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Archives for 2016

Finding the Perfect Christmas Gift

Written by: Amanda // Category: Holidays, Review, Sp

Christmas is quickly approaching. I don’t know how we got here so fast this year, but I suppose I have to face reality and launch myself full-steam into the festivities: hello cheery music, Starbucks red cups, cute boots and scarves, and lots of homemade cookies! One of my absolute favorite things to do is buy Christmas presents. I know for some it can be a stressful time with so many personalities, tastes, and budgets to consider, but the mere challenge of it all gets me excited. Derik is obviously my choice person to shop for (duh), and I spend the entire year watching, listening, and waiting to find 'the perfect gift' for him. I’m usually a last-minute shopper even though I have the gift in my head months in advance, but this time ... Read More

36 Hours in Istanbul, Turkey

Written by: Amanda // Category: Cruises, Travel Guides, Turkey

Our visit to Istanbul seemed even shorter due to when we arrived: our plane landed at 4:00pm,  we got to the Shangri-La around 6:00pm, and by the time we showered and ate, it was already dark outside. Derik and I make a point not to wander the streets of anywhere we aren’t familiar with until after we talk to the locals a bit about safe/unsafe areas,  so instead of venturing out our first night in Istanbul, we decided to turn in early.  Plans were made to spend a full day exploring Istanbul before we began our cruise through the Mediterranean and Aegean seas the day after. Although we visited Istanbul at a somewhat insecure time (when the mass migration from Syria and surrounding countries began), it was everything I had hoped for ... Read More

Visiting The World’s Largest Pumpkin Festival

Written by: Amanda // Category: Germany, Travel Guides

I had to wait an entire year to write this post. Last Fall, Derik and I spent three months in Germany visiting my sister  (the adorable girl you see in the post below with Derik is one of our nieces) and going on quite a few adventures…of which included The World’s Largest Pumpkin Festival. After our time in Germany was up, we moved to Alaska and spent a couple months getting stuff in order after our four years of living abroad. Before I knew it,  pumpkin spice lattes were no longer in season, and the world was suddenly in full-blown Christmas/New Year’s mode. And then came Spring. By that point it would have been kind of ridiculous to post about a Fall festival — Spring is all about flowers, green grass, fresh air and sunshine. ... Read More

One day in Mykonos, Greece

Written by: Amanda // Category: Cruises, Greece, Travel Guides

Last year, Derik and I went on the most amazing Mediterranean cruise with Princess Cruises for our anniversary.  I haven’t had much time to write about it, let alone go through pictures, and decided today was the day! Mykonos, Greece was our first port destination of the cruise that left out of Istanbul, and it didn’t disappoint. I mean, how could it?! I’ve always wanted to visit the island of white and blue, and with only 7 hours allowed to explore, we crammed in as much as we possibly could! Mykonos was exactly everything I had dreamed about and more. The white-washed walls, the pretty streets, flowering trees, colorful doors, delicious food, and stunning sights. Our short venture around the island wasn’t nearly long enough, and ... Read More

10 Ways Alaska and New Zealand Are Remarkably Similar

Written by: Amanda // Category: Alaska, New Zealand, United States

Derik and I always knew we were to eventually make it back to the United States, and after 3.5 years of making our home in foreign countries, and a six month full-time travel stint through Asia and Europe, we thought it was high time to enjoy a more familiar side of the world. The problem was, we couldn’t put a finger on where exactly we wanted to go, because nothing really screamed "New Zealand" the way we wanted it to. You read that right, New Zealand.   After traveling for 6 months and visiting multiple countries, we began to realize how homesick we were for the place we just left. I’m not sure how NZ captured our hearts the way it did (actually, who am I kidding, of course I know how it happened…if you’ve ever lived or visited New ... Read More

Exploring the Alamo with Jord Watches

Written by: Amanda // Category: Product, Review, Sp, Texas, United States

Hello LIAL readers, I’ve missed you! As much as I’d love to say I’ve done a great job keeping up with my blog, fact is, I haven’t. Whomp whomp. Here’s the reason why (not that you’re concerned about it): Derik and I moved again — this time to Texas! I also managed to squeeze in another trip to Europe last month, so between the two, I’ve had little to zero time for personal blogging. I have however kept up with my IG account, so if you want a quick recap of what we’ve been up to, check in there. That being said, I really miss blogging. I have so much accumulated material to share with you from the last year +, I could probably blog every day until my fingers fell off and then some. I’m also considering a name change/re-brand (domain has ... Read More

Exploring Kenai Fjords National Park with Major Marine Tours

Written by: Amanda // Category: Alaska, Cruises, Review, Tour Reviews, United States

First of all, I can’t believe it’s been since May that I’ve blogged. I didn’t mean to take such a long break — I was trying to soak up every last minute I had in Alaska before leaving. I’ll be posting all about our adventures hopefully for the rest of this month and next, so we can move on to other things and new destinations! I’m super excited to share with you today about our time touring the gorgeous Kenai Fjords National Park with Major Marine Tours! I had a really good friend from Germany come visit me the last few weeks of June, and we wanted to take a cruise to see both the glaciers AND wildlife, and couldn’t quite decide what tour to choose. This is where Major Marine comes in, they had such a variety of cruise tours on their ... Read More

Hiking Bodenburg Butte

Written by: Amanda // Category: Alaska, Product, Review, United States

Oh hi, just checking in with you all once again from the lovely and blooming state of Alaska! The weather has been absolutely stunning the last few weeks, and instead of snow, we have bright green leaves, pollen (boo), and muddy hiking trails. Because it’s been so nice, the snow boots have been swapped out for hiking shoes, and the siren call of the outdoors has us enchanted and ready for adventure. There was one particular day a few weeks ago that was overly gorgeous, so my good friends (with their awesome dog Reggie) and I hit up Bodenburg Butte, which is a low mountaintop 16 miles from where I live. I grabbed my new Jord Wood Watch for our hike, because a watch that reflects my love of adventure and outdoors deserves to participate on ... Read More

6 Tricks to Enhance your Images

Written by: Amanda // Category: Photography, Photography Tutorial

I get asked a lot about what camera I use / how I edit blog photos, and today I thought I would share a bit about how things work for me after a picture is taken and before I share them with the world. Although having an eye for composition and knowledge of proper camera settings is definitely key to taking and publishing good pictures, what’s done to the photo in post-production can still make or break a photograph. This post might also serve as a crash-course introduction to using Lightroom, so there’s that. Two-in-one? Works for me. Ok so let’s dig in: the 6 tricks I use to enhance my images for posts, social-sharing and more! 1. Shoot in RAW The importance of shooting in RAW versus shooting in JPEG is the fact that with RAW ... Read More

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2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love 2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love social media, I found myself taking a break as the things we were all going through made social media so insignificant to me. 

In January/February I had a miscarriage. It was a horrible way to start the year, and little did I know it was just the beginning of it all. 

Even with the loss, hardship of moving back to the US in the middle of a global pandemic, and navigating our new lives here, we were given many blessings. The greatest of those was finding out I was pregnant again in March.

It’s a scary time to be pregnant right now, especially after a miscarriage, because doctors visits are very minimal. Also, Derik was never able to come to a single visit. I was terrified something would happen and I would be told bad news and have to face that alone. But God was gracious to us. 

We kept our special little secret to ourselves, and it wasn’t until our third trimester before we told immediate family and close friends. My pregnancy was very private for me, and a special time to bond closely with the babe growing inside me.

Our sweet little girl arrived November 30, and yes I had to deliver with a mask on, but she is perfect and I truly feel our family is complete. 💕🌈
 
“When a rainbow appears, it doesn’t mean the storm never happened or that we are not still dealing with its aftermath. It means something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy, and hope.”
I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/mons I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/monstera collector is when you get to behold such a beauty in real life. If there were ever #plantgoals, this is it. 

Since moving from Germany, it has been a long and slow process getting our life back to normal. All of our belongings have yet to arrive so we’ve literally been camping in our house on an air bed and camping chairs for two months. 😂 All that to say, having to start my plant collection over again here stateside has been so much fun! I will miss the plant prices if Germany, but the selection here blows my mind. Anyone else obsessed? We’ve lived here for almost 8 weeks now and I already have 11 plants 😂😬😬😬. I don’t have a bed or a couch, but by golly I have greenery. 😂🤦🏼‍♀️🌱
Oh my heart. I’ve been trying to figure out the Oh my heart.

I’ve been trying to figure out the words to say about our time in Germany, but my fingers can’t seem to type out how to express my love, gratefulness, thankfulness, sadness, and heartbreak I feel about leaving. Every country we’ve lived in has taught us something and has given us so many beautiful memories, as well as opened our eyes a little more to different cultures and ways of living.

But Germany was special. The first time we stepped foot into Germany was in 2015, and we loved it so much we stayed the extent of our travel visa (3 months). I was able to visit again in 2016, and then we officially packed everything and moved in 2017. Germany has always had my heart: the people, the festivals, the food, wine and beer, the immaculate home landscaping, and even all the rules that every resident is just expected to follow to a tee (like recycling every tiny scrap of trash). Our family grew from two to three while in Germany. Bringing our daughter into the world, and raising her for a year and a half in a different culture, will be one of the most beautiful memories of my life.

Our move was impacted by the COVID pandemic, and it took three long months of delays, red tape, and countless phone calls to get everything together so we could actually get on a plane and have our stuff packed and shipped to our new home. 
I am breathing a sigh of relief to know all the stress of everything is over and our new adventure can begin. I am mourning the loss of leaving Germany. I am in a weird transition right now trying to grasp it all, but here we are jumping into new things head first! We are back in the US for a while, in the beautiful state of Tennessee, and look forward to many new memories, travels, friends, and being able to spend time with family! 
Photos from my sweet and talented friend @juliejayphotos
I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas m I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas markets. We went to a total of ONE market, which is exactly 19 less than I told myself I would go to this year to make up for not going to any the year before 🤦🏼‍♀️(I was 40 weeks pregnant and not feeling crowds). I will say, it was a great one and the weather was so nice, we stayed out until the market shut down.

If there’s one thing I will miss most about Germany when it is our time to move, will be the sheer enthusiasm this country has for Christmas, and I’m not talking about consumerism. Food, laughter, friends, family, music, dancing: celebration. Also, Germany shuts down for not only one day, but THREE. Stores are closed, mail is not delivered, people aren’t out and about. Everyone is home enjoying time with family, and I love it. However, I may have gone into full blown panic mode Christmas Eve when I realized I had a total of 8 diapers to get us through until the 27th. 👀
We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whist We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whistler, Canada! A 10 hour flight from Germany , and I can’t say this one was better than the one we took over the summer on our trip to Alaska, but we survived! Entertaining a 11 month old for that long is much harder than a 6 month old, especially when they aren’t into sleeping on the plane AT ALL. 🤪

Whistler was beautiful despite the lack of snow, and we enjoyed our time with family, the delicious food, and as much sightseeing as one could do with a jet-lagged baby. 
This was actually my first trip to Canada ever, (unless you want to count the move my parents took up to Alaska from Arkansas when I was two. 😂🤷‍♀️ ) and I loved it! We would really like to take a big Canadian road trip someday and explore more of the country! 😍😍🇨🇦
Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time t Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time to put myself together, but I would rather spend the extra moments making special memories with our daughter that she can cherish forever. I doubt that she will look at this picture and see a tired, messy haired mama that’s barely had time to wash her face nevermind carefully apply makeup, but am hoping she will see a mama that never tires of carrying and cuddling her, or sharing new experiences with her. 💕
Oh Switzerland, you beaut.🇨🇭 We spent a coup Oh Switzerland, you beaut.🇨🇭 We spent a couple days enjoying the beautiful weather in the land of chocolate, cheese, mountains, and cows with bells 😍😍🤩. If you remember, we visited the same area  a month shy of two years ago but but the weather was quite the opposite! I’d have to say though, when you visit such a majestic and beautiful area, it doesn’t matter what the weather is, you’re going to be in awe and love it anyway!
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