Duck Beach

Lately I've been busy. But this isn't anything new. I'm always busy. And my life is just about to get even busier. It might have taken me days to get through this post but I did it.

Sooo lots of things have been happening but my 2 highlights were
Duck Beach round #1 with my friends and
Duck beach round #2 with my family.

Duck Beach Round #1 was Spring Break gone wild mormon style. People from all over the United States congregate Memorial Day weekend to....go to the beach when some people have one in their back yard or less than 15 minutes away?  To come meet other mormons when they are living in Utah and the whole state is populated by them? Or my personal favorite to go and meet "the one." I guess that has happened for people in the past but like my favorite movie says in "He's Just Not That Into You" those people who actually met "the one" at Duck Beach are the exception, not the rule.

It obviously didn't happen to me and I'm not bitter by any means. My goal for the weekend was to get a tan and I can easily say...mission accomplished.

All those people ahead of us...Mormons after Mormons after Mormons

So just 2 weeks after that I had Duck Beach Round #2.
It was the first time my family had been together in almost 4 years. All we needed was my sister and her husband to be there to make things complete! The week consisted of fishing, kayaking, swimming, dolphin watching, sports, eating good food, staying up late playing cards, dancing gangnam style, art classes with my mom, glow in the dark dance parties with my neices and nephews and laughing our heads off throughout the night.

Some of my personal highlights were
1. Ryan (the most passive and calm person in our family) throwing all his cards at my sister Lindsay during a round of Nertz because someone got a little too heated. Don't worry immediately afterwards he said, "I feel bad about that." I still don't know who would've won that round..

2. The fact that my 4 year-old niece Ivy almost drowned in the pool and was saved by my 8 year-old niece Grace WASN'T a highlight but her response was. When my sister asked Ivy what happened she sang Taylor Swift's song Trouble " I'm drooooowing I'm droooooowning I'm drooooowing"

3. Karaoke night
Combined with Ryan's classic/famous dance moves and Lindsay and my impromptu dance number it all had us laughing hysterically. We definitely got the party started by the end of the number. Too bad Ryan and Rayna won the karaoke competition.

4. Conservative Jeremy in the gangnam style video. Because he's my brother-in-law and doesn't have the crazy I-want-all-the attention blood that's in the Vogel family, this was shocking to see. He even put on a yellow shirt to play the part!

 (please go to 1:06 to understand what I'm talking about)
(And don't forget Hunter's perfected pelvic thrust at 2:46)

6. Basketball against my mom and my sister Lindsay. When we weren't dying in hysterical laughter we did manage to play some ball and bring out the claws.

7. Being with my nieces and nephews. Aside from anything gospel related I love them more words than anything in the world.

8. The games. My family is really competitive and we had 4 brackets drawn out on poster boards listing the tournament rounds for basketball, volleyball, pool and fooseball. Each day we had to play our individual matches and while my 12 year-old niece and I did terrible at basketball against the athletic boys in our family, Zack and I made up for it when we became the fooseball champions!

9. Just being with my beautiful family. I sure am the luckiest girl ever. By the end of the trip it had me saying...my family is crazy, we know how to have fun and I love each and every one of them. So glad I can be with them for eternity.

Hate my hair in the picture (thank you humidity) but you
do get to see my beautiful family in almost its entirety...just missing Molly and Ken!

This amazing woman keeps us all together.

Cant wait for the Vogel Reunion 2015! While I disappointed my family by not bringing a significant other, maybe the next one I won't let them down. Afterall, I found out during our game night of Family Feud I am most likely to be married next. It's a good thing I beat my 6 year-old neice Hazel, 2 year old nephew Henry and my sister Brandy who's married with 5 kids!

whoops

So I've officially had my blog for a little over a year. Who would have thought I could do this. I didn't know I had it in me. Sometimes it was like pulling teeth. I didn't enjoy it but I wanted to enjoy it. I still don't know if I'm at the place where I loveeee blogging but nonetheless I am still trying to get there. So as I was feeling proud of myself I checked the date of my last entry and it was a couple months ago! A 2 month hiatus without one single post. Whoops! I guess I wasn't doing as good as I thought.

So instead of trying to update you on my life the past couple months why don't I fill you in on something more entertaining, my sisters. Her life is that much more entertaining. Ok maybe not. I do have a lot going on (hence the reason I find little time to blog) but after I got this video today I couldn't NOT blog about this.

So it all started a couple weeks ago when my beautiful niece Ivy did this....

Add caption

That would be WHITE leather chairs! And this was only the first of five she drew on... Let's just say my sister wasn't the happiest camper when she found this piece of art on the wrong canvas after dinner.

And today I got this video...

She struck again! But this time it was on her bed. And after watching this can anyone please tell me how you could mad to a little girl like this?? Even after this very very naughty act. And here I thought that the day when I'd become a mom punishing my children would come only quick and natural  But what if i have kids like this girl?! If so.. uhhh ohhh. I'm in trouble.

erika

Life is a beautiful thing. So many things make me happy. I just saw a bunch of friends in Utah who I hadn't seen over a year. Loved every second of it. I love nature. I love the beach. I love my family. I love kids. I love being creative. I love music. I love the temple. I love trying new things. I love to travel.  I love my life DC life. I love new experiences. I love my job. I loved my mission. I love Brasil.  I love the challenges and trials I have faced in my life. I love my friends. I love being a friend. I love to listen. I love my church calling. I love my Heavenly Father. I love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This last one is one thing I love the most. It's what I hold most dear my heart. I had the privilege to share this love and knowledge with a dear friend of mine months ago. It was as if I was on my mission again. It was a reminder of the most important things in life and what really matters. It made me the happiest I have been since I have gotten back off my mission. It made me realize that we can't be doing anything more important or worth while in our "single" years than sharing this precious gospel. 

The happiness I felt as I sat in on every lesson she had with the elders, as I saw her grow and develop a testimony, and make the necessary changes in her life to move towards baptism are indescribable. I don't have words sufficient enough to explain how happy I truly felt not only during her conversion but all those I got to know on my mission. It is a happiness that is long lasting. A happiness that I feel deep inside the core of my heart. A happiness that can't be bought and a happiness that is eternal. How I am grateful I opened up my mouth. I knew from the second time we had met this girl was special and the Lord was preparing her to accept the true gospel. Each day I am humbled by her example, by her faith, obedience, diligence, compassion, determination, humility, and by her love towards God. She thinks I have taught her yet she is the one who has taught me in more ways than I can describe.

From her getting baptized..

 To her getting confirmed...

To her bearing her testimony exactly a month after her baptism

(too bad I don't have a picture of this day)

To reading this today on her Facebook...

She has changed me for the better  and I thank God for putting her in my life. Who would've known that meeting someone in the girls bathroom could have turned into this. Amo vc minha amiga eterna!

tuesdays tune

I have to thank Heather and Caleb for this discovery.

gratitude

Sometimes I don't feel worthy of all the blessings that come my way. When something good happens, I immediately thank the Lord and attribute all my success in life to him. Recently I have been feeling a lot of gratitude. Life is such a beautiful thing and today especially I am feeling more humble, more grateful and an extreme amount of happiness.

So I have been working at National Geographic now for almost 9 months! It seems like yesterday when I was walking up to the Nat Geo office building with butterflies going in for my first interview. When I found out I had gotten the job I was seriously the happiest person in the world. I had just landed my dream job which was by far the best birthday present anyone could give.

So I knew later down the road my job with Nat Geo could come to a close seeing as it was only a 6 month contract with a possibility of hiring me full-time. They weren't telling me anything concrete as to whether this would happen so I started applying for jobs.

I just heard back from the House of Representatives that they are offering me a job! Never in a million years did I think I could potentially want to work for them/ be excited about a job like this. Since when was I political?! I don't know if I am in comparison to other people out here but DC is changing me... After examining 33 people, interviewing another 15 people on the phone and asking 5 people to come in for an in-person interview, I found out that they are making me an offer! The interview process was long and extensive (a whole 3 1/2 hours) but once I sat in some beautiful office with a fireplace, huge gold mirror, beautiful victorian furniture and couches and a straight shot looking out to the Washington Monument to meet a couple  "big shots" I knew this was a good sign.

How cool would it be walking inside this building on a daily basis?

And then just when I thought I already had a difficult decision to make-

1. Stay with Nat Geo when there's a chance they might not hire me because I love my job or

2. Work for the House of Representatives which would be a once in a lifetime opportunity while I'm  living in DC and now there's a number 3

3. Just today someone reached out to me for a Digital Graphic Design Job in LA and they're wanting someone who speaks Portuguese!! Could this be true??

Since when does this happen? A job at some major company, doing what I love, in a city I love, beautiful weather (I don't want another humid summer in DC)  and they are specifically looking for a fluent Portuguese speaker! They had literally posted the job on Linkedin minutes before they reached out to me. 

And here I'm thinking I already had a major decision to make and now this? When I started reading this (Call me a cry baby. I know. I'm different. The mission has changed me) I started to get teary eyed. I can only thank the Lord. I know he is looking over me and while I feel like I am so unworthy of all the blessings he's pouring out to me in my life I am extremely grateful. Sometimes I wonder why me? And I guess I always resort back to the phrase my mom told me growing up...good things happen to good people.

fun fun fun

So there are times when I can easily say..I love my job. I love what I do. after I finished this infographic for the show The 80s: The Decade That Made Us I could easily say that. I was even featured on random websites like this one: http://www.rediscoverthe80s.com. My creative directors gave me complete freedom to do whatever I wanted. I obviously went crazy with the colors. And out of all the things I have done or designed this was by far my favorite. I've said it before, I said it just after I finished this project and I'll say it again....I love what I do!

oh happy day

I realize I am a much happier person when its warm. Today was no exception.

It was a whole 83 degrees today! Simply beautiful. And it was not only warm but there wasn't any humidity (I am so not ready for that to come yet..) Because of the temperature and all the cherry blossoms I can say that this was the first day of Spring..oh wait. 83 degrees in Spring? And tomorrow should be 90?  I guess I can say summer. I heard DC doesn't have a Spring. Crazy to think that a couple weeks ago it was snowing and now I am enjoying this beautiful weather! Ashley and I met up for lunch to eat at the food trucks and clearly a million other people had the same idea. It felt so good to lay on the grass, in the sun, even if I did get grass stains on the back of my shirt.

And then...

look who came in 2nd place in our family March madness bracket?! That would be me! I had forgotten to fill out my bracket so my sister called me seconds before the first game started and told me to quickly fill it out. 2nd place isn't bad for a girl that literally filled this thing out in a minute. Too bad I am not $50 richer. Best part was my dad apologized for having underestimated my final score and ranking. He never admits he's sorry or wrong. Because I had forgotten to fill my bracket out I was logged out of the ESPN website and my points weren't being accumulated like all my other siblings so this 2nd place winner was a complete surprise to the family today, especially my dad. Of course it wasn't a surprise to me. I knew I would at least place in the top 3.

And then there was this..

I received more likes than ever on Facebook and I think never in my life will I ever get more than that. This normally happen when you get engaged, married, have a kid etc, but I am pretty sure nothing will top this. Thanks Nat Geo. By far the highlight of my week since I live and breathe Facebook. I have always aspired to get over 4,700 likes. Mission accomplished. The story behind this- at work we all went around sending funny 80s pics to each other. Then someone in digital marketing wanted to use these 80s images for 3 individual categories in a photo contest and mine was selected! Since I design everything digital it was me who got to design the specs for Instagram, Facebook and the photo contest. That was strange. Never have I designed anything with me in it. And because I am so vain, I loved every second of it. 

Talked to my Creative Director and he told me Nat Geo are fighting for me and they are doing everything in their power to keep me. I heard back from The House of Representatives and they want me to come in for a 3 hour interview this Friday. You heard me...3 hours! Hopefully this will put the pressure on Nat Geo and I'll find out about my job. Just heard amazing talks in conference this past weekend and can't wait to study them in more detail. Life is good. So many blessings all around. Here's to more happy days like this!