Wow it's been a long time! I've been meaning to blog SO MANY times in the past few months, but between the wedding, traveling, and our summer craziness, I simply haven't had the time! So I'll do a brief catch up.. My wedding was perfect. Everything went well! And came together beautifully! I couldn't have done it without my mom, aunts, bridemaids, my amazing personal attendant, and of course, my hubs, who handled the stressful day like a pro. I met some new "family" (on his side), and saw some old friends who I haven't seen in far too long. My girlfiend always asks "So was it worth it? The money, the stress, the planning, was it all worth it?" Absolutely. It was worth every penny for the people that came together in honor of US. Each person there shaped who we are today and i'm thrilled to have finally met some people that were/are very important in Chase's life! And vice versa, although he pretty much knew all of my peeps! And the night was fun.. Everyone was dancing and the photobooth was so much fun! I think we all had a little too much wine by the end of the night (yes, including the bride) but everyone seems to have had a blast! Here are a few pics to sum up the evening:

My best ladies!

The Gents

Centerpieces!

Mr. & Mrs!

Amsterdam

HONEYMOON! Our honeymoon was absolutely incredible! I enjoyed Europe more than I thought I would, honestly.. I've been to Europe before, to Greece and Istanbul, Turkey, but not these parts of Europe, and I'm older now to appreciate it. I was a bratty twelve year old then. But even as an adult, I always thought I'd enjoy beach and tropical trips the most.. Boy, was I wrong! This is going to be a long entry, fyi! Our first stop was Amsterdam.. it was quaint and exciting! Quite the adventure. First, we got lost on our train.. it took us all the way out into the country of the Netherlands.. Once we finally found our way back into the city, we searched for our hotel. My uncle bought our hotel there.. It was $500/night! I couldn't believe it. The city is packed, and people are riding bicycles all around you! Busy city! I loved every second of it. Of course, we visited some shops of all kinds.. We also visited the Van Gouh museum! It was pretty neat! But my favorite of all was walking through the Anne Frank Haus! The buildings in Amsterdam are all very tall and skinny and filled with tiny rooms and steep stairs.. and that's just how the Anne Frank haus was. It was just incredible walking through the tiny hiding spots that she wrote about in her journal. After that, just walking down the streets we couldn't help but imagine the Nazi's marching through! It was pretty surreal. The first two days of our trip were in Amsterdam, then before we knew it, we were off to Barcelona! The main attraction that we chose to go to Barcelona was for the MotoGP races. For those of you who don't know, those are like the Nascar of Motorcycle races. They are a BIG DEAL in Europe.. and they do travel here to the states twice a year as well. The first night we spent in the city. Barcelona is a new and shiny city built in an old one. It's pretty cool.. There is a diverse mix of incredible architecture and old cathedrals, and then brand new outdoor shopping malls with all of the fancy stores. By the ocean everything is modern and new. It was all very fancy and hip. We had fun walking home on our first night from the beach. When you are abroad, you have to pay to use a bathroom, or be a customer. So every time we had to use the restroom, we would stop either for an espresso, or a bier.. Needless to say, by the time we made it back to our spot, we were feelin good! We met MANY wonderful people in Barcelona. Once we started going to the races on that Saturday, we met an amzing Irish couple who were so much fun! Edel and Kevin. We spent the two days with them! Now, we are facebook friends, and I really would like to go and visit them in Dublin sometime. The first day we were at the races, Chase says "wouldn't it be weird if we ran into someone I knew from racing here?" Then guess what happend? "Chase Sellers!?" We heard.. Yes, it was his friend Alex that he races with in Brainerd, MN. How wild is that? We said hi, and had to go our seperate ways.. But the second day, we saw them again! It's very ironic in a crowd like that.. So they took the train home with us and we had some cocktails. While this was happening, we met this BEAUTIFUL Italian woman and her two friends who were also at the races. Her name was Alessia. She knew a little bit of english, and Chase knew a little bit of spanish (which has latin similarities to italian) so the two of them had fun trying to communicate. She brought us out to dinner and we had such a great night! We only spent 4 days in Barcelona, but we met some people that I will never forget!

Our Friends Kevin and Edel

Barcelona

Next stop, Florence, where we were just passing through for a night. It was so much fun though to walk the streets and see all of the beautiful castles and churches. They specialize in leather goods and scarves.. I thought I was going to have a panic attack! So many BEAUTIFUL leather purses, I wanted to buy them all! So I got three. Ha!

Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge)

Piazza della Signoria

After Florence, we took a train up to the Cinque Terre. It's 5 villages on the northern coast of Italy. They are close to each other, so you can hike in between them! They were beautiful! And our hotel was like a fairy tale! It was just a beautiful old building with 5 bedrooms a woman turned into a hotel. Every morning she would make us breakfast in the garden and fresh espresso. Ahh I love espresso, in case you can't tell yet. This was to be the relaxing time of our vacation.. So, we laid on the beach, got massages every day on the beach ($10 Euro/20 minutes! Who could pass that up!?) and just put life on pause. To be honest though, this part of our trip got a bit long. The truth is, Chase and I aren't good and standing still. We are both very busy people.. So by the end, we were ready to head back to Florence!

Hiking from Manarola to Corniglia

Monterosso

We stayed one more night in Florence, with no agenda at all! So, we found a hostel. While we were checking in, we met a new friend Alex, from Montreal! SO we had some beers with him, and before we knew it, we had a whole crew join us from Brazil! Some people think staying in hostels is sketchy and scary.. Maybe some are. And it's true, it wasn't the cleanest place by any means. But you meet some amazing people from all over the world! I LOVE FLORENCE!!!! We went out with them to a few bars.. took many pictures.. and before you knew it, it was the next day and we are back on our way to Amsterdam for ONE MORE NIGHT. Side note: when we started planning our trip, the first thing we did was buy roundtrip airfare to Amsterdam.. the rest of the pieces we put together later..

New Friends!

Of course, there were flight issues, so we ended up spending like 7 hours in the Florence airport, which is the smallest airport i've EVER been to. We got a bit claustrophobic. So, I decided to go to the book store.. the only book they had in english was stupid Seven Shades of Grey, so I started it. I got about 100 pages into it and quit on the plane. It was terrible. The writing, the plot.. the author. Anyways.. We finally got to Amsterdam and yet again had to find a hostel.. The one we found was wonderful! Besides the rooms, the pub below it included some of the most insightful people I think i'll ever meet in my life! There were three men there, and the bartender who is as cute as a button and so sweet! We had long conversations about life, love, the meaning of marriage, friendships.. These people were so incredible. I'll never forget it! Eventually, after staying up later than intended, we had to go to bed.. and the next morning we were on our way back home. This trip was expensive, but there are so many ways we could have done it on a tighter budget! I really think everyone should experience a trip like this at least once. We are making a point to go back.. hopefully for our 5 year anniversary. Between the engery of each city, the people we met from all over the world, and the memories we made, this was by far the best trip ever! Whew! I guess I had a lot to say. More blogging will come soon!