June Collage Style

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!

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!

April "Showers"

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

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!

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!

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...

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...