Real life in Venice

We got back from 9 days in Italy last week.  One of my favorite things to do is discover how people life in different ways.  Venice is a great example of that.  In our experience people that live in the city actually have boats or ride in the water bus a vaporetto.

It seems like a lot of people in Venice work in the tourism industry.  Which may involve a lot of waiting!

There are a bunch of very wee alleys!

Very time we got on a vaporetto it seemed like someone had a friend to chat with! It seems like locals live in a very famous small town.

I don't envy having to cart a baby and their carriage onto the boats all the time though.

Traveling to Aspen

Here is Joshy and I after day 1 of driving.  We had just arrived in Boulder, Colorado.  I wore a comfy Columbia plaid shirt, jeggings, and boots.

Here is day 2, exploring Boulder.  I wore a Gap vest, White & Warren cable knit cashmere sweater and Elle jeggings.

Here are the "Flat Iron" mountains just outside of Boulder.  I cannot imagine how students at University of Colorado get much done with such beautiful scenery around all the time!

This is in Aspen, Colorado.

There were some pretty ridiculous houses and amazing shopping.  Can you imagine a Burberry and Dior staying in business in a town of 6,000?  Granted, it does go up to 30,000 during busy times.  But still.  I guess it takes only a few rich people to keep them going!

We also got to see the "World Cup", women's downhill skiing competition! We saw competitors and teams from all over the world.  I have to say, Austria and Germany have some amazing skiers.  Lindsay Vonn did pretty well for the US though!

Wine Tasting fun

Joshy and I traveled 40 minutes from our house on Saturday to Grace Hill Winery in Whitewater, Kansas.  For your Kansas natives it just Southeast of Newton.  We had a great time building our own wines.  Joshy made a red and I made a rose....mostly white wine with a bit of red.  I wore some MeToo wedges with a yellow shirt dress from Forever 21 and Indian style earrings from Target.

Ireland for Shea's Wedding

Hubbs (Joshy) and I traveled to Killarney, Ireland for Shea's wedding.  Shea and I met at the University of Kansas doing Mock Trial. 

We flew into Limerick Airport and immediatly visited our first site, Bunrotty castle.

My best friend Shea was married in St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney, Ireland.

In addition to the amazing wedding celebrations we also were treated to a Ring of Kerry tour by the groom's father named Kevin. The Killarney National Park is best visited via bicycle. We rented some from a local hostel. This is Muckross Abbey.

 

Torc Waterfall is also in Killarney National Park.

Muckross House, also in Killarney National Park.

 

Muckross Abbey.  It was used during the 1600s.  They piled dead bodies in the Abbey during the plague.  The living did not have enough energy to bury all the dead for many years.

 

Blarney Castle near Cork!

 

Travels to New Orleans

My husband and I had never been to New Orleans.  We had a lovely time seeing the sights over Christmas.  We do have wonderful families that love us.  But, as a young couple with limited vacation time we have to travel when we can. We attended Christmas Eve mass at St. Louis Basillica.  It was PACKED.  We actually tried to go to 5pm mass but there were no seats left when we arrived 30 minutes  early.  So we arrived about one hour and fifteen minutes before midnight mass.  There was a huge crowd already waiting.  We did make it inside though. 

We learned about the "shot gun" houses that the French built.  Apparently privacy was less importat than a good breeze.  So everyone walked through each room and bedroom to pass throught the house.

We also REALLY enjoyed the street muscisans.  This is the "Smoking Time Jazz Club".  They are amazing.  We actually bought their CD, which I have added only my jazz playlist.  You can hear their stuff here.

We took a wonderful tour with Confederacy of Cruisers. It was a VERY cold Christmas day...but our tour guide made it out. On the tour we went all over the Ninth Ward and saw the Arts Academy in New Orleans! It is a public magnet high school..many of the greats learned here and continue to give back..including members of the Marsalis family and Harry Connick Jr.!