New Home for the Books

We finally got some bookshelves so we can display our growing collection! Not too many books yet but we are working on it.



I am so proud of myself that I have actually read the majority of the books on there. Others are on my waiting list.

I used to hate reading while growing up! I always found it so boring. That all changed with Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling had the ability to transport me into another world. Made me feel like I was truly there. Opened my eyes to what I had been missing out on all these years. I read Harry Potter for the first time in Middle School. I read book one and I stopped there. It wasn't until about 2 years ago (age 23) that I decided I needed to read more and decided to continue the Harry Potter adventure that I had started long ago. I remember starting out by saying, "one chapter per night". Pfft...yeah right...I would hop into bed at about 8-9pm and I would stay up until 3-4am because I wanted to know more and more of what happen. The reading bug had caught me :)

Since then I want to read everything! I mostly read fantasy/fictional stories because they stimulate my creativity. However, if I find something interesting and I can learn from it then I will read it. I realize now as an adult how important it is to start reading at an early age. I will touch more on this in a separate post to talk about how reading impacts your professional career. 

Anyway, don't mean to bore you with this post. I will post a picture of the living room later on when I pick up the mess we made from making the bookshelves. It looks a lot bigger now since we moved stuff around which is great.

XOXO,

Lina

Enjoying Time Off

The fiancée and I took 2 weeks off for the holidays. Do you know what we have done? Pretty much nothing! Hehehehe...we both work so hard during the week and our lives are pretty much sleep, eat, go to work, repeat. Except I come home to do homework because of my program. I really needed this break from class and work. You need a good break every once in a while to reflect on what you have learned thus far and to give your mind some breather. 

I had so many plans of taking the fiancée out around town since he is only visiting but we have both just been so lazy. We have watched many movies, read, gone to a few stores, played with our dogs, eaten a lot, and pretty much rearranged the living room and dining room area.

We moved our mug collection to the dining room. It was a good decision by my fiancée since now we can show it off better. We are running out of room though on this small case.

We had gone to a thrift store and bought some mugs for the collection which are already in the picture above. They are the three mugs in the middle in the first row on top. We got nice cups for the kitchen as well. Then, my fiancée is obsessed with coffee so he kept finding cute things and saying we could use it to store sugar. Before we knew it we got everything you see below.

I have always loved tea pots but never owned any. I asked my fiancée if it was okay to get so many and he just said, "yes, now we will have a mug and tea pot collection"! I loved his response. We are on the same page for most things. I also fell in love with that country style cookie jar in the middle so I brought it home.

In addition to those, I also got two ceramic milk canisters. I had been searching for some with no luck and finally found two at the thrift store. :D

Aren't they beautiful? By the way, in case you haven't notice by now our house is a small cottage. I try to stay true to its style and try to decorate it in a primitive country way.

I also got some wooden shelves to hang on the walls. Problem is I don't really know what to use them for or where to put them. I got them because they were cute in shape and super cheap. I think I will repaint some and will use my wood burning tool on others. We shall see.



I am pretty satisfied with all the purchases. I love what you can find at thrift stores. Any who,  let's see if I can get my fiancée out of bed so we can go do something today. Have a great week!

XOXO,

Lina

Star Trek Minimate: U.S.S Enterprise

Hi Everyone,

Today I wanted to share the unboxing of the Star Trek Minimate I got for Christmas. This Minimate set brings the U.S.S Enterprise and Captain Kirk. Kirk brings a phaser, communicator, and another weapon which I am still trying to figure out what it is. This is what the box looks like when you receive it.

The Enterprise needs to be assembled but it is pretty simple to do.

Here is the base. 

Here is the ship in pieces.

Lol...I didn't realize I was holding the body of the ship upside down. Woops!

There you have the pieces for the ship body and engines. Below is Kirk and his chair that go inside the saucer.

Here is the final assembled ship. I have a video of how to assemble it but I am on my phone and it won't allow me to load it. I will post it later. It was a bit difficult to assemble because it required a bit of force for some parts. I was afraid to break it but luckily I didn't. My fiance had to attach the saucer to the rest of the body for me since it required more force.

The kit brought some stickers to decorate the bridge. Overall, it is super cute and I love it!

Until next time! See ya!

XOXO,

Lina

Merry Christmas!

It is finally Christmas!!!! It was a good relaxing day at home. I am currently sitting around with the fiancee watching the heat game while the pups are fast asleep on our laps.

                                       

As I mentioned yesterday, we opened all our gifts before Christmas day so we kind of spoiled the fun for ourselves. No excitement of getting up early to open up the gifts. But that is kind of what happens when in previous years you couldn't give your loved one what they wanted because you had no money. I know Christmas is not about giving gifts but you still want to make your partner happy. 

We went a little nuts this year though with the gifts because...well, because we could. I am not a typical woman so I didn't ask for expensive purses or shoes. I did ask for clothes, but not what you would expect, and I asked for many toys! :) Below are a few of the things I got.

                

Can you tell what I am obsessed with? I don't think people can tell I love Star Trek hehehe.

                             

So one of the things I asked my fiancee for was a wood burning tool. That is what you see in the red and white box. I have never done wood burning but am excited to try it out. On the bottom there is a rotary tool. My friend Sherry got me a plastic model kit, which I will show in a bit, and I needed a tool so I can work on it. Hence, the rotary tool. Never used one of those either.

This is the kit my friend got me. It is a 1:1400 scale of the U.S.S Enterprise. She totally caught me by surprise with this one. She knows I love Star Trek and scale models since I collect Gundams. Can't wait to work on this one. 

Now, since she gave me the kit I did my research to see how I could paint it correctly and what not. During my search I ran into the 1:350 scale of the U.S.S Enterprise! I HAD TO HAVE IT!

                                 

And I got it! :D It will measure a whomping 33 inches in length when constructed! I hope to share how the building of both models go.

Next, I asked my fiancee for a Star Trek Minimate. I had found it in thinkgeek.com and I thought it was sooo cute. I want to put it on my desk at work!

                                  

I will post an opening video of it later on just in case anyone is curious about it.

Finally for Star Trek, I got a book that describes all the characters from all the different seasons.

                                    

I think it is a must have for any Star Trek fan. They go over all the characters, ships, weapons, history, etc.

When we got the Star Trek book at Barnes and Nobles I also got a really nice journal.

                                      

Isn't it beautiful? It is made out of leather. I still have it in its plastic cover. I am in the process of writing a fictional novel and this will be where all the magic will happen.

Hmmm what is that on the top right corner by the journal?

                                    

Oh yeah! The Game of Thrones books! This was a gift given to me by my friend Roberto. He knows I love to read and he is always shocked when I tell him I haven't seen Game of Thrones. He says I am such a geek for that stuff that I will love it. He decided to get me started hehehe. Very thankful for these since I love to read.

Phew....okay done with the toys. I also got a brand new TV and a vacuum cleaner but I won't picture those. I asked for the vacuum cleaner because I really needed it. I got the TV as a bonus because I didn't ask for one hehehe. But the fiancee knew I would appreciate one.

Lastly....my clothes. Ready?

                   

                                     

         

                                      

                                        

I got a dress from The Hobbit, two from Harry Potter, leggings from Lord of The Rings, and Gryffindor leggings from Harry Potter. I will proudly wear these when I go out! I have wanted them all for so long. Glad I finally got them!

And there you have it. I am so thankful for everything! Keep a look out for more detailed posted on certain things since I will be putting everything to use very soon. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays once again! Hope you had a wonderful time with your loved ones. I know I did! ;)

XOXO,

Lina

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!!

I love Christmas! It is my favorite time of the year. It is so magical and wonderful! This is the first year my fiancée and I spend it in our new home (keeping our fingers crossed to be able to purchase it when my contract is up). Last year around this time we were two broke students living in our little tiny apartment hehehe. Although we didn't have much we did have each other and made our Christmas special.  

This year though we can actually celebrate it a little better. I went a little crazy buying decorations for the house..but again, it is my favorite time of the year! Below are the end results:

Doesn't it look so warm and cozy? The three pups are on the couch trying to figure out what mom is doing. Here is a close up of my mantle.

Those are little nut crackers hanging from the garland.

This elf stole my heart when I found it at Michael's. Had to have him! Isn't he cute?

Lastly, our tiny tree! :) This was the first tree we bought when we started living together. It isn't the biggest or fullest of them all but it holds so much sentimental value. Nothing on it matches but who cares, we love it!

Notice there aren't any presents under the tree? We kind of cheated and opened our presents already lol. I will post pictures tomorrow of everything I got. For now I just hope you have a wonderful Christmas eve with family, friends, and loved ones.

My fiancée and I have been watching LOTR all day since we had a marathon for the hobbit on Sunday and Monday and saw the Battle of The Five Armies on Monday. It was soooo good! We decided that all that epicness needed to be continued with LOTR so we have been couch potatoes all day watching them. I am now trying to convince him to start another marathon with me for Pirates of the Caribbean. He doesn't seem too thrilled lol so let's see how that turns out. Good Night everyone! 

And so it begins...

Ah, the very first post to christen my blog! I have been pondering for weeks about what this blog should be about and how to get it started. I had started a blog about 3 years ago but I feel my mind was not in the right place to get it going. My ideas were all over the place since I was still in college trying to get by and figuring out where life would take me after college.

Well now, I am 25... O.O

I have been unleashed in the real world for almost a year now (January 6). It is super scary yet exhilarating at the same time. Over the course of that year I have had the chance to start molding myself into the adult that I eventually want to be. THAT is what I want this blog to be about! My journey through life.

I am a young lady finding my place in the male dominated field of engineering. Finding the balance between being strong enough to run with the "big boys" yet making it known that I am a woman and that is not a weakness! I am the stereotypical geek that loves Harry Potter, LOTR, and Star Trek, among other things, but I am not socially awkward how every one thinks we engineers are. I love being girly, dressing up, and doing my make-up but won't hesitate to jump in puddle with my pups  after getting ready if that is what makes them happy. I do all sorts of arts and crafts and love fixing up my home with my fiancée. I am not one thing or another. I am all things fun wrapped up into one! :)

My blog will be all over the place but hey that is how life works. So sit back...and enjoy!

Ohhhhh and one last thing...I am NOT an English major! I am good at math and science not putting words together correctly (OMG..I just realized English majors are like civil engineers but their structures are sentences!!!!!!!!!!). I will make mistakes throughout this blog. Just warning you hehehe!