Argentina & Brazil: "Me Encanta Crafts"

So in my last post I updated all of you on my new job... well here are a few pictures and stories from my first big trip that I took to South America! Stay with me... when I say "a few pictures" I actually mean a ton. 

And as a caution: I did not have a working hair dryer/straightener for most of my time in either country AND I got horribly sick right before I left for my trip and had to go to the doctor to get some shots to try to make me better. It didn't really work so most of the time I was on this trip I was coughing, blowing my nose and all around sickly looking so Lesley kept telling everyone I had a fever which made people get all awkward and stay away from me. Perfect when you are attempting to teach a class. ... so please ignore my fro-esk hair and sickly appearance.

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

On this trip I got to travel with a co-worker of mine named Lesley. She is so great because she is always ready to explore and loves to eat. So basically she was the perfect travel companion. We ate tons of amazing food (as you will see below) and took many wrong turns around the city while giving ourselves a tour of things we assumed to be important landmarks. Luckily, Lesley spoke Spanish which helped us in getting around the city immensely. However, I found that most people in Argentina spoke English so we didn't hit too much of a language barrier. 

The start of our self-tour around the city. This building looked important... and I liked the flag! :)

Pirámide de Mayo

I found the Hunger Games in Spanish... I was very excited about it.

Please note the cough drop I have in my mouth. 

My favorite part of Argentina (and maybe the whole trip) was this neighborhood we visited called El Barrio de La Boca. There were tons of inexpensive trinkets being sold along the streets, beautiful buildings, and people tangoing in the streets. I picked up a lot of great gifts for really cheap from this area and I wish we could have spent more time there! Definitely felt like I got a good feel of the culture being in this area.

Someone drew a picture of one of the more famous futbol (soccer) players in Argentina. Naturally I had to get a shot kissing the sexy man :)

We were able to catch a tango show the first night we arrived which was such a treat! We got all dressed up and ate a three course meal while watching couples tango on stage - really cool experience that I highly recommend if you ever go to Argentina!

We were lucky that there were two holidays during our time in Argentina, so we got two whole days to be touristy. On this particular day, we asked our cab driver to take us somewhere that had really great shopping... which apparently meant the craft district. There were streets of shops selling yarn and Lesley and I could not figure out how shopping somehow translated to yarn. Maybe he thought we would make our own clothes??? So naturally we got tired and had to stop to eat. This is some Hawaian dessert that Lesley ordered... it was a little intense. At some point over our laughing over the confusion of "great shopping", I attempted to use the very very little Spanish that I know and made the comment "me encanta crafts" which is very horrible Spanish/English for "I love crafts". We giggled so much over this that for the rest of the trip we basically added "me encanta" in front of everything. I realize it doesn't sound funny now, but it definitely was at the time!

Eating gelato before dinner!
(it was an hour wait for dinner and we were starving... don't judge) 

After eating dinner outside the pier near our hotel

At the airport before leaving for Brazil we finally got to try this beer we had seen everywhere and it was DELISH! I am sad that we did not try it sooner!

RIO DE JANERIO, BRAZIL

We had a whole weekend to explore while we were in Rio, and it just happened to fall on Easter weekend which was a double edged sword. We were happy to have the time to look around the city, but we both definitely got a little homesick being away from our families on a holiday. Still we managed to eat really well and catch some sun at the beach! 

The gorgeous view from Pão De Açucar - Sugar Loaf Mountain

Looking out over Sugar Loaf. It was expensive to get up there but it was definitely a pretty view!

On Easter Sunday, we took a very expensive cab ride up to one of the seven wonders of the world - Christ the Redeemer statue. It was very fitting that we got to do this on Easter, an experience I am very thankful for and will never forget, but the weather wasn't great so the view wasn't quite as good as it was at Sugar Loaf. If you ever go to Rio, you have to pay for a cab to take you all the way to the top of the mountain that the statue sits on and then have them wait for you to finish walking around the statue. There is no other way down than by cab, and they don't just sit around up there waiting unless they have been paid to get up there, so that's why it's so expensive. You also have to pay to actually get up to the statue, so all-in-all it was an expensive day, but definitely a once in a lifetime experience to get to be there on Easter.

Another shot of the statue

We went and visited a market in Ipanema and there were TONS of amazing treasures like these EVERYWHERE! There was a lot of great shopping here too, and I wish we had had more time to look around! I seriously wanted to buy something at every booth, but it was much more expensive than Argentina so I tried to refrain as much as possible. 

At Ipanema Beach - LOTS of speedos and thong bikinis running around.

Seriously, GORGEOUS!

I ordered something similar to chicken parmigiana at dinner one night... no one told me it could feed a family of five. Don't worry, I only ate a small portion of that. It was really good despite it's intimidating size! (... that's what she said? Sorry, couldn't resist!)

MACAE, BRAZIL

Sadly I didn't get any pictures while I was there as it was mostly all work and very little play. Lesley and I did have a few of the locals from work take us out to dinner one night for a truly authentic Brazilian steakhouse experience... and it was such a blast! The food was incredible (I tried a bunch of crazy stuff there) and the company was hilarious and welcoming. They told us about their experiences when they had come to America, saying that it was like being in a movie and told us lots of stories about how Brazilian culture is different than American culture. I really hope that people at other offices I travel to take me out as well, because it was such an amazing experience!

OVERALL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRIP:

1. Christ the Redeemer statue on Easter Sunday

2. Shopping at El Barrio de La Boca and Ipanema
3. Brazilian food. YUMYUMYUMYUM
4. Trying octopus, squid, and a type of rodent (I'm a really picky eater... so this was a big deal!)

5. Dinner with the locals in Macae - their stories were seriously hilarious!

My next post will be about my trip to the United Kingdom! Hope you enjoyed the pictures :)

New Job, New Adventures

About four months ago I started a new job with an oil and gas company in Houston. I've had a lot of different job experiences since entering the working world and I've learned a lot about what you can realistically hope for in a job and things that are just for pipe dreams. I've realized it's going to take a long time before I find the "perfect" job for me, but I have to say my current job definitely has a lot of the qualities I am looking for in a long term career.

So what is this new job? Well, it's kind of hard to explain but my current role allows me the opportunity to travel to various offices domestically and internationally meeting employees and facilitating training workshops. Through these workshops, I work with these employees to develop their managerial skills and coach them on ways to move forward in their careers. In a nutshell, I teach classes for employees of my company. It's great because I feel like I actually make a difference and I'm getting to travel to a lot of different places. My travel is about 50-60% of the time, so it can definitely be exhausting and I miss my friends and family a lot at times, but so far my experiences have been amazing.

My first big trip was to South America; Buenos Aires, Rio de Janiero and Macae more specifically. For this trip I got to travel with a co-worker who was training me, but from now on I'm on my own. It's a little intimidating traveling all over the world by myself but I'm slowly working on convincing friends and family members to accompany me on a few of my trips so I don't get too lonely.

I'll try to do updates on all of my trips as I'm going to some pretty cool places (this summer: Scotland, Dubai, Colombia and Australia!) and if you ever have any advice or suggestions on things I should do please let me know! I'm very excited for the trips ahead, but because I'm constantly traveling it's hard to really plan well for each trip. 

So look out world, Caroline is coming, and probably going to get into trouble a few times along the way :)

"Soldiers" by The Rocket Summer

Since I was a child

I've always loved to sing

I told my teacher, it's what I'm going to be

And this road I'm on, sketchy it may be

Greens chances

To beat the odds the devil has for me

And I'm never going to miss a beat

'Cause brother, I'm a soldier

No, I'm never going to miss a beat

'Cause I got to be a soldier

And in heaven, maybe he

Is smiling down on me

And behind those doors of my heart I am crying

Epic warfare and spiritual

When out of nowhere

The black cannonballs

Today, we broke down

Caught wind of a tragedy

In the same hour

Tonight, I, I won't sing about this

'Cause I'm never going to miss a beat

'Cause brother, I'm a soldier

No, I'm never going to miss a beat

'Cause the Lord made me a soldier

And in heaven, maybe he

Is smiling down on me

But behind those doors of my heart I am crying

And in the end, the life we lead

Would it have made a difference

In a world unseen?

Oh, oh, oh, oh

So we're never going to miss a beat

'Cause brother, we are soldiers

Yeah, we're never going to miss a beat

'Cause we got to be soldiers

And in heaven, maybe he's

Smiling down on me

But behind those doors of my heart, I am crying

If I said it was easy always, I'd be lying

Today, behind those doors of my heart, I am crying

If I said it was easy, always I'd be lying

But behind the doors of my heart...

***Off the new album "Life Will Write the Words" out June 5th

All About Love (Part 2)

Last week I went and relived my youth by going to go see Titanic 3D with two of my besties. Now, to be honest, I'm not a huge Titanic fan, but seeing Leonardo DiCaprio young, sexy and pursuing the woman he loved was too much for me to pass up on the big screen, plus when my besties want to do something, I usually just tag along for the ride anyways. The day before I went to go see the movie, I remembered back to when I saw the movie for the very first time. I was in the 6th grade and saw it with my then "boyfriend" and his mother. 


Yes, let's all take a moment and pause to let the full effect of that awkwardness flow over you. 


Remembering my 6th grade boyfriend combined with seeing young Leo and Kate caught in the throws of first love made me think back to other "relationships" I had during my youth, which inspired me to come back to the blog and continue my analysis/dissection on all things love. 


My first love came about when I was a sophomore in high school. I'd had "boyfriends" before that time, but this was the first guy that I actually had strong feelings for and thought that we were destined to end up together. Thinking back now, I'm in awe of the confidence I had. This guy was two years older than me and easily could have done better than some lame 15 year old who couldn't even drive yet. I remember the first time we kissed, I basically threw myself at him. I'd never been truly hurt by romance before,  so I didn't have any fear of rejection or pain. All I knew was that I was crazy about this guy, and that I had to act on those feelings as quickly as possible. Lucky for me, the guy reciprocated my feelings at least on some levels. It definitely wasn't some big Hollywood romance, but what I remember most about that time was feeling so free. I just knew things would work out for us and I acted however I felt in the moment. There were no games, no "do I text him back right away or wait 20 minutes?", no conference calls with the besties to develop a strategy on how I respond to an email, no freaking out over what I wear the next time I see him... it was just innocent and, more importantly, honest.    


Ahhh how things change as we get older.


After you've been hurt by love, it's hard to be that free. In a way, I guess that's good. I mean you should want to guard your heart, right? You should want to keep yourself from being hurt.  But it sucks too. You'll never be as open as you were with your first love. Pain from a romance gone awry leaves something behind that won't ever truly go away. It's like a scar from an injury... we may not feel the pain after a while, but we'll always see the mark that was left behind even if it fades. 


When I was in eighth grade I saw this skit where there was a guy holding his heart in his hands. Every time he got into a new relationship, he would hand his heart over to the new object of his affection. When they would break up, the girl would place, toss, or slam the heart on the ground and walk away. Each time the guy had to pick up what was left of his heart, but it was never the same after. He kept losing pieces of himself every time he gave his heart away. That skit always comes to mind when I start a new relationship and after I go through a break up. It's true, we can't get back the parts of ourselves that we give away. Was Kate ever the same after Leo drowned in the ocean? (sorry... spoiler alert?... ehh if you didn't know that happened then that's on you-get with the times) She says when she is an old woman that he changed her life; he brought her to life. 


I guess my point here is this: love can take the life out of you... but it can also give you a new perspective on life too. Yes, in every relationship I have ever been in, I have given away parts of myself (whether that be my time, memories or emotions) that I won't really ever get back; but I also know that because of those relationships I have been forever changed for the better. Break-ups have changed me a lot, but being in relationships with these guys has changed me even more, and I mean that in the best way possible. I have learned more about myself through dating than I ever could by reading a book or going to a class. I've learned about the kind of person I do and don't want to be. I've seen traits that have inspired me to take on new challenges and had realizations that cause me to change my ways. 


So even though most of us know the obstacle of romantic pain, no matter what side of it we have been on, I want to encourage you to take the leap. Heartbreak sucks, a lot, but opening yourself up to love may be the best thing you could ever do for your own personal growth. And who knows, maybe, just maybe, it'll all work out alright. I mean, you can't find something if you aren't even open to looking for it, right?

"There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you -- of kindness and consideration and respect -- not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn't know you had."

- John Steinbeck in a letter to his son

“Watching you walk out of my life does not make me bitter or cynical about love. But rather makes me realize that if I wanted so much to be with the wrong person how beautiful it will be when the right one comes along.”

- Unknown

Oh, and just in case you needed some more convincing, here's
 a few deep and inspiring words from a truly brilliant scholar. 

"Let You Go" by The Rocket Summer

I didn't know 

Somebody surprised me, alarm, alarmed

Somebody has made it this far, this far

I don't wanna let you go [x2]

You know it's so, it's so hard

I don't wanna let you go [x2]

(Somebody has waited)

And if somebody tells you

You're not enough

If somebody tells you

You're not good enough

If somebody tells you this,

It isn't just

Just, I'm burning out

And I'm calling all the bluffs

I don't wanna let you go

But the weather changes like your mind

And I don't wanna give you up

But I might this time

Hope the new grass you seek 

Is greener than the greenest green 

And if it's not, or if it is

I just hope you'll be 

At peace

So go ahead

Compare the petty issues

To all the awesome days

Somebody is waiting

Too long to still wait

I don't wanna let you go [x2]

You know it's so, it's so hard

I don't wanna let you go [x2]

(Somebody has waited)

It's gone too far, too far

And if somebody tells you

You're not enough

If somebody tells you

You're not good enough

If somebody tells you this,

It isn't just

Just, I'm burning out

And I'm calling all the bluffs

I don't wanna let you go

But the weather changes like your mind

And I don't wanna give you up

But I might this time

Hope the new grass you seek 

Is greener than the greenest green 

And if it's not, or if it is

I just hope you'll be 

At peace 

There is a beautiful ending

But you're never gonna read the book

I know you won't [x2]

There's a magical ending

But you're never gonna read the book

I know you won't [x2]

I don't wanna let you go [x2]

You know it's so, it's so hard

I don't wanna let you go [x2]

(Somebody has waited)

It's gone too far, too far

And if somebody tells you

You're not enough

If somebody tells you

You're not good enough

If somebody tells you this,

It isn't just

Just, I'm burning out

And I'm calling all the bluffs

I don't wanna let you go

But the weather changes like your mind

And I don't wanna give you up

But I might this time

Hope the new grass you seek 

Is greener than the greenest green 

And if it's not, or if it is

I just hope you'll be 

At peace

So walk away

I know it hurts

And know your worth

Just walk away

I know it hurts 

Top 11 of 2011

Sooo I wrote this post in January and forgot to post it. Oops! So here it is a few months late...

In keeping with this tradition with the new year... I have decided to make a list of my top 11 moments from 2011! It was a year filled with good and bad... but I think what I will remember most about this year was that it was the first time in forever that I have been boyfriend-less for a whole year and thus relied on my amazing girlfriends for fun, adventure and support. There were moments of frustration and (admittedly) loneliness, but there were a lot of great moments of solitude as well that I enjoyed. I also took some big steps in the last year to working on me that I feel really good about. BUT as for my favorite memories/moments... here's a little list for ya :)

11. Cinco De Mayo
 This year the roomies and friends decided to skip the crowds and  have a little Cinco De Mayo celebration at our casa. The result was a ridiculous amount of margaritas and silliness. And incidentally, an impromptu photoshoot in the master bathroom at our house.

 

10. St. Patrick's Day/Warrior Dash
 Working for a university has some major benefits... such as when spring break rolls around, things are bit more laid back and I was given the Friday from SB off (man, feeling like a college kid again!). I was lucky enough to be asked by my friend Nance to go to the rodeo with him that night to see Zac Brown Band. In going to the rodeo on St. Patrick's day when you don't have to go to work the next day... a few things are required of you. First is drinking anything green. For us, this meant green beer and margaritas. We met up with Alex and Courtney afterwards and all had a wonderful night.

 

The following day, a big group of us participated in Warrior Dash, which is basically a race but with lots of added little obstacles. Fire, mud pits, nets, etc. Let's just say, I had so much fun on St. Patrick's Day that it made Warrior Dash the following day a much more difficult feat. HOWEVER the lovely Alex stayed with me the whole time and we managed to have a great time. Apologies for the stolen photos... I just had to show you what this was like!

 

9. Austin/Austin Extravaganza
My best guy friend, Austin, lives in Austin... I know crazy right?! I don't get to see him too often as we're both pretty busy and a year ago he was living in another country SO when we do finally get to hang out its always very memorable. My besties Courtney and Alex also joined me for the little trip up to Austin and we had such an amazing time! Austin is the kind of guy who can always make you laugh, no matter how long its been since you've seen him. 

 

 

8. Jeff & Annie Getting Married
This past year, my oldest friend Annie asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Her wedding took place in December and it was such a wonderful day! All of the bridesmaids got along so well (as we all got to bond during the bachelorette party at my house) and we just all had a fantastic time! It was so neat seeing my dear friend get married after having talked about that day since we were just little girls. Between the bachelorette party, the rehearsal dinner and the wedding it was so great getting to see my old friend so much (she now lives in California!) and getting to be a part of her special day.

 

 

 

7. Rodeo Cook-Off (and all rodeo festivities)
It should go without saying that one of the best parts about living in Houston is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo that comes around every year. I was lucky to get to go to a bunch of shows last year and had an amazing time taking part in this time honored Texas tradition :)

 

 

6. 25th Birthday Celebration
Quarter of a century is a big birthday, and my friends did a wonderful job of making me feel special this year for my birthday. Amy, Courtney, Alex and I went to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, Brenners On The Bayou, and had a wonderful time. That weekend, Courtney and Alex threw me a little party at our house. One reason why birthdays are always so great is because you get all your friends together at once. It was so fun having all my favorite people together to celebrate.

5. Disney World Trip
This past May, we celebrated my sister's 21st birthday with a little trip to the most magical place on earth: Disney World. Emily and I had an amazing time ringing in her new legal-ness with a little Epcot World drinking tour and meeting some of our favorite Disney characters.

 

  

4. Florida Trip
This past summer I got to take a trip to Florida with a group of my friends from high school. We all went off to different colleges, but since graduation have all gotten close again and this trip was definitely one that I will never forget! We basically pretended we were on Spring Break even though we are all in our mid-twenties.

 



 

3. Vegas Trip
In July, my best girl friends from college took a trip together to the one, the only, Las Vegas! The trip was a little different than we had originally planned due to one of the girls not being able to go at the last minute, but we were able to pull together and still made it a fun trip. A girl never forgets her first trip to the Vegas :)

2. Sober January
Last year, I decided to try something new and help jump-start the year ahead. I decided to give up alcohol, queso and non-Christian music for 30 days (so the month of January). Yes, I realize these items may seem a bit random, but that's the way it went. The experience helped me try a lot of new things and spend some quality time by myself rather than going out with my friends. It also gave my friends and I the opportunity to do a lot of different activities like old school slumber parties and impromptu photo-shoots. When my 30 days were up, my friends helped me celebrate my little accomplishment in style.

 

 

1. Saying Goodbye to Gully

Who is Gully you might say? Welp. Gully is my gallbladder. That's right. In the year 2011 I had to have surgery and have my gallbladder removed. Apparently some bad stomach aches I've been having for the last year and a half were due to having gallstones (which is similar to kidney stones except you do NOT want to pass these - they just have to be removed... which is just as difficult as removing the whole thing and you can live without it so that's what we did). So without going into too much detail, the gallbladder processes fats and helps the liver function. After getting your gallbladder removed, some people are fine but others can't eat or drink certain things anymore. In preparation for this, my friends and I had a little going away party for Gully where we ate at my favorite Mexican food place and drank margaritas. The next day, I had my little surgery and after a few weeks was back to normal. My pain is now gone and I'm actually able to eat things I couldn't before! It's been absolutely wonderful.

Honorable Mention:

Bar Golf for Valerie's Birthday in Houston, Aggie Football Season (especially the Oklahoma State game!), Renfest, Bar Golf for Amanda's Birthday in Austin, Chilifest, UHAA Gala and our introduction to Black Swan (a bar, not the movie), Wine Weekend at Messina Hof, visiting Lindsey in New York/DC and The Rocket Summer concert