I've moved a lot in the past 2 or 3 years, and I don't remember the last time I cried during one of them. This morning when I left Utah I was crying. I think I cried all the way to Park City. I guess that shows you how much fun I had not only during the Holidays, but for the past 7 months living with Katie and Sam and so close to Dad and AJ.

I guess its on to a new adventure now. Its probably doing to be....like....somuchfun! :)

I'm 26.

Meet The Natives

Has anyone seen Meet the Natives yet? These guys are from Tanna. MY Tanna. This is the opening clip from the season when they went to England. The ones where they come to the USA are airing now. Take a look at these pictures.

Now as you watch this clip play I-Spy.

Try watching this show. I dare you not to smile when these guys joke and laugh.

Chapter 9: CLEVELAND!

It looks like the drudgery of job hunting has been put on hold, at least for a few months. I found a job! Its actually just a paid internship, but I'm pretty stoked about it. I will be working as the Assistant Stage Manager at the Cleveland Playhouse from Dec 28 - Early May. Yup, Dec 28. Unfortunately I will be leaving Utah the day after Christmas. Bummer! As happy as I am to have not only a gig, but a gig that lasts until May, I'm still sad to be leaving.

I will definitely be missing this:

And of course, THESE:

It is definitely a bitter sweet thing to get a job. When I heard the news I was almost more sad than happy, until I talked to my friends about it.

Gen cheered me right up by saying she was jealous of me, which NEVER happens. :) And my two friends that live in Cleveland were SO EXCITED. I definitely loved the voicemail. "The moment you get your bags unpacked I'm gonna be waiting on the curb and we're gonna have the time of our lives."

Its exciting, scary, important, soon, and awesome. I'm happy that my family is so supportive, and I'm so grateful for all of my theatre friends that are encouraging me because they know how great of an opportunity it is. I have friends all over the country now. It makes going to a new place a lot less scary.

I guess I'm goin back to Ohio. Man...I'm gonna be freezing...

Cheesy but cute

"I know that there are some things about yourself that you think you'd like to change. But you should know that there is some boy out there who is going to like you for everything you are, including those parts of you that even you don't like. Those are gonna be the things that he likes the most." - Glee

A reunion.

Lauren, Amelia, and I went to Provo to see Michael in Children of Eden. He was amazing of course. We had so much fun but I only had my phone for a camera.

The only thing better than a night like tonight, was all those summer days that we spent together. Its nice to be around people where everything is comfortable, happy, and LOTS of fun. Love them!

Then my phone/computer did this weird cutting thing when I uploaded these pictures. I'm leaving it up like this cause I think it looks kinda cool.

Inspired

I dare you not to be inspired by that ending.

Post #200!

This is a big deal. My 200th post. First of all I'd like to thank all three of you for reading this blog and posting comments. We've been through so much together haven't we?! I'd also like to thank my 9th grade typing teacher (I don't remember her name), and of course, I'd like to thank The Big Man. Without you Mr. Wood, none of this would be possible.

To celebrate, I've decided to post the top 200 things I've done in my life that I regret.

1. haha just kidding. Wouldn't that be horrible/awkward!?

What does 200 Calories look like?

Of course the classic 200 people freeze in Grand

Central Station:

I typed "200" into Google and these some interesting things that came up:

When I put my ipod on shuffle, song number 200 out of 4444 was "Everything You Do" by M2M. Good ole High School Days. (Single Ladies was song 193. So Close!)

Email #200 in my gmail box was me emailing my boss at Foodplay asking about Payday. Haha, typical.

The 200th picture in my iphoto right now:

Stephanie in Moab. Cute.

I then ranked all of the people that I know from best to worst. Person number 200 is Katie's friend Lauren. Congratulations Lauren, you made it into my elite top 200 favorite people I know, and I know a lot of people.

I guess that's it. Its been a fun 200 posts. And by "fun" I mean sometimes depressing, angry, and bitter but mostly exciting and fun. i

A Way Back To Then

The playlist says Chorus Line, but this is actually a song from "Title of Show". Thanks Elise for introducing me to it. I'm currently loving this song. I feel like my life is stuck in the verse that I've highlighted. What I love the most about it is the truth it speaks theatre. It is so easy to get lost, but there is always the hope that opportunity will walk through the door when I least expect it.

A Way Back To Then

Dancing in the backyard

Kool-aid moustache and butterfly wings

Hearing Andrea McArdle sing

From the hi-fi in the den

I've been waiting my whole life

To find a way back to then

I aimed for the sky

A nine-year-old can see so far

I'll conquer the world and be a star

I'll do it all by the time I'm ten

I would know that confidence

If I knew a way back to then

So I bailed on my hometown

And became a college theatre dork

I was eastbound and down

Moving to New York

So I crammed my life in a U-Haul

To find my part of it all

But the mundane sets in

We play by the rules

And plough through the days

The years take us miles away

From the time we wondered when

We'd find a way back to then

And when you least expect

Opportunity walks through the door

You suddenly connect

With the thing that you forgot

That you were looking for

And there you are

Right in the middle of what you love

With the craziest of company

You're having a kick'n time :)

And being who you wanted to be in this world

You're that little girl

With her wings unfurled

Flying again

Back in your backyard dancing

I found a way back to then.

What's the point in making it big and being a success if you can't appreciate it and compare it to the unemployed and discouraging times? I'm excited for what my future holds. I'm excited for the time when I post this song again and have a different section of lyrics highlighted.

It amazes me every time I stop to look at the people in my life and realize that new acquaintances have turned into old friends.

I can't believe how lucky I am.

So in this time in my life when I'm feeling discouraged, I feel thankful for the people I've met along the way, and get inspired by remembering the words spoken at Westminster's Commencement. I'm trying hard to do all of these things.

As usual it ends with a video.

I would make these videos for myself whether or not anybody actually watches them. Its a fun tradition for me and I enjoy going back and watching videos from past trips or times in my life. So no pressure to watch or like anything that I post here.

Anywho, here are a few things I didn't/couldn't include:

This was the first place we stayed on the islands that was right on the beach. I think this was my favorite place we stayed because of the great location.

We had been awake for a VERY long time and obviously not showered for even longer. This was our first attempt to create a top 5 list. I would also like to point out that we are in the airport where people are watching us.

Ok. On to the next adventure. Hopefully...

Looking back

Now that the trip is over I've had some time to ponder. I'm glad that I kept a journal while I was out there so that I can look back at some of the things I've learned.

What I learned from Greece:

• Honking the horn is a great way to say hello/good morning.
• Taking the time to get lost is one of the best ways to learn and discover.
• I really am independent and responsible enough to backpack Europe without a chaperone.
• Planned treasures are nowhere near as fun as the unexpected ones.
• I can't travel with just anyone.

Elise and I discussed these lists on our way home. I'll list them here and if you are extremely curious about any of them, just ask and I'll explain.

Worst Moments:

• Sleeping on the beach.
• Meat Market.
• Losing the red bag.
• Loud Armanian roommate in Athens.
• Walking an hour to get to the beach to swim for 15 min.

Weirdest Moments:

• Old man hitting on Elise.
• Street performer.
• Elise's hives...or whatever it was.
• Getting to Delphi.
• Thinking it was Sunday ALL day.
• Turtle in the cemetery.
• Maxine and Walter screaming at each other in the train station.

Best Moments:

• Excited man who loved my cheeks, Elise's nose, and America.
• Journal writing by the water for 2 hours in Mykonos.
• Sunset, pictures, and dinner in Oia.
• Slouvaki Row.
• Paradise Beach, seeing an octopus.
• Skinny Dipping...

Stay tuned in the coming days or week for the video of the trip. In the meantime, start planning a trip of your own. The world really isn't that big.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Travel Quotes

Omaha, Nebraska

My old teacher just sent me this picture.

And I love it.

Athens and Rome

Being in the big cities tests our friendship because everything is much more stressful. Surprisingly we didn't argue much, but there were moments when it was close. Spending a few days in Athens at the end of the trip was a good idea though. We'd relaxed and hung out for a few weeks on the islands, so some stress was ok I guess.

We went on a walking tour of Athens which was really cool. Its crazy how many ancient monuments are just sitting in the middle of this HUGE city.

Of course we went to the Acropolis. For some reason when I think of that word I want to say apocalypse. Anywho, it got rainy but we didn't suffer too much.

We ran into a guy who loved me because he thought I looked Greek. He kept squeezing my cheeks, loved Elise's nose, and gave us each a lucky penny. Ah..nice guy.
We went to Slouvaki Row and bought two Gyro's from two different places. Its just a street lined with slouvaki joints that sell cheap gyros, and since that is basically what I lived off while in Greece I was in heaven.

Oh this is just a turtle we ran into.

While in Athens we stayed in a room with 6 beds where you have to pay 50 cents for hot water. So I had three FREEZING cold showers of course. I was actually a little numb when they were over. Worth it I think. We also had an extremely loud roommate in that place so neither of us got much sleep. That was a fun hostel though. We got to meet a lot of other fellow travelers and hear about some of their experiences. 2 weeks is pretty short. Almost everyone we met was traveling for at least 2 months. One guy and his wife got laid off their jobs so they are taking a trip around the world. THE WORLD. Wow.

What a sad day when we had to pack up our stuff and head to the airport. Our only consolation was that we had a 19 hour layover in Rome. It was a bummer that our flight was delayed a little and our train into the city was having mechanical problems and kept stopping for minutes at a time, but we were so happy when we got into Rome at about 3:30. After checking into our hotel we quickly bought tickets for one of those double decker tour buses. I hate being a tourist, but when you only have a few hours in a city, I guess that is the best option. So we were able to see the bigger sites of Rome, even though we didn't really know much about what we were seeing. All through Greece we had guide books. I enjoyed Italy and could definitely see myself doing a similar thing there that I did in Greece (spend two weeks there not only in the big cities, but the small towns and really get a feel of the people and culture).

Our room in Rome was behind the front desk with a weird mirror door.

We seriously considered missing our flight. I even looked up ticket prices. In the end we decided to come back though because we each had some things we needed to do this weekend.

This trip was amazing. I had a great time and learned a lot about Greece's history and culture. I also learned a little more about myself.

Elise is a great traveling buddy. She understands that when I'm hungry or tired I get extremely grouchy and calls me out on it. She knows how to use a map. And she doesn't get too upset when I wake her up because I want to get an early start. A few people were surprised that we were traveling Europe together when we haven't even known each other for a year yet. Our response, "we haven't known each other for a year?" Wow. It seems like its been much longer than that.

Thanks Elise.
I hate you. Do you wanna go on another trip sometime?

A LOT has happened

This is the sunset in Oia I talked about, and the donkeys in Fira that take people up the hill from the port because it is so steep.



Right after we left the Internet Cafe when I published my last post, we went to check on our ferry that would be leaving in 2 hours. "Oh the ferry to Crete? Its canceled." Oh... So after some reading of my book and tons of questions to the ferry lady, we decided to head to Naxos instead of waiting another day for a boat to Crete.

Our intention was to catch another ferry to one of the tiny islands off Naxos, but once we got there we found that there weren't really any boats that worked with our schedule. Oh well, I guess we'll just make the most of Naxos!

We wandered around the streets late at night and took pictures of the castle. The streets were completely deserted, which was weird. They are very cute though. Tight and windy, just like you'd imagine for a Greek village. We met a man who wanted us to go to his restaurant. The conversation went like this:

Man: Where are you from?
Me: We're from America.
Man: (after sizing me up) Originally?
Me: Yes...where do you think I'm from?
Nothing
Me: Greece?
Man: Yes.
Me: You're right. I'm Greek.
Man: Where?
Me: Um....Athens...?

At this point Elise interrupted with, "She's not Greek! We're from America!" Haha, he totally believed me. So we ate at his restaurant and paid more than we should've. I'm such a sucker...



The next morning we rented a 4 wheeler and took off for a journey exploring the island. We drove for hours up and over mountains from town to town.




We ended up in a little place where we ate lunch and walked around. We ended up getting lost for like an hour. Literally, we could NOT find our way out of the maze. At one point we turned the corner and found this:



We finally saw another person and asked for help. She only spoke Greek and French but we finally got our message across and she led us out. So kind of her. Elise decided she was our angel for the day. I don't disagree.

After leaving that town we drove to a beach to go snorkeling at sunset. It was freezing but we saw an octopus, which is very common on this island. We ate Calamari last night because octopus and calamari are so plentiful here.



After snorkeling we set off to find a place to sleep. We'd been traveling with all of our luggage strapped to the 4 wheeler all day. With the sun going down we were running out of time. Unfortunately we hit a bump in the road when I lost the bag we'd put all of our wet stuff in. We turned around to search for it because it had just fallen off the 4 wheeler (named Thomas), but it was gone. How does that happen? We were the only ones on the road, it was a bright red bag, and we turned around no more than 10 minutes after we'd lost it. That is SO annoying. So we lost our swimsuits, towels, a pair of my shorts, my brush, and deoderant. No big deal I guess. I'm super annoyed, but my bag is lighter now. It was our last island and last chance to snorkel too. It definitely could've happened at a worse time. We got lucky.

Unfortunately we didn't get lucky on a place to stay. We searched for a few hours, found nothing, and ended up sleeping on the beach. It was FREEZING cold because we only have silk sleeping bag liners and airplane blankets. We woke up with the sun frozen and wet from dew. We got on our ferry and used the bathrooms to change, wash our faces, and brush our teeth. At least it was free. We also slept for a few hours on the ferry.


Somehow after a day of traveling and a LOT of people who don't speak English, we made it to Delphi. Its a small town on the mainland in the mountains. Its beautiful and we've spent the day exploring ruins from at least 300 BC. Quite amazing really. Tomorrow we're heading to Athens to do some more touristing before we head to Rome and then back home. This has been amazing.




Don't tell our dads we slept on the beach. We were totally safe and saw NOBODY else the entire night. But still.... ;)

Oh Santorini, you've been good to my legs.

So we spent yesterday at the beach and then went to Oia, where there are amazing views and sunsets. Then we ate a candlelight dinner on a rooftop and shared our feelings...I mean...we ate dinner. It was tasty. This is a beautiful island and I'll be sad to leave it, but we're excited for the next adventure.

Happy Belated Birthday Amanda! Hope you're having so much fun in Mexico! We're strapped for time so I'll just post later.

PS: Santorini is ALL STAIRS.

I'm poor, so I travel.

I got up this morning and walked out to the beach while lazy Elise slept in. I watched the sun come up over the hill and listened to the waves. I was the only one out on the beach. I am so lucky to have the experiences that I have. I tell myself over and over again so I won't forget. As I was walking back to the room I saw the manager of the resort. He was confused to see me awake, "it's early huh?" Haha, everyone else that stays there sleeps in with hangovers. Even during the off season, this is a place to party.


We had our breakfast out on the beach and then went into Mykonos to spend the morning then get on our ferry.



I would like to take this moment to explain that we have been completely confused about the days since we got here. When we flew we lost a ton of time and spent the rest of it on the road, so we completely lost Friday. Somehow we got mistaken and were a day behind. It wasn't until like 2:00 PM today that we realized it was Monday and not Sunday. It was so weird.

Elise has broken out with hives, or some sort of rash. It looks like tons of mosquito bites but we really can't explain it. Once we got to Mykonos this morning we went to the Pharmacy ("Open on Sunday, how convenient," we thought.) to get her some lotion and medicine. Mykonos is such a maze of streets it is nearly impossible to find anything. We basically ask someone to point us in the right direction, walk for a minute, then ask someone else. This morning a nice old man who spoke no english walked the whole way with us to the pharmacy. His name was Antonio and of all the people we've asked for directions so far, he is our absolute favorite.



This is us on our way to the port. We ran into a lot of people getting off a cruise ship. I don't know why, but I really try hard not to be a typical "tourist" when I go places. I want to be one who experiences the culture and side of a place that is beyond the facade that the town puts up. Seeing all of the tourists on the ships reminded me of that.



This is us on our ferry to Santorini. These are our cheese and mustard sandwhiches. Ya. I know how to live cheap. :)

So far, coming in the off season has been so good to us. We don't have to go searching for the cheap hostels. When the boat comes into port there are representatives from the hotels and hostels fighting for our business. We were more prepared this time than last time and we wound up in a decent hotel for only 10 Euro a night per person. Instead of 45 Euro for the room its 20 Euro. It all happened so fast I'm still a little dazed. Not only are we getting deals on lodging, but most of the stores are discounting their merchandise. Mykonos had a lot of stores selling everything for 50% off. Its also been really nice weather. I wear my sweater in the morning and at night, but the rest of the time its nice enough to go without a sweater, but we aren't sweaty. Cool.

We've just walked around Santorini for a little bit. We ate Slouvaki and Tzatiki or something like that at a local restaurant. This island is BEAUTIFUL. We will definitely be getting more pictures tomorrow when its sunny, but here is a preview.




Elise was wearing the watch for the first day, but then she got hives and the watch was irritating them. So now I'm wearing the watch. We are SO good at traveling. :)

Mykonos, Greece

This trip was totally hyped up, and for good reason. I am definitely not dissappointed with how things are working out for me here. Elise and I made it to Athens without a hitch. Elder Nelson actually flew with us on our non stop flight to Paris. He was in first class though. Can you believe they do nonstop flights from SLC to Paris? Thats amazing to me.

Anyway, once we got to Athens we hopped on the metro and made our way to Piraeus where we had a hotel. Our hotel was decent enough. I woke up at 12:45 AM by natural causes and had a very difficult time getting back to sleep.

On Friday morning we woke up at 5:00 AM to go out and search for a ferry. We had looked at times but didn't have any tickets or anything. We bought the tickets, had breakfast on the street where an extremely nice old Greek man served us, and watched the sun rise as our ferry pulled away at 7:25.




The ferry ride was like 5 hours but we got some great views of the sunrise and several islands that we both passed and docked in to drop people off. When we got of the boat in Mykonos we were accosted by a woman trying to get us to stay in her hotel. She offered us a really cheap price for a nice room with a kitchen and stuff, but we don't need all that stuff and it was still more expensive than we wanted. We were both very turned off by how forceful she was so we went with the nice guy that was driving out to Paradise Resort. Thats the PARTY hostel and the bus was already full of young people like us. We ended up getting pretty good deal there, and the parties aren't as intense now that its the off season.

We spent Friday afternoon out at the beach. I gave Elise a quick overview and we went snorkeling. We were enjoying the fish and the coral when suddenly Elise pointed me to a...OCTOPUS! Are you kidding me? It was awesome and I even saw it open all its arms and move around a rock. Wow. SO worth how cold it was getting into that water.


We spent the evening out at the Resort trying our darndest to stay awake at least until 9. We made friends with the cook at the bar (the picture above is me at the bar) who finds it extremely interesting and funny that we are Mormon and don't get drunk. We made it to 8:30 before we fell asleep.


This morning we were at breakfast at 7:30 and on our bus into town at 9:15. We made it to the town before it was awake and were able to watch it come alive. The white buildings accented by color are absolutely amazing.


We've taken a ton of pictures but I've just included a random few since we're on a time limit here. We're making sure to enjoy the sites, eat good food, and not take it for grantide. We even met a painter who is from Northampton Massachusettes where we stayed for Foodplay rehearsals. Small world? Yes, yes it is.





We're off now to spend the rest of the day in this beautiful town. It rained last night and was cloudy this morning, but now it is hot and sunny. Of course that means we get to carry our jackets around for the rest of the day. :) Tomorrow we get on another ferry and head off to Santorini. I'll post more soon!