(Almost) Anyone Can Travel: On Prioritizing

I’m a big proponent of prioritizing. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might already know this about me. Prioritizing is especially important to me regarding two things: time and money. I’ve talked about my feelings on being “too busy” before, specifically in this post from last summer. In this post, however, I'll be focusing more on the importance of prioritizing money, especially if you dream about traveling for an extended period of time.

Various foreign currency I haven't gotten around to exchanging yet.

Islandscape on Camera: Pico, Portugal

After spending a few days with Jonathan's dad's family on the Azorean island of Terceira, we hopped over to Pico to see his mom's island. One of the neatest parts of visiting this island was getting to stay in his grandparents' old house. It has electricity and running water and everything (although the hot water was veeeeery limited), but there were some quaint aspects of the house, like the chickens a neighbor still raises at the house and the well outside where we washed our beach towels from Greece. :)

Week in Review: 10.19.2013

I think this will be my last weekly recap post, at least for the near future. Now that I'm working a 9-to-5 job, my weeks all pretty much look the same, so I'm finding these posts to be a little repetitive. I plan on switching to a monthly recap instead (similar to what I used to do, but with an updated format), but I'll be finding other ways to share my most popular Instagram photos and posts each week, whether that's on social media or elsewhere. I hope you enjoy my final Week in Review post (for now)!

Get this: I only posted two pictures on Instagram in the past week! Whaaaaaat? I know; insane in the membrane. I guess I just didn't think my life was very Instagram-worthy this week. Here are the chosen two that made it to my feed:

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Photo A Day: September

My participation in Chantelle's photo a day challenge last month wasn't so hot. I think part of that was because I was pretty focused on my own photo challenge for one of the weeks. But, I did get a few nice shots to contribute to the #fmsphotoaday hashtag on Instagram:

Literary Junkies: October 2013

It's the third Tuesday of the month again, which means it's time for the Literary Junkies link-up! I didn't get a chance to read this month's book, so I won't be participating in the Twitter chat this evening, but I couldn't miss an opportunity to connect with my fellow book-loving bloggers with this month's questions. Read more after the jump to see the questions and my answers!

image via @mcstroup on Instagram

What are you currently reading? Tell us a bit about it!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Words cannot explain my feelings about this book. It is beautiful and tragic and everything a novel should be! I had heard this book was amazing throughout the blogosphere, but I really didn't know what it was about. I'm glad I started reading this without really knowing the plot details, though. It just made it more surprising and beautiful!

Islandscape on Camera: Terceira, Portugal

I can't believe I only have two more posts after this one to finish up my European Extravaganza recap series. I know I've been recapping this trip for quite a while (since July 23, to be exact), but there is still way too much to fit on any blog. I am so grateful I was able to take this trip, especially with my fiance and siblings by my side. :) Anyway, enough sappiness. Like I said, I still have two posts left! Today, I'm sharing photos from my time in the Azorean island of Terceira.

image via @mcstroup on Instagram

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Azores, I like to refer to the islands as "the Hawaii of Portugal." This archipelago is composed of nine islands and located about 900 miles southwest of Lisbon in the Atlantic Ocean. Jonathan's parents were actually both born in the Azores and emigrated to America. His dad was born and raised on the island of Terceira, our first stop in the islands. (His mom was born in Pico, which I'll share with you next week!)

The Volunteer State on Instagram: Memphis & Nashville

As I mentioned on Saturday, I spent five days in Tennessee last weekend. My sister of the suitcase (a.k.a. fellow Alpha Delta Pi leadership consultant last year) got hitched in her hometown about an hour outside Nashville, and by some amazing miracle, every single one of the 2012-2013 consultants was able to attend! Not only was it a great reunion, but Jonathan and I took a few days off work to explore Tennessee, considering we were already making the long trip.

One of my favorite signs down this strip said, "First chance for a drink. Next chance 25 feet."

Currently: recapping my banned books week photo challenge

Happy Sunday, everyone! I promised you last Sunday that I would recap my favorite entries in my Banned Books Week photo challenge last month, but I broke that promise. So, I'm recapping today! First, though, I want to share my current goings-on for siddathornton's The Sunday Currently link-up.

image via @mcstroup on Instagram

reading | The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Holy cow. Expect more thoughts on this book during the Literary Junkies link-up on Tuesday. I hope to be finished with it by then!

Week(s) in Review: 10.12.2013

Hey there! Did you miss me last weekend? I didn't pack my laptop for my five-day trip to Tennessee (shocker, I know!), and week in review posts are pretty hard to write in advance if you leave early Thursday morning. Therefore, today's post will encompass the past two weeks. And hopefully tomorrow I can catch up on those 300+ unread posts on my Bloglovin' feed. :)

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If you like these Instagram photos, be sure to check back on Monday for an Insta-recap of my trip to Tennessee!

Friday's Fancies: The best of ...

First, I want to send huge kudos to Alison over at {long distance loving} for celebrating her 150th Friday's Fancies link-up today! That's almost three years of fashion-related posts every Friday! For this special anniversary, I decided to pick my five favorite fashionable creations from the past and reshare them here. You can click on any image to see the original post. Enjoy!

This was the second outfit I ever created for Friday's Fancies, back in February 2012.
I would definitely wear this now!