Always in our Hearts

Yesterday was National Day of Remembrance.  My mom, sister and I met up with the Trillo family to remember David Trillo. David was a father, a son, a brother and a dear friend to many who walked across his path. Unfortunately his life was taken far too soon a little over a year ago on July 9, 2011. Even though time has passed, I can still see the pain in his families eyes. I agree with what one of the speakers said last night-"there will never be closure". There can never be closure when a loved one of yours is violently and carelessly taken away from you.

                                                                      News Story: Here


Yesterday evening as we were driving to meet the Trillos for the memorial, I was feeling exhausted and stressed with work and just everyday life.  However, once I got there and saw the Trillo's and my stress and worries immediately lifted off my shoulders and I felt lighter. However, my heart was heavy because I could still see the pain in Davids families' eyes.  I saw his brother, Bobby get interviewed and relive the moment when he last talked to his brother. I saw painful tears stream down his face and my mom held his mother while she sobbed after looking at David's picture on the slideshow of all the people who had been murdered.  During a prayer I heard what I thought was a woman crying behind me. Literally sobbing into her hands. Only to turn around when my sister offered tissues to see that it was a little boy probably around 8 or 9 years old.

 You think you have it hard until you get a big slap of reality in the face. I am lucky that no one in my family has been taken away from me either by accident, natural causes, cancer, murder etc.  Hearing Davids mom talk about how at any moment, any time of day she can just think of a memory of her son and break down and cry just reminded me of how precious life is.  Every day we have to walk this earth and be with our loved ones is truly a treasure that we can often take for granted.  I have so many memorable memories with David and I know everyone in his family does as well.  This evening was dedicated to celebrating those good times and help Davids memory live on through our memories, hearts and voices.

Bobby Trillo, Alexandria Trillo, Violet Trillo, My sister, my mom and I at memorial. 

It is a strange feeling to know someone who has died who is close to the same age as us. I often feel like our youth makes us feel untouchable. Nothing can stop us from the life we are living but it is certainly not true. I have held hands with friends and cried at funerals that I feel should not have happened yet.   We have all questioned what we could have done differently,we question how we can live our life differently for the memory of the ones we have lost.

No one can ever take those precious memories away that we all have of David.  My heart will always go out to the Trillo family and anyones family who has ever had to go through such heart ache and pain.  Thank you to Bobby, Violet and Alexandria for letting us share in your dedication and tribute to David last night. We are always here for you.

Lemon-Coconut Tofu Squares

A few weeks ago Hollands co workers (Rob) car broke down and Holland helped him tow it back up to his house in New Braunfels so it could get fixed.   To thank Holland, Rob's wife made him a "goodie bag" full of AMAZING THINGS! She gave us roasted almonds and cashews, some flower tea and these literally to-do-for Lemon-Cocunut Tofu Squares.

I have been a fan of lemon cupcakes and bars for a while, but these babies took it to a whole other level. This past Friday after work I got an iced coffee(to energize myself to be social that evening) and then I went and got a lemon bar from the bakery across the street from the coffee shop. Don't get me wrong, it was a delicious lemon bar but it just reminded me how amazing the other one was.

Ironically and Luckily, we met up with Rob and his family for lunch this weekend and I got to ask her where on earth she got the recipe from. She told me she got it from Whole Living and within an hour of lunch I was researching and making a grocery list for everything I needed.

This is VERY easy to make. You do need a lemon zester and a food processor.

Recipe Here

Holland and I are really enjoying this beautiful weather. I am hoping it stays like this but it is probably unlikely.  We hope that everyone has a glorious week.

Hannah and Bleu enjoying the sun. 

VitaMix!!

I am obsessed with our new machine that my parents got us.... A VITAMIX MACHINE!!

COSTCO has a special going on right now and they are 150 dollars cheaper there vs. online.  When my mom first told me how much they were and that she wanted to get us one, I told her she was cuckoo. However, I was sold at the demonstration when he made smoothies, ice cream and tortilla soup in a matter of 15 minutes. You can make SOOOO many things with this and it chopped and grinds EVERYTHING. I am in love. I am hoping to get many more vegetables and nutrients into our diet with this crazy loud powerful blender!

This morning I made us Banana, blueberry and orange smoothies. I love the color that it became after being chopped and grinded to tasty bits. It tasted awesome. It sounded like our house was a Jamba Juice headquarters with how loud it got but it was just doing its job!

Thanks to Holland, all of our glasses are beer glasses from some sort of beer event. :)

Banana Blueberry Orange Smoothie:
* 3/4 cup water
*1/2 peeled medium orange
*1 banana
*1/2 cup frozen blueberries
*1/2 cup ice


While eating our breakfast, Holland and I made our first home made from scratch Hummus. This one is  Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. OH MY GOODNESS. It made so much. We spent probably around 4 bucks for the ingredients(probably because we had so much of the essential condiments like sesame seeds, garlic and ground cumin) but we usually buy packages that are about 1/3 portion from what we made for around $3.50 each.

You like that big old swipe down the middle from our tasting? haha

I am sure you could make this recipe with another type of food processor  so here it is straight from the Vitamix recipe book. 

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus:

* 6 ounces roasted red peppers

*1/2 cup water

*2 tablespoons of olive oil

*1/2 cup Tahini Paste( grounded sesame seeds)

*2 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice

*2 garlic cloves peeled

*3 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained

*1 teaspoon cumin powder

*1 teaspoon salt

*1/2 teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients together in order listed. add water to mixture to keep mixture flowing freely through blades. 

Yields: 4 cups. 

I am very grateful to have had this Holiday off from work. I got to get a large amount of errands done around the house and I have planned some yummy meals for the week! 

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. I am gearing up for a long/short week ahead. The shorter weeks always feel longer to me but again, I am grateful for the extra day!