WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG WITH A REALLY WEIRD AND CRAZY DREAM.

Last night I had a super crazy dream so I thought I would share it.

It started out in a class that was being held in the living room inside the house that I grew up in (In Pico Rivera).  There were kids there all getting seated and ready for a class to begin.  My niece was there along with her friend and her mother.  I caught my niece's friend, Ellie's, attention as I had this really weird kitty ear headband that had pens in the sides of the headband arms.  When you wore it, it recorded everything that was happening (sound) and when you said 'release pen' the pen popped out of the band behind the ear.  It was a really odd invention that I was super excited about.  I let her borrow it and went looking for a pencil.

I was looking through the writing instruments and found a really nice Prismacolor coloring pencil that belonged to an old coworker.  It had her name etched in it.  I went to get a pencil and accidentally broke my pencil with my thumb... I crushed the lead at the tip.  So I went to go sharpen it and the teacher (who was Mona from 'Friends') told me that she really  liked my sister's eyeliner and that it looked cute with her big hoop earrings.  The earrings were pretty big and were covered in a floral fabric.  Then she started asking me if I had some kind of reptile.  I have no pets but I told her to ask my sister, since she had a few.  So class was waiting on the kids to get seated and the teacher went over to talk to my sister.

I noticed that Lucy's friend, Ellie was missing.  While my sister and the teacher were distracted by their conversation, I went looking for Ellie so I could tell her to get seated.  So I started to look outside.  It was night time and dark, with light from string lights and 2 lamp posts that lined the walkway in front of the house that lead to the street.  The front yard of the house is strangely not a flat yard but a hill and the walkway to the street was winding.  I saw from afar, a red car that Ellie just got into.  I screamed, "NO, ELLIE!" and I started running towards the car.

My feet were getting really heavy (as they do in dreams).  By the time I was able to get over the steep hilly walkway to the front of the house, (the distance was dream warped.  Like it isn't far at all but it took forever and all my effort to get out there.) the man in the car was driving up and  down the street at full speed and was purposefully spinning out and shredding his tires.  Was he trying to show off?  Was he trying to show her a bit of fun?  He spun out right in front of me.  Smoke sifted out from the tires and from beneath the car.  The man stepped out but didn't move from his door.  I asked him, "Why are you doing this!?  What do you think you're doing!?".  At this point he said, "I...HAVE to.  There Is no other way."  Across the street was a giant hill.  On the other side it was a pit.  A steep empty plain filled with piles of junk and red dirt.  If you tried to drive over you could die.  He kept saying that he had to and repeated himself as he plopped back into his car.  He muttered "No one can know... it's the only way".  No one could know what?  I couldn't see Ellie.

He revved his engine and sped off away from me toward the culdesac.  I heard him turn around from the squeal of his tires.  I started heading across the street towards the hill.  Then the hill started spouting lava like the spouts from a water show!  Lines of it shot straight up and then stopped and then began again!  They were coming from the tops of the hill and a couple were in the street.  I backed up, fearful of coming in contact with it or even the spray!  I've seen what it can do to a person, I knew I couldn't get near it.  But I had to stop him.  I saw him coming.   I watched in fear as he careened through the dirt and rode up the hill.  He was almost right in front of me.  In a flash he drove up the hill and right over the lava as it shot up the moment he passed over.  He spun out and came to a halt, his car became engulfed in flames.  When the car was spinning out I saw him and a few other items (was it Ellie??) fly out of the car at an enormous height to the other side and down to the cavernous depths of that mysterious pit.  The lava stopped.

I started running over to the car and it was empty and burnt to a crisp.  I saw that on the other side of the hill there was a huge gap between two parts of the land.  On the floor there was a very shiny pipe pan-flute laying in the dirt.  I started running towards it to see it closer.  As I ran towards it, my view and perception started altering.  The closer I got to the pipe the closer the land from the other side of gap seemed to get but only near the pan-flute.  The pan-flute started getting bigger and it started looking like it was sitting up vertically and tall.  As I got closer and closer it started looking like a gate door!  There was no gate, save for the separation of land (the gap).  If you looked over the edge you would certainly see that there was no end to the bottom of the gap and that the only way to get across was to keep running towards that gate that I thought was a pan-flute just a few moments ago.  As I ran, the land indeed did meet but it was a very narrow bridge over to the other side.  I carefully stepped across the bridge and it led to another area with another drop.  I looked over.

This drop didn't look hard to jump down.  I sat on my bottom with my legs hanging over the edge and slid myself down.  As I slid down the ground began to have water lines... as though there was a pool of water.  I started getting a very eerie feeling...as though this was a trick meant to scare me.  I started feeling like I was not wanted here.  Like I did not belong... like something or like this place needed me to not continue on and to return from where I came.  I was convinced that I needed to know what was over here though!  Would I find the driver?  Would I find Ellie?  What did he mean that he HAD to?  I trudged forward.  While I wasn't wet I felt the sensation of resistance when walking in the 'water'.  I started to see things on the ground.  In the distance I saw two large things, they were dark.  There were other things next to them but it had to be him!  It had to be her!

I ran over as fast as I could.  It was him!! He was burnt very badly, nearly black.  He started making noises.  I screamed at him, "WHY?? WHAT IS THIS PLACE?  WHY DID YOU DO THIS?"  He softly said with the last of the air in his lungs.  "Things here cannot be taken.  These things would ruin me if taken.' And he passed on.  What was he talking about?  I surveyed the area around him and saw what looked like junk.  A wallet.. a bag with some things in it.. pictures... laptops.. personal items and other junk that looked like clothing.  I didn't see the second lump that looked like a body anymore... it was gone.  I looked up from the wallet I had picked up and his body was gone too..  I started looking through the things that I knew to be his (I saw them when he got out of his car).. I wanted to know what needed to be hidden.. What was this stuff??

I started looking in the big gray bag that was his.. There were valuables in there.. and shoes.. women's shoes.. I started pulling them out.  I was thinking, these must have belonged to his girlfriend... I should take them back.. As I started cradling a few things in my arm to take, these flowers with teeth started sprouting up from the ground!  Dirt flew and soiled me as they sprouted out with force.  They were popping up everywhere!! They looked like Piranha Plants from Super Mario Brothers, but REAL and viscious!  One lurched at me and opened it's huge mouth lined with what looked like shark teeth!  I ducked and rolled out of the way.  More were growing.. I heard them hiss, ' You cannot take anything!' I dropped everything and ran.

I ran through these flowers as they were sprouting from the ground each with with more force than the last.  I was running as fast as I could towards the gate.  I started seeing shadows pop up on each side of me.. they were a short distance away and were chasing me from the sides as I  ran towards the gate. I was almost there!  I looked back as I ran and there was SO MUCH JUNK starting to sink deeper and the vast field started to swell up with shadows and flickers.  The 'water' was gone so I could run much faster.  I was almost there!  Just as the shadows started to encircle me I dove into a roll and just barely made it across the bridge.  It was silent for no more than 5 seconds.  Then sound started flowing back into my ears.  I could hear my sister.  She was running to me screaming, "ARE YOU OK?  WHAT HAPPENED?? WHERE IS ELLIE?"  I passed out.

I woke up from the dream... and boy did I have to pee. lol

Sunday, August 30th: The Brain & Philosophical Dump

I wake up when the sun wakes up.  This means that when the morning light breaks it knocks on my subconscious door like an aggressive bill collector.  What I mean to say is, it is 7 am on a Sunday and I am wide awake.

I was sitting on my porcelain throne when I was pondering all the sage advice that has been offered up by the leaders and successful persons of our society.  You know how they always share their advice on how they arrived to their success and what they recommend to others that want to achieve what they have?  Well, sometimes I try to formulate my own advice or rather...words of encouragement from my observations.  Anyways, here it goes:

• You must allow your employees to fail, in order for them not to.

• I just shared this last night with Brenda and coincidentally this is not a fresh idea; even though it was not something I had heard anywhere else.  I more so feel that it should be common sense.  Brenda actually  shared a video with me that expressed this similar, if not very same, point of view.  My thoughts are this, when you berate or punish an employee for making a mistake you create fear in them.  This fear is like setting a cardboard box over them.  They become less inclined to be creative with their approaches out of fear of failure.  They don't want to see or feel your disappointment.  The fact is, people fail.  No one has achieved perfection so the expectation of such is not reasonable and more importantly, it is not conducive to growth or success.  When I fail with my own projects, I get upset.  Like REALLY upset.  I am upset at myself.  But, I have learned to embrace my failures.  Because when I do, I am inspired to to continue to take creative approaches and to try try again.  I'm not afraid to take chances with throwing out all the ideas that surface because even if they are 'terrible' ideas, they clearly provide a process of elimination so that the road to the grand idea becomes clearer.  Does that make sense?  Perhaps Ken Robinson has a different idea on the matter or has a better way on conveying what I am trying to. I am going to watch his lecture now.   I didn't want to see it until I conveyed my idea so that I didn't steal his thoughts.

• You have to consistently ask yourself, 'Is the action I am taking right at this moment, going to lead me to my goal?'

• We all procrastinate.  I do it all the time.  I should have a diamond encrusted crown, robe and sash for it.  What I do though, is constantly ask myself the question above.  If I am sitting in my jammiest of pajamas, watching Friends on Netflix, I will ask it.  Then I pause the show and start blogging.  Because me watching Friends will not lead me anywhere.  But me writing could actually take me to new places.  It might help me discover potential that I didn't know was there.  It could yield something I am not expecting and that is an exciting thought for me.  So when you are distracted, ask yourself this question and understand that one decision will lead you to progress and the other does not.

Other things:

I played with my makeup again.  While I like how it came out, it's a little too much make up than I am used to seeing on me.  But I figured I would share it because it looks pretty cool in this picture.  I think I am just not confident enough to pull it off in person. lol 

As a side note, I am strangely proud of my refrigerator. I found this sweet Star Wars poster in a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch!  SCORE!  And then I have my favorite picture of my mom and dad, the cutest picture of my sister and her family, film strips of my awesome cousin Danielle and I,  some super awesome geek magnets and my last event invite!  It's almost like an inspiration board. <3  Which reminds me... I want to make a vision board!  My coworker was telling me about vision boards and the purpose of them.  She was saying that if you put your hopes and dreams out there that they have a way of finding you.  I love that idea!  That's something I want to complete next month. :)

More randomness, I have been collecting so many samples of products that my medicine cabinet is more like a sample cabinet for beauty products.  If you ever stay with me, you have full access to the below samples! haha... 

and lastly, I found this:

The best parking spot in San Diego:

That is all for today!  The great part about this blog is that I am inspired to accomplish more and experience more so that I have more interesting things to share.  So again, to anyone reading this.  Thank YOU for inspiring me. :)

August 27 - 29: Chicken & Waffles, Beer, Breaking Bad and Air Conditioning

This week I had an early weekend.  Thursday, Damion came to town so I had an awesome time with him while he visited.  

We went to Sonic's Drive-In so he could get his beloved Banana Milkshake.  I got a Coke Zero because I LOVE their ice.  It's the tiny crunchy kind like this: SONIC ICE.  Then I went next door to Wendy's cause Sonic's food, while yummy, likes to attack my insides and turns my stool to mush.  I know it's disgusting, but it is fact.  Then we went home and started a Breaking Bad marathon because Damion has never seen it.  That had to be rectified.  

Friday morning was a late morning.  I've wanted to go to this restaurant that I went to during my trip to Chicago last year called Hash Hash a Go Go.  To my surprise there is one here in San Diego!!  So we got up to go there and of course there was a wait outside.  The wait was quoted at 30 minutes but it ended up only being about 10 minutes!  Yay!  So we sat at the bar.  BAD place to sit if you love booze.  Every single drink the bartender made was drool worthy.  So we ended up ordering a blood orange mimosa to go with our Sage Fried Chicken and bacon waffles.  It was incredibly delicious.  They have the BEST chicken and waffles ever!!  The serving size is ridiculous.  We split this one plate and there were still 2 waffles left and we were full!

After brunch we went home, since I had a 12pm meeting with a prospect for my Online Presence Consultation business.  It was a GREAT appointment.  They signed with me immediately after our call!  YAY!  The best part for me is that this client is giving me nearly 100% free creative reign over their site.  I'm SUPER excited about that.  So after that call I woke Mr.Bellows and we went to Starbucks for some java.  That lunch at Hash Hash a Go Go was the kind of lunch that punches you in the face putting you into a deep napping coma.

It has been CRAZY hot out here in San Diego.  So naturally, we planned on being hermits in my air conditioned apartment.  My bill is probably going to be about the same as my car payment this month.  *sigh*... But seriously, it is worth it.  

We found this AWESOME liquor store right down the street from me.  It's walking distance, people!  They have every craft brew you can name.  And if by some miracle they do not, they will order a couple cases just for you!  They even have my beloved Xingu!!!  So we figured we would take advantage of their, buy 6 get the 7th free deal.  So we picked out a bunch that we wanted to try and this ended up being the line up:

Man alive were these beers delicious!!!  

• We started with the Cappuccino Stout from Lagunitas.  It tastes almost identical to Goose Island's, Bourbon County!  It has that same scent (It smells like soy sauce to me!) And when you drink it, it is this creamy espresso and vanilla taste.  It's absolutely delicious and is one of my new favorites.  I'm just sad that it's a limited release!!
• Then we moved on to the Marshmallow Milk Stout from Garage Brewing Co.  It truly does smell and taste like marshmallows!  It has a smooth taste to it and was the beer I drank the fastest!
• We then went for my favorite brew from Ballast Point, Victory at Sea. It is another coffee beer that also has a touch of vanilla in it.  It's so delicious, but honestly didn't hold a candle to the first two we tried.  Yet, it still remains my favorite Ballast Point brew.
• To clean our palette we switched it up with the Smashed Blueberry beer from Shipyard Brewing Company.  The first time I tried this beer was at last year's Brew HaHa.  They served it with fresh blueberries but honestly that is a bit overkill.  The beer already has a very strong blueberry scent and taste.  It's one of the best summer beers you can buy if you want something clean and fresh but you are tired of citrus.  I still prefer the KBC Blueberry Wheat Ale that Trader Joe's sells to this one.  That KBC brew is just in another league.
• So we didn't get through all 7 beers.  We ended the night with the Oatmeal Yeti and honestly, it was just TOO potent for the both of us.  I'm all for high ABV in my beer, but this beer was so thick and dark that I couldn't handle it after all the others.  I drank about 8 ozs  and then called it quits.  I'll have to give it another chance at some point.
• So the last two that I have yet to try are the Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter and the Paradise Moon Coffee Porter.  Perhaps when my body forgives me for the other 5 I will get to try those two.  Until then, I will detox.

So this morning, Damion headed home and I started prepping for another important meeting that I had with the Executive Director of Young Arts San Diego.  This is a really exciting project that I am considering.  She is looking for someone to take lead of their re-branding and website.  We also discussed some marketing tactics that I thought would really get their name known so that it becomes a household name.  They are a really fabulous organization that provides arts education to children that otherwise do not have access to it.  They rely on donations to keep these services going.  I want to help them get the message across more clearly because I think their current site just completely loses and confuses the site visitors.  Anyways, it went REALLY well and thanks to the E.D.'s suggestion to meet at a coffee shop called Lestat's I have found a new work space for my future projects!  This coffee shop is super awesome!  I mean look at it!!

There are so many tables, places to plug in and everyone there is really welcoming.  I met someone named Giovanni that works for Twitch.TV.  He does streaming videos for gaming and stuff... we ended up discussing League of Legends which was pretty funny.  Then I told my 'Almost' tale about how I nearly had an AWESOME position with Riot just to have it stolen by a Rioter that stepped up at the last minute.  That was a very sad day.  I think I cried for like a month.  It's fine though, I would have never had this San Diego experience if I had been given the position there at that time, and I really think the person they chose was indeed also a great candidate.  I do believe that there is more than one path to happiness if you choose to see it.  I am choosing to see it.

My dear friend Brenda messaged me tonight and blamed me for her pho cravings  (It is a fair allegation).  I blamed the Vietnamese for making their pho so darn delicious and proposed that we satisfy the craving immediately.  So we did.  Only, I was too hungry to stop and take a picture of our pho.  I had even mentioned it and took out my phone to snap the photo but I was completely enthralled by our deep conversation.  That is what I love about my friend, Brenda; we get all philosophical when we get into it.  I think we just need togas and a sitting rock to reflect upon our thoughts...and someone to make statues of us.

So this is what I can remember of these past few days.  There were a few other things I wanted to share... like I received my LootCrate and it is one of the best I have received!  Look at this Breaking Bad apron!!:

I mean, is that awesome or what??  And the Joker inside the box is so shelf worthy.  It looks like this: 

Pretty Geek EEK, right?  

So that is all for tonight.  I made a pretty big dent.  If you read this whole thing you are seriously awesome.  Seriously.  You are.

Wednesday, August 26th: The Multipotentialite Pinup

This morning I decided to go to McDonald's because I was way too lazy to cook and then have to clean.  Normally I will do it, but today, lazy won the morning.  I did manage to play with my makeup this morning (pshh...my priorities..lol) and I tried a different lip color from my samples that I received on Monday.  I tried the color Two Timer and it's such a gorgeous red!  I used two different sample shadows as well.  One was called "Obliviate" from the Deathly Hallows Collection (YAY FOR HARRY POTTER REFERENCE!) which they sadly no longer have.  It's a really pretty gray with tiny glitter.  I paired it with the color "Cat Walk" from the HD Cosmetic Glitter Collection.  That one is a lovely shade of purple...similar to lilac and it also has some tiny glitter in it.  And of course I used my favorite Kat Von Dee Tattoo Eyeliner.  This is what that looked like:

So the young lady at the register in the drive through window calls me her PinUp Girl and I was greeted with, "Awe, it's my Pinup Girl!" lol.  I thought it was cute of course.  What girl can be called a pinup girl without blushing? YOU SHOW ME WHO!  Just kidding.  But seriously... it was adorable.

Also, how cute are these strawberry earrings?? lol

Anyways.. tonight was leftover night.  I also had to clean like crazy because I have issues.  Another fly mysteriously appeared in my abode.  These flies are really fearless too.  Which of course, makes them easier to swat.  In fact, there are still 2 stuck in pieces to my window.  I left them as a warning to the others.

Tonight I watched this fantastic lecture from a woman named Emilie Wapnik.  She discusses a new term that she created called 'Multipotentialite'.  This term describes the type of person that has always had trouble answering the traditional question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

It really hit home with me because I often feel almost ashamed that I cannot and have not picked one field to become the 'expert' in.  I am inspired and love to do so many things.  This is the list so far:

Sales
Marketing
Front End Web Development
Jewelry Making
Singing
Executive Administration
Management
Photography
Make-up Artist
Web Design
Writing
Chef

I mean, I could go on.  I love every single one of those professions and I have studied many of them and continue to study them.  Right now I am focusing on Marketing, Administration, Cooking, Writing and Web Design (Online Presence Consulting as well)... and like she says, I will sometimes ask myself why I don't stick to one thing like most people.  The fact of the matter is, I don't have to and I shouldn't.  I AM wired differently and I can be incredibly awesome at all these things and just choose to apply them where they intersect.  And I do!  Knowing this new term that I can identify with was just so very encouraging.  I hope that others in the hiring field that see my resume and Linked in, also change their thinking from 'She's all over the place, she probably will not stay or commit' to 'She can offer a new broad perspective.  She can take us past what we have imagined.'  because that is my desire and goal.

That was a long rant.  haha!  It was a great feeling and revelation so I had to share it. :) Till tomorrow!

Tuesday, August 25th - Faded Lipstick and Curry

Tuesday, August 25th, I had some more fun with my samples.  I decided to try the Run Away lip color.  I also tried this new eyeliner that I received from my Ipsy subscription for August.  It's the Skinn Luxe Waterproof Eyeliner in Navy Seal.  I used it on my eye's bottom waterline.  Nothing else is too special with the Tuesday look but it was fun and bright. :)

This was a day full of more meetings.  Trying to get ready for the end of the year push to get everything in order and fresh for a clean 2016.  We have another event coming up that I'm really excited to work on but it isn't til November so I have to hold my britches til then. *SIGH*  I hate holding my britches...  It's going to be another client event at the Del Mar Horse Races so my cousin can come again and further her gambling fun. lol.  Hey, she almost won a ton last time!!

So I went home and really needed to use the chicken in my fridge before it goes bad so I made some Chicken and Veggie Curry with one of my favorite easy boxed sauce magic products, Vermont Curry.  I think it was my dear awesome friend Fazila that introduced me to this.  I always find it at 99 Ranch, but occasionally you can find it in your regular grocery store.  Usually by the asian food section... It is CRAZY easy to make.  This is what it looks like:

And this is how you make it:

So that is it for Tuesday.  I started writing down ideas for a book.  I said before, I love to write and I think I would like to take a stab at writing something.  It will probably be stupid and funny to read but that is my style so... there it is. lol...  Maybe I'll make it a toilet read where each chapter is 5 minutes... that's enough time to take a decent visit to el toilete, correct?

I also had to catch up with So You Think You Can Dance.  I do love that show!  And... let's face it, I always sneak in an episode of friends...

Well, that is my brain dump for the day.  I will dump some more tomorrow! <3  Have a great day, friends!

Monday, August 24th - Cosmetics and Mondays

Yes, I have yet ANOTHER blog.  Call it the overly organized issues I have, the fact that I like to write and that I definitely enjoy oversharing.  I was just thinking that I wanted to share my day because while I'm out here in San Diego, living alone, it's nice to have somewhere that I can place all my thoughts and happenings of the day so that those that do want to catch up can do so at their leisure and I can share at mine.

That being said, I am starting with Monday, August 24th.

Today I received some samples I ordered in the mail from Impulse Cosmetics.  I love their makeup.  Their matte lip colors are the most vibrant pigments I have come across.  I always get comments and questions when I wear them.  I was even stopped by a Sephora Manager to ask about a color I was wearing once (It was the color called Run Away).  Anyways, this is what I received:

 

I decided to try a couple of their eye pigments as well.  

Today I am sporting the eye shadow Shark Bait and the lip color Medusa.

I am artistic by nature so playing with makeup is a lot like painting for me.  Yesterday I took a much better picture of the makeup I did using a new Anastasia Eyeshadow palette I picked up from Sephora.  I decided to venture outside of my comfort zone and went for a blue shadow called Azure.  I also used a lip gloss color from the Bite Watercolor Set #8.

Outside of the world of makeup, at work I had a very productive meeting that I am really excited about.  Basically it revealed that I will be focusing my responsibilities more in the marketing side of the business which is fantastic as it is what I love most and excel at most.  I am an observer by nature, so I really feel that I know how people think (also I have taken several psychology and marketing courses throughout the years, though it was never applied to a degree).  I use that intuition and create visual pieces that speak to the audience and capture their attention.  In fact, the event I most recently worked on experienced an increase of prospect and client participation by 45%!  The feedback we received from guests was that my invitations and marketing pieces are what enticed them to attend this year as opposed to the many years before me.  So that was awesome to hear and it really persuaded me to consider a new career path in marketing.  I love Executive Administration but I think I can harness what I am best at and eventually become wicked good at it! :P

Anyways, when I got home I decided to try my hand at Seared Ahi Tuna.  I've never made it before and I happened to have picked up a handsome slice of sushi grade tuna at the 99 Ranch market.  (Which by the way is the BEST market ever!!)  So here is how that came out.

It was really easy to make, although, in my raging hunger I failed to record how I did it. lol... I basically made a bed of pepper on a plate and a poured low sodium soy sauce into a bowl to dip the tuna in.  I dipped and left the tuna in the soy sauce.  While it was sitting in it I preheated a pan with some vegetable oil.  Once it was hot enough I took the tuna from the soy bowl and coated it on each side in the bed of pepper.  Then I dropped it in the hot pan and let each side sear about 1/4" or a little less.  Then I took it off the hot pan and onto a cutting board and sliced it.  I just ate it on top of salad with a ponzu dressing.  It was pretty good but I think I can do better next time.  I want to add scallions and sesame seeds next time...

So I ended the night watching Star Wars Episode III.  Which is always awesome.  But yes, that was my day.  If you read it, you're awesome and I love ya. <3