400 Posts + a Blogger Map

Chatting on twitter on an especially slow day at work I was daydreaming about our next trip. As I usually do when planning for travel - I wondered which of my blog friends live in the area we're going to visit (Miami).

Some of you guys encouraged me to give it a go, and then it started to seem like a really good idea. I've been tossing around the idea of creating a blogroll on my site for a while. I started one and then never got around to publishing it. I wasn't sure how many blogs to list, how to distinguish between 'pretty' blogs and blog friends, and how to categorize them. With the map idea in mind, I did some brainstorming and google searching and a couple hours later - here we go!

The Blogger Map Project

It's open to any blogger, anywhere in the world.

To get started, view my Blogger Map page or click on the link on my right sidebar. 

Fill out the simple form below the map, and I'll get you added on the master map. (I got this idea from Rose A La Mode) To find out who lives in a particular area, just zoom in and click on the blue marker. There you'll find a name, location, and blog link.

In order to spread the word I'm just asking those who participate to either mention the Blogger Map in a blog post or in a tweet, or that you add the Blogger Map button to your sidebar. 

For those you concerned about privacy - if you'd rather just associate with a nearby big city instead of the suburb or rural area you live in, that's fine! I want everyone to feel as safe as possible adding themselves to the list. It's primarily so we can find new local friends...as well as find out who might live near the place we're traveling next.

I'm really excited about this - and it's a fitting endeavor for my 400th blog post! (I forgot my three year blogaversary last month, so this is my celebration.) I hope at least a few of you will indulge me and add yourselves to the map. :-)

ps. I am so, so far from being a graphic designer so if that button hurts your eyes and you want to try your hand at a different one - let me know!

Gift Guide: Husband Edition

I have to admit this gift guide is a little bit of a cheat because my husband does an amazing job of making wishlists for himself. No one ever gets stuck on gift ideas for him.

The problem for me is that E likes to guess what he is getting, and he checks his Amazon wishlists so often that it has proven impossible to actually be surprised. Hopefully this collection will help some of you wondering what to buy for the guy in your life. (I'm not saying whether I bought any of these things for E...he'll just have to wait and see!)

Links to each item are provided on the thumbnails below.

Husband Gift Guide

 Clark's Desert boot in Beeswax
 The Hunger Games series for cruise reading
 Levi's 511 Skinny pants - his favorite fit ever
 Buffalo pattern flannel shirt
 Filson (his favorite brand ever) wool vest
 a great Western: True Grit
 Buck knife (model 112)

This Year's Travels

Where did I travel this year?

Chicago (x3), Grand Rapids, New York City, Atlanta, Tucson, Santa Barbara, Boston, Spokane, & Italy!

It was a busy year for travel - I realized I started to mark time by when I was leaving or returning for my next trip. I earned status with both the airline and the hotel rewards programs I participate in.

I loved experiencing some new cities in the US, but my favorite part was Italy (big surprise, right?). Not just because of it's far away location and beautiful sites, but because being in Italy brought out what I love about travel. Seeing new places, experiencing new things, seeing a new culture - and thus seeing my own in a new light, realizing what I take for granted about home. We learned so much from our experience there and E and I have both been missing it lately - especially the people.

We are planning to go on a cruise early next year, but don't really have any other travels plans, so we'll see what happens. I imagine the travel bug will bite us again soon.

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along with other friends, I'm participating in #WEverb11, organized by Kim. I'm excited to reflect on this last year and look forward to what's ahead. We'd love to have you join us!

Today's prompt was: Where did you travel this year? What was your favorite part? If you didn’t get to travel, where do you want to go next year?

A Haiku for 2011

dreams for the future
we traveled so far to learn
there's no place like home


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along with other friends, I'm participating in #WEverb11, organized by Kim. I'm excited to reflect on this last year and look forward to what's ahead. We'd love to have you join us!

Today's prompt was: Sum up your year via Haiku

Lesson Learned: Where Home is

This year I learned firsthand, that home is wherever we're together. E and I spent a lot of time (relatively*) apart this year. I was gone for about 5 weeks total for work trips, and then we spent another 5 weeks consecutively apart in July. We missed each other in more than just the tangible, obvious ways; I mainly just missed E's presence in our home. The meals shared, messed up sheets, teeth brushed in unison, annoying morning shower concerts.

And then I learned that we could make it in an entirely different culture and environment. Our time in Italy was by far the most life-changing event of the year, and probably of our marriage so far.  I learned that leaning on each other forced us to appreciate things about each other that we rarely acknowledge. As we're beginning to face the reality of moving somewhere unknown...sometime in the future, I'm realizing it doesn't matter where we go as long as I'm with you.


*"a lot" is relative to the normal amount of time we spend apart and relative to some couples I know who've never been apart for more than 24 hours, and for the military spouses who regularly spend the better part of a year separated.


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along with other friends, I'm participating in #WEverb11, organized by Kim. I'm excited to reflect on this last year and look forward to what's ahead. We'd love to have you join us!

Today's prompt was: What lesson did you learn in 2011 from “The School of Life” rather than a classroom?

In a Word

This past year has been a bit crazy. In the year 2011 I took nine trips and we had five visits from out-of-town family and friends. In the beginning of the year, I decided to take a class at E's school which led to me being gone two nights a week, in addition to our weekly youth group commitment. I felt like we were never home. Then in April we got approached with the idea to spend the summer in Italy. We had a frantic few weeks of pulling things together to be gone, and we left. After our vacation to New York and time in Italy, (including 5 weeks apart), we had out-of-town houseguests for most of the rest of August. Then school started back up, including me taking another class, E taking German in addition to his full-time class load, and me traveling for almost the entire month of October. In addition to all that we've had family and church related things going on.  Looking back on the year (it hardly seems like I should already be doing that!) we feel incredibly blessed to have gotten through it as smoothly as we have. But it did feel a bit crazy.

The word I would like to use to be able to describe this upcoming year is difficult for me, because right now it feels very unknown. E and I have finally been faced with the reality that once he is done with school in the spring we have no idea where we're going or what we're doing. He could be called to a church right away, or [likely], it will take a while, and we'll have to have a plan for the meantime. It's hard for me to imagine us leaving this area and our lives here, but at the same time I'm eager to see what's next for us. So, at this time next year, I'm hoping to be able to describe 2012 as: at peace. It could very well be that our future will be as unknown one year from now as it is today, but I'm praying for a peace to get through the uncertainty of what our lives will hold over the next year.

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Along with other friends, I'm participating in #WEverb11, organized by Kim. I'm excited to reflect on this last year and look forward to what's ahead. We'd love to have you join us!

The first prompt is: Choose one word. Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why. Imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you