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I’ve Been Ruined by New England Winters

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who grew up in a land far, far away called New Mexico (close to, but not identical to, Old Mexico), and she loved the sun. She grew up under the sun. She understood that tanning beds were unnecessary: laying in one’s backyard with SPF and a…
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The Longest Flight Ever

I did not intend to break my blogging silence with rant about United Airlines—because, generally, American Airlines will always provide a worse experience, especially when flying through Dallas—but I have just spent $15.00 to entertain myself with the internet for a measly two hours, and I think it deserves commensurate internet compensation in the form…
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“Let me not eat of their delicacies…”

One of the practices I find great joy in doing is writing reflections. (You may recall a few months ago I shared an Advent reflection about what it means to go home for Christmas.) This process of writing reflections is helpful for me because it allows me to see scripture in a new way, by…
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Top 12 Joyful Moments of 2017

Greetings, dear friends. As we come to a close of 2017, I wanted to keep in tradition of writing a Top New Year’s list, but instead of writing about food, or pictures, or moments, or pictures of best food moments, I’m going to keep in the spirit of that which has played the largest role…
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Home for Christmas

Today is the first real snow of the season here in Rhode Island, and as I’m hunkering down in my room, fully clad in fleece and sipping hot chocolate, I wanted to share a recent reflection I wrote. Last week I was asked to contribute a piece of writing for my church as part of…
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Dream Job: Travel Writer to Explore 52 Destinations in 2018

I was at work last Tuesday when I received a text notification from my friend that was simply a link. No description, preface, or explanation. I neglected to check it until I had finished my Excel sheet. When I opened my phone, I saw the article she’d sent met was this: “Dream Job Alert: The New…
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Sneak Peak: Intro to Forthcoming Book

I owe some friends of mine a book. In the summer of 2016 I spent three months in Greece, 82 days of which were spent on the island of Thassos. It was my intention to move to Greece that summer, but I assumed I could just “show up and figure it out,” which proved to…
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My Birthday on Thassos

I have to explain something about me and birthdays. The first thing I want to say is that I love the idea of birthdays, of having one day a year where it’s your day, where friends and family and retail businesses acknowledge: “Hey, we’re glad you’re alive and with us. Here’s a discount code.” And obviously, it’s…
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The Siren Song

There was a book that I brought with me on the Global Scavenger Hunt (I brought more than one book, actually) because I foolishly thought that somewhere along the journey I would have had time to read. I did not have time to read. But as soon as I returned to Providence, I retrieved this…
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What 10 Countries in 23 Days Taught Me

It’s hard to believe The Global Scavenger Hunt has ended and I’ve now been back to America for two weeks. Two weeks! I remember when we’d been overseas for two weeks. We were finishing up Egypt, about to head to Europe for the final big leg of the trip, and I couldn’t fathom another week…