l-o-v-e

I love Utah. I really do. I love the family and friends that live in utah. I love the beautiful mountains and fall colors. But i do have to admit, i love the ocean. There is just something about spending the day on the beach... there's nothing better. I love that the ocean feels like something so big, something that we really can't fully comprehend. There is so much mystery to it and i love that. I think my passion for the ocean was embedded in me when i was little from my Mom. She has always said that there is something special about the ocean, and i have to agree.

Kenny...

I know this is SO cheesy but i had to put a little about my love for Kenny on my blog. I don't know what it is, but whenever i'm having a bad day, or tired, or annoyed and i put on "Anything But Mine", "Beer in Mexico", "Back Where i Come From", or any other song of his, i can't help but blast the volume and sing my little heart out. I always feel so much better. And his concerts... those are a whole other story. I love his carefree attitude towards life. I think we could always use a little more of that! Anyway cheesy or not...i love KENNY!
This is the house he bought in Key West while i was living down there. It was two blocks from where i worked and i was absolutely freaking out! We came to find out he decided to sell it because of all the hype it caused... i don't know what type of people would get "hyped" enough to scare Kenny away....?

I ♥ my ZUMBA

I've started going again, and LOVE it. Zumba is a dance class that consists of Salsa, Merengue, Hip-Hop, Mambo, and Rumba. It is a blast! Seriously, for anyone looking for an awesome workout Zumba's your class. It absolutely kicks my butt, but it's so fun! I always look forward to my Thursday night class. If anyone wants to join me come to the Sports Mall on Thursday night at 7. You won't regret it!

One Year

OK, so it's been a little more than a year; but i've been thinking about my experiences in El Salvador a lot lately. A year ago I was home and planning the next possible time i could go back. I knew when i left that it wasn't likely that i would ever see those darling kids again. However, when i got home i wanted so badly to see the kids who changed my life forever. Although life got in the way of being able to go back, I am grateful that i will always remember the people and my experiences there. I am forever changed. I hope that my future holds many more opportunities to serve in similar experiences.

Birthday Bash... Island Style

Despite missing my family and friends back at home i had a great birthday! Here are some pics from that day...

I woke up to this lovely display of decorations, treats, and messages from my roommates. So cute! I felt so bad because they had waited until i fell asleep the night before (which was at about 2 in the morning) to go to the store and get all of this for me. It was such a fun surprise!This of course is the amazing card my mom sent me along with presents and treats. She never ceases to amaze me with her creativity! Thanks mom!After we woke up Michelle and I rode beach cruisers to go Jet Skiing. We had a BLAST!The crew at dinner. We ate at New York Pasta, a cute little restaurant downtown. The food was delicious!Cutest cupcakes ever! These would be Ali's masterpiece. If you can't tell they are beach themed. They were so cool i almost didn't want to eat them! almost....Playing a little game of TwisterAnd spur of the moment we decided to drive an hour up the keys to this beach to star gaze. We stayed there until 5 in the morning and sooo paid for it the next few days at work. It was a perfect ending to the day.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

Bridge Jumping

Well i'm looking out over the edge...literally. We have taken up a new hobby of BRIDGE JUMPING. There is a bridge about 20 minutes from where i live that looks over the ocean. It is absolutely gorgeous and the water is crystal blue and warm. I won't lie, the first time i jumped off was terrifying. Ya gotta love the adrenaline rush though. I didn't get too daring as you can tell in the video below. Some of the people i was with were doing crazy flippy stunts over that thing. Anyway we had a blast! I'm always up for trying something new and a little daring :)
Getting ready to JUMP....Action shot.. i was a little too worried about getting water up my nose to strike a cool pose.

I'm a little embarrassed about this now. People were making fun of me for being such a baby but as you can hear... i was really scared!

Sail Away Sail Away Sail Away...

I can't believe i've already been here almost two months! Time has flown by. We all decided that we need to start doing all of the things we want to do while we here because we are going to start running out of time! On my day off we booked a sunset sail. It was gorgeous to say the least. There is a reason Key West is known for it's sunsets, they are beautiful.
This drunk old guy made me and michelle get our picture taken with the captain. He seriously would not leave us alone until we went back and asked him if we could. We call him Captain Hottie. haha
This picture looks like it was photo shopped doesn't it? It was so pretty!

rough

I had some issues for a couple of days.
First, i went to Benihanas with a bunch of people. It was really fun and the food was delicious. I'm an extremely picky eater but I decided i was going to try everything they put on my plate. Our chef (Wilmer) threw some shrimp on my plate. I hate sea food, but like i said, i was determined to try everything that night. Big mistake. A little while later I noticed my eye started feeling really funny. It kept getting bigger and bigger and pretty soon i felt like Will Smith in Hitch. Yup.. i'm allergic to shellfish.
Here are some before and after pictures:Before-drinking my Berry Banana HavanaAfter- and this wasn't even when it was at it's prime!

A couple of days after my shrimp incident, i had a run in with what i thought was mesquitos. After much debate, i think it might have been BED BUGS!
57 bites
I thought this stuff ended when i left El Salvador..guess not!

Ft. Zachary Taylor

Last week we all had a day off together so we decided to spend it at this beautiful beach on the naval base. We soaked up the sun and swam in the beautiful water.....pure bliss.

V Day Weekend

We started out the weekend of L-o-l-o-l-o-l-o- V E the night before when we went to a little desert restaurant downtown called better than sex desert. It was SO yummy. We showed up to a very romantic restaurant which we weren't expecting, but it was fun to spend the night out on the town. We shared a "cookie nookie" and the picture below is me eating the delicious brownie desert- "jungle fever" haha the names of all the deserts cracked me up!

And the quote of the night was....

On saturday we all had to work but after we went to "he's just not that into you" with everyone. I thought it was a fitting movie. I loved it! I definitely recommend it. It was a perfect ending to the weekend. Happy Valentines day everyone!

Fun Day

We had a really fun day off on Thursday. The weather was perfect so we went to the pool for a few hours and soaked up the sun. After, we met up with our other two roommates when they got off work and went to the movie Bride Wars. It was fun to all go out together because we are usually working opposite shifts. The movie was cute and a fun movie to go to with just the girls. After the movie we went downtown to Hard Rock for dinner. I have to say, i was a little disappointed with the food. I don't think i've ever left that restaurant thrilled, especially for how expensive it is. It was still fun to all go out to dinner together and laugh at all the crazy people on Duval Street.

It's a completly different culture down here, that's for sure. At night the drag queens drive down Duval, sitting on the back of a pink convertable and if you yell at them they'll throw you some mardi gras beads. It's pretty funny.

Ha we found this random place with a ton of weird statues. We were a little hyper and had fun taking some funny pictures

And by the end of the night.. i found my new boyfriend :)

Bikram Yoga

Yeah two days ago i would have no idea what it was. For those of you who are how i was it's a yoga class where they heat the room to about 102 degrees and have humidifiers making the humidity at about 150%. Tonight i went to the class and it was actually really fun. I felt extremely relaxed after 90 minutes of sweating from literally every pore in my body. My manager, Bonnie, goes all the time and got me to try it out. I think everyone should at least try it because i felt so good after the class. So as of tonight, i am a bikram fan!

Cold Front

I am so happy that the weather is finally back into the high 70's. Last week we had a couple of days that were so cold (50 degress). I know that sounds pathetic for all you Utahns who consider 50 warm and sunny, but for us key westerners it's FREEZING. Yesterday i took advantage of the sunny weather and laid out by the pool. While i was relaxing, listening to my ipod one of the girls i'm living with started freaking out. I looked up to see what was going on and this huge iguana was right inbetween us. It was three feet long and just crawled underneath our chairs. I'm so mad i didn't have my camera. So that was pretty funny and totally random.

Other than that i've just been working and hanging out. Here are a few pictures from the last week or so:
This is the beautiful view of where i run. I've never been a huge fan of running but who can resist when i get to run right next to the ocean?
haha this is another one of those days where no cruise ships are in. Looks like i need a little bit of work on my hurkeys. You'd never know i used to be a cheerleader from this picture
Carolines is our favorite place to go for lunch. It's right on Duval and a block away from the store. It's always fun when all four of us can go to lunch together
A lot of the beaches here aren't very sandy but this is the best beach we have seen. The water is crystal clear blue and the sand is pure white. So pretty.

New Home!

I'm an official resident in Key West, FL! I have been here for almost a week and i'm loving it! I'm down here doing an internship with a company called Del Sol until the end of May. I found out in December that i got the internship and had about a month to get ready to move to this awesome little island. I feel like i bit of a slacker, taking a semester off from school but i'm so glad i took advantage of this amazing opportunity! I'm living in an apartment with three other girls from Utah. They are way fun and cute, couldn't have asked for better roomies. I've just been working and having a blast settling into my new home!

This is the view from Mallory Square down at the pier. Every night they have a sunset festival. The sunsets here are amazing!

Our first day in the store! These are two of the girls i'm working and living with. Michelle and Ali


Haha the other day was really slow beacuse there weren't any cruise ships in so we got creative trying to get people in the store. I love the lady looking at us in the second picture. Best manequins i've ever seen!