Originally, we planned on staying in the hotel in Florence where the rest of our group stayed before we all met up in Barga.  But, I decided to “call an audible” after I heard their stories about that particular hotel… It was noisy.  It wasn’t close to the “main attractions.”  The rooms were small, cramped even.  Those reviews were enough to make me second-guess our decision to stay there.  It was the stories of a few ladies getting stuck in a small elevator during a power outage and of someone trying to enter a couple’s room in the middle of the night that finally convinced me to change our plans. Since our reservation was made through Booking.com (not a sponsored post), I could still change it without having to pay a fee. I couldn’t hop on my computer fast enough and find an alternative place to stay. I’m sure that the

When Dana, the owner of Inspired in Tuscany, first pitched the idea of a creative retreat to me, she sent along some pictures of Tuscany to woo me to that beautiful little corner of the world that seems stuck in time.  I honestly thought the pictures were stock photos from a travel website.  Truly.  They were just too beautiful to be believed.  But, I came to see with my own eyes that she sent me legitimate pictures (that she took herself ) of the actual town where we were going to stay and find rest and inspiration – Barga. It’s a place that is so perfect in its quintessential Tuscan look and quaintness that it smells of a corner of Disney’s Epcot Center or a movie set.  But it’s not.  It’s a real town nestled in the rolling mountains on the upper west side of Italy’s boot. It’s a place

Before we move onto Tuscany, I wanted to write one last post to scoop up a medley of things from Paris that I haven’t written about in other posts.  If you missed any of them, you can catch up on them here… 1820’s Silver Dip Pen The Louvre and Museé d’Orsay The Paris Apartment  The Sweeter Side of Paris Where Julia Shopped I gained 12 lbs in Paris   Wow…that’s a lot of posts for just three days in Paris!  There was so much to share, though, and I wouldn’t do it all justice if I squished everything into three posts.  And even six posts weren’t enough, so here’s the overflow… the biggest bang for the tourist’s buck My mom and I did a ton of walking while in Paris.  Even though we hopped on the metro whenever possible, lots of walking was inevitable and, I must say, enjoyable.  We

Well, I am back home with Jeff and the boys.  I’m a little jet lagged and still a touch nauseous from the long flight and trying to eat when my stomach thinks it’s the middle of the night, but I’m still enjoying the high that comes from visiting beautiful places, experiencing new things, and making connections with people outside of my usual sphere. There is still so much to share!  I have almost an entire journal filled with notes, observations, and details that I was afraid I would forget.  I also have over 2,000 photos to sift through and develop.  Of course, I won’t share them all with you or we’ll likely be ringing in the new year with the final pictures of my trip!  Instead of sharing a full narrative, I’m going to share the experiences that I deem entertaining or interesting, either to those who are taking a

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Paris Perfect.  I was provided accommodations and services in exchange for posting about my experience.  As always, all opinions are honest and my own. A couple of weeks before my trip to Paris, the plan was to stay in a hotel in the St. Germain area and plan our own schedule.  But then, I got an e-mail from Paris Perfect that changed all of that.  I’m paraphrasing here, but the e-mail said something like, “Do you have accommodations already?  If not, would you like to stay in one of our apartments in Paris?” Let me think about that for the tiniest fraction of a second. “Yes.” Once I said yes and cancelled my hotel reservations, I realized I didn’t know anything about Paris Perfect.  In my excitement, I didn’t even think that this might be a less-than-legit company!  I immediately hopped on the computer

Whew!  Well, I’m back in the US and it’s so nice to be back with home with Jeff and the boys, to sleep in my own bed, and to eat familiar foods again.  What an amazing trip, though.  Truly a memorable life experience in so many ways. It was so much that I’m still processing it and I’m sure I will be for a long time, but I did want to share some pictures and stories from my trip, even though there is no way that they can do the experience justice.  I will try, though! So, my mom, Debby (my licensing agent), and I first flew to Beijing to do some sight-seeing before taking the high speed train south to Minqing (pronounced Min-ching), in the province of Fujian, where I would be working for a week. Oh, I need to insert that our entire trip was planned with the assistance of