Happy Flippin’ Friday, Blog! I haven’t seen you since July 1st! Unreal. This Oh, Hey Friday! I am posting my Top 5 Pictures from last week’s adventures in Greece with Tricia & Emily…my sisters, counter parts, partners in crime, forever vacay girls. (Link-up Links will be posted at the end. Click through… they are pretty awesome!)
Back story: Tricia (best friend growing up and my Letters Between Friends Counterpart) lives in Athens, Greece counseling women who are being/have been sexually exploited. HEAVY…I know, but VERY real AND very much needing to be dealt with globally. Emily & I, here in the states planned a trip to visit, provide some sort of fun for the girls in the safe house, and vacation with Tricia for a little TLC. We all needed a little bit of a break in some way, shape or form, so timing was perfect.
So, here are some pictures… Hint: There will probably be more than 5. Just saying…
ONE | Here, I am drinking out of my OWN mug. Before Tricia left, we exchanged mugs…I made it a point to drink out of this one while i was there.
That’s also Hans Harrison (aka Hamilton…I kept calling him that), the cat. He had the best seat in the whole house. I think he hated me, but he was a relaxing fellow to have around. We made him a Greek Cat Mural for his door…MUST find picture of that! I can’t believe I didn’t take one!
Remember this picture from a few months back…that’s Tricia’s mug… 🙂
TWO | We had parties with the participants while we were there. We started with a Mary Kay Facial Party. It was so fun and exciting to see people try new things. I had lots of donations from my MK sisters PLUS other goodies to give away. I got to pamper & not sell and I LOVED it! It’s all about making women feel confident and valuable AND THEN adding the make up to take it to the next level.
Then, Thursday we did a jewelry making party. I had a rough morning for one reason or another, so my creative juices were SHOT, but just to be GIRLY with everyone was just REFRESHING! We are literally all just grown up little girls at the core.
THREE | Emily & I went out the next morning to the Parthenon. I took some GREAT pictures, but Em made a point, that of all the pictures we take we usually keep the ones of people in the pictures of great places, not the great place itself, so I took this picture to PROVE that we were there. It was a really cool experience seeing it all and seeing Mars Hill. Glad we took the time to do this!! For sure.
FOUR | We got inked! This was something that we planned ahead of time. We all three had planned our tattoos and Tricia set the appointment up for us to get tattoos and Luciana to get a piercing. I had been eyeing a finger tattoo for a while, and have been wanting something to represent my children so I did this. I am (as well as Emily & Tricia) all about the experience of getting the tattoo being memorable AS WELL AS the tattoo itself. All 3 of mine have GREAT stories and I LOVE THEM!
Us anxiously awaiting at Uncle Chronis 🙂 for our bodily alterations.
FIVE | The first night we were there, Tricia took us downtown to Athens. It was such a crazy place, but something feels so personal & comforting about it. And I think I figured out that it had such a PERFECT mix of the known/primitive/current with the ancient/atuique with the modern/eclectic/unusual.
This first picture was so cool. This city is buzzing around us and we are just experiencing the night life AND THEN you look up and see the Parthenon just majestically lit up and overseeing the city, like a king kindly reminding it’s dominion why it was on the earth.
This was the pathway Tricia took us down to go and see an incredible fairytale cafe’. From watering cans to chandeliers. The coolest!
The graffitti was slightly annoying…when you go to the Agora and see that some kid tagged an ancient ruin…but then you would see stuff like this and you just had to stop & look.
FIVE B or SIX | Santorini cannot be explained. You literally could take picture after picture and you one would be as good as the next. This was a panoramic shot I took from the porch outside our hotel door. The white was SO white and the blue was SO blue. Emily made it a point to take pictures of TONS of doors and gates. They were in SO MANY different colors. I kept looking at the view and shaking my head. It was UNREAL! I crossed it off my bucket list and I didn’t even know it was on it!!
This last picture, Tricia, Emily & I stopped at this book store for the third time 🙂 and I headed up to their reading patio for the sunshine and the wifi. I took this picture to remind myself of the place…of the experience…and confirm it wasn’t a dream.
Since I have been home it’s been so surreal. The time I’ve spent with Nathan & girls has been so ON PURPOSE by accident. I didn’t realize until I was home how much I needed that trip to re calibrate. Each morning, I’ve gotten up and had intentional breakfast with the girls, I’ve been really aware of opportunities & ways I can be available to others, but not over exerting myself.
I won’t get anymore ooshy gooshy b/c I’m still working out all my thoughts from the trip, but I’m still giddy when I talk about it. I highly recommend the trip (make sure to go this time of year for the sake of crowds).
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