She slept beneath a tree

June Collage Style

2011-06-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

For the month of June, I decieded to do a collage of what I accomplished and the fun I had. I think the fun out weighs the work but what can I say it's summer and I'm in that mine set (work is getting done too I promise, hehe). Enjoy!

1. Folklife Festival in Seattle, WA: May 29th

2. Jesse gave us Adobe Design Premium for our 15 month of Dating

3. Nae Regrets at Folklife!

4. Yummy muffins that I made with sausage

5. The Moore Theater where Jesse and I saw Brett Dennen. Amazing show!

6. Our Geum " Red Dragon" flower blooming at our plot at the community garden.

7. Farmers' Market finds this past saturday, Poppies! And yes that is a gaint pb cookie sandwich.

8. Raised bed that Jesse and I made this past Saturday for my parents. It was so fun and easy.

9. Our Zuch plant growing stronger and stronger

10. And last our plot at the community garden that is finnally filled up with plants. (Can not wait till they are

all full grown!)

Welcome May!

2011-05-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

So May has been extremely productive, I love doing this blog because it really reminds me of just how much work I have accomplished over the month.

Since, my last post I have finished reading The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens very good. I also read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Probably was not the best time to read Never Let Me Go, but I enjoyed it still. Ishiguro's novel came off very light and simple compared to Dickens's complex story and characters.

Another huge accomplishment this post is my website and resume are complete and available on my own domain name! I have been using free templates for a while now and have never been completely satisfied with their choices. I created my website completely in publisher and it is a huge improvement over the others.

Please feel free to check out my hard work at www.nataliegoza.com.

In addition, Jesse and I are gardening! We bought a lovely cedar box from our local farmer's market and have filled it with wonderful goodies. And we have joined a community garden, where we have been able to plant so much more. It is really a lot of fun and pretty impressive how much we are going to be able to grow with out having a house.

The last piece of news is that I have joined a book club and we are currently reading The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

Bonus Item!

My books are famous! I found these on Hello, Friend's Blog.
I own two of these lovely books, found at King's Books.

April "Showers"

2011-04-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Brings a flutter of ideas and things for me to work on. March was spent recovering and restoring my health so not much actual work got done.

April's goals include resume complete re-work, website re-design and a professional blog! I also joined twitter (my name), no tweets as of yet but so fun following all the design tweets. I may be hooked to it, oops.

Here are a few pics of what has happened since last post...

Sadly the only two picture's that I took while my friend, April, was visiting.

Left: April at Powell's Book store in Portland

Right: Our donut selections at Voodoo Donut in Portland

Our new addition to the apartment, Worms!!

(It's a Verma composter)

And, lastly our St. Patrick's day treat.

Green colored red velvet cupcakes and Irish creme cupcakes, Yum!

An Exciting Week

2011-02-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Monday was the first Valentine's Day for Jesse and I. I think we both did an amazing job! I am a sucker for this holiday and I am sure it has something to do with all the Disney (like Little Mermaid) and romantic movies (like Princess Bride) I grew up watching. Enjoy our yummy pictures!

Mine

Hello Cupcakes, one red rose, tokens for art and vintage looking card!

Here is the card close up, so cute!

Jesse's

I made Jesse these heart shaped pink creme filled cookies (pink creme not added yet) that I baked from scratch.

I apologize for the blurriness but finished product all wrapped up!
I also made him a card and got him an healthy energy drink.

In other news...
In just over an hour my friend April will be arriving from Arizona.
I am so excited to go pick her up and spend the next four days showing her the Pacific Northwest. It's her first trip if you can believe it.

Hopefully some great pictures of Seattle, Tacoma and Portland if I can remember to take them!

Lovely February!

2011-02-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

Only about one month has passed since my last blog, this is great!

So roughly only one more month to wait for news of Graduate School! It's getting very hard to focus on day to day activities and not let my thoughts linger to what is going to happen. What a journey graduate school is already and I have not even started. I started this process about a year ago with one giant, important thought.

I think I want to go back to school. Yikes!

Though my mind has flitted back and forth I actually got a lot accomplished since my last post.

The breakdown:

Blanket for Kelli's son Wesley-- finished, blocked, mailed and has been received.

Mittens for my self-- check. They are flip top. Awesome!

(Just need to add the little green buttons from mom)

Completed Mansfield and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I have read all 6 of her novels.

I have always wanted to complete them all and now I have! Go me.

This is the movie version that I have watched over and over. You know the one with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant.

However, I recently watched this version (it was given to me by my parents last year I believe) and it is so beautifully photographed. The colors are so modern. It made me want to sketch the entire time I was watching it.

(I also really wanted to live in their cottage by the sea.)

Resume is just about done. Only needs a few tweaks in the skill section.

New website started...creating it in Microsoft Publisher and still trying to figure out what I want.

That's in progress.

Also, reading Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. This is one of Jesse's school books. It's about London in the late 1800's and deals with the Cholera outbreak. It is really intriguing, especially after reading all Austen's work.

Last and probably one of the most important to me. I have started sketching again. I read a really great graphic memoir entitled Everyday Matters by Danny Greggory.

It explained away a lot of the fears that I have about sketching and

re inspired me with objects that are around me.

New Year and Current Projects!

2011-01-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

It is so nice when your project due dates coincide with the new year. I have completed and submitted four graduate school packages. Three of them were due this week (wow that is crazy to think about) and the last was due first thing in February.

Current projects include...

... a lovely baby blanket for my friend Kelli who's baby boy will be arriving soon!

(I better hurry-- only 5 more squares left to complete.)

...reading Mansfield Park

I have loved Jane Austen's work for sometime now. I grew up watching Pride and Prejudice (BBC/ A&E version) with my sister Emily. I have tried to sit down and read several of her books with great difficulty. This year (well end of 2010) I was able to start and finish Pride and Prejudice.

From this accomplishment, it really spurred me on to read all of her works. So far I have read Emma, Persuasion, and Northhanger Abby. After completing Mansfield Park I will have only one left (Sense and Sensibility)!

My mom also asked me while I was reading them to keep my eye out for knitting references. I admit I got a little caught up in each story and forgot her request but really feel as though they are few and far between. My plan is to glance back over them to make sure I did not miss them. I like the challenge!

...and last but certainly not least, I am revamping my resume once again. Since I did it last, I feel it needs a breathe of fresh air.

I am in the research, sketch, and explore phase. I am a creative person and am lucky enough to have the background to pursue a creative job and I would like my resume to reflect that. There are a lot of exciting resumes out there. I do not want to be this far out there but take a look at these

really awesome resumes.

More interesting and cool stuff to come this year. Stay inspired!

Good Girlfriends are hard to come by...

2010-10-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Looking over my life as it sits currently, I am in good shape. Excellent shape actually. I have a job, working on grad school apps, family and wonderful boyfriend. I, however, feel as though I am lacking a good girl friend to call on. I know this is due completely to me not putting myself out into the world. I have two of the best girl friends but one is in Atlanta and the other in AZ (Which I really must call them more frequently). Finding a good friend is not something that you can push and force it has to come in to your life like magic. I know all I need to do is to start doing something out of my comfort zone once a week and that will help. Must do that starting as soon as possible.

On another, less random and rambling note, Jesse and I started a Etsy page. It has 5 photographs available and I hope it gets a good response. Until next time...

The Art of Staying Busy- Part II

2010-06-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

First of all, I would like to start off by sharing a thought that I had today while browsing fb.
Why is it that some people's life seems more glamourous and jet-setting then your own? I read different peoples blogs and ponder why their day to day activites are more exciting then mine. And then surprisingly it sheds a new light on my own life and makes me feel like mine is pretty exciting as well just in a completely different way.

Now back to title of my blog, though I suppose the first comment could be considered staying busy. My main focus of late has been the GRE. I am in week 3 of my 6 week preparation. I plan to take it at the end of July. I can not wait until it is behind me. That is my main focus because I am learning that I get nothing done if I try to tackle more then one large goal at a time. The GRE is just one piece of a larger goal to go back to school for my Masters in Architecture. I am so excited and really can not wait to start the program but have so much work to accomplish before then. All will be said and done by Janurary and it will be up to UW or UO to accept me and decide my fate.

Blog to hopefully continue on a more regular basis (I am going to use it to work on my writing for the GRE of course!)

next time possibly about my new home with pictures...

The Art of Staying Busy- Part 1

2010-02-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

When your dreams have been placed on hold, what does one do? Get a new dream or do whatever you can to hold on to the current dream and hold on tight...

I am trying to do the later. In real life, it takes a lot of patience and a lot of distractions.
One day at a time, one task at a time. Focusing on what you can control and trying really hard to mix in things that make you happy along the way. With that, it is a fine balance to not be over indulgent. To do tasks that help you and make you feel better at the same time.

Life is a very tricky series of events. A person never knows what is around the bend and I suppose that simple fact is what keeps the bulk of us going.

There are so many things in this world that inspire us to continue on our journey. We all long to be strong and not let some of these things knock us down. However, being strong also involves knowing when to be down and out if only for a short period of time because in doing that it makes us even stronger.

Staying Busy is key when you feel stuck. It keeps you moving forward and keeps you experiencing new things that could enable you to become unstuck. As long as you continue to learn and grow from your experiences they are not wasteful.

The most important thing I have learned of late is that you should never let someone change you. It may seem simple and easy but a person can do this without you even realizing it. It can happen slowly and subtly. Take pride in yourself and how far you have come and continue to realize why you are the way you are and why you love being that way so much.

This is the first installment of the The Art of Staying Busy, stayed tuned for the products of my labor to stay busy.

My New Home

2009-09-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

There has been a delay in posting but I wanted to get something up before I left for Kelli's Wedding.

This is my new home. For how long I do not know...

For those of you that do not know this is gorgeous Tacoma, WA.

I took Another path today

2009-05-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's always bizarre when you realize, in that exact moment, that a decison you made effects your life like dominoes. That because you chose to go in one direction you will never know completely what would have happened and how it would have played out in the other. I made a choice today that was more based, no almost 100% based on a gut feeling and was followed by reason after the fact. I was given many chances to go back and forget I had ever said anything and yet I continued. I know I took the right path today and yet I have no idea where I am going.

So I'm Crazy but who isn't at 24!

2009-02-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

These last two weeks have been a huge eye opener for me. I have once again been forced to re-evaluate my life. Take a really close look at myself and what I am doing. I said a phrase/ statement last night that scared me. "What if I lose my job, my job is who I am" Why do we do that? why do we feel the need to let our livlihood take so much control. Our job is part of who we are it is not all of us. I want to be happy and I want to figure out what that is on my own. I am in complete control of my life and how I want it to be. I don't have any clue where I want to be or really what exactly I want to be doing. I would like interior design to be part of it because it does make me happy. How it fits in right now, I do not know.

I haven't been the best sister, daughter, grandaughter or niece of late but I'm done feeling guilty about it. I do not want to lose any of those relationships. I want to make them better but I cant do it alone and I shouldn't feel like I have to. I give up even trying because I feel like I have to. One shouldnt feel like they have to, they should want to. I know this may not be true but that's how it feels. There are exceptions to this of course and some people in my life that try really hard to keep my head above water and I apprecitate that more then they know.

I have so many interests that its hard to focus on one at a time. I have a lot to figure out and I will get there one step at a time as cheesy as that is to say. I'm not trying to hurt anyone with this just needed to get it out, so that I can begin to work on myself. Thank you

A First Timer

2009-01-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

My entire family blogs and it never really interested me. I would read theirs and enjoy them but never thought I should do one until now. What changed my mind? Who knows really, except for the fact that I stopped taking it so seriously and thinking that it had to be some profound thought from me. I can write what is on my mind and share my life without the pressure of it having to be perfect. I guess I also came around to the thought that it could aid me in staying in touch with my family, organize my life (thoughts and goals) and share/define my point of view in the world. Ambitious, right? Anyway, here goes nothing....