Skiing

1300+ miles each way... Long drive, but well worth it. Last week was Spring break and Dmitri and I drove ALL the way to Boston (24 hour drive, with only food and restroom breaks) to see my best friend Megan. We stayed there for 3 nights and she gave us a tour of the historical parts of the city. We saw Paul Revere's house, as well as the church he lit up... We also went to the original Cheers restaurant, pretty cool place!

After Boston we drove out to Vermont and stayed 4 nights .5 miles from the base of the ski slopes! It was absolutely great. When we weren't skiing, we were relaxing (something that I don't get to do often in grad school!)... Of course, knowing my luck, we got the coldest week EVER recorded in Vermont for March... -15 degrees Fahrenheit, without the wind chill, and the wind was 20-30 miles an hour! I mean gosh, the second day was so cold that we couldn't ski, so we went to the mall in the town over. The car refused to start for a good 2 minutes (rather new car, it was just too cold)... The windshield wiper fluid was rated to work as low as -25 degrees, but it was frozen solid. Anyways, once we finally got to the mall, we bought some books and went back to the hotel and read all day. Quite nice indeed!

Labels: best friend, boston, grad school, skiing, vacation

So far it has been a hectic Winter break! Grandma and I drove all the way from Tallahassee to Lincoln Nebraska to attend my cousin Tara's wedding. From St. Louis all the way to Lincoln we had to drive through the massive storm that shut down the Denver Airport. We were supposed to leave Wednesday the 20th, but grandma showed up on Tuesday and peer pressured me into leaving a day early to avoid the storm. We made it to Metropolis Illinois around 11:00 PM (12 hours after we left), we gambled for about an hour (I won $80! Go me! Grandma broke about even), then finally we went to sleep around 1:00 AM. At 4:30 that same morning, Grandma decides that we should probably hit the road so that we can make it through St. Louis before rush hour... Unfortunately, we were further from St. Louis then we had thought and ended up hitting the beginning of it. About 4 hours into our second day I was exhausted, so we pulled up into a McDonald's parking lot and slept for an hour, restocked our supply of energy drinks, and then continued our never ending journey. Finally, at around 3:30 PM we arrived in Lincoln.

We spent the first night in Lincoln at my Aunt Kelly's house, but the next day Grandma and I, along with the many other relatives flying in that day, checked into the Embassy Suites... They had a complementary "cocktail hour" from 5:30 to 7:30 every night which was the first thing to make me feel like I was on vacation.

On the 22nd I went to the wedding rehearsal, and the rehearsal dinner... The dinner was much more enjoyable because it turned out that I wasn't even need at the rehearsal (I was an usher for the wedding). The wedding the next day was probably as close to perfect as a wedding could be... and the reception afterwards was a blast. Like my cousin April's wedding, I once again caught the garter... Last time I caught one, I ended up dating somebody for 4 and a half years, maybe this means something good is around the corner.

On Christmas Eve I flew from Nebraska to Salt Lake City, took a bus out to Park City, and met up with my second family, the Rushes. I spent the last two days on the slopes, but now my knee is killing me, so I reluctantly decided after the first run to take the day off. For those of you who don't know me well, my absolute favorite thing in the world is skiing, so taking a day off when I only get to go once or twice a season, is a really really big deal. I'm going to try and get back into my exercise routine when I get back to Florida and condition my knee for next time. I hurt it about 2 months ago while playing soccer.

Last night after skiing, Samantha and Astrid brought me to their Yoga class... an hour and a half of what seems easy, but really is a major work out... For the first time since I was 6 I attempted a hand stand, I had somebody helping, but I was able to do it, so that was exciting. The whole working your "inner-being" hoo-ha was kinda weird, but I don't remember the last time I was that relaxed.

Tomorrow I fly back to Nebraska to begin another endless journey back to Florida. Hopefully this time we'll have sunlight... Hope everyone is having a great vacation!

Labels: april pinner, aunt kelly, family, grandma, nebraska, rush family, skiing, tara polly, vacation, wedding, yoga

I wish the world would slow down so I can think... I need time to relax, time to imagine, time to catch up with old friends... I have so little time for myself that I don't even know what I want from life anymore... Where do I want to be in a few years? Who do I want to be with for the rest of my life? Why do I want these things?

I am emotionally and physically drained... I have been sick for the last two and a half weeks despite my increase in physical activity and the half gallon of orange juice a day... Since the beginning of grad school I have had sleeping problems, which is something I thought I'd never have... Even when I was addicted to caffeine (yummy dr. pepper) I could fall asleep faster then anyone except my father (which is about 15 seconds)...

What I really need is a good 3 month vacation from everything, where I could do what I want when I want... not have to worry about school, or work, or money... Organize all the many fragments of memories that I don't want to loose, and reminisce while skiing down a Alpine slope... (skiing is my favorite thing in the world to do)... I could just worry about me, get healthy, get to know myself again... Rediscover why it was that I could program all day and night and absolutely love it... Figure out how to enjoy the things I once did... I've been trying to buy happiness and it just doesn't work, time is happiness, and I don't have any time... Routines that never change make it seem like I'll be doing the same thing forever... until finally I pass away and everything I did will no longer matter... Unless of course I have people to share my life with, people I affect... but if they just become part of the routine, then what good will that do? Everything will blur together, and time will fly by so fast that it may as well never have happened...

Oh well, in another blink of the eye I'll be 95 years old, and all this worrying will be forgotten...

Labels: diet, grad school, sick, skiing, vacation

Well, I decided that it doesn't matter how broke I get, my happiness is priceless... I have to go skiing... in 3 weeks to be exact... it has been 3 years since I have... and that is way way way way (etc.) too long... This time I am going with my friend Kelley Jones, my roommate Dmitri, and possibly Angie and my roommate Micah... Of course, knowing me, I have to do it right, so I went ahead and bought myself brand new K2 ski equipment... they are freestyle skis so I can have fun skiing backwards, doing tricks... etc... because of my chances of breaking a bone, I bought a helmet and goggles too... all I need now are boots... The ski package I bought comes with a case and bindings... and what looks to be a long underwear shirt that matches the skis, which is really nerdy, but so me...

UPDATE: Skiing was awesome! Here are some pictures:

There was a blizzard that brought fresh powder for us!

We also went to Chimney Rock:

Chimney Rock is near the largest waterfall east of the Mississippi river, this is a picture of the very top of it:

Labels: angie kapec, dmitri sokgobenzon, kelley jones, skiing, vacation