Walter Hagen is coined with first saying ‘Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.’ Last fall in the ‘City of Roses’, Portland, OR, we did just that. Located on top of a hill overlooking the skyline in Washington Park is the International Rose Test Garden. It was the perfect spot to escape the hustle & bustle of downtown Portland and quite literally ‘smell the roses.’ The History of the Rose Garden … In early…
View Post
We had only 24 hours to explore the historic city of Kyoto for our honeymoon so we set out to make the most of our limited time. If you missed part 1, you can read it here. We first visited %Arabica for the best caffeine intake and enjoyed a morning of hiking throughout the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine complex. We ended the morning with local Japanese street food before continuing on our journey. Temperatures ranged from…
View Post
As a child, I grew up watching ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ and dreaming about life in Japan. As I created my bucket list, one of the first ideas was being part in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. In Japan, the ‘way of tea’ is a ceremony that involves making, presenting, and enjoying Matcha green tea. This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries. When we visited Kyoto for our honeymoon, I…
View Post
We had only 24 hours to explore the historic city of Kyoto as part of our honeymoon. We set out to make the most of our limited time. Coming from the hustle & bustle of Tokyo, Kyoto was a nice escape to relax. It was peaceful with ancient temples & shrines. It was also the perfect place to experience traditional culture and cuisine. We arrived late to the Suiran Luxury Collection Hotel (part of the…
View Post
I used struggle to put together a cohesive wardrobe. The thought of building wardrobe essential items was beyond foreign. I would go to the store, try on a ton of items and buy whatever I liked. This left me with a ton of items in my closet that didn’t really go together. When I started traveling more frequently and for longer periods of time, this had to change. My suitcase would only allow for so…
View Post