Yes, I'm still alive...

Hello all. At least to those of you that still check in on this blog since it died a while back. Truth is, I was in Dublin for holiday and started thinking about how my time has been spent, if I have stress and where it comes from, etc. Well I had been spending a lot of my time blogging, as you know. It had, for a while, become a burden. I love to write, don't get me wrong, but the time constraints on editing photos and getting all the stories in print were just too much for a while, so I made the executive decision to stop it for a while. My computer is still full to the max. I've tried a few other solutions which have not really done much. I have been taking some photos, not nearly the amount that I used to, but I have some. I will say that it's been a great and relaxing couple of months.

I've started my French classes again at a different school, and it's been great. I love it. Hopefully I will improve dramatically. I have some exciting travels coming up. In about a week and a half, I will fly to Venice for the marathon. No, I am not going to run all of it. I have my reasons, 1) I'm lazy, 2) Early in training I started having a horrendous pain in my left achilles only to find out it's achilles tendonitis, 3) I'm lazy, 4) I had no idea how much a marathon actually was - on foot, 5) I don't want to risk injury when I have a week of GREAT travel and hiking ahead of me. So that leads me to the rest of my trip.

A few months back a friend of mine from my church in Dallas told me about a gal named Jenn that had just sold everything and planned to travel Europe for a few months. Since, Jenn and I have become good friends and have planned an incredible holiday together. She will also be coming to visit me in Paris in December before we both leave for Dallas for Christmas. So she and I will be in Venice for two days, then take an overnight train to Vienna where we will stay for two days in the city center, considering we will probably both be quite sore from the run in Venice. We will then take a train to Salzburg to take the Sound of Music tour and to look around the great city that Mozart called home. Having one night and two days in Salzburg will be good enough before we take the train back to Vienna to stay up in the mountains so that we can hike our hearts out. I might have mentioned it before, but I have been craving some good hiking since my summer vacation in Greece last year. There were so many great hills and ruins that I just wanted to trek through, but couldn't. Now I will be able to get myself up in the mountains, wooooo! We hope to take a short trip to the capital of Slovakia, which is Bratislava. We'll see how we are feeling at that point!

I will return back to Paris on November 2nd. Then on November 17th I'll take a train to Geneva to spend the weekend with Jasmin. I've been dying to get there since she moved last Spring. Another two weeks after that I will take the Eurostar to London to see Johanna in her new place and that's when we'll see Bon Iver at the Apollo Victoria. It's the same venue that Wicked is showing, there is just a one day break for this concert. I'm so incredibly excited about this. The blog cannot contain it.

Finally, on December 19th, I'll hope on a plane and fly home for two weeks. Oh it will be so nice. I can't wait to catch up with everyone!!!

I will take photos of all of these places and hopefully, one day, be able to post them all for your enjoyment.

GOOD NEWS...looks like I will be starting my amateur photography business here. To make a long story short, I took some photos for an American family (my friend is their nanny) here and they loved them, so they are helping me get started. The mother works at the US Embassy here and wants to put my ad in their newspaper. Let's hope it catches on!

Here are a few photos from the past two months...

A view from the Black Ruins in Wicklow, Ireland.There is a lot of beer in IrelandJohanna in her homeland, Stockholm.I'm a palla...or is it that I "palla"...you know, as an action. In Swedish, the word 'palla' means to steal an apple from someone's garden. Yes, and that is what I did - more than once.The Baltic Sea in Stockholm I had to say goodbye to my dear friend Alexia. She moved back to Canada and Paris hasn't been the same since. I just want her back here. I think she wants to be back here as well. In this photo, we were at the famous Cafe de Flore. It's one of the most lovely places on Saint Germain. Mom was able to see our new blue Eiffel Tower. It will be blue until next July. I miss the original, honestly.This was at the Ile-St Louis in Paris at nightAt the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium with MomThe old cinema in Bruges, Belgium where Mom and I watched In Bruges. One of my highlights from the summer. It was so appropriate. After the movie was over, we walked around the city to find all the places that it was filmed.Taken from the top of the BelfryWe drank a beer in the oldest pub in Belgium, built in 1505.
Our walk from our hotel to the center of Bruges. I love this medieval city!And there you go!