The Day my Family Eloped

A Holiday

by Ella Wheeler

The Wife
The house is like a garden,
The children are the flowers,
The gardener should come methinks...

The Husband
Impossible! You women do not know
The toil it takes to make a business grow.
I cannot join you until very late,
So hurry home, nor let the dinner wait.

Source: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/a-holiday-by-ella-wheeler-wilcox#ixzz3lkPCVlEa
 

This weekend we eloped; we being the whole entire family of me, Jordan, the kids, and the two fur kids. Our elopement was marked by flip-flops, sandy hair, shaggy sweaters, and two overly excited dogs. The Atlantic Ocean was our music and the menu was salt water and jelly fish.

We secretly ran off to become one again. 

Our family needed to run off. We literally were forgetting to look at each other.

We needed to have a reason to take a break from the social media, tablets, and cellphones (especially me).

Outside of work, we really don't travel as much as I would like us to travel.  (Keywords: as much as I would like us to travel).  If my partner had it his way, we would stay within the confines of our 75 mile radius.  I, on the other hand, am a born rolling stone.  I really MUST have the wind beneath my wings.

This weekend, my dreams were temporarily placated with a trip to the beach. We even brought our fur children with us who got to experience the Atlantic Ocean (and sand, and beach, and wind, and everything else) for the first times in their short little lives.

This was probably one of the shortest most entertaining days I've had in a long time.  There's nothing more comforting and absolutely delicious than the looks on my dogs face when they entered the warm ocean for the first time.

xo

Enjoy

Ollie

Living Vicariously: The Travels of June Grayjoy/Prague

“I’m dying to tell someone about my trip!”

— June Grayjoy

I wish I could say that as I  was responsible for all the wonderful travels that grace the pages of Blue Arden photo. Unfortunately, I am not.  However, I am blessed to have friends who travel the world who share their adventures with me and continue to inspire me.  In the next few months, I will be visiting June to catch up on much needed friend time. Until then, she continues to send me appetizing pictures of her musings and misadventures (to entice me to move my ticket date up more).

Who is June?

June is my dearest (xoxo) friend I met while on one of many journeys around the US in my quest to learn everything about everything.  June just so happens to be my artistic kindred spirit who is, too, in search of something great worth learning on this amazing Earth. She just so happens to be my one and only and first travel correspondent for Blue Arden ;)

Why Prague?

Why not?

What is there to see in Prague?

Lots and lots of frothy golden brew, the astronomical face clock (refer below to June pics), the art movement (contemporary art movement worth screaming for), medieval warrens and saints  (actors dressed up as so of course), and much more.  June, went to a symphony, museum, and toured one of the oldest cities in Europe!

This past weekend, June went to the beautiful and historic city of Prague (grrrr..shaking in my boots with jealousy).  Follow her journey through these awesome pictures:

Good Italian Food & Games With Julia (AKA B) in little ole Petersburg.

Julia is one of my good friends I met while at school in Petersburg, VA.  She's originally from the Ukraine, but has been a Unites States citizen for well over 9 years.  She loved it here so much that she became an officer in the United States Army.  I mean, how rad is that. 

On one of our nights off, we decided to head down to downtown Petersburg for a bit of food and fun. If you have never been to Petersburg, be sure to go check it out.