The Single Girl

Lyrics

2011-05-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

*Read the post I did right before this to see why I like these lyrics :)

Marchin On - One Republic

"For those days we felt like a mistake,
Those times when love's what you hate
Somehow
We keep marchin on

For those nights that I couldn't be there,
I've made it harder to know that you know
That somehow
We'll keep movin on

There's so many wars we fought
There's so many things we're not
But with what we have
I promise you that
We're marchin on
We're marchin on

For all of the plans we've made
There isn't a flag I'd wave
Don't care where we've been
I'd sink us to swim
We're marchin on
We're marchin on

For those doubts that swirl all around us
For those lives that tear at the seams
We know
We're not what we've seen

Oh
For this dance we move with each other
There ain't no other step
Than one foot
Right in front of the other
Oh

There's so many wars we fought
There's so many things we're not
But with what we have
I promise you that
We're marchin on
We're marchin on

For all of the plans we've made
There isn't a flag I'd wave
Don't care where we've been
I'd sink us to swim
We're marchin on
We're marchin on

Right Right Right Right Left
Right Right Right Right Left
Right Right Right Marchin On

We'll have the days we break
And we'll have the scars to prove it
We'll have the bombs that we saved
And we'll have the heart
Not to lose it

For all of the times we stopped
For all of the things I'm not

Oh!
You put one foot in front of the other
We move like we ain't got no other
We go where we go we're marchin on
Marchin on

There's so many wars we fought
There's so many things we're not
But with what we have
I promise you that
We're marchin on
We're marchin on
Right Right Right Right Left
Right Right Right Right Left
Marchin On
Marchin on"

Marchin On

2011-05-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

I've watched the Biggest Loser here and there in the past, but got hooked this season. Last night they had the final challenge before the season finale next week. The contestants had to carry weighted flags and march through a golf course dropping their flags off at each hole, which represented each week they were at the BL Ranch. Each flag was weighted to what they lost that week so it was hard at first and got easier as they walked on and dropped the weight. While they were doing the challenge "Marchin On" by One Republic was playing (Click here to watch it). It was really touching because as I watched the show I could see the journey the contestants took and it was not easy. A lot of them had self-esteem issues to deal with and by the final week you could really see how they've grown. The song seemed very fitting. Music is really important to me and I always feel like there is a song to describe your current feelings and circumstances. Marchin On is one of those songs for me right now.

I've had a lot of ups and downs in my life, as does everyone and currently I'm in one of those down moments. It's nothing major, just a bump in the road. There have been things that constantly tempt me and even though I've grown stronger and learned a lot from my mistakes, there are always little fallbacks. It's frustrating, but that's life. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel and I feel like I'm on the cusp of something really great. Can that feeling even be real? Either way, I feel like that right now.

My 28th birthday is just around the corner, May 28th. It is my golden birthday! I've always been big on birthdays, but this year especially I'm very excited. I've accomplished a lot in my life so far, but there's still so much I want to do. And, even though I have a lot of accomplishments under my belt I'm not always happy. That is one of my constant battles. I'm my own worst critic and I'm realizing that because I don't always love myself I allow myself to get into sticky situations. It's time that ends because if you don't love yourself, no one else will either. I know that's harsh, but confidence is crucial to happiness. I've been working on mine and am in a good place right now, but there is still more to work on.

One of the long time goals I've had for myself is to run in a race. I say it every year and it never happens. Well, this year is the time. In fact, on my birthday there is a local 10k and I registered for it! I started getting into running about 10 weeks ago and met with a friend once a week. We didn't start on a training routine because we didn't know about the race. We were just doing it for exercise. Five weeks before the race we realized the date and have been trying to train for it. Being that I'm still a beginning runner and can now just barely get done with a mile I know I will not be able to run the whole thing, but I'm still going to do it. I know I can finish it and if I don't start now, when will I? Now is the time! I'm so excited for the race and I really feel like even though I had my little fallback, things are getting better and I'm learning to be happy with me. It's been a struggle in life and definitely like climbing a mountain, but I'll get to the top one day.

Crossing the finish line will be so exciting for me and really feels like it's going to be something special,at least for me. Finally I'm doing something I've always wanted to do. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Even though I won't be able to run the whole race, I know I can do it. There are many other races to come and this is just the beginning. It's the beginning to more races and more self-confidence. I can't wait! I literally have a mountain to climb in my life right now, but I'm climbing and I'll keep marching on :)

Something Borrowed - So Excited!

2011-04-28T08:34:00.001-07:00

Hey ya'll! I loved the book "Something Borrowed" and can't wait for the movie. I just hope it's good and not a terrible knock off version like the way they did Confessions of a Shopaholic. Confessions is my favorite book series, but the movie made it look stupid and anyone who hadn't read the books probably thought the people that did and liked it were also dumb. So not the case! Anyway, I can't wait to see it open on May 6th. I'm sure I'll be back on here to give you an update on my thoughts.

There's a sequel called "Something Blue" and I wonder if they'll try to combine the two or if they'll do two different movies. I guess I'll find out soon enough. If you haven't read them, they are great. Of course, they are total chicklits, but I love that genre. It's worth the time if you have it and you can probably read them in a few days.

"How do you eat an elephant?"

2011-04-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

"One bite at a time!" My professor told us that at the beginning of the semester. I just finished taking EDUC 871: Advanced Policy Issues and turned in my 34-page paper (43 with references and appendix) right before class and gave my presentation to the rest of the class. It was a great feeling to walk out of there and feel like I accomplished something.

Being a doctoral student, I'm no stranger to papers. On average, each of my doctoral course papers are a minimum of 15 pages, but I've written several that are beyond that and depending on the class, sometimes the professor requires more than one paper. However, there is always a hefty paper at teh end of each of your courses, you can count on that! Thankfully, I'm pretty good at writing, but one thing I always do is wait until the last minute. I'll usually start gathering resources and start working on it a couple days before the paper is due. I always manage to get it done, but it's way too stressful. I've been trying to work on that work habit because I know that the quality of work I'm putting out is good, but it isn't great.

At the beginning of the semester for the policy class I just finished, the course assignment was daunting. I'm an education policy major and took the intro to policy course that I needed for this class, but the assignments were very different. The course I completed had us look much deeper into a policy and gave us a real snapshot into the type of policy work and analysis we'd be doing in our future careers. I loved it, but it was challenging.

In order to produce top quality papers, our professor had us turn in chunks of it along the way, 5 to be exact and every week we met we had to be prepared to discuss with our classmates our updates. There were only 6 students so we were able to always share what we've been working on and not have to rush through it. It was awesome and I was able to get great feedback the from my professor and my classmates. The best part was we didn't meet every week. We had about 4 weeks off here and there to give us time to do our research.

I always waited until a night or two to update my drafts, but by the time we approached the due date there was only a little left to do. I really liked that method because I honestly feel like it's the best work I've ever done! I know it isn't perfect, and I'm sure I could've worked on it harder, but I feel very happy with what I produced. And, thank goodness my teacher set it up that way because even though I had over 20 pages completed on Monday, I still had a lot of work to touch up on and ended up adding 14 pages between Monday and Wednesday. Also, thank goodness I have a student teacher working with me because I was able to devote the entire work day on Tuesday and Wednesday to complete it. I had no idea it would take that long just to tie the loose ends. Now, I just have to wait and find out my grade...and that is always nerve-racking! Even though my professor has given a lot of feedback along the way and I think I'll get an A, you never know!! Anyway, that's just a tiny snapshot of life as a doc student.

Life Happens

2011-04-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm coming to a point in my life where it's time to turn a page. I have done a lot of awesome things and traveled to a lot of places, but I'm getting older and it's time to start thinking about more serious things...like saving money, buying a house, and finishing school. I don't have any major problems in my life, but I do have some insecurities that it's time I start to deal with instead of just escaping on a vacation like I tend to do.

Last week was spring break where I teach and it also happened to be the same week as my brother in law's break so my sister and I rented a cabin in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky. We booked it through Red River Gorge Cabin Rentals. It was fun. The cabins weren't five star or anything like that, but for the price it was a decent deal.

My sister lives about 4 1/2 hours from me and RRG was another 4 from her place so I had a lot of time to ponder the meaning of life. I feel like I gained a lot of clarity of things that have been bothering me and for that I'm grateful. Perhaps I'll blog about some of those realizations. During that time I realized I need to start blogging more regularly, even if no one reads it, it's therapuetic for me and I'm sad I've neglected it for so long. And, it's about time to make some changes to the blog. I would love to get a new web address, but I don't think that will happen. For now, keep your eyes posted for a redesign. Originally I created this to be a travel blog, and didn't want to post too much about my daily life, but I think there is room for that. I'm a PhD student and perhaps it would be interesting to readers to know what it's like to travel through a graduate program.

Oh, what the hell...why not post something?

2010-10-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

Picture = Machu Picchu, Peru. I guess it's probably lame to start my blogs lately with the same old sob story, but I really am swamped with school and work that it is hard to find time to blog. The summer I was traveling all around and I put blogging in the back seat. I'm trying to make it a habit again, but I feel so behind on my travel adventure stories that I don't even know where to begin. Last summer I had incredible journeys to France, Hungary, Myrtle Beach, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Bolivia. It was awesome! I was barely home and when I was, I was running around getting things ready for my next trip. When I came back from my travels, work and classes started. I must love torture because I decided to teach 6th grade U.S. History, which was a new curriculum for me and a lot more work since I had nothing prepared like I did last year when I taught Civics again, I also took on 4 graduate classes, coach a step team and dance in a Polynesian group 2 times a week. I have no time to myself, but I brought it upon myself and even though I miss my friends these days, I'm getting more done then I ever thought possible and am amazed at how much more you can do when you have less time to do it.

Anyway, I don't want to ramble about my life right now, but I do want to include a list of some things I can now check of my bucket list...the amazing thing is I didn't even know most of these were on my list until they happened. Maybe this list will pique your interest of my travels until I can catch up on blogging over the holidays. By the way, the picture is me and some of the local boys in Bolivia the day I arrived to their village for a humanitarian project...when I was still clean and showered :)

The South American Bucket List
1. Slept in a homeless shelter in Peru - √
2. Peed in a squatter hole - √
3. Picked up trash from the side of the road - √
4. Pulled a tooth (with the assistance of a dentist) from a dental patient - √
5. Caught and held a chicken - √
6. Picked up dung from a field for a fuel pile (with gloves of course) - √
7. Jumped in Lake Titicaca, about 40 degrees (cold!!), and the highest lake in the world - √
8. Rode down the world's most dangerous road on a mountain bike - √

The tooth pulling...

The dung pile...ick!

The lake jump...I just wanted to get out, it was so cold I could hardly breath!

The chicken I caught...

Mountain biking...

Is your interest piqued?

School's almost out...let the travels begin!

2010-06-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

There are 5 more days with kids, 4 more days of work after that (2 workdays, 2 training days) and then I'm off to Europe. Here's the more or less solid travel schedule:

June 25th - July 1 = Paris, France...maybe a night or 2 in London
July 1 - July4/5 = Frankfurt, Germany
July 5 - July 8 = Budapest, Hungary
July 9 - Fly home and then drive to Fayetteville, WV to get my sister
July 10 - July 17 = Myrtle Beach (family reunion)
July 17 - July 21 = Fayetteville, WV
July 24 - July 31 = Buenos Aires, Argentina
July 31 - August 7 = Tour Peru
August 7 - August 17 = Humanitarian work in Altiplano, Bolivia
August 17-August 24 = Relax a little before work starts :)

It's a lot of traveling, but I'm super excited. I've been super behind on my blogging this year so my goal before I leave (and after my GMU classes end next week) is to catch up on my travels and update my blog. It will probably be mostly a photo journal of my trips since some of them are so long ago I might not remember all the stories! I have to say, teaching can be challenging, but the summers off is the absolute best part of the job!! I can't wait to get my travel on :)

Yes, I'm alive!

2010-03-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hey fellow bloggers. It's amazing how much time you lose when you go to school and work full-time. I'm loving my PhD program, but it takes up so much time. I'm not complaining, but just wanted to mention it because that's why I don't blog much anymore. This evening starts my spring break for my teaching job...unfortunately my univerisity spring break did not match up so I will be missing a couple classes as I head down to Jamaica!

I fly out tonight and have an over night lay over in Dallas and then I arrive in Montego Bay, Jamaica tomorrow afternoon. I know the layover thing is weird, but the way the flights worked I would've had to pay more to leave tomorrow and wouldn't have arrived until tomorrow night so this worked out. I can't wait to get there and lay out by the beach. One of my classmates is getting married at Hotel Riu and a few of my classmates will be there. We're a tight knit group now that we see each other so much!

I will be bringing my computer so hopefully on my down time (by the pool) I can post a blog or two. I have a lot of entries to catch up on. I didn't ever really post on my awesome summer travels from 2009 and I need to do that before I have new adventures this summer. I hope you are all well. To end on a good note, my first submission to present at a conference was accepted. I'll be presenting a paper I wrote on education policy initiatives in the Polynesian Islands :) Have a great spring break!

Why I love teaching in Virginia

2010-02-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

"________ Public Schools Closed - Friday, February 5
Because of the threatening weather forecast and the governor's declaration of a state of emergency."

Yes, teaching in Virginia is great. We get school canceled before there is even snow on the ground :)

Goodbye 2009!!

2009-12-31T15:31:00.000-08:00

(The picture to the right is my 2009 yearbook picture for the school that I teach at...I look like an 8th grader)

Where have I been? Wow, I haven't posted on my blog in ages. It's been a busy few months. I have returned to school and am working on a PhD in Education Policy with a secondary specialization in International Education. I decided to take 4 classes this semester, which is a full load for students who usually don't have a job, but I also work full-time job as an 8th grade Civics teacher. I also coach a middle school step team and dance with a Polynesian dance group, so with all of those things going on, blogging just fell to the wayside. One of my new year's resolutions is to blog a couple times a month. I still need to post the photo highlights of all my summer travels.

By far, one of my favorite parts of 2009 was my summer travels. I went to Myrtle Beach with some friends for a week and then trotted off to Europe for 3 weeks to tour some of the Mediterranean countries with one of my best friends. It was a blast, and I promise to post a photo journal of the places we visited. I also went on a humanitarian trip to Polochic, Guatemala. It was an incredible experience. Here is one of my favorite pictures from it:This picture encompasses how the trip was for me, utterly peaceful. My friend took this picture of me in the middle of our hike up the Pacaya Volcano (a very difficult hike for me) and I love it. This was taken a couple days before we actually went to the Polochic Valley, but it's a pretty cool picture. The trip overall was just what the doctor ordered. I was able to forget about all my worries I have here and just focus on serving the people of Guatemala. It was a delightful experience.

While in Polchic, there were 87 young single adults from my church who served in various capacities. We had a few building projects going on and we worked to lay foundations for a health clinic in one of the villages, a secondary school in another village, a water storage facility in another village and kitchen near the secondary school. The medical and dental volunteers had a traveling clinic and they went to 6 villages and took care of a lot of the needs of the people. We had a business development group that visited different villages and helped teach the villagers about budgeting and other strategies that could improve their lifestyle and economic status. Lastly, we also had a teacher development group that worked with the local school teachers. I helped in the clinic, with teacher development and on the secondary school project. Guatemala was an awesome experience and if all goes well, I'll be going to Bolivia this summer to do a similar expedition. Here is a picture of a local Guatemalan woman with her baby sack hooked to her head band...that's how they all carried their babies.

Here is a picture of the local kids...they were adorable :)

My summer travels were great. School has been challenging and time consuming, but I'm learning a lot. I'm so happy to be embarking on this long journey to get a PhD. I know I made the right decision to go back to school. I know it's going to get much harder, but I look forward to the road ahead. Work has been a challenge for me this year, but we are almost halfway there. I like teaching, but 8th grade is a hard age and I think I'm reaching a point where it's time to move to a different age. Who knows what lies in the future for me with teaching...

The title of this post is "goodbye 2009" and I am more than thrilled to see it end. It's been a long, hard year with many personal challenges and I look forward to this fresh start. Tonight is New Year's Eve and instead of going out, I've chosen to stay in and spend some quality time with me, myself and I. I know that might sound a little lame, but I feel like I need the time to myself to reflect and focus on how I can make 2010 a much better year than 2009 was. I will post some of my resolutions tomorrow, but I wish you all a happy and safe new year.

Love,
Amy

Are people really so ignorant?

2009-09-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to an article I read today in the Washington Times:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/06/duncan-silly-to-keep-kids-home-to-avoid-obama-speech/

It's about the President's speech on Tuesday. He is not the first president to give a speech to schools and to encourage students to stay in school. I think the people that don't want their kids to watch this speech are completely ingnorant. It's ridiculous!! If he was planning to push his political agenda, he'd be choosing the wrong place. Kids aren't really into issues and they would tune out to what he was saying if he started to talk about his ideas. Nobody whined when the first Bush spoke to schools about the Iraq war, yet now we have a president that wants to challenge our kids and people are freaking out. People need to develop a little more tolerance in this country. The more you know, the better prepared you are to live in this world, and that means listening to all different opinions. Listening to other views is how we learn respect and tolerance. Sheltering kids from a speech does more harm than good. His speech isn't meant to push his agenda anyway, so it should be a mute point. Ugh, I'm so irritated right now!!

PS - I had fabulous trips this summer and will get around to posting about them some day soon. I started my doctoral program and I start teaching on Tuesday. Life is busy :)

School's out for summer!

2009-07-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a teacher, which means I have about 2 months off in the summer. Teaching is a lot more work than most people think and it's extremely exhausting. We need a summer to recharge our batteries. And, for me, it's a time to get my fill of traveling done. I'm so excited for the summer. I am leaving for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina this Sunday for about a week. Then, I head out to Europe from July 12th-30th for my Mediterannean cruise. When I come back I'll be home for a few days and then I head off to Guatemala for 12 days for a humanitarian project. Check back in a few weeks for pictures! Bon Voyage :)

Happy 26th!

2009-06-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

I turned 26 last week and had a great birthday. I don't know what it is about birthdays, especially mine, that I love. Most people list Christmas as their favorite holiday, but mine has always been May 28th, the day I arrived to spice things up in my family :) I'm sure they might not use the words "spice things up," but I know things wouldn't be quite the same without me...I'm sure they'd be quieter and less stressful, but then there'd be less fun! Anyway, birthdays are special days. I would much rather have a huge birthday than Christmas. I love getting gifts at Christmas, don't get me wrong, but if I had to choose between the two and which I would like more, it would be my birthday, no question!

Usually, before my birthday, I would remind my family a few weeks in advance of the upcoming day (I'm the youngest, so I can do that), and tell them a few things I wouldn't mind receiving as gifts. I figure, if they're going to get me a gift, it might as well be something I want. This year I really wanted a new iPod touch (I didn't think I would get one, but it was worth a shot). I have an iPod, but it's a little outdated, which isn't a big deal and I don't mind keeping. However, I dropped it a few months ago (big surprise there since I drop everything) and cracked the screen. Now you can't really read the songs or playlists. It still works though. The only reason I wanted the touch versus the others was that you can get all those fun apps on it and access the internet. I think it would be useful considering I like to travel. I can be on one of my many adventures, yet still keep my friends posted much easier than without it or having to find an internet cafe.

I knew my parents wouldn't spend that much on a gift because it's expensive...I wanted the 32GB because I have 17GB of just music. Once I started adding apps, I knew I would need some more space. My parents gave me money, which in our family is the gift of choice as it is so much easier. My brother chipped in with a gift card to Best Buy to help me get the touch and I'm sure my sister will bring something fabulous next week when she comes to visit. A few of my friends also got me some awesome gifts that I love.

This year was a little different for me. I didn't make a big deal of my birthday like I normally do. Well, except for when my presents were a little tardy from my brother and sister...I know that might sound selfish, but in my family it's not a big surprise. I figure they know how special it is to me and that I've come to expect something. I thought that if I didn't make a big fuss this year they would appreciate that because they tend to think I'm a little selfish and spoiled, but what youngest child isn't? As for the big day, it was AWESOME!! I told some of my students because they sometimes ask. It turned out to be a great idea because some of them came to school early to decorate my room. It was so sweet. Some of them brought me little treats and made me cards. I loved it. And, of course a few classes sang happy birthday. I felt very special. I did feel a little guilty that the other teachers don't always get the same treatment, then again, if they don't tell the kids, they won't get anything, so I shouldn't really feel bad about it.

After work I went to the Cheesecake Factory (one of my favorites) with some of my friends. It was a nice little dinner mixed with great food, laughs and amazing cheesecake. It feels a little weird to know that age is creeping up on me. I'm still young and have many great years ahead, but I'm realizing that the older I get, the faster time goes. I'm not quite sure why that is, but it is most definitely true! Oh yes, and I did end up getting the iPod touch as a gift from a very special friend, which I very much appreciate!! Thank you so much to all my friends and family for making May 28th, a very special day for me. It was probably one of the best birthdays to date. I've had some great days, and this year is in the top 5. Now, I have to wait a whole year for the next special treatment...;)

I love middle schoolers!

2009-05-13T17:58:00.001-07:00

This conversation really happened yesterday between a student and me:

Student: "do I have to take the test today?"

Me: "why are you asking?"

Student: "because I wasn't here last Monday" (a week ago...)

Me: "well, you were here on Wednesday and Friday, got the study guide and did our test review with us...so..."

Student: "but I wasn't here yesterday either so I couldn't get my notebook from my locker"

Me: [with a funny look on my face] "and that's my problem because?"

Student: "but I couldn't study."

Me: "The test has been announced for over two weeks and you missed class a week ago and were here for 2 classes after that so, by reason of logic, I think that would mean, yes, you have to take the test."

Haha...kids are so funny! I have to say, this was the best story/excuse to far. My other favorite is, "it's at home."

Back to School!!

2009-04-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

I was recently accepted into the George Mason University Ph.D. in Education program!! I start in the fall and can't wait. I've always wanted to get the highest education possible and feel very blessed that everything is working out for me. I don't really want to stay in Virginia for another 4-5 years, but it will be worth it. I'm still going to be teaching full-time and traveling every chance I get. Wahoo for school!

I'm going to the Mediterranean!!

2009-04-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

That's right, you read that correctly! In July, my friend and I are flying to Barcelona for a few days and then embarking on the Princess Ruby for a 12 day cruise of the Mediterranean. We can't wait. I was planning to either do South America this summer or Europe and as I learned by experience last summer, I'd much rather travel with a buddy then solo. Although cruising is not my travel mode of choice, it works when you're on a time crunch and want to see a lot of fun places. My summer is pretty open, but my friend is bound by a work schedule and could only manage 2 and a half weeks off so we decided on a cruise to best fit our food and lodging needs.

I'm sure we could go to Europe on our own and possibly see more places in that time, but we really wanted to do the Mediterrenean and neither of us are into the hostel thing...ick! I will stay in them if I have to but I prefer clean places and privacy. I'm sure all of you budget travelers and backpackers are cringing by now but we worked around what we wanted this summer. Perhaps one day I will venture into the hostel world, but with the experiences I've had so far with them, I'm not quite ready. But, we did get a very good deal on everything :)

We leave in mid-July and will be there until the end of July. It actually works out nice for me to not be gone the whole summer so I can spend some time on local day trips. I've lived in Northern Virginia most of my life and there is still so many things I've never done so I'm working on a staycation agenda. Here is my line up for our cruise:
Barcelona, Spain
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Florence/Pisa, Italy
Naples, Italy
Rome, Italy
Venice, Italy
Mykonos, Greece
Athens, Greece
Istanbul, Turkey
Ephesus, Turkey

If anyone has been to any of these places and can offer advice on must sees (as we will only be spending a dew days, or day at each place) please comment and let me know your recommendations.

Britney Spears Circus Tour

2009-04-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

I totally went to that! Yes, I forked over $100 to see Britney Spears last month in concert...and the Pussycat Dolls too. I was never a huge fan of Britney but I thought it would be a good show and my friend and I had a blast. I took amazing pictures and video footage with my camera, however a friend accidentally deleted all of them before I had a change to upload them. I had to be a google image theif instead. If she rolls through DC again, I'm going again :)

Confessions of a Shopoholic

2009-04-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

By the way...I went and saw this movie and give it two thumbs down. I loved the books but the movie was not as good as it could have been. Bummer!!

Charlotte, NC

2009-04-12T17:59:00.001-07:00

I've been a long lost blogger lately but thought I would take a little time today to do a quick post. This past week was our school's spring break. I had every intention of writing a bunch of posts but you know how time flies and before I knew it the week was over. I mostly did some cleaning and organizing and running errands but I went down to Charlotte, NC with my special someone for a couple days and had a nice mini-vacay. We went down on Wednesday afternoon and unfortunately had to come back Friday evening but it was still fun and worth the drive. We stayed with my sister and her husband.

On Thursday we played frisbee golf or disc golf...whatever way you want to call it. It's actually a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and I really sucked at it. I think I might try it again and make a hobby of it. We went out to dinner that night and I met up with my old roommate from Florida. Afterwards we all went to Dean and Deluca () for a little dessert. That place is awesome but fine dining has an expensive price tag. On the way home we stopped and got a few treats. If you have one near you, I highly recommend stopping in and trying a few of the delicious treats. Some of the items are ridiculously overpriced but there are some unique foods there that make it worth the trip. Here are some photos of our trip.

You start off about 400-500 yards away, then you launch your disc...sometimes it's straight and clear, other times the hole is through trees and turns like a regular golf course.

Then once you do a couple of tosses you have to throw it in that contraption...as you can see, I was not at the best spot to try to make it.

Denied!

I totally did not want to have to go in there and get dirty. I'm sort of an indoor girl so luckily my brother in law went and got it for me but there was still a lot of mud on it...ick!

Take two :)

Finally! It's actually pretty hard but fun.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2009-02-10T11:32:00.001-08:00

My favorite book is now a motion picture! I'm so excited for this weekends opening night of "Confessions of a Shopoholic." There is a whole series of these books by Sophie Kinsella so I'm interested to see how the movie will be. Some of my girl friends and I (heaven forbid my boyfriend see this movie) are going to see it this weekend. The book is set in London and the movie is set in New York City so there are already some major differences I'm anticipating. I hope it's everything I can hope for and more. I'll write more later with my full review :)

Blog Following...

2009-01-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

Why did I not discover this sooner? I just started adding all the addresses of the blogs I read and intend to read more. I'm so happy dashboard has made my life easier. Now, I don't have to have all these separate links, I can just go to the place when I log in, check and see what's new and that's that. I love blogger :)

Girl Power

2009-01-22T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hilary Rodham Clinton = Secretary of State

I'm sure everyone has already heard but Hilary was confirmed the Secretary of State yesterday by a vote of 94-2 in the Senate. That is a great vote of approval. I'm very pleased with her new role as our Secretary of State. I worry a little with a woman being in such a high international position because women around the world are not seen as equals and not every political leader will respect her the way she deserves, but, she is just the woman for the job. She is strong, confident and powerful and I think she'll do a great job with international relations and she's also married to Bill, who was very respected in the international community. Who knows, maybe she'll have an influence to improve the equality of women worldwide!

"Change Has Come"

2009-01-20T13:39:00.000-08:00

I have been glued to the news since 11am, when the political leaders of our nation started to arrive at the Inauguration ceremony of our 44th president, Barack Obama. I live about 25 miles west of Washington, DC and pondered making the trek to witness it live but decided I could still be part of history by watching it at home. At home, I stayed warm, got close up views and didn't have to use a porta-potty when I needed to go to the bathroom! Here is a video of his oath, courtesy of cnn.com.

Although I voted for him, I was starting to get a little "Obamad" out with all the coverage leading up to today but it really is an exciting time here in the United States. I'm not really sure what to expect from our new president but I am comforted in the fact that he is confident, has a plan and is relying on us, the people to get America back to where we used to be. I don't want us to be a superior power in any means because I don't think any country should ever be dominate or superior, but our place in the world has changed a bit and I think we have our work cut out for us to be able to fit in with the new globalized world that has been established. We are quickly falling behind and I have seen that Obama has been a great leader to instill hope in so many Americans. I think we just might make it out of this economic crisis we're in. I'm excited it's all starting and feel lucky to be able to witness all the changes that have come and will come in the years to come. Our country has come a long way since it's beginning only 232 years ago and we can only continue to progress. There's a lot to be done but as Obama would say, "yes we can," and we will. Good luck President Obama!!

Here is the inaugural speech Obama gave earlier this afternoon:

"My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. VideoWatch the full inauguration speech »

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations."

- President Barack H. Obama, January 20th, 2009

Happy New Year!

2009-01-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

So, we rang in the new year 2 weeks ago but it's better late then never :) My new year was fun, nothing spectacular but I enjoyed it. I've never been the type to go to parties and dance the night away. I prefer staying at home or a friends house, watching movies, playing cards (or on the Wii), eating and having a relaxing time. This year was no different. I rang in the new year with the "boyfriend" and his family.

I know I've been behind on my posts lately but I never know what to write about. I want my blog to be a travel blog and it has been but since I started working full-time, the travel adventures are few and far between. The next big adventure will be spring break and that's in April. Then, I'll get 2 months in the summer to play somewhere international. It's looking right now like it'll be a European adventure but no definite plans yet. I'm just trying to replenish the travel funds from last year's Costa Rican adventure, once that fund is up a little more I will make solid plans. This year will be a little more fun because I have a travel buddy!

Right now, the biggest thing going on in my life is my graduate application to George Mason. I will have my application finished and submitted this week. I'm applying for my doctorate degree. I have my fingers crossed that I'll get in!!

Better Single Than Sorry

2008-12-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

I recently finished reading a book called "Better Single Than Sorry" by Jen Schefft. It's a great read. Jen first appeared on the bachelor a few years ago and ended up winning with a proposal by the wealthy heir to Firestone tires. She ended up breaking off the engagement a few months down the road because she wasn't happy. Later she appeared on the show The Bachelorette and turned down two proposals. She got a lot of grief for it but she what she wanted to demonstrate in her book that she wasn't going to settle for anything less than happiness and she'd rather be single than sorry. I totally agree!

Although the book was great, the point of my entry is not to do a book review. I'm 25 and single...yay! Of course, I would like to be married one day but I'm also not willing to settle for anything less than I deserve. I have a lot of goals and dreams and I'm not about to stop them just because a guy is in my life. I'm willing to compromise but I don't think it's fair I sacrifice what I want in life for a man. If the guy is right for me, he'll help me and support me in my goals. Most of my close friends are married and I have seen a lot of the women make too many sacrifices for their husbands and families. I think it's very noble to sacrifice and serve, but not at the cost of your own personal happiness. Many of my friends rushed into marriage, some of them it worked out and some are unhappy and wishing they did more before they got married. When I finally cross the marriage path in my life, I know I have accomplished a lot and I will be ready to settle down.

Why am I mentioning all of this? A recent event happened to really make me ponder on my singlehood. Someone close to me was recently married and followed one of her dreams. It seemed like all was coming together for her and she was very happy. Unfortunately, her husband could not be supportive of her dream and being the noble woman she is, she is putting her dreams on hold for him. Many women do this and it's not necessarily bad, it's just sad to see. I know she's sad and doesn't want to give up on what she started but she is doing it because her man isn't willing to give. I've had a lot of conversations with friends lately and it seems that too many women sacrifice what they want for men. I'm so happy to know that I'm single and in a position where I don't have to put my happiness on hold. It breaks my heart to see my friend have to put her dreams aside. It's just one more reason I'm thankful to be single. It truly is better to be single than sorry (not that my friend is sorry, but I think she would be happier if things worked out different and her man was more supportive).

I need a vacation...

2008-12-02T07:34:00.001-08:00

I really miss the days a few months ago when I could come and go as I please. Now, I have a full time job, that although I like it, it is a little bit of a ball and chain. But, I have more money so I can't complain. There's three weeks more until Christmas break and then I will have two weeks off and can take a little trip somewhere. It'll just be a little weekend thing but boy do I need it!

Trampled to death...

2008-11-29T10:56:00.000-08:00

What the heck is wrong with people? A walmart employee was trampled to death yesterday when they opened the doors for the "Black Friday" specials. I can't believe that people would be so cruel and ridiculous just to save a few dollars. And, I also read last night that 2 people were shot in a toy store. I have never shopped on Black Friday and I'm pretty sure I never will. I hate massive crowds of people because then stupid stuff like this happens. Seriously, walmart is so cheap anyway, I just can't believe people can be so inept. I hope that they can file criminal charges from the video surveillance cameras. Those people deserve to go to jail for what they did! Read more details here.

What do you think?

2008-11-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

If I have any international readers or visitors, I want to ask you, what do you think about the results of our recent presidential election? Please comment and let me know. I'm curious to know what the international scene thinks. I've always thought elections were interesting and I've never seen any like this before, with the random street celebrations and this much excitment. I've been watching CNN and heard some of the international buzz but I want to hear from you, let me know. Even if you're a U.S. citizen, you can comment too :)

11/04/08 - A Moment in History

2008-11-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

Last night I was on the edge of my seat for 3 hours as I watched the voting results come into CNN. I was tired and wanted to go to bed but I knew that this election was historic and I wanted to be a part of it and experience it. I'm sure glad I did. Last night, the United States elected its first African-American president. It is so awesome!! As soon as the polls closed on the west coast, CNN projected Barack Obama as the winner. By that time I was thinking, "finally." I love when we are able to experience events that we know will have historical significance and be studied in history classes in the future, and thankfully, this was a positive moment in time.

Many of my friends do not agree with my support of Barack Obama, they think he is too liberal and wants to make the U.S. a socialist nation. To those people, if you think that, then you have no idea how our government works. Our nation is full of checks and balances and separation of powers so it would pretty much be impossible for one person to change a nation in such extreme ways. I fully support Obama and think that he is just the personality type our country needs right now to fix the many problems we have. In my opinion, it's a miracle that anyone would even want the job right now. I certainly wouldn't want to be president and take over the mess that's been created.

John McCain gave a wonderful concession speech. I really appreciated it because I felt the campaign became so nasty so it was nice to have him be a good sport and realize the people have spoken and he wasn't our choice. Although, he did gain a ton of votes. Good for him, he fought hard and he's served a long time but a presidency just wasn't in his plan. Here is a video of his speech, it really was very good.

After watching all of the political analysts speeches and break downs of what happened, everyone has to appreciate what Obama accomplished. Even if they disagree with him, he accomplished something that candidates haven't been to do in ages. He got the young voters to get off their bums and register and vote. He got the African Americans to register and vote and the Latinos and the Asians. Instead of targeting the typical voters like traditional candidates do, he went after the nonvoters and that is a larger population than voters, and it gained him a victory. He has a long road ahead of him but I think that he is just the man for the job. And, if you don't like it, we didn't die after the 8 awful years of Bush, we will survive Obama if he isn't successful, although I find it very hard to believe he won't be. So, Barack Obama, congratulations to you. YES WE CAN!

Here is my favorite Obama Ad:

Career Considerations & Step Team

2008-11-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't died, I've just been busy with my first year teaching. Any teachers can relate, I'm sure. Our school is going through some major changes and although I support my administration with their philosophical changes, it's overwhelming and I feel like they are expecting a lot more than us teachers are capable of and a lot more than they lead us to believe earlier in the year. We are transitioning into a professional learning community (PLC), which basically means that teachers work together with the other teachers of their subject matter, collaborate and give common assessments and focus on student learning. We were told it's going to be a 3-5 year transition but now that we are 1/4 of the way through the year, I'm feeling like we are expected to have this down pat. It's extremely frustrating. And, even all the veteran teachers are having a hard time this year so at least I'm not the only one. So, Tracy, it's not as easy as you remember it!

I think the idea behind PLC's is great but it doesn't seem to be happening that way right now. It's supposed to make less work for the teachers but I know we all feel like we have more work than every before. The major problem I have with it is I feel like there is no student accountability. I feel like I'm bending over backwards to help kids that aren't doing their part. I want my students to be successful but I also think they should have to work for it. Anyway, I don't want to vent about all my teaching frustrations on here. However, I do like teaching and have spent a lot of time working on my teaching career, I'm starting to think that maybe I don't want to be a teacher for the long haul.

Where are these crazy thoughts coming from? Well, I am the step team coach/sponsor at my school and I love it. It can get a little crazy at times with so many students but I think I've implemented a lot of new things this year to make the program run smoothly. I have 45 members, split into two teams. One team is better and they will be our traveling, competing team and the other is a home-based team and will perform at school functions. I really enjoy that part of my job and now I've started to think about jobs in the county that would allow me to do more of that kind of work. I'm starting to research other positions in the county. Right now I'm looking into athletic directors. They coordinate all of the clubs and sports in the school and I think that would be so fun. It's also an administrative position so I would have to go back and get my administrative certifications but that would also make me eligible for more admin positions. I like the classroom but I think for the long run I would prefer doing more administrative work in the future. I don't know yet, these are just some thoughts I'm having.

Let's see, what else? I went to Palmyra, New York a few weeks ago with my church for a singles' trip and had fun. I'm still dating the same guy I have been since January and am enjoying that as well. The only down side is I don't have time to do all the things I would like to do but that's okay. I think my time will free up soon enough. That's the latest report :)

You're my national monument

2008-09-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

In one of my classes I have a group of 3 boys who are best friends. They are great but they can get a little chatty. They are the 3 amigos, or at least that's what I call them. Anyway, I did this activity at the beginning of the school year where students pick partners for various places around Washington, D.C. and when I want to do a partner activity I can just say, "okay, meet your partner at the white house or the Jefferson memorial or whereever." One time I said, "meet your partner at the national monument," and one of the boys said to the other, "you're my national monument." The way he said it was so adorable and I couldn't help but laugh. I think it's great that 3 guys can be so close and not feel stupid when they act silly. It's great. And, not to mention, I think "you're my national monument" is a great compliment to give a significant other. I'm also partial to the phrase, "you're the cheese to my macaroni," from the movie Juno.

For fun, here are some pictures of my classroom. I actually had a horsehoe set up last week and loved it because it's a great way to walk around and cut down the talking, but we're having IOWA testing this week and when we aren't testing, I don't like rows so this is what I have this week. I love my room! I even love the foldable acordian walls because they are magnetic and it's easier to hang stuff. Also, it's kind of fun to hear the other classes sometimes. Our 8th grade is a cozy little family :)

South America Calling!

2008-09-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to think of where to spend my next summer...naturally! I have a month and a half off and I'm not about to waste it away in Virginia. I had planned to visit in Europe with my sister but with the dollar in the pits, and trying to live on a budget, that's just not going to happen right now. I do however, have some co-workers who are from Colombia who are going there for the summer and invited me. I don't have a ticket but it's looking like that's a definite possibility. And, I made a friend who also has next summer off and is looking for some adventures so we are tenatively planning a trip to South America at the moment. Colombia is on the list for sure and hopefully Argentina. I would love to hit up Peru too and Brasil would be ideal. My question to all you readers, who's been to South America and can tell me where I have to go? I'm taking recommendations!

The Professional Dogsitter

2008-09-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know, I run a little side business...aka, I'm a dogsitter. Well, it's not really a business but it does seem like I do it a lot. Thanks to my sister, I was able to get hooked up helping out friends of ours when they're out of town and it has turned out to be quite lucrative. Not to mention, it gives me a whole house to myself and a mini-vacation from my house. I'm 25 and live with my parents! AHH! Haha, it's not that bad actually, but I do like it when I have a chance to stay somewhere else, let out a dog once in a while and get paid for it too. Before I sound like a moocher, I moved home about 3 years ago to go back to school and since I graduated with my masters in May I went on a bunch of trips and decided that living at home is a great way to save money and buy what a what and travel where I want so I opted to stay here for at least another year.

Anyway, back to the original thought. I just got done dogsitting for a former co-worker for 2 1/2 weeks. That's my longest stint yet. It was great and quiet but I missed being home and having my own bed and access to all my clothes in the morning. Also, as easy as the dog is to take care of, she barks incessantly, especially through the night, and only on weekdays. It's like she's sad that her owners left her so she wants me to be awake and miserable too. I mean, she sleeps all day while I work so she just wanted to have fun. Ugh, it's just nice to be back in the quiet again. But, now my parents went out of town and left me to watch their beloved, Roxy (she's the one featured with me in the about photo).

She is cute but don't let that fool you. I always wanted a lab but after her, I'm not sure I'll ever own a dog! I love my cats. They are quiet, cuddly and so easy to take care of. But, back to Roxy. She is a wild, hyper, always wanting to play type of dog. She's still in her puppy phase. When I arrived at my house, she was in her crate (don't worry, it's only for when we aren't here, otherwise she'll eat the cats) and she had managed to chew apart the brand new training collar my parents bought her. Apparently it wasn't cheap. I went to let her outside, and knowing she likes to jet into the back woods I was holding her to get her connected to her running cord, she managed to break free and bolt off. I ran after her to no avail and called my parents to find out what to do. They said just call her name and clap and she'll return. Well, after 20 minutes or so of nothing, we concluded she was gone and I would have to get in the car and search...ugh! Just what I wanted to do on a Saturday! I drove in the next neighborhood from street to street until I saw her with two girls who had graciously caught her and leashed her. Ayayay, that was annoying. First an incessantly barking dog, and the one that gets away. Seriously, if you ever read a post about me getting a dog, shoot me!

Disclaimer...Bad Grammar

2008-09-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to mention that the last few blogs I've posted...actually, probably all of them since June, I haven't gone back to read them to check for errors. Sorry! There's always so much going on so I'm lucky if I have the time to write a post so I just wanted to apologize for the low quality of posts lately. I will work on that and form some sort of schedule for myself to stay up to date with my posts since I know I have a few loyal readers...thanks :)

Also, I have a bit of good news. I had someone come for the county to "observe" me. She wasn't there to do an evaluation or anything but she came to provide support in instruction and classroom management if needed. She goes around to visit it all the new teachers. She gave me a great review and told me my classroom was very organized and she was very impressed...yay! I do have to preface with the fact that the class she saw was an honors class and they were doing an activity with laptops and watching videos on propaganda techniques so it was a lull day, the perfect day for an obsevation :) But, I feel pretty lucky with my classes thus far. My kids are great and we are having a lot of fun learning...at least I know some of them are.

Watch for falling objects...

2008-09-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

I neglected to post last week, surprise, surprise. First year teaching is rough. I love it but it wears me out. Although the guy I', dating has been out of town for two weeks so it's been really nice to have down time and more time to relax. Haha, as much as I love spending time with him, it's hard to make time for other people right now so I feel like I've accomplished a lot more lately. I've finally been able to get a caught up (I felt so behind, but I wasn't really) and get ahead of myself, which is a great feeling in teaching. I do have a funny story to tell from last week. I was teaching my students about precincts and voting districts and I used one of my handy wall hanging maps to demonstrate. When I went to put it up, the whole thing fell on me if front of my class and made a huge crashing sound. Haha! The weird thing is I didn't even put away hard, it just came crashing down. To top it off, like 3 teachers came to see if everything was okay. That was nice they were concerned but how embarrassing! Well, I wasn't that embarrassed.

The next day, someone from my homeroom went into my room and either farted or let a stink bomb off because eww....it stunk so bad in my room during homeroom. To solve the problem, all I could get my hands on was Axe cologne. Haha! My room smelled like a teenage boy who hasn't learned how to gauge the amount of cologne to use yet. When the other students trickled in they would say "it smells like axe in here," which sounds a lot like something else. That made for a lovely morning.

Let's see, I think that's the higlights from the last 2 weeks of teaching. I love my job so far. My students are great and I think it's going to be a great year. They seem to be really into the elections and politics so far and that's always nice to have students excited about the curriculum. Back to school night was last night and that went really well too. Yay!

One Week Down...a lot more to go!

2008-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I just finished my first week as a first-year teacher. The picture to the right might show how I feel, I'll let you read what my eyes say. Or, at times, I feel like the one to the left...My emotions are a combination of scared, worried, stressed, excited, unsure, nervous, happy, etc. I am also constantly thinking about school, which I guess is good but it keeps me awake at nights. And, on the occasion that I might wake up in the night to go to the bathroom (dang it), I can't fall back asleep so I just pull out my laptop and work. That happened once last week, I got up at 3:00am, tried to sleep and around 3:30am I gave up and figured if I'm up I might as well get some work done and start putting my thoughts on paper.

Wow, the first week was exhausting! Luckily for me, I wasn't the only one who felt completely drained. Apparently, it's pretty normal for the first week of school to be like that and by Friday we were all dying for the week to be over. I'm just glad it was a 4 day week because I would not have made it one more day. The funny thing is the first week is pretty much house-keeping stuff and getting ready for the year but it wore me out. So far, my sister's prediction was accurate in the fact that I would be at the school a lot. However, I have chose the route to go in early instead of staying late. That's pretty funny too because I hate mornings but since I'm not sleeping well I figure I should just get up and go in early. I get more done. Plus, once I start my after school activities I won't want to stay there until 6pm.

I'm teaching 8th grade and as we all know, that age is full of drama. Already on the 3rd day of school I had a girl "cat" fight in my room. It was not phsyical but it happened in the morning when kids were coming in for homeroom. I don't need to get into details but things were resolved peacefully and nothing got out of hand. I think the girls had some unresolved summer issues. Drama, OMG! I won't really get into more detail about it but what a great way to start the year :) Haha! Actually, so far, so good. I really like my classes and I think it's going to be a great year. My classes are pretty small, with an average of 14 students each, except for one with 18 (or 20, not sure yet with schedule changes). That class is small compared to a lot of school districts but it feels huge to me. I think it will be my challenge class, not because the kids are bad but just the time of day. Also, in that class, the kids don't seem to care that much and my other classes have a lot of students excited about politics...at least for now since our first unit is elections. We'll see how it goes, I think it's going to be a great year.

Tomorrow we kick off our first unit of elections and we will discuss voting procedures and statistics and all that fun stuff. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to make it interesting and fun.

I'm a "real" teacher now

2008-09-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I've successfully completed my first week of teaching as a "brand-new" teacher. Well, I should say, survived! I put "brand-new" in quotes because I have had teaching experience prior to my first year but I was not a contracted teacher so they don't count it. Oh well, at least it gave me some ideas and I learned to help me in my first year.

I'm teaching 8th grade Civics and Economics, which is my area of expertise (the Civics part). I love the material that I get to teach but wish I had more time to get more in depth on some topics. My county puts out a really nice curriculum guide for us to use and follow (not necessarily verbatim), which I like but, there is so much material that at times, it is hard to imagine getting deep into a subject. Oh well, we'll just touch the surface of government this year and they can go into it further in 12th grade...I'll cross my fingers that at least they'll remember we have 3 branches of government :)

Let's see, what should I write? There is so much but I don't want to be boring. My older sister taught U.S. History I (Colonies to Civil War) at the same middle school I'm at now. She got married and moved with her husband to Kosovo to teach history for two years. Her blog about her experiences are fun to read, check it out at here. Before she left she laughed and told me that I would be going to the school early in the morning and staying until 6pm every night my first year. I laughed back and said, yeah right! I had been a long-term sub before in math for 8 months and had all the same duties as a regular teacher and I wasn't staying late or coming in early then so I didn't think this time would be that different. Well...

I started work on August 13th and went to a million workshops on "how to teach," which I find hilarious since most of us there had just graduated from programs where we learned all about that for 2 or 3 years. However, I did get a fwe pointers I liked. I started a week sooner than the returning teachers and when they came back it was even more workshops. I am meetinged (is that a word?) out. The fun part started on August 13th when there was an electrical fire at my home school and it literally melted the main electrical box. That resulted in 2 and 1/2 weeks of no power in our building. The county brought generators in to get us some emergency lighting and our administration bought us flashlights so I got my classroom ready in the dark. We didn't get power until the Thursday before school started. The admins were nice enough to open the school up to us on labor day weekend so from Thursday-Sunday, I lived at the school. I was there until 6 or 7pm each night! I'm very happy with my classroom and am happy to finally have my own room. I'll take some pictures once it's all finalized. It's done but I have some extra books leftover and I want that to be out of the way before I take photos. I'm lucky my sister moved because she left me a ton of posters to put up. I didn't hang up everything because I decided I don't like a cluttered room but at least I have a lot to change around in the future. I'll post about my first week in another post.

Puerto Rico!

2008-09-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

After I came back from my 7 week Costa Rican adventure (oh yes, I came home a week early) I was surprised with a plane ticket to Puerto Rico. I was so excited because I love PR and I was excited to go see my friends there. My friend's sister was getting married so that was the main purpose of the trip but we also were able to spend a lot of time at the beach. I love PR!! I went there 3 times this year and I highly recommend it to everyone. However, if you go, please visit the west side of the island. Go to Boqueron, Cabo Rojo, Crash Boat in Aguadilla and also the east side of Fajardo :) Don't just stay in San Juan like most tourists or you're totally missing out!

I know I'm not really telling much about my experience but I'm so behind on my entries that I figured pictures are better. Here are the highlight photos from PR:

Bocas del Toro, Panama

2008-09-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

Some of these entries are out of order but that's okay, I'm finally getting around to posting. It's also 5am right now and I'm not in the mood to edit so hopefully there's not a lot of typos. Haha, I've been up since about 3:15am and wasn't able fall back asleep because as soon as I got up my brain turned on and I started making a to do list. Not wanting to forget I got up to write it down and I just figured I'd do something to kill time before I have to start getting ready for work.

Anyway, I went to Pananma the weekend before my sister came for 3 days. It was about a 7 hour bus ride (with no A/C) down to the border of Panama from San Jose, Costa Rica. I went with a few friends from school. When we got to the border we had to get off the bus and walk across the bridge to Panama and go through customs. That was an experience. The bridge must have been at least 100 years old and about to break. It was scary...especially since I've always had a little phobia of bridges. This one was small and also had huge semi-trucks crossing it at the same time, literally inches from my body. They made the whole bridge shake!! After customs, you have to take a cab to a port and then take a boat for about an hour to the main tourist island. That was fun.

Bocas del Toro is a region of Panama, I think, and it has a group of islands that are popular to visit. I had heard it was absolutely beautiful. It was really nice, don't get me wrong, but living in Hawaii and having visited a number of beaches in the Caribbean, it's not the most beautiful place I've ever been. But, it was a nice place to go and I had a good time. It's definitely a hostel type town with lots of backpackers from all over the world. However, after the long bus ride, I was a little hot and cranky and not in the mood to sleep in a semi-gross, hot, sticky hostel so I stayed at a hotel next to the one my friends stayed in for $30/night. It was more than the $10/night my friends paid but I had A/C and a private, clean bathroom. I'm not opposed to hostels and I'm sure will stay in them in the future but sometimes you just need some privacy.

While I was there, I went to a few beaches, and snorkeling with my friends. It was fun to meet people from all over the world. Here are my highlight photos:

Finally, the last of Costa Rica

2008-09-04T01:45:00.001-07:00

Wow, I suck at blogging these days and as a request from my sister, I'm updating it at 4:30am because for some odd reason I'm wide awake. I started teaching full-time this week and as a result, have no time for anything. But, I'll get to that later. Here are the last of my pictures from CR. I miss that place!! One of the last things I did before my sister came to visit me in Costa Rica was white water raft the Pacuare River with a school mate, Jeff. It was awesome and we fell out and everything. I loved it!

Before the rafting trip we went to this awesome little restaurant that was up in the mountains and as you can see from the view, it was gorgeous...and a little bit cold! But, I'm usually cold so that's not a surprise.

My sister came to see me for about a week. It was fun for her to come. I had a great trip but went through some difficult personal matters so it was a huge relief to have her there and have someone familiar with me there. Here are some of the highlight photos...

I know it's just a butterfly but I hate bugs...

Very Quick Update

2008-08-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Costa Rica and so happy to be home. I had a great trip but it's nice to be able to be with my friends again and have the comforts of home. As much as I love to travel, it's always nice to get home so you can be back in your comfort zone, sleep in your own bed, have all your things just as you like them and no more living out of a suitcase :) Right now I'm in Puerto Rico with my "friend" and will be here for 2 more days. I love it here and wish I could stay forever...for reals. I love the island life and I'm determined to move here or back to Hawaii in the next 2 years. I will post about the rest of my adventures in Costa Rica, Panama and Puerto Rico :)

La Fortuna & Stolen Camera Story :(

2008-06-30T05:28:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago my friend and I headed to a town called La Fortuna, which is near the Arenal Volcano, one of the more popular one's here because it is always active. We were hoping to see streams of red from the lava and get some nice pictures of the volcano. We took a miserable 4 hour bus ride that stopped just about every 5 minutes and was ridiculously hot. When we arrived we were tired, hot and sticky and just wanted to get to our hotel and shower. We were bombarded with guys trying to book hotels and tours to us. We started talking to a guy and decided to book a tour with him. He drove us to his office and we booked a volcano night tour with him for $25. We were pretty happy because we were saving A LOT of money. Most other volcano and hot spring tours were about $60 or more. However, looking back, I should've just paid the money and gone on a different tour.

We got to our hotel, which was actually really nice and cheap. We had our own private room and bathroom and each paid $10, which was about the same price we paid the week before to share a room with a bunch of girls at a hostel. And, this place was actually a lot cleaner so we were pretty happy. We showered and took a nap and then headed out to our tour. This is when things started to get a little weird. I had a bad feeling the minute out met the guy that booked our tour but unfortunately didn't act on it. I learned a hard lesson! We got to our tour and he took us in his regular car. We went to get another couple from Denmark and then our guide had to go get gas, go get batteries for the flashlights and made a few other stops. We thought it was a little crappy that he wasn't already prepared but looking back it doesn't surprise me one bit.

We saw a toucan bird so I was able to get some cool pictures of that. Then we went to Arenal lake and that had some beautiful landscape shots. Since it was so cloudy we headed to the Tabocon hot springs. I was pretty exited because I heard that was the really nice one and was expensive to get into but when we arrived, we parked at the resort and then our guide told us we weren't going inside and that we were going to swim in the river below...oh, no wonder our tour was so cheap.

Here is what I took pictures of...(I snagged these from the internet but took similar photos...but, with me in them)
Actually, it was too cloudy to get a cool shot like this but this is what we should've seen...
We stayed in La Fortuna and I did see this cute little park...it was a nice little town, despite their lame tour person!
Here's Lake Arenal...it was very beautiful and the photo I had with me and my friend was so nice...dang it! I guess I'll have to remember it in my head :(
I saw one of these and took a picture like this...bummer!

My camera...was stolen

2008-06-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's very sad!! I just got the best camera ever for my birthday and it had to go and get stolen. I'll write more about it later but I'm still really sad about it and it happened over a week ago. Dang it!! I was sad to lose a few pictures but luckily most of them were already uploaded on the camera. I was sadest about losing the camera because of the sentimental value it had. There was another couple in our tour group that had their camera stolen as well. It was a set up. However, I did purchase travel insurance and it's supposed to cover lost or stolen items so I'm hoping they'll accept my claim. I sure hope they do because I was getting used to having a super nice camera!

When Racoons Attack...

2008-06-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

My trip to Manuel Antonio was great, however, I had an experience that was worthy of it's own post. After my friend and I hiked around the national park and saw all the animals we wanted to see, we decided it was time to go to the main beach and have a swim with all the other tourists. While we were there we could hear the holler monkeys, see lots of iguanas and lizards scurry along and, oddly enough, I even had lots of little hermit crabs crawl on me while I was taking in the sun's rays. It was a little annoying but there were a lot of them and I was probably covering their home. I don't really know.

Well, there was a lady that came and sat pretty close to us and brought some food for lunch. That wasn't the interesting part. Shortly after she started eating, 3 racoons came up behind her, snagged the sandwich out of her hand and started going through her other things. Haha! She had a natural reaction and got up and moved away, grabbed what she could quickly and stood there amazed that the racoons didn't care that people were around. They weren't scared of us. Finally, she threw some sand at them and they scurried of...this is when things started to get interesting.

A bunch of us went to go take pictures and see what mischief they would get into next when one of the racoons started to get a little cozy on the clothes I hung out to dry on a log! Then, another one, decided to start scratching his leg for about 10 minutes...that must have been one heck of an itch. They were cute and none of us were scared to have them around. I didn't really want to get too close but it made the afternoon interesting. I was a little bothered they decided to nap on my shirt so I got sort of clothes, grabbed my stuff and then took some more pictures.

I returned to soak up the sun and took in all the goodness the park had to offer. Two of the racoons came back to the lady with the food...who had moved closer to the water and was now in front of us. I sat up, leaned back on my hands and laughed to myself about the spectacle these racoons were creating...then, I felt something on my hand. At first, I just assumed it was another hermit crab making the trek across my hand or one of the many bugs that like to suck blood but then I looked down and saw the third racoon sitting next to me with his hand on mine...no joke! The racoon was holding my hand, I guess he wanted to cuddle or something, I don't really know. As cute as it probably was, I reacted like any person would when a racoon touches them, I freaked out! I jerked my hand away, jumped up and moved away. When I jerked my hand away, the little claws on his hand scratched me a bit. Of course, I freaked out even more and thought I would get rabies and needed a tetnus shot. I went and found a park guide, told them what happened and they said I would live and be perfectly fine. Supposedly the racoons here in Costa Rica don't carry rabies...thank goodness. No shots for me. By the evening, the scratch marks were gone and I was happy about that. So, who gets scratched by a racoon in Costa Rica? I do! Craziness but I guess it makes for a great blog entry :)

Manuel Antonio!!

2008-06-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I posted! If I have steady readers, I am so sorry. I've been getting used to life here and have found myself to be pretty busy. Anyway, a couple weeks ago I went to Manuel Antonio. It's a town near Quepos on the southwest side of Costa Rica and it's so beautiful. There is a national park there with lots of monkeys, sloths, birds, lizards...and racoons! There are also some beautiful beaches in the park, my friend and I found one that had no people so it was nice to have our own private beach for a while.

Also, this was my first trip where I brought a backpack and stayed in a hostel. It was definitely a new experience sharing a room and a bathroom with a bunch of girls. However, the girls and other people I met there were really nice. I wasn't sure if I would be able to live out of a backpack and stay in hostels for an extended period but I think meeting awesome people makes up for all the germs and not as nice facilities. Haha, I'm sure that sounds so prissy but I've always been a little high maintenance so I'm sure it will take a little getting used to a life style like that. The hostel wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I'm used to. But, if I do take my round the world trip like I'm planning then that will be my life...hostels! It will be fun to meet a lot of new people. Anyway, here are some pictures from my trip to the park.

Haha...people, dogs, sloths, and monkey crossing...so classic of Costa Rica
That would be a sloth at night...I think it took an hour for it to go 2 feet, they are really, really slow!
Taking a little boat ride to the Manuel Antonio National Park
Yikes, I hope we don't fall in...
There were lots of these little monkeys around :)

This sloth was just chillin' in the trees...that's the life
Here's a huge lizard we saw...we saw a lot of different kinds.
We also saw this holler monkey...they make a really cool sound
The best part was we found our own private beach...serenity now!

Holy Cow!

2008-06-19T13:52:00.001-07:00

The same day I went on the bird watching tour I was able to go to a dairy farm where they make cheese. The owner let me put the milking device on the utters. Haha! I was hoping to actually milk the cow but that's so old fashioned. It was a weird experience. The cows heads are pretty much locked into the gate (they do have food to eat while they are stuck) and then the machine sucks their utters into it. Weird!

Here's a picture of a really awesome church we passed. It's very gothic :)

I LOVE YOU

2008-06-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

It's amazing the impact the three simple words "I love you" can have on your life. I want to keep this more of a travel blog, but I'm also a single girl and a hopeless romantic who dreams of falling in love. I'm happy to report that I have fallen in love again. Who knows what the future will hold but I'm just glad that the feelings are mutual!! Life is beautiful :)

Nature calling

2008-06-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I got up super early (3:50am and that picture is me when I got up) to go on a bird watching/nature tour with my friend Chelsea. I'm not a huge nature girl but I enjoyed myself. We went with a very nice company called El Tronco Adventures. They are a very environmentally friendly company with a very knowledgeable staff. We got to see a few humming birds and some other birds too but I don't remember what they were called. And, I had some issues using binoculars so I didn't see all of them. I still had a good time :)

Here's some photos from the tour...

Who needs binoculars when I have a camera zoom like this :)

Check out how small that frog was...

Gross...I hate bugs! You don't want to get bit by one of those...

A little bird that made it's nest in the restaurant we had breakfast at...it was watching me

"I can try to like nature"

2008-06-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

The title of this article was said by me today to a friend of mine. I'm getting up super early tomorrow (3:30am) to go on a birdwatching tour in a rainforest near San Jose, Costa Rica. I'm not sure how that will be. I think it should be pretty interesting to see lots of birds that are coloful. Supposedly they are active in the early morning. I'm not really, nor have I ever been, that into nature but I want to try to get into it. Of course, I love beautiful lanscapes but I've never been big into hiking but I kind of want to be. We'll see. Check out my post about tour tomorrow :)

Karaoke Anyone?

2008-06-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Last night some friends and I went to a Karaoke Bar. I've pretty much decided that most people go to bars when they are on vacation, that's the night life. It's not quite my scene but if there is Karaoke or a band playing I'll enjoy myself. I'll have to find some alternative sources of nightly entertainment in the near future. I've already discovered movies (in english), now I need to see what else is out there. Last night was pretty fun. I didn't sing, of course, I never do, but I had fun watching people. I've always wanted to sing at a Karaoke bar but I get really nervous and I'm super shy when it comes to singing. I can give a speech to millions of people with no problems but singing is completely different.

I went with a few friends I've met here. We had a good time. My friend's Chelsea and John were brave enough to go up and sing.I was extremely tempted when they picked out "I will survive" as a song but I resisted my urge to share my amazing vocal talents with the audience. I told them I needed time to build up to the experience and promised I would go before they leave. They all head back to the states in a few weeks. I still have 7 more to go.

I've acquired a list of things I want to do and see before I go back. So far, here's the list:
1. See a sloth (hold one too if possible)
2. Bungee Jump
3. White Water Raft
4. Go to Guanacaste (Northwestern region...it has a lot of beautiful beaches I want to hit up)
5. Go to Puerto Viejo y Puerto Limón (Beaches on the Southeast coast)
6. Go to Manuel Antonio (National Rainforest Park/Region)
7. Go to Monteverde (The cloud forest)
8. Take surfing lessons (I never did it and I lived in Hawaii for 2 years...it's pathetic)
9. Improve my latin dancing skills (my school offers free classes...sweetness)
10. See the Volcán Arenal (Volcano)
11. If possible, hop the border and go to a beach in Panamá
12. Y finalmente, meet some ticos! Most of my friends here are from the states and I'm not going to improve much if I don't make more local friends. I met a few today so that's a start.

Let's see how I do with this list. If you're an avid traveler, you know how it goes, plans don't always work so who knows. But, these are my top things I really want to do before I head home in July.

Things I Love

2008-05-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's official, I've been in CR for a week now. I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty big adjustment at first. I knew I was coming here for 8 weeks to study spanish...not just soak up all the goodness it has to offer, although that was a side plan too. I'm here on a mission, to try to understnad what people are saying to me...haha! So, for the first few days I was pretty overwhelmed and unsure if I wanted to stay. I mean, it was cold, raining all the time and I didn't know half of what was going on. Part of it was nerves I'm sure too. I was also a few thousand miles away from my friends, family and cell phone. Not to mention...a very special someone. Haha, traveling is awesome but it's a little weird when you have a significant other back at home waiting for you. I miss him but, I made these plans and I'm going to live my life and not be sad about it. Now that I've been here a week things are getting easier, I at least understand my host family (for the most part) and my teacher. I can order food by myself (somtimes with some confusion) and I'm getting around and feeling a little more at home.

This brings me to my list of things I love so far about Costa Rica.

1. LA COMIDA!! The food here is excellent. I've not had anything that I didn't like so far. It is healthier too. Although, I do need to be careful and not eat too much because I can't be gaining a few pounds. Normally I wouldn't care but I'm going to be a bridesmaid the week I get back and my dress is very fitted. There's no room to grow...if you know what I mean :)

2. The buses. At first, I was terrified of the public buses. First, because I didn't want to get on the wrong one and end up somewhere I'm unfamilar with but also, because I felt like a fish out of water. Now, I go everywhere on the bus and I like it. It's super cheap. Each ride is about 30 cents. Also, it beats driving. If I lived here I wouldn't own a car. The buses go all over the country and for really cheap prices. I'll be able to catch a bus anywhere for about $4-6, you can't beat that.

3. The spanish language. Although, I still struggle a lot to understand people, I love being surrounded by it. Also, seeing all the signs really helps improve my vocabulary.

4. Costa Rican men. Haha, so far, they've been pretty good looking...not everyone of course, but I see a lot of nice eye candy each day. Maybe one of these days I'll meet one to take me around on a tour :)

Finalmente...Un Día del Sol!!

2008-05-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

Title Translation: Finally, a day of sun! The whole time I've been here it's rained the entire day and it's been very cold. However, today it was nice and sunny with blue skies and a few clouds. Later in the afternoon the storm clouds came and now it's raining but that's okay. I was expecting sunny mornings and rainy afternoons and that's just what we got today. I met up with some friends and we took a bus to downtown San José. I'm living in San Pedro, a big suburb of San José and I really like it. In downtown there was so many people and it was really crowded. I don't know that I'll make regular visits down there but we wanted to see some of the museums. There is also a flea market down there so I'll be headed back there to do my souvenier shopping.

The first stop was the "Museo del Jade."
It had a few jade carvings and pre-Colombian artifacts like pottery, which I love, and other various tools the civilizations used before Colombus. It was pretty cool but I do have to say that it was quite expesive for here. It was ¢3500 (about $7), which doesn't seem like much but it's pretty small. Although, if you're really into Pre-Colombian artifacts, it's worth the stop. If you aren't into pottery and jade carvings, go to a nice restaurant instead. We also went to the "Museo de Oro" (gold). That was about $4 and I liked it. There was a lot of cool gold art work and some random paintings and other artifacts in the museum. They have a currency exhibit but it was closed for remodeling. I bet that would've been pretty cool.

In front of the museum of gold, there was a very large square with hundreds of pidgeons. At first I wondered why there were so many but then I saw the people were feeding them. Some of the birds were eating right out of people's hands. It was pretty cool. It reminded me of the movie Mary Poppins and I wanted to bust out and sing "feed the birds." Thankfully, for the others, I resisted the urge. "Feed the birds, toppins a bag."

Following the museums we went to the National Park where there was a lot of painted cows. I found the golden calf! Some of the cows were so awesome. It was a pretty good day and the weather was perfect. After the park, my friends and I went to eat lunch at "Pomodoro," an italian restuarant near the University of Costa Rica. It was delicious. I think tonight we're going to meet up and go to a karaoke bar or something fun like that. Costa Rica is pretty awesome!

Here are some pictures of the cows:

This one was hanging from the trees...a zip lining cow!

Jazz Cafe

2008-05-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last night for my birthday a few friends I met at school and I went to a place called the Jazz cafe. It's a little bar/jazz club. We took the bus down there and walked part of the way...as you can see, it was raining. I've pretty much gotten used to the rain at this point. I'm here in the winter and that's how it is. Although it's not sunny, which I'm sad about, I kind of like that the weather is cooler. It's a little colder than I was prepared for but I guess it beats sweating through all my clothes. The group we saw playing was called "escats" and they were very good. I guess they are considered jazz but not quite. I'm not exactly sure how to classify their genre. I really liked them a lot. I'm going to have to figure out when they're playing again and go watch them. Here's a picture of the lead singer. He played the keyboard and the piano all night. I think I developed a little crush on him because of his piano skills. He also sang happy birthday to us because there were a few others celebrating their birthdays. I wasn't able to get it on a video though, dang it! He played the piano very well and sang beautifully. If you're ever in San Pedro/San Jose, Costa Rica, be sure to visit the Jazz Cafe...you won't be disappointed.

Things I Miss

2008-05-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that a lot of people who have travel blogs have themes for some of their entries. For example, Six in the World, always had their top 6 list. I'm going to do, things I miss and a things I love list. So far, I have two things I really, really miss from back home and they are:

1. EL SOL (The sun)!! It's been raining here the whole time. Costa Rica is awesome but I came in their winter, it's just something to think about if you are going to come here. My purpose to come here is to study and learn spanish so it's not a big deal, but if you want to enjoy the scenary, maybe come in their summer.

2. My Hairdryer!! I can live without it but I have to air dry each day and it's just not quite the same. Here's a shot of me right as I'm about to leave in the morning...blah! I have to figure out some styling secret to get a more voluminous look without a diffuser. Anyone with curly hair know any?

La Clase de Cocinar

2008-05-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

Title Translation: Cooking class. The school I'm going to here offers cooking classes every Wednesday so students can learn how to make traditional Costa Rican dishes. It's pretty awesome. Today I learned how to make corn tortillas. They are actually really easy. I'm totally going to make some for my friends and family when I get back, along with the other fun stuff I learn how to make.My favorite part of Costa Rica so far is the food. It is excellent and I hope that I don't get fat while I'm here. I need to start walking to school instead of the bus. I've planned to every morning but it's been raining all the time here! I wasn't quite prepared for that but I'm still having a good time. Today has been good so far. I rode the bus to and from school all by myself (yeah, I'm a big girl now). Later tonight, I'm going to a place called the Jazz Cafe with some friends. Hopefully it's fun :)

Hoy Es Mis Cumpleaños!

2008-05-28T05:32:00.000-07:00

Title Translation: Today is my birthday! As of today, I've lived for a quarter of a century. I've been looking for to the big 25 since I turned 21...only because after 21, the other birthdays aren't super exciting and I'm pretty sure most people don't look forward to those over the hill milestones. However, at 25, you can rent a car at cheaper rates and, have reduced car insurance. Although, I'm not too sure my rates will drop a lot with my lovely record :) Anyway, today is my birthday and I'm in Costa Rica. I will post more stories later. I have class until 2pm, then I need to do homework. After school I'll come home, eat, change and go out on the town. I'm going to go to the jazz cafe with some friends I've met here. It should be fun.

By the way, sorry for my lack of pictures on my posts, I'm still getting a feel for how safe it is to be carrying a camera, especially since mine is super nice. But, I think it's A-okay so I will post more in the future. However, it pretty much rains here all the time...like it is right now, so I'm not sure how beautiful those pictures will turn out. Come back later to read more about my birthday adventures.

EWWW!

2008-05-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

YUCK!! Yeah, I just went to brush my teeth and when I walked out I stepped on one of those...barefoot. EWWW! That'll teach me a lesson to walk around the house barefoot. What if it comes into my room tonight to get me. I'm scared!

"You're not Costa Rican"

2008-05-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. There's a two hour time change and since I went to bed so early last night, I woke up at 5:45am and was wide awake. I got on the computer, typed up the entry before this and then got ready for church. One thing I love about being Mormon is, no matter where I go, the church is always there and always exactly the same. I can always count on it. In my past travels, if I ever was starting to feel a little sad about being gone, the church makes me feel right at home. I love it.

When I got to church there was a girl there from Pennsylvania who is doing her masters research. She speaks spanish already because she served a mission for our church in Chile. I didn't get a chance to talk to her before church started. She sat with my host family and I and when the first meeting was over I asked her where she was going to school and she was all surprised and said "oh, you're not Costa Rican." Haha, I asked if I looked like it and she said yes because most Ticos are light skinned and with my hair I could pull it off...sweetness! That's great news to me. Now, I just have to get my spanish down so I can pull it off completely. There were quite a few people at church that spoke English and I know that I'm here to learn spanish but when you are surrounded by everything different than what you're used to, it's nice to have something familiar.

After church we came back to the house and had a delicious lunch. It was spaghetti with a Costa Rican twist. All the food I've had here has been delicious and I told Maribel she has to help me learn how to cook. I can cook but I don't have a huge variety of dishes yet. With the amount of traveling I've done and plan to do, I need to start writing down recipes. I love international dishes. When we were done eating, I played a game called "packasel" with Raquel, the 9-year-old daughter of the family I'm staying with. She is so cute. The game requires you to stack sticks on the donkey. She was a little shaky and couldn't do it very well so she made me stack them all by myself...luckily, I had steady hands. Now, if I could only get steady hands when I take pictures...I'm always shaking. But, my new camera has a stabilizer. Day two was good. I start school tomorrow and I'm excited!

The Arrival...Estoy Aquí

2008-05-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

Since I stayed up so late packing, I was lucky enough to sleep most of the flights, the trip didn't seem that long. It's only about 6 hours with the layover in El Salvador, but still, it was nice to sleep my way through it. I don't like to fly that much, not because I'm scared, I'm not patient and it's annoying to fly because all you do is wait. On the plane ride down I sat next to the cutest Costa Rican couple. They were old and didn't speak English, which was the perfect opportunity for me to start practicing my Spanish. I do have to say, I have tons of opportunities to practice at home because half my friends speak it but it's easier for me to talk to people I don't know. I don't get as nervous and don't feel stupid when I don't know. My friends are nice and all but it's just easier with strangers. Anyway, the couple was cute and we walked around together in the San Salvador airport until we boarded our flight to San Jose. I didn't see them after that because they were in the front of the plane and I was in the back so they got off a lot quicker than me, and I took my time getting to customs when we were off.

When I say, I slept through the flight, I mean, I slept through it. I was out before the take off and woke up to the pounding as we hit the ground in CR. It was aweseome. I wasn't prepared with my camera to take any pictures, which was a shame because there was some cool shots I could've gotten from the plane on the runway, oh well, next time. After we shuttled to our gate, everyone was in a hurry sto stand. This fact always amazes me...why do they hurry, get there stuff, crowd next to each other, just to wait forever for the plane doors to open. I take my time and I sit until the rows in front of me are leaving. There's no need to squish in the aisle and have to bump into strangers, I hate that.

When I could tell it was getting closer to my time to exit, I picked up my laptop bag and placed it on the seat...when I looked at it closer, there was a cockroach on it!! EWW!! I wanted to scream and run around and act like a total girl but I was on a plane full of people so I flicked it off and that was that. Eww...I touched it! Luckily, it was a small one, not like the huge one's I used to see all the time when I lived in Hawaii. So, I got off the plane, lugged my laptop, hiking backpack and pillow to the rest room, which was interesting because the stalls are really small. It was a process trying to get all my stuff in there. I exchanged some of my money, which still confuses me. They don't have bills like we do in the US. We have 1's, 5's, 20's, 50's, etc. They have 2000's, 10000's, etc. The coins re 100 and 500. I gave $100 and got 46,800.27 colones. Weird! Once I figure out the proper differences I'll blog about it.

After the money exchange I went through immigration and customs, which was an easy process. There's no fee or special requirements. You just get a stamp for 90 days. I'm only planning to stay for 60 days so it's all good. I had instructions on where to go when I exited, which I followed and found a lady from the CRLA school holding a sign with my name on it. It was a huge relief to see. I wasn't worried I would be deserted but it was still comforting to see I was on the right track. My driver, Leonel, came around and picked me up and took me to my homestay. He was awesome and I was able to continue my practice of Spanish. I'm pretty impressed with myself, I didn't realize I knew as much as I did but when I'm alone and have no friends to fall back on, I have to figure it out myself and I did pretty well. My homestay was about 30 minutes from the airport and the family is very nice. The mother and daughter are LDS like me so I can go to church with them. They also rent 4 other rooms out so I was able to meet some new people already, and they are American so it was nice to have some English in there. I was started to feel very overwhelmed.

The picture to the right is my room. The house I'm staying in is very nice. I unpacked and sat down for lunch. I was starting to feel really overwhelmed because I was only understanding about half of what was being said to me. I felt really lonely and disconnected from my friends and family and was ready to turn around and go home...I mean, I didn't have my cell phone! Haha! I was told the local phone service is expensive so we shouldn't use our homestays phones, even with phone cards so I couldn't call anyone. Then, HALLELUJAH, Maribel (my host Mom) saw I had a laptop and told me they had wireless internet!! I was so relieved, hoped right online and felt at home again. I texted my friend to say I was safe (Verizon lets you text through the computer to other Verizon people, it's pretty cool), emailed Mom to say I was safe and then chatted a bit with my "special friend," whom I miss a lot right now.

It started raining shortly after I got here and thunderstormed through the night. My host family went to see a movie but I opted out to take a nap. When they came back they brought me dinner, which was a burger and fries, I felt so at home. It was "que rico," or delicious. It was better than any burger I ever had back in the States. Food outside the U.S. is almost always better and more fresh. We have way too many chemicals in our food, maybe that's why half the country is overweight. Anyway, I watched a little TV with them and then went to bed. We watched an American movie, in Spanish, so it was easier for me to catch what was being said because I'd seen it before. Good times. Now, it's about 6:45am and I'm wide awake. I love jumping back time zones because you wake up early and aren't tired. I'm not a morning person but I want to be so it's something I enjoy.

The Departure & Cell Phone Separation...AHH!

2008-05-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

As usual, it wouldn't be a real trip for me if I didn't wait until the last minute to finish packing! Although, this time I gathered everything I needed throughout the week, I waited until last night to get everything together. It shouldn't have taken me as long as it did but I was way over my weight limits and had to cut down, no surprise there, I tend to overpack! I am going for two months so bringing big bottles of shampoo and conditioner, hair stuff and other things that will last me two months added up the weight. Anyway, I was up most of the night packing and was able to go to sleep at 12:30am...normally I'm finishing up right around the time I need to leave for the airport so that was a vast improvement.

My flight left DC at 5:10am so I had to be at the airport around 3:30am. I checked in online before I went to sleep, which saved loads of time. I got to bypass the large TACA line that was already formed, give them my bags and go to security, which at 3:45am is pretty dead. My friend works for TSA and has the early shift so he came and met me at my gate and kept me company while I waited, it was a nice change to have someone I know with me. Normally I fly alone and I'm a bit anti-social at airports and keep to myself so it was fun to having someone to laugh with. My friend left me and I gave him my phone...it's really of no use to me in Costa Rica since it doesn't even work at all. Plus, if it did I wouldn't want to rack up my phone bill when I miss people and want to talk.

If you know me well, you know I almost always have my cell phone with me, except at work and that's only because it doesn't work in the building. I'm super attached to my phone, I'm like the the chick in the cartoon above with my phone. As soon as my friend walked away with my phone and said goodbye I had some serious cell phone separation anxiety going on. Then, I started to feel nervous about my trip and how I'm going to some foreign country alone, where I don't know anyone. I didn't feel too good on the flight. Luckily, I was able to sleep most of the flight down from my lack of sleep the night before. I usually stay up on purpose for that very reason. Who wants to be bored on a plane for 6 hours when you can just sleep through it and wake up at your destination. That's how I roll! But, I'm here in San Jose already and things are good. I'll give more details and stories later but for now, necesito una siesta (I need a nap). I'm just super thankful my host family has wireless internet or I might have had a technology separation breakdown!

Packing

2008-05-25T05:00:00.001-07:00

Even though I'm already here, I thought I'd add some of the pictures my friend took while I was packing...I've never been known to be a light packer, so why should this time be any different. I brought two suitcases, a big hikers backpack, a laptop and pillow. It was heavy carrying half the stuff through the airport but I'm not trying to rough it on this trip so no worries.

Aside from the expected items (clothes, toiletries, etc.), I did make sure to read up on Costa Rica and bring the recommended items. I read that many public restrooms in CR don't have toilet paper so I was sure to stock up on some travel cases of it for the trip. That could be bad!! Also, for the ladies, I read that in CR you can't find tampons easily (sorry boys), so if you know you'll need them, bring them along. It never hurts to be safe rather than sorry later. For my weekend trips I plan to go to beaches and tourist spots so I didn't really see a need to bring too much extra things. However, you will want to bring an umbrella if you're coming here...supposedly in the rainy season, which we're in now, it rains everyday.

My favorite part of packing was my little kitty, Benny (notice him in the picture). Cats are very interesting creatures and they are so curious. I grew up with dogs so whenever the cats do their thing, it always makes me laugh because they are so cute. I'm going to miss my babies!

Happy Early Birthday!

2008-05-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

My birthday is not for 7 more days but I got an early birthday present I wanted to brag about on my blog. I'm also going to be in Costa Rica for the big day so I'm getting all my presents early this year. I wanted two things for my birthday, a new camera and a traveller's backpack for people that backpack through the world. I didn't really need either because I have a digital camera and I'm not backpacking anywhere until next year. However, the camera I have is nice but for the amount of traveling I do, I wanted something that had more features and could capture pictures like how I see them in real life. Plus, my camera is two years old and there's always new things coming out, I like to keep up with the technology...is that so wrong? I wanted the backpack to use while I go on my weekend trips to Costa Rica, and I thought it might be nice to get it now since I plan to backpack Europe next summer.

The backpack problem was solved when my sister's boyfriend let me borrow one of his packs. It's the perfect size for what I'll need it for (3 day weekend treks through CR). I put aside the idea of a new camera because I didn't think anyone in my family would buy the type I wanted because it's expensive, but low and behold, I got a new camera...but not from my family. It's from someone else who's very special to me. I just want to publicly say thank you so much. I am the proud new owner of a Canon - powershot 12.1MP - digital camera. It is a beauty and it is loaded with features. I looked at a lot of cameras and asked the Best Buy people what they recommended and they all said Canon takes the best shots. I've heard that before and my other camera is a canon as well. However, this one is so much better. The pictures I've taken are awesome and I'm having fun playing around with all the features. I can't wait to get to Costa Rica and take some amazing pictures. Here are a few of my practice shots...

There's a black and white setting, which I am in love with!
You can color swap, meaning, make green leaves red...it's so awesome, this looks like a fall picture but it's not, it was taken yesterday with the bright green leaves.
By far my favorite feature is this one, the color accent. You can pick a color to stand out and the rest is black and white. It's pretty awesome.

No more sun glares...you can shoot right into the sunlight :)

This camera has a 24x zoom, which is pretty great, most have a 3x zoom so you can be really far away and still get great shots.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I love it and promise to take great care of my camera!!!

Countdown continues...

2008-05-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for San Jose, Costa Rica in 5 days! I can't believe it. I'm stressing out and have thoughts of not going. I know that sounds totally crazy but there are personal things happening in my life that cause me to want to stay. However, I think I need this trip more than anything else I've ever needed in my life. It will be so hard to leave but I know I need to. There's nothing really bad happening, so don't worry, it's just a few things that I think I might benefit from leaving. Sometimes we need space and time to clarify and ponder what we are going to do with our lives and this is that time for me.

When I return I know I will be teaching 8th grade Civics and I will need to buy a car (yikes...that's going to be expensive) but there are always things we have to figure out in life. It's too bad all the answers aren't laid out for us. Sometimes I wonder if I would like having my decisions told to me, rather than me deciding. That way, I won't have to worry if I'm choosing the right thing or not. The future is always a mystery and that's exciting but it's scary too. I'm a major planner and like to have things laid out for me. When they aren't I get completely stressed out...like I am right now. It makes me want to scream...AHHH!! Haha, I just want to know what's going to happen. Only time will tell. Patience has never been one of my gifts, so fortunately for me, I get to go on vacation to wait this one out. I know my trip will be fun but I'm a little scared about what I will come back to. I'm sure this probably makes no sense to anyone who reads this, because I'm extremely vague. However, I am looking forward to my trip but what I'm leaving behind and what I come back to is a little scary. At least I know I have a teaching job, so really, all is well.

Lastly, this trip is my time to let go and not stressed about the unplanned. I know I'll be studying spanish at an academy but my weekends are left to me to travel and explore where ever I want to go. I'm just going to go with the flow and I'll discover the many beautiful places Costa Rica has to offer...for that, I'm super excited!!

Time to pack...I'm going to Costa Rica!

2008-05-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

As my Costa Rican adventure is approaching, I probably should start planning what I need to bring. Does anyone have any recommendations? My trip is not a backpackers journey so I will be bringing a lot more than a backpack but it would be great to have some advice on what I should add to my growing list. Of course, I'm going to CR to have a great adventure but the purpose of my trip is to improve my Spanish-speaking ability. In order to do this I am going to a Spanish language school from Monday-Thursday for 6 hours/day. I will have 3 day weekends to tour the country and I pretty much already made my itinerary for that, although, I'm sure that is subject to change. Just keep my studies in mind when you make travel recommendations and packing suggestions. Thanks ahead of time!

A Woman's Worth

2008-05-07T08:05:00.001-07:00

This is a post a did a while ago on my old blog but thought I should add it to this one...

What is a woman's worth? This is something I have been talking about with a friend of mine lately and I ended up teaching a lesson in church about it. What is our worth and purpose? If I look back into my own life and my observations of other woman, I think we don't realize who we are and in turn allow ourselves to be mistreated. I know I have let far too many men treat me poorly and I realized that it's not the men that are the problem...it's me! I have allowed these lame guys into my life and for what? I have a lot to offer and there is no reason to settle or allow myself to be treated bad. I was never trying to settle before, which is why I'm still single, but I haven't always dated the highest quality guys before either. This is something I would like to change. It might result in less dates but I'm okay with that because I didn't get it until now...it's not quantity but quality.

I still haven't answered my intial question. What is a woman's worth? If you've ever seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" the main character's mother tells her that "the man is the head but the woman is the neck and she can move the head which ever direction she wants." That is an awesome statement. Women are strong and we have a lot more influence in the world than we give ourselves credit for. If we could all realize our strengths and use them in a positive way we could do so much. We could even change men for the better...this is only contigent on us recognizing our own personal worth and having confidence in ourselves as women. It's a beautiful thing to be a woman.

I've always heard, you can't change men. This is true in the sense that our sole purpose should not be to change men. If it is then we will be frustrated and men will be annoyed and want to walk away. However, if we change the way we carry ourselves, the way we are around men and change what we expect out of them then they will have to change to be around us. We can't let men take advantage of women. Men will naturally change in a positive way if we are different, not because we are making them but because they will have to if they want to meet our standards and expectations. Our standards should be high and if a man is not willing to come to your level then who cares, someone else will come along and be willing to work for it. As more women raise their standards, the more men will rise to meet the challenge. Men don't want to be with easy women, they want to work for it. I know that because many of my guy friends have told me and my girl friends that have awesome guys made them work for it!

I've always had a theory that the world would be a much better place if women ran it. Although I still think that's true, our roles might be best if we stay in the shadows and use our influence in a different way...by turning the neck :) We do have an influence in the world and on men. More of us, including me, need to use our influence in a positive way. This is a very random blog but us women are awesome and more of us need to realize just how true that is!!

Singlehood!

2008-05-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

I've learned, yet again, that when things seem too good to be true, they usually are. Since I'm always a little vague about my love life on my blog, there's no need to give details, except to say that I'm single and I'm happy about it. It's a great thing to be a 20-something single girl in the world. I mean, if I was pinned down, I wouldn't be able to travel, go to school and follow all the dreams I set for myself. No complaints here. I'm sure if I was willing to compromise my dreams I would be married right now but I'm not ready to do that just yet. I'll still hold on to the dream that I can accomplish my dreams and have a guy that let's me do it. If not, then I might change but for now...let the adventures continue!! Life is beautiful :)

The countdown has started. My next adventure starts on May 24th in Costa Rica where I will spend two months immersing myself in latin culture so I can finally learn Spanish! Stay tuned for pictures and fun stories!!

Tagged

2008-04-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

"Amy, you are tagged! You have to share 7 random facts about yourself on your blog! I'll be checking to make sure you are doing it. Ha ha!"

My friend, Melissa, left this comment on my page a few weeks ago and I'm finally catching up. I guess I'm supposed to tag 7 people too after I'm done so blogger friends beware! For now, here are 7 random facts about myself?:

1. I LOVE macaroni & Cheese...I could eat it everyday!!

2. I'm a hopeless romantic...I still have those little girl fantasies where I'm expecting prince charming to come rescue me from my troubles. Haha :)

3. I'm a Survivor/Amazing Race addict...I've seen every episode and don't forsee every missing any episodes in the future.

4. I love being in pictures. Haha, I like taking a lot of pictures but I usually don't want them unless I'm in them :)

5. My favorite author is Sophie Kinsella...she wrote the "Shopoholic Series". Whenever she writes a new novel I'm waiting in line for it. Her most recent book was "Remember me?"

6. I sleep with a stuffed animal :) Haha...and I'm not ashamed! I sleep with a stuffed pic and I use it as a pillow. However, I can sleep without it needed.

7. I have a disney movie collection...all of the collecter's editions, of course. I also have the Duck Tales series on DVD. They just don't make cartoons like they used to and when I have children I want them to be able to enjoy the classics :)

A new boyfriend?

2008-04-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well...I don't know if my special someone reads my blog and by chance that he does, I have to be extremely vague. I'm dating someone at the moment and I'm so happy!! I just can't contain myself...I like him :) If you noticed in my title, I put a question mark with it because, honestly I'm not quite sure what we are. I've asked what's going on and he always says, "why do we need a title?" I'm not sure how I feel about that but I guess he's right. I know he likes me and he's not dating anyone else so what's there to worry about? It's still very new and in the beginning stages where I'm not quite sure what will happen so I'm trying to relax, be patient and enjoy the ride.

If you know me well, I'm not the kind of girl to sit back and let things happen. I'm a control freak and I always want to know what's going to happen. It's like Alice and Wonderland when Alice curious and follows the rabbit into his hole. She just has to know what's going on. Her curiosity gets the best of her and she falls into the unknown world. I'm totally in that stage right now.

So, my friends, I'm falling down the rabbit hole into the unknown. I'm excited, happy, nervous and scared all at the same time. I don't know what's going to happen and I'm not sure where I will land, I only hope I land on my feet when I get there.

Last Stop: Bahamas

2008-04-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Our last stop on my family reunion cruise was in Nassau, Bahamas. It was supposed to be at Great Stirrup Cay, which is NCL's private island but the seas were too rough to tender in so we went to Nassau instead. I didn't mind since the weather was cloudy there wouldn't be much to do at a beach.

Nassau is home to Paradise Island, which houses the hotel Atlantis. They had an aquarium there so we walked around and looked at all the fishes (I know that's not how you spell it but I like to say it like that). I always thought I would want to go to Atlantis but I'm glad I went there for the day. It's nice, but I don't think Atlantis and Nassau is somewhere I would want to spend more than a day or two. It wasn't quite my style and I wasn't feeling it. My family stayed to look around the hotel and I took a water taxi back to the main island to shop, of course!

There was a flea market with ton of shops but they were all the same thing so it was a little annoying because I wanted to find a nativity set from the Bahamas. I collect nativities. Most of the stuff they sell are fake designer hand bags. Had I brought more cash I probably would have bought one but oh well. Next time...haha, if I go. Not to knock the Bahamas but I didn't really like it as much as the other ports. However, I should mention that it was Good Friday when we went so almost everything was closed. Had more things been open I might have had a more enjoyable time...and if it was more sunny :)

On my way back to the boat there were some guys about my age selling conk shells on the pier. They started whistling at me. Yeah, like that's going to get my attention. One of the guys came up to me and said "you are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Haha, I replied back, "then you must not have seen a lot of people in your life, but thanks." Haha!! He was a bit taken aback by my response. What did he expect? It was a fun day.

The Drive

2008-04-17T16:06:00.001-07:00

So, this is a little out of order but I forgot to write about our drive. My family and I (Mom, Dad, sister, brother, me and sister's boyfriend) piled into my brother's Ford F250 truck. We left DC around 1pm and arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 5:50am! Two people slept in the back with all the bags, yet on a campers mattress. My Mom and I got the midnight shift so it was nice to be able to spread out and sleep while we drove through the night!
I remember when I was a child road trips were a lot different. We haven't done a family road trip in at least 10 years so I was wondering what it was like. We used to have disney children's songs playing and we would sing along. We had a luxury van that had a couch that laid out to a seat in the back so we could lay and sleep, play cards and have space in the back. It was nice. We also always had a cooler filled with sandwiches and drinks and other goodies. It was good times. This time around we had 3 laptops so we could watch DVD's. My brother also had a wireless internet card so we could get on the web during the drive. Modern technology certainly made the drive a lot different than when I was a kid. It was nice. Plus, sleeping a lot helped the 18 hour drive be a little quicker.

When we arrived it was still dark and a little too early to call the family to meet up for breakfast so we parked at a beach and watched the sunset...or at least my Mom and I did and the rest of the fam slept in the truck. Here's some pictures I took when we arrived...
This is me trying to look all cheery at 6am!
Here's what it looked like when we arrived.
The next few pictures are the progression of the sun rise :)

This picture is fun...we had to do safety drills on the boat before we sail so I took a picture of me in life vest :)

Sea Day!

2008-04-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

If you've ever been on a cruise then you are aware of "sea days." When you leave your destination, for us it was Miami, it usually takes a day or so to sail to your first stop and then after going to a few stops you might have another sea day to head back to the final destination. I love sea days. After going to 3 different countries and trying to see as much as you can there in one day you get tired. Plus, after stuffing your face with the endless amounts of food on the cruise, it tends to take a lot out of you. Or at least it did me. I was trying to eat healthy for the last 3 months so a week of junk was a little heavy so I was ready for a day to relax.

The purpose of our cruise was a family reunion so on our sea day we spent a lot of time together. We met in the buffet (of course we did) to play cards and dominoes. I also spent a lot of time working on my tan...I couldn't come back from a cruise and not have a little color :) In the evening we all met for dinner and then posed for family photos afterward. That was an interesting undertaking. To the right is just the cousins.My idea was to have everyone where black shirts and jeans and almost everyone did except as you can see from the photo in the right, my dang sister had to go and where white shorts. What was she thinking? Oh well, at least we have a picture of everyone. My aunt also ordered us some family t-shirts, which were awesome, so we got a shot with all of us wearing that too. The gang's all here!
Here's all the real cousins, with no significant others...we were having fun.
My brother, sister and me...I think I might be adopted!

Wasting Time...

2008-04-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Green

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

Wow...that certainly sounds nice. I'm not sure if it's true or not. I would like to think so but you can't always tell with these things :)

Catching Up!

2008-04-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

It's seriously not that fun to try to catch up on all these blog posts I have to do. I still have like 8 more places to write about. When I'm in Costa Rica this summer I have to stay on top of my blog entries more. To any of you world travelers, how do you stay on top of it?

Also, I have to let you know the changes in itineraries. As much fun as all my plans were to go on two cruises, Jamaica, Hawaii and to Costa Rica with about a week in between each, I realized that trying to finish my master's degree at the same time was not working so I have canceled my trip to Jamaica and Hawaii until further notice. So sad :( It's good though, I have a month to work and save some money before I head to Costa Rica for two months. Also, I'm dating someone (YAY!) and don't want to keep leaving all the time, but enough about that for now.

3rd Stop: Cozemel, Mexico

2008-04-13T14:00:00.001-07:00

The third stop of the week was in good ol' Cozemel, Mexico. Back when I was 10 or so my family went on a week long trip to Cancun and we took a water taxi to Cozemel for the day. Not that I would remember much from 14 years ago but since they were hit by a bad hurricane a few years ago, pretty much nothing was the same so it was like going somewhere new again. I was pretty excited to get to this stop because once again I could practice spanish. I didn't plan any excursions for the day. I only planned to walk, shop, talk to people and just enjoy the day. I was also alone this day because everyone else planned something. I actually started to like the loner thing and might just have to travel somewhere on my own one day. I thought the day would be awesome, however, it really wasn't. I did get to see the world's smallest Hardrock Cafe and Senor Frogs so that was fun. I went to Senor Frogs in Cancun when I was 10 and remember the waiters trying to get me to go through the tequila line (yeah right) and my Mom trying to get them to turn the music down...haha!

On my walk around I talked to some people to get directions to the post office so I could by postage stamps. I had a few stares from the men and some heckles that I didn't particularly care for. After I went to the post office I started walking through little stands selling things and other little shops to see if there was anything I wanted to buy. All I wanted was a little turtle, a postcard and a flag pin for my lanyard at work. I usually like to collect nativity sets but I have a lot from Mexico so I didn't need to worry about that. I was also look for a Mexicano for my friend, which wasn't hard to find. It reminded me of my friend from Puerto Rico and I know he would like it so I got one. We took the picture to the right last summer. We were making fun of the little statues so it was an appropriate gift.

On my little adventure I had about 5 guys ask me if I wanted them to be my boyfriend...um, that's exactly what I was looking for, to come to Mexico for a day and get a boyfriend. Yeah right! I told them that I had a boyfriend (technically not true but I am dating someone so it wasn't completely off) and they said "that's okay, I'm not jealous." Haha, I heard that from at least 3 of them. Well, maybe they're not jealous but I do want to date a guy that's taller than me! I tried to ignore all the offers and walking around but then one guy started talking to me while I was looking in a shop and he put his arm around me and started to try to lead me closer to him. I forcefully stepped back and said "no me toque" or basically don't touch me and walked away. I was a little creeped out by that and decided I had all the things I wanted to buy and went back on the boat. I was only out for 2 hours or so and was a little sad I didn't get to do more. If I ever get there again I will make sure to not be walking around there alone...ick! On the boat ride back to our ship I did happen to spot the hottest looking man I saw all week. If you know me well then you know that I'm a sucker for men with brown skin. I love chocolate! Haha. I like white guys too but sometimes you need a little flavor. This man was sitting across from me and since I was wearing sunglasses he couldn't tell that I was staring at him the whole ride back (that sounds stalkerish but it was eye candy). Haha, that was the best 5 minute boat ride I ever had.

For the rest of the day I laid on the pool deck and worked on my tan. That night 5 of the daring family members met at the sushi restaurant...well, not daring but the one's who love sushi. We ordered the sushi boat to the right. It was so awesome! It had about 100 pieces of sushi and sashimi. I loved it, what a great night, it made up for the creepy afternoon :)

2nd Stop: Belize City, Belize

2008-04-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

Our 2nd stop was Belize City. I've also already been there but we went on a canopy/zipline tour and didn't really get to walk around since our time at the port was so short. This time around we didn't plan any shore excursions. It ended up being a good thing because the water was so choppy the cruise ship took a long time to tender everyone out to the shore. Belize is too shallow to dock at so ships have to anchor 5 miles out and take little boats to shore. The picture to the right is my uncle, brother and sister's boyfriend on our way to shore. The boat ride took a while because the waves were pretty big but we made it.

My sister, her boyfriend and I walked around the city on our own. We were on the hunt for local food and finally found a place but were scared off by the high prices, then realized later that it was in Belize dollars so it was actually cheap but we were already gone when we realized is so no local food for us. Oh well, next time. While we were walking we passed this building (picture to the left) and saw a group of boys jumping off the docks. Of course my sister's boyfriend wanted to join in because he's all about doing outdoorsy things so he jumped in the water and swam to them. When we got there the gate was closed so that was the only want to get to where the boys were. When he got to them they took him somewhere in the building where we couldn't see them. My sister got all nervous and worried so I said I'd go see what was up. We figured out a way through the gate and I walked to the building. The guys were jumping from the roof when I got there and I guess they were screaming (I didn't hear it). My sister heard the screams and thought it was me and was freaking out. Luckily, it wasn't anything to worry about. It was kind of funny. The boys were just having fun jumping into the water. Joe ended up cutting his feet up on the coral, ouch! We talked to the boys, who were on vacation from Mexico, for a bit and then continued our journey. I bought some fruit and sugar cane, yummy.

I left my sister and went off on my own to talk to people and shop around. I met this one kid who worked at a little shop and talked to him for a while about Belize. He was maybe 18 or 19 years old. I think he liked me. Haha! When I was leaving he told me I was the nicest person he met and he wanted to give me a hug. He said no tourists every stop and talk to him like that. I wanted to know about the country, I didn't think it was that different but I gave him a hug and then went on my way. After my shopping I headed to the port to take a boat back to the ship. I got to ride on a boat named Amy!! I saw it there 2 years ago when we were there and took the picture to the left. I was excited that I got to ride on it and of course I told the guys that owned it that my name was Amy too. They let me sit on the top by the steering wheel and I thought that was cool but later regretted it since I got drenched by sea water on the ride back. It sucked because I got salt water in my eyes and I was soaking wet when I got back to the ship and their A/C was cranking. It was cold! All in all it was a good day. Belize is nice to visit for a day but I don't know that I would want to go back for a week. We'll see, if I become super rich and travel everywhere else I want to go first then I will head back there for more time. I've heard they have good scuba diving but I didn't get to do that there. The canopy tour was pretty cool when we did that. I love zip lining!

1st Stop: Roatàn, Honduras

2008-04-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

I went to Roatàn on a cruise back in 2005 with my family and remembered it was my favorite stop. I was pretty excited to get to go again, especially since my nativity set I bought there broke and I would be able to replace it.

We sailed from Miami on a Sunday and had a day and a half before we would arrive in Honduras. The first night of the cruise my sister, Travelin' Tracy, got food poisoning or something and was throwing up all night. The ship wanted to be sure she wasn't contagious so they quarantined her in the room on Monday. Haha, that sucked for her! Well, that same night I started to feel sick and was worried I would have what she had and be throwing up all night too. My fear was that I would be too sick to leave the boat the next day when we arrived in Honduras. Luckily, I think it was a combination of eating a lot (cruise boats always have a ton of food) and a rocky boat. I threw up once and felt fine afterwards. Thank goodness :) I'm not a fan of throwing up but it was a little nice to know I wouldn't have to worry about those few extra calories because after working out all the time you really feel icky when you eat really bad. Don't worry, the rest of the cruise I just worked out every day to make up for the extra food!

We arrived in Honduras and the weather was beautiful. My family thought it was too hot but I loved it, I hate being cold so I embraced the heat. We were greeted by punta dancers and I even danced with them for a little while. It was pretty fun. I've done it before so I kind of know how to do it but I wouldn't classify myself as a punta dancer just yet.

My brother, sister, my sister's boyfriend and me went horseback riding for a couple hours. After the ride my family went snorkeling and I walked around and talked to people in order to practice my spanish. I also wanted to get to the post office to buy postage stamps (I've discovered it's a cheap souvenier that every country has). When I was walking I would stop and talk to people and practice my spanish. It was fun, they were very friendly. I even had a local Honduran man walk me to the post office so I could find it and he took me to a local restaurant to eat local food. It was pretty good except the beef had fat and bones on it so that kind of grossed me out but I still ate it. I'm not a picky eater but meat with bones is the one thing I can't handle but if someone serves it to me I will eat it with a smile on my face, even though I'm gaging on the inside! I saw my family later on and they thought I was crazy for walking with some local guy but it wasn't dangerous, the city is really public so I wasn't worried.

I loved Roatàn and wished I could've spent more time there. If you are a scuba diver then this is the place to go. I didn't do a dive on this trip but my sister and I dove there when we went in 2005 and it was beautiful. We got to dive with sharks, touch an octopus and see lots of really cool, beautiful fish. The people are nice and the food is pretty great too. I give Honduras two thumbs up and would love to spend more time there in the future.

Where to start...

2008-04-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

I just returned from two cruises this week and I saw a lot, it's hard not to when you visit 11 countries in 16 days! I'm not quite sure where to start. I guess what I'll do is write about and put pictures from each country and tell my favorite story from each place. I do have to say that I did get a real look at all the countries because it's a little hard to really take in the culture of a country when you're only there for a day. I did however get an idea of where I would want to go back and spend some serious time and I will be giving my recommendations :)

Home Sweet Home!

2008-03-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

I've been home for 2 days from my cruise and have been so busy trying to catch up from being gone for 9 days. It's always no fun coming home and having to go through the mail, clean, unpack and all that jazz. I had an awesome time and will start posting tonight with pictures and a day by day break down of my family reunion cruise. All in all, it was really fun. Although, I had a lot on my mind and was anxious to get home to get a few things settled once and for all. Haha...that sounds a little suspicious but it's nothing major, just some personal things I needed to finally take care of and as far as I know it's resolved, and in my favor! I'm happy about that. I might post later on regarding that particular situation but until then I'll keep it a mystery. The countdown continues though becuase I leave for Puerto Rico and my next cruise in 5 days! I can't wait. Stay tuned for all my pictures of family fun in the sun!!

Go GMU Patriots!!

2008-03-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

I am getting my masters degree from George Mason University. The year that I was applying they went to the final four of the NCAA championship. Basketball is my favorite sport and I love March Madness! I am happy to report that my team, the GMU Patriots, won the CAA tournament and automatically get a bid into the tournament...wahoo! Who knows, maybe the Cinderella story is returning. Too bad I'll be on vacation when the rest of the nominations are out. I just hope the cruise boat has satellite so I can find out who and when the Patriots play and can cheer them on!

I wish I was...

2008-03-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

If you're a facebook fan then you are aware of the feature to update your status. Under your name you can write "Amy is blah blah blah." Everyone puts in whatever they want. Last week I put "Amy is wishing she was..." I didn't fill in the rest of that statement and thought it would be fun for people to imagine what I would put there. "Wishing I was..." has so many meanings for me. For example, I wish I was done with school and I wish I was in the warm sun (although I will be in a few days). Anyway, I know that wishing is not always a good thing and we need to be happy and enjoy the present. I am happy with how things but I still have my days where I wish for things. I do have to mention that I wish for things that will be realities in time, like finishing school, but it's all that waiting I don't really care for. Patience is not a quality I say I possess but I'm working on it. I have a few other things that I'm wishing for but I think it's best to keep those to myself for now :) I'm going on my family cruise in 3 days!! I can't wait to have fun in the sun!!

We Got 2nd!!!

2008-03-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Two posts ago I said I was stressing because of school and the after-school work I was doing with the step team. It's hard on my patience at times to stay dedicated to helping the girls my step team stay motivated because they range from 11-14 years old and have other things on their minds. To the left is my team...plus some other students that help out a lot. Tonight my team, aka, "Dip-Set" competed in "The Ultimate Challenge" at one of the nearby high schools. It was my teams first competition and they rocket it. We won 2nd place in the middle school division. Below is the video of my teams routine. They were awesome and I'm so proud. I felt like a Mom or something. Haha...but seriously, I thought they were great and they got a lot of compliments from other schools. They couldn't believe it was their first time performing. We have a show in April and I think we have what it takes to get first next time around. Stay tuned. Do it Dip-Set!!!

The High School next to us has a special relationship with our school and our step team has become their mascots. Over the last few weeks one of the "D-Block" steppers came to our practices to help us out. I couldn't get all of their routine on video because my memory card was full but here is a clip. They rocked it too and got 2nd place in the high school division...they should have got first but I wasn't judging. Go D-Block!!

For Fun...

2008-03-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

Bloggers, Myspacers, Facebookers, Beboers, Hi5ers and any others that use social networking sites can really appreciate this cartoon...it's so true. Since I've become a blogger and Facebook/Myspace user, I really do spend less time trying to stay in touch because the computer makes it so much easier :)

I'm stressing!!

2008-03-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

I am leaving next Friday for a cruise with the family. We're having a little family renunion and I'm super excited. There's 28 of us going on the cruise, which sounds like a lot but being that my Dad is 1 of 10 kids it's not that many. Nine of the his siblings are going (one aunt couldn't make it) and some of my cousins but there's a good amount not coming...which saddens me because there's some I've never met, let alone know their names. It's actually pretty pathetic but my Dad's never been one to stay in touch well with his family so this cruise is a pretty big deal and I'm looking forward to getting to know some of my aunts, uncles and cousins better. Although, my cousins that are going I grew up with so I know them, I just haven't seen them in a while.

My immediate family, plus Joe (my sister's boo) will be leaving Virginia on Friday afternoon and making the nice long drive to Miami...it's 18 hours if you didn't know. I guess it worked out cheaper to drive together than flying. Personally, I'd rather fly but I don't get to make those kind of decisions, being that I'm the youngest. Going on an 18 hour car ride scares me a little because I haven't done a family road trip in at least 9 years...this should be interesting. My brother has a big Ford F250 with lots of space so we should fit comfortable. I fully intend of staying in the bag sleeping on the mattress we're putting in the whole time...away from everyone. I'm sure in the long run they will appreciate it because my family brings out an interesting side of me that I like to keep locked away. Stay tuned for posts on that drive! My family road trip is not what's stressing me out though.

Next week starts off my traveling adventures. I will be in and out of town for the next four months, only home for a week or so at a time before I head off to my next trip. As fun as it's going to be, I have A LOT to do before I go and I'm worried I might not get it all done. Thankfully, I've become a gym goer so that reduces a lot of my stress (and probably takes too much time) but I can't seem to shut my brain off at night to let myself sleep because I'm too busy worrying about all the things I have to do. I am a graduate student in my last semester so I have that to worry about. I'm also taking 2 online classes I need to finish up to qualify for my teaching license and it's seriously pure torture for me. I'm a huge procrastinator and each day that passes is less time I have to complete the courses and more work I have to do...it officially sucks. And the classes are so boring...economics and the history of England, ugh! I need to just suck it up and finish them already! They've been hanging over my head for months and I just want them done. Also, I'm the step team coach at the school I work at and we are competing this Friday. The team has been practicing hard and I think they are going to do great, we might even win, but who knows. I'll be posting a video of that this weekend. And also, this weekend I'm going to be performing some hula dances with some girls in my hula group so I have to practice those dances as well. Add all those things up what do you get? One very stressed out and not very fun to be around Amy!!

Baby Steps to Success

2008-02-29T09:44:00.001-08:00

I'm happy to report that since I started going to the gym in January I've lost 4 inches...all around of course, not just in one place. I haven't really seen any difference so it was nice to get measured again and see that my hard work is paying off. I'm not sure how much weight I've lost because I wasn't weighed when I started. Numbers on the scale aren't that important to me, it's more how I feel and I feel great!! Too bad losing weight the right way isn't quick and it certainly isn't easy! I'm just happy to know that there was a difference :)

Costa Rica...Here I Come!!

2008-02-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

I have been talking about spending the summer in Costa Rica for a while with my friends and I don't think they believed I would actually go but I just booked my ticket and registered at a Spanish Academy. I'll be taking 5/hrs of spanish classes a day from Monday-Thursday at CRLA.I looked at a few language schools and decided I felt the best with this school. After a few emails back and forth to address some of my concerns I worked it all out and I'm going...YAY!! I will be spending at least 8 weeks there from May 24th-July 19th. My best friend is getting married July 26th and being the good friend I am (I'm a bridesmaid) I am coming home for her wedding. Depending on how well my spanish is going at that point, I might go back to Costa Rica for 2 more weeks to get a little more practice in. I've been trying to learn spanish for the last 2 years (not always so diligently) and have taken 3 classes at the university level but I still suck at it. Hopefully after this summer I will be able to get over the hump I'm stuck on. Yay...I can't wait. If you've been there and can recommend any cool places I have to see let me know. I have the weekends to do my own thing and plan to visit all the hot spots, as well as try to go to Guatemala, Panama and maybe Nicaragua. Oh yeah, the best part is the school has a free gym so I can continue to work on my fitness and not lose any progress I've made...which, I've lost 3 inches to date :)

Crunch Time!

2008-02-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

For those of you who were fans of my former blog you are aware that I hired myself a personal trainer in January. It's a little more than I would like to spend but some people just need a little extra guidance to get started and I'm one of those people. If I didn't have appointments with my trainer then I wouldn't be going to the gym as often, even though I tell myself I need to. For the first month I haven't really seen any results, partly because I didn't really work on my eating habits. I've started changing that now too (it's hard to change that part of your life) and supposedly, according to my trainer and my friends, there's a difference. Yay!! I've started noticing little things like increased strength and endurance and I can touch my toes finally (something I've never been able to do). It's great to know that the hard work is doing something.

I have a little less than 4 weeks before my family cruise and it's crunch time. I will be sportin' a bathing suit and I need to look good. I'll be pasty white for the first few days but a couple days in the sun will take care of that. I might even get myself a spray tan before I go just to have a little base of something before but who knows. Today I ordered a couple of new bathing suits and I can't wait to use them at the beach. Yay for traveling!! I'm only grateful that the cruise ship has a gym because I can't get out of the habit. Plus, if you've ever been on a cruise then you know all the wonderful food they have so I will be a gymoholic while I'm there. My extended family is going to think I'm crazy but oh well...I'll look good :)

Jamaica Anyone?

2008-02-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

Right now I have a roommate from Germany who works for an airline. We are planning to go on a cruise of the Caribbean the first week of April together. I'm also going on a cruise with my family 2 weeks before my vacation with my friend. Tonight we were talking and she said she had a few days off the week I get back from our family cruise so we are trying to decide whether or not to go to Jamaica. If we go then I'll stay in Miami and wish bon voyage to my family and meet my traveling buddy at the Miami airport and head to Jamaica. Then, when we come back home for a few days and head down to Puerto Rico for our next vacation. I'm pretty sure I'll be broke when all my travels are done. But hey, you only live once right? Has anyone been to Jamaica...where should we be sure to go visit? We'll be flying to Montego Bay so if you have any hot spots let me know :)

Masters Research...On Blogs!!

2008-02-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

I am in my last semester at George Mason University...Yay! If all goes well this semester I will be earning a masters degree in Secondary Education: Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in History & Social Sciences, wow, that's a mouth full. I'm taking an educational research class, where we have to conduct action research. I've conducted research already in high school and college and the design of those and action research is similar so that's nice but action research is more personalized and meant to improve classroom instruction. It's meant for teachers to reflect on the nature of their own classroom and research what's been done and come up with something new to try for their classes. Prior to this semester I have been racking my brain trying to come up with a research topic. There are a lot of things that could be done but it has to be interesting for me because I will be spending a lot of time reading up on the topic and conducting research on it. I even tried looking into education journals for ideas and for months and nothing...yikes!

I almost considered withdrawing from the course until I had my own classroom (right now I'm working as a substitute teacher, seriously the best job ever). That meant delaying my program another 8 months and I wasn't too excited about that. I want to be done. Plus, if you noticed in my previous entry I have a few travel plans requiring me to miss a couple class sessions and I didn't want that to effect my grade. I decided to attend the first session of class and talk to my professor and find out if the missed classes would get in the way and also talk about research ideas. No problems were found with me missing a couple classes, mission one accomplished. I also talked with her for help with narrowing down a research topic. Study habits of students has always been interesting to me as I rarely study and always did well and other friends would study tons and barely get by. For clarification, I do put in the time needed for assignments but spending hours studying for tests was never my thing. I'd rather write a 20-page paper than study for a test...seriously! I thought it would be interesting to do some research with study habits so I started looking up articles and one about using blogs in the classroom came up and a light bulb went off. I ran the idea by my professor and ta-da, I have my research topic.

The question I am posing is "how would the use of blogs in the classroom effect student motivation outside the classroom?" I love blogging and I fully intend to use one when I'm a full-time teacher but there hasn't been a lot of research on their effectiveness and so forth. Yay...pave the way for new research. I love the fact that I'm finally researching something fairly new. I also look forward to interviewing students and teachers to fine the best way to implement a blog in the classroom so it's fun and also provides for a reflective, intstructional device. Stay tuned for more updates on how my research is developing.

It's All About Who You Know

2008-02-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard, "it's not about what you know but who you know?" Well, as much as I'd like to say that's not true, it is. In a lot of my travels I have gone to visit people living in those locations, I rarely stay in hotels. I have been lucky enough to make friends from all around the world and therefore, have places to stay when I travel. If you meet people from around the world and you get along with them, keep in touch. You never know when you might want to make a trip somewhere exotic and having a free place to stay is a nice way to save some money. Obviously, I wouldn't recommend keeping in touch with people you don't like because if you want a place to stay you will want to enjoy your visit but it's worth it to go through the hassles of staying in touch. Life is busy and gets hard to stay in touch with people sometimes but fostering those relationships makes traveling cheaper and more fun when you have a friend to go see. If you meet cool people along the way, stay in touch!!

My Travels Map

2008-02-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

Have you seen my travel maps and thought, "I want one too?" Visit Travbuddy and create your own travel widgets. It's really easy to use. All you do is click on "Countries Visited Map" or "Future Travels Map" and click off the places you've been or you want to go. Enjoy!

How do you know you're a travel addict?

2008-02-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering a lot lately about what makes one a travel addict. Is it the love of traveling and desire for adventure? Perhaps but I feel it's a lot deeper than that. I have always been fond of traveling but lately it has become a passion of mine. I'm constantly working through my finances and schedules to see when I can take my next trip. Anytime I have an extended break from work or school I take a trip.

As a young girl my family did a lot of road trips. My parents didn't make as much money back then so international travel was out of the question. However, we did have one of those luxury vans we used on all our trips. It was pretty awesome. It had a TV, comfortable seats and the back seat folded down to a bed so you could sleep. I tried to sleep as much as possible because it always made the trip go by faster. I miss our van. We've been to Myrtle Beach, Disney World, Utah, South Dakota, Wyoming, Vermont, Connecticut, New York and probably other places too in that van. Good times.

As time went by my older brother and sister went off to college (I'm the youngest) and family vacations became harder because they were away and money was tight while my parents helped out with school costs. My parents decided to sell the van...so sad. When I graduated college in 2004 we started doing more family vacations since we were all old enough to pay our own way (another sad day...when I had to start paying for my own trips). Our mode of travel switched from the van to the plane. We started traveling abroad and discovering more of the world. My Dad's extremely fond of cruises (I'm sure it's because of unlimited access to food) so him and my Mom have been on a lot of those. I like cruises but I also like to get to know the people and culture of the places I visit and a 8-12 hour stop just isn't enough time to do that.

I graduated with my Bachelor's in 2004 and took a little time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Now that I'm almost done with my masters degree I've finally figured it out. I want to travel the world!! I have the best job for traveling...I'm a teacher, which means I get summers off and built in vacation time!! Over the past year I started traveling a lot more. I had months where it felt like I was hardly home. I love traveling. I've decided to utilize my vacation time to the fullest. Last year I left the country 3 times and went on a few domestic trips too. Traveling is so my thing!

I still haven't answered my question of what makes a travel addict. This is something I will post on in the future as I come up with more things that make a travel addict but I did discover one thing today. We all have those lovely bills we have to pay for all the time...I especially love those unexpected one's that catch you off guard for a few hundred dollars. When I get those bills and write my check I think "dang it, that's a plane ticket I can't buy now!" If you think like this, you might be a travel addict! Stay tuned for more posts on what makes one a travel addict or feel free to comment with other things that make a person a travel addict.

Upcoming Itineraries!

2008-02-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

I'm going on a few trips in the next few months that I'm pretty excited about. The first trip will be a family reunion cruise with all of my Dad's family (9 of the kids are going with their spouses and kids)! I think we will take up half the boat!! We leave out of Miami on March 15 and come back on March 22nd. We're going on the Norweigan Sun cruise boat. We will be stopping at:
- Roatan Island, Honduras
- Belize City, Belize
- Cozumel, Mexico
- Stirrup Cay, Bahamas
I'm looking forward to spending the week with my aunts, uncles and cousins. Look for pictures in March.

My next trip is also on a cruise with one of my girl friends. We're flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico (I love that place) on March 30th to leave on our cruise and returning on April 8th or 9th. My friend and I are going on the Carnival Destiny cruise. We will be stopping at:
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- St. Thomas, USVI
- Dominica
- St. Lucia
- Antigua
- St. Kitts
- Barbados
We're going to have a blast. I just hope I have a nice base tan from my first cruise so I can lay out even more on this one. Caribbean beaches here we come!

When I come back from that trip I'll be home for a week or so again and then I'm off to Hawaii for 11 days. I'm going to Oahu and Maui. My friend is getting married and I had enough frequent flier miles to go so I thought...why not? I lived in Hawaii for two years while I finished my undergraduate degree and I can't wait to go back. It's been almost for years since I left there and Hawaii has a special place in my heart. I only hope I have the willpower to come back home because I'm sure I won't want to leave!

After I get back from Hawaii I have to work some to make up for all of my travel expenses and if all goes to plan I will be leaving for San Jose, Costa Rica on May 31st for the entire summer. I'm going to be attending a Spanish language academy. I've been trying to learn Spanish for a while now and I really need to be fully immersed in it to finally get it down. While I'm there I plan to visit Panama, Guatemala, and Nicaragua...if money allows. This trip unfortunately is not already booked so it's not for sure. I'll keep you posted. I don't think it will be a problem but you never know, it's still 4 months away and a lot can happen in that time. I look forward to blogging about all my future travels!!

Photos from Past Travels

2008-02-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

Who Am I?

2008-02-05T11:09:00.001-08:00

My name is Amy and I'm a 20-something single girl. This year I'm approaching a quarter-life crisis...that's right, I'm turning 25. This year is one of those pivitol years in a person's life. I've been reflecting on my life so far and I've done a lot of cool things but there is so much more I want to do. I've always been a lofty dreamer and have a lot of ambitions. I've always loved traveling and learning about other cultures so it's only natural that one of my goals is to travel the world before I die. I would like to make a round the world trip here in the very near future so I decided to start this blog. This blog will be the journey of a single girl trying to travel the world piece by piece...while still trying to live an everyday life (at least for now).

I've been reading some awesome blogs lately that have inspired me to change my own travel ambitions. I love to travel and throughout the last year or so have definitely made traveling a priority in my life. I love to do it and I have the time and resources for it so why not? Most of the blogs I've been reading are about people that have taken the time off to travel for a year or more. My favorite site of that nature is The Lost Girls. Three girls left their Manhattan life behind and set out on a year long adventure. Another site that was great is Six in the World. A family of six left their lives in Atlanta and set out for a 13 month around the world trip. Talk about an awesome family vacation. I'm going to have to do that when I have kids. To date most of my vacations have been only a week or two and this summer I'll kick off my first long-term travel itinery. I'll be heading to Central America for the summer. It's not a year long trip yet but it's a start.

I'm finishing up my masters degree this semester and have already accepted a teaching position for the 2008-2009 school year. I will not be able to start any year long journeys just yet but I will be starting my savings account for it! I have a bunch of trips planned so far this year and will keep up with my short trips until I can fund a year long journey. Plus, I'll be needing to find a travel buddy. I don't know that it is safe for me to travel alone. I think after my first year teaching I might start my round the world quest. My sister and her boyfriend are moving to Kosovo this summer to teach for two years so when I'm done I will probably start there but we'll see. Stay tuned on my blog for future trips and plans :)

Where am I going?

2008-02-05T10:26:00.001-08:00

Here's a map of scheduled trips I'm taking as well as a lot of dream destinations!!