I found a new toy :)

More quote dumping...

"The most important thing about goals is having one."

From Insurgent (from the Divergent Series)...

"Noise and activity are the refuges of the bereaved and the guilty"

"Cruelty does not make a person dishonest, the same way bravery does not make a person kind"

From "This is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper

"The only thing you can ever realy know about anyone is that you don't know anything about them at all"

"Sometimes, contentment is a matter of will. You have to look at what you have right in front of you, at what it could be, and stop measuring it against what you've lost"

From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
"In freedom, most people find sin"

"People always get used to beauty"



"Problems always start long before you really, really see them"- from Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

"There is a sense in which we are all each others consequences" - From All The Little Live Things by Wallace Stegner

Quote Dump 2015 (Cleanin out my phone notes..)

"No Reason to stay is a good reason to go"

"If you're not prepared to look stupid, then nothing great is ever gonna happen"-House season 2

"Follow inner guidance with absolute conviction"

"We don't listen to understand, we listen to respond"

From Allegiant (part of the Divergent Series by Veronica Roth):
"On a normal day, a few hours can contain long stretches of watch-checking, of empty time"
 
"Everyone has some evil inside them, and the first step to loving anyone is to recognize the same evil in ourselves, so we're able to forgive them"

"If someone offers you an opportunity to get closer to your enemy, you always take it"

"Maybe forgiveness is just the continual pushing aside of bitter memories, until time dulls the hurt and the anger, and the wrong is forgotten"

"Requiring a person to disappear, to fade into the background wherever they go, is no better than encouraging them to punch one another"

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
"The world is divided into the people who imagine their own funerals and the people who don't. Smart and artistic people naturally fall into the former category"

"Dying is easy. Living is hard."

...aaand finally, from "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova:
"Be creative, be useful, be practical, be generous, and finish big"

Conversation with the cable guy today:
 
Cable Guy (CG): So, did you just move here? (due to the mess that is my house currently)
 
Me: No, I moved here over a month ago, but I've been in Atlanta
 
CG: Oh, are you from Atlanta?
 
Me: No, I'm from Kansas City
 
CG: Oh, the weather is way warmer here than KC
 
Me: Well, I've been living in Phoenix for the last few years
 
CG: Oh, were you born in Phoenix?
 
Me: No, born in San Jose, CA.
 
CG: Wow.

:) I love my traveling life.

Not a huge surprise, I didn't make my deadline of posting all my travels before arriving in Florida. The last few weeks have been crazy! I drove from Phoenix to FL, a few days later I flew to KC for a conference for work, flew back to FL and drove to Atlanta for a month stay for work. The good news is I'm "stuck" in a gorgeous Residence Inn with Jack. I have quite a bit more time for relaxation than I've had in the past year. So.. I *hopefully* will catch up on here.

This post is all about my super fun stay in Marina Del Rey, California! I lived there for a little over a month for work. I have always loved what California offers. Nice people, nice weather, and there is always something to do. I finally saw the Hollywood sign (I've been to Cali a million times, but never found the time to find the sign).

 If you've ever wanted to go to the sign, beware! It's terribly hard to find. We actually thought we had to climb a mountain to find it. That's not the case. However... we climbed said mountain and got to see the greater LA area from above.

Of course, what is a trip to LA without going to the Santa Monica Pier? We found this little birdy on our travels :)

 I cannot believe it's been over a year since I've posted. Oops! Great news, I move to Florida in less than a month! I've told myself I will post on this blog every trip I've made in the last year before I move. Today's travel is THE GRAND CANYON.

 Living in AZ, the South Rim is obviously closer. However, my sense of direction and the fact that my passenger was sleeping resulted in accidentally ending up in Utah & the North Rim. It was a happy surprise, the North Rim is way more pretty (and less touristy) than the South Rim.

Some more random AZ pics, in no particular order. First off- Fourth of July!

Snow boarding in Flagstaff. Saying I'm terrible at snowboarding is an understatement. Regardless, it was fun :)

I had a super bright idea to buy a record player. This is probably the best investment I've made in a long time. To me, there is nothing like hearing music from a vinyl.

One of the best things about Phoenix? Street Tacos!!! mmmm they're unbelievably delicious.







 One day, I decided I hated the very boring white walls in my house. I grabbed a bottle of wine and set out on putting decals on my wall. By the time I was done with the bottle, the trees were up! They were moderately crooked, but I think they add character to my living room :)

"Memories are all we end up with. At least pick the nice ones."

Land of extremes. Land of contrasts. Land of surprises. Land of contradictions.... That is Arizona. ~Federal Writers Project, Arizona: The Grand Canyon State, 1956

I've officially lived here for more than a year :) I'm going to try to make it a point to upload pics every couple of days to get caught up.

My first few days out here I got to experience one of the biggest haboobs in Arizona's history. Right before a storm, the wind picks up the sand and dirt in the desert and brings it to the valley. Then, everything - and I mean everything - gets covered in dust.

So, one day I saw a haboob coming in, rushed to a mountain, and took pics of the city.

 

Even though Arizona is such a large city, there was a night where the stars were especially bright...

Oh, and the moon seems extra large here, too.

If only it were true

i moved to phoenix! Pictures are coming soon. However, in the meantime, i just finished another book, "If Only it Were True". Its the book the movie Just Like Heaven was based on. Just Like Heaven was super cheesy, so I honestly expected the book to not be so awesome, but I was proven wrong. My favorite part of reading is quotes in books that reveal insights of authors. This one had quite a few really excellent ones which I shall put on here to remember and share with you!
"All dreams have a price"- this hits pretty close to home for me. Most of my friends know I dream more than the average person. By dream, i mostly mean at night (i have two dreamcatchers above my bed which have seemed to change the issue- there are nights i've spent only dreaming, not sleeping, which is not good for the next day), but also my ridiculous amount of ambition. All dreams have a price.

"Sometimes our impulses and desires make us feel powerless. But part of the art of living is knowing how to fight that feeling; because when we're powerless, we get frightened, and then we lose our grip on our intelligence, our common sense, and we become weak. You're going to be scared in lots of ways in your life... But always fight back, and don't hesitate for too long. Think, decide, and then act. Don't have doubts. You have to act on your decisions or you'll be unhappy. Every decision you make can become a kind of game that helps you know yourself better and understand the world." To me, this is a fantastic quote that sums up advice quite well.

"If you want to know what a year of life means, ask a student who just flunked his year-end exams. Or a month of life: talk to a mother who has just given birth to a premature baby and is waiting for him to be taken out of the incubator before she can home him safe and sound in her arms. Or a week: interview a man who works in a factory or a mine to feed his family. Or a day: ask two people madly in love, who are waiting to see each other again. Or an hour: talk to someone with claustrophobia who's stuck in a broken down elevator. Or a second: look at the expression on the face of a man who has just escaped from a car wreck. Or one thousandth of a second: ask the athlete who just won the silver medal at the Olympic Games, and not the gold he trained for all his life. Life is magic."

Too deep and not pictures? perhaps, but oh man how i love to read.

Celebration, FL

Never have i been greeted by so many strangers in my life. Maybe its the Disney part of it...

Love this place. We even saw an alligator in the water :) And the bird above? we saw him catch the fish, kill the fish, eat the fish.

i get to work... where?!

I got to work in Downtown Disney, Orlando, FL for a few weeks. Here are some pics from the adventure :)

That hot air balloon led me to work every day

Outside of Planet Hollywood (across from the theatre), Jenny from Forrest Gump

One of the stops of the Ferry

Outside of LegoLand, This dude's made out of legos! There were also some reenactments of scenes from Disney movies made out of legos.

Fultons Crab House- super expensive & fancy but delicious nonetheless.

Goofy & me at disney breakfast. It was early, so please excuse the appearance. :D

The happiest place on earth

Epcot

 

 

 My super crazy awesome job sent me to Florida. We were technically working on Disney property so we got free tickets to the happiest place on earth!

Mickey & Pluto

The Tree of Life

Me in front of the Magic Kingdom

Coke from everywhere

It's a small world, after all.

Disney World was awesome. I've been to Disney Land a bunch of times, but never to Disney World. We got lucky and went on a day with perfect weather and not too many tourists. Florida's gorgeous and it's definitely a vacation I needed. More pics will be coming :)

work, sleep, work, get a tattoo?

Life has been boring recently. I've been working literally non-stop, but it looks like its about to pay off, as my job will *hopefully* be moving me to phoenix soon! :)

However, I did have some time to get a tattoo...
It's my favorite quote, "Love all, Trust a few, Do wrong to none."

Jersey isn't too much fun, but the city sure is!

We flew out of new jersey on thanksgiving day to help our home theatre for the holiday. Our flight was early afternoon, so whats an irresponsible girl to do for the morning? Head out to the city for the macy's thanksgiving parade, of course! It was cold. it was crowded. but it was sooo worth it.




Oh yeah, i met someone famous. Actually, a few famous people. Unfortunately, they were all made of wax. :D I conquered my fear and agreed to visit Maddam Tussaud's wax museum. It was expensive, but neat.






Thats me & the city skyline. I'm not a huge fan of cities (by any means) but skylines always get me.