picture.me.pink

valentine

2011-01-30T14:52:00.000-05:00

Cupid's Arrow Valentine's Day Card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Jungle adventure video

2010-11-15T13:13:00.000-05:00

La Boca

2010-11-09T11:08:00.000-05:00

Getting to La Boca, was an adventure in itself. We knew we had to catch bus 23 (I think) and we knew that it came down a certain street. While casually wandering looking for the bus stop a nice man asked us where we were from (a favorite question) and became our personal tour guide to the bus stop. We learned that the British had attempted to invade Buenos Aires and that cannons that were fired were still in the walls of a church near by. This man talked and walked as we tried to keep up. He drops us off at the bus stop and we wait.....and we wait.....and we wait. Buses 1 -100 come and go but never bus 23. We were beginning to lose hope when we decided to start walking back and until we found it, and thank goodness we did. Within about 20 minutes on the bus we were being dropped off on the most colorful, fun, and dance filled street in town!

Exhausted from our morning we had to refuel on a giant millinosa (breaded steak) sandwich, no surprise here it was YUMMY!

Caminito Street is famous for the Tango and Kylee and I did not miss out. Here I am trying to not step on my partners feet. He was very intense and I could not stop smiling and laughing!

All the houses, shops, and restaurants on this street were brightly colored. My best comparison is it was like something out of Disneyland! Since it was a huge tourist stop it was filled with lots of shopping, something neither of us got tired of doing!

Above is a picture of local artist stands.

La Boca is also famous for their futbol team. Here is a futbol/basketball court. There seemed to be kids everywhere, no matter what day or time.

I got into some trouble when I fell in love with a leather purse. I did leave it to think about it but then came back when we were ready to leave. As you can tell I am way to excited!

Modeling my newest purchase!

Kylee attempting to get a picture under the famous sign.

A great day, in a great neighborhood of Bueons Aires. Maybe we will be back one day to dance the tango again.........

Banos video

2010-10-27T13:23:00.000-04:00

Eating and Relaxing in Lovely Mendoza

2010-10-27T13:11:00.000-04:00

We spent an afternoon in the big park in Mendoza. There is a large lake in the middle you can walk around, rows and rows of roses. Benches, statues, and just a beautiful atmosphere.

A little modeling on the side...

We spent a morning in a plaza with some amazing expensive coffee drinks. (less than $3) The price for a normal coffee is less than $1. Empanadas, one of our favorite foods (like a hot pocket) were about 50 cents a piece!!!!! We ate some great food in Argentina, especially compared to the local food in Ecuador.

One last meal before our overnight bus at our favorite local spot: Flaco´s. Good thing Kylee shot this picture in time, about 1 minute later, Chelsea got pooped on BIG TIME by a pigeon. YUCKY!

Goodbye Mendoza :( Goodbye Chelsea´s $5 amazing bathing suit......

Buenos Aires

2010-10-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

Here we are outside of one of the many futbol stadiums. We went close but ended up not going to a game. Instead we headed to the Sunday Artisan market, which we loved!

This is the street that the Sunday market was on. It was jam packed with artisans, hippies, shoppers, and street performers. We got leather bracelets and shoes, enjoyed the street dancing, and battled through the masses of people. Such a cool market and we were so glad we got to go.

Starved after battling the crowds we ended up at a guidebook pick for dinner. The salsa was amazing and we ate it all up! The waiter even gave us some to go! We split another steak and once again were in delight on all the tender and juicy and just all around AMAZING steaks there were in Argentina. This one was served in a gravy and with these little potato fries. DELICIOUS : )

The grill in the front of the restaurant.

Our last meal in Buenos Aires. We decided to splurge on a fancy one, and no suprise we ended up at a steak house. Each time we ate the steak we attempted to compare it to the ones before and I think these were in the top 3 if not the number one. Tender, rare, juicy, flavorful, words just fall short of how awesome it was.

Well Buenos Aires was a blast! We did so much, including TOO much shopping and steak eating.

Mendoza: Bikes and Wine

2010-10-25T15:50:00.000-04:00

Wednesday we did a BikesandWines tour. We rented bicycles to ride around to different wineries in the Maipu area of Mendoza.

The second stop was called La Antigua, a chocolateria, with homemade chocolate, licquor, and olive oil. We got to sample some delicious things.

Tasting the different spreads, jams, olives, cheese, peppers.

Kylee took a shot of burning absynthe. It was not great.

Our first winery stop: Carinae. We were lucky to see them bottling wine that day, they say it only happens a few times a year.

Here we had our first real wine tasting of the day! We went on the bike tour with a couple from Ireland who were very nice. We both bought a bottle of wine from here too.

Chelsea.
This was our favorite winery! Vistandes is super modern, fancy and beautiful. The wine was delicious. Chelsea bought a wine that she isn´t supposed to open for 20 years!!!! She better save it for something good.

We got to see inside the wineries, learned how they create the wines, barrel the wines, and where they are fermented.

This is from the third winery: Familia di Tomasso. It was very old and the structures were all original.

The whole bike ride was along streets like this. The trees (anyone know what kind) were huge, it was really an incredible tour. After the chocolateria to get to the first winery, it took about an hour, we were tired! But it was well worth it.

Our final winery stop: Trapiche. This winery lets you give yourself a tour, but we were more interested in the tasting. So with our new friends we split a bottle and enjoyed the scenery.

We sure loved the Malbec.

At the end of the day, Kylee decided to go on a tandem bike ride with the owner. We hope to go back someday!!!!!

The Wheels on the Bus go round and round and round......for 57 hours.......

2010-10-21T08:12:00.000-04:00

We have done a lot of bus riding in Argentina. 21 hours from Iguazu to Cordoba, then 16 hours from Cordoba to Mendoza, and finally 20 hours from Mendoza to Buenos Aires. Here are some photos so that you can see how classy some of those busses were.

FREE DINNER! Such a let down....1 slice of ham & cheese, a roll, some cold potato lasagna stuff, then the hot part: a completely unidentifiable meat/bread/CHEESE combo that we ate because we were starving. Dessert, bread pudding or something?

But as you can see, Chelsea CLEARLY enjoyed it.

Dont go chasing Iguazu Waterfalls

2010-10-19T11:42:00.000-04:00

Iguazu Waterfalls!! This was our first look at the falls, AMAZING!!!

The fog/smog/mist is from the waterfalls hitting the river. They wrap all around and are the natural border between Argentina and Brazil.

Dos Hermanas (Two Sisters)
The train connected the different sections of the park.

La Garganta Del Diablo. The top of one section of the waterfalls, we had to walk on metal bridge over the Rio Iguazu for about 1/2 a mile, then we were on top of the falls!!!!!

In English it´s the Devils Throat.
Thank goodness we had the waterproof camera and our matching ponchos!!!!!!!

Finally saw some jungle wildlife, these guys were hanging out on one of the trails. Beautiful birds....
Not so sure what he is, but he was as prevelant as seagulls at the beach or squirrels at a park. They hung around the cafes and ate peoples leftover food.

A great way to end the day, some greasy empanadas...we have been eating empanadas daily in Argentina. They are delicious!

23rd Birthday

2010-10-16T17:26:00.000-04:00

On my 23rd birthday, Oct 14, we traveled through 4 different countries!!! We started early in the morning (4 am) in Ecuador, had a lay over in Peru, another in Chile, and then finally around midnight we landed in Argentina. First night to sleep in the airport and it went better then I had expected, we curled up in a corner and got a little bit of sleep before we had to go to the other airport in buenos aires to fly to Iguazu. It was a nice break to be in the airports as strange as that sounds. We got to watch movies on some of the flights, eat free food, drink free sodas, and sit in airconditioning. By the time we got off the plane in Iguazu we are beyond exhausted and just kind of in zombie mode, we were able to check in and I think we went to bed before 8 oclock. Nothing too exciting happened on my actual birthday except the fact that I am traveling in South America, sort of surreal at many times!!!!! I am so blessed to be able to be doing this trip and to be seeing so much of this wonderful world that God has given us. There are so many beautiful waterfalls, beaches, jungles, citites, and life that exists outside of the United States and I am so forutnate to be able to experience a little bit of it. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!!!

Goodbye Ecuador!

2010-10-13T21:32:00.000-04:00

Well, our last night in Ecuador turned out to be pretty great. We got to Guayaquil early to try to sort out our missing luggage situation. After begging and arguing and calling and talking, things finally went our way. We got put up at a 5 star hotel, with free dinner, and airport shuttle. AND they said our bags will be delivered to us tonight at the hotel. AND AND we each got $80 for it taking so long.

So, I think it must be happening so that Chelsea can have a wonderful 23rd birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I am so happy to be on this trip with you, hope you are having a blast too. Love you!

As we are about to leave Ecuador, I can´t believe all of the amazing things we have seen and done here in just 2 and a half weeks. From the Katitawa school in Salasaca where we worked with indigenous people, to the 5 star hotel tonight, we have crossed several miles, hiked many mountains, shared many meals, met fabulous people, and had a wonderful time. Can´t wait for Argentina!!!!

You Can Never See too Many Boobies

2010-10-12T21:33:00.000-04:00

We headed off on our Poormans Galapagos tour with only a 50 percent chance of seeing groups of migrating humpback whales.

We got so lucky and saw about 8 traveling together. It was incredible. They are so huge, spouting water right next to our boat.

We got to watch and follow them for almost an hour.

Then we got to the Isla de la Plata, planning on seeing different species of birds, sea lions, and sea turtles. All we really got to see was a LOT of Blue Footed Boobies.

The walk was long and hot, but the views were breathtaking. The boobies were pretty too.

Then we got to go snorkeling. We saw some very cool fish, and coral reef. It was really fun, the water felt amazing. And it was my first time in the Pacific Ocean....

Good thing I had my underwater camera ¿EXCLAMATION POINT¡

Coral reefs.

A beautiful sunset over the ocean to end an awesome day.

Jungle Sneak Peak

2010-10-12T02:31:00.000-04:00

Here is one picture of our jungle adventure.....bet you can´t wait for more!!!!

2010-10-11T14:47:00.000-04:00

Jungle Hike

2010-10-11T14:35:00.000-04:00

This breakfast started our day off just right!! Cheese, fried egg, fried plantains, and fresh tree tomato juice.

Here is our guide, Nelson. He is 19 and about 5 ft. tall. This is the road at the beginning of our hike. The EASY part.

This is a cacao seed. It is what is used to make chocolate! Sooo cool. But does NOT taste good at this stage. This is one of the main crops they grow in subtropic Ecuador.

This is the only clean photo we took, as the mud and water really got to us.

Another huge crop: plantains.

Chelsea found some local war paint in one of the seeds growing nearby.

Our tools of survival.

Waterfall¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

Scary bat cave where they came flying at our heads.

This is the bleeding tree. Nelson had to machete through it, and the poor thing bled to death.

This is the big rainforest tree that reminds me of the ones at the zoo. It smelled like the zoo rainforest too.

The final destination, the Piedra Blanca aka white rock. It was ginormous. The trek was pretty difficult. Some VERY steep and muddy hills. Nelson had to do some serious hacking for us to get by. He also had to hold onto a rope for us to climb up....that was interesting.

Indiana Jonesin.

End of the trek....Thanks Nelson.

Out of the Andes, into the Jungle

2010-10-11T14:12:00.000-04:00

The drive from Salasaca to Ambato to Guaranda to San Luis was AMAZING. It took about 5 hours to get there. It was also incredibly scary.

One of the first incredible things we saw was this upclose view of Chimborazo, the snow-capped volcano we could see WAY in the distance from Salasaca. We also saw cute, cuddly llamas & alpacas.

The scariest leg: Guaranda to San Luis. We barely got seats, one in the front one in the back. We were cruising along just fine, until all of a sudden we just stopped. People got off the bus, so I did too.

This is the view of the valley and the road we were driving on. No guard rails, no pavement, no way to turn around, and no way to go forward...

OH, here´s the problem. Rocks had fallen from the mountain, completely shutting down the "highway". We were stopped in a long line of traffic for about 30 minutes while they cleared the path.

The rest of the journey was just as scary, it seemed like we were driving on the edge of the mountain and one false move, down we go. Other cars and trucks were even passing us, although there was barely room for 2 lanes.

Once out of the mountains, we entered the lowlands. The housing and vegetation are totally different here. Houses are up on stilts, no windows, no doors. The vegetation became big thick banana trees, flowers, short shrubs, just SO green. It seems even poorer than before.

The laundromat.

We arrived in San Luis at 6 pm. Off on our jungle adventure...........

Cuy Oh my!

2010-10-11T13:53:00.000-04:00

I write this blog in memory of all of my pet guniea pigs that I have had through my childhood. Fortunatly for them they were born in America and not in Ecuador, in which case they would be fried and eaten, not cuddled and fed endless supplies of veggies. Kylee taught an English for Artisans class at night and bonded with the ladies. She talked them into preparing us a cuy feast and on their last night of class the ladies showed up with cuy, potatoes, and salad. We sat down to eat and they pulled out the rodent and sliced off legs, arms, the head, and the middle body. It was served on top of a salad and with gravy. At first bite it was not so bad, kind of a greasy dark chicken meat, but as I continuted to pick it off the thought and texture started to get to me and I only managed about three bites. The ladies looked at us and laughed as we took pictures. It was a great experience but I will not be requesting it again anytime soon.

Last Day in Salasaca

2010-10-11T13:45:00.000-04:00

Thursday was our last day in Salasaca at the school. We got everyone together for a group photo. We had an awesome time at SKY school. We were sad to leave, but happy to go on to our next adventure!

Good bye KATITAWA!

Of course it had to rain the one and only time as we are leaving. Good thing I bought us some sweet ponchos that covered our bags too. Bye Nicole!Looking ridiculous.

Ecuadorian Bag

2010-10-11T13:41:00.000-04:00

As we were leaving Banos, we happened to walk by this store. I wanted to check it out....when the guy told me I could pick my fabric, style and button, I knew we were in trouble.

So after about 2 hours of deciding, she went to work.

I had to walk across the street and pick out the button from a different store, where he actually drilled the holes into the seed that was used! And it was the last thing to be hand-sewn onto the bag.

VOILA! SO happy with my new bag.

Pictures from Banos

2010-10-06T17:55:00.000-04:00

Horse ride!

This beautiful waterfall was the one that we rode our horses to! We got off our horses at the bottom, and then walked up to get a better view.

These signs are found throughout the town. Can you guess what they mean????

This lovely picture is of Cuy. Better known to us as "Guinea Pig" and also NOT a household pet. This rat-like rodent is roasted, or fried and served whole for lunch. Found on every street corner in Banos, it is still something we have yet to try......

Markets in Banos. selling sugar cane, candy, taffy, and everything else sweet.

This is the waterfall near the "banos" or baths. We tried to go, they have hot water that comes from the volcano. When we got there, we saw men in speedos literally washing themselves, got a little grossed out and left.

Waiting for my new bag to be handmade! We stopped in a little bakery where we split a strawberry shortcake amd chocolate donut! YUM!

This picture was taken on our bus trip back to Salasaca. It is one of the nearby volcanoes: Tungurahua. How beautiful!

And finally, the sunset back at our house in Salasaca.

Weekend in Banos

2010-10-04T19:05:00.000-04:00

Kylee and I spent the weekend in Banos, a thirty minute (50 cent) bus ride from Salasaca. On Saturday we went horseback riding with some of the other volunteers. We rode through the streets and up to a beautiful waterfall. The horses even galloped on the way back. It was a lot of fun but we were super sore the next day. After horse back riding we expolored this cute town. It is a toursit destiation of ecuacdorians so there were alot of activites. Also unique to this town is the taffy that the people pull around wooden knobs in front of their stores.

Highlights inculde the horesback riding, the yummy pizza we ate on saturday night, getting our laundry done (have been handwashing up to this point), and kylee finding a super cute handbag! Overall a great weekend and my favorite town so far in Ecuador.

Backtrack....packing for South America

2010-10-03T14:12:00.000-04:00

Chelsea flew into Raleigh on Thursday the 23rd. We stayed at the Kings and went through all of our stuff to bring. We spent all day Friday shopping for final things and packing up!! We stayed at Trent´s on Friday with Janessa and Jon. We did a last minute Walmart trip on Saturday morning, then headed to the airport near 11 for our 1 o´clock flight.

What I brought: tennis shoes, Keen sandals, flip flops, jeans, convertible pants (sorts or pants with zipper), spandex capris, outdoorsy shorts, pajama shorts & tshirt, black sweat pants, 2 tank tops, 4 t-shirts, 6 pairs of underwear, 2 sports bras, 1 bra, bathing suit, big camera, little waterproof camera, chargers, memory stick, ipod touch & NEW PINK shuffle (thanks Trent!), then lots of little stuff for being outside, the bathroom, etc.

pictures from Salasaca

2010-10-02T17:17:00.000-04:00

A CHANCHO!! Pig in Salasca, all over the place in farms.

View from our hostel.

Some of the children!!!! This is at school.

Riding in the back of a camioneta, a truck/taxi.

My favorite!! Liz!

Volunteering in Salasaca

2010-09-30T15:39:00.000-04:00

So, we are 4 days into our volunteering near a very small village called Salasaca. To get to our hostel, we have to ride in the back of a pick up truck! It is really cool! All of the people are friendly. It is really less of a hostel, and more like a house for volunteers, there are 15 of us right now.

Daily: we wake up near 6, the man in charge of the program comes to the house and makes porridge (oatmeal), we get ready for the day and eat. We need to be at the school by 7:30, so it is a 40 minute walk. At school, we play with the children, help with learning, although it is mostly in spanish. There is also gardening to do, which Chelsea has become a big part of. I have been working in the ´kindergarten´room, with 2-5 year olds. HA!

We are served breakfast, more watery porridge. Then lunch, a soup with vegetables. School finishes at 1:30, then we have the afternoon free. For dinner, groups take turn cooking one night of the week only Monday-Thursday. Last night, our group made vegetable lasagna, and crepes! Yummy! There is a market nearby with all stuff made by locals.

The local people all wear very unique clothing! The women wear felt skirts, colorful belts, and a colorful shawl over a white shirt, most little girls wear this too. The men wear white pants and shirts with a black poncho-like thing over it. Everything is SO CHEAP, like $1.00 for 4 quarts of strawberries. .10 for a bus ride.

Sorry no pictures right now, slow internet connection!

14 Hours of Travel Time

2010-09-26T21:57:00.000-04:00

Problems began in Raleigh, one of our Airlines gave us insufficient time for our bags to make our connecting fligh, but they went ahead and allowed us to check them. (BUT OF COURSE THEY GOT STUCK IN MIAMI)

We started at about noon, flew first to Miami. For this flight, our seats were moved towards the front so we could get off quickly and make our connection. In Miami we had a personal escort all the way to the ticket counter, then the gate. WE MADE IT!

We flew to Bogota, Colombia. Here we had to wait for about 2 hours, but things went smoothly. Worst aiport ever.
Finally, we landed in Lima (at about 1 in the morning). We had to go through customs, and guess what, more problems. Kylee had to go into a room with the security people and find out why there was a red flag on her name/passport. But they let her through!

And thats it!
NOT.
Then we go to baggage claim to find out that our bags did not make it. So we had to fill out forms, etc.

We ended up getting to Hotel Melodia at about 3 in the morning. Here is our ´hotel´ in the morning!

Much love!!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane, Don´t Know IF I´ll Be Back Again

2010-09-26T21:46:00.000-04:00

So we left Raleigh! Trent took us to the airport & Janessa sent us off too.

I had to have a last minute haircut, courtesy of Chelsea.

Off we GO!!!!

2010-09-25T10:38:00.000-04:00

2010-09-21T14:09:00.000-04:00

Here is a map of all the places we will go. If you click and get more details, you can see the dates we will be there!!

View Our trip in a larger map

One month away!

2010-08-30T21:48:00.000-04:00

Just under one month and we head off! It seems like we have been planning forever and it is finally getting close. I am most excited about working at the school in Ecuador and exploring all the beaches in Ecuador and Argentina. I consider myself a professional beach bum and can not wait to use my beach laying skills in the southern hemisphere. What I am not looking forward to is packing! I am not sure how we are going to bring everything we think we are going to need, looking into space saving bags. Well I am not much of a blogger but I am excited to use this medium and a way for our friends and families to follow us on this adventure!

And so it begins....

2010-08-16T00:07:00.000-04:00

Chelsea and I decided a few months ago that we would go on an adventure trip of a lifetime together. At first we talked about Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, etc. A trip to Central America! But we kept researching, and finally decided to spend 6 weeks in South America.

We will be flying into Peru, then visiting Ecuador, Argentina, and who knows what else! Along our journey we will be hiking, tasting wine, exploring jungles, embracing wildlife, and experiencing a completely different culture and way of life. Our planning has come a long way. We still have a long way to go.

Please follow us, hopefully we will update with stories and pictures. Keep us in your prayers throughout this expedition. We will sure need it.

XOXO

Kylee

Latest Itinerary

2010-08-10T11:38:00.001-04:00

Kylee and Chelsea- South America

September 25- Leave from Raleigh 1 p.m. Arrive in Lima at 12:50 a.m. 9/26

September 26- 12:50 p.m. Leave Lima to Quito arrive at 3:10 p.m. travel to Salasaca.

September 26- Oct 8^th- Work/Live at school. 13 nights/14 days

October 9^th- 14^th- Ecuador coast traveling (towns I want to go to Puerto Lopez, Manta, Galapagos, isla de la palta)

October 14^th- Fly out of Guayaquil 7:55 a.m. to Buenos Aries arrive at 10:10 p.m.

October 15^th- Fly to Iguaza Falls 9:15 a.m. arrive at 11:00 a.m.

October 15^th- 26^th- Argentina (Buenos Aires, wine country, beaches)

October 26^th- Leave from Buenos Aires 8:10 a.m. arrive in Cusco at 2:00 p.m.

October 28-31 Macchu Picchu

October 31^st- November 7^th- Lima/ Peru

November 7^th- Lima to Raleigh 5:50 a.m. arrive in Raleigh at 6:40 p.m.

Roughly 20 days Ecuador

12 days Argentina

14 days Peru

Coming up next…..South America!

2010-08-07T15:31:00.001-04:00

So I know I haven’t blogged in a REALLY long time. I need to go back and complete the end of my time in Spain. But I just have to share…..I am going to South America! I will be spending 6 weeks in Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina with my cousin Chelsea. We have been planning like crazy all summer. For 2 weeks we will be volunteering at a school in Ecuador. Then we will spend about 10 days in Argentina. Finally, a few days in Peru and then hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I am overwhelmed and excited about this next awesome adventure. More to come soon. Wish us luck, send us prayers, and keep reading for more.

XOXO

Backpacking Spain: Málaga

2010-05-17T10:16:00.009-04:00

My friend Alex visited from North Carolina for about 10 days. We backpacked through Spain, hitting up Málaga, Sevilla, Barcelona, and Madrid.

The first full day she was here, we took a train to Málaga. The train steward started talking to us, and because of our broken Spanish, he thought it was my birthday and invited us to the front of the train.

So we got to spend about 20 minutes in the front of a high speed train with the conductor. We were going about 250 km/hour. That's 155 mph!!!

Here I am at the beach! The weather was amazing, although not quite hot enough to lay out on the beach. By the pool, perfecto.

I loved this: a grill in a boat. The men were cooking fish on skewer's over the flame.

The view from our hotel room! We stayed at Sol Principe in Torremolinos, one of the little beach towns. This was the first time in 9 months I stayed at a HOTEL instead of a HOSTEL, boy is there a difference.

Fried calamares, a Spanish staple.

Yummmy. We enjoyed the best paella I have ever had in Spain, two nights in a row!

Seafood paella: shrimp, clams, mussels, chicken, peppers, peas, rice, deliciousness.

Leaving for Sevilla after two days soaking up the sun. We had a wonderful time relaxing by the pool, reading some Chelsea Handler, and catching up.

The Cruise: Crete

2010-05-09T16:21:00.000-04:00

This morning, we went to the Island of Crete, to the town Heraklion.

We only had a few hours, so we just walked around exploring the town.

MMMMM...lamb.

The Cruise: Santorini

2010-05-09T15:54:00.009-04:00

This afternoon we pulled up to Santorini. We had to leave the cruise ship on little taxi boats. The town is built up on top of the cliffs you see. Also, you can see the stairs you have to climb, or ride a donkey to get to the top.

On the taxi boat with 55 high school students singing...

Here I go on the donkey!! They were soo overworked, poor things. All they do is walk up and down some 300 steps over and over and over again.

Kimmi's donkey had to be attached to a different donkey to force it up the hill.

Look at all of those stairs...

Kimmi is holding the cruise ship with just 2 fingers.

That is a volcano near the island.

Our bottle of Greek wine. We paid 100x too much for it, but the view was worth it!

The most beautiful sunset I have seen!

The three of us on our last night of the cruise. By far our favorite!

100th post! (and my life list too)

2010-05-03T15:49:00.006-04:00

Wow! I didn't even realize I had done my 100th post. So I will celebrate with number 101, and in doing so, I am going to share my life list I have been working on for the past month or so. So here it is!
I stole the idea from nicoleisbetter. (and copied some of her ideas)

I started making my list after reading it on her blog (beginning of March). It is a list of things I want to do in my life! I have only 70 or so right now, but hopefully I will keep adding to it! Let me know if you want to join me in any adventures.

My 25 year old Life list

Visit every continent (North America, Europe, Africa)
Get married
Have children
Adopt a child
Start a business
Hike in the grand canyon
Visit all 50 states (NE, IA, NC, SC, FL, NY, CT, VA, IN, TX, OK, KS, MO, MN, AZ, CO, NV, LA, WV, MD, OH)
Road trip across the US
Stay in a hut on stilts
Become a yoga instructor
Take dance classes
Learn to play the piano
Cruise (march 26th 2010 Greece)
Volunteer in 3rd world country
Own a house at the beach
Make my own dress
Complete marathon
Triathlon
Swim in all oceans
Visit more than 25 countries- (USA, Spain, Morocco, France, Italy,
Switzerland, Netherlands, England, Ireland, Bahamas, Greece, Turkey)
Travel alone
Be bilingual
Ride an elephant
African safari
Egyptian pyramids
Visit Machu Picchu
Mt. Rushmore
Live with Natalie for 1 month? 1 year?
Grow a full garden
Pet wild cats tigers etc
Live in NYC
Skydive
Sailing trip
Travel with a band
Harvest bees
Renovate a house
Hike Appalachian trail
Be vegetarian for 1 year? 1 month?
Eat organic only for 1 year? 1 month?
Go to service of 5 religions (Christian)
Eastern European backpacking
Spend a weekend with Chrissy and Danelle
Volunteer in my current city
Take singing lessons
Play on a sports team
Live in South America
Take cooking classes
Feel confident in a bikini
Raise my children bilingual
Learn to snowboard
Indo board
Lay out topless (March 31, 2010 Rhodes, Greece (ALONE))
Ride in front with conductor of high speed train (April 3, 2010 Madrid to Malaga)
7 wonders of the modern world
7 wonders of the natural world
7 wonders of the ancient world (Ephesus Turkey March 30, 2010; Rhodes, Greece )
Be on metro, plane, train, car, ship and bus in one 24 hour period (April 2nd, 2010)
Ride in hot air balloon
Get a tattoo
Live in a bicycle town
Bicycle tour (across country)
Visit as many of "1000 places to visit before you die" as I can
Finish reading a book in another language
Show up at airport with passport and bag, take first available flight
Can my own foods
Run a whole 5k
Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
Go to Olympics
Skydive
Bicycle Wine Tour
Shake hands with the President of the US
Write a story about the lives of my grandparents

And for now that is it. Happy 100th Post! Thanks for reading and following my crazy adventures!

XOXO

Day trip to Aranjuez

2010-04-24T16:46:00.005-04:00

Today I went to Aranjuez, a little town outside of Madrid where one of the Royal Palaces is. I went with 5 other girls, we all took the train, which was about 45 minutes.

UNFORTUNATELY, you are not supposed to take pictures inside the palace, which is a real bummer. But I got one shot.

Christa, Julia, me & Sara.

Aranjuez is pretty well-known for having beautiful gardens. There were so many fountains and beautiful landscaping.

My favorite fountain, I think it is Hilarious.

The front of the Palace. Wouldn't you love this to be your summer home?

The Cruise: Rhodes

2010-04-21T13:21:00.007-04:00

Today we arrived in Rhodes early in the morning. After breakfast, we disembarked! This is the cool city wall that is at the port.

Our goal for the day was to lay out on the beach, since we had a whole day on one island. So we talked to the taxi drivers about our options. Which were limited, and not very tempting. Because it was such an off season, the taxi prices were high, the beaches were deserted, and everything was closed near the nice beaches. But we went anyway.

This was where our taxi driver took us, only about 20 minutes from the port. We had a completely private beach!!!!!! Until creepy cars kept driving in. Eventually we were joined by a crazy New York woman that had relocated to the island. She made our day complete!

We found a GREAT, local restaurant. Had some beers, ouzo, and food! There was a menu, but only in Greek.

Some Greek men bought our second round.

This was my meal, some beans, cauliflower, salad, potatoes, and not sure what else. It was good though!!

This is the famous historical site on the island. The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. It was a statue of the Greek god Helios, built in around 290 BC, and stood over 100 feet tall! The two pillars below represent where the statue was supposedly standing.

After our fun day on Rhodes, we rushed back to make it to the "Captain's Cocktail". This was supposed to be a semi-formal event, but we rocked our bathing suits.

No worries, we clean up nicely!

And we definitely made it back to the second "Captain's Cocktail" for a second round of free drinks!

Then we had our fancy dinner.

And this is me at the end of dinner, after a few glasses of wine, and a big amount of sea sickness.

The Cruise: Patmos

2010-04-19T09:51:00.001-04:00

Patmos is a teeny Greek Island, with a population of about 3,000. How cute!!! It is famous for the Cave of the Apocalypse and the Monastery of St. John.

Here we are in the monastery, with a monk!!!

Dazzling islands.

This is at the entrance to the Cave of the Apocalypse. This is where St. John was given the vision from God, and wrote the book of Revelations.

LUNCH!

Some scrumptious dessert.

The setting sun as we were leaving the island.

End of the afternoon in Patmos.

The buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner did not help my bikini body.

Here we are about to board the first day!

We had to learn all about the safety on board the ship of course.

The Cruise: Kusadasi

2010-04-17T15:40:00.002-04:00

March 30th, our second stop of the cruise. Turkey! This is the 10th country I have been to. It was beautiful.

We grabbed a taxi in Kusdasi right away to go to Ephesus. In Ephesus are the ruins of an ancient Greek city from around 7th century BC. It holds one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, the Temple of Artemis, which was destroyed. Now only fragments of that temple remain.

This is the street of the city. Walking through, it feels like you are living thousands of years ago.
This is the most amazing thing still standing: the Library of Celsus.

And the latrines!! Even centuries ago these had constantly running water.

The port on our car ride back.

Our wonderful taxi driver who knew about 15 words of English!

Shops in the Bazaar.

This is on the ship to our next stop. On my right hand is Turkey, and on my left hand is Greece!

And this is my future home. The water. Oh my gosh. It's breathtaking.

The Cruise: Mykonos

2010-04-16T16:12:00.010-04:00

Monday, March 29th our first day on the Cruise! Barely hot enough to lay out, but it was wonderful.

Sara & Kimmi, with our first (maybe?) drinks of the morning! And our obscene amount of stirrers.

Us ready for our evening in Mykonos. We arrived and had to take a bus, taxi, or walk to the main part of the city. We decide to walk or take a taxi. Good thing I was with the wild girls, who somehow hitched us a ride with a local boy and his dad!!!!!!

The island in the setting sun. I love the white houses, narrow streets, and delicious food.

One of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. Notice the Greek flag and cross.

Sara & Me enjoying the setting sun.

Ahhhh Greece.

The windmills on the island. We walked along the water through little streets with cafes overlooking the ocean. Finally we made it to the windmills.

We had some wine, then LOTS of fun taking pictures with the windmills.

Spin it. Kimmi looks lovely in the background.

Then we had more wine, a snack and met the cutest little boy!!!!!!! What a great evening in Mykonos.

Greece: first stop Athens!

2010-04-14T13:12:00.009-04:00

Morning flight full of mimosas, afternoon flight full of wine. Kimmi, Sara, and I finally get off the metro at our stop in Athens and this is what we see! Amazing view of the Parthenon right away. Welcome to Greece.

From our rooftop patio at the hostel Athens Backpackers. Without the antennas it would be perfect.

Delicious baklava, oh my gosh. If I was crazy enough, I could have eaten the entire tray; although it might have set me back about 30 euros.

The girls and me on the roof/patio of the Acropolis Museum. What a beautiful sight (us of course, not that thing in the background).

Just a little model shoot.

A good view at night.

My Greek Platter: stuffed grape leaves, tzatziki, empanadas, meatballs, peppers, and who knows what else, but it ROCKED!

We walked ALL the way up to the Acropolis. I made it!

Visit to Caso de Campo

2010-03-21T16:09:00.004-04:00

That is the Royal Palace on the left, with the Cathedral on the right. These pictures are from Caso de Campo, the huge nature park in Madrid.
Look at those gorgeous snowy mountains....
The Royal Palace from behind.

The Almudena Cathedral from behind.

La Alhambra and Granada

2010-03-08T13:07:00.012-05:00

A few weeks ago I went with Kimmi & Sara to Granada. In the south of Spain, it is famous for its Moorish palace, La Alhambra. This is what we saw on the 5 hour bus trip. Rows and rows of olive trees!

We made it to the very cute town of Granada, and went to visit La Alhambra. It was built between 1248 and 1354.

This is written throughout the palace thousands of times, and says something about Allah.

Full of several fountains, tons of plants. So breathtaking.

View of Granada as we walked down from the Alhambra.

Day 21- August 26th

2010-02-24T14:37:00.000-05:00

Today was Trent's birthday!!!! The big 25. So we did lots of sight seeing, including: Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and a little fun birthday ride!

This is the Trevi Fountain.

An amazing view of St. Peter's Basilica.

Trent in front of the Pantheon.

The roof of the Pantheon. It is really an open hole!

Us at the park overlooking Rome. You can see the Basilica to the left. There were amazing views from up here. We had to walk up the Spanish Steps to reach the park.

We decided to rent Segways to explore the park!! I was a little nervous at first. Trent was super excited. All you do is lean forward and backwards to stop and go.

The guy who was in charge of renting the things was HILARIOUS! He was talking about how stupid some people were who were renting them, how they were like crashing, and turning them off, and getting stuck in random places.

Yay!!!! It was so much fun.

In St. Peter's Square.

Inside the Basilica.

Me sending a postcard from the Vatican!

The plan of St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican.

The wall to the Vatican City.

Field Trip to the City!

2010-02-24T13:56:00.007-05:00

About a week ago, I went with some 3rd graders from my school in Brunete (about an hour outside of Madrid) on a field trip to the center of Madrid. For some of them, it was their first time! The students were with a group of students from England, it was cute to see them interact with English speaking children.

This is fa fountain in front of the Palace.

We got to see the changing of the guard in Madrid. According to everyone, this is a rare sight, the 50-something year old principal had never seen it before even.

One of the entrances to the Plaza Mayor. See the line of children. It was scary for me carting around 20 children through the crowded streets of Madrid.

Later in the day, I found ANOTHER Cafe Nebraska!! Represent!

This is a chocolate form of the bear & tree, a famous symbol in Madrid.

And finally a walk home from school.

Cute girls!!

Day 20- August 25th

2010-02-16T05:15:00.000-05:00

Rome! Here we are in the coliseum. What an amazing place. So enormous and old. This is one site I never would have missed.
The ruins.

We finallllly found some delicious cannoli!!!

Half way to 50......

2010-02-13T13:03:00.005-05:00

It snowed for my birthday!! YAY!! I guess this winter in Madrid was a little crazy, it snowed at least 3 times!

Martita & me, and my Betty Crocker Devil's food cake (only found at The American Store). With HOMEMADE buttercream frosting!!! Yummmmmy!

Ines with me, she just wants the cake....

25! (2+5 little ones :)

Tangier, Morocco...Do you LOVE riding camels?

2010-02-05T03:41:00.009-05:00

Moroccan slippers!
Moroccan camel!!

Hold on tight! She is going up.

We always felt realllllly rich because the bills are like 100, 200, 500. Actually, a 100 dirham bill equals 10 euros.

A little hookah action.

Amazing fresh seafood. One of the only things I enjoyed on the trip!
The view of Tanger from our hotel.

Moroccan tea, super yummy: tea with lots of mint leaves and sugar!

Our lovely hotel. With great ocean views, not free breakfast, and hot pink curtains.

Barcelona: food and things!

2010-01-24T12:28:00.012-05:00

Of course I have a lot more photos from Barcelona!! On the main street, Las Ramblas, there are tonnssss of street performers. This one shook a can at Marilyn, scared her, so she decided to tip him for a photo. There was also a man on a toilet, a monster, a man covered in gold, ridiculous Mickey & Minnie. And many others...
This is the famous Mercat De La Boqueira. We explored for over an hour. It is one of the top markets in all of Europe! There are so many yummy treasures on the inside. And a great escape from the rain.

I liked the peace cow by the entrance.
These are all from inside the market. This is obviously the seafood spread.

And here is my FAVORITE: the candy spread!
Eggs, huevos, eggs & more eggs!
A pretty picture of cebollas.
Tomates & judias!

I have no idea what this fruit is in English, but apparently in Spanish its a pitahaya. Beautiful, no clue what it tastes like. Tell me if you know!
Don't all of the fruits make your mouth water?!?!?

And finally we enjoyed goffres by the ocean! I loved Barcelona and hope to make it back there! I highly recommend it to any traveller!

Barthelona (Barcelona!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

2010-01-17T09:51:00.012-05:00

At the beginning of January I went with two new friends to Barcelona. They were visiting our mutual friend Ashley from California for a week or so, and they wanted to go to Barcelona, so I tagged along. Flights were cheap, hostel was cheap, so we scooted up there for 2 full days, and one night. It was very fun, and an amazing city. One of my favorites so far.

In case you don't know why I put Barthelona, its because of the way the Spanish pronounce the c sound in that word, with a lisp!

Famous for the art and architecture by Gaudi, Barcelona is a very cool place. This is Gaudi's Casa Batllo. We didn't get to go in because it was a holiday. Next time!
Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. A massive cathedral. Building began in 1882, and Gaudi was working on it until he died in 1926. As you can see, it is still being worked on.

I thought this was a cool piece of art in the city.

A trip to Park Güell is a must. This park, also created by Gaudi is so funky. It is incredible how much work went into designing the park. Everywhere you walk has some kind of unique accent. To get to the entrance, you have to hike up a hill for like 30 minutes, it is tough. Then once inside, everything keeps going up, stairs, hills, ramps.
The two buildings at the entrance to the park. There is nothing else like this in the world!

And all the colors everywhere are amazing!!

A very serene spot in the park. Especially with this man playing his guitar.

Bubbles made amazing pictures! These people get tips just for making humongous bubbles. The things people do for money on the streets is CRAZY.

This amazing band was playing in the park. They were like a reggae-Spanish band. Very cool.
We all bought their CD and got to take a special picture with them!! They are called the Mañaners, this word describes people who like the morning...

A jumping picture of course! It only took us about 10 tries to get a good one!! You can see the ocean in the background on the left.
These are the stairs leading up to the park.

Our HUMONGOUS hostel doors!

Puerta del Sol por La Nochevieja

2010-01-17T08:48:00.007-05:00

I went with a bunch of my new friends to Sol, the city center, for New Year's Ever (aka Nochevieja). We decided to get super dressed up, bring snacks and drinks, and go to Sol near 9:30 or 10. At 12, the bells chime in Sol. Everyone in Spain either watches live, or on the television. The tradition is to eat 12 grapes, one for each chime. This brings good luck.

Ashley, Melissa, Marilyn, Bree, & me!

Here is our spread for the night: chips, sandwiches, rum, vodka, juice, coke, beer, cava (champagne).
Here is the clock, you can see it is only 10:15. We have a long time ahead of us.

Eating our sandwiches!! We were so freezing cold. I swear my feet were numb.

Wigs are a typical part of Nochevieja, so many people had on the funkiest hats and wigs. There were SO many people!! We weren't too crowded where we stood, but when we left, it was the worst crowd I had ever been in.

The fireworks in Sol, right after we ate our grapes.

As the fireworks went off!

Trying for a nice photo in front of the tree. Hmm..I wanted my dress to show!

That is so much better!!

Ashley, me, & Marilyn posing at the club.
My last photo of the night (only 1 am!) Hahahaha......

Navidad en Cadiz!

2010-01-14T07:13:00.007-05:00

The family! All dressed up for Christmas. Marta, Fernando, Berta, Martita,& Ines.
Playing in the sand. It only took us one hour to make that ;)

Martita & I on the street in Cadiz.

Bar Nebraska, right on the corner!!! Hahahaha.

Our Christmas eve spread. Salmon, shrimp, sausage, cheese, bread, delicious!

Berta & Me!

The parents left for the night! So we pigged out with chips, candy, and watched movies.

Playing in the park.

Finally a sunny day!! Cadiz is beautiful, but not with such horrible winds and rain.

This place starts in the morning with fried churros, then goes to fried seafood: squid, calamari, octopus, shrimp, other unknown fish items. It is delicious, and this is right across the street from the grandparents house! Yum!

Holiday Partay Madrid

2010-01-08T16:19:00.010-05:00

My friends Ashley, Melissa, & Claire had a Holiday party at their apartment in Madrid. Britt was still in town, so we hit it up! They had delicious food, drinks, beer pong, and card games!

Melissa & me, playing with the funky color settings on my camera!

Red?
That's better! Love that one.

Me, Nic, & Ashley. Ashley is my new friend from California, Nic is from Indiana.

We finally made it out to a bar/disco. There's Chino in the background!!!

Hmm...must have been getting late in the night

Singing our hearts out I guess.

Finally, An American Visitor!!!!!!

2010-01-08T14:39:00.015-05:00

My friend Britt came & visited me in Madrid!! She is a friend from college, although she went to East Carolina University. She is from Greensboro, but was in Finland for a semester studying architecture. So she decided to do some travelling before she went home. It was a really fun trip! We went to the Mercado San Miguel, which is a super posh little market with food, drinks, and snacks! We got one drink for FREE! Thanks bartender from America.

We stepped on Kilometro Cero in the city center of Madrid, in the Puerta del Sol. From this spot, every National road in Spain starts from, going in every direction!
Yummy tapas at my favorite little sidreria: El Tigre! Here, for 2 euros you can get a small beer (caña) or sangria, and then a whole plate of delicious tapas. Here you see:queso manchego, jamon, croquetas, and underneath patatas bravas. It is so good!

We saw Papa Noel! Walking around Banco de España we found a govenment building with its gates open, the military band was playing Christmas songs, handing out free goodies, and some kind of cough syrup flavored chupitos (shots).

Here we are at the Parque del Retiro. Some sweet old man took our picture. I was FREEZING, Britt was definitely used to the cold.

Enjoying our dessert: Roscon de los Reyes. It is a big round desert, sometimes with whipped cream in the middle. It is typically eaten on January 6th, El Dia de los Tres Reyes Magos. This is a huge holiday in Spain, bigger than Christmas. The three Kings (wisemen) bring gifts! This dessert is eaten at night, there is one hidden toy inside and whoever gets it is crowned 'King' for the day, there is also a bean hidden sometimes, and whoever gets that has to pay for it!!

Ready to dive in!!

Yummy!!! Too much cream!

This is my friend Julia! We all went to the Rastro, which is a huge street market with vendors selling things such as socks, jewelry, hammocks, scarves, and then a bajillion other randoms.

Looking around the Plaza Mayor, crowded with a huge Holiday Market.

Here is a huge Belen (Nativity Scene) at the Cathedral near the Palace.

Finally we had one last snack and some wine with my friend Ashley! Hope you make it home safe Britt!!!

Day 19-August 24th

2010-01-08T13:35:00.000-05:00

Today we had some amazing pasta. We went to a market and ate some of the best, freshest pasta I have ever had in my life.

Delicious, high quality Parmesan cheese!

And meat!

Just a sideways picture of a tan girl.
She cut some meat and cheese for Trent. However, the meat got confiscated on his way through security...

More meat, ham, bacon, sausage, etc.

I did a tour of the Ferragamo museum! It was fabulous. It had old shoe forms of Marilyn Monroe, and tons of celebrities. Even one of Ava Gardner, my great grandmothers old friend!

Pizze for lunch.

This was funny because Trent had been saying how bad he wanted a cannoli... and we couldn't find them anywhere!

Mona Lisa.

The highlight of the trip was this amazing dinner (well besides the gelato). We found this restaurant, that was in Rick Steve's guide book. We decided to go, and inside it looks pretty ghetto. But the food was amazing!

I mean red-checked table cloths. Come on! Then a man invited us to some homemade wine. You can see it in the picture above. Then the chef came out with a huge butcher knife and a huge hunk of meat. And he fed it to the dog with the couple sitting behind us. What an interesting night!!

Day 18- continued, Florence

2009-12-26T08:07:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Florence! To me: the home of amazing Gelato. We ate some at least once a day, me up to three times. Oops!

Some appetizing art.

We got to see the Duomo too! Huge and beautiful.

Continued.....car rental, beach hopping & more

2009-12-22T10:36:00.001-05:00

So day 2 we decided to rent a car so we could drive around the island and see different beaches and things. This was our little guy!

So we had a great time, traveled to different beaches. I made good friends with people I met only once, or had never met before. That is one of the best parts about being over here in Spain, making new friends! Meeting people from all over the world. It is great, a mind-opening experience. And we all know i could use some more friends!

Las Canarias.....the beach in December!

2009-12-21T11:34:00.000-05:00

Here we are approaching the Island!! How cool. I wish it was a clear day so we could see more of the islands.

Kara, me, Luke, and Jordan was taking the picture. We just arrived in Gran Canaria, grabbed a cup of coffee before finding the bus to take us to our condo.

Getting ready to head to the beach. We stayed in a town called Puerto Rico, in a condo place called Arizona. It was nice, only 10 euro per person each night!!

Beautiful weather, flowers, sunshine in December!

A little yoga on the Puerto Rico beach. You can't imagine how excited I was to be able to wear a bathing suit and soak up some rays in December. Although I really need to get to work on my bod for the beach next summer. Ugh....
Sun setting over Puerto Rico. All of the condos are built into the mountains, and the roads zig-zag up.

Our pool, great view!

Cocktails by the pool.

Out to dinner! Jordan and Kara. Say cheese.

Toms Shoes for Christmas

2009-12-20T10:27:00.002-05:00

I think Toms shoes are really cool! the idea behind them is great as well. For every pair of shoes bought, a child in need receives a pair. Awesome. Not to mention Blake, the founder, is really good looking!

I want these!

Or these.

Day 18- August 23rd

2009-12-13T09:53:00.000-05:00

We left the Cinque Terre early this morning, to stop in Pisa on our way to Florence. It was about the halfway point. So we got there, and were told you could easily walk to see the tower from the train station, carrying bags and everything. So we set out, looked at the map. The town was a dump. Lots of homeless people, drunks, trash in the streets. It was a Sunday, in peak travel season, and there were very few people around. But it is a must, especially for a quick stop.

We finally got there, it was like a 30+ minute walk, super hot, our bags got so heavy. The church and other buildings are very pretty. They are gleaming white, unlike many of the places we had been.

You can really see it leaning! It is a pretty building.

We got some sandwiches and had lunch in the yard of the tower.

Then of course we both had to take the typical picture, supporting the tower.

This was hilarious. If you look closely, you can see other people doing the exact same thing. From the far back, it is sooo funny to see like 25 people doing that, or trying to do other creative things holding up the tower.

A Spanish Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T09:56:00.003-05:00

So I spent the whole day cooking, with the help of Juliana, the house cook! She prepared the turkey and helped with other things too. But I did most of the cooking, my first Thanksgiving that I was in charge of. How stressful! Most of the guests had never had a Thanksgiving dinner, or any of the dishes that I made.

The menu: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing, stuffing balls, sweet potato casserole, peas, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie, homemade applesauce. Does it get any more American!?!?

It was a great night, although unlike the American tradition, we didn't eat until about 1030 at night!! I made everyone go around the table and say one thing they were thankful for too.

Here the girls are helping her get the feathers off of the turkey and clean it out. In Madrid, it is not easy to find a big turkey like this.
My homemade apple crumb pie. Was delicious!

Juliana with the stuffing balls, they were her favorite!

Homemade applesauce, pumpkin pie & sweet potatoes.

Ines topping the sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

My guests, Sara & Kimmi. We had a great Thanksgiving!!
My Spanish mama y papa!

Marta, Berta & me. Berta is the little girls sister who is the same age as me!

Presented with 'honors of the house' in the living room.

The 'kids' table. Although most of us are grown ups there wasn't room in the dining room. So we ate around the coffee table in the living room. It was more fun that way!
The girls and me. Notice glass of wine, peace sign, I love this one!

The 15 or so 'invitados' that I cooked for. This was the 'adult' table.

Dessert spread. I made the pumpkin pie from scratch, and the apple pie (crust & all). Someone brought lemon meringue.

Juliana getting awarded too! She made the turkey happen.

Real Madrid- futbol game!

2009-11-29T16:42:00.007-05:00

The massive Santiago Bernabeu Stadium! It is really huge, and can hold about 80,000 people! I went with my friend Julia. We thought we would be able to get tickets from the window a few hours before the game. We were WRONG! The only tickets they had left that were eats together were 75 euros. We were NOT willing to pay that much.

So we decided to grab drink and try to scalp tickets. They were selling them outside the stadium (40 euro is the cheapest) for like 65+. Again, not really in our budget. Finally this man said he would sell his for 50 a piece. We just weren't sure if it was legitimate, luckily it turned out to be fine, we didn't pay until we were inside. Luckily my Spanish is so amazing....haha.

Our seats were nosebleed, but it was a blast!

Madrid played a team called Racing, from Santander (I've been there! North of Spain) They won 1-0!

Look at all of those people heading out to celebrate the win.

We met up with Kimmi & Sara after the game and had some drinks. Amazing night!

Valencia: Paella, Playa, Tapas & more

2009-11-27T03:56:00.011-05:00

2 weekends ago (yes, that's how slow I am) I went with Kimmi and Sara to Valencia, which is on the Eastern coast of Spain. We flew from Madrid, at 6:30 in the morning. In order to do that, we headed to the airport at about 2 am, so we could take the metro and not have to get a taxi. It was a rough night trying to get some sleep with my head on table.

We finally made it (only 1 hour flight) got to our hostel and everything. Then headed out to explore the town. We found a place for tapas, and decided to have our first beer at 11 am.

Mmmm...look at all those tapas! The waitress told us to help ourselves. At first we thought they were free, we learned that they were like 1 euro each.....

Some had ham, others anchovies, tomatoes, cheeses, a huge variety!!

The center of Valencia.

Walking from the center of the city, through a park, headed to La Ciudad de Las Artes y Las Ciencias, the City of Arts & Sciences. It has the biggest Aquarium in Europe! Very neat place, it is so big! We didn't go inside the aquarium though...too expensive!

These are two of the buildings at the complex. The architecture is really amazing.

Fun pictures!! I tried to jump like 50 times for a picture, and this is all I got.....

Sara's was really cool!

This is a view of the city from our hostel balcony. Pretty amazing. There was a wedding at that church on the left, which was cool to see from above.

Loved this tree.

La Playa! The Beach!

Miniature bottles of champagne to sip on the beach. The weather was perfect! Had we woken up earlier, I might have gotten a tan.

This is a cute little sailboat fountain. How neat!
Overall we had a great weekend!! The weather was amazing, we met some really fun people. OOOO we ate paella too! Kimmi has those pictures, I will have to get from her. Although we were a little disappointed, Valencia is supposedly the place to get paella. Now I need to learn how to make it!

Private Tour in Comillas

2009-11-21T14:38:00.000-05:00

During our visit to Ruiloba, we went to the nearby, larger town of Comillas. Fernand0 (the girl's father) is the CFO of a large construction firm in Spain. His company is refurbishing this building.

The Pontifical University was built in the 1880's and was a University dedicated to teaching priests. Now, it hasn't been used in 20 or 30 years. This year, they are re-modeling, updating, and preserving the buildings to turn it into a new University, for teaching Spanish.
We had the special, very private and personal privilege to tour the building. It is not open to the public. We got to wear hard hats, vests and all.

It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. Luckily, a lot of the building is able to be saved, and re-touched to look like it did over 100 years ago.

Then some areas are very damaged, from weather, vandalism, or just neglect; they might not be salvaged.

There are 3 different buildings, and this church is in the middle.

We got to go up to the top of the building where the clock is. What a view...

This is the Palace in Comillas. I love this village, mountains and beaches all in one. Not to mention the cute little streets, houses made from stone. It is wonderful!

They have these funky trees everywhere in this area of Spain. It looks like hands or fingers to me. I am still not sure what they are called...

So another bustling weekend away; very neat tour, great food, and some relaxing too!

Day 17-August 22nd

2009-11-21T06:55:00.000-05:00

The walk! We started the Cinque Terre hike today. The hike is along the coast, connecting all 5 towns. It is fairly simple, but we chose to do only 2 legs of it.
This is on the first leg, between Riomaggiore and Manarola. This portion is called the Via dell'Amore, or Path of Love.

Manarola. Such character!

Boat being taken out of the water to store. Crazy system, but its the only way to do it!
"Beach" of Manarola. hahahaha.

Back on the trail to the next town.

These 365 stairs lead up to the town of Corniglia. What a climb.

The next town we went to was Vernazza. It was my favorite village, where we spent a lot of our time in the Cinque Terre. I love the color of the houses and the boats.

Sunset, slowly ending the day. This picture makes me feel relaxed just sitting here looking at it.

Yay for blogging friends!

2009-11-16T17:00:00.005-05:00

One of my best friends has a new blog. Check it out!

Kacies blog: Life in the Bible Belt

And I can't forget my best friend who has had a blog for a long time!
Danelle: I'm A Maniac

So if you are reading this, you should start a blog. It is fun, I promise!

Ruiloba for the Weekend

2009-11-15T13:36:00.007-05:00

Ahh! Rain rain go away! Last weekend I went with the family back up to their home in the tiny village of Ruiloba. The weekend was cloudy, rainy, but not too cold thank goodness.
Speaking of tiny villages...funny story from class the other day:
We were talking about gardening with the 5th graders. The teacher asked them if they grew plants on their terrace or balcony, and several answered yes. I asked if any of them had homes with yards where they could plant things in the ground. No one did. Then, someone mentioned that they have a garden at their OTHER house, in some little town outside of Madrid. Then the whole class-no joke- started talking, saying ohhh ya, me too. And they ALL raised their hands when I asked who had a garden at their house outside of Madrid. Interesting...a class of 20 eleven year-olds all with more than one home...

We stopped at this neat hotel on the way to Ruiloba for a small dinner. It is amazing, looks like an old castle.

A neat little room full of clocks.

Martita & Ines!

I saw this house/home decor shop and LOVED it. Not really even sure which village it was in, as they are all super tiny and close together. The fall-colored leaves are amazing.

We went to Santander to see the beach. The waves were huge, crashing way up over the wall of the city. It was also really cold and rainy, so we took quick pictures and ran.

Then we headed to the gardens at the Palace in Santander. They have penguins and sea lions.

Park with the Family

2009-11-10T16:46:00.006-05:00

The first of November, what a beautiful fall day in Madrid. I went with the family to Parque del Oeste, and we walked to the Casa de Campo. The leaves are turning colors and falling off the trees-not quite the same as Raleigh, but it will do.

The girls with their parents! Love those yellow leaves.
Ines jumping rope, in the leaves. They have never raked leaves and jumped in them- I can't believe it!

Martita way behind the group; she was getting a side-ache from our walk, typical 9 year old problems.
The view of Madrid from Casa de Campo. You can see the Cathedral and the Palace if you click on the second picture.

Me with the girls and Fernando.

Pretty Martita.

Big, beautiful PERFECT fall leaf.

The fountain in the park. The glare of the sun is just right! Love it.

Day 16- August 21st

2009-11-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

We visited more of the villages today. Each one is so different it is amazing. We went with some of the girls from our hostel to Monterosso al Mare, the farthest north, but supposedly with the best beaches-that is, sandy beaches. Well being a hardcore beach bum, I was a little disappointed. The 'sand' is more like teeny rocks, not quite as fine as we are used to. It was REALLY crowded, August is the peak tourist month in Europe.

Monterosso al Mare is very resort-like, you can see the rows and rows of umbrellas. But I don't think you find trees and mountains like that in South Beach.

We got to do 'cliff' jumping, really this one was off the man-made pier. But still it was fun!!

427.AVI

428.AVI

Then we headed to Vernazza which was my favorite city. We took the train which connects all 5 towns. Then you just walk down a little hill and there you are! This town was so cute, full of small boats, lots of people swimming. You can swim on the little tiny sandy beach, or off of the wall that makes it a little cove.

More cliff jumpers! We decided not to do this one.

We went back to Riomaggiore. This is the beach in that town. BIG flat rocks. Really uncomfortable. But the water was beautiful and felt amazing

Headed back to the hostel for pizza, cards, and some beers with our new friends!!

Day 15- August 20th

2009-11-03T12:46:00.000-05:00

The train ride from Switzerland to Italy was beautiful. We finally made it to La Spezia, the closest big town to the Cinque Terre.

So this is it! The Cinque Terre: 5 small towns, villages, hillside hideaways, whatever you want to call them. Literally, the name means Five Lands.

Riomaggiore: the first town, closest to our hostel. I love all of the little dinghy boats. However, the rocky beach was not for me.

Enjoying some gelato! Italy really does have amazing gelato. I wanted some every day, every meal, every hour. Trent was annoyed.

To get to Riomaggiore from our hostel, we had to take about a 30 minute bus ride. This was the only place we did not book in advance, so when we were trying to book it from our tiny iPods, it was difficult to know what we were really getting. The hostel was not bad, just WAY up a mountain, very scary, narrow, curvy, hilly roads. I was terrified.

Imagine living on this hill. Or even walking up it one time. It was killer, but everyone, children, 90 year old Italian grandmothers, was wandering around-up and down.

Carving Pumpkins in Madrid

2009-10-28T13:59:00.006-04:00

Ines & I went to the fruiteria yesterday and picked out 2 pumpkins to carve. We got one big one, and one little one. Ines was really into making scary witch faces.

She also really enjoyed watching me stab the pumpkin and act like a scary witch.

The girls told me exactly how to carve each of their pumpkins.

And of course they got in on some of the action. No fingers were lost.

Our scary witch faces!!!!

Enjoying "Halloween Dinner" with roasted pumpkin seeds and all.

Day 14 Part 2

2009-10-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

We spend the day 'hiking'. We went for about 8 hours, partially up a mountain and back. We brought lunch, water, and toilet paper.

As we were walking, we started hearing this waterfall before we saw it. It was such an amazing surprise. We were able to walk under it, you can see the stairs in this picture. I love waterfalls. I was so excited to be able to get so close to such a huge one.

Standing behind the waterfall!!
There is Trent under the rushing water.

Here you can see how enormous it is. If you click on the picture, you can see me down under it!

While we were sitting under the waterfall, I was journaling. Then, down the mountain came these people with the same llamas we saw that morning. They walked all the way up the other side of the mountain from where we took the gondola.

This area we scoped out for lunch. We climbed off the path, and ate on the rocks in the stream that fed out to the waterfall. I took my shoes off and put my feet in. It was so freezing cold!

The Alps are so breathtaking. Look at the little village, what you see is the WHOLE village. Teeny tiny!

These are cowbells from different years. The town has a festival or competition and this person must be the winner.

Mountains, Sea, History!

2009-10-16T13:03:00.012-04:00

Last weekend we spent in Ruiloba, in the north of Spain. It is about a 4 hour drive away, but with traffic can be even longer. It is in the province of Cantabria. We went to the museum of Altamira where the cave paintings of bison are located. It was very interesting, exhibits about revolution, etc.
This picture was taken outside of the museum, look at that valley!

Then we headed to a nearby village for lunch, at 2:30. This lunch took about 2.5 hours. The specialty of the region is called cocido montanes; it is a stew-like dish made of garbanzo beans, with chorizo, morcilla, and pork. It is very rich and delicious.

The restaurant.

We went up to the top of a mountain, on a curvy dirt/rock road. Then we came to this peak, with an old church and 360 degree view of the area.

Our group! 2 Colombians, the rest Spaniards, & 1 Americana.

This is the house next door to my families house. It is Marta's (the mother) family's house, and is over 150 years old. The house has several small bedrooms. Enough room for 20 people!! It has marvelous dark wood floors, originals! The orange roof tiles let in a little bit of rain. I love the little porch room with the windows and the big tropical trees that don't really belong. There are lemon trees in the backyard, and hydrangea bushes EVERYWHERE.

Get excited...

2009-10-09T08:08:00.003-04:00

I am heading out of town again this weekend!! Be ready for a post filled with amazing photos of a far away place!! We are going to Ruiloba, near Santander, in the North of Spain. It is another 4 hour speedy quick car ride away.

View Larger Map

So I can't wait to see what we do there. I have heard that they have a very large house! So excited! XOXO! Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Day 14-August 19th Part 1

2009-10-05T15:42:00.000-04:00

Today we woke up super early to catch the train, then bus, then surprise! gondola up to Gimmelwald, Switzerland. This tiny mountain village was referred to us by some people we met at Balmers, and we had a free day! So it was very last minute planning. We knew we had 3 legs to get to this village. But we did not know that this is the only way to get to the very top! Trent was a little freaked. You can't really tell, but that is a cliff, not a mountain incline.

We saw these fuzzy guys down at the bottom of the Gondola. Cute!
Up, up, up!

Our hostel at the top of the mountain. Very tiny, very woodsy.

The view of the village and the mountains beyond. No cars, some chickens and cows, lots of cheese for sale.