Snowboarding

This year I want to try new things and enjoy life. Here’s a picture of my first time snowboarding. It was quite the experience.

https://plus.google.com/106116689894826931450/posts/38ETjMBeQnQ

Nia

I had an amazing experience that I wanted to share. I go to the gym when I have the time, I do yoga occasionally, and play basketball. However, today I was able to experience a new form of being able to connect my mind, body, and spirit through the art of Nia (nianow.com). It was an outstanding experience that gave me energy, allowed me to relax, and connect with my body.

I was a little skeptical with going to the class at first. I didn’t know what to expect, and did not want to google and read the reviews for Nia. People give their opinions, and it’s either good or bad, but in the end it is not YOUR opinion. I’d rather experience the opportunity than listen to someone else’s opinion and choose the one I like. It is a sensory-based movement practice that I just had to experience myself.

Punta Cana, Republica Dominicana

Adult Visions

“As a kid, you must have imagined what it was like to be an adult. Now that you’re a grownup (or becoming one), how far off was your idea of adult life?” – http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/adult-visions/

Life is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I have been knocked down more times than I can remember, but I always find a way to get back up. Thinking about how much work and responsibility there is to being an adult makes me realize how I wish I could go back in time and just be a carefree kid again. However, there are many moments in life as an adult I am grateful for. Life may not be how I planned but I just have to write my own story. Some people say the sky is the limit, but that’s not my motto because there are footprints on the moon (Paul Brandt). I have already been in the sky now I want to go beyond that.

TRAVELING PANTS

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Traveling pants are pants that ‘magically’ fit four different teenage girls with completely different body types. This is from the novel Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares, which was later made into a movie. The pants that I am referring to as my own traveling pants is a pair of black pants from Wet Seal, given to me by a friend because she did not like the color of the pants (it was brand new and just purchased). She had a bad habit of bulk buying things without trying them on and then if she decided she didn’t like something she would just throw it in her closet and forget about it. I thought it is always good to have a pair of black pants, they pretty much go with anything. Little did I know that these pants had a special quality, it fits my mother and sister just as well as it fits myself. The three of us are pretty much the same height, but our shapes are completely different. My mother and I are similarly shaped but she happens to be a little more ‘hippier’ than me and usually wears two or three sizes larger than me. My sister has been blessed with a lot more curves than me and does not wear the same size pants as me, not including sweatpants. When my mother was looking for pants to match a beautiful top she was wearing and couldn’t find anything in her closet to match right, I simply stated that it sucks we aren’t the same size or I’d let her borrow my pants. Too tired of having to keep trying to find the right pants to match her top, she jokingly mentioned that I should let her try the pants. Well that is exactly what I did and to both of our surprise they fit, and well too. My sister saw and decided to try them on as well. Of course I told her that the pants wouldn’t fit, but for the second time that day I was wrong. The pants fit my sister and we were all talking about how these pants are amazing and that my friend had no idea of what she gave up.

SKYDIVING

So for many years now I have been trying to go skydiving. The only thing that kept me from fulfilling this dream was that I could either never find the time or I could never find someone to go with. Let’s face it, no one wants to try something that scary for the first time by themselves. If YOU are the exception, then kudos to you because it was an amazing experience that I was able to share with my friend and then brag about later.

At first we watched a video that basically told us the jump would be risky and that injury may occur or even worse death. That pretty much sounds like everything else nowadays. I mean seriously, have you ever watched a commercial for something that was supposed to make you feel better and then after the pros there’s like a whole page and a half of fine print listing side effects that outweigh the pros? Well this was pretty much the same thing.

Waiting for my turn to get into that plane to jump out TEN THOUSAND FEET up was both exciting and nerve-racking. My heart was all over the place. During the flight up to the goal height I was trying to calm my nerves by doing some deep breathing, which was recommended to me by the gentlemen I was attached to. This helped a lot. When it was time to jump I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to hop out and experience the world from a birds-eye. I was finally flying and carefree. The view was beyond spectacular and I will take that moment with me forever.

This was a great experience and I will definitely be going back with more friends in the future. For those who are curious, the flight up to the expected elevation was the scariest part, and when it comes time to jump out of the plane you will know exactly what to do (with the help of the instructor of course). One more note before I conclude, the song I had in my head to help me calm down during my deep breathing exercise was Ain’t it Fun by Paramore. It calmed me down and reminded me that I want to try new things and experience the most out of life.

YOU KNOW YOU’VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT

You ever just randomly have a song pop up in your head out of nowhere and it just makes you start having other thoughts? Well yesterday, while watching The Biggest Loser, I thought of the song Time of My Life from the movie Dirty Dancing. Of course many know the final dance scene where Patrick Swayze’s famous one liner “Nobody puts baby in the corner” occurs and then he takes the stage with Jennifer Grey and they have this amazing dance that ends in this beautifully perfect lift that they couldn’t figure out the timing to throughout the entire course of the movie. Well that’s the exact part I was thinking of and then I remembered Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone did the same lift in Crazy Stupid Love.

patrick swayze & jennifer grey

Well I let my imagination run wild and thought, “hmm let’s look this up on YouTube”. As I sat there on my computer rummaging through the successful wedding dances from the brides and grooms that emulated the final dance scene from the movie, along with many failed attempts at lifting gone wrong, I reminisced on the time my sister and her boyfriend thought it was okay to try this lift in a small Chinese take out restaurant. Needless to say, this belonged in the failed attempt category. As I continued to delve into this dance routine I thought of how much fun this would be if I tried this with my own boyfriend. Then I came to my senses and remembered this is not something my boyfriend would even think of doing and if we did pursue this project it would probably go horribly wrong. But in a perfect world (like that of the one in my head) I would successfully tackle this lift and it would look a lot like that of the scene from Crazy Stupid Love, mostly because I would do this in the privacy of my home or somewhere I wouldn’t be judged, and then brag about it on social media with a short clip.

ryan gosling & emma stone

By the time I was done with my Dirty Dancing tangent, I looked back up at the television only to realize I had missed the entire episode of The Biggest Loser and only had three or four minutes left. It’s a good thing I was not doing something of dire importance because I would have been easily distracted with one of my many random thoughts. It’s funny how time gets away from you when you get side tracked.

A SONG CAN CHANGE YOUR MOOD

The power of music can be so influential. I admire the lyrics of songs and how one song can either make or break your day. My mood can change from one emotion to another with the change of a song. It can bring me back to a time when I was happy, a time when I stayed up all night reading a book I couldn’t put down, a memory from high school, or whenever. Listening to music is a hobby of mine and I would love to share the music with everyone because sometimes the lyrics don’t matter and it’s all about the beat, and then it’s all about the lyrics and the beat and instrumentals are all just a plus.

ALMOST A 3 HOUR DRIVE AND I’M STILL IN THE SAME STATE

When deciding that I wanted to further my education so that I could do something of meaning with my life there were several factors I had to think about. I knew that I wanted to find an affordable school within a reasonable distance from home in addition to having my targeted field of study. However, this was not Burger King and I definitely could not have it my way so I had to sacrifice. I was not willing to relocate unless the price was right, and I can assure the price was not right. As a result I decided to go back to school part-time and make a two-hour trip twice a week for the next few years until my degree was completed. I would continue to work to pay for tuition and gas but then reality kicked in. I was aware that each time I traveled to school I would have to pay a toll, which I was completely fine with. The thing that I was not okay with was getting stuck in traffic, constant road-work (which I believe should not occur during the hours of 8am – 10pm), detours (that have taken me into another state, adding to my expenses), and having to make the trip three or four times a week. These trips were no longer two hours, rather two and a half hours up to four hours, and this was just driving one way.  Let’s face it, these drives were driving me crazy and I began developing road rage because I was not getting to where I needed to be fast enough. Driving up to four hours one way should have had me in a different state and to my destination already, so why was it taking me so long to get to where I needed to be in my own state.

The radio stations tended to play the same ten songs over and over again which was not helping my situation.One day, as I sat in traffic I reflected on my life and whether or not I even wanted to continue my education because I wasn’t sure if it was even worth it any more. I tried to blow off steam later on with a jog and my iPod. Then it hit me that perhaps my drive to school would not be as miserable if I had a few playlists that could help me pass the time as well as place my stress elsewhere. While focusing on the road, I would pretend I was either going for a run, practicing yoga, and more ideas that did not limit me to my little coupe and the bumper to bumper traffic surrounding me.