Living in Another Language

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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

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

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

Cruising Milford Sound

Written by: Amanda // Category: Cruises, New Zealand

New Zealand is by far the most beautiful country I have ever visited. It’s a place that Derik and I both fell head over heels in love with, and a place that sends a ping of sadness through my heart when I think about how far away it is from us now. During our time in New Zealand, cruising Milford Sound was at the very top of my bucket list. Strangely, I spent an entire year wishing to visit, and it didn’t happen until our last two weeks there. We went on an amazing comprehensive New Zealand tour with Haka Tours, and I knew the opportunity to book a cruise with Jucy to Milford Sound would be in the runnings of 'things to do while on tour.' It was either that or spend a day in Queenstown (which is equally as amazing for first-timers), and ... Read More

Maré, New Caledonia

Written by: Amanda // Category: Cruises, New Caledonia

We went to plenty of amazing places on our Christmas cruise through the South Pacific, but by far my favorite port was Maré, New Caledonia. Talk about actual paradise on earth, Maré is a little slice of heaven. It's underdeveloped, underpopulated, and just …perfect. I genuinely hope it can stay exactly the way it is for years to come. I'm pretty darn sure cruise tourism is one of it's only source of outside income, because businesses on the island were slim to none. Derik and I had spent the entire cruise avoiding shore excursions (seriously they're way too overpriced…or at least for our budget), but we had heard through the grapevine that buying the bus ticket via the shore excursions desk was the only way to get to the popular ... Read More

Beachcomber Island, Fiji

Written by: Amanda // Category: Cruises, Fiji

Fiji has always been top of my South Pacific bucket list. I don't know about you, but I grew up thinking Fiji was basically tropical paradise, and you've really 'made it' if you get the chance to visit. Although the second part of that sentence isn't exactly true, I was super stoked when Fiji appeared twice on our cruise itinerary back in December. WHOOP!!! Port Denarau, Fiji was actually the second stop on our trip, but it was the one I was most excited for. We decided not to book a shore excursion (hey people, we aren't made of money over here), and opted for the 'let's risk it and see what the port has to offer us' approach. Let me just say, out of all the ports-of-call we went to, we probably regretted this decision the most. You ... Read More

Cruising Sydney Harbor

Written by: Amanda // Category: Australia, Cruises

The Opera House in Sydney Harbor is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Australia. It's not a surprising, I mean, just look at how gorgeous it is!!! Our Christmas cruise with Carnival Spirit began it's voyage in Sydney, directly across from the Opera House. We couldn't have asked for a better way to start our vacation, than to watch the sun set over one of the most picturesque locations in the world (stretching here? Nah). As the ship headed out to sea, we sat out on the balcony and listened to the live music being played at the 'adults only' bar, watched the seagulls playing in the slight breeze, and waved to the group of climbers (no doubt from BridgeClimb) as they summited the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was kind of ... Read More

So You’re Going on Your First Cruise…

Written by: Amanda // Category: Cruises, travel tips

We just returned from our very first cruise (EVER) a couple weeks ago. Cruising Carnival Spirit was such a wonderful time of relaxing (not having to worry about visas, immigration, hotels, food, or things to do), it was just what we needed as we begin our 3rd year of living abroad. Before we left, I spent a couple weeks scrolling through online articles, trying to figure out exactly what I needed to know as a first time cruiser. Sadly all I found was a bunch of people that I'd like to label 'chronic cruisers' leaving comments for first timers that really didn't help at all. I think after 20 or so cruises you tend to forget the first time you hopped on a ship, and exactly what your fears and apprehensions were. If you're just about to ... Read More

Currently on Instagram

Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays, but the ones we get to take are oh so sweet. 

My daughters are now 2.5 years and 6 months old. Life never slows down, but only gets faster with each day we’re blessed to live. Social media may not be a part of my life how it used to be, and instead I’m working on living life intentionally each day as we raise our girls during these crazy times. 💕
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. 💕
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