Half way across the world...

This is a few months overdue but better late than never.. My sister decided to have a destination wedding...and by destination, I mean Kuwait. It made sense for her to get married there, most of our family lives there, and it was convenient for her fiance's family who lives in Egypt to hope over to kuwait to attend the wedding. John and I decided to make a vacation of of this and get a few more stamps on our Passport. This was John's first time to that side of the world and I was beyond excited to have him experience my culture, and where I grew up. It was a thursday afternoon and we headed to the airport, our flight was at 4:30 pm leaving Houston on Emirates online (which I was excited to fly on because I've heard it was super nice!). We got on the plane and prepared for the 14.5 hour flight straight to Dubai. We were lucky and had an empty seat between the 2 of us so we had plenty of leg room to relax, sleep (well mostly me laying down and sleeping in John's lap). The food was the best plane food I've had, and we watched a ton of movies, slept some more, until they announced that we have finally arrived in Dubai International Airport...

We had booked our Hotel in the middle of the buzzing city, right next to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. By now it's 9 pm in Dubai, and we catch a cab from the airport and head to the airport. We check into our room which was perched up on the 14th floor. The view was amazing, the city never sleeps, and we decided not to either. We were wide awake due to the timing difference, and decided to head to the Burj and take a tour. To our surprise, alot of people had the same idea as we did and the place was packed at 11 pm! The views from the top where simply amazing...

We spent about 1.5 hours at the top, toured the shop, took alot of pictures and more pictures and fought the tourist also trying to take a million pictures, but it was still fun! We left and caught another cab and headed to Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest malls in the world. We ate, and did some shopping and headed to the largest indoor aqarium and diving center...located INSIDE the mall might you....

We finally headed back to the room, it's approximately 3 am Dubai time. We decided to Skype my dad and John's parents.


We hoped on a plane that next morning and headed to Kuwait City where we surprised my mom as she thought we were arriving the following day. We spend that night sitting in the living room, chatting, laughing, eating, drinking coffee into the late hours of the night, and them asking John a million questions trying to get to know him. They loved him from the get go, who wouldn't? :)

We had approximately 1.5 weeks to spend in Kuwait, and John had to leave a few days before I did so he can return back to work, and unfortunately he was missing my sisters wedding. None the less, we enjoyed the few days we had together. One of the nights we were there, my cousin decided to throw us a party in our honor, and to celebrate John and I's birthdays and my aunts, since we are all a few days apart. I will tell you this, my family knows how to throw a party! We arrived and we could hear the music from the street, and as we walked into the apartment, we see both of my aunts dancing as they were preparing the food. It was so refreshing as this was not something I expected. The food was out of this world good, and you would have thought they were feeding an army. We ate, laughed, taught John how to dance to some Arabic music, then they all wanted to see how we dance back in Texas. I hooked up my phone and put on some Kevin Fowler - That Girl, and started to 2 Step - the look on their faces were priceless, and they all wanted to learn!

Most of our days were spend at home since my aunts were at work. My mom would wake up early and start preparing lunch. Lunch in the Middle East is the big main sit down with the family meal and most people get out of work early enough to be home for lunch.

We spend one of the days enjoying Kuwait's beach scene at a private club - all in Kuwait's 115 degree weather!

We also spent a few mornings visiting my friend and old Crossfit Coach, Chelsea, at her new gym. It was great to see her and catch up and have her kick my butt in a workout just like old times. We also had the luxury to head to dinner one night with the whole family. It always makes me happy to see people who have taken risks and left the familiar to get more out of life and experience new things and I couldn't have been more happy for her.

John had to unfortunately leave and head back to work, and I had just a few days left to enjoy with my family and attend my sisters wedding.

My sister's wedding was at a beautiful venue overlooking the Gulf. They walked into their reception to the traditional "Zaffe". Their wedding cake was sky high, and the food was fabulous. We danced and partied the night away and when the party ended around midnight, I headed back home, changed, spend about an hour with my mom, aunts, and cousins, and had to head to the airport to catch a red eye flight to Dubai, then head back home to Texas.

My Beautiful sister and her new husband.

Sisters!!!

 My super adorable nephew that did not want to take a selfie!

All in all, this trip was one to remember. It was an emotional roller coaster for me, having to be submerged into a culture that I have seemed to forget somewhat, yet it was rewarding in many unexplainable ways. My family was able to meet the person who I adore, love, and makes me incredibly happy - and they loved him just as much as I do. That my friends - means the world to this girl.

More Vino Please! A weekend in Texas Hill Country

Work has been overwhelming lately and my amazing husband knew that I needed to unplug and get away for a few days. He planned a weekend getaway for us to Fredericksburg, TX. He reserved this amazing quaint country cottage, and had roses and champagne waiting for us upon arrival.  He also scheduled a wine tour for us for the whole day and we were able to spend some quality time together sipping on some delicious wines while enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

We spend the last day of our mini vacation in pajamas at the cottage, ordered pizza, drank wine, and watched our Texans on a very small 24" TV :)

It was a short, but much needed trip. Sometimes you need to get away and unplug from it all. Leave your computer, leave your cell phone, and enjoy the company that we are so blessed to have. Here's to many more "mini vacations" with my handsome husband.

Happy Birthday America!

We are blessed enough to have some best friends that share the love of travel and adventure as much as we do. I met Marissa and Eric when John and I were dating and us 4 have been inseparable since. Both of the boys work for the same company, and Ironically enough Marissa and I work for the same company as well. Both of our boys are on rotations offshore and when they planned a last minute trip to Destin to attend a work meeting, we jumped on the opportunity and decided to take a trip that same week. We left Houston extremely early on a thursday night/morning and decided to spend a 3 day weekend in Destin with our friends.

As usual, we had an amazing time, ate a lot of really good food (except when they all ate oysters and I had to sit and watch...I LOVE oysters but have become very allergic to them). We did a fishing trip because we all LOVE to fish and caught a ton of fish, layed out by the beach and enjoyed a few cold ones with good company and celebrate July 4th beach style.

Last minute trips with wonderful friends are always the best. Life is too short and sometimes you need to pack up and take an adventure, with very little notice!

Go Vols!

The Larson's decided to take a family trip to Tennessee to watch the Vols in action and of course we jump at the opportunity for a short little get away. Originally we didn't think that I was going to be able to make it due to work, so John flew up there on a thursday, but  later I decided to get on a plane and head that way. I get to the airport and my flight is delayed hour after hour, and finally they cancel the flight and none are available till that next day, AND it was going to Nashville instead of Knoxville... Ahh the start to a very long weekend.

I finally get on a flight that next day, head to Nashville, rent a car (for $400 for the DAY!!!) and head to Knoxville, where I met the rest of the family and returned the car. It had been a long exhausting day but non the less it was fun to have a mini vacation and watch the Vols in action. We went to dinner that night and headed home to relax and prepared to go the game the next Day.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to UT to watch the players come onto the campus to prep before the game, I've never been to anything like this, it was so packed and so much fun! A few gators fan here and there but the majority of course were Vols fans, decked out in everything white and orange that they had.

They had been advertising it for a while before the game to try and "checker" the stadium, based on where your seats were, you would either wear white or orange. Our section was white, and we were all hesitant if this was going to work, and sure enough it did! It was so neat to see the stadium like this!!

Although they put up a great fight, unfortunately the gators won that game. We headed home, ate, and prepared to catch a flight the next day. Exhausting but fun short weekend trips are the best!