What in the world wide web?

I spend a lot of time on the internet. Whether it's for work or for play, I am always amazed at what can be found online. Rather than only sharing my finds with one or two people and then forgetting about them almost immediately, I figured I could post on my blog! I hope you think these things are as funny as I do! Now, for your enjoyment I present:

Heelarious

How funny are these little soft high heels? They're for babies before they can walk. Love them!

Alicia showed me this blog about the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. It keeps up with the actors and their careers, and has all kinds of must-have trivia for P&P fans like myself. I don't know if I've ever talked about it, but Pride and Prejudice is my absolute favorite movie ever. The end. Most of you who know me already know this and may even share my passion!

Any talk about the innernetz HAS to include LOLcats. Nuff said. The following photo is my very own Pierre.

Now for some youtube magic. 

Ninja cat. Please watch all the way through.

This guy is an amazing singer. Stick around till at least the 1 minute mark. It's definitely not something you see every day.

Here he is singing a Leona Lewis song. Normally I would be incensed that anyone would try to top her... but this is a GUY. Check it out!

Remember how I said I liked Pride and Prejudice? Well, I also love ALL Jane Austen books/movies. So, thanks to Alicia again, I present to my fellow Jane Austenites a smorgasbord of awesome. It's a music video  of the leading men from such classics as P&P, Sense & Sensability, Emma and others.... set to "Ain't No Other Man." Tell me what you think!

That's all for now! I'll have more for you in the future! Let me know what ya think!

Of Willy, girlfriends and life

I've been wanting to post for a few days! I have several drafts with the pictures uploaded, but I still have to write the words. I figured I could catch up on what's been going on this week here!

I took this photo last week of Alfred. I thought it was pretty cool! I haven't done any photoshop treatment to it yet. Do any of you have any suggestions?
Last weekend, Zach and I went to a wedding and a baby shower for some of his friends in the midst of Mr. Ike. We only got constant rain, but we did a lot of driving around in it! This photo is from the wedding reception. I thought it was a really neat way to decorate.Later that night we went to the baby shower. I should note that the shower was NOT for the same couple as the wedding! It was at a Mexican restaurant. I don't think I've ever been to a co-ed shower with drinking games... One of the games was a chugging contest between all the guys... chugging margaritas out of baby bottles! Here I am pretending to drink the rest of Zach's bottle. :-)Last Sunday was Zach's dad Dean's birthday. We had a little party for him and I got him a card that made dog sniffing noises when you open it. We showed it to Gideon and he was enthralled, as you can see.This past week has been so great because I've gotten to spend time with some really good friends. I miss being in college because we don't have the luxury of random all-night hangouts and just the free time to build good friendships. So when I get the chance to spend a few hours with someone, it just really makes my day. And this has been a great week for that! 

Sunday I got to meet up with my friend Calle in Tyler. We were on the Equestrian team at A&M and I really haven't seen her since she graduated probably 2.5 years ago. That is just sad! She's a great friend. She lives in Montana and came to Texas for a wedding in College Station. We caught up with some margaritas and guacamole at On the Border. YUM!

Also this week, I got to hang out with my friend Alicia. I met her through Jashley, and it's one of those things where you are just amazed that you have so much in common with someone. It might sound nerdy, but I feel like it's kind of like going on a really good date or something. :-) I'm looking forward to hanging with her a lot more in the future.

Finally, last night I got to meet up with another friend who I just love hanging out with because we have alot in common as well. I met miss Katie through Stephanie--I think I'm done linking to other blogs in this post--I do apologize! But Katie and I go wayy back. We had a great time at this place called the Dream Cafe. Yum yum! You should try it sometime. I had the best Sangria I've ever had there.

The other night Zach and I cooked dinner. You never know what you are going to get when it's been a while since your last trip to the grocery store. We made crepes with tarragon chicken, parmesan cheese and chopped black olives. Zach decided to put Nutella and some peas on his... he insisted that it tasted good...
I took this photo at the barn with my little camera. There are probably about 15 or more peacocks and peahens at Rocky Top, and they roost in these two dead trees at night. It's kind of creepy actually. If any of you are wishing to own a peacock, keep in mind that they like to call out and they kind of sound like a woman shrieking. Not too fun!

So not for an update on Willy. You can skip this if you aren't interested in horse care or founder. I won't tell anyone. :-) Last time I talked about him, I mentioned that he had rubber  "lily pads" on his feet. I couldn't find a photo of them online anywhere. He got them taken off yesterday, so I got to take a photo of them.We wrapped his feet with Elastikon to hold the lily pads in place. The first week Willy was lame, he had nothing special on his feet because I didn't know what was wrong with him and I'd hoped it was a stone bruise or soreness from his new shoes. The vet came out, said he might be foundering but wasn't sure so he didn't take off his shoes. He gave him DMSO by tube to his stomach--which stinks to high heaven, and we gave him 2ccs of Bute every day. After that weekend, the vet came out, saw that he wasn't better and pulled his shoes off and gave him DMSO again. He put those lily pads on with Elastikon and duct tape. I continued to give him Bute and iced his feet for the first few days. It didn't work very well. Willy got into some mud so his bandages disintegrated in less than a week. We took them off, thinking he might be OK last week and he ended up relapsing, becoming very lame again. So another vet from the same practice came out, said he was still foundering and wrapped him up like this--no duct tape--for 3 days to see if his hoof bones and laminae would stabilize. He also gave him DMSO again.

Hurricane Ike came along that weekend, so I had to keep Willy in a stall confined to help his feet stay dry. I gave him Ace every day. His feet didn't stabilize until this week. Yesterday, the vet came out and was very happy with Willy's condition. He said we could take the lily pads off and start the special shoeing treatment. YAY!! He's on the road to recovery!

Sorry for the blurry photos here. The farrier took a netting of fiberglass and laid it in between Willy's hooves and the shoes. 

Next, he attached a foam square to the foot so he can form the special rubberlike pads.He squirted in this mixture that molds to the horse's sole to offer custom support while encouraging the sole to grow thicker and stronger--this is key to helping the horse recover from laminitis(founder). It also has some elements of copper to keep the horse from developing thrush.

This is what the shoe looks like. He'll be wearing this for at least 2-3 more shoeings. Horses get shod every 6 weeks, so we're looking at 12-16 weeks before he's done with this treatment. The good news is I might be able to ride him after the next shoeing in 5 weeks! What do you think of Willy's tennis shoes?

A walk through the Cinque Terre

Well folks, I think it's time to talk about the Cinque Terre. This amazing area on the Mediterranean Sea in the northwest part of Italy is actually a collection of five cities strung together by an easy-to-use train or a 9 km in total length walk that varies from a wide and gentle sidewalk to literally rock climbing in difficulty.  If you read my last post about Venice, you may recall our trouble in getting out of town. We left about two hours later then we'd planned, so we arrived in La Spezia in the evening and ended our train journey in Riomaggiore(of the the Cinque Terre) at dusk. Well, what ACTUALLY happened was, the train doors wouldn't open at our stop... so after 60 seconds of struggle, we watched our destination slip by. Luckily, Manarolo, the next town, was about 3 minutes ahead so we jumped out there. My Rick Steves' guidebook said the walk back to Riomaggiore was about 15 minutes long but it was getting dark and I was nervous about trekking on a path right next to cliffs by the ocean at night with multiple backpacks apiece. So we waited about 15 minutes for the next train headed back to Riomaggiore. Here is a photo I took while we waited. Yet again, I wished for a tripod but I think it turned out OK leaning on a bench. How bout that sun flare?

Next, we went looking for our lodging. I would say this part of the trip was probably the least fun for me. I was starting to succumb to germs and travel stress on the trip, feeling pretty under the weather. Our rick steves book had a sketchy at best map. I highly recommend the book, but get some maps in addition, or you might be wandering around a hilly town at 10 PM asking "Dove Edi's rooms?" pointing at a drawn map and receiving apologetic but unhelpful looks from locals. What was most frustrating is that the town is *tiny* with like, 3 main streets and we still couldn't find our place for a while. Eventually, we found the hotel front office and hiked back up a steep hill to our rooms. I think I wanted to cry when we finally settled in! We had two rented rooms a couple hundred feet apart nestled on the main street several sets of stairs up. The whole town is full of steep hills. We saw how beautiful it was the next day. :-)

Next on the priority list was getting some FOOD. We had wolfed down some unspectacular slices of pizza in Venice before noon and hadn't eaten since. We were starving! We walked on down to a sidewalk cafe and gelateria that served all kinds of food. Score! We dubbed Gianni's Shack our favorite restaurant in Riomaggiore and ate there like three more times the two days we were in the Cinque Terre. :-) In this photo, Zach is getting ready to eat his tomato, cheese, bacon and EGGS pizza. You would think it wouldn't taste good but it was the best pizza we had the entire trip.

David and I had Genovese pizza. That's right--Genovese. If you know my family, you might know that my mom's maiden name is Genovese. Her dad--my grandpa Jerry--is Italian. I found out just last week that his family is from Genoa.... which is a town just north of the Cinque Terre! If we had known that was where our family is from, we would have taken the train into Genoa instead of La Spezia because they are the same distance away from Venice. Oh well. But Genovese is a sauce native to the area with a LOT of pesto... almost too much. Pesto sauce is also native to this area. Anyway, here I am eating my family's pizza! Pretty cool huh? I was excited, even if I look tired. :-)

David was completely overjoyed to find Genovese pizza.

After our late-night dinner, we hiked back up to the rooms and fell dead asleep. The next day, we walked down to good ol' Gianni's for some deeelicious breakfast, got some sunscreen at a nearby shop and headed over to the entrance to the hiking trails. But first, let me show you the one thing I wish I had bought. This little ceramic wall decoration. How cute is that?Romance alert: if you feel nauseous when you see cheesy romantical photos, you might want to prepare yourself. From Riomaggiore to Manorolo is a walkway called Via Dell'Amore. The Walk of Love. Not too may years ago, these five towns were isolated from each other and the rest of Italy because of their location. Young people from Riomaggiore and Manorolo were stuck with the kids in their own town when it came to finding love. Until--a walkway was created between the two towns. Suddenly, young lovers could easily travel the 15 minute walk to see each other. Many chose to rendezvous halfway between the two towns. Everyone was happy. :-) Zach was such a good sport and put up with all my photo stops on the first trail of the day. My brothers also obliged and took our photos. :-) Here we are at the entrance of via dell'amore.
They made a little gate with HEARTS above! We had to take a romantical photo too. :-)

This is a bit down the walkway. Riomaggiore is behind us. Quite hilly wouldn't you say?

Here's all of us. It was pretty sunny. :-)

One of the traditions on via dell'amore is marking your name with your lover. You could call it graffiti, but in the setting it's sweet. Zach immortalized our love for all to see on a rock just past the entrance. If you get to walk the Cinque Terre, check it out!This amazing plant was right next to our rock. The path was about 3-5 feet wide, paved with a rail and easy to walk. This is the view looking straight down from the path. Now you can see why I was a lil' nervous walking it at night! We would have been fine because the path was wide... oh well. :-)On the path, there's a tunnel-- of LOVE. :-) The two cities built this little chair at the midway point where you can sit. This is the "symbol" of Via Dell'Amore. You might be wondering about all those locks. Zach and I forgot to buy one. But the tradition in Italy these days is to close a lock with your lover on this walk(we also saw some later on in Florence) to pledge your eternal love. :-) I thought it was fascinating. David and Jonathan were troopers, putting up with me. :-)

ahh, tru love. :-) Jonathan took this photo. David was busy sketching out a masterpiece somewhere in the tunnel. 

Zach said these giant yellow plants are a type of cactus. I thought they were pretty against a blue-green Mediterranean sea!

Once we reached Manorolo, we took a quick water break and pushed on toward the next town. I woke up not feeling well at all, so we had to take it a little easy. Don't ask me why I decided to take a hike like this when I was sick... But you only live once, and there's no way I would stay at the hotel when there were 4 other towns to explore!

Looking back from Manorolo, you can see the train stop. This is where we got off the night before, and you can see Riomaggiore just beyond.

The walk from Manorolo to Corniglia was a bit more hilly and 45 minutes long. It was still paved though. Thank goodness for small things! This is the view during the entire walk.

At the end of this trail right before the town, you have to walk up a ton of stairs. I took a photo, but it didn't really do the stairs justice. It was a lot... 382 stairs to be exact. You know it's some kind of accomplishment when you see a sign like this at the top.

The sign is in Italian, English and German. Maybe this is because most of the tourists we saw were the mountain goat type italians, americans and germans. It was a really nice change from Venice and we liked to count all the lederhosen we came across. I'm not joking!

We stopped in Corniglia for just a few minutes and pushed on to what was the most arduous part of our hike. Say goodbye to beautiful Corniglia! The next town was Vernazza.

I apologize for the lack of photos during this part of the hike. First, I was sick so it was taking all my energy to walk. I wasn't thinking creatively. The beauty around us was constant, so I kind of lost track of what was new and different. The view looked kind of the same in a beautiful way. I should have taken photos of the path, but it was rocky most of the time--like stepping from one rock to the other like stairs, hanging on to the rail so you didn't fall over the side, and I didn't want to drop my camera where it would be smashed on the rocks. It was a fun trek and it took about 90 minutes to walk 4 kilometers. That tells you how steep and windey it was! I asked Zach what we'd do if I was from Corniglia and he was from Vernazza. He said he would walk this path every day to see me and he would get in great shape. What a sweet boyfriend I have!

Here's a photo of Vernazza. Originally, the Cinque Terre were ruled by castles in each town. Here's one of them!

Zach took this photo. More pretty cactus plants!

Vernazza had a cute little beach and lots of fun stuff to do. We could have stopped there, but we'd vowed to hike all the way through. All I could think about was swimming in Monterossa al Mare and that kept me going. The trip to Monterossa from Vernazza took 90 minutes and was only 3 kilometers. I would categorize it as mostly rock stairs. The previous hike was more dangerous cause the path was really narrow and steep, so this one was easier to me. All you had to do was hike literally hundreds of rock stairs! Easy-peasy. :-) It was beautiful and luckily the day was not hot at all! It was a really pleasant day and it was nice to be exercising instead of sitting on some kind of public transportation. I really enjoyed it, even though I didn't feel good.

Ta Da!! We made it! This is near the end of the path before we got to Monterossa. We're so happy!

We got some lunch right away in Monterossa. Our whole trip took about 4 hours. Not too bad huh? After we ate we headed down to the beautiful beach where we rented beach chairs and umbrellas. We splashed around in the water for a while and then all of us crashed out for like 2 hours. I was totally worn out! It was a blissful way to spend the afternoon. What a reward for our hiking journey! We played in the water awhile longer... David grabbed a sea urchin, then we decided to eat some dinner. We changed and planned to head back to the train station, but we got distracted by the tantalizing dinner menu at this restaurant so we stopped here. 

We all had delicious food! And gelato OF COURSE.

We jumped back on the train and headed back to Riomaggiore. We played cards for a couple hours before going to bed for some much needed sleep. The next day we did some laundry at Edi's Laundry(so convenient because it was right next door!) shopped a bit and took the train back to La Spezia to go to Pisa, then Florence.

So ends this entry. I hoped you enjoyed it! I feel like I just took another hike! Almost...

Catchin' up

It's time to take a little break from the Europe photos. I have them in my computer, ready to post, but I feel like it's been a long time since I've written about anything more recent! Katie, you were right on with your comment last post. :-)

First and foremost in my mind right now is my horse Willy. Last post, I mentioned he was showing symptoms of laminitis(founder) and I've been treating him according to vet's orders  since then. He wasn't all the way better, so I had the vet come out and check on him for my peace of mind. The vet decided that he DID founder last week, so he pulled Willy's shoes off and put some lily pads on his hooves--I tried to find some online to show you, but I couldn't find them. He also gave Willy some more medicine and I have to ice his feet every day. The good news is that Willy is getting better now, and it was a mild case, so he should recover completely. The bad news is that I read this article about laminitis tonight and I am just sick. Willy was lame and in pain starting at least that Sunday when i checked on him, and I waited it out for several days, thinking he was just sore from getting new shoes recently. Meanwhile, thats when everything was happening in his hooves, and I could have been icing them and could have called the vet sooner. I don't think he suffered a whole lot of damage, but I guess we won't know for a little bit longer. I really hope he'll be able to be completely sound and without another laminitis episode ever again. 

Sorry for the depressing topic. On to other things going on recently! I took this photo at PF Changs when I went to dinner with my friend Belinda. Thought it was cool... and it reminds me of something I saw in Milan... there's a teaser for ya cause Milan photos are coming up soon!

Here is one of the photos from the Beth Moore conference I mentioned last week. Friends Hannah and Shannon--it's been too long! We had a blast with the rest of the girls and I really think we need to make it an annual thing. I also saw my very dear friend Stephanie with her mom and new husband's family. 
This was the sunrise at Toni's house in Somerset, where we stayed the Friday of the conference. I promise I didn't touch it in photoshop.
    Jashley and Grant left for South Korea last Thursday for a year. I was so sad to see them go. What will I do without my modern-day Princess Bride couple? The Boatwrights threw one last get-together with family and a few friends the night before they left. After dinner we went back to their house. Zach's cousin Daniel and his wife Eva brought along their baby Rylie. She and Zach had their own entertainment show going on!
Last weekend I went to College Station for the A&M vs. Arkansas State game with my brother Jonathan. He was awesome enough to get me a ticket on the student side with him. Let's not talk about the score... check out my photo. :-)
On that note, I'm saying good night. I've got photos ready to be put in order and Cinque Terre fun to talk about, so that will be posted soon!

Venice is romantic... even without a gondola ride.

Zach and I decided before we went to Venice that we didn't want to spend 90 euro on a gondola ride, so I was completely happy riding the waterbuses all over the city. Here we are near an inlet full of gondolas! This is right by St. Mark's Square in between some shops.

Commemorating our time in Venice :-)

Look at this tiny boat! It's like a boat with the back chopped off!

This is our hotel, Fondazione Levi. I told ya it was right on the water!

Remember how I said some buildings lean in Venice? Here is one of the ones I was talking about. Jonathan took this photo. I'm surprised more buildings haven't fallen over...

During our photographic jaunt in the afternoon, I discovered something--possibly the most awesome mullet you'll ever set eyes on. Zach convinced me to run after him and take his picture. What do you think?? He was definitely rocking it.

We ate dinner at this restaurant Zach had been to during his past trips to Venice. Pretty good!

Here is where my sweet Zach made up for us not taking a gondola ride. He agreed to do a "photo shoot" with me in romantic Venice on a bridge. We've never done anything like that, so I was very excited. And self-conscious. I tested the light and composition first with my model man.

David took these photos. What do you think?

This is my favorite!

I really liked this building.

Don't have any idea what this thing is, but you have to admit it's pretty cool!

Zach took this photo of St. Mark's Basilica. It's beautiful. I hope to see it when it's done being renovated someday.

Don't  mind the chairs or the flagpole. :-)

We decided to spend our later evening hours in St. Mark's Square. Just like the rest of Venice, the atmosphere changes dramatically as the light fades, and it once again became this magical place that I love! This is one of Zach's photos of the square. You can see how immense it is! After dark it is illuminated with lights all around.

My handsome bros. We sat at a cafe sipping wine at the non-coffee bar. :-)

We enjoyed the dueling orchestras all through the evening. Actually, it was three bands all over the square... would that still be "dueling" if it's three?

Pigeons are a mainstay in the square. There's something so precious about kids playing with the birds.

We really enjoyed the wine. :-) This was bought with gift money from a friend, hence the photo to show him when we got back.

We had quite the struggle the next day getting out of Venice and on a train to the Cinque Terre. If you plan to travel in and around Venice, keep in mind that you can't get anywhere fast, and it's really easy to go slowly. During the day, all the boats are packed and everything takes a LOT longer. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the train station... and know which stations are in the general direction you are heading. We booked a Eurostar train to La Spezia--the closest stop to the Cinque Terre. We waited and waited for our train to get there, but never saw the destination posted to tell us which platform to go to. There were no train numbers. Only destinations. Not until a train headed to Rome left the station were we able to figure out we'd missed it... The ticket master basically told us we should have known to get on the Rome train... the Rick Steves book didn't tell us this... it would be akin to booking a train for El Paso from Houston, but the destination says Kingsville. Well duh... you should know! :-) So now, you know!

Luckily, we got on the next train and made it OK. You'll just have to wait for photos from the Cinque Terre though... I'll write about it next!