and i won't

My fifth grade teacher was... a hard ass. There was a sign on her classroom's wall "I can and I will," of which she referenced often. She was encouraging (being an elementary school teacher and all)  yet she didn't believe in thinking, hoping, and wishing, only doing. Although I am certainly not the most confident of people, I've borrowed her classroom philosophy and applied it to many areas of my life. Some with more success than others.

Today, for instance, I didn't get dressed until noon (who doesn't love lounging on "weekend" mornings?) but I made sure to change into my yoga workout clothes. (Just so you know, the happy hour vinyasa class wasn't until 4:30.) I wanted to make sure that the process of changing wouldn't keep me from going, as ridiculous as that may sound, and then when the time came for me to walk to the studio (I've started doing that now, it's a much better idea and only a 15-minute stroll) I stopped reading magazines doing research, and left. There was no mental argument, nothing, I simply didn't allow it. I could and I did.

What I simply cannot do, however, no matter how much effort I've put into it, is take a hiatus. Even despite my current emotional distress. I also, cannot even began to explain it to you, and I'll even go as far as to say that I have no desire to do so. There are many things that I will always freely discuss, but even bloggers need their privacy; not to mention, that for my own well-being I believe it best to not dwell. And so, this issue will remain mine, and in an attempt to shine more light into my life, I will continue to blog about everything but. I hope we can all be okay with that. 

Let's do it then :). I arrived in Phoenix at noon last Friday, just a half an hour after the rest of my family had gotten there With a mediocre map and hardly a plan at all we drove up towards Scottsdale, our destination, and pulled off at the street name that caught our attention most. Then, we lunched. (Q: How does all the sitting of traveling cause one to be so ravenous afterwards?) Javino's, the first restaurant we saw that wasn't serving fast-food, turned out to be a wonderful choice. I even let the evil reminder that I was missing Valentine's Day with my Valentine slide.

Anyway, despite my empty tummy, it only took a slice of jalapeño bread (weird) and a salmon salad (not weird, only good) to fill it up. Must've been my exhaustion messing with my appetite. Oh yes, have I mentioned that I came home at 2 a.m. that morning only to be kept up by the obnoxiously loud drunkies outside my window? I barely slept an hour before I went to the airport. Yuck. 

So, I finished the meal with black coffee. Not quite what the doctor ordered, but pretty damn close ;).

The perfect amount of energy for our first hike! FYI- I pulled the "I'm only going to be here for the weekend" card, when my parent's proposed a nap instead.

1300 ft. up and down, 3 miles, and 1 hour later we all decided it had been more than worth it. So entertaining (my dad=cactus? Is that even funny?) and breathtakingly beautiful, as I'm sure you could see. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to wake up my little brother, because, being the energetic soul that he is, he could not bear to have came and joined us :/. Oh and we also felt the need to unpack a bit, shower, and get ready for an eclectic menu of local Native American dishes and authentic mesquite grilled cuisine. See you soon for more about that!