As you can probably tell from my Instagram, my husband Jeremy and I are currently traveling through Europe. We saved up our vacation time from work and since my coworker was getting married in Austria we decided to take extended time off. Jeremy found a great deal on a non-stop Delta flight to Venice, so we started our vacation there. We don’t come back to the United States until after Labor Day. So stay tuned, I will be recapping our travels as we go!
Here is my Sedona, Arizona travel guide and itinerary! Easter week/weekend I went to Sedona, Arizona with my two younger sisters, Alissa and Caylen, to celebrate Alissa’s 30th birthday. Alissa turned 30 at the end of March, but since Caylen is a high school teacher we postponed our vacation until Caylen’s spring break.
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After our adventures in Catskill and Hudson on Sunday, on Monday Alissa and I toured the Olana State Historic Site. Olana is a historic house, museum and property in Greenport, New York, near the city of Hudson. The estate was home to Frederic Edwin Church, one of the most prominent Hudson River School landscape painters during the 19th-century. His estate is now a historical preservation site.
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Merry Christmas! Hope everyone has a wonderful day celebrating with loved ones. True to tradition we spend Christmas Eve with my mom’s side of the family in Fairfax, Virginia and then celebrate Christmas day in the morning with my mom and then spend the remainder of Christmas with my dad and stepmom in Herndon, Virginia (see recap of Christmas 2017) .
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About a month ago I visited my sister Alissa in upstate New York. She lived in New York City for a number of years and then decided she needed a break. So, she moved upstate about a year ago. I’d been meaning to visit and then decided visiting in the Fall would be a great time, to see the Fall foliage and visit before it gets super cold, and I was right.
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For Labor Day weekend Jeremy and I visited my in-laws in Hilton Head, South Carolina. This was the first trip to Hilton Head this summer. Normally we love to go down for long weekends, or holiday weekends, but we’ve been so busy this summer. You can see some of my prior Hilton Head blog posts (Christmas 2017, Christmas 2016, Thanksgiving 2016).
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These past couple of weeks after getting back from our Europe vacation (Edinburgh recap; Amsterdam recap; Paris recap) have been very low-key. On the weekends Jeremy and I have been catching up on sleep and running errands. During the week last week I went to New York City for work. Traveling for work is never a vacation. My team and I are up early and working all day to late at night to get the most out of our travels. However, we did get to have a night to ourselves and my one coworker and I saw Waitress the Musical featuring Katharine McPhee on Broadway. It was the last week Katharine McPhee was performing (her last show was on August 19) so we were super lucky to see her. The show is such a feel good romantic comedy.
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After Edinburgh/the Scottish Highlands and Amsterdam, we traveled to Paris! I’ve been to Paris before with my girlfriends and Jeremy has spent a lot of time in Paris for work. But, we’d never actually been together. So, we were so excited to go to the most romantic city together for the first time.
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After Scotland, Jeremy and I traveled to Amsterdam. A few years ago I visited Amsterdam with girlfriends (see blog post recap 1 and recap 2). However, Jeremy had never been so we made a short trip. On Monday July 9 we took an early flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam and arrived in the early afternoon. During our visit we stayed at the super trendy W Amsterdam. The hotel is split into two separate buildings across the street from one another. One building was a former telephone exchange building and the other was a bank. When we arrived to the W our suite wasn’t ready so we ventured out into the city to our lunch reservations at De Kas.
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Jeremy has a work training this week (week of July 16) in Cambridge, UK so we planned a trip to Europe the week before his training. For the first part of our trip we visited Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland and then ventured into the Scottish countryside. Whenever we travel internationally we try to take overnight flights to attempt to get on the other time zone (especially when we went to Nepal and Thailand). So, we left Atlanta at 10pm on Thursday July 5 and landed in London at 11am on Friday July 6. Since we already lost a half day traveling we flew from London to Edinburgh instead of taking the train. So, by the time we got to Edinburgh it was late Friday afternoon.
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Over Memorial Day weekend I spent time with my Dad’s side of the family for my cousin Victoria’s wedding. Victoria and I are only a year apart. So, growing up we were always very close. Victoria is such a beautiful person inside and out, and found her perfect match in Alex, her husband. It was so nice to see everyone for Victoria’s wedding since my Dad’s side of the family is fairly small but are all spread out.
My Dad and Stepmom live in Virginia near my Mom and sister Caylen. Aunt Linda (Victoria’s Mom), her boyfriend and my Grandmother live in Bradenton, Florida. Then, my Dad’s brother, my Uncle John, his wife Aunt Marcelle and my two cousins Melissa and Leah live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I’m the oldest of all girl cousins. So, we always joked it was going to take a very special guy to be able to join our all female clan. Luckily Alex, Jeremy and Steven (my sister Caylen’s boyfriend make the cut).
For Mother’s Day I went to San Francisco for a girls weekend. My friend Katie lives in South San Francisco and had a baby in January. So, my friend Melissa and I met in San Francisco for the weekend to see Katie and meet her new baby boy, Tripp. Katie, Melissa and I used to be roommates in Arlington, Virginia and now all live in different states. Melissa still lives in Arlington, Virginia so I’m able to see her when I go home to visit my family. But, since Katie lives so far away, we try to see one another at least once a year. Last year I visited Katie for Memorial Day.