tennessee vacation - part two

Our first stop in the Smokies was at Cades Cove. We drove the loop and saw lots of wildlife, including a black bear. Good thing we were in our car and there were park rangers standing guard so I felt completely safe. The bear could have cared less about the dozen or so people taking pictures of him from the roadside, he was probably too busy foraging for food.

We drove up one of the mountain roads and went on a short hike.

Just look at that view!

It was my brilliant idea to stay in a tipi. Ebert grew up camping and has wanted us to camp together for sometime but I haven't camped since I was a kid so I wasn't as excited about it...tipi camping was our compromise. I was truly excited about this experience though. All of the reviews raved about what a magical experience it was. The tipi was decorated with cute vintage furniture, had a full size futon mattress and came stocked with everything you need. The hosts even bring you fresh homemade bread, hen eggs and milk for breakfast. I was even excited about the outdoor shower and composting outhouse. Can you believe that? Everything about the tipi sounded so unique and lovely!

But the one thing we didn't think about, and that none of the reviews mentioned, was that a tipi doesn't have zippers or nets so anything creepy crawly can come in and anything creepy crawly did. I can't be certain because I was half-asleep but I think something was on our bed that I kicked onto the floor. I vaguely remember feeling the weight of something by my feet and the second after I kicked it off there was a sound on the tipi rock floor. At first I thought maybe it was the comforter but then I kicked the comforter around and there was no way it could have moved the rocks enough to make any kind of sound. There were other noises outside the tipi we weren't sure about and even Ebert got a little nervous. He would hear something, sit up in bed and shine the flashlight around but we never saw anything. He finally figured out what the sounds were, or at least he thinks he did. He says they were moths flying between the flaps of the tipi and the sound was their wings brushing up against the material. I'm not so sure about that, but at least he was able to fall asleep. He tried to reassure me by saying that you get used to the sounds of the forest after a night or two. You might be thinking that I'm too accustomed to city life and not used to being in nature but Ebert did have to brush a few beetle like bugs off of him so there were definitely creepies in the tipi. I think if we had the safety of a zipper, even though a tent zipper isn't really going to protect you from anything big it just gives a sense of security, I would have been able to sleep but sleep evaded me that night. I would try to sleep but as soon as I'd turn the flashlight off the pitch blackness (and my imagination) would cause all of this anxiety. I'd have to turn the flashlight back on to calm myself. Ebert told me I could sleep with the flashlight on but even that didn't help so I stayed up all night reading.

Once the light of day appeared I was finally able to get a couple hours of sleep. It was really a disheartening experience for me, I felt like I was ruining our vacation especially since this was all my idea- Ebert assured me I was not. But here we were surrounded by the beauty of nature making breakfast on the camp stove listening to the babble of the creek and the birds chirping and it was so serene, but the magic wasn't there for me. What was I missing? Why was I so nervous being isolated from the outside world? Maybe I'm not as adventurous as I thought. And if that's true then what does this say about me? I'm probably putting too much thought into this, trying to find a bigger life lesson here. It could just be that I don't like camping or bugs crawling on me and that's perfectly fine. I am, however, willing to try camping again but it will have to be in a tent and without the creepy crawlies.

We still wanted to explore more of the park so after breakfast we went off to see what we could see .

We did a short one-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail.

If you're looking for a good book to read this summer then I highly suggest A Walk in the Woods. It's Bill Bryson's story of his adventure walking the Appalachian Trial. It's a great combination of humor and history. I haven't finished reading the book yet but I know for certain that the one-mile we walked was enough for me. I just found out that a movie version was made. I think the cast is great so hopefully the movie is as good as the book.

We came across a fallen tree in the middle of the road. It was a fun afternoon exploring.

And the Smokies are beautiful.

However, I really couldn't handle another sleepless night so at lunch I proposed an alternate ending to our trip. Thank goodness Ebert agreed. We left the Smoky Mountains and arrived back in the Nashville area just in time for this picturesque sunset. We're so thankful for our friends who were kind enough to let us spend the last couple of days of our trip back at their lake house. It was the perfect way to end our vacation...and critter free!

Of course, the next morning we awoke feeling great! A full night's sleep, without the fear of something crawling on you, makes everything better. We enjoyed a leisurely morning on the deck eating breakfast, drinking coffee and reading. Our activity for that day was going to be either a hike or kayaking. Ebert and I both really wanted to kayak but the weather report said there was a storm coming so we decided to go on a hike. We figured if we got caught in a storm it would be better to be under the protection of trees rather than in the middle of a lake. The hike was more rigorous than we expected- it's quite steep in some areas and in no time at all I was huffing and puffing. It's also a very dense trail. The path is along the lake but is so full of trees that we couldn't see the water even though we were just a hundred yards or so away. And because of the overgrown vegetation we had to watch out for ticks and poison ivy. Ugh! Then there was the posted sign at the trail head warning hikers about the venomous snakes in the area. Double ugh! Needless to say I was a little worried throughout the hike but luckily we didn't encounter anything and since I survived unscathed I can say that it was a nice hike.

After our hike we had a picnic and went swimming in the lake to cool off. We didn't get to swim for very long before the predicted storm came through, but we did sit under the cover of the trees for a while enjoying the rain sprinkling down on us.

Our route home was through the backroads of Tennessee and Kentucky. It was fun meandering on these roads seeing all the lush, green farmland. But somehow we missed a turn along the way and as we were making our way back to the right road we saw a sign for an artisan cheese shop so we had to stop. We ended up at Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese and it was the best detour ever. First of all, the cheeses we sampled were amazing! They were so good that we had to buy 3 different kinds to bring home with us. The other great part about this experience was just how friendly Jeanette, the manager of the cheese shop was. She took us back to where they were making cheese and gave us so much information about cheese-making and the history of Kenny's Cheese. It was a lovely stop along the way. And, luckily for us, Kenny's is sold locally in a few shops around Chicago.

Even with one anxiety-ridden, sleepless night we still had a great vacation. These past weeks have been like a mini-summer retreat. But I'm definitely ready to get to work creating my happy!

tennessee vacation - part one

Ebert and I went road trippin' down to Tennessee last week. We planned a little get-away so we could spend some time together, knowing that once school starts life will become extremely busy and we may not see much of each other. It's the good kind of busy though because I'll be creating my happy- super exciting!

After much discussion we decided a road trip to visit friends was our best option. Since we visited Nashville last summer we didn't feel like we had to do touristy things this time, so our itinerary included lots of relaxing and hanging out- exactly what we wanted. We spent a night at our friend's lake house which is the absolute best place for relaxing. This was our morning view. Not too shabby.

We spent the afternoon cruising around on a pontoon boat...

And even on a holiday weekend the lake was so peaceful.

But the best part was getting smooches from this little guy...he is just too cute!

If you ever go to Nashville then you must go to Martin's BBQ. We were craving it ever since we ate their last summer so, of course, we had to go there again and it's just as good as we remembered! We also got to have dinner with some other friends who recently moved to Nashville from LA. I love that so many wonderful people from our time in LA, which seems like a lifetime ago, are now within driving distance from Chicago. We're hoping to see all of our Nashville friends more often.

After a few days in Nashville we continued our road trip eastward to the Smoky Mountains where we were going to do some hiking and camping. And that is where I will leave you because that part of our trip was quite the adventure and deserves its own post.

year six ornament

This year's ornament is from Fred Arndt Artworks- another great etsy find. He has about 200 mid-century wood ornaments in his shop. I'm sure you can imagine how long it took me to narrow it down to this ornament. Good thing I let Ebert help me make the final decision, otherwise I probably would still be deciding on which one I liked best. You can see all six ornaments here.

The wall art work is also stunning. I'm currently loving this design.

so this happened last night

Yes, that's me rockin' onstage with Better Than Ezra.

I still can't believe it happened, especially since just hours earlier I posted about how "I wish I could say that I might possibly be rockin' it onstage tonight with the band...but I can't."... and then it happened!

It didn't happen how I thought it would, but maybe it happened because I'd taken some action. I signed up for lessons, I practiced and put in the work to try to learn the song. Yes, I failed at learning the song in time for this concert and I was sad about that, but then what I wanted, to be rockin' it onstage with the band still happened. I love moments like this- they're reminders that by just taking action it will lead you somewhere. It's not always where you expected but it's always where you're supposed to be. That's why this experience was beyond amazing for me. Of course, it's also because I got to dance with the band!

It reminded me a lot of this moment and how one should always trust magic. The unexpected is always more magical than the expected!

Also, a big thanks to Ebert, my awesome husband, for taking this video and being just as I excited as I was!

poland highlights - part three

The last part of our trip to Poland was spent in Krakow. It's a beautiful and vibrant city that feels like it's on the verge of a modern, cultural boom. It still has that old European city charm but it's a lot more progressive than I expected. I highly recommend visiting Krakow.

We took a bus from Chrzanow to Krakow arriving at the main train station late in the afternoon, much later then we planned due to some rain and traffic. The bus terminal is located behind the main train station which is attached to a gigantic shopping mall and is very confusing to navigate through for the first time. We had a heck of a time just getting out of the train station. To catch a taxi you have to go to the top level of the mall's parking garage. Weird, right? But since it was raining there was a line of people waiting and, of course, no taxis. So we decided to take a streetcar but we didn't know where to go to catch one. We walked around the mall with our guidebook but still had no idea where to go. We even went back to the train station to ask for directions at an information desk and still couldn't figure out where to go. It turns out that you have to walk all the way through the mall to get outside and then go under a pedestrian bridge to the streetcars. When we finally figured this out we still had no idea where to buy our tickets or how to get on the streetcars. They run in the middle of the road so you have to walk through a lane of traffic to get on. We decided not to risk this, which turned out to be a good thing because we realized later that had we taken the streetcar we would have taken one that was headed in the opposite direction of where we were staying.

When we finally jumped into a taxi we were over an hour late meeting the Airbnb hosts we were renting an apartment from. Ebert and I feel pretty confident about taking public transportation, living in Chicago we take public transit often, but in Krakow we definitely felt like stupid tourists. Typically we would not stress about any of this, we usually like the adventure of getting lost and turned around in a new city, but since we were keeping people waiting for us it made the experience less than enjoyable. Luckily they weren't too annoyed with our tardiness and recommended a great restaurant nearby.

The apartment was located right along the Wisla River in the old Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz. The neighborhood is becoming a trendy and hip part of Krakow with lots of great restaurants and bars. Our hosts told us to go to the Barka, an old Dutch cargo boat that is now a restaurant. Several other boats turned restaurants line the banks of the Wisla. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy so we couldn't dine on the deck.

After dinner we walked across the bridge and discovered that it was a lovers bridge.

Lovers will lock a lock to the bridge, then throw the key into the river forever locking their love together. It was quite romantic stumbling across this bridge at night with my own love. There was even a bride and groom taking pictures. I knew about this famous lovers bridge but had no idea there are hundreds of them worldwide. Here's an interesting article about how some Parisians feel about these love locks.

The next day while Ebert was at his conference I wondered the city streets- I had no plans this first day I just wanted to see what there was to discover.

I did quite a bit of walking this day and what I came to realize is that Krakow is a very easy city to navigate, once you get out of the train station that is. I would walk down one street and see something off in the distance so then I'd walk down another street and before I realized it I was back where I started. Once I figured out the lay of the city it was so fun and easy to get around.

poland highlights - part two

I can't believe that a month ago today Ebert and I were arriving in Krakow. I can, however, believe that it's taken me this long to share more photos from our trip. There's always some reason for a delay. Eventually I'll stop procrastinating and just get to it.

Anyway, this is the first picture I took in Krakow and it's the distance I traveled on a bus from the plane to the terminal. Enough said, right?

Our friends live in Chrzanow- a small town about 45 minutes outside of Krakow.

This is the main market square and several different views of it from our hotel room. Depending on the time of day, and I'm sure the weather, it was either really busy or really quiet. The nice thing about the square is that there are two outdoor restaurants serving beer and food. You can see the huge umbrellas of one of the restaurants in the following pictures. The other restaurant also had gigantic umbrellas and, from the first picture, is up the stairs to the right. I really should have taken a panoramic of the entire square. Looking back on all my pictures I wish I would have taken more pictures in general, but at the time I thought I was taking plenty. It's funny how that works- I want to see every detail from pictures and not just rely on the images from my memories.

This is a view of the square from the other restaurant.

The streets of Chrzanow. I just love the pops of color in this photo.

A quaint garden we came across on a walk.

Friends since they were 7-years old.

The park. As you can see from the picture the park is very green and full of these lush, tall trees. The funny thing is that they have this beautiful park but you aren't allowed to walk on the grass…

You have to walk on the cobblestone path. There are a crazy amount of pigeons in the trees so this is probably a good thing. It's still pretty to walk thru though.

There are only two hotel options in Chrzanow. We stayed at the Hotel Platan, conveniently located right in the main square. It was clean, comfortable, very affordable and served a delicious European style continental breakfast. We would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone staying in the area.

I could go for this refreshing summer beer right now. It finally got warm enough to sit out on the square. Ebert and I could have spent all afternoon under those umbrellas just drinking beer, reading, and people watching.

These two I tell you…I just loving seeing them together.

Wujek (uncle in Polish and what Gabi affectionately called Ebert) could always make Gabi laugh.

And just look at her smile!

Next up…highlights of our time in Krakow!

puerto rico: part three

Ha! I just discovered this post. It's been sitting in a draft folder since February. I can't believe I never posted it. All I had to do was finish writing a few things and it would have been ready to share. I have been such a lazy blogger this first half of 2014. I don't have any excuses except that I let self-doubt get in my way. Sometimes I feel like I don't have anything worth sharing, that no one reads my blog, and that it doesn't inspire the few people who do. And that's just silliness because when I write it makes me happy and that's kind of the point of this blog. It doesn't matter how many people read it as long as I'm happy writing. Although I do realize that I need to step up my game and get busy creating my happy. This is a great reminder that there's a lot I still want to accomplish before another year comes and goes, and I can do it all if I just stART doing it. Really, that's all there is to it. Just get busy creating- do a lot of work, especially the work that makes me happy.

And, finally, here are the last photos from our 5-year anniversary trip to Puerto Rico.

At our rainforest hotel, El Hotelito.

This was the driveway up to the hotel and, of course, we got stuck in the mud on our first day.

Luckily, the hotel owners came to our rescue and we made it safely up to the hill. However, there were several other times during our stay when we got stuck in the mud or stranded at the bottom of the hill. Needless to say, I hated that muddy road.

But we eventually conquered it on foot!

The view from our room overlooking the rainforest and you could see all the way out to the sea.

A new friend in our room.

Another view from the hotel patio looking out to the sea.

We visited the El Yunque rainforest and hiked to a waterfall.

A couple of sun-kissed sweeties celebrating 5 years together.

And then we said good-bye to the island and headed back home to Chicago. It was good to come back home but we were not excited about the cold. In fact, we're still not excited about the cold. This winter is never-ending and I'm so over it.*

*Eventually winter came to an end because it's now summer and there's no place like Chicago in the summer time.