Shay and I spent a week in Maui in June. It was our first time visiting Hawaii, and most definitely won’t be the last! I’ve come to realize that my “heaven on earth” is whenever the mountains meet the ocean. For some people, this is no big deal. However, living in Chicago without either of these things has made me appreciate them so much more…
Read MoreFor those of you who know me well, you know that I live for planning adventures. I’ve been told countless times that I should have been a travel agent. I create maps and spreadsheets, I go down rabbit holes researching the cities I’m traveling to, and I always put together a very loose (but calculated) itinerary…
Read MoreI remember writing this blog post the week after I got back from Guatemala. I was certain I had at least two more posts in me, and that I’d be sharing more about the experience in no time! It’s funny how life happens and time gets away from us…
In mid-July, EMI staff had completed their review of the plans, calculations and report. At that point, I agreed to give a lunch-time presentation about the project trip at my office. I finally gave that presentation two weeks ago (it went really well BTW)! And now, here we are, six months later… and I’m finallllly sharing more about this experience with family and friends. Phew! Six months, how did that happen?!
Read MoreI returned from Guatemala over a week ago and I still haven’t been able to put into clear, blog-worthy words what that experience has meant to me. I spent most of my flight back rotating between (1) crying, looking out the tiny airplane window and (2) sporadically documenting every thought and feeling I was having while it was still fresh in my mind. I raised some concern for the flight attendants, I’m sure...
Read MoreI remember sitting down two years ago to write a blog post similar to this one. I remember feeling anxious as I shared that I was headed to Honduras to donate my civil engineering services. This time, I’m headed to Guatemala. From March 17-25 I’ll be working alongside a design team of architects and engineers to develop a concept design of new buildings and facilities for a pre-school, primary school, middle school and high school...
Read MoreI flew to Austin at the end of January for a quick girl’s weekend / mini-college reunion. Kathryn met us there from Dallas (I hadn’t seen here in nearly 3 years) and Ciara met us there from Phoenix (I hadn’t seen here in 1.5 years). What’s that cliché about true friends letting so much time pass, but then picking things up right where they left off? Well, whatever it is – it’s true.
Read More"Adventures in Vancouver" is a summer thriller about two mid-western couples traveling to Canada for the first time...
Read MoreIt might be hard to believe, but I'm not always the best at documenting our life. I know, I know... it's basically my job, but sometimes I drop the ball. I'm great at taking the pictures, but I'm not always the best at getting them online. Sometimes I feel pressure to edit like they're going to a client, and then post them with beautifully written content to accompany each photo...
Read MoreI turned 30 on June 16th. To celebrate, my husband, brother, sister-in-law and I flew to Vancouver for a long weekend. This was my first time spending any real time in Canada (I've only connected for other trips), and I can tell you that we will definitely be back! ...
Read MoreMy husband and I feel very fortunate that until recently all our European travels have been piggy-backed onto work trips. This has saved us thousands of dollars in the past, and made traveling internationally fairly affordable for us. I find it important to clarify our past travel budgeting experiences, because I'm about to share exactly what we spent on our trip to Italy over the summer.
Read MoreShay and I got back from our Italy adventure in early September. While we there we visited Rome, Positano, and Capri. I blogged about each city we visited...
Read MoreShay and I got back from our Italy adventure in early September. While we there we visited Rome, Positano, and Capri. I’ve been blogging about each place and sharing with you exactly what we did. After this blog series I’m going to share our budget for this trip (spoiler alert, we’re broke)! My hope is that I can help future Italian adventurers plan accordingly and learn from our experience...
Read MoreShay and I returned from our Italy adventure earlier this month. While we were there we visited Rome, Positano, and Capri. I'll be blogging about each place and sharing with you exactly what we did. At the end of this blog series I’m going to share our budget for this trip (spoiler alert, we’re broke)! My hope is that I can help future Italian adventurers plan accordingly and learn from our experience...
Read MoreShay and I got back from our Italy adventure on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully Monday was a holiday, because we were much more jet-lagged than we thought we’d be. On Monday we woke up wide awake around 6am and then transferred to the living room couch where we ate donuts from Stan’s (ah, we missed you), drank coffee, and watched two movies (one of them Angels & Demons, strictly because it takes place in Rome, no judgement please)...
Read MoreWhen I saw this shirt on sale at Old Navy, I knew I had to have it (thanks for the gift card Brandi)! Not only have Shay and I visited the top three cities listed, but those are the last three international trips we've been on together... IN. THAT. ORDER. Weird, right? So as you've now figured out, Rome is next! We leave the day after Shay's 30th birthday, in exactly one week! ...
Read MoreI got back from my service trip to Honduras about six weeks ago (previous trip posts here & here). Since returning, the eMi staff has been working hard to QA/QC the Concept Plans our design team prepared for the CAFFIN (Centro Asistencial de Formación Familiar Integral) project in Siguatepeque, and now I'm so excited to finally share what we worked on while we were there! ...
Read MoreAfter weeks of struggling to find the right song to accompany my Honduras video, I turned to Shay and simply said "name me an artist", and he replied "Ben Rector". When I searched his name on Spotify, the first song that popped up was "Brand New". I knew immediately it was the right fit! (And once again I was reminded of my husband's excellent taste in music, one of the many reasons I married him. Shay, are you reading this?) ...
Read MoreHappy Easter everyone! It’s hard to believe I got back from Honduras exactly one week ago! The whole experience has been a whirlwind, and even coming back to my “normal” life in the U.S. has been an adjustment I wasn’t prepared for...
Read MoreI’m leaving for Honduras in 9 days! It’s hard to believe I first posted about this trip 6 weeks ago. I'm still fundraising and have raised about 70% of my goal. The cost for me to go to Honduras and donate my civil engineering design services is approximately $2,050...
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