What are you thankful for?

OK! So I know it is nowhere near Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean that everyone shouldn't consider what they are thankful for everyday. My life has been a tornado as-of-late, and I have been to busy to think about such things. I have been to busy to even write in my blog, which has become a favorite past-time of mine....depressing....

But today, I have realized that even though my life has become a constant struggle to find some source of income in the fall, I still have much to thank my lucky stars for.....most importantly my amazing FAMILY :)

Me and the rest of "The Mercados" at graduation

In the up and coming months, I must find a stable job that can support me for the rest of my life. (No pressure right?) But the important thing is that my family has really jumped at the chance to help me on my job search. I have realized how truly blessed I am to have a family who is not only willing to help me, but is also more than capable to help!

 I would like to take this time to say THANK YOU Mom, Dad, Bryn, Shea, and of course Sarah! I am so grateful to have all of you in my life.

Until next time :)

Gotta Have It!

Remember that dream closet I have referred to so many times before? When I say "dream closet", it's because it only exists in my dreams because most of the things I do want are significantly out of my budget. But for now, I research the new trends and the best designer, in hopes that I will be able to wear all of their clothes one day...

 I have another addition I would like to add to this closet of delight, Marchesa. This b-e-a-UTIFUL brand includes lady-like clothing designed by two young Brittish women, who describe their clothes as "elegant eveningwear, inspired by by vintage and Asian influences"....Ummmm HI! Everything in that description is everything I want in fashion! Elegant? Check! Eveningwear? Check! And do I even need to go into detail about how much I LOVE vintage inspired clothing? I think not...

These clothes have a lighter than air feeling and I swear they resemble works of art. I love the mixture of feminine fabrics, and the subtle but vibrant color and pattern choices. On top of everything, Marchesa finds a way to include feminine details on all their clothing, which might be my favorite thing about the brand. They remind me of a fairy-tail, or a beautiful dream that I never want to wake up from. :)

So here are some pictures, so that you can covet these clothes right along with me....

Image from: Coutorture

Image from: Coutorture

Image from: Coutorture

Image from: Coutorture

Image from: Coutorture

Image from: Coutorture

Image from: Coutorture

Now I am living in the dream land that is Marchesa, getting ready to put on my tennis clothes to go to work. That's close to a gorgeous gown right? No? Dang. One day....

Until Next Time :)

Stuck in Never Never Land

So I have been recently inspired....

Spending hours on the couch this summer (please ignore the laziness of that statement) has given me time to discover new movies and watch some that I haven't seen since I was little. I discovered the latter of the two last night, when I decided to put on the movie Hook...

Every little aspect of the movie made me smile, and remember past times. The cute little kids, the mermaids, the pirates (SMEE!!), Peter finding his way again, and of course The Lost Boys.

I dare you to look at this without smiling :)

Image from: Photo Bucket

The Lost Boys struck home for me the most because of my current state of mind. I guess I am a bit of a lost boy right about now. I am in a crossroads of my life, where I am forced to grow up, which is ironically the LAST thing I want to do. I long to wear funky clothes, get in paint wars, think happy thoughts, and of course FLY! Instead I am sifting through job postings, deciding exactly what it is I am going to do with my life....

Where is the world where all that matters is your imagination? Where time stands still, and grown-ups (or bloody pirates) are the enemy? I guess it doesn't really exist....but for now I will stay lost for a little bit and put off growing up for one more day, or a few. :) And if worse comes to worse, at least I have the best costume idea for next Halloween! Thinking happy thoughts!

Until Next Time :)

Making the best of it

So, as a recent college graduate I have tons of money! I am shopping daily...bought a new car, clothes, various electionics..... (and then I wake up from my dream and face reality). But seriously, I am broke as a joke. Which reminds me, who invented that saying? "broke as a joke"...as someone who is broke, I don't find it particularly funny. They should change it to "broke, and it sucks a lot". What? Not as catchy?

Anyway, I had a point to all of this I swear. Being on a limited budget means finding fun and eventful things to do for cheap. And when I say cheap, I mean for free. Luckily, this past week proved to be just that!

You know those friends who have been around for the longest, and know you the best? The ones who no matter you yell and scream at each other, within five minutes you are laughing about something else? Well I am lucky enough to have two best friends from home, and even more lucky to have them visit me for two days!

The three amigos (Jenny, Me, & Krista)

I went to Santa Monica with my roommate to visit her brother for one night. Followed by a day trip to Ventura Harbor to go on her parents boat! It was full of fun and of course lots of stories (not appropriate to share with the bloggerverse), but best of all it was within my budget!

My roommate Jenn and I a few margaritas and various other drinks deep....

The whole gang out and about in Santa Monica

Enjoying the sun (FINALLY) in Ventura Harbor!

The cutest little tug-boat ever...the Tammi Lu!

So the moral of the story is that its not about what you spend your time doing, but who you spend your time with. If you are surrounded by good people, then it is nearly impossible to have a bad time. So I guess the jokes on you empty bank account! I beat the system!

Until next time :)

If You Want to View Paradise...

I have recently been inspired by Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In this movie Gene Wilder sings a song when they first enter the factory, in which he states "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it". What an inspired idea! Paradise is all around us...sitting on the couch, driving in traffic (I know, those don't sound like paradise), or for this weekend my roommate Jenn's beautiful Malibu ranch!

Where we met for lunch....ummm hi! I would like to move here!

I absolutely love the old big trees!

Trying to get a little bit of a tan, while enjoying some beers of course! :)

Here is my attempt at capturing the paradise around me. Love it.

I loved it there, and honestly didn't want to leave. But this beautiful day at the ranch was followed by an eventful night in Santa Monica, which embarrassing stories I will save for another day. But let me just say that I ended the night giving high-fives to strangers on the sidewalk, so it must have been a good night!

Now I am back in San Diego determined to look for paradise in any setting! Currently my paradise is watching the Lakers game on my couch...I wonder what it will be tomorrow?

 Until next time :)

Cooking Adventures

So, as most people know, i DON'T cook. I like to bake, mainly because I have a huge sweet-tooth, and with the exception of replacing sugar with salt, it is pretty hard to mess up. But cooking, on the other hand, is a very different story. I seem to find a way to ruin any dish I try to create in the kitchen. I believe I have some sort of cooking curse put on me (or at least I hope so), that prevents me from being the next Rachel Ray.


So Nick, bless his heart, ends up cooking most of our meals for us. And not that I'm not grateful, I just want to be equally skilled in that feared area of the house. Not to mention that eating out is a LOT more unhealthy then cooking your meals at home, and more expensive. So I have taken up a resolution to be the chef I've always wanted to be.

The first endeavor was this recipe for Pesto Pizza with Roasted Garlic & Potato, which I found courtesy of StumbleUpon (of course). I know!!! Pizza? Potato? Pesto? Garlic? That is a combination of ALL my favorite things! Don't be alarmed if your mouth starts watering at the sight of this picture:

Image from: Food People Want

Alright, so we didn't handmake our dough, and we didn't take the time to create the "Garlic confit" included in the recipe.But, we did at chicken to the recipe, which was a pretty clutch decision. Regardless, it turned out absolutely AMAZING!!!! And the best news is I HELPED!! I sliced and boiled the potatoes, and prepared them for the pizza. Loot at me, I'm growing up! I will keep you updated on our future food endeavors. 

Until next time :)

Pleasantries

Do you know those really amazing weekends? The kind where you don't want Monday to ever come? That was the fabulous weekend I had last week. Well, it didn't start so fabulous...

 I went to Orange County to work a Mint Photolounge event for my brother and his wife. I guess I should explain what that means exactly.They started an amazing company called Mint Photolounge when they couldn't find the perfect photobooth for their wedding. It is the perfect touch to any event, and trust me when I say it is hours of fun! (Of course, I LOVE taking pictures)

So cute and swanky! Don't you want one at your wedding?

Anyways, I am privileged to work events for Mint Photolounge, which is actually quite fun and interesting. With the exception of the fact that we had to travel from Irvine to San Clemente. No big deal right? Well it isn't a big deal on any other weekend, but on Memorial Day weekend it took us and HOUR in bumper-to-bumper traffic. But once we got set up, it was a successful event!

When we got back to my brother's house, he reminded me of the fact that I was staying until Monday to puppysit, and that he had already told me about this a week prior. (I am not so convinced) Needless to say, I brought NOTHING with me, so I literally had to spend the weekend in just the clothes off my back! (And clothes courtesy the wardrobe of Sassafrass!)

But from there, me and Nick made the best of the weekend. We made lots of yummy food! Alright, well Nick made the food, and I assisted where I could. (yes I helped!) The we had a "date night" of dinner and a movie, which we hadn't done in quite some time! It is so nice to spend time with the one you love and really appreciate them. I can't wait until we are not dreadfully broke, and an have "date night" all the time! As for the  dogs, they were easy peasy! Seriously some of the cutest and nicest puppies in the whole world!

SaySay (Saylor) being a cute little bum :)

Sof-a-lof (Sophie) giving me the stink eye for interrupting her nap

Sof-a-lof posing for the camera as usual!

Roxy is Sophie and Saylor's cousin! She is SUCH a sweetheart

Alright I know that was a long post, but it has been a while so I had a lot to catch up on! But what I have learned recently is to appreciate all the simple things. Just sitting on the couch with my boyfriend watching tv and cuddling with the pups was all I needed to have an amazing weekend!

Until next time :)

Adventures in San Diego!

Ok! So I decided to do some exploring of good ole' San Diego this summer, and where else to start but Balboa Park! Where in Balboa Park you ask? Why the world accredited San Diego Model Railroad Museum!! Random? Yeah a little but random adventures are the BEST kind....

Of course it wouldn't be a random adventure without some random mishaps. The first of which my friend Evan and I getting lost (of course) on the way. The second is that I FINALLY got a new camera (thanks Shea & Sassafrass) and I was beyond excited to bring it on my first S.D. adventure, but what do i do? I forgot the memory card!! FAIL

But here are some of the pictures pictures I gathered throughout the b-e-a-UTIFUL day!!!

There were SO many trains!

It is ridiculous the amount of the details there are in these models!

Is it bad I wanted to steal this for my house????

A precious little miniature park complete with miniature children playing!

(should I be creeped out by all of this?)

Rooms upon rooms of this stuff!

It was a gorgeous day with not ONE cloud in the sky!

This is why I love San Diego!

So overall it was a pretty fun day! This has totally inspired me to explore parts of San Diego. The entire day cost me THREE dollars! That is definitely within my college-grad-dirt-poor-slightly-depressing budget. (too many hyphens?) More adventures to come....


Until next time :)

Being a Bum

I have decided what my next step in life is going to be:

Being a Bum


How can I achieve this lofty goal you ask? Well it's actually quite easy! In fact, I encourage all of you to follow these easy steps:

1. Invest in extremely oversized and comfortable pajamas, which you must wear for a majority of the day.

2. Have a TV with DVR, and record hours of shows like How I Met Your Mother, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Friends, Glee, Sex and the City, etc. This way you have plenty of shows to watch while you spends hours on the couch (See step 3).

3. Spend hours on your couch watching TV.

4. Buy a blanket which you can bundle up in while on the couch watching TV in your comfy pajamas. This is the only way to achieve optimal bumness.

5. A computer from which you can spend hours on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc. will boost you into Expert Level Bum.

6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 as desired.

Here is the view from my prime spot on the couch. Following all 6 Steps :)

That's it! Six easy steps and you can be a bum too!! I wish you well on your journeys towards becoming the best bum you can be. Good luck!

Until next time! :)

This is an Important One...

WAIT. Before I go on, I must divulge a secret. So, I recently updated my Facebook profile and said that I dropped my phone in the "sink" . Well, this might be a little variation of the truth. I actually dropped it in the toilet, but I thought that was too embarrassing to share with the world. So, this whole weekend I had no phone, which ended up being quite inconvenient. Alright, onto deep thoughts and such....

It's funny. When something comes around that you know is really important, and have been looking forward to for awhile, it's not quite like you expected. 

This weekend i graduated from college! Which was the LONGEST thing I have ever sat through in my entire life. It was so long in fact that my friend that I was sitting next to and I were listening to music on his Ipod throughout a majority of the ceremony. I always thought I would be emotional when this day came, when in reality I was rocking out to some sweet tunes and waiting three hours for my name to be called.

So what does that mean? I'm too cynical? I should be more grateful for where I am and what I've accomplished? Or that I like to dance and I'm ridiculously impatient? (My vote is for the last of the three....but you can make your own judgments)

The highlight of this oh-so-important day was going out to dinner with my family, my boyfriend, and a few friends at Gringo's. I got to open presents, annnnnd soooo exciting...I got a new camera AND my parent's said they are going to buy me a puppy!!!!!!!!!! Then, I continued to order two VERY large pomegranet margaritas (too die for), and then continued to share embarrassing stories about everyone in the family. I don't think I have laughed so hard in quite some time.

Nick (boyfriend), Me, and my Little (Kat) at Gringo's

Finally, we ended the day by going out for celebratory drinks with my brother Shea, and his wife Sarah, other brother Bryn, Nick, and fellow friends Jenn and Taylor. I had so much fun with everyone, and it was the perfect end to a perfect day. 

Queen Sass & Sassafrass at our finest :)

The 2nd and the 3rd best looking Mercado child (you decide the order)

My boyfriend Nick...had to add it. How cute is he?

We can't go on without touching on my brother Bryn's dance which he dubbed "The Move", which he argued was amazing and went with EVERY possible song.

All and all it was a great day. I was so grateful to spend the weekend with my amazing parents and the rest of my family, and share this special moment with all the people I love. Now, onto an amazing summer, and then to decide what it is I want to do with my life (lets just not think about that last part)....

Until next time :)