Around the world with Lora!

Movin on up!

2011-09-16T15:31:00.003-05:00

I've moved to a new blog provider...so check out the latest adventures at
http://gaigespages.wordpress.com/. I'm working on adding the Black Sea Boogaloo and Costa Rica!

The Journey Home

2010-10-24T15:25:00.001-05:00

We had a half day to enjoy the resort, so Nita and I were up early to hit the pool. We laid out, rode on the slide, swam around the pools…it was a perfect end to the trip.

For lunch, we finally got to snack on the pizza that never seemed available…but it was worth the wait!

We did a few last pics on the beach and bid Mombasa adieu.

We played a few more games of Spades in the airport…and Tan and Ali killed Seth and me…but it was still fun! If we had a few more hands…we totally would have prevailed!! J

We chatted with the owner of Palbina travel, named Paul in the Simba Restaurant in the Nairobi airport. He was very happy to take all of our feedback and was an extremely nice guy. I highly recommend them if you're planning any travel to Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda.

I'm on the plane about to land in Houston now. We've been travelling for the last 30 hours, but I feel pretty great. It's been fun reliving the highlights of the trip and I feel so lucky to have the best friends to share these experiences with…thanks to you all! Cheers to our next adventure! J

Mombasa Beach Day

2010-10-24T15:12:00.001-05:00

5:30 am and the alarm was going off. What had I agreed to? I stumbled downstairs, not sure where we were going to meet. I almost fell asleep on a little outdoor couch when I looked up and saw Tan making his way to the beach. We sat in beach chairs and watched the sky slowly illuminate and the resort lights shut off. We were perfectly positioned for a beautiful sunrise over the water. The landscape and color of the water and sand changed every few minutes. We took pics from the resort and down on the beach. It was beautiful and worth the wait! Thanks Tan!

I went back up to bed to snooze until my massage at 8:30 am...Nita was planning to enjoy a spa day too. Ali, Tan and Seth were off to go deep sea fishing at 7:30 am that morning. Jackson and Mary spent their morning scuba diving in a nearby reef. I was totally relaxed after my spa treatments that were in a little cabana on the beach. I think I fell asleep several times during my massages.

I went down to the beach and 2 guards walked by with their AK-47s and cheerfully greeted me with a high pitched JUMBO! I love this place! Nita joined me shortly after then we ate lunch and went to ride the big waterslide! We took a few trips down and met up with Jackson and Mary. Then the clouds rolled over! Boo. We went to the swim up bar and shivered in the water. When it kept raining, we gave up and headed to the Coco's bar. We all hung out for a while. Mary and Nita went up to the room to get ready for the evening and Jackson and I relaxed a little longer at the bar. Again, the one on one time with people on the trip has been one of the highlights.

I finally heard the other guys were back and raced to get ready for dinner. They had caught 8 tuna and we were having their fresh catch for dinner at a local restaurant.

Richard picked us up and brought us to the Safari Inn. This place was perfect. There were some locals, tourists and a few ladies of the night. But it was all part of the ambiance! They grilled the fish perfectly and we all had more than we could eat…and that was probably just part of one tuna! Their guide took the remainder to freeze for himself. Thanks so much to the guys for the amazing meal and unique experience! They played some foosball and pool with some new "friends" later in the night. We invited Richard in to have a soda with us and got to ask some questions about Kenyan culture. He was truly just a nice, kind person.

After dinner, we went back to the White Sands to check out karaoke…and it finally happened…we heard and got to sing along to "Don't Stop Believin!" We had asked every guitarist along the way if they knew it. After karaoke ended, we went up to Tan and Seth's room to play some cards. We started with Blitz and moved on to my favorite Spades. On the way back to our rooms, Jackson pushed his door open and there was a lady in his room!! She had gone in the wrong room, but it was a little crazy for a minute! It was really late and just a weird coincidence that this happened right before Jackson got there!

Mombasa City Tour

2010-10-24T11:03:00.002-05:00

We had breakfast and got to take in the full beauty of the place. The water was blue green and the beach was beautiful. There was some seaweed, but it was still great! And the resort had one huge pool with a waterslide and a smaller quiet pool. The dining area and bar areas were nice and expansive.

We booked a city tour for that afternoon. We all piled in the van and joked that it would be funny to pop the roof and explore like we were on safari. Our guide was a guy named Richard and we scored again being hosted by another wonderful and friendly person! First stop was the crafts village. This little community is a government-created area for artists to carve, sand, paint and gloss the figurines that are sold to tourists throughout Kenya. You could even request a custom piece with exactly what you want. The people are given the wood, which comes from Tanzania and they sell their pieces to each person up the chain. Then the adjacent store tracks the final artist number and that guy gets paid. The people seem happy and were more than happy to chat. The prices were fixed and reasonable. It was the best quality we had seen over the entire trip. This is definitely the best place to buy all your souvenirs. Just skip all the other shops along the way! The city tour continued visiting the port. We also stopped for coconuts as we drove to our next stop…yum!

Next, we headed to Fort Jesus. This was built by the Portuguese and was a military base. It was later controlled by Oman and Britain and after that, used as a prison. In the 1960s it was converted into a museum and tourist attraction. It offers nice views of the Ocean and town. I ran into a little boy that was smiling as I took a picture at the top of the fort. He shyly gave me a high five. And I asked him if he'd take a picture with me. He scooted off to his mom's side. Then his older brother came up to say hi and I put out my hand to get a five from him too and he wrapped his little arms around me and gave me a huge hug. I almost melting into a pile of sugar…he was so sweet!! He snuggled up to take a photo with me and the little bro ran over to be in the photo too! His mom and Tan both took pics of us. Their names were Francis and Teddy and they were so sweet with their little British accents! I'm in love!

One of our highlights was an art display by children around the world. They were all told to do a self-portrait. We shouldn't have but laughed our tails off at these kids, but we did! Here are a few children's artwork WINS!

We drove through the old town next. It was filled with narrow streets and shops. There was a large outdoor market too. We kind of wished we had walked this by foot…but it was still nice to see from the car too.

The city tour continued through their downtown area and to the elephant tusks over the main street (not actually made of ivory) that were built to honor the Queen's visit in the 1960s.

After the tour, we went to clean up for dinner…on a boat! We went to the Tamarind Dhow, a sailboat that hosts a dinner cruise and dancing. We started with dawas and reminisced on the trip throughout dinner. The band was fun, but the food was the highlight. We expected it to be okay, but it was fabulous!! I had mixed seafood salad, tomato soup, lobster and fruit. Delish!

I couldn't stay awake at the end of dinner…not sure if it was the Dramamine or just being exhausted, but I was ready for an early bedtime. Tan and I agreed to try one more time to catch the sunrise and planned to meet at 5:30 am. I was skeptical both of us would make it! A few people in the crew went to the Nakkumart…the Kenyan version on Walmart then headed to bed.

Masai Mara to Mombasa

2010-10-23T18:22:00.001-05:00

It was another early morning as we were set to drive back to Nairobi. We took a different route than we took in…still super bumpy, but interesting. It was through a very flat area with lots of Masai tribes. I'm guessing these groups were far less exposed to the world beyond the Masia Mara. We got lots of stares and tons of little kids waving along the way.

We stopped at another tourist shop along the way and I found my prize souvenir. Peter, the giraffe! He is so beautiful and Ali helped me to negotiate a reasonable price.

Lunch was back at the Carnivore. This time I opted to try the meat. I had chicken, turkey and ostrich. I was pretty surprised I really liked the ostrich. And it fit my no eyelashes rule! We went back and played on the playground a little again. I just can't get enough playtime!

The Nairobi airport SUCKS. There isn't much to do there and there are lines everywhere. Plan on extra time if you're arriving or leaving this place! We finally made it to our gate and it was up and away to the rest and relaxation portion of our trip…Mombasa!!

We drove through town and I got to chat with Ali and Mary. Ali had been riding shotgun the entire time, so it was nice to get to know about him and his family. We arrived at the White Sands resort and it a sea of white marble and all open air! Then, I heard that my favorite Bob Marley song was playing, Three Little Birds. Ahh, I could feel all my muscles relax.

We had met at the Coco's bar and took a little trip down to the beach, borrowing a fire someone left behind from a previous celebration. The sand was white and the Indian Ocean was almost glassy it was so smooth. We all got a little chilly and headed back to the beach bar. Everyone trickled off to bed one by one. Again, it was Tan, Seth and me in the end. We made pillow forts to stay warm with the sea breeze. Tan drifted off to sleep and I got to chat with Seth. Again, it's so wonderful getting to know old friends better…but it's equally wonderful meeting new friends that are interesting and you just enjoy getting to know. We eventually turned in for the first time knowing we'd get to sleep in a little!

Masai Mara

2010-10-23T14:20:00.001-05:00

We met Peter at 6:00 am to watch the sun and the animals rise; neither disappointed. The simbas were our playing in the morning light. We first spotted a group of lionesses dining on the previous night's kill. There were a few older cubs tucked in the grass too, I think. Then we went up a few yards and there was a proud male! He was right in the middle of the street. He was huge and powerful. They have definitely earned the title King of the Jungle. We thought there was typically only a single male in a pride, so we were shocked when another huge lion came up right behind our car. There was no confrontation and they seemed okay with each other. We called them the Brokeback Lions. Maybe these guys were more than just friends? J

We went back to the lodge for breakfast then went to visit the Masai Mara village nearby. On the drive, we stopped and picked up a Masai warrior. Guess who it was…here's a hint…we could tell by his name on his belt! Ken! He was so nice and bonded quickly with his brother from another mother, Tan.

They sang and jumped for us. They invited us to dance along too and placed the tribal lion hat on each of us. And we got to hold a warrior stick too. Oh the power! They were also very open and told us to ask anything we were curious about their lifestyle and daily goings on. We learned that they still have multiple wives, a wife is worth about 10 head of cattle, their houses are built by the women and dry walled with cow dung. The men walk the cattle and goats during the day; the women have babies and seem to do most things in the village. Divorce is not common and it's kind of a wonder considering the women's responsibilities. They also still practice circumcision on both the men and women when they come to age. Most women marry at about 15 and the men at about 23. The men are later because when they hit 18 years or so, they go to a central Masai school and learn about their background and how to be a Masai warrior and man. They said the people usually live into their 90s, which was also quite amazing. I have a little ADD and when they were talking about the history of the tribe, I saw a little boy playing on the perimeter and he came to stand next to me; and gave me a high five. So sweet!

We then listened to a chant/song by the ladies…Nita, Mary and I joined them. Next, it was time to visit a Masai home. Wow. Makes you thankful for all the little things we have. It was a stick hut with little rooms for the animals and people. There was a fire going and a lady that looked maybe 50ish in the main room, the living room/kitchen/bedroom. We heard a little whimper and there was a tiny baby on the bed we were sitting on. He asked me if I wanted to hold the baby…umm, of course!! It was so tiny and had big brown eyes. She started to babble and grandma asked for her. I passed her ever so carefully over the fire. I was terrified of dropping her…thankfully we made the transfer just fine!

We then learned to make fire and Bill got kind of swindled into buying the 2 pieces of wood for too much money. We then went through their "gift shop" with the items the tribe makes. Most things were similar to what we had seen elsewhere. But we did pick up a couple of things to support the group. The people are far too pushy for my liking though. They really pull and tug at you and just don't give you any peace to just look and take everything in. Overall, it was very informative and crazy to think that these people live this way. This tribe does have access to mobile phones and plenty of tourists though. So they are pretty knowledgeable about the world outside their community. They said some of their tribe's people have gone to school in Nairobi and in the US. When they return home for visits though, they are to live as the tribes do and honor tradition.

We were all pretty wiped out after the tour and just wanted to sit. I love the fact that even after 8 days almost everyone still spent some time on the patio of the lodge chatting, listening to music, trading pics and just being together. This group really felt like a family. While we sat for a few hours, waiting for the next safari, we got to see all kinds of wildlife from the lodge. There were hippos and crocs in the river; colorful birds in the air; a family of baboons in the canopy of the trees; monitors running about; and cute little coatis running about. On the way back to the hotel to get ready for safari, Nita and stopped and saw some monkeys digging in the trash. We snapped some photos and Nita got close…and they monkey totally came at her! I have never seen her move so fast. He started to come after, but then I stopped. He stopped in his tracks too and went back after Nita. I yelled, "stop" since it worked for me and she trusted me and screeched to a halt and the monkey did too. We laughed a lot after, but I think Nita won't be getting close to any primates anytime soon!!! J

On the way to the evening safari, we took Bill to the airport. The airport was comical. They were literally shooing animals off the runway for takeoff and the runway was dirt. I imagine a pretty bumpy takeoff and landing! The waiting area was a little open air space with a couple of benches and the toilets looked like outhouses. We all said our goodbyes to Bill and waved at the plane passing overhead about an hour later. We were all sad to see him heading out so quickly…he meshed right in with the group and everyone loved meeting my other travel buddy. The entire crew talked about how interesting and nice he was to have on the trip.

As we left the airport, we saw the biggest elephant yet lumber right past out van. It was nice to be the only vehicle and not surrounded by 15 other safari vans. This encounter seemed more relaxed and peaceful. The rest of the afternoon took that pace too. Not sure if it was a transition day for a lot of tours, but it felt like we had much more quiet time on this trip. We drove through the trees looking for a leopard sighting to round out the BIG 5. Jackson mentioned earlier in the day that he just wasn't impressed by the zebras. "WTH", I responded, "they are the funniest animal here!" He told me to prove it. I got my chance as we drove past a group of wildebeest and zebra and one was on the ground rolling around. We all thought he was injured, but they he just popped up. In my head, he was totally taunting a nearby predator in the safely of his big herd. I think I win, zebras ARE funny. J

So, a slow sighting evening, gave birth to Jackson's favorite past time…introducing the group to the horse face. Basically, you blow through your mouth and flap your lips…he was up first. Win! Everyone was game. Throughout the trip we all took our turns…classic. Total blackmail material…as always!

We all watched the sun set over our final evening in the Masai Mara. Such happy memories!

At dinner that night, we were all wiped out and knew we had an early morning. We did get to hear Jambo, Jambo and Happy Birthday to a little guy named Robert at the next table, but when they sang it sounded just like Robot. Sometimes the dumb things just make you laugh…it worked for Nita and me in our sleepy state!! We sat by our fire and listened to the guitarist again before heading to dreamland.

Lake Nakuru to Masai Mara

2010-09-07T19:25:00.001-05:00

We had breakfast at the lodge and headed out for our early start to the Masai Mara. As we pulled around the bend to leave the hotel, we looked back and lo and behold, there was the sun peeking over the hill! I guess we stayed up til sunrise after all!

The drive to the Masai Mara was about 6 hours. Tan, Seth and I slept, I mean meditated, for much of the journey. We stopped at a market along the way and guess who was there…the Dutch family! Tan welcomed the dad into our group by sharing an elephant hat! Back on the road, it was a nice time to peek at the view every now and then and catch up on our zzz's. About 2 hours before we were planned to arrive, the road got bumpy. We were rattling about like mad. This is where Peter's mad driving skills came out. I think we were going at least 40MPH and bobbing and weaving, bounding all around, going down into ditches to avoid potholes. There are no rules on these roads. He explained that in the USA if you're swerving, you're drunk. If you drive straight in Kenya, then that's when they know you've been hitting the bottle! Once we all adjusted and just went along for the ride, it was kinda fun. There was also a ton of dust, but we all survived it!

We arrived at the park entrance and about 5 minutes into our drive to the lodge, there was an elephant! In the wild! He was huge! And a big contrast to the little babies we saw at the Sheldrick orphanage. As we snapped photos and popped the roof open, another emerged from the brush, then some babies. It was so cool! I think there were 6 or 7 in all. Their tusks are massive, the best is when they flap their ears and they just exude grace and power.

We continued on the lodge and saw plenty of zebra and wildebeest. At first, we were like, yeah, yeah, another wildebeest, but as the trip grew, we all started to really like them! They just have a goofy look, but they're pretty graceful and always seem to watch the vehicles pass and look back at us curiously. Their migration is the highlight of the year in the Masai Mara...an estimated 2.5 million of them cross the land. We like to think it's a highlight of their year too when they get to see the "Migration of the White Vans".

We checked in to the Mara Simba. This place was heaven. The lobby is up on stilts above the reserve and overlooks a river and lots of trees. This time we all got to stay together so we could just knock on doors to rally the troops. We took off quickly for the evening safari since we were running a little behind. We quickly learned the Swahili word for lion was Simba. Anytime there was a lion spotting, we would race to the scene…as would all the rest of the vans. We just weren't having any luck. They were always hiding from us. We did get to see a zebra kill that was on the menu for the lions later that night. The stunning thing about it was the ease the lions must have in taking out their prey. You couldn't even see an ounce of blood. It was odd. When we were at the kill, we ran into the Dutch family once again…I think they may have been following us! Jackson and I rode on top of the van for an hour or so and it was a bumpy mess…but worth every second! We laughed and held on for dear life as we wobbled down the paths! Both of us later recalled just being in awe of the panoramic views and it just hitting us…"we're on safari with great friends…in AFRICA!" It was awesome. We did get to see another big elephant, giraffes, zebras, ostrich, vultures and wildebeests that day, so it was a win. Toward the end, we did get to kind of see a pair of lions in the grass, which they call a marriage when it's just one male and one female…but we conceded that we'd have to hope to see them running about the next day.

As we drove back to the lodge basking in the sunset, most of the crew were back in their seats. Seth and I were still up spotting, when I saw a shadow on a hill…everyone popped up like meerkats, all facing the same direction. There she was! Peter called over the radio, "Simba! Simba! Simba!" It was beautiful…she looked so regal and proud. We all snapped shots furiously before we were joined by several other vehicles. She walked down the hill them started to roar to another lioness. The other female came from the trees and they grunted back and forth. I'm sure they were preparing to hunt and you could feel it in the air. They sauntered over to each other and crossed the street behind us. It was awesome and we all headed back to the lodge with huge smiles! This is why we all signed up for the trip and we got to see our lion!

Back at the lodge, we all met up for dinner and watched the jumping Masai tribal dancers. There was one in particular that caught our eye with his name on his belt called, Ken. He jumped high and we just loved that he had his name right on his outfit. We then sat by the fire and toasted to our day. There was a great little guitarist that played John Denver and Bob Marley tunes and of course, Jambo, Jambo. We started to play Monopoly Deal and a guy came up and stated chatting with us and sat down with his drink. He was nice, but we were all just kinda enjoying each other's company…so we said our good nights and got ready for an early morning of safaris the next day.

On an aside, Swahili is great! All the words are happy and cheery…here's a short lesson!

Hello=Jambo

Lion=Simba

No Worries=Hakuna Matata

Friend=Rafiki

Sweet Dreams=Lala Salama

Thank You=Asanti

It's funny how unoriginal the writers of The Lion King were too…they just took the cute words directly from Swahili!

Nairobi to Lake Nakuru

2010-08-20T22:42:00.001-05:00

We woke up bright and early to meet our guide for the next few days. I think we all fell for him quickly. Peter (always pronounced with a British accent) is a kind, soft spoken person like most of the people we encountered throughout the trip. He made us all smile and we totally hit the jackpot! Not to mention he has the best driving skills I've even seen. More on that later!

We all "meditated" (aka slept like babies) at some point in the car, but there were beautiful views all around us for a majority of the drive to Lake Nakuru. We stopped in an area that looked over the land below that was just stunning. There were little shops along the cliffs that had very high pressure sales people and Tan got a 'Kenyan GPS" that was a map of the surrounding areas at the base of the mountain. The view was worth the haggling though! It was awesome!!

Peter asked us a little while into the trip if we wanted to see hippos…umm, of course! So we made a midday stop to stretch our legs and take a little boat out to explore the lake. We were surrounded by gorgeous scenery with hills and tress. We saw hippos and families sunning on the same beaches…not sure I'd want to be that close! Then our guide stopped to buy 2 fish from a couple of guys on shore. He whistled for an eagle above and it swooped down and snagged the fish only yards from our boat! It was fantastic! We also saw the home of Karen, famous from 'Out of Africa'. It was a gorgeous place with one of the prettiest views I can imagine.

We then took a small break and pulled into a cove. Another guide walked us through a field of zebra, wildebeest and deer. The animals on the land had been brought over from the Masai Mara for the filming of 'Out of Africa'. There were lions for the filming as well, but those returned home. All of these herbivores have remained here since.

We then took our motor boat back to shore and continued on to Lake Nakuru. Jackson enlightened us on the many uses for Twizlers along the way! Peter went to check us in to the park and told us, "beware, the monkeys may be naughty". There was no might about it! These monkeys were a hoot! They climbed into a neighboring car's front seat and taunted the people in the back seat as they took pics. The moneys were ready to grab and run off with any snack they could find too!

We dropped our bags at our hotel, the Lion Hill Lodge, and headed out for our first official safari! We popped the roof open and clustered together to catch of glimpse of some incredible animals! There were baboons in clusters everywhere and even with little babies on their backs. Our first drive was to the lake itself. There were thousands of flamingos throughout the lake. And we got to see the first of the BIG 5…water buffalo (the others are the elephant, lion, leopard and rhino). They were massive and lazy on the shore, but it was a beautiful contrast to the bright, pink flamingos. We walked a while there and took some jump pics. Along the way, Jackson developed a little crush on one of the girls in a passing safari van and Tan hooted to her as we passed…haha!

It was now time to explore the rest of the reserve and see what else we'd be able to check off our list. We spotted white rhinos with a baby by their side, lots of antelope, hyenas that appeared to have cornered a single water buffalo and plenty of zebra and little deer that I can't remember what they were called. Fun fact about the white rhino…they are actually grey just like the others, but were called "wide rhinos" for their wide mouths and that erroneously became white rhinos over time.

We made our way back to the lodge with a stunning, colorful sunset as our backdrop. Seth climbed on top of the roof for the bumpy ride back to our home base. We were 2 down on the BIG 5 and had a great day so far. A couple of people back at the hotel showed us video of elephant and lion encounters they had that day…we were a little jealous, but it just made us more excited for what we'd get to see in the coming days!

The lodge was gorgeous! Each room was in a little duplex cabin. There were no phones or tv, which were a nice break, but made us coordinate our plans a little earlier in advance. Nita and I scored room #1, the honeymoon suite. We had our own fire pit, balcony and a nice, big room!

On the way to dinner, we heard drumming and made our way to see the native dancers. Nita and I went on stage and danced with them. It was fun and tiring, the only downside is deodorant isn't quite as popular as in the US…and wow, it was stinky with all the sweating! J But it was a great time nonetheless. We then had our first buffet which was pretty good then headed down to the firepit after dinner. We were joined by a family from The Netherlands…and it was the same girls from the ride!!! Turns out the family was visiting for their grandpa's birthday and it was him, his daughter and husband, their 3 kids + a boyfriend. I think there was other family on the trip too…but these were the ones at the fire pit. Turns out the girls were 16 and 18…and I thought I was bad about young'uns!! J They were all super sweet and we sang happy birthday. Then it was their turn to teach us a Dutch campfire song. We all sang, Fur, fur, fur (fire, fire fire) and toasted to new friends. One by one people started to go to bed. Around midnight it was just Tan, Seth and me. We stayed up talking forever. We chatted with the guards and with each other. It was so relaxing. At some point, we had the bright idea to stay up and watch the sunrise. Seth napped on a couple of chairs and bailed to his room at about 5:00 am. Tan and I kept each other awake telling stories and made it to dawn. We walked back to Nita and my room and she was up. Well, we made it to sunrise, but the sun wasn't coming up over the lake…it was over the hill behind us…not quite so dramatic!! But it was worth it anyway! I guess this day blends into the next…so I will wrap up and move on to the trip to Masai Mara in the next post! J

Tan’s Birthday in Nairobi

2010-08-17T21:05:00.001-05:00

Baby elephants are quite possibly the cutest animals I've ever seen. And I have the pics to prove it! We went to the David Sheldrick Elephant and Rhino Orphanage just outside Nairobi. In line we met several people from Houston. Tan met a couple from Spring and I met a guy that used to work at Compaq until 1999. Crazy, small world! We got to the front of the pack and ran to get a great spot. The trainers stood around for a while then it was time to see the cuteness run toward us! OMG…they came galloping up and drank from baby bottles, then they played soccer and ran around. They were absolutely amazing and precious. If I could put an elephant in my bag, it would have been running around Memorial Club on a leash! I settled for the next best thing and adopted an elephant named Tumaren that was abandoned when her mother was killed by poachers. She stayed by her mom's body until she was rescued and brought to the reserve. You can tell there is a strong bond with the orphans and their foster parents as they nuzzle and touch them with their trunks. The trainers even sleep in the shelter with the baby elephants each night. We did get to pat a rhino on the nose too. J

Next stop was Giraffe Manor. They were all sizes and had all different kinds of patterns. We got to hand feed them from the ground and from a little fort with a bird's eye view too. We did a little shopping at the gift store then it was off to lunch.

The Talisman was delicious. I had artichoke hearts and crab pasta. Both were so yummy!! The service and surroundings were both incredible. There were plants, flowers and little huts with colorfully decorated pillows everywhere. My favorite area was the garden though. There was a tree I could sit and read under all day. And a sweet little herb garden was tucked away on the side, as well.

We continued our day on a city tour of Nairobi. We caught beautiful views over the city and looked down on a park that hosted a rally for the election that was coming up on Wednesday. This rally was all green, so it was the side that was voting YES to the new constitution for Kenya. We saw lots of state buildings and statues around town. The highlight for me was then driving through the poorer area of the city. It was interesting. The surroundings and living conditions were sad. They didn't appear to have electricity or water, but people looked happy in general. Some yelled at us angrily (Tan swears someone told him "I will kill you!") while most smiled, waved and even blew kisses. It looked like their primary industry was taking scraps from other businesses and converting them to something else. There were oil drums that became wheelbarrows and other metal goods and they were converting tires to shoes too. They also had many of the homes painted with sponsored ads from safaricom and other companies.

Later that evening we went to Carnivore, famous for its exotic meats. Bill also arrived that night and got to join us at the restaurant! The guys tried crocodile and ox balls. Back in the day they had things like zebra and giraffe…but those were no longer on the menu. The staff came out and sang a big 'Happy Birthday' and 'Jumbo, Jumbo' to Tan on his big day.

Then, after a huge meal and a 'few' dawas (the drink of Kenya, made with vodka, honey, lime and brown sugar) we hung out a little then discovered a playground in the back of the restaurant. We zoomed down the slides, climbed thru tubes and bounced on the suspension bridges. It was a great night and hope it was a spectacular day for our Birthday boy, Tan! J

Dubai to Nairobi

2010-08-11T21:13:00.001-05:00

After a long, fun night it was time to take care of Nita's favorite pastime…shopping! We took a taxi to the Gold Souk and where you could find any sort of goods, most of them probably from China! There you could find gold, toys, spices and clothing. Seth was pumped when he found his Sheik hat. I'm sure it will be appearing again later in the week. We also took a little detour to see the old town and walk along the water. As we were heading out we noticed, our favorite shopper hadn't purchased anything! How could it be?

We took a taxi to the hotel then took the metro back to the airport…helping Ali to learn to blend with the locals! At the airport, we snacked on Irish food and the boys stocked up on "the guys" to take on our trip…Jack, Jim and Johnnie. I slept like a baby on the flight to Africa! We arrived in immigration and pretty much ran to the line. Nita and I blazed through quickly with our visas in hand and headed to baggage claim. It took a while for the luggage to arrive, but we eventually collected all the bags. It had been about 2 hours and no friends in sight. 2.5 hours passed and we finally spotted Ali. Then about 30 minutes later Tan, Mary and Jackson showed up. And we all spent the last 45 minutes running around in baggage claim taking pics and getting excited to leave the airport! Jackson and I stayed entertained watching a little boy that looked like he was there traveling alone. He spun in circles, rode the baggage claim conveyer belt and bopped himself in the head. We gave him a British accent and laughed as we came up with what he was saying to himself. Finally, about 30 minutes later we all cheered as Seth made it through!

Our plan was to go to Carnivore that night, but it was pretty late so we just relaxed at the hotel. We had a nice waitress and the guys discovered the Kenyan beer, Tusker. The food was pretty delicious too. The Stanley hotel was built in the early 1900s and has been renovated. It's beautiful!! There is also a tree that used to hold notes so the guests could communicate with each other. Midnight passed and it was officially Tan's birthday! He left a note for us all on the tree and we signed the back of the note to wish him a happy, wonderful birthday in Africa!!!

Full day in Dubai

2010-08-11T12:05:00.001-05:00

The alarm went off too early, but it was time to get up and take advantage of the nice, sunny day! We had a great breakfast buffet and taxied over to the Burj Khalifa. I highly recommend the prepaid tour times if you're going for a visit. We picked up our will call tickets and set off for the elevators. There are pics of the building's construction and fun facts about the height and scale of the building. We took the elevator to the 124^th floor and took in the view. Mary was a little intimidated by the height at first, but adjusted quickly. All the buildings looked like ants below. And we weren't even close to the top. The building is an astonishing 160 stories. http://skyscraperpage.com/ is a great site to see how this building sizes up the other structures around the world. I can now say I've been in the top 3 tallest in the world!

We walked back through the attached mall…it's nice that the entire area is connected by indoor walkways to avoid the heat. We knocked out some shopping. I got my Christmas ornament, a camel, and children's books in Arabic for my mom's class…my 2 must have souvenirs. I also picked up a pretty, hand painted plate and a cookbook to try my hand at making Middle Eastern cuisine! We then took a taxi to the Mall of the Emirates to check out Ski Dubai, a huge indoor ski slope. We decided to get a pass to the 'snow park' that included the luge and tubing. We all giggled and played like kids having snowball fights and racing down the hills. We, of course, took lots of photos and were taking a group shot when this guy photo bombed us!!! We were all laughing and he totally left his wife on a sled to watch. Tan held the guy in the gondola with us so he would stay in the pic!!

Lunch was next on the plan. We represented lots of nations with our lunches, America, the Middle East and Chinese. Tan, Nita and I scored with a great meal from a place called Pasha that was fast food, but delicious!

We went back to the hotel to relax for about 15 minutes then we met our Knight Safari guide, Mohammad, in the lobby. He had us laughing from the time we got in the car. He heckled girls on the side of the road near the sheik's home and talked on the phone, passing it to Seth to talk to his friend. About 15 minutes into the drive, we seemed to be heading back to the city. We all whispered to each other and he finally confirmed we were going to back to the hotel to pick up the photographer. So, we set out for our safari site again! We even had our picture taken by another car that was checking out our group of tourists on the way.

Once we arrived in the desert, we zoomed along a fence and raced the other Land Rovers. It was our turn to heckle and we teased our driver and told him he'd get a better tip if our truck won the race! We then stopped at the beginning of the desert adventure and took some photos and check out the pretty views of unending sand. There was also a hiss that was the guides letting air out of the tires. Then it was go time…and we had the best soundtrack for the ride!! Ch-ch-check it out! Our guide and I were both dancing and we told him to put his hands back on the wheel!!! I was sitting shotgun and it was CRAZY!! We zoomed and darted thru the dunes. We would head straight uphill, the windows pointed to the sky then all of sudden we'd be skidding across the top of the sand and sliding back downhill. A few times we missed the crest and would take a sharp angle downhill then catch up to the rest of the land cruisers. We stopped for pics over one of the top points in the desert with really nice views. We were all a little tipsy when we finally made it to camp. First order of business was to ride a camel. They snorted and "growled" as we got on and took a short walk. Then we settled into camp. We got to try all kinds of snacks, were painted with henna, held a hawk, met a local dog and drank wine coolers…umm, which of these things don't go with the others? Later in the evening we watched a slide show, where we were the first pic and were entertained by a belly dancer that shook and shimmied like nothing I've ever seen!

It had already been a long day, but we couldn't resist meeting Tan and Ali, that had gone to dinner with one of his friends living there. We met at the Fountain Café and the boys were smoking shisha. I tried the mint from Tan's pipe. Not sure if I did it right, but it was pretty smooth and good. We still wanted to get the full nightlife experience, so we headed over to Kasbar on the beach. This place was PIMP! Nita and I bounced to the music and Tan and Ali joined us shortly after. Seth held down the fort at the bar. After lots of fun, we took a night tour of the Jumeriah area. We drove to the gate of the Burj Al Arab (the big sailboat hotel) then drove onto the palm and took some other fun pics of the Atlantis Hotel.

Dubai, we have arrived!!!

2010-08-11T08:08:00.001-05:00

We all arrived at IAH and Tan casually asks, "Hey, would you mind carrying my Zune?" But, of course…then I offered to carry his nice, fancy DSLR in my backpack. Somehow his new neck pillow ends up strapped to my backpack too. I think I'm starting to understand why I was invited…to be Tan's Sherpa! He eventually stole all the good back and carried my backpack, but it made for some laughs. The time flew by and it was suddenly time to board and we even heard "passenger: Moore" over the loud speaker and raced to get on board.

The flight was SO NICE! Emirates is an amazing airline! Some of the fun touches were (1) The video system had 1200 movies, I think and all kinds of other entertainment. (2) The front and bottom of the plane have cameras and you get to watch takeoff and landing and anything in between…even though most of our flight was clouds or the dark of night. (3) We fell asleep under the "stars" on the ceiling of the plane and woke to the lights slowly coming up and birds chirping. The food was pretty good along the way and the staff was great.

Once we landed in Dubai, we were all ready to hit the ground running...as much as you can be after a 14 hour flight. We took the metro to the hotel Novatel in the World Trade Center and found it easily. We met Ali in the lobby and rallied to get out and hit the town. The weather was hot and pretty humid, but about what most of us expected and not too unbearable…especially after the sun went down. Our first stop was to see the amazing dancing fountains at the Dubai Mall. It's like the Bellagio water show x10. That was a recurring theme in Dubai. They have taken lots of the cool things from around the world and do them bigger and better…the benefit of being a relatively young city. We also had a great view to snap the first pics of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world. We then went on a search for food. The mall is huge big and opulent. Every shop you can think of was there and there were beautiful art displays and cool touches like interactive maps that let you search your destination and then it shows you the route to that location. After about 4 tries on the interactive board and 100 stops at the information booth we finally found our restaurant. They had a prime space on the patio where we caught the final fountain show of the night to Ave Maria. Dinner consisted of hummus, fatoush salad, kebabs, and more. And every bite was delicious.

After dinner, we headed to the Library Hotel nearby. This place was swank! We took the elevator to the 63^rd floor to Bar Neos that has stunning views of the city and the illuminated Burj Khalifa. The lights on the building seemed to pulse to the music in the bar. I have to say, the people watching and outfits were quote entertaining too. We grabbed our drinks and snagged a prime table. We toasted to a great adventure over the next week! I can't wait to share this time with friends old and new!

Dubai and Africa – it starts

2010-08-10T11:03:00.000-05:00

It was a snowy night in December, Tan mentioned in passing, "my friend and I are planning to go to Africa, you in?" It took me about 30 seconds to say, "where do I sign?"

So here we are, there are 8 of us now that have been to lots of planning meetings at Ranosh and Ali's place and exchanged countless emails, and we leave in the morning!!

One of the essential items for any trip is the itinerary…so here's the plan!

Great Urban Race - Austin

2009-04-07T22:35:00.001-05:00

Friday afternoon seemed to last forever...tick tock, tick tock. That's usually how it goes when you have something you're looking forward to. I've had a dream for a while of going on The Amazing Race. Annemarie and I tried out for the show last year and I really had my hopes up that we had a chance. It didn't pan out, so when I heard from my awesome friend Dana that The Great Urban race was a micro version of the show + you didn't have to be "selected" + it was in my backyard, in Austin, I was in!!!

I mentioned it last week and Mindi's face lit up…I knew I had my partner! J There was lots of chatting on the way and we got to Austin in no time to meet Dana and Liz for dinner at Shady Creek. The waiter stunk, so we decided to abort those plans and do a little pre-race shopping and grab Olive Garden for dinner.

Dana wasn't feeling well, so she and Liz decided to stay home and recover. Mindi and I sadly left on our own to make them proud on the race. We will definitely do this again with Dana as soon as she's back to her awesome, normal self!

We arrived at Pease Park at about 11:00 and hung out and made new friends until the kick off at noon. They encouraged costumes, so we got into it and dressed for the time of year as Easter bunnies. At 12:00 sharp, they passed out the clues and we were off!

We bolted to a shady spot and worked through the 12 clues. We had most of them mapped and we were so smart to buy a public transportation map to pinpoint lots of the locations! We were a tad confused as we started, jumped on and off the bus, but finally got back on track. We were headed to Whole Foods to get our canned food for one of the challenges, when we saw lots of people over at Waterloo records. We thought, "oh good idea" that they were completing a clue where you had to take a pic with a person wearing a concert tee. We found a guy with a Peter Gabriel shirt and were on our way. We got our canned food, canoed around Town Lake, took a pic at the Reagan High School baseball field and with Peter Pan at the mini golf course, then dropped off our food at the Mary Lee Foundation. After all of this running, we headed toward 6^th Street. Our "phone a friend" buddies Dana and Liz helped us solve a few clues and we took our pic at The Lucky Lizard and the big red mmmpanada stand. We did take a quick stop to dance a little to the tunes blaring on 6^th Street as people partied through the sunny Saturday afternoon. We had 2 clues left. 1) Where did Willie Nelson play on Nov 2, 2000 and 2) Take a pic with the longhorn statue at the co-op. This is when we realized that Willie played at the WATERLOO!! Oh, crap, we had to backtrack all the way to Lamar and take a pic in front of the store instead of inside. Oh, boo!! We ran our bunny tails down there then made our way to the longhorn statue. On the bus, we made friends with 2 girls from NYC and met back up with 2 other friends from the very beginning of the race. We all made our way to the statue and snapped the pic. We got back to Pease Park in just under 4 hours…hot and sweaty, but with big smiles!

It was a really fun adventure and can't wait to do it again…hopefully this season and with a bigger group so we can strategize all together and place in the top 25! Our final rank was 88 of about 230 pairs…which was just awesome for us rookies!

After a stop at Thundercloud Subs, on the way home to Houston Mindi just couldn't resist the cute bluebonnets on the side of the highway, so we stopped for a little photoshoot as the sun set! J

Copenhagen, Denmark

2009-04-01T23:06:00.001-05:00

We pulled into port right on time. These Scandinavians aren't playing when it comes to being punctual! It was a beautiful, chilly day when we arrived. We made our way to The Palace Hotel, right on the main square. As we checked in, they played this crazy James Bond music and I felt like someone was going to come slip Alison and me a secret mission to go complete in the city. Our 007 never showed up, so we took the double decker bus from outside our hotel to tour the city.

The major stop on this route was the Copenhagen mermaid. Denmark is the home of Hans Christian Anderson, who wrote the fairytale "The Little Mermaid". She was cute, but it's odd to see which landmarks gain such attention! She is actually such a big deal, we were lucky to see her before she goes to Shanghai for the World Expo 2010! We then hopped back on the bus and decided to jump off again when we saw a big crowd gathered at the Amalienborg Palace. We hit perfect timing to see the changing of the guard. It's lots of ceremony and a cool site to see. We timed it perfectly! It only happens once a day, so pretty cool catch it. We crossed the street to see the impressive Opera House, as well.

The wait for the next bus was about 30 minutes, so we decided to walk for a while. We walked to a cute marina area with lots of outdoor cafes. These crazy people love to be outside on a pretty day, even if it's cold. They will sit outside and the restaurants even provide blankets to keep them warm! We then walked over to Christiania, which was a hippy community that formed in the early 1970s. We couldn't quite find the actual entrance to the community, so we walked to where we "thought" the next stop would be. Umm, no stop to be found, so we ended up walking back to our hotel. We got to see lots of the city and it was all worth the hike. One the way back, we walked along the Tivoli Gardens...an amusement park right in the center of the city that was founded in 1843. Sadly, we had one week until it opened, so that leaves something to look forward to on the next trip. As we walked up to the hotel, we noticed a band setting up…it was a group of Native Americans...that we saw last year in Ljubljana, Slovenia!! What one earth are the chances? Later, we found out there may be more than one group that travels Europe. Has anyone else seen these guys?

We took a quick power nap and tore up the snack bag like a pack of wolves then headed out to look for souvenirs and walk along the busy pedestrian area. My friend from HP Denmark, Lars, met us and showed us around town. Really, Alison ended up giving him a history lesson on the city…all from her keen listening skills on the double decker bus! We talked through a church, the winter palace gardens and met another beautiful pup named Freddy! He was to completely adorable and friendly!

Next, we went to the Hard Rock Café to get a pin for our friend Linda then stopped for yummy 'Danish' treats and visited a local pub to have a few drinks. We capped off the night with an awesome Italian dinner with a really sweet waitress from Bulgaria. Right as we were heading to bed, the sound of car horns blasted from the square below. I ran to the window to take a look and a bunch of guys ran from their cars up to a limo in the front of the caravan and tossed a guy, who I'm assuming was the groom, into the air a few times!! It was crazy!

We took off early the next morning and caught some unbelievable views of Iceland and Greenland on our way home! Another great trip…can't wait for the next tuck n roll!! J

Oslo, Norway

2009-04-01T21:37:00.001-05:00

We woke up the next morning to a blizzard…OMG, it looked COLD outside. Before we set out for the day, we went to have the breakfast buffet. It was heavenly! I felt just like I was sitting down to Christmas dinner! There it all was…the cold cuts, cheese, breads, hot dishes, Wasa crackers…it was so delicious and fun to see that our Christmas tradition was legit!

Once we were stuffed, we bundled up and started our walk to the boat dock. Alison had read about a great little boat tour to all the museums with nice views of the city. When we got to the marina and all of the boats were covered in snow, we though...hmmm, we can't see 10 feet in front of our noses, it's freezing and snowing. Is this really the best way to enjoy a boat ride?!? We assumed it wasn't running and were trying to think of a plan b when Bill asked if we had been sledding before. Alison and I had both never been and we got excited for our new adventure!

As we passed the boat office, a lady came out and asked if we were waiting for the boat, it was to arrive any minute. We had gotten kind of excited about our new plan, so we asked if she happened to know of anywhere we could sled. The people throughout Scandinavia were incredible!! They are so helpful, cheery and nice. The 3 people that were in the office called the sled rental place and gave us exact directions of how to get to the hill. We were expecting to do this in the city somewhere on cardboard boxes…not 'real' sledding…but we were up for the fun. I found an adorable little pup along the way too!

We took the train to the second to last stop to rent our sleds. Then hopped back on the train to the Frognerseteren stop and finally found our way to the starting line. The train route we took was on the way to Lillehammer, the site of the 1994 Olympics. We all took off and Alison sat still on her sled, after the first run, Bill and I were pumped up and wondering what happened to Alison?? We called her with our 'hooty hoo' signal and nothing…finally we see her creeping like a snail down the hill. Side note - Alison is good at everything! So seeing the total look of contempt for the sled had us laughing our asses off! This was a lot more work than we had bargained for, but gave us some gorgeous views and once we got the hang of it…it was so much fun!!! Oh, and Alison was zooming past me by the end!

We were all soaked…Bill and I were in soggy shoes, Alison's jeans were wet, so we just raced to get back to the hotel and warm up. We packed up our bags and decided to have another bloody mary in the hotel bar to warm us up for the hike to the boat dock to catch the ferry to Copenhagen. This one was no prez-club bloody, but it was a good thing we tried to warm up a little…it was still frozen outside!

When we spotted the ferry, we realized this was a little more than a dingy, it was a full-fledged cruise ship! We boarded at about 4:30 and expected to take off at 6:00. We dropped off our bags in the teeny room and went up to have a glass of wine before dinner. We pulled away from the dock promptly at 5:00! Good thing we didn't procrastinate too long! The views were beautiful as we left and it was a bonus that we got to watch the coast before our dinner at 6:15. The buffet was another smorgasbord with a crazy selection of foods. We gorged…the highlight were the cold and hot mussels…they were SO yummy. The biggest surprise on the menu was crawfish! They weren't seasoned Cajun-style…but still odd to see them on the buffet. We also learned at dinner that there was a trucker convention on the boat, so of the 1200 passengers, 900 were men. That made for a loud night of hooting and hollering outside our cabin, but lucky me that I'm a really heavy sleeper! I felt so weak going to bed early, but Alison had drugged us to make sure no one got sea sick…it was probably a good thing!! J

Next stop, Copenhagen!

Stockholm, Sweden

2009-03-31T00:34:00.001-05:00

We arrived in Stockholm early in the morning. Right off we got to see how friendly and helpful the Scandinavians were going to be. We met Joakim in the tourist center and he made us laugh and wake up from our long travels. He had a dry sense of humor and was totally game when we asked him to take pics and even be in the photos with us! He said, "you better not tag me in those on facebook"…so Alison memorized his name...and we totally found him…we're friends now!! Small world!

Bill arrived shortly after us and we took the train into the center of town. We knew we wanted an overview of the city and to see the Viking ship at the Vasa Museum. We hopped on the double decker bus and the trip started! The weather was chilly with ice and snow on the ground…but bundled up it was a perfect day with a gorgeous, sunny sky!

Our first stop was to see the famous Vasa that sank on its maiden voyage…actually, this majestic boat never even made it out of the harbor! It collapsed under the weight of its sail. It was built in the 17^th century…after sinking it spent the next 333 years at the bottom of the sea. It was pulled from the bottom of the sea in 1961 and restoration is still in progress. This museum is awesome! There are school-style diorama projects that will blow you away with mini scaled version of a cross section of the ship, how it was built and how it was rescued from the sea floor.

Next, we hopped back on the bus, some of us took a little power nap prompted by the sun beaming into the bus. We then stopped at Old Town to walk around and grab a bite to eat. Alison had found a coffee shop that was supposed to serve the thick hot chocolate, like we had tried in Ljubljana…and we actually found the place! We all got a hot meal and warmed up from the chilly weather outside. The food was great and the white and regular chocolate was delicious.

From there, we walked the pedestrian area of the Old Town, found a few little tourist shops with Alison's snow globes and crystals for her nieces and a few Swedish items for my family. I even found a keychain with 'mormor' on it!! I was always the only kid with a mormor, so it was pretty cool to see it pre-printed! J

We then walked back to the main area of town. There were lots of shops and the city seemed to come to life in the afternoon. It was very quiet when we arrived at 10ish, then it was totally bustling later in the afternoon. We stumbled on an open air market, took in the flowers, fruits and vegetables. There was a man from Persia at one of the stands that sold nuts and dried fruit. We chatted with him for a while…I think he is the only person in Europe I've met that liked George W…crazy dude! J We bought some corn nuts to snack on thru the trip and I got some for my mom too.

We looked at our map and debated what else to do with our day. We all had achy feet, so we decided to try to catch an earlier flight. We got back to Arlanda Airport and no luck. But, we did have a nice time relaxing in the Prez Club (stocking up on more snacks) until we took off for Oslo.

We arrived in Oslo right on time at about 9:30. Normal landing…then the fun began. After touching down, we didn't even break stride, I looked out the window and commented, "wow, we're still going really fast!" We had to have been doing at least 50mph, thru turns and all. We screeched up to the gate and everyone popped out of their seats…faster than Alison, Bill and me…that NEVER happens. All of a sudden the back door opens, the jetway is open and people are pouring out of the plane and hauling to the terminal. We all look at each other stunned at how fast everyone is moving. Are we missing something here…is there some huge line coming up for immigration? We move up to the walkway in the terminal and everyone is still practically running…Alison is elated and we're all convinced she MUST have Norwegian roots. We run/walk all the way to baggage and head for the train. These people just move fast and it's awesome!

We took the train to our hotel. The Radisson SAS is connected to the rail station by a sky bridge. It was chilly out, but little did we know, the real cold was going to be the next day!

Scandinavia bound at 600 mph

2009-03-30T23:00:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted. I didn't post on Ireland and missed having the recap to remember the details of my adventures…so jumping back on the bandwagon and here goes. My friend, Matt, is the PM for a great little product called the HP Mini 2140 and he was nice enough to loan me one for this trip! So, I have half the weight of my mobile workstation to lug as I travel Sweden, Oslo and Copenhagen. So far, this thing rocks!!! Here's my little setup on the plane. I even had room for my meal next to it!

Today, we woke up early and Oscar took Alison and me to IAH to catch our fight to Newark. We relaxed in the president's club, had a 9am bloody mary and worked on our master cheese collecting skills. I think our chico sac is completely overflowing with cheese and cracker goodness! Oh, and we discovered the hazelnutty goodness of Nutella. If you haven't tried it, run to the store and pick up a jar…YUM!!

I also called and chatted with my mormor. She is the absolute best!! We are so much alike and it makes me hopeful that I will call or stop by and visit with her more. I mentioned that I was going to call her the night before, but was afraid 10:00 was too late…she laughed and said, 'oh, that's like noon to me!'. I think I know where I get my night owl-ness. She gave us a few tips about going back to the smorgasbord as much as we'd like and how to saw good day (gudog) and thank you (taksamika). Her mom was from Stockholm and had the last name Magnuson, so we'll see if I run across any distant relatives. I'm a total mutt of ethnicities from around Europe…but I've always felt so, so close to my mormor and many of the customs and traditions I cherish from my family and will definitely pass to my own family are from mormor, that were passed from her mom. When she was little, her mom didn't speak any English and lost her site when she was older, so my mormor would read the Swedish paper to her. We always have a smorgasbord for Christmas, with appetizers, cold foods, hot foods (including Swedish meatballs) and rice pudding with raspberry sauce. There are 2 almonds hidden in the bowl and the people who get them win a prize. Somehow it was always Beca and me…so weird! J We always had a centerpiece with candles and little angels twirling around too. Looking forward to see if the culture and people seem similar to her.

After a quick stop in Newark where I picked up my FAVORITE Swedish delicacy…Swedish Fish (haha)…that brings us to now, on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic near Reykjavik, Iceland.

I watched Australia the first 3 hours, not what I expected, but a cute movie with some nice scenery. Took a little nap with John Mayer singing me to sleep. There is something about his music and planes for me. I can just listen to him on shuffle the entire way. When I was in Taiwan a few years ago, I was listening to Brian and Kara Connelly's wedding CD and fell in love with 3x5 and been hooked ever since. My other favorite travel artist is Damien Rice…he evokes more emotion through his voice that anyone else on my iPod. Being on the plane for these adventures can make you a little stir crazy, but there is something about the peace and quiet, before the hectic travel schedule, of having 7.5 hours to yourself. To just relax and close your eyes with no distractions and lose yourself in a song, it's nice.

Looking forward to the adventures this trip has in store…see you in Stockholm! Here's the plan…

Rockafire Explosion

2008-12-05T09:44:00.002-06:00

I am sitting at work. Reading other people's blogs. Feeling bad that I haven't posted to mine in forever...and I stumble upon this gold mine!!!

If you grew up in the 80s and ever visited Showbiz pizza and watched the Rockafire Explosion...you have to watch this video!!

There are a group of guys making a movie about the fanboys of this ape-led band. Can't wait!!!

http://www.rockafiremovie.com/

i think i've made a huge mistake

2008-10-15T17:40:00.003-05:00

That was for all my fellow Arrested Development fans. Wait, a joke's not funny if you have to explain it...oh well!

So, I'm insane and have decided to ride with Team HP in the MS150 this year. It should be a rewarding and exciting experience...but I am totally scared @&#*less! Wish me luck and hope I don't totally come back scraped and bruised!

As part of this whole thing, we have to raise moolah for the National MS Society research fund. It's great cause, so if you have some spare change, feel free to visit my page! :)

Donate Now!

Gaigespages is back!

2008-10-14T13:54:00.003-05:00

It all started when I was uploading pics last week. I was rockin and rollin through my photos and trying to get caught up on gaigespages...my last update was in June...ouch!

All of a sudden, I started getting an "upload failed" message. Ok, weird...but I was upstairs, must just be a bad connection. I schlepped the computer, HDD and power adapter down closer to the access point. And nothing...same issue.

I tried again the next day after work...ready to throw my computer across the room! I finally plugged in the ethernet and it didn't change a thing..."upload failed"...(@&$!!! Nita was even over one night and got to see my crazy OCD self try over and over again!

I googled "ethernet speed" and found this cool tool, but it didn't tell me what I wanted to hear. I had no upload connection. Well, at least I knew the problem now. I IM'd and talked on the phone with Comcast and they pretty much just told me to be patient, they were fixing an issue in my neighborhood. Boo :(

I finally tried again last night, and voila...it worked! Yippee!!

So, gaigespages is up to date with 31 new albums from the last few months!

Turkish fest

2008-10-12T23:13:00.003-05:00

The Greek fest was postponed due to Hurricane Ike...so Nita used her google skills and found another culture to celebrate! The Turkish Festival was being held in Jones Plaza...so Nikki, Nita and I went to enjoy the fun. I cracked up when we walked in...the belly dancer was totally the same girl that just performed at a friend's birthday party recently...it had to be her! The little boy and girl in the pic below were totally loving taking a little dancing lesson!

We relaxed there for a while, then decided to go over to check out Discovery Green. Nikki and I snacked on ice cream and we just enjoyed the pretty day at the new, busy downtown park! It's nice to see that Houston finally has a nice outdoor area to relax in town!

dog day at the park

2008-10-12T23:02:00.004-05:00

My mom and I took Rocky (who just turned 16!!!), Luna and Gidget to the park to enjoy this wonderful time of year in Houston. The temperature has been absolutely perfect the last few weeks! Here are a few fun shots of my hilarious girls!

Astros game and playing tourist around Houston

2008-10-12T21:46:00.006-05:00

My coworker and friend Andre, from our HP office in Germany, was in Houston for meetings...so I got to do my favorite thing...play tour guide and show him around town!

We did a little driving through downtown, the med center and uptown to prove that there is more to Houston than the 2 miles around HP. We also shopped at the Galleria and had great luck that there was an Astros game on Sunday afternoon. I got to teach him a little about the game and the good guys even won their last game of the season!

Ike...a few weeks late

2008-10-12T13:09:00.004-05:00

Again, it's been a while, gaigespages is giving me lots of trouble...well really Comcast. They're trying to fix the upload problem...so until I can get it updated, thought I'd post a few blog updates.

When I returned from Germany on Tuesday after Hurricane Ike, this is what I came home to. Here's a little peek at the damage around Memorial Club. This tree was uprooted...these guys were lucky this fell away from the house.

Our place was fine, minus a few food items that had to go after the power outage.

The storm did have an upside...I got to have a few house guests while everyone waited to get their power back. Over the weekend Camille and her sweet little Sadie stayed with me. And during the week, I got Nita for a night before she was able to move into her place and get power back. Here's a pic of the Sadie girl! :)

On Sunday, Camille and I went to George R. Brown to help the evacuees. Right as we pulled up, they were transporting everyone over to a new location...so no help needed. We used our handy iPhones to find somewhere else to help and decided on the Houston Food Bank. This is a shot of the Chase building that had the most damage in downtown...you can see all of the boarded up windows on the bottom floors.

At the food bank, the people were all very nice and well organized. We put together boxes with lots of tuna, chili and some weird items like seasoning packets, BBQ pork rub and sprinkles.

Here's Camille and me with our favorite box of goodies!

Auf Wiedersehen Germany

2008-09-21T23:06:00.004-05:00

It was back to work on my last day in Germany. I spent most of the day working on blogs and catching up on work email. I did take a little mid day break to walk around Frankfurt. It was nice to get a little fresh air!

I tried to find the next in the series of my "merde" books...no luck. But, I did find a great place to find all the other English speaking people in Germany. This side of the bookstore was all imports.

And this store was a humoungous shoe store. The Germans seem to love foot fashion. There were smaller version of this all over the place.

And finally, here a shot of my room/office at The Turm. This hotel was really nice and the staff was great!

Baden Baden

2008-09-21T21:21:00.005-05:00

Ok, felt a little bad yesterday...but today...UGH! I felt like crap! But again, drug myself up and out of the room and the fresh air helped. I bought my ticket to Baden Baden and I was off!

I arrived at the train station and again, no helpful little tourist sign. I was lost and feeling so bad I considered packing it in and heading back to Frankfurt. My flight had been cancelled that day (due to Ike) and I still needed to go to the airport to chat with Air France about how I was going to get back to Houston.

I sucked it up and started wandering around. I finally found a map of the city and a bus map. My sleepy brain finally figured out how to get to the center of town. I used this photo throughout the day to check the bus routes...it was like a little interactive map that I scrolled all around!

I didn't realize this place was so posh. It was FANCY! There were lots of high end shops and of course the bath houses/spas.

This was a sweet little pair of pigeons. He kept grooming her...how sweet.

And this lady typified the people there. This lady was in a full fur coat and it was maybe 75 degrees! Silly lady!

The pic of this little one captured just how I felt!!! :) This is what I would have looked like trying to bike!

Another little funny site. Check out that metal ball at this playground. Umm, wonder how many kids are injured on that thing each year?!

My stay was pretty short and I would love to return and get a better view from the top of the hills! Here's my inner dork coming out. This is me "napping" on my way home. :)

I grabbed sushi to take back to the hotel and check out the cure little package for the soy sauce. :)

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

2008-09-19T14:39:00.009-05:00

I woke up to non-stop coverage of Hurricane Ike...talked to my family to make sure everything was going ok and headed out for the day.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Rothenburg...but people seemed to always have a twinkle in their eye when they talked about it...especially at Christmas time. I woke up feeling a little sick with a terrible sore throat, but wasn't going to let that stop me from running around Germany. I had to take 3 trains to make it to the town and it all went off without a hitch. The last train was a tiny little 2 car shuttle that looked like it was straight out of Disney World and this was the scenery out of the window.
Once I arrived, I had no clue where to go and there was no helpful tourist office. I did see a sign with a person walking, so though ok, what the heck...that must be the way. Luckily, it was. :) There was a beautiful medieval gate that served as entry to the walled town.
I started by scaling the stairs and walking the perimeter, check out the view!
Once the walkway ended, I went down the stairs and walked along a road that opened to an incredible valley. There was one point when I went through this archway and said "whoa" out loud to myself. It was absolutely, perfect.
I walked the town and stopped for a coffee to warm up then took a tour through the Kathe Wolfahrt store. This is the penacle of all Christmas stores. It's crazy! There is a museum dedicated to Christmas and room and rooms of ornaments, decorations, etc. And if all of that's not enough there is another store of hers right across the street!
The chilly air and my cold were really getting to me by this time, so I made my way through a few more streets then back up to the wall to find my way back to the main entrance.
I strolled the wall, enjoying the gorgeous view. Check it out...an actual non-self portrait...I have legs!!!
And on the way to the train passed this beautiful cemetary. Wow.
I made it to the train and picked up a book at one of the stations. It was an absolute hoot! It's called "A Year in the Merde"...about an Englishman's first year in Paris. On the way home, I read and took in the beautiful sunset...what a day. :)

Köln

2008-09-19T09:48:00.006-05:00

Jumped on the train from Koblenz to Cologne (or as the Germans say Köln). When you get off the train the entire landscape is consumed by the enormous Cologne Cathedral.
I followed the big red T for the tourist office and got a map of the city and a schedule for the bus tour. With my tiny bit of time here, this seemed like the best way to get a lay of the land. I had about 30 minutes to kill before the tour, so I walked over to the Cathedral. I lit one more candle here for the impending Hurricane Ike about to hit Houston. And just took in the massive beauty. Then I went over to one of the tourist stores and picked up my ornament. All of the people working there were Chinese and I almost couldn’t resist the temptation to say “xiexie” (thanks in Chinese). :)
We then toured all around the city by bus and saw the new and old of Cologne. There were medieval gates, many old churches, but also modern elements like the cable cars that cross the river. Would be a great way to get a good panoramic view.

We returned to the cathedral after our trip. This is a replica of one of the spires at the top...just to give you a sense of how enormous it is!!

After the tour, I walked through one of the big shopping streets and went over to the Hard Rock Café to get a pin for my friend Linda, who collects them around the world. Then crossed over to the river to head to the Lindt chocolate museum. Unfortunately, there was a private party, so I didn’t get to do the tour…but I did run through the gift shop with tons of chocolaty treats.
After a long, fun day, took the train back to Frankfurt! Another fun day planned tomorrow to Rothenburg!

first stop, Koblenz

2008-09-15T17:21:00.007-05:00

The first destination I found recommended online was the Rhein River Valley…then my friend Andre suggested Cologne (aka Koln) in the same area. After talking to the moderator for our focus groups, Helmut, and Siobhain…they suggested the same 2 destinations. I was set for my first day of playing tourist in Germany!

I set out on the train to Koblenz on a really ugly, rainy day. At least it wasn’t too chilly. :) The views were beautiful as the train moved toward the river and followed its banks all the way to Koblenz. There are so many castles along this route…you start to think…woop ti do…there’s another castle! They are all just gorgeous!
I found a tourist office right outside the train station. They provided a map with all the highlights in English. On my way to the city center, I saw this! So cool!! :)
I followed the path to a track of green space that went right along the Rhein River. There were a few other people out running or strolling…but I have a funny feeling this trail would be packed on a nice day. Here I am looking like a drowned rat!
Right before I made my way to a point at the corner where the Rhein meets the Moselle, I gave in and bought a touristy, ridiculous umbrella. This is so not me…but I actually chose it over a nice, plain red one! Go me! :)
I then made my way into the shopping district. This is a beautiful and fancy little town! There were many churches, shops, hotels, restaurants.
I had just read the blog update from Jasmine Star about her mom. I had followed her blog for a while, thinking this girl is too good to be true! I had the chance to meet her in July for the Freedom Tour stop (or start really) in Houston. She is just one of those people you instantly like and you feel like you’ve met an old friend. While I was at the Church of Our Lady, I lit a candle for Jasmine, her mom and the rest of her family. So, hope this post finds you doing well. Been there with my mom too and sending a big hug your way.
I walked the city a little more, just taking in the pretty streets.
Then stopped for lunch at a fish n chips place that was so yummy!! Their batter was so light and fluffy with lots of flavor and not greasy at all! Yum!
Once I was full and happy (and a little drier), I walked back to the train station to make my way to Cologne.

I saw this along the way...and felt like I was looking in a mirror!! Oh, and that map from the beginning of the stop in Koblenz...it was destroyed by the rain...so I stopped and got a fresh one to take with me. :)

Frankfurt am Main

2008-09-15T15:33:00.006-05:00

We took the train from Paris to Frankfurt. It’s a great way to see the countryside and so much less stress than flying. We arrived mid-day, got settled in, then headed over to the focus groups. We met up with Siobhain from the EMEA office there. The groups went late into the evening and we just called it a night when they were over.

Ann and I met the next afternoon to tour around Frankfurt a bit. We started off by visiting a Christmas store. Ann found a pyramid and a nutcracker for her daughter. They LOVE this holiday in Germany…which makes it easy for me to find my ornaments!! We also went on a search for a cuckoo clock…something she has wanted since she was little. We stopped in a tiny shop and the owner told us about the differences between the battery and manually operated ones. It seemed like a good deal, but decided it’s smartest to shop around.

We then stopped by a toy store that had some unique items…including this teddy bear riding a giraffe??

We then made our way to the Römerberg square. There were plenty of beautiful, traditional German buildings.
Our next stop was over the river. We went to the bridge and were stopped with a big group. When the ribbon was finally lifted, we figured out what was going on. There was something filming on the bridge. No clue what it was...all my evesdropping skills were worthless since I don’t speak German! Oh well…will have to keep an eye out for this setting.
Once we were able to cross the bridge, we followed a German tour group and visited a small church on the other side.
We crossed back over and headed toward the big, main church in the city, Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral. It appeared to be closed, so we went around the corner and went to the Paulaner for lunch. When I commented that most of the German food included lots of meat, Siobhain mentioned there was a veggie friendly meal with homemade noodles, cheese, onions and mushrooms. I found it here and it was so rich, but delicious.
After lunch, we walked around the other side of the church and saw that it was open! We went inside and found the sweetest little man. He claimed to speak English like an 8 year old. Ha! He was awesome! He told us all about the history of the church.
On the way back, we stopped back by the clock shop after seeing the exact same ones for much more…so Ann got her new toy!! :) We also popped into a chocolate store and I found one more pup at a beauty salon. He was a sweet one! Can't wait to see my pups!

We then headed back to our rooms to rest a little before working that evening. I went out to the park and read/people watched to enjoy the pretty day.

After the focus groups were over, we went to grab a drink at a little pub with Heltmut, the German moderator. He was so nice and helped me plan the next couple of days touring Germany!

This evening was also the first day everyone started to talk about the reality of Ike hitting Houston. Little did we know what was to come.

Tour de Paris

2008-09-15T11:58:00.010-05:00

I successfully convinced both Ann and Tommy to go on the Fat Tire Bike Tour. I’ve done very similar tours in Munich, Amsterdam and Berlin. They were all great and absolutely my favorite way to see any city. The tour guides are a little irreverent and make even the history lessons fun and interesting. Most are American or Canadian…so they are easy to understand too!

On the way over, I found a cute little “French” Bulldog wobbling through the park and stopped to get a doggie pic!
We also grabbed a couple of pics on this gorgeous day with the Tour d’Eiffel in the background. This time I turned Ann into the unicorn!!
We met the guide, Crystal, at 11:00 at the Eiffel Tour. She happened to be from Austin! Yea! There were about 20 of us on the trip to bike around Paris. We saw a ton of sites before lunch including, the Ecole Militaire (Military School), the new and very modern peace monument, Napolean’s tomb, Rodan’s museum, Les Invalides (the Pope was going to be in the adjacent plaza that Friday!), and the Place de la Concorde…where an Egyption monument now stands. This was on the site where many of the French beheadings by guillotine happened.
At the final stop before lunch, we saw the fancy Hotel de Crillon. One of the perks of winning the Tour de France, the 1st place rider gets to fly their country’s flag on top of this posh hotel. The first year Lance won, he flew the Texas flag instead!!! Wohooo! It started as a joke, then just stuck…he ended up flying it year after year as he took the top slot! I had also seen on CNN that morning that he was re joining the ride next year. This time dedicated to cancer research. We’ll see if he flies the TX flag or a yellow one for cancer research.
We then went on to the park next to the Louvre to have lunch. We sat with a mom and daughter, originally from the Midwest. The daughter was now working for the WB in LA. They were fun to chat with and really nice. The table next to us saved their bread and fed it to this little pigeon we named Scrappy. My crepe just wasn’t as exciting as the baguette!
After lunch, we rode past The Louvre and Seine River, back by the Eiffel Tower, then returned to the bike shop. It started to drizzle right as we returned, so everything worked out perfectly!
The bikes all had names, so I had to snap a photo of this one! :)
After we walked back to the hotel, Ann and I threw our things down so we could make a little time to stop by Notre Dame before the groups that evening. Ann jumped into this Self portrait!!! Haha!

It was a beautiful church…and we were even there during a mass.
On the way back to the focus group location, I saw this and it just made me laugh. I think that person was a little confused. Shouldn’t "go" be the happy face? Maybe it’s French pop art that I just don’t understand!
After the groups that night, we went to grab a drink at Chez Prune with our awesome moderator for the groups, Samuel, and enjoyed the French wine and beer! :)

Bienvenue à Paris!

2008-09-15T07:15:00.008-05:00

We woke up early so I could catch my train to Paris. I actually made it this time! I was sad to leave though. I had had an incredible visit with the Monges and I cannot thank them enough for their amazing hospitality and for making me feel so welcome! And thanks to our moms too for keeping in touch through the years!!

The train to Paris was as beautiful as I expected! It was a gorgeous day, so I caught lots of nice landscapes through the window.

I arrived at about 2, checked into Hotel de la Bourdonnais and went to the focus groups shortly after.

When the groups were over, Ann needed to kill a little time before her 2AM webcast with her daughter. We were staying very close to the Eiffel Tower, so we walked through the park and took in its beauty. It was all lit up and quite a sight. The last time I was in Paris (other than layovers) was in 1991…so needless to say, I didn’t remember much!

At 11:00 we were in the middle of the street and the tower lit up with twinkly lights!!! Ann stopped dead in her tracks, like a deer in headlights. I had to push her to the side of the road to keep us safe. :) It was quite beautiful. Later, we found out that they did it for the millennium and the Parisians loved it so much, they made it a permanent display!

We headed back after that and Ann and Tommy both agreed to do a bike tour the next day…yipeeee!

barbeque and relaxing with the Monges

2008-09-15T06:05:00.005-05:00

Today was a nice easy going day…and my last day in Pau. :( We got up and played with the kids. I watched and listened intently while Elorine and Annabelle worked through her workbook. I actually understood so many of the simple terms…I was on my way to becoming French!!

We had planned to barbeque that day, so Jérémy and I went to the store to pick up a few things. First, we went to a bakery with the most devine pasteries. Jérémy made me order…just because he loves to make fun of my awful French accent. How is it possible to even screw up the word croissant!?!??! We got a few of those and a baquette for lunch and a very fancy cake that looked incredible!

We stopped by the grocery store too…which was more of a mini walmart with clothes and other household items.

When we got home, one of the Monges’ friends was there with her little boy. He and Elorine had such a good time playing tag and running all around! We fired up the grill and Jérémy cooked the duck breast while Annabelle finished up the tabouli salad. While we were at the store, we also picked up a bottle of champagne and wine (both French, of course!). We opened the champagne and wow was it incredible! We then had our meal of canard (duck) breast, tabouli, and wine in the back yard (aka ‘garden’). The meal was absolutely delicious!! It was a beautiful day and had wonderful people to enjoy it with! The dessert was to die for! It was so delicious!
We headed to the airport right after lunch. When we arrived, we saw that the line for both ticketing and security were so long! We waited patiently and when I got to the front the lady informed me that boarding was closed. ARGH! We went to the ticket counter and it was going to be 400 euros to catch a flight later that day. Ouch! So, we started to think of alternatives. We finally decided the train would be the way to go. We drove over to the station and found a few options. There was an overnight train…but that would prevent me from seeing the countryside…so I went with the one that left in the morning.

So, I got to stay one more night than planned. J We picked up Chinese takeout for dinner. With none of the same dishes you see in the US or China! Another fun day! It was so nice to relax and take it easy on vacation!

San Sebastien and St. Jean de Luz

2008-09-15T04:12:00.009-05:00

I slept in a little after making it through jetlag day 1 like a champ. When I woke up, Elorine came in and showed me toys and we played and tried to chat a little …she is just such a doll! We left the house a little before 10 to a dreary and drizzly day. Nothing was stopping us though!

The girls had been up a while, so they all napped in the back seat on the way to Spain. Serine likes to say “ma ma ma” every time we got in the car. So she just talked herself to sleep.

We arrived in Spain at about noon to the gorgeous town of San Sebastian (or Donostia in Basque). This area is part of the Basque region that exists in both France and Spain. The homes that are white or yellow with the red tile roofs are common in this area. This was our first view of the water.

Elorine wanted nothing more than to hit the beach…so we walked right down to the coast. We looked from above then Annebelle and I went down to play in the sand and feel the water. It was nice and warm.
Elorine was not very happy that Annabelle and I walked down to the water. So, we made one more trip so she could touch the water too. When we were about 50 feet away, she turned and ran back to the seawall! It was a good thought. :) Here’s a shot of all of us! We then walked down the sea wall and over to the old town. This place was gorgeous…with quaint little streets and plenty of bars and restaurants. They have banned smoking inside the bars, so you could always tell a pub was around the corner when you heard the rowdy crowd outside.
We stopped in to a restaurant called Irutxulo Jatetxea. The food was absolutely wonderful! We had foie gras, calamari and queso to start. Then all 3 of us got the same calamari entrée, which was also delicious. It was so much food…I didn’t need to eat again for weeks!

We then walked around the city a little, seeing pretty squares, a rocky beach and a magnificent church then back to the car to head to our next destination. I got to carry Serine for a little bit as she drifted to sleep on my shoulder. She is such a sweet, easygoing baby. And look at the "guns up!" maybe she'll be a red raider some day! :)

Next stop was St. Jean de Luz. We took a little detour on the way, but got see a gorgeous valley in the mountains! The GPS finally got us back on track and we made it back to France in no time.

This place was picture perfect! An amazing town tucked in a valley, right on the beach. Reminded me a little of the tiny towns like San Clemente that sit between Orange County and San Diego. Serine is ready to go!
We walked through the shops and I picked up a couple of souvenirs. I found my Christmas ornament here (a chili pepper with the Basque cross) and a book en francais for my mom’s class. We also stopped in and saw the ornate church in the center of town.
We went over to see the marina and ran into 2 men dressed in the traditional Basque outfit. According to Jérémy, this is the original home of the beret and the white outfit with the red neck scarf….like the French chef in The Little Mermaid!
We then made our way back to the beach and played with Elorine in the sand. This time we stayed far enough from the water that she was a happy girl! I was snapping away with my camera and she got a little annoyed that I wasn’t playing more and said “no more photos!”. I laughed and put it away…ok, maybe snuck a couple more in stealth mode!
Jérémy then told her it was time to go and meet her mom and Serine, who were up on the sea wall. All I heard was “droite” in what she screamed in reposnse. Droite is the direction right in French. I heard correctly!! She had yelled, “I have the right!!!” I nearly fell over laughing! Scary thing is…I think this is exactly what I was like as a kid! My favorite line was “Don’t tell me that”!
As we were leaving, this guy and his pup walked by to enjoy the beautiful ocean view. The doggie knew just what to do and propped up his little paws to take in the pretty view!
We then headed back to the car after a long, exhausting day! We drove back to Pau and chatted the entire way home. That evening, we were all still pretty stuffed from the big lunch and just snacked at the house on cheese and a baguette…which was perfect. There was no way I could handle another big meal. We stayed up talking until all of us were sleepy and finally headed to bed.

Arriving in Pau, exploring the town and dinner with Jérémy and Annabelle!

2008-09-10T14:23:00.007-05:00

I have focus groups that I’m attending in Paris and Frankfurt over the next week…so when the company pays for the overseas flight, you know I have to take advantage and explore a little!!

This time I decided to start off the trip with a visit to Pau. A small town in the south of France. In high school, I did a 2 week exchange and stayed with a family in Tours. In December of last year, I was able to meet up with Jérémy in San Antonio for the first time in 16 years when he was there for a medical conference. After we visited, he said I was welcome anytime to visit his family in France…so here I am!

My flight to Paris was uneventful. Had a nice ride over with the on demand system available on the Air France flight. The service was super too…so…bonus! Security took forever, it worked out well that I had 4 hours to kill before my connection to Pau. We boarded a little late and I was drifting off into dreamland when we took off. My final few moments to rest before my latest European whirlwind tour. It was rainy outside, which added to my sleepiness. I could feel the plane start to accelerate, closed my eyes, we were in full throttle take off mode, then the pilot slammed on the brakes. My stomach lunged into my throat. WHAT!!?! After about 10 minutes of us all looking at each other like, "WTF just happened?", the pilot came on and said we were headed back to the gate to take a look at the plane. A warning light had come on in the cabin, so they needed to check it out. After another hour or so, we finally made it into the air! Whew, this time takeoff was flawless.

As we turned for the final decent, there was a gorgeous view of the Pyrenees and the town looked just picture-perfect from the sky. I was so excited to be there to see Jérémy and meet the rest of the Monge family!

Jérémy picked me up from the airport and we headed into town. There is a gorgeous view from the Boulevard des Pyrénées that looks across to the mountains and you can see the symbol of the region, the Pic du Midi d'Ossau...it's the peak in the center.

It was a beautiful day with a blue sky and perfect weather. We strolled and enjoyed the day then stopped at an outdoor café to have the special flavored water at the Royal Saint-André. They do about 30 different waters with secret recipes that have names like “water of the angels” and “water of the leprechauns”. It was so refreshing and different! Jérémy’s was cranberry-ish and mine tasted like vanilla and something sweet and sugary.

From there, we walked to the castle and circled back through town. I was surprised they even had their own H&M (Houston doesn’t have one yet!), along with a ton of cute little individually owned shops.

We then headed back to the house and I was able to put my things down. Their house is beautiful! It is just outside of town and has a ton of space for the girls and a huge garden (or what we call a yard). As I was putting away my bags, cute little Elorine peeked her head through the door. She said hello and giggled off to her mommy, Annabelle. We all did our French cheek kisses to say hello...even Elorine! :) Baby Serine was beautiful too with her big eyes and big happy smile.

We relaxed at the house for little bit, then, when the babysitter arrived (who spoke “proper” English that she learned from her mum :) ) we headed out for dinner. We went to Le Goxoko, a pretty place in town, and sat outside on the rainy, but pretty evening. We all had the salmon tartar then duck dishes for dinner. They had the confit du canard (I didn’t know how delicious this would be yet) and I tried another duck dish that was like a really fancy drumstick. My first time to try it…since it’s the “it” meal of Southern France. We also had awesome wine from the Loire Valley (where I stayed with the Monge’s in high school). The only goofy thing was they served it cold…red wine cold? Even Jérémy and Annabelle agreed that this was a sin in France...but it was still great! For dessert, we had a custard with 3 spoons and left so full and happy!

After dinner we went to a little bar called “The Living Room”. I had a couple of my trademark ritas…shocking, I know! We hung out with 4 of the Monge’s friends and enjoyed the music, friends, drinks and even little kiddos running around in the place!

When we got home, I crashed like a rock…knowing we were getting up relatively early to head to beaches in Spain and France! A bientôt!!

I’ll have the hot son’s chicken nuggets with a side of pineapple’s shrimp ball

2008-09-10T07:50:00.003-05:00

This blog is way overdue…now I'm on the train to Germany and going to get caught up! The food in China can be great or pretty weird. We had some incredible dining experiences that I mentioned earlier. A great mix of the Asian flavor with continental cuisine.

BUT, for every one of those great meals, you get something like this! This is a delicious Papa John’s pizza…Shanghai style that we had each day at our suppliers’. It has pineapple, corn, carrots, shrimp and crab. Mmm, mmm delish!

I guess it’s better than these options though. Our other supplier always takes us to the cafeteria. The food is quite good, but the menu is absolutely hilarious. John provided these images from last year’s menu. I am a little suspicious someone went crazy on Babelfish coming up with these gems!

By the end of the trips to Asia, all I want is a huge vat of queso. Cheese isn’t very popular there…so I was super excited at the end of the trip when we found a restaurant with Tex-Mex Chicken enchiladas…and they were pretty authentic!

Hangzhou, China

2008-08-20T01:22:00.013-05:00

Houston has about 4 million people...and most people have heard of it. This weekend I took a trip to what I pictures as a sleepy little Chinese village, Hangzhou. Turns out this "little" town has 7 million people and growing!! China is so incredible in this way...there are people everywhere. You can be in the middle of the countryside and there will be a cluster of 50 matching buildings, 30 stories high...and they are apartments! Where do these people work?? Where do they buy groceries?? Do they ever leave their little area??

Here's a map of my travels so far...

Anyway...on to the day in Hangzhou. We met in the hotel at 8am and had a 3 hour drive in front of us. There were just 4 other people on the tour. A couple from NYC that are Hungarian and Chinese. A lady on business from the Phillipines. And another guy here for work, from the UK. We were a pretty diverse little group. :) The drive only ended up taking about 2 hours...and it was very pretty and interesting to gaze out the window.

We arrived in the town and went straight to the lake. There, we had a traditional boat waiting for us. We cruised around the lake. The view was gorgeous...but there was still alot of the trademark smog that you find throughout the areas of China...the places I've been at least. There was a nice pagoda on the hill and it was pretty neat that you can see the city on one shore and the gardens on the other. There were also these 3 pillars in the lake that the guide showed us are the photo on the back of the 1 RMB bill!

One thing I did not escape on this trip is the Houston heat...man, this place is HOT! I was a sweaty mess my the time we got off the boat! Then it was time to walk around the gardens. They were beautiful, with lots of koi ponds, flowers, pretty walkways and buildings. Here are a few pics all around the gardens. We even saw a few people drawing the nice landscape. I also had a little snack to cool down that was orange flavored ice cubes...they were super sweet...but so tasty!

From here, we went to lunch at a hotel situated right in the park. The food was delicious and pretty traditional. The flavors were some of the best I've had in China. When I went to the "ladie's room", that's how it was spelled on the door :), I saw this photo that reminded me of a picture my friend's grandma painted...that kinda looked like human eyes on a cat body. Always creeped my mom out just a tad!

After lunch, we jumped back in the van and went over to the "Buddah Temple". I've been to a few temples in Taiwan and China...but this one was the most grand. The statues inside were huge and beautifully maintained. The guide explained that you can tell that Buddahs, like people, are happy when they eat alot and have big tummies...seems like a pretty good philosophy. :)

We heard stories of the Buddah, its protectors, the monks and one monk in particular that lived at this temple. He is shown here...and you can see how huge the copper Buddah behind him is...the man in front is larger than life sized.

While we were at the temple, we also saw ironically, a praying mantis. I had never seen one in person and he was so incredible. This smart little bugger would follow our finger anywhere we pointed! Our group took him off this pole and put him back on the bushes so he could have a little snack...and blend in perfectly!

We then got to witness a ceremony with a family praying for their ancestors. The monks were chanting and what appeared to be 3 brothers were praying together. It was very sweet.

Our last stop of the day was at a traditional tea house in the Mei jia wu village...it was actually an entire little tea village. Most of the people in this town are farmers and have tiny tea houses above their homes. We learned how to tell if tea is high or low quality and how to drink it politely with our pinkies out. Our teacher was so adorable...she had learned many English cliches and made all of us laugh! "A cup of green tea a day keeps the doctor away." Toward the end, it became a bit of an infomercial...you buy one mommy sized jar and get 2 babies...all for one low price! Haha...but she was cute enough to pull it off and suck you right in!

This was a neat tea blossom. The wrap the leaves up in elaborate patterns and they "bloom" when they hit the hot water.

We then shopped a little in the tea house store. I got a great watercolor of the lake..love getting pics of places I've been. And also got a book on Buddhism in China...it had pics of some of the temples and a little history. Seemed interesting. :) The best item I didn't pick up was the Waxi Meatbone...mmm....doesn't that sound delicious!

We then boarded the bus. I chatted with the guy from the UK for a while about our travels, then popped in my headphones and relaxed and stared out the window while listening to John Mayer's acoustic stuff...ahhh, so relaxing. We even had a little bit of a blue sky to enjoy on the way home!

I had great plans of walking Nanjing Road that night and doing a little shopping, but I was exhausted and decided to just stay in and have my dinner come to me! Yea for room service!

goooooooooooooooooooal!!!!

2008-08-18T23:35:00.008-05:00

We bought our tickets for the Olympic soccer match from a guy I found on an expat website. We were hoping Lee was a stand up guy and not selling some of the many counterfeit tickets we had heard about. With tickets in hand, RC and I walked to the subway and took the train out to the "Shanghai Indoor Stadium". When we emerged from the station, there were a ton of police men everywhere. They were verifying you had tickets to even cross the street to get to the stadium. There was even a pup there to sniff for bombs. Other people were taking pics, so I thought, why not!? :)

We followed the crowd and got into line. It was so incredible hot! We were both totally sweating like crazy and in a big, packed crowd. It was pretty funny though, even the officer's were a little amazed by the event...one was even taking pics of the crowd.

After about 15 minutes, they started moving us in the opposite direction of the stadium, toward the street. We finally figured out, they were trying to point us to the main entrance to go through security faster. We were a little skeptical, but it worked and we were all piling into the stadium pretty quickly. And the best part was, our tickets were legit!

The crowd was mostly Chinese...lots with jerseys on for both the Argentina and Netherlands teams. There were also a few more Americans and Europeans than we had seen in Shanghai throughout the trip...maybe 5% of the crowd. We walked a little around the stadium, stopped to see the souvenirs and grabbed a much needed water.

When we walked up the ramp to our seats, we showed the tickets to the attendant and he started shuffling through a stack of tickets in his hand. He then handed us "new" tickets and told us these would be much better since ours would be right behind the tv camera...so we moved down to the bottom deck...sweet!!

The opening anthems started as soon as we sat down. The air was so thick you could barely see the other side of the 80,000 person stadium. It was also a little funny that it was totally open air and named "The Shanghai Indoor Stadium"...hmm. The cool part of it being outside, was you could see the bright full moon over the crowd.

There were a few scattered orange and blue & white striped shirts in the stands and a couple of little flags flying. Then the game started! I really enjoyed it! I was pretty shocked...since I'm not a huge sports fan. There is a ton of action, incredible athleticism and the crowd gets so into it! Even in China! Also, learned that "the wave" is totally universal. I think there was a constant wave the entire game!! If you look really closely, you can see it's below the scoreboard in this pic.

Argentina was first to score. Here are the guys celebrating! GOOOOOOAL! (They didn't really say that over the speaker, it was just in my head).

The Netherlands then scored and we had a tie game at the end of the second half. I don't really know enough about the game to give any play by plays...but I really did love it!

In overtime, Argentina kicked another goal and won the semifinal round! They were last Olympic's gold medalists...so they are quite a team! It was so fun to watch and a really competitive match. Can't wait to see the Dynamos in Houston now ad maybe even find my way to another world event like the World Cup. Can't even imagine how much fun it would have been if the fans were really into the teams!!!

There were 2 groups that were pretty enthusiastic and chanted here and there. This guy was pulling for Argentina...

And these totally drunk dudes I'm assuming were for The Netherlands with their orange t-shirts. They would count down then get the crowd to cheer...then raise the fabric on their tiger t-shirts to show the inside of the mouth when the tiger "roared"!

We took the subway back...check out the sweaty crowd!!!

It was a beautiful night (the only one since I've been in Shanghai with no rain!) and had a ton of fun being part of a such a cool event!!!

lots of walking and shopping around Shanghai

2008-08-17T21:59:00.007-05:00

This morning was my one day to sleep in...and it was great to get caught up on all the jet lag and actually be ready to tackle the day with my eyes open.

We met in the lobby for our day of shopping all over town. We walked over to "The Tourist Tunnel" to make our way to the Pu dong side of the city. This thing is hilarious! It's like a Disney World ride if they just had a huge movie flop and were told to use 1% of their original budget. But, the funny thing is, there is always a line. You hop into a little pod and ride through lots of twinkle lights, blow up people (you know like you see on top of gas stations) and listen to the techno music with creepy voice overs as you enter each section. The man tells you which section you're in with this dramatic voice..."Heaven, Hell", "Melting Magma" and "Shooting Stars" are a few awesome examples!

Once we popped up on the other side, we took a little break in the train station while RC picked out a stone to carve a photo of his family on...while we waited I saw this great Chinglish sign...

We stopped to take a few pics in front of The Pearl too.

And here's the shopping crew...RC, Teresa, John, Jeff, Ron and me. Six people in a self portrait? Piece of cake, people!

We then took the train to the first market. This one has clothing, purses, watches, video games, etc... There are a couple of schools of thoughts in the markets. You either take a price you're happy enough with or you spend the day bantering and haggling (over a couple of bucks). The majority rules when you're travelling as a pack...so the negotiators won. First, we hit up a place with jackets...North Face, Columbia, Spyder, etc. The guys wanted rain jackets and I was thinking about getting one for the soccer game that night. Just knew I wouldn't use it again and didn't know if I wanted to spend the money. So, a couple of the guys talked and talked with the sales guy...and no deal. He wouldn't come down low enough, so we walked on. You know you have a pretty sweet deal if they don't come chasing you...especially for as many as we were getting. We walked on to a few other shops and figured out...the first place was as good as it gets. The funny part was, when we returned, with sagging faces, he pulled out the bag with all the jackets. He hadn't even put them up, b/c he knew we'd be back! That says we already had a great deal!! :)

I decided not to get the jacket and just risk it...then Ron came up with a brilliant idea...Jeff was getting one for his wife...how about I lease it from him? Perfect...so I got a jacket for the evening and didn't have to find a place to store it once I came home...so smart! :)

We wrapped up the shopping there and headed to the famous DVD place. We went into this little alley through a turn style and there was the little shop. The lady there is great...and will tell you if the movie you picked up is good or not. Movies and TV...this was my kind of place to splurge!!! I found 30 Rock, Weeds, The L-word and my all time favorite Arrested Development! I couldn't resist getting the series with all the info translated into Chinese on the box...and I've loaned mine out a bunch, so I've misplaces a few of the disks. I also snagged a some new movies...so it was a total jackpot! :)

Jeff took this pic of Ron and me in the Times Square area (yeah, Shanghai has two areas called Times Square...take that NYC)...my peace sign is a little hostile!!! He wouldn't take the pic until I gave the signature Japanese tourist peace sign...so it looks a little more like the finger!

From there, we walked through the drizzling rain to the Blue Frog restaurant. The food was good and familiar. The fries were awesome!! My sandwich, on the menu, said it had egg mayo on it. I laughed, thinking they just meant mayo since it's made from eggs. To my surprise, they DID include the egg!! It was like a Turkey sandwich with egg salad on top. It was pretty good, but so rich!

My feet were a little achy and I have a few less Yuan in my pimp roll...but so excited about my purchases and off to the Olympic soccer game tonight!!!

from crayons to notebooks...

2008-08-14T21:31:00.007-05:00

Not sure if anyone else was obsessed with Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow or 3-2-1 Contact as a kid...but I was mesmerized. I loved it. :) My favorite segment on Sesame Street was this video about how crayons are made. The little girl stares at the melon crayon and the picture fades to the entire manufacturing process from the melted, colored wax to a full box...ready to come to my house.

I was a nerd even as a kid!!

Fast forward a "few" years and I'm sure everyone who read this knows...but just in case you don't...I'm the product manager for the mobile workstations at HP. I'm in Shanghai, China for the next 2 weeks as we do the final builds for the notebooks...so we can start shipping them to our customers!

I arrived on Monday evening and was greeted by my awesome home away from home at the Hyatt on the Bund. Check out my room!

In the last few days, I've been at the factory, watching the assembly process which is totally amazing! The precision and speed that makes a bunch of parts turn into a fully built and packaged notebook is pretty incredible!!!

But, yesterday, I got to live the dream!!! We went to the metal factory where we do all of the top and bottom case manufacturing. First, when we arrived, we had a cute sign welcoming us! All of the people we met were so nice!

We had meeting with a PowerPoint presentation, had some McDonald's and Papa John's for lunch...because that's what the Americans love, right? :) The pizza had pepperoni, pineapple and shrimp (Chinese-style)...I had fries and a chicken sandwich!

Then, we went on a tour of the facilities. I got to stand right next to the stamping machine. It melts the magnesium and stamps it into a notebook base pan...with 5000 tons of pressure!! A robot arm then takes it off the mold, cools it and it comes through the other end as a rough mold. It goes through a ton of other steps from there to make it pretty and smooth.

The image below is from my googling skills...I didn't realize until after the tour that they would have let me take a photo in front of the real machine. Darn! This looks kind of similar though.

We then went on to see how they apply texture and anodize aluminum for the top case. How they stamp and trim all the pieces and how they paint then bond the materials. All in all it was just so much fun to see first hand and made me appreciate all the hard work our teams and all of our partners do to make the finished product! And this is just one step of many in the overall scheme of things.

Here's a silly little pic of me with my protective gear at the final factory stop. I was so sweaty from the walk around the campus...ewww!!!

While we've been here, I've been to a few great dinners. The first night Ron, RC and I went to T8. It was beautiful and the food scrumptious! From our seats at the bar, we were able to watch the chefs prepare all the delicacies. My favorite was the soup...Ron said it best when he called it a carrot, ginger, who knows what else explosion! It was so good! We've also been to The Paulaner and the Park Tavern...both really nice too, but most of the time has been spent working. I'm very excited to venture out into the city this weekend and also planning to take a tour out to Hangzhou on Sunday...it has a lot to live up to...this is their slogan!

“Above is paradise, below is Hangzhou!”

is this famliar to anyone else?

2008-07-30T10:19:00.002-05:00

Working in marketing, especially in the tech industry...this was just too funny not to pass on! How many times have you been in a meeting and everyone is throwing out crazy suggestions...and you end up with this! :)

The Process

fun in the mile high city

2008-07-23T19:29:00.009-05:00

About 6 months ago I saw a bulletin on myspace from Dave Matthews Band that they would be headlining the Mile High Music Festival in Denver. So, I emailed a ton of friends and 5 wonderful girls said they were in for a weekend of music and other fun.

We arrived Friday night and went to The Paramount for dinner, drinks and dessert. Dessert came first and was a birthday brownie for Jennifer! It was kinda funny...4 of the 6 of us have birthdays within a month period between July 16-Aug 14. No wonder we all get along so well!

Saturday, we rallied up and grabbed breakfast before hitting the road. We got great parking b/c we had all carpooled...so it was just a short walk to the entrance. :)

We started the day with Eric Hutchinson, who was great! Then stopped and listened to a band we hadn't heard of called Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers...they were great too. Then we headed to Bob Schneider...where Nita gazed upon him...and listened to his music too. Through the rest of the day we watched part of Gavin DeGraw, Jason Mraz (while we shopped a little), Citizen Cope and O.A.R. We then went and danced and woke up a little at the Lupe Fiasco show. We finally had delicious pizza then made our way over to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Along the way, we found the best kept secret of the show. The stadium where the Colorado Rapids soccer team plays. It had shade, real bathrooms, concession stands with no lines...and a HUGE Colorado across the grand stands!! Fun and pics ensued!

Around sunset, we also had a little fun taking jump pics and using our buffs as props for a little gangsta pic!! hehe

We went back and relaxed in the lobby...in our "living room" and enjoyed a little wine (thanks to Bryan!) and reminiscing about the day.

Sunday, we decided to camp out at the main stage to get a great spot for John Mayer and DMB later in the day. We saw Brett Dennen, Ingrid Michaelson (who puts on a really fun show), One Republic, Rodrigo y Gabriella (totally amazing) and Colbie Caillat (she has a great voice, but doesn't perform at all).

Then, it was time for the headliners! We came to the show with a couple of people that were not John Mayer fans...but I think between him coming on early and jamming, then taking his shirt off at the end...he maybe won a few new fans. :) He really did put on a great show!

Then we relaxed for about an hour as the crowd filled in and we waited for Dave. He was incredible, as usual. He had a ton of energy and even danced around the stage a couple of times! And he had a special guest there too...Tim Reynolds! So cool! :) My favorite member of the band is the drummer though...he smiles the entire time and just seems to be having such a great time!!

Spending the entire day in one spot, of course, we made a few new friends...Sandra and Vince.

We relaxed on our couches again and our tummies hurt from laughing at Dana's hilarious stories.

Monday morning, we headed to Idaho Springs, where we we planned to spend a day white water rafting. We had been warned the water was going to be COLD. It wasn't too bad at all...maybe the wet suit helped with that! The views were really pretty along the Clear Creek. Pics will follow...but we only had the water camera...so you have to wait for those. Here's the view along the way...with snow still on the peaks!

After the river, we had lunch at a little local brewery called Tommyknocker's. A few of the girls shared a flight of beers, I checked email for work (boo) and we enjoyed yummy food. At the end of lunch, AP made me try a "secret brew" with a napkin over the label. I liked it! She ripped off the napkin and showed me, "IT WAS BEER!". I was so excited!!! OMG, a beer I like!! So, I started to inspect the label and turns out it was an Orange Creme...with only orange, sugar and water! Oh well, at least I didn't get caught making a face over an orange soda!! :) We shopped a tad on main street and I got my Idaho Springs ornament.

From there, we went to a great place my friend Jacob told me about. It's called Jumpstreet. It's a room about the size of a basketball court and covered in trampolines! Here we are showing off our toe touches!
Another fun trip...thanks all!! I hope to get the pics onto gaigespages soon...wish me luck catching up!

another wonderful "tail"

2008-07-03T17:06:00.002-05:00

My friend Amy sent out pics of a dog that can walk on 2 legs. My doubtful self went to snopes and there was no story on it...so I hit up google. And there it was, a video of an amazing little pup named Faith! Sure to make you smile!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaYKnMQ4UQo

i would like a lion for my birthday, please!

2008-07-03T12:52:00.002-05:00

I was out perusing cuteoverload and ran across this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYbFQFXG0U

I thought, this can't be true...no way. And it appears that it is a real story...because everything on wikipedia is true, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion

Ok, and there is a full article that was in the Daily Mail too...WOW!! :)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-452820/Christian-lion-lived-London-living-room.html

the big easy

2008-07-01T23:36:00.007-05:00

I've been a slacker...work has been insane...but I'm baaaack.

This weekend, I went to New Orleans for the first time since Katrina. The differences weren't very noticable in the French Quarter, on Bourbon or the Garden District...but our tour guide on the swamp tour (more on that later) did mention it many times and they were so thankful for the tourists returning.

We were in NOLA for my friend Christy's bday. Trips are so much more fun when you have a group of friends to create the memories with! We arrived late Friday evening and grabbed dinner of traditional New Orleans fare...gumbo, etouffe, etc. Then we hit a couple of bars and snagged a primo spot on one of the balconies over Bourbon Street. We got quite a show up there...and spent a lot of time watching the awful outfits parade by! Camille, Nita and I turned in early...as we had a 7am wake up call to go to the swamp tour the next morning.

We woke up at the crack of dawn (ok, at least for me) and boarded a tour bus and had plenty of entertainment from our guide, Brian. He told jokes, stories and made the trip fly by. We then boarded an airboat and zoomed around the swamp. I was surprised at how pretty the water was and how many flowers were everywhere. It was really much more beautiful than expected. We heard and saw tons of bugs, aligators (that are trained to come snack on marshmallows...they only see black and white, so they're easy to see!) and birds. We ventured from the swamp to the marsh and enjoyed the sunshine-y day!

After the tour, we headed back to town and snacked on pizza...it's abundant on Bourbon Street. Then we met up with the full crew and walked to Harrah's. No one was really feeling their mojo on the machines...so we walked on to the Riverwalk Mall for some retail therapy. While we were there it started to POUR! The weather is like Houston, they get little afternoon showers. Christy really wanted the full group to head to "Tujaques"...a place special to her and her grandpa. They were very, very close. We all got a group photo in front of the bar...I hope it's a special memory for her.

From there, Cara, Nita, Camille, Mindi and I grabbed dinner then went back to the room to get ready for the evening. We met Christy at Pat O'Briens...where we got some great group pics! And we toasted Christy's 30th with a bottle of champagne and a few hurricanes!

A few of us went over to get a delicious infused vodka bloody mary...I was done with sweet fruity drinks! And this hit the spot! We hung out at a place with a great people watching patio, then walked Bourbon for a while. We settled in a spot called Bouron Rocks. They had an emcee that was great! They played lots of fun music and even had a "you got served" style dance competition...how can you beat that!??!?! We headed back to the room for some well deserved sleep after a fun night!

The next morning Camille, Nita and I took the trolley into the Garden District, past the beautiful campus of Loyola University then stopped for lunch before catching our flight back to Houston!

Thanks all for a fun trip and most of all HAPPY 30TH CHRISTY!!!!! :)

Also, I am up to date on www.gaigespages.com with 7 new albums!! :) YEA!

strike a pose

2008-06-18T23:10:00.004-05:00

This weekend, Annemarie was in town which means, we're hitting the town!! Nita, our social coordinator, planned a super weekend of delicious dinners, fun bars and great dancing!

Becky, Mindi, Nita, AP and I pulled out our dresses and heels and had such a wonderful weekend.

AP is the best at spotting locations for great photos and is quite the photoshopper! Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend...

knutty knut!

2008-06-18T21:51:00.006-05:00

I woke up Wednesday morning and threw on a tank top...Alison came back to the room and said, "think again...it's chilly outside!". I'm so glad I did the bike ride the first day when it was beautiful and sunny! So, I put on my sweatshirt and headed out for my second day of exploring in Berlin.

My first stop was the launch event...I went by to see the place all set up. It's amazing how fast they pull everything together half way around the world! Our commercial notebooks were in a mockup of an airplane. It was pretty warm and dark in the little airplane tunnel...so I'm glad my products are part of the next launch! :) Here's a shot of the outside of the convention center with all our HP decorations.
Next, I took the s-bahn to the zoo station. On the way I ran into this amazing church that was left as-is from after the war. The city is so beautifully rebuilt...this landmark stands out as a reminder of the history.

Another interesting tidbit...you see 2 types of crosswalk signs in Berlin. The West Berlin type, that are skinny green and red men. And the East Berlin type that are stout little men with a hat. After the 2 cities 'merged' they started to replace the East Berlin style then realized, "these are so much better!" so they left a few here and there. So, it's one of the indicators of when you're in the area that was previously East Berlin.

Next stop was the zoo...and this is where I fell in love! I visited giraffes, elephants and birds.

But, then I followed the signs to a cute little bear named Knut. O--M--G, he is the cutest little animal I have ever seen. If you don't know his story, check it out on wikipedia...he is just adorable. This little guy is a born ham! He pranced and performed for the crowd. He had about 70 people crowded around ooh'ing and ahh'ing. You can tell he just loves to play to his fans. Here are a few shot and of course a self portrait...haha! :)

After the zoo, I took the train back to the hotel and to plan where to head next. I checked the map and decided to walk one of the big streets back to the Brandenburg Gate.

Then visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This was eerie to walk through. The blocks are all different sizes and heights and the ground moves up and down to give you the illusion of being disorented. Here are a couple of photos...

From there, I went over to the Reichstag, the parliament building...and guess what I saw?? Two girls doing a JUMP pic!! Ha!! I wonder if they saw Jane and me doing it the day before. The jump pic is on fire! It's making its way around the globe!
I went up to the top and climbed the glass dome with quite a view of the city. The dome was finished in 1999 and merged into the existing architecture...it's a great symbol of the city with the old and the new. And is open for anyone for free!

After this, I walked to the hauptbaunhof, the main train station. It's all made of glass and pretty impressive! While I was there, the Turkey vs. Switzerland futbol game was about to start and there were red jerseys and flags everywhere! They were parading through the station and singing...they looked like they were having a great time!

My final tourist stop was back by the hotel. I cruised up to the top of the TV tower (the 13th tallest in the world), checked out the view and the art exhibit at the bottom. There were some great pics from the fall of the wall and other photos from all around the world.
As I walked back and the sun was setting, I caught one last great pic with the evening sun illuminating the beautiful buildings.
I snacked on pizza at a place near the hotel and watched the futbol game, then headed back to the room to set my alarm for 4:30am to get to the airport for my flight back to the USA.

biking in Berlin

2008-06-13T13:29:00.006-05:00

I started off the day sleeping in a little bit...as the travel the day before left me exhausted! I woke up, checked email, went to the gym (go me!) and headed to the bike tour at 11. It was the best way to see the highlights of the city and get a good lay of the the land. The guide, Enda, was so enthusiastic and interesting as well! He gave us the history of each stop and made it fun at the same time. Check out HP advertising around the city!

On the tour, we saw Hilter's bunkers (and the location of the one where he committed suicide), Checkpoint Charlie...one of the most tense areas during the Cold War, the memorial to the Jewish that lost their lives in the Holocuast, the Parliament building and lots and lots of other landmarks...including a standing piece of the wall in the city.

The best part of the tour was making new friends from all around the world! There was only one other family from San Francisco and everyone else from the tour were from Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, etc. This is me and Jane, from Toronto, attempting a jump pic at the Parliament.
After the tour, I was heading back to the room to relax and grab a bite to eat when I ran into Alison. She's so great!! She had swiped a badge for me so I could go to the event that evening to celebrate the launch! The restaurant was really cool and modern. They had a Marilyn Monroe style singer, an oxygen bar and a bear (the symbol of Berlin) that everyone could sign.No, I'm not singing here...I'm taking in the H2O...it smelled like a taxi cab...yuck!

One of the highlights of the night was running into my friend Jenny from high school! She now works for AMD and lives in Austin!! Small world!

And on our walk home, we ran into another piece of the wall...

berlin day 1

2008-06-10T02:55:00.004-05:00

Finally made it into Berlin yesterday. The weather here is unbeliveable! It's sunny and hot...and I'm loving it! This city is a really cool blend of old and new. And the people have been very friendly! It's so great to be in Europe in the summer because the sun doesn't set until about 10. I went over to see the HP launch event yesterday. Walked the area we're staying in a little then grabbed dinner with Alison and Carol. Then crashed and slept like a rock.

I'm so happy to be rested and ready to tour around today. I'm killing time until 11 when I'm going to do the Fat Tire Bike Tour. Will post pics from around this fun city! :)

Also, here are a couple additional pics from the lake. AP has a bunch of other good ones here!

And check out the cool reflection in Collin's glasses!! :)

state convention in Austin and the LAKE!

2008-06-09T00:57:00.007-05:00

I had a great weekend in Austin relaxing with Annemarie and Molly. I drove up on Thursday night and moved into AP's beautiful new place. (She was still in Utah.) Molly was definetely ready for some people time...we snuggled and she talked a bunch! :)

Friday, I headed over to the democratic state convention. I attended the youth caucus then the computers and technology group. Both were interesting. After lunch, I went to the senate district 7 meeting where we elected members of the group for a few positions and I mainly just chatted with friends, as I was just an alternate and didn't get "upgraded" to delegate status, therefore didn't get to vote on any of the candidates. It was great to see the process though. Here's a funny pic from the vendor fair...they had a big cut out of Barack...so I had to grab a pic! After that, there was a general session with many people who spoke including Rick Noregia and Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea was very cute and overwhelmed by the size of the crowd (over 12000 people were in attendance). She represented her mom well.
After that, I headed over to Freddy's on 1st street to meet Dana and a few of her friends. It was a perfect night and we just chatted and relaxed sitting outside on their big patio...exactly what I needed! AP called at about 12 when she landed and we met up back at her place...and stayed up pretty late just talking and talking!

Saturday, I was tired, but got up and went to day 2 of the convention. There were more speeches and Hillary was piped in on CNN giving her endorsement to Barack. It felt pretty historic just being surrounded by all the people, signs and excitement. There were a ton of first time participants (including me) and there was just so much energy in the room. My friend Kerry and I met a great girl from Dallas and spent most of the morning trading stories with her.

AP had talked to her friend, Chris, about heading to the lake on Saturday...and they were still on to take out his boat. So I snuck out early and Annemarie came by to pick me up and we were off!

Chris's friend Collin and their neighbor's son TK were on the boat too. It was a beautiful day...and his boat is so nice! We dropped anchor in Devil's Cove and just spent the entire day relaxing, cooling off in the water and enjoying the great people watching. The highlight was our snack from the neighboring "Tug's" boat that delivers BBQ around the cove. Our sandwiches and watermelon were delish! No pics yet...still need to get them from AP's camera.

We headed in right as the sun was setting...and ditched our plans to go out and opted for chatting with AP's friends Hal and Shiela at her place then making a run to Taco Cabana! We chowed on tortillas and queso and watched Material Girls while I packed and AP dozed off.

I woke up bright and early at 8 to drive back to Houston to catch my flight to Berlin. I've jumped all over the place today...IAH to Cleveland to Paris to Berlin. I'm in Charles de Gaulle in Paris now...the worst airport in the world. And I'm stuck here for 3.5 hours...ugh. Oh well, gives me a little time to catch up on email! And I can't complain too much seeing that the flight was "free" and all on miles...woohoo! :)

roller derby!

2008-06-05T10:07:00.003-05:00

Nita and I went to watch the roller derby rec league on Tueday night and it was sooo weird being back in my childood roller rink! It was hilarious! From the the mini arcade, little blue cubby holes, banana yellow benches...it all looked just the same!

The practice looked so fun and the people were soooo nice that we decided to run home and throw on athletic clothes. We were a little late and intimidated by how good some of the people could skate that we wimped out and decided to watch this week.

They did about 30 minutes of warming up and skating in circles, forward skate, backward, on one foot, etc. Then we got to join them for stretching. Next, it was drill and scrimmage time. This part was a little scary! They did a snake drill where they bobbed and weaved through the line and even played a round of real roller derby!

It looked so fun, was a great workout and all the pros were so encouraging that Nita and I are putting on our quads and joining the fun in 2 weeks!! So excited!!!!! :)

Stacie and Stephanie tearing up the rink!

this land is made for you and me

2008-06-05T09:51:00.006-05:00

I'm a big dork and love to listen to NPR on my drive to and from work...well between dirty rap songs. Is that wierd? Anyway, I heard this on my way home yesterday and it made me smile. They are such good story tellers!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91163183

3 cups of tea

2008-06-04T15:27:00.003-05:00

I recently read "3 Cups of Tea" based on my friend Alison's recommendation. It was so incredible, I had to share. It's a great, uplifting story about the difference one person can make.

The story is about Greg Mortenson, a man who attempts to climb K2 and ends up in a remote village in Nothern Pakistan. He becomes friends with one of the village elders and promises to return and build a school. It has been 12 years since this first visit and he has now built 55 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Greg and his family's dedication and courage are just beautiful and in my opinion, this is the kind of story that makes you want to get up off the couch and make a difference! :)

If you're looking for a great summer reading book, go pick it up!

Attila the Hunny

2008-06-03T16:27:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, I'm sitting at a baby shower with my friend Stacie and she's all excited about her new goal. She was watching "Made" on MTV where the girl is being made into a roller derby-er...and it hits her...that's what I want to be!! So after a little research, she finds that there is a group in Houston and they have a rec league. For the last few weeks, she's been strapping on her quads (yeah, I'm all hip to the lingo now)...and she is loving it! She even has a super secret 'roller derby' name "Attila the Hunny"...it's not official until she's a competitor...so she's keeping it on the DL.

Nita and I are grabbing dinner then going to watch practice. I'm not sure if we'll have the courage to rent our very own skates, but we'll see!!

Oh yeah, also, Drew Barrymore is directing Ellen Page in a new movie about Roller Derby called "Whip it"...so watchout roller derby is going to be the dodgeball of 2009! You heard it here first!

Here's more info on the rec league...http://houstonrollerderby.com/public/pag236.aspx

i wonder if I can teach my animals this trick?

2008-05-21T10:52:00.002-05:00

How awesome is this little bird?!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24753683/

go yankees

2008-05-20T10:56:00.016-05:00

A few years ago, after my mom's little bout with breast cancer, I decided to take her on a trip...just the two of us. She had always talked about Walt Disney World and how much she wanted to see it...so we packed our bags and did a mother/daughter trip. It was so fun to hang out, just my mom and me. A year or so later, I took Beca (my sis) to San Diego for her first big trip outside the state. She was very into Sublime and Slightly Stoopid and Ocean Beach was the birthplace of their genre of music.

Over the next couple of years, I took the "girls" on a couple of other trips, my mom to LA to see "So You Think You Can Dance", the live show, and my sister to San Francisco to visit the city and drive along the PCH - pics from all the trips are on gaigespages.

These paired off trips became a family joke as the Lora's Make a Wish Foundation and I asked my dad where he wanted to go for his adventure. He wanted to see a Yankee game in his hometown of New York. I researched during last year's season and it was just too late to plan, get tickets and make it up to a game. So, fast forward to this spring and my mom hints that baseball season is coming up (even though my dad won't mention it right to me!). So the "Lora-style" planning starts!

Last Friday we took off for New York at 11am. I gave my dad a little care package to kick off the trip...including a map, yankee hat, NYC things to do book and a book called, "I Love You, Daddy" that I had customized with all the things we were doing on the trip. And finally, the signature laminated itinerary.

After a little delay, we made it to a rainy and dreary NYC at 5ish. We took the bus to the subway, like locals, and arrived in Times Square at about 6. From there, we hopped on the subway to Yankee Stadium. It was fun to watch the number of fans build as we got closer and closer to the stadium. PS...jerseys are really popular up there! We had to switch trains once on the journey and one of the guys got a text message that said "game cancelled". We all denied it and blamed it on him being a Mets fan. But, as we pulled into the 161st/Yankee Stadium stop, word was spreading fast that it was true.

We strolled our way through the rain to the box office to see if there was anything we could do. We met the craziest guy in line. He is the "world's biggest Yankee fan". He pulled out his cell phone and showed us a pic of his truck with a Yankee logo on the hood and his basement, he calls the luxury suite...it's all painted blue with pennants and other Yankee paraphernalia all over the walls!! Here's a pic of us :)

He also suggested a restaurant near the stadium called Molino Rojo. So, we finally get to the front of the line, ready to beg and plead, and to our surprise, we were able to get tickets for the next day's afternoon game...yea!! And they were even better seats, so we paid a little fee, but got to upgrade at the ticket's face value.

So, happy as clams, we walked over to the restaurant suggested by the superfan...and it was awesome! They have this greasy, kind oh "eh" looking food in the wndow, then the food inside is phenomenal! We had rice and beans, the philly cheesesteak, chiken and homemade flan. Yummy! After the restaurant, we went back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep.

Bright and early, 4AM, the alarm went off. We pealed our tired selves out of bed to stand in line for Saturday Night Live. We arrived in line at about 5AM...and there were about 80 people in front of us in tents and snuggled under blankets. The people right in front of us were awesome! There was a couple from San Fran (she was about to graduate from Columbia in NYC and he was in visiting) and a father and daughter from New York. We exchanged numbers with Melissa and her dad, Andrew...as they chose to try for the rehearsal and we went for the live show! We got our numbers and parted ways at about 7am. I'm so glad they were great...it helped the 2 hours of standing to fly by!

From there, we crossed the street and scoped out "The Today Show" weekend crew, so no Meredith, Ann, Al or Matt. And we snacked on croissants from Dean and Deluca...we may have been in the background and not even known it. :) The Matt Lauer replacement took this baby at one point and carried it all around...then kept kissing it on the head...we were hoping he knew this baby and didn't just take it hostage!

Next, we walked around saw Rockefeller, St. Patricks and Central Park. We also stopped in Central park to see the seals swim around at the Central Park Zoo and the John Lennon Memorial, Strawberry Fields. We then crossed the street to The Dakota, where he was actually shot. It was a very sad feeling place...you really got an eerie vibe standing there. hard to describe.

Our feet were aching by then, so we hopped onto the subway and headed back to the Bronx for the baseball game. We were there early for batting practice...it was pretty cool to have most of the stadium to ourselves! And it was a beautiful day...not a cloud in the sky. We rooted for the Yankees and I caught a super cool pic of Jeter hitting the first home run of the game! It makes me sad that it's the last season at Yankee stadium though...these old stadiums have so much more character than the fancy new parks. You can see the new one being built across the street while you're inside the old one. The grounds keepers were so funny and broke into a YMCA dance routine between innings! :)

After the game, we took to subway back into town and chowed down at the Carnegie Deli...the food was super (and the portions huge)...we had the best waitress of the trip here. Once we were full and happy we went back to the room to relax and catch a few z's before the show.

We arrived back at the NBC studios at 10:45 and took our place in line. We made it to the "elevators" (the first 20 people got to go up) and it was time to wait and see if our number was called. After about 15 minutes they said thanks for coming, but we're out of space. We all sighed and hung our heads...then the page said, "wait, we may be able to take a few more!". Cheers all around!!! So we stood all giddy and waiting. Then Samm Levine, Dax Shepherd, Kristen Bell, John Kranzinski, "Kenneth", the intern on "30 Rock" and Renee Zellweger walked by with their entourages. We all whispered and pointed as they took the elevator up. Then we realized, wait a minute...they just took our spots!!! A few seconds later, the page again made us hang our heads and said they were officially out of space. Oh well, waiting in line and making some new friends was half the fun!

We quickly called Melissa to see if they made it in...pretty sure they had since the rehearsal was a little less popular. And we were so disappointed to hear for the 2nd time they had tried, they were where the line was cut off! They were 40 and 41 in line and they cut off at 39! Stinks!!! But, they were super sweet and said they were rooting for us too. I will definitely we calling my new friends when I go back in Sept...they said there should be a film fest in that time frame too. :)

We watched the Steve Carrell/Usher episode from our room and laughed until we fell sound asleep. My favorites of the evening were The Japanese Office and Bless this Child. :)

Sunday morning we woke up again and headed to St. Patrick's for the music mass. It was very pretty, but very fast. The have a mass every hour...so they defintely run you in and out. But it's crazy that it is so full...and the Cathedral is huge! My dad was very excited to participate in service at this historic church.

Next, we shopped for a few little souveniers for mom, Beca, Paul and Bryan in Times Square then went to John's Pizza. This place was wonderful! The original was in Greenwich village from the early 1900s and now they have 2 additional locations with brick oven pizza that is defintely worth a try!

We had a little time to kill so we wandered up a few streets and hit the jackpot. There was a humongous street festival in Hell's Kitchen with food, clothes, housewares and lots and lots of people. We wandered from booth to booth and even though we were stuffed, we enjoyed a little dessert of coconut ice cream and a caramel apple. This neighborhood had such a cool vibe...we both really loved just hanging out there. There was even a cop dancing to the music from one of the booths...so fun!

We then went to the Golden theater to see Avenue Q. it was a beautiful theather and a very funny, creative show. There were parts that were a little risque...but it also had a nice uplifting message too! :)

When the show was over we headed to the airport to take off for Houston. I had gotten a first class upgrade that I gave to my dad...it was his first time to ride up front. :) And I was super excited when the flight attendant brought me an upgrade too! Yea! Here's the beautiful sky and view of the city as we took off. It was a wonderful trip and so glad dad and I got to share this weekend! Love you Dad! :)

i can exhale...

2008-05-19T23:29:00.002-05:00

This weekend I took my dad on an incredible trip to New York City. More details on that later.

I went to copy the pics and my brand new SD card flaked on me. I deleted a single file and all of a sudden with no warning or little task bar the entire folder vanished. I hit ctrl+z to undo, nothing...went to the recycle bin...nothing, checked the folder I copied the file to...nothing. I was in full out panic mode.

Bryan then called his ex-cowoker and our friend, Mitch. HE IS MY HERO! He talked me off the ledge and helped me to download SW to find all the little hidden files still tucked away on my SD card. People with a combination of that much smarts and calmness are incredible.

I was able to recover most of the pics, some a little grainier or jumbled a little...but they are there and back on my hard drive (in a few locations just in case).

I am so happy and thankful that I can finally breathe and get a good night's sleep. Thanks a million Mitch!!!

time to put on my dancin shoes

2008-05-15T13:46:00.003-05:00

I'm so very excited! Back in the day, I was on the Spartainaires drill team at Stratford High School. I was in Company D (the Ducks), led by my then, officer and now, friend Stacy.

Fast forward about 15 years (ouch, I feel old) and we're still good friends...and she's a drill team director now! Tonight is her spring show and she's even going to dance too! Nita, Camille and I are heading up to the far NW side...even farther than HP, to check out the show.

I hope I can stop myself from running up on stage and shakin my arse!

oh happy day!

2008-05-06T22:09:00.001-05:00

Gaigepages is up to date! The pics from Nikki's bday in Fredericksburg and the Europe trip are all posted...15 new albums! :)

www.gaigespages.com

Day 11 – Breakfast in Milan, Lunch in Newark, Dinner in Houston

2008-05-05T14:40:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning, we took off for Newark (with a nice stay in the Pres Club…note – they do have cheese and it was MUCH yummier than the cheese that was still in Alison’s bag) then made our way to Houston.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my travel buddies Alison, Bill and Oscar and all the HP people in Florence that made this an unforgettable trip! Can’t wait to see what the rest of the year in travel has to hold. Going for Platinum Elite, baby!

Day 10 – Lake Como, Villa d’Este, Brunate and Milan

2008-05-05T13:55:00.007-05:00

We woke to a perfect day. It was probably about 60 and sunny. And the day only got prettier! Here's the view from the hotel room.

And a few of the trip back to the town of Como.

We took the hydrofoil (fast boat) back to Como and met a chatty little new friend.

The view was so beautiful...if you look closely, you can see the snow capped mountains in the backgroud...

And here it is zoomed in a little! Just perfectly gorgeous!

In Como we had some fresh gelato at the dock and bought our tickets for the slow boat over to a place called Villa d’Este. It used to be a private residence and is now one of the fanciest hotels in the world. Oh, and PS, was the rumored location that George Clooney was going to propose to his girlfriend earlier this month! We rolled up on foot and were asked if we were clients…uh, no. Alison answered, "We’re having lunch here." And we got in! We walked over to the lake side bar, surrounded by the definition of characters. These people were even caricatures of themselves…oh to be rich! We ordered champagne and relaxed. It was perfect out and I turtled in one of the prettiest places in the world. Until we got the bill of a whopping 63 euro for the 3 glasses!!! Ouch. But, it was well worth it! And we got delicious, fresh olives as big as ping pong balls, nuts and cheese crackers ‘free’. We walked the gardens and grounds, smelled the fragrant wisteria and checked out the floating pool and of course had to visit the ladies room! Isn’t that always the best part of fancy hotels? These did not disappoint! They even had a bidet, which we had a lengthy debate about its use in a public restroom!

We took the slow boat back to Como and headed straight over to the funicular that climbs up to a small town called Brunate. This was the tallest one I had been on and from my google-ing looks like it was a 55% grade and somewhere around 2000 feet tall. The town of Brunate appeared to be tiny, but was very pretty with meandering streets and views of the lake and town of Como. We had paninis for lunch at a tiny café and soaked in the sun.

This lazy little guy was soaking in the sun and didn't budge when we walked up!

From there, we began the trek down the hill and across the town of Como.

After a quick stop at a local park (with 5 years olds driving go karts...yet another thing to never fly in the US), we caught the 6:00 train to head to Milan for dinner and to get a quick look at the city. This is where the fun began! We hopped off the train and headed for the lockers. Milan’s station is a mess and isn’t tourist friendly at all! There was a huge line for the baggage storage room and it was manned by people instead of a nice do it yourself locker room and it was a per bag charge! Yuck! So, we decided to check on jetting to the hotel then coming back into Milan. That’s when we found out there is only a shuttle bus (no metro) and it was an hour drive. That was out…so we headed back to the lockers and checked our things. When we went to purchase our bus tickets, the last one left at 9:10 (and it was already 8!)…but we had paid to check our bags, so we walked outside and circled the train station…got about 10 pics to prove we were there and headed straight back into the baggage check line. We got our bags out of hawk and went down to the waiting area. Our shuttle took off without a hitch and we took the very long, but relaxing ride to the Milan airport. Here we are giving sad faces at not seeing a little more of Milano!

When we pulled up to the airport, we all thought to ourselves, man, this place is tiny, but maybe it’s huge inside. It did say domestic and international departures on the sign. We cheerfully went to a cabbie and asked him to take us to the Airport Ramada. The look on his face was blank. “Are you sure”, he asked, “that hotel is 22 KM away”? What!?!?! The sheet said it was 2 KM away…doesn’t that make more sense for an airport hotel? So, he very kindly called the hotel while we were trying to look up our confirmation info. They sent over a shuttle and we were to wait by the farmacia for about half an hour. The bus showed up as planned (phew), but we had a stop on the way. It was the exit off to terminal 1. We all cracked up when we saw the humongous airport in the distance. Now, this was what we were expecting…I guess we had gotten off on the wrong stop from the shuttle!! So, we picked up one more passenger and made the 10 minute drive into the country to the “Airport” Ramada. It was actually very nice and we had some dinner then hit the hay.

Day 9 – Lake Como and surprise, Lugano…SWITZERLAND!

2008-05-03T12:26:00.007-05:00

Alison and I packed ½ our belongings into a Fedex box and the rest in our packs. Oscar, Alison and I then set off for Lake Como, Italy! It was all plains on the way, so a good opportunity to catch up on a little shut eye! As we were rolling close to Como, it was still all flat…and I was thinking, hmm, did we book the right station?? Well, right as we pulled into the station, the mountains rose from the plains and we could tell this place was going to be gorgeous! We got off the train and the guy at the small shop in the station told us to take the bus into town. We waited there for AGES and met a couple from Greece that was very nice and waiting for the same bus #4. It finally arrived and drove 5 minutes before our stop, oh well, lesson learned! We grabbed lunch (one of my favorites of the trip) at a street café.

We looked at the map we had and saw a dashed line with SVIZIRRA written in big letters. Surely, we weren’t so close to ANOTHER COUNTRY we could check off our list?!?! Then the girl behind us chimed in and said YES, Switzerland’s border was only about 10 minutes away by bus! Oh my gosh, Alison and I nearly jumped up and ran across the border. We skipped over to the tourist info center and got the skinny. We could get there by bus to ‘cross the border’ with nothing to see in 10 minutes or take a 45 minute ride on the train to a cute tourist town. About 30 minutes later, we had a change of plans and were on a train to Lugano, Switzerland…and off the map of our laminated itinerary!!

The only sad part of the ride was that we didn’t get the coveted passport stamp, but we did get to mark off another country! This town was a hoot. It was pristinely clean, very pretty and RICH. I think there were far more banks than people that took residence here. They were, no joke, on every street corner, facing each other. It was like Starbucks in the US! We walked down to the water, took many pics and were back on the train in an hour or so. I will definitely be going back to Switzerland though. I really loved it!

I even found time to get a pic with a Swiss Golden Retriever. :)

We were entertained on the train back by an accordion player with a lazy eye. According to Alison he was totally drunk! He just kept pointing at the accordion and smiling then he started saying Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Ljubljana…when we finally made out what he was saying, we said, SLOVENIA back to him. Hey, we were just there!! He was pumped we knew what he was talking about…and just kept repeating it. We tried to egg him on to play on the train…but he was a little too sober for that. From what we could gather, he was going to Ljubljana to play at a wedding. How fun!

We had to be back in time to catch our ferry to Bellagio on Lake Como. The train was running a little behind, so we were a few minutes late getting back. And we ran like crazy as soon as we pulled into the station. Oscar, thankfully is a marathon runner, so he took off! Alison and I a few steps behind. I think she was nice enough to hang back for me…wow, I need to hit the treadmill! We made it up to the boat dock and they were just loading. Oscar was there waiting with our tickets in hand! Just awesome! Everything just fell into place perfectly!

We arrived at our hotel in Bellagio, just across from the boat dock and it was adorable.

We walked through the very quiet and romantic town and stopped for a drink at a small local bar. We munched on chips and the best cheese puffs. I have to try to find them in The States, they just melt in your mouth and no orange fingers! From there, it was drizzly and we were pretty hungry. We found a pretty restaurant that looked cozy and warm and popped in. The food was delicious and Alison took the opportunity to ‘relax’ a little from a hard week she had planned so masterfully. She was totally hilarious. After a few glasses of wine, she disagreed with Oscar and me about something she had said earlier and we ran with it! In celebration of us being right Oscar and I gave each other spirit fingers (Alison does this with others since she’s not a cuddler…minimal touching ;) ) and then she was outraged! Here's Oscar and I celebrating...the pic of Alison had to be censored!!

We walked back to our place and crashed out! It was a great night’s sleep after running so hard.

Day 8 – IPMM Day 3

2008-05-02T10:18:00.006-05:00

Day three is always a little long, but today’s meetings were good. My presentation went ok. If anyone has additional recommendation on how to become more comfy in front of a crowd…let me know! Anyway, we wrapped up the day with a slide show from the event. Fun memories!

As soon as we wrapped, 12 of us went to a Tuscan cooking class! This was the beautiful view on our walk! Life is so tough!

Alison’s boyfriend Oscar had come into town too to join us for the rest of our European adventure. The cooking class was really fun and we had great hosts. Even though one of the chefs was a little touchy even for me!! He was funny though!

Here's all of of our food, before we got ahold of it.

And all the chefs!

We made an artichoke soufflé, spinach crepes, rosemary chicken and a chocolate cake dessert.

We all laughed and had a nice time decompressing from a long week…some of us longer than others!

And here's our fun chef friend with the team...

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and chilled at the bar again as everyone trickling in from their dinners and we chatted the night away. Jacob, Andre, Edgar and I stuck it out to the end and laughed a lot! On to Lake Como tomorrow!

Day 7 – IPMM Day 2

2008-04-29T10:10:00.010-05:00

Thank goodness I didn’t present this day!!! I woke up still a little woozy…thankfully the feeling subsided by noon. We reviewed all of the regions updates then it was off to have some fun!

This was the day of our team building outing and it was wonderful!!! We started by taking a bus up to a small town overlooking Florence called Fiesole. It was the original “city” during the Roman times and eventually they moved down to the valley where present day Florence is located. Alison, Barry and I walked the city and got some beautiful photos and longed to live in the Italian villas we passed. They were just beautiful homes with the best views you can even imagine.

On our walk, we also saw this smart pup! The owner patted her leg to get the pup to jump on between her legs, then the pup tucked her tail in to drive off! Check out that smile!

After walking the town, we met for our guided tour of the Roman ruins. It was pretty amazing that they would just let you walk all over the grass and stairs. There was no where that was blocked off! I tried to take in as much of the stories as I could, but that darn ADD kicked in! :) Alison did fill me in on neat details (after pinching me for not listening). They talked about the 2 Roman baths and the “hot tub” that was heated by adding hot coals to the water from a nearby fire. The pools were pretty cool and innovative. It was actually a walk in pool instead of a big hole in the ground. They were so smart! This is my wonderful workstation friend Siobhain and me on the tour...
Did I mention I get a little bored on guided tours...Linda and I decided to have a little fun with the signs around the ruins...dorks, I know. :)
After the tour we sat for a little bit at an outdoor café…with another super view. The smell of the wine still wasn’t settling just right still! :)

After chilling and snacking on mini pizzas, chips and nuts, we went up the hill to take a group pic. Can I just ask, WHY OH WHY you can’t get 80 people to focus and look in one direction??? I guess I just was trained well by drill team of the logistics of lining up and smiling for pics! Cheese!

We boarded the bus and drove for about an hour through beautiful Tuscany into Chianti. We arrived at the Castello del Trebbio. We started by taking 1000 pics of the property and surround areas. It seemed unreal. You can even stay on the vineyard in one of the guest houses. Would be an incredible experience!

We were then taken on a walking tour of the area by the husband of one of the decedents that owns the castle. Their family now lives in part of the castle and they grow grapes and olives on the property. He detailed the history of the family, their castle, the groundskeeper and how they make their phenomenal wines and olive oils. Who knew so much went into the process of making these yummy treats?!

This is the awesome groundskeeper, who has been there for a very long time...60 years maybe???!?! Oh, I need to learn to focus! I'm sure Alison can comment and correct me!

From the tour, we had appetizers and dinner in their restaurant family style…trying different wines throughout the various courses. It was delightful. I could have eaten nothing but their bread with plain olive oil all night…it was beyond description!

UPDATE: Thanks to Nikki busting me on the comments, yes, this is when I busted my arse...but held on to my vino and camera!! :)

After dinner, we visited the gift shop and I picked up a 3 pack of olive oils…they are all pure varieties, each from a different olive, used for different dishes like salad, beef or chicken.

When we arrived at the hotel, everyone headed up to get some rest for day 3 of the meetings…and my day to present. EEK! I came down to the lobby to get a power adapter and a few people were in the lobby bar, so spent a little time socializing…but, did get to bed at a decent hour! :)

Day 6 – IPMM Day 1

2008-04-28T23:01:00.003-05:00

Tuesday’s meeting sessions were all about "strategery" and planning. We heard about new concepts for the years coming up…it was fun and interesting. One new thing about this meeting was that we had no WLAN. It was so weird! We always have a way to chat with each other and be distracted by email. This time we had to resort to passing notes like high schoolers…you saw them everywhere. But, I must say it was so much more productive than past meetings and I got a lot out of it. :)

In the evening, we all went for a group dinner and had a traditional Italian meal with antipasti, pasta, chicken and dessert…and of course Chianti.
After dinner, a few of us went to an Irish pub, The Old Stove, recommended by Barry, our Irishman living in Taiwan. We didn’t stay out too late, but I did have one too many! Eek…those darn Irish! I'm not going to incriminate those of us that went out...so here's the menu from the bar!! :) hehe

Day 5 - Florence, Italy

2008-04-27T19:31:00.005-05:00

Took another early morning train to get to Florence at a decent hour. I think I may sleep for a week when I get home...or maybe the plane home will be empty, yeah right! :) We hit the ground running as we knew this was our only opportunity to see the sights.

We did an open top bus tour and got off at the Piazza Michaelangelo at the top of the city. It provided a beautiful overlook with lots of little tourist shops and a bronze replica of David. The actual one is at a museum that was closed that day. We ran into a big group of other HP people and took a few pics in this incredible location.

We had a little time to kill before the next bus would be there, so we headed up a set of stairs and visited a very old church, founded in 1018, called the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte with a graveyard in the front and another nice panoramic view. There was also a bride and groom there taking photos. There are endless beautiful backdrops throughout Europe!

I found a kitty at the top of the hill, but you know cats...he wouldn't cooperate and look at the camera! :) And PS, what on earth is my hair doing there???

We caught the bus down the hill and walked the tourist bridge, which I was a little disappointed was all jewelry and high end stuff. I'm more of a chachke girl. :) We walked from there back through the city by the Piazza del Duomo in the center of town. Again, with beautiful mosaics, all over the entire church, but in pastels this time. There was a huge line and we had plans for have dinner that evening, so we headed to the hotel for a little R&R.

That evening, we walked the open air market and had dinner at a street side café. There we met the best waiter of the trip…at least the one with the best sense of humor! His name was Kenny G and was originally from the Dominican Republic. He messed with Jon, one of the guys from the team, rubbed his shoulders and heckled the passing tourists to get them into the restaurant. He made the night! After dinner, we turned in to prepare for 3 packed days of meetings.

Day 4 - Venice, Italy

2008-04-25T15:46:00.015-05:00

Got to sleep in a little before our 10am train...it was nice! The train to Venice was packed...and it was full of people once we arrived in the city too! This was our first official 'tourist destination'. I can't imagine how crazy it is in the summertime. We planned to meet Joe at the station and he was a few minutes behind.

As we stood in the square, we knew this place would be a little kooky! First, a guy came up to us in the square calling us "bella" and staring oddly. Eek! Then a man seriously dig a jig and sang to us with a purse in hand. I'm not talking a "murse", but a full on blinged out Chanel purse. He was singing in Italian and in our heads he was singing "I just stole this purse and yours is next" . Then the third weirdo was a dude in a full cape. We thought, hmm kind of weird, but then he fluffed it out dramatically, it was hilarious! A few minutes later Joe arrived to meet us. We checked into the hotel then took off on our walking tour.

We stopped for pizza along the way. It was really good, but the place was a little odd...run by Turkish people, I think...with music blaring. From there, we walked through the San Marco Square then out to the water, with a brief stop to feed the pigeons...oh you know I had to do that! I don't care if people call them flying rats!! I love the ratzos too! :)

Once we got out to the water, what a beautiful view! We took pics with the bridge of sorrows. It was the link between the Doge's complex that housed the court and the prison. So, here we are being "sorrowful". Later, we found out it was the bridge of "sighs"...oops. Close enough.
From there, we went up to the top of the famous tower in the square. The views were quite incredible, and they were made even better by the fact that there was an elevator! It seems these towers usually require lots of stairs...so yea! After that we visited the San Marco Church. The mosaics inside were stunning. They were all in bright jewel tones with deep golds, blues and reds. No pics were allowed inside, but they had some of the art pieces at the entrance. We also saw St. Mark's tomb and listened to the history behind a beautiful art piece at the altar. I am so ADD though, it's terrible. I don't think I remember a thing about the audio tour...just in one ear and out the other. But, if they would let me touch it, I'd remember every detail! One very cool thing I did learn from Joe is the symbol for St. Mark is the lion. YEA! Love that!! Yippee for LEOS! Once you started to look you would notice Lions everywhere...was very neat. :)
Next, we went to the Doge's palace. We went through what felt like 500 rooms and kept hoping at every turn that we'd get to the bedroom. After visiting the first antechamber, second antechamber, the senate, the navy room, etc., we realized maybe it wasn't to be found! We did get to see walk the bridge of sighs and explore the prison...but the pinnacle was seeing the drawings that the prisoners did back in the day. We were a little delirious by the time we got there, so they were even funnier! There were a TON of naked ladies, but almost all were profiles of busts with the random boobs in the front. My stomach was hurting from laughing by the time we left. Sorry kids, no pics were allowed in the room, so you'll have to use your imagination.
Next, we decided to be the ultimate tourists and do a gondola ride. Our guide barely spoke English, but he was nice and pointed out a few things here and there. We got to see the Grand Canal, meander through the buildings and even see where Mozart had lived. I love the light in the first pic below! It was so pretty. :)
From there, we were starving, so we went to one of Joe's favorite restaurants called Al Vagon. The house wine was reasonable (as compared to everything else in Venice) and it was probably the best wine I've even had in my life! The food was phenomenal as well. I tried mussels for the first time and even those were scrumptious! This sign was hanging above the register...I wonder if the owners were really Costa Rican!? :)

After dinner, we decided to do something cultural so we went to see a chamber orchestra perform Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Wasn't sure if I'd know it, because I know very little about classical music...but I knew a bunch of the songs (probably from weddings) and it was beautiful. The main violinist and the cello player were the favorites. I picked up their CD for my padre too. I highly recommend seeing one of these performances if you're in Venice. This hall was even modeled after the same sized room as the one Vivaldi originally performed the same symphonies in, but his were inside St. Mark's next door! There was a lady there too that was very touching. She swayed and closed her eyes and moved her hands to every song. Watching her in pure bliss was fun.

We went to drinks at a local bar then to one other more chi chi place, then called it a night. We spied this in a shop window along the way...I got one for all my friends, so if a big crate with ladies shoes sticking out of the top arrives soon...Merry Christmas!Thanks Joe for being a great guide and filing us in on all the details of the city!

Day 3 - Zagreb, Croatia, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Klagenfurt, Austria (oh my!)

2008-04-22T13:09:00.007-05:00

We headed for the train station at 6AM...wow, that's a challenge for someone as non-morning person-y as me...but when you're hitting 3 countries in one day you have to hustle! We got to relax on the train and chow down from our snack bag for breakfast. One funny part of the ride was when we crossed the border from Croatia to Slovenia and the guard called out our passport names with a bunch of "Slovenian" words...We heard, "Grazen Alifia Ichaz Grazen Elaraz" then "Lora" (picture it with a heavy Slovenian accent). Thankfully none of us were "wanted" in the country, so they let us in. We arrived in Ljubljana after a really nice train ride where we got to see many tiny villages in the hills. We also went along a river for a while where it was really picturesque.

We had no clue where to start here...none of us had really researched the town, other than it was easy enough to do in a day. We put our bags in a locker at the train and we hit the pavement...or really the cobblestones. We just followed our gut (no map in hand) where it looked like there was a little action. We sat down at a cafe, ready to order breakfast and the waiter let us know NO ONE in Ljubljana is up and eating out yet...and the kitchen wouldn't open until noon. So, we hungrily walked toward the castle and thought we'd have to hit the snack bag again. When we crossed over the river into the old town, we were greeted by a huge outdoor market. They had clothes, flowers, fruits, vegetables and tons of other food! So much for no one in the city eating that early. There were bread, dried fruits & nuts and butcher's shops. Alison and I had a great spinach pizza/pastry and Bill had a fancy sausage in a bun. We also tried dried apples (so yummy), dried melon (pretty good, but a little too sweet) and fresh cookies from an outdoor oven (delish too). We wandered around the market for a while then headed over to the funicular to go up to the castle on the hill.
The funicular gave us a great view of the entire city b/c it was glass all around. When we got to the top it was a little surprising. The exterior of the castle was old and historic, but they had renovated the interior and it was very modern. It was full or glass and rust colored metal beams. It was odd, but pretty in a way too. We also climbed the main tower and I had a tiny bit of a panic attack. The spiral staircase was nice and new but it was so tall and you could see straight down to the ground through the stairs and in the center. My smart self then took a peak and the vertigo hit. I made it to the top...it really wasn't that far and I was elated to see the view. That was until I saw that it was a little mini wall that came to your mid thigh with big open slats. UGH. So I chilled in the middle while Alison took all the pretty panoramic pics. :) Once we headed down, I wanted to conquer the feeling a little so we went over to another wall and I did much better...yea! The next stop was the gift shop and we could hear an accordion playing downstairs...what an atmosphere!
Next we went back down the hill and walked through the center of town. Saw a ton of museums and beautiful old buildings. We stopped and sat to listen to a group of Mohican Indians play tribal music...it was so pretty, I bought the CD for my dad.

After our break, we walked toward a park area and happen to catch an outdoor photography exhibit. It was a collection of animal pics from everywhere; they were so beautiful. Maybe one day I can snap one like those!
From there, we headed for the middle of town again and weren't sure what else to do. Along the way we saw an Opera House being renovated. There was a lot of restoration happening there and it was cool to see. The Opera House was only the facade standing with a big construction site in the center. I hope I get to go back and see it completed someday!

We also passed the American Embassy (which was closed on Sunday) and their Parliament where we got a nice laugh. Surrounding the entire entrance was a group of bronze statues, all nude (not so funny) and representing, we're guessing, all the industries in the building(kind of funny). They had nude people fishing, holding babies and the best was 3 guys holding hands in the air (hmmm, very funny)! See if you can find them!

From there, we walked through the shops in town and it started to barely sprinkle. We popped into an open air cafe to have a 'hot chocolate' and were surprised when they gave us warm, thick pudding in a coffee mug. I guess this isn't the same thing in Slovenia! It was delicious, but no way we could finish it...it was so rich. After our first cup it started to pour. Who knew all these people would have umbrellas, but they did...in all shapes and colors. We waited out the rain (with the help of one of those warming torches) and set off for the train to wish Bill well on his travels back to the US.

That evening Alison and I took the train to Klagenfurt, Austria. The train ride there was stunning. We went through the Austrian Alps and about 15 minutes before we were to arrive, there was a gorgeous lake. It seemed to go on forever and had villages all around it were very quaint. We kept hoping the train would stop at anytime. As we had no clue what to expect of Klagenfurt either! It was about 5 minutes past the lake, so definitely taking note of this for summertime. We enjoyed the view and chatted with 2 new friends, an older man from Croatia that didn't speak English, but we'd use sign language to communicate and laugh. And a young kid of about 22 from Germany who helped us by asking for directions on when to switch trains and also entertained us with stories of his hitchhiking for the last few weeks and how much he likes to "make party"! It was fun and the ride just flew by!
Once in Klagenfurt, we found the hotel by looking it up on a kiosk in the very nice train terminal and set off walking. It took us about 15 minutes and we checked in and checked email VERY quickly as it was super expensive. I think it was 11 euro for 30 minutes! Ouch! But look how cute the hotel was! This was our reflection in the mirrored building across the street...see if you can spot Alison and me!
We got a few recommendations from the front desk on places to eat and walked the cute, teeny town. We went to a historic restaurant with native food and stuffed ourselves yet again.

This pic was too hard to pass up. Uhren is pretty close to Uhran and we're kinda schmucks. :) I think it literally means decorations and clocks.

As we were wrapping up an adorable English lady came up and asked us where we were from. She was shocked Americans had even found their town on the map. We explained that we wanted to cross the border and it was closest...so there we were! She had met her Austrian husband in South Africa years ago and moved to Klagenfurt with him. They and their other 2 friends were so fun and even called another friend who was supposed to come out that night and was originally from Temple, TX! Alison entertained him with her pretend Texas-y accent!
After dinner, we decided to have one drink at the hotel bar and surprise, there were our new Klagenfurtian friends! We sat and had a few drinks...chatted about politics, travel and they laughed their arses off when Alison described Temple as the armpit for Texas (with a charming visual too). He also told us stories of a couple of years ago when the big lake we had passed froze over and they skaed it end to end. Must have been stunning!

It's so fun to meet new friends in far off places! Hope you're still awake and with me at this point!! :) Off to Venice tomorrow!

Day 2 - Dubrovnik, Plitvice Lakes and Zagreb, Croatia

2008-04-20T14:00:00.002-05:00

We got up bright and early...Alison and Bill hit the free buffet, which they said was incredible including local fruit, traditional breakfast food and even wontons! I was last into the shower, so I just had cheese and crackers we had stowed away from the President's Club stop! That's more my style for breakfast anyway!! So, we hit the city early and there were not too many people around. We tried oh so hard and had no clue how to make it to the walking path around the old city walls. Door after door was locked...so we just walked inside on the sidewalks and peeked out a few areas to see the crystal clear water. Many of the cafes and tourist activities were closed until May 1, when their season officially starts...and all the cruise ships roll into port. It was so nice seeing it on our own and not dealing with hoards of people pushing you through! So, we took a little detour through an alley and lo and behold, there was a gate...open to access the wall!! We finally realized, they didn't open until 9! So, we were going to be able to walk to perimeter! And what an incredible view from the top!!! We scaled one of the towers, took TONS of pics and got to see the city from all angles. There was a mountain view to the east with a pretty little cross at the top of the hill. Views of the old castle and coastlines on the north/south and a stunning view of the cliffs and the ocean to the west. You could also look into the town from all angles to see the businesses, homes, courtyards, garden, cats and dogs that all took residence inside the walls. Just amazing! There was even a crazy old cat lady or two...I guess that's universal! She had hoards of cats she fed (so sweet), but a super creepy doll collection too...with them in every window of the house as well as in a flower pot on her back porch!! Eek!

Here are some photos of the tour around the old town.

And I found another little pup friend too! :)

Once, we heading down from the wall...we had an even creepier experience...and I nearly jumped out of my skin!!! I looked down at a little hole in the wall...and a teeny critter was staring back...it was a taxidermy RAT! Ok, some of you may know about my rat love...but this was downright spooky. Give me goose bumps thinking about it! Bill insisted it was a "vole"...Alison and I laughed at him and said there was not such thing...and he sent us the link to prove it. Darn it! Hate it when others are right! :) From there, we walked though town, visited little shops, took pics with dogs and cats, I got my infamous ornament and a little cross with Croatia on the side for my Dad and we went bid Dubrovnik adieu.

We arrived in Zagreb a little late b/c our flight was delayed, but the good news was we got cookies on the plane that I knew and loved from our friends Ed and Senela's wedding. We picked up our car (and I got some of the delicious cookies for my Mormor in the terminal) and we set off for Plitvice lakes. There is a funny thing about most European cities...ok, at least Croatia; there are no signs for any of the freeway numbers before you get on...just signs with the name of the city you're heading toward. We saw the name of a city that was definitely not on the way, so we went the opposite direction. Oops. We were heading in totally the wrong direction. So we luckily found a uturn and set off for the lakes. The rest of the drive was a breeze! We passed through adorable villages and really incredible views of mountains and valleys on the way. Much of the area had a German feeling, including restaurant names and just the general architecture. Then we saw a sign that mentioned the Germans had helped to 'rebuild' the area. Kind of neat. The most beautiful part of the drive was when it started to rain lightly and the most vivid rainbow I have ever seen spread across one of the valleys. It was unreal. It was brightly shining end to end, with the mountains in the background and the tiny village below...breathtaking!

It took about an hour and a half to get to the lakes and when we did, there were about 5 other cars and all the tourist info centers were locked up tight. What!!?? We were a little confused! There was also a restaurant called Licka Kuca, recommended by the same wonderful Croatian friend, Senela, mentioned above and it was closed too. :( We didn't know what to do, so we drove on to the second entrance to the park. Different parking lot, same story. We still weren't sure what to do, so we went back to the main entrance and parked and thought we'd just wing it and look around a little. We crossed a bridge over the street and headed to the entrance. It was about 5:00 when we walked up to the entrance and the lady said the park was closed. All I could see was Clark Griswold (me in this case) punching Marty Moose. NOOOOO...we did not just drive all the way from Zagreb to not see this park! Then it ended up she was telling us this b/c it was free once the park closed!! Jackpot! We got to see the park, seeing only 2 other people the entire time and for FREE! This place was so pretty it had to be over run during the peak months. If you go, and get lucky with the weather this is the best time of year to see Croatia...sometime in April.

We hiked down to the lakes and every step I thought, uh oh...this is going to be a beast of a hike back up! But there was no way I was going to miss seeing and hearing the falls up close! There was the coolest footpath all around the lakes and falls. It was all made of wood and no way something like this would fly in the US! There were no railings anywhere or fences to keep you from plunging into the water. But it made the experience so up close and personal. I think I got some incredible shots. It would be embarrassing if you didn't, seeing that it was just so naturally pretty! There was one tall fall and lots of little cascading falls down the river. We walked on the "floor" of the valley for an hour or so then found a cave with a light at the stop...so we decided to take these stairs instead of the switchbacks we had taken down. This again, was a nice little stairmaster-esq exercise, but was much more fun that scaling the mountain on the path.
We headed for the car, ready to pack it in for Zagreb, when we saw a few people heading to the "closed" restaurant. Double jackpot!! It had opened for dinner! Yippee! The building was very pretty with wood walls and a big fire for the food in the center and kind of a buffet style kitchen in the center of the restaurant. We started with a local cheese plate...and oh my gosh was it good! It has a flavorful hard parmesan like cheese that just got better the more you chewed, a soft goat cheese, a buttery soft one and one that was like a combo of sour cream and cream cheese. All so fresh and wonderful. Alison and Bill had the traditional Veal and Lamb from the spit and I had the trout. Little did I know it would come with the head staring straight at me...but it was quite delicious! :) We finished with a cheese strudel. Our stuffed little selves then hopped back in the car and heading back to the capital for a good night's sleep.

Day 1 - Herceg Novi, Montenegro and Dubrovnik, Croatia

2008-04-14T14:34:00.010-05:00

I'm in the airport in Dubrovnik, about to take off for Zagreb. The flights all went off without a hitch to get here. Here's a shot of the Old town in Debrovnik from the plane...I'll tell you more about that in tomorrow's write up though.

We arrived in Croatia about 45 minites before Bill's plane touched down. We had planned to take a taxi into the center of town, but decided to rent a car instead. There are all these new rules in Croatia about car safety including you must wear a bright safety vest if changing a tire. Our car was missing said vest, so our new friend Anna brought one for us and thought we were nuts!! Here's Alison practicing for this, just in case!

From here, we crossed the border to Herceg Novi, Montenegro. The hills around us were all black and rocky in the distance (hence Montenegro)...but closer to the water, it is beautiful and green. The drive was so beautiful with little houses perched throughout the landscape. We parked the car once we arrived and walked to see what sights we could stumble upon. We really had no clue what we were looking for here. The first little alley to the water we found was a jackpot! There was a beautiful rocky beach with incredible views...and a restaurant where we could sit outside and have wine and yummy fresh greek salads and bread. Our waiter laughed at us as we tried to practice our hellos and thank yous in Montegeran and there were lots of kitties around looking for a snack too. From here, we walked along an area that I'm sure is loaded with tourists during the peak season. It was sort of a boardwalk with little shops selling cigarettes, candy, etc. There were lots of pretty landscapes of mountains, water and red roofed homes.

Then we saw a bunch of people gathered up taking pics...what were they looking at? It was a bunch of adorable pups that were about 6 weeks old...and mom and dad dog too! I swear, it is so universal!! Everyone was cooing and smiling at these little guys! Don't worry...I got pics ;)

From here, we walked back up 1000 stairs (ok, felt like 1000!) and headed back to our Croatian ride. We drove up the street looking for a place to buy an ornament (I passed up a magnet on the boardwalk, darn!), but no luck. We did "stumble" upon a castle though! We walked up another "few" stairs and came to a really cool plaza in the old town area. With a beautiful tiny, old church. From there we headed back to the Croatian border, as we really didn't want to deal with crossing in the dark!

We got tot enjoy a gorgeous sunset from the car as we drove along the Croatian coast. Once we arrived in Dubrovnik, we checked into the really nice Hilton. If you go, this is super convenient as it's just steps from the walled old town. This is really the highlight of of the city. That evening we set off to find a place to eat. We walked through old town and got to see all the churches, theater and shops in the twilight...made for some really beautiful pics!
We finally found a cute little pizzeria and had salad and mushroom pizza. There was a group of ladies that came in and sat next to us and all lit up...we think it was to run us off!! We just moved tables and continued to chow down! We turned in that evening and prepared for the next day exploring the old town.

Made it to London

2008-04-10T03:13:00.000-05:00

We're sitting in the posh Delta Lounge at Gatwick airport and just had some delicious 'crisps'...they were sea salt and basalmic vinegrette...YUM! Time to head off for the next flight. Chat with you all on our next stop. :)

flyin first class up in the sky

2008-04-09T14:55:00.003-05:00

Well, sadly not going first class, but I am in the presiden't club (thanks to Alison!). We're about to leave on the European Adventure. First stop is London Gatwick, then on to Dubrovnik, Croatia. Just for laughs, you've seen the final "itinerary", and here's how that was concieved. This is a pic of the drawing on the white board in Alison's office.

We're off! Chat with you all soon!!! :)

name that snack

2008-04-04T08:46:00.004-05:00

I'm so excited for this day to wrap up. It's been one heck of a week! I've been so darn busy and I'm stressing a little about packing and getting all ready to go for Europe next Wednesday. It's totally snuck up on me. Is anyone else freaking out a little that it's already April!?!?!

So, a bunch of us went to Fergie at the Rodeo a couple of weeks ago and I've been promising this blog and zoning out on it. Take a look at the "delicious" snacks Camille, Nita and I had to try for ourselves. Any guesses at the deep fried, sugar covered snacks we gave a try?

Here's a hint, this is defintely how you felt after one of the snacks!

We're off the Fredericksburg this weekend for some more fun in the country. If I owned cowboy boots, they'd be getting some good use this year!!! Yee haw!

Shanghai Maglev train

2008-04-02T10:35:00.005-05:00

I get to go to Shanghai once a year, when we do the first pilot build of the notebook I help to develop. My next trip will be right around the Olympics in August, so the city should have a really cool vibe!

I just saw this on Tom's Hardware...and had to share. They took the Maglev train, that connects the airport to the city...it goes up to 268 MPH!!! It looks fast, but wait until you see the other train pass on the track!!! WOW! I may just have to try the train from the airport next time I go!

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/31/video_riding_shanghai_s_187_mph_maglev/

caps - 3.29.08

2008-03-30T16:14:00.004-05:00

Today was a CAPs day...it's the shelter that we volunteer at once a month to take pics of the sweet cats and dogs. The full name is Citzens for Animal Protection. If you know anyone looking, I'm going to add them here...just in case! There were a couple that were especially cuddly if you want details.

It's tough to do it emotionally for me...you just want to pack them all up and take them home, but hopefully getting them on the website helps then to find their new and even better homes. :)

Here are the "headshots" and the website will include all the details later tonight or tomorrow morning.

http://www.cap4pets.org/

i heart goats

2008-03-26T19:05:00.006-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to the rodeo to see Rascal Flatts. If you know me, you know I'm not a big country fan. These guys were great though! And I even knew a bunch of their songs.

You're thinking, ok, great...but what the heck does that have to do with goats? Well, in my opinion the best part of any zoo, rodeo or event at my mom's school for little kiddos is...the petting zoo! I will charge in front of a little kid to cuddle with a baby goat, cow or wallaby. They are probably scared anyway, just protecting the little ones! :)

So, here are some goat pics thru the years. Found these when I went looking for Scott and Amy's big day! haha

1988

2004

2008

scott, do you take amy?

2008-03-23T18:46:00.011-05:00

Last weekend Annemarie and I went over to visit with my Mormor (grandma in Swedish)...and she told AP about my cabbage patch kids' wedding, complete with wedding dress, tux, guests and a reception! Yep, I was always a huge dork!!! :) I dug up a few of the pics and now they're here for your laughing pleasure!

Here are some of the polaroids...
And here's the reception...I am laughing at myself right now!!! What is that bow thing on my head??? Did I pull it off the hula hoop altar?!?! I love the 80s!

pack your bags

2008-03-19T09:55:00.006-05:00

Check out the lineup for this show!! And it's my birthday weekend :) Anyone interested? Tickets go on sale March 29.

http://milehighmusicfestival.com/

Saturday 7/19 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, O.A.R., Michael Franti and Spearhead, Steve Winwood, Spoon, moe., Citizen Cope, Andrew Bird, Josh Ritter, State Radio, JJ Grey & Mofro, Bob Schneider, Brett Dennen, Newton Faulkner, Meese, Born In The Flood, Railbenders

Sunday 7/20 - Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, The Black Crowes, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Flogging Molly, Colbie Caillat, OneRepublic, The Roots, Leftover Salmon, Martin Sexton, Flobots, Ingrid Michaelson, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Tea Leaf Green, Rose Hill Drive, The New Mastersounds, Serena Ryder, The Photo Atlas