Familiar Faces

A couple weeks ago Anthony and I found this Pez dispenser which looks strikingly like our friend Connor! I think it's supposed to be Anakin Skywalker, but hey....if Connor made an angry face more often it could have been made to look just like him! I wish there was a Pez dispense that looked like ME! Jealous.

P.S. today was free ice cream day at Ben & Jerry's...only one of the best holidays EVER invented!

Here it Goes Again

Here's a picture of me trying to learn how to jump onto my slackline last weekend.

So here we go...blogging on my own again without the guidelines and structure of the 30-day photo challenge! I feel a little better about writing regularly again. Maybe that photo challenge was just what I needed to get myself back into the habit. I do love blogging and I love all of you for reading it, even if only occasionally.

I am currently back on the job market, trying to find something full-time but temporary. I'm hoping to work a lot over the next few months in order to get the money I need to do some Europe traveling in the fall. Hopefully something will come along soon! I have an interview with the YMCA next week for an assistant director job for their summer teen camp program, so please send good vibes my way for that one so I can finally bring this job hunt to an end for the next few months!

The great news is spring is here and hopefully it's nothing but nice, warm, weather from now on! Rain is ok....we could definitely use it...but no more snow, PLEASE! And the fun and exciting adventures for this summer just keep piling up, so I can't wait! Here are a few of the things I'm so excited for:

-trip to Maine with Anthony for my friend's wedding and a little vacation at the end of May
-Boulder Creek Fest on the last weekend of May
-running in the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day
-seeing Iron & Wine at the Bolder Theater on June 4
-my friends Jaz and Jose's wedding on June 10
-Anthony's birthday on June 25
-spending a week at Sonlight being their photographer from June 26-July 2
-the 4th of July...I'm sure I'll find something fun to do!
-Jess is coming to visit on July 7
-Avett Brothers concert on July 9 with Jess and Seanna

How will I find time for a job with all these exciting things going on? I'm not sure, but I know it will all work out! I'm so excited to be home in Boulder for the whole summer for the first time in five years! It's a beautiful place to be and I get to hang out with some beautiful people. We'll just see where life takes me after this summer. Hopefully somewhere awesome!

Day 30 - Photo Challenge

Last day of my photo challenge!!! I can't believe I made it! I'm kind of proud, if I do say so myself, that I managed to stick with this project. Maybe tomorrow I'll write a little more about this whole thing. But today is day 30, and my last photo challenge is:

Post a picture of someone you miss



I have many friends who live and are traveling all around the world, and I miss them all. But today I've decided to dedicate this last photo to my Grandpa, Frank. This is my very favorite photo of him and in fact, it is actually my very favorite photo in the world. I hope someday to possess the original. Anyways, my Grandpa was a truly amazing person and I'm so glad I got to know him for the first 13 years of my life before he passed away. He was funny, smart, adventurous, and an epic storyteller. Not only were his stories epic, but also the way he told them was epic! He grew up in Alaska and had great stories of the wildlife (animals as well as humans) landscape and the impact the place had on him as he was growing up.

When someone has been gone as long as my grandpa has been, you remember the little things about them that made them who they were. I remember how much he loved cookies, the smell of the tobacco he chewed, the creaking sound his rocking chair made in the kitchen, and every time we said goodbye he would say "see ya later alligator!" with which I, of course, replied "after a while, crocodile!" It would take a lifetime to tell my Grandpa's story and the things that made him awesome, but for now I offer this humble little tribute to Frank Holder, a man of epic greatness and someone I miss dearly.

Day 29 - Photo Challenge

Post a picture that can always make you smile



This is Heidi. She looks a little bit insane in this photo, and I absolutely love it! And I love her! This was taken last week when we were playing in a toy store downtown. Heidi and I go on all kinds of great adventures, big and small. We're all about the adventures, and most importantly, about photographing them! This photo makes me smile because it's funny and because it represents all the fun Heidi and I have whenever we get together. Sometimes we have Christmas parties in September, and sometimes we go to amusement parks dressed like Minnie Mouse and Princess Jasmine. We go to museums, parades, hikes, malls, amusement parks, coffee shops, yogurt land, movies, and restaurants...and we always take pictures. Heidi inspires me, she makes me laugh, she listens to my stories and complaints, and she tells me hers. She sometimes talks to ostrich puppets, and she's always got a smile and an awkward story to tell me that makes me smile too! So today is dedicated to Heidi! And as the Urban Outfitters poster would say "I want to have adventures with you, because it's not one without you" <3

Day 28 - Photo Challenge

Post a picture of something you're afraid of



Maybe not the most interesting topic today...but hey, I really am afraid of needles. Bleh. Just thinking about it gives me shivers. Getting shots and having my blood drawn...extreme trauma for me! Watching other people get shots, getting them myself, and just thinking about it. Ack! My other fears include spiders and papercuts.

Only two more days of this photo project, wow!! I'll try to make my last two more interesting than this one. I promise :-)

Day 27 - Photo Challenge

Post a picture of yourself and a family member



This is me and my cousin Leah. She lives in California and she's pretty awesome!! Before Leah moved to California she grew up in Boulder (mostly) and she's always been around in my life! Despite a 10 year gap in our ages, we have finally reached a point where we are able to relate and have things in common and have TONS of fun!! I love hanging out with her two beautiful daughters and I also love spending time with just Leah. We go out for drinks sometimes and dance until we can't dance anymore. I'm also trying to get her into slacklining, and hoping she'll teach me the ways of rock climbing, so I can't wait for this summer when she comes to Colorado with her girls for a couple months! Love ya, cuz!

Day 26 - Photo Challenge

Post a picture of something that means a lot to you



Besides my friends and family, one of the things that means the most to me is my education. I used a picture of a college classroom, but of course that is not the only place to do one's learning. I try to constantly be learning new things and making discoveries about my own opinions on subjects. I hope to return to college in the next couple of years, because currently I truly miss that great feeling of sitting in a classroom and learning something really fascinating/enlightening/angering/controversial/mind-bending! I love learning and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to attend college.

Day 25 - Photo Challenge

Post a picture of your day



This photo is actually from two years ago, but it represents my day today. It was the first day of the conference on world affairs in Boulder, on CU campus. This is one of my favorite events in Boulder. It's kind of like the TED talks but a little different. People from around the world are invited to be on a panel at one or more "conferences" and there are panels about everything you can imagine from "life outside facebook" to "human trafficking and modern day slavery". The conference lasts all week, and there are constantly different panels going on so there's always something to go to if you have the time. This year I have found myself unemployed during the week of the CWA so I've been lucky enough to plan out my week's schedule based on panels that sound interesting. I always learn a lot when I go to the CWA and I love hearing about all these "world affairs".

Usually, for the CWA there are world flags places along the walkway in the Norlin Quad at CU but today I went to the conference with my camera ready to photograph the flags just for this blog post and the flags were nowhere to be found. Sad day! Maybe they are somewhere else on campus? Or maybe they hadn't gotten to putting them up yet? Anyways, I am using a photo I took in 2009 of the CWA flags.

If any of you are in the Boulder area I highly recommend going to the conference. We all need to hear what's going on in the world, learn something new, and have our thoughts and ideas challenged or reinforced.

Day 24 - Photo Challenge

Oops, I seem to have failed to actually post this 24th blog post on the 24th day...I was off by a couple hours :-/ but in all fairness I haven't gone to bed yet so I still consider it April 3rd until I go to sleep for the night! So here we go, day 24...

Post a picture of something you wish you could change



I thought in honor of how weird the weather was today, I would talk about how I wish I could influence or change it! Yesterday (pretending today is actually yesterday which would make 'yesterday' the day before...) was over 70 degrees, hot, sunny, gorgeous day! Then today I woke up to rain, which turned into sleet, which then proceeded to form into hail, then snow mixed with a little bit of thunder and finally settles in somewhere between snow and rain for the rest of the day. Probably the weirdest, most diverse 24 hours of weather in the history of the world! I'd rather go back to the 70 degree weather. But I think if I'm wishing I could change something...right now it would be the weather, so that I could make it whatever I felt like at the moment. Sometimes I want cold and snow, sometimes hot, sometimes rain...I never want wind though. That's my least favorite type of weather. Anyways, wouldn't that be nice to change the weather according to what you were in the mood to do and how you're feeling!

Day 23 - Photo Challenge

Post a picture of your favorite book



This book combines many things that I love: Sociology, humor, and travel. Eric Weiner is completely hilarious and he analyzes various countries around the world for what makes its citizens happy. The best part is that Weiner is quite the cynic, so it's not as sappy and silly as it might initially sound. He has really great points and ideas about what happiness really is and how it changes from place to place and people to people. What makes us happy here in America is completely different from what makes the people in Iceland happy. And how do we know we're happy anyways? Even our measurements of happiness are different. It's a great sociological study on definitions of happiness but also of cultures and WHY we have different ways to define happiness. Please if you're looking for a great, funny, interesting book...pick this one up! It's great!!

Day 22 - Photo Challenge

Post a picture of something you wish you were better at



There are many things I wish I was better at: speaking foreign languages, playing my violin, being patient, cooking...but one in particular that I really love and can't wait to get better at is slacklining. I got into it last summer, nearly a year ago, and it's SO much fun but really hard. The cool thing about it is that there's always room for improvement. You can always find something else to learn to do in slacklining. First it's just learning how to get up on the thing, then it's keeping your balance, then taking a step or two, then more steps, then getting all the way across the line, then you start learning tricks...I'm not that good yet. I'm still working on gettling all the way to the end of the line. But it's a really fun, laid-back activity that anyone can try, even if they're not so good (which no one is at first). I'll hopefully be slacklining all summer, so everyone come on out with me and try it! :-)