What a Weekend

I had a divine weekend this last weekend, and it made for an excellent birthday.  It was the perfect blend of lazy and fun and if I could relive that weekend every weekend for the rest of my life, I would (broken clutch and all).

Saturday was spent doing laundry upon laundry (so that I would actually have clothes to wear) and then my Mom and I went shopping.  I used to hate the shopping, but lately it is not so bad.  Because you get new clothes when you are done (and the Burberry perfume that I absolutely laaaaave).

Sunday, I got the extreme pleasure of waking my little brothers up to force them to eat birthday breakfast of waffles and fruit and so much orange juice.  If there is one thing that is important for my birthday, it is orange juice.

What I am about to describe is largely what I imagine heaven to be like.  After church, I was taking a nap and my Mom woke me up because my sister and her children were calling me to sing happy birthday.  Then I went back to sleep, only to be woken up to realize that it was time for dinner and more presents, and that while I was asleep my dad had started the fire in the fireplace and put a blanket over me.  I'm sorry, but you cannot convince me that 21st birthdays get much better than that.  Not for all the free drinks in the world.

Monday was the Harlem GlobeTrotters.  OH MY GOODNESS! If there is anything cheesy and awesome in the world, I will love that thing.  And if there is anything cheesy and awesome in the world, it is the Harlem Globetrotters.  Because not only are the puns abundant, but the basketball is good.  There were long shots and crazy dunks, and absolutely no defense and a billion travelling, but it was soooo good.  Or maybe you would only like it if you are under the age of 10, or me.

I was busy taking a billion photos for my photo class (just ask my mildly annoyed family), so I didn't take very many digital photos during the weekend, so sadly I have only one pic to share, and the quality is terrrrible.

Clutch

Gilroy.
Aka Garlic Town, USA

I drove home this weekend for the three-day weekend + my birthday is on Sunday.  And I made it as far as Gilroy, CA before I ran into trouble (Gilroy is only like 50 minutes from my house in Palo Alto, and yes, this is another blog post about my drive to and from home).  When you get to Gilroy, you have to get off the 101 and onto this small highway (152), that takes you through a few street lights and past some fruit stands and also there's a section where you have to turn on your headlights even if it's day time.

In Gilroy, the clutch gave out on Lolita. I got off the highway and found that it was very difficult to get Lolita into any gear at all.  It was like trying to do it without having the clutch pushed in.  Freaked out, I pulled over and called my Dad.  I don't know why calling your Dad in a car crisis is so comforting.  He was over 5 hours away, but he was still my hero for the day.  Side note:  I thought I did a pretty good job of sounding not stressed out to him, but apparently he saw right through it.

As I waited for my Dad to figure out where I should get my car fixed, I did the most useful thing I could thing of at the moment:  I did my makeup.  Because, you know, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  And on road trips, I probably look a little more like vinegar usually.  One call to AAA and a tow ride later, I was standing in a fairly sketchy part of town being told that my car would be ready in 4 hours.  (not to mention $480).

But what else is Gilroy famous for?  Outlet malls.  Literally every brand I can think of has an outlet store in Gilroy.  So after looking it up on my phone, I began the 2.1 mile walk to the outlet malls.  And let's just say that within 5 minutes of walking, I'd been honked at, I'd been whistled at, and I'd walked past a white unmarked van with the word "meth" spray painted on it in gold.  But, after a couple of blocks, it wasn't so bad.  And then..... I made this video:

I should preface the details of my shopping by saying that I had a crappy week.  I was really trying to not be a downer and I made it about as far as Tuesday before I decided I was woefully unhappy and that everything in my life was terrrrible.  Which meant that my only option was to put my nose down, push through, and then be a blob of laziness and birthday bossery this weekend.  But since that was also not going to be easy for me, I decided retail therapy was the only answer.

I started telling everyone in my family about my plight in order to get sympathy and also shopping advice from my oldest sister who seemed to be similarly bored.  Since I hadn't told my Mom what I wanted for my birffday, she had yet to do any shopping, so I texted her to inform her that that would no longer be necessary.  I also was texting my sister basically the entire day.

Text me what you buy
I feel a blog post about today coming on...

To which I responded
Coral pants, striped flowy top, two sunglasses, tan belt, chunky necklace, lacy underwears
What else are you supposed to do with days like today?

To which she responded
Coral pants? Jealous

To which I responded
I am awesome

To which she responded
Yes
Why?

To which I responded

Because of my icee sunglass combo.

To which she responded
Are you on a bus?

So after taking the bus back to Rom's Auto Services,  I once again started a long drive.  Which was filled with traffic that I had planned to avoid and also with pretty scenery that I took bad pictures of while simultaneously driving (I was looking at the road, not the pictures, otherwise, they would be centered photos, and I would be dead)

And that's all I have to say about that.

My half of the State

I went home for Memorial Day Weekend.  Fun was had.  I always want to say that California is two different states but that's just because where I'm from and where I go to school are two very different, very far away places.  Anyways, I had a billion fun.  Good things.  Good good things.

THE BEACH.  I've been looking forward to going to the beach for what seems like a billion years.  To me, the beach is summer and carefree and sunburn and almost everything that I love about Southern California.  And I have kind of been converted to Zuma beach (yes, Camille, you can do a little victory dance right now). It's so clean and not very crowded and there's always the fun chance that you will see celebrities while there.  Anyways, as desired, I got lobsterfied.  Proof:

I don't mean to be inappropriate, I just mean to show off my tan lines and the general pink color of my skin.  It was way worse on Saturday, I promise.  We also ran into a little ... erm ... trouble getting home, but that's not really a story I wan to tell because it is neither entertaining nor something I want to brag about.  Unless you like laughing in the face of the entire Gamboa family.
Also, this picture is meant to show off my cool shirt, which is actually Luc's shirt that got packed with my clothes because we both have the super organizational skills of throwing our clothes on the floor after wearing them and I was exiled to Luc's room while I was home.  But the point is, I love wearing men's clothes.  I hope my future husband is ok with that because I definitely plan on wearing his clothes.  They are sooooo comfortable.

Anyways, I also spent the weekend GETTING FOOD.  We're talking Indian food, Mediterranean food, arroz con leche, zucchini bread, chocolate chip cookies, basically an average weekend at my house.
But then my Mom and I went to an aerobics class to try and undo a little of the damage, and let me tell you, I am still feeling it.  I never knew I had so many muscles in my lower back that could be sore. It's really cramping my style (so much pun intended that it's actually only funny to make fun of me for telling that joke).

Also featured were the traditional Disney movie Sunday.  And when it's traditional, it means that I fall asleep 20-25 minutes into the movie.  In my defense, Shia LaBeouf was not exciting before Transformers.  Although holes was pretty good. Or at least the first 20 minutes were.  Haha

Come a looong way, haven't we Shia?

Then, because it was a patriotic holiday, my family celebrated as we always do: with a Mexican BBQ.  Which usually means tripas, but this time only meant carne asada.  And grilled papas (potatoes), and guacamole.  I love guacamole.  It should be a condiment like ketchup: served EVERYWHERE.
I love my family's little tradition.  Mostly because I love Mexican food.

In other glorious news, I no longer live alone.  Hopefully, my livin solo days are done forever. If this were a video game, I would get points added to my mood.  That analogy sucks, but seriously, living with people is awesome.
Celebrate:

This is exactly how I celebrate.  It is even more awesome than this picture.  I know, hard to believe.  

Lately:

I am especially bad at giving titles to my posts.

I have the desire to BELT out some music even though I'm pretty sure my neighbors hate it.

I have to goal of making my blog the first thing that comes up when you google search "gigi gems" or "Gigi Gamboa blog".  I don't really know how you do that. (I'm second right now.)

I noticed that how and who are made of the exact same letters.

I figured out how to make it so when I try to go on hulu or facebook during the weekdays it instead goes here.

I have the desire to share with you that I made my very own website. Like a couple of months ago.  It took a really bazillion long time to do, so you should appreciate it a lot because everything (and I mean everything) in there I did by scratch.

I am looking forward to meeting Kevin Bacon this week.  And by meeting I mean I am going to hear him speak and I am going to try harrrd to meet him.  Is it weird that I have a mild Kevin Bacon crush?

I want to revive my Spanish and I don't hate talking to groups of people.  These are not really related.

And a little story because, well quite honestly this post sucks up to this point:

I went to work today and I was capital "B" BORED (I guess all the other letters are capitalized too).  This was just because my boss wasn't there for about the first hour or so. ( I just realized that my bosses could read this and then I had a mini panic attack and decided whether or not to post this but then remembered that my own little brothers don't ready my blog so I'm probably good.  Just in case, I would like to add that I have a great job that is super awesome and that my bosses are the best people in the world.)

Anyways,  I was wishing it were the weekend again, because I got to go to the beach.  But I didn't get lobster-fied as I had hoped because it was sooooo windy that they sand was pelting us and it was painful.  And then I remembered that my friend in Santa Cruz is super awesome because she made a ring for me.  Like on the spot!  It was re-donkulously cool.  Srsly.

Pics:

Once again, on the very very very small chance that my boss reads my blog (you're so cool Ryan!  I want to be just like you when I graduate!), I would like to say that these photos may or may not have been taken during the hour that I was bored at work.  

But the ring, it is le cool, no?  I am obsessed with it so you can tell me if it's not your style and I will not be offended, but it is so unique!  I basically picked two beads that I like and my friend just whipped the thing up by wrapping them in cool wire.  I've been wearing it since I got it because I am in love.  

Is it wrong to love an accessory?  I sure hope not!

(P.S.  The ending to this post is cheeeese.  )

Celebrate Good Times, COME ON!

I hope you sang the title as you read it.  That was my intention.

Recently, I turned 20 years old.  Old old old.  Okay, I'm not at all old.  I'm twenty years young.  So young, that I spent the weekend not thinking about school at all and instead taking a road trip to southern California.

While there I spent time:

• Eating with the fam

• Cruising the streets of Hollywood

• Oggling Blake Griffin

• Chilling with some princesses

• Forcing Marcus and Puke to step out of their comfort zones

• Dancing with Mr. Incredible

• Getting in powdered sugar fights in public

• and generally having a blast

By the way, Mr. Incredible is a FLIRT.  Just don't tell Elastigirl about our little encounter.  (I would also like to add that I was not overly flirtatious and that if anything, Mr. Incredible was coming on to me.  But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.)

But TWO DECADES.  I mean, that is a looong time. Bring on two more?

I came to DANCE DANCE DANCE

I am about to post a picture of myself doing something that all Gamboa girls (and possibly just all Gamboas) do. Don't judge me.

No, I am not being really bad at posing and at the same time narcissistic (which also might be a Gamboa feature), I am in fact dancing in front of a mirror.

And while the real attention-getter in this picture might be the nast smudges on my mirror or the fact that my side of the room looks cleaner than Kelsey's (WHAAAAAA????), that's not what this post is about.

It's actually about my dancing shoes, which, predictably, are generally flip flops.

I got complimented on Saturday night on the fact that I am a good dancer (I am sure other Gamboa children have experienced this as well).  I don't actually think I'm a good dancer.  Instead, I think that I am not afraid to look stupid in front of large crowds of people, and more importantly I dance like I am having fun.  This is surprisingly rare in dancing places.  People like to watch people who are having fun, hence the compliments on the moves.  I know I'm not the only Gamboa to get made fun of for an overly expressive dancing face.

Other cool weekend activities include:

• Teaching myself several adobe software programs in order to create the new header at the top of my blog.  Did you notice?  This is my first time using fireworks, photoshop, or illustrator so don't judge. (Do I say that phrase too often?)  Oh, and I took all of the pics myself (except the first one).  I'm really proud of the sunny Stanford pic.  
• Planning next weekend's epic L.A. road trip extravaganza with one KTrone.
• Attempting to lead the VERY small ward choir.  
• Listening to Marcus' newly developed ukulele skills.  
• Shamelessly making myself a youtube playlist of Love songs for the holiday and listening to them by myself.  And not even feeling bitter. (really, I am not being sarcastic)
• and engaging in general tomfoolery.  ooh and i watched a Meg Ryan chick flick (I.Q. if you must know) by myself on Saturday night.  

All in all, a good weekend.  :)

Also, I feel like I have a ridiculously high number of pictures of myself on this sucker right now.  I promise to rectify this in the future with less pictures of this mug.  

Wonderful Weekend

List of cool schtuff I did this weekend:

• Millie Vanilli (Formerly Auntie Millie in Chile) came to visit me at Stanford on Saturday.  It was a fun, short visit. I have pictures to prove it: 

Camille and I in front of Stanford's Memorial Church.  

•  While here, Camille and I went thrift store shopping at Goodwill.  We both had some good finds!
• I went to a women's soccer game with two of my lovelies.  Here's me, Kristin, and Kelsey before the game:

• I enjoyed the delicious food creations of Kristin. We're talking Cafe Rio style food and Olé Brownies.  Here's the part where I would post a link to her food blog if she had one (hint, hint, Kristin).  We also made plans to make a restaurant together.  She's do the food side and I'd do the business side.  
• In celebration of Ketaki's birthday, we watched Toy Story 3 together.  It was my first time, and yes, I cried.  

This is us at Halloween last uear.

• So even though by now I'm a day late. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KETS!!!!!  Here's to many more Disney movies watched together.  I love you and can't believe you're 19 (as if I've known you since you were little)!  Thanks for being my friend!!!

Random: I tried this and am amazed in a weird/cool way.  

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.  

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 :)