Update!

OK, I keep getting asked what I'm up to these days. I used to do Weeks In Review, which were fun, but honestly, my weeks currently are not as packed with excitement as they used to be. So...how about a like a month in review? With pictures!

Let me set this up by saying the sabbatical continues. Viva la pre-tirement! Yes, yes, I will find myself a 9-5 eventually, but for now I'm doing odd things here and there and continuing to live it up a bit.

So here we go: besides getting possible brain leaks (and the subsequent 2 weeks of migraines), I have been...

Travel cooking:

Falafel!

Patacones/tostones! 

Fried platanos! (mmm)

Syrian-style eggpant casserole!

Flan! x17...I will dominate flan making!

 (And thankfully I've pretty much talked the young adult small group that meets at my house on Sundays into testing out all my flans. Because even though I love it...a girl can only eat so much flan!)

Dusting off my inner artista: 

I finally got around to printing and putting up a photo project I'd been planning for a while

(and don't worry, they ended up much straighter than that!)

My mom bought a groupon for us to go to one of those painting night things. I'm not gonna lie...it was kind of stressful! But also a lot of fun. I know we didn't make Van Gogh jealous or anything, but I think we did decently! I hung mine (on the left) on a random nail in my kitchen to dry and ended up leaving it there. 

Ha, and another day, out of nowhere, I was in the mood to water-paint. So I wrote and painted my niece a book. There's no pictures of the end product, so I'll just let you imagine how that worked out : )

And taking some pictures around Fort Worth for a project with my mom. So many good looking buildings!

Reading!

I've been stowing away in libraries...

Having time to read was a large part of the "loafing" (Razor's Edge anyone?) I planned for on my sabbatical. While traveling I did conquer some giants (like all 900+ pages of Of Human Bondage) and lots of other good stuff, but with all the adventures and talking with strangers and naps, I didn't get as much reading in as I figured I would. 

I'm making up for lost time. 

Writing!

Postcards! What? Did you think I was gonna say a novel or something? ; )

Send me your addresses! 

And finally...Traveling!

(Of course! But just a little bit...) 

I made a weekend trip out to Albuquerque to have a little mini-reunion with some of the girls I lived in Spain with. Last year we met up in Austin for the weekend, and this year was even more fun! And look--we timed it so that we made it to the (world's largest) hot air balloon festival!

Then I took Greyhound bus (oh yes! I had been wanting to do that for a while now!) up to Denver, where again timing was perfect and David took me to see the Aspens changing colors. So beautiful! 

OK, and one more thing, aka, the real reason I am blogging (...procrastination!): 

Studying for the GRE!

Yep. I know. Strangely everyone around me is much less surprised than I am that I am thinking about applying to PhD programs. It was all getting overwhelming, so I took advice from soon to be Dr. Meredith and just decided I'd take the GRE, see how that goes and start from there. 

PSA: If a book's introduction feels the need to tell you that you shouldn't start hyperventilating...that's not a good sign. 

OK, so that's what I've been up to!

Week In Review: Stateside!

Hello from Fort Worth! Like I said in the last post--I'm back! This last week has been a bit much for the ole noggin to process. I started the week in Seville, bid my sabbatical goodbye in Barcelona and then airport hopped my way home to Texas. Some observations from the week:

• My accent is back! After countless people telling me that "Your English is really good!" (Um? I'm a native speaker!) and a Canadian telling me she thought I was Norwegian, I was worried that I had done irreparable damage to my American accent (with even less hope for my Southern accent). I heard myself ask for a kn-ah-f (knife) last night, and thought, everything is going to be ok. 
• You know what is the best for this summer heat? Melon (cantaloupe) flavored agua frescas. Go to your nearest mexican restaurant and ask if they have them. 
• Everyone's kids got huge while I was gone!
• Apparently there are a lot of people reading the blog that I didn't know about. Some random people. But I love it! Don't feel shy people--feel free to leave comments, etc. even if I don't know you! 
• (Hi Pete! Hi Pete's dad!)
• In my mind summer food comes off the grill. This week I had bbq Spanish style (sardines), TexMex style (fajitas), Texas style (brisket), and Danny style (smoked chicken and ribs). 
• Opening a closet full of clothes after living out of a backpack for so long is a bit like Christmas. After being home for a few days though...I find myself reaching back into my pile of trip clothes (which is surprising). Slipping my Chacos back on after a few days felt oh-so-good. 
• Reentry is hard on the system. America, as much as I love it, is stressful. 
• I specifically chose some of the regions I traveled in because I could travel through them on public transportation--buses, trains and boats. And then there was the portion of my trip where I hiked 500 miles. After all that, I forgot how much I love driving! 
• After 8 months, I also forgot how much I do not like carrying a cell phone. If you call/text and I don't answer it's probably because the ringer is off and I forget that I have one. Eventually I'll get back to you. 
• I've been home 5 days. That's the max I've been in one place since January. I'm ready to head out...
• I'm going to Abilene tomorrow. I'm excited to see good friends, old roommates and some of my favorite people. I'm excited to eat La Popular burritos. I'm excited to see some horizon. But also, I'm just excited to be going somewhere. 
• You have some good reentry tips? Send them my way!
• I started looking at job postings this week. Anyone out there want to hire me? I swear I've got lots of marketable skills, like...talking to random strangers who end up being excons, walking long distances, wearing scarves...
• Oh, I'm also really good at eating flan. My next project is to dominate flan making. 

OK, that's about it. It's been great seeing so many of you this week!  Pictures below: 

Melon agua fresca--go get yourself one!

Picasso isn't Spain's only artist: Maica went all out on my last lunch in Seville

Although I have learned to love to eat it, I don't think I will ever get over the fact that Spanish ham comes with the hoof still attached

Maica and I performed a rescue operation on an abandoned ficus one afternoon. It was not too unlike problem-solving-taping up my ankle on the Camino: 

Sardines grilled up by Juanma. I used to be scared of these, but after they patiently explained to me how to eat them I found them to be pretty tasty!

My last meal in Barcelona: A goodbye Spain supper of calamaris and tinto de verano...

And of course flan

The Swiss Alps