Vida

Viennese Coffee Houses are a definite thing! Here's a little background for why they are such a big deal: After the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, the Viennese found bags of beans they mistook as camel fodder.The king gave them to one of his officers to burn, and the officer discovered the beans could be roasted into coffee. Coffee became a popular beverage here, and the officer eventually established the first Viennese coffee house. Coffee houses became a popular meeting place in the late 19th and early 20th century when authors and artists made cafes the centers of their lives and works.  There are so many coffee shops in vienna and what's refreshing is they are all very different and have their own personality.  (Yes, technically I only went to one so part of this is what I read and part of it is what our Program Director said in his Viennese Coffee House presentation.)   There's  Tirelerhof Cafe, Cafe Sacher,  Gerstner Cafe, Cafe Central , and many many

I'm going to approach this Europe trip recap through lessons learned.  Otherwise, I'll go on for ever and ever and nobody wants that, let's be real.  Although some days may have more than one lesson learned because I'm making the rules so if I want to break it, I can. Day 1 Budapest, Hungary (and travel time) I'm perfectly capable of traveling alone, but I do enjoy sitting next to someone I know on the plane. I put up both my head leaning things to try to make sure I didn't end up sleeping on one of the shoulders of the guys next to me.  I was successful (I think). Karen & I took a walk across the famous Chain Bridge and around Budapest.   I love experiencing cities by just walking around and seeing where I feel like going. Random story:  Monday night I went out with my yoga friend, Molly, and a couple of her friends and one of her friends friends.  (It was quite a get together... everyone met someone.)  Anyway, as soon as Molly mentioned I was

The last couple days have been rather warm in Chicago. (I'm not complaining.) When I arrived home from Europe I didn't really have any food.  A trip to the grocery store was essential.   I ended up at Trader Joe's a bit sweaty from the walk and as I started looking around at the food, I suddenly didn't want anything.  Does this ever happen to you when it's hot (or you're not feeling well)? The only things I could convince myself looked good were fruits and frozen veggies.  Oh and this... Aaannnndddd I decided I needed to eat one on the walk home.  As soon as I opened it, I realized it didn't have a stick.  "Hmmm.... no stick."  (I later discovered the idea is to eat it like a push-up.  Open the top of the plastic and push it out through the bottom.  Now it makes sense.)  I didn't know that information then and it was a very sticky walk home, but cooooooolllll and delicious :) btw   No, I haven't turned on my AC yet this year...

I'm officially back from Europe and vacation with my family.  We all arrived at our respective destinations late last night (or early this morning). It was a lovely, lovely trip and I did not want to come back. I was so successful at avoiding thinking about real life the whole week that on Friday/Saturday/Sunday when I started realizing I wouldn't be able to avoid real life forever I started feeling sad.   It was only stressful to have short connections both ways... there:  Chicago-Brussels-Budapest back:  Nuremburg-Munich-Newark-Chicago I definitely had to hustle in Brussels and Newark.  In Newark most of the plane boarded before I even got there (since I was working my way through security and looked at my boarding pass to see my flight was boarding, this is just after the security officer told me my gate was "waaaaayyyy at the end").  I walked right on the plane, but I did not miss it! I'll give you a little recap later this week, but for now I'm

A couple weeks ago I was over at Rubina's and she was pressing a poster she just bought that said, "It's Not about What you Love it's How you Love it" (it was pretty and graphic and stuff). She said she heard a talk and really liked it so she bought the poster.  Well, I found the video (I like it too!) so I'm leaving you with this to enjoy and think about for the week while I'm cruising on the Danube. Enjoy!

Next week I'm heading to Europe to cruise the Danube with my fam!  I'm pretty excited for a break and because I haven't visited Europe in awhile. We're starting in Hungary, cruising through Austria and ending in Germany.   (I do wish we were going to at least one country that speaks Spanish.  I don't love the idea of going to three countries where I don't speak the language.  Oh well...) I do wish I remembered more from my WWII history classes... It's been a rough week in my world so I'm looking forward to pretending everything is lovely for a week.  *sigh* Ohhhh vacation!! BUT I do plan on checking out the Air & Water show before I head out tomorrow.  It is strangely one of my favorite parts of summer.

Can't a girl get a summertime? I realized last Friday while drinking a Summer Shandy, I hadn't had a Goose Island Summertime this summer.  This is not acceptable.  So I decided I wanted one. I went to Binnys.  No Summertime. I went to Walgreens.  No Summertime. What did I find in the place of Summertime?  Octoberfest!  What!  It's the beginning of August!!!! I went to Jewel.  No more 6 packs.  There were three 12 packs left.  Did I want a 12 pack?  No, I did not.  But you bet I bought one. If I'm drinking Summertime is the deep winter, I will drink it with joy and reminisce about the summer. Actually, I should save one to enjoy on my birthday.  (I really wish I was a summer baby...) But for now.  I got my Summertime before summer vanished.  Yay!