Madrid goes Christmas

Check this out! Madrid's City Hall (Palacio de Cibeles) is decorated for Christmas!! Kinda like a big gingerbread house! :) *sigh* One more reason to love Madrid.

Get your carol on!

car·ol  (krl)

n.

1. A song of praise or joy, especially for Christmas.

2. An old round dance often accompanied by singing.

v.intr.

1. To sing in a loud, joyous manner.

2. To go from house to house singing Christmas songs.

Have you ever gone caroling? I have fond memories of going Christmas caroling with my church youth choir every year as a teen, and occasionally [unsuccessfully] with my friends when we were younger, but our choir stopped several years ago. Last year we did bring it back and decided to change it up, from caroling at local workplaces to caroling the old-fashioned way – walking through the neighborhood with our little red booklets, stopping at certain houses. It was fun but, well, freezing, and only a handful of people actually were home or even bothered to notice. Fortunately for me I have been able to go caroling with some of my peers from school, as a fun, give-back-to-the-community activity for our CMENC (Collegiate Music Educators National Conference) chapter. We usually go to Public School 84 in the morning, get lunch, and then head to Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The past two years I have only been able to make it to Roswell and I had never been to PS 84. PS 84 is the Buffalo public school for students with special needs; it is located behind ECMC and I think it's officially called Health Care Center for Children at ECMC. 

This year Roswell unfortunately canceled on us at the last minute because they double-booked for the whole day, so we only went to PS 84. Seeing as I had never been there before, I didn't really know what to expect. I was pretty excited nonetheless (come on, who doesn't love Christmas caroling?!). I'm not gonna lie though, a big part of my excitement came from the fact that we had our first real snowfall last night and the bleak outside world had transformed into a winter wonderland. Even though I had only slept for two hours (I could not fall asleep last night), I was excited to get up--and if you know me, you know this is NOT NORMAL. I put on my Christmas accessories and snow boots, and I was even excited to go out into the snowy cold and brush off my car two cars. Come on, the first snow is always fun. Donning my Santa hat, I made a stop at Tim's to get some hot chocolate and a gingerbread donut, and even ordered some extra Timbits for everyone--the majority of which I ended up giving to the construction workers at school. We all hate these construction workers the constant construction that has taken over Rockwell Hall. At first I was surprised they were there at 7:30am on Study Day, but then I realized it's their job. [Me: "I wonder what time they got here... It's like they live here." Rachel O: "Just like us." ha!] By this point the Christmas spirit had overtaken me, and it felt good knowing that I made their day just a little bit better. The man I gave the box to seemed so delighted. 

Recap: I sleep for two hours, wake up and get out of bed without hitting the snooze, get ready, brush off and move our tenant's car, brush off my car, stop at Timmy Ho's, drive slowly and carefully to school, and arrive at my destination EARLY?? Early, as in, the first one there?? Wait, what?! Yup, it's safe to say that I was definitely overtaken by Christmas spirit.

When we arrived at PS 84, I guess I just expected to sing some songs to the kids, make them smile and make their day, and go home. Just your average caroling experience. Boy was I wrong. It was probably one of the best musical experiences I've ever had. These kids were so cute. But cute is an understatement. Seeing the pure joy on some of their faces, just from eight college kids singing some thrown-together Christmas tunes, brought me such joy and made me tear up several times (I'm such a sap). We were only in our first room and these two twin boys were literally shaking and moving their arms all over because they were so excited, and there I am getting all teary-eyed as I sing what was probably "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I remember telling myself, Get a grip! You're only in the first room! Just sing! Room after room we sang to such beautiful, wonderful kids, who were so happy that we were there. Here we were, eight [sleep-deprived] college kids, not even all vocalists, just winging it. And they loved it. One of the little girls was smiling the whole time, and afterwards her teacher told us that for her to smile before noon is a miracle. One of the kids in the lunchroom couldn't resist and got up and started happily dancing. Some of their disabilities were worse than others, but to see the joy on each of their faces was simply priceless. I was reminded and amazed yet again at the incredible power of music. How can something completely change someone's mood in one second? At the first word of a song, for example, Frosty (Frosty and Rudolph were favorites), their countenances immediately changed to rapturous delight. Some tried to clap, tap, and sing along. It was just great. I wanted to stay all day or go to another location and keep singing! It was a shame we couldn't go to Roswell. However I am still planning on going door-to-door caroling with some of my church friends in the next few weeks. 

So now I come to what I originally came on here to say: get out there and do something nice for someone else! After all, this is the season of giving, right? There are plenty of hospitals, nursing homes, and shelters out there. If you aren't musical, you could maybe make a craft or home-made cards for sick patients, elderly, or even go buy a teddy bear to give to a child. Or simply donate a gift to one of the groups that you always hear about on the radio. Serve a meal. Shovel someone's driveway. Donate an old coat, or winter clothes for a clothing drive. There are plenty of ways to help out here in WNY. You could even bake some cookies and deliver them to someone you know that's not well, to hey, your favorite construction workers (ha), to a neighbor, friend, whomever. I know all this may sound cliché, but trust me, it truly is better to give than to receive. A Biblical principal that is 110% true. Just try it!!

Boy, if I thought I was in the Christmas mood before today, I really am now. Merry Christmas!!!

Smile! It's good for you.

It's a SHAVED LLAMA! via

I. don't. want. a. BATH!

It's true.

 

Check out these cool t-shirts!

Thanks, Pinterest

Well if you haven't already heard me talking about it, I LOVE Pinterest!! Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you can pin and organize any picture that you like, and you can even upload one or just pin one you find online. You can pin a picture from any website you are on. Pinterest links to Facebook so you can automatically follow your Facebook friends. You can have more than one board - some of my boards include My Kind of Style, Destination Dreaming (travel ideas), In my Future House, and Ever After (wedding ideas). It is also a great way to share DIY crafts, recipes, hairstyles, products, whatever! Don't worry, gentlemen, there are pictures for you, too. Science, technology, history, cars, etc. Or you can just make an account to organize some of your favorite pictures (for example, cars). Yes, I can probably count the amount of males I've seen on the site on just one hand, but I'm just throwing it out there. Click here to check out my boards.

The actual purpose of this post was to share with you a hair-do I did yesterday. I found this tutorial on Pinterest and decided to try it out. I don't think I did it exactly right, I probably should have criss-crossed the pieces on either side and then I also forgot to leave the top piece for the end and do the optional tease. But hey, it was my first time and um, my hair is 4 feet long. My pieces were a little long so I just had to do a bunch of pin curls. For my first try I was happy with the result though. :) 

 

Old Ads

Got an e-mail with a bunch of these old ads and thought I'd share some of them.

Crazy, huh?

Think about it

You are not the width of your waist, nor are you the slenderness of your calves. You are not your hair color, your skin color, nor are you a shade of lipstick. Your shoe-size is of no consequence. You are not defined by the amount of attention you get from males, females, or any combination thereof. You are not the number of sit-ups you can do, nor are you the number of calories in a day. You are not your mustache. You are not the hair on your legs. You are not a little red dress. You are no amalgam of these things.

You are the content of your character. You are the ambitions that drive you. You are the goals that you set. You are the things that you laugh at and the words that you say. You are the thoughts you think and the things you wonder. You are beautiful and desirable not for the clique you attend, but for the spark of life within you that compels you to make your life a full and meaningful one. You are beautiful not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries.

Paris dreaming

Doesn't this just make your heart melt? Or is it just me?

As I just showed this picture to my friend Becky, sitting next to me, I think my exact words were: "I feel like I'm just melting into a big blob of mush!" (?! Who says that?)

While Paris seems so far away and my heart longs to be there, I know I must look on the bright side and be grateful that I had the opportunity to actually be there. Sometimes I still can't believe it. When I look at this picture it just takes my breath away and it all seems like a dream.

You Are My Sunshine

What a cute idea.

As seen here on Etsy.

You are Autumn

The slight chill in the air, visible exhalations, the emergence of jackets and cute boots, hot apple cider, the smell of the autumn air... Each year I love fall a little bit more. When I was little I loved the fall season because it meant raking up all the leaves to create giant leaf piles to jump into and making awesome leaf forts. It meant picking the prettiest leaves to press. Back to school and drinking cider. As I became "too old" for playing in the leaves, fall lost it's flavor and just served as an unfriendly reminder of the soon-coming cold weather. Although this reminder is true, lately I am learning to appreciate our weather more and to find joy in every season, in every day. After just typing that I am actually reminded of a song by Nicole Nordeman called "Every Season." The song talks about the changing of the seasons and how we can find God in every season. Check out her beautiful lyrics:

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You
In children’s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer 

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come
You are autumn 

And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter 

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring

God can be found in every season. Every day. All we have to do is look for Him; He is everywhere.

 

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"

- Ecclesiastes 3:1

What do you love about the fall season? 

Wearing socks and cozy sweaters? The sound of crinkling leaves? Maybe it's apple picking, apple pie, or apple cider? Pumpkin spice candles? Carving pumpkins? The corn maze? Hay rides? The return of football? A new school year? Trees turned vibrant? 

Let’s put it this way- what is not to love about fall?

1997

Alleghany ~ 2008

Fact: You're never too old to play in the leaves. 

~ Now please excuse me while I go curl up in a blanket with some hot chocolate ~

. . .

Mixed emotions

Things Melissa & Rachel will miss about Europe:

1.     Eating gelato every day

2.     Being able to talk about people when they’re right there…

3.     Italian food

4.     Eating whole pizzas

5.     Cannoli

6.     Speaking Spanish

7.     Doing what we want- when we want

8.     Seeing cool things!!!!

9. No homework or chores (except for the massive amounts of homework in Spain)

10. Our friends!!!

11. Eating the bigger meal in the afternoon

12. NUTELLA

13. Being tan

14. Well-behaved dogs

15. No rain or clouds

16. Gorgeous sunsets

17. Paris (Rachel)

18. Not having to tip or figure it out

19. Rebajas & Saldi (Sales!)

20. Dry heat in Spain

21. Not being distracted by texting/phones

22. Hot Madrid police officers

23. The little green men

24. Orange juice

25. FRESHLY SQUEEZED orange juice

26. Not being hungry (Melissa)

Things Melissa & Rachel will NOT miss about Europe:

1.     Pigeons everywhere

2.     The SMELL (“Madrid”)

3.     Hostel awkwardness

4.     Being hot and sweaty all the time

5.     Being sticky STILL at 12am

6.     Creepy men

7.     Spanish pigs (men and ham… lol)

8.     HAM (“NO Jamón!!")

9.     Spain- everything closing down for siesta

10. Italy- restaurants closed between meals (3 and 8ish!)

11. Paying for bathrooms

12. Not having soap/hand dryers/toilet paper/toilet seats!!

13. No separate checks

14. People treating you dumb because you speak English

15. Gypsies!

16. Beggars

17. Walking EVERYWHERE/public transportation

18. Italians being slow (and slower clocks)

19. Being thirsty all the time/no cold drinks (Melissa)

20. Paying for water in restaurants

21. Wearing wrinkled clothes EVERYDAY

22. Living out of our suitcases

23. Loud streets at night – ex: garbage collection at 1am in Spain

24. Spanish food

25. No air conditioning anywhere! Even train stations.

26. Not having phones

27. The ambulance siren

28. Cars hating on pedestrians

29. RAIL EUROPE

30. Not having seats on trains

31. Bad pillows

32. Not being able to sing

33. Waking up for breakfast

34. PDA everywhere

35. Immodesty

36. Treatment of women (esp. Spain)

Welcome to Moe's!!

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[America, how I've missed you!]

Venice = A Giant Maze

Ciao!

Another week gone! We’ve spent this week in Venice and Loreto. Last Saturday night Melissa and I took an overnight train from Paris to Venice. (Let me just say quickly how fun it was to lug all of our bags and heavy suitcases through the Paris metro, transferring 3 times and lugging up and down stairways, walking the mile to the train station, lifting on and off trains, and our escapade in Bologna… thankfully there were some gentlemen in Venice…) The train cabin was very small and there was another girl with us. Ironically she was Spanish and studying in Paris – going to Italy for holiday – so we could practice a little Spanish with her and she could practice her English. Although my space was only about 1 ½ feet high, I didn’t really mind. I just laid there writing and listening to my music. It was so nice to just relax. Once we arrived in Venice we found our hostel and dropped our bags off. Our hostel was right on the grand canal! The first night they put us in this private apartment (moldy bathroom… not cool) but the second night (Monday night) our room was overlooking the canal. When I woke up Tuesday morning I literally thought it was pouring outside all morning because of the water sloshing around from all the boats. Haha! 

View outside our window

Sunday morning after dropping our bags off we found this great café for breakfast with amazing fresh-squeezed orange juice. Soo good and refreshing!! In Europe they drink a lot of juice. A lot more juice and water than pop. Fresh orange juice is the best. We found some steps on a canal and ate, watching the gondolas go by. It was so different than Madrid or Paris – much quieter and peaceful. We made our way through the winding streets to our tour starting point and took a gondola ride and a walking tour of the city. No, our gondoleer didn’t sing. I wish! It was very surreal. Very peaceful. (My camera was dead this whole day so no pictures of the ride…) The two main ‘attractions’ in Venice are the Rialto Bridge and San Marco square, where there is a huge cathedral. There are also pigeons EVERYWHERE in Venice. Pretty much everywhere in Europe. In the train station even, you name it. I am allergic to something in Italy. I thought maybe it had something to do with the pigeons but someone suggested it might have been from all the mold in Venice, which is much more likely! It seems to be getting a bit better so we’ll see.

Part of St. Marco's Square

Sunday night we ate dinner at this little café and had our first Italian pizza! It was good (although not as good as I expected). The Italians also don’t believe in butter. On your bread you just put oil. On your toast you just put nutella (YESS) or jam. Although the toast is really an American thing. Also on your salad you just put oil and vinegar, or oil and salt. Which I’m totally fine with. We managed to make it back successfully to our hostel in the dark. Yay! Don’t worry, Venice is actually a very safe city, or so our tour guide said. It’s SO EASY to get lost in Venice. The walkways are sometimes very narrow and sometimes just lead to a dead end. The city is like a huge maze. Venice is virtually made up of 118 islands, and it’s these little walkways and bridges that connect them. There are literally no cars in Venice. They have police boats, ambulance boats, bus boats, and we even saw luggage boats and a hearse boat!! Boating is obviously the easiest way to get around, and if you don’t have a boat you have to make your way through the giant maze to get anywhere. I thought it was kinda fun. We had a map but it didn’t really help because not all the streets and walkways were on it. Luckily there were signs everywhere pointing to the main bridge and square.

Cafe where we ate dinner

On Monday we took a boat tour of three islands surrounding Venice. Oh also – it was SO hot there – Madrid was hot but it was a dry heat, and Paris was pretty cool, highs in the low-mid 70’s maybe. Italy is very humid. Anyway, the islands were all so cool and each so different from the others. The first island, Murano, was where one of the main glass factories is and we saw a short glass-blowing demonstration. If you ask me, the Corning glass museum demo in Corning, NY was way cooler (not to mention way longer). I still enjoyed this one and the little museum they had. Beautiful chandeliers!

The second island, Burano, was so quaint and picturesque. It had tons of little fishermen’s houses painted in brightly different colors. I loved it! Lace originated here and there was a lace shop where we could see a lace making demonstration.

Burano

 

The third island, Torcello, was definitely the most different. It was very naturey and we did not feel like we were in Italy anymore! We walked by this canal to get to the ruins of an old church. It smelled like the outdoors and was very countryish and felt like a nature preserve or something. I don’t think I’m very good at describing it lol. Hopefully the pictures help a bit.

Torcello

We were so glad we did this boat tour. I don’t think many of the tourists get to see these islands, and they were all so unique! The boat ride was fun too (minus the sweltering heat) because there was a family from Puerto Rico on there who were singing (In Spanish ;) and joking with everyone and they had the whole boat smiling and laughing. I think it’s really fun meeting people from other countries. One of the girls in our hostel thought Melissa and I were Canadian because of our accents. Haha! We might as well be Canadian. Our friends in Spain from NY made fun of us saying we were from Canada too. My favorite is meeting other people from the states. It’s like you’re instantly connected.

Monday night we took a ghost tour of Venice. It was fun but not exactly what we were expecting. It was similar to the original walking tour we took, and was even by the same tour guide, Francesco. We did get to see Marco Polo's house, and that was cool. We ate gelato after and we found a music group on top of the Rialto Bridge, so we just sat eating our gelato listening to them. Pizza and gelato pretty much sums up our food experience in Venice. Fine by me! On Tuesday morning we made our way to the train station to head here to Loreto. We met a Robert from Dallas on the way to the station who actually carried both of our bags (at the SAME time) up the huge bridge for us. We were so thankful! We took two hot trains to Ancona, where Cristiano Giuseppetti picked us up and took us to his home in Loreto. More on that to come in my next post…

The Grand Canal