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Starting Off an Adventure in Frankfurt, Germany
It's a little surreal to think that I've started on a two month trek across Europe. I've been planning and dreaming of this for so long, that I know it will just fly by. It feels like I'm still in planning mode, even though the first city has already come and gone! Since I've been terrible at sharing lately, and still haven't finished posting about my Australia trip, I figured I'd try to record what I do in Europe as I wrap up each city. So, for the first one, Frankfurt!
Diving and Flying Over the Great Barrier Reef
One of the experiences I was most looking forward to in Australia was diving in the Great Barrier Reef. As I wouldn't be spending too many days in Cairns, and would be both flying in and out of the city, I was unable to actually dive with an oxygen tank, but chose to snorkel instead. I signed up for the Cruise and Fly Reef Tour through Expedia, and it was an incredible experience.
Visiting the Kuranda Rainforest in Australia
To kickstart my Australia trip, I wasted no time hanging around. My first flight was from NYC to Vancouver, Canada. I left NYC on 1/1 at 7PM and arrived in Vancouver 6 hours later, or 9:40PM local time. It's funny thinking that was the short leg of the trip. Whenever I fly from NYC to Seattle, or my family comes to visit, I always think it's such a long flight and how crappy it feels. But, since I was flying halfway around the world to Australia, this first leg felt like no big deal.
Three Weeks in Australia and New Zealand
As I'd mentioned in my previous post, I recently traveled to Australia and New Zealand for 3 weeks. It was an incredible and very packed vacation. We did so much in those 3 weeks that it would be impossible to try and fit it all into just one post. I will break down all the adventures into multiple posts and upload those over the following weeks. A quick run down of all the activities:
Catching Up
I can't believe it's been more than three months since my last post! I knew moving to New York and starting my MBA would be a bit of a whirlwind, but people weren't kidding when they said first semester is rough. I feel like I've barely had time to catch my breath but at the same time have had the opportunity to do so much.
Cross-Country Roadtrip
Like I'd mentioned in my previous post, in order to get Zoey to New York from Seattle, we had to drive cross-country. It was an incredible experience. We'd complained in the past about how long the 4-5 hour drive from Seattle to Spokane WA was, twice a year for four years while I did my undergrad at Gonzaga. Preparing to move to New York, we knew we had at least 40 hours to go! Let that sink in for a minute.
My Summer Hiatus
I realize that it's been quite some time since my last post. While I haven't actually published anything in close to three months, I have still been very active in blogging. My last post for Mother's Day was that delicious Pinata Cake. Shortly after, June and July were a whirlwind. So I figured I'd recap what's been going on this summer and why it's taken me so long to come back!
Pinata Cake
For Mother's Day a few weeks ago, I signed up to make the dessert. I had been leaning towards something light and simple, but I ran across this recipe and thought it was amazing. However, it's a lot of sugar! I didn't think my parents would like it at all, but my whole family surprised my by saying they wanted to try it, so I decided to go for it.
Zoey's Birthday
It was Zoey's birthday two weeks ago!! Gosh, I can't believe she's already 3. Time has just flown by. To celebrate, I made a few cupcakes for her and they actually turned out really good! Granted, she eats anything you put in front of her, but still, it had peanut butter, so it had to be good right?
Sunday Round Up
Dog body language chart
This post from BarkPost was super helpful, despite the fact that I've had Zoey for 2.5 years. The charts display more than 30 poses dogs go into and their various meanings. While I knew many of them from Zoey, it was still interesting to learn a few new ones, such as the stressed yawn and the need space pleading eyes.
Working on Shutterfly
One of my favorite things to do in January is to put together a photo album on Shutterfly of the previous year. While I usually try really hard to update it periodically during the year to make it easier in January, I seem to space out on it around July and then have to catch up later. In January, it's always hard to remember who took that photo that you really liked, or remember why the heck I was dressed up as a lollipop.
Lessons from WiRL: Agapi Stassinopoulos
I remember Agapi Stassinopoulos the most. Since the summit was online only, every now and then, there were some technical issues. Agapi's session fell into that category. The video was so grainy, I could hardly make out her face. She was in a New York hotel at the time, and we could clearly hear the NY life outside. However, despite the technical difficulties, her speech was one of the sessions I remember the most. She was incredibly passionate about the subject of happiness, and clearly wanted to help others be happier with themselves.
Lessons from the WiRL Summit
After visiting and interviewing at NYU Stern this weekend, I realized that it has been nearly a year since I started my process of applying for an MBA. According to my Amazon purchase history, I bought my first GMAT book on December 24, so really, I'm 15 days short of a whole year. But I won't actually find out whether I'm accepted or not from all schools until January, so I feel pretty comfortable saying it'll be a whole year.
Done with MBA applications!
At the end of 2013, just before the holidays, I started thinking of returning to school, debating between an MBA or a Masters in Statistics. I started thinking of why I wanted to change industries, where I'd like to be, and the possibility of moving from Seattle, where I've lived for the last 15 years. I've greatly enjoyed my time at Amazon and the opportunity I had to work with incredible people. But I knew it was time to move on, and chase an industry I was much more passionate about, sports.
Done with the GMAT
While I decided at the end of 2013 that I wanted to pursue an MBA, it's taken me many months to feel prepared for the GMAT. I took it the first time in June 2014, and just panicked and crashed. I had been studying on my own for about 5 months and apparently that didn't work out. For the second time around, I decided to spend a small fortune and sign up for a class.
National Dog Day
Happy National Dog Day!! On Halloween of 2012, I adopted Zoey from Homeward Pet. She had been rescued on a Friday along with two other puppies. That Saturday I went to five different shelters looking for a dog. My initial thought had been to adopt an older, calmer dog, just for companionship. My first stop that day was Homeward Pet.
Bruno Mars at the Gorge
This past weekend I got to take a break from studying and enjoy a beautiful venue with an awesome artist. The Gorge is an absolutely beautiful, natural amphitheater in the middle of Washington near the Columbia River. Not only are the views breathtaking while you're waiting for the show to start, but the acoustics can't be beat.
Cake!
As some people may know, my birthday was this month, on July 9th. Lucky for me, my parents bought me a KitchenAid mixer (YAY, trying to contain the excitement).
Bite of Seattle
One of my favorite events in the summer is Bite of Seattle. It's full of delicious food and awesome music. There are over 60 vendors with all kinds of food, arts and crafts, and 3 stages. Right when we got there, the Sound Wave were playing! That was awesome to see, Seattle's very own Sounders marching band, the only MLS team to have its own marching band. They were great and knew how to get the crowd going. I imagine there were lots of people in the middle of a heart attack during the performance though, due to the most disgusting sandwich I've ever seen.
Caramel corn
I'm a big fan of sweets, especially anything that has chocolate. I'm also a fan of crunchy snacks. Several months back, a friend shared a recipe she'd found for caramel corn, one of my favorites! I love popcorn in general, it's a great, satisfying, and light snack. Since I'm hosting a game watch party tomorrow night for Game 1 of the NBA playoffs, I figured there'd be enough people for me to share with. So I got started tonight!