Happy Friday to all my wonderful friends! Once again, I am going to go for a Flashback Friday post. I think most of you enjoy reading those over the "fun facts" and they are more fun for me to come up with and write. It works out nicely. 🙂

About a month ago, Peter found this in one of our closets.

It completely motivated me to do some flashbacks of what is written in those leather bound covers. What is it? None other than my personal journal from the almost 2 months I spent backpacking through Europe!

total goofball even back then

It may be cliche, but people do it for a reason. It can't be beat. That was one of the BEST vacations of my life. One of the pluses of getting hit by a car as a pedestrian and having lawsuit money to help pay for college + summer before working full time. 😉 I absolutely cannot wait to go back, but I know that won't be for a long while so the flashbacks will suffice. Time to get packing!

We started our Europe trip in London because we were seeing some of my friend's family for her cousin's high school graduation from a boarding school there.

Since we started the trip around familiar people, it didn't seem REAL that we were in England. Even after hitting up Windsor Castle with her family it wasn't quite real I was in another country.

Maybe seeing the guards helped a little bit. 😉

Eventually, we left her family to start the true backpacking experience and head to our first stay at a hostel. Haha. I think every place we went has an interesting hostel story. This one was sharing a room with a chick that laughed and talked to herself...all.night.long! After checking in first thing that morning, we set out to explore downtown London. We visited Buckingham Palace and showed up just in time to witness the changing of the guard. All that pomp and circumstance was pretty interesting.

We also made sure to walk around for the traditional sight seeing hot spots.

Tower Bridge

London Eye

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

There is something surreal about seeing things you had previously only seen in pictures. I remember both of us watching all of the London episodes of Friends before we left. We ended the first day crashing in our bunk beds. That first day, we walked over 16 miles! You will hurt in places you never knew after doing that suddenly. All of you runners who run that much at once...you're crazy. And I say that with the utmost of admiration. 😉

The next days we continued with the sight seeing to things like Hyde Park and the Tate Modern, as well as (window) shopping in Harrod's and (really) shopping in H&M. This was before they were common here in the States, so that was like heaven. We also got some of the "must-have" shots in London. Like this one for example.

We also took a trip down the Thymes River to head into Greenwich.

The Maritime Museum and Meridian Line are located there, along with a cute little town. I did two things I had never done before in Greenwich.

Stood in Two Timezones at Once

Ate Fish & Chips

The homesickness started kicking in towards the last of our London days. It was more just a surprise missing of people. And for me, the biggest surprise was missing Peter. We had only been dating for a month before I left, but I missed that boy like no other. We say my trip helped solidify our feelings and speed the remainder of our relationship along (engaged 7 months in, married 6 months later, etc). Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Even with not even an entire week, I had already experienced a more exciting vacation than I could have imagined. And it only got much, much better. Stay tuned for future Flashback Fridays to read on about my trip. 🙂

• Where is the best place you have ever traveled? Mine = Barcelona!!!
• Where are you dying to go? Australia or Greece!

I want to start by saying a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the comments, emails, and support I have received since the last post. Like I have said before about other posts, I am not afraid to lay it all out there. I think honesty is the best policy. Plus, I know that the biggest motivation for me is when I can find someone I relate to. So by no means will I ever sugar coat things or gloss over my thoughts. Deal?

Now for the recipes. Last night I took a dinner to a mother from the mom's group I participate in since she just had a baby. And her husband is in Afghanistan serving our country. She deserved some comfort food I would say. So I opted to make my own twist on a basic pasta bake and then do some fancier green beans. I have to say I give myself a pat on the back for this one. I never get creative in the kitchen. And yes, this is still a super simple recipe, but I did something on my own without a recipe. Maybe the food blogs I read are rubbing off on me. 😉

INGREDIENTS for CHICKEN SAUSAGE VEGGIE PASTA BAKE

• 1 package whole wheat pasta
• 1 package Spinach & Mozzarella Chicken Sausages
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 medium onion
• 1 small green bell pepper
• olive oil
• 8oz shredded mozzarella
• 1 can natural tomato sauce

STEP BY STEP

1. Cook and drain pasta.
2. Chop zucchini, onion, and bell pepper into even chunks (1/2" - 1" in size).
3. Saute the zucchini, onion, and bell pepper in 1-2T olive oil until they begin to soften.
4. Chop the chicken sausage into bite sized pieces. I used fully cooked Trader Joe's chicken sausage, so no pre-cooking was needed. If you use raw chicken or turkey sausage, you will need to cook it first.
5. Mix the sauteed veggie mixture with the pasta, chopped chicken sausage, and jar of tomato sauce in a 9x13 baking dish.
6. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top of the dish.  
7. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, until cheese melts and is bubbly.  

Note: I totally meant to use roasted red peppers in this recipe, but forgot we were out. I also think this recipe could have used MORE veggies. When I get around to making this for myself there will be plenty more.

INGREDIENTS for BALSAMIC GLAZED GREEN BEANS

• 12 oz or so of fresh green beans
• 1/4c or so of sliced almonds
• 1c balsamic vinegar

STEP BY STEP

1. Pour balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and let it simmer on medium heat for about 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep your eye on it! When it starts to get thick and syrupy remove from heat.
2. Steam green beans to desired doneness.
3. Toss green beans, sliced almonds, and glaze all together until evenly coated. DONE!

Note: I did nab a green bean. It was great! 😉