Road Trip

I went on a quick road trip this past weekend to help a friend move from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, and we had an absolute blast!  We flew into L.A., gathered up her things, hopped in her Lexus, and headed for Las Vegas!

We didn't arrive at our hotel, the Monte Carlo, until midnight.  I immediately assumed it was too late for us to go out and see the city, but I was wrong.  Clubs in Utah close at two, which is far from the case in Sin City.  Oh, how naive.

We quickly threw on our clubbing attire, makeup,  flat-ironed our hair, and we were out the door by 12:30!

This is the only picture we took

 Just my luck, the first five minutes on the strip I almost smashed right into a guy that had a six foot snake draped around his shoulders.  Really?!  I'm pretty sure that is stressful for the snake, and people like me don't appreciate it.  LEAVE YOUR REPTILES AT HOME, PEOPLE!

We met Alexis' friend, Jorge at The Palms, and he got is into two clubs, Moon and The Playboy Club, without a cover charge (thankfully, because it is ridiculously expensive!)  It was cool to see the atmosphere in the club, but it was mostly just reaffirming that it isn't my scene.  I can't believe there are people that live for that lifestyle!  I suppose if I had one ounce of rhythm clubbing would be fun, but I don't, sooooo I mostly just feel like an idiot.

I literally saw a vagina while I was "dancing."   I wanted to walk up to the girl and say "oh honey" as I tugged her skirt down.

Three shots of tequila cost $45...that is five dollars short of what I pay to get my hair cut and colored, with a tip!  If I wasn't a starving student that wouldn't be a lot of money, but it is, and I almost just turned around and walked away when the lady told me the price!  After some good alcohol, fun people watching, great dancing, meeting a cool new person, and laughing my ass of with Alexis, we went back to the room.

The night ended with us drinking water and eating vegetable chips in the hotel room (Alexis didn't think pants were necessary at this point, so she was walking around in zebra panties. Priceless.) I talked to Ben while Alexis passed out.  By the time I climbed into bed, the sun was rising.  I laid in the big, comfy hotel bed, and fell asleep, feeling like a rock star.

The drive home was fantastic!  I mentioned that Alexis owns a Lexus, because she let me drive it all the way home, and it was the best driving experience of my life!  Her car is quite the machine.  We really bonded over the trip, and I can't wait to go on another trip with her!

Serenity

My mom's house has always had a copy of the Serenity Prayer hanging on the wall, and I vividly and fondly remember the prayer being recited at AA meetings as a child.  As an adult, I try to look to the prayer as a model.  As an atheist, I interpret the message a tad differently, but the overall content is the same.  I often find myself saying:


I will achieve serenity when I accept that there are things I cannot change; I will have the courage to change the things I can, and over time, I will acquire the wisdom to know the difference.

Who Do You Love?

So, Ben left for Hawaii.  He will be gone for two weeks, which is cool.  He doodled a cute little countdown calendar on the whiteboard in our kitchen, and it made my heart melt.  Now that he is gone people have been asking me nonstop if I miss him, and everyone seems to be asking, "how are you holding up with him gone?"  I know that people mean well, and I know that he meant well with the calendar, but it all really made me think.

I felt a tad sad thinking about him being gone for two weeks, because I love him.  I like coming home to him, and hearing about his day.  However, I am not exactly devastated that he is gone.  I go to school full-time, work full-time, have tons of friends, and have plenty of training, cooking, reading, and blog writing to do.  I mean, really, it would be a bit pathetic if I was devastated or sad over two weeks of him being gone, right?

The sum of things has made me evaluate some stuff.  I love him, and I love our life together.  I like building our life together.  We do fun stuff, and Ben is my best friend, but I have a lot more self-love now than I have ever had.  Spending time alone isn't bad, in fact, it is kind of nice.  I had a great day in class, and kicked some butt (Chelsea style) in jits last night.  I was feeling great, and it continued when I went home to the empty house.  I made myself a steak sandwich on some delicious fresh ciabatta bread, ate half of the juiciest cantaloupe that I have ever tasted (Harmon's produce department is the best!), watched a movie, read Cosmopolitan from cover to cover (mostly to gauge just how sexist this "female friendly" magazine is), and I splurged on a mini Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Who do I love?  I love tons of people.  But, of all of the people that I love, I have really turned into my favorite.

Summer Classes

I have dropped off of the grid just a tad, and it is all the fault of my summer classes.  I wish adults had summer breaks like elementary school children; Aaaaah, to reminisce about the days when I would steal change from my parents to get ice cream from the ice cream man!

Hapa Taqueria

Before going to watch The Hangover Part II, we went to Hapa Taqueria for some food with our friends.  This new restaurant is in the old Acme Burger building, and although I'm sad Acme is gone, this new place is great!  They serve street-style tacos and botanas, or small snacks.  I had a pork taco and two carne asada tacos, with some chips and guacamole.  Ben had a chicken street-taco and a chicken quesadilla; we enjoyed every menu item that we purchased, and will definitely be going back.  [For the next three weeks they are serving $1 tacos and super cheap tequila shots and draft beers ($1-3).]

As for The Hangover Part II, it was pretty much identical to the first (crude jokes, crazy antics, and Bradley Cooper's gorgeous hair).  If you liked the first movie, the second shouldn't disappoint, but if you didn't like the first one (obviously) don't waste your time and money. 

In other news, I am sick.  I have been battling cold symptoms, and now flu symptoms for just over one week.  Ugh, I can't wait to feel better and hit the gym (in a moment of truthful shame I have to admit that I have packed on twenty, yup, twenty pounds.)  It is time to start eating like a healthy person again and working out (I give it two solid months and the weight will be gone, right?)

Going Back

Ben may be going back to Maui for work again, which is something that conjures up mixed feelings.  I will miss him terribly, but the money is really good, and he loves the place so much that it is hard to feel anything but happiness for him.

The past few weeks I have been thinking non-stop about our trip to Hawaii.  I can't help but get butterflies when I think of the excitement of being picked up from the airport (it had been over a month since we had seen each other)!  I also can't help but think of the overwhelming sadness that I felt on the ninth day when I had to leave Ben for another month.  I cried the whole last day (off and on).  My visit to Maui was the most extraordinary visit that I have ever experienced.

I am seriously considering applying to law school in Hawaii.  I would love to go back and make a life there, even if it was just for a short period of time.

View from Hana Highway

Bamboo forest hike

Tune-Up

I am taking the plunge, the therapy plunge!  I made the call, and the first appointment is set!   Ben, and my trusted friend, Natalie, rave about Karen Kindred and her work (take a gander at Nat's posts about Karen, and you'll want to see her!), so I'm going to see her this Friday.  I am excited to learn new things from such an intelligent woman.

Too often we concentrate on our waistlines and our complexions, but not enough on our minds.  I think that everyone should find a therapist that they can trust, and they should spend some time talking with someone that can help mediate their thoughts, and provide them with tools.  I hope that Karen is a good fit!

Ben has this delightful change tin in his shop, it makes me laugh every time I see it!

The Funk

I have been desperately and hopelessly sad this week.  I think it is the weather.  I think it is the lack of gym time.  These short periods of sadness are completely normal, and are just one of the features of life, but I'm ready for it to stop. 

Yesterday had some highs and (core of the earth) lows.  The highs for the day were: (1) taking Logan to the Nickelcade and Baskin Robbins for his birthday. WIN; (2) going to Mekong Cafe with Cam, Tse, Jarom, Sofia, Vanessa, and Ben. BIGGER WIN. (3) Tse bought us a great piece of art for the house.  I don't have a picture, but it is calligraphy on a fantastic, thick worn piece of parchment.  There are hand drawn ivy leaves and open books surrounding one of the most beautiful quotes ever:

The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species.  I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.  ~Carl Sagan, Cosmos

I need to focus on the happy things from the week.  Ugh.

God of Thunder

I heard mixed reviews about the new movie Thor, but gave it a go anyway, and I was pleased.  To be fair, I like Marvel, so I'm not exactly a hard sell when it comes to this particular type of movie; however, the costumes were cool, the story is good, the effects were well-done, Natalie Portman is gorgeous, Stellan Skarsgard is delightful, and Chris Hemsworth is a sight to behold!  Seriously, it was worth the nine dollars just to see his abs:

The pictures just don't do it justice!  I would pay to go see it again...

A Parent's Love

Two of my best friends from high school just welcomed babies into the world.  Teegan Miller and Maddix Champion have daddies that used to skip school at my house, and raid my mom's fridge.  Out of our core group of friends: Trent = married and a homeowner, Andrew = Married and a homeowner, Tyson = Parent and a homeowner, Zacc = Parent, and Chelsea, well, Chelsea = Student? I know it is a culture thing (specific to Utah), and I'm doing stuff in the right order, but sometimes it feels like I am getting left behind.  Sometimes it feels like I'm not a "real" adult without a marriage certificate and a mortgage.

Life has changed so much from the days when my mom used to yell at me, "Trent, Tyson, and those other boys are eating us out of house and home!"  In all fairness, they were.  Now, those boys are dads.

Congrats, Guys!

Camrann summed up being a parent today in what I can imagine are some of the truest words ever written, "My poor daughter. I doubt she'll ever find a man who loves her as much as I do right now. Everything gets complicated as people grow more complex but I have the luxury of pure uncomplicated unconditional unwavering love. That why we have kids; in order to experience that with another human being."  (Kind of makes me contemplate kids in the distant future.)