#annacoritakelondon part 4: inverness & loch ness

January 28, 2015 ~ corischwabe ~ 2 Comments

Sadly, this is the last of the #AnnaCoriTakeLondon series. I really enjoyed London, Harry Potter & Culloden Moor, but Inverness & Loch Ness were easily my favorite parts of this trip.

Due to the massive rainstorm the night we landed, we had to stand outside in the rain for a good 30 minutes until more cabs arrived. Turns out, the cab situation is not like New York – go figure! 😉 As mentioned in the Culloden Moor post, we rented a car for our stay in Inverness, but weren’t scheduled to pick it up until the next morning. We stayed in this little Bed & Breakfast with the most adorable Scottish host. He stayed up until 11pm, which is when two soaking wet girls showed up on his doorstep for their stay. I think he felt a little bad for us, so we were upgraded to a nicer room with two beds and a private bathroom. This was my first B&B experience, and I absolutely adored it. Especially the breakfast the next morning. I felt like we were part of his family.

On the way back to the airport the next morning to pick up our car, we had a great cab driver. We told him it was our first time in Inverness, and asked him what we should do. Well, when Scottish people try to tell you directions, it goes a little something like this:

“At the McDonalds in the main square of town, take the roundabout and go straight. At the next roundabout, take a right. Then go straight for awhile, then take a right. After you take a right, there’s another roundabout. Go left at the roundabout until you get to the sheep meadow. Then just go a little farther down the road, and it’s on your left.”

Completely how I tell directions at home, but a little crazy for two tourists who just want to concentrate on staying on the LEFT side of the road. The cabbie told us the best place to eat was at this place called DOORS INN (or how we thought it was spelled). He gave us directions in his Scottish ways, and we remembered about half.

After Culloden Moor, we wanted to see the famous Loch Ness. Early in the day it was completely overcast, but by the time we left Culloden the sun decided to clear the clouds, and it turned into the most gorgeous day. I swear, these photos look like they’re taken on a separate day, and they don’t do Loch Ness justice.

We drove along the side of the lake, and pulled off at different spots to take photos. Along our drive, we noticed the Official Loch Ness Exhibit and decided we wanted to learn all about Nessie. The Exhibit was interesting. It was full of large rooms that could easily hold 50+ people, and we had the whole show to ourselves. Each room had a video that played for 5-10 minutes, and then you moved on to the next room. Unlike other museums taking you through the whole story, they gave up the real answer of Nessie’s existence in the first room. We lost a little bit of our interest for the last 20 minutes of the exhibit.

loch ness, scotland — I didn’t have a selfie stick. Who knew those are such a thing right now?

After the riveting news of Nessie, we drove a little further and ended up stopping for some afternoon tea at The Fiddler’s Cafe. We noticed the sun was started to set, so we decided it would be a good time to start driving back to Inverness. Along the way, we stopped at Urquhart Castle, but we missed opening times by 10 minutes! It wasn’t meant to be, but it definitely gave us both something to look forward to on our next trip.

One place that is mentioned in the Outlander series is the church at Inverness. On our way back in, I really wanted to check it out. We couldn’t go inside, but we were able to look through the windows. It was a beautiful church, situated right on the river. There was another castle like structure across the river that looked interested to check out as well. The Inverness Castle wasn’t original, but a castle has been there since the 11th century! Today, it’s the Sheriff Courthouse and County Hall, and off limits to tourists. But, the grounds were so beautiful.

When we were driving around the Castle, I happened to notice a sign labelled DORES 8. I pointed it out to Anna, and our minds clicked. This was where the cabbie told us to go! The sun was almost completely set by this time, so we decided to hurry over to Dores to see if the infamous Dores Inn existed. And it did! It was situated at the bottom of Loch Ness, with a view that was breathtaking. The sun created the most beautiful colors with the clouds and mountains, and it was honestly one of the best views I’d ever seen. We ate dinner in the bar at Dores Inn, as they were completely booked (who knew?). Hands down, best meal and view of the entire trip.

I’m completely in love with Scotland, and will for sure be back some day.

#annacoritakelondon part 3: culloden moor

January 26, 2015 ~ corischwabe ~ Leave a comment

If you have been reading this blog for anytime this past year, you’ve probably recognized that I love the book series, Outlander. It’s quite honestly one of my favorite books I’ve ever read, and it’s full of characters you come to love so much. It’s just such a great series, and I can’t speak highly enough of it.

When we were planning on this trip, we knew we wanted to take a mini day trip out of London. After looking at areas close to London, we decided to take a couple days and travel up to Scotland. I had been to Edinburgh before, and really loved the city and Scottish people in general. Anna had been to Ireland before, and she really loved the smaller towns of Ireland. So, we combined both of what we loved in our past travels, and decided to go to a small Scottish town: Inverness, Scotland.

If you’ve read Outlander then you know a huge part of the book 1 takes place in Inverness. Needless to say, I was thrilled to walk around the “same places” that Claire had in the 50s. Okay, I realize it’s a fictional book, but still. 🙂

One of the most pivotal moments in the book that is carried on throughout the series takes place at Culloden Moor. Inverness is only about 30 minutes away from Culloden Moor, so we decided to go and check it out. It had rained a lot the night before, which caused some of the roads to be completely flushed out. After realizing our road was washed out, we had a brief little encounter with the police about a new direction to take, and we finally found our way.

The Battle of Culloden was not only an important part of Outlander, but an important piece of history for Scotland. During the 1740s, a large part of the Highlanders were known as Jacobites. Jacobites believed that Charles Edward Stuart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) was the rightful heir to the throne. They held earlier uprisings to fight their cause, but were often defeated. The Battle of Culloden proved to be their last, and worst defeat, and would forever alter Scotland’s political relationship with the English.

The Battle of Culloden is often known as one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland. The Scottish Highlanders used to start their battles with a Highland charge, which was when their whole army would run at their enemy yelling battles cries and beating on their targe. When they finally reached their enemy, their enemy was most often stunned and surprised, and therefore not as well equipped to fight back. The Highlanders also often fought with their broadswords and dirks, instead of muskets, which made them ruthless and their battles bloody. However, during this battle, the English had known about their tactics, used the field to their advantage, and were able to surprise some of the clans based on their location. The battle was less than an hour, and almost 2,000 Jacobites were killed or wounded, while the English suffered only 300 casualties.

I thought Culloden Moor would only be a field with a museum ran by one older lady. I was completely wrong! The field was huge, and the museum not only had so many artifacts of the Battle and Uprising, but the museum flow was chronologically told from both the Scottish and the English sides. It was interesting to see both sides of the Battle, what led up to it, and the key players that helped form the events.

At the end, they had a couple museum employees show us how they used their weapons, and we could feel just how heavy they were – easily 10-20 pounds each! Definitely not for the light soldier.

After learning a bit more about the specific weapons, we were then able to go to the field. This field is huge, and relatively flat. There were blue and red flags set up throughout the field to show where the starting lines for the English (red) and the Jacobites (blue) were. Before you went outside, the museum gave you a GPS headset that you could play while you were in the field. Each milestone would bring up more information about the Battle, Culloden, and more.

In the 1800s, the man who owned Culloden Moor commissioned to build a memorial cairn and headstones to mark the mass graves of the clans. How they know where each specific clan was, I’m not 100% sure. Highlanders love to create and tell stories, so I’m sure this information was passed down generation to generation by the Highlander families.

I really appreciated how the museum was laid out. You had to go through the story of the Battle first before you could go to the field. When I studied abroad in London, one of my classes was on Museums. Until I studied it, I never really thought there was a rhyme or reason to the lay out of a museum, or to the specific artifacts shown. I thought the objects were grouped together because they were connected to each other, either by a person or event, which is usually true. That class really taught me that each museum is there to tell a story, and it’s up to the curators and museum workers to tell you that story without necessarily speaking to you. I was really impressed with how Culloden Moor told the story of the battle.

While the Outlander books have been popular for a couple decades now, the mass population are still unfamiliar with stories. This will change soon as Outlander is now a series on Starz that has won a couple awards and garnered some amazing press for its’ first season. I was really happy to be able to see this before the massive influx of Outlander fans arrived and took away some of the specialty.

PS – Part 1 & 2 of our story.

#annacoritakelondon part 2: harry potter

January 16, 2015 ~ corischwabe ~ Leave a comment

When planning this trip, one place that was non-negotiable for us was The Making of Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour. Initially, we were planning to go on our last day before our flight to Scotland. Due to fate and London’s rainy weather, we ended up taking a full day to visit, and I’m so happy it worked out that way. If we went with our initial plans, we wouldn’t have been able to see everything.

hogwarts - harry's clothes — Harry’s clothes during the last movie

optical illusion setup — Really interesting imagery setup. In reality, this was only 2-3 feet long, but it looks longer.

I loved the books and the Harry Potter world that you experience through them, but this exhibit was on a whole other level. I thought it was going to be similar to Universal’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Flordia, with rides and such. But, this exhibit housed the legit sets (on Lots J & K for J.K. Rowling) they filmed on, so you actually got to the see the real physical things they filmed. Surprisingly, the sets (like Harry’s bedroom, Hagrid’s house, etc.) were a lot smaller than they appeared on the screen, but I guess that’s just movie magic 😉

Dumbledore's Pensieve — Dumbledore’s Pensieve

Dumbledore's office — Dumbledore’s office

Hogwarts paintings — This was a sample of the painting’s on the walls of Hogwarts. Most of the paintings are of actual crew members.

Inside of Hagrid's home — Inside of Hagrid’s home

The Weasley's Kitchen — The Weasley’s Kitchen

There was a whole section devoted to just the CGI experience, like when Hagrid flew in on the motorbike, Quidditch, etc. It was really interesting to see what was CGI and what was real, as you could rarely distinguish between the two. They even had a section where you could pretend to ride on a broomstick, and you bet we did that! 🙂

Hagrid's ride — Hagrid’s ride with a green screen for CGI

After you’re done with Lot J, you go to Lot K where they host all the animated characters that are basically the coolest robots. They take you through a lot of the technical aspects of the different characters, props, drawings of the buildings shown, etc. Before Lot K, you take a break outside where “Privey Drive” is located, along with Butterbeer. Surprisingly, Butterbeer was delicious. A little sweet, a little bubbly, but not alcoholic.

Harry's parent's house — Harry’s parent’s house

The best thing about the whole exhibit was the last room. They created a huge 24:1 (24 feet to 1 inch) model of the entire Hogwarts campus. You could walk all around it, starting from the top, and moving slowly to the bottom. Not only could you see how Hogwarts was laid out, but the lights and music drifted from day to night, including dusk and dawn, to really see Hogwarts at all times of the day. At night, the lights inside the buildings would come on.

It was truly such a spectacular visit. It’s a go at your own pace tour, and I think we were there for almost 4 hours. I’m pretty sure we read every single sign. I highly, highly recommend going here if you ever visit London.

PS – If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.

#annacoritakelondon part 1: london

January 12, 2015January 11, 2015 ~ corischwabe ~ Leave a comment

In early October, my friend Anna and I took a trip to London, England and Inverness, Scotland. We got to do and see so much, which is why I’ll be breaking up this story in a couple parts.

I studied abroad in London in the spring of 2011, and this was my first time back to London (& Europe), since I returned home. To say I had a good time studying abroad would be such a drastic understatement. After finding ridiculously low priced airfare from AirFare Watch Dog, we booked our flights almost a year in advance. I was so happy to be able to travel with one of my very best friends to a place that is so special to me, and share that with her. We did a lot of the things I had already done before, but we ended up finding new places to go and things to do. We had exceptionally great weather for London though. It rained one morning, but other than that, it was so sunny and gorgeous!

First Night:
We stayed near King’s Cross, so we took the Tube to London Bridge on our first night. Of course, we had to go see Platform 9 3/4 when were were at King’s Cross. It’s funny how much it’s changed in 3 years. In 2011, it was literally just the cart at the actual place of where Platform 9 3/4 would be (between Platform 9 & 10). Now, they’ve remodeled King’s Cross so the cart is in the front area. They actually have a couple entertainment people there with props, who can take a professional photo for you. If you’re not by yourself, you can just have your friend take your photo (like we did).

Covent Garden:
One of my favorite places in London is Covent Garden. I love that this market is half indoor, half outdoor. It’s very ‘modern posh’ now, but it used be a huge red-light district of London in the 18th century, so it still has that gritty feel to it.

The paella at Covent Garden is amazing, and hasn’t changed. I mean, look at that mussel! So great.

paella at Covent Garden — Paella at Covent Garden

Covent Garden Paella with the biggest mussel ever

Ben's Cookies in Covent Garden — The BEST cookies in Covent Garden

Anna and Cori Trafalgar Square — Trafalgar Square

Buckingham Palace:
Ah, Buckingham Palace. Where the Queen resides, where Kate & Will had their first married public kisses, and where the great Prince Harry lives only a house away. There is a long, straight road that leads up to Buckingham Palace, called The Mall, and it was just the perfect fall day there.

The Mall in London — The Mall, leading up to Buckingham Palace

Anna Cori Buckingham Palace — Buckingham Palace

View of The Eye from St. James' Park — View of The Eye from St. James’ Park

Shoreditch:
When I was studying abroad, I spent a lot of time in Shoreditch. Most of my study abroad group lived in Shoreditch, so we usually went out in that area. It’s definitely ‘the place’ to be now, especially if you’re a young college student. Anna and I went to see it at night, and ended up stumbling upon this amazing food market that reminded me of Smorgasburg in Brooklyn.

Tower Bridge & Tower of London:
The Tower of London & Tower Bridge never get old for me. The Tower of London has been around since the 12th century, and it’s absolutely such a unique site to visit. The Tower Bridge is obviously a little newer than the 12th century, but I love how they matched the esthetics to the Tower of London. I always think it’s so amazing that there are a large group of people who live in the Tower of London, and still to this day, defend the Queen. While most of their day job is now telling stories to tourists, I love that traditions and old laws are still semi in-tact in London.

This year, the Tower of London was celebrating WWI in a really unique way. They put out 800,000+ red, plastic poppies to commemorate each soldier that lost their life during World War I. It was absolutely stunning to see all of the red poppies against the green grass.

Tower of London with 800k+ red poppies to commemorate those British people who lost their lives in WWI

Millennium Bridge:
One of the key bridges in the Harry Potter movies is the Millennium Bridge. I actually never ventured to see that, or St. Paul’s Cathedral when I studied abroad. I also never read Harry Potter until 2012 – gasp! – so this was really exciting to see.

St. Paul's Cathedral — St. Paul’s Cathedral

Millennium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral — Millennium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral

University of Westminster:
This is where I lived and studied for 6 months in 2011. It was so special to show Anna this little slice of my past life. The Harrow campus has changed so much, but it was so good to go back and see it.

University of Westminister - Harrow Campus — University of Westminister – Harrow Campus

Hyde Park & Kensington Palace:
Hyde Park in London is like what Central Park is in NYC. Only Hyde Park is connected to an actual palace, and Central Park is not. Kate & Will actually live in Kensington Palace now, so we were so close to the Duchess!

Anna Cori Hyde Park — A little sunny in Hyde Park

Borough Market:
One of my other favorite places in London is Borough Market. It’s this giant outdoor market that has such great meats, cheeses, pasta, etc. It was a little disappointing because we weren’t aware that the ‘full’ market is Thursday-Sunday, and we didn’t go on one of those days. But, it was still great to wonder around.

I hope that if you are fortunate enough to go to London, you have the best time! It’s seriously one of my most favorite places. The next parts of our trip include Harry Potter & Scotland!

thanksgiving 2014

December 1, 2014 ~ corischwabe ~ 1 Comment

Following our tradition from last year, we decided to host Friendsgiving numero dos at Jake’s apartment in Boston. It’s convenient because it’s the largest of all of our apartments, and it’s a great chance to get out of the city..

We arrived late Wednesday night, and thankfully, encountered no terrible weather along the way. Inspired by A Beautiful Mess (but seriously, when am I not?), I was planning to make these before we left NYC. However, my pilot’s light in my oven went out, so I have no access to my oven. I even called Roberto, my handyman/bee killer, to come help light it, but sadly he’s not qualified in ovens. Insert sad adult moment face here.

**A Beautiful Mess Pie Crust Cookies** – these turned out a little more pastry than pie crust, but still delicious.

The friends that bake together, stay together

Since it was 2am by the time they were finished, we definitely ate them within 5 minutes of coming out of the oven. Thanksgiving fail? Technically no. And, they were delicious.

We started cooking Thanksgiving at 8am. And by cooking, I mean everyone decided to cook when they felt like it, which for me, was totally fine. We were scheduled to eat at 1pm (who eats Thanksgiving that early?!), but we ended up eating around ~~a normal time of~~ 3:30pm. Jake did a great job on the turkey this year, even if that meant setting off the smoke alarm for 30 minutes (no worries – nothing burned but the bottom of the pan). Everyone else contributed to a couple different side dishes or drink concoctions. Interestingly, the corn casserole was one of my favorite dishes! I made rosemary bread and pumpkin pie. Prepping for dinner, and actually eating dinner was a hilarious and entertaining 7 hours, to say the least.

jake making breakfast — Scramble those eggs Jake! 🙂

coloring at thanksgiving — **Last year, we started a tradition of crafting at Thanksgiving**, because duh. This year, Jake’s mom sent us a huge tablecloth of things to color!

Cross word wars — You’re never too old to color

mom's pumpkin pie recipe — My mom’s amazing pumpkin pie recipe. Unfortunately, mine are never as fluffy as hers. And yes, those are my PJs.

pumpkins & sweaters — “Allie, if I ask you to take this specific photo of me, please don’t judge me”. Yes, this was staged.

Rosemary bread — **The simplest bread I’ve ever made**

Cooking my contribution early had its’ advantages – i.e. overseeing the food while drinking wine. (no this photo wasn’t staged).

You know how some people smile when they’re in a field of lovely things in nature? Yeah, this is that, but in a field of Thanksgiving food.

directing the kitchen — Becoming the Staff Director of the Kitchen. Obviously if the Queen had a position, this would be it.

At 4pm, I claimed my spot on the couch and completely zonked out until 6ish. Only to wake and discover everyone else was cuddled together on the couch dozing in and out of a movie. I can proudly say no one moved from their spots until pie time (aka – 10ish). Being the super adults that we are, we decided plates were overrated and just another dish to wash. So, we ate both pies family style.

We ended the night watching Home Alone and falling back asleep for good.

Post-Thanksgiving might have been more fun than actual Thanksgiving. Like any good Nebraska alumni, we went to a bar called Lincoln (right?!) to watch the game. They have the best breakfast pizza and bloody marys. The rest of the day and night were spent drinking and dancing, hence no other photos to share 😉

Cheering on the Huskers! — The only group photo, and we’re still missing people!

sunset over Boston — I almost got frostbite trying to take this sunset photo, so apologies that it’s blurry. Jake’s neighborhood sure does boast an awesome view overlooking Boston though.

How was your Thanksgiving?

bear mountain

November 14, 2014 ~ corischwabe ~ 2 Comments

Did you know there was a mountain within an hour of NYC? Yeah, I didn’t either. I’d heard it mentioned through the online grapevine of articles, but it wasn’t until a group of my friends went that I seriously thought about going. When people tell you things are only an easy hour away in NYC, it usually involves a lot of travel that’s just an hour, and it’s usually complicated. But, this one proved to actually be pretty fast and easy to get to!

I knew I wanted to come here for the first time with my brother, since he loves the outdoors and would fully appreciate it.

After extensive research on how to successfully travel up north, it seemed that a bus was the only option. I was thinking this bus system would be like Greyhound or MegaBus, which in all practicality, are ran very efficiently. But it was not. It did take us from Point A to Point B without any bumps or bruises though, so I can’t gripe too much. We arrived to Port Authority in order to stand in line to get the physical tickets that we had already purchased online, only to notice the line was super long. We, along with 5 other people in line, were pretty confident that the bus would not be able to hold all of these people. But, by the saving graces of the bus line god, an older man who worked for the bus company came over to us and asked us if we were going to Bear Mountain. We said yes. Then he looked over our reservation print out, and handed us our tickets. Needless to say, the other people around us (we were towards the end of the line) were not so thrilled. But whatever – you win some, you lose some. And we won.

After boarding the bus, and being told to go to contradictory gates, we finally sat down and breathed a sigh of relief. The ride up to Bear Mountain was actually quite beautiful. The leaves had just started to turn (we’re about 2 weeks late on season changes in NYC), and there is so much greenery upstate to enjoy.

We took the early bus up there, so we arrived around 9:30am – just as the vendors were setting up for Oktoberfest. After walking around the lake at the bottom of the mountain, we finally found the ‘entrance’ to all of the trails. We decided to take the steep way up. And when I say steep, I mean you’re basically on a rock stair-stepper for 3 hours. There were parts when I thought that my gravestone wouldn’t look too bad on this path, but we soldiered on!

Rock Stair-stepper of death. We walked at least 1,000 steps up, and at least 1,000 steps down.

Just in case you need a break, there is a stone couch available. I would like to think Ron Swanson put this together.

I wore black leggings, a t-shirt, a thin white Adidas pull over, a Pi Phi hoodie, and a Northface Roo to hold all of my valuables (toilet paper – you never know, chapstick, ID, tickets, water and a credit card). I looked like a mix between a Freshman Greek student and minivan-yoga mom, but whatever – you do what you gotta do.

Freshman Greek Student or Yoga-pant mom?

For all the pain that was endured (really, there was not much), it was seriously so, so beautiful. The trail wasn’t busy at all, so we were able to stop and linger as long as we wanted. We took a ton of photos – as evidenced by this blog post. And had a lot of really great talks, breaths of literal fresh air, and roamed outside the path at some points.

Yes, this tree's trunk is wider than I am tall. And it fell over, but I didn't hear it — Yes, this tree’s trunk is wider than I am tall. And it fell over, but I didn’t hear it

We finally reached the top, only to discover there was a road the entire time! What. A. Joke! So, we decided that 90% of the people up there didn’t deserve to see that view. Also, apparently bikers really love greenery and mountains too, because there was at least 20 of them when we arrived. But, the scenery was so gorgeous! And to be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted to drive anyways.

Started from the bottom now we're here — Started from the bottom now we’re here

I’m pretty sure that we broke a record for how fast we scaled down the mountain. It literally felt like 5 minutes, and my aching knees post-hike can attest to the speed. On our way down, we ran into a lot of people walking up the trails, which confirmed that we did the right thing by waking up at 7am. Near the base, there was a group of 4 people who were climbing with full beer steins. My heroes.

Once we got to the very bottom, Oktoberfest was in full force. And we were s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g. Before satisfying our need to eat though, we immediately got in the beer line (duh!). My cider had never tasted so cold and fresh. We decided to go the fast route and just get a huge pretzel afterwards. Then we found a place by the water and consumed said pretzel and beer. Oktoberfest was like a reunion of all people who own jeans, plaid and boots, and I just wanted to join in! That’s such a “basic” thing, but let’s be real, we’re all “basic” in some capacity. Own it and move on with it. I will definitely be back next October for a full day of Oktoberfest drinking and eating.

We walked around some of the vendors, bought some of the best smelling potpourri (which I lost somewhere!), and then went to wait for the bus. My friends who had previously been to Bear Mountain took the same bus service as us and tipped us off to arrive extra early to the bus line. Forty-five minutes before the bus came, we were the second people there. And, I’m so glad we did! When the bus arrived, there were at least 100 people in line, and only 1 bus. I’m sure you can do that math. I’m just glad that we got a seat. There are only 3 bus times, so I was terrified of being stranded at Bear Mountain if we didn’t get there early. The bus dispatcher did call another bus to come because there were so many people waiting. We ended up arriving alive, which is always the main goal anyways.

My favorite vendor - so sassy — My favorite vendor – so sassy

I’m so happy to have hiked this with Mike. I was impressed that he didn’t bust out his knife to kill a squirrel, and start a fire with flint to cook said squirrel. But regardless, we seriously had such a good time. Definitely coming back next year!

tales of mexico city, mexico

October 16, 2014 ~ corischwabe ~ Leave a comment

Posts about London and Scotland are coming soon, promise!

Earlier in September, I was fortunate enough to travel to Mexico City, Mexico for a business trip. Strangely enough, it was actually my first real business trip (I still count Firefly as one, but I had too much fun at that 🙂 ).

The city was so interesting to be in. I was astonished that there are more than 22 million people living there (only 8.46 million in Manhattan). I had heard there was no more real middle class there, but it was so apparent just from the drive to the hotel. We were fortunate enough to stay in a very safe and secure hotel, actually near the President’s house. But, the surrounding areas were very low income, so it was a complete juxtaposition between classes – something you rarely see here in the US on such a drastic scale.

In front of the Art Museum — In front of the Museo Soumaya (I’m a really awkward poser)

Such a cool building. An Art Museum. — Such a cool building- the Museo Soumaya

It was also an exciting time to be in Mexico City because their Independence Day was right around the corner. The entire downtown area was full of very festive lighting and they were prepping for the giant celebrations that were going to occur.

The last night we ate at this amazing little place in downtown Mexico City. Apparently, during September they have this traditional dish that is a giant pepper, stuffed with meat (I got pork) and spices, covered in a white sauce (both sweet & savory) and then sprinkled with pomegranates. The colors were red, white and green to symbolize Mexican independence, and it was delicious! The real name of the dish is chile relleno en nogada. I was surprised the white sauce was cold, but it was one of my top 5 dishes I’ve ever had.

chile relleno en nogada at Azul Centro Historico

Such a fantastic trip!

london calling

October 2, 2014 ~ corischwabe ~ Leave a comment

And we’re off!

Well, sort of. Our flight is somewhere over the Atlantic. We’re told it’ll get here in time for us to leave at 3am – wait, what? Yeah, our reactions too.

We did get a $20 voucher, which would have been more amazing if Jameson was an allowed purchase.

I’ll try to share pictures and stories as we go, but who knows.

Spoiler alert: we rented a car for Scotland. In case you forgot, they drive on the left side of the road. Pray we turn the correct way!

little trip to nashville

September 3, 2014September 3, 2014 ~ corischwabe ~ Leave a comment

For Labor Day weekend, Allie and I went to Nashville for a short getaway. Tickets were cheap and there were promises of live music sung by good-looking cowboys – naturally, we were sold.

boots, cowboy boots — Because you always need another pair of cowboy boots

Inside Printer's Alley — Inside Printer’s Alley

I’m glad we went for just two days and two nights. I loved the live music literally everywhere. All the bands were phenomenally talented and so entertaining. Especially Corey Jackson. You heard it here first folks – he’s going places! Corey, get a Twitter or Instagram account, please.

The people were interesting, to say the least. There were about 17,239 bachelorette parties happening this weekend. On Broadway, the amount of flashy lights adhered to one’s body, too tight of dresses, and cowboy boots with outfits that clearly were not checked in the mirror before leaving, was quite extreme.

We did befriend a man, Solo, who gave us rides to and from the Nebraska bar out in BFE. We yolo’d with Solo!

We obviously made it to the Nebraska bar!

Locals at Tootsies

The people there made for GREAT people watching (thanks, Dad and gma for the skill!). We might have seen an interview take place for the third position in a threesome. We might have seen someone pass out multiple times in the aisle of our plane. We might have even seen a 70-year old shaking his hips like he was the new Shakira. But like all good, touristy sayings, “What happens in Nashville, stays in Nashville”.

Getting ready for the perfect shot...take 1 — Getting ready for the perfect shot…damn the wind!

Keep it classy, Nashville.

SXSW: day 1

March 7, 2014October 27, 2014 ~ corischwabe ~ Leave a comment

Day 1 of SXSW has officially almost ended. The nightlife is just getting started, but that’ll be another topic.

Staying in a hotel room is like the sweetest treat. No need to make the bed, clean the towels and there’s a giant TV to watch Late Night on. Amazing!

When I finally got to the convention center, I randomly ran into my friend Greg. We went to get my pass, and he graciously waited for me.
Meeting was having a pop up lunch station across the street, so naturally we went over for free grilled cheese and beer. The price of entry? Downloading their app. Easy and done!

We walked around a bit afterwards and I fell in love with 6th Street! So cute and quaint.

The first talk we went to was “Digital Cronut: Content & Commerce”. The speaker was Ben Lerer, who founded Thrillist (one of my fav go to recommendation sites). The first 30 minutes were about how traditional media revenues are good, but they’re not sustainable for building something new. Most companies either focus on selling content (such as NYTimes, Esquire, etc.) or selling commerce (actual products like Warby Parker, etc.). For Thrillist Media Group, they first focused on the original Thrillist. But after finding out that JackThreads was succeeding solely on Thrillist recommendations, they decided to approach JackThreads and strike up a business deal. Instead of driving consumers off their owned sites, like most advertising platforms, Thrillist Media Group can drive their consumers to relevant brands that they own. Imagine if the New York Times owned, or invested heavily in, Warby Parker? Both companies would profit simultaneously and tremendously! It was really interesting to learn that by combining, or rather truly integrating, commerce and content together you’re company can not only stand out, but grow to new heights.

After that, we ended up going to get BBQ at this tent nearby. Little did we know it was $35 to get in, but fate being what it is, we ended up getting in for free. There were 7 BBQ vendors to try large samples from and free beer. Amazing BBQ! On the way, we even got to keep the branded mason jar!

Our next talk was “Instagram vs. Vine”. I was expecting a rep from Instagram and one from Vine. But instead, it was Lowes Home Improvement, GE, and Mashable. It was interesting to see the quality of video content they produced for their campaigns.

If you’re a marketer, or someone not in digital, please note that it can take up to 8 hours to produce a quality 6 second Vine. I feel like too many people in this industry, or even out of it, think that all social content is created within seconds with only 1 person. This is severely NOT the case.

Afterwards, we met up with StyleHaul for complimentary blow outs! I love the Texas sized curls!