I am a horrible blogger.
I want to post 1-2 times a week...
I can do this-
I shall do this!
"Life isn't about finding yourself, It's about creating yourself"
Sunday, October 28, 2012
DOB
So yeah, I had a birthday a few weeks ago, September 30th to be exact. 26... doesn't feel that much different than 25 so far but a lot has changed in the last year:
Started and finished school-LPN to RN is a big deal, $6 raise for one...immense load off of my chest for another. I am done with class right now- BSN and possibly Nurse Practioner could be in my future- I'm not sure yet.
Celebrated 1 year of marriage- no deaths, no dismemberments, no arrests- we are doing good so far :) By all means, we don't have this thing down to a science yet- but we are well on our way to many more happy years together.
Checked visiting Costa Rica off of my bucket list... still to go: Brazil (hopefully BEFORE the Olympics), Italy, Greece, Peru, Barbados.... the list goes on and on...
I'm beginning to grow up... finally :D I have a lot of 'quirks' that I am trying to work on in my quest to be a better human being. I'm not changing my ideals, morals or values- those are pretty set in stone- but, I can change some of my bad habits.
Instead of the regular get together we usually have at my parents house for cake and ice cream I decided I wanted to go out to eat with the fam instead. My husband was playing that night with his band and so I figured we could go eat before they started- My sneaky reason was because I already knew everybody had the night off for the gig :D
We all met up at the Union Grill in downtown Ogden- which was delicious btw- for dinner. I was so happy that everyone could come out, and my friend Rose came through with the best birthday cake ever! I love SpongeBob Squarepants and had shown her this awesome cake I seen on Pinterest... Well she came up with this even better version. I felt very loved and spoiled, it was a great night.
Started and finished school-LPN to RN is a big deal, $6 raise for one...immense load off of my chest for another. I am done with class right now- BSN and possibly Nurse Practioner could be in my future- I'm not sure yet.
Celebrated 1 year of marriage- no deaths, no dismemberments, no arrests- we are doing good so far :) By all means, we don't have this thing down to a science yet- but we are well on our way to many more happy years together.
Checked visiting Costa Rica off of my bucket list... still to go: Brazil (hopefully BEFORE the Olympics), Italy, Greece, Peru, Barbados.... the list goes on and on...
I'm beginning to grow up... finally :D I have a lot of 'quirks' that I am trying to work on in my quest to be a better human being. I'm not changing my ideals, morals or values- those are pretty set in stone- but, I can change some of my bad habits.
Instead of the regular get together we usually have at my parents house for cake and ice cream I decided I wanted to go out to eat with the fam instead. My husband was playing that night with his band and so I figured we could go eat before they started- My sneaky reason was because I already knew everybody had the night off for the gig :D
We all met up at the Union Grill in downtown Ogden- which was delicious btw- for dinner. I was so happy that everyone could come out, and my friend Rose came through with the best birthday cake ever! I love SpongeBob Squarepants and had shown her this awesome cake I seen on Pinterest... Well she came up with this even better version. I felt very loved and spoiled, it was a great night.
The next day Mondo and I went to Frightmares (Halloween themed amusement park) and I got a lot of my favorite things: One-on-one time with the hubs, blue raspberry Icee, cotton candy and a nice trip on the Sky Ride.
I'm really excited for what the next year has for us... I say this to 26: Bring it on
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Costa Rica... the epilogue
Since the drive to La Fortuna turned out to be much longer than we expected we decided to stay our last night in San Jose to be closer to the airport.... First mistake.
San Jose is full of one way streets, tons of pedestrians that don't care if they have the right of way or not and buildings with no addresses. Nobody knows what street is which- they give directions like this "Take a left and go a few streets past McDonald's and then turn right when you see the purple fence"... I shit you not.
We had booked a fairly cheap room in a new hotel... second mistake. No one knew the new hotel so we spent the better part of an hour or two trying to find the room. Once inside it wasn't bad- but we were in the nice part of the ghetto... how would I eat?? Answer? Armando made friends with the security guard and he escorted us to a yummy restaurant and had his friend, a cab driver, come pick us up at a certain time.... Bless their hearts
We woke up at 5:00am to be ready and at the airport- got stuck in traffic jam (caused by a man whose car died and was PUSHING IT DOWN THE FREEWAY, not onto the shoulder- but down the freaking road like it was such a fabulous idea) and ended up getting to the airport an hour and a half before our flight.
Getting all our stuff up to the counter, the woman asks if we paid the 'exit tax'..... Say what?! WTF is that lady?? You see, Costa Ricans charge you a tax to exit their country- $28 per person to be exact... whatever. So I leave Mondo filling out paperwork as I run to the other side of the airport to pay the damn tax. When I get back we wait in line to check-in. As we get to the counter the guy BS's with us for ten minutes before he looks at our tickets and says "You are late, we aren't boarding anymore"
Cue the freakout.....3......2.....1.....
He claims that we have to be at the airport 3 hours early for our flight and are not going to be allowed to board. Much pleading and begging ensues... meanwhile a couple from Canada, a woman from Texas and a Grandma/Mom/Daughter trio come up behind us at the counter... They are given the same story- we can't get home.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG story short... We are told we can change flights and go to Miami in 6 hours then fly to Dallas then fly to SLC.... for a fee.
Meanwhile the couple from Canada and the Grandma must have sunshine and rainbows shining out of their butts because by some fluke that no one to this day can explain to me, are allowed onto the plane... When we tried to get an explanation from the supervisor, Mery, from American Airlines, she told her collegue, in Spanish, "Get them out of here", stepped around us and walked away. As God as my witness if I ever run into Mery again I am going to snatch her ponytail off of her pretty little head.
So after eating in the little cafeteria and reading two different books in two different tourist shops we board for Miami.
Even more BS in Miami from the American Airlines family, but eventually I nag the man into giving us a free room for the night, we would have just slept in the airport if not. At least we are in America. I can call my work and tell them, Oops, I'm not going to make it in tonight and let everyone else know that we are alive.
So finally 30 hours after we were supposed to be home, we finally stepped onto Utah soil... The best feeling ever. Vacations are great but nothing is as good as home.
The complaint process is still ongoing with American Airlines... I will keep you updated if .... 1. We ever get an apology from anyone, 2. Get any sort of reimbursement for the ridiculous amount of money we paid to change flights or 3. I ever find Mery again... watch yo' back!
San Jose is full of one way streets, tons of pedestrians that don't care if they have the right of way or not and buildings with no addresses. Nobody knows what street is which- they give directions like this "Take a left and go a few streets past McDonald's and then turn right when you see the purple fence"... I shit you not.
We had booked a fairly cheap room in a new hotel... second mistake. No one knew the new hotel so we spent the better part of an hour or two trying to find the room. Once inside it wasn't bad- but we were in the nice part of the ghetto... how would I eat?? Answer? Armando made friends with the security guard and he escorted us to a yummy restaurant and had his friend, a cab driver, come pick us up at a certain time.... Bless their hearts
We woke up at 5:00am to be ready and at the airport- got stuck in traffic jam (caused by a man whose car died and was PUSHING IT DOWN THE FREEWAY, not onto the shoulder- but down the freaking road like it was such a fabulous idea) and ended up getting to the airport an hour and a half before our flight.
Getting all our stuff up to the counter, the woman asks if we paid the 'exit tax'..... Say what?! WTF is that lady?? You see, Costa Ricans charge you a tax to exit their country- $28 per person to be exact... whatever. So I leave Mondo filling out paperwork as I run to the other side of the airport to pay the damn tax. When I get back we wait in line to check-in. As we get to the counter the guy BS's with us for ten minutes before he looks at our tickets and says "You are late, we aren't boarding anymore"
Cue the freakout.....3......2.....1.....
He claims that we have to be at the airport 3 hours early for our flight and are not going to be allowed to board. Much pleading and begging ensues... meanwhile a couple from Canada, a woman from Texas and a Grandma/Mom/Daughter trio come up behind us at the counter... They are given the same story- we can't get home.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG story short... We are told we can change flights and go to Miami in 6 hours then fly to Dallas then fly to SLC.... for a fee.
Meanwhile the couple from Canada and the Grandma must have sunshine and rainbows shining out of their butts because by some fluke that no one to this day can explain to me, are allowed onto the plane... When we tried to get an explanation from the supervisor, Mery, from American Airlines, she told her collegue, in Spanish, "Get them out of here", stepped around us and walked away. As God as my witness if I ever run into Mery again I am going to snatch her ponytail off of her pretty little head.
So after eating in the little cafeteria and reading two different books in two different tourist shops we board for Miami.
Even more BS in Miami from the American Airlines family, but eventually I nag the man into giving us a free room for the night, we would have just slept in the airport if not. At least we are in America. I can call my work and tell them, Oops, I'm not going to make it in tonight and let everyone else know that we are alive.
So finally 30 hours after we were supposed to be home, we finally stepped onto Utah soil... The best feeling ever. Vacations are great but nothing is as good as home.
The complaint process is still ongoing with American Airlines... I will keep you updated if .... 1. We ever get an apology from anyone, 2. Get any sort of reimbursement for the ridiculous amount of money we paid to change flights or 3. I ever find Mery again... watch yo' back!
Costa Rica Part II
We hiked up several trails around the volcano
Can't get enough of those Indiana Jones bridges of death...
By far my favorite animal we seen... Piggies in the jungle! There was surprisingly a lot of livestock, one of our guides told us that if the families could prove that they owned the land before it was made a national park, the government allowed them to let their animals roam the land, lots of cows, bulls and horses just chilling in the jungle
My new friend... There were so many stray dogs running around- it was everybody's job to feed and love them, they were surprisingly well taken care of
Of all the days we were there, this was the only day that the volcano was clear and free from clouds
I have tons of pictures of all the plants and flowers, I want edit them and put them up in frames.
Driving down one night- we went in the wet season so it would monsoon rain at least once a day and then clear up again- looks pretty cool with all the clouds.
I thought it was vulture flying across the road- when we stopped to look it was a little owl.
The place where we went ziplining had a little 'petting zoo' type area for butterflies and froggies
These are the 'poison dart' frogs that are hallucinogenic- no, we didn't lick them.
Random lizard running around-
There was this restaurant called Las Iguanas, the owners opened up about ten years ago and had around 8-10 Iguanas. They feed them fruit and vegetables from the kitchen and in turn they have a built-in tourist attraction. The owners said that today they have hundreds of these huge Iguanas hanging around just loving the sun, food and tourists.
We went on one of our last days to a nature reserve, Cano Negro to try and see what I wanted to see the whole trip, monkeys!
We seen Caimens, which are smaller and less aggressive than crocodiles- still pretty fierce looking.
At first I thought they were leaves... they are bats!
Capuchin Monkey
Howler Monkey
Spider Monkey
Much smaller wild Iguana
Rescuing my new friend Papi from the Caimens
River rafting in Sara Picqui
Helmets always look sexy
Still mad because the man at the other side didn't think I would make it across... so he THREW me over the edge...
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