One More Sleep...

...or one might call it a nap.  I am leaving for the airport in about 5 hours.  Call me crazy but I waited until the last minute to pack.  It might be because of all the Christmas celebrating I did last weekend and the preparing for my sub next week and preparing for a week of teaching the week I return from the trip.  Or maybe it was because I had other things that I felt were more important like spending time with an important person in my life.  Or maybe it was a combination of all of the above.  Whatever the reason, I am now almost packed.  It's tough to pack for 3 weeks when a lot of my time before and after the cruise will be spent in the air.  I'm not complaining one bit, but it's a challenge.  On shorter trips, I've been known to plan out my wardrobe for each day, but there was no way that my mind was able to even think about doing that this time.  The weather was also a challenge that kept me from packing early.  It is supposed to be colder (in my mind) since it is almost winter, but it hasn't been that cold.  So I was wearing most of the clothes that I needed to pack.  Oh well, I'm packed now and all good :)

I'm really excited about the whole experience of setting foot on another continent....actually I'll be setting foot on two other continents.  Besides Australia, I'll be adding Asia too.  We won't be in Asia too long but it'll be enough time to stay overnight.  I'm excited also about spending the time with my mom.  She is a good travel buddy.....we take care of each other.  She lets me do what I want to do and I let her do what she wants to do.  All in all, we are a good team!

I have been somewhat distracted this evening in the midst of packing by the terrible and horrible news from Connecticut.  My heart breaks for those families and friends of the innocent children and teachers who lost their lives and those who were in the midst of the chaos.  It hits way too close to home.  I want my students to be and feel safe in my classroom and not be afraid to come to school.  I want them to know that I will protect them when they walk in the door and that no one will hurt them or do them any wrong at all.  The fact that someone would do something so horrible to sweet children is so disturbing.  Pray for those families....it's going to be a long road ahead of them.  Pray for the children that lost their best friends, their friends that shared their snacks with them, were in their dance class, or on the same soccer team.  Pray for strength, comfort, and healing.  I know the Lord hears us and knows our hearts.  He wants us to trust Him that He's got this.

With all that being said, I'll blog when I can and update as time allows, and I'll be tweeting probably more often so follow me on twitter (@ka204).  So sit back and enjoy the ride!

girls trip to nyc in 2004

Going back to my previous trips that I said I was going to blog about.....one of my favorites.....NYC during the holiday season.  It was wonderful!  Basically the timing was perfect.  We had been talking about going to NYC to see it at Christmastime.  It had been at least 6 years since I had been to NY and I don't think the others had been at all.  An airline was fighting to stay afloat at this time, and had a killer sale on tickets.  We got ROUNDTRIP tickets for like $85 a person.  That was a steal and there was no reason to think on it.  We booked the trip.  It was my first friends trip after college.  We had great luck on the way there.  We were supposed to have a connecting flight somewhere but they needed 4 people to get bumped.  We volunteered and ended up on a non-stop flight and a voucher for another airline ticket to use sometime during the next year.

Four girls in NYC was pretty exciting....they all wanted to shop, we all wanted to see a show on broadway and we did both.  We did the scary back room shopping in China town.  I'm pretty sure we all bought fake Coach purses that we just KNEW they were real, but when you put them right next to a real one you could tell they were fake.  It was all part of the experience though :)  We saw Wicked on Broadway which was incredible!  That was one cold winter for sure.  I wanted to go stand out and wait for The Today Show to start and make a sign to be seen on tv but no one would go with me.  I was ready to layer and layer and bring a blanket from the hotel, but I didn't want to go alone.  Oh well, we had a blast on the trip and I would love for all of us to go back again one day!  Here are some pictures from the trip.

We had just arrived and were waiting for a cab at the airport.  Yes, I am aware that I look ridiculous in the hat!  

This was on our evening cruise.  It was so cold outside!

They ready maps.....I follow unless forced to navigate.  

We had to take a picture with the tree.  

It started snowing so Jenn pulled out her umbrella.  

We took a carriage ride in Central Park.  It was frigid!

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane!

old photos from old trips

With a summer that is not filled with extensive travel, comes projects around the house.  With projects around the house such as cleaning and organizing, comes finding old nostalgic items.  With nostalgia, comes reminiscing about good ole times.

As I was cleaning out/organizing drawers in my home office, I came across CD's of pictures from trips that I have taken in the past 10 years.  During the past 10 years my love of travel has grown.  It's neat to look back on those trips and see the different places I have been and "forgotten" about.  Even though they aren't as extreme as Alaska or New Zealand, they are still part of my experiences.  Looking at the pictures brought back memories of things that I had forgotten that I had done/seen.

I thought since I find myself getting bored (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) throughout the weeks of summertime, I would blog about what I remember from these trips.  I know I won't get all the details correct or remember every single thing that I did on the trip, but pictures really are worth a thousand words.  These pictures are a great way for me to remember all the sweet times I had with my dear friends and family.

So, I'll start with Hawaii but will be leaving out quite a few details and mainly just sharing some fun pictures.  We went in July 2004.  I will say this.....when I graduated from college in May 2003, my mom told me that we were going to go on a trip to Hawaii the next summer.  My exact words that I will never forget were "I wanna be skinny."  Her exact words that I will never forget were, "Well, you have a year to do it."  I never looked back.  My close friends and those that have been around for a while, have seen me before, and seen me after.  They saw the transformation.  People I have met recently or haven't known for at least 9 years would never guess that I used to be 70 pounds heavier.  It's hard for me to believe too, but it is true.  So I guess Hawaii brought on that transformation, that change.  Maybe I'll blog about that later, but for now I'll just blog about my traveling.  

Hawaii was my first cruise.  We took a non-stop flight to get there that was about 8 hours and left on the cruise only a few hours later.  I would never suggest flying to your embarkation destination on the same day that your cruise leaves.  If anything would have happened with our flight to delay it, we might have missed our ship.  However, it was our first cruise and we didn't know.  The cruise was a 10 day cruise on NCL.  We spent time island hopping and then took 2 sea days to get to Fanning Island and 2 sea days to get back from Fanning Island after only spending maybe 10 hours there (if that).  Hawaii is beautiful!  It was perfect.  My favorite island was Maui.  I learned how to surf in Maui and had a blast.  We also went to a luau in Maui.  I also remember going snorkeling in Kauai.  That was one of my favorite snorkeling adventures.  I hate to say it was the best because the snorkeling in Alaska was one of my favorites too but it was a different experience.  While we were in Kauai after we had lunch we got to taste Hawaiian shaved ice.  It's basically shaved ice with vanilla ice cream in the bottom of the cup.  It was really good.  Fanning Island was a neat experience.  The locals there were so glad to see us.  I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a neat experience.  Let's see.....I remember making several different types of leis on the ship on our sea days.  Some people don't like sea days but I do, because they force you to relax.  You can't be in a hurry to leave the ship because there isn't a port...just  a big ocean.  I don't remember much more from the trip so I'll leave you with these pictures.

After arriving in Hawaii after our 8 hour flight.  I do remember sleeping most of the time, which is what I like to do on long flights.  

Fanning Island

With my mom after making ribbon leis.  

Palm Frond Weaving Class

At Sea

This is after we snorkeled in Kauai.  

Before we surfed they gave us rash guards and water shoes.  

I have proof that I really did surf.  The camera died shortly after this picture.  However, I think I have some video footage somewhere.  

This is on the beach at Maui close to where we went to a luau.  

Other trips that I will be blogging about in the days ahead are the following: (in no particular order)

*NYC at Christmas with 3 of my best friends
*Charleston with one of my best friends
*Canada/New England Cruise with my mom and grandmother.
*Europe with my brother and another good friend
*Any other traveling photos I come across that I feel need their own blog post.

I hope you have enjoyed my Hawaii trip in a nutshell.  Hopefully one day I'll go back there.  It's on my list of places I'd like to visit again someday.

let the countdown begin

Each year seems to go faster and faster.  At the start of my school year, I said "It will be summer before we know it" and here it is.  The students have grown--they are older, wiser, smarter-- the temps are warmer and life goes on.  I truly am going to miss quite a few of my students this year.  I know they were handpicked for me and I am grateful that I got to care for and teach them this past year.  There parents trusted me with them each day, trusted that I would teach them, be sensitive to their needs, and nurture them.  I am thankful that I get the chance to be a role model to my students, to these sweet young inquisitive minds.  I will miss them but in a few months I will get new little children, new minds to mold and teach.

IN THE MEANTIME.....

I will be relaxing and traveling a little.  I must start a countdown to Fredericksburg and Austin.  I love friend time and spending time with them.  I was just reminiscing earlier today about college and those times that I met some of my dearest friends.  I have been out of college without those dear friends down the hall from me for almost 10 years.  It's hard to believe.  Those were some of the best years of my life and I wouldn't trade them for ANYTHING!  I can't wait to spend quality time with those dear friends that mean the world to me, that bring out the best in me.

So....let the countdown begin!

a little planning

Our Itinerary 

With summer fast approaching, I know my mom and I will begin planning our Australia/New Zealand vacation.  I keep thinking about how I don't get a big vacation this summer but it's OK because I get a really big vacation in 7 months.  I'm certainly OK with that.

I've been looking at shore excursions a little bit and I get more and more excited each time I look at them.  We have booked a few excursions the other day.  In Dunedin, we booked an excursion to see the penguins....as soon as I saw the description, I knew that was the one we had to book!  In Tauranga (Rotorua), we are doing an excursion called Hell's Gate & Rotorua Highlights.  It includes going to Hell's Gate Geothermal Reserve.  The description of the excursion sounded interesting.  We shall see.  Then in Auckland, we are doing an excursion on the America's Cup yacht.  We've heard good things about it.  There are a few other ports that either don't have excursions available yet for us to book or we haven't decided which excursion to choose.

We did have a change in our itinerary that we were informed of last week.  Apparently Christchurch is not allowing any ships to dock there the remainder of the year, so we will be docking in Akaroa instead.  It's 75 kilometers from Christchurch and apparently the same types of excursions are available but since they never had available excursions shown from that port, I'm not sure what types of excursions will be available.  

We've also booked all of our airfare.  We've got a bunch of different legs of the trip BUT almost the whole time we will be in business or first class, thanks to many many air miles.  We have one flight that is no longer than 4 hours in coach, so I think I will probably manage just fine :)  We have several 10+ hour flights.  I've only been one flight that has been that long, so hopefully I'll be OK.  I can usually sleep on flights and it shouldn't be a problem seeing as how we will have lay down seats most of the time.  We skip a day in there on the way over and then on the way back, our day is like 48 hours long and seems like it's going to last forever.

We've got our hotel booked in Sydney.  Thanks to Capital One Rewards, we were able to book one night before leaving on the cruise using points.  To book the hotel after the cruise, we weren't able to use points but we wanted to stay at the same place, Shangri-La.  We also have to overnight in Shanghai on our way to Sydney.  My mom looked and looked for a good place and finally came up with a nice hotel that had good reviews so she was able to book that using Capital One Rewards.

So, things are coming together and I know it will be here before we know it.  Now if I can just manage to get through the next 4 days of school, then I'll be another year closer to retirement!!! :)  I really don't view teaching that way...I do love it, but it's been a tough year and I will be glad when it is over!

trip advisor

I just recently started reviewing things on Trip Advisor.  I travel as much as I can and see a lot of different places but I never review the places.  However, when I am looking at a place to stay or something to do, I always read reviews.  So why not give back and help other people out that are looking to stay a certain place or visit somewhere I have been.  So with all my free time this summer, I guess I can do something useful and write some reviews of the many places I have been.

So here is your chance to help me out.  Anyone been to Fredericksburg, TX?  Any recommendations of places to eat, must sees, etc?  We are checking out the wineries and staying at a cute B&B place.  Send your recommendations my way and in the mean time I'll check out Trip Advisor.  Thanks!

next big trip

My next big trip is in the making. Well actually the trip has been booked and airfare has been purchased. My mom and I are going to Australia AND New Zealand on a cruise! It seems like forever away but it'll be here before I knowing. We will be going over Christmas break. Our flights will be long and as my mom put it "we will be tired when we get there and exhausted when we get home but we will be doing it in style." All but one of our flights throughout our journey are either business or first class. The one that is in coach is only 2.5 hours. I can handle that. I'm so excited!!!!!

Colorado Spring Break 2012

During Spring Break, I went to Colorado with one of my good friends, Angie, and we visited one of my good friends from college, Trixie.  We had a blast!  We went snowshoeing and snow tubing.  I still haven't gotten up the courage to attempt snowboarding again or try to learn to ski.  One day though I will.

Our Monday started with an afternoon flight to Denver.  It was perfect because we didn't have to be up super early and we could finish running errands if we needed to, which I needed to because I spent my Sunday sick on the couch (blame it on dirty 5 year olds that have their hands in their mouth all day long even when told to remove them from their mouth because they are spreading germs).  We landed and Trixie was there to get us.  We went home and picked up her husband Ryan and also got a tour of their very cute little house.  I love it!  They have spent some time remodeling and they have done a wonderful job of making it a perfect home for the two of them.  I love that they were so gracious to let us stay there with them even though they have very little space for guests.  They blew up the air mattress and gathered all the extra pillows they could for us :)

That night we went to the Cherry Cricket.  I think that was what it was called.  It was a neat little burger place that I highly recommend.  It was delicious but if you get the fries, one order is enough for at least 2 people.  I had a ton left over.  They did card everyone that went in so I didn't take offense when they asked for my ID.  I know that one day I will be so grateful that I look very young for my age, but now, I wish I looked somewhat close to my age.

Tuesday morning we got up somewhat early....well about 7:30am.  We got ready and got all of our snow gear and headed out.  We first made a stop by a fabulous Denver breakfast hot spot.  It was called Snooze. There are a few in the area.  I had this french toast that was to die for!  It had this gooey maple nutty goodness on top.  It was so good that Angie and I ended up going back on Thursday before our day in Denver.  So after breakfast we headed for the mountains.  Trixie took us to a beautiful location near Copper Mountain called Clinton Gulch.  I don't know if that is the given name for the place or the name they made up but it was beautiful.  The snow was just like I remembered.  We put on our show shoes and headed out.  Snow shoeing is not for the out of shape.  Yes, I am out of shape and yes I managed just fine but it was tough, especially when I fell in the snow and tried to put my hand down to get up and would just sink again.  Or how about when my snowshoe came off and I couldn't stand.  I had a few difficulties.  We kept trekking until we got to a small little hill.  That's where we decided to stop for lunch.  We packed lunches...correction!  Trixie packed our lunches.  She made a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich :)  We sat and enjoyed the beauty that surrounded us.  It was so peaceful!  We eventually headed back down and to the car.  By the time we got back to Trixie's it was time to sit and relax a bit before enjoying some delicious dinner.  I would like to mention that I picked up a new recipe while I was there.  It is a super easy crock pot meal that I have already made once and I foresee making again in the future because it was #1 easy and #2 delicious!  We were wiped out that night.

The next day we were on our own.  Trixie had to work so she had one of her friends come pick us up so we could be at the rental car place at 9am.  We got there and had the choice of a Versa or a Chrysler.  I don't know cars so I didn't care.  We decided that it would be best if Angie drove and I navigated because she doesn't read maps too well.  I'm a map reader by nature so I had no problem figuring our way around especially with the trusty iPhone.  The only problem is I should have remembered to bring my car charger. Anyways, that day we headed off to Keystone.  I have been there before but to snowboard and I have horrible memories from that so I try to forget about them.  We didn't make tubing reservations until we got there because we weren't really sure when we were going to get there but it worked out fine.  We had to wait maybe an hour.  It wasn't a bad wait and it definitely allowed for some fun people watching.  So tubing was a lot of fun!  We had an hour to tube and it was a perfect amount of time.  It actually got hot up there tubing.  You could do single runs or doubles or up to four people but obviously we kept it at 2 people since it was just us.  When we were done there we headed over to Breckenridge.  I'm pretty sure the place was over populated with Texans.  They flock to that place apparently.  It's a cute little town with lots of little shops that I loved.  We were there for maybe an hour or so.  Half of our time we spent in line at a little crepe hut.  The guys had to have been making a killing on their crepes.  The line was forever long and we waited.  They were absolutely wonderful and had us googling crepe places in Denver the next day.  So after our walk around town we were ready for our non-trafficky ride home.  It was a nice drive followed by a quick fast food dinner and a nice quiet rest at home.

The next day was our last day.  We spent the day at Snooze, REI, and 16th Street Mall.....all lovely places. We made our way back to the airport early and got to people watch and such.  We had exit row seats on the way home and thankfully didn't have to step up and do anything.  FYI, if you ever fly with a cold, BEWARE.  Apparently you aren't supposed to.  My ear got extremely stopped up on our descent down and I was in a lot of pain.  It has just recently been relieved of all the pressure and I think my hearing is back to normal.

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun and great practice navigating for Amazing Race one day :)  I even used a copy of a paper map to get us around at one point.  It was perfect practice because I'm pretty sure they don't allow iPhones on Amazing Race!

I can't wait for some more beautiful Colorado time.....and of course fun times with Trixie.  She is one of the best hostesses our there that I know.  Oh and I can't forget her husband Ryan and their dog Nigel!

start of the bucket list: updated

Ok so a time or two I have referred to my "bucket list" but have yet to post that list. Therefore I thought now would be the time to post those things that were on my travel section of my bucket list. Being the organized person that I am, did you think I had just one long list??? Of course not....I've got different sections. So here goes my travel bucket list.

1. Go on an African safari
2. Go to Niagara Falls
3. Walk on a glacier
4. Travel through the Panama Canal
5. Visit the Amazon Rainforest
6. See Mt. Ranier up close and not just from the plane
7. Cruise to Antarctica
8. Tour Machu Picchu
9. Go to a concentration camp in Europe
10. See The Gateway Arch
11. Travel to the Four Corners Region and take a picture of course
12. Visit wineries in Napa Valley
13. See Mount Rushmore
14. Take a cross country road trip stopping whenever I feel the need.
15. See the Northern Lights
16. NYE in Times Square.
17. Go to the super bowl for the experience. It would be a plus if I liked one of the teams playing.
18. Be part of a flash mob.
19. Go to baseball spring training in Arizona.
20. Cage swimming with great white sharks.
21. See the start of the Iditarod.
21. Apply for reality tv. (Anyone want to apply for the amazing race with me?)

This is just the start. I'm hoping to get started on these ASAP. Some will take more disciplined saving that others but I'm not planning in sitting back and doing nothing.

***If you have any helpful tips on any of these, please share :)

getting closer

I'm definitely ready for my spring break traveling! After tomorrow, I just have 2 more weeks. It can't get here any faster. The sad part is that it will be over before I know it.

I'm somewhat in denial that I probably won't take a summer vacation this year. I mean it's really tough considering I spent more than 2 weeks in Alaska the last 2 summers. I love that place and would do anything in my power and budget to get back there this summer but I just don't think it is going to happen. Sad! Maybe I'll figure out something equally fun. Alaska is hard to top unless it's Europe and that's certainly not happening this summer.

I guess I'll keep my eyes focused on Colorado right now because like I've said before I absolutely love the beauty of that place. I'll get to see large amounts of snow without me having to make up any days of school and that makes me happy. Even though there will be no moose sightings, I get to see the mountains and good friends. What more could I ask for?

colorado tubing

Ok, so I'm pretty aware that I almost never get comments on here. It could be due to the fact that very few people read this or maybe you don't want me to know you read this. I need some help though. I'm planning a trip to Colorado for spring break with a friend to visit a friend. I haven't had much luck with snowboarding so I'd prefer to not try again just yet. I don't really think I want to attempt skiing just yet. Another option is tubing. Looks like and sounds like fun....definitely something to try.

So I guess I need opinions on several different ski resorts. Anyone been to Winter Park? Or Copper Mountain? Or Keystone? Anyone been tubing?

What are some of your other favorite things to do/see in the Denver area? We are planning some snowshoeing but I'm trying to decide what other fun things to do.

my next adventure will be.....

Colorado! I've been thinking about it for awhile. Not only is the state absolutely beautiful, I have a good college friend there and an old friend from sky ranch that I see now an then. Spring break is a break for a reason. I'm excited to get away with one of my besties to visit another bestie. Trixie always has fun stuff to do. She introduced me to snowboarding which I failed miserabely with and introduced me to snowshoeing which is a workout even though you are just walking. I definitely am excited! I don't have the details but hopefully it will give me my travel fix until summer. I'm still debating what to do this summer. No one has the same adventuresome side as me so its tough to plan. I'll figure out something! In the meantime ill be planning a Colorado spring break trip! "Woohoo, spring break, Texas!"

quick trip and some new places on my list of places I want to go

My latest traveling adventure was a quick trip filled with early mornings and lots of plane flights. I guess that's what happens when you want decent priced airline tickets. I'm currently in the executive lou ge for US Airways waiting for my flight. I will update a little more about the trip and the few things I saw at a later time. Because of this trip I now have new places on my list of places I want to travel to. The problem is, I have to work most of the year and it's hard to fit the many places I want to travel in to the short summer break they give us. Be looking for an update late and maybe a few pictures.

Happy New Year!

2011 was a wonderful year! I got to experience a lot of new places and go back to some old places. I checked off some things from my bucket list and added a few more places to my bucket list....ok well a lot more places. I thought I would do a short recap of the fun places I went and my favorite people that I got to experience these places with.

1. Vegas : I wanted to do something fun for my 30th birthday. I thought about going to Vegas the weekend I turned 30 but I thought it would be more fun to go nor NYE so me and 2 of my besties (and one of their husbands) made our way to Vegas. It wasn't my first Vegas experience but it was my first with friends. One of my dear friends lives in Vegas now so she got to join in the fun. We had a blast ringing in the new year in Vegas.

2. Italy : The planning started back in November 2010. One of my dear friends who also happens to live in Vegas wanted to do something fun for her 30th so Italy it was. We did a lot and made the most of our time.  We had a private tour guide to show us Vatican City, experienced true Italian cuisine, went to Wine School in Siena, saw some beautiful things in Florence, relaxed and hiked in Cinque Terre, saw the incredible Swiss Alps on the way to Zurich, and experienced the high prices in Switzerland.  The trip was definitely a trip of a lifetime!

3. Alaska : What an adventure! As you remember I got to share the experience with my mom. Those are some of the best memories I have with my mom.  I will remember that trip forever.  We saw parts of Alaska that a lot of people never experience.  It was beautiful!  The weather was wonderful compared to what we were hearing about back home.  We saw some neat wildlife including moose, bears, caribou, and a few reindeer :)  I could never list all that we did because they pretty much cram packed in everything into the 10 days we were on the tour.  I will say though that going to Denali was one of my absolute favorite parts of the trip.  It was gorgeous!  I would love to go back and it's definitely on my bucket list!

4. NYC : How could I leave out Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade adventure. One of my besties that was mentioned earlier endured the early morning cold weather to score a front row seat to see the parade. Another experience I will never forget for sure.  We also were among all the black friday shopping in NYC.  I would most certainly go back for this annual event even though we were up early for the parade. 

It was a wonderful year! I'm hoping 2012 is just as good and even better. Here are some goals for my year(I don't make resolutions)

1. Go somewhere that I have never been before.
2. Go somewhere that I have been before.
3. Leave the country for a vacation.
4. Take a trip with a friend or friends.
5.  Take full advantage of airmiles and travel rewards. 
6. Make the most of every opportunity I get to travel.

Hopefully I'll check off a few places from my bucket list.  I guess I need to post said bucket list so you can all hold me accountable. 

Thanks to all of you that encourage me to travel and go with me on all of my adventures.  Thank you for following along with me.....I feel loved! :)  I just want to make the most of life and experience as much as I can. 

Stay tuned for more fun this next year!  I'll see ya when I see ya! Hopefully sonner rather than later :)

Merry Christmas! (a little late)

Merry Christmas!  I know I'm a few days late but with lack of internet and a slow connection speed on my iPhone thanks to AT&T, I haven't been able to do much on my phone besides the basic call, text, check facebook, you know, the necessities :)

Christmas this year was good.  I stayed close to home and am still enjoying my break from school and family time.  We visited with Chase and Lauren a few days before Christmas and then on Christmas my parents came over for brunch.  It was nice and quiet and all in all it was a good time.  I am certainly blessed!

I already have down all my Christmas decorations (they were actually down after my parents left on Christmas day), and I'm already searching the internet to see what kind of travel deals I can find in the near future.  I need a plan...I need something to get me through my next semester of school besides sweet smiles for children that tell me "I love you more!"

So, it's Wednesday and we all know what that means.....Travel Zoo Top 20 Deals came out today.  I'll be searching those shortly to see what I can come up with.

Hopefully sometime soon, I'll get some holiday/winter pictures uploaded and onto facebook and a few here.  Internet will be installed on Friday at home.  I have gone long enough without internet and I need internet to fully utilize my Christmas present, therefore I caved and called Time Warner again and got a really good deal.

I'll let you know whenever I plan my next adventure.  Hopefully it will be sometime within the next few months.  We shall see!

Christmas Card Update

As you might remember back almost a month ago I did a review on Tiny Print cards as a promotion to get my Christmas cards free. Well I had a really hard time choosing a card because I'm somewhat picky. Here are the criteria my card had to meet.
1. It had to be foldable. I don't have a problem with flat cards but if I'm getting them free, I'm getting the most that I can.
2. There had to be more than one spot for a picture. Since I'm not really all about photoshoots of just me, I wanted spots to put pictures of all my adventures from throughout the year. I would have loved to had a spot for a picture inside the card but that didn't matter as much as having several picture spots on the front.
3. It could not say "Happy Holidays." It was necessary that it said Merry Christmas somewhere on the card.
4. There had to be a spot to write a short paragraph about my year. Since there really wasn't room for any captions for the pictures, I felt it was necessary to write about my year. I know that I love hearing about things that are happening in other people's lives so I guess I hoped that people might want to hear about my year :)
5. Picture spots on the back weren't necessary but they were definitely an added bonus. I added two pictures of my award winning photos from the state fair.

*Before I made my card I decided that I wanted to add my blog web address to the card somewhere. I was in a time crunch to get my cards sent off so I could have them back in time to send them off before Christmas. I also wanted to be able to give them out to coworkers before we were out for break. I forgot about the blog address as I was designing my card and I didn't remember until I had already sent it to the printer. Today I sat down and just wrote it on all my cards. It didn't take too long and it adds a little extra to the back.

If I don't have your address and you would like a copy of my card, just email me. I've got some extras. I'm very pleased with them and I'm hoping they do another great promotion next year :)

wednesday is my favorite day....sorta

Wednesday might be one of my favorite days. Of course I love Fridays and Saturdays and I don't want to forget Sundays but if we are talking about travel, Wednesday is probably my favorite. That's when I get the travel zoo top 20 deals email. Sometimes it's a dud but sometimes it's not! So I wonder what tomorrows deals will be, what kind of airfare will be on sale, and what other vacation packages will be on sale.

On my list of places that I would like to experience...

Let me start with places in North America in no particular order.
1. Chicago
2. Napa
3. Niagara Falls
4. Yellowstone National Park
5. Lake Tahoe
6. Oregon
7. Whistler
8. Grand Canyon (I've only flown over it.)
9. Mall of America
10. Hawaii

Places in North America I want to go back to are...
1. NYC
2. Seattle
3. Alaska (more specifically Denali)
4. Vacouver

I guess I could take a road trip this summer. Who wants to join???

Where Next???

Now that I'm back, I've already got the travel bug again.  I'm ready to start planning another trip.  I love when I get discount fares in my email inbox.  It makes me want to book something and then start planning.  It seems that the cheaper fared places right now are Chicago and Seattle.  I've never been to Chicago except going through their airport.  Of course I've been to Seattle but it's one of my favorite places and I'd love to go back, not only for the scenery but for some Top Pot too :)  Anyways, I guess I better start thinking and deciding.  Maybe Santa will put a plane ticket in my stocking this year....you never know!

Go ahead and tell me where you think I should go.  Have you been somewhere neat that I should go see?  What's your favorite destination???

NYC Trip in a Nutshell

The trip was wonderful!  It had been at least 7 years or so since I had been to NYC and it felt so good to go back.  Our flight there was fine, no problems, getting to our hotel was fine, no problems and basically there were no problems throughout the whole trip. 

Day 1:  I already blogged about that for the most part down below.  That night we went to see Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.  The show was great as always and we loved it all.  I was so tired throughout the show that I could barely keep my eyes open so when we got back to the hotel that night, I was ready to bed! 

Day 2:  That was our morning that we got up and went on the NYC Water Taxi.  I really wanted to visit the 9/11 Memorial while I was there and this was the only way that we were able to get tickets to see the memorial.  It rained most of the time we were on the taxi that day.  We did get to stop and take pictures with the statue of liberty in the background which was a nice photo stop.  I'm all about photo stops :)

 Then after we made our rounds on the taxi, we ended up going back to the hotel before heading to the balloon inflation before the big parade.  That was really neat to see.  They started it around 3pm and it was supposed to last until 10pm.  There were quite a few people there and it took us extra time to find the place because I wasn't looking at the map very good but we finally found it.  Oh, I forgot to mention that before we went to the balloon inflation, we scoped out a place to watch the parade.  We did some research ahead of time and decided that we needed to try to get close to the beginning of the parade route and we also needed to be near a public restroom.  We located a Starbucks close to the beginning of the parade so that is where we decided we would go the next morning.  After we located our spot and saw the balloons being inflated, we made our way to time square and checked out the scene and took some Times Square pictures.  Of course it started raining again but oh well.  We made the best of the situation.   

Day 3:  The next morning started very early.  We got up at 3am and then left by 4am.  Our plan was to take the subway but for some reason it appeared that it was blocked so we got a taxi.  It took hardly anytime to get there because there weren't many people on the roads.  However, we weren't the first ones there.  We did get a front row spot though (and we should have because we were there by 4:30am).  Once we arrived, we set up camp.  We brought chairs with us from REI that we bought.  We found chairs that were comfortable and that would fit in our carryon luggage.  We were going to be sitting in them for quite a while so we insisted on finding comfiness.  They were quite comfortable.  I'm not sure what time the bulk of the people started getting there.  I do remember though that at 6:30 I left to go to the restroom a block away and it took me almost an hour because there were a ton of people in line.  At lease I was waiting in the warmth instead of in the 30 degree weather.  When I got back, I had to fight my way back to my seat.  I was a little annoyed with people that were in my way and didn't seem to be going anywhere.  I tried to explain to them that my seat was like 10 feet away and people weren't letting me through.  I even tried to be a bold new yorker about it but they weren't budging.  We slowly moved and I found my seat and didn't move until the parade was over.  We watched and waited and finally the parade started.  There were some kids next to us that were in the way quite often.  The boy was probably 10 and I had to be strategic about getting him out of the pictures I took.  The little girl was probably 6 or 7 and sweet and quiet and she loved Hello Kitty.  It was really neat being so close to the action.  It ended close to 11am at our spot and then we left to go back to our hotel to unload all of our stuff.  We ate lunch at a burger place not too far from the hotel and then we went back over to time square.  The weather was much nicer on Thanksgiving than the other days we had been there.  I know at some point we went back to our hotel to rest because we were exhausted and wanted to get out to do some black friday shopping at macy's at midnight.  So, we slept for probably 3 hours and then we were up at 11:30pm to get ready to leave.  When we arrived at Macy's it was crazy!!!  There were so many people but the doors were about to open and we were squished in the doorway and scooted up the escalators.  If you've never been to Macy's on 34th in NYC, it's huge!  There are 9 levels and a basement.  I found some great deals and bought a new suitcase because it was such a great deal, a new coat that I love, and then some fun souvenir stuff. 

Day 4:  Black Friday.  We got back to our hotel around 3:30am and then finally got settled and in bed just in time to have 3 or 4 hours of sleep.  We were up at 8am and ready to leave by 9am and headed to the airport in New Jersey.  It was very easy to get to and there was NO ONE there.  The plane left on time.  I tried to sleep but it just wasn't possibly with the loud kid in the row in front of me.  I could hear him with earplugs in my ears.  Ridiculous!  We made it back 30 minutes earlier than scheduled and then back home just in time to unpack and pass out. 

Overall the trip was great!  People ask if I would go again, and I totally would.  I'd love to see the parade again.  I loved the location of the parade and would sit there again or would even try another location.  We had a good time, walked alot, and ate some good food.  Good food and good friends always make a good trip :)