a class. We jog and do push ups and "harder stuff" for a while and then we play a game. Miss Karen's husband was just offered a job. Now, I am happy for Mr.Otto but this job happens to be in Oman. Now you can imagine my distress when my gym teacher that I have known for ages and that has been such an inspiration and incredible influence in my life is moving to Oman.


 So this Thanksgiving, I realized that everything changes in life. This year has been a year of many changes for me. And this one will be the hardest for me. When Miss Karen told me over the phone I nearly dropped it and as soon as she hung up I burst into tears. Then she came over to have class with us and I burst into tears in front of her. Miss Karen and I have been together for years and in all the years I have not once seen her cry, not even when she pulled her hamstring right off her bone. And when Miss Karen (almost) cried silently, this made me want to cry harder but she told me to stop. 


So this Thanksgiving count your blessings because they can disapear within a five minute call. 


Miss Karen leaves in January and I'm going to enjoy every single class I can with her.


Don't just count your blessings tomorrow but always think about how fortunate you are. Even if you don't have much you still have these three things.
1. Life
2. Someone who loves you and or all your fingers
3. A computer to read this blog.


Thank you,
Sophia(even though this says Maria T. Its really me I was to lazy to switch users.)


P.S. Miss Karen if your reading this I love you verrrry verrrrry much!!!!