the juices are flowing

if you follow me on twitter, you know that i've been in a creative mood today. I came across my friend's blog, which directed me to this awesome site, which inspired me to create cute stuff again. Thanks, Kristel!

I've secretly been wanting to open a clothing boutique for a while now. Random, I know. But I figured, I love clothes and I'm organized. Why not share it with others? It would be a great business plan, if it weren't for this terrible economy. {Wah Wahhh} Anyway, I think I have it all mapped out. My mom used to be a buyer for Neiman Marcus back in her single days, so she knows a thing or two about merchandising and retail buying. She can be my partner. Gabby's dad is an accountant, so he can be our financial advisor. There's my administrative help.

When I was a girl, I used to love coming up with "fashion lines"... I'd draw little models and create away. Well, I found some inspiration, and I spent a good hour in macroeconomics creating a modified version of my little models. These would be the logo for our store.

The only thing missing (besides a good loan, haha) is a name. I want something cute, fresh, and girly. Any ideas?

Besides that crazy idea, I have some friends' birthdays coming up (including my hunny!) and I've been short on cash flow recently, so in my burst of creativity, I'm thinking up some cute and inexpensive gift ideas. I'll blog a post with pics once they're done. :)

Hooray for creativity!!

While you're here, check out A Beautiful Mess:

jon & kate (plus paparazzi plus cameras following your every move plus possible infidelity) plus 8

This whole "Jon & Kate Plus 8" drama is depressing.

I usually love watching the show to see the adorable kids and dynamics between a young couple with twins and sextuplets, but lately the only thing the show is known for is the rumors of infidelity on both ends- Jon & Kate have both been accused of cheating on each other with other people.



The rumors of the past three months haven't helped at all. I watched the Season 5 premiere, and it was so incredibly heartbreaking. When Jon and Kate were together, they barely even acknowledged each other. The paparazzi was hiding in the bushes by the park where their children celebrated their fifth birthday. The family has to come up with aversions to distract the paparazzi.

I think the thing that makes it the saddest is the fact that, as a viewer, you watch the deterioration of a marriage and the destruction of a family. As a viewer you feel as if you are part of the family, and you feel invested in the relationship. Watching it all fall apart is just heartbreaking. To add to that, this is no ordinary infidelity situation. Let's not forget that there are EIGHT- count 'em- eight children involved here, all of whom are below the age of 10.

More than anything, I think this whole hoopla is a great lesson. It shows how important communication is in any relationship. Somewhere along the lines, this couple stopped talking, and somewhere further along that line, something happened that has led to this situation they are currently in. Granted, having camera crews and eight screaming children around 24/7 doesn't exactly facilitate this. But setting boundaries beforehand, and understanding your limits, are both great ways to come to a consensus on the issue at hand.

This family is in a serious predicament. On the upside, this show has given them so many financial blessings in the form of vacations, a new home, etc. In a weird way, this show about their life has become their career. But on the downside, it has taken away their chance for a "normal" life.

So where do you draw the line?

Mission

Over the past 6 weeks, my church has been doing a series called "Boot Camp", which is aimed at helping Christians focus on the basics of our faith. Today's message was about Missions, and the importance of making God's mission to reach others our mission.

Listen to the CF message here.

We cited Luke 15:1-7, and he mentioned that in the passage, Jesus does three things:

- Pursue Us (Luke 15:4)
-Serve Us (Luke 15:5-6)
- Celebrates our redemption (Luke 15:6)

In the same way God pursues us, we are called to do the same to others in our lives. The pastor cited a video blog by Penn Jillette, who is an atheist. Watch this video blog where Jillette mentions the action of a Christian after one of his shows, and his thoughts on the man.
I thought the video spoke for itself, and is a great example of how we as Christians should treat others. What are your thoughts on this issue?

Summer has begun!

I can finally breathe a sigh of relief! I'm finally DONE with this semester!

That means summer is here!

I'm writing this post from a swanky hotel room overlooking Thomas Circle in the amazing Washington, DC! It's only been one day, but I am completely in love with this city! I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I do. Today's been an excruciatingly long day, but it was all well worth it. We got up at 3am, hopped on a flight at 7am, and made it to DC by 9:45.

First on the list of sightseeing excursions was the National Zoo. And obviously, the number one thing I was there to see was the Giant Panda! This was one thing on my list of things to do before I die, and it was so worth the wait! The pandas were adorable.

Afterwards, we headed to the Washington National Cathedral. This church was. AH. MA. ZING.

Amazing architecture, amazing history, all around amazing. the cathedral takes up about 57 acres, which all includes a girls' and boys' boarding school (very Gossip Girl). President Woodrow Wilson is buried there, and the fact that so many heads of state have sat in this church's pews was just awesome! I definitely recommend it. You MUST see it when you go to Washington.

We've been walking all day, and tomorrow we're heading to The White House and the National Mall. I can't wait.

I promise I shall blog pictures when I get home! :)

The Stigma Stops With Me

Today I attended a lecture hosted by the FIU School of Journalism & Mass Communications about HIV/AIDS prevention. The school participated in an initiative to bring attention to the local resurgence of the disease (especially among minorities) and a group of students recently traveled to South Africa to observe the disease first hand. Recently, the school joined with the Miami Herald to provide students with the opportunity to publish their work in a major news publication.

A group of students followed the life of Damaries Cruz, an HIV patient who speaks out about her condition and encourages people to get tested. THe students published a web series entitled "The Stigma Stops With Me". The entire 4-part piece is only about 10 minutes long, but it's worth watching. Damaries was an inspiration to all the students in attendance, and her work is a testament to how much HIV/AIDS prevention and research is still needed.

Please watch, and get tested!


Part 1: "This is Your Mission"
Part 2: "This is My Personal Choice"
Part 3: "Stop the Stigma"
Part 4: "Get Tested and Re-tested"

The Halfway Mark

Spring Break is here! Joy!

Unfortunately for me, I will spend my spring break working on two huge projects for my State Government class & Population class respectively. For the former, I have to get a good chunk of a 15-page term paper on gentrification done. For the latter, I have to start a Census project studying the city of Homestead. You can imagine my enthusiasm.

Gabby went on vacation with his buddies to Orlando, Tampa & St. Augustine, leaving me all by my lonesome here in Miami. ;) I think it all worked out though... I need to work on these projects!

A lot of stuff has been going on lately. My application for UF went through, and now I'm just anxiously waiting to know whether or not I can call myself a true Gator! I also submitted an application for a summer internship at NBC6. I'm hoping FIU will give me credits for the internship, because it would be a great way for me to get field experience. Speaking of FIU, I'm proud to say I made the Dean's List for the School of Journalism & Mass Communication for Fall 2008! Yay! However, I found it amusing that I haven't even been admitted to the SJMC, and yet I made the Dean's List anyway. Maybe I can use that little loophole to get my internship credits, seeing as technically, I'm an SJMC student if I made Dean's List. ;)
FIU never ceases to amaze me.

So anyway, I'm so happy that Spring Break is here! It means I'm almost done with this terrible semester. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the future!

Version 2.0

As you can see, I totally re-vamped my blog!

Since I had so much fun creating a completely new blog for my Visual Design class, I decided to give my old blog some much-needed TLC. I finally changed that long-winded name (I'm sorry, I couldn't think of anything witty), and took off some stuff that was cluttering the page.

Looks nice, don't ya think? ;)

Anyway, stay tuned. I'll try to blog a little more often from now on.