Wednesday FunDay!!

So living here in Charlotte has been awesome so far! I am really enjoying getting to know the city and experiencing everything it has to offer! Since I am only here until August 1st, I gotta do a lot in a little time! And since I am fresh out of college and working an unpaid internship, these experiences need to be affordable..but still fun!

Last week my boss told me about an exhibit at the Mint Museum in Uptown (thats what Charlottians call downtown Charlotte). On Wednesdays, the Mint Museum offers free Wednesday admission to their exhibits! Plus you can purchase wine for a small cost to take with you as you peruse the exhibits and you get one free refill! There are currently five exhibits on display at the museum and all of the are pretty awesome!

The newest exhibit is by far the coolest in my personal opinion....Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment. This exhibit is full of beautiful photos that some awesome female photographers have taken throughout the years for National Geographic! Now some of my friends and family may already know this about me but for those who don't...I'm a HUGE National Geographic fan. Like so much of a fan that when I was in Spain, I bought one just so I could look at the pictures even though I couldn't understand the stories.

This exhibit is full of really touching and poignant pictures with amazing stories behind them. In this exhibit, they give a background on the photojournalist, how pictures get picked for the magazine, plus some photos that didn't make it to print. It was so cool reading about the people in the photos from the journalist's perspective! National Geographic has also made a documentary on these 11 women and how they came to work for National Geographic! Here are some photos from the exhibit...

Photographer: Stephanie Sinclair

http://wovexhibition.org/photographers/stephanie-sinclair

Photographer: Maggie Steber

http://wovexhibition.org/photographers/maggie-steber

These women have been on crazy adventures and have seen tremendous things while on their assignments. I have so much respect for them and for their immense talent! If you get a chance to see this exhibit, I highly recommend it! While on Wednesdays all the exhibits are free, this one does have an extra charge (I don't know why it costs money but I think its because it is a traveling exhibit or maybe because it is new?). However, the rest of the exhibits are still free and there are some other really neat things in there! If you want to check out the museum site, you can do that right here!

Enjoy!!

Mackenzy 

For the Rich of Heart and Poor of Wallet

I love North Carolina so far! Charlotte is one of the coolest cities I've been to and I've been to quite a lot of cities!!! It has a wonderful small town feel in a big city!! I've met some really cool people and am making new friends everyday! It has been interesting moving to a city where I don't know anybody at all!  When I moved to Granada, Spain for study abroad, I knew my roommate through Facebook and Skype! It was nice having someone to talk to immediately when I got to a foreign country. But here in Charlotte, I came here knowing nobody and it was interesting! I have become fairly involved in a church here and its been awesome to get to know people around my own age!

I have been so very fortunate to have wonderfully supportive parents who are helping me out during my stay here in Charlotte. They are helping me with my rent because my internship is unpaid! However, I am in charge of funding my groceries and gas and any other necesseities that I need! Its a great way for me to try and support myself and learn the way of "adults".

I am not a very good cook. Let me clear that up a little more: I am the queen of microwavable meals and Ramen noodles! So I was checkin out Pinterest the other day (and by checkin out Pinterest I mean I spent like 4 hours looking up different pins) and came across a recipe that I thought I would share: Cheesy Ramen Noodles! I had seen the recipe before but I've always been scared to stray from my usual Chicken Ramen! But I decided to try something new and I LOVED IT!!!!! So here I was with cheesy chicken ramen noodles and thought I need to share this with the world! Everybody needs to know that adding a slice of cheese to your Ramen makes everything better in this world.

So here is the recipe I found with some modifications that I made after two attempts!

What You Need:
1 package of Chicken Ramen Noodles
1 slice of sliced cheese (Kraft works good but really any slice of cheese works)
2 cups of water

Directions:
1. Boil your water in a small pot!
2. Break up the noodles in their package.
3. Once water comes to a boil stir in the noodles and wait a few minutes until the noodles soften and look delicious!
4. Then add chicken seasoning and stir!
5. Dump out a majority of the water in the pot leaving about 1 inch of water in the pot.
6. Take your slice of cheese and break it into smaller pieces and add to the noodles!
7. Stir until all is melted and ENJOY!

I loved this so much and can't wait to try it again! If you ever feel the need for Ramen noodles, try adding one simple slice of cheese and watch your world get changed!!!! :)
Mackenzy

Crafty Me Take 2!

Hello again!!! So yesterday I showed y'all my latest craft with my $3 Goodwill buy ( a brass candle stand) and how I transformed it into a fun and funky bracelet stand!

I put this finished product on my Facebook and got lots of comments asking about it...my lovely uncle thought it was a birdbath!! So when it finally dried, I arranged some of my many bracelets on it to show how awesome it looks! Check it out!!

Here it is in relation to a Rudy's cup!!

I might be biased but I think it looks pretty darn cool!!! It took about 5 hours to dry because I put the paint on thick to cover up any brass showing through. But once it was done, all my bracelets fit perfectly on it!

Another Wal-Mart purchase I made yesterday was an earring display! It was $9 and I found it in the arts and crafts section! It was originally black, but again I used the rest of my pink paint to drastically transform it!

I think it looks really cool with my new bracelet holder and with my earrings and rings on it! I've never really had anything to display jewelry on! I think that since I'm starting a "big girl job" I should start accessorizing better and so I think this is a great start! I will keep y'all updated on my new life here! Till then God Bless and Gig Em'!

Mackenzy

Crafty Me!

So since the last time I posted, I accepted an internship position this summer! I don't know much about it yet except that I think it is going to be a wonderful opportunity that will hopefully open doors for me! The only downside so far is that it required me to leave Texas! I am now located in Charlotte, North Carolina and so far so good!! I had been to North Carolina twice before (Asheville and Raleigh) but never to Charlotte! And to my astonishment...its a large city!! I was under the impression that it was just a large town (kinda like where I grew up) so driving into the city and seeing skyscrapers around me was quite shocking!!! I am living close to the UNCC (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) campus which makes me feel like I am back in College Station and close to my beloved Texas A&M University!

It is so strange to be in a town where the three people I've met so far have 1) never been to Texas or 2) haven't even heard of Texas A&M! They didn't even know who Johnny Football was (kinda to my relief and hopefully a blow to his large ego). Everybody just seems more interested and flabbergasted that I picked up and drove 20+ hours to get here and packed so sparsely! I actually didn't pack all that much so my room looks a bit empty but I have all I need to live for the next seven weeks!

So to brighten my room up a bit, I decided to go to the local Goodwill (a favorite store of mine), WalMart, and Target to find cheap and little things to make my room homelier!  My first stop was at Goodwill where I found a small brass candle holder (at least that's what I think it is). It wasn't very shiny but it was heavy and durable! I discovered while unpacking my room yesterday that I didn't have anything to display my jewelry! So I decided to buy the $3 brass thing and paint it and turn it into a small bracelet stand! Check it out!!

I felt like that splash of color was exactly what I needed and I can't wait for it to dry and start using it!!! Because it was a brass stand, I was worried that plain acrylic paint would be very thorough in covering the surfaces while still showing the small details like the small lines along the edges! So I thought that good ol' wall paint would be the best paint for the job! So I went to WalMart next and purchased a Better Homes and Garden paint sample for $2! This is a great way to buy paint but not have a ton left over!! It also comes with a small brush inside for easy painting (and I didn't have to purchase a brush)!

If I buy anything else that I think can be painted, I'll use the leftover paint I have and color it up!!! So all in all, this simple craft ended up costing me $5 for a sturdy and colorful bracelet stand!!! Who knows..maybe I could use it for other things later!! 

I'll keep you updated on my new life in Charlotte and with other crafty things that might happen!! But till then God bless and Gig Em'!!

Kenzy

New Adventures!!

Hello everybody!!! So this blog was originally for my life abroad...obviously that went so well that I never had time to write!!!! I left ya'll hanging in Ireland!! Well I made it back to the U.S. of A. and am in my senior year of college (OMIGOSH). I didn't know what to do with this blog when I got back so I just kinda left it lonely as a tab at the top of my browser page. Then recently I thought to my self "Self, your adventures didn't stop when you got home!" Indeed, the biggest adventure of my life is approaching at a speed of TERRIFYING and EXCITING: the "real world".

So I've decided that I am going to re-start this blog because my life is also full of little adventures as well! I'll keep you updated on new things in my life as well as personal reviews of movies I've recently seen, books I've read, jobs I've applied for, and other little adventures in between! I have been so blessed with opportunity and passion, and I can't wait to start sharing that with everyone....AGAIN! So keep comin' back here and I will try to as well!!! Until the next time..Gig Em' and God Bless!
Mackenzy

Irish Adventure Part 1: P.S. I Love Dublin!

I am here!!!! I'm alive!!! I know that I have been MIA for the past couple weeks but my life has been JAM-PACKED! I'll start off this blog with the first half of my Spring Break in Ireland....DUBLIN!!! I was so blessed to be a part of this trip with some wonderful girls!

Day 1: We woke up really early to get on a bus from Granada to Malaga! We had a flight from Malaga to Dublin at noon so we needed to take an early bus. It was a long morning and when we finally got to Dublin we had to take one more bus to our hostel! The hostel we stayed at was AWESOME! We stayed at the Globetrotters Hostel in Dublin which is an amazing place to stay if you are traveling to Dublin. The staff was TOP-NOTCH and very helpful! If you want to check it out their site is right here. The first night we went to a delicious restaurant called Bobo's that had delicious burgers and then we went on a small night-tour of the city of Dublin. One of the girls on our trip had a friend in Dublin who is studying abroad who gave us a tour of the city which was awesome because she knew all about the town which is BEAUTIFUL! The next day we started our day off early and it was SNOWING!! It was awesome! I hadn't seen snow since my freshman year at college so I was pumped. I think the expression on my face says it all!

I was so COLD. It was great! The hat I'm wearing was a gift that a really fun and sweet German guy gave to me there in the hostel. He and his friend were two other guests in our hostel room and them and the rest of my group had so much fun together! But I will talk about our new friends in my post about Galway! For now, check out some pictures of beautiful Dublin!

SNOW!!!!

We had so much fun walking around the city and shopping and seeing all the cool sights in town!! One of the coolest things about our day though was the Guinness Storehouse!  Now if you know me, you know that I am not a drinker. While there are many reasons why I choose not to drink, one of the main reasons is the taste is not my favorite. I'd rather have a cold, crisp Diet Coke any day of the week! But the fact that this company was started in Dublin was so interesting and vital to the history of Dublin. You may not believe me, but the museum was actually my favorite part of my time in Dublin. Take a look at some of the pictures from the storehouse!

If you look closely you will see a face in the "U"..not sure why!

Me with my good friends Samy and Victoria!

A giant pit of barley!

There was an exhibit on how barrels are made! Super interesting!

A quick sample of Guinness!

Some of the old machinery!

The Obama's tasting their Guinness'!

The museum was HUGE and walked you through how beer is brewed! My father brews his own beer so the smell was something that I was used to (but don't enjoy), but it was interesting to see the many steps that go into one little pint of beer! I know I made my dad proud there at the brewery! :) I actually also learned how to pour "The Perfect Pint"! Don't believe me?! I got a certificate that proves it!!!

Me pouring my first pint!

My dutiful teacher (from Michigan) in the back!

After two minutes, I topped it off!

My certificate!!!!!!!!!

My first sip of my "perfect pint"

Yeahhhh...not my cup of tea...

This one was for my Daddy! :)

So that was a fun adventure in Dublin!!! Even if you aren't a big drinker like myself, if you find yourself in Dublin, I highly recommend seeing the Guinness Storehouse! I thoroughly enjoyed it! I bought A TON of souvenirs in Ireland because when will I ever be in Dublin again?!!?! Also, while touristy things were a tad pricy, clothes were so cheap! I confess....I was weak and went shopping but it was money well spent in my opinion! Later that night us girls went out on the town to check out the night-life! We saw a really cool bar where the movie P.S. I Love You with Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank! We went inside to check it out but left after taking pictures!

Here's the scene from the bar in the movie P.S. I Love You!! It is such a good movie if you ever get the chance to see it!!!!!

After that we went to a few other spots and then turned in for the night because we had to pack and then wake up early for the second half of our Irish adventure!!! I'll post that one soon! Stay tuned!!!
God Bless!
Mackenzy

Algeciras, Bolonia, Tarifa

My host family is literally THE BEST. I have been so blessed to be completely welcomed into this family; both Lizzy and I absolutely ADORE them. Let me give you a little run-down on my family here. In Granada, Lizzy and I live with our host mom Amparo (or Mama Dos which is mama two) and her daughter from a previous marriage, Ana, who is 19 years old! They are wonderful, through and through. My host mom Amparo is married to an adorable man named Pedro who lives in Algeciras, Spain, about 3 hours away. Amparo and Pedro try to see each other as many weekends as they can but since Spain is in a "job crisis", neither of them could give up their jobs to move since they have great ones. Pedro has two sons, Alonso (19) and Alvaro (18). These boys are so sweet and kind and such fun brothers to have!! The picture above is one weekend when both Alvaro and Alonso spent the weekend here with Pedro. We all snuggled in the morning and it was awesome! I have always wanted little brothers and Ana is such a great new sister to have as well! So my family is basically awesome!

So one weekend, rather than the guys coming to Granada for the weekend, we all went to Algeciras! It was such a  blast!!! We started the weekend off visiting Amparo's sister, Tana, and going on a walk around town there and going out to eat with the family. It was fun getting to know more people in the family and having fun around the town! Algeciras is a really cute little town right on the Mediterranean ocean; it has a big harbor and you can see Gibraltar right from the sidewalk near the water! It was really cool!

The next day Pedro took Amparo, Alonso, Lizzy, and I to Tarifa, a beach town, and Bolonia, an old Roman ruins site! It was SO WINDY...like so windy that now I now how Dorothy from Oz felt like in the tornado! Check out some of the pictures from that adventure!

This is the port in Tarifa...notice that land mass in the distance? That's Africa!! I've never been able to see a different continent before!!!!!

Look at the tree..that's how windy it was!

A small Roman theater

My brother, Alonso, and Lizzy!

The salt basins where the Romans would soak food in salt for eating!

After we visited the ruins, we went to Tia Tana (our aunt) and Tio Mauri's (our uncle) house on the beach! Its a small house that is right on the beach in Tarifa..it was still SUPER DUPER windy so we only got to walk on the beach for a little bit because the sand on the beach felt like bullets hitting our face. What is so cool about Tarifa is its on the Atlantic ocean...not the Mediterranean! Where these two towns are located are in the province of Cadiz, but they are on the point...so one one side is the Med and the other is the Atlantic!

I colored Algeciras with a red dot and Tarifa with the lime green so you can see the point they are located on!

But definitely the highlight of hanging out at the beach house was the food....PAELLA. Paella is very typical of Spain and it is SO AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS. Our Tia Tana was hard at work when we got to the beach house, cooking up a massive amount of the goods...take a look at it!

Tia Tana and my host mom Amparo is in the pink!

Lizzy after paella!

Yah...we basically INHALED it...SO GOOD

After we ate, we all had a small siesta! We needed one to let all that paella soak in our systems! We hung out around the beach house and cleaned up and headed back to Pedro's house afterwards. Once back at Pedro's we played games with our brothers, watched a movie, and just vegged out. It was a rainy, windy day so we couldn't do much outside. Plus, we were all exhausted from the crazy wind in Tarifa...it wore us out!

The next morning (Sunday), Pedro took Amparo, Alvaro, Lizzy and me to a local walking path right on the water's edge! It was still kinda an ucky-ducky day but we made the most of it! Plus we just had fun hanging out with our "padres" (parents) and our "hermanito" (little brother)!

Me, Lizzy, and Alvaro!

Aren't we precious!?

Flying siblings!!!

The three of us with our "padre" Pedro!!!

These flowers reminded me of Indian Paintbrushes from back home in TX!

I had so much fun that weekend...but finally we had to head back home to Granada! It was so much fun seeing meeting new family and hanging out with Pedro and the boys! Plus Amparo was so happy to see her hubby..look how precious they are together!!

I am so blessed to be a part of this family and that they want Lizzy and I to be so much a part of their lives and meet all of the rest of the family!! They are truly wonderful and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else! So I'll leave you with this quote that I found the other day that I thought fit our family perfectly..."The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you." - Kendall Hailey
Talk to y'all soon!!!
Mackenzy