4 day weekend (1.21-1.24)

This is a little photo story of my 4 day weekend last weekend. 

1.21 and 1.22: Camping at Manabao with some great friends. Spent time relaxing, reading, laughing, hiking and cooking. It was lovely to just BE in God's creation. 

[Manabao is where they make Spirit Mountain Coffee. This was started by our founders of Doulos and this fair trade coffee directly benefits our scholarship program at Doulos. So here's how the coffee process works...mas o menos. Here is the coffee plant. When the seeds are red, that means they are ready to be picked.]

[Here is a whole group of coffee plants]

[This is what the inside looks like. We took one out and sucked on it and surprisingly it tastes like a vegetable.]

[This is the machine they use to take the beans out of the shell]

 [THIS is how they dry the coffee beans out. I thought this was really picturesque]

1.23: On Sunday of the 4 day weekend, I went on my very first moto trip to a place called Constanza. It was basically Americanas and Dominicanos. It was an absolute adventure. 

[Don't worry this is actually how we rode on the motos. This is just when we were stuck on the side of the rode with a flat tire. We had some fun anyways]

[Here we are. Complete with the beautiful view]

1.24: On the last day of our break, Amanda, my roommate, and I finally (pretty much) finished our frame wall. You never know what we will find next to add. It was quite an ordeal to just get this far. The frames, used to have mirrors in them, the spring used to be a bed spring (a friend made that for us) and now has been turned into a candle holder. The colorful circles are lids to various tubs covered by various fabrics. The green box (you can't really tell its a box, but it is) was made by us. And it is displaying the great piece of coral I found on the beach. And at the bottom we have the front of a drawer that we found in a junk pile. From trash to treasure!

[We really love this wall]

photo.of.the.day

Ok so I am fully aware that my blogging skills are quite awful. I have been trying to think of a way to get myself motivated to blog. I thought since I take a lot of pictures, may be the whole "photo of the day" idea will work with me! Most people start them as their new years resolution, but 1. i don't really set those and 2. well it's almost February. So my goal is pretty obvious. I'm hoping this will give me a way to just write a short little blurb about my picture. So here we go.

PS. I actually had this idea about a week ago. But still haven't done it. ha. And haven't actually taken a picture everyday. MAN this goal seems really hopeful right? So here's ones from my time since I've been back. Just consider it a lucky day because you get more than ONE photo of the day! Woohoo!

[1.11 first day back to school: made some "snow in a bag." you can tell from their faces that they're excited to be back at school....or may be it was the snow?]

[1.14 dominican dance party. it definitely fed my need to get my groove on]

[1.15 ok so we actually found this last semester but i took the picture on this day so it counts. we found this old window in a lady's junk pile down the street. we plan to clean it up and hang it on the wall. no need to make it look shabby for the shabby chic look because it already is!]

[1.16 Lorraine's (center, pink shirt) surprise birthday! she was for real surprised!]

[1.17 birthday lunch for Stef (middle), a new art intern this semester!]

more pictures to come. i just couldn't get them to upload. oh the joys of me and technology.