These are a few of my faaaaavorite things....

This time of year is so special for many reasons; lately I've been reflecting on this past year and how quickly it flew by. Sometimes it's so good to take time to sit back and think. It helps you to see all the things, big and small, that are such beautiful blessings.

This past Wednesday I took the bus for the last time this semester and it got me in a sappy mood :) hehe. While riding the bus in my loooooovely Christmas sweater.....

.....I wrote down some of my favorite things from this past year.

I hope while you read this you can hear Julie Andrews singing away from The Sound of Music...better yet, here's a link to the instrumental version!!! Copy and paste this into a new tab and enjoy while reading!!:

http://youtu.be/r3Lh8yRIfSw

And here we go!

1. Traveling is always a fav! Here are a few of the places I got to see!!

Truckee, CA-for New Years!

The Carribean-St. Thomas, St. Johns, Puerto Rico, Grand Turk

The Getty in LA

Dillon Beach-spring break

Seattle, WA

Calgary, AB-Calgary Stampede!!!!

Santa Cruz, CA-girly weekend!

Newport Beach, CA

WOW, that was a lot of travels!! I didn't even realize that was all just in this last year.

2. This year we decided to get another chicken. I got to pick her out and I chose little Louise!

This was when she was a couple weeks old :)

Louise all grown up! She's 9 months old and laying green eggs :)

3. Two of my dear friends got engaged this year! Congrats Lauren & Joel and also to Jenny & Adam! I can't wait for your guys' weddings this next year!!! Also, my friend Criste, since 1st grade, got married this year! Congrats newlyweds, Criste & Ben!

Criste & Ben's Wedding-me, Criste, and Natalie

4. I got a new tattoo! On my 24th birthday I got something I've been mulling over for a while. The concept that no matter what is going on in life, whether it's a really difficult time or when it comes to making big choices I've never felt hopeless. I know that the Lord has me in His hands and has a plan for me for hope and a future. So, as a daily reminder to myself of this blessing that I so don't deserve, I got it put right on my arm! Oh and it's in Spanish, just in case you were wondering :)

Esperanza-hope

5. My best friend and I have wanted to take a belly dancing class since high school! Finally, this summer we found one and took it all summer! It was one of the funnest things I've ever done, and I hope to get back into it again soon! Learning different dances from different cultures is such a fascinating thing!

6. Last, but CERTAINLY not least......I became AUNTIE Em!!!! No, not biologically, but my dearest friends Peter and Katie had a baby this year! Ryan Kenneth Bernd Neumann was born on August 4th and is the most precious little man I have ever seen! It has been the most amazing joy to be able to be home and around to see him grow and change. This is definitely my top favorite of 2011!

Here he is! 3 days old :D

And again, he's a little over 3 months here! Yay babysitting!!

And this concludes some of my most favorite things of this year! I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store! For sure a lot of bus riding, graduating in May, hopefully grad school, Africa??, fun weddings, oh and a drawing class!

Love and merriest Christmas to you!

Bus Girl

Bus girl travels the world in one afternoon!

Hola a todos! (Don't mind me...I'm in an international mood!!)

A few weekends ago, my friend Marcail and I traveled the world via the bus and downtown Sac! I heard about this fun World Music and Dance Festival, and it sounded like so much fun! And it was free, doesn't get much better than that.

First we hopped on the 42A in Woodland one lazy, Sunday afternoon. Meet my friend! Her dad drives for Yolobus, and she has a love for the bus as well :)

While on our trip to Sac, a lady in front of us was feeling quite relaxed and was nodding off....we were laughing SO hard because she would (completely asleep) lean to the left (almost falling over) and then all the way to the right. It was hysterical!! I have no idea how she stayed asleep while swaying so drastically! HA!

Once we got to Sac, we hopped off the bus and walked through downtown to Old Sac...

So cute! There's a little walkway that goes under through downtown Sac and transports you to Old Sac, with cobble stone streets and horse drawn carriages. As we walked over to Old Town, we were treated to a day of music, dance, and culture from around the world.

We enjoyed a little taste of Brazil, and watched some samba! Enjoy a tinsy clip!

This woman was amazing and was so vibrant. We definitely enjoyed our glimpe of Brazilian dance! How fun to have 8 live percussionists drumming you along!

While we were walking around we noticed an acupuncture booth! Cailie wanted to check it out, so we stopped by. At the booth, there was a giant ear showing what parts of the ear indicated problem areas within the body....hmmmm. We were curious! So Cailie was brave and got her ear evaluated.

The woman doing the testing had some interesting things to say, but after telling Cailie to quit smoking (which she doesn't...) we were a tad skeptical/offended. Overall though, it was a neat experience (although I'm not the one who got my ears poked). What a unique way to evaluate health...

From here we saw some dances from the Philippines, Ukraine and the onto the middle east for some of my personal favorite, belly dance! These girls were so beautiful and talented!

I was initially told about this festival from a Flamenco teacher and she suggested we go see this fantastic guitarist, Gopal Slavonic and dancer, Kina Mendez.

For our last stop of the day, we went to see some Hawaiian dancing. It was beautiful and we both ended up participating in the last song! We danced on stage to the "Hukilau" song :) What a perfect way to end our trip across music and dance cultures! This was such a fun festival and I recommend checking it out next year! Ya can't beat free: http://sacworldfest.com/

Love,

Bus Girl (and sidekick Marcail)

Beauty in unusual places...

Hello!

After just about finishing my first month back in school, I can proudly say that being back on the bus has been fantastic! I consider it such a blessing that it works with my schedule to ride the bus, save gas, save money, save the air, and be able to be around people to meet and observe.

I've seen this sign from the bus I take down J Street several times and thought it was so random, but powerful at the same time. It kinda goes along with the theme of this blog....

There haven't been any too crazy stories over the last month, but the thing that keeps hitting me is the small things that happen around us that can be so beautiful. I've mostly been riding the bus from Davis to Sacramento, which goes right through West Sac. For those of you not around here, parts of West Sac are not so nice so there are very interesting people riding with me. Amidst what judgments I may have had prior to getting familiar to this route, I've seen some pretty neat things. And these I am excited to tell you all about :)

Last week one middle aged lady was getting on the bus and didn't have enough money to buy her ticket. Not even 30 seconds of the driver saying she owed $1, 3 different people piped up to give her a dollar.

This morning a young mom with a tiny baby in a car-seat got on the bus. It was PACKED today because it was a "Spare the Air" day (this is where the bus is free all day due to high temperatures or poor air quality). One lady moved from the front so she could sit down in a single spot with the car-seat. By the next stop a sweet little Asian man moved towards the back so she could have the whole row he was in.

Also this morning, a little family of 3 got on the bus. Their little boy was 16 months old and SO cute. He was getting a little fussy with his mom so the dad (who was standing) came over and got him. The little boy was instantly so happy to be with his dad. He was sitting on his lap and they were adorable together. They were laughing and making funny faces and everyone on the bus was giggling with them because that child was so stinkin' cute!

Like I mentioned, today was "Spare the Air". This in itself is such a great concept to encourage people to ride the bus. Transportation and even bus fares really can add up depending on how many trips you have to take each day. It was neat to see people's faces when the bus driver told them it was free today. Not having to pay that $2, I could tell, was a relief. Almost everyone said, "Wait, really??"

So whatever city you're in, whether it's your favorite place in the world or just somewhere you are temporarily, I inspire you with these two thoughts: take the time to look for beauty in the small things around you and try to do something each day, whether it's smiling at someone or picking up a piece of garbage, to make that city a little better.

Love,

Bus Girl

1st Bus Love

Happy summer! Since I have a break from school, I have a temporary bus break...although my fabulous pass does work all summer. So great! With the next semester in sight, I calculated the cost that will be saved by not driving all four days. By taking the bus round trip and not buying the ever-increasing parking pass...get ready...I will be saving over $900 dollars next semester alone!!

On to stories :)

My first hilarious bus story happened almost two years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was still really nervous about riding the bus and was getting the hang for it. I was sitting in the middle just minding my own business. These three twenty-something African American girls got on the bus and two of the girls walked to the back and the third sat right up in the front section that is technically reserved for senior citizens and people with disabilities. Once the bus was moving, the girls in the back yelled to their friend, "Hey!! What you doin' in the front up there??!!" And the girl in the front promptly yelled back, "We've waited too long, that's right, too long to be sitting in the back of this bus!" I thought this was so funny, but definitely did my best not to laugh out loud. A few blocks later, the friends in the back saw that some older people were getting on the bus and went on to yell up to the front, "Hey Rosa Parks, get yo butt back here!!" I couldn't help it this time, seriously so funny! These girls were hysterical and thus began my love and entertainment with the bus :)

Enjoy your summer!

St. Patrick's Bus Fun!

Since St. Patrick's Day is coming up I thought I'd share what happened last year to me on the bus! I recorded a little video then, so you all get to see me blonde again!

First, before I get to that story, I had a really sweet moment this past Thursday. On my way home, I sat in the front of a packed bus. The lady sitting next to me said to the driver as he left downtown Sac, "Oh, we're so happy to have you. The last driver we had was just awful!" The bus driver said back, "Well, I'm happy to be here. Driver's sometime's just think that they can drive however they want, what they gots to realize is that they got to operate this bus! Ma'am, I drive this bus as if my family was on here."

I just thought this was so sweet, and he really was a great driver :)

On to last year's adventure!!!

Have a fun, green-wearing, St. Patrick's Day! Maybe even ride this bus to make it even greener :)

Love,

the cheesy Bus Girl

A simple new year

As I'm gearing up to start the next semester ( and starting the new year, YAY) I've really been in a 'clearing out' type of mood. Something that I love about the bus is it's simplifying effect on my life. Simplifying, you ask? Yes, there are schedules, stops, sometimes long wait that don't seem to be a simple thing, but at the end of the day it does make things more peaceful for me. It gives me time to wake up, time to decompress after a long day of school, and the peace of mind knowing how much gas I'm saving each and every trip.

Other than the bus, which I'm so excited to start riding again in T-minus 2 and 1/2 days, I'd love to share with you some other ways that I am trying to de-clutter and simplify my life! It really does feel great and with each little thing I donate or toss out I really feel as though I have more space to breath. If you're not one for lists...sorry, they may be one of my favorite things in the world :)

1. The dreaded closet: if I get something new to hang up, I make myself give something away. I will not buy more hangers, I refuse. So if I want room to hang up my new top, gotta make a sacrifice! Start small, get a paper grocery bag and fill it up. I bet you'll be surprised how fast it's full! I try and do this once a month, I love taking stuff to Goodwill. They're very sweet!

2. I have a subscription to Runner's World magazine. I LOVE it, it's so great, but after I read it once I'm done. A girlfriend of mine gets another mag that I like so every few months we bring a pile of them to each other, swap and then recycle when we're done with them! I couldn't stand any longer having a years worth of magazines, it felt good to get my nightstand back!

3. If you're a student like me you may have previous semesters papers and work stacked away. If it's work from my major I'm keeping it in the 2" binder that I used for the semester. Confession of my love and semi OCD-ness for organization: in my 4 semesters for my program I'm buying the same white binder so that once I graduate I just have 4 filed binders of useful info....I'm a nerd, I know!! But for all the other stuff, really are you gonna need notes on how the government was run in 1905?! Well, I don't so I pitched a huge pile in the recycle! If stuff is one sided, it's nice to keep a pile of that for scratch paper too. I love cleaning out boring school notes that I never need to see again!

4. Speaking of school stuff, my favorite thing at the end of the semester is to resell textbooks! By the time you're done, you forget how much you got ripped off when you bought them new, and reselling them just feels like you're getting free money :) Amazon.com is my favorite for this. Sometimes though books don't sell or maybe you have regular books that you've read and don't need on your shelf. I recently found this cool website that allows you to donate books, DVDs and other things to soldiers overseas! booksforsoldiers.com check it out!

5. Lastly, if you're feeling like you need to spruce up your living space and wanna redecorate but don't have lots of cash, what I like to do is update picture frames. It may sound like a small feat, but ordering 10 cent prints online for a few frames around your room will give it a fresh feel.

Me with my bag of old school work to recycle and my bag for Goodwill. Yes!


I hope you're having a great new year so far, this weekend for me has been so good and I'm probably too excited about my clean room...at least Goodwill is getting a bunch of new inventory!! Can't wait to ride the bus this week, more adventures to come!

Love from my simplified little self, Bus Girl