There's No Place Like Home

FINALLY. With just a few days left before starting school again, I am finally home from all my traveling, summer-schooling, cow-raising, improvising, and all that jazz. My family and I came home from a fabulous Holland America Alaskan cruise on the Oosterdam, which began in Seattle and hit up Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria (Canada).

We had unbelievably beautiful weather (which we were told daily never happens), went whale watching and can now officially say that we have been less than 6 feet from a Humpback whale (another something we were told almost never happens), we saw a black bear cub in a tree, and watched 4 brown bears feeding on a whale carcass...yeah, saw that one from our balcony while we were sailing through a cool place called Glacier Bay.

But anyway, now that I'm back for more than a day, I wanted to post some of my favorite memories--enjoy.

My dad in front of an adorable boutique in Seattle

I got to hold a starfish and a sea cucumber on one of our excursions! So cool, but so slimy!

The whole family in front of a totem pole in Ketchikan

lovelovelove these YSL heels that I saw in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar

Here are some photos of my family and me in Victoria, Canada, plus the lovely doll-shaped jewelry racks which my little sister and I each got 1 of

(mines the second to last one on the right/top shelf!)

my sisters' (I loved this one but it only came in the smaller size)

Juneau was like a village right out of Toontown, only colder. We loved the bright colors of the buildings! This is me, my mom, younger and older sisters, in not exactly the most fashionable of outfits, but I love my Calvin Klein fleece because even though it's pretty thin, it's so warm! And you gotta love the hat--it was my mothers in the 90's

Whale-watching was amazing! This whales' name is Sasha, and our guide could tell because whale flukes (tails) are just like fingerprints; no two are exactly alike!