staples in my shoe

Really, I'm at work, my shoe just broke and I had to staple the strap back on.

Besides the ungodly and inferno-like heat, Austin summer part two, has been relaxing. It's amazing what your brain can do when you're not insanely busy. (i.e. go to the gym, get a twitter, neglect summer school reading, get crafty projects done with C, wonder why Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey broke up?! and realize that eating organically is not practical for college kids like us, thanks to Alicia Silverstone on Oprah today).

As ya know I'm living in the little blue house for a bit, and I'm just loving it. From the shabby chic decor to being able to cook my own meals. C & I made tilapia last night! BTW, B, you have some boy(s) next door potential... C & I saw one good-looking boy yesterday, and I'm sure there are more where he came from. Bake them some cookies when you get back!

I'm definitely looking forward to the fall: helloooo DMB & J.Mayer concert, football season, and of course all our Spirit-filled activities. Please remind me to freak out less, and just go with the flow.

Boo now my foot is asleep. Which is a sign telling me to read my book for class. (only 2 more days left!)

B: Have fun with your fam at the playa! Can't wait to see you
K: LOLed when I read your post. Dying to hear Italian stories. Be safe!
C: I'm proud of us for trying the weight machines at the gym. Count me in for tomorrow

P.S. Oh duh, how can I forget?! I saw the Big O (not Oprah, but OBAMA) on Monday. He gave a speech on higher education at gregory gym, gave me goosebumps. I got a ticket last minute, thanks to my lovely boyfriend Cullen. One word: GREATNESS. <- click for video from CNN. Photos soon!

XXXX
M

drink some brookayese..

so yes brooke and I are horrible at blogging our italian adventure, which as you can imagine the time here is hard to come by to do that, were constantly changing places. so you ladies will definitely hear all about it when we get back but a short and sweet run down of the order of places weve been to

Perugia for the jazz festival, Rimini for the parties, Bologna for the food, Venice for the canals, Milan for the shopping, Como to visit my friend and get a true italian meal from a true italian momma, Cinque Terre to climb cliffs and see blue water, Florence to see David and have good pizza, Sorrento to see the Amalfi coast where we got to visit Positano a town on the hills that was beyond gorgeous, the island of Capri where we jumped off cliffs sipped on champagne and drove around on our very own boat, Rome to see the place where the world began and now were in Siena a quiet cute town for wine tasting and small shopping.

Last night was quite a night but for a little run down, we went exploring found a restaurant where we had a waiter named Mario who loved blondes, chose our meal for us and decided to basically bring us every ounce of alcohol i think they had in the restaurant for us to try and named a drink after us called "brookayese".. we thought it was clever :)

Brooke is going home the 11th to be with her awesome family on the beach and ive actually decided to delay my flight and im staying here until the 24th of august, not quite sure what ill be doing tommorrow BUT i think im going Croatia with the australian boys weve been traveling around with.

weve met so many characters that i cant wait to tell you all about the people, its been amazing. we love you, we took loads of pictures and videos and ive decided we need to do this again with all of us some day in the future.

ciao!

all i have.. a plane ticket! no really..

im trying to pack for italy. I LEAVE TOMMORROW!

at this very moment, i have the whole house to myself because my family is out of town and thank goodness for that because my mom would kill me if she could see what i've done to the living room! my clothes are everywhere.

today: spain won the world cup! woooo! i got to go out on the lake with andrew :] i got to spend time with the whole fam.. which if you can imagine what kind of family i came from .. yes they're crazy! anddd my cousin who is like my sister announced to the family that her and her husband are having a baby! so all in all it was a good day.

i love you ladies!
i'm freaking out about bandjam already!
i cant wait to be in italy!
this summer has been great :]
BUT i cant wait til were all back in austin together!

<3 kayce!

ps. in a few days i'd like you ladies to know that i will be a full on legit grown-up! when i land in italy i will be all on my lonesome to find the transportation to perugia and then spend the day/night their all by myself! woah. gotta put my big girl pants on. not gunna lie i'm a little nervous but i'll be good! and then the next day i'll be reunited with my tall beautiful italian speaking lady ms. leal <3

"i'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine" (it's my half-birthday!)

Only 6 months 'til 21!!

I wish I had more to update you all on, but to be honest, my summer has been really simple and I've loved every minute of it. I just finished my finance class on Friday, and because I never do, I'm going to brag right here, right now about my grades. I made a whopping 100 in Business Finance. Turns out I'm not as bad at understanding stocks and bonds as I thought. Or maybe I'm just good at memorizing equations and doing the math.

So now that my class is over and I can no longer go to Gregory (I swear, the people at the front desk must have thought I was trying to live there this summer...), I am just answering phones for my favorite Real Estate Office ("Habitat Hunters, this is Callie..."), and looking forward to my family trips in July. My Nana and Papa are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary later this month...it'll be such a special time for our family to get together...at the beachhhh!

As you may have read on my facebook, last night I babysat for the most adorable little boy. He didn't want a babysitter though, so his dad told him he was taking me on a date. He wanted to open my doors and everything! It was precious. I forget how upfront and honest children are because on the drive to the movie theater he told me this long story about how he can't drink Diet Coke because it makes his "private parts burn". Haha. We saw Despicable Me, and he laughed out loud through the whole thing, repeating every funny line they said.

And, yes, I just recounted my wonderful date with a 5-year-old, because guys my own age don't seem too interested in taking me out. :) I declared "Ridin' Solo" as my song of the summer, and I'm honestly very thankful that God is blessing me with this time in my life to learn about loving myself, my family, and my friends.

M - I can't wait to see you...this week!! Let me know when you're free :))

K - I had so much fun shopping and discovering the best milkshakes in Austin with you...Have a good flight to Roma!! And be safe!

B - Me and the big blue house miss you dearly! Be safe and have fun on the rest of your journeys!

Love you all!

ice water princess

Ah, water with ice, who knew it was so American?! And now I can have it anytime I want, yay USA!

Oh geez, I know it's an ungodly hour, but my internal clock is all messed up after my flight home and sleeping 14 hours straight. You sleep when you die, right?

Since last time, I've passed through Barcelona, London, Paris, and B took a visit to Santander last weekend. Her visit was definitely the most memorable part of my trip, we lived the "bellafigura" life, Spanish style. Which consisted of looking cute, going to the beach, eating paella/kabobs/helados, chatting in the plazas with the locals (who knew Italian and Spanish were so similar?), drinking vino tinto with lollipops, watching Spain beat Paraguay, dancing to house music, and chilling on the beach til sunrise. It would have been absolutely more perfect if yall (C&K) were with us :( BUT no worries, B & I have already discussed possible reunion ideas when we are all together before school starts. Dinner date at home, and a night out in Austin?! Done, and done.

Overall consensus of my trip:

I'd be lying if I said that I absolutely fell in love with Spain as soon as I landed there six weeks ago. I was off to a rocky start, homesickness, wanting ice water, reliable internet, etc. ha. And it's probably because when I'm home with my rents, I admit, that I'm spoiled a bit. But like with any new change, I became more accustomed to the Spanish life as the weeks progressed. And just looking back on it now, I can't believe that I was able to do it all on my own (and with help from my new sis: Adriana Perez).

If yall ever need help navigating the metro systems in Madrid, Barcelona, London, or Paris, call me pleaseeee. Heck, I even met Joe Jonas in London!? No worries, he's not that impressive looking in real life, nor does he have much of the hyped charismatic charm.

As ridiculously cheesy as this sounds this trip, made me realize how lucky I am to be American. Crazy!! I know, but there are Europeans that do like us. People all want the same things in life regardless of language and borders, and here in the States, we have more opportunity (duh, democracy). So with this experience, I'm not a "study abroad snob" (as Cullen would like to call his peers who venture to Europe and come back all worldly and shit) just more appreciative, blessed, thankful, and wanting to explore more of the things that I love, with the people that I love.

So here's to the next two years of college:

nights in and out, good food, less stress (tranquila!), more exercise (fingers crossed), more live music (hello?! we live in the live music capital of the world, and B has got the goods!!), saying YES, random encounters, inviting new people (it's not creepy), talking about ideas not people, more wine (it's good for your heart), gentlemen for C & B (Sorry K, I adore Andrew too much to grant you more men in your life) ...and the list goes on and on...

Sleep beckons, but I'm in the process of organizing my photos, so they will be up soon via FB, blog, or flickr!

B: I can't thank you enough for showing me the real Spain. That weekend was incredible and I like I've said before, we are going to adopt the bellafigura when you return. Be safe and have a blast backpacking!!

C: I'll be in Austin on Monday for sure, so we are definitely meeting up later in the week. Call, text me!

K: Have safe travels all over Europe! Ahh you and B are going to have a ridiculously fun time backpacking, and I can't wait to hear all about it!

besitos!!
con amor,
M

we no speak americano

Hola Chicas,

I should be watching the Spanish soccer game right now in the "Plaza de Toros" or at some Spanish bar, but I've opted out not only because a) it's cold and rainy but b) Madrid parted me with a gift of a cold. Blasphemous, I know...please don't tell my Spanish house father.

Madrid turned out to be the chic and more modern city that I hoped for. It was super clean and had a good balance of both US and European tastes. In age, the US is a wittle tiny baby compared to to the rest of the world, and it has become so apparent to me when I travel to different cities here. We did all the tourist-y Madrid things and what not (Prado Museum, Palacio, etc.) , but oh my, our hotel was way too sexy for me. Ha, you'll see what I mean when I show yall photos. There were 5 girls in one room with 3 beds... but hey that doesn't even compare to Spring Break when K, B, and myself shared one!

The last night we were there we went to a dicoteca called El Kapital. It had 7 dance floors all with different types of music and bars. It also had one HUGE main dance floor with go go dancers on the stage, and every 2 minutes they would blow this nitrogen gas on us, everything turned white and it felt so awesome. AND then, balloons fell from the ceiling while they continued to play this one song called "we no speak americano" Oh goodness, from what I remember of that night, it was like one of those teen movies from the '90s with Freddie Prince Jr when they all have their prom at this big dance club. Best 20 euros I've spent so far. Right after, we hopped on the plane back to Santander, and I'm very pleased to find that besides my good health, that I didn't leave anything behind in Madrid ;)

Back to reality news:

School is school, as always. I still wear t-shirts (but I promised myself that I will dress like a Spaniard during the last week of class). I swear my lit teacher is Penelope Cruz, she is stunning, dresses well, and when I become fluent in Spanish I want to talk like her.

Oh, and I also received a package in the mail from my family. They sent me candy (already ate them all) and clothes, and sweet love letters. It made me really happy :)

Other exciting news: Adriana and I taught our little Spanish Sister how to do the Hook 'Em sign last night at dinner. It was precious, hopefully I can get a photoof her doing it.

This weekend, as in tomorrow, I'm heading to Barcelona. Hopefully, another lovely Spanish city. And then most importantly, I'll be on my way to London and Paris in exactly one week! Ahh, I can't believe it. Oh goodness, I honestly won't believe it actually, until I'm physically there, staring at the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben.

Photos! At the end of my trip I'll upload all of them to flickr. But for now I'll give you a sneak peak right here and on Facebook.

C-You know that I'm not a big country girl, but I can't wait for you to teach me how to two-step. I'm so glad you're doing that!

K- Bless your heart, I took stats last summer, but I know you're going to do way better than I did! Oh, and I saw some backpackers today on my way to school and it reminded me of you and B. Lemme know where yall are planning to go!

B- where are you?? Ha kidding, I know you're living the dream in Italy, and classes abroad aren't the easiest. Can't wait to hear some stories!

con amor-M

two-steppin' my way through summer...

I've got another thing to add to my "perfect man" list. He must be able to two-step and swing me around the dance floor!

Since I'm spending my entire summer in Austin, I figured I might as well embrace my inner Texan and take a country-western dance class. I'm steppin' out of my comfort zone y'all! What I did tonight definitely took guts...I went to a dance class all alone! I didn't know anyone there, and I definitely didn't know what to expect. However, I grew up watching my parents dance to George Strait in our living room, and I figured that if I'm going to do that someday, I better start practicing now.

When I first walked into the Union there were only old couples waiting outside the room, and I seriously considered leaving. Where were the tall, handsome, college-aged, country men looking to meet a sweet college girl just looking to dance?! Beats me. After paying $51, though, there was no way I was skipping out on this one. I actually ended up having lots of fun, even though I danced with an awkward 5 foot tall asian guy, a 30-something man whose breath reeeeeked of alcohol, and an 80 year old man who could barely move. We initially had to choose someone to partner up with, but we formed a circle around the room and ended up switching just enough times to dance with everyone. I never realized how much responsibility the guy has in partner dancing...really all the girl has to do is follow the lead and look pretty!

Enough about that...this weekend was so great! My mom, memaw, and little brother, Christian came and stayed with me in Austin. We did lots of fun things like buying me a new dresser. (If you ever saw my old one, you'd be proud that I've got a big girl dresser now). We bought it at IKEA, so my mom and I had a wonderful experience building the whole thing together. I tried to see the bats come out, but supposedly in June, they come out way after dark when you can't even see them flying...so we unfortunately waited an hour and a half to be disappointed. I'll have to try again sometime. There are still many things I need to check off of my Austin to-do list this summer!

Love you all! Can't wait to hear more about more summer adventures!

cheers!

Back from aussieland! Excited to be home but I'm also wishing i had a few more weeks there because being home means that right now i'm sitting here in my stats class, we just took a test and i got like a 107!... lets just say I wanna transfer to community college, where you can not buy the book, study for an hour and earn more extra credit than you know what to do with... ohhhh UT...

Anyways..My flight home was once again fantastic, first class is the way to go! I got to lay down, watch tons of movies, and drink my last few sips of wine while being legal! I felt spoiled.. but it was great. Also really weird on my flight home I left Sydney at 3 p.m. on Tuesday and because I crossed the international date line coming home, I got to my flight in LA at 3 p.m. on Tuesday! So basically it technically took me no time to get home! haha it was literally the longest day of my life! I loved Australia so much, but being there for only two weeks and I was already missing Austin, mexican food (non-existent there) and all the food brands that I'm used to. And Meshell! I feel you on the clothes thing, being back here is great because its totally normal again to wear a t-shirt and sweatpants! God bless america!

I took over a 1000 pictures literally (what can i say? in my dream world i'm an aspiring photographer)..so i'll have plenty of pictures to upload for you beautiful women to see :] After I do my spanish homework tonight.. hopefully i can get that done!

Yesterday Callie and I went to a cycling class.. that was fun to work out for the first time in like a month because of finals and australia and hopefully we'll lay out at gregory like a million times this summer because i'm pale!! Michelle, I miss you! Brooke, give me a time/date and i promise you've got a skype date! <3

LOVE KAYYYCEEE

open heart, open mind, open mouth

Seriously, I ate lamb and was introduced octopus this past weekend. Besides moving past the questionable but good food (my Spanish mother is an awesome cook-hola estoy gordita soon!), the fact that my vs underwear is hanging out to dry outside for all of Spain to see right now, homesickness (bf, fam, and yall come to Spain NOW), and stares from Spaniards as I walk in tennis shoes and a t-shirt to school, you never fully appreciate the ways of American life until your 5,000 miles ish over the Atlantic.

yep, 20 years later and I'm a big girl now.

palabra nueva: guay- significa"cool" superguay = super cool

B- tales of Italian men or northern yankee boys soon please?!
C- you made me laugh in "dead bird" I could hear your voice.
K- Aussieland, damn...cant wait for photos and have a safe flight!

P.S. My internet connection isn't so great here, so uploading photos will take until next week. BUT hey, that's good a thing, because I will have fresh photos from Madrid (I'm going there this weekend just in time for the World Cup-viva espana!), and older ones from this past weekend's trip to Burgos, Segovia, and Toledo.

con amor,
M

dead bird

My summer may have hope after all...I've been enjoying laying out at Gregory and attempting to start a workout routine (diet=FAIL). Jacqueline moved in to Brooke's room...and we've been having a great time getting to know each other.

There hasn't been a ton of excitement in this wonderful town, but today was quite the adventure. When I got off of work, I went to fill up on gas and the lady inside the store got on the intercom and said "You gotsa flat tire!"...oh great. I"m thinking...what in the heck, am I supposed to do about a flat tire? "Drive on over to the air/water pump and i'll turn 'er on." Air/water pump?? I don't even know how to work that thing! So, being the smart girl I am, I thought I could just figure it out. Turns out it wasn't so hard, but to make my experience even worse, when I pull up to the pump, there's a freshly dead, whole pigeon right in front of the tire I've got to air up. There was blood coming out of it's head...it was disgusting. Thank God for Mommies...she called Disount Tire and lined me up to meet with Ryan for getting my tire fixed. And, boy, was Ryan a hunk. :)

Other happenings in my oh-so-normal life:

- I got my own Netflix subscription! There will be lots of movie watching in my future.

- Starting texercise with Jacquelyn tomorrow. ZUMBA!

- Read every spoiler I could find online about the Bachelorette today at work...let me just say, men are evil.

- Found out that there will be boys living above Brooke and I this fall...let's hope they're cute and like to do lawn work.

Love you girls!! Michelle and Brooke, be safe over there. And, Kayce, see you very soon, my dear.

vale vale!!

Oh my where to even begin?! it's only been two days, and it's starting to look like Spain is going to treat me well! The city of Santander is urban and mostly everyone lives in apartments. BUT it's right on the beach, so it is the best of both worlds! When we first got here, we stayed in a hotel right on the beach, and our house mother came to pick us up the next morning. I'm rooming with Adriana Perez (spring 09 weenie) in an apartment. Our house mother (Maria Paz) is an older lady, she's super sweet and cooks us way too much food!!! I swear I'm going to gain 10 pounds during these next few weeks, ha. She lives with her husband (Marino), daughter (Mercedes) , and two grandbabies. They are both girls, one is 5months old (Ludi) and the other is 1 year old (Mariana), oh my they are absolutely beautiful! And I cant wait to play with them :)

Honestly, it was awkward at first trying to communicate, but after while Adriana and I got more comfortable. We even gave our house mom, a gift from Texas. It was texas state shaped bowl, and little cowboy boot ornament with the texas flag on it. Ha, I think she liked it?! She also showed us some photos, and told us that most of her family are "granjeros" or farmers and live out in the country. Her daughter (Mercedes), actually goes back to the country every weekend with her daughters: Ludi and Mariana to be with her husband because she works in the city and he is a farmer out there.

fashion, time, chilling out.

Everyone is so put together, even when they are just walking the dog! I really do regret packing tshirts, because those are non existent to Spaniards. It's quite refreshing actually, and i cant wait to go shopping here! Which leads me to time...the stores open from 10am-2pm, then closed for siesta, then open again from 4:30-8pm. and thats just the weekdays. Saturday afternoons and sundays, all the stores are closed :( also, spaniards seem to never be in a rush, it's so cute to see the older couples just walking slowly holding hands down the street. and if they are 15minutes late, they dont care. (which i really like, ha). Just walking down the street, you would honestly think that no one works here, because there are always people just chilling at cafes outside, or in the plazas playing with their kids. and i love that :)

la vida de noche

nightlife, we went out as a group last night to la plaza canadio, which is where all the bars are. It's basically a square and everyone hangs outside drinking and chilling out .And i realized then, how funny it is, how different all the UT people in my program are. bc I hardly doubt that i wouldve met them in austin! Also, bars and clubs dont close until 6am! which is super late for the average american. But hey, i think that is why the siesta was invented, bc you can just always nap and recuperate then.

palabras nuevas (new words)

vale- means "okay" and is only used in Spain. Ha took me a while to figure it out!
calimocho- wine and coke
sangria- yall know what this is, but just want to point out that a bottle of this or wine at the supermarket is as low as .87 cents...crazzyyyy


I'm soo sorry for taking forever :( but I'll make sure to put up new posts again. I'm already learning so much and I want to write everything down and be able to remember it all. I'm so glad we are doing this, bc I love to read and keep up with what yall are doing!! I definitely miss Cullen, you gorgeous girls, and my family..but at this rate I think the time here is going to fly by!

con amor -M

surfers paradise

right now i'm staying in a hostel in a town called surfers paradise(obviously known for its surfing), its on the northeastern coast of australia they call the "gold coast" its beautiful here! it reminds me of miami but extremely more laid back, a city with a huge amount of backpackers and surfers. I'm here with Andrew, Cameron (his roommate) who goes to UT also, and then two girls from canada and paris and a guy from scotland.. i feel like i've gotten a whole new perspective hanging out with people from all over the world, i love it! Its not just Sydney, but all over Australia, everyone is from all over the place, you hardly even meet people who are really from australia, its such a melting pot of the world here. The hostel life is actually pretty awesome, living out of a tiny backpack is a little overrated but the people you meet are so cool! and everyone is totally laid back and really nice. Right now Andrew and I are sharing a room with a guy from Alberta Canada who has lived in East Asia for the past year and a older man from Adelade Australia who has like 6 kids and a wife, and a guy Michael from Belgium who speaks like 6 languages... so you can see the vast range of people living in hostels. I think its pretty interesting that I haven't met any Americans here really (besides the people who are studying abroad with Andrew). They're used to our accents here because of Hollywood movies and stuff but I still think people are surprised to hear us because not that many Americans travel in the hostels compared to Europeans. I haven't personally seen the movie "hostel" but i can tell you that its not scary at all, the hostel were staying in is pretty awesome, it has a pool and a kitchen for us to cook in, a movie theater, and a bar that has specials everynight and then everyone goes out together, its pretty awesome being legal here, i cant wait til were all 21 so we can go out together more! So far...We spent one day on the beach here and it was beautiful, i actually went out in the water and tried to body style surf and totally got dominated by the waves, theyre intense here but the water is like crystal clear its sooo pretty. The rest of the days its been kinda cloudy, but much warmer than sydney, i've just been hanging out in the hostel with everyone. Tonight is everyones last night staying here in the hostel so were going out "with a bang" (say that in a french/canadian/english/scottish accent) and they've talked me into trying "goon" (the name for cheap strong australian wine) soo this should be an interesting night out here in aussie land!

I've learned a few new words!
Capsicum = peppers (green/red/yellow)
Brekky= Breakfast
Vaken (dutch)= Wake up!
Sunny= sunglasses
Fillet= fillet.. however they say it like "phil-it" and not "phil-ayy"
(also any spanish words they totally say wrong here)

.. So basically in Australia if you take any word and add a "y" you're good to go!


Meshell!: I'm like the worst packer ever, so i feel your pain, BUT I'm jealous you get to be in espana, get better at speaking spanish that way you can help me out with my espanol in the fall! :]
Callie: As soon as i get home, were gunna have to go to the pool like everyday, and go out around austin more! <3
Brooke: As soon as i get home, we need to skype it up! So we can plan where we wanna go (i talked to Luca (hes from Como, Italy) he told me that basically anywhere in Italy is gunna be awesome to see, but he gave me a few places to go! I'm so exciited to tell you about the hostels and stuff. And i'm excited you love italia so much... please find a cute northern boytoy!


G'day mates!

We're all moving North...

Sorry for my belated entry..I haven't spent much time on the computer since I got here. Italy is INCREDIBLE!! I'm absolutely in love with this country and may never come home. If it weren't for yall back in Texas, I think I'd stay forever. The food, views and people are awesome and my Italian is getting so much better.

As for the men...yall wouldn't like any of the Italian men. Some are pretty hot, but most are pretty guido/metro. Not good ole country boys like we like haha. But I've discovered something wonderful...guys from up north in the U.S. actually like girls like me. Its pretty crazy...everyone in my program is from up north and everyone is calling me things like "cute" and "adorable" because I use words like "yall". I told them that back home, I'm considered "nice" or "chill", but never cute. Needless to say I'm loving it. We all need to move up north apparently (actually just me and Callie since Michelle and Kayce are already set in this category). They love that we are polite and laid back and "sweet", I guess it is a change from northern girls with attitudes?

Other than that, I have eaten more pizza, pasta and gelato than I know what to do with and I've been going out, drinking wine, and dressing up in more than jeans and tshirts a lot more than I do back home, which is different...yall wouldn't even recognize me haha.

I'm off to do one of my favorite Perugian things...sit on the steps in the piazza with a glass of wine and people watch. Love and miss yall!! - B

crazylady

Yep, right now, that's me. Trying to pack my life in suitcase is never a task that I thoroughly enjoy. The summer is just about to begin for me and I'm just a jumble of emotions. I'm so glad to hear that yall are doing so great, and hopefully Brooke will be an author of the blog soon (I just sent her another invite)! Wait, do you hear that?! That would be my lovely red suitcase, it's hungry and calling for clothes :( Next post, I'll be in España. eekkkkk

buds and dirty beaches

There's not too much excitement down here in Brazoria, TX. Yesterday, however, I was reunited with my other "sisterhood" for a fun day of scrapbooking! I may or may not have told you all about the scrapbook that me and my friends, Breanna, Laurin, and Natalie, have kept since high school. We send it back and forth to one another throughout the semester, each completing one page in the scrapbook with our own pictures. The three of you are in most of my pictures...haha. Maybe one day you'll get to see it. :)

We went to Galveston for lunch and met Natalie's boyfriend's mom who surprised us with t-shirts that say "The Sisterhood" on the back. Then we went to her house in "Pleasantville" (literally every house had a white picket fence with a perfectly manicured yard...it was insane) and spent the day rummaging through her scrapbooking room. It was like shopping in the scrapbooking section at Hobby Lobby or Michaels, except we could use anything we wanted!!! It was a great day...when we get together we always get along like we haven't spend months and months apart.

Today was a family beach day. I always make a point to go to the beach when I come home. It was relaxing, but, boy have I put on the pounds these past couple weeks! I decided to start Weight Watchers with the fam, so no Amy's Ice Cream for me. Ha. Also, I got a new camera!!! Whoo...have you seen the Taylor Swift commercial with the camera that you can take panoramic views with? That's mine! So hopefully I'll have more incentive to take pictures this summer.

Love you all! Hopefully I'll have more exciting things to talk about... :)

Ello Mates!

Okay so its 8 a.m. here on Saturday (...5 p.m. Friday for Texas) I dont even know where to start.. So i got here on Monday (your Sunday) the flight was actually so amazing, I was in first class the whole way so it was basically my heaven. I got to lay down the whole time, watch movies, play games and all while someone brought me delicious food whenever i wanted :] so you guys obviously know i enjoyed it wayyy too much! This week Andrew and i have gone all over the place, the first day i got here i went to a Norwegian Independence Party in the park in the middle of Sydney with Andrew's norwegian friend Oyven, and it made me realize how boring I am! Norwegians like to dress up really fancy all the time, so they were all looking super cute, could speak english and norwegian and every single person there was tall, blonde, and had blue gorgeous eyes, it was seriously exactly what you would think. They also thought it was the funniest thing ever when I knew the signs for "west side" and "east side" they think people really throw up gang signs all over America hahahah... We've also been all over the city, to the harbour, chinatown, yesterday we went to the aquarium.. I can go out here because the legal age is 18 so we've tried a few cool pubs and stuff (i still feel like im doing something wrong drinking in public lol) BUT my favorite part was on Wednesday night we went to the original Hillsong Church that's here in Sydney and it obviously had really awesome worship music!

Sydney reminds me so much of New York City the only difference is everywhere you go here people are speaking a different language.. Sydney has such a diverse population of people and so many people live here theres actually only like 30% real aussie's still living here so unfortunately I dont get to hear that cool accent all the time, but I have gotten to meet some of Andrews aussie friends he made at church and they really do say "mates" and so many other weird words here, I decided i'm going to make a list so I dont forget!

The Lingo Around Sydney
aussie word/ our word

chips= french fries
crisps= potato chips
chemist= pharmacy
nappies= diapers
pram = stroller
dooner = blanket
"How are you going" = how are you doing
goon = cheap wine
budgie smugglers= guys swimsuit
no worries = no problem, that's cool, forget about it
cheers= thanks!
bubbler= water fountain
leaves= salad
whacker= idiot

They also use the word "dollar" so it's confusing because they're talking about the australian dollar, which by the way their money is like bright cool colors, so much more fun to spend then ours! I've also had to learn to calculate celcius to fahrenheit and kilometers to miles, that's hard to get used to! Anyways there will be more words coming later, that's all I could think of for right now, I'll keep adding! Also here in Sydney Ugg boots are like uber popular, everything is really really expensive (but their minimum wage is $15).. like i'm talking for a 6 pack of beer its like $35 or more. It's fall so its cold in the evening and the leaves are falling (i feel like football season should be starting). Kids can work at the age of 12! so that's weird when a 12 year old boy is taking your order at a restaurant...And they drive on the other side of the road so its super confusing trying to figure out which direction to look when you're crossing the street, I'm surprised I haven't gotten run over yet. Okay so this is super long, but just a little bit of it. I have taken tons of pictures i'll have to post some on here when I get back to Austin, it is so gorgeous here i dont ever wanna leave. Andrew and I are flying up to northern Australia to a place called Byron Bay next week and it's a lot warmer so I'm gunna get to take surfing lessons and actually enjoy laying out at the beach!

I love you! and I can't wait to hear all about what you're doing!

Kayce :]

breakin the ice

Pandora is awful today, I have not liked one song in the past 20 minutes.

ha wooo first blog post!

KCB your turn :)