jam

U.S.A.

2011-07-06T22:30:00.000-06:00

went all out this fourth of july and celebrated like never before. started off the weekend with an overnight trip to montauk. cass and i packed into a van full of 11 boys. brought me back to my high school days, not the smartest idea. but we survived...

once back in the city we decided to get really patriotic and made a visit to lady liberty...

rode our bikes up to the standard hotel to watch the firework spectacle from an amazing rooftop view...

finished off the crazy weekend with nutella crepes, a bike ride to washington square park, and feelings of great sentiment...

feliz cumpleanos a mi

2011-06-09T13:08:00.001-06:00

i was not looking forward to my birthday this year because 28 sounds really old. but i ended up having such a great couple of days thanks to my amazing friends. we celebrated in the freezing cold water at far rockaway beach, movie night at tribeca grand hotel, lunch with the girlies, a much needed massage, and a perfect dinner followed by a bike ride to washington square park (my favorite).

subway ride home after long day at the beach. haha, poor nat.

baskin robbins ice cream birthday cake. so yummyyyyyy!

my two new beautiful birthday plants. my room is starting to look like a nursery.

cinco de mayo!

2011-05-07T14:41:00.000-06:00

one of my favorite holidays! no expectations and always fun.

best mexican food and margaritas to go!

me and cass hiding from ali in the closet. he was so confused!

new york i love you

2011-05-01T22:28:00.000-06:00

yesterday was one of those days where i was amazed and in love with where i live. woke up and ran the revlon 5k in honor of women who have been victims of cancer and the fight for eradication. started in time square and ended somewhere in central park. afterward went to brunch and then attempted to play tennis. trying to do anything on the weekends here is impossible! we waited 2 hours for a court and then left cause i had to pee. found our way to the skate park under the bk bridge where a local skate competition was going on. then randomly we decided to take the ikea ferry across to red hook and enjoyed the sunset on a bench next to the water looking across to manhattan. was such a spontaneous beautiful day!

two random dudes rocking out

sundays

2011-04-03T20:23:00.000-06:00

i love sundays and sunday brunch! especially when the sun is shinning.

my long lost friend dallin

nyc visitors

2011-04-03T19:55:00.000-06:00

i love that so many people wanna come visit me. even though it has nothing to with me and everything to do with the concrete jungle i live in.

these twinsies came with their babies. i was excited and babysat one night so they could enjoy the city without having to push through the crowds with two giant strollers. seriously i don't know how people have babies here, it would be such a nightmare. we went to brooklyn flea and it was impossible to get a stroller through there. i got my baby fix and wont be having one for a long long time.

i was so excited to hang with lulu that i woke her up from her nap as soon as chelsea left

rainier is so precious

bitty came for a weekend and we went to the climbing gym in bk

lotus

2011-03-29T17:48:00.000-06:00

radiohead will always be my favorite

moab

2011-03-22T13:09:00.000-06:00

decided to go to moab for the weekend, didn't realize that a marathon and college spring break were going on until we got there at midnight and couldn't find a camping spot. drove around for 2 hours trying to find somewhere we could put up our tent. finally we asked some drunk boys if we could share their camping spot. ended up being perfect, they left the next morning and we stayed away from all of the crowds and were close to the climbing walls.

chlesea being crazy/stupid and climbing with no shoes or ropes

teri leading the route for us

inspiration

2011-03-13T03:07:00.001-06:00

sometimes i feel so discouraged with various aspects of life, until i see things like this...

this paraplegic guy went off this double black diamond ledge like it was nothing. it's so inspiring to see someone turn something negative into something positive. he's my hero.

giving our legs a break and enjoying the beautiful day

march 9th-one year!

2011-03-09T22:04:00.001-07:00

today, one year ago, aly and i were on a plane to nyc. we were both so excited for the unknown. after an amazing month she left me to marry the love of her life and i stayed to continue my journey. i'm so grateful for aly, she is the bestest and the reason i live in nyc. i can't believe it's been a whole year! it almost feels like a dream. today aly and i celebrated by playing in the beautiful mountains of utah.


woke up to this


one of our first days in nyc

a beautiful thing

2011-03-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

this was a special moment for me

where were you PETA?

2011-02-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

my friend ben invited me to a show during fashion week. little did i know it was a fur show by dennis basso. oh man. unless it is a means of survival, how can people feel okay wearing the fur of a murdered animal? the whole time i was looking around for PETA peeps but they were nowhere to be found. boo. there were some looks that i liked but only if it were faux, even then still not really a fur kinda girl.

my favorites...

and then there were ones that scared me...


a hair necklace?! sick!


she looks like a porcupine ready to throw her quills

half woman/half giant hairy bush

v day in queens

2011-02-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

for valentine's day we went on a romantic getaway to queens. yep, queens ny. haha. it was great. we went to the spa castle. four floors of spa bliss. each room was themed. kind of a cheesy place but so awesome. we went with the intention of spending a few hours and ended up spending all day and night there.

home the movie

2011-02-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

home the movie is showing for a week only at a theater in the lower east side. (CLICK ON THE LINK TO WATCH THE TRAILER) i went today and was left feeling so inspired. the movie is a gift to the public to help educate/motivate individuals to give back to the earth and stop exploiting it before it is too late. it can be watched for free on youtube. filmed using only aerial footage, it is one of the most beautiful movies i have ever seen. our planet is amazing. but we take and take from her and don't give back. it's a one-way relationship that is inevitably quickly dying. it's easy to see that our planet is sick, but what we forget is that if our planet is sick, then so are we. as we are all one, connected to mother earth. who is to blame? i couldn't help but think of the book east of eden where one of the characters has this great idea of storing food with ice to make trading across the country feasible. all of the machines and technology that make mass production and life as we know it possible, started out with genius ideas that were revolutionary. it was innocent. how could anyone have fathomed what it would turn into, what it would do to our beautiful planet in time. years later, we see the devastating results but we are now dependent on this way of life. we no longer know how to be self-sufficient so we just give in because it is easy. but we don't have to. the narrator in the movie kept saying that now is not the time to be pessimistic, it's too late for that. it's time for action. it's funny how as a society we have such a hard time learning from history. how many ancient stories are there of a civilization getting greedy, eventually causing the downfall of an entire nation. or on a smaller scale, yet more tangible, the story of easter island. once a thriving beautiful island until the rapanuis exhausted it's resources. it became desolate and unable to sustain life. we clearly have not learned from these stories and find ourselves on the brink of the very same situation. and so the cycle repeats itself.

burj khalifa, located in dubai, is the largest skyscraper in the world. it reminds me of the tower of babel from the book of genesis which, as the story goes, was eventually destroyed.

aerial photos taken by yann arthus-bertrand, the director and co-writer of home....

just like molly

2011-01-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

my friend leah is a stylist here in ny and also a fashion blogger. she writes for a fashion blog targeting mormons. the idea is to keep women up to date on the latest fashion that is also modest. it was funny when she told me cause she isn't mormon and had no idea that i am. the blog is called just like molly, check it out.

puerto rico

2011-01-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

back in october i went to puerto rico with jessie for his friend's wedding. we happened to be there over halloween which ended up being my favorite halloween yet. we hired a guy to take us on his little fisherman's boat through the mangroves to the bioluminescent bay. it was dark and no other boats were out there. you aren't suppose to swim but since there were only five of us the guy let us. at first it was eerie swimming in the middle of the dark ocean but soon i was lost in my own avatar world. every movement you make causes the microscopic plankton to light up making the water glow. i could have swam for hours, they had to practically pull me back into the boat. when you get out of the water your whole body sparkles like shooting stars. we rode around in the boat for a while and the fish were going crazy jumping and darting everywhere causing the water to light up with bright blue and green fluorescent colors. i have never seen anything like it. i felt like i was living in another reality that i didn't want to leave. it was magical!

unable to capture the magic on camera

see the clump of trees in the distance? i convinced jessie to swim across to that tiny island with me. he almost drowned. i couldn't help him cause i was laughing so hard. it was suppose to be romantic but he wouldn't talk to me the whole time we were there. it was hilarious.

the rowdy crew

the wedding ceremony was at a beautiful ranch in the rain forest

custom made converse. so cute!

mofongo. doesn't look that good but it was so tasty. garlic shrimp on a mound of mashed plantains.

after the wedding we headed to the west side of the island to surf

image theft

2011-01-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

my friend amanda sent me this picture. apparently this poster of me is hanging up in the las vegas fashion show mall. i had no idea. i guess that's what i get for selling myself out to stock image companies a few years ago. i never know what i will be representing.

cleansing

2011-01-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

so i started a 21 day cleanse for the new year. i'm on day 10, almost half way through. i can eat as much as i want but it can only be vegetables, fruit, and either a cup of lentils or brown rice. and i have to take like 50 vitamins a day. it's been surprisingly easy for the most part and i feel so much better with more energy. but right now i'm sitting at a coffee shop next to people with amazing looking sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies (my weakness). oh how i miss bread and cheese!!! and the coffee is calling my name. i think i need to leave now.

the other night aubrey and i made a yummy meal of lentil soup, brussels sprouts, spaghetti squash and fruit salad for dessert. i'm becoming creative with my food options.

utah time

2011-01-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

i really enjoyed my extended time in utah being with friends and family. it was actually sorta hard coming back to nyc. walking around the dirty city, trash piled up on the streets, rats running over my feet, crowded, people bumping into me, my tiny apartment, i cant help but wonder why i left the solitude of the mountains to come back to this madness. almost makes me want to move back....but not quite, not yet.

x-country skiing up af canyon...

aly didn't bring her skis so she rode down on the back of teri's


kenya was too cold and crying to kristine to be held

playing at aly and mark's airborne. we had the whole place to ourselves to act like children...

day in midway hanging with tif and her fam...

snow shoeing up to our thighs. 43 new inches that day!!!

aly's cute new home and puppy...

my new god-dog filly

christmas day with the fam...


i miss these guys!!!

i was suppose to spend new year's in nyc but due to flight cancellation ended up in bear lake. so glad i did! woke up to this view out of my window new year's day...

-9 in logan canyon. nooooooooo!

backcountry skiing on cross-country skis new year's day

flight status:

2010-12-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

CANCELED! jfk airport shutdown due to all of the snow. next available flight from slc-january 2nd! i guess i will be spending my new year's in utah and not the big apple. oh well...more fun snow time for me.

merry christmas eve

2010-12-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

i'm soooo worked...fourth day in a row. trying to fit in as much mountain time as i can while i'm here. today was the best. blue bird and first tracks on road to provo after being closed for a few days. one of the top ten runs of my life.

little cloudy

2010-12-24T23:36:00.000-07:00

day 3...

wet land

2010-12-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

brighton today. no one was there. we found a bowl where we got fresh tracks over and over and over. i've never complained about it being too deep but today i did....

went over some nice looking pow but sunk to my waist and had to dig myself out

white fluffy stuff

2010-12-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

i forget how beautiful and amazing utah is. i made it home just in time to play in all the new snow. went snowboarding with a bunch of crazies today and my legs are paying the price.


hiking up baldy to get some freshies

oh christmas tree...

2010-12-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite things about christmas time is a smelly pine tree with pretty lights. this year i had to make my own. i took some of the decorations from a job i did and made a pine branch arrangement. it makes me happy and smells good!

women's rights

2010-12-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

i discovered the best thing last night! there is an organization called rightrides that offers free rides to women between the hours of 12-3 am. volunteers use zip cars to pick women up and take them safely home. the idea is to help prevent crimes against women. i took advantage of it last night! it was great!

little bit

2010-12-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

i couldn't convince anyone to go scalp lykke li tickets with me last night so i reluctantly decided to go by myself. so glad i went, ran into a friend there and enjoyed the amazing show up close and personal. she puts on such a good performance, so dramatic and intense. i totally have a girl crush.

vampire life

2010-11-18T04:06:00.000-07:00

so i have officially become a vampire, or at least feel like one. i can never seem to make it to bed before 3 am. last night stayed out til dawn and woke up today with only 2 hours left of daylight. ugh. it makes me feel so gross so i told my body that i would get her to bed early tonight. its 3 am now and here i am eating haagen-dazs, listening to elton john, reading my book, and blogging. i need to either break this vampire habit or start taking vitamin d supplements.

east of eden

2010-11-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

this classic by steinbeck is easily one of the best books i have ever read. i'm in the middle of it right now, just when you think the best has already happened and it starts to plateau it gets even better! it's one of those books that turns me into a recluse and all i want to do is stay home and read.

"But you sad you did not love our father. How can you have faith in him if you didn't love him?"

"Maybe that's the reason," Adam said slowly, feeling his way. "Maybe if I had loved him I would have been jealous of him. You were. Maybe-maybe love makes you suspicious and doubting. Is it true that when you love a woman you are never sure-never sure of her because you aren't sure of yourself? I can see it pretty clearly. I can see how you loved him and what it did to you. I did not love him. Maybe he loved me. He tested me and hurt me and punished me and finally he sent me out like a sacrifice, maybe to make up for something. But he did not love you, and so he had faith in you. Maybe-why, maybe it's a kind of reverse."

play time

2010-11-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

this past month has been busy with all play. first my sister and her bf came to visit for a week, went home to utah for my best little friendy aly's wedding, then to puerto rico. it was fun having my sister here, how i miss my ter-bear! we saw a lot of the city on bikes which is the best way! it is crazy how one block in manhattan can be so much different from the next. we rode up to central park and all through spanish harlem looking for some cheap authentic eats.

rode over the brooklyn bridge and up through williamsburg. hausen is jealous of pregnant women, wishing he could carry his own child....

ride along the west side highway...

took them to eat at my favorite cuban restaurant...

we went and saw jessie's show in brooklyn. they put on a really good show. twas a fun night!

brother and sister? or bf and gf?...

this dude decided to take a nap in the most inconvenient spot...

euro red riding hood

2010-11-05T20:58:00.000-06:00

this video is amazing! "where are you?" "where are you?" edward, is that you??

summer days

2010-10-11T22:09:00.000-06:00

i have been in denial that summer is over. it came and went in a flash. goodbye summer....we had some great days...

sailing on the hudson at sunset...

the us open...

picnics in central park...

sunrise in montauk...

camping upstate...

surfing at far rockaway...

riding my new bike through the city...

sicky

2010-10-10T21:57:00.000-06:00

i've been in bed for the last two days sick with the flu. blah. i was complaining to my dad about being bored so he suggested i check out this video on youtube. good job dad.

carry me home

2010-09-29T16:10:00.000-06:00

i found this song and video today. perfect to go along with the past couple days of dreariness and rain (which i love every once in a while). good excuse to stay home and be lazy all day, watch movies, read, eat lots of food and find random things on the internet.

san genarro

2010-09-22T10:35:00.000-06:00

san genarro is a two week festival that is going on right outside my door. it is a nightmare. i wake up to the smell of nasty fried chicken and horrible folk music. i get so agro every time i step out my door. tons of fat tourists that won't move out of the way cause they are too busy eating the deep fried oreo sandwich (sick!). it's like all of the worst parts of a carnival right at my doorstep. even worse is late at night when it has closed down and the entire street is filled with trash and giant, well fed, rats.

2010-09-18T15:01:00.000-06:00

"I want you to like me. But i don't care if you don't."

fashion week

2010-09-17T09:46:00.000-06:00

first fashion show in nyc, got to be backstage for the perry ellis show and watch all the hot male models get undressed, unfortunately i wasn't able to sneak any picts.

as much as i loved watching the men, the women, or i should say girls, were much better at walking the walk.

milly by michelle smith...

shitty video from my phone

my favorites from the collection...

welcome hurricane earl

2010-09-03T02:58:00.000-06:00

earl is making for some good waves. that means more people in the water fighting for waves. and for me a surfing collision. luckily i only hurt my leg.

i am love

2010-08-30T22:04:00.000-06:00

had to go see this movie a second time. it is beautiful. the cinematography, music, food, acting, architecture, the nature love scene, all of it is beautiful.

beautiful utah

2010-08-23T12:45:00.000-06:00

went home for a couple of weeks. i was forgetting how beautiful it is there. did all of the things i love that i don't get much of in ny. spent the first few days at a medical conference up at snowbird. hiking during the lunch breaks...

camping with the fam and some good friends...

we saw a fox on our ride and had to grab yuma so she wouldn't chase him

starvation reservoir...

jeremy the merman

yuma found a huge tree trunk floating and decided to swim it to shore, took her a good half hour.

mountain biking...


we made it back to the car just as it started pouring rain and hailing.

early morning lap swimming...

marquesitas...


my sister and brother sell these amazing mexican desserts at farmer's markets. i ate so many i made myself sick.

perseid meteor shower watching in the mountains...


wish i took this pic. courtesy of u.s. naval observatory august 13, 2010. this is the best pic that i could get...chelsea looking grumpy but actually emotional over the spectacular show...

hanging out at thailer's resourceful home...


my cute sister all grown up

the suburbs

2010-08-10T10:03:00.000-06:00

last week i was lucky enough to experience the amazingness of arcade fire's new tour featuring "the suburbs" directed by terry gilliam. the show was skin chilling. everyone there was sooo into it, the energy was so high, everyone singing along. madison square gardens was completely filled with arcade fire fans, i couldn't see one unoccupied seat! and to top it off owen pallett and spoon opened up for them.

AMAZING

beach days at far rockaway

2010-07-13T22:29:00.000-06:00

i have been going to the beach a couple times a week. so nice to get out of the hot muggy city and be by the water. today was an experience. decided to go even though there was a good chance of rain. got out there and shuttle was down due to a power outage. so we walked a couple of miles to the beach in the middle of a down pour. by the time we got there we were soaking. it ended up being one of the best days at the beach, entirely vacant and to ourselves and the water was warmer than usual. playing in the waves and rain was magical.

today....

yesterday....

creators project

2010-06-27T10:20:00.000-06:00

got lucky and was invited to the creators project yesterday at milk studios. total sensory overload. first some music by the rapture. then took some time to enjoy all of the art exhibitions. one in particular touched me.....

sat down for a while to watch a spike jonze screening of "i'm here" which made me feel very sentimental. at the end of the film the screen came up and there was the lost trees (a "fictional band") performing live. it was kind of amazing! at the same time the view of the hudson river at dusk made that moment in time even more perfect.

next was sleigh bells in a packed and very sweaty room. no one seemed to mind though, the music and performance entranced everyone there.

enjoyed interpol for a bit then ended the night dancing like a crazy person during the surprise m.i.a. performance. somehow made my way to the front, as a result i have some large bruises all over my body but it was totally worth it.

2010-06-14T22:26:00.001-06:00

doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd
-voltaire

simple truth

2010-06-02T00:03:00.000-06:00

i went running on the brooklyn bridge today and on my way saw some inspiring street art. i had to go back and take a picture...

phantogram

2010-05-20T09:40:00.000-06:00

i saw the phantograms at the bowery last night. they put on a good show. the venue is great and it is only a few blocks from my house. i love being able to walk everywhere.

buddhahood

2010-05-18T21:35:00.000-06:00

my friend isabelle invited me to her buddhist meeting tonight. it was held at a woman's house in the west village. about 15 people were there and it started with a mantra that we repeatedly chanted for half an hour "nam myoho renge kyo" (devotion to the mystic law of cause and effect) or in other words karma. it was very interesting and uplifting. the energy in the room was positive and inviting. i think the cool african art everywhere helped contribute.

may 8, 2010

2010-05-15T11:09:00.000-06:00

i went home to utah for a week to move the rest of my stuff. while i was there i went snowboarding in may! surprisingly the snow was really good.

that night we went camping, i took yuma and she was so good. i miss her! she is such a sweet fun dog.

banana boats: melted chocolate and marshmallow in a banana. so yummy!!!!

yogi

2010-05-04T17:03:00.000-06:00

i found a great place to do yoga called yoga to the people. it's a donation based studio so of course there are around 60 people in each class, it gets very sweaty. i was a little freaked out the first time i went, apparently sighing and moaning sends out "good vibrations" but some of the people get a little out of control with it! enough with the moaning people. i'm hoping to one day aspire to this.......

disneyland

2010-05-04T17:02:00.000-06:00

so i moved into my tiny new apartment over the weekend. i feel like i live in disneyland, outside my window is the heart of little italy. it's been soooo hot here the past few days, by the time i make it up the six flights of stairs to my apartment i'm sweating and i have no ac to cool off. my shower is literally a bath tub with a curtain next to the kitchen sink. and did i mention that i pay triple the amount here? ha. it's actually a really great apartment with a lot of character and my roomate is the coolest. but i will say that it is definitely a real new york experience.

missing aly

2010-04-14T16:21:00.000-06:00

aly is gone back to utah and i miss her! still enjoying nyc, hope i get busier soon though. here are some random pictures over the past month...

maddie and i checking out the peepholes in the bathroom of the smith (best dessert and 1930's porn)

a new way to mate...

2010-04-03T18:16:00.000-06:00

i always knew smell was important

bike rides in manhattan

2010-04-03T18:07:00.000-06:00

wyatt and i decided to go for a bike ride through the city today. it was definitely different than riding my bike in the mountains of utah. it was so sketchy, dodging opening taxi doors, oblivious pedestrians and crazy traffic. not to worry, i made sure to rent a helmet. we rode from downtown to central park, such a beautiful place in the middle of the city.

my awesome dolphin helmet!

privacy?

2010-04-02T10:22:00.001-06:00

we have no privacy in our one bedroom apartment. while aly is having an intense conversation, jess and i make ourselves comfortable in the bathroom and play words with friends on our iphones.

saturdays

2010-03-22T12:11:00.000-06:00

i love saturdays. woke up to a market going on outside my window.

then went and explored brooklyn a bit

trevor invited us to hang out at the penthouse where he was shooting victoria secret the next day. views were amazing....

MoMa

2010-03-19T14:13:00.000-06:00

here is some art i enjoyed from the moma.....

i'm reading kaffir boy currently, a true story about a boy's experience growing up during the apartheid in south africa. this picture depicts the visions in my head while reading the book. everyone should read kaffir boy, thanks amanda for the gift.

avitar style, i want to be a part of that world.

love this classic

and my favorite by andrew wyeth. this picture holds a lot of different meanings to me.

star struck

2010-03-18T13:44:00.000-06:00

yesterday i had my first professional photo shoot in nyc with my friend trevor owsley. a little intimidating is what it was. he shoots regularly for victoria secret, j crew, and ann taylor. it ended up being really fun once i was able to relax a little. i am excited to see the final photos.

trevor shooting the famous model renata maciel. she is such an amazing model! and so nice, down to earth, and real. i'll admit i was a little star struck by her.

me being intimidated after watching renata

nyc-where dreams are made of?

2010-03-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

aly and i arrived to the big city late last night. took the airtrain from new jersey to manhattan. found the apartment with little trouble and thought we were doing fairly good until today. we had our first grocery shopping experience which turned out to be hell. we found trader joe's and went a little crazy. i guess we forgot that we had to haul all of our groceries back to the apartment 20 minutes away. we had to keep stopping and resting so that our arms wouldn't fall off. eventually one of the bags broke and there went our food all over the street. embarrassing. finally we made it home after getting lost to find ourselves locked out. our newly made keys apparently don't work. i think next time we will fork out the whole 5 dollars to get our groceries delivered.

aly using her handy iphone to get us home

our new home in the west village.....

alice?

2010-03-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

i was so excited for this movie. was good but left a little disappointed. i love all of the great quotes in the book and i kept waiting to hear them with no luck.

Mad Hatter: Ah thank goodness! Those are the things that upset me!
March Hare: See all the trouble you started?
Alice: But I didn't think...
March Hare: Ah, that's just it. If you don't think, then you shouldn't talk.

they actually did use my favorite quote...

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

que lo que

2010-02-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

went on a family vacation to the dominican republic a month ago. we had planned our trip prior to the devastating earthquake in haiti. the two countries share the same island but are opposites in comparison. the dr has so much vegetation and agriculture where as haiti receives little rainfall and has poor soil for crops with a much higher population density. not to mention the on going deforestation of haiti. what happened to the haitians is tragic but maybe this is an opportunity for them to start over and create a better life for themselves. i am hopeful that all of the billions of dollars that has been raised will be put to proper use for the country. the natural disaster didn't affect the dr much, other than taking in thousands of refugees. the dr has set up numerous help centers for haiti, it was amazing to see how the world has come together to help. we were able to take down medical supplies which are in much need. thank you to all who contributed. i was hoping to stay an extra couple of weeks and volunteer in the medical clinics on the border but it ended up falling through. i was disappointed but i guess it wasn't meant to be. enjoyed my time with my family and experiencing the beautiful country.

it was my aunt's birthday and to celebrate she wanted to do a 29 mile roundtrip hike in 2 days. the hike takes you to the top of pico duarte, the highest point in the caribbean. elevation gain is 7,465 feet. we had mules carrying our packs and extra mules to ride if unable to do the hike. my dad, robert, teri and i were the only ones who made it to the peak without riding a mule. suckas, or maybe we were the suckers. we did 12 miles the first day and camped at a rest point. woke up at 4 am the next day and hiked in the light of a full moon for 2 more hours to summit by sunrise. it was amazing. so beautiful and peaceful. hiking up-hill can be tiring but going downhill is brutal. so hard on your joints and knees. we all decided to take the mules down. it was a little sketchy, it had rained so it was muddy and really steep. the mules were pretty much sliding the whole way down. mules are super fun to ride, their footing is so sure and they even would gallop at times.

in between our excursions we stayed at a friend's cabin. one night they had dinner prepared for us. they carried in a pig on a stake, laid it on the table, and started chopping it up with a machete. i couldn't watch but i did eat it. thank you pig for offering your life to feed us, you tasted delicious.

went and did an obstacle course that turned disaterous. my aunt was going down the zipline and the guy at the bottom forgot to grab the rope to stop her and she slammed into a pole. luckily she was okay, just had a huge bruise and couldn't sit for a few days. the owners came running over when they heard that something had happened but my aunt denied it in order to prevent the workers from losing their jobs.

next we made our way to cabarete, a well know beach town for kiteboarders and windsurfers. i really want to learn to kiteboard but it takes some time to learn how to fly the kite and we only had two days. we were lucky and the two days we were there, there was no wind, perfect for surfing. woke up at 7 and surfed til 3 both days, bad idea. even though i put so much sunscreen on i got the worst sunburn. ouchy.

my awesome rash gaurd sunburn line

stopped on the road for a cocunut

my dad got so sick from the plane ride, he threw up 5 times and couldn't move the rest of the day. torro the gaurd dog kept licking his face. poor papi.

new favorite song for the moment

2010-02-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

lately i have been way into stevie nicks. rumor is she is a wiccan.

this backstage performance is amazing. sidenote-this song was released four days after the day of my birth.

2010-02-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears.Wish you were here."

everything white

2010-02-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

i went to snowbird today. good powder, complete whiteout, the fog was so thick that all you could see was white. i looked down-white, i looked up-white. it was like floating in the midst of nowhere. listening to junior boys, i started going faster and faster with no idea what was ahead of me. i have never had so many butterflies in my life, better than any roller coaster ride. until i got vertigo and wanted to throw up. later on i saw a huge, pure white rabbit hopping around in the trees. i thought i was alice in wonderland, except i decided to not go down the rabbit hole.

day of love

2010-02-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

i think everyday is a day of love

sundance

2010-01-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

fun weekend in park city

photo by Gabriel L'Heureux

2010

2010-01-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

this new year's was a special one since it happened to be on the same night of a blue moon. therefore i decided to celebrate by painting my lips blue. spent the new years week in laguna beach with a few friends. able to do a little surfing but the water was freezing even with a wet suit.

2009-12-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

"I quite agree with you," said the Duchess; "and the moral of that is--'Be what you would seem to be'--or if you'd like it put more simply--'Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.'" "I think I should understand that better," Alice said very politely, "`if I had it written down: but I can't quite follow it as you say it." "That's nothing to what I could say if I chose," the Duchess replied, in a pleased tone."Pray don't trouble yourself to say it any longer than that," said Alice.

"Who are YOU?" said the Caterpillar.This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, "I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - - that's all."

Mad Hatter: Ah thank goodness! Those are the things that upset me!
March Hare: See all the trouble you started?
Alice: But I didn't think...
March Hare: Ah, that's just it. If you don't think, then you shouldn't talk.

if you believe it so shall it be

2009-12-13T14:59:00.001-07:00

the good and the bad......

dear santa......

2009-12-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

addiction

2009-11-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

me: i pulled up your records and it looks as though you are dependent on this medication.

patient: oh no, i'm not dependent, i just need it to function.

me: thank you, my point exactly.

randomness

2009-11-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

the most powerful way to speak is through brevity

i want a kitty. here kitty kitty....

living is easy with eyes closed
misunderstanding all you see
-john lennon

to understand others is to have knowledge;
to understand oneself is to be illuminated.
to conquer others needs strength;
to conquer oneself is harder still.
to be content with what one has is to be rich.
-tao te ching

vampire feast

2009-11-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

at work til midnight trying to put this thumb back together...

had to remove the entire fingernail....

after putting some deep absorbable sutures in, and trying to find some skin to cover the tissue and attach to the nail bed, i finally got it to stop bleeding....until i took off the tourniquet, then it was a bloody mess again. put some more sutures in and applied pressure long enough to stop the bleeding and finally go home. all in all it was a good time. no limbs were lost.

doc in the box

2009-11-17T17:02:00.001-07:00

so i had a friend from costa rica call me last night and he was asking me what exactly my job entails. "oh so you are like a doc in the box" was his response to my explanation. i was a little offended but whatever. then i come to work today and that is exactly what i feel like. weirdest day. first a 38 year old woman comes in for a "sinus infection" (whatever people it will go away on it's own just be patient) she was given an antibiotic that works well for sinuses and is recommended as first line treatment. well her mother calls back (let me remind you that the patient is 38, why is her mother calling?) and says that she wants a z pack instead. well a z pack doesn't work so well for sinuses but she did enough bitching and got what she wanted. then the mother calls again and says never mind it is a different antibiotic she wants. well the answer was no, this isn't a fastfood joint where you can just order what you want. she was pissed and hung up the phone. then i get a man who brings his son in and wants us to drug test him without his knowledge. seriously? where is the trust? and is that even legal? then he also demanded that i run a bunch of un-necessary blood tests for a sore throat. i tried so hard to stand up for what i believe but the man was so domineering i couldn't help but feel like a weak little girl in his presence. i caved. i guess money and power win again. i'm so pissed. would you like a swine flu shot too?

hello winter

2009-11-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

"You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintery light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen." Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

sexy vampier girl. i have always wanted to be one. sometimes i like to pretend i am one. bare necks are so tempting.

oh love. i love love.

although this is how i feel sometimes.....

tick-tock

2009-11-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

good news is i officially got my job back, i guess my boss realized how important i am to him. ha. bad news is i am so completely bored at work right now. at least i am not seeing a bunch of sheep who fell into the pharmaceutical ploy and are convinced they have the swine flu. wasting time surfing the internet and found some random pictures that i find interesting:

this is why i have avoided facebook for so long....

i'm a little fascinated with wolfs ever since one appeared in my life not too long ago. they are magical creatures.

surfs up

2009-11-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

sadly there were no waves up. the only thing that was up was 15 feet to my right.

trying not to be conspicuous at first....

and no it's not a bird.

yuck. so gross but hilarious. who is this old man that thinks it is fun to take a bunch of viagra and go sit on a public beach for hours? ewe.

halloween in la-la land

2009-11-02T12:01:00.001-07:00

i have no words........

swine flu

don't drink and drive kids

wolf vs dog

2009-10-20T17:08:00.000-06:00

today has been an exciting one for sure. i was running on a trail up milcreek canyon this morning when we came around a corner and there in the middle of the trail was a big gray lone wolf. yuma decided she wanted to play and ended up in a fight with the wolf. the wolf was twice the size of her (yuma is a small black lab). they were wrestling, falling down the mountain side, and all i could do was stand there and yell. noooooooooo!!!!! i thought she would come back missing an eye for sure. good thing jeff was there, he ran after the two wrestling dogs throwing rocks. the wolf got scared and ran up the mountain a little but turned around to stare at us. my little moon dog just howled at the wolf, she wanted to be mates. in the end there was no blood shed. it was scary but very exciting. i looked up wolf totems and this is what the wolf represents: power animal, teacher, pathfinder, spirit of freedom. aligned with the moon energies the wolf teaches us to honor the feminine qualities within ourselves. she shows us the value of transformation. "If wolf appears in your life examine where you need to develop more confidence and if you need more balance between friends, family, and yourself."

other exciting news for today is that my mom and cousin robert have decided to grow a vineyard on the fields next to my childhood home. apparently grapes grow very well in utah.

i gotta a feeling....good night

2009-10-16T11:55:00.001-06:00

not having a job is great. bummed a ride to las vegas (i hate that place) but the beatles love cirque de soleil show totally made it worth it. it is a must see for sure. also went to armin van buurin at rain which ended up being really fun. then made my way to ca to see my favoritest boyfriends jeff and jer. played some tennis and hungout. took dance classes with kei-kei at the edge. so amazing. dance is the perfect way of expressing emotions. when you are in-sync with the song and the movement it brings a feeling of wholeness that i cant quite explain. you get lost in your own reality where everything is perfect and in balance. in the words of the star people "ka ta see".

putting movement to this song was powerful

we won the lottery!!!! yeaaaaaa!

ewe jeff whats wrong with you?

gary is the best.

awls

2009-10-04T11:51:00.000-06:00

went to moab and got my advanced wilderness life support certification. wooot wooot. altitude sickness, hypo/hyperthermia, avalanche survival, extrication's, c-spine injuries, lightning strikes, all that good stuff. it was fun but hopefully i never have to utilize it. also had some time for river floating, full-moon hiking, and crack climbing.

went to the t-shirt shop and got this print for the second time. love it. a witch riding her bike to the moon. perfect!!!

no job

2009-09-29T10:46:00.000-06:00

so i got an email from my boss the day before i was coming home saying that i don't have a job anymore due to the low patient census. so i quickly decided that i was just going to stay in costa rica for another month since i love it so much there. i had made up my mind and was determined to figure out how to stay but then when it came to get my flight i decided i better go home and figure out what to do now. i miss it so much there. i met so many great people. at first when i decided to go out there alone i was super nervous and a little scared but i am so glad i went alone. it allowed me to meet new friends with all different life experiences and backgrounds. i grew a lot from each individual i met. but i guess it was time for me to come home with all that i have learned and figure out what to do. i'm now okay with the job news, i have learned everything happens for a reason so there is something else out there for me. it is funny how people think that once you have a career that is it. it doesn't work for me that way. i always think now what? so now just living day to day. today i am headed to moab to get some more cme credit. learning how to assist people who are in need of medical attention in the wilderness. im really excited about this, it is something i have desired to learn for a while.

last night in costa rica

last day of surfing

livia and lisa the yogi (zen one moment and crazy italian the next, best heart)

miss you costa rica, be back soon

dinero?

2009-09-21T16:24:00.000-06:00

all out of money now. luckily i met friends here who are letting me live with them. still surfing and doing yoga almost everyday. there is something about being in the water that makes me so happy. also been reading a lot. mostly magical realism which i am super into right now. i think i have read almost every paulo coelho book. pura vida.

weekend surf trip

2009-09-18T18:01:00.000-06:00

heading to pavones this weekend. pavones is near the panama border and supposedly has the second longest left break in the world, good for me since i am goofy. excited but a little nervous, i hope the waves are not too big for me. i am a beginner. i already broke my board in half earlier this week while dodging a giant wave. ugh. estaba triste porque era una buena tabla para mi.

some surfing pictures from earlier this week

my friend carlos sanchez took this photo. he is a great local photographer.

he took this photo while we were at the beach. then he photoshopped it. too bad i don't look like this in real life.

no more fear

2009-09-17T08:33:00.000-06:00

teri and kelene came to visit me for a long weekend. they had a lot they wanted to do in a short amount of time so that meant a lot of driving around the country. we mostly drove at night which was crazy. there are few highways here and most of the driving is on small windy roads through the mountains which are generally covered with mist. here you must learn how to pass diesel trucks on blind corners or else you are stuck going about 15 mph the entire way. sometimes you even get stuck waiting for a sloth (slowest animal on this planet) to cross the road. it was very entertaining, i felt as if i were driving a car in a video game. first we headed north in hope to see the turtles laying their eggs, but we happened to be a month too early. so we surfed and did the canopy zipline thing. next we made our way to arenal and visited the famous baldi thermals. there are 20 different pools all different temperatures and two really fun water slides. we signed up to do a canyonnering trip but when we woke up it was raining. they wouldn't let us go because the canyon was filled with water but if the rain miraculously stopped we could go on the afternoon tour. so we went back and performed a rain dance giving thanks for the prosperity it brings but asked for it to please stop for a few hours so we could go canyonnering. it worked. a few hours later we were hiking in water and rappelling down four different waterfalls. the largest being 200 feet high. normally i would have been scared to do this, but i wasn't. when i was in peru we had hiked to the top of machu picchu mountain and were visiting with a shaman on a ledge overlooking the ruins thousands of feet from the bottom. here i told the shaman in my broken spanish "tengo miedo porque estamos muy alto" meaning "i have scared because we are very high". he told me "you aren't meant to fall, you are meant to fly". since then it seems as though i have no more fear.

taken during a long car ride.

almost stepped on this guy.

frustration

2009-09-14T15:20:00.000-06:00

last week i was getting frustrated with surfing. i switched to a small board, the waves were bigger and choppy, harder to catch. i was angy with myself because it felt as though i was regressing. but today was great. i caught a perfect left wave and was carving and even pumping. it felt so good. best ride yet.

it rains here almost every afternoon or evening. i like it. very soothing and the rain is warm. 5 seconds in the rain and it is as though you jumped in a pool. one night it rained so hard for so many hours that the roads flooded along with the local grocery store. i guess it is a common occurence. no one seemed too worried.

meike ya se va. se extraño.

marcado de fruta. ya basta!

went on a "fieldtrip" to the waterfalls. encountered a poisonous dart frog.

saw this leaf on a hike through the jungle. que preciosa!

back to the pure life

2009-09-08T14:36:00.000-06:00

i have been back in costa rica now for a little over a week. i had no idea where i was going to stay or how i was going to get where ever i decided to go and this time i am traveling alone. i happened to sit next to zach on the airplane who has a spanish/surf/yoga school in jaco called school of the world www.schooloftheworld.org/. so i came here with him and have been here since. it worked out perfectly. i am really enjoying it here. i do find though that i already have made a routine for myself. as humans we love routine, it makes us feel safe. right now i am reading journey to ixtland teachings of don juan and it talks about routine and how animalistic that is of us. but i could do this routine for awhile. i wake up early for yoga, then a few hours of spanish mid-day, and surfing in the afternoon. in between all of that i am trying to spend an hour for personal spanish study and an hour for meditation and visualization. it is really nice to just BE.

sunset from outside my bedroom door.

crocodile boat ride.

my new friend mieke.

home sweet home

2009-09-02T15:53:00.000-06:00

went home for a few days for my brothers wedding. took 24 hours to get home and another 22 to get back to costa rica. not to mention the cost of the plane ticket back. but it was all worth it to watch how happy my brother looked as his new wife walked down the isle. it was also nice to hang out with family, friends, and my cute puppy whom i miss a lot.

i have a small fixation with the moon. this was the view of the moon up provo canyon at the reception.

pura vida!!!

2009-08-28T14:04:00.000-06:00

barely made it to costa rica. got to the airport in lima and found out in order to be let into costa rica from another south american country you must have had a yellow fever vaccination no earlier than 10 days prior to your arrival in costa rica. both robert and i had never heard of this and therefore did not have proof of it. we found at taxi cab driver at the airport who said he could help us so we got in his car and he took us to a vacant restaurant where we met a "doctor" who was going to forge our yellow fever card. he told us he had to take our passports into the restaurant. i don't know why we trusted him but we did and luckily he came back with our passports and fake yellow fever cards. 100 dollars later. ugh. it was so sketchy, i had my mase ready.
finally met up with some family and friends in costa rica. it was such a different feel. peru was more about hiking, thinking, self-discovery, and costa rica was fast paced cram as many activities as we could into one day. i think one of my favorite things was swimming at night in a pool with pounding rain while listening to the waves break on the shore and enjoying the beautiful lightning and crazy loud thunder.

volcano poas. snuck into the park at night but unfortunately did not see any lava.

white water rafting near volcano arenal. unlike most other rivers this one had continuous rapids with little time for taking a break.

robert and i fell out on the first big rapid. a little scary but more fun.

sunset from a long car ride.

mexican cousins. ha.

lychee, my new favorite fruit. tastes sort of like a giant peeled grape.

yoga on the beach in manuel antonio

first day of surfing in costa rica. started out on the baby waves.

next we drove six hours to the osa peninsula where the corcovado jungle resides. it is considered to be the second lung of the world, second to the amazon of course. on our drive we were lucky to see a sloth crossing the road, almost ran it over. those things are super slow and rarely come down from the trees. it was the one thing i was determined to see. we decided to splurge once we got there and stayed on this very expensive private reserve for one night. it was definitely worth it. middle of the jungle, very remote with howler monkeys howling all night long (scary sound when you first hear it), wild toucans and macaws right outside our mesh windows, best to watch flying around at sunrise while sitting on our private veranda overlooking the sea. it truly was paradise. i have never seen anything like it. not to mention there was a long left point break close to the reserve small enough for a beginner like me to surf on with turtles popping up here and there. it was like a beautiful dream.

macaws always fly in pairs. they are monogamous birds so much so that when their partner dies they commit suicide by not eating.

magic.

almost stepped on this guy during a tour through the jungle. this snake is small but very venomous. good thing i had giant boots on.

this plant has evolved to grow in a spiral in order to get the most energy from photosynthesis. smart plant.

remains of a spider monkey after serving as a meal for a puma. there are a number of cats that roam the osa peninsula, the majority being pumas but also the endangered osa and jaguar.

i love this picture.

back to lima

2009-08-28T13:46:00.000-06:00

met robert back in lima for our last couple of days in peru. we stayed at a hostel with a lot of really interesting people. old men who left everything behind to discover life, a couple who were mostly interested in their cocaine they had smuggled from columbia, some random travelers who are spending a year to explore south america, and my new friend scott who shared with me his interesting and inspiring views on life. he shared with me this quote "religion is for those who are afraid of hell. spirituality is for those who have been there." and while i don't necessarily agree with the first part (there is SO much more that goes into religion than just fearing hell) i do think there is something to be said for the second part. it is funny that pain, in GENERAL, is usually what provokes spiritual growth in humans and spirituality is the very thing that diminishes pain. anyway, it was very nice to spend a couple of days relaxing, reading, catching up on sleep, and being able to spend hours talking at dinner without worrying about time.

cooking delicious, cheap meals in the hostel. robert is a great cook. i am a great dishwasher.

the catacombs underneath a cathedral in lima

i love this ancient library. so harry potteresk.

nothing is coincidental

2009-08-14T16:01:00.001-06:00

3rd day in machupicchu. robert left the day before. sometimes it is good to be alone, forces you to meet new people, speak the language and endulge in the culture. woke up at 4 am to stand in line to be one of the first 400 to climb huayna picchu, they put a limit on the number they allow up. once on top of the mountain i didn't want to leave. spent a couple hours sitting on a rock feeling as if the world was mine. met a new friend will who gave me a book called the celestine prophecy. great insights to life but storyline pretty typical. did enjoy it though. talks alot about nothing being a coincidence. people we meet things that happen all have a higher meaning. so keep your eyes open.

remember the past, live the present, project the future

2009-08-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

incas weren't christian duh. funny pic.

mystical experience

2009-08-14T15:46:00.000-06:00

beautiful orchids, my favorite. and even better on the top of machu picchu.

flying. sheer cliff, thousands of feet to the bottom.

cocaine chew. the leaves help with aclimating to the elevation.

evolution

2009-08-14T15:43:00.001-06:00

4th and last day of the trek walked mostly on railroad with our final destination of aguas calientes. got so sick of looking at rail tracks over and over and over. on the way saw this giant walking stick. wow. evolution is amazing. i mean how exactly does a stick become alive and able to walk. energy and frequency i think is the answer. it reminded me that as humans we can evolve and transcend. but we must first become aware.

giant avacados, aguacates, or palta. all the same. all yuuuuuummmmmmmmy.

santa teressa

2009-08-14T15:41:00.001-06:00

day 3 of the trek was mostly in the jungle. i was thankful for the warmth but missed the power of the mountains. made it to our camp site which was in the small town of santa teressa. our camping site had a small monkey named pancho, who comes around often to be fed and interact with people. pancho´s best friend is a dog who he likes to sit on the back of and ride like a horse. cutest thing ever! in sata teressa there are thermals which we all thoroughly enjoyed. decided to make a three layer human pyramid by standing in a circle, second layer standing on shoulders, and me, the third layer, standing on top of the second layers shoulders. it was a task, but we were successful. everyone in the pools were cheering. good times.

natural thermals in santa teressa.

apu salkantay

2009-08-13T13:41:00.000-06:00

day 2- woke up with ice on the ground, drank some cocaine tea (cocaine leaves help to acclimate to the altitude). also had a cup of pro arginine which contains two amino acids l-arginine and l-citrulline combined with various antioxidants. this natural product was researched and developed by dr. ignarro, a cardiologist who won the nobel prize in medicine in 1998 for his discovery of nitric oxide and how it works on the cardiovascular system. he has been using this natural product for over 10 years and not one of his patients has experienced a heart attack. there is much this amino acid can do and i could go on about it forever but i will stick to the importance of it on the trek. most of the people with us are use to living at sea level, so being 4,000 meters plus in elevation takes its toll. one of the girls with us had a headache all day and after about 5 minutes of drinking some hot water with a scoop of pro arginine her headache disappeared. what this product does is allows the arteries to relax and become more elastic allowing more blood flow, and in turn more oxygen being delivered to muscles and brain. if anyone is interested there is a book on this called no more heart disease. very informative and interesting.

anyway, on our way to the top of the pass our peruvian guide told us that if we wanted we could make a sacrifice for salkantay by carrying a 10 lbs or more rock to the top, so of course we did it and he took us to this lake at the bottom of the glacier which he never usually takes people to, but i guess we were a special group. the lake was the most amazing color of blue, turned this color from the minerals of the sacred (apu) mountain salkantay. here we did a small ceremony and took some time for meditation. i had a very special moment there that was a catalyst for the rest of my life. that mountain is definitely sacred.

the friends.

my sacrifice. looks small but was a bitch to carry up.

after we had reached our highest elevation point of 4,680 meters=15,350 feet we began our descent back into the jungle. on the way we were lucky to see a condor, the inca people revere this bird as a representation of the celestial. this particular bird has a wing span of 12 feet!

modern day witch sacrifice.

4 day trek to machupicchu

2009-08-13T13:28:00.000-06:00

train delayed a few hours so i will catch up on my blogging. day 1- met the 10 other people on our trek, got lucky, everyone was really fun except 3 germans who kept to themselves. hiked for about 7 hours to our destination-the bottom of a glacier. brrr. got there at night with a full moon reflecting off of the white glacier, so captivating! i could have watched forever but it was too cold. tents meant for 2 but slept with four to keep warm.

lunch break.

emergency landing

2009-08-13T12:03:00.000-06:00

second day in peru, woke up at 3 am to make our flight from lima to cusco. plane took off, circled lima a few times, captain says over the intercom we must make an emergency landing, something wrong with the landing gear. everyone on board is freaking out. luckily we make a safe landing with rescue waiting on the landing strip. 4 hours later they say the problem is fixed so we board the same plane and i fall asleep to wake up at lima airport again, apparently they didn´t fix it the first time. finally got to cusco 8 hours late on a different plane. explored cusco a little and then went to bed to wake up at 4 am to start the first day of our trek to machupicchu. wasn´t able to get a permit to do the inca trail but we went a different route past salkantay, a masssive glacier. had to buy a few things to keep me warm since i didn´t come prepared. salkantay was amazing, more details and pictures soon. have to make my train back to cusco, it is hard to leave this place.

saqsayhuaman

peru

2009-08-05T18:36:00.000-06:00

i have decided to change the direction of my blog. i originally started this blog over a year ago to log about my medical experiences but i now am going to dedicate this blog to writing about traveling. started my peruvian journey about 24 hours ago. red eye from lax to san salvador to lima. on our way we met some aussies who we found a hostel with. lima is an overpopulated dirty city with not much to see. and apparently i forgot my winter coat. guess i should have researched more before coming. but i will live. luckily only staying one night here and headed to cusco early tomorrow morning...

beating hearts

2008-02-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

so this is my first ever blog entry. want to use this as a journal; not too personal but things that i want to remember or thoughts i don't want to pass by without permanent installment. i will start off with my human heart experience; one of the most memorable and surreal 8 hours of my life. about two weeks ago i had the opportunity of scrubbing in and assisting on a quadruple heart bypass surgery. i have never stood in one spot for so long in my life, and i will say that it is surprisingly difficult. but i had the distraction of holding a beating, excuisite, intricate, damaged human heart in an open chest of a faceless victim of obesity.