Be a Traveler, Not a Tourist

I've always loved to travel. I don't care where I go or what I do I just want to get out there and see the world. Unfortunately at the age of 22 I have been limited to the east coast of my U.S. exploration, a 3 hour lay over in Iceland, a month in Germany, and a week long road trip with my friends to Toronto during spring break.

As I get older my itch to see the world needs to be scratched more than ever. Sadly, I'm poor as fuck so I don't get to travel much. Fortunately for me there is this amazing and fabulously entertaining creation called The Travel Channel. I can be distracted by the Travel Channel for hours open end. In fact the other day Wes (Remember? He's the BF.) said, "I watch the Travel Channel so much that if there's something I haven't seen I'm really surprised." The two of us are on the same page, and when there's something new on I get really excited!

However, out of all the shows, there are 2 that always catch my attention. The first one I feel in love with with Samantha Brown. She has been all over the place, and for that I secretly hate her. Her show, "Passport to Europe," I just couldn't keep my eyes off of and I secretly hate her for getting to some of the most beautiful places in the world. Her sweet, girl next door, fun loving attitude makes viewers love her. (She's Wes' TV girlfriend.)

Not only does she travel everywhere, but she goes to places that majority of tourist don't. Places that only locals know about. And, frankly, if tourists don't know about it, it makes me like it even more. Being a Cape Cod girl I know what tourists are like and I hate them with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.

Jumping off of that is that man I like to call the "Anti-tourist," Anthony Bourdain. Anthony is a master of 2 things traveling and food. He goes to big cities, suburbia, the country, and other remote areas, and mixes with the locals. He eats the local food and gets consumed by the culture that surrounds him. He's a bold, perfectly honest, guy from New Jersey (Even though I hate Jersey) who wants nothing more than a good stiff drink and a nice big plate of food.

To be completely honest with you I love to hate Samantha and Anthony. They have the best jobs in the world! Why the fuck isn't my job that cool? I'm mean I'm a worldly woman, (...kind of) and I can drink with the best of them. So, why might I ask you am I stuck in a fucking nasty hot kitchen all summer? I wish either you or I could answer that question, but I digress. I guess the cooking for seafood and contributing to the obesity of the U.S. will be left to me and amazing world of traveling will be kept to the "professionals." (Whatever that means.)

So this is Love

I am far from the most beautiful woman in the world or as I like to say it - I may not be a 10 but the boys say I clean up good. (Thank-you Gretchen Wilson) However, At age 22 I have definitely dated my fair share of guys. (The exact number is currently in deliberation.)

I've been in both long term and short term relationships many of which have helped me to become the person I am today. I have loved and lost and it really is true what they say because if I hadn't loved at all I wouldn't have learned how strong of a person I am and I would not be who I am today.

Today, I am pleased to say that I am head over heels in love. I have never been able to say that before and if I could compare the love I have now to the love I have had in the past a very simple equation comes to mind (EQUATION! Oh my boyfriend would be so proud of me!) The love I once had X 100,000,000,000 = The love I have now. Ok so not quite rocket science or college level shit but the point is that I'm happy. I'm happier than I have ever been in my life.

And I know all of you must be thinking, "Who are you and what the fuck have you done with Eve?" but don't worry its still me. I know that I have yet to swear like a sailor in this post, and that there haven't been any dirty jokes. But I promise its me. (Don't worry I've still got that spunk in me.) I'm just a little gushy about the fast that I've found the love of my life.

I've never actually thought that a guy I dated would be the father of my children, but when I think about him and I together I get a HUGE goofy smile on my face and at times my thoughts tend wonder in that direction and I see a happy little family and it makes my heart smile.

And don't just think these thoughts are one sided. He loves me back and wants all the things that I want too. He actually told his parents about me! He has never told his parents about any girl that he has dated before. AND never mind that he invited me to come home with him for Thanksgiving! Thats HUGE!!!!

OK soooo the whole point of this post is to let you in on my love life. There will be times when I blog about it. We tend to do some pretty goofy things together and there are always good stories to go along with it. Additionally...OH SHIT! How dumb am I I forgot to tell you - My boyfriend's name is Wes. Anyway, Wes and I love to travel in addition to going on mini adventures, so as we go on trips I will be blogging about what cool shit we find and the people we run into. Also, in November I'll let you know how Thanksgiving goes with his 'rents cause God knows with my luck I'll do something stupid.

Changes, Soul Searching, and Where they got me.

So obviously I haven't blogged in a long time. According to blogger.com I haven't touched my little piece of the internet world since May 1st. So you might be asking, "Ever where the fuck have you been?" My answer for you is: Trying to get my life in order.

You see after graduating from college (WOOHOO!) (Kind of.) I moved back in with my parents (Again...WOOHOO) (NOT!) and starting working at the same restaurant I've been working at for the past 9 summers. My life was awesome (not really) after I graduated. I spent my time in one of three places:

1. My parent's house
2. Work
3. My Boyfriend's apartment at school

Only three problems there:
1. I can't stand my parents
2. I hate my job.
3. Soon after graduation my boyfriend broke up with me. (In retrospect not a huge deal cause I found someone better/got to express some feelings that I had been holding back for nearly a year - More about that in another post.)

After getting used to the fact that my life sucked, I decided that I wasn't going to just bend over and let life fuck me in the ass. (Contrary to popular beleif I'm not a dirty slut.) So I sat down one rainy day at work and started thinking about what I want to better myself in and how I can get my life rolling in the right direction. In the course of 3 hours I came up with a list of 20 goals to accomplish by the end of the year. My goals are as follows: (Note: some goals are omitted to protect the innocent.)

1. Apply for Grad School
2. Watch 25 of AFI's top 100 movies of all time
3. Know the capitals of all 50 states
4. Plan a vacation to go on next year
5. Read 10 books that I've never read before
6. Start learning another language
7. Find a job that I enjoy
8. Learn how to mix drinks
9. Clean out my room at my parent's house
10. Make college scrapbook
11. Write at least 3 chapters of my book
12. Learn how to play ultimate
13. [Goal Not Included]
14. Keep in touch with Lamey and T when they are away
15. [Goal Not Included]
16. Blog at least once a week
17. Complete hat box project
18. [Goal Not Included]
19. Organize Pine Dale staff dinner
20. Pay off all credit cards.

So there you go. That's what I've been up to. Now feel free to comment on wheather you think my goals are possible, books that I might find interesting, cool places to go on vacation. Stuff like that.

If you didn't notice one of my goals in to blog at least once a week so you'll be hearing form me much more now I promise.