Bad News bears

us after finding out the bad news So some of you may be wondering what this bad news was that we received from the government regarding Andrew's visa status. It isn't as bad as it may seem to everyone else, but to me it was just utter devastation. We found out that we won't be able to be married in May like we originally had wanted because of added paperwork they added this year. We have to wait till at least August. I can't wait that long to see my fiance that long. It was hard enough to wait till May, but to wait till August or September or maybe even October!? It's heart breaking. All you girls that have your fiance's and boyfriends here, count your blessings and love your man and cherish him! It sucks being without my man. I can't hold his hand, snuggle with him on the couch, go to dinner with him. It's awful. I'm just grateful that I have my friends and family that I can lean on. They are my crutch right now. well, on the flip, we went to Disneyland for MLK Jr. day. It was really fun! Here's Melissa and I on the little mermaid ride

Things are better now, I just wish I could enjoy the spring and summer with my best friend and other half, Andrew :( meow ps, Jen is voting for Ron Paul

My perfect match

Today I witnessed two pretty amazing things about my fiancé: He's an amazing musician. Like good. Like really good! He plays bass and drums. It's so sexy! His band, Black Tara, are playing a gig tomorrow and I can't wait to hear and see them! The other thing, his mom has been really ill. :(. It's heartbreaking cause one feels helpless that they can't help. But my honey did the one thing that he is able to do: he gave his mother a blessing of health and comfort. it was such a touching thing to witness and am so grateful and blessed to be marrying a man who is worthy to do such things. It's been a really good holiday so far and can't wait to ring in the new year with my future husband. It's our first Christmas together and it's been perfect. His parents are excellent hosts, his mom super sweet. Shes an amazing gift wrapper, cook, singer, and relief society president. She has a huge heart. His sister is becoming my favorite. So funny! She introduced me to my new favorite, a chef named Nigella and also introduced me to strictly come dancing ;) It's been pretty low key but my favorite because of the time being spent with my new family.

Minjae Lee- Art

I'm obsessed with Minjae Lee's styyyyyle! So good! These are the ones posted today on The Cool Hunter website.

Minjae Lee is a young South Korean artist whose work expresses a semi-disturbing inner tension that is tough to ignore, even if you feel that you'd like to. It draws you in with its powerful colors, halting imagery and clever juxtaposition of beauty, innocence and fragility with brash, loud and aggressive.

The 19-year old artist is mainly self-taught and uses old-fashioned tools — such as markers, pens, crayons, acrylics — to create his illustrations. He has yet to break into commercial success, but as his style is developing and improving each time new images appear, we will likely see a lot of him in the future.

What characterizes his work overall is drama. The ethereal females that populate most of his work exude a dark, organic tension, and it seems that even the brightest marker colors do not quite manage to save them from some sort of looming peril. Or are we, the viewers, in fact, the ones who are in danger? Whatever the case, we are drawn in, interacting on an emotional level, surprised, looking for something.

Minjae Lee’s penchant for dramatic expression is clear also in the work of those he admires. His favorite photographer is the 55-year-old Japanese Hiroshi Nonami, whose women are equally capable of telling a dramatic, dark story. Not surprisingly, Lee’s favorite fashion designer is the king of runway drama, the Gibraltar-born, 49-year-old John Galliano.

-Tuija Seipell Enjoy kittens! -m

Cate Parr watercolors

Cate Parr is a UK born fashion illustrator. Love the ethereal feel and they remind me of the cheeky 80s art deco I used to love! Check out her website for more amazing watercolors. Love this!

European Minx

I went to Europe! It seems like a dream now, it was so long ago!

I have always wanted to go! Because my boyfriend was living there now, I thought it was a no-brainer and had no excuse not to go!

I bought my ticket to Scotland a few days after Andrew left L.A.! It was sort of an accident. I went on priceline, typed in a price, it gave me back a really reasonable price, and I just bought them! It was crazy! I couldn't believe it! I freaked out, thinking I couldn't afford it, but it all worked out. Best. Purchase. EVER!

I packed my bags, had a really fun going away party the night before surrounded by all my closest friends at Gringos Locos, said my goodbyes and jetted across the country and across the Atlantic to my baby!

The flight from L.A. to New Jersey was cake! It went by quick, I had plenty of things to keep me entertained and it was comfortable. Now, my flight from Jersey to Glasgow, flight. from. HELL! I got on the plane after scarfing down some Mc Donalds, (I only had 10 minutes to grab some food before boarding) then took some benadryl to help me sleep a few minutes after I got on the plane, then fell asleep. I woke up three hours later and we were on the ground and I thought, wow, I slept the whole flight!? No, the plane hadn't even left the ground! The airport was backed up, they were de-icing planes, and had to do each plane on the tarmac! I immediately started feeling sick after we finally took off. I threw up twice on the 7 hour flight :( The flight attendants were super nice and accommodated me.



I finally arrived at Glasgow Airport, picked up my bags and walked out, with a big smile on my face, anticipating the greeting of my sweetheart... and ... he wasn't there :/ Hmm. I waited for a couple minutes, then panicked, because like an idiot, I didn't do a currency exchange and didn't have any change to call Andrew. BUT! I walked outside, then turned around, and there he was. I'm not gonna lie, I couldn't stop smiling and started to tear up, cause it felt soooooooo good to feel his arms around me and to feel his kissies. :)

Then those feelings were overcome with feelings of nervousness!!!! I had met his sister and love her! BUT, I was so nervous to meet his siblings and ....his parents!!!! I wanted so bad for them to love me !

So we drove to his house and the moment arrived and I felt bad because, cause of my bad flight I still was jet-lagged, pukey feeling and gross feeling. But I immediately felt comfortable with his parents. They were so friendly and hospitable and are super funny! I felt so comfortable and part of the group.



I went upstairs to lay down, I stayed in Andrew's room the whole time, and was greeted by a beautiful arrangement of flowers from Andrew :D It made me so happy during my whole trip. I slept for a while, trying to feel better. I woke up and Andrew made dinner for all of us. It was yummy! Andrew cooked alot of the time while I was there. He's a good cook, my sweetheart.



The first four days there, we spent in Glasgow. We visited the city, and saw all the beautiful architecture. It is an amazing and gorgeous city. I met his brothers and was at first nervous, but like his parents, I felt really comfortable with them and their families. They really are super fun :) We had dinner for his brother's birthday, went shopping with his sister, Kirsty. She just bought a new home and its really beautiful! I felt so happy for her, cause I could tell she was really happy.





We also went to church on Sunday and thought it was very nice! I loved meeting all of his family's friends and enjoying the gospel in a different country. The gospel is the same everywhere. But it felt more special cause i was there with his family :)



OK! On my next blog post, we go to London! There's just too much to write for one blog! Enjoy, friends!

BIRTHDAY, baby!

So some of you have asked what I wanted for my birthday. I made a list here to make it easier for you guys. Some of these things aren't cheap, but they are practical. You're probably thinking, "ugh! how lame. she wrote out a list for people to buy her stuff." Well, if you don't like it, tough. It's my blog... haha!

Here it is!

a Renewed Cost-Co membership



A haircut



Fill my car up with gas



Movie tickets



Clinique "All about Eyes" eye cream



Clinique High Impact Mascara



Zumba on Playstation 3



I'm sure I'll think of more... but for now, you all get the idea....

meow

Andrew and Michelle : part deux

SO! Andrew leaves for Utah for a week after we first meet here in California the summer of August 2010. I was a little sad to see him go, but didn't know him SUPER well for me to sit there and lose sleep over it.

We communicated every single day since we met the first time. No joke. I knew he was special when he insisted on calling every night, then we eventually moved on to skype and FB emailing because it got too expensive to text and call. I had to up my phone plan as a result. Now we just use facetime from his IPhone and my mac book pro. it works out really well.

He went back home from Utah and we kept the communication. It got frustrating because he wasn't here... it was really hard on me. It didn't seem like it was too hard for him, but I think boys cope with these kind of things differently then us gentle women creatures. :/

We tried to keep things fresh by doing things like playing UNO online and others games and we would send each other little packages in the mail.



Its also very hard with the time difference. I don't know if people realize, but the time difference between California and Scotland is eight hours! EEP! So Andrew made lots of sacrifices many times and stayed up very late to chat with me after I got off work. He's a sweetheart and a trooper... and a keeper :)

Andrew and his sister, Kirsty, decided to come out again to the US, but about four months later in December. This time, they went to New York with their parents for a week then he and his sis came out to california for an additional two weeks! I was so excited! We love having them here. This time around, it felt more official. We had already said our first "I love you"s on the phone at this point ( I think we had said them two months into our relationship. We made our relationship "official" on Facebook a little before that.



On his second trip here, we did more dating activities, naturally, but also I wanted to really focus on getting to know him. I fell in love with him the more and more I got to know him. Andrew is genuinely an amazing great guy. He is super sweet. He treats me like gold, like a queen. The way every woman should be treated. A true gentleman. He always without fail, got my coat for me and got my car door. Things that most dudes don't even think about doing. He's the greatest :)

Us at Disneyland around Christmas time!



Andrew met my parents!!! It was hilarious ! We got there and my grandparents happened to be visiting from Mexico so it was pretty good timing for him. I loved that he met them. It really meant alot to me, but that wasn't the hilarious part. The hilarious part was when we were doing introductions and he says to my grandma "Hello, nice to meet you" in his thick Scottish accent in English. My grandma looks and him and says "Nooooo". Mind you, my grandma doesn't understand english, let alone the language being spoken with a thick, Scottish accent. We then went to buy a rug for my parents as a Christmas present and also picked up some allergy meds for us.... my parents have three dogs and I'm prone to be allergic to them, and so was he. We popped those benadryls, had some of my mom's amazing cooking, sat there talking to my brother, next thing you know we had both fallen asleep on the couch for 3 hours! fail. well, then we decided to go drive around looking at Christmas lights and get some ice cream, then we went home. Next time he's here, we're spending more awake time with my family :/

Picture of us at my parent's place



We did lots of dates while he was here! Some of our favorites were Dino's Pizza (we had our usual table we sat at), Cafe Rio, Pomodoros, the movies and just moments where we sat and watched T.V. Our last night together, we went to the Smokehouse in Burbank. We both looked pretty good :) I was sad the whole time because I knew he was leaving :(

I cried the next day when I took him to the airport.... I mean, it was uncontrollable tears. I couldn't stop. Thats when I truly and really realized that I had fallen hard for this dude.

I then spent my Christmas and New Year without him.... and it was pretty devastating. I swore that I would spend the following holiday season with him if I could afford it.... so far, it doesn't look promising.

Next blog post I talk about my trip to Scotland to visit Andrew and meet his family! Till next time for that! meow

Michelle + Andrew: How they met

Can I just tell you a little story about a girl named Michelle and a boy named Andrew?

It doesn't start off too extraordinary: Michelle went to work then met up with friends to carpool to the subway station. From the subway station, they went to the Hollywood Bowl for a John Williams' concert. Andrew had been in L.A. with his sister visiting from Scotland, they had just been to Universal Studios theme park and were also going to the John Williams concert. They too were traveling to the bowl in the subway with Stames, Michelle & Andrew's mutual friend.



Kirsty and Andrew sightseeing

They first met right outside the ticket booth and then they went into the concert and enjoyed it. Still, just a normal night. It wasn't until they were walking back to the subway that Michelle really noticed Andrew: "he's cute", she thought to herself. He somehow kept making his way to her and made an effort to talk to her. She took notice of how unique and sweet he was, even when a bum approached him for his subway ticket. They both had different train stops, but Michelle felt like she didn't get enough of him ... So she yelled to their mutual friend, Stames, "Hey, call me tomorrow so we can all hang out!" as they were exiting the subway. Feeling a little sad that they had separated, she didn't think much of it and kept her thoughts to herself.

The next morning, when Stames didn't call or text, she text him, wanting to get to talk and be around Andrew more. Stames text Michelle back and they were going to Islands for lunch... success! She met up with them and they had a nice lunch: Kirsty (Andrew's sister), Stames, Andrew and Michelle. Andrew sat across from her and when Michelle asked for the ketchup, Andrew launched it to her and it spilled all over the table.... "No biggie" thought Michelle.... But Andrew was embarrassed and dying
inside.

One of two pictures Andrew got of Michelle on his first trip to L.A.

They then all decided to do the touristy thing and hit up Hollywood... They drove to Hollywood and parked in the Hollywood and Highland parking lot. As they were walking out, Michelle noticed that Andrew's glasses tinted in the sunlight... she used that as an opportunity to flirt, and stare into his gorgeous eyes...."Wow, I just wanted to see how your sunglasses change color in the sun..." Andrew was on to her ;)

The rest of the day was a flirt fest! The day ended with the group plus others getting together for dinner. Michelle and Andrew at this point couldn't keep their eyes off each other. At the dinner table they first held hands under the table :) Butterflies galor filled Michelle's belly and she couldn't even take a bite out of the food that Andrew and her were sharing. They carpooled together to the Americana because everyone was going to watch Inception. As they were going down the elevator, they were alone and Michelle couldn't contain herself anymore.... they hugged each other in the elevator and Michelle looked up at him and they shared their first kiss :D !!!!!!!!! Fireworks! Those damn butterflies were dancing fools at this point! Michelle got shy... and if you know her, you know that this is not an event that occurs often! She was in cloud nine! No. Cloud 10!

They held hands to the movie theater and didn't care that they were a half hour late to the movie cause they were smitten!

The rest of Andrew's trip was spent together every day! They went out to eat, Dodger games, hung out with friends, went to church... It was perfect. The worst was the goodbyes. :( Sadness. They told each other they would write, call, text, e-mail, skype. Whatever it took to constantly stay in touch. Michelle was pessimistic at first, but since that day they said their goodbyes, they have never EVER missed a day where they didn't hear each other's voices.

Andrew and Michelle on Skype

Their first "I love you"s came a month after.... on the phone. And they both meant it.... :) Again, the butterflies were running amuck in her belly .... happiness!

To be continued.... with a trip back to L.A. for Andrew :)

Nate Fackrell is a jerk genius.... and I love him

I was just thinking to myself I wanted to spotlight talent and my best friend Nate is a great person to start with.

He directed and wrote and edited a few choice videos, but he has recently created a couple videos for "Eyes Lips Eyes", another group of talented buddies of mine.

So for your viewing enjoyment and eyegasm, Nate Fackrell's masterpiece.

Tickle







http://www.thefackrellbrothers.com/ check it

Re-Cap. Haven't blogged since Sept. 09!!!!!!

Quick re-cap:

- Had a good Christmas, I think. I was sick for a majority of it.

- I hate break ups

- But! Started talking to a new boy.. and he's British!

- I traveled. Went to Hawaii twice in the span of a month, went to Utah a couple times, San Francsico and attended Comic Con in San Diego. I guess I could blog about all those things, but theres just so much more and I'm sure you've seen the pics on facebook.

- My parents moved. boo

- I'm happy. wasn't. but am now.


on to the show!

Make it 15!

These are in no particular order, but some I definitely wanna see more than others. If anyone ever wants to catch any of these, let me know. I can tell you now, there are some movies here that I wanna catch with certain people.

Fame! I wanna live forever! The cheesy, coke/i-pod rip off ads spoke to me or something. This is definitely a guilty pleasure :/

The Informant: This has oscar buzz written all over it for Matt Damon. It looks funny and smart.

A Serious Man: The new Coen Bros. movie. Nuff said.

Where the Wild Things Are. How could you NOT want to see this? Arcade Fire.. Love it

Zombieland: If you know me well, you know I love zombies. So why would I pass this up?

Capitalism: A Love Story. I've always found M. Moore's movies informative and often times far-fetched, but this piqued my interest. Not on the top of my list, though.

This is It: Mj's last hurrah.

Gentlemen Broncos: Jared Hess' new movie. Nacho Libre was good, but I'm hoping this will be better.

Avatar: freaking 11 years, J. Cameron!?

Nine: This is probably my most anticipated of the year. The cast is stellar and the songs are captivating!

Princess and the Frog: We need more princesses! The animation looks freaking sweet!

Precious: My second most anticipated movie this year.

Broken Embraces: La nueva pelicula de Almodovar y Penelope Cruz. They do no wrong together! cat power in the trailer!

Fantastic Mr. Fox: stop motion, Anderson magic!

The men who stare at goats: Looks funny!

Things that I've realized just sitting here

I've been sitting here mulling over what to blog about and thought to myself that I'll blog about my observations of the last five minutes:

• I can't type as fast as I thought I could

• I'm a scandalous creature. exhibit a:

• I desperately miss my mom's home-cooking. I'm not just saying this cause she's my mom, but she is the best cook I know. Better than your mom, for sure! One of these days I have to follow thru and let my friends come over and enjoy her cooking. I think she prefers her kitchen but oh well.

• I've been listening to John Williams' scores for the last week. With the occasional Monsters of Rock.

• School is getting easier the more I go. Who would've thought ;)

• I think twitter is swell. I don't care what you say

• There are 14 (count them!) movies that I wanna catch this Fall.

• I think I'll have the aforementioned mom do my laundry. What?! She likes doing it and I hate dealing with it.

• I can't decide if I really wanna be Hitler for halloween or not.

• I miss my brothers. They never seem to be home when I visit my parents' place.

• Heidi is designing my next tattoo. So it will be extra special to me :) Something like this but smaller scale :

I finally fell for Utah

I visited Utah with my lovey, Heidi Jo. It was really spur of the moment: I packed up, paid for my stand by ticket and was off... I love traveling with no really set time on when I'm coming back, sorta of like a gypsy or a hobo. Ha!

Heidi showed me a new appreciation for things that I had previously taken for granted. She would point out things like her favorite mountain, Lone Peak, and she liked it because she could see it from her parents house. While we were sitting on the grass playing with her families' new dog (Abby, Sirius, Rabbit?), she just casually pointed up and said, "look there's that mountain i was telling you about" and she said it with a sort of twinkle in her eye. It was really sweet.

I fell in love with her dog and with Jenny's dog's, Rousseau and Diesel. Now for me this was kind of a big deal, because, you see, these are huge rottweilers, but they are the biggest sweetest teddy bears!

I learned to love old friends again... i had the opportunity to meet with my dear loves, Natalie and Jessica. I love these girls so much. I appreciated the talks we had: Jess and I talking while almost hoping to be blown away on Squaw Peak in Provo Canyon whilst overlooking Utah Valley and Natalie my dear just while sitting in her car late night, her counseling me on things that I should be doing, listening to advice I should have had a while ago. I love you both, my dears.

Jenny, Heidi's sis, hosted a fondue night and I had the chance to invite Tim and Elliott to come and join us. It was nice to feel a little piece of California in Utah. Tim makes everything so comfortable, for me anyways, and it was nice to catch up with Elliott who moved up to Utah in March. I've known his family since I was baptized into the church over 10 years ago. I've known Tim since I was in middle school! Joining us for dinner also was Heidi's long time friend, Mike, and his girlfriend, Michelle. They were both very lovely people. Fondue night was really fun! I got the chance afterward to chat with Tim when I walked him out to the car and we chatted like old friends and again I felt so comfortable and at home.

I've grown to appreciate Heidi Jo. She is golden! I enjoyed the little things with her. I enjoyed watching her competitive side come out when she played all boys in Ultimate Frisbee. I loved that she kicked their asses and blew their minds with her incredible catches and perfect throws. When all the other boys were complaining that it was the wind that caused them to throw poorly, she kept her cool and didn't complain once when she would drop the Frisbee or when someone didn't catch her throw. She is golden. She blew me away when I made the mistake (really it was a mistake!) in saying that acting in an animated film is not the same as in a live action film. It was like a fire was lit behind her eyes when she mistook me saying that a live action movie isn't the same as an animated film. She was the Phoenix! Haha! I respected her and admired her passion for what she does in her career. Respect was definitely earned that day by her in my eyes.

I made wonderful new friends in the Gilbert family. They are just so wonderful and had always been since I first met them. Jenny is the sweetest person! I think the moment we met it was an instantaneous friendship. She is the most comfortable person to talk to. I feel like I am able to express to her my vulnerabilities without judgment and with the comfort of knowing that she will keep it in confidence and be able to lend valuable advice.

I saw a boy I really like when I was up there and it felt so natural being with him again. It was just like it hadn't been a month since we had seen each other. I like the way I feel when I'm with him: his sweet kisses, the way he holds my hand, the way he smells, his silly crooked smile, his embrace, the way we share the same filthy humor and i love his passion and how ambitious he is about life and what he wants to make of it. He makes me feel like a girl when I'm with him. He's not disrespectful or rude. I miss that already.

These are little mementos of the good times we've had together.

Utah, I will miss you!

It's my birthday: the list

Every year I make up a wish list of stuff I want for my birthday and most of the time I usually never get what I ask for but here is my wish list anyways. Some of the stuff is ridiculous but I really do think that it'll make me that much cooler and comfortable (haha!):

Running Shoes

A new wallet (just in case I need a place to stash all my imaginary money)

a new desk

A new queen size bed (mmmm i need a new bed!)

This little beauty

I will give into the Mac and get a laptop

a haircut

and finally a VESPA! YES!