Events – Page 2 – 90s California Runner Mom

Boysenberry Festival 2019

Posted on June 13, 2019June 13, 2019 by teresamunoz91

In April, Knott’s Berry Farm had their annual Boysenberry festival. I have the season pass for Knott’s and I love boysenberries, so of course I had to go. This was their 5th year and I have gone every year. Most years I only go once, but this year I decided to go twice. They had some new food items this year. Most of the food I tried was good. However, there were a couple disappointments.

Here is how I rate the food items at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Boysenberry Festival

Boysenberry Icee Float A++

This is my favorite drink. It’s basically an boysenberry flavored icee inside of a boyseberry flavored soft serve, so good. I first tried it last year and couldn’t wait to get it this year. got it during both visits to the festival.

Boysemberry Cheesecake on a Stick B

Had this last year, it’s pretty good. Very sweet though.

Boysenberry Waffles B-

This was good, but not something I would eat more than once

Boysenberry tortilla chips with boysenberry ice cream B

This was good, also very sweet

Boysenberry Grilled Cheese Sandwich B+

I love grilled cheese sandwiches and this one was really good!

Boysenberry chicken wings A-

One of my favorites from the Boysenberry Festival

Pot roast w mashed potatoes C+

The pot roast was really good!! However, I did not like the mashed potatoes at all!!! Which is what brought the grade down. I did not enjoy eating mashed potatoes with little boysenberries inside of it.

Chicken Skewers A

This was for sure my favorite food to eat at the Boysenberry Festival! On my first visit I got this twice! They ran out when I was in line during my second visit.

(I forgot to get a picture of the hummus, oops!)

Boysenberry hummus B-

This was okay, nothing too special about it.

Baked boysenberry mac and cheese A-

I did not expect to like it, but I really enjoyed this one. I loved the baked mac and cheese and the habanero sauce wasn’t too spicy.

Boysenberry dole whip float B-

So disappointing. I wish that it had more ice cream than what it came with.

Boysenberry steak w cream cheese topping A-

This was my second favorite food at the Boysenberry Festival. So good!

Boysenberry pulled pork tostada C+

Not a big fan of pork, which is why this has a low grade, but it did taste good.

Boysenberry elote

I love eating elote and this was good. My sister enjoyed it so much that she got 3 of them!

Overall, I enjoyed the food and can’t wait for the Boyseberry Festival in 2020!

Events, Life

Selena Taylor

Posted on February 6, 2019February 6, 2019 by teresamunoz91

It’s very hard to believe that my baby girl is almost three weeks old! I feel like I just gave birth to her. The nine months went by so quickly. Well, except the last month. It seemed to last forever. At the beginning of my pregnancy I weighed 114 pounds, by the end of it, I weighed 128 pounds. I gained a total of 24 pounds. The first seven months I gained 11 pounds, I gained 13 pounds in the last two months. The last month was definitely the hardest. I had trouble sleeping, couldn’t work out anymore, not even walk, was always low on energy, and would have massive back pain just driving to and from work.

My doctor scheduled me for an induction. On January 18, I got to the hospital a little bit after midnight. The nurse decided to check how far along I was. When I got there, I was only 1 cm dilated. However, I was having contractions that were less than 5 minutes apart. I didn’t realize since at that time, they were not painful. Not going to lie, I was definitely nervous. I had heard that being induced might lead to longer labor or even an emergency c section.

My mom and I were debating whether I should stay at the hospital and be induced or go home and wait for my baby to come naturally. Since I was already having contractions, we decided to stay. At 3 am, the nurse finally induced me. I had originally wanted to have an all-natural birth, but 3 hours into my labor, the contractions were becoming too painful for me and I decided I wanted the pain reliever and the epidural. Besides my mom, two of my sisters were also there with me. I took my tablet and was watching Netflix to pass the time.

My boyfriend and his mom went to visit me. They were unable to stay when I gave birth because the hospital only allowed two people to be present. Of course I chose my mom to be there and I also chose my sister. I wanted my boyfriend to be there, but he said he didn’t like the sight of blood.

My doctor got there a few hours after I did. He broke my water, but I didn’t realize that’s what he had done. I remember telling my mom that I thought I had peed on myself. The nurse was like no, he broke your water. When I moved into the second part of labor, aka the delivering baby part, I had no idea what to do. I should’ve taken classes, but I didn’t. Luckily, my mom was there to help and motivate me. There were a few moments when I felt like I couldn’t keep going, but my mom pushed me to keep going. The doctor ended up making a small tear (episiotomy) and having to use a vacuum in order for the baby to come out. Even though I couldn’t feel it because of the epidural, it kind of freaked me out seeing so much blood and seeing the doctor stitch me up.

When Selena Taylor was born, she was 18.5 inches and weigh 7 lbs., 5oz. I started crying as soon as she was born. I am not a very emotional person and I rarely cry, but that day I was so overwhelmed with emotion. Even my sister was shocked to see me crying. It was one of the happiest days of my life, seeing my little baby girl being born. My mom was the one who cut my baby’s cord. Since she is her first grandbaby, I thought she should have the honors.

After having the baby, I remember I was shaking so much. It kind of freaked me out, but apparently, that was normal. I also ended up throwing up a while after delivering the baby. I think my body was trying to get rid of the medicine in my body. One of the most embarrassing things that happened was when I went to the bathroom for the first time, one of the nurses went with me and showed me how to use the bottle to clean myself. I felt so awkward.

My sister spent the night with me at the hospital. I was really grateful. If she had not been there, I wouldn’t have been able to get any sleep at all. I think I went 30 hours without sleeping. At one point, I was a little dizzy. I only had to stay one day because there were no complications. I’m so glad because the hospital food was awful! The only meal that tasted good was my first meal after having the baby and that was only because I was starving by that point. Even though the room was super cold, I kept waking up in the middle of the night sweating. It kind of freaked me out, but apparently, that’s normal. My family went to visit me both days. One of the funniest moments was when my sister Ayanna, who is 4 years old and at that point was the baby of the family, took a look at the baby and started crying. Later on, she was looking at the baby and saying that the baby took her spot from her. I would take my sister everywhere with me, it’s almost as if she was my actual daughter and I guess she got used to that.

This might sound vain, but I am really happy that I managed to get through the pregnancy without getting stretch marks or without my hands and feet getting swollen. However, in the first week of recovery, my calves did get swollen but they eventually went back to normal. During the first week, I was taking ibuprofen every day, so I didn’t really feel the pain of having to get stitches. My sister and mom helped me a lot with the baby. Feeding her, watching her while I took naps.

The second week somehow felt even harder than the first week. I felt pretty sick most of the week, but luckily my mom and sister were able to help me take care of my baby. On Thursday, I had decided that I needed to take care of myself because otherwise, I couldn’t be there for my baby girl. I went to urgent care, but it was closed. So I went to another one and though they were still open for two more hours, they were no longer accepting patients, so I had to go home.

The next day, I had to take Selena Taylor to the drs for her two week checkup. The doctor said she was very healthy. I was so glad to hear that because I was nervous that since I am not breastfeeding, I thought she would be too thin or not in good health. After her dr apt, I took her home, dropped her off with my sister, and went to another urgent car. They were unable to help me, so they sent me to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena instead. I went to the emergency room. I waited about two hours to be seen. There were so many people there. Once I got admitted, I was there another four hours. It was so tiring and I missed my baby girl. While I was there, I watched a documentary on Ted Bundy. I am glad I went because they were able to help me feel much better and gave me medicine. I had spent all week being miserable and now I was finally better. I only wish I had gone sooner instead of waiting so long.

I always said I wouldn’t become the mom who is constantly posting pictures of her kids. However, that is exactly what I have become. I can’t help myself, I just want to share my little bundle of joy with the world. My camera roll on my phone is basically 80% pictures of Selena Taylor.

I never really thought of myself as one day being a mom. When I first found out I was pregnant, I was in shock and nervous/scared etc. The day I gave birth to my baby girl was one of the happiest days of my life. It’s such a cliché, but it’s so true. Now I can’t imagine my life without her. Don’t get me wrong, it is hard sometimes waking up constantly to feed her and change her diapers in the middle of the night. Changing her diapers when she poops is the worst! But she brings so much joy to me and my family.

Some of the things that I missed most while being pregnant were eating food like hot dogs, deli meat, and esquite (corn in a cup with mayo, butter, cotija cheese, and sometimes hot Cheetos crumbs). I also missed going on roller coasters at Knott’s Berry Farm and working out and especially running. Some people continued running and working out while pregnant, but running became difficult for me in the 7th month and I stopped working out in the 8th month. I just did not have the energy for it.

In case anyone was wondering, I picked the name Selena after the most famous Selena in history. Selena the Mexican American singer who died at a young age in the early 1990’s. I grew up listening to her music and to this day, she is one of my favorite singers. I also liked that the name Selena is derived from the Greek goddess Selena and I have always had an interest in studying Greek mythology. I’ve always like the name Taylor as well, though I did have some concerns choosing that as her middle name because of Taylor Swift. But I like how the two names sounded together. My two other choices were Samantha and Anastasia but my boyfriend didn’t like either name. Oh, well, maybe baby number two can have one of those names.

That’s my birth story and the first three weeks of recovery. I only have about nine weeks left of maternity leave and I plan to enjoy all this time I have with my baby girl.

Events, Life, Year Review

Looking Back at 2018

Posted on January 1, 2019January 1, 2019 by teresamunoz91

Another year has come and gone. 2018 was a good year for me. So many things took place this year. One of the most exciting things that happened was I found I was pregnant with my first baby. I also got to travel and take part in fun races. Here are my highlights of 2018.

Pregnancy
My boyfriend and I always talked about having a baby, but we didn’t know it would happen so soon. My boyfriend wanted a boy and I wanted a girl. I was thrilled when I found out I was having a girl. This is a blessing and I can’t believe our little one is almost here. I spent the majority of 2018 being pregnant and while I did miss out on a few things, I will cherish all the little moments with my baby. For example, the first time I heard her heartbeat and saw her on the ultrasound, the first time she kicked, and when my belly bump started to get bigger.

Moving
Another thing that happened in 2018 was that my family and I moved out of Montebello. This was after living there for almost 10 years. We moved about 20 minutes from Montebello and while I do miss my old city, I am very happy and comfortable in my new city. Only bad things are that I live further from my boyfriend and my commute to work is a bit longer. When I was in Montebello, I was able to leave my house 5 minutes before starting work and get there on time. Now I need to leave at least 25-30 minutes before I start work. I give myself the extra 5-10 minutes just in case there is traffic of construction going on.

Travel
In February, I spent the weekend in Orlando by myself. I had gone to Orlando before back in 2017, but this was my first ever solo trip. The reason I went to Orlando was to take part in the Disney Princess Challenge. This is a series of races hosted by Run Disney. I ran a 10k on Saturday morning and then a half marathon on Sunday morning. I really enjoyed my solo trip and I’m so glad I got to experience it before becoming a mom.

In March, I ran a half marathon in San Diego. I normally travel with my family or friends, but this time I went with my boyfriend. This was our first weekend away together. It was long overdue. We have been together for 5 years and that was our first trip. Hoping we can take more weekend trips with our baby girl in the upcoming years.

I decided my last trip before the baby’s arrival should be a fun one. What could be more fun than almost a week in Las Vegas? In August, I went to Las Vegas with Giovanna for a few days. There were many things I couldn’t do like drink or ride on the New York New York roller coasters, but I still had fun. The best part of the Las Vegas trip was getting to see the Backstreet Boys in concert. I also got to try a lot of good food and we walked so much every day that I was always walking at least 10,000 steps, which was my goal.

Running
I ran almost 300 miles. I’m sure if I hadn’t been pregnant, I would’ve ran more. Regardless, I am still happy that I was able to run 300 miles. Not only that, but I was able to run one half marathon, one 10k, and two 5k races while pregnant. I wasn’t going to let my pregnancy slow me down!

At the beginning of 2018, I did my best half marathon 2 hours and 9 mins in Pasadena. This was so close to my goal of running in under 2 hours. I’m hoping that in 2019, I can reach the goal. I know this will require a lot of training runs from me, most of which will take place in the summer.

As I mentioned earlier, I did the Disney Princess Challenge in Orlando. I love to challenge myself. This was the first time I ran 19.3 miles in 2 days! What makes the Disney Princess Challenge runs even more fun is the fact that you get to run through the Disney parks and take pictures with the characters. I got to take pictures with Anna and Elsa from Frozen, Belle and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, and even Buzz Lightyear to name a few. I won’t take part in the races this year, but I plan to be there in 2020!

In 2018, I ran the LA Marathon for the first time. I did not run in under 5 hours like I had planned, but I did improve by 6 minutes over my first marathon. Not going to lie, this was a tough marathon for me. It didn’t help that at the start of the run, I did some have pain in my left knee. I also didn’t follow my training plan as well as I should have. That’s okay, every time I run a marathon or any other race, I always learn ways I can improve my time and my training. The hills after mile 20 were the worst. Now that I know what to expect, I will definitely train for that in 2020.

Concerts
I went to see Brad Paisley in concert with my mom. My mom isn’t fan of country music, but she really likes Kane Brown, who was one of the openers for Brad Paisley. I had to choose between going to see Tim McGraw (my favorite country singer) and Brad Paisley. I decided to see Brad Paisley and it was worth it. He is such a great singer live and entertaining. I really like the song he sang with Carrie Underwood, who sang her parts via satellite/video.

Seeing the Backstreet Boys was the highlight of my Las Vegas trip. My only complaint is that I wish the concert had been longer. They played some of their newer music, along with their classics. It’s great to see them still together after all these years. They are touring this year. They are scheduled to play in Anaheim and Los Angeles. I’m hoping I can see them again. Fingers crossed that I make it to their concert.

Favorite Movies
Normally I am the kind of person who waits for movies to come out on DVD or Netflix instead of going to the movie theaters to watch. In fact, most of the time I only go to the movies once or maybe even twice a year. This year, I ended up going to 7 movies, which is a lot for me. Who knows if next year I will be able to watch as many movies since I will have my little one. Of course, I will make an exception to watch the new Avengers movies. Here are the movies I went to watch in 2018. The little kid movies are the ones I took my sisters to go watch.

Sherlock Gnomes
Black Panther
50 Shades
Hotel Transylvania
Avengers Infinity War
Goosebumps 2
Crimes of Grindewald

2018 was a memorable year for me. I can’t wait to see what 2019 will bring for us!

Events, Life

9 Months Pregnant

Posted on December 30, 2018December 30, 2018 by teresamunoz91

Right now, I am 37 weeks pregnant. I have about three weeks left! My little one’s due date is a week before my 28th birthday. I don’t mind sharing my birthday month with her, but I’m hoping she is not born on my birthday lol. Time is going by so fast. I I am excited to meet Baby G, but also very nervous! Mostly about giving birth, but also the fact that I am going to have someone that will be completely dependent on me. I’m the oldest of six, but being an older sister is completely different than being a mom. The good thing is that I’m not alone. I have my mom, who is super excited about meeting her first grandbaby, my sisters, who want to watch my little one when she’s born, and my boyfriend of five years, who is happy to be having his first baby.

I feel like I have been pregnant forever! I first found out at the end of May. I’ve experienced a few of the symptoms. But since I hit 34/36 weeks, it’s starting to get worse. I can tell the baby is getting bigger because I have been dealing with back pain more often. Even just being in the car for 20 minutes, whether I’m driving or I’m a passenger, my back starts to hurt. I also have trouble sleeping because it is very hard for me to get comfortable. Heartburn is something that I also deal with on a daily basis. Supposedly this means my baby will be born will a lot of hair. I guess we will see if this is true in a few weeks!

I have only gained about 17/18 pounds since finding out I was pregnant. I was 114 pounds at the beginning, now I am about 131/132 pounds. I guess being active and eating somewhat healthy-ish helped me not gain too much weight. I officially stopped working out at 36 weeks. I had stopped running at the end of October. My last race was a local 5k on October 31st. For now, all I’m doing is walking for 30 minutes a few times a week. I normally love going to the gym, but this month (December), I’ve had no energy to go to the gym. The few times I’ve gone, I had to force myself to go. I admit I have been feeling a little unmotivated. I did take a month off after the stair climb that I did at the end of September, because at that time I was so worried that I wasn’t gaining enough weight. Even though I am no longer going to the gym, there are days when I feel guilty or like I’m lazy for not going.

I only have two weeks left at work. Then I will go on maternity leave for approximately 12 weeks. It will feel so weird not having to be somewhere at a certain time. After all, I’ve had a job since September 2012 and have never gone more than 2 weeks without working! I will miss my coworkers and even some of the members there, but it’s not like I will be on vacation. I will be busy at home taking care of my little baby girl.

I know having a baby will be difficult. I won’t sleep as much, my little one will need my constant attention, I won’t have as much me time anymore. But despite all this, I can’t wait for her arrival. It’s time for a new chapter in my life and I could not be happier.

We already picked out our baby girl’s name, but will not be sharing that until she is born. Here are the top 10 names we like and fyi, her name is in there. Many of the names were chosen because they have historical significance, are characters in books, or names in Greek/Roman mythology.
1. Samantha
2. Athena
3. Anastasia
4. Anabelle
5. Selena
6. Taylor
7. Charlotte
8. Isabelle
9. Minerva
10. Cassandra

Events, Football/Soccer, Life, music, Running, School, Travel, Work, Year Review

Looking Back at 2017

Posted on January 14, 2018January 14, 2018 by teresamunoz91

A lot of people say 2017 was a bad year, but for me personally 2017 was a great year! Here are a few things that happened in 2017.

Graduated from Cal State LA with a bachelors degree in history
After so many years of going to school, both back in community college and Cal State LA, i could finally say I got my degree. It was tough at times, going to work part time and going to school full time. To make things harder, I didn’t have a car for most of my college years, which meant i was usually going to school and work on the bus. It took me a little longer than I had expected to get my degree, but better later than never right?

Got a job at my local gym
In August I decided that I needed to get a second job because I wasn’t getting enough hours at the supermarket where I was cashier. So i decided to apply to a few local areas. Someone I knew from the gym where I have been going since 2016 told me they were hiring there. I decided to give it a shot even though I felt there was no way they would hire me. I was wrong. Within two weeks of Applying, I got hired! I was so happy. For three months, I worked both jobs. It was hard at times, but I decided to stick with it. At the end of 2017, I decided two jobs was two much and I needed to pick one job. My choice was easy. I picked the local gym.

Which brings me to this major thing i did in 2017. I finally left the job I had for 5 years.
This was pretty scary, not going to lie. I was not happy at this job, I spent all year being miserable, but I was too scared to quit. I had originally planned to quit in May after my graduation, then I decided summer I would get more hours so I Should stay a little longer. then decided I would quit in September, that didn’t happen either. I said I would quit around Thanksgiving, that didn’t happen either. I finally said that I would quit December 31, and i didn’t want to keep postponing it. I gave the manager my two weeks notice on December 15, 2017, the whole process was easier than I had expected. December 31, 2017 was my last day and it was a really long 8 hour shift. Before I quit, they gave me a certificate for being there five years. It was bittersweet. On one hand, I was happy to be getting away from retail life and rude, demanding, self entitle customers, but I will miss the friends that I made while working there.

I ran my first marathon
I never thought I would one day be able to run 26.2 miles, but on my 26th birthday, I decided I wanted to celebrate turning 26 years old in a big way, so that’s when I decided to run a marathon. My first ever marathon was in Long Beach, California and it took me about 5 hours and 17 minutes to finish. it took me four months to train for it. I thought this would be my only marathon ever, but I signed up for the LA Marathon, March 2018, and I am currently training for that.

Went to Orlando for the first time to attend Wrestlemania
I went with my friend Giovanna. We have gone to Portland, Oregon, Washington DC, and now Orlando together. We went to Universal City Walk, where I had the best tasting milkshake ever, red velvet with a red velvet cake. Yum! We also went to Universal Studios, where we went on so many rides and got to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I tried butterbeer for the first time. Besides Wrestlemania, we also went to Monday Night Raw, NXT Takeover, and the WWE Hallf of Fame. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I had so much fun. We got to meet a few wrestlers at one of the events, inclduing Baron Corbin and R Truth. Wrestlemania was amazing. Our seats were so close. We got to see Undertaker retire, Seth Rollins vs Triple H, Hardy Boyz make their return, John Cena propose to Nikki Bella, and many other things.

Went to Las Vegas
I had never been to Las Vegas, which is crazy because I am 26 years old and most people go there for their 21st birthday. I never had much interest. Until I decided to run the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon and 5k. I went with my mom, grandpa, and three of my sisters. My mom drove us there and it took forever to get there. I had fun there, i didn’t gamble once, but i did have fun walking around and trying the all the different drinks. One of my favorite things that I did was getting on the roller coaster at the New York New York hotel.

Visited San Francisco twice
The first time was with my family, my mom, three sisters, and brother. We did all the touristy things, like visit the Golden Gate Bridge and the Full House/Fuller House house. We ate crepes and clam chowder, which was super good. The second time I went, it was only with my grandpa and my sister Destiny. I went to run the San Francisco Half Marathon. It was one of my best races. I can’t wait to go back to San Francisco this year. It is a much nicer place than i ever thought. It is one of my top favorite places to run.

Went to a Tim McGraw concert
Tim McGraw is by far one of my favorite country singers. I had the chance to see him and his wife Faith Hill in concert at the Staples during the summer. I loved it. It was so great seeing them. I was so happy when they announced they would be coming back in 2018, I have to see them again. I also discovered a new singer whose music I love. Her name is Rachel Platten and I feel like her song Fight Song is my theme song in life! Haha

Watched my two favorite soccer teams play each other
Went to the Coliseum in Downtown LA with my sister Angelina to watch Real Madrid vs Manchester City. Manchester City won, but it was fun just seeing them. While I was there, I ran into my friend from work and his friend, who is a manager at my old job.

These are the major things that happened in 2017. I was also blessed to meet people who I now consider my friends, I lost a couple friends, but made new ones. I spent time with my family, boyfriend, and friends. Hope 2018 is just as good or even better than 2017 was!