Northern Hemisphere.

I really, really had a wonderful (Northern Hemisphere) summer this year. It was a lovely combination of spending time with family and friends, but still doing a fair amount of traveling. There was berry picking, peach picking, hiking, cooking, baking, time at the lake, delicious food… all things that feel like home.

Here are just a few more photos from the summer that didn’t seem to fit with any other posts… and then I’m done. I swear.

Of course, now that I’m in the Southern Hemisphere summer is once again just around the corner!

xo, jill

“The magic is in the hole!”

One night when Mike and I were in Portland, we stopped in at Voodoo Doughnut. I was surprised by how much it had changed since the last time I was there (4ish years ago). The place is huge now. It used to be a tiny little hole in the wall where you could take Swahili lessons (remember Shauna?) before they opened at 9pm. Now there are three cash registers, a bar where you can eat your doughnuts, and room to spare. Weird.

Plus, the line out the door… well, kind of funny because they make you wait outside so even if there were only 4 people waiting the line would technically be “out the door.”

Ok now honestly, I think Voodoo is way over hyped. Sure, it’s a fun place with a glittery brick wall…but the doughnuts, not really anything special. It really doesn’t need to be the focus of every Portland themed travel show and blog. And I’m kind of sick of people making a big deal about “driving to Portland just for Voodoo” or “bringing Voodoo all the way to relatives in some other far away place.” Doughnuts get stale fast. They are not going to be delicious.

Portland has plenty of cool, unique, and much more delicious eateries. Get over the silly doughnuts already.

All that being said… of course I took Mike there. I had to. It was on the Travel Channel for goodness sakes! But I did privately laugh as the guy behind me kept saying, “I can’t believe I’m actually here!”

xo, jill

the bombs bursting in air…

Ok, this post is a little late. But better late than never. With the presidential election coming up, I’ve been paying much closer attention to the news coming out of the US and thinking about my home country much more than usual. So I guess sharing about my Fourth of July is a little bit topical after all?

Anyways… it was my first Independence Day on American soil in a few years, so I was pretty excited. I headed over to my friends’ place for some good food and fireworks (Thanks, Ben and Stacy!).

I even brought along a little face paint to keep the spirit of last year’s celebration in Abu Dhabi. Plus, since I did this for Canada Day, I felt like I owed America a little something.

After the sun went down we were in the perfect location to watch the Oak’s Bottom firework show. Then we did a few of our own.

Personally, I stuck to sparklers. My dad trained me well regarding the dangers of shooting roman candles out of your hand. (Even if it does look pretty cool in pictures).

It was definitely a successful evening.

xo, jill