life.

I love my life.
I really, really love it.

I am 23 years old, and I am able to look at myself in the mirror and honestly say that I like the person that I am. With out hesitation or second thought, I really like the woman I have grown into and the human being that I am. I have no big regrets about my past and I like the way I have decided to live my life. I can proudly say that I have done a lot of things that people wish they could do just once in their life. I will probably never do them again but I am 23 and I have plenty of time to complete more of those "once in a lifetime"'s
It's a refreshing feeling... to not lie to yourself, to love yourself and be truely grateful for what you have. Even if it isn't all glamorous. It is so peaceful to just be content. I am not perfect or ideal by any definition... I am flawed and ugly or difficult in some ways. But I understand that this is human character. Sometimes I experience jealousy or greed- but I do my best to recognize this and correct it before my actions are influenced. I do my best to be understanding and patient with life. I hold my ethics, ideals and morals above any of life's flaws- sometimes this means not being the best dressed or best looking. Sometimes it means not eating well or at all. Sometimes I am challenged as a woman, as an American, as a young person, as a stranger, a progressive, a vegan, an idealist, a roamer, a thinker, an environmentalist, a humanist- in every facet of life I am challenged. In every facet of life I have found myself to be strange and to therefore challenge others. I can only hope that while I raise eyebrows, I do not turn people off, instead I challenge them to think differently. You can't live or grow by being afraid or separated by what you don't know. Time will leave you behind if you don't open up to change or difference. This is a forever evolving world and this leaves no room for stagnation.

I want to keep moving. Not to another city or country now. I want life to keep moving. I want to learn, grow, and progress. I want to improve who I am, I want to improve what I am. I have never been happier with who I am or with life. But this is no reason to stop moving. I want to see more, experience more, learn more, taste more, feel more. Life's opportunities never cease. I never want to get stuck watching them pass by.



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so.

I am very excited about the coming months. It's summer and everyone gets to slack off.
I work only for a few more weeks and then I am done until late August.
I have new adventures coming up.
One being the Northern Lights/White Nights in Northern Russia later this month.
Visiting St. Petersburg, Venice of the North, later this month.

I have bought my plane tickets for another visit home.
My brother is getting married and I don't know that I've ever been so excited for anyone else before. I feel selfish because it makes me so happy and excited- this isn't suppose to be about me :) , but I can't wait to be there and see my brother say "I Do."
His future wife is an amazing woman and I am so happy that they have chosen each other, and that she is a part of our family.
I am also so excited for the extra, recent extention to my family. As you probably already know, I have recently become engaged. I couldn't possibly be happier with love. I have found the man that little girls (and older girls) dream of. :D !!!
I could go on forever about love and the engagement, but I don't think that it's entirely appropriate for this blog.

So, I will be back in the U.S. during the first 2 weeks of July.
I will be spending most of the time in North Carolina, and a little bit in Richmond.
Oh and of course in Florida for the wedding.


I have been listening to Chuck Ragan a lot lately. His music reminds me of home. Well, a lot of music reminds me of home because that's where I discovered the artists or saw them perform. But his music reminds me of home just because of the sound... it's the sound of the river, of the mountains... of the south. It's sort of embarassing to have that opinion, because his Myspace page says he is from California. But during the song "Distant Land to Roam" I can close my eyes and I swear I am in the Carolina mountains or on the bank of the James or driving down I-40. I swear I can feel the breeze, smell the trees and I am basking in the sun. To me, his music captures this and it is the most refreshing feeling I have ever felt by sound.
http://www.myspace.com/chuckragan


To end this before I blab more, some pictures:

The last visit to the States:




Our friend from Portugal, Nuno, came to visit:





The 3 of us at our home in Moscow: