kelly

From Paris to Portugal

Hello friends, I still owe you notes and photos from my seven days in Paris this past winter. I had so much fun celebrating my divorce, throwing my wedding rings into the Seine –> and going on not one but two shopping sprees at Parisian department stores, eating the best food I’ve ever had inContinue reading “From Paris to Portugal”

My last night in Spain

NOTE: I originally wrote this in October 2022 on my terrace in Spain. Tonight the full Hunter’s Moon rose above the foothills out here in Valdemorillo a few hours ago and I’ve been sitting on the terrace sipping scotch and Coke listening to a playlist, Songs About the Moon, on Spotify. I talked to myContinue reading “My last night in Spain”

Hurricane Francine

10:35AM Wednesday, September 11th: Bourbon Street is a ghost town.

Paris, here I come

Italy and Sweden, you gotta wait! I booked a week in Paris on a whim toward the end of this year, and so I will be posting news and photos about my trip once I return. I’m planning a literary-themed visit and will be shipping at least one box of books back from Shakespeare andContinue reading “Paris, here I come”

Italy or Sweden?

I’m starting to lay out travel plans for my next solo international hiking adventure, and I’ve got it down to Italy or Sweden… I think. Maybe also Norway. Maybe also Portugal. Italy to hike the Dolomites in day out-and-back or loop hikes. Sweden to hike Kungsleden for a thru hike one month long. Norway forContinue reading “Italy or Sweden?”

19 mandalas

No real travel news for now, but I do have art news: I am working on a project called 19 Mandalas. This is a photo of my first completed piece, entitled Focus.

home

I’m back in the US. Got a house a little outside the city for now and I am still waiting on my things to arrive back from Spain, so it’s a mostly empty, cold old house with paper plates and two folding chairs. But man, it feels good to be home. I had a littleContinue reading “home”

packing it in

I’m done. Spain and I didn’t work out. It’s over. I’ve learned some incredibly valuable & brutal lessons with this experience. I am grateful for it, even (especially) the painful parts because that’s what is making me grow. It’s so beautiful here. I got to travel a bit around the country, take a road tripContinue reading “packing it in”

mitigation

So part of my job is risk mitigation. I don’t talk very much about my job, or at all really, on this site because I like to keep my personal and professional lives well and clearly separated. But I was thinking yesterday after work & after I published my last blog post on hating SpainContinue reading “mitigation”

A Bad Spain Day

Yesterday I had A Bad Spain Day. It’s really been the whole week, but let’s focus on yesterday. Yesterday, I had an appointment three villages over to get a minor medical procedure done. In and out, the whole procedure takes less than five minutes. Well because of traffic, it took me nearly an hour toContinue reading “A Bad Spain Day”