what is sleep?

Sometimes, you come home from hanging out with your friends and you feel like you could watch four movies. Or facebook your life away. Or clean your entire room. Or run ten miles (even though you're sore as heck from personal training).
 GUYS. I'm the most night person of all night people there ever was!! In other words, sleep is the last thing on my mind. And it's a real problem.....

Hashtag the struggle is real.

PS.... in my late night agony, mah boi Gabe suggested I learn to knit. (insert me youtubing knitting vids right now) Thanks Gabe. You're a real help.

the windy city

Chicago. The Windy City. The Place Where Dreams Come True. Okay maybe not, but we had a pretty rad time exploring the ins and outs of urban life.

++ okay side story.... I'm so bad at giving directions. When my mom is driving in a wild city, and I'm navigating that wildness with my iphone, all HECK breaks loose. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but for real. I'm terrible at telling her where to go and what to do. We went on a wild goose chase every single time we tried to go somewhere. It was funny the first five times, but on the twelfth time..... oh baby.++

Here's the fast and furious description of our day.

1. Shedd Aquarium. Way cool aquarium. Way too many little childrens running around.

//petting wildlife\\

2. Millennium Park/The Bean. Totes legit. Favorite thing of the day. Seriously it was so cool.

//mirror selfie inception\\

//ahhhhhh..... the coolest\\

3. The Art Institute. So much art so little time. 

4. Walking all the way up Michigan Avenue. We saw a lot in a short amount of time.

//there were cops errywhere\\

4. Top of the John Hancock Building. Sky high. The view reminded me of New York. I like dat.

//this pic looks like i just got my wisdom teeth taken out. gross\\

//so sick peeps\\

And that's about it! So much fun packed into one day. We were all so tired and ready for bed by the time 7 o'clock rolled around. We went back to the hotel and crashed so hard. It was great haha. But the next day we had to get up at 4:30 in the am to get to the air port. YET AGAIN. (insert more navigation struggles here) But we made it back! It was a great trip! 

Holler at your CHICAGO.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please take the next few minutes to enjoy these beauties from the trip. *sigh* I'm just too cute.

//sweedish fish mustache. need i say more\\

you're welcome

dominican aka hogwarts

For my eighth college trip of the year (did i say eighth? yes i did) I found myself in none other than the third largest city in the USA. Holy crap. Okay guys, I gotta get real for a sec. I honestly wasn't expecting to get much out of this trip. I just loved SVU so much I was thinking, "it'll be fun to go, and having a lot of options is good, but do I really want to live in Chicago for the duration of my college years? Nahhhh..... But let's go see anyways." That's what was going through my mind when I was making the arrangements with the head coach. Especially since Dominican University is a catholic school. I was just planning to go and compare the feelings I got in Virginia with what I would feel in Chicago. No biggie right? Wrong.

Guys, I loved it. It was an awesome visit. Totally worth it.

Okay first the school is basically Hogwarts in real life. It was the coolest thing ever! The buildings were these old, castle-like things with ivy growing all over. And there were tunnels connecting all the buildings together! Underground tunnels! I was all over that, let me tell you what. I felt like I finally got my chance to be a part of the wizarding world. HAHA! It was legit. Too legit.

//see? totally hogwarts\\

So the day went like this.... We met with the coach first. She had previously called me back in June so I already knew a lot about the soccer program and what the she wants to do with the team and what not. So we basically just talked about the area and life at the school and stuff. She also said that she doesn't offer spots on the roster until later.... So I didn't get that this time. But it's okay! She was talking to me like I would be a part of the team saying stuff like, "if you choose to come here", and "can you see yourself playing on a field like this". So I'm counting it as an offer. Hopefully. Then we met with admissions and Blah Blah Blah..... Then we went on a tour. It's a smaller campus, which I love. It looks like Hogwarts, which I love. The soccer field is beautiful turf, which I love. They have a super nice, super new, science building, which I love. It was just a neat neat place, and I was lovin' it. After the tour, we met back up with the coach and I got to meet one of the players. She was the coolest! It was so good to hear about the experience from the perspective of someone that's actually living it. (talking to a utah state player made me realize i didn't want to play d1 so i knew this was good) She made everything sound so exciting and worth it. And because Dominican doesn't have a football team, the soccer teams are treated like royalty on campus. They're sponsored by Adidas too. How rad is that?!

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to get a feel for this school. I can tell you right now, it's only going to make my decision that much harder. You know how I said it was a catholic school? Well it didn't feel like it. Of course there were decorations and all that jazz that represented the faith, but it didn't feel over powering and I didn't feel weird about it. Which totally surprised me. But I guess that's a good thing right?

I just love soccer. So much. It's on my list of top ten things that I can't live without. FOR SURE. And I love that it's giving me the opportunity to travel to different places and see schools that I otherwise wouldn't even know about. It's a really cool thing.

I'm all done with college visits! For now at least.

domestic preparation

So the other day, I was running errands with my lovely mother. We were at Walmart, talking about some of the cool stuff I might want when I head off for college. All of a sudden.... we stumbled upon the coolest plastic plates I've ever seen in my life. For really reals. They were so sick. So we bought them!  For me! For me to take to college! WHAT?! That's right people. I now own my very first set of dishes. Adulthood feels liberating.

So naturally I had my mom take a pic so I could blog about it. Because let's get real. This was a big deal.

They're plastic, they're fantastic, and they're all mine.

reunited & it feels so good

You know the saying 'you don't know what you got until it's gone'? Well the saying 'you don't know how much you really missed your best friends until you finally see them again' works the same way. My gal pal Paige (did i really just say gal pal) left the second week of summer for her HEFY trip in Ecuador. Which by the way she had an amazing time. And since I've been working/traveling like a mad man this whole summer, I haven't seen Rose or Erin for a whole month. Crazy right? I kept telling myself, yeah I miss them but life is great and focusing on soccer is the best thing ever. In other words, I was taking the forever long separation like a man! 

But last night we were all reunited. And for the first time all summer, the four of us were together. As soon as I saw those lovely ladies I wanted to burst out laughing/screaming/crying all at the same time! It was so great to finally see them again. 

Let me give you a hard truth. Separation is rough.

To make up for it we had the night of all nights. Me, Erin, Rose, Paige, and Paige's cousin Katie (who is way cool BTW) went to the riot zone where we mini golfed and rode go-karts. Then we went to five guys and pigged out on fries (so good). Then we went to Maverick and got the most hipster drinks that ever were, aka mango arizonas. Then we lit off fireworks at mi casa. Seriously people it was such a fun friendship night.

//me, rose, paige (who had chubby cheeks from a wisdom teeth excavation), erin, and katie\\

st geezy

I've decided that I love St. George. I really really do! And here's why.

I just had the best time ever at the Dixie State ID camp. It was seriously the greatest! It was two full days of college level soccer with really cool girls, awesome exposure to the head coach, and lots of info about Dixie and D2 soccer. I actually learned a lot and the head coach said I played well and she liked what she saw. Now that felt good.

We had individual training sessions, small sided games, tactic training sessions, full field games, a tour of the campus, a Q&A with the coaches and some players, and plenty of time to take a nap. See? BEST. CAMP. EVER. 

And I learned a lot of really awesome stuff that was really awesome that I really liked.

Here's a list of those really awesome things.....

1. I really liked the coach. She seems like she knows what she's doing and she has a solid vision of where she wants to take the team.

2. D2 soccer is just as much of a job as D1 soccer but it sounded FUN.

3. They travel to Hawaii to play. Hello....??? HAWAII!!!

4. They have anywhere from 18 to 28 on their roster which is pretty good. And the coach doesn't play the seniority rule. SCORE! I want to step on as a freshman and be an impact player. As. A. FRESHMAN.

5. They're still looking for 2014 players. aka me. Holla.

6. The campus has that smallish feel but it's not cramped. I like dat.

7. They have a cool library. What's not to love about a cool library?

8. I love love love St. George.

But for real. Playing there was awesome. And I felt so good about my efforts! Even though it was 3289602156 degrees at nine in the morning, I absolutely loved it. And another really sweet part of the trip was I got to be there with my daddy. We drove down in the challenger and when I had some free time we explored st geezy and chilled together. It was awesome. 

Here's some of the cool things we did....

//hiked the dixie rock. aka coolest rock eva\\

//view from the dixie rock\\

  

//saw the most amazing sunset at the temple\\

//jaw droppingly gorgeous and yes, there are 24 steps\\

 

//on the last night, we got some delish gluten, dairy, soy free yogurt and sat on the top of the mountain looking at the view. it was perfect. aaannnnddd it was my dads idea. well done dad, well done\\

//on the way home we took a pit stop at kolob canyons\\

I love St George so much. And if I wasn't so completely focused on soccer, I'd totally want to go to Dixie State. Let's just hope and pray that everything will work out with soccer so that maybe I will get to go there. But just in case it doesn't work out, I think I have my parents convinced they need to retire there. Perfect plan.

Well Dixie, you were too good to me. Catchya layta, playa playa. 

d1? maybe not...

Okay, last Saturday I was at the Utah State college ID camp. And you know what? I didn't really like it. I have always thought that I wanted to play soccer at the D1 level, but after getting to play on the Aggie fields and spending time with the coach and some of the players, I think I've changed my mind. 

The biggest factor in that decision I think came from talking to one of the current players. At lunch we were split into small groups and got some Q&A time. Some of the things she said I already had a pretty good idea about like, being a college athlete is a full-time job, and you don't have a lot of spare free time, and keeping up with your homework is a monumental task. But the way this player described it made it sound like it wasn't fun. What?! How can soccer not be fun?!?! That was a red flag to me.... She also talked about the coach and her relationship with the team. She said, "no college coach will be your best friend." Which I totally get. But the impression I got from talking to the SVU coach was that he understood that the soccer team is supposed to be a family and he genuinely cared about helping us reach our potential. So I guess that was another red flag.... 

I guess the overall feel was that it wasn't right. Which I'm fine with because I know that's an answer (maybe not the one i originally wanted but still....). Don't get me wrong, the soccer was awesome. I had a great day playing at a fast, intense pace and sweating through not one but TWO shirts. Yeah. It was hot. 

So that's that about Utah State and Division 1 soccer. Cheers peeps.

homeward bound (part VI)

I think there's something wrong with my parents. They really enjoy getting up at 4 in the morning. Does it bother me? Yes it does. So there we were again, getting up before every other human being on the planet, and heading to the airport. It was time to say good bye to Virginia. 

//happy sunrise from the richmond airport\\

Everything was such a struggle. For example: I wore converse to come home in. Bad idea. They take like, a minimum of five minutes to put on. EACH.

We were ready to go at 5:30. Our plane didn't leave until just after 7. Like I said, everything was a struggle...

//this is what thoroughly exhausted looks like\\

We finally boarded the first plane and decided to try to look happy.

//hhhhaaaappppyyyyy\\

That didn't really work out so well....

//reality\\

//then this happened\\

After that quick flight, we boarded our last plane and took off for good old SLC.

//cool view of the copper mine eh?\\

After our flights we had a long three hour drive home. I so wish I was magic and that I could just teleport like they do in Harry Potter. That would make life so much easier.

//another beauty shot. (thanks mom)\\

Well Virginia, deuces. It's been real. See you soon!