Is February 29th too late to talk about what a wonderful year 2019 was?! That's why God gave me an extra day this month, right? My word for 2019 was hope. I read my horoscope forecast at the end of 2018, and according to the stars, my 2019 was to be focused entirely on work—the stars were NOT wrong. So much of 2019 was spent figuring out this full-time work thing, but by the later part of the year (we're talking October on), I had mostly figured out the groove of things, and I really learned how to find balance in my life.
In October, I traveled to Utah for General Conference. I was a bit nervous to go because when I first got to CA, my thought was, "I can always go back to Utah if this California thing doesn't work out." I was worried I would go back to Utah and my heart would want to stay there. I was pleasantly surprised at how WRONG Utah felt. From the moment I landed, I was happy to be back, happy to be among friends, but it was very much apparent to me that Utah was no longer my place—at least, it's not my place in the immediate future. Still, with a view like the one below, I couldn't help but feel a rush of happiness to be back at one of my former homes.
I used my time in Utah wisely, visiting some of my favorite people, and favorite places to eat!
^^Our pre-conference Quesada Family dinner at Bucca di Beppo. It never disappoints!
This next picture doesn't come from Utah, but comes from a brunch break with a client. This client is the sweetest, and just someone I feel like I would be friends with in real life. Obviously, I didn't take a picture with her because attorney-client privilege/confidentiality, but this picture is a reminder of such a pleasant little gathering.
^^I didn't do much by way of Halloween activities this year, probably because Natalie left in early September. Literally, the only thing we did with friends was go to a church dance—I promised myself it would be my LAST YSA Halloween dance. I literally threw a costume together from items we had at home.
Halloween fell on a week day this year, and I decided to invest in a costume for work. I went as the "Latina Elle Woods" or "if Elle Woods was an Immigration attorney". There's only so many legal-themed costumes you can wear. For outside of work, I decided on a simple llama costume made entirely from a cardboard box. I didn't have much time to put together anything.
For Día de Los Muertos, my bff from high school, Brenda, invited me to come with her and her sister to the Hollywood Forever cemetery's Día de Los Muertos celebration. I had such high hopes to make a flower crown specifically for the event, which was themed Sacred Migrations. But, I didn't have the time. So, instead I borrowed one of Brenda's creations and just glued monarch butterflies on the crown. Brenda is so talented, she always has been, and I was so excited to go to such a cool event. Día de Los Muertos has gained such a cult following in recent years. This year, I told Brenda I'm definitely going to make sure to design my own crown early enough.
^^I also made these cute skeleton marshmallow pops for my coworkers, and for the security guards at USCIS in Santa Ana--they're the homies!!! Seriously, the security guards feel like my second set of colleagues and are always so warm and friendly when I go.
I had a bit of a sad spell in mid-October, and had a hot cheeto fairy bless me on multiple occasions. Hot Cheeto Puffs are my favorite chips of all-time, so they definitely put a smile on my face.
At the beginning of November, my firm asked me to fly to Sacramento for a week to help out our office up there with appearances. It was actually kind of nice to be put up in a hotel room and get some alone time for a bit. Arguably the best thing about flying to Sacramento was that I got to visit friends from BYU who now live there. One of the blessings of going to BYU is that I have friends almost everywhere I travel--connections far and wide.
^^ I gifted Alyssa with a with this cute succulent sugar skull pot. I thought it the perfect gift to remember me by, haha.
^^In November, we also had a mini civil rights reunion. Ryan, Kira, and I all live in LA county, and we met up at the Skirball cultural center for the Sueño Americano photo exhibit, by Tom Kiefer. Tom worked as a janitor for Customs & Border patrol and collected items confiscated from immigrants crossing the border. He took these items and created beautiful collages out of them.
^^For some reason, the only picture I have from thanksgiving is of these turkeys my Mom made for breakfast. 😂
December started out with birthday celebrations! I mentioned this in my 2019 Disneyland post, but I treated my youngest cousin on my Mom's side, Sophia, to a sleepover weekend + Disneyland trip. She is the cutest and I love that she calls me her best friend, melts my heart!
It was also Tan's birthday in December. She's based in Pendleton, so we don't get to see each other as much, but we gathered for breakfast at a local joint with her fam.
^^Church friends!
^^In December, I also got asked to be a part of the Church's #lighttheworld campaign. A friend/former ward member of mine works for the social media arm of the church and asked if I'd be willing to put a little snippet together. Just my 15 seconds of LDS fame.
😂
^^Reunited with my law school classmate, Mauricio at our firm's Christmas party. We're in different offices, but it was so good to catch up. It's so nice to work with classmates!
^^Mailed a Christmas/Birthday package to Natalie. We joked that I sent the package by owl, because literally it arrived in Oxford the very next day. I don't know why, don't know how. I didn't pay for premium postage, but USPS did me a solid.
See, the second half of 2019 was too good not to write about. I can't guarantee that I won't bunch up all the holidays and gatherings for 2020, but I'm trying my best to be more consistent. This blog has been in my life for over a decade (!!!!) and I'm not quite ready to give it up, but my life looks a lot more different than it did when I was in college. So, changes have to be made.
2020 is already really promising—I turn 30 this year, and I'm embracing this next decade of life with open arms.
