10 Things That Make Me Happy {right now}

Tacos at Tacos al Frances in Playas de Tijuana.

Inspired by my new friend over at Family of Five {whose blog I love} here are the 10 things that make me happy {right now}:

1. Living in San Diego. Yesterday we spent a great day at the beach, a 20 minute drive from our house. Tonight after dropping off the kids at baby-sitting club {see #2} Eduardo and I made a run for the border, 20 minutes in the other direction, and had a wonderful date night in Tijuana. {date night with our dear friend Chato actually} It is great to live in a place where after such a short drive one is in a completely different culture. It smells different, the food tastes different and the energy is just different.

2. Baby-sitting Club. Probably the single best idea I have had in my life. Inspired by a baby-sitting co-op my parents were a part of back in the '70s in Ann Arbor I got 3 of our closest family friends {here, here & here} to agree to having a formal babysitting schedule every Saturday. Eduardo and I have had more dates in the last year and a half than we had the entire first eight years of marriage.

3. Friends. the baby-sitting club wouldn't work with out the dear friends who are a part of it. Like so many people here we have no extended family in Southern California - only I really feel we do. I have several friends I know I could call anytime day or night and they would do anything I needed them to. My kids are lucky to have so many defacto "aunts" and "uncles" who love them and help them on their journey to adulthood. It takes a village people.

4. My bambinos. What can I say? They truly are the best. I am so thankful that these 2 little souls are in my life.

5. The Internet. yes, it takes too much of my time, but the Internet has enriched my life in many ways. It allows me to feed my political obsession, has helped me through sad parts of my life, and introduced me to wonderful people who I am glad to have in my life. {like here, here and here for example} Blogging has really taken off with the SDCCS crowd and we have been lucky enough now to actually get to know them {here and here} face to face this summer {thanks to real life friends like these two} as well as on-line. I am waiting for my dear Explorer friends to join the club - um Kelly, Maite you guys got things to say, I know you do, I mean you at least have cute kids to show off....
UPDATE: I forgot Explorer friends Sam and Dana also should start blogs - I have even read a couple of letters Sam has written to the New York Times editor - he is good!

6. Mi Mexicano. Te Amo Pollo. I am sure my parents never thought I could find someone as stubborn, unreasonable, or as much as a social animal as I am. Well I did. It is not always easy, but it is always fun. My life has been enriched in so many ways by my crazy Mexican husband.

7. My Mac. When E. and I are on our computers - my Mac and his new work laptop with Vista we truly are like the commercials. I have zero problems and am making cool movies while he gets one strange error message after another. Eduardo often complains that he wishes he was white with a keyboard, then he would get more attention. Sorry E; my Mac complains about nothing.

8. My Folks. I am very thankful to come from the couple I come from. My mom taught me to be a feminist and a mother whose first priority are her kids and my dad taught me about evolution and to distrust government {and Jesus Freaks}.

9. Harry Potter. I am glad I got in on the tail end of the craziness. I love that Aida would rather spend hours with me reading Harry Potter than pretty much anything in the entire world.

10. Flickr. One of my favorite internet sites. You can search for anything and see some amazing pieces of art. Today I wanted to see if anyone had posted photos of the Nordic Fest parade which I missed this morning. No one did, but I did find an old high school friend because her husband posted from last year's fest.

Oh yeah even though sometimes the Democrats suck I am still so happy we won the House and the Senate in November. It really does make a difference. If we didn't control Congress - there never would have been hearings for example about Gonzales and the NY Times would not be calling for his impeachment in tomorrow's paper.