Hidden Gem

Portugal is one of the most amazing places I have ever been to! Why is this not a more popular travel destination?? We figure that none of the cities here have an equivalent to the Eiffel Tower, Parthenon, etc but Lisbon has proved to be a treasure in it's own right. It doesn't need one major tourist attraction, the whole place is just lovely! As one girl in the hostel described it, "Lisbon has heart". If I were a city I would hope to be described in such a manner.

We went to church today and it was something else, in a good way. I cried 3 times if that helps you understand a bit more. When we were getting ready to leave we stopped to chat with the missionaries (one from Tennessee and one from Utah) and a man approached us and in broken English said, "Welcome....you are.....home".

Tears. And more tears. And more tears as I write this.

Love.

Headed to Barcelona tomorrow!

Love you and see (some of you) SOON

Lisbon Love Affair

We got into Lisbon late last night and quickly rolled into bed. Not before having that gut feeling that We (Myself and Lisbon) were going to get along swimmingly. 

Today we went to the Monastery de Jeronimos (gorgeous!), got some famous custard pies (oh, so yum), went to a castle (who doesn't do that regularly?), and wandered through crooked, hilly streets that are colorful and crammed together. Ahhhhh, I love this place. We're already regretting that we didn't schedule more time here.

Short and sweet this time, my dearies, it's time to watch futbol at the hostel!

Istanbul, Day Two

We took a half day boat cruise up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. There was disembarked for about 2 hours and wandered around thıs little community on the edge of Istanbul. We hiked up to the ruins of a fortress only to find that it şs closed for excavation. Boo. Still beautiful, but boo.

Back in town we went to Taksim Square - a long pedestrian walkway full of shops and performers. We went into a tile and dıshware shop and pretty quickly a worker (possibly owner) came up to us to chat/haggle/insult Brıtta. You know, the usual stuff.

As we were leaving he looked at me and said, "Can I tell you something? I don't mean to be complimentary like a saleman or anything, but you look like a Hollywood actress. Who do people tell you you look like?"

I chuckled and said that I have heard I look like Julia Roberts and Lea Mıchele. He said, "No no, none of those. Anyway, you have a very dıfferent look, very interesting."

Luckily, Brıtta was there to save my self esteem by sayıng, "A unique beauty".

To whıch he agreed and then said, "yes, a unıque beauty, not common like your friend. She is common but perfect".

And now we're up and getting ready for day 3 in Istanbul! The Blue Mosque, Hagıa Sophia and Grand Bazaar await!

Fıne, I'll Post!

Y'all have been doıng such a good job at takıng care of my blıggıty blog that I dıdn't realıze that now the responsıbılıty ıs solely back to me! Fırst and forremost - a gıgantıc thank you to all of you who guest posted! You are too kınd, too wıtyy, too polıtıcıal (ahem, Davıd), and just too dang cool! Thank you, I owe you a hearty handshake! Hopefully you also found a couple other blogs that are worth readıng.

I fınıshed wıth the Chına portıon of my trıp yesterday mornıng when I left my Meghan ın Hong Kong. Plenty of pıctures and storıes wıll be sure to come but untıl then I wıll leave you wıth a few thıngs to look forward to: I spent an evenıng wıth a cat, squat toılets wıll be the death of me, I almost got pushed down by a woman older than the Mıng Dynasty, and the food was way better than I expected.

Now I'm ın Istanbul and I'm usıng a keyboard that has these letters on ıt: Ş Ğ Ü Ö Ç İ and can make these characters: € £ é.......me lıkey. Thıs mornıng we got up and went to the palace and spent a few hours walkıng around. Thıs sort of experıence always raıses more questıons than ıt answers. There ıs a large portıon of the palace dedıcated to the Harem and ıt's rumored that one Sultan had hıs entıre harem of 200+ women put ın bags and thrown ınto the Bosphorus (ocean straıt) because he was bored of them. Awesome.

I have been here less than a day and I'm utterly ın love wıth ıt already. I wısh I could post pıctures, but alas, that wıll have to waıt. I'll try to update as often as possıble and I'll be back to DC ın 2 weeks.

XOXO

Priorities

My goodness..

I'm an avid follower of Rachel's blog and I felt absolutely honored when she asked normal ol' me to guest post!

My name is Lizzie from The Dancing Toad Blog.

I am a mother, a lover of bright colors, and I have a to-do list that is five-times as long as my attention span.



Is anyone else so sad that it's already August?

 I know we are.

I really have no idea where the summer went.

I'm feeling a little bit like time is flying by I can't catch up.  

Like everything that needs to be done around me just keeps piling up and instead of really getting anything done, I'm buried underneath, getting smothered.

This feeling is effecting me as a person

And I've realized that every aspect of my life is worse off when I get to feeling this way.

So, I am going to eliminate and re-prioritize.

I think every once in a while we all need to step back, take a look at our lives, and find those things that we can and possibly should eliminate.

I want to be able to sit with my littles and read them a few extra books and not feel pressed with time.

I want to go on long walks and venture to the park with my boys without looking at my watch.

I want to spend time learning how to be a better cook.

I want to have time to myself at the end of the day to read a book

And still get to sleep at a decent time. (Do people really do that? As I type this post at 1:00 A.M.)



I want to finish some projects,

Spend more time with my Davey,

 Blow more bubbles,

 

And I want wash my hair more often.

Eliminate.

Re-prioritize.

Make time for the things that matter

And do the things that I'd really love to do.

That's my goal for the month of August.

Anybody want to join me?



I'll keep you updated on how it's going over here.

Hope

Throughout high school and college, I have always had to defend my beliefs. Both as a conservative and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, people have always questioned why I did certain things this way, and believed that way. Basically my argument was that I am always right and you are a big fat stupid head for not thinking like me - I didn't have to many friends in high school...or now. All kidding aside, I have always stated my beliefs, especially those about politics - loud and clear. I love talking politics, and I love explaining to others why I am so right. (yes that is me being a bit snarky - however, that whole topic of being right is another blog post in the making so check out my blog at davidrthoughts.tumblr.com....love me some self promotion) So when the most amazing Rachel asked me to be a guest blogger, I thought that I should do something different. Something funny. Witty. Snarky even? But I am neither a, b, or c - and so I return to politics. And here it goes. 

Hope. Never has such simple word brought so much anger in my life when I see it plastered on the back of the bumper of a car as it passes me on the road. Not because I have anything against hope, but because a man transfixed the country with pretty words and catchy slogans. Obama tried to change the political nature of Washington by bringing the country together with hope in him. Hope that he would change things. Hope that he would somehow root out all the bad within the sacred marble walls of our Nations capital. But he is wrong. Dead wrong. We can not hope in a person. We need to have hope in a system of beliefs. The Constitution wasn't written because people had hope in George Washington or the founders. They had hope in the idea of freedom from tyranny. The source of hope came from the belief and desire of freedom. Not the people. I am sure that back then, as we do today, people have hope that our elected officials are honest and do what is right. But time and time again that hope is shattered when my twitter feed gets blown up with pictures of The Weiner, or stories mistresses and hookers and who knows what else fill the news. But our hope comes from the desire and the want to be free. And Mr. Obama manipulated that to his advantage. He took that hope and turned it into hope that one man was the answer - that our hope should be invested solely into one person. There is only one person that such hope can truly bestowed in, and that is our Savior Jesus Christ. (Yes, I did just get biblical on you). So Mr. President, please please take all that change that you promised back to the streets of Chicago. Because I'm sick of it. And so is the country. And we (well the rest of the country and not me - because I didn't vote for him) aren't going to fall for your hope this time around.

Polaroids

Hello Blogging Is For Lovers readers! My name is Bryton Morse and I am the author of in morse code. Just a blog that documents my little family's daily happenings and quite frankly my cop out for a scrapbook. I am so happy to be guest posting today about another member of our family: pola. She is our trusty Polaroid camera that goes with us everywhere. And since Rachel is such a great photographer I thought I would share some of my pictures. So here are some polaroids from recent trips that are my favorite. Enjoy!

Pictures 1, 2, 3, 4 - Cancun 2009

Picture 5 - Bridal Veil Falls Trail, UT 2010

Pictures 6, 7 - NYC 2010

Pictures 8, 9 - Park City 2010

Picture 10 - St George - 2011

Thanks Rachel for going to China so I could crash your blog! (and make sure you all stop by in morse code and say hello!)

-Bryton

*note from Rachel - y'all need to click on each picture to enlarge because they are all STUNNING. For formatting reasons I had to make them all (tragically) small. 

Awkward Paranoia

This post was inspired by two dear friends, Rachel Johnson, whom I affectionately call Julia Roberts, because they  have the same amazing smile and the famous Tent Boy, Jason Watts, whom I call Jason The Beautiful because he belongs on the cover of a magazine. 

So, being the minimalist that he is coupled with the fact that he lives in a tent, as you could imagine Jason The Beautiful doesn’t have much stuff. Amongst the stuff that he does have, the other day we found a bag of medical masks. Random and kinda awkward right?

So of course I cracked some joke about swine flu paranoia and him secretly being an Asian and we had a good laugh and moved on and basically forgot about it. Forgot about it until I learned that my other friend, Julia Roberts, Is going to China and other parts of Asia which immediately reminded me of the masks.

I laughed as I thought of how awkward it is seeing people here in America, still wearing those masks occasionally. Why!? It freaks me out and seems so awkward! Then I thought of Julia Roberts again and wondered if her trip would look something like this…

That would be really awkward slash funny! But seriously though, when you see someone in those masks don’t you sometimes almost just panic for a second at the thought that maybe they know something you don’t? I do, initially anyway, then I usually just feel all awkward about the fact that someone is walking around wearing a medical mask.

If that’s not awkward enough, you can also get designs on your medical mask…

Maybe Jason The Beautiful should have given his masks to Julia Roberts for her trip to Asia so she could fit in with the awkwardness. Even better, maybe they should have just gotten married and awkwardly worn the masks in Asia together.

Summer Goals

Isn’t Rachel great? I am so flattered to share a few thoughts on her blog today because she is someone I so look up to. She is someone who makes the world better just by being who she is. I am not sure if I have ever met someone who is SO smart, SO beautiful and SO kind all in one. Tens across the board. I gush about her even more in this post. Love you lots, Raych.

Although I hate to admit it, summer is slipping away from us, both in terms of the weather and in terms of the school year that continues to affect our lives long after we graduate. I am determined to squeeze whatever I can from the remaining few weeks of this lovely season.

Read.

Preferably on the beach or by a river and accompanied by a cool breeze and iced sun tea. I am hoping to read Tuesday Nights and Wednesday Mornings and The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death (both gifts from my sweet husband) before the fall semester starts. If you are looking for a recommendation, some of my recent favorites are No Impact Man, Room, and The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-time

Eat.

I love buying local, fresh food. Not only do I feel good about it, the food tastes wonderful. We love our local CSA from Jacob’s Cove. It forces me to learn to cook with whatever ends up in my basket every week (ahem… kale chips). Another great option is your local farmers market. Why not take a morning exploring and picking up colorful produce and then go home and be creative with it. I like to google recipes for a new found vegetable while at the market and then I can grab the rest of the ingredients while I am still there.

Move.
I am the worst worker-outer ever and have a hard time doing mindless exercise. But I can do things like hike and swim or take the puppies for a walk. I am such a night owl and summer is the perfect time to go for a walk and relish the warm nights long after the neighbors are sleeping.

Create.
There is something in each of our souls that longs to turn nothing into something special. I recently made a sign for my kid brother (from another mother) that says, “I love Maddie because….” And then his parents can fill in something new each day. Took about two minutes and five dollars. Pinterest is my latest obsession (thank you Rachel!) and I hope to get a few more projects in this season.

Give.
There is no better feeling in the word than giving of yourself, whether it’s sending a sweet letter or an amazing pair of heels.  I can’t think of any better way to use what is left of my free time than to spend it making other people happy. I plan to combine this with some of my other goals by doing things like baking extra zucchini bread and making personalized gifts for the people I love.

What are your goals and plans to take advantage of the rest of the gorgeous summer?

What's a Girl to Do?

Devon here from Leaving the Nest. I am lucky enough to be Rachel’s roommate and she asked me to do
a guest post while she is traipsing around the world. Though I immediately accepted, I almost as quickly
felt hugely intimidated. What on earth can I blog about that Rachel hasn’t already brilliantly shared with
all you lovelies? Not only does she dominate in the typical blogging realms like cooking and crafting,
but she is also extremely well-read, up on her current events, knows EVERY MOVIE EVER MADE, and communicates all of those thoughts in that pretty head of hers with such flair and wit that I really have no clue what to blog about. I feel like this is a metaphor for Rachel and my friendship in general- you know, her being brilliant and funny and just dragging me along, but so it is, my dear readers, and I feel privileged to join in for the ride.

So, because I can only write what I know, I’m going to write about Rachel. I can’t pretend to understand
the complexities of that girl, she’s deep yo, but I can give my perspective on this total gem of a friend,
and since she is always so busy blogging about things other than how fantastic she is, I’m taking the
liberty of doing so. Therefore I present to you…

The Top 10 Reasons Why I’m Missing Rachel While She is Traveling the Globe

10.) Social life= gone
9.) I’ll probably get dumber without her here…
8.) Car dancing, anyone?
7.) WHO WILL I SIGN WITH?!?
6.) Homegirl is giving- she is always inviting people over and making treats for all of our friends and
everyone just loves her- and rightfully so.
5.) Rachel makes me into a much funnier person. Seriously, I’m a bit of a 93 year old at heart but we
laugh… A LOT… <insert robot voice>
4.) Who else will commiserate with me over the fact that we don’t have our own reality T.V. show? That
biz would be solid gold. It doesn’t come across in this post but we are hilarious, if I don’t say so myself.
3.) I may not even SHOP while she’s gone! She is fondly known as “The Enabler” on our many shopping excursions. How will I ever decide on the blue shirt or the black shirt without her? (I’ll just have to think, “What Would Rachel Do?” Get them both! Alas, problem solved!)
2.) Sometimes- and let’s get real, by sometimes I mean always- it’s nice to have someone who you can
look at in any circumstance and know that they are reading your mind and just laugh with (or eye roll
with) without having to say a word.
1.) Because she is just the greatest person I know; loyal to the death and thoughtful beyond thoughtful
and I count myself lucky to be her friend (kind of gushing I know… potentially creepy… deal with it).

And so, should anyone be looking for me while Rachel is gone, you can find me in my room reading or
knitting or eating my feelings (Gah! Another one! Who will quote Mean Girls with me??) because this
girl is just irreplaceable. We’re friends like that.

Rach, hope you’re having the most off-the-charts-INCREDIBLE-time in China and remember that there
are many (for I am certain I’m not the only one) of us who eagerly await your return so we can get back
to our fun lives! Code: WE LOVE YOU!

(p.s. some pictures for your viewing pleasure because Rach rarely posts pictures of herself. This is my
post though and I can do whatever I want—heyyoo!!)

What I Know For Sure

via

my name is aubry and i love oprah.

i still have ten episodes saved on my dvr.

i nibble on them in few minute increments.... savoring their goodness.

can'.t say. good. bye.

they even say she's my doppleganger.

{i don't get it.}

but if i'm going to be oprah, i'll be oprah.

on the back page of every issue of o mag is a column she writes called "what i know for sure".

so this is what i know for sure:

 

no matter how independent a girl wants to be, there will always be man jobs.  like changing the five gallon water cooler jug or intiating dates.

girls who talk out loud about calories or complain about their weight are not attractive to men.

getting your daily dose of dairy in the form of an ice cream cone is alright.

eat your vegetables, take your vitamins, wash your face at night, and apply your anti-aging creams {or else my mom will come after you}.

never lack confidence in yourself. you're worthwhile.

knees and thighs are hardly ever pretty. cover them.

paint is cheap. color your walls.

do what you say and say what you do. all the time.

if you're not in a position to talk on the phone, let it go to voicemail.

have a bestie, be a bestie, value your bestie.

stripes are wardrobe classics.

when you're cranky, sad, or deflated, go to bed. things will be different in the morning.  less emotional, at least.

if given the opportunity, travel.  if not, create it.

my banana bread recipe is the best banana bread recipe there is. 

and since i'm watching bachelor pad right now: jake, vienna,and  the "i will guard and protect your heart" guy are socontrived.  The Wrestler, on the other hand....

 

 

how's that?  oh man, that was a brain crunch.

 

The Real Shrek

Guess what - it's actually me! I decided to sneak one in here because right before I left I found something too awesome to keep under wraps.........

Did you know that the character of Shrek was physically modeled after a REAL LIVE PERSON?!?!? Amazing. Check him out -

Crazy, right? Read about him here. His name was Maurice Tillet and he seemed like a fascinating guy (um hello, lawyer? Poet? The hair? I'm intrigued)

This does nothing more than make my craving for trivia even worse!

I hope y'all are doing well - I really hope I'm having fun too!

XOXO

It's Danica!

Hey there! No, it’s not Rachel. I know, I know, But don’t go just yet! My name is Danica and I will be your guest blogger for today. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle, and buckle up! … Gross. I'm sorry. That was so cliché.

I am honored that Rachel asked me to be here and I will do my best to keep her blog comfortable and happy while she is away. I don’t really have much to say – at least, not something worthy enough to fill up someone else’s blog with. So I guess I will just give you an idea of what goes on over on my little blog {Insert a cool, catchy blog name and I will pretend along with you that that is indeed it’s name}.

 

I’ve got a cute husband named Jake, and an adorable miss Hadley who is almost 1 year old. No pets just yet, but they will come. Next on the list in order of importance is my love for Harry Potter (I’m joking… except not really). I’m a cloth diaper convert, turning addict. I don’t plan on fixing that addiction though. I don’t sleep much, thanks to that wonderful baby I love so much. I have a weird obsession with most animals, but especially kitties.  I Skype more than is probably healthy. I lose/forget everything. Simple things make me the happiest –Joshua Radin, family time, food, and Rachel Johnson. Let’s not forget that great girl.

That brings me to my last bit of information (I promise I’m almost done). Did you know that Rachel and I are actually twins separated at birth? Don’t get caught up in the fact that we were born in different years, that is just a hoax. Don’t believe me? Watch.  We are both from California – We both pin the most amazing cat pictures. In fact if you look at both of our pin boards, you would think that I just sit back and re-pin everything she originally pins… which maybe I do. – We understand each other’s love for SYTYCD – We both use the phrase “I want to go to there,” and have a love for 30 Rock. – Harry Potter. Nuff said. – And don’t get me started on the whole ASL thing.  Are you starting to catch on? This is more than coincidence people. Maybe one day if she ever moves back to this great state of Utah we will get everything sorted out.

Well, that is going to be it y’all. Thanks for letting me invade and blab about myself. Rachel, hope you are safe and having fun!  Will you tag me in a picture on The Great Wall of China??

With Love, Ashley

Why hello there! You all look lovely :) My darling friend Rachel is still galavanting across Asia so she asked me to do a guest post on her blog. After I squealed with delight at the idea I then came to the sudden realization that I was going to have to write something funny, nay witty even, for a crowd of people that I don't even know! After the initial shock wore off I decided that I do that already on my own blog, I recovered fast,  and ...well...here we go. 

First of all, I would like to explain how Rachel and I know each other. It was a warm September day, just kidding, I actually have no recollection of the time of year, but before we became friends, I had known Rachel for many semesters. We were in the same major in college and we had a few classes together. I always thought her to be an incredibly well spoken, articulate, super hot, mucho talented person, but, there was an issue. She was friends with someone that I had an issue with. To use the word "issue" is to put it mildly, but I digress. A while later, I heard through the very gossipy grapevine that she and this toxic poisonous person were no longer friends. Let's just say, I didn't even hesitate. I pounced and snatched her up into my friendship net and we have been friends ever since. You guys, she has literally changed my life. I have very few friends who mean as much to me as Rachel does, I love her dearly and while she lives her fun adventures in D.C. I am 3,000 miles away missing her madly. Those of you who know her, I hope you feel as blessed as I feel. Those of you who get to see her regularly, *Devon*, I am more that jealous. She is a gem. 

Now enough of this mush, let's move on. 

I recently found this quote on Pinterest. You all know what Pinterest is right? I mean, you surely have been following Rachel's blog long enough to have read about her love affair with this website haven't you? Well if you haven't, Pinterest is AMAZEBALLS. It is a website where you have a virtual pinboard and you can post photos, recipes, DIY goals, ideas for homes, quotes, good books, etc, etc, etc. It is wonderful and if you are not on, you dang well should be. Back to the quote....

pinterest

I know recently Rachel posted about excuses, if you want something, truly, honestly, deep in your gut want something then there is no excuse. I felt like this went hand in hand with the post she had. We has individuals, as people, have so much potential. We have been given limitless opportunities to learn, grow, succeed, and really be amazing, we just have to be brave enough to take up the challenge. For myself, this quote applies to numerous aspects of my life. I am what some people like to call a "quitter", I will use that term loosely, but really it means that I tend to give up when the going gets rough. I will say that I want to run a marathon and then I will run a 10k and call it good. Well recently I determined that I was gonna kick the old, silly, quitter that resided in me to the curb. Peace out Ashley McQuitterson!

I started to push limits in my physical routine, and by that I mean good old exercise. Exercising was not always my strong suit. I would much rather be curled up on the sofa with my husband and a pint of Ben and Jerry's(Rachel and I are soulmates, are we not?).  I was starting to get a little, well, soft and squishy and I just simply couldn't take it anymore. So I started working out. 6 days a week. Every single time I went to the gym I swear I was pushing limits. It was either continuing the workout a few more minutes than I told myself I could, or participating in a dance based workout, when I am definitely NOT a dancer, or just getting up off of the couch and going. Somedays it was so hard to get the motivation to go through with it, but 4 months later, I am 24.7 lbs lighter. You guys! Limits were pushed, sometimes I cried, ok a lot of times I cried, sometimes I was mad, sometimes I struggled and felt like I was acting a fool, but success came because I willed myself a little bit further each time. So that moral of that story is basically:

pinterest

No matter what your limits are, no matter what you want to do, what you dream about, you CAN do it. Stop dreaming and start doing. It's up to all of us to achieve our dreams, and we have no one to blame but ourselves if our dreams fall short. So keep dreaming, dream hard, dream amazing, seemingly unattainable dreams, and then go conquer those dreams. Do it for you, because you deserve to have your dreams come true. :)

Hugs

Black Wednesday

I recently posted about how Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 would forever be known as Black Tuesday. Well when I learned that our Beloved Rachel Johnson, whom I affectionately call Julia Roberts because they have the same amazing smile, was leaving for a month to travel through our communist banker China, I knew that I was about to face another black day in my life. This time, it would be a Black Wednesday.  


Wednesdays have a special place in my heart because they are reserved for my other blog called Awkward Wednesday. This blog focuses on awkwardness worldwide in an effort to help educate the masses and help reduce awkward encounters worldwide. This Wednesday will be a sad awkward Wednesday indeed.


Now, I know I'm not the only sad one. There will be a cornucopia of strapping young single adult lads here in the DC area, and I'm sure all over the globe, who will be suffering from the lack of that beautiful smile, glowing personality and wonderful babe, Rachel Johnson, for the next month. And I know she has a few girlfriends who will miss her too.


Knowing this, she asked me to prepare a blog should that she could schedule to be posted during her media blackout in communist China. I  know  this will show up on my feed as a new post from her and I am sure will greatly disappoint me when I click on it hoping to enjoy her usual great posts only to realize it is my own. I feel terrible knowing that this might trick everyone else into a false hope of a little Rachel and I am conflicted about actually letting her post this.


Have fun, be safe and HURRY back Rachel!

Peace Out

I'm leaving in the morning for about a month(!!!) of traveling. After lots of consideration and deliberation, the new itinerary is as follows:

China - 10 days

Istanbul - 4 days

Lisbon - 4 days

Barcelona - 2 days

Madrid - 1 day

Utah - 2 days

I am going to be blissfully exhausted! While in China there is no access to Facebook or Blogger so I asked some of my good friends to guest post for me. Let me tell you - I've read through them and they are far to complimentary. I promise I didn't ask for guest posters because I was fishing for compliments. Yikes. So with that, I'll say goodbye and hopefully I'll get to post some good stories when I get to Istanbul. The pictures will come when I'm back in the States.

Love you all! Let me know if you want something from any of these places!

XOXO

Monuments at Night

Saturday night I had some ME time so I went to the National Mall to practice taking pictures in low light. Have I mentioned that I love living here?

 I don't have a tripod so I used my sandal to keep the camera steady.

I'm sure people thought I was crazy!

wouldn't be the first time someone thought that.......

What A Weekend!

We went to a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra on Friday night. This was basically the only picture I got because this dude in the picture was in the process of telling me I couldn't take pictures. This was pretty rad - the symphony played and the screen showed scenes from martial arts movies.

I learned that piano players play with the most passion.

Then on to the beach!

We got up at 4:50am on Saturday to make the long trek out to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.

I'm obsessed with the fences

Devon and Rachel

Mel and Devon

Mel, Devon, David and Rachel....I lurve these people

She really wanted the shirt that just simply said'

"epic."

All in all, it was a good, but exhausting weekend. 'Tis a good life, indeed.

No Excuses

I can't stand when people throw out excuse after excuse as to why they can't do something. 

You like the idea of traveling? Guess what - you will never have enough time or money, so JUST DO IT. It isn't cheap but the experiences you will gain be worth all of the college tuition you paid, I promise. It is some of the best education you can get.

You want to work in a field that you love? Intern, network, mentor, etc until your dream becomes a reality. There will always be someone less qualified than you working in your dream job but the difference is that they took a chance.

You want a fabulous body? Work on it.

Dreams are a wonderful thing and sometimes that's all that is needed to motivate, but if it isn't - don't invent excuses, and don't complain about it. Yes, this may seem a bit harsh, but this was the eye opener I was lucky enough to get when I needed it. I'm grateful that these eyes are now open because now I'm free and I can be and do anything I want.

Exile: Over

My sugar challenge is over!!! So naturally I had a dessert party. Naturally. The premise was simple - invite my besties, whip up some delicious treats, and laugh our guts out because we are all really funny. Like I said, simple.

I really need to start taking pictures of people.

I know some really great, really attractive people.

Multi-layered cupcakes

kind of Seussian, no?

Sopapilla Cheesecake.....so good. So, so good. I will definitely be making this again!

Rice Krispy treats made with Frosted Flakes instead.

I got all the recipes/ideas from Pinterest.

.l.o.v.e.i.t.