Hola Spain!!

So I made it to Barcelona!! The trip over was relatively uneventful...except that I rode on Alitalia which reconfirmed my love of Italian guys. Other then that though, the airline is sub-par and I don't recommend it...unless you eat ham...and then feel free to jump on board.
I do love being back in Europe. Even just being in the airport I loved walking around and seeing what people were wearing. However, I was slightly annoyed by how slow people move here. I mean, it's the airport. We all have a plane to catch. It's not like we just came to all hang out and see where everyone else was going.

Damla and I arranged our flights to arrive 10 minutes within each other. It actually worked out again and we met up at the baggage claim and went to go find Selen. Just in case she was worried she wouldn't be able to find us, we made sure to put on our sweet Barcelona hats.

After taking a short bus ride and a short train ride, we made it back to Selen's cute European apartment. She fed us a delicious brunch and let us crash for the next 5 hours. Then we mustered up the energy to head out on to the streets. We went to a delicious tapas bar which had a very complicated name. If you go to Barcelona and want to know what it is, I'll ask Selen to e-mail you. We ate several delicious tapas and put down a pitcher of delicious sangria. I have to say that's one of my favorite things about this place!

You know what's not a good idea? Drinking an entire bottle of something called Sangria the night before you get on the plane to come to Spain. Contrary to what you might think, it's not the way to get in the mood for your vacation. I happened to do that Saturday night and was definitely riding the struggle bus for the first half of my plane ride.

Today was our first full day in Barcelona. We started off our one week adventure with a Fat Tire Bike Tour through the city. If you're ever in a city that does these tours, I would recommend it. The jokes aren't good but they seem to know what they're talking about. When I agreed to go on this tour, I didn't realize that the ride would actually take us through the busy streets of Barcelona. Considering I only get on a bike one every six months, I'm not super stable on two wheels. The tour was a bit out of my comfort zone but...I DID IT!!
I do have to say that the I didn't come of the adventure without any scratches. I did happen to run into a giant potted plant...that was free standing...with about 5 feet on each side of it...I swear it popped out of nowhere.
And I have to say, it was really fun. Occasionally we would be riding through a plaza and someone would be playing Spanish-style music on a guitar and I felt like I was in a movie! My favorite part of the tour was seeing the Sagrada Familia which is hugely amazing. We didn't even have to go in it to be amazed. We were actually recommended by our tour guide not to go in it because apparently it just looks like a constuction site on the inside. Note taken and obeyed.
After working up an appetite on the bike (the tour was 4 hours!) we stopped at a place for falafel stuffed pitas that you got to pick your own toppings on. Delish!! Thank goodness Selen got here in September and scoped out all the good food places for us. Then we headed to Las Ramblas to do some shopping until we could barely take another step.

The cool thing about Las Ramblas is that there is a median in the middle that is wide enough for several people to walk on. For some reason, they were selling all these random animals on this median...like mice, parakeets, turtles, bunnies...and even pigeons. I found this pretty strange because there are pidgeons all of there place. Why would I buy one when I could go throw a box over one in the plaza? One of the turtles was flipped over on his back and Damla was getting a upset that none of the others were helping to come flip them over. She yelled at the other turtles to help him but realized that they probably didn't understand English and asked Selen to help her translate.
We also stopped in the Boccaria (I have no idea how to spell it) which is the HUGE market off Las Ramblas. Everything in there is bright and colorful and they have every kind of chocolate you could ever want. One very imporant thing to remember in there is that you can look but DON'T TOUCH!!Tomorrow we're off to Valencia until Thursday. We've been told they have amazing paella which is one of my favorite foods. I'm pretty exicted for it. Well..that and the lovely beaches and warm weather!!

You Can Find Me in St. Louis

This past weekend Gina and I hopped in her car and headed to St. Louis!!! Gina is from STL so she makes quite a fine tour guide!! To top that off, Laurent was down in STL visiting her sister so we were able to meet up with her as well! All in all, 2 thumbs way way up!

Friday night we went over to Laurent's sisters new condo and just sat around talking about random things like where we were getting married and how surprise proposals don't always go as planned! Saturday was our big day in the city so we didn't stay out too late because we wanted to get an early start!

Saturday morning we woke up and started our day with a big bowl of Pho. Pho (according to Wikipedia) is s a Vietnamese beef and noodle soup^. The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts, and peppers that are added to the soup by the customer. This is pretty much right on the nose except that Gina's mom makes it with chicken, you should always add hot sauce, and no matter where you have had pho, you haven't has any as good as Gina's mom's.

One we were full we headed out to the St. Louis Zoo!! We visited pretty much every animal in the world including PENGUINS!!! They continue to be my favorite animal but elephants still remain a close second. We saw the big brown bears that appeared to have paced back and forth the entire time we roamed the zoo (which was a VERY long time!). We saw a 19 foot tall giraffe. We saw lions, and tigers, and jaguars, and zebras, and camels, and ostriches, and kangaroos, and gorillas, and spider monkeys, and puffins, and even some animals that I don't remember because I'd never heard of them before!!
The zoo visit was made even better when we heard that Purdue beat Ohio State!! WOO WOO!! BOILER UP!!!

Tammy and her friend joined us at the zoo toward the end of our visit but I think they planned it that way. This being that after the zoo they knew we were going to Ted Drewes ice cream!! I don't know Ted but I would have to say well done. It was quite delicious!!
Laurent and Papa Laurent met us at Ted Drewes and once we were full (and a little chilly) we decided to head to the mall for some much needed boot shopping! The zoo was full of people wearing all sorts of cute boots and Gina decided she needed a pair. I knew that we were going to the Hunan Star for dinner and I could think of no better way to work up an appetite then shopping!!

Shopping was a success as Gina is the proud new owner of grey suede boots, Laura got a new shirt dress, and I finally got a new bathrobe! Then it was off to the Hunan Star!! The Hunan Star is my FAVORITE Chinese restaurant. I'm pretty much a Chinese food conisure so this says a lot. We filled ourselves up with crab rangoons, vegetable low mein, hot braised chicken, mongolian beef, spicy shrimp, tofu and vegetables, and drinks from glasses shaped long donkeys! It was all delicious!! I really think that part of the reason I love Chinese food so much is because it's usually served family style so I know I'll get to try my food as well as what everyone else is eating! :)

After dinner we decided to skip the Mizzou football game party and headed back to Gina's for some good old slumber party gossip. I probably see Gina once a week and Laura once a month but for some reason, we never run out of stuff to talk about!

Sunday morning I was moving a little slower then normal. Gina's bed is a half waterbed and I had some strange dreams that I was on a boat! But Gina's mom must have predicted that we would need a good breakfast before we headed out on the road because she made green curry!! Plus there was sticky rice and some sort of carrot tomato combination that I'd never tried. There was also eggs and chicken but I didn't even get to those. One of these days I'm going to go to STL and just ask Gina's mom to teach me how to cook.

After brunch we piled into the car and headed back to Indy. While I was sad that our fun STL weekend was coming to an end, I made sure to capture pictures of the giant cross in Effingham and the St. Louis arch as we made our way back to Indy!!
This weekend I leave for SPAIN!!! I'm so excited to see Selen, spend a week vwith Damla, and experience all the sights and sounds of a country I've never visited before! I'll be sure to have a full report when I get back!!

Brutus and Bob Go to the Gym

I'd like to share a little adventure from the gym. But first, a little history. When I lived in Midland, I used to work out at a gym where I swear that somewhere in the fine print of the signing contract it stated:

You may only become a member if you
a) have a horribly ugly and tacky tatoo around your bicep, on your shoulder bade, or on your calf
b) promise to wear those shirts that are cut all the way down the sides
c) can not put your arms down to your sides because your muscles are too big or
d) can not turn your head a complete 180 degrees and are forced to turn your entire upper body instead.

Don't worry, the rule only applied to males so they let me in. I later joined my company gym because lifting weights around meat heads can be rather intimidating. Not that they're even watching me and my 5 lb weights. They're just checking out how many veins they can get to pop out in each 75 lb bicep curl.

So now I below to another gym...it still had meatheads but a bigger cardio area so it's not so much a problem for me. I rarely venture into the free weight area unless my trainer makes me. This brings me to my story.

Yesterday at the gym my trainer and I were doing circuits as he normally makes me do. At one point we used some machine next to some guy who fit all the criteria listed above except instead of wearing a t-shirt cut down the sides, he was wearing a super tight tank top and spandex. Let's call him Brutus. I was using the machine next to Brutus and he started joking with my trainer (we'll call him Bob for confidentiality purposes) that Bob was following him around the gym. Bob was polite and laughed but his job is to make sure that I don't hurt myself and I like to think I challenge the trainers in this aspect. Later Bob and I went and used some other machines. About 15 minutes later Brutus showed up and was like "Now I'm starting to get creeped out...here you are again." Brutus must have failed to notice that we had been there and he was actually the one following us now. But he said it in a joking tone so Bob just laught and we kept on going...or so we thought.

A couple minutes later a manager and Brutus approach the bench Bob and I are at and asked to speak to Bob. Apparently Brutus was complaining that we were following him or that we were too close to him or something. Whatever he was complaining about was not true. Bob could have cared less what Brutus was doing and we weren't using any of the same machines. I think Brutus has taken a few too many steriods and now has become ultra paranoid.

That's my story. I had to share because I found it pretty ridiculous. If you don't want people within 10 feet of you while you workout, then don't join a gym.

Happy Birthday J.B.!!

Today is J.B.'s birthday!! Have a great day J.B.!! I hope it's fabulous and I can't wait for you to open your presents!

The End of Wedding Season!!

Well, it's official. I went to my last wedding of the year. I actually have two more friends getting married this month but unfortunately I won't be able to make it to their weddings.

This weekend I was a wedding date for a wedding in Chicago. So I drove up Friday night to spend some time with Damla and J.B. It was raining on Friday and traffic was terrible!! It took me almost 5 hours to get there! I could have driven to Midland by that time!!

The ride was bearable though because I started a new book on tape. I'm listening to "The Summons" by John Grisham. It's really good and I was almost bummed when I pulled into my spot back in Indy this afternoon. But I'm in the car for a good 40 minutes a day commuting to work so I'm sure I'll finish it in a couple weeks.

Since I was the wedding date, I was a little concerned that I wasn't going to know anyone at the wedding. Well, that turned out to be a pretty valid concern since it ended up I only knew my date and one of the groomsman. Thankfully, being shy isn't really my way to play and I was able to meet some really nice people. Plus, after dinner I didn't have to worry about conversation anymore because you couldn't tear me off the dance floor. I might sound a little cocky when I say this but I'm a really fun wedding date. ;)

Other fun things that happened recently is that Kamm and I were invited to do some PUMPKIN CARVING!!! Little did we know that this was our calling in life. We made a great team and now have one sweet pumpkin displayed on our patio. It might actually be the only redeeming quality of our patio at the moment.

I've included some pics of the process below. Unfortunately I have no pictures from the wedding to post at the moment. But I know I'm in a few pics other people so we'll just wait and see what shows up on Facebook.

Starting out with cutting the top off. At this point we were a little concerned about our adventure.
I was in charge of scooping out the pumpkin seeds. Using Kamm's artistic abilities and having her sketch our design.
Let the carving begin!! I'm standing that far away in fear of stabbing myself. I didn't realize how awesome I was going to be at carving...and how dull the knife really is.We took turns. We're good at sharing.What we cut out...The glorious finished product!!The rest of the pumpkins made by the group. We only had one candle so we had to take turns putting it in the pumpkin.This is Hank. He made sure we didn't leave any seeds on the ground.This weekend I'm off to St. Louis!!! There are so many glorious things to do and see in STL and I've been looking forward to this trip for MONTHS! And maybe Gina will even stop and let me get a picture with the giant cross in Effingham.

Slow down there Fireball

I've been getting spoiled these last couple weeks because Damla has been coming down to Indy. This past weekend she was down again and this time J.B. came too!! Friday night we had family night and hit up Ocean World as is the tradition in my family. Saturday Damla and I hit the tennis courts and played our first sister vs sister tennis match. I lost...but I'm determined to have a rematch. I hadn't played tennis since March and being back on the courts made me once again realize how much I miss the game. So, I think it's time for me to sign up for a league. I'll keep you posted.

Saturday night we went out in Broad Ripple and met up with some of J.B.'s friends. I always like meeting new people so that was fun! The night flew by and before I knew it, it was time to head home. Damla was super cold so she was walking as fast as possible back to the car when some guys across the street yelled "Slow down there fireball, yo shooooes gonna catch on fire". Possibly my favorite quote ever.

On a different note, last year, someone I know (I think it was Damla) made the New Year's Resolution to be nicer to Customer Service people because it's not there fault that something went wrong with your product. They're just the people who signed up to deal with it. I have to say that I thought it was a pretty good resolution. Probably one I should consider taking on myself. However, at the same time, I think someone should hear how frustrated someone is with the product of their company (or possibly the employees of the company) and maybe that Customer Service person will get sick of all the complaints and pass them up through the ranks so that something can be done about it.

Thursday Kamm and I decided to be spontaneous and hit up the Michael Franti concert at the Murat. For those of you who don't know who he is, don't feel bad because we didn't either. But after a split second decision to purchase his CD from iTunes we decided we really liked him. It brought back memories of when I wanted to put my hair in dreads the last semester before I graduated. But even I wasn't willing to go that long without showering for the look. It's really hard to take pictures at concerts unless you havea really good camera. I had my iPhone and Stef had her camera but we just couldn't get it to happen. Below is the best I could do.
But more important then seeing Michael Franti's face, please notice the giant Converse sneakers hanging from the ceiling.
Today I called AT&T who I have never liked but was forced to get when I got the iPhone. I wonder if Apple no longer made AT&T mandatory, how many people would actually stay with them. In August, I went in to the AT&T store to get my company discount applied to my bill. Apparently a lot of people have been abusing this privilege so now they make you pay $36 in order to get the discount. I thought it was kind of stupid but I figured I'd have my phone long enough to reap the benefits, so I went with it. They did indeed charge me the $36 but of course when I went to check this month for the actual discount, it didn't appear. When I called customer service, I sat there while the lady research for about 20 minutes and then goes "so your discount is 10%"....yes... I waited another 10 minutes for her to do some research and finally asked "are you still there?" b/c I hadn't heard her speak up in a while. Nope. She wasn't.

So after having wasted 30 minutes, I called back again and talked to some guy. He explained that I don't qualify for the discount because I have the original iPhone. You would think that the people in the store would have asked me that. I mean, how else was I supposed to know? And why is it only the original iPhone that doesn't qualify? I didn't have the patience to try and figure that out today. That will be a phone call I make when I'm too tired to argue because I have a feeling I won't like the answer.

In conclusion, I hate you AT&T...and Apple too if it's your fault I can't get this discount. It's a shame I love my iPhone as much as I do.

You can't go wrong with more Roski's in the world

So I've been slacking on the blog postings and am now trying to make up for it!!  Unfortunately, I can't remember what I did last weekend...well at least not the whole weekend. 

Saturday night Kamm, Patrick, and I graced Broad Ripple with our presence at the bars.  We made some positive friends...and some negative ones.  We met some girl who went to IU so we asked if she was in the Greek system to which she replied "I don't take orders from my own sisters so I'm not going to take orders from sorority sisters."  Eeeeeee...  I also found out that it's really risky to ask someone if they were a bridesmaid in the wedding they just came from. Some people just have ugly dresses purely based on their own decisions.

Later in the night, I ran into an old friend of mine from high school!  Good to see you Alex!  The best part was that I think we're really starting to get Patrick to love Rock Lobster.  He's even starting to request that we go there! ;)  Pretty soon we'll be dragging him off the dance floor! 

This past weekend I do remember and it was fabulous!  Damla came into town on Thursday so I got to play with her for a little bit then.  I spent part of my day Friday baking some chocolate chip cookies for J.B. who couldn't make it down this weekend but I didn't want him to think that we weren't missing him!  Then Friday, we had family night.  It started off with a family trip to L.A. Fitness!!  That was pretty amusing.  After we worked up an appetite, we headed to Ocean World (of course!) for a lovely dinner! Then we headed back home where Damla and I entertained Mommy and Daddy with funny stories until it was time to go to bed!  

Saturday we woke up with the intention of playing tennis but due to all the recent rainy weather, that was canceled.  We instead played "Let's go shopping in Emel's closet" which is Damla's favorite game.  She ended up with some good stuff if I do say so myself!  

Then it was time for me to start getting ready for Roski and Katie's wedding!!  I was a little nervous because I didn't know how many people I would actually know at the wedding but it ended up being a really good time!  Kyle came all the way down from Midland because he too fell in love with Roski and Katie back when we went to Aaron Lewis's wedding.  They're just that couple that you can't help but love!  We had a really fun table at the wedding and broke it down on the dance floor!   The DJ even dedicated a song to me!  That's how you know you've really made it at a wedding.  

I also have to say that one great part of the wedding was my sweet dress.  I was really excited to wear it and hearing how much every one else loved it made it all the better! :)  

So that brings us to Sunday which so far has been pretty uneventful but I'm sure I'll find something to do soon enough!