I'm sure you've seen the People Are Awesome videos.
One of the many 2013's video is seen below, in the case that you haven't.
But what about the People Are Awesome Women's Editions? You won't regret checking this out- especially if you are a woman! They aren't even close to covering all of the amazing things that women do in this world... but they still leave you in awe.
"The truth is that real love requires real inner work that most people just aren’t interested in. It requires that we first be happy in our solitude; that we come to know ourselves, accept ourselves and love ourselves. We have to find our peace of mind, find our purpose, our passion, our joie de vivre.
It requires that we lay down the ego’s defenses and be naked and vulnerable; that we give up our planning and fantasizing about the future and live in the Now. Only then are we really ready to love. When you fully grasp that tomorrow is not guaranteed—that this moment is truly all that we have—there is nothing to do but give everything you’ve got, expecting nothing in return." ~Ben Neal
My mother made these garbanzo beans (a.k.a chickpeas) in organic chicken bone broth,
Hawaiian chili peppers, and rosemary.
Aren't they beautiful?!
Garbanzo beans are a nutrient rich food, originally very popular in the Middle East and East countries. They are especially packed with tons of fiber, and contain essential vitamins and minerals.
But if you really want to talk about nutrient rich consumption, read up on the importance of chicken, fish, and beef bone broth/stock!! The West A. Price Foundation has a great article on it outlining some of it's history. The gelatin in bone broth is a cure for weak nails, hair and dry skin.
We made hummus with some of the beans and it turned out amazingly.
We blended the garbanzo beans with lemon juice, bone & chili pepper broth, ground hazel nuts and some spices to taste…. We had chips and hummus for a few days,
and I made hummus sandwiches with cheese and loaded with veggies for lunch!
One of my best friends, my closest cousin, my 'partner in crime' all throughout high school…
Zari Graham Ventura got married last night! And not just to anyone, but her high school sweat heart and father of her two children. I could not be happier for them!
Congratulation Zari and Michael Casil!
Her are some of my photographs from her bridal shower:
Surprise drive up!
Mother of the bride and my beautiful cousin.
Cousins
Sisters to be
Mother and sister in law to be
The bridal party:
Bridesmaid Nani. Maid of Honor, me. Bride Zari. Matron of Honor Chelsea. Bridesmaid Raeli.
Games:
What's in your purse? (Gift table in the background)
Blindfolded, check
Lipstick, check
Kiss the Bride's ass, check
Thank you to everyone who came and helped celebrate Zari getting married!
I couldn't be happier for you Zari!
I have known her my entire life- she is a month and a day older than me. Our dad's were the youngest of five brothers and we grew up going to family parties and playing together.
I have a distinct memory of seeing her at our Grandpa and Grandma Ventura's house for a family Christmas party, after some time passing since I had last seen her. She was wearing camo pants, a metal chocker around her neck, and little buns all around her head.
I thought wow, my cousin's a badass! And she was… She raced motocross and was one of the first girls on the island to do so. Her room walls were lined with trophies from competitions
on and off the island. She was a badass. And she still is!
She has tamed down her crazy side, swapping in her motorcycle for her mom car with two car seats in the back. She swapped late nights partying with me, Mike and all his friends in high school, for late nights taking care of her babies. She swapped the ridiculously high slippers and heels that she would wear for comfortable shoes. She swapped shopping sprees on clothes and accessories for herself, for food and toy shopping for her kids :) She has created a beautiful life for herself and a healthy, fun loving family. I love them all, with all of my heart!
Some snap shots from the wedding:
(from friends and family- not mine)
I said good bye to the love of my life, almost two months ago.
After leaving Hermiston, we had spent a few nights in Portland hanging out with his brother and friends. My mom flew in the night before Nick was leaving, so we got our bags together one last time and met her at the airport.
This is us on the MAX almost to the airport. The thought of the next morning when we would have to say goodbye to each other, for 10 months, formed a heavy cloud over us.
Our summer was really over now, not even a few more days in Portland together.
We had finally ran out of time.
An old man sitting across from us asked where we were going with all of our luggage.
When we explained that Nick was leaving for Spain the next day, and I was moving to Maui for a year... he said to us, using his hands to show the lack of distance between us
that there should instead be, "No, no. You two need to stay together. I can tell."
He kept on, telling us that he could see our love was real, that being young and in love is something to spend time on, that he would know. "Stick together".
We both thought it was very sweet that he felt like he could see such a strong bond between the two of us. Yet still his words cut through the bus' stagnant air, like a spear right through my heart.
Everything that I had been telling myself up until that point, to avoid having to face my sour reality of loss and love... I could no longer hear. I only heard his words, and the clock ticking in my head.
It would keep clicking.
Late into the stillness of the night,
in the hotel room shared with my mom sound asleep.
Holding onto one another tightly, something that soon wouldn't be there.
I almost couldn't breathe.
Tick, tock, tick, tock. His alarm would sound a few hours after the attempt at sleep.
Grab his bags. To the lobby for coffee. Tick, tock.
Nerves turned to tears. Deep breathes.
Open the doors, feel the chill. Tick, tock. Kiss goodbye.
Close the doors, the breeze chills.
Turn around. Bus, gone.
Ding, dong! The hour has struck. Just like that.
A moment in time, I never wanted.
I moved back home to the island of Maui in Hawaii for a year long AmeriCorps position with West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership.
I hike and camp throughout some of the most remote parts of the west Maui mountains.
We mainly focus on
feral animal and invasive weed control by building fences, setting snares and using various
cutting and herbicide techniques. We conduct water quality testing and monitor storm water catchments, human
activities management, using GPS and GIS mapping.
I will also be assisting in public
education and awareness leading volunteer trips,
and facilitating
community outreach events.
This is how I get to work on a weekly basis. And here are some of the views...
"Our new jobs place us on opposite sides of the globe but there's no
denying the experience and value of them while we remind ourselves who
we are outside of the relationship, a gift as well as a responsibility
owed to one another. It will be difficult at times, but rewarding to say
the least. She is so worth waiting for.... What's more,
we are inexplicably proud of and happy for each other's experience and
opportunities."
I had decided kind of last minute that I would spend my summer in Hermiston Oregon,
where Nick's family is, on their sweet farm.
Hermiston Oregon: known for their world class watermelons, of all things! Yum!!
I was able to do some work for them, while living with my lover and best friend, who I knew I would be parting ways with at the end of summer.
He left in the end of September, for a 10 month stay in Reinosa Spain where we is teaching and tutoring little kids in English.
You can check out his blog Wordly Citizen to hear his travel stories and read some of his work.
Oh, how much I love this man and miss him...
Here are some notable moments of this summer:
I dipped my feet into the Umatilla River with Nancy and Bill, Nick's parents,
and Abi his littler sister.
The chair Abi and I painted for Eli :)
Heart shaped rock!
Went wine tasting a few times at Sno Winery in Echo, getting a chance to listen to Nick's friend Dallin Puzey sing and play music.
Nick's older sister Becky who lives in Minnesota, came out for a month long visit with her little guy Eli (photographed above), daughter Addison, and her step daughter Jamie. It was quite the full house with Nick and I staying over the summer too. I babysat Eli and Addy quite a bit, along with Nick's nephew Kyller (photographed below).
I love kids, and had oh sooooo much fun with them this summer!
We had many dress-up parties with Addison and Abi! Below is Addy and I
dressed up... I loved those pants I was wearing.
Nancy, Nick's mom has
containers full of awesome dress-up and Halloween costumes!
Here's her sporting her old Letterman jacket, and then with the little boys Eli and Kyller.
She is such an amazing woman. The most warmhearted, welcoming, fun loving mother to her children... and such a great friend to have around. We tackled some projects around the farm together, but not nearly as much as I wanted to help with. One day!
I had some amazing conversations with her over the summer- some sad, happy, funny, and many life changing and inspiring (especially for my hopeful future with her son).
Played in the huge princess fort!
Gave Addy a cute little bob haircut!
We celebrated the Fourth of July with a bbq at their house, beers, family and fireworks!
Nick and I caught a ride down to Eugene with his dad, to have a little getaway at the
Darling Reunion campground at the Oregon Country Fair.
We were enjoying solitude in my little red tent in the forest, with
hundreds and hundreds of other people around us partying and celebrating
the creative energy the OCF brings about....
enjoying it a little too much to take time to take pictures.
Below is a video of some of the fire dancing that took place at the drum circle every night!
We were not used to the chilly nights in Veneta Oregon, so close to the coast, having been in the desert all summer. So we took full advantage of the warmth provided by the
bonfire, drum circle, and our one sleeping bag we shared.
From Eugene we caught a ride to Portland with my best friend,
stayed a night with Nick's friends in the Flop House, caught a bus ride to Troutdale
and then hitched rides to The Dalles and then to Maupin.
Pictures Nick snapped of me while we were hitch hiking.
Check
out our awesome sign that we could fold down the middle to change our
destination, and used to make shade later in the day...
Boy was it hot on the black road in the middle of the day, in the desert!
The view was incredible being up so high during the ride the Scandinavian trucker provided us to The Dalles.
We camped along the Deschutes River in Maupin, with Nick's dad Bill, younger brother Mikey and sister Abi, and his older sister Becky and her step daughter. After camping in Veneta and hitch hiking all day, we camped another night on hard ground willingly. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful to float along the river. There were moments of intense thrill as well, through the fast moving rapids!
Being on a massive river, with your life in it's hands, makes you feel alive.
That week getaway at the Oregon Country Fair and being on the Deschutes River, is what saved me from going delusional from the heat of the desert that summer.
All the siblings...
The whole Fam bam... what a fun bunch they are!
Before Becky left, Nick made sure she got in some time to shoot his gun. And she dressed the part :)
Played with Eli once last time.
We rode a tandem bike up to the bridge with Abi and Oops!
There is something completely sweet and romantic about riding a tandem bike with your partner- maybe it's having to work together for an end goal... (except that when my legs were tired,
I would pull them up and Nick would keep peddling us along- sorry honey)
Celebrated Abi's 12th birthday with family and friends!
I took Abi to the County fair and carnival where we tried to get on all the scariest rides, and went to the Hoobastank and WAR concerts. She got hypnotized.
(Notice that she's wearing a shirt we made saying 'Free High 5's' and I was wearing 'Free Hugs'!)
I'm not even sure what this contest was called at the fari, but isn't it cute?!
Shooting Nick's gun with him at target practice... a watermelon.
This was after we ended a week long cleanse, which mainly consisted of four days of only watermelon consuming its seeds, lemon, cilantro, and cayenne pepper. We also included raw protein powder in one of our smoothies.
Nick had a going away party which involved two kegs of local beer from Hermiston Brewing, baked goods, his friend djing, a big bon fire, lots of friends, food and more beer.
(Too bad I was having too much fun to snap photos of all the lights Nancy and I put around the yard)
Nick and his good friends Brett and Megan came to visit, who studied abroad in Oviedo Spain with him and my sister Theanna (how we met).
Nick's picture of our camping spot at the Round Up he set up for us. I was so stoked on this awesome spot he picked through the bushes, away from everyone else, and right next to the river!
Two weeks before Nick and I would leave Hermiston, and leave each other, we spent a week in Pendleton for the Round-Up rodeo. Nick was working security all week (along with his brothers) so I decided to go camp with him and bring him lunches during his busy days. The company he was working for ended up needing extra help after firing some people with too many nuts screwed loose... so I jumped on board and picked up shifts that needing covering.
I had never worked security before, nor been an alcohol monitor (usually I was the one doing the drinking). What an experience that was, as a 5'1 little brown girl at one of the largest rodeos in the west, surrounded by drunk cowboys all over the place!
Some of them straight out laughed at me if I told them they couldn't go through a door I was guarding, especially if they had already been kicked out being too drunk.
I caught about 5 people without drinking bands in the stands, two couples fighting, two girls washing their X's off their hands in the bathroom, and one extremely drunk guy who couldn't walk to be cut off and later caught washing his hands.
I worked the longest day of my life thus far pulling three back to back shifts.
Nick and I were both extremely tired at the end of the week, but happy to of made some extra cash on the side before our travels. And the crazy yet fun experience, was well, crazy.
Let R Buck!
