In The Pipeline

  January 30, 2015 - 10:00 am |
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IN The Pipeline, Chino House Chalkboard Art

Y’all, a couple of weeks ago I painted a wall in my kitchen with chalkboard paint and it has made me ridiculously happy. Seriously. Adding the tiniest bit of creative to my life + my house was a really good idea! We even used it to write the background for our latest Chino House youTube video: So we watched this video about British sweets and then we decided to make our own. FUN STUFF! Bonus: Ben got new glasses this week and I kinda love them. Also he totally edited this video. More links! Here are 25 more ways to … Continue reading →

Winter Walking in Scotland

  January 29, 2015 - 10:00 am | , ,
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Winter Wakling, Scotland, Aberdeenshire

Back in December, we were living with just under six hours of daylight. Miraculously, I actually had a friend visit during this dark season, so one day we made the most of what we had to work with and took off to Royal Deeside for a walk in Glen Tanar. It was meant to be a fairly short walk. Maybe a couple of hours. But I took a wrong turn (or two) and we ended up being out for twice that. Long shadows all day long make the bare trees kind of gorgeous in the wintertime. We have had more … Continue reading →

In The Pipeline

  January 23, 2015 - 10:00 am |
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Sunrise in Aberdeen, In The Pipeline, Chasing Daylight

Hello friends, This week has been quiet. Taido’s been tied up with a conference at the university so the kids and I have been huddled on the couch drinking tea and cocoa. Watching “telly” and reading books. I started reading The Fiddler’s Gun aloud to Simon and every one else is listening while pretending that they are not. I miss reading to all my kids when they were little, so it’s been a little sweet revival of those moments for me. Also, it snowed in Aberdeen this week, and because the daylight is scarce, the snow just barely melts and … Continue reading →

Snapshots of a Sunrise in Aberdeen

  January 20, 2015 - 9:00 am | ,
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Sunrise in Aberdeen, Chasing Daylight, Scotland

Cole and Taido both got up with me to watch the sunrise last Saturday. Bundled into all my layers, a tumbler full of coffee in one hand and my camera in the other, I hopped in the car and rode in the dark silence down to the beach. Bracing for the cold, we walked right down to the shoreline. Gusts of wind cut through all the shirts I had piled on and even my jacket. I pulled my scarf up over my face. We walked on the beach while waiting for the light, hoping that if we kept moving we … Continue reading →

In The Pipeline

  January 16, 2015 - 12:00 pm |
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Winter in Scotland, In The Pipeline

Hello friends. How’s your week been? Good news! We are over HALF WAY THROUGH JANUARY!! I might be relentlessly checking the sunrise/sunset schedule in Aberdeen in great anticipation of longer days. But that’s ok. In just a few weeks, I’ll be in Cape Verde where I’ll be soaking up over 11 hours a day of sunlight. Yes please! I’m heading there with First Choice Holidays as part of a project that is overflowing from 2014. Until then, lots of reading in the dark. (I’m LOVING this book right now.) Links for you! I enjoyed this interview on pro-blogging from Capture by … Continue reading →

Chasing Daylight

  January 15, 2015 - 6:00 am |
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Chasing Daylight, Watch the Sunrise

It’s almost 9am. The big kids have all left for school already. Simon is about to head out the door and we are watching the clouds turn pink from our kitchen window. Every time I see the sky turn this color, I wonder what it looks like from the beach. And I think to myself, One morning I’m going to go down to the beach and watch the sunrise.  Most days I’m awake long before the sun comes up, which is not hard to do in the winter months in Aberdeen. But even so. In eighteen months of living in … Continue reading →

20 years

  January 12, 2015 - 10:00 am | ,
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Whitney Loibner Chinos in Switzerland 2014

On New Year’s Eve, Taido and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. This amazes me on so many levels. 20 years? Didn’t we both just turn 20? But then we watched the video recording of our wedding with my entire family and indeed, there we were, 20 years younger. All kinds of bad hair and bad clothing choices and over done make up for our kids to mock. Who let those children get married? Taido asked as our baby faces showed up on the screen. Dad, your hair! Ben said. Also. We had a lot of music at our wedding. … Continue reading →

In The Pipeline + Happy New Year

  January 10, 2015 - 8:00 am | ,
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Little Rock, Podcast, Amateur Traveler, In the Pipeline

Well hello there friends. Happy New Year to you! We got back from Arkansas this week and strangely enough it has been warmer in Scotland than in Little Rock. Go figure. We had the most wonderful visit home, which was collectively documented thoroughly on the Facebook. I did not look at a computer even once, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My brain is brewing about what the Chino House will look like in 2015 but at the moment, I’m still giving thanks for the all the gifts of 2014. It was an incredible year for our family and I’m not quite … Continue reading →

Happy Christmas

  December 18, 2014 - 10:00 am |
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Hello friends! We’re excited to be wrapping up 2014 in Arkansas. Since I’ll be visiting with friends and family, the blog will be a bit quiet for the rest of December, but I wanted to take a minute to say thank you so much for reading and walking with me this year! I hope you have a beautiful Christmas season and I look forward to sharing adventures with you again in 2015. Happy Christmas with SO MUCH LOVE from all the Chinos! Thanks so much to Whitney Loibner for our gorgeous family photo, taken this past summer in Switzerland.   

A Walk in Arkansas (48/48)

  December 16, 2014 - 10:00 am | , ,
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Friends, this is it. Number #48 of #48walks! I’m ending an epic year of walking with this early morning walk up a mountain while I was home in Arkansas this past September. Walking with friends who love me even if my dreadlocks blow into their faces. YIKES! I got to pop home in September for an Arkansas Women Blogger Conference, so I fit in a few walks with my dear, dear friends. Pinnacle Mountain is about a mile and a half to the top and back. It’s not super long but you do have to navigate some boulders. This walk … Continue reading →