Want to Trade?
Everyone has something, and everyone wants something. To get trinkets, treasures, and toys in today’s world, most people use a dollar, euro, or pound. They may even use a baht, bitcoin, or rupiah, but it’s almost always a currency. Bartering has all but disappeared, an endangered species on the commerce list. We want to bring […]
Two Months Abroad…What it Costs
Many of you have asked…how can we afford to be gone for two months? In Europe and Africa? On a two-week cruise through the Mediterranean? How is it affordable? Truthfully, it’s because I’m an obsessive planner. Well, at least in part. You see, I scour the internet for hours, that lead to days, and keep […]
Dear Home, I Miss You Guys
By now you all know that we packed up everything, stored it in Texas and Virginia, and set off to live abroad. Where? A riad in the, dare I say, racist town of Marrakech, a lofty apartment in the Jewish Quarter of Budapest, and a beautiful farming complex in the picturesque Tuscan countryside with a […]
13 Peanut Butter Recipes You Have to Have
You may not know this, but November is officially National Peanut Butter Lovers Month. Truth. My Rust is a HUGE peanut butter lover. He eats it by the jar full…even over here in Europe where the residents prefer Nutella. Now, I don’t enjoy peanut butter the way HE does, but, I can see why Europeans […]
Fierce Storms in Italy and Changes on the Way
Since Saturday, we have been piled together by the woodfire, watching the rain fall here in Tuscany. It’s barely stopped. The gray skies and wet weather have not dampened our moods at all, in fact, it felt really nice to have an excuse NOT to be out and about. The weekend was primarily just drizzling […]
9 Painless Ways to Save $500 per Month
Last week we talked about how to retire in your thirties. Twenty-three ways to be exact, and trust me, there are many more. That post was overwhelmingly popular. People enjoyed it and had tons of comments, but let’s face it, the target audience wasn’t everyone. I mean, to retire in your thirties, you can’t already […]
Finding Happiness in Tuscany
In case you were wondering, yes, we are still in Tuscany, on exile from Morocco. In a text message from my mom yesterday, she wrote… “it sounds like you’ve found your happy place.” This may not mean a lot to you. I know the term Happy Place is overused, perhaps to the point of being […]
23 Ways to Retire in Your Thirties
Have you ever been on your morning commute, behind the wheel of your fancy new beamer that is barely creeping along the freeway toward a destination that you’d rather not, yet you do every single morning, drinking the same venti vanilla latte as you do every weekday, and thought to yourself, “When does it end? […]
From Budapest to Tuscany…
There are so many things I want to tell you. Like, for example, we left Budapest on Saturday morning, at about 11. Our host was supposed to meet us at 1045, to call us a taxi to the train station…but, well, her supposed to got up and went. So there we were, a mile […]
Breathing in Budapest
As part of our honeymoon back in 2016, Rust and I spent 4 days here in Budapest. It was a beautiful city, though frigid in early December, and honestly, other than a few strolls to the Christmas Market, we just didn’t do much. That was my fault. You see, at the time, I had an […]
Finding Happy…Letting Go in Budapest
A young man in a black jacket hops on his white Vespa and speeds away. Two school boys rise from their perch after being too shy to chat with the cute girls next to them. They stroll across the square toward the yellow trams and a group of friends. A older gentleman enjoys the autumn […]
Marrakech…Final Thoughts
I wanted to love Morocco. I planned to. I’ve been to remote places. I’ve been to less than clean places. I’ve been to places that scared me, that made me nervous, that made me tired. Morocco was all of those. While outside the walls of the Medina were a far different world than inside, it […]
Where to Eat in Marrakech
After three weeks in the Red City, we feel pretty good about telling you where you should eat if you happen to find yourself in Marrakech. We ate out for every meal, except for breakfasts, so we managed to see and taste a lot! Of course, we had our favorites, and while we never had […]
Marrakech Experience: Hammam
So, what is a Moroccan Hammam? In essence, it’s a steam room where people gather together and get scrubbed clean, often publicly. While most tourists aren’t going to feel all that comfortable in a gaggle full of nakedness, luckily, there are plenty of private options! It can be a group ritual for locals, typically weekly, […]
Throwdown in the Streets of Marrakech
World War III began on the quiet streets of Marrakech, Morocco. Now, if you’ve been there, or read about it, or seen any of the plethora of movies that were filmed there, you would know that the streets of Marrakech are the opposite of quiet. In fact, it is a destination that psychiatrists should send […]