Day of the Dead in San Diego

Hey There:

After Halloween, we have el Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. I'll be lazy here and just copy and past what's written on Wikipedia click on the link to read more about it:

"Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1–2, in connection with theCatholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts."

Now for my part, on November 1st I went to Chicano Park for their celebration, which was very subdued, a big altar at the statue of Emiliano Zapata and several smaller ones at the center kiosk. What I liked about it was a an old lady telling stories to people around her, signing and giving prayers. I gave several of the names of my own relatives for the prayers.

I went to Old Town on November 2nd and it was way different, about 40 altars inside the restaurants, stores and museums. Lots of people walking around with their faces painted as Day of the Dead skulls and some dressed in Victorian style dress. In one of the museums a lady agreed to let me record her explanation of the celebration.

In this video, you'll get to hear the explanation and signing, as well as the altars and part of a candlelight procession which started at the Whaley House and ended in el Camposanto

Now this video was totally by chance, I had no idea they had tours, as I was walking by The Cosmopolitan Hotel I noticed a group going into a tour and I got in it! The tour is about 15 minutes and this clip is longer than what I normally add, but the ghost stories are very cool!

And this is a clip of the Ghost Adventures mentioned at the Tour:

Photo Shoot at the Railroad Tracks

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It's starting to be a tradition, once a year my friend Blanca of SinSemilla Photography and I do a photo session just for fun. We did one at a golf course, another one in Heritage Park and El Camposanto cemetery in Old Town and this time her vision was a girly type shoot at railroad tracks. Of course, I immediately volunteered to be the model, had the perfect dresses, accessories and lipstick, so off we went.




Click this link to view all the pictures taken.

Lots of thanks to:

SinSemilla Photography

Effie's Heart

Romantic Rock Designs

Sea Life Aquarium

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I recently was invited to an SDBloggers event at Sea Life Aquarium, the event was also sponsored by BuyWithMe.com

Now the cool thing about Vlogging is that I don't have to write too much, so I leave you with the videos and some of the pics I took from the event. You can see the rest of the pics I took on My Facebook Profile.

Starfish inside an Abalone shell

Blood Orange soda with Octopus gummies

My First Vlog

Hey There:

As I get deeper and deeper into Social Media, one of my resolutions for 2011 was to start doing some Vlogging (Video Blog). Originally I wanted just to display images and use only my voice as a narrator or music, but alas, the very first one I did was of me talking directly to the camera.

First of all, never thought I'd have the balls to do it, and second I did try over and over again to only show my nails, as you will see in the clip I'm posting here. Good thing I had a great topic so I could do the video; I made a blog entry at StyleBust.com called "Nail Polish Strips" in it I review Sally Hansen's Salon Effects strips, give information about other brands and show off my own nails.

This short one minute clip took me two days and easily 15 attempts before I was satisfied. I used a Samsung video recorder, also tried my Flip camera and finally it was the webcam on my laptop that did the trick. As a first attempt it's not bad, I still need to learn more about lighting, how to speak directly to the camera, apply my make-up better, and learn how to be more fluent.

I do have to admit I liked doing it, I don't cringe when I see myself on YouTube and I know I'll be making more of these in the future.