CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Domino effect.

Well, my favorite magazine is closing its covers. I read People is the magazine that I read most often (maybe because it's weekly), but I'm always a sucker for Domino. I've read several stories of magazines having to stop their print because the economy sucks, but this one makes me really sad. I really like interior design. My mom definitely passed that on to me. Domino is one of those magazines that you can look through to see beautiful rooms, but they're accessible. It's like mixing Oscar de la Renta and Oscar's flea market. You think it would be bad, but it's oh so good!

If you've never experienced the wonder of Domino, click the link to check it out. I'm not positive, but I assume the website will live on.

I know that I'm pretty crappy at writing the blog entries that I say I will, but know that I have the best intentions. Soon, friends, soon.

Thank you, Joel, for pointing out my grammatically incorrect first sentence.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

New year, new president

As we all know, at 12:00 PM today Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. At this point, it doesn't really matter if we agree with him or not. He is our president, and there are two things that we must acknowledge.

1) Today is truly a historical day. Tears came to my eyes as I watched the Obama family stand on the Capitol's west side. It really was only a generation ago that segregation was alive and strong. I am certain that God doesn't see race, and I don't think we should either.

2) As Christians, we have the privilege and duty to pray for our country's leaders. Southern Seminary president, Dr. Al Mohler, encourages us to pray, and shows us his prayer for President Obama here.

I encourage you to take a moment today to pray for Barack, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha Obama (by name:)), and for wisdom for our nation's leaders.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Toledo!

So after stuffing our faces with tapas the night before, we arose pretty early Saturday morning and walked to the train station.



Our destination was Toledo. This little city is about a 30 minute train ride from Madrid. Like Granada, you instantly feel like you're seeing the real Spain when you're there. I don't really remember all of the history, and I would botch it if I tried... look it up on Wikipedia. Trust me, you might be amazed :)

It's one of those cities that you immediately feel cozy in. I think there are only about 80,000 citizens, and it has definitely maintained that village/small town vibe. Unfortunately, it was REALLY cold and windy that day, so parts of the tour weren't very enjoyable and I didn't "absorb" it like I should have. I really should have done this a long time ago because now I can't remember much! I'll just let the pictures do the talking :)





The next to last picture is most of the group at lunch in Toledo. It was in this restaurant that I discovered a hole in the crotch of my favorite pair of jeans. Awesome.

The trip was really fun though. Now I'll leave you with the view from the room Porschia and I were in.

That crazy lit up roof is the roof of a club in Madrid. We were told that it's "where all the pretty people go."

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Madrid

I'm trying to be enthusiastic as I write this post, but it's hard. I'm going to finally write this post because I know some people still want to see pictures from Madrid, and I don't think I can write my other posts until this one is done.

So, the morning after our Thanksgiving feast those of use in the KEI program boarded a train to Madrid. We got to ride the really fast train that my dad has been talking about since last Spring, but I was unaware of this until we arrived in Madrid. It was a little anti-climatic.

While in the city and the few days after I didn't think I liked Madrid. However, now that I think back on the trip, I think that it's a nice place. Maybe this is due to the fact that our group felt more like a group of friends than we had before. We finally got used to being around each other and could just hang out together.

We arrived in Madrid before lunch and had some free time to look around. Well, were were supposed to have quite a bit of time to look around, but it took some people a really long time at the bank, so Porschia, Chenell, Hunter and I left them. We only made it as far as KFC. It was gross and Chenell got sick, so I don't have especially fond memories of that lunch. After lunch we all headed to the famous Prado museum. I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but I did get some before we headed inside.
I have no clue which street this is, but I like the picture.
I'm pretty sure this is the front of the Prado. I don't really remember.
I got a few excellent pictures of Porschia, but I'll keep them under wraps... I think she would appreciate that.
I thought this church was pretty.
Juan-our tour guide at the Prado and in Toledo.

After the Prado, but before the tapas tour, a few of us stopped at a cafe for drinks. I was really cold that weekend, and we wanted heat! I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the group.
Caroline + cafe con leche = happy. Sorry for showing you a sideways picture.

Then, we met up with everyone for the tapas tour. Tapas are a much bigger deal in Madrid (and the rest of Spain) than they are in Barcelona. I didn't like them at all until this weekend. Genevieve took us to five different tapas bars so we could try all of their specialties. By the end of the night we were FULL! I didn't get many pictures of the food. It was almost gone by the time I could get my camera out.
Hunter and Jonathan getting ready for a night full of food.
According to the Guiness Book of World Records, this is the oldest established restaurant. In. The. World.
I was excited about my newfound love for tapas. Matthew wasn't putting up with any of my shenanigans.

This is the only picture I have of any food from that night. Patatas Bravas. Hunter was a happy man after eating in this bar.


Coming soon... Toledo!

Oh, motivation, where hast thou gone?

So I've tried several times to write a blog post. I know I need to finish my Spain posts, and I have a few more I want to write. I've definitely become one of those people. You know the ones that are constantly thinking about which parts of the day are blog-worthy. That's ridiculous. I do like blogging though!

So, be on the lookout for many posts over the next few days. And if I don't write any, you should call me out on it. Hasta!