I am pleased to FINALLY announce that last night was our first night at our new home! After years of waiting for this day to come it finally arrived! The staff of Guadalupe Home, the advisory board of Guadalupe Home, the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of San Antonio, the mothers we assist, their infants and the babies waiting to arrive in this world, I’m CERTAIN are all just as excited about this as I am.

I truly believe everything happens for a reason and Bob and Carmen Drury of Drury Hotels came into our lives to help us help even more women and children with this new home. Thinking about it makes me tear up because I am so thankful and happy.

2012 WILL be amazing for Guadalupe Home and I cannot wait for all of the new and exciting things that will follow this!

As you know by now, my maltipoo is one of many loves in my life. I probably take about 3 pictures a day of him. At least. It’s an obsession I know.

After taking so many photos, I realized that Carlos definitely looks good in pictures. I like to joke he’s photogenic because he got it from me. Seeing how I have so many contacts in “the industry” as we like to call it, I decided to put them to use. Long story short, my baby Carlos has an agent! Yep he’s going to earn his puppy chow!

As soon as he’s fully trained, lost his puppy teeth and ready to work I have a photo shoot planned for him and then we’ll start submitting him for jobs. I hope he gets to be “cute dog” in a commercial or the dog they show running down stairs to eat his food. Time will tell, but I have faith in him. He’s just so adorable!!!

This photo is from Fandango. To the right of me is Hattie Poole (co-founder of Guadalupe Home), Steve Saldaña (President of Catholic Charities) and Carmen Drury (Drury Hotels). Guadalupe Home would not be what it is today if it were not for these amazing people.

This photo is from the Cystic Fibrosis gala. The second from the left is my friend Harriet. Harriet and I helped volunteer at this event through PRSSA. Ironically, I have supported Cystic Fibrosis in the past with my Miss Latina World title at the Tower Run they have annually. It’s nice to see familiar faces and also help another wonderful cause.

Regardless of whether or not I have a crown on my head, or I’m wearing a sash, I will always be eager to help others. If there is one thing I learned from being a former title holder that I will always treasure, it is learning how much I love non-profit work. Helping those in need, making a difference in the community and starting a legacy of my own are extremely important to me.

Today something shocking happened. Not to me personally, but to the future of America. For some crazy reason, the Obama administration decided they want to rule against the FDA and make any teenage girl who wants to buy Plan B have a prescription in order to do so.

Let’s talk about the facts. Plan B only works up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. Plan B is expensive and is $50 to purchase. In order to get a prescription you need to see a doctor and that will result in waiting for an appointment and paying a co-pay.

So let’s say I’m a teenage girl who had protected sex, the condom broke, and now I’m freaking out. My parents and I don’t have a good relationship, but I know I need to make sure I don’t get pregnant, so I decide to get Plan B on my own. Oh, but wait. I can’t. Now I need a prescription on top of somehow managing to get $50.00 to buy it. So I call my doctors office, but they’re not open on weekends. I call around some more, but the cheapest doctor appointment I can find is a $35 co pay, but I can’t see the doctor until tomorrow. Tomorrow I work. I need that money to pay $85 for all of this. Now I’m freaking out.

That will no doubt be at least one of SEVERAL different scenarios young women will face. Let’s be honest. Young women have premarital sex. And some of them are smart about it. And some of them are not. But does the government gain anything out of making it more difficult for these women who want to be smart about a bad situation?! Do they want to force more doctors appointments? Do they want to see more teens pregnant? I know I don’t.

President Obama I am completely against this decision. I have no clue why you thought this was a good idea.

Yesterday MySA posted a wonderful blog piece that Mr. Jim Adler wrote regarding Guadalupe Home. As Chair of Guadalupe Home I am sincerely appreciative of all that the Jim Adler Law Firm has done for Guadalupe Home and their continued support. I hope 2012 brings us many wonderful things and we can continue on our mission to help homeless expectant women and their babies break the cycle of poverty and give them the hope and support they need.

Click here to read the blog on MySA.

Meet Carlos! Carlos Friday to be exact. He is a 9 week old Maltipoo (as you can tell by the photo) and I am TOTALLY in love with him.

For my Christmas present Marshall asked what I wanted and I gave him some ideas, but not a puppy. It was after hearing me tell him repeatedly how much I was going to miss my sisters dog Elroy (a teacup Yorkie) when she moved, that he said he wanted to get me a puppy instead. I thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. We researched dogs for days on end. We probably sent about 50 e-mails back and forth about articles, possible dogs at a shelter, dog facts, etc.

Then we stumbled across a dog site that had Carlos on it. He looked so adorable in a photo with him in a Christmas hat. It was love at first site. What we like about Maltipoos is they shed pretty much nothing at all even though they are extremely fluffy with fur. We also have two other friends (both couples) who have Maltipoos and speak highly of them. Sure enough, our friends and all of the articles were right.

After just one night with us Carlos learned how to pee on his potty pad. And after a couple days he now knows how to go potty outside, even if it means he runs up to us afterwards demanding his treat. He has been a perfect addition and it feels like we are our own little family now with me, Marshall and Carlos.

I never understood people with little dogs. Then my sisters dog changed my mind and now that I have Carlos I totally get it. I love him like a child.

By now you’re probably wondering why we named our dog Carlos. No, it’s not because I’m Mexican and Marshall is Caucasian, so he needs a half Mexican half Caucasian name. His name is Carlos because we wanted a name from our favorite movie The Hangover. I laugh when he sits by our feet when we eat and looks at us hoping we drop some food and I say, “not at the table Carlos!” Now I just need to get him some aviators and some contraption to strap him to the front of my chest in. Hahaha!

This past Saturday was our 10th Annual Fandango Under The Stars fundraiser at Pedrotti’s North Wind Ranch. I am pleased to announce that we had an additional 125 in attendance, making our attendance for the evening at approximately 625!

Both the silent and live auctions were a complete success, the Miss Helotes court graced us with their beautiful faces and assistance yet again, and for the first time in the history of Guadalupe Home we had a video (thanks entirely to the Jim Adler Law Firm) of our new location and mission to share with the entire crowd.

If you missed out on all the fun you can click here to view the video News 4 WOAI took while at Fandango.

This Friday morning (November 11th) at 7:40 am, Suzanne De Leon our director of Guadalupe Home, as well as myself will be on Fox 29. We are happy to be on the morning show discussing our 10th Annual Fandango Under The Stars this Saturday, as well our new Guadalupe Home location opening next month. Be sure to tune in before you head out the door for work!

Are you curious what the new Guadalupe Home location looks like? Well you’re in luck! We brought the News 4 WOAI news crew into our new home for a sneak peak, before we open next month. Tune in to the 5:00 pm news cast to see this exclusive on Friday 11/11/11.

It’s the video that everyone is talking about. Then 16 year old Hillary Adams being relentlessly beaten with a belt by her father County Court at Law Judge William Adams, of Rockport, Texas. If you’ve viewed the actual 7 minute video it is quite disturbing, in not so many words. The screams from his daugther are long and grueling to listen to. And the thought popping into every one’s head is, “how is this man even a judge?!”

While spanking a child is obviously not against the law, there are some who believe it is unnecessary and frown upon it. As a child I was spanked on maybe a handful of occassions in my life, but never in comparison to the beating on the video. This is much more than teaching a child a lesson with a swift belt whipping and then calling it a night. No, this video is several minutes long with foul language, abuse and a line that no parent should ever cross.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Hillary Adams and her family. Something like this is not easy to discuss, let alone share with the nation on such a large scale which seemed to happen in less than 24 hours. Now we will all patiently wait and see if charges are filed against her father and if Child Protective Services will take action. Until then, I think it is only appropriate this Texas Judge take a leave of absense. I don’t think anyone can treat him with respect after viewing the video of what he did to his daughter. Even if Judge Adams himself has stated it isn’t as bad as it looks.