A tale of my metaphorical and literal journey through life. I work to support my travel addiction and dream of a RTW trip. Somedays I feel like I'm pretending to be an adult.
-"Happy" by Pharrell
-"Best Day of My Life" by American Authors
-"Everything is Awesome" by Tegan & Sara featuring The Lonely Island (aka, the Lego Movie song).
...and keep it on repeat....seriously. Also, use the pet name "baby" or "puppy" for everyone.
This is Mego. I haven't seen Mego in six year. What's a better way to catch up than to vacation together?
Happy Birthday weekend to me! A few months ago, I decided I just wanted to get away for my birthday for a low key weekend. I decided that it would be more fun if I had people come with me. I invited my lil sister, and then inspiration struck....invite Mego! I adore Mego, because she is one of my life inspirations. I joke around saying that I can't do anything until she does it first. I already know we travel well together, because we've done it before, 12 years ago when we went to England and Paris together. We know that when someone gets grumpy, you must buy them a candy bar to calm them down. Easy peasy. We met up at the San Juan airport and went over to our hotel to make plans and chillax.
Can I just say, I normally don't stay at fancy hotels when I travel, so this trip was on another level of classy for me. Saryah joked that this is her first "adult" vacation, because adults always go places with no plans but to relax. Those were our exact plans. This was a "No Rules" vacation.
We went out to eat the first night at a restaurant down the road, where we ordered three dishes to share. We would eat part of the plate, and then rotate the plates throughout the dinner. #genius We each took turns giving a summary of the past six years of our lives, because, like I said, we haven't seen each other in a while, and it's hard to find time to catch up sometimes. It was pretty funny when we had those "omg. I can't believe you did that!" moments, as we reacted to events that happened years ago. The waiter gave us free crème brûlée during our meal. We also created a list of all the countries we travelled to over the past 6 years. Over the past six years, we've visited a combined number of 26. There was only one country that we've all been to in the past six years....the motherland, where it all began, the UK!
First of all, shout out to Tattly, which has really cool temporary tattoos! Secondly, Friday was a really lazy day. When I say lazy, I mean, brilliantly lazy. We woke up late, to the maid knocking on our door for room service. We went to breakfast across the street at Denny's. Then, we went to lay on the beach and swim for the next few hours. I read, Megan watch the Canada hockey game, and Saryah just laid there. We went back to shower and get out of the sun in the afternoon. We decided it would probably be a good idea to go look around San Juan instead of only looking at the beach all day. We took a taxi out to Old San Juan, and checked out the Fort. Our taxi driver pointed out the capitol building for us, and recommended a good place to eat. Sadly, with my bad memory, about five minutes later, I couldn't remember what he said. It was so windy at the fort, but the view was gorgeous. The whole place was beautiful. We walked around, and I loved to stone streets and colorful buildings. It was a beautiful mixture of Latino and Caribbean culture without the need of a passport or changing currency. I would definitely recommend it to people. We went to Barrachina for dinner, where they claim they invented the Piña Colada. With a claim like that, how could we not have a taste. Truth: I normally don't like Piña Coladas, but this one was wonderful. I had two. The dinner was GREAT! We had a great time, and they gave us a free slice of tres leches cake as they sang Happy Birthday to me. Mego was having a fun time making sure everyone knew it was my birthday. We went back to the hotel to book a tour to Culebras Island to go snorkelling, but we found out the tour was cancelled due to weather. Bah humbug. We went back to our room to discuss. Instead, we decided we should rent a car, drive to the ferry in the morning, book a room at a swanky resort, and be completely spontaneous tomorrow. Done.
Saturday morning, we got a rental, and drove down to Fajardo. Mego hopped out of the car to just get us tickets so we could then go to lunch, but she called, told us to park the car because the ferry was ready about to leave! We went...and the ferry broke down. They said it would be up and running within an hour...and it finally left about 3 hours later. Woohoo #carribeanspirit We got to the Resort on Vieques, cortesy of Mego's hotel points, and it was so swanky. I felt like white trash at a cotillion ball. We loved it anyway. We went straight to the beach to enjoy the sun!
After a few hours in the sun, we went exploring. When I say "we", I mean, Mego went exploring, while Saryah and I followed. On this exploration, Megan found a coconut, which entertained her for the next 12 hours as she attempted to open the coconut with random tools found in a hotel room. Room service said they did not have any machetes available. The highlight of the night was discovering the black pebble pool, with LED lights at the bottom. With all the stars in the sky it felt magical, only to be enhanced by listening to "Across the Universe" while relaxing in the starry water.
Sunday Fun Day! Mego and I went on an adventure to find the church building and get ferry tickets. Ferry tickets are only sold one hour before the ferry leaves, and we were quite panic-y that we wouldn't get a ticket. We were told, that you can go and just get them anyways if you are confident enough. False. They guy was quite rude. We then went to church, where we were given a corner and couldn't find it anywhere. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we followed a couple in a nice dress and a suit to find the church. #stalkeralert We met a couple from Tennessee who decided to move to Vieques a few months ago. What I really wanted to ask was, what are you doing on the island? I was pretty sure that was rude, so I stayed silent.
We eventually made it back to the hotel and decided to risk missing the ferry to stay later at the resort. We laid on the beach. Worried when Mego disappeared. Mego came back after exploring more of the beach. Ate lots of yummy coconut. And took silly photos.
After six years, things haven't changed much.
There was a little vacation romance...that lasted about 5 minutes.
Needless to say, we made it onto the ferry without a problem. While waitin in line, I started chatting with this really cute Brazilian. It was in Spanish, so Mego and Saryah thought it was something nice we were talking about, but I'm pretty sure they were talking about when him and I laughed over me hoping I don't get sea sick on the ferry ride back. #whatyouseeiswhatyouget #classylassy The romance ended, when he went to the bottom deck, and I went to the top. I didn't even think of telling him I was planning on going to the top until Mego and Saryah reprimanded me for being so bad at flirting. We finally made it back to San Juan and had a late night dinner at Denny's. It was a great way to end a whirlwind vacation.
Monday, Saryah and I slept in, while Megan woke up to soak in as much sun-time as possible. I joined later and had a pizza and piña colada brought out to my chair. Mego and I talked for a while, as Saryah stayed in a shaded hammock far away from us. It was sad to say goodbye, but I'm pretty sure, we'll travel again together in the future to make more epic memories.
Sometimes at work you got to keep things interesting. This is a convo Lindsay and I had on work I.M. after I left a little Post-It note on her desk (can i tell you how much i like IMing people i work with? it's awesome. super convenient too because if you just have a simple question, IM someone...you dont even have to loose time getting up and walking over there) Lindsay : lol. did you leave #stalkeralert?? Natasha: no. ◄ that's weird ◄ maybe you have a stalker Lindsay: hahaha it is SOOOO your hand writing Natasha: rofl. ◄ tricked you! Lindsay: haha you stalker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Natasha: SOOO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cody, Rachel & I decided I'm channelling Snow
White with my dark hair and red lips. #legit
Last Friday (9/28), I was planning on seeing Pippin in Kansas City...until I started reading reviews and realizing the plot line might not be 100% appropriate. So I went to work looking up other stuff to do. I found two acceptable options. 1. See a community play production of Annie. 2. See Boys Like Girls in concert for only $20. Both were good options, but i'm a sucker for the theatre. So Rachel, Cody, and I got dolled up to go to Columbia, MO to eat. We were planning on going to a nice little jazz restaurant ..but we left a little too late. So we managed to get to the theatre with 15 minutes to spare, and since there were some reservations that didn't show up, we got tickets. The best actress award goes to the perfectly ridiculous evil orphan keeper, Miss Hannigan was. However, I think the best part of the night was the end...when the whole audience joined in with the cast to sing "Tomorrow", so I got to belt out the song with my new friends. It was legendary! Then we met up with Cody's sister and her friends to get some frozen yogurt (yuck). But it was nice. We ended up getting back to Sedalia at 1-ish. I felt like a bad influence keeping them out so late :)
Saturday (9/29), I was planning on going with Sage to Kansas City to meet up with Lindsay & her boyfriend, Alex, who came in for the weekend to visit. However, I couldn't get a hold of Sage, so I didn't want to leave without her. So I turned on my computer only to discover that Alias had come to Netflix. #dreamcometrue So i sat on my couch relaxing and watching Alias. By the time I decided I wanted to do something, it was too late to go to Kansas City, so I continued watching Alias :) Then Sage responded. She had slept in. lol. We decided to make plans to meet up with Alex and Lindsay at DQ that night. It was a lot of fun. Alex is a cool guy and super nice. He surprised Lindsay with a couple's massage #lucky I told him if he ever wanted to give surprise me with a massage, I would love one :) lol. Afterwards, Sage came over, and I introduced her to Scandal. I know, right? We stayed up till 3:30am watching Scandal. SOOOO GOOD! Then I had to get some sleep for church.
I got a calling at church. Gospel Principle's teacher. aka my fav calling EVER! I'm super excited. Church was good, but I was a tired. I had trouble getting to sleep that night because my throat was hurting too. But Monday morning (Oct 1st), I woke up feeling terrible, especially at 4:30am in order to get to work by 5am. Why was I going to work so early? Inventory week. If it wasn't inventory week, I would have called in sick because I felt terrible, but I went in anyways. What is Inventory Week, the first week in October in the Sedalia facility, we do a physical count of all the inventory in our factory for an audit to check that the computer is correct and to account for lost or misplaced inventory. Our area "misplaced" about 125 motors...really, it was just shipped to China, but that information got lost a few weeks ago. But it was a great time to really get to know the guys in my area. There are about six total who work on a regular basis in my area. We bonded. The first day, we finished counting out area. Seriously. 2.5 more days of sitting around. So we talked a lot. I learned a lot from them too. I learned:
how to cook raccoon meat. you got to boil it first. then bake it with lots of bbq sauce.
turtle meat is tough like goat
what Noodling Catfish is
there is a man called Turtleman with a tv show called Call of the Wildman (which is supposedly amusing, more because of what the two main guys say more than what they do) who likes to catch wild animals with his barehands.
Basically, lots of good things. Tuesday morning, the company brought in some Papa Jake's donuts....SOOOO GOOD! At one point, I was up at my desk and Sage messages me to tell me I'm in trouble because I came in a little late. (aka, Sage took me to work because I didn't have to come in till 7am and Lindsay had to be in at 5 again). She looked all serious and I started freaking out. Then she told me it was a joke. #trickysage
And speaking about being tricky, another guy came into my area while we were sitting around bonding. He asked me who I was, and me and the guys were just talking about how I did welding in high school, so i responded, "the new welder". He looked at me like i was kidding and asked one of the guys, "is she really?" and one of the guys said, "yeah, she's really good." lol. #practicaljokesatwork
While I was down there, one of the guys from Lindsay's area found me to tell me more info about the dodgeball league they're having. I told them I couldn't this Wednesday because of the Presidential debates. He looked at me and said "you're a nerd, aren't you?" it normally takes people a little longer to figure that out, but i responded positively :) I told him how I wanted to make cupcakes and have a little party. The debates were hysterical. Cody let me borrow her food dye. I had a little trouble getting the red to look red...it looked pink #sadday but I continued. Marjin said my cupcakes look like they're Israeli. The actual cupcake is supposed to be red, white, & blue. but either way....im super impressed, and i did the little icing decorating with a little plastic snack baggie that i bit a hole into a corner. (new item on my Christmas Wish List: icing tips)
The rest of the week I was still sick but slowly improving. As soon as I left work on Thursday to start my 3-day weekend/holiday, I donned my awesome red lip gloss and began the long drive to Kansas City. It was cold so I got a hot chocolate as soon as I arrived, and of course spilled on myself shortly after. With my sinuses all out of whack, I still managed to survive a flight to Salt Lake City on Thursday night. I caught my shuttle to Elo's house, and managed to stay up to socialize for a bit, as the exhausting week was slowly catching up to me.
lo mejor!
Friday (10/5), I woke up and read a bit from my NOOK, and eventually one of the 9 roommates, suggested we watch some ALIAS! It's like she knows my soul already! I found Elo, and since I was bored being inside, I put on my super cute blazer and headed into town with my phone's GPS as my guide. First stop...Starbucks. I was going to get a hot chocolate...but then decided to go for the healthy choice of Orange Juice and some banana bread for my breakfast (at noonish...did i mention i hadn't eaten all morning?) After boosting my blood sugar and attacking my body with Vitamin C, I decided I must have some retail therapy because I work too much. I hit up H&M first. The closest thing to Europe I have in my life. Then I learned in Banana Republic that the colors for fashion are maroon and dark yellow. #learnsomethingneweveryday Elo joined my shopping excursion and we shopped all afternoon, until we had to go back to the house for the reunion. I changed from my skinny jeans to my pencil shirt and voilá, I was ready. #lowmaintenanceattimes We took the traks down to Murray and walked to the Mexican restaurant I made reservations at for all the hermanas to meet up before the reunion and eat. It was awesome to see everyone. Even Katie came up to see me, even though she didn't stay for the reunion. woohoo. The reunion was WEIRD! I couldn't handle seeing everyone in normal clothes and hugging each other. my brain was on overload. But it was nice to see my mission brothers and sisters. And of course my mission mom and dad, President and Sister Bunker. aka my heros. PBunk was in a baby blue sweater. it was great. he looked so un-intimidating. jajaja. Elo and I got to go home with Pam & Trey (the newly weds) after picking up Melissa. We drove and went to bed as soon as we got there. I was exhausted. too much socializing.
Saturday, the first day of Conference, BLEW MY MIND! First off, it was Pam & Trey, Bonnie (pam's sister), Elo, Melissa (a girl we taught in Cali who now is going to LDSBC) and me watching conference together. The prophet made an awesome announcement. LDS guys can now go on missions after they graduate high school at age 18. And girls can leave at 19 years old. Effective immediately. Do you know how many people are now eligible to go on missions now?!?!?! OH MY GOODNESS! We were all so excited. Emotions were running high. texts were being sent out. facebook statuses were being updated. trust me. in the mormon world, this is life changing. HUGE! Plus, telling that to 4 returned missionaries, one convert of these returned missionaries, and a girl who wrote all 4 missionaries while they were on the mission...it was a room of joy and excitement. The rest of the day was anticlimactic. Can you really top an announcement like that? No. But the rest of General Conference was amazing as usual. It's such a blessing to have a living prophet on the earth who is able to lead and guide Christ's church, and of course, the apostles are also equally inspiring. I am so grateful for the hand of God in directing their words and their actions. For lunch, we ate yummy pizza. YUM. After conference, we had girl time and watched Hairspray, and then went for Indian food. Melissa didn't like it too much. her chicken was green, which freaked her out.
Sunday was amazing. My fav talk was Elder Holland's talk. He gave this talk before but to missionaries, so this time it was a little different, but the message was the same. He spoke of if we love Christ, we will feed his sheep (John 21:17). Sister Bunker shared this with us as missionaries a little before the end of my mission. I love how Elder Holland doesn't hold back. He speaks to the world as an apostle of God, and he doesn't sugar coat things.
He testifies, and the Holy Ghost confirms to me that what he's saying is true, as it does whenever the prophet and apostles of Jesus Christ speak. I think of the prophets of old, in the Bible, how grateful I am to them for writing down the words of God. I am grateful for the modern day revelation that goes on today and the knowledge I have that God spoke to his prophets of old and he speaks to his prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson.
After conference, I caught a plane ride back to Kansas City. When I arrived back to Kansas City, I picked up my beautiful Jeep Liberty and was waiting in line to get out of the lot, when one of my jams came on. Taylor Swift's "We're Never Ever Getting Back Together". So of course, I was dancing in my seat. When it was my turn, the guy asked me, "what are you rocking out to?" I responded joyfully, "taylor swift". He looked at me and said "really?" "haha. yes. really." I recommended he do it too next time he was in the car. He laughed and let me go on, and i laughed at how silly i am sometimes.
funniest thing Sage IMed to me on Tuesday 9 October:
just so you know...if there were any more than two people to be friends with here...I would totes ditch you.
First of all, shout out to Tattly, which has really cool temporary tattoos! Secondly, Friday was a really lazy day. When I say lazy, I mean, brilliantly lazy. We woke up late, to the maid knocking on our door for room service. We went to breakfast across the street at Denny's. Then, we went to lay on the beach and swim for the next few hours. I read, Megan watch the Canada hockey game, and Saryah just laid there. We went back to shower and get out of the sun in the afternoon. We decided it would probably be a good idea to go look around San Juan instead of only looking at the beach all day. We took a taxi out to Old San Juan, and checked out the Fort. Our taxi driver pointed out the capitol building for us, and recommended a good place to eat. Sadly, with my bad memory, about five minutes later, I couldn't remember what he said. It was so windy at the fort, but the view was gorgeous. The whole place was beautiful. We walked around, and I loved to stone streets and colorful buildings. It was a beautiful mixture of Latino and Caribbean culture without the need of a passport or changing currency. I would definitely recommend it to people. We went to Barrachina for dinner, where they claim they invented the Piña Colada. With a claim like that, how could we not have a taste. Truth: I normally don't like Piña Coladas, but this one was wonderful. I had two. The dinner was GREAT! We had a great time, and they gave us a free slice of tres leches cake as they sang Happy Birthday to me. Mego was having a fun time making sure everyone knew it was my birthday. We went back to the hotel to book a tour to Culebras Island to go snorkelling, but we found out the tour was cancelled due to weather. Bah humbug. We went back to our room to discuss. Instead, we decided we should rent a car, drive to the ferry in the morning, book a room at a swanky resort, and be completely spontaneous tomorrow. Done.
We finally made it back to San Juan and had a late night dinner at Denny's. It was a great way to end a whirlwind vacation.
