Heeeey friends! Long time no see! After a soul-crushing 32 hours of travel from Queenstown, NZ, to Flagstaff, AZ, I’m finally home!
In case you missed it, the reason for my radio silence over the past 2+ weeks is that I was getting married! My new husband and I exchanged vows on October 17th in Yosemite National Park with the company of our parents and the roaring waterfalls. It was a totally fantastic day.
After that, we boarded a plane to my dream destination: New Zealand! We spent 11 days exploring everything we could from Auckland to Queenstown. To name a few things, we climbed through the caves of Waitomo, followed in Frodo’s and Sam’s footsteps up “Mt Doom” (actual name: Mt Ngauruhoe), spied on wild Fiordland crested penguins, successfully drove a car on the lefthand side, glamped in Wanaka, cruised the Milford Sound, munched on legendary Fergburgers in Queenstown, took a jet boat up the Dart River, and got really confused by all the light switches being upside-down. It was an amazing trip and I’m already eager to go back. If you’re wondering if it’s worth the incredibly long travel time, the answer is definitely YES.
My hope was that I would have a few posts to go live while I was away so you wouldn’t miss me (hah), but unfortunately that was too lofty a goal with the chaos of my final wedding/honeymoon preparations. I don’t really like to advertise my absence on social media, so I slipped away quietly.
Now that I’m back, I’m hitting the ground running. I have SO much planned for this space for November and December, which I hope will make up for the rather slow pace of the last few weeks. As much as I love working on the blog, getting some time away helps reinvigorate my enthusiasm and gets the creative juices flowing again. I’m really excited about all the ideas up my sleeve, and I hope you’ll love them, too!
Along with the usual activewear chatting, I’ll be sharing a few select highlights + photos of my trip over the next few weeks, too. That said, given that I snapped over 2,000(!!) pics, they’ll take a lot of time to edit down and weave into posts. In the meantime, I’ll be posting a few more over on my Instagram!
Thank you all for your patience during such a crazy time. I really appreciate each and every one of you following along. ♥
Photo 1: Blue Pools, Mt Aspiring National Park, NZ
Photo 2: Southern Alps by air, west of Queenstown, NZ
Side note: the title of this post is also the very last line of the Lord of the Rings series. It seemed appropriate, given my trip to “Middle Earth”, a pilgrimage that was 15 years in the making. #nerdalert
I lived in nz for a year, it’s a beautiful country. I hope you had fun on your honeymoon and congrats!
I agree, it’s so beautiful! I would love to spend more time there. And thanks for the congrats! :)
So happy to have you back! :) And congrats on being a Mrs. now! :D
Yesss! I’m both glad to be back and not glad if you catch my drift. ;)
Yay for you guys!!! ??
Thanks Claire!! :)
Congratulations ? welcome to the “smug marrieds” (tongue in cheek). Looking forward to your new posts ?
Hehe, thank you. :)
Welcome back and congratulations!!!!
Can’t wait for your new content!
I must confess… I think I actually “missed” you while you were gone…. like I stopped checking the blog daily cause it made me too sad. (How weird is that?! Lol.)
It’s ok, I’m not here to judge, lol. :)
And congratulations!! both on getting hitched and surviving the OMG 32 hour flight.
Thank you!! It was BRUTAL, but it definitely made me even more glad to be home, haha. :)
Big Congratulations to your new hubby and Best Wishes to you!! Missed your blog updates and so glad to have you back.
Thanks Sue!! :) As hard as it was to leave, it’s nice to be back home!
Congrats and welcome back! I missed your blog! Now my life can go back to normal :).
Thank you! :) Yes, as much as vacation is fun, it’s nice to be back to my regular routine!
welcome back! i totally can relate to the upside down light switches lol! i went to iceland a few weeks ago and it’s the same over there, they are reversed from NA. my brain was so so confused!
Haha yup! It didn’t take too long to get used to it, but man was it strange. One day I didn’t turn the switch on for the outlet because I thought it was already on, so I didn’t charge my phone. Oops….
Good to have you back and can’t wait to hear about NZ! Always wanted to go there with my husband. Congratulations on getting married and best wishes for the future! ?
Thanks Saara!! NZ was awesome. I suppose it might be a bit further from you, but in my opinion is worth the long travel time. :)
Congrats, aa!!!!!!
Thank you!! :)
congratulations and welcome back! definitely have missed your posts but so glad you had an awesome trip to NZ and away from blogging. Looking forward to the winter posts!
xx
Thanks Priya!! Excited to start working on some more of my winter ideas… :)
Congratulations!!! Can’t wait to see more photos of your trip.
Thanks Leslie! I’ve barely gotten through any of them, it’s a job all on its own, haha. :)
Congratulations to you both. Happy to hear you are back safe and sound and happily hitched. I hope you will share a few wedding pics with us. It must have been a truly magical time for you getting married to the love of your life in such a beautiful setting.
Thank you Cin!! I got permission from my photographer, so I do plan on sharing a few pics on the blog. I haven’t gotten the finished product back from him yet but they are going to be amazing. :)