good news monday

happy monday!  well....as happy as monday can be!  i have lots of good news for you so get excited!

good news #1 - this past weekend i had so much fun with my brother, my old rooms, and my brother's friends at auburn.  sam (rooms) picked me up from the airport in atlanta friday night, we drove over to auburn right away, just in time for the party to end...but we did get to hang out with some of the group for a little bit before everyone crashed for the night.  all day saturday we tailgated and then walked (or in my case hobbled for the first time without crutches) over to the stadium to watch my aggies beat the hell outta auburn.  it was freezing but still super fun for me and sam to watch!  not so fun for the tigers but they were good sports.  the rest of the weekend was relaxed and i got to spend time with sam, jason, heather (jason's girlfriend who i officially met for the first time this weekend, she's such a sweetheart!), sarah & danny, and a few more of the industrial design kids.  also, my flight wasn't cancelled or delayed for hurricane/frankenstorm sandy out of atlanta so all in all i'd say a successful weekend!  and crossed off trip #3 of year 2012...

good news #2 - today we got the official doctor's ok to start walking without crutches and without leg brace!  my legs are so sore from walking just for a little bit on saturday at the game, but i guess that's what happens when you don't use your muscles for three months.  i've done a fair bit of walking short distances today so my knee is starting to hurt, but i figure it's bound to after so much sitting around doing nothing and then trying to heal.  wish me luck in rehab session one tomorrow...

good news #3 - last wednesday night i officially bought my to/from tickets to new zealand!!!  the trip is now officially real, and i am so incredibly excited.  i still need to get tickets from city to city but those will be cheap.  thanks to adventurous kate i found flightfox, a website that lets you post the details of your flightplans and any additional information you want out of your trip (i.e. layover in a certain city, traveling with small children, etc) and then "experts" will send you itineraries that are cheap and within your restrictions, all for a finders' fee usually $30-40.  plus side - i saved about $300 by using the one i picked.  down side - i switch planes and airlines at every stop.  worth the savings?  absolutely.  best part of my criteria?  i wanted an overnight or really long layover on an island, so on the way back i'm spending the night in honolulu!  it's not fiji, but it'll do :)

T -7 weeks (49 short days) til australia & new zealand trip

check out the links!!

http://flightfox.com/

http://www.adventurouskate.com/

texas a&m btho auburn

resolution check

how are y'all doing on your 2012 travel resolutions??  it's almost time to make your 2013 travel checklist!!

here's mine for 2012:
vancouver - check
california - check
auburn - this weekend (bonus - i get to see my brother AND my rooms!) and then check
australia and new zealand - less than 2 months away, ticket will be bought this week or next.  and i'm freaking out because it's so close!!

my wishes for 2013 are already pretty set as i previously mentioned, but you'll have to wait to find out the full details on that ;)  you have just over 2 months to fulfill your 2012 goals, so hop on a plane and get them done!!

also, one week til i'm fully walking again :)

Travel Packing Tips!

Found this on Kayak's twitter and thought it was so great!  Check out these really cool tips for packing for your trip:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/marriott/14-clever-travel-hacks-to-make-your-trip-awesome-7bu6?b=1&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=12c9f

http://twitter.com/kayak

2 is the magic number

2 weeks left of crutches and the brace and then i'm back to walking without the brace - completely back to normal (plus rehab).  it will have been 12 total weeks of recovery since the accident

2 wonderful parents that have helped me through this whole ordeal and have gone out of their way to make their little girl feel better.  i'm so lucky to have them :)

2 months until i leave for australia (that means i have to buy my ticket in the next 2 weeks - yikes!!)

2 days til my birthday...

october!

one year ago i was wrapping up my trip and on crutches.
exactly one year later, i'm on the same crutches.  my, oh my, how things stay the same yet become so different.  but that's not what this post is about - this post is about the greatness that is october.

i'm seriously going to list out great things about october now, because it is my favorite month (and the best month hands down) of the year, and i can't contain my excitement.

-football season is in full swing
-fall shows start back up
-fall weather is starting, which is the best
-that means we get to start wearing jackets and boots
-you can rake up piles of leaves to run and jump in.  this never gets old.
-if you're not on crutches, it's perfect running weather
-pumpkin spice lattes at starbucks
-pumpkin beer (specifically dogfish head punkin ale)
-pumpkin anything
-pumpkin carving (i love pumpkin, can you tell?)
-halloween, because sadly that's the only socially acceptable time of the year to have costume parties...i miss sorority life when a non-themed party was boring
-kappa delta was founded on october 23rd, 1987
-my birthday is in 17 days
-texas state fair
-wine season


there are so many things to love about october.

i love october!!!

ps, feel free to add on to the "things you love about october" list!