Wrap Up of a Wonderful Trip!

Here is the long over due wrap up of my trip over to Europe! I'm feeling a bit nostalgic as we celebrate Oktoberfest here in Cincinnati this weekend. Did you know Cincinnati has the largest Oktoberfest in the United States??

 France!

 Alsace Lorraine, France (one time was Germany) where some of ancestors are from.

 France definitely had a different feel than Germany! Hard to explain what it was but once we entered the country, I could just tell. I do like their greetings a lot better than German ones. Bonjour! 

 I could spend all day shopping in a foreign grocery store. Picked up a few things for a picnic from a french grocery store before heading back to Germany!

 Real authentic German food. It looks disgusting but was actually very good. 

They pour gravy on everything which is right up my alley.

 Castle chasing at night. Breaking rules and driving up the hillside.

 Rothenburg, Germany

 Rain or Shine, this town was still beautiful!

 No stopping us!

 Famous "yellow corner". I also bought a piece of artwork of this corner

 and have it hanging in my apartment now.

 Puppet things popped out of those windows when it turned 12. 

It reminded me so much of Shrek, I was a minute too late to picture it.

 Super cute cafe we stopped at to warm up & have wine of course.

I also had the best piece of strawberry cake and didn't share any of it.

 Creepy sheep staring at us as we came back from dinner in Alex's hometown.

 The real Oktoberfest! In the rain unfortunately...

They were super strict about letting me in the tent to see what it was like.

I played the "I'm an American" tourist and the guard let me take a picture.

Crazy drunkness!!!

My trip to Germany was a trip of a lifetime. It forced me out of my comfort zone and really taught me how important it is to experience other cultures. It put things into perspective and I learned a lot about my self from this trip. One of the main lessons I learned is to embrace the "european" lifestyle of making the most of everything and being more laid back. I was more open to trying things, didn't worry as much and really just enjoyed every experience on my vacation. Europeans enjoy life more and do not revolve everything around work like we do as Americans. They live, but not live to work. On the other hand, I also learned to appreciate the small talk and overly niceness of Americans in restaurants, grocery stores and shopping centers. It is so funny how people come into your life and how you never how what the outcome will be. I'm so thankful Alex came into my life and was able to share this wonderful experience with me. I definitely have the travel bug now. Where to next??!

Year of Goals

2016 is a fresh start to accomplish a years worth of goals. Some of the goals may be fun, others may be a necessity. I am a huge fan of to-do lists, I always have at least one list of something--whether it's for work or my personal life. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to make a list (to-do list) of goals  that I want to accomplish this year. I've had this post as a draft for a while and now that it is already a month into the year, I have already accomplished a few goals.

1. Book Trip to Europe-I've been debating booking a flight for months, constantly checking prices to see when they would drop & one day they did! I found a trip with a layover in the US and roundtrip was half of most of the other flights. When else do you have time as a young adult to travel to Europe with no responsibilities attached??? AND not have to pay for housing, cha ching!--ACCOMPLISHED!
2. Get Life Insurance-odd for someone my age isn't it? Medical reasoning behind it, but on the plus side, if you get life insurance while you're young, you are locked into a super low rate! Of course nothing can be that easy, so when my policy arrived in the mail it stated I was 10 years older than what I was, so the price was a lot higher, umm NOT okay, situation handled and is all fixed now--ACCOMPLISHED!
3. Pass Nursing Home Administrator Licensure Exam-the 2 most intimidating exams of my life that determines my career...please let this be as easy as college.
4. Get a Job as LNHA-providing that I pass ^^ I'd also like to add decent salary to this goal $$
5. Join a Young Professional Society-you're only a young professional once right?! might as well make the most of it. For those of you wondering most groups list young professionals as ages 22-45...not what I thought either. I have been debating between the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald Children's Home "Red Shoe Crew" or the Young Professional American Cancer Society Cincinnati Chapter. Those are two fun and important organizations that I would like to volunteer my time to give back to. I also want to join the American College of Healthcare Executives, but that is for career reasons. 
6. Become an Ohio Resident-this is something that I am dreading but it needs to be done. Not only do I have to get an OH drivers license, retake the written exam, then I need to transfer my title to OH, get car insurance in OH, get 2 car testings done and finally get OH plates. Who knew so much stuff was required to become an Ohio resident?
7. Renew Lease/Move-well when my property management approached me about renewing my lease I had not really thought about it, then I thought why not? I love living here, sure my place is tiny but it has become my "home". I am saving SO much money living here, especially for the sweet location I am in, so I renewed without thinking twice! Figured all the money I save in the next year would be the smarter decision--ACCOMPLISHED!
8. Budget Money-this is always going to be a work in progress but I think I have been doing very well this year. I have this intense Excel spreadsheet that I have been using to track all of my expenses and income. I also started saving all my receipts so I can enter them into my spreadsheet to see where my money is going to. Not only am I just tracking but I set limits for groceries, gas, etc. I've admittedly been driving to the ghetto to go grocery shopping because their Kroger is cheaper. Gotta do what you gotta do right?! I'd rather spend my money on traveling.
9. Become CEAL Certified-so you're probably wondering what a CEAL is...no, not a SEAL, it is a Certified Executive of Assisted Living. It is additional training and exam to get this additional certification. I think it would make me more marketable and a great career move. The building I work at now has assisted living and assisted living is becoming more and more prominent in the long-term care industry. Plus, I am a total nerd and will never want to stop learning.
10. Workout-LOL so typical right?! But I really do want to workout to be healthy. I know I am tiny and do not need to loose weight but the amount of food I can consume can be a bit concerning so for the sake of my arteries some working out would not hurt and I'd like to work on my arms...we'll see how that goes.