friday funday.

Here my top 1o tracks for this week.  Hope you can vibe to this on friday funday.

1. Stolen Dance – Milky Chance (catchy beat and they use the word “boogie,” so there’s that)
2. Jolene – Justin Timberlake cover of Ray LaMontagne (I love Ray and definitely am crushing on Justin, so this is basically a fantasy)
3. The Heart – NEEDTOBREATHE (upbeat and gets at what’s beating inside all of us)
4. Pumpin Blood – NONONO (similar motif as “The Heart” but more fun to workout to)
5. Breezeblocks – alt-J (everyone has been loving on alt-J, so we should join the fun too)
6. Hey Jealousy – Gin Blossoms (throwback to the 80s in the best way)
7. Riptide – Vance Joy (this song is everywhere, especially in my head, which is A-OK by me)
8. Ends of the Earth – Lord Huron (this would be a great song to listen to while hiking an epic mountain)
9. Glory and Gore – Lorde (typical Lorde but she talks about Gladiators, so cooler)
10. Don’t – Ed Sheeran (SO catchy and sassy. Ed Taylor-Swifted Elle Goulding…oh dang)

Get groovy, y’all!

life talks.

I don’t know about you (I’m not feelin’ 22), but since I entered my twenties, I’ve started having many more “life talks.” What are these ever-elusive “life talks” I speak of? Well, let me enlighten you. “Life talks” are the conversations you have with your a) professors/advisors, b) parents, c) friends and d) yourself (yes, these are possible and they might be the most stressful form of “life talks”). These conversations are usually about your future and possible future life plans, including, but not limited to, a) your career, b) education, c) possible relocation, d) relationship status, and e) how on earth you should cut your hair (hey, this is important stuff).

Sure, “life talks” usually start with good intentions, but, in my experience, they quickly evolve to something nastier than my hair on a drizzly humid day (I’m looking at you, frizzy not-quite-curly hair). “Life talks” spur inner thought, but they also spur inner turmoil. If you couldn’t guess, I recently had a “life talk,” well actually more like 2 or 3. These “life talks” largely centered around my realization that I want to become a graphic designer, which would require me to enroll in a design program post-graduation since I’m currently majoring in Communication and Spanish (turns out, Español isn’t so helpful when pursuing a design career…who would’ve thought??).

Anyway, so I’ve had some “life talks” with my parents, which have for the most part been successful and positive. Of course, they get a little freaked out when I start talking about going to more school and pursuing a career that neither one of them knows much about, but their concern is understandable. I’ve talked about my interest in design as a career with my “life talks” with my friends, but more often than not, our “life talks,” as with most conversations with friends, centered on relationships and personal development. During a recent “life talk” I learned that one of my friends is thinking about getting engaged…in two years. While the pure thought of marriage makes me run into a corner, I still found it crazy, yet exciting, to be having an actual conversation about my friend’s (inevitable) engagement.

And finally, I’ve had some “life talks” with myself, which have gone a little something like this:

“Man, I just love Pinterest. Oh yum, peanut butter banana stuffed waffle croissants – pinned! Ooh look at that pretty quote. I want to make that. Okay, pinned and let’s sketch it. Oh rats, I can’t sketch, who am I kidding. But it’s just so pretty. Okay well I like technology and pretty pictures, so what if I became a graphic designer? Whoa…that’s a big step. That would be pretty cray cray. And expensive. But you’ll totally regret it if you don’t. Now’s your chance. Carpe that diem!”

So clearly my “life talks” aren’t the most productive, but it’s during these inner conversations that I am able to realize what truly excites me and also how I can begin to go about achieving my goal. I also realize that most people don’t have conversations with themselves and that I probably should talk to someone about that. Regardless, I have no doubt that these “life talks” will continue, probably for the rest of my life, but as long as I’m able to channel them in a useful productive way I think we’ll go together like peanut butter and jelly.

p.s. here’s a little love from the TED talk stage (one of my nerdier hobbies) about life, exploring creativity and being a “genius.”

 

full of adventure.

Eekkk it’s been quite some time since you’ve heard from me and for that I am very sorry.  I can report, however, that my absence has been put to good use, primarily traveling, having great experiences and making memories!  Cliche, I know, but all true.

I don’t have tons of time for an extensive update so we’re going to go with a top 10 list of what I’ve been up to.  Here we go….

1. Visited Madrid, met up with a friend from Denison who is somehow in my DG family, went to a 7-story club, my friend’s phone got stolen and she almost got robbed (on separate occasions), barely made it to our train on time.

2. Did the Camino de Santiago (casual, I know), which included walking 110 km over the course of 5 days, which then led to drinking good wine, eating tasty food, sleeping really hard (including taking a nap in a field with some cows), and bonding with new friends. Final result = a life changing experience (I’m already planning on doing it again).

 

3. Went to Africa (again, casual, I know), learned a few words in arabic, rode a camel, visited a blue city, got a henna tattoo, drank actual Moroccan Mint tea and slept more than 9 hours every night of the trip.

4. Ran a 5K, PR’d (technically this is my first recorded 5K time, so it was bound to be a PR anyway…), and got 7th in my age division, 20th overall!

5. Visited my host aunt and uncle in Altea (a smaller oceanside town about 45 minutes from Alicante) and felt excruciating uncomfortably full after comida (first time for that so it was really fun). Enjoyed Altea nonetheless.

6. Started playing tennis here! I hit 1-2 times a week in San Juan with this chill pro named Fran. I usually play on the court next to the a 14-year-old Russian boy who is the 5th best 14-year-old in the world and I’ve also seen Feliciano Lopez playing there, who is currently ranked 20th in the world. So yeah, that’s cool.

7.  Celebrated Halloween here, which was nothing like American Halloween, except for the presence of candy. Compared to my Morton Salt girl costume last year, I give myself a B- for this year (I was a common bumblebee). But I already have ideas for next year so all is well.

8.  I’ve been elected to a new position in DG. I’m my chapter’s new VP: Membership, so queen of all things recruitment. I’m already buzzing with ideas for skits, themes, outfits, decorations, etc.

9. Went to Sevilla, saw a modern flamenco show, ate some good tapas (Sevilla is the capital of tapas), shamelessly took some selfies on the longest tour ever.

10. Visited the European gem that is Munich and loved it. Lacked proper warm clothes, met some interesting fellow travelers, saw the glockenspiel (recently voted 2nd of the biggest letdowns of European attractions), visited Dachau, which was so sobering, powerful and moving (Never Forget), drank beer at Hofbrauhaus, ate pretzels and Currywurst (delicious) and enjoyed authentic Bavarian nuts. Easily one of my favorite trips.

So that’s where we’re at! It’s been a whirlwind and I can’t believe it’s almost Thanksgiving. But I’m so excited to see my family and travel with them (especially considering I’m the epitome of “champagne taste on a beer budget”).  This weekend I’m venturing to Paris, which, considering we’ve already had some mishaps with Eiffel Tower tickets, should be interesting, and it’s supposed to snow (to which I will respond with my fall jacket, 7 layers of clothes and the presence of a warm beverage in my hand at all times).  Who knows if this tactic is going to work, but, as the Spanish say, vamos a ver!  Hasta luego!

It’s just different.

It’s just different. I’ve found myself saying these words a lot since coming to Spain. The daily schedule, public transportation, food…it’s just different. When I first got here, I thought primarily in black and white: this is good, this is bad; this is healthy, this isn’t. But the thing is, you can’t really keep up that thinking when you’re living in a new country. Here, it is good and healthy to eat a huge, carb-loaded meal and then take a siesta (nap), which is essentially the opposite of what we’re told to do in the U.S. Your meal should be well balanced and if you eat a big meal, you should go for a walk afterwards. Also, should you have cake for breakfast? That surely can’t be good for you. Well here, it’s fairly common to snack on a chocolate croissant or piece of cake for desayuno. How weird it was to transition from my daily bowl of oatmeal to a sweet dessert for breakfast (thankfully, my host family has Special K so I get something I’m used to for breakfast most days). But all I can say is that it’s just different.

What’s also different is the scenery. This weekend I went on a trip to Tabarca, an island 11 km off of Alicante. It was beautiful.

Stay tuned for more observations and pics from my adventure (oh yes, this is an adventure) in Spain!

new spanish life.

Hey hey hey!  Another day, another adventure.  This is especially true in Alicante.  Every day I’m surprised by this city, the people and my experience as a whole.  Here are some observations, anecdotes and, of course, struggles as I settle into my semester in Spain:

1. Jabón ≠ Jamón.  Bocadillos, which are basically sandwiches, are a very popular snack here and are usually made with some kind of meat (ham is popular; ham = jamón), so you can understand the confused looks I received when I asked for a bocadillo with jabón, which means soap in spanish.  Nope, I actually don’t want soap in my sandwich, I’m just a confused american.
2. Pan on pan on pan.  Pan is the spanish word for bread and if I didn’t have a firm understanding of this word before I arrived here, I do now.  I’d even consider myself a pan master.  We’ve got toasted pan, baguette pan, focaccia pan, soft pan, white pan, wheat pan, pan, pan, pan!  Lots o’ pan.
3. Running up to the castillo is crazy hard, but worth it.  In my last post, you saw some pictures of and from the Castillo de Santa Bárbara, which is the highest point in Alicante.  Today, I made the semi-insane decision to run up to the castillo.  Definitely will be sore tomorrow, but the views were totally worth it.
4. Eating dinner in front of the TV is not just an American thing.  For dinner, which is around 10:30 p.m., my host family and I gather various types of pan, meats, cheeses and vegetables and then bring it to the living room and watch a (usually American) TV show or movie.  No complaints here; by dinnertime, I’m usually exhausted.
5. Ethnocentrism is hard to get away from.  Now that I’ve had some time to relax and reflect, I realized just how much I talked about the U.S. and our habits and customs when I first arrived here and joined my host family.  I would make comparisons to American things, only to respond “Es diferente” when they would explain how it is here.  And that’s exactly right – it’s not better or worse, just different.
6. “Poco a poco” is my new mantra.  When I first got here, my host family kept saying “poco a poco” to me whenever I would get a little frustrated or confused with my spanish and our conversations.  This little saying means “little by little” which I find so fitting for a study abroad experience.  You can’t expect to understand or acclimate right away to your new environment, home and culture, but “poco a poco” you will and by the end, it’ll be like you’ve been there all your life (at least that’s what I’m hoping for).

Also some new snapshots!

Just some shenanigans 🙂

Amazing costumes from the Festival de moros y cristianos!

More pictures of beautiful Alicante!

From the Castillo – definitely worth the hike!

Hasta luego!

bienvenidos a España!

Hola amigos!  I am finally in Spain, and it’s better than I ever could have imagined.  Literally this place doesn’t feel real sometimes.  I’m short on time right now, so I’m just going to share some snapshots of my time so far in Alicante.  Trust me, the stories to come are worth the wait.

First paella y sangria!

Views from Castillo de Santa Bárbara!

When it rains, it pours!

And a café to finish the meal!

Paella

Calamari

Ensalada

And the food!

new friends!

So many beautiful doors…

goodbye America, hola España.

Hola.

Yep, you can take that as a sign of life.  I figured I should probably let y’all know that I’m alive after my half marathon.  Well, I’m alive, a little sore and tired, but very proud.

The half marathon went really well!  My friend Erin and I finished in 2:02 hours,  which is around 9:31 minutes/mile – about 30 seconds faster than our practice race pace.  Man oh man was I glad to be done, but I’m already looking up other races I can do before the summer ends, which brings me to my next point….

So, I won’t be going back to school this fall.  No, I’m not dropping out nor am I taking some time off to “discover myself.”  Rather, I’m embarking on the crazy adventure known as studying abroad.  Where am I headed, you might ask?  Well based on my greeting, the info that it’s in Europe and next to Portugal, I’m going to give you one guess.

You guessed it, I’m going to Spain!  Voy a España!  I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am for this journey to begin.  It hadn’t really hit me that I would be on another continent in less than a week until yesterday morning.  Less than a week!  I quickly realized that I could count my days left in MN on just my fingers – whoa!

I will be living in the beautiful coastal city of Alicante.  Here’s a little preview for you to snack on:

Yep, that’s right.  I will be living next to the ocean for the next 4 months.  I still can’t believe it.  While I’m there, I will live with a host family (who is still TBD…does that worry you a little bit? It definitely worries me) and hopefully immerse myself in the culture, never wanting to leave.  My Mom is legitimately concerned that I’m not going to come back from Spain – that I will find a Spaniard and never return.  I mean, who knows, anything is possible 😉  Also, I suppose a kinda important part of “studying abroad” is the actual studying.  I don’t know which classes I’ll be taking, but I’ve already requested to take a Food and Wine class – it doesn’t get better than that (fingers crossed I get in!).

I guess that’s it for now, nothing too exciting to report except for frequent trips to Target and my parents constantly reminding me of travel alerts.  I’ll do my best to update y’all on my various adventures. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of entertaining stories of my American faux-pas, struggles through Spanish and epic food comas, induced by too much sangria and paella, of course.  Adios!

ode to the strong.

Hey there party people.

Hope you’re having a great weekend, full of whatever you want or full of absolutely nothing. Either way is fine by me.

Just wanted to pop in and let y’all know I’m still here, despite my ever-frequent absence (I’m sure you’re used to it now), and that I’m still kicking. Well actually I don’t know if kicking is the proper description. I’m actually really tired, sore and achy (and a little smelly).

Why is this you might ask? Well I have made the (insane) decision to run a half-marathon. Yup, you read that right: a half-marathon, as in 13.1 miles of pure fun. Ha..ha…yeah right, I’m not fooling anyone.

Thankfully, I’m not in this alone. My friend, Erin, decided to jump on the crazy bus with me. But we’ve been running our little butts off and I have to say, I have a new found appreciation for my feet. Weird, I know, but just run with me (so punny, I just couldn’t hold back :)).

Before I started this, I considered myself a fairly strong person due to off-court lifting and training for tennis as well as on-court playing. But let me tell you, I’d take a 3-set match over an 11 mile run any day. Through all this, I’ve learned my strength, both mentally and physically. I’ve learned how powerful our minds can be and that often, we are the only things in our way. Our bodies can usually keep going, and going.

So I pronounce this an ode to the strong. An ode to realizing that we’re stronger than we think. An ode to pushing ourselves to try new things but also loving ourselves if we decide to take the tried-and-true route. Either way we’re strong.

Maybe I’m still riding the endorphin high, but these are just some things I’ve been thinking about on those long runs (lord knows I have plenty of time). Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I’ll keep you posted on my crazy half-marathon training (if you don’t hear from me after August 3rd, I probably keeled over and died at the race).

try it out tuesday.

My natural instinct is to make some catchy title that is a play on words or an alliteration. try it out tuesday …fun finds friday…something special saturday…(no idea what that post could possibly be about…). All of these titles are pretty cutesy, a little too cutesy if you ask me, and, of course, that’s the natural place my mind goes when I’m trying to think of a title. But alas, once we’ve thought of a title, little room remains for editing, so here we are, stuck with “try it out tuesday.”

With “try it out tuesday,” I will chronicle my attempts to recreate a Pinterest find, whether they are good or bad. Just a heads up, there will most likely be more fails. like a ton more, but hey free laughs? I’ll try my crack at some baking and cooking recipes, crafting challenges (there’s that alliteration again) and maybe even some fashion inspiration. Honestly, who knows what’s going to come out of this; I’m just trying to spice up my week.

So for our very first “try it out tuesday” (yuck, it really doesn’t get better as you you say it) I’m shooting for the moon with a double attempt! (Translation: I’m increasing my chances of success). For the main course of this attempt, we’re having breakfast for dinner with this egg in a basket, and for a little snack, let’s try out these yogurt-covered blueberries on skewers (sounds simple enough, right?).

So the Yogurt-covered blueberries went off without a hitch. I mean, just look at all that healthy, frozen goodness!

They were tasty and refreshing and I’m totally going to add strawberries and make these for the 4th of July. Mmmm patriotic, healthy, frozen goodness!

Now on to the egg in a basket…unfortunately, these didn’t turn out quite as I would have hoped…like at all. That whole cute heart thing in the middle of the bread? Yeah, not going to happen.

And while I was so concerned with cooking the egg, I burned the bottom of the bread.  It added texture and…well not much other than that ha.

So our inaugural “try it out tuesday” wasn’t a complete success, but it wasn’t a complete fail either. Today overall was a pretty good day – I did my 5 mile tempo run (though I thought the treadmill was going to get the best of me many times), my meetings at work went well and I had time to watch The Bachelorette!

But now, my eyelids are closing so I’m off to bed.

Peace out my fellow Pinteresters.

p.s. if you have any Pinterest finds for “try it out tuesday” posts, hit me up – I’d love your ideas!

p.s.s. I know it’s technically not tuesday anymore, but since this is my first post like this, maybe we can let it slide..whatdya say? 🙂

master plans & ponderings.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

That’s at least what I’m going to plead regarding my extensive absence here.  You see, it was all part of my master plan.  Now you are all extremely fond of me.  Mwahahah (evil genius laugh).

Okay, okay, fine, you got it.  It wasn’t part of my plan, I’ve just been very delinquent and neglectful of my blog, but I promise, that will change (though my promises clearly hold little weight).

Now, I come to you with a reflective post about some things I’ve been thinking about recently, some ponderings, if you will.

1. It’s the little things in life that make all the difference.  Driving on the first summer day with the windows down and the music up.  Sliding your aching feet into a cozy pair of slippers after wearing heels all day.  Treating yourself to 15 minutes in the steam room or a relaxing yoga class after a hard workout.  Getting a warm “smile and nod” from a stranger.  It’s these little things that make up the bigger things that are easier to see and notice in life.  I’m convinced that taking the extra 15 minutes after a workout to relax or daring to look ridiculous on your drive home because you’ve suddenly turned into Aretha Franklin, make all of the bigger things in life just a little bit sweeter.

2. Silence is golden.  I don’t know about you, but everyday, I seem to find myself disappearing in my house for 30 minutes by myself for some quiet time.  I usually put my feet up, turn on my Ray LaMontange Pandora station and catch up on facebook, twitter, pinterest, my favorite magazine, etc.  This mindless time is usually so needed and therapeutic that I can’t ignore it in my day.  It’s not that I don’t like my family or people or anything like that (I truly enjoy people’s company), but sometimes you just need some quiet. And after about 30 minutes, I’m recharged and ready to socialize again (usually just in time for dinner).

3. Acceptance is a hard thing to find.  I have recently embarked on a journey into uncharted waters.  No, I’m not “taking to the sea” like Moby Dick.  But I am taking on a new challenge.  I’ve recently begun training for a half marathon, that I will run this August.  Now, you have to understand this is a very big undertaking because, up until about 6 months ago, I didn’t even consider myself a runner.  You’re not a runner.  But, what the hell, let’s go run a half marathon.  Great thinking, Heather, great thinking.  But I actually have to admit, deciding to run this half marathon has been the best decision I’ve made for myself in a very long time, possibly ever.  Even though I’m only a few weeks into my training, I already feel amazing.  The acceptance I feel for my body, self-image and inner confidence is something I haven’t felt in a very long time.  Please understand that I’m just a normal teenage girl who has often felt societal (and self-imposed) pressures to look and feel a certain way.  But, now, I feel such pride and confidence for my body and the amazing, strong things I know it can and will do (especially on August 3rd – race day!).  Anyway, sorry to dump that all on you, but acceptance can be rare and fleeting, so if you can track it down, grab on to that sucker and don’t let go, no matter what.

(p.s. this is something I’ve been thinking about getting as a tattoo!)

Enjoy the little things, your quiet time and don’t forget to cherish yourself.  Happy monday!