Wanderlust

Isn't German a great language? You know that I desire hiking which is how this word literally translates; "wadern" (to hike) and "lust" (desire). Parenthetically, my first hike of the season last weekend was lovely even if it did rain the whole time. But back to wanderlust. Of course, colloquially, it expresses more of a desire to travel the world than to hike. Now, if I was really speaking German (which I am sorry to say I haven't done in a few years now), I might use the word "fernweh" or loosely, "to ache for something far away", which I think also has a nice sentiment.

Well, I got it bad.

I feel like that sentence deserves its own paragraph because it is true. I love living in Seattle. I really do. I could live here the rest of my life, or in some other city that I would equally enjoy. But I'm not tied down here. Besides my job, I don't have any binding obligations. Nor am I in debt. And that leads me to have a lot of "If I don't do it now, I'll never do it" arguments with myself, thinking of distant lands where I would like to live. Of course, there's that voice that says, "Maybe you'll never get married or have a family and then you'll have 60 years to do that stuff. What's your hurry?" but that voice really bugs me so I pay it no heed. With two years of nursing under my belt, I feel like I have something to offer. So here comes another one-line wonder.

I quit my job.

I wonder if people daydream about being able to write that sentence. I didn't. I actually like my job and was nervous to talk to my nurse manager who, by the way, is awesome. And I actually didn't end up totally quitting. Here's my plan in a nutshell: travel the world for a year (give or take), volunteering with various medical humanitarian organizations. Right now my trips are at all stages of planning from about to buy a plane ticket to haven't even sent in my application. Potential trips include: India, Nicaragua, China and Cameroon. A few less exotic but equally exciting trips may take me to Ensign Ranch (as a girls camp nurse), Glacier National Park and to visit baby girl Hill (aka Lalalalalala). And my boss is awesome because she is letting me stay on per Diem so I can work between trips, setting my own schedule.


What I'm saying, folks, is that this blog might get a heck of a lot more interesting come August. Oh and post script, if anyone has any suggestions for other awesome trips, I still have some time in summer 2011. So if you know of anything...Especially something in Antarctica, per my serve on every continent goal.

Spiteful

I can't post pictures on my blog while I'm at work. But I'm okay with that. Ever since I concluded that I don't need a picture in order to create a successful blog post, I have been writing more at work. I learned in college that 3 am is my peak time for creative writing, anyway.

On my way to the hospital this evening, I heard a song on the country station. Did you know that I often listen to country music now? Last month, when my friend Jessica visited me, we had a long drive to Mount Rainier and back for our snowshoeing adventure. Wanting to be a good host, I deferred to her radio station of choice which was country. And now I like it. It turns out, it isn't that hard to be a country fan. After about a week, I had familiarized myself with the most commonly played songs and now I can sing along.

Well, tonight I heard a song that I hadn't heard in a really long time. "Earl Had to Die." I want to say that it is by the Dixie Chicks but I wouldn't bet my lunch on it. It is kind of a terrible song, actually. A girl gets abused by her husband and then she and her friend plot his death. If someone had told me this story as a news headline, I would probably shake my head and mutter, "Oh, that's tragic." But when they sing it, it is catchy and (dare I say it?) almost charming. And I like it, in spite of myself.

It is the equivalent of Cheetos. These are perhaps the most unnatural, processed snacks on the face of the earth. Now arguably, Twinkies might be more extreme, but those have never been a temptation for me. Cheetos, however, I really enjoy. Like in a, "If you could only have one food on a deserted island?" kind of way. It's really a shame. I have been trying to let Seattle's organic-trendy culture rub off on me. To be one of those people who shudders at the thought of letting white flour or refined sugar even touch their week supply of PCC produce. I get it. There is essentially no nutritional value from a bag of Cheetos. But I like it. In spite of myself.

Perhaps this brings me to the point of this blog. By nature, I would call myself a timid person. Actually that sounds pretty wimpy. I don't want to call myself that. Demure? Nope, don't like that one either. Reserved. That's it. A respectable trait. Although you would never hear someone say, "Oh, I had such a fun time with my friend last night. She is so reserved!" But this week, I want to do some things that are bold. Brave things. You know the kind of things that give you butterflies in your stomach just thinking about them. If all goes well with these things, maybe I'll blog about them next week and be a little less vague. For now, I'll just say, braver than killing a bug but less brave than jumping out of an airplane. These are things that I have been thinking about doing for quite a while. And I really want to do them.

In spite of myself.

From the trail...

While I was running today, my iPod died right in the middle of "I Will Survive". I guess it didn't have all its love to give. Also, I spent a disproportionate amount of time trying to find a close parking spot at the lake before my six mile run.

Irony noted, universe.

OctoBlogging

I just noticed that Kelli tagged me over a month ago for this blogging-game. Sorry, buddy!

This actually works out quite nicely. I keep thinking to myself, "I really should post something on my blog" because, as you may have noticed, it has been a while. There is a reason for that. The most obvious thing to post would be in regards to changes that I am thinking of making in my life. However, I haven't quite decided what those changes will be and I really should decide before I write about them. So until I resolve my quarter-life crisis (too early for mid-life), I will propel myself to the top of fellow-bloggers' sidebars by answering some introspective questions.

8 Things I'm passionate about

1. Obviously not maintaining my blog. Although blog stalking would probably qualify

2. The gospel of Jesus Christ, especially temple work

3. My amazing family
4. Encouraging my male peers to shave off their facial hair
5. Telling my patients not to take more than 4 grams of Tylenol per day. We are about to start a liver transplant program and this is the leading cause of acute liver failure. Lay off the percocet, people!
6. Using "good" and "well" correctly
7. Making really good Italian Cream Sodas
8. Organ Donation

8 Words/phrases I use most often
1. Hey, buddy!

2. That's true.
3. Peace out.
4. I don't know what to do with my life.
5. 11 East, this is Kristen. How can I help you?
6. Get 'er done.
7. What's shakin'?

8. Okey-dokey.

8 Things I want to do before I die
1. Have my picture in a conference edition of the Ensign.
2. Kayak from Alaska to Seattle.
3. Grow a family.
4. Get a black eye, maybe by getting punched in the face. Please don't punch me the next time you see me.
5. Get a tan.
6. Live on an avocado farm. Or own one.
7. Get Lasik eye surgery.
8. Be involved in humanitarian aide on every continent.

8 Places I want to visit
1. Portland, Oregon. This is about 4 hours by car from where I live now. I don't know why I haven't gone yet.
2. Alaskan cruise. Again, quite doable considering where I live.
3. China. I have loved every person from China that I have ever met so I imagine this to be a country full people with whom I would get along quite nicely.
4. Stockholm, Sweden. Preferably sometime in the next 18 months so I can see my parents the awesome senior missionary couple.
5. Devil's Pool, Victoria Falls, Africa.
6. The Celestial Kingdom. Except I would replace "visit" with "live".
7. The Appalachian Trail. Except I would replace "visit" with "hike it."
8. Glacier National Park, Montana.

8 Favorite restaurants
1. Cafe Rio. I could move back to Utah just to be close to a Cafe Rio.
2. The Saffron Grill- an Indian restaurant one block from my house that I haven't been to in a year.
3. Cheesecake Factory. About 10 miles from my house that I have been to 3 times in the last 2 months.
4. My mom's kitchen. When I was little and had to sit at the kid's table, my mom would call it "The Restaurant" to make us feel special, so I think this is an appropriate categorization.
5. When my roommate cooks. I am now using the term "restaurant" even more loosely.
6. Any sushi restaurant where the little plates come around on a conveyor belt.
7. A Döner stand in Germany, preferably run by a large Turkish man.
8. The Crab Pot. Bibs, hammers, and cups of melted butter. Heaven.

8 Shows I watch
1. Lost. I am determined to make it through to the end of this show.
2. Project Runway. For a long time I thought this was a reality show about aviation so I never watched it.
3. Glee. Welcome back!
4. The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I find that I can really relate to her.
5. The Dick Van Dyke Show.
6. Parks and Recreation.
7. The Office. Mostly out of habit.
8. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution- this is my current favorite show. It is quite awesome.

For Gracie

*Read my sister-in-law's comment from my last post

Dear Gracie,

I'm so glad that you want to be an olympic bobsledder! In 2026, I'll be right there on the sidelines, cheering you on. You can do it, little buddy!

I love you!

:) Aunt Kristen

Bobsleigh

I saw this a few times at Whistler. I'm not sure the proper usage of "bobsleigh" versus "bobsled" but it has a nice ring to it. As though I should use a European accent and say, "Oh yes, just let me fetch my bobsleigh."

As promised, a part two to my olympic posting. We had a long and exciting day in Canada. After the two and a half hour drive, we had to take another two hour bus ride to get to Whistler. The atmosphere at the ski resort was infectious.

It was also very cold and I spent more money than I anticipated buying a hat, gloves and an extra jacket. Sorry, Emily, unfortunately they weren't the iconic red Canadian mittens that are all the rage. The shops have been sold out of them for several days.

We took the gondola up the mountain to watch women's bobsledding. It was packed at the top but by the end of the first heat, we worked our way up to the closest spectator spot. This was my favorite part. I loved watching them get ready, get a few final words from their coach, and perform their pre-race rituals which usually involved grunting and hitting each other. I'm glad to say no one wiped out all night yesterday, which was unfortunately not the case tonight.

This will give you an idea of how close we were. Wow! By the way, these ladies from Japan may not have won a medal but they should win a prize for the most beautiful sled.

We worked our way down the mountain, getting to watch the sleds zoom by at different parts of the course.

Here is the jumping picture I mentioned in my last posting. Marissa was the reason I went to Vancouver the first time and kindly let me buy her extra bobsledding ticket for our second trip.

Okay, I probably spent an inappropriate time working on this last picture but I sure had fun with it. If you haven't already seen it on my facebook profile, here it is again.

Well, we scoured the NBC footage of the event and I'm sad to say that I don't think we made it but hopefully I have presented you with sufficient evidence to assure you that I was indeed there.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!

Vancouver Twenty-Ten!

Okay, first of all, sorry these pictures are huge but I can't seem to figure out how to do the whole click-on-the-picture-and-make-it-bigger thing. So I just made them big to start with.

I went to Vancouver with some friends yesterday and it was fabulous. We didn't go to any events but got to soak up the olympic culture.

We stood in line for almost an hour to go to the olympic superstore, which seemed a little ridiculous but we sure wanted our souvenirs. I got this shirt which I felt captured the Canadian olympic spirit while being tastefully understated. Unfortunately, caught up in the excitement, I failed to properly read the label and consequently bought a man's medium instead of a woman's medium. By the time I realized how large it was, we were far from the store and may I remind you that took an hour of waiting in line to even get in the store. Definitely not going back.

I just googled, "how to shrink a t-shirt" and we'll see how it goes.

We saw some of the arenas and then went to the waterfront. Seeing the Olympic Torch was a much more inspiring sight than I imagined. It is huge! Bigger than my shirt! Also, there were tons of people around and they were all so nice.

I love my jumping pictures! We got a better jumping shot of my buddy Marissa and I but it is on her camera. I'll try to get it later. The city was giving away these Canadian flags because it was Flag Day which was perfect timing for our photo frenzy. We must have gotten some of the last ones because everywhere we went people were asking to borrow our flags for their pictures.

We got home late and watched Tivo'd olympics until really late. I have to say that I wasn't super excited about the olympics until yesterday but now I'm hooked!

So, hopefully, this will just be Part I of my olympic blogging. I may get the chance to go to bobsledding next week at Whistler.

Go team!