This is Munich

mei ist des schee!

M. Sasek's wonderful book, This is Munich, has just been re-released this month. 

It's a wonderful gift for anyone who loves Minga. 

Books: Pierre Hermé Pastries + Henri's Walk to Paris

If you love pastries as much as I do, you'll be delighted that Pierre Hermé Pastries is soon to be released with more of his incredible creations.

It's supposed to come out March 1st, but when I pre-ordered his macarons book it came a bit quicker.

[if you want to read more about an apprenticeship with master pâtissier Pierre Hermé, check out  Food Beam, written by Fanny, a pastry chef / food blogger]

Let me know if you end up making something from the book, too! [here's an excerpt]

I think I will be making something from Pierre Hermé for my brother-in-law's wedding festivities in March.

Another great Parisian related re-release is Henri's Walk to Paris by Saul Bass. The illustrations are spectacular!

Send me an email or leave yours in the comments if you'd like a 10% off coupon and free shipping globally (before 29 February) on these books or whatever else you'd order from the book depository. (As always, I'm not receiving anything for these recommendations, but I love to share.)

Gift guide: Travel

1. design ahoy typographic letterpress map - be still my little heart
2. Knopf map guides - these are fantastic little fold out maps
3. Rimowa cabin trolley - sleek, professional, and lasts a lifetime

4. travel leather stickers - for letters, photos, and journals
5. sylvansport trailer - for versatile adventures
6. aurora borealis overnight - experience watching the northern lights somewhere special
7. airmail magnet frames - fun reminders of travels past
8. foreign language blocks - it's never too early to get the travel bug
9. city silhouette coat hanger - available in a wide array of cities
10. mini USB cable kit - no forgetting chargers or hauling bulky cords
11. special places map - for the adventure of life
12. The Sinner's Grand Tour - a journey through the historical underbelly of Europe

Homemade Glühwein

To start the weekend right how about some glühwein, homemade soup, and cuddling up to hibernate with a good book.

My dear friend Cait sent me the most perfect surprise, the book Just my Type, which is a great collection of stories about fonts. I should have probably waited until Christmas to open it, because it's proving to be a distraction from getting things done and I can't put it down.

I have to will myself out this weekend, because I really want to enjoy the Christmas Markets while they are still here and before the snow turns to slush. We also have to finally get and decorate our tree.

As for the glühwein...I tend to buy the tea bags filled with spices to cheat a little bit, however not everyone has that luxury, so here is a recipe that anyone and everyone can make at home.

I prefer my glühwein less sweet, and I don't add much sugar, although those with a sweet tooth can always add more. It's very forgiving, so you can omit or change spices according your preferences, too.

If you want to make this alcohol-free, or a Kinder Glühwein, simply replace the wine with a combination of cider, cranberry, and or grape juice.

If I really get ambitious I might try to make these glühwein truffels (recipe in German).

Gift guide: Him + Her

1. Graffiti Mug - Draw until it's perfect then bake for a custom mug. (image plastic land)

2. Beer + Chocolate tasting - Find the perfect mix of salty and sweet. (image theo chocolate)

3. Bike spooklight - Charges by USB, enables braking and turn signals for optimal road safety. (image 50 cycles)

4. Buck Stacking game - A modern game of skill. (image uncommon goods)

5. Magwear Helper - A simple way to hold screws and nails. (image spoon sisters)

6. New Skewers - Nature inspired skewers that help foods cook faster. (image nextrend products)

7. Your name novel - Insert the names of yourself, friends, or family in timeless novels. (image u star novels)

8. O'Clock Watch - A beautiful array of versatile watches. (image oclock)

9. Light up books or the enlightenment - Perfect for bibliophiles or as a quirky accent piece. (image light up your world)

10. Tulip USB - More USBs in a decorative manner. (image fred flare)

11. Westelm Manzanita Candelabra - The perfect touch of nature for an elegant table decoration. (image west elm)

12. Colorku - A great Sudoku twist for visual types using color instead of numbers. (image garnet hill)

Gift guide: Travel

1. Michele Varian Chalkboard Globe - A great planning tool and a pretty decor piece. (image Michele Varian)

2. Sam Hect Jet Lag Alarm - A convenient way to deal with international travel and figuring out sleep times. (image A+R)

3. These are Things 2011 Calendar - A beautiful limited edition letterpress calendar that makes it easy to schedule trips - and made in Ohio! (image these are things)

4. Artecnica KnoWhere Cosmos Clock - Finally a clock that makes it easy to tell what time it is in a variety of global cities. (image Artecnica)

5. Simplicitas Wolf Udo Wagner Picnic Set - Reusable stackable plates that travel everywhere. (image Simplicitas)

6. CARES Child Aviation Restraint System Harness - Lightweight and hassle free way to strap kids into airplanes without hauling a car seat. (image cares)

7. Aerobed Packmat - A portable mattress for quality sleeping virtually anywhere. (image aerobed)

8. North Face Base Camp Duffel - The small version is a fantastic carry-on and weekend bag. We also have the large 'Rolling Thunder'. These bags are durable and easy to pack and unpack. Hands down my favorite and most used piece of luggage. (image the north face)

9. Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky - Unless you're on the list of the Most Traveled People chances are good most of these islands will forever be arm chair travels. It's still pretty incredible to think of all the unique places in this world. (image amazon)

10. Atelier Pompadour Felted World Map - Made to order with your own travel route. (image atelier pompadour etsy)

11. Plastic Land ceramic Paris plates + mugs - A whimsical way to celebrate a romantic city at your own table. (image plastic land)

12. Hapticlab Softquilts - Maps made into quilts that are sure to be heirlooms of special places. (image haptic lab)

Phnom Penh

(This post is a follow up from our trip around the world. I will be writing a recap for each place we visited during our 4 month trip. Prior to Cambodia we also visited India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore).

We tried to do a lot of overland travel since it's inexpensive and allowed us to take in the scenery. The bus from Siem Reap cost $11 USD and lasted about 5 hours - complete with a Jackie Chan movie for those that didn't bring a book. There was maybe one other tourist on the bus, but it was us and the locals heading to the big city.

- Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are totally different places. Oddly we picked the big city as a place to relax at beautiful hotel with a pool. As soon as we got out of the bus we were bombarded with offers from tuktuk drivers to take us to our hotel.

- While some prices are very inexpensive (like the bus trip), others seem more on par with US prices and higher in Phnom Penh than in Siem Reap. There was a great clothing store called Wanderlust, however limited luggage space didn't work in my favor. The French influence is definitely still a major thread through the city - from pastry shops to signage, architecture, and beautiful clothing.

- Our hotel (the Blue Lime) was a nice oasis in the middle of the dusty city. Once again they had plenty of signage and reconfirmation on acknowledging we were not visiting for sex tourism. They didn't have literature about it at the hotel in the rooms, but there was a sign on the front door to reiterate what an issue this is.

- Sadly as we would walk the streets I would always notice the older white western men walking around alone. They could have been there for business, vacation, or for humanitarian causes, but I found myself judging, guessing, and wondering. Hopefully their intentions are more noble than we gave them credit for.

- Having a beautiful retreat in the city was nice to come back to after days of intense heat and emotional exhaustion. It was also relaxing to have such a beautiful pool to enjoy. There were bananas growing on the trees and we could have breakfast poolside. I especially loved the fresh passion fruit juice.

- There is a lot of diversity in terms of visitors and foods. I get the feeling there must be a rather large expat community in Phnom Penh, most of whom are probably shop and restaurant owners from things we read. The luxury car of choice seems to be a Lexus SUV - the city is littered with them and they look very ostentatious against the surroundings.

- Lately I've read Phnom Penh isn't the safest of cities, however we thankfully didn't encounter any issues. It appears as though Western tourists are being targeted along the River area near the Royal Palace, especially at night or during the night markets. Bricks have been thrown from moving cars and people have been injured as a result.

- The traffic is also an area of concern since people don't always obey street signs. It looks like they get an early start on dealing with navigating the city without fear. I can't quite figure out how the little guys sitting on the bike seat while the other peddled were able to get on the bike.

- There are all kinds of smells on the streets - diesel, fuel from cooking, and rotting foods. On occasion there will also be wafts of fresh air or wonderful foods. Some days the air seemed so heavy that it felt physically difficult to breathe when combined with the heat.

- The pagodas like Wat Phnom tend to attract the disabled hoping for compassion. There were also a lot of children running around. At one point Stefan stopped to put on some sun screen. Two little boys gathered to watch him slather it over his exposed skin. He attempted to tell them what it was and what he was doing it, although the language barrier probably didn't help. I'm curious what they thought.

- Even with so much beauty to distract us we are still constantly confronted with the struggles that poverty brings and the cruelty people are capable of. There aren't too many touristy sites in Phnom Penh to visit, although there is a Genocide museum and the Khmer Rouge killing fields where I'm told bone fragments are visable in the dirt.

- As we walked down the street random tuktuk drivers would stop and ask if we wanted to go to the killing fields and the shooting range. We opted not to go. I don't understand making memorial sites into touristed places that even seem like a mockery. I can't understand why someone would want to shoot a gun after visiting a place where many people lost their lives, but this wasn't the last time we encountered this.

- The Royal Palace is probably the biggest attraction second to Wat Phnom. The grounds are immaculate with many Buddhist monks walking around. The architecture is very beautiful and seems to sparkle in the sun. Again, there were beautiful stupas and Buddhist accents everywhere.

- My favorite stop here was a restaurant called Friends. It's a training site to help Khmer orphans, homeless, or abused children gain experience in a restaurant atmosphere. They also have a school and store that sells articles they have made and teaches them about a variety of issues. The food was outstanding and we bought their cookbook with many of the recipes we tried so we could bring a taste of Cambodia back home.

- We went to the markets, which were definitely larger than expected. The Central Market and more local Orussey Market were especially large and sensory overload. The dark and dank corridors were filled with people selling every imaginable thing. It seemed to go on and on. The Central Market had tons of clothing, sunglasses, jewelry, and watches. There were even little ladies in the back sewing up special orders on the spot. Many of the streets and markets are organized by trades or products. It seems slightly strange to have everything in the same area selling the same goods, but I guess it keeps prices in check.

- We thought the Orussey Market was the so called 'Russian Market' (many Russians visited in the 1980's, hence the name) and wondered why many tourists would visit, however our questions were answered when we learned Orussey is actually the local market.

- After hitting up the main tourist sites we walked to the Independence Monument on our way to the real Russian Market and stumbled upon the North Korean embassy. That was a funny surprise.

- The Russian Market is an interesting place because they have many export seconds. There are quite a few retailers that have factories in the area (including Gap, Banana Republic, and Columbia). What is marketed as authentic merchandise* is sold at this market, because for whatever reason it's not good enough to sell in their stores.

*This is debatable. I've since read the book Where am I Wearing by fellow Ohio native Kelsey Timmerman. He states in his book that none of the clothing at the market is a factory second and is actually missing inventory from the factories. It's an interesting look into factories around the world and what types of people are working at the ground level for some very famous brands.

- It raises a lot of questions about the production of goods and how these stores develop business relations in these countries. Each of the stalls packs and unpacks their goods every single night. We found a couple t-shirts with Khmer on them. I made sure to ask the people at the hotel what they said. My favorite simply says 'Good Morning' both in English and Khmer, since I tend to be an early riser.

- We also stopped at the modern mall where it's said many country Khmer ride their first escalators. At the top was a beautiful panorama of the city and a bustling roller skating rink that the teenagers were enjoying. There was also a large shop selling bootleg DVDs. We saw season 3 of 30 Rock for $4, but we didn't want to support the bootleg economy.

We were very grateful to have some downtime and see another facet of Cambodian culture. Phnom Penh is a unique place where the pains of big city life are evident. People move there for jobs to support their families in the country side. They work in intense heat for low wages and often for long hours and the wealth divide is enormous. The textile industry is enormous and I always think about it when I put on an article of clothing with 'Made in Cambodia' on the tag.

Cambodia is definitely on my list of places I'd like to return to. It's a beautiful culture that has been through some difficult times, but the people seem determined and the government has a lot of support from multilateral donors.

Next stop... Vietnam.

The joys of my job

This summer seems to be constantly keeping me on my toes. The good news is that I've been meeting all kinds of hilarious characters from all around the world. The bad news is I haven't had too much time to write here, finishing editing photos from our trip, or have much of a life.

That being said I love my job. I know I've said it before, but the world is filled with so many amazing people. Each day I learn something new about dealing with various cultures, how they interact, and how to manage 20+ people who may speak English as a second language.

All of this has been similar to what I experienced in my German course except on a more global level. Everyone has a story and I love listening to whatever they want to tell me - whether it's their view on the state of the world or customs and their favorite things to do in their home lands.

Some days I can't believe a Midwest American girl like myself has the opportunity to chat with people from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and far away lands. I've been called naïve before, but I do believe in the kindness of strangers and that regardless of religion or political beliefs people can unite as humans. (As a result I loved the book The Kindness of Strangers by Don George. It's great to read if you're sick of doom and gloom.)

Here are some of the people I've met the past few weeks:
- A Turkish couple from Istanbul with the husband having learned his English from American police shows like NCIS and CSI. He would go through his repertoire saying, "Drop your weapon - NOW!" or "I'm going to break the door down." I love that he was trying and laughing hysterically at my reaction.

- A single mother from Brazil who kept asking her son and niece "Do you love me?" She said telling people you love them is essential, even if it meant embarrassing two teenagers.

- A wonderful Saudi family, from Jeddah, who I shared the afternoon laughing with. They also loved to give hugs. At the end of the day the father told me he felt the people we spent the day with were people that he knew better than friends he'd known for a long time. The mother then started to embarrass her teenage daughter by saying "Do you love me?"

- A Greek couple who was concerned about sustainability and believed the world will revert to going local again. They talked about wanting to grow their own food, but not having enough time to do so.

- A couple from Malta that talked about their foods and traditions. Pastizzi pastries filled with peas or ricotta are something I have to try when I visit.

- An Australian woman who swore to me that Louis Vuitton stores have different prices around the globe, although they say they don't. She compares a certain purse in each country she goes to and has seen it differ up to 100€. She said the cheapest place to buy is in Frankfurt. (If you like 'luxury' items I'd recommend Deluxe by Dana Thomas, which I recently read - very fascinating.)

- A young American/Senegalese guy that now worked in Cairo as a children's advocate. He does speaking engagements around the world and had some pretty humbling facts. In 1998 the US spent $8 Billion on cosmetics + Europe spent $11 Billion on ice cream. He reasoned if people purchased from more ethical companies that money could easily give sewage sanitation and clean water to everyone in the world.

- A Canadian film maker that takes photos to create 3D images. He uses a wooden stereoscopic viewer with images he takes on his holidays to combine modern technology with some old fashioned depth perception tricks. Pretty cool!

There were plenty more that I could go on and on about.

I also had my foray into leaving tourists behind. I have honestly dreaded this day and even slightly prided myself on never having it happen. I gave everyone a marked map with the meeting location and time, I announced the meeting point when we passed it, and I waited an extra 15 minutes. Unfortunately there was no sight of the couple. I later found out they chose to stay behind, but didn't inform me, which made me feel marginally better.

The rest of the group tried to keep my spirits up. They were humorous about it too, saying 'maybe they already went to the train station'. Then it was 'maybe they are on the train'... 'maybe they are back in Munich'.

One said on another tour the guide said a 10% loss is acceptable. Then a man said I could now tell people I've left people behind to instill a bit of fear in them. With 18 other people we had to get back to Munich.

Hopefully the rest of my tours this summer will be as much fun as the past few weeks - even despite the rain.

London

After taking the exciting for all the wrong reasons chunnel from Paris to London we were happy enough to finally meet up with friends.

It's always great to catch up and hang out at the pub. London reminds me of a great mix of American things with the obvious European influence. Each little borough has its own charm and like all great cities I can always go back again and again to discover something new.

Stefan and I have both been to London a few times, so we didn't stop by too many of the typical tourist hot spots, mainly the ones that were right around our hotel.

There were several elephants from the elephant parade that we also managed to spot around London. It also looks like they are pumping up Malcolm Gladwell, whose books I really enjoy. It's interesting to see them with different covers than the US versions.

As part of Stefan's birthday extravaganza we went to the River Café, where a very young Jamie Oliver got his start at becoming a star chef. The menu was simple enough and the food was very good.

We took Caitlin's recommendation to hit up Islington and all of the great Sunday markets in the area. It's so British and charming. I saw plenty of things that I would have loved to have brought home. Next time I will have to bring a larger bag!

Aren't the store fronts and restaurants so pretty? It's just as much fun to go window shopping and to be tempted by the beautiful restaurants. I'm looking forward to getting back for a long weekend again sometime soon. Perhaps I'll have to start planning a scavenger hunt like the one we did in Paris.

city updates

As much as I'm sure you'd love a play by play of each day of our trip it's frankly a bit boring and will take forever. I am bored writing it, and I know that it can never precisely capture our experiences or the excitement. If it's boring for me, it's surely boring for you.

Instead, I think I will post a more concise reaction to each place with plenty of photos. If you have questions about places, experiences, or something else I'm more than happy to answer them, just leave them in a comment below.

There's so much going on that will hopefully be more inspiring to write about and plenty more trips around the corner. I need to enjoy the downtime while I have it and get our apartment settled, because we're back to exploring foreign lands in early April.

Summer in Munich

Here are a few of little details I've appreciated over the past couple weeks.

I cannot believe it's already August.

We have plenty to do this month:
- finish getting visas
- our final round of vaccinations (The tetanus shot sure did our arms in)
- figure out a packing list
- book hotels
- celebrate 3 years of wedded bliss! (I'm definitely looking forward to that one)

But in the meantime, I love reading a good book at the park and stopping at the biergarten or for some gelato on the way home.

air emergency

A warning that this post is a bit morbid, but I can't stop thinking about it. I'm talking about flight 447 'disappearing' between Brazil and Paris. It also doesn't help that I was watching the National Geographic show Air Emergency.

Where the problem begins is that for whatever reason, I always seem to make the world's problems my own. I dwell on them, I over think them, and I'm often told that I'm a bit too compassionate. I still don't think that's possible.

Plane wrecks are very controversial to discuss and they make people very uneasy, even despite the very low percentages of their actual occurrence. According to statistics there's a 1:5 chance of dying from heart disease, a 1:100 chance of dying in a car accident, and a 1:20,000 chance of dying in a plane wreck. (Numbers always seem to fluctuate from year-to-year according to who is analyzing things, and from where, but even so, the odds are pretty huge.) Of course the closer you look the more correlations you can find, as Stefan says, 'if you are massaging the numbers'.

Tomorrow I will be flying back to Munich alone. I'm truly not a nervous flyer - if anything I go into things thinking 'whatever happens, happens'. I have such a happy life and of course I want to continue living it, but I am recently reminded just how much is out of my hands, which is why I go with the laid back 'whatever happens, happens' approach.

In 2003, I was in an emergency landing. It sounds much more dramatic than it was, but I was traveling alone and it was my first trip to Europe. Our plane was losing gasoline over the Atlantic Ocean and then we were told we'd be turning around and heading to Amsterdam for the night. The pilot had to dump an insane amount of gasoline to get down to landing weight and we could see it being dumped from the wings. Many of the passengers began talking and trying to comfort each other. I still remember the woman next to me telling me about her animal skull collection. Seriously bizarre. Once we arrived it was mentioned we may use the same plane to depart later that night, which people were adamantly opposed to. Several of the flight attendants were really not that great at staying calm, even despite their training. That always struck me as odd.

After graduating college I decided that I would considering becoming a flight attendant myself, especially if it meant being able to visit Stefan more frequently or being able to have him meet me in far away locales. Another perk was up to 90% off fares and instant upgrades when available. That was pretty convincing.

I saw an ad in the newspaper and I went to the interviews. After sailing past the others I was chosen from about 100 people for training. Before I knew it I had an inside look at the flight industry. There was a lot of interesting information - including each and every flight attendant must carry a small confidential book with information regarding every procedure, even down to how you should handle 'VIP' customers. Your book needs to be updated at all times and the pages are not to be simply stuck in, but they are to be filed properly and you may be periodically checked or fined if it is not up to date.

The most interesting topic discussed was also the most important - safety. I was incredibly shocked to see some of the images, like the one in this article that say it's safest to pick a seat towards the back of the plane and on an aisle. (I also check seatguru for more information on specific airlines and types of planes.)

Some of my Mom's words of wisdom were reiterated - like wearing closed toe shoes and being aware of where the exits are before something happens. Then there were other things that I learned in training. For example, it's best to actually count the seats that it takes to get to an exit, because in a smoked filled plane you may not be able to see. Or if someone gets stuck in one of the lavatories you can help them escape by flipping a panel and opening the door.

When I was in London this year I was super excited to find 'Outliers: The Story of Success' the newest Malcolm Gladwell book, on sale. I promptly bought it and read through it in about 2 days. I highly suggest reading all of his books. They give you so much to ponder. In the latest there were a number of intriguing topics, including one about Harlan, Kentucky, where I helped build a house one summer in high school, and the most fascinating was chapter number 7 - The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes.

It suggests 7 human errors happen before a catastrophe and most often they are errors in communication. Considering English is the language of the air traffic control, it's often a second language for many pilots. Even in using English as a common language, there are small nuances that aren't always picked up on between cultures and there are major differences in how people challenging authority figures and how it is done.

So why didn't I go through with becoming a flight attendant?

There were the sorority like aspects of getting sized up each and every day. Our outfits had to be very precise. We were required to wear a black belt with pants and jewelry was permitted, but there was a limit to number of earrings and accessories. There were even regulation bags and purses, which we would be required to carry.

I quickly learned I was the only one to have graduated college and one of few that had a passport prior to training, which was another requirement. We were holed up in a hotel, close to the airport, and there really wasn't anything for us to do besides learn the material and get to know our 'flight class', which sounds easy enough.

We had a driver who would take us to the grocery at a designated time and he told us, flat out, that most of us wouldn't stick with this lifestyle for an entire year. I still remember going to a dinner with the other ladies one night with a young woman who had been working as a flight attendant for a couple years. She promptly told us how as soon as we were in the union we could carry whatever purse we wanted and how she loved using beauty appointments as a tax deduction. She also said her father helped to support her, because the pay was that bad.

Many of the women had work large carriers and after 9-11 when they had been downsized. Finally things were picking up and they could go back to the jobs they once enjoyed. One woman spoke of her ex-husband, who was coincidentally German, and how she didn't get anything in the divorce. Another women spoke about her children, who she never saw. It made me wonder what the point was.

The class was divided up into seniority according to who was the oldest and who had the most experience. The women who had been flight attendants said that's why so many of the international flight attendants are older women - they keep their jobs for eons, because they finally get paid decent money and the hours are more manageable. Speaking additional languages also helps.

Slowly things for me began to unravel. I would have to live in one of 4 cities, and although I could designate which I found most desirable the chances of needing to move were very high, despite the pay not being equal. Everyone who was more senior would have their choice fulfilled first. Typically people end up in what they call a 'crash pad', which are often in hotels or sometimes a shared apartment. The thought of having tons of random people coming and going really wasn't appealing.

There is a limit to how many hours you can work each month due to constantly being in cabin pressure, but often times you'd have to be on-call, so you had to be no further than one hour away with your bag packed and ready to go. There was an upfront investment for uniforms and the required luggage and handbags. We were told how the polyester dresses were the most effortless, because you could wash them in the hotel sink and it would be dry by morning.

Being on the road, or in the skies I should say, sounds exciting. The longer training went on the more I saw what kind of characters I would be interacting with and staying in random hotels with around the US. Everyone talked about their promiscuous lifestyles and pilot boyfriends or the womanizing men they would encounter. Everything lost it's appeal. The thought of being holed up with these people was my breaking point. I prefer to stay on the tourist side of things - don't they say 'keep your work life and your home life separate'? Maybe that's just an adage that I've picked up from being in Germany too long.

the.

I've been seeing 'the.' on design sites for a while now... because of their anti-theft lunch bags, however I absolutely love their new framed objects.

Since I don't know that cleaning the vase would be so simple, I think I'd go for the book shelf. It would be so nice in a kitchen for a cookbook or in a little reading area. It's definitely a subliminal conversation starter.

I also love their walls notebook, which can inspire your inner graffiti artist. (Note the typical German Stabilo pens that we all love).

They certainly have a lot of fun design items. If only my birthday was around the corner.

(images courtesy of the.)

Pretty Reminders

I'm a firm believer in doing little things to make yourself and others happy.

Simple notes tucked into pockets, or into luggage, are bound to bring smiles to people's faces. I also think it helps to surround yourself with beauty - people who radiate happiness and make you feel good, as well things that brighten up life.

Being away from home makes me appreciate my friends and family so much more and to realize just how fortunate I am to have them in my life.

My family knows me so well and surprised me with the most thoughtful gifts for Christmas and my birthday. I would even go as far as saying it was one of the best and most memorable holidays for me. It was so nice to be home and have time with everyone.

A few of my favorite gifts that make me smile and think of everyone at home are a shopping basket, the classic style cafeteria trays, and further fueling my wanderlust is 'The Europe Book' by Lonely Planet.

My shopping basket makes grocery shopping that much more enjoyable and the reactions to it are priceless. The cafeteria trays make me think of cookouts and gatherings, plus they are eco-friendly. And I'm already reading up on Rome for our upcoming trip... and the smallest country with the lowest birthrate in the world - The Vatican.

And what do you know - as I was unpacking I found notes in my own luggage. What sweet reminders of home.