tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87109219007531509582024-03-21T19:50:48.517-04:00Everyday AdventuresAlliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02222240447265955469noreply@blogger.comBlogger504125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-77388594357262039022017-06-11T20:27:00.001-04:002017-06-11T20:28:22.506-04:00Allie Goes to Japan, Part 2: Kyoto<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
(We're just gonna pretend that I didn't fall off the face of the earth for eight months and continue on where we left off, cool?)</div>
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After leaving <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2016/11/allie-goes-to-japan-part-1.html">Osaka</a>, my boss and I hopped on a train for the hourlong train ride up to Kyoto! We had booked a bus tour to take us to three sight-seeing stops: Nijo-jo Castle, the Golden Pavilion and Kinkaku-ji Temple, and the Kyoto Imperial Palace. (Japan has both an emperor and a shogun; it was described to me like how England has both a prime minister and a queen.)</div>
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Everything is very cute in Japan! There was a construction project going on where we were supposed to meet our bus, and all the barricades and alert markers were little pink people or happy green frogs that looked kind of like Keroppi from the Sanrio/Hello Kitty store we used to visit when I was a kid.</div>
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The first stop was the shogun's palace, Nijo-jo Castle, which was originally built in 1603 for Japan's first shogun! It takes up six buildings now, with elaborate tiles on the ceilings, which are different in every room and hallway, and gold leaf artwork of tigers and trees and peacocks to separate the rooms. Photos weren't allowed inside, so I took a lot of photos of the perimeter, with these intricate archways leading to the inside of the castle (where we had to take off our shoes before going in).<br />
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My favorite fun fact about the palace was that it was built so that the floors would intentionally creak whenever someone walked across the floor. This was to prevent assassins from sneaking up on the shogun's family!<br />
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We had a really great tour guide who knew lots of fun facts about the places the bus dropped us off, and about things we passed while the bus moved from place to place.<br />
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It wasn't a very bright day, but the grounds were lovely.<br />
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Then we took a short ride over to our next stop ... the Golden Temple!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The First Gate</span></div>
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I was really excited about this stop, because I'd never seen a temple before. I wish we'd gotten to go inside the actual Golden Temple, but it contains a lot of Buddhist relics, so we only got to tour the grounds.<br />
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See how this tree is kind of propped up on this wooden grid? Our tour guide said that it is like a sailboat that goes back and forth to paradise in the afterlife!<br />
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The actual pavilion ... covered in gold foil, with a phoenix at the very top, kind of like a weathervane.<br />
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It looks very peaceful, but along the fence I took this picture from, there were TONS of tourists.<br />
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This place was so beautiful. There were hidden staircases, and all these little pots where you could make a wish and try to toss your yen coin into it.<br />
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Behind this incense was another arch in which a statue of the Buddhist god Fudo-myo-o lived, but we didn't get to see the statue, just the arch and more decorative pieces. Instead, you could toss more coins towards him, and you could waft the burning incense towards yourself in order to heal what ails you.<br />
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I also got to ring this giant gong! This one is for requesting a wish from god.</div>
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When we left, we were given a thin slip of paper that was a talisman/charm; our guide said it indicated security for your family and prosperity for your business, and that you should hang it in a high place in the entrance hall of your home. But you have to have a frame ... don't put a pin in it, or it's bad luck! She told us, "god will say 'ouch!' and send you demon instead!" And that we needed to come back Japan every year to get a new one. :)</div>
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Finally, we came to our last stop, the Old Imperial Palace. The first emperor to live here was crowned in 1331!!! Unfortunately, they had a lot of fires over the years, and the palace kept being reconstructed, so the palace I saw was only about 160 years old.</div>
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The Emperor officially lives in Tokyo now, not Kyoto, but (if I'm remembering correctly) dignitaries and royalty still can stay at this palace. </div>
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There are multiple places for your carriages to rest when you visit! </div>
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And there are multiple houses within, of varying levels of fanciness and function.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is the Shishiden building, where they held important ceremonies.</span></div>
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They really know how to do impressive gates in Japan!<br />
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Finally, our tour bus took us back to the train station. We had to get back to Tokyo for our flight back to the U.S., but not before trying ... conveyer-belt sushi!!!<br />
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That was a really fun experience, and we tried lots of different things! Miso soup, green tea, and lots of different little plates of various fishies. You just pull down whatever you want to eat as it passes you, and then the waitresses look at the patterns on your plates to figure out what you owe!</div>
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Then it was time to leave Kyoto, and hop on a bullet train for the capitol...</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-72826573557018479702016-11-07T07:45:00.000-05:002016-11-07T07:45:02.918-05:00Allie Goes to Japan, Part 1!Osaka was really the main destination for my trip to Japan. It was just added bonus (/convenience) that I got to go to Kyoto and Tokyo as well.<br />
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After a verrrryyyy long day (two days?) of travel, I touched down in Osaka in the early evening and met up with my boss, who had already been in Japan (Tokyo) for a few days. We checked into the hotel, and because it was already kind of late in the evening and neither of us were familiar with Osaka, we decided to get sushi at the hotel's restaurant. My first taste of real, non-American sushi! (Not my last, either.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">I already ate at least one before I remembered to take a picture.</span></div>
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Did you know that in Japan, they put the wasabi on the sushi before you get it? When Matt and I go out for sushi, I generally avoid the wasabi and ginger (it just ain't my thang), but there was no avoiding that sinus-clearing spice here! Thankfully they used a reasonable hand with the stuff, and the sushi was <i>really</i> good. I realize that I've never lived in a place super near an ocean, but the sushi was just so much ... gentler, I guess is the word, on the palate than it is in the U.S. It's fresher, and doesn't taste fishy, and is just really nice and light to eat. The plate I got had I think nine different types of fish, and my favorites were the salmon and the scallop!<br />
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The morning after I landed was a workday, and we were scheduled to go to a manufacturing tradeshow that our parent company was exhibiting at, so I met a lot of our Japanese staff for the first time. (And can I say that I am so glad I was constantly with people who spoke Japanese, because it was so weird being in a place where you literally can't read the signs for the trains, or understand people when they're speaking to you. It was really eye-opening, and I can't imagine what people go through when they move to a country where they do not understand the language at all.)<br />
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I also want to point out that despite everyone in the U.S. telling me that people in Japan all have crazy hair, I saw basically NO ONE with colorful hair. My boss waited until we got to the tradeshow before telling someone "I can't believe <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2016/04/things-that-are-not-color-theyre.html">her hair is purple</a>," and I was so surprised, because he hadn't said anything about it being purple for MONTHS. Turns out, I was informed, only students and unemployed people in Japan have dyed hair, because the employers don't allow their workers to have bright colors. THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW. Here I am, the only white girl bumbling around this manufacturing event with the brightest unicorn hair! I must have stood out a mile!<br />
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After the tradeshow was over, we had not one but TWO dinners! I wish I had known we were going to have the second, so I might have saved room for it, but I was so excited to try Teppanyaki-style soba noodles that I ate a ton. No regrets!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Noodles cooked on a hibachi-like plate! Sizzleeeee!</span></div>
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The rest of the company staff that was at the tradeshow joined us for dinner #2 (the after party). I ended up just sipping on some wine and trying random bites of things as people told me I had to try them. Mostly weird fishy dishes. :) But it was interesting because everything was basically served tapas-style, where there was a button on the table to call in the waitstaff, and you'd just order a couple things at a time and everyone would pass them around. It was a cute little restaurant and you had to put your shoes in little lockers by the front door when you walked in. (This was true of several restaurants we went to.)</div>
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The next day was more work things in the morning, so we'll skip straight to the good part: lunch. More noodles!</div>
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But here's where it also got a little weird. These noodles were from an Italian restaurant. But before I got my noodles they delivered salads and soups to everyone, and the salad plate was broken up into segments, with ham-and-pasta salad on one side, and lettuce on another, and beans next to all that? And the soup was a cup of chicken broth? It was unusual, but the shrimpy pasta was excellent!</div>
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So, one of the things that I love about having been a Weddingbee blogger is that there are literally women I know all over the world. I think my boss was shocked before we left for the trip and I said that I would like to have dinner with a friend that lived in Japan. He was like, how do you know someone from Japan, and that was an awkward little conversation. :) But it was good because I got to hang out with Cici/Mrs. Gondola, and it was a blast and she showed me a bunch of cool things in Osaka!</div>
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Dotonburi Bridge, and all the advertising! I loooooved seeing all the different types of ads in Japan. #adnerd</div>
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The famous Glico man! Which I hadn't heard of until planning this trip, but I had to get a picture imitating anyway, because obviously.</div>
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Purikura photo booths! (They're photo booths that make your eyes all big and then let you pick ridiculous backgrounds and digital stickers to put over the images.)</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Or in this case, stretched our legs out insanely long and made us look like leopards!</span></div>
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Osaka was a really cool city and I wish I had had more time to explore, but the next day it was off to Kyoto!</div>
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Do you like sushi? What is your favorite part of traveling to a new place?</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-21048435809945046092016-11-03T07:45:00.000-04:002016-11-03T07:45:01.825-04:00Classy TravelingWhen Matt and I went on our honeymoon cruise, he booked us a room with a balcony over the ocean. We didn't realize it when we planned the trip, but having the upgraded room entitled us to another perk: we got to board the boat earlier than the people with interior rooms, and that meant way less waiting in line. Our passports got checked, our luggage loaded up to dispatch to our room, and we were literally walking onto the ship in like, less than 20 minutes. It was amazing.<br />
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And I remember Matt looking at me with a little smile and going, "We're never going to be able to go on a cruise without a balcony room again are we?" And I laughed, "NOPE!"<br />
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Suffice it to say, we haven't gone on another cruise since then, nor are we generally upgrade-type people. (Okay, I'll say it. We're cheap!)<br />
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But when my boss said that I was going to Japan for a meeting (I work for an American subsidiary of a Japanese company), and he suggested upgrading to business class for the 12-hour flight, I wasn't going to say no. A seat that reclines all the way back, and a footrest that motorizes itself up to be level with the seat? Okay!<br />
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And look at all that legroom!<br />
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I'm used to flying in the back of the plane, getting no leg room and tiny packets of bland pretzels and being able to get comfy not at all, so it was weird, getting warm towels, and real fabric napkins for meal times, and glass cups, and a little kit of toiletries that you might need for the flight (and it included socks?!). It was kind of fun, but also felt pretty over the top.</div>
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It was also funny/sad when they put this delicious-looking plate of sushi in front of me, and then the flight attendant was like, "Oh wait! We've got a special meal for you" — pre-flight I had requested a vegetarian meal, because pescatarian wasn't listed as an option for plane food — and they took the sushi away and gave me a big plate of ... lentils. Even the guy next to me was like, "I would have tried to keep the sushi!" I'm thankful that airlines are willing to accommodate dietary preferences but I wouldn't have minded if they'd forgotten about me just this once! :)</div>
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Not including travel to get to the other side of the world and back — I left suuuuuuper early on a Wednesday and didn't arrive until Thursday night! — I was in Japan for only about three and a half days, but I did manage to do some sight seeing while I was there, so I'll be hopefully sharing some of that next time!</div>
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What's the best travel perk you've experienced?</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-20547348135581478972016-10-31T07:45:00.000-04:002016-10-31T07:45:02.363-04:00San Diego<i>Note: I originally wrote this post in April. This trip happened in January, and I just found the post mostly completed in my drafts folder. So I'm hitting "publish" as is, and maybe sometime before next January I'll get around to writing its sister post about my trip to Los Angeles that same week?)</i><br />
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I wanted to talk about California before too much time has passed and I decide it's not worth going back to share. (A lot of things have ended up like that lately, but I was listening to an episode of the <a href="http://robbell.podbean.com/e/episode-80-glennon-doyle-melton-momastery/">Robcast with the woman who founded Momastery</a>, and she was talking about how she made a point to have certain times for writing, where she typed the things she needed to say and hit "publish" when time was up, and I realized that kind of focus is kind of what I need right now, so I'm making a better effort to write regularly and actually send it out into the world.) <i>(October Edit: HAAAAAAA.)</i><br />
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So, I was lucky enough to get to go to California for a work tradeshow! On the day before the first enormous snowstorm hit Virginia in January, I flew to San Diego with two of my co-workers. We had switched flights to avoid being trapped in the bad weather, so we had an extra couple days to hang around and see the area.<br />
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There was amazing Mexican food! There were Bees! We were on a boat! There were margaritas the size of my face, and my Japanese coworker bought a sombrero after drinking one!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I don't like tequila, so I got a face-sized sangria instead.</span></div>
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But for real, I got to see and do a few things I'd never tried before. Like, after breakfast one of the days, we stumbled upon this farmer's market in the streets of San Diego, where my co-worker convinced me to try uni (sea urchin), which — believe me — is disgusting and you don't want to eat it. It was all slimy and salty and horrible. (And I LIKE sushi and don't have an issue with textures and all, but it was just. so. bad. Coworker disagreed.)<br />
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We also got to visit the San Diego Zoo. My sister-in-law used to live in the San Diego area, and she said it was one of the best zoos in the world, and it did not disappoint! We got to see pandas and elephants and lots of giant turtles, and it was fun.<br />
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One of the days, both my coworkers decided they wanted to go to Tijuana, to which I was like, no thanks, <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2014/06/it-was-enough-mexico-photoessay.html">I've been to Mexico</a>. So they took off, and instead I headed up the parkway to have brunch with a bee friend, Allison/Mrs. Parasol! We went to a place called Snooze, and I had uhMAZING breakfast tacos. (BREAKFAST TACOS HOW I MISS YOU. Virginia sux.)<br />
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<i>That's all she wrote, folks.</i><br />
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<i>Have you been to San Diego? How do you make time to write?</i>Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-29133954145993636022016-09-29T07:45:00.000-04:002016-09-29T07:45:11.530-04:00A Hypochondriac's Guide to Books: Station Eleven<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is a review of <i>Station Eleven</i> by Emily St. John Mandel, which was my book club's selection in December. We pick our books in a pretty simple way: at a meeting, a few people will nominate books they'd like to read, and then we vote on the three or four books suggested. I never once voted for this book, and it came up again and again, month after month. Finally, it was selected, and I had to stop pouting about it and read the dang thing.<br />
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<b>Symptoms:</b> This was pitched to me as a story about how 99 percent of the world's population gets killed off by the flu. NO THANKS.</div>
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<b>Examination: </b>Well sure, there's the flu. There isn't actually much description of the flu. I mean, people are tired, and sick, and they die, but the flu is not the point of the story, and so it isn't played up for dramatic effect or anything. It's so matter-of-fact.</div>
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The point of this book is what happens after so much of the population has been killed. The phone lines go down. People try to escape the cities they're in (to go where?) and they run out of gas and abandon their vehicles on the highway. People are stranded with no way to get in touch with loved ones that are not immediately close at hand. TV stations eventually go dead.</div>
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The story begins with an actor who has a heart attack on stage while performing <i>King Lear</i>, the night the flu pandemic begins. (No, the heart attack is not described graphically, and other than the fact that it happened; it is an impetus to move the plot forward, and not an event unto itself.) A child actress witnesses the actor's collapse and a man from the audience's attempt to revive him, and suddenly there are so many things happening, different characters affected by this one event, followed by another event that changes everything, and how they get on with their lives now that nothing will ever be the same.<br />
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The medical stuff that stuck out to me: There is a group of people that, post-pandemic, find themselves living in an airport after all the flights have been grounded. There is a woman who has some kind of mental health condition (depression? it's been a while since I read it, and this wasn't that important), and asks all the people in the airport if they have the prescription she needs. (It's unsafe to leave the airport, and looters have already done their work in a lot of the towns.) She is unable to find it, and eventually leaves the airport, because she is unable to cope without her medication, choosing instead to see if it's possible to find help out "there." There is also a man who talks about his family, one of whom was an insulin-dependent diabetic, and it is implied that the same thing must have happened — eventually they would have run out of insulin, and would have been out of luck.<br />
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<b>Diagnosis: </b>Turns out, this isn't even really about the flu, so stop being a pansy. This caused me to pause and consider the end of the world for a long time after I had finished reading, and I didn't waste a second thought on the flu that caused it. What struck me most about this book was how thought-out it was; regardless of what causes the end of the world (whether disease, or nuclear holocaust, or something else), I could absolutely picture this being how people would react, and what the outcome would look like.</div>
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<b>Prognosis: </b>You'll be fine. I loved this book and gave it five stars. (Sorry book club friends!) The post-apocalyptic aspect has really stuck with me, and not a lot of books continue to follow me around once I'm done with them. It was very good.</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-70453223431948191022016-09-19T07:45:00.000-04:002016-09-19T07:45:00.817-04:00The Closest Thing to SkydivingI love having adventures, making a point to do new and cool things. My mom is always telling me that I have such an exciting life, and that hers is boring. I tell her it's all about saying yes to things, but she gets nervous and doesn't always like trying new things unless someone is doing it with her.<br />
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So two years ago, for Christmas, I bought her a gift card to iFly. It's one of those indoor skydiving places, where you're basically just hanging out in a giant wind tunnel, floating over a huge fan. We had driven past the place several times over the years, and she always mentioned that it sounded like so much fun (and to be honest, it's the closest thing to real skydiving that either of us would ever do), but I knew that she wouldn't go out of her way to do it on her own.<br />
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Well, a whole year passed, another Christmas come and gone, and we <i>still</i> hadn't put that gift card to use, so we figured we had to make a plan or it wouldn't happen. Matt and I were in Texas over Memorial Day weekend, and mom and I booked a session to go iFlying in advance, so we'd finally get her that adventure!<br />
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So that Monday, the two of us (plus Matt and my dad for support) drove out to Plano, signed our lives away and got scheduled for a class! There's a 10 minute or so training class you do before they suit you up and get you into the tunnel, since it's super loud in there and they have to make sure you understand the four hand signals that they will use to give you directions. (The signals are: bend your legs, straighten your legs, chin up, and relax. Spoiler alert: Mom and I are bad at relaxing.)<br />
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We got our gear (suits, earplugs and helmets), and filed into the tunnel. There was a booth where someone was controlling the tunnel, filming the sessions and controlling the clock so the instructor would know when it was time to switch us out, and a narrow seating area where all us flyers sat waiting for our turn. We each got two flights, one to get our bearings and figure out how our bodies should be held, and then another where we got to try cool moves, like floating way up high in the tunnel!<br />
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It was kind of nerve-wracking at first! When you get into the tunnel, you're hit with this massive wall of air coming up from below, and the instructor is telling you to keep your chin up, and I'm like, "but I can't breathe with all this air rushing up my nose!" There was a moment of panic when I was like, crap I've gotta figure out how to not die while I'm in here! But thankfully that passed within a few seconds, breathing was totally possible, but Mom later told me that I looked super freaked out for the first little bit!<br />
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After we'd all gotten our turns, the instructor got to show off some moves also, like shooting up high really fast, doing loops around the tunnel and flipping around!<br />
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Our instructor, Dominic, was really awesome, and very helpful. We got certificates at the end where they noted all the moves we accomplished (things like "flew in a stable body position," "turned 360 degrees left and right," and "flew in the tunnel with minimal assistance"), so that's pretty cool. :) He also told us that we were the stiffest people he'd ever worked with, so ...<br />
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It was an awesome experience, and Mom said she had so much fun, and I'm so glad we got to do it together!Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-61406652047054666082016-09-02T18:45:00.000-04:002016-09-03T08:30:44.698-04:00Snippets of SummerHello friends (and grandmothers). It's been a while, huh.<br />
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Matt and I were talking at dinner the other night. (We are <i>adults</i> now, and I've been pushing for sitting at the dining room table, now that our house is set up enough to get to it [oh right! we moved this summer. to a house two blocks over from our last place, our first standalone house of our married lives!]. It's kind of nice, having conversations instead of watching TV while we eat.) Over bowls of cauliflower chili, he mentioned that he kind of wished he'd kept a journal or something during his <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/search/label/grad%20school">grad school</a> years, so he could remember what his headspace was like, instead of looking back and realizing he had no idea what he was thinking during some parts of life. And I thought, this blog has been a record of my life for so long, and yet I've lost the drive to write on a regular basis.</div>
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I have lots of things I'd like to say, of course, but the thought of putting (figuratively) pen to paper, and figuring out what is worth sharing sounds more tiring than I'd like it to be.</div>
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But here's the thing. The more I choose not to write, the easier it is to keep not writing. I've got a whole, unwritten summer just behind me. The more I choose not to pour out my memories, the more I realize that I have forgotten the details, that I don't remember as well as I thought I would. Life stays full-to-bursting even when I choose not to write. And when I choose not to write, the good (as well as the mundane and bad and boring) is lost. And later, Matt will ask me, hey remember when we were/did/saw XYZ, and I will not remember the specific thing he's mentioning, and I'll worry again if my memory is shorting out a little earlier than it should.</div>
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From Summer 2016: I want to remember the wedding with the grits bar, and laughing as we sipped our drinks awkwardly on the lawn, and how happy we were on the dance floor. I want to remember hugs and walks and tears and Zumba and time spent quiet with close friends. I want to remember the sweet, puckering taste of that lemon cocktail at the fancy restaurant we went to for our anniversary, to celebrate FIVE YEARS, as my dad would say, and how Matt kept calling me "raven" because I'd had my hair dyed a bright, dark shade of purple that morning.</div>
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I want to remember the feeling of panic I first felt before I got my bearings when my mom and I went indoor skydiving over Memorial Day weekend, and watching cheesy '70s game shows in the little studio we stayed at in Boston when <a href="https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/neusroadtrip/">we road-tripped up through New England</a>. And what about the creaminess of that long-awaited lobstah roll, and the dog on the field of Fenway! What about appreciating whiskey for the first time? And squeezing through the rocks in Georgia, and chatting on the patio in Chattanooga?</div>
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The visits from our parents, and the surprise 29th birthday party that I wish I'd gotten some photos of, because I was not expecting it at all (he lied about looking for a lawn mower!) and all my Virginia friends in one place at one time. The car breaking down in Dallas, and how we laughed when we thought we might miss the concert because of the absurdity of the whole thing, and the pool party with all my relatives. Being so excited to see Matt's cousin's performance in North Carolina, since we never made it up to Broadway.</div>
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I realize how much I will lose if I don't write. And so I'll try harder to find words for all this fullness.</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-42258333424252727142016-04-05T07:45:00.000-04:002016-04-05T07:45:06.096-04:00Things That Are Not The Color They're Supposed to BeWhen we first moved to Virginia, I was browsing on Pinterest for cool things to do around here, when I came across this image.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I have no idea what the original source is. I have looked and looked and looked.</span></div>
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And I immediately thought, "I want to go to there." The pin described it as "Cherry River, West Virginia." So I looked up Cherry River, saw it was a 2.5 hour drive from us, decided that we would go when spring came, and stopped thinking about it.<br />
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So. It's now spring. Last week, I told Matt I wanted to go see Cherry River on Sunday, now that things are blooming. And we searched high and low and could find NO MENTION of pink trees. No other photos from people who had been there. No travel blogs listing it as a place to see. I asked my boss, who is from West Virginia, and she said she'd never heard of this, but went ahead and asked some of her hometown friends, none of whom had ever seen anything like this either.<br />
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They suspected someone took a picture of a river and stuck a pink filter on it. Plus, none of the other photos of Cherry River I found look like this at all.<br />
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I was disappointed. LIES, ALL LIES.<br />
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But that's okay. Matt and I decided that we'd go out and do something new on Saturday instead, so we found ourselves at a roller derby bout in Roanoke. It was pretty awesome; I'd never been to see roller derby before, and it was a fun experience, the two of us trying to figure out how the game was scored and watching the derby girls try to hip-check each other out of the rink.<br />
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(Side story: Matt and I went for a walk after work yesterday, and I told him I wanted to do some blogging. He said, "About your hair?" and I said "No, about Cherry River," and he said, "You could call the post, 'Things That Are Not The Color They Are Supposed to Be,'" and I laughed and laughed, so there you go.)</div>
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BTdubs, I LOVE MY HAIR. I went in Saturday and it took like three hours to get all the bleaching done and lavender added, but it turned out so awesome and I love it, and my colorist said it would still look good as it fades into lighter purple, with shades of pink and silver and blonde. It's like My Little Pony in the best possible way. </div>
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Also, thanks to the bleaching experience, I now know that a whole head of blonde is not something that looks good on me, so now I don't feel like I have to try that anymore.</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-33138957621378005172016-03-31T07:45:00.000-04:002016-03-31T07:45:00.405-04:00A Hypochondriac's Guide to Books: IntroductionWhen I was in the seventh grade, our science teacher read the first chapter of <i>The Hot Zone </i>to our class. It was not a good experience. I have always been a worrier and a <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/02/there-should-be-webmd-for-hypochondriacs.html">hypochondriac</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0uxSavYQzvaSopNF8g2RYgDvy2J5JdFhQIMSR-5cgosB7ycZWbsMzmyk6zwxrrQwYlf_SSYz2FF0o2qySHsKA5Y7IdERgdmXThFpYEB2GrEH5RLiE1mmo9mGPBGIHhNjyADx0R19TRUc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-03-30+at+6.41.17+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0uxSavYQzvaSopNF8g2RYgDvy2J5JdFhQIMSR-5cgosB7ycZWbsMzmyk6zwxrrQwYlf_SSYz2FF0o2qySHsKA5Y7IdERgdmXThFpYEB2GrEH5RLiE1mmo9mGPBGIHhNjyADx0R19TRUc/s320/Screen+Shot+2016-03-30+at+6.41.17+PM.png" width="204" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Emphasis on TERRIFYING.</span></div>
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After class that day, the teacher had to call my mom, because I was visibly not okay. I had never heard of ebola before, and after <i>The Hot Zone</i>'s graphic descriptions of the symptoms, I subsequently spent the next 15 years worrying that I was going to get it, despite having never left the United States.<br />
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(I finally got over that worry — you know, as you do — as soon as that first case of ebola actually made its way to Texas. Because I don't worry about <i>realistic</i> problems.)<br />
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But to this day, I generally try not to read things that I think will freak me out. And more than once, I have googled "hypochondria [insert book title here]" to no avail. Apparently that's not something people think to include when they write book reviews.<br />
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But I decided that someone should go ahead and start this vital service! Because I have had several book club picks come up where I have been very worried about the month's selected or potential books, and people don't tend to take me seriously when I ask them if they think it will make me freak out. (It doesn't take much to freak me out.)<br />
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The first book I'm going to review is actually the one that I resisted for <i>months</i> in my new book club. Someone suggested <i>Station Eleven</i>, by Emily St. John Mandel, and I asked the other members about the hypochondria factor, and they all told me that it was fine, I'd be fine, etc. etc. and yet I refused to believe them or vote for it and was basically a baby until finally they picked it anyway.<br />
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I'm actually pretty excited about revisiting some of the books I've read recently with illness factors, and maybe I can help someone out who does the same googling that I do.<br />
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Do you have any irrational worries? What do you look for in a book review?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-82269676311423940852016-03-07T07:45:00.000-05:002016-03-07T07:45:04.720-05:00Skin Care, or How Apathy Became ObsessionI have never had much interest in beauty products. I like lip colors a lot, and I wear a minimal amount of makeup everyday, but otherwise, you could pretty much guarantee that I was Not Interested. I routinely skipped past advertisements and recommendations for new treatments in the Beauty section of the few magazines I subscribe to, and I was generally bored by discussions of <i>omg wrinkles crow's feet laugh lines aaaaah</i>.<br />
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But then … a couple of months ago, I came to a realization. My skin was looking <i>rough</i>. There's a picture from Christmas from when Matt and I visited Washington D.C., and I swear you can tell how dry my skin is just by looking at the picture. I'm 28. I never developed a skin care routine, unless you count routinely falling asleep without washing my face. I was starting to see some good-sized creases in my forehead that didn't go away when I stopped making faces, and my skin always felt super itchy and dry.<br />
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And I thought maybe I was worrying about nothing, so I asked some friends about their skincare routines, and that's when I learned that I have been doing my entire life wrong. I didn't even know what my correct skin type was, so I don't know what I expected to happen when I bought face products. The few products that I had used and liked are, apparently, The Worst for your skin, according to people who pay attention to that kind of thing, and all the good habits I never developed are, apparently, Super Important. Things like, remove your makeup before bed! and Wear sunscreen every day! and If your skin is already dry, stop using things that dry it out more!<br />
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I bought moisturizers for day time and moisturizers for nighttime, cleansers that don't have skin-destroying plastic scrubby things in them, sunscreen that doesn't feel slimy and look greasy. I finally pulled the trigger and used a gift card to buy one of those <a href="http://www.clinique.com/product/12516/31047/Skin-Care/Cleansing-Brush/Clinique-Sonic-System-Purifying-Cleansing-Brush">face-scrub brushes</a> that I've been thinking about since before we got married (… almost five years ago). I've become a tiny bit obsessed with reading about Korean skin care products, and got a subscription to the <a href="https://jinibeauty.cratejoy.com/">Jini Beauty Box</a> so I can try out some of the products suggested by people who know what they're doing.<br />
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For years I pooh-poohed the idea of skin care because <i>there's nothing wrong with aging</i> and <i>I'm going to look the way I'm going to look whether I spend money on face cream or not</i> and <i>it all seems so complicated and I have other things to think about</i>. (At <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/09/dear-spa-castle-youre-awesome.html">my sister's bachelorette party</a>, I compared skin care "routines" with both the bride and my cousin, and discovered that NONE of us had ever removed our makeup before bedtime.)<br />
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But it makes a difference. In how my skin looks and how it feels. And how I feel about myself. I'm a convert.<br />
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I'm still early enough in the process that I'm hesitant to share my favorite items yet (plus, discovering new ones all the time!), but maybe I will over the next few months. My sister has asked for recommendations when I find things I like, so I'm excited that maybe my trial and error will be helpful to someone that is still as apathetic as I used to be about the whole thing.<br />
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What are your favorite beauty items? At what age did you start to get serious about your skin?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-61267828581315928062016-01-18T07:45:00.000-05:002016-01-18T07:45:05.034-05:00If I'm Honest, I'm AfraidYesterday I had a bit of an existential crisis, and so I did the only thing I could think of that always puts me in a better mood: I went to the bookstore.<br />
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And as I was browsing the "Personal Growth" self-help shelves, I saw a daily journal titled something like <i>Do Something That Scares You Every Day</i>, full of pages with quotes about conquering fear and making your dreams come true and whatnot.<br />
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And as I flipped through it rather quickly, I kind of scoffed. This could not be useful to me.<i> I'm not scared of anything, </i>I thought.<br />
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So I turned away, and continued browsing, picked out a couple books to buy (<i>Jesus Feminist</i> by Sarah Bessey and <i>Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear</i> by Elizabeth Gilbert), got a latte and sat in the cafe to read the book I was carrying in my purse at the time. (<i>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.</i> A re-read. Also, very heavy to be carrying around all the time.)<br />
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But as I drove home, and made dinner, and sat in front of the fourth quarter of the football game that Matt was watching, my brain was percolating. If I'm being honest, I'm afraid of LOTS of things.<br />
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I'm afraid of falling. Of failing. Of getting hurt, or embarrassed, or hurting someone else on accident. Of disappointing others.<br />
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I'm afraid of making the wrong decision. Of permanence. Of how impermanent my existence is.<br />
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I'm scared that I won't make an impact. I'm scared of alienating people with the things I'm passionate about. I'm scared that I am passionate about too many things, and that I never make the proper effort or time to follow through with any of them.<br />
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It scares me that I still don't know what I want to do with my life. It scares me that I'm getting closer to 30 and still don't know if I want kids.<br />
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I'm afraid that I've lost my creative spark from lack of use.<br />
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It scares me that I could go so long without writing.<br />
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It scares me that I am still so ignorant about so many things, even though I am trying hard to learn more about other time periods, other cultures, other experiences.<br />
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And so maybe I need to stop thinking I've got it together, and start dealing with these fears. Maybe if I have a grip on what scares me, I won't be so afraid of squandering my own existence.<br />
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What are you afraid of? Have you taken active steps to get over any of your fears? What things make you feel better when you start questioning everything?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-5801815576669997062015-12-14T07:45:00.000-05:002015-12-14T07:45:00.439-05:00My Sister's Married!It was beautiful. She was beautiful. The groom cried. I cried. I made a toast and cried some more. I made a <i>Friends</i> reference in my toast.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOpeDHNZlaKwlrX1UQrAhixoZXsqX58d5Ra9S7sKFiBiAxLGjW9Hl47SF3ufZLCLwzkRhqZvIXBED7igL0LHGt6GjFa9mWm1PoLVbxU-SPZ9XtdoLB9uql1krdJHgdom7bd0qM9D-VGaU/s1600/12308700_10153648631075470_7814600615797866099_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOpeDHNZlaKwlrX1UQrAhixoZXsqX58d5Ra9S7sKFiBiAxLGjW9Hl47SF3ufZLCLwzkRhqZvIXBED7igL0LHGt6GjFa9mWm1PoLVbxU-SPZ9XtdoLB9uql1krdJHgdom7bd0qM9D-VGaU/s640/12308700_10153648631075470_7814600615797866099_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It is a love about having, and giving, and sharing, and receiving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Honeymoon portrait by the photographer on their cruise. Rachel hasn't gotten all the official wedding photos back yet.)</span></div>
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But let's be honest. What you really want to see is how her dress turned out. You may recall that Rachel <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2014/05/etheria-fashion-show.html">went to school to study fashion design</a>. And that she had planned to <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/01/lets-look-at-pretty-dresses.html">design and sew her own wedding dress</a>.<br />
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She said she spent over 260 hours hand-beading the dress. And she looked like a million bucks.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJiCvBFRuRG4r-AiM7mWIci1g6us7NbZQdopLJ8vS61ACBRGbkwH0zHInyeT1P8yz4FJj-2C6dDOOrNh89NM7niMf64ILdkUWxxZb3qlA6V5kIireKtVUK11xSZIYtyXaaiXkFSXkhjU/s1600/IMG_3289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJiCvBFRuRG4r-AiM7mWIci1g6us7NbZQdopLJ8vS61ACBRGbkwH0zHInyeT1P8yz4FJj-2C6dDOOrNh89NM7niMf64ILdkUWxxZb3qlA6V5kIireKtVUK11xSZIYtyXaaiXkFSXkhjU/s640/IMG_3289.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">All photos by me or via Facebook unless otherwise specified</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeYS2PUaRE5Bb8m90IYOz18mfaga0uDT3HjTXiGZBxNF3M8MvA2_t-M4_xScaZXbBbLbH2gIir7kJYKqYZA9FSdzXsMRsO0S2VHXd7LrEj4cAFv6stlIxCZQm9Cv_mf0Bj14uVRqC1caQ/s1600/12294845_946642112070128_6630834104303209715_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeYS2PUaRE5Bb8m90IYOz18mfaga0uDT3HjTXiGZBxNF3M8MvA2_t-M4_xScaZXbBbLbH2gIir7kJYKqYZA9FSdzXsMRsO0S2VHXd7LrEj4cAFv6stlIxCZQm9Cv_mf0Bj14uVRqC1caQ/s640/12294845_946642112070128_6630834104303209715_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">From her bridal portrait session by <a href="http://tysonpough.com/">Tyson Pough</a>, pulled from Facebook. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(It's the best photo I have of the detail, sorry if I'm not supposed to steal it, Rachel!)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-U8xGkvTKmIr2-Rtaw7eCgrklu9hR6B8ahLxTtd0my1tHqPnsnbH5PGCjLDxnSkw_8BUfXxbn-7dkZzYgiWqmjnUejHq7cYMTdeOUIAVqJWDYgG0XHhwCidsW8vs01xZwj8590z301TQ/s1600/12250163_10208157857290008_996484459467437328_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-U8xGkvTKmIr2-Rtaw7eCgrklu9hR6B8ahLxTtd0my1tHqPnsnbH5PGCjLDxnSkw_8BUfXxbn-7dkZzYgiWqmjnUejHq7cYMTdeOUIAVqJWDYgG0XHhwCidsW8vs01xZwj8590z301TQ/s640/12250163_10208157857290008_996484459467437328_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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I'm so impressed. Every time anyone asks me how the wedding went, I have to whip out my phone and show them her work. I keep telling her she needs to start her own business.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmci5-3rF38yLAo8wor4Wa8AYq1n4Cb7Aq_NxYqR8zwTYxj8-XOKf1RhcNx-BLYKQQCLuti2ANMSAVX0IMTGEidO3Gm1gyhR8X9yl-C7HwKAvW9YXP_oy6eogkE-9qBvUVIV16GI6MS8/s1600/12278711_10208157858410036_7797716079578642564_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmci5-3rF38yLAo8wor4Wa8AYq1n4Cb7Aq_NxYqR8zwTYxj8-XOKf1RhcNx-BLYKQQCLuti2ANMSAVX0IMTGEidO3Gm1gyhR8X9yl-C7HwKAvW9YXP_oy6eogkE-9qBvUVIV16GI6MS8/s640/12278711_10208157858410036_7797716079578642564_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">With our beautiful mom. Rachel didn't carry a bouquet; instead she won this dramatic bridal cuff.</span></div>
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I did a good job as <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2014/12/life-list-i-get-to-be-best-person-of.html">Best Person of Awesomeness</a>, if I do say so myself. I confiscated her phone pretty much immediately and fielded all the potential drama away from her. I did ridiculous things to try to keep her laughing. We watched/quoted the <i>Friends </i>episode with Monica and Chandler's wedding, because that's what Rachel wanted to do, and we probably destroyed my cousin's data plan with the Netflix usage.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQfTtwcdFAAjt1HDAqKsj-uKINWgTSJPG820YGikPakKkzYNK0rQFMr_zk3_jkzr0qOZJeiVtiULvBKZa3_nsCdtvC8H-782tO-xhzTHeO4OV53TnRzBteRywGocoHwkHFhQgvWyG8Nc/s1600/11209410_10203805198010825_4498955661717099168_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQfTtwcdFAAjt1HDAqKsj-uKINWgTSJPG820YGikPakKkzYNK0rQFMr_zk3_jkzr0qOZJeiVtiULvBKZa3_nsCdtvC8H-782tO-xhzTHeO4OV53TnRzBteRywGocoHwkHFhQgvWyG8Nc/s640/11209410_10203805198010825_4498955661717099168_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Waiting around inside. It was cold and incredibly windy out.</span></div>
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Bridesmaid selfies! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7eCilnygdO2Y3tk8-jPQxyE2H_ggXFgClnQstLEVrOdcsNERDqfZXQrq5Fgf1NFF7MVwf3frOxzP4csxvXZrd5mO4aBSb7G9xFt6GNY6Vmj_TGrqnY-9DQSgtGqp1eVsCoe-79QBRBXo/s1600/12294758_10208157857090003_305604873685443130_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7eCilnygdO2Y3tk8-jPQxyE2H_ggXFgClnQstLEVrOdcsNERDqfZXQrq5Fgf1NFF7MVwf3frOxzP4csxvXZrd5mO4aBSb7G9xFt6GNY6Vmj_TGrqnY-9DQSgtGqp1eVsCoe-79QBRBXo/s640/12294758_10208157857090003_305604873685443130_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">With my pretty cousin! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The flowers were really beautiful. It's a shame I couldn't take them home, because Elliott likes to eat flowers.</span></div>
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The wedding was lovely, and the food was excellent. I ate a lot of dinner rolls and penne pasta, among other things, and Matt ate a lot of cake. We danced to Big Band-era music, with the occasional "Cha-Cha Slide" and "Cupid Shuffle" thrown in. My parents <a href="http://www.weddingbee.com/2011/07/29/a-life-full-of-laughter-you-make-me-feel-like-dancing/">danced together</a> quite a few times (!!!), and my mom was out on the dance floor almost the whole night!<br />
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I don't have any photos of Rachel's car, but we decorated it too, for the sendoff. (Matt thought of that. In that regard, I failed as Best Person of Awesomeness.) We got it done just in time for them to walk out among golden ribbon wands, and Matt threw some snacks and beers and waters in the backseat for them to consume later (since they left a lot of their dinner and cake plates on the sweetheart table, uneaten, FOR SHAME).<br />
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And once the wedding was over, we went back to my parents' house with some of our family members where I learned that my dad had bought not one, but THREE enormous bottles of moscato! (Regular moscato, pink moscato and red moscato! He's not a wine drinker, and I guess I didn't make myself clear when I requested red wine…) Surprise, they all tasted basically the same.<br />
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I'm so glad we had time to spend with the family and that everything turned out so beautifully. :)Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-82500355305758667782015-11-12T07:45:00.000-05:002015-11-12T07:45:00.371-05:00Summer in Texas, in VirginiaIt used to be that every summer, Matt's family would all get together for a long weekend (or a long week) at Inks Lake in Burnet, Texas. It hasn't happened in several years, and that makes me kind of sad.<br />
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It was only a few short months after Matt and I started dating. We were sitting in a hammock together, heads on opposite ends, feet propped up. I was reading <i>The Other Boleyn Girl</i> for the first of many times. He was doing math puzzles.<br />
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I looked over at him, smiling. I thought, "If we're still doing this in 50 years, I will be happy."<br />
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<a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/03/on-this-tenth-year.html">Ten years</a> have passed.<br />
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Matt wasn't having a very good day, as far as I could tell. My car was in the shop, so he had to come pick me up at work. He must have been tired, or at least deep in thought, because we didn't talk much. Work has been stressful for both of us lately. We let "the grind" grind us down, and we try to come up with ways to take the stress off each other.<br />
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I suggested we get Starbucks on the way home, a rare treat for us. By poor circumstance, we missed the entrance to the main Starbucks, and I suggested we go to the one in Target a few blocks up. Matt had the better idea, suggesting the 'Bux in Barnes and Noble. He won.<br />
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We browsed for a few minutes. He snagged a book of math and logic puzzles. I found the newest book in a series I'd loved that I had yet to read. And we got our drinks and sat across from each other at a little table in the café.<br />
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Matt got up to get a napkin, and then promptly did number problems all over it. I powered through the first 60 pages of my book.<br />
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I looked at him and smiled as he went for more napkins, having run out of room on the first.<br />
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Past Allie was so right.<br />
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I am so happy with this life.Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-14650899281298605712015-11-10T07:45:00.000-05:002015-11-10T07:45:00.548-05:00A Few Hours in Frankfurt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I may have <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/10/castles-and-canals-in-holland.html">missed seeing the Red Light District</a> in Amsterdam, but I sure found out where all the prostitutes and sex shops are in Frankfurt!</div>
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So. I got lost on my way back to the train station. I had an eight-hour layover in Frankfurt, so I planned to take the train into downtown so I could wander around and see the city. I was there on a Monday, so most of the museums were closed, which was kind of a bummer. But the one I REALLY wanted to see — the Jewish history museum — was not only closed for Monday, but closed through 2018 for renovations! #themoreyouknow<br />
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Even though my plans for the city didn't really pan out, I did wander around Frankfurt and see some cool churches and shops.<br />
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Thankfully, the city is laid out in a grid so it wasn't too difficult for me to read a map. (I am notoriously bad at directions. For some reason, my mind assumes that the direction I am going must always be north. It rarely is.)<br />
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So I had finally gotten comfortable enough with the map, in that I had managed to find my way to this cool old church (Alte Nikolaikirche) and back, so I was feeling confident enough to wander off the main drag that the helpful lady at the tourist office told me about. I moseyed through a nice park that had a statue of Beethoven that looked like he'd just been caught having a threesome.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It's totally because of the expression on the face of the girl on the right. Scandalous!</span></div>
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I found the Alte Oper opera house and decided to rest my legs and people-watch for a while.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Frankfurt is a big financial hub in Europe, so I saw lots of smart bank workers in fancy suits and pretty shoes.</span></div>
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And then, assuming that I knew the general direction from which I came, I wandered back that way. And got completely turned around.<br />
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I knew I was in the wrong place when I walked past a casino midday and saw a woman in micro-shorts and heels with her stomach bared, when I was regretting not having my heavy coat with me.<br />
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In addition to hookers, I also saw more cool buildings!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Statues holding up a bridge!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Gold detailing and strung lights!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">An American restaurant that presumably serves Chicago-style food! (I did not eat there.)</span></div>
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One of my favorite parts of the day was ducking into the Alte Nikolaikirche church. I took some photos outside, and then I wasn't sure if it was open for visitors or not, so I tested the door, not wanting to disturb any worshippers.<br />
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Inside, it was empty save for this older gentleman. I'm not sure if he was a church member or a historian or what, but he told me all about the church, and about some of the pieces of artwork and stained glass. Some of the glass creations had survived World War II and were now on display in this 11th century building!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Gravestones depicting the man who gathered land to create the city of Frankfurt, and his rich wife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Crazy hair day. A 4 a.m. wakeup call will do that to you.</span></div>
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I also loved that there was a big river that cut through the city and that there were nice walking bridges across. There was an accordian player performing on one of them! That was so cool.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">There were locks all around the bridge.</span></div>
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After I had a quick, late lunch (not much to say about it; most places in Frankfurt I popped into to try to get out of the cold did not take credit cards and I only had a few euros that I had gotten from my co-worker, so I just had a simple sandwich), I made my way back across the bridge, back to the train station and shuttled back to the aiport in order to get ready to fly back home! (The gate agent asked me where I was headed. I said "the United States!" He told me that wasn't good enough, that I needed to tell him WHERE in the U.S. So, that was embarrassing.)</div>
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And thus ends Allie's First Big European Trip. Hopefully I'll get to go back to all these places someday, as there's still so much I'd like to see and do!</div>
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Have you been to Frankfurt? Are there any other places in the world where people actually play the accordian?! Do you prefer researching places to visit, or just wandering?</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-26672115613893222622015-11-02T07:45:00.000-05:002015-11-02T07:45:00.666-05:00I'm Here For The Food: A Love Story for MilanI really, really loved Milan. I got to spend four magnificent days in the city (one and a half of them on my own), and while we did some things for work, I'm not going to talk about them here.<br />
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I loved the food. Oh my gosh, the FOOD! I had fresh pasta three times while I was there, and it was just so amazing and creamy and wonderful. I had gelato twice. Gnocchi once. Panna cotta for breakfast, which blew any panna cotta I've had completely out of the water. Lemon sorbet that was more like a creamy drink than an ice cream, but was oh-so-good.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"After" photo of a melt-in-your mouth salmon taglioni in cream sauce. Sorry, I didn't get a "before," but it was basically the same but with a significantly larger amount of pasta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I ate as much of the deliciousness as humanly possible, but almost every restaurant we went to in Europe asked me if the food was okay, because I could never actually finish everything I ordered. If only I could have taken a cross-continental to-go box!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Gelato #1 from a street vendor near the Duomo cathedral. Italian Cream flavor, and it was amazing.</span></div>
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Italy made me realize how much I love eggplant, when it arrived on a vegetariana pizza. (In the U.S., it's one of the few veggies I find generally kind of icky. It's that thick skin, it makes it hard to eat.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Fresh pappardelle with porcini mushrooms. We asked the hotel concierge for a restaurant recommendation, and she recommended a restaurant where they would come pick you up (at the NH Hotel off Sesto Marelli). The sign on the place literally just said "Ristorante," and the food and wine and dessert were all fabulous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The most unusual pasta dish I've ever had. It was a ricotta-walnut-chili pasta from the Sheraton Milan Malpensa restaurant before a 6 a.m. flight to Frankfurt. I had to ask the waiter if all the flowers and leaves were edible! Also, I love that every meal in Italy starts with prosecco. Mmmm prosecco.</span></div>
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I could basically just wax poetic about the food forever, but I won't bore you. If you have not been to Italy, get to Italy if just for the food! I could just eat the whole city and be perfectly happy.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Duomo cathedral from the front. It's insanely touristy outside and people tried to sell all kinds of things all over the place, which was kind of obnoxious. Lots of people with selfie sticks, lots of people buying selfie sticks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I did not buy a selfie stick. I do not want to own a selfie stick.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPV7_1NZrRggtEIl8-huMgTwkkAnX8CiGDozNBoAe2bAxA45flPF570w78RVigcyeF68WJZFalvfUWONVUQs7pLB8DGj_nd81e0cMZ7PjAlLAWAfqUxMIbhhjicq8SX9Ap5sABrz9PBJM/s1600/IMG_2964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPV7_1NZrRggtEIl8-huMgTwkkAnX8CiGDozNBoAe2bAxA45flPF570w78RVigcyeF68WJZFalvfUWONVUQs7pLB8DGj_nd81e0cMZ7PjAlLAWAfqUxMIbhhjicq8SX9Ap5sABrz9PBJM/s640/IMG_2964.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">More pretty architecture. Plaza adjacent to the Duomo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is a shopping center. We are doing it wrong. #Murica</span></div>
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And just everything was really pretty. The train system was easy to navigate, even though I am always getting lost. The Duomo was an incredibly impressive cathedral, and the whole area around it was just gorgeous. My co-worker and I had dinner down the street from the Duomo on our first night in Milan, and then I went back a few days later to actually see the cathedral.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">You can climb a very steep and winding staircase with 115+ steps (or take an elevator) to tour the gorgeous rooftop of the Duomo. I started counting the steps on the way down, but I was already down a few flights before I remembered. I was sweating and breathing hard. It's hard work being a tourist. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I went at sunset and it was breathtaking. The insanely intricate carvings, the beautiful light, lovely old marble, so many statues to look at … every spire and gargoyle was different from the next.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Selfie to prove I didn't just rip these photos off the internet? Also, it's weird traveling alone because there's no one to take awesome photos of you. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Is this why people buy selfie sticks?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I tried not to take photos of scaffolding, but there were decent-sized chunks of the marble work along the rooftop that were being restored. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-kn3mEQoQIAgRNMtD06TpkDJfTWxe3-TF_SJYVhIuE40LlsK8mtfUwhzXEFYHCTZyRbga4rlmr7gM8K1Bv2UQVmSfmzv4EUfxU6k6Ed6CCyw9h7R9DTf5Q-w8Bl9l-AysJKUKoAMFcmk/s1600/IMG_3077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-kn3mEQoQIAgRNMtD06TpkDJfTWxe3-TF_SJYVhIuE40LlsK8mtfUwhzXEFYHCTZyRbga4rlmr7gM8K1Bv2UQVmSfmzv4EUfxU6k6Ed6CCyw9h7R9DTf5Q-w8Bl9l-AysJKUKoAMFcmk/s640/IMG_3077.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bet my sunset is cooler than yours.</span></div>
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I didn't do the full interior tour (because it was getting late/was traveling alone/still needed to get dinner and take a train and walk back to the hotel ... practical reasons but still, stupid Past Allie) though you walk through part of the main cathedral after the rooftop tour. I tried to take a panorama photo, but it does not come even close to capturing how beautiful and intricate the inside was. Basically, photos will never do and you'll just have to see it yourself. Magnificent.<br />
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The Castle Sforza was also beautiful, even though I didn't manage to get to see any of the museums inside (due to <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/10/it-turns-out-im-really-into-old.html">the cash situation</a>). I would have liked to have seen the unfinished Leonardo DaVinci sculpture that resides inside.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLrRVJcYX6IaQ1nsX7zXcvKasFp-Au7xA93CRc3a6v1U33gwO_21goHEi-9dt9KhSeiKGQM9FJMbQgwLDyy4BRSxH6IXe1s7Kylk8kHV0RB1_T33Uj7Db3geLy4gvEfyz14eTXj6_OK1M/s1600/IMG_3129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLrRVJcYX6IaQ1nsX7zXcvKasFp-Au7xA93CRc3a6v1U33gwO_21goHEi-9dt9KhSeiKGQM9FJMbQgwLDyy4BRSxH6IXe1s7Kylk8kHV0RB1_T33Uj7Db3geLy4gvEfyz14eTXj6_OK1M/s640/IMG_3129.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Fountain outside the castle. I'm not very good at selfies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Immediately after taking this photo, some guy got all up in my face and tried to sell me a selfie stick, and I ran away.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8tp4Min73SKdqE13gtSb2FUoQ7wDHYFKzy3vSmgGQ0MM9F918c92qRVDdWdWRgauf4e9dJdxJDdw9fsw2YuT2KnNX0e4vFdE2JLW1rlstqbdNWoul14Ru-EO-C0QDzx7Xt8gRFybNCM/s1600/IMG_3097.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8tp4Min73SKdqE13gtSb2FUoQ7wDHYFKzy3vSmgGQ0MM9F918c92qRVDdWdWRgauf4e9dJdxJDdw9fsw2YuT2KnNX0e4vFdE2JLW1rlstqbdNWoul14Ru-EO-C0QDzx7Xt8gRFybNCM/s640/IMG_3097.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Tower at the front of the castle. </span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">There were all these green spaces, and there were also outdoor exhibits and tents set up for things like concerts, I guess? I saw a lot of cats sunning themselves on the tent equipment. I refrained from posting pictures of them here, though, because cats are cats on every continent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">There were these random stone heads way up high, and I didn't see an explanation for why they were there!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Similarly to the Duomo, parts had been restored and some pieces were original to the castle. Supposedly parts of it had been rebuilt a few times.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Drawbridge! To go over the now-empty moat! Castles are so cool.</span></div>
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It's a shame we don't have such insane levels of beautiful, intricate architecture here. And it's a shame we've no castles. (I also saw <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/10/castles-and-canals-in-holland.html">a castle in the Netherlands</a>, which was also beautiful in a different way. More lush and green, and with fewer tourists.)<br />
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While my co-worker was still around, we also had the opportunity to go to the World's Fair, which was in Milan this year! It was incredible, with so much to see and do. We only had day passes, but that was okay because it was HUGE and we got to see so much, and by the end of the day it was raining hard and my feet and back were killing me.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bears outside Russia's building. You know how I love taking photos imitating statues.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">So many of the buildings were so fancy! The U.S. had a building with a vertical garden growing out the side. Each of the bigger buildings also had restaurants with native foods, and I thought "What food is native to the U.S.? Mexican food? No, that's from Mexico. BBQ? Maybe that's only in the south..." Turns out the answer is "food trucks."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the THREE China-themed buildings. Taken from a hill that had a tractor-and-farming-themed building on it, which was cooler than it sounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The "Tree of Life." The theme of this World Fair was "Feeding the Planet," hence all the food-related stuff. There was a water show and light show and a lot of giant flowers sprouted from the "tree."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Nutella is like, a BIG DEAL in Europe. I tried to contain myself. (I went nuts in the Lindt truffle store instead.)</span></div>
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On my last day, I went back to the Duomo area because I had read about a giant mall-like store called La Rinascente that was just floor after floor of designer goods and home goods and clothing and purses and purses and scarves and purses, and my fashion-designer sister would have had a field day and all my brain cells wanted to buy fancy things and swim in a pile of them, but I resisted. Instead, I bought myself and my sister each a pair of pretty Italian leather gloves (<a href="https://instagram.com/p/8tCnxfLhgy/?taken-by=allieeveryday">mine pink</a> and hers purple), and I resisted the impulse to spend my life savings on designer items.<br />
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Finally, I took the train out to Milan Malpensa (airport, about an hour ride away from Milan proper), checked into my hotel and tried to go to bed early for my ridiculously early flight to Frankfurt!<br />
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Have you been to Milan? What is the best meal you've ever had? Would you rather swim in a vat of Nutella or a big pile of designer purses? :)Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-22462671085096028372015-10-26T07:45:00.000-04:002015-10-26T07:45:00.352-04:00Castles and Canals in HollandEven though I flew into Amsterdam, and had a day to spend there, I spent more time in the Eindhoven area than Amsterdam proper. And that was okay, because I actually think I liked Eindhoven better.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Though it's hard to argue with beautiful canal views.</span></div>
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Amsterdam was bustling, busy, people everywhere. I usually love bigger cities, but I felt so overwhelmed when I got there.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It was way more crowded than it looks in this photo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Also, every train station I saw in Europe was super duper fancy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This one had a golden weathervane on one pillar and a golden clock on the other side.</span></div>
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I saw coffee shops (which don't sell coffee), and cafes (which do sell coffee), and walked along some of the canals.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">You may think this looks like a nice place to get coffee, but you'd be wrong. This is where you go to buy weed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Dear Mom/Grandma/Nana/in-laws, no I did not buy weed in Amsterdam.)</span></div>
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I saw the huge multi-block line for the Anne Frank house and, sadly, decided not to wait in line (since my original plan of going first thing in the morning and getting in line before it had even opened didn't pan out due to <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/10/it-turns-out-im-really-into-old.html">Allie's panicky insanity</a>). I also didn't manage to make it to the Red Light District, which I had heard such interesting stories about and wanted to see for myself.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Some people live in the canals on house boats! This isn't one of them.</span></div>
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So I guess Matt and I will just have to come back sometime so I can see the things I missed.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">There were people on bicycles and little motor-bikes everywhere! In fact, I saw a four-story parking garage that was only for bicycles!</span></div>
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In comparison, Eindhoven felt much calmer, like it was a more moderate-sized city that people lived and worked in. It was greener, felt more peaceful, while still having plenty to see. (I went there to meet up with my co-worker and go to visit one of our company's European distributors.)<br />
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Of course, I may just be biased because my first morning in Eindhoven started with Nutella for breakfast, and my first morning in Amsterdam didn't.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I wish I knew what this castle was called! I didn't catch its name and I couldn't find it in a Google search!</span> </div>
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In addition to all the work stuff, the distributor asked me what I most wanted to see in Europe, and I said castles. So he took me to see one!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dutch castle not open for visitors today, but it was still neat to see.</span></div>
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It had a moat and everything! (The distributor had actually gotten married inside it!)<br />
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Later, we all went to dinner at a really nice restaurant that used to be a brick factory.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">De Steenoven Galerie, where I had tomato basil soup, salmon hollandaise and delicious red wine!</span></div>
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We also walked to lunch at a local hotel and I had a wonderful salmon-cream cheese sandwich. I got to see a Dutch windmill, and the distributor told me that it used to mill flour (and happened to be attached to a closed bakery that used to bake with that flour)!<br />
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Of course, jet lag was the worst. I took the train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven on the first day, and kept falling asleep on the train. I was in bed by 6 p.m., only to be woken up for dinner around 8:30 p.m. (pear and mushroom risotto), so I dragged myself up for that because I wanted to make a good impression.<br />
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Sorry if you're not interested in hearing about food. The food was one of my favorite things about this trip, especially in Italy.<br />
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After a day in each city, I packed up my carry-on and we took the train back to Amsterdam to catch our flight to Milan! Can I just say that I have never had a more chaotic airline experience than I did on the way out of Amsterdam? There were no seats near the gate, and when they said it was time to board the plane, everyone literally just surged forward and crammed down this little staircase and I got stuck behind a whole mess of people even though my ticket said Priority Boarding. It was insane. Apparently transportation in Europe is a free-for-all, because no one seemed to do any transporting in an orderly fashion.<br />
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Have you ever been to the Netherlands? Do you prefer visiting big cities or smaller ones? What's the most chaotic travel experience you've had?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-66692273704629199782015-10-15T07:45:00.000-04:002015-10-15T07:45:00.275-04:00It Turns Out I'm Really Into Old Architecture. And Cats.Alternate title: Did you know it's possible to pickpocket yourself?<br />
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It turns out that I might not be the biggest fan of traveling alone. For reasons that are entirely my fault and may not be representative of my actual feelings on traveling in general.<br />
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Yes, it's empowering and all, being able to find your way around train stations and cities you've never been to before. It's amazing to be independent and immerse yourself in another culture where you don't understand the language. It's great being able to do the things that you want to do, when you want to do them, without having to take another person's interests into account. (Want to sit outside an opera house and observe the fashionable locals? Done. Want to eat gelato for lunch? Obviously. Want to wander around a foreign castle looking for feral cats? ABSOLUTELY I DO.)<br />
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So it was a massive bummer that, when I first set foot on foreign soil, the first thing that I learned was that my debit card — which I had gotten solely for the purpose of going abroad — did not work abroad. And I had $10 cash in my pocket, because I had expected that I would be able to withdraw Euros with my debit card.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Amsterdam, Netherlands</span></div>
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I had a scheduled day of sight-seeing in Amsterdam before meeting up with a co-worker, followed by several days of meetings and tradeshows, with two additional solo sight-seeing days in Milan and Frankfurt at the end of the trip. And realizing that I was on my own with one international credit card (and one U.S. credit card with huge international fees) and no other money was TERRIFYING.<br />
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So I did what any irrational human being would do. I split up my two credit cards (one into my wallet, the other into my luggage). I had hidden it in a separate compartment in my purse that would have been harder for pickpockets to get to. And then I promptly forgot — in my complete panic — that I had done so and flipped out when I couldn't find my own wallet. So I essentially pickpocketed myself, and spent two hours wandering around the Amsterdam train station trying to find something that had been in my purse the whole time.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">EXPO (World's Fair) in Milan, Italy</span></div>
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I think that if I hadn't started off my trip on this note, I probably would feel better about traveling alone. Outside of that, there were no major mishaps, and I had a really awesome trip. There were a few things I wish I'd had cash for — turns out many of the little local eateries and cafes in Frankfurt don't take credit cards, and the Sforza Castle in Milan was having trouble with its credit card machines and so I didn't get to do any museum tours inside — but otherwise it wasn't a huge problem. Even the Milan train station had an app so I could buy tickets via Paypal!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Alte Oper (Opera House) in Frankfurt, Germany</span></div>
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With that behind me, I will share some better stories from my trip soon. :)<br />
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Have you ever traveled alone before? What are your favorite travel activities?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-16186837737565909002015-10-08T07:45:00.000-04:002015-10-08T07:45:00.486-04:00It Seems We're All Overwhelmed These DaysI've been seeing a lot of posts lately about <a href="http://www.everyday-reading.com/2015/09/one-thing-at-time.html">slowing down</a>, taking <a href="http://www.1500days.com/now-is-the-time/">more time for the important things</a>, prioritizing and organizing so you can do the things you want to with this short, glorious life.<br />
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I've never been good at this. I tend to go go go at breakneck speed, until I hit a wall and either go emotionally catatonic or start breaking down in tears at the drop of a hat.<br />
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But over the summer when I unintentionally took a major blogging break, I realized that the reason I had nothing to write about was because I had stopped putting an emphasis on enjoying life's grand adventures, and had started focusing on just getting through each and every day without collapsing into a wreck. Not a great way to live.<br />
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I miss seeking out those adventures. And maybe that means I need to slow down, focus on one thing at a time, make better choices so that it's fun (and not overwhelming) to get back out there and seek the adventure again.<br />
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What's overwhelming you lately? How do you take care to slow down?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-89956348378669001862015-10-05T18:54:00.000-04:002015-10-05T18:54:00.313-04:00Goodbye, Big Texas TruckIt turns out this Texas girl doesn't know how to deal with winter weather. I learned that last year when I tried to drive my giant Texas truck up and down the hills that are pervasive in this part of Virginia. (In the snow. Uphill both ways.)<br />
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It slipped and slid all over the place. I solidified my decision that I needed to get a different vehicle during one particularly rough snow storm, in which I skidded into a highway guardrail and then fishtailed into a ditch in my neighborhood on the way home from work one day. Once I was out of the ditch — thanks to the help of a kind neighbor — I couldn't get up the next hill, so I abandoned <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/08/because-big-trucks-need-big-names.html">Esmeralda</a> and walked home. My feet did not get frostbite, but they felt like they might. Matt had to rescue the truck later.<br />
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(Note to self: don't wear flats if there is a risk of snowstorms. Boots. Always wear boots.)<br />
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I knew I needed something with all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. But I hated to say goodbye to my beloved truck. It made me feel big! Powerful! Like a badass chick!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It looks so sad! It looks like <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/08/you-get-really-epichorrible-story-to.html">it hit a bear</a>!</span></div>
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But, you know. Safety first. I'd like to not fear my own death this winter.<br />
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So we bought a new-to-us Toyota Highlander. It's a 4x4 with a snow mode, whatever that means. And it's not <i>too</i> much of a mom-mobile (provided we leave the third row of seats permanently folded down for trunk storage, as we plan to do), so I'm happy. :)<br />
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Bonus: I can climb in and out of it in a skirt without jumping or hoisting myself up awkwardly!<br />
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So then of course, my next step was to give it a kickass name. I thought that after Esmeralda and <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2012/01/cars-arent-meant-to-last-forever-and.html">Blaine</a>, this one needed an unusual name too.<br />
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I decided it should be called PERCIVAL! Like after the knight! My sister told me that name was hideous, but I was already super attached to it. (And I did tell her that it's not like I'd ever name a <i>child</i> Percival. I am not cruel. It's definitely a vehicle name in this day and age.)<br />
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Do you like unusual names? Any additional advice for driving/surviving in the winter?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-70306230935747116242015-10-01T07:45:00.000-04:002015-10-01T07:45:00.693-04:00Take My Advice: Don't Throw Long-Distance PartiesBack in June, I threw a bridal shower for my sister. In my head, it was going to be perfect! I had made a big grocery list and had asked my dad to pick up ingredients. I was going to make a beautiful brunch spread, with baked brie and hash browns and fruit dip and <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/01/birthday-blintzes.html">blintzes</a>. I would have plenty of time, since I was flying in at a reasonable time the night before!<br />
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So why on earth did my dad and I end up at Panera Bread 45 minutes before the start of the shower?<br />
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I was all set to arrive in Texas around 8 p.m. We were at cruising altitude, we would be landing in Dallas in about 20 minutes when the pilot announced that DFW airport was not accepting any flights due to a lightining storm. Instead we would be re-routed to Houston, and would head to Dallas when it was safe to do so.<br />
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(As a <i>fun</i> little aside, I should probably add that at the time, I hadn't seen Matt in about a week. He was in Dallas for a conference, and I had stayed in Virginia. I texted him to let him know I was going to Houston. Turns out he was at the same Houston airport waiting for his own connection! And I couldn't even get off the plane to say hi!)<br />
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Anyway, so by the time I landed in Dallas and managed to get to a different terminal so that I could get transportation out of the airport, it was 10:30 or 11 at night. Too late to do much besides mix fruit dip and prep things for the next morning.<br />
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So the morning of the shower, I delegated like a champ. I had my mom on the blintzes station, Rachel making deviled eggs, and I got the brie and fruit and hash browns going. When there was a spare 10 minutes, I took the world's fastest shower and got dressed, only to come downstairs and realize that I had forgotten to put the brie in a ramekin, and so it had melted all over the baking sheet. The crepes for the blintzes were sticking to the pan and tearing, so we couldn't put filling in them. The hash browns were not frying up like they were supposed to. We were going to have no food at this shower, besides the croissants and pies my dad had picked up at Costco! (But thankfully, I guess, there would be mimosas, so maybe people would forget their hunger?)<br />
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He said we should suck it up and order some pizzas, but the invitations had said it was going to be an elegant brunch, and I'm stubborn. So we rushed out to Panera Bread, leaving the kitchen a disaster, and ordered a whole bunch of breakfast sandwiches sliced into quarters. We arrived at my aunt's house — with the few remaining food items we'd been able to make work — with barely any time to set up, but my aunt and cousin are awesome and helped me get everything done at the absolute eleventh hour.<br />
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The mimosas helped too.<br />
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And the party was really fun! No one was the wiser about the disastrous morning. Because Rachel and her friends studied fashion design in school, we played the toilet-paper wedding dress game, and I had asked her fiancé some cute questions about their relationship so we could play the Newlywed Game. I got to see a lot of family members whom I don't see often enough, and had a great time.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Yes, this is what my aunt's house looks like all year round. Complete with terrifying Christmas butler statue.</span></div>
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In my thank-you card, Rachel told me it was perfect just the way it was. :)<br />
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But I've learned my lesson. Next time I throw a party, I'm having it catered!<br />
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What are some lessons you've learned while party planning?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-8252416701927439342015-09-28T07:45:00.000-04:002015-09-28T07:45:00.301-04:00That Time I Got Tricked Into Eating MeatSo. I accidentally ate meat last week. I've been a <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/09/im-going-vegetarian-starting-now.html">vegetarian/pescatarian for a little over two years now</a>. And I got irrationally pissed off over something that is completely voluntary, which is ridiculous.<br />
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Last week, Matt and I had a date night. We went to the driving range to hit golf balls for a while, and then Matt suggested we go to this local burger dive. We had gone there on Valentine's Day last year (are we romantic or what), and I had a really good veggie burger with refried beans and chips and salsa on the actual burger, and I wanted to experience that again.<br />
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We got our food, and I took a bite. Something didn't taste right. I looked at the patty. I looked at Matt. I looked at the burger again. I said, "I think this is meat." I made Matt take a bite. He said that it was for sure a black bean patty. I shrugged. I took another bite, and a third.<br />
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This thing did not taste like a black bean burger! I ripped the burger apart and tore into the patty. Yep. That there's ground beef, through and through.<br />
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I took it back. They told me I had ordered a regular burger. I said the burger was CALLED "veggie tostada burger," and thought it was a fair assumption that the patty would have been vegetarian-friendly. Because there ain't no actual vegetables in it! They made me another one, but it kind of put a damper on my evening.<br />
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I realize that my vegetarianism is self-imposed. It's not like it would have harmed my health if I'd decided to just suck it up and eat the meat. But it made me think about my dietary preferences. I <i>like</i> how I feel when I'm not eating meat. I'm not interested in going back to a carnivorous diet right now. I don't crave it, don't want it, don't need it.<br />
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And I probably won't be going back for another burger at that place.<br />
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Do you ever return restaurant food if it's incorrect?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-46560902706403755922015-09-21T07:45:00.000-04:002015-09-21T07:45:00.372-04:00Dear Spa Castle, You're AwesomeIn general, I have a hard time splurging on myself. I don't particularly like spending money, especially on something that I deem frivolous, which is most everything. A few months ago, my sister basically had to talk me into spending money on myself for something I really wanted (Versace Eros Pour Femme perfume. It's lovely, but I hate how expensive fragrant water is!). I always ask Matt for massage gift certificates for my birthday each year, and that is the only time I end up going to day spas.<br />
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So when my sister's <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2014/12/life-list-i-get-to-be-best-person-of.html">other Maid of Honor</a>, Christina, announced that Rachel's bachelorette party would be at Spa Castle in Carrollton, Texas (suburb of Dallas), I was SO excited. A built-in excuse to splurge and unwind!<br />
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I mean, a night in a nice hotel and two days where the sole purpose is relaxing? Uh, THERE. (And uh, also a chance to see my sister…)</div>
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It was SUCH a nice experience. There were pools with swim-up bars and massaging jets, saunas of varying face-melting temperatures (up to 186 degrees! plus one "ice" sauna that was like, 59 degrees), heated relaxation rooms, and hot tubs all over the place. And that was before we even got to the actual spa services!</div>
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For all my typical high-strung-itude, I don't know that I had ever felt so chill. We hung out in the various pools and hot tubs. We explored all the warm rooms and struggled to breathe normally for two minutes inside some of the hotter ones. I got a 30-minute Korean "chair" massage that was actually on a table, and it was delicious. (I thought my sister had booked my Swedish massage, and she thought I had booked my own, so the 30-minute one was the only one they had that was at the same time as both Rachel's and my cousin Autumn's 60-minute massages.) Plus, awkward, but it turns out butt massages are like, really awesome?!</div>
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After we'd spent sufficient time in the spa, we went to find our hotel room, which Christina had decorated and loaded with candy, games and a veil and crown for Rachel! Plus, we got robes and slippers to relax in for later!</div>
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We got dressed up and went out for dinner at BJ's Brewhouse before heading back to the room to hang out and play bachelorette games.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pretty bridesmaids and friends!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixI1eG18ZRwtG_hwfJcs0pEme11iNoAZVQAg1pjVrIOPr2jlabdcZXWzljcdPzwTbeBbgPZnzWQTn_qJWHh_rbYt27cEj8-IOKvJghsb7DX1xcaGWQTk_aRRMLiZrEjTQgEEFfTgLwJBk/s1600/12006357_10207741070230592_1775633260105959482_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixI1eG18ZRwtG_hwfJcs0pEme11iNoAZVQAg1pjVrIOPr2jlabdcZXWzljcdPzwTbeBbgPZnzWQTn_qJWHh_rbYt27cEj8-IOKvJghsb7DX1xcaGWQTk_aRRMLiZrEjTQgEEFfTgLwJBk/s640/12006357_10207741070230592_1775633260105959482_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Me, Rachel and Autumn. You can't really tell, but I'm wearing <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2014/01/vlog-sassy-shoe-social.html">my beautiful yellow heels</a>.</span></div>
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(Also, the Spa Castle hotel room was awesome. All seven of us crammed into this two-room suite, with blow-up mattresses in addition to the beds the room had. Rachel and Autumn and I all ended up sharing this giant memory-foam bed, and I slept like a <b>rock</b>. In the morning, once both of them were awake, I tried jumping on the bed to see if they noticed, like in the commercials! And they said they barely felt any movement!)</div>
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We did go back to the spa right before it closed at midnight, and then again the next morning for pedicures. That's when we decided that we needed to come back here the day or two before Rachel's wedding to make sure she relaxes! We might try to drag my mother, who would probably hate it because she doesn't like nudity (a lot of naked people hanging around the changing rooms and ladies-only saunas) or massages (because she doesn't want people she doesn't know to touch her). Plus we basically had to drag her for <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-top-5-reasons-this-christmas-was.html">a manicure a few Christmases ago</a>.</div>
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But yeah, I pretty much can't wait to go back. Why did I never know this place existed when I was, you know, LIVING IN DFW?!</div>
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What is the best bachelorette party you've been to? How do you like to relax? And what was the last thing you did to splurge on yourself?</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-22507722596645009212015-09-08T07:45:00.000-04:002015-09-08T07:45:00.726-04:00My Brain is Broke. Or Maybe Just My Teeth.I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a huge hypochondriac. So much so that friends and multiple family members have <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/02/there-should-be-webmd-for-hypochondriacs.html">banned me from ever using WebMD</a> for any reason.<br />
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But my worrying had gotten a bit more irrational than normal recently. I had gone to a new dentist to have a basic filling replaced, since it had fallen out. This dentist was not a very good communicator. He went to re-fill the tooth, something started to hurt, and then he told me that he'd put a temporary filling in. He said I needed to go get a root canal, and sent me on my way.<br />
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I was LIVID. And also in a lot of pain.<br />
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So I got the root canal (at Dentist #2), and when I went back to Dentist #1 to have the crown put on, he said there was another filling that needed to be done, so he did that too (with me praying the whole time that he wouldn't make me get another root canal).<br />
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But by now I had had four dentist appointments in as many weeks, and was at the point where I was inspecting my teeth constantly, noticing indentions I hadn't seen before, and telling Matt that all my teeth were going to fall out. And they'd (obviously) have to be replaced with wooden teeth, like George Washington. I'd need big wooden dentures and would have a gummy toothless smile at age 28.<br />
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Matt told me I was fine and needed to stop worrying. But Dentist #1 had made me feel like a lifetime of good flossing habits was no longer good enough and that I was doomed, <i>doomed</i>!<br />
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So what did I do? I made an appointment with Dentist #3 to make sure there wasn't anything wrong. (Dentist #3 is very nice, and told me that Crap Dentist #1 should have warned me if there was a risk of needing a root canal, since they did X-rays and all and should have been able to tell.)<br />
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This is where I get all sad and paranoid. Because for all my hypochondriac tendencies, I've never actually gone to a doctor for an ailment that might have been made up. I've suffered from imagined blood clots and cancers and ebolas knowing that the chances of them being real was absolutely zero, with not a single doctor's visit to show for them. I can't claim that anymore.<br />
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Dentist #3 was very nice when he told me that everything looked okay, and I apologized for wasting his time on problems that were only in my head.<br />
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Have you done anything completely irrational lately? What's the worst dentist experience you've had?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-16883160580586281022015-08-31T07:45:00.000-04:002015-08-31T07:45:00.649-04:00The One Where I Get Totally Irrational About a Pair of ShoesDo you ever do or say something that makes total sense to you, but kind of accidentally goes against everything you are?<br />
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I had one of those moments yesterday.<br />
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See, on Saturday, Matt and I went shoe shopping. He needed new running shoes for his <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/06/matts-gonna-run-half-marathon.html">upcoming half marathon</a>, and I needed to get some new Skechers Go Walks since <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/08/road-trip-chicago-part-one.html">the ones I bought in Chicago</a> a few years ago are starting to wear out.<br />
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I wear them ALL THE TIME, and they are the PERFECT SHOES and so of course Skechers doesn't make them anymore. Now they sell Go Walks 2 and Go Walks 3 and Go Walk Flex and a bunch of others that are NOT THE SAME and DON'T FIT RIGHT.<br />
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(I especially need new ones because … I'm going to get to go on a business trip to Europe in a few months!!! I'll get a day to explore on either end of my trip — one of those days in Amsterdam, and one in Milan! I AM SO EXCITED! And I plan to do lots of walking!)<br />
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So I tried on every pair of Go Walk Not-Original-Flavor they had at Shoe Dept, and was huffing about how none of them were right. Instead, I bought a pair of Saucony gel-insert lace-up shoes, which were a <i>fine</i> alternative, but not what I wanted.<br />
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On Sunday, Matt came home from lunch and I was wearing the Saucony shoes around the house, to make sure I even really liked them. And I told him I had found the original Go Walks (in limited colors and sizes) on Amazon, and that I wanted to buy like, seven pairs and stockpile them so I never have to be without them.<br />
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I swear, I am not a hoarder. At all. I hate stockpiling things. It's stupid. I like getting rid of things. <i>But that's how much I love and adore those shoes. I would stockpile them for years and years and years.</i><br />
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Matt told me I didn't need to buy seven pairs, and that one pair was fine.<br />
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(Three Years in the Future Matt is going to be kicking Current Matt for this.)<br />
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What are your favorite shoes? Any recommendations for things that are must-sees/dos/eats in Amsterdam or Milan?Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8710921900753150958.post-61695828367082471292015-08-11T07:45:00.000-04:002015-08-11T07:45:00.197-04:00You Get a Really Epic/Horrible Story To Make Up For My AbsenceYou know how life keeps kind of chugging along, and things happen and you think, "It'd be really nice if I blogged about this," but then a week passes and then three and you still want to talk about that thing, but then more things happened between then and now and you want to talk about those things too, and then it just gets so overwhelming that you just abandon ship so you don't have to think about it?<br />
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I'm really easily overwhelmed. I've been so overwhelmed for weeks and weeks. But I need to get some of these stories written down so I don't forget them.<br />
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Stories like how I threw my sister a bridal shower and how we visited a bunch of new places (Virginia Beach! the Biltmore! Williamsburg!) and how I turned 28 and how our families came to visit on several different occasions over the past few months.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs19TRMUYmM6k-tbKJI3WLAH0pr31gLzzxP8q3Ik9Af52YakYLLfrqjLD-T3oeivxDftq9XU82Nh1YkBuIxIX80nMqGTatoiP1UJCFBjXvMXqHOFVep0PhhRelNndPLUWixyPuC6V8VA/s1600/IMG_2859.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs19TRMUYmM6k-tbKJI3WLAH0pr31gLzzxP8q3Ik9Af52YakYLLfrqjLD-T3oeivxDftq9XU82Nh1YkBuIxIX80nMqGTatoiP1UJCFBjXvMXqHOFVep0PhhRelNndPLUWixyPuC6V8VA/s640/IMG_2859.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Oh, and only the most terrifically traumatic story.)<br />
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But despite my brief note-taking and photo-snapping, enough time has passed since some of those events occurred that I don't really feel like recapping entire trips. So instead, I think I'll just share a story or two from each over the next few posts.<br />
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Starting with this one.<br />
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My friend Chelsea and I were driving to book club. It was being hosted up near Roanoke, way up in the mountains (and not really that close to the city at all). We were so, so late because traffic on the main highway had been completely stopped for almost an hour.<br />
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So we finally get out of traffic and exit the main highway, and start weaving through the mountains on one of those little two-lane highways. We're coming around a curve and this THING comes running into the street. A black, German-Shepherd-sized thing.<br />
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It was a bear.<br />
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Now, I had heard that there were bears in this area, but I had never seen a bear <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2015/01/life-list-that-time-we-almost-got.html">in real life</a> before. When I learned that there were bears, I really wanted to see one for myself.<br />
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Well, I saw the bear all right.<br />
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Right before I ran it over.<br />
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I slammed on my brakes, but I wasn't fast enough. It went under one of my <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/08/because-big-trucks-need-big-names.html">truck</a> tires.<br />
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Thankfully I saw it get up and run right off the road, limping a bit, in my rearview mirror. Because it's not like you can get out and make sure the bear is okay. It's a freakin' BEAR.<br />
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We were horrified. I asked Chelsea if there was any way that I could have possibly seen the bear and avoided hitting it, and she said she didn't think so, that it came out of nowhere. But I still cried when we got to book club after the shock wore off. I hit a baby bear!<br />
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Matt says the bear is probably okay. (He once ran over a dog in our neighborhood in Texas, and it lived to continue chasing cars for many years.) I'm hoping he's right.<br />
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A month has passed since this happened. My book club has since met again, and it turns out the ladies in that club really love telling people the story of how <a href="http://allieseverydayadventures.blogspot.com/2013/09/im-going-vegetarian-starting-now.html">the vegetarian</a> ran over a bear.<br />
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I don't have a good question. Anything I could ask after that story would just be too gruesome. So I guess, if you have a story to make me feel like a less horrible person? That would be great. Or just any story about something that's happened to you lately. I've missed you.</div>
Allie @ Everyday Adventureshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01221029819826266578noreply@blogger.com0