Semi-Local Adventures

Yesterday I told you that I had caught the travel bug. I mentioned that I had visited England last summer and had the most wonderful time and couldn't get enough. I also told you about my recent quest to leave my small town and set out on my own. While that is still under way, I do have a few other recent developments.

Two weekends ago I set out on a small adventure to Arizona. I went with group of about 50 people down to Havasupai.

Gesundheit.

I had never heard of Havasupai, but was still excited to go. Basically everyone I talked to had one of two reactions:

"Wow, really?? That's fantastic! You're going to love it there! I'm so jealous!!"

Or

"...What's that?"

Well, to spare you the effort of Googling it, Havasupai is a part of the Grand Canyon on an Indian reservation. It's an eight mile hike to the reserve and then another two miles to the camp site. 10 miles total.

Too much. But I made it.

We drove around 10 hours from my small town, stopping in Vegas and a random petting zoo along the way, and arrived at the trail head at about 3 am. We slept--well, tried to sleep--until we started our hike at 4 am.

I was deliriously tired.

My friend and I spent the first hour quoting Finding Nemo, from start to we ran out of brain power. We still had about 4 hours until camp.

Walking into Havasupai was an amazing experience. The red rock, the blue water.

No, really. The water was BLUE. Straight up blue.

The river bed was white and the water looked like God had let a kindergartener color the scene with crayons. The colors were all so intense!

This picture doesn't even begin to capture the beauty of Havasupai, but you start to get the idea.

The hike out was torturous. Another 10 hours. We started at 4 the very next morning after hiking in, and we were wiped.

On the drive back, ADD hit us again and we stopped at some random exotic animal sanctuary and saw tigers, panthers, cougars, and wolves. 

We stopped again at Hover Dam (yes, very ADD).

We didn't get back home until 1 am. I was so shot it took all I had to walk up the stairs to my apartment.

The next day someone asked me if I had just run a marathon. I could barely walk.

But it was totally worth it.

Looking Forward

I do this way to much--forget about my blog. So much has happened since I last shared! I've had lots of good times, and lots of bad times. I won't bore you with the details, but I will tell you about my recent and applicable developments.

Currently I am applying for internships--yes this is to make me seem smart to all of you who come across my rather boring blog. I've applied to internships in the Boston area as well as in the San Jose Valley in California. Right now I'm looking into corporate options in the pharmaceutical development industry.

On a more exciting note, I have caught the bug. The travel bug. I know everyone must experience this, so it's not really a rare or novel thing, but it is starting to consume my life. I have the need to leave my small town and start up somewhere else (hence the internships), to visit far off places, and have adventures.

It all started this last summer. My family visited England for our family vacation and it was amazing. London, one of the most international cities in the world. Lacock, a small village off the beaten path and across the English countryside. Portsmouth, a still bustling port with history and tradition. All of it so real and new and different.

I have to leave Provo.

I have to get out of my small town life, even if it's just for a little while and even if it is in my own country. But I have to leave. I want to go, live, and be free.

And I'm going to.

I'm going out of state to work for the summer, and I'm going on vacations as well. My friend has graciously volunteered for the role of travel buddy.

Destination: Adventure.

New News

Audience!! I am please to report that last week we had a record number of views... in ONE DAY! Crazy, right? I am so proud of you, my small number of followers. I take pride in knowing that somewhere, somehow, there are people who care about my random, nonsensical ramblings...

But on the other hand...

Seriously guys? Record number and then BOOM!!

Nothing.

Consistency is key, people. That's what my coaches (NOT life coaches) and boss have always said.

So let's try and keep up our numbers ;)

Have good days.

Love Hate Relationships

Couples. They're everywhere, especially at the "Get Married RIGHT Now" college I go to. You don't see them that often during fall semester, but as soon as the harsh winter is over and the sun starts to peek its head out from behind the clouds--BOOM!

But really, though. They're everywhere. It's nearly impossible to get to class without getting clotheslined by some couple holding hands or trip on a pair of love birds trying to say their last goodbye...until they get to see each other in an hour.

I used to hate couples. They used to bring out the grumpy cat glare in me as I saw them canoodling all over campus.

I've had a change of heart. I feel like the Grinch.

I think it's the over exposure to adorably irresistible couples. Sometimes you can't help but love them. Now I see couples and instead of, "Gosh dang it... why can't that be me... I hate you all!" I feel more like, "AWWWWWW!!! I LOVE you guys! Why can't that be me?!"

Sometimes it can be equally frustrating, but most of the time I just simply live vicariously through the adorable couples...

That is the end of my little rant on how I hatelove couples. As always, my small audience, I love and treasure each one of your page views.

Have good days.

Not All That Surprising

Hello again, small audience! I'm pleased to see that at least a few people out there have taken a peek into my rather normal life. It makes me feel abnormal.

My stories for today are pretty short.

To give you a little background and context, I work in sales--knife sales. I've been working for about two weeks and my manager is convinced I'm the best. Okay, not really, but he still has WAY to much confidence in me. (Advertising Note: If anyone wants to help me out, that'd be awesome! I get paid to do demos and I am lacking. I also need 200 names for recommendations for a contest coming up!)

Anyways, yesterday we had a meeting about selling knives. No way, right? During the meeting I look down and I am bleeding. I have an inch long cut on the side of my leg.

How the FREAK did that happen?! I had been sitting down and the only time I had recently moves was to go to lunch! The only possible thing I could think of was when I had gone to sit down I had to squeeze past some people and someone must have sliced me with a knife. That sounds CRAZY, but at my job, that would be completely normal..

After my meeting, my coworker, Abbie, and I went shopping. Simple task, right? WRONG. I was just finishing trying on some clothes and was putting my skirt back on when SNAP. My zipper broke. My skirt was now unwearable. I had no back up. NOTHING.

Solution: I had to BUY pants. I went to the counter with a pair of their pants on and another in my arms. I bought the pants, then went back to change. I also bought a new shirt. I had to buy a completely new outfit so I could get home without being a public menace.

Stupid knives. Stupid clothes. Anyone know where to get a nice, denim pencil skirt? I seem to need a new one..

PermaSlacker-PermaQuacker

I keep saying it; I keep saying I'm going to write regularly and then I don't. Is it that I don't have time? Possibly. Is it that I live a boring life? Also possible. Could it be that I don't know how to write? Not likely, though I may feel like I am lacking the in skills needed to entertain an audience with peals of stomach churning laughter.

I keep trying, though.

Let me tell you about the Ducks of Provo. Yes, Ducks with a capitol D. These are no ordinary ducks; these ducks have evolved into a special breed capable of survive the most vigorous conditions that one can find on a college campus. These Ducks' survival skills are so finely tuned that their senses are pricked by even the slightest movement... of a human being reaching into a bag of bread. Oh yes, these Ducks are so wild, they survive on the breadbasket of the American dream--the leftovers of college students.

Feeding the Ducks is always a nice, fallback activity for the active college student. There is nothing more peaceful than watching ducks swimming lazily around a small pond. The other day, my friend Nathan and I decided to participate in this mind-numbing activity.

We had all of the appropriate equipment (transportation and a supply of bread in the form of hamburger buns), but the experience did not go as planned. To our surprise, we found that the Ducks of Provo are so highly evolved that they have acquired a specific taste. They wouldn't take our bread if there was crust on it. Seriously? Crust.

Piece after piece of perfectly good bread floated and slowly dissolved as the Ducks turned up their beaks at them. Spoiled beasts. My throws quickly turned violent as a aimed my small projectiles at the Ducks.

Finally, victory. I landed a piece directly on the back of a Duck.

Skill. Right there.

That is all. Until next time, my microscopic audience. Don't worry, I'm a microbiology major--I like microscopic. It's the macroscopic creatures that through me..

We've Lost Control of Our Lives...

Last night was an interesting night.. Very interesting.

I was procrastinating my homework and messing around on photo booth when my roommate, Sarah, came home. Then we both got on photo booth. We spent over an hour... yes, over an hour... on photo booth. It was... crazy. We're crazy. We're probably the strangest people you will ever meet. Please enjoy this video...