Reservations for Peru

If I had to pick favorites from this book, this page by Jabber & Jobob would certainly be in the top ten (No, seriously. How do you pick a favorite when each one if so fanastically amazing?). I love how they wrote the text of the page like a three day travel plan. You really should zoom in on the photo and read what it says. The whole page looks like a glossy brochure you might pick up at the travel agent's office.
The warmth of the colors really brings out the South American feel. Love the Llamas!

Reservations for Italy

Onward we go! From London to Italy now, with Booknut as our guide. I love the antique feel of this and several of the other pages.

Italia! O Italia! Thou who hast
The fatal gift of beauty, which became
A funeral dower of present woes and past,
On they sweet brow is sorrow plough'd by shame,
And annals graved in characters of flame.
~Lord Byron, trans. from "Italia" by Vicenzo da Filicaja

This card is in the pocket behind the Milano card and miniature fresco on the right hand page.

Reservations for London

We've had a chance to take an overview tour by train. Now it seems that we are zeroing in on a few more focused destinations in Europe. Today we will be riding the London Eye, watching the changing of the Guard, walking through castles, across bridges and into one notorious prison.

Fish and chips, anyone? As a huge Doctor Who fan, I'd have to say London would probably rank up there pretty high on my travel to-do list. I definitely need to add a Union Jack to my t-shirt drawer. Thanks, Songbird!

A Turkey Egg

I am going to attempt to be profound for two seconds today before I go overdose on tryptophan.
Every year we take one day out of 365 and feign thankfulness for home, family and daily provisions. Except that most of us have never known true need to begin with. You can't know real feasting unless you have also known fasting.
It's like singing the National Anthem before a sports event. You don't really feel patriotic, but you have to get it out of the way before the game can start. So we come together, hold hands with people we rarely see the rest of the year, talk about the 5 kernels the pilgrims ate and then gorge ourselves like happy ticks in the woods of Wisconsin. Thanksgiving becomes nothing more than a precursor to the gluttony that Christmas has become.

Wow. And now I've laid an egg in the middle of my blog. What do you think we should do about that?

Here's my proposal:
In the spirit of the Native Americans who saved our collective tail feathers by sharing what they had both physically and by way of teaching, I suggest that we spread the bounty farther than the card tables in front of the football game. My personal choices are World Vision and Partners International.

**I realize that this post is teetering on the edge of a rant. I want you to know that I am not standing on a soapbox. I have picked it up and am whacking myself in the head with it.

Reservations for Paris

Orion will be our guide today as we absorb the richness of Paris, France. Who wouldn't want to go to Paris? All the Art, Romance, History, Architecture and culture mean that there is something for everyone. J wants to see the Eiffel Tower, M wants to see the Mona Lisa, and I want to see it all.
The tag in the pocket pulls out to show Orion's sig and her note on the back.


One of the things that I particularly love about this journal is the stamps. Not just the hand carved stamps or other rubber stamps used, but as you will see, many people used postage stamps in some way as part of their design. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but that element ties the whole book together in a wonderful way.

*A regret~Unfortunately, I cannot portray all of the varied textures on each page. The embossing, different papers, ribbons, and three dimensional elements cannot be transferred in a two dimensional digital media. Some of the pages were a little more difficult to photograph or scan because of some of the "doolollies". You'll just have to imagine the other sensory experiences.