What are you thankful for?

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded of the need to be thankful everyday. I know I don't say thank you enough. I will make a list (in no particular order) of the things I am thankful for.

-My family, I am so blessed to have them.
-My friends, I wouldn't have made it through this amazingly tough year without you.
-My trip to Spain, (thanks to my awesome parents for this one) I discovered myself and had the experience of a lifetime
-Education, my school is amazing, and I will be leaving with a great preparation for teaching
-Georgia football, despite the season I will FOREVER bleed RED and BLACK!
-Over 21 years with my Grandpa, John Bert Yancoskie, who was taken too soon from us. I miss him every day, but I have to be ok knowing that he is in a better place. Also, he is
probably spying on all of us, which I know he enjoys.
-My dogs. They bring joy to my life that no human can. Amazing. Meeko and Mushu are the
bomb (so is Eagle). This is the year of the puppy, and boy do I love it. Eagle brings a whole new
aspect to life.
-Shelter. Duh, but my shelter happens to be awesome. I love coming home!
-Music. Can't live without it.
-Food. Could probably stand to eliminate this one.
-The ability to speak other languages. I LOVE this, makes me feel accomplished.
-My job. Boy do I love the Ram Fam.
-Charity, we are blessed with the ability to help others. Giving is way better than getting (try it!)
-The approaching new year. I am ready to see and do new things! First year of my life where I
don't know exactly what I'll be doing a year from now. So cool.
-Finally, I am thankful for Jessica Anja Applegate. The only person who still reads this
blog. :)
-I forgot HEALTH. Duh! Wouldn't be doing much without that major one!

Please comment on what you're thankful for this year. Also, if you think I forgot anything, say so.

Need to work harder on blogging

So clearly I am not good at blogging. All I need is an app for that, and I'd be on it. It is truly sad how much I rely on my phone to get things done. Anywho. I am so glad that fall is finally here, although I would appreciate a lack of hurricanes and the weather being one temp throughout the day. Thanks. I am so excited for it to get really cold so I can wear my boots (obsessed) on a regular basis. I have recently realized that I am becoming a boot fiend. I see boots, I want them. Not good for the wallet so I stay away, but soon, my friends, soon.
In addition, I have also realized my recent obsession with lip products and (this is a real shocker) painting my nails. Even if it looks really bad when I finish, I absolutely love having painted nails (and hate paying for a manicure, hence the DIY job). Word to the wise: Victoria's Secret nail polish doesn't cut it. Stick with their lip products, way better.
I have a pretty busy life in the coming weeks with school, work, and a visit from Trey this weekend :). I will certainly be ready for a break at Thanksgiving. However, I will be using that break to get applications and studying done grrrr. I am so excited to see Granddaddy. It's been since January that I saw him last, so this will be a great little many trip (I'll also use the 10 hours total in the car to get work done. Note to self: NO SLEEPING!).
For the actual day of Thanksgiving, we're going to the mountains. So excited about this. It's been awhile since I have been one with nature, and boy do I need it. Eagle has never been to a river before either so I am really excited to see what my little boy will do.
On a heavier note, today is Veterans' Day. My grandpa was a veteran of World War II, and I used to call him to thank him every Veterans' Day. It kills me that I can't this year. It's certainly been tough. Please be sure to hug your veterans or at least thank them. Appreciate them while you have the opportunity. Our veterans are the reason we can go about our daily lives with few worries. They choose the job that many people are not willing to do (I don't think I could do it), and they do their jobs with pride. Even if you don't agree with our current overseas efforts, always remember to support your troops. (If the red didn't set it off, this is the important part of today's blog)
As this was originally a travel blog, I feel I should inform you that Cooper and I are planning on backpacking Europe next summer. I hope this really does happen, because it would be an absolute blast. Watch out Europe, the crayons are coming (if you don't get this reference, we were crayons for Halloween). Hope everyone is doing well in their lives. Tell me about them, call me, facebook me, tweet me, I miss everyone as our lives are so freakin' busy these days.

A triumphant return

As everyone probably knows I am no longer in Spain, but I have been asked to return to blogland (I'm pretty sure I made that one up). As of this hour, I am supposed to be studying for all that approaches, but blogging is a better idea. I bought four magazines today, three of which are health magazines. Oh how times have changed. I'm trying to stay healthy; it is proving more difficult than having the set menus I was used to but I am at least maintaining (and losing slowly). This is all I really care to discuss for the moment but hopefully I will have something more interesting to say in the coming posts. LOVE

Final Today

I just finished my final. Wow! I can´t believe this is almost the end. I have had the most incredible time. I honestly can´t even put into words how I feel about Spain. I´m ready to be home to talk incessantly about Spain, but I would mind staying longer or returning immediately! This has been the time of my life, and I don´t want it to end. We leave Valencia Wednesday morning for Madrid. Then we fly out Thursday. You can prepare yourselves for annoying stories (you can just hit me when I repeat myself). I am excited to see all of you so we can catch up (and so you can keep me upbeat). I love you all so much and we will be reunited very soon!

My HILARIOUS padre

Dear papí, you are too much! Your humor is rather vulgar no? Despite the vulgarity, I cracked up. What a joker. We did a tour of a public hospital today- all I can say is "just say no to universal healthcare". Super super super scary. Yesterday we got traditional drinks called horchata... one word interesante... Tonight we´re watching the champion´s cup. Go Barça! ¡Amunt! (Spanish cheer). I am having so much fun here as America looms in the near future. I could stay here much longer. I will update again soon, maybe some more pictures (of historical sites and food, not what my FATHER would have you think there were). Love you all mucho! Todos son en mi corazón. (everyone is in my heart)

Chicos

Sorry mi padre this post is necessary for the ladies in my life. Update on awesome bartender from Uruguay. Pretty much Mr. Perfect. He´s a musician (piano, guitar, drums), he´s an artist (sketches and photography), really smart (a student in English and special effects for movies), has a dog (a giant cute English sheep dog), knows where Marietta, GA is because he almost moved there once (?!?!), AND he tells me I´m gorgeous! Ah the life in Spain. I tell you those American boys could really learn something!

For my father: I am learning (the entire human body as a matter of fact) and taking lots of pictures. We have a super busy week this week (lots of hospital and school visits and three quizzes! ). I have nightmares about my bag being too heavy on the way back!! What a goob no? I love you all.

Pictures etc...

Hola Amigos y Mi Familia!
I hope everyone is doing great. I'm absolutely fabulous. I'm over half way done with my trip, and there's no way I'll be ready to get back home. No offense to any of you. I just feel like I haven't gotten in nearly enough culture or Spanish. I love it here. We keep going on such great adventures. I'll start where I left off before... Barcelona:
We started with a 5 am train ride on Saturday (yes 5 AM!!). We arrived in Barcelona around 9:30. What a crazy place. People were bustling all over, it feels like NYC big time! We headed to our hostel which was much nicer than I expected. It was actually really neat to stay there. We headed out around the Gothic Quarter to go to the Barcelona Cathedral (designed by my favorite architect, Antoni Gaudi). It's really pretty. After we lit some candles and said a few prayers, we headed to see la Sagrada Familia; one of the most impressive sights you'll ever see. It's also designed by Gaudi. It will be under construction for a long time because Gaudi died during its construction. We ate dinner at the marina for traditional Paella (oh my gosh, delicious!). AFter our yummy din din we headed "home" to get ready to go out. We never actually made it to a bar though because Barcelona won the cup that night and there were amazing parties in the streets (so much fun!). (As a side note, we also met this American on the train, he was so gorgeous, but turned out to be super annoying, is that the worst thing you've ever heard?)
Sunday was another fabulous adventure day, we went to Park Guell (another Gaudi design, perfect weekend for me!). Barcelona is Gaudi's city. If you ever go to Barcelona, this should be at the top of your list to see. Everything has mosaic tiles on it (miles of park!!). Words cannot even encompass this place. We walked around and just enjoyed the sites of Barcelona for a bit. While some people went to a bullfight (not my thing) we sat and people watched then danced with an old man to the Peruvian flute band. It was so fun. We ended up tooling around too long and had to run through the streets and metros of Barcelona to get to our train on time. We had a whopper of a weekend that didn't end until about 1:30 Monday morning.

This week, we had our first two quizzes (91 and 99, woo hoo!). We've also gone a few "expeditions" of sorts. We went to get Churros and chocolate (yum), the bullfighting museum (enough bullfight for me), a Flamenco show (wow is all I can say!), we climbed to the highest point in Valencia (a tower at the Cathedral), and we went to a really cool museum about enlightenment and thought. Today we went Xativa, a town with castles and mountains. We hiked up to the castle (and when I say hike, I mean HIKE!). It was really worth it though because we got to see a beautiful view. I won't need any extra work after that one. It was a really fun day though, we laughed the whole time. I really got lucky because we really get along well. I'll go ahead and put up some pictures here and maybe a few on Facebook. (I"d like to give a shoutout to my Mrs. Boss, you know who you are. I love you so!)

My first experience with wind turbines, they are huge and amazing! We saw them on the way to Valencia from Madrid.

Our great group with some singers.

This picture is for Jes because I know how much you love la Plaza de la Virgen.

The six girls from one room in the hostel!


Paella!

Party in the street after Barcelona won. So much fun. Yes that is fire you see!