Ending One Chapter, Beginning the Next!

Wow, my last blog post was in April!  The past few months have been such a whirlwind and so full of change, it has been hard to process it all. I am SO grateful for my amazing ICSB community that made my last few weeks so sweet, and for my family and friends here in Texas that have so warmly welcomed me home over the summer!

I thought I would share some pictures that represent the whirlwind! 

ICSB tradition - teachers and staff who are leaving the school get pied in the face on Field Day!  My students thought it was hilarious, of course!

One of my last walks to school! I usually took the bus but I liked to walk if the weather was nice. 

For the second year in a row, my friend and housemate Ashleigh took our Pre-First and First graders to the zoo!

ICSB High School production of "Fiddler on the Roof" was in mid-May.  The kids were amazing! 

Staycation weekend in the city with these precious friends!  

End of year Elementary Lunch!  Within 24 hours after this picture, all 3 of us came down with a horrible stomach virus.  Not the way I wanted to end the school year! 

My dad and my niece Eva came to visit after school let out!  What a joy to share my final days in Budapest with them! 

So fun to show Eva my school! 

Last time sitting at my desk, about to turn in my end of year check out form and my keys.... :( 

Refreshing fruit lemonades at Johnny's! 

My dad got a milkshake, of course! 

Dinner with some of my closest friends at my favorite restaurant, Akademia Italia! 

Day trip to Vienna - this was at Schöbrunn Palace, so beautiful! 

This was taken on my very last full day in Budapest, June 16th. Very strange and bittersweet! 

This was taken at 3:00am on the morning I left my house in Diósd for the last time! 

What a dear friend Hannah is, to get up in the middle of the night and come with me to the airport!  Huge thanks to Dan Bishop for my final airport drop off! 

About 18 hours later, home in Houston, greeted by my sister's family!  

First meal, Fiesta Azteca!  Had to document the chips and queso. :) 

Flowers and balloons from my new 4th grade teaching team. SO thankful for them! 

Brunch at Brennan's with my dear friend Emily before we went to see the ballet Swan Lake for my birthday! 

July road trip to Missouri for family reunion! This was right before we did a carpool karaoke video. :) 

We visited many relatives and spent the 4th of July with my sister's in-laws! 

Visited with a dear friend, Rachel, who is also a former ICSB teacher!  So fun to catch up with her and talk about the challenges of returning from being overseas!

Quick stop in Pawhuska, Oklahoma to Pioneer Woman's Mercantile restaurant and shop! SO fun!  The food was incredible!!!! 

The best moment returning from any road trip - when you cross back over to the Texas border! 

**Note: No photos taken during the week of my move into my new apartment!  It was ten thousand degrees outside and I do not recommend moving in the month of July! 

But very thankful for a place to live!***

I take it back, this was one photo I did take after unpacking my book boxes. I had not seen my books in over two years. 

SO HAPPY! 

Lots of birthday celebrations in July, for my sister and 

For my dad! 

Swimming with these girls at my new pool! 

Annual Lemonade Stand! 

My first bike ride on a greenbelt trail since 2017!  So peaceful.  

Nice to get some fresh air and enjoy being outside (even though I am still re-adjusting to the Texas heat)!

My first day working in my new classroom - the "before" pictures.  Totally overwhelming to figure out how to use the furniture and the space! Any teacher can relate to this feeling when you walk in for the first time and just stand there, taking it in! 

My first classroom decoration, which inspired my theme of "light!"

  I need to take some "after" pictures now that I have gotten it (mostly) together! 

My wonderful new team!  I honestly feel like a brand new teacher moving up to 4th grade and I am so thankful for their support and help so far! 

My new apartment is near a river that feeds into Lake Houston, so I have been going on early morning walks across the bridge. Such a nice way to start the day! 

My first housewarming gift from my dear friend Alexis seems to be a fitting picture for the end of this post!  I had been looking for welcome mats everywhere and never found anything that was quite right.  Little did I know that Alexis had picked this out for me and it is perfect! 

If you made it this far, thank you for reading and caring about my life now that I am back in the USA! I am so thankful for everyone's love, prayers and support! 

April in Paris!

My friend Hannah and I ventured to Paris over the last weekend in April!

We took an early evening flight and were so excited to be on our way! 

We navigated our way on the train and metro to our little Airbnb!  We made it to the building but finding our unit was a little bit of a maze!  We were exhausted by the time we arrived!

On Saturday morning we wandered our neighborhood, 

finding the cutest little spots like this flower shop! 

We made it to the Seine River! 

And the Notre Dame Cathedral!

It was absolutely beautiful! 

From there we were off to the Sainte Chapelle! 

It is a royal chapel famous for it's stained glass windows.

Next up was the Eiffel Tower! 

 The entire structure is truly an engineering marvel and it was so cool to be inside of it as we were going up! 

Made it to the very top! 

It was absolutely breathtaking! 

View of the Trocadéro from the top

After that we walked to the Trocadéro area for some pictures, then to the Arc de Triomphe and a walk down the Champ Élysées.

On Saturday evening we had tickets to a ballet at the Palais Garnier. This building is the setting for the book The Phantom of the Opera that inspired the popular musical.  

Hannah and I could not help but burst into the song "Masquerade!" 

The entire building is stunning and iPhone pictures do not do it justice! 

The actual ballet itself was quite strange.  It was basically a choreographer's showcase of three different pieces. Very modern, very contemporary! 

We dedicated Sunday to touring the Palace of Versailles.  Due to a strike in the public transit system, the regular train to the city of Versailles wasn't running. We found an alternate path but decided to leave super early to allow plenty of time. 

We were SO glad we did because we arrived at 8:00 as they were opening and there were just a few people in front of us.  We had the place to ourselves for nearly an hour! 

It was perfect to wander the gardens and take pictures before it got too crowded! 

We toured the Palace at 9:00 and were so thankful 

that it was not jam-packed yet. 

The Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed! 

We wandered more gardens and enjoyed some of the fountains before boarding the "little train." It took us to 3 other sections of the area - the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon (which included my favorite gardens) and the Grand Canal. 

Not sure if these were azaleas but they were very close!  A sweet reminder of home! 

My amazing friend and wonderful travel companion! 

Pink and yellow tulips! 

Musical fountains at Mirror Pool - amazing!

It was a very full and tiring day!  We ate an early dinner at a Mexican food place for dinner right across from our Airbnb. This might seem an odd choice considering we were in France, but we were so excited to get burrito bowls, just like Chipotle! SO GOOD.  They even had Jarrito's Mexican soda!  

Monday brought rain and much colder temperatures.  We were glad to have tickets for the Louvre that morning so we could be out of the dreary weather!

The Louvre is enormous and we knew we didn't want to spend our entire day there!  But I am really glad we went. We saw the French sculptures and 

Napoleon’s Apartments!

We braved the crowds to see the Mona Lisa! 

It was a zoo in there but they have it blocked off so you can get a pretty good view of it. The best I could do was a blurry selfie! 

We also made it to the Venus de Milo sculpture! 

Afterwards we were really tired and hungry, and found a place with cheeseburgers and fries for lunch!  That afternoon was spent wandering and enjoying the city on a rainy day! 

The Place de Vendôme, the site of the former Texas Embassy (you know, from when Texas was an independent republic)! :) 

I also found Librarie Galignani, the first English bookshop established on the continent in 1801! 

I had to stop in the macaron shop Laduree's - so beautiful and the macarons were delicious!

I also was excited to visit the famous Shakespeare & Company bookstore - this one of my favorite parts of own entire trip! I walked out with 2 books for myself and 1 for my sister. :)   

That evening we finished our trip with a boat tour along the Seine river. It was timed so that we were right along the Eiffel tower when it lit up and sparkled on the hour. Just beautiful! 

So grateful to have Hannah in my life! 

So much laughter, and many good memories made on this trip!