1st Friday of Fall Y’all: TGIF

Thank GOD It’s Fall!

Facing east for the moon rise from my backyard garden … Just another West Texas Friday night!

As much as ☼summer☼ is my favorite season (after all, that’s when my birthday takes place), I’m making the most out of autumn ~ especially going outside for crisp, fresh air!

I’m also all about Starbucks seasonal flavors* ~ from ☼summer’s fruitiness to these comfy delights:

• Pumpkin Spice Latte 

My latest Starbucks Gold Card reward redeemed: Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino!

• Salted Caramel Mocha 

My venti cold cup always comes in handy … for a discount & a drink to last me all ☼day!

• *NEW* Toasted Graham 

Apparently, I was my local barista’s 1st customer to order a Toasted Graham Frappuccino! #StarbucksLovers ♥ #trendsetter

Furthermore, football has kicked off into full swing!

I refreshed my ♥heart♥ & ☼soul☼ with ♥Adoration♥ †Chapel† holy hour at †Church† & with this ☼spirit☼ book + my bod with this Graham Goodness! (Even though I’ll cover up more, I’ll definitely still tone up with whatever energy I still can muster in the midst of working on my dissertation!

Here are a few of my favorite things for fall …

Trunk or Treat: ☼Sunshine☼ (my truck) tailgate was decked out with festive decor that featured ♥A&A♥ when we gave candy to my †Church† students last Howl-o-ween!

Nine Fine Fall Flaves

1. Favorite Candle: my Bath & Body Works‘ Salty Caramel that I used to light up my *Dallas Cowboys* jack-o-lantern and Advent †cross† (I’m also all about BBW‘s Pumpkin Pecan Waffles/White Barn‘s Thanksgiving Morning)
2. Favorite Lip Color: toss-up between my red Ardency Inn ♥Love♥ Cat lipstick from Sephora or purple Vera Wang *Rockstar* lip gloss from ULTA (c/o my Bestie Evie)
3. Favorite Drink: please view above {Exhibits B-E}
4. Favorite Blush: the ones from my KleanKolor Double Rainbow palette, plus I think that I’ll try Dulce Candy‘s tip on lip colors in a pill box for cheek colors!
5. Favorite Clothing Item: my birthday gifts ~ specifically the scarf/shawl ~ and my recent online finds plus my Target scores ~ particularly the jeans and booties!
6. Favorite Fall Movie: no new releases, so I’ll go with classic football flicks: Varsity Blues (came out my sr. yr.), Friday Night Lights (with a cameo of my h.s.), Remember the Titans, Any Given Sunday, The Longest Yard (including the original)
7. Favorite Fall Show: Grey’s ♥Anatomy!!! I’ve been counting down for the Season 12 premiere since the Season 11 finale ~ as a loyal fan for over a decade since the very beginning with the previous seasons on DVD
8. Favorite Thanksgiving Food: I’m not going to lie –> my Cranberry Pie #DISPObustAFlow
9. Favorite Halloween Costume: now how about I have y’all pick? My personal faves include when I rocked out my abs live, No. 5 … I won our contest in 2013 as Lone Ranger‘s Tonto and in 2014 as my Nurse Mom who was fine in 1969! Will I make a 3-peat??

Actually, please allow me to add a 10th item:

Sweet Annie

My #1 Favorite for Fall: my ✌two✌ ♥cute, cuddly companions♥ with whom to softly snuggle for cozy comfort plus who keep me company while hard at work and welcome me home after hard at play!

Sassy Asia

CHEERS to this time of year!

Manny Monday: Fight, 4th, Cinco, Nurses & Moms

Happy May the 4th be with You!

Monday’s multiple feature is about May days …

• First, I traveled to SA for school and to meet with my esés for the game and fight*

Pinoy Pride ✌

*My remarks about Manny:

• He has way more going on in his life than just being a fighter:

1. He lives by his faith
2. He is a hero to his family and my native country due to

• his generosity from his earnings and
• his political career

… while Fighter is the only identity that Floyd Mayweather has achieved:

1. Professionally, obviously
2. Personally ~ considering his history of violence

This self-proclaimed $Money$ was in it for

• The title and to remain undefeated
• $elfishly keeping his winnings

 

• Before and after my trip back home, I had to celebrate May the Fourth be with You 

*** Star Wars *stars* ***

Cory’s King Cavalier Spaniels

Charlotte Bleu as Chewbacca

♪♫Rowley Jazz♫♪ as R2D2

Chris’ Rat Terrier

Snappy Jack as Darth Vader

My Double As as Princess Leia

Queen Asia with Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s Krayt Dragon

Princess Annie with Mardji Elephants

• Please vote for my Nurse Mom the Bday Girl in spirit of Nurses Week (May 6th-12th) and ☼Mother’s Day☼

Please go to No. 16 of 37 to find us, thanks!

• Please read this San Angelo Standard-Times article about my grad school classmate who asks for us to donate in the wake of the Nepal earthquake (in which I’m also quoted)

Throwback: Decade ago when we were awarded with our ASU grad scholarships

• Here are throwbacks from celebrating Cinco de Mayo Fiesta when I was teaching en el Valle

 

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo mañana!

Beauty Tuesday: Concert Clothes & Costumes

†GOD Bless the U.S.A. Happy Belated Memorial Day♥

I hope that you all took the time to toast tribute to our service men and women who sacrificed their lives for the sake of our nation’s freedom! My favorite veteran, my dad, was the Airman with whom I commemorated our fallen military members, along with my mom, my sister and her Marine/my brother-in-law. Our late paternal great-grandfather actually was a soldier, and my great-uncle, who is my late maternal grandmother’s only surviving sibling, was a sailor man…

This past weekend, my mom’s birthday celebration continued with the Journey concert in Dallas on Memorial Day Eve. Joanne, my sis, actually bought our family tickets before the holidays last year! Since the show that opened with Tower of Power and also featured the Steve Miller Band was outdoors, I just wanted to be laid-back and down-to-earth. However, I now reminisce about other concerts that I attended and will present to you my get-up for a few of them…

Pat Green ~ Abilene, TX (2005)

Instead of getting dolled up like this Baby Doll beside me, I sported a Pat Green baseball tee!

“It came upon me Wave on Wave” ~ Pat Green

Blaine’s Picnic ~ San Angelo, TX (2006)

All I needed at our Texas Country Music Festival was my cowboy hat & a smile! {Stars & Stripes Bikini by my former employer, Old Navy}

Blaine’s Picnic features Texas Country‘s finest!

Evanescence ~ Hidalgo, TX (2007)

Evanescence visited el Valle on Halloween, so I dressed in USAF BDUs while Asia gave out candy! {Camo Sandals by Steve Madden}

Evanescence’s lead singer, Amy Lee, was the sexy bombshell Scarilyn Monroe {my camera wasn’t allowed on site back then, so this is from the site @ bottom right}

New Kids On The Block ~ Hidalgo, TX (2009)

I repped my fave childhood boy band, New Kids, on my block as I rock out this NKOTB Breast Cancer Awareness tank top! {Shorts by Abercrombie & Fitch}

The moment I’ve been waiting for for 2 decades: NKOTB takes the stage!

My fave part of the NKOTB concert? Jordan Knight singing “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)” en español to put the personal touch to us fans en el Valle!

Hangin’ Tough! NKOTB hail from Boston, baby!

My fave NKOTB member, Joey Joe, sings, “Please Don’t Go, Girl“… I felt like J-Mac was macking on me!

George Strait ~ San Antonio, TX (2012)

I had to cowboy up to see the King of Country!

The Cowboy Rides Away tour also included Martina McBride & Miranda Lambert

My buddy got me this Georgie shirt: LOVE is Everything

Journey ~ Dallas, TX (2014)

I shot for casual & comfy to see Journey! {Dream Cotton high-low tank by Express}

My mom the Birthday Girl & my dad were hyped with Gexa Energy for Journey!

Thanks to my sis who got us the tix, complete with binoculars!

During our journey to see Journey, it started to rain! {Black hoodie by Forever 21, c/o my gal pal Amy}

Selfie Sunday: My sis went all out by prepping a picnic for us & providing ponchos during the storm!

Tower of Power: strong start to this concert!

Steve Miller Band about to perform!

Steve Miller Band never disappoints, after several decades on stage!

My fave part of Journey: when Neal Schon performs rendition of the *STAR SPANGLED BANNER* for Memorial Day!

Don’t Stop Believin’: Arnel Pineda = Success Story = Pinoy Pride

Jonathan Cain rocks the stage on keyboard!

Here’s a throwback Tuesday Top 5 for y’all: Summer Vacation Ideas that include music events!

♪☼Summer Breeze … Makes Me Feel Fine♫

Hoop, Halloween & Holiday Hype

Happy All Saints Day! Hope you all enjoyed your Halloween festivities if you celebrated Boo Ghoul-style and have fun if you’re decking the halls this HOLYday season…

As for myself, NBA season is in full swing, so I tipped off this month of November with a triple-decker and may add College Hoops to my Dispo Hoop Scoops:

Elaine J. Dispo | NBA

* Matrix’s Tipoff Speech
* Dirk’s Mavs Mix
* Monta Basketball in Dallas

Plus, we’re about to launch the Pretty Fit App site full blast, so please check out my Pretty Fit Team bio. You can install the Pretty Fit app from iTunes.

Last, but not least, here are my Halloween photos, starring:

* Asia as Cookie Monster, Annie as Elmo
* Double-A Team as Black Cat & Pumpkin
* Jade & Dax as Black Cat & Pumpkin
* Pumpkin as Dallas Cowboys Jack O’Lantern (star eyes and nose, football mouth plus accessories – ball cap, headband, earrings, paraband for teeth)
* Yours Truly as Tonto with Arrowhead my Crow (won the USPFO Halloween 2013 Ladies’ Costume Contest – ironically, dressed as a man) ~ Kemosabe, baby!

Shoutout: Happy Retirement to my Mom!

Now back to cracking and cranking out my dissertation…

2:22 ~ make a wish!!!

Blog-portunities

Happy National Pumpkin Day! 

[Tonto for Halloween]

This week has been all about preparing for the NBA season and the upcoming holidays. I wrapped up my required writing for the rest of this month (which I hope to devote to my dissertation) before the regular season tips off. Please visit my Rants for my latest, and here are my most recent articles since I last shared my posts:

Elaine J. Dispo | NBA 

• Calderón Countdown
• Vinsanity at Linsanity Nation
• Coach’s DNPs
• Top 5 Mavs Champs *slideshow*

Elaine J. Dispo | Clubhouse

• Top 15 DCC *slideshow* <– by popular demand, I extended from Top 5 to 15 featured slides

Plus, I started submitting workout videos to the Pretty Fit iPhone app. When I Skyped with the app creator the other day, we discussed my collaboration on her blog, so I’m excited about potentially sharing more fitness tips! Here are my original Pretty Fit pic and my new one:

[Take me to the gun show!]

[Current Pretty Fit profile]

Let’s try this Pumpkin Crock Pot recipe from Tone It Up! Below is a snapshot of this Cat Trick-or-Treat recipe that I may give a shot, courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis‘ Giada at Home, that I watched earlier while dog-sitting. I’m also stoked about carving my pumpkin with a unique design…

[Black Cat Pop]

Now I’m hyped about Halloween and the festivities that follow. So far, I found my costume for tonight’s party and look forward to dressing up the animals!

[Asia & crow]

[Annie & me + owl]

[Dax & Jade + yours truly] 

Shoutouts:

• Happy Birthday to my Dad yesterday!

• Thank GOD my Lil’ Orphan Annie is in purrfect health, according to her vet, Dr. Price, from Windmill Animal Hospital, which is the Best Pet Care Anyhere… And it smells good too!

1:11 ~ make a wish!!!