“Not all those who wander are lost.”

Staycation

2010-12-21T15:37:00.000-06:00

Merry December-Time friends! I hope you're enjoying your holidays, whatever those may be. My family does both Hanukkah and Christmas, though both as just another excuse to get together with family, but I love it nonetheless, and I love the holiday spirit that takes over everything this time of year! Unfortunately for Hanukkah, I did not have one free night this year to celebrate it, so my family kind of skipped right over it. That just means we'll have to make a bigger deal out of Christmas and I'm really looking forward to it!

How is everyone celebrating this season?

Mostly my life has been PACKED with work work work. But that does include yoga internships, tons of interpreting for an array of topics you wouldn't even believe if I told you about, meeting new people, and hanging out with friends when I get the chance.

Though none of this has involved traveling, I have actually been really enjoying my time at home, despite not literally having much time to chill at my apartment. I love jet setting back and forth but sometimes I need to take a breather, and focus on the life I sometimes miss out on. So now that I have a little bit of down time, I'm doing my best to take some vacation time for myself.

That doesn't mean I don't stop dreaming about far off places though! And last week my mom gave me a gift that will help me travel everywhere without leaving my couch. She gave me a 6 month netflix subscription!! I"m so excited to catch up on movies, I'm never up to date on what is out or what's good, so I've been playing around and building up my queue and I wanted to share some of my favorite "destination" movies. Some of these are great for the plot itself, and some I just find really pretty or intriguing to watch as they make me want to go visit their countries.

First- a classic L' Auberge Espagnole I admit I haven't seen this one in years so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I love seeing the scenes in Barcelona and it's such a good depiction of different cultures, clashes and all.

Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens)- A fantastic, witty, and intriguing movie from Argentina. Argentina has some of the greatest film makers in the world, and this plot will leave you guessing until the very end with all it's crazy twists. This is really fun to watch!

El Mar Adentro (The Sea Within)- Directed by the famous Almodovar, he's a hero to most Spaniards. This movie is thought provoking and well written. The Mediterranean sea is of course beautiful but you'll probably end up too busy crying to notice. Still, I don't want to deter anyone from watching this because it is a wonderful movie and touches on some heavy topics that should be addressed at some point.

Hotel Rwanda- Another heartbreaking movie, but I think a must watch for the African History. It's one of my all time favorites but I only watch it when I'm prepared to bawl my eyes out. I've always been fascinated by African culture and finding ways to better the current situation has been a very important cause for me for a long time.

The Number One Ladies Detective Agency - For a happier side of Africa! This is an HBO series based on the books of the same names written by Alexander McCall Smith. I've read all the books and highly recommend both the books and the movies. You'll fall in love with the main character, Precious Ramotse.

Monsoon Wedding - This movie is simply stunning to watch. The colors, the music, the vibrant Indian culture...I loved it. I decided after seeing this movie that I am going to have an Indian style wedding. It doesn't matter that I am not Indian or whether or not my future husband will be Indian. I want my wedding to be this pretty.

Paris J'Taime - Oh Paris! What can I say about this? The title says it all. I do, I just love Paris, and this movie draws you into all the individual stories and I just imagine what my life would be like in Paris (Amazing I'm sure!)

There are so many more I could list, but instead I'll just encourage you all to start exploring! I know I plan on using some of my free time to catch up on movies and take advantage of my unlimited supply of dvd's now, but I do want to ask for some help!

MOVIE RECOMMENDATIONS! What are your favorite movies? They don't have to be foreign, though I love those too. Anything I can order from Netflix that you think I HAVE to watch. Send me your list of favorites!

Lots of love and Happy Holidays!

Gaby

To show how thankful I am, I'm going to reveal way too much of myself

2010-11-25T11:32:00.000-06:00

I know in the past I've wandered a little beyond the "travel" theme of this blog and given a little insight into my life, but today I'm going to take it even further. It's a bit scary for me because I intend to reveal a lot that I don't usually talk about....with anyone...yikes!

But at the same time, I think it's relevant to travel. Exploring the world not only teaches you about your external surroundings; it inevitably leads to so much self exploration and revelation. I tend to have trouble staying present, and have been struggling for so long with really accepting or even knowing who I am and what I want. I've spent years either ignoring "me" or hating the "me" I think I am, or not living up to the "me" I think I should be. But when I'm traveling, I get a huge sense of relief. A mix of happiness and indifference, living in the moment that is so unlike my day to day at home. I went back to New York 2 weeks ago for work, and while every trip is great, this one was particularly enlightening. A big light bulb lit up in my mind as soon as I got home.

By going to work, I of course feel productive and realize how good I actually am at what I do. I meet new people and see friends that remind me that I am loved, and there's just something about walking block after block through that huge city that feels like there's so much possibility and future ahead of me. So coming home, I was already feeling positive when I was welcomed by my family and friends back here in Houston and it finally hit me....I am so, so lucky. I am surrounded by the greatest family and friends in the world. I have the best of the best as my role models. But instead of feeling blessed, this has led me to feel like I can't measure up, I will never succeed, never be good enough to give back what I've been given. And then it all backfires because if I can't be perfect I am better off not trying. Having such amazing family and friends can be overwhelming.

Exhibit #1- my parents. Could they possibly have accomplished more? When it comes to my chosen profession, they are some of the best in their industry. Their language skills and speed are unmatched in the interpreting world. Now that I've been working as an interpreter for a little longer, I've learned that in comparison to your average interpreter, I'm pretty darn good, especially considering I've been doing it for only a year, but it's hard to focus on that when I expect myself to instantly go from point A to point B and become my parents. Also, let's not forget that they raised me and gave me more than I would have even thought to ask for. I was born into a life resembling a giant open doorway. I have to use this door, I HAVE to be someone they're proud of.

My brother's are both brilliant. David is both charming and probably has a genius IQ, a natural inclination towards politics and the ability to convince anyone of anything. Luckily for the rest of humanity, he was raised by my above-mentioned wonderful parents, so I know he will one day be making a huge positive impact. Michael has been a little inventor since he was still pulling his stretchy pants way too high over his diapers, and he'll probably go on to get PHD's and win the nobel prize. Of course, I fear that I'm not as good, as smart, or high achieving as they are, but more and more I feel an enormous sense of sisterly pride. These are MY brothers, we share so much already, and I'm even more grateful now that we're all getting older and can share on a friend level as well as sibling.

The other half of my vocational choice is yoga. Though it's so much more than that. I'm thankful for how much it has changed my life, my outlook, and the way I treat myself and others. I know that this will be a life long choice for me and will carry me through so many ups and downs. I'm also so excited to get certified to teach and share this with future students! My yoga instructors and fellow trainees are the most inspring people. I knew I was blessed at Yogaone Studios, but by traveling and seeing other studios, I've confirmed it. I feel so warm and welcomed by this yoga family. It's a collection of the most incredible, friendly, peaceful, beautiful and inspring yogis you'll ever find. Not only are they the most qualified instructors that I have been lucky enough to have teach me, they're approachable, inspriational and have made me feel an entirely new side of myself. I still question how I even ended up as part of that family. What did I do to deserve it? It's been so good for me, and I only hope I can inspire my students half as much as they have me.

My friends from the yoga studio and from other paths my life has crossed, new and old, are all wonderful. They're successful in such a variety of ways; they're fun, intelligent, unique, and beautiful. . They're there for me even when I've pushed them away. I worry that I am not capable of reciprocating equally. Whether I have that much to share, to give back. If I can be someone they feel proud to call a friend the way I am of them. But I'm lucky to have them, happy for the ones that have stuck around forever, and for the new ones I'm making and hope to become closer with.

So there it is - my Catch 22. I've been burdened with the task of trying to be the best daughter/ friend/ sister/ yoga instructor because it's the least I can do to show my appreciation for the incredible people that surround me. Poor me, right? For now, I still feel stuck, like I'm in limbo, making lots of plans but never really accomplishing anything, never as pretty, never as smart, or SELF CONFIDENT (key word) but I think it's getting better.

In all seriousness, I am totally unbiased... my friends and family are the best. You all would love to have my life. So I'm going to stop whining about it. I'm going to stop wondering and worrying whether I am worthy of being loved by my loved ones. I need to stop over thinking life and start living it.

Today, I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Rally for the sake of ...Rallying?

2010-11-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

I'm sure most of you by now have seen the photos, or watched it on TV. Last weekend was the Rally to Restore Sanity and/ or Fear hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. If you haven't heard anything about it, look it up! There were some great speeches, performances, comedy segments, signs, and costumes, and I was one of the lucky 250,000 or so in attendance!

Since I'm normally a very opinionated person and love my politics, I could have a lot to say on that aspect of the rally, but that was not the intention of this blog, and I really feel that this rally was not out to divide us on any serious party or platform lines. I think it accomplished everything it intended to do: bring together peaceful, intelligent, forward thinking Americans who just wanted to get together and have a good time while still letting our country know that we expect change and progress.

This trip was also multi-purpose. I was able to visit my brother who has been working/ studying in DC since August. He's doing a really amazing program through the University of Texas that takes a very select few students from all the UT schools to do political internships while continuing to take classes and it seems like he's getting an amazing experience. I'm a little jealous, but mostly....aw, shucks, I'm just a proud big sis :) I flew up to DC the Thursday before the rally so before and after, I got to hang out with him, meet his friends, and explore the Capital. I'll keep the words short and just give you a photo recap!

Hey there Abe! I actually had not made it here when I was in DC back in June.

Me and the parents behind the Jefferson Memorial. It has beautiful fountains! There's also a long waterside walk and park that was perfect to walk through at sunset.

My little brothers. David on the left is the one working in DC. Michael on the right is in high school here in Houston. This dinner was in Arlington near our hotel. It included some delicious gnocchi that I only got to hear about because they had cheese, but my pizza was delicious as well.

I had perfect timing on this photo! 5 minutes later when my dad wanted to take the same one on his camera, the sun wasn't hitting it the same way.

Crazy amounts of people in front of me. I could barely see those screens, I was holding the camera as high as I could here and on my toes!

Oh the signs, haha. There were so many good ones!

We found fellow Texans!

More people behind me extending all the way down the Mall.

That was the rally, and I had so much fun being in such a huge crowd of super excited people! And also knowing that all the great performers like Cat Stevens, Sheryl Crow, Ozzy Osbourne, Stewart and Colbert, and so many others were up there in the same general area was kind of cool even though I was no where near close enough to see them.

Some other things to add to my summer DC guide- I went back to the Museum of American History, and that was a lot of fun. I had two lunches at Sweet Green, where you make your own giant salad. It has tons of fresh options, including the seasonal squash, and you HAVE to get the falafel. I also tried Java Green and tried kelp noodles for the first time. They were a little weird, and definitely no replacement for noodles, but the texture kind of grew on me. The way they were prepared was way too spicy though. It's a cool restaurant but definitely for the more adventurous taste buds, and I did really enjoy the big cookie I took for dessert! I love anytime I can get vegan cookies. My family also tried Obama's favorite burger place. I'm blanking on the name at the moment, but they all really liked it and it's a really popular place on Capital Hill. David, if you read this, what's it called??

The first night I went to the Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial, and as I mentioned earlier, the park behind the Jefferson Memorial is really nice to walk through. We also went back to Georgetown for a nice early morning stroll down M Street , and that's always a cute area, but most things are closed on Sunday mornings.

All in all, short trip but I had a good time!

Tomorrow early early AM I'm off to NY again! I'm living on airplanes these days, but I can't wait to meet up with more bloggers and do some more work networking this week. That means I'll be checking in soon with more fun in the city!

The American Dream

2010-10-26T15:10:00.000-05:00

Back in September I got to visit New York City for work. I get to go to the Big Apple frequently enough, though I'm hoping it becomes more frequent and eventually permanent! I went for a work conference that I really only had to set up for, so then I had the week to do as I pleased. I did some business networking for both our interpreting company and also visited some yoga studios hoping to make connections for my future teaching jobs. The rest of the time I walked and ate and walked and ate, enjoyed the city life, and spent time with amazing people. Since I've been to New York many times, I don't really see the tourist sites every time. My favorite things to do are just regular city people stuff, a lot of walking that I can't do in Houston, people watching, trying out all the great restaurants and just being in the middle of "it all". I'd like to give you advice on both ends, the city life and the tourist spots, too, because you HAVE to do them at least once. And even I like to go back to the museums every so often because it makes me feel artsy and inspired.

I started off my week with a speed networking event through NYCgo I was invited to because we are company members, but even if you're not going to do business with them, the website is probably the best place to go to find things to do, see, and eat. It may even help you do it cheaper!

My first night there, I took myself on a wonderful dinner date at Josie's East Side. There were about a dozen things I wanted to try on the menu but ended up with the Veggie Deluxe plate. They also bring out the greatest bread and a pumpkin hummus to hold you over! The food was amazing and abundant and I felt like a scene straight out of "Eat Pray Love", and if you haven't seen it, it was me, myself, and I, in a bubble of food induced bliss. I give this 5 stars! Unfortunately I didn't have room for dessert but they had many dairy free options I would like to go back and get.

This is straight from Veggiegirl's website. But hers appears to be missing the fried rice mine came with. So picture this + fried rice + grainy bread and hummus = fullness.

My dad met me there and we went back to our hotel, Murray Hills Suites. I travel to NY a lot, and always stay here. It's a fantastic location and all the rooms have little kitchens. Quite the ideal situation. This place was recommended to us by an Argentinean friend, and I've noticed in my stays there that half the clientele are visiting from Argentina. I guess this place has just been recommended by word of mouth or through Argentinean travel sites. I just find it random and funny.

I made sure to visit Chelsea Market this time since I had never been. I really liked it! It has a bunch of little shops and coffee places, a mini grocery store, Italian specialty store, a couple of cupcake places, and restaurants. Not to mention free Wifi where I played with my new to me, but oldest version ever made of the I-touch.

Directly north of Chelsea Market, there's a staircase that leads you to The High Line. This is a beautiful park and garden on a raised platform. It was originally built for freight traffic in the 1930's to allow trains to go over the center of city blocks rather than the avenue. You can read all about the history and view more photos on the website. It's all very interesting and I actually did not know any of this at the time. I did still enjoy it and am very glad that Kate, my blogger turned "in person" friend, recommended I go see it after the market. It's a long walkway lined with a variety of fauna, and has large wooden benches and "recliner" type seats for locals and visitors to lay out in the sun and relax. Quite pleasant!

Rocking my city style boots on the High Line

Speaking of "nature" type places in the midst of the big city, we can't envision New York without talking about THE park. I mean Central Park. This is one of the most important trademarks of the city- known worldwide, exhibited in dozens...no, probably hundreds, of movies. And it's huge. And beautiful. And fun. It has anything you could want, gardens, food, trails, the New York Zoo, tennis courts, and a variety of other fitness options, playgrounds, museums, lakes, etc. September provided me with the perfect weather for getting lost on its trails, but I've also been in summer when everything is in bloom, and in winter when we were able to sled down the hills. Many of the museums can also be found on the upper East side of the park. The only one I stopped into this time was the Museum of the City of New York to see an interesting exhibit on the most notorious women of the last century. I'm not sure how long it was supposed to go on, but it's worth checking out if you have any interest in history and culture.

Upper east side, or at least northern Midtown on the east side is also where I found the greatest restaurant ever, Good Health Cafe. It's super simple but delicious food. Very vegan friendly, and was able to satisfy both my healthy vegan tastes and the pickiest meat and potatoes Argentineans. I introduced my other blogger friend Maggie to this place and I think it's become a favorite for her. She's now written a couple of reviews on it, too. I definitely plan on going back since I have to try almost every thing on the menu. Even my parents, who are in New York this week, have gone back! I'm jealous. Maggie also took me to another macrobiotic/ Asian style place called Souen in the East Village. This place was amazing too.

I'll get back to my New York guide in a sec, but I couldn't talk about the city without mentioning these new great friends Maggie and Kate because they are both talented writers, and awesome people. I realize we have mostly "online" friendships, but they have made me even more excited to eventually move to New York. Unfortunately, life in Houston keeps pushing my moving date back, but I'll get there soon and I'm so looking forward to it!

So back to New York. There's just so much to do, I'm overwhelmed and can't figure out how to tell it all! Especially without writing a novel that no one will read. I'll get speedier from here on out.

There's Union Square, right around NYU. I love that whole area. It's obviously very much for my younger age group, has a lot of shopping, coffee shops, restaurants, and so on (what area of the city doesn't?). One of my favorite places of all time is the Union Square Farmer's Market. The produce is pricey of course, but it's just beautiful to look at, and since I don't live there and I'm usually just buying a few pieces of fruit for immediate snacking, I don't mind. I'm also in love with the Body and Soul Bakery stand. This is my second trip to New York where I've stopped by this stand to buy several of their baked, all vegan, all scrumptious, goods. They have savory pies, muffins, cookies, and scones. I had a pear and thyme scone, and a sweet potato muffin with dried apricots. Both were perfect in my opinion, and I'm very hard to please when it comes to baked goods.

Sorry, the photo is stolen from the internet because I was too lazy to carry a camera.

From there, I walked through the East Village to China Town so I could cross through Canal Street. There was a street festival going on so it was packed with people, food stands, all kinds of Asian grocery stores, restaurants, stores, and sights and smells. It's chaotic in a good way.

I was able to try out two yoga studios in the city. One was Mang'Oh Yoga, which happened to be just a few block from my hotel on the East Side. I took a vinyasa class from Randi and LOVED it! The studio is small but nice with a warm and friendly atmosphere, and nice sitting room in the front. Randi was a great teacher and not only guided us through a challenging flow but was really able to tie in some important life lessons to think about. She was really great at seamlessly weaving together the movements and meditation, and that is really the kind of yoga teacher I aspire to be! She recommended I read "The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali". So I'm really looking forward to that and may write a recap after. I would definitely go back to this place and even apply for a job if one is available by the time I get there.

The other place I checked out was Exhale spa's Central Park location. I saw they had vinyasa yoga classes but I actually took a Corefusion class. It was tough but I really liked it! The spa has several locations and I know the Corefusion method has several dvd's that are really popular in the fitness world. I would also come back here and try out all their classes, and spa services. The whole place was beautiful and had all kinds of fancy amenities that I was free to play with. The prices were surprisingly average/ low end for the place/ quality/ and location. If you live in the area you should go!

After my week in the city, I spent a night in Brooklyn with a friend. I had never been and up until now have been skeptical about the idea of maybe having to live in Brooklyn, but I totally loved it! It's so cute, filled with cafe's, bars, parks, kid friendly activities, a farmer's market, beautiful waterfront views of the city, and really fun arts stores and vintage shops. I really need to go back and explore some more so I'll hold off on too much Brooklyn information, but it's worth the 10-15 minute subway ride. Maybe I'll get my friend to write a special post for the blog :)

I get another chance to go back to New York in a couple of weeks so feel free to share any of your own New York stories or recommendations! I also always love getting to meet new people so if I haven't met you in person, or even if I have, and you'll be in the area, let me know!

Pop Tarts!

2010-10-14T21:45:00.002-05:00

Hey lovely readers and new readers! Thanks to Heather for writing about my pop-tarts and sending lots of new traffic here! Uh oh, I may have to start writing more frequently! It's good motivation, and any friend of Heather's is a friend of mine :) Although I've never met Heather in person, I've been following her blog Heather Eats Almond Butter for quite some time, because....I'm obsessed with almond butter too. But really, she's also an amazing person. Her writing is always wonderful and her warmth always shines through, and she will soon be sharing that with a beautiful baby girl! I've followed her pregnancy and have often felt so moved by her candid accounts through each phase of her pregnancy, including the one where she craved a lot of pop-tarts. So I thought, "hey, I've made pop-tarts before!" It is in fact really easy and so much fun to do because it's way healthier and you get to choose your own flavors. I offered to send her some as a gift for her and the growing baby.

So, even though I actually have a post on traveling to New York about 1/4 written that I need to finish up considering my trip there was mid September....I am putting up this brief interlude, since I saw that many people wanted home made pop- tarts, and I know my friends and family will also appreciate this, I will share my not so secret, and easily alterable recipe.

The pastry can really be done with your favorite pie pastry recipe- whole wheat, spelt, gluten free, or even cornmeal for a different texture. I did:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour (I mixed about 1 cup ww pastry flour with 1/2 cup AP so it wouldn't be too stiff)

5 tbsp earth balance (I have the soy free but anything works)

1/4 cup dairy free milk (coconut milk :D )

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 ts salt

- whip that all together, either by hand, or the lazy way with a hand mixer like me

- roll it out on a floured surface and cut into pop-tart sized rectangles

place rectangles on oiled baking pan, spoon approximately a heaping spoonful of filling in the middle and cover with another rectangle.

- Use a fork to seal the edges really well, otherwise filling WILL spill out

- You can poke holes in the top but I think this might just be for aesthetic purposes :)

Cinnamon Filling:

1/2 cup sugar (brown sugar is best, but all I had was evaporated cane juice, it's sort of brown?)

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tbsp flour

enough water to thin it out a little, but not too much! Just about nut butter consistency

If you want a fruit filling, any jam or jelly will do, but I've discovered you should add about a tbsp of cornstarch + 1 tbsp of water to keep the jelly from melting out all over the place in the oven. This has happened and I ended up with empty pop-tarts!

Other good fillings are nut butters, coconut butters, nutella, straight up chocolate, mashed up banana, dried fruit, etc...experiment!

For icing you can also mix powdered sugar with non-dairy milk and play around with flavors too. I usually leave it plain then slather on almond or peanut butter right before eating it.

[sorry Heather, I took the pictures right off your site! I didn't think to take any of my own, but yours turned out beautifully! ]

Enjoy! And let me know if you make your own pop-tarts! I'd love new filling ideas!

I'll be back soon with everything you need to know before visiting New York City!

Coral Reef Resorting in Cairns- My final stop in Australia

2010-09-23T17:58:00.000-05:00

It's about time I finish up with this trip! For some reason, in my mind, I though my Cairns review would be the shortest and quickest. I have no idea why, maybe because it was supposed to be the more laid back portion of the trip, but going over my journals, I realized just how much there is to do around there once you include all the day trips and such. So I'm very sorry, but this will be another wordy post, conciseness is not my forte, but I'll do my best!

We took a Qantas flight again, I've already given them the thumbs up, and this one simply reaffirmed that, so let's move on to our resort/ hotel. We reserved an apartment about 40 minutes from downtown Cairns in an area called Palm Cove. The apartment was really nice, fully furnished, air conditioned, and spacious, plus had a balcony so we could get some fresh air with breakfast. Kitchens mean you can do your own cooking for much of the trip, which I always prefer, and it saves a ton of money. Especially with such a large group, and considering 2 members of said group are myself and my teenaged brother....well, much food is consumed. Our apartment was just a short and scenic walk to the beach. There's even a good chance you'll run into some wallabies or kangaroos on the way! Along the coast there are all the fancy 5 star hotels and a few restaurants (standard Australia prices apply) so there was nothing too great, but we did stop at a place called Coffee Haven a few times for our coffee fixes and decent lunch sandwiches for around $10 each. Our resort had a fitness center, tennis courts, and a small gym. My brother and dad were able to play tennis for a pretty reasonable fee. I tested out the gym my last day there but it's not very well equipped and I almost broke my foot on a stationary bike most likely from the 1980's. I saw they offered fitness classes for extra charge, but I didn't try them. I did step into the room though, and they sort of smell. Ick. Bike rentals are also an option, but, of course, that will cost extra. The lap pool would have been nice had it been summer.

Yeah, did I mention that already? As much as I enjoyed it, this is most definitely a summer destination. I know we would have been able to see and do a lot more if we had gone around December, not July.

They keep the streets super dark at night, which is kind of scary if you're used to the city, but you're really in one of the safest places ever, so we took full advantage of the stargazing. The stars look like you’re looking at those professional space images. Amazing! They are so much brighter than I’ve ever seen before. The moon one night was also interesting, it was one of those crescent moons but instead of sideways like we have them here in the northern hemisphere, it was a crescent on the bottom like a smile. Awww!

The beach itself was a little chilly. Ok really chilly, I spent a lot of time wrapped up in a towel while reading, or enjoying walks and experimenting with freezing my feet in the waves. Also, though it's not an exclusively Australian experience, with all the barefoot running hype, and also since I had not run in forever and ever, I took a short barefoot jog on the beach. I loved it! It was so grounding to feel the sand between my toes and have that extra challenge from the instability of the sand. I ended up with some calluses, but the endorphin rush was wonderful.

Our first afternoon we made a quick drive over to Trinity Beach just a few km's from our resort and it also happens to be on the way to Cole's, the grocery store nearby. The beach is nice but essentially the same as where we were with different restaurants and fewer hotels. Cole's is a large supermarket, pretty standard as far as they go, but I did notice that Australia as a whole doesn't have the variety we have here. But I did sort of fall in love with Wheatabix minis with berries cereal and am sad I didn't bring any home.

Everyone but my mom and I took a day trip to Chillagoe. It's basically the outback, and 3 hours away by car over some not so driveable areas. I know I probably seem like a party pooper not going, but I needed a break from family and was not really into 3 hours of carsickness to see giant termite mounds. And my brother said it was not worth it. Maybe none of us are extreme adventurers. I went into Cairns city with my mom. It was very easy to get to from our resort. Buses run between all the resorts and small beaches to the downtown and make stops at all the main tourist attractions, too. It took about 40 minutes from Palm Cove. The city is a cute beach town much like others, full of beach tourist shops, cafe’s, gelato, markets, etc. In other words, a lot of fun!

The city is located around the Marina and the Lagoon, which was dried up when we went due to the draught they're having. It looked like a big mud basin but generally it’s supposed to be a big open area of water next to the Marina.

Next to lagoon is huge public swimming area. It's a shallow salt water pool and was filled with people splashing around, laying out, having picnics, and just hanging out. I was particularly fascinated by how many different languages I heard among the crowd. It seems people come from all over.The park around it is really nice too and has some quick food places and picnic tables. They also hold free events like concerts, and fitness classes outside. It's very much like Discovery Green here in Houston plus the pool (Houston developers, are you reading??) These cities are so well planned and developed, and as I mentioned, they have a level of safety and security unheard of in the rest of the world.

My mom and I ate lunch at the Lily Pad Cafe. I have a mixed review for this place. It was really nice on the inside. Definitely a hippy veggie type place. The food was really good, and portions are massive, meaning I should have stopped eating way before I did :X. The only problem with it was they took over an hour and a half!! It was ridiculous. We ended up complaining a couple of times and I think they just forgot to put our order in. We also stopped by the mall at the train station. It was a mall.

Fresh taffy machine

Of course we thought a day trip to coral reef would be essential, but this will really only be worth it in summer, and do a lot of research on what company you use. We spent $139 per person plus $16 for the pickup in the van. I already knew I’d probably be too cold to get in the water but I was still excited for a day on a nice island. Unfortunately, the whole thing seemed really unorganized. I think all the programs are about the same, some more expensive, some cheaper, but Australians seem to be very laid back about things. This is good in some ways, but things like this trip just drive me crazy. We had to be out in front of the hotel waiting for our pickup at 6:55 am. No big deal for me, I can handle waking up early. But then we spent over an hour and a half picking up other people who were late, stopping at convenience stores looking for a disposable camera because one couple had forgotten theirs, and then we had to pick up our tour guide, and she was late! By that point I had turned into a cranky toddler from not having slept much and being in the car for too long. We boarded the boat at some hidden spot along the river, rather than a big marina like you'd expect. They take you on a "Crocodile River Tour", meaning they basically need to get down the river anyways to get to open water. We saw one croc on the way back. This may just be because it's not the right season. After getting out of the river it takes about 30 min of rocking on open water to get to the island where they stop the boat far off the island and you have to transfer to the glass bottom boat to be ferried to the island. But the “glass bottom” is about 2 feet wide and the rest is like you’re in this big metal safe where you can’t see out. I felt almost instantly seasick and claustrophobic so I went back up and sat with a few people on top of the boat. Perhaps I just have sensitive inner ears?

The weather was beautiful and sunny the first hour and a half. I tested the water but it was way too cold so I took pictures of seashells then laid around and read while my family snorkeled. They said they could see some coral and fish but our family friends said it wasn’t as bright as previous trips. I'd be interested in finding out if the reef and marine life change seasonally or if it's been damaged over time.

Eventually they served lunch that I'm guessing was exciting for anyone that likes seafood with eyes.I had a ton of salad and fruit. By that time it had started to drizzle, and turned into a full on downpour for the rest of the afternoon so we huddled up under towels in the tent for the next 2 hours until the boat could take us back. My dad and brother ventured back out and my brother claimed that the water felt warmer, but his purple lips said otherwise. The trip back to shore was really choppy, so I was really happy when we made it back!

See the wetsuits? They don't help!

The following day we check out Port Douglas- We packed some lunches and drove to 4 mile beach, which is a little before the actual Port Douglas. It was beautiful but SOOO windy! As in painful sandblasting windy. After a while we took refuge among the trees at the park entrance, ate our lunch and drove to Port Douglas the city. I really liked it! It's smaller but a bit more ritzy than Cairns. The main street has a lot of places to see, drink coffee, shop, or read. We got ice cream and coffee, and later I also found a bookshop/ teahouse. It has a nice beach too but it was even windier than 4 mile beach and almost impossible to even walk near. My dad and brother convinced us all to brave the wind to climb up to a lookout then we walked back through a nice neighborhood behind the main streets.

Our final contribution to the Cairns tourism industry was taking the Skyrail to Kuranda Village. The skyrail is the longest I've ever been on, taking you on a 45 minute ride over the rainforest. It has two stops with hikes. The second one takes to to the lookout over Barron Falls. Kuranda village is pretty, but mostly pricey markets and cafe's. We ate at a cool restaurant with a lot of sweet potato based entrees. I can't contain my love for the orange! I also found some candy and taffy stores.Also, if you go to the market at the bottom of the hill at the very end of the main street, it’s practically empty and has better prices. To return to Cairns, you take an old train through the mountains that takes you by the river and falls as it tells you the history of the railway.

And that concludes my trip to Australia! I hope you've all enjoyed cyber traveling with me :)
Next up, I'm very excited to tell you all about a special trip I took last week, which included visiting some very special people. (Hint** Apples are more than just one of my favorite fruits)

Brisbane. My Aussie Adventures part II

2010-09-11T18:01:00.001-05:00

Hello friends!

As it turns out, my computer had more issues than I had orignally been told so I still don’t have it back and thus, do not have access to my files or photos. But since I left you with such a cliff hanger- still in Sydney with two cities still left to see! - I know you’ve all been waiting at the edge of your desk chairs for weeks now. So I’ve downloaded some of my own photos from facebook and let’s hope they’re decent quality as I attempt to finish my recaps of Australia.

From Sydney we took Qantas, the Australian airline to Brisbane. As an airline, they are so much better than the United we took on the way here!I hate to say negative things about airlines, especially because I’ve been a loyal Continental passenger since I can remember, but since the merger with United....well, I’m dissapointed. Anyways, The flight was only an hour and a half, it was a super quick boarding process, and despite the short duration, we were given full dinners, snacks, and the nice headsets. We arrived pretty late at night and went straight to our family friend’s apartment. There we admired the beauty and brilliant location that is an oil company provided living space on the 32^nd floor in the middle of Queen street. It was tight quarters for 7 people in a two bedroom but I managed enough rest to be ready to see the city in the morning (ok so I'm actually superhuman while traveling and don't need rest).

Brisbane is absolutely gorgeous! It's very spread out architecturally and everything is brand new, shiny, and modern. Did I say this about Sydney, too? Well, Brisbane is even more so. The main part of the city is on the water and has canals that run through it. It's very easy to get around. The downtown area is small enough to walk everywhere, and the bus system is easy to use and can take you outside the city to see all the sights, neighborhoods (also some of the fanciest living I've ever seen!) and are easy to hop on and off if you're just tired of walking. Another cool form of transportation, especially for us tourists, are the City- Cat's or City Ferries. They make a big loop through the canals and will drop you off at several main attractions.

Here are some of the main sights:

Mt. Coot-ha. The highest point in Brisbane There’s a beautiful lookout, café, and restaurant, along with several trails. We ate at the overpriced café that did not have much in the way of veg choices, but I took amazing scenery pictures. Then we randomly chose a trail that turned out to be really steep and it took a while to try to not slide down on our butts. At least I tried and succeeded in keeping my jeans dirt free, but, not naming names, some of us did not haha. It finally leveled off but we didn’t know where we were so we found a neighborhood street and walked along that for a while. The houses are beautiful and the architecture is very different from what I'm used to here in the states. It looks like walking through architecture competitions! Brisbane is also very green, so it made for a nice walk with a lot of trees and perfectly manicured yards. We then had to ask some locals at a playground where we could take the bus back to downtown. See? buses everywhere!

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary- This place is the ultimate Australian experience! It was by far my favorite part of the trip. You get up close and personal with all the native wildlife. Although you have to pay if you want to get your picture with the koalas, and they’re vehemently against letting you use your own camera. So we got to hold them but had to face backwards as a crazy paranoid lady stood as lookout. Afterwards, things looked up. We watched a birds of prey demo, pet some sheep and billy goats, and saw a sheep sheering and herding show. Then we went to see the kangaroos! They have a huge open area filled with kangaroos and emus that are all totally used to people. They let you cuddle, pet them, take photos, and even sell kangaroo food for you to feed them, although we didn’t need any to be able to get close to them. We also pet the emu’s, but they were kind of indifferent to our presence. We spent over an hour just playing in the kangaroo field. Then we were running out of time so we went back to the koalas, and even saw a baby one! Then the dingos, wombats, tazmanian devils, and the funniest parrots ever. They played with us for a while, and sadly were extremely distressed when we left :(

Libraries- There are two great libraries that provide amazing resources and services for all the residents. We visited the State library and the City library. They're both beautiful and will provide you with computer and internet access, tons of books, and also have art exhibits and activities for people of all ages. Around this area, you'll also find the Cultural Center, and Queensland Museum. All of these are great places to stop by to get a better feel for the city and learn more about it.

GoMa – Brisbane's museum of Modern Art. I'm an art nerd so I will happily wander art museums for hours by myself, so I've seen many museums in many different countries. This was a beautiful museum and while I didn't have the time to walk through all the exhibits, I had been excited since way before our arrival in Australia for one exhibit in particular- Ron Mueck. Totally incredible! His sculptures are so lifelike, yet on a variety of scales. Some are huge and some are small scale replicas of human figures, but his attention to detail and authenticity is mind blowing. We saw the exhibit and watched the movie about how he makes his sculptures.

Riverside Sunday Market- This is only one of several outdoor markets but it's the only one I got to see. It’s mostly arts, crafts, and clothes. It did have some strawberries, a bakery stand, and some cooked food in the form of german sausages and pancakes. It was really nice, not the best or biggest I’ve seen but I found some earrings for gifts, and tested out some lotions. Plus it's right on the water so it's a beautiful area to walk around. Other markets that sounded really nice were the Wednesday Twilight Fresh Market- every wednesday evening for fresh produce and gourmet products, dining areas, and coffee, and given Brisbane's mild climate, this is surely beautiful any time of year. The Valley Laneway Markets are all about local and unique artists and designers and also showcase live music and comedy on some nights. I wish I could have seen this one! There are literally dozens more, so if you're like me and love open markets, do your research before and find out what days you need to be where. I slacked a little in this department :\

New Farm Park- This is just one of many local outdoor hangouts and green spaces. There are also Botanical Gardens and other parks in all the residential neighborhoods. I visited this one, which is beautiful, with a lot of different and exotic trees and plants. On the sunday I went, it was packed with locals having fun, cooking, and playing. The Powerhouse is right next to it but I didn’t know this at the time since I had gotten kind of lost so didn’t go in, but it also has a lot of cool artsy stuff to see and films and shows if you check the schedule ahead of time.

Like all major cities, Brisbane is divided into different "zones", each with its own unique vibe. It's always my goal to explore all of them!

One of the stops on the City Cat is called Bulimba. This leaves you right at Oxford street where there are cute shops and café’s. We got off the one before and took a long walk through the neighborhoods. The houses were incredible and also so unique! These were even more high class than the houses around Mt. Coot-ha, and that's saying a lot. All the parks also have flat top grills for families or groups to cook their picnic fare. Though I have to admit, on this day, I was more than ready for some refueling at the coffee shops!

Queen Street shops. Did I just say shopping?! Yes please! The main pedestrian area of Queen Street is full of galleries, food courts, and definitely cheaper shopping than we’d seen in Sydney. It has good food and café’s, actual quality places, fresh juice, soups salads and sandwiches and all can be found in the food courts, surprisingly, and for relatively bargain prices. I enjoyed “Sumo Salad”, and also found some good smoothies and healthy snack stores so I could stock up on my dried fruit and nuts.

China Town- This is on the Northeast side of town. We ate at a Singaporean/ Malaysian place one night since our family friends had lived in Singapore a long time ago. It was just ok in my opinion. There are several more Asian food restaurants and grocers, but I think I'm spoiled with Houston's giant China Town.

Brunswick street- This is the north part right next to China town. Brunswick is where you go for a night out, club/ bar hopping. I simply walked through it then continued south where there are a lot of Indian restaurants, café’s and some shops. It’s a bit more yuppy than other areas, but in my opinion that's a good thing. Not much was open sadly, because it was Sunday but I found an organic store with vegan desserts! I had to buy several of course, but the sugar was clouding my brain and I didn't think to take pictures before eating them.

On our last day, we took Melbourne from the city center to Boundary Street. It’s kind of the Montrose (hippy) area of Brisane. This is like a magnet for me in every city! There were really cute café’s and thrift stores. We ate at another bookstore with a café and beautiful patio out back. More soup and good comfort food for moi! :)

Before closing this guide to Brisbane, I cannot forget to give some shout-outs that made my stay enjoyable!

First of all, Lululemon on queen street. Anyone that knows me here, knows that I'm a huge fan of Lululemon, not for their clothing (I WISH I could afford it!) but for all their community involvement and free events. I'm at my local Housotn Lululemon almost every Sunday for free yoga classes and have become friends with a lot of amazing people from the fitness community here because of it. So when I saw Lululemon in Brisbane, I of course walked in and started chatting with some of the girls there. I was able to attend a free yoga class the weekend I was there. They also referred me to Brisbane City Yoga where I got to take a free Power Yoga class. I love being able to connect with yoga instructors all over the world!

I can't travel somewhere without eating gelato. I know some countries are obviously known for their gelato's like Italy and France, but let's face it, it's everywhere, therefore, I must eat it. Gelatissimo came to my rescue with flavors like chocolate sorbet and lychee.

There was also one occasion where I was about to collapse from hunger but no one else wanted to eat yet, so I was saved by one of the greatest veggie burgers I've ever had from a place on Oxford called Grill'd, Just check out the expansive menu. I had no idea you could get so creative with burgers, and they had 3 vegan options. My burger was over half a foot tall. It was insane and delicious, and I do in fact have a picture of this but it's on my virus infested computer so you'll just have to use your imaginations. Try not to drool on your keyboards.

I'll end here for now, and I'll be back soon with my final Australia Recap of Cairns, the Coral Reef resort! Hope you enjoyed my post, and of course, feel free to ask me questions if you are traveling here because it's always impossible to capture everything on the blog while still holding your attention :p

G'day mates!

computer malfunctions!

2010-08-22T10:23:00.001-05:00

I'm so sorry I teased you all with promises of more Australia then left you hanging! I feel terrible! But not as terrible as my poor computer that was attacked a few weeks ago with what now appears to have simply been trojans. It actually happened while I was doing a bit of research to provide some links on here for more resources on Australia and suddenly I started getting pop-ups for anti-virus software....over and over and over, like 50 in a 2 minute time frame. Then I could no longer get online or open anything, not even word documents.
And therein lies the problem, all of my information was trapped, and since I decided this summer to be more modern and keep my travel journals on the computer rather than on paper I had to choose between postponing the posts over the remaining cities, or risk forgetting to include half the things I did. Not that Australia was not memorable, but I have the memory of a goldfish and require everything to be in written form in front of me. I'd forget to go to the bathroom if I didn't write it on my daily "to-do" list. (ok, maybe not that bad, but I do have a list that I write every day that includes things such as "remember to return your best friend's phone call" and "vacuum")
The computer should be back soon and for now, I've been saved by my mom's old MacBook and have resorted to just being a blog lurker.

I think I can make it up to you though! I have cake! What's better than cake?!
I've been super busy in a fantastic way with lots of yoga training, working and feeling adult-like, and spending time with some really cool new friends. In Houston this means BBQ's and pools, and one such BBQ this last week was for a friend's birthday. She provided the veggie dogs and sausages, and an awesome topping bar, and I brought my usual gift of birthday cake! The Birthday girl requested carrot cake- LOVE. It combines my obsession with vegetables and baking so of course I was thrilled. Even though I usually throw things in a bowl with no recipe and then cross my fingers while it bakes, this one turned out really well! So I wrote down what I did and thought I'd share it with you all.
I love to make cakes for my friends too because I feel like I can teach everyone that healthy and vegan can still taste amazing. I have a tendency to bake constantly thus feeling the need to consume all of it before it goes bad. So I've had to learn how to do this without giving myself diabetes or coronary blockages and I think I've gotten pretty darn good at it.
Without further ado, here is my recipe for the healthiest carrot cake on the face of the planet that I hope you all make and eat for breakfast lunch dinner and snacks!

Unfortunately, I took no photos at the party (shame, because the hot dog bar was impressive!) but this photo from gluten free goddess's blog looks pretty close to what my cake looked like.

Gaby's Cake for Breakfast Carrot Cake:

1 cup quinoa flour (or oat flour would work too)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

Lots of spices! I threw in ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves in excessive quantities.

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup blackstrap molasses

3 large carrots lightly steamed and chopped up in the food processor

1 mashed banana

1/2 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups almond milk (next time I want to try orange juice for the liquid!)

1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (trust me, it helps it rise)

1 cup dried fruit of choice, I had blueberries on hand, but raisins are good too.

My go-to Coconut Frosting:

I heat up almond or soy milk on the stove top with sugar, unsweetened coconut flakes and a spoonful or two of cornstarch until it thickens. I'm sorry I don't have measurements for this because it happens to be one of those things I taste test until it seems right.

So go ahead, make and eat as much as you need to beforehand. You have to make sure it tastes good, right? :p

Then let this cool in the fridge before spreading it on top, or in the middle of layers, or however you choose. Easy as pie cake!

Final step:

Eat numerous slices. I would suggest with vegan ice cream.

Sydney

2010-07-26T18:06:00.002-05:00

Honey, I’m home! I’ve been back for 5 days already but still struggling to get past the “I want to sleep all day” feelings. It’s been a little hectic trying to get back into the groove of things, but I’m very happy to be home, doing a lot of yoga and seeing my friends again, even though I’ve yet to have a chance to go swimming and take advantage of summer! I just need to get a break from work and this hurricane season weather.

It was quite the trip, full of new sights and experiences. Australia is huge and 3 weeks is short, so it was exhausting trying to fit it all in, but so worth it. So let’s see how well I can sum it up here without losing you guys with my usual over-wordiness!

We started in Sydney, where it was WAY colder than I’d expected! (“pack light” were my instructions, Thanks dad!) Our family friends were already there and thankfully were more prepared. One of them let me use her bright orange ski jacket. I may not have been stylish but it saved me for that week.

To get the negative out of the way- don’t expect to find anything cheap in Sydney. We stayed in a place called Hyde Park Inn. This was one of the best hotels for the best price. It was cute and really comfortable for my family of 4.There was a kitchen area with a mini fridge and a microwave, plus water boiler, coffee, tea, and they fill the fridge with breakfast essentials every day, which was awesome. I think it's a good idea to keep food in the room, whether the hotel provides food or not. I like to have snacks while I'm out, but it's also good to have breakfast items, since all those meals out add up and takes valuable sightseeing time. The hotel was very well located, right in the middle of the downtown area, around the corner from China town, and right across from Hyde Park in front of St. John’s Cathedral. Central Sydney is very small, so you can get around by foot, or the free 555 shuttle that comes in handy for tourists by stopping at all the main attractions. The bus system is easy to use and will take you further and almost anywhere you need to go. I believe bus fare was $2.90 a trip, of course depending on how far you’re going.

I think it will best way to organize my thoughts will be to divide up my recap by neighborhoods:

The downtown is very much a business hub, bustling during work hours but most things close down after 4 or 5pm and on weekends. As I mentioned, most things are really expensive compared to the US. China town was overpriced fast food joints (where I had a bad dining and service experience), but you can find some nice cafes for lunch, and a multitude of food courts that we discovered the last two days there. They would have saved us a lot of money and hassle, but good to know for next time. They actually have a huge array of your standard choices and healthy food, which I loved. There are several galleries and shopping malls. There’s one that is particularly beautiful called The Strand. It’s all the fancy millionaire shopping but the building is a work of art in itself. My brother also found paradise in the form of a store called "The Hobby Depot" with everything for airplane models, trains, cars, or anything mechanical. I would have also taken home all the puzzles if I didn’t have to worry about fitting it into my suitcase.

At the very south end between downtown and the Sydney Opera House, you’ll find the Circular Quay where you’ll find all the ferry terminals.

The first ferry we took was to Manly Beach. It’s a 30 minute ferry ride to a really cute beach town that would have been even better in summer! It has a couple of main streets with a lot of restaurants, standard touristy shops, a lot of ice cream stores, bike rentals, coffee places, and a gorgeous white sand-ed, blue water-ed beach.

This is Kevin the koala, acquired at Manly beach, but lost somewhere in Sydney. No worries, he was replaced by more koala friends soon after.

The next place we took the ferry to was the Taronga Zoo. If you need an example of how overpriced Australia is, get this- the zoo is $43 per ticket! I thought it was outrageous for a zoo, but later in the trip after several more museums and excursions, we began to get over the sticker shock. My family argued for a while at the zoo, though. The fathers said we might as well pay because we were there and we were in Sydney so we went in. You take the sky rail up to the top to get in. It’s a beautiful zoo but unfortunately since it was so cold and also because many of the animals are nocturnal we didn’t see too many animals. We did see several exotic birds, a wallaby, the elephants, marsupials, some kangaroos, and emu’s. The cafeteria was also overpriced bad food and really crowded, but after lunch we were lucky enough to catch the seal show, and they were really cute!

Zoo with a view

On the last two days I spent in Sydney with just my mom, we decided to take the free ferry. We had seen it on Sunday when it was packed and had a crazy line, but we didn’t know what it was for. It was much less crowded on a weekday and we found out it goes to an art exhibition on Cockatoo island for the Biennale, a Sydney art celebration hosted every two years. We decided to take it because we can’t resist the word free! …Bad choice. We got there after 30 minutes of rocking on the tiny ferry to find a bunch of warehouses with a couple of out there works of “art” i.e. A weird noisy video, metal scraps and some old car parts with Christmas lights. It also rained on us. We waited for the next ferry and made our way back. At least we tried it, right?

If you go up towards Paddington you’ll see a little bit more personality. It was one of my favorite areas in Sydney. It starts off as Oxford Street going north from downtown. It’s more eccentric/ hipster (I could equate it with Montrose in Houston). There are a lot of boutiques, coffee shops, and more ethnic eats with slightly better prices. My mom and I fell in love with an adorable coffee shop/ used book store called Ampersand. It was one of the best meals I had in Australia! Homemade lentil soup and crusty sourdough, and you get to eat it in comfy chairs amongst the bookshelves. In my opinion this is the best concept ever and needs to be brought to Houston!

This bookstore significantly increased the weight of my suitcase

The Rocks was my other favorite part of the city. You get there by going south from Circular Quay down the peninsula into the harbor. My mom and I moved to the Holiday Inn here after the rest of the family went to Blue Mountain. It’s the oldest part of Sydney where the first settlement was. It still has the old cobblestone streets, a lot of far too expensive galleries and shops, but many cute and affordable cafes and restaurants. They have a wonderful Market on Sundays for arts and souvenir shopping. The art museum can also be found here, though we didn't go in, and instead enjoyed a place called the Billich Gallery that can be found inside one of the city's historical sites. It used to be an old sailor's cabin, but now houses much of Charles Billich's work. These paintings were some of the most beautiful I've ever seen!

Birdie friends that wanted to steal our coffee

The Botanical Gardens are one of the few things you’ll get for free and one of the things I’d consider a must in Sydney. This place is amazing! It has several sections- the Asian garden, the jungle, the palm grove center with orchids, the rose gardens and a few fountains. On top of the enormous variety of plants, there is so much wildlife! We saw trees filled with bats sleeping and basking in the sun and were lucky enough to talk to some biologists who happened to be there photographing them. We learned there are about 6,000 of them in the park, but sadly, they are being pushed out of the gardens because they damage some of the expensive tropical plants and when they end up in the city, residents see them as pests. However, they also help pollinate the gum trees in the gardens and are a vital part of the local ecosystem. After that we came upon a huge flock of wild cockatoo’s that happen to love people! If you stick your arm out, they come and land on you, most likely expecting food, as many people feed them bread. There were hundreds under this one tree that would spontaneously land on us. One of them particularly enjoyed pecking at my hair! Good nesting material? The wildlife here is so different. They have birds like none I’ve ever seen before. The Ibis birds walk around the parks and city streets like pigeons do here, then there are a lot of smaller colorful birds.

Walking south from the Botanical Gardens and before reaching Circular Quay you’ll find the famous Sydney Opera House. We were able to take a tour, though also quite pricey, but nothing out of the ordinary, and very worth it. You can’t come to Sydney and not see the Opera House! This place is impressive. The design is just incredible, visually and structurally. They have several theaters, studios, and stages, all really well designed. They took us into several and let us sit down while the tour guide went through the stats and history. The architect, Jørn Utzon from Denmark, entered his design into a competition and was chosen for his unique vision, despite only having submitted very rough sketches. The tour culminated in the grand opera theater where you’re under the highest of the sloped ceilings. There are about 3000 seats, an organ with over 10,000 pipes and the whole design is acoustically outstanding. The entry hall to the grand theater is also carpeted in royal purple with gold railings and has a beautiful view of the harbor and bridge from outside. We got to go see a modern dance performance in one of the smaller theaters a few days after our tour. It was called “Political Mother” by Hofesh Shechter {**edited, I just added a link to videos so you can get a feel for the uniqueness of this performance!!]. I thought it was really interesting. It was definitely modern and one of those super symbolic pieces but was meant to stir up a lot of strange emotions. The best word would be frantic. The movements and the dancers were incredibly talented, as was the choreographer. I enjoyed it for those reasons, even though my family found it a little too “modern”.

I didn’t explore Darling Harbor too much, but we did go to the Aquarium there. I can’t say too much about it, since it’s like most aquariums, but about 3 times bigger, and does show case some of the corals and fish native to the region. Darling Harbor is filled with a lot of higher end dining as well as a lot of sports bars. It also has an IMAX and a nice port.

I had heard from several people that I had to visit Bondi beach. It’s an easy 45 min bus ride north from Sydney central. There are a couple of buses that take you through Paddington, which is when I first saw it and decided I wanted to go back to that area before leaving the city. We did a long trail along the coast with some of the most beautiful views! I’ve heard there are actually about 13 miles of trail along the coast that make for incredible runs or walks. The beach was frigid and windy but the water was still filled with crazy surfers. After we finished up the trail we walked into the main street for coffee before taking the bus back. I would have liked to explore the area more but my family is always divided between those of us that love cities and those that would like to avoid them (I love them!). I imagine it is a beach town similar but slightly larger than Manly Beach.

Another trademark of Sydney is the Sydney Bridge. We had originally thought we’d have to bypass this attraction because all the guide books and information offices tell you about are the guided bridge crossings or tours that cost 100-200$ but no one tells you that you can walk it for free! It seems to be something only the locals know about. My mom and I walked past the rocks and ended up crossing under the bridge only to cross back later on because the entrance has no signs, but we found the stairs eventually. The bridge and nearby streets are packed with runners and all types of exercisers. There were groups doing boot camp classes, people boxing and running, and there’s even a special ramp and sidewalk for cyclists. You can only cross part of the way, but it was enough for us to get our pictures in.

So much for keeping this short, but I hope it's informative. I'll now give you loyal readers time to process (and give myself time to procrastinate) before elaborating on the fairytale city that is Brisbane, and the coral reef resort in Cairns.

After a while, crocodiles! (crocs are from Australia, get it? hehe)

[*edited to add links]

How I did not die of boredom during a 21 hour flight to Sydney

2010-07-13T18:02:00.001-05:00

Cheers from down unda!!

I’ve been here in Australia since June 29^th. I’m sorry I did not write sooner, but I’ve been so busy trying to see as much as possible that internet has not been at the top of my “to do” list. This week we’ve arrived at our last stop, Cairns, after spending time in Sydney and Brisbane. The country is so rich in natural beauty, and almost Disneyland like in the sense that it’s so well developed, new, orderly, and ultra prosperous.

I want to devote the adequate space to all of these cities, so first I have to write about how I got here. Let me tell you, it was quite the trek. The 21 hours worth of flight time are honestly the only downside I can see about visiting Australia, but with my frequent travels and desire to visit far off places, I’ve had to learn to entertain myself while lacking resources and being confined to small uncomfortable seats.

So here are some of the things I usually do while airborne:

For long flights like this I sometimes take a sleep aid like Tylenol PM, or my mom really likes Sleep Easy. I don’t want to recommend this for everyone though because it affects everyone differently. I personally don’t like to because I’ll be drowsy for several hours the next day, but being in a daze for a little while can be worth it if it means you can get more sightseeing in on your first day of travel, and it will help you get accustomed to a new time zone faster.

Exhibit A: Our first day in Sydney

I tend to not sleep at all on airplanes. I can manage to doze a little if I curl up in a ball in the cramped seats, but that only lasts until I begin to lose sensation in various limbs. I usually resign myself to spending the night up watching movies. No exaggeration here, I’ve spent numerous flights watching movie after movie in a sleeping pill induced zombie state while passengers snooze around me and I want to cry from my exhaustion and inability to sleep. Despite my usual insomnia, even in my own bed, I miraculously managed to sleep on and off for several hours throughout the 15 hours from Los Angeles to Sydney.

During the three and a half hour flight from Houston to Los Angeles, I did a lot of reading. Always have plenty of book options! I didn’t choose very well for this vacation. I brought a book by Douglas Adams that was sort of entertaining for a while but nothing special. I also brought Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s biography that my mom bought for me in Barcelona. Unfortunately I’m not even a fan of his fiction writing, so I was bored a few pages in and stopped. On the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney I finished off over half of the Douglas Adams one. I’ve done a lot of book shopping while here so I’ll be set for the flight back. You want to choose one of those books that you can’t put down so time seems to go faster. I also sometimes choose puzzle books like Sudoku or crosswords to keep my mind busy. This is also fun because I never get the time to play these games in my normal day to day. I personally don’t like spending the money on magazines, but do love reading them when they’re available.

On long flights, airlines will always show movies and TV shows. Depending on the company and the type of airplane, you’ll either get the screens in the middle of the aisle or above the seats like I had on this flight, or if you’re lucky, you get screens on the back of the seat in front of you. In the latter case, you’re set with movies you get to choose for the whole flight! I was not so lucky. We had screens in the middle of the aisle and they chose really bad movies. I watched “When In Rome” on the way to Los Angeles. It was my first time seeing it so it passed the time. On the way to Sydney however, they showed “Date Night” and I had barely tolerated that movie in theaters. I also like to bring along music and zone out to some of my favorite music for a while. This sort of mediation/ relaxation is also not something I take the time to do very often so it feels like an indulgence and can be really nice.

Now on the stars of the show! – > yes, I find food highly entertaining. It’s really important for me to plan and pack well when it comes to meals and snacks. I have several reasons for this. First of all because I’m vegan and not all flights offer special meals; second, even when they do offer vegan meals, airplane food is just not that good so I’d rather be prepared. Worst case, I end up with double the dinner. Win/ win. Lastly, even with the airplane meals, I usually eat more quantity and more often. Plus, I’m bored, so why not have a few extra cookies on hand?

There are meals and snacks that are easier to pack, but I like to have good fresh foods so sometimes I’m a little unconventional and just pack a lot of tupper wares with my usual meals. I also like to have fresh fruit like bananas and apples, and snack bars are also good and easy to carry around. Pack extra because it’s better to have leftover snacks that will still be good while you’re touring a new city, than to get hungry on the airplane. Since I love baking, I like to prepare a small zip lock with cookies or something I’ve made beforehand. PB and J’s are also lifesavers and will stay good for a long time. Also, airplanes are very dehydrating, so take advantage every time a stewardess offers you water! And if you need to, don’t hesitate to get up and ask them for a drink also. It gives you an excuse to move around and stretch anyways. I always like to choose an aisle seat for this reason, too. I get up to go to the bathroom frequently if only for the little bit of movement it allows me. Then while I’m up, I’ll stay standing as long as possible and do some easy yoga stretches.

Upon landing, I like to go at least splash my face with water in the bathroom, then as soon as I’ve collected my bags- COFFEE is #1 on the itinerary so that I’m ready to begin the sightseeing right away!

I really hope this post was slightly less boring than the plane ride itself. It probably wasn’t but thank you if you read it all anyways! Has anyone else taken absurdly long trips on airplanes? What do you do to pass the time?

G'day from down under!

2010-07-07T08:43:00.000-05:00

Yes, ladies and gents, I'm in Australia! My internet time has been limited but I'm keeping a written account of what I'm doing so I can come back soon and write more in depth about all the awesome things to do in this country because of course after 3 weeks I will have done it all.
Ok kidding, but I will have done quite a bit that I want to share! So far I've spent a week in Sydney, and just arrived tonight in Brisbane where I'll be until Tuesday when we go to Cairns for hopefully much warmer weather. Despite missing my 100 degree Houston and having to layer up in jackets and sweaters, Sydney was gorgeous! I can't wait to show you all the pictures of the opera house, the bridge, and the cool animals. The food is nothing to write home about and the tum is protesting, the family can get stressful, but all that pales in comparison to the natural beauty of this country, and all the fun things there are to do and see.

In the meantime I had to check in because I've been given my first blogger award! Wooohooooooo!! I feel so special :)
Kaz has given me the sunshine award, which means I make her hiccup rainbows apparently. This means I have to pass on this award to 12 bloggers that bring sunshine into my life. Wow, what a hard task! There are so many blogs that I love reading. My google reader probably has well over 100 blogs on it by now and I look forward to perusing through it nightly. I may have to cheat a little since I have to share the internet time with everyone, but I'll try and pass this one to as many people as I can.

1) This is for sure cheating, but I really wanted to point out how awesome The Art of Kaztronomy is. This girl is hilarious. I love her writing style, her cute cat, her ability to make me want to go through the computer screen and steal her food, especially the weird things I get made fun of for. We'd probably also be bff's if we lived anywhere near each other.

2) Clare over at YogiClarebear is such a sweetheart! And her blog is packed full of really interesting information. I've learned a lot about medical issues I had no idea even existed and have found it really insightful and helpful in dealing with my own problems. She's also been a huge resource for yoga knowledge. As I study to start teaching yoga myself, I've been able to use a lot of the sequences she has posted as inspiration for my classes.

3) Just try and not fall out of your chair in fits of laughter when you read Mommy wants vodka. I don't even remember how I found Becky, but she's hilarious, and down to earth, or really not down to earth, hmmm....well, it doesn't matter. Whatever she is, her blog is an instant pick me up.

4) Kate and Maggie over at Eat the damn cake are fairly new but I love the idea behind their blog. I was already a big fan of Maggie's blog so of course I followed her here when she started this joint venture. It's all about positive body image, and not only body issues, but confidence in general. I can definitely use the self esteem boosts and think everyone could benefit from their insights. Kate is also a wonderful writer and sometimes links to her other articles on sites such as the Huffington Post.

5) Zen Habits provides a lot of good tips on how to simplify your life and feel more content and grateful for what we have. Our lives are so rushed and stressful, and I know I get very caught up in the planning and forget the "living" part of life, so I need reminders to take a breather once in a while.

6) Rebecca is a friend of mine I've known since high school. She's had some amazing travel experiences including two summers in India, and recently spent 8 months working on farms in South America with another bestie of mine and documented her travels here. She has great photos and some crazy stories!

7)What do I know is just all around cool and makes me really jealous because I want to live in the UK so badly. She's done some extensive traveling and always has gorgeous photos and a wealth of information to share. I love the random posts on cows and sheep. And she is always so well informed on politics and world events. Plus she's vegan and has really good recipes. Can we say "well rounded"?

8) I've been reading Maggie's blog since before I started blogging and just love her. We have a lot in common and I'm really glad I've gotten to know her a little bit through email and blogging. She lives in NY now always reminds me how much I want to live there. She's given me a lot of good resources for yoga online and always goes out for good food (more reasons to live in NY!) AND she's getting married really really soon! Congratulations Maggie!

That's all I'm going to do for now because everyone is asleep here! Thanks again Kaz for the award! I'll post again soon with tips on how to entertain yourself during 21 hours of flying, insider tips on Sydney, and later on, all the things I'll be doing in Brisbane and Cairns.
Thanks for reading and goodnight!

Washington DC

2010-06-22T22:41:00.000-05:00

Hello readers! It's been a while, but what's new? I've been passing the time with work, yoga, and lounging by the pool when I can. 2 weeks ago I took a family trip to Washington DC. What a beautiful city!! It has amazing parks, museums that would take you years to see in their entirety, cute neighborhoods, good food, Ivy League Universities, and of course is the main stage for all US political happenings. I've always been really interested in politics and for most of my life planned to go into diplomacy as a career. Even though I'm not making a living off of it right now, I've done a lot of political work over the year (including a trip to lobby in congress in 2007! So exciting!) and continue to volunteer with local politicians when I can. I haven't ruled out a diplomatic position in the future, even though I love the interpreting/ yoga mix I'm doing now. We'll see....anyways, as a highly opinionated (aka. always right!) individual, being in the middle of a city with so much power to change the world is fascinating for me.

Here's just a few snapshots of what I did and what you should do if you're lucky enough to visit-

Washington is divided into numerous neighborhoods, though, compared to Houston, it's all very small and easy to navigate. My brother, cousins, and I did much of it by foot, and when we were tired, it was really simple to hop on the subway. You get reusable passes and it's very easy to navigate, they're clean, don't have many creepy people, and are never overly crowded. And before I get anyone from the area screaming at me to take a look at it during rush hour....I did in fact see the subway crowded, but keep in mind I'm South American, and also lived in Spain. Just trust me when I say DC has it good!
They also have trolleybus's called circulars that can get you between some of the areas that aren't easily connected by subway, but we never really had to use them.

Our hotel was in Woodley Park.It's a really nice area, and upscale neighborhood with nice restaurants. We ate numerous times at Open City for breakfast, because it was across the street, and also once for dinner. Tons of vegan options! The trail through the park began almost at the corner of the hotel and it's beautiful!! There's a running and bike trail, little fitness jungle gyms along the way, lots of green, berry trees, flowers and a creek.

The kiddos crossing the bridge

The zoo is great. They have educational shows spread out throughout the day, all kinds of animals, and plenty of space. Most importantly, it's FREE!!! Like all the DC museums and most attractions, it is 100% open to the public. We spent a morning taking a billion photos of cute animals and basking in the perfect sunny warm weather that DC only has in June.

How to care for your elephant 101

DC's Pride and Joy! There's even a live Panda Camera playing at all times at the Smithsonian Castle.

He's really cute and just sits and eats bamboo shoots all the time.

From our hotel, we could walk south to Dupont Circle, or north to Adam's Morgan. Adam's Morgan has a ton of good restaurants, cafe's and bars. It's a bit like the Montrose area in Houston, or the Castro district in San Francisco, for those of you that have been to either of these places. Georgetown was to the west of us but a little harder to get to by subway. The school is of course amazing in terms of architecture, and the area is full of good shopping, eating, and cute shops and houses. A friend of mine took me to a very vegan friendly Chinese place, Harmony Cafe, with some of the best faux meat I've ever had! And you can believe me because I typically avoid Chinese food, but wow, this was good. I also remembered my love of Indian food at Aditi. Aloo Paratha, how could I neglect you for so long??

Almost every morning though, we hopped on the subway and went downtown to the Mall area. This is where all the museums are. It's huge so there are several different subway stops depending on what museum you're going to.

We went to the Smithsonian Castle. It's really just a collection of random historical things, and not so old things, but it has a beautiful garden behind it!

I finally saw the air and space museum that I've been dying to go to since I didn't make it on my 2007 trip! It's full of these cool models of airplanes ranging from the very first Wright brothers flight, to modern passenger planes. Exhibits talking about the history of flight, how airplanes have been used throughout time. It also has several exhibits on space exploration, past, present and future, along with several models to Ooh and Aah at!

Welcome to Julia Child's Kitchen! Bon Apetit! This can be seen at the National Museum of American History. This place is full of interactive exhibits, national "treasures" like the Wizard of Oz slippers, a First Lady dress gallery, and more objects from American History than we would ever have time to see. The museum also has quite a tasty cafeteria! This was good because it was the one day it rained.

This is at the Natural Science Museum. Me and my cousins pretending to be fish inside the marine exhibit. This place is HUGE and so interesting! Had it not been freezing inside the building we would have spent countless more hours in there. There are gems, an IMAX, all of human origins including models of our neanderthal ancestors. They have every creature that has existed throughout time, like dinosaur and mammoth skeletons, animals of all sizes and types, and more that I'm not remembering.

Where's ~~Waldo~~ Gaby? There's a sculpture garden in the middle of the mall that includes this giant right outside before you descend some stairs into a peaceful little park with a pond, and several bronze and metal sculptures.

We also went to the National Museum of the American Indian, which I believe is fairly new. This, too, was really interesting and had all kinds of pretty artifacts, but I was exhausted and failed to take out my camera. I was probably worn out from going photo crazy in the Botanical gardens!

The Botanical Gardens are inside a big greenhouse building and are divided up into rooms based on the region the plants and flowers are from. There's rain forest plants, dessert plants and succulents, medicinal plants, an orchid room, and several more. It was so beautiful inside and gave us an excuse to sit on some benches to admire it/ rest. There is also a huge outdoor garden that we walked through, but, unfortunately, this was the one rainy day of the trip.

From the Mall, you simply keep walking East towards Capitol Hill. There you can find the White House, the Library of Congress, Supreme Court, and Union Square a bit to the North (and where you'll also find a little shopping, though it's higher end, and a lot more restaurants).

From left to right: Daisy, Michael, ME, Vanessa. We were the lucky ones not working. My parents were interpreting at an HIV/ AIDS conference all day and met us for dinner every night. Here we are in front of the White House!

Shortly after, we were invited in to meet the President and First Lady.

Ok, ok, we just had a really good time at the wax museum :)

Hope you enjoyed my picture tour! I know there's much more but I wouldn't want this to be even lengthier. The only solution is for all of you to take your own trips to Washington DC! Then email me and let me know what I've left out. Better yet, take me with you. YES, that seems like a plan.

Til next trip!

Gaby

Ps. Anyone else enjoying the World Cup? Leave a comment and tell me who you're rooting for!

Summer time! And with the season comes the travel bug...

2010-06-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, in grown up world there is no summer really, but the temperatures have reached the 100's and I've been keeping busy not only working but having fun too! I am actually very thankful for the amount of work I've had. My bank account has a tiny bit more of a buffer before the red zone, I enjoy what I'm doing, and most importantly for me, I feel a little more like a productive member of society. I thrive on busy-ness! (I made that a word)

I'll be doing some studying and preparing for the legal interpreting exams I have to take in the next month, but work will also slow down so that I can prepare for some BIG, as in far away, travels. I'm so excited! First up, I'm leaving for DC this Sunday for 5 days. My parents are working but I'm just tagging along this time so that I can do some sight seeing with my brother and cousins. I haven't seen DC since I was 10, and at that age I was busy cartwheeling and probably saw it all from funky angles, and while I won't make promises that if placed in a large grassy area, I won't spontaneously flip over, I DO think I have a little more knowledge and perspective now. So expect a DC post soon!

After that I get to go on a 3 week family vacation to Australia! I've never even been to that region, so it is a whole new world for me to explore and I know it will be amazing! Has anyone been there before? I'd love to get some tips. I want to start making my itinerary soon!

In the meantime I've been enjoying lots of pool time in Houston, indoor time with family and friends, and a mini Memorial Day weekend vacation to the beach this past Sunday afternoon. While Galveston is not really a choice destination for most people, it's close by, convenient, and really not as bad as some make it out to be! I know so many people that complain that it's dirty, or boring, or have a number of negative things to say. But the truth is that (as long as the oil spill does not keep spreading!) it's not dirty at all. Yes, it is brown, but that's only because of the type of sand we have. And there is plenty to do. Of course, I'm happy to have sand, sun, and water wherever that may be. Easy to please :) But there are plenty of restaurants, art galleries, a little town square, private beaches with natural reserves, public beaches, and the well known Moody Gardens to go visit. I haven't been to Moody Gardens in years and years but from what I remember they have a water park, butterfly garden, Imax, and that cool movie ride thing.

To make this fun, here are some photos to show you what I've been up to-

I had signed up to run the Pug Fun Run 5k to benefit the Houston Pug Rescue Organization. Unfortunately I ended up getting sick the day before, plus it was raining, so I knew that would not be good for my sore throat. But I went anyways to show my support and take pictures of all these adorable rescues! Can you believe that face?!

Galveston! See? Not so bad. It looks quite beautiful to me in fact.

And the water is always warm enough for me to get in, meaning we got to play in these.

This is my parent's backyard where I *try* to get used to the cold pool, or just lay out and read when I'm there.

Then I was inspired on Monday to make up a recipe using my mom's fresh lavender plant in the backyard (she also has some little green tomatoes growing, and fresh basil!). I came up with these lemon lavender tea cake type things and thought they'd be cute as hearts. Oh, and they were good too!

Monday night we had a big family BBQ. I brought along my own homemade vegan Italian Sausage that I made for the first time using the recipe from "Vegan Brunch". Then we ended the night with karaoke competitions. Fun times!

I've been feeling really grateful lately for my family and friends and all the great things going on around me. I'm taking charge of my life- meaning I'm working hard, doing yoga, relaxing, being active, and involving myself in as many things as possible. And also trying not to feel too old because my 24th birthday is coming up in 2 weeks, eeeek!!!!

This summer will be good, my sixth sense tells me so.

Hope everyone's having a good week! Feel free to share your summer plans with me!

The importance of good travel companions

2010-05-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

It's no surprise that I live for jet setting, but we all know there's much more to a memorable trip than hopping on a plane. That's just step #1. Then, countless things have to fall perfectly into place to produce a memorable trip. Now, perfectly does not mean ideal or expected, don't misunderstand me. Spontaneity and the unexpected can be exactly what makes a trip absolutely unforgettable. Other factors are the location, the length, the accommodations, food, history learned, people you meet, immersion in new cultures, and then most importantly, the person you share it all with!

I don't care where you've gone, if you're fighting with your travel partner the whole time, you'll hate it, if the person you're with is uninterested, well that's boring and they're weird, if you have nothing in common, you won't be able to decide on what to see or do, they may not know how to compromise or share, and that would make the trip very tense. It's great to travel with someone you have a wonderful connection with, someone with common interests, and someone you feel very comfortable with. These shared memories are what make a relationship with someone.

I've been lucky enough to go all over the world with my family, travel with many friends all throughout Europe, and also take friends to Argentina to see my family with me. There have been those friends that I can spend 24 hours a day with and friends with whom I had to compromise with or be okay doing our own thing throughout the trip. As a side note, splitting up while on vacations is totally fine and even recommended! Another important thing for me, anyone I date or plan to settle down with will have to pass the travel test fairly early on. If they have any chance at all, they have to love to explore, and we have to travel well together. Another test they have to pass, though not related to travel- the mom test. It might make me dorky, but anyone that plans to see me fairly regularly, as in more than 2 or 3 times, will have to know that my mom is my BFF so she has to like them. I think by admitting this, it goes to show how old I'm getting, but truly, mom DOES know best! Well, at least mine, she's one smart lady.

What do travel and mom's have to do with each other? In honor of Mother's Day, I have decided to write this tribute to two of the most important things in my life. Travel, since that's the focus of most of my writing and I can't imagine my life without it; and then the person who has made travel not only possible, but worthwhile- my mom (sappy moment, awww). Aside from the obvious reasons like the fact that she created me, and paid for countless family vacations, etc. She's also my favorite travel companion. She is knowledgeable and skilled enough to be a travel agent when it comes to planning trips, and thankfully she's taught me well in that department. As any of my friends can tell you, if we're not together, we're on the phone numerous times a day, so there's never a lack of conversation when we take trips together. We tend to enjoy the same things and have similar personalities, and another thing that has come with me getting older is realizing just how alike we are. This is not a bad thing! Our distaste for sleep and affinity for caffeine mean that we are like energizer bunnies while on vacation and get to see and do as much as we possibly can. While traveling with friends is a blast, there's a level of comfort with a mom that there probably never will be with anyone else, so even if there are arguments, it's no biggie and all is forgotten by the next coffee break time.

So there you have it, my favorite travel companion is my mom! Here are some photos of good times we've had and hopefully a preview for more travels to come!

Our travels started early on with many trips to her hometown of Buenos Aires, even though my short, chubby legs meant she had to carry me everywhere.

I now appreciate our trips a little more, like our stops through Monaco.

Loving the architecture and art of Gaudi in Barcelona.

That's not a Mom and me photo, that's my mom and dad, but how many parents would go to foam parties in France with their kids? This was way too much fun.

Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. Because chocolate goes well with coffee.

We can appreciate snow but would both rather be at the beach!

On our beloved beach vacation in Menton, France and doing one of our favorite things- outdoor art market!

I love looking back through these old pictures! I can't wait for the next vacation!! It's in the works so I'll surprise you guys with it next time. *hint: it's the opposite side of the world!*

I love you Mommy, Happy Mother's Day!

<3 Gaby

Keeping Austin Weird and Cap10k recap

2010-04-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

Happy almost weekend! Late Wednesday does in fact count as almost weekend because it's more than halfway through. This week has been pretty relaxed anyways. Last week was insane! I was working for market research projects from 9am to 10:30 almost every day. It was exhausting, but thankfully that makes my financial situation a little less dire for now. I can only hope that work keeps picking up like this.I had some interpreting work Mon/Tues, and now I'm also in charge of our accounting/ secretary's job while she's in Mexico, so I'm in charge of all calls, emails, making sure everything gets entered and updated on the computer, and making sure all interpreters are where they need to be.
I don't think I mentioned it, but I was supposed to be in Frankfurt this week. Mom and another interpreter were supposed to be working for some oil negotiations and I was going along to babysit the other interpreter's daughter while there. It was going to be an awesome trade-off!! But then of course all the craziness ensued with the volcano eruption, flights canceled, my mom was "stranded" in New York (not a bad place to get stranded in my opinion) for an extra two days while there was talk of moving it to Madrid, and finally the entire meeting was called off.

I do wish I were in Europe...I ALWAYS want to be in Europe. But there has been a lot going on here in Houston at least and this weekend is packed! Earth day festivities, charity events, vegan potlucks, and my second ever 10k for Earth Day to benefit one of Houston's largest parks and conservancies. I'm so excited to run again! But before I can run again, I have to recap my first ever 10k two weeks ago in Austin.

I ran the Cap 10k 2 weekends ago after starting on my quest to become a "runner" at the beginning of March. Prior to that I had never been able to run. I've done every other sport, I've always been active, but running to the end of the block would leave me wheezing. But after reading so many running blogs and meeting many runners at my yoga studio and among friends, I felt really inspired to become a part of the community, be able to enter all these charity races, and do something good for myself in the process. I think my inability to run has always been largely due to a sort of mental block. I just didn't like it, it made me tired, and so I never really tried. Because once I really got started, I progressed in leaps and bounds and began loving it! I still have problems getting over the mental hurdles, sticking to my training plan, or making myself do the longer runs, but I love how I feel afterward. Ironically enough, the day after my very first run, I was talking to a friend of mine in Austin about when I could visit her and she mentioned she was running a 10k, so I told her I had JUST started running and somehow decided to sign up with her, despite the race only being 5 weeks away. Not wanting to pass out on race day was great motivation, and kept me a little more on top of the training plan than I would have been otherwise. Race day came around and it was soooo exciting to be running with her! The Cap10k is one of the biggest races there is, 18,000 people, costume contests, live music along the course and lots of free stuff afterward. It was so much fun! I loved the adrenaline rush, the crazy dressed up people, and even conquering the hills (Houston does not make for good hill training). I ran the 6.2 miles in about 67 minutes, which was actually the fastest I had ever run any distance at that point. My friends and I also think we should subtract a few minutes from the beginning since it was so packed it took quite a while before we could spread out enough to actually do any more than walk through the crowd.

I'm hoping to beat my time this weekend, but I really just want to have fun and keep up this new love of running. After growing up competing in things like gymnastics and swimming, and then going to doing nothing but yoga, I think I've missed the rush of competition, really getting to "beat" people, or even reaching my own goals and then surpassing them. I absolutely love yoga, particularly because it is so personal, peaceful, and non judgmental, but I think I need a little of both worlds.

I don't have any pictures from the race because I didn't want to run with a camera, but I'll try to get some from my friend and there are photos on the website.

Question: Are any of you runners, or what sports do you love? How do you keep yourself motivated?

Just to keep this post a little more colorful though, here's a picture of one of the crazy Austin squirrels.

I know I have more Austin pictures somewhere but my computer seems to have lost them. But some of my favorite Austin things:
- Shopping the vintage stores on Guadalupe
- Abundance of vegetarian friendly places to eat --> Mother's Cafe!!
- Barton Springs for ~~freezing~~ swimming
- Green Belt for hiking, swimming, boating, and spelunking if you're brave enough to enter a cave called the "birth canal". I am not.
- Downtown and the whole foods.
- Super biker friendly and the cycling culture, everyone has a bike, everyone uses it to get everywhere.
- Enchanted rock, about an hour outside of Austin. Best hiking and climbing and caves that I did in fact enter and had the greatest time crawling through!
- Driving there in Spring. I was mesmerized by the fields of wildflowers along the road throughout the whole drive! It was actually a little dangerous considering how hard a time I had concentrating on the road in front of me.

That's what comes to mind now, if you're heading to the area, message me and I'll give you more tips!

Jon Stewart/ Colbert Time!!
Goodnight!

Becoming an active citizen of Blogville

2010-04-09T22:16:00.001-05:00

Back so soon? Why YES I am!
This is just a brief interlude from my usual travel writing to post a few things I've learned about from reading blogs. While I'm terrible about updating my own, I've become quite the avid reader. I like checking my google reader every night, and I've "met" so many wonderful people through reading blogs and have tried my best to comment and let you all learn a little about me so I don't feel like a total stalker. I love that I can learn so much from you all, that I have found so many people with interests similar to mine and who I feel really understand me. No offense to my real life friends! I love you all equally and that's why I want to share these things with you.

The first thing I've heard about from several beautiful women in Blogville is Operation Beautiful. Since I'm interested in fitness and eating well, happiness and health, etc, I read many blogs written by women who are striving for the same thing and are actively trying to change the way society views health and beauty as well as the pressure to fit the mold. Seriously, the diet fads and advertisements and obsession with losing weight/ bulking up, slimming down, or being "bikini ready", or losing "20 lbs in a week" is way out of control. This is where Operation Beautiful comes in. I think it's a wonderful project and though I've thought of ways I could contribute, I was finally compelled enough to act yesterday. I'll try and post the picture I took with my phone, I'm sorry for the terrible quality!

You mean you don't have supernatural vision? Okay, this was an ad for a local plastic surgeon in a magazine and the tag line was "Love your body". Obviously my reaction was "What the...?!?!" Yeah right, love your body after paying lots of money to "fix" it? So I found a highlighter, did a lot of crossing out of the plastic surgeons info and under "Love your body" I added in "...Just the way it is". I felt very proud of myself, and put the magazine back on the shelf. Oh and in case anyone was worried, I did not mess up anything that was for sale! This was at central market, just one of the old magazines they have to read while you eat.

The second thing I did was participate in another recipe contest. You know I can't pass up an opportunity to experiment in the kitchen! Especially when it involves peanut butter because I'm addicted to the stuff. Almost to the extent of needing help for my addiction to all things nutty, but if I got help then I might not eat as much peanut butter and then what kind of life would that be? See what I mean?

This is my entry for the Great Peanut Butter exhibition #8 being held by the incredible Peanut Butter Boy. The only thing we had to do was create a recipe using peanut butter and ____ (a second ingredient). Easy huh? But of course you have to be ultra creative with it, the crazier the better. So my fill in the blank ingredient is ....drumrollllllllllllllllllllllll.....BEETS!!! I love beets, I love peanut butter, why not? I eat really weird things anyways and have actually eaten sliced beets spread with peanut butter before and I swear it works.

While it didn't turn out to be the greatest dessert recipe ever, it's quite good. Good enough for me to eat half the casserole dish in one day. Without further ado, here it is:

Peanutt-y Beet Souffle

16 oz can of beets

1 package silken tofu

1/4 cup of sugar (feel free to use any other sweetener such as agave, honey, etc to suit your needs)

1/4 cup of flour (any flour will do here, I actually used quinoa flour and it worked perfectly, so gluten free readers, you can still enjoy this!)

1/4-1/3 cup of peanut butter

pinch of baking powder

*Throw all of that in a blender and mix until smooth

* Mix together-

1/4 cup of coconut flakes

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sugar

*Sprinkle on top of beet blend

*Bake in 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes

*Then I warmed up about another 1/4-1/3 cup (just use several spoonfuls!) of peanut butter with agave and drizzled it on top.

While it didn't turn out as bright purple as I was hoping it would for aesthetic purposes, the pictures still show the nice gooey texture of the souffle and the crispy peanut-y topping :) Some crushed peanuts on top would be good too. Next time!

Enjoy the pictures, and if you're brave enough, I encourage you all to both try the recipe, or at least the beet/ peanut combo. And also keep Operation Beautiful in mind next time you're out or reading magazines, or watching tv, or going shopping (or doing anything involving not living under a rock).

Ciao!

(EDIT: I added a few substitution ideas to my recipe in order to also enter it into the SOS Kitchen challenge hosted by Kim and Ricki who are both great resources for people with special diet needs, or people who just like really great recipes)

Wine tasting and uphill walking

2010-04-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

Though not advisable to do at the same time.

This post is about SAN FRANCISCO!!! What a gorgeous city! I would describe it as hill after hill of beautiful row houses all painted in different colors, parks and open green spaces, and an abundance of quirky atmosphere. It has several museums, tons of outdoor activities, nightlife, funky shopping, and places to eat. I would really love to spend more time in the parks bike riding, reading, or walking, and of course picnic-ing! I do have to warn you all that if you're not a native SF-onian (?) your legs might be rendered useless after one day of climbing up and down to get everywhere! I managed with only minimal soreness this time, but last year I decided to climb to the top of the twin peaks the first day for the views and OUCH. Everyone that lives here is in fantastic shape.

I was there for the second time about 2 weeks ago for a conference at UCSF on Multiple Sclerosis. My parents were interpreting lectures led by leading specialists from the University for doctors visiting from Spain. One day I'll do the same, but for now I'm just there as the technician/ assistant.
This was my second time in San Francisco, I was there for a similar job last year, but last time I had a lot more time to see everything. And the way I tour, I literally do see everything!We still enjoyed ourselves this time with the few hours we had after conference activities had ended to walk around and find good places to eat.

The first day, though, was so much fun! My parents picked me up from the airport and we drove straight to Napa. As it turns out, two friends of mine from college moved out to Napa Valley 4 months ago. Talk about a lucky couple! They were married last year after graduating.She's studying to be a pastry chef at the Culinary Institute of America and he found a job at a small fancy winery giving tours and helping to run administrative things, etc. Wine? Pastries? Adopt me? We drove to his vineyard and he gave us a personal mini tour because one of his scheduled tours had canceled and he had a bit of time. The place was beautiful. The machines and wine making processes are so interesting! Not much was going on now because it's not really grape growing season, but I can only imagine how cool it would be to see the rows and rows of grapes in the vineyards, and see all the grape squishing in action! Oh, and of course we tasted :) In order to taste several I had to learn to spit some of it. I know that's how you're supposed to do it, especially for my friend who works there and gives several wine tastings a day, but it kind of feels gross! So that was my great first experience in the wine country!

After that, we returned to San Francisco and had a day to do some touring before starting the conference on Tuesday. I was lazy this time and didn't take many pictures, and the ones I did take are on my mom's camera. But I can post some from last year!

This is the Castro District. We stayed close to here this time because it's very central.If you can take a guess from the picture, it's known as the "gay capital of the world". Those words are taken straight out of the tourist guide. It's true, for you Houstonians, it's like a crazier Montrose. It's filled with bars and trendy vintage shops.

China Town! This area is so much fun! It's 24 blocks of shops filled with imported goods, clothes, and food, restaurants, and temples.

Excuse the shadow across my face. This is Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world! Well, I don't know about the world, but it's very crooked and very famous.

Did you know San Francisco is the home of sourdough? I did not until last year when we went to the place where it all started- Boudin bakery. There's a restaurant and a deli, and you can watch them make cute little (or very large) animal shaped breads, plus all the traditional loaves. I don't like sourdough at all, but I could tell this was good bread, and I really enjoyed their multigrain! It's also a great place to eat in Fisherman's Wharf with a nice view of the bay.

Pier 39, where all the seals like to hang out. They're so cute! And they like to make a lot of noise. The aquarium is also here and the Ferry to the Alcatraz prison is nearby on Pier 33. Unfortunately it was off season so the ferry wasn't running. The prison tour would be really fun, so do some research before you go!

I had a picnic here. It's a plaza between the 3 art museums and the Jewish Museum and it was beautiful!

The pictures from the wine tasting remain lost, but here is a link to my mom's facebook album from this year- Belvedere These are mainly from the adorable bed and breakfast we stayed in called the Belvedere. You can also read my Yelp review on here. The two reviews that follow that one are for the well known restaurant Greens, and the other one is a small German place called Walzwerk. I loved Walzwerk!

So question: Are any of my readers on Yelp? Just like my blogging style, I'm an infrequent reviewer, but I love being on there, finding out about cool new places, or old undiscovered ones. And my favorite thing to do is find out what's going on around the city! There's always fun events listed and I've been able to participate in some really fun activities and met nice people this way. If you're on it, add me as a friend! Also feel free to add me on facebook (Be sure to add "Gaby" not Diana who is my mom and will be confused) I love to find bloggers on facebook :)

Hope you're all enjoying the long awaited spring weather and having wonderful, or at least productive weeks like mine!

Arizona Part II: The Grandest of Canyons

2010-03-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

Woohoo, lookie me being all "responsible" blogger :) I've been pretty busy trying to find work and getting back into the Houston groove. The weather has been beautiful, sunny and 60's, so I've really been taking advantage of that by hanging out in parks with my friends, and working on a sexy shirt tan while reading on the Starbuck's patio. It's also made it a lot easier to feel motivated to continue my running training, I can't believe how quickly I'm improving! I spent the last 23 years of my life thinking I was simply not capable of running more than a mile and I've accomplished two 5 mile training runs already! Along with several 3 and 4 milers. This last Saturday I participated in the Shamrock Shuffle 5k for Ronald McDonald House, and then Sunday I did the AIDS 5k walk. Whew! That was an exhausting but fun weekend! I love being able to participate in such great charity and community events. I am finding it hard though to continue doing yoga as much as I should AND run, but I think it will become easier to manage my time and not get so worn out once I'm in better shape. This weather also makes me want to take my bike out all the time, but I haven't been able to do that yet for fear of wearing myself out before runs. But the runs are already getting so much easier, and my legs don't hate me as much anymore.

I also am continuing to meet interesting people. I went to a talk on Ayurveda this last Monday. Maybe I'll get into that a little more in the future because I"m really interested in studying more alternative medicine. And this Saturday is National Meat Out Day so I'm going to a pot luck picnic at a park and am sooooo excited for that! Check out the website and see what it's about, join me if you're in Houston, and if you're not, try and be meat free on Saturday! You're welcome to email me if you want recipe or food ideas to make your day extra special :)

Then Sunday early early early morning I leave for San Francisco for a conference on Diabetes. No, I cannot interpret seminars on Diabetes research yet, but my parents are the Super Heroes of interpreting and I go to conferences and handle the technical equipment and generally help out. It's shocking, but I can actually pretend to know about technology when I need to!
Since I leave for yet another trip so soon, I thought it best to squeeze in the second half of my Arizona trip before jumping my next airplane. The jet setter life is rough, I know.

So here's my not so short summary of the Grand Canyon:

Mid Sedona trip, my family had planned on taking a 2 day segue to the Grand Canyon to see the park and, for the more adventurous of the group, to do a shorter half day hike. My mom, aunt, and grandmother of course, staying up top and doing....not sure what in the meantime. Our plans were somewhat foiled, though, due to a huge snowstorm hitting on the day we got there. Even the park rangers said this kind of snowstorm was unheard of in that area, and the park in particular had never been covered by that much snow. We arrived late afternoon with the snow relentlessly falling and already building up several inches, but it was still decently bright out so we went to walk around the park and try to see the Canyon. Unfortunately with the fog and clouds the Canyon was completely invisible and it was too cold and wet to do much walking. That first night we managed to make it to the cafeteria closest to us for dinner and then just had to spend time in the rooms.

Upon first arriving. The snow was coming down but it was still manageable. This was not the case about an hour later...

Our view into the Canyon the first night.

The next morning it was still snowing but we were determined to at least see a bit of the Canyon trail. I was kind of wary because everything was so icy and foggy and the trail was covered in snow, therefore pretty much invisible though we knew it was only a few feet wide. The boys were much more gung ho and of course I had to show that I could hold my own too and not be wimpy and go sip hot cocoa with the ladies. Plus it's THE Grand Canyon, I had to hike it. I had so many layers of sweaters and jackets on anyways, I don't think I would have felt it had I taken a fall anyways. We took the Bright Angel Trail which was closest to us and I think maybe a bit easier than some others. I'm not sure because my dad did all that research beforehand. We went in about an hour and a half before it got too steep and slippery and we turned around and marched back up. I will admit the trek up is much harder (duh) but my cousins and I left our old men pretty far behind :p. Afterwards of course we needed fuel but it was too snowy to go to any of the other cafeterias on the park premises so of course it was back to the trusty one around the corner from our lodge (Can you guess where dinner was that night too?)

Mid way down. I had to keep shaking off the snow accumulating on my head!

My dad and uncle taking a break on the way up in the walkway, doesn't the edge look foreboding?

We were supposed to head back to Sedona that afternoon but the snow hadn't let up at all, roads ended up closing, buses stopped working and we ended up having to stay an extra night. This worked in our favor because the next day was gorgeous! The snow finally stopped and left piles of fresh soft powder glittering in the sunlight for us to play with.

Outside our cabin, my brothers climbed the pile of snow that reached the second floor.

The kiddos of course threw snowballs, and I went camera happy. The best part was that it was an amazingly clear day and we were actually able to see all the way into the canyon. It would have been so sad to go all the way there and never see into the bottom! The canyon itself is beautiful, the other side sort of looks like a painted backdrop. We didn't have time to hike again, but it's probably best that we hiked the day before despite the snowstorm because the day after the storm the trails turned into muddy snow sludge and was probably even less safe than hiking under the snow. But we did have time to go for a walk along the rim and take a lot of pictures.

One of the Natural Wonders of the World- WOW!

Posing with my cousin, brother, and dad. Dad, Team Zissou wants their hat back.

There's a lot more you can do at the National Park with more advance planning, and given that you don't get hit by any major weather systems. My dad has been dying to book one of the cabins at the bottom for years, but our work schedules are so unpredictable it's hard to book something as far in advance as would be necessary. Usually the wait list is about a year! Maybe one day I'll manage to hike all the way down just to say I did it.

The Canyon itself, as you can see is very impressive, but to be honest I feel like it's kind of one of those things you do to be able to say you did it. There are of course many more trails we didn't see, and I know trekking to the bottom is surely an amazing experience and an impressive feat, and for my two best geologist friends this is rock heaven, but like any National park, there's not much else to do when not hiking the Canyon. So given the conditions, it was a bit boring. The cabins and hotels they have are really nice and they have about 5 or 6 dining options throughout the park. I'm not sure about the other ones though because we were snowed in and had a hard enough time just getting to the cafeteria 50 meters away. It wasn't bad, and they did have about 2 vegan options, but after having the bean chili about 4 times I was a little tired of it.

I also have an extreme aversion to cold and would of course choose a beach vacation any day, but since the park is so nice and I really enjoy hiking, I used my expert layering skills and braved the frigid temperatures to admire the landscapes. I even found Bambi, look how cute!

So that's my recap. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Not sure what I"ll get to next. I may save Argentina for some monster posting in the future, but you're sure to see some of the Cali Bay Area soon! Much <3 til next time!

Getting back into fighting shape

2010-03-11T19:10:00.000-06:00

Hello readers, remember me? I was prepared to come back and grovel, plead for forgiveness for disappearing for so long, but truthfully, I've been too busy living and shouldn't be ashamed. It's not that I've been constantly "busy" busy, in the sense that I didn't have a lot of time to sit around on the computer. I've done plenty of that. But even when I haven't neccesarily had things to do, I've been too caught up with my thoughts and changes I'm working on for myself and my life that I don't have the energy, desire, or even words to share it all until I understand it myself. While I'm not quite there yet, here I am, ready to share at least what I've been busy doing in the standard sense of the word because I have done quite a bit and gone to many many places that I need to catch you all up on. It kind of feels like I'll never be able to remember it all but I'll get started. This is, after all, meant to be devoted to my travels.

I left for Argentina at the end of January, but had never caught up on my trip to Arizona. I then spent 5 weeks in Buenos Aires, came back 2 weeks ago, and have been trying to get my life back in order since then. That means trying to do a lot of work to make up for the money I spent, increasing my workload by expanding on my interpreting abilities so that I can finally make a decent income (meaning one that is at least enough to live off of). I'm determined to start studying for the legal certification exam, and in the meantime I've applied for many hospital interpreting jobs. I'm still doing a lot of simultaneous interpreting for the market research industry, and trying to get our company's marketing plan and strategies in order. I've also considered doing some on the side marketing consulting for start ups, but I'm not sure how that will work.
I'm back to yoga as well, doing a lot of hot yoga to learn teaching techniques and the sequences so I can get up in front of a classroom as soon as possible. I'm so intimidated by this! It's one thing to be able to DO yoga, I know I'm good at that, but it's totally different to teach. I get up there and go blank, my voice is monotone, I forget the routine, I'm too quiet....ugh, kind of sucks. Any teachers out there have some tips?
I also recently, as in last week, started running! Like seriously running. For years now I've done this thing where I decide maybe twice a year that it would be really cool to be a runner, I go jog half a mile maybe twice and then decide I can't run. But there are so many marathon runners at the yoga studio, and so many blogs I follow now that focus on running, and it just seems like so much fun! I love the sense of community, being able to run races for charity, and the emphasis on physical fitness. And that doesn't even begin to describe the endorphin rush during and after runs, and how great it feels to actually succeed and continue improving so quickly on something I never thought I could do. I began the Nike website 10k program last week and have diligently stuck to the running schedule. Yes, I let myself walk/ jog, as long as I get the mileage in but the walking has become a lot more sporadic and I don't really need it. My longest run has been 5 miles (this from the girl who thought she could never run more than a mile!). Yesterday I had a 4 mile jog and was absolutely running on air! It was amazing, I was singing out loud, sweating like crazy in the Houston humidity, and could have honestly kept running. I think yoga has really helped me in so many ways. I think what I always lacked was the mental stamina, but now I know how to focus myself more, plus my breathing stays a lot more stable, and I'm totally used to dripping sweat now that I do yoga in a 105 degree room. It doesn't bother me as much, I literally let it slide right off. Haha, gross :p).
Another thing I've been focusing on since getting back is getting more involved in both the yoga community, and the Houston vegan community. I've met such wonderful people and feel like I finally found a friendly and accepting environment where I can feel comfortable and share common interests with new friends.

So that's my life in a nutshell! But enough of that.

I want to get you started on Arizona, since it was WAYYYY back in December. (Geez Gaby, lazy lazy blogger!)
I visited both Sedona and the Grand Canyon with the whole extended family. My parents, brothers, aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandmother who was here from Argentina staying with us.

Sedona
This city is so beautiful! Of course the Grand Canyon is one of the wonders of the world and you have to see it, but I prefer to stay in Sedona for many reasons. For one, it's a city with things to do, restaurants, shopping, some cute historic things, all the hikes you could possibly want, and dazzling views. At the Grand Canyon you're in the National Park so there's nothing else there, plus if it's foggy or rainy, or in our case, giant snowstorm-y, you can't actually see into the canyon. In Sedona you're pretty much inside a big canyon, surrounded by colorful red clay and striped cliffs and mountains. The colors are truly unbelievable. See for yourself:

There are excursions such as mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, camping, fishing, among many many other things to do. Since my family is so large and has such diverse interests, we prefer to do our own thing. We split up a few times so that the more adventurous of us could do some more intense hiking. By intense I mean we climbed a 1 mile hike so some spectacular scenic views. Other than that, we did some scenic walks but nothing too adventurous. Everything is so pretty anyways! I really wanted to go mountain biking but each trip is upwards of $150 per person. There's a gorgeous stream we walked along with a few more rapid parts. My mom remembers this from the first time we went when I was 9 years old so she was excited to go back and see it. I think this first picture should be my next album cover...when I learn to sing or play an instrument...That's my handsome brother causing the creek to glow, sorry ladies, he's very taken!

Arizona is also home to a lot of art galleries for people who happen to have millions of $$ burning holes in their pockets. At least they're nice to look at, and give me ideas for fancy abstract art I can recreate for my home that looks expensive. For the more normal range spenders, there's plenty of shopping you can do for cool indigenous things, American Indian artwork and jewelry, namely, and good local products like prickly pear honey I had to buy. We also checked out the farmer's market where I got bee pollen to try for the first time, goat's milk lotion that smells like butterscotch that the local "goat lady" produces. She also makes fudge but I didn't get to try any, no more samples :(
Aside from the prominent Native American culture, Arizona is also home to all the extraterrestrial type thing, psychics, tarot readers, and things of that kind. I didn't meet any aliens or see crop circles but maybe next time.
Though I'm not a huge ET believer or anything, the whole hippy atmosphere does mean that AZ is home to a lot of the major yoga and spiritual retreat centers. It has perfect weather for this and is such a beautiful and relaxing environment, I would love to one day come back and do a yoga retreat. However, I contented myself with doing my poses dangerously close to the edges of cliffs.

Food is abundant and generally really good and diverse. Of course with a group of 16 Argentine's of varying (as in closed minded) tastes, I didn't get to try as many cuisines as I would have liked but I always manage to eat well! There are 2 raw vegan cafe's called Chocolatree that I did not get to try, but I did manage to convince the family to go to D'lish vegetarian eatery, which is kind of a small cafe with a lot of soup/ sandwich type foods. I admit it was not quite the dinner location we were hoping for but my family made kind of a big scene and complained a lot. That meant my brother and I simply had to eat our meals plus everyone else's. Oh well. There's of course a lot of your standard Mexican, and a lot of your fancy dining where you pay more for the views than the food. There is Korean and Thai but my family stuck to the typical American or Italian. Again, I love trying all kinds of things, but it's the company that counts. Here's everyone at a small family owned Italian place called The Hideaway that I chose for New Year's. It turned out to be really good!

Whew! Well that was definitely a long overdue and long in length post. Now that you're somewhat caught up on my life I won't feel like such a blog stalker when I comment on everyone else's blogs.
While I'm sure I've lost most of you already, I commend anyone who read all of that. Stay tuned and if you're lucky, you'll get a recap of the Grand Canyon before the weekend is over.
Over and out,

Gabs

VEGAN Sweet and Spicy Cocoa Mole Pom Enchiladas

2010-01-12T20:53:00.000-06:00

Just a quickie post. I promise I'll write a post on Arizona this week, just super busy prepping for my departure to Argentina next week, eeeeeeeeeeee!!

But I entered this POM contest at the beginning of December with a recipe I came up with and the voting ends January 14th, so this Thursday. I don't think the contest winner is decided entirely on reader votes, but I would love it if you all went and voted for me! And maybe you'll even be inspired to do some cooking of your own :)

VEGAN Sweet and Spicy Cocoa Mole Pom Enchiladas: "VEGAN Sweet and Spicy Cocoa Mole Pom Enchiladas"

Much love,
Gaby

I'm ready for some warm weather again

2010-01-06T16:06:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! It's about time I post about my trip to Arizona, where I froze my bum off but had a lot of fun thanks to my ability to layer 7 sweaters on at one time. One would think coming home to Houston would give some relief from the cold but unfortunately it's been in the 30/40 range all week and is supposed to get down to the 20's by Friday. YIKES! I need a more powerful space heater.

Before beginning on my Arizona adventure tales, I realized I haven't updated you on Gab World in a while so here's a brief overview of what's been going on. Well...ok not too much I guess. Work is on an off busy so I guess that's good. This week is really dead for me and I find myself worrying about needing to pay bills and saving up, but then there are weeks like the week before Christmas where I could barely fit in a shower (yuck).

I also finally started training to become a yoga instructor. YAY!!!! I've thought about it for so long but just haven't had the money to invest on the certification. But, luckily I go to an amazing studio owned by some of the nicest people in the world, and they decided to start a teacher training program for me and a few of the other students interested in becoming teachers. We're the pilot program, so it's all very informal, but we get together for a few hours every other Sunday and work on our teaching techniques and learning the series, among other necessary yoga stuff. All of the instructors and trainees are really wonderful and positive people so I've really enjoyed getting more involved and getting to know all of them. I hope to keep hanging out with them more outside of yoga (can we say friend crushes?) I can start teaching as soon as I feel comfortable, and then I hope that later on with the certification it will be a good side job that I can take anywhere my interpreting job takes me. Wherever that is, I know I'll need yoga in my life and if I get to share that with other people along the way, even better!

Another thing I've done a bit of is modeling. Nothing big, nothing paid, just a few fashion shows since October. I am very hesitant about posting that because I don't want the negative stereotype that goes with it. To be honest, I kind of have not enjoyed it. Yes, sometimes the stereotype IS true. The environment is stressful, the models chain smoke to replace eating, it's hours of waiting around getting make up caked on your face, funky hairstyles, sitting around in little dresses and freezing and then getting home way past my bedtime. On the other hand though, it has not been all bad, some shows have been fun, aside from a few really ugly make up/ hair jobs, I've gotten to wear pretty dresses, and had some good laughs with nice models who eat real food and have outside lives. I'll keep doing it once in a while simply because 1) it is kind of cool to be able to say I do it haha, and I think it will be good for my self esteem, which for a while now has been rock bottom; and 2) I'm getting free proffessional photo sessions out of it, easily worth thousands of dollars which may help me obtain paying gigs in the future. I like paying jobs :)

yeah...not happening

And finally, I have big time travel coming up!! I am set to depart to Buenos Aires on January 21st with my grandmother, who has been here visiting. For right now my return ticket is for the end of February. I had originally thought that I might want to stay longer and find a job, but my job prospecting has proven very unsuccessful, and the way work has been here, I don't think I can afford to be gone much longer. But I think it will be a great trip anyways, I'll do some traveling, and hopefully sign up for some classes while I'm there to keep me busy and meet new people. I do have my grandmother and some cousins there but other than that, I don't know anyone and would love to meet more people my age and get my Spanish skills up to par with people of my own generation. I know for sure I'll find some yoga and dance classes, but I'm also looking for something interpreting related or even just to build up my legal terminology in order to get my interpreting liscence when I get back and do more court room related interpreting. One of my besties, Eva, will be traveling with me on the way there too so I'm so excited to travel with her! She came with me back in 2006 and loves Argentina. She'll be there for a little over a week so I'm going to take advantage of having a travel buddy to maybe go visit Uruguay and some more central provinces of the country. She's already purchased several books and we're going to start planning everything soon.
Alfajores anyone? Nomnomnom

That's all for now. Important rule of blogging (made up by me): Do not overwhelm your readers with monster length wordy posts. Woops! I do this all the time. So I'm sorry for that but hope you enjoy reading this anyways, and I'll spare you the Arizona details for next time, and I'll include lots of pictures!

Ciao!

<3 Gaby

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T20:15:00.000-06:00

I'm ringing in the New Year in lovely Sedona, Az!
This year I took a family vacation to come visit Sedona and hike some in the Grand Canyon. It's exciting as my aunt pointed out today, because it really is my WHOLE family and we're hardly ever all together like this, especially for such a big occasion. It's my parents, my 2 brothers, my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins and even my grandmother visiting from Buenos Aires. We've made reservations at a yelp recommended Italian place called The Hideaway and have some ice cream and apple cider to toast with later.

Must head out to dinner now but I hope everyone has a great night!

Look forward to a post about Arizona soon!

Houston, we have a problem...

2009-12-22T18:28:00.000-06:00

No one knows how great a city you are!

Ok, so I'll admit that growing up I was one of those people that "couldn't WAIT to get out of Texas!"
But I don't know if it grew on me, or now I'm just mature enough to understand everything that goes into making a city a good place to live, but seriously, I LOVE Houston! It's really dawning on me now with upcoming travels, and real opportunities to move away that, even though I'm thrilled at all the possibilities I have in front of me and want to experience as much as possible, I do see Houston as the place where I could settle for the long haul.

Houston is just....easy. That's a strange word to use for a city, but really, life is easy here. Our cost of living is significantly lower than any other major city, and being such a huge city, there's a place for everyone. There's always something to do, places to go, people to meet, great schools, museums, art, diversity and culture, music, food... I could go on and on and on.

I consulted THIS amazing website (and finally discovered how to link, yay!) to help me get organized. I even ended up finding about a million things I didn't know about and still have to experience in Houston. I could be a tourist here forever! Since I already tend to be overly verbose and there's tons of information, I'm going to try to touch on all my favorite things to give you an insider's view and let you peruse the website yourselves.

First: Museums!
We have so many fun museums and all of them have at least one free day a week, in addition to probably hundreds of free art galleries.
The Museum of Fine Arts is one of the most well known. They have beautiful permanent exhibits, and bring in some amazing artists. Thursday's and the first Sunday of every month are free, and they host workshops and activities for kids and adults alike. They show foreign films year round and also periodically have film festivals where they'll feature a specific country for about a week. They also have parties a few times a year for us over 21's where they'll bring in famous DJ's or bands, serve cocktails and free appetizers and let you dance the night away. These are so much fun! I'll never forget the party where we were waiting for one of my friends as they introduced Grand Master Flash and showed him walking in through the back doors on the big screen and suddenly we see my friend walking right behind him! They had closed the front doors so he went around and told a security guy he was with the press ha ha! Yes yes, I have sort of insane friends and I love them...or at least get to tell good stories about them.

I haven't been to the Children's Museum in a really long time but it used to be one of my favorites. They have interactive exhibits and recently remodeled and added a few more that I kind of want to go visit. I remember I used to love going pretend grocery shopping and checking out at the little register.

The Museum of Natural Science is a favorite among my family and friends and I love going there. They have had some incredible exhibits recently, including Lucy, the oldest human, and the Body World exhibit has been here twice. I thought I'd be grossed out by it, but I found that one fascinating! And of course I am in love with all IMAX films. I went and saw A Christmas Carol a few weeks ago with my mom and brother in 3D and the graphics were soo well done! Def recommend that movie, 3D or not.

One place I still need to visit and have no excuse for not yet doing so: The Orange Show
Houston has a bunch of "oddities" and this is one of them. It's a house full of some guy's random collection of junk that he's turned into art. He is obsessed with oranges, and they also sponsor our annual Art Car Parade.

There are many more museums but let's move on....

While our theater district is top notch- The Houston Ballet, Alley Theater, Hobby, traveling Broadway shows, The Houston Opera,Symphony etc ...I'm poor and therefore do not really get the chance to attend these events :\
However there are about a million places to go see free or cheap music shows. Many cafe's and bars feature live local bands or bands on tour almost every day of the week. Recently I've also discovered a lot of smaller theaters and dance troupes that are more reasonably priced, so I need to start going. The larger organizations also offer a lot of special events at places like Miller Outdoor Theater and Discovery Green Park. Miller Outdoor used to be my go to place for all these shows. It's an outdoor theater (duh) with standard theater seating and a huge grassy hill behind that where you can pack a picnic and watch a show. I love going to see dance shows. This is also a really nice park to just go hang out on a sunny day, and when I was younger (ok ok not that long ago) I loved rolling down the hill.

While I still love Miller, Houston has a recent addition to its downtown that tops EVERYTHING. It's the new Discovery Green Park and is like an oasis in the ghost town that is usually our downtown. They have several free exercise classes every week like yoga, pilates, and zumba. I only managed to get to zumba once but found it was one of the most exciting ways to exercise ever. I felt like I was at a dance party! They also have a stage and feature bands and shows every week. In the summer and spring they show silent films, so my friends and I like to host pot luck picnics for these. They have a playground, and a big fountain- which is an ice skating rink at the moment, lots of grassy space, a dog park, traveling art exhibits, a low key burger place, and a fancy restaurant next to it.
All of this was built on what used to be an old parking lot for our Convention Center that they moved underground. The Convention Center is also cool, or at least HUGE and brings a lot of international conferences to Houston. From the outside it looks like a big cruise ship, so I've taken some funny photos there, even though I can't find them at the moment.

But here's my brother and dog at Discovery Green.

See that beautiful sunny weather? That also happens a lot here. Yes we get hurricans, and sometimes, like the last 2 weeks, it's non stop rain, but just as often it looks like that photo up there. And in the summer, even though it's a little unbearable unless you're indoors or in a pool, we manage to get nice tans (through my spf 50 of course).

All that great weather makes for good outdoor activities. And conveniently, Houston has several parks and trails, bayous, rivers, and lakes to do just that. I personally am a huge fan of biking (note to self: talk about the bike I got for Hannukah in next post, yayayay!) I do like going to the trails in Memorial Park and they have a very nice arboretum, but usually I just use my bike to get around my neighborhood and run errands or go to the local cafe's. I'd love to have more space to get into all the diverse neighborhoods but I think I've probably already lost all my readers. So check them out here. I live in Midtown, but grew up in the suburbs where the majority of people still live. Houston is quickly becoming more city like and high rises and new condos are popping up all around me.

Here's a group I led on a tour of Houston's many amazing farmer's markets! During college I worked as a bike tour leader for the University of Houston's Outdoor Adventure Club. We also took students on kayaking, canoeing, hiking, surfing trips, and many other outdoorsy things, and had a rock wall in the student gym too. I miss that job!

I can't talk about Houston without mentioning our gastronomic delights, but they are many and merit their own post. After all, we are one of the fattest cities in the US. I'm not sure what number we are now, it's #3 or 4, but it used to be #1. Come on Houston, what happened?!

Ironically, I'm off now to get to eating my dinner and maybe single handedly get Houston back it's 1st place title. Hope you've enjoyed this overview of my 'hood!

xoxo

Gaby

Snow in Houston!

2009-12-04T10:39:00.001-06:00

Hi readers! I just wanted to quickly update because, get this: It's 30 degrees and snowing in Houston!
Actually it has snowed the last few years in a row. Yes, it's only for a day usually and only just barely accumulates an inch or two before turning slushy, but it's still such a novelty for us native warm weather people. I find it super exciting!
The photos from my 10th floor balcony don't look like much but I'll take more and post them if it accumulates later. My parents might get some nice snow out in the suburbs. I live in the downtown area, which is also not the norm for Houston.

This brings me to my next point, since this is a travel blog, there are a lot of great and unexpected things I could share with you about my own hometown. Maybe I'll convince some of you to come visit! I promise it's not all big oil, astronauts and cowboys!
Of course I want to plan this out and do some research before doing a long Houston post but I wanted to get you all excited for it. So is there anything you want to know? Any myths or anything you've heard about Houston? I'd love to share all the cool things that have been going on in Houston lately and the improvements that have been made in the last couple of years. Houston is becoming a real city!

So be prepared for this post, and in the meantime, I didn't want to leave you hanging with nothing to read for so long. I've been busy with LOTS of interpreting, friends and family visiting, game nights and lots of cooking and baking. My friend gave me her bread machine because she never used it, so I've been having fun with that along with inventing new dinner recipes such as this one:
http://pomwonderful.com/community/vegan-sweet-and-spicy-cocoa-mole-pom-enchiladas/
and hosting a nice dinner party to test it out. Go and vote for me! There are sooo many great recipes though so I'm feeling the competition, but it was fun nonetheless to participate.
I have a lot to be thankful for! My thanksgiving was huge, over 30 people at my parents house. I loved it! Everyone was together, my brother came home from Austin, family was here from Argentina and we put ourselves into a pleasant food coma and sat down and watched Religulous by Bill Maher to finish off the night, haha. I hope that gives you a good insight into what my family is like.

The snow is still coming down hard so I think I'll leave you with some pictures and maybe bundle up and go play! Hasta la proxima!

This picture makes me really happy! We're almost never all together like this. These are my "little" brothers. There's David, me of course, and Michael. Interesting tidbit: I'm almost 5'9, so they're really not so little anymore :\

Awww my puppy! Percy is 13 years old and has gone completely gray.

What's Thanksgiving without pie?

A real change of season- Boston

2009-11-10T15:59:00.000-06:00

While it's still fresh in my mind I wanted to do a recap of my trip to Boston at the end of October.
I was able to go to Boston twice last year through work trips, but that also meant that we wouldn't get out of the conferences until after 4 or 5, so I mostly saw Boston at night. And both of those trips were REALLY cold.
This time, however, the weather was perfect! It seems we made it right in the middle of that very brief period where all the leaves are bright reds, oranges and yellows and it's still 50-60 degrees and sunny (well mostly sunny). It also happened to be a mini vacation added on the front end of one of my parent's work trips so we had 3 full days of tourist-ing. This was mostly on account of my little brother since the rest of us had hit all the big spots on previous trips. Also, he's 16 and in American History so we absolutely HAD to do every historical thing in and around Boston. Not complaining though, I had a lot of fun, and our trips are always these non-stop "go go go" type vacations anyways so I'm used to it and just had to sleep for a week after getting back (I think I'm getting old)

Day 1- We arrived late on a Saturday and it was rainy and cold so we bundled up and walked a bit before grabbing dinner- a cozy Italian place where I had them create a pizza just for me, no cheese, lots of veggies, and really delicious crust. Boston has a lot of good Italian places but you have to find the usually tiny authentic places among the many overpriced North End restaurants (Italian area of town).

Ok maybe Mike's Pastry Shop is worth the price and the line the goes far beyond the door every night.

Day 2- My family went to Salem because of course all the witch museums and activities are really cute to see, especially Halloween week. I passed on this since I did all those same Salem museums the last trip about 6 months ago and it really would not have been worth it to pay to see the same talking robot witches and pirates again. But I promise it's worth it the first time around! When I went with just my parents we got a 3 museum pass that makes it a bit cheaper too. Salem itself is a really cute Northeastern style town with little shops and restaurants, so I'd also recommend just giving yourself time to walk around and enjoy it too, especially on a nice day.
I also had a great day walking around Boston. I discovered the South End Urban Market. It was kind of a walk from our Beacon Hill hotel (The place is called John Geoffrey's House- great price and location) but very worth it. There's a small food market but the arts vendors are really what it's all about. This weekend of course was Halloween themed with people in costume and each vendor stand giving out candy (free!). There were rows upon rows of stands with really unique creations. I bought a beautiful necklace which unfortunately broke so I'm still waiting on the replacement. I also sampled some jams and briefly checked out the large warehouse of antiques behind the market. After that I literally walked all over Boston. I didn't want to do any of the tourist spots without my brother so I checked out Trader Joes, walked through the park. Then went to Fanuil Hall, which in the past has been both a meeting place and market, but I held off on the historical part and just did some shopping. Then I stumbled on another Halloween fair while waiting on my family to get back from Salem. I got some decent flavored coffee and of course had to try a candied apple, and then listed to some Gay rights protestors.
When my family arrived I took them to a spot I had scoped out earlier called Pheonicia, a middle eastern place, that seriously had some of the best food I've had in Boston. Now I know Boston is not known for it's Middle Eastern food but we're going by my standards here, and while I love a good plate of homemade pasta, most places like that are really difficult for me to eat in because of lack of veg options and really heavy meals that tend to make me feel sick. This place was perfect. Several totally vegan versions of traditional plates like moussaka and the pumpkin kibby that I ordered. This was so good! I think I want to recreate it for our Thanksgiving. And the greatest thing was the real Turkish coffee at the end of the meal. I love finding the strong coffee grains at the bottom!

Boston Commons. I don't know if you can tell, but they were playing soccer with a giant rubber ball, FUN!

Day 3- Concord: We took the train to Concord where my brother had a whole list of places we needed to see. Outside the city is where you can really see all of autumn's brilliant and abundant colors, it's no wonder so many famous authors and poets found inspiration here. Writers like Louisa May Alcott (Little Women), Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathanial Hawthorne all had homes here and are now buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetary. Walden Pond is also nearby and is suppoesd to be a beautiful national park but they recommend having a car to get out there. The Concord Museum also tells you about the small town's historical significance. You may remember learning about the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first battle in the war for Independance. Like all of my family vacation days this was also an exhausting one of non-stop walking so after taking the train back we only made one quick stop into the Liberty Hotel- an old prison closed down for its continued violations and prisoner abuse, and now turned into a hotel. Dinner was just italian again...I don't really remember it but do remember passing out soon afterward.

I couldn't take enough pictures of these leaves!

Day 4- This day was rainy and cold but we were still determined to complete the whole Freedom Trail (http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/) Much of the Freedom trail is simply walking by monuments, but it does include some interesting spots such as the first Public school, the Granary Burying Ground with people like Samuel Adams, the site of the Boston Massacre, The Paul Revere House, and the Bunker Hill Monument. After walking all of Boston to see these sites, I had a very much needed break while my parents checked on the conference site. I literally was about to lay down in the lobby of the Medical Conference Center but that would have appeared unproffessional since we were meeting with people I sometimes work with too. But sitting down for about 30 minutes gave me the energy I needed to then go to Harvard. We walked around campus though it was still rainy. We snuck a peek at the freshman dining hall that looks like a scene out of Hogwarts! I then parted with the family and met my friend Hannah ( http://1singlestep.wordpress.com/) for dinner at Wagamama's. This place is so good, please come to Houston! I had a great time catching up with her before hopping the train back to the hotel. I love public transportation :)

My brother and Ben Franklin

So that was my trip. If you want more information or have questions on any of the sites I visited just leave a comment and ask me. I just didn't want to make this post any longer than it already is. I give Boston two thumbs up, and definitely hope I get to go back, even for work, really soon.

Wow I took a long break!

2009-11-02T17:50:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! I think it's time I start writing again as I'm hoping I'll be getting more readers, plus the usual friends may want something to read...

I've been quite busy and I guess sort of uninspired to write, especially since I want this to be a travel blog but it seems that my summer vacation was forever ago and it's hard to go back and write about now---> lesson: do not procrastinate these things!

Life has been treating me well for the most part. I finally began interpreting for REAL, and it's going really well! I've only had a number of jobs but as it turns out, it's something I really enjoy doing. I like that it's challenging, but doable, and I feel accomplished when I'm finished. Sometimes the topic is really mundane, like research for beer commercials, but other times it's medical research, conferences, etc and no matter what it is, I always learn something new. Another large perk is that it pays well and there's much more demand so I'm no longer rationing out every penny and turning down trips to movies and such due to lack of funding. I'm caught up on rent and car payments also and I don't hyperventilate (as much) when I have to look at my bills at the end of each month. I'm also really working on doing my job as Marketing Director for our translation company but I'm finding it really really challenging. 4 1/2 years of college and my marketing degree is apparently useless =/ Anyone have experience with advertising and sales out there?

My friends have been the greatest: lots of dinners, parties, game nights, movies, and wonderful meaningful/ meaningless conversations that all mean just as much to me nonetheless. I finally seem to have pulled myself out of that rut and I find that I'm focusing on everything and everyone that I love in my life and how lucky I truly am. It's becoming more clear what's really important to me and it helps me to get through the harder obstacles to remain conscious of these things. I won't get too into it on here but for a while I had a potentially perfect boy and it really seemed that everything was falling into place for a while. October was an amazing month! Then I lost said boy, so lately I've been pretty sad on and off, but trying not to think about it and reminding myself of everything I said above. The travel plans are still very unplanned due to a difficult family situation, but it will happen, I just don't know when. BUT, my point was that I still have a lot of great things going on and supportive people to surround myself with. I think my new attitude is serving me well because I know that, yes, sometimes I will be sad, or angry, but then I'll get better. I've been through bad things before and gotten through them, and I'm sure I'll go through more hardship many times over, but it never fails to get better. All I can do is acknowledge how I feel for what it is, accept it and move forward. Such is life.

I've gone all philosophical here, so I'm going to stop and save the overdue travel post for next time (it will be soon I promise!)
And to make this more visually appealing, here are some pictures from the last couple of months. I'll also be posting some fun Halloween and holiday pics in the future I'm sure, butthese will have to do for now.

My aunt had a "where the wild things are" themed birthday party so I made some appropriate yummy things to go with it. Those little wild thing rum balls were also just featured by my blogger friend Katie, who is a chocolate loving vegan with a super cute blog and if you visit it, she donates money to charity. So go see my handiwork there! chocolatecoveredkatie.com

I went on a family vacation to Boston and got to experience a real fall! The colors were absolutely beautiful, we don't have that here in Houston. As you can see, my brother and I had fun with all the leaves!

Don't worry guys, I'm keeping Starbucks afloat in these difficult times. Lots of coffee has been and will continue to be consumed. Especially because it pairs so well with my baking :)

A tout a l'heure mes amis!

A little ME break

2009-09-07T12:03:00.007-05:00

Hello again faithful blog readers! (Are you there?)

Before getting into my guide to Menton, France, I'll give updates on ME :) and talk about travel again next time.

My life has just been more of the usual. I've had more translations coming in,some tech work and more marketing. I have been practicing my interpreting and have my first job as an interpreter beginning of October. WOOOOO!!!! That will be exciting. I know I can do it! My skills are there at least going from Spanish INTO English. I just work best under pressure and being on the spot that way, I'm sure I'll be fine. I also decided that I need to take the leap with going to Argentina. Family circumstances allowing, I'm going to go in the spring and hope to find a job there, since it will be a lot easier in person than expecting people to respond to emails from some random person they don't know in the US. I may do an online TEFL certification to be better prepared.

Another awesome thing is that I set myself a 30 day yoga challenge. My studio has one but I know I can't commit to that financially and time wise but I knew I could do it for myself. The deal was at least 20 minutes of yoga a day for 30 days straight, even if some days all I did was lay in savasana and breathe. I actually ended up doing about an hour or sometimes more every single day, it just felt so great! I think there were only 2 occasions on which I stuck with lighter 30 minute practices if I was really tired. It's been really fantastic for me both physically and mentally. I can see visible differences in my body and have noticed increases in strength. I mastered a few new arm balances and the other moves have become easier. I've also learned to value the meditative aspects of yoga too and that's done wonders for my stress levels as I navigate this transitory period in my life. Some days, as I said, I did 20 full minutes of breathing exercises. I used feel so weird doing breathing exercises and felt that meditating was just kind of kooky and didn't really work and just wasted time. Well, I still don't meditate in that stereotypical sense, but taking a few minutes to clear your mind can work wonders. I can't imagine starting my day now without those stretches to wake me up, or taking time to focus myself for the day. I definitely recommend that every do this! You don't have to be super flexible, or have a lot of time, or go all out yogi. It's really as simple as 10 minutes a day, and it's all about YOU! If anyone wants some online resources and videos I have tons so just send me a message and I'll give out links.
Now that my 30 days are over I'm still going to keep it up. I just might not be so strict about it, maybe some days I'll go bike riding and not feel up to it, or some days I'll be busy or traveling, but I know I need yoga regularly.

The baking and cooking has continued in my abode as well. I have to keep my home well stocked with baked goods at all times and have been particularly enjoying biscotti of all kinds, as well as some other pretty cupcakes and cakes. I'll do a post full of those pictures one day too and see if I can maybe promote a future catering business ;)
My friends and I have also held some dinners and potlucks, and Houston has been a fun place to hang around too. I'm serious! Houston can be really fun! We have great parks with a lot of free events such as concerts, dance performances, movies, and classes. Midtown and Montrose areas are full of cute coffee shops and bars and vintage stores. And where else can you continue lounging by the pool well into October?

That's all I've got for now so I'll leave you all with some pictures and bid you farewell for now!

My cat when she was tiny. So cute!

Playing with my camera.

The peppers that have been plentiful on my balcony all summer. I think their season is coming to an end and I'm going to miss them.

Nice: beyond nice!

2009-08-25T21:48:00.005-05:00

Ready for the next installment of my Euro files??
"YEAH!!!" (that's what you're all supposed to say while jumping up and down excitedly)

I left off when we arrived in Menton and went out to dinner for my birthday. Menton was really our "home base" and we took day trips from there. I'm tempted to stick to chronological order, but I think Menton deserves a longer post of it's own so I'm going to skip a day here and go back to Nice. After spending the first day in Menton settling in, it was time to go meet one of my bff's, or as we dubbed it- "bfff" for best friends in france because we are really clever like that. She came to spend a week with us and her flight was landing in Nice so we took the opportunity to take a day trip to Nice to meet her and tour this popular French Riviera destination.

She met us at the train station around 1 and had not eaten yet so we took her to a Brioche Doree nearby. This chain is all over Europe and it's really good (isn't all European food!) It's mostly just sandwiches or quiches, lovely baguettes and desserts, and they have really good meal deals that include coffee. Bread + caffeine = love.

Our first stop was the waterfront to admire how shockingly blue the water is. This is due to the beaches being mostly rocks all along the Mediterranean. I really like this, it means no sand clinging to you and all of your stuff, and it also means adding several pounds of pretty rocks to your backpack for the trip home for your rock collection. At the end of the waterfront you reach the cliff where the old village is located.

We climbed (in the elevator for 1 euro) to the top for more views such as this one of the port. At the top there's a nice park with a playground, the usual hotel, restaurant, touristy things. There was also an archeological site that people were excavating so we got to watch. This was cool because I have several good friends that are geologists who would have loved to see that. On the hike down there's also a man-made waterfall, so we took some quick pictures but we were ready for more important things.

GELATO!!!!!! This is the greatest place ever and I wish I could spend several weeks in Nice so that I could try every single flavor. This place is in all the guidebooks so you're sure to find it. It's called Fenocchio and is well knows for not only tasting amazing, but also tasting amazing in 98 different flavors. My choices this trip included a dark chocolate sorbet and fig sorbet- super combo!
After that we were ready to catch the train back to Menton, but not before taking a quick look into H&M because Houston is not fashionable enough to have one here.

That's all for Nice for now. There are definitely many more tourist spots and museums that I'd recommend seeing if it's your first time, but we were just there half a day so we took it easy.

Til next time!

Back to our regularly scheduled program

2009-08-11T21:18:00.010-05:00

Hello lovely friends!
I'm feeling a better after letting all of that off my chest. This week has been pretty boring but there has been some work and I make sure to keep busy, even if it means making things up for myself to do. Several weeks ago I cleaned out/ reorganized my apartment so I'm finishing that up this week and have added new paintings and gotten some essentials I've been putting off. All this in time for a little dinner party I'll be hosting tomorrow for some of my favorite people. I have a lot of teachers in the family who all went back to work this week and are stressed out, and I like to help out in the best way I know how: vegan Mac and "cheese"!! I'm so excited!
I have also set a goal for myself to do yoga every day because I notice such a huge difference in how I feel when I practice regularly. I decided this after a class on Saturday because even getting in 20 minutes of stretching a day makes me feel amazing. So I know this will be good for me and it gives me something to work toward. I think I'll start with ....30 days? I think that seems reasonable.

Now- back to France!
From Barcelona we made our way through the French Riviera. We took a 3 hour train to Perpignon where we spent a few hours walking around. We were able to leave our bags at the station, and though this costs some Euros, it's worth not lugging it around. Perpignon is a small town but has a nice commercial center with all the major shops, tons of bakeries, creperies, and gelato places. One thing to keep in mind when traveling in both Spain and France, however, is that everything closes between 2 and 5 pm for their lunch and resting time. Those French do know how to live well!

These bike stations are all over Europe now from what I've seen. They're all over the city so that you can pick one up when you need to go somewhere and drop it off at another location. And they only pay something ridiculous like 20 Euros a year. How awesome and eco-friendly!

Mid-afternoon, we took another train to Montpellier. We spent one night here so the first thing we did was take the train to our hotel. The train is this cute above ground system painted with all kinds of funky designs. Then we headed out to explore. There are some nice pedestrian areas with restaurants, a large park by the river, lots of monuments and one of those old stone dams on the river. And the best part was that we happened to get there on the first day of their summer festival! They had a huge open market, street vendors, free giveaways and performers!

Those were little kids at the top! My guess would be the youngest were about 5 or 6.

Here's the big bridge.

The next morning we took a train to Nimes and planned to spend a few hours there but couldn't find anywhere to drop off our luggage. But we made the best of it and quickly ran to the Colosseum and took pictures before hopping on the next train.

We arrived in Avignon soon after. It's a little bit larger of a city, and absolutely beautiful. All of the old architecture is still intact, I love how Europeans preserve their history. I think that's so important, and here in the US we tend to like bigger and newer. Shiny metal replaces brick and cobblestone.

Our first stop was the Pope's Palace. Inside is the Papal History Museum, which is what the name implies, the ENTIRE history. The place is huge and you can see everything from the lavish banquet rooms, to the kitchen and servants quarters. There's also an audio tour included that goes into detail about every last corner of the palace and every single pope. Give yourself at least 2 hours (more if you plan to listen to every audio chapter). I don't want to offend anyone, but the excesses of the old Catholic church are astounding. The history is really interesting.

The famous Pont d'Avignon! Did anyone else sing that song when they were little? I sang it in Spanish but of course the original is French. The tune brought back fond memories. There is also an audio tour for the bridge that explains how it was knocked over so many times that they didn't bother to rebuild it all the way across anymore. From there we climbed up above the Pope's Palace to some gardens for some really nice views and a very much needed cup of coffee!

We spent the night in Avignon and the next day happened to be my Birthday! It's not so exciting anymore because I feel old. Oh well, we still had my birthday morning celebration there before heading to Menton that evening for a birthday pizza dinner :)
We spent the rest of our vacation based in Menton, but more on that next time.

This concludes another jumbo post. I at least hope the pictures held your attention throughout. Hope you enjoyed them!

Any job openings for professional procrastinator?

2009-08-04T12:45:00.003-05:00

Yes, this is what I am, and lately I've taken it to an extreme. While it's sometimes just me being lazy, as per why I haven't moved on to the next destination on this blog....
I kind of want to touch on the bigger picture today and put off the French Riviera a little longer because my brain has been set to repeat for the longest time and I can't stop it. I think about this in my sleep, I wake up thinking about it, and I spend my days searching for ways to change it.

I've basically put my life on hold since I graduated in December. Some reasons for this I'm aware of and others I haven't figured out, but I don't know what to do about any of them.
I think a lot of it is fear, a large part indecisiveness. I know that even though I don't have a clear idea of what will make me happy, for right now it's becoming critical that I simply DO anything (and on top of all the pressure I put on myself, my parents seem to get more and more impatient with me each day), but then I just can't follow through on anything. I feel restless and unsettled all the time due to this stagnation, and then really afraid of what will happen once I decide on or manage to plan a direction for myself. Where to go? What to do? What will I miss by choosing one thing over another? Can I have it all???

Then there's fear of not succeeding. I was already rejected from the two things I had become seriously invested in, not to mention countless job applications. But I can't fail if I haven't really tried, so instead I try everything halfway. I've investigated a lot of opportunities but I'm stuck about what I'd really like and how to do it.

So this post was really just to vent a little, I'm still stuck, but I do want to post the options I'm investigating thus far, and think that maybe by revealing something a little more personal about myself on here and making my goals more public I'll feel even MORE pressured to do something.

First, I need to go to Argentina at some point. I don't know how long I'll go for or what I'll do there, but that will happen and hopefully sometime this fall. I've looked at the English school there. I know they have courses for English professors, particularly a 3 part seminar in November that I could do. However, it would be nice to find a job with them. If not I can take the seminar, and find some other fun classes to take while I'm there and simply make it a shorter trip. Due to some personal circumstances, a shorter trip might be better anyways, even though experience wise, longer is better. And I do have family and friends to stay with and who can keep me occupied anyways, not to mention a free place to stay!

Today I emailed a Portuguese school in Maceio, Brazil. I don't think I could afford their courses, and would like to do something longer than 2 weeks of classes anyways, but I asked about job opportunities teaching English that I know they've offered in the past.

This week I will get some interpreting practice and record myself interpreting some cassette tapes of old interviews I have so that I can start getting higher paying jobs. And now that it's written down I HAVE to do this!

I need to do some more serious investigation into volunteering in Israel. I know the programs themselves are free, but obviously other costs are involved, and I need to start preparing myself financially and otherwise if I do choose to go live in Israel for 5-10 months (depending on the program).

I will go to a few networking events for the family business, and search for potential clients online, since I live on the computer anyways.

I will not neglect my friends just because I feel defeated and want to stay curled up on the couch forever (yes guys, this is the reason, I haven't stopped loving you!)

I will stay or go back to being more politically active because I know this really does make me happy. I will start this by going to the Mayoral Forum tonight to hear all the Houston candidates speak.

I'll finish organizing my apartment because I like being neat and clean :)

This emotional spillage was brought to you by a quote on another blog I happened upon this morning:

“I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!

-Alice, Alice in Wonderland

Now I'm off to start being productive!

Barcelona in pictures

2009-07-27T15:47:00.004-05:00

Looking back at my previous post, I'm realizing more and more that I need to find the best way to keep all the information I want to share simple and to the point. It's difficult because there's so much to tell, but I seriously commend anyone that actually read through everything I wrote on Barcelona, because that was way too wordy and not very organized.
So I think this post will be better and much more exciting to "read"!
Here are the promised pictures of Barcelona:

Tiled ceilings in part of Parc Guell.

The crazy stone architecture at Parc Guell. Half the place looks like this, the other half is done up in that tiled style I show in the first picture.

On the rooftop of "La Pedrera"- The house designed by Gaudi.

View of the bustling port of Barcelona from atop the Old Village Montjuic.

Inside the market- Look at all the beautiful fruit!! I probably ate my weight in fresh figs on this trip. Why don't they grow like that here??

The lifesize mammoth replica in Parque Cuidadela with my brother and the kids underneath so you can get a sense of scale.

Entrance to the park. I'm not sure about when or why this was built but arches are always pretty :)

Next time I'll talk about all the little French Riviera towns we passed through. And if you'd like, you can leave comments telling me what you most like hearing about so I can make my posts more concise.

Hope you enjoyed the photo tour!

Ultra late vacation posts begin!

2009-07-22T21:27:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while, hasn't it? I've been home for almost a month now! Life has been treating me well enough, though the job hunt/ future planning is still at a stand still. It seems I go around in circles, get ideas but either I don't follow through or the plan falls through....I'm not too sure yet what I should do about this. The good news is that for now the family translation business has picked up some. This week I took over the secretary's job since she was on vacation. That meant a lot of phone answering, emailing, billing, etc. I also had several short legal translations, and I'm pretty sure I saw that I have some market research groups coming up. So I can slowly but surely start pulling myself out of debt and eventually start making money so I can take off somewhere. Right now I'll pretty much take any job short term whether I like it or not if it will make me some money to travel with.

So now on to the purpose of this blog- TRAVEL
I'm going to work my way through my three week trip and give you an overview of where I went and what I did, and if I write it right (hehe) it will hopefully inspire you to travel yourselves and help you along the way.

First Stop: BARCELONA
Here in Houston, we're lucky enough to have a direct flight to Barcelona. You leave in the evening and arrive early the next morning. That's great news for people like my brother who has the ability to pass out anywhere, and means a long night of bad movie watching for people like me. I don't mind though, I packed some good books and lots of meals/ snacks and it also turns out my mom ordered me the vegan meal so I had extras. Note to Continental users: vegan always = Indian. I'm not fond of spicy at all, particularly not on an airplane, but for the first time ever it included a vegan choco chip cookie! Score!
The first day, we were of course exhausted but that is no excuse when you're in Barcelona. So much to do and so little time! We had rented an apartment since we were so many people. I would really recommend doing this if you have a decent amount of people (3+) and are staying for close to a week. It's a lot cheaper than a hotel, saves you a ton of money on meals out, and is just more comfortable all around. Ours was really spacious and really nice. We went out and found lunch and then made our way to some touristy sites.
One thing we didn't see but that was near where we stayed was the Museum of Chocolate. Yes, I can't believe we didn't make it there either! But I read it in a guide somewhere and was really intrigued, so next time I'm in Barcelona, that will be a must.
The first thing we did was take the cable car up to Montjuic. Take this from the metro station rather than the main entrance on the Port and you'll save money and not waste time waiting in line. Montjuic is the old Spanish Village. It has a few craft/ tourist shops and a museum, which was closed, but the views of the Port are wonderful. The walk down has several sights- gardens, museums, fountains. We walked through the botanical gardens and found these giant slides that the kids (and me and my dad) had to go down several times. I do still love good playgrounds and this place has a lot of fun places to let your inner child out.
We then went to see the old Olympic Stadium from ...1992? It's now used as a fancy fitness club and has some nice lap pools and you can still see the broadcasting tower.
We walked by the 'Plaza Espanyola'. It seems to be kind of like a theme park but more historical, and a good way to spend the day if you have more time. We were tired and had the younger kids with us so we decided to pass that up.
At this point we still had a long walk back to the apartment but we eventually made it, walking back through the central area. We rested for a while, meaning everyone ended up napping for about 2 hours while I sat around, read and used the computer. I finally managed to get everyone up for dinner, we went out again, and that was it for the day. I slept really really well.

The next few days I failed to keep an accurate account in my written journal, but I did take note of other important things to see in Barcelona.
First up: All the Gaudi architecture is amazing. The most famous is "La Sagrada Familia". It's a giant temple that has been under construction since 1882 and still has anywhere between 30 and 80 more years to go before it's finished. We didn't go inside this year, but I had been with my mom in 2006. The inside has really incredible towers and windows but much of it is still covered up by all the construction. The outside kind of hidden too, but what you can see of the detailing is crazy. Really, all of his architecture is so interesting. He used a lot of intricate and weird designs and shapes and all of it is very unconventional. Other things to see by Gaudi are 2 houses he designed- "La Pedrera" and "Batilliou". We toured La Pedrera, but not Batillou, although I personally think it looked a lot more interesting. Whoever is in charge of all the tourist attractions thinks so too because it's also more than twice as much to get in. If I had had more time I would have gone, but I was babysitting our family friend's little ones this time so my museum and site time was limited to their attention spans. The other main site to see by Gaudi is Parc Guell. It was once someone's home but is now a large park with a lot of beautiful gardens, more cool architecture and houses. These are all hard to describe, but I'll make my next post a picture post.
My favorite things to do when traveling are to simply walk around and experience the city as the locals do. I love the shops, the food, people watching, and enjoying a lifestyle that's so unfamiliar to this native Houston/suburbanite. The best place to do this in Barcelona is Las Ramblas. This is the main street with tons of shops and restaurants and the huge outdoor market. The market has to be one of the greatest I've seen in Europe. So much fresh fruit and vegetables, and juices. The Spanish are meat lovers so they have several meat stands with cuts of Iberian ham, chorizo, or entire pigs ( I avoid these, poor piggies!). And even I must admit, the cheese stands smell quite enticing. More good people watching and shopping can be found around this area too on Passaeg de Gracie and other streets that all meet in the main square.
The kids really loved Parque Cuidadela. It's a really nice park adjacent to the zoo. There's fountains, a small lake with paddleboating, ping pong tables, widespread grassy areas for picnicking and soccer(futbol) and a lifesize replica of a mammoth.
We went to the beach on the last day just to see it. I had never been but it's actually a beautiful beach, full of restaurants, hotels, and water sports. With more time, you can definitely turn Barcelona into a beach trip too. From there we explored the old town streets to get back to Las Ramblas. These are filled with cute little shops and cafe's, just try not to get lost (or let my dad have the map) like we did! This is also where you'll find the Picasso museum. I had seen this back in 2006, and if you appreciate art even the slightest bit, or even if you don't, you have to go see it. The other well known art museum is the Miro Museum. I'm not as big a fan of his artwork, but I still think you should see as much as possible while you're there.
The Catalan language is a lot more prevalent than what I remember from my 2006 trip. It is used equally as much as Spanish, if not more, though everyone speaks both. For me, it was easy enough to understand, or I could at least get a general idea. I think if you speak both Spanish and French it might be even easier.

I was going to go into tapas style eating and also elaborate on the wonders of El Corte Ingles, but I'm actually hungry myself and this is already a monster post so I'll let you all rest your eyes and provide some pictures next time! (maybe including the cherry poppyseed muffins I'm about to devour :D )

Til next time.

Delayed posts!

2009-06-19T01:47:00.001-05:00

Sorry for not really posting updates! You all know how crazy vacations can be. Not to mention we're so busy moving around and trying to do as much as possible, so the last thing I'm making time for is being on the computer. Bad for the readers, but it's a nice break from technology for me.

Since I last posted, we did a bit more touring of Barcelona, left for Perpignon, France where we spent a few hours before going to Montpellier. We spent the night there, left in the morning and tried to go through Nimes, which didn't work out so we continued on to Avignon. We spent the night there too. I celebrated my birthday morning in Avignon, then after lunch we got on a 4 hour train ride to Nice, stopover in Nice to wait for the short train to Menton. And this is where we are now! I had a nice birthday dinner here in Menton and since then we've been really enjoying some beach time and exploring just like last year.

Menton is unbelievable gorgeous! Liza, one of my besties :) arrived in Nice day before yesterday so we went to meet her there and spent the afternoon exploring Nice, getting the best gelato ever and generally having a lot of fun. Today we're headed to the markets of Ventimiglia, across the border in Italy for the morning, then getting some of the best gnocchis available for lunch before coming back for some more beach time.

I know this is a super rushed overview and I promise to write long travel guide style posts about everything I've done in the near future, but it will probably not be until after I get back to Houston, or if I happen to have some time at night in the apartment. There's just way too much to say and as much as I appreciate the few people that have started reading this blog, you will have to be satisfied with these shorter updates on my whereabouts while I squeeze in as much beach time and France touring as possible this next week and a half.

A tout a l'heure mes amis! (excuse the horrendous french)

Quick update

2009-06-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

Hello lovely friends!

This will be quick because I'm tired and it's late, plus we are all sharing one computer.

BUT, I arrived in Barcelona yesterday morning safe and sound after a long and bumpy sleepless night, but what can I expect from airplanes?

Other than that I ran surprisingly well on zero hours of sleep and was able to see a lot yesterday.

We did even more walking today and saw the old fortress, the Olympic stadium among many other things. Plus a yummy stop for gelato and good trip to El Corte Ingles. That was so nostaligic for me! I loved grocery shopping there while I was in Madrid.

A lot of things are actually bringing back great memories of living in Spain. I love it here! I'm so excited for the rest of my vacation. Tomorrow we're doing all the Gaudi spots and maybe going by the beach if there's time.

Then Friday my mom will be here so hopefully she can join me for some "commercial" sightseeing :)

Bueno, t'luego tios/as

Til next post,

Gaby

Packing

2009-06-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

Time to departure: ~ 13 hours

EEEEEEE!!!!!!! I'm so excited!
I fear that no one is really reading these posts....YET. But that's ok, I'll soon pick up a following once I tell more people about this blog and start making it more visually appealing.
I will try to keep this short because I still have a bit more packing to do and have been running around trying to get everything together all day. I did, however, want to write a little about just that.
Getting ready for a big trip like this is always stressful. Even packing for my short trips can be hard, but leaving for a month takes it to a whole new dimension. I'm actually a very good packer and have a lot of experience. I've learned to pack light, no matter what, and haven't ever forgotten anything major.
For example, I studied abroad in Spain and managed to put everything in a medium/ suitcase and a backpack for the whole 6 months. When I arrived, everyone else on my program was shocked and thought maybe I had already left things in the hotel or I had a real suitcase in the other room, or something couldn't be right. They all had 1 or two large suitcases and duffel bags, etc etc. But why would you want to haul that around??

Knowing how I usually dress, I tend to wear the same 5 things over and over. And as far as my experience goes, I think most people at least do this on vacation, so there's no need to bring a million options "just in case". I promise there will not be too many unexpected special occasions that pop up while traveling. And no one will notice if the same tshirt is in 80% of your pictures. That's how mine always are and people haven't stopped being friends with me because of it. Cutting it down to the basics is the best way to go, a few layers, comfortable shoes. Taking note of what you actually wear is really good in general. I've taken advantage of this by throwing several things out while going through all my clothes.
Keep in mind where you'll be and what you'll be doing, what the weather will be like, and also take into account whether you might want to shop so you can leave space (ALWAYS leave space).

My trip starts out in Barcelona, goes through a few cities in s. France, and we end up in Menton, a small town between Nice and the Italian border for a little over 2 weeks, and we'll surely take a few day trips from there too. The weather will be in the 70's for the most part, and hopefully sunny, but I'll bring a small umbrella (note to self: put the umbrella in my backpack before I go to bed) So, I plan to wear jeans on the plane with a tshirt and a black zip up sweater because I'm always cold on airplanes and this way I'll have something a little warmer if I do need it while walking around at night or something later.
I've packed about 2 tank tops, 5 tshirts, mostly basic solid colors, and 2 light cardigans. This way I can layer, and if I really do feel the need to dress it up if we happen to go out, I have some nice jewelry or something. There are ways.
I have 2 shorts, 1 skirt, and a few breezy dresses for the beach and walking around in the heat because once we're in the beach town I know I'll be in my swim suit the majority of the time and it may be really hot walking around so I need something breathable and easy to wear over the suits. Plus I just love dresses :)
And of course I can't forget plenty of underwear, and a few pairs of socks for when I'm wearing my tennis shoes, though I think that will just be in Barcelona, then I'll switch to flip flops for the rest of the trip.

Moving on to other things- medicines, toiletries, etc.
I went and refilled all my prescriptions this week so they'd last me. I also realized I'm one sickly girl, yuck :\
I have waterproof spf 55 sunblock, a travel sized facewash, new toothbrush and floss. I'm going to rely on my family to provide the shampoos and toothpaste so I kind of luck out in that sense since we save space by sharing. I did buy a fancy leave in conditioner for my hair yesterday since several weeks on the beach is not good for hair. I picked up this bio- something brand olive oil leave in conditioner. I was kind of confused while picking one out because it was a brand that they had for shampoos and conditioners too but the leave in was in the section for african american hair, which I don't have, but I know olive oil is good for your hair and to be honest it just smelled really good so I got it. Then I was reading the back today and it is in fact for "relaxed" or dry course hair. I was obviously looking in the wrong section, but as it turns out, I really like it and maybe that's what I've needed all these years for my dry curly hair.
On the airplane, I'll take a backpack with my camera (extra batteries!) a few books, my ipod, and a notebook for writing and drawing. I will also pack lots of food.
About the food, this is a biggie for me!
In my suitcase I have a variety of bars, larabars, kashi, protein, and so on, and a container of mixed almond, cashew, and peanut butter. Obsessed? YES. But they don't really do nut butters in france and I would not like to live without it for a month. The bars are just good for in between meals and snacks in case my family does not want to eat as often as I do, as that frequently happens.
Our flight to Newark leaves at 11 so I've packed a lunch, and some snacks. I"ll probably buy something during our layover. Then the flight to Barcelona leaves around 7 so I've packed a dinner and many more things for snacking on that flight, and I'm making sure I have quite a lot since I can't sleep on airplanes. My backpack is always filled with tupperwares and various packaged foods and I always think the security people must be laughing at me after I walk away. Oh well, I bet they're just jealous because they don't have any. This has also been good for cleaning out my fridge today. I've been like a human garbage disposal all day trying to eat through anything perishable, I have sooo much left! Speaking of which I'm off to work on that a little more and finish the packing and get to sleep.

A few last important things to remember:
phone and charger (must remember this in the morning)
passport (dad has it)
games for the airplane (little brother)

Next time I post I'll be across the pond, yay!!!!!

My very first entry!!

2009-06-04T23:26:00.000-05:00

Hello! I'm finally getting around to starting my blog. I've thought about it for a while and have just made a lot of excuses- I'm not sure if I can manage to keep up with one consistently, or if my life is interesting enough for people to read about, am I a good writer? ...etc etc. But either way, here I go! I'll start by introducing myself and writing a little about what you may read in the future.
So first, What will I talk about??? Well, my real passion is traveling so that will be my main focus. I've kept written travel journals before and had a lot of fun with those. but they were just for me. This way all of my friends and hopefully readers I pick up along the way will get to enjoy my trips too. This also solves the dilemma of "what if I don't blog regularly?". Now I'll only feel obligated to document my trips, though I'm sure I'll write about a million other things too. Back to how I feel about travel- regardless of what else is going on in my life, work, friends, family, anything, I NEED to travel. It's not just that I like to, of course I like to, I love seeing new places, and meeting people and experiencing how they live in various countries, but there's also this restlessness. I just can't stay at home for too long or I go crazy. Not that I don't love home. I actually love to be at home and also need that consistency and comfort in my life too. I'm all about contradictions, so this blog will be confusing and fun! So yes, traveling is my life and I always want it to be my life. I have no idea what that life will entail, which is another purpose to this blog, but no matter what I end up finding out about myself and what I like to do, I will travel through it all. Starting with my upcoming trip to Barcelona, some cities to be determined in between, and a couple of weeks in Menton, France. It will be glorious!!! I LEAVE IN 3 DAYS!!!!!!!
About me:
I graduated back in December with a degree in marketing, but in all honesty, I can't stand the idea of entering the corporate world. I'm not sure what I was thinking by going to business school, other than the fact that it seemed practical and applicable to most anything I'd like to do. Or so I thought. I haven't managed to think of something I could apply it to now and enjoy. The economy doesn't help either, as there are not many jobs available, should I choose to seek out one of those office jobs anyways. I want something that allows lots and lots of travel. Whether I'm traveling with my job, or simply have a job that's flexible enough to where I can travel on my own.
Up until now I've worked with my parent's interpreting company doing translations here and there, some market research, tech work, and a lot of PR stuff. I'd like to continue this kind of work since we travel all the time and it always brings new and exciting experiences. Unfortunately there just hasn't been enough volume of work for me the last few months and there won't be until I get myself together, work on my fluency in Spanish, and simultaneous interpreting, and get certified. Eventually I know I'll probably do this, but first I really want to try something new. Something in diplomacy would be fun, or world peacemaking, something really idealistic along those lines. I want to feel like I'm doing something important, and the last few months of being broke, and unemployed, and no longer a student, have left me feeling like a completely useless unaccomplished person.
I need to fix this. I know my self esteem has definitely suffered a blow, and that really just leads me to make things worse for myself. That's two more things I'm sure you'll end up seeing once in a while. Politics, and introspection/ learning what makes me happy.
I also like food, cooking, baking, and eating a lot of it. Mostly vegan things, all vegetarian, so you'll see quite a bit of that, especially since I like to show people that it's very much possible to have amazingly delicious things without hurting animals or sacrificing your health. Also because traveling usually means trying exciting new cuisines, and how could I go to France and not talk about their food??
And one final word, since I'm sometimes like an old woman and it's past my bedtime. I have the greatest family and friends ever and I will talk about them often. I have just a few close friends who I'm with all the time. One of which will come spend a week with me in Menton, and it will be the best week ever! And when it comes to family, I'm probably closer to them than what most would consider normal. They are my best friends in the world, and even when they drive me insane, I'd still rather spend my day arguing with them, than be anywhere else. I think my mom is superwoman, and we talk on the phone numerous times a day if I'm not with her, and it really bothers me when we haven't talked in over a few hours. And I'm not just saying this because they'll most likely read this. They're so great that I know they'd continue to help me with my rent whether I talked about how wonderful they are on this blog or not.
That's all for tonight, and I'm looking forward to begin the vacation blogging really really soon!

- Gaby