Got back from my trip on Monday, why does time see to go by faster when you are on vacation?And when you are at work or the days leading to and after your vacation seem waaaaay longer than they should be. As I told my coworker Parker, I need a job that's always on vacation. Dear Samantha Brown, I'd like to takeover your job. Sincerely, Sarah Kawachi. While we wait for Sam to get back to me, here's my vacay recap, part one of who knows how many:

Family Vacay, Pt. 1.

Colo "rad" o... saw that on a t-shirt at work today.

My vacation started off in good ol Grand Junction, Colorado. It was my first time visiting my sister's college and Colorado (I know, I know, horrible sister, but HEY I planned on visiting beforehand, but you know other trips came along that seemed much more exciting.. NYC, SF, Japan, countless visits to Maui, who can resist that versus visits to Grand Junction the middle of NOWHERE... haha just kidding Kel). Grand Junction, was quite frankly boring. I could see how my sister could get homesick, there's not much. But it does have that small town charm, and I love that there is art EVERYWHERE! My lil sis graduated with a Bachelor's in Business and an Associate's in Applied Science (Culinary) with honors. Woop woop the youngest Kawachi graduates! Welcome to the real world (it's really nothing all that great).

We spent a just 3 days in Colorado, mostly helping my sister move out of her apartment and tie loose ends up, and I was also stuck doing work for the jobs I applied for (writing tests, application tests.. tedious but it's gotta be done). Fortunately for me we took a break from all that work and went to A-Basin for my first taste of snowboarding! Ok so I skate, I surf, I thought snowboarding would be not that hard to pick up. Um HELLO it is incredibly hard and scary AND not too mention it hurts WAAAAAAAY more when you fall. BUT I had a blast, I was definitely HURTING the next day, but it was worth the pain. Next time I go snowboarding I'll be more ready! We also drove through Vail, Aspen, and went to Denver so I could do some damage at Urban Outfitters.

Some Colorado highlights, in no particular order:

-Eating at Noodles & Company. I love noodles, this place was my heaven.

-AHHHHH fresh tortilla chips from Denver Whole Foods.

-Not eating it 3 out of 20 times getting off of the ski lift. That thing is dangerous and oh so tricky to get off from.

-Kelly's graduation dinner at her restaurant 626 on the Rood.

-Sharing a beer in the kitchen refrigerator with Kelly and her college friends, oh how I miss those days.

-Seeing animals on the side of the road and in our headlights. My mom almost hit a deer and I saw the long horned sheep.

-That Expedition we rented, so roomy, great for our long road trips.

Some Colorado fails:

-Didn't get to a Billabong.

-Had only one hour to shop at UO.

-Didn't get to eat at Sonic or Chipotle.

-Sushi bars.

-Only driving past the hot spring, it looked SO good.

-Weird weather, the day of my sister's graduation was rainy as hell, and then the day we left it was hot as hell.

-That damn two propeller plane.