Spanish Shirt

You know how certain scents or fragrances remind you of something or someone? Well, I have a shirt that reminds me of Spain. Actually I have two shirts and a pair of shoes that reminds me of Spain. However today, I'm just wearing the one shirt. This one simple white shirt, long sleeve with a boat neck. Thick, so it almost feels like a sweater...ah memories.

When I was in college there was one thing I wanted more than to graduate, and to learn how to write grammatically correct sentences. I wanted to do a study abroad program. Even though I had always wanted to go I waited until that last minute where I had to send the full payment for the trip to be included. So I ended up in Madrid, Spain all June 2007. Best last minute decision ever!

One day during this trip my roommate and I went shopping. I bought this white shirt and she bought a pink one. Needless to say, this shirt will for ever remind me of that trip...and maybe now of the fact that I never did quite learn how to get over my run-on sentence issue.

Also, I think I'm finally going to start blogging again. I took the Spring "off" and seeing as how yesterday was the first day of summer...I don't have an excuse anymore. 

♥always,

I Love: Celestial Green Tea

Whoa..I haven't been writing much. But I have been consuming a lot of Tea. A lot of Green Tea. A lot of Celestial Seasonings Green Tea. This is what happens when you can't drink coffee anymore. Why yes, coffee makes me sick even though I used to drink it every Sunday when I was 10 years old...might also explain my height. That and genetics. I have a cup as soon as I get in the office and one more in the afternoon. Sometimes a third cup if I'm working late. Which is pretty much every day anyway. I'm also officially obsessed with glass mugs.   

But not only do I have to have my green tea, I have to have Celestial Seasonings brand. I don't know why. It just tastes better to me. Then I realized I always buy this brand. Sleepy Time tea...Chamomile tea...fruit teas...all Celestial. So I took a look at their website and was blown away by all the flavors that I have yet to try. I picked up the Honey Vanilla Chamomile and the Decaf Sweet Coconut Thai Chai recently. Both really yummy and if I just add some milk and honey to the chai one,  it's like I'm in heaven! And by heaven I mean thoroughly enjoying my other addiction...chai latte's. As much as this is starting to sound like I'm pushing a product here, I'm not. I just really believe this is great tea that you can purchase at your grocery store.

Anyways that's pretty much all I've been up to. Working late, still fixing the apartment, working late, not preparing for my trip to China, eating and drinking lots of tea. 

Oh yeah, have I mentioned I'm going to China? No, well, guess what... I'm going to China next month. So if you have been there, let me know about your experience. Oh and see what I did there... with the green tea and the notice about China?? No? Oh well, that's because I'm a dork and you are much cooler than I. If you did get it...you are totally awesome and are much cooler than those that di not get it. 

 

♥always,

Dino Myte!

Have you ever been to the Cabazon Dinosours? You have no idea what I'm talking about do you? Well, that's OK. You see when I was a kid I saw a movie called The Wizard, towards the end there is a scene with some dinosaur statues. I became obsessed with those dinosaurs and wanted to visit them. For a long time I thought they were probably a set, sometime later I found out they are a roadside attraction. But alas, I never went.  

This past weekend, the boyfriend and I had to go to Palm Springs for my bosses b-day. Here's the thing. The dinos are on the way. I made sure The Boyfriend was all in to visit the dinosaurs. I may or may not have have been extra giddy about this visit.

We only stuck around for like 20 minutes because it was freezing and super windy! But we had a lot of fun for two grown people visiting old dinosaurs that don't do anything.

 I'm not sure what The Boyfriend was trying to get me to do here but there are like five shots of me inside of thie guys mouth.

There was a gift shop were we picked up a  "talking" dinosaur head for The Nephew but I think secretly he bought it for himself...I called him Dino Myte!

See what I mean? And one more...

♥always,

30 Letters

As part of my Birthday Challenges, I challenged myself to write 30 letter to 30 different people. I am now slapping my self silly. That's a whole lot of letters. My of the top of my head list only included about 10 people. The plan was to write a letter to 30 people that in some way shaped the person I am today. But as I started to write these letters I realized I don't have 30 people I would say shaped the person I am today.

{Source: weheartit.com via Van on Pinterest}

I started with the obvious, my parents, siblings, loved ones, best friends...then I got a little stumped. So I started with teachers, dead people, even one celeb (Enrique Iglesisas if you must know, something about being the obsession of my tween age year and allowing me to fantasize...blhblahblah...don't judge me I was getting desparate) and to people that even affected me negatively because in the end they shape the person I didn't want to become therefor shaping who I am. I also started to write letter to events and things in my life. These letters got really personal and some even made me cry. While I share a lot on here, these are too precious for me to put on here and too long to type out. I got old school and hand wrote them. In the end I only wrote 28 letters. Now, in order to fulfill the 30 quota here are two short letters that I will share with you:.

Letter #29
Dear Childhood Books,
You captured me. You kept me company and taught me all kinds of things. I would like to specially thank you Babysitters Club Series, the Velveteen Rabbit, The giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk End, Alight in the Attic (basically all of Shel's books), If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Where the Wild Things Are, and many more. You all inspired my imagination and started my love for books. You have no idea how much you affected me. Because of you I discovered Jane Austen and because of you I loved to still to this day sit on my bed and get lost in a story for a few hours.    

{source}

Letter #30
Dear Trip To Spain,
I knew I would love traveling. You proved me right. My first solo experience outside of this country, I felt free and alive and grown up. With highs and lows...tears and laughter you carved a deep little part in my heart. You made me more adventurous. You made me want to see this whole world. Every trip I took afterwards or will take in the future was because of you.  

So there you go. 30 letters, even if I only shared 2. Well, 3 if you count the Enrique Iglesias blurb. Seriously I was desperate. 

♥always,
Marisol

New Year in Minnesota Don't Cha Know

So 2011. Yup it's here. Oh ya (said in a Minnesota accent). While most people slept in after ringing in the new year and then went on to enjoy their new year weekend, I was on flight to Minnesota don't cha know (again with the Minnesota accent). Why? Well, that's what I was asking myself as I realized I left my brand new u-shaped travel pillow and sat in a middle seat on plane that was delayed. But I do know why. Oh you know, that pesky little thing called a job. Yeah. They make me go there about once a month. So I spent my new years eve at home making Torrejas with my cousin (Another family recipe coming up baby!) doing laundry and packing. It was lovely. Until today. When I replayed my week in my head...

Jan 1, 2011 - Spent the entire day in two airports, three airplanes, one cab and finally, one hotel room.
Jan 2, 2011 / Jan 3, 2011 - Woke up to about 2 feet of snow. It looks pretty but it will make your bones hurt. Spent the entire day on the set of Shop NBC. Working.
Jan 4, 2011 - Spent the day in one hotel room, two airports, two airplanes, finally made it home.
Jan 5, 2011 - Spent the entire day in bed... sick... cough, cough...sniffle...
Jan 6, 2011 - Spent half the day at the Torrance courthouse, paid $124 for a delinquent fix-it ticket that could have cost me $10, half day at work with massive head ache and cough, Cough, COUGH... bad cold.
Jan 7, 2011 - stressed at work trying to meat deadline...realized it was Friday and sighed. Kept telling everyone I was fine! But it sounded more like "I'm Find!"
Jan 8, 2011 - slept and slept some more.. got a hair cut to make myself feel better... watched a cheesy but silly enough made for TV movie with my cousin. Had Epifany. Realized I did not know how to spell Epiphany. But most importantly realized that I got my first week of this new year jacked by Minnesota and this awful cold that WONT GO AWAY! 

Well, Let's hope week two looks a little better. Oh did you noticed I changed up the blog again. Yeah I totally messed up the HTML of the way it was before so I stripped it. She (my blog is a girl) feels a little exposed but likes it at the same time.

I'm of to drug myself! I just love me some NyQuil. It truly is the nighttime, sneezing, sniffling, coughing, aching, so you can pass out and not feel guilty or get a hangover medicine. AKA my precious...

Holla!

I'm Yours, Jason

That's right! I admit freely. I love Jason Mraz. I used to be a fan, but after attending his concert on Friday, I'm officially a FANATIC in love. "Jason will you be my baby Daddy?!?" Yes, I said that. Out loud. In public. Thank goodness only my friends heard me....And now all of you know....awkward.

It was quite the little journey getting to the Santa Barbara Bowl from Inglewood. It was a small road trip with Marissa and Tiffany. The plan was to meet at my house at noon so that we could be on our way have a nice drive without traffic. We also planned on spending the night down there so we wouldn't have to drive back so late. However, we ended up meeting at my house around 2 and actually leaving my house at about 3 PM! Yeah, I hadn't packed lol...

So we sat in traffic for about two and a half hours but we finally made it to hour hotel. It was your standard Best Western chain hotel. But it was really pretty since it looked like an old Spanish Mission. It was also not exactly in Santa Barbara but in Carpinteria. A smaller town near by.

Before we new it, it was time to head on over to the concert. Parking was full so we kept driving and about 6 blocks away we found a spot. The Santa Barbara Bowl is nestled in a residential area. A nice one too. So it was a pleasant walk. Glad I wore those flat boots though!

After we huffed and puffed our way up the hill we stuffed our faces with some cheesy pizza and soda...yum. Might explain why I huffed and puffed my way up that hill. While the stuffing continued the opening act played. I wish I had paid attention to who it was this time because I really really like Christina Perri. I didn't realize it was her until her final song, "Jar of Hearts."

And who do you think you are

Running 'round leaving scars

Collecting your jar of hearts

And tearing love apart

You're gonna catch a cold

From the ice inside your soul...

Sorry...this song just has some special meaning for me ;) Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts Official Video

Anywhoo...Back to JASON!!!! He was was just simply amazing! Such a beautiful voice. Better than the CD. The band was great, it was a lot more jazzier than I expected and I liked it! "Lucky" is one of my favorite song...that one also have a special meaning for me. Even cooler was the fact that Colbie Caillat showed up for the duet :)!!! Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat - Lucky (Video)

You go Jason! WooHoo!

About a third of the way into the concert...I thought I was going to go to jail that night.

No, not because I rushed the stage and tackle Jason....no no no. I would go to jail for assault and battery. Yeah, that's right assault and battery. You see there were these people sitting behind us, two guys and two girls, who would just not shut up!! Plus as the concert went on they kept going on beer runs and kept getting more and more drunk. WHO THE HELL GOES TO A CONCERT AND TALKS THE ENTIRE TIME!!!!!

Scenarios kept playing in my head...I could just turn around and punch girl in the face. She was quite chatty. I could stand on my seat and leap back and knock both of them with my elbows. I really, really actually started to visualize the fight and the hauling of to jail part. Marissa even said she "had my back" But, I decided it was not worth it. After a few dirty looks and some words were exchanged I just leaned forward and ignored them. We were not the only ones that were shushing them. By the end of the show they were so drunk things like "Your the F-ing man Jason!!" were being hollered. One of the guys you could tell was not as drunk and even apologized for his friends actions. He even offered to take this picture.

While all this was annoying it really did not ruin the show for me. It was too good of a show. He was just that great of a performer. We ended our night by getting some junk food at Carls Jr. and watching Say Yes To The Dress until like 2 in the morning. It was not as sad as that sounds.

The next day we headed down a main street in Carpinteria and enjoyed a varied, delicious breakfast at The Cajun Kitchen. Sooooo good. My mouth just watered thinking about it.....please forgive my drool. We had all kinds of things from you traditional french toast to your not so traditional smoked salmon...sorry more drool.

After breakfast we took a stroll down to the beach

where all sorts of laughs were had...

inappropriate photos were taken...

some serious posing took place...

followed by more & more laughs...

breathtaking views were enjoyed...

 

and miraculously I did not fall...

On our way home we stopped by the outlets. Hey, they were right there! Where I did not buy anything but a scarf. All in all one awesome trip!!!