Sisters

Dear Sisters-

I had a vision in my sleep the other night.  Here it is: we all lay in a circle with our heads in the center:

THEN: we all braid our hair to the person next to us! Like a star of braids! A family of braids!

See this post for questions

ZION

I have had adventures in the past while that I have failed to blog for a variety of reasons:
1. I am just way too lazy
2. I have had homework
3. I forget
4. I am seriously so lazy
5. Nobody is pressuring me

So there.  But now I am in a productive mood (and not the productive homework kind of mood) so here are some pictures from my adventures. Kate and I went down on a quick weekend trip to Zion National Park.  We hiked Angel's Landing (a steep and cliffy hike that drops off 1200 feet on one side and 800 feet on the other) and I died. Twice.  But it was absolutely beautiful.

We ate peanut butter on Oreo's at the top of the climb 

 

This was supposed to be our Christmas card for 2012 but it never quite came to fruition.

Do you see how steep that is? Those chains are not there for funsies.  They are there to keep you alive.  If you lost your grip you will fall off the edge and die. Not a joke, people. Not a joke. 

After this Zion adventure I went back down two weeks later with my dad.  This was one of the first things we saw: 

*cue muffled screams

Then we got to go through the tunnel. It is this tunnel that they basically blew through the mountain.  It is absolutely black inside with the occasional "window" to the world.  This is what one of those windows looks like from the road below:

 

And this is what one of those windows looks like from the tunnel:

 

The Rest

Here I am to finally blog the rest of Mexico. You are SO welcome. In the words of every blogger ever "Prepare for picture overload!"

Gecko chocolate!

Satan's speedbumps

5th piña colada

 

Coconut ice cream. Obsessed.

my 13th piña colada

the 16th (and final) piña colada

On the right you will see the rare rice elephant

Musical chocolate!

5th Avenue Mexico style

 

 

 

  

 

  

Carlos. Future GA, I am sure of it.

 

  

 

 

 

Wild monkeys.  They make the scariest sounds. For rilz.

Zip Zip Zip

We went on a couple little adventures while we were waiting for the end of the world down in Mexico.  We went zip lining at Selvatica.  It was so so much fun. Also: our guides were pretty good lookin'. Win-win.

See that man behind me? That is Luis. I heart Luis. He is a paramedic.

*photos courtesy of Selvatica Park

A Tropical/White Christmas

For Christmas this year the parents flew us to Cancun to wash away our stresses.  It worked well.  The morning after I took my last final we hopped on a plane and that very night I was sleeping without any blankets on. We stayed in a wonderful resort called Quetzal owned by Iberostar.  It was so much fun.  All inclusive resorts have made me want to be on vacation for the rest of my life.

*More to come

Happy Hump Day!

On Looks

Alternative title:  I Don't Look Like a Beauty Queen Every. Single. Day.

I live with 8 other women. For those who are not majoring in math that makes 9 of us total.  We have the time of our lives together. We watch movies and chat about everything and eat food and chat about other things and go running and chat and chat and chat. And I love it.
We are all so different from each other which makes for some of the best conversation I have ever had because I am always learning something new about the people I live with. And sometimes I compare myself to my roommates. And that is where the trouble starts.
Living with 8 other women has it's pros and cons. Pros: what I already said.
Cons: comparing!
Everybody knows that we all compare ourselves to those around us. It is what we do. It is human nature. We find our strengths and say to ourselves, "man...I really have my life together compared to that guy".  And we feel good about ourselves for 15 minutes until our mind takes us somewhere else.
And sometimes we compare our lacking to someone else's abundance. And we ask ourselves, "how could they possibly have that when I am much more normal/smart/kind and I don't have it?" ("it" being looks, smarts, significant others, significant accomplishments, etc.). And we think about it for a bit and we muse with those around us that so-and-so just did this and they don't deserve it but I do deserve it because I am a somewhat better person.  And then we move on.
And then we find our weaknesses. And we compare them to someone who happens to excel at whatever we don't excel at. And then we dwell on it. And sometimes it eats at us. And then we smack ourselves in the head and realize that we have different qualities that may not be the same but they are equivalent. And we are just as good. And then it happens again. And this is the vicious cycle that I have been trying to rid myself of for as long as I can remember. I think a lot of people do this too. I do not think I am alone in comparing myself to others. I have had church lessons on it, school lessons on it, and roommate chats about it. We all deal with it to some degree.  At least I think we do.
I think girls compare looks the most. I know I do. I live with 8 beautiful girls and comparing is the easiest thing. She has better hair than me, she has the perfect figure, her make up always looks perfect, and on and on.
And while I compare myself to them they compare themselves to me. We even talk about it sometimes.  One roommate has the most voluminous hair I have ever seen- and it always looks beautiful.  She doesn't seem to think so. And wouldn't ya know that just the other day she commented that she wished she had hair like mine.  The grass is always greener on the other side I guess.
Anyway- what I am getting at is that we all compare ourselves wishing we had what other people have without realizing how beautiful we are in our own way.  I have this idea of what is beautiful in my head. When I don't match my own idea of beauty I see it as a fault of mine and then I compare myself to an ideal. It is like comparing a seed to a sunflower! I know that it is ridiculous yet I still do it.  I don't think I am the only one who does this.  Please tell me that I am not.
So in a rather abrupt conclusion: I don't look like a beauty queen everyday and I still receive compliments from those around me.  And one of my biggest weaknesses is being unable to accept a compliment from anyone.  I get shy and blow them off like they have no idea what they are talking about.  Nice shirt? Compared to what, a wife beater? Nice eyes? Surely you are blind! So this is my new goal: accept the compliments and see myself as others see me.  For I am beautiful.  Maybe not ideally beautiful, but still beautiful in my own way.  I will not compare my weakness to your strength.  I will be happy with who I am now.