#7

Boy has it been a while.  Its been a crazy couple of weeks!  The weather is finally consistently amazing.  In May the good weather was on and off, but now we have 80-90 degree days every day :) Thank goodness.  The Surfcastle is filling up, and the beaches are full of colorful umbrellas.  I have continued my routine of morning exercise  stretching, a cup of coffee [or tea], then my shift at the surf shop, and then either yoga, or joining the waves for a surf.  The countdown to my departure is slowly creeping up on me, and I find myself not wanting to leave.  Of course I can't wait to see my family and friends.  Of course.  But I absolutely love my life here in this underrated country.  Every single moment is so great.  Like this morning on my run, some "studly" men picking up a game of tavloo after church.

yea...im going to miss this.

and I'm most definitely going to miss running into cuties like this on my morning walks.

 ...I decided surfing might be one of the hardest sports to learn.  It is SO difficult.  And now that the beaches are so crowded it makes it even more difficult.  It is a complete body work out for sure. But when I come back from a surf to a spontaneous unplugged jam session, it makes me forget about the pain in my triceps.

We were on TV here in Portugal!  This TV show that telecasts popular resorts and travel wanted to interview the Surfcastle.  We aired last night at 8:30pm.  It was really cool to see Joao and Ginjas on TV and to have the crew here all day.

One of our employees for the summer; Alice, left us last week, so we gave her a couple going away parties.  It was weird saying goodbye already.  I feel like we just met, and we were already saying goodbye.  

Friday night we went to Francisco's acting showcase.  

It was a hot sweaty stressful night :) Patricia and I decided we wanted to go shopping before so we ran around the mall for an hour, and then once we got into the City Center all the parking lots were completely full, and we got completely lost.  Then once we finally found parking, we "mapped" it and realized we were a kilometer away from the theater, so we ran as fast as we could so as not to be late and arrived at the theater completely drenched in sweat.  When we got into the theater we realized there was no air conditioning, but stumbled upon a small AC unit in the back of the theater that we parked ourselves in front of for a while.

This was post sweat sesh.  Checking to make sure we still looked presentable. 

I've eaten a lot of fish since I have arrived here.  I don't eat a whole lot of fish back in the states.  Or if it is its all the same fish.  Salmon, tilapia, shrimp... I have experimented with sea bass, halibut, mackerel ..broadening my horizons and my palette.  

I'm also going to definitely miss my wonderful Bosses.  Who have been amazing these past couple of months :)

We went out last night.  It was a beautiful night in Baleal.  

The line up:

Surfing.

Showering.

Putting on mascara [since that's all I wear here]

Dinner.

and...

Dancing.

of course :)

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currently listening to

::You've Got The Love::  Florence + The Machine

#6

Today my parents celebrate their TWENTY SIXTH wedding anniversary!  I always find any opportunity to tell people their story because I think it is so fascinating.  Today I was on a walk with Alice and Paulina and I was telling them that it was their anniversary and they asked how they met and when I told them their story they died.  They were appalled but at the same time fascinated with my parents love story.

I'm pretty lucky to call them mine.

Its crazy to think about.  I guess because I am so incredibly far away from marriage it is hard to think about or at this point fantasize about what a love like that looks like in my life.  It is crazy.  I have been spending a lot of time in prayer here.  And practicing the hard task of listening.  Which is and has proven to be really hard for me.  But I made it my mission while in Portugal to challenge myself and practice the discipline of listening.  It has been easier than I thought.  When you put your mind to something it is crazy what the outcome could be.  I have learned a lot from Him in my month here.  And although I know there is much more to be learned and practiced, it is the most time I have spent in His word in my entire life and it feels amazing. His love has been so so so evident in my time here and know I couldn't have managed without Him carrying me.  I know Him more now than I ever have and I truly believe that life experiences have the power and incredible ability to mold relationships, in this case my relationship with God, but it could be any relationship.  It causes feelings to be tested, and commitment to become evident.  He has shown me through grace and love that He is not going anywhere and I am safe in His arms.  

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Finally the weather is good again here in Portugal.  My time here is winding down.  I have one more month here and have every intention of living it up completely until I leave.  I am super excited about going home though.  And be reunited with these crazy awesome people :)

Can't wait.  Especially this one....

and this one.

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currently listening to 

::Anenome:: Brian Jonestown Massacre

#5

The weather is perking up.  We have had the sun shining for the past week and it has been incredible.  Definite darkening of skin color over here :)

I spent the weekend with Carla, we started our weekend with a bit of a shopping excursion in Caldes (pronounced Cahl-desh) for those of you who like the phonetic version of foreign words.  We didn't get home until midnight, and filled her couch with our bags.

It was a great feeling of accomplishment for sure.  Then we covered our faces with my Philosophy Oxygen Mask and watched a 'Rom-Com".  Of course.

Woke up the next day went for a walk on the beach and then plopped ourselves ever so elegantly on what we call here on the island; Onion Beach.  Do not ask me why its called that.  I have come up with a several theories, one being that since it is a private beach that only locals know about you have to "peel back" all the beaches where the tourists go and there will you find the ever so amazing Onion Beach.  That is the theory I'm going to go with because even Carla doesn't know why its called that.  Then we had lunch at the cafe on the island that everyone goes, and Jeff (one of our good friends) and his brother joined us for a little bit.  We tanned a little bit more by the pool and then decided we were hungry, from our weekend of detox, and ate a little something before performing our second mask of the weekend while watching Silver Lining's Playbook.

Ooh! I added another "first to my list this weekend.  I tried snails!  Yuck

I miss these two :( My best friend Julie's "un-birthday" was this weekend and it was killing me that I couldn't be there.

Its difficult to travel to a place where you don't know anyone, and where you are vulnerable. But I found that if you are content with yourself, nothing, no one, and no loop holes can mess you up.  I think thats life in general.  You never want to depend on someone or something to make you happy.  And when that self realization is established I truly believe we can accomplish anything.  Life is so great.  And sometimes, as I'm sure we have all done at some point or another, I just graze through my life, and it becomes a story of one day to the next.  Not a story about the extraordinary way I chose and choose to live my life.  So lets start.  Ok?  Lets start living, and doing, and changing, and loving.  Of course you gotta show some love :)

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currently listening to 

::Brave::  Sara Bareilles

#4

It has been a whileeeeee.  I need to get better at posting!  As relaxed as these last few weeks have been I have definitely stayed busy.  I have my routine now...

• Wake up in the morning, go for a run/walk/bike ride
• Sit on the terrace and do my daily devotional, listen to my Reality SF sermon, and spend a little time writing in my journal.
• Surf
• ...and then end my day working in the surf shop. 

In the midst of my crazy packed and awfully stressful schedule :) I hang out with Carla a lot, and have made a few great friends here at the Surfcastle that I really enjoy spending time with.  Ginjas has been in Indonesia for the past couple of weeks so we have had a lot of fun together while he has been enjoying the surf in the middle of the ocean.  Last weekend some friends of friends from Lisbon came and we had a fun weekend BBQ-ing, and drinking good wine, and laughing a lot.  

                                                                    .bbq with the boys.

                                  .hes as big as the car.                                                  
Every morning I have been exercising with Carla which has been so nice, and last night we had a sleepover.  We made dinner, and talked, and watched a movie, and wore our retainers :)  It was a perfect night.

There are some cute guys here.  Very cute :)  We will see what summer brings!  

xoxo.

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currently listening to 

::#beautiful:: Miguel feat. Mariah Carey

#3

Okay.  I have been here a little over a week now.  Its definitely a lifestyle I am getting used to, but sometimes I find myself feeling bad when I am outside tanning at 1 in the afternoon.  It is a mentality that needs to shift for me if I am going to embrace this time here.  I need to learn to be okay with relaxing and with spending hours in the sun doing nothing but hanging out with friends and bronzing my body.  It's just so weird.  And a complete 180 from what I was used to at home.  Now that I have been here a week and I have gotten used to the lay of the land, there are a couple of small changes I have already noticed I need to make.

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#1.  The bread here is delicious.  But bread=the devil.  So bread starting right now is cut out of my diet except for 1 day a week.  I will allow myself one bread day a week.  I have also learned that I need to start grocery shopping for myself, because I've learned that they don't really like salad in Portugal.

#2.  Yoga needs to happen every day.  No exceptions.

#3.  Tomorrow begins the journey of me learning how to surf.

#4.  I need to spend some more time in self reflection.

Its time to get life in order.  I need to face the fact that I can only be on vacation and free of all thoughts for so long, and then I need to give myself goals to achieve.  I only have so much time here.  Not only in Portugal but in life.  We all have such a short period of time on this planet.  We should start allowing our lives to reflect that.  Seriously. Im convinced we all need to do this. So come on.  Let's do it.

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currently listening to 

::Midnight City::  M83

#2

Its been a few days; I know. I'm sorry.

I've been too busy falling in love...
     with Portugal.
and maybe a couple other things :)


These past few days have been pretty darn great though.  Friday night we opened the bar here at the Surfcastle, and I made a new best friend.  Carla is Ginges' girlfriend and we instantly connected.  We had SO much fun that night.

Then on Saturday we had Joao's birthday, where about 30 family and friends gathered despite the gusty winds of Baleal to celebrate the big 3-7.  The Porto verses Benfica game was on and Joao was very very excited.  It was a disappointment when they lost, but when a loss is followed by Octopus over rice, the Portugese seem to be okay with it.

After the game, and after dinner everyone started congregating in the bar where Carla and I were bartending.  We had music blasting and people drinking nonnnnnn stoppp.  Francisco and I had to go to a bar next door to the surf castle and buy more beer because we completely ran out.

 The day after was very relaxed.  Joao invited me to lunch with his family which was really nice.  

...and then Joao, his brother, sister in law and I went along the coast for a couple of hours checking out some new beaches.   

  .met some sweet fisherman.                                                                 .looked at this.

.and this.

Then we got back to the Surfcastle and went for a bike ride, and saw this beauty :)

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 currently listening to

  ::Stay:: Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko

xx.

#1

I'm here.  

And I can't say 'finally' because this was an adventure that I can honestly say I did not have enough time to mentally prepare for.  Which I have realized in retrospect is the perfect way to do things.  It didn't even really settle in that I would be living in Portugal until I was at the Vodofone booth waiting for Joao to pick me up.  'Finally' would imply that I have been waiting for this moment and counting down the hours, and although I am so excited to be here now, I was so busy making sure everything was in perfect condition with work and family and friends that I didn't have time to settle in the thought that I was leaving in 4 days...1 day....16 hours...

On my way over here, I began to slow my mind down and start to internalize some feelings.

 

 .easy to think under these conditions.

First realization since I have begun this journey:

• The best way to get ready for a trip, adventure, journey, and life, is to not think about it too much. 

My entire life, I plan. I am a planner.  Type A...all the way. But I have noticed recently that planning certain things are so unnecessary.  Sometimes planning ruins plans yea?  I've noticed that in my own life at least.  At the end of the day, whatever is going to happen, will inevitably find a way to happen.  And if it doesn't happen today, it will happen tomorrow. I believe in fate.  God's fate.  Strongly. 

The Surfcastle is beautiful.  It is my second day here, and I have met people from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Poland, and Greece.  Within two days.  If this isn't living my life the way I always dreamed of then I don't know what is.  Immersing myself in a culture different from my own is one of my many fates.  I think thats why I love San Francisco.  It is one of the few cities in the US that is so culturally diverse.  It is so naive for us to think that life is only to be lived in one place for our entire lives.  The only way we get through life is to live life. Everyone's definition of that is different...but we can't be afraid to take a risk every once in a while. 

Today we had our first staff meeting.  Its so interesting to see how different cultures conduct their business and how they find different things effective.  Joao and Ginges would randomly go at it in Portugese debating how things should be run.  Its such a passionate culture.  From a business standpoint, I have some ideas of how business could run a little bit smoother.  They get very easily stressed out so my goal this summer is to help out as much as I can and prevent this from happening...

.yes...that is a beer on the table at 11 in the morning.

The sun is shining, we just opened up the bar and im jiving to the beats of some Portugese house music while smelling the hint of mint and lime:  an essential for the mojitos that Joao is preparing for us.  

... Je ne sais pas!  I could get used to this.  

.xx.