Thursday, July 25, 2013

Lunch With An Old Friend

My friend Brook-Lee is in town from Georgia. I don't think we've seen each other since her high school graduation in 2006. Since then we've become much nicer girls than we were in jr. high. We reminisced and reflected on life back then. We are both proud to say we didn't become another statistic that dropped out of high school or got pregnant at sixteen. We both have our bachelors and are working on graduate degrees. May we continue to be positive role models for each other and other girls who are minorities like us. 




Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Tales From Rancho de Los Locos

Hi all. I wanted to share my next new media assignment with you. It's a podcast entitled Tales From Rancho de Los Locos. If you've been following along on my blog the story isn't new, I posted about it as a throwback Thursday story providing my original post when I was 18. I cleaned up the script and added a few sounds that help relay the story. I love the theme and think it would be a great thing to continue if I could get stories from those who have visited or lived on the Rancho. 


Sunday, July 14, 2013

Roscoe & Rosie

My husband found a girlfriend for his Roosky. She's a five month old basset hound with a lot of energy. They don't live with us because we don't have a fenced in yard. I don't think it would be much work to get a front gate, by my husband is convinced that Roscoe loves all of the room he has at my in-law's house. Maybe someday we'll bring them home, but until then we'll just feed and visit them. 





This is a playlist of videos from the first time they met. 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Mary Kay Girl's Night

My friend and sister-in-law Estela set a date for her wedding, so to celebrate we had Hollie Holley pamper us with Mary Kay. I loved the wedding talk about photo booths, dresses, and honeymoon destinations. She's going to be the most beautiful bride. Weddings get me so excited because making that commitment and having someone vow to spend their life with you is so precious. Let the 10 month countdown begin. 



Me, Stela, Zuly, & Liz



Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Short Video for My New Media Class

I have a new media class this semester which includes creating and editing videos and podcasts. For this first video assignment we had to make a one minute video with no audible dialogue on iPads with iMovie. I've used iMovie on my laptop before, but didn't come close to doing a good video. It was mostly photos and some poorly recorded video stitched together. So far this class has gotten me to think about different angles and shots. I liked that we had to draw up a story board first, it made recording so much easier. I've seen several of my classmates videos and they're great. I wouldn't mind turning video making into a new hobby. I know my little cousins would love to be in more videos. 





Friday, July 5, 2013

A Come Together Fourth

We had no plans for the fourth. I had the day off and Jose worked. I slept in and it was glorious. I set out to find some Independence Day sales, but had little luck. Throughout the day I started feeling really lonely as I realized that a lot of what I do, I do by myself. I love alone time, but for some reason on a holiday I expected to be surrounded by friends and family. My dad joked that if they had a BBQ I wasn't invited because I was out of the circle for pissing my mom off. That's fine I guess, I would've shown up anyway, but they didn't have any shindig that I'm aware of. 


Jose got off work at a decent hour, 2:00 PM, rather than the usual 9:00 PM, so he went to a co-worker's BBQ, while I finished up my shopping. I just want to note that I am proud of him for thinking ahead and getting ride because he knew he'd be drinking. His friend's family is from Honduras so they had some authentic food that he said was amazing. 

We met up and headed to my cousin Stephanie's house to watch fireworks. She lives way high up on the mountain side so you can see all of the fireworks in the valley, plus they had some of their own. I remember when we were little Steph's family would come to my house and we would celebrate the 4th together, so it was nice to bring our new families together and relive and old tradition. 

It's such a small world(Apostolic world), as we sat around the table talking with Stephanie's husband and his parents. Marcelo told my husband that he remembers him from when they were little and used to go to the same church in California. Jose's family moved here first, then two years later Marcelo's family moved to Utah only to show up at church seeing some familiar faces that they used to congregate with. 

Steph and Marcelo have the cutest two month old, James. I just want to hug him forever. With no plans I'd say we had a pretty nice, relaxing fourth. 






This last picture is of my niece and nephew wearing the shirts we got them in Florida. 



Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Safe Kids Conference

Going to the Safe Kids Worldwide Conference in Washington D.C. was a blast. It was nice to be in a room full of other safety advocates, or safety police as some see us. One impressionable thing Gary Karton, the director of communications, mentioned was that we're not out there to police people, we care. We understand that kids are going to play and get hurt, but by taking a few precautions we can make sure injuries aren't life threatening. He mentioned that he doesn't make his son wear a snowboarding helmet because he's trying to be over protective, but rather he's giving his son the freedom to play hard and have fun. 

Here's a really cute video with an intense message that was released at the conference. 
I'm all about this because with my strong feelings towards education I know today's children are our future leaders that will create further change in this world.

As a new coordinator the conference was really helpful for me because now I have an idea of what I need to do with my coalition in order to help the community. The top issues I've been passionate about are car and road safety and heatstroke, but the conference introduced a lot of other great safety topics that I look forward to exploring with my coalition members. With my communications background I really enjoyed the workshops about branding, social media, and other media. 

Lunch with the Today Show's Jeff Rossen & Robert Powell
I recommend that you check out the Safe Kids Worldwide website. It's got a ton of great info.