We're Engaged!! :)

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but as you probably know it has been a whirlwind of a week! Kyle came to Peru and we traveled around, we got engaged (!!!) on Tuesday on Machu Picchu, toured Lima, and then caught our flights back home late on Saturday. On Sunday, my parents picked us up at the SBN airport and we were home. Little did I know my family had planned a surprise welcome home party for me, that naturally turned into an engagement party. It was quite wonderful to see everyone again and to share the great news!

Of course, Kyle and I are excited with this new development in our lives. I am very much in love with my best friend and feel so blessed that I get to spend the rest of my life with him :) Yay!

I will definitely post some pictures soon and a little bit more of a story about the engagement and all our exciting travels. But until then, I just wanted to give you a quick update.

I'll be back soon :)

"...It's a love story. Baby, just say yes"
--Taylor Swift

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My 100-ish List

Trying to pass time until Kyle gets here (6 HOURS!) So I am writing up my very own "bucket list", or all the things I want to get accomplished in my lifetime. I got the idea from the blog Living in Yellow, which is written by a woman from my hometown (Middlebury!). We even went to elementary school together (GO MIDDIES!) So thanks, Erin, for the idea! :)

I have started this type of list multiple times, on a variety of different papers/journals/diaries/websites/emails to myself, but they seemed to get lost, or I just forget about them. I think a blog is a good way to get it down in writing and I can keep adding to it as I think of new ideas.
So here it is...58 things (and counting!) on my LIFE LIST:

1. Go to China
2. Adopt a child
   
3. Create life
4. Start a non-profit
5. Donate my hair to locks of love (AGAIN)
6. Attend a golf tournament
7. Attend all major tennis tournaments, U.S Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open (French Open: DONE!)
8. Become fluent in Spanish
9. Attend grad school
10. See my abs
11. Be a vegetarian (for some amount of time)
12. Play tennis on a clay court
13. Be on a reality show (AMAZING RACE!)
14. Coach volleyball
15. Host an exchange student(s)
16. Go zip-lining
17. ...and bungee jumping
18. Visit New York
19. Learn how to play the piano
20. Learn how to quilt
21. Get a masters in _______?
22. Visit every continent (Asia and Antarctica to go...)
23. Live in a big city
24. Have a homecoming (return home after living somewhere else for a long period of time)
25. Own a small coffee shop
26. Work for TOMS Shoes
27. Mentor a Child (Big brother/Sister)
28. Go surfing...again.
    
29. Attend the world cup or the olympics
30. Go on a wine tasting tour in Cali
31. Go to Canada
32. Maintain a garden
33. Take a dance class
34. Finish a three year journal
35. Run a 5k and a 10k
36. Learn how to golf...well.
37. If I ever want to quit a job that I hate, yell "I QUIT", Then walk out of the building :)
38. Make a lot of money, but give it away!
    
39. Thank all teachers that I have had throughout my life and thank them for teaching me.
40. Do 100 (OR MORE) random acts of kindness
41. Hot air balloon ride
42. Plant a tree
43. Get over my "dislike" of animals, and own a pet
44. Go backpacking
45. Plan someone's wedding
46. ...plan my own wedding.
    
47. Find a job I am passionate about
48. Learn not to take things so personally
    
49. Give blood, regularly
50. Go on a trip with my parents and siblings (when we are all older and married and have kids!)
51. Attend a Coldplay concert
52. Go on a Safari
53. See the pyramids
    
54. Have a video featured on America's Funniest Home Videos (Not necessarily a video of me, but one that I submitted)
55. Be able to pay for my child's education
56. Go to the Super Bowl
57. Keep a quote journal/wall
58. Do a backflip!

So there you have it! :) Maybe this will inspire you to make your own life list! Let me know what is on your list...

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Mine is about to get 120% better :)

"Life isn't about the number of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away" --Quoted in the movie "Hitch"

Happy Mother's day to my WONDERFUL momma. I love you :)

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A few notes...

Just to clear something up, the MLK Jr. quote I posted in my last post is actually a mash-up of different quotes. Everyone loves a good REEEEEmix, right?? But I definitely don't want to misquote anyone. So here is the original MLK quote. Still has the same idea :)

"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. So when Jesus says "Love your enemies," he is setting forth a profound and ultimately inescapable admonition. ... The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." --MLK, Jr.

Anyway...Life is good here. Just wrapping up everything at work, training the new intern. Dos mas dias until Kyle is here (That means: TWO MORE DAYS!) To say that I am excited would be an understatement. But I'll say it anyway....I'm Excited!!

I am getting sad thinking about leaving my work here and my host family. But I am also VERY much looking forward to seeing family and friends again.

I am definitely ready to return to the United States of Traffic Laws and the United States of "It's rude to stare". Ha. Also, excited to "chase the summer sun" back to Indiana. It's getting cold here. 70 degrees has never felt so cold. Brrrr.

Thanks for reading along with my adventures while I've been here. I have been considering keeping a blog once I return states side...but feel like it would be rather boring after all my adventures here. We'll see :)

Chau

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." --Dr. Seuss

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A Fitting Quote...

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives,
but I will not rejoice in the death of one,
not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate,
adding deeper darkness
to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can that"

--Martin Luther King, Jr.--

Sunday Lovin': The Finale

This is the last Sunday Lovin'! Can you believe it?! I can't. I will be in Peru next Sunday, but I will be on my way to the lovely city of Cusco and just won't have the time to write on the blog. But if I DID write a Sunday Lovin' next week I'm pretty sure it would go something like this...

1.) I love that my boyfriend is here
2.) I love that I am going to Machu Picchu
3.) I love that I am going home to see my family and friends
and
4.) I love that I am sad to leave here. It means I have had such great experiences and have built many wonderful relationships.

So that gives you an idea of what it MIGHT look like next week. But this week, I am loving...

• Event Success: I am so thankful for the success I have had at SAE. Our event attendance has increased immensely and this means more profit, which is great for our little NGO! I am so happy to be a part of this success. I have learned so many great skills and developed many important characteristics through my internship. It has been such a lovely experience and I have been so blessed.

• My 365-day Journal: I am not big on keeping up with a journal, so it seems kind of weird for me to keep a blog, huh? But anyway, I have found one way to write down my thoughts and activities and that is thanks to my 365-day journal. Each day, I write down 3-4 sentences about my activities, what I'm feeling etc..And then on that same day next year, I will write another 3-4 sentences on the same page and I can look back at where I was exactly one year ago. I love the idea, so I'm hoping to be able to keep up with it!
  

• Dinner with Hannah: Last night Hannah Groff and I had dinner at Astrid y Gaston. It was recently named to a list of the top 50 restaurants in the world. And we ate there. Crazy!! The food was delicious, but the company was even better! :) Some of the highlights include:

1. Hannah, talking about the interior of the restaurant, states, "This kind of makes me think we are in Wisconsin" Which I say, "Really?? I've never really been there. Have you ever been to Wisconsin" and she says, "No."
2. Me, embarrassingly, in a totally relaxed position, placing my arm across the top of my head and Hannah asking what I was doing. Mortified, I quickly put my arm back in my lap and hoped that no one else saw me. How embarrassing. Hannah had a good, long laughing fit about the situation.
   
3. The free bread and appetizers! Yum.
4. The delicious food and pisco sours
5. Not realizing that the little desserts they set on the table weren't free. We eat all of them, and then it shows up on the final check. How could they do that to us?
6. Our "interesting" waiter. I only wish we would have been able to hear him...
7. Hours of great conversation with a GREAT friend.
   

Hannah, I am so glad we got to experience Lima at the same time! :) It's been a wonderful experience. THANKS!

• The Royal Wedding: I definitely woke up for the wedding at 4 AM and then watched multiple replays that evening. Ha. Obsessed? Maybe...

• Spanish Class: I said good-bye to my wonderful Spanish teacher this week. I had an awesome time studying Spanish with her and learned so much. Hopefully, the learning will continue when I return to Los Estados Unidos.
  

So that's what I am loving as I enter my final 2 weeks in Peru. This whole experience has been amazing and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to travel and learn and explore our wonderful world! I am sure I will be blogging some more in the coming days to help the days go faster! Hasta pronto, Kyle! :)

Pub Quiz Answers:
1.) South Africa
2.) Spain
3.) Fiction. With wind resistance and the shape of the penny, the penny would barely break the skin of a person walking below.
4.) Fact. According the National Weather Service the odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 700,000. The odds of being attacked by the shark are 1 in 8 million.
5.) The Hummingbird

Shout out to Goshen's class of 2011 who are graduating today. Definitely wish I could be there to celebrate with you! I will be listening to via 91.1 The Globe. You guys did it!! Enjoy the celebrations.

Quoted in the sermon of the royal wedding (and my new favorite quote):
"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire"
--St. Catherine of Siena

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Royal Wedding

Just sitting here. The only one awake in my apartment at 4:54 AM. Watching the Royal Wedding.

Am I crazy?

Maybe a little...But this is SO cool :)

Good morning, world!

Next stop: Starbucks

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Sunday Lovin': Easter Edition

Sunday Lovin' is back! Only one more Sunday left after this....crazy, right?!
Life has been great here. This week was Semana Santa so we had Thursday and Friday off work. This mean a lot of sleeping in and completely relaxing. Loved every second of it. Currently, I am wrapping stuff up at work, getting ready to pass on my vast knowledge of SAE event coordinating :), looking forward to my trip to Machu Picchu, and looking for a job for when I return home! Fun times all around!

Here's some Lovin'...

1.) Easter Dinner: I am sad to be missing out on Easter dinner with the family. But I did get to eat Subway for lunch today and it was terrific. It even had pickles on it which I have been craving. Perfect :) And while I definitely missed the company of my family being together, I did get to skype with the entire family while they were together at my parent's house. It sure sounded like a party! And it was so great to see everyone.

2.) TGIFridays: For the pat 4 days I have been on vacation from work. It's Semana Santa (Holy week), after all! So I had a lot of down time, did some reading, went to a museum and saw a movie. One of my faves was going to TGIFridays with the two lovely ladies that I am living with. We rarely cross paths now that they are back in school and I am interning, so it was nice just to get out of the house together and catch up and eat some good food. (I feel like a lot of my sunday lovin's are about food...ha, sorry!) I have been truly blessed to live in a house with two wonderful women and an awesome host dad. I will miss them all dearly when I return home.

4.) The quietness of Easter break: Easter break means get out of town! Lima was eerily quiet this weekend, and I loved it. Although, the lack of transportation was a bit of a downer sometimes, seeing the city in such a tranquil light was pretty awesome.

5.) Countdown: Now, countdowns aren't always the greatest things. Sometimes they can make it seem like time in just dragging along. But I am SO excited for my trip to Machu Picchu (see facts about Machu Picchu on this website: here) and to see my boyfriend (Sorry, no website about him...) that I have a countdown on my computer. Yay only 1 week and 6 days!! Also, it seems that my family is also looking forward to seeing me again. One particular member of my family, Sarah Bontrager, even said, "This countdown is more exciting than the Royal Wedding, in...? How many days? Who cares...Allis' coming home!" :) Thanks for the love, family! You rock. Can't wait to see you all again, too.

6.) Modern Family: I looooooove this show (Thank you, Rachel Yoder). It is Hi-larious. And totally makes me laugh. I am all caught up on the most recent season, but I am now starting to go through season 1. So stinkin' funny. Each character/family has their own quirks and it just makes me laugh and laugh and laugh....You should really check it out sometime!

...And lastly, I was quiz master (Watch out, Kirk Stiffney!) for our Trivia Night of Wednesday so I'll leave you with a few sample questions. Answers to come later....

1.) Which country's flag has the most colors?
2.) Who won the 2010 soccer world cup?
3.) Fact or fiction (Myth Buster's style!): A penny dropped from the top of Empire State Building would kill someone on the ground below.
4.) Fact or fiction: You are more likely to be struck by lightening than to be bitten by a shark.
5.) Which is the only bird that can fly backwards?

Alright, Thanks for reading along!
Happy Easter. Hope you had a blessed time hanging out and eating with family and friends.

"He is not here, he has risen....” --Matthew 28:6

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