Back!

I'm back from my 2 week European vacation! I had intended to post during the week before I left, but things got so crazy with everything going on and all I needed to do to get ready for the trip. So, sorry to leave you hanging with no posts for so long!

The week I left was a good and busy week. I finished my Travlin' Tex excursions and ran errands and packed for my trip. I also went to a benefit party for Hope for New York (HFNY) - an organization that supports faith-based organizations throughout the city that need resources such as volunteers or financial support. My church is closely connected to HFNY and one of our deacons is on their staff. It was a nice night...good food, great presentations, and getting to sit and chat with several people from my church who I barely knew before. I was especially touched by a presentation about a mentoring program they have. First, one of the volunteer mentors spoke about his experience. Next, one of his mentees, a high school senior boy, spoke. The story of the impact that was made on this boy throughout middle school and high school was very powerful. I was so impressed by his courage for getting up in front of a room full of adult strangers to share his life with us.

Friday night, Tonya and Sean, arrived from Dallas and Maine. I met up with them and we went to see a B'way show....Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. We ended up liking it, but were extremely disappointed with the last-minute cast changes. The reason we chose this show was because of the cast....Terrence Howard, Phylicia Rashad, and James Earl Jones. Both Phylicia and Terrence were not there that night - ugh! So frustrating!

Saturday morning I did a 10k in Central Park. I had decided in April to sign up for it to get me motivated to get in shape before the trip. I didn't do terribly well at training for it and wasn't quite ready for 6+ miles nor the hills I forgot about that exist in northern CP. It was good though and I think I ran most of it. Here's an official pic from the race:

















After the race, Sean and I ran some errands then met back up with Tonya to experience the International Food Festival. It's on 9th Avenue....literally steps from my doorway. I'd heard about it last year, but didn't go and didn't want to miss it this year, so we went for lunch. There were tons of vendors...a lot of it was just typical street fair food, but many of the different restaurants in my neighborhood had booths. We ate some corn/mozzarella things they always have here and some awesome sweet potato fries and great frozen yogurt w/ fruit! I was worried this junk food would make me ill on the plane trip we had ahead, but thankfully it did not! After lunch, it was time to head for the airport for our vacation!

It will take me some time to pull together all my pics from the trip (496 pictures on my camera alone)! To hold you over until I get to the real blogs, here's an itinerary of our trip and a few words to sum up each location:

-Depart JFK-- 6:15pm on Saturday, May 17th. Elizabeth met us at JFK after her flights from Dallas to DC to JFK that morning (I was not envious of her travel schedule).

-Mykonos Island, Greece-- arrive 11pm on Sun, May 18th (lost 7 hours for time change...I'll do the math for you - door-to-door, it was about 24.5 hours of traveling). Leave mid-afternoon on Wed, May 21st. GREAT RELAXING BEACHES!

-Oia Village on Santorini Island, Greece -- arrive mid-afternoon on Wed, May 21st. Leave mid-afternoon on Saturday, May 24th. SO PICTURESQUE GREECE, SO SISTERHOOD-OF-THE-TRAVELING-PANTS (my inspiration for taking a trip to Greece).

-Athens, Greece-- arrive mid-afternoon on Sat, May 24th. Leave late Mon, May 26th. OLD & HISTORIC. DIRTY & HOT.

-Dublin, Ireland-- arrive late night on Mon, May 26th (gained back 2 hours). Leave temporarily on Thursday, May 29th returning Friday, May 30th. Leave permanently on Saturday morning, May 31st. CUTE & WALKABLE. CLEAN & COLD.

-Southern, Ireland-- drive there Thursday, May 29th returning Friday May 30th. SO GREEN!

-Return JFK-- 6:00pm, Saturday May 31st.

A great, great trip-of-a-lifetime. Here are some first pics - from the trip over!

I was determined that our 4-hour layover in London would be as British as possible. We started with a traditional British breakfast

Then Tonya and I did some shopping.
Harrods, of course!






















Sean taught Tonya and I how to play Cribbage
on the flight from London to Athens.


















Once we landed, the man sitting in front of
us proceeded to tell us everything we'd done
wrong during the game.

















During our 4-hour layover in Athens, we found
the massage chairs to be much-needed