Espana

My mother, brother, sister, and I took off to Spain for a week. It was kind of a last minute deal. My mom kept seeing these deals on travelzoo, and decided that we should just go for it since Seth was already in Europe (traveling around on his money saved up from the ranch).

So just go with it, we did...

We flew overnight to Madrid Spain. This in itself was a miracle considering that I had the wrong passport! I had my premarriage passport that had holes punched in it. This was the first of many mistakes that I tried to blame on other people. We somehow made it out of the US and arrived early the next morning.

We took a cab to the hotel, and I gave the driver USD as a tip. It was all I had and he was not thrilled. We were a bit concerned about seeing Seth, but luckily he arrived just as expected: dirty, smelly, low on sleep, no money left, shoes lost, new shoes found on beach in Greece, and in desparate need of a change of clothes and a haircut.

We took off from here to grab a good cup of coffee and our first walk around the city. It was raining pretty bad, so we had everything to ourselves. We walked through Plaza Mayor, Mercado de San Miguel, modern convent (closed, so we couldn't get any treats), Royal Palace, and Cathedral of Almudena. That night we hit the cave bars (Cava de San Miguel mesones), and as if we didn't party hard enough, Seth, Mags, and I decided to continue to La Capital which was ENTIRELY too expensive and crowded. However we did make an incredible memory running home from La Capital in the rain past the trannies at 5am.

The next day we hit up the art spots - Reina Sofia and Prado. We also went to the Parque del Buen Retiro, but unfortunately the weather left us a bit bored.

The following day we took a bus to Toledo, which was a nice detour, and returned for an attempt at a tapas crawl. I do not know why but I got really weirded out in this neighborhood we were in, and I was rude to my brother about it. Eeeeeek.

The next morning we attempted a little shopping before our flight to Barcelona. This is where I royally screw up... I made us miss our plane. I kind of took control of the itinerary and had us arrive one hour late to our flight. It was a horrible feeling, trust me. We ended up taking the train (they wouldn't rebook us????), and things started to work out from here.

We spent our first day in Barcelona doing all things Gaudi... and the second day we did La Ramblas where we met some awesome Irish students in a bar and proceeded to play Zooomie Zooomie.

Grace in Small Things

1) SYTYCD is back!!! Tyce, Mary, and Mia... OHH MYYY!!!

2) My Mom's eternal commitment to her family. I am not sure how this will read, but I think my Dad's selflessness and sacrifice to his family seemed to overshadow my Mom's most of the time since

Wild Wild West

Over Christmas, we decided we were going to take a family vacation.  Butch is an avid outdoorsman, so he suggested we venture out west.  We divided the planning responsibilities up among us, and before we knew it, we were on a plane for Las Vegas, NV.

Actually, first my mom, Maggie, and I went to see Wicked in Durham.  I gave them tickets to see it for Christmas.  It was really fantastic!

Billy and I were the last ones to arrive in Vegas, and by the time we met up with Butch, Mom, Chelsea, Maggie, and Seth, not only were we five Bloody Marys deep, but they had already had quite an adventure with the rental cars.  After noting I will not travel without compression socks or while indulging in alcoholic beverages again (my ankles were the size of my knee), we took off for the Hoover Dam. So impressive.

From there we continued the drive to the Grand Canyon and woke up the next morning in time to enjoy the sunrise over the canyon before setting off on our hike.

Hiking the Grand Canyon

Billz looking out into the canyon

After the Grand Canyon we continued our journey up to Zion National Park where we had rented a home for the next four days.  Unfortunately, the rain that Spring had flooded the narrows, so we had to replan our next couple of days. Luckily we were able to still get in the hike to Angel's Landing.  Angel's landing is and most likely will always be one of the greatest things I have ever done.  I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into that morning when Butch told us it was on the agenda.  We started the hike just as we had any other day, gradually making our way up a beautiful path in an incredible canyon.  We hiked for about an hour when Butch said, "Christi, you should stop here."  Still, I thought nothing of it because my mom gets out of breath easily and she has an extreme fear of heights.  We started climbing around rock, and all of the sudden I looked down and realized I was on the side of a 500 ft. cliff!  I have never really been scared in my life, but at that moment fear hit me out of nowhere and there was no way in hell I was looking down again.  A few people turned around at this point.  After about 45 minutes more of climbing, we thankfully hit a plateau.  I honestly thought we had reached the top until Butch pointed up and asked if we were ready to go.  After getting smacked in the face with extreme vertigo, this is what Butch was pointing at:

Yes, we were going to continuing climbing to the very top.... and we did... and it was the most amazing thing I have ever done.

Angel's Landing from afar

Angel's Landing - WE DID IT! - My Billz almost died.

 

Angel's Landing

Angel's Landing

I forgot to mention that our home that we rented was SUPER.  We all had our own bedroom, and there was a firepit and hot tub!  Naturally, no hard hiking day is complete without a night cap in the hot tub.

Hottubbing it

After a strenuous and successful day in Zion, we headed out to Bryce National Park.

My hoodoo pose

Hoodoos in Bryce

Following a day in Bryce, we woke up the next morning to about 4-5 inches of SNOW on the ground!  This is two days after we sweated ourselves to death climbing Angel's landing.  As typical North Carolinians, we pulled out the board games and cards and prepared for a day indoors, when lo and behold the sun came out and melted all of the snow.  So, we hit the road to northern Utah for a day with my cousins (the Oldhams) in Payson.  When you don't see your family for so long (it had been almost ten years since I had seen most of them), you forget how great it is to be with them.  We didn't get to see Jed or Spencer, but vivacious Katie was still just as full of authenticity and energy and FUN as I remembered her.  Although she is married and has a little baby of her own now.  Audrey, who I am pretty sure could easily be my sister instead of cousin, had every bit of beauty and laughter as she had before. Will was no longer the sweet, skinny boy, that I thought I had to look out for, but he had grown into a strong, handsome man that could do things on a motorbike that I thought only the professionals did.  Harrison and Burke were practically babies when I had seen them last, and yet now Harrison proudly showed Billy his guns and was a true cowboy.  Despite growing a foot, Burke had probably changed the least.  He was still just as rambunctious as ever, and I absolutely adore it.  We got to catch up with Meghan briefly in Las Vegas a few days later, and despite two young children, she really had not changed much.  We got to go horseback riding with them (almost as scary as Angel's Landing... there was no walking or trotting going on here), motorbiking, four wheeling, horse and cow feeding, and more.  We ended the day with a big dinner with most of the food coming directly from their farm... even the butter we helped make out of goat's milk!

Horseback Riding (with the Oldhams!)

Billy - with cast - motorbiking

Eating an AMAZING meal with the Oldhams

The final leg of this tour took us back to Las Vegas!  We stayed in NY, NY, and went to see Ka (cirque du soleil) in MGM.  Overall, best vacation EVER!

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Vegas

Funnel

My camera got stolen, and without it I just have no desire to write these posts...

It was the camera my mom got me for Christmas and it was really special to me. I could just go buy another one (and forfeit my new running shoe budget), but I don't want another one. I only want that one. I am such a child...

In other news Billy bought a rug for our patio and I just don't know how to tell him it is not aesthetically pleasing. Our patio chairs are forest green, the rug has turquoise and cream in it, and he bought a navy and violet table to go with it. WOW. He knew I wanted a table and something on the ground out there, so I don't want to insult him... but it is painful to the eyes to sit out there right now. The thing is that the design of both is awesome... just the colors need help.

Work has been a bit overwhelming for the last month and a half. Billy is getting fed up with the hours I am spending at work, and I feel bad about it. I will finish up my first Lean Six Sigma project the day before vacation (May 7), so hopefully things will ease up after that.

Speaking of vacation... it is going to be awesome! We are flying into Vegas, driving to the Grand Canyon and staying two days there. Then driving up to Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park for four days. Finally we are driving back to Vegas for three more days (at New York New York) and the production of KA! You can see pictures below of the house we rented off of Vacation Rental By Owner (great site!) for the four days in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park... yes that is a hot tub!!!!

Then, the day I get back I am leaving for San Francisco for four days. I am going out there for the same conference I went to last May in Washington DC. I am super excited about it because that is when I got my offer to spend a year in Paris. Not to mention the people from work are pretty awesome too... top notch!

Over the past couple weeks we went skiing, had the most awesome time in Mexico City, ran a 1/2 marathon (another New Year's resolution checked off!), spent two weeks in Virginia for work, did the Bar Crawl for St. Patty's day, had a party for Nahir's sister before she returns to Trinidad, and cooked out a lot!!!

Coming up we have the World Beerfest in Raleigh again!!!! YAYAYAYAY!!!

Anyway... off to enjoy my weekend...

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What is wrong with my computer to have it always say "1 item remaining" at the bottom panel?

I am sure that you all think that... well actually I am sure that you all haven't thought anything about this blog. Just a little self indulgence... but I do want to continue this blog. One of these most amazing things for me was reading back through my grandmother's (my nana) journals and getting a glimpse into her life. Most days are a few simple sentences outlining exactly what she did, but on a rare occasion she would go a little deeper. Whether I ever go any deeper her or not, I do want to document my sometimes mundane and sometimes unimaginably amazing life. I hope to on the rare occasion feel inspired to go a little deeper as well.

Once we moved to Charlotte, life got much more hectic... between Billy and I both in school, running more / training for races, being a mommy to Goose, and recognizing my potential at work (and thus applying myself that much more)... life just took off at 100 mph.

Photolog

Not sure I can recap the year thus far, but I will do my best.

January:

Billy and I started classes halfway through the month. With work and school we stay really busy, but we still make time for each other and lots of funnnnn!

I have continued to try to keep up with Alumni Director duties by holding meetings and socials.

We went to Natalie and Chris's baby shower.

Maggie and I ran the Frostbite 5k together.

Went to a couple birthday parties for work friends.

Went to Raleigh for Mom's birthday and got to enjoy the snow with them.

February:

Volunteered for Mathcounts.

Went to Winston Salem for Nana's 90th birthday.

Held a Superbowl Party.

Enjoyed a snowy Valentine's Day at Upstream.

Went skiing at Wolf Ridge.

Spent a week in Lynchburg for work.

March:

Went to Mexico City (and saw Coldplay).

Participated in the annual Bar Crawl for St. Patty's Day.

Tomorrow we are going to see John Mayer, Washington DC on Friday, and Lynchburg again next week.