2010 Year in Review part I

Let's start from the beginning.

January

I met author, inspiration, and all-around cool guy, Michael Pollan.

Went apartment hunting..

Began taking Zumba classes like a madwoman!

Started my Fiestaware collection with a Craigslist purchase :)

Completed Fitness Instructor Training for the Rec.

February

Looked really hot in socks and flip-flops...

Bought my kitchenaid!

Began applying and preparing for Ecuador

Continued shadowing Gravity.

Chose an apartment with my awesome roommates! 

March

Zumba Certification!!!! 

..and I passed my Gravity audition.

April

I turned 19 over Mom's Weekend with my family :)

May

I finished my first year of college!

Bought my french press coffee maker..

and a backpack for Ecuador!

Moved out of my dorm.

Bought some spoons (due to the stress of finals week heh heh)

Then went back home for part of the summer!!!!!!! and walked Alice with Mama everyday :)

I may or may not have made some brownies with cream cheese frosting....ahh!

June

The family went to DISNEYWORLD!!!!!!!!!!!

Georgia Mae slept on every single mode of transportation. Bus, plane, boat, she did not discriminate.

I headed off to Ecuador! 

To be continued...

A Lesson on Reading Facial Expressions

Let's take a look back at some moments from my summer in Ecuador, shall we?! 

This is my why-am-I-here-I-haven't-had-any-solid-calories-in-days face! 

It was actually a really cool lookout and afternoon. I drove with my family through Baños and we hiked all the way down (and aaaalllllllll the way up) to see this waterfall. It was gorgeous! The hike would have been a piece of cake normally, but I had been sick the few days proceeding and was running on empty. 

I kinda just wanted to curl up and die. And I'm pretty sure I was crazy homesick at this point. I normally don't get homesick, but when I feel like shat I definitely do. 

This is my it's-noon-and-the-boys-are-already-drunk face! 

The tour of the pyramids was interesting..  the first time around. The second? Please no! Solution? ALCOHOL. Oooh goodness. Being the sober photographer was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world. 

This is my the-boys-are-drinking-at-noon-and-we're-taking-photos-with-alpacas face. 

Enough said. 

This is my how-the-heck-am-I-supposed-to-eat-all-of-this-without-dying face. . 

On Sundays my family would always cook a very large lunch as part of their family tradition or maybe just for fun. I always got up and made and ate breakfast at a pretty decent hour (7 or 8 maybe?). This particular Sunday we started cooking pretty early but didn't end up eating until around three!

My stomach went from gnawing hunger to not very hungry AT ALL. Before this plate we also had a really thick tasty soup which was already filling me up. 

I, however, shut this lunch down! It tasted incredible. I ate it all. Yeeeaaaahhhh. 

The yellow circles are llapingachos, a Ecuadorian potato and cheese cake type of thing. Holy yum! I want to make some with thanksgiving leftovers this year. 

This is a holy-wow-I-have-never-felt-more-beautiful face. 

This was near the summit of a crazy mountain/hike that I went on with one of the boys. Not only did I feel amazingly accomplished at making it this far (the total hike was over 4 hours- in the crazy Ecuador altitude. That stuff is seriously not to be messed with), but there was a group of Chinese tourists that made it even better.

They asked to have their photos taken with me. With me! Seriously I felt like a celebrity or something, and I know I looked rather sketch that afternoon (no makeup- hello!), so I'm not sure what it was. But I have honestly never felt prettier than I did when this photo was taken.

This is my I-can't-believe-it's-not-the-death-of-me face. 

Hiking up into the clouds (can you see them?!). Yeaahhhh!!!!

This is my I-am-really-super-duper-excited-but-kinda-sad-that-the-fish-had-to-die face! 

This is the first fish I have ever caught in my life! Okay, it was in a stocked pond, but the fishing rod was made of bamboo, fishing line, a hook, and raw bread dough for bait. 

It tasted soooooo good. 

This is my if-I-had-a-little-brother-this-would-be-him!!!!! face.

Steven, little man, you rock my world, and I am proud to share a birthday with you :)

This is my this-rocks-but-what-if-it-attacks-me-or-has-bird-flu face. 

There were so many different types of birds running around at the indigenous community where we stayed. They were all so cool! This one Daniel caught and it let us hold it for a little.

More Ecuadorian moments to come in the future....... :D

Blog Squad Prompt #2

Well this post is about a week late! Whoops!

I my defense I have had homework,diaries, and an essay to do. Oh, and there's no internet at my house :)

And all of this is A-O-KAY!

Here's the next prompt:

You’re abroad, settled in, and attending classes. So… how’s it going?


Choose a picture to post on your blog and describe in some detail why it best describes your experience in-country to date. Think about how it portrays the emotions, feelings and thoughts that you are having as you settle into your overseas experience.

Just one picture??? Emm.... this'll be hard, if not impossible.

I'm posting more than one, but this first one is the one.

Let me tell you why. I sort of climbed a mountain. Just a weeny one, but it still took quite the will, brain, and butt power!

Plus, if we want to get all "metaphorical" here, then I accomplished another thing I thought I could not. When my hiking buddy for the day (Grady) kept going, I had to keep going to! It was fun, tiring, and awesome. This pic is about as high as we hiked that day, so represents the experience the best I think.

Here are some other fun pics:

El Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world)

Cooking with my host family:

With the boys:

Ta-ta for now!

June & Blog Squad Prompt Numero Uno

Where has it gone???

Since the last post I have cooked and baked my little heart out. My family and I also went to Disney World. What? Yep. It was a blast, and I'll most likely post pictures of it later.

But for now I have another thing to write about...... Ecuador! That's right. My trip is rapidly (very, very rapidly) approaching, and I have signed on to be a Blog Squad blogger about my trip. I have been given a series of prompts to be completed at different stages of my study abroad, and this is the first.


Prompt #1: What to Expect...

You’ve been going through all the steps to go abroad and, now, suddenly, it’s time to go! As you prepare to depart are you excited? Stressed out? Or maybe a little of both?

Both! Honestly though, I'm a little more stressed right now. My summer at home is already over, and after leaving on Wednesday, I won't be back home until thanksgiving! Which means I won't be able to see my dog!!!!!!!!!! :( :'(

It’s true that studying abroad will be both exciting and, at times, stressful. One way to combat stress, is to recognize that because you are going to a new or different culture, some of your expectations may be inaccurate or too much to hope for. Will you live in a castle in Wales, England – probably not! Will you become fluent in your foreign language in one semester – probably not!

I'm not too worried about expectations or disappointments. I usually just go with the flow on this sort of stuff. What happens, happens, and what doesn't, wasn't meant to be.

Pause for a minute and jot down a few of your expectations; then reflect on whether they are realistic. Why or how might these expectations impact the beginning of your experience abroad?


Okay.. didn't they just tell us to maybe not have a ton of expectations?? That's not confusing. Anyhow, I want to become a more confident traveler, improve my spanish, make friends, and learn as much as I can. I hope I can at least achieve those goals!

If you recognize that some of your expectations might be overly optimistic, are you able to lower your expectations? Are you willing to accept the unexpected – and appreciate the diversity in your new surroundings, lifestyle and friendships?


Here we are again on not having or lowering expectations... seems like we're going a wee bit in circles, doesn't it? But, yes, I am definitely willing to modify (not lower, thank you very much) expectations, and of course I will appreciate the diversity in my surroundings. That is one of the things I'm looking forward to most!

Well there's blog #1! If anyone is just starting to read this blog for the Ecuador section, sorry that there's no handy "About Me" section or anything on the blog, maybe I'll get a chance to fix that.

Toodles!!

Shopping for Ecuador

I've been thinking of things that I'll need for my studies abroad. So far I'm thinking hiking backpack, possibly keens, and a rain jacket! I can now check the third item off of my list, thanks to eBay and birthday money from my Grandma Lerla :)

The title is Women's REI Gore-tex Zip-up Hooded rain jacket. .

Speaking of Grandma Lerla, I am looking forward to cooking dinner for my family when we travel to Missoula. The recipe I want to use is from Country Living, and is a chicken pot pie! 

HERE'S THE RECIPE

Here's the photo (photo credit Country Living.com)

I plan on making my own crust, I don't want to use store bought. It's really simple, but just adds a little to the cooking time. Also I will be leaving out the peas! 

Thoughts on Ecuador

Summer is coming SO. FAST. I will be done with my freshman year of college in less than two weeks. I still can hardly wrap my head around the fact of being a "college girl" much less a sophomore in college.

As I've been thinking about the summer, I was becoming more and more unsure of my decision to study in Ecuador. I'll miss the photo business, time with my family (and DOG!!!!), hanging out with friends, etc. A couple times I even wondered why the heck I'm doing this!

Just this morning, however, I was connected with a girl who also travelled to Ecuador. I know have two "facebook friends" that have gone. And let me tell you, after clicking through a few of their photos and journals, I am so excited to go. SO EXCITED. ¡Ahora nececito practicar mi español mucho!

If you're interested in reading some of the journals that have again convinced me how awesome this opportunity is, click here!

Now I need to get researching so I can figure out what I will need to buy and pack to get ready. I depart June 23 early in the morning- just a little more than eight weeks from today. Holy Cow.

And I still need to figure out what to do for a camera. I really want to leave with some truly beautiful photos that I can make huge prints of for my apartment. Maybe my SLR will be the answer?

Applications galore

I get to fill out THREE pain-in-the-rump applications so I can go here:



Snackie Side Note:

I had a muffin with some cream cheese for a small snack! (250 kcal muffin + about 50 cals of cream cheese)

Ahh I'm in love.

this cracks me up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU5eJw1VDhM

(It's about the Cimas program in Ecuador)

They have mad computer skills there ;)