Update long overdue!

I first need to apologize to my very few but dedicated readers. This past year I dropped the ball on the blog and did not update it really at all. While at home this summer, I have several friends say that they loved reading my blog, and missed it. So I am decided to revamp the blog, change the title and update it. I changed the title to better reflect my outlook on life, and my time overseas. The blog will stay the same and I will attempt to update it once a month with things going on. With that being said, I am going to start this revamped blog with a summer vacation update.

This summer went by way too fast, I have no idea where 8 weeks went, and I turned around and it was time to go. I started my summer by sneaking out of school a day early (don't worry I got approval and it was a shortened day) to attend my brother Kevin's wedding. I spent 13+ hours traveling home and then 2 days later had the wedding rehearsal and then the following day the wedding. Needless to say I was exhausted, but by the time the wedding rolled around I got my stuff together. But...... the first thing I did the day after arriving home was go and visit my beautiful Niece RaeLynn.

She is the most beautiful precious thing I have ever seen, and I just love to squish her little cheeks.


Ok so back to the wedding................... The wedding was really beautiful and very casual and low key, nothing too fussy which I love. The groomsmen wore these really great suits, but no tie, and the bridesmaids had grey dresses in different styles which looked awesome. The ceremony was short and sweet, and thankfully the rain held off, because it was raining right before. After the ceremony, there were lawn games during the cocktail hour. They had lawn size jenga, ladder ball, and cornhole. After cocktail hour they had dinner which included a pasta bar, brick oven pizza, and a lemon chicken. Unfortunately I couldn't eat anything. I was told the chicken was gluten free, but it looked liked it had a breading on it and I didn't want to chance it, but it's no big deal because it was my brother's day and not mine and I could eat dessert so it was all good. Plus my dad had to get my grandfather to the highway and he snuck me back from McDonald's french fries. They did have a dessert bar which included homemade cookies, and brownies and some were made gluten free for me, which was delicious. The rest of the night was spent dancing and just having an awesome time!!

The remainder of the summer was spent visiting friends and family. I tried to go and see my niece at least once a week, I mean she is adorable and I can't help it!! My friend Katie from Montreal came down to visit for 4 days which was awesome and we had so much fun. Also one of my best friends in the entire world Carrie came down for 3 days to visit and hang out. We actually went and did the Muse Paintbar where we got to paint and have drinks and it was so much fun. You can see our painting below.

I also got the newest addition to my body art collection this summer. I have been thinking of getting a color tattoo for awhile and a Dr. Seuss tattoo. So last summer I decided that I wanted to "Oh the Places You'll Go" So I met with Dan the tattoo man and he hooked me up real good, it came out awesome. Also most know this but I got a tattoo while I in Athens Greece on Spring break, it was the word "Wanderlust" with a whale since it is one of the great wanders of the world. It was definitely not my intention to go this big, but once I saw the design and how awesome it was, I decided to keep the size and go big, and I LOVE it!!! You can see them both below.

The other big thing I spent my summer doing was working on my last 2 classes of my masters program. These were my last 2 classes, and now all I have left is my Masters Thesis which I will begin in September. I am excited to be done, and can't believe that I am already almost done. I have learned a lot and I am excited to apply these classes to my teaching.

Overall it was an awesome summer, and I had so much fun visiting and spending time with everyone. My summer always goes by fast but somehow this one went by even quicker than usual. Before I knew it, it was time to drive back to Logan Airport and board 2 planes, have 3 hour layover, have a 7 hour time change, and travel 16 hours back to the sandbox I call home. It is weird to call Kuwait home, but it really is home. I spend most of my time here, and I have built a life. I suppose this is all for now and please stay tuned for my newest update and the start of the school year.

April in Paris

I know exactly what your thinking and yes that is a famous Jazz song, and yes it has been awhile since my last post about travel. Well in all honesty It's May 17th, and I am just updating the blog from the last 6 months so yeah it's been awhile but anyway here is all about my spring break.

When the idea of spring break came up, I again decided to travel with my friend Lindsay, and Thelma who I traveled with last spring break on the cruise. We were thinking of where to go, and wanted to go somewhere that Lindsay's husband had no interest in going and a place none of us had been. After going back and forth we settled on Paris. I know that most people think that Paris is over hyped, but it was a city I wanted to visit.  Lindsay was traveling the week before with her husband, and none of us wanted to spend a lot of money so we decided on a short trip of 4 days and 3 nights. We booked a flight that was overnight so we arrived in Paris in the morning and we could just check in and go. After booking our trip we actually found out a bunch of other people were going to Paris for spring break. Thankfully we had no major hiccups on our travels to Paris, I even booked a private van to pick us up at the airport and he was there waiting with sign with my name on it..... I'm famous!!!

We arrived at a small hotel that I found, and ended up being an amazing deal it was $100 a night for the center of Paris and we were like 15 minutes from everything. Our room was small but very nicely decorated and updated and we were on a quiet street 5 minutes from the subway.

The first thing we did was pickup our Paris Passes, which are passes that get us into most museums, attractions and travel on the subway. We almost had a diaster, because it was a saturday and Easter weekend the shop where we pick up our passes closed at 1pm and we arrived at 1:03pm. The woman came to the door (her mistake) and told us they were closed. We pleaded with her that we were only there for 4 days and our flight was late arriving and thankfully she let us in. I was so grateful because they were closed the next 2 days. With passes in hand we grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to explore a bit. First on the schedule was the Eifel Tower. It was a cloudy day but we arrived and stepping off the subway and rounding the corner to see it was breathtaking. It was so amazing and so cool to finally see it in person.

That same day we did a bit more walking and visit Napolean's Tomb, which is kept in the Hospital invalides. We also visited the Rodden Museum, which houses the famous statue "The Thinker". We then when back to the hotel to relax before heading out to a lovely dinner.

Napolean's Tomb

Thinking about the Thinker; I'm sure no one has ever done this before....lol

The following day was Easter Sunday and we were meeting up with our friend Laurie who took a day trip from Brussels. The morning we met Laurie we decided to go to the Eifel Tower and go up it, while we waited for Laurie to arrive. It was so cold and windy, especially at the top.

The 2nd level of the Eifel Tower

The very top of the Eifel Tower

After we met up with our friend Laurie and since she did not have the Paris pass like us we decided to do the hop on hop off bus so we could see many different things, and go into the free places. We went by, Louvre, Notre Dame, National Assembly, Picaso Museum, Arc di Triumph, and I'm sure a few others. I also tried a really delicious sandwich called a Croc Monsieur, which is a ham and cheese sandwich then covered in cheese and baked.

After returning Laurie to our other friend Jenn, and getting them to their train we made our way back to the hotel to chill and then to go to dinner. The following day Monday we decided to go to the Louvre museum, we had a fast entry pass but we knew it would still be packed so we got there about 90 minutes before it opened. As soon as the museum opened people flooded and in and went straight for the Mona Lisa including us. Thankfully there was only a small group of people and we only waited maybe 5 minutes. I thought it was beautiful and I knew it was small but it was a bit underwhelming....lol. We spent the next 3 hours wandering around the Louvre looking at different galleries. It was so overwhelming because as everyone will tell you it's massive, truly massive.

Yeah that's me just chilling outside the Louvre Museum. After the Louvre we took a short ride to the Notre Dame Cathedral. We waited like 10 minutes to get in and wow it was incredible the stain glass was stunning and awe inspiring. We then took a small adventure to find the most incredible macaroon place in all of paris. After we decided to go see the Arc di Trumph and have a beautful dinner on our last night in Paris. Being that this was our last night in Paris we decided to do our river cruise at night to see the lights of Paris, it was so incredible. As soon as we got onto the boat the Eifel tower glittered and shimmered and it was so amazing. We cruised down The Seine for about an hour and it was the perfect ending to the day, and our last night in Paris

So our final day in Paris was packed because we had booked a 9pm flight home so we could spend the day in Paris. I had decided many months before that I wanted to get another tattoo and at first I had resigned to wait until I came home this summer, but then I had a thought. Why not try and get my tattoo in Paris. I know it seems a bit nuts but I thought it would be a cool experience and story to go with my tattoo. So I looked around and searched and found a guy who was available and booked it. We communicated back and forth and settled on a design and price. Tuesday Morning the day we left was the only day he had available. I met the guy we discussed design and went for it. It hurt quite a bit as it's on my wrist, but he was awesome and the tattoo came out way better then I expected. I absolutely love it.

The finished product

A few days later after it started to heal.

We also planned a full day and took a train ride to Versailles where we visited the palace. There was so much gold everywhere it was crazy. The one not great thing was how packed and busy it was. There was so many people inside the palace that it was hard to move around and it was so hot, and just miserable. It was beautiful just too many people. 

 

We quickly raced back to the train station to catch our train back to Paris, and to our hotel where we hopped into a cab and took the ride back to the airport. Thankfully the check in process was super easy and our overnight flight was nice and empty. We got back the next morning and had 3 days to chill, relax and settle back in before school Started.

It was a whirlwind of a trip and I really loved Paris. Stay tuned for the next update!!

A European Christmas Part two; Roaming through Rome

The second part of my christmas holiday was spent exploring Rome for 10 days!!! We arrived in Rome on the 23rd in the afternoon and took an hour bus ride to the city center near our hotel. We are staying in this small hostel like hotel, while it was not the most glamorous hotel I've ever stayed at, it was clean, safe and very close to the subway and all major transportation. We spent the first day exploring some different places and kept it pretty low key since we were still a bit exhausted from the Munich debacle.

Inside of the Basilica

Piazza de Popolo; Par of Angels & Demons was filmed here

After exploring the city on a dreary day, we went out to a nice italian dinner. It is my favorite food so the fact we got to each real italian food for 10 days was so exciting. It was Christmas eve so we decided to have a nice dinner, but Jamie was a bit under the weather and was feeling sick, so Jeff and I went to this great pizza place that was awesome! Since the next day was Christmas, one of our highlights for the trip was to go to Vatican city on Christmas day for a blessing by the Pope Francesco. We need that we would have to get there early as it would be packed so we arrived about 2 hours early and found a nice little spot against a fence where we could sit and wait. We all got dressed up and it was just so surreal. This was truly a once and a lifetime experience, when will you ever again get to see the pope on Christmas day and be blessed by him. It is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

There he is; Papa Francesco

The blessing was obviously in Italian so I understood nothing, and the blessing itself only lasted about 20 minutes, and I am not really religious but again just the chance to see the pope and be in the same place as him on Christmas day was indescribable.

Our next big adventure was visiting the Coliseum. Which for me personally was one of the things that I was most excited to see. It was awe inspiring and so massive. It obviously was wicked packed and super busy, but we got to walk around and see where the gladiators were kept, and were people sat.

Outside of the Coliseum

These are some ruins that sit just outside of the Coliseum 

That is where they kept all the gladiators and animals

Jeffrey being silly, and goofy!

The other time in Rome, was spent visiting all of the different monuments and church's. We also downloaded and watched "Angels and Demons" so over the next few days we tried and successfully visited each monument and location from the movie. I have no doubt that we are not the first nerdy people to do this, but it was nice because it helped guide our vacation and map out the next few days. Some of the other sites we visited were Castel St. Angelo, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain (which was under construction), and all of the churches.

Castel St. Angelo; In Angels and Demons, this is where the Kidnapped Cardinals were kept 

View down the road to Vatican City

Jamie, channeling her inner goddess 

The fountain from Angels and Demons where the last Cardinal was dumped into the water.

Just a cool fountain in Piazza Navona

This is a picture from inside the Vatican Gardens. We got to take a tour of the Vatican and thankfully we didn't have to wait in the 4 hour line to get tickets.

View of Rome from inside the Vatican

A warrior always kneels to his lady

These guys where everywhere, they get you to take photos with them, and then demand money!

One of my favorite pictures; The Three amigos inside the Coliseum

We stole Jeff's phone and were taking silly pictures!

We were also very fortunate to be able to spend New Years in Rome. We asked around because everyone told us that Rome is one of the biggest party spots for New Years Eve. So we had a nice dinner and then decided to go a live music party outside of the Coliseum. Once we arrived to the party there was so many people that Jamie decided it was not for her as she does not do well with big crowds. I am in the same boat with Jamie I don't like big crowds of people, but I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to stay with Jeff and I am glad I did. Down the road from the Coliseum there was a live big band with dancers performing. The music was awesome and we got to the front and just had a blast. Everyone was dancing, and singing, and of course drinking. Jeff and I were there for about 2 hours before the countdown and fireworks. I know I keep saying it, but it really was a once and a lifetime experience, to be outside the Coliseum on New Years Eve. 

Jeff and I bundled up in like 5 layers outside for New Years Eve!

The Big Band; they played awesome music. 

Over the next few days we just visited some more historical sites and tried to relax. One thing that surprised me was how cold Rome was. I knew Rome would be cold but it was freezing most days. New Years day was so cold that ice had formed on a lot of the statues in Rome.

The trip was fantastic with amazing company, I had never traveled with Jamie, and Jeff but had so much fun! If I could of done one thing different it would of been to explore and take a day trip outside Rome to Florence. 10 days is Rome is a lot and while we did see many many things at the tail end of the trip, we were running out of ideas of things to do. Another thing I would of done differently is not spend as much money. Rome is expensive as is any european city, but eating out for 10 days and all of the museums and sites was just expensive. I would have done it all again because it's an experience but you live and learn.

Stay Tuned for the next travel instalment......