What I'm Wearing: White BCBG in Paris

BCBG dress / Caribbean Joe sandals via Sears

A little while ago we decided to take a spontaneous day trip to Paris in pursuit of the world's biggest fish fry. Sadly I'm referring to Paris, Tennessee and not Paris, France, but still... good food is good food! 

It was one of those days where nothing was planned. Though we knew the general direction of where Paris is, once we got into town we had to stop and ask for directions to "this fish fry thing that we heard about." The beauty of small towns is that (most) people are super friendly and were able to give us perfect directions to a local fair where the fish fry was taking place. What they neglected to tell us was that the event didn't start until the next day! It was likely the first time in my life I'd been early for anything. 

In the end, we left without being able to satisfy M's fish craving that he's been chasing since Guatemala. Instead we ate greasy and fattening delicious handmade burgers and milkshakes at this ma and pa joint then drove to an elk and bison reserve in Kentucky because why not. 

The reserve was surprisingly beautiful so we took a bunch of pictures of ourselves with my tripod and remote and sometimes I turned the camera on the animals too. We had a frighteningly fun encounter with this beast when he decided to cross the road two feet from our car, which made us realize he was way bigger than our car. I popped out of the sunroof to capture a shot as I figured it was less of a risk compared to sticking my head out of the window and M had his foot poised on the pedal in case we needed to gun it. 

All in all, I'm loving my time here in the States and all the randomness that comes from it! Have you ever driven for hours in pursuit of food? I know I'm not the only one...

Linking up with Style Elixir / Walking in Memphis in High Heels / A Compass Rose / Because Shanna Said So / Get Your Pretty On / The Pleated Poppy

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How Do You Feel About Guns in the Bedroom?

Growing up in an affluent Canadian suburban neighbourhood, guns were something I never gave much thought to. Neither my friends nor family were into hunting and I never saw any ranges in the area or even guns for sale in stores.

Firearms are not a part of the Canadian culture the same way they are in the States. The right to bear arms isn’t codified in our constitution. You certainly can’t just go into a WalMart and buy ammunition, let alone a rifle, the way you can here in Tennessee. Even owning a handgun in Canada requires you to pass two safety courses and apply for a different type of licence. (I’m sure you can illegally pick something up on the streets but I don’t want to go into that right now.) 

As you might expect, no one in my family owns a gun. Of course, my upbringing isn’t representative of all Canadians, but it’s a bit of background that coloured my perceptions and experience. I hadn’t even held a gun until I was 22 years old. When I started dating my husband he was a US Marine and made sure to remedy that situation right quick. 

Since then I’ve shot rifles, shotguns, and pistols. And I must admit… they’re quite fun! As long as you treat them properly, I have no problem with guns. 

What I do have a problem with is keeping a loaded gun in the bedroom. I remember the first time I visited Tennessee and meeting M’s parents when we’d been dating for less than a year. As we were heading off to bed, M’s dad said, “Oh wait a second son, here you go, for the guest bedroom,” and handed him a four foot rifle that he was meant to prop up against the bed. 

“Uhh, sorry whaaat?” I stammered, standing awkwardly in the hallway. 

“You’re the first bedroom when you come into the house. In case anything happens,” he replied. 

“No fucking way,” I said to M as soon as he closed the bedroom door. He just laughed but knew not to push the issue. (The gun made its way into the closet that night and out of the bedroom for the rest of our visit.)

Now that we’re back in the States and temporarily living with M’s side of the family, we have access to a lot of firearms. Fast forward to the night I returned from Panama. M was back a month before me and had done a ton of work to fix up our new place. As he opened the door and proudly showed me to the bedroom, I couldn’t help but notice his pistol and attached scope just hanging out on the dresser.

“Yeah, I don’t know about this,” I said as I picked up the gun. “Let’s put that away for now,” and tucked it into one of the drawers. Obviously this was only meant to be a temporary solution given that it was one in the morning and I was exhausted from an entire day of travel. But you know what they say -- out of sight, out of mind -- and a few days passed before I even thought about it again. 

A couple days later M cleaned his rifle and his pistol and both of them somehow found their way into the bedroom yet again. This time he put them in a case in the opposite corner of the room, out of arm’s reach from the bed. And you know what? I’ve slept just fine every single night since I’ve been here. In fact, we recently had to move the entire gun cabinet into our garage apartment. Between my husband and father-in-law they have about 20 guns in their collection which are now sitting in the closet off my living room. 

And here I am, that Canadian girl who still barely knows anything about firearms, living with all these guns in the vicinity and I barely think twice about it. Granted, we don’t have to worry about any little ones getting into our stuff, which certainly makes it easier. 

Would I prefer that we not keep guns in our bedroom? Absolutely. Of course the obvious question is what if someone breaks into your house, what are you gonna do? “Um. Not shoot them and call 911?” I reply, which my husband teases me is a “very Canadian” answer. 

But I’m married now, so there are two of us, and some compromises must be made. Not that I will be shooting anyone anytime soon! Ha. But M has grown up around guns all his life and just because I’m uncomfortable with firearms doesn’t mean that my preference automatically outweighs his. 

I feel like this summer in Tennessee has warmed me up to the idea of keeping a gun in the bedroom, something I was dead set against a few years ago. I thought I would have a lot stronger of a reaction to be honest. If it were up to M, we’d probably have his pistol stashed under our bed or in the night table. That I don’t see happening. But as long as the gun is put up and out of reach, I seem to be fine with it.

I’m curious -- do you keep a gun in the house for personal protection? What do you think about keeping one in the bedroom? 

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3 Things I Wish I Would've Packed for Central America

It's hard to believe that I've already been in the United States for over a month. My tan has faded, rice and beans aren't part of my daily diet, and I haven't heard any Spanish around me except for the personal injury commercials that come on TV (let’s not even talk about how messed up that is).

As I look back on my trip and wonder how in the world it's already behind me, I want to share a few lessons that I learned the hard way. For anyone who's thinking of backpacking through Central America, here are three things I wish I would've packed for my trip:

1. A protective DSLR pouch. I normally keep my Nikon camera, two lenses, and photography accessories in my TheIt camera bag. While I love this bag and think it's beautiful, I think we can all agree it's not feasible for backpacking. For three months through Central America, I decided to travel with my photography gear in a waterproof bag. In order to save space and use items I was already planning to pack, I wrapped my camera and extra lens in a scarf and sarong for some added protection. This was a very Macguyver'd option that I would not recommend. I didn't even realize that padded DSLR pouches existed until I saw another traveller whip hers out and thought, “Wow that's a whole lot smarter than what I managed to pull together.”

2. The highest concentration of deet insect repellent available. I will acknowledge upfront that there are lots of purported disadvantages to using the chemical deet. As someone who's known to have la sangre dulce (sweet blood in Spanish), my husband and I joke that I'm his bug repellent, because as long as we're together I'm the one who's getting bit. When I was covered in 30+ bites and getting ravaged every day, the very last thing on my mind were the potential long term negative side effects of having deet seep into my bloodstream. All-natural oils and family friendly bug spray didn't make the cut. They didn't even come close to making the cut. Give me the poison! Kill all the mosquitoes and sand fleas! Those bugs were out of control.

3. More US dolla bills. I don't necessarily mean saving more money before going travelling, rather, I mean having more cash stashed away in my bag. I'm not sure what happened on the road but as I travelled deeper into Central America I had more and more difficulty withdrawing money at ATMs. By the time I reached Costa Rica I was sweating because I was getting turned away from bank machines without being able to pull out any money from my Canadian account. I remember one day in particular when I got denied from five different banks. Here I was, by myself, with a machine telling me to contact my financial institution as the problem was on their end, and my bank saying there was no problem, why couldn't I pull out any cash? I came down to less than $40 too many times.

I always have a secret stash of money on me when I travel. Have you seen this Chapstick trick? I also roll a bill or two into an empty pill bottle then tuck it into my hygiene bag like it's regular medication. In the past I've kept $50 in reserve, but after my most recent experience I'd increase that amount to $150 per person in hidden funds in the currency that takes you furthest – USD. It may seem like a lot of money to just carry around but if it's spread out amongst your things and not physically on your person I think it's worth the risk. It certainly beats arriving in a new country after dark without any cash and trying to find an ATM. Not that I've done that or anything.

So there you have it, the three items I wish I would've packed for Central America. What are some items you learned the hard way never to travel without?

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