Let it snow!

Last night we were so excited carving our pumpkin, only to wake up today to SNOW! Yes, snow in October! Halloween is not even here, yet the ground is all covered in white and it is freezing! Thank God for heating!

Don't get me wrong, though. I think that snow falling is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. And the scenery is absolutely gorgeous: green and orange trees covered in frost with a white ground underneath.

But come on, in October!?! Last year we were tired by the Snow in February and it only started snowing the day after Christmas. Can you imagine this year? And then people ask what is Global Warming!? Also, when you add the factors pregnant, walking and NYC to last year's winter the outcome was not pretty at times. Just imagine all the gray/black slush in the streets while a heavily pregnant woman is trying to make her way to class. Ay bendito!

The stairs of our building

On the other hand, I am kind of excited for this is Miss Eli's first snow! I just think that when she is old enough to read her Baby Book she will not believe that under the heading first snow, it will say October 29th, 2011! Or maybe she will? Who knows with Global Warming.

Since today is a Snow/Stay inside kind of day, I decided that I needed to bake something that smells as Fall. So I went into my recipe list and found this one for Pumpkin Banana Bread, low in calories! I ended up making a few variations, like only using one ripe banana and using whole wheat pastry flour instead of whole wheat flour.  And let me tell you, it did smell like Fall and tasted even better! :)

Getting ready!

Doesn't it look yum?

Pumpkin time!

Believe it or not, today we carved our first pumpkin (well, more like I carved our first pumpkin!). Yup, we don't have this tradition in Puerto Rico although a very small minority may do it. The thing is, Puertorrican pumpkins are not like the orange pumpkins in the States. Our pumpkins are greenish in color, that look more like this. 

I was very excited to finally get to carve a pumpkin. I had bought the little pumpkin carving kit like 2 years ago, ever since we got married, but DH (dear husband) was not to fond of the idea LOL! But tonight he saw that I was down and were not doing anything, so he asked me if we wanted to. That really cheered me up! Downside: I had to do all the dirty job: transfer the pattern and make the actual carving. In the end, it was all worth it because I had fun and the pumpkin does not look bad at all. :)

Pumpkin and materials

DH helped with cleaning the pumpkin seeds

I finished carving pumpkin from the inside to make it easier while carving the design.

Transferring the design. I ended up free drawing part of it because the design was bigger than the pumpkin!

This is the finished pumpkin!

I had gotten a light that changes colors; it turns pink, blue and green! 

Tourists

It has been a few days since my last entry. Well, we have been busy touring and sightseeing with our dear friend, Maura, who came to visit us from P.R. And she came at a great time: reading week (which means more free time for me though not so much for DH), October (not too hot, not too cold), Fall (the beautiful trees changing color), and the time in my life where I am SAHM (stay at home mom). The only negative thing  is that I have not been able to continue my P90X workouts or eat as healthy as we (or rather I) was trying to. But we still managed some exercise or activity, so I don't feel that guilty.

I went to pick her up at Penn Station in Manhattan and from there took her to our old neighborhood in SoHo. She had her first slice of NY pizza and she loved it! Did I mention that she had never been to NY?! So that was awesome! We also did some walking around SoHo and its many boutiques, even by DASH which is totally off limits to normal people like us! Afterwards, we stopped by Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken to buy some canolis and biscottis. YUM!

The next day, we went to the Statue of Liberty which is something that all tourist should do. If you have not, you must at least once and get up to the pedestal. The view is all WORTH IT! Before you die of a heart attack, we went from NJ so it was waaayyy easier and almost no lines! You could see the excitement in her face when the ferry was approaching the island. And even more when we were at the security checkpoint at the entrance to the pedestal and museum. ...and then it was time to climb up to the pedestal, all 153 steps of it!! (to be honest, we were given the option to take the elevator, but I wanted her to have the whole experience, so we were brave and got to the top!)

We were out of breath, but it was a nice exercise LOL. The view up there was beautiful and breathtaking, plus the day was as clear as ever. We got some nice shots with the Manhattan skyline as backdrop.

Moi at the Statue of Liberty

And today, we went to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, or rather where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed. Anybody know when each were signed? :) The tour at Independence Hall explains all of that history and more, including the infamous room where the documents were signed and the original chair in which Washington sat presiding the Constitutional Convention.

City Hall

LOVE park

Liberty Bell

Independence Mall

All in all, we have had a lot of fun! In addition, Eli has been going to all this national monuments and experiencing more history than hubby and me at her age. She probably won't remember, but she will have the pics and we will try to keep teaching her about history and culture as she grows up.

Eli and DH at Independence Mall

Don't forget to check out my store!

One year enough for placing baby in oven?

Someone posted about the recent sentencing of a man in California accused of putting his infant son inside an oven causing him second and third-degree burns. When I clicked on the link to read more about the news, I was in shock at the sentencing - just one year in jail including time served, which leaves him with a few more months in jail! My next thought was: is that really fair?

The accused was convicted of one felony count of child endangerment and one felony count of cruelty to a child, still only sentenced to one year. The incredible thing about the whole story: allegedly the man put the baby inside the hot oven to teach him a lesson about hot surfaces!!! The nerve of some people; yes, he does not deserve to be even called a parent.

Things like this are what make me doubt the whole justice system sometimes. I know that as an attorney you have to defend the Constitution, which includes the Bill of Rights, and you have to give adequate representation to the client, but even to this extent? I don't have all the details of the conviction, but my best guess is that the guy pleaded guilty and made a deal with the Prosecutor for a lower sentence. In federal court, plea agreements are not binding to the Court, but I don't know about California courts.

I remember last Fall in my Criminal Procedure course (during my LL.M.) discussing the topic of plea agreements: should we keep them? Do they have more advantages or disadvantages for the criminal system? There were people in favor, including the professor,  and people against them. Fact is that around 90% of criminal cases are solved through plea agreements, so they are good for judicial economy. But do they help towards achieving justice? What do you think?

If you want to read the article, click here.

My new business adventure

I had been contemplating for a while the idea of starting my own business since I cannot find a legal job in this economy and I am still waiting for Bar results. The question was then: but a business of what? or in what field? I did some research and decided that I would give AVON a shot, since it is something I can do from my home and in the neighborhood and still be a full-time stay at home mom. And I know that AVON offers great quality as I have used their products myself for many years!

So today I finally joined the AVON team! And now buying on AVON is easier than ever: you can go to my online store and order online. You get free shipping on orders over $30 and it gets shipped right to your door. Don't forget to check Mark products geared towards a younger clientele and the new line for babies, TinyTilia. Also you can Like my Facebook page: AVON by Griselle Díaz. Have fun shopping!

Weekend fun

This was a fun packed weekend! Saturday morning we headed to NJ's MVC so I could get my license. (That was not really fun, but needed). We got there around 10:30a.m. From the outside it looked as there was not a lot of people, but oh boy was I wrong! I made #177 to get my ID's checked and they were calling 140's still. After I passed the ID verification, they gave me a permit, then I went and stood in line to take the written test (yes, I had to take the test because PR is considered out-of-country and not out-of-state so no swapping here!). I sat for the test in its touch screen (aha, igualito a Puerto Rico - just like PR) and what do you know? Only 1 wrong! So I headed back to the ID checking line (they check your ID everytime) to get my official license. At that point, the lady that is about to do the process says that one of my ID's was not valid, because it was printed from the Internet! I was about to have a heart attack and had to explain how it was okayed three times before. Luckily, the supervisor agreed and I got my license. Yay!

For dinner, we had some good friends over (Y + S), another young married couple who live next to us. Since they do not know much about Puertorrican culture, I cooked arroz con gandules and  pasteles. They were yuuummy!! And for dessert, keeping up with the Fall food, I made homemade vanilla cupcakes with pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting. I used this recipe from skinnytaste.com for the frosting: pumpkin-cupcakes-with-pumpkin-spiced  The dinner party was a success!

Sunday, we decided that we would go pumpkin picking at a nearby pumpkin patch:  a farm on East Windsor, that hosts the Field of Terror. When you get to the farm, they have picked pumpkins in the entrance that you can choose and pay or you can get on the hayride that takes you either to the corn maze or pumpkin patch. We got off at the pumpkin patch and started looking for the perfect pumpkin and we found it! A huge pumpkin and so Halloween looking! The whole experience was new and amazing for us and it is Miss Eli's first time as well. Here are some of the pics from the pumpkin patch:

Inconsistencies?

A few days ago, one of Puerto Rico's national's newspapers printed a news article related to a warning made by the Ñeta organization - "Asociación Pro Derechos y Rehabilitación del Confinado" (Association for Rights and Rehabilitation of Prisoners). This organization was created in 1981 by an inmate to protect himself and other inmates from gangs inside prisons. However, its name suggests another thing.

The warning made was toward criminals out in the streets who have brought to daylight their "business" with other criminals, i.e., usually related to gang wars or drug debts. The problem: they are taking innocent people down with them. So part of the solution that Ñeta is proposing when sending this warning is that once those criminals are prosecuted and imprisoned, they will "apply their internal regulations" to all these people. After I read this article, I couldn't help but wonder: is this really what Puerto Rico needs right now? Is this going to end criminal activity? I don't think so.

I spent last semester in a Seminar (as part of my LL.M. studies) dedicated to Retributivism in Criminal Law. We studied how the whole prison system in America has become something opposite to what it was supposed to be. The prison system was created in the late 1800's to reform the types of punishment that existed, i.e., torture and corporal punishment. However, some suggest that it has turned into something worse. Professor James Gilligan (he was co-teaching the course) has studied and written various books on how prisons instead of rehabilitating or helping criminals, is making more criminals and generating more violence. Furthermore, studies put the U.S. as the no. 1 country in imprisonment rates: 1 out 100 people are behind bars. But has this brought criminality down? No, it has not. 

For me it is clear, that more imprisonment is not the answer. Neither is having the Ñetas take justice into their own hands. The solution, I believe, lies with rehabilitation of the criminal, as the name of their organization suggests. The Government needs to invest time and resources in fomenting the rehabilitation of convicts and helping them back into society so they can be better individuals. And this is not because two or three people believe in this; this is because the Constitution of Puerto Rico has this as a Constitutional mandate. What is happening that we have not put this into practice yet? First, we look to the U.S. criminal system. And secondly, politicians need to sell the "Mano Dura" and the War against crime to win elections. So until we as a nation recognize the power behind rehabilitation and the mechanisms to implement it, crime rates will continue increasing.

I recommend reading Gilligan's book: Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic. http://www.amazon.com/Violence-Reflections-National-James-Gilligan/dp/0679779124

Here is the link to the news article published in El Nuevo Día.
http://www.elnuevodia.com/netashacenadvertenciaagatilleros-1090033.html

Homemade baby food

Eli is turning 5 months old tomorrow. However, I won't start her on solids until 6 months or the closer I can get to that date, per recommendation of her pediatrician. That does not mean I cannot have fun already: preparing and freezing her baby food!! I have been following the guidelines on
www.wholesomebabyfood.com. I highly recommend it.

You may think why go through all the trouble of making your own baby food if there are already pre-made jars on the market? Well, we are not vegan or organic, but I do believe in giving our baby healthy food. In addition, we have started eating healthier as well to try teaching healthy eating habits to her even at this early age. Plus, by making our own baby food I know exactly what goes into her mouth. Hopefully, she will like fruits and veggies while growing up!  I grew up eating homemade baby food, don't know if by Puertorrican tradition or my mom just liked to make it.

Here are some pics of what I have been making:

These are some apples and pears.

 All ready in their vacuum sealed bags!

And since I was taking pics of my freezer, I decided to take a picture of my milk stash! 5 months of breastfeeding and still going strong.


And this pic is an added bonus. This is Eli's latest masterpiece on my iPad! Did I mention she will be 5 months tomorrow! :)

Can babies understand more than one language?

A friend posted a link to this news article by the New York Times - Hearing Bilingual. I though it was an interesting read for all bilingual parents whose babies and children come in contact with more than one language on a daily basis.

In our household, we speak Spanish most of the time but living in NJ, we have to speak English as well. Thus, Eli is constantly in contact with both languages. The question always is: which language do we teach her first? According to research studies, bilingual babies can distinguish between languages at a very young age. When reading the article I went back in my head thinking about how Eli reacts to both languages and I think the research might be into something. She in fact does react differently to when it is us speaking to her in Spanish as opposed to someone who is a native English speaker. She will pay more attention and open her eyes real wide to the English speaker as she comes in contact with it less.

So I guess, we will keep talking to her in Spanish all the time and let her come in contact with the English in other settings. Hopefully, she will be bilingual at an early age.

Here is the link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html?_r=2&emc=eta1

Healthy living

Yesterday, it was my turn to go grocery shopping. I left our daughter with Egy (the husband) so I could have the famous "me time" that all new moms need every once in a while. (Too bad that it was the the supermarket, but I still enjoyed every minute of it) While at Shop Rite, I decided that my family has to start eating healthier for  a variety of reasons: we both need to loose weight, we want Eli to learn to eat healthy, and we want to find alternatives to what we already eat. So I decided to buy whole wheat organic couscous, among other things. 

So today, I prepared the couscous along with ground chicken in curry (my very own recipe!). The meal looked very healthy and had a great taste. I say good job for my first try at couscous. After Egy had lunch and headed to class, it was my time to workout to Kempo X from P90X (in my goal to loose the baby weight and I have recently started again my P90X program). Needless to say, it is not easy working out when you have a 5 month old! At least I got half of the workout in.

Now, as I write today's post, I realized that I need to start documenting even more. My new goal is to keep on trying new healthy recipes and photograph them, as well as my P90X transformation. Keep checking in.