Belize or Bust (Times Two)

I should have been a travel agent...really I should have. So far due to my public service announcement 17 tickets to Belize have been purchased so far (and those are just the ones I know of for sure)! And 15 of those tickets are either for me or for people traveling with me. I think American Airlines should at least give me a free t-shirt or something for all the business I've gotten for them...or maybe a kick in the pants for helping so many people know about their dirt cheap airfare. And don't judge me people, but I'm actually going twice. Once in January and once in February. Too bad my mom isn't on the same continent as me so she can control me better...I'm an out of control orphan. I just figure with such cheap airfare it is actually cheaper to meet up with my friends on trips to Belize then it would be to actually go and see them. For example, my friend Kate from Ohio...I could either spend $331 over Presidents' Day weekend to go see her in Ohio (BORING) or meet up with her in Belize (EXCITING) for $224. What would you do? Most of the time being single sucks. We single people don't have the benefits of marriage and family such as:

1. tax breaks
2. being considered "normal" by society
3. fulfilling your purpose in life
4. having someone love you and someone to love
5. not having everyone wonder (and talk about) what is wrong with you
6. having cute little kids (aka tax breaks)
7. not having to wonder what is wrong with yourself
8. not having to date anymore
9. not having to be in a Singles' Ward
10. not having to always worry about how you come across (too quiet...too loud, too independent...too needy, too educated...not educated enough, blah, blah blah)
11. not having to feel guilty for not going to the 5000 Singles' Ward activities per week
12. etc.

HOWEVER...sometimes being single is AWESOME. Like:

1. When there is cheap airfare to Central America and you have to decide to go on the spur of the moment
2. When you want to go to Belize twice in two months there isn't anyone to tell you that you're crazy and ridiculous...and if they do you don't care anyway
3. When you see moms in the grocery store with super bratty kids screaming and begging for that Hannah Montana diary, Thomas the Train toy, or those mini M&M tubes (Yum)

So today, yay for Spinsterhood!

So who did I talk into making the quick decision to go to Belize with me??? Trip #1 (January): Every single one of the SINGLE cousins on my dad's side of the family except the one in high school and the two on missions....EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US. And that (AMAZINGLY) even includes my blogleech brother Russell...due to some amazing fishing spots in Belize. Plus my cousin's two friends. So there are 9 of us so far on that trip Trip #2 (February): Me and 5 of my single girl friends are going to be celebrating Single People Awareness Day (Feb 14) in style! Tallie asked in her comment how I get so much time off of work. Well, first of all, I just bought these two tickets without even asking for time off...so hopefully it will work out. With my current feelings about my job what they are if it came down to losing my job or going to Belize I would take Belize. But really, I do get quite a few days off...I think like 18 or something plus holidays and I'm going over holiday weekends for both of my trips to Belize and am just going for 5 and 6 days for each of the trips...so I really am not having to take much time off work at all...especially since I work four days a week so I always have three day weekends. And...sometimes when I go on trips I just take leave without pay like this summer when I was in Paraguay and Brazil. I figure the less money I make the less taxes I pay...funny how our American system just makes me want to work less. Anyway...in conclusion, now is a GREAT time to travel. That is if you have any cash and can get over the depression that looking at your retirement funds will bring you. The dollar is SUPER strong right now and airfare is cheap and getting cheaper. For example, today I found round trip to Honolulu from SLC for 400 bucks (including taxes). I think that is pretty dang good...not as amazing as the Belize deal, but still good. And...what is with all the SUPER cheap flights they have directly out of Idaho Falls right now...like New York City for under 300 dollars from Idaho Falls? And tickets to Fortaleza Brazil where my parents are have dropped like 500 bucks just in the past few weeks. Luckily they haven't dropped around Christmas time or we'd be mad...but I'm glad they are dropping for the rest of the year. So you may have lost tens of thousands in your retirement fund, the housing market may be crap, and our future as wealthy Americans may be uncertain, but for now, I say, "Spend it before you lose it and TRAVEL!" The end.

Public Service Announcement

This just in...American Airlines is having SUPER DUPER good deals right now from SLC to Belize. I just bought a round trip ticket from Salt Lake City to Belize City, Belize for.............................................................$151! Okay, okay, if you add the taxes and fees it came out to $224.10 but hey, you can't even fly to Milwaukee to see your grandma for that much. Isn't it amazing that even in these times of economic turmoil and trial there are good things like this happening in our world? See, I can see the positive in life and in losing my retirement fund. So, I offer this blog post as a public service announcement to all of you who may want to be getting out of the cold SLC weather this winter. I have NEVER, EVER, EVER seen flights from SLC to anywhere in Central America for this cheap. NEVER. If you want to get tickets I would recommend doing so SOON (like this weekend). I'm sure Monday morning somebody at American Airlines is going to wake up and realize that they sold 1000 tickets from SLC to Belize for 151 dollars and be in A LOT of trouble. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh plane tickets are my drug of choice. I was having the worst day at work on Friday until an email came through to me telling me of this great deal. Immediately my attitude and outlook on life changed as I began to plan yet another adventure. Yay for American Airlines! I hope to see you all soon in Belize!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

To my concerned friends (okay only Rachel seems to be concerned) I made it back!!! Sorry I didn't post sooner. I just haven't had a second until now. But I am alive and well. We had quite an adventure getting into and out of Monteverde...including a nearly 4 hour traffic jam waiting for them to clear up HUGE mudslides with cars under them (not our car luckily), but we made it safely. And we only got delayed by about a half a day (due to waiting for them to clear out the mudslides). We made it down to Manuel Antonio for a couple of gorgeous days at the beach and then LUCKILY I made it back to the US to be back at work by Tuesday morning. I would have hated to have missed an extra day of work. I'm going to wait to actually post my pictures and details on the trip until I get the pictures that Christa and Kate took too, since they had some great pictures on their cameras. However I will end this post with a few things I'm grateful for. 1) I'm grateful that my Gma Fern is feeling better and is on the mend (she had a heart attack while I was in Costa Rica). So unfair that my tiny little grandma who probably weighs a buck 5, exercises regularly, and eats healthy has a heart attack. 2) I'm grateful for my great Costa Rican adventure. Especially including the torrential rains and mudslides. I'm glad that none of us died or anything like that. Also I'm glad that Christa, Kate and I were all able to enjoy even the unexpected parts of the trip and have fun no matter what!

3) I'm so grateful for my Nano Titanium Babyliss Pro flat iron which I did not take with me (due to the fact that my luggage always seems to get lost anyway). I however am glad to be back with my good flat iron. My self esteem goes up about 100 points when this thing is with me. Next time I'm going to just put it in my carry-on.

4) I'm grateful for South and Central American OREOs which for some weird reason are about 1000 times better than USA OREOs. I'm not sure quite why but I promise they are better. I NEVER buy OREOs in the US but they are always a snack of choice for me in other countries. They must put some illegal addictive substance in them in other countries. I even got Kate and Christa hooked on them.

5) And last but not least I'm glad that they did get my luggage to me. This time after only one and a half days without it. And they even drove it 3 hours through muddy roads to get it to me. My lost luggage did mean that I had to go repelling through waterfalls in borrowed shoes and levi shorts but overall it wasn't that bad. I'm just starting to assume that my luggage is going to get lost. Then I'm not even mad or disappointed when it does.

Okay folks, that's all for now. I'll write up more and post more pics later on. Until then if you want to see more details on our trip you can read Christa's post or Kate's post on life lessons learned in Costa Rica.

Trapped in Paradise

Well, I´m trapped in paradise it seems. Costa Rica is having major storms right now (actually three tropical storms have all converged on Costa Rica)...I´ve never seen so much rain in my life. We are in Monteverde right now and every road out of this place is flooded, washed away or has mud slides covering it. Supposedly they are supposed to be digging out one of the roads tonight. We´ll see. Anyway, we are having fun so far even with the tropical storm...it is just a whole different kind of experience. We went zip lining today in the rain. It was super fun...probably extra fun because it was super wet so you move REALLY fast on the zip lines. Definitely something everyone should do in life. We are making friends with lots of other people at our hotel who are also stuck here in Monteverde. I´m glad my parents taught me to not be afraid to talk to strangers because today my friends and I hung out all day with an older couple from Israel who drove us all around exploring in their rental car. It was great since we would have otherwise been stuck in the hotel. So we are having fun and making lots of friends. I´ll post pictures that I´ve taken when I get back. Until then just pray that we will get back and that we won´t run out of food here in Monteverde! Oh, and to my work friends...don´t count on me being back on Tuesday! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Third Time is the Charm?????

Unbelievable. For the third time this year and the third time in a row my luggage is lost. First it was the Portugal/Spain/Morocco trip in March, then it was my Paraguay/Brazil trip in July and August, and now I can add Costa Rica to my list of lost luggage adventures. I´m starting to think that either 1) the third time is the charm and because my luggage has been lost three times in a row it gives me lifetime immunity to ever losing my luggage again or 2) my red Ricardo Big Sur luggage that has served me so well for the last six years is permanently cursed and there is nothing to do other then buy that cute bluish/green Samsonite luggage I´ve been eyeing these past few months. I´m leaning towards the justification to buy that new luggage I have been wanting. Oh well at least I have turned into a total luggage actually being there when you get there pessimist and now I plan for failure. It is still a pain though!

Tagged by Tallie

I'm it again. I guess I don't mind being tagged every once in awhile. It gives me an easy subject for a post. So, here you go. In no particular order...

8 Shows I Love to Watch...

1. The Office (Love it and highly recommend it)
2. Arrested Development (hilarious, but cannot recommend this one)

Sorry, but I only have two for this category. I don't have cable or DVR and I HONESTLY hardly ever watch TV. I know I'm lame and can't relate to people due to my lack of television watching.

8 Favorite Restaurants...

1. Cuccina Toscana (Amazing Gnocchis and Molten Lava Chocolate Cake)
2. Pie Pizzeria
3. Paradise Bakery
4. Yoshi's
5. Rubio's (yummy chicken street tacos with no onion)
6. Cafe Rio (of course...I love CR...I'm Mormon. It is the closest thing to a drug addiction we get to have.)
7. Desert Edge Brewery (the food, not the beer)
8. Millhollow (I'm addicted to white chocolate almond and pistachio frozen yogurt with cookie dough blended in...you have to try it to believe it.)

8 Things That Happened Yesterday...

1. I was late to work (so normal I don't even consider it late anymore)
2. We got Starbucks Caramel Apple Ciders at Work...YUM!
3. 10 hours at a job I can barely tolerate anymore
4. Total fits of depression approximately hourly as I checked my etrade stock account...the economy is going to turn me bipolar...up and down, up and down, but more down then up right now.
5. Watched the Office...wished that I worked for Michael Scott.
6. Laser hair removal treatment...OUCH. I guess it is the price I have to pay to not look like Bigfoot's wife or an Italian woman.
7. I found out that Delta is going to start flying directly from Atlanta to Fortaleza, Brazil in December...MIRACLE! The only direct flight from the USA to Fortaleza gets added soon after my parents move there and on my favorite airline...Lucky me!
8. I, for the first time in weeks, went to bed before 1 A.M.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To...

1. Going to Costa Rica this week!
2. Coldplay concert in November
3. Tax Refunds
4. The November elections being over...other than the great SNL skits I am TOTALLY sick of this election.
5. The day I finally get the guts to quit my job
6. Spending Christmas in Brazil with my family
7. Planting some tulip and daffodil bulbs at my new place
8. Retirement

8 Things On My Wish List...

1. Find a career I LOVE
2. Become independently wealthy
3. Go to Antarctica in 2010
4. New luggage
5. Live in a Spanish-speaking country again
6. A tapeworm (where's Creed when I need him?)
7. Having my dad build me a beautiful house in Idaho in 2 years and 9 months
8. Starting good habits like: going to bed early, more exercise, cooking food, cutting down the times of day I say "I hate my job," etc.

8 People I Tag...

1. My pregnant, bedridden, blogleech cousin Kim (you'll need to start a blog first though I guess)
2. My blogfriend Becky in Ohio
3. Jerry and Melissa...because you guys REALLY need to update your blog
4. Cousin Cassie Coleman
5. Noj and Socks
6. Christa
7. Kate and Mark
8. Candace and Skippy

JKJKJKJKJKJK!

Okay, okay...SORRY everyone but I was just kidding about the prize for guessing my car's new name. I don't have an Etsy store or even know what Etsy is. I have never seen nor smelled a Scentsy candle. And of course I don't have a CLUE about diaper bags. Sorry for the false alarm. I guess I just wanted people to get excited about naming my car and make it a fun contest. And since tons of mom blogs I read have giveaways I thought I'd pretend to have one too. Now I feel bad for leading you all on so maybe I will have a REAL giveaway sometime soon. Or, maybe I'll really give a prize to the "name my Japanese import" winner. We'll see.