I know that I’m cramping all these renovations posts but I just woke up to more construction noises and I need to put my eyes on the prize to deal with it. Right now, the entire wooden floors are being taken off, I’m going to miss that floor, I loved it so, so much u_u.

I share my beautiful white desk with my dad, and now I’m thinking of taking his office (in the attic/gym/storage/mirrored room/biggest dust collector in the house) and letting him have my desk. I think that he actually enjoys the pink walls (and lack of dust) and making a mess out of my perfect organization ¬¬.

Here’s what it looks like right now:

Excuse the mess!

The left side is mine and the right side is technically my dad’s, but he usually takes up all my space as well when he’s playing Silent Hunter/researching/Facebook-ing or just downloading movies. I keep my wrist brace nearby just in case it starts hurting (not frequently but still), the boxes keep cables for all my gadgets and important things, I also have a printer and a (non-functioning, I’m waiting for the piece to arrive to fix it) scanner. I have few knickknacks because I don’t like clutter. My dad keeps papers, receipts and whatnot here as well and it drives me crazy!

If I could have a dream home office it would be all white, with a Unicorn signature wall, a huge cork board for pictures, a table with the printer and stuff on the other side to keep it out of the way, a desk with drawers and white curtains with super light wooden floors. Pretty much like these pictures:

How cool is that cork board? I want one like that but huge! I’m an organization freak, I know. I also need to change my curtains ASAP, I’m tired of them plus they’re super old and falling apart. Also, the carpet needs to go ASAP! I’m looking for blackboard paint, to get my door all full of chalk :D, my mum is against it but whatever, it’s my bathroom not hers.

Remember how I always emphasize that when I have a business, I’m going to publish the website and have a Facebook fan page and whatnot? Well, I recently partnered up with a designer to create our own little freelance web design & development firm. Go over to Maxwell Studio (in Spanish for now) and “Like” us on Facebook!

Kisses,

Julie.

The past few weeks have been hell at home. I should be waking up super late and enjoying my last proper summer but instead I’ve been woken up at ungodly hours because of renovations in our house and the other house that is being finished in front of mine.

My parents decided (since my sister is getting married soon and I finish college on December) that they are going to start renovating the house. They started with our backyard (painting the ugly blue walls white), then laundry room (which looks amazing, so amazing that Maximus won’t even soil it), next our platform (with wine colored tiles instead of green and a new BBQ), now they’re onto the living room (taking out carpet and laying floor + new paint). My house is all in shambles and with construction workers here all the time. The noise is unbearable but I can always go to a coffee shop or something.

Taking advantage of my parents’ renovation kick, they asked me to start planning for my room, bathroom and the kitchen. They’re doing the kitchen after the living room to match our new super cool fridge (told you they were on a kick). So, I found this little website called Houzz, which is full of pictures of houses and rooms. The coolest thing about it is that you can compile all of the pictures you like into “Idea Books” for easy browsing and referencing later. Apartment Therapy is a great website too, but I find it really hard to navigate and see what I want to see. The house tours take ages to load and that really turns me off from it.

Here are some pictures from my Idea Books for what I want for my Bathroom:

I might, might be biased just teeny tiny bit :DDD.

I found this video via Facebook and thought that I would share it here. It’s one of the best videos I’ve found, it surely shows everything that makes Mexico such and amazing country :D.

Mexico is much more than beaches, Tequila, and all those bad things that the media shows all the time. Mexico is magical, full of colors, full of awesome people, awesome food, full of places to visit, little magic towns in the middle of nowhere… There is so much here.

Here’s a little video I took while on the road to go to my grandma’s house. The land around the little town is really arid so you only see plants like nopales and agaves all around. It’s a place where technology and the city life haven’t touched yet, a good way to disconnect and relax.

Enjoy!

Kisses,

Julie

P.S.: The whole bilignual blogging is too much hassle and not really worth it so I’m going back to my regular English blogging. If you want to practice your Spanish you can always email me at julie [@] juliettemaxwell.com.

Still experimenting with bilingual blogging (it’s harder than it looks), so this time it’s going to be first the pictures and then the explanation.

Sigo experimentando con métodos de bloggear en dos idiomas (es muy difícil, realmente lo subestimé), esta vez van primero las pics y luego el post.

I wore this to pick up a mini Jabulani that I won in Twitter from Telcel. This is my “slob” outfit… I’m mad that I wore this because they took a picture of me with the ball u_u. That shall teach me to dress up a bit more before leaving the house.

Me puse esto para ir a recoger un balón que me gané por Twitter de parte de Telcel. Este es mi outfit de “me dio flojera vestirme”, estoy enojada porque me tomaron una foto con el balón y todo y yo en estas fachas u_u. Eso me enseñará a vestirme como gente decente antes de salir de mi casa.

My “don” necklace

H&M Lace up booties

I haven’t taken off my “don” Necklace since Arely gave it to me. I wore the booties because when I stepped out of my house it was chilly but in true Mexican summer fashion, one minute is chilly and kinda rainy and the next is just endless sunshine. I love the lace up detail on the back of them.

No me he quitado mi collar de “don” desde que Arely me lo dio :D. Me puse mis botas porque cuando salí de mi casa parecía que iba a llover y hacía frío, pero como siempre en México, un minuto parece que se te viene el cielo encima y al siguiente hace sol y un calor horrible! Además me gusta el detalle de atrás estilo corset.

My polka dot stockings have this huge rip, I don’t mind wearing them like this since the rip doesn’t show when I walk. Still I need another pair XDDD.

Mis medias de puntitos tienen una corrida enooorme, hasta las traté de coser pero no más no. Lo bueno es que no se nota cuando camino así que me vale. Aunque… si me gustaría tener otras.

For my make up I used my MAC orange lipstick (the label is all scratched and I can’t read it), my new liquid eyeliner and light blush. For my nails I wore this Bissu silver/gray nail polish. I love gray nail polish, it’s edgy but neutral enough for business wear.

Para mi maquillaje use mi labial naranja de MAC, es un Viva Glam pero no sé cual porque la etiqueta ya está toda deshecha, mi delineador líquido nuevo y rubor clarito de Bobbi Brown. Para mis uñas, use esté barniz gris/plateado de Bissu. Me gustan los barnices grises porque son neutrales pero no aburridos.

Cardigan: Pull and Bear
T-shirt: from Spain no label
Shorts: H&M
Polka dot tights
Booties: H&M

Kisses,

Julie.

I have a HUGE extended family (not counting my dad’s side). My mum has 10 siblings and all but one had children. I have more or less 40 cousins and a growing number of nieces and nephews.

Well, today was my nephew’s First Communion (my extended family are very devout Catholics) and we got a chance to get together and meet the newest additions to our family. I went with my mum because my dad and sister had to go to my sister’s apartment to receive some of her furniture, so we loaded my car and off we went. My grandma’s house is the state of Hidalgo, two hours away by car from my house. Right now there are some construction going on the road and we got delayed because of the traffic. Still, we made it on time to help get everything set up.

Few minutes after we arrived, my aunt Yolanda and her family arrived. I got really excited because my cousins were with her as well. I have two cousins from my aunt Yolanda, Yazmín and Jake. Yaz is a super scientist, she studies biomedical science and just finished a stint over at Harvard University looking for a cure to diabetes using stem cells, she’s super cool and sweet, I love her to pieces. Jake is my twin from another mother. We were born 22 days apart (he July 13th, me August 4th) and they call us twins, he’s much taller than me but we have the same curls, get sick in the same time spans (same illness), like the same food and dress in similar colour schemes. We also share an affinity for Fedoras.

So, I spent the whole time hanging out with my cousin Jake and cuddling my nieces Vane (7) and Danny (5). They are adorable little girls, super cute and they are super girly. I also spent some time cuddling my nephews Diego (2 or 1, I can’t remember) and Julio (1 month and a half). Julio (named after my dad) is our second newest addition, he’s super cute and super big! Our newest was born this week so my cousin didn’t bring him along. There’s like a huge baby boom in our family.

Jake and I reminisced our childhood and felt kind of grown up, we took pictures, laughed a lot and took care of the kids while our other cousins were getting things ready for the children. We also walked around town a lot. It was nice spending time with him, I don’t see him a lot and he’s one of my favourite cousins (I have 4 favourites).

After the Spanish version there are some pics.

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No sé si ya sabían pero tengo una familia enooorme (sin contar el lado mi papá). Mi mamá tiene 10 hermanos y hermanas y casi todos tuvieron hijos. Tengo un aproximado de 40 primos y primas y muchos sobrinos y más por venir.

Hoy fue la Primera Comunión de uno de mis sobrinos (mi familia es bien Católica) así que aprovechamos la pachanga para juntarnos y conocer a los nuevos miembros de nuestra enorme familia. Fui con mi mamá porque mi papá y mi hermana iban a ir al depa de mi hermana a recibir unos muebles, así que subimos un buen de cosas a mi carro y nos fuimos. La casa de mi abuelito se encuentra en el estado de Hidalgo a dos horas de mi casa. Están arreglando la carretera así que hay mucho tráfico y eso nos hizo llegar un poco tarde de lo que teníamos planeado. Aún así llegamos a tiempo para ayudar en lo que se puediera antes de la fiesta.

Poco después de que llegamos, llegó mi tía Yolanda con su familia. Me puse bien feliz porque venían mis primos con ella. Mis dos primos de parte de mi tía Yolanda son Yazmín y Jake. Yaz es la súper científica de la familia, estudia ciencias biomédicas y estuvo un rato en Harvard investigando una cura de la diabetes usando células madre. Es super linda y cool :D, si la adoro! Jake es mi gemelo de otra mamá XDD. Nacimos con 22 días de diferencia (él nació el 13 de julio y yo el 4 de agosto) y nos dicen gemelos. Él es mucho más alto que yo pero tenemos los mismo chinos, nos enfermamos de lo mismo al mismo tiempo, nos gusta la misma comida y nos vestimos en  colores similares. También nos gustan los Fedoras.

Me la pasé todo el rato con Jake y con mis sobrinas Vane (7) y Danny (5). Danny y vane son unas niñas adorables, super cute y super girly las dos. También estuve con mis sobrinos Diego (1 o 2 años, no me acuerdo) y Julio (mes y medio). Julio (le pusieron así por mi papá) es nuestro segundo bebé más nuevo, el más nuevo nació apenas esta semana y todavía no sé cómo se llama :(, está enorme y es el bebé más lindo del mundo. Hay un super baby boom en mi familia.

Jake y yo recordamos cuando éramos chiquitos y nos quedábamos en casa de mi abuelita, nos tomamos fotos, nos reímos y cuidamos a los niños un ratito en lo que mis primas les servían de comer y así. También nos la pasamos paseando por el pueblo. Me gustó pasar tiempo con él, no lo veo seguido y es uno de mis primos favoritos (uno de los 4 favoritos).

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Picture time!

Welcome to Chapantongo!

Julio

Yaz

Danny, Vane, Julie and Jake

My grandma, most of my aunts and uncles and some cousins

Some cousins, nephews and grandma

Kisses,

Julie.

This is the first post in a series of me experimenting with bilingual blogging methods. Yeah, it might suck at first but I’m trying to find a way that is comfortable for me to do it.

Well, I didn’t find it, my mum did. It was under a couch cushion, under the real big couch that I sometimes use to nap on. I usually place whatever gadget I’m holding into a little nook that the couch creates with the cushion along with my glasses and fall asleep. I usually grab my stuff and go back to my room after my nap but this time I didn’t take the camera because it had slipped under the cushion. Basically, you can expect normal quality outfit posts back :D.

Yesterday, I went to my sister’s apartment. My sister and her fiancee just bought an apartment (they are hurrying the wedding because living together before being married is totally frowned upon by my parents) and she wanted me to come along and be with her while she cleaned it. She also wanted me to see it and just hang out with her because we don’t do that a lot (even though we live in the same house and sometimes we are home at the same time). She also needed to be there for when the store delivered her super plush memory foam mattress and to change her locks.

We made our way there (less than 1 hour, considering there was like a lot of traffic on our way) and it was seriously one of the poshest buildings I’ve ever seen (the poshest being the building that holds the Game Planet HQ here in Mexico). The apartment itself is little (and we’re still wondering how on Earth is the dinning table + chairs are going to fit in there), but it is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom and it has a beautiful kitchen and shower heads that I dream of (little known fact about me: I’m mad about house stuff, but that’s another post). We had pizza, had fun throwing ourselves against the mattress, listened to new Yuri record (which sucked and not only because it was Yuri and a music genre that I don’t like), cleaned wax off the floor (we suspect that the previous owner threw a party with candles before vacating the apartment). We easily called 5 different pizza places because the other didn’t send to my sister’s place, and we got transferred and transferred until we found the one that did deliver.

We didn’t do much, but I have to say that I’m going to miss goofing with my sister from time to time.

Tomorrow, I’m going to my grandma’s for a family reunion, my cousin the scientist is going to be there. I’m excited because I haven’t seen her since before she went to to live to Boston (she’s been back in Mexico for almost a year, but living in a different state).

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Este post es el primero de una serie de posts en los que experimentaré con formas de bloggear en dos idiomas. Al principio puede que todo salga horrible pero estoy buscando una forma que haga el proceso lo más cómodo posible para mí.

Bueno, yo no encontré la cámara, la encontró mi mamá. La cámara estaba abajo del asiento del sillón grande donde normalmente tomo la siesta. Normalmente, pongo mis gadgets y mis lentes en un como hoyito que se hace entre el sillón y el asiento y me duermo. Cuando me despierto me llevo todas mis cosas y las dejo en mi cuarto, pero esta vez no porque la cámara se había ido abajo del siento. Pero bueno, eso significa que ya voy a poder volver a postear mis outfits :D.

Ayer me fui a ver el departamento de mi hermana. Mi hermana y el cuñado (AKA el cuñis) acaban de comprar su departamento (y van a adelantar su boda porque si vieran el mega drama que le hicieron, mis padres se rehúsan a que mi hermana se vaya a vivir con el cuñis sin casarse) y lo están haciendo habitable, ella quería que le hiciera compañía en lo que limpiaba (mi hermana ya es toda un ama de casa). También quería que le hiciera compañía y que pasáramos el rato (cosa que no hacemos mucho aunque las dos vivimos en la misma casa y psasmos mucho timepo aquí). Ella tenía que estar allá porque le iban a entregar su colchón y le iban a cambiar la combinación de la chapa.

Hicimos como una hora de camino (con todo y el tráfico de horror que nos tocó) y llegamos a uno de los edificios más nice que he visitado (el más nice es el de Game Planet en Santa Fe). El depa en sí es chiquito (aún estamos buscando la forma de meter el super comedor que les compró mi papá), pero tiene sus 2 cuartos, 2 baños y tiene la cocina bien padre y las regaderas de mis sueños (cosa pocs conocida acerca de mí: me encantan las cosas de casa pero eso se merece un post solito). Comimos pizza, nos dejamos caer en el colchón, escuchamos el nuevo disco de Yuri (que está bien feo y no es sólo porque no me gusta la música de yuri, sino porque en sí el disco no más no), limpiamos cera del piso (tenemos la teoría de que el dueño anterior hizo una fiesta con velas antes de dejar el depa). Fue un show conseguir la pizza, hablamos a fácil 5 sucursales de Pizza Hut, nadamás nos decían que ahí no era y que ahí no era.

La verdad no hicimos la gran cosa, pero si voy a extrañar pasar tiempo baboseando con mi hermana de vez en cuando.

Mañana me voy a Hidalgo a casa de mi abuelita porque va a haber reunión familiar. Mi prima la científica va a ir y estoy bien emocionada porque hace años que no la veo.

Kisses,

Julie.