Hola Chulas y Chulos! How you doin’? Ready for my favorite time of the year? Now, you can call the season “wintertime” or “the holidays,” but those of us in the know call it peak tamal season.

Continue reading "Tamal Memes Because ‘Tis the Season for Tamales" at By Claudya.

We have a lovely little backyard that I never take for granted because when you live in a city like San Francisco where the homes butt up right against each other and your front door opens pretty much directly onto the sidewalk, having a little patch of earth in the back of your home that you can enjoy is really a blessing.

Continue reading "How to Make DIY Tin Can Lanterns" at By Claudya.

My home isn’t fancy. It isn’t filled with expensive decor. But it is filled with love and things that I love like this large DIY chicken wire frame that hangs in my living room.

Continue reading "DIY Chicken Wire Frame" at By Claudya.

I love myself, so I decided to write a Valentine’s Day love letter to myself. I’m sharing it because I want to encourage you to do the same.

Continue reading "Valentine’s Day Love Letter to Myself" at By Claudya.

A few years back, I saw the 52 week money challenge floating around and I was intrigued. The idea is that you save $1,378 in 52 weeks by setting aside an increasing amount of money every week.

Continue reading "52 Week Money Challenge Forward and Reverse (Printable)" at By Claudya.

Being born and raised in the United States by a Mexican mother, my life has always been bicultural and I love it. Part of the beauty of being bicultural is that I get to celebrate some holidays in more than one way.

Continue reading "15 Tweets That Perfectly Describe What Mexican Christmas is Like" at By Claudya.

Last year in honor of my husband’s birthday, I wrote a blog post called 42 Great Things About My Husband. This year has taught me to appreciate all the many mundane things in life that I took for granted pre-pandemic, so I thought it would be appropriate to share some totally mundane things about my husband.

Continue reading "43 Mundane Things About My Husband" at By Claudya.

A couple of weekends ago, we got up early-ish and headed to Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm. We also invited friends to join us so that we could do some socially distanced socializing while picking out a variety of pumpkins to bring home.

Continue reading "Our Visit to Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm" at By Claudya.

Sugar skulls are a popular motif for Day of the Dead and decorating other items to look like sugar skulls has become quite popular as well because C-U-T-E.

Continue reading "DIY: Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Planters" at By Claudya.

Have I mentioned that my husband is a professional gardener and passionate about horticulture even when he’s not working? Well, he is and it’s a wonderful thing because his passion for horticulture means that we go on family outings to places like Shelldance Orchid Gardens.

Continue reading "Our Visit to Shelldance Orchid Gardens" at By Claudya.

Although, I celebrate and proudly represent my Latinx heritage every single day of the year, I wanted to partner with Xfinity on this sponsored post because I think that Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) is a great time to remind everyone that we are a very diverse group with many different stories to tell.

Continue reading "10 Things to Watch On Xfinity During Hispanic Heritage Month" at By Claudya.

A lot of things happened in 2008, but for me, the most significant thing that happened that year is that I became a mother. A mother to an extraordinary human being that is turning 12 this year.

Continue reading "12 Wishes for My 12-Year-Old" at By Claudya.

(UPDATE: My beloved Dill passed away on August 30, while lying on my chest.)

My Dearest Dill,

How could I have ever imagined that I would come to love you as much as I do?

Continue reading "A Letter to My Dying Hamster" at By Claudya.

Although I love living in California because it’s on the coast, I can’t say that I’ve ever considered myself a beach enthusiast. I like knowing that the beach is there and waiting for me if I choose to go, but most of my life I haven’t chosen to go.

Continue reading "The Beach Has Become Our Pandemic Go-To Outing" at By Claudya.

There are many, many varieties of Mexican pan dulce, but conchas are undoubtably one of the most popular and recognizable varieties. They are sweet delicious balls of bread with a sweeter kind of sugar cookie topping in designs that make the whole thing look like a concha.

Continue reading "We Made Pan Dulce Conchas at Home" at By Claudya.

This weekend, my family and I spent some time playing in the sand at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. While at the beach, I went for a walk and had some thoughts on why even though the world is clearly falling apart, I should continue to represent myself by sharing my perspective and the seemingly unimportant everyday adventures that I have in real life online via my blog, social media and as a freelance writer.

Continue reading "Why Representing Myself Matters Even When the World Is Falling Apart" at By Claudya.

I received a complimentary pair of Critts to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received and the following are my thoughts and mine alone.

Continue reading "I’m Flippin’ for My New Critts Chanclas" at By Claudya.

I haven’t been writing much. I haven’t been posting much. Instead, I’ve been listening, supporting Black voices and doing my best to educate myself so that I don’t lead with ignorance or a lack of a historical perspective when speaking out against systemic racism in this country.

Continue reading "5 Books to Help You Learn How to Talk About Racism" at By Claudya.

It’s hard to keep track of how many days/weeks we’ve been staying home to help slow the spread of coronavirus. If I am counting correctly, we are on week nine.

Continue reading "Week 9 of My Shelter in Place Travels" at By Claudya.

I’m writing this while in bed with a belly full of yummy food that was served to me by my loving family because it’s Mother’s Day and I’m a mother!

Continue reading "Week 8 of My Shelter in Place Travels" at By Claudya.