Friday (though its Saturday)

Now that I have graduated from UGA, I have started a big new adventure of living at home again. It has its pros and cons, but a big pro is spending more time with these guys:

Dawson, baby Parr and Wiley

While my sister Dawson has been moving into her new house in Birmingham, I have helped take care of her 5 year old son, Wiley (and Wiley has helped entertain his unemployed aunt). We love to ride around in the car and listen to music. Some 5 year olds may enjoy music like this, but Wiley must prefers to listen to music that we both agree on. Often, this is music from one of my favorite TV shows, Glee! Lately, this has been a favorite of ours!

(We hate do not like the real version. Any song featuring Puck, Sam and Artie is OK in my book, even if the original is horrendous.)

HAPPY SUMMER!!

Mom.

In honor of this wonderful holiday, Mother’s Day, I am dedicating this post to my mom.

This December, we went on a wonderful trip to visit my sister and her family in London. My parents and I took a detour to Paris for a weekend and had a fabulous time. Unfortunately, my dad got sick halfway through so my mom and I took on the town just the two of us. From touring L’Opera Garnier to shopping at Galeries Lafayette to eating macaroons at Laduree and sipping on hot chocolate at Angelina’s, we had a memorable couple of days.

Like Mother

Like Daughter

Misbehavin’ in the Louvre

Barb!

Me!

L’Opera Garnier

Best. Hot. Chocolate. Ever.

 Angelina’s

Yummmm Mac-a-roooons!

Laduree

This Mother’s Day, Barb is in London helping my sister and her family prepare for their big move back to the States…YAY!!! Can’t wait for all of us to be together in America to celebrate!

Happy Mother’s Day Barb!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsel to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

-Washington Irving

Cinco de Mayo!

I haven’t been to Mexico in years, so I am posting some pics of another Spanish speaking country, Spain. A group of us went for our spring break while studying abroad. Unfortunately it was the same time the volcano erupted in Iceland, and we spent most of our time figuring out how to get home rather that enjoying the scenes.

Fools going for a swim in Valencia

Our first stop was Valencia. It was beautiful but the weather was not near warm enough to get in the ocean. Fool on the left then proceeded to bury himself in the sand. #datwasamistake.

Crazy Barcelona Architecture

Our next stop was Barcelona…that’s when we realized we were not getting home on our flights. On top of that, France decided to have a strike on the trains so we were trapped.

Fountain Show in Barcelona

We did get to see a great fountain show in Barcelona. It was so beautiful.

All the ladies in front of the fountain

We’re all smiling now, but we ended up going to an all you can eat sushi place where the food came out on conveyor belts (#fat). After that meal we probably looked a little sick.

Eventually we made it out of Spain. My roommate Cameron and I caught a flight to Rome to find out our flight to Verona was cancelled. Luckily we were able to book a train that left hours later. I have never seen such a chaotic train station. The rest of the group took a 20 hour ferry to Rome and then a 5 hour train to Verona (I still don’t know why that train ride was so long for them).

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

The Tallest Man On Earth

Last week was very stressful with tests, papers and final presentations. Late Wednesday night while I was avoiding planning my Latin paper, my friend Kyle (the same one mentioned here) texted me: Check out tallest man on earth.

I sat there for a moment wondering what he was talking about. His roommate is very tall so I thought it could have something to do with him. Nope. Turns out he was talking about singer-songwriter Kristian Mattson/The Tallest Man On Earth. I youtubed him to find out that Kyle was spot on in suggesting I take a listen. Here is a video of him playing one of my favorites, The Wild Hunt. Enjoy!

Sweet Home Alabama

No matter where I am, I always think back on my love, Alabama.

Please keep Alabama and all the other areas affected by the storms this past week in your thoughts and prayers.

open road.

This past weekend, I traveled home to Birmingham for Easter. My family ended up going down to the lake after church and, because it was such beautiful day, I decided to stay the night and get up early to return to Athens for class. Waking up at 7:30 to drive for 4 hours is not an easy task for anyone. It is especially difficult for this girl. I rarely wake up that early, and when I do it is not pretty. Add to that the fact that I stayed up watching my new obsession, Friday Night Lights (Tim Riggins, anyone?).

I had to drag myself from this view to avoid a hopeless future

To prepare for my ride, I needed to come up with a good playlist that would keep me awake and alert. I couldn’t begin my ride with my go-to pump up music (for example: DMX’s X Gonna Give it To You or a new Britney jam). This songs that early in the morning would cause high anxiety to this grumpy tired gal.

High anxiety while driving = Road Rage = Speeding = Speeding Tickets = Getting my car taken away = never making it back to Athens = failing senior year = hopeless future 

I also couldn’t play my relaxing travel playlist mentioned here. It was great to help me chill out while riding the chunnel, but would most likely cause me to seriously zone out.

Seriously zoning out while driving = falling asleep at the wheel or swerving = car accident = absence in class/cant study for my test and write my paper = failing senior year = hopeless future 

Clearly, I had to find the perfect combination of songs…my whole future was dependent upon it. Inspired by my current alarm song, I started of my playlist with Whipping Post by The Allman Brothers (a favorite of mine) and went from there. The playlist goes as follows:

1. Whipping Post – Allman Brothers

2. Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin

3. Good Day – Greg Street (I also use this song as an alarm…happy to wake up to even when you’re not happy to wake up)

4. Burning Love – Elvis Presley

5. Atlantic City – The Band

6. Who’ll Stop the Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival

7. Dancing in the Moonlight – King Harvest

8.  Baba O’Reily – The Who

9. City With No Children – Arcade Fire

10. December 1963 (Oh What a Night) – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright – Bob Dylan

12. Running on Empty – Jackson Browne

13. The Body Says No – The New Pornographers

14. Still The One – Orleans

15. Giving Up the Gun – Vampire Weekend

16. Gypsy – Fleetwood Mac

17. Don’t Think Twice, Its Alright – Bob Dylan

18. Amie – Pure Prairie League

19. Dream On – Glee Cast

20. Waving Flag – Ka’nan

21. I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You – Black Kids

22. All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix

23. Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes

24. I Dreamed a Dream – Glee Cast (Slow but will keep ya alert if you channel Lea Michele)

25. Life’s Been Good – The Eagles

This very eclectic mix of songs was ideal for my random, every changing music preferences on a car ride. I made it safely back to Athens in time for class so the future is look up. But then again I am getting distracted by blogging instead of studying.

Distracted by blogging = not doing work = …..you know the drill.

Back to work!

Happy Monday and a late Happy Easter!! 

Is Yours Clean?

Throughout all my travels since high school, there has been one common factor:

My blue Camelback water bottle.

From Birmingham, Alabama to UGA to Jackson Hole, WY, to Europe 3 times, to New York City, this water bottle has been there through it all.

Water bottle in my apartment in Verona

Clearly, water and this water bottle in particular holds a special place in my heart. (I am sipping on some nice, cool water as a type this)

I recently heard about charity: water in my social media class. Charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. I found the statistics about people without clean water alarming. Nearly 1 billion people do not have access to clean water. That’s 1 in every 8 people!!

Our class is trying to raise the $5000 it takes to build a well in a developing nation. In doing so, we came up with the idea of creating a pledge to go one day without water.

“Easy,” I thought. “People go a day without shoes to support Tom’s Shoes; why wouldn’t I be able to go a day without water?”

But the more I thought about it, the more offended I became that we would consider doing such a thing. Water is in EVERYTHING. From a simple glass of water in the morning, to a soda to coffee, water is involved. I cannot imagine that some people have to walk 3 miles to get access to water that more than likely will make them ill while I only have to walk a couple steps to the kitchen or a water fountain.

Therefore, I encourage YOU to reflect on going a day without water.

A day without:

water to drink

water to bathe

water to wash dishes

water to do laundry

water to brush your teeth

water to wash your hands

water to flush the toilet

any water whatsoever. 

Pretty crazy to think about. So please, spread the word about charity: water and donate to our cause. Just $20 can give one person access to clean water.

www.mycharitywater.org/isyoursclean

Home {Is Wherever I’m With You}

***Caveat: The end of this post is dripping with cheese. This strays from my normal cynic ways. Enjoy this rare moment***

My friend recently introduced me to the song “Home” by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. Naturally, I loved it because the first word of the song is Alabama (Roll Tide). But the more I listened I have really come to enjoy this upbeat song.

Soooo whenever you find yourself traveling, make sure to do so with someone you love and every place will feel like home

Firenze

Florence was one of my favorite cities in Italy. It was full of history, art and culture. Here is a petite guide to Florence my roommate and I made…just sight-seeing and shopping. The food was wonderful everywhere we went. Try a Florentine steak if you are feeling bold.

Lovely ladies on the Ponte Vecchio

MUSEUMS:

Gallery of the Accademia: This houses Michelangelo’s David. The guards are very adament about photos. Take with caution.

• You can make an appointment if its 24 hours ahead which is the best thing to do, because you get to skip the line and go straight in
• It closes late, maybe 6 or 6:50…also it’s closed MONDAY

The Uffizi: save a lot of time for this, there is a lot to see, a lot of famous things

• Make an appointment to go here and get to skip the line (that can be 2 hours on a regular day)
• Go upstairs and start with Giotto/Cimabue, early Renaissance and go through to Botticelli
• Take a tour or get the headphones, there is so much you wont know what things are otherwise
• Also closed Monday and closes late, maybe 6 or a little after.

CHURCHES:

San Croce-amazing church, full of history, famous funeral monuments include those to Dante, Michelangelo, Machiavelli

Santa Maria Novella- don’t miss Masaccio’s Trinity, Renaissance façade by Alberti, Brunelleschi designed the pulpit, tombs by Pisano and Rossellino, also many frescoes

Santa Maria de Carmine- go here to see the famous Brancacci Chapel: frescoes by Masolino and Masaccio

Church of Orsanmichele- walk around the outside and see sculpture by di Banco, Verocchio, Donatello, Ghiberti

The Duomo- This is the Cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, really big, nice, you can climb to the top of the dome or the campanile (bell tower), beware if you’re claustrophobic

• Note the Baptistry of the Duomo, located directly outside, especially notice the north doors, Ghiberti’s first and the east doors, Ghiberti’s second. Michelangelo called these the “Gates of Paradise.”

Get out of my picture.

SHOPPING:

San Lorenzo market

• Look for pashminas, tshirts, leather stuff, jewelry, water color paintings, etc

Most of the expensive stores like Prada, Gucci, Fendi, etc are around Via Tornabuoni and the area

Il Cavallo- store with lots of  Longchamp, near Piazza Santa Maria Novella.

The Mall: an outlet outside of Florence with Gucci, Fendi, YSL, Tod’s etc. I got the most beautiful Fendi bag and Stella McCartney shoes.

• buy a train ticket from Florence to Inchisi, it doesn’t cost much, train ride is about 45 minutes
• take a cab from the train station to The Mall; cabs will probably be around looking for tourists

Enjoy Florence!

Glee.

Now that winter is moving out and spring is moving in, I can’t help but have an extra pep in my step going to class. My playlist has changed from slow relaxing music to upbeat and happy tunes. Naturally, music from the show Glee takes up about half of what I listen to.

Here are my top 10 favorite songs from this happy show!

10. Only the Good Die Young

9. Lucky

8. Bohemian Rhapsody

7. Take Me or Leave Me

6. Halo/Walking on Sunshine

5. Dream On

4. Don’t Stop Believin’

3. Baby

2. Forget You

1. Sweet Caroline

What are YOUR favorite Glee songs??