{Italy} A Roman Holiday

So friends, shall we talk about our recent adventures in Italy? I've finally made it through all 600+ photos and I can't wait to share our trip with you! For me, the trip was split into two parts -- one week traveling with Chris and one week staying with a good friend from college, who moved to Italy a few years ago. That's right, Chris had to leave after only seven days! :(. Just to give you a little overview, Chris and I spent two nights in Rome, two nights in Tuscany, two nights in Cinque Terre and one night in Modena, with my friend, before he left. I then stayed in Modena (it was SO NICE not to be moving hotels every couple days!) and took day trips to Florence, Verona, Venice and a couple other cute small towns.

As for sharing our trip with you, we began our trip in Rome, let's start there, yes? We actually flew into Milan and took a three hour train down to Rome, where we arrived late afternoon. Honestly, it was a crazy long day, but it worked out perfectly. We got settled in our hotel, ate dinner and went to bed early. It was super helpful for our jet lag, but we did have to cram a LOT into day two :).

We started our day at the Vatican. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but it was HUGE. And there were SO many people. But the museum and the artwork and the architecture were amazing. 

Of course, the Vatican led us directly to St. Peter's Basilica, which was our main goal of the entire venture. (Oh, and I know, it's free. It's a long and boring story why we went through the Vatican to get there. But if you're visiting Rome, shoot me an email, because in that case the why is worth knowing!). So, when I started college I was actually an art major. Even though I switched after a couple semesters, one of my favorite classes of all, and the one that by far made the biggest impact on me, was art history. I LOVED that class. And one of the statues we studied, and that I fell head over heals for, was Michaelangelo's Pieta.

Well, it lives at St. Peter's. I knew it would be even more amazing in person, but was still in complete awe. It's actually behind glass now -- there was a vandalism episode in the 70's -- and that was kind of a bummer, but even separated by glass it was beautiful and powerful and amazing.

After that we simply wandered. It's what we do best. We picked out a few things on the map that we'd like to see and we just wandered through various neighborhoods to get to those places, taking in the sights and sounds as we went along. We stopped where we felt like it, got off course if we saw something interesting and generally just had a lot of fun.

We spent a few minutes at the Trevi Fountain.

And, quite awhile at the Pantheon. Which is so, so cool. Oldest church in Rome, dating back to Caesar! 

And wow, you can completely see my gray hair in the photo above. Yikes!

We ended our day at a lovely little restaurant near the river. We didn't intend to go anywhere near the river, but an Irish woman we met earlier in the afternoon when we stopped to watch a street performer recommended this neighborhood for dinner. She was right. We sat outside a tiny restaurant along a super sweet little street and shared a beautiful Italian dinner. The next day we'd risk our lives to rent a car and drive out of Rome heading for Tuscany, but that evening was perfect.

{inspired} ITALY!!

tim sohn studios blog

I have news that is SO EXCITING that I couldn't wait to share. This fall Chris and I are going to ITALY!! :) We booked our plane tickets this week.

 italy pictures

Friends, I seriously could not be more excited. I spent some time in France when I was in college and during that time made a weekend trip to Florence. It was amazing (and, I definitely got kicked off a train at one point, and spent a night in a train station at a completely different point! Memorable weekend ;)! But beyond that I've never explored this beautiful country. Chris, on the other hand, has never been to Europe. I'm excited to introduce him.

We were actually supposed to go last fall, but then last summer, within a couple weeks of each other, we both got new jobs and with new jobs comes incredibly limited vacation time. So, we bided out time, saved our dollars and booked a trip for this fall instead! 

italy pictures

So I want to open this up to you guys. Do you have any recommendations for must-see, awesomeness in Italy? We'll be based out of central northern Italy, but will definitely be traveling around. I'd love to hear what your favorite places are!

Anyone else have a super fun vacation coming up this summer/fall?

Update: We returned for an amazing two weeks traveling around in Italy in October. Make sure to check out all our photos from the trip here.

boston: the details

I have one more Boston post to share with you today. I've tried to spread them out so you don't get too bored. You haven't read the previous posts yet? They're here and here. 

You know how it's easy to get attached to someone when you know them really well? It's because you've come to know all gritty details that makes them unique. And really, I think it goes without saying,  for someone special, it's these details that make them beautiful. 

I've lived in Boston. I know the big picture. But it's the little details that I really miss. They are different details than Portland. Not better, but so special to me. So on this trip I set about capturing all the details to take home with me. 

And so many interesting details in Boston there are. Probably because it's old historic. But I love that with detail comes rich texture and depth that so many other cities are lacking.

The brick juxtaposed with wrought iron. Love.

Sidenote: I love signs. I think there are so many clever, unique signs in the world. I end up taking random pics of signs all. the. time. The best part? Chris has started taking them now too! :)

Original log from a really old ship. 

Next sidenote: I'm really not all that into history. So, I spent our time at a historic nautical museum drooling over all the cool-to-me details. Like this handwriting from sometime in the 1700's.

An entire store window display made from ... antique sewing machines! It was huge too. I seriously couldn't take my eyes off the display. We walked by a couple times and I finally had to take a picture.

Love the detail to this wrought iron. Would it make a great fabric?

Sparklies at the barking crab!

Thanks for hanging in there and letting me gush about our trip! I had fun sharing :).

Come back friday for the table runner how-to. It's a fun and easy weekend project!

boston: barking crab

One of the highlights of our Boston trip? Dinner at the Barking Crab.

A friend introduced me to this restaurant when I lived there (okay ... it was a first date. blushing.) and it is completely amazing. And first date worthy :). I have taken all my friends and family that visited me back east and it's one of the first places I recommend. You know, to people who like seafood. :) So of course it was on the agenda for this trip.

I love the atmosphere here almost as much as the food. The restaurant is in a big tent on the river. There are tons of sparkly lights and picnic tables. It's such a laid-back vibe.

And of course, accompanying your meal is this amazing view of the city!

I'm not going to lie. Chris was a little hesitant at first. 

I think it was because this ROCK was our utensil for the evening :).

But we found a lovely bottle of wine to split. At every restaurant we visited, we ended up ordering northwest wines. This one claims Washington, but is bottled in Oregon. We're Oregon elitists ;).

Once we had wine and his meal, he was all smiles. Chris tried King Crab and I had my default Dungeoness. Yum!

Um yeah. Me too :)

I love having amazing nights like this to remember with this wonderful guy. It was our last night our east and it was the PERFECT end to this fun trip.

boston: a glimpse

We went on a little trip recently to my second most favorite city (Portland is number one, of course): Boston! See, I attend graduate school in Boston and lived there for two years. And loved every. single. minute. I've never regretted my decision to move back to Portland (I mean, come on, I met Chris upon my return!), but I do have a very special place in my heart for *bean town*. Chris on the other hand, has never been to New England. Well, I knew I needed to remedy that as soon as possible. 

And, remedy, I did! We spent our second anniversary in Boston. And friends, it was awesome. We both had a pretty harried September, to say the least, and the trip's timing was perfect. We relaxed, we drove to Maine (!), we're now planning our Maine return trip (loved, loved, loved Maine), and best of all, we enjoyed each other. We make a huge effort at home to take time to appreciate, love and connect with each other. But, there was something so special about having a week (!) for fun, exploring and adventures with just each other.

Below are a few highlights from our incredible week away.

We spend time strolling through Boston's public garden.

We took in the incredible city views from our hotel room.

We visited my old neighborhood. (Above, not below. HA!)

We soaked in the amazing historic architecture. Back home, just for fun, we checked real estate prices for some of the nicer areas. Let's just say I'll have to be content with strolling through and taking pics. Forever.

We ate cannoli's at Mike's in the North End. MMMMMmmmmm.

We visited Fenway. And, shed a tear for the Red Sox season.

And, we spent an evening at one of my favorite restaurants ever. More on that later :).

Texas (!), part 2

I have a story to tell you all. I coordinated a week-long conference. And then, my brain turned to mush. For about two weeks. The end.

So, when we last chatted, I was telling you about my fantastic trip to Texas!

You see, while the botanical gardens and downtown Fort Worth were fantastic, the real reason behind our jaunt to Texas was so that I could be in one of my dear friends weddings! I love seeing my friends happy and being in there weddings is truly an honor. 

Plus, I love getting all glammed up! It doesn't happen near enough in my *real life*.

Special occasion hair = wow. It's not like I haven't been through it before. But I forget. My hair is still recovering nearly a month later. I get my hairs cut today. FINALLY.

The wedding was completely ah-maaaz-ing. And the bride was so beautiful!

And the flowers, quite possibly my favorite decoration ever? Completely gorgeous, of course.

I love the pops of black in these anemones. So unique and really complementary to our black dresses.

The room glowed, friends. With the windows, mirrors, chandeliers and candles the reception was stunning and completely elegant.

I love a good wedding theme.  Both bride and groom are big readers, so this wedding's theme was *A love story* and the bride wove the theme seamlessly from the initial announcement through the big day. So it was only fitting that on half the table vintage *love stories* were used as centerpieces. No two books in the room were the same. Perfection.

And of course I have to show you the cakes. 

Yum! One was beautiful ...

... and the other so clever!

It was such a great ending to a super fun trip.