Christmas Markets in Germany

OH MY GOODESS. Can I tell you: I love Christmas!!!! Seriously. This trip has been a long time coming. The problem is, I left for 2 weeks and came back with pages in my journal full of fantastic memories and over 1,400 pictures. I just finished going through all the pictures last night (19 days after I returned) and managed to get the photo to about 1,200. I'm quite pleased. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I was going to write this blog. I've decided to separate it into 2 posts: one for Germany and one for the Netherlands.  I also am trying something I saw my friend, Mego, do when she hasn't blogged in while and had a lot to tell. She just posted pictures and told little anecdotes because there was just too much to say.  This is what I will be doing.

Top picture was the first picture Becca and I took together when we got to Germany. We dropped off our luggage and when walking to get some food and see the Christmas Markets. We got bratwursts and shortly after this picture, one of my bratz fell off :( It was quite sad. Nevertheless, the Munich Christmas markets are BEAUTIFUL at night.

To the left, Becca is having her first Glühwein (roughly translates to "glow-wine"). The non-alcoholic Christmas drink is Kinderpunsh. That's right, Children Punch. lol. That's what I was drinking the whole time, which was always fun to order. I just love this picture of Becca, because I think she looks gorgeous being all Christmas-y and jolly. We were in the English Garden's Christmas Market. It was smaller, but cute. I was really close to buying some socks from there.

We had to head back to the hostel and meet up with Lukas. I didn't recognize him at first when he walked into the common room, because of his haircut. It was a pretty epic double take from, "why is this guy looking at me" to "LUKAAAAAAASSSSS!!!!!"

We went out to meet up with Siv and Petra for dinner. It was so nice to see them. It was nice, and really funny when we'd all be talking and somehow Siv, Petra, and Lukas would switch to German, while Becca and I would be like "errrrrrr....."

Absolutely gorgeous. We did the Third Reich Tour this day, which was amazing, as always. I felt really smart because I knew a lot of the answers to questions (as I did with the free walking tour). And by really smart, I mean: I've taken both tours before and have a good memory for historical facts. Here we are after a nice day, hanging out in the Christmas Markets, sipping our Christmas drinks in our Christmas mugs in Marienplatz. The best  part was when we just paused to stop and be grateful for being in such a beautiful place together. #attitudeofgratitude

This is Nuremberg (Nürnberg). We spend the day here, meeting with Becca's friends. It was really nice. This Christmas market is ranked as one of the best Christmas markets in all of Germany. Becca's friends were super funny. I loved Adri, because of her Latina spirit, which made me laugh the whole day. Funny story of the day was when Lukas and I were eating crepes, and he got some nutella on his chin. He tried to get it off and failed. I just went and wiped it off with my finger. Adri got excited and said "oh my goodness. you guys are too cute; you're just like a couple!" My reaction: a shrug and went back to eating my crepe.

Ok. I'm realizing my time in Dresden and the pictures of Dresden on this blog post are not proportional to the time that was spent there in regards to the other locations, but omgee, Dresden is absolutely breathtaking and it was my first time here. This is Schlossplatz. Beautiful.

See? Beautiful! This is the Fraukirche. We went to an organ concert that night here. I felt super classy.

This is the opera house. During the day, it was warm enough to open my coat! This was a miracle beyond belief. Warmth. 

I love this picture. Looking a maps. Adorable.

The is the oldest Christmas market in Germany. It's been going on for over 500 years. To be honest, I think it might have been my fav.

We made it back to Colgne (Köln), with plenty of time before our train. We took a walk in the Christmas markets here, got drinks, and had the most amazing salmon of my life. Seriously. #ilovefood 

We went on a ferris wheel. No joke. It was awesome. I sometimes forget a have a slight fear of heights. I remembered when we were switching seats in the little cabin so we could all take pictures together. lol. We had so much fun together. I'm so happy and grateful Lukas was able to come travel with Becca and me. It was a wonderful first week of vacation. 

Becca and I were talking to Myrke, who you will meet in the next post, about American travelling and European travelling. In America, everything is far apart, so we are used to driving 3 hours to get somewhere and not thinking anything of it. Our immediate travel perimeter is very large. This is why in a week, going to Munich, Nurmberg, Dresden, and Cologne is completely feasible. On the other hand, with Europeans, they walk almost everywhere. They don't spend their lives in cars driving places like we do. So when you ask them to take a train 2 hours away for a day trip, they think that's quite an effort. Their immediate travel perimeter is smaller. I think I explained it well. Please note: This is not about everyone, but I did think it made a good generalization. 

Why do we fall? #batmanquote

As you know, one of my new years resolutions is to give dating another chance. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate dating; it really isn't for me. (Please note: This was not always the case. I used to rock at dating; it use to be a source of great entertainment and fun for me) But the past few years, it's more tedious and painful. I'm terrible at it. Lukas says I'm too pragmatic.

That's right; I had to look it up. Why does the German know S.A.T. words better than I? Because he's German. Therefore, I'm going to save you from feelings of embarrassment in the American school system and give you the definition.

I went out for snow cones with this guy the day before I left to Germany. We will call him, Mr. Ambivalent. (That's right. The gloves are off, and the S.A.T. book is out.) I had mixed feelings the entire time. There were many a times where I was completely speechless because, I can tell you he is like no one  I have ever dated previously. You can interpret this last comment as you will.

There are two red flags for Mr. Ambivalent that make me weary. Ok. One is real, and one is just something I cannot believe.

• Too much flattery. Ok. I like compliments as much as the next girl, but when you throw them out constantly and so freely, they loose their meaning and sincerity (if it ever existed in the first place).  It makes me highly suspicious. Maybe it's also because I grew up in a Latino/British culture where, in both, you tease those you love.  Either way, too many compliments makes me uncomfortable and not trust you.
• Has never read or watched Harry Potter. This is just crazy. I made a Snape joke, and he was literally like "who's that?" it was so weird. It was like an alien from another plant was in the room and I was trying to explain breathing to him. Out of body experience. 

• Now, I will say, in retelling this story, I have discovered that my faux-bro, Stevie has never read or watched Harry Potter. Say WHAT? He was at my house all the time, and somehow this family obsession never rubbed off on him. Don't worry Stevie, I will make sure you're children grow up with the joy of Potter-dom. 
• I also had to message this other guy, who I mega crushed on a few years ago, about it, because we would always argue (and it still comes up)  about Harry Potter and his need to read it. Yes. You still need to read it, even though we aren't planning on dating anymore. 

Anyways....I'll skip a lot the details, because i'm boring myself. Bottom line is, I couldn't tell if Mr. Ambivalent liked me or not after, because he didn't make any attempt to talk to me of his own free will. I hadn't heard from him in about 2 weeks and was feeling pretty angsty about it. Erica told me to, more-or-less, leave it alone. Yeah....about that....I took a step back and was like, "I hate not knowing. I'm just going to take matters in my own hands and find out myself". I texted him. *Jump to the end of our text conversation.* Under work-bestie, Charles' advice, I asked Mr. Ambivalent out. I felt like I was going to throw up when I typed out the words "do you want to meet up Friday night...." It is the worst feeling ever. I don't know how guys do it. Nevertheless, I asked a guy out for the first time, ever.

Becca reminded me recently, "dating requires a leap of faith in another person - never easy, but sometimes completely worth it". I completely agree. Faith requires trust. To find someone to trust and be yourself around, is always worth it. No regrets. I just have a problem making that leap.

He responded back that he was going to be out of town. That's it. Everyone who has ever dated knows, if you don't want to date someone you say "sorry, i'm busy" and leave it at that. If you actually are busy, but still want to date someone, you say "i'm sorry. I'm busy, but I'm free ____" and provide an alternative.

Rejected. But you know what? I lived. I was so scared (not a Gryffindor) of rejection , and while I was waiting for a response, I heard a voice in my head saying "fear is the opposite of faith". Why was I scared? I have no idea. I have faith that God's hand is always in my life. Even in my dating life. Even in the mistakes that have happened in my dating life. He guides my path and puts trials, or as I like to call them "learning opportunities", in my life. This was a moment where I took a chance; I did something I have never done before. I overcame a fear, and I like to think I'm a little better, stronger, and more faithful because of it. It was stressful and probably gave me one more old person wrinkle, but I was able to increase my belief in the teaching, "Your future is as bright as your faith."

Happy New Years everyone. I hope we all become a little stronger this year through all the learning opportunities we will have. After all, "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up" #batman

Willkommen bis 2014

New Years Resolutions (aka. To Do List for 2014)

I was looking back and was pretty pleased with myself for having accomplished many of my goals in 2013. I think this is the best way for me to put up my resolutions because it's good for me to look at it throughout the year and see how I'm doing. This is the first year that I've done that. It seems to have worked out pretty well.

1. Become PADI Scuba Certified - looking at this place
2. Enter Raffle for SNL Tickets
3. Go to Boston
4. Urban Survival Class
5. Run a nine-minute mile. (if my knee doesn't kill me first)...or find a new physical activity
6. Work out my arms more, so opening heavy doors is not a difficulty. 
7. Become so comfortable with my body that I could work out in a sports bra and yoga pants if I wanted.
8. Start dating again. Maybe put some effort into it.
9. Make a lemon meringue pie successfully. 
10. Learn about architecture and how to pick locks

After making this list, I realized, I haven't made any goals about really bettering myself. I was a little disappointed in myself, because earlier last year, goals about becoming a better person would have been some of the first things I thought about. Sadly, as 2013 progressed, it became more of a "Me" year; I mean this in the "I just want to have fun" sense. It was a fun year where I was able to do a lot of things I've always wanted to do. 2013 was the year to "Just Do It", and I loved it. I wanted 2014 to be a little like that too, but I have a feeling it will not. 

I've been a little more anti-social and introverted than usual over the past few months, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. Sadly, this wild ride of fun was put to a stop. I've been called to be Activities Co-Chair at church. Really, this is a good calling; it just goes against my recent track record of avoiding any socialization. It was like God said to me, "Natasha, I gave you your time to be anti-social, but now it's time to stop." Of course, He is right. I think 2014 is going to be a Back to Basics kind of year. Do the simple things in life, because 2013 was a wild and crazy ride for me. 

1. Be more social. 
2. Work on the Christlike attribute of humility. Seriously...it's hard being this amazing ;)
3. Be more prayerful
4. Go to the temple at least once a month
5. Read and/or listen to the scriptures everyday
6. Be more loving and forgiving, especially towards those I have purposefully avoided in 2013 due to the constant negativity they bring into my life

I have this feeling that 2014 is going to hold some big decisions for me. I really can't explain it, but I'm super excited for 2014. 

Decision 1: buying my very own car. 

Look out world, here comes Adult Natasha. I leave you now with my fav song at this time. Happy New Year world!

Born to Run

Preface: Ok. I read the book Born to Run earlier this year. Now anyone who knows me, knows I do not run. My exercise of choice has always been laying on the couch with the occasional swimming laps; I have never exercised on a consistent basis. I also hate gyms. The idea of *going* to a gym gives me intense feelings of laziness and avoidance. On my mission, I always felt horrible for my companions who liked to exercise every morning. Me and mornings are mortal enemies, and when you add the possibility to exercise to that morning, it is not a good mixture. I think the best was when I was with Pam and there was a track behind our apartment. This was great because she could jog around the track, as I would attempt to make one slow lap and then sit in the stands and watch her run while trying to stay awake. It was a happy time.

Another aspect of my personality that is worth mentioning is that I'm prideful really stubborn. When people tell me I *have* to do something, I don't do it. People think they are really clever once they hear me tell them this fact, because they then attempt reverse psychology on me. Please note: I am not an idiot. This then makes you loose respect and credibility in my book, and I want to do whatever you want me to do less than before. To be honest, unless I want to do something or am apathetic to the cause, you have a low chance of convincing me to do anything.  I know, I'm a terrible person. I think now that you know this about me, you will find this post ironic. Not hipster-ironic, but literary element ironic. Please see the second definition for further clarification.

iro·ny

 noun \ˈī-rə-nē also ˈī(-ə)r-nē\

: the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really think especially in order to be funny

: a situation that is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems to be the opposite of what you expected

This is a picture of my dad and me "working on our arms together". It was a joke based on something we saw on Chuck the other day. lol. 

Story Time:

There are moments in life when you hear or read something, and it rings true to you. This happened when I read Born to Run. He makes valid assertions and the logic behind his ideas spoke to me.  It is a non-fiction book about his interaction with a tribe that still exists in the canyons of Mexico who have more-or-less rejected modernization. They live a simple life, and run, a lot. They run for about 50 miles straight with no problem....and did I mention they do it more-or-less barefoot? The more I read this book, the more I realized: I. was born. to run. That is mode of transportation my body is built for. Ever since the beginning of time, people ran to get around...without running shoes. If you are not convinced after reading this book, I don't care. You might be crazy. I might be crazy. It really doesn't matter, because the point is, it convinced *me* that running is a good idea. After hundreds of attempts to convince me that exercise is not the enemy, this book changed my mind.  I bought myself some barefoot running shoes. Not the toe shoes that still give more support than you would have without any shoes, but the Xero Shoes that were created to replicate the shoes that the people in Born to Run use. An important note to make is: one cannot just simply start to run barefoot. Your feet are used to shoes, so your feet muscles are underdeveloped. Like any muscle, you have to build it up; build up to running barefoot. I started jogging around the lake by my hotel, but like every time I attempt to work out, I got bored quickly. I put it on the back burner.

Then Teri Jo's birthday came up. We went out to dinner, and over dinner, she was saying she wanted to do a 9 to 5. A 9 to 5? What is that? She explained that this sports store, Luke's Locker, does a 5K training program with different levels. It goes with the most nonathletic beginners (aka me) to people who are real runners. It is a 9 week program, and at the end, you do a 5K. I told her to let me know when sign up was, because I was intrigued. I wanted to start running. 

Pam is so supportive of my crazy.

The time came to sign up. I did. The first day of training, with the Saturday group run, was when I was in Utah. I was staying with Pam and Trey, and told Pam that no matter what I say, she has to make me run. I didn't want to start my first day of running being lazy and skipping the running-part. We jogged. Even though my sister warned me I wouldn't be able to with the altitude difference. We did it. I was so proud. My lungs burned, but I did it.

I started the walk/run program, and in the beginning it was TERRIBLE. I hated it, but since I made the mental commitment, I did not want to quit. The second Saturday group run wasn't a happy omen either. I woke up with terrible cramps and wanted to die. This did not give me any desire to get up early and go work out. Nevertheless, I went. I couldn't find where Luke's Locker was, so I was late. But I was there. I walked slowly the entire time, but I did it. I feel like that was me the first few week. I did it, and that was as positive as I could get. Running was making me more tired. I also had really bad pain in my calves after about 3 minutes of power walking which lasted the rest of my work out for weeks. When I brought this up with the Luke's Locker people doing the group runs they would say "It sounds like you need new shoes". NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! When they said this, I just smiled, nodded, and ignored their advice. Why? Because one idea in Born to Run is that we've been running long before specially made running shoes, and running injuries have increased ever since the shoe industry has started creating expensive specialized running shoes. My interpretation of the data presented to me was: running shoes weaken your foot muscles, and it doesn't matter what shoes you wear running, whether they are cheap or not supportive, because your body is made for barefoot running. Maybe I interpreted it wrong, but I don't believe I need new expensive running shoes to make my calf muscles to stop aching when I run. 

I brought this problem up to my friend Alison, who was a cross-country runner in high school. We went to see Ender's Game together with some other friends who were also on the high school cross country team. I took their running advice to heart. Alison said that power walking uses different muscles than running, so I am working out different muscles. She said to not start off power walking, but start off walking slower. She also recommended me jogging slower when I told her about my apprehension about having to jog 14-minutes straight for the upcoming Saturday jog. I thought both was good advice. It worked. 

Since those moments, my calves have stopped hurting. Honestly, I think my body just was freaking out because I was finally using it and making it work. I can power walk for 10+ minutes without the intense calf pains. My 5K is next week, and I have to say, my attitude has changed. I had an off week last week and only went to the gym twice. This week, I decided to go again after Lindsay gave me words of encouragement: "Don't be lazy." I did, and I jogged for a full 20 minutes consistently without stopping. Now I'm sure many people are like "that's nothing", but for me, this is a complete change of lifestyle. The craziest part: I'm enjoying it. I like that I can see myself progressing. I like that I used to feel like dying in the attempt to jog for 5 minutes straight, and now, it's not a problem. There are some days that I want the work day to be over, just so I can go to the gym and RUN. I was running yesterday, and it made me smile, while running. It was a crazy. Please note, this change did not happen immediately. It was hard to start, and I'd say it took me a month to genuinely like running. 

The only downside is, I have not been loosing weight at all.  I have an aunt, who my whole life is always like "you shouldnt to eat that" or "that has a lot of carbs". As long as I can remember, she pretty much always makes comments about weight and eating. This has only increased my belief that, you shouldn't obsess about what you eat to try an be skinny. You should be healthy and happy. If you feel good about yourself and your body, that's all that really matters. I've tried not to obsesses about my weight like that, because I think it makes people unhappy. Also, I love food. Nevertheless, I try to be aware of my weight. This past year at work has increased my stress and decreased my happiness levels. This is causing me to eat my feelings of stress and depression. It has also caused me to reach my end-of-mission weight. This is not good. I've been working out at the gym, but I've also been eating crap food. 

I was talking with Teri Jo, and she mentioned that she was loosing weight. I asked her what she was doing. She told me she was using the My Fitness Pal app. The free version. I'm not going to lie, when I hear "counting calories" I think of starving yourself. It gives you a calorie intake goal based on the activity of your lifestyle and how much you want to loose each week. I'm on my 3rd week of using it, and I'm not starving. I think, if anything, it's making more conscious about what I'm eating. I feel like I'm in control. Aka, it's feeding my OCD tenancies. I like it. I'm not starving myself. I'm making wiser food choices, but still get to splurge with my calories if I know I want to eat, say, a slice of the homemade apple pie I made on Sunday. Plus, you get to see the results. 

Bottom line. I'm feeling really good. I feel healthy. I feel like I am born to run, and I want to run. Fingers crossed that I can keep this up after my training program is over, and I finished the 5K.

Passion

Passion. You hear the word passion, and there are so many different connotations and ideas that may go through your head. This is the kind of passion you may be thinking about....

Francesco Hayez, Il bacio (1859)

Too bad for you, pervert, I will not be talking about that kind ;) I'm talking about getting excited about what you do everyday. Feeling passionate about your life and the decisions you make.

You see, I’ve been seeing a theme in my life recently. That theme is “what are you passionate about?” This started about two months ago. Maybe longer. Okay, for a while, I've been feeling very blah. Like there is nothing left for me in life. Everything I do has no point. I have no direction or goals. Blah, blah-blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. I was talking to my Bishop at church about how nothing excites me anymore and how i am feeling dead inside (cue the dramatics). His idea was "Think of something that you really love, that you feel passionate about, and do it." Say whaaaaaaat? Something I'm "passionate" about? Who even says things like that. Nevertheless, it really got me thinking. What kind of things do I find exciting? I started making a list, because I am a list maker (hence my love of lists). I thought of how one of the happiest times in my life was when I was on my mission, thinking of others before myself all the time. I wanted to get back to that. I sent in a volunteer application to the Ronald McDonald House in Houston, and noted a few other organizations that peaked my interest. I didn't want to apply to them all in case all of them wanted me, and I end up over-committing myself. I thought about how I really wanted to learn more of the scriptures, so I started making a list of scriptures I want to memorize. I also looked into some Spanish classes, but my work schedule is so unpredictable; I cannot sign up for regularly scheduled classes I have to pay for, since something may come up, and I would not be able to attend the classes I already paid for. It was really invigorating. Except the volunteering didn't happen immediately. Turns out you have to do training before you can volunteer, and finding a time slot I can attend is a wee bit tricky.

Later I came across this. My company has this central website that has articles and updates about the company. There was this article written by Mark Sanborn. There were 5 questions and descriptions of the questions that got me thinking. So the questions (with some of my answers) are:

1.      What would you do for free? Is there an activity you enjoy so much that you’d do it for free, even if other people would consider it work?
-Travel. I would travel for free forever if I could. 
-Read Harry Potter books....read most books actually
-Write a blog...oh wait....I already do that
-Watch Scandal...check.
-Sleep and/or nap

2.      What riles you? Irritation can be a great motivator. Are there problems or annoyances that drive you up the wall? Perhaps you can find your passion in fixing them.
-Human trafficking, especially the sex slave trade
-Deforestation and humans ruining animal environments
-Sexist behavior
-Racism. Even when you say it as a joke, it's still racist
-Politics
-stupid people, and uneducated people
-Genocide
-North Korea (heinous human rights violations aka their modern concentration camps)
-Women's rights, especially in rape cases, (please refer to India's most recent issues)

3.      What interests you? What do you like to read about and study? When you’re in a bookstore or a newsstand or browsing online, what piques your interest? Do you find yourself returning to the same topics again and again? Perhaps you've found your passion. Your heart may be telling you what it wants; you just need to recognize it.
-History. Especially WWII.
-Doctors Without Borders
-Memoirs of Child Soldiers in Africa
-Defectors from North Korea
-Missionary Work with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

4.      Who interests you? What groups of people do you tend to notice? That is, whom are you most interested in helping? Are you drawn to coach, counsel, encourage, or teach? Some people have a heart for young children. Others volunteer their time to help those who are underprivileged or live on the streets…Find out what demographic you’re wired to connect with.
-Malala Yousafzai
-Doctors Without Borders
-Ronald McDonald House

5.      What will minimize your regrets? If you have regrets at the end of your life, what do you think they’ll be? We tend to ask ourselves, Will I regret doing this? But often the better question is, Will I regret not doing this? The most common workplace regrets I hear are from people who get to the end of their careers and feel like they dedicated their lives to work they didn’t feel was important or they wasted their time just to make money.
-Not seeing the world
-Not having an impact in the world

I was having a conversation with Lindsay over lunch the other day about how in college, you have theses big ambitions of having a super successful career, traveling for work, and being in high-power positions. Now that I've been in the work force, I look at all that I've achieved. I've met ever goal I've set for myself at this phase in my life. My life has gone exactly as planned. The question is: has is everything I hoped it would be and more?

My life has put my hopes and dreams into perspective. I don't want to live my life working. I want to live my life living. I believe you can live your life with work in it, and I think that living your life working are two very different concepts. I want to enjoy life. I want to be. I want to do. I want to have a life with people in in, not just my co-workers. I want to look forward to waking up in the mornings. I want a life I'm passionate about.

A week after I had a conversation with Lindsay about my changing priorities, I had an inspiring conversation with my cousin Dan. He spoke of travelling the world, something I've always wanted to do. It's not like I haven't seen the world before, but there is so much to see and do. People always tell me "Do before you..." Have fun before you get married, buy a house, own a car, become old and boring, etc. Honestly, everyone makes marriage sound terrible and adulthood: torturous. I told my new hair stylist of my dreams, and he said "do it while you're young. you're still a baby! you have to do it now." 

I was reading this article online and the one line that stood out to me was: The person you will spend the most time with in your life is YOURSELF, so better try to make yourself as interesting as possible. I loved it. I loved it, and it further encouraged my new life plan. What is my new life plan, you may ask. Well guess what? I can't tell you. Not right now. I'm working on living in the present, and when I think of my new life plan, I get so excited for the future, I forget to enjoy the now. I have my volunteer training on Saturday, which will hopefully kick off some volunteer time. I just joined a 9 to 5 running program with Teri Jo, where you start running (walking for me) and after 9 weeks  you accomplish your goal of running a 5K. I want to build up my endurance and maybe become a runner, so I can escape if I need to run for my life.  I am have a goal of doing a Urban Survival class, so I can avoid being taken. That's right. The next year of my life is going to be a training and preparation for any adventure that can come my way...and I am excited.

PS. This is MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, not a photo I found on the internet :P

I Believe in a Thing Called Love

This is a love story. This will also be a "Natasha Story" as my high school bffs call it, meaning it will be a really long story and will take forever to get to the point. This love story starts on Sept 26, when I had to wake up really early and was miserable having to leave my wonderfully comfortable hotel bed to go to an early meeting, after staying up to work on a presentation I was going to give, but never ended up making changes to it, since my calculations were not making sense. I realized that I was a little Europe homesick. I have a group message on Whatapp with some of my friends from studying in Spain in this group. Becca tried to comfort me in my distress from the day saying, "don't worry, we will be in Guatemala soon. your job is paying for it!" and I said "I kinda want to switch Guatemala for Germany." She said "I'm okay with either, just as long as we go somewhere" wow. that was one of the greatest and easiest change of plans. It got me pretty excited. I was on cloud nine. Sadly, even though I was in a great mood, I was having some bad luck. Nevertheless, this news put a spring in my step all weekend.

I left work a little early to go pick up Teri Jo from work and start our weekend. It was gross stop-and-go traffic all to the airport. Bah humbug. The traffic wasn't as terrible as anticipated, so we arrived early. This was good because I was getting hangry for some food. The flight was good, and I got to start The Spy Who Loved, which is a biography about WWII spy who kept on blowing my mind with her quick thinking in super intense situations. We got to the LaGuardia pretty late and got in the taxi line, only for it to be ridiculously slow. The New Yorkers in line were getting very vocally upset and verbally assaulting the worker over the line. I was part amused and part horrified. Luckily, we got a taxi without any bloodshed, but after a super long wait.

We got to the hotel we were staying at, the W in Time Square. Teri Jo's friend is a chef for a super fancy hotel in Boston, and got us a friend-rate. So we walked into the hotel, and the lobby/check-in area is on the 7th floor. The 7th floor is also a club. There were people dancing,and great music. We checked in and got into a different set of elevators to get up to the room, except you have to insert your hotel card to get to the floor you needed. Teri Jo was having major problems with the key card. lol. I used my hotel expertise to get us to our room...and the room was super swanky with a beautiful view of Time Square. I hoped in the shower so I could sleep in a little more the next morning since we were going to get some CRONUTS!!!

Saturday morning began with waking up, putting on my red lipstick, and grabbing a scarf to keep me warm in the chilly weather...at 5:30am. We got a taxi to take us down to Dominique Ansel's Bakery, and figured out where it was at from the line that had already formed. We took a seat on the side walk and attempted to stay warm, and made a friend. She worked in fashion design for bathing suits at Target. She was pretty cool, and we became friends for the 3 hours we were in line. The bakery is pretty small, so you go into the bakery in groups. We were in the second group. There was someone waiting in line in a sleeping bag, napping. There was also another person with an office chair, which they claim they found outside by and took it to the line with them. lol.
We were waiting in line for the cronut inside the bakery. I spotted Dominique, and the New Yorker girl we became friends with said that he was really friendly and took pictures with tourists. I finally got up the courage to ask him for a picture. He looked at me and said, "No". My face dropped, and I said, "Oh. Ok." to which he smiled and said "of course! How can I say no to a face like that?" with a smile. He came from around the counter and took a picture with me and another one with me and Teri Jo. His French accent just melted me. I loved it. The cronut flavor of the month was fig. Honestly, you say fig, and I am not impressed. Oh snap. it was tasty. Was it as life-changing as everyone makes it out to be? Maybe not so much. But the experience of it all made it all worth it.  I ate a cronut and ate a few bites of a frozen smore. I'm pretty sure I was about to die from a sugar coma. Luckily, I got some milk to balance out the sugar. It was great. We then took a walk to the subway station. On the way there we walked past the Dash store, and I thought of Saryah. I didn't even notice it, since I'm super unobservant, but Teri Jo pointed it out to me. We got to the subway, only for me to realize, I don't understand the differences between the metro tickets. It took a few minutes and we just chose the $10 fare ticket you can reload with more money later. We hopped on the metro, switched lines to go up to Time Square. After a few stops, we started to suspect that we were going the wrong way, except we only were sure when the train went above ground and across the bridge into Brooklyn. It was ridiculous. But I couldn't find a map of where we were on the metro, and I didn't have signal in the underground metro to follow where we were on my phone. It was quite ridiculous; it's the first metro that ever got the best of me.

We miraculously found our way back to Time Square before heading off to book a bike tour of Central Park. Sadly, it was booked, so we had to go on the 1pm tour. Since this was the case, we went back to Time Square; Teri Jo wanted to see the Disney store (she's one of those Disney lovers). We were talking and saying how we would love to just love seeing another play on Sunday afternoon before we leave, even though we are going tonight. I was kinda happy that Teri Jo was so cool with this idea, because I could honestly come up to NYC and watch plays all weekend and be as happy as a clam. We went back to the bike tour place, and it was pretty fun. The biking was relaxing and nice. Teri Jo was getting a little annoyed with me always looking behind me to make sure I haven't lost her. She called me out on it, so I stopped. This backfired, because when we got to the lake in the part, she was not there. We lost her. She found her way back, but it was not unreasonable for me to check on her. She walks really slowly, so I wanted to check on her on the bike too.

I had texted Dan earlier in the week to tell him I was heading to NYC and how I wanted to meet up. We were texting to meet up. We finished the tour, and he called. The funny thing was, when I picked up the call, I thought, 'Why is a British person calling me?' and then I remembered...hahaha, it's my cousin; he has an accent. (i honestly forget my dad has an accent most times)

Teri Jo and I went to a little coffee shop on the corner, to meet up with Cool Cousin Dan. Plus, it was almost 3:30pm, and we hadn't ate any lunch. I needed a sugar level boost. Dan met up with us, and we had some great catch up time. I was teasing him about wearing a helmet as he was biking around. He said it was because he fell asleep on his bike one day and fell off. He really is the coolest. He introduced me to the concept of traveling the world for a year. I thought if I ever took time between jobs, it would be for two months or something, but when he said a year, it was like a light-bulb turned on in my brain and in my heart.

really cool art on the side of a building off the High Line

We went down to High Line to walk the trail. It was on a list of things to do that Saryah sent me. It was really beautiful, and was a nice place to walk. We were pretty hungry, and Dan recommended a pizza place off the line. We went, and it was delectable!!!!! The wait was a little longer than was desirable, since they didn't have any slice immediately ready. Nevertheless....sooo good. Dan and Teri Jo ate it so quickly, that I tried to eat it faster, and I'm pretty sure I burned my tongue. Dan then had to go get ready for a wedding reception, and Teri Jo and I needed to get back and get ready for our night on Broadway. I ended up passing out on the bed, while Teri Jo got ready. Teri Jo and I were headed off to two different plays. Teri Jo had the dream of going to Newsies on Broadway. I never had that dream. I was willing to go, but honestly wasn't too excited about it. Luckily, Teri Jo is pretty cool, and was like "you don't have to go to the same play as me" so i took that out like a Nox spell and went to Once. Oh my. Lindsay went to see this when she went to NYC last and told me how amazing it was. Before the show, the cast is on the stage singing Irish songs. It was brilliant. Then when the first song came on it, was soooo hauntingly beautiful. I was captivated. It as a totally British ending. I loved it.

After the musicals, we met up and walked around Manhattan at night, after Teri Jo got her pics with the Naked Cowboy. It was part amusing and part disturbing. lol. The walk was super relaxing and beautiful.We walked around for a while. We went to get some cupcakes for a midnight snack. We went to Rockefeller Center, Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station, NYC Public Library (they were having a black tie event in the library. i wish i was invited), and Empire State Building. It was a nice walk, even after being sexually propositioned by random guys I smiled at in a car.

We woke up and took a taxi to go to church with the Young Single Adult congregation in the Manhattan temple building. The bishop's wife was super nice to us. Everyone in the congregation looked like models. It was ridiculous. We took off after sacrament meeting to go to brunch at a restaurant Dena recommended. It was sooo good. Plus, there was live jazz playing. The ambiance was pretty legit. We then went down to see the Freedom Tower. I forgot to get us ticket to the 9/11 memorial beforehand, but the line to pick up those tickets was super long as well.

After the Freedom tower we went to Battery Park. It was beautiful. We got a ice cream and lemoneade as we sat on a bench and just relaxed. We were relaxing and waiting for Ben to show up #multitasking I honestly wanted to find a patch of grass and lay down to soak in some sun. Sadly, Battery Park seems to be more of a plant part rather than a grassy knoll park. Ben finally showed up, and we saw each other across the memorial and Ben started dramatically slow running toward me, so, of course, I had to join in the fun. Don't tell Ben, but I had forgotten how much I love that kid! I finally got to tell him, in person, how I've joined him in the i-dont-want-to-get-married-anytime-soon-slash-i-love-being-single club. I think Teri Jo was a little overwhelmed by the energy and excitement that Ben and I created. I had to explain to her that we were kindred spirits. Teri Jo told Ben that I was like a black widow, killing everyone who might be possibly interested in me. We caught up, we caught a taxi back up town to make it back in time for the musical Teri Jo and I were going to catch before our plane out. On the plane we were joking and having too much fun. I dont remember what the joke was, but I said one of my twisted humor jokes, and teri jo said "that is dark". ben said something along the lines of "there is no darkness with natasha, because she is the light". omg. I almost died. It rivaled my super cheesy comment to him i made earlier, which I do not remember, but it was too perfect to pass up. Ben dropped us off at the First Date, literally, right before it started. I miss that kid.

First date was amazing. I was laughing so hard with the first song. It is a "musical comedy", and when I heard that, I wasn't sure what to expect, and my expectations were pretty low. OMG. TOO FUNNY! It was as if anything awkward or ridiculous happened on a first date, it was in this musical. It was great. The best part...Zachary Levi. He is amazing. His singing voice was great. He was the voice of Flynn Rider in Tangled, and you always think that that Hollywood changes voices to make it better, but his voice was exactly the same as in the movie. Afterwards, we met him in real life after the play. We waited at the stage door, and the cast came out to tell everyone it was his birthday. We sang Happy Birthday to him, and he went around signing things for people. I got him to sign my ticket and play bill. The girl next to me bought a Flynn Rider doll (action figure?) for him to sign (the box, not the actual doll). There was another girl who was telling him how she asked her friend to get something signed from him and it didn't happened and she tweeted him. He responded that he received the tweet and wanted to talk to her and how grateful he was that she came, so he could sign her stuff. It was then time for photos. I got a photo with him, and as I walked away, I looked back at him, made eye contact, and I fell in love. It was beautiful. Maybe it's true love, or it goes to show how I can only love people who are unavailable. We'll see. See....I told you it was a love story.

It ended on a great note. We took another walk, feeling high off the love in our hearts for Zachary Levi. Taxied our way to the Newark Airport, because NYC metro and trains confuse me to no end. We ate sushi and slept on the flight back. The end. 

A Workaholic's Tale (Part 2)

Short post with four funny stories from the summer at work. Because I started writing these post but stopped and now I will just post them.

After Philly, I had a super lazy weekend, spending it at home and enjoying Father's Day with my daddy. Then I had to hop onto a plane to Illinois. I started reading American Sniper and was loving it. As I met up with Dan & Tim, I was telling them about how much I love the book so far, and Tim was like "Isn't that guy dead?" And I was like, no, it's an autobiography, he's alive to write it." Tim said "noooo. i'm pretty sure he was shot this year while out working with returned vets." I looked it up, and he was right; Christ Kyle was killed this year, on Groundhog's Day while working with a returned vet who snapped and killed Chris,  another person, and then himself. It was really heart-wrenching news. I felt like my own friend was killed.

When you're on business trips with the same people over and over, you tend to get to know a little about each other rather than small talk all the time. We were talking about me not having a boyfriend. Tim told me "You have a car and a career; you dont need a boyfriend." He then went on to explain how boyfriends would be jealous of all the time I don't spend with them, because I travel for word and am never available. I said, "errrr...i'm pretty sure and car and career aren't good boyfriend substitutes" but I dont think he really understood. lol.

The next tale takes place in Atlanta. We were in the office for a long day of too much working. I take a break to read the news because Lindsay messaged me that there was an announcement with the Supreme Court ruling over gay marriage. I read the articles, and casually say "The Supreme Court announced their ruling on gay marriage." One of my co-workers looks at me and says "Do you fly the rainbow flag?" I pause and look at him saying "excuse me?" and he repeated his question. I said "I think you need to stop and think about  what you want to ask me and re-phrase your question." He did not. Paul is sitting across the table gawking at us, and I say "Paul, are you hearing what I'm hearing?" and Paul says "Yeah. It sounds like he's asking if you're gay." I nod my head and look at the guy and he's like "that's not what I meant" and I just had to laugh because it was such a horribly worded phrase, but it broke up the monotony of a long work day with a chuckle.

About a month later, (7/31) Paul is visiting Houston and having a workshop with Lindsay and me early in the morning. He is on the phone talking to someone and was like "yeah. natasha is waking up right next to me." He then pauses, looks at me and says, "that didn't come out right"  I think the best part of that day was during lunch when Paul opened up to us about how he used to work too much, and it started causing marital issues. He told us of how his wife gave him an ultimatum and how he felt that the Spirit told to discuss this with his boss, was also a Christian. His boss told him to cancel all his meetings and phone calls, and go home to talk to his wife. They talked and went to marriage counseling and really began to communicate better. He realized that he needed to make his family a higher priority than work and make sure he's making time. This made me stop and pause, because if I look at my life right now, there is little-to-no work/life balance. I may not have a spouse or kids who are suffering from my work schedule, but I'm working too much and not having enough me time. It's starting to affect my life. I went to get a facial and even the lady was like "you are breaking out girl" and it is the first time in my life that i am getting stress acne. It's gross. It is making me sleep less because when I get home, I want to stay up and do me-time things. It makes me re-think my priorities. What am I willing to sacrifice to have a successful career? How important is a high-level career to me? Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life: work long hours to make money, but not necessarily have time to turn off my brain, lay in the grass, and relax? What do I want in life, and how do I obtain it?

'MERICA

Happy 50th post to me! As a celebration....I will tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was an awkward girl trying to make friends. Luckily, she met some really cool European guys, and became very happy. A little while later, after weeks of underlying envy, some girls decided to cozy up to said girl to get in with the European guys. To this day that awkward little girl is still friends with everyone, :) So maybe that's not 100% accurate....but I think we've joked about it enough that I don't remember how it really happened. (I apologizing for posting this about a month after it happened, but here it goes)

So a few months ago Marijn whatsapp-ed me and said he was going to be in NYC this year. Now I've been wanting to go back to NYC for a while and realized this would be a perfect opportunity. Sadly, Marijn didn't want me to meet him in NYC. Instead, he wanted to meet up in the Capital of America, Washington, D. C.! Turns out Becca wanted to come along too. #win Marijn tried to get two other girls to come along too....personally, I think he wanted a weekend surrounded by girls. Nevertheless, I'm grateful it was just the three of us who met up.

Normally, I am pretty good at making an epic list of to-do/see things when travelling. This time, I have been so overloaded with work for the past months, I hadn't really had time to look at anything in DC. I put together a few ideas and whatsapp-ed them the Marijn and Becca probably a day before I got there. It was a crazy work week. I'm going to be honest, the day I was leaving to DC, I was pretty unproductive with work. I couldn't concentrate well, because I was going to see Marijn and Becca in a few hours. I love those kids!!!

I got caught my flight after trying the EcoPark parking lot at the airport. There was no one at the entrance and a sign listing hourly parking options. I was super confused, as I was pretty sure that it was supposed to be a long-term parking area. I paused but decided to go with it. I parked, and normally there is a a shuttle that finds you or place to wait for the shuttle to pick you up. I did not see any thing, and so I started walking around and flagged down a shuttle. It was sketch. I got on my flight and was super excited the entire time. Pretty stoked. The plane right was pretty good. I was trying to read a book about gypsies, but it was terribly boring, which is never a good thing to discover at the beginning of a flight. I persevered, but it was mentally exhausting. When I landed, I went out to search for Becca, because we were flying in around the same time. We decided to meet at the metro stop outside of the DCA airport. It took me a few minutes of staring at the metro card machine to figure out how to get from one place to another, how much I needed to pay, and where to pay. Nevertheless, I succeed. I then went up to check how much time we had before the train before searching out Becca. We found each other easy peasy, and hopped on the metro to the hotel. Marijn had checked in earlier in the day, and was waiting outside the hotel on a bench for us! It was a happy reunion. When we got up to the room, we found salt and vinegar chips (i said i was going to be hungry after landing) and drinks (orange fanta for me, because that's my wild 'n crazy drink) We stayed up super late talking and catching up. After staying up super late....we decided to wake up super early the next morning, because we had lots to see!

We hopped on the metro in the morning and headed into town. We stopped at a cute looking retro-feeling diner for breakfast to get our energy up. We hit up the World War II memorial, which is always beautiful. I got my picture next to the Texas part. #beststate Then we headed to the Lincoln Memorial. it was still early in the morning and quickly getting ridiculously hot. Seriously hot. Like sweating profusely and becoming gross kind of hot. Then we walked to the Vietnam Memorial. On our way to the White House, I was realizing what a terrible shoe choice I made for this trip. There were blisters already forming on my feet and I could feel them. I should have brought my travel-approved Tevas, which I normally always bring with me. However, I thought my cute black sandals were comfortable. #worstdecisionever We stopped off at CVS so Marijn and Becca could get some sunglasses, since it was so sunny, and I bought some shoe inserts, another tried-and-true female life necessity.

After the White House, we went to cool down and have drinks on the rooftop terrace at Hotel Washington. I felt pretty glamorous, relaxing on a couch, and escaping the sun. After that short break, we headed out to our tour of the Capitol. It was pretty cool looking. We got a tour and had to wear headsets so we could hear the tour guide. One of Texas' monuments in the Capitol is a statue of Sam Houston. #obvi  The art was pretty cool in the rotunda. My biggest issue is with all of America's history that could be chosen to display, one of the nine ginormous paintings is of The Baptism of Pocahontas. Why is this such a terrible painting to display along side of art depicting, Washington going to battle and the signing of the Declaration of Independence? Because it's one of the most depressing parts of American history! They could have shown art of "Pocahontas Greeting John Smith" or "Pocahontas becomes Friends with Settlers", but instead they show her in Europe after leaving her homeland and life she knew only to become white-washed and die from some disease. I'm pretty sure she's a perfect example of Stockholm Syndrome, as she was captured as a prisoner during war, and at the end of the war, she decided to stay with the Europeans. So yeah, I was not a happy camper by this display.  We had lunch in the Capitol, and it was pretty good. Then we took the underground tunnel to the Library of Congress. #ilovelibraries

The library was beautiful. They have the horoscope signs on the ground. Becca and I are Pisces. Marijin didn't know what he was, so we had to look it up. There was a Gutenberg Bible. #wow and an exhibit of Thomas Jefferson's personal library collection. There was also a great exhibit on the Civil War, which was perfect, because Marijn was asking about the Civil War earlier. It turns out, in Dutch history classes, they don't really go into much detail about the Civil War. We took the exhibit nice and slow, expounding on the details of the Civil War. I'm kinda impressed by how much I remember from High School. It was also another reminder of why Becca is so cool; she's super clever. Friends with brains are great! After the Library, we went and laid down in the grass of the Capitol building....and fell asleep. We were all snoozing in the beautiful green grass, and it reminded me of how wonderful it is to just pause for a moment or two in the day and just *be*.

Now this below picture has a little bit of a story to it. I have a co-worker, who whenever I do something outside of work that sounds pretty fun he says something along the lines of "have fun with your boyfriend" or "are you going with your boyfriend". He knows full well that I do not have a boyfriend, and do not date because my work and I are having a very intense, co-dependent, and dysfunctional love affair. When he told me to "have fun with my boyfriend" this time, I said "Thanks. I will tell him you say that." and laughed. So this was the couple photo I took with Marijn. As we were walking, (I dont remember who brought it up, but I think it was Becca) Becca joked that if we really wanted to sell it, we could get a pic of us kissing in front of the Capitol. I laughed and said to Marijn "So how committed are you to this?" He responded, "I'm European. It doesn't really matter to me" lol. He's too funny.

We headed to the Old Ebbitt Grill for dinner. On the walk over, I saw someone with the Deathly Hollows symbol tattooed on their calf. It was epic.I stalked the guy to get a good photo while he was walking in front of me. Back to the restaurant...the food was great. We had to wait for a bit at the bar, where I got a sugar boost with my yummy Shirley Temple. (why don't I drink this more???) Our waiter gave me the heebie jeebies, but we survived. We then headed to the other side of the White House, where I saw the anti-war protester lady, who I read about a few months ago. It was pretty cool, since I felt like I knew her whole life story. We took a walk to get some ice cream, because ice cream is joy. Marijn doesn't like ice cream...or joy. :P haha.

We hit up the store for drinks on the way back to the hotel. I had to take a cold shower immediately. I felt super gross after being so hot and sweaty all day. bleh. I told Marijn and Becca how happy I was knowing that no matter how gross I became, they would still be my friend. lol. We stayed up late again, talking about everything...especially, since Marijn is a guy, and forgets to share important details of his life with us, so we have to dig into his life until we know everything.  I did discover the truth about an incident that happened years ago. When I first met Marjin and the guys, we were in the library, i think we were planning a trip. Marijn was sitting across from me, and his foot hit mine. I wasn't thinking much of it, until it happened again, and he gave me a huge wink. I freaked out, because that's what I do when I think someone likes me. lol. I was really nervous, so I texted him later. It turns out....it was Jarno who texted me back, not Marijn. So Jarno made me believe that Marijn was into me. #sneakydutchman (the end of that story is that Marijn started dating my friend shortly after I had about a week of panicking)

The next day started off nicely. I woke up Marijn by jumping on his bed. lol. We headed down to the Arlington Cemetery to see JFK's grave, the grave of the unknown soldier. We went to the Pentagon 9/11 memorial, which was nice to just sit and enjoy the serenity of the memorial. After this, we went and checked out the Capital Bike share across DC. Can I tell you, I'm super out of shape, and I love leggings. I biked around in a skirt all day because of leggings. woohoo! We went biking after getting some yummy pizza for lunch. We biked to the holocaust museum. Biking on the road in a city with traffic is something I've never done. I biked around Tempe my last year of uni, but even then, I stayed on the sidewalk always. It was a little nerve-wracking, even with a Dutch bike leader. The Holocaust Museum was amazing. I highly recommend it. It's really cool, because they give you a little "passport" when you go in, where they tell you the story of a real Jewish person's life during WWII, and at each level (each level is a different time period of the war) you read about their life during that part of the war. I am a firm believer in learning from history, and although the Holocaust is one of the most horrific events that happened in modern history, it is something we must remember with a spirit of reverence and reflection in order to never let happen again. Another thing I learned is: when you are about to do something depressing, bring someone to give you hugs when you are feeling sad. It was a wonderful museum, especially since we went on the day that WWII started.

After the museum, we biked around the Tidal Basin, hitting up the Thomas Jefferson memorial, the FRD memorial (we did it backwards), and the MLK memorial, which was pretty cool. After the super long bike ride, we went to find food. We went to switch out bikes, and walk a little. We went to the next bike place only to see that there were no bikes. I was hangry, so we caught a taxi to this awesome dinner place....only to realize everyone else is eating there too. We then went to another place around the corner that Saryah recommended, but it was closed. We then went to another place only to see that it was ridiculously expensive. We then went to the 4th option next door for SUSHI!!!! Omg. It was delectable. I demolished my food, with a fruit smoothie. Food is great! We then went biking around DC to find the house that Marijn's sister used to live in. Then we decided to bike all the way back to the hotel. OMG. i am the gross fat kid. I was DYING on the bike ride back. My legs were jelly. We got back to the hotel miraculously. Marijn and I decided to take a swim. He then told me a secret that as soon as we got back to the room I told Becca and we both ranted at Marijn for a while about how we could have been together for two days and him not tell us. We stayed up super late talking about everything under the sun; there were confessions, future plans made, dreams shared, and lots of laughter. The best part is when I told Becca I wanted to go to Guatemala over Christmas, and Becca saying she would love to come along. #futuretrip We also decided that next year, we'll go to the German Christmas Markets and spend Christmas with Lukas and his family. (we did tell Lukas about these plans, no worries)

I'm touching a moon rock. #win

Monday morning, we had a yummy breakfast overlooking the city from our hotel. Our waiter, who served us the previous morning was talking to us and was asking us where we were from. Becca said "Wisconsin"; I said "Texas"; Marijn said "The Netherlands". He laughed and said "now you are meeting in Washington DC! haha. How did you meet?" We replied, "In Spain". We really have seen bits of the world together. It's funny how it took us travelling to foreign countries for our paths cross and become intertwined. We went to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. We did the group tour, and left after about an hour, because it was taking forever. It was interesting, but we handle ourselves pretty well on our own.  We then biked over to the Union Station. It was evacuated when we got there. Something was going on, and when they finally let us back in, the sirens were still going off very loudly. It was pretty crazy. We got some Subway, and can I just say, the guy making my sandwich skimped on my pickles. It was a very sad moment. He refused to give me more pickles on my sandwich. Anyone who knows how I like my sandwiches and has heard my anti-Jimmy John's rant, knows how I feel about pickles on sandwiches. We then had to say goodbye to Marijn, who went on his way onto the bus back to NYC. Parting is such sweet sorrow. We invited him to come to Guatemala with us, but I think he's just going to wait for us to head to Germany next  year.

After we dropped Marijn off, we took a taxi up the street and saw some lovely embassy houses, or at least we think they were embassy houses, because there were random country flags and gates around buildings. We went up to the National Cathedral. Kinda weird, there was so much historical stuff there that it felt more like a American Museum than a church. Weird. There were also state flags hanging around the place. Weird. But cool to see a Texas flag.

We went back to the hotel to get our luggage and take the metro to the airport. We had time, and decided to spend some time chatting over some yummy Starbucks, with Becca's Starbucks gift card #win It was great. Becca is AWESOME. I really have some of the most amazing friends in the world. Literally, the *world*.

I was so grateful for that trip and time to get away from the stressful times at work. I'm grateful that Marijn was travelling over Labor Day weekend, so I could get away for three days. I am grateful for the time where I can relax and be myself around people I love. I can't wait to see where our next adventures take us.