France Trip Part 2 - Burgundy Region

Ok, I need to keep posting about this trip before I start forgetting details!  Although to be honest, posting about it 2 months after the fact does help the memories come streaming back pretty readily and it's like reliving the whole trip again!  So we left off with K and I catching the train to Dijon, France, home of mustard (and yes, we did buy some while we were there!)  The train ride itself was an adventure because apparently there were 2 trains leaving from Lyon heading to Paris at the exact same time.  One train was a direct trip to the city of lights (not the train we wanted), while the other made stops along the way, one of which was in Dijon (the train we wanted, but not the train we got on...).  So yea, we were directed to the wrong train in Lyon and made the trip over half way to Paris before we realized that according to the schedule we should have gotten off in Dijon 20 minutes before.  Luckily K speaks French and was able to explain our situation when we arrived at the Paris train station and they put us back on another train headed to Dijon.  Whoops!

So we finally made it to Dijon, got a taxi to our airbnb apartment and then headed back out for a quick dinner before all of the restaurants closed (since it was a Sunday night, our options were limited anyway).  I was feeling kind of cruddy at this point, and it had been a long day of travel, so we went to bed early.  The following day we explored the city of Dijon, and it was delightful!

Our first stop in Dijon was the post office (we accidentally forgot to leave the key for our Lyon apartment in said apartment and needed to mail it back), which was an adventure itself as the post office was definitely off the beaten path (and of course closed for lunch when we got there).  So we spent some time in a nearby garden until it reopened and got that taken care of.  On our way back into town we stopped off at Maille, a famous Dijon mustard shop and stocked up on the local specialty!

In Dijon there exists this self-guided tour system called the Owl Trail.  There are these adorable little owl-adorned brass triangles inlaid in the sidewalks throughout the city and a printed tour guide that is available for sale a the tourist center that points out all of the notable landmarks along the Owl Trail.  So K and I figured the guide was worth the small investment and we spent most of the rest of our day following the trail throughout the entire city, stopping to eat or shop when the whim hit us.  After a somewhat early dinner we met up with an official tour guide for a guided architectural night tour!

Amazingly, most of the stops were different than those we saw on our self-guided Owl Trail tour and the back stories on the city gave us some wonderful insights!  After the tour we headed back to our apartment and packed our things up as we were headed out again the following day.

The following day (Tuesday) was our vineyard and Burgundy exploration day!  We caught the train back to the bus station and rented a car so we could meander our way through wine country.  Our first stop was the most picturesque little cottage/winemaker nestled into a hillside of vineyards, but unfortunately they only accept people who have made reservations with them in advance (the downside to our random exploration approach).  So we pulled up another vineyard and found ourselves in a mansion with the most incredible roof (a hallmark of the Burgundy area)!  There we tasted about 6 wines (I naturally fell in love with a $60 bottle, but couldn't convince myself to buy it) and explored the wine cellar before we hit the road again for Beaune.

Beaune is a quaint little town that was recommended to us by a number of our friends in Lyon.  It's notable features are once again the amazing colored roof designs that are common in the area.  There were also a number of vineyards, wine shops, restaurants, and retail shops lining the very narrow streets (parallel parking was quite a feat!).  The first picture above from Beaune is definitely nerdy of us... Se-boar-a.  Get it?  Yeah, Nerdy....

From Beaune we drove for a little while to the town of Auxerre, a beautiful, hilly city along a river with some beautiful churches.  We chose to just meander the streets here down to the river and enjoy the view.  Clouds were rolling in, but we never actually got rained on, they just gave the city this quiet, moody atmosphere.  After we left Auxerre we drove to the town of Vernon and our airbnb rental for the night.  Vernon is just west of Paris, which is where my next blog post will pick up.

What a Weekend!!

We interrupt this extremely delayed overview of the past 2 months to bring you this breaking news: S and I are engaged!!!!  He asked me to marry him on Saturday and OF COURSE I said yes!  We've been smiling ear to ear all weekend since then.  Get ready for a Houston wedding in 2016!

And he did an amazing job planning out the whole evening too.  I was so surprised - oblivious even.  I did not see it coming!  In fact, the way he worked it out, I almost planned it all myself without even knowing.  That is some skill, my friends.  Here's our engagement story for those of you who are curious:

I mentioned to S last week that there were a couple of exhibits coming to the Houston art museum in the next year that I wanted to see and he commented on how we also hadn't been to the Menil art museum in a while.  We used to go all the time back when I lived in town and we'd picnic on the lawn next to the giant red jack sculpture and then walk through the museum.  It was our thing.  So I agreed and said we should go this weekend and since it was still Houston Restaurant Weeks we could also go eat at Bistro Menil afterwards.  Reservations were made.

So on Saturday evening we drove to the Menil and walked through the exhibits.  S was cool as a cucumber, no visible nerves or anything so I never suspected a thing.  We also walked down to the Rothko chapel and this new exhibit that was totally amazing called the Infinity Machine.  After we finished with the art exhibits, he commented on how we should take some pictures at the big red jack sculpture (it had moved during construction of the restaurant and this was the first time we'd been back that the jack was back on display).  So I climbed up onto the jack (which is totally allowed - we weren't breaking any rules) and he took a few pictures of me with his phone.  Then he said he wanted to use my phone to take some more pictures.  It was on the ground in my purse and there was no way I was climbing down in my short dress to get it and then climbing back up onto the sculpture again, so I asked if he could get it from my purse himself.  He knelt down to get it from my purse, but when I looked down to get the phone, he was holding up a diamond ring instead!  I don't think he even asked the question, I just started babbling "yes" and tearing up...

He had also recruited our friends N and H to hide in the bushes paparazzi style and capture pictures of the whole thing!  He did such a good job planning this all out!!

After we hugged, kissed, smiled ear-to-ear, and posed for a few pictures in front of the jack, we had our dinner at Bistro Menil.  And after dinner we called my parents to share the good news.  Actually, I texted my mom a picture of my newly adorned left hand and she immediately called me back to confirm that it was indeed my hand.  We called his parents on our way home.  Needless to say, both of our families are thrilled!

And speaking of my new jewelry, S did an AMAZING job picking out the ring.  I love it so much.  Everyone who sees it says that it's "so me".  I'm feeling so lucky right now!

France Trip Part 1 - Lyon

Ok, I've been horrible about posting lately, I know.  It's just been a crazy busy summer with a total of 4 weddings, 4 trips, and plenty going on at work and home as well.  Let's start at the beginning and I'll try to slowly work my way back to the present.

This past spring my best friend K texted me and asked if I wanted to go to France with her.  Um, of course I want to go to France with you!  A good friend of hers, whom I also know fairly well, was getting married in Lyon over the July 4th weekend and she was hoping I'd be her +1.  Once I checked into my finances and determined how much plane tickets would cost, I was in.  Tickets, airbnb's, and activities were booked and on July 2 I was off!  First stop: Lyon!

I arrived on Friday afternoon and took a cab to the apartment we were staying in (a friend of the bride was out of the city and generously let us use her place) at which point jet lag took over and I needed a nap.  But after that less than fun start to the trip, it was an amazing time.  We had dinner at the bride's apartment that night with some other out of town guests and met some absolutely LOVELY people that I very much hope I will get to meet up with at some point in the future. 

Saturday was the wedding day, which we started off at a nail salon with the bride and a few of her other friends (some of whom I'd met on a previous trip to Lyon with K a number of years ago).  We then picked up a delicious rotisserie chicken and potatoes that had been cooked in the chicken fat drippings and brought them back to the apartment for lunch while we changed. 

We met up with the bride back at her apartment and followed her through town to the city hall for the legal marriage ceremony.  Mind you, it was 105 degrees F in Lyon on this day and very few places had AC, including our apartment.  Luckily it wasn't humid and there was a breeze, but any time spent inside closed rooms (like city hall) was pretty brutal.

 

We then proceeded to walk through town with all of the wedding guests to a park that overlooked the city where the beautiful spiritual ceremony was held. 

After some pictures, we made our way to a nearby bar for cocktails, then back to the bride's apartment to regroup, drink some more, and change clothes (most of us had sweat through our dresses already - it was hot out!)

The evening ended at a colorful Cuban restaurant for the reception.  It was a low-key but still lively affair, filled with tapas style food, plenty of wine, singing, dancing, and speeches.  Overall it was a delightful evening!

On Sunday we (obviously) slept in and then caught a ride to a nearby park where the bridal party was having a pot-luck style brunch.  We sat on blankets in the shade, snacked on a very full table of eats, drank some champagne, and got to play with the bride and groom's adorable little son.  We eventually had a train to catch, though, so we said our goodbyes, exchanged contact information, and ended the wonderful Lyon portion of our trip.

(pictures taken by both me and K)

The Latest and Greatest in Space!

Wow, July has been a crazy busy month, both for me and for news in space and astronomy!  S and I have both been very occupied with a lot of travel.  My big trip and the reason I haven't posted in over a month is I went to France for 10 days with my college friend K!!! (Pictures to come soon!) On top of that, S and I have a total of 3 weddings to go to in the next month, some with associated bachelor parties, etc.  It's all been fun and we're looking forward to our upcoming trips as well, we just have a lot on our plates!

So to tide you over until I can find the time to pick the best of the best out of my 300-something photographs from France, I've rounded up all of the incredible news in space and astronomy that has been flooding the news and internet lately.  I have to say, I am SO THRILLED to see how many people are avidly following and enjoying the recent news about the New Horizons mission to Pluto!  It fills my heart to see that everyone is so genuinely excited about these scientific discoveries. 

• NASA's New Horizons satellite has made it to Pluto and is sending back amazing, high resolution, natural color imagery of our dearly demoted little dwarf planet!  Imagery includes the discovery of a now famous heart on Pluto, 2 mountain ranges, and all 5 of Pluto's moons.  This Pluto encounter will continue to last until January 2016, during which the New Horizons craft will analyze the spacial geometry of Pluto and its moons, perform experiments, and spend a lot of time sending hundreds of gigabytes of data back to Earth.  After Pluto, the New Horizons team hopes to send the craft on to explore other Kuiper Belt objects up close.
• On Monday, famed physicist Stephen Hawking and Russian billionare Yuri Milner announced that they are going to be funding and heading a new project called Breakthrough Listen.  The $100 million venture (!!!) is going towards SETI  - the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence!  This new initiative will only be searching for signs of intelligent life (non-naturally occurring communications in both radio frequencies and laser transmissions) not broadcasting and is scheduled to operate for 10 years.  Such a huge and wonderful boon for supporters of the SETI community!
• Today 3 new crew members will be launched by Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station!  One astronaut, one cosmonaut, and one Japanese crew member will take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to join the 3 crew members already on-orbit.  If you want to watch live, tune in to NASA TV as early as 3:00 pm CDT to watch prep work leading up to the 4:02 pm CDT launch time.
• And finally, an amazing video from my favorite astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, on A Brief History of Everything from Big Bang Theory, to the creation of matter, to the creation of Earth.  This video is totally worth watching!

That is all for now, hope you enjoyed!

Navigating the Past Week and Tropical Storm Bill

This is what the radar for Houston looks like right now.  Tropical Storm Bill just made landfall south of us, but we're getting socked by that big yellow and orange band from the system pretty much all day today.  So far it's just wet and miserable out, let's hope that's as bad as it gets and we don't see anymore flooding around here...

We've been pretty busy over this past week.  Last Wednesday Pandora had her last obedience training class and officially graduated from Intermediate Training!  She is now pretty good at listening to/obeying commands with distractions (sit, lay down, come, bed), knows how to heel when she walks with us, and even learned a new trick (spin!).  We still need to work on getting her responses more consistent and immediate, and she struggles on focusing outside, especially with "heel".  But overall she did so well and we keep saying how lucky we are to have such a great dog!

We got her a toy to reward her for all of her good work in the training classes.  She LOVES dismantling toys, so usually we get pretty heavy duty ones.  This one had felt pretty sturdy when I bought it and said the squeaker inside would work even when punctured.  Pandora demolished it.  She actually removed the squeaking devices (there were 2) from the squeaker and then proceeded to shred both the fuzzy part and the hard plastic inside.  It took her about 1 hour to get it to the state you see above and there was toy carnage EVERYWHERE!  But at least she had fun.  And on the plus side, this was originally a little gator shaped toy, and I can't say how proud I am of what my little Buckeye puppy does to Gators!!  O-H-I-O!!

On Thursday we had the first night of our summer bowling league, NASA Nerdz!  We regrouped with the rest of our team from last year and proceeded to all actually bowl pretty solid games!  We also won one of the trivia questions and got ourselves a free pizza too.  Looking forward to the rest of this season!

On Friday I had Jury duty for the first time in my life.  It was interesting.  After sitting in a large theater type room for about 2 hours I was called with a group of 64 other people to potentially sit on a jury for the 351st Court.  We left the theater room, had to wait for about half an hour in a freezing cold underground tunnel that leads to the next building over, and then crammed 20 ppl at a time into elevators that took us up to the 14th floor.  Once there we had to wait in the hallway even more, with no chairs.  Good thing I brought a book.  But the entire situation did NOT help the sore/pinching neck issue I'd been having all week.  Finally we were let into the court where the judge explained for 2 hours what would be expected of us if we were chosen for the jury.  It was interesting, however I'm absolutely certain it could have been condensed down into 1 hour instead.  Then we broke for lunch and reconvened an hour later back in the hallway, where we once again sat for over half an hour while we waited for them to let us back in.  Once we reentered the courtroom the judge informed us that the defendant, after staring at a room full of 65 people waiting to judge him, changed his mind and decided to have the judge, not a jury, rule on his case.  So we were dismissed.  It was a lot of sitting in uncomfortable places and waiting and by the time I got home my neck was MISERABLE.  I swung by the grocery store on my way home and we then proceeded to just vegge out the rest of the night.  I was exhausted.

On Saturday we slept in (so did Pandora, thank goodness.  we all needed it....) and then went to help our friend N at his business Wazoo Survival Gear.  Wazoo makes compact outdoor survival gear for people who like hiking, camping, etc, and they just recently got a huge order for 3000 fire-starter necklaces, fire-starting twine bundles, and their specialty burnable gift cards.  We love their products (Pandora wears a Wazoo dog collar!) and so we were happy to help them out.  S spent his time winding the fire-starting jute onto spools and I joined in on the necklace making.  We helped out for about 5 hours and I took supplies to make more necklaces home with me too.  S worked on his car for a while when we got home and I hunkered down in front of the TV and made more Wazoo necklaces while I caught up on my shows.  We had our favorite chipotle, sweet potato, and black bean tacos for dinner and started season 3 of Orange is the New Black (first episode was so-so, but the second one started getting interesting again).

On Sunday S went to the autocross all day, so Pandora and I were on our own.  After I walked and fed her I decided to be productive and get stuff around the house cleaned up.  So I tackled some piles of laundry, put sheets on the bed, eliminated clutter in the kitchen and bar area, and threw away some dead flowers that had been sitting on the piano for a while.  Pandora was super cute and just followed me around the whole time - gotta know what's going on!  Then I watched a movie while I finished up the rest of the Wazoo necklaces.  Around 1 I hopped into the car and drove over to the west side of town to pick up tools and supplies for my intermediate stained glass class!  This is my inspiration picture for my 2nd stained glass project and in addition to getting all of my own tools, I also got to pick out my glass colors.  I can't wait to start working on this new project!  When I got home I buttered, seasoned and wrapped 15 cobs of corn in foil, grabbed the Wazoo necklaces I had completed, and walked with Pandora over to our friend's house for our weekly Game of Thrones viewing party and pot luck dinner.  We got there early so Pandora could play with my friend L's absolutely ADORABLE little 8-week-old German Shepherd puppy, Brew (see above)!  Little Brew is definitely a handful, but he was just so darn cute!  Pandora was too fast for him still, and Pandora is a total toy hog too, but they seemed to get along quite well otherwise and proceeded to wear each other out.  I took Pandora home and gave her dinner then ran back over to our friend's house to eat a delicious pot-luck meal and watch the season finale of GoT.  A little bummed the season is over already...

And in other news, I'm back on my elimination/detox diet for a few weeks to reset my digestive system again mid-year.   My tummy has been acting up again recently and I have a big vacation coming up soon, so I figured that getting everything back on track now would make my vacation more enjoyable later.  Last night we had this delicious prosciutto wrapped peach salad (without ricotta) and I highly recommend it!  It was super flavorful and actually quite easy to make.  My digestive system is already calming down a bit, the effects of food really are quite amazing!

(Wazoo picture from here)

Hill Country Weekend

This past weekend S and I borrowed his brother's truck, packed it full of food, beer, and swim gear, loaded the pup in the backseat, and then picked up our friends N and H and headed out to Texas hill country for a weekend full of tubing, dancing, s'mores, and fun!  We hit the road around noon on Friday and made it to the San Antonio area just in time for an early dinner at Freetail Brewing Co.  Our friend K was in town and met up with us there as well, where we all gorged on some delicious pizza and beer.  Brisket on pizza is AMAZING.  After we were all stuffed we proceeded on the remaining 2 hours of our drive to River Bluff Cabins, which is right on the Frio River.  The last portion of the drive was not stellar for me as driving in the backseat with a fidgety pup on winding, hilly roads gave me a nasty case of motion sickness.  But we made it!

Our cabin was the perfect size and had a grill, firepit, and porch swing outside.  We unloaded the truck and settled in a bit and then meandered down to the river to take in the views before it got too dark out.  This was a truly picturesque little stretch of the river with some shallow rapids, lots of trees, and there were even fireflies!  It was magical!  Oh, and what makes it even better is there were no mosquitoes!  After exploring the river area we headed back to the cabin where the guys struggled to get our fire going with some damp logs.  They managed a small but successful fire and we all roasted marshmallows and cooked up some s'mores before calling it a night.

On Saturday morning S and I woke up semi early (Pandora started whining at 6 am....).  So I took the pup for a beautiful morning walk (see first picture from this post) while S drove to Garner State Park with his brother to get parking passes for the day - oh yeah, S's brother K and his family were staying in the cabin right next door to us!  We noshed on avocado, bacon, and egg breakfast sandwiches and then proceeded to spend the remainder of the day chilling next to the Frio River at Garner.  We had a canopy to protect us from the sun, coolers stocked with picnic foods and beer, and chairs to lounge at the water's edge.  Pandora is not yet a huge fan of water, so we spent some time trying to coax her into the river with us, and everyone also got to do some tubing as well.  It was a lovely day!

All of the noise and water wore poor little Pandora out and she was zonked out for most of the evening after we got back to the cabin.  The rest of us showered up and then prepped some kabobs for the grill.  We brought a tad bit too much food and were all completely stuffed on beef, chicken, peppers, pineapple, and zucchini.  That night we headed back to Garner State Park for their nightly dance!

I wish I'd been able to get a decent picture of the actual dancing, but the lighting situation just wasn't ideal.  People of every age were two-stepping around an open air dance floor under a star filled sky.  We didn't just sit and watch, though (although the people watching there was AMAZING).  S took me on a few two-stepping spins around the dance floor and I also had a dance with both N and K as well.  S and I started getting the hang of the two-step again a couple of dances in (we're so clumsy..) at which point S felt the need to pick up speed a bit.  He dances like he drives - fast and weaving in and out of all of the other people.  One of his many endearing quirks!

On Sunday Pandora let us sleep in to a more reasonable time (I think she was still exhausted from the previous day at the park).  We cooked up breakfast tacos and then started packing up all of our stuff.  Our group then meandered down to the river for a few hours before we took off to relax in the water a bit more.  It was fun to climb on the rocks and try to maneuver through the rapids.  There weren't many other people around and the lack of noise and stimuli left Pandora feeling a bit more comfortable around the water.  She still wouldn't go in further than chest deep, but she did go in that far pretty willingly.  S and N floated down river a bit to jump off a rope swing at one point and Pandora was frantic watching them float away.  S said she reacted the same when I went wading through the rapids to the other side of the river.  Not sure what has our poor little pup so traumatized by water, but we're hoping to keep exposing her to it to get her more comfortable.  We headed back up to the cabin a little after 11 to take quick showers and load up the truck, and were on the road headed home by noon.  Trip home was pretty uneventful, but it was amazing how quickly the weather went from pleasant and cool to brutally sunny and hot.  The weekend reprieve from Houston's muggy, mosquito-y, 90 degree weather was so nice - we truly got lucky with the amazing weather out in hill country.

After unpacking at home that evening we headed back out to celebrate S's nephew A graduating from high school!  We met up with the whole family for a nice dinner out and to congratulate A on his accomplishment.  Overall, it was a very eventful, and very enjoyable weekend!

Happy National Cheese Day! (And other important things)

Apparently today is National Cheese Day - so I now have a new favorite holiday!  Celebration tonight will commence with this spicy goat cheese dip and some sort of cheesy pasta - I haven't decided if I want to go mac-and-cheese or fresh veggie and feta style....

In other food news, we've been using the heck out of our new grill and it is amazing.  I think this is the 5th time we've made grilled corn on the cob so far - soooo good!  I also made a trip this past weekend to one of the seafood markets over by Kemah and stocked up.  These tuna steaks (marinated in freshly squeezed OJ, garlic, and thyme) were perhaps my favorite.  Oh, and the cocktail of the week?  I had some leftovers of the fresh OJ and mixed it up with some tequila and a splash of grenadine for a quick Tequila Sunrise!

And now a few fun space/science links for you this week:

• Answering the age old question of whether toilets flush in the opposite direction in Australia!
• This article is pretty long, but it is a FASCINATING interview with Gene Krantz (famous Apollo era flight director) about the progression of his amazing career.  Definitely worth the read!!
• And on a related note, a blog post about what it was like working in the MER during Apollo (p.s. working in the MER - aka Mission Evaluation Room - is what I do now for ISS!)
• Yesterday was NASA's 50th Anniversary of the First Space Walk!  "While spacewalks have become a relatively common part of modern spaceflight, working in the vacuum of space while moving at five miles per second and experiencing huge temperature swings passing into and out of Earth’s shadow will never be routine."

(cheese image from here)