Visitation hours for

1051 Fuller Ave are
Monday-Sunday: 24 hours a day

The months of June/July have been quite the eventful ones.. It all started when I got a phone call from my dad on a Monday night saying, "we're gonna be in Vegas tonight and I was wondering if we could swing over to Salt Lake on Wednesday". I blinked, smiled, and said of course!! My first family visitors!!

step mom, me, and my pops

Then the very next week I get a phone call from my brother, Alex and he says, "Hey! We're passing through Vegas and on our way to Salt Lake! See you in about 7 hours!" It's been a long time since I've received a surprise, and this was an amazing one.

me and my bro

bro and sister in law

Lastly, the next week after Alex and Janet left, I got two wonderful friends from different sides of my life together under one roof! Celeste and Ryan!

The whole point of this blog entry is that although my travels have come to a bit of a halt, it has been incredible to be able to discover a new place outside of California where I've lived all my life. I honestly am not sure how I got here to Salt Lake, nor would I have EVER thought I'd end up here for so long or even at all... but here I am. Still here. Nevertheless, it has been a pretty fantastic experience to be able to share this world that I have been living in for the last 10 months with people I care so much about. (Mom, you're next!) It's just nice to feel a sense of pride about the life I'm living, the house I made a home, and the community I've created here.

Thank you Dad, ahjimmah, Christine, Alex, Janet, Celeste and Ryan for coming to see where I live and where I frolic. It really means the world to me..

So as you can see, summer here in SLC has been treating me well. The mountains have revealed its many hiking trails, there are free outdoor concerts all the time, and it stays light out until 9:30 PM... But I'm not going to lie- I can't wait till the powder hits again.

1051 Fuller Ave. is always open for visitation.

ps.
man its good to work full time hours in just the weekend. you could see why...

Dear Neal #2

Wish I could watch this series with you.
It's just simply not the same.

click.

byebye celts.

slc

bye bye winter...




Hello summer...

my office

"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am -- a reluctant enthusiast ... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; you will outlive the bastards." -Edward Abbey

I'm not knockin' those of you who enjoy working in an office. I'm sure working indoors with artificial cool air blowing above you while your eyeballs burn from staring at the computer too long has its enjoyable moments. And I'm not putting down the fact that freedom comes when it's time for a lunch break or the weekends... haha I guess that was pretty harsh seeing that maybe one day, far from today, I may be doing that same thing. But today, that is the exact opposite of what I am doing and what I want to be doing to pay for my bills.
Although my travel blog has seemed to come to a traveling halt, I'd love to share with you, my faithful readers, my current job. I guess it's more or less a chance for me to brag about how rad my jay-oh-bee is.

Currently I work at a residential treatment center for teenage boys called Crossroads Academy. All of the boys that I work with are between the ages of 14-18 and they have all just come out of wilderness therapy. Crossroads is an after care for these boys. Crossroads is giving them the opportunity to continue therapy while getting their feet back into the world again, sober. They are attending school, whether it's catching up to where they are supposed to be at or even jumping ahead and graduating at early ages of 16! In other words, it's a sober house.
So you're probably wondering what the heck I'm doing there. No, I'm not a therapist nor am I their teacher in school. The thing that makes Crossroads unique is that they have special focus on board sports. Mainly snowboarding, wakeboarding and skateboarding, depending on the season of course. This is where I come in. They "force" the boys to get involved in recreational things such as these board sports in hopes that they are able to find a different kind of "high". So that is where I come in. I do the recreational part! I put in 40 hours a weekend and go with these boys to do these things. We rode and shredded all winter and now we're moving onto a lot of skating and soon wakeboarding. We do other things too like flow riding (indoor wave surfing), paintballing, community service, and hopefully this summer, rafting and camping.
And I know what you're thinking, and yes, this is the most fun job a girl could have...except it does get pretty tough and it has presented many challenges that I never thought I'd have to face. It's not always kicks and giggles at the house (i mean... most of the time it is... but not all the time) My main challenge has been about confrontation and dealing with it. I realized when I first step foot in that house that I am and still kind of am terrible at confrontation. I avoid it and hunker down when it happens. I'm terrible at sticking up for myself when I feel the least bit of weakness. But at this job, in order to not get stepped on by 15 teenage boys and 3 male staff (yes, I'm the only female) I have to puff up my chest a little and be a bit of a, pardon me, a bitch at times. Which is very, very new to me. I'm learning to be assertive and hold boundaries while still creating these amazing connections with these awesome boys! Balance.
This job is perfect for me right now. I am really happy with it and never, ever dread going to work. It is seriously a joy working there.
And although my travels have come to a slight halt, this job keeps me outside, active, and around people and so I can't really complain much. But don't get me wrong. I am itching to get out of the states, bad. So sooner than you know, I'll be jetting off to another place...but I think I'll save that for the next blog because it has been on my mind a lot lately.
Thanks for letting me brag about my job.... Please ask me more about the boys and more about the job. I will talk your ear off I promise!
I'll leave you with a couple videos of my boys doing some pretty cool things:

I hope you readers didn't get too BOARD with this post. heh heh heh heh
I leave you all with a souvenir i took from this epic snowboarding season.

goggle tan............ until next time.. my heart,
crystal

So thankful for video chats&family...

speechless

In all honesty, I have opened up this blog page about ten times and stared blankly at that stupid blinking vertical line that screams "WRITE!"
But no words or thoughts really come to mind. This blog was meant to connect me to those that aren't able to be around me but I apologize for the fact that I can't seem to do that at this time. Right now, my life doesn't seem worth recording. Or maybe it's not about worth, but the fact that I just don't want to outwardly express how I feel... because then, it will be too real. And to tell you the truth, I don't want this to be real-
...even though it's one of the realest things I have encountered.

So instead of being a downer, I'll leave you with a few videos that make me happy-
Sorry Celeste (not really though)
Here is teacher Celeste at her best:






and me and my friends skiing- This was my first time skiing since.... forever.
This video is rated PG-13 for language, brief nudity, and some serious shredding in onesies/wigs


until next time.
my heart,
crystal

is anyone out there?

For those that are... I know I haven't been a consistent blogger, but I'm going to try to change that. I recently received a great birthday gift from my brother and sister-in-law called the "flip".
I'll try to post as many videos as I can...
For starters, here is a sneak peek of what I've been doing a lot of lately:


I've been getting pow shots in the face here and there while breathing in the mountain air as often as possible. It's when I'm up there and riding where I feel those glorious moments where it's just so good to be alive. Ya heard? Well if you haven't, I highly suggest that you hop into your car right now and experience it with me. I would love to share these mountains with you. (along with a nice frosty beer of course)

As for a little update on mi vida... Currently I am juggling four jobs, yes four, and loving each one in a different way. I just recently landed my fourth job which I am pretty sure is one of the best jobs in the world. I basically get to hang out and be a "role model" for 15 high school boys over the weekend at a therapeutic boarding school. Many of these boys have struggled with drugs, alcohol, or other things so they are going through therapy while living at this school. Last week I went paintballing and raced fast go-carts. This weekend we'll snowboard. I think I've found a job where I'm excited to go to work and excited to be at work. There is no staring at the clock here. It's amazing!
On top of that I'm doing research at the University of Utah for the Department of Social Work/Criminal Justice, waitressing, and babysitting the best twin boys there is in Salt Lake City.
It may seem like a lot but trust me, I have selfishly arranged my schedule where I work little and play a lot. I'm still very poor but loving it (except for once a month when bills roll around).

I still constantly question why I'm in Salt Lake and why I'm not doing other things with my life... But I think I would question why I wasn't in Salt Lake if I were elsewhere.
I get to snowboard three times a week and I am surrounded by a supporting and loving community here so it is great. Don't get me wrong. I miss the California sunshine and I miss my family on a daily basis... But I can't have it all. There are good days, great days, bad days and sad days but all in all. I am breathing, alive, and well and I am so thankful for that.
I'm trying to learn balance. trying...
Until next time.



Here's to you Mint. I miss you so much! Hope Japan is treating you well...