the fulfilled life is a consequence, a gratifying byproduct. It’s what happens when you’re thinking about more important things. Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly. Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others, the rest of the 6.8 billion—and those who will follow them. And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.

Because everyone is. 

-David McCullough (Wellesley Commencement)

http://www.evokingyou.com/

http://munchkinsandmohawksphotography.com/blog/

bippity boppity boo

"Travel changes you.  As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks - on your body or on your heart - are beautiful.  Often, though, they hurt." Anthony Bourdain

Travel

Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself

Move

Someday

From Top 10 Castle Hotels

Palácio Belmonte, Portugal

Built atop fortified Roman and Moorish walls, the Palácio Belmonte is not only the oldest building in Lisbon, but the oldest palace on our list. Built on foundations dating back to 130 BC, and occupying a hilltop with views of the cobblestone-blanketed city and the Tagus River, the Palácio’s incarnation as a castle hotel is a fairly recent one, thanks to a major renovation that restored its regal status. Its last private owners, the Earls of Belmonte (and their descendants), resided here for 500 years; you can spend a night in one of 11 palatial suites decorated in colorful silks, with sitting areas and terraces with superb views. But that’s not all: There’s an extravagant black-marble infinity pool on site, a 4,000-book library, African and Japanese artifacts, 7th-century brick ceilings, and close to 30,000 18th-century Portuguese tiles that have been combined with imported antiques to create a luxurious and refined air.

Baby's Frist Trip Around the World

Please tell me we are not completely crazy. We just got our tickets for next summer's vacation to Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia, and China and on a very unplanned whim, got a ticket for Lucy as well. I'm pretty sure we are crazy, but I also have this feeling that Lucy will love it. But seriously, can anyone assure me that we have not lost our minds entirely.

seen here from here

LDS Tours

This would be fun.

10 places to see before you're 10

• American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore)

• Colonial Williamsburg 
• Disneyland (California)
• Ellis Island 
• Grand Canyon
• Griffith Observatory (Hollywood)

• Montery Bay Aquarium
• Muir Woods
• Niagra Falls
• Sears Tower (Chicago)

details here

Picture seen here

I am so excited to go to Cancun in a few weeks but I am a little disappointed I didn't reach all my fitness goals before going.  So here is to taking a moment to celebrate the bodies we do have and enjoying them.  Perfect or not, they are pretty great. 

Cancun

Mike and I booked a trip to the beaches of Mexico before they added a week to the end of my school year. Luckily, this week I got our week of vacation approved and I am getting excited all over again. I still have a good bit of weight to burn off but these suits from J. Crew are inspiring.

Oregon To Do

The Shakespeare festival in Ashland - this year they are performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Clay Cart," "Fences," "Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter."

www.osfashland.org

Destinations

yapta.com - site that track the flights you want and find the cheapest

I already got to go on an amazing safari and found that there is something so elemental and life altering about being in the African outback. For years, my grandma and I have been dreaming about and planning another trip to Africa (her first).
http://www.madikwehills.com/
http://www.islandsinafrica.com/
http://www.southafricabackpackers.com/

Classic Digs - mostly in Europe
http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/
http://www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk/
http://www.irishlandmark.com/
http://www.vivat.org.uk/
http://www.statelyholidayhomes.co.uk/
http://www.forgottenhouses.co.uk/
http://www.ruralretreats.co.uk/
http://www.distinctlydifferent.co.uk/

Seattle

Mike and I have a weekend trip to Seattle planned. I love the idea of weekend trips! Planning and looking forward to them is oft as much fun as the trip itself.

• Climb the water tower in Volunteer Park for the "best free view in Seattle," as voted by readers of Seattle Weekly
• Savor Seattle Food Tours http://www.savorseattletours.com/
• Pike Place Market http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/frameset.asp?flash=true
• Woodland Park Zoo http://www.zoo.org/
• Seattle Art Museum http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/
• Alki Beach from "Sleepless in Seattle"
• Discovery Park at Sunset http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/Environment/discovparkindex.htm
• Museum of Glass http://www.museumofglass.org/
• Science Fiction Museum
• The Bacom Mansion (from $89) http://www.baconmansion.com/
• National Geographic site for free things in Seattle: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/deals/freeseattle0801.html
• Frye Art Museum
• Olympic Sculpture Park
• Fremont Sunday Market
• From the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks' public viewing window, cheer for salmon as they climb up the fish ladder and watch pleasure boats pass through the locks. Join a free, guided tour March through November.Roam the 74-acre (30-hectare)
• Seattle Center, site of the 1962 World's Fair and now home to the city's top attractions, including the Space Needle, Seattle Opera, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Children's Museum, Children's Theater, Fun Forest Amusement Park, Pacific Science Center, and Experience Music Project.
• Downtown Seattle, while compact enough to wander by foot, is easily traversed by bus as well—especially from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. when all downtown buses are free. The Route 99 Waterfront Streetcar Line buses, a temporary replacement to the George Benson Line Waterfront Streetcar vintage trolley service, provide free rides through the Waterfront, Pioneer Square, and Chinatown.
• Navigate thousands of Coast Guard memorabilia—from an 1860s lighthouse service clock to the Coast Guard flag used on the first shuttle flight—at the free Coast Guard Museum on Pier 36.
• Each week, literature-rich Seattle is host to scores of readings at bookshops like The Mountaineers, Elliott Bay Book Co., University Book Store, and the Richard Hugo House; check listings in local publications like The Stranger and the Seattle Weekly.
• Amble through Seattle's International District, located east of 5th Avenue and home to a high concentration of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Laotian, and Cambodian Americans living in one dynamic neighborhood.
• Sunday afternoons, boat rides are free at the Center for Wooden Boats, a free hands-on museum that explains maritime traditions and aims to preserve the art of handcrafted wooden boats, located just north of downtown.
• Explore Washington Park Arboretum's 230 acres (93 hectares) of 10,000 native plants in this internationally recognized woody plant collection, featuring Sorbus, Maple, Hollies, oaks, conifers, and camellias. Free tours are available every first and third Sunday at 1 p.m. (January-November).
• A 45-minute drive southeast from Seattle, Rattlesnake Ridge's four-mile (6.4-kilometer), moderate-level trail affords hikers sweeping views.