Greece: Athens {Part 2}

 We had a glorious nights sleep and breakfast with an amazing view. We went down the road to get on the Hop on Hop off bus. This is why I love a Hop on Hop off. It's very affordable a lot of them come with 2 day, 3 day or more tickets. It takes you to all the main spots. You get off whenever you want and then get back on when another bus comes back. They usually come every 15-20 minutes. So you can go have some lunch do some shopping and a bus is ready for you at anytime. It's like having an uber driver, or even a personal driver. They also usually have headsets so you can hear the recordings for each stop so you can learn about the things you are seeing. 

We stopped at the Monastiraki flea market in the Monastiraki square. This place was a huge alley of shops with everything and anything you could think of.  It had decent prices and was open on Sunday. Some places weren't open on Sundays

Then we were able to catch our ride to the port. I thought we wouldn't be able to get onto the ship because it was earlier then we had requested. They took us straight into COVID testing. Then they gave us numbers and had us sit until they called our number. Well, they called my husbands number but not mine. Nerve wracking I know! They called me up and ushered me to fall this random guy who looked like a taxi driver on his phone into another empty tent. They told me I had a slight positive so they had to retest me. The guy was like keep breathing through your mouth and this is going to be uncomfortable. That it was they went deep into the nasal cavity.. maybe even into my brain I don't know. But the test came back negative so I was able to get on the ship. We got to our room which was a nice size. Then went directly to go eat at one of the complimentary restaurants on the ship. Then we checked out the pool and some entertainment. Ended with enjoying our view from the balcony. Which in case you were wondering. I'm so glad we got the balcony.

 

 

Stay tuned for Day 3 of our trip.....

Fall is here...

 I know everyone gets excited for Fall. While living here in Colorado it just means the snow is just around the corner. The snow is not my favorite. I love the spring or beginning of the fall where it's not too hot just with a slight cool breeze. 

.....with that said. I do have some favorite fall things. I love pumpkin things. I also have an addiction to Target Dollar spot pumpkins. They always come out with different pumpkins and I have to get them. I don't know what it is. Maybe deep down in the depths of my childhood. It makes me think of Cinderella. I'm reaching here. 

Besides the pumpkins. I do love the colors and the warm drinks and the sweaters. 

Hot vanilla chai tea, cozy sweater on the back porch watching the leaves change. 

OK! You talked me into it. But I still don't like the snow. 

This is me preparing for FALL.

Studio/ adventure time

Like I said before I had a few more summer outfits up my sleeve. 

I also wanted to post about this awesome studio I got to record in this summer. Perfect! I can kill two birds with one stone. Arizona in the summer is no joke let me tell you. Triple digit heat the entire time I was there. While the trip was a great recording time. It seemed like anything that could go wrong did. It went so wrong. But now I guess I can laugh about it. That's what you have to do. You have to laugh at these things because it can't possibly be real life but in fact it is. 

Let's start at the beginning. 

I accidentally forgot about Father's day and that is when I booked my trip. The hubby was gone anyway so it completely slipped my mind. So we had to change the flight. My mom who was coming to watch the kids had to change her flight. It was a pain. Then other problems came up with location. I almost had to make a studio in my house to record. We ended up making it happen last minute and secured some studio space. It ended up being a beautiful studio so it didn't bother me too much. 

I was actually packed with no issues and to the airport on time and everything. Starting at 7am. 

After sitting and waiting for awhile waiting for the actual plane to arrive. They finally told us that there was something wrong with it and we had to switch planes. So I moved to another gate and they ended up calling me to the desk. I was going to miss my connecting flight so they switched me to a non stop flight. Sounds great right? No. It was not great. They asked me "What does your bag look like?" I knew that was going to be trouble.

I moved to my new gate. That's gate change #3 if you are keeping count. As I'm waiting for this new flight their entire system goes down. Like no flights going out,  nothing works anymore. I'm stuck! I think I waited like 3 or 4 more hours. Then when they went back up I stood in line to get on only to find out it wasn't my flight. I was on the next one. After waiting for that flight I finally got on so drained and exhausted. Especially with not having a break from wearing the mask. 

I landed about an hour or so later then I was supposed to. Only to find out guess what... They lost my bag! I had a feeling and sure enough it happened. Thankfully and I mean thankfully I had a change of clothes in my carryon bag because I never do. We rushed straight to the studio and got to work. 

We only got to work for a couple hours because we were late. We managed to get some good takes but we were both running on fumes. Exhausted and hungry it was insane. It was too late to have anything delivered to the studio so we made plans to grab something close by. Alas! It was closed we parked along the little strip where there were restaurants and shops. (That area is a college town). 

As soon as I stepped out of the car. I. KID. YOU. NOT! My sandal broke! It broke and not in the normal flip flop way where it just come out of the little hole and you can pop it back in and you are good to to. Nope! Not my luck today! It was a clean slice on the strap! There was nothing nearby except a Urban Outfitters (too expensive for a quick sandal fix) and a little boutique. I don't even remember the name of it. But shout out to the sweet girl working who took me in looking like a disheveled drunk gimpy person. Together we scotch taped and stapled the crap out of that sandal. At least to get me through to dinner. 

He walked and I limped to the restaurant where I begged them to sit us anywhere I didn't care we just needed food. Then I completely lost the hostess as she was leading us to our table. (Keep in mind she was standing behind a post/wall in the middle of the room. But we'll keep that part for dramatic flare. We ate our food then went to Target. As I tried my hardest to remember all the things I needed that were in my missing bag. I overhear that dreaded announcement over the speaker. "The store will be closing in 15 minutes please gather all your items to the front of the store." NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I didn't even know the layout of the store. I'm scrambling trying to make my brain work on overdrive. I managed to think just enough to get what I needed and I was off to my hotel. 

I get checked into my room and collapse on the bed. After getting all situated with all my stuff. Carry on bag and all. I realized I needed something more. I needed one more thing to make this day even better. The Lord heard my cries and granted me such a gift. My monthly friend came for a visit and that was just the cherry on top on the best day ever!

P.S The next morning I realized I didn't have all my medications so I had to walk in the triple digit heat to the store to grab more supplies. The good thing about it is I did get a couple awesome songs out of it. Got to record in an amazing studio Saint Celia Studios in Tucson, Arizona! Shout out to them! It was a fun little adventure.

P.S.S My bag finally did come THE DAY BEFORE I left to go back home. But I did get a $100 voucher over it. Which probably wasn't an even trade but whatever at this point. There was also still some issues with flight changes going back home but I still made it in time. 

The moral of the story here is go check out my song "August" which is out now. Now that you know kind of its origin story.

In love with Summer

 It's still warm here so I'm going to say that Fall has not officially started yet. I'm going to sneak in a few more summer outfits before I have to transition. 

I haven't even started decorating for Fall yet. 

When do you start putting those pumpkins out?

Last year I waited too long because I was so distracted. I'm trying to not be this year. I don't know what's got me overthinking decor lately. I'm being too indecisive. I just need to go with it. That's when my best creativity comes out. 

But you know I can't resist when Target Dollar spot puts out those cute pumpkins. I probably have way too many at this point. 

But we are going to go with it. Put pumpkins EVERYWHERE!

So here's to those last few summer outfits you want to wear a few times before Sweater Weather is here to stay.