An unrecognized Love

Its that time again for me. Yes, THAT time. Where I once again for the thousandth time, I sharpen my pencils, gather my favorite pens, pack up my old book bag, and head back to school. I never really considered myself a scholastic type person. While I don't think I'm retarded by any means, I've just never fully applied myself to schooling. Ever. At least until, these last few years where I am starting to feel the repercussions of a C grade verses an A. I never prided myself in the actual lettering's, but more what I gathered from my courses. And since I've been attending college for about 10 years now, I consider myself to be very well rounded, yet my grades suck. I mean, if we're just being honest here. My mind wanders like a madman at night in the dark alleys that seem to never end. This mind of mine also works in ways that most peoples do not. Or at least I don't think so. Even on my days where I haven't spoken much (which at times could be a rare occasion) my mind is still processing a thousand different things. I've even considered having some form of A.D.D, where I cant concentrate on one single thing at any given time, or that I have learning disabilities; where I can remember exact page numbers, where the pictures were placed on the page, and what color highlighter I used, and if I try hard enough, I can remember what I was wearing that day. Scary isn't it? Yet, somehow I cant retain the information that I just read, unless I write it down and study study study. Teachers assign certain sections of the book to read, and I cant handle just reading the section. I have a craving to read the WHOLE book in order to really grasp the whole concept of lets say, Physiology, or Chemistry. Or even Art. I don't want to miss a thing. In turn, this works against me, often leaving me way behind, or just putting too much on my plate in general, but ask me a question later on in life, and I can probably still remember. I'd like to say pridefully that I have a photographic memory, but I'm not lucky enough for that to be my special talent. However, my mind or maybe my humor and maybe just life in general in my head, works sort of as a play or a movie. A comic strip if you will, or even just a photograph. Which I think is why I love all those things. Photography, movies, comics, books, plays, sarcastic humor. I even have a tendency to laugh inappropriately sometimes at misfortunes, or how that lady down the street just biffed it so hard, she torn her jeans and spilled her coffee and skinned her knees and gouged her palms. The best part about that, is that I'm no so much laughing to just be mean, but I can totally imagine the type of day that this has set up for that poor lady. More like in real life I just witnessed something a director is trying to get his actors to re-inact again and again to make his audience laugh. And here I am, lucky enough to see the raw footage.
Then I start this blog, and I find that while I do have days of writers block, once I start typing, I cant stop. I do this with paper too. I write all the time. Short stories, usually of a day that made me laugh. I write letters that I never send. Obituaries even. Not so much for the dark and sad part, but more like the celebration of life for someone. I've started poems and never finished. Anyway, you get my drift. I enjoy just putting my mind down on paper.
So, now that I've set up my blog in a way you'll understand if you don't already know me that well, I'll get on with my "new" thing. Yes, this is a long one, so once again, I'll stick to just one new thing instead of my many things that I've done.
In all honesty, I need to pump up my English grades in order to help myself get on the nursing list. So I found a teacher that I really really enjoyed last semester, and I'm taking her two courses this semester. Doc Courington, what a lovely lady. I love the fact that no matter what kind of opinion you have, its a good one. And as long as you are pushing yourself to understand the general knowledge of writing/reading/English, she loves it. Man O' man, this works for me and my spacey mind. In addition, she is offering a creative writing course! Perfect! I've always loved writing, and hey, why not do something I enjoy. So there you have it. My new thing is my creative writing course. And a poetry class that goes along with it. And if you must know, for the first time, I'm taking three classes at once. I'm taking a sociology class too. So I guess that's a new thing two! And since I work all day, its more than enough.

Here's a quick glimpse of my first day, and then I'll stop blabbing.

I hate to stereotype, but we all do it in some way maybe without even noticing, and I don't do it to be mean, so I'm sorry if I offend anyone.
Being a creative writing course, I'm already expecting the normal. The more "creative thinkers", the more "Artsy" people, the ones that don't really care that you think his nylons are too bright. Or the dark and sexy ladies that have the seductive pony tail and bangs hiding her bright blue eyes covered in smoky black eyeliner. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I of course, consider myself to be a pretty normal girl. Jeans, tennies, tank top, or shirt. Hair always curly since I cant seem to do anything else with it.
I start seeing all the different walks of life filing in one by one, and I start thinking about each one individually. Hey! That girls reminds me of my "dark days" as my mother and I jokingly call them when I had a time where I loved anything and everything black. Then, hey! That other girl has a cute shirt on.. Oh look at that, I think I used to have boots just like that! Oh my God, that bag reminds me of my old roommates.

And then it hits me.
As I'm sitting there in my jeans, tennies, and my skater shirt that's a dark gray color that has stamped in white a thousand times all over the back " I brake for nature" with bright green embarrassing birds and a green tractor on it.

Jesus Christ..... I fit right in.

That was a pivotal moment and a hilarious one at that, for me. As I'm doing my individual introduction to the class, on why I'm taking this course, and if I've ever written before, I realize that my reasoning's for writing - which are because I come up with wild ideas and have to write them down so I can go on about my day- were the same as everyone else. I've got notepads full of crap I've written, and I have created a bunch of poems since I could remember, and I've written a ton of dreams down that would knock your socks right off. And as I'm being honest with the class and laughing WITH everyone as I'm explaining that I really just need to pump my grades for English up, I catch myself saying-

" and who knows, maybe I'll find my love again, and switch my major to English"

HOLY CRAP!! DID I JUST SAY THAT????

As I looked around, I saw a ton of smiles on peoples faces and for once I kinda felt good about my words and the fact that there were people that shared a common interest. Even if I don't wear wild clothes anymore, or do rebellious things against the normal, I like that I can still integrate that into a piece of me for a while. Or for a semester at least.

While I would like to think that I could be happy in that profession, my love is in sciences and the medical field. I want to be a nurse. Bottom line. In the meantime though, I wouldn't mind trying to find ways to become a better writer just for shits and giggles. Who knows, maybe I can write stories in my spare time in the life of a deformed blood cell. Or mock up comics for the medical break rooms when we need a laugh after a long and trying day. I cant draw for my life, but maybe I could leave that up to the other creative person that is in the medical field.

Cats out of the bag

Goodness gracious!! The cat is seriously out of the bag now for everyone to see. As many of you have noticed, I lag. Some days I'm on the ball, and other days, I procrastinate like you wouldn't believe. This is not new news to me, but I can put up a great act of always keeping up with whatever task is at hand. I fully know I also take no time at all to get ready for the day, but most of the time, I wander around my house aimlessly enjoying every minute of doing nothing. Maybe turn on a movie, veg out in my towel for a bit, go grab the lotion, veg out more, maybe think about what I'm gonna wear, get distracted by my movie, go make coffee, watch my more of my movie, put my socks on.. Anyway, you get the idea. What can I say, other than, Hello- My name is Natalie, and I'm a procrastinator to the fullest extent.
I honestly think about my blog all the time. I've always got a thousand things flying around in my brain, but I cant seem to fit in the time to get it done. One of my new things on the top of my head, and the reason for my procrastination at this point, is because my department has moved into a completely new building. Our old one was dirty, and was falling to pieces, and was infested with ants and mice!! Ugh!! It's a terrible feeling to know that you work in a place where you have to have mouse traps next to the tank where you refill your water bottle at least 3 times daily. So we as a hospital thought it was time to invest some money into a new place that could fit more of our employees as well as other departments. This new place however, is not full cubicles. Half of the walls are glass so we can be watched at all times. Since we are constantly being watched (trust me, I've been ratted on..) I could be on my break, writing my blog like a good little grasshopper, and I'd be in trouble. So, thankfully my phone takes care of me playing on the internet, but to write a blog, its kinda a hassle to write alot with a touch screen on the phone, so my writing has been limited. So, today, I decided to come directly home and get to my resolution that I've been putting off for months.
Normally, I would've just came home during the summer and wrote my blog, but I did a new thing that lasted 6 weeks, and I've got to say, it might've been the hardest six weeks of my life in quite some time. I joined a running for conditioning class to fulfill my Physical Education requirements for college that I've been putting off for ten years! No kidding, ten years! I've gotten so lazy since I've gotten older, and my asthma has kept me down if I ever got enthusiastic about it, that I actually considered taking the alternative for the physical part, and just take an "educational" class on how to take manage your weight. Very sad moment for me to admit my lack of interest in working out, but its the truth. The good thing is that I actually dont feel too bad because I got myself out there and did the class. I had gotten really ambitious after my doctor (Dr. Chandler May) finally got my asthma under control! I seriously love that doctor. He has done alot for me that will require a whole other blog in itself, but to say the least, I can breathe, laugh, and run without coughing or wheezing, and its an amazing feeling. Anyway, little did I know until I got t0 my class, that it was a running class that conditioned you for marathons!!! You can only imagine the look on my face when the teacher started explaining to us what we were required to do. I wanted to walk out, or just start crying my first day, but I didnt want to be a quitter, so I sucked it up, and stuck with it. Since I hadnt worked out in years, I was the slowest person in the class, and have never sweat like that before in my life! Thankfully, throughout the days, which by the way, were 4 days a week, the already trained crosscountry runners could recognize my struggle and would actually cheer me on to finish my workout! Probably because I looked like I was going to throw up most days, in which a few times I really thought I would, but they were nice about it and I'm sure they were surprised that I actually survived. I also thankfully found a super nice girl that became my running partner. She has the tiny leg span that I have, and we ran together everyday, which was a total relief. Most days were pretty brutal especially when we had to run ( I had to walk) up hills like this :





Needless to say, I survived, got an A and lost 8 pounds (yay!) in which I gained back immediately once I went on a mini-vacation home to see family. Most days I was staying with a different family member, so it gave a lot of opportunites to go out to eat, and I jumped at every chance I got. One of the places I went to was with Tabatha and Randall (my sister and brother-in-law) was a pancake house that boasted the worlds largest pancake. Of course, we ordered it and shared it, on top of our other orders and it was fantastic! Not to mention, it was a "new" thing since I never order the popular thing that restaurants are known for and had never been to the restaurant either.




Anyway, the running class was a great accomplishment for me, and this time only costed me a tuition of $26. It might have also costed me my dignity on some days when I just couldn't keep up, or my legs would cramp up and I would give up, but none the less, it was a new thing and i made a point to remember it.
I know I've also done A LOT of new things, but I was so excited with my blog writing that I did not write anything down in order, nor did I think this through. I just started writing and pasting pictures. So to save everyone a ton of reading, I'm going to have to stop, re-think, and collaborate my thoughts down on paper so it's not a bunch of rambling from me trying to catch up on my resolution that I've left behind.
Oh! One more "new" thing, my last blog, I was on my way to make potatoe taquitos, and they actually were pretty good! I over stuffed them, but they weren't a complete disaster and I even took a picture which I am posting to show that I was trying to keep up with writing, but I'm a procrastinator.

Life is good

I've completely disregarded the blog.. shame shame shame.. I know.. I don't know man, after that Brazilian wax, I just have been shunned from doing new things. That was seriously traumatic for me! The results were obviously great, but man o' man, I never made a follow up appointment and every time I think of it, I seriously cringe.. That one really did me in. But good thing that I kept up some of the new things I did without trying! I've been keeping a list on my NEW IPhone!! Yay!!!! I don't know why I held on like hell to my little, sad, razor phone, but once I upgraded, WOW! I think I got it around march? April? and basically went into an At&t store to "browse" the new smart phones/text phones. I must have had sucker written directly across my forehead in bright, red, flashing letters because this nice little white boy came up to me and softly guided me to the IPhone area, in which I was purposely staying away from, and as I looked at him like "oh hell no!" he literally handed me his phone to play with and walked away.. WALKED AWAY!! He sniped me! That little bastard! This guy must have been about 120lbs wet, and I'm pretty sure I could've taken him, and he totally outsmarted me.. He knew what he was doing.. I immediately lost the battle. I was sold. So after re-upping my contract, taxes, and new indestructible case, I was $300 in the hole.. This whole new thing is really putting a damper on my funds.FML. Here's a picture of my little(not that little) phone on top of the magazine i just inherited/stole from another office:




So, I've always had paper lists of "shit to do".. Cluttering my already cluttered purse, and loosing them sometimes.. Now with my phone, I'm able to keep it all on my notepad. Good bye paper! This phone has been a life saver and I don't know how I managed so long without it. The Internet is super fast, and it acts as my little computer since I still don't have one of my own. I especially love the compass on it. Oh I'm in love! And I depend on the map quest part of it like you wouldn't believe! So here are some "new" things from my list..

Lent- Even though I don't really go to church, or read the bible, or really do anything related to my religion like I should, there are some things that I still uphold. Lent is one of them. I do the whole no meat on Fridays, Ash Wednesday, give something up, yada yada. So this year instead of giving up sugar or something that I normally give up, I decided to be daring and stick with the whole "new" merriment. I gave up all chips and crackers. You have no clue as to how incredibly hard that was for me. Every day was absolute torture! You would think that I would've lost at least 10 pounds from cutting that out of my diet, but nooooo.. I gained 5 pounds!!! I was seriously like an addict trying to quit smoking or something so I was substituting with whatever else I could get into my mouth. I even ate desserts.. YUCK! Sugar ended up being my go to drug and I was NOT happy about it. Worst 40 days of my life. Maybe that's why my whole blogging thing has gone to hell in a hand basket.. hahahahaa! My first day after my 40, I ate a box of cheezits.. and I didn't feel bad about it at all.

I also saw Alice in Wonderland. That was surprisingly good! The only Tim Burton movie I ended up liking was Nightmare Before Christmas, so I was pretty happy with how this movie came out.

My taxes had some new things tied to it too this year. I used turbo tax for the first time instead of going to the veterans hall to have it done by little, cute old people and the ad said it would cost like $13. So I thought, why not? Might as well try a new way.. $55 dollars later, I had them filed and learned that next year, I'll go back to my little old peeps and have it done my normal way. I also had my first experience to Amending taxes.. I didn't even know you could do that.. Like a retard, I totally forgot to claim the quad until after I filed with my new and expensive way, so I refiled, mailed my taxes for another $5, and still have not heard back from the state. I'm so worried I messed up and their going to come and audit me.. Yikes! I'll stick with the tried and true with legal things from now on.

My St. Patricks day celebration was also a new thing this year. Instead of getting tanked, I had a few glasses with my friend Debbie at Tupelo Junction, which is a southern style restaurant, and had me some chicken fry and mash taters! To go along with the chicken fry, we also went to go see The Zac Brown Band at the Arlington Theatre! Wow, they were seriously one of the greatest shows I've seen. They were on tour with Joey and Rory, another band that I like, and had the best instrumental show ever! I was super happy about that! Thanks Deb! I've also never seen any bands play at the Arlington since its usually a movie theatre, so that was a new thing as well. double wammy! The only picture I have is one of Debbie while we were sitting outside about to eat, so here it is. Hope you don't mind Robo :





To keep in tune with the party scene part, I went to a bachelorette party for my roommates sister. That was good times! We rented a limo to take us from Grass Valley to Sacramento :




And kept one habit instead of changing it, and stuck with champagne :




ate at a really good (new!)Mexican restaurant called Zocalos:



Then went to a club (new!) at The Park Downtown and had us a great time in a VIP section! That's where this picture originated from woohoo!:




That was also my first time being in Sacramento and not just passing through, so there were good times all around!

I'm not really one for clubs, but I go when people ask (sometimes), so I also went to a club I've never been to before for Shannon's Birthday.. The Standard aka- Tommy's stomping grounds.. :) It was pretty cool with some cool music, although most people were incredibly high for what seemed like 2 weeks so I made sure to stay away from those people..But cool none the less











We also went to Stagecoach again this year which isn't a new thing, but I saw all new bands. And we took Kelly's younger brother Vinnie and his friend Steven, in which that was our first time taking teenagers for a weekend and watching them. They were awesome and I'm glad we were able to do that




I got to see some of my favorite bands too! For those who don't know what Stagecoach is, shame on you, hahahaa! just kidding, its a country music festival type thing that has a ton of bands play for two days in the sweltering heat. Sugarland was incredible, Toby Keith was amazing, Joey and Rory I got to see again, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban, but my absolute favorite act was Brooks and Dunn.. They are done forever with touring and I was lucky that they played some of my absolute favorite songs.If you feel adventurous, look up one of my favorite songs.. I think its called "I believe" or "Mr. Wrigley", actually I'm not sure, but its an amazing song.. Brings tears to my eyes every time. We were lucky to also meet up with great friends and have a great time:










And I was totally doing new things almost everyday and didn't even realize it! I'm taking two English courses right now to pump up my GPA for school so I can get on that darn nurse waiting list! In the mean time, I'm reading a ton of short stories and poems by some pretty awesome authors. Its more on the side of actual Literature and not just my normal novels that I read so its pretty cool. I cant think of any one that stood out the most, plus I just don't want to think about school right now, but overall, I've been reading all semester with new things and I didn't even realize it! And I don't have to continue spending money! I'm going to be poor very soon here.. but I'm enjoying every second of it.

So, I will still continue to try with of course some coaxing from people when I'm not being diligent, and tonight I'm going to try and make potato taquitos. To be continued..

Freewriter

I cant remember if this is a small secret of mine or not, but I'll write as if it was:

I secretly love to write. I'm not really one to boast it, I don't actually consider myself a writer, and I surely don't make people read whatever it is that I do happen to scratch on a paper, but either way, writing is my thing. Even if I don't have anything to say, sometimes I'll practice actual lettering and signatures just for shits and giggles. I find myself filling up whole pages on practicing how I want to write an A, or a B. I totally dig different kinds of paper and the way it crunches, or certain pens that throw out an insane amount of ink, in turn making my lettering flow easier and prettier. I prefer blue ink over black, and yes, I'm guilty of stealing pens along with magazines if I like them enough. Although, I do have the courtesy to ask someone if I could steal it. Its very rare someone says no when asked. Sometimes I'll write letters either to myself or to other people just because my mind is flowing with thoughts. I've attempted to keep journals before, but I never finish them. I end up just writing on whatever is near. There is absolutely no way that I'm gonna carry around a book filled with my thoughts or randomness for people to snoop through.. And not that I care at all, but just the thought of someones snooping drives me crazy. So, lately I've been wanting to update the blog, but I've been holding off because the only thing that comes to my mind easily is things I've learned lately. I'll definitely include the new things I've tried, but I'll switch up the blog a little (new?) in order to satisfy this thought, and hopefully be able to move on to witty and funny writing that I love to do. Most times, I just write how I think in my head anyway, so if I'm not feeling silly at the moment, its hard to be hilarious. :) This will be total free writing, so as the thoughts come, the writing goes, so some of it may be random, some dark, some funny, not spell checked, or punctuated correctly, you get the idea..



i've learned that you cant make someone see the way you feel. you cant help someone that doesnt want to be helped. sometimes making decisions includes everyone, even though it should only include yourself. school really is important for me. i dont think i would have grown without it. i love stories. i look up to authors. i'll probably never want to write a book. ive never been to a book signing, nor do i want to. it'd make that person less of an icon for me. weird, yes i know. when i buy a home, i will have a mini library of books i havent gotten to yet. and ones that i've read over and over again. i enjoy finding misprints in books and newspapers. my eye will always catch the abnormal. i love jeans. i love jeans. i love jeans. black is my go to color, not because i'm upset, but because i like the crisp look to it. i'm sure green and maroon look better. silence is golden. sometimes all people need to do is vent; it isnt your job to find a solution for them. its your job to listen. somepeople know all about your life, and it could be the ones that know nothing about you, that make you feel good about yourself. i have friends i know nothing about, yet their aura brings me to them. genuinely liking someone because they are chill and expect nothing of you is a great feeling. not having to tell your story is nice. yet others i know terrible things about them or what happend to them, and vice versa and i still know, theyre a good seed and they think the same of me. Love those people too.

~I think I wrote this back in April and never published it. So I pretty much was bored one day at work and my mind was wheeling in a different direction than in the "blog" direction that it needed to be in. So I'm publishing it just because and I'm about to do my normal one since I've completely derailed from my resolution and maria and annette are on my ass. Love you gals!

Even Steven

I think titles are really important. I'm pretty sure that most people will say the same thing. Whenever I read poems or papers, stories, or whatever.. I pay attention to titles first. I sit and ponder and try to guess on what I am about to read.
So, I sat and pondered for about 4 hours on my title before I started writing. I really had to come up with one that went in sync with my "new" thing. I say new "thing" not in the plural sense because this "new" thing has made me loose my train of thought on everything else that I've been attempting. While I haven't made the biggest effort that I have before, writing papers for school comes first.. Shoot! School really does become a drag sometimes.. So my title is basically stating that I'm even Steven with my blog writing so far. I don't even care how behind I am, or the fact that I haven't done things every single day.. Because this new thing I tried was HORRENDOUS!!!!! And I deserve a freaking medal for this one..

I cant even believe I'm going to write about this, and I'm going to apologize right now to the elders in my life that are about to read this because it's not something that you talked about back in the day. So, Mom and Dad, please excuse me. Its for the blog though.. hahahaa!

For about six months, I might even say a year, my friend Rose has attempted numerous times to put the bug in my ear to do this new thing. Not a real big deal, and probably normal for most, but I cant say that I've ever done it. I surely haven't been dying to get it done either. So, I made my appointment for today, a non-school day, to just get it over with. I desperately needed a new thing, and this was a perfect one. Besides, I'm tired of shaving all the time anyway.

I'm hoping you caught that magic word.. 'shaving'.. If you still cant figure it out, I sentenced myself to a bikini wax.. Yes, a BIKINI WAX!!!! .... YIKES!!!!!!!!! Actually, not even a bikini wax, I got a BRAZILLIAN WAX!!! For those of you who don't know what that is, I basically paid someone to viciously rip every single one of my pubic hairs directly out from my skin with hot freaking wax! Oh my gawd! I cannot even explain the pain I went through today!! I'm not very embarrassed to be half naked around other women, especially if I know it is already something they do for a living. Once you've seen one, you've seen them all.. So the embarrassment was the least of my worries. I had already explained to the lady, which happens to be the owner, (I think) Andrea, that I was really really nervous because I heard that it was pretty high up there on the pain scale. Most times, I can deal with pain too. I've been allergic to aspirin since I was about 17 years old, so if I get sick, have a headache, break my hand, whatever, I do most things pain-killer free, because my face and tongue will swell up and I would have to be rushed to the emergency room. Ask my mom, she's had first hand experience.. hahaha!! Sorry Mom, it's that voodoo-that-you-do..-Back to my story, I figured, well, I could probably deal with this, besides, I get my eyebrows waxed all the time.. That hurts too, but I keep on going back for more, so I'm pretty sure I can do this. I'll tell you what, I would rather get a full body tattoo than to ever do that again!!! Another lesson learned!! YIKES!!!!
This poor lady, had to sit there and try to work as fast as she could because I couldn't stop laughing. That is how bad it hurt!! I was hysterical! Couldn't breathe, laughing, snorting, shouting out "JESUS!" every time she ripped a new section. Its like my body couldn't do anything else but send out laughing fits, and screams in between the hot flashes I was getting. I haven't sweat that much since I don't know when.. But man! I was covered in sweat! My back was wet, under my boobs, my hair was wet, even my face was soaked, but I couldn't tell what was sweat from my forehead, and what was tears coming out from my eyes. She of course, laughed with me, I'm sure because I looked absolutely ridiculous, but she was a really really good sport about my fits. All I have to say is WOW. I cant even look at her handy work either. I'm so scared that there's going to be scabs of where my skin used to be. Even after hours later, I still feel like I have a fire in my crotch. Seriously, no shit. I had errands to run too after that but I could barely walk out of the salon correctly. Let alone walk around trying to get things done. I had to immediately go home and have seat. It took me a good 2 hours to work up the bravery to go out in public for fear that I would look like I was riding in a saddle all day.

So here we are. EVEN STEVEN. Tomorrow is a new day, and I will once again, try to do new things every day, because this time, I cannot even think about doing something crazy just to be able to update my blog. This is insane!

If you're not wasted, the day is....

For the record, I stole that from my Stacy Michelle... hahahahaha!! I love that title.. And it especially laid the presidence for the day today.. Saturday! My favorite day of the week! Of course, my internal clock only let me stay asleep until about 8am, but I fell asleep at about 9pm the night before, so I wasn't feeling too bad... I know I know.. My life is so incredibly exciting! hahahahahahaaa!!
So anyway, I really am trying to keep up on my blog.. I don't know how long it'll last, but for the mean time, I'm keeping up for as long as I can....
I woke up, only to find Kelly's dad knocking at our door only about 20 minutes later.. He came to hang out and go to breakfast, and since we were going to the same breakfast joint I was at before, I knew that my options for "new" stuff was limited... We went to Cody's right across the freeway off ramp, and while I knew that I had the opportunity to order a "new" breakfast plate, I thought I'd resort back to old, yet fun ways, and order a fantastic adult beverage of some sort.. Fortunatley, they have drink "specials" at the front door and I made my "new" selection immediately with of course, the help of Kelly Coco-lee... I went for the first thing that attracted my eye...








The Bubbly Bull.. Which had two of my absoulte favorite drinks! Vodka, and Champagne.. How could you ever go wrong with two adult beverages like that? hahahhahahahaaa! Not to mention that it was about 9am........
So once it came to the table, I had my first sip.... HOLY TOLEDO!!!! Cheezo, talk about a stiff drink at 9am! hahahahahah!! To say the least, this drink was SO incredibly harsh that I got about less than 3/4 of the way through it, and had to leave it as a wounded soldier (moment of silence please.........................) I gagged every time I drank this concocktion.. No way, could any person finish this, unless it was a friday night, and you were desperate to get the night going... even then.. Finishing it, would equal the end of the night with you waking up to a chicken in your bed, and you have no idea how it got there... hahahahahahahaaa!!!! To say the least I got through about this much of it:




But, of course, leave it to Patty to suggest a fabulous idea! It was raining, and we had absoulutely no plans for the day.. Why not just get a bottle of champagne and get wasted!! Normally, I would've came up with this idea on my own, but I'm not quite the spring chicken I once was.. So, I agreed that it was a FABULOUS idea!! We trecked in the rain to CVS, got two bottles of almond champagne, and preceded home. To not let the day go to total waste, we went to the store, bought more stuff we needed (lamps) and finally hung our enormous mirror, which of course, required my new skill with the hand drill:




But I also put in some work to the Crafty Christmas book. Here's a peek :





And of course, started our day with our bottles of champagne... And pretty much finished the day the same way:







hahahahahahaha!!! Its kinda nice to not have to write huge huge blogs, as long as I'm keeping up.... Writing about one or maybe two new things doesn't require too much effort, which is nice.. Leaves more time for more important things... Like finishing our two bottles of champagne, and spending our day lounging around the house... On that note, I'll leave you with a two things: A warning against mysterious drinks disguised as delicious.. And a picture that summed up our day... hahahahahahaa!!! :







p.s- This blog may seem a little choppy..... thanks to my day... its hard to edit, add, and make my story fun and nice flowing when you've had too much to drink.. I just want to give a shout out to the person who invented 'spell check'.. hahahahaha!! youre awesome!

I love all things crafty..

Few people know of my little obsession I've had since I was about 18years old. And in attempts to keep up with my blog, and do "new" things, I'm going to post it for everyone to see... *gulp*
I have a thing for magazines.. All magazines.. The best ones are the old person ones.. hahahahaa!! Martha Stewart, Real Simple, Sunset, This old house, Cooking Light, just to name a few.. On rare occasion, I'll even steal a magazine from a Doctors office or random waiting area, if there's stuff in there that I just cant walk away from.. My huge purse/bag of course, allows me to do this..



Since keeping every single magazine would equal a huge heap of magazines, I usually just rip out the pages that I like the most, and you cant just rip out a page in front of a bunch of random people without being stared at like you just killed a kitten.. The stuff I tend to rip out could be anything! Recipes, do-it-yourself home projects, ideas and uses for crap, or even just pictures of homes that I like.. Weird I know.. I guess its kinda like cutting out little dreams.. Kitchens with awesome sinks, cabinets that are old as hell and refurbished, stone ovens, before and after remodels (favorite), uses for old tools, decoration strategies for holidays, differences between types of glass, I'm not kidding when I say anything.. I don't discriminate hahahahaa!
When I was young, my poor mom would always try to get me in the kitchen to learn how to cook.. And being the angry teen that I tended to be, I would totally refuse, and not do it.. Of course, now that I'm older, I wish I would've just listened to mom (dammit, she really did know best) and learned, but I didn't. So I even cut out explanations of things.. Like differences between spices, differences between cuts of beef, how to prepare and or cut veggies (the right way), how to fold sheets the CORRECT way, things that show you what in the hell a Gourd is, and how to grow/make bird hangers out of them.. Anyway, you get the idea...
So I was at work, and it just came to me, SOMETHING NEW! I decided that I needed to start getting these cut-outs situated and in order.. And that I would go to the craft store. Oh craft essentials how I love you



and actually by supplies that I would need. The new thing is, buy the supplies for myself for an actual specific project that I was determined to get under control. Usually my budget doesn't allow me to buy stuff. So I wait for holidays and birthdays to ask for random, yet specific things because I'm too darn cheap to buy them for myself..
So, I went in, (didn't look at all the crap I don't need-new!) and bought one book of paper, glue, and some specific stickers that were on clearance ( yay!) and was on my way..
I got home, pulled out my enormous stack of cut outs (shameful, I know..)






and got right to work.. (normally I'd get home and waste time) I sat down, and crafted my stuff like you wouldn't believe! I figured I'd start small and sort out all my "Christmas Holiday stuff" Ahhh.. relaxation at its finest.. And of course, wine was my co-pilot. hahahahaha!!
Anyhow, I'll post pics of a couple of pages that are done, and hopefully in a few days I'll be writing about how I started a craft project, and actually finished it. (new!) In the mean time, here's my cover of the book:

Delayed like a plane at LAX

Oh my oh my!! How the time has just flown right by me.. And maybe a little procrastination to toss into that as well.. hahahaha!! School has started again for me, and when I made my resolution, maybe I should've been more aware of how this would take away from my attempts at all my "new" things.. But I have not given up! No sir!! Delayed is a better word that I've chosen to use, because I'm still getting to where I need to be, just running a little behind. I think I'm going to start carrying around a journal (notepad) with me just to keep up with all the things that run through my mind.. And on top of that, I'm going to have to make a mini-night schedule where I work in the blog writing. I'm trying! I'm trying! hahahahaa!!

OK, so here we go:
I haven't lived with a male occupant/roommate/live-in-boyfriend, in quite some time now.. And I've got to say, Sometimes there are just things that women aren't taught to handle.. Not saying that they couldn't learn, but ladies, you know what I'm talking about, Sometimes, it's just easier to have a man to the "Mans Work".. Most times, I can do simple repairs, put things together, know how to find the stud in the wall versus just the dry wall when hanging pictures, etc.. etc.. I've even got a tool box that my dad put together for me so I can further my capabilities of repairs. So when we were faced with having to put curtain rods up, I thought to myself, `No Problem!' Oh man, this was a lesson to be learned for me, along with being one of my "new" things that I've learned. Ladies and Gentleman, I learned how to use a hand-drill on my own.. hahahahahahaa!! Now, I know that seems simple, and maybe most people have learned to use one long ago, but I have not. I've definitely WATCHED my dad and other males in my life, use one plenty of times! So we were able to get Kelly's dad to drop his drill off, and I would do the rest.. First of all, he said that we would need drill bits of our own because he was basically going to give us the drill but he wanted his bits.. So I waited 2 weeks to get them from Home Depot (1st attempt-Kelly was given the wrong ones) just to find out that the things I was looking for, was already with the drill.. I just didn't know what they looked like, so I figured they must not have been correct.. hahahahahahaaa!!! I was feeling like an idiot already.. Then one Saturday morning I decided that I was going to do it!! Damn it, I was going to put up these 5 curtain rods once and for all! I had my measuring tape, pencil, leveler, screw drivers, and drill.. I was ready to go..
And then I realized, I didn't know how to put the thingy in the thingy.. hahahahahaa! I sent my dad a shameful picture :



And basically had to learn over the phone how to even use the damn thing! Soon enough though, I was on my way to hanging up curtain rods for the first time. I've got to hand it to the men out there, while it seems easy enough, and for the most part it was, it still was very very time consuming and my hands started cramping!!! Holding up a drill above your head and balancing on a chair is not an easy task! But after everything I got them all up, and even made some mistakes ( Thank Goodness for Spackle), but I think it came out pretty good for a first timer







Here's one of my mistakes hahahahhaaa! and if you look closely, you'll see I made the same mistake about 3 times..:





Along with other things I hung that day, everything needed wall anchors, so that was another new thing I learned how to do. I just have to say that those anchors are a pain to get into walls!:







And lastly, I still have to hang this huge, iron mirror that is heavier than shit! So its still patiently waiting for me on the ground




I've also definitely tried some new restaurants, one of them being with Tommy, in which that was a great place! It was called LaLa's in LA, and Joe's crab shack.. I even let them put a bib on me (new!) and I kept it on for about 5 minutes until I got claustrophobic, and had to rip it off my neck.. hahahaha!!
Oh!Oh! and I also did my homework for once, on time, and way way before it was due.. Sad but true, that is a first for me as well..

I thought I'd post pictures of places that Kelly and I are looking at to go vacationing.. Fiji is going to cost about $1700 just for one plane ticket! So Fiji is out. But we were looking at another website (timeshare) on St. Martin, and noticed that people were posting how they enjoyed watching the planes...... I got curious, and looked up these pictures.. These were also the deciding factors of us NOT going to this time share:





Seriously, what the hell!!?? hahahahahahaaa!!!
Til next time

Julie and Julia should've been Juliana encontrarse Juliana

Ever seen that movie? Julie and Julia?? No? Oh, ok, good, I haven't either, but I do know that its about some girl named Julie trying out Julia Childs recipes for 365 days and writes a blog on it..
Let me tell you, last night in my kitchen, it was battle zone de la Mexicana!! I'm almost too embarrased to write about this in the first place, and of course, as it was rolling around in my head to post or not to post, Kelly gets the bright idea to "Post it on the blog!". So here we are.. and my confession..
I take great pride, and I mean great pride, in knowing how to cook Mexican food, and even twisting it just a little, but still keeping the overall "Homemade" part. While I still need to learn how to make beans (this should be #1 on how to make), I'm good at the rice, tacos, tamales, enchiladas, you get the picture. And I even take greater pride, because my taste is not the normal average persons. My allergies have made it extremely hard to taste any one particular spice, so I bank on color, consistency, and measurements.. and then make other people taste since I cant... and alter from there... To get back to my confession, I thought that even though I've been sick, I was feeling pretty good and decided to cook dinner for Kelly and Patty (roommates). So I'm flipping through my recipe book for Albondigas, and I stumble across a recipe for Sopes. As I look at the ingredients, I realize that I already have the Masa Harina and everything. Great! That's what I'll make!! Recipe looks pretty simple, and it can be a "new" thing for me to post.. yay!!! Clearly, I forgot that Mexican food, while its cheap and simple, really does require some processes to be perfected. Had I come to this realization BEFORE I decided to dig in, I would've just stayed away completely.
All I have to say is THOSE LITTLE SONS OF BITCHES ARE HARD TO MAKE!!!!!!!
Not only did I mess up on the dough the first time,

 
which turned out to be soup, I attempted a second batch of dough, and messed that up even worse!! After adding 3-4 more cups of Masa Flour than required, I got the consistency of dough and started rolling those balls out,



flattened them and started frying, and realized that I was getting fried dough. 
 
I read the directions again, and realized I skipped a whole half-page of directions. So then, I realized I had to cook them on a grease less griddle first, let them cool, shape into mini cups, THEN fry!!
So I tried again... and again.. and again.. and again... By the time dinner time came and went, I still wasn't getting it.. I just don't understand!!
And to add to the situation, Kelly was past helping (thank you intoxication), and could only come into the kitchen, inspect, laugh, and walk away..
I finally gave up... So I stuck with the tried and true, Flautas and became a success only after my battle zone mexicana...

Dough, flour, and grease were everywhere, and dishes where piled high to the sky, and the whole house was in a haze of smoke from me frying the living hell out of rebellious dough..
Needless to say, I tried, failed, and I'm more than sure will try again.. But maybe this time, I'll consult someone who's actually made them before.

Another new thing I tried was Almond milk.. Since I'm lactose intolerant, milk with my beloved cereal is usually a no-no, and I use horrendous, watered down rice milk.. So I picked up some Almond milk after remembering that my friend Audra recommended it one time, and all I've got to say is: YUCK AND DOUBLE YUCK!! Sorry Audra, but I just cant do it.. So 2 attempts at "new" has completely backfired in my face, but I wont give up just yet.

Oh! Also on Saturday, I worked overtime in the ER and the abulances were coming non-stop.. One of the poor paramedics had mentioned that he and his team were so busy that they weren't able to stop for coffee yet, so he was working on fumes.. I felt bad, and after 2-3 times of them coming back saying the same thing, I thought, HEY! I'll give him my starbucks gift certificate, and they can go and get coffees on me, and a "new" thing, to give a gift to 3 complete strangers.. So the next time he came back, he had a coffee in his hand.. DAMN!! This whole new thing just isn't workin for me this week.

And to add to the situation as of right now, I just tried and attempted to post pictures throughout my blog, which is new (yay!) and i just taught myself, but I had to create a whole NEW account to Flickr because my original one disappeared.. This is not my week.