World Youth Day

I am very excited to share that I will be attending World Youth Day, July 23 – 28, 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (pictured below). This international event is held every 2-3 years and attracts millions of youth from all over the world!! During World Youth Day I will learn about my faith, attend cultural events, and share my faith life with the worldwide Church. There is also an agenda of major events such as Opening Mass, Papal Welcome Ceremony, Stations of the Cross, the Vigil of Youth with the Pope, and the Final Mass. World Youth Day is far more than just another trip for me. It is a pilgrimage, a journey one makes to a sacred place for an increase of faith, hope and love. I am anxious to see what God has in store for me and anticipate the experience to be deeply meaningful. I will be making this pilgrimage with 13 other youth from my church and surrounding parishes. Lucky for me youth is defined by anyone 18-35 years old! Our team has begun fundraising and I ask for your prayers as I prepare for what will be a tremendous blessing.

Another Half-Marathon!

I participated in my 4th Half-Marathon this past Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012. It was the Women's Half-Marathon in Indianapolis. This is the first out of town race I have done. Friday night when I went to bed I was expecting to wake up to rain from hurricaine Isaac, but to my surprise the rain held off and we were able to complete the whole race with no rain! My training began at the end of May and continued through the summer. Instead of training with a group like I have done in the past all of my training was done independently. I was worried about keeping myself motivated, but it really wasn't as hard as I thought. The one drawback of not training with a group is that I didn't push myself to keep up with anyone so I found that my mile times were slower than in the past. My goal is always just to finish the race and I did, barely :-) My legs started to give out on me after mile 8 and once I got to mile 10 they were pretty much numb so I had to walk the last 3 miles which really added on to my time. So I finished in 3 hours and 8 minutes. I am still quite proud of myself and would never have dreamed I would compete in 4 half-marathons!! I plan on taking a break from half-marathons because the training is so intense. My goal is to keep running and participate in some 5K races. Here is my after race picture - I couldn't even stand up at this point!

Rome & Paris 2012

Here are the pictures from my spring break trip to Rome & Paris.  I went with my good friend Andrea.  We had a really good time.  The weather was fantastic and we were able to see everything we planned on.  Rome was just as special the second time around for me :-)  I also really enjoyed Paris.  The city was very easy to navigate using the underground metro.  The people were friendly and there was no shortage of delicious pastries and crepes :-)
I can't really pick out a favorite place, but I did enjoy touring Versailles and learning some of the history behind it.  We also went to several museums and saw some very famous paintings by Monet, Picaso, Renoir, etc.  Most of those pieces we weren't able to take any pictures of.
Overall, it was another very successful and exciting travel adventure for me!!

New Year, New Adventures

I am really looking forward to 2012 and what adventures lie ahead. I started this blog in 2009 after traveling to South Africa for a volunteer abroad trip. In the past 2 1/2 years I have managed to continue my travels (Rome, Costa Rica, New York City(twice), and a cruise to Mexico). As long as this list is the list of places I still want to see is longer :-) So I am not slowing down. In late March I will be going back to Rome and seeing a new city - PARIS!!! I will be using my week off for spring break. My friend, Andrea, will be going with me. We are going to Rome first for a couple of days. This will be Andrea's first time there and I couldn't say no to more pizza, pasta, and gelato! We will be spening the rest of our trip in Paris exploring the big sites of the city.

In 2011 I joined the Youth Ministry Leadership Team at my church and have helped in planning a mission trip to Nashville, TN for this summer. We have about 30 youth signed up to go and I will be joining them as an adult leader. I am really excited for this trip. It will be my first mission trip in the US.

In addition, I plan to do another Half-Marathon this year making it my 4th!! I am also looking forward to lots of time spent with friends and family this year. Watching my nieces and nephews grow up and soaking up as much Aunt Dena time as I can! I am very blessed and I think 2012 is going to be a great year!