Halloween 2009

My brother Alfredo is the most amazing and creative human being I know and he decorated the house for Halloween, ENJOY!!! I did not participate because I just had major surgery and was just not in the mode!!

Lilliana Jae Hernandez, 7/16/2009

Remember the wedding I went to, Jacob and Rebekah, well they were pregnant and their little angel was born 7/16/2009 and then they called and asked me to be her God-Mother, I was so overcome with emotion I cried for about two days, I know, I'm a freek. It's just such and incredible honor and I will live up to being the best God-Mother on earth. Here's my little angel, she's sooooooo beautiful, just like her momma.

My 25th Anniversary

So we got back from our Chicago road trip and my friend Sharon got a few good friends together to celebrate my big day on 9/3/2009, WOW, had fun.

Chicago, 2009

My father used to work in a steel mill when we lived in Indiana, at Inland Steel. He was forced to retire when he suffered is first massive heart attack and after a quadruple bypass, he earned his high school diploma then moved the family to Texas. So, ever since he retired, very Summer he attends a retiree picnic in Indiana and this time, I drove my parents to Indiana from Houston. The weather was awesome and he had a great time. They saw many lifelong family friends, nephews and I got to hang with my two lifelong friends Frank and Stephanie.

Arturo and the family visit our new home

Arturo brought the brood to visit, we had fun and played games and stay up late and had a great time.

Missy's Pregnant and here's the brood

Besides loving my little daughter Cachi, I'd kill for Missy. You just don't understand, she's sooooooo YUMMY. Missy is my sister Cecy's daughter. She's sooooo precious. So my brother Alfredo has a Pomeranian also, so we breaded Sparky and Missy, they are both AKC children and then she have birth to the sweetest little boy and girl, but sadly the little boy named Sparkling King George, died before he was birthed, but he was precious and the little girl is just PERFECT. She loves to chase after her father, it's hysterical. Missy is such a good mother too and they are both incredibly spoiled. However, my sister is selling her. She's my little Kolache, she was tiny when she was born and the was smaller than a Kolache so I call her my little Kolache.

Antonio Jose Oliva, my beautiful nephew, that would be my brother Arturo's son

My brother has a little boy. I was overwhelmed when I found out about him and it took a little while to finally meet it him, but here he is. He's just like his poppa. Having him here is like seeing Arturo when he was a baby. Homie's got a temper on him and dang, stubborn, but he's sooooo loved. He loves hugging and kissing and just everything. Here he is.......

Jacob and Rebekah's Wedding 2/21/2009

So my darling Jacob and Rebekah get married. I met Jacob Hernandez while I was TDY in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in December, 2001. We instantly connected, he's just an amazing human being. Then I left, then in April, 2002 I came back for a three month TDY and Jaob was still in Riyadh. He's my little brother and I absolutely adore him. Then he and Rebekah met, then I met Rebekah and she's a hair stylist and we became quick friends. Then Jacob left and Rebekah stayed behind and I told her, if God wills this it will last a lifetime, so to make a long story short, they got married, YAY!!!! Jacob's family is the best. We bonded like crazy glue and I had the best time. They are an amazing family, loving, caring, funny, crazy, alcoholics, just like me, YAY. Just kidding people, just good good people. I had so much fun at the wedding. Enjoy the pics.

New house "during"

Ok, so I'm posting, before, during and after. The before is already here somewhere, the day we actually received the keys to the new house. These are during pics, it looks like a disaster but we're getting there, PATIENCE YAGO, PATIENCE!!!!

Snowing in Houston, 2008

So wait wait, the Houston - Baltimore story continues. So Joanne and Kenny asked us to stay with the for a few days and that night we decided, ok, we'd stay. Once I got to bed I started thinking, for whatever reason, that we should continue and get home. Just a feeling, we need to get home so we left. Well, thank God for "that feeling". We left and arrived in Houston at around 4P and for the first time in a very long time, it started to snow. Alfredo and I were at the storage unit, unloading the car and truck because we had to return everything that nite. I ran to the liquor store and bought some warming liquid and continued unpacking. It was pretty cold and it started to snow harder, it was sooooooo much fun. Then Cecy stopped by and we went to dinner these are the pics we took, too much fun!!!!

Joanne and Kenny Strausbaugh

So......Alfredo and I are on our way to Houston from Baltimore and we are going through Louisiana and just outside of New Orleans. It's about 7P and we were driving on the outskirts of New Orleans and I see the name of a place I know.....MANDEVILLE and I say to Alfredo, OMG honey, Joanne and Gunny (aka Kenny). You see my family always heard about Joanne and GUNNY, that's when he was still in the Marine Corps. So my brother says, dude, let's pull over and at least call them. So I give my brother my cell and he calls and Joanne answers. He says, "Joanne, this is Alfredo, Diana's brother" which sent my poor Joanne into a few second panic mode. She thought something had happened to me, but then he explains where we are and they told us where to wait and to go have dinner. So we parked at the Wal-Mart and went to my favorite restaurant in the whole world......Outback Steakhouse, and for a little while we reminisced then we decided to spend the nite. So we went to the house and just caught up. I'm proud to say that my beautiful Joanne is a cancer survivor, so say YAY for Joanne, the girl is a fighter, hell, she's a former MARINE, nothing more to say there. Enjoy a few picks of my lifelong friends.

Alfredo and I meet little Isaac Mehaffie our littlest great-nephew

Sadly, my brother Alfredo got laid off from Joseph A. Bank Clothiers so he decided to move back to Houston, which was the best thing that could happen. So I flew up to Baltimore to drive to Houston. We had a 24ft truck and the 14 ft trailer with his car on it and I drove, it was wayyyyyy fun. Alfredo says I should quit my job and become a truck driver, hmmm, not a bad idea.....NOT. Anywho we decided to drive from Baltimore to Greensboro, NC and spend the nite with Suzie and the children then go see our beautiful niece Raquel, her wonderful husband Luke and meet our little great-nephew Isaac for the first time. He was only a few weeks old but soooooo yummy.

Las Vegas 2008

I finally made it to Las Vegas and I always promised myself, if I ever made it, only one place I'd stay, yup.....THE BELLAGIO!! I went with my bestest, goodest most wonderfullest friend and I had the best time. We walked our legs to death and saw lots, drank, ate and just had the best time. We went to see "The Jubilee" show, pretty cool and absolutely amazing and we sat right at the stage wall, it was a blast. Went to the "The Phantom of the Opera", wow and had an amazing meal at The Venetian Hotel, The Aquaknox. I have to say it was the most INCREDIBLE, UNBELIEVABLE AND ABSOLUTE PERFECT meal in my entire life, UNFORGETTABLE!!! The weather was delicious, the hotel was off the charts and everything was just.....PERFECT. If you ever go, stay at the Bellagio and get yourself a view of the dancing waters, that was so awesome. Enjoy the pics!!!

THE HOUSE IS DONE!!!

The dream has come true, I can't believe it, on Friday 09 Jan 09 I went to do the first walk through and the house looks amazing and it's ready!!! I should close on Friday 16 Jan 09. If not then, it will be on 23 Jan 09 (my 47th birthday) now wouldn't that be the most amazing gift I could receive!! However, I'm certain it will be 16 Jan 09. As in the Latino culture, "mi casa es tu casa" in English, "my home is your home". So, that being said, if you want to come visit your home and you're flying in, Hobby is closest to the house, but if it's an international flight, Intercontinental and I'll be your personal chauffuer. If you're driving in, call me and I'll guide you. I pray to see you all come visit and just hang out. I know you'll enjoy your time here. God is good and merciful and I'm eternally grateful for all God has provided in my life. The only thing I can ask for is a "life partner", that would make the fairy tale PERFECT. But for now I have this amazing new partner in my life "HOME" and that's more than I can ask for.

My trip to San Antonio

My friend Gerardo, whom I met in Riyadh, invited me to visit him and his family so I could see our friends that we also met in Riyadh, Koby and Joe, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. On Saturday we went out and got home at 0400 hrs, wow, haven't done that in a while. Then Sunday G had a cook out at his house so we could watch the Cowboys - Eagles game, WOW, THAT WAS PAINFUL TO WATCH AND TO REMEMBER, but oh well. I got to meet G's family, that was so much fun. I also got to meet Koby and Joe's family, that was great. Then on Monday we went to the Alamodome to watch the Missouri / Northwestern college game, it was awesome and I had a great time. Thanks G and Jen, I had a blast.

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike came and destroyed Houston and Galveston. It was absolutely devastating, but my sister Cecy and I survived it. We were without power for nine days and only had cold water. Some days the heat was unbearable, but God blessed us with mild and cool nights otherwise, I would have gone mad. I'm so glad Cecy and I were together, we had lots of fun, played scrabble, talked smack all the time and just vegged. I hope this does not happen again but if it does, believe me, I'll be ready.

My trip to Nairobi, Kenya and Safari

I had the unbelievable experience of going to Kenya and going on Safari with my beautiful and amazing friend Donna Chabot. Because she knows everything we stayed at the best places and had the best time.

My trip to Singapore, Singapore

I thought it would be nice to go visit my dearest friend Tracy Brown. Tracy and I met in Riyadh and she's the bestest friend so I decided to go see her in her new surroundings, sadly, not thinking, I had not realized it was Easter Week, I know, I suck but I still had a great time. I went around everywhere by myself during the day then hung with Tracy in the evenings to do whatever she wanted. It was hotter than hot and humid like you can't even imagine but I had a good time. We decided we wanted to go to Phuket, Bali or Borneo anything, but because of the Easter weekend, it was impossible. So one of the ladies in consular hooked us up with some tickets to Tioman Island, that was an adventure, it took forever to get there but we had a great time. I was roasted and burnt like never before, but who cares, I'll get brown later, it's all good.I had a really had a great time and it was awesome to be able to see Tracy and hang with her. Enjoy the pics.

My trip to Male, Republic of the Maldives

The Maldive Islands, the pictures tell the story but here's my story. One very cold nite when I was living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I was depressed because that "man" issue was just not working and it was snowing outside. I was channel surfing and I love the Travel Channel, Discovery, NatGeo and when I clicked on the Travel Channel and it said "The World's Greatest Beaches" and they were about to show the number one beach at that time so I decided to watch it. They showed the Maldive Islands and I was stunned to think something so beautiful was out there in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I thought, I can dream to wish to someday be there. Never in a million years did I ever think I'd make it there so when we finally arrived and the sea plane landed next to the landing strip and we boarded the boat to the resort I completely broke down and started sobbing. I was so overwhelmed that another dream had become reality for me and all I could think was thank you God for allowing me to see the beauty of this amazing planet and thanking my parents for always encouraging me to soar and spread my wings and teach me to have no fear and always GO FOR IT!!! Enjoy

My trip to Paris, France with my brother Alfredo

Paris was the an amazing experience. I arrived and it was colder then cold but I headed to my friend, Ramona's house. Her apartment is awesome and it's close to everything. The first 8 days I was on my own and every morning I'd get up early and hit the streets and I'd go to the embassy to go home with Ramona so we could prepare dinner. Then on the 9th day, my beloved brother Alfredo arrived. I was beyond thrilled to see him there. As promised, the list of places he'd asked me not to visit I did not, so that I could live that experience with him. We had the best time, at the best food and drank the best wine. It was cold cold cold but I didn't care. My brother walked me to death and it was all worth it. On the 16th day I left Paris with a sad and heavy heart. A part of my heart is still in Paris and I will return one day but this time it will be in the Summer. Enjoy the photos.