The Romantic Road

Off to Germany!  We started off our German adventure by going on a tour called the "Romantic Road."  It stopped in the small, medieval towns that were out in the middle of nowhere (especially when you are traveling without a car).  It was so beautiful driving through the middle of Germany and seeing something other than a city.  I can't remember for the life of me where these first two pictures were taken, but it was so fun walking around the gorgeous grounds of this small castle estate.  I kept imagining hosting a huge party there...the weather was perfect and everything was manicured to the T!

Our next stop along the way was Rothenburg, where we stayed for two nights.  It was a tiny town that you could walk through in about 15 minutes, and they still have the original wall which surrounds it. It was absolutely beautiful! The old half-timbered houses were amazing, along with the skinny cobblestone streets, tiny pastry and sausage shops, fountains, and lots and lots of flowers.  We were lucky enough to have been there during their annual festival called, "The Master's Draught."  The whole town dawns traditional medieval garbs and there is a festival for three days.  It's really interesting because no ever left character.  They take their festival very seriously! 

Here is a photo below of the wall that encases the entire town.

    

This group of men went around the town for hours playing fiddles, trumpets, symbols,etc.  They stopped in front of every pub/bar and would perform for the people there, then the owner would invite them in for a brew.  Then, off to the next bar...

Rothenburg was beautiful. Such the quintessential German town.

My European Excursion

It was a year ago today that I arrived at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport to meet my friend Laura for our European Excursion.  That five and a half week trip was one of the best times in my life.  There was no stress, no worries, no schedules, and lots of food (well, not always), lots of exploring, and heaps of FUN!  I saw so many great places on that trip and can't wait to go back to some of them some day.  

As I mentioned, we met in Paris and from there went to Amsterdam, multiple places in Germany, Vienna and Salzburg, Austria, Prague, Budapest, Milan, Monaco, the French Riviera, Paris, Porto and Cascais, Portugal, and Barcelona.  I have yet to create any sort of album from this trip or print up any of the photos.  So I have decided to re-live the trip by posting a few photos and videos in order of the places that we went.  

Once Laura and I met in Paris we boarded a train and went straight to Amsterdam for one night.  We were exhausted from our travels so we didn't get too much sight seeing in.  We did however get to the van Gough museum, which was amazing.  Highly recommend it if you ever get to Amsterdam.  Here are a few photos from our first two days of travel....

The oh-so-popular "I amsterdam" sign.

Meet my gorgeous friend Laura.  She comes from an amazing family and we have known each other since we were born.  We had the best time together...lots of laughs and so many memories! (I have no idea why my font changed and I can't figure out how to change either one of them now...I'm still new to this whole blog thing)

I have never seen as many bikes as I have when I was in Amsterdam.  I wish that I wasn't so jetlagged at this point in the trip so that I had more pictures.  We went on a canal cruise so that we could get a quick glimpse of the city, and we both kept falling asleep, bummer.   It really was a beautiful place with some amazing architecture as well, so neat.  

Check back tomorrow and see where our trip took us to next.....

Spanish it is!

Ok, ok, so I chose Spanish.  I decided that I should be practical (sorry Faith *smile*).  So, I headed to the library two weeks ago to see by what means I could go about to learn this new language.  To my surprise they had the Rosetta Stone language software!  I was SO excited because this program costs a few hundred dollars that I was just not willing to spend.  It is supposedly the #1 language software in the world and is used by NASA, West Point, and the U.S. State Department.  

It teaches you your language of choice as if you were learning your first language, all through association.  There is not one word of English in the whole program...pretty crazy.  Brian and I are having fun with it and are excited to see how we do once we get more advanced.  If anyone else is in the mood to learn a new language, head to the library.....  

Something I should have learned

Every summer when I was girl there would be a struggle with my mom and I over the fact that she wanted me to have sewing lessons.  She was the teacher, I was the student, and the story went the same way every year.....It would start off with me complaining about how I never wanted to sew, we would eventually get to lesson number one where I would learn about how to cut out a pattern, and then that was the end.  I always found a way to weasel my way out of it and never get past lesson number one, hence the reason that I never learned how to sew.  What a good mom I have for trying to teach me every year...thanks for trying mom :-)

I have been itching to learn how to sew for quite a while now.  I want to make some throw pillows for my couch, but wait, I can't, I don't know how to sew!  Oh how I wish I had learned when I was young.  I love that when my dear friend Ashley (here is a link to her fun blog, something pretty) needs a new dress she can just pull out the sewing machine and whip one up...amazing...and so incredibly awesome. 

So, all of this to say that we just got a sewing machine.  Last week we were at Brian's Grandma Mary's house cleaning some things out and he noticed, "that piece of furniture is actually a sewing machine."  It looks like a small desk, but the top opens up and then a sewing machine pops out, pretty cool.  Brian's parents were sweet enough to let us have it, and here it is below.  We are planning on sanding it down and then refinishing it with a different stain.  (The pictures aren't the best because the lighting in the room was horrible, but you get the picture).

He was so determined to get the needle threaded and get it working, and he did!  Now we are both determined to learn how to sew....I have no excuses this time :-)

Ryan & Jena's Wedding

Our friends Ryan and Jena were married a few weeks ago at a beautiful winery in Livermore, California.  We all had a great time at their wedding and are so happy for them!  I didn't get too many pictures from the night, but here is the happy couple dancing the night away and having a blast!  

Here are a  few more pictures from the night....

Brian and I.  For some of you this may your first time seeing his new look.  His new look being 

his long hair/beard/looking like a rock star type of look.  He loves it!

A few of the boys and some of the crew...

Jake, doing what he does at every wedding, catching the garter.  I'm so proud of this action shot!

OYE VEY!!!

I didn't realize that it had been two months since I started this thing!  I'm itching to start writing on here more often.  Not that life has been that exciting lately, but i'm unemployed so I have heaps of free time!  If anyone has any leads on some sort of interesting job give me a ring.  I'm feeling desperate.  I always heard that when you graduate college you feel confused and lost and don't know what to do with your life, but I never imagined it being this bad!  Haha.  I've been realizing lately though that I should take advantage of this time to learn something new, take up some hobbies, read a book etc.  One thing that I have wanted to do for a long time is learn a language, but i'm torn...Spanish or French????  I have taken classes in both of these languages and have always liked the French classes better.  I LOVE the French language, but how often am I really going to use it?  If I knew that I would be frequenting Paris, the French Riviera, and Monaco then I'd be on it!  Spanish on the other hand is SO useful in California, plus I fell in love with Barcelona this past summer...I would love to live in Spain for awhile!  I think I just answered my own question of what language I should learn, but i'm not ready to commit yet.  I still have a soft spot for French that i'm not willing to give up....