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Musings

Musings, Photography

Capture the Colour

July 15, 2012

One of my favorite preschool memories: snipping pictures from magazines and pasting them up to create my very own book of colors. One of my favorite childhood ditties: “Red and yellow and pink and green…purple and orange and blue…I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too…”

To this day, I get a kick out of ROY G. BIV, and, yes, I color code my iPhone apps.

No surprise that the compulsive, creative artist/organizer in me loved receiving Paul’s nomination to participate in the  Capture the Colo(u)r themed photo contest. Funny, though, sorting through six months of travel memories to find five photos turned quickly into hours of nostalgia spent scrolling through more than a few snapshots from home. Little square mobile pics reminded me of many good memories and great friends, and they looked so cute in a rainbow row…

For contest entries and competition details, please scroll down farther, but for a side-tracked walk down iPhone-memory-lane, indulge me and stay up here just a wee bit longer:

Continue Reading…

Destinations, Musings, South Africa

Weekend Update: In Midair Above the African Continent

July 1, 2012

A short note this weekend. Our Mediterranean days have come to a close.

This post goes live while we’re (hopefully) flying peacefully through the air on a long trail stretching between Cairo, Egypt and Johannesburg, South Africa. We’ll have started the trip on a June Saturday night in Beirut, Lebanon and we’ll finish the final transfer to emerge in Cape Town, S.A. on Sunday the 1st of July: our sixth anniversary.

The last time we crossed this much distance, we did it the deluxe way: sixteen days on a couple-thousand mile journey across the Atlantic. This time, without bursting too far through time zones, we’re entering the Southern Hemisphere for the second time this year, and jumping from summer to winter in a matter of hours in one of those modern-marvel tubes of steel. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Lebanon, Musings

Weekend Update: Beirut, Lebanon Round Two

June 17, 2012

This week was splendid. As you may remember, we’re staying with our friend Jodi here in Lebanon. After fairly brisk pace the last couple of months, we are sitting still (mostly) and getting some R&R.

Turns out, we picked the right city, but not for the reasons you might think. Beirut is a distressed city, a city very recently war torn, a place where many people-groups live at odds and in close quarters, a place where it’s easy to spot buildings still wearing machine-gun bullet holes on their walls.

But in part because of Beirut’s history of unrest, it has developed a culture of “oasis,” where there are countless places of rest, food, drink, and relaxation behind the rather disorderly store front streets. Thanks to Jodi and several other new-found friends, we have been introduced to delicious mezze, carrot cake perfection, and beer from the only micro-brewery in the Middle East.  Continue Reading…

Destinations, Lebanon, Musings, Weekend Update

Weekend Update: Beirut, Lebanon

June 10, 2012

Hello from sunny Beirut, Lebanon!

It’s been a quiet week on the blog and anything-but in real life.

Due both to lack of consistent wifi and an intentional choice to put priority on in-the-moment living, I skipped posting entries this past week (aside from Monday’s Portland/Bologna piece).

If you follow our updates in the Daily Travel Journal or read our flying tweets, you probably have a pretty accurate up to the moment sense of our location. Since the end of May, we ferried east from Italy, spent time in a quiet corner of Croatia, over-landed through a slice of Bosnia on our way to Montenegro, peeked at Kosovo out the window on our night ride to Macedonia, and hopped by plane from northeastern Greece to Cyprus en route to our June destination, Lebanon. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Emilia Romagna Tourism Board, Featured Partners, Italy, Musings, Travel Plans

Surprise: We’re Moving to Italy!

April 29, 2012

Time to jump ship. Since January, we’ve blogged our way through South America and most recently left the last tale quite near the docks in Rio.

More than a few stories wait to be told from our final days in the southern hemisphere: a mid-March visit to Roberto Burle Marx’s estate, time spent with an 81 year old fellow working at a 106 year old organization serving the disenfranchised in Rio de Janeiro, Ted’s fishing escapades on Brazil’s Northeast Coast, crossing the Atlantic Ocean for sixteen nights and watching that red equator line slip past the boat’s bow, early-April Easter arrival in Spain, and a 1,500 mile road trip from Barcelona to Cadiz with Mike and Tracy.

For now, tidbits live in the Daily Travel Journal, and the fully-fleshed-out-and-photoed posts will make their appearance at some date in the future.

Today…we’ve found ourselves in the middle of a plan that was never part of the plan:

We’ve moved to northern Italy. Continue Reading…

Musings

Writing Honestly from the Road

April 9, 2012

It’s difficult to wear so many hats on the road (or on the open seas, as the case may be). This outpost of stories on the internet, this collection from two best friends off to see the world, feels wildly schizophrenic at times.

We’re foodies. We’re fans of great design. I love taking pictures. Ted loves drinking coffee. We play the tourist part, signing up for guided treks, sailing the seas on a cruise ship, and snapping cliched shots at guidebook hotspots.

Beyond that, though, we’re thoughtful, introspective people with a heart for people living below the radar. Our experience of deeper truth leaves us hungry for reality. Continue Reading…

Argentina, Buenos Aires, Destinations, Featured Places, Food, Musings, South America

Cosas Ricas: The Best Little Bakery in San Telmo

March 30, 2012

This post is mostly about an unexpected friendship in a new neighborhood and a love affair with my husband, with my life, and with the best cake I’ve ever had (and eaten, too).

Ted and I packed up our bags and headed out the door in the wee morning hours back in early January, prepared to fly off into the unknown and spend the year creating a life together in the midst of continually new circumstances.

When we paused six weeks in to settle into an apartment for one month’s time, little did we know the joy the awaited us down the street and around the corner… Continue Reading…