Sick Day

Now an interlude from my Europe postings to comment on another milestone in life. My first sick day. I've had a cold for almost 3 weeks, and then it decided to turn into a sinus infection. I felt awful all last week, but didn't want to ask for a day off of work because we already had 2 people out for most of the week. I finally started feeling better on Sunday night, so I thought I was getting better.

Then Monday at work, just before lunch, I got an awful headache and started seeing spots. I couldn't even read anything on my computer the spots were so bad. So I went to lunch and drank a Dr. Pepper, hoping the caffeine would help the headache. I started feeling a little better, and went back to work the rest of the day. Then Tuesday about 5:00, the headache came back, and worse. This time I saw spots and swirls and the pain was worse. I left work a little after 6, went home, put on some comfy pants, and sat down to watch NCIS. I only made it to the first commercial and passed out for the next 3 hours. I woke up in the middle of the 10 o'clock news and realized I probably shouldn't go to work the next day so I could see a doctor.

So this morning, I called my senior (the audit term for my boss) and told her I wouldn't be in for part or all of the day. I went to the Memorial Hermann clinic at the HEB in Pearland (who knew they have those now?!?) and was told I have a sinus infection. Not fun. I would suggest NOT getting them. I don't usually have sinus problems, so this is something I'm not used to, and I don't like it. I have another of the spots and swirls causing headaches as I'm typing now.

Therefore, today I am grateful for the wonderful days known as 'sick days' in the grown up world. I'm also finally learning that I should use them, even if I'm afraid of asking to. Now I'm just waiting for the antibiotics to kick in, and trying to decide if I'm going to need another sick day tomorrow.

Euro Trip Part 2

The second part of our trip we spent in Espana. We decided to go to Barcelona and experience the Mediterranean. We arrived on Tuesday, June 10th, travelled to our hotel about 30 minutes outside the city in Sabadell, and decided to just hang out there the rest of that night to rest some. We found an apartment style hotel there, so that was really nice. It had two bedrooms, a kitchenette, and even a washer in the bathroom. No dryer, but hey, I won't complain about hang drying if it means avoiding the laundromat!

Wednesday we spent some time walking down La Rambla, the street leading down to the beach that has lots of vendors and shopping on it. There are also people dressed up in crazy costumes that will cover their face so you can only get a picture of them if you give them money. Kind of annoying, but still fun. We also went on a bus tour of the city, including Passaeig de Garcia (the rich upscale shopping street), Park Guell (designed by Gaudi, including one of his homes), and La Sagrada Familia (the cathedral Gaudi started in 1882, which is not expected to be completed until 2026 or something ridiculous like that). It was a very interesting tour!

Costume lady on La Rambla

Park Guell

La Sagrada Familia

Thursday we went to the beach. Oh man! The water was much more pretty than what I'm used to here on the Gulf of Mexico. Clear and blue. The sand was even white! But when you walked on it, it was very hard and grainy, so I'm not sure the whiteness was worth it. (Sidenote - if you ever go to the beach in Barcelona, be warned to not everyone thinks they should wear clothing at the beach, especially old woman). We spent about half an hour on some beach chairs before someone came up to us saying that we had to pay 10 euros to use the chairs. That wasn't happening, and I was already starting to look like a lobster, so we moved into some shade, got some smoothies, and just enjoyed looking at the beach for a while. We also went to La Museu de Xocolata - The Chocolate Museum! Lots and lots of Chocolate!

Carly, me and Kristin at the beach

Chocolate Ferdinand and Isabella

Chocolate Ben Hur

Chocolate Ratatouille

The next day we went to the Barcelona Zoo. I don't think I'd ever been to a major zoo before, so I really enjoyed it. I think I took like 200 pictures! We also walked through a park and saw the Arc de Triumf.

Big animal

Little animal (I LOVED the little monkeys!)

Water animals

Spanish Arc de Triumf

Saturday we went on a cruise up and down the coast. There were some HUGE cruise boats in the harbor. They were ridiculous. The water was really choppy the farther out we got, so we kept getting splashed with water every time the boat dipped back down into the water, but it was still a fun little cruise. That night we went to a Flamenco show to get a taste of some true Spanish culture.

My first ocean 'cruise'

Harbor with huge cruise ship - this one was small compared to some of the others

Flamenco! Blurry, but I tried

Cast of the Flamenco show - the guy with his shirt open was very cute!

Sunday we stayed at the apartment most of the day to rest, do laundry, and get ready to leave Barcelona. We went back into the city one last time to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe - we were desperately in need of some normal food! That night we ordered pizza in our room and played cards. It was a much needed relaxing day. We really enjoyed Barcelona, but were also ready to head off for the next part of our journey!

Carly with her thumb up George Strait's...well, you get the picture. It was totally not intentional, but very funny.

Kristin and me at Hard Rock

Carly and me enjoying real food

We wanted to get rid of some Euro change - I'm sure our waiter loved the tip

Playing cards with pizza, very relaxing night to round off another leg of our journey

Euro Trip Part 1

As long ago promised, here is a summary of my trip to Europe last summer. It was so much fun, and I wish I could go back! Even though I thought I had, I didn't fully appreciate the freedom that I had this summer. I really wish I could go back to being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. But I guess that's not supposed to be part of being a real adult.

This first blog will cover the first part of our trip: London. I will try to remember all of the major stuff we did. And I must say - I LOVE England. I'm still trying to convince my dad that he should go back to work over there, just so I have a reason to visit.

We flew over on June 3rd, arriving on the 4th due to the 10 hour flight and changing 6 time zones. We spent our first full day in London hitting the major highlights: Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. There was a really creepy rent-a-cop at the entrance to the Abbey who insisted that we all give him a hug and take a picture with him. Creepy. That night we went to see the musical 'Wicked' on the West End. I absolutely loved it! I already had the soundtrack memorized even though I had never seen it, and finally seeing it was amazing!

Westminster Abbey, a very beautiful and amazing building!

Creepy, creepy security guard at Westminster

Our 'Flight' on the London Eye

The view was amazing. My new camera could even zoom enough to see Buckingham Palace.

The House of Parliament and Big Ben

Wicked!!!! That's all I have to say about that.

The next day we took a river cruise from Westminster to the Tower of London. It took most of the day to see the Tower, but it was worth it! We joined one of the tours of the grounds that the Tower guards, the Beefeaters, conduct each day. We even got the see the Tower Bridge open.

Getting off the cruise boat in front of the Tower Bridge

The Tower of London - where many a famous person was imprisoned, executed, or murdered.

Carly and I with one of the Beefeaters at the Gate

Our Beefeater guide, with the Tower Bridge raising behind him

Memorial dedicated to 7 people who were executed on the scaffold that once stood here, including Queen Anne Boleyn

On Saturday we took a bus tour to Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge. It was a long day full of history. Windsor is the preferred residence of Queen Elizabeth II, who was there that day, as indicated by the royal standard flying over the tower.

The tower the Queen resides in at Windsor, with the royal standard flying above.

Roman baths at Bath - I don't think I would want to bathe in that water!

Kristin posing at Stonehenge - I'm not sure she knows how to take a serious picture

Sunday we went to the British Museum, and I think another museum but I can't remember which one. We also went to Kings Cross Station to see platform 9 3/4 which you can take to get to Hogwart's. Monday we did some laundry - laundromats are NOT my favorite - and walked around Hyde Park and Kensington Palace before making a quick trip to Harrod's.

Lots of mummified pets at the British Museum - monkey, alligator, eel, cat - I think the Egyptians like their pets a lot

All aboard for the Hogwart's Express!

Kensington Palace

Largest department store I've ever been to - I could afford some chocolates, but that's all

That about wraps up the London part of our trip. It was loads of fun, and it was only the beginning!

Catch-up again

I've recently started reading blogs again after a long break, and decided I should finally try to get back into my own blogging again. In my defense, since I last blogged, I've moved, had wisdom teeth removed, evacuated for a hurricane and spent days without power and even longer without internet, started my first 'real' job, sent my little sister off on her mission, moved again and didn't have internet for about another 2 months, and then the holidays came. Hence, no blogging. Not having internet for so long made it especially hard. Since finally getting internet at my apartment, I'm still trying to get used to having it and actually using it.

Since I've been sick and getting nothing done this weekend, I thought I might as well try to get some blogging done on what I've done the past several months. I'm hoping to get some blogs done for the major highlights. But this also comes with a warning that 'busy season' for my job is now here, and once I start working from 9 AM to 10 PM, I don't expect much blogging will be done. I'm already looking forward to when those hours are over! April can not come soon enough.

For those of you who have been waiting for me to blog more, I'm sorry for the lack of, and will try not to disappoint. And even though I don't comment on blogs much, if you're someone who's looking at mine, I'm probably looking at yours as well. Here's to a (hopefully) new habit for 2009!