ROLL tide

Being as it is that I love the South and I also LOVE sports, I have dedicated this post to none other than... the ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE! Why not another Southern (is this capitalized?...MCOM I have failed you...) state? Well, okay I confess, I've only been to Florida (which is only partially considered the South) and Alabama. Reasons for why I visited are irrelevant; the point is, I went and I fell in love with, what I understand to be, the South.

Okay, so growing up in the lovely and calm town of Irvine, we had but a few options for fast-food (when I moved to this glorious suburban "city," there were cows in my backyard, COWS... and by backyard I mean the golf course a mile away... it's complicated). Anyway, where was I, oh yes, limited options, fast food, etc. My dad would always get us Carl's Jr. when my mom was sick, after all, it was just around the corner, sorry MickyD's fans, no happy meal for you. So how is this relevant to the South? I'll tell you. Carl's Jr. doesn't exist in the Southern states, but Hardee's does! I don't think I actually ate at Hardee's while I was there... but I'm sure I took a picture of it.

As homage to all that is the South, I must pay my respects to Blue Bell ice cream, which in my personal opinion, is some of the best ice cream in the world, and I'm allowed to say that, I've been to New Zealand (NZed is renowned, except for maybe in the U.S.,  for its amazing dairy products).

I would add pictures from my travels, but my computer decided that it didn't need a logic board anymore. Unbeknownst to me of course, because I could, in fact, use a functioning computer my last year at school. Sigh.

Well that is all from me today, if I decide that I am not actually too lazy to look through my external hard-drive, I will post some pictures of my trip to the southeast corner of the U.S. So far, I've covered three corners of the North American continent... awesome! Now to plan my travels to ALASKA!!!!!

Au Revoir Les Enfants

LE GASP! SHOES! AT VERSAILLES! dream. come. true.

I have given up trying to arrange my travels in chronological order and thus will fast forward through Florida and Alabama to recount my travels across the Atlantic Ocean, granted I was asleep for most of it, but that aside, I spent the most wonderful 2 1/2 days of my life in one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.

Flectuat nec mergitur
No, the above title isn't in French, it's in Latin if you must know. It suits Paris quite well if you think about it. Paris hasn't changed at any drastic rate since the mid-1800's, architecturally that is; that is one of the main reasons I love it. History, not to mention beauty, seeps through the city like... insert clever metaphor here. Now, to relate our (my mother and sister accompanied me in my travels, and you will understand why it was me they accompanied and not I who accompanied them as soon as I retell our first expedition in this majestic city) itinerary:

Day...1/2: Unlocking the key to my heart! (my Anastasia phase)
My sister and I arrived in Paris sometime in the morning, did I mention it was a 14-hour flight, because needless to say we were exhausted. After deplaning we took a bus to our hotel where our mom and grandmother would be waiting for us (they had been in Amsterdam for a couple of days), except they weren't. Long story short there was a mix up in the email my mom had sent me; I had read she would be waiting for us, but in reality she had said we would have to wait for them since they were on the train back from Amsterdam, and so that led to a emergency phone call to my father, who was fast asleep in California. Anyway, they finally met up with us sometime in the late afternoon. Raquel hit the pillow and that was that. I figured, since it was still the afternoon, that I had to get out and see what I had come to see gosh-darn-it! And so, with my mom, I went to Napoleon's tomb ( I mean what else would I go to Paris to see? Exactly). After exploring all of THAT we made our way back to the hotel and bought some delicious crepes and some sort of cranberry juice that didn't quite taste like cranberry, but BETTER.

Day 2: Call me Liz, your tour guide for today.
Our first full-day in Paris was unforgettable to say the least. It started EXTREMELY early, call it jet-lag, and my sister and I went straight downstairs to update our Facebook statuses, a MUST in today's world. We proceeded to plan the whole day out and this how it played out:

• First stop, the cemetery. Don't remember the name, although I could easily look it up. Anyway, so this is the part where I said my family traveled with me and not the other way around. Apparently I had been to Paris before and new my way around, because I took my family on a very scenic stroll to our first destination. I am sure they would be lesser for it today if they hadn't experienced what I so evidently had planned out for them to experience.
• Followed by the Luxemburg Gardens. Absolutely amazing, I wish I could just sit there all-day long without a care in the world and read a novel or two.
• Made our way to some sort of church/cathedral that was under construction. Some pretty awesome artwork was on display though, and of course I could try to remember who it had been, but I'm sure it is irrelevant.
• Walked back to the hotel and picked up some baguettes to eat for lunch.
• It doesn't end there. Like I said, it was barely lunch time, we had our whole day ahead.
• VERSAILLES!!! Only my most favoritist (I know that's not a word) place on Earth! I kid you not, we walked at least 50 miles that day, or should I say kilometers?!?!? Haha... NOT! that would make it shorter, and it was NOT a short distance to walk around Versailles let me tell you. My feet were swollen and hurt like a mother by the time we got back to the hotel.

This is what my feet looked like on Day 2--cheap shoes
are not the way to go when walking half the
circumference of the Earth in two days--at the Louvre.

Day 3: To hunchback or to not hunchback...

This day consisted of the following sites:

• Eiffel Tower
• Arc de Triomphe
• Cathedral of Notre Dame (a nice ferry ride and slushies included, oh and the soundtrack to Hunchback of Notre Dame playing in our ears)
• The Louvre
• ... and probably something else, but I have forgotten, oh yeah the hotel

Day non-existent: Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Traveled back to Mexico, or was it Los Angeles? I do not recall.

Viva Mexico!

Templo Mayor, Mexico City

I'm not quite in the mood to retell the stories of my many travels to Mexico. My first trip there, that I could actually archive in my brain, was when I was 10 years old. My grandfather had passed away a couple years earlier, and since then we have visited my grandparents at least once every two years. I have always enjoyed the time I have spent with my extended family, and have always made it a point to go into the city. I love walking the streets, visiting museums, and eating all sorts of yummies. I am proud to say that I have never gotten sick to my stomach on or after my trip to this ginormous city. Quite an accomplishment in my opinion. But I guess that may have something to do with eating at my grandmas' and/or restaurants... anyway, point is, there is much to do in this big city, and eating is definitely a plus. Although I've only been to a couple places in Mexico, such as, Acapulco and Pachuca, there is so much to do, and not to mention, a lot of cool stuff to buy! I LOVE IT! I can't wait to explore more of it.

Fun Facts

1. The official name of Mexico is Estados Únidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States).
2. A Mexican tamale called the zacahuil is three feet long and weighs about 150 pounds.
3. Mexico introduced chocolate, corn, and chilies to the world.
4. Mexico is home to a very rare rabbit called the volcano rabbit which lives near Mexican volcanoes.
5. The largest wildcat in North America is the jaguar, which can be found in Mexico's southern jungles.
6. The first printing press in North America was used in Mexico City in 1539.
7. The National University of Mexico was founded in 1551 by Charles V of Spain and is the oldest university in North America.
8. Millions of monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico every year from the U.S. and Canada, though logging operations are rapidly destroying their habitat.
9. The border between Mexico and the United States is the second largest border in the world (only the U.S.-Canadian border is longer).
10. Mexico is second only to Brazil in the number of Catholic citizens.
11. The red poinsettia (which the Aztecs called cuetlaxochitl) originated in Mexico and is named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States ambassador to Mexico (in the 1820s).
12. Mexican children do not receive presents on Christmas Day. They receive gifts on January 6, the day on which Mexicans celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men.
13. Mexico is located in the “Ring of Fire,” one of the earth’s most violent earthquake and volcano zones.
14. Mexico City is built over the ruins of a great Aztec city, Tenochtitlán. Because it is built on a lake, Mexico is sinking at a rate of 6 to 8 inches a year as pumps draw water out for the city’s growing population.
15. Mexico’s flag is made up three vertical stripes. The left green stripe stand for hope, the middle white stripe represents purity, and the right red stripe represents the blood of the Mexican people. The picture of an eagle eating a snake is based on an Aztec legend (see fact #25).^f
16. The Chihuahua is the world’s smallest dog and is named for a Mexican state.
17. Mexico’s size is 756,066 square miles, which is almost three times larger than Texas.
18. Only ten countries in the world have a larger population than Mexico’s 109,955,400 million people.
19. Mexico City has the highest elevation and is oldest city in North America. It is also one of the largest cities in the world.
20. Mexico is the 14th largest country in the world by total area.
21. Modern Mexicans are a unique blend of many ancient civilizations, including the Olmec, Zapotec, Toltec, Maya, Aztec, Inca, African, French, and Spanish.
22. The first great civilization in Mexico were the Olmecs (1400-300 B.C.) who established many cities along the eastern coast of Mexico, sculpted the famous Colossal Heads, and worshipped a mysterious, unnamed god that was part human and part jaguar.
23. The Zapotec civilization (600 B.C.-A.D. 800) established great cities along southern Mexico and developed the first writing system in the Americas.
24. One unusual Mayan weapon was a “hornet bomb,” which was an actual hornet’s nest thrown at enemies during battle.
25. In the fourteenth century, a group of Chichmecas (warrior nomads) called the Aztecs (or Mexicas) settled in Mexico when they saw an eagle (representing the sun) standing on a cactus (a symbol of the heart) clutching a snake (a symbol of the earth or Quetzalcoatl)—an image which is now depicted on the Mexican flag.
26. Snakes appear repeatedly in Mexican mythology, from the serpent god Kukulcan which can be found the side of the Chichen Itza pyramid to the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl.
27. The Aztecs adopted human sacrifice from earlier cultures (such as the Olmecs) because they believed the universe would come to an end and the sun would cease to move without human blood. There are many ancient statues of gods sticking out their tongues, such as Huitzilopochtli, which may be a sacred gesture that suggests their thirst for blood.
28. During an Aztec human sacrifice, five priests, sometimes with their faces painted with different colors, held the sacrificial victims’ arms and legs. The heart, referred to as “precious eagle cactus fruit,” was cut from the live victim and burned on a fire in the temple.
29. Shells and stones on the Aztecs' ritual blades symbolized the faces of the gods for which the sacrificial hearts were intended. They would sacrifice between 10,000 to 50,000 victims per year. Under the rule of Montezuma II, 12,000 victims were sacrificed in one day.
30. The Aztecs played ritual ball game known as tlachtli in which the losers were often sacrificed to the gods.
31. When Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortés arrived in 1519, the Aztecs believed he was their returning god, Quetzalcoatl, and offered him the drink of the gods: hot chocolate.^f
32. The descendants of the Aztecs speak a form of the Aztec language called Nahuatl. Many of its words, particularly for types of food, passed into English...such as tomatoes (tomatl), chocolate (chocolatl), and avocados (ahuacatl).
33. Hernán Cortés had a native mistress and able translator Marina (La Malinche). She gave birth to his first son, who is considered the first mestizo (Indian-Spanish).
34. Hernan Cortés had a native mistress and able translator Marina (La Malinche). She gave birth to his first son, who is considered the first mestizo (Indian-Spanish).
35. About 60% of the modern Mexican population is mestizo (Indian-Spanish), 30% is Indian or predominately Indian, 9% is Caucasian, and 1% is other.
36. Creoles are descendants of the Spanish people who first arrived in Mexico. Now they are the name of Mexico's small population: Caucasian Europeans, Americans, and Canadians.
37. Mexico remained under Spanish control for nearly 300 years until the Mexican people, led by a priest named Father Hidalgo, rose up against the Spanish on September 16, 1810. Hidalgo is widely considered the father of modern Mexico, and Mexican Independence is celebrated on September 15-16.
38. Spanish conquerors brought bullfighting to Mexico, which is now the national sport of Mexico. Bullfighting takes place from November to April, and the Plaza Mexico is the largest bullring in the world.^f
39. While bullfighting is Mexico's national sport, fútbol (soccer in the U.S.) is currently more popular.
40. Even though over 50 native tongues are still spoken in rural locations, Spanish is the national language of Mexico. In fact, Mexico is the most populated Spanish-speaking country in the world.
41. Texas was a Mexican province which declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, resulting in war with the United States (1836-1838).
42. In 1910, under the guidance of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, Mexican peasants revolted against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz to gain equality and land. The civil war lasted 10 years and took the lives over 1 million people.
43. Before 1958, women could not vote in presidential elections. Women, however, did play an important role in the 1910 revolution, serving as spies, arms smugglers, and soldaderas or soldiers.
44. In 1994, a group of Mexican peasants and farmers called the Zapatistas (named after Emiliano Zapata) started another revolt to highlight the differences between the rich and poor.
45. The North Atlantic Free Trade Association (NAFTA) was created in 1994 to encourage trade among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. But NAFTA has largely failed to lift Mexico out of poverty due to Mexico's repeated economic crises, a weak public education system, government corruption, and Mexico's inability to enforce the rule of law.
46. Actor Anthony Quinn was the first Mexican to win an Academy Award for his role in the 1952 movies Viva Zapata.
47. The Chichen Itza Pyramid in Mexico was named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Ode to Jordan.

The 1984/85 NBA season marked a pivotal turn of events in basketball history. “Upper-echelon talent was in abundance in this draft, including . . . Michael Jordan.”* Jordan had just come off a tremendous season, earning the title of College Player of the Year and leading the USA to a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics.  His marketability was higher than ever before. 
 

Black With a Red Swoosh

When Jordan and Nike agreed to debut the new line of "Air Jordan" basketball shoes, the original design did not meet NBA guidelines for uniformity of jerseys. Jordan's infamous shoes, black with a red swoosh, somehow didn't match the Bulls' jerseys to NBA satisfaction. Three games into the season, the NBA banned the shoe and fined Jordan $5,000 for every game he wore the shoe. The ban caused a great stir and generated Nike and Jordan unimaginable amounts of publicity. Now, easily the most recognized basketball shoe ever designed, the Air Jordan campaign is a primary example of successful sports marketing.

Worth Their Weight in Gold

Nowadays, top athletes are multimillion-dollar brands, coveted not only by teams, but also by agencies, companies, and committees, because of the major influence they have on consumers. Companies are willing to spend incredible sums of money on athlete endorsements. Tiger Woods, once seen as marketing gold, made more money through endorsement than any other athlete. In 2009, Forbes confirmed that Tiger Woods earned over $1 billion in his career through marketing alone.

Brand Loyalty

Several companies use sports marketing to associate attributes— such as success, performance, and passion—with their brands.  From minor league baseball to the World Cup, marketers spend millions trying to obtain brand loyalty and success. As is evident by Nike’s Air Jordan campaign, a well-known athlete can add substantial value to a product. Without Jordan as a sponsor, Nike would not only have lost a product but also brand loyalty. Top performing athletes, like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, have become an integral part of marketing strategy and a wise investment for sports marketers worldwide.

  

* Weixlmann, B. (2008, May 30). Air Jordan: The Best Sports Marketing Campaign Ever. Bleacher Report. 

...where were we?

Baseball digression aside, it is now time to highlight the first trip I took without my parents. Coincidentally this trip was one of my first traveling experiences outside of California.

Who: mature, poised, and ever-so cultured...8th grade students
What: learning?
When: Spring break, 2004
Where: Nation's capital (Washington D.C.) and surrounding area (Williamsburg...oh and Jamestown)

As part of the cultured group of students that attending this pseudo study abroad program--or maybe it truly was a study abroad, details are fuzzy--I had the opportunity to well...how about I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. To be honest most memories from this trip have culminated in a sort of haze that is filed in the back of my mind, only to be opened upon reunion of the members of this trip. The two memories, however, that I most vividly recall are the following:

1. Writing Mia's 7-digits on a piece of notebook paper and plastering it against the mega-bus window as we drove away from some sort of student convention (Why 13-/14-year-old girls/boys found it necessary to distribute any form of digit-ness is beyond me, but I did it regardless).
2. Desperately locating, in Williamsburg, some form of warm beverage to relax my shivering, near frost-bitten fingers and upon purchasing said promising cup of hot cocoa, placing it on my lips only to discover that literacy is indeed necessary for survival. "Caution: Hot" gained a whole new meaning.

All other memories, like previously mentioned, are basically non-existent. But never fear, I documented the travel fairly well thanks to my trigger-happy index finger. Observe.

An homage to shoes at a very young age. Who do these slick leather boots belong to? Five bucks goes to whoever knows the answer.

at the John Wilkes Booth exhibit...or was it Abraham Lincoln's? Regardless, here's a boot.

Posted against my better judgement, this is the only picture where my super awesome Chucks can be distinguished in any way. I loved these Converse SO MUCH that I owned about five pairs of the same shoe in different colors. Yeah, I still wear them, and yes, I still love them. Oh, and...so I was a chubby kid, sue me!

A much better representation of my 8th grade shoe of choice =)