Oh the rain, keeps on comin' down

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

Fate, is just not working with me this week. I bought the camera. It's beautiful. However... it's useless because...

IT'S RAINING!!

And who is going to want to come chit chat with me about some stupid trip to Australia in the pouring rain. Who even goes to the promenade/pier when it's raining? No one!

So... yet again... we're putting this off for another day.

XOXO

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Now playing: Cross Canadian Ragweed - Sick and Tired
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And.... ACTION... wait... wait... no not yet

Location: Santa Monica, CA, USA

Well, I was SUPPOSED to start filming today. But... I am not. Reasons? Well... I have lost all three of my potential cameras. First one was lost to a job (I mean, c'mon... money? Sell-out). The second was lost to the forces of nature (now, I know camera's are not waterproof... didn't you learn that lesson as well?). And my final camera was lost to Africa... ok fine, that one is valid. So what do I do now?

Well.. I have an idea. I'm just going to buy one!! I mean... I have to do this video, right? and it's not going to happen easily, as I have found out. So I am just going to go to best buy this afternoon and buy a camera.

Plus, they have a 14 day return policy on electronics.

XOXO

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Now playing: Eagles - Life in the Fast Lane
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A beautiful blue-bird Sunday

Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA, USA

Well, I guess technically, I'm back in LA. BUT... since 90% of this post is about Mammoth, that's what I'm labeling it as :)

Sunday was the perfect ending to a most fabulous trip. The evening started with a trip to Wild Willy's, the hot spring down near Lake Crowley. What was supposed to be a 30-45 minute trip turned into a 2.5 hour trip because we all refused to get out. It was about 23 degrees outside, but about 95 in the spring. But... we ran out of elixer and needed something to re-fuel, so we bravely dressed, two by two and headed back to the cars to thaw. Then the real fun began :) After a terribly trouble-filled evening of King's cup (with revised rules, naturally), a couple intense games of EXTREME categories and about 3 cases of Tecate (ok, I'm starting to warm up to it now!) we finally arrived at daylight... No, we were not waking up to greet the beautiful bluebird Sunday with a smile... we were just heading to bed. I guess we all took naps.

I was awakened (awoken, awokened?) at about 10 by Venice and her WONDERFUL breakfast cooking skills. There's nothing like waking up to the wonderful smell of eggs, toast, fresh OJ, the works. We grudgingly packed our bags, packed up cars and pretended to clean the condo. Josh dropped me off at the Von's to pick up Tay Tay (who was still in perfect working order, although somewhat chilled after being abandoned) and I headed up to Mammoth to trade out my skis. After being reunited with my Divas (and giving Andrew a quick slap on the side of the head for convincing me to go otherwise) I picked up Nick and headed to June to meet the rest of the gang.

The snow... was amazing; the powder was perfect. It was about 4 inches, no matter where you were, with a solid, but not icy base. There was not a cloud in the sky, absolutely no wind and it was hard to think about being anywhere but right there. Naturally, my courage kicked in about 3 and I attempted doing some mad tricks in the terrain park (although no nuggin' unfortunately), but it was relatively short lived when we realized how late it was getting and, in an attempt to not be escorted off the mountain for the second day in a row, as well as to get Nick to work on time today, we departed just before the lifts closed.

The drive back was brutal. By the time I dropped my skis off back at the frat house, picked up a pita and Rahul from Pita Pit, transferred his stuff from Tom's car to mine and then got out of town, it was about 7 PM. The boys, thankfully, did their best to keep me alert, but it was definitely an uphill battle for all of us. After dropping them both off safetly in their respective cross-city towns, I dove into bed, without unpacking my car, changing clothes or even turning off the lights.

Work today was definitely a struggle, but completely worth it. I don't think I have ever skiied better conditions than yesterday afternoon and I can't wait to come back and do it again before the end of the season.

XOXO

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Now playing: Louis Armstrong - Blue Skies
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I'm a boarder!

Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA, USA

What did I get myself into? All of the sudden, I come to and I am in the middle of a blizzard, on a diamond, on Venice's SNOWBOARD and the ski patrol are holding my hands guiding me down the mountain... how did I get here?

Well... I guess we could begin to blame it on the late start this morning. First... my car got stuck. In the stupid driveway (thanks for the 2WD daddio :). So after pushing... and PUSHING and asking people on the street to help us push, we finally got little Tay Tay out of the driveway and safetly to the Von's parking lot, where she will sit for the remainder of the weekend. After making about an hour and half trip to Von's to pick up groceries, beer and pizza for the frat house (the name I've coined for Nick, Andrew, Josh, John, Chris and Jason's place - clever eh?) we cooked up some pizzas, pounded some brews and headed to the bars. Well... bar - singular, I guess is more appropriate. I'm actually not sure where we were, but there were a lot of people, something about New Zealand day? Lots of singing, beer, accents. Not really sure. Anyway... next thing, it's about 3:30 and we're finally getting to sleep after one of the longest days in history. Or so I thought.

We woke up this morning at about 10. We ate some breakfast, packed up our gear and headed to Main Lodge. Venice and Tim were going to get a head start on runs while I went and visited Andrew in the demo shop. Nick was impatient and headed down to Eagle Lodge or somewhere else far away without us (which turned out to be a big mistake considering the hour long lift line he got stuck in). By the time we got it all sorted out, we just decided to head to June. We packed up Brian, Tim and my stuff in the sube and Venice and Nick piled into his PO.. I mean... his really awesome nice car :) and we headed to June!

Early afternoon conditions were great. It was cold, a little cloudy, but overall, amazing. No crowds, no lines, no snow. Our biggest problem was big patches of powder (which proved to be quite an issue with me and my new "powder" skis Andrew set me up with - I am not a fan). I've decided that I am an excellent skier, when I like the conditions... and I did not like them today. I took a big spill in some deep stuff near the edge and lost my glove somehow (it's white) but then we found it about an hour later... miraculously. I also took a nose dive down a double black when I hit a mogul too fast and one of my feet went forward while the other stayed behind. Rough stuff.

So, what do you do when you're sucking the most? Put yourself in a situation to suck even more!! Right?

No... bad idea. So after Nick left for work (about 3:30), Venice and I get this bright idea to switch modes of transportation for our last run. AKA she wears my skis and I wear her snowboard (even though neither of us had been on the other before). After about a 20 minute crash course from the ski patrol (and lessons on how to put the darn boots on), we set off. Veeeeeeeeery slowly. Then... it started to blizzard. We knew we were going down, but we didn't really know how, or where we were going exactly. Then... we're on a black. Venice, is handling it like a champ. Me, on the other hand... wow. It was bad. I am clearly meant to face forward.

At about 4:30, the ski patrol mountain combers catch up to us to try and help us down. They determine that we should probably just switch back. So... we do. In the middle of a mountain, in a blizzard, using one of the patrolmen's boards as a table, me and Venice switch boots and ski/boards back and proceed down to checkpoint 1. Amazing race style, there is a snowmobile waiting for each of us. We hop on with our respective ski patrolmen and ride down to the main lodge. It's nearly dark, there is about 10 feet visability at best, and we're a little sore... but hey, we've got a story right?

So, here I am... soaking my broken pride, drinking a Tecate (eww) and preparing for our very exciting evening of hot springs and house parties. Hopefully, we won't party too hard and will actually be able to ski a full day tomorrow... oh who am I kidding...

XOXO

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Now playing: Rod Stewart - Tonight's the Night
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White out

Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA, USA

Oh, man. We just got settled into our condo... or should I say... free standing cabin in the woods :) This place is incredible!! The drive up was pretty forgettable. My car ended up just being me and Brian. We met up with Venice and Tim just past the 395/14 junction and had perfect driving conditions until about 20 minutes outside town when we hit a pretty torrential blizzard. Nothing too serious though, the snow hadn't started to stick yet, so it wasn't too bad. Then we roll up to the new pad... Wow. This place has 3 bedrooms, a huge open living room/den/kitchen/loft area, a FULL basement and a huge backyard with a big deck. It's incredible. We've spent the last hour or so "ooo"-ing and "ahh"-ing and flipping switches (we can't quite figure out how to make the fireplace work) and shotgunning beds (of which we each get our own). We're all settled now and as soon as everyone gets unpacked and dressed, we're going to head to Von's to stock up on food/beer and head over to Nick's where amazingness is sure to ensue. Ahhhh... snow :)

XOXO

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Now playing: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh)
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Flawless, Absolutely Flawless

Location: San Diego, CA, USA

Unfortunately, I did not get any filming done this weekend. The original plan was to drag my sturdy cameraman down to San Diego with me and hit the beach on Saturday. Do some scouting, some flier passing outing. But then I sort of forgot that my company is merging with another... umm... TODAY. And as an IT professional, that requires QUITE a bit of internal support junk. So, I've been a tad more than busy. As a result, my website is still blank (though I did buy the domain redirect and the new e-mail! www.abbeyinoz.com and me@abbeyinoz.com). Fliers and posters are unmade. Outfits are unplanned. It's all just... stalled.

BUT!! I still went to San Diego, duh. So I got off work Friday night SUPER late (actually working in my new office!! Eeks!) ran home as quickly as I could to change and pack and then left for San Diego about 8 PM. Luke's show was at 9, so I knew I was going to miss it, but I promised Lo to call when I was close so she could give me directions to wherever they were. I sped to SD in my purple sequiney dress and called to check in: "We'll be home in like 10 minutes! Call you when we're there to give you directions!" So... naturally... I went to in-n-out to grab a DP and some fries and chill out while I waited.

And waited...

At about 11:30 (yes... approx. 1.5 hours after arriving at in-n-out) I finally get directions and head to the rockin' party. And oh, was it rockin'... I ran into some great old-friendly faces (aka Jeff and Lauren) and drank some amazing home brewed beer named something like "Laurel's B-day beer." There was a disco ball, beer pong, loud music, conversations about curling irons, lots of new friends, tons of sparkle (we gave a new meaning to jewel tones) and naturally, lots of birthday debauchery. At about 5 AM when the partying had absolutely no end in sight, I knew I was in for it. I started sobering up, left SD around 7 (having not slept) and arrived in my bed, nearly fully clothed around 9 AM, only to sleep for the rest of the day and night. Definitely a success in my books :)

So the plan now is to make a plan. Make those undone application necessities not be undone before we leave for Mammoth on Friday so I can do some filming from up there. Yikes... wish me luck!

XOXO

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Now playing: Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis - Just Dance
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Here I go again

Location: Austin, TX, USA

Well, I have officially planned my first trip!! I guess I didn't really do much of the planning, per say, but I am going to participate. Some of the girls have decided to do a final Spring Break trip to Destin, which should be great fun!!

Things have definitely gotten quieter. The newness of my return has worn off and things are going back to normal. I have deadlines at work, advice to give my new VPF Audrey :) and lots of missed time to catch up on with the friends. Valentine's Day was my first single Valentine's day, I think since I was about 13... but it was definitely a nice change of scenery. Girlfriends, a good bottle of wine and a sappy chick flick at the movie theater were definitely a good fix for a lonely heart. We also had Theta's TwinStar last weekend which was SOO much fun. Mr. Rossman came with me and was the best date I could ask for. We had such a great time!!

So we leave for Destin on the 14th. We're going to do a little Roadtrip with a stop in Houston to hang out w/ Emily's fam. So far it's me, Jennifer, Emily, Laura and Catie. Should be a fun crowd for SURE!!

XOXO

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Now playing: Goo Goo Dolls - Acoustic # 3
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Lessons Learned

Location: Austin, TX, USA

Wow, adjustments are crazy, to say the least. I said I would take some time to do a wrap up of the Eurotrip... a series of lessons learned plus some sharing from my personal journal I carried with me while I was there. This post is officially dedicated to Jonathan Locklin (the king of lessons learned). So... here you go :)

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compaire to what lies within us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (the quote Jen wrote on the inside cover of my beautiful leather carpe diem journal that never left my side while I was traveling).

Things I have realized:

• 2.5 months is a REALLY long time (12/17)
  
• Even though I feel like I have planned this trip perfectly, I am going to get lost, I am going to miss a plane/train/bus at some point.
  
• I am all alone.... literally.... alone
• Pictures will never by able to capture what my eyes are seeing; goes back to the whole idea of taking pictures with your eyes. "Today I finally overcame, trying to fit the world inside a picture frame, maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way with words." - John Mayer
• It gets really dark REALLY freaking early up here!! (duh abbey... it's called latitude)
• The upper deck on busses and trains (and I bet planes too!! note to self - ride on a double decker plane on the top deck) are WAY better
  
• Free bathrooms were a really nice thing to have...
• One good thing about looking like a homeless person is that real homeless people don't bother you for change (12/18)
• Keeping busy wards off loneliness (12/19)
• I am moving to Ireland
• I am an artist
• Traveling in large groups on trains during the holidays is a BAD idea (12/23)
• Do NOT ask a foreign taxi driver if 15Euro is enough to get your to your hotel, because that's exactly how much it will cost you when you get there... even if it is only 3 blocks away (12/27)
  
• Always know how to get to your hostel from the train station before you get there
• Prayers of thanks are my favorite. They make me realize how much I really do have to be thankful for (12/29)
• Everything looks more beautiful when the sun is below 30degrees on the horizon; especially in the morning (and especially in Ireland) (1/2)
• Before coming back to a country, I should try to learn the language
• I know WAY more Spanish than I thought I did!! (1/3)
• Africa is scary... WAY scary (1/14)
• The stamp in my passport to Tangier was totally worth the scariness and the 50euro
• I am so lucky to be American
• Hot chocolate is amazing
• Beginners luck does run out eventually (1/15)
• I should always be nice to people who don't speak English and at least try and smile
• I love Ireland... (1/16)
  
• No matter how much I want it to, no person will ever be able to make me feel the way that music does (1/19)
• I thought that after being in Europe for a month I would learn to be more independent, but I still haven't managed to figure out how (1/24)
• Everything is more fun w/ masks on (1/26)
• The sun shines differently in Italy
• I love Italy
• Just because Swiss guards with machine guns board your train car and demand your passport, does not necessarily mean you are in trouble (1/28)
• Not everyone wants something from you (2/1)
• I am never really alone
• Nature is amazing
• Passing judgement is usually pointless, sometimes harmless but always thoughtless

My final "Thing's I've realized" is that "I believe I am addicted to travel." Well, great. One more thing to add to the list of things I like :)

Life Lessons Learned from "Eat Pray Love"
So... Right before I left, Natalie gave me the book "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm telling you, this book was 90% of the reason I got through the first week. She is an incredible writer and I am forever grateful for her solid advice and incredible personal insight.

• "I was speaking to the creator of the universe as though we'd just been introduced at a cocktail party. But we work with what we know in this life and these are the words I always use at the beginning of a relationship. In fact, it was all I could do to stop myself from saying, 'I've always been a big fan of your work'"
• "I am the planet's most affectionate life form (something like a cross between a golden retreiver and a barnacle"
• It's ok to ask for things when you pray... Petition the universe
• "I'm bad (or rather, lazy) at researching a place before I travel, tending just to show up and see what happens. When you travel this way, what typically happens is that you spend a lot of time standing in the middle of the train station feeling confused." Oh man... so true.
• "Dio i l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle"
• "That's the thing about human life - there's no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if nay variables had been changed."
• I wrote in my journal, "I need to start talking to myself on paper" - to which I wrote in reply to myself... "who are you telling that?" Haha...
• "We have hands; we can stand on them if we want to. That's our privilege."
• "When he's really tired, he'll sigh and say, "Maybe 85 today," but when he's feeling more upbeat he'll say, "I think I'm 60 today!" Perhaps this is as good a way of estimating age as any - how old do you feel? What else matters, really?" - I'm 22... no really... I am
• "Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it."

Things that made me happy today
This was my favorite part of my journal to fill out every day.

Hitting my internal snooze button at 7 AM -- The ocean -- That zebra rock on the beach -- Not carrying my backpack -- Gaelic -- Hanoverians -- Ok fine, all horses -- Freedom -- Silence -- the beauty of what I do not know -- Something as old as golf was born somewhere; it began -- Nerdy boys -- Large scale French paintings -- Music -- Children who speak French -- having an entire train compartment to myself -- Cute English couples -- Sun rises -- Cold sheets -- Crepes -- Ok... desert in general -- naps -- English -- Water -- Africa -- Ponies -- Soraya -- kisses -- Warm showers -- Orange trees -- The windmill on the hill -- galloping, like REALLY galloping -- the beach -- Spanish techno -- wobbly chocolates -- Tuna sandwiches -- my boots -- safety -- Toilet paper -- Religious freedom -- the medeterranean Sea -- Looking at Europe from Africa -- Hibiscus Mint Tea -- Sunrises -- Cafe con leche in a MUG -- Irish accents -- Chinese food -- My cell phone -- bars that stay open until 6 AM -- Old friends -- Being 22 -- Being ALIVE! -- Soccer in the street -- Olives -- Tuscany -- A 4Euro bottle of AMAZING wine -- Gelato -- Being on top of the world -- Dates (and the free meals that accompany them :) -- Parlo inglese? Haha yes, actually I that's all I parlo :) -- Bologna -- the alps -- good friends -- being liked -- the sun -- being on a runway (outside the plane) -- Snow -- The grand canyon -- Free drinks on a plane (a luxury around these parts) -- individual beer taps -- kafers and mackers (FULLER!) -- Safety -- Nutella -- Making smart decisions when inebriated -- my faith (it pretty much rocks - "I'm so jealous, I wish I had that!" -Barry) -- Saying "See you later!" -- Carpe diem -- History -- the trevi fountain at 4 AM -- Moving on -- Mt. Freaking Vesuvius!! -- People who form their own opinions -- the pope -- Sunny days -- Red gatorade -- My friends back home -- John Paul II -- Egyptians -- Preservation of History -- Dates -- Great Italian Food -- Moving to Rome -- Italian kisses -- Staying up all night

I think that's enough for now... I'll possibly post more thoughts as they come to me. For now though, I would like to announce that due to popular demand, I will NOT be stopping my travel, or my blog! I'm not sure it's going to be quite as exotic as Europe, but I will post everytime I take a new trip around these parts. So, get ready!!

XOXO

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