Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose

Two reasons for the post title:

1. I was Janis Joplin for Halloween this weekend.(See below)

2. I've decided to challenge myself to "No Spend November" this month. 

Freeing Myself of Debt

As a recent college graduate supporting myself in an apartment with one roommate, I am no stranger to financial struggle. I make enough to cover those essentials (rent, utilities, internet, groceries) but I find myself with little left over, and zero available to save. I also opened two credit cards (both with $1,000 limits) within the past year. I got the first one to help pay for a summer course I needed to graduate, and then opened another because I still didn't have enough during my transition between graduating and beginning my first full-time job. 

I planned to pay them both off and revert back to my debit card once I began working. The problem is, that still hasn't happened. 

I don't consider my lifestyle plush or frivolous, but there are areas where I need to cut back. Those $8-10 lunches at work add up, as do the concert tickets, beers, and random splurges at Target (even IF they're from the sales rack, which mine often are.) I spend a lot on gas and groceries, and need a structured budget to keep my cashflow in check. I want to free myself from the need of excess things. 

As Chuck Palahniuk tells us in Fight Club, “The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.”

So I've decided to participate in No Spend November, a challenge to freeze spending on non-essentials during the month of November, when holiday purchases and consumerism typically runs rampant. For me, it's more about giving myself a head start to permanently changing my budget and spending habits. I figure if I can go an entire month without unnecessary spending, I'll be in a better place for saving and spending responsibly for the rest of the year. This is going to become especially important when February rolls around, marking the end of my student loan grace period. 

As part of this challenge, I'll be writing down every penny that I do spend, and using that information to create a sustainable budget and savings plan for months to come.

Allowable Expenses:

+ Utilities (Typically around $40 for my share)

+ Internet ($20)

+ Gas

+ Groceries

+ Gym membership ($30)

+ Netflix ($7.99)

+ Tom's birthday Nov. 17 (modest spending)

Goals:

+ Pay off one of my credit cards entirely.

+ Set up a savings account and begin adding to it. 

+ Create a sustainable budget to stick to year-round

If anyone else plans to participate in this challenge, let me know! 

Weekly Tidbits

Vernon, being the cutest and angriest pumpkin EVER. 

One of my favorite murals in town, captured during my first bike ride here.

Piglets at Tom's agriculture school! We brought them our leftover pizza :).

Cleaning up my community garden plot for the season - loved this space.

Hope you're all enjoying the fun festivities and beauty of autumn! Until next time, I'll be pinching my pennies and crossing my fingers that my debt will start to deflate. 

Back to Blogging, Back with Purpose.

It's been quite some time. 

I feel like I say something like this every time that I blog. I preface each post with an apology, because I know it's been forever since I sat down and wrote for this blog. It's never because I don't like to blog, I love to blog. It's just been a struggle to find the time to write posts I felt were worth reading. 

But I'm back now, and I honestly think I'll be back for good. I've missed having this in my life, a place to write for myself, while also being open to thoughts and feedback from others. Blogging made me a better writer, and a more mindful person, which is something I'd like to get back to. 

So.. what have I been doing for all of this time? If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know. 

For starters, I graduated college. Four years and one online summer-class later, I did it. I walked away with a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, in Communications. 

I got a full-time job with a digital marketing agency. And not just any marketing agency, the one I always had my eye on during college, and thought would be a cool place to work. I landed an internship there last spring, and everything fell into place. A few weeks after classes ended, I was joining the marketing world!

It's crazy how things happen, and happen so fast. 

I moved into a new apartment with my best friend. I adopted a handsome, quirky shelter cat named Vernon. I joined a community garden. I went to music festivals and shows, farmers markets, the ocean (once), and various hikes. I discovered that my favorite drink is a watermelon margarita (specifically when made by Tom), and I've learned to *somewhat* cook for myself. Still working on that one.

Troy Waterfront Farmers Market

My best friend Amanda and me at Hampton Beach for my birthday

Little baby cherry tomatoes in my community garden plot!

My love.

Rival Galaxies at RestFest 2014

Our new kitty, King Vernon.

The new apartment.

But when life happens fast, we often don't reflect, we react. We roll with the punches, or freak out. Thankfully, I've been doing the former. I've been immersed in my new job, learning a lot about copywriting, content planning, scriptwriting, managing social accounts, and more! I've even been fortunate enough to write several blog posts for the company and our accounts. Needless to say, all of this blogging on the job has made me miss writing on here.

My hope and plan is with my new-found knowledge and (somewhat) improved time-management, I'll actually be able to keep up with it. I might make an editorial calendar, and play around with some different ideas of what to write about.

I want this blog to have more purpose beyond a retelling of my day-to-day life. I want to challenge myself to try new things and take adventures that you, the reader, would want to follow along with. I want to improve myself, and document how I get to where I want to be. I also want a place to just write my shit. To not worry---to much---about how good it is, or if the voice is right. This is me, and this is my voice, so it has to be right. Right? (That thought process does not apply to businesses, by the way ;))

So yes, stay tuned. I'll be back soon.

PS. Anyone still reading this who followed me from before -- you are amazing. The kindness and loyalty of the blogging world never ceases to amaze me :).

And so it begins.

My final (planned) semester of college has begun. 
Utter craziness. 

I'm lucky to only be taking three classes though, and one internship for credit. Which is good, because I also work 20 hours a week M-F at my main job, and I'm starting my wine festival weekend job again at the end of this month. So I plan on being busy, but that's how I like it.

I really loved both of the classes I went to today. One was "Community Development and Neighborhood Planning" in the Urban Planning Department. It's not part of my major, but I became interested in the field once I began working at my current job, which does a lot to create healthy communities where I live. I've learned a lot about urban issues, food deserts and food justice from this job -- all things that are hard to ignore once you understand that the problems exist. I've actually considered blogging on this subject, but the idea never made it from brain to pen, or keyboard. My other class today was a "Communications Campaign Practicum." We'll be working with a real client all semester to plan and execute a communication plan to increase engagement from their target audiences. At the finish, we're supposed to have a nice portfolio to walk away with. I plan on going above and beyond in that class, being my last communications class, and my final opportunity to walk away with something tangible to prove what I've learned. I won't get to go to my third class until next Tuesday, but I'm hoping it's good. It's an introductory Public Affairs class, so we'll see.

The only complaint I really have from my educational experience (I went to an inexpensive state school, and loved it) was the lack of graphic design in the Communications program. They only make graphic arts available to people taking classes in the Art department, which isn't me. Meanwhile, all of the jobs for "Communications Specialist" or "Marketing Coordinator," or basically any of the job titles I've researched all want Photoshop and InDesign experience. Meanwhile, my school acts like they're totally divorced. It's frustrating, and will probably result in me taking a couple of digital design courses at the nearby Arts Center this late spring/summer to build my skill-set. Hopefully I'll be bilingual after this summer, too! I started my Rosetta Stone program and loved it. I did it until I fell asleep last night, and I'll probably do the same tomorrow.

Tom's move to college was a success. He travels so light, it makes me feel like a pack-mule or something. He and I moved all of his stuff in with two trips to his truck, that's it. It was strange being on someone else's campus, someone else's dorm. But it was cool, and I'm so happy he made the decision to do this :). He's still trying to feel out the roommate situation. The guy is nice and all, he's been there for a semester already. But his girlfriend, who lives with her parents off-campus some commutable distance away, lives in his dorm. It was so bad that when we arrived and no one was there, I was actually nervous that they mistakenly put Tom into a female's room. The roommate's bed was donned with a big white, flowery comforter, throw pillows and several jewelry boxes and miscellaneous girly crap. Later on we met them, and since his previous roommate left early, they had been living together in the dorm. And it appears that they have no real plans of changing that arrangement. The first night, while I was still there, the roommate offhandedly said, "And my girlfriend's going to stay over tonight, if that's cool." I guess that might have been Tom's moment to speak up and draw the line, but it was awkward. He just met the guy and was trying to get along with him. But is it me, or is that completely insane to spend every night of your first week with a new roommate with your girlfriend with you in your bed? Talk about uncomfortable.. I didn't even have to work the day after Tom moved in, but staying over in his dorm didn't even cross my mind. I just feel bad that he's stuck third-wheeling it, and doesn't get much privacy between the two of them. At first, it was made to seem pretty temporary, but now Tom isn't so sure. He's always so easy-going and relaxed, so it's hard for him to have to confront this kid. I'm debating on telling him to make an excuse that it makes me uncomfortable that he's living with a girl, hahah, even though I'm not so much uncomfortable as I'm annoyed for Tom. I'm not the least bit threatened, but it's not an ideal situation and I'm pissed he has to deal with it.They both seemed nice, but in my opinion it's totally disrespecting Tom's privacy, and the fact he's paying for this teensy-tiny space and this girl is not. Have you guys encountered similar problems, or have any advice for handling this sticky situation?

Hope everyone's having a great week & staying warm!

Olivia

Collaboration Nation

Thanks to a friend, I came across HitRECord for the first time. If you love Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this will knock your socks off. I guess the project has been around for a while, since 2010, as an open online collaboration between artists, writers, musicians, videographers, and other talented individuals. The project is gaining a lot of attention right now because they've just begun a television variety show, piecing together collaborations around a different theme for each episode. The first one is available on YouTube, titled #1. So if you're just discovering this as I was, it'll be easy to catch yourself up! I'm not usually one for gushing recommendations about shows or movies or anything really--but I just watched this tonight, and I felt like it would be selfish not to share. Even though I'm not really artistic, at least not in the visual sense, it still amped up my creative energy just by watching. It made me want to write, and here I am.

A quote Gordon-Levitt gave to the Salt Lake Tribune really stood out to me.

"Before it was a television show or a production company or even a website, it was just a little turn of phrase that I used to encourage myself," said Gordon-Levitt, who came up with the idea when he was having trouble getting work in his early 20s. Discouraged, he realized, "I have to take responsibility for my own creativity. I can’t wait around for someone to hire me and tell me that I’m allowed to make things. I love it too much. I can’t wait."

That resonates pretty well with me. Probably in a slightly different sense, I'm not really looking to make videos or to spearhead my own television production at the moment. But I am reaching a point where I should be putting myself out there. And I should be creating, if not for an audience, then at least for myself. I've been away from personal/creative writing for far too long. Academic writing can be draining at times, and I've been a college student for four years now. Saying that "out loud" just sounds ridiculous. Four YEARS..???!! Life moves fast. In another four years, I'll be 25, then another, 29. The concept of aging doesn't bother me, not yet anyways. But my main concern is that it only flies if I'm having fun and enjoying it. Yes. Days go quickly when you pack them full of things to do, to-do lists and errands, conference calls and business trips. Some of those may very well be a part of my life, but I don't want to look back on the last four years and remember nothing aside from working my ass off. College flew, but I have fond memories of crazy concerts, a winter vacation spent volunteering on the Ecuadorian coast, movie nights with roommates, and coming home from a night out and ordering the same Pad Thai from "Asian Place," yes, that's their real name. Tons of inside jokes that will probably follow me or my friends forever, depending on who's the subject. I've managed to get a lot done in college, while still making a little time to enjoy myself here and there. But it gets harder with time, and with added responsibilities. So I guess my main point here, is that I want to remind myself not to get too caught up, to remember to make time for self-expression, good times, and great people. 

And to be creative, and find ways to make my work meaningful. That's the ideal.

I had a good meeting through work yesterday, where I was able to meet with several community and social service agencies in the region and collaborate about how we can help people best with our resources and services. Everyone was so energized to help, it was awesome. We talked about doing back-to-school giveaways for backpacks and school supplies for the community, doing a gardening themed event and giving away seeds and information on how to grow food, among others. It feels really good to be a part of something so positive. I feel that way a lot at work, and the days where I get a little overwhelmed or discouraged, I try to bring myself back to that feeling of purpose and it usually restores me. 

For giggles, and since it's Thursday, I've included some throwbacks to my earlier college days. Enjoy! ;)

 Really starting to miss my bangs right about now.. Hmm..

I got a little off-topic I suppose, but what gets you guys feeling creative? Or nostalgic, because I'm feeling a bit of both. Mostly nostalgic, but at least I found the motivation to post :). Second time this month! I'm making some serious progress, hahah. 

Hope everyone's having a great week, heading into a fabulous weekend!

Olivia

Oh the Times, They are a Changing

I feel like I'm on the cusp of new beginnings. Big things are happening, not just for myself, but mainly for people around me, putting the ball in motion for my future too. One of my roommates graduated in December, and after three intense interviews, has a real "big girl" job, making more money than I ever imagined straight out of college. I'm really excited for her, and since we're in the same field, I've now set the bar a little higher for myself as well. The sad part though, is she's moving out today--four months early--to take the job. Luckily, a mutual friend of our other roommate is moving in, so it won't be too lonely, but she will be missed. In other big news, the love of my life is starting college for the first time in just about a week! He's about seven months older than me; we graduated high school together, but he always disliked school and structured learning. After he graduated he continued to work on my parent's farm, basically as the main help they had in keeping the farm afloat. He stuck around through my dad's broken ankle and hip replacement surgery, working overtime and underpaid in our most trying times. From his experiences on the farm, he's realized that there's a lot more to learn about agriculture and farm animals, so he's decided to go to a state agriculture college to get an associate's degree. I'm so proud of him, and happy that he didn't just rush into something because "you're supposed to go to college." He worked, and he waited until he knew what he wanted to learn before he went back to school, something most people are afraid of doing. While I'd support him anywhere he wanted to go, we're pretty fortunate that this school is only about an hour away from my apartment, and the bus route comes to my city on the weekends. I'm excited :).

Tom and me, Brewery Ommegang this November for his birthday.

 

His birthday was actually one of the best plans I've had in a while. I left him completely in the dark about what we were doing, only telling him I had "something" planned. Meanwhile, I packed his Northface backpack with a change of clothes and anything I thought he'd need, and put it in my car the night before. Our secret destination was a place called Little Falls, NY, to have dinner at a castle. Along the way, I planned for us to stop in Cooperstown to get a tour and tasting at Brewery Ommegang, the maker of one of our favorite beers that we share, the Witte. If you're ever in the Cooperstown area, I highly recommend paying them a visit. The atmosphere is so laid back there, with picnic tables and plenty of land you're allowed to roam freely. They have a really nice restaurant inside, with humongous wooden tables that you share with strangers. Trust me, it's cool. The tasting itself was a lot of fun too. They set out pretzels and different spreads to pair with the beer for enhanced flavor. I managed to snap a picture of my Witte sample amidst the chaos. The glass looks a lot bigger than it really was, it's actually about the size of a shooter shot glass.

 After saying farewell to the brewery, we headed to Little Falls to check into our hotel. I had found us a place that used to be an old stone mill, right on the Erie Canal. The hosts there were wonderful, which reminds me, I should probably head to Yelp! or TripAdvisor and give these places some good reviews. Dinner at Beardslee Castle was to die for. First of all, it's in a castle. Built in 1860 as a replica of an Irish castle, they serve dinner and also are available for weddings and special events. In my online reservation, I had mentioned the birthday and asked to be seated somewhere quiet. They followed through and placed us in one of the more intimate rooms with only two or three tables, next to a grand piano. We had the room to ourselves the entire time, it was incredible. The only drawback was that Tom wasn't feeling 100%, his stomach had started bothering him before we started eating and he wasn't able to finish his meal. We boxed the leftovers up and enjoyed them later with a movie in our suite, which was honestly just as enjoyable.

Photo from their website. It was too dark during dinner for me to get a great shot.

 

A couple of big(ish) things are happening for me as well. I'm starting an internship in content and branding with a local agency that I've always wanted to work with, and I'm also getting ready for the maple sugaring season that's quickly approaching. It's been a 60+ year tradition in my family, and last year was the only year we had to "take off" from syrup. My dad had hip replacement surgery, and my mom had a stroke all within months of each other. Once it gets going, I plan on writing about our operation and how it all works, so stay tuned. I've always been a part of it, but this year I want to make an active effort to learn about it inside and out. I love everything about it. I love venturing out into the woods to tap the trees, sitting in the sugarhouse with the aroma of sap boiling down to syrup, and I love that we do it all ourselves.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to become bilingual in Spanish. This is probably the toughest one I set for myself, but it'll be well worth it in the end. I bought the Rosetta Stone program to get myself practiced before I travel to Valencia in the summer (if all goes according to plan.) My hope is that the software will lay the groundwork and jog my memory of high school Spanish, and then my time abroad will help it to actually sink in and let me achieve some level of fluency, even if it isn't perfect.

Another goal I have, a much more boring one, is to establish good credit. I've used a debit card with my student checking account for years: I pay rent, National Grid, and for all of my own gas and groceries, but I haven't built any credit. Do any of you have tips on this? I'm thinking of applying for some type of student credit card, and doing my own research into it, but I'm happy to hear any advice you might have. I'm pretty responsible with what little money I have, but I know I'll be needing credit once I graduate.

It's so strange to be growing up this fast.

Greetings from "Adulthood"

Hello! Let me just say, it's been a while. 

So many things have changed since my last post, yet looking back on my older entries I feel like these memories were merely weeks or months ago. To make it simple--life happened fast and I fell off the grid, immersed in school and work and trying to keep up with a social life once in a while, too! It's a tricky balance, but I think I've gotten it down pretty well by now. Well enough to realize that I need to start making more time for myself again, which includes blogging, photography, and reading. Three of my passions that have spent some time warming the bench over the past year or so. Thankfully college has provided me with some interesting reads along the way, and I'm able to keep up with photography with my trusty I-Phone, but neither are the same as reading books that you hand-pick yourself on your own time, with no analysis paper attached. And for me, nothing beats getting out there with my actual Nikon5000 and getting real, natural shots that I can't just slap an Instagram filter onto. Don't get me wrong, I love Instagram--I'm sort of addicted--but I miss using my real camera.
And I miss writing, totally unfiltered, for me. I probably sound a bit rusty having been away from the personal blog for so long, but I hope it's something that I can pick right back up. I've thought about getting back into it for several reasons. For personal expression, practice/experience, and to prove to future employers that I can manage a blog. I considered adopting a new name, carving out a new space in the blogosphere for myself, but it just didn't feel right. Perhaps it's the sentimentalist in me, but I couldn't abandon my past experiences, especially those as fulfilling as Ecuador. This blog goes way back to high school, how could I give that up? Of course my style is going to change a little, I do have to transition to a more professional level. But...this is still my blog, and I plan on having fun with it! I just feel fortunate to have found a profession where writing and blogging are sought-after skills.

Here's my super-condensed life re-cap:

The Positives
- I completed the PR and Marketing internship with Capital District Community Gardens

- Three months later, I was offered a job as their Outreach Assistant and Squash Hunger Coordinator, a job I've had for almost a year now, and I've made some pretty substantial progress to the program already.

- I work part-time for a local winery, traveling with their events planner to regional festivals to promote their wine and chat with fellow wine lovers. It's fun!

- My relationship with Tom has really fallen into place as we've grown up these past few years. We've been through a lot, but we've grown together instead of apart, even as our individual lives change our love for each other stays constant. We spend nearly every weekend together and we're happier than ever :). Can you tell?

- I went from studying Journalism, to Psychology, to Communications. I've finally found my calling in Communications, and I plan to graduate on time in 2014, after I study abroad in Valencia, Spain for six weeks of the summer.
- I've kept most, if not all of my best friendships since high school/college.

Amanda and I, best friends since high school!

- I turned 21 this past June! Though, to be honest I'm not that much of a party animal. I'll go with my friends for drinks once in awhile, but I'm really pretty tame about it all. It probably helps that I'm in a serious relationship, and also relatively broke ;).

 

I DID however, have a great 21st birthday extravaganza thanks to my best friend Amanda, and my other amazing friends! Lots of festivities, including an Atlas Genius concert where I miraculously wound up ON.STAGE. It's a long story. They sang happy birthday to me. I died of happiness.

 

 





The Not-So Positives
My mom suffered two strokes last year, the first and worst one being right around Thanksgiving, and the second, minor one a few months later. It was terrifying. I never want to relive pacing in that emergency room while some sitcom played on the mounted TV's, just waiting for someone to tell me that my mom was all right. All I knew was that she collapsed at our house. That her brain was bleeding. That they would have airlifted her if it hadn't been snowing, but instead she had to endure a 45 minute ambulance ride. In my opinion, life doesn't really get real until you think you're going to lose a parent, or until you do.
Thankfully, my mom survived without too much impairment. She's not able to drive and she has to take several different medications every day, but in contrast to what could have happened, I'm very grateful. High blood pressure and cholesterol are the culprits behind her strokes, and I try to encourage better eating to my family, but it's hard. It's hard to impact them when I don't live there. I'll buy groceries here and there, but there's so much more that I wish I could do. This winter I plan on going with her to Iowa so that she can see family and friends that she hasn't seen in over a year, so I'm really looking forward to that.

My mom, my hero. This was on her birthday this summer, about six months following her initial stroke. She was well on the road to recovery here, and is doing better than ever now!

 

Besides my mom's hospitalization last year, the only complaint I have is the chaos of working two jobs, going to school, and attempting to have a social life. But at the same time, I'm thankful to have all of these things, so there's no sense in complaining!

I plan to post often from here on out. About what, I'm not yet sure. But I do know that I need this, I need a place to write and express myself creatively. I have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, all of that, but I need a place to WRITE. To not be limited by 140 characters, to not necessarily be on someone's Facebook news feed. This is a place where people who want to read about my life can do so, and where I can document memories I'd like to hold on to. I enjoy engaging on all social media, but blogging is something special. It's like leaving your journal open on a coffee shop table, inviting anyone who passes through to read it, to learn from it, to enjoy it. And the best part, is that they can scribble their own thoughts, and you can revisit your post and learn from them.

I'm planning to revamp the design of this as well, so bear with me for now. I'm hoping to get the page spruced up soon ;).

If you're interesting in connecting with me in other ways, please don't hesitate!
Twitter
LinkedIn

I'm looking forward to reuniting with past blogging friends, as well as finding new! My cat has found a cozy place on my lap, and is overtaking the use of my arms, so I'll take it as a sign to wrap this up. Thanks for reading :).

Loss of Wisdom

Teeth! ;)

This morning I had my four wisdom teeth extracted. I remember bits and pieces, like choosing gingerale to sip in the recovery room, and that every car we passed looked like two cars.. But for the most part, I was pretty well knocked out. It wasn't that bad. I do remember crying a little, but I don't remember the pain or the drive home, and after 3 or 4 hours of sleep, I felt fine. I've been going nuts all day on a half-gallon of birthday-cake icecream, soooo good. It was weird staying in my own room all day with being used to either sleeping in my dorm, or at Tom's, but it has been a nice day of solitude. Although I was very happy to be visited tonight by Amanda, Zack, and Derek :). They came over and talked Lord of the Rings with me, leafed through my magazine collection, and caught up on what did in the hours since we all hung out the night before :P. Oh yeah, and apparently my bottom two teeth had THREE roots each, when the normal thing is to just have one. My dad had that problem too..thank you genetics! So my bottom ones are more painful, but the hydrocodone makes the pain very minimal. And the icecream makes me happy.

I realize I never finished the part II of my Ecuadorian Adventures. I'm terrible at updating, let's face it :P. Maybe I will revisit it at a later point, but I feel like I said a lot in the first part, and I don't want to overwhelm everyone with old news. Basically it was an awesome trip, I felt like I learned a lot about myself by going, met some awesome people, and felt a sense of peace I will spend the rest of this year trying to achieve in the States.

Happy Summer vacation to everyone! I'm still going to be busy with working at Fossil, my internship,  and starting an online class next week---but I managed to find some time the other day to go out and enjoy the beautiful day with my camera.

 There's something I really like about the ladybug's butt poking out from the petals, I guess because it's so "un-lady-like" ;)

 My slobbery love. (Besides Tom..hahaha) :)

Amanda used her fingernail to make faces on the kitchen flowers, I loved how zen they looked so I had to take a picture.

Speaking of wisdom, I'll be abandoning my teenage status soon, 20th birthday is in a little over three weeks. I'm debating on what to "wish" for. I hate asking for things, and I usually never do, but if I don't give my family ideas for my birthday, I'll end up with (fun) but silly things, like velvet penguin seat covers, and then have to spend my own money on things I actually need, haha. I have actually been thinking about the iphone.. They're expensive, and that makes me feel bad, but I'll never get one if I have to pay for it myself with rent all summer, and then Canada in August(!!!!) But for the past 3 or 4 years my mom has been paying for me to have a wireless internet card for my laptop, because cable does not reach my part of town, out in the country. We have the slowest dial-up ever for her desktop computer, and when I bought my laptop with my own money in high school, she added a wireless card to the verizon plan because it was just as expensive as satellite internet, and it was portable. It's been very helpful for having internet at home, on trips, when the dorm internet gave me trouble, ect. ANYWAYS, the point is that's $60 a month to have, so if she took that off of the plan when I move out and have cable internet at the apartment, maybe that could justify upgrading my phone to the iphone? I've almost convinced myself.. And I have an internship this summer helping with the public relations for a nonprofit organization, and I feel like the iphone would be a good tool to have with me. AND I wouldn't have to feel like I had to bring my big dsl camera everywhere or feel disappointed that I couldn't take decent pictures at a place where my big camera can't really go, like concerts, random outings that I don't plan on taking pictures at, ect. So yeah, I think that's what I want...in white.

Plus my grades were posted today...four A's and one B- for a GPA of 3.74. I'm really good at convincing myself I deserve things..hahaha.

I can't believe I move into the apartment in 10 days.!!! I can't wait. It's going to be weird being away from my hometown so much in the summer, but it's just as far as my school is from home, so making the drive will always be an option. I'm excited to start over with decorating my new room(and coordinating the rest of the house with the girls), and having friends over to my own place, and getting closer with the other two girls--I can already tell from our apartment shopping trips and Chipotle lunches that it's going to be good :). I know rent will be tough and it's going to be a responsibility to keep up with the power and internet bills, but I know (for the most part) what I'm getting myself into, and I'm ready to embrace the challenge. Learning to cook new meals and shopping for all of my own groceries will be pricey but totally rewarding.
Also, I really hope to get a nice bike to explore around on...I want a lot of things I'm realizing :P. But the bike really has to happen, the city my college/apartment is in is a pretty bike-friendly area and it would be good to save on gas/exercise more.. That's another thing about Ecuador, I literally dropped like 8-10lbs in two weeks from being there and eating so healthy and working outside every day. I really want to get back to that this summer. But today I'll have the icecream---it was the doctor's orders. Diet starts next week ;).

Ventures in Ecuador, Part One

It's really hard to sum up an adventure like this in words. Especially when people ask me in person, "Oh, you went to Ecuador right? How was that?" The reflexive responses shoot out, like "Yeah, thanks! It was amazing!" and then I'll throw something out there like "Yeah, it's a totally different world down there." All of this is true in my opinion, but I avoid trying to really elaborate because a] it's really hard to know where to even START to describe the trip, and b] most of the time I feel like people ask out of politeness, not because they really want to have a two hour conversation about the environmental/economical conditions of coastal Ecuador.. Or even hear stories about me and my group and all of our funny stories, it's just difficult to know where to stop, where people are going to become disinterested. I hold most of it within, and just smile to myself thinking about the memories and the experience, but I feel like it's about time that I share it on here, for myself, and for whoever is curious and wants to read :).

The Beginning:
These first couple of photos are blurry/bad quality because they were shot from the bus window when we first arrived in Ecuador and were being bused to our hostel (a five hour bus ride, mind you.. on top of 8 hours of flying, and many more hours spent waiting in the airport and for me, taking a bus down to JFK and walking around the city before my flight..) Needless to say I was pretty exhausted.

                                                                               These bicycle-powered "eco taxis" were pretty popular where we were. I never took one, we became pretty used to walking and hiking long distances. A lot of places did look "run down" like this, Ecuador is a third world country. But that isn't to say that there isn't some beauty in that. Colorfully painted signs and buildings, intricate thatched roofs and homes, people made good use of what they had to work with. 

"Coco Bongo" Home away from home.

This place, Coco Bongo hostel, was where we slept for roughly a third of our time in Ecuador. Managed by a lovely Australian woman, Susie, it's a real jem for travelers. When I say this I don't mean it's loaded with amenities---there are no whirlpool tubs/fitness facilities/what-have-you, but it was a beautiful, exotic place to stay, and a good introduction to the Ecuadorian way of life. A common architectural style was to have big front doors, that remained open to the street during the day. You can see that in the photo, the big metal green door pushed back against the wall. I felt like this put out an inviting vibe. She had a little table set up in the doorway most days, and people would stop by and talk. The photo shows the downstairs lounge/dining area where we ate our meals and waited for the rest of the group to come down from their rooms in the morning. The bedrooms were nice too, much smaller of course and we slept with three bunk-beds and six girls in my room, but it was pretty comparable to the dorm experience, and I enjoyed being with all of these girls, so it was fine with me :). Oh, something about Ecuador and probably most third world countries---water scarcity is a big problem. You cannot take normal, full showers, and you are expected to refrain from flushing when possible. ie: If it's yellow, let it mellow. Also, you aren't supposed to flush toilet paper at ALL.. But I did it sometimes out of habit, but you aren't supposed to. Hand sanitizer became a pretty big necessity, to conserve water and just for functionality out in the outdoors, especially when eating at our beach campsite.  

                                         First picture with the Pacific, a five minute walk from the hostel.

Some kids playing soccer in the skate park, wearing their school uniforms.

Santa stopped over in Ecuador ;). There were many paper mache characters throughout the country.

Also a lot of eco-friendly/sustainability oriented art.

The walk to Punta Gorda:

Dead puffer fish washed up on shore.

 The name of the city[town size, really] we were in :)

 Mr. Crabs, is that you? These were so hard to photograph, I literally spent an hour trying to capture this.

 One of the advantages of camping on the coast---fresh crab! A couple of the guys from our group had a time of it, hunting these crustaceans, who scrambled up large, porous rocks trying to escape them. Most of these were let free, but a couple of the bigger ones became seafood breakfast.

Eel! Another creature washed up to shore, but this one was alive so we used a stick to help transport it further into the waves.

The Work:

Planting trees at Punta Gorda, the area of our beach campsite, was one of the best things about the whole trip. Mostly because it's what we essentially went there to do, to do our part. The trees we planted were ones indigenous to Ecuador, and we made sure to plant in a way that promoted biodiversity, as in planting different trees next to each other, so two of the same would not be competing for their resources. As you'll see below, we weren't planting on flat ground either.. Our area was a dried out riverbed, and we incorporated hillside planting to try to bring the environment back to lush area it once was. This involved a lot of climbing and exertion of the leg muscles. I was in pretty good shape when I returned. (Although the new college semester has set me back a bit now..sigh) We used tools like post-hole-diggers and MACHETES! I had so much fun just whacking the bushes, and it was such a good arm work out. It was tricky coming back down the steep hills though, you had to be extremely aware of your footing, especially if you were carrying a machete... Cacti are plentiful there, so if you slipped you had to remember not to just  reach out and grab something---chances are it's going to be a cactus plant that you grab...Youch. I got used to it though, and I kind of liked having to be kept on my toes and so aware of my body and surroundings. We camped in tents on the beach and the actual planting site was about a 2-3 mile walk. This became tricky once the rainy season picked up on the second day, and made the clay path the equivalence of a slick, horizontal waterslide :P. We still made it though, and had fun doing it. 

The Ceibo tree. This became my "favorite" tree on the trip--just look at it, it's awesome ;). We planted a few of these and got to see them up close on one of our hikes. Their trunks are green and have spikes--how much more awesome can you get??

That was a fun hike.

  

Snails on a log and a whale bone we found in a ravine.

Playing Bananagrams at the dinner table here was a common occurrence ;)

Seveche (cold fish with lime) white rice, and plantain chips ♥ and WATERMELON JUICE! Seriously one of the best drinks ever, and I'm pretty sure all it is is pure watermelon juice, seeds included, and possibly some sugar. It went so well with everything we ate. We did eat a lot of white rice, rice is a huge staple in Ecuador, and lots of seafood, including a hot fish soup for breakfast---surprisingly delicious. There were very few things I didn't like, and I tried pretty much everything that was offered. The cocoa powder for hot chocolate was ah-may-zing, I even brought some back to the states ;). Punta Gorda definitely had the best food because we had the fantastic Rosa to cook for us. Ramon and his wife Rosa own the land where we camped and reforested, and while Ramon would teach us his ways with the machete and seedlings, Rosa would make sure we were all fed and happy. 

RAMON! This man was the best. I wish my spanish had been better, but it was still priceless to hear "Hola chicas" on a daily basis, and to see him swing that machete and take down bushes like a boss.

"Hey little guy.."

No make up for about two weeks and salt-treated hair. Guess this is what I would look like on Lost.

The hammocks...ahhh. I'm getting sleepy just looking at them. After five hours of work, these were the best things ever. Just lay back, read, and look out onto paradise. 

A day spent at the local University, working on the vegetable garden. Peanuts, beans, watermelon, and I can't for the life of me remember what else, were planted here.

It was legal, and awesome. 

I had intended to cram everything into one post, but I realized that if I did that, it would take me forever to post it, so I decided to break it up a little. I'll write the next one soon. Enjoy!