One minute of Floating Above it All

This is a selfie I posted on Facebook.  What would compel a girl like me to post a selfie I did in fact take of myself in a bathroom -- note the shower rod -- on Facebook?  This picture was especially special because it was taken about 30 minutes before the next picture and 30 minutes after I woke up. 

And why is that I woke up at 4:00 a.m.?  So I could potentially get my patients up in one of these: 

Turns out the winds were squirrely and therefore we could not take the patients up in the air.  Except for one -- who weaseled his way up into a balloon.  My supervisor for the day thought she'd give me a chance to understand what was going on in the air -- so I weaseled my way into the air as well!! Lucky me right?

For about one minute -- I found myself floating up, up, up and away... and it was very normal feeling.  To be on the ground and then floating above the ground: it was like nothing changed -- no fear or anxiety -- just grounded to floating in the blink of an eye!  .... Until I was unkindly pulled back down to Earth, by the rope that had tethered our balloon the entire time.

I'm starting to see this as a metaphor for my summer -- I've been flying high for a few short months in the beautiful state of Colorado -- and I'll very shortly be pulled back down to a jobless, directionless reality! 

I guess the only thing to do is enjoy the rest of this ride!! 

Three Reasons Why Life Isn't That Bad

Remember my last post -- the one where I was hating on one of God's most abundant creations? Although, I'm actually really not a tree fan, I usually can find in my heart to give them a break and not write blog-posts about my deep-rooted (get it?) loathing.  The problem on Thursday was I was lonely and crying AND I got pulled over a dumb reason, so all my frustration and sadness came out in one tree-hating post.  So today.. one week later, I'm feeling a lot better and I'm excited to fill you in on recent events!

I've made quite a few friends down here in the great state of CO, so it's been fun getting out and doing fun things with them.   Things like:

An early morning hiking adventure!

   I use the term hiking adventure loosely.  Apparently walking through trees can be considered hiking in these parts.  WITH THAT SAID it was a nice walk through some nice trees with some beautiful vistas like the one above.  Apparently the legit hikes around here are only 14-ers (which I think means it takes 14 hours?), so I'm gonna have to get in shape real soon to do some real hiking!  ... we'll see if that one happens. ever.
   One funny thing: that some of the rocks were tagged with spray paint.  Like somebody needed to mark their territory all the way out here. What a waste of spray paint, am-I-right?

Disclaimer: the hike was easy, but I wanted to look intense -- hence the poses. 

Bonus of easy hiking: looking like a million bucks when you want to take a photo of yourself! :)

A late night Rockies game:

I accidentally talked too much while we were watching said game, but I always like going to sporting events in person for the experience! So it was worth it to me -- probably not for the people sitting near me that had to hear me talking, talking, talking.  But it's always nice to see the Rockies win.  It feels rewards after years and years of listening to static-y, barely-there, radio announcers talk about Rockies games to see that this team is worth something, at least sometimes.

That we won!!

And going to the Cheesecake Factory --- only for cheese cake! With this sweet girl who is also one of the four lucky people who I call my BEST friends!

Isn't she great?

Stacey came for the weekend.  Literally. She flew in Saturday and left Sunday.  We made the most of it-- getting some fancy brunch, buying matching cardigans that look smashing on both of us, and Stacey meeting all my best friends down here! It was soooooooooooooooooooooo much fun to show her around and show all my friendy-friends down here what cool people I know.  She's the best!

So while life does have it's ups and downs --- I am doing great overall down here in the Centennial State! (ha ha ha -- lamest state nick-name ever am-I-right? It's got NOTHING on Wyoming -- please read that with no sarcasm, because I would much rather be the Equality State than the Centennial State, blech.)

5 Reasons Trees Are the Worst

1. They block the view. 
• For instance, say you wanted to see the fireworks on the Fourth of July, you can hear them all around you, but for some reason you can't see anything. One word: trees.
• Or maybe you had a great view as a child outside your bedroom window, and your dad decides to plant a tree.  And you can no longer see anything. But leaves.
2. They hide things.
• Like moose when you are hiking or rapists when you are running.
3. They fall over and hurt people.
• During storms and hurricanes and at summer camps.
• And during the season finale of the show "Providence" that one time.
4. They add to peoples list of worries:
• Am I killing a tree if I write this note to my best friend? 
• Am I wasting a tree's life by making confetti for my favorite un-officialy holiday?
• There is already too much to worry about people -- don't let trees get to you.
5. They burn down.
• Which adds to forest fires, and houses burning down, and sadness everywhere. 

Good thing they provide oxygen, or I would be totally over this whole tree thing.

Happy Independence Day

High Rollin' in C-Rad/My Dad is the best!

Last night I attended my first ever cocktail/fundraiser party! I won a ticket in a raffle at work to go to the "Phamaly Circle of Stars Gala" (everything inside the quotes can be read pretentiously).  When I got the information about the ticket, surprise surprise, it was cocktail attire.

I thanked my lucky stars that my sweet mother had thought to buy me a little black dress as a college graduation present - and then I headed off to the stores to find myself a shrug and a clutch. After searching at all the right stores - read JC Penney and Ross's - my sister suggested I give Target a try. So I typed Target into my GPS and showed up at the LARGEST Super Target I have every beheld. It was huge.  I got everything I needed there -- and I was ready to look the part:

Cocktail Ready

Then I showed up at the Gala -- I was offered champagne when I walked through the door (which I declined), I mingled - met some very nice people - ate my hors d'oeuvres - and then watched some live theatre performances, and participated (by watching only) in a live charity auction where they raised thousands and thousands of dollars (although not with one of my tightly squeezed pennies).  My very favorite part of all of it though was get all ready to go! Dressing up is just tooooo much fun! :)

Since it IS Father's Day -- this blurb would not be complete without this portion dedicated to the man that raised me:

I graduated from college this year - thanks to many people, but especially these two:

Therapeutic Recreation is one of those majors that people scoff at -- "she's getting a major in what?!" The word recreation is just a little too 'fun' to be a real job, and I understand where people are coming from, but thankfully I was given two very practical parents who make all kinds of smart decisions say to me "Go for it!"  They have supported my decision even when I doubted it was the right one -- always, always, always saying "Kelli this is perfect for you."  Which really has given me the confidence to move forward to do something that I love! What my dad doesn't know is that he's the one that got me started down this impractical career. 

My dad's a little crazy sometimes and he has a lot of crazy, but really good, ideas. Like the time he decided at the age of 45(ish) to take up back-packing.

He's the leader of his own band!

He and his enthusiasm, and my ever supportive mother, got us to hike with heavy back-packs on, NOT ONCE BUT TWICE, up a giant mountain to this old piece of wreckage.

So happy we've found it after two years and a lot of tears later!

Those trips were horrible, but I came away feeling so extremely empowered and ready to take on the world that I knew there was a power possible in recreation, which led me to therapeutic rec and just so happened to change the entire course of my whole life thus far.... I wonder if he's regretting his crazy back-packing scheme yet?

My dad has also taught soooo much in the course of my 22-years! While looking for these pictures, I found some pictures that represent the pattern for just about all the things my dad has taught me.   It goes something like this:

My sweet dad teaches me all about skill/task/behavior/etc. by standing right next me and guiding me step-by-step through the process.

Then he steps back and gives me a chance to succeed on my own: 

He steps back in to help me through the hard times:

In this case.. touching the fish... blech.

 And then lets me take all the credit:

Proudly disgusted.

 I'm really one lucky girl! :)

Especially since my dad is good for a selfie every once in a while!

That One Time: Todd Goes to Botswana!

I'm realizing that the last year I missed a bunch of huge awesome life events while I was busy being a senior in college, so now I'm playing catch-up!

My sweet, sweet, sweet, studly little brother got his mission call!

I made a cake. It was an abstract globe, and Africa was definitely an after-thought. No joke-- I was seriously ... okay my globe is done.. something's missing... oh Africa! Which is why it's not exactly the correct proportions.

Which is why it's even better that - - HE GOT CALLED TO BOTSWANA GABORONE! English speaking of course, because our Heavenly Father knows my sweet brother very well.  So in exactly two months from yesterday -- that great brother of mine will be in (or flying to maybe) Africa learning how to teach people the Gospel and change people's lives forever!

Kelli's Day

Kelli's Day was an interesting one this year in that I haven't made any friends down here yet, except those required to be my friends -- like Maria my land-lady/roommate and those lovely ladies and gentlemen at work.... So I did the best I could, but I would have to say this was probably one of the worst Kelli's Days I've had in a while. This is fine because the good thing about Kelli's Day is that I could try again later this summer if I really wanted to -- the beauty of making up your own holiday! 

I had a lazy day for most of it. I tried to go a ward activity, but I left pretty early after talking to just about .... no one. My own fault that I lack social skills.  The activity was supposed to take three hours so I suddenly had about three hours to kill! 

First, I found a used bookstore.  It was fantastic.  The book places around here are fantastic! I went to the Littleton Library just to check it out, and it was PACKED with books.  Every tiny nook and cranny had more and more books! Can't wait to get a card!!!  The used bookstore was the same way -- I walked in and there were tons of books on the floor at the entrance that they were trying to sort through.  The store itself had tiny walkways in a maze-like fashion between stacks and stacks and stacks of books.  I finally found my place in the back and sat down on a tiny rocking chair to look through all my favorite books! I decided on a book I'd read before that's pretty good! (Front and Center - pictured below!)

I then went to the lake at Ketring park to get tan and read! It was very relaxing, and it was a beautiful view on a beautiful day! Super fun.

Before I went back home I stopped at Goodwill to grab myself a movie and found, after much scouring, the movie Signs -- what a classic right?!

I got home and checked the mail to find two letters -- one from Toni and one from my mom! They are fantastic people! And soooo sweet to remember my fake holiday! Toni made me the cutest banner pictured above and sweet Aubrey sent me two pictures! They are the best. My mom sent me the sweetest note and 20 dollars to add to my Kelli's Day fund.  Now that I'm basically un-employed 20's in the mall really feel like manna from heaven! I was so excited to get mail!!! :) 

I made the cake and heated up my left-over Thai food and had a delightful evening!  

I really hesitate to put this last picture up, but because I trust you, I'll put it up anyway.  This is my friend Maria who shared my day with me! She's so great! :)  Before you ask questions like "Has Kelli been eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet for the last three weeks?" The answer is no I have not been gaining weight like crazy, but I somehow managed to put together the perfect combination of factors (bubbling shirt, awkward head turn AND tilt, and strange angle of the arm) to create the most un-flattering picture ever.  What a talent, am-I-right?

Happy Kelli's Day to you and yours!!!!

I'm Done.

As in Done with classes. Done with school-related stress. Done with cramming my brain with no reference guide. Done!!!

Also I'm DONE with another bucket list item: Get my picture on the Testing Center Web-Cam!! 

My sweet roommate Stacey helped me fulfill my goal, as I prepared for my LAST Final in the Testing Center (which I aced btw -- Testing Center screen judged my performance to be "Awesome!").

See if you can spot me: