Vienna is lovely

Oh how I love it here! It is the end of day 3 in Vienna and I have one day left to enjoy the city. I have crammed as much as possible into my time here and I am exhausted! So far my favorite thing has just been walking around. All the buildings are beautiful but then you turn a corner and run into something magnificent! Today I did some shopping. I just walked around a few of the different main shopping streets and came home with a couple souvenirs. I also walked around the park that's right next to my hotel and saw the golden statue of Johann Strauss.

I am beginning to get comfortable with getting around and doing things like ordering food. Yesterday I told my brother that the worst thing here was trying to eat. Restaurants here are confusing! I went into one the first night I was here and stood at the front for several minutes and no one seated me. So I left. The next day I figured you just sit down, so I did. Well no one ever came to get my order. So I left again, haha. Since that I've stuck to cafes mostly. I don't even need English anymore to get food :) though I still pretty much feel stupid all of the time. Oh well. People are mostly nice and helpful.

Also, I finally checked out the executive lounge today. Since Dad booked my reservation and he is platinum level at the Hilton, I am enjoying the executive floor and all its privileges. That includes free food and drink upstairs in the lounge. Sweet!

Okay, I'm going to sleep now so that I can get the most out of tomorrow. I might cry when I have to leave.

Europe

Internet access is limited until I get to Innsbruck on Sunday, so my blogs will be short. I'm about to go to dinner so here is the email I sent to my parents last night when I got in.

Well I made it! What a stinkin long flight! And I could NOT sleep. So much for depriving myself last night so that I would be tired. And then the 3 hour wait for the 4 hour train ride. But! I am safe in the Hotel now.
I have to say, it was a little frightening trying to get around at first. SO many people just came up to me talking German and I just panic-like said "English". Haha. Maybe I don't scream tourist? Doubt it. And I'm pretty sure I got lectured on the S-bahn, though I have no idea why because I couldn't understand her then she walked off. I think it was cuz I had my feet on the empty seat across from me. Woops.
I got to walk around Vienna some this evening in the rain trying to find food. But I have figured out the subway and even helped two ppl who asked me for help! Haha. SO many ppl just come up to me and start speaking German.

Yep that was basically my day. I could share all the little details - but that would be a lot!

Today I visited schöbrunn palace an walked through the gardens. It was great. Now I am just exploring the city on foot. I ran into Beethoven and Goethe statues! And got up the courage to go into shops (with a grüss gott greeting) and a grocery store. I got chocolate and "juicy water". Hooray! Also I found out that the film festival will be showing der freischutz and the phantom of the opera the next two nights. Exciting! Okay, that's all for now. Check out my instagram for pics: jocelise

Guest Post!!

Hey guys, here's another GREAT post from my good friend and roommate. I absolutely love what she is saying here! Enjoy!

Bonjour. I really don’t know any French besides “hello.”  Actually, that’s a lie.  I can say ham sandwich. “Croque monsiour.” If I’m feeling really adventurous, I can say “ham sandwich with cheese.” “Croque monsior con fromage.”  But that’s it. “Hello” and “ham sandwich.”

So. How was your day? I really want you to think about this question.  I’m not asking it in the passing sort of I-don’t-know-what-to-say-to-you-because-I-wasn’t-expecting-to-see-you-so-I’m-going-to-politely-ask-you-how-your-day-was-and-hope-you-don’t-answer-with-something-more-than-good kind of way.

 I’m really asking you, “How was your day?”

 Did you smile at a stranger?  Did you pick up that piece of trash on the ground, saving the life of an innocent squirrel who would have mistaken it for an afternoon snack?  Did you pause for a few minutes to admire the beauty of nature?  Did you make a difference in the world?

 I think we often live too much for day-to-day.  We say we are living in the present, living life to the fullest, yada yada yada...but are we? I know I’m not.  I wake up, go to class, come home, eat lunch, meet this person, meet that person, make dinner, activity #1 from this time to this time, TV show from this time to this time, clean my desk, get ready for bed, set alarm, recharge for next day.  I plan everything.  Now, I’m not telling you to go and be spontaneous and jump off a bridge...I don’t want to be responsible for any injuries.  But, I am asking you to examine your life. 

 A quote that often inspires me is, “Do one thing everyday that scares you.”  I think that’s incredibly motivating.  It’s not saying, “Do one thing everyday that compromises your morals and puts you at a higher risk for a premature death.” One thing that scares you.  Saying hi to somebody scares me.  It doesn’t matter if I know the person or not.  The same questions run through my head when I am confronted with the opportunity to say hi to somebody: “What if they don’t see me?” “What if other people see the person not say hi to me and think I have no friends?” “What if the person says hi to me only because they feel sorry for me?” “What if they’re embarrassed to be associated with me?”  It seems almost silly, typing out all of these dumb things that roll through my head.  Sometimes I just want to flick my little inner conscience and give it a bag of chocolate.  Tell it to be a little more positive.  Really, who cares what they think of me?  I should be thinking about how I can brighten their day by saying hi to them.  I need to do my one thing that is scary so that they have the courage to do theirs.

 So, that’s all I’ve got for you.  How was your day? Did you do something that scared you? Will you wake up tomorrow ready to carpe some diem?  I hope so, ‘cause I’ll be right there with you. :)

~Maddie

More baking!

It seems that baking is all I post about nowadays. But it's basically all I do nowadays. Baking is one of two things that keeps me sane. The other is running. I feel like they balance each other out really well too. Bake, eat, go run. Repeat. Fortunately I have been able to cook dinner for the family so not all of my time in the kitchen is spent making people fat from sugar! I pride myself in finding delicious meals that everyone will love. Well, actually that's completely false. All of my family are picky picky eaters, so I basically cook what I want and mom makes them eat it. It's a pretty good deal! She even does the grocery shopping so that literally all I do is cook :)

Let's see. Before I get to the food. This week is the week of crazy. The family leaves in 7 days - ONE WEEK! Which means Europe happens in 2 weeks. The to-do list includes: buying one last train ticket, stocking up on last minute things I need before heading out of the country, PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE, pack, bake, pack, practice, fill in the backyard pond, clean the car, blog. And watch the olympic trials and Wimbledon. Fortunately the trials are only on for an hour a day, so I won't have to miss a ton of it. And its only the first rounds of Wimbledon, so I can miss those. haha, the problems of a lazy summer.

But I do have to share two things. If you ever have the chance to try Ethiopian food, DO IT! My mom grew up in Ethiopia so I have enjoyed Injera and Wat for a long time. But some family friends just adopted from there and so we went out for Ethiopian food last week. Gosh it is so dang delicious. And Ethiopians know how to make coffee too. No cream needed, and that coming from me who has to have half and half, not milk. Second! I mentioned summer TV in my previous post. If you need a laugh, check out The Choice on NBC Thursday nights at 9pm est. I've only watched it once so far, but we were dying! It was so great. Take Me Out is another dating show that's on just before it. Also funny and worth a watch, though not as great as The Choice. Okay, done rambling, now to food.

My favorite recipe so far is actually one I made for dinner. This is delicious. Baked Salmon with Garlic and Dijon. And it is SO easy and takes no time at all. The only thing I would change is next time I am going to marinate the salmon in the sauce for a while. The flavor is delicious but could have been stronger, the thicker parts of the salmon weren't as flavorful. Anyways, this one's a winner. AND fish is super good for you!

My fail of the week was chocolate chip cookie dough bites. The idea kinda sounded good, but I didn't think it through. Basically it is cookie dough that you are supposed to roll up (aka touch all of it with your hands), refrigerate, then eat. But the dough wasn't that good, apparently without eggs it gets pretty grainy. And you can only eat so much dough. Definitely won't be making that one again.

Another delicious dinner recipe is these chicken rolls. Yummy! I haven't tried the mozzarella variant, but that is on my list. And top it off with a snack of caramel marshmallow popcorn, but only if you have a major sweet tooth! Seriously it was SO sugary.

So there you go! A peek at my week, some good recipes, and some bad recipes.

I love summer TV shows

Life. It has been really really crazy. Not the busy, hectic crazy. Just completely oddball. haha. First of all, I get home from school last month and I am told that my family is moving halfway across the country this summer! Talk about the summer not being what was expected! They gave themselves a little over a month to pack up and will be moving in the next 2 weeks. So right now the house is full of boxes and is looking emptier and emptier. It's um, weird. We moved here when I was 11, so almost exactly ten years ago. While it was hard then, I didn't realize quite all that moving means. It's strange to just pick up, leave everything, and plop down in the middle of somewhere new and try to insert yourself into people's lives. I mean, for me this move doesn't have a big effect. Things will be different, but other people are having a lot harder of a time than I am. So yeah, life here has been quite unpredictable!

I was just talking to a friend and telling her how this summer has been nothing at all like I had hoped or planned. And it really hasn't. I had this nice picture of what the summer would look like. It included having a job, practicing hours and hours and day, spending lots of quality time with my family, and hanging out with my friends a TON. I think I miscalculated how many hours are in a day. Because I don't have a job and I'm doing about half of the rest of the stuff. Fortunately I have been able to spend a lot of time with friends. I have the MOST amazing friends here. I don't know why they are so good to me. And I guess I spend a lot of time with my family too! I've been doing a lot of travel planning too. Although I was hoping to have a job so that I could really throw away money in Europe, I am learning to live on a budget. God has provided I think not a penny more than I absolutely need. Which is to say that God has provided! I am working on a detailed itinerary of what I plan to do for my 4 days in Vienna, including coffee shops to visit and (cheap) restaurants to eat at. And it's amazing how many things you can do for free in Vienna!

Let's see, piano is stressing me out like usual also. It is so hard to keep my focus where it needs to be. I don't play piano to be the best or to impress people. I play piano because I absolutely love music and what music can do. Yes, I want to be good and I want to do well, but if that's what motivates me, I'm in a scary spot. Yeah, sometimes I go to bed feeling a little sick to my stomach about how much I didn't practice. I just need to keep my motivation healthy. I'm also playing for an Episcopal service on July 1st. I'd never been to a sunday episcopal service before last week - it is definitely different than the baptist stuff that I'm used to! There's a lot of pressure on the music leader, basically I could ruin the whole service. AND I am running the choir rehearsal before the service. What?! I feel so unqualified - but I guess I still have the job so it's all ok! I'll have to let you know how it goes.

I tried out some new recipes this week too! I'll share my successes and failures with you in the next post!

Eating and Exercising

These two things are what take up most of my time nowadays. I'm even sitting here eating a peach! I've been doing some cooking and baking lately, right now I've got a coffee cake in the oven. So yes, eating and exercising with a little reading and piano mixed in there.

Thanks to my Y membership I have been able to work on my running despite my shin splints. Right now I'm just working on distance. My goal for the summer is to get my base mileage up to around 4 miles. I also hope to get to a point where I can't not run, so that when school starts I have some kind of motivation. It's one thing to run in the summer when there's not much to do, but it's another to keep at it when you're doing homework at night instead of sleeping! I've also finally started getting to the pool to swim laps. As of now, I don't know that the triathlon in August will happen, but I want to get at least a little ready so I can train without starting from scratch. Fortunately I have a workout buddy who gets me to the gym just about every day. For those of you reading who need motivation, well here's a little encouragement. Get out there and get sweaty!! It feels great :)

So onto food! I've only fixed a few things, but I have several recipes to try over the next week or so. I did make a delicious cobbler last night though! I found a recipe here that I used. I followed it exactly except I used mixed berries and definitely used more than called for. It was SUPER easy and turned out absolutely delicious. I would have taken a picture, but it was completely gobbled up in about 10 minutes. It was yummy.

Well stay tuned. There's lots going on here so I plan to post a life update soon!

Eventful!

I have a problem. Most of the time I want to blog and I don't have anything at all going on. But then stuff starts happening and I don't blog because by the time I think about sitting down, all I want to do is go to bed! I guess I'm just still trying to figure out this blogging thing. I've had a pretty eventful week, lots of fun things going on.

Last Sunday my Grandma came to visit and she leaves tomorrow. We've had such a good time talking and just hanging out. And this week has been one of the busiest of the summer, so she has been along for the ride. She has started a new exercise regime and I have happily joined her while she has been here. She's been kicking my butt! 2+ hours at the gym is more than I've ever done in a day, haha. She is a part of some program that allows her access to the YMCA here in town and since I am the only one who volunteered to work out with her, she got me a Y membership for the time I will be at home! They just finished building the new Y, so the facilities are great and there are lots of classes offered. I'm excited to start going to a couple classes a week. I'm thinking Pi-Yo and either Zumba or Butts & Guts. I will not be attending Zumba on my own, so that decision rests on whether my friend will go with me. AND I will be doing a little bit of triathlon training - I'll keep you posted!

The most exciting thing that happened was on Saturday Olivia and I went to Charleston for the day to celebrate her birthday! We left early, got back late and enjoyed shopping, the beach, dinner and dessert. And NOTHING went wrong!! We only made 2 U-turns, and the worst thing was Olivia got blisters (though it's because she bought new shoes and wore them out of the store). We enjoyed dinner on the water, we even got to sit on the porch, then went downtown to a sit-down dessert place. I got toll house pie with ice cream and Olivia enjoyed a cappuccino torte.

And finally, this morning I made the most amazing smoothie - and it was so easy! So here's my recipe:

JOCELYN'S SUMMER AMAZING SMOOTHIE

1 mango, peeled and cubed

1 medium peach - cut up

yogurt, plain unsweetened (could use greek?)

ice (optional)

chia seeds (optional)

Add yogurt to blender first, then dump in mango and peach. Blend! Add as much ice as you want. The more ice, the thicker. If you like more of a juice consistency, use less ice. Blend! I added about a tablespoon of chia seeds and didn't notice them at all. Blend! Enjoy!!

I could taste the mango and peach both perfectly. I didn't add any sugar or honey and it was quite sweet!

(I also just found out that my hotel room in Vienna includes a fluffy bathrobe!! How exciting!)

Here are pics: