Gmail Rocks My World

I am so excited that for some reason, I can go on Gmail Chat from work now. Before, my computer would say "access denied." So you can imagine my surprise today when I got an IM from my cousin. I am truly excited about this revelation! Hopefully, my work days will be a little less boring from now on. Now, if only I could wear jeans, have 2 hour lunches, and drink beer while at work. THAT would be amazing and would truly increase my levels of happiness during work hours. But it would probably decrease my productivity, huh?

In scrappy news...I was able to bang out a few layouts this weekend. I've totally changed my way of scrapping and now strickly do what I call "power-scrapping." This concept is brilliant because now instead of doing 1-2 layouts a weekend, I am averaging about 5-6! I've stopped caring if the page is perfectly put together and I am more concerned with getting my ideas and thoughts down on paper. That is what this hobby is all about anyways, right?

I have been Tagged!

I am such a bad blogger. My friend Vee tagged me last week and I am just now getting around to doing it. I'm supposed to name 7 random things about me. So here goes...

1. I didn't speak English until I was 5 years old, even though I was born here. My parents wanted to me to master Spanish before taking on English. So, at the age of 5 my parents threw me on a bus to kindergarten, where I found my way around by pointing at things and somehow making friends (who I am now thankful for teaching me all I know! hehe).

2. I love to travel. So far I have been to over 30 cities around the world (not including the US). If I could travel for a living, I think I would. I used to want to be like Brooke Burke from "Wild On E" or that blonde chick from the Travel Channel just so I could go to fantastic places to report on them.

3. One time, on my way to school, I fell down a flight of stairs and a rumor went around school that I "broke my butt." In reality, I just slightly bruised my tailbone and was fine within a day.

4. I believe in love at first sight. Or maybe I believe in total lust at first sight. I once fell in love with a guy at a supermarket in Seville. He asked me if I knew where the shampoo aisle was and that led to an in-depth 1.5 hour conversation in aisle 5. I felt like I had known him forever. I never saw him again and I still wonder about him from time to time.

5. I am totally fascinated with Asia right now. More specifically, China, Thailand, Cambodia, and of course, Singapore. If all goes as planned I will be living over there in the near future.

6. I snack all day long. I am constantly hungry. If I don't eat I am one cranky B. And I drink water like its my job! All day long in huge amounts.

7. I am obsessed with trampolines. To this day, I ask my parents if they will buy me one. And they always tell me the same thing... "Grow Up Natalie!" To which, I respond...."Never!"

Happy Sunday!

And the Beat Goes On...

So this past weekend was amazing. Beautiful weather, long bike rides, and birthday celebrations. On Saturday, I made the 1.5 hour drive to Bel Air, MD to take a class with the one-and-only Kristina Contes. Loved her class. Loved meeting her. And LOVED seeing her mini-books IRL. It was total inspiration and so amazing to look, feel and see a real life glimpse of her art.

Then, I got to sit next to this super cute and happy girl named Vee. Little did I know that I had seen her amazing work on TwoPeas before, AND had even stumbled across her blog once before. Its funny how that works (and how you realize that after you already left the store). Its just to nice to meet other scrappy friends. Especially scrappy friends that live near me!

Ok, the grandma turned 91 on Saturday. Yep, she's still kicking it, old school if you will. That pacemaker of hers is really doing a fantastic job. She was rocking a sweet ass red sweater outfit (totally 80's), with her oh-so-cute curly gray hair-do. If I look as good as she does when I'm 91, or even 71, I'll be one hot looking grandma. And you know that means Matt will still be trying to get some if I still hot. Ha. Anyways, I think the best part of the evening was that she actually smiled for *some* of her birthday pictures. And of course, there was delicious food, lots of guests, lots of drinking, and laughs all night long....just like any typical Bolivian parrrttayyy!

Still working on my mini-book from Saturday, but will post when I'm done. And I'm almost done with this week's scrapjack. Whoop whoop! Love me some Heidi Swapp.

Random List

What happens when you're emailing with friends while bored at work? You start emailing the most random of random stuff. So, Maggi and I decided to create Random Lists. Here's mine:

My favorite color at the moment is pink.
I used to want to be a lawyer, just like Matlock.
I also wanted to be a back-up dancer for all MTV music videos.
I hate olives. All kinds. All colors. This is quite unfortunate.
Lemonade is my favorite drink. It reminds me of my youth.
One of my all-time favorite books is Summer Sisters by Judy Blume.
I haven't shaved my armpits in 3 years. Its ok b/c I wax them.
I am deathly scared of motorcycles.
I secretely wish I spoke 5 lanuages: English, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, & Russsian. (2.5 down, 2.5 to go!)
I think calf muscles are the sexiest part of a man.
Thai food is by far my favorite ethnic food. Especially Thai noodles.
My daddy is my role model. He inpires me to go great things.
I wish the World Cup was on every day.
Maybe b/c I miss seeing Christiano Ronaldo. See below.

In other news, isn't this little guy the cutest thing in the world? He is my friend's baby, and quite possibly the first baby I decide to scrapbook. I've never scrapped about anything baby-related. Only grown up moments, stories, events, etc. This could turn out to be quite challenging.
I'm so happy its the weekend! I have a lot going on this weekend, including a class with the oh-so-talented Kristina Contes! Very excited about that. And....I'm out.

What's in a name?

I got to thinking about nicknames today.
I think nicknames are an awesome thing.
Sometimes nicknames even replace our real names.
Like I have this friend, who is actually more of a friend of a friend.
And she goes by Cricket.
That's it. Just Cricket.
And I love that. Too cute.
In my family, we have tons of nicknames.
Erika is Babish. Dad gave her that one.
Mauricio is either Mo, Mauroy, Mauroy2k,
Or more recently baptized Cagon2k.
Mauricio will call my mom Rockefeller.
(Who knows where he got that from)
And Erika and I nicknamed the cat Fatty.
And Louie is nicknamed Goobie.
My cousin Marcelo goes by Chubi.
And as for me, most people just call me Nat.
Sometimes Natty. Or Nattielyte.
Sohale used to call me Zero.
Because back then I was a size 0.
And when I used to play highschool basketball
they called me Noodles.
Which was totally lame.
So, speaking of nicknames...

What are your nicknames?

P.S. Guess who didn't file their taxes last night because they were too drunk to type?
Yep, that would be me. Oops.

Sickness & Sweetness

So, I was sick last week.

I called out sick Thursday & Friday.

And to be honest I rather have been as sick as I was then have to go to work.

THAT is how much I'm hating my job right now.

But, I did manage to get out Friday night.

Yep, all dressed up & drugged up on Advil Cold & Sinus.

Good times on this 4-day weekend.

Did some power scrapping too.

Here's one of the four layouts.

Hits the Nail on the Head

Found this Design Test and of course I did it.
Dude, this is totally 110% accurate.
Do the test and be scared. Seriously.
This is what it said about me:

"Carefree. Playful. Cheerful. You love a free and spontaneous life. And you attempt to enjoy it to the fullest, in accordance with the motto: "You only live once." You are very curious and open about everything new; you thrive on change. Nothing is worse than when you feel tied down. You experience your environment as being versatile and always good for a surprise."

Seriously, this is even more accurate than the Chinese assessment of my animal, the Dog. Which after doing this quiz, I only give the Chinese thing a 92% accuracy rating. Although, according to Erika, I am a total fualt finder and would make an excellent secret agent. Alright, two posts in one day?? This is total craziness, even for me! Off to Italian class I go. =)

Family Fun

Friday 8:30 - A group dinner at Peking Gourmet Inn, where we had the most fabulous Duck ever. Seriously, if you are from the DC area and have not eaten here, then must eat there today. At the latest, tomorrow. It is just THAT good. I am drooling just thinking about it.

Saturday 4:00 - Lunner (late lunch/early dinner) at my parents house. We had chicharon, mote, and papas cocidas. Very Bolivian. Very tasty.

Saturday 8:00 - Mass for little cousin Mayra's confirmation. We were told it started at 8:00. We get there at 7:45. It didn't start until 8:30. By 10:30, I was about to kill someone. At least I found some amusement around me. A fat 8 year old girl who was singing Alleluia in the funniest of ways. A 2 year girl who bitch slapped her mom right in the face (and her mom let her get away with it). And lady who was wearing a high waist belt with the belt buckle on her back. Can we just say fashion victim? Just because the back of the belt has a semi-cute design, doesn't mean you put the buckle on your ass and show up the tacky pattern on the front. Lady...Jesus will forgive you. Luckily I left at the two hour mark because the mass lasted until 11:40. Those who stayed until the end probably have a guaranteed seat in heaven.

Saturday 10:30 - Cosmic Bowling. Oh so much fun! First round, I sucked. Second round, I bowled a 220. Sick, right?

Sunday 11:00 - We weren't forced to go to church like most years. My mom said that the 4 hour mass from Saturday would suffice.

Sunday 12:30 - Brunch at my Aunts. Deliciousness. And then sad goodbyes.

Pictures to follow....Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Belated April Fools

So here is how it went. Well first let me preface by telling my fellow readers, who don't know my family life, that my older brother (Mauricio) is in a wheelchair. And my parents were in Vegas this past weekend and so I was in charge of the house. And so my dad calls me up on Sunday (April 1) and the conversation goes something like this:

Dad: Hey, Nat, how are things at home?
Me: Oh, dad, not good!
Dad: (super concerned voice) What? Why? What happened?
Me: Well, dad, Mauricio fell out of his wheelchair and really hurt himself.
Dad: WHHHHAAAAAAAATTTT!?!?!?!?!? (begins freaking out)
Me: Hahaha. April Fools!!!
Dad: Bwahahahahahah. (Starts laughing hysterically. Calls over to my mom, tells her the story, and then I can hear her chuckling in the background).
Me: (of course I'm laughing because I think I'm soooo funny.)
Dad: Good one, Nat!

And then, of course, kharma kicks in. And Matt plays a pretty nasty April Fools joke on me later on that night. It was hilarious. You had to be there. Ok, that is all for now. Back to this shitty job of mine. Oh, did anyone watch Oprah yesterday? The Pajama lady. The former Microsoft guy with the hundreds of libraries in Nepal. Inspiring. Totally changed my life. Seriously. Ok, back to worthless corporate world.