Old Friend

You know that friend you always want to hang out with, but you hardly ever see each other, and you wish you got to spend more time with them?  And you used to be SOOO close and now you hang out with them, and it's like no time passed at all?

Today I got to hang out with one of those friends.  Her name is Ketaki and she seriously, seriously awesome.  Last year she lived about 8 feet away from me and now she lives like 400 yards away from me.  Which may seem like it shouldn't be a big deal, but now we have busy lives and we have to SCHEDULE our time together.  It's terrible.  I miss seeing her all the time (even when I didn't want to :).

We watched a movie so that she could analyze ways in which the movie sucked for her film production class.
Here is our reaction to Vantage Point:

It was confusing and it lacked forward movement in the plot.  (Don't I sound like a real movie critic?)

Also, this is how excited we were to actually get to hang out with each other:

Ketaki looks like Tobey Maguire in Spiderman 3 when he's being a "bad boy" and puts his hair in  his face.  She would also like me to include that Spiderman 3 is a terrible movie and she wants those 3 hours of her life back.

I love that we get to be spazzes together every time we hang out.  And that I get to really talk to her about her life and my life and tell her how much I miss her crazy and calming influence in my life.

Thanks for a good time Kets!

Target Fun

Whilst in preparation for possibly the most awesome sleepover ever, Kelsey and I went to Target in order to buy munchies and a few other things we needed.  We kept getting side tracked by cool things (like a candle to make our room smell like Christmas!), but by far my favorite part of the trip (besides maybe the In-N-Out consumed (I LOVE having a car this year.)) was these nutcrackers that we saw.

I am not ashamed to admit that we definitely made a photo shoot of it.  Again, please try to ignore the terrible quality of my cell phone camera.

Kelsey was trying to be a stern school teacher, but she broke last minute

This is my pirate face.  It's actually kind of disturbing now that I'm seeing it properly.  

This turkey is actually kinds cute.  But Kelsey looks kind of scared of it.  

Don't worry, be happy :)

Notice how PC they were to have both g.i. joe and jane.  

As well as hula dancers from multiple races and both genders.  

So I have to ask, what's the weirdest thing you've ever seen at target?  Or really any store for that matter.  But thrift stores don't count.  

Family

Today, I found out that my whole family will be together for Christmas.  I'm SOOOOO excited.  Our family is soo funny together.  Well, we're kind of just weird, but we have a good time.  This is the basic Gamboa family interaction: (Inspired by some funny Art by Adri.)

Stage Fright

I thought this picture was really funny.  But anyways....

Today I had to give a presentation in my Spanish class and it didn't go so well.  In hindsight, I probably didn't have enough information, although I did practice it a few times and found that it took the whole ten minutes.  My problem is that I don't have a stage presence.  I always feel like people are bored when I'm talking.  Like no matter what I say they aren't going to want to pay attention.  So then I start talking faster and faster so that they don't have to listen to me for very long, but then I blow through everything I wanted to say in half the time that I wanted to say it in.

I actually don't get that nervous when things are scripted or if it's musical.  My senior year of high school I played Queen Elizabeth in this giant choir production.  I had to sing a few solos and I had to recite lines for about a quarter of the whole production.  I looked like this:

I was not even that nervous for it.  Maybe it was the sleep deprivation, but I don't know.  That was definitely the biggest public performance I've ever done (or probably ever will do), and I wasn't bad.

My sister Camille is one of those people who feels completely comfortable talking in front of large groups of people, even if it's just spur of the moment.  At least that's what she makes it seem like.

She always seems so comfortable, and people really listen to her when she talks.

So what's the secret guys?  How do I keep people interested?  How do I command their attention?

And now it's time for a breakdown.  Not really, I just wanted to throw that in there.

Get Busy

You guys, I feel like I am always sooo busy.  It's probably just because I'm more busy than I have been in the last about four or five months, but still, I feel kind of crazy.  I always manage to fill my day with lots of junk.  I've been trying really hard to become more involved this year, and so now besides being a full student...

• I am the choir director at church.  I am actually pretty bad at doing this and I feel like I don't know when to wave my arms and that I'm always making a fool of myself.  I'm still getting used to this one and I hope hope hope that it gets better or that I get better at it.  
• I am a staff writer for the unofficial blog at my school: TUSB.Stanford.edu.  This is tricky for me because I don't consider myself a writer or a photographer.  The only skill I have is the ability to capture attention for a few paragraphs, which doesn't mean I have very meaningful things to say.  The group is really chill though, and I only have to write once a week and go to meetings.  But it also means that I have to go to events or think of things I can blog about my school, even when I'm feeling busy.
• I started tutoring once a week at a nearby elementary school.  The cool thing is that I get to tutor in music.  It's a community service thing, and I think it is super cool.  I've only done prep for it so far, but I'm really looking forward to doing that.  
• I've been spending a lot of time job-hunting for something on-campus.  Nothing's worked out so far.  But the worst part is that job hunting isn't even at time consuming as actually having a job.
• I am the very newly appointed Friday Forum Co-Chair for the Latter-Day Saint Student Association.  This one actually just means I send out emails every week and conduct our Friday Speaker-Series sometimes.  

This post is so wordy and without pictures, so here are some cool pictures:

A very cute nephew.

Because elephants are so so cool.

And last but not least, the gorgeous birthday girl.  Love you Adri!

I call him Frankenshoe!

Talk about dirt poor college student.  Because I wouldn't go to the 

store and pay four bucks for a new pair, I gave him stitches :)

I'm Famous!

Guys, did you know that I am famous because I'm a professional blogger?  OK, seeing as I have 3 followers (WOOT!), this could not possibly be true.  But, my school has an unofficial blog, and I joined the staff and had my first blog post on Saturday.  Check it out: http://tusb.stanford.edu/author/gigismile/.  I'm super excited about it.  I wish blogging experience were a marketable skill.  I think with enough spin on it, it definitely could be.  I made the goal of posting on here at least 3 times a week and posting on The Unofficial Stanford Blog at least once a week.

Did you watch the USC-Stanford game on Saturday?  WE WON!!!!  And afterwards I rushed the field with all of my friends.  I know you're only supposed to rush the field when you're not expecting to win and it is extra special, but we had fun.  It was something like this:

Here's a picture of me and Kelsey during the middle of the game.  We are VERY EXCITED!  It was a nail-biter for sure.

I also have a confession.  I suffer from Stage Crush Syndrome.  Meaning that I can find a guy not physically attractive at all but then when I see him performing I have to remind myself not to drool.  Causes of this syndrome include

1.) Andrew Luck (because Quarterbacks are not supposed to have tackles like this:



and

2.) Adam Levine

This picture is from a professional who sat way closer than we did.  From where we sat it was more like this:

And that's with some pretty intense zoom action.

He has a voice that makes me melt.  It's like no one else's in the world.  Sorry, I'm too busy swooning to even finish this post.  :)

Exciting News!

So I don't really have exciting news per sé, but I have a bunch of moderately exciting things that are adding up to one excited Gigi.
I'll go in order of what you'll probably think is least to most exciting:

1.)  I love Econ!!!  I have always said I would probably be an Econ major, and now that I am taking a real Econ class I am realizing how much I honestly love love love Econ.  I know in your mind, I know look like this right now:

But I swear I'm just as fly as I was before.  (Unless you already thought I was a nerd in which case, oh well.  I also can't decide if using the word fly makes me more or less cool.) I also am really excited for the next three years of my education.

2.)  I love my roommate.  I know this seems like not that exciting, but coming from last year to this year, having a roommate that is one of my best friends just makes life infinity times simpler.  And more fun.  And less stressful.  And just plain AWESOME!  Here is a picture of the wonderful, beautiful, russian-speaking, ballet-dancing, bongo-playing, world-class-poetry-writing, opera-singing, clothes-designing Miss Kelsey Dang.

One thing she really can do is drive a tractor.  Both in forwards and in reverse.

4.)  On Monday it is my parent's 30th Wedding Anniversary.  That's like 150% of my life.  Here is the Happy Couple Back in 1980.  Later on that year they got married.

They are soooo young.  By the time they were my age they were trying to have children.  They didn't have Adri until about the time of their third anniversary.

3.)  MAROON 5!!!!!!! That's right, I am going to see Maroon 5 in concert this weekend.  I bet you are jealous right now, because I would be.  Maroon 5 was probably the first band that I liked.  It wasn't something that my parents or older sibling rubbed off on me.  It was mine.  And though they've changed a lot since then, I still love claiming them.  And knowing every single one of their songs.

Not the best looking band, but still pretty awesome.  

I hope your weekend is shaping up to be just as awesome as mine.  Tell me about it :)

Style Shoutout!!

DISCLAIMER:  My phone is lost.   My camera phone sucks.  I don't normally take pictures of myself in the mirror.  Blah.

But I do finally have pictures that were not stolen from the interweb.  And I kind of included a picture of my roommate in there.  (Sorry about that Kelsey.  But now you have an excuse to talk about how you are an acrobat. (BAHAHAHAHA)).  But don't judge me for the cheesy poses and terrible quality.


Anyways, this post is all about my sister Adri, and how her style is rubbing off on me.  Because I'm the one out of my sisters who wears electric colors that are not really in season and crazy prints and things that are just generally busy and over-accessorized.  Adri, on the other hand is more of a classic girl.  She likes stripes and navy blue (navy blue stripes are like the jackpot) and jewelry that is more delicate and feminine.

She actually hand-makes a lot of really cute jewelry.  I lived with her this whole last summer and so she started to rub off on me.  I helped her to make and sell cute things like this:

Isn't it cute?  Well today, my outfit was inspired by Adri's sense of style.

Okay that doesn't really show it off, but I'll try to describe it.  I have on this mustard sweater.  Mustard is probably one of the loudest colors in Adri's closet, and I was never a fan of it until she introduced me to the world of mustard.  And now I looove it.
Underneath the mustard sweater is a navy blue camisole.  Navy blue never goes out of style.
Last but not least are the bright blue earrings, which Adri actually made for me.  I kind of coerced her into it because they're a little bit big to be studs, but I love them and I wear them probably more often than I should.
Here's a close up.

And last but not least, I will add the picture where Kelsey tries and fails to remain hidden after I told her her *ehem* lower half was in the picture:

Mostly I'm laughing at her because she was hiding.  Anyways, my outfit is not over the top and totally cute and simple without being boring.

Cute, huh?

Witty Witty

In an effort to not be depressed right now, I am blogging.  (Don't worry - it's sports related depression).

I'm not even sure how to categorize what I'm about to talk about, but all I know is that the people at my school are really witty.  Like even the Frat Boys.  For example:

Sure the stay thirsty part is ... questionable, but I love this commercial and I love this flyer.  It is so funny.  And if the most interesting man in the world does it, then it's got to be cool, right?

I have another example.  Also based off of a commercial I love.  Here is the original commercial:



It's obviously great right?  Women love him, men legitimately want to be like him.  It's a win win.  Well here at Stanford we have a men's acapella group called Fleet Street.  And every time they perform they wear tuxedos with red bow ties but without the tuxedo jacket part (I'm sure there was a better way to describe that.).  Here is their flyer put up for recruiting purposes:

I thought it was really funny.

Story number three.  (It's the last one I promise.)  On the first day of school, the R.A.s of the all freshman dorms will write encouraging words in sidewalk chalk all over campus like, "Good Luck Otero!"  or something cute like that.  Sometimes they don't exactly stick to the script though.  Two Freshman dorms here are called Junipero (abbreviated to J-ro) and Donner.  My two favorite chalk scribbles were:

Caught in a J-Romance

&

Ain't no party like a Donner party.  

The donner party one gets me every time.  I've heard it before, but I still think it's really funny.  

And that's some things around school that have made me laugh.