• Summer

    life lately /on pursuing your hobbies

    hi all, did you have a nice halloween and first week of november? this was our most low-key halloween celebration to date as we were in moravia for the big “halloweekend”, as it’s come to be known, and that meant no dressing up for us this year! that’s just how the calendar days fell. i’ve learned when you get a long weekend, you don’t take it for granted! more from moravia coming very soon – i have just been too ding dang busy this week to even think about writing more than i already have, in my last post about my first day in the czech republic. a full schedule…

  • Summer

    october things + my favorite autumn breakfast (recipe)

    i have been a studious, busy little bee lately now that my brain is fully embracing autumn and has already gone back to school! i’ve decided to take a less crazy schedule than i had last year because, you should’ve seen me last year – i was running around like a mad person! there is this cycle that happens to english teachers here (and maybe other places, i don’t know) where you want to get more and more lessons to fill up your schedule. you keep gathering more and more until finally, you have so many that you are starting to go crazy. you are running in and out of…

  • Summer

    indian summer

    babí léto. altweibersommer. (both names relating to old people!) whatever you want to call it, we are experiencing one heck of an indian summer in central europe. it is now the perfect temperature for things like hiking! it occurred to me last week that i was not in a rut, per se, but forgetting that i live in europe and how much there is to explore around here. i promptly planned two local trips to celebrate st. wenceslaus day holidays that grace the end of september here in czechland.  the first was finally climbing klet’ hill (last time, we took the chair-lift!) and hiking down into krumlov for some folklore festivities. what…

  • Summer

    at summer’s end

    even before returning from iceland (heck, even before i went to iceland), i was hopehopehoping that the czech summer still would be in full swing to welcome me back with open (sunny and warm) arms and man, have i not been disappointed in the least! we have been having such a wonderful time since we’ve been back: rafting on the vltava, barbecues, warm summer night gatherings and pool parties, every meal al-fresco out on the balcony… it has really been the third chapter of summer i have been hoping for. however, i am feeling a bit like phil from wayne’s world today: partied out (again)! with the cool temperatures returning…

  • Summer

    hi, september

    there is nothing more invigorating than being away on a long trip and then getting to come back to your lovely home and cook, clean, read books, garden, run out to the drugstore (like i was doing here, above) and do all of those boring household things that are suddenly anything but boring… in the beautiful warm weather which is most decidedly still summer. our adopted home of the czech republic always smiles upon us after we’ve been away every august; i have no idea why. maybe it’s trying to win us over again after we’ve cheated on it with some other country. but we always come back to you,…

  • Summer

    july: friday things

    hi friends, have you been enjoying july? i look forward to this month every year, and although we’re not livin’ it up in santorini as we were this time last year, it’s been a great one with days that are not as typically hot as the usual central european summer and plenty of thunderstorms and rain. (times i’ve been caught out in a storm this summer without proper gear and soaked: 2) but what’s better than being cozy and inside while the windows are open listening to the rain on a warm summer’s night? besides being in a forest hunting for wild blueberries, that is? here are five things that…

  • Summer

    maybe i’ve made it

    happy july, friends! alex sometimes makes fun of me about how much i love the changing of the months and the seasons… and i guess there’s some things to make fun of. i am so excited i do get up early to go change the page on the calendar (and god forbid i’ve actually looked at what the next picture will be before the month is through; that would ruin everything). i’ve been known to take the first of december off work just to decorate the house before; that has happened.  but it’s especially july that i’m excited about… the beginning of summer. so much possibility! everything’s just getting started!…

  • Summer

    loving local: at june’s end

    do you ever plan things way in advance only to realize, when the day gets closer, you don’t really want to go through with that plan anymore? that’s what happened to us this week, as was the first really “summer holiday” week for the both of us, we had talked about going camping ages ago until the week got here and i started having major decision anxiety. (holler to all of my fellow indecisive friends; the struggle is real) really, all i want is just to spend a little downtime at home or puttering around budějovice. it has happened: that sobo life has taken hold of me. (but watch in…

  • Summer

    may: friday things

    hey friends – hope you are having a beautiful may! i always enjoy this birthday month and finally shaking the winter cobwebs away, preparing for the fun that will come with spring… especially more travel opportunities, heh. we enjoyed a gorgeous weekend in prague (above, on kampa) to celebrate my birthday but honestly, i’ve been finding that most of the action is right here in south bohemia lately. hoping that in june we’ll have some time to steal away for some adventures. so! here are a few memorable moments and some things i’ve been into this past month. 1. boat trip! i’m not exactly a boating novice (i wrote about our kayak…

  • Summer

    this is thirty

    i look young for my age, or so i’ve been told. nobody has asked me for my age very recently, but whenever they do, they’re met with some sort of shock at how old i am. being told this has never really made a lot of sense to me. it’s like “thank you, i guess?” but i’ve lived all of these years; i’ve earned them. when i look in the mirror, i see each one of them (and those damn smile lines from my four years working at starbucks – thanks a lot, customer service).  so, this is what thirty looks like. it doesn’t mean i have to be this or…