Travels with My Mortgage
My blog is called Travels with My Mortgage because my one consistent travel companion in the last 11 years has always been my house payment. I didn’t start traveling extensively until I was in my mid-30s, after my husband I had bought a house and we had a monthly payment. Behind all my travel stories around the world is a wonderful home, a finanical obligation, and decisions about how we can budget our lives so that I could follow my passion.
There is a best travel bag
Me in Belize just thinking about how much I love bags.
I love bags. Really. I seriously love bags. Just ask my husband. I have a bag for every item or occasion. Pool bag, beach bag, shoe bag, overnight roller suitcase, overnight bookbag, grocery bags (cold items), grocery bags (non-refrigerated items), computer bag, electronic accessory bag, diaper bag, toddler cooler snack bag, water-proof dog walking bag, business casual office bag, standard purse, oversized luggage bag, fanny pack for the gym, skateboard pads bag, wetsuit bag.
Hawaii
My husband Jim and I honeymooned in Hawaii. It was magical for so many reasons. Not only because we arrived two days after our wedding, high from the excitement of having our closest friends all in the same room and feeling so loved and so celebrated, but because Hawaii feels like magic. The vibrant colors of the plants, fruits, and vegetables, the wildlife, the sounds of the ocean – the fact that, even though it is a very popular tourist destination, we found ourselves alone on beaches or volcanic trails more often than we could have imagined. There were many magical moments that I still think about 15 years after that trip. But one moment – one special moment, magical moment – I think about almost daily.
Iceland
The only photo I took in Iceland.
Whenever I have the chance, I try to double up on the locations that my trips will take me. A daylong layover can offer a lot in a second country – an overnight stay can feel like a whole other vacation if you plan it right. When my husband and I went to Barcelona for our 7th wedding anniversary, I booked our flights through WOW Air (RIP), which had a mandatory stop in Reykjavíkon both ends of the trip to Spain, the latter being a full 24 hours in Iceland.
My Friend Dick
It’s five a.m., and in an hour, I am leaving for the airport to fly to Florida from Virginia to visit my friend Barb. Three weeks ago, Barb’s husband, Dick, passed away suddenly, and both Barb and I, and so many others, are devastated by this loss. Like Barb, Dick was also a close friend of mine. They are so well known to me that I actually wrote a book, The House of Life, about their lives. It was published 10 years ago, in 2016.
chop suey documentary part 1 - 3
VCU-TV/HD turns its lens toward Richmond, Virginias favorite used book store, Chop Suey. Owner Ward Teft gives an inside look at what makes this store so loved and adored by the community. Used books and fresh starts.
How One Couple Brought Health Care to Haiti
In May 2016, when I heard the news of the doctors’ strike taking place in Haiti, my heart sank. Doctors, nurses and medical residents had been on strike since March as they protested low wages and demanded better working conditions, leading to the shutdown of Haiti’s largest hospitals. And now, as the news of the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew floods in from Haiti, ever more families need access to health care and medicine as quickly as possible.
Books on Wheels bloggler
Due to our eviction from the previous evening, we moved the bus to our friend Becka’s house in the Garden District, where we are able to enjoy the pleasures of indoor plumbing and the World Wide Interweb. On Monday morning we woke up early again, and walked around a nearby cemetery looking for zombies and discussing serious issues like “Do you think vampires ever get tricked by an eclipse?”.
Best friends day: 10 years later
Shelley: So, do we want to hear the real story first or do we want to hear the myth?
Anna: I want to hear the myth first. I mean, the lore will probably be funnier.
Randy: Well, it’s not too in depth, and forgive me if I am wrong, it was many years ago. but I thought it was Tony [Foresta] and maybe you [motions to Shelley] and your sister [Erin] went to Hadad’s [Lake] one day and got wasted, and called it Best Friends Day.
Fair observer: feburary 2018
Oxfam, one of the UK’s largest and best known charities, is currently entangled in a scandal following revelations that senior staff members engaged in sexual misconduct during the 2010 Haiti earthquake recovery effort and had hired prostitutes while working in Chad in 2006. The report revealed that aid workers held sex parties, turning a villa rented by Oxfam into a makeshift brothel, with senior officers allegedly attempting to cover up the behavior.