t minus 3-days

so, i've realized that if i expect myself to sit down and write a long, philosophical, inspiring post every time i write on this thing, it will never happen. so instead, i'm going to use bullet points of brief updates. i will probably do this more often than not in the future as well. if something particularly interests you (don't pretend like everything does), shoot me an email and i'll give you more details. also, since i love titles, i will be titling each bullet point.

"los cortesi--or--the south american family that doesn't know what's about to hit 'em"
i've been in continual contact with my host family and they truly sound amazing. they are musicians (3 guitars in the house!!), and they seem like incredibly sweet people. i've been emailing back and forth with my brother and sister the most, so i'm very excited to meet them.

"a very merry christmas--or--how a chihuahua named julio saved christmas"
i was back in iowa for christmas and it was great. i loved being around the family. i really missed my chicago family, but overall it was a relaxing and very enjoyable vacation at home.


"the big 2-1--or--the night downtown davenport rocked with some of the sweetest dance moves it's ever seen"
the 27th was my 21st birthday and i can honestly say that there are few things i could imagine which would have made the night better. i had dinner with the whole family first (sans the youngest generation. they steal too much of my attention). then, my brothers and sisters (in-law, not yet in-law, etc.) went out downtown for drinks and dancing. as i told everyone at dinner, i had quite a realization over break that i honestly feel more loved when people spend quality time with me than from any other thing. take away any material gifts, clever/helpful acts, or footrubs (maybe not footrubs) and spend an afternoon with me any day. sitting around the table with my family and laughing hysterically, knowing there were so many activities, jobs, children, etc on their minds, made me feel like the incredibly blessed person that i am. also, all the phone calls and email/facebook messages i got on my birthday are nearly the same. knowing that someone took time out of their day to wish me a happy birthday is a great, great feeling and truly means the world to me. so, thank you, family, for everything. and thank you, friends, for all the kind words on my 21st. and thank you, god, for the dance moves.