Twins!

On New Year's Eve with my darling Deanna!

Home

It feels good to be home after 16 months away. I'm lucky we managed to get snow Christmas Eve and Boxing Day! Right now I'm loving up my family before heading down to Richmond to love up my friends.

A little jaunt to Ireland

Hey y'all, I finally made it to Ireland! It's so close, and I already had to cancel a previous trip, but finally! Anywho, we spent Friday in Dublin, Saturday touring around the beautiful Galway and Cliffs of Mohr, then spent our last day exploring the rest of Dublin before our early morning flight. Here are a few photos including the Trinity college library where Oscar Wilde studied and the Cliffs of Mohr and Temple bar.

Text messages from abroad part 3

I text my sister something that crippled me with laughter at a comedy show "Mr. Meowgi!!!" Her response was this photo. That is not cat related in anyway and I'm disappointed. But HI JOSH!!

Estonia's old town

Not a bad view, right?

Estonia

Hey y'all, I'm in the chilly city of Tallinn, Estonia! Here's a little something from a wander around the city.

I love London

This never gets old

Guy Fox day

Celebrating bond fire weekend or Guy Fox day in London has been real sparkly! It's basically involved random fire works for the past 3 weeks and with the Indian celebration of Dawali I've been hitting the sparklers pretty hard. Here's are a few photos!

Fall y'all

Guys and gals, it's looking like a mighty fine fall here.

Adventures back east part 1

Here are a few photos from adventures in Bratislava, Slovakia. Guys, this place is cute! But very small, so I also managed to escape via van and a Canadian friend to Vienna, Austria. Seriously, I've spent the day roaming the old town and through the palace grounds in a romantic stupor. I'm not really sure what Vienna is doing to me, but I don't want to leave. Also I attempted to eat an entire schnitzel and lets just say I was defeated, but not for lack of trying.

The first 4 photographs are from adventures in Bratislava, Slovakia . The next 3 are from roaming around Vienna, Austria.

Around town

This past Friday the roommates got together to celebrate "summer" with one of the many music festivals London host, LoveBox. Generally we had a few adult beverages and danced the day away and ended the night watching Hot Chip. Think the night stopped there? Oh no! We topped the successful night off with a delicious pizza. Living the good life I tell ya! Here are a few photos from the festivities!

Text messages from abroad, part 2

I think this might be a regular posting topic from now on. Here's a little treat my sister sent of her beastly animal.

Stormin' the castle!

From a paddle boat in the shape of dolphins with one frenchie, an Aussie and me. Lithuania you have been good fun!

Lithuania

Feeling content roaming the old streets of Vilnius, Lithuania. Meeting new and interesting people, eating delicious food, and of course enjoying the local beer. Here is a view of the city that is occupying my heart at the moment.

Best ever?

Jason just sent me this photo from our trip to Paris and the palace of Versailles. Amazing right? I mean just LOOK at my face, classy.

Text messages from abroad

Nothing is worse than missing your sisters, but thanks to the iPhone app Viber these are the hard hitting texts I get from Richmond, Va.

Copenhagen, Denmark

In January Kim and I made a freezing trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. It was only about 4 days, but enough to see it all and fall in love with the Danish people, food, and well more food! Like I said, it was FREEZING! We got a a few bouts of fluffy white snow, which made the city a little bit more amazing. There was even a new princess born and we managed to see the changing of the guards who played the congratulations song at the palace. The best thing about Copenhagen would have to be the people, they were all so helpful and kind, living up to their lifestyle of being "cozy". 

Did you know Hans Christian Anderson is from Copenhagen? He wanted to start as a chorus singer, however ended that quickly and became their most famous writer of children's stories. Here's the little mermaid statue set in the outskirts of town. 

Here's hoping I'll get there in the summer to enjoy the city without clattering teeth!

ORLY?

I saw this over on the Time Out London website and thought that it was pretty cool. It's amazing to think about what goes on in this city and you have no idea. 

A little London love

Life doesn't suck when you're on your way home from work and you get to watch the sun come up over the beautiful tower bridge. Lately I've been feeling tethered to London, in a good sort of in love with this city kind of way.

Budapest, Hungary

I'm in the motherland of my great grandmother! I'm taking in the sites, history and of course the familiar foods I grew up having. Of course, the food we had at home was a version on the great Hungarian classics, still they don't compare to what I've eaten in this great city.

Oh Rome

(The Colosseum in Rome, Italy) 

It's official, I feel in love in Rome. Not with a hot Italian, but with the sun, the incredible architecture, and the wonderful Italian men working the the delis who fed me unbelievable fresh bread, meats and veg and even opened the bottle of wine for me! It was probably my favorite day of that trip. It still amazes me that these buildings and ruins still exists with a bustling city around them and not to mention many sun lounging cats, ha! The history is wonderful and the food, OH GOD THE FOOD! Jessica and I avoided the tourist traps of expensive and low quality pasta in the city and opted to find a little corner deli and get an assortment of food that was fresh and picnicked in front of ruins and on the spanish steps where we drank wine and enjoyed the feeling of the sun on our skin. After all we had just left Switzerland where is rained the entire time and was freezing. One of the deli men, who was quick to say he didn't speak english so I told him to pick, got so excited he kept feeding me samples of the fresh meats and bread and excitedly gave me possibly the best meal of my life. 

Rome, let's do this again! I'll even bring the wine this time! 

Let's talk shoes

So I came across these little treasures and can't quiet decide which one I love most. Don't you think these would be perfect for summer travels? I think I'm partial to the neon, I mean come on you can rock them with shorts, jeans, a cute skirt and BAM! automatically your outfit is AWESOME! So what do you think? 

Pull&Bear- Neon Plimsolls

Pull&Bear- Nautical Plimsolls

What's your perfect travel shoe? I'd love some suggestions!

Family

It doesn't get any better than this

Around London

While Jason and Deanna were here in London we did a bunch of roaming and exploring around town. Did you know there is a Peter pan statue in kensington gardens? It was a fun discovery and reminds me that if you think you've seen it all in London, there's usually something around the corner you never knew existed. It's a crazy city like that, and I'm still loving it.

Paris again!

Jason and Deanna have come for a visit and let me tell you, I needed it. There is nothing like seeing your best friends after being apart for 6 months. It was like we hadn't even been separated, so easy to be together like always. Anywho, we hoped around London for a few days and then jumped the train to Paris! I was on a mission to see Versailles and it was nothing short of amazing. Have a look at the chapel that was inside the palace and the hall of mirrors:

Visiting the queen

It was a beautiful day in London and so a friend and I strolled the city and made a quick visit to the queen. What's up Liz?

Daunting

So every time I think about posting here with photos and stories of my adventures I become increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of work I have allowed to pile up. Then it becomes a cycle of should I? I should, right? I mean people want to read this? Then realize no one really reads this blog, haha!

So here's the deal: I'll post a photo or 2 at a time with a short story. It might not be in the correct sequence of events, but it's better than nothing right? 

Ah Paris! This was the bike I rode around Paris in the whipping rain and cold and still managed to loved it. The leader of the bike tour was a hilarious guy from North Carolina, small world right? We managed to hit most of the sites and also enjoy some wine in the park while waiting for the rain to let up.