On Tuesday we went to Toledo and O-M-G!!! Definitely my favorite place. It is so cool to see all the different religious architecture around town. The Cathedral there is AMAZING. Super Massive!!!! I can’t wait to go through the pictures from the town

On Friday we went to Segovia to check out the Roman Aquaduct and the Palace. Both places get 2 thumbs up. It is so cool and amazing to be standing next to something that is hundreds and hundreds of years old. Gets you thinking how on Earth did they build this without the kind of technology that we have. Just crazy and amazing.

We took the highspeed rail to Toledo and Segovia, making it a 25 minute trip. Pretty flippin cool.

We have done lots of walking. LOTS. It also became very apparent that while I have been running at a small incline just about everyday before we left, I was no where near in the kind of cardio shape to be working around everywhere Sad. Going to have to up the cardio. I can’t be defeated by walking.

While I love being here, I can’t wait to get back home!!! I miss my bed and my kitties and my mom! I really miss my food! The Spanish cuisine is really nothing special, for me at least. This nation eats way too many simple carbs, drinks entirely too much coffee, and they smoke EVERYWHERE! There are carbs with everymeal! Don’t get me wrong, I like bread at all but they have their time and place. Like my bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, my fiber one bar, and the occassional pasta or rice dish for dinner. It is just crazy to me how much carbs they consume and still be soo thin! They also drink coffee at all hours of the day and night! People are drinking coffee at 11pm!!! How are they going to fall asleep. I can’t even have tea with caffiene before bed bc I won’t be able to sleep! I’m sure it is no longer the caffiene but the taste of coffee they are after. The smoking here is crazy. I am no one to judge, if you want to smoke then go ahead, do it. Here they are allowed to smoke in the restuarant, which really bugs me. I can’t enjoy a meal because there is smoke blowing in my direction. I leave lunch smelling like an ash tray and my hair smells gross for the rest of the day. I am really curious as what the cancer rate is here. I have noticed people go throught 4 maybe 5 cigs while sitting down to a 30-45 minute lunch. I don’t smoke but I’m pretty sure that is excessive.

I’m on vacation so I’m allowed to be lazy but the lifestyle here is very…relaxed? Chris and I were up early on Tuesday for our day trip to Toledo. Well, not that early,it was 8am. We were having our breakfast when we saw one of our hosts come into the kitchen. We asked if their boyfriend has already made into work? The response…No, he is still laying in bed being lazy. What? I’m at work at 730am on most days and Chris will be in the office at 6am! How is this person still in bed at 815? He probably rolled into the office around 930. They also get a 3 hour lunch break! 2-5pm everyday! Some go back to work and some don’t. Our host does not. He probably only works 6 hrs on a good day. I just don’t get it. Maybe they’re right. Maybe as Americans we are over worked and so tired that we are not enjoying our life and families. Here I always see families together. Hanging, going to the park, or just walking around. I only have family time on holidays! My dad is always traveling, my sister lives in Carrollton and works in Newnan, and my other sister only works on weekends. I can only make it back home on the weekends due to work on the week. Maybe they are on to something but we are too busy to really notice or care.

It is almost noon and I am ready to head out and check out a new district. The sun is out but its only in the high 40’s today. The winter here is much like a GA winter, I like that

On Jan 13 we both worked half day and after we got off from work we had to drive down to Orlando. We made a 6 hr drive to our friend’s house, where they so graciously let us spend the night. Thanks guys!!!!

The following day the took us to an awesome seafood place on the East Coast of Florida. Chris and I shared 42 shrimpies. We thought that was going to be a lot but we killed them! Kaysen and Casey then took us to the airport so we could catch our 5pm flight to Philly. We  were on a packed flight and there was no room for an upgrade. We were in the middle of the plane that pretty much sucked. There were crying children in front and behind us. So much for a quiet nap.

We make it to Philly with enough time to buy some CFA and eat at our terminal before its boarding time. We board this ginormous plane, the biggest one I have ever been on, and we get the call… “Folks we are experiencing some trouble and there is a leak that needs to be fixed before we can leave. We are going to have to ask you to deplane because it may take up to 4 hours to fix. If the problem is not fixed in 4 hrs then we will have to use another plane.” 4 HOUR delay! Gah. Already 9pm and it is going to mess with my sleeping. My intention was to sleep for the whole flight and then wake up in when we landed in Madrid and 1030 am and avoiding jetlag. Fail, I took a deep nap while we waited to board the plane again. They fixed the problem and take off was 1am, booooooooo!!! I passed out as soon as we took off but I kept waking up every few hours. We finally arrive in Spain at 230 and it takes us forever to get to Customs and then we have to wait in a super long line. We probably waited for an hour because there only 2 lines for the foreigners and like 8 for the EU residents. I spoke to the Customs Agent in Spainish and he called me a gusty American for speaking the language  well. I then told him I was Mexican and he looked even more surprised.

After going through Customs we pretty much walked the length of the airport just to get to the metro. I now see why these Spaniards are so damn skinny, walking everywhere! I don’t mind at all but when you have a winter coat and luggage to carry around it gets hot and tiring.

The metro is a big thing here and it is pretty much awesome. Marta comes nowhere near the metro. Luckily, the place we are staying is right in front of the metro so we didn’t have to travel far once we got off the train. We are staying with some really cool guys and they gave us a key and everything. We come and go as we please. After we got settled into our room and showered we were off to do a little bit of exploring. We got to the flat at like430, we talked with the guys for a little while, showered and got ready it was 730. We went and got some food and then we explored the market. Holy crap!!! That market is amazing!!! There are individual vendors within the market. It was pretty damn cool. We didn’t know where or what else to do so we headed back to the flat. We turned in for an early night at 9 pm but I had a hard time sleeping. My body was tired but my mind was wide awake. Boo

I have been on cloud 9 since December 23, 2009. That is the day that my bestie proposed to me That’s right, I’m getting MARRIED!!! You ready to hear how it happened? Here goes.

We knew that Christmas was going to be super busy. We - I- decided to do Christmas early between us. Just me and him I gave him his gifts first. I got him The Witch’s Son,  which is part of the Wizard of Oz series, and a book light. I thought the book light would be an AWESOME idea but I was mistaken. He likes to read in bed and I like to go to bed early but the light he was using was bothering me. This book light is like 100x brighter than the light he was already using I fail but I’m sure we can totally use it as a flashlight or something. Then it was my turn Chris makes getting presents soo much fun. I get so excited I love birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas because of him.  Chris starts giving me my gifts in small batches. I got teas, a really cool calender, a cutting board made of recycled stuff, sticky notes, and pens. These gifts REALLY made me want to go back to school! He then told me it was time for my last gift and he told me to close my eyes again. I had been closing my eyes everytime he brought out presents. I hear the cats stirring and I open my eyes and there is a big box in front of me. I thought ‘How cute, he brought me my kitties.’ I open the box and I see a brown square box. First thing that pops in my head ‘Looks like I either got earrings or a necklace.’ Why did I think that? Around Christmas time there are a bunch of jewelry commercials and that is what I thought. In the commercials you always see the cute romantic couple and it looks like the guy is going to propose but its something else instead. That is why I thought that. I opened the square box looking for earring but instead I found a round brown box with a pink bow on top. That is when I thought ‘ Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!!’ Pretty sure I verbalized that, actually. I’m trying so hard to get that box open that I don’t even think about untying the bow!!!! I finally get the box open and I see the ring, start crying, and freaking out!!! I turn to look at Chris and he is down on one knee!!!! Holy crap!!! Is this really happening??! YES!!! Chris then asked me to Marry Him and of course I said YES!!!. We slip that sucker on and we are engaged!!!

Look at this beautiful ring!!! He picked out all by himself He has great taste. The picture really doesn’t give it justice!! It is gorgeous!!!

I am so excited!!! We won’t be getting married until sometime in 2011. We have some saving we want to do and we really need to get started on the house.

I had the best Christmas ever We had so much fun with our families For New Year’s we had a small get together at our house and it was awesome. It was like a grown up party, almost. 2 people did get super drunk but it wasn’t that bad. I was a terrible host though. I had to work New Year’s Eve. I was up at 530 am so I could get to work by 7. I made it, got off at 1 came home and hung out with our friends from Orlando. Well, as soon as we rang in the year I was in bed. I was so tired

I also have some more good news. Chris and I are going to Spain for 2 weeks. yay!!! Going to  Europe for the first time! Excited! We are still working out our plan but it should be fun. Down side… we are going to be there during winter. Yeah, that is going to be cold.  Yay!! Spain. I need to make sure to take pictures. My fingers might fall off.

More good news!!! My job contract got extend till the end of Feb!!!! At the end of the month we are going to discuss the possibility of a permanent position.

2009 was a great year and I hope you had a wonderful year as well

2010 is going to be another great year and I have many goals planned for the year but I decided that I would not share what they are. I think I would rather just surprise you!!! I have some ambitious plans and I’m keeping my fingers cross I can accomplish them all I wish you the best in 2010 and if you made any resolutions, I do hope that you keep them.

Wednesday night I had planned to have the house cleaned and ready for  Thursday. That plan was a fail. I did a little bit of cleaning but not enough. I decided to bake the GF pumpkin pie Wednesday night and that well… That came out differently. It was my first time cooking with gluten free ingredients. The consistency was different but it still tasted good. Chris said it was too nutmeggy but I still liked it. I completely forgot about it after dinner so no one got to try it. We did have a back up pumpkin pie.

Thursday  we were supposed to get up at 6 but we didnt get up till 715.  I cleaned the house while Chris mowed the lawn, blew off the roof and driveway, and prepped food. I made my 2 pecans pies. I had given the recipe a try the weekend before just to be on the safe side. I followed the recipe exactly as I did last week but changed a few things. Last minute C and I decided to add a crushed pecan crust on top and I added honey they were done baking. They look soooooooooo gooooooooood!!! Then it was time to eat but they were rock solid! We could not slice through the pies. I had put them in the fridge earlier in the day to get them out of the way. Chris decided to pull them out and he place them in the bay window. Well, as the day went on and the temperature cooled so did the pies. I had a piece this morning and the pies are really good. Poo no one got to try it.

The most memorable event of the night was when a plate exploded. It was sitting on the stove and it exploded. It was C’s mom’s glass bowl. No dressing for us. We were happy it didnt get in the mashed potatoes.

The turkey also took forever to cook. I stared my pecan pies a little late so Chris couldnt put in the turkey in the oven until after I was done due to the temperature change. It took 3 men to figure out if the temp was correct, lol. Chris, my dad, and C’s stepdad.

Chris’ aunt and uncle couldnt make it to dinner because they got sick But they did buy a ham and had their granddaughter to bring us one. We completely forgot about the ham and never put it in the oven. We were half way through dinner when Granpaw asked where the ham was. Dang, that was a fail, lol.

After dinner was over someone fell asleep. That someone would be Chris. He was OUT before anyone left the house!!! Trying to wake him up was a chore so we just let him catch up on his sleep.

Cleaning up was a hassle. There were like 10 ppl in our kitchen trying to help clean and take home leftovers. I just wanted to set up a plan and have one family at a time come to the kitchen and get left overs. That was obviously not going to work.  It was chaos and I was stressing.

Our fridge is packed to the brim and we still have some food on the counters and on the food table. We need to rearrange our fridge to make room for the rest of the food. We need to take out all the beer and coke that we have in there.We bought too much food and then everyone else bought something. Anyone want to come for dinner?

1. My Boyfriend :)  He is so incredibly wonderful and I love him lots. He does so much for me and takes really good care of me. He is so amazing. I am one spoiled little girl because of him. I love you, baby!

2. The Family! I have such awesome parents. After years of lots of bickering we have finally gotten to a good place. We are super close now and its nice to know I can have an adult conversation without getting grounded, lol! T and C are some pretty cool sisters. Despite all the fighting, I love them and my childhood would have been pretty boring. I would probably have talked to myself a lot! I am also very thankful for Chris’ family. They have been so great to me and they have taken me in and made me one of their own. I love them

3. My friends. Those who are currently in my life and those who were once present. Everyone of them has left a footprint in my life. I want to thank you for everything you have taught me, whether you know it or not. Every smile, hug, and piece of advice has been appreciated. Thanks for being there for me

4. Our jobs. I am so thankful that mine and C’s families have jobs. Things are tough right now and I’m so grateful to be working.

5. My health. I am so incredibly glad that I haven’t gotten sick. I have no insurance and getting sick would be the worst thing ever. Thanks to good food, exercise, sleep, and my vitamins I have been able to stay pretty healthy Stay away Mr. Flu!!!

6. My car. Thank you, Cami!!!! My car is 14 years old and thanks to Chris’  watchful eyes, she has been runnig like a champ.

7. My life! I have such a wonderful life! I have finally come to terms that things happen for a reason and that I NEED to stop planning so much. It’s always good to have a plan but I can lay off the highlighter some, right?

What are you Thankful for?

We are planning on going out on Black Friday. Wait, let me rephrase that - Chris wants to go out for Black Friday and I am getting dragged along into the early hours of the day to face the crazy crowds. Wooo. I can already taste the coffee :)  I’m hoping that the rest of weekend is super relaxing and we don’t have to go anywhere.

1. A tea maker. I wish I could find a picture of it but I can’t! I know its out there somewhere. This isn’t just any tea maker. This is the king of all tea makers. You put the water in it and tell it what kind of tea you’re making and it heats up the water to the right temperature!!! That’s what I need.

2. Brown boots. I have none I fail as a girl.

3. A cropped leather jacket.

4. Navy or black peacoat.

5. Gift cards. I know it sounds really inpersonal but I will be able to buy exactly what I want from clothing stores.

6. A new cell phone. My cell phone is stupid. Please don’t turn off in the middle of a conversation or randomly throughout the day. I would love the face plate to work so that I can answer the phone properly. One too many times my phone has completely turned off and died right after a phone interview. How bad would it have been if my phone died during the phone interview?

7. A Home Depot gift card! I want to start painting the house!!

8. Bakeware.

9. A puppy

10. For a really nice millionaire to pay  off my credit card and student loans. Hey, a girl can dream.

I made some cashew butter and I used Hemp Oil. I usually use Avocado Oil but I decided to try something different. My cashew butter also came out green, lol. Still tastes good.

I also decided to use the butternut squash that has been sitting there for a week now. I chopped it up, seasoned it, and threw it in the oven for about 15 mins. yum

I also decided to make some GF brownies. They weren’t from scratch beacuse I definitely didn’t have all the proper ingredients in my pantry. I got help from Trader Joe’s instead.

So I’m mixing it and it looks like this

I thought I did something wrong! There are only 3 ingredients that needed to be added and I thought I screwed up! I decided to do some research and I read that GF food has a different consistency. I felt a lot better. Popped in the oven and decided to have an awesome afternoon snack!

GF brownie topped with dairy-free chocolate ice cream! It was delicious Made my afternoon of cooking so much better. After this lovely snack I decided to do some Christmas shopping. I bought my sister agift and I got myself a gift, lol.

I have been buying GF products for the past 4 months. Not all my food is GF because its expensive. I usually just pick up rice but I have decided to go completely GF in all my foods. I have felt a significant difference. My body feels a lot better when I have GF foods. I bought myself a GF cookbook. I am going to slowly transition all my meals to GF.  I am going to start off with one GF meal a week and then go for there. I really need to learn to do a better job reading the labels of foods. There is gluten in so much stuff. I am really looking forward to this healthy change!

Starting M0nday I am changing my work hours from 8-5 as opposed to 830-530. I had to leave work early on Monday. I left the office at like 510 and made it home by 545. Can we say perfect? I had so much time that night. I was able to fit in working out, dishes, changing the litter box, shower, cleaning the kitchen, pack my lunch, and be in bed by 10. That’s what I’m talking about.

This weekend is going to be busy. On Friday after working out I am going to bake some gluten free brownies! Those brownies will go PERFECTLY with the dairy free ice cream that I bought. Excited! Saturday I’m going down to PTC to visit mom for her birthday. Her birthday is tomorrow. Chris and I have arranged for flowers to be sent to her house! They are super cute. I will have to take a picture. We also bought her a gift. I am going to wrap it up all pretty tomorrow night.  Hopefully we will be able to get back from PTC semi-early to do any kind of catch up with house work. I may wake up early on Saturday to do some cleaning before or after I workout. Sunday I am going to spend the day in the kitchen. I haven’t had a chance to cook and I’m really looking forward to it.

I have butternut squash that I need to use. I might make soup or pop it the oven. Definitely going to make some tomato soup. Some rice and salmon? We haven’t done much cooking these past 2 weeks so we have lots of food in the freezer and the pantry.  We have salads for like every meal and I’m kinda bored.