“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” - Henry Miller

It's a beautiful day today in Park City! Sun is shining, people are wandering, birds are chipring...and flying around inside work?? haha...I'm working the AM shift today so I started my morning with sleepy eyes and a tired body waking up at 7:10, then snoozing 'til 7:15...got ready for work, took my morning jont down the hill, and opened up shop. Sent people on their way for their rafting trip this morning and cleaned up a little bit when all of a sudden, chirpp chirppp chirppp!! A bird was stuck inside the activities foyer!! Luckily, the 'charming' construction workers who winked at me this morning and said, "Morning sunshine!!" were at my becking call when I was a mistress in distress asking for help with the traped birdie! They were to its resuce in no time and within 10 minutes that thing flew as fast away into the trees as a bat out of hell! Poor thing had a mini heart attack....

Anywayyyyy...work is still going fab! I'm learning something new every day. I got my internship packet that's about a 1.5" binder full of worksheets to help me learn the ins and outs of the hotel. I filled out my goal sheet and by August I hope to feel 100% comfortable with all our activities offered.

Amelia got back from Vegas last night and it's her birthday today!! Happy birthday, Amelia!!! XO

Nothing too new other than work work work! Heading home the 8th-10th of July to get another epidural for my back...that's a whole story in itself but I'm determined to get better and refuse to let a life-long injury shape me in any way other than making me more adventurous and living with what I've got! Too many people let injuries change them and take over their lives in a negative way. I refuse to be one of those people :) So my goal is to try and find a yoga studio here and enroll in some classes; yoga healed me before so it's time to get back into the swing of things!

Some other goals for the next couple of months are to ride the bus, excersize, excersize, excersize!! I want to go on more runs, walks, play with the doggies, try more activities special to Park City, dance the nights away, try new places to eat so I know what and where to recommend to guests, make rent!!! Try to save some money and put it away in case of emergency! Enjoy the simple things in life like waking up and eating breakfast on the patio :) Stay in touch with friends, take care of myself and my health, save money for the new iPhone, check the mail more, walk up and down Mainstreet more, go zip-lining!! Do the Alpine slide, get Ash to come out and visit, go to the Dave Matthews concert!!! RELAX. SMILE. ENJOY THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE! :)

For now, hope all is well to friends and family, go out and play!!

Cheers,

Shelley XO

la bella vita

So it has been a little over 2 weeks since the big move to glorious P.C.! Things are continuing to go wonderfully (knock on wood…). Amelia and my condo is still amazing; we’ve had a few BBQs with friends from my work over and it’s just the perfect little place for gathering good food, drinks, and great friends J It’s too bad we never have the same days off and often miss each other for the festivities. Good thing Kyle is designated “griller” because when I had to man the BBQ at work, my hot dogs were all Sarah-style-well-done (definitely not still mooing) and one of my hotdogs burnt and shriveled. So, maybe I need a few tutorials on becoming a grill master before I attempt to cook for 30 guests again…haha.

 

Work………is AMAZING! I’m having such a fun time here. Today we attempted to make a new type of ‘flubber’ aka gak, silly putty, slime, etc…out of corn starch instead of Borax. Who knew Borax can be fatal to a small child if they swallow as little as a teaspoon? We didn’t….but, all the recipes we can find for the best flubber consistency contain Borax, unfortunately. The corn starch concoction is a weird texture that gives me the heeby-geebies! Haha.  Then we had Rice Crispy Treat making, Candle Votive painting, earring making, and karaoke night. Yesterday I was given the nickname “Sparkles” by a cute little family, Juliana (Julie), Zack, and Josh…my love for pink and sparkly things has already been given away by all my crafts having something to do with being pink and you guessed it, sparkly! So as they say, the name fits! So now kids and co-workers call me Sparkles. It’s cute.

 

Every Sunday on Main Street is the Sunday Silly Market where hippie arts and crafts are for sale all up and down the strip. It’s really fun with live bands, beer, and good food. Kyle and I took his dogs, Elvis and Coach on a hike from my condo to Main and we saw work people, some families staying with us at Summit Watch, and people watched. Elivis nearly pulled me out of my chair like 5 times getting excited to see other doggies and say hi to people. Haha. Coach was my bff as soon as he spotted my tacos…My favorite part about the event (here comes the CA hippie we all know so well coming out of me) was the Zero Waste center where all the food was. Just like our Zero Waste event we put on at Chico State for my sustainability class, everything was reused, recycled, reduced…and even relocated. There were bins to recycle plastic, paper, glass, aluminum, and even a bin for food. You put everything in the appropriate bins, therefore, nothing was wasted and everything was ZERO WASTE! The bin where food was scraped into was taken to a local pig farm and used for food/compost. That sort of stuff is my little niche so I always like when I see things reduced, reused, and recycled! Thank you RECR 498! We recycle here at work, too. There’s bins for plastic, paper, glass, and aluminum. However, they’re right outside of the Activity  Center in between our building and the pool and unfortunately, people still just throw recyclables away because they’re too lazy to walk 10 feet from the trash cans and put them into the bins. Or, they’re just in an inconvenient space and need to have more bins out by the pool as well. This way, if there were recycling bins at the same ratio as trash cans, maybe people would be more likely to recycle. So, that’s one thing I want to work on while I’m on my internship here! Also, when we have to put fresh pool towels out, they come wrapped in a plastic string. Nikki and I are always recycling and the boys laugh at us but good thing they’re plastic and can be reused! An idea I had was to save the strings and use them with our beaded jewelry activity. They’re the perfect size for a necklace or bracelet and would prevent them from being dumped into a landfill!

 

News from the family front…excited to hear Uncle Butch got a new job offer at a prosthetic place downtown Sacramento. The fam just bought a new Golden Retriever puppy!!! Still throwing around names but so far Tucker seems to be a keeper…maybe. He’s so cute…from the pictures I get texted to my phone, anyway! Too bad he won’t really know me and I’ll miss him as a puppy L For now I have Elivs and Coach to play with I guess!

 

Anyway, my favorite kids are back so we’er going to make the boys sparkly crafts and surprise them with goodies in their cubbies. Haha. And karaoke time in 5 so gotta go!

 

Until next time, chao and cheers!

 

Shell

Sparkly, shinny, and new!

So now it's day 8 out of the 10 day work week...guests are starting to ask if I live at the resort/if they let me sleep...hahaha. But, good news, I'm completely head over heels for my job and am truly having the time of my life. Like studying abroad in New Zealand, Park City is a place I can definitely call home. It makes me feel so free....like I can do anything I want and just go with the flow. My coworkers are AWESOME and make this place warm, welcoming, and fun. Kevin and Kyle are from Florida and go to school at the U, Nikki (my supervisor) is from Orangevale (how bout it??) and Jennie (my boss boss :) ) is from UT. Then there's Debbie, who's on the management trainee program and guess what?! She's an ADPI! :) 

I mostly work the PM shift, from 3pm-11pm, with an occasional AM shift (thank god it's not all the time) from 8am-4pm. But I am totally looking forward to Thurs and Fri when I have my first days off! Jenny and Rachel are coming to visit!! What perfect timing :) So Thursday we're going to karaoke night at Cisero's, followed by an AM wakeboarding/looking pretty being the flag girl on Kyle's boat...then Starbar where we'll dance the night away!! We want to hit up the zip line and possibly the Alpine Slide Friday when the rest of our friends have work :)

This place is totally amazing and I just can't express how much fun it's been. Working 10 days in a row has actually been a blessing because it enabled me to jump right in and embrace Park City and learn the ropes! Keeping me busy too so I don't have time to get lonely...not like people here would let that happen. It's like NZ where everyone is so uberly friendly it's comforting and makes me fit right in :)

So what do I do at work? Well let me tell you..........so technically I'm a "Recreational Activities Intern" at the Marriott Vacation Club, Summit Watch, Park City, Utah. My first day, like I said, was June 8th. I worked the mid (11-7pm) and it was a day packed of crafts, activities, and people galore. Everyone at work said it's not usually that busy and was "bizarre." I thought they were lying to make me feel better, but nope, this week is pretty slow compared to last. Here's an example of activities from random days thus far at work for a PM shift: 3:30- banana splits, 4:30-paint a ceramic figure, 6-family BBQ, 8- karaoke or bingo, 9:30-smores. Other activities we do/have done so far: horseback ride trips, rafting trips, trips to Salt Lake for lazer-tag/temple square, paint a suncatcher, bingo, karaoke,

BBQs, make flubber, pool games, texas hold-em in the spa with kyle/mocktails by shelley and kyle, basketball shoot outs, dinosaur excavations, paper machete, paint a picture frame,  Kid's night out with games, pizza, and a movie, Wii tourneys, modge podge, earring making.........you get the gist! Work is actually FUN and I look forward to going because it's a jam-packed day of fun activities working with fun, nice people. I LOVE IT!

Now you have a better idea of what I do on a day-to-day basis :) 

My roomie, Amelia, is SO nice and a complete doll. She couldn't hurt a fly and we get along great! I love coming home and hearing about our funny days! 

We had a housewarming-like BBQ with friends from work and another Mountainside intern, Kara on our patio and it was really fun! Our patio overlooks Main Street, and it happened to be Park City's 125th birthday this weekend so there were heaps of activities and hustling and bustling going on down there. Too bad a lot of it got rained out...but as everyone says, "Welcome to Park City!!!" 

Anyway, have work soon so ta ta for now, will have more updates soon!

CHEERS!

XOXO, Shelley

Wildflowers.

You belong among the wildflowers You belong in a boat out at sea Sail away, drift off the hours You belong somewhere you feel free  Run away, find you a lover Go away, somewhere all bright and new I have seen no other Who compares with you  You belong among the wildflowers You belong in a boat out at sea You belong with your love on your arm You belong somewhere you feel free  Run away, go find a lover Run away, let your heart be your guide You deserve the deepest of cover You belong in that home by and by  You belong among the wildflowers You belong somewhere close to me Far away from your trouble and worry You belong somewhere you feel free  You belong somewhere you feel free........

This is the NOW, this is the NEW, this is your LIFE. Make it incredible...

Braces off, turning 22, commencement from Chico State, and taking the ride of my life going on my internship for 6 months to PARK CITY, UTAH.................welcome to my new LIFE :) 

Sooo...this is my blog...think they're kinda weird but for my internship I need to track my experiences here so here we go!

After an epic last couple of weeks in Chico spending time with my best friends, going on new adventures, and living life to the fullest, I realized one of life's most important things from Logan, "You can sleep when your dead!" Life is way too short to be unhappy and not take advantage of your surroundings. You are the only one who can make yourself truly happy, but it takes other happy people to bring out the best in yourself....it's the time to wake up so early it hurts to go on new adventures, or on the contrary, sleep in way too late for no reason and stay in bed and learn how to "relaxxxx" ;) 

So after tubing down the Sac river for the last time, soaking in the bittersweet end of Chico night life, spending my last few minutes with friends who have helped shaped me into the person I am today, and tubing Hunny Run... where I almost drowned under a tree's current....showed me life can be scary, fun, exciting, happy, sad, exhilarating, exhausting, yet always charming and is what you make it.....I packed my last things, had a wonderful week at home with Dad, Logan, and Sarah, made new memories while saying goodbye to old ones, packed the carS, and said "see ya" to loved ones and my hometown, Roseville, CA. For the first time in my life I really had no idea when I'd be home again.......

So it's 6am on June 4th, the cars are packed, and a chapter of my life has been closed wh

ile a new one was just being opened, waiting for its first entry.....Mom, Dad, Sarah and I hoped in the 2-car caravan and headed east.... from Roseville, CA to Park City, UTAH! Driving through Tahoe, sitting miserably through the ugliest state in the US, aka Nevada "where it's so ugly it makes you fall asleep," falling asleep through the salt flats and open terrain, a 600 mile trip, 11 hours later was finally COMPLETE! Where brown, dead, ugliness turned into pure beauty. It was like waking up on a cloud or something....the land suddenly looked lush and pure, untouched and gorgeous. So green it looked like a paiting. We were here, in stunning Park City, UT. 

Feeling timid like a little animal being released from captivity (haha) I walked up the stairs to 906 Lowell Ave where we unpacked my things, and entered my pristine condo, #4. It was SO CUTE like out of Sunset magazine. Pine cones, moose dishes, ski photos, ski racks, animal horns on the wall, a cozy fireplace, wood floors, granite countertops, and a balcony overlooking Main Street, I took a deep breath and thought...this is the life. It's hard for some people to pack up their whole life in suitcases and moving boxes. But for me, it's a new experience that is happening for a reason. I think I'm like a little feather in the wind or a pebble in the river, going with the current to somewhere I am supposed to be for a while, for some kind of reason I just haven't discovered yet........

After galavanting around Park City with the fam for a week, we finally managed to get me all settled in. I prepared for my first day of work on Monday, June 8th. It was nerve racking and exciting all at the same time. When I walked up to the Marriott Summit Watch's activity center to start my first day I was surprised at how friendly everyone was already. It was like I already kind of knew them and had the feeling of anxiousness settled and turn into excitement for the next 6 months to follow. After working the mid from 11-7, helping set up and implement activities for kids, teens, adults, and families on vacation, it was a long but quick, fun day that was over in a snap...

Now it's day 6 out of my 10 day work week.....4 more 8 hour days to go and I get 2 days off! YAY! Falling asleep now so will write soon with details of life and my job in the wicked P.C.!

XOXO, Shelley

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain