Musings of a can't make up her mind

You MIGHT have noticed some changes around Musings recently... As in, pretty much every day the layout and colors change.  Hopefully this will be resolved in the next week; I'm trying out some different designs and having mucho trouble making up my mind.  Sorry for the annoyance (It's annoying me, at least).  If you have any ideas or input for what Musings should look like, let me know!  Otherwise, stick in there, and we should have a more permanent look for Musings soon :)

Fashionable, F*ckable, Fri ...er.. Thursday.

"While clothes may not make the woman, they certainly have a strong effect on her self-confidence - which, I believe, does make the woman."

--Mary Kay Ashe

Musings is happy to present the first installment of Fashionable, F*ckable, Fridays!! ...a day early.  haha, I know it's weird to start a weekly something on the wrong day, but I had an interview today, and decided to get all dressed up to give me that extra boost of confidence! :)  Here are some pictures of my power-outfit:

Shoe details:

Skirt:

Shirt:

Headband:

Outfit details:

Top: Thrifted, but originally Forever 21 I think

Skirt: Thrifted!

Flats: Ross

Headband: Francesca's 

The interview went really well, I think. ...at least, I hope so anyways!  Probably not as well as the other interview, but I think that was probably because today's was three guys (who totally didn't appreciate my outfit) and the other one was three girls... oh well.

As for Fashionable, F*ckable, Friday, it's something my roommate and I (try to) do every week. Since I'm so busy and lazy, I usually end up not wearing cute outfits all week, and I think it's good to attempt to look cute at least on Fridays!  As further motivation, I will be posting either my outfits, my fashion inspiration, or other fashion topics on Fridays.  Since I work all day on Fridays this quarter, I might end up posting outfits from Thursdays (unless you really want to see weekly pictures of my in my ADORABLE uniform, haha) but posting them on Fridays.  With the exception of today.  Because I am impatient and lazy and don't feel like doing this tomorrow. :P

[NOTE: actual, edited versions of these photos can be found on my 365project blog and are much better than these ones here :)]

More outfit pictures?

Well, as per usual, when my roommate and I are bored and have a little free time, we go take outfit pictures for her blog.  Here are the results:

10 Things I miss about living in Honduras... (part 2)

Part Two of 10 Things I miss about living in Honduras.


6. Pre-gaming with Pepto:
As I somewhat alluded to, living in Honduras came with a whole host of intestinal/ digestive problems, to the point where we would chug a bit of Pepto-Bismol before going out to eat in any of our favorite restaurants.  It got to the point where I would always have a bottle in my bag, just in case.  Yet another thing you might think I wouldn't miss, but there was a certain amount of predictability and hilarity involved in passing around a bright pink bottle before and after meals.  And since we weren't drinking any alcohol all summer, it was our equivalent to passing around a bottle of vodka in a sketch paper bag before basketball games.  Good times.

My boss pregaming Mexican Food Night.  Go Teo!!

7. El Gusano
There is a very popular song right now in Honduras, called "Como Se Mata el Gusano" by the group Sante Fe.  It is about "killing a worm" but is rife with sexual innuendos, and the main dance to it involves A LOT of pelvic thrusting.  Little kids really liked singing it, aaaaaand dancing to it.  Unless, apparently, they were on camera :(
I had the "fortune" to watch any small child do the dance probably every other day in Honduras, and yet it never got less funny.  Kids are freakin' hilarious, especially when they get into a dance alllllll about sex...

Here is one of my favorite videos of one of my favorite kids' (Enzo) dad singing him the song and trying to get him to dance to it: 

Too bad there is no shot of him actually thrusting, because let me tell you, that is ALL this kid liked to do.  Often.  He was like one of those dogs, humping everything in sight... including my knee. And boy, do I miss him!!


8. Glass Bottled Soda
I know, I know, I know... We have bottled soda in the US now!! But it's not the same.  Really.   In Latin America they use a different type and amount of sugar, resulting in a different tasting coca cola that just can't be found here in the good ol' U.S. of A.  Aaaaaaand, they actually recycle the bottles, which means you can't walk away from the storefront while drinking the soda, so you either have to have a lot of free time to stand and awkwardly drink your coke, or you have to be able to chug some soda.  Led to some interesting conversations standing in small pulperias (corner stores) to stay out of the rain, often to old men with weird stories, creepy men with annoying stories, or sweet old women with practically nothing to say at all. I always liked to stop at this one store on the way home from the market where they always played the world cup games and enjoy a nice $.50 coke or 7 up.


9. Choco Bananas:
Need I say more?  You can't walk down the street and buy a chocolate covered banana in the US for 5 cents.... at least not where I live!!  My all time favorite snack in Honduras... That or a liquado (milkshake) if I wanted to live CRAZY and spend an extra 95 cents.

Yummmm!! 

10. BLERGSSTR
Meet Blergsstr.  He was our staff mascot for the summer, and his name is made up of the first letter of each of our staffs' names (an easy way to remember all nine members of staff).  We stole Blergsstr (the bird) from staff training in Houston, and fell in love with him.  Blergsstr represents all that was amazing about my time in Honduras, and is the reason why I will never forget not only the country and the memories, but the lovely lovely people I had the fortune to share them with.  BLERGSSTR (the people) made the hard times bearable and the fun times some of the most fun I've had in my life.  Without those crazy 8 people I would never have survived 2 months of some of the hardest work I've ever done, and I certainly wouldn't have signed up to do it again this summer in Panama.  Although post-Honduras we live all over the United States (in 8 different states, ranging from California, to Montana, to Kansas, to New York!!) I still talk to them on a regular basis, and they will forever hold a dear place in my heart.  I learned a lot from BLERGSSTR, and I miss them all like you wouldn't believe.  I only hope that at some other point in my life I have the fortune to work with another group of people who can make the shittiest day of my life feel like the best, make me laugh when I want to cry, and who support and understand me through everything [...Alright, so I know THAT won't happen, but it's what I will strive for, if not in my coworkers, then at least in my future husband :)]

Blergsstr (the bird) currently resides with my pepto-chugging boss in Northern California, although I hope to one day be reunited with him and all the amazing people he represents.

10 Things I miss about living in Honduras... (part 1)

I had the fortune to live in La Paz, Honduras for 2 months in summer of 2010 and I definitely miss it! Here's to hoping I go back and visit in 2011! :)


1.  Tortillas:

I'm not talking about those white, floury, filled-with-carb wonders of tortillas that we have here in the US.  I'm not even talking about those skinny, yellow, greasy corn tortillas that we have in San Diego.  Noooo no no.  I'm talking about doughy, fresh, thick corn tortillas, used as a spoon, hot off the fire, and served in a stack of about 10.  I miss TORTILLAS. I miss eating tortillas.  I miss making tortillas.  I miss hearing the women next door on both sides clapping the dough in unison (sometimes they laugh and call out to each other, and clap in patterns or beats).  I miss the smell of ground corn and smoke.  I miss the way tortillas soak up bean juice and hold JUST the right amount of scrambled eggs.  I miss the different ways that little kids eat tortillas-- eating around and around the edge in circles, tearing off little bits and dipping them in coffee, throwing them like frisbees, smooshing them all up in a ball and shoving it in their mouths, rolling them into little miniature tacos and eating them lenthwise, or just hungrily shoving tortilla after tortilla in their mouths after a day full of school, work, and soccer.  I miss tortillas.

Real, Honduran tortillas in Copan.  Found on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/normapenner/2889460256/?reg=1&src=comment

2. "Black" Coffee:

In Honduras, they only serve coffee "black," but somehow it is sweeter than any coffee I've ever had in the states.  It is usually fresh, grown about a minute away and roasted on a cement patio in the backyard. At the time, I didn't really think much of the coffee-- I had about 5 cups a day, and it seemed so normal and ordinary.  Now I miss it. A lot.  Somehow, pouring about 29387 teaspoons of sugar into my coffee every morning doesn't seem quite the same, and makes me feel guilty and unhealthy.  Instead I drink my coffee a little too bitter, and can hardly finish a cup. Yuck!

3. $1 Taxi Rides to Anywhere in the City:

I lived in the small town of La Paz, Honduras, and it was definitely walkable.  However, sometimes (like when it was raining, or I had a sprained ankle for a week, or I had to go to the doctor, or was carrying groceries for 9 people, or was running late for a meeting, or was being lazy, haha) I splurged a dollar and took a taxi.  The main market and place where taxis left from (see picture, below) was a few blocks from my house, but taxis passed on the main road outside as well, which I could catch in about a second (being a white girl def has its advantages) and we also had a favorite driver who we would call up to take us anywhere we wanted to go (we being me and my roommates/ coworkers).  It was sooo nice and convenient. AND CHEAP!

Found on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-s/2703060733/

4. Latrines:
Maybe this sounds weird, but if anybody has lived in a developing country for a while, you probably know what I mean by this. Let's just say that drinking Honduran water, however purified, was not good for my stomach, and it was nice to have a bathroom that was a) away from the house b) nice and breezy and c) easily flushable and not prone to clogging.  Maybe that was gross, but hey, life is gross. Get over it.

Some things that sucked about latrines:

-walking to them in the middle of the night

-that little gap between the door and the wall where anyone could see you do your business if they were so inclined

-the little animals that liked to hang out inside them (aka crazy huge wasps that like to sting you WHILE you are pulling your pants off)

-having to walk around to the front of the house to get water from the pila in order to flush, if you forgot to grab it before you went to the latrine in the first place (which I usually did, haha).

...Somehow, the cons outnumber the pros, and yet I STILL miss latrines.  Weird.

5. Speaking in Spanish:
Another odd thing to miss, especially since, living in San Diego, I get plenty of opportunity to talk in Spanish.  It's really just not the same though.  People laugh at me when I use phrases like "Que pasa, calabasa?" ("what's up, squash?") or "nada nada, limonada" ("nothing much, lemonade")  or my personal favorite "cheque leque con panqueque" (HARD to translate, but literally "cool with a pancake" although it works way better in Spanish haha).  Honduran Spanish is a pretty "normal" version of Spanish (as opposed to like, Argentinian or something), but I still miss it, and wish I had more people to speak to in it.

Hablo Espanol, by Polache explains this better than I do :)


Check back tomorrow for numbers 6-10!! :)

Beach day with Dorothy

Dorothy and I were bored yesterday, so we went to the beach for some picture-taking fun.  The light was weird, but I got a few good cloud pics and some cool reflection shots that I actually REALLY like.  Enjoy :)