GRATITUDES + BREAKTHROUGHS // JULY 19, 2016

Gratitudes

Charlottesville or more specifically UVA hosted a gorgeous wisteria purple and light pink wedding at their famous chapel. Mary and Andrew, both high school sweethearts as well as proud wahoos recited their vows, exchanged rings and sealed their new marriage with a kiss last Friday. It was blazing hot and exceptionally humid but they held it down looking sharp and not sweaty. I mean look at Mary up there twirling around in her flowy lace dress, doesn’t she look amazing?! Their reception was held in Alumni Hall – appropriately – where they laughed at the toasts especially the Best Man, cut their cake and enjoyed many dances on the dance floor. I loved their succulent centerpieces that also doubled as a take-away for the guests. The other thing that I thought was adorable from their wedding was the guest book was pre-cut quilt squares. Each guest was asked to sign a square and eventually it will be turned into a quilt! What a special way to really remember your wedding and to “wrap” yourself in the love from your big day over and over again!

And if you thought I wouldn’t possibly pack nail polish for this trip you were incorrect. I packed three bottles and I’m currently painting them now. I nabbed this black I had been eyeing for a while at TJMaxx (I know, I know I’m there way to often) but I needed it. Never Have Too Mani Friends is from their Hello Kitty collection, it’s a bright, with a mix of primary colors and various shades of pink. I’ve been a little intimidated by straight black polish for a while I think partly because it has this bad stigma for being “gothic” and because I’m immensely white. So in order to justify another purchase I used this trip as a way to experiment. I’ll report back on my actual feelings in a few days.

I arrived in Italy early this morning so that is a huge gratitude for me! I was here 3 years ago for vacation and a wedding, this time I’ll be here for a full month to really practice my language skills and soak up this culture. My flight out of Dulles yesterday was delayed due to that set of serious rain storms, but we were able to make it out about an hour and a half after the original departure time. The flight wasn’t full and I was able to enjoy my window seat without being crammed next to someone else! Look at the view I had, on the right a glimpse of the Swiss Alps and on the left the coast by Santa Marinella. I also did a little bit of editing while on the plane so if you are waiting on a portrait session they will be delivered soon.

Breakthroughs

I should probably plan a little bit better. I was looking at this trip as a place to head to in order to relax and take on a new experience. Working and living in a different country for a relatively short period of time as compared to relocating but a long period of time as compared to a vacation. What I didn’t realize and/or want to do was think ahead about the approximate amount of cash I would need to get me through. Lazy Krysta thought, let’s worry about it when you get to the airport where the exchange rates and fees are out of control but it has ease and convenience. After discussing with Ayla (the friend I’m crashing with here) she strongly suggested hitting up my local bank for euros. Well, come to find out most banks near me don’t have euros on hand for exchange and need to be pre-ordered. Okay, alright, lesson learned. But after 4 phone calls and two stop-in attempts I was able to find a bank in Leesburg that could accomodate my last minute request. And I’m glad I did, I took a gander at the exchange rates as I was walking through the airport and sheesh – what a rip off! So this share isn’t super deep but definitely worth remembering and a learning experience.

As always, thanks for reading. xoxo.