Happy Father's Day To A Wonderful Dad!

"Fathers, be good to your daughters. You are the god and the weight of her world." - John Mayer

Albuquerque, NM

“Celebrate we will because life is short but sweet for certain” – Dave Matthews Band

Here are a few pics from our weekend trip to Albuquerque, NM. My parents planned a fun mini-vacation for us –The Albuquerque Zoo, Sandia Peak Tram & Cirque Le Masque. Saturday was my Aunt Debbie’s birthday and we still celebrated – a bittersweet celebration. Green Chile, good laughs and a great family pretty much sums up our weekend.

Flamingos this way!

My Awesome Dad


My Beautiful Mom


My mom matched the giraffes hehe!

Adorable 2 week old baby giraffe

I'm pretty sure Rich isn't supposed to go in there...

I'm pretty sure Dad isn't supposed to be in there (do you see a pattern?)...

Now that gladiator sandals are the "new" trend, my mom is officially back in style haha...

Thousand Birdies Giveaway

The fabulous Gisele is offering a blog revamp to one of her lucky readers. Gis updated my Designs by Vanessa blog not too long ago and was amazing to work with. While I would absolutely love for her to revamp Keeping Up With The Coppola's, I would love to win this giveaway even more for Blistered Whiskers. Blistered Whiskers is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and adoption of street kittens here in Arizona. I plan on volunteering with this organization. Keep your fingers crossed that I win this giveaway!

Aunt Debbie

My Aunt Debbie passed away this past Thursday and our family is yet again filled with a void of sadness but yet a glint of happiness because she so dearly wanted to join her son, my cousin Mickey, who passed away 3 years ago. Rich described Aunt Debbie as one of the nicest people that he knew and I think that is a great summation of the way she lived her life. My Aunt Debbie greatly valued her family and constantly did little things to remind us of that love. My Aunt Debbie Boo Boo Face (as I so lovingly nicknamed her as a child) always made it a point to make each milestone in my life just that much more special whether it be by getting me a special cake for my birthday or sending Rich and I our first ornament for our Christmas tree. Much more than that, I felt a deep connection with my Aunt Debbie- something that ran through my veins. I think it was because our interests and personalities were so similar and there was no denying that I was her only niece. I developed a love for Laura Ingalls, know all of the words to I Love Lucy’s Vitameatavegamin episode and have seen Schindler’s List at least 20 times thanks to my Aunt Debbie. I know my Aunt Debbie will never be far from my thoughts because she is a part of me.

My Aunt Debbie baptizing me...