Very few people in life will tell us to slow down and not accomplish more, be more or have more. Yet, the best thing you can do is to take your time and be present. There is nothing that can’t wait to be said in person or on the phone. We are losing our ability to communicate as humans; forgetting the art form that is conversation and expression with the infiltration of emojis and lol’s and hahas.
Yesterday I had a free day which is the most amazing thing ever. I met up with an amazing friend and showed her around downtown Denver, jammed with some awesome musicians on the 16th street mall and walked all the way to St. Marks which is the greatest coffee shop in Denver.
I would recommend opening your eyes as wide as possible at all times so that life can keep surprising you. Because there is no way to look at everything at all times, but there is time to look at everything if you are willing to work and wait for it.
It was the perfect Sunday that started with running a friends dogs in the morning, doing some life tasks then meeting a friend in the highlands at Prosper and Oats for an acaii bowl and then ended with a bike ride down to city park for the jazz concert with another friend.
So it turns out that republicans and buffalo and wind are not the only things in Wyoming! The most amazing national park is there too: Medicine Bow National Park. This past weekend I went to Wyoming to spend time with family and get outdoors and have some mad fun! Warning: The video includes dad dancing and fun. So if you don’t like either..byeeeee!
While in Hanoi, Vietnam I had a morning off from work and decided to meander around the city and see where my feet took me with no conscious plans in mind other than writing and enjoying the day. My feet ended up taking me through the twisted streets of the Old Quarter and up a floor to the balcony of a vegan restaurant where I sat perched outside writing and drinking a blended green juice. Wanting to capture the moment, I went back inside and asked the first person I saw (there were only four people there) if it would be okay if he took a picture for me. Here enters Trent. Trent was one of two bearded men in the restaurant (the other one was wearing plaid) and had he been there a moment too late or soon, I would have gone with the other lumberjack. I’m so glad Trent was there when he was. We soon discovered that we were one of the same and had kindred souls. I have never had a conversation with anyone ever where we immediately were thinking and conversing on the same wavelength. It was inspiring and a unicorn moment to say the least. After realising that Trent was a fascinating and compelling person after a hot minute, I asked if I could intentionally interview him.
On an early Friday morning, I sat down next to Tom in row twenty-one on an average day 10,000 plus feet in the air. As I was heading out on a work trip over the winter break, I decided that there was no better place to make a friend than on an airplane. Yes, I am that annoying person on an airplane that you hope and pray that you don’t sit next to because you just want to get through the flight. Like most people, you didn’t come on an airplane to make friends. I may be worse than sitting next to a crying baby. I wasn’t even initially sitting next to Tom, but after my other seat mates stopped conversing to me and went back to knitting and playing bejeweled, I decided to mingle around the plane.
You know when someone shows up to Vietnam in cowboy boots, blue jeans, a leather hat and button down shirt, they are a Republican…I mean a character and are going to have great stories. That first impression remained true as I got to know Grandpa Walt the last two weeks traveling through Vietnam with him, his daughter and granddaughter who is adopted from Vietnam. Grandpa Walt is the kind of person that wakes up at six in the morning every day to go walking just because he can and would feel to stagnant if he wasn’t moving. Everyday he carried his go pro with him while photographing every moment with his other fancy camera. He sees life through a lense, literally and figuratively that is his own unique brand of Grandpa Walt.
The first thing you should know about Xia (Chi-a) that you would never know unless you were fortunate enough to spend time in her enlightening presence is that this girl has style and pizazz beyond your wildest dreams. She is a cluster of energy, intelligence and whimsical fun that we often think we have to lose as we stop playing in the leaves and dressing up as princesses. Somehow she has bypassed this false ideology in the world that we have to grow up in order to show as an intelligent being and has merged all sides.
After a rough last few weeks of school and finals week, I kicked off holiday break with a series of wonderful friends including old, new and same! It was great to catch up with friends from high school, show friends from college around Denver and indulge in delicious food and even better company.
Kaila in the World 