Did you ever read those "Choose Your Own Ending" adventure stories? As a kid, I went through a phase where I devoured them. Any that the library had, I read. One of my favorites was an Indiana Jones one, where the MC (me!) was a sidekick to Dr. Jones. I still remember this scene where we were caught in a shootout on some docks, and these were the choices:

1) You run in a straight line to the boat.
2) You run in a serpentine pattern to the boat.
3) You hide behind the nearest crate.

I was probably eight or nine, and I remember feeling so cool because I KNEW serpentine was the smart move, and I made my choice without hesitation. It didn't matter that in real life, I probably would have picked the hiding option (which, for the record, would have gotten me abducted, haha!).

I have found that writing is kind of like those Choose Your Own Ending books. There are so many choices you make as an author--choices your characters have to make. Some choices are big and some are small, and somehow at the end of it, you come out with--hopefully--a story others will love as much as you do. Sometimes you make a choice that you think is a good one, but it leads you into a corner your characters can't get out of, so you have to double back and make a different choice. It can be a frustrating process sometimes, but generally speaking, I love it. The possibilities are all there, so open, and it's a wonderful process to be a part of! It is part of what makes writing so addictive to me :)

Okay, and at the risk of getting too philosophical . . . I think our lives are actually like a "Choose Your Own Ending" story. We determine our destiny through the choices we make every day. Sometimes the choices are smaller, like deciding how we will respond to a situation. Sometimes the choices are bigger, like what we choose for a career, or where we live. We can double back from mistakes we might make, and we can pave a new path whenever we want.

Life isn't meant to pass us by. We should be active participants in our lives. Your life is your adventure, so live it! Run to your goal and chase your dream--don't hide behind a crate :) 

Haha, that got deeper than expected. :)

As a lighter, final note, I want to give a shout out to Author Rebecca McKinnon for putting Choose Your Own Ending stories back on my mind with her super cool new podcast, "Pick The Plot"; this first season is a regency romance story, and the listeners get to vote on what direction the story goes at the end of each episode. Awesome, right?? Check it out: https://rebeccamckinnon.com/picktheplot/

I recently did a post about my visit to Dubrovnik, and it was so much fun that I think it's time for another travel post!

Welcome to Matera, Italy! It's such a cool city to wander, and when you visit the ancient Sassi area and see the cave dwellings . . . well, it feels like you stepped back in time.

This is a view of Sassi, and the one day we spent here did NOT give us enough time to explore!

But I'm getting ahead of myself! 

We started our day in Matera in the more modern part of the city, which still looks pretty darn cool and old to me! 

​The deeper you go, the older the city becomes. Then you reach a square and see an example of how cities get built on top of each other over time:

This is a spot where they're excavating, and whenever I see things like this, I just have to stop and marvel at how OLD Europe is. I love it!

One of the coolest things we saw as we got closer to Sassi was the Chiesa del Purgatorio--The Church of the Purgatory. It sits right on the street, so it's hard to get a super good picture of the exterior. But it is probably the most unique church I've ever visited. (Well . . . There was another really unique church I visited later in the day . . . but let's focus on this one first!)

​Check out those doors!

​Yes, those are skulls and bones on the doors of that church--including skulls with crowns and important headdresses, just in case everyone needed the reminder that even rich and powerful people will die.

Crazy cool, right!? There's a reason I was grinning when I saw it...It's just so unique!

When we walked in, I was surprised to see how colorful everything was.

And, randomly, there was an art exhibit going on that day. 

Can I just say I LOVE when those random things happen on a trip? I feel like they make even better memories! (Once, while I was in Bath, my cousin and I walked into a church and  there was a bake sale going on, put on by the local kids. It was so fun--and delicious!)  

Anyway, there were these really cool (and sometimes creepy) bronze statues scattered throughout the church. It was felt like a very fitting display for this unique church, dedicated to purgatory. 

My favorite statue was actually on the middle of the floor:

​Lilith, the fabled first wife of Adam. I thought it was such a haunting statue, and the detail is insane!

​Here are some more views of the church:

And then, in case you forgot we were in a church dedicated to purgatory, notice the skull above the door...

That church really captured my imagination, but there were other amazing things to see, so I'll move this along :)

As you get closer to Sassi, you suddenly find yourself at the edge of another time.

​We entered the older section, which you can see behind us--but there's an even older section at the bottom, so we started our hike down.

​It's truly gorgeous! And I loved finding spots of greenery and flowers as we were increasingly surrounded by stone.

Finally, we made it to the edge of the city. 

Literally.

​It drops off right there. This is me, standing at the wall.

I decided not to use the bridge...I was OK staying on this side of the cliff :)

All along the mountainsides here are caves, and the people who settled the area turned these caves into their homes. They even made some caves into churches! Usually only a little modifying was needed to make the caves large enough to inhabit, and it kept them cooler on hot summer days. 

This picture shows you the cliff wall on one side, and the doors to the cave houses on the other. So cool, right?

​And here's an example of one of their stone churches:

You can see how some of it is natural, and some of it is man-made.

Here I am inside one of their smaller cave churches--which is the second most unique church I've ever stepped foot in: 

​The picture below is another angle of this cave church, and you can clearly see the smooth brick that was man-made, and the natural face of the cave.

We also toured one of the cave houses, which was decorated so you could get a taste of what it would have been like to live there.

It was pretty tight quarters (not just because there was a large group of us there) but it's basically one large room that's sectioned off. There's a stable area:

And just opposite your donkey is where the bed was located:

Notice the cradle at the foot of the bed? 1-2 children would sleep in that, another couple would sleep at the foot of the large bed, and then if you had more children they would sleep in the pulled-out drawers of your large family dresser, which you can see below (black, with lots of stuff stacked on top :)

This is one of the larger homes, because you also have this niche for the kitchen:

Now, look closely at that stove. Seem a little too modern? that's because people were still living in these dwellings in the 1950s! Why mess with a good thing, right?

Matera is such a unique and beautiful city, with so much to see and explore! I loved it, and I would easily go back because one day just wasn't enough!

Leave me a comment to let me know if you had a favorite part of this virtual tour of Metera! Which church did you think was the most unique? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I am feeling some wanderlust, and since we're all staying home right now, I thought I'd do a post that features one of the cool places I visited last: Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Croatia is absolutely gorgeous. The people are so kind and resilient, and tourism is basically their main source of income. There are no factories in Croatia, and the air is the cleanest I've ever breathed. If you watch Game of Thrones, you might also recognize this as King's Landing. I haven't seen the show, so this is just awesome Dubrovnik to me :)

This picture shows me and my mom braving the wind to get a picture with the Old City on the left, and Lokrum island on the right. 

​Here's a closer up of both, because they're so cool!

​P.S., Lokrum is where the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones is. This is as close as I got :) 

​To enter the Old City, you get to walk through this awesome-ness:

​And this:

My medieval, fantasy heart was in heaven!

This is a really cool fountain near the entrance to the old town that still works. This fountain has helped the people of Dubrovnik stay alive during times of war, both ancient and modern.

​This shows a church as well as the stairs you can use to access the ancient city wall.

​Dubrovnik's old town is also home to the worlds oldest yet still operational pharmacy. It was founded in 1317, and it's still filling prescriptions today. It's located at the Franciscan Monastery, which has an amazing courtyard surrounded by arches and columns, and I admit it felt pretty Harry-Potter-like to me :) There was also a museum with old pharmacy relics, which I wasn't allowed to take pictures of. But my favorite thing to see were the old apothecary manuscripts. Seeing handwritten notes on ancient healing was so cool!

​And then of course, it was just fun to wander the streets. I got some great writing inspiration while in Dubrovnik, and I am excited for one idea in particular, which will hopefully someday shape into a really cool book that I get to share with you :)

To summarize: Dubrovnik, Croatia is beautiful, cool, and fun to explore. I loves the greenery, the water, the cliffs, and especially the old town. And the gelato was pretty amazing, too!

I'd love to hear in the comments about a favorite place you've visited, or a place you're excited to travel to one day!

Hello, friends. How are you? Are you safe? Are you healthy? I would love to hear from you in the comments, but more than that I encourage you to reach out to your friends and neighbors, check in with them and make sure they're doing okay and not feeling totally isolated. Even if we're social distancing, we can still be there for each other via technology!

So, quick update in my corner of the world (Utah, USA). We are practicing social distancing, restaurants no longer offer dine-in, and toilet paper is nowhere to be found on the shelves. My brother and his fiancée have adjusted wedding plans (again) so (fingers crossed!) they're getting married tomorrow. And that is some wonderful, beautiful news. Also, my family still followed what we could of our St. Patrick's Day traditions yesterday, and that was wonderful!

Today is officially one week since the pandemic was officially declared. Life has changed dramatically for so many around the world. And to top it all off, an earthquake struck near Salt Lake City this morning, so that was a fun way to wake up.

I was like:

Each day feels a little more like we're living the prequel to a dystopian novel, but we're in this together and I have full confidence that we will get through this! Especially if we're looking out for each other and keeping a sense of humor.

So. Take care of each other and take care of yourself! It is SO important that we practice self-care, even if it is in small and simple ways. I really liked this list, but do what will most help you! https://wholefully.com/self-care-ideas/

Also, if you have kids in the home, remember that this is a scary time for them, too. Here are some ideas from the Child Mind Institute on helping kids through this time: https://childmind.org/article/supporting-kids-during-the-covid-19-crisis/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=%20Parents%20Guide%20to%20Problem%20Behavior&utm_campaign=Weekly-03-16-20

Lots of love to you all! Stay safe!!!