Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Reflections

Almost two years ago, I went to the Dominican Republic. It was there I changed. I would say that it was a mini-mission experience. As I was looking up things to include in my resume for business school, I came upon this document. After our internship, it was required that we had to write a reflection paper to get a grade. I really thought about this, and I wrote from my heart. Forgive the typos, the grammar is a mess, the punctuation is horrific, but my feelings remain ever the same. I read this at work, and I cried. I miss that place. I miss the feelings.

As I take a moment and reflect upon this trip, I realized how alive and different human-beings are. I honestly had no idea what was in store for me when I embarked on this journey. When I first left, I was terrified, I did not want to be leaving the comforts of my home and go to a place that I had never been to before, with people that I could hardly communicate with! I got off the plane and I was drenched with sweat, I was seriously doubting if I could even do this.
As time progressed, and I got to get into the swing of things, I started to fall in love with the Dominican culture and people. At the beginning of the trip, everyone I talked to said that the Dominicans are some of the most loving people, this was something that I got to experience first hand. They have to little, yet are willing to share anything. They are some of the happiest people alive. Their happiness really got me thinking about my happiness. Here I was, complaining about how I was not going to know anyone and how I was in a different environment, and the people were very loving and caring.
The first week of being in the D.R. was probably one of the most trying. I had to get used to the language, not flushing things down the toilet, the heat, the humidity, walking everywhere. It was so hard.
When the first week of classes started, I was in shock. I thought my Spanish was manageable, but being with the kids showed me otherwise. They seemed to be speaking a million miles a minute! I was very discouraged and didn’t think that I was going to be able to do it. But, I was in the pool 24/7 and I wasn’t going to get hot in the water! One instance that really stood out to me was when I was teaching my swim lessons was when I got stuck explaining something to the kids. The words would not come and I looked like a fool. But, the kids did not make fun of me, or laugh, they sat there patiently and wanted to help me explain to them what I was struggling with. This made my heart swell because they wanted to learn so much that they were being so patient with me.
I also gained a greater appreciation of all the church members in the Dominican Republic. Living in utah, it is so easy to go to church. Chapels are a 30 min drive away, and the temple is a mere 15 or so minutes from where I live. The closest chapel for us, was about an hour away, and it was in a guagua. The temple was 5 hours away. The spirit in the chapels is so strong, and love radiates from the members when they say hi to you. Things are not perfect where they are, but they love the gospel so much that they are willing to do almost anything for their faith. That made me really re-evaluate my commitment to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It made me realize that I should really be grateful where I am, and the blessings that I take for granted.
As camp progressed, I really came to fall in love with the children that I was teaching. I was also saddened by the fact of how much of the world that they knew. One girl was getting ready to get in the pool, and she starts taking here clothes off and asks, “Am I like a stripper?” That made me really sad because she was only about 10 years old. Another instance was when I was singing a song for swimming lessons and it was like, “A las escaleras, vamos a la fiesta”, and little boy interjected with “para beber cerveza!” I began asking him why he said that, and he responded with, “I’ve had it before, and it’s good.” He is only about 11. These children are having to grow up faster than kids here in the states.
Another thing that struck me was how these children as so willing and wanting to learn. I went to the beach with a couple of the kids that I taught, and they immediately got in the water and started yelling to me, “MIRA! MIRA!” They started showing me all of the strokes that I had taught them. This made the greatest impact on me. I thought that I wasn’t really making a difference, because it was only swimming. I wasn’t teaching something like reading or writing, but, the fact that they were learning and were able to remember what I had taught them, made me realize that all of the work and all the time I had spent preparing lessons was not wasted. This was greater realized when the kids from La Cienaga came to the pool. They had to earn their time for the pool, and didn’t have pool time every week like the DREAM kids did. When they came to the pool, their eyes lit up and they were so excited to get in. The thing that struck me was that when they got in, I prepared games and things for them to play, but none of them wanted to play. They all wanted to learn how to swim a stroke. I thought that was the most touching because they did not want to play games. 

I will miss la bandera. I will miss being so close to the ocean. I will miss the kids.
I will not miss not being able to flush things down the toilet, the humidity, the mosquitos, being scared to walk everywhere, motoconchos, hissing to get peoples attention.


This trip definitely has made me realize how much I have, and that I have the power to help people. It was an experience that I wouldn’t trade for the world.


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Monday, January 30, 2012

I Get a Complex When I See This. . .


I get a complex when I see even ONE unread email. 
I work furiously until I can read that email. It's especially disappointing when I get work done and reward myself with checking my email, and it's only a stupid spammy email. Darn. 
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Awards, awards!

Yes, sometimes I don't have a life, and I make awards. But, awards are often needed to express how awesome someone really is. Case and point: Carlos Grandela. This boy is so wonderful. I think to myself everyday, how lucky am I to know this man? How did I manage to fool him into loving me? I'm pretty good eh? I was joking with him about how he deserved the "Best Boyfriend Award", and true to my word, I made him one. :) He deserves it. 

Yesterday was a fun day, until we started talking about marriage and engagements. I have one huge flaw (of many) and it's impatience. I hate waiting, I hate thinking about waiting, and I hate talking about waiting. And that's exactly what I am doing right now. I want everything now. I want to be engaged. I want to be married. I need chill pills. But, I don't want to wait to fill out a prescription form for some. Not worth it. 

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Cooking Adventures

I love cooking. Carlos and I love to eat a good, yummy meal. Here are two of the delicious meals that we made this week. The first was somewhat of a fail. I was feeling a Crunchwrap, but I didn't want to go to Taco Bell and get some...so this was the result: 

Quite the disaster. But tasted oh so yummy!
I've been a fan of Saturday breakfasts since Carlos started working from 5-9 in the morning. It's pretty nice actually. I get to get up early and then have a scrumptious breakfast with the love o' my life. It makes waking up in the morning so worth it. I can't wait until we are married. :) 
My love went and picked up Einstein's today, which was such a welcome treat. :) 
I'm going to try to make these crunchwraps again, they were oh so deelish. 

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Snow, Snow. . .

Yesterday was pretty fun. I didn't have to go to work, which was great. I love this new weather. Hellllooo snow! Carlos was so sweet to me/ wants to make me fat, we made the killer Papa Murphy's pizza. That thing is a mother--. But so deelish. We were able to just relax, which is the thing that we always want to do. Don't judge, we are busy lil' kids here!

I've decided that I want to read or at least listen to the BOM this week. I've felt a little lacking in my spiritual aspect of life, which, happens to e'rybody, but I'm ready for it to be over.

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yummy Jamba.

Carlos' First Time to. . .


So I've decided when I get stressed out, I bake. Which is good for my nerves, not so good for the waistline. Let's just say I've had to go to the gym more often, and it doesn't seem like it's working. I made two loaves of bread this weekend--I'm going to need a bread maker when I get married! We made this deelish wheat bread. I tried to make a jalapeƱo and cheese bread, but it didn't have too much salt. It was still good though. I treated Carlos to Einstein's since he's never been there. I was sad to report that Einstein's is moving it's location from a quaint little location in Provo (which is right across the street form the newly announced Provo temple) and will be moving to a spot right next to Provo High. Laaame. I love where Einstein's is right now. Not that I go much anyways. It's so fun to spend so much time with my best friend. I doubt it's going to change much when we get married. :) 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Yay for Tomorrow

I've decided that instead of thinking about taking the GMAT tomorrow, I am considering it to be my day off. I am going to sleep in, go to the gym late, and go to Nordstrom Rack. Oh, and take the GMAT around 12. But no worries. At least I know that Carlos will still love me if I fail. Phew.

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Friday, January 20, 2012

Bagels, Noodles, Wings


Yesterday was a full day of gorging myself. All I did was eat--all day. I got up, went to work, had a meeting, had some bagels. Not just any bagels, Einstein's Bagels, with schmear. The kind that makes you happy to be alive in the morning. mmmmm

Then for lunch, (our company gives us a catered lunch every Thursday--which I love). 'Twas Noodles and Company, thank you very much work. It was so yummy, I was tempted to go back to get seconds, but I didn't think it was a good idea. Because for dinner. . .

We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. Yum, yum, yum! Those wings are delicious. And totally worth the 2 hours wait. Luckily Scott and Stace went before us and stayed in line. Otherwise, we would have waited over 3 hours! Those wings burn the tastebuds, but leave you wanting more. It's 9 am, but I am craving wings. . .

I love food so much. I go to the gym so I can eat more of it. Sick, I know. But, I can't put the bagels down, and all I want to do is go on Pinterest and find recipes I can make.

I'm hoping we can make some bread this weekend, I've been craving homemade bread with hot cider for a while now. Wouldn't that be yummy?
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

It's a Cloudy Day. . .But It's a Temple Day


It's a cloudy day here in Provo, Utah. I'm not too happy about it, the only thing that it good about this is that there is increased snuggletime with my snugglebuddy. Other than that, it's kind of just, "blah, blah, blah weather".

I felt like I had to put that in quotes because it's so quotable. This week has been a struggle to get to bed, maybe it's the 5 hours of sleep I get each night, maybe it's the fact that I wake up in the middle of the night when Carlos texts me. Either way, I'm tiiiiired.

Yesterday, we had to go to intensive care because Carlos' eardrum burst. I guess he was bleeding in the middle of the night. Don't ask me! I wasn't there! I got to thinking how blessed we are with our health. I never have to go to the doc, and I am thankful for that.

I've got a couple of job offers to work at home, which I am stoked for. I decided that I want to make an income that is solely to save/use for fun. Enter the beauty of Odesk. It's my new best friend. I'm still planning to work at PMA, which is the greatest job, but I really want to start making more than the wages I'm making now. I guess I am just spoiled and I hate running out of money, plus, I want to start working to pay off my loans (all measly $3,000 of it).

I love to see the temple, I know I'm going there sometime soon (as in by the summer). I'm so excited to start thinking about marriage--yes--it's on my brain. I can't get it out. And the boy hasn't even proposed yet, imagine when he does. Crazy ol' me.

ps, Big Bang Theory makes me feel smarter.



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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

These lil things make my day

Found this lil gem in the notepad I do practice GMAT problems on. I love him, yes I do!

Monday, January 16, 2012

I Would Rather

Today I didn't want to get out of bed. I almost didn't come to work today. I would have rather gnawed on the foot of an antelope. I would have rather taken the GMAT today. I would have rather cleaned my bathroom. I would have rather stayed at the gym all day. I would have rather done anything that come into work at 7 in the morning. Good thing Gold's didn't have classes in the morning today. I almost went, but had the good sense to call and confirm there wouldn't be any. I would have cried if I went to Gold's at 6 am this morning.


I would do anything so that I could have kept sleeping in my warm, comfy sheets. Not to mention Carlos has school off, and he gets to have a somewhat relaxing day. I've got a case of the Mondays. . .

Can it be Sunday again?
Can it?
Can it? 
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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Awesome, Fun, and Not So Fun

Going to bridal fairs is really fun. Do you think it's weird to go before really being engaged? I got to get some yummy foods, some great ideas, and spend some fun times with my family.

But you know what is more fun? Going to visit the love o' your life at 1 am where he works. Then listening to Enrique and Spanish songs for an hour. That's really fun. What's not so fun is looking forward to eating Wendy's and watching The Bachelor, but then throwing up what you ate at Wendy's and falling asleep during The Bachelor.

Live is crazy, life is wonderful.

It seems like I can never have enough time with Carlos. Which is ok, it's probably safe to say that we are completely, totally in love.

I can't help but being so cheesy, but I love Carlos so much. It's crazy to think that we've been dating for just about a year! It seems like time has flown by so fast!
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Friday, January 13, 2012

Bridal Fairs Before Actually Being Engaged: Jumping the Gun?


Is it weird to be already looking at things for when I get married? As in, I'm going to go to the wedding expo this weekend, but it's just to look...It's no longer an if, it's a question of when. Which is weird, but I am so ready.

Is it weird to be heading to bridal fairs when I don't have a ring on my finger yet? I know he likes it, but hasn't put a ring on it. . .

Oh well, I've got other things to worry about. Like the looming GMAT. Please let this be the last standardized test I have to take. Please, oh please, oh please.

I'm also enjoying my new apartment, I love the new freedom. I love being able to come home and not worry about someone judging what Carlos and I do. We've been enjoying this new freedom. Not to mention that my new roommates are pretty much exactly what I was hoping for. They are all laid-back and super sweet.

Oh, and I have got to start getting some more sleep. I've been relatively good, which surprises me. Here's to the freakin' weekend.

ps, I've still got to post about VA trip. I just have to find the time...
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