The Rosa Chronicles: The Ups, the Downs, and the Wardrobe Changes

Vacation is over. Conference is done with. Now back to reality. Y ahí es donde la puerca entorchó el rabo (this is difficult to translate, but it means "this is where things get difficult.') It was time to get back into routines. I generally handle routines well; in fact, I welcome routines as they keeps me focused. I like knowing what is happening, when and where. Little did I know that our home routines had been seriously altered and that we had to adjust to a new reality! Amanda's and Ileana's new school schedules are crazy! It keeps them away from home during evenings, sometimes as late as 9:30 p.m. Needless to say, this threw our routines out of the window. We come home and there's nobody here. And because it is weird cooking for one or two people only, (then again, I don't like cooking much!) we have resorted to ordering out quite a bit. Yeah...unhealthy stuff, big portions...and no leftovers for next day. Right now, I am in the middle of that tangl

After that wonderful Hawaiian vacation, we came back to reality and the daily routines. We all had some adjustments to make, particularly with the jet lag, but me, with my insomnia, it took me a bit longer to get back on track. And to top it off, I only had about a week and a half to get adjusted, as I had to pack again to attend the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) 2013, which was taking place in New Orleans, LA. I was very excited to go to USCA. It was going to be a great opportunity to network with colleagues in the HIV/AIDS field, many of whom I had met in 2012 at the  XIX International AIDS Conference , which took place in Washington, DC. Last year, I was selected by the National Latino AIDS Action Network (NLAAN) to be an Embajadora  at the conference. As an Embajadora (Ambassador), I covered various of the conference sessions and shared this information through a blog and other social media outlets, like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Some other people I had met i

I have not written in a while. In fact, it has been more than a month since the last time I wrote! But it has been a very busy month, with many activities, a lot of achievements, changes, and new plans for the upcoming months. A month without writing is a long time, so this is going to be a multi-part blog, with the first installment being posted today. Here's Part I: Hawaii - Wonderful vacation! Andrew, the girls and I went on vacation to Hawaii, and what a great experience it was! We stayed in Oahu, and spent 9 wonderful days there. We had a couple of activities scheduled, like visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center   where we took part of the Ali'i Luau, which included visits to villages of the Islands Nations of Polynesia (Tonga, Tahiti, Marquesas, Hawaii, Fiji, Aotearoa, and Samoa), Hula lessons, a canoe pageant , and of course, a delicious dinner, followed by a fantastic show, Ha - Breath of Life .  My Bear and I at the Ali'i Luau We also went snorkeling, wh