5 Already!
Today little Miss Novali turned 5 years old! Man that makes me feel old... well this weekend was the big party. Saturday morning Heather and I met my parents and Miguel (Miguel's birthday was Friday) for breakfast in Kalamazoo early in the morning and then we went to Chicago. My parents got a hotel in Des Plains, IL not too far from Tamara's house. Saturday we had Novali most of the day and we played, swam, ate, and just hung out. Lets recap...

First stop was a little park in Des Plains. It was too cold...

Novi wanted McDonalds... we ended up at the first one ever!

Then back to the hotel for swimming.

She is getting close to learning how to swim.

We dried her curly locks and got ready for dinner.

Miguel opened the window and taught Novi about paper airplanes.

Then a short trip over to Evanston.

Kate picked a cool place called Dave's Italian Kitchen for dinner.

It was a long day and Novi passed out on the way home... tomorrow was going to be a long day!

Sunday we woke up and I taught Novi how to make her bed. I told her since she was five now that she needs to make her bed on her own each morning, and if she does I will give her a quarter for each day. So now she has an allowance! She can start saving for that first pair of roller skates... a big bike maybe... Then we got ready for her big party... here is the Sunday recap.

Making her bed.

Hide and Seek... in the hamper!

Writing a birthdaycard

Notice which hand she is using in this photo?

The grandparents got put to work.

I did her hair.

Papi and his little girl.

Had to draw out hop scotch squares.

Some patty cake...

Tamara organized some games for the kids.

Compliments of Heather Novi had a party princess crown.

Then it was cake and present time!

Presents everywhere.

Tio Miguel got her a fish!

She got clothes...

and one million Barbies.

Tamara and Novi in matching jackets.

Grandma and Grandpa before they had to take off.

It was a great weekend. Very busy... and today I am way too tired... but it was a very good weekend. Novali is now five years old. She remembers phone numbers now, and likes to say funny things, and enjoys a good book and prayer before bed.

For more pictures from this weekend please visit: www.centellas.org/novali

Adios!

Life in Drive
It is always hard being on the Westcoast for only four days... by the time you get used to the time change it is time to turn around and come back. Well I am back, in the middle of Greek Week, and preparing for Novali's birthday weekend! Lets recap what I have been up to.

WRGA.... new look. new services. new benefits. At our conference this year we launched a new logo, a new website and had the best show ever for our general sessions. We had the guy who does all the visuals for MGCA come and help me out in the AV booth this year. Not being alone back there was great, and I can't wait for next year. The conference was a great time and I got to see tons of old friends, made some new friends and lots of networking.

Our new logo.

Our main sessions were better then ever.

We had a speaker crowd surf!

Only one Beta and one Gamma there, Chris and Anna.

On my return is Greek Week at Albion... man it is busy. Two or three events per day, and of course the planning was a little behind like every year. Either way it is a ton of fun and I love the funny antics. We had a great speaker on Tuesday night on GLBT issues in Greek Life and that went over very well. Our week ends on Friday and man it could not come sooner... after this the semester will really slow down for me. No seriously, my life will be slower and more relaxed.

Last night I got to go shopping for Novali's birthday present. On Monday she turns five... man I feel really old now! I also love being in the toy store and checking out all the new stuff. For some reason any time that I am in Toys R Us and I always remember the one time that my little Brother and I rode our bikes all the way to one in Saginaw. It was a day long trip!

Well today Tamara called and sent me an email update about Novali... she lots her first tooth! Not only did she lose one... but she lost two! Novi complained a few times about her tooth hurting, and today she had a dentist appoint. She let the dentist pull her teeth and she has two little baby teeth popping out of her bottom gums. Check out the pics!

Cheese

Cheese part 2.

Well I need to wrap up work... I have a Greek Week event tonight and a meeting with my Honduras group. I burned CDs for everyone and made labels for them and CD jackets. It was a fun group and I miss hanging out with them. I can't wait for next year.

This weekend is the Centellas family birthday weekend. Miguel has his B Day tomorrow, and Novali and my dad have theirs on Monday. Miguel and my mom and dad and I are all going to Chicago this weekend. Little family road trip. Fun fun fun...

M.I.A.
So it has been a while since I blogged... I know... I am starting to become a slacker. The deal is that so much has been going on I have not had any time to be able to write. Work was crazy busy as I was wrapping up things to be able to leave for Honduras, my fraternity Formal and Awards banquet was the weekend before Honduras, and then on my return I was swamped with work at Albion and also with WRGA because our WRGLC is next weekend! Man it is busy... so here is the recap.

Formal was awesome! Each year my fraternity district hosts a regional formal for our ten chapters and gives out district awards. I was the chair of the event this year, second year in a row, and fourth time out of six formals that I was on the committee. We had the event at the Double Tree in Novi, MI and it was great. We had over 100 people attend, 20+ hotel rooms, and a great time. The hotel said we were the best behaved fraternity they ever had! Now I am working with a couple schools who are working on proposals for Formal 2007 and no... I will not be on the committee... just helping. We had Brothers came as far as California, we had three candidates for our next national board of directors, and our current national president. Our district alumni association announced that I will be the new chair of our association and help rebuild the group and then hand it over when I become a member of our national board of directors (I am running unopposed).

Heather was my tall date.

My chapter was well represented.

Rudy from my chapter won the Commitment to Education award. It is the third time an Epsilon Brother won.

Our national president presented me the Fraternal Commitment Award, it is the highest award a Brother can receive.

So the Honduras trip... what can I say, it was amazing. I was able to enjoy it even more since it was my second time there and I knew the country a little. We had a great list of service projects during our time at the mission, and the side trip was a ton of fun. This year we had a group of 12 going (11 students and me) so it was bigger then last year. We stayed at the same mission, but this year we got to do a lot more with the children. Our morning service project was still a lot of work.... carrying rocks, mixing cement, picking up trash, etc. What made it better was in the afternoons we got to plan out fun activities instead of just playing games all afternoon. We did art projects, had a library reading day, played games, and planned a St. Patty's festival for the kids. It was great! Not to mention we got to go to a soccer game one afternoon.

Our group in the courtyard of the mission. Last year we helped plant a lot of the flowers you see here.

Tuesday afternoon art project.

Reading books with the kids.

We played basketball, football and of course soccer.

The kids were so much fun.

Our St. Patty's Day Party!

The Comayagua Burros! We really got into the game..

It was a good game... hard fight to the end. 0-0.

Carrying rocks for a foundation... my back!

Deja Vu... mixing cement by hand, just like last year.

Our side trip this year was to the ocean city called Tela. It was a very small town, lots of tourists and beautiful weather. Many international tourists and seafood galore! We ate like kings, danced to Latin music, played poker, laid out, just relaxed after a long week of hard work. I never found any Cuban cigars to bring back as gifts... but I did buy some really cool bowls (I have an obsession with wooden bowls for some reason).

Our hotel was on the beach, look at that view!

Moe and I dancing some Bachata.

Gingros on the beach... I stayed in the shade!

Dressed up for going out to dinner and dancing.

Last night... poker and cigars. It was a 30 limpira buy in I knocked two people out and ended up with 128 Limpira (about 7 bucks).

Our last night... beautiful sunset bid us fairwell.

After a busy week in Albion on my return I am now in Chicago for the weekend with Novi. She taught me how to use her website (www.noggin.com) and that site rocks! I might jump on from work sometimes if I get bored! I loved it! Then we watched some TV, ate Mexican food and watched Chicken Little (I got her the DVD for this weekend). She taught me about her websites (www.noggin.com and www.nickjr.com) and all the games she plays online... the games were so cool and it is all free! Memory games, number and word matching, and just some fun ones. It was a great little short visit, next time I see her she will be five!

Playing a Dora game online, she is good at the memory game.

As soon as she saw I got her Chicken Little, she popped it into the DVD player.

Captain Crunch breakfast with papi.

She is big enough to carry her own bag now.

So now I am back... this week was very busy at Albion. I have some big projects going on, I am managing our Whos Who selection process and working on two big policy proposals for the board of trustees meeting in April. Not to mention that WRGLC is this weekend in San Francisco, and Greek Week is the week after! So there is a lot on my plate and I am only in the office for two days! Well I better get started.

Mission Honduras
Today are in Comayagua, the large city close to the mission. We are eating and going to a game of the local semi-professional soccer team, LOS BURRITOS! I taught a class in Spanish today and it reminded me how much more I need to practice my language and also learn to read...

Anyhow it is very hot and for the next two days we wil be mixing cement by hand and building a retaining wall. Two days down and no burns.. wish me luck. For those who want to see some stuff we are doing check out the website: Mission Honduras.

For the weekend we will spend two days on the Golf of Mexico shore in a small town called Tela. I hear it is going to be twice as hot as it is here... At least we will have water to cool us off.

Well I have to run. I just spent like 20 cents for 10 minutes of internet. I will post pics when I return. CIAO!