My Trip to Boston

My blog hiatus all started off with my business trip to Boston. I left very very early Sunday morning (in the last week of June) - we're talking 3:30am people, ugh. My flight was supposed to leave at 5:50am. Yeah, that didn't happen because they were servicing the plane. Sigh. You know in the Amazing Race when the participants are running around trying to get on stand-by and/or are trying to change their flight? That was me. Alas, there was nothing to be done. We finally left around 8:15/8:30. Needless to say, I missed my connection to Boston, so, I had to stay the night. Hey, at least they give you hotel and $10 meal vouchers!

Monday morning came, and I finally got there. Well, sort of. You see, when I landed it was thunder storming. Normally I love a good thunder storm, but today, well, today I needed to get to my convention! I was stuck on the plane for over two hours. I could see the gate from my seat, but the crew was not allowed out while there was lightning.
FINALLY I got to the convention, had lunch, sat at the booth, had a wonderful dinner with my boss, and got checked in to my hotel.

Tuesday, my boss left for another convention, and I was on my own. Luckily, it was only a half day. After I was done at the convention, I got lunch, took a nap, and then I went on a duck tour and saw a Red Sox game at Fenway! Oh yeah, I also got awkwardly hit on while I was at the game...sorry boys, I'm taken. Did make me feel good about myself I suppose.

All in all, it was a good trip. Boston is such a cool and beautiful city - I already want to go back. I think I just need to do a whole northeast tour.

Have a great day friends, and happy August! :)

Weekend Review

    So, this weekend, the whole family (Tyler, myself, Tyler's brother and his girlfriend, Tyler's sister and her boyfriend, mom, dad, aunt, and uncle) all went to Vegas. It was a pretty good time. It was Tyler's first time in Vegas, so he enjoyed walking through some of the hotels, seeing the sights, and of course being able to walk around everywhere and drink.

Our hotel

    Friday, after we got to our hotel and got settled, we went to the Cosmopolitan buffet. Oh my goodness it was delicious. I highly recommend it. After that, we walked around the strip, then, eventually went to a few bars like Margaritaville.

 

  Saturday, we had delicious crepes for breakfast, went shopping, walked around the strip, went to the Sugar Factory, and went to a piano bar where Tyler and has his dad had some cigars (yuck). After that, we went to dinner at Samba, and had so much amazing food. It's Brazilian food, with a whole lot of meat. I was SO FULL, but it was SO GOOD. After dinner, we saw the Love show. I really wasn't sure what to expect, but I had a great time! It's such a cool show, and totally worth the price. There's not a bad seat in the house! I wish I was a better dancer, more flexible, and not afraid of heights, because it looked like a lot of fun. I miss performing. Random, sorry. 

All the "kids"

About to have dinner!

    After the show, we walked the strip, went to a few bars, then Tyler's brother, Tyler, myself played the slots. I won over $127!!!! WHAT?! Crazy right?! I have no idea what happened, but I'm not going to fight it haha. The Princess Frog penny slot is my game!

    Sunday, after packing up, checking out of the hotel, and loading up the car, we had a delicious crepe breakfast. I may love crepes too much, if there is such a thing. Then, we hit the road. Of course, we had to stop and get some Alien Jerky on the way. So good. 

    All in all, it was a good Vegas trip. I hope we can go again soon, maybe with friends, so we can see more of the hotels, and go to more bars/clubs.
    Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble on about my travels. I hope you all had a good weekend and a happy Monday!

Back in the Good Old US of A

    Well Friends, we made it back! And boy what a journey that was! We started off Tuesday at 5am (German time, 9pm Pacific), got ready, packed up the car and made our way to the airport. After some technical problems, our plane finally left almost an hour later. Ugh. Of course. We had a direct flight to California, so we only landed 15 or 20 minutes later than we were supposed to...still trying to figure that one out. Oh the wonders of flying.
    I was both happy and sad to leave Germany. Sad to leave the new friends I made, but happy to return to old friends and family. You know what's really weird about this whole situation? We're not just visiting for a couple weeks, we're moving here! It's so hard to fathom. You know what else is crazy? Tyler's out of the Army! What?! AH! So weird.
    I'm so excited to start this new chapter in our lives. It will take some getting used to, but I bet it will be great! :)

Our Travels in Madrid and Toledo

    Wow, I feel like it's been awhile since I've done one of these. Anyway, without further aidue, here is the post about our trip to Madrid...

Day 1 - Thursday (Thanksgiving):
   When we got to Frankfurt, we were early, so walked around and looked for something to eat. Nothing looked good to Tyler, so we decided to go to our gate and eat around there, only problem was that out flight didn't have a gate. Hmmm, that's suspicious. So, we asked around, and we were told what terminal and gate it should be. Once we got to the area, we went and ate at McDonalds. Normally, I would rather not have McDonalds, but in Germany, they have these holiday sandwiches, and oh man, let me tell you, they're SO GOOD! I died. After lunch, we went to the gate our flight was supposedly out of, and waited. Tyler and I started to freak out a little because, while our flight was on all the info boards, there was no gate assigned to it. Then, it got to be boarding time...still no gate. WHAT?! Then, about the time we were supposed to take-off, we had a gate! We checked in and waited in the waiting area. Then, in true Frankfurt Airport fashion, we were driven by bus to the plane. Finally we were on the plane! Almost an hour late...ugh.
    Once we landed in Madrid, we met Tyler's cousin Jenna at the airport train station, and made our way to the city center. Once we were there, we then went to meet up with the woman who's apartment we rented for the long weekend via airbnb.com. The lady was so nice, and the apartment was so cute and clean!Thanks Airbnb :) haha.
    After we all chatted and got settled, we walked around Madrid. Thank goodness it was a lot warmer there! haha. We ended the evening at a tapas bar and, of course, had to get ice cream afterwards. Mmmmm.

Day 2 - Friday:
    On Friday, we got up and ate breakfast at this cute little cafe  and got churros with chocolate to dip them in. No, not like the ones you get at Disneyland, but they're similar and delicious. Once we were done, we then made our way on a "guided walk" that would lead us to the Palace. Now, when I say "guided walk," I don't mean those tours you pay for, I mean one that was in our Eyewhiteness Travel Book on Madrid. Man, I love those books. Such great tour guides. Below are some of the sites we saw on our walk:

Puerta de Toledo

Cathedral of Madrid. So cool. The Crypt is so beautiful.

The awesome door of the Cathedral

Palacio Real

The walk ended at this cool Egyptian monument. Has a GREAT view of the city.

    After going on our walk, seeing the Palace, and going to a cool park, we decided to get some lunch. So, we consulted the book. You know what we all were craving? Mexican food, and sure enough, there are some great Mexican food restaurants in Spain. I know what you're thinking, you go all the way to Spain JUST to ear Mexican food? Why aren't you eating the Spanish food? Ok, here's the thing...Jenna lives in Spain, so she has to deal with their bland food all the time. Tyler and I, well, we just miss Mexican food. Plus, German Mexican restaurants are awful (sorry Germans) and Spanish food, well, some of it is good, but I can see it getting old fast. Oh yeah, I was also the only one out of us all that likes seafood, so that limited their choices at many places. Anyway, the Mexican food was AMAZING. We were just so excited about it, we had the waiter take our picture :D
    After our wonderful Mexican food, we were really tired, so decided to go back to the apartment for a little siesta. What started off as all of us reading and watching tv, turned into a couple hour nap! haha. I guess we all needed it, huh? So, by about 10, we make our way out to walk around and eventually get dinner. I felt like a true Spaniard!

Madrid is so pretty at night! :)

Puerta de Alcala

Bank of Madrid

Day 3 - Saturday:
    On Saturday, we made our way via train to Toledo. There are really no words to describe how cool this city is, so I'm just going to put some pictures and captions. :)

The Fort of Toledo

Such a cool building! Look at all the detail.

El Greco's house. There were even some of his paintings! Epic.

View from El Greco's house.

A church with one of El Greco's paintings in it. Wasn't allowed to take a picture of the painting, but I thought the church itself was pretty cool. Love the arches.

Such a cool cathedral spire

All of us in front of the Cathedral

Bridge of Toledo

Toledo is so pretty, don't you think?

    After a full day in Toledo, which included walking around, an interesting restaurant, a horrible museum, cool houses and churches, we made our way back to the train station. Once we got back to our apartment, we quickly changed and made our way to our dinner and Flamenco show! The dinner was delicious and the flamenco was amazing, even Tyler enjoyed it. I'm so excited that I got to see a flamenco show in Spain!

Day 4 - Sunday:
    Our final day in Spain was museum day. We went to both Reina Sofia and the Prado. Reina Sofia was ok...I'm not really one for modern art (Picasso is about as modern as I can go), so, needless to say, it was not my favorite, but hey, it was free. The Prado on the other hand, I loved! I mean, don't get me wrong, the religious art can get old, but I really like Spanish art and artists.
    For lunch, we wanted to a Cuban restaurant, but because of some random protests, it was hard to get the restaurant. Luckily, we found a way to get there, and I'm glad we did! It was delicious!
    Afterwards, we made our way back to the apartment to pack and cleaned up the apartment a little bit. Then, we made our way to the metro to get to the airport. Tyler thought we were cutting it close for our flight, and I remembered it being later. Just to let you know, I was right :p. Haha. I was sad to leave Spain, but happy to be going home. Unfortunately for us, we didn't get home until about 1:20 am, and Tyler had to be at work at 6am. Yikes! Worth it? Yes. :D

My Travels with the in-laws

    Tyler's parents were just here. It was a nice almost two week visit. They arrived Thursday evening, and we left for Munich Friday early afternoon. You can read more about our Oktoberfest adventures here. In short...Oktoberfest is intense, epic and drunken. We went on opening day, so we saw the parade, and were in the tent where the keg gets tapped. I saw the mayor of Munich and apparently I saw major German celebs...who knew? We had the luxury of has a reserved table and tickets for a tent. Most people who go just walk around and try to get in a tent...but we were VIPS! It was all thanks to Tyler's parents friends who live in Munich. Thank goodness for them.

So many people!

Beer is served!

Our first beer! Excuse my crazy eye haha.

Inside the tent

The whole group!

Doing the YMCA...not kidding, they played it

     During the week, Tyler had work, so Tyler's parents had I traveled around the area. The next weekend, we went to Berlin. I LOVED Berlin. It's like a combo of SO many major European cities...it's amazing. I stood where Hitler was burned after he shot himself...I saw the wall...I saw Frederick the Great's Sanssouci...I saw the hotel Michael Jackson dangled Blanket out of (lol). The only downside, it smells like sewage when it's warm because it's built on a swamp.

Brandenburg Gate

At the wall...well, what's left of the outer wall anyway.

Memorial to the murdered Jews.

    While there, we took a walking tour of the city and had the BEST tour guide, Barnaby.  All the history, the cool buildings...oh man...love Berlin! On Sunday, when we wanted to go to Sanssouci. One problem, there was a HUGE marathon going around Berlin. Ok, so, the hotel we were in was in what used to be East Berlin, so it was like we couldn't get out of East Berlin. haha...kinda cool. At 10:45, there was a gap in the race and we could get out! woohoo! Sansouci was EPIC and AMAZING. It's a must see. Below, are pictures from different parts of the Sansouci grounds.

     His parents left on Tuesday and I hope had a great time. I know Tyler and I had fun.
   Other than that, I've been cleaning, job/apartment hunting for our move back to California and working on my cooking. Thrilling huh? Hope everyone is having a very happy Friday!

Pictures, travels and life

Well, my mom finally put the pictures up from their trip to Germany! If you'd like to read about their trip, you can do so here. There will also be a recap under the photos...enjoy :)

Bamberg. LOVED this city. :) It was a nice fun day with the parents and Tyler.

Buchenwald Concentration Camp. So cool, intense and emotional. They also had a very interesting, cool and pretty memorial. Unfortunately, Tyler had to leave earlier that day, so the rest of our travels were just my parents and I.

On Monday, we drove to Munich. First stop BMW Weld (world) and Olympic Park. Isn't this motorcycle cute? I would never ever buy one, but i couldn't resist getting on haha. Unfortunately Munich was really hot and humid. Ah well. Still a great trip.

at the Haufbrauhaus drinking some beer.

clock where the glockenspiel is

On Wednesday, after two days in Munich, we made out way to Heidelberg! Such a beautiful city. I'm standing under the Elizabeth Gate at Castle Heidelberg. Very appropriate I think :p

HUGE Wine barrel. And guess what? There's an EVEN BIGGER one. It's insane.

view of the castle from our river tour Thursday morning.

Friday we relaxed at my apartment, and then Saturday, we went to Wurzburg. I love going to Wurzburg. In this picture, my parents are standing in front of the Wurzburg Residenz. LOVE it there. 

back of the Residenz in the gardens. So pretty

The gardens :) (Yes I am wearing my Dirk Nowitzkishirt...had to...)

Sunday we had a late breakfast downtown with my neighbor and her precious little girl. :) Aren't we just a happy family haha. 

   Sunday night, we went to a German restaurant for their last meal here. I noticed my back was hurting a little but really thought nothing of it. Monday EARLY morning, my parents and I headed to Frankfurt Airport. My dad drove there, so he could get his last little bit of driving on the autobahn, and I drove back. That's the longest I've driven in Germany! woohoo! My leg kinda hurt when I got back, but again, thought nothing of it because my back wasn't bothering me anymore. Tuesday, my back was KILLING me. What?! How random. I was like, well, we did drive a lot, walk a lot, eat a lot, I wasn't doing my normal workouts (think I've also gained weight back ugh), and Wednesday night I slept on the floor of the hotel...I think my back had had enough. Wednesday it was feeling a bit better, but Thursday, it was getting worse, and in the evening my butt and legs started to tingle...uh oh. In fact, later that night I called Tyler crying. It was some of the worst pain of my life. Friday morning I got up early to call the clinic when they first opened to see if they could squeeze me in. I called a minute or two after 7, and they could see me at 8! Sweet. Thank goodness my neighbor Casey was awake and could take me...I had no idea what kind of tests they would want to do. Well, I went in and she did all sorts of poking, moving my legs around, asking questions...I had strained a lower back muscle and it was pushing on a nerve. Ugh...great. I am now on muscle relaxer and prescription strength ibuprofen. wooo? I feel all sorts of loopy and tired. But hey, I think its working!
   Unfortunately, Friday night was our neighbor get together (just the girls since our hubbies are gone), and I couldn't even drink with them. I also kept zoning out and almost fell asleep at one point...about the same as being drunk right? haha. Still had a great time though:). Today I've been such a sloth, slept in, took a nap, been on the computer....that's basically it. It was so nice and warm today too, but I could not concentrate enough to go outside or do things. Ah well. I blame the meds. haha. Oh yeah, and for dinner, I made green beans, and as I went to drain them, I burnt myself with the boiling water. Ugh, of course I did. it got the side of my palm and some of my arm. I'm ok though. Oh me.
   How's everyone else doing?? Have a great Saturday! Hopefully you're more productive, and less medicated then me! haha