Weekend Update: Some Busy Days Off

I always have weekends off...but since school started, they’ve for the most part been spent doing school work. I wasn’t completely caught up on school work, but I made an executive decision to have a little fun, and get the school work done at the end of the weekend.

Friday: Did a whole lot of nothing. Except for homework of course, which totally contradicts that first statement above. Oops.

Saturday: I got my hair cut and styled! And then headed Old Town, San Diego for a Day Of The Dead celebration, which was on my fall to-do list. I decided a couple of weeks ago that I needed to participate in this thing because a friend of mine who passed away last year really loved the celebration. If she were still here, she’d most certainly be there. But because she couldn’t, I was there for her. I actually was there as a volunteer and worked at the cemetery all day. I tried not to think about it much because it gives me the heebie jeebies a little.

Day Of The Dead: It’s a Mexican holiday celebrated November 1^st and 2^nd of each year where people celebrate the lives of their passed relatives, friends, and other loved ones. Although it is a Mexican holiday, people from all over the world of different races, colors, ethnicities, etc. are welcome to celebrate it. Some of the more notable things that come with celebrating Day of the Dead are sugar skulls, both the actual candy and face painting, marigolds…which are believed to bring the souls of the deceased back because of their strong aroma, and lastly the altars, which are sort of a shrine in honor of your loved one that includes the previously mentioned sugar skulls, marigolds, and anything else the person might have liked while they were alive, such as their favorite food, favorite music, beverage of choice, etc.

At the cemetery, there was a public altar where people were welcome to bring things for their loved ones. Some people brought photos, vodka, tequila, a big mac, nail polish, a cigar, etc. Below is a shot of the altar. There’s also some popsicle sticks that people could write their person’ name on. A few days after the event, the organizers burn all of the mementos provided as a memorial to everyone remembered.

Due to the abundance of candles in the cemetary at night...
I was given a fire extinguisher.
Marty reporting for fire duty!

After wearing make-up for 12 hours, the best feeling
ever was to be able to put my hands on my face! 

Sunday: Started off with a brunch with some Southern California bloggers! We went to Pacific Coast Grill in Cardiff and all enjoyed some good food and drinks, as well as the company of each other. Jill and Amanda did a great job organizing it all :] They provided us with some cute flowers and vases, as well as some amazingly beautiful necklaces. If any of my readers are Southern California bloggers, keep an eye out for the next event! It most likely will be wine or beer tasting!

The super cute table set up Amanda and Jill put together!

The sweeeet view!

Our pretty gifts from Jill & Amanda!
Stole this picture from Abby!

All of the beautiful girls in attendance!
Thanks Amanda Kathryn for the group photo!

TOP: Jill from Classy with a Kick, Raina from San Diego HR Mom, Abby from The Fabulous Life of a Natural Disaster, Amanda from Amanda Kathryn, Amanda from A Beautiful Mess, Adrienne from Pretty Chouette, Brianne from San Briego BOTTOM: Jessica from Wifesticated, Kailyn from Kailyn Marie, Marty from MartyWithTheParty

I made it home for dinner where my parents were having a small bbq for my grandpa who turns 88 years old today!

Life is so go go go lately, that I don’t even get a break on days off…but even if I did, I’m not sure how I’d handle it. Ha. How was your weekend? Any good stuff in your schedule?

OH! And last but not least…remember that bigs and littles thing I’m doing? Well my “big” Jess is hosting a giveaway and I’m totally part of it. It's my first one! Check it :] 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pumpkin Carving

I grew up in this small country-ish town in northern San Diego that is pretty much known for its Indian casino and Nate’s Butt Farm…during October. No lie, in the 15 years that I lived in Valley Center, I probably visited the butt farm a total of maybe 3 times. To everyone who isn’t familiar…it’s not really a butt farm, the place is called Bates Nut Farm. Nate’s Butt Farm is funnier though. Pumpkin picking is something I mentioned I wanted to get done back in that "Ahh Fall" post...and now, here we are :]

Anyways…I took my cousin to pick some pumpkins at Bates. That in itself could have been a mission. The pumpkin patch opens up for business late September and is pretty much a nightmare for all the locals who live in the area. Why? Because there is one way in and one way out. When ALL of San Diego county makes a trip to this small town, traffic piles up and it takes about 2-ish hours to get through at peak hours. I made sure to avoid this and showed up right as they opened, wandered a little, tried to find a huge pumpkin but failed, so settled for the small guys. Check it.

I made the princess do some hard labor.
Sorry for the back problems you'll have later in life.

The patch of big pumpkins. All were either lopsided or ugly. Whomp.

So we settled for some small guys from the piles of pumpkins.

"HAY RIDES!"

We got out of there before it got too busy, hit up the grocery store for some tools and stencils, and then headed home to carve! Umm…carving with a stencil was muchhhh harder than expected. I gave up after like 10 minutes and decided to freehand it. Whatev.

My finished product :]

No lie…pumpkin carving was hard. I struggled for like 15 minutes before I got the hang of it. I think I was over it the second I started because I was tired from hitting up the patch in the morning. But I liked the way it turned out. Definitely worth all the work.

I got myself an extra pumpkin because I was attending a pumpkin carving party with the girls a few days later. We got together, ate some chili, drank some wine, and watched pitch perfect. Ashley had never ever seen Pitch Perfect so we were scrambling finding somebody to go get it for us. We called Marcus but he wouldn’t because he was being lame. Chelsea should have grabbed it because she lost at “nose goes” but Ashley hubs ended up doing us the favor. Poor guy was probably in hell the whole night with Chelsea and I screaming at him while he was hiding. Here’s some pictures of that memorable night!

My pumpkin! Which was another free hand because
I didn't even want to pretend like I could use the stencils.

Top Left: Marty. Top Right: Ashley.
Bottom Left: Caroline. Bottom Right: Chelsea.

It turned out to be a fun little evening, definitely good to get a break and hang out with the girls instead of doing lame-o homework. What do you think of our pumpkins?  Are you pro stencil or anti stencil?

That’s all folks :] Have a great Wednesday!

Falling Into Fall

Remember when I said I’m never doing gift swaps ever again…I didn’t stick to that. This was a fall themed swap that looked more promising than the other ones I’ve done considering the number of people that signed up. Hopefully the odds would be in my favor :] They totally were and I had an awesome partner in Lauren over at The Peanut Program but the swap proved to be a little more difficult than I thought. I found it difficult to get to know Lauren because most of my time was allotted towards school, homework, observations, and tutoring. Big fail on my part, but hopefully I came through on my gift…

Most of my stuff was from my favorite store ever, World Market.

I threw in some interesting coffee flavors since she mentioned one of her favorite things to do is enjoy a nice cup of brew. The Texas Turtle coffee is actually something I’ve had before at work and liked a lot! I also included some handmade cards from WM which I seriously love. I justified this inclusion and some fun pencils as she has been working on an office make over [Check out how great it looks! Totally Pinterest worthy!] and so the cards would add to her stationary and can be used as thank you’s, for gifts, or a pretty presentation for a gift card. The pretty pencils are meant to liven up a pen/pencil holder for her new office. The earrings you see are also from WM and got those because she mentioned she likes the color turquoise so there ya go. The purple gives it a little pop! Last but not least, there were some Jasmine travel size face/hand wipes that I included because after having mine for a while, I have found them to be very useful and great smelling! I didn’t stick to the fall theme like at all, other than my box decoration, but guess who forgot to take a picture of that?!! Me. Oh well. Hope you liked everything Lauren!

Let’s move on to my awesome gift…

Shout out to me for my sucky photo!

Scarf Detail!

Lauren caught on about my love for skulls. It’s totally a random love I have, but something I can’t deny. Haha. She included a skull scarf that I can’t wait to wear [once it gets a little bit cooler] and a cute little skull that is meant to DIY makeover, so I can't wait to do that and put on my bookshelf! Also included was some nail polish that I couldn’t wait to put on, and a Halloween skeleton thing that is currently sitting on the corner of my desk. And a head band with a cute link design that I can wear with a messy bun! That's been my hair do of choice for like the last year, so lately I've been embracing head bands to pretty that up. She wins at sticking to the fall theme as well as getting cool stuff I love! I can’t wait to start working on it on the skull!

This was definitely a more successful gift swap than the ones I've done before. Thanks again for the gift Lauren!

Ahhh...Fall

It’s fall! Well…sort of. Sunday night was the first time since April that a chill rolled into my bedroom and I had to sleep under the covers. San Diego doesn’t get too much change between seasons, but hey, it’s something!

I absolutely love summer, but there’s something about fall that makes everything feel so…cozy. Red and orange color schemes have taken over Pinterest, people are losing their minds over Pumpkin Spice Latte’s and Pumpkin M&M’s, and an outfit that consists of leggings, and oversized sweater, boots, and a messy bun is acceptable again :]

Today’s post is kind of a random compilation of things I love and look forward to doing this fall!

-Playoff Baseball.

Did anyone really expect anything else to be at the top of this list? I’m pretty positive neither of my teams [Yankees & Padres] will be playing in the fall classic this year, but it makes my heart happy to know that I’ll be able to turn on the TV when I get home from work or school and baseball will be on. Unfortunately the rivals of my favorite teams did make it to October. That doesn’t mean I won’t be watching…I’ll just be rooting for the Red Sox and Dodgers to not win!

-Apple Beer.

I learned about Apple Beer/Cider [whatever it is] earlier this summer when I had it at a BBQ and liked it a lot. Since then, I’ve had it here and there…but I plan on fully embracing it this fall. I think one of the reasons I like it so much is because it reminds me of Manzanita which is apple soda…a staple in Mexican households! It’s like the grown-up boozier version of Manzanita! Both are worth checking out!   

-Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate.

Pumpkin Spice Latte’s can take a seat, my favorite seasonal drink from SBUX is the Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate! Heavenly is probably the best word I can use to describe the way it tastes. I don’t know enough coffee connoisseur approved adjectives to properly describe it…just take my word for it, it’s damn good.

-Abuelita’s Hot Chocolate.   

I you know, you knowwwwwww.

-Comfy Clothes.  

If you’re looking for a fashion blog…look elsewhere. I endorse leggings and sweats. I live in leggings. So I’m happy that it’s we’re in the season where it’s acceptable to wear them again! Oversized sweaters go well with leggings and adds to that comfort level. Put on some calf length boots and throw your hair in a messy bun and you’re good to go! Can’t forget about seats though! I have a large collection of sweats, they’re one of my favorite things to wear…around the house, to run a quick errand, head to school. Pretty much to do anything but go to work.

-Cinnamon Roll Crust Apple Pie.

I learned to make this like 2 years ago. It was pretty freaking delicious. Can’t wait to make it again :]

-Pumpkin Picking & Pumpkin Fudge.

So I’m from a small country-ish town in North San Diego county. It’s famous for its surrounding casinos…and that’s about it. The only time traffic gets crazy is in October when pretty much all of San Diego flocks here to pick pumpkins in the crazy awesome pumpkin patch Bates Nut Farm has…better known to the locals as Nate’s Butt Farm :] Haha. I actually haven’t picked pumpkins here for like 6 years, but I’m making it happen this year! Bates has like 20 different flavors of homemade fudge in their shop which is ridiculously rich and soooo good, but the best flavor is Pumpkin fudge which they only roll out every fall!

-Dia De Los Muertos.

It’s a Mexican holiday that honors and celebrates deceased relative and loved ones. I’m kind of infatuated with sugar skull art, and if I ever get courageous enough to get a tattoo, the first will definitely be a sugar skull and some roses. Old Town in San Diego has done this cool event thing for the last few Dia De Los Muertos and I really want to make it out this year!

Last But Certainly Not Least…

-SYTYCD Tour

One of my favorite things of the summer is So You Think you Can Dance. One of my favorite things of the fall is seeing the top 10 contestants on tour doing my favorite dances of the season. Amy, Jasmine, Nico, and Tucker were some of my favorites, but my #1 of the season was Aaron. He's such an incredible dancer anddd I might have fallen in love with him. I was so sure he was going to go from not making the cut [again] during the green mile to winning the whole competition. When they said Fik-Shun’s name as the winner, I immediately yelled “SHUT. UP.” I couldn’t believe Aaron lost. It broke my heart and I am still not over it. If I make to the tour this year, you can bet everything in your pocket that I will camp out for hours after the show for a shot to meet him!

<3

That’s it folks. Or at least everything that came to mind when I made this list. What do you think of it? What’s on your list? Anything missing that should be on mine?

P.S. I'm not one who uses the word "cozy" regularly...so don't judge me based on my use of it in today's blog. Ha. 

P.S.S. I'm gonna mention that I don't own any of these images, all were stolen from google and pinterest...please don't sue me.