Yahoo!

Its over! After a few weeks of eating, sleeping, breathing and being at one with James Joyce, I have finally added the finishing touches to my research paper! Its done! 13 grueling pages later, I feel like I have really accomplished something! It feels good to be done! Along with all of that, I worked my first day with Colorado Ski Academy on Wednesday, it was awesome, we went to Eldora and the only issue was 1 bus broke down, and the chair lifts broke down, but other than that, it was a SUPER day! Ate a lot of turkey on Thursday, it was great to have the whole family together, and even a couple new members, it was so intimate having them there, it was a great day! Got the lights up on the house for the holidays, got up early on Friday to start some shopping and do my part to support the proceeds of black Friday! All in all it has been a great break, I needed it, I needed to regather my thoughts, finish some things up, and now I can focus on the end of the year! Well, I am gonna run for now, see you all very soon! Tis the Season! :)

It is time...

I finally have started to get in the holiday spirit, I figured that I better jump start my holiday spirit drive because Thanksgiving is less than a week away!!! AHH!! Where did the time go??? Anyway...I have begun the tradition of holiday music as well (which truly can calm the soul and open it up to partake in the festivities) and no better music that my KBCO Happy Holidays CD. Love it! I hope they send out another one this year! That would be great! Its been kinda a rough weekend, I am ready yo go back to work and not be at home. My family has been remodeling their kitchen and it has been a very stressful project although its going to look amazing when its complete, getting to the complete point is hard stressful work. So, needless so say I am ready to take a break from it, and go back to work! I am looking foreword to Monday! Other than that, things have been great, spent a lot of time on the phone lately catching up with people, and its been nice to hear their voices after not speaking to them in a while! Well I am off, back to the kitchen, till next time, tune in some holiday music.

You Live, You Learn

So in case you wanted to know again, I LOVE my job! I probably learn more from the kids than they learn from me, and that is a good thing! I was called out today by a friend. She told me that I goofed. I always joke with her, and when she joked with me today, I was not accepting of her joke, and she did not like that. You know what? She was correct. I did not take the joke like she does. I was glad that she called me on it, she was correct and I was not. We talked for a long while, and we were able to come to an understanding, but when we talked I told her that her joke was just not something that she would normally say. I am just glad that we were able to talk to each other and work through the issue. I love the fact that she pulled me aside and said that she was upset. After we spoke we had the best afternoon playing sports in the field! It was so much fun, I did not want to go inside. We need to remember that we too can be at fault. So, until next time remember that we too make mistakes and we need to be accepting of those mistakes.

Life

Oftentimes our lives take on new paths all their own. Last weekend I had the joy of meeting my friends new addition to their family, Koa. As I was holding this precious baby boy I realized how special and precious life really is, and how all too often we stress and and take that life for granted. I had an amazing time (as I always do) in Glenwood last weekend, not only did I get to meet Koa, and do some snowshoeing and see my friends new house, I also was able to reconnect with my friends who had the baby. It was great seeing them, and sharing with them their special little guy. He was such a cute baby, and they are going to be amazing parents, something someday I hope to be. I have had a truly great week this last week, between the kids at school being so precious and just everything. Yesterday afternoon my friend and I got to talk, which we never do, but we did not just talk to talk, we talked to know. We reconnected with one and other, which is something that we needed, and something that our relationship had been missing. It was so comforting to sit there at dinner and know that even though our words to each other were few and far between that we were there for each other on a much deeper level than burritos and tortillas. Its been quite a ride this past week, and ride I hope to have happen again! Till next time "Live Strong".

Brekenridge

Okay - so I had another adventure last weekend, my friend Kaley and I drove up to meet our friends in Brekenridge for the day! We had the best time ever! We got up there, met up with our friends, snowshoed sledded and laughed till we cried! I did not think you said Preci hair! Welcome to Starbucks. Here's your juice! The funniest things kept happening to us this weekend, it was so weird! So then we are driving home, we see our friends go check out of their condo, and we are driving along I-70 when all of a sudden they pass us doing Mach1!!! I was like what the heck! They had to check out, so we should have been way ahead of them! It was weird, so of course we called them and were like, whatever! It was fun! So here I sit tonight handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters! It has been so fun at school this week with the kids! We have had a lot of fun, and the halloween parties today were great! It was so neat to see almost all the kids dressed up in something! Well, the doorbell is about to ring, so have a safe Halloween and see you soon PS: The picture this week was taken while snowshoeing behind the ten mile range near Brekenridge, Colorado.

A Lot to Catch Up On

Its been a crazy few months, my apologies for not making more posts! There have been some changes in my life since my last post, things have happened not only with me but friends and family. Lets start with me. I started the school year with a bang! I love every class, plus we get longer time together, which is amazing to be able to get done what I need to get done! I am finally wrapping up my education with the official word that I am student teaching in the spring. I bought a new car this fall...kinda a weird deal but I love it and it fits my lifestyle much better that the Acura ever did. My family is doing well, I cannot beleive that my brother is a senior I have been working with my dad doing handyman work, he has been really busy. My parents new project is remodeling thier kitchen, which is coming along really well. My friends after a few trys finally had thier first baby, a baby boy!! My other really good friend got married in San Francisco a couple weeks ago, and myself and a few other people from work were able to go to San Francisco to share in her day! It was an amazing trip! Lets see, oh yah, I am starting to work on weekends starting in November for Colorado Ski Acadamy. That should be a lot of fun, I am really excited about it! I took a few camping trips in the early fall to Steamboat Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park with my Dad, which was an amazing trip! We had a lot of fun! The picture on this post was taken in a heavy downpour in Rocky Mountain National Park in September!

Proceed On

Do you ever take the time to step back an re-evaluate where your journey is taking you, or who you have let join you on that journey? This is something I need to learn how to do. I need to take a moment, step back and re-evaluate where my journey is taking me. I need to see me through the eyes of another to see who I am and where I am going. We all have faults but sometimes it is hard to admit our flaws and when we get called on it, it sucks. There is no way around it. I know that there are things that I need to work on to better myself, these things I find myself working on daily, and its not going to happen over night. We all have flaws about us, no one person is perfect, nor will that ever happen to any one person. I had a moment where I needed to step back and take the moment to re-evaluate. I learned a lot in that moment, things that will forever alter my journey and that path it has chosen to take me. I have stepped back, re-aligned my goals, set new goals and am taking baby steps to a new me. My life has always taken different twists and turns, but never before has it been completely de-railed. I am picking up the pieces, dusting myself off and looking at myself through new eyes and moving forword. Till next time, remember who you are, and take moments to re-evaluate your journey.

Its All Over

Its all over! Time to go back to face reality and go back to work! Even though I started last week, this upcoming week for sure tells me that it is over because in 4 days the school will be filling with kids and then signifies that my nice long relaxing summer is over! I did a lot, saw a lot and yah worked a little! It was nice though! I enjoyed the time with the kids, I enjoyed camping and hiking and visiting with friends! I even took a weekend camping trip with my Dad and brother to Leadville where we literally got flooded out and had to head home early! It was a lot of fun, and definantely an adventure! So after a few more sleepless nights I finally went to the doctor and got some antibiotics and finally today I am starting to feel like myself again! I really thought there for a while that I was dying of some rare amazonian diease that was uncurable! Well, I am off - the picture this week was taken on the camping trip with my Dad and brother near Leadville, Colorado! Aloha!

Another Sleepless Night

Here I sit at 1:44am Monday morning. I was woke once again by a runny nose at around 1am. The past couple of weeks I have not slept through the night, woken up about the same time for the same reason most of the time. The other times was either a bathroom break or my mind would not allow me to rest. I have sat here now for 44 minutes with a runny stuffy nose along with the sinus pressures and pains that are not allowing me to fall back asleep. My alarm is set for 6:30 am, less thatn 5 hours away...I think Monday is going to be yet another day where I am too tired to do anything! This sucks. Pray that you never have sinus troubles, pray that you are always healthy. I have had allergy testing, I have had sinus surgery, I have tried what seems like every medication under the sun, and yet I still suffer. Most of the time I cannot breathe while my nose runs uncontrollably, I cannot smell, which means often times things do not taste as good to me as they should. I do not know what to do, I thought this was maybe a cold and I would get over it, but its been like two weeks! I am done with it, all I want is to sleep through the night, be able to breathe and smell. I feel that I leave a pretty healthy life, I try to eat the right things, I am active I went hiking today, then took my dogs swimming, then did yard work and chores, and never really took a break until I watched the 9pm news. Whos knows...maybe it is a cold that is taking its sweet time, or its just something that is going to linger because I am with the kids all summer and it is the pool that is starting to get to me, who knows. All I know is that I am going to crawl back into bed, blow my nose a few more times, and try to catch some zzz's before that 6:30am wakeup call! Ni-Nite!

Ohana

Ohana in Hawaiian means family. Ohana is also the name of my new friend here pictured to the left. I learned something (not that I did not know this before, but anyways) but I learned that Family really is the most important entity in life. Without family where would you be? Whatever your family may look like always remember who they are, and why they always stick by your side. They may not be related to you, but you still consider them your family because they will always be there for you. My family, has and always will be there for me, no matter what. I also learned like many others before me that family is more than the people I am related to, it is my true and dear friends that no matter what have been there for me when I have needed them most. This all exists because we all look out for each other. If I did not make effort to care and look after these relationships they would not exist and life would not be as much fun as an enjoyable as it is. Family is there for you always, they listen, they kick you in the ass when needed and love you unconditionally. Today was a day that I needed to step back and realize this! I love my friends more than they know especially the ones who love Justin! LOL! :) Without them I would not be where I am today, I love knowing that whenever I need a good ass kicking they are there to not only provide the shoe but the force to knock some sense into me! It was a rough day, and I hate being grumpy around the kids and I know that I will have to make that up to them someway somehow, because that is what my Journey is all about - finding that path that captures my heart and following it to the end. Till next time, stay strong, and remember, Ohana. Mahalo!