feliz friday: [end of the year edition] — the good life.

I've been slacking on these feliz friday posts, but fridays are usually my busiest days!
You probably won't see feliz fridays for at least two weeks, because I need to purchase a new pull-a-day calendar. We'll worry about that later though ...

I'm really anti having music continually playing on a blog. I feel like as readers, you should be able to listen to whatever you want when you're meandering through my blog. You should know however, that in order to get the full effect of this blog post, playing of the following song is strongly encouraged. muchas gracias!


The good life 2010:

I knew this year was going to be a good one because I spent the first day of the year posted at the "other" happiest place on earth. We started it off with a bang after we were selected to be a part of Princess Tiana's Showboat Jubilee. I returned back to school & lived with the amazing girls of Lafayette 27 until April. I spent my days with them having pizza parties & MST3K viewing parties. This is my favorite.



In March I was a part of BYU's Luau dancing for the Islands of Tahiti & Samoa and later on in that month my Brother & Uncle Job came out to Utah for my second cousin's baby blessing. (FYI In hispanic families, family goes beyond just your immediate family members. I consider my cousin's in-laws my "family". Immediate family as your only family is a strange concept to me).


From the end of April to the middle of June I lived a dream & lived in Mérida, Mexico on a study abroad. I lived with the Higaredas, the best second family I could ever ask for and made some life long friendships. The best part of it was that I changed my itinerary and instead of flying home, flew my happy self to Mexico City & met up with my Papa (Carlitos) to visit my abuelo, tía and other family members I hadn't seen for 17 years!


In late June I came home and got my annual hair cut. It's been a tradition of mine to cut off 8in or more of my hair every year on June 21st (day after my graduation). It kind of just happened as a coincidence the first two years, but this year I did it on purpose. And yes, my hair does grow super fast. In July, Our family took our first vacation in years to Portland and Seattle. We flew into Portland and then roadtripped up to Seattle, WA.

In August, It was back to Utah for me. My Mom & Dudie came out to help me move into my new condo & we got to celebrate Dudie's birthday in Utah with our family & friends. I also got a new camera for my birthday which is why the pictures get considerably better after this part of the year.


In fall I moved in with a couple of lovely ladies & the adventure known as Junior year began. There were new friends, bonfires, football games, race running and a party or two thrown by our condo.



Fast forward to December...The month I've blogged about the most. All thanks to a wonderful thing called winter break. Since I've blogged about December up the wazzoooo. I just thought I would post a couple of more of the photos from our Ugly Sweater Affair captured by my camera. :]


2010 was a challenge, but I'm a firm believer that whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I'm so grateful for every single experience I lived though in 2010. I made so many amazing friendships this year & just by flipping through the pages of my journal it's amazing to see how much I've grown in a year. I'm completely ready to face 2011 and something in my gut tells me 2011 is going to be better than anything I could ever imagine for myself. I cannot wait to meet 2011 & everything it has in store for me! Cheers to the future!

Wishing you the best in 2011,
Lauren ♥


p.s. All photos in this post belong to me EXCEPT the roommate photo & pyramid photo ( those belong to the talented Christian Cragun & the wonderful Rebekah Price; respectively)

little tokyo: the adventure continues.

yummy sushi, vintage clothes stores, funny little animal hats,

christmas decorations still out for us to play with,
tall skyscrapers, mochi ice cream, footland,
and cute little stores with Japanese thing-a-ma-bobs.

All things listed made we wonder why it had taken me this long
to pay a visit to Little Tokyo.

Alyssa & Dee put on a little runway show for Misden & I with these fancy fur coats from a rockabilly Japanese store. enjoy.

All of my ♥,
Lauren

super kawaii, that means super cute in Japanese.

I love living in L.A. for so many different reasons,
but I especially love all the little cultural hubs within the city.
I hadn't visited Little Tokyo in a loooong time,
so I met up with Alyssa, Dianey and Misden for a much needed reunion.
Not that many tourists visit Little Tokyo
but I think it's one of the best kept secrets in L.A.

There was just too much to do.
So expect another post devoted to Little Tokyo tomorrow.
I haven't even gotten to the arrival of Misden!

All of my ♥,
Lauren

too many tamales.

This was the weirdest Christmas ever, because for once, we had absolutely no one over. Our home has always been bustling with people on the 24th and 25th but with the Vecinos (our second family — you'll see them alot more on the blog) moving to Utah this summer; things just weren't the same.

We still kept true to our traditions. Pretty much every true Mexican family I know of makes tamales all day long on Christmas eve; it's a tradition I'm passing on too my kids. I really used to hate it because I was no good at it when I was younger, but it's grown on me. Mom & I have actually perfected my grandma's sweet tamale recipe. huzzah!
In all truthfulness, we didn't really have too many tamales, the name of this post comes from this book. It's a book I loved when I was growing up; reading it reminds me so much of my family. That's the thing about Christmas though, it doesn't matter what you do, it matters who you're with.






This is probably my favorite picture of my parents. My dad laughed though, he said it looks like my Mom is eyeing his tamale. :]


All of my ♥,
Lauren

you know, like sandals?

Everytime I come home, there's one meal I HAVE to eat.
huaraches.
Why yes, that does translate to mean sandals in Spanish ...
It's my favorite meal, salty, deep fried, just the way I like things.
There's so many ways to prepare it, but I like it simple, salsa verde, crema, and cheese.
I love being Mexican.

All of my ♥,
Lauren

peach pjs.

Dear Papa (Carlitos),

Thanks for the snazzy pajama (pa-jah-mas) pants.
I was scared that all pictures of me taken this christmas were going to feature me dressed in my green plaid ones.
They're super soft & warm, just the thing I need for winters in Utah.
And best of all they're stretchy so even if I eat a ton of Mexican food, they'll still fit!
You're a genius.
You always come home from trips to Utah with the best gifts.

All of my ♥,
Lauren (Carmensita)
p.s. My dad's name isn't Carlos & my middle name isn't Carmen... Watch this movie and then you'll understand.

all the ladies love it.

We taught everyone how to dougie at our ugly christmas sweater party.
It took some more time than others [cough cough king of christmas steve hale].
huzzah! Look out for some dougie action at our next parttty.
hope to see you there! consider this your invitation, 2 months in advance.
There's nothing that says christmas cheer like turning up your swag on the
dance floor.


Day 22 — Somewhere you would want to spend Christmas one year.

Walt Disney. That would be magical.

All of my ♥,
Lauren

sweet sweet home.

My casa is starting to fill up with yummy treats and i'm 100 percent okay with that. I'm not really a sweets kind of girl, but when it's raining outside and the treats are warm and gooey I won't object. Once again I'm dressed for comfort, the thing is, as soon as I get home I like to change in to sweats and an oversized sweater. We also got around to finally removing our family pictures from the van. Mom was scared that the pictures would get wet, but Ezra finally caught a break in the rain & now our picture sits proudly on the piano. Outfits by the way were courtesy of my study abroad in Mexico. I pretty much ran around every guayabera store in Mérida to find the perfect ones, but I think it was all worth it.















Day 21 — Most annoying thing about this time of year?

Hands down awful christmas "comedy" movies. I don't see why we need movies about parents fighting to get the perfect toy, kids being stuck in an airport, or a showdown between fathers about the best christmas decorations. What happened to the classics like miracle on 34th st. or It's a wonderful life. I like christmas movies that actually have to deal with the real meaning of christmas ...


All of my ♥,
Lauren