Plaid!

I have a new found love for plaid shorts. I had always been attracted to them but just not on me. I have found my match and am completely in love. I bought this pair a while back and after wearing 'em yesterday I came to the realization that it was necessary for me to buy another pair.

They look great with a polo and my Paul Frank crab belt reverses to a navy blue belt that matches wonderfully. To ice the cake my ink and Zen match... what more could you ask for? Oh... and as if that's not exciting enough in and of itself... my Turkish Royals and blue lighter even matched- kidding. That just might be a little over the top.

Along with the shorts I bought a salmon colored polo and pink undershirt to go with. They also look pretty great with a brown shirt.

Now, with my new love for the things I want to wear the everywhere. I sat in debate this morning trying to figure out if they were work appropriate. I was going to toss on a nice white button-up hoping it would dress it up just a bit. I couldn't bring myself to doing it. Summer and I discussed this first thing this morning and came to the conclusion that it is ok. Here's an article to back it up. I think for now I'll stick to sportin 'em on Fridays just because I think they're on the casual side.

Durango

This weekend I went to Durango with Kate. I'm gonna stick to my original thoughts and say that it's gotta be one of the best quick get-aways. :) We had a good time, ate some good food, drank some good beer and enjoyed the little mountain town. Unfortunately, I didn't get any shots of the places we ate but if you're ever in the town I'd hit up:
Lady Falconbergs - they have somethin' like 38 beers on tap (enough said)
Steamworks - brewery w/amazing Cajun
Jean-Pierre's French Bakery - self explanatory
Farquarhts Pizza Mia - amazing pizza (wonderful crust)


...mmmmmmartinis

(found a new yummy martini...
Vanilla Vodka + Pineapple juice + lime
... yum!)

...view on the way to Mesa Verde

... before the (short) hike down

...up close and personal

...Kate and I

... a tree?

...and me.
I became a little antsy so decided to take some photos of the views while [Kate was] driving... my self-centered self soon focused on the mirror w/my reflection. Got a good shot of the view in the reflection of my lens in a similar photo... I'm sure it would've gone unseen so... I figured I wouldn't bother posting it...

La Llorona: Sign Style

Many New Mexico natives grew up with the story of La Llorona. La Llorona ("the weeping woman") is a folklore that was told to us in school assemblies with the intent of scaring us away from ditches. From my experience, this failed miserably and ended up resulting in many dares to see who could stay near the ditch for the longest period of time before chicking out. I thought I had heard/seen all of the possible renditions of the story until last Thursday. New Mexico School for the Deaf put on La Llorona for their Spring Play.

I always thoroughly enjoy going to events put on by NMSD and really love watching stories/performances in ASL because of the very expressive nature of the language. I always have a difficult time with the voice interpreters. This is one of the times where I wish I could turn off my hearing. The lack of expression/acting the interpreters’ voices have completely takes away from it. I don't mean to knock the interpreters themselves, just the idea of it. I realize that many people find the voicing very helpful but I find it to be nothing but a nuisance that greatly takes away from the experience. I have a hard time finding the voicing necessary. I always drag Amy along to these events with me, she only knows the basics of ASL but definitely agrees that she would much rather miss a parts than to have the voice interpreters. Why?

Day of Silence

Today marks the 11th annual Day of Silence, one of the largest student-led actions in the country. UNM's QSA made t-shirts and everything! (haha) The Day of Silence is an annual event held to bring attention of anti-LGBT bullying, harrassment and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers nationwide will observe the day in silence to "echo" the silence that LGBT students face everyday.

...wish this was actually realistic. I wouldn't mind being silent for a day... (yes, that may be in part because I would have an excuse to sign all day...) I'm not sure what kind of impact this is making on the "awareness of homophobia" maybe this event is just "silenced" at UNM but, aside from QSA and (oddly enough) the Lutheran Campus Ministry hardly any of my friends know anything about it. It just makes me wonder if this has any effect on anything. Aside from that, it is pretty neat and exciting that the Lutheran Campus Ministry is teaming up with the QSA for this event! They're actually hosting dinner at the Luther House following the breaking of the silence vigil.

Lovin' on Google

After looking up directions to our hotel in Durango I thought I'd look up directions to London. Afterall, I have been wanting to go to Europe for quite some time now. I think the trip lookes pretty doable aside from #33.






Check it out! Go to Google Maps in driving directions type in New Mexico to London. Now, look at #33...


...Tell me, How much do you love Google?!?!?

Big Rewards

Another thing that is very rewarding is getting an A (with very positive comments) on that paper you hated writing and turned in a week and a day late and considered dropping. Yes, very rewarding.

Small Rewards

I have one class that is particularly difficult to attend. Data Analysis is basically statistics and it bor-ring! I recently noticed I do very well on all of my take home tests but not so great with the quizzes. I had been missing many classes (especially those before quizzes) which resulted in low quiz scores. My regular attendance as of late resulted in my first excellent score on a quiz. That was enough motivation to convince me to go to class... for a while, I still find it difficult to refrain from ditching. It occurred to me that there's a Starbucks in Zimmerman, right across from my class so I reward myself with a nice Venti Passion Iced Tea (w/3.5 pumps of sweetener, rather than 6). This gives me something to look forward to and keeps me going to class. Funny how something that works for a 3 year-old still works on a 21 year-old. :)

It's the little things...

Yesterday I went down to my parents' to hang for a bit, I wanted to go shoe shopping so sister followed me up so I wouldn't have to go alone. We left her car and my place and hit the stores. After shoe shopping we met Kate for dinner. Kate and I had class so sister took my car back up to my house, on the way she put some gas in my car. I didn't realize this 'till this morning (as I didn't drive last night) when I left for work. I asked sister if she put gas in my car and she replied with "no, the gas fairy did. DUH!" I thanked her and she appologized for not giving me a full tank. This is my sister for ya, I don't feel that I get the chance to thank her enough. I really lucked out in that department... I just hope I'm as good to her as she is to me.

New Vehic

Sister sent me some photos of the new vehic... thought I'd share:

I'm getting rather excited... the AWDness of it will be fantastic :)

I think it'll accompany me on many adventures, including but definitely not limited to Durango on the 20th :)

::stay tuned for the tribute to the Crayola::

It's official...

Pooka's up for adoption http://www.lapdogrescue.org/adoptables.asp

He absoluetely loved the drive up to Edgewood. His foster parent was very sweet and knew just how to work with him.

I missed him while visiting the fam yesterday for Easter... but it's for the best. Right?

"a Mongie car"

I called my mom last night...

Mom: honey, I have something to tell you... I want to ask you something... honey, we bought you something today.
Me: What? Why?
Mom: honey, we bought you a car.
Me: What'd ya do that for?
Mom: your dad and I want you to have a good reliable car.
Me: My car's fine.
Mom: Well, daddy found a car that seems perfect for you. It was just meant to be. Then we're going go put the money we spent on your car towards your sisters' and sell the Corolla and give your grandma the money.

My parents are sooo funny! They feel that since my sister doesn't have a job it's logical to give both of us money. I love them and their randomness and am grateful beyond words.

::Dad gets on the phone::
Me: What's all this about?
Dad: Well, we just think it's meant to be. I went to go pick up parts and I saw a car parked funny... it was for sale. I looked at it and thought "man that's a Mongie car" It's a Subaru Outback that's white with roof racks! I thought aw man, I bet it's a standard, I walked up to it and it's a stick!

They called the owners (both ordained ministers) and drove it around...

It'll be mine on Monday.
They're crazy and I love them.

Sir Manfred Pookanator, the little rat bastard from the piss pot clan, the first (and hopefully the last)

It saddens me to report that my little Pooka dog will be leaving us in an hour or so. My mom'll be leaving the house pretty soon here with my doggie. I'm sure he's more than excited to be going for an r-i-d-e, if only he knew these'll be his last moments with mom. We're taking him to Edgewood today to live with a foster parent until the lap dog rescue agency finds a new home for him. His barking has just become too much and drives my dad crazy, literally sometimes. Although I've known it was coming for a while now, I have knots in my stomach and I'm choking back the tears while writing this. It's probably better for Pooka to live in a calm environment but it's still sad to have to say good bye to a member of the family.

I will be left with many fond memories and will miss him terribly.

Dreaming in sign

I dreamt in sign language last night... I think this prompted this...
I've always been very aware of my interest in ASL and it becomes even more apparent on a daily basis. Sign Language is the only class I'm really motivated in and the only class I get excited about doing my homework. One would think it would be in my better interest to pursue a degree in signed language interpreting however this 6 page paper that was due last week in Contemporary Soc Theory sounds like much more fun.

Just thought it would be fun to point out (to my many readers) how logical I am.

Josh Chavez

My sister got a text yesterday morning around 3am from Josh, who I've been friends with since 2nd grade, the text read something like this: "this is Josh's mom, I just wanted to inform you all that Josh died in a motor vehicle accident early this morning. Please call XXX-XXXX for information on services" My sister got the text when she woke up, around 8 that morning and immediately contacted all of his close friends to make sure that they were ok. At around 9 she finally got a text from Josh saying that it was an April fools joke.

Sick, I tell you.