Baby's first picture! Last week I got a new car. At 23, in post-college autumn, I bought my first car just days after my birthday. I was moving to the Poconos for a job and a car was a necessity. I got a loan from my grandparents and bought a 2012 Ford Escape with 42,000 …
Alpenglow: A Nepal Travel Diary
Annapurna right before sunrise. Before Here's what you need to know about my before: I studied abroad in India and the mountains wedged themselves somewhere between my fifth and eleventh vertebrae. I vowed to go back, to feel the Himalaya more deeply, to venture beyond the Garhwali range. I wanted to go for my 30th, …
vignettes from a wedding that wasn’t mine
This was my camp setup for the three nights I spent helping/attending wedding stuff. The silliest, honestly. (Picnic table not pictured; that really brought it all together.) I went to a wedding on July 23 for my best friend from college. All of my memories of her are good ones. We were study abroad roommates …
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To Joanna
The start of this story is really the ending. Here's how it begins and ends: I was at the end of my road trip. Three months spent driving around the States, sleeping in the back of my car, hiking up mountains, dunking my head in wild rivers. This was the falling action of the story, …
10 Books That Changed My Life (And Maybe They’ll Change Yours)
When people ask what my hobbies are, only two ever surface: books and the outdoors. Every facet about books. Every nook and cranny about being outside. Reading is the most steadfast companion of my life. It is a passion I enjoy both publicly and privately. Some books I love to discuss with friends, sharing favorite …
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summer
"Travel and tell no one, live a true love story and tell no one, live happily and tell no one, people ruin beautiful things." --Khalil Gibran Summer is over. There are days of sweet sunlight still ahead and a wedge of time before school, but for you the summer is over. The swell of adventure …
Goodbye, See You Tomorrow
“Here sitting on the world, she thought, for she could not shake herself free from the sense that everything this morning was happening for the first time, perhaps for the last time, as a traveler, even though he is half asleep, knows, looking out of the train window, that he must look now, for he …
A Year
One year ago, I was sitting at a desk. It was a nice desk. The chair was padded and it swiveled; I had an entire drawer dedicated to colored paper, glue sticks, and craft foam; a painted alligator made of egg cartons and cardboard boxes watched me work. It was a lovely desk. Fifty-two weeks …
/arrival/
There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. --C.S. Lewis There are things that bring you comfort. The familiar weight of your backpack hanging from your shoulders. The peppermint scent of Dr. Bronner's soap. Curled pages of poetry that have kept you company around the globe. These are the things that you …
Leaving/Left/Gone
Bilbo: I'll be alright. Just let me sit quietly for a moment. Gandalf: You've been sitting quietly for far too long! Tell me, when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you? I remember a young hobbit who was always running off in search of Elves in the woods. He'd stay out …
People in Parks 