dream realized

i have wanted to go to a mumford & sons concert for the past two years & i have always wanted to go to a concert a red rocks amphitheater. combine those two things for a total score!

we managed to get tickets to this concert that sold out in less than 10 minutes & now i am eagerly looking forward to august 28th.

life on the rich coast

this is a picture-heavy post, but the photos recapture our wonderful costa rica vacation far better than i could!

playa guiones was good to us!

heath & brandon evaluating high tide.

sunset surfing.

low tide was great for playing in the water
without getting pummeled. 

overall, the bay was pretty open, with a sandy floor.
just to the north there was a rocky point that created cool breaks.

welcome shade on an otherwise exposed & sunny beach.

brandon was relentless with surfing morning, noon, & night.

i convinced him to pack it in & take me to dinner though.

this was day three & my tan was progressing quickly!

heath, emily, me, brandon enjoying a delicious fresh fish meal.

emily & i.
i stood downhill to compensate for our 8" height difference.

gotta get out past the first waves to catch one.

unfortunately i struggled to stand up on the board
as easily as everyone else in our group.
although i have successfully surfed before,
i have to relearn every time.
as you can tell by my face here, i was a little frustrated.

this happened a lot.
glad brandon captured it, but it is too bad he didn't capture when i did stand. 

i decided that trying to surf was cramping my goal of relaxation.
so after a couple of days of surfing,  i let it go & opted to play in the water,
explore the tide pools, & enjoy the scenery.
far more suited to my vacation needs. 

brandon loved every second he had on the water though.

here he is looking like an endless summer promo.

oh brandon, why must you immediately be good at every athletic task you ever try?

i think i need to show this picture to the folks that say we look like brother & sister.

gorgeous flowers everywhere.

really, everywhere.

this was the road through our part of "town."

a sandy sunset picture.

the breathtaking sunset was competing with the excruciating sandflies.

our stay at kaya sol was fantastic. we would definitely go back!

surf life.

this was our last day in playa guiones & the humidity was pretty intense.
brandon needed a bit of space to keep himself sane.

on our drive from guiones to samara, we had a little river to ford.

the palm-lined beaches of samara.

another fantastic sunset

our trip turned out to include a lot more surfing that i had envisioned. i still got to do all the things i wanted though: yoga, beachcombing, slow walks through lush forests, enjoying the cool calm waters of the pool, and savoring some great sunsets.

food fight

while we were flying back from costa rica i saw this commercial on the plane. i couldn't hear it at all, but the spaghetti slaps made me laugh so hard. brandon was mortified that i was laughing to the point of tears & silent shaking; i'm sure the flight attendants thought he said some mean thing to make me cry. oh well, it cracked me up!

vulnerability in all it's truth

i am to a place in my life where i am ready to become a mom, to grow our family together with brandon, & to pour love into a tiny little human life. the trouble is, it isn't just up to me. it is not that brandon is opposed to this heavy wish i carry in my heart every day (although he may not be as ready as me). rather, things just aren't panning out at work. i have been waiting & waiting to become benefited (i.e., to get insurance) but each month i am told "just a little longer." so i buy another month of over-priced, high-deductible, catastrophe health insurance in hopes of the legitimate university insurance coming through.


we literally cannot afford to have a baby because i make too much for medicaid to foot the bill but not enough to afford private insurance that includes maternity coverage. the university has decided to preemptively put a spending freeze in place--that's right, we live in a state that operates billions of dollars over the deficit line, but they want to be careful not to make a tiny dent in the surplus. i'm certain this sounds like a "whoa is me" pity party, but a lovely friend of mine reminded me that our blogs are places we can be vulnerable. so i'm putting it out there that i am sad about the way in which my job dictates this decision that my heart feels ready to embrace. sigh. 

viva la pura vida

we leave tonight for a week in costa rica with our great little laramie-family (lamily? laramily?). 

even though these are random pictures i pulled off the internet, this is what i envision the trip looking like: 

yoga,

beachcombing and bathing,

slow walks to nowhere in particular,

lots of bathing in the pool, as it is supposed to be 90 degrees,

& hopefully we can take in a few sunsets while we enjoy fruity drinks with little umbrellas.

my suitcase is all packed: one carry-on & i am ready for a week on the beach! 

we tried to make it to this part of costa rica last time we were there but our poor spanish & inability to discern the exact bus route left us just a few miles away from nosara. when i get back, hopefully i will have pictures of my own to document all of our laziness, lounging, surfing, & adventures.