Exciting News

We have had a lot going on so I have not had a chance to post some very exciting news! For the past month or so  have been working on writing a novel. Well I finally completed it and it is off in the editing process now. My book cover design is completed as well so all I am waiting on is for it to come back from my editor, get it to my formatter then it will be live on Amazon.com! I am hoping to have it up on Amazon by late Jan 2013! I have included the book cover and the full synopsis in this post! ENJOY:) I will update you all as the release date approaches.

"Love and Truth"
By Kathryn Vance-Perez
A love story that knows no boundaries…

Eighteen-year-old Nicole Harrison has spent her high school years devoted to academics and dance, leaving no time for a boyfriend and a life. Her parents’ shocking divorce causes Nicole to believe that true love is impossible to find. After spending her life in a small Texas town, Nicole joins a foreign exchange student dance program in the country where she was born. After years of dreaming about her birthplace, she boldly leaves her world behind and moves in with a host family on the island of Okinawa in Japan. She anxiously awaits a year of improving her dance technique while enjoying a world of new experiences.

Jonathan Hayes was born to a Japanese mother and American Marine father via a surrogate in the States. After his father’s tragic death in Iraq when Jonathan was only a baby, his mother moved them back to her home in Okinawa. As a child, Jonathan's mother immersed him in American culture to honor his father. His good looks and immense musical talent have left him with no shortage of female admirers. But after a bad break-up from his girlfriend of two years, Jonathan plunges into a playboy lifestyle that leads him along a destructive path. As his wounds begin to slowly heal, he tries regaining his self-respect by living on the straight and narrow. But his heart remains closed to the idea of love; that is, until the night he sees the beautiful and innocent Nicole Harrison, upon the balcony of his neighbor’s home.

While Nicole tries to navigate an unfamiliar country, she also has to learn how to navigate the unfamiliar and unwanted feelings she's developing for Jonathan through some very heart-wrenching and trying times.

Will her fears push him away, or will Jonathan show her the truth of loyal love…

Weight Loss Goal= MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

It has been a loooong road it seems but I have FINALLY met my weight loss goal! In April of this year I made a decision to get serious about my health and today I can happily say that I am the size that I was before I became pregnant with Reyna 10 years ago! I am fitting nicely into a size 8 and I am overjoyed about it! A diet overhaul and excercise are to credit for my success! I am not stopping here though because it is time for new goals and moving forward.  I have signed up for weight training and I have started running (something I have always loathed). I have lost the weight but I want to tone and I want to be stronger. As we ladies get older our bones get weaker and strength training is just the thing to slow that process down. I want to thank everyone that supported me along the way like you Natalie Higgs for always helping me see the little molehills as a great success and see them more as mountains of accomplishment and let's not forget letting me vent when necessary! To my kids for being my biggest supporters and always telling Mommy she was doing great. To my hardworking husband, thank you for all of your encouragement and support, you are my ROCK! Last but not least thank you Ms. Rebecca and to a few of my fellow dance moms from the studio for always making laugh and your encouragement, you guys are great (Toni, Tracey and Brandi)! (Even though you guys liked to sometimes make fun of me in the process!)

I looked hard for a BEFORE photo but it was not easy to find because I rarely allowed anyone to take my picture (because I hated seeing my fat self in pics) but I found a pic from Nico's 1st Communion in April of this year. Wincing as I post this pic.....

 

The AFTER was a bit easier to find and much easier to post:)

CONGRATS to my favorite Indie Author!

Colleen Hoover's, Slammed Series has been not only picked up by a major publisher recently but it has now been optioned for film:) I knew when I found this little gem nearly 10 months ago from an unknown self published indie author that I had found something special! Her rapid firing success is much deserved. I have recently learned that she is a Texan like myself and that we grew up only a few short miles from one another! How crazy is that??? Small world we live in for sure!

I absolutely fell in love with her story and the characters that she created. I can not wait to see it come to life on the big screen!

Slam Poetry is a big part of this story and I wanted to share one of my favorite slams from the first book:

“Sometimes life gets in your way.
it gets all up in your damn way.
But it doesn't get all up in your damn way
because it wants you to just give up and let it take control.
Life doesn't get all up in your damn way because it just wants you to hand it all over and be carried along.

Life wants you to fight it
Learn how to make it your own.
it wants you to grab and axe and hack through the wood.
It wants you to get a sledgehammer and break through concrete.
It wants you to grab a torch and burn through the metal and steel until you can reach through and grab it.

Life wants you to grab all the organized, the alphabetized, the chronological, the sequenced. It wants you to mix it all together,
stir it up,
blend it.”
― Colleen Hoover, Slammed

Again a BIG, HUGE, ENORMOUS, GIGANTIC, OVERWHELMING Congrats to Mrs. Hoover! (And if you have not read this book yet......RUN, do not walk, RUN and get this book ASAP! You will not regret it;) Just click HERE to buy your copy now!

Perez Family Update

Hello all!  It has been a few months since my last post and boy have we got lots to talk about!  So much has happened in such a short period of time.  I guess I will start with the biggest and best change and that is we are FINALLY out of the apartment and in a house that fits our family perfectly! We are back in the kids school zone and we are no longer are commuting:) The house is very nice and the neighborhood is great. The location is ideal and the kids love it here!

School started last month and the kids are all doing exceptionally. After meetings with all teachers we learned that Nico and Reyna both currently have all A's and Pito has all A's and B's! We are very proud of them for their academic success.

Reyna is on the competitive dance team this year and has proved to be very dedicated to it. She spends approximately 10 hours in dance practice per week in the evenings and is still maintaining straight A's in school. So very proud of her and her maturity at such a young age.  The boys have advanced up to the next belt in Tae Kwon Do and are doing well in their classes. We recently had their photos taken in uniform. I will add a few to this post.

The boys Tae Kwon Do photo

We took a trip to San Antonio to the Riverwalk and to Sea World this summer and visited my awesome cousin in Houston as well who is more like a sister to me than a cousin.  The kids loved riding her horses and running wild on her ranch! It was a great time. Several of my other cousins came up while we were there for a little mini reunion and it was great to catch up and see everyone.

 

 Us on the San Antonio Riverwalk

The kids at Sea World watching the Flamingos

 Reyna and one of my cousins horses

 Cousins!

Me, Reyna and my cousin Amie at her house in Houston

Felipe came home September 24th from Afghanistan for a 20 day visit.  We had a blast while he was here.  The 2 of us took off for a 3 day getaway to an amazing spa called The Lorian in Old Town Alexandria.  It was absolutely magical! You would never guess that such a place was so nearby. we enjoyed every second of it. I will add a few photos from our stay there.  Felipe also surprised me with a brand new, gorgeous wedding ring set and totally stunned me. Once we returned he had a great time with the kids taking them to Kings Dominion amusement park. He bungee jumped with the boys and we spent the day riding rides and eating junk food:)  We spent our days having lunch and movie dates while the kids were in school and running a ton of errands that had to be done while he was here. We did not waste a minute during his visit.  He left this past Sunday and will most likely not return until April. Please keep in your thoughts and prayers especially during the holidays. It will be difficult spending Thanksgiving and Christmas apart.

Champagne and Strawberries @ The Lorian

Dinner @ The Lorian

My new wedding ring set!

Kings Dominion 

 Felipe doing the "Extreme Drop" at Kings Dominion with the boys!

Felipe and I both also took control of our health and have made big changes with our bodies! Felipe has hit the gym over in Afghanistan and started doing the insane Insanity program.  He gained 13 pounds of muscle and came home looking and feeling amazing!  During the six months that he was gone I  underwent my own transformation and have now lost a total of 47 pounds!!!! I went from an embarrassing and unhealthy size 16 to a now happy and healthy size 8:) I am now focusing on toning and building muscle.  I feel better than I have in over 10 years! I am running a 5k with the kids weekend and love that I am able to do those kinds of things now.

Reyna celebrated her 10th birthday this month and was so happy that her dad could be here for it! We had a dance party for her at her dance studio (All That and Jazz) and she had a blast with all of her girlfriends dancing and playing! She had pizza and delicious cupcakes from a local cupcakery (Confections) and they were a hit!

 Reyna's Birthday Bash

We had family photos made while Felipe was home by a great photographer (Kiki and Mimi Photography) at a local park and the photos came out looking incredible! I could not have asked for more.  You can see a gallery of my favorites here. I can't wait to design our Christmas cards using these great photos!

A couple of my favorite photos from our session:)

It has been an eventful past few months and I am thankful for everything that we have and for such a dedicated husband and father who does all he can for his family!  He is such a blessing to us and we miss him so very much! Please keep him in your prayers. We wish you all a very happy holiday season!

All Our Love,
Felipe, Katy, Pito, Reyna and Nico

SLAMMED... this series needs to be your next read ladies!

I love to read and since Felipe left books have been keeping me company daily while the kids are at school and at night after they go to bed when the house is oh so quiet.  I have read approximately 13 books since he left back in March.  (Yes, 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy took up 3 of those reads) but I just read a 2 book series that I ABSOLUTELY fell in love with!!! I read lots of different types of books and everyone's taste in books vary.  Yes I loved the Twilight series but I also loved Eat, Pray, Love and Love In The Time of Cholera as well as the crazy Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Diaries Series (just finished book 12).  I did not care for The Hunger Games, not sure why. I know most loved the series but it just did not do it for me.  Girl With The Dragon Tatoo Series, did not care for that either.  On The Island was so, so and of course I like Nicholas Sparks books most of the time. 

So let me get to my point..... The series I just read by Colleen Hoover SLAMMED and POINT OF RETREAT were by far one of my FAVORITE series of all time!!! These books made me laugh out loud with the constant humor and they made me cry big crocodile tears (especially book 2) and the slam poetry was amazing! The romance in the series is angsty and wonderful!  Take a chance and read these books this summer, I assure you that the 2.99 that the eBook costs is BY FAR worth every penny!

If you have lost a parent, loved one or have had to help raise a younger sibling these books are sure to really connect with you.  Even if you have not had these things happen in your life this book will still pull at your heart strings and give you a lot of food for thought!
Below is an overview (but does not come near to what the book really embodies).

Overview

18-year-old Layken Cohen misses her life back in Texas, harbors a deep hatred for concrete garden gnomes and has fallen hard for her new neighbor, Will Cooper.

21-year-old Will Cooper misses his life before it became so complicated, Has a passion for performing slams and has fallen hard for his new neighbor, Layken Cohen--despite her deep hatred for garden gnomes. LOL

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.

“Slammed is a heart-wrenching, emotional, yet somehow humorous journey of two souls that are destined to be together, despite the factors that stand in their way. So much more than a romance, Slammed teaches lessons about love, life and the soul-deep moments in between. Not to mention the forbidden…it’s oh, so good.”

Visit the authors webpage HERE

INSANITY

Because I am a glutton for pain, over the next 60 days, I’ll be test-driving the Insanity workout. Like its cousin P90X, the Insanity DVD series focuses on intense intervals; however, unlike similar programs, it features body-weight exercises, plyometric moves and cycled in quick succession.

Shaun T, a fitness expert and former track star, is the creator and host of the Insanity workout. I placed my order today.  When it arrives I suppose the insanity will begin! 

~Katy
Thanks for reading our blog:)

Opening The Floodgates...

As many of you know we have undergone MUCH change in our life recently.  Without going into all of it detail for detail I will say that our family has been challenged in big ways recently.  Felipe is gone overseas at his new job for 6 months, the kids and I moved a month ago by oursleves and I closed the business that I had worked so hard to build.  We went from a 3300 sqft home to a 1200 sqft 3rd floor apartment and have half of our things in 2 large storage units.  It was a lot all at once but here we are forging ahead and doing pretty well considering the challenges that we have faced along the way.  Many challenges that are far too personal to put on a blog but none the less here we are!

Being a single parent really is a HUGE challenge and I have had to truly adjust to it little by little.  In order to conquer the many challenges that we face right now I have pulled ALL of my resources together and I have made MASSIVE changes in my life.  I had already began small changes awhile ago before all of these recent bumps appeared on our path and it had all started with something called Lifeclass!  Felipe and I did Lifeclass together back then and continued to do so until he left.  I stuck with it after he left and it introduced me to Tony Robbins this season.  WOW, what a gift!  He is amazing and I have since started his Ultimate Edge program.  Though something that he did on the Lifeclass Season Finale has stuck with me and I have continued to do it weekly.  It is called "The Emotional Flood Excercise".  Click HERE to watch it.  This has changed my life!  I wanted to share it with all of you and all of my FB friends since this blog is linked into my FB.  I urge everyone to try it.  Turn it up loud because the music is as effective as his words and participate in it fully...trust me you will be glad you did!  ENJOY and wish us luck as we push forward during this challenging time in our life! 

GRATITUDE is a gift!!! Do you keep a gratitude journal??? Both of my kids and myself have started our gratitude journals and it is a wonderful!  Start yours today!!!


~Katy
(click all of the links to watch the videos)

MLK Day 2012

Retirement Ceremony January 2012

Christmas 2011

 The tree is all decorated and looked beautiful! The kids decorated the whole thing by themselves this year!

 Reyna and Nico all ready for Christmas Mass

 Yummy Christmas cookies that we made for Santa

 The kids Christmas morning digging into their gifts!

 Reyna loved her iPod and Hello Kitty Earphones:)

The Gifts 

NYC Rockettes Dance Experience!

Reyna at Radio City Music Hall Dec 3rd 2011, all geared up for the dance workshop with the All That & Jazz Studio crew! 

 Touring Radio City Music Hall

 Learning a dance from a real Rockette was a blast for her and all of the girls!

 Posing with the sweet Rockette that spent the morning teaching them a new dance Rockette style:)

 Reyna was all smailes all day, she had a wonderful & memorable time!

 During our free time time to roam the city she chose to go to Barney's and a visit the Lady Gaga Holiday Store! Here she is trying on a classic Lady Gaga "Hair" Bow!  She wanted me to buy this for her but it was 80 bucks!

 Here she is posing in front of the huge abstract glass sculpture of Lady Gaga!

In Times Square at the end of the night...it was FREEZING.  But her new "Little Monster" stuffed animal from the Lady Gaga store helped keep her warm;)

Lots of Updates Coming Soon...

I am very behind on posting pics from several different important events! We have been very busy lately. I will soon have all of the photos up from the NYC trip, Christmas, Felipe's Retirment Ceremony and our trip to DC to the MLK Memorial on MLK Day!

I hope all is well with everyone.

God Bless,

Katy and Felipe