Recent Travels

I've been on some really amazing trips in the past few months. I've fallen a bit behind with my posts, but I'm hoping to catch back up soon. Until then, here's a few snippets of my adventures.

Talk to you soon, 

Sarah

Sicilia, Italia

Having never been to Sicily before, I wasn't sure how different it would be from the mainland of Italy. During our trip in 2013, we travelled with some longtime family friends. It was a great way to start our Italian vacation, especially since our friend Louie grew up there.

Header: Sambuca di Sicila via Steph Kelly / Wine barrels at Feudo Arancio / Arancini / Sunset in Sciacca / Crown decorations from Festa della Madonna in Sambuca via Steph Kelly / Freshly made pizza and Sicilian wine at Antico Mulino 

Sicily definitely has its own flair, and I highly recommend making this a stop on your trip. Here are my 10 favorite things about Sicily:

Roma, Italia

They say that Rome is the heart of Italy, and I definitely agree. It's one of my favorite cities. You can feel the history surrounding you as you walk through the streets. 

View from the Cupola of St. Peter's Cathedral / Colosseum at night / Roman Forum / St. Teresa in Ecstacy Trevi Fountain at night (with parental units) :)

Here are 10 of my favorite things about Rome:

Adventures in Beer Tasting: Three Floyds Brewery & Dark Lord Day

Three Floyds branded brewing vat (photo courtesy of NK) // Cask brewed Zombie Dust

Three Floyds was my first craft brewery visit and has remained my favorite.

Brewpub

The food is absolutely delicious. Nick and I had the bacon fat popcorn and white cheddar mac'n'cheese with bacon. As you can see, if it has bacon, I'm on board. Everything on the menu looked scrumptious as well. When we visited in September of last year, they had a special batch of Zombie Dust that was aged in a cask. Yum. If you're not a heavy metal fan, be warned. It's their music of choice.

Brewery Tour

The brewery tour itself was pretty underwhelming, but it's understandable with such a small facility. And it's free! It was about 20 minutes long, and we entered through a garage door to view the facilities. It's a nice add if you're there, but I don't think I'd do the tour again.

Adventures in Beer Tasting: Half Acre Brewery

I'm sure many of you in the Chicago area have had a Daisy Cutter or twenty.

Half Acre makes some pretty delicious beers. I had gone with my friend Danielle and tried a few beers in their brewery store. And when I took that first sip of Taco Day, I was in love.

Their creative brews with stellar artwork (by local artist Phineas Jones) were things that kept drawing me into this place. And on top of that, their staff was a blast. I noticed that they offered tours, so I put it on my list of things to do.

Brazil, Brazil, Brazil!

In February, I had an amazing opportunity fall right into my lap. Nick was working on a project that required a lot of international travel. He found out at the first of the year, one of the places he’d be working for two weeks was São Paulo, Brazil. As soon as this was known, a plan for a long weekend in Rio started evolving. 

I’ve never been to South America, and although this trip was really about four days, it was completely incredible. I met Nick in São Paulo on a Thursday and made my way to his hotel. I’ll admit, this was the most trouble I’ve ever had communicating in another country. There really aren't a lot of phrases and terms in common between Portuguese and Spanish. But after a 10 hour flight and 1 hour cab ride, I made it! 

Oh, hi!

You have found yourself at the blog of Sarah Kelly – a twenty-something currently living in Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from Bradley University in Peoria with a degree in Printmaking and Graphic Design, I ventured to the Chicago area. Today, I find myself delightfully employed at Ogilvy & Mather downtown.

I must say, Chicago is my cup of tea. Have you ever found yourself always moving towards a greater goal? Knowing, wherever you are at the moment, isn’t where you’d ultimately like to be. Living and working in Chicago was my ultimate goal, and it’s an awesome feeling to finally achieve it.

I feel as though I’m at the age where I have realized that I’ve experienced some pretty amazing things. I have no real central place to capture it, so here I am! I have no intended goal for this blog, but I’m excited to see how it will evolve. Since we are finding ourselves at the cusp of 2014, I’m going to start by highlighting some great events that happened this past year. I hope you enjoy!