Far, Far Away

I had a fantastic time last night swooning over Michael Buble. I'll get some photos up soon and give a recap of the show later tonight.

In the meantime, I need to share this picture:

It was taken by this guy, so I feel as though I need to give him credit. Actually, I just took a look at his archives and all of his photos are fantastic.

I saw the picture above and immediately felt an urge to travel. It really stirred up some emotions and memories; what I felt while walking the streets of Amsterdam, riding on trains in rainy England, looking a the vibrant painted homes in Italy.

I want to be there again. I need to be there again.

Fly Me To The Moon

I'm seeing one of my favorite musical artists tonight!!! Michael Buble is rolling into town and performing at the Santa Ana Star Center tonight and I have THIRD row seats :) I think I can thank my mom and her lucky genes for helping me win tickets a couple months ago - she's the lucky one in the family.

Anywho, Jenna is driving down today and we're going to drive all the way out of Dodge to go see him woo us. I'm seriously as giddy as a little girl right now!!

I'm also really excited about my new bag (post below). It. Is. Perfect. There's no other way to describe how great it was to travel with. Not only does my lap top fit perfectly inside, but there's room for two books (large books, mind you), iPod, airline tickets, snacks, water bottle, wallet, etc. LOVE IT!!! Today I'm carrying my laptop, makeup bag, brush and camera in it for tonight.

:) Things are good.

Carry On

The New York Times is reporting that Airlines are going to charge up to $25 to carry on an additional bag when you fly. As someone who flies somewhat often, and with the prices of airlines already so high, I can't afford that.

I've been looking for a cute bag that I can just sling over my shoulder and carry my purse essentials, as well as my laptop. The problem is that all the bags I've found look very business-like and only have the shoulder straps - to carry it like a purse. Well, if you've ever raced through an airport (and I mean literally running to catch your plane) you know that you don't want a big, bulky bag hanging off your shoulder.

Enter: REI. I conveniently work directly above the sporting-goods store, and finally found a bag I really like. This is my new Nikole Day Bag:



My computer fits perfect in it! Not to mention there's a place for my water bottle (take an empty one through security and fill it up once you get to the gate), padded spot for my iPod, room for a magazine and a book and secret compartments for my plane ticket and other stuff. I love the color (I have it in Dusty Rust - it looks more maroon in real life than in the picture), especially with the girly, but not too girly flowers on it, and I can wear it as a backpack when I'm running around the airport. Woot. Woot.

I'll test it out tonight when I fly to Oklahoma City and see how it does :)

AH!!!! I forgot to mention VITAL information about my new bag. It's GREEN! It's part of REI's Eco-Sensitive Products and the description says the following:

"Sourced from old plastic bottles, post-consumer recycled PET polyester is tough enough to endure the daily grind and is gentle on the environment." So. There. I'm Green.

Quirky Burque

Fact: I have lived in Albuquerque for 24 years, give or take a year and a few months.
Fact: I just saw a part of the city I never knew existed!

I was leaving an interview I had with Mr. Garduno (Yes, THE Mr. Garduno) and was on my way to the Flying Star on Rio Grande to get some work done (which will commence after I write this). I turned on Rio Grande, which was all normal to me because I used to run that road last summer. But then there was construction and it made me turn on some foreign road. I turned on the road and followed the detour signs and landed on 4th Street.

Have I mentioned yet that I'm from the Heights? Anything on the other side of the freeway is fairly unknown to me.

So I'm now driving on 4th street trying to figure out how to get back to Rio Grande, when I decide to turn on Chavez. The only thing I know about Chavez St. is that it's Osuna east of the freeway. Ok, so I'm on Chavez and I notice a winery. A WINERY! It literally just popped up in out of no where. Crazy.

I keep driving some more (both hands on the wheel because I'm somewhat out of my comfort zone and don't know where I'm going) and I notice amazing homes; homes that look somewhat out of place in Albuquerque.

By this time I have this weird feeling that I'm not in the city any more. Well, turns out I'm right. I'm in "Village of Los Ranchos" - ah! So that's where it is! Village of Los Ranchos is awesome and I love it for making me feel like I was on a five minute vacation.

Now I'm at Flying Star and know where I am for the moment.

I heart 'Burque

Green Day...er...Earth Day

"Green, green, green! I'm so sick of 'going green,'" my mom says as she throws a magazine my direction.

I guess it wouldn't be wise of me to mention to her that I just finished writing a "green" makeup article for the magazine.

I have to admit, though, that I agree with her. Yes, I may write about it, but that doesn't mean I follow this green trend going around. There's just too much out there about it, ya know? I mean, give me a minute to live my non green life without coming up with one more way to "Save The Planet." I do my part. I turn the water off while brushing my teeth and keep showers down to around five minutes; I turn off the TV and lights when I leave a room (sometimes).

Seriously, though, everywhere you turn there's green this, and green that. I realize that the makeup I'm using right now is not all natural and organic, but it's been working for me for the past couple years and it's cheaper than spending twice as much money on something that will look and feel the same. Actually, my foundation has natural coffee beans in it - or so it says - and that's natural. So there.

What else? Oh. Food. Natural, organic, blah, blah, blah. My mom and I are doing Weight Watchers, my dad can only have ridiculously low sodium foods, and just with those two alone looking at labels is hard enough; we can't try to get everything natural as well.

Ah, this green craze is just making me crazy! It is fun to write about it though (for the mag) and see what all sorts of new things are out there. Ya know, if I had an expandable income maybe I would go green, but for us normal folk, I'm fine with the way things are.

Why I Want A Puppy

I love my Schmumfy, but the little hamster just doesn't have that sixth sense like dogs do. I remember that whenever I was having a bad day, my dog Snuggles would know something was up and instead of running and jumping around, he'd come and lay his head on my lap. Even Oreo is that way. All Schmumfy does is scurry around, trying to get away from me as fast as possible. Silly hamsters. I need a puppy.

LDR.

Sometimes I get bitter and jealous with normal relationships. And when I say "normal relationships" I really mean two people who have the ability to see their significant other at least everyday.

Kenny comes home today and I'm ecstatic...and a little bit sad. I know I'm going to see him today, but I'm feeling selfish and would very much not like to share him with other people. His parents, for example. I understand they haven't seen him in four months. I get that. And if the situation was reversed I know I'd have to hang out and talk to the folks too. But keeping him under lock and key at their house (they're not doing that - I'm exaggerating my frustrations) doesn't help me or us. How are we supposed to have a relationship and date in real life (other than talking every day on the phone) if we can't be together and be ourselves?

I just know it's going to be hard sitting at home not doing anything and knowing Kenny is 10 miles away sitting at home, doing nothing, and not able to leave. Sigh. I need to stop whining; I get to see him tonight (but only for dinner and a possible stroll through Old Town), Monday night, and Tuesday night. That's more than I've seen him in two months, so I'll just be happy.

Nobody said a long-distance relationship was easy, right?

Raindrops, please keep falling!

Is it weird to thrive on days when the sun doesn't peak out from behind the clouds? For some reason I've always had an extra kick to my step whenever it's "gloomy" and "gray" outside. Right now I'm typing away while the raindrops landing on the sky light in my office are making little pitter-patter noises; they even sound like a person typing on a keyboard, in a way.

Maybe that's why I fell in love with England so quickly. Sure I complained about how much it rained while I was there, but it's things like that that I miss. It's funny, when you live in a desert you don't think of necessities like having an umbrella on hand, or wearing wellies. I even wrote two articles very recently on cute rain boots and umbrellas, for crying out loud! ...Sure wish I had either on hand; they would make my jaunt to the car in the rain a tad bit more enjoyable.

My. Favorite. Post. EVER.

This is hands down, the best post about chile and chili I've read. I've been meaning to get my thoughts into something like this for some time, but usually fail miserably. Please read this:

jana popchop A Culinary Break: Let Me Explain Chile with an "E" (I think you need to scroll up once you click on the link...)

It's also on Duke City Fix titled as "A Chile Rant" - if you click on this one you can see how passionate we 'Burquenos are about our chile.

Closed.

I've been getting back in the grind and hitting the gym every morning. I read somewhere that you need to do something consistently for 30 days to make it a habit, so that's what I've been trying to do at the gym. Today, however, they're closed for maintenance. Closed. That kind of hinders my "consistently" plan. Sure, I could've gone to one of the other five gyms in the same company, but once you start going somewhere it becomes comfortable to you. I know where everything is and what I like to do. I even know the employees and some of the other gym-goers. But if i went to another place I'd have that awkward wondering around aimlessly and ask silly questions that would just dig into my gym-time.

I'm sure this is all mental, but I can already feel a difference from not going; mostly with the fact that I don't feel like doing anything right now and I feel a headache forming. If I had gone to the gym already I'd be pumped to get my day going. It truly is amazing the amount of energy I've had since working out again. Sigh. Now I'm just tired, yawny and lazy, which is not good because I need to get my butt off this couch now and go be very productive today.

Thank goodness my gym is open tomorrow.

a waiting game

I actually just texted my boyfriend, "maybe they'll send you earlier...we can hope." We are talking about his deployment. Deployment. It's an evil and sad word. For me the words deployment and cancer can physically make me shiver whenever I hear them. The reason we're hoping he goes earlier (or even later) is because right now they're planning on sending him overseas either during October and November or November and December. Those are the three months out of the year nobody wants to be away from home, let alone fighting a war. The good thing is, this isn't exactly set in stone; when it comes to the military nothing is.

My other news is about my dad and my great aunt, Tia. Both of them are sick, but with practically the exact opposite problem. Tia's been in and out of the hospital for various things in the past several weeks. The first time was because she was losing too much blood and needed blood transfusions. Then, just about the exact same time, my dad found out his blood is too thick and had to get rid of about four pints. Then,just a few days ago Tia started acting odd; she was very confused, lethargic and dizzy. She went back to the hospital and found out her sodium levels were VERY low, so they started giving her saline. The SAME time my dad was finding out that because of his congestive heart failure he needs to cut out the salt. And I mean cut, it, out. All the way. He can only have 2,000 mg a day, which if you've ever read labels, that's almost impossible to do.

So that's what's going over in my neck of the woods.

Also, I like brown rice.

TGIAF

Thank. God. It's. ALMOST. Friday. Seriously. All week I've thought it was Friday. I don't know why things have been dragging on this week, maybe it's because I somehow got my act together and instead of procrastinating things and rushing around at the last minute I actually got my work done. Interesting concept: work ahead of time and there's no stress later. We'll see how next month works out.

So, I've been hooked on new show. Well, it's not all that "new," but it's new to me. It's Battlestar Galactica and my geeky boyfriend got me into it—hey, if he's going to watch Grey's Anatomy with me then I can try getting into one of his sci-fi shows. I watched the first two seasons with him and then he mailed me the third season, so I could catch up before the final season begins tomorrow. I've gotta say, I started watching it because I knew he liked it, and now I'm hooked. The last episode was intense and oh, so exciting. I was literally giggling because of what was going on. Good show, good show. Hey, stop teasing at me...at least it's not Star Trek :p