Petricited.

I am petricited. Petrified and incredibly excited about this ever looming, expectedly unexpected journey.

KFarm and I are working our way through a rough itinerary for this excursion. Neither one of us like trips that are planned to the minute, we are more "fly by the seat of the one pair of pants you packed" kind of travelers. Needless to say, I am petricited.

Petrified for the fact that I will be on the other side of not only the planet, but also in a completely different hemisphere. I am mainly worried about my creatures, especially Levi. He's been off lately from a health standpoint and if things go downhill while I'm away there isn't enough money or technology in the world to get me back in time. My chest gets tight just thinking about it. Ill be as far away as I can possibly get from everything and everyone I've ever know, aside from KFarm of course.

This is also an aspect that really does excite me at the same time though. If there is one thing that I have learned about myself at all it is the fact that I thrive on learning. New terrain, new faces, new life skills. All are things that I feel does a person good, body and soul. I want my soul to be like a goldfish and grow as big as the tank it lives in.

It's been an interesting week my friends. Damn good thing I learned how to play chess, that whole multiple strategy mind frame sure as hell comes in handy when planning the unplanned adventure.

-LP

Advice taken...

My 2 Year Life Physical:

Since January 2011 I ....

- Got married
- Lost my grandfather
- Became an entrepreneur (I make beautiful things happen to paper)
- Took a new job that I actually enjoyed and felt at home in
- Fell into a lovely spell of depression
- Clawed my way our of said depression
- Created some better life goals
- Got divorced (surprisingly, this is much more legally and financially complicated than the actual marriage)
- Moved into aforementioned Tiny House
- Became and much happier and wiser version of myself (LP 2.6)
- Experienced my first 3 day date
- Was suckered into keeping a puppy
- Almost gave away said puppy on 2984 different occasions
- Bought tickets for the trip of my lifetime (thus far)
- Somehow managed to convince a rather wonderful man that he should date me
- Went to the zoo!
- Celebrated the New Year properly
- Officially fit into single digit sized jeans
- Am happier, healthier and more satisfied that I should ever have a right to be.

We need tacos.

"Tacos. We need tacos."

A funny thing occured today...

I have been attempting to write this blog entry for a number of months now. Being the detail obsessed person that I can be when I am forcing myself to a task that I don't particularly relish, I was continually hung up on pieces of this entry. I couldn't find the right word, the right quote, the right thought to pull it all together.

I have been searching for a way to illustrate how I feel about exploration, adventure, spontaneity and definitely having an appetite for life. In reality, the answer had been before me at every meal I have eaten for the last 26ish years. 

Little did I know, all I needed was a subtly inspirational Mex-American dish.

During one of many not-so-focused planning sessions for our New Zealand excursion, KFarm and I were craving some food. I would have been pleased with anything, but Katie is a taco freak. That is her go to meal if there is a kitchen nearby. (Mad props to her taco prep skills by the way, she knows how to work a skillet). At the mere mention of food in our bellies we dropped what we were doing an quickly absconded to the nearest grocery for some necessary items.  Not long after, stomachs full, we were then able to turn our collective brains towards the looming task of accomplishing some form of a plan for our quickly approaching trip. And all was right in the world again.

Epiphany moment:

Every meal you have ever eaten and ever will eat should be appreciated.

Maybe simply for the fact that you have food on your table at all. Maybe for the fact that someone took time to prepare it for you. Maybe for the people you get to enjoy a meal with. Maybe for the fact that you used the special china to eat cereal out of and broke several etiquette rules in doing so.

The point being that you should take time to enjoy the meals you have. Taste every bite. Really THINK about what you are tasting. Name as many flavors in your head as you can. Fill as many seats at the table as you can. The more you can appreciate your food for what effort goes into it, the greater your appetite for life will become.