Florida Fun in the Sun

Background points: 

1. I don't like using last names in my blog posts, because I like to give people some resemblance of privacy, and I hate when people use my first and last names in blogs. You know, do unto others as you would have others do to you, and all that jazz. Now that you know that, you must also know: writing this blog was really weird, because I call Zach by his last name, probably 90% of the time.

#tbt #iwasfat #CSRM #missionaries

2. I haven't seen Zach since the mission, so about 3 years or so. We've kept in contact, text, and chat on the phone occasionally. I think my favorite thing to ask him is "Why aren't you married?" because he just laughs it off. Either way, we got along really well on the mission, and we still get along fabulously post-mission.

Storytime:

Zach told me earlier this year that he was planning on going to Austin sometime this summer, which made me super excited all year. But like every other time there's a possibility of us running into each other, something happened where he couldn't go anymore. Like how he purposefully goes to whichever mission reunion I'm not attending. (I'm on to you!) We were chatting on the phone one night, and he was just "why don't you come here?" and I immediately say "I'm not flying to tampa to spend a weekend with you." He's saying, "why not" and I'm saying many reasons, "It's going to be expensive. I don't have any time before you go off to school again. You're not really serious." We talked, and I looked at flights, hypothetically of course. It turns out, Houston to Tampa isn't that expensive for a weekend, and since I would be staying with his family, I would just be paying for airfare and if we went out to eat. It also turned out, there was a great weekend that worked perfectly for my schedule. I made him go ask his mom, for real, if it would be okay if I came to visit and verify he wasn't offering as an impulse thing. Once that was okay, I just had to think about it....and the real concern surfaced. If I went to visit him and stay with his family, everyone is going to think we're dating. I told him this and he just said "who cares? people are always going to think what they're going to think". Valid. I booked my flight. 

The only plan I had for the weekend was spending some quality time with Zach, which is exactly what happened....everything else was extra. I flew in Friday night, and he's messages me to see if it's okay that his mom comes along to pick me up from the airport with him. I'm like, "uhhhh....sure." It was a great decision. His mom, is super awesome, and I adore her. We picked up his oldest (maybe?) brother and went to dinner near Clearwater Beach, where one of his younger sisters and her friends joined us. It was great. I think the best part is when we got back, and I met his youngest brother Matt, who was just waking up from a too-long nap around 10ish. I greeted him, and he just gave me one of those i-just-woke-up-and-nothing-makes-sense looks. I laughed. The next best part was that Zach's mom more awake and ready to stay up than I was. I felt so un-cool.

Saturday morning started off wonderfully. I did my 5-mile run on a trail down the road from their house (see pic above). It was my first 5-mile run; I was worried I would die from the distance, and Zach's family was worried I'd die from heat and humidity. Personally, I think Florida was less humid than Texas that week. I also had to tell Zach to make sure I didn't make up excuses to not run. The sad thing is, it was my last long-distance run. I've been making tons of excuses since. #fail

I went running, while Zach and Matt went to help someone move. Zach's mom made an epic breakfast when we all got back. We headed to the beach, where Zach and Matt did an indoor surf thing, while I hung out and shopped a bit with Zach's mom. Then it was beach time. The sand was so white and the water was nice, warm, wonderful, and clean.

On the way to the beach, I was having quite an interesting family drama morning, because everyone was convinced my older sister was dead. I thought she had been taken. It was very dramatic, and quite entertaining. Turns out she was just asleep. It was so anticlimactic. It did leave us very intrigued for the morning.

I'm not sure if I should share this story, but I'm going to anyway, because I don't have many boundaries. Zach's brother, Matt is a teenagers. One of the teenager things I heard from him was him complaining that his parents "cared too much" and "believed in him too much". I laughed so hard. Fast forward a few weeks. I'm in the car with my mom and sister, and my mom is driving me insane about something. I'm about to open my mouth and say "STOP CARING SO MUCH", but instead I think of Matt and start laughing. It was a great moment. I'm such an adult.

Dang. My face looks nice and tan. Go me...Zach looks tan too.

After the beach, we went back to the house. Zach and I went shopping for groceries for dinner, which was great, because we were very inefficient and kept backtracking trying to find things on our shopping list. I got to request spaghetti with meatballs for dinner. Victory! To make dinner even better, the sister missionaries showed up. I LOVE MISSIONARIES! It was a great night. The evening ended with a stroll and lots of sweets from the Sponge Docks. Then I introduced them to The Mindy Project. There were a few moments where I questioned my decision, but I LOVE THE MINDY PROJECT! NO REGRETS!

Sunset at the Sponge Docks. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!?!?!?!

Sunday Funday! Sunday was great. I wore my pretty new flower dress and had to borrow a safety pin to keep it appropriate. Clothing these days. geeze. Church was amazing. I was so uplifted. There were some great speakers, but my fav was a 15-year-old boy, who converted recently. The sunday school teacher was deaf, and had great insights into the book of Job. The Relief Society was full of women with wisdom. It was great. I didn't realize how much their words would impact me later the week. Seriously. There were a number of ladies battling cancer in the room, and they were talking about dealing with trials and cancer. I loved one older lady telling about when she got the call that she had cancer. She said something along the lines of, "When you get bad news like that, you take a moment to be miserable/upset/angry. No more than 24-hours. Then you have to get back and face it" She said she called her doctor back and said "ok. what are we going to do about it?" I'm not saying that everyone should deal with cancer or bad news this way, but I really liked the spirit behind her words.

We made sushi for lunch. Homemade sushi. I've never made homemade sushi before, and I felt super posh. It was awesome, and fun. After lunch, the only way to end a great weekend is with a great dessert! So I made Sister Bunker's birthday cookies (aka homemade oreos). They were a hit. Of course. You can't go wrong with those cookies. 

Overall, it was a great weekend. I needed it. I needed to relax, and spend some time with a friend. I had a great time. Maybe it won't take years before we see each other next. His mom asked me over the weekend what I thought about Zach, or if he's what I expected, or something like that. I've told him, and I told her: Zach is not what I thought he would be like outside of the mission. That may sound bad, but I mean it in the nicest way. You get to know and love fellow missionaries on your mission, and they just stay that way, in missionary-mode, in your mind forever. Zach just got more awesome since the mission, and I love it. 

The Luck of the Irish #notdeadyet

The five things I think of when I think of Ireland:
     1. Potato famine of 1845
     2. IRA: aka terrorists & terrorism
     3. PIIGS: one of the five worst economies in the EU. (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, & Spain)
     4. green hills
     5. Irish accents
What can I say? I'm overflowing with Irish wisdom. It turns out I actually have an Irish great-great-great grandmother who snuck into my proud Scottish lineage, so I was pretty excited to see something she might have experienced.

Erica and I arrived in Ireland super late, and our luggage was very delayed in the unloading process. There was also a little girl with an Elsa from Frozen doll she bought at Disneyland Paris, which became annoying very quickly. We were surprised the car rental places were still opened, so we rented a car. We went out to the garage to find the car and after searching 3 flights of the car park, we went back to the counter for help. I momentarily panicked because there was no one there, but it turns out they were hiding behind the desk. The girl had to walk us out and point us the the area where the rental car was hiding. We hopped in the car and said a very earnest pray for safety so we would arrive to the hostel alive as I attempt to drive in the dark, on the narrow roads of Ireland, on the opposite side of the road, in a stick shift. No bid deal, right?

We arrived to the hostel around 1am, and I sent Erica in to figure out where to park the car. This is not a good idea when Erica is tired, as she gets very sleep-drunk. She came back not really knowing what was going on and confused....she may or  may not have been slurring her words too. lol. I had her wait in the car, while I went in to find out what was going on. Confession: it may have taken longer than it should have because they guy at the desk and I were flirting. Sorry Erica! It started with him commenting that I was British with an American accent (travelling with my uk passport), and I said something about "growing up in America with enough sass to prove I'm British." It just spiraled from there. Looking back, I could have had some more fun with that, but I'm not thinking clearly at 1am. I parked the car and wandered through this crazy path to get back to the hostel and had to tell them that it is the creepiest thing ever to make a girl walk that in the middle of the night alone. #wherearethegentlemen

Day 1: After minimal sleep, we had some breakfast. There were some guys sitting behind us, and I thought, "dang, they have think accents. I can't understand them at all" Only then did I realize they were speaking German. #iloveGermans We took to the town and went to one of the most beautiful things in the world: a library. We went to the Trinity College Library, and it felt like the end of a pilgrimage I didn't know I was taking. It was a bibliophile's dream. Beautiful.

We went to old churches, where I discovered that Dublin keeps the strangest things in their churches. I made a collage. I think the best is the mummified cat and mouse that they found behind an organ and then decided to frame them. We also had lunch at a pub, where I gave into their tricky marketing of Irish food. I have a theory that people will buy food, thinking it's authentic, just as long as it has the name in it. I had the "Irish Salmon Sampler".

I know, a day in Dublin? But it's it's really not that big. Erica was sickly, and I saw everything I wanted. We hopped in the car to go meet up with James in Belfast. It took about an hour of traffic to get out of Dublin. The cross over from Ireland into Northern Ireland was anticlimactic. There was just a sign announcing the speed would now be posted in miles. This was fine and dandy....except the rental did not have miles on the speedometer; it only had kilometers. I had Erica use the calculator on her phone to calculate how fast we should be driving, and with all the speed cameras on the highways, I was scared I would be getting tickets mailed to me back in America. After the traffic, a few hours of driving, my muscles cramping from shifting with my left arm, James not being where I told him, and intense hanger (that was not a mispelling), we arrived in Belfast and found James at a gas station. I bought some Lilt and McVitie's to up my blood sugar to normal levels, and then we went to "The Searcher" statue, which is a monument to C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It is in front of the Holywood Arches Library. Nerdy-ness ensued.

Then they fed me...a kebab. I was going to post the picture of me and the kebab, but decided that's way to personal. It's a passionate love that I have for kebabs. We grabbed out GIANT kebabs and ate them in McDonald's. The kebab shop didn't provide napkins, and anyone who's seen me eat a kebab knows how much I need napkins. Omg. It was great and amazing. Everything I remember and more. Yum yum yum.

Next stop: The Dark Hedges. 

After lots of pictures at The Dark Hedges, we went onto Giant's Causeway. We parked at the hotel that was next to the entrance, and acted very nonchalant as we wandered down their path to Giant's Causeway. We took beautiful photos at sunset before leaving to try and find the hostel. We drove the street, not really seeing anything. I accidently started driving on the right side of the road before Erica corrected me. We stopped at this little B&B to ask where we were supposed to go, and it turned out that it was the hostel. The guy had these thick glasses and was completely adorable and sweet. 

Day 2: The next morning, we walked from our hostel to Giant's Causeway to get some lovely pictures. We then drove to the "rope bridge" nearby. We drove past sheep that were dyed pink, which was awesome. I should have pulled over, but the roads were so narrow, I didn't want to die.

This picture was inspired by Becca. I told her I did a bridge at The Dark Hedges, and she asked if I had done it in front of the bridge. GENIUS! This is my bridge over a bridge. I did not walk across the bridge because bridges freak me out. Rope bridges are too scary.

This is Erica and me at the Cliffs of INSANITY! We were driving and saw the visitor's area, and pulled over. The guy said there was free parking further onward and gave us directions like "turn right at the rock shop" and keep going. We drove for about 15 minutes on one lane pictures not really sure if we were going the correct way. We eventually ended up in front of a house with a sign saying you could park there. Then you walk this pathway between cow pastures, climbing over gates, to get to the cliffs.

'Twas sunset time. It was super windy, and I was so scared to be by the edge of the cliff, but we took some amazing photos.

We put the address of the hostel in our GPS, and found our way out of the windy streets faster than we got into them. We found a little restaurant to have dinner. We were so tired that we went to the hostel and went straight to bed.
Day 3: We woke up early to go see the Rock of Cashel, which is an old church/building/house of kings from the 12th century. It was pretty cool, and very cold. We drove onto Dublin for lunch, dropped James off, and then went to catch our flight back to England. Overall, I only stalled six times. I drove on the wrong side of the road once. There were times I had my foot on the gas 100% and watched the speedometer arrow decrease as we were going up hills. The road signs do not always translate too well...if Becca and I hadn't asked Lukas last year about most European road signs, I would have probably gotten us killed. Some of the roads were so winding that I had to go so slow to not die. The roads were so narrow at times, that I thought we run into the car on the opposite side of the road.  I will say, if you road-trip Ireland, you're going to need a GPS or you will die. Literally die. Even with a GPS, you may die. But you know what? I'm not dead yet!

We landed, caught the train, and walked to Kate's house. We knocked on the door, and Ben says, "what are you doing here?" He then tells us the Kate and Rachel went to meet us at the train station, and we must have just missed them. Oops. Kate made us a great dinner, because Kate is great. We had a great evening. I think the retelling to my mom of this evening is the best version. I told her that Ben and I were beating each other up and that Ben waterboarded me (you can see that I have water on my top in the post-attack photo). Mom just looks a little confused and says "Where was Kate?" I say "Oh, she was at the table playing on her iPad." She says, "Where was Rachel?" I say, "She was just chatting with Erica." My mom responded by shaking her head at me. hahaha. Ben also stole one of my shoes and hid it, promising to text me that night to tell me where it was. I forgot about  it until the morning, when we're about to leave for the airport. I cannot find my shoe. I have to FaceTime Ben at 5-something-a.m. and when I find the shoe, I accidentally knock it over into this space between the wall and the wood paneling. No one is as tall as Ben the Giant, so I gave up hope of getting my shoe back and start to pull out my sandals. Once again, proving her powers of being the coolest person ever, Kate retrieves my shoe, and we leave to the airport. Kate is kind and loving and took drove us to the airport ridiculously early in the morning. Thank you Kate!

The only other story I have to tell is that I ran into my high school friend, Adrian, in the airport train taking us to our terminal. He was with his wife and the end of their honeymoon, and we were on the same flight home. This is the second time I ran into Adrian this year with his wife. This is also the second time I ran into them looking more-or-less like a hobo. Seriously. If it was just Adrian, I would probably be okay with it, but his wife is absolutely gorgeous, and I feel like I should at least look presentable when she doesn't know me well. #awkwardstoryofmylife

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!

I was picked up at the airport Thursday night (Aug 30th) by my big bro. Best broseph ever! because it was pretty much midnight. He drove me home; when we arrived, we went straight to my lil sis' room, sat on her bed and just hung out for a while chatting because we haven't been together for months! It was then bedtime, so I went to my room...only to realize that I was not tired and so I watched Netflix! It was awesome, and then my mom snuck into my room before work and we got to chat it up! Coolest mom ever. Then Dad woke up shortly later and we hung out for a bit. Then we woke up my brother and sister and we rodetripped upto the BLUEBELL CREAMERY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best family trip. We drove up and had a tour. at the end of the tour you get as many samples as you want and then a GIANT cup of ice cream of the flavor of your choice. I highly recommend everyone going to check it out :)

I then got reunited with my good friend Netflix and we had a good time together watching, The Glades. Awesome. Until I fell asleep and ended up sleeping about 12 hours. I woke up. I looked at my watch to see it was 6 o'clock. I went out of my room and my parents were awake. I felt super disoriented and had to clarify if it was Friday night or Saturday morning. They told me it was Saturday morning. The jetlag is messing with my mind!

mom at work

Saturday was mom's day. we went to get mani/pedis. mom, me, and my brother went to get her a iPhone 4S. my mom officially has the coolest phone out of everyone in my family. truth.  we got sweets and partied it up. The entire day dad was at home bbq-ing. Athena and Jay showed up. It was so fun. Cool big sister alert! Jay and I got to cook together...aka...he cut up some sweet potatoes and i cut some veggies to saute. It was a great bonding experience. Then Jax and Davey showed up. The party was really getting started. Then stevie and sonja showed up with the kids! It was awesome cuz i hadn't actually seen the little one because she was born while i was on the mission. yay! it was an awesome family get-together. we seriously had too much fun. it should be illegal how much fun we had.  Everyone eventually left and mom, dad, saryah, and i decided to watch The Hunger Games! then Hollister decided to visit, so i left the movie to talk with her. it was sooo nice catching up. bffs are great.

 Sunday was relaxing. Church was lovely. The day was super relaxing. Monday was Labor Day and we got to party it up at home and I got to run some errands that I've been wanting to do since I got back to the states. Tuesday, I took mom to work and got to help with her classroom. it was so cute. my mom is adorable! I got a haircut before heading off to the airport and flying to Kansas City. (which is not in Kansas). I finally got to use my Nook, which was exciting. The guy who sat next to my on the airport was super bro. He was like a 40 year-old frat boy. He told me stories a lot of very interesting stories. I just smiled and nodded, feeling bad for his sad life choices. Nevertheless, he was entertaining. I then waited after getting my luggage for Lindsay's flight to get in. We met up and it was weird that we haven't been together for so long. We hoped on the bus to take us to the rental vehicles. We were told we might not get the Jeep Liberty because they needed to do some general maintenance. My response? Give me Liberty or give me Death! We got the Liberty, after having to wander around the lot clicking the key button trying to find the car. We started driving and had to stop shortly after because we were starving and Lindsay LOVES Wendy's. She got her food quickly but they had to make mine...then the guy forgot to give me my food. So I had to go and get it later. The guy felt bad and offered me a frosty, i said "make it two", so Lindsay and I got free Frosties. WIN! We got into Sedalia around 9pm. We went to Lindsay's place first...and there was no key for her to get in. I went to my place and there was no key box either. We went to the front office and no one was there. We called the number, left a message and then went to the Holiday Inn to have a place to sleep.  They were booked up for the night. We were about to go to a different hotel, but then the apartment manager called us back. Apologized. and promised someone will be there to let us into our place. We got in and I went to Walmart to get some hangers and stuff for breakfast tomorrow.

Wednesday and Thurdsay was full of LEAN and KANBAN training and afternoons were filled with going to Walmart for things we don't have, food, and watching cable. I haven't had cable since 2008! It's quite a treat! We also made a friend. Her name is Sage and she's a vegetarian and from St. Louis! I didn't make that up. So friday, we had a girls night into Columbia (where Mizzu is) to see Batman (because Lindsay still hadn't seen it) and have some dinner. It was a nice night out.

Slacklining = legendary

Saturday was a day to sleep in and the afternoon we went out with Sage and did some slacklining!!!!!! I only just heard about it when I was in Germany...and now people know about it in Missouri! Crazy. WE spend lots of time doing it and by the time we were over....I could get up on my own and take a step. It was magical. I felt so accomplished.

Sunday I went to the family ward in the morning and the single's branch. it was a long day but very uplifting. Tuesday was Taco Tuesday....so we went there for lunch. believe it or not, the crispy tacos were yummy. I was quite happy. Wednesday was not so great. I was feeling sick and nauseous all day. Kim from work told me I looked pale. I went home and went to bed early. I woke up to Lindsay calling saying she's been sick all morning, so she called us in sick and i proceeded to sleep for 14 hours straight. I do remember solving a murder mystery in my dreams. So even when I'm sick I'm productive. It's moments like this when I wish that I lived at home so someone to take care of me! So I cuddled in a blanket and watch a marathon of The Mentalist on TNT. Love cable. As long at I'm not standing up I don't feel too bad. i hate being sick. it's such a waste of time. My personal theory is that when i'm super busy, my body has no time to get sick, but as soon as life slows down, my body is catching up with me. Life in Missouri is definitely different than I'm used to. Putting a city girl in a small town. But it's nice to slow down for a little bit. I think the saddest part was on Sunday when a lady asked me if I was dating someone and I said no and she said, "well, you probably wont find anyone out here". Sad.

ps. i just had to order exercise shoes online because there is no where to get them around here and shoe shopping for running shoes on the weekend isn't my idea of fun.