Goodbye 2012...Hello 2013!

The older I get the faster time seems to speed up...

It doesn't matter how the year turned out; the positives with overwhelming happiness or the negatives with unrelenting sadness.  If you feel you didn't amount to anything you are wrong, simply because at the end of the year all that matters is that you look towards a new one with a smile on your face, a gleam in your eye and hope in your heart because you have made it. On the horizon of a new one lying just beyond the brink, it's this promise that makes ours souls scream. It is this scream that we sound off right when the ball has dropped and is filled with letting go and welcoming the ebb and flow from whatever the universe throws at us.  It's a permanent reminder that we are still alive and more than that it is the yearning and screaming that our souls make to remind us that we need to relish more in the things that help to put a smile on our face, a gleam in our eye and hope in our hearts. It is this reminder that helps us never to forget that we are human and that we need to experience life and continue with the pursuit of our happiness.

. .  .   .Happy New Year.   .  . .

From the Mind of Me #2

"From the Mind of Me"  

is a place I share collections of self expression 

and are literary pieces, thoughts, poems, stories, lyrics 

and other works of writing. 

Enjoy.

Monster

The little girl cries herself to sleep

sweet musings to the monster

listening underneath

She knows not of him

or the times he crawls in her bed

but every time she wakes up

there's that feeling of despair

that brings back her tears

She knows something is wrong

but is never able to figure it out

and the monster under her bed

smiles while he growls

She knows not of the monster under her bed

but feels a creep beneath her skin

is she crazy for always being sad?

The monster shakes his head, "No"

She asks herself, "Why do I always feel so alone?"

and the monster says

"It's because I'm here my dear

and I'll never let you go"

11/12/10

DIY: Accent Wall & Moroccan Stencil

My bedroom has only one window and when I was younger my dad installed built in shelves and a window seat that he made completely by himself, thank you dad! I spent numerous hours of my childhood sleeping, reading and stargazing on that seat and for the past couple of years its just been a home for all of my books and dust... So now that my parents have moved on to Texas and left their two college student daughters and a roommate the house I took it upon myself to completely redo my room. 

First step: 

Get rid off the shelving unit and window seat to make more room and to create an accent wall. 

This is the before picture, this is actually the room next to mine but it looked exactly the same!

AFTER

It completely opened my room up and made for an amazing new accent wall. I am so completely in love with it!

Okay so now that you have seen the window seat and shelves gone as well as the before and after now is the time to tell you about the amazing stencil I used to make this look happen.  I was on Pinterest when I stumbled upon this awesome woman's DIY Moroccan wall on her BLOG. Thank you so much for the inspiration!

First thing's first I searched high and low on Google, I just typed in: Moroccan stencil and found many different kinds but in the end I came to the conclusion that I should just do the first one that I saw on Pinterest. HERE is a picture of the stencil I used from the blog While They Snooze.

I printed the stencil out after enlarging it and just cut the shape out and taped together any other sheets of paper that printed out from the enlargement and then placed it over a piece of cardboard, traced it and then cut that out as well.  I went one step further and went ahead and traced a smaller size of the stencil on the cardboard and traced and cut that out. The reason why I did this was because I wanted to make sure that all of my lines would be the same exact size every time I would trace the stencil on my wall.

So here is the printed paper and the cut out cardboard stencil together and it should pretty much look like this.

I added an extra strip of cardboard along the stencil to make it more sturdy, without the strip it was too flimsy and almost impossible to trace with.

Let's get started!

I started the stencil at the very top corner of my wall and gradually worked my way down, I DO NOT advise you to just start stenciling in the middle of a wall because then you might have partial pieces of the stencil when you get to the edges and corners and it could throw off the look completely.

Here I have already begun stenciling and am just continuing on. Place the cardboard stencil flat against the wall and make the the stencil line up with what you previously had stenciled and painted onto your wall.

Now outline the stencil with a pencil. I first traced the outside of the stencil.

Then I traced the inside of the stencil.

This type of outlining the stencil will insure that the width of the lines your are going to be painting stay the same and it makes painting the that much easier and worry free!

It is hard to see with the color of paint I used but this is what the stencil you traced in pencil should look like.

Now all you have to do is find a paint brush to paint in the stencil, I painted with a white paint I found in the garage. I would go over with one coat of paint and then the second coat of paint with a smaller tip paint brush to even out the edges as needed.

Alright, so you're going to come across stenciling at a corner or where you want to stencil to end but the cardboard stencil is just not going to be flexible enough, that is why you still need to have the printed out stencil.

All you have to do is line up the paper with the painted stencil on the wall and trace around it then eyeball where the second smaller line should be. 

This is the right wall in progress.

This is the left wall already completed.

This project took a lot of work because you are stenciling this on your wall by hand and completely from scratch but in the end it is so worth it and during the process of stenciling you get to kind of take your mind of things and relax while you're stenciling.

I only did the two opposite walls and not the complete wall with the window because I thought it would look too busy and all I did was just let the stencil wrap around the corner a little bit on both sides so it didn't look like I cut it off. If you're wondering what color I painted my wall before I started with the stencil it was originally yellow just like the rest of my room but I painted it a purple color on the accent wall. It's called Smoked Mulberry by Valspar that I got at my local Lowe's Home Improvement store. It looks beautiful with the remaining yellow walls and stencil.

This whole project took about 6 days and cost me only $30 for the Smoked Mulberry Valspar paint.

Enjoy and Have fun!

NYE 2012

*DISCLAIMER:  New Year’s Eve celebrations, no matter how hard you try, will undoubtedly be filled with drama, fights, mingling, massive intakes of alcohol, strange encounters and of course the kiss.

Now a lot happened, some good some bad, but overall I had a really good time and wouldn’t have spent my last night of 2011 any other way.  Despite the mishaps and misbehaving you have to always look on the bright side because, well shit happens, you win some and you lose some but the greatest thing is the adventure and the people you have along for the ride.  So take a peek at what the night was like and it will hopefully remind you of how great or not-so great your NYE was too.

 

The Fiesta Bowl Block Party happens every year and Mill Avenue plays host to the fun filled shenanigans that ensue for New Year's Eve celebrations.   

Fiesta Bowl Block Party

Me and three of my friends were to experience it for the first time. 

This is our story...

Find out more about House of Moet & Chandon 

If your 21+ you better know by now that pre-gaming will be your best bet for a cheap buzz, that is of course if your short on cash.  Rose Champagne is no exception!  It's New Year's Eve and champagne is expected plus it also happens to by my favorite alcoholic drink.  One bottle down and...

To lessen the douche bag status luckily our friend Illyssa called Clean Air Cab.  WOO here we come!!

CleanAirCab

Once we arrive to Mill and past the gates, tickets torn with no re-entry, we are ecstatic as we make our way to Vintage.  Now I may be blond but I pride myself on not being such a stereotype in terms of actually being dumb.  However, everyone blond or not have "blond moments" that can cause laughter or in our case...chaos.

"Shit!  I forgot my ID...

...and there's no re-entry!"

@#*$!!!

Yep...thanks to me we had to spend nearly 2 hours coming up with a plan to have someone go get the ID and bring it back without having to shell out more money for a ticket.  If it wasn't for one of the ticket guys working at the gate feeling sorry for us and slipping us a free ticket I would have just left.  Also, thank you Krystal for getting my ID...I am forever in your debt!

...while we were waiting...

Finally! Let's go to VINTAGE!

Find out more about Vintage!

It was a great time where we had our own table and bottle of Grey Goose and spent most of the time dancing on the booth with our heels off because that's just how we roll.  It was packed and crazy!  Oh yeah and I must say Chelsea, Krystal & Illyssa have damn good dance moves!  We basically rang in the New Year overlooking the massive crowd outside and following the countdown the kissing began.  Illyssa had her first NYE kiss and the rest of us kissed each other...Les be honest...you wish!

So during this wonderful time at Vintage an asshole enters and upsets Krystal so Chelsea and Illyssa make it their duty to kick him out and with such success! *I've never been around such bad asses in my life* Now that the disaster is over we decide to go to The Tavern.

Side note:  The girls were kind enough to hold on to my wallet because I did not bring a purse.

 We are walking up to Tavern and on our way in I ask for my wallet.  Several seconds later we realize it's missing...

...oh and to add the cherry on top of that fucking sundae I asked Krystal to check her wallet to see if it was in there and we find out someone stole a LOT of $$$ money from her...

@#*$!!

 We storm back to Vintage and Illyssa & Krystal go back into Vintage to look for our stuff while Chelsea tries to calm me down on the street.  (I couldn't go back in because I didn't have my ID)  My wallet is found with everything intact but unfortunately Krystal's $$$ is still gone.

Just and FYI to people who do stuff like this:  KARMA'S A BITCH and you'll get yours! Oh you will get yours!

By this time everyone's morale is kinda low and while the girls discuss whether or not to go home yet I sit on the curb.  As I'm sitting there I see this hot guy walking towards me and the following happens:

Hot guy: "What's wrong?"

Me:  "Oh, my feet hurt."

Hot guy: "I'm sorry would you like a New Year's Eve kiss?"

Me: "Yeah!"

Standing on the street of Mill Ave we kiss and then to Chelsea's surprise start to make out.  *sigh* He tasted like vodka and RedBull but I didn't care.  Apparently RedBull does give you wings!

Hot guy: "What's your name?"

Me: "Courtney, and yours?"

Hot guy:  "Jayden."

at this point I notice he's holding a massive sub

Me: "Wow what a big sub!"

Hot guy: "Yeah...it's meatball"

Me: "Oh yum!"

We part and he begins to walk away and I thought I should have gotten his number but decided against it.  Best to just catch him and set him free.  I will always look back and think fondly of him as Jayden Meatball sub.  By this time the girls have finally decided to just go home so we walk to Chili's where we were to be picked up.

I want my baby back ribs.

Only here can you be questioned by homeless people asking whether you would prefer to be a sex addict or a drug addict.  It is also here where you can catch angry drunken men getting into a fight and acting stupid.  Thanks for the show!

After about 30 minutes of this we finally are on our way back to Illyssa's.  Most AKWARD car ride ever!  Once we finally get back to Illyssa's we are of course really hungry so we gorge on Jack in The Box until 3 in the morning talking and going over everything that happened.

It was a dramatic night to say the least but also very fun.  I wouldn't have changed a thing!

THANK YOU:

Chelsea, Illyssa and Krystal

From the Mind of Me #1

"From the Mind of Me"  

is a place I share collections of self expression 

and are literary pieces, thoughts, poems, stories, lyrics 

and other works of writing. 

Enjoy.

When I was out of breath you were the one to make me breathe

when all I saw were lies you were the one who made me believe

that love exists

that love is real

that love isn't love without you

If you're drowning, know that I will jump in after you

i would do my best to save you but if i do not succeed

your death would be the death of me

because life isn't life without you

when i couldn't speak you still understood me

life without you is not worth living

because if i were to lose you, i'd lose me

that life isn't life without you

a life not worth living

-PinkCloudThud

Reminiscent Entries

The other night my best friend came back from the holidays and we had one of those nights that mimic the past.  The entire night we were so incredibly giddy and just happy, happy for no particular reason. It felt like we were 15 again and enjoying every new experience we could possibly squeeze in before we had to go back home.  Everything makes you laugh and smile and your relishing in this good time that's also reminiscent of the past.  I guess it was so great because I hadn't just felt genuinely happy and laughed so much in so long.


Earlier that day I had stumbled upon my old live journal....oh vay.  To say the least it's stereotypical of a normal teenager growing up.  Without having realized it I had chronicled my entire freshman year.  I had shared this with my best friend and sure enough later that night when we were hanging out we got out old books filled with our thoughts and journals.  I never really kept a journal except for live journal and am more into writing and creating things that inspire me then actually daily doings.  I shared these poems, lyrics, thoughts with her and she picked a few that I should share with you.  I thought about it awhile and have finally decided to.  That's why this blog is here. So, I will be sharing various thoughts, poems, etc into separate entries in posts entitled "From the Mind of Me".  Some of these posts will also include art along with the entry simply because I also love to draw especially at the time that I had written in these books...

TEA: The Yummy Antioxidant!

Anyone who knows me knows of my love for tea, green tea to be exact, and my love for China.  Why not combine both?! This is more along the lines as a trivial post for fun. China is definately known for thier tea being the country's most popular drink! In recent decades people have been drinking tea from modern glasses or cups as we do in the Western world.  However, traditionally they drink tea from a Gaiwan 蓋碗 or three piece cup.

The use of a Gaiwan 蓋碗 aids in the infusion of the tea leaves.  The lid keeps leaves in the cup and not in your mouth.  The saucer helps prevent fingers from burning.

Tea in Chinese is chá 茶. The most popular types of tea people in China drink are as follows:

Green Lǜ 綠 tea chá 茶; Green tea Lǜchá 綠茶

Green tea  uses leaves dried without fermentation and is the most common tea.  It is usually baked immediately after picking.

Black tea Hóngchá 紅茶; Hóng 紅 actually means Red and this is because black tea colors during fermentation into a brew that is red in color thus explaining its Chinese name.

Flower tea Huāchá 花茶; Flower Huā 花.  This tea is a mix of green tea with flower petals such as jasmine, rose and chrysanthemum.  So pretty!

Pu'er tea 普洱茶 is from Yunnan and is green or black tea that is compressed into blocks.  That's why it's also called Brick tea

Oolong wūlóng chá 烏龍茶 tea is highly prized in China and is a lightly fermented tea.  It is blue-green in color depending on the fermentation and tea leaves used and is also known as Black Dragon tea.

Eight Bā 八 Treasure bǎo 寶 Tea chá 茶; Eight Treasure tea Bā bǎo chá 八寶茶 typically has about eight ingredients in it like Chrysanthemum, Green Tea, Honeysuckle, Licorice, Dates,Dried longan, Haw, Dried Tangerine, Rock Sugar, and Wolfberry.  All of these ingredients can be interchanged with each other and mixed to make up eight ingredients.  Definitely the most colorful of them all!

Yak butter tea is less popular than any of the other teas.  Tibetans are known to enjoy Yak butter tea mostly.  It actually looks really yummy!

Although most of these teas are traditionally served hot I prefer iced tea.  It's just more refreshing!  Even though I have to admit a nice warm cup of hot tea is perfect when it's cold out.

*sigh* I can't wait until the day I actually go to China and try all of these authentic teas for myself...until then I guess Starbucks will just have to do.  Oh wait, that's right I can get Starbucks in China too!  Starbucks Xīngbakè 星巴克