Whoever told me I would never be an Irish policewoman was WRONG

St. Patrick’s Day 2011. Hands down, my favorite Saint Patrick’s Day, ever. Seriously. Brian and I tore up two cities this year. Boston and New York City. And for the first time, I got to share my love of leprechauns and shamrocks with my mom. A true Irish miracle. We started the morning relatively early, for Brian and I’s track record. We had played this year strategically. The one condition for my mother’s...

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My favorite ride to take people on

I spend 90% of my time on a horse. So it can come as no surprise that my favorite tour of San Ambrosio is a horseback bar crawl. Some of the best views in town can only be seen via hike or horse, so I dragged my parents to the barn while they were visiting for a little horseback fun. My mom rides, my dad does not. That was very apparent as the day wore on.I was originally going to draw a map of this little ride, but...

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The tour I've done 1000 times: Vejer de la Frontera

So it's no surprise the dad is a little hungover today. Last night took it's toll on him in a good way and I'm feeling good as I've had time to get used to the sweet honey rum nectar he got wrapped up in. Again, I had to work all morning but didn't have to ride, so I got up early, sent of the ride, cleaned the rooms and went for wake up calls just after noon. Plenty of time, for my early rising parents...

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Jerez from fresh eyes

Sharing a place you love with people you love can be tough. It's like introducing your parent's to a new boyfriend. You want them on their best (but most fun) behaviour, you want them to be in the best mood they've ever been and you want the interaction to be effortless. It's a lot of work and a lot of chance. So for my parent's first full day in Spain, I decided to stick with something I knew, and I took them up to Jerez...

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My Mommy and Daddy actually LOVE me!

Well, it’s official. My mom and dad finally agreed, after me being here for almost 2 years, to come visit me in Spain. Ya, ya. I get it, I really do. I'm a drifter, I haven't lived in the same place for more than 6 months since college. They never thought I’d actually commit to being here this long, and certainly not as far in advance as they could book an international plane ticket. But here I am. And here they came...

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You know you're fine when your dad is drunk with your city

We'll start a little earlier in the day. Although jetlag was still running amok in my family, with only a week in town, there was no way I was letting a single minute go to waste. So after I got up at 7 AM and worked a full day, I roused the family at about 1 PM and forced them into tourist mode. We spent the early parts running my normal "roadtrip" route from San Ambrosio, up the back roads to Vejer de la Frontera...

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Alhambra? That sounds stinky.

Get it? All Ham Bra. Like a bra, made out of ham? Ok fine. It sucks. Our final expedition in Spain before Jennifer and Emily headed back to the Americas was to drive up to Granada. I’ve been dying to get up to this amazing city, but haven’t had an excuse, or anyone to share it with, so I’ve been hesitating. But what better time to do it than now. We find a cheap hotel on hotels.com. Some off-season gem we get a room for 1/3 it’s...

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San Ambrosio, I’d like to introduce you to Texas

As a part of my American re-immersion, most English-isms were attempting to be cut out of my vocabulary. It involved the snapping of a hairband on my wrist and the negative reinforcement actually worked quite well to ride me of my “quites", “queues””and “propers” and reinstated some “awesomes” and a few “seriouslys.” I’d been talking about Emily and Jennifer coming to San Am for a long time now, and most...

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