Love the Ones You’re With

In an attempt to live life more like a fisheye lens, with a wider view of the world around me, this week I spent time trying to appreciate and love on the ones around me. This week, I celebrated my friend’s 21st Birthday, caught up with old friends while sitting in the sunshine, had 2 froyo dates, coordinated all of my roommates to eat dinner at the same time and wrote my closests friends some words of encouragement. However, I still wish I could have done more. More for the people that stand by my side, make me laugh, humble me and encourage me. There isn’t enough room on one index card to tell my friends just how much I appreciate them.

On Wednesday I had the privilege of listening to Chris Gragtmans speak as a park of his “Live Your Dreams” tour. One of the things he stressed the most was the importance of surrounding yourself with good people. He projected this quote on the screen:

“You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with” – Jim Rohn

This week, taking the time to reflect on my friendships opened my eyes just a little bit wider. I realized just how much uniqueness each of my friends brings to my life and to the lives of others. Honestly, my parents raised me but, my college friends are the ones that helped me grow up. They shared their culture, humor, fashion, hobbies and their lives with me. So much of who I am has been influenced by, like the quote says, the 5 (maybe a few more) people I spend the most time with. I am grateful that these have been incredible influences and have attributed nothing but positive aspects to my life.

Hope I have encouraged you all to reflect on your friendships.

Hosting Your Broke College Friends For A Weekend

WHOA BABY as in… Whoa Baby finals are over and I am slowly making my way home for my Christmas break. Just days away from Christmas, New Years and then Costa Rica! I am proud to report that I got straight A’s this semester (Merry Christmas Mom and Dad) and now that finals are over I will have lots of free time to devote to blogging and being present here on the blogosphere.

I had an INCREDIBLE mountain weekend with my friends! I love Boone always, but even more when I have time to enjoy it without the stress of class. We had two big sleepovers and two days that were action packed at Appalachian Ski Mountain. Even though my friends were braced with some not-so-ideal snowboarding conditions they still learned like champions and in the words of my friend Kenzie “Shaun White ain’t got nothin on us.” Here are some of my tips on how to successfully host an awesome snowboarding weekend with your broke college friends. These might be really obvious but they are my fun little way of recapping the weekend.

1. Check Out Group Rates

We couldn’t get a group rate at the mountain this time because there wasn’t quite enough of us but, we got one with a big group last time and we all saved about 10 or 15 dollars. It is definitely worth giving the resort a call to see if they offer group rates and if you qualify.

2. Make your own magic

We had all just finished exams so we were all pretty exhausted and spent out on Christmas shopping. Friday night we made our own magic in my apartment. We jammed out to Justin Bieber’s Christmas album, played games in my apartment and caught up with each other. As for Saturday night…let’s just say we all headed to bed early. We are college kids…we just need to be together to have fun!

3. Pack Your Lunch

We saved a ton of money by not buying lunch at the Ski Resort and packing our own. We made a grocery list, divided the items evenly and took a group trip to Wal-Mart…which is always an adventure. Both Saturday and Sunday we took over a little space in the ski lodge and had our own picnic, complete with Christmas cookies. We may have received some dirty looks from the employees but I am thinking they were just eyeing our goodies.

4. Get an Early Start

Ski Resort tickets can be very expensive, especially on the weekends, so get an early start and get the most out of your day! My friends loved waking up to Christmas music, coffee, my bright and shiny face, waffles and scrambled eggs. We made it to the mountain at quite an impressive hour, beat the crowd and had a FFFFFUUULLLLLLL day seizing the slopes.

5. Rent Local

This is something that I wish I would have known long ago. Many local ski or snowboarding shops offer rentals which can save you lots of money from renting them from the resort. I have my own gear but my friends were able to get a student discount, faster service and a weekend rental from, First Tracks, a snowboard and ski shop literally seconds from my apartment. I give myself a pat on the back because that was my suggestion.

For all of the things I can’t describe through my typing i have put together this fun little video that captures some of the highlights from the weekend!

I am still learning how to make videos and i dont have the best software so i apologize for all the glitches

https://vimeo.com/82099767