Things On My Mind...

First things first...Life.

Oh man, it's just so short. So bitter sweet. So unfair. So beautiful. It encompasses ever single feeling and emotion, it defies every single description that you try to label it with, it never ever does what you think it's going to. You just never know when it's going to be over. You never know when the last time that you're going to see a truly great friend is. You just can never ever take the people that you love for granted. Never. When someone you love does leave you, all you can do is take the lessons that they taught you and try to keep their legacy alive by applying everything that you admired about them in your own life. I guess it's very, very true that only the good die young.

Rest In Peace Taylor. Your memory and your spirit will live on.

Summer.

I know that I've said this one before, but I truly just love it. I cannot wait for it to get here. I'm pretty much over all of this snow.

Music.

Not just any music, but music that speaks to my soul. Like Amos Lee, Joshua Radin, Jack Johnson, Ron Pope, Donavon Frankenreiter, you know...those guys. That's on top of the classics like Mr. Marley.

Creativity.

Sometimes I try and figure out why my life is all out of balance and then it hits me, I've let my creativity fall to the wayside. When I'm not creating something, I'm not alive. It's that simple. Sometimes my creations don't turn out like I picture them, but that's fine. It's all part of the process.

Pura Vida.

Pure life. Not something I should just stop and think about sometimes, but the way that I should be living my life all of the time. I get one shot at this, I need to make it count. I can't just live sometimes, I have to be pure life.

Sporadic? Yeah, but that's what I've been working with the last couple of days.

Aroha everybody, I love you all and value you in my life.

SpRiNg TiMe Is HeRe...

I cannot even begin to describe the happiness in my soul! I LOVE SPRING! Spring is the gateway to summer, and summer is the most sacred time of year. I love spring. People are beginning to come out of their hibernation, plants are beginning to emerge from their shallow graves, birds are beginning to chirp again. All is right with the world.

My summer list is coming together nicely. I had an entire one made out but it was sadly lost in the semi/phone incident a few weeks ago so I've been compiling a new one both from memory and from new thoughts...my summer's looking pretty full! Drive in movies, camping, hiking, long boarding, bike riding and bon fires (those are the obvious ones) rock climbing, catching prairie dogs, exploring old mines, river rafting, building tree houses, tubing the Provo river, studying historical events and then watching movies about them, painting, cupping overpasses, hiking Timp, hot springs, dancing in Canada, being "pro Mormon" at the Manti pag, horseback riding, playing guitar on a street corner, stargazing and learning constellations, mini flash dances, donating blood, Parade of Gardens, riding Segways at Thanksgiving Point, visiting the aquarium, hide and seek caveman style, ridiculously over tipping the waitress after dessert, chalking and reverse pickpocketing are all on the list. I cannot wait.

I am sitting this week out as far as truck trips go, I am going to the Festival of Colors on Saturday and I didn't want to take any chances missing it! So I have the next 6 days all to myself with not much to do...I went out and got some stuff to get my craftsy side on and I have some lunch dates set up. Plus I'm checking out the local yoga studio scene this week to figure out where I want to get a pass for my sister and I (it's her birthday present), a lot of the studios offer the first class free to Utah residents so I figure I'll take a couple classes and feel them out. I know, I know, my life is rough.

New Thoughts, New Things...

As it turns out, we didn't head down to Alabama; we went to Denver instead. Not as exotic? Yeah, but the perfect trip for me right now! To begin with I didn't think that I liked the state-but then I made it to Colorado Springs, which initially didn't impress me much either-but which grew on me. It made me start thinking about the planet and just how great it is. I have been reading scriptures again recently and it wasn't going to smooth, sometimes I sort of want to die when I'm reading, then a very wise man told me to forget just reading straight through them and to pick topics I want to study and run with those. So I decided to give it a shot. I totally hippie-d out my scriptures. I have been systematically going through the TG and BD and Index finding scriptures that relate specifically to 5 categories
-Peace and Love
-Nature, Earth and the Cosmos
-Knowledge, Wisdom, and Learning
-Mind, Body, Spirit
-Happiness and Joy
Do you realize just how much of the modern works fall into these categories?? Oh man, and the best part is that from these starting points I've found so much to delve into! I'm starting to see what they mean when they say that once you start searching and studying that it becomes addictive!!
I have also started trying to learn to play the guitar (I know one song so far, Life Love and Laughter). I also have decided that I want to try my hand at photography AND I'm making active efforts to learn espanol again. Being busy is the best though. All of this stuff on top of longboarding and bike rides are getting me all fired up for summer :)

30 Before 30 List...

So, a couple of months ago I mentioned that I was re-vamping my 30 Things To Do Before I'm 30 List...it's taken me this long, but I finally finished it!! So, without further ado, here it is!

1. Go skydiving
2. Go shark diving (this will help me get over my fear of sharks I think...)
3. Go scuba diving or snorkeling
4. Pick pineapples in Hawaii
5. Go ice fishing
6. Join the mile high club
7. Go on an un-mapped road trip
8. Learn to play the guitar
9. Be fluent in a foreign language
10. Learn to surf
11. Be in the Today show crowd
12. Climb a mountain
13. Get my bachelors degree
14. Plant at least one tree every year
15. Grow or landscape a garden
16. Publish something
17. Campaign for a cause
18. Hike the Inca Trail
19. Adopt pets from the pound
20. Learn to swim (this should probably happen before shark diving, snorkeling/scuba diving and surfing...)
21. Go on a humanitarian trip
22. Go for a week in silence (perhaps at an ashram?)
23. Read all of the standard works
24. Go on a Route 66 road trip
25. Visit 10 national parks (this is starting today, I can go to previously visited ones though)
26. Go to Alaska
27. Go whale watching
28. Live completely in a different culture
29. Go to the world cup
30. Help someone achieve something on their own list (thank you Buried Life)

I have 8 years and 2 months to complete this list, I have already checked off the adopting pets from the pound one, but it's fine because it was on the original list. I think it's safe to say that I should probably get started because I have my work cut out for me :)

Alabama Here I Come...

Well, I'm on my way to Alabama later this afternoon. Am I excited? You better believe it! I've never been to the south before, and I'm pretty stoked! I'll be sure to post some pictures. I know that I keep promising pictures, and I have been taking them, but here's the deal; I had been taking them on my phone which unfortunately was lost in California. How was it lost? Oh you know, it got run over by a semi on the freeway. How did it get run over? It fell out of the door when I opened it. Why did I open the door on the freeway? It wasn't closed all of the way. Why wasn't it closed all of the way? Because I probably broke it (on accident) a month or two ago. So all around, it was in no way or shape my fault. But don't even worry, I got a new phone so I'm good to go with getting in touch with people again...I just don't have any of my contacts. Awesome.

I am so ready for summer! I went longboarding with Morgan this last weekend and it was nice, but still semi cold. I just want it to be warm and sunny all of the time right now. I also am missing being social and so I think I'm almost done with truck driving. But it's fine because I tried it and I loved it, but it was probably just supposed to be a short run is all. I'm ok with it, and I think that everyone who isn't should probably not be judging and even if you are, you shouldn't say it to me. I'm enjoying my life and just because I'm doing it a little differently than you are, it's no less valid, thank you very much.

As you can see, I'm having a hard time blogging (not because of lack of material, but just because I can't remember all of the super things that I thought "I'll blog about that...") so I'm sorry the posts have been a little lame, I'll try and do better next time :)

Aroha