We are finally back in Moscow after a very long road trip to St. Petersburg.

If you ever come to Russia, you must visit St. Petersburg.  It is gorgeous; full of old architecture and soft white light dimly shining from the countless bridges that frame the river which winds its way through town.  I am absolutely smitten.

I made some awesome strides this weekend with the team.  The girls are fantastic and so much fun and it's kind of nice not knowing what they are saying.  This way, if they hate me, I will never know it so I can just continue on being friendly.  With miraculous effort, I learned everyone's names, accent and all, which was not easy.

The best part of the entire weekend was when I found out that our trainer used to be a stripper!!!! YES! I said it.  A stripper.  Totally unassuming guy too.  I am going to try to make him dance for me.

I am so excited for this little golden nugget of information because you know what this means?  

A LOT MORE SURPRISES TO COME!

I'm guessing this is going to be an interesting season.

So I am not sure if I mentioned to you all that traveling in Russia is a tad bit different than traveling in America.  Planes are not the first choice of transportation.  Trains are.  And much to my surprise, I must admit that I am feeling particularly prone to picking the train over the plane as well.  

Check out our digs!

Those are beds you see and you have the freedom to walk around as you please.  

Seat belts?

No thank you.

On the two train rides we have taken thus far, we have departed around midnight and by the time we sleepily awake from our slumber, we have already arrived at our destination.

It's like time travel.

This is our super cool stadium.  I'm really excited to play our first match here.  Maybe I can get a better picture.

Now that we're home, we have three days off.  I think I am going to call my coach and beg him to take me to the men's game tonight so I don't have to sit in my hotel room.

Halloween isn't even here and they were playing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" at our match tonight.  For some reason, this feels totally normal here.

St. Petersburg

I really wish I could have taken some more pictures of this place.  It was gorgeous!

Some girls from the team.  Thanks coach for the bunny ears.

Going deeper and deeper into the earth....or just down to the subway.

I can't wait until I have some free time to come back to St. Petersburg and explore.  It is such a pretty place...minus the constant rain.  Plus, this entire city is such a great location to people watch and we all know how much I love to do that.  

The range in fashion is absurd.   I saw people wearing cat ears and an entire fire red ensemble all the way to high fashion/cover of vogue amazing fur coats and stilettos.  And let me also state that Paris has failed in comparison to St. Petersburg if they were competing for the title of "City of Love."  Regardless of the weather, I have never seen so many couples outside canoodling, and smooching, and holding hands.  It makes me miss my mister.

I have been trying to waste time before my train ride to St. Petersburg tonight....

I know you are all so green with envy that I get to embark on such a cool adventure for a week

....and stumbled upon a blog with a post that held so true to my heart.  While reading my new favorite post, my entire childhood and my parents' voices kept flashing through my head.  It made me realize that what they tried to teach me was really valuable information and I now understand why they got so frustrated with me when I refused to listen.  I am fairly lucky (don't want them to get big heads since they both read this blog) to have had parents who wanted not only the best for me but for me to be able to be wise and caring and make well thought out decisions.  And to be completely honest, I think they did a pretty dang good job because these values that they instilled in me have been seriously helpful in avoiding some colossal stuff-ups.

I am far from perfect and I regularly screw up, so it is nice to stumble upon something that genuinely makes you want to be a better person.

It's a good guide to use to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Rules To Live By

~Trust your gut, always.

~If it sounds too good to be true... it probably is.

~When someone shows you who they are: believe them.

~When we know better, we do better.

~People will forget what you said, but they'll never forget how you made them feel.

~The greatest relationship is the one you have with yourself because no matter what happens, you will always have to live with that person.

~Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing really are the same.

~Be grateful, always.

~Sometimes you have to take that chance and if you fail, learn from it and try again.

~If you work hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.

Thank you Maribel from My Narcissism.  This is really great advice.

Get Your Daily Dose Of Geme

My brother's girlfriend just started her very own blog and let me tell you,

IT'S ADORABLE!!!

Her last name is St. Geme which is not only really cool but made for a great blog name.

So go get your daily dose of class and sophistication along with seasonal recipes at The Daily Geme.

I hope you love her blog as much as I do.