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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Somewhere over the rainbow...

I think there is something truly magical about rainbows. I won't be taken to tears like the youtube sensation "double rainbow guy" (if you haven't seen it, look it up: "Yosemitebear magic giant rainbow"), but they have taken my breath away. I have no idea what it is exactly, maybe that after it rains something beautiful emerges, or maybe it's my child-like naivety appearing. Either way, I think they are ahh-mazing. That said, if you have something better to do than learn about this "optical and meteorological phenomenon", I would suggest you stop reading now.


July 4th weekend, I found myself driving down the road through a rainstorm, only to come through the other side and see a rainbow. I literally almost crashed as I stared, mouth agape, at the colored arch. My half asleep boyfriend next to me didn't even budge, nor did he acknowledge my attempt at whispered shouts of "OHMYGOSH...LOOK!!!" Finally, after the rainbow had completely disappeared, he woke up, and ruined all my rainbow fun by informing me about the scientific explanation behind them. Talk about a rainbow-scrooge.

There are many kinds of rainbows, seen based on different refraction of light off water droplets. Similarly, there are many different cultural and religious beliefs associated with rainbows. "A rainbow a day keeps the blues away" and many other mantras have been formed speaking about their magic or healthy qualities. Whatever you choose to believe is up to you. For me, a rainbow is just another way of nature reminding us to pause for a second. Like Ferris Bueller said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Anyone who is still reading this clearly has NOTHING better to do with their lives than procrastinate via reading the-life-and-times of me. Thanks anyways :)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer

I've been a little absent to the blogging scene since my return to the good ol' US of A. A lot has happened for me during my summer back, but instead of boring you with a bunch of individual stories about my American adventures, I will instead just list them for you month by month:

APRIL/MAY - Niki, my teammate from Hungary, and I flew to Orlando from Budapest over Easter weekend. Of course, we were delayed like 4+ hours in the Budapest airport--something we attributed to Chuck Norris' excellent strength and Marth Stewart's absence. Upon our arrival, we would be making 2 week Tour de Florida, which included a detour up to Clemson, SC to pick up my sister from her first semester at college. Niki and I went all over, hitting up the House of Mouse (Disney World) and Busche Gardens, visiting St Augustine and Tampa, and of course, spent as much time as possible at the beach. She got to visit my alma mater (its so weird to be able to say that) and meet many of my college friends. After she went home, I began coaching 4 nights a week at the JJVA center with the club teams who were heading to Nationals and AAUs. In the 3 weekends that followed, we had a friend graduate from law school (Matt), another friend get married (Lauren), and a family reunion for Memorial Day weekend. Before I knew it, it had already become June.


JUNE - This month brought forth more family time, as everyone gathered in Ponte Vedra to watch my sister walk across the stage for her high school graduation. Combine that with it being my mom's birthday weekend and BAM! craziness. I began nannying for a local family near my parent's house during the week, but managed to keep my weekends free so I could still visit with friends and boyfriend. After spending a week in Siesta Key doing some condo work for another family (yeah basically I had a free vacation while "assembling" their nearly-almost-complete-condo), I had to bid my mom and sister farewell as they ventured across the pond for the BIP summer tour to Italy and Montenegro. I got to go to Busche Gardens again, as well as take the kids I nanny for to Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure. Finally, another month had passed me by and it was time for me to head over to Tampa to begin UT volleyball camps.


JULY - 3 weeks of volleyball camps made this month FLY by. Most of my time in Tampa was spent in the Bob Martinez Sports Center, however, I was able to get out and engage in my favorite social activities every now and then. It was during my first week here that I received my official contract from my new team in Ljungby, Sweden - Ljungby Volleybollklubb. I gladly accepted this new job and will be heading over August 30. I found out that there is another American girl who will play with me from University of Illinois; we've been facebooking back and forth and will be meeting on the flight over from DC-Copenhagen. The last week of July, my mom, cousin, mom's friend, and I headed up to visit my dad's parents in Maine. 22 hours after being stuck in the Newark airport made me decide that Jersey wasn't all its cracked up to be. Finally we arrived and got to spend a week on the beautiful island off the coast of Maine where they spend their summer months. Yes, I have grandparents who are snow birds in the winter. Whatever, they're cute. Finally we flew home, without much delay, and thus I would begin my final month in America.


AUGUST - to be continued.....

Ok, so I know I said I wouldn't bore you too much with my stories, but I have to explain random things here and there so my randomness makes some sort of sense. Besides, you know you liked it.