my weekend with the lumineers.

i have a new found appreciation for the weekend now that i'm a working gal...even though i haven't been one for too long. really not long at all. but still, i will enjoy my weekend to the fullest!

after dinner with friends, one friend in particular loves concerts and i love going to them with her! we decided to trek downtown to see if there were any sweet angels selling tickets to the sold out concert...there was and his name is charles. we negotiated and still probably paid too much, but it was spontaneous and so fun! as mal said, "separated by seats but united by the lumineers". so true. we danced and sang and sat separately!

the rest of my weekend, i spent it lounging around watching dawson's creek.

ch ch changes.

big changes are happenin' in my life!

-i finally received my diploma. it's official...i'm a college grad-weird.

-i got a big girl job. this little mama is working 8:30-5:30. i'll be filing papers, binding documents, making pop corn, answering lots of different phone lines.

-i took out my nose ring. moment of silence, please. i have had that thing for 4 years. it was a part of me. i'm currently going through the 5 stages of grief.

-i'm a grandma and look forward to going to bed at 9.

berlin.

berlin was our last stop on our european adventure. it's where we began and where we end. it was a great place to bookend. we were greeted both times by our friends and that was about as good as being home. at this point of our trip we were tired and just didn't want to think about what to do...this was the perfect place for that to happen because we had little tour guides who knew the city pretty well. we didn't have to think just follow. we saw the holocaust memorial, hitler's old bunker which is now a parking lot, the berlin wall, checkpoint charlie, and graffiti everywhere. we even got to spend fourth of july there. it wasn't as good as spending the fourth in AMERICA but it was pretty darn good. we cooked out and tried to be as american as we could. it was the perfect sendoff! by the end of the trip we were ready to get back home-the land of the free restrooms, free refills, and deodorant! thankfully my mom changed my flight so i could get back the same day as bec and jenn. otherwise i would have been back a day later with a long layover over night in the amsterdam airport. so thank goodness for mamas.

that concludes my europe trip!

paris.

i absolutely loved paris! we all had heard that you either love it or you hate it...and i loved it!! we didn't too anything too exciting there. since it was our last major stop we just took it easy. we walked the pretty streets and explored the louvre where becca discovered her love for a particular painting! we sat in front of the eiffel tower on multiple occasions. the tower is breathtaking!! we drank wine, ate cheese and baguettes, laughed, and watched the tower twinkle at night. oh, and don't worry, we totally fought with each other with our baguettes...just like mary-kate and ashley. we modeled a lot of paris trip after them. (passport to paris) we discovered this little place that made crepes and became friends with the owner...there are too many stories with that. let's just say we stayed for 2 hours waiting on our crepes one night because we were 'friends'-he kept telling us stories and showing us videos. we were ready to leave after about 15 minutes.

when kyle and meg left us to go home. bec, jenn, and i traveled to versailles. getting there was quite the adventure. i think we took the slowest train there. we explored the palace and also a gas station because we missed the stop for the palace. we took part of happy hour, and then we went on our merry way to berlin to see our friends.

bar(th)celona.

all this talk about europe and where i went is making me want to go back...so who's with me?!? anybody???

some highlights from barcelona...

-my feet finally returned to their semi-regular size. they looked like balloons when i got off the train.

-la boqueria. it is an open air market full of juices, fruit, yummy calzones, dried fruits, and about everything else. the juices were so good! my favorite was a pineapple, banana, and chocolate juice. i want one RIGHT NOW!

-we went to the beach and it was hot hot hot!

-we got to stay in a hotel, thanks to kyle's mom. it lifted our spirits to stay in such a nice place.

-we did our laundry in the bathtub...when in barcelona and backpacking, one washes clothes in the tub.

barcelona was beautiful! it was hot. but so amazing. the streets, the mosaic park known as park guell.

switzerland.

let me tell you, those swiss alps...they don't mess around. even though when we arrived in lucerne it was gloomy and dreary, it was fun to picture what they would look like the next morning. we didn't get that luxury until we ended up in interlaken! we met up with one of our friends, evan. he was over in europe just running marathons and seeing friends. it took us many trains and buses to get there, but we finally did! since it wasn't the best weather, evan just pointed up in the sky where the alps were. lucerne was pretty uneventful but very beautiful!

we all traveled to interlaken. our first day there was rainy which was a bummer but we were still able to explore. we walked around the water and happened upon this abandoned castle...so of course we went inside and went to the top. that night we celebrated in club metro-the club that was below our hostel! it was quite an experience...i got pulled into a grind train and some random worker backed it up on meghan. SO FUNNY! the next morning we woke up extra early to go on a hike to lauterbrunnen. About thirty minutes into our hike kyle, becca, evan, and me had to leave because we were going sky diving!!! it was such an unforgettable experience sky diving over the alps. it was insane and such a rush.

florence and siena.

i will say one thing...florence beat us. we kept a score of when we beat certain cities and when cities beat us. i think we missed something in florence. it was beautiful don't get me wrong, but it didn't live up to the hype that we had heard. we walked really far to these gardens to find out they were closed. defeat. we also walked a really far way for some gelato...and a little angel bought it for us because we thought it was too expensive. whoops! but thank you little angel! we also ate the worst gnocchi ever but made up for with lots of jokes and laughs and mcdonalds cheeseburgers.

the next day we took a day trip to siena. it was beautiful and full of history, just like everywhere in europe, but that's beside the point! we ran into some fellow knoxvillians, ate really big, delicious sandwiches (thanks chris and amy) on some bleachers in the piazza del campo, and ventured into some shops. it was a great little day trip! next stop switzerland!!