Bye Bye Burg

In the morning I hit the road for marvelous Minnesota.

It is a bittersweet feeling because I love Idaho, am ready to soak up some Minnesota, and will soon be moving to Alaska. I am so fortunate and blessed, life is so wonderful!

Throwing Alaska into the mix has made this move rather abnormal for me. For the first time I am unable to take all of my belongings with me. By the grace of God I was able to pack everything I 'need' for potentially the next five months into two suitcases. Quit being impressed, I have omitted the fact that these suitcases are massive...still, it is an achievement for me. I have a clothing/shoe illness but am not ready to take the step past admitting it. :-) 

I am seriously the luckiest person alive. I know I say that a lot, but it's really so true. Everything has worked out. I am so grateful for the people that have helped make things happen. I have a hard time asking for help, but had to bite the humble bullet and do it this time. Massive shout out to my awesome brother and his wife who will be moving here in a little over a month. They are going to pull my stuff out of storage and keep it and my car at their new house for me until my return. Also, my lovely friend Lisa is housing my car for me, my homegirl Jenny is giving me a ride home, my bestie/roommate April has ensured I don't pull my hairs out, and the BYU-I bulletin board helped me find a ride for the luggage and passenger that were supposed to be riding in my car with me. Yup, I definitely qualify as blessed.

While I am excited for the adventures that await, I am going to miss all of my Rexburg lovelies.

A friend asked me how I can enjoy moving so often since I don't have one real place to call home. This gem immediately popped into my head. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros explain home as simply 'wherever I'm with you.' I am grateful for my wonderful, goofy, loving, crazy family. We stick together and make it work. Home is where we are. I love it! Check it out...

<3 Living the dream,

-MK

Big News!

Big News Friends!

Friday I head home to the lovely heaven we call Minnesota. I am so excited to see the people and cities whom I love and adore. But... great opportunities await the Kilburn family in Alaska, so on August 4th we will begin loading the trucks for our next big adventure. 

After much prayer, my wonderful dad has received and accepted a fabulous job offer in Delta Junction, Alaska. I am so proud of him and am so excited for our family. 

As for me, concrete plans are still up in the air. I will be returning to Minnesota the end of the week and then will be accompanying my lovely fam-bam to the great white north the beginning of the month. I may return to Idaho in September or I may wait until January....for now I will wait and see where life takes me. :-)

Love your life!

<3 Living the dream,
-MK

Remember: Not all who wander are lost.

Peace Out Potter

 

Disclaimer: If you are still in the fetal position crying in distress over the ending of Harry Potter saga discontinue reading this post.

Yesterday my lovely friend and I went to view the final chapter of the Harry Potter saga.

Somewhere amidst the Facebook statuses dreading the end of childhood as we know it and the hysterical sobs coming from the stranger seated next to me in the theater I got to pondering on this phenomenon....

I have come to realize this simple fact: I am not a devoted fan of H.P.
Sure, I loved the books... but admittedly didn't join the H.P. crazy-train until the first 4 books had already come out. Go ahead, call me a failure. Alas, I got thinking about this curious incidence. I am not the mythical/magical type, so what got me to enjoy something so fictional? For half the movie I could think of nothing else. My short attention span was not helping in my attempt to relish the end of the Harry Potter legend. There I was, stuck pondering the difference between my lukewarm feelings towards the movie, and the female next to me wiping tears off by the palm-full. Finally it dawned on me. My dad.

Yes! Finally, this is it! My wonderful father is the reason I continued to enjoy H.P. In the beginning he would read the books right after me, then we would spend countless conversations discussing the plots, characters, and possible conspiracies. Later on in the series he ended up reading the books to me at night. I loved H.P. because it was a fun connection with my dad. Unfortunately the movies could not carry on this gusto. I enjoyed the 1st and 4th movies, but the rest I could watch once and be done. Sitting in the theater I realized it was because they simply lacked the fun feeling I got from sharing the experience with my dad.

So while I hope that it was the perfect ending to you childhood or whatever else you were expecting, I will continue on my merry way, unscathed. The movie was fine; nothing particularly special. The ending of Harry Potter does in no way taint my childhood. I loved it, every bit.

Thank you for sharing your love of reading with me, Dad, I love you.

<3 Living the Dream

-MK

Shine*

 “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Nelson Mandela

 <3 Living the Dream,

-MK

Remember: Never compromise your principles and standards, be strong and shine. :-)

Keep on keeping on.

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet."
-James Openheim

"Happiness consists more in conveniences of pleasure that occur everyday than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom."
-Benjamin Franklin



"What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner."
-Colette

  Regrets. Are they truly necessary? I refuse to regret, because I feel it only discounts the opportunities I have recieved to learn and grow. Perhaps learning the hard way isn't always wrong. I am grateful for all of the choices and experiences I have in my life because they help shape who I am.

Love, live, and learn.

 I've been thinking about peace lately, inner peace. I am ecstatic to have inner peace come naturally for me. I am so content and feel so much joy it is insane. I have no reason not to be happy. I am so grateful for my life and for all the many blessings I have. I am seriously the luckiest person alive!

I sincerely hope that we are all truly happy. No need to mosey along in the wasteland of ingratitude and discontentment. Choose happiness. While I may not know exactly what I am doing and exactly where my life is headed at the moment, alll is well. It is enough for me. Keep moving forward. While it sounds cliche, as long as you stay true to yourself you will be okay. No need to compromise and waste time unhappy. "For every minute you spend discontent you lose 60 seconds of happiness."

"Peace comes from within. Don't seek it without." -Buddha

<3 Living the dream,

-MK

Remember: It's not about how you fell, but about how you got back up and kept on keeping on.

Gluten Free Fun

"Research has shown that as many as 40% of all Americans may be gluten sensitive..."

Intriguing, right?! Check out this article, 'The Many Heads Of Gluten Sensitivity' to find out more.

Please share your thoughts! :-)

 PIZZA:

    My roommate and I decided to go all out the other night and experiment making our first gluten free pizza. We cheated and used a box of "Gluten-Free-Pantry French Bread and Pizza Mix" to make the crust. Then garbaged it up. :-)

RESULTS: Delish! The crust tasted different, but wasn't unloveable. It was a little thicker than I prefer, but next time we will get it pro. Also, my pinneapple huntch was delectable so we ended up plastering both pizza's with fruity goodness.



COOKIES:
   We also made gluten free chocolate chip cookies for the first time the other day. Again, we cheated and used "Pamela's Chocolate Chunk Cookies Mix"
   Not going to lie, when the dough looked like Gook, (that slimy stuff we all played with as kids), I was totally turned off. On the upside, there was no need to tempt ourselves with raw eggs. :-)

RESULTS: Surprisingly enough these little buggers are pretty good. I've had better, but these quenched the craving.....for now. :-)


<3 Living the dream,
-MK

Let Freedom Dream

"The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.

....Freedom is simply the chance to be better."

I live the dream daily. July 4th is no exception... this year was magnificent!

A group of lovely friends and I had hopes of floating the Teton River. With dollar-store tubes in tow we headed over to Teton, Idaho. In all theory our plan was brilliant. After consulting google.earth, our lovely planning gurus planned the perfect location for our adventure.

The original plan: Pack two cars full of people, drive to the end of the river where we were planning to end our float to drop one car off, squish everyone into the remaining car, and drive to the upper end of the river to begin our floating extravaganza.

Sounds awesome right?! We thought so too! So we carried it out as planned.....until we got to our predetermined starting point. A couple of our groupies got cold feet upon arrival and decided they would prefer to not float down the freezing river on dollar store tubes. I definitely respect that. I was not born with the worrier gene, and it can sometimes get me in trouble.

We decided to compromise and headed to Monkey Rock, a local swimming favorite. After only a short time at Monkey Rock we decided to float down the end of the little channel and see where it would take us. Upon reaching the end it appeared that there was a river-like body of water flowing. YAY! We concluded it must be the same river we were going to get in before and decided to float it down, but first had to swim back and tell the others.

In the end, four of us decided to grab the key to the car at the bottom of the river, and then sent the rest of the group on their merry way. This worked out wonderfully, because the people that wanted to float could float, and the people that didn't want to could splash around a little more and then head home. Win/win.

I live the dream.

An on-looker might observe that things did not go quite as planned. :) Long story short, we encountered trees, rocks, laughter, and a grand ole time.....until the current stopped and we realized there was a massive dam with logs waiting to greet us. Needless to say we averted the dam and swam quite a ways out to avoid it and get to the shore. We noticed some men on the other side of the dam when we got out and decided to try to ask for directions. Not smart. We couldn't hear a word the man was saying over the loud sound of the water, but could tell the man was panicking. We thought he was telling us not to jump in the dam, so due to our lack of suicidal desires we stepped back from the dam, waved goodbye, and decided to walk on the gently marked path behind us. This path was the only way out on land. It was hilarious. We had 2 pairs of shoes and 4 pairs of feet.....so funny. We followed the trail of horse poop and stickers for awhile until we met up with an old woman and a cop. The cop explained to us that the man friend from the dam thought we had lost a group member. We assured him that we did not lose one member, but were all lost together, he informed us we were on private property and pointed us in the direction of our car. We thought our car would be farely close and were excited. We promised to hurry off the woman's property and continue on our way. Saying we were not close to our car would be an accurate statement. We looked hilarious. Four college kids + swimsuits + five dollarstore floaties+ two pairs of shoes + boonies of Teton, Idaho. While it may not be the most classy thing ever, we were just living the dream. We alternated wearing the shoes, because the ground was incredibly rough, pokey, and hot. I loved it though, the whole thing. Props to the pioneers. I'm so grateful I only had to wear a tankini during this adventure rather than heaps of fabric. We had a grand time. When we got closer to our car we met a charming woman who lent us her bike to ride down and collect the car with. She brought out some cold water for us and we ended up visiting with her for a while. We all fell in love with her sweet personality and made sure to take down the name and address of this good samaritan so we can send her a thank you note and make a return visit in the near future. I am so grateful for the wonderful people that fill this planet. There are so many angels among us and I am so thrilled to have had gotten the opportunity to have one touch my life. Incredible.

Overall the whole adventure was amazing. I would do it the exact same today. No regrets, just lovely memories and a ton of laughter. Laughter truly is the best medicine.

After this adventure we went home, cleaned up, applied mass amounts of aloe to our burning bodies, and headed down to Idaho Falls to continue our 'America: the beautiful day.'

I was pleasantly surprised by the almost traffic we encountered heading down to Idaho Falls. As you know, I am in love with Minneapolis/St. Paul, and traffic is one of those things that I seem to enjoy. I love people, and being surrounded by strangers who are all unique and different yet are gathered for a similar purpose is exhilarating . I am strange, I realize.

First stop: Parking. It was a breeze! Seriously. We found a close, convenient, free spot. Which was an incredible blessing due to the fact that it was 8:30p.m. on the 4th of July and we were in the most popular place in Eastern Idaho. Anywho, we were blessed, got parked, and decided on Chili's for some din-din.

This whole gluten-free diet is really awesome. The only catch is it is very difficult to find food that doesn't have gluten in it, especially at resturaunts. Props to Chili's! They had a lovely little allergen menu that said exactly what was gluten free. Turns out they have 3 different choices that don't have to even be special ordered! I chose the Cobb Salad with no-fat honey mustard dressing. Delish! It was to die for. I mean come on, lettuce, tomato, avacado. Yum!

After this, us dinner groupies walked down to the river to meet up with the rest of our groupies that had already eaten dinner before. (They had eaten pizza, a no go for 'lil Miss Celiac's and another amazing member of my crew.) :) We were at this divine spot exactly opposite the Idaho Falls LDS temple. It was gorgeous. We sat, chatted, and continued living the dream for awhile until the fireworks began.

Upon the beginning of the fireworks show we realized that there was a grove of trees precisely where the fireworks were. We hurriedly grabbed our blankets and relocated. We got the most wonderful impromptu spot ever a few yards up. The fireworks were incredible. The sky was full for like 45 minutes of these beauties. Well done, Mellaluca, thank you! It may have been the best fireworks display I have ever witnessed.

After the show we headed back to the car. About 2.5 hours, 20 miles, and loads of awesome songs later we were back to our humble abode. Once again we were blessed to experience real lovely traffic, rocked out to some great beats, and just continued living the dream.

I hope you did the same! :)

<3 Peace and Love,

-MK

Blooming Loves.

"Often we assume that the people around us must know how much we love them, but we should never assume, we should let them know. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows." -President Thomas S. Monson

"To the world you are someone,
but to someone you are the world."

My random ramble on FRIENDSHIP / FORGIVENESS:

I would simply like to express gratitude for all of the true friends that I have. I love you.

The world is a wonderful place, full of life, love, and beauty....but also ready at a moment's notice to tell us that we are inadequate. Because of this, I choose to have the greatest friends this world has to offer. You are always uplifting, supportive, and make me want to be better. I am so grateful to have you in my life.

I believe true friendship means wanting genuine happiness for someone despite anything.

We all know the saying.... "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." I have been thinking a lot about this recently. I always hope people will change and want better for themselves, so forgiveness is something that I have never struggled with. What I struggle with is recognizing the difference between forgiving someone and opening yourself up to be hurt/used again. While I am trying to find the happy medium, I know that we are all better than that. No one deserves to be put down, used, or disrespected. The role of a friend should be to lift and encourage someone to do and be better. I hope I can be as good of a friend to you as you all are to me.

Thank you for all you do for me.

<3 Living the Dream,

-MK

Remember: Attempting to hook up with your best friend's now ex-boyfriend is frowned upon in most cultures. ;)

Gluten-Free Hippie

"Laughter is the best medicine."

We recently found out I have Celiac's. This is simply a gluten intolerance, easily managed by a change in diet. I am actually quite thrilled to have discovered this, because my body should potentially behave worlds better within only a few short weeks.

Happy!

I am so grateful to live the wonderful life I live. While I prefer to keep things to myself when I am sick, I realized that this causes curiosity and talk to run more rampant.

It is true, I am facing a few challenges medically at the moment, but I promise you all that I am plugging along quite well and plan on continuing to do so for quite awhile. :)

I always struggle with finding the balance between resting and playing, because I really dislike laying back watching life go by. Due to the order's of my doctor, mother, brother, roomates, and friends, I promise that I am really trying to take it easy. I do admit though, I still play. If I am not going to feel well no matter what I do, I would rather be having fun trying to distract myself. Life is to be loved and lived, and that is precisely what I plan to continue to do.
Thank you for all your love and support!

<3 Living the Dream,

-MK

Remember: "It's not dying you should be afraid of, it's never having lived in the first place." :)