(Scotland, 2010)
"All travellers are optimists. Travel itself is a kind of optimism in action."
~Paul Theroux~
Good morning, glories!
By the time you read this post, I will be about fifty miles into a Southwestern road trip with a girlfriend of mine and our two 9-year-old boys. I spent all Sunday trying on clothes appropriate for 100-plus degree weather...and bitterly reproaching myself for behaving as though the last three weeks have been National Dessert Month. (Note to Self: Find out whether stomach crunches are possible to do in a moving car.)
Anyway, our itinerary includes staying overnight in an unfinished 1970's experimental town that looks like something out of "Logan's Run"...
(Arcosanti, Arizona)
...sledding down gleaming white mountains of sand...
(White Sands National Park, NM)
...and spending some quality time in a burgeoning art colony in one of the least populated, most isolated parts of the United States.
(Prada art installation, Marfa, TX)
Oh, and the boys are crossing their fingers that some paranormal phenomena will make an appearance too.
(Marfa Mystery Lights)
Part of taking an adventure is allowing oneself the opportunity to explore the unknown, and so we are padding our trip with enough extra time to make a few spur-of-the-moment decisions. To quote Paul Theroux again, "A tourist doesn't know where he's been. A traveller doesn't know where he's going." We're aiming for the latter.
(I am intent on posting from the road, so keep checking in this week for updates.)
Next on the agenda --
I am crazy in love with my brand-new business cards from Moo.com. Printed on super thick card stock, they are slimmer than regular-sized cards and feel lovely in the hand. Plus, they just look chic, don't they?
For the longest time, I've been wanting to create two-sided business cards with photos on them, but I always assumed they would cost a fortune.
Nope. On Moo.com, I created 100 bespoke mini-sized cards for just $19.99.
No, I'm not kidding.
$19.99 for 100 cards.
What makes it all totally brilliant is that you can choose up to TEN images per order (the information side of the card remains the same). I went a little crazy with my photos and made some family-themed, some blog-themed, some embroidery-themed and some book/sheep/teacup-themed.
I can't wait to fan them out like a deck of cards and let people choose the one they like best.
Editor's Update:
My travelling copilot just emailed me that a friend of hers said we need to bring business cards...for the oddest of reasons....
(From her friend's email):
"Bring your biz card - if you have one - or a joker or a matchbook or cocktail napkin or dollar bill you can write your name on... For cryin' out loud....bring somethin' with yer name on it to leave on the ledge (under a little pebble) of the Prada, Marfa store."
I'd say we are good to go.