Life Update and Go Noles!

It has been a busy week (month, year, whatever). I FINALLY finished all my training classes for work, which had me criss-crossing the east coast for the better part of 8 months this year. It is good to be back for more than a week, finally feeling like I live in my apartment again instead of living in a hotel. I got home Friday night from DC, after ALMOST missing my connection in Miami ( I got a rude comment from a man on my first flight about me getting ahead of other passengers to get off the plane, after flight attendants asked those people whose final destination was Miami, to please stay in their seats until the passengers trying to make close connections could get off first (NO, the entire 24 rows ahead of me were DESERTED, as me and a few other people were stuck in the back being harassed by rude people for trying to catch a flight home. I only had time to RACE through the airport in flats and a dress, with two bags, sweating and panting (I am out of shape), and only had time to frantically pee and fling myself into the jetway to get on the plane. I barely noticed the clowns with balloons, face paint and horns surrounding my gate (even the pilots/flight attendants had their faces painted), but finally paid attention once I flung myself into my seat and caught my breath (Still cursing the man with the rude comment/wiping beads of sweat off my face) . Once I noticed the people around me were wearing the same shirts as the clowns and volunteers had been, I started to figure out what was going on. American Airlines has a program called Something MAAgic http://www.somethingmaagic.org/, and it is American Airlines version of the Make A Wish Foundation, where they fly kids with chronic or terminal illnesses to Disney for a week with their family. I was sitting next to a young Spanish girl whose sister Estella, was being flown to Disney for the week. Alba, 19, (Estella’s sister) spoke a little English, so we started talking, and she tried to explain what was wrong with her sister, who is 14. What she describes sounded to me like bladder cancer, because she held up her hands in a circle the size of a softball, and pointed to the lower stomach area. We talked the whole flight, about her life in Spain, my life in America, and what she was looking forward to after being on a plane all day (MadridBarcelonaMiami Orlando), she wanted a cigarette, to talk to her boyfriend and to sleep all day . She was lovely to talk to , and my heart broke for this skinny, adorable Estella, who has a whole life ahead of her that she probably wont get to experience. It made my feel like my “problems” (aka being tired, sweaty and not wanting to spend a few hours in Miami waiting for another flight) seem trivial and childish. When we landed in Orlando (approximately 40 minutes after leaving Miami, you gotta love it), we get off the plane and are met with a group of screaming, cheering, face-painted, sign holding, super excited people. They were volunteers waiting for Estella and another boy and his family who were part of this Something MAAgic foundation. They cheered for everyone coming off the plane, and I stopped to watch when Estella and her family got off the plane. I almost started flat-out bawling, and I am coming close right now as I type this. They went nuts, Estella had the biggest smile on her face, and it was so moving to see that kind of support from strangers, volunteers who came to the airport on a rainy, muggy Friday night just to welcome these kids to Orlando. When I looked into the program, they have people at every airport to cheer for them, and this was the big welcome in Orlando, and another one at the village where they stay for the week. I was so humbled by this experience, I can’t even describe. Little moments in life make you stop and think, and I am so grateful for that. After getting home and lugging my suitcase (50lbs), computer bag, purse and tijuana flats up 3 flights of stairs in one trip (I REFUSE to make more than one trip, and my suitcase needs to be opened/unpacked the same night I get home), I could finally relax and casually eat my food inhale my tacos and queso like it was my last meal, shower, unpack and crawl into bed. The next day I finally went back to yoga (yay!) got lunch, did some stuff around the apartment and went to see my parents. Then it was GAME TIME BABY! FSU CLEMSON College Game Day in Tallahasee, my friends saved spots at the Orlando FSU bar, and we were ready to GO! Fast forward about 4 hours later, the Seminoles are victorious in a crazy, fast-paced, back and forth, speedy, awesome game, complete with the usual frustrations of penalties, missed blocks, missed catches, muffs and fumbles, plus 7 free shots from the bar (one for every score), plus 5 rounds of shots we bought on our own (hello $130 bar tab! That is a LOT for a group of pretty girls, just saying), plus beer, plus screaming, jumping up and down, crying (me, yes I did), hugging (lots of hugging), we were 3 happy, drained, drunk girls. Was it awesome at the time? Yes! Was it worth the hangover/ complete waste of a Sunday the next day? No.

Anyways, after the hangover wore off, it was back to reality (aka work) and back to soccer 3x per week (yay!), seeing Justin Timberlake’s new movie, Trouble with the Curve (cute, but not worth a full price ticket. I had Fandango passes that I needed to use by the end of the week, and that was the only movie that sounded ok.) Honestly I liked the previews better, seeing what is coming out (Les Miserable, Life of Pi, and a sort-of sequel to Knocked Up). My teams won all 3 games this week, even though I am more than a little rusty from not playing since July. I have huge blisters on my feet from my cleats, and another toenail is probably going to fall off (sorry for TMI), but it feels great to be back out there. This weekend it is dinner with a friend tonight, and meeting my sister and my roommate in Tampa for the USF-FSU game, which I am so excited about  Then its back for another work week before I leave Friday to fly to Raleigh to watch FSU-NC State! THEN, the weekend after that will be spent in Tallahasee for Parent’s Weekend for my sister. That’s a lot of football, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I still cant believe we are 4 games into the season! Soon it will be over again and I will have nothing to look forward to (kidding, kinda). Anyways, I just found a tasty Jalapeno popper dip I want to make for the tailgate, I need to pack my best garnet and gold attire ( I made my packing list at work), clean out my filthy car, do some laundry and get my butt to yoga.

Have a great weekend! Go Noles!

Source: etsy.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Bucket List: Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg, Austria

I could barely contain my excitement as we got closer to where we were meeting our bus!We wandered, mystified through the Mirabel gardens, which is where the filmed several scenes from the movie. My cousin Hannah and I tried to re-enact several scenes from the movie, running around the fountains, running through the hedges, jumping up and down the steps (there are outtakes of these shenanigans, but I think my aunt accidentally on purpose didn't post them on shutterfly) Then it was time for the tour! My sister did the tour earlier in the summer while she was in Austria, and my parents had also done it a few weeks before I got there, and we all ended up having the same tour guide, who used to live near Orlando, how strange! All 4 of us going on the tour, in 3 separate groups, in the same summer, and getting the same guy.

Let me back up to why I even cared about this. My mom grew up loving the movie as a child, and we owned it on VHS, so my sister and I watched it a lot when we were little, and my sister and I used to crack up at the part when Julie Andrew's is approaching the Von Trapp house for the first time, singing the "Confidence" song (which yes, I am listening to right now), and she stumbles and trips, then marches up to the house like nothing happened, which we thought was the most hilarious thing in the world. It's still pretty funny. (I tried finding a clip, but no luck :() So that is the backstory of the love of this movie, plus the music is awesome. I LOVE musicals (Oklahoma, Sound of Music and Wicked are my favorites, do not judge). So going on this tour was a dream come true. I went with my cousin and aunt (who also loves the movie, and cried several times, as I did). The songs that get me are Maria (my mom), Edelweiss, Climb Evry Mountain and The Lonely Goatherd, they always make me laugh and cry at the same time). My cousin and I were the only ones singing on this "interactive" tour, and we sounded awful because no one else was joining in, but we didn't care. The tour took us into the mountains to see some of the sites where things were filmed (gazebo, back of house, lake, church where she gets married, abbey scenes) They actually shot some of the scenes in the US, and ran into some SNAFU's while trying to film in Austria. It was so cool to listen to be listening to the music on this bus, in the middle of the Alps, going to visit these places where they filmed this movie. 

So I'm a dork, who cares! I loved it!

Yodel-eh-he-hoo! :)

Austria Germany RECAP--FINALLY!

Now that I am waaayyyyy overdue for this post (seriously, who waits this long), I can hardly remember all the things we did in Austria. I am currently listening to my Sound of Music soundtrack (yes, I own it and listen to it frequently, don't judge).

So as you  may remember from this post, I was having some stress during my time in Spain. The idea of meeting up with my aunt, uncle and other cousins was most welcome. We flew from Barcelona to Zurich, Switzerland, where we were picked up and motored toward the Austrian countryside. The moment we got in the car, I felt most of the stress of the past week melting away. My aunt, a meticulous, fantastic, well-prepared travel planner, had taken over our trip from there and I was so relieved. I felt like I could relax and truly "vacation" without stress. We wound ourselves into Austria and encountered truly breathtaking views. We stopped in Innsbruck, Austria to walk around. It is such a cute little ski town, with gorgeous houses, flowers spilling out of every window box, and a calm and peaceful feel. From there, we drove through tunnels and bridges and mountains, and finally arrived at our destination the Sheraton Schloss Fuschl, Salzburg, Austria. Words can't describe the beauty of this place. Nestled between mountains and a gorgeous lake, we arrived around dinner time, tired after a long day of traveling. I instantly felt refreshed and renewed. The air was so clean, cool and the views were breathtaking. We ended up a baller 2-story room with a balcony looking over the gorgeous, blue-green, glacier fed lake. We freshened up and located the hotel's casual osteria (casual dining). We ordered pasta carbonara and spaghetti bolognese pasta (you can't take the Italian out of us, even in Austria), and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly with food. It was so delicious, I can't even describe it. After pigging out beyond belief, we decided to take a swim (awesome to put on a bathing suit after inhaling pounds of pasta) in the indoor pool and various spa facilities. This ritual would further be referenced as the "Bloat and Float", which we proceeded to do every night we were there. There was a pool, hot tub, cold water  reflexology pools for your feet, experience showers that had hot and cold water shoot at you from various angles and at different speeds and strength, and there was a lot of shrieking from us (the loud Americans) as we "experienced" these showers. There was also a steam room, salt room, relaxation room with lounge chairs, a dry sauna and another foot pool. Running back and forth between the different amenities and avoiding the nudie euros (eek) trying to enjoy the experience, who probably wished we would go away and stop shrieking, made for quite the adventure. The next day we were up early for the gourmet breakfast buffet with every possible breakfast food you could think of. Yum. Then we ventured into old town Salzburg, wandered around the old squares in Salzburg, Mozart lived there and there are tributes to him all over town. Salzburg is a beautiful, old, European town, with beautiful buildings, a calm presence and a very European feel. It reminded me of a greener Florence, with lush mountains in the distance, and bridges over a peaceful river flowing through town. The water was a gorgeous icy blue-green color, apparently from all the salt (Salz=salt).  All of this old town exploring was leading up to one of my favorite parts of the trip: Going on the Sound of Music Tour!!!!

Things I'm Thinking

A random collection of ramblings and thoughts:

If I stare at my peaches for long enough, maybe they will be ripe enough to eat in about 5 minutes.

My legs/butt/back are still sore from yoga yesterday morning. love it and hate it

I ate mini meatballs and rice cakes for dinner, oh and fruit strip things. That counts as fruits and veggies right? It says 100%

I never feel like working out while I am on the road, which is ridiculous because I don't have that much else to do (no soccer or yoga), yet I have 0 desire to do anything

My AC made weird noises all night last night and i was too dumb/groggy/busy dreaming about snakes to actually try to fix it. So I got no sleep and was a zombie all day. I called the front desk and the hotel engineer came up to see, and of course it doesn't make the noise, then less than 30 seconds after the door shuts, it makes the damn noise. So annoyed, but I will be embarrassed that if he comes back again it will not make the noise.

I have been watching Hoarders for 3 hours. I can't decide if it makes me feel better or worse about my life. Better because I don't live like that, worse because I have sat here for 3 hours watching it and reading blogs. fail. These people are cray cray. A mother just tried to punch her daughter in the face while she tried to help her clean her house.

I love my new essie nail polish color called miss fancy pants, even though I did a bad job of painting my nails. I think my nails are oddly shaped, so it isn't my fault that they never look good.

Even though I love being in the DC area for two weeks, it doesn't feel the same as being here for two months, when I felt like that was my new normal, now it just feels weird and I want to go home to my normal routine, which I haven't had since March.

I packed one skirt, one pair of work pants, and one dress that will need to be worn for 10 days of class. What the hell was I thinking? I also brought two bathing suits and two pairs of shorts, when fall has decided to descend on DC. My mom told me to check the weather forecast. I didn't. I'm dumb

I am so excited that FSU is past their two stupid cupcake games, and it is time to DOMINATE THE ACC!!!! And whoop up on USF for that loss 3 years ago (still mad about that one). Then to continue the streak of kicking a$$ against Florida.

I wish my new favorite show, Hardcore Pawn, was on tv. Who doesn't love a tv show about ghetto detroit residents freaking out when they don't get $5,000 for a 9" tube tv?!

I haven't started my book club book, book club is in 2 weeks, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is LONGGGGG. I am going to get kicked out of book club.

I wish it was still summer, because I am not ready to buy fall colored things. I still want to buy shorts and skimpy dresses.

I didn't like the Giant supermarket I went to after class today, their stuff is not arranged logically. I missed Publix. Not sure what I will do if/when I move here and there is no Publix. eek.

Side Note: How do all these weirdos on Hoarders find people to marry, and I can't even get a good date?!? (Yes, I do realize the people they marry are just as crazy as they are, but still)

All images from Google.