Battered Suitcases

October 8, 2012

Canadian Thanksgiving

Hostel style.

It’s Thanksgiving in Canada today. Of course, we couldn’t let the holiday pass without a little celebration. (I love celebrating two Thanksgivings!!!) It definitely wasn’t as cute and polished as the last two years (here and here)… but I think we did a pretty good job with what we had.

A friendly Canadian, Elizabeth, joined us for dinner which consisted of…

A “little turkey” aka chicken for them, pumpkin soup, salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and apple crisp. Pretty delicious. Now let’s just hope the hostel thief we’ve encountered lately doesn’t make off with the left overs!

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada…all the way from Newcastle, Australia.

Looking forward to America’s turn in a few weeks!

xo, jill

posted by Jill 5 Comments
Filed Under: Australia

October 8, 2012

Canadian Thanksgiving

Hostel style.

A friendly Canadian, Elizabeth, joined us for dinner which consisted of…

A “little turkey” aka chicken for them, pumpkin soup, salad, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and apple crisp. Pretty delicious. Not let’s just hope the hostel thief we’ve encountered lately doesn’t make off with the left overs!

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada…all the way from Newcastle, Australia.

Looking forward to America’s turn in a few weeks!

xo, jill

posted by Jill 5 Comments
Filed Under: Australia

October 7, 2012

Instant Northwest

Home sweet home.

The past few days I’ve been thinking over the past few months with great fondness. I hesitate to say it was the best summer ever… but it’s definitely a favorite.

Here are a few instax photos from around the Pacific Northwest.

Molly heading out on her epic bike trip.

A rainy day at Long Beach, WA.

On the tracks near Teddy Bear Cove.

Annie at the circus on the aerial silk.

First Fourth of July at home in years.

Fourth of July picnic/bbq.

The perfect picnic at Teddy Bear Cove.

Mike at Cannon Beach, OR.

xo, jill

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Filed Under: instax, USA

October 6, 2012

Fourth day in L.A.

And our last.

On our fourth day in L.A., Molly, Mike, and I met up with the newly weds for breakfast. It was nice to get one last hour with them. Who knows when our paths will cross again?!

After breakfast, we hit the beach!

We headed down to the Santa Monica pier, enjoyed the waves, and braved the urine smell (icky!). What’s with famous public places always smelling like pee?

Mike gave Molly some body surfing lessons while I napped in the sand. So relaxing!

Next we rented bikes and rode down to Venice Beach. The ride there was quite nice… but the ride back made my thighs burn. I finally realized that we were riding against the wind. Molly and Mike didn’t seem to notice the extra challenge. Just me. Of course.

Later that day we returned the rental car and prepared to fly home early the next morning. It just might have been my favorite day of the trip.

xo, jill

posted by Jill 2 Comments
Filed Under: USA

October 5, 2012

From the Hip Friday

Two gents.

Today’s photo from the hip comes from Mike. He managed to snap a photo of these two dapper gentlemen while on the street in London. I must say, I love that bowtie.

Thanks, Mike!

xo, jill

From the Hip Friday features photos taken without the use of a viewfinder. If you have a photograph that was taken from the hip you’d like to share here, please contact me!

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Filed Under: from the hip

October 4, 2012

Third day in L.A.

Déjà vu.Our third day in L.A. we picked up Molly and Shera (and some Mexican food), and headed straight for… the Hollywood sign! Molly and Shera hadn’t seen it yet, so we figured we might as well go up in the hills for round two. I’m glad we did because I really love a few of these photos.

Next we took a nice drive along Mulholland Drive. We tried to use our star map to find celebrity homes, but it’s tricky! Mostly, it was just good silly fun.

And speaking of silly fun… our next stop was Randy’s Donuts! Of course you should drive miles out of your way for an .89 cent donut. It’s a classic!

We followed Randy’s with a visit to the Coca-Cola bottling factory. No one else seemed excited about the idea of a giant Coke bottle. But that’s ok. Totally worth it. (Not).

Finally, we ended up in a slightly more sophisticated tourist destination: El Pueblo de Los Angeles. This is the oldest and most historic part of Los Angeles. It’s really quite lovely. The buildings themselves are gorgeous and the atmosphere was relaxed.