Category Archives: Travel

Spending the night with my dear family, driving into boiling springs, spending time with our favorite friends in the world, and visiting with Kyle’s family over greek food. All of these things just felt too good. We were planning a month more of travels after we left Boiling Springs, and that just didn’t sound as appealing as spending the summer with the people we care about the most. Not to mention I’ve become weary with not having a steady work schedule everyday. I am not the kind of person who can just put something off until the next day.

But, we’re also not the kind of people who give up when things get tough. So, we found a middle ground. We will be compressing the next months worth of traveling into a single week. That way we can be back in time to book the portrait sessions that I need to book, get rested before the height of wedding season picks up, and to have more time with our friends and family before we move to Chattanooga. So, here are our updated travel plans. I’m sure that this will be even  more of an adventure than any of these other months have been so far.

May 25-26 | Morgantown, WV

May 26 | Driving through and stopping in Youngstown, OH

May 26-27 | Buffalo, NY

May 27-28 | Rutland, VT

May 28-29 | Portland, ME

May 29 | Driving through and stopping in Portsmouth, NH

May 29-30 | Boston, MA

May 30 | Driving through and stopping in: Providence, RI & Bridgeport, CT

May 30-June 1 | New York City!!!

June 1 | Driving through and stopping in Philadelphia, PA, Wilmington, DE, & Baltimore, MD.

June 1-2 | Washington, DC

June 2 | Boiling Springs, NC!!!

with love and sweet carolina,

Sarajane.

Ok, in the beginning of this trip, I was telling you about all kinds of coffee shops and restaurants that we ventured to. I haven’t done as much of that lately. However, our recent trip to Ann Sather’s in Chicago deserves a shout out. I first heard about Ann Sather watching the TV show, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” I’m a total chef/cooking show host groupie and love that they’re all on one show telling me what I should eat. lol Anyway, Ted Allen {host of chopped and previously a judge on Top Chef} listed Ann Sather’s cinnamon rolls as the food he most loves to start his day with. I wanted to go but didn’t really make a gallant effort to do so.

Then, we stepped off the “El” to walk back to where we were staying and there it was! The original Ann Sather! A 2 second walk from the apartment we were in. So, of course we ventured down for breakfast one morning! It did not disappoint!  Me and Kyle both ate for under $10 including tip. It was absolutely delicious. You will just have to try it for yourself! But, the cinnamon rolls were melt in your mouth amazing!

with love and happy taste buds,

Sarajane.

I barely slept last night. Not because it wasn’t a comfortable location, I just couldn’t sleep. I don’t know if it’s the excitement of this week or the anxiety that I would oversleep when I had to get up at 6:30am. But, either way I’m walking around in a fog today with the lack of sleep. It’s one of those days that if I was home I would rent five movies and sit around watching lame pre-teen girl movies while I bake cookies and drink diet coke and coffee. But, I’m not home, I’m sitting in Caribou Coffee in Minneapolis, MN watching the rain fall outside. Everyday on this trip is a day of something new. There’s no rest when there’s no where to rest and so much to see!

Me and Kyle tell people that this trip is different everyday for us. Some days are emotional highs, full of adventure and excitement. Other days we miss the comfort of our own bed, and the ability to do things on our own schedule and at our own pace. Either way, this is what we’re doing and it’s exactly where I want to be. As we get closer to the end of our time on the road I can’t help but wonder how I’m going to feel when it’s all over. Relieved? or Nostalgic? Probably a little of both.

*This photo is from the nature center in Kansas City, MO.*

with love and foggy mondays,

Sarajane.

The last couple of days, I’ve been continually reminded of my time in India. I was sharing the story of me and Kyle’s engagement to the ever wonderful Jamie Delaine yesterday and got all nostalgic thinking about my time there and the constant reminders of love and grace. I can honestly say that i grew more as a person in the time that I was there than I believe I’ve grown in any blocked out amount of time. You see things and experience things that you would never believe to be real. One story sticks out in my mind:

We had just started out in the markets of Delhi and I caught the eye of a young girl selling necklaces. (we had been instructed not to buy things from the kids selling things) I told her I didn’t want any, but, she continued asking me to buy some. I spent the rest of the four-five hours that we were there with that girl following me around. If I thought she was gone she would be across the street still looking at me and waving her necklaces. I never left her sight the entire day. Even when we were inside eating lunch she waited outside for us to come back out. Right when we were waiting to catch our ride back to the hotel, someone was permitted to buy a necklace from a kid that they wanted to help. So they bought a couple of necklaces and all of the sudden our group was up against a wall with 10-15 kids and women selling necklaces and speaking to us in Hindi. Of course I didn’t understand what was being said, but, i knew that my girl was there and I was eager to be able to buy a necklace from her. But, we were rushed onto a bus when our leader told us that the women who were selling told him that if we bought any necklaces from the kids and not them they would beat them that night.

That is a reality for the kids there. I’m continually reminded of that moment along with countless others that make me so glad that there are people there doing things to help. If you are interested in helping those helping them, let me know and I will get you in contact with someone you can talk to.( It’s very sensitive to put their information on here.)

*The beautiful land where thousands of children will soon have homes!*

Yep, that elephant was that close to our car.

with love and more love,

Sarajane.

Some days on this trip are blissful. Just perfect. We couldn’t imagine living our life any other way than seeing something new and exciting every single day. Other days… we wonder what we were thinking. Our last day in Seattle was that day. We tried to go see all of the touristy things. Pike Place Market was going to kick off our morning. But, Pike Place on a Sunday was a mistake. We were overwhelmed by the crowds, discouraged by our budget, and just physically tired. Days like that you just want to call it quits and go home. Luckily, we have a flight out of Seattle in a week and a half {For beautiful Mark and Cara’s wedding} making sure we don’t make any brash decisions.

On top of that I spent two entire days watching the Jasmine Star Creative Live course and wondering if I was being true to myself in every aspect of my business.  I’m up to my ears in new information but still encouraged to take risks and work for the life and the career that I want. I am scared to death of failing. But, I know that without big risks, there are not big rewards. My life feels like one big risk right now.

At the end of the day, there’s always tomorrow.

And, as far as this trip is concerned, tomorrow is always brighter and more exciting than yesterday.

with love and brighter tomorrows,

Sarajane.

Me and Kyle sometimes play this game where we figure out what type of food we are in the mood for and then we search it on our GPS and pick the restaurant with the name that appeals to us the most. Two nights ago we were in the mood for Indian and picked a place called, “The Taste of India.” We got there and were terribly hungry to find that there was a wait. But, we took a seat in the waiting area to have them hand us a cup of complimentary chai. While we were drinking our chai (which was seriously the closest thing I’ve ever had to what we drank in India) they handed us a complimentary appetizer. When it came time for us to sit down I was actually a little disappointed because I was enjoying my waiting time so much. After we sat down we enjoyed an amazing meal of butter chicken and garlic naan.

We enjoyed that experience so much that we went back the next night when we were having a difficult time deciding where to go. Last night we discovered that if you buy a hot or iced chai with your meal they give free refills! If we lived in Seattle, I swear I’d be there every week! The best restaurant experience I’ve had since our lovely friend in Paris. I can’t wait to com back to Seattle to eat at Taste of India!

with love and chai,

Sarajane.

Hey friends! We are in Seattle at the moment. We drove here last night from Portland. I know my blogging has been sporadic, that’s way unlike me, but, our trip is speeding it up and that means my time is spent adventuring, preparing for upcoming weddings, and driving, driving, driving! But, I will be in as much as I can and back in full force once wedding season starts, so so soon!

Now, where did we sleep in California?

Los Angeles:

We stayed with a nice guy in a sweet retro apartment. I was too shy to tell him I didn’t have a blanket and froze the entire night only to have him tell me in the morning he had plenty of blankets I could have used. A lesson I am learning over and over again on this trip, just speak up and suffer quietly a lot less!

Lompoc:

A very sketchy Motel 6, I’m pretty sure the people next door to us were drug dealers. Drug dealers, who thought it was the best idea to watch us unpack our entire car from the door of their room. No, not scary at all. Thanks. However, on a happier note, it was  in a good location, next door to a Panda Express and across the street from a Starbucks. ha.

San Francisco:

We started out at a creepy couchsurfer guys house and ended up switching to our lovely friend Ren’s house! He let us have his room for the last three nights we were in town and it was so sweet! Yes folks, we did share this tiny bed. It’s called love.

The Sea Ranch:

Our new friends Bob and Sophia had a GUEST COTTAGE! Isn’t that fancy!?! We had a bed, a bathroom, and a kitchen to ourselves. So sweet! On top of that it was decorated so sweetly!

Trinidad:

We had a treacherous drive to Carol’s house. It was supposed to be 4 hours but because of a mudslide we were forced to take a detour making it a 10 hour drive! On crazy California back roads. At one point I was driving with a cliff on my right, a mountain on my left with falling rocks, the thickest fog I’ve ever seen and rain to my front, and a crazy driver with his brights on to my rear. I was driving 5 mph and holding my breath! Needless to say, when we rolled into Carol’s at 11pm, I was pumped to find out that this was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in!

with love and California,

Sarajane.