So the purpose of me going out west was to get my travel bug out of my system and even though I know that I have only been here for 5 days - I am thinking that this might backfire on Dad's plan from keeping me from going off to Italy for a couple years! But I'll talk more about that after I have been gone for a month lol.

My time out here with Ray and Joyce has been absolutely wonderful! They have opened their home up to me with so much love and generosity, I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable beginning to my adventure. My drive out here was fantastic and fairly uneventful with the exception of me helping out the circle of life - RIP little rodent opossum looking thing and tweetie bird. When I got to Ray & Joyce's place they helped me get my suitcase into the house and we immediately went up to the Sandia Crest, which is the mountain they live 5 miles from, and we hiked at the top to take in the amazing weather and to see the turning of the leaves.

Then Saturday we picked up Nina and her kids Brianna and Alex and we all went out to El Rancho de las Golandrinas for the Harvest Festival. Golandrinas is a village that shows the way of life from 200 years ago. We had so much fun! There were so many activities for us to participate in and everything was hands on! We got to make homemade tortillas made from goats cheese/milk and roast our own peppers and enjoy them with fresh local jelly. It was SO good! We also got to feed some Alpacas, stomp some grapes to make wine and press apples to make apple cider. Brianna and I had so much fun going all over the community to see what little adventures we could get ourselves into.

Sunday was another busy day. That morning I woke up and went for a run on a 4 mile trail next to Ray and Joyce's house and let me tell you, the difference in altitude makes a difference on the lungs haha. Even with the lack of oxygen I had a surprisingly good time, which is even better since I have officially signed up to run a 10k here in New Mexico with my cousin Vincent on the 24th which is 19 days away - yikes! Afterwards Ray, Joyce and I went over to Vincent and Violetta's house to visit for a while before we all went over to Dorothy's place for her daughter's birthday party. It was really fun because Dorothy (who is Ray and Joyce's daughter) owns a crazy amount of birds and not just any birds. We're talking Macaws from the rain forest!! And a bunch of them! It was awesome. That night Joyce and I stayed up talking and catching up about everything and then when we went to bed I had a bit of a scare. So I walked into the bathroom to do my thing and as I'm going for the toilet I by chance actually look into the toilet....and there inside it in the water is a giant spider!! I flipped! I'm trying to pull myself together just in case I woke Ray up (don't want to go flashing him!) and I'm laughing hysterically in the hallway thinking what are the odds that a day into my adventure I already have an encounter with my arch nemesis. I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my neck during all of the commotion but Joyce came out of her bedroom and saved the day haha.

Monday has been by far my favorite day thus far of the trip! The night before I stayed up entirely WAY too late talking to a special someone and I was super nervous about the next morning since our wake up call was 4am!! Yes - this girl got up at 4am without a fight lol. Anyways, we were off to go see the balloon fiesta in town!! OMG it was simply magical. Words can't even begin to describe how incredible this experience was to see up close. The balloons were bigger than I expected and there were SO many to see! Plus the weather was really nice and the skies were beautiful, with the exception of the fact that it was really cold but once I got to running around to look at the balloons it wasn't so bad. After the balloons we went over to Vincent's to train with him for the upcoming 10k. Man did he kick my butt! We ran from his house to the base of the mountain and the entire way to the base it is a steady incline so you really felt it on your legs and your lower back. I have never attempted such an intense run and it was great having Vincent there to push me. I'm not going to lie, when we got going I was thinking to myself there is no darn way I am going to make it to this mountain and then 30 mins later there we were!! It was so awesome looking back over the town where we just ran from! We chilled up there for 15 mins running up higher on the mountain so that Vincent could show me the other trails that he runs along the base and then we finally started our trek back to his home - which since it was all downhill we were able to run in less than 20 min! That afternoon I was absolutely whipped from the lack of sleep and the crazy workout so I took a very nice 3 hour siesta lol. That night I went over to one of dad's old friends house to have dinner with their family, watch Monday night football and catch up with them. It was wonderful! Then after the game I went home to a completely locked down house. I felt terrible and didn't want to wake Ray & Joyce so I was just going to sleep in my car until Joey convinced me to just call them and wake them up so that I would be sure to be inside safe. Talk about back to back night time excitement between the spider the night before and then being locked out of the house haha.

Tuesday was another full day for us. We went to Santa Fe and saw the Miraculous Staircase. Let me tell you - it was incredible. The staircase was built with no support beams or nails and its absolutely beautiful. Not to mention the fact that they still to this day can't figure out where the wood came from which is pretty interesting if you ask me. The church that it is located in, the Loretto Chapel, is equally amazing. The church is very small and intimate (which I fell in love with instantaneously) and the detail in all of the architecture and the objects in the church were very classy and beautiful. There are only 2 other churches that I have absolutely fallen in love with as soon as I entered their doors and they are the Episcopalian church in Boston (which is the only piece of architecture to have been on the list of the top architecture buildings since it originated) and the other being the gorgeous St Martin's Episcopal church there in Houston - and for anyone who has simply driven by it, you know what's up. From there we walked to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, which was a block away from the Loretto Chapel, and it was another pretty chapel, although very similar to any other grand Cathedral I felt. After the tour of the churches, Joyce & I walked around downtown Santa Fe looking at the super cute shops while Ray went to go and get the car to take us to our next stop - the Casinos!! We went to Buffalo Thunder (one of Ray's favorites) and ate an incredible prime rib lunch before hitting the slot machines where I won $32.50! Doesn't sound like much but I was playing the penny machines and wasn't betting much at all lol. Then after the casino we went to go eat (again) at Nina's house where her husband let us be the guinea pigs for his brand new smoker. Holy cow was the food good or what! For not being hungry I sure did go through the food on my plate haha. Then me, Alex and Brianna ended up capping off the night jamming out to the SUPER fun dance game on their Xbox with the Kinnect! It went from only 1 song then we'll leave to dancing around for an hour!

Today was a super chill day. Gym, 3 mile run, lunch, Wal-Mart, dinner, 1 mile run then lounging around. Couldn't have asked for a more relaxing day :)

Anyways - I have written enough and I applaud you if you made it this far! This adventure has been incredible and I feel so very blessed to have so many amazing people in my life. Thank you for being who you are in my life. I know I wouldn't be here if it were any other way.

"Friends are like stars, you don't always see them but you know they are there."

The Land of Enchantment!

Good Morning!

So after going back to my private blog I am getting back in the swing of things over here! Let me bring you back up to speed on what is going on in my crazy life.

I have packed my life into the back of my car and am heading out west to go do my own thing!

Yep!! I am beyond excited about the opportunities that this is going to bring me. I know that I need this time to myself more than anything. Yesterday was Day 1 of my new adventures and I must say. Sitting in a car driving across Texas was by far the most theruputic feeling ever. I LOVE to drive and the best part was when I got out west of San Antonio you are literally in the middle of no where. No phone. No radio. Just my car and my thoughts and man did I need it!

My original plan was to make the stop in El Paso for the night and attend the UH game, afterall - I AM going to miss the last home games, but after talking it over with Joyce and my Dad we decided that it would be better for me just to go up to New Mexico because El Paso is 4 hours out of the way. Plus lets face it - it isn't exactly the safest of cities and I remember the last 2 times that I was there I didn't want to go ANYWHERE without my guys by my side lol.

Yesterday morning I started out on my journey. I stopped in this little area there on the west part of San Antonio and ate lunch at this award winning pizza place. I stopped initially because it was SO cute and quaint and thought it was the perfect place for a first meal. I walked in and was immediately greeted with an entire wall and corner FULL of all of the awards they have won and all of the articles that had been published on them. My first thoughts were "don't overhype it!" haha :)  The pizza was fabulous and the service was amazing.

Then when I got to Carlsbad, NM I decided to stop here for the evening. Now I'm not usually Miss get upset about anything but it was one thing after another after another. They have the WORST contruction ever going on, there is only one nice place to stay and I kept getting lost on all of the raods even with my Garmin and I couldn't find a place to sit down and eat a local meal. Plus I was upset for changing my mind to go to El Paso to watch my Coogs play their CUSA opener.

I went ahead and stopped at the hotel and got a room. It was super pricey but WAY worth it. I slept like a baby last night and it super nice. Not to mention, everyone here is SO friendly! I will definitely be back if I ever need a place to stay. I asked the lady up front if she had a recommendation for a bar. I figured the town surely has to have a bar or something that will have tvs for me to catch my Cougars. Yeah, no. They first of all don't even have a bar but their "sports bar" that they had. Hahaha let me tell you about it - it was super great food, and in absolutely the most sketchy of places (which automatically means super awesome local food in my book) and they did have TVs for each table - which was SUPER awesome, but they had ONE sports channel, and it was ESPN. Totally doesn't count because that comes with every basic cable package. Yeah, so I missed watching my Cougar Football game but I had text updates thank goodness.

The one thing that yesterday showed me - I feel like I am truely one of the luckiest girls out there. I have an amazing dad and family members who absolutely love me and are super supportive and my friends are the best group of friends a girl could ever ask for. I couldn't dream of a better, more adventurous way to start my journey.

Just Smile

This past weekend I was able to go to Oklahoma to visit some very dear friends of mine. I never thought I would have so much fun in such a "blah" state, but it doesn't matter where in the world my friends and I are, I am convinced that we could make it our own party!

Spending time with my friends really means more to me than any other thing on this planet. Especially these girls. They have helped me through so much and have seen me at my worst. I really am blessed to have such thoughtful people in my life who honestly care about who I am and where I want to be. Another bonus to hanging out with these girls is that they are married and I get to see couples interact with each other. I mean lets face it, it has been about a year and a half since I have been in a relationship and I am finally starting to forget what it was like to have that special someone else. Is it tough? Sometimes. But truth is is that some day, I too will have my Prince Charming who will sweep me off of my feet and I will sweep him off of his and we will be magical.

Back tracking a little bit to Valentines Day - I didn't want to go out with anyone or do anything. I felt like I owed it to myself. I had spent so many years of my life with someone else (who I cared for SO deeply and was extremely happy with) and I just honestly felt like it was time for me to spend time with me. I am doing so well with learning how to be truly happy with myself and I knew that Valentines Day (as silly of a holiday as it is) would be a perfect time for me to go on a "date" with myself - in my apartment. With a lovely dinner and a small glass of wine. Oh and Castle. However. Even though I wanted to spend the evening by myself for some quality R&R time...last year I was able to go on a very late night coffee run to a really cute coffee shop here in Houston and I thought that it would be wonderful if we could do it again this year. Last year's outing meant so much to me because it was my first VDay by myself and it lead to one of our infamous quotes "yeah but I'm talking about girls I'm interested in" and I deep down wanted to be able to go out on a very very small, quick and absolutely NO "date" crap date on VDay and knew that he would be the only guy who could fill that position. However, I didn't think it was going to happen this year because he has a lovely girlfriend and it is only fair that he spend this holiday with her. Well that afternoon I got a text from Andrew asking what I were up to for the evening and I told him that I was just going to spend the evening at home on my own and he said that he wasn't planning on picking up Sally till around 7 and that he was leaving work early if I wanted to meet up with him for about 30-45 min at Brazil (the coffee shop we went to last year) and make it a mini tradition. It absolutely meant the world to me that he did that. I mean lets be honest. I am happy being single, yes I really am. However, there are moments, that I wish I had my sidekick to go out with and to whom I could go on various adventures with. I am blessed to have the friends I have who take care of me each and every single day but sometimes even they can't fill that void that is there.

I talked with my dad about it a little bit the other day and I told him that I know that my time with come soon. Being single is a gift. A gift that I wasn't happy with receiving a year and a half ago. A gift that I didn't want to accept but I am glad that I did because it has brought some truly amazing people into my life who wouldn't be here otherwise. It has given me the opportunity to travel and to really learn who I am as a person. It has really shown me my weaknesses and has brought some of my "downfalls" to light in a very ugly way. As hard as it has been, it has been good to me and has shown me what I need to do to make myself who I am and who I want to be. And after all - it is slowly leading me to the man of my dreams :)

"Light up your face with gladness, Hide every trace of sadness.
You'll find that life is still worthwhile, If you just smile."

I Crossed the Street to Walk in the Sunshine

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a beautiful butterfly"

Yep, I am jumping on the blogging bandwagon my friends. After having some close friends ask why I don't keep a blog for them to be able to follow, I thought to myself - "why don't I?" If my fear was being too honest or truthful then perhaps that's silly. What is there that I haven't shared with them? They after all, are the friends who I feel I can trust with anything and they do know me better than anyone. Plus, for the past year I have kept my own "journal" of everything changing in my life and have jotted down all of my thoughts on sheets of paper only to be thrown into a random box. Not to mention the fact that I DO thoroughly enjoy following my dear friend's blog of everything going on in her life. So why wouldn't my friends want to know what is going on in mine since we no longer have the luxury of living 30 minutes away and aren't able to talk on the phone as often as we would like? .... So here I go. This will be an "intimate" and honest look at my life. There will be no specific direction to my blog other than it will simply be a single place for me to jot down the many thoughts that come to my head, along with the various adventures I experience from my day to day life with my friends as I figure out who I am. I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings :)

"I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises."