Christmas Cash Wishlist

This Christmas I received several gifts in the form of "cash money." Which is nice because then I can spend it on whatever I want, but is also bad because I have a really hard determining what I really want.

Crossfit Gym Membership

Every year I set a goal to lift weights. Every year I fail. I think crossfit would be great because a) it would force me to do weight lifting b) Dan and I could do it together c) I just really want to because the most fit people I've ever met do it. But its ridiculously expensive. Like 5x as much as a normal gym membership.

Mia

My face has been breaking out like mad. It really helps my self confidence - NOT. My co-worker at the Dermatologist/Plastic Surgeon's office I worked at swore by the Mia. She owned multiple Mias and her skin was flawless. I just can't quite invest $100 in something to scrub my face... But I want to.

J. Crew

Part of me really just wants to walk into J. Crew and buy an entire outfit from their Spring Look book. That would be marvelous. And ridiculously expensive. 

Noise canceling earphones

Not necessarily to listen to music, but just to cancel out the noise on the bus:

On Friday I got to enjoy a 1.5 hour bus ride while the girl sitting next to me read aloud (quite jarringly) from both "The Miracle of Forgiveness" and "The Best of EFY." I couldn't be upset though, because she was mentally disabled. Seriously. More than one person has suggested it was God's way of punishing me. I'm inclined to agree.

First World Problems

I've been a little unhappy lately for the following reasons:

- The general post Christmas, post-vacation blues...

- Everyday this semester I spend 3-6 hours (depending upon if I drive or ride UTA) commuting to my least favorite place on planet earth (BYU)

- My favorite spin teacher at the U graduated, thus this semester I am lacking the spin endorphins that mellow me and make me a nicer human.

- My classes are none too delightful, but I need them all to graduate (dropping is not an option). My creative writing class gives me serious anxiety- I do not enjoy reading things I wrote aloud and then letting my peers have a free for all on what I did wrong....

- I gained some weight over the holidays, and any and all attempts to eat healthy keep being thwarted by need to soothe above mentioned problems with cookies/peanut butter/donuts/handfuls of white chocolate chips.

(this is a first world problem)

When I read over my list, the first thing that comes to mind is "FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS!" Seriously, I need to chill out, all my problems are pretty trivial. And I have so many things to be happy about:

1) Dan got a Job

He wasn't even really looking for one. It just sort of fell in his lap. He had training this weekend and got to be shot with a Tazer Gun (you know, the crazy kind with the prongs that go in your skin!). He said it was horrible, but I know that secretly he feels pretty bad-a about it.

2) I got to read books, for fun!

Over Christmas break I had time to read books that I wanted to read, without feeling guilty for neglecting school books. Two I would recommend (Spontaneous Happiness and Catherine the Great), one I would not (god is not great.)

3)  Anna and Katty came for an MLK day visit. There was Indian food cooking, shopping, and red iguana eating. Sisters make the best kind of friends. Especially since they HAVE to be my friends.

On second thought, perhaps I should be wanting more problems, bigger problems so that I can exploit them for use in my creative writing class. Nothing says good essay like tragedy. Am I right?

The Things I will do to get to STG: Greyhound Bus Edition

Dan and I got back to SLC at about 1 am Thursday night. I could not sleep, I just keep thinking about my poor Dad who was in the hospital in St. George. I went to my one class on Friday and decided I really just needed to go home. I realized that my presence would in no way heal him (as awesome and magical as I am), but I just wanted to be there. Dan had drill all weekend and needed the car, so I called the shuttle. Turns out all the shuttles were booked for the weekend! In a moment of desperation, there came the greyhound bus idea. I started to get a bit nervous when I arrived at the Greyhound Station/Methadone Clinic. Thankfully, the station turned out to be way sketchier than the actual bus ride itself. The six hour journey was fairly entertaining: There was an older Korean gentlemen that spoke no English, and got off the bus at every single stop asking "This Los Angeles?" Dude, if you think that Parowan, UT is Los Angeles, you're in for quiet a surprise.  Admittedly the crowd on the bus was rough, and required frequent smoking breaks, but I got a whole row to myself and didn’t really interact much with anyone… I made it STG at about 1am, Anna picked me up, and I got to spend a good 36 hours in my favorite place on Earth. My dad was released home by the time I made it and is doing better - which was good to see. Another Bonus: I got to ride up back up north with Kiersten and “help” her move into her new apartment at UVU. By "help" I mean dangerously distract her while driving in the name of getting a photobooth picture. Ha. Overall, the trip was worth it, but I won’t be getting a Greyhound frequent rider card anytime soon…

Don't Stop BELIZE-ing!

For Christmas, my parents gave the family a trip to Belize! It was really fun and gave way to endless jokes playing on the word “Belize.” Example: You better Belize I took a grip of pictures!

 

There was riding a fun little “hopper” plane from Belize City into Danguira.

 There was Zip lining and tubing through caves.

 There was the epic “Mayflower Hike.” 

Hello straight up vertical climb through tons of mud. Despite the rigorous nature, this day was almost everyone’s favorite as the hike ended a beautiful waterfall that was perfect for jumping off of.  

There was hiking through a jaguar preserve. 

I had my sights set on finding not only a jaguar, but a rare all black jaguar!!! That is  until our guide, a lifelong resident of the area, admitted he had seen ONE JAGUAR in HIS ENTIRE LIFE. Yeah, didn’t see one. It wasn't a total loss, we borrowed (stole) oranges from from a nearby orchard and there was yet another swimmable waterfall area. 

There was floating down Monkey river 

We saw the interesting village of Monkey river and went hiking in the jungle in search of Howler Monkeys, which unlike the jaguars, were found!

 After our adventures, a daily favorite activity was using the single speed bikes from the resort to pedal into the nearby village of Hopkins. The residents were all of African descent and super friendly. There we stocked up on the official beverage of the trip, Coke Light, and the official snack of the trip, Cadbury Half and Half Bars.

 The last day was the ill-fated scuba diving day. 

We had intended to dive more, but the weather was not cooperating. In the end, it would have been better had we never dived at all… The seas were really rough – all of us were pretty sea sick by the time we got out there. Between the rough water, strong current, and too advanced nature of the first dive – none of us enjoyed it much. The second dive was a bit better, Dan certainly enjoyed shooting a lionfish with a spear gun. But our dive guides totally didn’t pay attention to us and Katheryn ran completely out of air! I about had a nervous breakdown that she was going to drown... But she made it up. The worst part came when we stopped on a little island for lunch. There my father had the misfortune of stepping on a plank on the dock that gave way. He got hurt quite badly and ended up with a massive hematoma. So my parent’s last night in Belize was spent in the ER of a sketchy hospital in Dangiura. They weren’t able to perform the surgery he needed there, so they bandaged him up and we headed for home. Luckily my dad is a tough cookie and made it through 3 flights in excruciating pain (though him being in a wheel chair acted as a “fast pass” getting us to the front of all customs lines). He got to St. George and was able to be treated and is at home recovering.

With the exception of the ill-fated dive day and my poor dad’s accident, overall we had an amazing time together. 

One might even say, it was UNBELIZABLE! Thank You Mom and Dad!