priorities

I really like this.

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good.’”

my wild 21st birthday.

I was woken up by mom and Austin with balloons, signs and a fruit bowl with a candle. Sarah the came over for my birthday hair wash. We then went to an 11am movie with all the old folks (because apparently that's who goes to the movies at 11am). That was followed by an amazing Mediterranean lunch where I ate suchhhh a good wrap. Went home to my Aunt Jenn, Lauren and my favorite little cousins playing in my pool. Socialized for a bit, then passed out on the couch for a crazy wild birthday nap. Got up and met them all back out at dinner, no one I'd rather have spent dinner with. Came home, plopped on the couch with mom and watched Pretty Little Liars. The end.

To mothers who still help bathe their children at 21.

Yes, I know, its embarrassing BUT my other choice would have been to suffer through the last 6 days without showering. (for anyone not up to date in my life I had major reconstructive surgery done on my shoulder Tuesday, yes it is awful, hence my inability to shower myself at the moment) I think that those around me appreciate my decision to let my mom help me. But mostly I'm so amazingly grateful for my mom and the relationship we have. We make jokes out of the hard parts of life and enjoy the simple things. It has been a rough week physically and emotionally and she's been there to deal with it all. Thanks mom, I don't know where I would be without you.

my shoulder really hurts.

I'm incapable of finding a comfortable position, everything hurts and I'm venting and using this as temporary distraction to the constant pain in my shoulder. I don't remember it ever being this constantly irritating after my first surgery, butttt I guess I did a pretty good job messing it up. I'm just assuming my pain medicine is working, I haven't given it time to wear off before taking my next dose but it is making my head a little groggy. I need a distraction, but moving hurts and TV just is not all that exciting. Any suggestions? Dear shoulder, please stop.

stay mad, or get over it.

I was told growing up that you have two choices -- you can stay mad, or get over it. Simple. When you choose to stay mad the only person you are hurting is yourself. If the person who hurt you is worth it then talk it out and forgive, if they aren't then there is no point harboring resentment, just walk away from the situation. I think I live by this pretty well, I'm virtually incapable of holding a grudge. If you upset me I either brush it off as misunderstanding or confront you about it, OR option two, I've gotten good at walking away, simply letting go of relationships that tear me down. Sorry, gotta go, no resentment, it's been fun, I'm just exhausted.

This isn't meant to be a dramatic scene, quite the opposite actually. It is simple, stay mad or get over it. Hold onto the relationships that build you up and learn to let go of the others.

LAKEEE

I got to spend my weekend at the lake, I was definitely one happy camper. When I decided that I needed shoulder surgery again this summer I made sure to get one trip in before I got hacked into...yes, I planned the surgery around a lake trip.


So Friday night we made the rounds and by 7:30 pm we were officially on our way with Dad, brother, Kristin, Sarah, Jenn, Jared, and Kyle squared. The drive up went smoothly, stopped and got some In--n-out....and then not so smoothly blew a tire on the suburban only a mile away from the house, fantasticccc. So boys did what boys do and dad and Austin changed the tire. Finally at the house we got shower and all passed out. 6:30 am came really quick, but we were all up, filling the ice chest, putting on the sun screen and getting ready. (some complained slightly less than others, but at least they all got out of bed) The lake was perfect, hardly anyone else was on it, the water was glass and we got one of my favorite beaches. The day consisted of sea doo rides, rock jumping, floating, some wake boarding, knee boarding & of course some ultimate tubing sessions. Life is good.

We were pretty exhausted when we got home but I took the Kyles to the store, which was an adventure all on its own. They danced towards each other, made a scene and I got a lovely little surprise while sitting in the aisle.


Sunday was a repeat (with an extra margarita or two for the Kyles, that got entertaining). And we stopped at "hole-in-the-rock" (which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like) to take the big jump out of the top. Made our way back to the house, washed up and were back on the road home. The trip was short and sweet. Such a good weekend :)

red, white & blue

These colors are especially special to me because all three countries that I have lived in and come to love have red, white and blue as their national colors; but today is a very meaningful day for my home country: the good old US of A. This is my favorite holiday (I'm big on history, summer is my favorite season and July is my birthday month, and fireworks are one of my FAVORITE things...it all just adds up). Today I want to offer a special thanks to all the service men and women for all that they have done and sacrificed for all of us. Special thanks to Jake, Kyle and Trevor for all you are doing. I love you boys.

un día a la vez

I'm officially home and curled up in bed. The flight was delayed about an hour and a half due to rain, but as usual I barely noticed because I fell asleep minutes after sitting in my seat.

Today was a low key day. Woke up, breakfast, got Torrie at the airport and then came back to Ran's house to pack. (beach wood fit in my bag perfectly) Afterwards we met Ran's mom and went to a market to get a few last things. Ran and I had a conversations that had me dying laughing in which he has decided he talks like a turtle and is going to start introducing himself as such: "Hi, I'm ran and when I speak English I am a turtle." I thought it was fantastic. After that we met Marcial for lunch and then headed to the airport. I was stressing a little cause we were late, but of course everything worked out fine. My plane was delayed so I even had a little time to spare. These last few days in Costa Rica were some of my favorites, that definitely made it more difficult to leave. A HUGE thank you to Ran and his family for hosting us for those few days, you guys are seriously the best. I'm going to miss everyone so much, you guys better actually fly up to visit me and I know I'll be back at some point. Pura Vida <3

So now I'm home. Mom, dad and brother were there to get me (dad and I had to coordinate a little to find each other, that was fun). It was hard to leave, but it'll be good to be home for awhile. My little sister is in for a tough time now having to share my car (when I want to, because she is having a hard time grasping the idea that it is still MY car) and the dog and I both desperately need to get back into a running routine. Home, home, home. Breakfast date with Sarah in the morning :)

look how cool I am, dancing in a cloud.

So my last full day in Costa Rica for this trip is over. We woke up, had a little bit of a lazy morning start and got ready to head out to a volcano. Oh and at breakfast one of my back fillings in my tooth decided to come out so now I have a large hole in my back tooth, yes I know, gross and its rather uncomfortable. Adding the dentist to my list of doctors I need to see upon coming home, mom and I got a good laugh out of that. Then on our way we stopped at Walmart (yes, they've invaded this country as well) to get snacks, because who am I kidding, even in other countries I cant go anywhere without snacks. After an amazing drive up we reached the top of Volcano Irazu (which I think is actually the highest point in Central America). The minute we got out of the car we were joined by this loved raccoon like creature who wanted my fruit. So after rushing the food back into the car and being told not to feed the animals Desiree decided to take a picture, drop her granola bar and the little sucker snatched it and ran off! It was actually really funny.


We then walked up to see the crater where we were literally walking through clouds. (yes, we're so cool we can walk through clouds because....wait Des Des...look how cool I am!) Anyways, then we went up to the highest point and it was cloudy but apparently on clear days you can see both the Caribbean and Pacific sides to Costa Rica. On our way back we stopped by an old abandoned mental hospital and Desiree was just in heaven with all the amazing pictures she got to take.

We got home about 4:30 pm, and took it easy for awhile. Then Marcial came over, I attempted to steal his amazing music but my computer fail, so sad. But then we drove up this really steep hill to an amazing restaurant with the most amazing view of the entire city. After we went out to a college bar for a little bit and called it a fairly reasonably timed night and headed home.