Mucho Gusto Colette

Hola Amigos! I have safely arrived home from my travels afar. I have so many stories and pics to share in many blogs to come. However, I first want to share with you the most meaningful part of my journey.

Whether you recognize it or not, something about traveling seems to change your perspective on life. Sometimes it even makes you reevaluate where you are going and who you think you are. Perhaps it's the unfamiliarity of new people and places that gives you a chance to start fresh, or the fact that all your weaknesses and insecurities seem to slap you in the face. Whatever it is, I am addicted to it.

I'm can't say there was one miraculous moment when everything became clear, but rather it was little things here and there that pointed me in the right direction. You see... at some point while I was away, I finally made friends with this amazing girl. I've always known her, but never really liked her. Her name is Colette. You see, friends, for the first time in my life, I can say that I really like being me. And that's a pretty great feeling.

I have never allowed myself to be happy just the way I am. I have always desperately wanted to, believe me I have, but a part of me just wouldn't allow it. I would always tell myself, "If you were just like this, or you weren't so much like that, then you could be happy. But you're not, so you just can't be, and maybe you never will."
I have always tried to be so hard to be "perfect." But 'perfect' by who's standards? Everyone's. Trouble is, everyone's idea of perfect is different. I have lived my life making decisions so carefully based on, "If I say this, or do that, someone might not like it... or someone might thing it's dumb." "If I wear this, someone might think it's ugly." "I better not do that because someone might not like it, or think it's annoying, blah, blah, blah."

But ya know what? That someone can go to hell.
There I said it. Ha! Haha ha!

I feel so refreshingly free! And... happy?
Yeah, I'm happy. :)

I'm going to stop holding myself back. I'm going to stop saying, "I'd like to do this, but I'm not that type of person." or "I don't think I could pull that off."
Don't get me wrong, I understand realistic expectations, but by golly, there are enough voices in this world telling me I am nothing. It's time I started rooting for my own team.

Like I said before, nothing drastic happened while I was in Honduras to produce this change. I know this is something I have been working towards for quite sometime. I think it just gave me the opportunity to finally make a breakthrough.
I am finally allowing myself to find joy in the journey.


And so,

Mucho gusto, Colette
It's a pleasure to meet you.

You've been hiding for far too long.

Summer of the Duffel

Every weekend, I drive an hour and a half to sleep on a friend's couch/floor/air mattress so I can go to work on Friday mornings for usually 3-6 hours. Then I drive back home. So sometimes I end up spending the same amount of time driving to work as I do working. Usually I try to make a weekend out of it, stay a couple days running errands, visiting, etc. So, needless to say, I have been living out of a duffel bag A LOT this summer. As fun as it has been, it's starting to get old. However, this is my last weekend having to do so. It's time for a change.
I am upgrading to a suitcase.


Because in 1 week,



I am going to HONDURAS!!


For the past couple weeks I've been worried that I wouldn't be able to go with all the craziness that's going on down there. In May they had a massive earthquake that jacked up a bunch of the roads. And now they are in the midst of a MAJOR political crisis. It's a mess. Read more about it HERE. (Yes, this is a link to a Wikipedia article but I figure it summarizes everything better than a million news articles)
However, I will be traveling to a very remote area of the country that is considered very safe.
So plans are still on!!

I found out yesterday we are going for sure! (Unless anything majorly crazy happens over the weekend...please no)
We have extremely limited internet access down there so I'll be posting pics and stories when I get back in the middle of August.

THANK YOU so much to all of you who helped me raise money for this! You have no idea how much I appreciate it and how grateful I am for this opportunity!

Lazy Summer Days

Today I took full advantage of the GORGEOUS Utah summer day. It's about time it started feeling like summer! I love a good rain storm, but I am ready for some true summer heat.

With all my commuting from city to city across the Wasatch Front, my life has felt a little hectic. In the past two months, I think the longest I've stayed, consecutively, in the same city was the five days last week I stayed in Pleasant View. And even on my free days, I haven't really had a break. The rain has kept me inside working on cleaning, organizing, or whatever. I have a hard time not being busy.

However, the sunshine was calling me today. I tried to work on projects, but every time I looked out the window I would get very distracted. It was simply too beautiful a day to stay inside. So I caved. I found the perfect spot of grass under a tree, with the perfect ratio of sun to shade, and just enjoyed. Mmm.... bliss


Needless to say, it was a much appreciated, good ol' lazy summer day.

I needed this today

Maybe you do too...

Happy and Beautiful Rainy Sabbath

Just keeping you posted

In the last month or so, I...
Passed ALL my

board exams!

Graduated from college!

Moved back to Pleasant View



Went on a graduation celebration cruise!
Received my dental hygiene license!

AND


Got a job!!

And, we're back!

Hello dear friends!
I apologize to those of you who came looking for my blog over the past few weeks and found it was indeed, GONE.
It thought it was looking a little sickly so I chose to hide it for a bit until it was feeling better. But the time has come. It has now received a make-over and is ready to be revealed! With the help of my dear friend Rachel, and this handy little blog, SJH Blog Designs, (highly recommended!) I made the needed changes.

Now it's time to get down to business... some serious catch up posting.

Thanks for those of you who encouraged me to get this back up and running! It's nice to know someone reads this thing!