A time when a vacation in Mexico wasn't synonymous with a death wish...

As I think back to all the vacations I have been fortunate enough to have taken in my lifetime I remember one place that was a big part of my childhood..it was just south of the border...

Mexico was our hotspot. We vacationed there usually twice a year, once in the summer and once in winter. My parents would rent a house in Las Gaviotas, which was comparable to a housing development on the beaches of southern California, but probably half the price.

It was beautiful. I remember waking my dad up in early in the morning and walking down to the beach collecting all the sea critters we could find, which were usually little crabs and some sea anemones ( I had to recall Nemo struggling how to say that to remember how to spell it just now).

We even spent Christmas down in Mexico one year and it was so much fun..besides the fact that on the first night my dad couldn't get the fireplace going and forgot to turn off the gas so we had a close encounter of the deathly kind...

I have so many memories from our time in Mexico. We're actually secret heroes down there in our go-to shopping center  Puerto Nuevo...

As my parents enjoyed their lobsters and Margaritas, my sister and I noticed a man across the street from the restaurant selling puppies. My dad saw the excitement in our eyes and immediately said  "no way!" I watched as each of the Rottweiler/Pitbull/other viscous dog breed puppies get sold one by one...

I was beyond depressed and made it very known! We finished our meal and walked down the streets of the marketplace. Suddenly a man walks up to us with a little black sock in his hand and it's wiggling around...a puppy was inside!

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY PLEASEE DADDDDYYYYYY??????"

Put a little (or a lot) of liquor in my dad and he can be swayed to buy us things!

Mexico was all about haggling and after my dad got tired of hearing us beg he gave in. It went a little something like this:

"How much for the dog?"
"$60"
"Is it a boy or girl?"
"girl"
"How big is it going to get?"
"uhmm...err...it will stay this small!!"
"well, I only have $40.."

my little sister jumps in..
"No daddy! You have $60! I saw you put that other $20 in your pocket!"
She wasn't keen on the idea of haggling yet.

This is Nnenna...at this point I believe she was barely a week or two old. Her eyes were not even completely open and she was definitely not ready to be separated from her mamma.

As we headed back to San Diego in my mom's then-brand-new Magnum I discovered something horrifying...she was covered in bugs! I began trembling, but knew I couldn't say anything because my mom would freak out as well...I wrapped her in a towel and we set our major puppy heist plan into action!

The moment of truth came when we reached the border...I felt like they would know I had a puppy under my blanket if I didn't pretend to be asleep so that's exactly what I did...when the coast was clear I smiled at the little bundle of joy that was our new addition to the family.

After a few baths and some food, Nnenna became very active. She loved to jump:

Oh, and if you were wondering, that guy totally didn't lie! Look how she stayed the same size and is truly a teacup Chihuahua  -__-

And this is from her slender years! She's quite the chubster now...I'm guessing she is in between a teacup and a normal sized Chihuahua.

When I look at her I think of all of the fun times I had there and how I will probably never get to enjoy it like I did before..

My relatives in southern California tried to go down there soon after news broke of the violence and beheadings and were shocked...Puerto Nuevo was a ghost town...Las Gaviotas is no longer renting out houses...

It's crazy to think that in 2003 my parents renewed their vows down there, thinking that we would all be vacationing there every year.

I'm glad I got to enjoy it while I could and the roughly five years we vacationed down there were some of the best moments of my life. :)

Yummy yummy in my tummy!

That was the perfect balance of honey and chipotle!

Chili's used to be my favorite restaurant. I would meet my mom there when I had breaks between classes and we would eat there at least once every two weeks.

Our favorite meal to devour was their "honey-chipotle chicken crispers". These chicken strips were amazing! They were smothered in sauce and were the perfect balance of spicy and sweet.

We enjoyed our lunch time vacations from our everyday lives and couldn't imagine it any other way.
Our roughly hour-long visits included wonderful conversations with a friendly staff and quick refills of our strawberry lemonades.

Each time we placed our orders the excitement was greater and each time we received our food it tasted even better.


Suddenly, everything changed...

We went to our Chili's and ordered our delectable bites of chicken heaven. The anticipation, as always, was building as the waitress set down our plates...

WHAT?!

They were... dry! Someone decided to get stingy with the sauce and the taste of this meal was ruined. We stared at our plates waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out and yelled that we were getting punk'd... but he didn't show...

We went to that Chili's in Tracy a few more times, hoping everything would be restored, but the beautiful feeling of paradise had already been tainted. What was once our dream escape became about as desirable as someone suggesting that your vacation to the Bahamas be changed to a "staycation" in your boring hometown...

Last week, my mom came to visit me and we were contemplating where to eat and I suggested Chili's. We were both skeptical, remembering our heartbreak from the Chili's that had betrayed us before, but decided to look for one nearby anyways.

There happened to be one on Arden Way, only 10minutes from my apartment.

It took some mental preparation and strong will, but we made it out the door...

We arrived at Chili's and were promptly seated.

Dare we order our fantasy dish? Yes.

Deja vu hit me and my stomach churned in nervous anticipation as we waited for our meals to arrive.

When they finally did it was as though the Chipotle gods themselves showered their amazing sauce all over our plates...there was even enough to dip the fries in!

The fissures of my once-wounded heart sealed back together as I took a bite of my meal.

The service was fantastic. It was as if they knew how the other Chili's had wronged us...

Chili's on Arden Way ( 2100 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA 95825) is the BEST Chili's location to go to for the Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers!

For just $9.99 you can enjoy a piece of chipotle heaven as well!

Monsters+werewolves+vampires+cops?

In the last few years we have seen almost any imaginable combination of vampires, zombies, werewolves and other supernaturals, but there has been one combination that hasn't been seen very often:

COP + SUPERNATURAL !



Friday night, NBC aired the pilot of their new series "Grimm". This show gathers inspiration from the stories of "The Brothers Grimm"and the pilot revealed that each episode will focus on one of the stories.

This episode was based on the story of "Red Riding Hood". The main character is a homicide detective named Nick who begins to notice strange things in the people around him. When he is walking out of the courthouse a woman walking by him turns in to a zombie-looking monster, but only he can see it.

It is not explained why he can see these things so for the first half of the show it is easy to believe that this man is losing his mind.

We find out that he has just bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend and plans to propose when he gets home. When he arrives a relative of his is sitting at the kitchen table saying that she has something important to tell him.

This elderly woman talks him outside and they are attacked by what looks like the grim reaper. Nick shoots him and the monster turns into a normal man and his relative goes into a coma after telling him that what he has been seeing is real and that he must continue the fight.

This moment was meant to be suspenseful, but it was painfully easy to see coming.

All Nick knows is that he is now a "Grimm" and starts searching his relative's trailer for more information. The next day he meets a werewolf, or rather a "blutbaden", who turns out to be a "good guy" and tries to help explain that Grimms hunt for creatures like him.

The two team up to find a kidnapped girl and when she is rescued Nick realizes that he must embrace this new found power and continue the fight.

This trailer pretty much sums up the entire pilot and it's way more intense than the actual episode. Take a look:

Overall, this was not a complete waste of an hour. I am not itching to see the next episode, but I will probably watch it.

This has been a rough year for new series, as Drew Barrymore's reboot of "Charlie's Angels" was cancelled after its pilot and NBC's "Playboy Club" lasted only three episodes.

I haven't seen any rave reviews for this series so we'll see if it lasts longer than than the others.

www.buzzsugar.com reviewed this show as well and found it more favorable than I did. This review, however, was similar to mine by the way of noticing some of the bland parts.

"The premise has a lot of potential, but there's so much supernatural setup to get through that we don't get much character development. Nick seems vanilla at best, and you can't build a must-see series around a forgettable leading man"


Their full review can be read at: http://www.buzzsugar.com/Grimm-Pilot-Review-17861034


If you have nothing to do on a Friday night, or your DVR has a free hour of space, check out this show. It is not the worst thing to hit the small screen this year so it deserves a chance. You can watch "Grimm" Friday nights at 9pm on NBC.