Changes in Latitudes

I have BIG news. I'm not graduating in May.
But I'll have finished my creative writing major, so why wouldn't I?
Because I'm moving to Australia to study abroad for a semester, that's why!

I'm lucky enough to have the greatest parents in the entire world, who have agreed to let me extend my college career a little bit, to spend July to December in Townsville, Australia.

I've started a whole new blog where you can follow my travels HERE.

But in the meantime, I figured I'd write a piece focusing on the importance of location.
Where we are born. Where we grow up. Where we go to high school. Whether or not we move away to college. Where we go to school. Where we move for work. Where we decide to settle and have our own families.

I'm still on the "Where we go to school" portion of that list, and I'm so in love with Wilmington that I'm starting to feel homesick just thinking about leaving it. Only some of us are lucky enough to add other locations into the nooks and crannies of this list. I decided about six months ago that I was determined to make room in my life for a side-venture to Australia, but the details are just now coming together, so I'm finally able to tell everyone.


Now switch over with me for a minute to the fashion world. Stay with me.

Someone out there, someone very smart, has started the trend of creating jewelry based on places and locations. Some are state-shaped, some feature the exact latitude and longitude of special places, and some are even made of products of the area. Here are a few of my favorites.

Send in your own coordinates bracelet (via Uncommon Goods)

 Same deal, send in your own lat & long to River Valley Jewelry on their Etsy shop












North Carolina necklace with the heart cut out over your home (this one is my beloved Wilmington) made by the Etsy artist ginnae









  The "bead" in this bracelet can be made from sand from any beach you'd like!! There is a list of over 1,000 that the company has sand from, but you can also send in your own if your beach isn't on the list (via Uncommon Goods)






I love all of these looks because they are so personal-- you could create them to take a piece of "home" along with you (as I probably will), or you could create them to remember a vacation, a place from your past, or a place where you wish you were.

Spring in España.

I found this quote written on the wall at a hostel in Granada, Spain. As an English major, I am used to the feeling of "falling" into quotes- that is, I am used to being stopped dead in my tracks by particular pieces of language that for one reason or another draw me into them. I can't exactly put into words the reason that these word struck so close to home for me, but I'll try to explain...

 I've always told anyone that would listen that regardless of all of the material gifts that my parents have ever given me, (I have the most amazing parents in the world & I'll be the first to admit that my Daddy loves to spoil me & my Mommy loves to shop...) the greatest things that they've ever given me have been all of the trips that we've taken abroad from the time that I was old enough to walk. Unlike most of my friends, I've had a passport since I was in elementary school, and my parents have always believed that being cultured is one of the most important traits that a person can possess. Most of our trips growing up were to Belize, Central America, which has become my home away from home. Others have included countries in Europe, and countries all over Central America and the Caribbean.

This Spring Break my parents proved again to me just how lucky I am, when they agreed to let me go on a trip with three of my best friends to the cities of Madrid, Sevilla and Granada, Spain. We were also able to meet up with another of our friends that was living in Spain for several months through a work away program. While I could write for years about all of the adventures we found ourselves on, I think I'll just share some of my favorite pictures from the trip instead.... most of them seem to speak for themselves :)