The Mo You Know

i'm back

2012-01-16T13:26:00.001-07:00

hi and i'm back and alive and in america.

Mission: Here I Come!

2010-06-22T22:51:00.001-06:00

I'm off to the MTC in the morning. See you all in 18 months!

Sort of BIG news

2010-04-24T22:57:00.000-06:00

So, yeah. I'm going on a mission. I got my call on Wednesday and I'll be reporting to the MTC on June 23rd. I will be a missionary in the Arizona Phoenix Mission. Just a hop skip and a jump away. If I was Paul Bunyan, I would say 'literally' to that expression.

I'm not going to lie, I was so so very disappointed when I opened up my call and found out that's where I was going. And then I read on and it said English speaking. So much disappointment in just two lines. I'm also not going to lie and say I didn't cry. But seriously, can you blame me? I currently live in Utah and I'm from California. My mom was born and raised in the California desert and I was raised going down there a couple times a year until my grandma died when I was in high school. It's the same thing! I'm going to one of the only two states that boarders both Utah and California. Seriously? Could I get any closer to home? I'm completely fine with going state side, I just wanted to go further from what I've always known.

HOWEVER, I'm very excited to serve a mission and be a missionary! I really truly am. And I am also, really truly, getting more excited about serving next door. I have faith that this is where I'm supposed to go and that I will soon find out why. I have already been able to come up with a handful of reasons as to why the Lord would possibly not send me to some exotic foreign mission like I wanted. Really, the more I think about it the more I can see how the girl who wants nothing more than adventure, excitement and culture would be much more effective in Phoenix than in India or Cambodia or Whoville.

I've talked to quite a few return missionaries and they're all so excited for me and no one seems any less excited when I tell them where I'm going. And when I actually think about it, I can't remember ever hearing any return missionary telling me where they served with anything but love for there mission. I think this is a very good sign.

I am turning over a new 'I'm so excited about the Arizona Phoenix Mission' leaf and I invite you all to join me in my excitement. Going on a mission was never in my life plans or a goal of mine but here it is and I know it's right.

On another note, ANY advice or suggestions will be welcomed and appreciated. I'm so clueless about this preparing for a mission nonsense.

And on another other note, you should read this talk by Elder Rasband. It's about the process of choosing where each missionary will serve. I am so very very grateful that my mom's relief society president sent us a copy of the talk when she did. I read it two days before opening my call. I can't imagine the hysterics I would of preformed if I hadn't read this talk first. Seriously, it would of been bad.

2010-03-17T19:12:00.003-06:00

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

2010-02-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

My life really isn't that exciting. Obviously, I'm not still in Santa Maria. It was nice having three weeks off to be at home with the family and not in Utah with freezing temperatures. But now I'm back. Whatever. When I was home we went to Santa Cruz for Christmas with some family.

Here's my mom and I on the Boardwalk:

My mom and I also spent a day in Pismo. It was such a BEAUTIFUL day. It was clear and sunny and NOT windy and about 80 degrees. It was perfect.

We also took Nathan to Oso Flaco one afternoon. I really really miss being so close to the ocean. The mountains are okay but nothing compared to the ocean.

Then I came back to Salt Lake. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Utah. It's just not home. It's not the Central Coast. And it's not Me.

I started interning at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) as soon as I got back to Utah in January. The IRC is a great organization that helps refugees come to America from countries that are currently in some sort of turmoil. I am working with two Iraqi caseworkers. We are currently seeing a lot of Iraqi refugees. There are also quite a few Nepalis and Sudanese coming to Salt Lake. There are certainly more countries with refugees, but this is just what I see the most of. The IRC really is a great organization with very limited funding and if you're looking for a place to donate unwanted/unneeded goods you really should think about donating to them first. They need EVERYTHING. When refugees come to us all they bring with them is a suitcase (or 2) and it's our job, IRC's job, to set them up with an apartment with the bare essentials. A bed for each person to sleep in; 1 couch; one table with 1 chair per person; 1 plate, cup, bowl and set of silverware per person. It really is quite basic. Anything more is just a want. They rely on donations. Just something to think about. Go HERE to learn more.

So this last weekend my Mom and Mary were in town; with a mission to find a dress. A wedding dress to be precise. Yeah, so Mary is still getting married. Silly girl. But she found The Dress. That certainly is a relief. I didn't take any pictures though while they were here. Actually, that's a lie. I did take quite a few, but they were just all of Mary in different wedding dress possibilities. I've since deleted them since The Dress has been purchased.

Anyway....That's my life. Like I previously said, not that exciting.

2010-01-02T12:01:00.002-07:00

Still home in California. And I like it.

HOME!

2009-12-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Yay, I'm at home in California! And it's nice to be here. I cannot believe I haven't been home since last Christmas-time. It has been WAY too long. I was fortunate enough to find a cheap $200 ticket flying into SLO. My parents picked me up Sunday night from the airport with a hot thermos of hot chocolate. Monday was spent shopping and cutting out fabric. Yesterday I took Nathan to do his Christmas shopping and to see The Princess and the Frog. It was cute. And then after dinner my mom and I decorated chocolate covered Candy Cane Joe Joe's. And now it's Wednesday morning and all I've done is sleep in, watch Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and goof around online. Vacations really do agree with me.

Some days are just STUPID

2009-12-16T21:21:00.002-07:00

Monday was just one of those days for me. How can any day that starts at 4:30 a.m., much less a Monday, be expected to be anything but stupid? I started the day off by being betrayed by my favorite shoes. They're purple, how could they possibly do this to me? So apparently, no matter what the color of your favorite shoes is, once they've been worn so long that they come apart at the seems, they're no longer snow-proof. An hour into my shift and my feet were wet.

It snowed here all weekend and the roads hadn't been cleared yet when I started driving. It was even snowing for the first hour or so I was driving. I slid all the way through an intersection (twice) and had to make a detour. Thankfully there was no accident. Sometimes I'm really convinced God cares about me and my safety and my job. About 5 minutes later, I was getting nudged off the road by a huge semi-truck and hit a block of ice. And sometimes I'm convinced that God thinks it's funny when I freak out. So I pulled over to check everything out and lo and behold, I couldn't open the front door. I didn't notice any other damage though, thankfully. My supervisor just said to take it to the lot and get another bus.

Yeah, so this bus didn't like me either. The lights wouldn't work. And it's illegal to drive a bus without the headlights or clearance lights on. So they had to get another bus.

Bus #3 isn't a bus they wanted used for the day, so then a supervisor came and switched it out of that one.

Bus #4 broke down while I was on my lunch break. Yeah, that's right, 4 buses before lunch. The turbo somethingorother broke off while my lunch relief was driving. He continued to drive and then hand the bus off to me all without telling me that #4 wouldn't go over 12 mph. Yeah... so I had to get out of the bus again and check out the engine and see what the *&$@^% the problem was this time. BTW, I changed my socks while on my lunch break. Now they're wet, again.

So bus #5 was brought out to me. My supervisor said I set a record for driving the most buses in one day. I asked if I would get an award or a raise. He said I get a pay decrease.

By bus #4 it was just a joke and I was laughing. But I'm not going to lie, it wasn't all roses. Words such as "I hate this bus" and "I hate my job" and "why's the snow so stupid!" and "Why does anyone choose to live in UTAH!" and "Why did my shoes betray me in my hour of need?" and of course "I just want to go home". I think it was at that point that I wanted to call my mom. Bad days and sopping wet feet are days for phone calls home. But she didn't answer. So I did the next best thing. I went shoe shopping.

But seriously, I think a pair of waterproof boots were totally in order.

These are the shoes.

They were the same color as this wall.

BTW: I didn't actually hit a block of ice. It was some stupid cement block completely covered in snow and ice. Either way, my front door wouldn't open.

2009-11-11T17:49:00.008-07:00

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!
I am eternally grateful for those who have fought for the rights and liberties I enjoy today. Both of my grandfathers and my dad are war-time veterans. I also have a cousin currently in the Army. I am so grateful and proud of them. And more then that, I am thankful and proud to be an American.
I came across this quote today. I appreciate it and hope to be a better example of it too.

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

2009-10-18T00:46:00.000-06:00

My mom was bugging me the other day asking me when I was going to update my blog. I told her I'd do it when something worthy of talking about happens. Still, nothing has happened. Whatever. I guess there are a few things I can talk about.

#1: My BABY sister has gotten herself engaged. WTF?!?! you may say, so do I.

#2: My burn is no longer a scab or painful. It is now a scar. Sarcastic yay. (however, as ugly and noticeable as it is, I kind of like scars. Every scar tells a story about you. Something completely and uniquely you. Scars are even better when they have a good story behind them. I should make something up for mine because, let's be honest, cooking dinner is so cliche'.)

#3: I just finished reading Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen. It was so fantastic. I laughed out loud quite a few times. And it was interesting and I feel slightly smarter for having read it. I'm always looking for ways to make myself feel smarter. It's good for the self-esteem. ALSO, double plus bonus: The main character has a thing for being a hobo too!

#4: My mom dropped a frozen roast on her toe and smashed it (the toe not the roast). Apparently there was a lot of blood and an E.R. visit. While at the hospital my parents ran into our neighbor (who was there because of some reason that has nothing to do with the story, the point is he was there and that was very random) who is a retired butcher. He told my dad that when he was in the Navy, he once dropped a whole frozen side of beef on himself. He was out for 2 months. I think that story makes my mom thankful that she just gets a week on crutches.

I just found out from my mom this past week that when I was about one year old she dropped an entire frozen chicken on my head. Being vegetarian is looking good about now. Also mainly, I was never dropped on my head as a child, something was dropped ON my head. Ergo, no "that explains so much" statements are still not acceptable.

#5: Starting on Monday I will no longer have the annoying work shift time of Noon-7pm. I will be getting off at 2pm. YAY! (that does mean I have to be in the office at 5:30am though. I'm just choosing to look a the positive). I really don't like working in the afternoon like I have been. It just kills your whole day. I always end up sleeping in and not getting anything done before work and then by the time I'm home from work , it's almost 8pm. However, there is a really big down side to this new schedule (minus waking up at 4:30): I won't be on the Gold Route, I will be driving the regular campus routes, which I really don't like at all. The Gold Route (G.R. for short) is the dream route of all bus drivers everywhere. I show up at noon and don't do anything until about 3 or 3:30. Then I drive until 7 and then I'm done. It is because of the GR that I upgraded my phone plan to unlimited minutes; I got through so many books this summer; I took naps while on the clock; I was able to read The Book of Mormon (almost) daily; I returned all those phone calls you always say you will but don't; spent hours writing; spent hours day-dreaming; and most importantly, because of the GR, I learned that just because you may work for Goldman-Sachs, doesn't mean you're smart. I mean seriously, the bus driver knew that 30'C was roughly 90'F (86 to be exact. I calculating it in my head and not with a calculator) and the Goldman Sachs employees didn't. Someone thought it was 75'F. I felt so vindicated in that moment.

So, you might say "why are you giving up working in the lap of luxury?" The answer is simple: I'm sabotaging myself. I really truly am. I need a new job and working the GR is just so simple and easy and comfortable. So I'm putting myself in a position I will despise in order to make my find a new job. Sometime people just need a little fire under them to get moving. I have long known that I am one of those people.

#6: I signed up for a gym membership today. I've been debating it for a few months now, but now that my work schedule is changing it will be a lot easier to go. So here's to hoping I will! I was also putting it off because of the cost. But when I went in there today and they found out that I was a U employee, the guy told me we get a discount! I think it was meant to be.

#7: I think I'm going to be a Zombie Cowgirl for Halloween. I was just going to be a Cowgirl, but that's kind of boring. You can liven up any halloween costume by just being dead. It's a fact.

#8: I think I'm out of anything to say. Kind of a crazy thing for me to say considering I am my father's daughter, but it's late. I think I'll go floss.

And before I leave, here's a couple of picture from Egypt 2006. The first one is from Luxor and the second one is with my summer roommate Kara on the Mediterranean at my favorite beach ever.

Burn Update: Maybe Too Gross For You

2009-09-15T00:30:00.002-06:00

And to really gross some of you out, here's a picture of my burn from last night.

It's healing. And going to leave quite the battle scar. Also mainly, it does still hurt. Mostly just when I move my wrist.

Happy 09/09/09!

2009-09-09T23:29:00.003-06:00

My life just keeps moving along. I got a new phone, and have yet to 'misplace' it. Big accomplishment for me. I've seen a few movies, gone to work, church, hung out with friends, etc, etc...

My cousin Cristina was in town this last weekend from Phoenix, so I spent a bit of time with her and her sisters this last week. And I of course didn't get any pictures of us, just the kids. They're cuter anyway.

Cooper was having fun getting his hair buzzed off. Duncan on the other hand, was near tears as you can tell from the pictures. But the next day he saw that his church best friend cut his hair short too and then he was fine with it. It's kind of hard to tell in these pictures, but the reason they had to get their hair cut was because Duncan and Cooper decided to cut their own hair. And Afton's too.

Afton needed her picture taken too. The only way to get her to smile though, is to ask her to show you her teeth.

And no load of laundry is complete without a ride in the basket. Pulled by me.

And we will end this post with a picture of my most recent piece of handy work, a burn. On Monday night I was cooking dinner and picked up a pan off the stove in each hand and I guess I wasn't paying attention and then I hit the inside of my right arm with the pan in my left hand. It hurt. To say the least. I screamed. It wasn't a yell or a howl or even swearing, but an all out scream. Twin came over about 30 minutes after it happened and walked with me to the store to get aloe and an ice pack. On the short walk home the frozen medical corn I had taken with me was no longer frozen and Twin asked me a question and I just couldn't concentrate on anything long enough to answer a question, much less a somewhat elaborate one. The next day I talked to a pharmicist and asked what they recommended. And then today I went to the doctor. I got a prescription and they dressed my wound.

Funny note: after asking me how I burned myself, the doctor then asked "do you feel safe at home?" I was a bit shocked that anyone would assume that I was being abused at home. He said it was just a precaution they were required to take. I kind of laughed and assured him that I did this to myself. I really, truly am just that klutzy of a person.

It's My Life

2009-08-23T01:05:00.014-06:00

I haven't been too good at updating, I've been more focused on my other blog. But I do still need to (and try to) keep this one up too. My life really hasn't been too exciting lately. Just the daily grind. Twin and I have successfully finished watching the entire first, second and third seasons of Psych in about a two week frame. We are slightly obsessed. Everywhere I go and every conversation I have, Psych quotes go through my head. It might be a contagious disease.

Twin pictures and Roommate Pictures.

Twin's birthday was on Thursday. Since we've been friends, this is the first summer I've been in Utah for his day. A group of us went out to dinner Thursday night. It was pretty low key. But Friday night he had a party at The Tavernacle. It was so much fun! I've heard of it and been wanting to go pretty much since I moved to Utah but just never have. It's this bar that has dueling pianos and sing-alongs. So much fun! Most people drank. Jewel, Bang and I threw back a few Shirley Temples. We like to keep it real. I also realized that when you request a song and you dedicate it "to Twin from Twin on your 26th Birthday" then everyone assumes it's your birthday too and sing to you as well. That sort of back-fired on me.

It's fun to make Bang Sandwiches when you dance. It's also fun to make her dance when she doesn't really want to dance. Sometimes it's a lot more fun to pretend to be drunk because then people don't actually realize how crazy you really can be. Bang and Jewel know what I mean.

The group minus Julie

Today was a laid back day. I was awaken by yet another Twin text. However, I learned my lesson from last time and my text alert is so much less annoying now. I also learned my lesson by simply not responding to him until I felt like waking up. Which is exactly what I did. I ran some errands in Sugarhouse and then came home and watched TV and uploaded pictures from my camera to my computer. I went through a bunch of Photo Booth pictures I have and found an obscene amount of pictures of just Twin, Jewel and I. It's slightly ridiculous how many there are. Then later on in the evening Jewel and I walked out to Sugarhouse and met up with Julie at this new burger place. Then we walked around Sugarhouse a bit, walked Julie home, and then walked ourselves home. There was a lot of walking.

WAKE UP

2009-08-11T13:53:00.002-06:00

I was woken up this morning by an incoming text message an hour before my alarm was set to go off. I had slept for almost 6 hours at this point and my incoming texts sound like a car racing down the street and is on vibrate (both of which I promptly decided to change). 99% sure Twin (a.k.a. Zack) sent it solely to wake me up and annoy me. This is how the conversation went:

Twin: How did you sleep?
Me: OMG! Thanks for the crap wake up text
Twin: LOL! Well, now you can get a move on things. :D (big smile with teeth)
Me: Up yours
Twin: Then my work here is done. 0:) (angel smile face)
Me: (swear word)
Twin: Are you just going to fling insults at me now?!?
Me: Going back to sleep now. and dreaming of imported high thread count sheets
Twin: Haha! don't dream about bugs or dirty sheets!
Me: UGH! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! NOW I'M AWAKE.
Twin: OMG! Twin, you needn't be so dramatic about everything.
Me: Did you know my family is afraid to wake me up in the morning? it's a family joke that you take your life in your hands. reason #1 for Daddy Daughter Donut Day.
Twin: What was reason #2?
Me: My dad liked alliteration.
Twin: Yay! Now I am part of the joke too!

Yeah, so that's how I woke up this morning.

On a side note, completely unrelated to ever, ever, ever getting up early, I did a load of laundry, cleaned out my portion of the pantry and cleaned the bathroom (hand and knees kind of cleaning) all before work this morning.

2009-08-03T10:48:00.005-06:00

My mom came to Utah just to visit me last month and I never posted any pictures from that week. It was fun and nice having her here. And I miss her. We didn't really do many exciting things while she was here but we still had fun. Here are some pictures.

On the roof of the Conference Center

My cousin's adorable kids, Afton and Cooper. My mom was sitting down at the kitchen table when Cooper came in the room and saw her for the first time in a few years and he went right up to her and hugged her and wanted to sit on her lap all afternoon.

American Flag cupcakes we spent hours making. The picture in the book looks better, but they still turned out nice and everyone loved them. Especially the kids.

My mom's last night in town. We went to the Red Iguana for dinner with Zack, Leslie and Jewel.

Here we are at the airport saying good-bye. Also, this is the only picture I got of us together from the entire week. I'm a bad picture taker.

2009-08-03T10:03:00.017-06:00

Sometimes updating can be such a hassle. But sometimes it's not. Life is weird that way. Anyway, I guess I have had a few adventures since the last time I've posted.

I got a new bed

I saw a bunch of llamas at a gas station

I went to Moab

I hiked to Delicate Arch

I saw the Colorado River

I hiked up Mill Creek in Moab

I went to Castle Dale

I swam in the Great Salt Lake

I went to the Spiral Jetty

I developed a suspicious rash on my arms that confused the dermatologists as well

I went to a bad mexican restaurant called Guadalahonky's solely for the purpose of it's name

I went on a 10 mile bike ride

I deep cleaned the kitchen

And made black bean tacos and south western egg rolls for Zack and Leslie and I didn't get any pictures of the dinner. But here's a picture of Zack and Leslie instead.

Donut Falls

2009-07-22T10:24:00.003-06:00

Last night I went with some friends on a hike to Donut Falls. It was so green and lush, I forgot I was in Utah at times. On our way up to the falls we past by a moose and it's calf. It was at that point I realized my camera battery needed to be charged. Whatever. On the way back down it was sort of scary because the momma moose was on one side of the trail and the baby on the other. So we had to wait about 10 minutes until they were both on the same side so we didn't have to get between the mom and her baby. But it was fun and I've never done that before. Here are the three pictures I was able to get before my battery died. Enjoy.

Also...

2009-06-18T20:33:00.001-06:00

I lost my phone about three weeks ago. That makes it 6 times in 12 months. I didn't get it back. My dad said I finally met a dishonest person in Salt Lake.

it's been a while

2009-06-16T20:18:00.001-06:00

So, the semester is over. I moved. Again. And I still work on campus as a bus driver. That's pretty much it.

It's the Hobo's Life for Me

2009-04-17T12:16:00.002-06:00

So I've been INCREDIBLY stressed these past few weeks with everything that's on my plate. Four classes, working 30+ hours a week, planning on moving to DC but not knowing when or how or where I'm going to live or what job I'll have, etc... So I've decided that I'm going to be a Hobo instead. I won't need a job. I won't need a place to live. I won't need money. And I won't even need to make plans. It's the perfect solution to all my stress and anxiety. So I was looking online for some How To tips for being a Hobo and I found the best advise in 6 easy steps.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Quit your job. Hobos do not have stable employment, since it cuts into their hobo time. The steady flow of reliable income won't be necessary as you embark on your new life.

2. Abandon your home. Hobo life is not tethered to one location. Embrace the transient nature of the lifestyle. Leave with only the clothes on your back and a few possessions, which you should bundle in a square, checkered tablecloth tied to a stick.

3. Cease all contact with family and friends. Develop a new, more tenuous social network with other hobos. Cutting off people you know allows you to dive into the solitary hobo life. Sudden lack of contact keeps loved ones from questions about your decision and the inevitable intervention where people try to change your mind.

4. Heed the call of the train whistle. Hop a freight train and see where it takes you. The ideal train car for traveling is already open and not filled with cargo. Find one with a hay-strewn floor and settle in for the ride. Play your harmonica for entertainment.

5. Learn to ramble. Nonsensical conversation is a cornerstone to the career of any successful hobo. Decide if you want to rant at passersby or mutter to yourself. Educate yourself in hobo terminology.

6. Meet your fellow hobos. Hop off the train and look for the flaming garbage cans. Offer to share some of your meager belongings or a can of beans upon meeting people. They probably won't trust you immediately and you'll need to do something to get their attention. Swap stories about riding the rails. Fellow hobos will be the people to notice if anything happens to you.

Like I said, it's the Hobo's life for me.

Ice Plant

2009-03-25T12:00:00.004-06:00

I am fully aware of how long it's been since I've posted last. It annoys me sometimes when other people who have blogs I follow, take so long to update. How hypocritical am I?! I just haven't felt like I've had anything noteworthy to say.

My birthday was on the 10th. That was fun. I still had to work and go to school, so not too much celebrating. But I received some nice presents from people I love. I gave up candy for lent but allowed myself to eat some Swedish Fish for my birthday. Sort of my present to myself.

Last week was Spring Break. I still had to work, so not too exciting either. I did go to Bikram Yoga a few times though. I enjoyed that A LOT. For those who don't know, Bikram is yoga that's performed in a REALLY hot room. 110* and 35% humidity for 90 minutes. I like it. And each time I went, my urge to throw up decreased. That's progress at it's finest.

I went snowboarding last Friday for the first (but not last) time this season. I love snowboarding, it's just so hard for me to schedule it in. I work M-F in the evenings and I have school most days. Plus, it's expensive. But I still love it.

There was a gas leak on campus yesterday. Apparently two pipes were accidently drilled into by road workers so they shut down everything and evacuated everyone until the leak was fixed. UNFORTUNATELY it happened right after my last class got out so no canceled classes for me. Also UNFORTUNATELY I still had to work. Double Plus Bonus lame. Although, I did get hazard pay and there weren't many on campus wanting rides.

Yep, so there's my exciting life. Everything that's been going on in a nutshell. OH! This isn't news but I just found it amusing. So my friend Leslie, who is from Central Eastern Utah (Emory County), went home with her roommate for Spring Break. Her roommate is from Temecula. And she saw Ice Plant for the first time. This is what she said about it: "Apparently it is the fad to have purple flowers in your lawn. It is called ice plant and it is a very popular thing to have covering half your property. But, I have to admit it was very beautiful especially when combined with the bright orange poppies." That made me laugh. I guess I just forgot how 'unusual' it is to someone from Utah. Those of us from California are just so used to it we never give it a second thought. Ice Plant just reminds me of Elementary School. I picture the embankments at Pine Grove covered in it and the Noon Duty Ladies always yelling at us to stay off of it. Once when I was in one of the lower grades (1-3, I don't remember which) a gardner snake was found in the Ice Plant on the side of the school in the area that separated the upper grade field form the lower grades field. Anyway, the custodian was to scared to catch it so one of the teachers, Mrs. Ater (sp?), had to catch it. This was headline news to us at the time. I think that possibly Allison would be the only one who reads my blog who may possibly remember this. Anyway, my point is, Ice Plant reminds me of Snakes, Pine Grove Elementary School and Noon Duty Ladies.

Raging Waters

2009-03-11T15:36:00.002-06:00

So I haven't updated in a while. Not too abnormal for me. My life hasn't been too exciting lately. I've just been working everyday and going to school. Work is stupid. My goal is to one day have a job that I really enjoy. I can't even comprehend such a magnificent thing. I don't think I've ever had a job I've really liked and certainly never a job I've LOVED. When I think of all the jobs I've had (which have been quite a few) I haven't ever enjoyed any of them. There were some that I hated a lot less then others or days I was glad to be employed by a certain employer or even tasks I liked but nothing I could ever imagine sticking with forever. The really annoying part for me is that I can't even conjure up a dream job. When I was a kid, my amazing high school/college dream job was to be a life guard at a water park. Eight year old me couldn't imagine anything better then being paid to hang out all day at a water park. Just imagine, at the end of your shift you have to get to the bottom of the slide, so what do you do? Duh, you ride the water slide down. Seriously, Raging Waters Life Guard was the stuff dreams a made of. Or were, when you were a kid. Now working at a water park just makes me worry about sunburns, cancer and leathery skin. What's a girl to do? So I just keep going and doing and being, hoping that this dream job I don't even know about will appear.

2009-02-17T09:19:00.004-07:00

Nothing really new in my life at this point. I'm just going to school and working. Working and going to school. And then going to school and working some more. It's really quite an exciting life. I'm all moved in to my new apartment and liking it here. Although, I've barely had time to organize all my stuff. But I have no class tomorrow, so that's going to have to be the day everything gets done. On the plus side, I did get EMPLOYEE OF THE SEMESTER. That's right people, not year, not month but SEMESTER. Anyway, I think it's funny. I get a free movie pass or something really awesome like that. Also, mainly, I got 73.5 out of 75 points on my first stats test. I'm pretty pleased with myself. Anyway, that's all I have to say.

Just for fun, here's some pictures of my friend Zack and I. Playing around with Photo Booth is fun.

CRAZY

2009-02-04T11:18:00.003-07:00

This week has been crazy. That's the only word to sum up this week. I have my first stats test tomorrow, a quiz on the kingdoms of Africa on Friday, a paper due for my Health class Monday and a 6 page take home test/essay for my Judaism class due Tuesday. On top of that, I work every night from 5:45-11:45 pm. Oh and on Sunday night I decided to move. Which is what I'm going to be doing after I post this.

2009-01-30T14:32:00.008-07:00

Life has seemed a bit crazy this past month or so. I started back to school, I'm taking 4 classes. They aren't really hard or anything but two of them have required a lot of reading and one of them is stats. (Health and Human Relations; Anthropology of Judaism; Social Stats; and Cultures of Africa) So far stats hasn't been difficult and I feel like I'm keeping up, but we'll see. We have our first exam on Thursday. In my Cultures of Africa class we've already had a quiz and have another one on Tuesday. The first quiz was identifying where all the countries of Africa are and 8 of the more prominent rivers. (side note, the other night I was at the Trax station when I realized I'm missed the last one for the night and met another girl in the same situation. We started talking and decided to walk home together since we lived just one block away from me. She was in the library late studying for Arabic! Anyway, she had an accent and I asked her where she was from and she told me Africa but I had to guess which country. I got out of her that it was West Africa and from there I just went through the list in my head. She was quite impressed. However, I think she was less impressed when I explained to her why I knew the names of every African country.) Our next quiz in that class is on the African Kingdoms. We have to identify 3 and give the years, region and five facts about accomplishments and why they are considered accomplishments. I really like this teacher a lot. I've had her before for the Anthropology of Food and she's a crack up. She can never figure out the video projector or ANYTHING technical and always says the funniest things. Plus, she's an actual anthropologist, she's not just a teacher. She only teaches classes in the Spring and the rest of the year she's being an anthropologist. Currently her work is in Papua New Guinea, but she had done extensive work with the Bushman in Africa too. In my Judaism class we will be getting our take home exam on Tuesday and will probably have a week to do it. It just feels like this semester has started off fast and just keeps gaining momentum.

There has also been a change at work. I sort of got a promotion two weeks ago. I am now a fully benefited employee (3/4 time). I'm driving the night route now. I kind of hate getting home a midnight now but it's nice to have my days free. I only have classes two days a week and the earliest starts at 9:10 so I haven't been TOO tired either. The night routes are pretty easy too. When I drive the Blue route I have about a 8 minutes layover every 30 minutes and with the Red route it's about 10 minutes, so I have plenty of time to read! Which is how I am able to keep up with the reading for my Judaism class.

I also decided last week (Sunday to be exact), after talking with my friend Zack, that I need to move. In May when the semester is over I'm moving. I know this is not in line with the usual way I live, which is only planning one semester at a time, but I figured who cares? It's my life. Plus that's just barely over 3 months away, pretty soon, yet it feels so far away. I've decided to move to D.C or if I don't get a job there it'll be Alaska again for the summer and then to DC. We'll see how everything plays out. I just think I need a change. I'm comfortable here and that's how I know I need a change. I have no out of this country travels planned for this coming summer (like I have for the past 4 summers) so this is my alternative. Double plus bonus: it's exciting AND can help my career. It's a win-win...I think.

There's just about 19 million things I want to do/experience/be that it becomes just so hard to make a decision. Plus I'm hardly ever certain of anything. I mean, I'm certain I love traveling and anthropology and the Middle East, my family and clean sheets, but besides that I'm just not certain what will make me happiest. Or more importantly, what will make God happiest. It's hard to give your will over to Him when you just don't know what exactly it is He wants from you. I've never really gotten a personal revelation of what I'm really supposed to do or to be. Honestly, the closest I've ever gotten to personal revelation has always been after the fact. A few months ago I was talking to my bishop about what I was thinking about doing and how I just wish that the Lord could give me a little more help in knowing what's right and my bishop said something that has actually REALLY helped me out a lot. It's really quite simple but perfect for me. He told me that GOD TRUSTS ME. He said that God's known me for longer then I've known myself and knows that I'll do the right thing. He said that's why some people (me) just don't receive the revelation they need until after the fact.

I guess it's just so simple that I couldn't see it. Of course trust works both ways. The more trust we put in Him the more trust He puts in us. It's just like any other relationship we have. Trust is a two way street.

Anyway, that's not really where I was planning on going with this post, oh well. I guess it's not the worst thing in the world for me to open up to people a little more. People who are really emotionally closed off drive me crazy. Hmm, I wonder why? On a much lighter note...

My friend Marika thinks my life should be made into a graphic novel. She feels like I live a very captivating life as a bus driver. This is her first drawing of Super Hero Me.

She says that when I was born I had black skin and my parents wanted me to be a super hero so they dipped me in a vat of toxic waste. However they unknowingly dipped me in bleach instead. Hence the extremely pale skin and curly blonde hair. But to this day I still live the life of a half super hero. Or something along those lines.

Goals and things of that sort

2009-01-11T17:31:00.003-07:00

I sort of think New Year Resolutions are stupid. Does anyone even stick to them? However, I am a proponent of making and sticking to goals. What's the difference? you may ask and the answer to me is simple: a new years resolution is something you feel you have to do and a goal is something you chose to do at anytime because you feel you need it. I suppose it's the non-conformity in me speaking. I don't think I've always been this way, so non-conforming that is, but the more life I've lived the more I've felt it. And I'm going to be 27 in March, I've lived a long life. The point I'm trying to make is this: I've set 13 "Goals" for the new year. Is thirteen an unlucky number? Is is still unlucky if I set these goals while in sacrament meeting on a church bulletin? I'm thinking thirteen may be my new lucky number (it's currently 8, for you nosey heads). I suppose the idea of telling you what they are is so that I will be help more accountable for them, I hope it works.

1. 4.0 GPA this coming semester (If I get a B in math that's still going to count). I've been thinking about going back to school this semester and retaking a couple of classes I didn't do so well in the first time around. By doing this I would significantly raise my overall GPA and thus making me more competitive for grad school, should that be what I choose.
2. Pay off my loan.
3. Accrue no new personal debt.
4. Go to Mexico
5. Increase my physical activity level (ie. work out more)
6. Eat at least one serving of fresh fruits and vegetables with every meal
7. Become far more spiritual (ie. daily scripture study, temple attendance, keep the sabbath day holy)
8. Attend Institute regularly
9. Laugh everyday
10. Learn to sew
11. Go shooting more, improve
12. Learn to hold back more tears (by this I just mean to stop crying at sappy things in movies and books and on TV).
13. Read 2 new books a month (this will be increased if I end up NOT going back to school this semester).

I also don't believe in blanket goals. By that I mean vague goals that could potentially cover a lot of ground. If your goal is to "read more" you need to set a goal of what "more" is. Or if your goal is to get a 4.0 GPA you need to (in my case at least) set a lot of mini goals to allow you to achieve that bigger goal. Duh I know this is all basic stuff we all learned in Young Womens, but I just don't think everyone gets it. That's what bugs me so much about New Year Resolutions. And that's also probably why they never end up being kept. So, many of my goals have more parts to them that I have just chosen not to blog about. Best of luck to all "Goal" makers and keepers.

My Christmas Break pt 2

2009-01-06T23:18:00.013-07:00

John, my sister's (Riana) boyfriend, took us shooting one afternoon. It was a lot of fun and (double plus bonus) I was good! especially with the sniper rifle. P.S. Nothing living was shot. I still don't think I could ever shoot an animal.

I just love this picture and oak trees. This shot reminds me of the cover for Big Fish.
These cows were very suspicious of us.
John looks like a little boy in this picture
John forgot to bring enough earplugs, so in this one he's plugging Riana's ears with his hands and his own ears with his shoulders. What a good boyfriend.
I'm always a lady, even when shooting a sniper rifle.
I just think this is a cool shot of us shooting. Thank you Riana.

This gun is a German WW2 rifle. Pretty nifty.

John and I and his truck
I just like the point of view of this one.

This llama was just walking around.
Apparently if you cross a cow with a golden retriever this is what you get. A Scottish Highland Cow
Emu
Who would of thought Emu eggs looked like this?!
Three happy girls

Natalie and I also took a short hike behind our old elementary school in the Orcutt Hills.

There is the photo essay of my Christmas Vacation.

My Christmas Break part 1

2009-01-06T22:41:00.009-07:00

My Christmas was fantastic. Lots of time spent with family and lots of good food and relaxing. My photos will tell my story of my vacation in California.

The following 2 are from Christmas morningMarshall The Dog
Patrick, Elijah (Ed) and Nathan

I absolutely love going home. I love California and I adore and am mesmerized by the beauty of the Central Coast. With that said, Santa Maria is boring for those in their mid-twenties. There really isn't anything for us to do in the evening. This is what we ended up with:Natalie and I decided to recreate our lives in Santa Maria of Past...at night.
Natalie in front of our elementary school alma mater
Jacks is an Orcutt classic
Sometimes I like to dance like an umpa lumpa in front of my old high school
Natalie knows how to represent
Remember when this was Camelot? THOSE were the days.

We went decided to go to the Guadalupe Sand Dunes and Lake Oso Flaco. It's very pretty out there. However, I recommend not going right before sunset, give yourself more time.

The Hair

2008-12-14T14:31:00.003-07:00

My mom finds it humorous and odd that I don't brush my hair. I keep telling her that you just don't brush curly hair, apparently people with straight hair don't realize this very important fact. Here are some pictures for my mom to prove this point.

All I did was brush my hair, that's it. I didn't even us a boar hair bristle brush. No product of any kind was used in the taking of these pictures. And also, I'm just drinking water out of that coffee mug. I can't stand drinking out of plastic so sometimes that means drinking water or orange juice out of mugs. It's just something I inherited from my father (along with the hair).

Playing Catch-Up

2008-12-14T12:53:00.007-07:00

So I know I haven't done a real post in a while, sorry. The reason why is because I've wanted to post pictures to go along with my post and my pictures have been divided between many different friend's cameras. So I guess I'll start with late October and then go from there.
One day that my friend Leslie and I both had off work we went to Red Butte Garden. It was absolutely beautiful. The fall colors were amazing and overpowering. I loved it. We took about a million pictures, we just couldn't help ourselves.

And then a few weekend ago I went with Leslie to her parent's home in Emery County. Emery County is in Central Eastern Utah. It's another one of Utah's beauties. We didn't do too much while there but I did meet her parents and some cousins and eat some delicious homemade food and see a dinosaur foot print. We had fun and it was nice to get away for the weekend.

Sorry for the bagillion pictures, but I can't help how beautiful everything is around me. But I suppose I can help my blogging frequency. Whatever. Other then that, nothing too exciting is happening in my life right now. I'm still just working, driving around in circles. I've spent the past few days thinking more seriously about grad school. but...that still may be a while off. Mary spent the week here for Thanksgiving, it was fun having her around. We went to my cousin's house in West Jordan for Thanksgiving and we both had a lot of fun with them. More family get-togethers are a definite must. I'll be going home for Christmas on the 24th, I'm very much looking forward to that. That's about all I have at this point.

I'm so totally a celebrity now

2008-11-29T20:20:00.006-07:00

CLICK ON ME

2008-10-30T01:06:00.001-06:00

So I'm just lying in bed being very unproductive. Sleep would probably be the most productive thing I could do right now. whatever. Anyway, my adorable friend Jackie had these surveys on her blog and I felt like doing them. I'm a copycat.

I am: acne face freak
I think: a lot
I know: not so much
I want: purple shirt
I have: great friends
I dislike: bills
I miss: my family
I fear: not
I feel: content
I hear: phil collins
I smell: clean
I crave: a good book
I cry: too often
I usually: sleep in
I wonder: what the next big change in my life will be
I regret: stupid stuff
I love: cooking
I care: but sometimes I don’t
I always: go out of my way to step on crunchy leaves
I worry: I’m not doing good enough
I am not: finished
I remember: my shoe size
I believe: life is short
I dance: badly
I sing: worse
I don’t always: remember to brush my teeth
I argue: too much
I write: poorly
I win: hardly ever
I lose: a lot
I wish: money wasn’t one of my problems
I listen: to NPR
I don't understand: love
I can usually be found: thinking
I am scared: of losing loved ones
I am happy: being loved

The Second Tag

8 TV SHOWS I LIKE TO WATCH

1. The Office
2. 30 Rock
3. Law & Order
4. House
5. Gilmore Girls
6. Pushing Daisies
7. Psych
8. That 70s Show

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS (today)

1. Albertos
2. Buritto Loco
3. Bombay House
4. Curry in a Hurry
5. In -n- Out
6. Happy Sumo
7. Barbacoa
8. Red Iguana

8 THINGS THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

1. Worked
2. Called old landlord
3. Blog-Stalked
4. Ate late night pie with Leslie
5. Watched 1/2 of An Affair to Remember
6. Made french toast for breakfast
7. Showered
8. Decided I need a new job, quickly

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Snowboarding
2. Christmas
3. The weekend
4. Sleeping
5. My next paycheck
6. Being made perfect
7. Christmas baking
8. The holiday season movies

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST

1. New job
2. Updated music
3. New Clothes
4. New shoes
5. New apartment
6. Car
7. Photographic Memory
8. The Love of my Life

I need a new life...

2008-10-28T22:15:00.002-06:00

Work started out pretty good today. I had some friendly passengers who were pleasant conversation; An old anthropology professor was on board, and totally remembered me; And a railroad crossing sign came down on my bus. See, pretty good. But then I had some annoying/rude passengers, I had to switch buses, my stomach hurt, I was behind schedule ALL DAY, and I left my book on the bus. So it's official, I'm sick of my job. I REALLY REALLY need to get job in my major field now. Today was just the motivation I needed.

On a more unpleasant note, Max was fired on Friday. He is sort of a lose cannon. One day after work he was giving me a ride home and started asking me about my love life. He then proceeded to tell that all I need to do is bat my eyelashes and I can have any guy I wanted. Also, after I got back from Yemen he said I had been very missed and was very loved. He can be very off-putting at times but he was always nice to me. His wife also works with us and she's also very nice and is also a fan of me. (I apparently like to use the word 'also').

Also, Mary came to town last weekend and We went to Lagoon with some friends of mine. We had fun. Here's a couple of pictures from that fatefully fun night.

Updating My Life

2008-10-21T10:41:00.004-06:00

It's been a very busy past few weeks for me. Things have been kind of crazy. I moved at the beginning of the month into an apartment with my friend Crista. We've been painting and cleaning and we both work and she also goes to school, so it's been a very slow process to say the least. My sister Mary came down for conference weekend from Rexburg and helped us do some painting as well. She's a good couple inches taller then either of us, so she was much appreciated.

I also had the opportunity to go to the Timpanogos Caves with a couple of friends. It was a really nice hike and the caves were amazing and the scenery on the way up was amazing. We actually went twice. The first time we went we just happened to show up on the only day in the history of the park that they were offering admittance to the park and cave tours for free. Tickets were sold out by 9 am. Needless to say, we didn't get to see the caves but we enjoyed the hike anyway. Then later on that week we went back and were able to see the caves. Here's some pictures.

Jake, Leslie and I

Inside the Caves

We also had the chance to drive up American Fork Canyon. It was so beautiful this time of year. I LOVE all the fall colors. Being from California where there is very little change in seasons, has given me a great appreciation for all the colors of fall.

Survey Stuff

2008-10-11T10:35:00.002-06:00

My friend tagged me and I was bored. You're supposed to answer each question with as few words as possible. Blah.

1. Where is your cellphone? Floor 
2. Your significant other? Heaven?
 3. Your hair? Blonde/Curly
 4. Your mother? California
 5. Your Father? Work
 6. Your favorite thing? Slurpees 
7. Your dream last night? Roller Skates
 8. Your favorite drink? Fresh mango juice
 9. Your dream goal? Travel EVERYWHERE
 10. The room you’re in? Bedroom 
11. Your hobby? swimming 
12. Your fear? painting 
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Anywhere but here. 
14. What you’re not? boy 
15. Muffins? good 
16. One of your wishlist item? A painter 
17. Where you grew up? Santa Maria 
18. Last thing you did? Text message 
19. What are you wearing? pajamas 
20. Favorite gadget? iPod 
21. Your pets? Marshall The Dog 
22. Your computer? MacBook 
23.Your mood? good 
24. Missing someone? Family
25. Your car? bus 
26. Something you’re not wearing? socks 
27. Favorite store? Target 
28. Like someone? everyone 
29. Favorite color? Yellow 
30. When was the last time you laughed? Last night 
31.When was the last time you cried? Last week?

Yemen and Stuffffff

2008-09-28T20:59:00.006-06:00

I realized after I posted my last blog that I didn't actually let anyone know that I am officially back in Salt Lake. I got back on the 20th at about 11:30 pm. From the time my plane took off in Sana'a to the time I landed in Salt Lake it was a total of 32.5 hours of travel. On top of that, my flight left Sana'a at 12:01 am on the 20th, so that means I didn't get any sleep. I woke up on Friday at 10 am and didn't get to bed again until Saturday/Sunday at 2 am. I calculated that out to being 48 hours. Needless to say, I did not make it to my 9 am church Sunday morning. In fact, I slept until noon on Sunday. I completely needed it. So here's the last of my Yemen Trip Pictures.

These first ones are from Dar Al Hajar. Imam Yahya built this palace as a summer residence in the 1930s. Now it's just used for visitors/tourists but it still stands as the image of what Yemen looks like.

Here's a few pictures of the magnificent views from up on top of the 'summer home'.

A lady came to the center one night and I got henna on my feet. It was pretty cool. And it actually stays for a really long time on me. She was able to do it so quickly too. Both feet were done in about 20 minutes. Here's a couple pictures of what it looked like.

And here's a few pictures of Old Sana'a. Old Sana'a is my absolute favorite part of Sana'a. It's just so amazing and it's about as close to time travel as anyone can get.

Just your average, everyday brass store.
This is a Camel-Mill. The camel is blind folded and walking around in circles grinding sesame seeds into oil.
Just some neighborhood kids.

66-342

2008-09-23T22:17:00.003-06:00

Things have been a bit crazy and I haven't been able to update until now. Right after I posted the last entry the internet in Yemen went down. There was no wireless for almost a week. Then when it did come back, it took far too long to upload pictures, so I just didn't update. Sorry. Sometimes it would take me an hour to just upload all the pictures. It was just getting far too time consuming.

Anyway, I think I mentioned in a previous blog that my bedroom is on the 5th floor of a building without an elevator. I walk up 66 steps every time I need to go to my room. I usually make 3-5 trips up the stairs a day. At school my first class is on the third floor and the second class is on the fourth floor. There are 32 steps to the third floor, 48 to the fourth. One day I calculated that I climbed 342 steps. I imagine that's about average.

This is what walking up the stairs to my room looks like.

Life was extremely exciting.

Another Weekend Trip

2008-09-09T03:01:00.009-06:00

So it's been a while since I've updated. oops, sorry. It's just that here in Yemen the internet connection is quite slow and it takes a good hour to load all the pictures and everything. blah blah, excuses excuses. Things haven't been too busy here, just the usual busy. Last weekend I went on another day trip. The landscape here just keeps getting prettier and prettier.

The first place we stopped was in Wadi Dhahar. We really didn't do much there other then just go to this overlook spot and see the town/landscape. Here are some pictures from Wadi Dhahar:

After Wadi Dhahar, we went to Thula. Thula is about 55km northwest of Sana'a and is considered one of the major theological centers of the country. There is a solid stone wall surrounding the city and was considered the least conquerable in all Yemen. During the Turkish occupation in the 16th century this city remained unconquered. There is only one door or entrance to this city and up until VERY recently the Imam would close and locked it every night at 8pm. This used to also be a Jewish village.

I like these first two pictures because you can see exactly how the wall of the city looked.

This is just a cool picture of the city and of two women carrying jugs of water on their head. They still have to go to the community "watering hole" (I don't remember the actual word for it) everyday to get the water they need.

Then we went for lunch in Shebam. Sitting on the floor eating from low tables (if you even have a table) is how they do it here in Yemen. They place bowls/plates of food on the table/floor and everyone tears off a piece of bread and eats from the main dish. I can only imagine how many American health code violations they're breaking.

After lunch we went to the village of Kowkaban, walked around and took some more pictures from the spectacular view. The only door to this city is still closed and locked every night.

Another Trip

2008-08-31T07:24:00.019-06:00

I went on another trip this past weekend. 2 nights and 3 days. It was fun. I was able to see some amazingly beautiful parts of this country. So green and striking. You'd just never imagine parts of the Arabian Peninsula being so green and fertile. We left Thursday morning, bright and early, and went first to Rada, about 150 km south of Sana'a. We had lunch in there and visited a beautiful mosque. The mosque was said to have been built around 500 years ago. I of course left my camera in the van at this point and have no pictures.

Then we checked into our hotel and I took a short nap before going to the natural hammam. There is a volcano in this city so the hammam was completely heated by the volcano. It was the hottest water I have ever been in in my life. It burned to just have your feet in it but if you completely submerged yourself it really wasn't too bad. After the hammam, we hiked up the volcano. At this point I had my camera so here are some pictures from that.

This is what the inside of the volcano looked like. Yay.
Here is a view of the volcano we climbed.

These two are views from the top of the volcano.

The next day we drove to Ibb. We walked around the cities and had lunch there. Then we went to Ta'iz, which was my favorite part of the trip. Here are some pictures of the beautiful landscape between Ibb and Ta'iz.

You can see people working in the field in this picture.

In Ta'iz we visited al Qahirah, which I believe is an old citadel and governor's palace which sits on top of a mountain 450 meters above the city center. The sun was setting when we were up there, which made it twice as beautiful and very difficult for me to stop taking pictures.

If you look closely you can see a heard of camels making their way down this steep steep mountain.

Then the next day, Saturday, we got up early and had breakfast and then toured around the old city and the palace of the Imam. While on our walking tour I found 200 rial on the ground. Woo me! That's about the eqivilent of $1 in the States but it bought me an ice cream and a water bottle. Your money goes a bit further here in Yemen then in the States. After we left Ta'iz we drove up the mountains, past all these little 'villages' until we got to the top of the mountain. We were at an elevation of about 3300 meters. Very high and extremely beautiful. So of course I took many pictures.

It's just so beautiful

Most all the agriculture/farming in Yemen is done on these terraces cut into the sides of the mountains. These terraces have been carved out over thousands of years. It's just so amazing/beautiful.

The mom really wanted us to take pictures with her kids, but she refused to be photographed herself.

So that was my three day weekend. It was nice to be able to get out of Sana'a and see some more of Yemen. I almost forgot one of the best parts of this trip! In Yemen there are all these check points along the roads and foreigners traveling have to have permissions to pass. So at one of our first check points the guards there decided that we shouldn't be traveling without security, so they insisted on escorting us (they must of been really bored). The best part is that from where we were stopped waiting for them to escort us we could see all the guys in the car combing their hair and 'primping' for us. We all got a good laugh out of that. They escorted us all day until about dinner time and then went home. The next morning though, they were back and stayed with us until about 4pm. That was the end of them. How bored must you be to want to just drive around, following these foreigners around. One or two of them even climbed the volcano with us. So unnecessary.

Really High

2008-08-27T07:12:00.005-06:00

Salt Lake City's altitude is 4,226 feet.
Denver (the Mile High City)'s altitude is 5,280 feet.
Sana'a, Yemen's altitude is 7,220 feet. 2,220 meters That's really high.

I was looking up altitude sickness and they said that it usually doesn't cause people many problems until 2,400 meters. Well, that's really close. Some of the symptoms which I have felt have been lack of appetite, fatigue, light-headedness, shortness of breath, and drowsiness. They all come in waves, but they are getting shorter and further apart. However, I do live on the 5th floor of an elevator-less building, so some of those "symptoms" may never really go away.

School's been going good and I've been able to see some more of the city. Today we went to Al-Bait Al-Sanani (The Sanani House). It's this replica of what a traditional Yemeni house looks like. It is even more clear to me now that EVERY house in Yemen is about 4 stories high, narrow, and have no elevators. But the views from the top are amazing. I still just cannot get over the beauty of this city. The architecture just blows my mind every time I get another chance to be on a rooftop. Here are some more pictures of this amazing city.

Here are some pictures from the Sanani House we visited today. Every house here has a 'mufraj' which is sort of just a living room. They have cushions on the floor against the wall for people to sit on. This is where the entertaining, sheesha smoking (water pipe) and qat chewing is often done. It is usually the top floor of the house and is also usually the most decorated and it also usually has those beautiful stained glass windows. I vowed today to one day have my very own mufraj. Also there's a picture of my teacher and another teacher showing us some typical weapons found in any house. Don't worry, they're not trying to kill Americans.

Manakha

2008-08-23T10:09:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, Friday (the same as the Western Sunday), I went on a school sponsored trip to Manakha. Manakha is about 90 km west of Sana'a in the Herraz Mountains. This region is apparently famous for its coffee, qat and the landscape. The landscape was fantastic. On the way there we even drove past the tallest mountain in the Arabian Peninsula. This area is also the ancestral home of the Ismailies. They're a Shia'a sect of Islam which still has a holy site in the area. We had a traditional Yemeni lunch and watched some more dancing. The dancing was really quite fantastic, and fun.

Here's some pictures of the town of Manakha.

The boy with the blue-ish white shirt in the middle is this kid who followed me around the entire time we were there. He kept trying to sell me with purple scarf. Whenever someone else would try to talk to me he would grab my hand and tell the other guys to 'shut up'. He kept saying that we were now friends and when we were walking on rocks and stuff he would say "nice and slow". He was really cute but he was also just working. He was just trying to get me to buy from his family's shop.

Sana'a Sana'a Sana'a

2008-08-23T06:41:00.005-06:00

It's been a few days since I've updated so I feel there's some catching up in order. School's been going great. They actually know how to teach Arabic here. The text books used back in the States are Awful. Why in the world would you teach words like United Nations, the same and literature in the first chapter; translation, specializing and admissions in the second chapter; Family words aren't introduced until the third chapter and words related to your house (like room, bathroom, and kitchen) don't show up until chapter 14. It's just a poorly written book for teaching anyone how to speak Arabic. Instead it teaches you Arabic grammar. Grammar that native speakers with college degrees don't even fully comprehend. Anyway, the point is, I'm liking learning here A LOT more then I did back in Utah or even Egypt. Don't get me wrong, I still love Egypt I just feel that the teaching here is better. I'd love to stay longer, I'd learn so much more. I just can't afford it right now. Blah.

So class has been good and the city has been fun and I've been getting to know some other people here too. My roommate is from England and is currently living in Tel Aviv getting her Masters. Her name is Shoshana and she's pretty nice. There are very few Americans at this school. In my class of 6 students I am one of 2 Americans. The others are from England, Italy, Germany and Poland. There are other people here from Armenia, France, Norway, Greece, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and Spain. I think that's it, mostly Europeans.

On Wednesday the school had a welcome bar b que. The food was ok. I wasn't sure about the "hot dogs" or hamburger patties but the chicken looked good so I ate that. Then some people started to dance. Just so you know, you have not lived until you've seen a Yemeni do the Electric Slide. This is a video of two of the teachers dancing for us the way Yemeni dance. My teacher is the one with the tan coat on. (FYI: it may be kind of boring)

Here are a couple of pictures I took in a few blocks from where I live on Wednesday night when it was raining. I think I looks beautiful with the rain.

Then on Thursday I finally had a day to sleep in. YAYYY!!!! Thursday in Yemen (and most of the Middle East) are what Saturdays are to the rest of the world. Friday is the Muslim holy day, Sunday to us. So on Thursday I slept in and then went to lunch with a group of people. The restaurant was this hole in the wall that had great food. There were about 6 tables in there and we took up 2. It was SOOOO hot inside there. They had no air conditioning, just like everywhere else I've been in Yemen and the food was prepared right there over open flames. Also, the gas line was quite visible and ran right in between the guests and the cooks. Safety is a word I feel is synonymous with Yemen. After lunch I came back to the Center and did some laundry. Lucky us, we have working washing machines here and clothes lines. There was also a Quat Chew on Thursday. Quat is this leaf that EVERYONE in Yemen chews. After hours of chewing it you're supposed to get something similar to a caffeine high, by higher. Apparently it wakes you up and makes you more alert. I tasted it once and that was enough for me.

Saturday evening I went walking around Old Sana'a with Guilia (Italy) and Alexander (Germany) and got dinner. Old Sana'a is amazing! I just cannot say anything else about it. We were walking around I just felt like I had been transported back in time. I can imagine what life was like there 1000 years ago there. Old Sana'a was all built before the 11th Century and it has been inhabited for over 2500 years. It's just a remarkable, humbling place to be. It's also an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here's some pictures I took that night, (the quality is only so-so).

And here's a couple pictures of the outside of Old Sana'a during the daytime.

Pictures

2008-08-18T04:53:00.006-06:00

Here's some pictures of the view outside my bedroom windows (yes I did say windows. As in the plural of window. When I lived in the basement there was one window and it was in the bathroom). There are also a couple of my room. My favorite thing so far about Yemen is the architecture. Most of the buildings all have stained glass windows on the top floor windows. Fortunately for me, I also have them in my room and they're in all the class rooms at school. If there anything greater in the world then red, blue, green and yellow stained glass windows who cares! Also, I looked out the window today while in class and I saw the mountains in the background. It made my heart sing. If you look closely at the pictures you can see them too. They just make me feel like I'm back in Salt Lake studying Arabic again. Ok, here you go with the pictures.

Can you see the mountains in the background behind all the buildings? Apparently Utah really isn't the only place on Earth with Mountains. Go Figure.

I get to sleep every night with stained glass windows watching over me. How romantic.

Arriving

2008-08-17T18:01:00.004-06:00

So I'm finally in Yemen after hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of planes, airports and layovers. The trip started out Friday morning in Salt Lake. My plane left at 9:55 am, which isn't that early it's just that I only got roughly 4 hours of sleep the night before. Then I flew to New York and had a two hour lay over there. Then I was off to Frankfurt Germany for another 2 hour layover. And then to Yemen. That totals roughly 25 hours of travel and 4+ hours of layovers. I arrived in Sana'a, Yemen at about 9:30 pm on Saturday and didn't get to bed for about another 3 hours. I then woke up the next morning at 6 am. Needless to say, I'm extremely tired and my sleep schedule is completely out of whack. P.S. It's 9 hours ahead of Utah here.

I woke up about an hour before my alarm was supposed to go off. Fun. It's just so loud here. I forgot that it was like this in Egypt too. America is such a quiet place in comparison. Granted, I'm in a big city here and not the suburbs, but still you have no idea how much constant noise there is here. People talk much louder then Americans, they honk their horns every 5-10 seconds just for kicks, they never seem to go to sleep, and the Call To Prayer is LOUD and 5 times a day. I believe it woke me up between 4 and 5 am yesterday morning. I'm going to learn to accept that this is going to happen daily.

This morning we had an orientation and then we took our placement tests. I feel like I've forgotten EVERYTHING I once knew. That's a bit frustrating. After I was done with that is was 11:30 and I had a city tour scheduled for 1pm. I thought a one hour nap sounded perfect. And I was, except for the fact that it meant missing lunch, which I didn't realized until 1pm when lunch was over and the tour started. Joyous. Anyway, I obviously survived and went on the walking tour of Sana'a. It's such an amazing city. Beautiful and poverty stricken all in one. We walked past a camel mill. There was this camel walking around in circles grinding Sesame seeds for oil. The camel was blind folded and just kept going. We walked through the Souq where I saw frankincense and myrrh. There were so many spices there too. We went to the roof of this hotel and got an amazing view of the entire city. Then we had this amazing tea. I'm not a tea drinking (duh) but I figured it was part of the cultural experience of being here in Yemen and everyone else in the group wanted to try it. The place where we went is run by this one guy who individually makes every cup of tea. He adds sweetened condensed milk to it. My dislike for tea and milk is greatly outweighed by my love of sugar. It was delicious.

When we got back to the Center I got my laptop set up for the wireless internet and then went to dinner with Ross (from Ireland) and one of the daytime security guards here at the center. We had chicken, foul, bread, french fries, this salad stuff and sodas for 600 rials total. That's roughly $3 in the states. I love how cheap everything is here.

I went to bed last night at about 9pm because I was soooooo tired (justifiably so) and then woke up at about 1:30 am. The power was out. Which is common in the MIddle East. It happened frequently in Egypt also. Typically it occurs in the middle of the night when you're sleeping, however I'm not sleeping now, I'm awake blogging. Good thing my laptop was fully charged.

Here are some pictures from the hotel of Sana'a.

Getting Ready

2008-08-12T10:40:00.003-06:00

The day is coming up so quickly. I'm leaving for Yemen on Friday morning! I'm very excited to be there but I'm getting nervous about my current Arabic abilities. I have totally been slacking off and not studying AT ALL. It's just really really important that I pass this class, my degree depends on it. I am also not looking forward to the painfully long plane ride ahead of me. If I have it calculated correctly, from the time I leave Salt Lake until I land in Sana'a Yemen, it will be 26 hours, with 21 of those hours actually spend flying. Not a particular experience I'm looking forward to. The flight bad is a bit worse, long lay-overs. However, I'm counting on Yemen being great enough to defuse any traveling annoyances.

2008-07-31T23:50:00.002-06:00

It's been years since I've updated. I've just felt like I haven't really had much excitement in my life to update anyone on. Nothing too new and exciting still, but I thought I'd still update.

I went to California last week. That was fun. I flew into Long Beach and spent a few hours with my Aunt Patty Jo. Then my friend Natalie picked me up and we got dinner and then just hung out. We spent the next couple of days looking at potential houses for her to move into. She's transferring down to Cal State Long Beach in the fall and needs a place to live. It was fun hanging out with her and a little bit stressful too finding a place that she would enjoy living in. She finally settled on a great place (my favorite). It's a guest house this family rents out just half a block from campus. I was also able to see a couple cousins while in the area. One night we even ventured up to Hollywood to see a friend's band play a show. That was fun and nice to do something fun instead of working on finding a place for her to live.

Then we drove up to Santa Maria and I then spent the next week with my family. That was the best part of the week and a half trip. I just got to sleep in and go to the beach a couple of times, go to the movies, rent movies, eat good food and be with my family. Yesterday I had to fly back to Salt Lake out of the Long Beach Airport. My parents drove me down there and we hit some pretty crazy traffic. I seriously did not think I was going to make my flight. It was scheduled to depart at 6:05pm and we didn't pull up to the airport until 5:46pm. As I was getting my bag out of the trunk I heard them over the intercom announce "Last boarding call for Erin Keelin". I then started running and yelled "that's my name!!" Thankfully I only had carry-ons and I'd already checked in online so I could go straight to the security. A Delta worker was waiting for me at the security point and we both ran from that point onto the plane. I seriously would not have made my flight if I was there even just a minute later. Too close for comfort.

The highlight of this trip though came from the wisdom of my 10 year old nephew Nathan. We were driving to Morro Bay on Tuesday and we drove my some Llama farm. Mary loves llamas for some reason and got excited. At which point Nathan says to Mary: "Mary, I don't know why you like llamas so much. Everyone knows that alpackas is where the money's at." Where does this kid come up with this stuff?

I've only back to Salt Lake last night and already life here is pretty hectic. I didn't go to sleep last night until 2:30am and then got up at 6 am to take my friend Crista to the airport. I then came home and slept for another 2 hours until I was awaken by a girl I've never met before moving into my room. Sweet. So I got out of bed and started accomplishing some of the things I had to do today and then went straight to work. After work I had to go grocery shopping with a friend and to dinner. I then came home and swiftly, with the help of my roommates Lisa and Julie, moved my bed and a few other belongings into the upstairs bedroom I'm moving into. The OTHER girl who's also moving into my former bedroom wants to get all her stuff moved in by tomorrow. I also have to work tomorrow from 9am to 6:30pm. Which means that before 9am tomorrow morning I have to get the rest of my stuff out of that room and into my new one. Also, the OTHER girl who moved in that room today has a final tomorrow morning so I can't do anymore tonight and I cannot even get into the room until 7:30 (at the absolutely earliest) tomorrow morning. Lisa says this is what you call burning the candle at both ends. Fun times. What's really getting me through this is that I know that somewhere out there in California there is a 10 year old boy who knows that Alpackas truly are better then Llamas.

Also, the girl who moved in today collects porcelain dolls and collectable plates. She plans on displaying them in our living room in a special armoire. Don't be jealous and don't try and take her as your roommate.

Tilly & the Wall

2008-07-03T00:41:00.006-06:00

Life's just been going on as usual for me. Nothing too new or exciting. I saw Get Smart the other night with a couple of friends. It was actually very funny. I'm kind of a comedy movie snob, some would accuse me of being an every movie snob, but I just don't think there are a lot of smart, intelligent and funny movies out there. But I really did laugh at this one. It's good, you should go see it. I also saw In the Land of Women and Into The Wild this week. I really liked both of them. Into The Wild kind of inspires me to be a more adventurous and care-free person. And I luckily know better then he did about living in the Alaskan Wilderness, like: DON'T DO IT. There's a reason why it's called The Last Frontier. In The Land of Women was good too. I really like Adam Brody so he's what made me like the movie. I did have a couple of issues with it, but over all it gets a thumbs up from me.

I went and talked to the Middle Eastern Studies career counselor today. It ended up being an hour and twenty minutes long and it also ended up being twenty minutes of useful help and an hour waste of my day. I really don't think she should be doing this job. She pronounced The United Arab Emirates wrong (she said Em-er-ott-ees. WTF??? em-er-ott-ees?); she suggested that I work as a reservation agent for EgyptAir, and she also pronounce finance: fin-ance. I know the last one isn't really a big deal, it's just really annoying sounding. Needless to say, I will NOT be meeting with her ever again.

After that I went to work. Work was good and uneventful today. The AC on my bus worked well, so that's always a plus. I'm one of the only girls where I work, so that's kind of fun. Except they're pretty much all married or not Mormon. But it's still fun. I like pretty much everyone I work with and they all seem to like me. I know my bosses do. And so do the 2 drivers that I relieve in the afternoons. I work in the afternoons from 12pm or 2pm until 6:30pm (most days) which means that someone else has been working on that same route since 6am and I just go directly to the route and we switch places. Well, it's always Sid or Wendy that I relieve and they both have said that they wish I was the driver who relieved them everyday. They said they can always count on my being out there on time and waiting for them at the relief spot when they get there. It's good to know/hear that my other co-workers appreciate me and think I'm doing a good job.

And after work today I went to a show at Kilby Court. Kilby Court is pretty much my favorite venue every and one of my favorite bands every was playing tonight. Tilly and the Wall. They're amazing. Their percussionist is a tap dancer. She is so cute to watch dance also. This is the second time I've seen them, both times at Kilby. Kilby Court is so cool because it's just so simple. It's just this all ages venue down the end of this street (Kilby Court, duh). They just have this area fenced off and there's a garage there with a stage that the bands play on. When it's cold they have bon fires too. I've seen some really amazing bands there. Anyway, I love the place and I haven't been there in a few years. When I was seriously dating this guy...a few years back we would always go to Kilby. Once a week was pretty normal. I was telling Crista that tonight at the show and she was all "well, that's what happens when you date a guy in a band". And it's true. I was totally one of those girls. I was once the girlfriend. It's just so weird now. I used to totally be so into the Salt Lake Indie music scene and now it's been how many years since I've even been to a show? I guess I just really needed a break. ANYWAY, the show was great and I loved it and Kilby Court.

On a sadder note, my family just found out this last week that my 17 year old cousin has cancer. He has Non-Hodgkins T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. That can just be shortened down to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He started on chemotherapy Saturday morning (or late Friday night. Not really sure.). Anyway, the doctors sound pretty positive about his prognosis but it's still pretty scary. He's the same age as Mary. He's just so young. But fortunately for him, he's a really healthy and active kid. He's on his schools football and baseball teams and plays club rugby. So I have no doubt that Austen will be a fighter. It's just so crazy though. I mean, I can't think of a single adult on either side of my family who has had cancer, but this is the second time a child has had cancer. First was my sister Riana when she was 7 with Ovarian Cancer now my cousin Austen. Crazy.

Anyway here is a link to the music video Tilly & the Wall did at Kilby Court a couple years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZCZRTcY3uA

Catching Up

2008-06-30T00:35:00.006-06:00

I know it's been a few weeks since I've updated, oops. I went camping a few weeks ago in Spanish Fork Canyon. We hiked to these natural hot springs and hung out all night. I love finding places like that, especially here in Utah. The next morning we just hung out and ate lunch/breakfast. Jake brought his guitar with him so we had fun singing along with him. I've been waiting to post because I've been wanted to post pictures but I forgot my camera so Jewel has all the pictures on her camera and I still haven't gotten them from her yet. Anyway, it was BEAUTIFUL!!! The hike to the springs was about an hour and was along a stream/river. This made the trail gorgeous and so green and so shady and so not Utah looking. The whole hike was completely shaded and there was so much green ground covering and so many trees. We loved it.

Then that evening my roommate Julie was competing in an Iron Chef competition with this guy who used to be in our ward (Jeff) and I was Julie's Sous-Chef. It was really fun. We even had a gong to start the competition out right. Julie and I made 6 courses, including dessert, and we won. By one point. It was a lot of fun and there was so much delicious food to eat. a

Then... the next week I went with my friend Leslie to her ward's Relief Society Retreat. Apparently the church recently purchased/built/something this camp in the mountains up above Heber. So we stayed in cabins there for just Friday night. It was really cold that night so Leslie and I zipped our sleeping bags together and shared a single bunk. We were probably the only ones who never got cold during the night. The next morning their Elders Quorum came up and cooked us breakfast and then we went canoeing and peddle boating. It was fun.

Then... that following week nothing too exciting happened to me. I didn't really do anything exciting that weekend. Wait a second, oh here's some thing interesting that happened to me. The air conditioning went out in the bus I was driving on Tuesday and Wednesday. And those were also pretty hot days here in Salt Lake. On Tuesday at one point the bus got up to 106* inside the bus! But, in the defense of the bus, it only got that hot at the end of the day when I closed all the windows for the night. But while I was driving people in the bus, it did get up to 104*. Needless to say, I came straight home from work and took a shower and changed my clothes. The next day wasn't quite as hot. The inside the bus temp never got above 100*. I don't really know why I'm complaining, I've done Egypt on buses with no air conditioning. Some of my funniest Egypt stories come from the times spent on the buses. I've got a handful of bus/bathroom stories, a cockroach on bus story, the movies they play on buses story, bus breaking down (multiple times) story, inconsiderate passengers story, and an extremely considerate passengers story. That's all just from Egypt. If you count into consideration my last summer working in Alaska as a tour giving bus driver and my current job driving buses, I think I could ride a book. In fact... my friend says I should write a book and title it "Diaries of a Bus Driver: How to Attain Enlightenment by Driving in Circles". I'm thinking about it.

And then... Last weekend my friend Crista and I went to Moab. We had so much fun. We were originally going to camp but then when it turned out to be just her and me going, we (I) decided to find something else. I found a hostel for us to stay in. It was only $9 a night a person and it was clean and the people were nice. Something most people probably don't know about me is that i LOVE staying in hostels. It comes from my time spent in Egypt and Turkey. I've always had good experiences in hostels. And you ALWAYS meet such interesting people who are friendly and want to share their experiences and just talk. Anyway, we stayed at the Lazy Lizard Hostel in Moab. On Saturday we got up early and got breakfast. We had to look around a little bit for a place since Crista is currently Vegan. But we found a place and then we hiked up Mill Creek Canyon and lounged on some rocks in the river. It was beautiful and I wanted to take a lot of pictures. However, my camera wasn't working. All the pictures were coming out white. blah. Then we went to Arches and drove around and went on a couple of short trails. Crista got sun burned in Mill Creek Cyn because she didn't put on sunblock. Silly girl. And it was just so hot neither of us really wanted to do much hiking. Then we got dinner and then went to a lake just out of down and swam for a little bit before turning in for the night. The next day we went river rafting on the Colorado River. It was a lot of fun and we took lots of pictures because we bought disposable cameras!!!

Anyway, that's the update of my life. Sorry so long. I won't wait so long in between blogs next time. Here's some pictures from our Moab trip.

Me in the life vest on the Colorado River
Crista and I. Isn't the scenery too beautiful for words?
Crista with our raft
Me in the cold river
The ever so beautiful and breath-taking desert

Survey thing

2008-06-03T23:11:00.004-06:00

Rules first: I need to answer 6 questions. I then tag 6 people and post their names here, then go to their blog and comment to tell them that they have been tagged and to visit here to find out the rules. I must then let the person who tagged me know when I have posted my answers.

  1) 5 Things on my ‘to-do’ list:  
a. Send off loan information 
b. Grocery shopping
 c. Stop scratching my skin 
d. Read The Screwtape Letters
 e. Study Arabic

  2) 5 Snacks I Love:  
a. Cookie dough 
b. Slurpees
 c. Sweedish Fish
d. Rice crispy treats
e. My mom’s homemade coffee cake

3) 5 Things I’d do if I suddenly became a millionaire:
a. Travel
b. Pay off debts
c. Pay off my parents debts/house
d. Buy a car
e. Invest/buy property

4) 5 Places I’ve lived:
a. El Monte, CA
b. Santa Maria, CA
c. Salt Lake City, UT
d. Skagway, AK
e. Alexandria, Egypt (sort of)

5) 5 Jobs I’ve had:
a. Campus Shuttle Bus Driver
b. Bus driving tour guide, alaska
c. Home Depot
d. Old Navy
e. Smith’s Marketplace

6) 5 Things people don’t know about me:
a. I’ve been called for jury duty 3 times in 5 years
b. I’m addicted to a couple of webcomics
c. I have to change my bed sheets at least once a week
d. I’ve SCUBA dived in the Red Sea
e. I hate mayonaise

Anyway, I don't really know a lot of people on here, so whatever, anyone can do this who wants to. It's just for fun.

Just an average day for Maureen

2008-05-25T18:20:00.004-06:00

So my very good friend Lara had her birthday on Friday. She was my roommate this last summer up in Alaska. She's a great girl and I'm pretty convinced she was the reason I was able to make it through my first month up there. Anyway, it was her birthday and she was going to have a party at the Tumbling Gym in Provo and really wanted me to come but I already had plans and couldn't make it down there, so instead we decided I'd come down on Yesterday to hang out. I was planning on taking the bus and trax but my roommate was going down that way anyway to visit her parents so she gave me a ride. We had a lot of fun catching up and going through her Alaska scrapbooks. We also got her all caught up on The Office, which was extremely important. We had chicken pesto pizza and rubarb bars, which are both delicious treats she would make up in Alaska. The typical Maureen part started when I tried to get back home.

So by the time we were done hanging out all the buses back up to Salt Lake were done for the night. So Lara just took me up to the very Southern end of the Trax line and I was going to ride that back home. Well, we missed the last trax by about 4 minutes and was stuck in Sandy at 10600 South and I live in Salt Lake at 400 South, approximately 102 blocks away. Also, it was 11:10pm at this time and it would take about 30 minutes to get to my house by car from there and then another hour back to her house from my house. I didn't know who to call to come get me because I didn't want to have to do this all over again the next morning. I have no clue who my Home Teachers are; my roommate who is the sweetest, nicest, best person in the world is out of town this weekend; Jewel's car broke down last month and had to be sold for parts; and plus, I lost my phone a couple weeks ago and haven't replaced all the numbers yet. I was sort of in a though spot. Not owning a car can be a very humbling experience. I decided I'd take a chance and call Jewel anyway and see if she was hanging out with anyone with a car (two of her roommates have cars). I called her and it went to voicemail. She I called her sister Bang, knowing that they'd probably be together, and she answered! She gave the phone to Jewel (who just didn't hear her phone ringing) and Jewel I told her I was stranded in Sandy. Thankfully, again, she was up watching a movie with her roommate Leslie and Leslie has a car and they both came and got me! Lara didn't want to leave me alone but I told her that if she just took me to the Denny's by the freeway I would be completely fine until Leslie and Jewel got there. I order some onion rings and waited.

It was an unfortunate experience because I hate having to put people out but it worked out. I remained very calm and collected and was even able to laugh about it at the time. I was thinking about how I would of reacted if this would of happened 5 years ago to me. I probably would of started crying and been really upset and maybe said a few swear words. Maturity really does agree with me.

This is one of our last days in Alaska. Very Very cold. My hair is straight and Lara is the other one with blonde hair, Julie is the red head.
This is Lara with her running companion in Alaska, Phantom.
Everyone's last day together. So bittersweet. This is in Sea-Tac airport before we all said good-bye. Lara, JerriLynn, Kaycee, Aimee, Me!

I"m just trying this out

2008-05-22T19:06:00.000-06:00

   I'm just playing around with photo booth on all of these pictures.
   This is Jewel and I
   Jewel, Me and Leslie