Where is Your Sense of Adventure?

In my last post I said one of my favorite things about my time in Cambodia was the sense of adventure that we, and all of the other volunteers had. Oh it's going to take us about 15 hours and at least 2 buses, a taxi ride, and a tuk tuk ride to get to the beach? Count me in! Bike 32k to your site because you're making salsa? I'm there!

We would constantly go out of our way to see each other and to plan events so keep ourselves motivated when we were in a lull at our sites.

I didn't write about it in the post, but last week when I went to the Cambodian documentary at Sundance I went alone.

I didn't really want to go alone. I asked 6 people if they wanted to go with me. 6. I know people have lives and plans and things go wrong all the time, but 6 people? Honestly, I was really upset about it.  It made me feel like the biggest loser in the world who couldn't get friends, family, or even her husband to go with her. Maybe it shouldn't have made me fell that way, but it did. It made me think about how my friends in Cambodia would have gone with me in a heartbeat.

It made me wonder, when people stopped going after adventure? Is it better to have to drive home late at night, or have a wonderful experience? What's worth it? Since being back I've noticed how most Americans have no sense of adventure. It's all about the ease of the way and convenience.

That. Is. Lame.

I went alone. I didn't have tickets, I stood in the wait line. I met the sweetest Japanese and Vietnamese women. I also met a really nice guy behind me in line. Everyone in the wait line got tickets and there were seats left over. I happened to sit next to a nice guy and his Vietnamese girlfriend. They were super nice and we talked all about Vietnam and Cambodia and traffic accidents and the weather. I was so lucky to sit behind some Cambodian women. I heard them speaking Khmer and turned around and just asked her in Khmer if she speaks Khmer. She ended up being from MY province. She knew the PC volunteer in her town!

I met the director and got information from her to help PC volunteers back in Cambodia. She was so nice and sweet.

Now I didn't get home until after midnight and I had to drive down the canyon late at night. I had to get up and go to work the next day. Would I take the sleep and not having to drive over the experience?

NEVER.

Honestly, it's not always easy. Sometimes you just want to go home, because you deserve a relaxing night of "me" time. But next time, think about that person who asked you to go. Think about me and how I had no one to go with, and share that amazing experience with. That's how relationships grow, through shared experiences.

So, are you going to take comfort over adventure? Is the experience worth the sacrifice? Are you going to seek out adventure?



Let me tell you something though, it's always worth it. Always.

Answers, Answers to Your Questions

A week ago I noticed I had a few new followers, yay! And to make everyone around here feel welcome  I thought I'd share more of myself with you. And since I'm kind of against nakedness on the internet  I thought I'd throw it out there and see if you had any questions you have for me. Here are your questions, and here are your answers!

Torrie, a wonderful blogger who I actually know in real life, asked...  

-I've noticed that you don't seem to eat any red meat (like bacon or hamburger). Why is that? Is that because you don't like it, or is a weight-maintenance thing?

-I don't eat red meat because I don't like how it tastes. I never really thought about the health benefits. About 10 years ago I decided I didn't want to eat it anymore because I didn't like the taste. I tried to be open to food in Cambodia and tried a bite here or there, but I still don't like red meat.

Krysten a great blogger over at Why Girls Are Weird,
What do you miss the most about Cambodia?

- Can I say everything? No, that's not really true, I love air conditioning too much. This is a hard one. I think the thing I miss most about it was the adventure that the whole thing represented. We just went off to serve people and were down for anything that came our way whether it was good or bad. There were just so many opportunities, and wonderful people who were willing to do anything with us. I miss that a lot.

If you could teach someone one thing about being a Mormon, what would it be?

- I have thought a lot about this question. I know there is a lot of weird rumors surrounding the mormon church and people get really confused about what we believe, so I think if I could teach one thing it would be this: We are Christians too. The real name of our church is The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter day Saints. See the Jesus Christ part? We believe in him too.

And just to lighten it up, what's your favorite breakfast food?

-I really like breakfast food. It's all sugary and delicious, just how I like food. Probably my favorite is some good french toast, a little crispy around the edges on nice thick bread with real maple syrup and some fruit. Yum.

Kell who I feel is like my little sister that I never had asked...

What's your favorite zoo?

-I like zoos. My favorite zoo is the Colorado Springs Zoo. It's set on the mountain side and I love it because it's more interactive than most zoos. You can feed the giraffes, the meercat cage is open at the top and you can just lean over and watch them run all around instead of looking through glass. The cages there are just cool and more visitor friendly.

And tell us about your fat cat, please. I love cats

My fat cat, a haiku by me:

Name is Ebony

Asleep under the blankets

She is fat and black

-This is my favorite picture of our cats. Our cat is all black and she's 12 years old this month! I've taken care of her since she was 6 weeks old, and used to try and force her to sleep under the covers with me when she was a kitten. Now she loves to sleep under the covers and if you can't find her, she's probably asleep under the covers on our bed.

What is your favorite memory from Cambodia?

-Do I really have to answer this? There's too many! I can't pick one, so I'll pick two of my favorites, they're not most favorite though. I don't have a most favorite.

Favorite 1: when we first went to see Angkor Wat at sunset last December and we were wandering around trying to see as much as we could before they kicked us out. We were the only people around when a volunteer came running up saying he found the entrance to get into one of the upper temples. We went running through an empty ancient temple courtyard at sunset. I felt like I was in a national treasure movie.

Favorite 2: One of my favorite moments of my time in Cambodia was my very last day at site, it was a Saturday and we had just finished Camp Glow the week before. My girls had borrowed my uncle's private classroom to teach the girls in our village about what they learned at Camp Glow. Like 30 girls showed up.  They taught for 2 hours. They had spent days at my house all week making charts and diagrams and posters for their lessons.  I was so proud of them for being forward and talking about things rarely talked about in Cambodia.

Amber of the WhisperingWriter, have you read her blog? It's hilarious, go read it, asked

I have a cheesy question: what is your favorite dessert?

- I love this question because I also love desserts. I love sugar cookies above all else, I'll eat them at any time of the day. Parson's Bakery in Bountiful has the best sugar cookies ever! I may or may not be saving one in my drawer to eat after lunch.

Jennifer, such a great blogger over at Crazy Shenanegins asked:

Do you eat fast food? I know some mormons don't eat fast food.

-I do eat fast food. I've never heard of mormons not eating fast food...not for religious reasons anyway. I defintiely try not to eat it, as it's not good for me, but I do sometimes.

Lastly, a not so anonymous comment, from my old co-worker Heather, who just got married, congrats!

Where are you currently working?

-I'm currently working for a Behavioral Health division of a large insurance company. I'm a receptionist/admin person and they never have enough for me to do, so I blog.

Have you read any good books lately?

Boy, have I! I've been reading a lot, as my last answer, I don't have enough work to do. I just read the Night Circus by Erin Morganstern. Best book I've read in a while. I just finished The Flight Of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesly which was a simple fast, but very cute read.

If Given the opportunity, would you go on another service mission?

Hands down? YES!

And there you go, now you know me infinitely better. Now tell me something I don't know about you so we can be even.

Funny Friday

This Funny Friday post is brought to you ala Hal. Not like he's writing it because that would take a miracle, but as in he created it and took the picture.

A few mornings ago Hal said he was going to make me breakfast in bead. I'm spoiled, I know. Well, he went in the kitchen and a few minutes later I just heard, "Oh Crap" and then "Where's the camera?"

Don't you love how that was his first question? I think he dropped 6 eggs on the floor. Good thing he already had a few in the bowl to save my lazy morning. 

Sundance 2013

Remember when I blogged about Sundance 2011 and how I maybe, almost saw Dustin Hoffman?

Well, unlike that year, this year I actually went to a Sundance movie. Two, actually.

We started it off by going to see a movie called Jiseul at the actual Sundance Resort.

This movie was about  a massacre of people who lived on an island off the coast of South Korea, when the US Government said everyone living more than 5 miles off the coast of Korea was a communist and soliders had orders to shoot and kill them. A group of 60 people hid out in a cave, and the movie was about their story to survive.

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The movie was very artsy, and was all black and white. Some scenes were beautiful while other seens were hard to see what was going on and honestly, the movie left me a little confused. I wish the director had been there to explain things a little better.

If I had stopped here I don't know if I would have ever come back for another Sundance movie.

The real movie I wanted to see is called A River Changes Course. I waited in the waitlist for this movie since it was sold out by the time I bought my locals tickets. I'm so happy I got in!

This screening was in Park City and I got to finally feel the vibe of what Sundance is all about. This movie is a documentary about Cambodia (now do you see why I wanted to see this!) It follows the story of three teenagers in different parts of the country who are all effected in different ways by the changes that Cambodia is undergoing (overfishing, deforestation, and factories).

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This film was beautifully done. The director was there to talk about her experience in making the film which made  it even richer. I've seen a few documentaries about Cambodia, and this is by far the most real one I've seen. She was able to capture Cambodia and the stuggles the Khmer people face to a tee. There were so many times I smiled because I saw or heard small things I experienced on a daily basis while living there. I think it was so beautifully done because it was done from a Cambodian perspective, and it was just following their lives instead of a documentary done from a western perspective. If you have the opportunity to see this film. SEE IT.

I even got to speak Khmer with a group of women who were sitting behind me. One of them said my pronunciation was wonderful and said I spoke better khmer than her since she was born in the US. And then she asked me something I misunderstood and I looked like a total idiot. I'm just impressed I could speak at all after 5 months of being home. Oh, and the main girl in their group was from my province and knew another Peace Corps volunteer. In case any PCVs are reading this, they're going to do screenings of this movie all around Cambodia, so I'll share my info soon.

I am so glad I got to see movies this year and that I got to see both ends of Sundance, since you never really know what you're going to end up seeing.  

Questions?

Happy MLK day! This day holds a special place in my heart as my life was saved on this day 10 years ago.

So on behalf of this special day, and the new readers I have around here thanks to my newfound dedication to blogging.

I want you guys to ask me questions. Ask me anything you want. I'll answer it.

I've seen this on Krysten's blog and I always love it when she does it, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Ask me about Cambodia, about the Peace Corps, about being mormon, about my marriage, about my family, about my outlook on life, about my fat cat, about if my butt can fit into my pants again, about why I love zoos so much...

Seriously, ask me anything, and I'll answer it, even if it's really personal or awkward.

And please, tell me a little something about your self in return.

Ask questions all week, and next monday I'll post my answers.

And if you don't have any questions, I might just ask Hal for random questions to answer, and lets just say now, things could get real weird with that, so you probably should ask me a question or two.

P.S. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get waitlist tickets to the Cambodian documentary at Sundance, that I'm dying to see.

Funny Friday

In continuation with my Funny Friday posts, I thought I'd share this sweet gem of a picture.

Since being back from Cambodia I've been toying with how much I wash my hair. In Cambodia my hair was rarely greasy, so I didn't wash it much, and then I got crazy bad build up thanks so profusely sweating every day, so I started washing it every day.

Coming back to America I had to go through that horrible period where my hair is super greasy as it adjusts back to being washed every other day. Oh and for the first time ever I got really bad dandruff. Now that my hair has adjusted I'm toying with the idea of washing it every third day. I've really been pushing it and pushing it, and some days my hair just looks like a grease bucket. Well it makes for really interesting hair dos when I wake up in the morning, and so for your viewing pleasure...

I know, right? Please ignore the fact that I have total sleep face, and just have a good laugh at my hair. Hal suggested I send it into Duston Todd for a follow up to my sleep picture.

Have you ever tried the whole no shampoo and conditioner thing? Using baking soda and vinegar instead? I'm interested in trying it out, so let me know what your experiences have been.

Have a Funny Friday post? Link to it in the comment section, and if it grows over time I'll start an actual link up.
P.S. I'm headed to my first Sundance movie tomorrow. Here's hoping it's a good one, and that we see someone famous

Finding Fulfillment

I like it when blogs are real, when the writers share their struggles; whether they're in the midst of them and are looking for support, or are just coming out of them and are sharing their story and advice how to emerge from a rough time. But it's hard to know when is the time to share your struggles, or if you can even form them into a cohesive post so that people can understand what your personal struggles are.

Last night I had a great conversation with my in laws, and I've had many recently with Hal about how I just feel lost.

In Cambodia I felt so full of purpose and I loved what I was doing, maybe not everyday, but overall I loved it. Since we've been back I haven't felt like that. It has made me remember all of the reasons we left here in the first place. It has made me feel lost in wondering what is my purpose other than working at a job I hate to support my husband through school. Of course that is a good purpose, and I know Hal is really grateful that I am sacrificing for him, and he has been supportive of my struggle with this, but I just need something more, you know?

So when you feel lost, how do you find yourself again? It's so easy to make yourself feel complacent with tv or Internet or books in your free time, to make yourself forget that you aren't fulfilling something within you.

I guess that's the hardest part, I don't feel fulfilled. There is a part of me that just wants to create something beautiful. I'm not exactly one to be amazing at making crafts, they usually turn out sub par, but I still like doing them. But just doing a craft here and there isn't enough anymore. I find something that I can consistently enjoy doing.

Only I can change this. If I don't feel fulfilled, I need to do something about it other than distracting myself, or wallowing.

So I've started a search to find something I am passionate about. I wool felted elbow patches on my sweater the other day. My mother in law bought me all of the supplies necessary to learn to tat. These are things that have made me feel excited, and have potential.

I may have not found my passion yet, but I'm searching for it, and it's the closest I've felt to fulfillment since I've been back.

If you have found your passion, how did you find it? How have you found fulfillment in your life? 

My Cambodian Wedding pt 2

I am so excited about this guys. I don't know if you can handle the magnificence that is this post.

Before we left Cambodia I took a few of my Cambodian Wedding photos to be photoshopped and have a background added - khmer style.

But then Hal cleaned up the house. Sometimes this is awesome, and sometimes it's horrible because he'll put everything away and not remember where he put important stuff. We lost the CD with these pictures for 4 months.

But I found them last week.

Are you ready for this? Your mind is about to be blown.

We like to hang out in hotel lobbies and at Angkor Wat a lot, because we're cool like that.
I bet y'all are jealous and are taking your engagements in a whole new direction now, huh?
Cambodia, you're amazing.
How am I ever going to pick one to put on the wall? Which is your favorite?

Funny Friday

I've been taking some funny pictures lately and thought it would be fun to do it as a blog series, a Funny Friday post where you post the picture, and if it's necessary, a funny story to go along with it. Kind of like the wordless Wednesday posts out there...except, you can add words, and it has to be funny. To kick it off I'll start with this picture I took last night.

I'm not even sure what time I took this photo. I was awoken to being jabbed in the face by a whisker. I tried to let the kitty under the covers. I know it's totally gross, but it's an old cat and she loves sleeping under the covers and does it when we're not home so there's no sense in keeping her out on a cold night when she'll wake you up trying to get under them anyway.

Well she didn't want to get under the covers. All of the sudden she was up on my pillow. My brand new fluffy I'm so excited to sleep with, just bought that day, pillow. And the next thing I know she's laying down on my face. On My Face. I let her stay there long enough to take this picture in my half asleep daze, and then I made her move. I know. I'm mean.

Gingerbread Houses

Remember when we were pretending that it's not January so I can still post Christmas stuff? Well, lets keep that up, because this gem is came before Christmas.

My Mother in Law is pretty darn cool. She asked me to invite my old friends over so we decorate gingerbead houses. My two besties from High School drove up and we had a decorating and Christmas Card swapping party.

My decorating parnter:

My house was pretty much doomed from the beginning when I opened the box and most of the peices were already broken. I'm pretty sure at some pouint throughout the night at least everyone there had to help me hold my house together while I added even more frosting or candy to hold up areas of the house. I was determined to make that thing work.

And lo and behold, it did. Take that message kids, deteremination pays off. And so does eating lots of licorice.

And it became indestructable thanks to all of the candy and frosting support. It even survived a dog attack. I pretty much rocked that thing.

We made quite the lovely gingerbread house lane. We made up all sorts of stories of what neighborhoods our houses came from. Mine obviously is from some sort of ski resort, since you know, it was snowed in.

And Hal...well, his came from the other side of the tracks.

Family Christmas Pictures

On Christmas we took an all siblings minus one photo in front of the Christmas tree. You know, it's nice to take pictures when no one is wearing make up and most people haven't even changed out of their Christmas pjs yet.

It always starts out nice, like this:

And then it quickly turns into something like this:

 Or this:

And it finally ends with something like this:

Gosh I love my siblings. It was so fabulous to have all of us sisters together this year. I missed them while I was gone.

Christmas 2012

I almost got way ahead of myself titling this Christmas 2013. I know I'm late posting this, but I'm not that late.

We were both SO excited to be home for the holidays. I had a hard time feeling like it was Christmas time, so I strung lights on the curtains above my bed and just laid in their glow. Christmas lights always do the trick. That, and reading the story of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve with your family in a circle as it begins to snow outside. Perfect moment.

 I love Christmas Eve. I love the excitement that kids have knowing it's almost here. My nephew was so grumpy all night and just kept asking "when can I open one?" He knew he was getting one secret santa present, but even opening the traditional Christmas PJs might have even done the trick. Nothing like ending the night with Hal's family and wrapping presents and watching Christmas movies in anticipation of the morning.

The next morning started bright and early at the in-laws. Hal's brother came into town and it was so great to see their fabulous family. James here didn't waste any time on turns and opened all of his presents before we were even finished passing them out.

 It was a great surprise when we got to Skype with Hal's little brother, who's serving a mission in Latvia. He has less than 3 months left, so we haven't seen him, or heard his voice in almost 2 years. It was reassuring to know he's still full of shenanigans.

We then kicked it into high gear over at my family's house. Nothing says Christmas like a bajillion people, orange rolls, and mountains of wrapping paper.

We were seriously spoiled this Christmas. The kids had to wait one whole turn on the adults opening a present before they got to open all of theirs. It was madness once they started. Of course they wanted to open every single present from every package the moment they opened it. We finally were able to share some of the presents we bought back in China and Vietnam with our families. It's hard to keep presents that good, a secret for so long!

We went to our traditional Christmas move, this year it was Les Mis. It was good, I know people are dying over it, but to me it was just good. The whole theater was literally sniffing at the end of the movie, apparently except for me.

I felt that all too familiar tickle in the back of my throat, so we headed back home to open our gifts to each other and call it an early night.

I made Hal a special book about our time in Peace Corps. It was great to go over the pictures and the stories together and to finally link the pictures and stories for our families to see our experiences. I got spoiled with a total of three pairs of shoes like this and this, this Christmas.

2013 Resolutions

Happy 2013 everyone!

Guys, I'm real behind on blogging. Like it's January and I haven't even blogged about things before Christmas, or even Christmas for that matter.

But it's January and I'm loving all of the resolution posts because I realized I didn't set one single goal last year. Now I'm kind of bummed I didn't.

I remember as a kid my parents would call each of us into their bedroom and we'd have to set goals with them and they would write them down. I dreaded it as a kid, but I kind of love that now as an adult. Isn't that the way it always goes?

So lets pretend I have already blogged Christmas and I'm ready to blog some resolutions, because it feels really good when you're able to accomplish them. I'll set 6 goals, essentially one for every two months to make it easier to take stock of my progress throughout the year.

1. Get a new job: My job is a job, is a job. But it's a really boring job. They don't really have enough work for me to do and it's killing all of the motivation that exists in my life.

2. Find something to fulfill my creative need: Don't you just have something inside of you that yearns to create something beautiful. Well, my crafts don't always turn out beautiful, so I want to find something I love to do, and that I can do well.

3. Read 50 books: Why is everyone's goal 50? Oh well, I'll stay on the bandwagon. I probably read 50 last year. I've read close to 20 since August, so hopefully I can do it again next year. This will be a breeze depending on how long it takes me to reach goal 1. I read a lot at my job.

4. Attend the Temple once a month: Guys, I'm ready to hang my head in shame and admit I haven't been to the temple since I've been back. Not for lack of trying. We checked online, and we went, and it was closed. boo. We've never been great about this, but I hope making it a resolution will help.

5. Make more friends:  I work to maintain the friends I have, but it's hard to see my friends from high school as we've gotten older and had kids (them, not me) and moved further away. Really, it's hard to make friends, but I'm ready for the challenge. Have any ideas to share on how you've made new friends in the last few years? Please share them.

6. Explore my town/be less lazy: This is a two part goal that works together. I'm naturally very lazy, so it's easy to get into a rut with coming home and watching gossip girl until bedtime. This next year I really want to take advantage of the great things this valley offers and go to more events around town and get out of the house a little more. Hopefully this will also help our bodies be more active as well. I guess this is my way of seeking adventure on a budget.

So there they are. My plan is, since there are 6 of them, once a month or once every two months see where I'm at and see what I've done and haven't done.

Good luck to all of our with your 2013 goals!