Posts

Gratitude in 2020

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This morning while showering I found myself thinking about some of the positives that have resulted from "quarantining" these past 10 months.  I feel like we often see a lot of "gloom and doom" in the news because, well, the pandemic is nothing to be thrilled about, but "gloom and doom" is also sensationalist and, I think as human beings, we gravitate towards that. So, in an effort to combat some of those feelings, I thought I'd put together a list of positives of being home way more often these days.  This is in no way an attempt to play the life comparison game.  Instead, hopefully this will inspire you to look back and find something these past 10 months that made you happy or that you're grateful for.  I'm focusing on mid-March through the end of 2020. General Life I'm thankful that I have a job, a roof over my head, and am in good health.  I'm thankful that I have a supportive husband and that we've been able to get along even ...

2020 Goals

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Happy New Year!  I can't remember the last time I officially made any New Year resolutions, but this year I figured, why not?  It will give me something to strive for and it will help me be productive.  On another note, my Adobe Creative Cloud is acting buggy and I can't add a watermark to this photo.  But  this is from our trip to Quebec City's winter carnival in February of 2018.  Though it was super cold, we had a blast and highly recommend it to anyone looking for some winter fun that's not skiing or snowboarding. Read 10 Books in 2020 In late 2019 I signed up with Goodreads and assigned myself a goal to read six books before the year ended. I used to be an avid reader when I was a kid, but over time my devotion to reading waned, mostly due to school studies and, well, life. I surprised myself by surpassing my late-term goal and actually read nine books. Most of that reading was accomplished on flights for work and pleasure because I was con...

May Book Review

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I have a huge list of books that I want to read, but I find myself distracted by activities that requires less attention at the end of the work day.  I used to read a lot as a child ( Nancy Dre w mysteries were my all time favorite), but now I'm lucky if I'm able to squeeze in half a dozen books in a year.  I always tell myself that 30 minutes a day spent reading is easily attainable--and for me, it should be; but I get distracted by social media or Words With Friends on my phone, or catching up with various shows on DVR.  Either way, I need to improve my reading attendance, especially since I have a pile of books to get through! It's a new month, so I'm going to set a goal to read one book per month and then write a short review of it as proof.  Without further adieu, this is what I read in May accompanied by a short list of what I'm currently reading.  I've always had a habit of starting multiple books at once, even as a kid. GEISHA OF GION: THE TRUE ST...

Frankfurt Layover: Rhine River Cruise

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Oh goodness, these photos are from our layover in Frankfurt on our way to South Africa, which we visited over a year ago.  I truly am just the worst travel blogger.  It's a good thing no one pays me to do these.  I also forgot to bring my travel journal on this trip, so no help there for me, either. As I mentioned, we were on our way to South Africa and decided to try out a different style of traveling whereby we do a long layover so that we can stretch our legs and see another country.  If I remember correctly, at the time we bought our tickets, sometime in late 2017, our long layover choices were only in Brazil, Turkey, or Germany.  Usually we book flights with the least amount of layovers possible, and if there are layovers we usually choose those that are shorter.  However, it seemed like a good opportunity to try something different and to see a country that I had never seen, if just literally for a day. I can't remember...

Parading Our Lives on Social Media

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Gosh, it's been such a long time since I checked in on my blog.  Honestly, it's such a time commitment even though I make no money off of it whatsoever and I sure as hell am not a viral sensation.  The main reason I even blog is for the sake of preserving memories first and sharing experiences with fellow interested travelers second.  Unless I have photos or write things down or something amazed me to the fullest, I have the worst memory for remembering the details.  I often remember the oddest details of our trips and can usually remember the names of towns, but since my husband is our trip planner he has the investment of time on his side for recollection of our travels. That said, I came on here because I want to write about/share a story about some free "entertainment" we witnessed during our excursion to Puerto Rico in January (I can't believe we're in May already!).  Yes, yes, I am way more than several trips behind on this blog, but so it...

South Africa Instagram Roundup

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Yea, so, it's obviously been a while since I took some time to write about my travel adventures.  The same old story--I am still incredibly behind recounting some past trips (Bali, Singapore, Philippines, Quebec City, Portugal, Spain, total eclipse trip in the USA, Iceland) and now I can add South Africa to that list.  But I loved our trip to South Africa so much that I might revisit that first before I get cracking on this backlog.  In the meantime, here's an Instagram roundup of most of the photos I shared on social media.  Check out my Instagram for photo captions (hint: yes, that last photo is a hyena kill).  I have SO. MANY. MORE. photos to share from my "big girl" camera and I can't wait to check them out.  Stay tuned! Follow me on Twitter , Bloglovin , and Instagram .

The Great Ocean Road: Birds and Kangaroos and Koalas, Oh My!

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In  October 2016  we took the trip of a lifetime to Australia, Bali (Indonesia), Singapore, and the Philippines.  Because I am the slowest travel blogger ever, I am just now putting all of the photos together and revisiting old/recent memories and travels.  Since Australia was our shortest segment of the trip, we hired a guide to drive us around the Great Ocean Road, which was fantastic because it also included some wildlife viewing both in natural, wild surroundings and on a nature preserve, all in a day's worth of fun. My husband, who does a lot of the research for our big trips, booked our tour with Oceania Tours   ( this tour , specifically) after combing through reviews.  Our very amiable driver, whose name I unfortunately can't remember (because, as mentioned above, I am the slowest travel blogger ever, which leads to forgetfulness of details) picked us up at our hotel in downtown Melbourne.  And so we began our drive to the Great Ocean Road...