November Weather. Forever Friends. Trespassing on Mayor's property.

I had the best day of the season today. Amber, aka tAMBERine, and best boyfriend Tyson took me to the mountain in Pleasant Grove and took pictures. We met the cOOOlest kids in a field of gravel playing paintball. We were helping them in the war effort and when Tyson was ready to attack to defend their side he found himself empty handed: no gun. Best moment ever was: one of the boys said, "Here!" and threw him an imaginary gun.

Brilliant.

After the mountain, the paintball, the barefeet, the nature we got in the car and took the backstreets home. We drove by the most wondrous house - seriously a big kid playground with a tree house, a seesaw, a greenhouse, a vicious dog, a rusty bike and pumpkins.

The house turned out to belong to the mayor of Lindon. Sorry Mayor for trespassing but we couldn't live with ourselves if we passed up the most memorable, worthwhile place to play in all of Utah. A thousand thank yous.

All in all, it was a really nice day.

Resurfacing

Ok i did it. I did it even though I thought I wasn't going to make it - certain and hell bent on failure.
Now-
I feel how I felt the moment I crossed the finish line of my triathlon: Like i was going to vomit. But then two minutes later the endorphins were rushing and I felt incredible. Not the faintest glimpse of that awful sickly feeling any longer.
It also helped that my best friends were with me through the whole triathlon : cheering me on, screaming my name, trusting me to make it to the finish line. Not to mention insisting that I looked hott running in all my salty, chloriney glory. I couldn't have done it without them.
Now I've crossed the finish line and I'm standing on the other side with my best friends, half of a bagel, complex carbs never tasted so good, my custom-made banner: Red Alert, and a trophy of inner victory.
That is my weekend so far. I took a mid-term, I took a quiz, the last of 5 for the week [perhaps the swim and excruciating bike ride] and then I went to work. at 2 jobs. [the long, long, homeRUN] and then I spent the night with my friends [the blessed endorphins]. They bring me back, keep me going, make me smile.

I am so lucky.

This week I made a fortune teller. I don't think I ever made one in elementary school. But don't worry - I definitely made up for it the other night. It is so dope. The fortunes pertain to my roommates and the wonderful, quirky things I think define some of their personality. I don't know what could totally encompass them; their personalities are HUGE.

Inspiring.
Today my i-google fortune cookie said "Music, travel and people define my nature." As impersonal and uninformed and misleading and unreliable and dumb as a webtastic virutally unrealistic fortune cookie is, I'm going to take this one to heart. I think I would add a few things - Jesus, food, and romance.

And there it is.

Czech it! Czech it!

Hola, me llamo rojo.
Ciao, Mi chiama rosso.
Ahoi, krasna.
Gehrmez if we were in Iraq.
Ich heisse rot.
I can say name in a few languages.
Foreign languages are a subject I don't think I'll ever get tired of. If I could major in every foreign language at BYU, I would. All I really want to do in school is learn languages then travel from country to country and make it on my own. Actually, I would not like to travel to by myself, I'd like someone to be there with me. The ideal travel buddy system would include someone map savvy and with any sense of direction while I stand around making friends with the locals in the native language. Also, this person would have to love food, mostly baked goods, because we would be hitting up every bakery in the town.

I have fond memories of traveling with my family. My dad was in the Air Force so we were able to live overseas and see some of the prettiest things in Europe. We've been pick-pocketed by gypsies on a train in Rome, we've been bumped by a scooter near the Arc d'Triumph, we've eaten french fries with mayonnaise and ketchup in Vienna, we've celebrated Christmas in Germany under the tallest snow-covered roof tops, and we've called Aunty Birgit from the first level of the Eiffel Tower. Let's not mention the autobahn where dad nearly killed us by not competing with the racing Ferraris.

On these long road trips Nate and I sat in the back seat making videos on how to ease the discomfort of road tripping. One such video addressed the problem of what to do with used kleenexes and having no where to dispose of them. In an effort to entertain his baby sister, the simple solution to this dilemma was to just eat it. just eat it. We still have that on film somewhere.

Venice was one of my favorite places we ever went. It was stunning. There were gondolas passing underneath the bridges and walkways which took us to the tiny stores selling the daintiest lace and prettiest charm bracelets (which would later be stolen from our home in Prada by gypsies which I would never be bitter about because how many people in Provo can say they've been gypsy-robbed)

Anyway, the purpose of this reflection I think is to remind myself that I have an archive of good memories, pictures, and quality time to think of when everything around me gets too overwhelming. like having absolutely no money. Instead of being reminded of deadlines and midterms and wheaties for every meal, I'm going to think of the little town of Nove where I bought ceramic pears and apples to paint with my neighbor Sabrina who taught me how to make dandelion jewelry with buds from Signora's garden and afterwards being offered wine at nine years old from said Signora.

Who cares about money when you have memories.