wendy's quinceañera!

you've probably heard of a quinceañera, probably in a special text box in your spanish book called "cultural notes" or "growing up in latin america." today i went to wendy's quinceañera. it was very, very similar to a wedding. wendy's grandfather even gave her a ring at the mass. below you can see all of the ladies and gentlemen of honor with wendy and the priest.

ring boy looks at ring box with gusto

wendy is documented

the ladies of honor admiring the bride, er, 15 year old

lookin fly on the altar

wendy's cousin jaime makes her exit into the great masses

rudy enjoys an ice cream

back at the house, after an entrance procession set to music provided by the dj, wendy dances the traditional waltz with her main gentleman and then with all of the other gentlemen

the ladies join them

wendy and her main gentleman

do-si-do

this cake cascade is nicer than my life

wendy attacks!!

waitin for cake

cecy (wendy's aunt), jaime and kelly (cecy's daughters)
this is a funny picture

a very fancy event. morena said she'd lend me nice clothes for it, which ended up being the shirt you see above and a jean miniskirt. but other people also came dressed like that. i felt like i was straight out of the party in the usa music video. on the front it says "BIKE CRAZY go to heaven well on wreels ALSO ORRELLGOING HEAVEN american sexy biker ride on the bike" and on the back it says "Exdmss your possnalhp in a from and mona in fhcahahsur mnnuor AVENGERS me nar the nerhuon toub ACOLESCENTS CROWD." looks like somebody got drunk at the typesetting machine. also, the shirt has a funny little hood that fluttered behind me in the many backs-of-pickups that i rode in today.

congratulations wendy. your birthday has been excellent, and i even thought the cake was moist. her parents are both in the states and were not present. kinda sad. i am thinking about going to the bronx and meeting everyone's brothers and sisters and aunts and cousins and whatnot.