In Los Angeles we tend to drive around a lot, and I am no exception! My boyfriend and I live in different cities and sometimes he comes out here and other times I drive out to him. Now when people think of traffic in L.A., I’m sure the first thought that pops into their head is NIGHTMARE! Which is totally understandable considering that I myself have experienced the nightmare that is Los Angeles traffic. But I just wanted to point out that commuting in L.A. can also be… beautiful.

I leave my boyfriend’s place late, when the traffic is better. There’s still a lot of cars but it’s great because there is no stopping or slowing. And I don’t know, there’s something about driving at night. It’s peaceful (to me at least). One of my favorite parts of driving home at this time is passing by downtown L.A. It’s beautiful to me and I wanted to share it with you! Especially those of you who aren’t in California. So…

… I recorded my drive home on my Nokia N95 LOL! Yes, while driving, I don’t recommend it so don’t try this at home kids!

(I converted the file to a flash file so the quality isn’t great which is why it’s smaller, so I’m also including some freeze frames of the recording below the video… hope you enjoy!)

Last week was quite the interesting week. For those of you who don’t know, there was both a chupacabra and bigfoot sighting (and supposed capture) last week.

I felt that one story was somewhat believable while the other was more… laughable. Both the chupacabra and bigfoot are urban legends and its not that I believe in one creature more than the other; it’s the circumstances surrounding each sighting or encounter that has me really curious with the chupacabra sighting… and giggling at the bigfoot photo and capture story.

What led to such different reactions? The people and their story. In the chupacabra video there are two officers in their car patrolling the area. They accidentally came across the creature which was caught on their police dashboard cam. So what was on that video? Heck if I know. All I know is this seems to be a real, non-staged incident that happened to 2 unsuspecting people. People who would make no profit out of the sightings of chupacabras.

Then there’s the bigfoot story. I am honestly surprised this story got as big as it did. When I first saw the picture of “bigfoot” i thought it was fake but decided to go ahead and read the story to see what it was about. I was hoping to be convinced that they actually did capture bigfoot, but the story had the opposite effect. First of all Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, the two guys who claimed to have found bigfoot, are in the “Bigfoot industry”. They are co-owners of a company that sells Bigfoot merchandise, self proclaimed bigfoot hunters and Rick Dyer just happens to run his own business that offers Bigfoot tours. Then along comes Tom Biscardi who saw Whitton and Dyer’s find and said he was “150% sure” that it was bigfoot. What does Biscardi do? Well he runs a Bigfoot website, a Bigfoot merchandise line, and hosts his own Bigfoot Internet radio show. These men would definitely benefit from a bigfoot story. The story would become a huge deal (like it did) and lead people to become interested in bigfoot again. Which would lead to what now? People spending money of course. On merchandise and tours because who knows… maybe even they will be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of bigfoot! Since these guys obviously know where the bigfoots are located, so the chances of you seeing one of them on their tour will be much higher, right? Wrong! That is exactly what they want you to believe.

Besides that there were other parts of articles I have read that made it all seem so bogus. For one thing, their story of the encounter kept changing. And then when I read that they were going to conduct their own DNA tests of the Bigfoot I grew more suspicious. If you are certain that you have bigfoot then it would be no problem letting multiple people conduct these DNA tests. I am guessing many people felt the same way so they eventually let Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota, conduct the DNA analysis. The end result? One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 percent from an opossum. But this didn’t phase Mr. Biscardi. He said the DNA samples probably were not taken correctly and said he is still going to continue with an autopsy of the creature. (Obviously still trying to keep the hope alive for the very few people who still believe them.)

So I just want to say this. Be an active critical thinker when you read or hear things. Think about where the information is coming from and whether there could be some ulterior motive behind the statements and claims being made. You get your most reliable piece of information from a non-biased source. Unlike a biased source, they have nothing to lose or gain.

(Update! Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit… … you don’t say?!)

I had an interview on Monday!

It was a practice interview.

So there I was, thinking that it would be a breeze because the instructor was the one doing the interview and he’s a really cool guy. I did okay, I honestly thought I could have done better though. After the interview I realized that I didn’t say everything that I planned on saying.

Even though I wasn’t completely satisfied with my performance on the practice interview, it did help in one huge way. It was a reality check that I need more practice doing interviews! Now I’ve already been in a class or two that discussed interviews and what not and thought that I wouldn’t be learning anything new in this program but there were a few things discussed that I felt would be very useful to everybody. One part in particular was preparing for an interview by researching the company or employer you are about to go into an interview for.

Research the employer

So I already knew about this. Basically you want background information about the company or employer you would like to work for. Ideally you would want to do this to see if this is the type of company you would want to work for in the first place. And it is also good to have a better understanding of the company when going into an interview because they usually ask “Why do you want to work here?” If you do your research on the company you will be prepared and will be able to give a thoughtful answer based on your research, which will surely impress the person(s) giving the interview! To do my research I usually looked through the employer’s website, but it was suggested that you check out these other sources as well:

• Hoovers Online (www.hoovers.com) - Hoovers offers extensive corporate profiles.
• American Journalism Review (www.newslink.org) - This site searches newspaper websites for information on both small and large organizations.
• Corporate Information (www.corporateinformation.com) - This site provides industry and company write ups.

I found these links quite useful because as we all know… the employer’s website can be a bit biased!

We received an invitation the other day to a friend’s daughter’s Quinceañera. The invitation is beautiful and my mother and I were talking about how great it is for families to go through all of this trouble to create beautiful memories for their children. Families spend oodles of cash for these things and might I add that we don’t exactly live in Beverly Hills and have money to throw away. Going through these kinds of events takes a great deal of time, effort, and sacrifice. So the question I want to ask is… is it worth it?

I did not have a Quinceañera. My dad felt his money should be put to better use, and I was okay with that. I did not ask for a Quinceañera or a huge Sweet 16 party. I guess because I understood our financial situation. But I did attend friends Quinceañeras and already had ideas of what I would have wanted in my Quinceañera. For instance, I wanted the “Sleep Walk” instrumental song by Santo & Johnny to be played for my first dance with my father. I have NO IDEA why I have always wanted to use that song, I loved many songs, but for whatever reason that was definitely the one I wanted to have playing. So every time I hear “Sleep Walk” I honestly get a little sad because it reminds me of the Quinceañera I never had. Thank goodness I don’t hear that song often! Lol.

(Here is Sleep Walk for those who have no clue what song I’m talking about.)

So naturally, now that I’m getting older, I wonder at times if I should throw some kind of “coming of age” celebration for my (future) daughters. I am not married by the way and I’m not planning to have children anytime soon but these things do pop up in my head from time to time. Since I did not get to experience these special celebrations I would really like my daughters to experience it. I feel like it will be a day that they will never forget. Yes, it is expensive, but I think it is worth it. It’s like a wedding. It is a very important time in a female’s life- becoming an adult and being presented to the community as such. Having the first dance with your father, and all the other traditions that go along with it; it’s a really beautiful thing to see… it’s very moving.

So, the next issue is that if I were to throw a coming of age event, which one should I do? I’m a latina and an American, so the two that come to mind for me are the Quinceañera and Sweet 16… so who knows? Here’s some info about some “coming of age” events:

Quinceañera = Quince años = 15 years. This is celebrated in some Spanish speaking cultures and celebrates a young woman’s 15th birthday. It can be a deeply religious occassion or just one big party. It basically depends on the wants of the family. I’m not a religious person, so I’d do the big party thing with some traditional elements (e.g., the changing of the shoe, first dance with father, etc). It marks the time when a young girl is becoming a woman and presents her to the community as such. This usually means she’s also ready to date (dads usually do not like this lol) - more info

Sweet 16. Same as above, a coming of age birthday bash but for young boys and girls.

Philippine Debut. From what I understand, this tradition is like a mixture of the Quinceañera and Sweet 16 for Filipinos. It is very similar to both but the only difference is that it takes place when the young woman is 18 years old. My boyfriend is Filipino by the way! So who knows, this might become an option as well - more info

Bar Mitzvah. Also the same “coming of age” except these events are for Jewish boys and girls. It marks the age where these young people become responsible for their actions which is usually 12-13 years old - more info

Debutante Ball. Same “coming of age” event, but for rich people! Lol. So I won’t be doing this one! But the Debutante Ball is said to be for the young women of upper class families. It occurs at an age where the young woman is becoming an adult and is her “debut” to society. - more info

If you haven’t already, check out MTV’S My Super Sweet 16 and MTV Tr3s Quiero Mis Quinces to see these special celebrations taken to the EXTREME! (Warning: the kids could be very demanding and the young women could be little mini divas! But that just makes it entertaining to watch in my opinion!)

I’ve been wanting to blog about Bare Minerals for quite some time. Why? Because I absolutely love it. It took me a while to try it… but I’m glad I did. You see, I was stuck with one particular type of makeup for quite some time. It was bad for my skin, but I didn’t know any better. In case you didn’t know, I’m a bit of a tomboy. I was raised with 6 guys so makeup was the last thing I’d ever ask them about. And my mom has beautiful skin (and didn’t need makeup) so she wasn’t sure what to suggest. So we went to the local Sav-Ons Pharmacy and that was when I started experimenting with makeup.

B.B.M. - Before Bare Minerals

I wasn’t sure what I was looking for when it came to makeup. All I knew was that I wanted my face to look flawless! And eventually I found it… in liquid foundation. I used a Cover Girl liquid foundation. I liked it because it was easy to put on and it covered EVERYTHING! It was just what I wanted and became my makeup of choice for many many years. But it was also during these years that I began to see the cons of the makeup I was using.

Heaven forbid you cry, sweat or get wet- the makeup ran. And if your makeup wasn’t the exact same color as your skin it became even more obvious. If you cried, your tear would leave a light trail right on your cheek! You have the same issue if you don’t apply your makeup down to your neck; you’ll see a line where your makeup ends and your neck begins. It was like wearing a mask. A mask that could rub off on anything easily! Even worse, it makes your skin look bad. It was like my skin couldn’t breathe. I got to the point where it started making my skin look so bad (DEAD) that I depended on slathering on this makeup daily - I couldn’t leave home without it.

Why didn’t I just get new makeup you ask? I did, I tried, but never liked what I bought. Some products made my face look dry, and for others it was just a hassle trying to find the right color. I wasted so much money just to use a product once or twice. In the end, I always ended up going back to my liquid foundations.

At times I would ask if anybody had some makeup to recommend. I remember someone mentioning Bare Minerals so I looked it up and was curious to try it but didn’t. The thought of ordering makeup on the internet was just weird to me so I forgot all about it until about 1-2 years later when a few more people brought it up. I decided to order the Get Started kit.

My First Impression

You want to know what my first impression of Bare Minerals was? I didn’t like it! The instructions they gave on applying the makeup were easy to follow so that wasn’t the problem, it was the end result I wasn’t happy with. Looking back I know it was because I was so used to wearing my “mask” that I felt like Bare Minerals wasn’t covering everything up the way I was used to.

It took me about a week to try it again and when I got the hang of it I was hooked! Bare Minerals is perfect because you can easily adjust the amount of coverage you need. It’s also easy to choose the right colors and when you see your skin after putting on Bare Minerals guess what? It’s YOUR skin you’re seeing. It’s not a mask that totally covers your face. Instead, it enhances your skin. Supposedly it’s good for your skin; I’m not so sure about all of that honestly lol! I haven’t done THAT much research into Bare Minerals but I’ll tell you one thing - it does make your skin look good! What I love is that I don’t have to depend on makeup anymore. My skin improved so much that honestly, I only use Bare Minerals no more than once a day and really feel comfortable even without makeup. I cannot stress how convenient it is to just be able to wake up and go somewhere without having to put on makeup!

Ok enough about me, lets talk about what I like (and don’t like ) about Bare Minerals, shall we?

Bare Minerals

The Brushes

These are the only 3 brushes that I am using and quite frankly are the only brushes I think I need! Let me explain each one briefly and let you know how I use it.

1. Handy Buki Brush - Provides medium coverage.
2. Flawless Face Brush - Provides light to medium coverage.
3. Max Concealer Brush - Provides full, more concentrated coverage.

So it is recommended that if you want to use the concealer, you should use it first or last. I personally use it first. You use the Max Concealer brush (the thinnest one on the right) just like you would a concealer. Use it for minor imperfections/cover ups, dark under eye circles, blemishes, you name it.

What makes it SO convenient is that you don’t have to buy a separate concealer. You use the same Bare Minerals foundation that you use as your regular makeup! The trick is that this Max Concealer brush has its bristles packed tightly so when you use it on your skin the makeup applied is more concentrated and covers up whatever you want to cover up! It’s great.

So I get my Max Concealer brush with Bare Minerals foundation and dab a little here and a little there.

Now the next thing I do is an extra step that isn’t necessary for everybody. But I have combination skin (an oily t-zone), so what I do next is get the Flawless Face brush and apply some of of the Bare Minerals Mineral Veil. Now the Mineral Veil does many things, but the reason I use it before applying makeup is because it absorbs oil. It’s very light weight so trust me when I say that when you use these products, you won’t feel like you have layers and layers of makeup on- I swear!

The next thing I do is apply the Bare Minerals SPF15 Foundation. Now how you apply it is up to you. If you just want light coverage, use the Flawless Face brush. If you want more coverage, you can use both the Flawless Face brush first and then the Handy Buki brush next. I personally skip the Flawless Face brush and head straight for the Buki brush.

By now your skin is already looking nice and pretty … but you can do more (if you want).

I get the Flawless Face brush and apply Warmth All-Over Face Color. You know how your skin looks after a good workout? A little rosey and fresh. Well this is what Warmth does. Instead of just being one color, Warmth gives you a more natural, fresh look. It gives you a natural color! I can’t really explain it in any other way. When I’m in a rush I skip this step, but I use it most of the time because I simply love the results.

And finally, I finish up using the Flawless Face brush once again and apply the Mineral Veil. It’s the perfect finishing touch after applying your makeup. It minimizes pores and fine lines, prolongs the wear of the Bare Minerals foundation and just gives your skin this healthy soft look. It’s weird lol.

Then you’re done! That’s all I do. Later on in the day if I feel like I’m getting a little shiney or oily, I get apply a little more Mineral Veil and that’s it, I don’t need to reapply the foundation. It’s very cool.

I personally don’t use eyeshadow, so I can’t comment on the eye products that Bare Minerals sell. Sorry about that!

Wow, I was going to talk about some of bareMinerals other products but I think this post is long enough already. I will do it another day and include my pictures of my bareMinerals products and let you all know what I think you should and shouldnt buy! Because yes, there is something that I bought from bareMinerals that I kind of regret. But I think I’ve said enough for today. I hope this helps some of you that are either using bareMinerals already or are thinking of buying it. I’ve recommended it to friends and they are 100% satisfied. One of my friends is already buying more products from Bare Minerals that I haven’t even tried yet! So once again, I highly recommend it.

And that’s all, hope you all have a great weekend!

I took this picture at Costco today. I thought it was so cute, 2 brothers and a sister staring into the meat department. My mom told me she overheard them talking about how huge some fish were, one claiming that it must be the biggest fish in the world.

I thought it was such a cute moment and wanted to take a picture. (I’ve been trying to make use of my N95 in that way). Costco was packed so carts kept crossing in front of me and I couldn’t get a picture but just as soon as I was putting my N95 back in my pocket it became clear and so I took this picture real quick and I’m happy that it came out decent!

I wanted to go to the mother of these children, show her the picture and tell her that I could email her the picture if she wants it. But I got shy lol! I just thought it would be nice to have pictures like this… you know… REAL moments… not fake ones where you ask everyone to stand together and smile for the camera. This was a real moment, something that those kids would look back on and laugh about when they are older.

I guess I feel this way because my parents hardly have any pictures from their childhood. My brother and I have some, pictures became more frequent as we got older. I only know of like one picture of myself when I was a baby. My uncle was the only one that captured my brother and I on video when we were very young. We’ve been meaning to get a copy of that as a matter of fact. I know when I have children, oh man, they are going to get tired of me and my digital camera! I want to capture as many special moments that I can, because nobody remembers everything, but at least there will be photos and videos to remind them of these times.

Hello! I haven’t been blogging as much as I’d like to, but there’s a good reason for it - honest! For those who don’t know, I’m GRADUATING! I’m actually done with Finals and the commencement ceremonies start on Friday. Needless to say, I’ve been studying like crazy to make sure that I pass all my classes and graduate with no problems. I haven’t gotten my grades from the final exams yet but I’m feeling pretty comfortable with the whole situation. So I’m back

A lot has been going on with me. Sorry, I’m not going to type it all out. If you want to see what’s going on with me I recommend following me on Twitter or for even more of my updates Subscribe to my FriendFeed (this includes my tweets, Flickr photo, and blog updates). One thing I would like to mention is that I finally learned how to shoot a gun! My boyfriend and I were in a NRA (National Rifle Association) Basic Pistol course, and at first I was nervous but in the end I was so happy I took the class. We learned about the different parts of the gun, how to safely handle the gun, how to take care of the gun, and of course how to hold and shoot the gun! The instructor also told us about the different laws that apply to owning a gun and what not. It was very informative and I highly recommend this course for anyone who is interested in learning. I never thought I’d feel comfortable handling a gun - but now I do. Definitely worth it!

So, I have a list of things that I want to do/learn in my About Me page, and I just crossed out “Gun Shooting Lessons”

I’m so happy that I’m graduating. Not just because I passed my classes or whatever… but because now I can FINALLY focus on what I want to do… careerwise, healthwise, ME-wise (lol). Everything I’m doing from this point on will have everything to do with the career I want to get into, and I’m excited about that. I’m also not going to be commuting as much anymore and I think that’d give me more ME time… to just take care of myself (better) and take part in more things that I want to do (like blogging).

That being said! I don’t like my site’s layout, I made it in a hurry during my short Winter break, so during the summer I want to work on a new layout for the site. I’m also trying to “warm up to the cam” again because I would still like to video blog from time to time. I just see others do it and I think it’s cool But I get cam shy sometimes. So it’ll be a work in progress. Ok I guess that’s it for now, more blogging coming your way? Hopefully

* Update (05/31/08): I now use SnapTweet.com the most! SnapTweet makes it easy for you to Twitter links to pictures that you’ve uploaded to Flickr. I find this the most convenient since I was finding myself  sending pics to Twitpic and then to Flickr.  What I do now is send pics (even video) on my N95 to Flickr like I usually do, and if I want that picture to be twittered, I just add a tag to the photo to let SnapTweet know that I want that picture to be tweeted! It’s really that easy, just create your settings on SnapTweet.com. Here are some pictures I’ve tweeted through SnapTweet: snaptweet.com/anothermaria . All in all, I recommend SnapTweet if you use Flickr a lot, SnapTweet will make things so much easier. If you don’t use Flickr, then I recommend TwitPic. That is all, enjoy!

I’ve been putting my N95 to more use lately and like I mentioned in my previous blog I can upload pics from my N95 directly to Flickr. I’m also a Twitter addict and I wanted to share the pics I’ve just uploaded with my fellow twitterers. So what I did was upload my photo to Flickr, head to urlTea.com or TinyUrl to get a small url so I could tweet a link to my new Flickr photo. This was fine and all but I thought… there has got to be a better (easier) way to do this! And so I did a little search and there was!

First I found MobyPicture.com. I was excited! On MobyPicture you upload your picture via multimedia text / email on your phone and the picture can automatically be posted on sites like Twitter, Flickr, Wordpress, Blogger and more! Of course I just had my eye on Twitter and Flickr so I thought this site was PERFECT for me. I immediately signed up and entered my Twitter and Flickr information. I got my phone and sent my photo to the addy they told me to send it to and…. it did show up on the MobyPicture website but it was never posted on Twitter or Flickr. Boohoo

Then I finally got an invite for SnapFoo.com! SnapFoo also lets you send in your picture on your mobile phone through multimedia text / email and also sends a link to Twitter. They have a Facebook application as well and it looks like they plan on adding more services later since they are only in Beta right now. So anyways, I signed up and sent a multimedia text… nothing At all. Not even on their website.

I was bummed. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the two websites mentioned above don’t work. They both have many members and the site seems to be working just fine for them, especially SnapFoo because I get tweets from people using SnapFoo so it’s obviously working for them. I don’t know why it didn’t work for me, I’m assuming it’s because the file sizes of my pictures from my N95 are too big… so maybe that’s it? Who knows. The point is that neither of them worked for ME.

Then one day I get a tweet from somebody I’m following, JChino. He was testing TwitPic, and it worked. So I thought hm, what the heck, I’ll give that a try. I go to Twitpic.com, log in there with my Twitter info and they give me an addy to send a multimedia text to. I tried it and…. *gasp*…. it WORKED!!! All you do is send a multimedia text with your pic attached to it and type your caption in the subject heading and BAM! It is posted on the Twitpic website and gets posted to your Twitter. I’ve been using Twitpic ever since. Feel free to check out my Twitpic page with all my picture tweets at twitpic.com/photos/AnotherMaria

Now I just wish twitpic would post to Flickr as well but we know that’s not happening. All in all, I recommend Twitpic, especially if you just use Twitter. But if you want to post the picture to multiple sites… give SnapFoo and MobyPicture a try. Don’t let my bad luck stop you from trying out those sites.

So anyways, today I was just thinking that it would be so cool if there was a VIDEO version of Twitpic and I tweeted that thought and another person I follow, MBoogie, gave me a website… Qik.com!!! You can stream video right from your phone and it supports sites like Twitter and Facebook! So I signed up, they sent a confirmation text link and I clicked on it and they said they’d be in touch. I guess it’s invitation only right now and they evaluate requests. So I’ve been waiting for that and GUESS WHAT…

I literally got the request approval a couple of minutes ago as I was typing this blog!

AnotherMaria streaming videos live? Or recorded videos? To Twitter?…

… More info on that later. But I must get back to studying for my finals (it’s finals week this week).. and I will explore Qik.com more later! I’m so excited!

I’ve been planning on posting a blog about facts I found out about tanning and even some product recommendations but unfortunately I just haven’t been able to! This quarter has been kicking my butt. And now that this winter quarter is coming to an end I’m trying to finish strong by studying like crazy.

Maybe, just maybe, while I’m taking a break I will do my little research on tanning and what not but as of right now I don’t think that will happen. I have two big papers due as well as 3 final exams coming up! So I’m getting ready for those. This is really important to me because I want to make sure I graduate on time! I have to make an appointment to see a counselor, too. Just to double check that I have everything in order.

But just to keep you updated YES I am still tanning and I am loving it! I look healthier. I’m not overdoing it, I go like once a week. The most I would go is twice a week. Hm what else. OH, I’m really going to try to post a random pic a day through Flickr since I can send pics directly from my N95 to Flickr. If I can find something I find interesting to take a pic of, that is. It would be cool if I could blog it on here too… I should figure that out.. later on… lol.. since I have to go workout now. So we’ll see about that. In the meantime, take care and have a great week everyone!

Hello Just thought I’d blog while I’m uninstalling stuff. Don’t want to talk about escuela so…

The other night I was looking through celebrity gossip, which I’ll admit is a guilty pleasure of mine. We were trying to find out if Jennifer Lopez had her twins already since I’m a huge fan of both Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony! So I was browsing this website called Babyrazzi (very cute name lol) and I was reading the latest entries when I read about what JLo’s Dad already bought for the babies - AZABACHE (black stone) bracelets!

He mentioned how in Puerto Rico it’s custom to buy an azabache bracelet for babies to protect them from the evil eye. I’ve heard about that, the “evil eye” or “mal de ojo”… only when I was younger though and I didn’t really know what it was about. So of course I did a quick search to fulfill my curiosity and here’s what I found…

In Latin America, Azabache Bracelets are worn to protect against the Mal de ojo, or evil eye. The evil eye is believed to result of excessive admiration or envious looks by others. Having newborn babies wear an azabache (a gold bracelet or necklace with a black or red coral charm in the form of a fist), is believed to protect them from the evil eye.

Aaaand…

The evil eye is a folk belief that the envy elicited by the good luck of fortunate people may result in their misfortune, whether it is envy of material possessions including livestock, or of beauty, health, or offspring. [Read more about the Evil Eye here]

Anyway, I thought it was interesting, and I’m starting to look at azabache bracelets because when I have kids.. (which will be a very long time from now lol).. I’m going to get them some azabache bracelets! Nobody is cursing my babies! LOL.

Not that I’m totally superstitious and believe in all of that, but I want my kids to have some kind of culture and learn about some traditions/folklore. I think it’s all interesting stuff Like the story of La Llorona and what not.