Why No Blog? Busy Snowball!

Okay, so assuming anyone has even noticed that I haven't written since late June (besides Jana!) maybe you have wondered why I haven't been writing. I call it the busy snowball effect.

So at first the reason was time. My last post was the day my guy headed back to the states for some client work and my dear friend Liz came down to visit. It was her first time to Guatemala (first time any further than Mexico border towns at all!) so I felt a certain amount of pressure to ensure that she enjoyed the trip. Since my first trip to Costa Rica in 2003, my life was changed. My priorities changed. I saw a world of people, places and values that I never imagined existed and it expanded my world in a way that it could never become small again. I want that for everyone...arrogantly speaking, I think the world would be so much better for it.

So back to why I have not written. I am a big fan of the author Ekhart Tolle and his advice to be in the now- it is a near-constant theme for me. While Liz was in town, I was very much in the moment and writing about what we were doing together wasn't a priority, but here are a few highlights:

• Getting pulled over and fined by the police (another post on this later!)
• Wonderful walk/hike to Lomas de Tzununa
• Bee sting that could have been trouble
• Shopping in Pana and interacting with a highly entertaining young entrepreneur
• Shopping in San Juan and introducing Liz to a painter Ken and I know there
• Tuk-tuk and boat rides around the towns of the lake
• Meeting expats at the Maya Moon futbal matches of the World Cup

This is my buddy Liz - our first friend to take us up on an offer to come visit! Liz is a rockstar child advocate in Sacramento and that continued here...she was almost always striking up a conversation with a Mayan young person (and she is much better at Spanish than me!)

Truth be told, her visit taught me something about myself. As much as I like to think I'm tough - grew up in North Highlands, never been afraid of a challenge, there was a burden I didn't anticipate associated with being the person in charge, the person who needs to take care of things. Made me really appreciate my hubby and the peace he brings me, just by being the guy.

When Liz headed out and Ken flew back in, I enjoyed a couple awesome days in the city, drinking in the pleasures of city life.

 We also found our new in-city favorite place, the Radisson. Great price, location and this rooftop hot tub!!!

Ken and I went back to the lake for the one week we were together in more than a month, and enjoyed a small 4th of July celebration together as well as a 7.1 earthquake centered less than 50 miles away.

Scary to wake up to at 5:30 a.m. and it lasted longer than was comfortable, but gave me a lot more confidence about the strength of our building. Good to know that despite the lack of official gov't standards, our landlord made the building right. Most things around the area were in decent shape. Worst thing for us was our power and itnernet out for the day because it comes through San Pedro.

Poor us, off to Lomas de Tzununa and a day or working in the restaurant with amazing views and breaks at the pool!

This is Ken on a project conference call...and me...taking a break. I swear I work, just ask my clients!

The week went by too quickly and before I knew it I was on the plane to Baltimore to present at the National school PR Conference. I have to admit, I didn't have the best trip there....a little icky stomach combined with an over ambitious plan to use all free miles to get there made for a day that was not my favorite. After the 3 1/2 hour shuttle ride to the airport, I started the flight wondering how desperate my situation might get....working the dials overhead to get as much air as possible before take-off.

It never got horrific, just not...good. The highlight was that I was sitting next to a Guatemalan grandmother and her grand daughter and after playing a bit with the grand daughter and sharing my paper and pens with her, I was able to piece together a sentence explaining why I couldn't also share their amazing homemade feast of chicken and tortillas in the the ceramic bowl that also looked homemade. "Lo Siento, yo soy poco enferma" - not entirely grammatically correct, but I got my point across!

Sometime about 1 a.m. I landed in Baltimore and while I struggled some with the stomach thing, it was a fantastic experience - rooming and presenting with one of my besties, Kate -

And reconnecting with some of the best (and funniest) people I know who work hard for kids and schools every day.

And, this happened - my friend Music paid our friend Dan to moonwalk through a broken fire hydrant. Yes, it was mid afternoon and no, we were not drinking. 

Too bad we didn't have any fun while talking about the important issues facing schools and kids today. ;-)

At the end of the week, I was off to the other side of the US and my hometown, Sacramento! But that's for another post..

You've hopefully understood the "busy" part of my explanation for not blogging, but now for the "snowball." When I wait as long as I have, it snowballs...I feel bad that I didn't blog and then feel like posting it weeks after the fact is somehow not valuable...but I am sucking it up and promise to get you caught up quickly!

Enjoy every moment folks.

t