(still trucking along with my blog backlog! circa June 2017) Before Lauren moved to LA, I successfully twisted her arm into going on a last-hurrah hiking expedition to Arches National Park with our friends Alyanna and Drew. Even though she considers herself squarely in the indoorsy camp, she was a good sport (and we stopped for lots of snacks and water breaks). I was so happy she came, though, because Arches National Park generally and Delicate Arch specifically are two of my favorite places in Utah. We had brilliantly perfect weather and it was a glorious day for a hike.

Delicate Arch stands resolute and red rock-stunning, the carrot-at-the-end-of-the-stick at the conclusion of a perfect hike. It has that most delicate of balances of challenging sections with level sections to break things up. The entry to the basin with Delicate Arch opens up from solid rock and it never ceases to strike me with so much awe as I round that last bend.

The photos immediately above and below were taken by Lauren on her film camera. I love them both so much—the harsh sunlight and glowing red rocks are captured so beautifully on film.

the prettiest drive through Spanish Fork—an added bonus. And the whole day spent out-of-doors in beautiful, scenic Utah—the perfect sendoff to round Lauren's Utah days to a close.

My 2016 camping trip in the Canadian Rockies remains one of my very favorites, to date. Angie and Laura were the perfect camping buddies and we are arguably very overdue for a repeat adventure. Having shared many highlights of the trips in individual posts related to specific areas of the parks, I wanted to share an overview of the trip as a whole.

I've written a little more here about the philosophical differences between Parks Canada and the United States' National Parks Service. It may be less a difference in philosophy, as both organizations are conservation-minded (and colonial in their origins...), than a difference in founding philosophies that resulted in the beginnings and genesis of the respective organizations.

The photo above was taken at our Lake Louise campsite in Banff, which gave me the odd feeling like we were living in a Jurassic Park movie. The road leading into the campsite had super-sized cattle-guards, presumably to ward off bears. It was comforting, though, knowing that the campsite as a whole had so many precautions, as I hope to never encounter bears in the backcountry or otherwise. 

Our trusty Jeep rental (this rental experience forever solidified my trust in Enterprise. I always use AutoSlash for booking rental cars, and Enterprise is routinely the least expensive, and in my opinion they have the best customer service. They really helped us out of a scrape when our original rental car with a different company fell through right when we were planning to leave town) and my beloved Marmot tent. I love my tent almost as much as I love my vacuum cleaner (which is a lot) and it has served me well on many a camping trip. During this particular trip in the Rockies, we weathered several nights of heavy rain and thunderstorms, and we stayed snug, dry, and cozy. The Marmot logo on the rain fly is also reflective, so it's easy to spot your tent on a nighttime walk back from the latrine. There are many other thoughtful details I've no need to bore you with in this post, but I will say it once more: my Marmot tent has been a dream, and many other camping buddies who've stayed in it have echoed this sentiment. I bought it on an end-of-season clearance, and I highly recommend you do the same, should you be in the market.

stopping at every scenic overlook, obviously

reading in hammocks—how we spent many a light-filled summer eve, while our dinner cooked.

The scale of the Canadian Rockies was so impressive and massive. I love gaining a more complete perspective of the lay of the land throughout the continent, as I feel it adds to my understanding of the natural history and geology of the area. The glacial valleys running the lengths of the parks were beautiful areas to drive through and admire.

We pulled our best Walk-to-Remember for this iconic and obligatory photo-op at the Continental Divide. We got a few self-timer shots before some kind soul took pity on us.

pigtail braids—my M.O. when camping or spending any amount of time out-of-doors. I've found it's the only foolproof way to prevent my hair from turning into a tangled mess of impossible snarls.

On this hike in Banff, signage along the trailhead advised hiking in groups of at least 4. At certain times (I assume when rangers have issued bear sightings), the trail is closed, or the group-of-4 rule is mandatory and enforced. On this particular day, the rule was not in force, but we joined a darling mom and daughter from Minneapolis, Jessica and Ali, and hiked with them. They were the lovely, like-minded kind of people that I love to meet on outdoor adventures of this sort. And our lively meandering conversation was effective in warding off any bears, as we thankfully saw none.

I cannot ever get over the brilliant turquoise and blues of those glacial lakes. On this particular hike, we ran into a couple of friends of Laura's—WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! We hiked with them for a while and enjoyed the sunshine after so much rain earlier in the week.

fossils and geologic specimen of the Canadian Rockies—my inner childhood-aspirant-geologist was delighted.

Lake Moraine <3 <3 <3 I still feel so lucky that we visited it on two days of perfect beautiful glorious summer, full sunshine sparking those most brilliant of hues.

Peyto Lake

Never one to miss a parks-themed photo-op.

Nanaimo bars—when in Canada.

I am several years behind on posting my Halloween costumes, but seeing as Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, it seems as good a time as any to share the backlog (and tbh if you are a faithful reader, you should be used to shameless catching-up by now)!

Two years ago, I dressed up as Kathleen Kelly (of Meg Ryan's character of 'You've Got Mail' fame). "You've Got Mail" is my favorite movie and seeing as I can quote it in its entirety, as soon as the thought (of this Halloween costume) crossed my mind, I realized it was perfect. Even more so, seeing as "You've Got Mail" is as enduringly relevant to my life as "The Godfather" is to Joe Fox's.

I sourced a black jumper and white pointy-collared shirt from DI, as well as the tote bag that I later emblazoned with painted bookstore branding: THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER. This $1 tote bag + paint was an easy project (I tried to replicate with hand-lettering the font from the storefront) that I completed while re-watching the movie for the zillionth time. I still use this tote bag regularly and ALWAYS get comments/compliments on it. It is a subtle way to weed out fellow aficionados from the rest and a fitting fashion statement no matter the occasion (but preferably an occasion in which one is toting books).

Attention to detail remains my lifelong blessing and curse. In the case of Halloween, it manifests as the finishing touches—details that might escape the casual enthusiast, but that I love to tweak as 'easter eggs' within my costume. My Kathleen Kelly toted around a few signature volumes featured in the film: one of the 'Shoe' books by Noel Streatfeild, "Pride and Prejudice" (with a rose, of course), and Roald Dahl's "Boy" (which features during story time at the Shop Around the Corner).

This photo is to showcase Melissa's genius Bob Ross costume. Her fake mustache and beard were so terrible and hilarious. My Kathleen Kelly-bob was also terrible and hilarious, and required approximately one million bobby pins to pull off. An even greater feat when I remember how LONG my hair was two years ago! (below: my hair after removing all the bobby pins, as a concrete before-and-after).

The best part of this Halloween costume? The ongoing utility that I get out of this dress, which I wear approximately weekly as a wardrobe staple. DI for the win. Happy Halloween!

{forever playing catch-up—this trip was in March 2017 <3 but it still feels like it was yesterday, minus the fact that Danielle now has 4 kids instead of 3!}

When I visited cara Danielle e la sua famiglia last (gah! now two years ago as of this publishing) spring, the running joke of my visit was: "Piacenza, e poi—Parigi." Danielle would introduce me to a friend or neighbor and they'd ask about the purpose for my trip—just to visit my good friend; we'd studied Italian together in college. They'd ask about my plans after Piacenza, and Danielle always joked that then I was off to Paris. The alliteration and the contrast between the two cities was never lost on anyone, and we'd always get a good laugh from this.

I loved visiting Danielle and Andrea and getting to meet their smart, sweet, spunky kids. Scotty and Matteo were a little wary of me at first (my first night, upon arrival, I asked Matteo [in Italian] if I could sit next to him, and he whispered under his breath, complete with the accompanying gesti, "vai via" ["go away"]. When I burst out laughing, Danielle was mortified, and Scotty and Matteo realized I was going to give them a run for their money because I was bilingual, too!

I loved just catching up with Danielle on all the little life things that build up but never make it onto social media. We stayed up late eating cheese and chocolate, looking at recipes, planning out Danielle's gallery wall, going to Eataly for their Agriturismo night, teaching English class at the church (my personal highlight of which, was Andrea's 10-year-old cousin asking me how to spell "branch"; he explained that his mom would make branch like Americans—and I realized he meant brunch! The same little boy also wanted to know the English word for corral, which I explained to him was corral, but wasn't super useful or common. I also wrote up all the variations of chicken (hen, rooster, chick, chicken, etc.) on the board for another class member), and Sunday dinner at Danielle's in-laws'—her mother-in-law Fausta was so excited to meet me, as all the Cordani's other visitors were anglophiles only; she was so excited to be able to talk with me. I was equally delighted, and floored by her amazing tortelli (oh. my. goodness.).

Danielle has shared several of her mother-in-law's recipes on her blog and I also love hearing her practical advice as someone whose parenting style and candor I admire immensely. How appropriate that her blog is named Pasta for Dinner, right?!

I love Scott's little photobombing feet in the photo on the left. There were so many beautiful tiles and textures and patterns in the centro storico di Piacenza.

A familiar phrase, as seen alla chiesa (and forget-me-nots! <3).

La chiesa sconsecrata—this is my other favorite story.

One of my favorite linguistic elements of the Italian language (I fully admit that there are MANY, but this is one nonetheless) is that the addition of the prefix s- to the beginning of a word effectively negates or renders opposite whatever adjective-type description it accompanies. I just love that this simple addition is so precise and succinct and its meaning is never lost. Thus:

consecrata vuol dire consecrated

e sconsecrata vuol dire un-consecrated or desecrated

Dunque la storia della chiesa sconsecrata:

This was a church in Piacenza which was in regular use (probabilmente della chiesa cattolica). During Napoleon's campaign in Italy, he ordered his troops to occupy the church for their living quarters for the night. Thereafter, the church was considered sconsecrata, and it is locked up and never used but for a once-yearly event in which the local historical society holds an art show there (or some such). AMAZING, RIGHT?!

The decorative metalwork on these doors is beautiful and reminds me so much of the displays situated in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, which includes metalwork of various craft and cultural traditions.

Piazza dei Cavalli

Do you see the clock/sundial on the facciata (it feels like a betrayal to use the French façade in this post about Italy) of the coral-pink building? The line in the piazza that Scotty is the meridian and correlates to the clock itself (a lengthier account of its origins [in Italian] here).

Scott's pants were a size too big and kept falling down, so all day he was running with his hands holding them up (insert crying-laughing emoji).

EATALY. NEED I SAY MORE.

On my first night there, Danielle and I went to an Agriturismo event at Eataly (conveniently next to the church building). We ate fior di latte mozzarella and asparagi from a local farm and gelato at the conclusion of our meal, obviously.

la famiglia Cordani <3 e ancora c'è una bimba in più!

secret gardens and pretty metalwork

One of the things Danielle was most excited to introduce me to were piadine. Andrea got a kick out of her excitement, but it was definitely founded. Essentially, a piadina is an Italian quesadilla. Picture a quesadilla, but with the addition of traditional paninoteca fare such as prosciutto, mozzarella, rucola (arugula), pesto, ecc. We visited her favorite piadineria in town and I loved it. Later that summer, when my sister and I were in Rome, I made her try piadine, so the legacy lives on.

succo di pera!!!! and a fun new grapefruit Schweppes. but succo di pera!!!!

last but certainly not least: I had a train transfer in Bologna, so obviously I left the train station for a brief stroll. I found Bologna to be an unexpectedly delightful city when I visited in 2011 and I loved stepping back into the familiar orange arcades to explore for a short while.

italia, love you forever. tvttttb.