Movin' on Up to Wordpress

It didn't take long once I made the La Aventura Project blog on wordpress.com for me to realize I liked it a lot better.  And change is good once in awhile.  So, I bid adieu to blogger and you can continue to follow my adventures on wordpress HERE.  I hope you'll make the switch with me!

My American Year

It's been exactly one year since I left Tanzania. Wow, time flies. I'd be hard pressed to decide if this year or the year I was actually in Tanzania was crazier. Probably the year I was there, but this year has been pretty darn close. So much has happened. I think I'm finally at a place where I can celebrate all the awesome things I've done this year that I wouldn't have gotten to do if I had stayed in the Peace Corps.


1. I watched my best friend get married and stood beside her as Maid of Honor. She was the first of my group of friends to tie the knot, and I'm still oh-so-happy for her! Her marriage brought a lot of changes to our friendship and a lot of learning about this new phase of life we find ourselves in. Marriage changes all your relationships and married/very committed friends seem to live increasingly different lives from single/still-mingling friends. It's taken some getting used to and kind of makes me feel old that many of my friends (and myself, kind of) are settling down. But it's a good thing.

2. I went on so many awesome road trips! First, there was the super spontaneous "I'm-not-going-back-to-Africa-so-let's-drive-to-California" road trip. Before we left, Zach’s mom (who I had just recently met) commented, “Well, I guess you’ll know if you really like each other after 2 weeks in the car together.” Our response: “I think we already know that since we spent 9 months on opposite sides of the globe.” Hahaha. Needless to say, we survived 2 weeks in the car together. Highlights included our first couchsurfing experience, my first visit to California, falling in love with the city of San Diego, and spending time at the house in Williams, AZ (Zach starting to sneakily convince me to move there).
Then for Memorial Day weekend we drove to Chicago and took in that ginormous city. We went to Cleveland for the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros show and talked to the lead singer on the street. We had an awesome camping/rafting trip with lots of friends in West Virginia.
The second big road trip was the Northeast and Canada. I got to catch up with many dear old friends from college days and introduce Zach to New York City. Then we hit all the great cities in eastern Canada, learned a few words of French, and met awesome people through couchsurfing.
After that was another drive to move to Arizona. Since here we have visited Lake Havasu, Sedona/Jerome, Durango, Colorado, Verde Hot Springs, San Diego again, and Tijuana, Mexico (for a few hours).
And the road trips will only continue!!!!!!

3. I’ve learned about cultivating and sustaining a loving relationship. For the first time in my life I’m in a relationship that I know is totally right. I’m not worried about getting bored and I don’t miss being single. I’m in it to win it and loving that “I finally found my person” feeling. It doesn’t mean that every day is hearts, stars, and rainbows though. Living together has definitely taken some getting used to. I think it’s been made harder by the fact that we’re new in this state and don’t have friends close by to turn to when we need to release tension. I have nowhere else to go with my moody side and he doesn’t have the alone time he used to get sitting on his roof in Columbus. So yeah, we get on each other’s nerves sometimes. But we’re learning to understand each other more and more each day. I’m realizing that I may just have to get used to telling him to do the same thing 100 times, and he’s realizing that sometimes him cleaning the kitchen means more to me than a hug.

4. I’ve become more honest about who I am. I’m definitely still a bit of a people-pleaser but I think I’ve become a lot more open over the past year, especially with those closest to me. I’m allowing myself to accept that many disagree with me but it’s okay. If I was exactly the same as all my family and friends what fun would that be? I’m genuinely happy with my life and my choices, even if they are “against the grain.” I no longer hide anything about my life in an attempt to keep everyone happy.  The people who really love me will love me no matter what.

5.  Not to pat myself on the back too much, but one quality I think I've exhibited this year that I'm proud of is "actually doing  what I say I'm going to do."  I know so many people who are always saying "Someday I'll go here..." or "Yeah, I said I'd find a new job this year but then x and y came up..."  I hate that!  Don't talk about it unless you're really going to WORK to make it happen!!!  I said I'd drive to California and back on $600.  Check.  I talked about the east coast road trip for months before and then did it.  Check.  I said I'd move to Arizona and find a new job.  Done.  And this will continue!  I've talked a lot about going to South America now and I am not full of hot air!  It is happening, October 2011!  Just 8 short months from now!  Because you all know I can't stay put in America for too long!  ;-)

I'm sure the next year will be even crazier than this last one!!!

La Aventura Project website

Hey everyone!
Please check out the new blog/website for my awesome new documentary project!  CLICK HERE to go to the official website with it's own domain name and everything and then bookmark it!!! 
The project is going to be amazing and fundraising will be starting soon!
Thanks!

Food Blues

I love to eat.  I am vegetarian, but meat is pretty much the only thing I won't chow down on.  I especially love bad-for-me foods like cheese, french fries, chocolate, and ice cream.  This love of food is (I believe) the main reason I've struggled to lose weight ever since the dreaded "freshman 15" took hold of me six (ahhh, can't believe that number!) years ago.  Well, I also love beer and margaritas.  Those definitely don't help.  Additionally, I have come to believe that my metabolism moves at a snail's pace.  No matter how much I work out, I could never just eat whatever I wanted and not get fat.  I loathe those people who can munch down on anything, never hit a treadmill, and stay skinny as rails.  How are they so lucky???  Zach (my boyfriend) is one of those people.  AHHHHH!!!  He has always been skinny and he actually loses weight without trying.  So now that we live together it's a constant struggle between trying to fatten him up and slim myself down.  Since I love baking, I bake him all sorts of goodies and then try not to eat them while they hover under my nose.  Does this work??  Not very well.  Case in point, the delicious Grandpa's Chocolate-Rum Cake with Mousse Frosting that I made for Zach's birthday cake.  It was AMAZING.  I wish I had a picture.

A couple nights ago we watched a documentary that highlighted another food issue that's related to but ultimately more important than my weight-loss problem.  It was a saddening but welcome reminder of how my food choices have an effect that extends far beyond myself.

Food, Inc. website

I had been wanting to see this for awhile but part of me kept putting it off because I knew it would challenge me.  And it definitely did.  The film illuminates the scary reality of large-scale, corporate agriculture.  Rather than go into all the arguments it presents myself, I'll just highly recommend that you rent/Netflix it.  But be prepared.  For me, the documentary reinforced many of my reasons for choosing to avoid meat entirely.  But the HUGE problems of the food industry extend way beyond just meat.  The overriding message, of course, was that local, organic, sustainably grown food is the only way to go.  Yes, it's often more expensive, but the only way to bring change in practices and prices is to use your money as your vote.  Zach and I both felt guilty about repeatedly choosing the lower prices of non-organic Safeway/Kroger groceries over the ridiculously-priced organic alternatives at Whole Foods-type.  Food, Inc. made us realize that although we might be saving money now, the savings are not worth all the health risks, loss of jobs for small farmers, and environmental destruction caused by factory farming. 

So, we are challenging ourselves to buy everything organic and (if possible) local for at least the next month.  We want to see if we feel any health changes in such a short time. I bet we will (even if it is mostly due to the "expensive organic cheese=eating less cheese" effect).  Unfortunately we had just done a big Safeway haul the very same day we watched the movie.  So it will take some time to phase out all the cheap non-organic food we have in the house (c'mon, I'm still not going to give away food I spent $ on).  But everything from now on is going to come from either the wonderful Flagstaff Farmer's Market (which actually has a storefront that's open every day year round) or New Frontiers Natural Marketplace (our version of Whole Foods...and they always have samples!).  I'm actually really excited to begin this challenge.  I know that changing my food purchasing habits is absolutely the right thing to do both for my health and for the earth.  I'll be excited to report back on how things are going with our new food mindset!