happy fourth of july!!

i hope everyone had a safe and fun fourth of july, i know i did! i was finally able to steal away from parker and go visit some friends up in fort collins. you never realize how much you miss somewhere until you are back driving around. let. me. tell. you. oh how i miss being up at school! ... which is weird to say because, you know, you are supposed to be enjoying summer and all. fine. i will leave it with this: i was just happy to celebrate with some good friends and be back in the town i love in the country i adore <3

 ^^ fire works were late, but awesome. and totally worth it.

 ^^ my outfit of the day. i probably changed 8 times, but whatever. i have a severe lack of red, white, and blue.

 ^^ we never did come up with a better name for it than "the knife game" but I'm still down for calling it "don't get hit by the butter knife", "why are we all doing the splits?", or "knife twister"

 ^^ we went a little photo crazy waiting for the fireworks. that flash. dang. it was SO BRIGHT.

^^ HAPPY 237TH BIRTHDAY, AMERICA^^

amsterdam part.1

so way back when in may i went on a miniature europe trip. and now it has taken this long to blog about it. sheesh. well i guess the story starts back in the last week of april when i decided to use what little money i have in my bank account to go to europe, because i can't really think of anything better to spend it on then seeing the world. and so, the trip to the netherlands, belgium, and germany began.

just like my trip last year, we stayed in hostels and traveled by train. hostels are my new favorite and i don't know what i ever did before them. contrary to popular belief, they are (mostly) very safe and clean. if you can deal with picking up after yourself and putting your own sheets on your bed, you'll be fine.

for this first part of the trip my friends and i hung around amsterdam where we stayed in the heart of the redlight district. what. a. culture. shock. its still hard to imagine that they have rented rooms for the sex workers and for only 100 euros an hour they can stand in front of a floor to ceiling window selling sex for money. in amsterdam, this is a a job for women and men of all ages and it is not uncommon for people to do it to put themselves through school, support a family, or just a little extra money. fun fact. the oldest sex worker is 85 and has a two week long waiting list!! no... i didn't check that fact, a tour guide told us... haha

our days were filled with free walking tours, exploring the canals, taking lots of pictures, meeting up with friends, and meeting a lot of new friends. my favorite day was the day we rented a vespa and used those crazy bike lines amsterdam is known for, though the picnic in the park was a close second as favorite moment. most exciting moment was definitely finding a beer that i actually like. success! however, the problem is i will have to go to amsterdam to find it...