cowgirl dress and a sushi adventure

My outfit was inspired by this photo:

via.

Yesterday was kind of a rough day. I woke up at 6, studied for a test all day long and then took it and bombed. One of the perks of being a communications major is that we rarely take tests; mostly it's papers. This one, however, was for my business minor {which I reconsider finishing every time I take one of these tests}.

I texted Harley after I got out of the testing center. "It's Sushi Tuesday and I just bombed that test, so I'm definitely going to sushi. Want to come? Pleeeeeease?"

So my best friend canceled her plans, and we spent two hours at Happy Sumo. It was an unusually enjoyable sushi date for a few reasons.

1) I accidentally lit my menu on fire when I set it on top of the little candle in the corner of my table. Though, not to worry. Nothing much was damaged.

2) We noticed a few roll slices left on the plate of the couple next to us when they got up and left.

"They left sushi on their plate," I whispered.

"Grab it! Quick, no one's looking!"

Those rolls were even better than ours.

McSadness.

My macbook is on a trip.
At simply mac.
Without me.
Bust.
I thought macs weren't supposed to have issues?!

In other news.
I went to New York this weekend.
NEW YORK.
Was it awesome?
Will I go back?
Will I move there?
Well... you're just going to have to wait for the answers to those questions until my little mac with all of it's pictures is back in my anxiously awaiting hands.

So until my mcmac comes back say hello to jane won't you?
Oh and plus... I just found this blog.
They dress ever so well.
Bye!

Finally Fall.

getting lost for a day.

I read this beautiful article on Hello Giggles a while ago, and I think I'll take her advice:

"If I could beg every young woman (without sounding like I’m giving a valedictorian speech) to do one thing, it would be to go somewhere alone. It doesn’t have to be South America or a kibbutz in Israel or the Peace Corps. Buy a bus ticket, hop in the car, jump on the train and get off at a place that is at least an hour from where you live. Talk to a stranger, take them for coffee, wander around and buy yourself a souvenir. Get lost for a day. Please don’t take a self-portrait picture of yourself to later put on Facebook so that you can show people how adventurous you are, if you can help it. This precious moment is yours and yours alone and for once something belongs to no one else but you."

I'm planning a secret trip -- hopefully soon before it gets cold. Doesn't it sound wonderful? Escape to a lovely place with only the unfamiliar as a companion...

mmm yes.

Belize {Part II}

This is what we could see from our rooftop. Isn't it lovely?

The palm trees kill me.

Gorgeous view of San Ignacio.

Sea foam green.

This is how far we got on the caretaker's "dome" house at the orphanage before Leah and I left. See the foundation of tires? And all those white bags? We shoveled and wheelbarrowed and mixed in cement and mixed in water and stuffed those all full. Each of the tires has THREE WHEELBARROWS full of dirt pounded into them.

For real.

We called this the Harry Potter house. I swear You-Know-Who is upstairs in the room on the left sitting in an old red chair next to the fireplace.

Gave us the heebie jeebies.

Leah and I brought stuff for glitter toes. I glittered the toes of most of the girls at PEACE camp. They were in heaven.

Eventually we got sick of rolling up our sleeves and sweating through everything anyway, so we cut up our old t-shirts. Aren't they cute? I'll do a DIY to show you all how.

Hammocks are for sale everywhere. How do you choose?

Dirty and tan = good Chaco lines.

This is Sister and EmKo in front of our favorite souvenir shop, Back to my Roots. This is the rendition of the owner, a Rasta man named Carlton.

This is me and Leah with the man himself. Definitely the coolest Rasta we met, although they all are pretty rad. This was on our last day in San Ignacio. He had asked us to come back to say goodbye, so we did and he gave us a "farewell treat," a bracelet the colors of the Belizean flag {blue and white}, a keychain, and a kiss on the cheek.

I blushed.

Belize {Part I}

Want to see a few pictures from my summer?

My sister and I spent six weeks in San Ignacio, Belize {I didn't know where it was either; it's next to Guatemala in Central America.} with HELP International doing humanitarian projects. Our favorites {I'll go into more detail later...} were building an orphanage, teaching writing classes, and being camp counselors with a bunch of cutie Belizean kids.

I have a lot of photos, but here are just a few to give you an idea of what it was like.

Pretty amazing, it was.

I was really impressed with how clean they kept the towns.

I also thought it was cute they call San Ignacio + Santa Elena the "twin towns."

Sister and me lounging. See our glistening faces? Didn't stop until we stepped off the plane in the US. We all sweated a lot. A lot, a lot.

Typical dinner. Tortillas, corn & carrots {Carrots are the filler veggie. Trust me when I say they're on e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.}, mashed potatoes, and yes. One half of a fish. Skin, tail, and all.

Sister, Mack, Jane, and EmKo with Belize's favorite beverage. Soda. We liked the Fanta -- pictured from left to right are the red velvet, root beer, gingerale, and pineapple flavors. Yum!

This doll is Ireina, my beautiful little friend I made working at PEACE camp. Most dark-skinned people have dark dark chocolatey eyes, but Ireina's were the color of caramel.

And this cutie is Aaliyah, my other friend I made at PEACE camp. She's probably the most intelligent 9-year-old I've ever met; she told us she made a science fair project that had something to do with conducting electricity. Obviously over my head.

Self portrait of a mirror/door we walked past every day.

Victoria St. -- our street. Isn't it a pretty little sign?

Colorful.

ten things you should know about the belizean bus system

We ride the bus almost daily, which has given me plenty of chances to observe the quirks of the public transport system. In case you were ever curious, here are ten things you should know about buses in Belize.

This is inspired by one of my friends, Erika K. Norton. She wrote her observations on her blog, and I wanted to do my own.

{one} Schedules are approximate. Very tentative. If it says the bus will come at 7:30am, be there at 7. But then again, it may not show up until 8.

{two} The buses are colorful versions of school buses. They've got charm coming out of the wazoo.

{three} It is actually possible to squeeze three or four adults into one seat, especially when leaving the bus terminal and when passing police checkpoints.

{four}It's okay to shove your way on. Everyone does it, so you probably won't get a seat if you don't play dirty.

{five} You pay every time you get on, and the prices are from $1.50 Bze {75 cents} to $10 Bze {$5} depending on the distance.

{six} The driver gets to play his favorite CDs {usually reggae} as loud as his heart desires. Even blasting the iPod doesn't tune it out.

{seven} The best way to catch some shut-eye is to rest your forehead on the seat in front of you, but be ready for sudden jerks or bumps. That window is dang hard.

{eight} There are no stoplights or speed limits. The bus drivers go really, really fast until they see a speed bump in the distance. Then they hit the breaks about 10 feet before. Bus rides often feel more like roller coaster rides.

{nine} The aisle seat is the coveted one.

{ten} They drive with the door open. Always. Unless it's a worker's express with AC, which are much too rare.

xo

Jane.

P.S. I'll be in the States in two days!

Did you hear? I went to Hell on Saturday.

{Sorry if you've already read this in an email. Or on my Facebook status.}

Last weekend we piled into a 14 seater van with AC {ohmyheckbestthingever} and roadtripped back into the mountains of Belize to the caves of ATM -- what the ancient Mayans believed to be the underworld. With helmets and headlamps, we jumped one by one into the river and swam upstream into the caves. Honestly I think we all were feeling a slight amount of terror, but we doggie paddled until Aaron, our tour guide, led us to a shallow spot.

He launched into some of the cave history, telling us about how only the royals were allowed to visit Hell, and when they came, they changed into their spirit animal. It sounds far-fetched, but these people were kind of out there.

"You need to change into your spirit animal before you enter any farther," he said. We went around the circle and named our spirit animals. We were everything from lion to zebra. I chose horse. Not the ideal animal for spelunking, but hey, I only had a couple seconds to choose.

We closed our eyes and imagined ourselves changing into our spirit animals. Aaron told us the Mayans actually had drugs a thousand years ago and used them before descending into Hell, which probably assisted in the changing-into-spirit-animal thing.

"We offer that tour too," he said with a smirk. "But not to you guys."

Aaron led us up through the dark belly of the cave; we swam through dark water, jumped from rock to rock, shimmied through passageways, and squeezed our heads through crevasses only a few inches wide with the rest of our bodies completely submerged in water. Imagine it like an Indiana Jones adventure. We saw bat holes, scorpion spiders, and cave crickets, who have antenna that are 5 inches long.

A few times, pressed in the crack of a massive broken boulder, we all shut off our lights and found ourselves in complete blackness. We held hands and a few of us giggled in fear.

"Shhh," tour guide Aaron said. "Listen. Listen to the cave."

So we did. I heard rushing water and felt it around my legs. I felt the rocks pressing in from every direction. I felt the energy from the others and the curiosity and wonder radiating from us all. I tried to imagine the Hell the Mayans saw.

After wading and swimming for an hour or so, we climbed up and up and up and took off our shoes so we wouldn't damage whatever was around the corner. In sock feet, we stepped gingerly on the ground the Mayans walked, on the ground they brought pots full of food and other offerings for the gods of the underworld.

We saw pots, broken and whole, scattered around the huge room. They had never been moved or rearranged from their original positions -- they were in the exact places the Mayans put them.

It was amazing in an eerie way.

We saw skeletons of sacrifices, including one of a teenage girl who was likely a captured royal from another tribe. Her spine is in half; researchers say they probably stabbed her or broke her back and left her there, still alive.

That's one girl I want to meet in the next life, I'll tell you that.

Ancient Mayan Hell was different than I imagine Hell to be. But with some mushrooms, a good fire torch, and a vivid imagination, maybe I could have experienced it a bit more like they did. But really, I thought it was incredible.