Bucksburn, Scotland, #48walks, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire

Walking Alone in Aberdeen 3/48

Here’s my last January walk! After six straight days of rain in Aberdeen, I decided to get out by myself in the area last Thursday. I have been trying to go for longer walks when I’m alone because I’m hoping to go on a really long walk in the not too distant future. Plus I …

Making Whole Wheat Bread, Steps

Easy Whole Wheat Homemade Bread

I am happy to say that I think I might finally be making friends with Tiny Oven. I will never love him the same way as I did Dream Oven back in Arkansas, but we are working out our differences. I’m hoping you won’t think me completely crazy when I tell you that I often …

A Story about Growing Old Together

A Story about Growing Old Together One day I came home from visiting with our ninety-year-old neighbor and said to Taido, Do you realize that if we both live to be ninety that we will spend more years of our marriage alone than with children? We moved into our house on Cedar Street after five …

Bennachie in January, #48walks, Scotland, Highlands

Bennachie in January (2/48)

Happy Monday, friends! We only managed to get 2 of 4 kiddos out for walk 2 of 48. We headed to an already familiar (and favorite) nearby set of hiking trails, Bennachie. It certainly looks different in winter, but still beautiful! I do love seeing all the other walks shared in the Facebook group and …

Snapshots of Edinburgh, Day Trips, Scotland

In The Pipeline

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a great week. I had coffee with strangers no less than THREE TIMES this week. Y’all, that is a really lot of getting out of the house and chitty chatting for this introvert. I feel certain I will make up for it by not meeting anyone new for a …

Snapshots of Edinburgh, Day Trips, Scotland

Snapshots of Edinburgh

Last week I took Ben and Simon to Edinburgh for the day because for Christmas, we gave the boys tickets to see The Lion King. This is the second time we’ve gone to Edinburgh just for the day, and I have grown to really enjoy doing it this way. We hop on the train early …

Expat Story Budapest Hungary

Expat Story: Budapest

Once upon a time I visited the beautiful city of Budapest. That was a very long time ago, but reading Adelina’s Expat Story about living there is making me what to plan a trip there soon! Expat Story: Budapest, Hungary Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Adelina and I am from …

A Story about an Art Collective, Stories, Walking Towards the Unexpected

A Story about An Art Collective

Traveling with Ben and Simon can sometimes feel a little bit like having Pippen and Merry in tow. Simultaneously fun and exhausting. The trick is to keep them moving, which is how we found ourselves walking around Calton Hill in Edinburgh one day last week. In addition to the National Monument and other various important …

Seven Bridges Walk in Ballater, Scotland, #48walks, country walks

Seven Bridges Walk (1/48)

Happy Monday, friends! I am high as a kite today about the response to the new project, #48walks. Lots of wonderful walks were shared over the weekend in the Facebook group and on Instagram! You can still jump in and walk with us this year in any way you like! Joining and sharing and tagging …

In The Pipeline

Fractures of light on the edges of the clouds. I’m always watching for it. The light. Watching my boys taste tiramisu for the first time. Getting a letter in the mail. Light. I’ve been meditating on the idea of light in the darkness this week. For me, often darkness = depression + despair. Which is …

Storytelling, Storyliving, Walking, #48walks, 2014, A Year of Walking

Walk with Me?

Friends, it’s no secret around here that I love to lace up my boots and go for a walk. I love to get outside. I do not like the word exercise. But I love to see the world on my own two feet. For most of my life, even though I love to go for …

In The Pipeline, Chinos in Cartoon Form, Hannah Alexander Carpenter

In The Pipeline, Brought to You by the Number 5

Friends! How these first days of January have flown by! Confession: I have not left the house this week except to go to church and to walk to and from school. And I am still not caught up! But it’s time to throw off the PJ pants and head out into the world because it …

Urquhart Castle, Rainy Day in Scotland, Snapshots of Scotland

Snapshots of Scotland: Winter Edition

We started our New Year in Stonehaven, Scotland, which is a village by the sea about 30 miles south of Aberdeen. For Hogmanay, which is the New Year festival in Scotland, locals in Stonehaven light huge fireballs at midnight and swing them around while walking up and down the street. There were probably 50 people …

Expat Story Singapore, Boiling Wok

Expat Story: Singapore

I’ve been enjoying a little down time to finalize where we are going on the blog and in the world in 2014! Looking forward to sharing more of my plans soon so stay tuned! For now, here’s a new Expat Story from Singapore! Boiling Wok (as she prefers to be called on the internet) hails …

That’s A Wrap

Dear readers, I have thoroughly enjoyed these last couple of weeks of storytelling and story sharing. I hope it has been as great an exercise for you as it has been for me. I actually had a hard time choosing these stories. If you’ve ever met my daddy, you know I could write an entire …

A Story about A Pop Up Camper

A Story about A Pop Up Camper

The twelfth and final story of my Twelve Days of Stories is actually the beginning of a story. It is a draft of the first chapter of the book I have been writing. I hope that one day these words will take shape in print form that you can hold in your hands. Thank you …

Twelve Days Of Stories at The Chino House

A Story about Anger

A Story about Anger Three babies in five years is what it took to throw me over the edge. Mixing lack of sleep at night with defiant toddlers by day was a recipe for fraying nerves already, but then Taido often would have to leave town for work. I was exhausted at the sound of …

A Story about A Thesis

A Story about A Long Time Goal

A Story about A Long Time Goal When my husband sat me down and told me that he wanted to finish his masters’ thesis, quit his job and move our family abroad to get a PhD, I told him to go for it. “I’m all in for this adventure,” I said. But in all honesty, …