Feliz Navidad!

Regular Christmas in my family doesn't even involve Christmas day at all, for my family its alllll about Christmas Eve!
We all go to Abuelitas house to eat tamales, talk, share time together, and hear all the kids ask to open presents early allllll night.
After they played poker, screw your neighbors, we all played Pictionary and Apples to Apples we finally gave in and let the kids open the gifts at 11pm, only and hour early.
(pictures are on actual film so we gotta wait to see them)
After over eating tamales and spending the whole day with family it was time to go to bed.
Bryan and I woke up and headed to his parents house.
Christmas Day was spent with Bryan's family.
Where come to find out I got a STOCKING for Christmas. (Thank you little baby Jesus)
I've never had a stocking and Sue and Steve were awesome enough to get me one.
Opening presents took a pretty long time and every second of it was amazing.
(Pictures were taken by others so those will be posted soon)
Before presents we had their traditional baked eggs, I'm not a fan of egg yolk but this was realllly good, with some Canadian bacon, mmmmmmm!
For lunch we took Bryan's Aunt and Uncle to the pier.
Only in California do you go to the beach on Christmas.
Thanks to everyone who wished me a Merry Christmas, Thanks for the gifts and being able to spend time together.

Enough talk now time for pictures...
50 year old train....
Conductor Bryan....

Destroyer Christina
Beach Hair
I thought this was a cute picture of Peggy and David.

Sisterly Love.

(This was a special picture post because Peggy is a loyal Blog reader, thank you Peggy!xoxo)

California Christmas

I thought this was gonna be a scene out of, "When Animals Attack"

TOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RIP

I'll make this short:

No one is perfect and that's all that could be said about this situation.

My grandfather was just another imperfect human being.

We all make mistake, some big some small. What's done is done.

He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a great grandfather.

I only remember one conversation with him.

He asked my age (I was 13) then he stood up and left.

He's a man that strangers knew better than his own family.

People are complicated and I never understood him, but I'm not one to judge.

One thing I know is that he was the LUCKIEST man on this planet.

Married the most amazing woman.

For better of for worse, she stayed by his side.

He was my mothers father and my grandmothers husband and for that reason I'm sad.

To see them cry rips me to pieces.

Rest In Peace "Henry"

A Day in the Life of....

This happened at Kaiser today around about 11am-ish... I was sitting in the waiting room, watching good'ole Free Willy when a little girl about 4 years old started to stare at me. I smiled, she smiled, I smiled, she smiled. After our several smiles it was obvious she was doing things to get my attention. Like showing me her shirt that said HELLO. The most amazing part of this story goes like this......

Little Girl: "Mommy do you have paper and a pencil?"
Mom: "Yeah, but why?"
LG: "I wanna write that lady a note."

(I was so excited becuase I knew I was, "that lady"!)

She then just did a quick hand gesture on the paper, ripped it out of the note book, walked over to me, shy but confident. Handed me the note....
Me: "Thank you so much, what does it say?....Does it say, Hello?"
LG: "No (short giggle), it says I Love You."

I think my heart skipped 1,000 beats. That was probably the cutest thing thats ever happen to me. I thanked her and as I left we said goodbye, she probably wont remmember me, but I will never forget her.

It made me realize how distant we are from one another, sure most of us are strangers to eachother, but someone sitting next to you could be someone amazing and you will never even know it. I feel I miss out on alot of cool people becuase saying hello to strangers is, "weird". We all need to get out of our shell and be more social.

Thank you precious little girl for opening my eyes to the world.

Free Your Mind...

To say the least, my life has been a roller coaster since my last post. Illness, family realization, and personal growth. More than most my age will ever have to deal with. I'm thankful for life though, it makes me learn so much. Each day makes me stronger and each situation makes me realize more about who I am and who I hope to be.

Aside from that it's been the same, school and sewing. The following pictures are from when Bryan and I went on an adventure in San Gorgonio to Aspen Grove. It was as close as it could get to perfect. It would have been perfect if we hadn't seen like 10 hunters that I wanted to punch. The Aspen trees were so amazing, beautiful, and breathtaking to say the least. Places like these remove you from reality and really help you clear your mind and appreciate real beauty.

Enough talk, Enjoy the photos from my Fuji instant camera. Probably the best I've ever taken.

Excuse the nerd in this shot.

My Favorite:

For Bryan:

Don't let closed minded or negative people hold you back, set yourself free from it all.

Be who you desire to be, free you mind!

Brain Food!

My brain is flowing with ideas and I wish I had 10 hands to sketch with, because the minute I finish a sketch 5 design details have left my mind. I should really get that checked.

With my Project 1 rolling and due in less than 2 weeks, I have to soon start my Second Project.

By start I mean show the professor my ideas, because in my head the dress is a done image.

For my second dress I'm going for a more sexy, edgy, feminine look.

Different from the 1st, which you can see in my previous blog is a long, very draped, natural tone classic dress.

I said my dress is Edgy but not as edgy as one of my favorite designers.

Stella McCartney (Yes, she is Paul McCartney's daughter)

This lace piece made me melt when I saw it.

You are such a creative genius!

BRAVO Stella!!

Back to inspiration!

Call me a hippie, environmentalist, whatever it maybe but everything wild makes me at peace with my ideas and inspires me to be better.

Meet my inspiration at the moment:

Biologist Leela Hazzah

I just read and article about her, she lives in a tree house (shown in pic) in a part of southwestern Kenya saving Lions. Now that is dedication and frankly it doesn't get anymore bad*ss than that.

Heres to you Leela Hazzah!

Inspirational Colors

Oooo! I can't wait to be on the runway with my collection!!

I pretty much think I'm gonna pass out in front of 1,500 people,

due to nervousness and excitement.

(Too bad it's about 5,000 hours of sewing away)

I wish I was more of a sleeper...

Another night, another attemp to sleep by 11, another fail...

I'm too awake.

I sketch better at this time anyways.

I'm tired but can't lay still long enough to sleep.

Currently listening to these bands:

Tegan and Sara

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B-MluGscaE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8KAU9vWGgc

Matt and Kim, most gourgeous pair of people

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8KAU9vWGgc

"Why her and not me, wtf?"-quote of the day

Buenas noches, y perdon por mi escritura tan corta. xoxo

Life as a Designer...

Draping is this semester, and I loooove it so much better than Flat Pattern. The movement of the fabric and the ability to manupulate shape and fit, is amazing.

Day 1: Drape top

Day 2: Drape skirt, dress bottom.

Day 3-5: Mark all lines, un-pin, and try to figure out how to make a pattern.

Day 6: Put it all on paper. Lots of paper only to realize you messed up.

After a week of school and nights of sewing I can't help but look like this...

Don't judge me it was like 2am.
I walked in front a mirror, thought I looked like a deadwoman walking.

Pail and wornout.

In the end this is my sample It's the rough look into what it will be.

Fits me too big but should fit my model perfectly!

The second half of this project coming soon.

Good Hair...

It was Friday night so the fella and I decided to go catch a flick, we watched a hilarious movie by Chris Rock, Good Hair.http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810059624/info

I could relate to every joke in that movie because of my genetic gift of Nappy hair. I used to hate my hair and try to hide it instead of embrace it. What a shame!

The movie really makes you think what society accepts as "good hair" when has an Afro ever been taken serious or looked at a smokin' hott??? Never. Disco afros were associated with parties and no seriousness.

So what is good hair,This? (RIP)

Or how about the famous Aniston look every woman tried to get?

For me it isn't straight or wavy hair, because anyone can pull that off. How many people do you know that have hair like this? A badass afro is a commitment and something only the most confident people can pull off. I mean look at this picture these are the 2 coolest, most chill, confident people I've ever seen. This photo says 1,000 words.

I went through the phase of trying to be and have something that wasn't there.

Straight Hair!

It was a hassle and the burning from the relaxers and flat irons was horrible, but I did it so I couldn't be a little bit closer to normality.

I'm a different person now, I'm comfortable and confident with who I am and what I have. I guess I can say I finally have the right attitude to pull off hair like mine.

When I'm smiling my biggest smile and feeling the most beautiful I don't wonder if anyone is looking at me and thinking the same thing because I'm happy that I can see myself in that way.

You are only as beautiful as you allow yourself to be.

Inspiration...

The different ways of finding beauty.

As a designer I get designers block when looking at other garments, instead of inspiration I find myself piecing their process together. I don't get inspired by whats been done already.

When starting designs I get inspiration from moods, colors, silhouettes, movement, paint brush stokes, texture, sound, ect.

Trying to mimic the natural movement of water into a draped garment. It's not JUST fabric its a feel, a mood, a motion, a fit, a style. Fabrics excite me!(Obviously.)

Architecture leads to lines, structure, and stiffness. It's a challenge to look good in structured garments, but who doesn't like hard work?

Welcome to my mind, my inspiration, a brain of a visionary...

Art, art, art. Could never have enough of it.
Silly Dali

Basquiat's wild mind.

Body shapes.

Express it. For the record, I love suspenders. 1,000 words