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Author: Jess

Italy Itinerary + Pictures

Italy Itinerary + Pictures

Day 1 Drive to Florence2 hr stop in MilanMilan Cathedral tourGelato in Florence at Caffe del Battistero Day 2 Spend morning with Pat, my mom’s cousinBreakfast: ScudieriWalking tour of FlorenceLunch: Giubbe RosseUffizi MuseumInside DuomoMore gelato from Caffe del Battistero Day 3 Bus to Rometoured the Vatican Day 4 Guided tour of Colosseum & Roman Forumlunch: Taverna del SeminarioPantheonTrevi Fountain – closed 🙁Spanish StepsCapuchin CryptsSouvenir shoppingCircus MaximusNight pictures of the Colosseum and Vittoriano What a quick, short trip in Italy! We…

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Switzerland Itinerary + Pictures

Switzerland Itinerary + Pictures

Day 1 HikeGondala rideShopping in Adelboden Day 2Mt. Pilatus1 1/2 hour ferry to LucerneLion MonumentMedieval WallSouvenir shoppingSwiss Folklore dinner Switzerland was a much needed break from big cities. We hiked, muddied our shoes, cleaned out our lungs, and finally did a bit of dedicated souvenir shopping. Plus, we had our first full travel day by busing from Paris to Adelboden. Lots of sleep and catching up on my travel journal! Also see London, Paris, and Italy.

Paris Itinerary + Pictures

Paris Itinerary + Pictures

Day 1 Eurostar to ParisLatin QuarterLunch: Le ColbertNotre DameShakespeare & Co.Bike Tour Day 2 Coach TourCatacombsLongchampDinner: Au Grand TurenneMontmartre, Sacre Coeur Day 3 VersaillesLouvreDinner: La Cochonnaille (!)Walked to Eiffel Tower Both Joe and I agreed that Paris was our favorite stop. Even though it’s much more smelly than London, it’s Paris. We had a wonderful, beautiful time in this city. I am already dreaming up a trip back with several days in the city. I also got my favorite souvenir…

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London Itinerary + Pictures

London Itinerary + Pictures

Joe and I just got back from a 15 day trip to London, Paris, Switzerland, and Italy. His mom leads Girl Scout tours and was able to get us an amazing deal we couldn’t (and didn’t want to) pass on. It was fast-paced, stressful, busy, and absolutely wonderful. I’m going to share the itinerary for all the days in each place in one post along with pictures, then a separate post with extra pictures. I’m not including many details but…

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2014 Books Read – Round 2

2014 Books Read – Round 2

To continue this post, here are the books I read in the second quarter of 2014:9. Saving the Sammi by Frank TuttleA follow-up novella to All the Paths of Shadow, this was a great short read to accompany the full novel. I really like this world and storyline and I can’t wait for the second in the series to be released!10. The Last Bride in Ballymuir by Dorien KellyThis was an okay book. It is set in a small Irish village and…

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Embroidering On Paper

Embroidering On Paper

I’ve been wanting to learn to embroider for over a year now and I finally sat down to teach myself. I don’t remember what exactly pushed me to do it, but before I knew it I had picked up some shiny new Moleskine graph notebooks and started tracing and sketching. All of these I drew freehand, though I was looking at a picture while drawing. The Eiffel Towel, Tardis, and phone booth were all inspired by my trip coming up in…

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Moving to Seattle

Moving to Seattle

From the moment I moved to North Carolina when I was ten years old, I knew I didn’t want to stay. I held on to the dream of moving back to Florida for quite a while before it quietly left. So I knew I wanted to move, but where? Thankfully the person I ended up with also did not want to stay in NC. Brainstorming took place in 2010-2011. We knew we didn’t want to live in the South; it’s…

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Seattle Restaurants: Racha Thai

Seattle Restaurants: Racha Thai

For the past several months, Joe and I have had the same weekly ritual. Every Sunday or Monday evening (or Tuesday if we’re really lazy) we get in the car and drive to the Lower Queen Anne area of Seattle to do grocery shopping and to get Pad Thai from our favorite Thai restaurant, Racha. It is hands down the best Pad Thai I have ever had, ever. Since we’re there every week, they know our orders by now: mine,…

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Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

The third year is the charm because I finally made it to the Tulip Festival! Every April there are crazy amounts of tulips about an hour north of Seattle and while we went the last weekend of the month and a lot was gone already, it was still really neat to see. It rained pretty hard on the drive up but thankfully by the time we got there it had stopped. I had been warned by my sister to wear…

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On Meeting Both of My Favorite Authors

On Meeting Both of My Favorite Authors

with Brandon Mull, April 22nd 2014 For long months (years? Yes, years) I have been jealous of the UT, AZ, NV area getting so many book signings with Brandon Mull, the brains behind Fablehaven, the Beyonders, the Candy Shop Wars, and the first books in two other series I have yet to feast my eyes upon. The jealousy has ended! Tonight I went to see him and three other authors I had never heard of do live scene readings from…

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