Guest Posting @ Stripes & Polka Dots

Do you guys know Kate from Stripes & Polka Dots and Katelyn Brooke Designs soon to be Katelyn Brooke Blog? She is one of the first "designer" friends that I made and she constantly inspires me on both her personal & design blog. She recently posted this image to help explain her move:

Kate asked if I would guest post while she is on vacation at the beach and I was happy to oblige. Today, you can find me over here talking about how living near the beach these last two years has changed me. 

Have you ever lived near the beach?

Pretty Little Details

Isn't this a fun idea? Save your old glass bottles (i.e. liquor handles) take the labels off and re-use them as water carafes! A sweet little french restaurant we visited on Clare's birthday used old Jack Daniels bottles and we couldn't get over how perfect they were. 

There are definitely a few hidden gems in Dominica, Riverside French Restaurant is one of them. Check out some of the other pretty little details to be found there.

  

These fresh-picked flowers were everywhere, brighting up the tables! 

 

Sweet green bell peppers sitting in a cloth lined basked.

 

Local peppers & garlic, fresh picked from the garden.

 

The floor of the bathroom & open shower were beautifully tiled. 

Hope you enjoyed this little taste of Dominica! 

Blog Design Showcase : Summer

In the midst of selling things & packing, I've also been keeping up with working on new blog designs over at Priceless Design Studio. I thought it would be fun to share my designs from the last few months with you guys!

Each image is linked to it's blog, so be sure to go check these ladies out & find all my hidden sprites on the sites :)  {that rhymed!}



















Some of these designs are a sneak peak, because I haven't added them to my portfolio yet. If you'd like to get the full scoop on them, you can always subscribe to my design blog here. Plus, I redesigned Priceless Adventure and gave Priceless Design Studio a much needed overhaul. If you haven't seen my new digs over there, definitely go check it out!

So, which design is your favorite?

2 Week Countdown

T-minus two weeks to America. Holy cow, this is for real. Let's talk about some good things, eh? Take my mind off the scary parts.

A Second Interview 

I have a second interview {for a dream job} set up for the day after we get back to CA. In my last vlog I talked about how I'd love to work for a university & someday start teaching classes. Well, this is my foot in the door. It's not a teaching position, but it is an educational technology position. In this case, it means that I would be helping the university in it's e-learning department.

The Unphished Techy

This weekend I attended my 6th RSO Farewell Banquet in Dominica. You can see pictures from the last banquet, here. Basically, it's an excuse to get dressed up & have a celebration with friends! It's tradition to give the leaving members a silly award, and I was named "The Unphished Techy." It's two-fold because 1- I hate all things fish and 2- My websites don't get hacked. (ha! knock on wood.)

Cleaning My Closet

My closet was a wreck. It has floor to ceiling shelves (like bookshelves), which I managed to turn into a floor to ceiling pile of clothes. A friend came over & helped me to pull every last thing out of the closet to put into sell, donate, or keep piles. I'm not kidding when I say that I got rid of two-thirds of my wardrobe this week. What I'm really excited about is going shopping back in the states to replace some of those items! {job reward?!}

Free Alt Classes

Has anyone else taken advantage of the free classes from ALT + Bing? The teachers are all really knowledgable and pack so much in to a quick one-hour class. I've taken classes on Business Cards & Pinterest so far. And now I am slightly obsessed totally excited to start work on my own creative business cards! Check out my pinterest inspiration board :)

Do you have anything good to share?

The Real Housewives of Dominica

Contrary to what you may expect, life on an island is not always a vacation. The students study 10+ hours a day, which leaves those of us who are here as spouses to come up with our own entertainment. To liken the situation to reality TV, imagine what would happen if The Real Housewives were put on Survivor. That's right, we are:

The Ross Spouses Organization (RSO)

Pagua Bay, First Semester - November 2010

RSO was my saving grace when I got to Dominica.  I was immediately connected with a group of girls who knew what island life was like and who genuinely cared how I was adjusting. Through RSO I went on many island trips, was introduced to volunteer opportunities and was basically given a social group. I appreciate everything those girls did for me during my first semester, and ended up acting as vice president and then president of the group for the following year.

Clare & I : raising money for a local charity

But where does the Survivor aspect come in?

No, we don't have to scavenge off the land (or at least not since a real grocery store opened in Portsmouth). 

Clare, me & Megan - SO excited for a Real grocery store

But I'm sad to say that the matriculation rate for Ross is rumored to be around 33%. That means that 1 out of every 3 students who start at Ross will not graduate. The good news for us is that most of those students are voted off asked to leave during their first two years. Now that Chris has passed the Comp we are on the upside of things. 

{Now, on to the drama!}

The Real Housewives of Dominica

Although it varies from semester to semester, there are generally 40 to 60 "spouses" (wives, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc.) of students on the island. About half of them are 20-something women who don't have children yet. As with any time you put a group of 20-something women together, you know there is going to be some drama. 

Now picture those women trapped on a small, humid, island.

Thus, The Real Housewives. I think the drama arises from a combination of boredom, different personalities and living in a college-town environment. Without much else to do, girls will talk behind each other's backs and argue over petty things. But don't get me wrong, we have lots of fun together too.

What I've noticed is, that back in the states you have your close friends (best buddies from college or high school) and then you have your acquaintance friends (from work, activities, etc.). Your friends from work or other places don't expect to be invited to every backyard bbq you have and they certainly don't mind if you go to the beach with your best friends on Saturday or have them over for dinner.

That acquaintance level of friendship is missing on the island.

Among the spouses without children, there seems to be this assumption that we are all supposed to be best friends because there are so few of us. But that just doesn't work. People have different personalities, are different ages, and simply get along with some people better than others. That's how the world works! 

All this to say, it's been quite the ride learning to navigate the social climate here. I'm so thankful to have found a few friends along the way who I've really bonded with, and I'll miss so much when I'm gone. 

What's On Your Bucket List? Vlog #2

In case you don't have time to watch, here is my bucket list in a nutshell:

     1. Make it home to CA. {t-minus 19 days}
     2. Get my doctorate.. paging the Dr.'s Price.
     3. Have some babies.

Me, Myself & I

What is your biggest phobia?

Please go read this post I wrote before you knew me. It's awesome and answers this question perfectly. One clue, the name of my fair is:

Ichthyophobia

 {seriously, go read it!}

If you could relive any day of your life, what would it be?

The ironic thing about your wedding day is that you spend hundeds of hours planning for it & then the event itself only lasts a few hours. How I would love to go back & re-live that day!

What age would you like to stay forever?

I don't want to be tied down at a certain age. I love the process of growing & learning more about myself & the world around me. I don't want to live a stagnant life - I want to keep moving forward! 

quote by e.e. cummings // priceless design

Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?

Have you never heard of Katie Price, British socialite & sex-idol? She's the reason my Twitter handle is @KtPrice not @KatiePrice. What do you think? Do we look alike?!

You can read more Me, Myself, & I posts below!

Happy Birthday Erin!

Every now & then I come across an up & coming blogger whose writing style amazes me. Meet Empirically Erin. Her posts are always thoughtful, well-written, and occasionally opinionated. I love a blogger who has a view & shares it. Even if I don't agree, I definitely respect anyone who can clearly articulate their point of view.

Erin's sister Emily from Oh Hello, Love is also a blogger {awesome writing runs in the family!}. Since she lives hundreds of miles away from Erin, Emily thought it would be fun to organize a little blogger-birthday-surprise for her sister by asking a few people to wish Erin a Happy Birthday on their blogs.

An even sweeter part to this story is how blogging has brought the two sisters together recently. In Emily's words,

Blogging has really brought us closer together since she started her blog this year. We're totally different people and didn't previously have any hobbies in common. So now we have blogging! It gives us a way of keeping up with one another and something to just chat about.

And this is why I love the blogging community: it brings people together.

Currently...

This post is inspired by E-ho. I saw her post last week & it occured to me that I could probably make a ribbon background image out of CSS. I was shocked when it actually worked.

Today, I'm double-copy-catting the marvelous Emily because I'm gonna use said ribbons today and link up with the Currently crew at Harvesting Kale and This Amazing Day.

missing: mexican food

Although we occasionally have margaritas here in Dominica {when the bar gets sweet & sour in} there is still no real mexican food. 8 months people. I'm ready for a good chile relleno, piece of carne asada, and spicy carrots.

dreaming: the AC

And I don't mean some cool new band. I mean literally dreaming of sitting in the Air Conditioning. Or visiting Alaska. Or jumping in an ice cold lake. The humidity is killing me here. You can read more about me sweating balls here.

loving: adventures with friends

In the past few weeks I've gone on a wine cruise, explored Roseau, made a big ant cake for Clare, climbed the Snakesteps, got a henna tattoo, had a beach bonfire, swam through a river gorge to a waterfall, sat in hot springs, and have basically been around the whole island a few times.

laughing: Dominica slang

My friend Mary is in the Peace Corps here on the island. We went to her office the other day and I noticed this awesome sign. Next time I hear someone say "Hey girl, your boom boom is getting fat!" I'm going to take it as a compliment.

wishing: job

I had an interview yesterday for a job that would really kickstart my career as an educational technologist. Pretty much, it's my dream job. It's a bit of a stretch in regards to my administrative experience, but I know that I could handle the responsibilities and am wishing that they would pick me.

What are you missing, dreaming, loving,
laughing or wishing about today?

4 Week Countdown

Exactly 4 weeks from today, we will be boarding a plane back to California. It will be 8 months since I've been in the states last, and 2 years since we moved to Dominica.

I'd like to say how excited I am, but the truth is that I'm a mixed bag of emotions. I'm looking forward to going to Target & Starbucks, but I know that we will have a very tight budget. I'm glad to see my family & friends stateside again but I'm sad to leave my friends here who have become a family. 

This blog is called Priceless Adventure for a reason: we never know what is going to happen next. Will I get a job? Will we be able to stay in CA for rotations? For the Price's it's one day at a time on this Adventure.

Bing + Alt = 2 Free Summer Classes!

Have you guys heard about the amazing offer from Bing + Alt Design? Post about the classes you want to take and Bing will make them happen for you! #thanksbing

Last month I took Graphic Design for Bloggers hosted by Laurie Smithwick and learned about how to make pretty layouts & other rules of design for blogging. If you aren't sure what to take, I definitely recommend this class!

Seriously, #thanksbing, I'm so looking forward to taking more classes this month! 

Fifty Shades of Grey - Series Review

Grab a glass of wine (or a mimosa if it's before noon) and sit down for a second. It's Book Club Friday, and I want to talk about Fifty Shades of Grey. Honestly, I finished it two months ago but haven't had the gumption to write about my review.

In my first post about Fifty, I admitted that at age 28 I had never read a romance novel. I thought they were cheesy, bad literature, and just bad form for a "true reader" like me.

it was cheesy & was poorly written.. but I loved it anyways

Despite the cliché phrases and predictable plot, I still found myself wrapped up in the story of Anna and Christian. By the second book, I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. Even her Inner Goddess started to grow on me {although the emails never did.}

I know that life is never this perfect and this story is extremely far-fetched, but I think that was one of the things I liked best about it. A little bit of reading escapism, something totally different than what I am accustomed to reading.

the s-e-x caught me off guard

In a good way. I thought it would be hard to read once I was warned about 'the red room of pain.' But it really wasn't that bad. The first novel really makes you think that The Contract is going to play a huge role in the story, which thankfully is not true. I don't think I'm ready to read a true bdsm novel, but I might be ready to add a little romance every now and then to my reading rotation. {Any Suggestions?}

Source: twitter.com via Mary on Pinterest

it was a full story

There were ups & downs, things that were unbelievable and things that totally grossed me out. I felt like I grew with Anna and went from loving to hating to loving Christian.

I always enjoy books that take give you a glimpse into the future at the end. I guess I'm a sucker for happy endings. James may have taken this one a little too far with the last chapter, but you can't blame her for wanting to 'tie things up' in the end.

Designing Above the Fold

I hope everyone had a great day off yesterday! I'm always slightly disappointed that even though it's still July 4th, it's not THE 4th of July in other countries. I've celebrated the 4th in Paris & now (twice) in Dominica. But next year? I'll be back in the good ole U.S. of A.

Today I'm guest posting at Kate Sullivan Blogs with a few blog design tips, talking about the Designing Above the Fold. Come say Hi!

5 Years Ago Today...