COMMIT !!!!

Sometimes you just got to keep going. 

Things suck, things go wrong, things happen. 

Take a moment, breathe. 

You're strong, you're powerful. 

Smile. 

Love to Love the Adventure!

Unrealistic? Yeah, sometimes I do some unrealistic things, who doesn't? Im not perfect, nor are you right? It's the thrill of going somewhere, doing something different, getting that amazing feeling of adrenaline that keeps us coming back for more. I find a lot of that in my travels. Chances are you invite me to go somewhere, especially if it includes an airplane, beach, or snow, Im in! The challenges in life should make us thrive for more, I don't know about you, but I can't just have a little sampling. If Im committing to something, whether it be a trip, a job, a relationship, what have you, I will try my ultimate best to make the most of it. There's only been one trip and one job I've said no to, and one relationship where I was actually quite nervous. Why? Too afraid of getting hurt.

Fear. The cause of all negativity. Living with fear could lead to anxiety; maybe you don't like flying, or sharks, or heights, maybe you're frightened to love again because you don't want to go through the heartache and loss again. Well, NIP IT IN THE BUTT! Living with fear, whatever it may be, makes us miss out on the amazing opportunities that lie ahead of us. Do it for your family, your friends, your lover, but do it for yourself. You wont know what they are until you try, until you just go for it.

Live for the moment.

xo.

Bad Moons or Bull$#!t ??????

Are there days that turn into weeks that may even turn into a month where you just don't feel yourself? You're energy is low, things just aren't going your way, and you've just turned off? Yea, I just had that for the second or third time in my life, but don't worry, Miss. Cheetah is back in action and feeling absolutely amazing! Someone told me it could be the moon, another said thats bull$#!t. Instead of blaming it on myself and taking the bull$#!t, I was blaming other things around me, and yea, maybe even the moon! Hmmmmm....

After the season was done and my thoughts of my job began to settle, I slid into a bit of a slump. Not the best timing either since I was visiting what my mum and french meditation coach call 'Lover' (Say it with a French accent, it comes out much better!) I knew off the bat that I wasn't feeling my vibrant, smiley, energetic self. Every morning I would wake up and say 'Come on Kita!' I was struggling and  worrying about what was next instead of making the ultimate most of my day, myself, my man. 

It began to take over. My powerful, independent, out going woman was no where to be found. Needless to say my little break from the mountains with the guy didn't go how I wanted either. I haven't been one to compare but it was happening and was controlling the things I cared most about. One thing I didn't want was to lose was this connection I felt and then developed with him. We had a break before our next trip and I needed to make a change. Home I went and filled my days with what I love the most; the outdoors, my friends, and smiles. It all reminded me why I am who I am, and why I care and love the way I do. 

Sometimes we need a break from everything, don't be scared to do it. You don't know what you will end up gambling and losing. Take time to refocus and be sure of yourself. You can find that happiness, that first friction, the laughs and endless love again. If you want it badly, you can achieve it. 

GO!!!!! 

xoxo

Travel, Love, Travel, Love

With travel comes love, and with love comes travel. 

Im infamous for having an idea one day, and getting on a plane the next. You can accept it or not. If you invite me somewhere the odd's will forever be in your favor. But I will mention that I had to say no to my first ever travel adventure invite so that I could attend my best friends med school graduation this weekend. P.S. You own me CB, I could be playing around in the sand and surf in El Salvador but of course, chicks before, well, you know! 

If it weren't for my 'spur of the moment' or just 'ridiculousness' I wouldn't have seen the places I've seen, met the people I have, experienced all the cultures and differences the world has to offer. Of course the majority of my trips are for work, I picked a job that allowed me to work my füc%i^g a$$ off seven days a week, but from January to April I was on a plane, train, or automobile, riding the most beautiful mountains in the US and Europe. No, I am not deprived of a beautiful life or have I ever been. 

I have to thank my family for not living within a thousand miles of Colorado. Without you my love for the ocean may be different, or I may have never experienced the beautiful people and style of Australia or rainy ol' England. I may not have ever experienced the Greek Islands and homeland like I had every summer since I was a year old. My parents are to thank for all of this, without their hard work, my brother and I wouldn't have six digit air miles, or filled passports, or experienced the world as we know it. 

And the famed and not so famed men in my life. If they haven't had popped up and made their ever-lasting impressions, for better or worse,  maybe I wouldn't have ever experienced the tiki buses in Central America. Or met 'ma boys' and Jema from Sydney while I was working and studying in Australia.  Or the rainy season in Jamaica which included two tropical storms and one hurricane. Or trotting across the pond for three days just to be with 'that guy.' Now Im currently in Chi town with the guy with the crazy hair that makes me laugh my ass off and is probably too good to be true. 

So, don't be afraid to 'JUST GO!' If you feel it, do it! You'll never know until you've done it. There's lessons to be learned, there's smiles and memories to be made, and there's a million people for you to meet. 

#neversayno #ldl

Where one door closes, another one opens. Or something like that.

Well, it's been an insane year!!! Lot's of planes, trains, and automobiles, gondi's, trams, and poma's. The places we went, the people met, the laughs we had and the tears we cried. Life this year has been amazing. Difficult at times, but for the most part, amazing. Pow days were minimal for myself, flight status rose, stress was up, one relationship done, and another begun. One thing I truly realized was the importance of my happiness and what things were driving me back from being who I was again. One easy decision was made but took me over eight months to end. The other is one of the hardest things I'm going to do, something Ive only known for the last eight years; my love, passion, bread and butter. Coaching. It's time for me to move on. I have never had more passion for something and the people that I've traveled with, coached, laughed with, cried with, cooked for, yelled at, and told secrets to over the last almost decade. Those memories will travel the world with me for the rest of my life. My next journey, well it's a little up in the air, but I guess that's how I like it. Nothing too definite, nothing imprinted, signed, dotted, and teed. The world is open, and Im just going to make more footprints. 

history of why i do the things i do

As the snow begins to fall on the Rocky Mountains, we are reminded that we are at head with another winter season in Vail, Colorado. My home, my pride, my family, my friends, and my life. Just to remind me how precious life is and can be at times, I was able to visit my family this past week in England. A place my brother and I were fortunate enough to visit one to two times a year when we were younger to play, laugh, and get to know my mothers side of the family who lived half way across the world.

Traveling for us is in our jeans passed down by our parents. My father ditched college a semester before his graduation from North Western University to persue his long ambition to travel to where his roots came from, Greece. He survived by having a small beach business on the well known and beautiful island of Mykonos renting snorkel equipment, umbrellas, and taking the many tourists water skiing behind his speed boat named 'SEA'. My mother, a retail sales clerk for Marks and Spencers in London, had already back packed around Europe with her girlfriends and decided to take a spur of the moment visit to Greece with her best friend at the sweet young age of 23.
Of course my parents ended up meeting, having fun, splashing around, laughing and sharing a few bottles of wine over the course of a week. My fathers impression did something, because the day my mum was supposed to leave, she met her friend at the boat harbor to let her know she was going to spend another week on the island! Pissed, angry, furious she was, but it didn't change my mums idea to stay. After many more sunsets, sunrises, and bottles of wine overlooking the Agean, my parents knew that they were meant for eachother. They had found each other to be one another's soul mates. Engaged after two weeks, married in a year, and pregnant with their first of two children, me after three.

Lucky for my brother and I, vacations to Europe were in the norm. Reaching 50,000 air miles by the time I was four, 42 stamps from seven countries by the time I was six, and I'm still going. For me, the biggest learning experience any child, adult, or student can get is from traveling.

The one thing I unfortunetly see here in the US are people who are so closed minded and uneducated about the world, people who think that it's the US and only the US, we have better everything. Well, we don't. Get out there, live, learn, experience what you dreadfully cannot even imagine. Don't get me wrong, there are some nice places here in the US, but we lack the history, the real culture, the fashion, the food, the education, the government and it's officials. Take Spain for example, everyone closes shop from 2-5. Can you even imagine leaving your desk or your cubical for a few hours to go take a nap, relax, catch up on some reading and meet your friends at the local cafe to talk about sports, travel, and life? If you can, then you've been somewhere, if you can't, then you are stuck in this pressurized, typical, set the rules and stick to em' life. BLOODY HELL PEOPLE, GET OUT THERE AND LIVE!!!!!!!

The one thing I'm not saying is work. My parents worked themselves silly to ensure that we could travel, see our family and friends overseas, and have the most unbelievable memories. Today, I work hard so I can play hard. I work non-stop from August to April coaching snowboarding, then in May, I say ciao to everything I know and head somewhere. Last spring my boyfriend and I went to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Last week I was in England with my mum an brother visiting our family and the week before that we were in Spain.
A two week family trip thanks to the hard work my mum did to take my brother and I to see, learn, and engrave more amazing and epic memories to our already beautiful lives. Of course it's my mums Christmas, Birthday, Christmas, and Birthday present to my brother and I. But as my brother and I get older and start establishing our lives, my mum saw the importance of this trip as one of the last times that we can take a family vacation, the three of us, and my father watching from somewhere, to go see somewhere we've never been, educate ourselves with a new culture and have some everlasting memories as one of the last family vacations the three of us might have. At least for quite a while!