Catch up....

I am SO far behind! Not only in writing in this blog, but life in general… okay, it’s been just about forever since I’ve written last so I’ll try to make it quick…
Time is just flying by, I think I have been out of Vienna more than I’ve been in Vienna. For work I went to Hallstatt with the 6th Graders, which was beautiful. We went to an ice cave, salt mines and we hiked a bit. I did some running around a lake and up in the hills, it was beautiful!

A couple weekends later Bridget and I went to Berlin for a long weekend. I ran the Berlin Marathon, it was absolutely POURING down rain. I actually wore a pink poncho during more than half the race and my phone and iPod died within the first three kilometers because they got so wet. My shoes were soaked and I have never seen the type of blisters I had on the soles of my feet. It was funny though because I knew that I hadn’t really trained enough for the race and with the conditions (and lack of music) I didn’t have any time goals, I just wanted to finish. For the first time ever in a race, I walked through water breaks, stopped at the bathroom, stood on the side and stretched at one point and was SO annoyed that I finished in 4:00 and 41 seconds… are you kidding! I could have totally gone 41 seconds faster, but I had no idea I was so close to breaking 4 hours. Annoying. When we finished we made our way back to the hotel, showered to warm up and then drank a delicious bottle of champagne while lounging around the hotel room, we did eventually venture out to a really great Italian place for a celebration dinner.

A few weeks later my mom came, we had such a great time! I love having her come, we just hung around Vienna, did a bit of shopping, a lot of eating and not much else. We then flew to Istanbul for about a week. We stayed in a really great place right next to the Blue Mosque and it was just perfect! The room was pretty tiny, but the location was great. I think I had Chicken Sis for every meal. I loved it! It was a perfect amount of time to be there. We had plenty of time to see all the main sights, but could do it at a leisurely pace, with plenty of time to stop at Starbucks, which I insisted we did almost every day. We also went to this traditional Turkish Bath. You know how I am with naked people… well, we were in our swim suits, but most people were just walking around with nothing on and just sitting there and ahhhhh, where are you supposed to look! Steph and her mom came the last night we were there and we all went out to this traditional Turkish dinner, it was really fun! We also saw my friend Brycen, it was nice to have a “local” to take us around one night. Fortunately we just missed the bombing… it happened the morning we left. My mom and I had a few more days to hang out in Vienna before she left. I am always so sad when she leaves, this time I wasn’t sure when I was going home again next too, so that always makes it worse.

A couple weeks after that, I took our MS Girls Soccer team to Lug, Switzerland for our SCIS tournament. We had a really great time. It’s always nice because Steph coaches the other team, so it’s a little bit like we are on vacation… well, a vacation ruined by coaching… no, we had a great time. It poured down rain the first day, but was beautiful the second day. I was hoping to see a friend of mine from Dubai, but, I was just too exhausted to make the trip into Zurich, even though it was only 45 minutes away. Maybe next time. We went into Luzern for a team dinner and it was such a cute place, kind of want to go back.

I came back to Vienna for a couple of days and was back at the airport for the ECIS Conference in Nice, France. Nice was absolutely beautiful! I am excited to go back in June… more on that later… but the conference was fine. The best part was reading on facebook that another girl I am friends with from Dubai, now working in Cyprus, was at the same conference. So, I stalked her and eventually found her at the conference. We went out to a great French meal that evening and it was WONDERFUL to see her! It was one of those long dinners when you talk about absolutely everything and nothing all at once. I miss dinners like that. When I flew back into Vienna, Wade, Katie and Amy were there waiting for me, without their luggage. Must be because they were visiting me that it got lost… We had a really great time while they were here. It was great to meet Wade, and always a good time with Katie and Amy. We had way too much wine and food, I feel terrible! We mostly just walked around to different Christmas Markets, shops and Italian restaurants for a few days. They also saw some museums and churches and other things that I have never seen even though I live here… We went to my friend Kent’s house for Thanksgiving, it was such a good time. Great people and great food. I was also able to check something off my life list… make a cheesecake, so exciting! I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake, had to be a bit creative with the ingredients, they just don’t sell everything here. The next day we rented a care and drove to Lake Bled. Driving to Lake Bled was sort of like a near death experience. I feel asleep for a bit in the backseat and when I woke up I was so excited to see the pretty snow… that ended pretty quickly. It was seriously whiteout conditions and icy snowy roads, if I remember correctly we got in front of the snow plow… We did eventually make it there and had our gourmet meals with goose liver and wild boar, massages, castle touring and wine tasting. It seriously looked like a winter wonderland. I went on a great run the first morning around the lake, breathtaking! We left early and got back to Vienna in time to eat at the Gulasch Museum, who knew that existed? Wade and Katie left that night… sad. Amy and I basically didn’t do too much the rest of the time she was here, but I loved having her (and Wade and Katie) just be around, I miss good friends from home like crazy and it was so good to be able to talk to them about anything and everything and hear all about their lives too. It’s hard living away, so I am SO thankful that they were able to come visit. Amy just left this morning at 4:30… she’s actually flying as I type.

So that’s the traveling/work part of life… let’s see what else? My U2 tickets were a scam, good thing I recommended the site to my boss too… oops! Went to another concert, I don’t remember who it was, but it was fun and there were lots of normal people there. We also did the Vienna Night Run again, which was great. Eddie had us all over before the race. Ciara and Andrew had a little girl, Amara, I was the first visitor at the hospital besides the grandparents, I just couldn’t resist! She is SO cute and they let me watch her the other night when they went out to the Marine Ball, she really is the cutest baby ever and has such a great temperament. Actually, speaking of her, there is a baby shower for Ciara this afternoon, I made a carrot cake and can’t wait to have a piece! We have been meeting up at lots of different Christmas Markets. I still love the Thai Punsch at the Karlsplatz market the best, but also love going over to the Spittleberg market, it’s just so cute over there. We are planning on going to a Krumpus market, or something like that on Saturday. It has been snowing excessively for the last few days, there must be nearly 10 inches of snow up at school, it’s beautiful. For now I love it, but I’m sure in a few weeks I’ll be sick of it. What else… Oh, I started taking the school bus to work and it is seriously life changing, lots more time in the morning and no standing outside and waiting for trams and busses. I love it. I also went out and bought a few more things for my apartment and signed on for another year, I guess it’s time to start settling. I’m sure I’ll get my place just the way I want it and then be ready to move, that’s usually how that works out. I’m currently wanting to get a soda water maker and a rice cooker/vegetable steamer but don’t want to carry it home. We were in Saturn the other day for hours looking at small appliances. I am also trying to convince Steve to get a coffee maker to make my life better. He ended up with a toaster instead. Maybe next trip. I finally bought a new cordless phone, but I can’t seem to figure out how it works, all the directions are in German, it’s driving me crazy! So, I still haven’t magically learned German, weird, right?! Ha. Oh, and in other news, I signed up for an Ironman in Nice, France on June 26. Not sure what I was thinking!

I’ve officially bored myself… so, while it may seem like it's so exciting and I get to do so much over here I am absolutely exhausted. I feel like I have NO time to do anything and am always running from one thing to the next. As usual, many of the planned things are fun and things I want to do, but it's just like summer. Exhausting. I keep trying to do things differently, but because of work, or coaching, or training, or whatever reason, I can't seem to keep any time to just relax. And all the traveling has put me pretty far behind at work also, which then just stresses me out. I feel like I need a break, and while I am SO excited that I decided to go home for Christmas, I'm really worried I'll do the same thing and end up running around like a crazy person. What I really need is a day at the spa...