I Like Walking...

...in nature, on the beach, or really anywhere for that matter.  I am a walker.  Ever since I can remember I have taken long walks or short walks or any kind of walk I can get in. Walking rocks! That is all. P.S. I wrote another post about walking back in 2009.  Click here to read.

Living Overseas!

Today I watched a few episodes of House Hunters International. It's not something I should do very often, because now I really want to drop everything I am doing and go and live in Europe somewhere for a couple of years ;)  The culture and language and work environment would be an adjustment but I think I would learn to love it.

I love traveling. I've been to 19 different countries and have lived in 4 of those countries. I like having a home base in a foreign place and then having adventures while there. I first lived abroad when I was 10 years old and my family moved to Moscow, Russia for a year and a half for my dad's work.  Living there we made friends with the Russians, other foreigners and got to travel to different parts of Russia as well as 8 new countries (at least for me, they were new). That was quite the way to start off my foreign living experiences.

My second experience living abroad was 11 years later on my mission to Ukraine. Living in Ukraine, I didn't get the whole touristy thing as much, since I was a missionary, but it was an awesome experience preaching the Gospel to the Ukrainian people and getting immersed in the culture by getting to know and love and serve the people for a year and a half.

My third experience living abroad was my semester abroad to Jerusalem.  Attending classes and then taking field trips to the places that we just learned about in the classroom was amazing! The stories from the Bible really came to life for me and walking where Jesus might have walked was pretty amazing to think about.

My fourth experience living abroad was teaching English in Taiwan for 6 months. I got to know my students, my roommates, and people from church well.  I met some amazing people there and we got to travel to different parts of Taiwan practically every weekend.

I think part of the reason I really loved all of my different foreign living experiences was getting to know the people in each of those places that call that country home.  People everywhere are so diverse and yet the same. Every country has their different quirks and mind set and lifestyle and yet they all have the same emotions and the same general desires and goals in life.

I tell you all of these things, not to brag, but to let you know that traveling and living abroad is in my blood (my parents love to travel, most of my siblings love to travel, and I love to travel) and to remind myself NOT to watch House Hunters International too often, otherwise I might just pick up and leave the country unexpectedly.  Maybe someday I will end up living in Europe again. Probably not anytime soon, but someday...

Old Pictures from My Old Phone

 The Tidal Basin in the fall time.

 A bridge near Lara and Glen's house.

 I liked this sign. :)

 The Washington D.C. temple.

 A pretty and historical house in downtown Vienna.

 Me at the Masonic Memorial in Alexandria.

Looking at the Navy Memorial from the National Archives.

 A crane (at least that's what I think it is) in a pond near my house.

The fall time!

50/50 Challenge Results 2012

At the beginning of 2012, my work had a challenge, read 50 new books and watch 50 new movies during the year.  You can read more about the challenge in this blogpost I wrote at the beginning of last year.  Now for the results of the challenge... I read 41 books and watched 43 movies.

Sometimes I would just read books and watch movies just so that I could count them toward my number. As a result of this, I read a few books and watched a few movies that I did not particularly like, but I read or watched them anyways.  I might tell you a few of the ones I didn't like, but mainly I would like to tell you the ones that I liked the most.

The books I really really liked:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
The How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell
Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Any historical fiction books by Ann Rinaldi

The movies I really liked:
Children of Heaven
Life of Pi
Les Miserables
Whisper of the Heart

Movies I did NOT like:
Contagion
The Woman in Black
The Backup Plan

Basically with the rest of the movies or books, they were good.  I liked them.  I may have even liked them a lot but the ones I wrote above are the ones I liked the most.  The ones I did NOT like were pretty bad (at least in my opinion).

If you would like to see the full list of movies and books that I watched and read, you can click the tab at the top of my blog (under my blog title) that says 50-50 CHALLENGE to see them.

So... I Bought a Car!

 Yaaaay! 

My old Hyundai Elantra took a turn for the worse.  I decided it was no longer worth it to keep on fixing it. It cost a lot of money and I worried every time I went out on the road that it might break down.  So I called my bank to see how much I would be approved for to take out a loan, then I started searching for a used car.

 This car came up.  It's a 2009 Toyota Corolla.  It was within the lower end of my price range and I liked the color and the way it drove.

 So I bought it.

I have had the car for just about a week now and I really like it.  It's nothing fancy, but it feels a lot better than my old car.  I don't worry every time I go out on the road that it might break down at any moment.

I am hoping this car will be a good, reliable car for me for many years to come.

The Beach on Christmas Eve Eve!

 Here are pictures from the beach in California over Christmas break. I love the beach. It was my one request of what I wanted to do while I was there.  It was well worth the 20 minute drive to there :)  (Oh if only I could live 20 minutes from a beach all the time...  maybe someday.)

 Dad, Nate, Tim, and I took Sunday afternoon, Christmas eve eve, to fulfill my desire and go to the beach.    It was a beautiful afternoon/evening!

 Timbo and I

 Nate and Tim didn't like all of these self-portraits I was taking, but I took them anyways.  (On a side note: Ladies, these two brothers are single and they're awesome :)

 We found this cool spot to get jumping shots.  Nate definitely got the most air. 

 Tim did get off the ground, I just wasn't able to capture it on the camera :)

 I liked this shot with the cool rock formation.

 I took this shot and really liked it and made Nate take a picture of me like this.  See picture below.

 Papachka stayed in the car while Nate, Tim and I walked a long the beach.  It was a lovely beach on a beautiful evening with good company! 

Thanks Papachka, Nate, and Tim for coming with me on this little excursion. 

California until Christmas Eve!

I spent from December 18th until Christmas eve in Southern California.  I stayed with Kristina, Tom, Andrew and Madeline.  Dad and Mom were the first to arrive after me.  Then Heather and Tim came a couple of days later. Then Nate made his way the night before I left.  I love my family.   I really like Southern California and I really like the beach!  

My flight to Chicago was cancelled in Baltimore due to horrible fog in Baltimore.  I left early the next morning and flew to Denver then onto Orange County, CA.

It was Christmas time and we could wear short sleeves and jeans during the day. I loved it! 

The lone tall tree.  There is the awesome smaller tree next to it decorated with ornaments.

A beautiful sunset!

The Pacific Ocean!

San Diego Temple!  The light through the windows was beautiful!

Mamachka and Papachka!

Mormon Battalion Museum.  This museum pretty much rocks! 

The San Diego Temple is right off the freeway like the Washington D.C. temple.  It is magnificent! 

I have pictures from the beach but those will have to wait for another post...