That time back in August when we went on a group trip to Nicaragua! Managua, Ometepe, and San Juan Del Sur in eight days. We had so much fun!

Such an unexpectedly beautiful trip!

It’s been appallingly hot in Atlanta this summer and I now love taking photos of flowers :)

We have some fun trips coming up soon, Nicaragua, Burning Man, and Iceland once again! Time is flying by <3

We took two separate roadtrips this year and I forgot to post photos! So lucky we had time to cruise around California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Utah and camp for a few weeks. Wish I could live on the road for a much longer time.

Hong Kong! We only spent three days here but we loved it. Thank you to our lovely friend Roxanne, who Martin met in New Zealand, for showing us around :)

I managed to surprise Martin this Christmas by showing up in the Czech Republic! He was home for the holidays and I showed up in the middle of the month, much to his and his mother’s surprise : )
Here’s just a few photos from our first Christmas together in Czech!

Our friend Hans met me at the train station in Prague to make sure I arrived safely to Pardubice. We sat in the dining car and had a couple of beer to help me adjust to my jetlag : )

Surprise!

Family

Old Town Square in Pardubice

Princess Bara

<3

Our friends Lucie and Jiri met us in Brno!

The best we could do.

New Year’s Eve…this is shortly after we decided NOT to get on our flight home, and go to Hong Kong and the Philippines instead!

Not a terrible start to the new year!

Since we stayed longer we got to spend Martin’s mom’s bday with her!

The night before we left Prague for Hong Kong was beautiful, snow falling and everything lit up <3

See you soon CZ!

Beautiful, magical Iceland! I was lucky enough to get to visit here again while Martin was working there for a couple of months. It’s one of my very favorite places in the world.

Oh my goodness, I still can’t believe that I went to Burning Man AND actually loved it! I was lucky enough to have a friend this year procure a ticket for me and talk me into going. I had about a thousand reasons in my head why I shouldn’t go and wouldn’t like it, but fortunately decided to risk it. I was rewarded with meeting and spending time with some of the most amazing, kind, creative, hard-working people.

These were my campmates, the Emerge-N-See IV In-Tents Care Unit. We took care of the lost, dehydrated, dusty, and under-partied individuals that wandered by our camp. I acted mainly as the barmacist, mainly because I can’t act.

We even delivered a little beer baby.

When I got there and started setting up my tent, four other people rushed in to help me set it up and hammer in rebar in about two minutes. Then I was gifted socks, costumes, and a bike to borrow for the week.

The first day I sort of roamed/rode around in amazement at everything around me. I can’t imagine the effort people put into setting up these intricate camps and works of art in the desert. It felt like a beautiful carnival on steroids, but never once felt over-crowded with people. Sometimes I couldn’t walk 30 seconds to the bathroom without someone insisting I stop for a drink or snack. People were playing antique pianos, spinning fire, serving free drinks, smiling at strangers, hugging, cooking mass meals, conversing intensely, volunteering, teaching classes, dancing on art cars, exploring the playa, and generally having an amazing time. I spent most of my time with some lovely friends from my camp, and also enjoyed photo field-trips on my own.

The dust hit pretty hard for a few days, and then we had a cold front later in the week. Everyone keeps saying it was some of the craziest weather they’d experienced there but it was pretty much what I had prepared myself for.

This gem saved my life. Someone had arranged to bring a bike for me to use but it didn’t quite fit, this one was perfect for the week!

One of my favorite art cars, so funny.

The lights and stars made for a long-exposure photoshoot pretty much every night.

Morning bacon!

Cold Spaghettios out of the back of a Uhaul never tasted so good.

Caught in a white-out.

The Temple.

At the Burning of the Man : )

The Temple burn.

Inside my tent <3

I could probably keep posting more photos (I will on Facebook) but I think I’ll stop here for now. It was such a wonderfully fun experience and I’m so glad I went. I definitely want to go back again next year. I’m trying to convince my family to join. I wish Martin could have been there but he’s in Iceland for work (I get to visit soon!). My only regret is that I didn’t see more of the amazingness that is around every corner at Burning Man. I’m lucky to have been present <3

So, Martin and I were lucky to spend a month in Europe, and my family joined us for half of that time! We traveled around Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Germany, and got married! It was definitely one of those once in a life time experiences.

Pardubice Castle, where we got married <3

The Cartellone Appartamento Hotel, where we had our reception <3

Martin and Bara

Pardubice

Castle hopping

Judy and Nicole! One of my best friends who also photographed my wedding : )

Austria

Josh and Izzy went paragliding, crazies.

Josh making friends everywhere he goes

Family day trip to wine country in Italy

Prague!

We always seem to stop by this place

The bottle of vodka from Ukraine that Martin saved for 8 years : )

Rehearsal dinner

Our wedding was definitely one of the most fun parties ever : )

New family <3

So so much fun had by everyone, wish we could do this every couple of months : )

We went to Costa Rica! It was a fast trip (just over a week), our “pre-honeymoon” before the wedding. We rented a 4×4 and drove to Arenal, Monte Verde, Uvita, Manual Antonio, and did a 2 day trek in Corcovado, which was amazing(ly hot). I only saw one sloth but one is better than none!

He lived in the tree by our hostel.

Monte Verde Cloud Forest.

Our car, which was hit by a local on our last night. Thanks a lot guy.

These guys, waiting at the bottom of a bridge.

The start of Corcovado.

Our guide, Oscar.

Looking for alligators.

Shower buddies.

Costa Rica was wild, hot, beautiful, and challenging. People here were really friendly, and I can’t think of a single time that someone tried to push a souvenir or service on me (and if you know me, you know that I don’t have a lot of patience for that). Food was good pretty much everywhere. You can’t escape the bugs. Driving was an experience, some of the roads were in such bad shape, and it’s probably best not to drive at night. Also, car rental companies were the only dishonest people we came across. Wish we could have made it to the sloth sanctuary…I would definitely go back because there was so much we didn’t get to see!