pura vida

PURA VIDA, literally translated means "Pure Life" but means contextually something approximate to "Full of Life", "Purified life", "This is living!", "Going great", or "Cool!" It can be used as a greeting, as a word of farewell, to express satisfaction, and in some instances to politely express indifference when describing something. The phrase has become widely known; this highly flexible statement is used by many Costa Ricans (and expatriates) since 1956. Some foreigners view the phrase as an expression of a leisurely lifestyle, of disregard for time and wanton friendliness. However, Costa Ricans use the phrase to express something akin to a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcomming difficulties with good spirits, and enjoying life slowly and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike.

i make them good girls go bad.

hello all.

I have failed at every attempt to do day-by-day posts of my summer adventures, but whatever. That's not to say it doesn't bother me when I see days 1, 2, and 3, and days 4, 5, 6, and 7 are very obviously missing... but perhaps one day I will get to it. Perhaps not. I trust life will go on for most of you.

Two days after I got back from the big easy, I left for one of my favorite places in the world: Rutledge, Georgia. Rutledge, a self-proclaimed "small but special" town, population 700, and home to Hard Labor Creek State Park. Every summer, Roswell Presbyterian's youth group heads out to this glorious plot of nowhere for a week of straight up amazingness. Counselors head up the Friday before campers get there on Sunday to set up for the week and to have some time to ourselves. Upon arrival on Friday, the profuse sweating began and did not end until the following Friday. At Rutledge, hygiene is not a huge priority. Many shower in Rutledge lake--a lovely watering hole that stains you brown upon entry--and others choose not to shower at all. Andrew Brandes. The one hygienic practice we try to enforce is wearing deodorant, but there were a handful of rebels. What can you do? During the week, we play lots of softball, volleyball, and ultimate frisbee. Thankfully I had the freshmen girls for campers so I got to play in the "lower girls" league. My MVP moment of the week was catching a pop fly.. screaming as the ball arced through the air in my general direction, then taking a few less than graceful steps forward with my mitt outstretched and leaning forward, closing my eyes for a moment then opening them to see the ball had miraculously landed in my mitt, right alongside the dandelion that I'd woven into the palm of my glove. I'm a five year old girl. No big deal.

Meredith called me the Thursday night before we left for Rutledge to ask if I would do the morning skit with her.. I told her that she mustn't realize how very socially awkward I can be, but she insisted I do it with her. I responded that if she could find no one else then I'd do it, and listed off a handful of names of people who would be much better than I would be, hoping that one of them would be foolish enough to say yes. She grabbed me the next morning and told me what was only to be expected: she could find no one else, and so I would be doing the morning skit with her. Not that I don't love being in front of a crowd with a mike in my hand, it's just that I was terrified that no one would think we were funny. Apparently we did alright, though. I was Paris Holiday Inn and Meredith was my bff Nicole Poor-ie. It was hhhhhot. My personal favorite part was when I rapped, Bonquiqui style.

On the mike is a diva so listen to me scream-a.

I'm up here lookin hot.

We both lookin hot.

We strut on the runway.

We pose on the runway.

We both lookin hot and fly on the runway.

HAYYYYYY!

Skillz. I know.

A final note: WHO WILL PROTECT THIS HOUSE? WILL YOU PROTECT THIS HOUSE? WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE!!

We got back from Rutledge on Friday afternoon, then I slept for 14 glorious hours. I woke only because I had to go and see the new Harry Potter movie at the earliest time on Saturday (noon at Park 12. holler.). It was GREAT! Loved loved loved it. I wish I were Hermione Granger so badly. Also that Ron/ Rupert were my boyfriend (I'm in love with him as a wizard and as an muggle.. I don't discriminate). I had Blimpie for lunch, though, and was gravely disappointed. I was told that it was "exactly like Subway" but it most definitely was not. Subway is much better. Much.

Speaking of Subway, I just got back from Subway Fest 09. Me, Victoria, and the moms drove up to Charleston on Sunday afternoon for Victoria's orientation at the beginning of this week. We probably outdid Jared in Subway consumption over a three-day period. I need an intervention or something. The trip was great, though. Victoria got to meet all these freaks in her incoming class and calm her nerves a bit, whilst I got a jump start on my back to school shopping and celebrated free pastry day at Starbucks. Gosh my life. I also fell head over heels in love with Fresh Berry Yogurt, a Pinkberry wannabe I believe, but delicious nonetheless. On Tuesday, Victoria finished her advisement at like 11am and we had nothing else to do until 3:30 when they were handing out everyone's Cougar Cards at the bookstore. We got lunch at the dining hall, and walked around some, but ended up back at the bookstore waiting in line around 2. I picked up Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life and was cackling for all to hear. She is so freaking funny. I'm cheap and didn't buy the book, but my roomie has it waiting back for me at 1979 so I'll get to finish it later this week. Yessss.

This morning has been so nice. I got up fully rested, much UNLIKE the mornings waking up in the dysfunctional air-conditioned room at Days Inn. I enjoyed my coffee and cereal with Ellen Degeneres on her 51st birthday, then ran on the treadmill and have been enjoying my endorphin high ever since. I have flying lessons at 2 with Patrick, then going to the Braves game tonight at 7, then afterwards going to Athens to hang with my boo Tommy! Yay!

My current song obsessions are One Day by Matisyahu, Down by Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne (obvi.), and Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship ft. LEIGHTON MEESTER. Bahhh I freaking love her. She's such a g.

Victoria has brought it to my attention that I have a lot of celebs that I am obsessed with and or want to be. Leighton Meester, Nicole Richie, the Olsen twins, Emma Watson/ Hermione Granger, Penelope Cruz in Vicki Christina Barcelona, Kristin Cavallari, Angelina Jolie.. Yes I am indeed obsessed with all of them, and probably more that I am forgetting right now, but wanting to be them? Eh. My life is pretty flippin sweet. It's good to be me.

peace out girl scouts.

peace love and yay me.

300 words on my experience in guatemala

Why are we here? To glorify God, to worship Him, and fellowship with one another. The Sunday morning ritual was being echoed a thousand miles away from home, and was just as fitting for our mission trip as it is for Sunday morning worship. At RyeX, the youth group prepares itself for worship with this mantra, so it only made sense for our Guatemala mission trip group to prepare ourselves with such a mantra; for the worship we would be doing through service for the next eight days in Guatemala. We were there first and foremost to glorify God. Personally, I felt I was fulfilling this task best in serving those around me, by striving to be Christ-like and to let my actions speak on behalf of God. We were also there to worship Him, which we did both conventionally—singing praise songs, sharing testimonies with one another, and attending church services—and not so conventionally—schlepping concrete to work sites, playing futbol with our vacation bible school students, and donning a pair of soccer cleats on barefoot children. Finally, we were there to have fellowship with one another. This last bit is by far my favorite part of any mission trip—the relationships formed with those we are serving. I find no greater joy than breaking language barriers and forging friendships with our brothers and sisters in all parts of the world. We also are able to strengthen our fellowship with one another within the church family, both youth and adults alike, which is awesome. This was my third mission trip to Guatemala, and I hope it won’t be my last. It’s an amazing experience in so many ways; I so hope that more people will get to be a part of what God is doing in this beautiful country.

the big easy-day 3

salut.

Today we went out to lunch with Pawpaw, Mimi, and Aunt Terri at Acme on the north shore. Upon arrival, Pawpaw fawned over how freaking tall Paul is, how I have blossomed into such a lady, and how much Victoria resembles a prostitute. I kid you not. The man went on and on about how Victoria looks like a hooker. A high class hooker, of course. He said that he’d be her pimp and would sell her for $5000 a trick. That’s my fam! Pawpaw has nicknames for all of us; Mom’s the poot, I’m the tomato, and Victoria is the potato. So the moral of the story is Pawpaw has a classy tomato and a trashy potato. Also Pawpaw is a g.

After lunch we headed back to Gretna and donned our bathing suits and sat poolside for a few hours. Then we headed over to the Gretna BMX track for Joseph’s race around 6. Joseph is known as “Joseph the Dirt Devil Middleton” with him BMX peeps. He is the image of U, S, and A in his star spangled shirt and pants, flag bandana around his neck, and a red, white, and blue bike. God bless Uh‘merica. Joseph won the blue ribbon for his age bracket, and was quite pleased with himself. By the time all the races were done, it was already past 9. We headed over to Tennou for sushi night, though, because we are troopers. The Jennings clan ordered our weight in sushi deliciousness and did WORK. From squid salad and edamame all the way through salmon sashimi and the New Orleans roll..we all left with food babies and an inkling of self-loathing, but sated nonetheless.

I'm not so much in the writing mood so ta for now.

peace love and trashy potatoes

the big easy-day 2

‘ello there.

Day 2 at Children’s has left me overly stimulated to say the least. I started out on the sixth floor shadowing Sam the RN. Ms. Linda sent me straight up, do not pass the cafeteria for coffee, do not collect $200. So I spent the next 3 hours of my life in a decaffeinated stupor, daydreaming of coffee and naps. We started rounds at 7:40. Sam only had four patients, so we just snuck into each of their rooms to check up on them and give them their meds. It didn’t take us too long. After rounds it was time for paperwork. Sam felt terrible that she didn’t have more for me to see and do, and I kept assuring her “no, no I’m really not bored.” Unfortunately all the yawning I was doing put a damper on how convincing I was. I ended up leaving at 10:30 to head back down to PT. Chadios 6^th floor.

I came down and found Mikey in the back room playing with the Wii, so I went and joined him and his grandma. I’m obsessed with his grandma. Her name is Gigi and her grandson calls her geeg for short—exactly like my all time favorite grandmother in the entire world, Gigi Debow. So I have decided that I’m going to call myself Gigi—Geeg for short—when I have my own grandchildren.

After Mikey left I went with Ms Linda and Cayli to hang out with Trinity. We did more scooting exercises and more pushing her down so she could pull herself back up. Then we threw a ball with her and she was cracking us up. She’d go “Ready. Ready. Ready…” Then as soon as you tossed the ball to her she’d yell “NOT READY!” and cover her head with her hands and duck into Ms Linda’s lap. She’s so cute.

For lunch Ms Linda and I hit up the garden burgers in the cafeteria. We had a staff meeting during our lunch hour, so I sat there and listened to Anna extensively discuss the attendance policy for patients. Riveting.

After lunch we went up to the third floor so Ms Linda could say goodbye to this precious little girl who had been her patient for a while and was going home today. Then we headed back downstairs to play with Mikey again. He had already been fart machine walking with Rachel by the time we got down there, and Mikey was ready to play. He wanted to play catch first, so I threw the ball with him while Ms Linda spotted him because he lost his balance every time he threw the ball without focusing. Then Mikey wanted to play on the mat, and Mikey gets what Mikey wants. He ran over to the mat and flipped onto it as Ms Linda was telling him “Um…no there’s not enough room for us on the mat…” So then Ms Linda, Cayli, and I piled onto the mat with Mikey and let him tackle us and come at us with that weak hand of his. Afterwards he told me to lean over because he wanted his stuffed animal to give me a kiss. Precious.

After Mikey left with Geeg, we had burn victims to tend to. Ms Linda, Ms Anna, Cayli, and I all piled into the back room with the family of the first patient. It was a sweet little girl who had stepped onto a two-day old fire pit that was still smoldering and burnt her whole left foot. Ms Linda was going nuts picking off all of the dead skin on that little girl’s foot before we put new dressing on it. The dad had long nails and a vile around his neck. Fail. Nothing compared to the next dad who strolled in…the next man was a GIANT ape-looking man with nappy grey dreds down to his shoulders. Wowza. He strolled in with the baby momma who was easily 20 years younger than ape man. They were the parents of a sweet little girl who had stepped on the momma’s curling iron and burnt the bottom of her little foot. The foot was all healed, so the girl just needed a couple band aids and we sent her on her way. There was also a sister in the room who was at least 14..which puts the mother’s age into perspective. They were quite the crew. Quite the crew indeed.

We headed up to NICU to check on the EB babies, and change the dressings on one of them. It was this sweet little boy with a crazy ass right foot. They kept calling it a “circus foot” because his dang toes touch his shin in a resting position. WTF. So we checked for new blisters, and popped the single new one we found on his right hand, then changed all his dressings out. His poor little right leg is completely raw, so he was freaking out when we were messing with that leg. His heart rate got up to 217 poor baby. After we finished up in the NICU we headed back down to the third floor to clean up some bed sores on this poor girl down there. They were nasty looking, but we did work.

MVP moment of the day: On the elevator, when Ms Linda and I were heading back down to the first floor, the ghost of New Orleans past hopped on the elevator with us. This woman was trash through and through, strutting through the hospital barefoot with a pack of cigs in hand and wrinkles a mile deep. Her raspy smoker voice instructed us to hit the third floor button for her, and her shirt actually said, “FOR SALE. MAKE AN OFFER!” Ms Linda and I could not even look at each other as we bit our tongues waiting for the third floor to come around. As soon as she was out of earshot, we burst into hysterical laughter. So New Orleans.

After work we headed home and stuffed our faces with bbq pork, cole slaw, and salad. It was freaking delicious. Ever since I have been gorging myself on trashy MTV shows. It has been wonderful thank you very much. But now I’m freaking exhausted.

peace out girl scouts.

peace love and make an offer.