Paradise

So this past weekend I got to spend 3 amazing days in the Maldives. For those of you who don't know the Maldives is a group of Atolls (circles of Islands) that is basically paradise on earth. The Maldives boasts something like 120 islands. None of them are longer than 5 miles and many are way smaller than that.

We stayed on a resort island own by the Sheraton. It was amazing. When we arrived they had a tiny yacht waiting to take us to the Island. On the way the dolphins played in the boat wake, which apparently is a rare treat. The beauty of the islands was stunning. The water was so clear and the beaches were so white.

After settling into our rooms we all went to the beach. Unfortunately the first day was a bit overcast but we didn't care. But favor smiled upon us cause the rest of the weekend was gorgeous. 

On Saturday I went scuba diving for the first time ever. It was a truly amazing experience. Four of us went to have our introductory session. We had an intro video on hand signals and how to continuously breathe otherwise our lungs would explode. And got fitted with out gear. Wearing 4 weights on a belt, a heavy tank, and all those tubes I couldn't see how I wouldn't just sink to the bottom of the ocean. But it turns out that a body is pretty buoyant. 

Unfortunately two of our group couldn't equalize (It's like popping your ears on the plane. It releases internal air pressure and you can't dive without it. It would be like trying to continuously get the rings on the bottom of a 12' foot deep swimming pool). It was down to just my manager and myself. On our training dive to get us acclimated to the experience and proper technique we saw manta rays and eagle rays and plenty of fish. We we only underwater for about 20 minutes but I was hooked. We scheduled our first dive for early afternoon. I was so excited to get to see reef life.

The actual dive was amazing. Our max depth was 11.5 meters or around 40 feet. I think the most surprising thing is that you don't realize how deep you are until you look up. We saw a reef shark, moray eels, a napoleon fish, an octopus, and a ton of fish.

Napoleon fish - That isn't me but I needed a person to show size

The best thing happened at the end. I had another 20 minutes of swimming air but my swimming buddy/manager had run out of his swimming air and needed to ascend. We needed to stop at 5 meters depth and wait for three minutes to allow our bodies to adjust to the new pressure. Our dive instructor was looking at his watch and I was looking at the sea life below. My manager kept on trying to get my attention but I wanted to see all that I could before we surfaced. I finally turned to see what he wanted me to see. There was a wall of silver blue fish extending from the surface to the top of the reef. It had formed a half circle around us. It was one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. if we had still been on our dive we would have missed it because it was above us. Suddenly I wasn't angry that we had to surface sooner than I wanted.

Our last day the sun came out and the view was even more breath taking. We tried to get as much sun and sand in before we had to leave that afternoon. It was an amazing weekend and I can't wait to go back (although to a cheaper resort).

It only got this crystal clear and blue on the last day

View from my room

Tumblr down the Rabbit Hole

So last fall my wonderful friend Ali and I decided to do a half marathon. The problem is we didn't decide on a marathon until the end of this January. Which meant that I didn't have to start training until the end of this January. Luckily Ali knows me and sent me an easy schedule to follow and it has been a blast.

My schedule usually involves me going to the Gym after getting back to the hotel after a long day. After grabbing some dinner and studying (or getting sucked into TV) I head to the Gym. This usually resulted in me going at 10 PM or later. I needed to find a source of motivation to get my Butt to the gym. I had hoped to find it in Tumblr.

Tumblr, for those who don't know, is a social media site that allows what has come to be known as micro blogging.  Small snippets of information that then get shown on your homepage.I joined a while back but hadn't done anything much with it. I knew it to be place where pictures could be shown and searched for fairly easily. I figured finding inspiration on this site would be easy.

I hated how right I was. Within moments of searching for "Fit inspiration" on tumblr I got inundated with posts of extremely skinny girls with quotes and tags like "OMG look at her thigh gap. I want one." or "You can see her collarbone so clearly. #MyGoal". It's even worse if you look up thin. There are pictures of women who clearly have an eating disorder and these images are being passed around from one woman to girl to woman again as the ideal for what they want to look like. It's only slight better for those who want to be fit. Pictures of women whose hair and make up are perfect, who make doing pull ups easy, are barely sweating, oh yeah and on top of it all they just happen to do it in tiny running shorts and a sports bra.

Ummmm No. To all of this. This is unhealthy. Going to the gym isn't easy. You don't look fabulous, or you shouldn't at the end if you have been training right. It's hard work and at the end of the day most body types don't allow for a thigh gap (and really when did that become a thing?) or collar/hip bones that stand out. We should be focusing on showing people how to eat right and by golly if they want a chickfila chicken sandwich on a saturday then they should eat it. If they are tired and want a day to just relax then they should have it. And they shouldn't feel guilty for it. So many of these pictures and motivational pages have subtle message saying if you don't do it you won't meet your goal.

 Should people be fit? Of course they should. But that doesn't mean that they have to start bench pressing and doing squats. Being fit for one person may mean competing in muscle man type of things and for others it might be a walk or playing in the park with their kids and the new dog.

Because let me tell you something. I won't have a thigh gap, I won't have a collar bone that sticks out, I might not weigh 120 ever and I can gaurantee you that I will not be going perfectly coiffed to do my exercises ESPECIALLY if I am in what is essentially underwear. And you know what? I am 100% ok with it.

Story of my friends through pictures

 Alpha Delta Class  Phi Sigma Pi

 Trip to DC/Baltimore to visit Lou

 Wedding of one of the sweetest woman ever

 My PSU crew in Philly to watch us crush Temple

 My amazing group of friends that say "OK" when I ask

to jump into a freezing river for charity

 Some of my Fave PSPers in Las Vegas celebrating Becca's Bday

 The crew at the wedding of Mike and Lori

 This girl is who I get crazy with even though 

she is all the way out in Montana

 Somewhat yearly pilgrimage to State College for Artsfest 

 Out with my PSPers

 Trust me - it's cold in the polar plunge

 Halloween SuperSenior year

 Fantastic Pictures

 The Church Crew

 The best way to move a couch is to

support it out of the trunk as your friend drives the 

car around the corner.

 Front Row to support the Nittany Lions

 PSP block for the whiteout

 Showing our THON family our support

with a great outing to watch the Lions play ball

 Winery Tour

 I miss this Crazy girl!

 Sledding in Manayunk

We're bad ass! Warrior Dash

The desire to Experience

I can see the Grand Canyon out of my window right now as I fly back to Philadelphia. Seeing the Grand Canyon has been on my bucket list long before any other item was, long before I even had a bucket list. I knew that before I died I wanted to see this American Marvel. Long before I wanted to go to all 7 continents, before I wanted to see Europe, before I wanted to sky dive or learn Spanish I wanted to see the Grand Canyon.

It wasn’t a burning passion. It wasn’t something I talked about endlessly or hung pictures of on my walls. It was just something I wanted to do. Now I can say that I have seen the Grand Canyon. I could, if I wanted, cross it off my bucket list. But I won’t.

I have pictures of the beginning parts of it but I didn’t take photos of what everyone really goes to see, the widest and deepest parts of the canyon, the part that makes it “Grand”. Normally when experiencing a new place or a new activity there is a euphoria associated with it. Something that in my gut tells me “Here you are. Did you think that you would ever be doing this? Smile. Enjoy it.” This is normally accompanied by frenzied picture taking (Faulty Memory Protection).

This seeing of the Grand Canyon lacks this Euphoria and desire for pictures. Part of it is that I am on a flight. How excited can you get about something when you are thousands of feet above it?  But I have seen things from planes before that I haven’t seen in person that made me go “Wow”.

In the 15 minutes it took from when it first entered my sight until it was gone, I realized I had written my bucket list all wrong. I can’t be excited about the Grand Canyon because I haven’t experienced it. I haven’t stood looking at the other side and shouted my name wondering at the same time why a duck’s quack doesn’t echo. (Seriously – why doesn’t a duck’s quack echo?). I haven’t looked down and thought about the men and women who trekked by there in the past on their way to the Californian dream. I haven’t camped or hiked or done anything that connects me to the experience.

So from now on my bucket list will say “Experience the Grand Canyon”. I was not created to see life, I was created to enjoy it.

John 10:10b - I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.

My dream church

I want to go to church with the people who have tattoos. I want to go to church with people who have gauged ears, nose rings, lip rings, and wear chains. I want to go to a church with ex-cons, current cons, and future cons.

I want to go to church with people who fake tan, get their nails done, and color the crap out of their hair. I want to go to church with bikers and those immersed in the drug world. I want to go to church with Catholics, baptists, presbyterian, lutherans, mormons, ex wiccans, wiccans, buddhists, hindus, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (in laymans terms Pastafarians), agnostics, atheists, and those that just needed somewhere warm to sit for an hour.

I want to go to a church with Soccer moms, stay at home dads, work-a-holics, alcoholics, drug addicts and prostitutes. I want to go to church with families that have a mom, dad, 2 and a half kids and a dog. I want to go to church with single moms, single dads, baby mommas, and baby daddys.

I want to go to a church where people struggle. Where everyone knows that everyone struggles. I want to go to a church that people say Hi to new people who come through the door and then get their life story. I want to go to church with Republicans, Democrats, Green Party, Torys, people who don't care about politics, and people who care waaaaayyy to much.

I want to go to a church where people don't leave after sermon, they ask how people are doing and get support for their own problems. I want to go to church with anorexics, bulemics, over eaters, under eaters, health nuts, gym nazis, vegetarians, carnivores, omnivores, vegans, and gluten frees.

I want to go to church with homosexuals, bi-sexuals, asexuals, sex addicts, transgendered, hermaphrodites, and those that just don't know who or what they are. I want to go to church with people in their 20s who want to change the world. Those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who are changing the world. Those in the 60s+ who have stories and lessons to be shared about how they did change the world.

I want to go to a church with people filled with joy, despair, happiness, generosity, charity, grace, anger, peace, frustration, hurt, sarcasm, hate, hope, and maybe someone with all of those at once. I want to go to church with people who are rich, poor, just making do, on food stamps, work 3 jobs to pay rent, and those that are living off inheritance.

My dream church has pastors that share their real life struggles. Tells the hard truth about life, love, marriage, job hunting, money, and being a christian and what it means  - all without using vague euphemisms.

I want a church that scares the world, gives hope to the world, and comforts the world.

I want to worship next to the broken and sing praises with the redeemed.

I want to go to church with me.

My dream church leaves all the doors wide open. Does not support causes but supports people. Stands in the face of adversity, not with demonstrations but with compassion. But most of all my church LOVES UNCONDITIONALLY.

The Beauty of the Barrenness

This week I started work that is in the middle of no where California. It is smaller than my grandparents' town of Elberton, GA. There is a walmart, a couple of chain fast food stores, and manufacturing businesses. It is also in the Desert in the San Jacinto Mountain region.

As an east coaster I am a firm believer of green landscapes and the four seasons. This place has one season - Summer. It is also as brown as can be. Unless you are in a neighborhood where they water their lawns every 2 hours to keep the grass alive. To be honest the grass looks and feels out of place. It feels spongy and when the rest of the environment is about the strongest of the scraggily trees and bushes the nicely trimmed deep green lawns seem out of place. There is a wildness about the scenery that makes me dream of gold rushes, cowboys, indians, and a fight for survival.

The neighborhoods here all have a fence around them. On one side of the fence is lush green and perfectly tended. The other is rough, untamed, bursting with sienna, coppers, and brown colors. I can not understaning living in full view of the untamed desert west and trying to force green into it.  I love driving the 30 minutes from Temecula (the forgotten younger brother of Napa) and it's tamed suburban feel to the openess of Hemet, CA. The mountains are begging to be hiked.

Anyone want to come visit me? Let's go exploring. I'll be Lewis, you be Clark.

Land of the Brave has become Land of the Pretty

Any person living in America is under pressure to look a certain way. Men are expected to be tall, buff, and absurdly good looking. Women are suppose to have large breasts, perfect hair/skin/makeup, and skinny. The list of things that our society considers "ugly" is growing faster than what we consider to be beautiful and now we have crossed into the ridiculous. The other week on TV I saw a commercial aimed at women that demonstrated how their new cream would reduce the appearance of UNDERARM DARK SPOTS!! Normally most beauty items make some sense to me. Dark circles under the eye, dark body hair on women, graying hair, etc etc but this one blew me away about how unnecessary it was.

Under no circumstances do I consider the dark spots in my underarms to be ugly. I don't think they are beautiful either. They are just a part of me. I will be the first to admit that I, like many people in America, try to achieve the ideal perfect body. I just started Turbofire by beachbody to help me live healthier and lose weight. I dye my hair. I wear makeup. Heck, I even wear painfully high heels. But I draw the line at what I consider to be absolutely trivial. If someone is looking so closely at my underarms and what spots might be on it, then honestly they can look away and come to whatever conclusion they want. I am not going to give them any further thought after this blog post.

I once heard that a dying society focuses on Beauty of the people within it. I don't know if I believe that but when I see Kim Kardashian getting more attention because she is considered beautiful (when in fact she has a fabulous makeup artist) than those who are actually making a difference like Teachers or Scientists or Humanitarians that is when I start to understand where that person coming from. When we focus of the impermanence of beauty that will fade without the skill of a surgeon instead of lauding those who toil to make contributions that will last longer than their time on earth, how can we be considered the greatest nation on the earth? And the big question to myself, how can I start valuing the real things in life instead of what society tells me to?